It had been a whole week since Nila had met master Obi-Wan Kenobi and from that night on, things had started to go completely awry in her listless life.

First, this absurd fight which could have had serious consequences. That kind of accident simply did not happen to a couple of confirmed Jedi.

Shortly after this, a subtle impression of change had started to float in the air. It felt like a presence, only fainter as though very distant. It would never last long, just a few seconds, sometimes even less. She would suddenly raise her head from the task at hand without apparent reasons drawing curious glances or turn around sharply while walking in the long corridors of the Temple only to find she was alone. And then there had been those dreams… Faces and symbols she had never seen, floating in her mind. Each day found her a little more agitated.

One thing though turned out to be certain: somebody –someone real this time was also keeping a close eye on her. One day as she was looking for a trainee's record, she discovered that hers had been consulted several times. The name of the user was undisclosed but she had little doubt about the identity of her stalker. He obviously did not care about being found out.

At first, Nila had not changed her habits, wishing to see what he would do next. But a week later, things were not any clearer and her patience was wearing thin so Nila decided it was time she had handled things her way.

One evening, an hour or two after curfew, Nila slipped out of the Archives and silently walked down the main gallery a few minutes after a cloaked figure. She took a lift down and another, reckoning they were taking the direction of the Temple's hangar.

Once in the vast vehicle shed, the cloaked shape took its time to choose a transport while she stood tightly shielded behind a craft. But as soon as her mental shields were in place it came back this harrowing impression she had felt in the Archives. It was very distinct this time: as though a thick sheet of icy water surrounded her and slowly pervaded her mind. From what seemed to be miles away she thought she heard a noise.

The phenomenon immediately subsided just as a loud clatter startled her completely out of her trance. Nila frantically searched the hangar's shadow and spotted the launch pad retracting into place and the entrance sliding closed. He was gone.

Nila pressed her knuckles to her temples. What was happening to her? It had felt as though something was standing close, something powerful and sad as slippery and cold as the skin of a fish….

Not wasting another second, Nila activated the opening system and climbed into the nearest air speeder.

It was a quiet mid week evening and in the bar overhanging the city, the few customers scattered in the spacious room sipped their drinks and talked in subdued tones. She spotted him at once. Obi-Wan Kenobi was sitting on his own in a large armchair by the bay window, absently studying the reddish content his glass. He did not grace her with a look as she stood at his side, mute and glaring.

"It took you long enough," he commented flatly, downing his drink in one go.

Their eyes met, sizing up each other in a glance before he motioned the seat across from him almost dismissively.

"I'll have you know that I don't like being stalked, Master Kenobi and that I am not very fond of your manners, Jedi Master or not," Nila finally snapped.

"I am not overly fond of yours either, Knight Sohal. But turn about is fair play, don't you think?"

Slightly confused, Nila stood her ground nonetheless. "I came here because the Temple isn't the best place to have the conversation I want to have with you. Now, I'd like to know why you have been following me constantly this past week."

His eyebrows rose in an exaggerated expression of surprise. "Strange. I'm here for the exact same motive."

"Pardon me?" Nila frowned, understanding less and less. "Why would I do that?"

"You tell me."

Wrong angle of attack Nila reckoned. Obi-Wan Kenobi had the reputation of being one of the best investigators of the Order, if she wanted to learn anything, better smooth things over a bit.

"I am just as puzzled as you, Master. I came here for answers," she admitted more humbly.

His expression remained blank as he fixed a cold calculating gaze on her. "Then what happened the other night?" he eventually said.

Nila could tell that Kenobi was still ticked off but his tone had changed: under the question pierced a subtle expression of uncertainty. Relieved to see she had not imagined things, Nila lowered her guard a little. "We haven't been acting like ourselves lately, have we? I think we didn't meet by chance."

She regretted her words as the pugnacious spark was instantly back in his eyes.

"We finally agree upon something, Knight Sohal, since the data disk I was using is still in your pocket." He leaned back against the booth and crossed his arms on his chest. "And I'd like to know why."

