GEN Presents:

The Phoenix Prophesy

by Patricia Spillane Smith and Carsten Jensen

Wil Hedegaard slowly opened his eyes, still not really knowing why he had dishonoured the Council so abruptly after he had become a full Jedi Knight. He hadn't thought things through very well; he had simply taken his leave of his roommate at the Jedi temple, and left on the first transport he could get to Naboo. He had had a bit of trouble finding a pilot who would take him to Naboo for the wee fee he could pay for the trip, but one guy had accepted, although he had looked at him and his companion a bit strangely, before agreeing. Perhaps he had never seen Jedi before or something. His companion, Gantor - one of his best friends from the Jedi Academy - was still sleeping on the bunk besides Wil's. He hadn't expected Gantor to come along with him, but Gantor had secretly followed him, and confronted him at the spaceport with the ultimatum, "Either I'm coming with you, or I'm telling." He hadn't needed much time to think about that; off they had embarked on what now seemed like a million mile trip.

'Well, it's good having him here, though. Who knows what we will find 'out there'...certainly I do not!' Wil thought, as he continued looking up at the rusty metal ceiling of the tiny compartment. He rolled his Padawan braid between his fingers, something he always did when he was thinking. He hadn't even had time to cut it off since he had become a full-fledged Jedi Knight - his life long dream - before he had sneaked off on this ludicrous mission. And now he had probably ruined everything for himself, not to mention for Gantor as well... even though Gantor had come on his own. It had all started with some wild rumours concerning Jostein Hakestad's last mission; could it really be true, did he have living kin out there in the Galaxy, which the Council didn't know about? Or, had they simply hidden the truth from him? But why would they keep it a secret?

******************************

Wil had been very curious about all that Jostein had experienced out in the galaxy with his master, Patricia. Most of the Padawans, although assigned to Jedi Knights, did not get to travel anywhere near as much as Jostein did. Wil had been on a few missions with his master, Rhyss, but had never experienced anything quite like what Jostein was rumoured to have been doing.

On the last day of the trials, the Padawans had just finished the last of their tests, and were headed back to their quarters to prepare for a celebratory dinner. Wil and the others were jostling each other about, joking some, despite their fatigue, at the end of their ordeals. Jostein, though tired, couldn't help but think that it had been nothing compared to what he had been through over the last three years since he left Kiria for the first time. Lost in thought, he did not notice Wil coming up behind him to tap him on the shoulder. "Hey Jostein, what's on your mind? Aren't you glad this is over?"

"Aren't we all?" Jostein had remarked, not happy at all. He seemed to be somewhat preoccupied, as he often was these days. Wil pressed his luck anyway.

"Now you can go back to Naboo and visit that pretty woman you helped rescue," Wil said shyly.

"How did you hear about that?" Jostein said crossly, continuing to walk briskly down the corridor. He did not wish to discuss his misadventures on Naboo with Wil or anyone else.

"I just heard. Remember? There were some questions about some planet or another and Naboo came up. One of the instructors mentioned that you had been on a mission to Naboo, and so on," Wil grinned a little bit.

"Well, she is pretty, I'll give you that," Jostein's face softened somewhat, as he slowed his pace to walk alongside Wil. "In fact," Jostein's face took on a dreamy look Wil had never seen before on the austere young Jedi, "she is about the loveliest woman I have ever seen."

"Yes..." Wil encouraged him.

"Well, she has light blonde hair, which she usually wears up on top of her head, deep blue eyes and the prettiest ivory coloured skin that blushes pale pink, the same colour as her lips, when the wind blows," Jostein said. "She is slender as a vvink plant, very graceful and elegant."

"Wow," Wil whispered breathily, "She sounds absolutely gorgeous. So are you going to see her again?"

"I have duties to attend to. The council will probably have a mission to send me on fairly soon. There are few vacations for a Jedi knight," he smiled at his friend.

"Surely you will be able to get away for a little while?" Wil asked him, wondering at his seeming lack of willingness to pursue such a lovely young woman.

"If I do get any time away, it will be spent on my home world of Kiria," Jostein replied ruefully. "There is still this matter of the succession to clear up. I still have not made my decision. I cannot put it off much longer."

Wil laughed good-naturedly, "I forgot; you are an heir to an entire kingdom - one of the richest in the known Galaxy." Jostein smiled at Wil. "You went through a lot, didn't you? I mean, on that mission. People were murdered, you were kidnapped..."

"Yes, it was rather harrowing," Jostein answered him, the events in question coming to the forefront of his mind. "The instigator of most of it was a certain Carsten Hedegaard, a mercenary hired by my uncle Mandrill, to bring me back to Kiria to take the throne under Mandrill's influence as his puppet... or so he wished me to believe. I think Mandrill actually wanted to kill me. I guess I'll never know."

"Wait... Carsten who?" Wil asked him, a little startled.

"Carsten Hedegaard. A mercenary hired by my uncle and the criminals on Naboo who were disrupting the trade and the elections. Very nasty person; kidnapped and tortured Hyan. Was none to nice to us, either," Jostein answered Wil, remembering Carsten Hedegaard's cold grey-blue eyes and the icy feeling he felt from him through the Force.

"But... but my name is Hedegaard. How can that be? The Council told me that all of my family was dead. I've often dreamed of having some family out there, but I never knew..." he looked out the window as they passed. "I sometimes think I can't always believe everything I'm told," Wil said quietly.

Jostein regarded Wil for a moment, then whispered, "I am not sure you want to meet this guy. He is really bad news. We are talking murder for hire, kidnapping, mercenary activity... he is wanted in every system in the galaxy, just about. Even Patricia had a hint of fear when she was dealing with him. And she is not usually afraid of much of anything."

"Such irony! For so many years... hoping for someone to still be alive, and when the possibility of a surviving relative exists, it turns out he is a criminal..." Wil said, also whispering. "I can't believe it... it's so unfair!"

"Life sometimes is unfair." Jostein said gently, feeling the young man's disappointment.

"You talked to him? You were close to him... what was he like? Other than being a criminal. I mean... I really want to know. The mere possibility that I have a relative out there... makes me hopeful..." Wil said to Jostein, and almost ecstatic, he added to himself. "I don't really remember much from my childhood. Being with the Jedi has been my entire life; I do have a very few vague memories of a time before I joined the Jedi, mostly images, feelings: feelings of fear and abandonment. That is why I wish to know, Jostein."

Jostein looked at Wil thoughtfully, then motioned for him to follow him. They proceeded to Jostein's quarters, where he motioned for Wil to take a seat. Jostein began.

"N'brey Hyan was a candidate for the royal office of Naboo. She and the other candidates received threats from an unknown source when Patricia and I were dispatched to settle the situation. Well, this Carsten Hedegaard was the cause of the Gungan candidate's murder, Hyan's abduction, and, as a result of our pursuit of him, our capture as well. We had to contend with a number of factors before we finally ascertained that Hedegaard was the perpetrator: he had been hired by my uncle and one of the other candidates for the high office on Naboo to commit the crimes.

He first murdered one of the candidates for ruler of Naboo," Jostein recalled Dannk's murder. "Then came Hyan's kidnapping. This is where my real adventures came in," Jostein pausing to look at Wil for a moment, not sure how much of this he should tell him. "I discovered that Hyan had been abducted from her quarters in the palace, where all the candidates had been staying, supposedly for their own protection. Of course, now, looking back, that was pre-arranged to make it easier for Hedegaard to abduct her and lure Patricia and me after him.

Of course the real excitement began when we encountered my uncle on Kiria and I nearly got killed," Jostein excitedly began describing the battle between himself and his dark, force-wielding uncle, concluding with detonation and destruction so massive that Wil could only gasp in horror.

"You really did experience a lifetime and a half in those few days, Jostein, " he breathed admiringly to his older compatriot. "I don't know what I would have done if it had been me."

Jostein relaxed again and smiled reassuringly. "I am sure you would acquit yourself well, Wil. After all, I was trained by the very best, as we all have been."

"I suppose so," Wil said, a little enviously, Jostein thought. "So, when you followed Carsten Hedegaard, did he take you directly to your uncle or what? Did your uncle have anything to do with the events on Naboo?"

"Oh, no. He simply had made a deal with one of the politicos on Naboo - each of them had their own agenda to pursue. Carsten actually dropped us off at a pick-up spot and left Hyan there as well, I understand. He then disappeared, off to parts unknown," Jostein finished his story. "We never saw him again," he added as an afterthought.

"So, nobody knows where he went? Or where he comes from? Or where..." Wil spoke with palpable disappointment.

"No, he is quite elusive, as are all of the criminal element. And, of course, he didn't use his real name while staying on Naboo. In fact, interestingly enough, I believe he went by the name of Wil."

"Hmm, strange coincidence, eh?" Wil said to Jostein, once more feeling that sense of hope and elation. "I bet he is related to me, somehow, I just know it!"

"Wait. Wil, it cannot be easy being all alone with no family. Patricia has been alone all her life, wandering from place to place, serving the Order. But this man is a known criminal, a murderer..." Jostein did not wish to violate his bond with his former master, but he also felt a disturbance in young Wil, a disturbance so strong, he was not sure what its source was nor what he should do to attempt to quell it.

"Well, there is not much I can do about it now, is there?" Wil said, suddenly seeming to have let go of the disturbance fairly quickly; whatever it had been, suddenly Jostein did not feel it as strongly as he had just a few seconds before. "I am sure I will be going on my first mission pretty soon, and will be too busy to worry about it," he commented, smiling again.

"Yes," Jostein said, "no doubt our first missions will come all too soon." Unlike Wil, he was not smiling.

******************************

Gantor looked out of the tiny porthole in the compartment. "Geez, hyperspace looks funny when you look at it sideways," he giggled.

"What?" Wil asked, "What are you talking about... Gantor, really, come on."

Gantor simply shrugged his shoulders as he kept staring out the porthole. Wil rolled over on the bunk so he lay on his side, supporting himself on his left elbow.

The stars appeared to shriek by them in narrow, shimmering lines, screaming their speed in parsecs, as the ship flew through time and space. Will looked at his friend's, almost childish, fascination of what happened outside: with his nose and forehead pressed against the tiny porthole window, in order to see more simultaneously, except the almost fully grown spikes on top of his head prevented him from getting as close to the window as he had wanted.

"Damn... why do they always have to get in the way?" Gantor hissed, referring to the horns, but Wil simply snickered. "What are you laughing at?" He turned his head to face Wil, he then launched himself at him and they wrestled a bit in the compartment, while laughing heartily.

Suddenly a voice over the ship's comm system interrupted their friendly struggle, "We are entering the Naboo system, get yourselves strapped in. We land in approximately 10 minutes. See you on the ground."

"Just in time. Too much of that and I would have been permanently mesmerized," breathed Gantor. Both Jedi returned to their seats and strapped themselves in as the stars outside coalesced into solid ice-rock formation that moved in their turn into the twinkling dots recognizable as normal space stars. Entering the Naboo system, the pilot came over the comm again to remind the passengers that they were all expected to debark there.

"I don't even know if we will even be on this ship when we leave," Wil whispered to Gantor.

"If we can afford to leave any time soon," Gantor hissed at his friend.

"Hey, I didn't ask you to come along," Wil reminded his friend.

The pilot eased the ship into orbit around the planet, orbiting several times before making a smooth, nearly-flawless landing in the Theed hangar.

"Wow!" both Gantor and Wil burst out as they exited the merchant ship and stepped down on the surface of the planet. They looked around in the huge hangar, with the enormous pillars supporting the ceiling so far above their heads, but a voice behind them made them turn away from this grandeur.

"Since you paid so little for the trip, then it would be only fair if you two would help me unload some crates."

"Sure," Wil said and motioned for Gantor to follow him to the rear of the vessel. Gantor reluctantly followed him to the cargo hold, where a number of heavy crates awaited off-loading by the ship's crew. The pair set to work at once, Gantor mumbling something about the low pay Jedi Padawans earned in training. As they where working they caught glimpses of the intentionally cultured beauty of the planet that was visible from the hangar. Distant mountains curved into nearer verdant valleys and plains full of colourful flowers of many types that appeared deliberately sculpted for the pleasure of the viewer.

"This place is indeed lovely," Wil gasped, unashamedly awed by what he was seeing.

"Come on, Wil, we don't need to waste time gawking at the scenery," Gantor jibed, a little cross that they would still have to pay for their trip by working with heavy goods.

"It won't be long now," Wil explained. "We will find Hyan, and she will tell me what I need to know," he attempted to still Gantor's rising ire.

"Okay, let's just finish here. Then we'll go on your weird mission... you haven't even told me who or what we are looking for."

"All in good time, my friend. You don't want to back out now, do you?" Wil laughed, as Gantor quickly shook his head.

******************************

"A new mission already? I was just getting ready to take a break and go on a sabbatical," sighed Patricia, visions of a grassy glade under the Varonat sun and of a copse of trees in the Kirian countryside already fading fast from her thoughts as her former apprentice began to appraise her of their latest assignment.

Jostein smiled slightly, but continued. "That's right. It seems as if two of the new knights from my Padawan class disappeared without a trace last night. Wil Hedegaard and Gantor. We are to attempt to find them immediately. Fortunately, I am all too aware of where they may have gone," Jostein finished dispiritedly.

"And why is this, Jostein?" Patricia eyed him caustically, already not very pleased with the news Jostein had brought her.

"I told him about our last mission... I told him about Carsten Hedegaard," Jostein said, almost whispering.

"Great move, genius," Patricia complained grumpily. "I have a feeling that he has some ridiculous notion that he and Hedegaard are related or something... which, for all I know or care, they might be. Well, I guess that means we go to Naboo first. You want to see Hyan again, now's your chance, stud."

"Somehow, I don't see this as a pleasure trip," Jostein mumbled to himself as the pair trudged towards the stairwell together.

******************************

After several false turns and misdirections, Wil and Gantor found themselves face to face with N'brey Hyan. "Won't you please come in," she showed the two young men into a spacious anteroom and invited them to have a seat. "You are Jedi knights, " she observed as she invited them to sit down. Hyan offered them some Argulian tea, but both declined; she sat down on a low chair in front of the small couch they were standing in front of. As they were seated, Wil began to speak.

"We are new Jedi knights, on our first mission," Wil spoke softly, thinking, 'She is even more lovely than Jostein described her to be.' "It is a personal mission."

"Yes, we have often been honoured with the presence of the Jedi, ever since I can remember. The latest occasion was a few months ago, when two Jedi knights attempted to rescue me from the notorious brigand, Carsten Hedegaard. You have heard of him, I take it?"

Taken aback at her rather abrupt broach of the subject, Wil ploughed ahead. "Well, you see... err... Hyan... may I call you Hyan?"

"Why yes, of course. Go on. You were saying..."

"What I mean to say, is... well... I don't know how to say this," Wil looked at her, then suddenly and almost dramatically pulled his hood down off his head, revealing his face. Hyan gasped, pulling back some, then relaxing a bit. "My name is Wil Hedegaard. And I wonder, perhaps, if I am in some way related to this Carsten Hedegaard."

"I don't think you want to be: although, you do resemble him somewhat. He went around calling himself Wil. That much I do remember. He even made a date with me, the cad. All the more convenient to kidnap me in order to entrap the Jedi, a plot to entice that young one - Jostein - back to Kiria for some unknown reason. He held me prisoner, clamped to a bed in binders for I do not know how long, frequently either beating me or threatening to" - at this, the two Jedi gasped in horror - "before finally releasing me on Osarian, where Naboo authorities picked me up a day later," she finished rather inelegantly, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.

"What did he look like? I mean, you say he looks a little like me..." Wil began, trying to bate his excitement, aware that the experiences she was recalling were not pleasant memories.

"He had cruel lips, thin, unsmiling, now that I think of it. His smile, when he did smile, was very sweet and seductive, but it was as if he was hiding his real self behind a mask of polite deception. He could be quite charming. But, he was so cold. That's the word, cold. When he would come in and..." she trailed off, unable to continue for a moment.

"Yes..." Wil prompted.

"When he would torture me, which was fairly frequent, he would smile at me, the coldest smile imaginable. His eyes had this strange, almost bloodthirsty look that was far away, demonic, even. He is very muscular, a medium build. A very taut body, very lean, very physically fit, something he appeared to be quite vain about, if I recall. His hair is the colour of yours, his eyes, more of a greyish blue colour. And his face, well, it is more angular than yours. I guess it helps to make comparisons," she smiled faintly at the young Jedi in front of her. "I wish I could help you more. It was... not a pleasant time."

