O SONS AND DAUGHTERS

King Dendup couldn't believe his luck when Lux and Dalla asked him to babysit Ros. He rarely had the chance to spend time with his great-granddaughter who spent most of the year up north with her parents. Every second with her was a gift, especially when her parents weren't around to object over how many sweets he gave her or how long he let her stay up.

Ros grinned with fruit juice stained teeth and held up a foam ball. "Grandpa play?"

"Yes, Grandpa will play." He took the ball from Ros and gently tossed it to her. He couldn't help but smile when she caught it like a hug.

Ros tossed the ball to him (or more like his general direction) but before he could catch it Truman ran between them with a war whoop and knocked the ball off into the gardens.

"Truman, play nicely," Dendup scolded. "You can join our game if you like but you can't ruin other people's fun."

Ros put her hands on her hips, more irritated at the game being interrupted than anything. "Tuie get ball!"

Truman ran off to get the ball, and hurled it back to Ros with five-year-old ignorance that the toddler couldn't catch something that fast. It hit her smack in the face.

The little boy froze. "Is she okay?"

Dendup knew he shouldn't make a fuss if he wanted to avoid tears. "Oh, she's fine."

The tears budding in Ros's eyes signaled that she didn't believe him.

"Here, sweetheart," He grabbed her hand and guided her to the nearest flowerbed. "Let's look at flowers together. Do you know which flower this is?"

Ros sniffed and wiped her eyes so she could see better. "Rosy?"

"You're right, it's a rose! And this one is one of your Mommy's flowers. Can you say nightshade?"

"Mommy!" Ros dropped his hand and darted toward the garden entrance. Dendup was about to call a guard to chase after her, a little too slow to do it himself, when he saw the couple of couples in the doorway.

"Hello, your Highness," Talia called a little too brightly. "We tried to comm ahead but no one answered. Thank you for watching them. I hope they weren't any trouble."

"No, no. It was my get along wonderfully. Makes me wonder when you might start the betrothal negotiations."

"Ha." Ephraim commenced roughhousing with his son. "Have you been talking to my mother?"

"He certainly hasn't been talking to my father." Talia sighed.

Lux and Dalla were curiously quiet.

"How did the meetings go?" Dendup asked but then turned back to the Harkons. "And where are your twins?"

"We left the girls with Kason and Rayala. They were just matched with a little boy and they're preparing to bring him home. Ephraim and I figured they could use all the help they could get."

Dendup nearly squealed from excitement. "How wonderful! Tell them they're welcome at the palace any time. I can't wait to see their little one." Strangely not everyone present seemed to be in a celebratory mood. Lux's face was a hue of red only achieved when he was boiling mad, and Dalla…

"Dalla," He came closer, filled with dread. "What happened to your neck?"

"Saw happened!" Lux burst out as whatever he had been using to hold himself together came unglued. "I should have thrown him off the planet the second we knew he was in orbit. Dalla told him Soniee was alive and that she was Ros's godmother - and he choked her! He's insane!"

Dendup had other priorities. "Say something so I know your throat isn't crushed."

"It's not," Dalla took a deep breath to prove that point. "I can breathe."

Thank the gods. "Alright dear, we're going to the medcenter right away. Talia, if you can watch the babies-."

"Yes, the medcenter!" Clearly Lux and Dalla had gone over this the way here the way he jumped on the topic. "I said she needed to make sure she was okay but -."

"You know I can't!" Dalla snapped. "What am I going to say, 'Saw Gerrera the wanted fugitive strangled me when we tried to help his people at the refugee center?' No, everyone's going to think you did it, and I'm not going to have you blamed for that bastard's actions."

As much as he hated it Dendup saw her point, as well as Lux's. If Saw so much breathed Onderonian atmosphere again Dendup would reintroduce him to the palace dungeons and all they contained. "At least let me bring you a medical droid. Strangulation injuries can be dangerous after the fact."

Dalla nodded agreement and Dendup led them all away with an arm around her shoulders.

"Lux, my boy? Tell me how the meetings deteriorated so much that Gerrera attacked your wife."

...

A few hours later Lux's secure comm line rang. Only one person ever commed him that way so he knew it had to be Soniee.

Dalla heard the chime from where she was playing blocks with Ros. "Of all the times to check in on her godchild." She scooped up the toddler and made her way over to the unit.

"She's always had very good timing." Lux switched on the unit.

As soon as Soniee's holographic image materialized she asked "Has something happened with Saw?"