Nila suddenly remembered the old Valayn excerpt. Her hand mechanically patted her cloak's pockets and froze as she realized he was right. With all the events of the precedent week, she had completely forgotten about the disk. Her confidence sagged a notch – oh, she would have a very hard time talking her way out of that one.

"Well, I might point out the fact that if I wanted this text I would have needed to have it translated and you can't do that without Madame Nu's agreement. But I doubt it would suffice," the young woman eventually said. "So, let us say that I'm keeping the disk as a return of favours. Nosing in my record was pushing it, Master."

"I'm glad you bring up the matter," he retorted with a grim smile. "I found out in your record that before your knighthood you were assigned to the Unit under the lead of Master Idriss Rehyu."

"I was. We were monitoring several Families."

Kenobi nodded evasively. The Unit had had a separate status and a rather poor reputation in the Order. The unruliness of the ten members coupled with specificity of their tasks had cut them from the rest of their peers and few had mourned the abrupt end of the Unit's experience.

"Monitoring? I read about a few disciplinary hearings for molesting Senate agents…"

His tone got to her. "You have no idea how to deal with th"

"No," he cut off. "Of course not. Only you knew while the rest of us spent our time chatting over a cup of tea."

Nila sat back, trying to restrain herself.

"And the best is to come..."

"The best?" she inquired rhetorically, hating the sudden weakness in her voice. Her links with the Mob were certainly established in the file. In bold letters.

"Nothing!" Kenobi exclaimed. "Birth place and date – unknown. Birth name – unknown. Parentage – unknown. And it goes on until you reach twelve years of age as if you popped into existence at that point! Who the blast are you?"

The young woman stared at him, stunned. The Council had erased all connections with her past.

"Answer me, Sohal. Why is your record empty?"

"I don't know!" Nila answered forcefully.

He was a master, she owed him respect and to some extent, obedience. But giving her the third degree without even telling her the reason why was in no way part of his prerogatives.

"Try to make an effort, please," he sighed. "I need to know if I can trust you."

Nila had a cheerless smile. "You mentioned a mission on Yavin and nothing had been programmed there for about a year. How can I know if I can trust you?"

A ghost of a smile seemed to flicker on his face.

"Now," she went on. "Are you going to tell me why I am here or will we chat to night away until I guess?"

Obi-Wan Kenobi pressed his lips tightly, looking hesitant all the sudden.

"Our meeting was intentional. In a way," he finally said.

He sensed her intent gaze on him and absently brushed his fingers through the ginger locks framing his face.

"Are you aware of our founding myths, Knight Sohal?"

"Ah. So this is about the Queen's Archive fragment I dropped the other night, isn't it? The prophecy of the Seventh Scroll…"

Easy guess: the Lost Scroll was the center of all the Core World mythology.

Kenobi nodded and announced gravely. "A few days ago we picked up a new trail of the Scroll."

Despite the rhetorical effect, the young woman looked rather unmoved if not bored. "Congratulations. What is the link with me?"

"The Underworld."

Nila Sohal's face blanched and she immediately motioned him to be silent.

"What is it?"

No answer. With her eyes focused on something behind him, she slowly drew her hood over her head. He turned around to discover that a small group of four or five children had walked in the bar. Their faces were pale and gaunt, their sharp eyes gleamed with an alertness to which little escaped. One of them suddenly turned his head in their direction and stared back at the Jedi master. He was young, yet there was something ageless and void in his gaze. The Master stared at the child until he felt Nila give a sharp tug at his sleeve.

"For Force's sake don't do this!" she whispered.

"Are they…?"

"The Children? Yes. The eyes and ears of the Mob. They're doing their daily hunt but this is the first time I've seen them stray from the Families' territory. I wonder what the Families are up to."

"I think we should leave this place before finding out," he said.

She nodded as he rose, drawing his own hood up and walked towards the exit. Nila briefly glanced back in the bar to see five sets of sharp little eyes staring at them. She unconsciously picked up the pace.

Alzo surveyed the Plaza from above his half-finished canvas and nodded to himself. It was a busy, delightful evening. The old Sullustan picked up some cobalt paint from his case and smudged it with a well-practised gesture on the sleek surface of his palette. With a few flicks of his brush, the unctuous texture blended with the white and the red and the gold. Soon, the old painter smiled as he obtained the exact shade of Coruscant's evening sky.

