It has begun...

That's all I have to say now.

Other than for those of you that missed this fact, I pitched the Force Restraint. A) I knew they didn't exist and I decided to take a risk when I put them in B) I figured it was a sign when that decision kept me up at night, so I went back and took it out. So no, Luke doesn't have a Force Restraint.

Oh, and this series is now called Test of Time. It's now the Test of Time Series mwahahaha.

Lastly, I am using SW Galactic Standard Calendar as listed on Wookieepedia, just in case the time passed confuses anyone.

(BTW if you want to know what Jeza looks like, there's the book cover. It took me forever to find a gray skinned twi'lek photo that I liked lol.)

PLEASE OH MY FORCE PLEASE REVIEW!

Enjoy!

His heart was pounding in his ears as the wind rushed past his face. For a few seconds he would free-fall before his hand reached out to grab the next branch and he would propel himself into the air once again. Sweat poured down from his brow into his eyes, but it didn't deter him from his course; it didn't even break his concentration. The aching in his arms was just a minor distraction in the back of his mind that he was able to drown out by immersing himself in the Force.

Xenon wasn't Dagobah, but it still worked rather well for these physically trying exercises that kept him in shape.

Once more, Luke was weightless in the air before his hand connected with the next and last branch, signaling the now instinctive action of swinging himself up onto the firm branch to land in a crouch. Gathering himself, he front flipped off of the edge of the branch, landing neatly on the ground with the help of the Force. Luke stood, readjusting the right shoulder of his cloak that had started slipping during his workout before he brushed off some of the small splinters and leaf particles that had gathered on him.

With a small sigh, Luke made his way over to the tree as he did every day, crouching down to grab a notched stick off of the ground. Once he added another notch, he set the stick back on the ground, letting his eyes roam around this same spot that he constantly visited.

The fifth year in exile as shown by the tree. Only four sticks notched that were sticking up out of the ground, so he was in the fifth month. Six sticks lying down fully notched to show six weeks, and four notches on a seventh stick to show four days.

Five years, four months, six weeks, and four days in exile.

Had it really been that long?

He didn't let himself dwell on that thought for long. Instead, he got back to his feet and started his cool down walk back towards home.

Home…

It had taken some force to think of the wooden cabin in the heart of the thickest forest in the area as home. It was strategically placed to hide its location from any chance visitors to Xenon, and it was also a few meters away from the river that flowed into the lake he'd learned had been named Jiili by the once-locals. He'd managed to accomplish a second level to the cabin about three years ago, and two years ago he'd expanded the cabin to involve a training room of sorts. Expanding had been a good way to keep his mind off of less desirable thoughts whenever he was in a particularly dark place.

Still, there was another place, another planet, he would much rather be…

Luke choked back the emotions that threatened to rise to the surface. Over five years and the pain of being ripped from his family still cut deeper than the lightsaber Sidious had shoved through his chest on two occasions.

At least he wasn't utterly alone in his exile.

Luke ducked under a low hanging branch and stepped into the small patch in the woods that housed the cabin he'd managed to construct. Smoke trailed out of the short, modest chimney, signaling that dinner was either cooking or nearly done. When Luke's stomach rumbled lightly, he started to hope that it was the latter.

Once inside, Luke shrugged off his old cloak and laid it over the back of the couch that sat in front of the fireplace—one of the many furniture pieces that had been scavenged from the remains of the village. The fire crackled merrily, but there was nothing cooking over it. The delicious aroma of uxibeast meat, most likely steak, wafted towards him, and he couldn't help but smile a little. Luke would wager that uxibeast tasted even better than nerf, though they were definitely harder to kill, capture, or even domesticate than a nerf was. Still, there wasn't any nerf around here, so an uxibeast had to work.

Luke paused at the dusty mirror that hung beside the fireplace to clean himself up the best he could. He ran his hand through his hair, smoothing it down and brushing some of it out of his face. His hair had grown rather long over the years, though thankfully he'd found a pair of scissors at the village as well, so he was able to make it manageable. He needed a cut again though; it was starting to get scary long again.

