Elzar strode through the mass of technicians and officials, nodding a greeting at OrbaLin who was leading the Jedi’s part in the proceedings. The archivist, his containment suit now fully repaired, was too busy to engage in idle chitchat, a fact that pleased Elzar, not out of any enmity, more because there was another conversation he needed to have.

“Hello, Samera.”

The Valon looked up from her screens, the light of the displays reflected in her emerald eyes.

“Hello yourself.”

Elzar was pleased that, save for a few cuts and grazes, Samera looked unhurt, although the dark shadows under her eyes betrayed an exhaustion that he guessed would only deepen in the days ahead.

As he stood waiting, she fielded three calls and authorized a request for supplies to the field medcenter that had been set up in the park’s Technology and Science zone.

“Can I help you, Elzar?”

His mouth was dry.

“No, I just wanted … just wanted to see if you were okay.”

She laughed with little humor. “Never better. You?”

“I’ve lived through worse.”

He immediately regretted his choice of words.

“Then I’m glad I’m not you,” she said, returning to her screens. “I never want to experience anything like that again as long as I live. When this is over I’m retiring to Sasoraan.”

He walked around the terminals to stand beside her. “I’ve never heard of that. Where is it?”

Samera sighed, putting down the ’pad she was attempting to study, and looked up at him, a pained expression on her face. “Really? You want to do this now?”

Elzar did not want to do this now. He would rather face an entire pack of hragscythes.

“I … Well, we haven’t seen each other since …”

“Since the night of the opening. Yes, I know. Things have been a little busy.”

He laughed, acknowledging the understatement. “I just thought …”

“Thought what, Elzar?”

Saber’s Grace, she wasn’t making this easy.

“I just wanted to say …”

Samera ran her hands through her hair. “Okay, look. I know what you want to say and there’s no need. It was fun. We had a good time, and then the world ended. Even if it hadn’t ended, then that would’ve been the end of it.”

Elzar couldn’t help but feel a little crestfallen. “It would?”

She looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “Of course. You’re a Jedi, Elzar, and I’m … well, I’m busy. Very, very busy.”

For the first time in a long time, Elzar Mann didn’t know what to say, so Samera said it for him: “We’re good, okay? Job done. Line drawn.”

“Line drawn,” he confirmed as her console beeped to inform her of another incoming request. “I’ll let you get on.”

Samera had already answered the call. “This is Coordinator Ra-oon. How can I help?”