“How did you get here?” she asked. “How did you … survive the attack?”

She struggled to follow his droidspeak, so rapidly did he spit out his beeps, whistles, and chirps. In the end, she determined that a Sith force had attacked the Temple, that Master Zallow had sent T7 away during the fight, and that T7 had sneaked back to the battlefield after all had gone quiet. Later, the Sith had returned, presumably to lay explosives, and T7 had fled to the lower levels.

“I know about Master Zallow, Tee-seven,” she said.

He moaned, a low whistle of despair.

“Did you see his—Did you see him when it happened?”

The droid whistled a negative.

“Why did you go back after the battle?” Zeerid asked the droid.

A long whistle, then a compartment in T7’s body slid open and T7 extended a thin metal arm from within.

The arm held Master Zallow’s lightsaber.

Aryn recoiled, stared at it for a long moment, memories crowding around her, falling like rain.

“You went back to get this? Just to get this?”

Another negative whistle. Another long, hard-to-follow monologue in droidspeak.

T7 had gone back to see if anyone had survived but had found only the lightsaber.

Once more, Aryn stared determinism in the face. The Force had brought her to Zeerid at the exact moment when Zeerid was making a run to Coruscant. And now the Force had caused T7 to find Master Zallow’s lightsaber so that the droid could give it to her.

Aryn decided that it could not be coincidence. It was the Force showing her that the course she pursued was the right one, at least for her.

She took the cool metal of the saber’s hilt in her hand, tested its weight. The hilt was larger than hers, slightly heavier, yet it felt familiar in her hand. She remembered the many times she’d seen it in Master Zallow’s hands as he had trained her in lightsaber combat. She activated it and the green blade sprang to life. She stared at it, thinking of her master, then turned it off.

She clipped it to her belt, beside her own, and patted T7 on the head.

“Thank you, Tee-seven. This means more to me than you know. You were very brave to return there.”

The droid beeped with pleasure and sympathy.

“Have you seen any other survivors?” Zeerid asked, and Aryn felt ashamed for not asking the question herself.

T7 whistled a somber negative.

Zeerid holstered his blaster. “What about security droids?”

Another negative.

“I need to get to the backup surveillance station,” Aryn said. “Is it still standing? Can you lead the way?”

T7 chirped with enthusiasm, spun his head around, and headed off down the corridor, wires still dangling from his shoulder joint. Aryn and Zeerid fell in behind him. Aryn felt the weight of the extra lightsaber on her belt, heavy with the memories it bore.