Good grief: my catchphrase of the week. It's been fun trying to do History Revision in the form of rewritten Christmas songs. And I quote, "So here it is, propaganda! And the Fuhrer's having fun… Repetition convinced us and, Now the Nazis are number 1!"­­- Become a Nazi Everybody (Merry Christmas Everybody). Ain't it great?

Chapter XLIV.

Space was cold. They'd been travelling for several hours now, and the novelty of being out of the base had fast worn off. Lumara was curled up in a seat in the corner, reading through a datacard on Nabooan history. She had no particular love for history, normally, but she was finding reading about these events- especially when she knew the key participants –more interesting than usual, and it kept the masters happy. They had long ago slipped into hyperspace, and Justo was sitting in the cabin too, also meant to be reading up on something, but he didn't seem very focused. The masters were talking on the other side, and their Padawans had long ago tuned out of the discussion.

The afternoon wore on and Lumara went through another datacard, by this stage only picking and choosing the parts she wanted. Master Finah fell into meditation, Justo and Knight Onih went to spar, and a sleepy air overtook the cabin. As early as was appropriate, Lumara got up, stretching her legs and announcing she'd have a go at making dinner. Master Finah had nodded absently, eyes still closed.

She pulled out a few packets of food, deciding to leave the really easy rations for when they were out in the jungle, and instead cooking up some pasta and meat with a few vegetables. She was just tipping the meat into the pan when Justo came in, following his nose. "It smells nice." His tone was a little cold, if civil.

"I hope it is," was her quiet reply. She started to stir it up, "You could chop up those vegetables if you liked."

Justo nodded, moving to slice them up slowly and carefully to her right.

Finally Lumara sighed into the silence, "You're angry."

"Yes," he replied bluntly.

She took the board of vegetables off him and scraped it into the pan, "It's not exactly a big deal, but I knew you'd overreact. That's why I didn't tell you in the first place."

She felt him grit his teeth together, "I'm barely reacting at all at the minute. You were sitting making the sabers with him every day for months!" His tone heated up, "After what happened I'd think you'd have the sense to-"

"Justo!" she hissed sharply, sending him a stinging warning glance. "Do you want the masters to hear? Calm down," she sighed, "please." She turned back to the pan, speaking quietly as she stirred, "I don't want them asking questions, and neither should you. It was a weak excuse and pure luck that got us out of your last mess." Lumara coloured a little, "Our mess."

"Yes, our mess. And a fine mess it was too." He growled under his breath, and Lumara winced. He took a deep breath, the words coming carefully slowly, "Can't you see why I'm angry? Don't you think I have the right to be just a little bit upset with you here? After he- he did that, you spend an unthinkable amount of time with him, and you purposely keep it from me." He seemed barely contained.

"Yes, I know. When you put it like that, it's easy to see… but-" She searched for the right words; words to make this go away. "You know what happened was a silly mistake. It was something that… happened in the heat of the moment, and neither of us were thinking straight." Then the words she knew could close it came unbidden. "And… you're angry because I continued a working relationship with him. Yes, a friendship too." She left out the third part of the equation. "But… Do you think Master Finah is angry?"

"What?" he cut in.

She held up a hand at his interruption. Then, she continued, knowing what she was about to say and not able to stop herself. "We're friends, aren't we?" she demanded.

Justo nodded slowly, "Though I can't say I'm very happy with you right now."

She ignored his comment, "We made exactly the same mistake years ago," her voice was calm and level, a contradiction of the nausea churning within her, "and yet we recognised that it was a moment of childish silliness and poor judgement. We knew it was wrong and that nothing could come of it. We are friends and nothing more, and that has worked for a long time now." She just wished she hadn't put it that way. "Do you trust me to do the same here?"

Silence.

'Oh…' She felt sick.

"Yes." He finally answered. "Of course I do. I… didn't think of it that way." He stared at the floor for a moment, and when he met her gaze his face was calm, composed, and deeply repentant. "I let my dislike for him cloud my judgement. I shouldn't have allowed petty feelings to develop and fuel this. You're right. And I'm- I'm glad," he stumbled a little over the word, "that you were able to overcome what happened and continue your friendship with him."