"I understand. I am so sorry to distress you so, my lady. But, I must know. Do you have any idea at all where he might have gone?" Wil asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"That I would have no idea about. Nobody seems to know where he comes from, or where he is headquartered. He operates in extreme secrecy. I suppose that is one of the reasons why he is the best at what he does... such as it is," she grimaced. She then brightened a little. "There is one person who might be able to answer your questions. Ben Nal Rees... the owner and captain of the Kohl Ranger II, among other ships. He is one of the best-known merchants - and smugglers - in these parts. He knows all about these sorts of people. But I am afraid he will probably tell you much the same as I have - stay away from Carsten Hedegaard, if you value your life!"

***********************************************

Ben Nal Rees had been rather successful in business lately. What with an increased number of runs on the New Trade Run, as well as new runs on the Perlemian trade route and the Corellian Run, he was making out like a bandit. And that was just the legal stuff. Since things on Naboo and Kiria had been cleared up, thanks to those two Jedi, everything had been his for the taking. And the side benefits... oh yes...

He had gone all the way to Clak'Dor VII on his last run along the New Trade Run, which had recently extended all the way there, and all of the takings had been enormous. He had also encountered a lovely woman, not so young, but, not so old either, perhaps in her fifties, a white haired, blue eyed Corellian, with a rounded full shape, whom he had entertained for at least a week aboard his ship, until she had disembarked at Rodia. He had seen her off, with much regret. However, at his age, the idea of marriage had long since lost its appeal. Better to enjoy the company of women when it was available, and long for it when it was not. He sighed, knowing it would be a long time in coming to him again.

He returned to his work at his desk, adding up the figures on the holographic datapad, when there came a tap at his stateroom door. He groaned. "Can't a man ever get any work done?" Putting away the holo-datapad, he bellowed, "enter!!"

The door slid open to admit two young men, one human and one alien, clad in black Jedi robes. He smiled. "What can I do for the two of you?"

"You are Ben Nal Rees, are you not?" Wil Hedegaard spoke up boldly.

"Yes, I am. What can I do for you?" he repeated, curious as to the intentions of the two.

"I am looking for a mercenary you helped track down a few months ago... Carsten Hedegaard. Would you happen to know where he is?" Wil ventured on.

"And if I do, why do you need to know such a thing? Why do two young Jedi need to know where Carsten Hedegaard is? You don't even seem to be such adept Jedi. If I were you, young man, I would stay well away from Mr. Hedegaard. He has had the better of much more experienced Jedi than yourself." Nal Rees laughed bitterly.

"My name is Wil Hedegaard," explained Wil vehemently, facing Nal Rees across his desk, his eyes boring into the older man's with a look of cold blue steel. Nal Rees remembered that look. It was somehow familiar. Was it possible...?

"You truly do not think I would keep company with such scum as Hedegaard, do you? No offence, but I am a legitimate businessman. I do not associate with mercenaries and bounty hunters and the like. However, I have heard rumours..." Nal Rees trailed off. He regarded the two Jedi for a moment. The one calling himself Wil Hedegaard still wore his Padawan braid. They obviously had little or no money. Well, he was rich at the moment. He could afford to give them the information for free that would send them halfway across the galaxy. In fact, he could even take them there himself, since he just happened to be going that way... for a very small fee... or its equivalent.

Nal Rees stared back at Wil. "I need some extra help on this ship. I can take you to Bimmisaari, just outside of Hutt Space, his last known whereabouts, if you will agree to perform some labour on board ship for me."

"Agreed, sir." The two Jedi spoke in unison.

Nal Rees wished getting deck hands was always this easy.

***********************************************

Patricia and Jostein broached the thick double doors of the Jedi Council Chambers, both dreading the experience. Although already aware of the particulars of their mission, they were still summoned to appear before the Council before they left. Patricia had groaned audibly upon hearing this news; Jostein had simply reasoned that there were more particulars about the mission that needed going over before they could leave. They entered the chamber.

Striding across the ruby inlaid floors, the scarlet light reflecting off the jewels onto their faces and the faces of the Council members, Patricia and Jostein stood amidst the Council. Patricia looked Master Bress in the face, her cloud of brown hair unruly as ever, her robes surprisingly tidy, Jostein a few steps behind her, towering over her by several centimetres. Master Bress spoke first.

"I am sorry to interrupt your period of meditation and rest, Patricia. I know how much it means to you to be able to take a break from your diplomatic duties to find time for those. However, this problem must be cleared up right away, and you and Jostein are the best people to send for the situation. You shouldn't have any trouble making a short trip to search for a couple of missing youngsters. We don't think they went very far."

"Well, that seems to be where you and I disagree," Patricia spoke to Master Bress, more than a little irritation apparent in her voice "I wouldn't have the foggiest notion where these two young men would have gotten off to. And if they ran off, they certainly will have covered their tracks well enough so that we will not be able to find them, even if we look for them through the Force. I think we train them well enough that they know how to hide from most of us."

Rhyss leaned back in his chair and regarded Patricia, then spoke to her, somewhat condescendingly. "We are assigning our best knights to find him. If you are not up to the job..."

"Of course we are up to the job... it is just that, at their age, they do not need to be babysat anymore. And we DO have other matters to attend to that, I would think, take precedent for all of us, task-wise, in the tradition of the Jedi Order. It seems absurd to pursue former Padawans who left, seemingly of their own volition, for whatever reasons," Patricia argued.

Master Bress interjected himself into the argument. "Proceed with this mission, Patricia. Find these young men. Believe me, it is important they be found. We cannot have them running unsupervised all over the galaxy, perhaps wreaking havoc using their powers without guidance from those more experienced..." his voice trailed off, as he waved his hand, an obvious dismissal of Patricia and Jostein. The pair bowed to the Council and walked out of the double doors of the chamber.

Several corners later and one level lower, Jostein whispered to Patricia, "You don't like Rhyss very much, do you?"

"I'm madly in love with him," she whispered, her voice laden with sarcasm. "Our philosophies concerning the purpose of the Jedi Order are parsecs apart. Always have been. I also simply do not like the manner in which he treats others. It does not surprise me at all that young Wil ran away. If I had had a Master like that, I would have run away before my apprenticeship had ended and lived in a whorehouse on Nar Shaddaa," she snorted contemptuously.

Jostein snickered at his former master's off-colour sense of humour, believing she truly would have preferred to be a prostitute at the hands of the Hutts than to suffer an apprenticeship at the hands of the priggish and self-righteous Rhyss. Patricia hissed at him, cautioning him to be careful not to be too loud. The walls in the Temple had ears, and, even as a full-fledged Jedi Knight, there were politics to be considered. Jostein felt he would be glad to get out into space and on a mission again. The feeling of freedom, the sense that one controlled one's own destiny, were never greater than when one sat behind the controls of an X-Wing. And now, they would be off again.

"Patricia, may I have a word with you?" came a voice behind them; it was Rhyss.

"Speak of the devil," she hissed to Jostein, before she turned her attention towards Rhyss. "So, Rhyss, what can I do for you?" she said diffidently.

"You will call me by my proper title, which is Master," Rhyss corrected Patricia succinctly.

"Well, then, what can I help you with, Master Rhyss?" She smiled innocently.

Rhyss was about to say something to her about her contemptuous tone of voice, but decided he had to get on with the business at hand. "I have to speak with you..." his voice trailed off as he regarded Jostein, "In private."

"Sure," Patricia said, then turned to Jostein, "Go get her ready, and get the clearings for launch." Jostein obeyed her request.

"I know you didn't tell the Council everything about your and Jostein's last mission in the debriefing, Patricia," Rhyss began once Jostein had rounded the corner and left hearing range. The Council wondered for weeks afterwards why there seemed to be some information missing about some parts of the mission. I couldn't think of any reason, until I overheard one of your conversations with Jostein a few weeks ago, just before his final trials. And then I began to put the missing pieces of the puzzle together; everything suddenly fell into place. I know your secret."

"What are you talking about Rhyss?" Patricia looked at Rhyss icily.

"I'm talking about your affair with an Imperial Admiral you met on your last mission, probably even before," Rhyss spat at Patricia accusingly.

"What on Coruscant are you talking about?" Patricia didn't sound as convincing as she would have liked to. "That's lunacy... the Council will never believe such wild accusations."

"Oh but you see, I'm a respected member of the Council, so I don't think it will be very difficult to persuade them that you indeed did have an affair with an Imperial Admiral," Rhyss smiled a sly smile of satisfaction at his cornered prey.

"Why didn't you just expose my alleged misconduct in the Council? What prevents you from revealing this 'information' to the Council now?" Patricia asked, nonplussed.

"Well, I've always thought that some things shouldn't come out in the open... certainly not in the hallowed halls of the Jedi Temple. In your case, I have a little favour to ask of you that I would advise you to consider doing for me," Rhyss said snidely.

"And what might that be?" Patricia asked him, completely at a loss for words at this point in the exchange.

"To kill Carsten Hedegaard if you ever run into him again," Rhyss stated triumphantly.

"Why should I commit a cold-blooded murder for you?" Patricia demanded, angry and horrified.

"Oh, there are still so many who just do not understand the delicacy of the situation, the dire need to rid the galaxy of this miscreant. They would call for a formal investigation. Time would be wasted. And you... your talents would waste away, unused for the good of the Jedi Order, while you awaited your fate..." Rhyss went on smoothly.

"So, you figured you would just wait until you could use this... this 'information' to your advantage and not have to bother going through any official channels?" Patricia looked at Rhyss, the disgust obvious in her face, her eyes wide, almost frightened.

"Yes, of course," Rhyss smiled slightly. "I saw no need to involve the rest of the Council in this. Oh, and, by the way, if you reveal anything about this conversation to anyone, I will make sure you will be arrested, turned over to the New Republic authorities for conspiracy to commit treason and you will never serve as a Jedi knight again."

Patricia glared at Rhyss, then nodded to him cryptically, before she hurried to the hangar where Jostein was waiting for her.

"What did he want?" Jostein asked with a playful mien.

"Nothing important," Patricia replied, a little more aggressively than she had wanted, "Now, let's get out of here."

"Sure, no problem," Jostein said, before he engaged the thrusters and sped on away from Coruscant, heading for Naboo.

***********************************************

The journey on board the Kohl Ranger II was not exactly a leisure cruise. Most of the time, Wil and Gantor found themselves scrubbing the floors and the individual units inside the refresher stations. The stench of the cleaning solutions as well as the fetid odours left by the various beings utilizing the stations often made Wil gag as he knelt on the decks scrubbing for hours on end. Even utilising his Jedi breathing techniques did not help many times. Gantor at least had his alien physique to aid him in controlling his reflexes; he didn't seem to mind the work, taking it in stride, finding it merely tedious.

The third evening into their journey, Wil flopped into his rack and stared, dismayed, at the low bulkhead above him. What if he was simply dreaming? What if this Carsten Hedegaard were no relation to him, simply someone who shared the same surname, and was a dangerous bandit who would look at him, ask no questions, and merely attempt to kill him, as so many had told him? This certainly seemed the most likely scenario at this point; however, something kept nagging at him, some dim memory from the past. He had used the Force several times, trying to meditate on it as he had been taught at the Jedi Academy and later, at the Temple, but to no avail. Every time he tried to access this vague impression, it was blocked out, blocked by some unseen wall of emotion, of consciousness that he could not pass through or go around, not even with the Force.

"Gantor," he began quietly.

"Yes, Wil?" his friend answered.

"Do you think I am doing the right thing? I mean, this quest to find my alleged 'relative' and all..." his voice trailed off, dismal in its fatigue and despondency.

"Wil, I don't know. You wanted to do this. All I can say is, we can't stop now. It is only a half-day until we reach Bimmisaari. From there we are to scout out Carsten Hedegaard's next destination... we've gone too far now to quit and turn back, my friend," Gantor answered him. "Besides, I don't like the idea that we have scrubbed decks and refresher stations for nothing. Especially the refresher stations."

Wil had to chuckle at this. It had not been Gantor who had retched almost constantly at the fetid stench. "I'm just tired," Wil finally admitted, turning his face to the wall, shifting his body audibly in his rack. "Guess I'd better get what sleep I can."

"I have a feeling we are both going to need some rest. This trip has only begun," Gantor said softly, as he switched the lights out in the compartment.

***********************************************

The midday sun beat down hard on the cobblestones of the old quarter of the city of Theed. Patricia and Jostein nodded to passers-by as they walked briskly despite the heat. Warm weather could come suddenly on Naboo, Jostein thought, as he looked about him at the magnificent old buildings, many two or three stories high, most possessing intricate carvings on their columns and sculptures in their entryways and gardens. He thrust his Jedi cloak off his head, and felt the warm sun in the breeze as it swept his sandy hair around. The sky was a cloudless blue, and various birdlike creatures were making musical noises that added to the charm of the surroundings.

"She lives close by, I believe," he remarked to Patricia.

"You did walk her home the last night we were here?" Patricia grinned at him slyly.

"Actually, no. She was still staying at the palace, remember?" Jostein returned, just a little rosy around the cheeks. Although she was no longer his master, and he no longer an apprentice, Patricia still had this way of disarming him concerning certain subjects. This was one of them. "She simply told me where she lived in case I were to ever get back here. I said I might be stopping by once I had finished the trials. She is aware that I may not be a Jedi for much longer..." his voice dropped as he recalled the other task that weighed so heavily on his mind, and his alone.

Patricia stopped for a moment, looking about. Indicating for him to follow her, Patricia led Jostein to a nearby park. The two Jedi found a secluded bench and sat down, facing each other.

"Jostein, what is on you mind?" Patricia asked him point blank.

"I am considering leaving the Jedi Order and assuming my place as the heir to the Kirian throne. If Hyan will consent to marry me and rule by my side as my Queen," he spoke seriously.

"The Jedi Order's loss would be Kiria's great gain. However, Hyan... I don't know Jostein. She seems to be very ambitious for herself here on Naboo," Patricia said, with an emotion Jostein could not quite place.

"I do not think I could find another who would suit me as well for a queen, Patricia," Jostein said, with some finality.

"How do you feel about her, Jostein?" Patricia asked him vehemently, almost angrily.

Jostein looked at Patricia, wondering what made her speak so passionately. He then looked around them at the lovely park, all sculpted, perfect, designed for perfection, not saying anything for several minutes. "She is so... she is very beautiful, as well as cultured and well educated. I do not think I could find anyone else better suited to help me rule my people," he finally admitted.

"You do not love her," Patricia said with some finality. I can feel it, she thought reaching into his mind, to that bond that only the closest masters and apprentices have, a bond that continues long after the apprentice has graduated to knighthood. 'Jostein,' she told him, through the awareness of the Force they shared, 'I do not know a great deal about the physical intimacies, perhaps not as much as you do, but I do know what love is. You do not love Hyan.'

"I must marry to assume the throne, Patricia. It is written in the laws of Kiria that whoever is crowned king or queen must marry within a year of his or her ascension," Jostein insisted.

"If you must ask her to marry you, you must. I do not have a very good feeling about this. Also, remember, we are not here just for that, anyway," she reprimanded him gently.

"I know," Jostein sighed, looking around him, the day suddenly duller by far, as he discovered the truth within himself.

They got up and proceeded to walk the remaining kilometre or so to Hyan's family home in the centre of the old town of Theed. Patricia noticed a small garden off to the side of the small house, as they made their way up the cobbled walk. She thought of a not-so-far off rose dawn under a Kirian sky, with one whose sense of beauty and being matched her own... no time for such thoughts now. She found herself thinking of Rhyss' terrible threat, and of what could possibly happen if ... no matter. She would do what had to be done. Her thoughts returned sharply to the matter at hand.

Hyan answered Jostein's sharp rap at the door. Her light blonde hair was braided and wrapped about her head in a coronet that encircled her entire head. Her deep blue eyes smiled at her two visitors, welcoming them into her home, leading them through the anteroom and a smaller sitting room into a kitchen, where a table was set for one. She took out two more settings and added them to the table. Gesturing towards the table, she said, "It is wonderful to see the two of you again. Certainly in much better circumstances than before," she smiled. "Perhaps you will join me for my midday meal?"

"Thank you, we would really like that," Jostein said, noticing that Patricia was looking out the kitchen window at the garden as he spoke.

"Ah, yes, thank you," Patricia added, a little absent minded, as she sat down, deliberately facing herself away from the window, Jostein noticed.

"It is a pleasure to see the two of you again," Hyan said pleasantly, serving them a thick stew and some sandwiches. "What brings you here?" she asked smiling at Jostein, as she sat down next to him at the table.

"We are in pursuit of two young Jedi who have just finished their training. They disappeared without taking leave of the Council, and we have reason to believe they may have paid you a visit," Jostein told her. "In fact, " he said, "I am quite positive they have paid you a visit."

