Jacen arrived at the Taat nest about a month after the others had first gotten there. For as many comments as Jaina gave him about being more than a little tardy in answering a call for help, she was elated to see her twin for the first time since the end of the Vong war. It was just too bad it wasn't under better circumstances.

The call through the Force had taken eight of the surviving nine Jedi from the mission to Myrkr from their assignments. The only one missing was Tenel Ka, who was probably busy with her duties on Hapes, though Jaina couldn't help feeling like they could have used her. The one who sent the call turned out to be none other than Raynar Thul, which had been more than a little surprising. Raynar had been lost at Myrkr, believed dead when the ship he'd been on had been stolen by Dark Jedi trying to escape the worldship and then shot down, thus losing them any chance to save Anakin after the injuries he'd sustained. Raynar had been badly burned and was unrecognizable, but he was alive and well and now leading the entire insectoid Killik species as their Prime.

Jaina would have thought that her childhood friend leading a race of bugs was strange, and it was, at first. After enough time at the nest, though, it began to make more sense. The sometimes two-meter high insects were incredibly hospitable, and not only because they needed the help of the Jedi in their border dispute against the Chiss, who kept attacking them. They needed help defending their way of life. And as Jedi, when they were asked for help to protect innocents against the kind of slaughter that awaited them, especially if this conflict led to war, Jaina figured they couldn't do anything but help.

And if, after a while, the Killiks had begun to read thoughts right out of their heads, well... That got much less strange over time, too.

Two months into their stay, the Jedi were still defending the planet in their StealthX fighters against the Chiss attacks. During one of the skirmishes over Qoribu, things had gone very wrong. Lowbacca had been forced to go extravehicular and was left floating in space, they'd nearly lost a couple of Jedi, and they'd had to return to the moon somewhere around the time that the Jade Shadow had come under some kind of attack. While no one doubted that Luke and Mara would be fine, the assistance of the Millennium Falcon also meant that not only had they come to collect their rogue Jedi, but they were going to be determined about it.

The Jedi stood outside their fighters, still in their flightsuits, waiting for the Shadow to power down. Mara really was taking her sweet time about it, which Jaina knew was intended to make them nervous, but that wasn't going to happen. Not for her, at least. Tesar and Zekk clearly felt a bit guilty, but she didn't figure they had to apologize for helping prevent a crisis. When the boarding ramp finally lowered, and Mara stepped out...

...the intimidating effect was ruined immediately by eight-year-old Ben running down the ramp and straight at Jaina to throw himself at her in a hug. To be fair, it ruined the defiance Jaina had had going, because she laughed and hugged him back. She couldn't help it, she loved the kid. "Nice to see you, too, Ben," she said, looking him over. "You've grown." At least he wasn't taller than her. Yet.

"It's been a whole year," he pointed out, and added, "Boy, are you guys in trouble!"

Jaina smiled again and nodded, "I imagine we are."

"Well, I hope they don't take away your lightsaber or anything."

If that was what they were planning, she would love to see them try. Ben didn't seem to notice that little challenge from her, though, instead focusing on Jacen and looking confused.

Jacen, however, smiled and put his hand out for Ben to shake. "Hello, Ben. I'm your cousin Jacen."

"I know you," said Ben, and as he reached to shake Jacen's hand, something in Jaina's stomach twisted. She'd certainly never forgotten what had happened in the timeline of Fandom's Ben, but it hadn't been a pressing concern. Even as Jacen had become more accessible to her through the Force over time, he'd been gone for five years. If he wasn't around, there was nothing to worry about. And now Jaina had the feeling that she was witnessing the beginning of a countdown to the end there: five years to go. She put it aside, telling herself to keep her mind on the problem happening now, and Ben continued, "You went away when I was two. Did you find it?"

It was probably a strange question to most people, but Jacen understood what he meant. "Some of it."

"So you're going back?" Despite just meeting him, Ben looked disappointed at the prospect.

"No," Jacen said, and even though Jaina was worried about this meeting, and even though she'd asked Jacen this same question herself, it was still a relief to hear the answer. "What I haven't found, I doubt I ever will."

Ben nodded, accepting this, and looked back to where the Falcon was lowering its ramp. "I have to go, but we can talk later."

"Yes," Jacen said. "I'll look forward to that."

