The question was meant for me alone, and I knew it. "Yeah, fine," I sighed, idly picking burrs off my shoelaces. "It's getting chilly, though."

"It will get even chillier as the night draws on," the Master said, glancing up again. The first stars were appearing out of the indigo mists. "It is a clear night. The heat will dissipate rapidly."

There wasn't much else to say, so we fell silent again and pushed on, not prepared to spend a night camping on the cold ground. I lifted my head from time to time to watch the stars melting into existence, even though none of them were remotely familiar to me; the mere sight of the ethereal jewels hanging in the blue-blackness of the sky was enough to please me, and make me catch my breath in awe. The unspoiled wilderness offered us the most pristine view of the stars one could ever hope for, even though all I could see was directly overhead, in the narrow lane of the riding path which we followed back to its source. I kept my hands bunched in the ends of my sleeves and then stuffed in the pockets of my pants to stay warm, as a chill crept up on us and wreathed us in the vapor of our own breath. Twilight had completely faded and blackest night was upon us when we emerged from the trees and came upon the harsh exterior lights of the compound.

The Resks were free with their welcome, warmth, and food. We gathered in the mess hall with them and our Pfandi driver, lingering over a deliciously hot meal with tea while they plied us with questions. Dr. Holden Resk's first question to us was "Did you encounter any mour?" and upon hearing the answer, clung to us the rest of the night wanting to know every last detail. At first Qui-Gon said very little other than where it had happened and how many there were, but once we had all eaten and talked with the Alderaanian scientists about all the other lovely things we had seen on our hike, he finally felt himself able to speak of the mour. "Do you know," he began, looking toward Holden, "how much study has been done on the nature of their telepathic ability?"

Dr. Resk settled down and spoke seriously. "Some of the first scientists to come to Daramin to study the mour, before the preserve was set aside, were Iktochi."

I nodded understandingly. "Natural telepaths."

He nodded back. "They are the ones who determined the level of sentience in the mour, in order to provide the Jedi firm ground on which to argue the need for preservation. The Jedi could sense something strange about the mour, or so it's said, but independent confirmation was needed to establish that it had nothing to do with the Force."

Qui-Gon sat quietly for a moment, his eyes clouded with thought. "No, they are not Force-sensitive," he confirmed. "However, the Force does draw them to us. Once we found them, or they found us, they made a point of confronting us."

"That is an odd choice of words, Master Qui-Gon," Dena said.

"It is the most accurate," he said. "They seemed to need to see us, and attempted to impress something upon us."

Holden sat up in interest. "Did they? Did they succeed?"

Qui-Gon's face remained unmoved. "I'm not sure. They did impress something upon myself and Obi-Wan, but it will take some time to decipher it. I may never know for sure what it is they were trying to say."

"If you don't mind my pressing, Master Qui-Gon," Holden said carefully, "what did you think it was? Have you any early conclusions, no matter how errant?"

"They are concerned," the Master said abruptly.

"About what?" Holden encouraged.

"I don't know."

"That's what I felt," I piped up. "The little one, the pup...he seemed worried for a second, while the bigger ones were talking to you two."

Dena looked at me. "You saw a mour pup?"

"Yeah. Petted him."

Her eyes were wide. "It is very hard to get a glimpse of their young, even at this time of year when they are grown and on the move with the pack."

Qui-Gon's otherwise unsettled face relaxed a little with a hint of a smile at that. "They trusted us enough to let him get near to us. It took them some time to get around to it, but in the end, they did use their telepathic sense to try to communicate with us."

Holden begged for as much detail as could be provided, so the Master told him the full story, outlining the gradual warming of the creatures' trust enough that they would attempt communication. Both scientists sat there, rapt, trying to keep their jaws from falling open in envy and awe. All Qui-Gon could say about what was being communicated was that he felt the mour to be apprehensive about something, but not about the Jedi themselves. They wanted to communicate to the Jedi that something was causing them concern. The Resks received that in silence, bowing their heads to think. Obi-Wan leaned his elbows on the table to direct a question at Holden. "Has anything unusual happened to any of the mour in the preserve lately, that you know about? Anything at all, no matter how small?"

The man looked at his wife, who offered, "Not very recently. We did have one of our tagged mour go missing several months ago, but that's hardly unusual. Researchers lose track of them all the time, when they strike out for new territory or something happens to damage the transmitters. Male-to-male fights for territory and mates can be brutal."

"But Brindle wasn't the kind to wander out of tracking range," Holden argued. "She was a breeding female, and her mate hasn't died or wandered off. There's no reason for her to be looking for new territory."

"Brindle?" Qui-Gon wondered.

Dena smiled sheepishly. "We give names to many of the specimens we're observing. It's a habit. It helps to differentiate them if we can refer to them by name."

"And you don't think she's dead?"

"If a mour dies while on our transmitters, we would know," Holden answered, shaking his head. "Their biosigns would cease, and the locator beacon would remain stationary. We have had that happen before, and use the locator to find the body and bring it back here for experimentation. Brindle's signal just vanished, as if she passed beyond the range of the transmitter. We can only assume that she wandered off, though there's no logical reason why she should."

"Animals are hardly logical, no matter how close to sentient they are," Obi-Wan noted.