Hyan was neither surprised nor angered by Jostein's assertion. "Yes, they were here. One is a human, rather young, like you said, medium brown hair, blue eyes, medium build, still wearing the braid thing. You don't have one any more, do you?" she observed, suddenly changing the subject.

"No, I do not. It is a Padawan braid, and is worn only by the trainees. Once we become Jedi knights, our masters cut them off to symbolize our maturity in the Jedi Order. You say 'they' were here. So the other one, what did he look like?"

"He appeared to be a Zabrak, but I'm not quite sure. He had several horns on his head, with yellowish green eyes and a large build," she said, describing Gantor to a tee. "I've never seen one quite like him before."

"What was their business?" Patricia asked, suddenly coming out of her reverie and addressing herself to Hyan.

"They were looking for that mercenary who kidnapped me and killed Dannk - Carsten Hedegaard," Hyan answered.

"Just as we thought. What did they ask you? What did they tell you?" Jostein began to fire questions impatiently at Hyan. He had to get this moving so he could perform his second task here, before he lost his nerve.

"Mostly, the human did the talking. Said his name was Wil Hedegaard. Asked what Carsten Hedegaard looked like, where I thought he might have gone, stuff like that," Hyan looked hurt at Jostein's sudden abrupt manner of questioning.

Patricia held up a hand. "I am sorry if it seems as if we are interrogating you; we do not wish to bring up unpleasant memories. But we do need to track down these two unfortunate young men before they get in over their heads," she finished.

"I sent them to find Ben Nal Rees. He comes here between runs to make small repairs and visit the cantinas. Sometimes he comes by just to see how I am and to ask after my father," she said, lowering her gaze a little.

They ate for a while, making some quiet conversation about Nal Rees and his recent upturn in business, as well as his purchase of a new fleet of ships. As they finished the meal, Patricia made a remark about wishing to spend some time meditating in the garden, if it was convenient for their hostess.

"Of course you may, Patricia. You may enter the garden from the rear gate through this back door over here," Hyan indicated the doorway out of the kitchen onto the cobbled walk out back of the house. Patricia slipped out quietly, leaving Jostein and Hyan alone together.

Jostein stood up and walked over to the cabinet that stood against the wall that was flush with the hallway. He looked at the dishes that were displayed behind the glass doors and silently prayed that he would find the right words for what he was about to do. Hyan then spoke.

"I have some news. I am to be married soon. His Royal Majesty, the King of Naboo has proposed marriage to me and I accepted a month ago," she said, matter-of-factly.

"That is wonderful news, Hyan. Congratulations," Jostein said, sincerely. From somewhere deep within him, he felt wave after wave of relief flood through him, as he savoured her words. "I wish both of you the best. As he will not be serving as king for much longer, what are your future plans?"

"I will be making a bid for the Naboo seat in the New Republic Senate. His support and caring will surely be most valuable, don't you think?" Hyan smiled at Jostein.

"I am sure you will both be quite happy. And good luck on your Senate bid," Jostein felt ready to take his leave. Hyan showed Jostein to the front door, where Patricia was waiting for him.

"Thank you for the lovely luncheon, Hyan. I am sorry we cannot stay longer. We need to find Ben Nal Rees and find out where he took those two kids," Patricia told her.

"Good luck. They seemed like such nice young men. I hope they will be all right," she said, not sure what else she should say.

With that, the two Jedi nodded to Hyan, and, after thanking her for the luncheon, took their leave of her. The pair walked along in silence for some time before Jostein finally managed to heave a great sigh of relief. Patricia looked at him, somewhat puzzled, and then began to laugh.

"Well, what happened? You really do not expect me to reach into your mind and do a full trance right out here on the street, do you?" she giggled.

"I never even got to ask her," Jostein said, the relief evident in his voice as well as his bearing. "It seems she became engaged to the King of Naboo about a month ago. A political arrangement, to be sure. She as much as said so. She seems to be quite content."

Patricia did not respond. The day already looked brighter as they made their way to the outskirts of Theed.

**********************************************

Wil and Gantor had landed on Bimmisaari only a few hours ago, but had already taken off on their way again in a cargo vessel heading towards Carsten's rumoured whereabouts: the planet of Ja'rel in the Tion Cluster. Wil and Gantor felt relieved that they had been able to earn a few extra credits while aboard Nal Rees' ship, in addition to their passage. "You boys are two of the best crewmen I've ever had," Nal Rees had said. "Wish I could keep you around for a while longer. But I guess you mean to continue this foolhardy quest of yours."

"Yes, sir, I do," Wil had answered him. "If I have living relatives, I need to know."

"I understand how lonely life can be with no family," Nal Rees had said, his face a ruddy, weathered testimony to his years alone in space. He looked pointedly at Wil. "I hope you find what you are looking for, son. I hope you are not disappointed... or worse." With that, Nal Rees had paid them the money and bid them goodbye.

They had spent a few hours meandering around the shops in the small spaceport on Bimmisaari. It had not taken long to find a hop to Ja'rel, as there were some locals who made trade runs there on a day to day basis. The cargo ship was not much more than a converted space barge, but Wil and Gantor found their quarters comfortable enough for the short ride and the cost of the trip.

"It won't be long now, Gantor," intoned Wil, staring intensely out the small porthole at the star field on the starboard side of the ship where their quarters were located. "I think maybe it is worth it after all. If he is related to me... if we are kin..."

"I hope it is what you want it to be, really I do. But you need to be prepared in case it isn't," Gantor reproached him.

"You were the one who helped me keep myself on the trail when I wanted to give up. Why are you saying this now?" Wil was almost angry.

"Because I don't want you to feel disappointed if he doesn't welcome you with open arms. He may not be related to you. We don't know how this is all going to turn out. We simply have to be prepared for things to turn out either way," Gantor warned him. "He may even be your brother for all we know. Or he could be nobody to you. Either way..."

"I know, Gantor, I know," Wil said, a little cross. "Let's get some rest before we get to Ja'rel. It's going to be a long day there tomorrow."

"G'night, Wil."

Wil shuffled his body around in his bunk in reply.

*******************************

Jostein and Patricia found themselves back at the main hangar, at loose ends as to how to contact Ben Nal Rees. After asking several of the flight line mechanics, they had obtained the information that he had left headed for Bimmisaari just four days ahead of them.

"Well, hopefully we can catch up with them before they get into too much trouble," Jostein said after speaking with the last mechanic.

"If it is as you say, and they are looking for Carsten Hedegaard, getting into trouble will be the least of their worries," Patricia said dryly.

Climbing into the X-Wing, the pair of Jedi fired up her engines, and mounted skyward, toward the evening sky of Naboo. Jostein found that this was the most thrilling part of flying, feeling the thrust of his craft through a multicoloured firmament, into the vastness of space, at a speed that took his breath away every time.

Patricia lay back in the co-pilot's seat beside him, her eyes closed, her breathing regular, a smile playing about her lips. He wondered what she was thinking about... or if she was thinking at all. Sometimes it was as if she didn't think - she simply was. It was a very Jedi-like quality, but one he seldom saw in most of his fellow knights, it seemed. Everyone was so busy telling, no bragging about the latest mission and what happened to whom. Sometimes it was almost like a gossip holodrama. Patricia seemed to not even notice it, as if it were foreign to her nature; or if she did, she didn't care. All she cared about was the Force, and its coursing through her life.

Jostein sometimes wished it was that simple for him. Just live the ascetic Jedi's life, travelling from place to place, setting wrong right, settling disputes, battling evil in favour of the good, feeling the intense coursing of the Force through is body, his soul, his spirit. But he had a responsibility that had been there for him since before he had ever been born. Perhaps his talents were meant to be used to help his people, instead of the galaxy at large. Maybe he was being selfish in pursuing his dream of being a Jedi. It was all so confusing. So many unanswered questions - that could only be answered by him and the choices he would eventually make.

Then there was this mission. Something didn't feel right about it. Patricia had come out to the X-Wing from her conversation with Rhyss at the Jedi Temple with an expression comparable to a witch of Dathomir on her face. He had never seen her look like that. Ever. Not in the year and a half that he had known her had she ever glared at anyone like that. She had not said anything about what had happened during her encounter with the Jedi master, but he had to be involved in the mission somehow. And that boded no good for them, that was for sure.

When he was honest with himself, he was grateful to be paired with his former master again for this mission. Not only was her experience invaluable, but he had grown accustomed to working with her, and could anticipate her every move and sometimes, even, her train of thought on a particular subject. Not that he always agreed with her. She could be stubborn and opinionated, and he was convinced that whatever she was involved with had repercussions that would reach well beyond her own sphere of influence. The events on Kiria had shown him that there were indeed different ways of seeing things, and that sometimes, rules had to fly out the window. He just hoped that they would not pay down the road for throwing away the rulebook one too many a time.

*********************************************

"Look, you have to learn their language if you're to have any hopes of communicating with them!" Gantor said, as he was holding out the datapad with the known information about Ja'rel. They had landed on the planet just that morning after an overnight ride on the cargo ship. The people there were friendly, but they kept to themselves; they welcomed strangers with open arms, but did not reveal much about themselves or their strange and oddly advanced technology, which no one seemed to have any explanations for, other than vague descriptions of how it was to be used.

With just a little practice, Gantor had already mastered a number of the easier phrases and greetings common in the Tareenian language.

"I know," Wil said, "It's just so hard... and you do so well; you can learn an entire new language in a matter of minutes. I, on the other hand, sometimes take days, and even then I still forget some words or mix it up with other languages. It's so unfair."

"Hey, where's your Jedi pride?" Gantor teased.

"It's in here somewhere," Wil said and tapped his chest with his hand, "I just don't know where."

********************************************

Bringing the modified X-Wing out of hyperspace, Jostein jostled Patricia out of her dreamy trance. She looked over at him, saying nothing, nodding for him to go ahead with the landing procedure after they had received clearance. He brought the ship down smoothly out of orbit, landing at a small spaceport just outside the largest city on the planet.

"Surely we can find Nal Rees here," Patricia said, looking at the flight manifests that were posted for the charters on a large hologrid that was operated by entering a code number into the grid's computer. Jedi had code numbers they used for all such computers all over the New Republic.

"He doesn't do charters, does he?" Jostein questioned her.

"No, but, I thought maybe Wil and Gantor might have left on one. That would cut out the middleman. But, no such luck," she said ruefully. "Looks like Ben has been here, though. Here's his fuel request and purchase approval, " she added a little more brightly, indicating another display that showed procurements of fuel and supplies by regular customers.

"And look over here. He just left a few hours ago," Jostein complained.

"Who else has left in the last few days with passengers? And where did they go? This is not that busy of a spaceport. It isn't Coruscant, for the Force's sake," Patricia swore vehemently. Jostein was shocked to hear her speak so strongly and was prepared to say so, when he came across a manifest for a small cargo vessel.

"Well, we have one thing going for us: they used their real names," he said appreciatively. "It doesn't seem they pay much attention to covering up their tracks."

"I don't think they are trying to hide anyway. I think they are going toward something than running away from something, " Patricia observed.

"It makes sense, seeing that if they wanted to hide, they would have used aliases," Jostein added.

"Sometimes small favours are the best ones," Patricia said acidly.

"You really do not want to be on this mission, do you?" Jostein remarked, hoping this opening would finally bring her to discuss with him what it was that was eating away at her inside.

"You are right, Jostein. I am sorry that I am allowing my personal feelings to get in the way of my effectiveness. A Jedi must have sharp wits, a quick mind, and a focused mentality. I feel I am losing all of these things," Patricia said quietly. She refused to add anything else, despite a look from Jostein that said, go on.

"I'm sorry, too. Actually, I envisioned going on some grand quest for my first mission as a Jedi knight, not a babysitting trip," he laughed. "Especially not a search and rescue for someone in my own Padawan class."

"Well, let's get on with it," Patricia said labouredly. "Where did this ship go?"

"Not far apparently. A planet called Ja'rel in the Tion cluster. A little less than a day's travel from here in the X-Wing," he stated.

"What are we waiting for? Adventure and excitement awaits us..." Patricia allowed her voice to trail off, becoming lost in thought again suddenly. "Actually, if Carsten Hedegaard is there, we may get a great deal more than that."

"The question is, do we really want it?" Jostein asked, not really expecting an answer. He got none, only a long silence as they walked to the X-Wing and prepared to take off once again.

It did not take long before they were back on board the x-wing and speeding up through the thick atmosphere of Bimmisaari on their way to Ja'rel. Suddenly, Jostein felt the familiar pain between his temples, followed by the panting, the thin lines of shooting stars flying into his path of vision. Patricia noticed quickly and grabbed the controls. As the pain began to subside, he received a clear gaze at what appeared to be two armies, one in black and yellow, another in indeterminable colours, fighting at close quarters, men and women dying horribly. This was followed by a second vision of two men, one he recognised as Wil, a second he knew to be Carsten Hedegaard, which melted into a horrific scenario of the two men clashing over a woman, her face contorted into a grotesque death mask, her throat oozing cerise liquid. Jostein could not control the screams escaping the depths of his throat.

********************************************

"What's she saying?" Wil asked, "I only understood bits and pieces of it.

"Okay, first, she didn't know anything about a Carsten Hedegaard or where he might be, but she knew someone who might. His name is Ameroun and he lives in a town, just four kilometres from here: he might be able to tell you where Carsten is, if he's on this planet... this guy knows everything that goes on here."

"That's it then..." Wil said, but Gantor interrupted him.

"There's more."

"What? Tell me."

"She said that it's rumoured that a Shoo'an invasion is brewing and travel is restricted out of the city. That they are only a days journey away."

"Who are the Shoo'an?"

"I don't know..." Gantor said.

"Well, ask her then." Wil said and gesticulated at the old woman sitting at the table in front of them in the small, but clean tavern. The two Jedi had walked about in the town, in which they had landed, for about an hour asking people about Carsten, but none of them knew anything, and when everything looked as if they had reached a dead-end they had gone into the tavern and ordered something to eat. That was when the old woman had approached them, and for the price of a Ruorman drink she would help them find their lost friend... or as it now seemed, she would help them find someone who might help them find Carsten. Although it was a long shot, it was the only prospect they had had all day.

Gantor posed Wil's question to the woman. As he turned back to Wil he looked concerned. "The Shoo'an are the neighbouring people from the north and she says they have been hostile towards the Tareenians for about twenty years, for some reason she no longer remembers, but something has changed in their attitude over the last couple of months. It seems as if they are planning to attack Tareen."

"But..." Wil was confused, "What does this mean. It's forbidden for us to interfere in local disputes. Have we landed in a war zone?"

"I'm afraid so, but that shouldn't stop you from your mission. You have to find Carsten, to find out if he really is a relative of yours or not. You can't stop now that we are so close."

"You do know that it's something I have to do alone, don't you?" Wil said in a low voice.

"What... why?"

"If both of us go, we might scare him off. I have to do this, Gantor... and face it: two Jedi look a lot more intimidating than just one. Especially if one of them is as terrifying a sight as you." Wil laughed out loud.

"I take that as a compliment!" Gantor said, with a big grin on his face. "Well, according to her statement it seems that we are only fifteen kilometres from the capital of this country, which lies over that rise there." Gantor pointed out the window of the tavern at some hills in the distance. "It's a peninsula... and it's surrounded by the Garandau Ocean on all sides, except to the south, where it's connected to the mainland. Wil, do you know what this means?"

"Err... no, not really."

"I have a chance to see a real ocean, for real, not just a picture of it or a holographic illusion. No, the real thing."

"Why do you want to see the ocean, my friend? There's nothing there but water."

"That's nice Wil, just make fun of me. You wouldn't understand why I want to see the ocean."

"Perhaps I do. Try me."

"Well, unlike you I have never been anywhere on a mission, other than Tatooine and Hoth, and, of course, Coruscant and Yavin IV. And I didn't really get to see much on any of those planets; I was too busy training or serving my master. I've never seen anything... nothing, except cities and desert planets and some jungle when I wasn't training. You don't know what it feels like to be denied the possibility to see something beautiful, something which is not crafted or sculpted, something which is real, something you can see and touch... which will make you feel alive. And I've always dreamed about seeing an ocean."

"Look, when I get back, I'll come with you to see the ocean. What do you think about that?"

"You're a true friend, Wil." Gantor said

********************************************

"We have clearance to land in the spaceport of Yamacon in the country of the Shoo'an," Jostein said as they approached the atmosphere of Ja'rel, "Shall I take her down?"

"Yes, please do," Patricia said, "But is it anywhere near the landing site of that cargo vessel?"

"No, I'm afraid that it landed further to the south in a country called Tareen. I've never encountered a planet with different countries before, with different beliefs, laws, and such."

