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He's too impatient, Ferus thought. So eager to move onto the next thing that he misses what's right in front of him. It wasn't untypical for a Padawan, but then, Luke wasn't a Padawan. He had no Master to show him a better way.

He could have me.

"Wait," Ferus said, stretching out with the Force. They were not alone.

"Wait for what? " Luke asked, annoyed. "You stay if you want. I'm leaving."

That's when Ferus heard it. A distant, muffled moaning. "Come on." Ferus hurried toward the source of the sound, without bothering to see if Luke would follow. He crept into one of the empty classrooms, crossing to a desk in the back of the room. Kiro Chen lay curled up underneath, hugging his arms to his chest. Weeping.

Ferus touched the man's shoulder. He didn't react. "Kiro."

Kiro looked up at him with blank, wild eyes. "They killed her! They killed her, and I didn't know where else to go. It wasn't supposed to be this way."

Surely I would know if she was dead, Ferus assured himself. I would sense it.

"Leia?" Luke said, his voice cracking on the name. "They killed Leia?"

Kiro shuddered, and buried his face in his hands. "I loved her. It wasn't supposed to be this way. It wasn't."

"Halle?" Ferus guessed softly. Regret mixed with relief.

Kiro groaned. "Dead."

Ferus took Kiro by the shoulders and, gently, pulled him out from under the desk. Kiro didn't resist as Ferus guided him to a chair.

"Tell us where they are," Luke urged him. "Where did you take Leia?"

Tears streamed down Kiro's face. "I lost everyone. Everything. And then I found her—and they took her from me, too."

Ferus nodded. "It is a tragic loss, Kiro, and I'm sorry—"

" Sorry? " Luke repeated incredulously. "He kidnapped Leia. And now he's the only one who knows where to find her." He grabbed Kiro by the shoulders, shaking him roughly.

"Where is she? Where? "

Kiro choked on his sobs, sucking in air like he couldn't get enough to breathe.

"Answer me!" Luke shouted.

There's so much anger in him, Ferus thought.

Luke's hand strayed toward his lightsaber.

Enough, Ferus thought in alarm. He grabbed Luke's wrist. "No," he said firmly. "This is not the way."

Rage filled Luke's eyes and, for a moment, Ferus feared he was about to strike. But instead, he dropped his arm back to his side. "I wasn't going to hurt him."

"I know," Ferus assured him.

This was a lie.

"He knows where she is," Luke said desperately. "He knows, and he won't tell us."

"Because he can't tell us. Not like this." Ferus knelt by Kiro's side, placing a comforting hand on the man's shoulder. Kiro shuddered beneath his touch. "Anger is never the answer," he told Luke. "Whatever you gain from it never makes up for what you lose."

Luke nodded.

But does he really understand? Ferus thought. Or is he just pretending, the way Anakin used to? Biding his time?

Ferus reminded himself that these were extreme circumstances. He understood Luke's desperation, because he shared it.

He shut his doubts out of his mind and let the Force flow through him. He didn't suppress his fear, he embraced it, accepted it as a necessary reaction to events, then let it go. He imagined himself as the eye of the storm, peaceful and serene, then let that calm flow through his body and into Kiro Chen. "Your loss has been great, my friend. Your sorrow beyond measure," he said soothingly, letting his voice rise and fall like the lapping river. The words weren't as important as the emotion they carried. Ferus could sense that Kiro was a good man. He wanted to help. But he was locked inside his grief. "You think your life is empty. Frozen, because how can it move forward? How can it survive this?

How can you? "

As he spoke, Ferus allowed himself to remember all the losses he'd tried too hard to forget. The names and faces who haunted his nightmares. "But you did survive," he said.

"And by accepting that, you honor her sacrifice."

"It wasn't her fault," Kiro said. "She did what she thought was right. I tried to talk her out of it, but she never listened to anyone. She was always so certain, and this