We all have our secrets.

-Revan

As he gained consciousness, Revan realized he couldn't feel any pain. In fact he could barely feel anything at all. When the Jedi tried to move his arms, the effort was useless and draining. His entire body felt like a bloated piece of meat, sluggish and unresponsive.

This must be how a Hutt feels like.

The air was heavy with the smell of antiseptic, making him feel nauseous. But more pressing was the feeling of trepidation.

Where...where am I? How did I get here?

His weary mind tried to process the situation. He remembered the fight with Victus and his defeat. Most vividly, he remembered being beaten into a pulp. And his eye…

Blinking rapidly, Revan found to his dismay that he had not dreamt that part. Half of his vision was still a black gaping hole. He grimaced at the loss, but did not grieve for it. Wounds like these were a natural part of his station. He had heard of other warriors having whole appendages severed during the heat of battle. All said and done, he was extremely lucky to be alive.

That in itself was somewhat of a miracle. With his horrific injuries, Revan had fully expected to perish, aid or not. Then again, he was extremely hard to kill as Alek liked to joke. His name was a testament to that fact.

But the most important question remained. Where was he?

Blearily, Revan looked around, forcing his one good eye to focus on his surroundings. He realized why it was so hard to move. Everything below his neck was heavily bandaged and casted, with tubes snaking out from either side of his body. By the look of them, some of the tubes were delivering nutritional supplements into his ravaged body while others were removing internal waste.

His foggy vision turned to the yellow walls where a table piled with surgical equipment caught his attention. Leaning next to it, was a gunmetal grey droid, hanging limply to one side. Revan noticed its hands were an amalgamation of syringes, knives and needle thin metal digits.

A…a surgical droid?

The Jedi found the equipment foreign to him, yet something about the room felt strangely familiar.

This cot...the door.

He had been in here before. In fact, it was the same room he had talked with Mysteel in. As his drug addled-mind processed the thought, Revan realized he was back at his former companion's base.

It can't be.

A squeal at the corner of the room erased his doubts. Mysteel's little sister was here with him, apparently unsupervised. She was sitting with her back to him, next to a heap of bolts, tweezers and springs, happily unscrewing the lid off of what looked like a communications box set. When she got it off, the infant started stripping out the wires enthusiastically, although whether the Twi'lek was actually fixing the device or simply making a mess, he couldn't say.

While staring at the child at her play, a thought struck him.

They came back for me.

Revan realized he found the thought extremely surprising. He could count very few people to trust on and the Jedi doubted T'shere saved him for his amiable company. Still, the thought of the Arkanian bursting out at the last moment to sweep him away from the brink of death like a guardian angel drew a ragged chuckle from his lips.

"Awake are we?" Said a lilting female voice.

Revan was startled by the noise, thinking he was alone with the child. But then again, his vision wasn't what it used to be. The Jedi tried to twist his head at the source of the sound but to no avail. Revan sighed. Bundled so tightly, he couldn't even lift a finger.

The speaker appeared over at his side and Revan looked up.

It was a Rutian female, watching over him with a caring expression. The woman possessed striking cheekbones with a slightly freckled face and dark piercing eyes. Based on her matronly tone, Revan judged her to be about thirty to forty in age although her smooth skin was unlined and healthy looking. She was quite attractive if truth be told but he almost expected that of any female Twi'lek by now.

Revan was sure he had never seen this person before but something about her face seemed familiar. At the moment, his stilted thought process couldn't quite say why.

The Twi'lek reached out for his head, examining something.

"Hmmm, your wound heals cleanly. That is good. For awhile, Lucidae thought you might become sceptic."

"Who...who," croaked Revan. His voice sounded a hundred years older, weakened by disuse. The Jedi struggled to raise his hands, but they were gently pressed back.

"Shhh, try not to move Revan," said the female kindly. "We don't want your stitches to rip open. You've sustained a lot of trauma. Not to mention broken bones, torn ligaments, massive blood loss... It induced ventricular tachycardia. Victus was not kind I am afraid."