When Ben left with his nanny droid to the ship, it just left the Jedi and Mara, who stared at them in silence. She was pretty clearly here to be bad cop, and Jaina wasn't putting up with it. Not only that, but there was a part of her that couldn't help but think now that she might only have a matter of years left with her aunt, and so Mara's scrutiny was met with Jaina stepping forward to give her a hug. "This is a surprise," Jaina said.

It was a good cue for her parents to step off the Falcon with C-3PO and Tesar's mother, Saba. "I'm sure," Leia replied. "Raynar didn't make it easy for us to find you." And there was definitely a look of thanks Leia gave to Jacen, but none of the young Jedi reacted. It made sense that Jacen would lead them to their location.

"Raynar is afraid you'll try to take us back," Tahiri explained. "And isn't that why you've come?"

"It's good to see you, too, kid. What do you say we let Luke answer that and just say hello?" Han said.

Tahiri smiled, a little sheepishly. "Sorry- we were kind of in the middle of something," she said. She'd spent the last five years on Zonama Sekot, and despite all the time and distance it was nice to see that she could still greet Han with a hug. Even if now her hug meant an inclusion of rubbing her forearms across his back. "It is good to see you, Han."

Han didn't seem to like that sort of hug too much, but no attention was drawn to it as any reunion like this was going to end up in hugs. There'd been too much time spent in war, too much time losing people for it not to come down to that, even if it meant that Mara's bad cop routine was entirely shot to hell. Han and Leia spent the most time with the twins, saying things like "You have a lot of explaining to do," and "We'll talk about this later," and "You're grounded till you're fifty." Jaina was okay with letting everyone say hello and exchange pleasantries, especially since this was the first time Han and Leia had seen their son since he left after the war. They deserved the time.

But at the same time, there were things that had to be done, and as de facto leader of the strike team here, she was the one who brought things back to the subject at hand. "So what are you doing here? Without us, I didn't think the council would have any Jedi to..."

She trailed off as she really looked at Luke, noticing just how bad he really looked. "What's wrong?" she asked, instantly worried. Or maybe the older group wasn't here to drag them back. "Are you sick?"

"I'm fine," Luke assured her. "Just a little worn. We came to, um, talk about what's going on here."

If Luke said he was fine, he was fine, and they all knew that. It probably had to do with whatever happened out there on the Shadow. Maybe he'd just overextended himself. There was a flood of relief through the Force, but Mara took the opportunity to get stern on them again. "You've let down the entire order," she chided. "Losing one of you would have been bad enough, but there's no way we could fill the holes left by all five of you."

Nope, Jaina still wasn't having it. "Then how could the order spare four Jedi to come 'talk' to us?"

"The council felt the situation warranted it," Luke said. "And now the order is short nine Jedi."

"Situation, Master Skywalker?" Tesar asked. "Has something happened?"

"You first," Mara pressed. "What, exactly, are you doing here?"

The young Jedi went silent, deciding amongst themselves who would speak. They did this a lot now. They'd learned the battle meld for Myrkr, they used it in battle here, and it was somehow even easier now to slip into it. It was Alema who stepped forward, explaining, "We're trying to prevent a war. Isn't that what Jedi are supposed to do?"

Luke didn't take the bait. "Go on."

Zekk took up the conversation automatically. "You know about the call we'd all been feeling..."

"It wasn't something we could ignore, especially at the last," Tahiri continued.

"We had to come," Tesar said, and looked to Saba. "It was like the Mating Call. We could think of nothing else until it was answered."

They didn't even realize they spoke like that. It was just completely normal now.

"That explains why you came," Leia said. "It doesn't explain what you're doing."

A chest-high (well, chest-high to some people) Killik wandered over, rubbing her antennae across Jaina's arm and making a deep throaty noise to communicate, which Threepio translated as, "She says the StealthXs are fed and rested."

"Fueled and armed," Jaina corrected, running her arm back down the Killik's antennae in a familiar gesture. "Thanks. We'll be leaving shortly."

"Lowie had to go EV," Zekk told the others. "We're getting ready to bring him back."

Mara looked at Jaina, clearly understanding who was in charge here, and said, "Nobody's going anywhere. Not until we have some answers. Things are too far out of control."