"Thank you," she murmured, her voice tiny. "But don't be sorry. I- it was a natural reaction. It's all fine now, so don't dwell on it." She smiled, using her stock 'everything's ok, don't worry' expression. Lumara turned down to the pan and clucked her tongue in frustration, "Darn…"

Justo peered over her shoulder, argument forgotten already, "I thought I smelt something burning…"

Lumara ducked away as inconspicuously as she possibly could. 'Unwanted physical contact!' "Oh dear… Maybe I can rescue it?" She pulled the meat and vegetables off the heat hurriedly and set the pan on the bench, frantically stirring at it. "Oh, look, only that side's burned," she started to delicately lift the worst pieces of meat out and either throw them away if they were unsalvageable, or scrape the burnt side off. Luckily, not much was lost.

"Dinner is saved!" declared Justo, throwing his hands in the air triumphantly.

Lumara couldn't help but roll her eyes, "Get the pasta on, there. We're nearly done. That's… yeah. I'll just leave that off the heat and add the pasta and sauce in a minute. Hang on, watch that pasta and- Just checking, you do know how to cook pasta, don't you?" she raised an eyebrow witheringly.

"Yes," he exclaimed defensively. Then he paused, "You just boil it, right?"

"Yes, and make sure it doesn't boil over," she was halfway out the door.

A panicked expression overtook his face, "Boil over? What's that? It's bad, isn't it?"

She cut off his questions with a snigger and another roll of the eyes, "Calm down. It's just pasta. I'll be back before it's ready; I'm only going to the toilet for goodness' sake.

"Ah."

She did head for the 'fresher, but once inside just locked the door and leaned up against the wall, head in hands. She clamped down on the blanket over her emotions before she allowed the misery to even show on her face.

Another day, another crippling lie. It wasn't even just the normal deceptions either, but a particularly painful one. Her words had been engineered to make Justo back off; to make him want to talk about other things and leave the subject be. They were words that she'd knowingly spat out to sting him. '… it was a moment of childish silliness and poor judgement. We knew it was wrong and that nothing could come of it.' She could scarcely believe she'd actually brought that up and compared it to what was happening now. He was feeling guilty for doubting her right now, for imagining things he hadn't even dared say in the kitchen. Little did he know that a lot of them were true, and much, much more besides.

She hadn't had to bring it up. She could have said much less and still quenched his anger.

She fiercely bit back tears and clenched her fists by her sides. Every day, every day more lies. Despite her growing disillusions about the Order, and her ever-increasing distance from the others, she still cared about them all. Of course, even that was something she had to pretend wasn't there. She hated hiding such a large portion of her life from them, and deceiving them daily about it.

Lumara took a deep breath and cleared her head; her heart. When she opened her eyes they were still and impassive. She came back to the kitchen just in time to prevent another catastrophe with the dinner. "You'd think you've have had the sense to learn the most basic of survival skills," she had muttered.

"I can make toast," was the defensive reply.

The evening kicked off with another eye roll. The masters were impressed with dinner, Justo emphasising his role as much as possible. Master Finah had commented that if he was this talented in the kitchen- despite the slightly burnt parts –then he would have to be in charge of it for the rest of the mission. The Padawan quickly shut his mouth at that.

It was early to bed, early to rise when they landed in the morning. It would be mid morning on the planet, but before dawn according to the Jedi's body clocks. Lumara lay awake for a long while, unaccustomed to the early hour. After a time Knight Onih drifted off to sleep, but still her Padawan was awake. When she finally did fall asleep, her dreams were less than rosy.

&

Justo wasn't in a good mood in the morning, having gotten less sleep than he would have liked. He'd refused Knight Onih's offer of a hand in landing the ship, though, and had stubbornly nearly crashed into a tree. The other three had carefully remained silent when he had emerged from the cockpit ten minutes later, muttering about wind speed and unpredictable terrain.

Lumara had been first off the ship and into the clearing, rushing to taste the breeze after more than a day of recycled air. She was sorely disappointed if she'd been looking for a breath of cool, fresh air though, as it was sticky, humid and heavy outside. She came back in with her robes sticking to her slightly. "Just how tropical is this rainforest, again?"

"Warm out there?" inquired Justo with a smile.

"Warm isn't the word for it."