"Victus..." he whispered hoarsely. The mention of his tormentor got his blood pumping. "Is he?"

"Dead." She said reassuringly. "And burned to ash. I could scarce believe it when I heard the news. Truly it is a burden off all our hearts."

Revan fell back onto his cot, relaxing fractionally. His head still throbbed painfully despite the mind-numbing chemicals coursing through his body. The Twi'lek gave him an appraising look.

"I'm surprised you're awake already. It's only been two days and you were heavily medicated during the operations. But then again, I've noticed Jedi recover exponentially faster than the average humanoid."

The Jedi simply nodded, too weary to dispute the point.

"You're still under heavy anaesthetic right now, so your body may be out of sorts for a time. Just tell me, how do you feel?"

Revan wet his lips and spoke with a stronger voice.

"Like...like I just went ten rounds with a Rancor. Then the Rancor won and had its way with me."

The woman gave a chuckle.

"I see you've inherited Mysteel's sense of humor. I've always found it a bit off kilter, but if a Jedi likes it then..."

At the mention of Mysteel's name, he realized their laugh sounded suspiciously similar. And then there was her uncanny resemblance to the child in the corner of the room. He finally realized who he was talking to.

"You're...you're the mother..."

"The mother." Echoed the Twi'lek. "How quaint. And I thought you had a way with words." There was a teasing quality in her voice which took the sting away from her accusation. Revan managed a smile.

"Forgive me…But my wits have literally been leaking out of my skull. And probably through my ears."

This time the Twi'lek laughed.

"Indeed," she said eventually. "Well in any case, you are correct. I am 'the mother' as you say. But that's the name I use on my birthday. I have another one for regular occasions."

"Will you tell it to me?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I would have thought Mysteel would have mentioned it to you by now."

"One of your daughters...is a bit paranoid to say the least."

"Ah, you mean T'shere." She nodded. "Yes she was always the bitter one, the least trusting. It was something I had hoped to wean out of the girl when I took her in."

The Twi'lek looked sad as she said this. Eventually she shook her head and said.

"But to answer you're question. I am Thalia. Thalia Vao. And I am the mother of the three misfits, scurrying around here."

The Twi'lek winked conspiratorially at him. "Between you and me, those three girls have shaven decades off of my life with worry,"

A giggle from the back of the room caught Revan's attention. He looked past Thalia's shoulder to see who it was. Standing behind Thalia was Mysteel, with her bright smile. Somehow, she had managed to sneak into the room without their notice.

"Oh mother. Surely we're not that bad."

When Thalia turned, the younger Twi'lek put her mother into a bone crunching hug, laughing all the while.

Thalia gasped out a chuckle, as she fended off her daughter's enthusiastic grasp. "Mysteel! You'll crush me to death with those arms of yours!"

Eventually the younger Twi'lek let go. "Sorry mom," said Mysteel in a teasing tone. "I guess I'm just jealous that's all,"

"Why would you be jealous of me my little golden nugget?"

"Why?" Mysteel scolded. "I leave for one second, and you're already fussing over him and talking up a storm. Nothing good can come from that."

Thalia seemed bemused by her daughter's overreaction.

"We were just talking dear."

Mysteel responded with a long pouty look.

"Oh sure, it starts with friendly conversation but soon you'll be complimenting each other's appearance. Then you'll be offering him drinks and some 'pie'. And before you know it, you'll be eating each other's 'pies' and waking up with nothing but your socks on."

Revan could only stare on in disbelief while Thalia laughed aloud.

"Mysteel, you're such a tease. You know Jedi don't engage in such frivolous acts. And he would never be interested at an old codger like me."

The daughter's expression became impish.

"Mother, you know as well as I do when guys look your way, they're waving with more than just their hand."

"Mysteel! Really, the mouth on you."

The two females shared another good laugh then at Revan's expense. Eventually Mysteel turned her attention back to the Jedi. She leaned in front of his bandaged face with her gleaming smile.