"You'll get used to it. Many of the planets you will encounter in the future still haven't converted into what we know as united planetary rule. Some systems feel such a unity would only be beneficial to the centre systems, so they keep to themselves and don't interfere in what they call 'our' business, as long as we respect and don't interfere in 'theirs'."

"But that doesn't make a great deal of sense. Unity makes it so much easier to accomplish goals." Jostein exclaimed.

"That may be true. However, many planets have several diverse cultures who are not anywhere near the point where they are able to set aside their differences enough to unite on the issues that confront them as a planet enough to have one centralised government," Patricia explained.

"But, what if they are attacked by outsiders, or have natural catastrophes... then they can't unite to help themselves... and since they are not united planets, they are usually not members of the New Republic anyway, so they cannot ask for our help either," Jostein countered.

"Although, if we do see problems happening, we are more than willing to lend a hand where it is needed. Sometimes, maybe a little too willing. One way or another, they have the right to run their planet as they see fit," Patricia answered him.

"Yes, but with united planetary government, they could have things such as extradition agreements with the New Republic concerning wanted criminals."

"In many cases, the non-aligned worlds do; others do not. That's just the way it is. We can't change their attitudes by force, but we can try to persuade them to see it our way; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Many of them have already tried what it would mean to be a part of the republic, which wasn't exactly a good experience for them. Remember, our history hasn't always been as bright as it is now; there was a time when the Empire ruled, and that was a hard time for many systems. They were let down by the Old Republic, a system that, instead of granting them the freedom and prosperity it promised, fell apart and evolved into an Imperial system which enslaved them.

"Hopefully, as time goes on, the New Republic will prove to the non-aligned worlds of the galaxy that we are much stronger than our predecessor, and that we will not fall prey to the corruption that brought down the Old Republic," Patricia concluded.

Jostein brought the X-Wing down onto the landing field flawlessly, executing a half-turn to park it facing the Yamacon hangar. As the two Jedi disembarked, they noticed two guards striding towards them.

"Well, here comes the welcoming party, " noted Jostein with some consternation.

Patricia lifted her arms up, palms facing the two guards, in a gesture of peace, Jostein doing his best to emulate her. The two guards motioned for the pair to follow them towards the hangar. Jostein and Patricia followed them to a cage-like building near the hangar, which appeared to be a guard shack. A third guard stood inside, checking what appeared to be some sort of holo-projection apparatus. He looked up from his work to wave the first two guards and their guests on past him.

The two guards brought Patricia and Jostein to the hangar where they were met by a military formation that appeared to be made up of spacecraft pilots and ground troops. The leader of the formation walked up to meet them.

"Captain Kalar, at your service. You must be Jedi knights," he said with what was unexpected familiarity to Jostein and Patricia.

"Why yes, we are. I am Patricia, and this is my companion knight, Jostein," Patricia said by way of introduction. Although surprised that Captain Kalar cold speak Basic and had obviously travelled beyond Ja'rel, Patricia pressed her advantage.

"We are here looking for two lost companions, two fairly young adolescents, one human, one alien. We have traced them to this planet; however, we fear they have landed far from here, in the land of the Tareen Kingdom," Patricia finished.

"Why don't we talk further in my office?" Captain Kalar offered. "As you were, people. There is much to be done, before the next offensive. Prepare those torpedo launchers and those blast shields," he ordered the troops, as he turned to lead the Jedi to his private space in a corner of the hangar. It was just now that Jostein and Patricia noticed that the hangar was military in nature; there were squadron insignia painted on the walls, and banners hanging from the catwalks high above the main floor. Patricia and Jostein followed him into the tiny, cramped office, and he closed the door behind them. He waved his hand over a small panel, and a menu appeared.

"Something to drink?" he asked politely.

"Why, yes, thank you," Patricia responded. "I could use a little refreshment after that long trip." She smiled at Captain Kalar.

"Yes, thank you," Jostein added, a feeling of utter dread creeping up through his stomach. He had had a dislike of alien beverages ever since his first mission with Patricia had gotten off to such an inauspicious beginning on Corellia, in a dingy dive with a bizarre beverage he could not even recall the name of. However, when Patricia reached out and took her serving from Captain Kalar, Jostein did likewise, hoping not to betray his feelings to his host. Patricia smiled knowingly at him. Sometimes, he wondered, just a little annoyed, if there was anything that woman did not know about him. Tasting the beverage, Jostein was surprised to find he actually liked it. Well, sometimes you just get lucky, he thought.

Captain Kalar relaxed as he served first the Jedi, then himself, then settled down into his chair once they were seated across from him. "We have been at war with the kingdom of Tareen for many years now. They began raiding our territory twenty years ago and have not stopped since. Recent advancements in our technology have given us a decisive edge over them, so our Emperor has decided to put an end to this ruinous conflict once and for all, by crushing them decisively within the next few days. We know we can do it and we shall," he began to explain.

"But it sounds as if you have no idea what actually began the conflict in the first place," Patricia interrupted him.

Captain Kalar looked at her pointedly. "That is quite true. There are rumours among the people, nothing more. I find myself tiring of this conflict, I admit. The prospect of ending it soon gives me a great deal of satisfaction," he said, beginning to look fatigued. "Be that as it may, how may I assist you in your endeavours?"

"We need a holo-map of the territory, in order to find our way into Tareen and find our lost companions. We know they were on board a cargo ship that landed in Tareen just a few days ago. Maybe even more recently. If we can simply get them out of there and back here, one of us can accompany them on a ship home and the other will fly our ship out of here and we will bother you no more," Patricia told him.

"I will be happy to provide you with a holo-map. It is the most accurate we have, and it will help you avoid the troop engagements. Do let me know if there is more I can do to help you," Captain Kalar said, as he brought out the small device Jostein assumed was the holo-map and handed it to Patricia.

"Thank you, Captain. We do appreciate your assistance. Good luck in your endeavours as well. We wish you peace," Patricia responded as she and Jostein rose and took their leave.

********************************************

'What am I doing here?' Wil thought to himself as he approached the small lagoon, on his way to the town where he'd been told that he could find someone, who might know where Carsten was. There was little out here but a small hut, surrounded by a marsh and tall, forbidding trees. It seemed as if no one remotely human had been here for years. Placing his right hand on the hilt of his lightsabre, Wil crept around to the side of the rustic dwelling, creaking a loose board that stuck out in his path.

"Dangit," he swore inarticulately, as he continued his prowl around the hovel, looking in every direction before coming back around to where he had been before. He was startled when he heard a voice.

"What did you expect to find out here, stranger?" A man's low voice spoke. Wil Jumped around, lightsabre drawn, to find himself looking into what appeared to be an older, more angular version of himself.

"As a matter of fact, YOU!" Wil nearly shouted.

"Me? Why, you look strangely familiar to me. Are you sure we haven't met before?" the man frowned, looking at Wil, puzzled.

"I'm sure... I would have remembered. You're Carsten Hedegaard, aren't you?" Wil ventured boldly.

"And who the hell wants to know?" the man growled angrily.

"Wil Hedegaard, Jedi Knight," Wil said, using a Jedi technique to moderate his voice in order to calm the man a bit.

"Why would you want to find him? He's supposed to be a dangerous brigand you know? Murderer, thief, all-around thug. Not exactly your kind of company, Jedi," the man said, putting an angry, contemptuous spin on the word 'Jedi'.

"I believe we may be related," Wil said, again keeping his voice soft. "I heard about him from... from some other Jedi who encountered him and believe he may be family."

At this, the man began to speak quickly, barely pausing for breath. "Yes, well, I had a family once, but not anymore. I remember how it was: we were a happy family, living near a forest, and I had a younger brother, and we were always together. We had never done anything to anyone, but still our village was attacked... so long ago. The aggressors annihilated all resistance. I don't remember who they were except that they massacred our world and that I witnessed the whole thing hiding in a patch of brush on the edge of the forest. I was five and he was two at the time. The remainder of our tribe was gathered after the battle on the square in the middle of our town. We watched as they picked whomever they thought could bring them a good price as slaves, and then ordered them to kill their relatives and townspeople. I was lucky that my mother had ordered me into the woods to gather wood to make sculptures from and that she had asked me to take my kid brother with me on that fatal morning. When they prepared to leave the town, after several search parties being sent into the woods to look for runaways, they torched the town; nothing was spared... not even the livestock."

"My God..." Wil gasped.

"That's not the worst of it..." the man assured him, as he looked up at Wil, "This is nothing compared to what happened next. Of course, losing our parents, friends and everyone we knew was tough, but we managed. We wandered about in the woods; I hunted and he collected berries and other things from trees and bushes. But then, eventually, some trackers, who worked along with some slave traders, entrapped us."

"Oh no..."

"Well, they took us back with them to the newly re-colonised Dantooine, and there we stayed for four long months, working, until this stranger suddenly came to the camp. He was tall, had dark eyes, dark hair, was very muscular and wore strange clothes. Much like the clothing you're wearing. Anyway, when he first saw me, he got this resigned look on his face, but then when he saw my brother he immediately began to bargain with our owner about how much we were worth. I knew what was happening, but kept silent, and before I knew it we now belonged to the stranger."

"Then what happened?" Wil could almost feel the tension building up with the man's pausing so many times in his tale; he was a genuine storyteller.

"Okay, so the stranger asks us to leave everything we own, which obviously wasn't much, but it still had some sentimental value for us, but he didn't care. A few hours later he brought us to his starship, and off we went... towards our new home. Or so I thought, anyway. He brought us to Coruscant, the capital of the New Republic, and there he told us that he would have some men come and take a look at us, before he let the Council know about us."

"You mean?" Wil interrupted, "By Council, do you mean the Jedi Council?"

"Yes, indeed... the Jedi Council!" the man's voice was once again filled with hate and resentment by the mere mention of the word Jedi.

"But, if you were presented to the Council, then why didn't you become a Jedi?"

"Heh... that's easy." he smiled coolly, "I was a mistake. And I was never presented to the Council..."

"But..." Wil began, but was interrupted by the man's angry complaint.

"Please, stop interrupting all the time. It's annoying. And don't worry, I'll answer all your questions later... deal?"

"Yes, sorry."

"Don't be," he assured him, this time smiling warmly. "As I said, I was never presented to the Council, because the two people the stranger summoned both agreed that I was too old to begin training. They decided that I would become a liability and a danger to the Jedi if they decided to train me. My brother, of course, passed immediately, and even though I had the ability, I was shut out."

"What?" Wil was stunned. He couldn't believe that this was a possibility. "What happened? Who did this?" He had vague memories from his childhood, but now, they were beginning to become a bit clearer...

"A Jedi named Rhyss was the one who bought us... he may even have been a member of the Council. He was the one who consulted with the other two. After the other two decided I was too old to train, he took me and dumped me on the streets of Coruscant."

"Rhyss? No, it can't be..."

"Why? Do you know him? Well, of course you know him..."

"He's my Master!" Wil cried.

The man turned his head slowly and looked directly at Wil, his eyes filled with such hate that it frightened Wil immensely.

"You were... HIS... apprentice?" the man almost shouted.

Wil nodded slightly, but didn't say anything.

"I don't believe it," the man looked at Wil with a face that had become stone with rage.

"Well, there was always some fuss about it; the Council even argued about it once, I believe, but it eventually died out. It was actually a bit strange, because when I was about to become someone else's Padawan, Rhyss protested and volunteered to serve as my Master for the rest of my training. At least that was what I heard," Wil's voice had faded to a whisper.

"That stupid son-of-a-Gundark..." the man swore under his breath.

"Why, what do you mean?" Wil asked a bit baffled about the man's outbursts.

"He did it, so he could spy on you. To make sure that you wouldn't become a liability to him."

"But why...?" but Wil really didn't need to hear the reason... he already knew.

"In order to keep you from finding out the truth." Carsten looked up at the azure sky, hardly covered by any clouds. "This just makes me so angry. Not only did he destroy my life... no, he also made sure that yours was destroyed too. Pay no mind to a raving lunatic, Wil, I'm just a bit out on an edge right now..."

"You are Carsten Hedegaard. And what's more, you are my brother." Wil spoke the words with awe, as he looked upon Carsten, sensing him through the Force, knowing it was true.

"Yes, Wil. I am your brother. I can sense things through the Force as well. I don't know how to use it, though. I'm no 'Jedi'. But, I still have a few rudimentary abilities," Carsten regarded his newfound sibling. "Look, whatever you've heard about me, it's not necessarily true. I've made a lot of enemies over the years."

"Because you are a hired kidnapper and killer?" Wil asked his brother a little snappishly.

"No, never a killer; well, the last job kinda blew up in my face, but the bottom line is, I'm not a killer... not even for hire. I draw the line when it comes to taking someone's life."

"That's not what I've heard. Don't lie, I know everything about your last job, which cost the life of one person and almost killed several others. I've talked to some of the people involved, but not before finding out about you... can you imagine the surprise I felt when I first heard your name? I've talked to Jostein and Hyan... you remember Hyan?"

"Yes, how can I forget? Beautiful girl, nice figure..."

"Yeah well, she explained how you beat her several times, when you had abducted her."

"Hey, hey... where'd you get that from? She told you that? She's obviously exaggerating... I only whipped her once, and that was only on her legs, and I really didn't whip her that hard. The other times I simply threatened her..."

"All that just to lure Jostein into a trap?"

"That was my job, yes. Don't expect me to like it, I just do it well. Very well.." Carsten eyed Wil; it was a look of mixed pride, and something else, Wil was not sure what. He then continued. "In order to judge me you have to know all the facts first. And believe me, it's actually strange to talk about this after all these many years of just keeping it to myself." He looked around slowly. "After I was dumped by Rhyss I was wandering the streets of Coruscant... and I'm talking about at ground level, where no natural light ever shines and no wind ever blows, and where it's filthy and full of the outcasts of the splendid capital planet. I was living basically off of trash, but soon someone caught me as I was rummaging through his starship's garbage. But, instead of killing me, or handing me over to the proper authorities the captain decided that he could get a fair price for me when he sold me as a slave. He took me and thirteen other people and put us on his ship to take us to Dantooine to sell. On the journey to Dantooine I met a Ja'relian survivor named Bondane, who had been living in a village not far from ours. We rebelled against our captor, but several of the prospective slaves where killed before we gained control of the ship, Bondane included. But meeting him put in me a desire to search for other survivors... over the years I earned some credits by performing different tasks; such as field work, helping settlers... but unfortunately, what I did best, was also what I disliked the most: threatening, kidnapping and torture. My real clients know me, and use me frequently, but they also know that I don't do hired killings. I know my reputation says otherwise, but you can't always trust what people tell you. It's just that some of my jealous rivals think I take away their jobs, so they spread rumours about me to discredit me; someone eventually put a price on my head large enough to bring out all the scum of the galaxy to hunt me down."

"So, you expect me to believe you are not so awful after all?" Wil looked at Carsten dubiously.

"I expect you to believe whatever you want to believe," Carsten said, sounding weary.

"I want to believe you, I really do... but... it is all so... so... complicated," Wil felt dispirited. "I so wanted to have family, to finally feel a connection. And I do feel it. I can sense you are my brother through the Force. But, as to whether you are telling me the truth? I don't know. I just know there is so much we have lost."

"I hate the people who did this to us, but most of all I hated you for many years," Carsten finally said.

"Me?" Wil felt incredulous at this.

"Yes, you. Not because of who you are, but that you were given the chance to become everything I have ever dreamed about. YOU became a Jedi; you made it. I didn't. And I hated you for that... until I met you today: you made me realise that I shouldn't hate you, because you made it... no, I should be proud. It's the ones who shut me out, and drove me away from my own brother - my own flesh and blood - who wasn't even told about my existence. Those are the people I should hate," Carsten said, the anger in his voice palpable, his face red with emotion.

"But... hate doesn't solve anything... never has!" Wil said, with an authority in his voice, which surprised even him.

"You're right, but I can't help it. What happened to me all those years ago has scarred my soul so deeply that it can never really heal up again. It made me realise that I couldn't trust anyone but myself." Carsten turned away from Wil, an apparent dismissal, and walked into the hut. "I have nothing further to talk to you about," Wil could hear Carsten say from inside the hut, "I'm glad that you finally sought me out, but the next time we meet we won't be on the same side. Remember that." And with that he shut the door, and Wil decided that he wouldn't push his luck so he turned around and began the journey back to Gantor, his personal mission completed.