"It doesn't bother me," Holden assured. "We have more than enough to observe and experiment with barring Brindle. It was just sad that we lost her, she was one of Dena's favorites." His wife blushed slightly at that and looked away. "Anyway. I can't imagine what the mour have to be concerned about. A mild winter is predicted, there is more than enough food, the prey population is up, and their territory is vast and undisturbed. Apart from us watching them, they have nothing to fear."

Qui-Gon's face showed his continued internal thought in its quiet, subtle worry. "I didn't say I could explain it, I only know what shape their mental impressions took. They attempted to 'tell' us in their own way that they were concerned and afraid."

Dr. Resk's eyes lit up with wonder. "Perhaps we are observing an evolution in their thought processes," he mused, more to his wife and himself than to us. "Perhaps the mour are developing more complex thoughts, for whatever reason. More complex than hunger, thirst, anger, and basic instinctual fear. For the most part, we can only say they have a rudimentary, animal understanding of emotion - they know when they are safe and when they are threatened, and they know when they have needs that can be filled by eating, sleeping, or mating. But perhaps they are evolving...under our watch."

Shortly after, Master Qui-Gon decided it was late and we were tired, so we would leave the scientists to whatever late-night studying they had to do and retire to the bunkhouse, the third building in the complex. Very simple lodgings awaited us, and it wasn't long before I was snuggled into thick blankets on a cot listening to the breathing of my two companions asleep nearby. Our driver had quarters with us, but kept to himself. The Resks had their own private lodging.

Another sunny day greeted us as we prepared to head back to the settlement and whatever work lay beyond for the Jedi overseers. The Resks saw us off, though they had work of their own to do and a lot to think about after the report we were able to give them. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were still rather close about their encounter with the mour, but I knew better than to bug them for details. If it became important, Qui-Gon would speak of it. The Pfandi driver took us back, talking idly all the way about the general state of things like weather and season and industry in his hometown, and left us back where we started a day before at the local housing provided for Jedi teams. "What now?" I asked of the Master when we were indoors and settled in.

"Don't get too comfortable," he warned. "I have some arrangements to make, but we will be leaving shortly for another settlement."

I frowned at him. "Today?"

"Perhaps. Or tomorrow. It will depend on what I get done this afternoon. Obi-Wan." The curt addition of his Padawan's name was direction that he should come along, and the two of them vanished to communicators and work. I huffed an annoyed sigh and went to sit in my room with my journal, to capture the wonderful day before on paper until it was time to go.

In the end, it was decided not to leave the coastal settlement until the next day. Qui-Gon grew very serious as he talked about his plans for the upcoming week, as it would mean entering the "very dangerous" colonies that he had mentioned to me a couple days before. The roughness of these places was impressed upon me in no uncertain terms, and while it didn't scare me, I couldn't help but be a little apprehensive as I met the Master's eyes and promised him I wouldn't do anything to put myself in jeopardy. There was no time or means to ship me back to Takra where it would be safer, but at the same time, Qui-Gon didn't feel it was necessary. While some of the colonists could be rougher than anyone I met on Salji, overall the Jedi didn't expect there to be any trouble, and they were in a position this time to act should any threat, even small, be made. Anyone giving the overseers any kind of guff would be dealt with, as they were likely the only authority figures around and needed to keep order. I casually likened it to going into "bad" neighborhoods in big cities on Earth, declaring that as long as I was alert and didn't do anything stupid, I could pass through unharmed without seeing an ounce of danger. Qui-Gon didn't seem entirely convinced, but he knew me well enough to know that I wasn't in the habit of taking risks where they shouldn't be taken, and accepted my confidence.

The moment we stepped off the shuttle into the first colony on the itinerary, I realized Master Qui-Gon was not kidding about exercising caution. The backwater, rural location had me wanting to leave immediately. Nestled at the point of a long, narrow gulf separating a peninsula of land from the main continent, it was some sort of agricultural facility, but all I could see out the shuttle's viewscreen was miles upon miles of flat, swampy green where no crop could possibly grow. I was wrong; it was a wetland grain, something like rice, that only grew in standing water. A tiny cluster of ramshackle outbuildings showed that people did live here, but not many - mostly Hodran with a few grumpy Nego. While Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan busied themselves in whatever official capacity brought them to this small, seedy, unimportant colony, I stuck close behind and looked around in unsettled curiosity. I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to live there, as the swampland made a most undesirable setting, and it seemed that wasn't far from true. I gathered from what I dared overhear, the colony wasn't doing well because although the climate and landform were perfect for this grain, which was a staple and not only fed all of Daramin but could be exported in healthy quantities, no one wanted to live in the swamp to farm the crop. It was wet, it reeked, the buildings' foundations sank in the soft ground, and sindi beetles were everywhere. One landed on my leg and sent me into hysterics before Obi-Wan gingerly removed it and spent a good five minutes convincing me that it had not bitten me and I was not going to die.

We didn't spend long in that colony, as the Jedi claimed to have the sense that they were not welcome and one of the Nego kept eyeing me like I was dinner. Whatever monitoring of the unfortunate living conditions had to be done, Qui-Gon made sure to get it over with in a quick, efficient manner, allowing us to head for the next settlement before nightfall so as not to have to spend the night in the swamp. Our next destination was not much better, though. Obi-Wan flew the shuttle halfway around the planet to reach an extremely isolated location on the frontier, a colony which had only been in place less than twenty years and was even more of a "foothold" settlement than the last one. More Nego awaited us here when we disembarked, and for once I met creatures whose beastly countenance matched their attitudes and personalities. Somewhat broad with a light covering of fur on their faces, necks, and the backs of their hands, flat noses, and the occasional wicked tooth peeping from fleshy lips, they definitely acted as animal as their appearance suggested. At least, this bunch did. The first words uttered by anyone upon our arrival were, "What are you doing here? You think we're up to no good out on the range?"

