Epilogue

Revan let her eyes slide closed and drew in a long, deliberate breath. The warmth of the setting sun felt wonderful on her face, and though the air on Coruscant was nothing like the clean, fresh breezes of Dantooine, Revan was too pleased to be outside to be picky. She opened one eye as the man standing beside her on the landing pad cleared his throat, watching as Carth bounced nervously from the balls of his feet to his heels several times while his eyes scanned the bustling skyline.

"Calm yourself," she chided with a teasing smile.

The Admiral shot her a reproving look, but a small smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. "I can't help it. It's been so long…do you have any idea how…?" he trailed off, shaking his head, and stared at the sky once more.

"Yes," Revan answered in a quiet, thoughtful voice, her eyes now searching the sky as well. "I have some idea."

Carth nodded to himself, but said nothing, and silence fell over the two of them again for several minutes. Then, "There!" Carth said, pointing to a small, private transport approaching the landing pad. "That's them! They're…they're really here."

Revan could not help but laugh at the dazed look on her friend's face, and she shook him gently by the shoulder and gave him a soft push toward the ship as it landed.

The pair approached the loading ramp, Carth several strides ahead of Revan, then stood waiting as the ship's engines grew silent. Revan realized Carth was holding his breath, and she felt herself smiling at his back. The sound of running feet on metal brought her focus back to the ship, and suddenly a tiny bundle of energy with brown braids flew down the ramp, squealing excitedly. "Daddy!"

Carth laughed and sank to one knee, braced for the impact of the little girl, but she knocked him back on his rear in her excitement all the same. "Oh, sweetie," he murmured, squeezing his shining eyes shut as she all but strangled him in a tight hug. "I've missed you so much."

Revan blinked away the sudden tears in her eyes and turned her attention to the small woman coming down the loading ramp. Bastila looked much the same, her face older, her hair longer, but Revan would have recognized the stubborn determination in her eyes anywhere. The two women smiled at each other, but before they could greet one another, Carth clambered to his feet with his daughter in one arm and swept the petite Jedi against his chest.

Revan politely averted her eyes toward the beautiful sunset to give them a moment, so she did not see the three-year-old wiggle free of her father's arms and pad over to her until she felt a small hand tug at her own. "Revan?" the child asked in a quiet, shy voice, but her wide brown eyes were curious and playful.

The tall Jedi crouched in front of the girl and nodded. "Yes, I am Revan."

The girl giggled and ducked her head, making Revan smile, then suddenly wrapped her arms tightly around Revan's neck. "My mommy says you're very brave," she whispered conspiratorially into Revan's ear.

Revan returned the hug, rising to her feet with the girl in her arms as Carth and Bastila walked over to them with their arms around each other's waists. "Well," Revan responded quietly, but loud enough for them all to hear, "I think that your mommy, your daddy, and you are all very brave as well."

The girl giggled again and Carth shook his head fondly at the soft look on Revan's face as she gazed at the child. "Uh oh," he said in mock-concern as he took his daughter back from Revan. "I know that look. Better warn Canderous."

Bastila stepped forward and gave Revan a quick but tight embrace before she stepped back and regarded the taller woman in surprise. "I think a warning would come too late," she observed. Carth blinked and looked as if he would speak, but Bastila waved him off. "Take Morgan to your quarters – she may not look it, but she's worn out from the trip. I will join you shortly." When Carth started to frown, she stepped close to him and kissed him with an assuring smile on her lips. "Please? I won't be long."

Carth nodded and headed off the landing pad, the little girl Morgan waving happily over his shoulder at the two women. "She looks just like you," Revan observed. "She is beautiful."

"Thank you," Bastila replied with a genuine, loving smile at her family. "But, come, let's not stand around forever. It's getting dark, and we have much to discuss."

"Indeed we do," Revan agreed as the pair made their way back into the building. "Carth said he filled you in on everything you have missed."

"Yes, he sent me reports as soon as we were sure it was safe for him to contact me. I must say, if I didn't know firsthand the strange things that seem to happen in your presence, I'd be inclined to think the entire story was contrived. Carth also told me of your efforts here at the Temple - have you had any success?"

"Some. A few Jedi have made their way here…less than I had hoped for, but perhaps that will change with time."

"Let us hope. We have to assume that those who've survived will not be too trusting of a message that the Order is rebuilding. It goes without saying, of course that you have my support however you need it. How is Aeryn fairing?"

Revan seemed caught off-guard by the question and nodded hesitantly. "Well enough, I suppose. She…has not been very forthcoming with me these last months."

"Oh?"

"She lives in an apartment here on Coruscant, not far from the Temple…with Atton."

"Atton? The man who…?" Bastila trailed off as Revan nodded curtly. "Well. I cannot imagine you took that decision very well."

Revan snorted, unable to hide her bitterness as she muttered, "She made it very clear that it was not my decision to make. She has also removed herself from anything remotely related to the Jedi and has informed me on more than one occasion that she will have absolutely nothing to do with a new Council."

