It was a tense moment. The clamp had been physically welded onto the droid's head in places, which on their own were easy to cut through, only added to the concern Maarani was experiencing. Had she known that her purchase of the droid would be met by beration over its supposed rights, it probably would have stayed down in the alleyway.

She nearly jumped as the last weld was cut through. The mechanical locks had already been opened, allowing it to lift away without issue. While it no longer had that sad expression, it was still uncomfortable for her to look at the blank face. Every moment made her tension grow. "If it jumps up and tries to strangle me, I blame you all."

"Sys-" The droid tilted its head up momentarily before clanking against the table again. Its feminine voice was crackling badly. "Systems res… restoring… Systems restoring. Restoring, mistress." The eyes flickered briefly before it gradually turned its head to Maarani, staring at her directly. "Mistress? You are… blue?"

Seeing as it wasn't trying to strangle her, the Twi'lek slowly approached the table and knelt down beside it, looking directly at the droid. "You don't remember being stuck in the under layers of Coruscant for who knows how long, I take it?"

There was a pause. The droid slowly turned its head around, scanning the other occupants of the room, before turning to the Twi'lek again. "Where are Macen and Jules? Why are you blue, mistress?" The right arm began to fidget as motor control returned.

Maarani immediately stepped away upon noticing. "CC-13, you've been in lockdown for several years at least. Aren't you supposed to do a self-diagnostic or something?" She looked to Carmen, the droid expert who had helped with the repairs, who gave a brief shrug in response. Seeing no attempts to reach for her throat prompted her to step forward again. "CC, run diagnostic microdata command…" The words quickly became jumbled in her thoughts. "Something something protocol."

"Running diagnostics. One moment."

A sigh of relief came from both Maarani and Carmen, the latter of whom checked through her datapad again. "Basic overrides are still in place then. She should shut down if you tell her to at a moment's notice. If you're still worried."

"I'd still have to do a memory purge manually, if that's even possible with this one." Her arm was abruptly grabbed, which did finally make her jump in fright with a rather embarrassing yelp.

"Mistress! Don't let them take me!"

"Let go of my arm! I am not your mistress!"

To her surprise, the droid obeyed immediately, allowing her to back away further. It had gone quiet again, though was still fixated on her face.

When it spoke at last, it was a much quieter, and rather afraid tone of voice. "Who are you? Where is the mistress? The children?"

Maarani didn't move closer yet again, though she was now feeling a hint of regret over shouting at the droid. While obvious in retrospect, she had forgotten that the droid was programmed to interact with people on a daily basis. "I have no idea, CC-13." She glanced at Carmen, who was already approaching the droid again, this time with caution. "What's the last year you can recall?"

Another pause followed, this time with a few drawn out sounds from the droid. Many of its circuits were still in poor condition, hindering response time. The response was brief. "Unable to establish. No point of reference found, chronometer damaged."

"I can fix that. Just a second." Carmen reached into the open stomach cavity, and after some searching pulled out the broken chronometer. Her expression quickly changed as she noticed the damage. "She's been hit by an EMP, and that didn't stop her completely." Leaving the chronometer to the side, she returned her attention to the cavity and began slowly removing more damaged components, with CC-13's wails ringing in her ears.

"Stop stop stop! You're hurting me!"

That made the Jedi lift her head up immediately in shock. "Hurting… You can't possibly be feeling... pain?"

"Is that justification for pulling my insides out? Would you like it if I started ripping out your appendix, spleen and intestines? How about the liver?"

"You forgot the kidneys." Maarani drew her blaster pistol to keep it ready if the droid decided to act on her sudden threat. "They don't usually hit nanny droids with EMP grenades. And it's a bit of a long-term disguise for an assassin class. So why are you experiencing 'pain', if this really is the case."

Carmen looked between both before carefully withdrawing her hands from the cavity. "I was just going to replace those parts with new ones. These look at least sixty years out of date."

"Calling me old now? You barely look fifteen, and already you think you're a master droid surgeon. I feel so safe in your hands."

"Great, I bought a diva droid with four arms and bigger breasts."

That drew the droid's attention back to Maarani, and an end to the ranting as abrupt as its start. Instead, a much softer tone was used to speak to her. "You bought me? Why? You don't appear to have had children, or be expecting some." After tilting its head, the panicked tone returned again. "Oh no, my programming does not allow for that kind of activity!"

