<font color="lightblue">Why am I even going back in here??

Amalia found herself walking into the Jedi Council Room, something she'd swore to herself not to do once she had returned home.

"Because you need to know, that's why," she said to herself softly.

There was just one thing on her mind when she entered the council room. Well, not one thing, a person.

Leia. Her bestfriend.

She'd never forgot that day she exited the council room on her way to her quarters to prepare for her vacation.

Just as she had exited the council room doors, and the doors had shut. She had felt it.

Anger....And that anger had been meant for her and her alone.

Why??

She did not know, but that is what made her find her place in the council room today. She intended to find out.

The force would tell her what Leia had not.

I need to know, I'm scared to find out, but I need to know. Knowing that she was angry with me, it hurts, a lot. I've never felt that before.

No she had never felt anger from Leia before. Frustration many a time before, but never anger. it had flowed from the Jedi Master, strong and true. It had not lasted long, but it still had showed up. The anger should not have had to show up at all, but it had, and Amalia needed to know why.




She stood now in the center of the room, she remembered where Leia had been sitting, and she looked toward Leia's council chair.

"Well, let's see what this was all about," Amalia said in a low whisper.

Postcognition

It was very simple, and all she had to do was touch Leia's council chair. Well, not the council chair specifically, but the cloth that decorated the council chair. Then, then her questions would be answered.


Slowly Amalia found herself walking straight toward Leia's council chair. Lightly she reached out with her left hand and touched the Jedi Master's council chair. Her hand lingered there for just a moment before it slowly moved toward the cloth. Delicately she lifted the cloth into her hands.

Truth be told, Amalia was not even sure she could do this force ability, she had not done it before. She'd only read about the ability some time ago through the Jedi holocron. All things considering, this task in itself was not one of the easiest task to do.

Amalia would have to go back almost a month in time, that is about how long she'd been gone. In the holocron it had said that locating something that far back in time was difficult.

"Well, here goes nothing..."

The Jedi Master took a deep breath and then cleared her mind.

"Five minutes, that's all I've got, but it should be enough.."



Then it happened...

She saw Leia, watched Leia lurch forward in her chair and then snarl at the door.

That was when the anger had come, that was when Amalia was walking away.

..And what came next, the words. It was not the action that would hurt so much, it would be the words.

"Look at me all the time with doubt. I don't do this, I don't do that. When I say you don't do something, look how you react. How does it feel?"

Amalia did not want to see whatever might have been left, but she knew she had to make sure that she had seen everything, even if she did not want to see it.

Leia gritted her teeth, that was the action that actually proved that Leia had been angry.

"Good bye."

She then had narrowed her eyes.

More words...

"And don't come back until you've learned some self respect, and you don't blame yourself for everything. You're worth more than that, and there's more in your life than that. You just forgot about it."

Then the anger was gone.

Leia smiled.

"Good luck, and safe journies," she had whispered, but Amalia had never got to hear it.

Then it was over, and her five minutes were gone.

Amalia found herself flying back onto the floor, back into the present, the cloth still lightly held within her hands.

She felt dizzy, weak almost. The ability had taken a lot more from her than she had expected. Perhaps it would have been easier had she done the task before.

She did not much care about her body at the moment though, she was too busy being stuck on the memory.

She'd been hurt before, when she knew Leia was angry, but now the pain only seemed to grow stronger with in her, now that she knew the truth.

For any other person, perhaps any other person would not have made such a big deal over what had happened. However, not everyone was as as sensitive as Amalia was.

She found herself cursing within the empty council room. Tears began to form in her eyes, but she didn't cry. The tears had not just form for what had happened in the room, but for the realization that had just now hit her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry, and I know how it feels now," she said as her voice wavered just a bit.

Something dawned on the Jedi Master though, and she grew angry, snarling, much like Leia had.

"...But I never did it just to purposely hurt you! I never said those things hoping they would hurt you, nor to prove a point! I said them because I wanted you to know how and what I felt!"

She knew Leia hadn't said those things to hurt her either. She wasn't even supposed to find any of this out. However, now that she knew the truth, she knew there was a lesson to be learned, and she had learned that lesson.

However, perhaps there were things that Leia, herself, needed to learn as well.

Amalia grew angry again, remembering the rest of what Leia had said.

"You never told me how much I was worth! And I needed to know, from you! I've worked hard, and I don't know if it's good enough in your eyes, because you never told me! I've done so much for you, saved you so many times and I don't know if that means anything to you! You never let me know!"