Knight Onih handed her a pack, "Well we'd better get used to it. Put your cloak in your pack, though; it could be useful."

Lumara nodded, shedding the thick garment and squeezing it into the recesses of the stuffed pack. She hefted it, wincing as she realised it would be a long climb with these on their backs.

"Are we all ready?" Master Finah started to tap at the ship's controls, locking it down and making ready to go.

In less than a minute they were assessing the thick, impenetrable wall of foliage. They could see where they needed to go, but not how to get there. The Jedi stood, lined out for a moment in front of the trees. Lumara ducked under a branch and they were off.

&

They'd managed two trips, and on the second trip they'd thought to bring small bags with them. They had almost a sack full of the beans, and after two days, they were still arguing over what to do with them.

Bella had taken Han and a girl of about seven out that morning to scout out the market for beans. Han thought it was phenomenal. They always stuck to the shadows while they went out, watching for unwary passers-by to pick the pockets of. No one saw them, and when they did, they were just a pack of street urchins; just keep a hold of your bag and a close eye on them.

Today they had strode boldly through the streets- well, they didn't creep, anyway –and Han had taken a good look around him- not that there was much to look at. Now he did look, he saw that Bella was right. The city was in a bad condition. Whole streets were empty, people evicted for lack of money to pay the rent. A skirmish between the Republic and the Separatists had occurred years ago on the planet, and had destroyed much of the planet's farmland. It was only now, now that they were relying solely on outside help, that the shortage was truly beginning to rear its ugly head.

The rich had been safe to begin with; they could still afford to pay for more than enough food. But the strain of importing food was taking its toll on the planets resources, and grants decreased, public funding decreased… Banks got in trouble, the cost of living went up and up… And a serious recession began. With people being made redundant, and spending what money they had on food and essentials, evictions were an everyday occurrence. Prices went up as the sellers struggled to make ends meet, people couldn't afford to even rent; the property market crashed.

Steadily, the planet began to descend into a spiral of recession and redundancy; industries and economies crashing to the ground like dominoes. No other planets wanted anything to do with them, and the future was bleak. Granted, the Empire was helping, and things would get better, but not anytime soon.

"Stay close," murmured Bella. She pointed out a flickering news screen that had fallen into disrepair. It was filled with footage that ranged from Imperials handing out rations, to Stormtroopers fighting off starving rioters with gas and stun batons. "I wish the Imps would just do their job. The last thing we need is more casualties. The working population in the city is small enough as it is."

The girl with them, Anna, was still slightly in awe of Bella, "How do you know so much?"

Bella shrugged, looking far older than her eleven years as she pulled them through a thronged street, "My father was a… business man. He taught me all this stuff when I was younger. I guess that's one thing he gave me before he left the world."

"I'm sorry," Han murmured, as he had been taught was appropriate to in such circumstances.

She snorted, "Don't be! I'm glad he's gone."

"Oh, ok…" he looked down, confused.

They approached a large building on the corner, stuffed with people. The three slipped through the mass of bodies and ducked under the blocks in place. They arrived within a less crowded, restricted area, lined with stormtroopers. Luckily, the Imperials paid bare attention to the children, and they crept unchallenged toward the marketplace.

Bella ducked through the lines of people, dragging the other two behind her, one on the end of each arm. They finally reached the head, and crouched near the front, listening while trying to not be taken notice of. The people jostled and shouted, elbowing each other viciously and taking advantage of any slip up of the others in the queue to shove forwards.

Tutting quietly to herself, Bella muttered, "Not going to get anything done like this… Stay here." She turned to stare hard at Han and Anna, "Stay here." She intoned slowly and clearly, "Don't move a muscle and I will be right back. If you move I won't be able to find you, so don't move. Ok?"

"Uh huh."

"Ok!"

"Good. I'll be back in just a second." She twisted through a gap in the crowd and was swallowed up by the violent mass of bodies.

The two younger children were left crouched against a wall, people bumping and falling into them frequently as they were forced from the panicked lines of people by sheer brute force. "When's she coming back?" Han asked Anna quietly, who was the older and therefore in charge of the situation now, apparently.

"I dunno," she shrugged, and peered through the crowds with an intensely bored expression on her face. "She'll be back in a minute."

