Escaping the throngs of people lined up to pick up lunch here in the Underground, I slip into the back near my friends' customary group of tables but instead opt for the secluded booth in the back.

Helpfully claimed by my backpack sitting on one side of the booth.

Setting my tray and drink down, I sit down and exhale for a moment before moving to mix my bowl.

Finally. Some peace and quiet.

Less snippy. It's fine, everything is fine. You just came here for some lunch, which you have been looking forward to.

I have been craving one of the chicken bowls with pico and guacamole all week.

"Hey—"

WHAT.

"—can a friend sit down, or do you wanna do lunch alone?"

…

…

Aubrey alters her posture slightly as my brain is—

Aubrey.

"That's a yes to me."

Wait—what—

"Okay, how…" The words spill out of me as Aubrey sets her red trey down and begins setting up her assortment of fried foods.

"I was due for a debrief here in around a month. And I know what today is…so I figured you might want a distraction."

Today.

"You're not a distraction. How are you?"

Aubrey's lip tilts upward into a ghost of a smile as her focus is dressing up her sandwich. "Pretty good. Still in Geylang—"

"Aubrey…" I groan.

"I've kept my head down. Ear to the ground, you know—" She smirks then finally eats a waffle fry. "See what I can hear."

"What have you heard?"

Aubrey responds with a violent shake of her head. "No, you gotta choose. Geylang and Gideon, or today."

She knows what today is.

"Gideon." I choose, only for Aubrey's superior smirk to remain.

Let's just stay here for a minute.

I tuck back into my bowl and let the silence stretch for…

Well, I don't know how long. I'm not—

"I can do this all day." Aubrey gestures to her sandwich, which is already half gone. "I'm starving."

"Me too." I answer.

"Okay. Then let's eat then we can go talk about Gideon and all that somewhere secure."

"A.) This is secure." I point out by poking my head out to look around.

We're in the very back corner, tucked behind a curving wall. There are people but they're like 12-15 feet away and have their backs turned so…

Aubrey rolls her eye while I continue. "And B.) I don't like to wait."

"You're going to have to wait on some of it." She informs me. "I've got a flash drive of some uhm." She coughs like she got a fry stuck in her throat for an instant. "homework."

Another cough.

"—that I brought. We can walk back to your dorm and print it off there."

"I'm not in a dorm." I laugh.

Aubrey waves the idea away. "Whatever. You know what I mean."

The Council won't like that idea…but whatever.

I'll share it and explain in due time.

"Anyway…" I tee her up.

Aubrey wipes her face with a napkin then begins. "Most of its been boring. That balcony that I told you about in January?" I nod and wait for her to continue.

"After working out terms with your friends, that's where I went. Rented the place out so I can just watch if I wanted to. And I do a lot, looking for friends and faces."

Even if it's not Motti or Gideon or Krennic…

Krennic…

I haven't thought about your incompetent ass in years!

"Even if it's not our faces, maybe they're important to your friends." I throw out the idea.

Aubrey points affirmatively in my direction. "Clear up some tracking pucks in the process. One less bad guy on the streets."

"True, true…" I move to continue wiping out my bowl.

Usually they're bigger than this. I've already eaten most of it.

"Anyway, he's definitely close by. I see him regularly, cape and all. Usually has a couple of lieutenants with him as well…"

"Lieutenants?"

"Maybe assistants." She shrugs before I start getting my final bite onto my fork. "You were hungry."

"Usually they're bigger than this." I frown before inhaling my last bite.

Aubrey just looks at me for a moment, smirk all over her face. "Or you know, you could be human and just have been hungry. Did you eat this morning?"

No. Haven't had an appetite all day.

"Wasn't hungry."

Aubrey cackles at the idea of it. "Yeah. You're never hungry…I'll clean all this up, you go get a refill on your drink."

"I—" I begin to object before all of my trash is on Aubrey's tray and being toted off.

Might as well go get a refill.

Beaten, I slide out of my booth and throw my backpack over my shoulder before cueing up in front of one of the many fountain drink dispensers.

Why today? Why'd she have to come today?

AUBREY?!

On the other hand, she knows what day it is today. And she was there when…everything happened.