Not happening. Jaina had had to go EV before. She'd been lucky enough to get knocked out pretty quick, but she knew what it was like. It was absolutely terrifying, and you didn't know if or when anyone was coming for you, and you were on limited supplies, and she was not going to leave her friend. "I'm sorry, but I'm not leaving Lowie out there another minute-"

"Lowbacca has dropped into a Force-hibernation," Luke interrupted. His eyes were half closed, his chin raised. "He's safe for now."

On one hand, that was smart of Lowie, and she was glad for it. On the other, she wanted to go out there and rescue him now, but she knew better than to doubt Luke.

"The sooner we get those answers, kid, the sooner we get to Lowbacca," Han said, trying to be assuring.

Jaina exchanged looks with the others, and they all agreed. If they were going to be allowed to do what was needed, they were going to have to show why. "Fine," she said, nodding. "You want to see what this is about, come with us."

So she and the other young Jedi Knights showed them around. They showed them the infirmary, assured them that Chiss prisoners were welcome to leave anytime they wanted but usually ended up staying with the Nest as Joiners, and then showed them the nesting site. There, the problems that the Jedi were describing became apparent in just watching the Killiks eat. Han had seemed completely freaked out by all of this, but he'd never been much for insects, and he was probably just worried that they were all becoming Joiners just by being here. Jaina was sure that this should help the others see reason, and that they were trying to save a species, not cause more damage.

"It does explain why the Chiss captives are starving," Mara agreed. "Without larvae, the prisoners can't eat."

"You make it sound like an accident, and it's not," said Zekk, not taking that statement as a hopeful sign. "The Chiss are trying to starve all of the Qoribu nests into leaving."

"But they can't leave," Alema chimed in. "Even if they had someplace to go, each nest would need a vessel the size of a Star Destroyer, and it would take months to prepare. They'd have to build a whole new nest inside the ship."

"That's not the answer, anyway," Jaina said. "This isn't Chiss space. The Killiks are innocent victims here."

"Victims, possibly," Mara said. "But hardly innocent."

Jaina bit down on her irritation, saying, "You don't know the situation. This system-"

"I know that on the way in here, the Shadow was jumped by Killiks," Mara said.

"The trouble you had on the way in?" Jacen asked, completely calm despite the anger flowing through the meld. He tended to do that. "I've been wondering about that."

"So have we," Han said dryly.

"And you think it was Killikz?" Tesar asked.

"We know what a dartship lookz like," Saba said. "But these were better than the craft that met us at Lizil. These were powered by hydrogen rocketz."

"Hydrogen? That can't be right," Zekk responded.

The group exchanged glances, and Jaina took up speaking for them again. "We've been trying to get them to convert to hydrogen rockets, but they produce the methane themselves."

"What are you saying?" Leia asked. "That those weren't Killik dartships attacking the Shadow? Or that we're making this up?"

There was no good way to say this. "We're saying none of this makes sense," said Tahiri after a moment. "The Kind wouldn't attack you, you wouldn't lie, none of the Kind nests have hydrogen rockets-"

"And those blast craters in my hull armor didn't get there by themselves," Mara finished. "Do you think maybe you're wrong about these insects?"

The question was directed at Jaina. "That's just not possible," she said, and motioned a passing Killik over. There was one way to possibly solve this. "Our friends were attacked by a swarm of flying hydrogen rockets. Are any of the nests-"

The Killik answered with a thumping sound resonating from its chest, which Threepio translated. ""She claims it was the Chiss, pretending to be Kind. They're trying to make the Protectors leave."

"It wasn't Chiss," Mara said. "I could see the pilots. They were insects."

"There are a lot of space-faring insects in the galaxy. The Chiss could have hired some," Threepio said, again translating for the Killik.

"These were Killiks," Luke said. "We're not mistaken."

The Killik's response was louder, and Threepio asked, "She asks if there's anything you will believe?" C-3PO translated.

"The truth," Mara answered.

With a short reply, the Killik dropped to all six legs and scurried down the hall. That might not need explanation, but Threepio gave it anyway. "She said she doesn't know the truth. And she sees no reason to think of one, since you won't believe it anyway."

"We've seen enough," Luke told Jaina. "Take us back to the hangar."

"Not yet," Jaina protested. "You still don't understand-"

Luke looked to Mara and Saba and said, "We understand all we need to. The situation here is as confused as it is volatile, and your team has lost the neutrality required of Jedi Knights. The Masters ask for your return to Coruscant."