"Ok…" Han could see next to nothing, let alone Bella. A minute of intense anxiety stretched into hours in the small boy's mind. Finally, he glimpsed a flash of fire through the legs of a tall man in tweed. A second later, his saviour was fighting through the crowds and back to them.

She barrelled towards them, landing in a ragged heap beside Anna. "Phew!" she breathed, taking a moment to catch her breath. "Ok," she finally gave a half-hearted smile. "Well, we got what we came for: the prices. Had enough of the big city, guys?"

"Yeah," nodded Anna enthusiastically.

"Good, because we're getting out of here." She fought her way to standing, and then grabbed the other's hands again. "Come on. I want to get back and tell Pollio and the others about this."

"What is it?" Han blinked up at her. "What do you want to show him?" They ducked under the barriers and started to hurry towards the exit, away from the thronged marketplace.

"Never you mind," her reply was clipped and curt, very unlike her usual kind, motherly tone.

Han pouted, but remained silent, recognising that Bella wasn't going to weather any whining today. They passed a group of destitute farmers, coming from the affected area in search of work. They had found none.

It was a short journey back to the children's current hideaway. In light of recent events, derelict buildings weren't hard to find, but demand for a place to sleep was certainly up. Bella rushed them through the streets, and they arrived breathless.

Early morning as it was, most of the children were lounging about, napping, or trying to find breakfast. Bella was immediately assaulted by several of her charges, who wanted food that the elder kids wouldn't share. She uncharacteristically brushed them off, muttering something about important news, and their stomachs being able to wait.

"Pol, Pollio!" she hissed, shaking him by the shoulder. He lay against a wall, dozing uncomfortably.

He began to mumble under his breath, and moaned a little. Bella continued to roughly shake him, until a shadow fell over her. She jumped back a foot, away from the hulking figure of Jacque. Despite being a year younger than her he was more then twice her girth, and a good bit taller. He stepped forward threateningly. "Hands off," he snarled, the threat almost comical in his high-pitched boy's voice. Bella's eyes widened, she took another step back. The whole group of children fell silent and turned to watch. Han saw Jacque's hand raise a little. He'd been spoiling for a fight since Pollio took Bella's side the other night.

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly Pollio was between the two of them. The smallest out of the three, he unquestionably held the most authority. "Jacque," he murmured softly, and glanced to the boy on his left. Obediently, Jacque took a step back. "What's the problem?" he asked Bella shortly, his usual brusque tone taking over.

She took a deep breath, raising a hand and shoving her greasy red hair out of her face. "We went to the market, Pol. I went to look at the bean prices and-"

"And what?" demanded Jacque, stepping forward again, and a little around Pollio.

The leader turned to look at his loyal companion hard for a moment, silence thick in the air. "Calm down," he finally said. "Calm down, Jacque. D'you want te sit down?"

"No," Jacque looked down, "I just- just don't understand why we have to listen to ­her­­ natter on about stinkin' beans all day."

Bella's lip curled into a snarl. Pollio frowned, "Quiet. We'll hear what Bella has te say, and if it's no use, it's no use. At least we'll 'ave options."

"Right," Jacque didn't sound very convinced.

"Go on."

She took another deep breath, "The bean prices are more than I could have ever thought. I don't know what we'd do with the money. In fact… we could- we could really do something with this money. Do you… remember what I once told you about the space-?"

Pollio held up a slightly alarmed hand, "Wait, wait there. Lemme get all the details here firs'."

"What's she talkin' 'bout, Pollio?" Jacque demanded. His body angled threateningly towards Bella, perhaps unconsciously.

"Never mind," he answered shortly. He turned back to Bella, "Right, well… we need to think about-"

"Why you keepin' me outta this, Pollio?" Jacque suddenly shouted. He raised a meaty fist. "Why you never talkin' to me but you always talkin' to her? I thinks you don't even care 'bout the rest of us, and you just wants you girl!"

Han's little eyes widened. The whole group of children collectively took a step backwards. Bella was white as a sheet.

Pollio was very still. After a full minute of staring into Jacque's enraged eyes, he replied stiffly, "So you thinks I don't care about all these kids? Ones I been caring fer, fer years. An', you thinks I only listens te Bella 'coz I think like that, do ye?"