No, Leia had never told her such things, probably because Leia did not think she needed to hear them.

It was not as if Amalia were someone new, or if she were just a friend. She was not just a friend either, she was also Leia's student. Leia had taught onto Amalia everything she knew in the ways of the Jedi.

Without Leia, Amalia would not be where she was today. Her life would have been so much different. Leia had helped Amalia accomplish a dream. Ever since Amalia was younger, she had wanted to become a Jedi, to follow in her parents footsteps. Leia had fulfilled that dream for Amalia.

All Leia seemed to talk about was how good things were for her now, she'd mentioned it two or three times to Amalia...and each time it was a slap in the face for Amalia.

...And she would always think...Try harder, maybe she will notice next time.

...But she never did.

...And if she did, it never seemed to show. No, half the time Leia and Amalia spent their time getting frustrated with one another.

That same thing mentioned to Amalia, not one, but two times, perhaps even three(she could not remember for sure), Leia's trip to Endor. That was Amalia's slap in the face.

Amalia could not have been more happier to find out that Leia had found what she was looking for, and that was wonderful. However, Leia's words had stung her, because it was the way she saw it, from her perspective.

"....that trip was one of the best things that has happened to me in a long, long time...."

Leia had said that also in the council room. She remembered.


That one line seemed to stick out greatly in her mind, maybe it was the words, she did not know.

Maybe she somehow wished that words like those, maybe not those particular words, would someday be connected with her, or maybe just a simple thing of knowing that words like those had something to do with her, instead of not at all.

Maybe I should not try anymore, maybe I should just give up. It's not like she would notice anyway.

There was also a lot more that Amalia had been dealing with inside where it concerned Leia, but she could not touch base with them yet. What she was dealing with now, that alone, was enough for her to deal with at that very moment.


If only you could have heard me, and I wouldn't have to say what I just said, all over again. Because I don't know if I could say them again, not to you....It's too hard...


A short few minutes later, Amalia was sound asleep on the floor within the council room, the cloth from the council chair still clutched in her hands.</font>

There was a boot. A hard boot, a pointy boot.

This boot was being repetetively shoved into Amalia's side, trying to rouse her from her sleep on the floor of the Council Room.

This boot was attached to a leg. Leia's leg.

"Amalia... wake up!"

Curious, Leia gazed down at the Jedi Master on the floor and wondered why she had chosen here, of all places to take a nap. Amalia's presence not only roused her curiosity, it also confused her. She had not been expecting to see Amalia for a long, long time yet. But, here she was...

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Why...?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

She prodded the Jedi Master again.

"Wake up, Amalia!"

She got a response this time. Amalia grunted and began to stir. Leia took a step back, away from Amalia. She stretched, and ran her hands through her hair, which was down and brushed. She found she had to stifle a yawn. It was early morning and Leia had gotten up early as usual, she had found a routine in coming up here every morning, just to be at ease for a short time before she had to begin a long day of work.

And she certainly had not expected to find Amalia sprawled out on the floor this particular morning...

<font color="lightblue">Amalia knew exactly why she had fallen asleep, it had been from Postcognitionm. That ability had practically drained her whole body of any type of energy that she might have had, not to mention all that yelling she had done from being angry.

She'd heard Leia's voice both times, the first call she had ignored, the second, well, she knew Leia was not going to go away anytime soon.

So Amalia, unwillingly, began to stir, but she did not wake up fully. Instead she managed to come up with enough energy to shout something, just one simple word.

"Postcognition!"

Then the Jedi Master fell back limp again, trying her best to go back to sleep.</font>

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> ...What the hell?

Postcognition!?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Leia had heard of the method before, and knew what it was. But she had never done it herself, and didn't really even know if she was capable of doing it. But apparently Amalia was... and had just done it.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Why would she want to do that here...?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

It was with mixed emotion that Leia knelt beside Amalia and placed a hand on Amalia's shoulder, squeezing it. Amalia was exhausted, drained. Leia had the ability to give Amalia enough strength to help her come back into the world of the awake, yet Leia frowned and hesitated. If she went through with what she was about to do, it would drain her almost to the point of exhaustion as well. And she had a long, hard day ahead of her. Maybe it would be better to just let Amalia lay here and sleep.

Memories of the last time she was in here with Amalia flooded Leia's mind, and as she looked down at the sleeping Amalia the irritation which she had felt at that time, and had always carried to a lesser extent (always carefully controlled and retained), returned unbridled. She could not shake the natural assumption that Amalia would be any different now than when she had left. And this tortured Leia to no end.