He should have known better than to give Jaina an opening like that. "Is it our neutrality the council is worried about- or the Galactic Alliance's relationship with the Chiss?" It wasn't that she ordinarily had anything against the Chiss. She'd served with them in the Yuuzhan Vong war, commanded half a dozen of them in Twin Suns, even visited Chiss space. But they were in the wrong here.

"At the moment, it's you we're worried about," Luke said, not unkindly. "Any Jedi should recognize the importance of maintaining good relations with the Chiss. The sectors they patrol for us along the border are the only ones free of piracy and smuggling."

"The Jedi are not servants of the Galactic Alliance," Alema countered.

"No, we aren't," Luke agreed. It was actually a problem with the Gallactic Alliance that the Jedi were trying to fix. And as the Killiks began to gather, climbing the walls and ceiling to see what was happening, he went on, "But a peaceful Galactic Alliance is the strongest pillar of a peaceful galaxy. And the Jedi do serve peace. If the Reconstruction fails and the Galactic Alliance sinks into anarchy, so does the galaxy. The Jedi will have failed."

"What happened to defending the weak?" Zekk demanded. "To sacrificing for the poor?"

"Those are worthy virtues," Luke said. "But they won't stop the galaxy from sinking into chaos. They aren't the duties of a Jedi Knight."

"So we abandon the Killiks for the good of the rehab conglomerates snapping up our part of the galaxy?" Jaina demanded. "Isn't that how Pal-"

"Don't say it!" Mara snapped, before Jaina could even finish saying the name. Even the Killiks watching the scene on the ground shrank back. "It's bad enough to desert your posts and make us come out here looking for you. Don't you dare make that comparison. Some things I won't tolerate even from you, Jaina Solo."

Jaina often thought she couldn't be intimidated, period. An angry Mara could manage it. For a moment she just stood there, her eyes wide in shock, clicking from her throat as she figured out which way to go with her reply. She could stand down, drop her point, or she could shoot back some angry retort that would make everything worse because she fully knew her aunt was serious. She went with the first option. "That was a thoughtless thing for me to say. I didn't mean to suggest that Uncle Luke was anything like the Emperor."

Mara seemed to take that better than she would have the alternative. "I'm glad to hear it."

"And we're not going to abandon the Killiks." Luke glanced up as the Killiks thrummed their approval, then looked to the rest of the strike team. "But I'm worried about you- all of you."

"You've lost your objectivity and you've taken sides," Mara continued. "You're openly fighting on the Killiks' side- and that means you have no chance at all of solving the problem."

"Frankly, you're half Joiners now," Luke said, though hearing that didn't cause any reaction for Jaina. "I think you should to return to Coruscant with us at once. All of you."

The Killiks didn't like hearing that. Besides the telltale scent of an alarm pheromone suddenly filling the air, it got incredibly noisy. The older Jedi immediately put their hands to their weapons, but Luke stayed calm, waiting until the outraged panic from the Killiks died down so that he could be heard again. "We saw what became of Raynar, and the order just can't afford to lose any Jedi Knights right now."

"What about the Killiks?" Tahiri asked. "Without us here, the Chiss will have a free rein to-"

"This one will stay," Saba volunteered. "Until Master Skywalker can arrange to speak with Aristocra Tswek, she will let the Chisz know the Jedi are still watching."

"Alone?" Tesar asked.

Saba nodded. "Alone."

Tesar grinned, then thumped his tail on the floor and bumped skulls with his mother. "Good hunting."

Mara looked to Jaina. "And the rest of you?"

Jaina sighed loudly, but for some reason she decided to take a cue from Tesar, looking to Leia. "You've been awfully quiet, Mother."

"I'm not a Master," Leia reminded her.

"I know," Jaina said. "So what do you think?"

Even Leia looked shocked at that. "You're asking me what to do?" And it was a rarity for Jaina; she hadn't asked her mother's advice since... well, ever. She'd always just done what she wanted, and sometimes there'd be wisdom for Leia to impart after Jaina had screwed things up and taken her lumps.

"Don't look so surprised. I know how you and Dad feel about the Galactic Alliance. You're the only ones here who don't have an agenda."

"Oh, I have an agenda." Leia smiled. "Your father and I did come all the way out here to make sure you and Jacen are safe."

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Like that's going to happen. Just tell me what you think."

With that opening, Leia gave her an answer immediately, and honestly. "Jaina, I think you're just making the situation here worse."