The older boy's chest was heaving, his teeth gritted together, and his nostrils flared. He remained silent for nearly another minute, until he realised he'd have to answer. "Yeah. That's how I sees it."

"Well then, ye can go." Pollio's face was hard. "Ye can go away and ye can ne'er come back." He stared unblinkingly up at the boy, Bella stock-still behind him. "Ye can pack yer bags an' leave."

Jacque's grubby face quivered. His fists dropped, and suddenly his whole body deflated. "Right." He looked around the circle of shocked faces, stepping back.

"Jacque!" squeaked a tiny voice. It was K'anne. He stepped forward, thick blonde hair flopping over his eyes, "Stay, please!"

"I ain't welcome," he looked to Pollio a last time. "See y'around, kid." He turned his back and began to walk out.

But K'anne ran forward. "Well then I'm comin' with ye!" He stumbled as he sprinted after his idol, "I ain't leavin' ya, Jacque, I promises!" Jacque stopped, turning, half hopeful.

Bella's arm shot out, catching K'anne by the collar. She bundled him against her, ignoring his struggles. "No," she blurted. "You stay here. You two won't last a day. I won't have you lost with him."

Tears pricked the little boy's eyes, "No! I don't wanna stay here! Bella, I don't like you anymore, I wanna go with Jacque!" He wriggled helplessly, nipping and biting against her grasp.

"You can't go with Jacque!" she tightened her grip viciously, her own eyes stinging.

Jacque's face lit up with fury at the little boy's tears. He took a step forward. "If he wants te come with me he can come. What, you keepin' kids against their will now, is ye?" he demanded.

Bella shook her head furiously, "He doesn't know what's best for him! Neither do you! Do you honestly think any of us would be alive if we didn't stick together? If he walks out with you onto those streets he ain't gonna come back, and I won't let that happen!"

Pollio remained a statue between them, his face filled with sadness.

"I say he'll be safe with me," roared Jacque, striding forward to within feet of the other two, "Let him go now or I swear I'll-"

"Leave Bella alone!" Han raced forward. He saw Jacque's fist raised towards Bella, and it was all the prompting he needed.

"Han!" yelled Bella and Pollio in tandem. He fell back and clutched onto the back of Bella's dress, face opened with fear.

Pollio finally intervened, "That's enough," he told Jacque coldly.

The larger boy sneered at him, "No it ain't. No it ain't. I ain't gonna listen to you anymore. Why, if I wants to hit you, mebbe I will!" He lifted his fist and bent his arm back as if to punch Pollio in the face. The boy stared him back in the eye, unafraid. Jacque hesitated, then cried out, "Fine then! Yous not afraid of me hurting you, but I bet yous afraid of this!" He leapt forward with surprising speed, lashing out at Bella. She let out a tiny shriek, ducking and clambering backwards. K'anne ran into the shadows with the other children, but Han stepped forward, his little face livid.

"Don't you dare hurt her!"

Jacque laughed the laugh that the man who can't go back laughs. "What you gonna do, huh? You gonna make me pay?" he chuckled hoarsely. He reached forward and shoved Han out of the way roughly, sending him careering into a brick wall. His head glanced off a corner, and he fell limply to the ground, his vision crowded with white spots. He felt a dull ache on his forehead, and reached up to touch it. His hand came back covered in hot, sticky blood. Han rolled over and started to vomit onto the filthy floor.

Bella screamed, "How dare you hurt a little kid? How dare you- you!" she jumped forward, biting and scratching and kicking at him. She was like a spitting little cobra, vicious and venomous in her fury. Jacque reached back and walloped her over her the head, swinging gorilla arms and thumping her with the force of a galloping horse. She staggered backwards, tripping over her own feet.

Pollio came at Jacque from behind. In a second he was hanging from the giant's neck, swinging around in livid circles. Jacque grunted and fell against the wall heavily, crushing Pollio under him.

The two lay still on the ground now. Bella was sprawled in a heap in the centre of the room. Han lay panting and crying against the wall. The children all around the room were pressed as far away from the fight as possible. They all instinctively started to move forward, closing around the other four. Then they started to run. Then they started to cry and sprint and strive to get as far away as possible. Because they heard them coming. And then the Stormtroopers dashed round the corner.

Oh dear…

Reviews are love. ;)

X.