It seemed that Jax had been right about the other man, as he let out a soft sigh and explained that he had been afraid of what he would feel if he opened himself up but admitted that he shouldn’t leave it all on the other. Jax smiled a little,<span style="font-style: italic">”Well, that isn’t what I’m worried about. I was worried about you,”</span>he told him, watching as Jek got comfortable and appeared to be getting ready to do what he had been putting off. Jax nodded,<span style="font-style: italic">”Of course,”</span>he replied, taking a sip of his drink and snatching another of the rolls from the plate, eating it slowly this time as he watched over Jek.<br/><br/>He felt something through their bond and after a moment, Jek’s eyes snapped open as he told him that they were here. He didn’t need the other man to tell him who he was referring to; he could feel it through their bond. He felt like someone had grabbed onto his heart and wouldn’t let go. They really were here. So what the Force had been telling him all along, the old friends, they were the girls, just as he had hoped. His heart leapt in his chest as he thought of them, of<span style="font-style: italic">her</span>.<br/><br/>He swallowed the feeling back when his friend rose up from the table, dropping credits to pay. He downed the drink after telling Jax that he would be back and then he left. With that, Jax was alone in the cantina. It was loud and busy as it had been all along, but it felt like everything had faded away now. The food tasted bland, the drink felt dry, the sounds around him were muffled and the figures blurred. None of it mattered anymore.<br/><br/>------<br/><br/>As Aeris expanded her senses, she reached out to find the two Jedi and it took almost no time before she felt them. It was like Jek had reached out as she had and their bond had snapped right back into place, as though no time had passed at all. She gasped as her eyes opened. Her heart was racing in her chest and it took a few cycles of breaths to calm her breathing and her heart. He was so close; only one town over now. She couldn’t wait any longer. She would go now, she decided.<br/><br/>She started the speeder up and headed for the edge of town as what felt like a crawl. She was in a hurry, but she was not entirely inconsiderate. Behind her, she could feel that her friend had released the children. She had left them with her trusting that she would do the right thing, and she had no let her down. She transmitted this feeling through the Force to her friend, wanting her to know that she was proud of her, hoping it might ease her shame at least a little.<br/><br/>The moment she reached the edge of down, she floored it. She could hear the attendant at the transportation hub holler after he that it wasn’t safe, the monsters would be out.<span style="font-style: italic">Let them come</span>she thought,<span style="font-style: italic">I will show them who should fear whom,</span>she grinned, pushing the speed to the max. As she zoomed across the wilderness, she could feel Jek’s presence growing closer by the minute, their bond further solidifying with each passing kilometer that brought them back together.<br/><br/>It was an excruciatingly long trip, and she figured out along the way why they discouraged travel at night. The creatures were nothing for her, but they would been dangerous for your average person. The first creatures she came across were some sort of large cats, each just a little taller than the speeder and nearly a meter wide, but none were a match for her as Force lightning crackled from her fingertips and they all fell behind her. The next was a giant snake, at least 15 meters tall, which delayed her only a few moments before it fell to her blades and she continued on her way.<br/><br/>It was nearly an hour before she reached the next town, although it felt like much longer thanks to the anticipation and other feelings that swirled around inside of her, the memories that flashed in her mind, and the turmoil over what to even say to him after all these years. The last time she had really seen him was that night when he had kissed her. She had seen him in passing around the temple but brief glances and passing waves did little to satisfy the longing and desire she’d felt. And then all of this had happened, and she’d lost him completely. Or so she had thought. But fate, it seemed, had brought them back together.<br/><br/>As she reached the transportation hub, she hopped out of the speeder almost before it had stopped, pulling back the hood that covered her hair. He was hiding in the shadows, but he was there. Even if she couldn’t see him, she could feel him. She strode forward, her pace quick until he finally came into view fully and then she stopped in her tracks, swallowing hard as she looked at him. She hadn’t fully realized just how much she’d missed him or how empty she’d felt until that moment when she saw him and his presence crashed into her. She hadn’t realized it, but tears had started to slide down her cheeks as she stood there, frozen.