The next planet they were to visit was definitely the most curious of the bunch, and Dhoril's information only highlighted that. The Shiriat homeworld of Dzhuragh was totally covered in ice and permafrost, it's surface utterly inhospitable to civilisation. The entire species lived below this surface in vast ice caverns that were off limits to nearly all outsiders, the few scattered Republic spaceports the only points of contact. But what was most curious was the Shiriat themselves, if you were lucky enough to meet them in the first place.

When they arrived at the planet and descended into its atmosphere, they were unlucky enough to be greeted with an ice storm enveloping their intended spaceport. The pilots slowly but expertly navigated their way through it, using a combination of the ship's advanced sensors and the Jedi's own Force perception to find the safest path. Eventually they landed. There was no room in the spaceport for an inside hangar, so Laeus and Dhoril were then forced to do up their cloaks as tight as possible and walk from the ship to the door. A mere twenty metres, but Laeus's teeth were chattering by the time they made it inside.

Thankfully, the interior of the spaceport was well-heated. They started to make their way towards the stairs and down to wherever the main hall was, but before they could a thirty-something human man bounded up the stairs to greet them. He was out of breath, having rushed here from his office to not be late for the Jedi, so all three of them collectively stood for a couple of seconds recovering from cold and exhaustion, respectively. Eventually, the man spoke.

"Master Jedi, it is a pleasure to have you with us here at Port Jugur. I'm the portmaster here, my name is Tully Nurik." He held out a hand, and Laeus extended hers in return. She was still cold enough that his hands felt burning in comparison. "If you'll follow me, I shall take you to Chieftain Mikhald." He turned with formality and walked back down the stairs; the Jedi followed him.

For the first couple of flights the stairway was walled in from all sides, but eventually one wall disappeared and Laeus got a good view of the interior of the spaceport from above. For a small port on such an obscure planet it was remarkably well-designed. The place was well-heated, lit and insulated, and felt quite inviting. It was also very open, giving it the impression of being bigger than it was. In fact, it reminded Laeus somewhat of the mid-tier shopping malls on Coruscant, except instead of boutiques and restaurants there were offices, though she spied a small tourist corner with a bar and meeting place.

"An impressive site you've got here Mr. Nurik." The portmaster stopped and turned to see what Laeus was looking at, before understanding.

"Ah, well the Republic financed us well. Though it was less for the spaceport aspect and embassy aspect as much as the expedition aspect."

"Expedition?" Laeus turned back to look at him, puzzled.

"I forgot to inform you of that Master Laeus, my apologies," Dhoril interjected. "The Republic runs an archaeological operation here, hence the extra finance."

"Well, it's less archaeology and more archiving, really," Nurik explained. "We catalogue and preserve Shiriat culture, since they don't do it themselves."

"Is that so?" Laeus was intrigued.

"Yes, they barely record anything. Our operation archives their culture, stories, biographies, society, daily lives, it's all very interesting. Though admittedly quite difficult, given how they are. But I could talk about Shiriat culture forever, it's best we actually go and meet them."

So they did. Nurik led them down the remaining stairs and across the open hall of the port. On the other side was a big set of double doors which the portmaster pushed open to reveal a strangely furnished antechamber. It was set up like a conference room, except half the furniture was for normal humanoids and half was… not. A big table was placed in the centre, and on the other side of it was the Shiriat delegation. They were birds.

There was no other way of putting it, the Shiriat were big sapient birds. They stood on two clawed feet and reached up to about the height of a somewhat small human, with the body shape of a regular wild bird one could find on many worlds. They had two wings, currently tucked in, a pointed beak and two beady eyes on the side. These eyes were keenly evolved, and their heads jerked about to look at things though could remain remarkably steady. The most alien thing about them was that their tail could act almost as a third leg; the feathers could clump together to become strong enough to carry their own weight, and they could lean back on it if they needed to use their claws. Their feathers were entirely black, as was the beak, though they had tribal markings painted on them in red, orange, and yellow to distinguish them. When they moved and their feathers ruffled, the markings seemed to shift and twist with them, so that while walking or flying their body appeared to possess constantly flowing coloured patterns amidst the deep black of their surrounding body.

