Chapter Twenty Seven

Harry woke up, or thought he did, until he realized he couldn't feel anything physical, not the clothing on his body, not his chest moving up and down, nothing. And despite the fact that Harry knew his eyes were open he couldn't see anything at first. He found himself, or perhaps his mind standing in a sea of black. A starless sky, he thought after a moment, and endless space. Weird.

Concentrating, Harry could vaguely feel his body somewhere else healing, but he was almost disconnected from it for the moment, but not quite. It was very hard to describe. In the distance, far away from where he was floating Harry could feel something else too. Whatever it was sent a shiver through him, but he couldn't quite figure out where the feeling was coming from, just that it radiated danger and darkness.

But Harry couldn't concentrate on that for very long because closer at hand was something much more interesting. It was a small star in the dark, pulsing bright yellow and silver, warming him almost with its radiance. Almost unwillingly Harry found his steps moving in that direction, then he sped up his journey, eager to see what this star was. He was almost within reaching distance of it, a small pale yellow thing but warm and radiant for all of that when he heard a voice. "Harry?"

"Aayla?" He asked shocked, looking around wildly. "Is that you? Where are you?"

"I… think so, and I'm right in front of you I think? What do I look like to you Harry?" asked Aayla.

Harry blinked, then turned back to stare at the small star in shock. "You look like a yellow star with silver streaks, a small thing I could almost cup you in my hand I think only not quite. You're really warm though, like a small heater. What do I look like you?"

"You look like a star too, white with gold sparks, it's very pretty." Aayla replied, causing Harry to flush for some reason or at least feel like he should be, Harry didn't know if a person out of his body like this could blush. This was a very weird experience on many levels. Something Aayla understood all too well given her next question. "Where are we? Are we, are we seeing one another's minds or something? This is really freaky."

"I don't know, but I'm going to try something," Harry said. "I can picture myself in my own body or at least picture my body anyway here, which means I've got hands. So I'm going to try to touch you okay?"

Aayla replied affirmatively and a moment later Harry reached out hesitantly touching the bright star that represented his friend.

Suddenly they were face-to-face, standing in what Harry thought looked like Aayla's mental castle, a fortress ship the two of them had seen in the history texts a few weeks ago. Aayla had really liked the look of it, made of stone rather than steel, large on one end tapering to point it looked both pretty and tough which Aayla liked to think she was too.

That was as far as Harry got in his perusal of the environment before Aayla grabbed him in a hug fit to burst his ribs, something, he dimly realized he could actually feel here, whereas he still couldn't feel the stone of the floor beneath his feet. He immediately hugged her back, having gotten used to such things like this since meeting her. Having his mother and Aayla in his life had done wonders for both his self-esteem and his ability to return affection. "I was so worried!" She shouted.

For some reason though the words hit Harry's mind before her lips had finished forming them. This is so weird.

Shaking that thought off Harry pulled back slightly to look at the slightly shorter girl. "What about you Aayla? You were exhausted, I could tell."

"You were bleeding!" Aayla said poking him in the chest.

"So were you!" Harry exclaimed. For a moment, the two youngsters simply stared at one another, then began to laugh, shaking their heads and pulling away lightly.

"So," Aayla said looking around. "Any idea what's going on here? I mean this looks like how I've imagined my mind, but how did we both get here like this?"

"I think we're sort of seeing a side effect of you helping me with that final spell I did."

"Force power," Aayla said firmly poking Harry in the shoulder.

"Fine, Force power," Harry gave in, knowing it was pointless to argue. He still thought of them as spells, there just seemed something more directed about that word then simply saying Force power. "I think we're sort of stuck in your mind for now."

"You're stuck in my mind," Aayla said slowly, frowning a little. "Okay, I guess that makes sense?"

It didn't really, but frankly was the only explanation either of them could come up with for what was going on here, and there were worse place they could be stuck anyway.

"So," Aayla said after a moment. "Want me to show you around?"

"Sure," Harry said with a shrug seeing no reason not to simply look around his friend's mind. "It might be a good idea to test your defenses too, there have to be Dark Jedi or other people who might be able to get into your mind here."

Aayla cocked her head, frowning as she got more images and information from what Harry was just saying and implying than she ever had before about where Harry had come from. "You really are from another dimension aren't you?"

Harry nodded, cocking his head as he looked at the Twi'lek girl. "Yes, does that bother you?"

