Chapter Seven: Revelations

Coruscant: Jedi Temple

Two Days Later

As soon as their ship had touched down at the private access pad reserved for Jedi craft, Kyp Durron made for his speeder. After nine hours of discussion regarding one small boy with a significant Force presence, the Jedi Master was in a state of exhilaration rarely seen in a full grown man. Zekk had not been surprised by Kyp's paternal revelation, and he was quite pleased himself by the news, however nine hours of Kyp perseverating over the details was far more than he felt the duties of brotherly love entailed.

Kyp was not forth coming in the details of his visit with Tiam's mother. An hour after the brothers had parted at the hotel, he had arrived at the ship carrying two hold alls of Tiam's toys and games. At first, Zekk had thought nothing of it, and Kyp had informed him his absence was in order to visit Darshelle Laket. When Zekk asked too few questions regarding the visit, Kyp suddenly opened up and enlightened the younger man. So once they returned to Coruscant, Zekk happily offered to secure the ship and write the brief on their mission while Kyp hurried to the student dormitories.

Zekk had just arrived in his apartment and was unpacking from the Denon mission when his com chimed. A Jedi apprentice at the infirmary stated he need to come there immediately, but did not know why. Zekk rushed to the infirmary level and found another apprentice with more knowledge. "It's Master Durron, he's in Room 5."

Room 5 was in a wing designated for younglings, suddenly Zekk sensed who might be ill. He pressed the door open quickly, not even noticing the name on the data screen outside. "What happened?" Tiam was lying in bed and Kyp's chair was pushed close by. He held Tiam's hand in his own. A breath mask covered the boy's nose and mouth and a trail of wires snaked from beneath his hospital tunic to the various monitors at his side. Zekk reached out instinctively and placed his hand on Kyp's shoulder. The Jedi Master looked pale and worried. He never took his eyes off the boy as he spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Cilghal's apprentice says he's got a lung infection. I went to find him in his room and another student told me he collapsed the day before yesterday at morning exercises. I wasn't here for him." He answered with a far away voice.

Zekk traced the back of his fingers over Tiam's pale face reaching for him in the Force and found his presence subdued. "He's gonna be all right, Cilghal will help him." As if on cue the Mon Calamarian healer entered the room. Seeing the two dark haired Jedi at the student's bedside caused confusion and curiosity to leak from her into the Force.

Kyp stood to allow Cilghal closer access to the patient. "Why didn't you tell me Tiam was ill?"

"I wasn't under the impression I had to give a patient roster at every council meeting Kyp. Do you want me to alert you every time a student comes to me?"

"No, just this boy."

"Oh, I see." Cilghal looked from Tiam to Kyp and back again.

"How long is he going to be ill?"

"He's very sick right now, but with the combination of medication, healing trances and his Jedi ability to heal quickly, he'll get well. He fainted from lack of oxygen, his infection is in both lungs, so it'll take longer for him to get over it, but he's already showing signs of improvement. He has been breathing on his own since yesterday."

Kyp looked at the breath machine that sat idle in the corner and the child's pale sweaty face. He couldn't imagine that it had been worse, the boy looked so fragile, how had he been the day before. "Can I stay here with him? I don't want him to be alone, especially when he wakes up."

"Of course, if that's what you'd like. He doesn't have family on Coruscant; so that'll be helpful for him. I agree, he shouldn't be alone; I'll have an apprentice get you a cot. " Cilghal recorded information from Tiam's monitors and held her warm Calamarian hand over his chest for several minutes. Both Kyp and Zekk could feel her drawing on the Force to heal the child. Both instinctively wanted to be able to do the same thing. When Cilghal opened her eyes she added. "You could learn this too, I can always use more healers."

"How do you do it?" Kyp held his hand over Tiam's chest as Cilghal did. The boy stirred a bit in his sleep, but did not awaken. Kyp closed his eyes and concentrated on the boy's breathing falling into the same rhythm. He could feel the tightness of Tiam's lungs, the struggle for air to fully enter them. He reached for the Force to probe deeper to the cellular level where the infection began. He could sense good cells attacking the disease, but at that point he was uncertain what to do so he withdrew. He opened his eyes to see a curious looking Cilghal and Zekk. "I didn't know what to do. I followed his breathing; I found the cells that were fighting the disease, and then I didn't know what to do next. I didn't want to hurt him."

"You did well for the first time. I usually have my apprentices begin like that with becoming accustomed to the living body and its functions. "

"But then what, what do you do?"

"That is much more complex, I might do one of many things. In Tiam's case his lungs are swollen in reaction to the microbe which is causing all the trouble. His body is fighting the infection very well, but I can accelerate it by also focusing on removing the microbe and destroying without destroying the natural disease fighting cells. It's technical, but you could learn it."

