Star Wars: The Alderaan Affair/Part IX - A New Beginning

Leia got to her feet, staring at Epin, who was taking deep, heavy breaths. She brushed herself off a bit and approached him slowly.

"Ep...Epin." She asked as he turned his attention on her.

She took a step back, seeing the blank expressionless face staring at her was unnerving.

"That was way out there Epin." Leia said stepping a bit closer now and reaching out to touch his arm.

He seemed to snap out of a trance and blinked several times in succession. He focused again on Leia, who smiled at him.

"You scared off Arod and his friends!" Leia laughed, seeing that Epin wasn't about to lash out at her. "I've never seen them running so fast!"

Epin glanced around to see the two boys he had knocked out laying in the grass. His eyes widened a bit and he blinked a bit more as if trying to displace something that had gotten into them. He looked back at Leia.

"Yeah, well, it's about time they got a taste of what it's like to be afraid." He said, rubbing his neck. "Are you...um...are you okay?" He continued. "I mean, they didn't..."

"I'm fine." Leia responded with a grin. "Come on, I don't want to stick around in case they decide to come back. That was enough excitement for today."

Epin nodded in agreement.