Entering the Kind Mother's place, Danali made her way routinely past the couches, tables and dancing platforms.

As nice as those Jedi people had appeared, to survive in the Kind Mother's clutches, she had to do things that didn't profit the nice people she met every now and again or even herself. All she did, all that she was supposed to do was narrowed down to helping the Mother's Hands. She had to listen and report and nothing else. Whether it was nice people who got caught up in the middle of it or whether it was other bad people didn't matter. It never mattered. All that mattered was that what she had to report to the Kind Mother would help her and her gang. Danali didn't like it but, as long as she survived, she would keep doing it.

Reaching the top of the stairs leading to the Kind Mother's office, Danali waited for the Gamorrean guard to let her in, which he did with a grunt after clearing it up with the Kind Mother.

Stepping inside the office of that woman always felt like stepping into a different world; a world of darkness, filled with monsters glaring at her with their predatory and glowing red eyes. The door closed behind her while her eyes locked with the Kind Mother's, both her normal and cybernetic eye seizing her up.

"Again, my dear? You appear to have had exciting days recently." The Kind Mother smiled at her, a smile so sweet. A smile too sweet. "What is it you have for me this time?"

"I-I spoke w-with the J-Jedi."

The moment the words had left her lips, the sweet smile on the Kind Mother's face morphed into a furious snarl. Her lips were pulled back, her teeth bared and suddenly she was the monster in the darkness.

"What?!" The Kind Mother was on her feet, her hands slammed onto her desk, scattering a few datapads onto the ground in the process.

Danali felt herself pale in fear. Her eyes were wide open, the blood drained from her features and she began to shake violently.

"What have you said to them, child?" the Kind Mother asked, her voice suddenly low again, though nowhere near the usual gentle and soft tone. Her voice was a threatening hiss, unable to mask the brewing danger Danali found herself in. "Tell me," she demanded.

"N-nothing! I swear!" Tears of terror welled up in her eyes and her breaths came in gasps. "I swear! T-they a-ask-asked quest-questions b-b-but I didn't sa-say anything!"

"What manner of questions did they ask, child?"

Danali swallowed thickly. Her mouth felt dry. "About – about t-the gangs, Ma'am." Her eyes found the wicked-looking blaster attached to the kind Mother's belt she wore over her black dress. She always wore pretty and black dresses. "The Rancor's Teeth and other gangs from Tyrena, Ma'am," she hastily added.

"So, that Twi'lek was right, after all," the Kind Mother muttered to herself before making a dismissive gesture with her hand. "Leave. You did well today and you'll get the rest of the week off and a nice, warm meal as well." The warm and soft smile returned, but the hard glint in that pale blue eye and even in the glowing red cybernetic eye did not go away. "The fact that you came straight away to me with such information speaks of your loyalty to me. Your parents' sacrifice was not in vain, was it?"

Wasting no further time, Danali rushed out from the office and down the stairs, the Gamorrean again laughing at her with grunts and squeaks. At the bottom of the stairs, she took the left and, upon reaching the end of the hallway, took another left before reaching her room and stepping inside, the door closing automatically behind her with a hiss.

Danali didn't feel like showering. She didn't feel like anything.

She just let herself drop onto her bed, face first. No matter what, until today, she had always experienced the kind mother as a calm but scary woman. Today, however, just now, the Kind Mother had terrified her. So much so, that she had to consciously do her best not to wet herself. When she had seen her parents get killed, she had not been this terrified. No. This today – she had been locked inside of a cage with a monster. A monster with glowing blue and red eyes and long and sharp teeth. A monster ready to pounce and eat her.

Danali felt bad for the Jedi people. The fact that she had told the Kind Mother about them meant surely that they would be killed by the Mother's Hands, the Rancor's Teeth or one of the other gangs. She had no choice, though. To survive, she had to tell the Kind Mother things. It didn't matter whether she was telling things about nice people or bad people. What mattered was that she had a place to sleep and something to eat.

Others had to suffer for it and she hated it, but the Kind Mother had made sure that each and every one of them understood the world they had stepped into. Feeling bad for others, lying for them, keeping secrets for them, not being completely honest with the Kind Mother – it meant certain death.

It was the life she was forced to lead and she had to protect herself. Danali had learned and accepted that early and quickly. Most of the time she could focus on the voices and ignore the faces. She could go to the Kind Mother, tell her what needed to be told and move on.

But, this time, it felt...difficult. No, not difficult. There was just an overwhelming sense of...something. She couldn't really place it but it was all around her and inside of her; as if she was immersed in water...or something like that. It really was difficult to put into words. But something told her without saying a word to get up, find the Jedi and tell them the whole truth. Something told her to place her trust in them, to allow them to help her. Oh, she had felt like that before and so many times but it had always been just barely a hunch. Just, a faint sense, if at all. What she was feeling now, however, was overwhelming and it was only growing stronger.

She always trusted her gut because doing so had never failed her before. Was it a gut feeling? A gut feeling had told her to trust the Jedi but it had been a faint sense, like before. This was different, though.