"I'd like to….might be refreshing to heal instead of destroying. "

"Right now, just use your abilities to keep him relaxed and soothed. I'll take care of the microbes. He'll probably awaken soon, he's been asleep for over six hours, which is the longest he's slept continuously in the last two days. He usually wakes with a coughing fit, it might be a little scary for you."

"Why is that?"

"He had a difficult time breathing during the last few and we had to intervene. He was scared and in pain. So I'm glad you're here now to help him. I'll be back when he awakens." Cilghal left the room and Kyp stared at the small form sleeping. Then he looked over to where Zekk was standing at the foot of the bed.

"She knows."

"Of course, she's Master Cilghal, she knows everything Kyp, she probably knew before you did." Zekk winked. "I'll go back to your apartment and get that stuffed creature you brought, I'm sure he'll like that." Kyp nodded and turned his attention back to the sick boy. He reached out and rubbed his hair affectionately and sent him peaceful feelings through the Force.

When Tiam awakened a half hour later Cilghal rushed in with a MD droid and a Jedi apprentice. Kyp supported Tiam as he coughed and Cilghal was there with a special cylinder hooked to a breathe mask which forced medicated air into his lungs. After the treatment Kyp cradled him in his arms and rubbed his back while humming some old song which came into his head at the time. Probably something he had learned from his mother many years ago. Tiam calmed and when he realized whose arms held him he looked at Kyp and smiled. "He's comfortable with you, like family almost."

Cilghal's words were not a statement; they were a question. "He bears a resemblance to you, like I imagine your son would look, if you had a son."

"What are you getting at Cilghal?"

"Nothing of any merit beyond curiosity. What matters is that you are here for him now. I don't like my patients to be lonely, even the adult ones." She made to leave the room, but seemed hopeful Kyp might stop her with a word.

"Thank you for taking such good care of him." Cilghal smiled and Kyp turned his attention back to the sleeping child.

Four days later Tiam was feeling much better and eager to leave the infirmary. Kyp had stayed almost continuously, only leaving the boy's side briefly if Zekk came to take his place. Cilghal admired both Jedi for their dedication to the child, but she suspected they had an interest beyond that of master and apprentice.

"Tiam would be healthy enough to leave the infirmary today, but I want him under some supervision for at least three more days, since he lives in the student suite I'm afraid he'll have to remain here for the duration of his illness." Cilghal looked at Kyp and he felt she was waiting for a specific answer.

"If it's all right with you he can come to my apartment. I'll take care of him."

"Thank you Kyp. He really seems to get along well with you and also with Jedi Zekk.

"Well, we are his unofficial masters so to speak, he's in need of extra guidance and Zekk and I both feel we can help him the best."

"I know, he is usually a very active boy."

"That was a nice way to put it. Was he in any trouble while I was away?"

"No, he's settling in and learning to be a Jedi. With your guidance he'll be fine."

"You're not going to call me a role model are you?" She laughed her high pitched sound. "Hey, that's not funny! Master Skywalker called me that the other day."

"I think you'll be a good role model…just remember to be honest with him." Kyp knew what she implied.

"I plan on it. Cilghal, thank you for everything." She nodded understanding the depth of his words and took his hand. "I think I should have you teach me how to heal. You think I could learn at this old age?"

"Kyp, you always were a quick learner, I'm sure you could even at your old age!

After a week of being ill Tiam was excited to be leaving the infirmary with Master Durron. The Jedi master was there for him everyday making sure he felt comfortable, holding him through his treatments, playing games with him, and helping him with healing trances. Tiam liked Master Durron much more than he had before, after his week at the infirmary he thought the man knew how to have fun after all and wasn't such an gruff old Master. Yet Master Durron also seemed to respect him as his own person and treat him much older than he was. Master Durron always spoke to him like he was an adult and at nearly ten this was important. Tiam was anxious to arrive back at Kyp's apartment. He was looking forward to the new toys the Jedi Master had bought him. He thought he shouldn't be into toys at his age, but he still liked them. Living without them for over a month had added to his loneliness.

Master Durron made him comfortable by plumping up two over sized pillows and covering him with a soft yellow blanket which instantly warmed him. Tiam rested on the large nerf hide sofa in the apartment's main room. "Are you comfortable?" When the boy smiled Kyp sat down beside him and held out his hand palm up. "I know you are eager to play with your toys, but I have something very important I need to talk to you about. Put your hand over mine."

The boy's small hand looked lost over the Jedi's but he smiled at him. "Someday I'll be big like you, and a pilot, right?"