At the head of the group was the chieftain, who was painted in the most complex and important patterns. He also wore a decorated skull as a primitive headpiece and carried a staff in one claw, which he had propped up vertically while he used his tail to keep himself steady. As the Jedi entered, he walked forward to meet them. Most of the time the species walked on two legs like normal birds, but when carrying something like this he used a combination of his leg, the staff, and his tail to move. He stopped in front of the three humans and Nurik spoke first, bowing slightly.

"Grand Chieftain Mikhald, these are the Jedi."

Before the chieftain replied, he leant back fully on his tail and used his other claw to take hold of an electronic device that was hanging on his staff. It was circular, but open, with the two halves hanging on a hinge. He took it off and placed it around his neck, the halves clicking together and the device activating. Now he spoke, but when he did only cawing sounds came out of his beak. The Shiriat could not speak Basic and abhorred droids, so instead the collar device translated what he was saying in his own language and repeated it in the general one. It even managed to repeat it in something close to a distinct accent custom to the user.

"Greetings. We go to Vorc nest. You follow." He didn't say any more than that before he started walking again, going straight past the humans and out the door. His delegation, five of them, followed him without another word. Filing out, one of the birds turned its head and cawed at them, nodding its head towards the chief to prod them to keep up. As the two Jedi stood in confusion at the extremely curt introduction, Nurik turned to explain, seeming a bit embarrassed.

"I must apologise. The Shiriat… well, they don't like to give much time to outsiders."

"I have heard," said Dhoril, "though he said we will be going to the Vorc nest. Does he mean within their territory?"

"Why yes, I believe so, actually. You're very lucky, normally outsiders never get to go into the caverns. I've never even been down there myself, and I've been portmaster here for five years."

"Well, we should be thankful then," said Laeus, before wincing.

"Indeed. Um, we should catch up with them," Nurik suggested.

"Of course." And with that, the three walked quickly out of the conference room and back into the hall, moving to catch up with the Shiriat group who were well on their way to the access lift that led down into the caverns beneath the spaceport.

The access lift was a cold metal box that felt distinctly like a service elevator. The doors were simple reflective metal which rattled open when one of the Shiriat used the access pad. The delegation filed in, and the humans went to follow, but when the grand chieftain turned around he cawed sharply.

"Not Nurik. Nurik stay." Nurik seemed a bit taken aback, but then quickly accepted that he would not get to go down this time either.

"Fine, fine, you go on without me master Jedi."

"Sorry about this," Laeus apologised, "but if it's what they want…"

"No no, it's fine, I'm used to it, they never want me down there. Just goes to show how privileged you two are, eh?"

"Correct," Mikhald interjected. "Outsiders untrustworthy, rare occasion. You behave."

"Certainly, chieftain," Laeus replied, adopting a calm and respectful manner, "as you lead."

The metal doors clattered shut and the access lift whirred down the shaft and into the caverns below.

The lift was rudimentary, and Laeus could see the metal framework of the shaft through small gaps in the grating. It wasn't long before they reached the cavern floor and the Shiriat delegation turned around to exit the lift on the other side. Laeus did too, and when the doors opened to reveal the Shiriat homeland she nearly gasped.

The caverns were huge, ascending up at least a hundred metres and spanning out even further in all directions. In the distance Laeus could see massive tunnels that led deeper into their territory where the various tribes resided. But what was most awe-inspiring about the place was not its size, but its composition. For the caverns were not naturally formed rock, but painstakingly carved ice. All the caverns where the Shiriat lived were carved out of the enormously thick crust of ice that covered the planet. It reached miles down and remained frozen all year round, allowing the species to carve out their homes and lands from within without worrying about space or meltwater. So the entire species lived, inhospitable as the surface was, in these caverns that stretched underneath nearly a quarter of the planet.

Chieftain Mikhald, without even checking with his guests, started to walk again. His entourage followed him, and so did the Jedi, who kept glancing about as they walked, trying to take in the immensity. Eventually though, Laeus walked to the front to ask the chief something. One of the delegation turned around sharply as she approached, as if she was some threat that had come out of nowhere. He crouched down ready to spring and blocked her way.

"I just want to speak to the grand chieftain," she explained calmly. Upon hearing this, Mikhald turned around and squawked at his guard, at which the whole group stopped.

"Let Jedi pass," his collar translated. The delegate reluctantly stepped aside and allowed Laeus forward. Mikhald turned around and kept walking with Laeus alongside, and the rest of the group started up again.