"Aren't you glad to see me?" She asked sweetly.

For the first time since he had landed on this blighted world, Revan's expression mimicked her own.

The next few days saw the Jedi bedridden as he recovered from his grievous wounds. Thalia insisted he remained in the room and immobile so his stitches were given time to close. The two females even offered to help him with his daily necessities while he recovered. Revan let them replace his bandages but he flat out refused to let them feed, bathe or change him. Mysteel's reaction was appropriately extreme.

"You're crazy!" She exclaimed when he rebuked them "Do you know how many guys dream of having two gorgeous Twi'leks heeding his every beck and call? Live the dream Revan!"

The Jedi politely declined.

So for what seemed like an eternity, Revan was confined in his tiny cell. The Jedi wouldn't have minded that so much if not for the fact that he was never alone. To his chagrin, Mysteel and her mother constantly fussed over him like den mothers. And when they were not treating him like a toddler, they chatted with each other incessantly for hours on end, their conversations punctuated with giggles ever few sentences. It was enough to make Revan wish he was comatose again.

Mercifully though, Mysteel would eventually wander off to attend various duties so it was left for Thalia to keep him company. The female had practically moved in with him, placing various ornaments, medical equipment and basic utilities within the chamber. Although no-one would ever dare to say it, Thalia had become his unofficial nurse.

As such, Revan saw her almost all the time as she went about her duties. The Twi'lek seemed to have a knack for almost anything. She cooked, helped clean a myriad of clothing, played with her infant daughter and spent many hours tinkering with the beat-up droid and the other miscellaneous bits of machinery in the room. Sometimes she even let the infant fiddle around with the droid's head. The Jedi had a sneaking suspicion that the droid was responsible for his recuperation and seeing a child play with its processor did nothing to diminish Revan's concerns of being operated by it.

Surprisingly, the Rutian proved to be a very amiable host when not trying to coddle him, talking about everything and nothing. She regaled him with stories about different wonders and cultures in the galaxy. Subjects like the Amodeus Asteroid Cluster, the sandworms lurking under the desert plains of Tatooine, Wookie mating rituals…Thalia was a veritable encyclopedia of random information.

With her knowledge, Revan got the impression she had traveled far and wide, although Thalia never mentioned how she managed to move around so freely.

He had a few other visitors at that time he recuperated. Chiefly members from the mission asking about his health. Arctet mustered up the courage to show up and give him a pat and smile, thanking him for his help on the mission. Even Kynes came up once, although Revan only saw her observing him neutrally through the door slit. T'shere was the only person who didn't deign to show her face around.

One night, Revan asked Mysteel why Arctet and the rest of the soldiers seemed so indecently happy to see him. She laughed.

"Isn't it obvious? You helped us get rid of Victus! That bastard is dead and burned. You don't know how long we've been gunning for him. And everyone thinks you're a badass for taking his lackeys down."

"You're sister seems to think otherwise."

"Oh right. Well she's says she's mad because we lost our only lead back to the Cult."

Mysteel gave him a playful wink.

"Honestly though, she's just jealous because everyone thinks you did an awesome job. Don't worry she'll come around."

Thalia later confirmed his theory that the battered droid had been his surgeon. She explained when he was comatose, the rackety old heap of metal had done very complex and risky procedures on him, such as multiple defibrillations, resetting his broken bones, grafting synthetic skin onto his body and re-knitting ruined muscles.

At first, Revan was skeptical that such a broken piece of scrap metal could ever accomplish such complicated feats but Thalia alleviated those fears.

"Oh don't worry, that droid might look like he was cobbled up of spare parts from my child's toy box, but it's a very good surgeon. It was actually on active field duty for the Army a few decades ago."

"Decades?" echoed Revan doubtfully.

"Yes." Said Thalia, ignoring his tone. "Our friend's memory banks contains practically every surgical procedure documented for a humanoid species. It had such a high success rate that the soldiers started calling it the 'Flesh Smith'."