"If that's what you'd like to do. I want you to concentrate right now and just focus on your hand and the energy flowing between us."

Tiam swallowed hard and became serious. He closed his eyes and pinched his lips together in a thin line. The Force flowed between the two and around them. "What do you feel?"

"I'm all tingly. I see swirls and colors…feel warmth…love…Mom?." He opened his eyes and cocked his head sideways questioning his own response. Kyp drew his hand back slowly.

"Why did you say Mom?"

"It felt like when she's near. Why?"

"You probably miss her more than you know, especially with being so sick." Kyp paused, summoning courage. "Tiam, are you mad you don't have a father?"

"Not really. Mom, says it's not worth it to be mad, cause there is nothing I can do about it. She told me he was nice and I have his name, but she says my real father is Garyi Laket and Garyi's okay, but he….well, he's not my dad."

"What if your birth father didn't know you existed? What if he moved and your mother didn't know where he was to tell him about you?" Kyp swallowed. He was choosing his words very carefully now.

The boy continued to follow Kyp's stream of words, his look, silent and patient.

"Did you ever think your father might be a Jedi?"

He tried to not appear overly anxious, but he had a feeling he knew what the master was going to say next. "Sometimes, coz that would make sense since I have all these weird powers."

"What would you think if I said your father is definitely a Jedi?" The Master's voice was barely above a whisper. He felt as if the air had been knocked from him and he struggled to breathe.

"Astral!" the excitement of being right bubbled forth even as he knitted his brows together. "Who?"

"Tiam," Kyp paused and let out a breath. "It's me, I'm your father." Tiam sat quietly, his brow furrowed in a mix of contemplation and sadness, his small mouth twisted as if forming a question. Kyp waited, trying to gauge his reaction through the Force and feeling a tumult of emotions.

Finally, Tiam broke the silence. "I made up a story in my head that Master Zekk was my father." He then added quickly. "But I like you too, can Master Zekk still be my teacher?"

Kyp resumed breathing and smiled, "you'll have many teachers, and yes, he will be one. Tiam, I am so sorry I haven't been there for you. If I had known, I would have been there all the time. I wouldn't have let anyone hurt you because you are different. You don't have to feel different anymore, we are all a little strange here.

Tiam sat still and respectful, given his level of politeness, Kyp couldn't imagine how the boy had encountered so many difficulties. "Master Durron, then that woman in the holo is my grandmother?" Tiam's eyes focused on the holo Kyp had hung only two months before. Kyp kept two copies, one in his home, and one at his office. It was the only holo of her he had.

"Yes, your grandmother's graduation holo. She was sixteen, very smart, and I think very pretty. We all have her green eyes and dark wavy hair. "

Kyp tried his best to answer the boy's sudden rush of questions and explain how his mother had died without giving the boy too many graphic details, he would be more specific when he was older. "You have more family. You've an uncle here on Coruscant. I asked him to come tonight for dinner."

"Kyp's efficiency droid had cooked a practical dinner for three and Tiam set the table in his father's apartment. He still called Kyp Master and seemed a bit stand offish towards him. Kyp knew it couldn't be easy to learn of such a thing at age nine and he thought of how Zekk felt when he informed him he was his brother. The door chime rang and the efficiency droid admitted Zekk. Tiam's face lit with joy at the site of the Jedi and he ran to greet him.

"Master Zekk, I didn't know you were coming. " Zekk shot Kyp a questioning look and Kyp explained.

"Yes you did Tiam, I told you your uncle was meeting us for dinner."

Tiam's face lit brighter than a star and he began to jump around shouting "Astral, Astral, this is supernova! Uncle Master Zekk!" And then he ran to Zekk and wrapped his arms around the tall Jedi's waist. Zekk hugged the boy in return and sent a mental question to Kyp. "Is he okay with you as his dad?"

"He seems to be, but he was hoping you were, seems he likes you more!"

Aloud Kyp called his family to dinner. He liked that word, family. It had taken years and odd circumstances, but now they were united. And he'd be damned if he let anything happen to either of them.

At 20:00 Tiam had fallen sound asleep in his spot on the sofa wedged between his father and uncle. Kyp carried him to bed and after making considerable fuss over the level of his pillows and after spending twenty minutes listening to his breathing, Zekk entered the room.

He ducked his head as he entered the doorway, a custom he'd developed over the years despite the fact that Temple apartments had high ceilings and door arches. "What's keeping you so long? Is he all right?" He moved closer to where Kyp knelt by Tiam's side.

