Though I didn't know how, it was even colder inside Recero's room. I thought I'd be seeing flakes of frozen moisture falling from my billowing breaths if it was much colder, but the air seemed even heavier, almost insulating, rather than biting cold. In the dimly lit hall, it was like walking through a thick, invisible fog that almost drowned you, but at the same time, it felt...good in an unnatural way. Was there something being mixed in with the room's enviro controls?

Behind a frosted transparisteel door I was walking by, I saw and heard a toddler playing on the floor in a bright room. It had to be Recero's son, my nephew, Aalon Roeken. A little over two years old, he was babbling as he picked up a toy and another, showing them to someone I couldn't see on the other side. Though concealed in the darkness on my side of the door, I froze where I was. Surely they didn't keep the kid in this weird atmosphere; he was too small to stay warm enough, and he was definitely too small to take care of himself in that room alone. Who was he conversing with in there?

An astromech's whistling answered my question, and as it rolled up to Aalon, he showed it the toy again, happily explaining in gibberish as the droid beeped again and watched. He seemed to enjoy the interaction, as though the droid and he were speaking in their own language only they could understand. I could tell the boy had dark brown hair and the droid had orange panels, and though it was hard to see much detail, he seemed to be healthy... Apparently, Tzymo was telling the truth about him.

But what of Recero? I glanced at Aalon once more before I moved on further into the room, but I couldn't hear anything that would guide me to her. No movement, no talking, not even soft breathing. Panic began to set in; if she wasn't even here, and I had made such a damning move against Tzymo for nothing...

"Horatio," her quiet, weak voice floated through the darkness beside me. I turned to look, but it was another few seconds before my eyes adjusted to the difference, and I finally saw her.

She hadn't changed at all.

It had been five years since I had last seen her on Tatooine, but she had contracted her disease over two years ago, and it had reduced her to laying nearly motionless on a bed under a light sheet. If it wasn't for her eyes, as sharp as they had always been, following me as I stepped closer to her, I would have thought her frozen to death.

She gave me a small, teasing smile, though. "Took you long enough."

Even in the silence of the room, I could barely hear her voice. If I hadn't been looking at her, I wouldn't have understood her at all. I hadn't realized how hard it would be to see her so weak...

It took me a few moments to find my voice. "I've been busy."

"I know," she answered, still smiling. Her speech was slow, careful to not waste energy. "I've heard a lot about your...missions, and those Jedi you keep helping."

Though the air was thick, I struggled to swallow with a dry throat. I looked down and away from her, strangely...embarrassed that she knew about it. I had never set out to help them as I had, but I always ended up crossing paths with them and doing more without thinking about it. For some reason, I felt obligated to...because it was the right thing to do.

Without hearing movement, I felt her hand grip mine at my side, and looking back down at her, I met her gaze and saw nothing but understanding in her eyes. Her hand was as cold as I thought it would be, but the strength of her grasp surprised me as she tugged my arm, compelling me to sit on the bed beside her. I hesitated for fear of hurting her somehow, but she took my reluctance for something else.

"Don't worry," she said as her smile faded, "I'm not contagious."

I wouldn't have cared if she was.

I sat down, still holding her hand as I looked her over. Was her disease destroying her nerves and muscles so she couldn't move? She was so still...

"Stop looking at me like that, Horatio," she commanded with surprising intensity that caught me off guard. I couldn't formulate a response, so she continued. "You caught me on a bad day. I've actually been getting better."

"This is better?"

"The medication Tzymo's had me on does well during the day. I can even hold my son again."

I clenched my jaw. Who knows what kind of terrible concoction Tzymo was forcing her to take...

"He's not helping you, Recero. I want to get you away from him."

Her eyes suddenly looked tired. "He's done nothing but good for me and for Aalon --"

"He's using you," I interrupted, more angrily than I had intended to. "He's just studying you long enough to get what he wants from you. So what does he want?"

She looked away, ashamed. "He hasn't asked...but I'm guessing he's after the Guild."

"All the more reason for me to get you out of here." When she still gazed beyond me, I continued. "I know a doctor who will find out what's wrong and actually try to make you better. He'd expect nothing --"

"You've burned that bridge, and you know it. Dr. Vil isn't going to work with you anymore."

I opened my mouth to argue, but I couldn't. Again, I was surprised by what she knew, so I tried another approach. "Then I'll find someone else. I'm not going to let Tzymo ruin you."

Before she could respond, the mechanical whirring of rolling servos caught our attention. I turned to see an orange-paneled astromech, the same one I had seen earlier with her son in the first room, rolling toward me with its shock arm extended and already sparking to attack me.

"Bex, no," Recero weakly defended me by holding up her palm to the droid, making him stop just shy of my leg. "It's okay. This is Horatio, my brother."

If the droid had had eyelids, he would have blinked in confusion. He beeped a hesitant question at Recero as if to make her repeat what she had said. She nodded.

"I told you," she continued lightheartedly. The droid beeped again and retracted the shock arm, whistling repentantly as it turned to me again. I arched an eyebrow.

"Bex?"

"B3-X4," she answered. "He used to be...Najin's..."

I could hear the pain in her voice despite its softness, and her eyes became distant and glossy; she was still in mourning over losing her husband.

"...I'm sorry."

For a moment, I felt stupid, offering my sympathy for her grief I knew nothing of. But she looked up at me again, and a small smile brightened her eyes. "He reminded me of you. You would have liked him."