"Gantor?" Wil said into his comm-link as he was running quickly through the open marshy landscape. "Gantor... are you there? I'm on my way back to you." The comm-link only had static and it worried Wil a great deal. There had been a rush of fear, of anticipation in the small town, when he had left Gantor there, as he had ventured out to find Carsten. Many rumours of troop movements had been spreading, concerning the Shoo'an invasion forces that were headed in that direction. It was only now that his concern returned to his friend. Wil had actually been less prepared for what Carsten had told him than he thought he would be, and the sensation of having found his brother, when all his whole life he had been told that he was the only one, poured through his veins and filled him with energy.

"Gantor... are you there?" he tried again, but still no answer. He should never have left him in that town, not when there was talk of war coming. 'I just hope he's all right...' he thought to himself.

"Wil?" it suddenly sounded over the comm-link, and it took Wil completely by surprise: he almost fell. "By the Force, I'm glad it's you. Where have you been? I was worried. I thought that rascal had butchered you for sure, I'm glad you're all right."

"Gantor... I have a brother..." Wil yelled into the comm-link.

"Wow... I'm happy for you Wil, but there isn't time anymore, you have to hurry back. I'm heading for Tareen... you know, the capital. Meet me there."

"I'm coming as fast as I can," Wil said, "Say, what's that noise?"

"Wil... no time to explain. Just get your butt back here right now..." Gantor's voice trailed off, and a lot of noise and static were heard. "We're at war mate!" The last sentence completely shook up Wil, and he had to stop in order to grasp the seriousness of it all. He looked at the comm-link for a moment, not really knowing what he should think of it all.

As he stood there - at the apex of a small hill - he tried to calm down. In the distance he could hear a strange, constant rumble; at first he thought it was a thunderstorm coming, but he soon realises that it was the sound of heavy artillery... and that the war was reality. Grasping his lightsabre, he broke into a furious run.

***********************************************

"Our people are being killed, robbed and raped by the hordes of the Shoo'an Empire. And then you come here and ask us to surrender, a proposal we see as an insult towards our entire kingdom!" the Queen spoke with her usual gentle voice, though with a little more strain in order not to burst into tears while the entire ministry was present.

"Your Majesty. We can't hold out much longer. The Empire has almost penetrated the Outer Southern Defence Barrier and are in approach towards our city, the great city of Tareen - and they leave a devastating shadow of death, massacre and destruction in their wake!" said the head of the Ministry Council, Senator Krako. "If we do not surrender to them now, and end this dreadful conflict, many more people will die!"

The Queen turned slowly away from the Senator and faced the large panorama windows in the Audience Chamber, from where she had a clear view of her city, which she loved more than anything. What would her people say if she chose to surrender - would they thank her because she then stopped the carnage and bloodshed, or would they feel betrayed, because she chose the easy way? She knew that many of her countrymen weren't keen on surrendering to the Empire - and to be honest; she wasn't so thrilled about the thought either. No matter what it would be a difficult choice, and it was one she had to make... alone.

Slowly, she reached out with her hand, and the mere touch of the glass made a section of the window wobble slightly, as rings in water when disturbed, indicating the marble of Tareenian technology at its finest: the window section worked as a magnifier, which enabled the Queen to see things happening far away close-up. A technological development of the simple magnifier glass invented eons ago.

On the horizon, at the Southern Defence Barrier, the Queen could see the numerous explosions and the thick black smoke, created by the advancing Shoo'an Imperial Forces, and she could barely see her Royal Guard lead an attack, where thousands of young brave men fought to protect their proud nation against the aggressors.

But the Imperial Forces of the Shoo'an Empire were superior in numbers and weaponry. Slowly she lowered her head: the Tareenian soldiers fought bravely, but were slowly and surely mowed down, without mercy. It was an unfair fight; both she and her young soldiers had known that from the start. In spite of the knowledge of possible failure, they still fought for their country and for their honour.

Slowly, the Queen looked up again and again she saw the black and gold armour of the Imperial Assault Troops, shining sharply in the merciless midday sun, while her army was slowly beaten and was forced to fall back. The Shoo'an Empire had now full control over the Southern Defence Barrier.

The first wave of Assault Troops prepared to annihilate the rest of the resistance, when something unexpected happened, which no one had been prepared for. A single young man, dressed completely in black appeared as if out of nowhere and eagerly began defending the Queens soldiers against the troopers. Not many minutes later another outlander appeared, dressed similarly to the first, and took part in the battle; they succeeded in motivating the Tareenians in an offensive, which drove the Shoo'an Imperial Forces back, enough so they could fall back behind the Inner Defence Barrier, where they were immediately cleared through the energy shield in to safety.

Their mysterious saviours were among them, and both their extraordinary weapons and clothes alluded to the Queen that they were members of the famous Jedi Order of the New Republic, but since she wasn't quite sure she asked Senator Krako to come to the window to identify the mysterious warriors.

The Senator immediately did what he was asked and walked swiftly to the windows, placing himself to the right of the Queen, and let her point out the two strangers, whom had saved her soldiers. "Senator Krako," she began, awed, grateful at what she had seen, "those two young warriors! what sort of weapons were they using? I do not believe I have ever seen anything quite like them!"

He was astounded as he realised what the strangers were. "Jedi... here?" he almost whispered, as he looked suspiciously down at the two young men standing amongst the Queen's soldiers. They were easily recognisable with their black attire with the hood among the green and blue battle uniformed Royal Guard and the light brown uniforms of the Security Forces.

Slowly the Senator turned to face the Queen, with an agitated look on his face, as she kept looking, enchanted, at the two unknown Jedi. "Your Majesty, the two young men are Jedi knights. The weapons they are using are lightsabres they themselves assemble as part of their training. Only Jedi knights carry lightsabres..." the senator's voice trailed off wispily, as he too wondered at how two Jedi had come to find their way to Ja'rel and save the tattered remnants of the Tareenian Army.

"Your majesty," a voice suddenly sounded in the large room, it was the head of the Royal Security Forces, General Larndal, "We've received word that the grand army is only a days journey away by foot, but if deployed they could arrive within the pantec. Should I deploy?"

"No, wait." The authority in the Queen's voice was unmistakable; she had something else in mind, than a direct attack. She was an excellent strategist, and was never questioned. "Don't send the deploy signal yet."

Abruptly, the cannon fire stopped and the Queen once again turned her attention to the now silent battlefield.

***********************************************

Four men appeared from within the ranks of the Shoo'an army, riding on the backs of Deadoo - large bipedal animals with long necks and long thick tails with smaller front limbs drawn in closely to their torso, unmistakably herbivores. They were carrying the Shoo'an negotiation team's flag - standard yellow - as they slowly approached the energy shield protecting the city from heavy bombardment; there were one negotiator and three artillerymen.

The Queen's commanding General turned to Wil and asked him, "Would you do us the honour of joining our diplomatic representatives who will meet with the Shoo'an delegation that is being sent out?" The general ignored Gantor indiscreetly, because of his obvious alien characteristics.

"It would indeed be an honour to serve you, General," Wil answered him, clipping his lightsabre to his belt, and smoothing his cloak around him. The Tareenian delegation, including Wil, set out on foot, meeting the Shoo'an team in front of the shield protecting the Inner Defence Barrier. The courier from the Shoo'an team handed an official holo-pad to the Tareenian general. He activated it and immediately paled as its message slowly appeared: Surrender or be destroyed. You have until sunset tomorrow to respond.

*************************

Thrusting some heavy branches aside, Jostein looked behind him to see Patricia slogging through the muddy grass, her robes sodden, her feet soaked. She looked up at him and grinned lopsidedly, then stuck out her tongue mischievously. What had she been thinking, to lead them through this swamp? There had been another trail that appeared to also lead toward the Tareenian border as well, but Patricia insisted that it was much safer to go through here; they would be much less likely to encounter any warring parties here than on the dryer path. Still, a swamp?

Patricia caught up with her stronger compatriot and smiled crookedly at him once more. "It really is safer this way," she whispered. "We really do not need to get mixed up in their war."

"I know that," Jostein said grumpily, "but I hate getting all wet and dirty when I don't have to. And that other path is still a long way from the major part of the fighting."

"Supposedly it is, I know," Patricia said, suddenly serious, "but I don't trust it completely. The best weapon in war is surprise. And something tells me that the Shoo'an intend to launch a major offensive within the next twenty-four hours. A path like that one would then be considered a major line of retreat for the Tareen. The people back there in that hangar weren't playing Sabacc."

"Okay. So now what, then? Here we are, in the middle of a swamp, and we are headed for Tareen, looking like something a Rancor just dragged in. How much further?" Jostein complained.

"Oh, I would say... err..." Patricia paused and looked at the holo-map again, "only about five more kilometres. It won't be long until we are in Tareen."

"Still soaking wet..." moaned Jostein as he slogged onward.

"You think you are wet now?" Patricia queried him, a smirk etching itself across her face. She shoved him slightly, causing him to lose his balance somewhat, but able to regain it and continue to walk.

"Hey!" Jostein said, not looking at her as he continued to walk, only a bit slower.

"You could be a lot wetter," Patricia teased, pushing him again, this time against a small tree.

"What the...!" Jostein said, as he returned her shove, landing her in a small puddle.

"Hmph!" Patricia laughed, as she reached up and grabbed him by the ankles, pulling him into the mud up to his neck.

The two Jedi then commenced to brawl with reckless abandon in the marshy quagmire, thrashing about in the mud and grass, splashing the ooze all over each other. Hair, arms and clothing sodden, they threw each other about crazily in the last of twilight, not caring anymore how dirty they were. After about fifteen or twenty minutes of this silliness, the two Jedi stood up and looked at each other, and began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Hope we don't have to use our lightsabres any time soon," Patricia giggled.

"Yeah, wouldn't do us any good, the shape we're in..." Jostein grinned, shoving her backwards into the slime once more. The brawl began once more, as the two again slapped the wet earth into each other's faces and threw each other around in the mire, their mirth filling the forest.

Finally, Jostein got up, reached his hand down to Patricia, who lay sprawled in the mud with her cloak wrapped around her neck, and pulled her up in one grab. The two Jedi grinned wearily at each other, adjusted their sopping wet, dirty clothing and slogged onward into an ever-darkening forest. Somehow, though, it didn't feel so dark.

*******************************************************************

"I'm afraid that we are as equally responsible for this situation as the Shoo'an," Senator Krako said to Wil that evening as they sat at dinner. The Queen had invited the Jedi to join her, her family, the Senator and several dignitaries for the evening meal and to spend their remaining time on Ja'rel as guests at the palace, and Wil had felt it would not do to turn down an invitation from such an auspicious host.

"What do you mean?" Wil asked a bit surprised about this statement.

"Well, you see, about twenty years ago, or so, Queen Benefreren's husband, Prince Eidyston died from an unknown illness, which shocked us all, since we had thought that we had gotten rid of all known illnesses, but we had simply been overconfident of our advanced technological breakthroughs that we simply ignored that fact. The unnatural death was a hard blow for our lovely Queen, and still to this day she mourns him gravely. So, you can imagine how thrilled she became when she heard some old legends about an ancient culture living in these lands several millennia ago. She was especially interested in what the royal advisor described as a golden bird, unlike anything we have ever seen, which had the power over life and death: but most importantly that it was said to be able to grant eternal life to someone worthy of that privilege, and in our Queens case; restore the life of her beloved husband. Of course, no one really knows whether these tales were true, but the Queen believed in them, and that was enough to send the entire kingdom questing for the bird. She sent out scouts to locate the old cities, rumoured to hold the key to enormous wealth and the prospect of becoming immortal, but once the scouts reported their finds, nothing really happened after that. I later discovered that the ancient cities were discovered in the forbidden forest of Grandassa just on the Shoo'an side of the border, and that several search parties were sent to the area to retrieve the treasures and the fabled golden bird, but they never returned. So, our Queen appeared to have let the matter go for a number of years; I later found out that she had secretly ordered some raids on the border towns, in order to scare off the local populations. I heard they were successful..."

"Successful?" Wil looked sharply at the man, almost fearing what he would say next. Gantor was, as usual, not paying attention to what was being said; he was too busy devouring the delicious food on his plate.

"Yes," the Senator assured, "The townspeople fled from the villages, or so I heard, but the Shoo'an Emperor soon discovered that it had been our Queen who was responsible for those raids on the border villages and saw it as a serious offence towards the Shoo'an Empire... and we have been at war with the Shoo'an ever since. But nothing that matches the current events; something must have upset the Shoo'an Emperor since he has launched such a vicious attack on our kingdom now. We are way too inferior in technology... not even our most advanced weaponry, our tripod walkers, are any match for the Shoo'an war machine."

Wil's hand shot down involuntarily, grabbing the hilt of his lightsabre, but he quickly calmed himself. He had to admit that there were too many similarities between what Senator Krako was telling him and what Carsten had told him earlier. "You say that the villagers in the border towns were driven away?" he began.

"Yes, that's what I've heard, anyway. And I believe what my Queen tells me."

"Yes, of course, but you don't know for sure whether or not the villagers were simply driven away or if they were slain and the houses burned to the ground."

"Where did you hear such a story, young man?" Senator Krako paled as he looked at Wil's reddening face. "Do you know what you are accusing the Queen of, young Jedi?"

"Perhaps..." Wil said firmly.

"Murder...it would have been murder..." the Senator whispered hoarsely, barely able to speak. "What an outrage!" the Senator suddenly yelled, which made everyone at the table turn and look, even Gantor looked up this time, with his mouth full of food. "How dare you speak of our Queen like that? You are a guest in her house, her country, and you dare to speak ill of her?"

"What is the problem, Senator?" Queen Benefreren asked from the other end of the table. "Why are you making all this fuss?"

"Your Majesty, this rascal of a Jedi dares to call into question your judgement." The Senator spoke with an agitated voice.

"What did the young Jedi say to upset you so much, my dear Senator?"

"Maybe I should explain, your Majesty..." Wil said, as he slowly rose from his chair and walked up towards the Queen. The Senator, believing that he intended to harm her, rose immediately and rushed to her side.

Princess Jenca, the Queen's 25-year-old daughter, and heir, turned in her chair to look at Wil as he approached the Queen. Tossing aside her strawberry golden hair, fastening her pale blue gaze on Wil, she sat back to watch what promised to be a most interesting confrontation. Their eyes interlocked, and he choked a little, almost forgetting what he was going to say, which made the Princess smile slightly. Clearing his throat, however, he returned his attention to the Queen and the matter at hand.

"You see, your Majesty, the good Senator Krako here has just explained to me a few things about why the two noble peoples of Tareen and the Shoo'an Empire are waging war against each other. It appears that it all started when some raids on the some villages on the Shoo'an side of the border were ordered... by none other than yourself. The Senator explained to me that they were simply scared away from the land, so you could be granted complete access to ancient ruins holding incredible riches and a fabled golden bird. But what you may or may not know is that some of the evidence points to a more sinister approach of dispersing the villagers, than the Senator is aware of. I've heard of massacres in the villages..."

"That's simply unbelievable..." Senator Krako began.

"Let him finish, my dear Senator," the Queen interrupted. The Senator was taken a little aback at her abrupt interruption. "Well, all this sounds interesting, but when should this have occurred, and what significance does it have for you, my dear young Jedi?"

"All this happened about twenty years ago, according to Senator Krako, and I have reason to believe that you knew what was happening. Didn't you?"

"No, I swear," the Queen looked up at Wil calmly, "It's true that I wanted the villagers away, but I didn't know that they were massacred. And you still haven't told me why you feel so strongly about something I ordered done, so many years ago. I was young then, and I believed the stories I was told about the ancient ruins."

"You believed the stories enough to kill for their promises?" Wil said sharply.

"Now, listen young man, you are out of line. I don't care who you are, you cannot talk to our beloved Queen like that!" The Senator tried to look confident, but a single look from the young Jedi completely drove away all of his confidence and courage.

"I have reason to believe that I lived in one of those villages, when they where attacked by the Queen's warriors." A stir arose among the people sitting at the table. "My brother and I where the only survivors of the massacre, but we were enslaved shortly after and were later sold to the Jedi. My brother was denied training and was abandoned; I didn't even know he existed until some of my fellow Jedi met him on one of their missions. He obviously knew that I existed since he had used my name as an alias, but he had never tried to make contact with me, so I set out to find him. The travel has been long and arduous, but I eventually found him. He told me about my childhood - things I had forgotten - and he told me about the massacre of my people. Much the same story Senator Krako was kind enough to reveal to me a few minutes ago: except that my brother's ended in a massacre occurring about twenty years ago."

"I can assure you, my young Jedi, that I had nothing to do with this rumoured massacre, but we do get reports concerning outlaws roaming in the border areas, and they often rob or even attack the villagers; they might have been the ones who committed this massacre your brother remembers, I do not know. Did either of you ever see the ones who attacked your village?"