Lux hadn't expected her to be quite so spot on but with the force anything was possible. "How did you know? Did you use your force powers to know we were in distress?"

"No!" Soniee shook her head. "Is something wrong? I just had a tip that Saw was back on Onderon and I wanted to see if it was true and if he made contact with you while he was there."

"Oh, he made contact alright."

"What do you mean?"

Before either adult could answer, Ros pulled away from her mother to get a better look at the holoprojector and exposed the bruises on Dalla's neck.

Soniee gasped. "Dalla...Manda!"

"I'm fine," Dalla assured her. "We're all fine."

"What happened? Who did that to you?" Soniee feared she already knew the answer.

"Saw lost it when I told him you were Ros's godmother. He thought we were selling you out to the Empire so that you wouldn't use your powers to help him."

Like Soniee ever would. The things Saw Gerrera was doing were things she'd never attach her involvement to. "And he choked you over it?"

"It was only for a second," Dalla assured her. "Lux protected me. And the med droid says I'm completely fine."

"I wish I couldn't believe it." Soniee closed her eyes. "He's gone down a dark path."

"He's a monster." Lux spat. "There's no stopping him now."

"There's been no stopping him for a long time."

"Well it's over," Dalla sighed. "He's left the planet and I doubt he'll ever come back."

They stood in silence for a while until Soniee's vexation melted into a knowing smile: "So...is there anything else you'd like to tell me about?"

"How do you know?" Dalla laughed. "We just found out this morning."

"The force, no doubt." Lux teased.

"Congratulations, both of you." Soniee turned her attention to Ros. "Did you hear that, Ros? Did your parents tell you you're going to be a big sister?"

"No!" Ros shook her head while both her parents laughed.

"We'll try again after her nap," Lux suggested. "She might be more receptive to the idea then."

...

When Shara first heard the comm chime she assumed the worst. With Saw Gerrera and Lux Bonteri both in Iziz at the same time, anything was possible. She had been given the vague summation of the events, how the meetings had started well and then Saw and his partisans had shown up with a load of refugees they had rescued from a slavery ring. She wondered how her daughter-in-law was handling all this. Sweet Rayala had lived through that once. Shara couldn't imagine what sort of memories that must dredge up.

The look on her eldest son's face when she activated the comm, however was anything but distressed. He looked… elated. "Momma! Is Dad around? And the others? Emoth and Kay? Lana? The boys?"

She didn't know what to think. "Well, it's late. I was just finishing up the dishes. They might be in bed."

"Oh I'm sorry. I hadn't even checked the chrono. Can you get them? Ray and I have something we need to show you!"

"Alright I'll get them." She hurried out of the comm room and down the hall. "Jay, get all the kids! Kase and Ray want to show us something!"

It took some doing to gather the whole Blackwell clan. Well most of them. Cornel was back at Harkon hall studying to be a shipwright. Thias and Cybelle hadn't returned from their latest voyage. Cade and Kora were at the Keep visiting. But Marlon plus the rest of Jamos and Shara's crew including Jak and Suza who had woken up with all the commotion were eventually all circling the comm table.

Kason looked around at them all smiling.

"Come on, Kase." Emoth complained. "What's it all about? You woke up my kids for this."

"It's worth it. I promise." He beaconed to someone outside the field of vision and his wife joined him carrying a bundle of blankets in her arms. "Ray and I would like to introduce you to our son, Ryon Blackwell."

Rayala pulled back a corner of the blanket and held the baby up toward the holo recorder so they could all see him better.

The exclamations of joy and congratulations and questions came at the new parents like a tidal wave and they attempted to keep up.

"Is he a Twi'lek?"

"Aye, his birth mother was one of the refugees here at the mission. She couldn't care for him but she wanted him to have a loving family."

"Well, he couldn't ask for a more loving family than the two of you for parents."

"Oh! I can't wait to hold him!"

"Look, Suza you've got a new little cousin."

"The birth mother asked us to be there when he was born. We got to hold him almost right after."

"No one deserves it more."

"He's green."

"That's right, Jak. Isn't he a handsome shade of green."

"Can Momma paint me green like baby Ryon?"

"That would make him feel welcome, wouldn't it?"

Laughter and tears abounded on both sides of the comm connection.

"Have you commed your sister yet?"

Rayala shook her head. "We're going to comm her next."

"And when are you coming home to introduce him to us properly? Surely you'll want to be here for salt and light so he can be baptized?"