Unsure of what more to say, I remained quiet. Bex whined and beeped again, commanding Recero's attention.

"Bex is the reason that I still get intel," she explained quietly. "He can get around Tzymo's surveillance and keep me up to date on the galaxy. It's how you got to me so easily: I had Bex turn off the alarms you would have set off."

Half impressed, half skeptical, I furrowed my brows. "How did you know which ones I'd trigger?"

Her eyes sparkled briefly with a wry grin. "Because I would have gone the same way you did. You were careful, but not careful enough. Tzymo knows nothing, though. I've made sure of it."

If my face was warming with a humiliated blush, I couldn't tell. I had long since lost feeling on any exposed skin, but her hand squeezed mine again, reminding me I was still holding it.

"I know Tzymo gave you orders to keep away from me," she continued somberly. "But here you are, trying to help me." Again her eyes glistened as she shook her head and continued even more quietly. "You can't. Not the way you want to."

I stared, dumbfounded. "...I don't understand."

She only shook her head again, repeating, "You can't."

I was beginning to think that it wasn't a matter of my abilities, but that she wasn't going to allow me to help, and it was making me angry. "Give me a reason," I demanded. "Give me a reason, or I'll do it anyway."

Her expression didn't change, though, despite my harsh tone. She must have expected my reaction.

"I need you to do something else for me," she answered calmly. "You're the only one I can trust with this."

Though I was still frustrated, I released a long breath to settle myself. At least she wasn't denying me outright. I could still do something for her, so I waited patiently to hear what she needed.

A distant look returned to her eyes, and as she closed them briefly, a tear fell across the bridge of her nose, landing and instantly freezing on the pillow under her head. I brushed away its trail on her face, assuming she didn't have the energy left to expend.

"Najin never even knew, but...Aalon is not my first son."

All my anger immediately dissipated as she continued.

"I was involved with a spice dealer several years ago, but it was short lived. He was...violent, aggressive, and I couldn't get away from him fast enough. I was already pregnant, though, when I left him, and he sent his thugs after me constantly. More than once, I barely escaped with my life, and the worst attack was only a few weeks before he was born... Max..." she trailed off, momentarily lost in thought. But she looked back up at me after a pause, seeming to have collected herself.

"Do you remember when we met in Mos Gamos?"

Instantly my shoulder began throbbing from the memory. "Hard to forget."

She nodded. "Max was two weeks old. I had had enough of his father's vile tactics, so I was giving your agent everything I could about his business, his routes, strategies..."

Thinking back to our encounter, I remembered the bruise she had on her eye. She hadn't explained it then, but now it made sense, and my anger was returning.

"I raised Max for two years, always on the run so his father couldn't find us. But he did. He punished me for what I did...nearly killed me...and he took Max. I never stopped looking, but I haven't been able to find them. I...I don't even know if Max is still alive."

My jaw was clenched so hard I thought it might have melded together. Shaky breaths escaped me as my anger escalated, and my vision blurred until I blinked it away to focus on her again. I would have torn the man apart with my bare hands if he had walked into the room just now.

"Who is he?"

She hesitated. "Soran. You've worked with his brother, Joshua."

I blinked. "Joshua Redgrave?"

Again she nodded. "Soran shed his last name years ago, so his connection to the Redgraves isn't well known. But Horatio, listen to me," she warned as she tugged my arm once more, forcing me to lean closer to her. "You have to be careful. Soran is just as connected and resourceful as Tzymo. While Tzymo is meticulous and methodical, Soran is vicious and brutal. You can't take on his entire organization, and I don't want you to. All I want to know is if Max is okay, that's it. Do you understand?"

I nodded, but there wasn't going to be anything keeping me from inflicting as much pain as I could on Soran. I had already decided that.

She seemed content with my response, and a relaxed expression softened her face. "Max will be seven in a few days. If you do find him...I think you'll recognize his eyes."

I tightened my grip around her hand. "I will find him, Recero, I promise."

She nodded weakly. "I know you will."

Her energy seemed to be fading quickly, even as I watched her, but I didn't want to leave her. I was frantically running any and every kind of escape plan I could think of through my mind to devise a way to get her away from Tzymo and shelter her somehow, but each one stopped with the thought, Tzymo is probably expecting that. I had never felt so ignorant, so incompetent and powerless to help her, but if I could find Max, I could at least bring her a small bit of hope and comfort. Maybe her rescue could come later.

"Bex," she called for the droid feebly as she closed her eyes. He rolled up beside us again and whistled inquisitively.

"Make sure he gets back alright."

Bex beeped in affirmation, rolling back slightly to escort me away. I still wasn't ready to go.

"Horatio," she breathed, keeping me at her side a few moments longer. Her eyes remained closed, but I still felt her fingers tightly curled around mine. I waited, holding my breath so I'd be able to hear her...

"No matter what you think...you are a good man."

Slowly, her grip released, and she slipped into a peaceful sleep, still just barely moving as she breathed lightly.

Behind me, Bex beeped urgently, extending a pinch grip to pull at my pants leg. I could tell it wasn't impatience, but a warning that I had to leave quickly to avoid detection. I gently tucked her hand underneath her covers, and with one long last look, I released a shaky breath and followed Bex through a completely different path than what had gotten me there in the first place.