"Nope," Aayla said with a grin. "It just means a lot of things you can do make more sense." Harry smiled in relief and Aayla began to show Harry around.

While the exterior of Aayla's mental domain was that of the rock fortress, inside was a different story entirely. The outer edge of her mind was guarded by fake rock walls, interspersed with steel here and there, but as you entered her real mind behind these defenses those gave way to small caverns of different kinds of jungles and foliage. One was a simple rock pool another a jungle with treelike objects growing from the floor up to the ceiling. Still more were lined with books and other things, all of it somewhat haphazardly organized.

But given her age, Aayla mind showed an amazing amount of progress at a very difficult aspect of magic. Something neither she nor Harry understood really, because Lily had gone out of her way to not mention the fact that organizing one's mind like this was something very rarely done back home due to its difficulty.

Some of those rooms were where Aayla had begun to store her memories, though of course those were all around them for the most part zipping this way and that as Ayla thought of them as little birds until they were thoroughly categorized.

Coming around the corridor after Aayla Harry accidentally touched one of the flying bird-memories, and was transported from Aayla's mental domain into the memory. Aayla blinked as her friends astral form seemed to disappear into the bird he'd just picked up, then gasped and quickly reached out to touch it herself, disappearing after him.

"What have I told you, you foolish girl!" said a loud voice in Ryl, its tone harsh and grating. From the angle the memory showed them Harry couldn't make out the face of the speaker, only this vast green, fat bulk rising like a small hill in front of him. It was with horror that Harry realized he was in Aayla's body, which was currently spasming in pain from something.

The pain filled the memory, yet for some reason he didn't feel it. "You are not allowed outside, and if I see you pick up a data slate again, the pain of your punishment then will make this one look as nothing!"

Then the owner of that voice reached down with some kind of rod, touching it to Aayla's shoulder and she screamed in pain as it sent electrical current or something through her body. Harry growled, angry at what he was seeing sad for Aayla, grimly thankful that he had taken her away from that life. The beatings might not have been physical, but the pain Aayla went through was certainly a match for anything the Dursleys had ever done to him.

"Come on Harry," the present day Aayla said appearing next to him, taking his wrist gently. "Let's go. There's no point in dwelling on old memories like this, old memories can't hurt us anymore."

Harry turned to look at her and then found they were back in her mental domain, the girl having somehow pulled both of them out of that memory.

"I know that I suppose," Harry said, nodding his head. "But can't I feel sad for my friend that she went through that?"

"Of course," Aayla said with a smile, pulling him into a hug again before looking back at him seriously. "But you saved me from that life though, so you don't have to feel angry about it any longer okay?"

Harry nodded before impulsively taking her hand in his. "Do you want to see my mind?"

Aayla nodded, smiling as she squeezed his hand back, and suddenly they were on the outside of her mind, standing in the empty darkness that Aayla somehow instinctively knew was the Force of the universe, all around and within them. A second later however, they entered Harry's mind, with no transition between the two.

Harry didn't actually have a physical outer shell like Aayla did, or he did, but his was a small shield, literally a shield around the entire mental landscape. It looked like a planteray shield in size given the nature of his landscape.

Aayla however didn't notice the shield above them, simply staring around her in shock. She'd seen pictures of this place, but it was so inimical to human life that no one had ever really explored it. Taken pictures by remote-controlled camera, or come down for a few hours in specially designed suits yes, but actually explored it on foot? No. "Harry, is this where I think it is?"

"It's based off the night side of Ryloth." Harry replied, nodding. "I know it sounds strange, but when I woke up here, that first night and found that my mum was still with me, that was, it was just the second happiest moment in my life."

The first was when he realized his mother had loved him, and was staring down at him with that love in her eyes. There was no word in the human language or galactic standard to really describe that moment.

"I can understand that," Aayla said with a nod. "It was almost like when I first moved a pebble, I knew then that I would never be anyone's slave ever again. That I had a power inside me that I could rely on, and friends too!"

She smiled, squeezing Harry's hand, which she hadn't yet let go of.

Harry nodded in agreement, and then moved around his mindscape. He pointed at the crystals, each one containing memories, some of them made of darker crystal because of the memories they contained, others lighter. The lighter ones were small but numerous in comparison to the darker ones, and there were a few that were bright and shining so much they seemed to match the stars above. All in all it was a beautiful sight, though Aayla didn't spend much time looking at the crystals, at least at first.