The chink of silverware called his attention back to his initial destination, which was the small dining room-slash-kitchen through the door on his left that the mouthwatering aroma was drifting through. Smiling a little, Luke finally walked in, eager to get to dinner.

A young sixteen year old, light gray skinned, midnight blue eyed twi'lek looked up at him as he entered and smiled at him. "I was wondering when you'd show up," Jeza said in amusement, her melodic voice holding a teasing note as she spoke.

It never ceased to amaze him how much that skinny ten year old he had taken in had grown in the past five years. She was freshly sixteen, just as Luke had just turned twenty-nine earlier this year. Despite her youth, however, she acted much older than her age. Every time she'd outgrown her old clothes, Luke had trekked out to the decimated village to find a new pair that suited her. She'd also taken to customizing some of those cloths, and had developed a talent for making her own much to Luke's relief. She kept everything mobile and simple, like Luke. A simple black tube-top, black boots and tight-fitting black pants; an outfit that eerily mirrored Jedi Master Aayla Secura's own outfit. However, she added her own touches to the classic twi'lek outfit with a personalized black headpiece that criss-crossed down her lekkus, and two black manax cat hide gauntlets that ran from wrist to elbow and had small hooked spikes all the way down. Normally she had black gloves on top of that, but since they were eating she wasn't wearing them. It was strange the gothic edge that she showed in her clothing considering she was nowhere near gothic in character.

She actually reminded him a lot of Mara. Sometimes that was a good thing, and sometimes it was just painful.

Luke smiled slightly, taking his usual seat across from her at their small dining table. "I actually think I'm here earlier than I was the last three days; I might have to expand my track again." Luke's expression lit up when he noticed that on top of the uxibeast steak, Jeza had also included a small salad and fresh cambylictus juice. His favorite to the point that Jeza kept the location of the cambylictus trees to herself. Luke had yet to find one of them. He eyed her with a raised eyebrow. "What's the occasion?"

Jeza flashed him her signature smile that she knew made him melt. "Oh, I just felt like making it; you seemed down lately, so I thought I'd try and cheer you up."

Luke was touched by the truthfulness he could sense in her words, but he still felt like there was more to it. Cautiously, he poured the two of them a glass of cambylictus juice while Jeza forked a uxibeast steak onto each of their plates in silence. They each got their own portion of the salad and settled into a comfortable silence only broken by the chink of silverware on the plates.

Well...it would have been comfortable if Luke hadn't been able to sense Jeza's growing anxiety. It seemed there was something that she wanted to ask; she was just weary of asking about it.

Curious...

Jeza gave a small sigh, signaling she was reading to speak. "Father..."

Inside, Luke winced. "Jeza, you know how I feel about that."

He could practically hear her rolling her eyes on instinct. "You've treated me just like a father would these past few years; better even in some cases. To me, you are my father."

Well, he couldn't really argue with that. She was getting better at arguing this point. Knowing he'd lose this particular battle, he smiled to himself. "You're going to make me feel older than I am."

Jeza laughed softly, but it was brief. Oh yes, whatever she wanted to ask him was something she knew was tumultuous territory with him. It was probably wise to prepare himself now and be ready to calm himself before he answered.

"We're getting low on uxibeast..." she said slowly, and Luke instantly knew what this was all about.

"Jeza—" he started, but she cut him off and spoke in a rush to get it all out before he could continue.

"I know you don't like me hunting them on my own but I can handle myself, you know I can!" she plead.

"The last time you said that you were nearly killed by manka cats," Luke said gravely, holding her deep blue gaze with his own Corellian blue one.

"But I wasn't," she argued back.

"Because I sensed you were in danger and managed to intervene before they could," he pointed out calmly.

"Yes, but I was able to hold them off until then," she shot back. "I know you worry about me, but you can't protect me from everything, and I need to be allowed to do things on my own! I'm sixteen, I'm perfectly capable of handling myself. Yes I tend to find myself crossing paths with danger, but that doesn't mean I have to be holed up in this house my entire life!"

