Vaala watched as Talon scrubbed her droid with careful diligence. The girl was making sure to go over every single crease and crevasse as she worked her way down the droid's body. It was immediately clear that nothing less than total perfection would be accepted. She couldn't help but wonder at that because what little she knew about the girl indicated that she considered this to be a type of reward. Granted, repairing a droid was something to be commended because they were very complicated pieces of equipment. The question was, how could she let Talon know that this wasn't something that she had to do?

"Talon, I would like you to know that getting R4 operational again is a very commendable thing, but you are not required to clean her like this." Vaala said firmly.

"Master Leia told us to take good care of these droids because female droids are rare and expensive." Talon explained.

"That's true Talon, Master Solo did say that, but she was talking about not letting them get stolen or sold for scrap… stuff like that. Treating these droids like royalty isn't something we have to do. I'm cleaning mine up because I'm proud to have a droid. As a street runner, I never had much of anything until I came here. Now… I've got friends I can really trust. I've even got friends that I'd call family! I've got clothes on my back, a roof over my head, schooling… and a future! I wouldn't have a lot of those things if I was still running the streets. Now? I've even got a droid!" Selar beamed.

"The future is looking better for a lot of us Selar! You'd probably be dead by now, and I…" Chargon paused to shudder hard. "I'd have been serving as a pleasure slave for a couple of years now. Master Ti got me out of that. Without her, I wouldn't be here. Without those monsters that were actually in a nightmare, Talon wouldn't be here either! I may not know who my biological family is because I saw my parents get killed… but I know who the family of my heart is! I've got a ton of aunts, uncles, and cousins. But my brothers and sisters… my siblings are my fellow members of Green Wing! That's why I try to look out for everyone… because I know it could have ended up a whole lot worse for me. The Jedi are my family now, and that's all there is to it." She added in a resolute tone.

"What's a family?" Talon asked curiously.

At the instant Talon asked that seemingly innocent question, several of Talon's teammates dropped their cleaning rags as everyone turned and gaped at the girl. Some gaped in shock, while for others it was complete disbelief. Then there were those for whom the implications of that question revealed a new level of horror. Crystal, Chargon, and Pleena all stared at Talon aghast.

"What do you mean 'what's a family?'; you mean you don't know what a mother or father is?" Crystal demanded.

"Master Leia told me that a father is usually, but not always a male progenitor that helps guide, teach, and protect the young. In some cases the male only provides the necessary genes. She also said that I would learn more about that in regular classes." Talon answered nervously.

"I'm sorry Talon. Master Solo told me that you don't know what a friend is because you never had one… now I find out that you don't even know what family is! That has to be one of the meanest things I ever heard of." Pleena said softly as she shook her head in dejection.

There was a saddened and very pained expression on Chargon's face as she dropped the cloth she'd been using to clean Bouncer and walked over to Talon. The young red headed girl placed a hand on each of Talon's shoulders and looked her right in the eyes for a silent moment before she spoke.

"Talon… I don't know who your family is and I don't care either! You're part of Green Wing now and that means we're sisters. You don't know what that means yet, but you will. You and I might be friends and we might not, but as far as I'm concerned you will always be my sister! I want you to remember that. Everyone here is part of my family and that includes you. I don't know how, but somehow we'll even teach you about friends and the other good things in life that the Sith never showed you." Chargon said sincerely before she embraced the girl in front of her in a tight, heartfelt hug.

Talon was able to sense several emotions from the girl who was hugging her. The hug itself was like what she sometimes received from Master Leia in that it was strangely comforting. Those emotions she sensed were something different. She knew what sorrow was and Master Leia had shown her what friendship felt like, but the one that was beginning to form in Chargon was like the one that Master Leia and Master Han shared between them. She had no idea what that emotion was called though.

'Master Leia what is Chargon feeling about me?' Talon asked through her Force Bond with her Master while sending a sample of the unknown emotion through that Bond.

"That feeling is called love Talon. It's an emotion that is very powerful. In fact, some will tell you that it is even more powerful than anger or hate. I know of a few occasions where love proved to be stronger than either one and even both combined. I have even seen how love can make one turn away from the Darkside." Leia said as she walked up to the group.

Vaala looked over at the approaching Jedi Master who had a speculative expression on her face. She saw Leia Solo glance at the doors leading outside and nod to herself. She was somewhat concerned that there was no animosity shown by either the Jedi Master or even Talon for having placed the girl outside and therefore in a state of mortal terror. As she looked at the two of them, Vaala couldn't help but remember those terrified pleas afterwards along with the sheer desperation contained in them.

"What exactly are these 'guardians' that Talon was referring to the other day?" Vaala asked curiously after thinking about that encounter.

"That's… that's what she calls the Tarentatek. She fought those monsters before and that awful nightmare everyone had proves it because that was only a memory for her. That was just part of what she had to do to get away from Korriban." Pleena said with a shudder as she remembered the details of that horrendous nightmare.