With a frustrated groan, Danali rolled onto her back and sat up. She took a moment to look around at the sparsely decorated room. Even calling it a room was embarrassing to her. There was no chair, no desk, not anything. All she had was a box with slightly less dirty clothing than her dirty clothing, a bed, a shower and a toilet, all in the same room. She had no window and only an old air filter.

The Kind Mother was a terrible person and Danali hated her. Her greatest wish was to just run away and the almost overwhelming sense showing her a way out had softened noticeably. Now it felt like a gentle tug in the right direction, something leading her. It was like something had tied a string around her belly and was pulling.

A small smile stole its way onto her face; so rare, so foreign, but she liked the description she had come up with.

Should she go with it? That was the question now. Danali wasn't even sure how much time had passed, but it couldn't be much. Plus, how would she even do it? All the big guards would know that she was free now and that she was free now for the whole week. They knew that it meant that she was not allowed outside of her room. It was supposed to be a reward for a job well done, but, really, it wasn't.

But there was a way out; a way she and every other child had been forbidden to use. Using it meant getting shot with a blaster.

A shudder ran through her.

But wouldn't that happen to her anyway if she didn't turn out pretty enough to dance? Danali, at least, didn't know what happened to those who were old but not pretty enough to dance. She wasn't eager to find out either.

And that was the moment when her mind was made up. Two years of this were too much already. Too many more years were ahead of her as well, but adding even another day to this life was an unbearable thought. She couldn't. She just couldn't.

Gathering her nerve, Danali forced herself up from bed and slowly made her way towards the door. The hiss when it opened was suddenly so much louder than usual, making her wince. Looking to her left and right, there was no one but she was sure that there were cameras somewhere. She had to be fast now.

As silently as she could but as fast as possible, Danali tiptoed her way towards the forbidden door. Both excited curiosity and dread and terror clutched at her heart as she got closer and closer towards the heavy door. The moment she reached it, a hiss, seemingly even louder than her room's door a moment earlier, filled the hallway and she stepped through, her eyes widening at the forbidden alleyway, the one only adults could use. A human man was leaning against a wall and trading a small bag with something red and sandy with a Twi'lek for credits. The Twi'lek's eyes suddenly widened when he saw her standing there, shouting in Ryl.

"What is that brat doing there?! Is this how the Hand works these days?!"

The human, startled at the sudden outburst, turned to follow the Twi'lek's gaze, but her legs finally reacted to what she wanted them to do. She dashed towards the other side and ducked past a Twi'lek woman, who was leaning against a wall with a man standing behind her and holding her hips. That man yelled at the sight of her as well, only urging her to run faster. Danali ducked and weaved her way past the men and women through the seemingly endless alleyway, the tugging around her belly now more urgent again. She had to get away. She just had to get away because staying and getting caught meant death and nothing else.

When Danali finally reached the end of the alleyway, she took a couple of precious seconds to find her bearings, to recognize the street and when she did, she sprinted across the street, nearly getting hit by a landspeeder barely coming to a stop, the Sullustan waving a fist at her and shouting in Basic at her, the words making her ears burn despite the situation she was in. After she had survived crossing the street, Danali quickly took a left, still running, sensing one of the Mother's Hands behind her and he was closing in on her fast because her legs grew more and more tired with every single step she took. Her breathing grew heavy, her chest was burning, she was completely drenched in sweat.

But she had to keep going.

Danali ducked into her alleyway, the one where she was always listening and, much to her elation, they were there. They saw her and looked at her and they weren't even surprised. The woman even gave her that soft smile, the one so different from the Kind Mother's.

Before she could say anything, however, before she could even utter a single word, a rough hand grabbed her by her arm, making her gasp in surprise. He grabbed her by the front of her tunic and held her up to face him. It was the man with the bag from the forbidden alleyway, grinning at her viciously.

"That was quite the chase, you little pile of bantha dung. The Mother will have a word with you."

"I suggest you let the girl be, young man," came the voice from the female Jedi, down the alleyway.

The man holding her, despite her struggles and feeble attempts at breaking free, just rolled his eyes and reached inside his vest, grabbing his blaster.

Danali panicked at the mere sight of it, images of her parents' bodies with blaster wounds burned in their foreheads at the forefront of her mind. Her hope of getting help, of finally getting freed from the Kind Mother's clutches, her fear of the consequences of her actions – everything came rushing at her and everything around her appeared to dull in sound and clear in vision. Everything appeared to slow down.

A rush of energy coursed through her and instinctively Danali pushed her hand on the man's chest. His grip on her loosened as he was sent flying away and she landed roughly on her feet but she felt too weak to stand any longer. Swaying, she felt herself falling backwards when gentle arms wrapped themselves around her, catching her. As darkness came to claim her, she was sure that she was hearing a steady and monotonous hum close by.

Danali stirred awake, the softness of the mattress underneath her almost lulling her back to sleep.

But voices caught her attention and honed instinct made her listen without giving it a second thought.

"...m-count is exceptionally high. Not the highest I have seen, mind you, but so very close." Danali recognized the voice as the female Jedi. "She will be one of our most powerful."