Instead, she was interested in the fact Harry had imagined real monsters into being to defend his mind.

"The outer thoughts I don't mind people finding make up the shield, or right below the shield anyway," Harry said, haltingly as he tried to describe what he was talking about. "But if someone gets past them, pushes through my outer defenses to the real mindscape, then they are attacked as they come down towards the ground. And, the organization of my memories is randomized. The only way someone can find a single one they might be searching for is if they have me with them at the time."

"I'll start doing that too," Aayla said with a firm nod. "Randomize my memories, or just use an organization method that's only for me. That's a great idea Harry! But these monsters, show me one."

Harry did so, moving around a pile of light and dark mixed crystals, while Aayla wondered about those but did not reach out to touch them. Not yet. Harry was trusting her a lot to let her in like this. She wouldn't abuse his trust by diving into his memories without permission.

"That, that's a Lylek!" Aayla said stopping in her tracks and backing away, an instinctual fear for the monster in front of her taking her breath away for a moment. Or it would've taken her breath away, if she was currently breathing.

"Yeah I know," Harry said chuckling a little at her response. "Trust me, it made an impression on me too. A few of the other monsters I've conjured up from what Mum remembered of monsters back on my own world, but this one I actually saw so I've got a few of the bloody things around here."

Aayla nodded and for a time the two of them went around, looking at the monsters Harry had conjured into being. Only two of them, the wampa and the Lylek looked real to Aayla's mind though, there were just some little things about the others that didn't match where Harry's imagination hadn't been able to recreate it exactly. After a little while though, Aayla began to look at the crystals around them again, her curiosity evident especially when she saw those memories that were mixed in nature. The largest crystal of that type in particular called to her attention.

Harry saw this and frowned, before nodding his head. It would only be fair. "Um do you, that is, I saw one of your memories, so…"

"Um yes, but, but that is only if you want me to?" Aayla hesitantly replied.

"It's fine, and that one, that memory is one of the more important ones around here, while at the same time not being all that painful." Harry replied, running one hand through his hair distractedly, before reaching out and taking Aayla's hand squeezing it once before leading over toward the memory crystal which had grabbed Aayla's attention.

At his nod, Aayla reached forward and touched the memory in front of them, and found herself in Harry's body as he went through his apparition accident. She snarled and her hands bent like claws as she watched the bullies chase Harry down the street. She smiled as he did his popping trick to get away, only to gasp anew as she saw what he had done to himself.

She remained silent as the men appeared and began to heal his hand then frowned again at the ancient looking human with the monstrous beard and the strangely twinkling eyes. Then she growled as the man seemed to wave a stick and suddenly the memory paused shimmering into nothingness. "What the heck…"

"You've heard my mom talk about how people back home used focuses right?" Harry waited until Aayla nodded, then went on. "Well, that old man, Dumbledore, and these others used their wands to cast spells. Mum told me he cast some kind of spell which blocked me from seeing this memory. It opened up after... well, you had your master, I had the Dursleys."

Aayla growled again, pulling Harry into a fierce one armed hug. In a deliberate attempt to change the subject, she asked him to replay the memory so they could watch how the wizards healed his hand more closely.

"I like this one," she said aloud as the memory resumed from that point, pointing. "The one who looked angry at the old man. His accent's funny for some reason."

"I think he's Scottish." Harry said thoughtfully. "And I kind of liked him too. I would've liked to see what he'd have done to the Dursleys."

"I don't think they would've liked it." Aayla said coldly. "I don't think they'd like what I'd do to them. Among my people slavery's normal, but among yours it wasn't normal, they weren't normal no matter how much they said the words!"

Blinking, Harry realized Aayla was getting more out of being in his mind then he had thought possible without actually diving into his memories. Odd, but he was okay with that for some reason, since he had been able to see a bit more of Aayla a time or two in her mind before this.

After a moment they found themselves back in Harry's mind, and Aayla looked at him thoughtfully. "Scottish?"

"I guess you could say like it's a clan I suppose." Harry pictured a Scotsman from the movie Highlander in his mind, the image hovering between them.

Aayla looked at it quizzically. "Why are they wearing skirts that look like those ugly sweaters I've seen on a few humans a time or two?"

"I don't know," Harry said thoughtfully looking at the image. "I don't know if they even do that any longer, this image was from a movie set a few hundred years ago."