"Chieftain Mikhald, you mentioned that we were going to the Vorc nest, yes?"

"Yes."

"I take it that's one of the tribal villages?"

"Correct. Vorc homeland."

"And is it far?"

"Yes. We take transport." Mikhald nodded his head forward, using his beak to point at something in the distance. Laeus hadn't seen it before, but now she could see a simple hover-transport waiting for them ahead. It made sense, the caverns connecting important chambers were very long and it could sometimes take hours to walk between them. They kept walking until they reached it, whereupon the delegation climbed aboard. Laeus and Dhoril did so as well, but after a few seconds the driver turned around and made frustrated calls to Mikhald, who then turned to the Jedi.

"Too heavy. Cannot fly." He then looked at Dhoril specifically. "You get off. Heaviest outsider." Laeus and Dhoril exchanged glances, before Laeus spoke in return.

"With respect chieftain, couldn't one of your group get off? Couldn't they fly themselves?"

"No. Heavy Jedi get off." Laeus didn't want to protest more, but Dhoril spoke up before she could concede.

"With respect chieftain," he began, his voice slower than usual, "it is highly advisable to have me present. Master Laeus does not possess much knowledge of your culture, whereas I do. I am here to advise on how to conduct ourselves around you and how to properly respect your people. If I am forced to wait behind there is a greater risk of a misunderstanding, and we would not want an incident between us." Mikhald took a second to respond this time.

"No. I can advise behaviour."

"But surely you won't want to be doing all that yourself chieftain? We recognise you have more important things to deal with, I would be happy to take over all diplomatic responsibility." Mikhald waited even longer this time, and occasionally glanced at his entourage and back at the Jedi.

"Fine," he said this time, "you can ride." He then turned to his party and cawed a few orders at them, telling some of them they would have to fly. They seemed unwilling to give up their seats to outsiders and be forced to fly the whole way, but they submitted to their chieftain's will. They disembarked, and with less weight the transport took off and flew into one of the great ice tunnels.

They rode in silence through the tunnel. It was almost as big as the chamber they had arrived in, possibly fifty metres in diameter, and was almost completely featureless. While certainly beautiful in the way it reflected the light in its glassy blue surface, this grew old very quickly and the view became uninteresting. Only the occasional chunk of ice stuck out from the sides to break the monotony of the tunnel's rough walls and ceiling. Laeus could easily imagine that growing up here it was nothing special at all, but making them was work that had taken the species millennia of their history, and some of the oldest tunnels had stood for so long none could remember how old they were. They were definitely impressive from an engineering viewpoint, but Laeus was not an engineer and could only appreciate the idea.

When the transport finally exited the tunnel an hour later and came out into the Vorc home territory, Laeus finally got to see for herself exactly how the Shiriat lived. The Vorc nest, so the entire village was called, was located in an ice chamber even bigger than the one they had entered in. Many wooden buildings stood scattered about on the ground, most not that high but all adorned with perches and entryways at every floor. Their infrastructure buildings were kept on the ground, but their way of life was as vertical as it was horizontal, and homes for individual families lined the sides all the way up to the roof, from which hung more wooden constructions that were so far up Laeus could not tell if they were for decoration or utility.

The transport touched down in the centre of the village. Alighting onto the cold hard ground, they were greeted by yet another group of Shiriat, led by one also bearing complex patterns and carrying a symbolic staff, yet not quite so complex and symbolic as Mikhald's. The new individual greeted the grand chieftain in reverential tones and bowed slightly. He then turned to the Jedi, taking off another translation collar from his staff and putting it round his neck.

"Greetings," he began, "I am Chieftain Vesrin of Vorc tribe. You come for hatchling, yes?"

"That's right," Laeus confirmed.

"You stay. I bring parents." Without another word the chieftain took off into the air, heading towards one of the grottos embedded in the side of the cavern. When he was gone, Laeus made a side comment to Dhoril.

"I get the feeling we're invoking all sorts of power structures with our visit."

"It's more than just the visit Master Laeus, the handing over of one of their children to the Jedi has not taken place in… well, I cannot remember exactly how long, but not since before my time."

"Are Force-sensitives rare for them, or…?"

"I don't believe so. No rarer than average for most species in the galaxy. But for the Shiriat they nearly always choose to keep the children and raise them as shamans in their society."