"I don't place much stock in this Midi-chlorian idea, Master Arraira. The child is force-sensitive and that is good enough for me." That was the alien Jedi. It was clear that they were talking about her, but what it was they were saying, she had no idea. Midi-chlorian? Force-sensitive?

"We all have our own way of seeing things, don't we?" The voice did not sound angry or offended at all. The woman always sounded as if everything was right with the world. "I have contacted the Acquisition Division and a Recruiter is on the way."

"Should one of us stay and wait with her until then?" the alien Jedi asked. His name would just not come to her.

"I think it would be best, yes. But first, why don't you tell us why you felt the need to lie to us, Danali?"

She swallowed thickly. For how long had they known that she was awake? Opening her eyes slowly, she gingerly sat up and looked around, the room unfamiliar and almost fancy compared to what she had known for the past two years. The colour of the walls was a warm and inviting creamy white. There was a desk, a comfortable looking chair and a couple of doors. Maybe they led to a bathroom and toilet. How neat would that be? The windows were large and allowed a lot of light in, but it was already dark outside, so the only light came from the lamp above.

Resting her back against the wall, Danali pulled her knees closer to her chest, the blanket still wrapped around her keeping her comfortably warm. The lady Jedi and the alien Jedi were both standing in front of the bed and looking at her expectantly, but neither looked angry with her. It helped to put her at ease. A tiny bit at least.

"I was scared," Danali admitted as she accepted a glass of water from the purple alien. His name was something starting with Da or Di, she was sure of it. Taking greedy gulps, she wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her tunic, then looked back at the Jedi. "The Kind Mother is...not nice."

"The Kind Mother?" The alien looked at her intently. Jaro Tapal! That was it. His name wasn't even that difficult to remember. She was surprised herself that it had taken her this long. "It appears safe to assume that she is the leader of the Mother's Hands?" Jaro Tapal asked her.

Danali nodded, then a shiver ran through her when the realisation of what she had done finally settled within her. "I actually ran away," she whispered faintly. "She will kill me."

Gentle and warm hands cupped her cheeks before she broke into hysterical sobs. Danali glanced up to see the lady Jedi crouch in front of the bed, her hands reached out. "No one will harm you, dear child," the woman – Master Arraira, Jaro Tapal had called her – spoke soothingly.

She believed her. Danali couldn't help but believe her. So, she nodded.

"Good." Master Arraira smiled at her. "Now, please tell us: have you worked for this Kind Mother character?"

Danali nodded again. "Yes, Ma'am...I-I stay out in the alleys and listen and if something sounds important I tell her, please don't be mad, I told her about you, I had to!" She took a breath after finishing her rambling and felt, again, ready to cry.

"It is fine, I promise, Danali." Master Arraira pulled her hands away and moved from her crouching position to sit on the edge of the bed, a leg tucked beneath her as she shifted her body to face her. "You are just a child. You did what a grown woman made you do. Nothing you say or what you did will be held against you. All we ask is for you to trust us and to tell us the truth."

"O-okay. I promise."

"Good. May I ask where your parents are?" Master Arraira asked gently.

Danali heaved a sigh. "They are dead, Ma'am," she answered in a hollow voice. "The Kind Mother...she killed them."

"I am sorry this happened to you, Danali." Master Arraira sounded genuine.

She shrugged half-heartedly. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

"But a child shouldn't be used to the things you appear used to." Jaro Tapal exhaled heavily, tightly gripping the long metal cylinder attached to his belt for a moment before relaxing his hold and calming himself. "Yet, here we are. Does this Kind Mother have a name?" he then asked her.

"Emilanay Morrhar," Danali answered after a moment's hesitation. "She, uh, she has a cybernetic eye here and very scary scars." She pointed at her left eye.

"What else can you tell us about the Mother's Hands?" Master Arraira pressed.

"There is a forbidden door where we children can't go outside. I, uh, I got out this way because we are not allowed out of our rooms when we don't work." She shrugged with a sheepish smile. "The man who chased me, he sold something red, like a, uh, powder or something. There were also other men and women together but I don't know what they were doing."

"Oh, dear." Master Arraira sighed. "Are there more children like you?"

Danali nodded, feeling more at ease with every moment. It felt good to be able to share these things with these Jedi. "But we can't see each other."

"And the other gangs?"

"I know they sell spices – I heard it one time – but I don't know what they mean with that. Spices aren't bad, right? But I know they do bad things or they wouldn't hide it."

"This is far bigger than the local police realized," Jaro Tapal muttered, stroking his dark beard. "The gangs all know we are here. They might band together against us."

"It is best to request backup." Master Arraira nodded. "You do that while I keep our little one here company. Would that be agreeable with you, Danali?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Danali agreed readily. "Could you tell me about Jedi? Like, what are you? I never heard about Jedi before but the gangs are all worried. And what does all that stuff you talked about earlier mean? You talked about me, right?"

Master Arraira chuckled as Jaro Tapal turned and left the room. She arranged herself on the bed to fully face Danali, sitting with her legs crossed. "We did indeed. Strap yourself then, Danali. This might take a while."