"It would be kind of strange." Aayla said diplomatically. "Isn't there a word in Galactic Standard for boys who dress up like girls?"

"I don't think it's the same thing," Harry said, frowning. "But maybe I'm wrong, I only saw a single scene from that movie before the Dursleys ordered me into my cupboard."

Again Aayla seemed to get more out of that statement than just his words, and she scowled before pulling him into another hug, which he returned warmly. She pulled back grinning mischievously as she tapped him on the shoulder. "Tag, you're it!"

With that she ran off through the crystal spires. Harry blinked in surprise for a moment, then raced after her, laughing.

How long the two of them played in Harry's mind they didn't know, but suddenly they stopped, both of them staring upwards towards the shield which protected Harry's mind. Then they were outside, their mental projections floating on the eddies of the Unifying Force. Harry looked around wildly unable to understand what he was feeling, he hadn't yet gotten used to feeling things through the Force.

Aayla had however, and she smiled, turning in the direction she somehow knew their bodies to be from wherever their spirits were now. "Harry, I think it's time we return." She took his hand again, and…

Just like that the two of them were somewhere else, once again in their own bodies. Harry could feel his clothing on his body, the idea of full sensation returning to him. He could hear singing somewhere nearby and knew it was his mother humming.

He smiled at that, slowly opening his eyes to see his friends around him. Aayla was in a bed nearby opening her eyes just as he was, with a young woman he had never met before with elven ears and his friends Alecto and Wulo sitting up on a bed together nearby with two girls on another bed beside them.

"Harry!" Lily's humming cut off abruptly, and she suddenly leaned down into his line of sight, smiling at him. "How are you feeling, love?"

"I feel fine Mum," then he frowned suddenly sitting up abruptly as he looked at her.

Aayla had opened her eyes too and she gaped at Lily just like Harry. "What happened?" she shouted, "You're so see through!?"

"I did a little too much magic dears," Lily replied soothingly, holding her hands out to either of them. Being Force users they were able to take her hands, even as translucent as she was right now if they tried. "Nothing to worry yourselves over. I'm already markedly more solid-seeming than I was right afterwards."

Harry frowned, and he began to push his power into her slightly. Across from him Aayla noticed this, and did the same.

"No," the elven-looking woman said simply, holding up a finger and suddenly Harry and Aayla were both pushed backwards against their beds away from Lily. "I understand and approve the sentiment young ones, but neither of you have enough Force power within you right now to be so cavalier with it. Please do not make more work for us then you already have."

Harry scowled at the woman, but Lily nodded her head firmly. "I appreciate the thought Harry, Aayla. But she's right, you've been out for three days already recovering, that's more than enough for me!"

The two children looked at one another then back at her before Harry spoke. "Really? Three days? It didn't feel like that at all to us."

The last part of that comment caught Lily's attention, and she looked at Fay who looked back, shrugging her shoulders. Though she was smiling as she did it Lily noticed.

Harry looked past his mother now for a second smiling at his friends. Zule Xiss, the red-skinned Falleen girl who had become Aayla's closest friend, also smiled at him and Aayla. "Glad to see you all made it."

"Glad to see you two awake." Alecto said with a smile, hopping off the bed and moving over to grab Harry's hand in his before touching Aayla's shoulder as Zule hopped into bed with the younger Twi'lek girl, throwing an arm over her shoulder as Wulo clattered over on his small hooves smiling happily. The five of them all began to talk at once, telling one another what had happened during and after the fight, while Lily and the other two adult in the room looked on with smiles on their faces.

"Mum who are they?" Harry asked after the round of happy greetings were over gesturing to the newcomers.

"We're going to have to step up lessons on manners I think." Lily mused, while Fay and Micah laughed. "These are Master Fay and Master Giiett, they arrived with help and have been in here helping the children who suffered from Force exhaustion and other injuries ever since."

Harry frowned thoughtfully cocking his head to one side, noticing now that Alecto's shoulder had been healed as good as new. "I remember some kind of little green creature. I thought he was a house-elf at first from your descriptions of them, but he was using a lightsaber and was really bouncing around the place."

"That would be Master Yoda and yes, he does as you put it bounce around the place." Fay replied dryly, making a mental note to ask Lily about house elves sometime in the future. Moving over to the bed she lay a gentle hand on Harry's forehead, her palm over his scar. "That is his style of combat, which is based off the lightsaber form called Ataru, or Way of the Hawk Bat. His version has evolved into an odd mix of knowing precisely where he is supposed to be, and never being where you think he should be."