"Am I to understand that she would rather fight Tarentatek than go outside again?" Vaala demanded aghast.

"Yeah, and I don't think she was joking either." Pleena said sourly.

"Jokes get you killed." Talon said distractedly because she was paying more attention to the droid that she'd been cleaning than she was to the conversation going on around her.

"Ha! Not here they don't!" Krenn said with a snicker. "If they did I'd have been killed a long time ago!"

"Yeah! Especially with that stunt you pulled with the caf machine. None of the adults were happy about that." Crystal exclaimed disgustedly.

"Seeing the look on Master Hamner's face when his caf tasted like poodoo was well worth the trouble I got in for that." Krenn said with a malicious laugh.

Vaala turned to face the young Nautolan with an angry glare. "You are the one responsible for that?" She demanded in outrage.

"That was all me. I didn't even need any help to pull that off either!" Krenn stated smugly.

"You should be very glad that I am not the one who was selected to choose your punishment because I would have made you scrub the entire Temple inside and out four times!" Vaala snapped irritably.

"Krenn made a lot of people mad when he did that." Karlaani said smoothly.

"Yes he did. Han was one them. He thought that whoever was responsible should have been given to the Hutts." Leia said candidly.

"That's not funny!" Chargon snarled hotly.

"Chargon, when you consider that one of those Hutts placed a very high bounty on him and kept him as a 'favorite' decoration while he was frozen in carbonite and turned me into his slave, you'll understand that my husband wasn't even trying to be funny at all." Leia returned seriously.

"I don't care if he did mean it! No one deserves to go though that!" Chargon snapped in mounting anger.

Talon saw that Chargon still had that right arm around her shoulders in part of a hug. She was now having a very hard time understanding what was happening. She could feel Chargon's anger at Master Leia and she didn't want them to fight because then one of them would be killed and she didn't want that. She knew from her Bond that Master Leia wasn't angry, but she was serious about this.

Leia could easily feel the strong levels of alarm and concern that her Apprentice was feeling because of their Bond. She also knew that Talon was not only becoming very apprehensive about this situation, but she was also frightened by it.

"That's what I told him. I said that because you're right Chargon. No one deserves to be a slave! I'll grant you that I was only kept on a chain while in very skimpy attire for less than a day, but that is not an experience that anyone should be forced to endure, so I agree with you. That's when he changed his suggestion to feeding them to a sarlacc." Leia said sternly.

"As long as it has nothing to do with slavery, I don't care what it is!" Chargon muttered sourly before giving Talon a light squeeze and returning to clean Bouncer.

As Chargon walked away from her, Talon took as deep a breath as she could. The heat of the surrounding air was such that she still couldn't understand how everyone could even tolerate it, but they seemed to actually prefer that level of heat! Looking at Chargon's back as the girl walked away, she was very relieved that a fight hadn't occurred.

Vaala could see the relief on Talon's face. She really couldn't understand why Talon would have been concerned in the first place because both Chargon and Leia Solo were Jedi. Jedi discussed their problems and talked things over until an agreeable solution was found. She knew that Talon had been raised by Sith and trained by them as well, but until now she had very little by which to assess the girl. Now though, she could see for herself that Talon's past contained undisciplined violence.

BREAK

Talon followed Pleena into the room that Chargon shared with Teilaan, Karlaani, and Deilaani. Even though there were now six girls and their droids with them, the room still wasn't actually crowded. Pleena knew that this room was much larger than the one she shared with her roommates; just as she knew that her room was much larger than Talon's. She understood the reason why that was though. Talon had a small room because she didn't have any roommates. Even though she was younger than Talon, she had a larger room because she had two roommates. Chargon was older and had three roommates, so her room was a lot bigger. It made sense that older girls got bigger rooms than the younger ones did, because they were bigger and needed more space.

"Okay, since you two are the guests here, take those two chairs. My sister and I can sit on a bed." Karlaani instructed happily. It wasn't often that she had guests in the room since males weren't allowed to be in a room shared by multiple females.

"I'm still curious about how dark Talon's room really is." Deilaani intoned as she got on her bed and sat with her legs crossed.

Pleena looked around nervously for a moment before she began to relax. "Well… if you close the shutters and deactivate the lights in here it still won't be as dark as Talon's room because of the lights from the droids."

"So you'd still be able to see?" Chargon asked in concerned surprise. She remembered the young Nautolan saying that she was afraid of not being able to see.

"Yeah, I'll be able to see just fine… and so will Talon." Pleena answered readily. "You won't be able to see though!"

Chargon looked at the different droids with a frown as she considered what she saw. "The only lights they have are from their photoreceptors… you mean you can see with just that?"

Pleena nodded her head seriously. "Yeah, and Talon doesn't even need that much light."

"Karlaani… close the shutters, while I turn off the lights." Chargon said as she went over to the control panel.

As soon as the shutters were closed, Chargon deactivated the lights and the room went dark. The only thing Chargon was able to see were the photoreceptors of the droids.