The macabre name hardly alleviated Revan's fears as Thalia continued talking.

"Let me assure you, is a very coveted asset within our little organization. I have no doubt that without its help, our casualty list would be a lot higher now."

It was these words that made Revan realize that this paltry group had utilized a great deal of their resources in order to save him from certain death. He immediately felt humbled knowing that.

"Thank you," he said suddenly. "For….for everything,"

Thalia smiled. "Don't thank me yet Revan because not done. We saved the most important operation for last."

"What do you mean?"

By way of answer, Thalia produced a jar from the table filled with amniotic fluid. The Jedi peered into it and his expression became surprised. Suspended within it was his missing eye.

Thalia smiled at his reaction. "Look familiar?"

"The droid can re-attach it?" asked Revan, daring to hope. He never thought he would see from the injured side of his face again.

"Oh yes. We needed to wait a few days for the optic nerves to regenerate in amniotic fluid, but it should be ready now. I should warn you though that the subroutine for this operation is particularly tricky and error prone."

At Revan's worried expression, Thalia gave him a reassuring smile.

"Oh don't worry. My little daughter and I have been refining the code to make sure there will be no mishaps. More her than me though."

Thalia finished with a chuckle. Revan couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

When the time came when the droid was ready to re-insert the eye, Thalia came up to Revan who was sitting on his bed-turned-makeshift surgical table. She was holding a needle.

"Okay. The droid will drill away the broken flakes of your eye socket and cut away the dead nerves, then stimulate the remaining ones. Once the retinal blood vessels begin pumping fluid, he'll take your eye and re-knit the optic nerves. If that works, we'll re-cement your bone cavities and apply synth-skin around the flesh, which will eventually bond to your facial structure. With me so far?"

When Revan nodded, Thalia gave him an appraising look. "Are you ready?"

"I am," said Revan, leaning back on the surgical table.

"Good. But first, I'll need to put you under," said Thalia, raising the needle.

The Jedi shook his head.

"No, I'll stay awake for this. I'm sick onto death with sleeping," he said.

Thalia was taken back. "There will be pain Revan."

"I'll scream,"

"An excruciating amount of pain,"

"I'll scream very loudly," replied the Jedi dryly. "Just keep my mind occupied."

Thalia stared at him for a long moment and shrugged. "Well, I suppose you have the choice. It won't be pleasant though."

The Twi'lek walked back to the tray of surgical equipment and took another needle. She opened the wrapping on the left ruin of his face and injected the contents. Revan immediately felt the entire section become numb. When Thalia was satisfied, she nodded to her side. The gunmetal machine clanked forward, his surgical arm poised over the Jedi's tender flesh. Slowly, the needle like appendages lowered and started filleting his skin with delicate movements.

The droid continued with his work for over an hour, eliciting a pained gasp here and there. Thalia distracted him from the worst of it by talking about her past. At one point, they got to discussing her childhood.

"You grew up on Ryloth I assume?" asked Revan between grunts, as the droid was drilling into his skull. Even with the anesthetic, he could feel the sharp metal piercing through flesh and bone.

"Oh yes. Have you ever been there Revan?" asked Thalia, as she dabbed at his face to keep the blood from soaking into his other eye.

"Not to my knowledge"

Thalia laughed. "a curious answer. If you've been there though you would remember it. It is a planet of contradictions and singular beauty."

"How so?"

"Ryloth's rotation is skewed. One side perpetually faces the sun while the other shies away. As a result, most of the planet is largely uninhabitable, marred by its extreme environments. A planet of rock, ice and desert. The only place one may find succour is where the Brightlands and Nightlands kiss. I myself lived in the underground city of Kala'uun. Near the Lonely Five mountain range."

Revan grunted in acknowledgement as the droid extracted pieces of bone fragments with delicate but precise movements and passed them to his aide. Thalia took the debris and tossed them onto a metal plate, talking all the while.