It took longer for Maarani to catch onto what was being implied. The realization left her stunned. "That's really disgusting. Actually, how did a nanny droid even end up learning about that?" By then she noticed Carmen was getting very uncomfortable with the situation. "I bought you because I wanted a droid to help with fixing the ship. Poor sod who had you previously was using you to scare people away."

"Oh yes, because I'm definitely not good at scaring people away!" She pulled at one of the flaps of synthflesh, eventually ripping it from her face and dangling it over her eyes. "Disgusting stuff. I don't know how you kiddies live with it every moment of your lives."

It was becoming a bit much for the Twi'lek. "Carmen, how long will it take to do the wipe?"

"Hang on, you were serious about that?"

Maarani glared at CC-13 directly. "A droid that screams at people, assumes Twi'lek are only interested in sex, and uses too many contractions is not what I'd consider to be in working condition."

"It didn't work the last three times though. I just came back, until they put that thing on me. Can you imagine what it's like sitting on a pile of junk with no concept of the passing of time beyond how slowly your parts decay?" Seeing that Maarani was apparently unfazed, CC-13 began to panic yet again. "I promise not to scream anymore. Or assume you want to grope my nutritional dispensers. And I will not use contractions in future. See?"

"Where exactly is the memory core, Carmen?"

"Please please please!" The last was drawn out longer, her pleas bordering on desperation.

There was hesitation for Maarani, who slowly tightened her lip. She hadn't quite realized just how extensive the 'personality' was. It seemed like there was actually a concept of death for the droid, something it wanted to avoid. "I'm still going to need a mechanic on my ship."

"Absolutely! Just gimme me a digital manual and I'll download it as soon as possible!" CC-13's head twitched momentarily. "I mean, I will be happy to advise on mechanical problems that may arise. Provided I am left untouched."

Maarani glanced at one of the discarded pieces of synthflesh again. CC-13 looked pretty bad in her current state, but pushing that would probably make it upset again. "Fine. Clean yourself up when you come back on, and clean this lab too while you're at it." She looked at the pile of already removed parts with a sigh. "Can we at least bring your insides up to date?"

"If you actually remember to shut me off first, mistress."

A cringe came at being called that again. "Maarani. Not Ma'Arani, not mistress, and not kiddie."

The droid's eyes flickered again. "Maaaaaarani."

"We'll work on it. Initiate shutdown." As CC-13 collapsed into activity, she let out a long sigh and softly gripped Carmen's shoulder. "I'm really sorry about all this."

"It's fine, really. Just, don't tell my master about anything CC said, okay? If you've ever heard anything about Mirialans being strict, it's probably true."

"What would she have heard, Padawan Sendis?"

Both women froze for a moment before turning around. To Carmen's slight relief, it was Merena'Likta standing there, and not her own master. "We were… just discussing my tattoos. She was curious, and uh…"

"I was going to explain why I don't wear anything on my head in return. Since…" Maarani did her best to smile, a difficult thing to do while being stared at with an unamused expression. "We were just making conversation while we fixed CC-13 up. She… It seems to be working mostly fine now."

"Mostly fine?" Merena raised an eyebrow as she looked past to the droid itself, wires and other grimy parts sticking out of its stomach. "I assume you are working towards 'completely fine', then?" Her attention returned to the pair, both still wearing nervous grins. "I was hoping that we could speak, Tegama, unless you would prefer to continue assisting in this project."

Maarani swallowed before nodding hasilty. "Sure. There's not much else I can do here, right Carmen?"

"Yeah, just lots of comparing bits and pieces to put CC-13's guts back together."

Merena shook her head and turned back to the door she had come through. "Do keep in mind that some may not look the other way when they hear the giggles of padawans."

An awkward silence lingered as Maarani followed after the Jedi master. Four of them now had gone for a one-on-one talk, though she was quite comfortable around Koor at least. This was different from the others, in that she was now dealing with one of her own people.

"You kept the name of your clan, but shed almost all of your own name. Why is that, exactly?"

It wasn't unlike what happened with Dana before. But that had been an unintentionally painful reference to her past, not a direct question. Getting snappy over such questions was something that had to be moved past. "I couldn't bear people calling me Tegama, at first anyway. After a few years, Maarani just stuck so I kept to it. Haven't returned back home once, and there aren't a whole lot of Twi'leks in the Starfighters right now. So, I never had a need to use my full name."

Merena nodded sagely, though remained somewhat unsatisfied by the answer. "Even in the presence of one of your kind?"