Qui-Gon took the rebuff without flinching. "Has it been so long since a Jedi visited this outpost that its inhabitants have forgotten their manners?"

The tall Nego growled, but let it go. The Master went on to explain that whichever team had last gone through the colony reported that it had been having problems establishing a power facility, and his only purpose for dropping in unannounced was to check to see if the problems had been solved. He was calm and polite as usual, and Obi-Wan stood silently beside him with a cool look that could have been interpreted as confidence. The colonists couldn't intimidate them nor argue with their purpose, and backed down, letting us enter the colony and look around.

We spent that night and the next in that colony, crammed into a pathetic excuse for quarters. Two small, hard cots in one room and a small table and chairs in the other were all we had. The first night I stood by and watched a positively amusing argument between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon over which of them would give up a cot to me and sleep on the floor - each one seemed to want to do so more than the other. In the end I had to make them promise to share the duty, one each night we were there. I couldn't sleep, though. Not only was the cot impossible, I was grinning to myself at the open display of aggressive protectiveness, plus I was nervous about something the Nego mentioned while giving us a short tour of the colony: quakes. Apparently, the "problems" centered around an unstable fault line on which the colony was built.

I stuck close to the Jedi throughout the day, as the surly Nego who had been staffing this colony since its inception made me nervous. They were wholly uncooperative, but only because they had been struggling to make this colony work for many long years and had very little contact with civilized parts of the planet. They distrusted the Jedi overseers, but when they found them to be receptive to hearing complaints, showed them around the compound and explained their situation. A strong fault line ran through the region, which created pockets of thermal energy that could be captured and used as a clean, renewable energy source to power cities, but also created quakes that damaged the sensitive equipment and made it impossible to keep the generators in working condition. It looked to me like there really wasn't anything Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan could do about the problem, and the grumbling of the Nego wasn't going to solve anything, but they grumbled nonetheless and the Jedi listened, though once or twice they had to diffuse a situation as tempers got out of hand and accusations flew. I wisely hid behind them at those times, and once even ducked out of the room, but I couldn't go too far lest I court trouble by wandering off alone.

I was all too happy to leave the rugged little outpost the next morning, as I still hadn't slept well on the nasty cot and was holding my breath against the ground shaking. The colonists couldn't care less about our departure, as they were still left with their problems unsolved and now had an additional worry; Qui-Gon had spoken at length with some of the engineers about pirates and other offworlders sneaking onto the planet in remote areas such as this. They had no information for him, they had never seen this happen and resented the apparent insinuation that they had dealings with pirates, but they did begrudgingly promise to keep an eye out and make contact if they ever did see something. Leaving them with that, we flew back across the planet to a temperate region north of the equator, gliding in over a mountain range to a small walled-in settlement. "There," Qui-Gon pointed out. "The landing pad should be on the south side of the compound." He glanced at the control panel, then at Obi-Wan in the pilot's seat. "Have you received any transmission at all?"

"None, Master," Obi-Wan replied. "They have not yet acknowledged our approach."

Qui-Gon sighed through his nose. "I shall have to have a talk with the general," he warned.

Our shuttle got all the way to the landing pad and touched down before any sign of life erupted from the compound. Watching through the front windows, we saw a collection of Hodran and Pfand in gray fatigues come running out into the open space with blaster rifles. I clenched my hands tightly on the padded back of Obi-Wan's seat in fear, but Qui-Gon was completely unaffected. Still wearing the look of stern disapproval that had first appeared when he asked about the transmission, he palmed his lightsaber hilt and went to the hatch. I stared after him, but was under no desire to chase after him. Obi-Wan gently placed a hand over mine as he got up. "Just wait. It will be all right," he quietly assured.

In moments, we heard Qui-Gon raise his voice and call "Come," and Obi-Wan gestured for me to follow him as he complied. The people who had run to meet the shuttle were all standing down, rifles slung over shoulders or resting on the ground, and one gruff Hodran with a particularly Cro-Magnon monobrow stood apart from them, near to Qui-Gon. "This is my apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and our...archivist, Stacey," the Master introduced as we disembarked into a dusty yard. "I assume quarters are available for the team?"

"It will take us a moment to clear some, Master Jedi," the Hodran grunted. "If we had been apprised of your intention..."

"I am not interested in excuses for your lack of readiness, General," Qui-Gon curtly interrupted. "I did not inform you precisely because I wanted to know what I would find, not what you could present to me with a day's preparation. Our intention is not to pass inspection, however. There is other business we must attend to."

The Hodran's thickset brow raised slightly. "Well, then. Ah...let me see to quarters first, and then we can get right down to it, yes?"

Qui-Gon nodded once to show his acceptance of the offer, and the general turned to his men, barking out orders. Obi-Wan went off with a couple of Pfand who came to see to the ship, leaving me at the Master's side. I looked up to him, but he glanced down and showed a faint sliver of a smile before I even had time to ask my question. "This is a military compound, where Daramin's militia is trained and housed. They are in something of a fledgling state, much like the government, but they are doing fairly well."