"Like many of the planets in the Outer Rim, Ryloth is largely lawless, but rife with organized crime. Many unsavoury activities such as slavery and prostitution are active coinage on my homeworld. As most races have discovered, female Twi'leks make good slaves."

Thalia said this nonchantly, as if it was simply a fact she had accepted. Revan remained silent while she talked, feeling tiny electrical impulses shuddering down his socket as the droid tried to stimulate damaged nerve regeneration through the hole it drilled.

"It is nowhere near as bad as this planet though. Darith has a rot I have not seen in all my travels throughout the galaxy. Every time I think of this place, I thank the Force Lucidae came to bring my salvation."

Revan shifted his head slightly, causing the droid to issue a static feedback error. "I've heard you mention that name. Who is he?"

Thalia gave him a puzzled look while tilting his head back.

"Lucidae, T'shere and Mysteel's mentor. A former Master of your Order."

"Never heard of him,"

She gave a soft laugh.

"My daughters kept you in the dark about their own Master? My."

Thalia handed the droid another needle.

"Lucidae was the one who saved you from certain death."

"I thought our friend here did that."

"He was part of it yes. But Lucidae provided the anchor to your mind, making sure your brain did not expire from trauma before our good friend here could mend your body. I suspect his healing abilities also accelerated your recovery."

Revan said nothing but inwardly he frowned as understanding came back to him. The Jedi thought back to his deathlike state, when he had dreamed the trial all over again. He had relived that scene many times but it was only in the most recent episode where he had sensed someone else' scrutiny. It seemed that Lucidae had intruded on his thoughts while their minds were joined.

How much did he see?

Thalia interrupted his thoughts.

"Haven't you wondered how my two daughters are so proficient in battle? Or how they acquired their lightsabers?"

"I tried to ask Mysteel about their Master, but her sister forbade it."

"Well your curiosity will be appeased. Lucidae wants to see you."

"When?"

"Soon enough. When you are feeling better."

Revan shrugged, as Thalia continued to assist the droid.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, Ryloth. I belonged to a large family. Like many of our kind though, I was born into poverty. My father was a mechanic who maintained a cluster of hydroponics bays within the city. It was an honest trade, but he earned a pittance. And with so many mouths to feed we had to resort to...alternate forms of employment."

Revan knew where this was going but chose not to comment. Thalia stopped dabbing his face long enough to hand the droid his eye.

"I had an uncle who was shall we say...less than reputable. He belonged to a major establishment of organized crime. A thieves guild if you will. As you know, thievery comes naturally to Twi'leks, even more so to females because we are so dexterous."

Thalia gave a slight sigh as the droid uncorked the jar and unceremoniously extracted the organ.

"Well, my father didn't like it, but when I was six years old, my uncle me inducted into their fraternity. "

Revan raised his eyebrows. Even by Twi'lek standards, recruiting someone at such young age for thieving seemed wrong. Thalia noticed his disapproval.

"I know what you're thinking Revan, and you're right. I was raised by many questionable individuals. But you must understand that we lived in desperate situations. On Ryloth, you do what you have to to survive."

"I understand," The Jedi could hardly judge her childhood based on his own. Or at least what he thought was his own. Thalia paused momentarily while the droid to re-inserted the orb with deft metal fingers. It went in with a squelching noise.

"How did this...guild function?" asked Revan between muffled gasps.

"Much like a business really. The rules were simple. Everything you stole, you kept while a weekly 'tithe' would be returned to the guild to ensure you performed your duties. In return, they provided equipment, shelter and connections. There was no formal hierarchy so to speak. Only specialties whereby a member would be fitted according to their strengths. "

"What sort of specialties?" asked Revan in interest, only partially aware that the droid was knitting his nerves back into place.

"Well there were the Collectors, who went about getting protection money. Enforcers were the muscle. Whisperers traded secrets. I started off as a Grifter."

"Grifter?" echoed Revan.

"Yes, a con artist," explained Thalia. "We specialized in deception. Petty theft, fixing games, scams…that sort of thing. One of our favourite scams was called 'Playing Sick', which was very effective against offworlders."