"Salt gods! I'd completely forgotten! Aye, of course. We'll see if we can catch a planet hopper up. Are Lux and Dalla going up after the meeting?" Kason asked his wife.

"I'm sure they are." Rayala couldn't remember with all the excitement. "And they'll want to share their news as well." Her eyes opened wide and her free hand covered her mouth.

"What news is this?" Marlon asked.

"Dalla hasn't commed you yet about how the meeting went?" Kason hedged.

"They have news about the meeting? New developments with Lux?"

"I guess you could say that." Kason couldn't hide a grin.

Rayala elbowed her husband. "We shouldn't have said anything. We should have let them tell you."

"She's going to have another baby?" Kayla guessed excitedly.

…

"Has anyone seen Maia?" Talia Harkon asked for the umpteenth time only to get head-shakes and shrugs from the refugees.

Ephraim came down the other side of the hall and shook his head. Apparently he hadn't found their daughter either.

"Maia!" They each yelled and split up to look again.

Lux tore apart the pantry while Dalla worked on every kitchen cupboard big enough for Maia to fit in.

"Maybe she left the center?" Rayala suggested, joining the search with Ryon in her arms. "She might have wanted to go to Malagan Market, or out to a bakery or tapcaf?"

"That doesn't sound like Maia," Lux cleared the pantry. "Are Ephraim and Talia having any luck?"

"I think they've combed the center three times and come up empty," Dalla moved on to the next cupboard. "Did she maybe go into the catacombs? She was curious about the part that caved in."

"Gods, I hope not. That's still not stable."

Ephraim crashed through the kitchen door. "Did you find her?"

"Not yet, Ephraim." Dalla shut the cupboard door. "Where else haven't we looked?"

"Where else could she be? We've turned the entire place inside out!" Talia entered the kitchen just then, white with panic.

"She's clearly not in the refugee center. We've got to start looking somewhere else." Rayala took charge. "Where else in the city might she have gone?"

"I don't know," Talia wrung her hands. "We've been so busy with the meetings and the refugees we haven't had time to take the kids anywhere."

"We took the girls to the orchard the first day you arrived. It didn't seem like she'd want to go back there and Kase and I were at the house setting up the nursery. We know she wasn't there," Rayala added. "Who else can we ask?"

Ephraim and Talia figured it out at the same time and bolted toward the room their family was staying in, leaving everyone else in the dust.

Fiona looked up from her holobook when they blasted in and removed the headphones from her ears. "Momma? Papa?"

"Fiona!" Ephraim gasped. "Fiona, where's your sister?"

"She isn't back yet?" Fiona's brow wrinkled in confusion. "She said she was going to see Jyn."

Talia froze. "She went to see Jyn on Saw's ship?"

"Aye. She said she was just going for a while -."

"Kason!" Ephraim bellowed. "Get Gerrera on the comm, now!"

…

"If that man doesn't pick up his comm, I'm going to end him."

"Get in line, Bonteri."

"Of course you get first dibs. He took your kid. But he choked my pregnant wife. Let me get in a lick or two."

"As long as I get to finish it."

"If you two keep carrying on like that we won't get anywhere," Talia snapped. "Comm him already and let's get our baby back!"

"He just has to pick up, Talia." Ephraim took her hand. "We've got this."

A staticky image of Saw Gerrera materialized above the projector. "What do you all want now?"

Talia struggled to remain calm. "Saw, I think my daughter Maia stowed away on your ship. We need you to look for her."

"No need. She didn't stow away; she joined up."

"She what?" Ephraim sputtered.

"She decided to actually do something about the Empire," Saw answered. "She's a good kid, braver than most of the people on this comm."

"Aye, she is and we love her very much. How soon can you bring her back?"

"Bring her back?"

"Aye Saw, bring her back." Ephraim's voice took on a dangerous edge at the end.

Saw scoffed. "Yeah, not happening."

"You are," Ephraim commanded. "Maia is a child, and we're her parents. She stays with us."

"I don't have enough people to turn away volunteers." Here Saw crossed his arms. "And besides, Maia joined up, so as far as I'm concerned she's with us now. I don't throw my people to whatever they left back home."

"There's nothing to throw her to!" Talia shouted. "You're going to return her to her home up north and her family who loves her."

"Actually, I think it'll be good for her to be away from Harkon Hall and all the lords and ladies. Something happens to kids raised like that. They start out good but then they slowly...sell...out." He turned from Ephraim and Talia to the couple standing where they thought they were out of the holofield.