"What are you up to, then?" I wondered as he led me away from the ship with a touch to my shoulder.

"I must see to their readiness to deploy troops to some of the foothold colonies," he replied under his breath. "As you have seen in the past few days, some colonies are failing, and a lack of order may be partially to blame. We may yet encounter even stronger reasons to begin deployment."

"Does this have anything to do with the pirates at High Point?"

"Perhaps," Qui-Gon ambiguously answered, a smirk flitting across his face briefly as he turned to greet the soldier who raced up to him. Apparently, we now had quarters.

The compound was in better shape than the colonies we had been visiting, but the accommodations were just as primitive and cramped. The militia led a sparse life, having just what they needed for training and practice but no more. Their weapons were in good shape, but the exercise yard was not. Rows of long, low buildings were arrayed in a square with a dark wall surrounding them, above which I could see the lofty peaks of mountains capped with snow. It was cool at this altitude, but sunny and pleasant. Alpine fields stretched below, while a few sparse fir trees hung around the upper slopes of the mountainside. Yet another large radar dish was perched above the compound, pointed sunward, but I saved my questions about its purpose for later. The Pfandi soldier led us into one of the barracks and showed us an officer's quarters on one end. It was barely big enough for the three of us, and yet again, only two beds were available. "The quartermaster should have an extra cot, for your archivist," the soldier sheepishly offered as he looked into the room. "I can see to it personally if you wish, Master Jedi."

"Yes, thank you," Qui-Gon acknowledged.

I waited until the solider was gone before looking up at Qui-Gon with a curious frown. "Archivist?"

A cool smirk was my reply. "You do write accounts of our missions in your journal, do you not?"

I snorted at that. "Yeah, and I'm not short, I'm vertically challenged. Nice choice of words there."

"It keeps people from asking too many questions."

"Hmm, point." I leaned down and poked at one of the cots. "Great. More of the same."

"Don't worry. We should be finished quickly, and will leave very early in the morning," he informed me.

"I think I know what these peoples' problem is," I mused as I paced from one end of the tiny room to the other. "They don't get a good night's sleep on these things. That makes them grumpy and disagreeable, and poor work performance is always tied to sleep deprivation. Maybe you should just see to it all the colonies are provided with better beds and things will improve."

I flashed a grin at Qui-Gon, and his stern demeanor dissolved. "That's a rather clever way of looking at it," he chuckled.

"I have ulterior motives, you know," I teased. "But if the rest of Daramin benefits because I like sleep, so be it."

He stepped further into the room and placed himself in my path, making me stop short. We looked at each other, and shared a shy smile, before he said, "Unfortunately for us, until we get back to a real city, this is all we can look forward to. There will be no chances to curl up together and relax."

Together? I gazed at him with growing delight, unsure what he was implying. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

His fingertips grazed my cheek. "We are closer now than we have ever been. Of course I long for even the briefest of moments spent with you."

"But...the other night, when I asked if you'd stay with me..."

Qui-Gon shook his head slowly. "That was the other night."

I peered curiously at him. "Are you okay, then? What you said...I mean, you were right, but I was afraid you meant 'from now on.' Are things...better now?"

His smile returned. "In a sense. No, I did not mean 'from now on.' It was only that moment in which you asked. I looked inside myself and knew that I was not in control, that I would have been unable to exercise restraint when faced with temptation. That moment has passed."

"Good," I shyly murmured, looking cautiously up at him, "because I like sleeping next to you. You make me feel safe..."

The Master's hand surreptitiously left the shelter of his robe sleeve and grasped mine, pulling me closer to him. "That's good," he smiled. "You know you are always safe with me. I look forward to the next time we can be together. It does my heart good to feel you next to me, and know that you're all right."

I squeezed his hand, trying to stifle the swooning sigh that wanted to leap out of my throat. "You are much too good to me, Master. Qui-Gon," I quickly corrected myself with a giggle.

"If I am, it is because you deserve it."

We stood for a moment just gazing at each other, and I could feel his thumb caressing gently back and forth across the back of my hand. I thought I might have heard the scuff of a boot in the hallway outside, and was reminded that there were other people in this compound who should not suspect that my presence was not entirely related to record-keeping. "Um...I think the general's waiting for you."

"Come. We will find Obi-Wan, and get to work. I don't know that you'll find it very interesting, but I trust this compound, so if you like you may wander a bit. Perhaps check out the weather station, since you're so interested in weather."

"Oh, so that dish is another weather radar," I noted as we stepped out of the open doorway.

"There is a network of them that covers the planet," Qui-Gon said matter-of-factly. "You will likely see many more before this mission is over."

Our search for Obi-Wan was over before it started, as he was just coming up the hallway to the officer's barracks at the same moment. "Master," he greeted. "Is everything in order?"

"Yes, Obi-Wan. We must meet with the general and go over everything we talked about. How did you find the hangar?"

"Better than I expected, Master. They have few vehicles, all ground transport - no low-orbit or air support. But, they do have a rather impressive array of tools to repair just about anything that lands here."

"Good. That's a bit of good news to take with us. Come."