<br/><br/>When she finally realized it, she tried to wipe them away, but it was of little use. In all of their years together, she had never once cried in front of any of them, yet now she couldn’t seem to stop. Some part of her was afraid to run to him, fearing that she didn’t deserve to and that he might not accept her. Despite herself, these thoughts kept her rooted in place, unable to move, unable to run to him and embrace him as she wished to. Instead, she was frozen where she stood. "Jek, I..." she whispered the words, too low for him to hear, but she knew that he would hear them anyways, as their bond would carry them to him.<br/><br/>------<br/><br/>When Jax felt the familiar presence of one of his friends in the town, but not the other, he stood up from the table, tossing a few more credits on the table before leaving the cantina behind, his long strides carrying him quickly to the transportation hub, where he found Aeris with Jek, but An was no where to be seen.<span style="font-style: italic">“She’s back in the town I came from,”</span>he heard the voice of Aeris in his mind, as if she had anticipated or felt what he had been thinking. He wasn’t used to that anymore.<span style="font-style: italic">“Take my speeder,</span>she told him, having left it running. He then received images of a hanger near the center of the town,<span style="font-style: italic">“She’s kind of fragile right now… Be good to her,”</span>she warned him,<span style="font-style: italic">”And be careful,</span>she added another warning, along with flashes of the creatures that had attacked her.<br/><br/>Jax passed by the two of them, messing up Aeris’s hair as he went, “Good to see you again, kid,” he said to her with a smile, which earned him a grumble that he could only assume was her way of telling him she was not a kid. “I’ll be back,” was all he said to Jek as he strode to the speeder, hopped in it, and disappeared, heading towards the next town, to where An was. His heart raced, feeling like it was about to burst from his chest. No amount of breathing or reciting the Jedi code helped to ease this feeling, so after a while, he stopped trying. He met a few beasts along the way, but all fell swiftly to his blade. On a normal day, he might have tried to use the Force to connect to them and calm them so that he would not have to kill them. But right now, he was in a hurry and they were in his way. He could feel bad about it later. It took nearly an hour for him to reach the town and he headed straight for the hanger.<br/><br/>He arrived just as an unconscious An-Lok was being loaded onto the shuttle. He rushed into the hanger, straight for the shuttle. He had two options, as far as he could see. He could either try to sneak on or persuade the soldiers to let him on. He decided on the latter as he strode up to the shuttle. One of the soldiers moved to try to block his path but he waved a hand in front of the man, “You<span style="font-style: italic">will</span>let me board,” he told the man, the Force heavy in his words. “I will let you board,” the soldier repeated, moving out of the way and moving a hand to gesture towards the shuttle. He then strode up the ramp and onto the shuttle, repeating this with the other soldiers inside, adding the knowledge to their minds that he was on their side.<br/><br/>He then took a seat near An, who was laid across on of the bench-like seating areas. He could see a red mark and the beginnings of a bruise on her forehead where she must had been hit in the head. He also saw the faintest of grey by her closed eyes, which he traced lightly with his fingertips, wondering what exactly she had done to earn the taint of the Dark Side. Then again, it didn’t matter now. All that mattered was that she was here, he had finally found her. He took note of the fact that she had been alone on the shuttle—soldiers excluded—when there should have been Force Sensitives. He wondered if they were responsible for her current state, but the Force told him that it was not so simple. Had she let them escape? He felt a little hope at this thought, but pushed it down, not wanting to get his hopes up too much when he really knew nothing.<br/><br/>Instead, he settled in, strapping himself in as the shuttle prepared to take off. He then placed his hands on the metal seat, allowing the fingertips of his left hand to linger close to her, but not touching her for now, as he did not wish to assume that she would be as happy about it as he would be. After all, she had not come to see him, although perhaps there were reasons beyond not wanting to see him that had played a role in this decision. Based on what Aeris had said, though, he guessed that she was avoiding him, even if there was more to the story. Either way, he guessed that he would likely find out soon enough.