Luke set his fork down, leaning back in his chair and silently studying Jeza from across the table. He knew he couldn't protect her from everything, but he could sure as Force try. He'd made a promise to her guardian Denna, and considering the nature of that promise he was going to protect her to the death and beyond.

Cleanse yourself; take care of Jeza.

At the same time...he knew what she was talking about. He was painfully reminded of similar arguments with Uncle Owen about joining the Academy, and once he was able to see things from her point of view, he just couldn't help but relent a little.

He sighed, turning back to his meal. "Make sure you have the vibroblade on you, not just your bow and arrows...Force, take my lightsaber with you; but be careful."

Jeza seemed stunned for a moment by how abruptly he changed his mind. "You're...you're sure? I can go alone?"

Luke raised his eyebrows in mild surprise at her. "You act like I keep you locked in here and held against your will."

Jeza gave him a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, I don't mean too, it's just...sometimes you get a little too overprotective."

Luke smiled a little to himself, pushing around a scrap of lettuce absently. "I'm sorry if I do get like that sometimes...I can't help it after what I've been through. It's become a little bit of a...second nature to keep the ones I care about close. I might have inherited the overprotectiveness from my father; I wouldn't be surprised," he said with a small smile.

Jeza returned the tiny smile with a rather wide one. "I promise I won't be long tomorrow. I'll go out early so I can get to the uxibeasts before the manka cats."

"If you get into any trouble you know how to contact me," Luke said sternly.

Jeza stood, empty plate and silverware in hand. "Yes, I do; thank you so much Father."

Once again, Luke winced inwardly. One would think that after five years that particular word wouldn't bother him, but yet it had continued to make him uncomfortable. It was hard to accept Jeza calling him Father when Luke had been the one to slaughter her parents while they slept. The only reason Jeza wasn't dead was because there was no sign of a child due to the fact her parents had cleaned up all of her toys and possessions before they'd taken a nap together on the couch. It just felt wrong for Jeza to call him Father when her parents' blood was on his hands, but she was persistent and insistent. Eventually, he'd learned to stop asking her not to call him Father, though occasionally he did protest.

As Jeza cleaned her dishes in their medium sized bucket that acted as a sink, Luke finished up his dinner in silence as he had done the past three weeks. He knew Jeza was secretly worried about his sudden silence, but he wasn't very talkative with his recent nightmares…

"Have you done your exercises for the day?" Luke asked suddenly as he stood up from the table. Jeza actually did some of the rigorous Jedi routines that Luke had to do in his youth, and she did them willingly to stay fit enough to at least try to keep up with Luke. He'd also trained her in hand-to-hand combat, Djem-So (to the best of her abilities), marksmanship (the best they could do without blasters), and meditation. She also understood the workings of the Force far more than a normal non-Force Sensitive being did, as she had expressed an interest in the topic early on and had made it clear to Luke that she wanted to know as much as possible to understand how he saw the world.

Jeza nodded, placing the dishes aside to dry as Luke took the position at their makeshift sink to do his own dishes. "All but my end-of-day routine in the training room. I decided to do that after dinner," she admitted. Luke nodded.

"That's fine. I'm just going to do a meditative session before I head to bed for the night. I've had a lot on my mind recently," Luke said conversationally.

"I've noticed," Jeza quipped, and Luke could feel the youth's probing eyes on him. He sighed, knowing she was hoping for an explanation.

"I just haven't been sleeping well recently. The nightmares are getting worse…" he mumbled with a frown. He was starting to worry that they weren't nightmares, but rather visions. But that wasn't the only thing that was on his mind. "Also…my father's lifeday is tomorrow…He's going to be fifty-two…"

"Oh," Jeza said softly, and silence fell once again. Jeza squeezed Luke's shoulder gently before she left the room, giving him the much needed space he often needed around his family's lifedays, and the anniversary of his exile. He stayed standing at the bucket for several long moments before he finally shook himself out of his mournful trance enough to leave the small kitchen, dump out the dirty water outside, replace the bucket, and situate himself in front of the fireplace, his legs crossed and back completely straight.

