Aeris gave a small nod to her friend. “Thanks for that. And I’m glad you’re alright,” she replied with a small, sympathetic smile. “Sorry, but you’re right, we can’t rest down here. It probably wouldn’t do us any good if we did,” she added with a light sigh before shaking her head, not continuing that thought. “Anyways, I guess that is to be expected in a cave-like this, with no easily discernable measure of time, so no worries. I should have known better than to ask,” she said with a hint of a chuckle as she pulled the other woman up.<br/><br/>As An spoke of the fog on Korriban, Aeris remained silent, her eyes flitting from the fog to the other woman with an indiscernible look in her eyes. “This…” she hesitated for a moment, debating how much she wanted to share with her, to avoid hiding anything, but also avoid causing panic that they couldn’t afford. “Well, I think you are right about that, but I think there is more to this fog than what you experienced before,” she shook her head, indicating that she would leave it at that. “We should avoid facing this Sith, if possible,” she added with a slight frown, showing that she worried what the outcome would be if they did.<br/><br/>“It’d be best if we could find a way out without such a confrontation,” she said as she looked to the paths before them, the two that neither of them had yet to explore. She waited patiently for An’s answer, glancing her way when she gave her answer. “That’s a lie, isn’t it?” she asked bluntly, albeit with a somewhat soft tone to her voice. This place might be messing with their senses and making it difficult to use their sensing abilities, but they weren’t impossible to use, so she could easily sense as much when they were so close, especially with the bond they shared.<br/><br/>“You feel a stronger pull the other way,” she noted, rather than asked. “I feel it, too, but…” she frowned again. “Even so, I don’t think it is the right path,” she admitted. “It’s the same feeling I got before, that told me not to go to that clearing,” she explained. “Clearly, we can’t trust our senses now, so I will trust my instincts,” she continued, although it felt really odd to say those words.  “If you are willing to trust me, I’d like to take this path,” she offered, waiting for the woman’s response.<br/><br/>When An began to walk together the tunnel, Aeris followed behind her. “Also… If you can, avoid using the Force too much, alright?” she asked, although she once again neglected to explain the reason why. She was hoping that they would be able to make it out of here before it became a problem, but even so, it was best not to use too much of their energy and wear themselves out even sooner. An had herself and the baby to worry about, so she needed to be extra careful.<br/><br/>After this, she fell silent, closing her eyes and using the Force to “see” in the darkness. She realized it probably seemed hypocritical of her to do so right after asking An not to use the Force too much, but viewing a relatively small area around them in this way didn’t use up much energy. It did, however, give them a wider view, and helped to give her an idea of the extent to which Force Sense abilities were limited. Besides, she was less worried about her own energy reserves than she was An-Lok’s.<br/><br/>After some time of walking down into the tunnel, her eyes opened and she paused, looking back for a moment with a somewhat puzzled look in her green eyes. After a few moments, she sighed softly and turned to continue down the path. She’d thought she’d felt something at the edge of her senses, just out of reach, but the moment she’d tried to focus on it, the feeling had vanished, as if it has never existed at all.<br/><br/>Perhaps it was simply her imagination or another trick born of the fog. Perhaps, though, it<span style="font-style: italic">was</span>something, but… She wasn’t sure if that possibility was something she hoped for or something she feared even more than another trick. Shaking her head, she focused once again on the path in front of her, continuing to follow An down the path that seemed to never end. That was, it had seemed that way until now.<br/><br/>“Take another left down here,” Aeris suggested when they neared the end of the path, which seemed to split and snake on in two directions ahead.  “Unless you have another suggestion?” Aeris offered, not wanting to seem like she was bossing the other woman around when that was not her intention. The fog seemed a little thicker down the right path, but that wasn’t her only reason. Something seemed to be pulling her in that direction, tempting her to go deeper, towards the power that lie at the center of this place. She was quite resolved to avoid that, if possible.<br/><br/>--<br/><br/>Jax looked to Jek when the other man reacted to his mention of a border. “Yeah, she did,” he replied with an affirmative nod. “She said ‘beyond the border of this place,’ but if she elaborated, I don’t remember it,” he explained, shaking his head. “I’m not surprised you don’t remember. It was after you lost consciousness, and just before I did, so I’m surprised I even remembered, to be honest,” he admitted, pushing back the hint of annoyance he felt thinking about the two have them having been the only ones to lose consciousness while the girls were taken from them.