85 BBY, Jaminere, Outer Rim Territories
Degu looked around himself. He saw some factories among the capital city's skyline. He had no idea why his Master had brought him there.
"Master? When will you tell me what we're supposed to do here?" he asked.
"Not yet," Jedova answered and looked around himself.
Degu sighed. This was the seventh time his Master gave the same answer. It was frustrating to not know what they were supposed to do.
"Trust me, Padawan," Jedova said.
"I do but I'd like to know what we're doing here," Degu said as he tried to keep his steps along with the slow pace of his Master.
"You'll find out soon enough," Jedova noted.
"You mean if you find what you are looking for, right?" Degu asked doubtingly.
"Excuse me, Padawan," Jedova said partly absent-mindedly. He did so always when his Padawan said something they should not have.
"Sorry, Master," Degu said. "I'm just getting frustrated with roaming around the city for a reason I don't know."
He turned to look to the other side of the street. Then he suddenly stopped, eyes widening at the sight.
"What's wrong, Degu?" Jedova asked, stopping too.
"Look there, at that table. That café, 'Dell Hound'," Degu said, nodding to where he was looking at. "That's the man who stunned you back on Ec Pand two years ago."
"Are you sure?" Jedova asked. He had not seen the man's face back on Ec Pand.
"It's him," Degu said. "If he is here it must mean that Hopeakuu is here."
"Let's continue. It's the best to not attract their attention," Jedova said, putting his hand on Degu's shoulder. Degu tore his gaze away from the criminal, who seemingly had gotten even uglier than he had been back on Ec Pand, and followed his Master.
"Hey look! That's the Padawan who let us take his Master!" the criminal shouted as he suddenly noticed the two Jedi. Degu became stiff and felt the urge to draw his lightsaber.
"They are trying to provoke you. Don't give into it, Padawan," Jedova advised quietly. Degu took a deep breath.
"I just can't forget how they forced me to let them take you like that," he hissed.
"Don't cling to the past. You and I both have learned from that experience," Jedova said.
Degu nodded. The men of Hopeakuu did not follow them this time but he felt that they would come for them and cause trouble to them. At least that was what his instincts told. The Force stayed quiet about those criminals; Degu was no seer nor a person who was that talented with the Unifying Force anyway.
Then it seemed that Jedova had found what he had been looking for. They went into a rather grubby canteen.
"Stay very close to me, don't talk if not necessary and not to anyone else than me, and avoid bumping into others. We don't need trouble," Jedova told.
"Understood, Master," Degu said earnestly, but inside he felt a strong doubt. What in the name of the Force would any Jedi want from this place? They were supposed to stay away from places like these; it was no good for their reputation, or so they were told. Not that Degu stayed away from them when he looked for criminals, but overall this was shady, not where they should have been, not at least without a good reason.
Degu paid attention to his surroundings as he stayed close to his Master. He wanted to jokingly wonder why Jedova usually got into trouble as he went to places like this one, but he knew that he could say it once they had gotten out of the shady canteen. He noticed that Jedova was on his way to the bar counter. Degu had bad feeling about this, yet he followed his Master.
"Whaddaya want?" asked the bartender.
"Where's Aunauslale?" Jedova asked.
"Who's askin'?" the bartender asked.
Degu dodged a rough-looking man who trudged right next to them. Then he noticed that it was the goon from earlier. They looked into each other's eyes and the goon smiled in a malicious way. His teeth were in a condition even worse than that of the last time.
The rest of the Hopeakuu's group gathered around them.
"An ally," Jedova answered to the bartender, ignoring the criminals around him.
Master, we should get out of here, Degu said to his Master through the Force.
Just a small moment, Padawan. We're leaving soon, Jedova answered calmly.
"He's been dead for a coupla years. If ya won't order anythin', scram now!" the bartender answered.
"I understand. Thank you," Jedova said, stood up and left. He went past the criminals of Hopeakuu and Degu followed. The criminals laughed at them as they went.
"Aunauslale owed me some credits! He never paid! So I killed him!" said the criminal who had come next to them. Jedova acted like he had not even heard him.
But as he got out to the clear air of the streets, he sighed.
"This will make things more complicated," he mumbled.
"What things?" Degu asked.
"Let's go to the guesthouse. I'll explain everything there," Jedova said. Now, after facing those criminals who had done lots of harm during his time as a Padawan, Degu was not glad to find out Jedova's reason to come here anymore. But the reason had better be a very good one for the danger they were getting in now with Hopeakuu, for they would not back away from here if those criminals were there too.
