{{ simply being loved - epilogue
"I think it would be wise for them to---" Tenel Ka stopped mid-sentence and looked up towards her Commander, who had stepped up towards the throne and cleared his throat, waiting for her attention. "Commander?"
"Pardon me your highness," he looked from her to who she was speaking to, "Lady Anhaje."
Anhaje nodded, a polite smile crossing her face. Two months had passed since the celebration and the events that escalated between Tenel Ka, Gadell Vessau and Jacen Solo. Two months since Jacen Solo had to leave... Tenel Ka had been on the edge of becoming a wreck, but she had pulled herself together quickly, knowing she had to stay strong for her people. Gadell had proven himself a gentleman in those two months and Anhaje no longer wanted him gone. She had noticed the Queen Mother and the Commander had gotten closer.
Much closer.
Tenel Ka blinked, a quizzical spark in her gray eyes.
"I have a transmission that I think you should see, Queen Mother."
"Alright. In a moment." Tenel Ka leaned back to Anhaje and exchanged a few words before sliding off of her throne and following the Commander out of the long, busy chamber.
They started down the hallway, to the Communications Center of the Palace, Tenel Ka flanking Gadell on his right side.
"What is it?"
A sigh escaped the Commander's thinned lips, "You'll see. It was sent over a general comm channel. We're lucky that we're the ones who picked it up."
As Tenel Ka walked behind him, she stared at the back of his head. His black, slightly wavy hair freshly trimmed so the ends reached to the base of his neck. It still hung around his face in a perfect frame, like it always seemed to do. She remembered when she had entered the garden, the day after Jacen Solo left, and saw Gadell standing in front of his mother's statue, absently staring up at her stony visage.
"I know what you did," she had started with.
Gadell had stayed silent. He knew exactly what she spoke of. Ta'a Chume had been found dead in her cell that morning, her tongue swollen. She had choked on it and died, writhing around on the floor of her cell. The medics found traces of some sort of poison in her system and thought it to be suicide... some sort of poison that she had with her and used on herself.
Tenel Ka knew otherwise.
Gadell had turned around and looked her straight in the eyes, "And I know what you're here to do. It was worth it." He held his hands out in front of him, towards her. "Go on. Arrest me."
Tenel Ka had stepped over to him, and pushed his hands down to his sides. "It was wrong of you to do that. And I will let it pass. It was her time to go. And I understand why you did it." Her eyes trailed to the statues of their mothers before they locked back on his calming blue eyes. "But never ever do anything like it again. Or I shall be forced to throw you to the Court, instead of taking matters into my own hands. And I promise you, the Court can be extremely vicious."
"Understood. I apologize for doing it in the first place. But to me, it seemed like the right thing after all that woman has done."
"Once I start teaching you the basics of becoming a Jedi Knight, it will not be the right thing."
Gadell let a slight smile cross his face as he nodded. He knew Tenel Ka was not a Jedi Master, but she could still teach him the basics of the Force, especially since Master Luke Skywalker thought it would be a good idea. "Does that mean I'm still the Commander?"
"Yes." She turned and stared up to her mother before fully responding, "As long as the poison was not the thing causing you to command my fleet so well."
A laugh sounded as Gadell reached up and squeezed her left shoulder, acknowledging the joke she made without even knowing it. "Thank you."
Tenel Ka had let one of her rare smiles cross her face as she reached across her chest with her right hand and placed it on top of his, giving it a light squeeze. Little did she know how close they would be later in their lives. And now, what she was about to see would make them even closer.
They arrived at the Command Center and entered one of the small viewing and transmitting rooms, where Gadell meandered to the front, punching in some buttons.
"You might want to sit down."
Tenel Ka's eyes narrowed as she planted herself in a chair, the one closest to the panel and watched as a static-filled image appeared on the holo-screen.
It was a man, with dark, black hair, wide crimson eyes and a thin, faint scar tracing his left cheekbone. The corner of his lips held trails of blood that seeped down his chin. He was obviously in pain. Something struck Tenel Ka in a familiar way about the man, but she had no idea what... until he spoke; his first words in a hushed whisper.
"This is General Jacen Solo of the New Republic and the Galactic Alliance fleets. I don't know who is seeing this transmission at the moment but whoever you are, please see to it that the Galactic Alliance gets it. There is serious trouble where we are and we cannot get away from here. Kriff, you could say that in a way, we've been captured. The GA will know where we are, who else is here and what's going on --- again this is a general distress call from Gen---"
They could her a female voice in the background, familiar also, "Jace, come on, hurry up. Someone's coming."
Pleading deep, red eyes flashed back to the screen before the transmission ended. And then it cut out, leaving an eerie image of Jacen on the screen, his eyes wide with fear.
Tenel Ka was staring at the screen, wide-eyed, with her jaw hanging open. It had been the man she loved and he had been captured. She glanced up to Gadell, who was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, staring back down to her. Slowly standing up, she gazed back down to the static picture of Jacen on the screen.
"What do we do, Tenel Ka?"
Gadell used her name only when they were in private. He wanted to leave a professional impression on everyone in public. But when they were out of the media's eye they could let their true nature out.
They had become close, like a brother and sister would. Their antics resembled those of Jacen and Jaina, with Tenel Ka actually taking Jacen's role as the younger sibling. The public hadn't really noticed it, but the two knew Anhaje noticed it. And she thought it was spectacular. Seeing the Queen Mother the least bit happy after the General and everyone else had to leave was a relief. Anhaje was afraid that Tenel Ka was going to snap after all of that was over. But Tenel Ka pulled through with the help of the Commander.
The Queen Mother looked to the Commander, her eyes wide and confused.
Gadell had never seen her looking so distraught. He leapt around the chair and grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes before wrapping her up in a brotherly embrace.
"We'll get him back, Tenel Ka. If it's the last thing we do, we'll get him back."
And as her face rested on his shoulder, she gazed behind him at the frozen image of Jacen's face, different, scarred and bruised. There was fear dancing in his colored eyes and Tenel Ka was actually afraid for him.
Her love for him grew stronger after he left. During the standard two month time before the transmission arrived, she found herself thinking about him at the oddest moments. She found herself acting silly, like a little girl in love... daydreaming about him, thinking about how things would be different if they were together... She could still remember perfectly the way his lips looked when he smiled, the way they felt on her skin. The way his eyes lit up at the slightest things and they way they narrowed when something pushed him the wrong way. The exact way she felt when he was around, calm yet excited, and her head buzzing with some sort of feeling that could only be love. There was a place in everyone's mind for every type of feeling. And her place for love was hauntingly empty. She longed to hold him, to kiss him... just to be with him. He was too far away, his Force signature too faint, even with their bond. And he was in danger...
She had lost him too many times.
And she vowed on her own life that it would happen no more.
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