Maarani stopped at that. She was quickly recognizing where that tone of voice was going. "If I wanted a lecture about what it means to be Twi'lek, I would have gone back to Ryloth. Having big tails sticking out the back of my head doesn't mean I should be dancing half naked in some bar rather than getting in a fighter and helping to defend the Republic."

"Did I imply that? I was simply concerned that you have no regard for the respect any one of your kind deserve."

"So much for an end to Jedi arrogance…"

What should have been followed by a mean glare at the least, or a loud lecture on her attitude at the most, was instead met with concern.

"You deflect things that make you angry by throwing sarcasm back. When something hurts you, there is a story that calls for pity to cover over the sadness."

By then they had exited the building into one of the many gardens, allowing Merena to gesture to a nearby bench where they could sit. "The others have prodded, for lack of a better term, at your emotional state, so that I could assess it. Normally I do this with every padawan that comes in person. We had concerns about you specifically that had to be observed indirectly first."

As they sat down, she took the opportunity to guide one of the butterflies that was fluttering through the garden onto her outstretched finger. It landed without issue, and remained there as she brought it closer to them. "You have deep concerns about yourself, because your grief for your family is not as strong as you think it should be. The same for your anger at your sister's betrayal. You know you are capable of expressing far stronger emotions, and yet they remain inside even when you try to release them."

It was both confusing to hear, and a perfect summary of exactly what she had been thinking for so long. As if something was holding back her ability to feel things to their full extent. "When Master Pala told me about what the White Terror did at the massacre, I didn't feel a whole lot of anything. I thought I was in shock, but just an hour or so later and I'm back to feeling pretty okay with things."

When it didn't seem like she was going to get an answer as to why that was the case, she shifted to the other thought weighing on her mind. "When Koor said that now was the time when I'd get help from the Jedi, I didn't expect pep talks from the Council itself. Am I really that important because I escaped the massacre? Because I'm having a hard time seeing it."

Merena was now faced with her unpleasant turn to conceal the truth from the young woman. Unlike the others, she had to use a different angle on it. "Jedi were forbidden from marriage in the past for reasons beyond simple emotional turbulence. There have been suggestions that affinity with the Force has a genetic component to it, beyond whatever random selection we see in the galaxy."

"And both of my parents were strong Force users…" The thought trailed off briefly. "Why was I so late to develop my affinity then? I know my brothers were pretty strong already, and Masaka seemed to be headed that way too."

"Who can say? Someone who ascribes to the more mystical tales of the Jedi would probably say the Force has been guiding these events to protect you. It could just as easily be a case of having so many other strong presences drowning out your ability to feel the Force, until they were away from Ryloth most of the time."

"Any theories on how a shuttle crash knocked it out of me, then? No-one else has really speculated on it since I brought it up." Again, it was immediately clear that she still wasn't going to get an answer to that question anytime soon. Pushing it any more would only annoy both of them. "Nevermind. Master Utan still believes I can recover, and who am I to argue?"

A nervous laugh came as she glanced up to Merena. There was a warm smile present at long last, which helped her to relax further. "It took twenty four years, but I finally have the chance to become a Jedi."

"I can only apologize again for the others on taking so long to put all of this into motion. It has been very difficult to strike the right point between inaction, and rushing into action without preparation." She outstretched her hand at last, letting the butterfly fly back off to the garden plants again. "It is comforting to see another Twi'lek walk these halls. There have been very few new faces since Yuthura left."

Maarani's eyes had been following the butterfly that she had brought over earlier. Again, Yuthura had been mentioned with some implication of significance, and yet she knew virtually nothing about her. "So, she was a Twi'lek as well?"

"She was my master, and friend. While I have never joined the Sith, there was a point when I began to fall towards the dark side. Yuthura helped lead myself and others back to the way of the Jedi." Merena turned to the young Twi'lek fully at that, taking hold of her shoulder. "Your mother was a student of hers, while they were with the Sith. Yuthura cried when she saw Rilana and other former students arrive at this very temple. Something her own Jedi master had done upon her return I think."

All Maarani could do was nod slowly as she took in the story. There had been stories told about her mother's redemption, but no actual names had been used. "You were friends with her too, then?"

There was a saddened look as Merena nodded. "The fault for not bringing you to Coruscant following that horrific day lies with me. I oversaw the rites for all the Twi'lek, and in my preoccupation with it all, a few things slipped."