"He sounds good, Cilghal said there shouldn't be any problems, still, I want to make sure he's comfortable." Kyp spent several silent minutes just gazing at the boy. "Look at him, isn't he beautiful?"

Zekk laughed at his show of sentimentality. "You sound like your talking about a newborn baby."

He was unmoved by the younger man's light ridicule. "Well, he is to me, I wish I knew him from then, but I guess this is better than meeting him at twenty or so. I hope we get along."

"Kyp, relax, your projecting into a future that is always in motion. He likes you now, why won't you get along?"

"I was just thinking about Jacen Solo and Han, they never really understood each other. And Master Skywalker, I mean how close is he to Ben, and Ben's just a little kid still. I don't want to be distant from my son."

"And you won't be, everyone's situation is different. Come on, let's go watch the rest of that vid." Kyp got up slowly, took one last glance at his son and followed his brother into the living area. Once there, Zekk did not restart the vid immediately.

"I want to know, are you ready to tell me what happened when you visited Tiam's mother?"

"It wasn't what I expected. I told you I did'nt know her well, and even so it was ten years ago and people change. So I just planned for the worse, lots of cursing and yelling and threats of legal actions, maybe a few desired and blasphemous epitaphs, you know all the typical reactions I usually get. But instead, Darchelle was strangely calm when she met me. She told me that while she was at the Jedi Temple she had looked through the holos of the Master's council and saw the face of Tiam Burnsy, well the face of the man who had once called himself that. Now she knew who the father was to her precocious child. She had been angry then at my deception, but rather than tell me she knew the truth, she had decided to see if I would sort it out on my own."

"Who is Tiam Burnsy?" Zekk regarded Kyp with apprehension.

Kyp pointed to himself and rolled his eyes as if Zekk should have understood. "Me".

"When I got to her house she welcomed me in as if nothing had ever happened; she told me calmly she had always suspected I had lied about my background. She had tried to locate me on Denon, but by then I'd moved on. I was surprised she didn't try harder, but she said she didn't like Tiam Burnsy all that much anyways! She had a lot of support from her mother and she preferred to raise Tiam by herself than be entangled with a man she didn't want a future with. Then she met Garyi, and he liked her son; so all was wonderful until Tiam was about six; that's when things became more complicated. That's when he showed some signs of Force sensitivity. Darchelle wondered if his father was a Jedi.

"Why didn't she contact the Temple or Ossus I guess at that time? She would have sorted it all out much sooner." Zekk patiently allowed Kyp to continue.

"I don't think she wanted to part with her child when he was only six. I think she was hoping he'd stay with her until he was a teen, but that fight at Pritin was what pushed her into action. When we talked she was actually pleased to know I'd already taken Tiam under my wing. I kept wondering when she was going to change and grow angry at me. I took none of the food she offered."

"Wisely." Zekk interjected.

"I apologized profusely, promising her I would protect him with my life and raise the boy to be a fine Jedi Knight. Then I had a lapse of reason I suppose. I told her of our visit to the Ishra's, my newly discovered brother and my desire for family. I don't know why I was so candid. I guess after the level of deception I brought to her I felt I owed her, or maybe my thinking was still messed up from the day before. In the end she actually stated she felt I would be a good father, that her son would finally get the chance for the childhood he deserved. So I promised to return in 6 weeks with Tiam for his lifeday. "

"Exactly how long did you know his mother?"

Kyp lowered his eyes, "Honestly, for about two months. It wasn't exactly about love. I didn't know her well and she's, how do I say this nicely. She's a simple kind of woman. You know, she's not been to university, nor traveled at all. And…ummm….and of course there was the other little problem. She thought I was someone else….a construction worker."

"So that's why when Tiam showed signs of Force sensitivity she didn't recognize it. After all she should have known it would happen with you as the father, but not some average being. So she was likely confused or in denial." Zekk shook his head reprovingly. Recognition and an angry wave of indignation spread from Zekk.

"I don't need your sermon. What I did was wrong; I can't take it back. All I can do now is be a great father and that's what scares me the most. This parenting thing is going to be a trial, I am so afraid I will do it wrong and he won't be okay. How will I know what to do?"

Zekk forced down the need to admonish his brother, Kyp didn't need his disproval at the moment, he needed his support. "Mara and Luke have figured it out."

"Mara," Kyp rolled his eyes, "imagine her comments when she discovers how this all came about." He put his head in his hands and moaned. " And Corran, ohh, he'll be so critical."

"What's new about that? Everyone will react just as you expect. Since when has that bothered you?"

"Since I became a father I guess. Don't say anything yet, I need to have Cilghal confirm this and then I will tell the Council. Thanks for listening."

Now we are into the LOTF timeline: Betrayal