"So why not in this case?"

"I don't know. And considering their attitude to outsiders, in my opinion it would be best not to ask."

As Dhoril finished speaking, Chief Vesrin arrived back. On his tail were two more Shiriat, and in one of their beaks was a basket. They landed, and Laeus moved forward cautiously.

"May I?" She asked. Vesrin stepped aside and jerked his head to the basket, which Laeus assumed was a yes.

She moved to it slowly. On reaching it, she moved her hands slow and gentle so as not to startle the parent, who stood there with their beady eyes fixated on her.

In the basket was a bundle of cloths concealing something underneath. She carefully pulled them back to reveal the Shiriat hatchling underneath.

It was a curious sight, even for one who had seen so much as her. The hatchling was small, about the size of a tall drinking glass, and very scrawny. Its body was thin, its legs and wings jutting out at awkward angles. It was also extremely scruffy, its feathers ruffled and pointing every which way. It shifted about in the basket, turning itself onto its sides and jerking its head about in various directions, apparently trying to sleep but discomforted by all the noise and movement. What was most striking about it though was its colour. Unlike the prevailing black plumage of the adults, the hatchling was a deep red. Most of its feathers were this deep crimson, with only the beak and the eyes the same colour as its parents, though patches of its feathers were darker, already tending towards the black that would develop with age. Laeus watched it shift about in the basket and was overcome with a strong protective urge for the chick. It was quite helpless, and quite cute in a way.

As she was looking at the youngling, she heard Vesrin make a short sound.

"Carvax."

"Pardon?"

"Name of hatchling. Carvax Vorc."

"Ah, I see. Thank you."

She gently put the cloth back over the baby and stepped back. She then turned to Mikhald.

"Is it ok if we take the child now? We prefer to make this process as quick as possible."

Mikhald and Vesrin turned to each other, then cawed at each other a few times in a brief communication. After deciding, Mikhald turned back to Laeus and agreed.

"Fine. Take child, we return."

Laeus bowed slightly to him in thanks, then turned back to the parent. She reached out and took hold of the basket, but when she pulled to take it from their beak she felt resistance. The parent was reluctant to let go. Laeus pulled a little harder, but was only met with more resistance, and what might have been a small growl from the back of the throat. Vesrin made a few sharp caws to the parent, after which they slowly released their grip. Laeus took the basket into her arms, and bowed to the parent in thanks again, lower this time for extra humility. She backed away and turned back to the transport. Behind her she heard the parent make another noise, though this time it sounded more like a whine.

The Jedi boarded the transport in silence, and Mikhald and his entourage boarded with them, taking off back into the tunnel it had arrived through. As they left, Laeus's gaze lingered back to the village under the ice before it disappeared from view.

They arrived back at the lift shaft connecting the caverns to the spaceport and took it in silence. The noise of the ascent disturbed the hatchling more, but Laeus soothed it through the basket with the Force. The presence of the Force was a universally calming thing, any child regardless of species was soothed by it. All Jedi fosterers knew this and used it often to make caring for the younglings easier. Juvhal would often remark that the Jedi nursery was the only nursery in the galaxy where it was quiet more often than it was noisy.

When they exited at the spaceport, Mikhald and his guards did not exit with them.

"We part now. Goodbye Jedi."

"Goodbye Chieftain Mikhald, thank you for your hospitality." Mikhald said nothing further, his gaze just lingered a bit more on the Jedi before he ordered his guards to start the descent again.

"Not very talkative for birds, are they?" Laeus remarked.

"They are certainly skilled at doing the bare minimum of socialising," Dhoril admitted.

"To outsiders, at least."

As the two made their way out with the hatchling, they heard footsteps behind them and heard Nurik's voice again.

"Master Jedi! Master Jedi…" he paused to catch his breath for a second time after running to catch up to them. "Are you leaving?"

"Yes," said Dhoril, "we have completed our task and now we depart."

"Ah, well…" Nurik seemed disappointed, "… are you sure you don't want to stay a bit longer to see our display on Shiriat society. We have a small museum of sorts, or an exhibition I suppose, I'm sure you'd find it fascinating."

"I'm sure we would portmaster Nurik, but I'm afraid we are on a schedule, we do not have time for digressions."