"I did not, but my brother did... he said they looked like thugs... slavers."

"There, you see, it couldn't have been my soldiers... at least not under my order or command, my young Jedi.

"According to my brother, Carsten Hedegaard, they were soldiers. They were unmistakable, with their weapons and artillery. No one else behaves like soldiers do. Children do not forget what soldiers look like, your Majesty!" Wil was vehement as he drove this last point home. "I believe my brother; someone destroyed his life - and mine - and I want to find out who is responsible."

"Are you accusing me of deliberately ordering my soldiers to destroy the villages and kill all of the people who lived there? Are you?" Queen Benefreren looked at Wil harshly, her eyes ablaze.

"I am asking you: Did you order the massacre?" Wil asked her, his face open, tears nearing the point of coursing from his eyes, holding nothing back emotionally, suddenly feeling the Force itself surging through his veins. Something faintly asserted itself at the back of his mind, something about anger being the door to the Dark Side of the Force.

"My dear young Jedi, I assure you, if a massacre did occur, I knew absolutely nothing about it. I am terribly sorry for the loss to you and your family. And your brother... you said he was... who?" the Queen asked Wil.

"Carsten Hedegaard," Wil answered her, regaining his control as he took several deep breaths and let his hands hand down at his sides limply.

"I thought so," she replied, just a little too easily. "I do not know him; you both have my sympathies."

*******************************

Rising from her bed of twigs and leaves, Patricia gazed up at the cerulean sky, shivering slightly in the early morning breeze. She tiptoed to the bank of the nearby stream, where she had rinsed out her clothing, and gingerly lowered herself into the water. Nimbly, she rinsed out her matted hair and rubbed the caked dirt off of her skin, making sure not to miss any spots. As much as she had enjoyed the previous evening's sport, she truly detested being dirty and was enjoying her bath in the stream.

"Hungry?" A voice jolted her out of her reverie and forced her into the water up to her neck.

"Where did you come from?" she nearly shouted at Jostein, who had bathed much earlier and had already donned the clothes and robes he had cleaned the previous night.

"Went trawling for food upstream near the bank where I slept," he explained. "These are delicious. They are so sweet. And you can eat literally hundreds of them raw. We don't even have to cook them," he said excitedly.

"Excellent. Now, if you will allow me to finish my bath, I will join you for breakfast; then we will get on our way, " Patricia said, indicating her clothing, hanging on a nearby tree. "Get those for me, will you, before you go away, over there somewhere..."

Jostein laughed at his old master's modesty, which provided an interesting contrast with her behaviour during the previous evening's brawl. "Here you go," he said, as he tossed her clean clothes onto the grassy stream bank, then sauntered off, grinning, to a nearby copse of trees to prepare their breakfast.

Once they had finished breakfasting, the Jedi consulted the holo-map once again, hoping to find a short cut into the nearest town. They saw a mark on the map, but they couldn't find an explanation for it, since it appeared to have little relation to the map's general illustration of the area. "Maybe we should go towards that general direction, then; it's just on the way, anyway," Patricia suggested.

"Sure, why not..." Jostein said, "Then maybe we can find out what that marking means."

"That's settled then." Patricia said, and they soon were on the way towards the mysterious markings position. What they did find when they arrived at the location indicated on the map startled them even more than they had imagined: the strange marking had shown the location of the remains of a village, which had obviously been torched and abandoned long ago.

"What do you think happened here?" Jostein was the first to break the cold silence, sensing the disturbance in the Force at the eerie, uninviting spot.

"I don't know, but whatever it was it happened quickly." Patricia chilled, "I sense a lot of fear, pain and distress here. Something awful happened here long ago. I feel much sadness, much anger, loathing, hatred, and loss," she said, looking at Jostein.

Jostein simply nodded in acknowledgement of her observations.

"I wonder if the Shoo'an or the Tareenians have records of this?" Patricia thought out loud.

"It depends upon who did it, and whether they want to be found out," Jostein observed sagely.

Just then, they got unexpected company.

************************************

Queen Benefreren awoke to a silent cerise dawn. Pushing aside her downy blanket, she pulled herself up out of her elegant bed and padded over to her window where she looked down upon the town of Tareen. She had to go this morning. There was no other way. It had to be now.

She summoned a maid, who assembled her travelling wardrobe and hiking gear. Dressing quickly, she made her room look as if she had simply left to go down to breakfast in the main hall. I want them to think I am somewhere here in Tareen, she thought. I do not want anyone to have any idea where I have gone.

Leaving the castle by its side exit, she walked across the long parade ground of the castle grounds towards the main soldiers' barracks. This mission would demand her best battalion of soldiers, those who would be willing to do whatever was asked of them, no matter what.

"Wil!" Gantor hissed across the room at his sleeping companion. "Wil! Get up! Come here and look! Check this out!"

"Huh? What's going on, Gantor? What do you want? Has the invasion started? Are we already at war again?" Wil grabbed his lightsabre and jumped up, ready to do battle in his long johns.

Gantor snickered heartily at the ludicrous sight his friend made, then quickly motioned him to come to the window. "Look! It's the Queen! She's headed towards the soldiers' barracks. She is up to something! Do you think we should follow her?"

"Of course we should follow her, Gantor. Come on, let's hurry." Wil headed towards the door, lightsabre in hand. Gantor was now laughing so hard, he held his sides with both of his hands.

"What is so funny, Gantor?" Wil asked with more than a little frustration in his voice.

"You might want to put your clothes on," came Gantor's ready reply.

"Oh..." Wil said as he looked down.

*************************

They moved through the high grass as predators on the prowl; without anyone noticing it they had taken out two of the Queen's soldiers, before they fell back to a safe distance, and then another pair moved out. They were swift and agile, and they weren't spotted, not even when some of the Queen's soldiers were alerted to the fact that some of their number were missing.

The Queen ordered the battalion to move on despite the missing soldiers, a little more quickly now. Their orders were to pay attention to anything suspicious, round up any attackers and keep the Queen informed of all that occurred in the rear guard. Equipped with their traditional sabre-blasters and carrying large packs, the soldiers appeared to be well armed and prepared for battle. As they moved on, the Queen looked back a short while with a worried expression on her face, but she made sure that no one saw it.

As the Queen and her soldiers slowly approached the ancient ruins in the forbidden forest of Grandassa, Wil and Gantor ran as fast as they could through the open landscape. Hope we can catch up with them in time, Wil thought as the two of them ducked behind stands of large-trunked trees and leafy blue-yellow bushes. The soldiers appeared to be on high alert and were moving in a single file through the forest towards a pre-ordained goal. He watched as they wound their way through a copse of trees and into an area thick with underbrush, hacking away at it with machete-like instruments they had apparently brought along for the purpose.

Shortly after they had cleared the area, the Queen ordered them to stop. It was obvious she had not found what she was looking for, and wished to move on. The soldiers began to tuck away their equipment when, from the treetops above and the brush around them, hundreds of smooth-skinned reptilian creatures, silvery-golden in colour, landed atop them and began to slash at them with their clawed front limbs and biting them. The creatures appeared primitive to the Queen, but as they were bi-pedal and their numbers were so great, they could manoeuvre easily around the heavily encumbered soldiers and overcame them easily. One who appeared to be the leader grabbed the Queen and held her by the throat. Wil and Gantor appeared in front of the leader and held their hands up in a gesture of peace, hoping the creature would at least not harm the Queen.

"Gnate to ma tene?" the creature queried them.

"I don't understand," Wil explained, "Gantor, do you understand him at all?"

"No, but it sounds familiar. Sounds a little like the language I heard some of the students from the Meridian sector use on Yavin Four when I was at the Jedi Academy. "

"To a samme te la trane?" He tilted his head slightly, as he awaited their reply, but they still didn't seem to understand what he was saying, so he reached out and touched the horned one, obviously the brighter of the two similar clad strangers. The other strangers still kept their distance, as if they were afraid. "Jedi?" he suddenly said and a stir arose amongst the strangers.

"Yes, you're right," Wil said, but a single look from the creature shut him up. Then the creature turned his attention towards Gantor again and padded him gently on the arm. It appeared as if he was smiling, and they could clearly see his pointy teeth.

The leader released the Queen, who walked quickly back to the safety of her soldiers. Wil and Gantor followed the leader of the creatures as he led them through the forest, into a mountain pass and into an underground cavern, where they were led into what appeared to be an ancient city. Having been followed by the Queen and her soldiers, Wil and Gantor felt a self-consciousness they had seldom felt before. The city itself seemed to be several hundred years old, at least, with no modern-looking buildings in sight. Magnificent native stone columns supported marble-like edifices that held bas-relief carvings telling tales of long gone warriors, princes and other heroes. Oddly, none appeared to resemble the creatures. Wil and Gantor marvelled at this, but continued to follow their host deeper into the cavern.

The leader stopped the party at a great hall of some sort. He waved his arm and the entryway opened, admitting him, the Jedi and the Queen and her soldiers. What appeared to be fifty or more of the creatures were in attendance as the leader addressed them in their native tongue. Gantor turned to Wil and whispered," It appears they are going to offer us something to eat and then show us something."

"I wonder what?" Wil asked pensively. He was not comfortable with still another language barrier to overcome, the second in almost so many days.

"I don't know. It looks like some sort of vegetable..." Gantor began.

"No, what are they going to show us after the meal?" Wil asked, exasperated.

"Guess we will have to wait," Gantor shrugged, being seated at the invitation of his host.

The meal turned out to be a rather lavish affair, surprising all of the humans and even catching Gantor off guard. It featured a number of tasty vegetable dishes and what appeared to be two meat dishes, followed by some breads and lighter dessert-like fare. After everyone had finished eating, the leader of the creatures indicated that it was time to move out of the great hall. Gantor and Wil motioned to the Queen and her soldiers to follow them as they went with the leader to the next destination.

As a city, the underground metropolis though fairly large did not have streets, but rather large walkways, culminating in squares every so often, where large numbers of the creatures were gathered, talking, playing games and indulging in various other activities. The party was led past a number of these squares until they noticed that the walkways were becoming narrower and the buildings were becoming darker and less ornate. As they continued on, Wil noticed that the buildings were carved from the rock of the underground itself, hence the dark colour. Finally the walk had become merely a path into a crevice between two walls of sheer rock. The party was walking in single file, with the majority of the creatures taking up the rear. The leader turned off into what appeared to be little more than a narrow door. Wil and Gantor followed him, in turn followed by the Queen, her soldiers and the rest of the creatures.

What lay behind the narrow opening amazed the Jedi as well as the Queen and her soldiers: it was an enormous cavern, with stalactites of every colour of the rainbow crowning them from the ceiling, creating an impression of a fantasy ballroom for imaginary dancers. Wil and Gantor stood rooted to the granitous floor near the entrance, while the Queen and her soldiers rimmed the outer wall; the creatures and their leader formed a circle in the centre of the cavern.

The visitors watched in wonder as the floor in front of them slid apart in panels to admit obelisks of stone interspersed with what appeared to be several gigantic holo-towers. The leader of the creatures motioned to the Queen, Wil and Gantor to join him in front of the largest of the holo-towers. The creature placed his clawed hand upon its centre; it immediately began to glow and three-dimensional images began to appear within its boundaries. The images appeared to be connected to each other chronologically, though there were no spoken words accompanying them.

"I suspect they are trying to tell us something of their history, if I am not mistaken," Gantor whispered to Wil.

The first images were of greenish brown reptilian creatures, with short necks, long tails, long sleek heads and mouths filled with deadly teeth, living in dense jungle terrain. Even though the creatures where bipedal they didn't have a vertical posture like a humanoid, but had more of a horizontal vertebra supporting them on two strong hind legs: their front limbs were shorter, more slender and were designed with sharp claws to hold on to whatever prey they could find. Suddenly, strangers who appeared to be humans entrapped the creatures in the holo-images, and brought them to the underground city, where they performed strange genetic experiments on them. Every generation changed in form, until the creatures of the jungle had evolved into the creatures Wil and Gantor saw standing in the circle in the cavern.

The leader then moved to the next holo-tower. Here, the story of the creatures continued with more images of the creatures and their human manipulators. It appeared that, as generations passed, the humans began to fight amongst themselves and lost interest n the city they had built and the creatures they had designed. The humans split into two factions, taking on two sets of colours to designate the two factions. Wil gasped in recognition at the two sets of colours. Pale, he looked over at Gantor; Gantor regarded him with a look he had not yet learned to decipher on his alien friend's face. The images showed the two factions travelling along the coastline in opposite directions: one north and the other newly formed people south, where they eventually formed their independent countries.

The last of the holo-towers showed the creatures growing in numbers until, at last, they were able to drive away all of their human tormentors and have their underground home all to themselves. More images followed, appearing to be a montage of battles between the creatures and any humanoids that happened to venture into their territory since the time of the mass exodus portrayed in the holo-tower.

Wil and Gantor exchanged looks with each other, then looked at the leader of the creatures. Before either could speak, the leader responded to their expressions in a broken sort of Tareenian.

"We suffer bad. This why we like not your kind. We not want your kind here," he said, rather clearly, Wil thought.

"Well, in that case, perhaps we should simply be on our way," Gantor said to him, ignoring the Queen, who had begun to get rather red around her cheeks.

"We show one more thing. As token of good will, before you leave in peace, Jedi," the leader said. He laid his clawed hand upon the holo-tower they had just seen the last images inside; the obelisks and the holo-towers disappeared down inside the floor of the cavern once more, with a low scraping sound. Then he placed his hand on another panel, apparently activating it, and to their surprise rising from the centre of the circle of creatures was a giant golden cage containing a giant, fluffy golden bird that shimmered in the dim light of the cavern. The Queen gasped aloud at the sight of her youth's desire and looked to the leader of the creatures for a sign that she might go near the cage.

"Yes, you may see," he said, taking her by the arm, and leading her towards the cage. The circle of creatures parted, allowing them to walk right up to the cage. The bird had begun squawking at the sight of so many strangers and was none too pleased that one was so close.

Queen Benefreren stood next to the cage while the leader opened it and proceeded to take out the bird. She could not help but think of the many years she had longed for this moment, the fulfilment of her desire. 'He is cold there, surrounded by those windowless stonewalls,' she thought. 'When I touch him with this bird, when our souls are united once more on this plane, we shall be together again, rule Tareen again, together, and nevermore shall we be parted.'

"Wow, it's really beautiful," Wil exclaimed as he looked with wonderment at the golden bird sitting silently on the leader's tough reptilian skinned arm.

"Do you keep it in the cage all the time?" Gantor asked the leader, but he simply shook his head.

"No, we let fly inside cavern, yes. Sunlight will kill it," he said, displaying a swift ability to learn a language completely within a matter of minutes, a trait the creatures appeared to share with the Jedi, Wil observed.

"What do you think, Gantor, isn't it beautiful?" Wil asked his friend; Gantor nodded in agreement.

"May I touch it?" the Queen asked, as she looked pleadingly at the leader, holding the bird.

"I'll ask him," he said, which surprised Gantor and Wil a bit: he was apparently able to speak to the bird, even understand how it responded to him. Another Jedi trait. "I'm afraid he say no."

"Come on, it's just a bird," the Queen spoke, palpably disappointed.

"Then why you want it so bad?" the leader asked, his eyes boring into hers. "I see... you suffer bad, lose your mate."

The Queen, taken a bit aback, by his direct approach to her husband's death - an event he couldn't possible have known about - went completely pale, as she stammered in disbelief, "How did you know?" No longer considering the creatures to be as primitive as she had at first believed them to be, she wondered what she must do. For now, she would listen - and watch - for an opportunity.

"We know many things," he replied and smiled his strange smile, "Our creators, your old ones, did things to us, which they could explain not. We got too clever for their liking: doing things, some, which even surpass the knowing of Jedi. As we change, we become able to see into minds of others. See inner truth. Feel emotions of others. Much like Jedi." The creature peered at her with his alien eyes, an unreadable expression for the humanoids. Reaching out through the Force however, Wil and Gantor both sensed not only the leader's sympathy with the Queen's sad predicament; they also sensed that all of the creatures were in constant contact with the Force and communicated with each other through it on an emotional level. Extraordinary, Wil thought to himself. Much more advanced than any Jedi Wil had ever heard of."

"Yes, but how do you explain how you knew about my husband's death?" the Queen said, a little cross.

"Same way I learned your speak, searched your mind," he said calmly. "Me searched your speak centre and memory."

"I haven't given you permission to look into my head!" the Queen said firmly.

"You, intruder. You have no say!" he shut back at her. "In your world you be leader, but here, you are our guest, no more than your soldiers!" The Queen accepted and felt it better not to agitate them anymore before she had learned what she needed to learn.