"A month ago, I was still bitter. Now, actually knowing everything that was going on…" A deep sigh followed as Maarani allowed herself to gradually let the lingering feelings go. "I'm here now, on the right track hopefully, and alive."

On an impulse, she lifted her head and reached her hand out, this time focusing on a different butterfly in the garden ahead. After a few moments, it made its way over to her, landing on her finger just as the other had for Merena. The spectacle brought a real smile that soon broke into soft laughter. "One step at a time, huh?"

Merena smiled at the display as well, gently squeezing her shoulder before standing up once more. "So long as there is hope, very little is truly beyond possibility." As the butterfly returned to the garden, she gestured past to another area of the temple. "If you feel you are ready, you can complete the journey started eight years ago."

It had been on her mind briefly, but had remained an unspoken desire that she had been too nervous to ask about until the Council had made their decision. The offer was a welcome reprieve from asking. "I'm ready." For the time being, she was holding onto her moment of joy before the final bout of grief would sink in, so followed the Jedi Master down to the crypt with a small, but notable smile.

A shudder ran through her body as she entered the memorial room. It stretched on a fair distance, both sides of the narrow pathway surrounded by pedestals. On each sat three items. A simple metal urn, a nameplate, and a lightsaber.

"Six hundred and fourteen exactly. The rest were returned to their respective homeworlds for the rituals of their own people." Merena continued down the walkway until finally stopping towards the further end. Four pedestals bearing lightsabers that did indeed match the style of Maarani's own weapon.

By then the smile had faded, giving way to the inevitable sorrow she knew would come upon seeing them. The off-white hilt of her father's blade, and the deep black of her mother's older weapon. Kidano's weapon now had a faint green hue to it from the bronze finish, while Tilasa's double-blade hadn't changed from the dark grey cover he had worked hard to forge by hand, with some help from herself.

There was one noticeable absence in the display.

"Where's my mother's Jedi weapon?"

"With Yuthura, wherever she may be." As Maarani turned to her, the older Twi'lek rested a hand on her shoulder again. "Darth Lasidia openly stated she wanted it from Rilana, before her death. Yuthura refused to let such a disgrace stand, so she hid the weapon until they left." Her eyes drifted back to the urn carrying Rilana's ashes. "We never worked out why she wanted her Jedi weapon, and not her Sith one."

She continued to gaze over the black surface of the lightsaber, which stood out against the marble pedestal. "While some were uncomfortable with the idea, I insisted that Rilana at least have this part of herself to keep in the Force beyond."

Just looking at it made Maarani uncomfortable after a while. It wasn't an image of her mother wielding the crimson blade that came up however. Rather, the scarred monstrosity that her sister had become.

Eventually she forced herself to look away, and actually stepped back towards the entryway on further thought. "That's how she's going to be remembered in the end, isn't it? Not a Jedi who raised three children in the ways of the Force, only to be betrayed by her youngest. They'll remember her as the Sith who defected, had one daughter who turned to the dark side, and failed to be there to guide the other that survived."

"What happened to optimistic Tegama? The young woman who discovered the hope that she could recover what was lost."

Maarani exhaled as she pondered on that very question. Being thrown about from one charged experience to the next seemed to be her way in life so far. Perhaps this was the last bump in the road she had to overcome. "At the back of my mind, I'm going to live with the fact that the Sith have been a strong influence in my family. I don't know if that will ever change."

"You are not the only one to live with thoughts like that, Maarani." Merena approached, again offering the comfort of her presence before they both departed the room. "Every Jedi struggles with the dark side at one point in their life. Yours came much earlier than most, and while it was not an easy recovery, you are now far stronger for it. Never let doubt overwhelm everything else."

Barely after exiting the crypt, they were approached by Carmen in a panicked rush. Merena caught her skillfully before she crashed into them. "What's happened padawan? Did something go wrong with the droid?"

"No, CC's fine now, it's just…" Carmen took a moment to catch her breath, noting Maarani's great concern. "There's been massive attacks in the Dalchon sector. Droids and a cult of grey people hit a lot of planets just an hour ago. Master Pala sent me to find you for the emergency meeting."

"Very good, padawan. If there were no further instructions, I would like you and Maarani to assemble with the others in the training hall. I trust you left the droid inactive?" At the nod in reply, she lightly gripped both their shoulders and strode off in the direction of the Council spire, while they headed off to their own destination.