Bastila nodded her head slowly, her eyes sympathetic. "That hurts you."

"She vanished for a few months shortly after we returned. At first I worried, but then I hoped she would find peace somehow, out there. When she returned, she seemed better but…she refuses to let me in, even now."

"What of this Atton fellow? He is Force-trained as well, correct?"

"Yes…and if I had to be perfectly honest, I would say that he has surprised me. He has assisted with repairs to the Temple since he and Aeryn returned two or three months ago, and he hasn't asked for a thing in return."

"So…you don't hate him for nearly killing Aeryn, then?"

"I did not say that," Revan answered ruefully. "We avoid each other. It is better that way."

Bastila gave her a searching look, but eventually nodded. "I hear you and Canderous are set to leave soon."

"Yes, he is needed back on his homeworld."

"And you are going with him?"

Revan looked thoughtful as she nodded, and Bastila silently observed the way the taller woman's hand brushed across the flat of her abdomen absently. "It is time, I think. Time for the next generation to take over the burden."

"Oh, stop that," the younger woman chided with a frown. "You make me feel so old."

Revan chuckled. "You, Bastila? Old? Never."

-

Atton groaned and buried his face in the pillow, delighting in the sensation of fingernails gently scratching in an erratic pattern across his back. Slowly his mind surfaced from sleep and restless dreams, though he would have been content with feigning sleep as long as the woman beside him kept up her ministrations. When she stopped scratching and looped her arm around his waist to snuggle closer to him, Atton let out a disappointed sigh.

"Not good enough for you?" Aeryn murmured sleepily into his ear.

Atton rolled over to pull her against his chest, pressing a lazy kiss into her messy nest of short hair. "Not long enough," he muttered.

"And how long should I scratch your back then?"

"Hmm…all day?"

"Lazy," she chuckled, then kissed his bare chest and sighed contentedly.

Atton smiled to himself and soon felt his mind drifting back to sleep again when he suddenly remembered something. "We can't be lazy today."

Aeryn jerked when he spoke, obviously having dozed off as well. "Why not? You have a hot date?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. So do you." Turning her bright blue eyes up to his, Aeryn looked curious. "We got a message last night. From Revan."

Aeryn frowned and Atton could feel her tense up immediately. "What now?"

"I'm glad to see you're so excited. I was worried."

Aeryn shoved him weakly, but her expression softened a little. "Just tell me."

"The repairs are finished. I think she just wants to show you around."

"She's probably still trying to find a way to convince me to help reform the Council," Aeryn muttered bitterly, her eyes staring unfocused at his shoulder.

"That's a bad thing, right?"

"You know it is," Aeryn admonished, her eyes filled with some dark emotion that made Atton want to kiss her until she forgot the pain. "And you know why."

"But Revan doesn't, and she'll never really understand unless you tell her."

"I doubt she'll understand even then."

"Maybe she won't. What are you going to do, sweetheart, keep her out forever?"

Aeryn frowned for a long moment, irritated by his persistence even though she loved him all the more for it. "Since when are you on her side?"

Atton half-groaned, half-laughed and rolled onto his back, dragging the tall woman atop him. "You're so difficult in the morning," he commented, smirking up at her and tugging her hair in front of her eyes playfully.

"I'm always difficult."

"Heh. Won't argue with that."

-

Aeryn felt awkward walking into the newly rebuilt halls of the Jedi Temple. It was the same place she'd grown up in, and the echoes of the past still resonated through the Force there, yet it felt hollow to her. Atton squeezed her hand gently but said nothing.

Inside, Revan greeted them and Aeryn couldn't hide her surprise at seeing a gathering of mostly familiar faces behind her twin. Canderous and Mira smiled and nodded at her, but when Aeryn saw Visas, the seer wearing plain brown robes and a binding across her eyes, she stepped away from Atton to embrace the Miraluka.

"You're back," the Exile murmured in her friend's ear.

"So are you," Visas replied with a smile in her voice.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Did you?"

Aeryn stepped back with a knowing smirk on her face before she realized that Revan was speaking to her. After introducing her sister to Bastila and Morgan, Revan led the group through the wide, mostly empty halls of the Jedi Temple.

Though she tried her best to focus on her twin as she rambled on about the plans the Order had for a new Council, Aeryn found herself tuning things out and feeling increasingly uncomfortable. Every moment spent within those walls cemented all the more clearly just how right her decision was to cut her ties from the Jedi.

"I have saved the best for last." Revan's voice was oddly emotional and brought Aeryn out of her private thoughts. She was startled to realize where they were and her heart was in her throat as they stepped through the entrance to the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

"You've…restored it," Aeryn said in quiet disbelief as she gazed in awe around the enormous chamber.

Revan nodded and stood beside her twin, drinking in the sight as well. "The trees are still mere saplings, and the flowers have yet to bloom, but the water is clean once more, and…."

"You even got the waterfalls going again," Aeryn finished, her eyes revealing a deep well of emotions. "Amazing."