"Wow… this is really dark!" Deilaani said softly.

"No it isn't… Talon's room is a lot darker than this." Pleena said with a giggle. "I could even start pulling hair and tails without anybody knowing who did it if Talon and the droids weren't here."

"You better not pull my lekku!" Deilaani stated angrily.

"I wouldn't do something like that." Pleena admitted easily.

"Krenn would though." Chargon allowed.

"Yeah… remind me to never be in a dark room with him." Karlaani grumbled.

"If he'll pull on headtails then I don't wanna be in a dark room with him either! That hurts!" Pleena said sourly.

"Krenn would just think it's funny, but I don't think the victims would." Teilaan muttered.

"He'd be the only one to think it's funny." Chargon replied. "Bouncer? Can you see Talon's eyes from where you are?"

"Yes, I can see her eyes clearly. Why?" Bouncer answered.

"Are her pupils dilated or anything?" Chargon asked.

"No. Her eyes look like they always do. There's that yellow glow they always have, but there's nothing different about them. Why?" Pleena piped up.

"That means she's used to this kind of light level then. If it was too dark for her then her pupils would be larger than normal." Chargon said as she answered Pleena. "Talon… can you see okay?" She asked turned towards the girl.

"I can see just fine." Talon replied with a nod of her head.

"Wait! If Talon can still see, even when Pleena can't, then she has to be using the Force somehow because humans can't see as well as a Nautolan." Teilaan said softly. "The droids can see because they're built that way; Pleena can see because she's a Nautolan, but we can't, and Talon shouldn't be able to either." She added with a frown.

"You've got a point." Chargon admitted. "Talon what exactly do you see?"

"There's no colors because there isn't enough light, but I can still see everything." Talon answered.

"So you just see black, white, and shades of grey?" Deilaani asked intently.

"Yes." Talon answered simply.

"Then somehow Talon is using the Force to see. That's just something else she can teach us." Chargon said with a shake of her head as she reactivated the lights.

"May I inquire as to everything you have found that Talon can teach you?" Bouncer asked.

"Saber skills, piloting, telekinetics, and now this. Being able to see in total darkness would be an advantage in some places." Karlaani answered with a shrug.

[Talon is currently under medical restrictions and she is not to engage in combat, sparring, or practice until those restrictions are removed. I have seen younglings injured and killed because they were not properly prepared for combat, and I will not allow my Mistress to be jeopardized in such a way! Any instructions concerning a lightsaber will have to be verbal only until she is given medical clearance.] Arfour whistled firmly.

Bouncer looked over at Talon and examined the brace on the girl's left leg. "I would agree with that assessment, R4-P17. Your Mistress does not appear to be at full operational status. Otherwise she would not be equipped with an external support on her left leg."

All of the girl's except Talon looked at their datapads to find out what had been said, and they nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, right now we'll only work on the piloting and telekinetics. Talon is a lot better at that then we are." Chargon said in admiration.

"Then there's that jump she did to get over to Kaldin!" Pleena exclaimed. "How did you do that Talon?"

"To perform a Force leap, you have to strengthen your muscles with the Force and use telekinetics to give yourself an added boost." Talon answered readily.

"So until we master telekinetics we won't be able to do something like that." Karlaani muttered sourly.

"True, but she'll still be able to teach us once we are ready." Chargon grinned.

Arfour swiveled her dome around to focus on the red skinned Twi'lek female named Karlaani. [You stated that Mistress Talon is able to instruct you in piloting. Is there a reason that you believe her to be skilled enough to instruct you?] The droid asked in a warble of whistles and beeps.

When the girls looked at the translation, Deilaani elbowed her twin sister lightly in the ribs. "She's asking you."

"Yeah! There's good reason! Yesterday morning, Talon flew like a Jedi Master against a simulated TIE fighter, before she made a suicide run on the bridge of a simulated ISD. Thirty students against two hundred and fifty Tie fighters and ISD? We were out gunned, out maneuvered, and really out numbered! Talon's crash disabled the ISD and that made most of the TIEs run off, so we were able to get most of them." Karlaani answered proudly.

[If there is a recording or log of that simulation, I would like to see it. It is possible that other stratagems could have been employed to achieve a victory.] Arfour beeped interestedly.

"Oh there's a recording alright! We can go to the lounge if you want, so you can see it." Chargon answered after looking at the translation on her datapad.

Arfour tweeted her affirmative response and after learning what had been said, all six girls and their droids were heading to the lounge.

As the group was leaving the room, Chargon saw Selar being followed by the Destroyer droid he'd chosen.

"Selar! Arfour is going to look at the simulation run, she thinks there might be other things that could have been done to win!" Chargon called out.

"Really? That sounds like something I'd want to hear. Where you headed?" Selar replied with a grin.

"We're going to the lounge to take a look at that recording so Arfour can see it too." Chargon answered.

The swarthy teen nodded his head quickly. "I'll have the rest of the Wing meet us there. I'll join you in a few minutes." Selar said seriously.