Looks like they'd misjudged their distance. "Saw," Dalla hazarded speaking to the man. "If this is about our argument, then that's between the two of us. You have no right to take it out on the Harkons."

"This isn't about you. This is about making sure a little girl grows up knowing who the enemy is, not marrying him and having his baby."

There was no use arguing with him. "Bring Maia home. She's too young to be in the middle of a war."

"Jyn's doing just fine. Maia will too."

"You want to send my baby into a war?!" Talia roared. "No! She's just barely become a midshipman; she's not old enough to fight! Send her home!" She turned bright red and towered over Saw's miniature projection: "Send my baby home or I swear to every one of the salt gods I will hunt you down and gut you like a fish!"

Before Saw could say anything Talia took a wild swing at the table and swept the comlink off. The device flew across the room and hit the wall, the projection unit shattering into a million pieces.

Talia stared at it in shock. "Oh my gods, I broke it."

Ephraim reached out to her. "Talia…"

"I broke it!" Talia gasped. "I killed the comm, and now he's not going to pick up any more from us because he knows we know! He's not going to bring her back. We don't know where he is and he's not going to bring our baby back!"

She collapsed into her husband's arms, sobbing. Ephraim held her, just barely holding together himself.

…

Saw stood with his arms crossed over his chest watching as his new recruits and seasoned veterans unloaded supplies to the helpless victims on another planet ravaged by the Empire. He was doing some real good in the galaxy. He was making a difference. There was food in those crates for the starving, medical supplies, and clothing, but there were also weapons so the formerly helpless could fight back.

Dahna, of course, was not required to carry crates. She had a datapad and was marking off the list of supplies as they were unloaded. She was doing her part but he'd made sure she had a place to sit with her feet up while she recovered from the delivery of her child. The child she had given to Kason Blackwell, the boy who had once been jealous of him for dancing with Sanya.

Sanya was alive, reunited with the husband who had once written her off as dead to him, godmother of his sworn enemies' child. Saw shook his head to clear it of the memories. He had to stay in the here and now or he would go crazy.

Jyn was learning her place. She and the Harkon girl were carrying a crate between them. They were both going to be alright.

And then his comm unit chimed.

"You think it's the girl's parents again?" Zal asked as he passed by down the ship's gangway, easily shouldering a heavy crate in each arm.

Saw looked at the ID. "No. It's Enfys. She might have something for us!"

"Not the coaxium?" the Lasat whispered in disbelief. "Didn't she nearly blow up her entire gang of Cloud-Riders the last time she went for a score?"

"Won't know till I go to check it out." Saw shook his head. "Says she wants me to come alone."

"But you'll let me come?" Jyn had joined them and was staring up at her guardian expectantly.

A few steps behind her stood the Harkon girl looking frightened that she was about to be left all alone on a strange planet.

"Sure kid," Saw told his ward. "Get on board and buckle up." He hardly acknowledged Maia who's eyes suddenly threatened to brim over with tears.

Zal pulled Saw aside. "What about the other one?"

"Keep an eye on her. This'll be a good test to see if she's really ready for this."

"And if she's not?" the Lasat asked.

Saw considered. "Then we'll see if we can find Ohnaka to fly her home. I'm not going back there."

The shuttle took off and Maia was at least glad that she wasn't the only Partisan who had been left to distribute the goods they had just offloaded.

Zal smiled at her in his big gruff but comforting way. "Let's go see what good we can do for these folks. What do you say?"

She nodded even as she wiped at her eyes with her sleeves.

There was a local boy who was going through one of the crates of clothing. He appeared to be only a little older than she was but thin like the rest of the people here as if he'd been starving before help arrived. He looked up at Maia as she approached but an expression of concern replaced his ready smile.

"Are you alright?" He must have noticed she'd been crying.

"I'm fine."

"I thought you all were supposed to be helping us." He nudged her obviously hoping to cheer her up.

Maia nodded, "Aye. That's why we came."

"I'm Staven." He held out a hand for her to shake.

"Maia." she replied.

He went back to rummaging through the crate with occasional smiling glances in her direction. After awhile he found a pair of synthskin gloves and held them out to her. "I don't think these are going to fit any of our people, but they look like they might be about the right size for you."

Maia took them and smiled warmly. "Thank you."

Zal looked on with a smile of his own. Yeah, she was gonna be okay.