"Say, we've completely forgotten to introduce ourselves to our hosts in all this time," Wil said a little amazed, but also attempting to bargain for time. Wil and Gantor quickly introduced themselves as Wil and Gantor, Jedi Knights, and motioned for the Queen to introduce herself. In return the leader gave his name as Jun'canesa, and that of his people as the Shamunai. It turned out that this name was derived from the name of the species the creatures were descended from, a carnivorous creature called the Shamunai Reesa that lived in the vast forests of the eastern continents of Ja'rel.

Though momentarily distracted by the pleasantries the Queen again focused on the bird, saying, "Enough of these formalities. It is a bird, nothing more. I must have it. I need it. I will have it!" the Queen insisted, her voice heavy with emotion, grabbing for the bird as it perched on the arm of the leader. The Tareenian soldiers grabbed their sabre-blasters and stood in front of the other creatures, holding them at bay as the Queen pulled at the bird's neck and legs. Not wishing to see the bird injured, the leader stood immobile and whispered something to the bird as the Queen grasped it with both hands.

The bird acquiesced to the Queen's demanding hands, and came to her. Finally in possession of the object of her life's desire, Queen Benefreren cried out in victory. She held the squawking bird to her breast, stroking its feathers harshly, intoning words that were barely audible to the denizens of the cavern, and indecipherable to the Tareenian soldiers and the Jedi. The creatures looked around at each other, puzzled, then looked at the Queen. She continued to chant the words and stroke the bird, her eyes boring into those of the bird, building up an insistent rhythm, chanting louder and louder, as she clamped down on the bird's body and stroked it.

Wil and Gantor looked at each other, a moment of confusion passing between them. Then, with an insight that he would say later had to have come only from the Force, Wil understood. Understood completely. He knew the truth, was fully aware of what had happened all those years ago, when a young widow, desperate to bring back her dead husband, had been willing to sacrifice the Force knew how many others so that one man could live again for her sake. As a Jedi, he had only learned the unselfishness of love, its use in the service of others. Now, he realised its selfish nature, how dangerous its passion could become... or at least how consuming that passion could become when...

Wil was jerked out of his musings by a loud scream; he looked up to see Queen Benefreren shaking the bird and crying at it viciously. It was squawking loudly and biting at her. The creatures were running towards her, the soldiers thrusting their sabre-blasters at them, not wishing to discharge the blasters in the cavern nor induce hand-to-hand combat by slicing into them with the sabres. Creatures and soldiers crowded the Queen and the bird around the bird's cage, as the screaming and squawking continued.

The leader of the creatures reached his arm out; the bird collapsed, dropping out of the queen's arms into the floor. The creatures all stood back, a collective gasp of dismay rising from their throats. The queen cried out in anguish, "This is no legendary bird of life; it is merely a child's pet! I have been mocked and our time here has been wasted! Destroy everything here! Use your detonation devices as well as your projectiles! I want nothing and no one left. And these Jedi - kill them also!" she screamed in a fit of rage.

The Tareenian soldiers moved to do their Queen's bidding when, from the very rear of the cavern, a bell-clear voice was heard over the din: "You will do no such thing. I hereby declare this conflict at an end. Now. There will be no more bloodshed on Ja'rel." Queen Benefreren dropped her hands to her sides, her head bent in defeat; acknowledging the victory of his Royal Majesty, the Emperor of the Shoo'an.

From the doorway behind him, Shoo'an troops rushed in to disarm the Tareenian troops; the Tareenians, weary of their many years at war, and perplexed by their Queen's behaviour in the cavern, allowed the Shoo'an to take their weapons. Following hard on the heels of the Shoo'an troops were two hooded figures. These last walked up to Wil and Gantor, and pulled their hoods back off their heads. Wil and Gantor both sighed heavy sighs of relief to see Patricia and Jostein, and were not reluctant in the least to hand them their lightsabres.

Patricia and Jostein just as unceremoniously handed them back. "Don't be so quick to give these up. You may still need them. We are not home yet," Patricia smiled.

"Where on… how?" Wil and Gantor expressed almost immediate surprise and relief.

"We were exploring the remains of some old villages not far from the Tareen border when the main units of the Shoo'an army came together to launch a major offensive. Some spies came back with a report that the Queen of Tareen was reported missing and that she had been seen escaping into the forest of Da'ar. We immediately began searching and found evidence of an ambush and followed the trail of the soldiers here," Patricia explained.

"The Tareenians call that forest Grandassa, I believe," Gantor mused, nervously clipping his lightsabre back to his belt. "We are sure glad to see you. The Queen was about to destroy everything here. She is rather high strung and loses her temper easily."

Wil finally felt safe and secure, though. He felt he knew at last what it was like to have a real Jedi Master by his side.

*************************

Patricia and Jostein had joined Wil and Gantor on their way back to Tareen, after the two Jedi knights had taken leave of the Shoo'an Emperor and his generals. It had been agreed that diplomats from both sides would meet, with the leader of the Stamina as a mediator for peace talks between the Shoo'an Empire and the Kingdom of Tareen. The war was officially over. Although they were headed back to Queen Benefreren's palace, where they had been invited by the Queen to spend their last night on Tareen, before heading back to Coruscant, they were not part of the Queen's entourage, preferring instead to walk separately from the rest of the war weary troops and civilians.

"Wil and Gantor, you will have a great deal to explain to the Council, you realize," Patricia addressed the two young miscreants, albeit more sternly than she really meant to, having already heard tales from several of the Tareenian soldiers of their bravery in battle against the Shoo'an army.

"I had to know, Master Patricia" Wil said, quietly, pleadingly almost.

"Please, Wil, just Patricia. We are not on Coruscant. You may dispense with the formalities with me when we are away from the bureaucratic hordes," she said mirthlessly. Jostein hid a smirk. He felt a warmth toward his former master and felt for her presence in the Force; it was not difficult for him to sense her feelings - she was rather fond of the two young Jedi and especially of young Wil.

"Did you find anything, Wil?" Jostein asked him, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

"Carsten Hedegaard is my brother. Any more than that... I would rather not speak of it until we are back with the Jedi Council, if you do not mind. I have much to consider before I face them," Wil said evasively.

Jostein sensed something at the edge of his consciousness, but he could not quite place the sensation... something having to do with the vision he had had earlier with Carsten and Wil and the woman. But before he could think any further about it, or mention it to Patricia, they had arrived at Queen Benefreren's palace, and were ushered into the main dining hall for the evening meal.

********************************************************

"Gantor, wake up," Wil shook his friend, but he simply grunted, turned over and went back to sleep. "Gantor, you Nerf Herder... wake up, I need you. I sense something's wrong; I sense Carsten's presence. Gantor!"

"Slowly Gantor opened his eyes and looked at Wil, still not quite awake. "The plains of the Karakian sun is moving..." he babbled, as he strained himself to fully regain his sane, conscious mind.

"What the hell are you on about?" Wil hissed, "Come on... Carsten is in the castle. I sense him through the Force."

"Carsten? Oh, your brother." Gantor growled lazily, "Do I finally get to see him?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid he is up to no good. He warned me that the next time we'd meet we would not be allies, but enemies. We have to be careful. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Right," Gantor acknowledged, as he rose quickly and began to dress himself.

"Go wake up Patricia and Jostein and tell them what is going on; then, go to Princess Jenca's room to make sure she goes somewhere where she will not be harmed. I fear Carsten is after the royal family, or at least Queen Benefreren. Now, hurry on, and meet me at the Queen's chambers."

"See you there, mate," Gantor answered him as he rushed out the door.

Wil took a last look out the window at the Tareen landscape; under the pale moonlight, it possessed an almost supernatural beauty, as if Tareen were a land of magical powers, where wood sprites and nymphs came to play with each other under the trees. He turned away from the storybook sight and left his room, hurrying toward Queen Benefreren's suite.

As he neared the Royal chambers, he slowed down, and began to consciously slow his breathing as well, just as he had been taught at the Temple. He concentrated on the Force and searched for Carsten's presence, feeling his way until he came to the door of the Queen's master bedroom. He pressed on it lightly and it came open under his hand. The sight that met him as he looked into the Queen's bedchamber horrified him, although, given his knowledge, it should not have surprised him.

"So, you came here to protect the Queen, did you not?" Carsten yelled, as he held a dagger to Queen Benefreren's throat, almost drawing blood. "Even though you knew that she was responsible for our family's annihilation. You knew... and still you did nothing to avenge them: nothing!"

"Revenge is not a Jedi's way..." Wil began.

"Hah... Jedi's way... hah..." Carsten screamed, as he stared coldly at Wil, with a bitterly insane look in his eyes. "Look what the Jedi have done to me!"

"No, your fight with the Jedi finished long ago," Wil said firmly as Gantor abruptly entered the room, "You did this, no one else. You solve nothing by hating or even killing the people who've harmed you in your life. It's only when you can forgive them that you become truly free. Hating and killing only make things worse; no redemption ever comes from those things. I know it's difficult, no one says it isn't, but there is no other way. Killing only leads to more grief and more killing... you don't want that, do you?"

"Don't mess with my mind, Jedi!" The unremitting rage in Carsten's voice and body language hit Wil as if he had thrown the dagger into his stomach.

"Remember what you told me? You said that you weren't a killer, and that I couldn't judge a man by his reputation alone. Your reputation says that you're a killer; go ahead, kill her... become your reputation. I don't think you really want to do that, Carsten," Wil said, his voice a plea for mercy, not only for the Queen, but for himself as well.

Carsten looked at Wil for a short time, as if he considered this offer and was ready to stop his endeavour, but suddenly, without warning, he slit her throat.

The blood was so red.

Everything slowed down, as Wil saw with horror that Carsten stabbed her again and again in the chest. She looked at Wil, with a surprised and frightened look on her face, as she slowly slumped lifeless down on the blood-covered bed.

Gantor ignited his lightsabre, yelling for Carsten to stop, but Wil, instead of drawing his lightsabre, unintentionally grabbed Gantor by the arm: a fatal mistake, which bought Carsten enough time to draw his blaster, aim and fire it at the two Jedi. Gantor pushed Wil aside, but wasn't able to block the blaster bolt at the same time, with his lightsabre; it penetrated his flesh and went all the way through his right shoulder. He screamed as he tumbled to the floor, pushing Wil over and landing on top of him.

Wil scrambled out from under Gantor and was quickly on his feet again, after checking his comrade: Gantor was not in any imminent danger, but his condition was still critical. Slowly Wil turned to face Carsten, who pointed the blaster right at his face. "Go on... shoot me... shoot your only living kin." He knew it was unwise to tempt fate like that, but he couldn't help it. "You know that there is no way that you will get out of this alive. And if you do, you will be hunted down, no matter where you go."

"So be it!" Carsten hissed, as he tightened his grip on the trigger, but seemed unable to fire. The bond between them was tighter than Wil could ever have hoped. Their eyes interlocked, as Carsten suddenly frowned and displayed remorse; a single tear began its way down his cheek, but he quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand - the one that still held the bloody dagger. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, Wil!" Carsten said, with a low voice. He slowly strode towards Wil, still aiming at him, but still seemingly unable to pull the trigger. "Just let me go... I don't wish to harm you!" With these words, Carsten fled the room.

Wil did nothing to stop him as he ran out; instead he tended to Gantor. Whatever happened to Carsten next, Wil had accepted it to be the will of the Force. As he took off his shirt to wrap around Gantor's wound, Jostein and Patricia entered the room, lightsabres ignited.

"Oh, no; we are too late!" they both groaned, looking on the Queen in her death mask, her face a contorted grimace of pain and torment. Jostein reached out and closed her eyes quickly, alleviating the pain of looking at her corpse. He then turned to Wil.

"He got out this way?"

"Yes..." Wil was still tending to Gantor and did not look up.

"Let's go," Jostein said, running out the door as Senator Krako and several Royal Security Guards arrived on the scene: they were all shocked and horrified about the death of their Queen. Senator Krako, it seemed, grieved the most.

Patricia followed hard upon Jostein's heels as he caught up to Carsten Hedegaard. Carsten had used a rope to swing up to the third storey of the Palace and was now climbing down the side of the building. Jostein looked at Patricia and said, "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"Sure, sounds like fun. We could use some..." she grinned.

"They ran down the wide staircase, lightsabres still ignited, and came out on the ground floor. Rushing outside, they caught Hedegaard as he was about to reach the second floor. Jostein grinned at Patricia, "Detonators away!" and threw his ignited lightsabre towards the rope, cutting it off at the top of the windowsill where Hedegaard had attached it. Carsten came tumbling down onto the ground where Patricia held him at bay while Jostein ran to retrieve his lightsabre.

"We meet again, Carsten Hedegaard," Patricia said to him, looking at his face, hearing Rhyss' words echoing in her mind: "...kill Carsten Hedegaard... kill Carsten Hedegaard..."

"So, Jedi, go on. Kill me. That is what you are going to do, isn't it? I feel it in you. Yes, I have Force abilities. You already know that," Carsten looked at her for a moment., then looked away. "They massacred my life. My life and my brother's life. At least... at least he is one of you...."

"You killed Queen Benefreren... in cold blood. You are a killer. Yet, a lot of beings kill. It is part of the nature of many beings to kill. There is one I love... who is also a warrior... it is in his nature to kill as well as to love," Patricia said quietly, searching Carsten with the Force. She de-ignited her lightsabre and clipped it back onto her belt. "She did have your people killed, didn't she? We sensed it when we arrived at the location of one of the villages. Although the villages have been gone for twenty years, the horror remains in the Force. Jostein and I felt it. You and Wil lived it," she said to him, quietly focusing on his grey blue eyes.

"And I died... inside..." Carsten could only look... and wonder. Why wasn't this Jedi fighting him? And where was the other one? Where had he gone? Maybe he should just take advantage of this situation and get out of here. But, she could feel him. Feel what had happened. Know that it had been real.

"Go, Carsten. Far away from this place. I am not going to turn you in to the authorities. I know I should. But a great injustice has been done to you and your brother. I intend to see that the ones who are responsible pay for it, if it takes the rest of my career," she said.

"Why should I believe you?" he asked, his sullen anger returning.

"What do your feelings tell you?" she asked him.

He did not reply, but picked himself up and headed off into the gradually lightening night.

Jostein returned from retrieving his lightsabre, and from his second job of eavesdropping from around the corner in a small doorway of the palace. He was nonplussed.

"One of these days, Patricia, you are not going to get out of it. And I will not be able to agree with you," he said, his hazel eyes peering at her in the moonlight that cast his shadow over her like a pall on a praying angel.

"Jostein, something happened before we left Coruscant. You felt it, but I didn't say anything to you. I think I had better explain it all," Patricia said to him. Neither of them slept the rest of the night.

*************************

Jostein and Patricia brought the X-Wing in for a landing on the platform next to the Jedi Temple. It felt good to finally be home on Coruscant again, especially considering they had had another tangle with Carsten Hedegaard and had faced more diplomacy than they had gone prepared for. On the other hand, they felt they had done more than an adequate job of helping avert a major bloodbath on Ja'rel, as well as having completed their major mission of bringing the two wayward Jedi back to the fold. Ben Nal Rees landed his shuttle behind them smoothly, allowing Wil and Gantor to disembark, before taking off again, dipping a wing in farewell. The youths walked toward Patricia and Jostein, hoods up, as if they dared not look at the other Jedi.

"Come along, you two. You may as well get this over with," Patricia said with little reproach in her voice. "If it helps, I will vouch for your conduct on Ja'rel. We couldn't have done it without you. And I am glad it happened. Heaven knows how many people would have died if you had not gone there in the first place. That war might have gone on forever."

The party made its way into the Jedi Temple, winding its way among the corridors and up the levels until they reached the Jedi Council chamber. Patricia knocked on the giant wooden doors, then stood by to the side, waiting for a reply. It was not long in coming.

The giant doors opened to admit the four Jedi. It seemed like such a short time to Patricia and Jostein since they had last strode across the magnificent ruby-inlaid floor to take their place in front of the Council. She laid her left hand unconsciously on the hilt of her lightsabre, as if to ward off some unknown evil that was about to attack her from an unforeseen quarter. She then told the council of the journey to find the lost Jedi and of the conflict they had encountered on Ja'rel, and of the large part that Wil and Gantor had played in bringing a close to the strife between the two peoples. Master Bress nodded at this as did all of the members of the council, including Rhyss. She finished by telling about their fatal encounter with Carsten, of him murdering the Queen of Tareen in cold blood, and his subsequent escape. The Council was shocked.

"I wish to conclude my remarks," Patricia said, when she had finished, "with details concerning a side incident to this one."