Filling my drink up as much as my cup will hold, I turn back and spot Aubrey loitering by the glass doors near the front of the Underground.

"Ready?" She asks. I nod and motion for her to go ahead, prompting her to push open the door and lead us outside.

Once we ascend all of the steps, she turns to me. "You know where we're going. Left or right?"

"Right—" I point before my phone vibrates in my pocket.

Up against my beskar.

Dammit.

Aubrey begins walking right as I attempt to surreptitiously slip my phone out of my pocket.

Cayle – 1 new iMessage

"Assuming you're out to lunch. Hustle back when you're done, swung by your apartment with a friend. We assumed you might need some extra smiles today."

A friend.

I smile at my phone before Aubrey asks "That's a big smile."

"I—" I say before I get choked up.

"I'm, um, I'm taking you to my apartment. It's a couple of minutes of walking this way." I explain. "But that was Cayle, my Jedi buddy."

"I remember him. You're texting now too. I love it."

"Been texting." I point out. "Kind of an essential."

"Bet most of the Jedi don't text."

I laugh and Aubrey smirks at her astute observation. "Most of them have flip phones. So no, they don't text."

Master Jinn doesn't have a phone. Yoda doesn't I'm pretty sure.

Everybody else is pretty competent with their phones.

"But he texted me, saying he's at my apartment with a friend. So just a heads up."

"A friend? Your girl?" She fires off.

No.

"No, she's busy doing s—stuff today."

She's doing some National Qualifier Interview and Testing thing today. I don't know.

I just know she wasn't going to class today.

"You censored yourself, just for the record. And why'd you bring your backpack if you didn't go to class today?"

Whoa.

"How'd you know that?"

Aubrey smirks at me. "I wormed your schedule out of your buddy. Just in case I ever had to find you. I was out here for an hour, looking for you. Then nope, there you come while everybody's supposed to be in class, coming to get lunch and beating the rush."

Didn't really work.

"I couldn't really do class today."

The Force ringing from Aubrey oscillates into sadness and sympathy. "I get that. Mental health. What's everybody saying nowadays? I don't know…"

"Treat yourself?"

Nobody ever uses any self-control.

"Basically…" Aubrey goes along with it. "Sometimes you need to take a you day."

"I've taken a couple of those. Today kind of…snuck up on me."

I've been in a crappy mood all week. The calendar just stared and stared at me.

My attempts to will time backward didn't work and here I am.

To right now, today.

Aubrey doesn't audibly respond before I point out "Follow the bend here. It's just up ahead. And by the way, which Aubrey is here right now?"

"Your friend, first and foremost. I brought intel-gathering Aubrey if you need her too, but I'm me." She replies before throwing on top. "Whyyy?"

Because…

"A couple of things. I'm taking you to my apartment. Kind of a big deal."

Aubrey allows the point to stand. "I understand that. Thank you. Will the Jedi be…mad this happened?"

"Not after I explain it."

"Good." Her expression brightens as we round the building and I start toward the stairs. "What's the second thing."

Well…

…

"You don't look like you want to spit it out."

"Cayle isn't my only guest. And…you have to promise me you won't hurt or do anything or say anything. You…this can't get out."

No. never ever.

Aubrey gets the gist right away. "It won't. I never saw anything."

Good.

I take the last three steps at a jump, leaving Aubrey behind. "I'm serious."

"Yeah, I know. I won't say anything…is this you?"

"It's me." I say as the latch audibly unlocks and I open the door to my apartment.

Home sweet—

An excited cry-out shatters the silence before I poke my head around the bookcase and spot Mira holding onto my recliner, eyes towards the front door.

"BABA!"

Mira plops right down and starts hurrying towards me as—

"Oh, my bad, wh—" She starts as Mira approaches.

"See! I told you he was going to be here soon!" Cayle declares victoriously as I time my crouch with Mira's arrival.

"Hey!" I scoop Mira right up and pull her into a hug. "Did you come to visit me? Did you?"

Mira excitedly replies to me as I probe the Force to get Aubrey's reaction.

…

Stunned. Disbelief.

I glance back to Aubrey as Mira's still going, only to see a dazed expression.

A tiny fist crashes into me emphatically, forcing me to turn back to Mira.

Mira. Today.