Wrestling with her emotions to get them back under control, Leia assumed a calm mentality, and made a decision.

Leia's eyes half lidded as she reached out to Amalia with the Force. She let her own energy as well as the energy she recieved from her connection with the Force begin to flow into Amalia to strengthen her, and allow her to wake up.

Leia was just reaching the limits of her body's tolerance when a sudden awareness seemed to become present in Amalia again: Leia had succeeded in her efforts. As Amalia began to stir, Leia hauled herself to her feet with a tired weariness that she had not felt five minutes ago, and stumbled out the door on the way to her office.

When Amalia would sit up and look around, finally awake fully, she would find nobody there...

<font color="lightblue">"Wha?..."


What was going on?? She had been so tired moments before and now she seemed to find herself full of energy again.

Why though?

She knew it would have taken her quite a bit longer to gain her energy and strength back. She knew she had not fallen back asleep for that long, five minutes at the least.

She tried to figure out just what had happened as she let her eyes fully adjust to her surroundings once again.


The council room was empty...again?

She could have sworn that Leia had come in, trying to wake her. She remembered trying to get up but being too tired, shouting about Postcognition.

Amalia was not exactly sure now if she was even in her right mind.

Had she dreamed all of this?

No, she could not have, it had been much too real.

So where had Leia gone then???

Well, she would have to find out just where the Jedi Master had gone off to. Besides, it was not like she needed to stay in the council room, anyway. She'd already accomplished what she had set out to do within the room.

Amalia found herself exiting the council room, reaching out with the force as she left, following Leia's presence through the force. By doing this, she would eventually find the Jedi Master...</font>

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Finally!

So tired...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Leia trudged into the antechamber of her 'Republic' office and was greeted happily by her ever lively aide, who was seated as always behind a desk next to the door to Leia's office.

Leia merely grunted in reply to the greeting, and punched the entry code into the keypad on the wall next to the door of her office to unlock it. It took three tries, but eventually the door slid open without a sound, and she dissapeared through the doorway into the room beyond. The aide respectfully waited a few moments before collecting a stack of papers and datacards, and following Leia into the office as she did every morning.

The aide found Leia slumped forward in her chair with her head resting on her desk, her eyes were closed. Most obviously, something was wrong.

"Didn't sleep very well last night? Not feeling very well?"

Leia's reply was a half groan. "No..."

One of her eyes opened halfway, and she watched the aide place the stack of work on her desk. The aide, looking slightly concerned now, glanced at her wrist chrono and then looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I can re-arrange your schedule to give you about an hour right now to... recover, if you wish." She raised an eyebrow at Leia, who had closed her eyes again and did not see the expression.

"That would be great, if you could..." Leia mumbled into the desk, and then she sighed. And even as she sighed, she fell asleep.

The aide frowned and reguarded Leia for a moment, still concerned. But now the aide had work to do, if she planned to follow through with her promise to Leia. She turned and left to make the necessary changes to allow Leia some time to... recuperate.

<font color="lightblue">As Amalia followed Leia's presence through the force, she found herself heading toward a direction that she had never been before. She'd seen this area before, of course, but never really inspected it, so the area was quite unfamiliar to her.


Amalia silently noted to herself that she would have to explore this new area when she had more free time.

Well, it was not as if she did not have the time to go about looking now, but that she had other things on her mind at the moment, finding Leia.That was, if she did not get lost before hand.

As Amalia began to draw closer to Leia's office, she began to feel something not quite right coming off of Leia's presence. Leia seemed, weak...


This feeling Amalia was getting from Leia only seemed to puzzle her because she could remember feeling Leia's presence earlier on in the council room. Leia's presence had been strong, energetic even.

...Now Amalia had gathered that Leia's presence felt much like Amalia's presence after she had fell to the floor, extremely tired and weak after all that work she had done with tapping into the force.


...Finally it dawned on Amalia, and she was quick to put two and two together.

Leia had somehow managed to give Amalia back the energy she would need to get herself back in one piece again, but Leia had apparently drained her own body of energy and strength in the process.


Before reaching Leia's office Amalia bumped into Leia's aide. The aide was apparently too busy studying the pile of papers that she had gathered within her hands to even notice Amalia as she ascended the staircase which led up to Leia's office chambers.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I didn't see you coming, " the aide said, smiling, half embarrassed.

"It's alright. i'm sorry, I don't mean to bother you, but could you possibly tell me where you just came from?.."

The aide shifted her head slightly to the side as she looked at Amalia questionably.