"Worse?" Alema demanded. "What do you know? You've only been here-"

Jaina glanced at her, and immediately the Twi'lek went quiet again.

"Thank you," said Leia, apparently thinking nothing of this. "As I was saying, your presence is a provocation to the Chiss. They're only going to press harder, and you'll end up starting a war that might have been averted."

"Averted?" Tahiri asked. "How?"

"I don't know how- not yet," Leia admitted. "But I can tell you how it won't be averted: by destroying Chiss task forces. They'll just start sending bigger flotillas."

"They already have."

Jaina stopped the discussion, turning to the rest of her group and sharing unspoken communication, deciding what to do with this opinion on the table. Leia had a point, but they couldn't leave entirely. Jaina wouldn't have that. Understanding what the Jedi were thinking, the Killiks emitted a loud, singular boom of disappointment and began to disperse, as Jacen, Tesar and Tahiri started up the hall. "We'll go," said Tahiri.

"So will Tekli," Tesar added.

"That's half," Mara said, raising her brow to Jaina and the remaining two. "What about you three?"

"We four," Jaina corrected. "You forgot to count Lowbacca."

*****

Unfortunately, the plan to rescue Lowie didn't go as planned. This was partly Jaina's fault for deciding to try some insubordination on for size and going against Saba's orders, which led to Lowbacca getting picked up by the Chiss. Specifically, Jagged Fel. And when an attack on Saba at the Taat nest forced the others to leave, Jaina and Zekk resolutely refused to leave until they'd rescued their friend.

So once Alema had left with Han and Leia aboard the Falcon, it was just Jaina and Zekk among the Taat nest. They'd kept the meld open through the Force as much as possible. They both knew the danger of becoming Joiners, of becoming part of the Colony and never leaving. While there was no denying the influence the Colony had on them just by being here (the previous night at the Dawn Rumble had proved that, and while ultimately nothing happened between them, that didn't mean Jaina was ever talking about it), the meld gave them both a safe place to be themselves, in a way, away from the Killiks. Sure, it meant shared thoughts and feelings and that was rough (again, back to last night, knowing your best friend felt the way he did about you was not exactly comfortable), but it helped.

At least for a while.

By the time they learned that Raynar was planning to attack the Chiss, the Colony had a pretty good hold over Jaina and Zekk. Her first instinct when she found out about the impending attack was to want to warn the Chiss, but Raynar had essentially told her to sit down and shut up and it was completely impossible to go against that. Instead, she and Zekk sat watching the dartships assemble into the sky, thinking through the Taat mind.

It makes us proud, Zekk said wordlessly. No other species could mount such an operation.

The Chiss will be surprised, Jaina agreed. Which she, as Jaina, knew that was a bad thing. The Killiks were going to ambush their enemy, and fire the opening shots on a war that she herself had been determined to prevent. As a Jedi, she was supposed to keep fighting to prevent it. But she wasn't in control now. Raynar wanted this to happen.

They will pay a terrible price.

Good.

Good.

And when the freighter supposedly carrying a surprise for the Chiss, information she got from the nest just by positing a question via thought, it piqued something in her again. That freighter should alarm us, Jaina said to Zekk. It can only make war more likely.

It's too late to stop the war, Zekk replied. But we should try.

Jaina started to get up, but all of a sudden she just didn't want to anymore. She was too tired, and so she sat down, thinking, Maybe later.

"Yeah," Zekk answered aloud, then added, We'd rather sit here.

Jaina knew this was wrong. This wasn't what she was supposed to be doing. And yet, just as when Raynar made her physically turn around and not stop his plan earlier, she had no inclination to stop the wrong from happening. It was lucky for her that there was someone else. Namely someone very far from Qoribu, a certain twin who always managed to get through to her when he wanted to. There were no words, as they'd never been able to communicate verbally from this distance, but she knew he was urging her on, telling her to fight back, because she was Jaina and that was what she did.

She stood.

Where are you going? Zekk asked. It doesn't feel like you need the refresher.

When she had more of herself together, Jaina would find that ridiculously creepy. Some things should remain private. But for now, she had to focus on being her, and shaking off the effects of the nest. "Get out of our- my- mind," Jaina told Zekk.

'Our.' Yeah, she was in trouble.