I did wander off by myself for a time, and ended up in the weather station looking at global scans and charts of weather systems. Without revealing too much, I was able to talk to the lone meteorologist on staff about the familiarity of the systems he was monitoring. There was an enormous hurricane battering the coast of one of the southern continents, its tell-tale pinwheel signature plastered all over visible satellite images. I mentioned it to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan when we met up again for dinner, and the Master got unexpectedly serious. "Which continent?" he wondered.

"I don't know," I said warily. "Um...it was the bigger one."

Qui-Gon nodded to his apprentice. "Go and check it out. See if it's anywhere near the settlement we're scheduled to visit, and if we will have to alter our travel plans."

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan agreed, hurrying through the rest of his bland meal of rations, which the entire compound was being fed on.

I gave Qui-Gon another of my confused frowns. "What's going on?"

"There is a place I am keen to visit, but it might be in the range of that storm you saw," he replied. "If it is, we may have to change our plans."

"Oh." I poked at the unidentifiable bits remaining on my plate. "Did you get everything done today?"

"For the most part." The Master shared a look with his Padawan across the table. "We came across some information that makes our next visit even more important, which is why we must be cautious if there is a storm in the area. We must go there, but I don't want to have to delay the visit."

"Oh yeah?" I looked back and forth between them. "You're not going to tell me what it is, are you?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Not really, I guess," I shrugged. "No big deal."

Qui-Gon nodded and smiled, but I wasn't so sure I had given him the correct answer. On the one hand, I had an intensely curious mind that liked to figure things out. Some of what the Jedi were doing was actually interesting, but not all of it. And the more I knew, the better equipped I was should a situation arise that lightsabers alone could not diffuse. Yet, an instinct deep down inside warned me away from knowing too much. I never wanted to be a liability, no matter how closely I was being protected. It was entirely my choice whether to be completely prepared or completely unprepared, and as yet I hadn't decided which one would suit me better. Then again, I reminded myself as Obi-Wan got up to leave, apart from the pirates, I had yet to enter into a situation where trouble looked likely. There probably wasn't any such thing as knowing too much about this mission anyway. I figured I ought to just relax and enjoy the company of my companions, and archive things of relevance to me alone in my journal.

*****

"You know you don't have to stay awake with us," Obi-Wan cajoled as he followed me up the narrow, dark stairwell. "You should get some sleep while you can."

"Nah," I scoffed over my shoulder. "Those cots are hard, I wouldn't be able to sleep on them anyway."

"Well, you might want to try," his voice drifted up to me, dry and witty in the darkness, "I think that's the best accommodation we're going to get for quite a few days."

I groaned comically. "Great. Well, at least they're a little better than the last couple nights." I paused to turn a corner and navigate the last flight of stony steps. "What's so special about three a.m. anyway?"

"If we leave at three we should arrive at the colony a little after dawn," Obi-Wan replied, more seriously. "Master Qui-Gon prefers it to waiting until too late in the day tomorrow. That storm you saw on the weather radar is close enough to the colony we intend to visit that landing will be nearly impossible for the better part of the day."

I felt my way to the end of the stairs with my hands on the rough walls, which suddenly disappeared as the stairwell opened onto the roof, no railings or doors to keep anyone off the flat surface. Once the decision had been made to leave the militia compound while it was still night, we discovered we had some time to kill, and I insisted on taking advantage of the clear, moonless night to do some stargazing. The buildings belonging to the weather station climbed up the shoulder of the foothill encircled by the compound wall, and there was one on which we were told we could climb to the roof and have an unobstructed view of the sky. There was no fencing or railing around the edge, so we ventured out there at our own risk. The tops of fir trees were all around us, screening us from the lights of the compound, and the back of the radar dish could be seen level with us off to the east. As the black, narrow chasm of the stairwell dropped away behind me, I looked straight up and gasped in breathless awe. The dome of sky above stretched endlessly away from us decorated with the most stars I had ever seen in my life.

"Ohhh..." I threw my arms out and tilted my head back in rapture. "On a night like this, you can see eternity!"

Obi-Wan climbed up beside me and looked up, letting out a little gasp. "It's wonderful," he breathed. "I forget just how many of them there are."

"Millions. Billions," I suggested. "And that's just inside the galaxy."

"And there are so many galaxies." The Padawan spun in a slow circle, his boot heels scraping on the stone. I watched him, watched the light of wonder in his eyes and the innocent gape of his parted lips. He suddenly paused, staring in a particular direction, narrowing his eyes, and then laid a hand on my arm. "Look up there. That way."

I followed his pointing and sucked in my breath sharply. Above the trees in clear sight was a fuzzy spot, maybe as large to the eye as the Pleiades star cluster viewed from Earth, with a distinctive shape and form. It was a spiral disk. A galaxy. I swore under my breath. "Is that what I think it is?"

"From Coruscant, you would need a powerful telescope to see it," Obi-Wan began. "But out here we're several thousand light-years closer to it than we would be at the Core. That is the closest large galaxy to our own, measuring core to core."

I clutched at his arm, entranced by the sight and afraid I'd fall off the parapet in my wonder. "What's it called?"

"Well..." I took my eyes off the sight long enough to gaze at his face as he hesitated, thinking. He gave me a sheepish look. "...there is a catalogue number for it by which most scientists refer to it. The year it was officially catalogued, its type and class...very dry, and hard to remember. They're very long catalogue numbers."

I smirked. "Well, does it have a colloquial name? On any planet that you know of?"