Revan saw her smile slightly.

"To pull the operation off, we needed two Grifters. One of us would dress as a filthy urchin, usually me. And I would use makeup to look dreadfully sick, painting myself a completely different color to avoid recognition."

Revan's expression became bemused. It seemed Mysteel probably had gotten her love of disguises from Thalia.

"We would find a relatively busy city block. And then I would pretend to faint in a suitably dramatic fashion. When everyone was gasping and making a commotion, the other Grifter would rush to my aid and cry something out."

Thalia started mimicking different accents.

"My word! This poor thing has the Rutian plague!"

"The…what?" .

"The plague! It only effects the children. It starts off as a cough first…".

The Twi'lek finished her demonstration with a laugh.

"My partner would go into gory detail about how the disease progresses, usually involving vomiting blood and the intestines rotting until the poor victim drowned in their own excrement. When he was finished and the crowd was suitably horrified, we didn't even have to ask for money. They'd be begging to help me."

Revan had an amused smile of his own by then. "Let me guess," he said. "The Grifter would tell them he'd take you to the hospital but needed money to cover the 'costs'."

Thalia chuckled. "Exactly. The more naïve they were, the higher the amount my partner asked for. More often than not, we walked away with enough credits to make any Grifter proud. But that was one of many lucrative scams. In my first years, I had collected more money than many members made in a decade."

"You must have been very good at deception then," noted Revan. He grunted as he felt a particularly sharp poke by the droid's metallic fingers as it sewed micro filaments into his skin,

"I was," said Thalia. "If circumstances were different, I fancied I could have become an actress."

Revan chuckled.

"I can't imagine you remained a small time crook for long," he said eventually. Someone of your skills must have garnered attention within the guild."

Thalia nodded.

"Oh yes. I dallied in different specialties for awhile, but when I was about sixteen, I was promoted to the rank of Haunter. It was considered to be a great privilege to be chosen for this role because it meant your skills were considered among the elite."

"You don't sound particularly proud of that," Revan noticed. Thalia seemed to be getting sadder as she recounted her experiences.

"I was. I'm just getting a little nostalgic, that's all," said Thalia quietly. She held down pieces of synthetic skin on his face while the droid stitched them into place with his mandible-like fingers.

"Don't get me wrong Revan. I knew what we did was highly illegal, but I couldn't deny there was a certain thrill to the chase. And even though it happened so long ago, I can still remember my time as a Haunter like it was yesterday,"

There was a momentarily silence as the Jedi processed this information, the only sound being the buzzing of the droid's arm.

"And what sort of activities did 'Haunters' engage in?" he asked eventually.

"The Haunters were kind of like the elite boogeymen in our fraternity. They dealt with more serious types of missions for the guild such as espionage, sabotage and assassinations.

At the mention of assassination, Revan's gaze became hard. Seeing his hostile expression, Thalia quickly added.

"Don't worry Revan. All of our targets were other black market competitors. Scumbags who would sell their own mothers to make quick credits. No innocent bystanders ever got entangled within our activities and I never shed a tear for anyone I killed."

Revan relaxed slightly, although he was still uncomfortable where the discussion was heading. Who knew such an innocent and kind looking women could have such a dark history?

We all have our secrets he mused.

"There was also something unique about the Haunter position. Whereas most of our competitors knew there were hordes of Grifters or Enforcers roaming the streets, they all thought the Haunter was only one person."

"And why is that?" Revan realized he had started to retain sensation in the left side of his head as the surgeon started test firing his neural synapses. He felt his left eyebrow twitch up and down although he still could not see anything from the orb.

Thalia gave him a coy look. "Do you want to guess?"

"You were never seen?"

"No, we were often reported on media outlets and many more bystanders had caught images of a Haunter. Guess again."

"Only one of you operated at a time?"

"Actually, there were times when whole teams of us would be deployed on the same mission."

She gave the Jedi a teasing look.

"Think Revan. How could so many of us be together but be mistaken for each other at the same time?"