Jacen walked her through it. He reminded her of Myrkr, of Lomi Plo and Welk, the Dark Jedi who'd kidnapped Raynar and crashed their only means of escape, thus ensuring Anakin's death. And now they were controlling her. She didn't understand. She remembered through the Taat mind that they had both died in the crash, but Jacen didn't let go of it, forcing her to see what he knew to be the truth: that Lomi and Welk, who'd all but killed her little brother themselves, were really in charge of the nest.

Jaina had always been an emotional person. Maybe it went against the Jedi way, but that was just the way she was. And it so happened that anger was the emotion she focused on most.

And right now, she was angry.

At Myrkr, she'd succumbed to the dark side, killing a Yuuzhan Vong in cold blood with Force lightning for threatening to desecrate Anakin's body. She felt much the same right now. She wanted to give in to that black rage. She wanted to find Lomi and Welk. She wanted them dead. She wanted to be the one to do it and she wanted to make sure they suffered.

But she couldn't yet. First, she had to stop the attack from happening. She had a job to do here. She could get her vengeance on later, after she stopped a war. So she started toward the hangar.

"Where are you going?" Zekk asked from his bench. "We can't do anything. It's too late."

Jaina opened the meld again, sending him some of that anger that she was using to anchor herself to who she was. He'd fallen once, too, he'd be able to get a grip on that emotion to pull him out of this. He'd even worked with Lomi and Welk when he'd turned. He would understand. I won't surrender to them. I'm going to stop this war.

It seemed to click in his head, too. She could see him get mad, and then he slammed his palms down and stood. "I'm with you," he said, catching up to her. "How are we going to do this?"

The plan began with them getting to their StealthX fighters. After that, away from the Colony, she would come up with something. Otherwise it'd be shot down before they could manage to put it into place. The problem was, even that much information read by the Taat nest meant that they had to fight through Killiks that suddenly all seemed to be going the same way they did. Add to this the fact that the Colony was trying to make them doubt themselves, to make it harder to move and breathe and dampen down their determination to get to the hangar, and it felt impossible. When she started to panic, Jaina would think of her little brother, and that need to find the Dark Jedi and make them pay would help for a little while, till more Killiks arrived to impede their progress. Even she wasn't stubborn enough to battle the will of trillions of beings working against her.

She was going about this wrong. Hate wasn't going to get her anywhere. She needed to go the opposite direction instead.

Jaina buried that thought deep inside her, in that part of her that was still just Jaina, and told Zekk, Keep trying. Don't stop, no matter what.

Never! he assured her.

Good.

And Jaina stopped fighting the Killiks, letting the tide of them push her away from the hangar. Zekk had not been expecting that. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"The barracks," Jaina said. "I'm giving up." Oh, it killed her to say that.

"What!"

"I'm not as strong as you." It killed her to say that more, but he'd keep fighting if he thought she thought he could do it. And she needed him to keep fighting to get through. "I'll see you later."

Once she went along with the Killiks, she didn't have to do much fighting anymore. By the time she got back to the barracks, she was alone. And she couldn't help but think about what just happened, how they seamlessly worked together to stop those who wanted to stop them, who might even harm the Colony, and she found it amazing. Maybe war wouldn't be so bad, at least not if Taat won.

She was okay with that. Jaina knew that meant she had to be a Joiner now. She was okay with that, too.

She gave in to the Taat nest, assured it that she would remain right here until UnuThul called for her, And then when her mind felt quiet, and she knew they weren't trying to keep her with them, she let herself think of Jag. She kept her focus on him, slowing her breathing and going into a near-meditative state, remembering how she'd felt about him- maybe still did a little, who knew- and then turned toward where she thought the Chiss staging area would be.

Touching a mind through the Force wasn't hard. Jag wasn't Force-sensitive at all, but she knew how to reach him. They'd even made it part of training in Twin Suns. All she had to do was alert him to the fact that she was here, and he was smart enough to figure out the rest. Once she found him, she directed a challenge at him: Come get me, lover boy. If you can. He wouldn't understand the words, but he'd get the gist of it.

Oh, he got that. She could feel his surprise, and then his anger as he realized it was her. It was bad timing for her to be playing with him like that-

And he got that, too. Jag knew exactly why she was reaching out to him now. As soon as he realized that, she couldn't feel him anymore, and she knew he'd do whatever had to be done to make sure the Killiks didn't succeed.

[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Dialogue from The Joiner King by Troy Denning. Sorry so freaking long omg, but at least I didn't do the whole book?]