Obi-Wan looked away. "The name I remember best comes from Alderaan. Long ago, it was situated in a constellation so perfectly that they named it the Eye of the Thranta."

"Eye of the Thranta Galaxy," I breathed, remembering vaguely what a Thranta was from one of Shan's stories. "That's so cool."

We stared at it for a while, until the fuzziness of its distant star clusters made my eyes blink involuntarily. "Can you see the spiral arms?" Obi-Wan queried.

"Sort of," I whispered. "Only if I don't look at it directly. Just catch it out of the corner of my eye."

More silence between us, comfortable in the presence of the Eye of the Thranta. I felt Obi-Wan step closer, or perhaps simply farther away from the open stairwell, the sleeve of his robe brushing my arm. "I wonder," he murmured.

"What?" I murmured back, unable to take my eyes off the satiny sky.

"Of all the galaxies in the universe..." His head shifted toward me, I could tell without looking by the rustle of his robe's hood. "...which one could be yours."

I found myself shivering a little in the chill of the night. "I don't know. All that's been said is that it was a galaxy 'far far away.' But, I guess all the galaxies are far, far away, really. The closest major one to us is Andromeda."

"And what is that?" his voice purred.

"Andromeda was a character from ancient mythology...there was a constellation named after her. The Andromeda Galaxy was right above her knee." I smiled to myself at the memory. "All I know is, it was a very large spiral galaxy - looked perfect in photos. It's something like two million light years from the Milky Way."

Obi-Wan snorted. "The Milky Way?"

"That's what we called our own galaxy." I shrugged. "We knew it was a spiral but we still called it that after what people used to call the visible band of stars across the sky that marked the disk."

"Like that?" The Padawan lifted a hand to indicate a shimmery pathway of stars that stretched overhead.

"Yeah, exactly like that," I whispered.

He thought about that for a moment. "I guess," he finally said, "the peoples of our galaxy have been interstellar travelers for so long, we've gotten used to knowing it for what it is. The old mythologies are long forgotten."

"Aw, you can't forget mythologies," I chided. "Even if they are silly and horribly outdated and superstitious. Sometimes they make good stories."

"All of life is a story," Obi-Wan quietly said, his voice like velvet. "Sometimes life is more entertaining and creative than fiction."

"If you're a Jedi, maybe," I teased him, glancing at him.

He shrugged slightly, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Point taken."

I lifted my eyes back to the heavens, and gave the Eye of the Thranta a few more indirect glances to try and catch sight of its spiral arms, wondering. Could I be staring at the Andromeda galaxy from the other side? Or...could that be home? A shiver wound its way up my spine; that could very well be the Milky Way galaxy. "How big is it?" I asked my companion, gesturing towards the fuzzy spot again.

"About a hundred thousand light years, estimated," he replied casually.

Yup, that's about the right size. I kept my speculation to myself, though, and let my eyes drift elsewhere to take in the spangled night, stars of all magnitudes and colors, hard-to-spot clusters and double stars. The night wind coming down the mountains shifted the boughs of the trees a bit, letting through flickers of light from the compound below us. I glanced down briefly, not wanting to tempt vertigo. "Can anyone see us up here?"

There was a moment of pensive silence. "I don't think so," Obi-Wan finally said, his voice not sounding so casual this time. "Master Qui-Gon and several others do know we're up here, in case something were to happen."

"Oh, I wasn't worried about that," I smiled.

Another moment flitted by before he spoke again. "Would it be a problem if they could?"

"See us?" I clarified, turning to glance at him. He seemed to have stepped even closer while I was looking away. "No, although lately I've been getting the feeling you and Qui-Gon have been extra careful about not letting anyone catch us together."

Obi-Wan averted his eyes. "Well," he began, pausing for the space of a breath, "we simply don't want to give the appearance of impropriety. It's very important on this planet that we command respect and authority, even though the task is simple enough that sometimes we feel as if we're on holiday."

It was starting to become instinct for me to ply the Force to give me insight into my companions' feelings behind their words, especially when asking for some sort of explanation from them. I didn't get the sense that Obi-Wan was coloring the truth, but he did seem subdued and unsettled. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I returned to stargazing, wrapping my arms around myself. "If that's the galactic disk," I said, changing the subject as I nodded toward the sparkling stardust path stretching across the sky, "which way is Coruscant?"

Obi-Wan took one more step closer, bringing himself into contact with me. He leaned against my back and peered over my shoulder, his breath a soft, warm sigh in my ear while he studied the heavens. At last, he raised a robed arm and pointed to a section of the star-cloud just above the horizon to the southeast. "About there, I think. See that bright star?"

"Which one?" I leaned back into him and tried to sight down his extended arm.

"That one. The bluish one."

"That one? Next to the two small stars?"

His voice was right in my ear now as we both tried to look along the same angle. "You can see those?"

"Yeah. I have really good eyesight, you know."