"That sounds really hard to master," Harry said, with Aayla nodding agreement.

"It is. Master Yoda is known as the greatest swordsman in the Order despite his advanced age." Fay smiled, taking hand away from Harry's forehead.

"Good, it looks as if your reserves are coming back very nicely. I would recommend not using any Force for a few more days, but you should be fine to move around. Now for you child," she finished moving over to Aayla smiling down at the girl who smiled up at the very pretty woman shyly.

Harry moved over to her bed, and Aayla threw an arm around his shoulders as Fay touched her hand to the Twi'lek girl's forehead. Aayla cocked her head thoughtfully as Fay moved on to run a gentle hand down her lekku. "Hugging like this feels different than doing it in our minds."

"In your minds?" Lily asked, hovering beside Fay as she continued to look Aayla over. Other than still showing signs of extreme Force exhaustion, both children were showing no sign of atrophy or anything else. That was good, very good indeed after having spent the past three days stuck in bed at their age.

Harry and Aayla described the experience to which the Masters listened attentively, and Lily nodded along. "Your mental landscapes are coming along very well, I'm impressed." she said smiling faintly, reaching down to ruffle Harry's hair and lay a gentle hand on Aayla's head where her lekku merged into her head.

"Interesting," Micah said thoughtfully as both children beamed at the praise and their fellows clamored in with their own congratulations, none of them understanding the significance of being able to meet mind to mind like that. "I have never heard of the ability to defend one's mind so actively before. Would you mind if I tested those defenses?"

Harry looked at his mother for permission something that Micah noticed, and he turned inquisitive eyes to her as well. "If you say no, I won't do it." he said simply, knowing that Lily still was a little leery of the Jedi in general.

Lily looked at him thoughtfully then nodded. "Just try to get past the outer defenses I think, but we'll see what happens."

Nodding Micah gestured with a finger from one hand towards Ayla, who he thought would probably be the easier one to start with. He felt the edge of Aayla's mental landscape, the shield around her ship, and breached it quickly something which caused Aayla's eyes to widen. Apparently even if her outer layer didn't work to protect her, she could still feel what was going on, which was excellent in his mind.

Then suddenly something changed. Just as he penetrated the first shield, a second shield appeared around Aayla's mind. His probe bounced, and Micah's mental probe rebounded on his mind, causing him to rear his head back lightly shaking it. "Ow," he muttered, "that was interesting."

"Thanks Harry," Aayla said pushing her shoulder against Harry's, and he nodded seriously.

"That was impressive, I wonder if she can do the same thing for you Harry." Micah asked, and after getting Lily's nod again began to send a probe into Harry's mind. This time getting through the outer shield was tougher but after he did, a second shield appeared, bouncing him away.

Micah shook his head ruefully, moving back slightly to sit on a bed nearby. "That was astonishing, I have never heard of one Jedi being able to keep someone out of another Jedi's mind like that." Of course in this day and age the only people able to get into our minds are other Jedi, so why would we train to protect our minds like that? Something to consider in the future.

"I think that will be the least of the differences you will see between these two." Fay said, smiling thoughtfully as she looked between them. "They have bonded."

Lily broke off her own examination of the two children to stare at Fay in shock. "Bonded!? That only happens in sappy fairytales."

"Oh no, it's quite real. The padawan-master bond is one of the most sacred rights the Jedi enact, and this looks to be something similar only not quite. Not nearly as controlled as that and also between equals in this case as well. Can you hear one another's thoughts children? Try not to look at one another when you try."

Harry dutifully turned away from Aayla as she did the same, and after a moment Aayla began. "He's thinking this is rather silly, and that he likes Zule's hair color." With that she elbowed Harry in the back irritated.

"Ow." Harry muttered, but recited what Aayla was thinking. "She's a little irritated at me for some reason, but now she's thinking wistfully that hair must be interesting, and wondering if Zule will let her play with it. You don't have to worry Aayla though I think your lekku are plenty neat!"

"That's true, and don't worry Aayla, you can play with my hair later." Zule said, looking between her two friends, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Oh dear," Lily murmured ruefully as Micah shook his head in consternation. "Puberty is going to be quite interesting for you two."

To that Harry could only flush having a decent idea what that meant, while Aayla simply looked confused as to why all three of the adults had begun chuckling.