Of all the days.

(Over An Hour Later)

Following Hera up the stairs from Kanan's Jedi Study, I Probe out to reassure my nerves.

…

We're okay. Mira's playing and Cayle's occupying Aubrey.

"Sorry," I say to Hera as soon as we reach the main level of the house. "I know you were looking forward to getting a break from Mira."

Hera laughs without turning back. "Oh, I didn't need a break today. She's been good here recently, playing by herself a lot. And you know Jacen.

I do.

I nod before Hera continues. "I just thought you might need a distraction and somebody with a lot of smiles today."

"Thanks," I say before Hera smiles at me. "I didn't even think of it."

It's not a Thursday, which is when I usually see her. And I haven't thought about dinner tonight.

Hera gently touching my arm brings me back to reality before I turn to her. "Did you sleep alright? You look tired."

I am tired.

"I'm fine. Can't stay asleep for long, but I'm getting sleep—" I try to prepare for Hera's incoming barrage.

"You can't sleep?"

"I'm getting sleep." I reassure her. "It's just in…bursts. Three or four hours of sleep, then I'm up. Fall back asleep. Repeat until my alarm goes off. I'm fine."

Hera's frown, which has only deepened as I talked, is matched by her glower. "Nightmares?"

…

"Ezr—"

"One or two." I confess to Hera before lowering my head.

Or more than that.

"And plus class picked up the workload. I'm delegating to Twos what I can but it's still a lot. Plus doing my Jedi duties plus—"

Hera barges in while I blather on and pulls me into a hug. "I knew they're pushing you too hard."

"They're not pushing me too hard, it's just a lot to handle and—"

"And you're doing great!" Hera interrupts me before pulling back and smiling at me. "We're all so proud of you."

"I know." I smile reluctantly at Hera.

"Do you think you need to see a doctor? Do you take anything to sleep?"

Rarely.

"Melatonin. Ahsoka's idea years ago. I think it's a high dosage. But I only use it if I can't get to sleep. Which isn't what this is." I point out to Hera.

She nods and turns back to the fridge. "Yeah…it's not."

"I was going to talk about it once all this is over—"

"Ezra you can't make it through Finals Week on minimal sleep!" Hera snaps at me, her head poking out of the fridge as she is grabbing drinks for everybody.

"It's not minimal. I'm getting six or seven, just broken up."

Or in today's case, three.

"I'm no sleep expert." Hera declares while setting the iced tea she keeps for me on the kitchen island. "But this can't be good for your sleep cycles."

"I've had worse things happen with my sleep cycles. I'll be fine."

Vader doesn't try and get thru when I'm sleeping anymore. I'd go to sleep Ezra and wake up Vader.

Thankfully that was when I was still in a cell more out of caution for everyone rather than my history as a Sith.

It took a while to get Vader to this point…and it's still not great.

"In other news…that's Aubrey huh?"

Huh? Oh yeah.

I nod as Hera looks on at me. "That's her."

"She's a ghost, you know that right? As soon as Kanan and I realized we wanted to help, I looked into her."

"You did?"

I didn't know that.

Hera nods while shutting the door holding a water bottle before setting those on the island and goes for her cabinets. "There's nothing on her. Most of the intelligence community doesn't think she exists. And you know that her parents were gone…"

That was one of the benefits of moving into the Lothal community Dad offered. A role in the new Sith world he was working to build. And rule number one is that you had to let Dad's team of hackers wipe you off the map.

No birth certificates, no school records. Nothing.

Ghost stories.

Kids like Aubrey, Elias, and I have paper records, but then Dad would have them go in and wipe the digitized copies and destroy the source.

Making anybody connected to the situation nearly impossible to find if they don't want to be found.

"Where'd you find her?"

"She approached me at lunch." I reveal as Hera grabs glasses for Aubrey and I's iced tea. Hera then pauses for an instant and turns to me.

"And what'd she say?"

Before I can say anything, Hera sticks one of the glasses under the ice maker and starts it, sounding out over any potential conversation.

…

…

"She was due for a debrief, she knew what today was and she'd figure she's talk to me first instead."

"About whatever it is she's been doing in Southeast Asia?" Hera astutely observes.

Yup.