Revan felt exasperated, not knowing what she was possibly insinuating. Then he noticed her eyes flicker to an object standing on one of her shelves. His eyes traveled to her line of sight.

A Mask.

It was an unremarkable thing really, black and featureless. The only distinguishable characteristic being the two ruby eyepieces set upon each socket. Seeing Revan's understanding, Thalia smiled.

"Ironic isn't it, that a simple tool can be so useful in deception? Many people wear masks for protection or to signify a particular allegiance such as the Mandalorians. But few use it for a more fundamental purpose. Concealment of your identity. It still surprises me that we managed to keep up the charade for so long"

"All because all of you wore the same mask?"

"That was part of it yes. We also dressed exactly the same way. Black mask, black boots and matching gloves. Our heights were roughly the same and our uniforms were tailored to make each person look androgynous. Even our skin was painted black to prevent anyone from distinguishing us by pigment. And even though we operated in groups, outsiders never saw us together in the field."

As Thalia spoke, she turned her head to her ornaments wistfully, no doubt recalling her glory days.

"It was a simple trick really but effective. Our anonymity aided us greatly in our missions, especially assassinations. When a target was too well protected to kill alone, a Haunter would deliberately trip an alarm, alerting the guards. Usually, our pursuers would report spotting a wraithlike figure on their comm. frequencies only to be cut off. Moments later, another group would report seeing the same occurrence only to be silenced shortly afterwards. Pretty soon ever guard would start ranting about a ghost or evil spirit haunting the corridors, appearing out of nowhere to kill them one by one. Sometimes our enemies were so scared of this phenomena, they would drop their guns and flee."

Revan's attention became rapt as the Twi'lek continued.

"I remember our exploits being talked in the underworld with hushed tones. Many gangs would whisper fearfully of a deathly spectre roaming the streets, sometimes in different places in one night. We would appear without warning to kill a target or pull off a heist. To our rivals, we were a weapon of terror, a tool to sow dissension. Sometimes, the mere threat of the Haunter's arrival would be enough to dissuade our competitors from certain activities. But when all was said and done, they all thought the Haunter was one unknown entity."

Thalia stopped her story as the droid announced the operation was complete. She leaned forward to examine the work.

"Hmmm, not bad. I don't see any residual scarring. Your face looks as handsome as it did before Victus used it for a punching bag."

Revan grunted in amusement before Thalia asked. "How does it feel? Can you see anything yet?"

"Only splotches," he admitted.

"That's normal. It will take some time for the new nerves to bind properly,"

Thalia wiped her hands with a damp cloth as the Jedi gingerly sat up. She gave him an appraising look.

"And now you know what I did with my youth. Not exactly grounds for a model citizen now was I?" she said with a smile.

"It sounds like an...interesting time in your life." he admitted. Thalia chuckled at his euphemism.

"My youth was quite carefree if truth be told, yes. There was danger in these activities, but I was quite in my element and never alone. They were...good times.

Revan heard the melancholy in the female's voice as she trailed away. She suddenly looked sad, or tired,

"But enough of that. I must be boring you with these cobweb stories. No one likes to hear an old codger prattle."

"I don't mind." Replied Revan honestly. He found Thalia's story about her thieving days to be quite educational actually. Who knew all it took was a mask, some dark clothing and resourcefulness to make everyone think numerous individuals were the same person?

Revan asked the question he had been wondering for awhile then.

"I was hoping you would tell me how you came to claim Mysteel and T'shere as your children,"

Thalia favoured him with a smile. "You are kind to indulge an old women's fancies Jedi. That is a story that I think you'd find quite interesting...but it is one for another time. One that should only be told in Lucidae's presence.

"Why?" Asked Revan.

"You'll understand when you meet him. Now, you must excuse me. I must find my little daughter and put her to bed. Mysteel has been letting her stay up all night in my absence, the naughty girl."

With one more smile, the Twi'lek turned and walked out of the room, leaving the Jedi to muse over everything she had said.