"Ah, well… I suppose that's understandable. Jedi are busy people I suppose."

"Thank you for understanding," Laeus said to him, "perhaps when we're not so busy we could make a trip here, eh Dhoril? I'm sure seeing an authentic display would be much better than reading about it in the archives."

"Certainly. But another time, we must be off."

"Ok then. Well, thanks for coming, it was an honour." Nurik made to bow, Laeus's thoughts flashed back to Wereldam.

"Thank you for having us, Nurik. Goodbye" she said with finality. The Jedi finally split from the portmaster, who watched them go, and headed back to the ship. The blizzard had cleared while they'd been gone, and as the pilots took off into the icy air, Laeus could see the frozen expanse of the planet's surface out the window. It stretched on into the distance, flat and featureless, with the sky above it similarly pale blue and empty as space. Though in the distance she could make out black dots circling in the air, three of them in one direction and more small groups in others. She only had a small amount of time to look at them before the ship ascended too high to see them anymore, but asking Dhoril later he told her that they were Shiriat hunters, soaring in the cold air and watching for prey in the snow below them.


Landing again at the temple, Laeus walked the route she had pretty much memorised by now back to the nursery. A fosterer and a care droid were already in the room when she entered. The fosterer noticed and came up to meet her, and Laeus noticed that she was the same fosterer who had met her when she had first got back to the temple with Khylla, and then again with the Barrolay twins.

"Oh, is that the Shiriat youngling?"

"Yes, it is," Laeus smiled.

"I've never seen one of their species before. May I?"

"Ah, just let me put him down first." The fosterer stood aside and Laeus walked over to the special crib, more of a nest, which had been prepared for the hatchling. She unfolded the cloths in her arms, revealing the red-hued bird inside, and gently laid them down. Upon being set down the hatchling woke up and got to its feet, or rather stumbled and scrambled onto its feet, then walked about awkwardly. A couple of times it tried to fly, but having not even mastered its legs was nowhere near doing that. Laeus and the other fosterer watched it for a bit, somewhat fascinated by it.

"It's quite cute, I think," the fosterer said. Laeus looked over at her. She was young and had long, straight brown hair. Laeus didn't know her personally, but she knew she hadn't been in the nursery even a year yet.

"I agree. But try not to think of him as a pet, will you?" This took the fosterer by surprise, and she turned her head from Laeus to the hatchling and back again a few times.

"What? Oh, why I, well I wouldn't, ah…"

"He's a sapient just like us. He won't be as expressive as he grows up, in his face or language, but he's no less intelligent. I'm guessing you haven't dealt with non-humanoids yet?"

"Ah, no. Master Juvhal keeps me working with the most common younglings, says I need more experience."

"Well, he's right. But, while caring for younglings is our primary duty here, that's not a special skill. Our expertise is our adaptivity, being able to take care of any species, no matter how different than our own. And, with all respect to Master Juvhal, you won't get that expertise just caring for humans and Twi'leks. You want to help raise this one?"

"Oh, um, well I don't know. I mean, it certainly-"

"He. Not it."

"Sorry, he… certainly is cute, but… I don't know if I could fully take care of him. I mean, I don't know how."

"None of us do, a Shiriat hasn't been accepted into the order in many years. We can follow the guides in the archives, but ultimately we need to understand the youngling as an individual. And we can only do that by spending time with them. So how about it? I'll be taking care of all the younglings in this room, but I'll need help. Want to help me?"

"I… well, yes. Uh, yeah, I'd be happy to. Yes, I do." Her voice grew more sure with each sentence, and Laeus smiled.

"Great. What's your name?"

"Burjen. Burjen Fields."

"Burjen Fields… were you born on Dantooine by any chance?"

"Wha… how did you know that?"

"The name, the face, it's very Dantooine. Plus, you were a youngling once, weren't you? So you would have passed through here." Burjen didn't say anything, but just looked at Laeus in admiration. Laeus just smiled again. "I have only one more youngling to collect tomorrow, and then I'll talk to Master Juvhal about getting you as my assistant with this group." The young fosterer stopped staring, smiled and nodded affirmatively. "Well, I'll leave you to watch over them. Farewell Burjen."

Laeus left the room with a goodbye smile and returned to her room once again. Tomorrow would be the last excursion, and then the real journey of caring for the younglings would begin.