"Yes, that is the one. I know that star, it is the sun in a system directly along the hyperspace trade routes between this region of space and the Core. If we went straight to it, and then continued on the same heading, we would eventually reach Coruscant." Obi-Wan's arm fell, and found a comfortable place to rest around my waist. He curled both arms around me and held me, though his attention was still on the sky. I snuggled into his embrace and relaxed, grinning to myself. My head fell back against him, against the firm angle of his collarbone, and lolled a little until I could feel his breath warm and moist on my cheek. For a while I noticed nothing else, nothing but the warmth and the stars glittering in my eyes, until a slight movement alerted me that Obi-Wan was no longer looking upward. Without even glancing at him, I knew by the strange sensation of proximity that he was as close as could be, and then felt the feathery touch of his lips across the skin of my neck. It wasn't a kiss, just a sigh, a nuzzle, a connection between us, but my entire body erupted with goosebumps and my heart seized in my chest. For only a moment I held my breath, and then sighed it out contentedly as the young Padawan continued to softly, hesitantly, nuzzle my neck, as if seeking to lose himself in that slight cradle. Seeking, that was the right word, because his cautiousness, the long pauses and slow whispers of breath, made it seem like he wasn't entirely sure of himself or sure that this was possible, and was looking for something. Or, perhaps, waiting for something. Almost nothing came through the Force, his presence dulled and muted as if held back behind a door. The smoothness of his cheek glided along my neck, and as he lifted his head the tip of his nose just brushed my earlobe. The utter sensuality of this tiny gesture sparked something; I was immediately more awake, more aware of the moment and everything my senses gathered in, including the novel sixth one that kept telling me that there was something on Obi-Wan's mind, something he was brooding over. Drawing in a deep breath, I leaned back against him again and then slowly writhed in his arms until I was facing him.

After staring up at the sky for so long, my eyes had adjusted to the darkness so that I could easily see his face though only lit by starlight. His eyes were too dark to know whether they were striking blue or that sea-gray I had been growing over the past weeks and months to adore. A slightly puzzled look rested on his elfin features, his mouth solemn in that grave way common to Jedi, his brows knit in a particularly Obi-Wan manner that suggested a hidden intensity. The tension in his face was disquieting, I wanted to make it go away, so I smiled at him - smiled the way I did when I saw something I admired but couldn't find the words to say so. His arms were still around me, neither loose nor tight, holding me to him as if it were natural, but mine were seeking a place to rest. I instinctively reached up, and decided on the spur of the moment to ruffle a hand through his hair as I so often did playfully, but it didn't turn out so. Much like Obi-Wan I slowed, hesitated, and when the feathery softness of his hair touched my palm, I found myself becoming quite serious about my actions. I ran my hand gently and deliberately through his spiky Padawan cut, watching the tip of each hair catch a sparkle of starlight when it escaped my fingers, feeling the delicious, welcoming texture, wanting more than just a handful of it. Obi-Wan's expression didn't change, except that he closed his eyes and let his head droop slightly. My hand traveled all the way around to the ponytail and combed it through my fingers, before dropping onto the comfortable folds of his robe's hood while the other hand got its turn. Back from his brow, roaming, caressing, then once more, the base of my palm accidentally brushing his ear; he twitched, drawn to the touch. I eventually found the genesis of his braid and followed it all the way down, past his neck, to the final tie - the red one - where the braid's end lay against his chest, my knuckles scraping the fabric of the tabard which lay over his tunic. Then I glanced up and noticed that he was looking at me again, and the expression on his face had eased. He was watching me, watching my fingers on his braid, his mouth still serious but with honor, now, instead of concern. His brow was softer, his eyes less haunted. We had made a connection over the braid, my respect for it mingling with his deep devotion to it. Kindly brushing down the loose strands at the end against his chest, I smiled up at him again and this time was rewarded with his slightest of smiles, his eyes lowering bashfully away.

I sank into him, laying my head on his shoulder, and wrapped my arms around his lithe body beneath his robe, consenting even to the lightsaber hilt pressing against my side if it meant I was close to Obi-Wan. His arms tightened around me, clutching me tenderly to him, and his cheek rested against my forehead. We stood thus for a long time, forgetting about the stars and the mountains and the compound below us, the contact of face against face never breaking as we held onto each other in solid comfort. A delightful happiness invaded my soul, but I wasn't sure the man, the apprentice, sharing my warmth and security felt the same. He was less intense, but some fragment of his brooding air remained - I felt it when he sighed, when he moved his head just to feel that his cheek was still touching my forehead. I tilted my head upward to reassure him that I was still there, and was hugged even more tightly for it. Eventually, some subconscious signal drew us apart, and led him to beckon me after him, down from the roof and back to the compound where the militia was sleeping and Qui-Gon was waiting, or meditating, or somehow occupying his attention without Padawan and accomplice to attend to.

*****

The pale, watery sunlight filtering through streamers of cloud did nothing to reassure me that we had beaten the storm-track, thereby validating the plan to stay up until three in the morning and then fly to our next destination. I was exhausted and surly, and the idea of napping onboard the shuttle turned out to be completely ridiculous, as high winds aloft in advance of the swirling hurricane buffeted the low-orbit shuttle with head-rattling turbulence. Crouched in a chair in the back of the cockpit like an owl avoiding the daylight, I alternated between closing my eyes for rest and glaring at the transparisteel viewscreen of the shuttle as it gradually lightened and revealed the coming of dawn. It was shortly after local sunrise on the southern continent when we hove into view of the colony, and Obi-Wan wrestled the craft out of the wind stream in order to land it in a large clearing just beyond the collection of craggy buildings. I peered over my curled-up knees to see, surprisingly, that we were not the only ship docked at the colony. Two other larger runabouts and a freighter-sized craft were parked along the treeline. The Jedi had been typically silent through the landing, but now Qui-Gon spoke up to ready us for the next step in the mission. "The first thing we should do is seek out whoever considers themselves in charge of the colony," he said aloofly, rising from the co-pilot's chair and re-settling his belt in place, if only to position his lightsaber for easy access. "The data I have is so old I couldn't begin to guess who that might be. From there, we may need to split up and investigate what state the settlement is in," he added to Obi-Wan.

