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Epilogue - “Hunt”

 Jacen yawned and stretched, wincing as his joints cracked.  He sat up in bed and yawned again.  The chrono on the nightstand read 0500, and outside, the skies of Yavin IV were just beginning to lighten.  Swinging his legs around, he levered himself upright.

 The young Jedi pulled on a pair of light pants, boots, and a t-shirt, and left his room.  Soon, he was out at the edge of the jungle that surrounded the main temple building.  Jacen began stretching his aching muscles.  He and his friends had celebrated his and Jaina’s eighteenth birthday the night before, and they had celebrated well into the night, so he was still pretty groggy.

 But, these early-morning exercises had been part of Jacen’s daily routine for two years, and so, even that morning, he was out there as usual.  Breathing deeply, he launched into a run.  He sped over the soft, grassy terrain, leaping over rocks and thick roots without looking.  After about a mile, he leapt into the air, levering himself onto the thick branch of a giant Massassi tree.

 Jacen climbed higher and higher, picking his way among the heavy vines and strong boughs of the towering tree.  He stopped about halfway up, which was still nearly a hundred meters above the now obscured forest floor.  *I’m glad I picked a small one,* he thought wryly.  Grasping a nearby vine, Jacen closed his eyes, sending his senses along it, using the Force to test its strength.  Satisfied, he gripped it tightly, and swung out into the air.

 He swung from vine to vine and leapt from branch to branch for more than fifteen minutes.  When he finally came to rest, still high up in a Massassi tree, he was well winded.  Jacen then began to descend, lowering himself slowly, tired muscles burning in protest.  Soon after, he stood on a branch ten meters or so above the ground.  Taking a deep breath, he stepped off the branch.

 Letting the Force flow through him, the Jedi stood calmly, suspended in midair.  Slowly, he raised one foot, and reached it down.  He followed with another, descending a set of steps that weren’t there.  Soon, he was again on the forest floor.

 “I guess that’s where the family got our name,” he quipped.

 Jacen began running again, this time for the small lake near the Main Temple.  He looked forward to plunging into the cool, clear water.  Suddenly, Jacen stopped, feeling the faintest of ripples in the Force nearby.

 He was used to the sensation of the teeming life around him in the jungle, but this was different.  Jacen didn’t sense danger, but there was something near.  Turning to his instincts, he immediately took again to the trees, climbing and gaining ground.  Soon, his suspicions were rewarded.  Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the slightest shaking of leaves.  A minute later, he saw it again.

 After another minute, the shadow disappeared.  Jacen headed lower again, intending to make better time on the ground.  Instead, he was struck from above, and he and his assailant fell to the ground, rolling.  Jacen scrambled to his feet.

 “Tenel Ka…” he said.

 The young warrior woman stood before him, an almost feral smile on her lips.  Without a word, she pulled a coil of filament rope from her belt.  Tenel Ka looked over her quarry.  Jacen was obviously alert and ready, but tired from his workout, and his eyes were still a little red.

 “Are you going to surrender?” she asked.

 “Not a chance.”

 “Good.”

 Tenel Ka let the weighted end of her rope fly.  Jacen dodged out of its way, but Tenel Ka reacted quickly.  She used the Force to redirect its flight.  The rope looped around Jacen’s wrist, and she pulled.

 Jacen was pulled off balance.  He rolled, and pulled on the rope himself, sending Tenel Ka tumbling as well.  She landed on her feet, and immediately launched herself at Jacen, tackling him.  They broke through the edge of the forest, rolling towards the banks of the lake.  They grappled, each trying to gain the upper hand.

 Tenel Ka managed to wedge her foot between them, shoving Jacen away with help from the Force.  He landed in the shallows with a splash.  Jacen scissored his legs, sending Tenel Ka into the water as well.

 Jacen came to his knees, and, faster than he could react, Tenel Ka grabbed the rope that still ran from his wrist.  With a twist of hers, the filament looped around his shoulders, and with a tug, Jacen was bound tight.

 Smiling, Tenel Ka took a handful of Jacen’s shirt and pulled him the few feet onto dry land.  Jacen wriggled until he was propped up against some rocks.  Tenel Ka knelt beside him.

 “Anything hurt?” she asked.

 “Just my pride,” he answered.

 Tenel Ka gave him an exaggerated pout.  “Oh, I’m sorry.”  She leaned closer.  “Will this help?”  Tenel Ka kissed him, deep and full.  Jacen responded the best he could.

 “That’s better,” he said, his usual lopsided smirk appearing.  “So, you’ve got me.”

 Tenel Ka looked at him suspiciously.  “You knew it was me.”  Jacen nodded.  “You were expecting this.”

 Jacen gave a slight shrug.  “I knew you’d have to do it sooner or later.  But you could’ve picked a morning when I didn’t have such a headache.”

 “Poor Jacen,” she cooed, running her fingers through his hair.  “That’s what you get for partying too hard.”

 “And you didn’t?”

 She smiled.  “Well, we had a lot to celebrate.”

 “That we did.  Can you untie me now?”

 Tenel Ka raised an eyebrow.  “You’re willing to swear that I captured you fairly?  It is required by Dathomiri tradition.”

 “Does it look like I could say anything else?”  She removed a small dagger from her belt and cut him loose.  Jacen shook the blood back into his arms.  Tenel Ka stood and held out her hand.  Jacen took it, but stayed on the ground, on one knee, guiding her to the rocks. Tenel Ka found herself sitting, looking into the deep brown eyes of her best friend and the man she loved.

 “Now you get to sit still and listen to what I have to say.”  Jacen reached into one of the deep pockets of his trousers and removed a small box.  He looked at her at his heart stopped.  *I _have_ the courage to do this.*

 Jacen opened the box, reached inside, and held its contents up before Tenel Ka.  She gasped.  It was a ring, made from shining, pure gold.  And atop it was set a large gem.  It was dazzlingly cut and clear, but seemed to glow with its own red-gold fire.

 “It’s a Corusca gem,” she whispered.

 “A Corusca diamond,” Jacen answered.  “The rarest kind.  I’ve been visiting Lando every weekend, trying to find the right gem.  The Force led me to this one, and I knew it was perfect.”

 Before Tenel Ka could say anything in response, Jacen went on.  “I know we’re still very young, and I know we’ve got a lot of things ahead of us before it’s really time.  But you’re the most amazing thing to ever come into my life, and I have to know right now.  We don’t have to do it now, or even soon, and it’s not because I doubt you-- I don’t for a second.  But I have to know if you will-- if you’ll make me the absolute luckiest and happiest man in the entire galaxy…

 “… Tenel Ka Chume Ta’Djo… Will you marry me?”

 By the time he hand finished, Tenel Ka’s eyes were filled with the happiest of tears.  Her voice failed her for a moment.  Finally, she was able to whisper, “Yes.  Yes, Jacen, I will marry you.  Of course I will.”

 Jacen was frozen in shock for a second.  “Jacen?  Say something!”

 “YYYYAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

 The young man leapt to his feet and picked Tenel Ka bodily into the air, whirling them both around.  Laughing and dizzy, they collapsed to the ground, with Tenel Ka landing atop him.

 Jacen slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed her passionately.  They wrapped their arms around each other, and stayed that way for long minutes.  Then, short of breath, they parted.

 “So,” Jacen said, smiling, “who do we tell first?”

THE END.