"Is she looking for Elias?"

I drop my head as Hera starts to pour the iced tea. "I asked her not to. But I don't think she's really listening."

To my surprise, Hera only laughs. "Well yeah, she's not going to listen. Kanan told me what she said about you in that Council meeting. You're lucky she likes you."

"Yeah…"

I should probably say thank you.

"Thank you, by the way." I blurt out before Hera can respond to what I just said. "I…You said that Aubrey's a ghost story. But I called you at my apartment, and now she's here and…"

"You're welcome, dear." Hera replies, sliding a half step closer while smiling at me and barely tilting her head. "I know the story and if she's important to you, then she's welcome in this house. That's enough for me."

Without another word, Hera starts back towards Kanan's study. I follow and close the entrance to the stairwell behind us.

"Here you go. And more sugar if you want it."

Aubrey thanks Hera and takes her drink by the time I can see her and Cayle in front of multiple holo screens.

"You've been busy."

Cayle responds with a glance. "I figured I'd take point on it. Take the keys out of your hand today."

"I drove here." I point out.

But he's right. I don't really want to drive this.

"So what other than the calendar made you seek him out?" Hera asks, perching herself on a corner and sips a mug before making a face.

"His name's Gallius Rax." Aubrey divulges as Hera walks over to where Kanan has a microwave furtively tucked away. "One of Ezra's father's more devoted disciples."

The name rings a bell.

"Who is he?" Hera asks the million-dollar question.

"Old Imperial Security Bureau Officer. Type of guy who was marked out a spot on the map for him to be in charge of."

"In charge of?" Cayle takes his eyes off the screens.

"My Dad's plan internationally was to warp things at the local level, knowing that the larger level would fall into submission." I speak up before the Force notifies me of their full attention. "Laufey was his boss, Rax one of both he and Dad's pawns."

We found another one.

It's not Elias, but it's something at least.

Thank you, Aubrey.

"How'd you find him?" Hera inquires.

Aubrey, who is mid-sip takes a moment to reply. "He's not in Geylang. There's this massive infrastructure project up in Liuzhou, China where people have been disappearing in droves."

"Disappearing." Cayle air quotes her, and she nods.

"How's Rax there then?" I ask Aubrey.

Aubrey answers. "There's an, uhm, interrogation technique he's famous for that he taught me and everybody else in our class. I've been hearing stories of lackadaisical migrant workers who describe that technique."

"Did he teach that to you?" Cayle fires at me.

No.

"Ezra wasn't there. He was too busy doing something else he Dad had demanded that he do. He rarely spent time in our class."

"Class." Hera repeats the word. "Like at school?"

Aubrey shakes her head. "Has Ezra ever told you why his Dad liked me?"

"No, but I heard the interview with the Jedi Council." Hera counters.

"How?" Aubrey returns fire. "I thought that was supposed to stay in that fancy-ass chamber. I was honest and—"

"Maybe her husband is on the Council, and made the space you're standing in." Kanan says, appearing behind me at the foot of the stairs making me whip back.

Ahsoka also appears behind him before Kanan walks up smiles at me. "Ezra."

"Master." I bow my head in respect. Kanan squeezes my shoulder before passing by on his way to introduce himself to Aubrey.

Ahsoka takes his place and I again bow my head. "Master Tano."

"You ever considered getting away from this today?" She asks while giving me a sarcastic smirk.

It doesn't look like it, but I've seen her give that look to Cayle a lot, who then did exactly what she said not to do.

"Oh no, never." I monotone in reply as Ahsoka joins Hera in introducing herself to Aubrey.

At least she chuckled at my joke.

Once all the introductions are completed, Ahsoka takes up the mantle. "Anyway, go on. Where were we?"

"We'll catch up." Kanan helpfully adds while meandering over to Mira.

"Okay." Aubrey nods, looking only a little shaken before I smile at her and nod. "The ultimate plan, in a few years at least was for Ezra and Elias to be able to slip into countries and subtly take them over with me and others like me that he'd secretly trained. All able to vanish into smoke."

Yeah.

"They were training us using people Sidious had found throughout the years. Rax being one of them."

"Rax?" Ahsoka inquires.