He took several calming breaths, watching the flames cavort in front of him in an intricate dance as his breathing evened out into a steady, deep rhythm. His eyelids fluttered closed and his senses expanded to where he could sense Jeza in the training room as well as millions of lifeforms around them in the forest ranging from microscopic insects to grazing kybucks

Luke let himself ease into the waves of the light side of the Force, basking in the peace and serenity that it offered him. Part of his brain seemed to trick itself into believing he was asleep, though truthfully he had just finally reached his center. Hesitantly, Luke tried to stretch out in the Force farther than the reaches of Xenon in the futile hope that he would be able to reach one of his loved ones that he hadn't seen in over five years. Of course, they were most likely in the Deep Core while he was in the Unknown Regions, but still…

Outside their serene world, Luke could sense the Galaxy in a tumult. Of course, he didn't know how far he had reached, but he could definitely sense the unrest in the Force that suggested such events. He frowned, trying to sharpen his focus so that he could sense individual, familiar presences. His excitement was aroused when he did sense a familiar presence, though it was faint and oh so far away from him. He couldn't tell who it was, but he knew that they invoked a feeling of warmth inside of him, and he saw green…and felt a sigh leak out of him as feather-soft lips pressed upon his own…

Luke…

"Luke."

Luke opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was that the fire had long since died down to smoldering embers in front of him. The second thing was Jeza's gentle hand upon his shoulder. He blinked owlishly, coming back down to reality to see Jeza smiling at him.

"It's getting really late; I'm headed to bed, and I think you should too," she said softly. Luke reached up and clasped the hand that rested on his shoulder in his hand.

"All right, I'm right behind you; I'll just put this fire out first," Luke told her. Jeza leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"Goodnight Father; get some rest."

"I will. Goodnight Jeza…"

He watched the sixteen year old disappear upstairs, his mind wandering back to their first year together on Xenon. It hadn't been in a wooden cabin, but in a cave until he'd been able to get a roof over their heads. He didn't live in the remains of the village for obvious reasons; too many ghosts, and too many horrible memories for both of them. In fact, the village was actually quite a ways away from their current abode for a reason. He did, however, eventually find it in himself to return to the village to scavenge supplies all the time. For a while, Luke had slept on the cold stone floor of the said cave with nothing else, giving Jeza the blanket and the pillows they had to form a bed of sorts. Once they had the cabin, he'd slept on the floor by the fire while Jeza had been given their solitary couch; there just wasn't room for more than that at the time. At least by then he'd been gifted with a pillow or two, as well as a threadbare blanket. Now, thankfully, that rough first year was past them. They had a second story to the cabin that consisted of two rooms for the both of them, and each had the needed amounts of pillows and blankets, as well as a bed for themselves. They lived in relative comfort with what they needed to survive, and whenever they were lacking in something he made sure that it was only himself that was missing something, never Jeza.

With a sigh, Luke put out the fire, making sure that every ember had died before he made his way up the narrow stairs to his own loft bedroom. He could hear the creak of Jeza's bed as she shifted in place when he passed her room and smiled slightly to himself. The creak drove her insane, but it was nowhere near as unstable as Luke's bed was.

She didn't know that, of course. If she found out, Luke would never hear the end of it.

Luke muffled a yawn, stretching momentarily before he got shrugged off his shirt and got situated on his bed, ignoring the creak that he had grown practically oblivious to as he shifted under the covers. Exhaustion seeped through his bones while his eyelids fluttered closed, and he was so tired he didn't even notice the Force reaching out towards him as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Luke was surrounded by darkness, moving slowly as if he was walking underwater. He was certain that if he kept walking, he would eventually find what he was looking for.

What was he looking for?

"Luke…"

"Luke…"

Two different voices called out to him in the darkness, though their voices were warped with the underwater effect and they both came from opposite directions. Luke spun on his heel, eyes searching from side to side as he tried to locate one of the sources. He knew those voices, both of them; they were imprinted on his soul.

"Come here…"

"Come here…"

"Luke…"

"Luke…"

"Where are you?" he tried to call, but he was choked out as he suddenly felt as if he was drowning.

"Luke! Help me, please!"