"What might this be, Patricia?" Master Bress asked her, lifting his long black hair to one side and heaving it over his shoulder. He peered at her long and hard as she prepared to speak again.

"When Jostein and I were returning home with our two runaways, I learned that young Wil deliberately kept something secret from all of us, concerning what he experienced on his little trip." She turned her head and looked directly at Wil, "I think it'd be best if he explained to the Council what he learned on that trip. I was only told that it would be shocking to the entire Council. Maybe even the entire Jedi order."

Wil didn't feel comfortable with the situation at hand. He felt the eyes of all the Council members upon him as he moved to speak.

"What I have to say now may shock several of you. It did me when I heard it. One of our own has committed an unspeakable act. It goes against the very heart of our code and the very nature of who we are. This story began twenty years ago with the war Patricia just told you about. It began with the sale into slavery of two small boys, one five and the other two. They were bought by a Jedi knight who saw the potential for the Force in both of them. But..."

Master Bress interrupted Wil.

"All we are interested in knowing is why you ran off like that, without even notifying us first; we might even have granted you permission to go on this quest of yours. Instead you jeopardised not only your own life, but the lives of three other Jedi Knights."

"Master Bress, I had to know. All my life, I have had this feeling that there was more than what I was told, that there was someone else, somewhere, somehow. I have found that other. But, I get ahead of myself. When I first heard of Jostein's and Patricia's last mission, I of course was very interested in what they had experienced; that's where I learned about the mercenary Carsten Hedegaard. I was shocked, because I had been told by my Master that I had no relatives. So, I decided to seek him out, and I couldn't afford a decline from you, even if I had considered asking; I had to find out for sure if we were related.

I found him, and finally I knew for sure: I felt him through the Force and I knew that not only was he a relative, he was my brother. The man I met clearly showed signs of post-traumatic stress syndrome, with psychopathic tendencies, who is able to fool most people who do not possess Force abilities with his charming and manipulative wit. However, I also sensed something tragic about him, a twist, which has deep roots in his troubled childhood: a childhood I in part share with him. In short, through the Force, I sensed he is my brother."

"And is there any objective evidence aside from what you have sensed from him to substantiate your claims, Wil?" asked Master Bress sternly.

"That is easily answered. The Tareenians did invade several of the border villages of the Shoo'an during the time period indicated by Wil. We found the area indicated in his story and there was definitely a feeling of dread and terror left behind even after all those years. Additionally, there are records of the raids in the archives of the Shoo'an and the Tareenians on Ja'rel as well, and they are more than happy to share them with us if the need should arise. Also, there are a few eyewitness survivors from that era; although they are elderly, they are reliable witnesses," Patricia spoke with an air of authority.

"But, do any of the records speak of the Hedegaard boys by name? Do any of the eyewitnesses recall them?" Rhyss spoke for the first time since the hearings had convened.

"I have not asked about that. I did not see the need at the time. I felt it was of the utmost importance simply to return to Coruscant and resolve the matter here before delving into the records. I did find a kind of memorial wall at the destroyed village, but I didn't have time to check the names, though," Patricia answered him.

"There wouldn't be any survivors knowing about us, since the town I lived in was completely destroyed: only my brother and I escaped, no one else. Yes, it's true that several people from the other towns survived the raids, but not even Carsten could find many survivors."

"And he told you this? A well-known mercenary, a hired killer!" Bress looked sharply at Wil.

"He's no killer," Wil shot back, a bit sharper than he had intended, "That's only a misconception created by people who want him out of their way."

"But, I'm confused, Wil" Bress spoke, "Did he, or did he not kill the Queen of Tareen?"

"Well yes..."

"So, wouldn't it be justifiable to call him a killer, then?"

"Not more than you or I!" Wil pressed on. "We kill, and that's a fact. Don't tell me that you've never killed anyone in your time as a Jedi." Bress nodded slightly at Wil's statement. "My point is this: my brother, Carsten Hedegaard, had never killed anyone until Master Patricia's and Jostein's last mission on Naboo. And even that murder was an accident, which can be verified by the recording he left for them to find, and I'm sure the recording was presented to you."

The Council nodded in agreement again.

"But I can't imagine in my wildest dreams why you kept it secret from me; you knew about Carsten and yet you didn't include me in the knowledge. You've known about him for years."

"Yes, but Master Rhyss persuaded us not to tell you; he feared that you might..."

"Yes, to keep me from the truth..." Wil spoke, "To keep me from the truth that he was the one who bought us all those years ago, he was the one who brought us to Coruscant, he was the one who threw Carsten out, when he realised that he would become a liability to the order of the Jedi, thus separating him from his own brother, whom he had protected through a massacre and in the life as a slave." Carsten's words coming out of Wil's mouth.

A stir arose in the Council. No one had expected that: not such insubordination from a newly knighted Jedi. Bress spoke out, "Watch your mouth, young one. Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"I'm saying that Rhyss is equally responsible in the creation of the mercenary Carsten Hedegaard, as was Carsten himself. Because he shut him out, denied him access to become a Jedi, he unintentionally created this liability, which eventually would harm the Jedi. And to know that he was my master and I have taken his advice throughout the years just makes me sick." Wil Hedegaard collapsed on the ruby-encrusted floor of the Jedi Council Chamber emitting hoarse, loud sobs.

"Wil." Master Bress addressed Wil Hedegaard.

Patricia walked over to Wil and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Wil, there will be an investigation into all of this. You will be listened to, I promise, " she whispered.

"I hereby order an investigation into the events leading up to the adoption of Wil Hedegaard into the Jedi order, and the disappearance of the Hedegaard boys from the planet Ja'rel. We will assign two of our researchers to the case immediately. I believe Admin can spare a couple?"

"That should not be a problem," someone else on the Council answered.

"Now, " Master Bress addressed the four Jedi, " Patricia and Jostein, you are hereby excused from these proceedings. We will be sending a delegation to the upcoming signing of the treaty to unite the planet of Ja'rel. The two of you will be attending, unless other duties are assigned to you that take priority. Wil ad Gantor will be excused from their duties to attend as well.

"Now, Wil and Gantor, as to your punishment for having taken off without leave..."

Patricia and Jostein exited the Jedi Council Chamber quickly and quietly.

***********************************************

Jostein walked quickly out of the Jedi Council hall, closely followed by Patricia, leaving Wil and Gantor alone with the Council. He was not eager to find out what the Council had in store for Wil and Gantor. He had never been a glutton for the punishment of others. Patricia had slowed her walk down and was whistling a pretty tune, something vaguely familiar; he was willing to bet the next thing she was going to say was...

Unable to avoid it for long, Jostein looked up momentarily to see the face of the prettiest woman he had ever seen; she left him nearly breathless, which is saying something for a Jedi. He didn't see her lose control of the bundle of documents, parchments and heavy books she was carrying. He also didn't see her legs go straight out from under her. What he did see was her face beside his after they had both hit the floor.

Both of them simply gazed at each other for a moment, lost for words, dazed at what had occurred. Jostein spoke first.

"Uh, I'm terribly sorry," he apologised to the young Jedi woman, as he rose to his feet and assisted her as she rose and began gathering her things from the stone floor.

"No, it was my fault; I should have been paying attention to where I was going," she said, her eyes making an intense brown focus on his broad handsome face.

"May I help you carry some of this?" Jostein asked her, holding some of the papers and heavier books, and looking back at her with the same intent expression with which she had regarded him just seconds before.

"Uh, sure. I was headed to the Administration centre on the second level of the East wing, if that is not too out of your way... err... I don't know your name," she finished lamely.

"I'm Jostein, Jedi knight. And you?" he replied.

"My name is Arlyss. I am a Padawan learner here at the Temple," she said, by way of introduction.

"This is my former master, and now friend, Patricia, Jedi knight. We are pleased to meet you, Arlyss," Jostein returned her introduction, if a bit formally.

"This is so embarrassing. I really don't want to divert you from whatever you were about," she said, reddening at the cheekbones a little.

"It is the least I can do, seeing as it is quite a heavy load for one person. Besides, we were simply leaving a debriefing session, and returning to our quarters," Jostein replied.

"Thank you. It will really help. As it is, I am quite sore and my arms are really aching from all the lightsabre practice I have been doing lately in preparation for the trials next week. It is quite a lot to keep up with to try to practice and continue with my other duties as well," she said, attempting to keep a matter-of-fact tone in her voice.

Knitting his brows together, Jostein thought for a moment and then looked at Patricia. "We probably will not be assigned to much in the next week will we, Patricia?" he asked her.

"I would think not," she answered him out loud. Through the Force she touched his mind and said these three words: Go for it.

"Arlyss, would you perhaps be needing a sparring partner for the upcoming trials?" he asked her, attempting to hide the small pang of anxiety he was feeling. "It hasn't been all that long since I took the trials myself," he continued sympathetically. "If you would like, I could practice with you some..."

"I would be glad of the help," Arlyss said, training her large brown eyes on his strong muscular frame. She tossed back her long, chestnut hair and continued, "It is often difficult to find anyone to practice with; most of the people in my Padawan class are non-humans and, to be honest, are much more adept at most of the skills than I. I really could use a great deal of help if I am to pass the trials."

"Let's take these documents to the Administration office first, and then perhaps, if you do not have any other assignments and your master is not waiting for you with other duties, we can work together. Okay?" Jostein asked, hoping he didn't seem too eager.

"Sure," Arlyss answered, smiling at him, the light from the windows above the hallway casting a glow over her face that somehow made her look a vivacious young girl instead of the studious Jedi Padawan she actually was. Jostein allowed something of a smile to play about his lips as he joined Arlyss at the stairs to the next level. He glanced over at Patricia before he mounted the staircase; she simply smiled that enigmatic smile that so often told him absolutely nothing.

Patricia watched Jostein climb the stairs with his new-found friend; this would certainly be a diversion for him, as well as a way for him to keep his skills up over the down time they would have. She turned to go back to the Council chamber, when she saw Rhyss coming towards her. He was angry, his face a grimacing scowl. He walked directly towards her.

"So. You did not do as I told you to, did you? I see you did not take me seriously when I said I would expose your little dalliance to the entire Jedi Order. Carsten Hedegaard is still alive and well and causing all sorts of mayhem; you now have a murder to account for as well," Rhyss backed her up against a wall.

"This is blackmail. It goes against everything the Jedi Order stands for and you know it. It does not surprise me at all that you turned that poor defenceless child out into the streets of Coruscant - a five year old child!- to fend for himself. You have no pity, no mercy, no caring for others. At heart you are cold, Rhyss. You are a cold, merciless spiritual vagabond," Patricia accused.

"He would have been dangerous. The anger and hatred he had within him was too much for him to overcome, even with the best the Academy could provide for him. Everyone saw it. Of course, you and those who think as you do... hah! The so-called "liberal" Jedi... you will destroy us with your foolish ideas of love for all beings, even if they are out to destroy our society that we have worked so hard to build over the last one hundred years!" Rhyss raged on as he continued to pin Patricia to the wall, giving her no room to move and little to breathe.

"How can you or anyone else know that, Rhyss? The old Jedi masters... from what we know through the ancient Jedi holocrons, some of them claimed to know certain things through the Force... the future of some people. But... the future is always changing, because of the choices we make concerning it. It is what we make it, Rhyss. And the choices you made then were wrong," she cried at him, pushing him away from her. "And those wrong choices affected the future of what was left of a family, Rhyss. You split up a family, because you thought you knew the will of the Force. Where was your proof, Rhyss? Where was it?" Patricia spat at him as she backed herself away from him.

"Who are you to know of any of it, Patricia? You are just an itinerant Jedi knight, a middle aged woman, a spinster..." Rhyss said the last word mockingly, looking at Patricia harshly as he spoke. "I never felt that human females were very suited to the role of Jedi knight anyway... it takes them out of their more natural mien of wife and mother..." Rhyss spoke in a low, almost hushed tone. "Of course, you are not even desirable to humans; you seek a lover in that disgusting, fur-covered creature..." he sneered.

Patricia did not respond to this last barb; she turned and began to walk away.

"You have not heard the last of me, woman! You will pay for your insolence and lack of respect..."his voice trailed off behind her, as Patricia made her way to her small cell. Opening the door, she slammed it behind her, made her way to the small bed in the corner, lay down, and cried harder than she had in many years. She cried, until, no longer able to withstand the pain, she fell into a dream-filled slumber... punctuated with a silken voice... and the arms of one whose downy red fur was so warm...

******************************************************

Four days after the stately funeral of Queen Benefreren the four Jedi stood at attention, two on each side of the aisle, as Princess Jenca proceeded slowly from the front of the hall to the back exit, her long purple dress and headgear indicative of the traditions of her people. The Emperor of the Shoo'an took her arm protectively, some would say, even lovingly, and the newlywed couple left the hall, their kingdoms, and, thenceforward, the planet of Ja'rel, united at last.

The leader of the Shamunai had performed the ceremony that had brought peace to the planet; he had read from an ancient scroll, that appeared to be centuries old. As the joyous throngs of Shoo'an and Tareenians massed together outside to greet their newly wedded Emperor and Empress of Ja'rel, Jun'canesa motioned to the four Jedi to come over to him.

They acquiesced and crowded around him to get a glimpse of the document.

"This is history of Shamunai. Also history of Tareen and Shoo'an. We know Shoo'an and Tareen make peace one day. Remember bird? Bird is Phoenix. When peoples split, fight, run away, phoenix not live in sun; phoenix die outside. Now, phoenix released. When peoples reunite, phoenix whole, complete. Alive again," the creature said pointedly.

"So that was what that legend was about," Wil exclaimed excitedly.

"Exactly," Jostein said. "It was not about individuals gaining eternal life or reinvigorating the dead. It was about bringing the planet as a whole back to its state as a united people."

"I wonder if they will join the New Republic," Gantor mused.

"Pretty likely," Jostein said, "given the fact that four Jedi were on board to help them get started.

"I would not take so much credit for this, young one. The Shamunai have greater ability in the Force than we do in many areas. In fact, I will be staying on here an extra week to study some of their ways and ideas," Patricia said, the old glimmer in her eyes once more. "There is much mystery in the Living Force; it's what I live my life as a Jedi for."

'And mine too,' Jostein thought, as he smiled at her. Yet, thinking about the ride back to Coruscant that would not be quite the same, he regarded her again.

"Are you sure there is not something else going on? You are not going to investigate..."

"No, I am not. The Jedi who are assigned to those duties have been sent here and have begun their work. They certainly do not need me meddling in their affairs," she said sharply. "This is simply an opportunity to meditate and live in the Force rather than run to and fro the way we do at the Temple. Don't worry young one, I will be home soon."

Jostein smiled again. That she would; that she would. Too much was going on for her to be gone for long.

Jostein, Wil and Gantor took their leave of Patricia and Jun'canesa, and after walking across the main part of the central town of Tareen, found themselves back at the hangar housing the diplomatic shuttle that had brought them to Ja'rel.

Climbing aboard the shuttle, Wil and Gantor strapped themselves in, and Jostein took the flight controls. Backing her out of the hangar, he brought her out onto the field and got clearance for takeoff. The shuttle lurched and spat, then heaved into the atmosphere of Ja'rel. While it was no x-wing, Jostein knew it would get them home.

******************************************************

Three weeks later:

This entire scene felt so familiar to him, Wil concluded. The pungent odour of antiseptics mingled with the musky scents of various beings who had entered and exited the area; the sloshing of the fluids on the floors; his own sodden clothes; and of course, the fact that he could not stop gagging every several minutes. This particular day, Gantor seemed to take some sort of sadistic mirth in this particular fact, and would look up form his scrubbing to snicker at him every so often.

"You shouldn't bother to eat Wil," he smirked. "What goes in, will come out."

"Gantor…" Wil growled menacingly.

"Well, at least we are on the last week of intensive punishment. Then we will be on probation for a while," Gantor remarked, almost jovially.

"Do you know where you will be going or who you will be going with?" Wil asked, unable to match Gantor's good mood.

"No idea. You know they never tell us that. It will be okay. Maybe…" Gantor paused, not knowing what to say.

"What, Gantor?" Wil asked his friend.

"Maybe we will eventually be paired together. We made an awesome team there for a while on Ja'rel," Gantor said dreamily.

"That we did, mate, that we did," Wil agreed, pressing his scrubber harder into the stone floor, as if this observation alone could make the last week of their punishment go faster.

"That counts for something, doesn't it?" Gantor seemed to be asking the Council what he had never had a chance to ask them in person.

"It does indeed, it does… arrrggghhh…" Wil didn't get to finish his sentence.

Gantor just snickered in reply.

To Be Continued...

© (copyright) Patricia Smith/Carsten Jensen. All Rights Reserved.

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