"Why do you wish to know?" The aide had asked the question suspiciously.

It was then Amalia's turn to be embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry. It's just...Well you see, I'm looking for someone and it is rather important that I find this person, they could be in trouble."

Aide: "Well, how do you know that the person you are looking for is up here?"

Amalia: "Because I can fe.."

Amalia paused, deciding maybe that it would be best not to explain to the aide, she knew that doing so would only rouse my questions from the aide, questions she did not need. What she really needed was to find Leia.

Amalia: "I'm sorry, I'm in a very big hurry, could you please..."

Amalia knew Leia was up here somewhere, she just didn't know where, but maybe the aide would give her some information that could help her.

Aide: "Well, alright, but I don't possibly see what good it will do for you. I just came from Leia Organa Solo's office. I'm her..."

Amalia didn't let the aide finish as she quickly made her way up the rest of the flight of stairs. She could hear the aide yelling after her.

"Wait! You can't get into her office, it's locked!"

Amalia reached the last stair and then stopped as she planted her feet on the floor, a look of disappointment reaching her face.

She could hear the aide following after her though, whom stopped just behind Amalia. A look of concern and worry crossed the aide's face.

Aide:"You said someone could be in trouble, and the way you rushed off like that, I suspect it's Leia you're looking for?"

Amalia: "Yes, I gather you've seen her, how did she look after you saw her?"

Aide: "She seemed rather tired. So tired in fact, that I thought it best to re-arrange Leia's schedule so that she could take a little while to relax, if you will."

The aide bit down on her lower lip just slightly, puzzled.

Aide: "It's strange, she did not protest really, usually she is very anxious to get straight to work...very odd."

Amalia frowned slightly, nodding her head a little, seeming to agree with the aide.

Amalia: "Do you think you could let me into the room, please, it's rather important that I get to her, please?"

Amalia's eyes pleaded with the aide.

Aide: "Well...If you think you could help her, and I suppose I can watch you..."

The aide smiled lightly.

"...Just for security measures, you know, that sort of thing, I'm sure you understand."

Amalia: "Yes.."

The two quickly made their way toward Leia's office. Unlike as with Leia, it only took the aide one try to access the door.

Amalia was the first to enter Leia's office. She was not at all surprised when she found Leia slumped forward in her chair, her head resting on the desk, eyes closed.

The first thing she could think to do was to try and rouse Leia so that she would wake up.

Obviously, Amalia had already figured out that trying to give Leia some of her own energy just would not work. The two Jedi would only end up consuming their own energy and either one or the other would end up sleeping.

Quietly Amalia walked over to Leia, placing a light hand on her shoulder, she shook the Jedi Master. Lightly she shook her at first, then a little harder when she did not respond.

"Leia, wake up," she whispered in the Jedi Master's ear.</font>

Someone was shaking her. Someone wanted her to wake up.

Leia did not want to be shaken. She did not want to wake up. She <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> wanted<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> to sleep.

The person shaking her was persistent, but gentle. And whoever it was, they were annoying the hell out of Leia. With an "umph," Leia turned away from the person in hopes that maybe they would leave her alone and go away.

That only prompted the person to shake her harder. The shaking finally broke through Leia's mental haze created by her heavy fatigue, and brought her into a more 'tolerant' awareness.

"Leia... wake up..."

It was Amalia's voice. Leia's eyes fluttered open, and she was instantly blinded by the bright lights luminating the room.

"Ahhh..."

Leia threw up an arm to shield her eyes from the bright white glare of the lights, and her aide moved to the light controls to dim the lights in the room.

Leia let her arm down slowly back down to rest on the desk as the lights dimmed and she could actually see again. Her aide stood near the door, and Amalia stood right next to her.

Leia found that she had tensed though she had no idea where they had found the energy to, and she let her muscles relax with a sigh. Fatigue evident in both her movements and her face, Leia cradled her head on her arms on the desk, half lidded her eyes, and stared straight forward in Amalia's direction, not bother to look up at her, merely in her general direction.

"What do you two want...?"

<font color="lightblue">After much shaking on Amalia's part, Leia finally woke up.

Amalia, for some odd reason or another, seemed to find humor in Leia's reaction. She could tell that the Jedi Master had not wanted to be bothered with. The same could be said for Amalia when she slept earlier, Leia ever persistent in waking her though then.

Even with Leia's tired behavior, all Amalia could do was smile as she looked at Leia.

"Why hello there sleeping beauty!"

She spoke to Leia through the force.