Cayle gives her the data download. "ISB officer. There's an industrial job in China that is abusing their workers using one of his techniques."

"Migrant. Workers." Aubrey helpfully adds. "If the humanitarian angle helps you find a reason to take action."

"Taking action on something like this takes time and care." Hera iterates.

On cue, Mira calls out for her Dad, who turns and sits down next to Mira and Ghost near his desk in the back. "What's the job that all these workers are signing up to work on?" Ahsoka asks Aubrey

"It's going to be a soccer stadium mostly but is being fast-tracked by China getting the Olympics again." She replies.

"It won't be needed for years though." Hera points out.

Aubrey shakes her head. "That's not how local officials see it."

"And all of this is through word of mouth?"

Ahsoka slides closer to me as Aubrey replies to Cayle "My skills in bounty hunting aren't all necessarily ones that you'd think of. I know a lot of people, people who learn to trust me. Those people have stories."

"So you're more of an information broker than a bounty hunter." Kanan deduces.

Aubrey turns to him, looking slightly offended. "Can't do one without the other."

An Ahsoka elbow blocks out Kanan's response. "Why are you over here by yourself?"

"I'm not by myself."

I'm by the stairs in case somebody discovers the entrance. Extremely unlikely, but there's always a chance.

"You're leaning up against a pillar as everybody else has filed into the study." Ahsoka points out. "Go say hi to Mira. You two need each other today."

I—

Fine…

"—prefer the information gathering to the alternative. I'm trying to wipe the red off my ledger, not add to it." Aubrey says as I slip past her and sit by Mira.

Mira is engrossed in messing with her Dad's shirt as the conversation continues. "—Gideon?"

"I think he's involved locally in a manner similar to Rax," Aubrey informs me. "I haven't been where Rax could be, but I know Geylang. And they're backsliding further into Sith authoritarianism dressed up as populism."

Kanan says "So it's not an official position but he's pulling the strings."

"Baba." Mira pronounces, forcing me to turn and smile. Mira returns my smile before crawling over and plopping down to my right, looking for my pocket.

She knows that's where I keep my phone and the beskar.

"You don't have your pacifier down here do you?" I rhetorically ask her. As if Mira understands, she stares for a second, then shakes her head slightly.

Digging into my pocket, I pull out the beskar bar which gets a squeal out of Mira. "Here you go…silly."

Mira audibly teethes on the bar, getting Kanan's attention before I glance up and see Aubrey looking on.

At us.

"Nothing new under the sun." Ahsoka smiles, getting Aubrey to turn. "Is there?"

Aubrey shakes her head, returning her gaze to Mira, who is still teething, and I. "No…I love it though. Makes more sense though."

"He's her favorite, outside of her Mom, Dad, and brother." Cayle pronounces.

"That's not true." I disagree.

You're up there too Cayle…

"Hard disagree. She's gone looking for you." Hera points out.

Kanan's expression goes a little blank. "Yeah, but Mira did that for Cayle too. When he napped on the couch?"

"That's not the same…" Hera shakes her head.

Aubrey.

The Force around her quakes before she asks quietly "And her name's…Mira?"

Yup.

"We didn't name her after Ezra's Mom. Kanan and I just liked the name in our piles of baby name books." Hera leans over and smiles at Kanan. "Remember Luv?"

Kanan groans and leans his head up against a wooden privacy screen. "You have no idea."

They stressed for months about her name. Then I think they found Mira and wouldn't tell me right away.

Maybe they weren't ready to tell me.

The girl in question moves on from a corner to the longer portion of the bar while appearing quite content. "You knew Ezra's Mom, right?" Ahsoka asks gently.

Yeah.

Aubrey silently nods while smiling at Mira in my lap.

"Do…you mind if I ask a couple of questions about her?" Ahsoka follows up while behind her Hera puts me in her sights.

I nod to Hera before Aubrey replies. "That's okay. Just—"

"I'm fine." I cut her off.

I know where you're going with that. I'm fine.

I am. I can listen to Aubrey fill in Cayle and Hera and everyone about Mom and who she was.

Doesn't matter what today is.

Mira waggles her foot, which comes into contact with my phone. As it's programmed, my phone lights up with my lock screen of Sabine and I at the banquet as well as the time.

And the date.