The Padawan nodded as he went through the routine of shutting down the ship's engines. "Yes, Master."

"Can't I stay aboard the shuttle until we know what's going on?" I whined. "Or at least until someone gives us quarters? I can take a nap here in this chair..."

"No," Qui-Gon said brusquely, "I want you to remain with one of us no matter what." He looked away, out the windscreen, a dark frown gathering on his features, and muttered under his breath, "I don't like the look of this place."

No one met us; in fact, it looked like no one had even noticed our landing. Trailing just behind and between the Jedi, I peered from around their shoulders at the weathered façades of two-storied buildings emerging from the trees. The region was heavily wooded, and the colony appeared to have been built wherever space could be found instead of clearing out a large tract of land to make room for it. I caught shreds of conversation between the two Jedi, piecing together that the colony's purpose once had been to investigate native flora on the southern sub-continent for edible and medicinal uses, but that purpose had been sidetracked by goodness knew what. I didn't see sign of any agriculture, nor did it appear to be an industrial town. When we finally encountered some residents, I was rather surprised - and my companions displeased - to see a high percentage of off-worlders wandering among the slender Pfand, burly Nego, and slouching Hodran. Qui-Gon walked straight up to the first person he saw sitting down outside, a human, tinkering with some mechanical gizmo. The unshaven, unkempt man glanced up at the sudden intrusion of the Master's brown-robed figure in his sight and rasped, "Good morning."

Qui-Gon nodded curtly. I knew he was in no mood to be polite. "Excuse me, but we're looking for the administrator of this colony. Would you know who he or she is, and where they may be found?"

The man put down his tool and scratched his head. "Administrator? Don't know that they have one." He turned over his shoulder and shouted into the open doorway of the building behind him, "Hey, Arn! What do you know about administrators here?"

"What do you care?" someone yelled back from the shadows.

"Somebody's out here askin'!"

We heard a scrape and heavy footsteps, and another man emerged from the interior, just as unpleasant and scruffy as his friend with squinty eyes, carrying a cup of some hot morning beverage in one hand. His eyes narrowed and swept up and down the length of the Jedi robes, and he scowled. "I don't see why they should want to know. Doesn't matter much anyway."

I glanced up at Qui-Gon; if his annoyance and displeasure had increased any, he was hiding it well. His face was placid but firm, his eyes piercing. "Then, who are you?"

"Arn" sneered. "No, the question ought to be, who are you? Who are you?"

"Qui-Gon Jinn," he answered plainly, "Jedi Master."

The man had opened his mouth and drawn a deep breath for the apparent purpose of blasting us with insults or something, but now all that came out of him was a meek, "Oh."

"If there is someone who claims charge of this colony, we will have their name now or you may answer on their behalf. We are the Jedi overseers," Master Qui-Gon added, "and any attempts to delay or countermand our orders violate the terms of the Homeworld Alliance and may have serious consequences."

Arn stood there blinking for a second, and then gave his seated friend a smack across the shoulder. "Rand can lead the way. We're not here to make trouble, Jedi, we don't want no part of that. Go on, Rand, take 'em to the 'gov." He quickly turned and vanished inside the building.

Rand shrugged as if unable to see what all the fuss and shouting was about and set aside his gizmo, getting to his feet and brushing off oil-stained trousers. "Right, then. Don't know if he's awake yet this morning but I can at least point him out. Shee, why didn't you say you wanted the governor? I knew that much."

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan shared a look that made me snort; I hurriedly clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing at their consternation. "The colony leader calls himself the governor now?" the Padawan asked as we followed Rand down the dirt-packed street.

"Guess so. Why, is he not supposed to?" A glance at the Jedi didn't answer his question, as they went back to being stoic-faced. "He's not totally in charge anyway, he just says he is. Everybody knows the quarry foreman Krim really runs the show, and Shel down at the Juggernaut. Say," he added, almost as an afterthought, "it's been a while since they've seen Jedi 'round here."

"I would imagine so," Qui-Gon acknowledged gruffly. His eyes were on the back of Rand's head as we walked, while Obi-Wan kept glancing right and left to take in everything he could. I followed right behind, having to step briskly to keep up. The Master casually wondered of our guide, "And what brings you here?"

Rand was silent for a moment. "Well," he began, clearing his throat, "you know. Landed in Takra, of course, took a shuttle here to see what's up. But, you know, with the cyclone off the coast...stuck here a bit, no taking off or landing in that wind shear or we'd have been back for the capital today." He kept from facing the Jedi while reciting this story, but he finished up with a strained laugh and a look at Qui-Gon. "Couldn't have been an easy ride, getting here."

Neither of the Jedi answered him, so he laughed again and returned his attention forward, continuing to lead us between the buildings that were getting more and more numerous. Before either of my companions could say it themselves, I muttered just loud enough for the three of us to hear, "I have a bad feeling about this."

On to part 46

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