<br/><br/>He couldn’t afford to lose his cool right now, so he took a deep breath to center himself before looking to Jek when he spoke again. “Hmm?” he asked after hearing the words of the other. He quirked a brow curiously at the vague words of the other Jedi as he watched the other place rocks to make an arrow pointing back to where they’d come from. “Ah. I see,” he said, guessing what the other must have been referring to. “I take it that I was right to worry that we might not be able to find our way back?”<br/><br/>He gave a nod to Jek as he stood and suggested that they find the girl. “Yeah,” he agreed, walking next to the other towards the path he had chosen. “Very strange, indeed,” he agreed, furrowing his brows as he looked over what seemed to now be solid rock. “So, it would seem. I suppose there must be someone pulling the strings behind this. They must not want us straying from the path they laid out for us. But I wonder… What exactly is their goal? What’s the point of all this?” he wondered aloud before letting out a sigh and then taking a deep breath to center himself as well.<br/><br/>“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” he muttered as they began to head down the path the girls had taken, eventually reaching the place that led down into the darkness. “Agreed. We stand a much better chance of making it through this alive if we work together,” Jax agreed as they began to walk down into the caves beneath the ground. “Indeed, the Dark Side is almost palpable in this place. Even the air seems heavy with it…” he observed with a slight frown.<br/><br/>He hated that they had lost their chance to find the girl but had a feeling that she would be alright. After all, it almost seemed as though the girl had only been used as bait to lure them here, so now that they were here, they should have no reason to harm her, right? Then again, that may just be his mind trying to justify their diversion to rescue An and Aeris, even if it was their only real choice. After all, the Sith didn’t really<span style="font-style: italic">need</span>a reason to harm someone, and it was entirely possible that they may yet have plans to use her against them later if they made it through whatever they would face down here.<br/><br/>But even though he hated that he could not yet keep his promise, he was also glad that they were going after the girls. He wanted to find An-Lok as soon as possible, and this time, he would protect her. The thought of her getting hurt down here made him feel anxious, but he had to trust that she could take care of herself. So, with that in mind, he breathed a little easier and tried to focus on the positive, that they were on their way now, and soon, they would be together again. Besides, it wasn’t like she was actually alone. Even if he wasn’t with her, Aeris was, right? So, the two of them would watch each other’s backs, and they would be fine.<br/><br/>As he thought this, he suddenly came to a stop, looking at the split path before them, and then to Jek, who had grabbed onto him. He clicked his tongue lightly, looking back at the two paths for a moment, watching as the seemingly living fog writhed over the area, slowly drifting away as if to reveal the footprints. It felt wrong to be forced to choose between them when they were both precious to him, albeit in different ways. But they had no choice, so he had to choose An, not only for her sake but also for the sake of their child, their family.<br/><br/>“I’m sorry… I know you want to find Aeris, too, but I… I have to choose this path,” he gestured to the path that bore smaller but heavier footprints that clearly belonged to An. Without hesitation, he began to walk down the path An-Lok had taken, hoping that both of the girls would be okay, and more than that, hoping that they had found one another again, that they weren’t both wandering down here in the dark alone. If they were alone, he hoped that they could find them soon and that Aeris could hold out until they could find An and then make their way to her.<br/><br/>“Please, both of you, be okay,” he murmured as he walked down the dark path An had taken. He did his best to focus on the Light Side, to keep the darkness that permeated this world at bay, but it proved to be a difficult task. Despite his attempts at meditation, at keeping his heart and mind clear, thoughts somehow made their way into his mind, and with those thoughts came emotions that his life with the Jedi had taught him to abandon.<br/><br/>As he walked, the fog seemed to writhe around in the darkness, like a living creature, waiting for its chance to strike. There were several times when he thought he’d seen or heard something, and yet nothing was there. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his mind, only to open his eyes to see a figure in the distance that looked just like An-Lok. He couldn’t clearly see her face in the darkness, but… Was it really her?<br/><br/>He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was really her, but then he heard a voice. “Jax! Help me!” the voice pleaded to him alone before she seemed to be pulled back, deeper into the darkness. At that moment, he forgot why he cared, why he hesitated. If there was even a small chance that it was her, he couldn’t risk losing her. He reached out a hand in a futile attempt to grasp her, but she had never been within his reach, so he was merely grasping at air. Clenching his hand into a fist he took a step forward, intending to follow the figure, momentarily forgetting the man behind him and their agreement to avoid splitting up. All that filled his mind at that moment was finding her.