She hung onto the rail of the transport vehicle so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Aidan was killed here on Alderaan. What could that mean? That she and her brother were visitors here? That they were residents? That they were natives of Alderaan? She clamped down on her jaw harder. These blasted pieces of scattered, useless memories. 'No, not useless,' she reminded herself. 'They led me to you, Aidan.'

She had to think clearly, constructively. She did not have much time. Tomorrow evening she would have to take the next transport to Dantooine. Her Master would disapprove of this personal hunt she was on. In fact, she could not comprehend it herself. It was sheer insanity - chasing after daemons that no longer figured in her future. But the truth was, she desperately needed to know. She would - she told herself - let all this pass if she hadn't learnt anything by tomorrow. She was merely doing a little investigating. No more, no less.

Stepping off the transport, Elori made her way directly to the visitors' center. Her walk had purpose now, direction.

She strode over to an information counter where a blue-skinned, red-eyed creature - of the Duros species - sat, watching her vid-screen intently. Elori cleared her throat to announce her presence.

The being looked up, and spoke in a deep raspy voice. "Yeah, can I help you?"

"Yes, in fact I'm here for a funeral. For an old friend. But," she gave a fake chuckle, "I don't know when he died. Or how, for that matter. How would I set about finding out -"

"Where're your parents?" Asked the Duros - who appeared to be female - looking behind Elori, as if searching for a sign of Elori's mother or father.

"Out of town." She growled, beginning to lose patience and spoke louder. "Where can I find this information?"

"Listen kid, I don't know who you are - but you sure have some gall coming down here acting all authoritative-like demanding this information. Lucky for you, I'm having a good day."

'This was a good day?' Elori thought inwardly.

The red eyes gazed intently at her. "You want to traipse down to the center where they keep records of births and deaths." Then she went back to gazing at her vid-screen.

"And what's the name of this place?" Asked Elori, gritting her teeth, trying her damnedest to be polite.

"Eh...Alderaan's Record Center of Births and Deaths. You ain't no genius are you? Take the intercity transport. Get off at stop 21-B."

"I thank you for your sincere effort at cooperation." Elori's voice dripped with sarcasm as she turned away.

* * *

Getting of the transport, she entered a building through a large heavyset door, only to come into a huge metallic grey circular room that contained nothing save for an information desk and smaller doorways, leading to other hallways. It was very quiet - a change that Elori enjoyed, compared to the bustle outside the building. She stepped up to the desk and hoped that this receptionist would not be like the last one. Elori told her the same story she fabricated earlier.

"Well," began the receptionist, "depends when he died. If it was recent, there's a chance that this friend of yours won't be in our records. Let's see, I could refer you to one of our staff. Hold on." She spoke something in another language into her com-console - a language that Elori did not understand - and then informed her that someone called D'Ature would be down to see her soon.

Elori stared at the stark grey walls, wondering why this buildings were devoid of any décor when a short figure entered through one of the doorways nearby. His heavy jowls shook as he shuffled along towards Elori. He was from Sullust. Elori was very tall for her age, but standing alongside this Sullustan, she felt extraordinarily large. She nodded, as he spoke.

"Follow me."

Elori did as told, and followed D'Ature through a labyrinth of corridors and rooms into a small square room that appeared to be his office. There was a vid-screen built into the wall and a control board on an especially small desk. He sat down on his especially small chair, and motioned for Elori to do the same on a similar chair nearby.

"I think I'll stand." she said.

"Suit yourself. Now - to business, yes? This friend of yours, what was his family name?" D'Ature asked.

"I...don't quite recall, but he did pass away about eight years ago. And his first name was Aidan."

"Eight years, yes? Let me see..." He went quiet for a moment as his fingers flew busily across the control board. A few seconds later, he frowned and muttered something inaudible.

"What's wrong?" she asked, curious.

"Problem. This data is restricted."

"Restricted? You mean that name is in your database?" her voice conveyed her excitement.

"Uh...it's in here, but it's restricted for good reasons. Strictly available to members of Alderaan's government only."

Elori's eyes darkened as she spoke, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You want to show me this information. It would be your pleasure to do so." Her voice held an unnatural calm, a calm that could have a strong influence on the weak-minded.

"I want to show you this information, it'd be my pleasure to do so." With that he pressed a button that enlarged the information on the vid-screen and gestured for her to look.

At first, it took some time for Elori's mind to absorb the information she was reading. She mouthed the words silently. Aidan and herself were Alderaan natives. He had been two years younger than her, he had died at the age of five. His family name - her family name too, she corrected - was Damascus. But there was no information as to how he had died. She checked herself immediately. Her Master had told her this before, hadn't he? Then why was she so insistent to knowing more?

"This doesn't tell me anything about his death. Can you bring this information up too?" she pushed.

The Sullustan didn't answer but punched more buttons with his robust fingers. Elori looked up from the control board slowly, trembling inwardly.

"Please read it for me. In Basic, if you will." she instructed.

"Authorized information: restricted to Government personnel only. Aidan Damascus: age three. Physical description. Eyes: black. Hair: black -"

Elori interrupted, "Skip that part. How did he die?"

"It reads here that Aidan had an elder sibling. Both had been tested at birth, and had high midichlorian levels. Hmm...looks like it took some time for authorities to solve this one. The Jedi were on their way to take away both children, but they apparently encountered something that lead to a fight at the Damascus residence. One child was murdered, the other went missing. The rest, I cannot access - seems like it even stretched over to the Jedi Council archives. Jedi business only."

Her Master had told her the truth then. Something within her sunk. She thought that was odd, since that what was she expected.

"Wait," he spoke quietly, "the boy's mother was killed too. Murdered defending her children. Aiyel Damascus. A rising politician. But something's not right here. If the Jedi were truly involved, that would be in here...hold on, an aristocrat by the name of Count Dooku was involved instead. He helped our authorities clear up this mess. That's all I can tell you."

She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply, trying to keep all this from overwhelming her. Control. Control yourself. She had enough time to deal with this later on. But she doubted that she could.

D'Ature lead her out, leaving her standing still with her thoughts amongst the crowd.