Aeryn broke away from the others, wandering down one of the stone walkways, and let her fingers slide across the young leaves of the new plants. The room pulsed with life, and hope filled her in a way she hadn't expected just by knowing that the Force had come back to this place again. When Revan sought her out several minutes later, Aeryn had removed her boots and sat leaning over her own reflection in one of the many pools, her bare feet kicking aimlessly at the chilly water.

"At least some things never change," Revan commented mildly as she crossed her legs to sit beside her twin. When Aeryn did not answer, or even look up from frowning down at the calm water, Revan sighed to herself. "Please. Talk to me."

"Dantooine." At Revan's confused look, Aeryn clarified. "That's where we were a few months ago. Atton and I went there and back to Nar Shaddaa for a while."

"Why?"

Aeryn shrugged. "Different reasons. To the Smuggler's Moon to hide, escape, ignore everyone, get really drunk and pass out in filthy hotel rooms, and to Dantooine to find...something. I don't know. Answers. Peace. A shred of sense out of all of this mess."

"And did you find what you were looking for?"

"No. But that doesn't mean I'll never find it, or that the trip wasn't worthwhile."

"For what it is worth," Revan said genuinely, "I do hope you find it."

Aeryn nodded absently and gazed at her reflection in the water. "She was right, you know," she said after a pause in a detached voice.

"Who?"

"Kreia. She was right about me."

"I am inclined to disagree, but you will have to be more specific. Right about what?"

"She was right that I would understand," Aeryn answered, giving her twin a guarded look before facing the water again. "I do understand. Why she was so angry, why she hated the Force so much, why she believed that the death of the Force was a just act. I understand."

Revan's brow furrowed in a frown. "Surely you do not mean…."

"I hated the Force, Revan." Aeryn's voice was hard but the bitterness that usually filled her eyes had faded to something like acceptance. "Sometimes, I still hate it. After everything I'd suffered, everything I'd been put through and all those sacrifices…the Force denied me everything. Love, peace, happiness, even death was denied me. When Kreia showed me her past, called us slaves, damn it Revan, it made sense to me."

"But," Revan said in a slow, deliberate way, "still you fought her."

Aeryn sighed and ran a weary hand over her eyes. "Of course I did. I meant what I told her – it's not my place to decide. But…a part of her is still within me…and the fact is, I can decide."

"I see," Revan began to nod in understanding. "That is why you are keeping away from the Jedi…keeping me away."

"I am the death of the Force. It is within me to do that. I cannot risk letting anyone close enough to have the kind of power over me that Kreia had."

"Yet you let Atton near you," Revan stated, unable to hide the hurt in her voice.

Aeryn surprised her twin when she laughed quietly. "Atton was willing to sacrifice the one thing he valued most to protect everyone else. I know you don't see it that way, and I'm not going to beat that dead ronto any longer, but that is the truth. He could have killed me. Instead, he did the only thing he could think of to try and save me."

Revan said nothing for a while, her eyes fixed on a stray thread at the hem of her sleeve. "Why did you survive?"

She'd half expected Aeryn to make some flip comment and shrug it off, but Aeryn's face was grave as she answered. "Kreia destroyed our bond. Right there at the end."

Blinking in astonishment, Revan asked, "Why?"

"I don't really know," Aeryn answered with an uneasy shrug. "I suppose I'd like to think she actually cared or maybe changed her mind but…the truth is, she probably knew. She knew I understood her 'cause' and maybe she hoped someday I'd carry through with it."

Revan searched her sister's face, but could read nothing from her expression. "Is there a chance of that happening?"

Aeryn shot her twin a hurt look, but sighed as if she wasn't really surprised by it. "I can't promise you anything, Rev. Right now, I'd rather die a thousand times over than see her future come to fruition, but I don't know. Hell, two years ago, I couldn't have imagined I'd be sitting here with you, feeling the Force again. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

Revan hesitated for a moment, then reached out to clasp her twin's hand. "I am here, Aeryn. I will always be here for you. I understand your decision based on the burden you bear, but you are not alone."

Slightly stunned, Aeryn stared back at Revan for a few heartbeats, then her expression flashed with surprise. "You're pregnant," Aeryn blurted out, her eyes inexplicably draw to Revan's flat abdomen.

Smiling, Revan took her hand back from her twin and began to unlace the tops of her boots. "Some things do change," she said as she pulled her footwear and socks off and rolled up the cuffs of her pants. "Change is not always bad, little sister."

Aeryn shook her head, a small dazed smile on her lips, and watched her sister dip her feet into the pool. Silence fell between the two of them, but it was a comfortable thing, filled with acceptance and hope for the unforeseeable future.

A/N: And done! Only took me two years...heh. I hope you enjoyed reading, because I really enjoyed writing this story so much (plus, I learned a lot writing it). A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, and a special thanks to those who've stuck around all this time and given repeat reviews. I'm sorry it took me so long to get it finished, and for my complete and utter lack of review replies (I blame my kids), but it feels really good to mark this story complete. Thank you all again. :)