Hi friend, long time no see

It had only been a little over a month since the two Jedi had seen one another, but it had been the longest time that she had really ever been away from Leia's company, not without at least communicating somehow, anyway.

Thought I would do you the favor of waking you, since you tried to offer me such a kind gesture earlier on in the council room. I'm sure you remember...You know, when I did not want to be roused from sleep but you wanted me up anyway?

Truth be told, Amalia did not have any problems with Leia waking her. She was still bent over the fact that Leia had kept the truth from her, and Leia had no idea yet just how much Amalia already knew. Her bitterness went away, and she gave Leia her thanks for what she had done in the council room.

However, I do appreciate what you did for me back there, in the council room. I seemed to had got myself in a tad bit of trouble, and you rescued me. So I just wanted to say Thank You.

"Poor you, tired it seems, hmm?"

She tried to make up conversation so that the aide would not notice anything funny between the two of them.

Amalia made herself walk around the desk so that she could look directly at Leia, she bent down in a somewhat crouching position so that she would be at eye level with Leia. She locked eyes with the Jedi Master and spoke through the force once more.

I hope that that is just tiredness that makes you avoid my gaze and nothing more. You and I, have much to discuss...

Amalia made absolutely sure that she was locking eyes with Leia when she spoke to her through the force again.

Self respect...don't come back until of learned some, is that right?

Amalia seemed to grin a little bit as she titled her head to the side to look at Leia, her left eyebrow rose a bit, but it quickly fell back down.

"I just thought you might like to know that I am back," the Jedi Master whispered ever so softly.

She then stood up, a small smile edged on her lips and she gestured to the aide as she continued to speak to Leia.

"You seemed quite tired as you came in, so she says. She re-scheduled everything for you. So I guess you two have some things to attend to..."

She looked back and forth between both of them.

"Well, I suppose I should let you two get back to work..."</font>

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> 5 hours later...<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->



Suddenly, Leia woke up.

She found herself laying on her back with a blanket draped over her and a pillow under her head. She was on the futon resemblant short couch against one wall in her office, that basically had been put there for the exact use that it was in now. She recalled that she had in fact spent a countless number of nights exactly in this position, either unable to leave her office for various important reasons, or just plain too tired to get back to her quarters. She kicked the blanket off and sat up.

Her aide sat at Leia's desk, with a look of frustration evident on her face. She was evidently using the holocom unit, and Leia watched with increased attentiveness, trying to catch what was being said.

"...I am deeply sorry, but as I told you, the Chief of State is indisposed right now..."

A deep, angry male voice issued from the speaker. "I don't care, she promised me that with the utmost certainty I would finally be able to speak with her.... right now!"

The aide had not yet noticed that Leia was fully awake and listening, and she opened her mouth to reply when Leia interrupted her.

"It's all right, I'm awake now. I did promise him I would get to him today, but the matter wasn't really that important as for him to call this early, he was supposed to call in the late after...."

In midsentence Leia had glanced up at the clock and found she had slept slightly more than the promised hour. In fact, she had slept just about 4 hours more than the promised hour.

"Why did you let me go for so long? I did have things that needed to be done earlier today... like him!"

The aide had been politely telling the man to wait a moment, and she put him on 'hold'.

"You needed it. After your hour was up I did try and wake you up, but you did not move or even flinch, and that is the truth."

Leia sighed. She still looked tired, but she was still vastly improved from when she had first come into her office.

"Move, Teika. I'll take care of him."

The aide nodded, and vacated Leia's chair so that she could take it and amend relations with the angry ambassador. As the aide dissapeared out the door, Leia took the ambassador off of hold.

"I am deeply sorry about the wait, ambassador..."


***


A good half an hour later Leia sipped her mug of hot stimtea, and continued to sift through her paperwork. Something was bothering her from this morning, something in the way that Amalia had said, "Self respect...don't come back until I've learned some..."

It bothered Leia. There was something wrong with Amalia saying that, but...

And then it hit her. Not for the first time, in a flashback Leia relived her last encounter with Amalia in the Council room. She remembered what she had said after the door had closed, how angry she had been... Amalia had just repeated to the letter a portion of what Leia had said to the door after Amalia had been well on her way away from the Council room.

Amalia had used postcognition. In the Council room. She must have felt Leia's anger, and wanted to know why...

And now she knew.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Damn.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Uncertain as to what she was going to do about it as of yet, Leia shakily returned to her paperwork. She now knew she should be expecting Amalia to be paying her another visit later, when she wasn't working.

She had no idea what that visit would be about in the least. She just knew it was going to happen.