As they got back to the guesthouse and went to their room, Jedova started to tell, "Almost a decade ago, back when Lucian Dailkor was under my tutelage, she had an affair with a man named Aunauslale. Or that's the name I learned to know him by. We were on a mission here which took longer than had been expected when the Council had sent us. And when I ended up finding out about this affair, I put a stop to it. I started to remind Lucian daily about the facts that Jedi are forbidden to have attachments, let alone such relationships. It tore us apart. And we never recuperated from it."
"What about it?" Degu asked. He knew that what had happened in the past was not the reason for Jedova Wang to come looking for this man.
"Lucian disappeared about a month ago. Her last known location is Jaminere system. It is not official, but the Council asked my help on finding her, since I was her Master once," Jedova explained. "But that incident broke our bond and I can't sense her anymore. That's why the only way to find out anything is to come to this system and look for clues."
"And you thought about Aunauslale," Degu deduced. Jedova nodded.
"I suspected that she could've come to look for him," he said. "But since he's dead, the track is lost. I'm afraid that Lucian has left to her own way alone, as she started to despise the Order near her Trials, even though she stayed as a Jedi even after passing them. I... guess she knew no other place to go to..."
Degu was very familiar with the misfortunes of his Master who preferred to treat them with humor. The boy liked to make jokes and friendly teasing about them, but this case was far too serious for that. Therefore, he stayed silent.
"Listen, Degu, there is something I want you to be honest about," Jedova said, his serious tone now a bit sharper. "You've become jumpy about Hopeakuu during the last months. Why?"
Degu startled. No, not this! he wanted to scream out.
"I-It's just what happened back on Ec Pand. And they've been causing a lot of trouble. And they're here! I fear that they try to kidnap you again and I can't stop them on that! I... I can't bear seeing it happen again!" Degu explained hastily. He felt lucky in some way to have something known to hide behind to.
The truth, however, was that seven months ago, during his seemingly never-ending quest to find information about his father, he had found out a heinous fact about his father: he belonged to Hopeakuu.
Now he knew that any criminal of Hopeakuu he met could be the one who had sired him and then left his mother alone with him. He had kept it as a secret from his Master for these months, but now he felt like he was finally getting caught from concealing the truth from his Master.
He felt like that because Jedova's gaze pierced into his eyes in such a stern way that it was very difficult for him to look back.
"That is not the foremost reason," Jedova said to him. Degu's hands formed shaking fists. Busted!
Degu exhaled and lowered his gaze. When he started doing so, he thought that it would be easier to look at the bland floor, but the sight of Jedova's piercing gaze stayed. The Jedi Master did not turn his eyes away from his Padawan.
"You have been lying to me," he said quietly, feeling very disappointed in his Padawan whom he had trusted.
"No! Not lying!" Degu exclaimed, lifting his head quickly to look back into his Master's eyes. "I just... haven't told the truth. But I haven't lied, I swear!"
Jedova knew how it felt to lose trust in someone. Back the last time on Jaminere he had learned that it felt the worst when it concerned his Padawan. He had lost his trust in Lucian. Now it happened again, in the very same city, as he lost his trust in Degu.
He had known that he should not bring his Padawan with him there. Yet he had not stayed firm on the decision to leave Degu to Coruscant. He could see the desperateness in the young man's eyes. The desperateness to prove his Master that he had not lied.
Before this Jedova would have wanted to hear the truth. But now he did not want to hear anything from the boy he had been training for six years. He turned his back on him and said nothing at all anymore.
"M-Master..." Degu stuttered, shaking. It felt like their strong bond had suddenly snapped like a dry and dead branch in a fleeting moment without any voice in the Force.
Jedova ignored the Padawan's horror. Degu approached him carefully and put his hand on his shoulder to get any kind of a connection to the Master. Jedova kept ignoring the young man.
"Master, I am truly sorry," Degu apologized. "I never meant to offend you."
The more merciful half of Jedova wanted to ask why Degu had not told him. But the less merciful half, the half which usually took the offense the worst, wanted to stay silent and keep ignoring. Padawans are forbidden to conceal the truth from their Master. Degu's case would not possibly be as outrageous as Lucian's, but they both hurt Jedova very badly.
"I want to be alone for a while," Jedova announced. He needed to get out from within four walls and have some fresh air. Without waiting for an answer from his Padawan, he walked out, leaving the devastated young man standing in the middle of the small room.
/Author's note: Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/