"Luke! Help me, please!"

He tried to call out to them, but the water rushed into his lungs, preventing him from speaking. He thrashed for air desperately, trying to find the surface that would lead him to life-sustaining oxygen and, hopefully, the two that needed his help.

The two voices let lose eardrum-rupturing screams that were abruptly cut short the same moment that Luke reached upward in a desperate attempt to reach the surface. His head was pounding from the lack of air as he fingers stretched to try and find the surface. He wasn't going to make it, he didn't have enough air, enough time...

A strong hand grabbed his outstretched fingers, pulling him up and out of the darkness that had come so close to drowning him. He coughed violently, gasping in air like a beached fish, clinging to the strangers hand blindly in the dark as he was lifted to the surface.

He just wished it wasn't so cold...he felt like he was back in the blizzard on Hoth, with the wind cutting not only to the bone, but to his very soul. Light gradually started to fill the blackness, and Luke could see he was still dangling precariously over a cliffs ledge, a stranger's hand the only thing keeping him from falling back into the inky depths that had almost claimed his life. He closed his eyes before he realized that the strangers hand was warm and slick. For a moment, he panicked, thinking that he would slip and fall to his death as he looked sharply upwards.

The first thing he noticed was that the stranger's hands were slick with blood, and Luke had the sickening feeling he knew whose blood it was. Raising his eyes higher, Luke saw burning golden eyes that struck fear into his very soul; but not fear for himself. Unable to tear his eyes from the golden eyes, Luke saw nothing else as a man's laughter echoed around Luke, echoed by the agonized screams of...

"Not them! No!"

"Father!"

Luke jerked awake, held down by Jeza's firm grasp on his arms while she straddled him to keep him from hurting himself. He was covered in a sheen of cool sweat, the blanket no longer on him but lying in a tangled heap on the floor. Jeza's deep blue eyes stared down at him in concern as he slowly came back to reality, his heavy breathing gradually evening out.

"What happened?" Jeza asked, sounding somewhat shaken. "I heard you yell and when I came in you were thrashing around like you were possessed!"

Jeza finally let go of him and he leaned his head back with a groan, burying his face in his hands. "I-I'm sorry I woke you...it was nothing, just...just a bad dream..."

Jeza sighed, swinging off of him. "I doubt that...Father, these dreams just keep getting worse. I don't think that it's nothing anymore."

Luke pulled his hands away from his face to fix her with a gaze he knew was haunted as he spoke in the barest of whispers. "For the sake of my sanity, let us please pretend that these nightmares are nothing more than that; nightmares. Considering we're stranded here...I can't bear the thought of them being...premonitions...while I'm unable to do anything. So please...let's just leave it as a simple nightmare."

Jeza pursed her lips, but nodded in consent. "Okay...but I'm sleeping in here with you tonight, for your sake."

Luke couldn't help the fact his eyebrows rose a little at the request. "No, you go back to your room and get some rest; you have to get up earlier than me tomorrow. I'm sorry I woke you, but I'll be fine for the rest of the night."

Jeza rolled her eyes. "Nope, I'm staying in here with you tonight. Just in case you have another...nightmare...and you need someone to snap you out of it."

Luke sighed, too tired to argue with her much more. "All right, fine..." he mumbled, worming over to the other side of the bed while Jeza picked the blanket up off of the floor. She grimaced at all the creaking that the bed made.

"I hate how loud this thing is; it's worse than mine," she whined softly, lying down on the free space that Luke had created and throwing the blanket over the two of them.

Luke shimmied towards her, hooking an arm around her midriff and pulling her close like she was once again the scared eleven, twelve year old waking up from a nightmare about him, yet still seeking him out for comfort. Those nights...had shamed and humbled him while at the same time they had warmed his heart and brought him closer to his young charge and adoptive daughter. The two of them situated into their routine positions, and soon they were listening to each other's breathing even as they both slowly drifted back to sleep.

Luke's last thought before unconsciousness took him?

At least I can protect Jeza from the fate I see in my nightmares. I will never let anyone touch her. Not while I'm still breathing.