Something was definitively missing though. He put down his brush while his attention flitted back to the crowd and he absently started to wait for something or someone, a gesture, a shift of a fabric, a face standing out of the multitude. He liked to believe in unplanned encounters.

Tonight was different though, he reminded himself. He was on duty and there would be no room for chance. Alzo sighed wearily thinking he was getting too old for this and paid more attention to the crowd.

He did not have do wait too long. She had suddenly appeared in the crowd a few meters away.

What could be so threatening about this young human? She was not spectacular. His eyes followed the line of her jaw delicate but stubborn, straying only for a moment on the dark brown hair pulled in a loosened braid. Her eyebrows arched over large dark eyes among pleasant yet unremarkable features. Almost unconsciously, he started to draw her outline on his sketchpad, trying to capture that ungraspable thing emanating from her…

Not striking, no but something else… with an edge and a charm. Something ageless about her and potent too.

His eyes shifted to the man walking at her side. Taller and perhaps more obviously attractive as a man than she as a woman, her companion seemed to be explaining something, absent-mindedly bending his broader frame toward her as if to convey a point. They were talking a little stiffly and yet, as they strolled in the anonymity of the crowd, it seemed that there was only the two of them.

But humans never knew where to look, did they?

Coming to think of it, the man's clear gaze was strangely familiar to Alzo although he could not have possibly painted his portrait…

A warm breeze swept between the buildings and made their dark cloaks swell and flutter like a sail. Alzo caught the glimmer of laser swords. It was time. Somehow reluctantly, he dropped his brush as planned. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the small form of a child scurry away. There, the signal had been given, his part was over.

"Are you out of your mind!" the woman screeched, stopping cold in the middle of the Plaza. Her outburst made several heads turn their way. She pushed an inexistent lock of dark hair from her face to give herself some composure. The painter chuckled and started to pack up his things. Before returning to his home and his wife, he caught the woman's eyes and addressed a quiet smile to her, forming a silent wish for her.

"Striking a bargain with the Families to get back the Scroll? Honestly," Nila said more discreetly to appease a glaring Kenobi. She watched the wizened Sullustan who had been observing them for a while disappear in the crowd. She secured the cloak around her to make sure it concealed her uniform before returning her attention to the master.

"Even if it's only a strong probability we can't take any risk," he answered shortly as he reached for her elbow and urged her on. She allowed him to lead her for a few steps before disengaging her arm. "Then measure the odds, Master and see what you're risking chasing after a symbol. It's endearing but it will hardly get you anywhere. The Seventh Scroll is only a part of this mythical time of absolute balance in the Force."

Nila remembered the tale her master had told her and the strange awe it never failed to foster. Six scrolls conserved in the forbidden lore of the Jedi Archives in Holocron form gathered the ancestral knowledge of both the Sith and the Jedi.

Three for the light Ashla and three for darkness Bogan .

The Seventh was for the equilibrium between the two sides of the Force.

This Scroll had been lost during the Great Sith War when the ancient world of Ossus had been devastated and the Jedi compelled to move to Coruscant. The origins of this story were lost in time but it had always been whispered that the destiny of the Order was deeply connected with the reappearance of the Scroll. Either a great unification or utter destruction would ensue. All depended on the way it would be used once found.

The usual dramatic bit.

"Fine. Where exactly did you locate it?" she asked with lukewarm interest.

"A place you know well. The Eastern sector of the Lower City."

Her face fell for a second before she got a hold of herself. "Kiel Taev's territory," she murmured.

Then, her face regained its impassibility and her tone became brisk and professional. "Allow me to be frank, Master. Your planning appears so far tremendously chancy. Two main reasons to that. First, ever since Palpatine became Chancellor, the new crime policy is ruthless. All the clans are completely keyed up and if a conflict breaks out now, it will be unstoppable. Secondly, Taev rules one of the 'Big Three'the three most powerful households of Coruscant. He has an upper hand on everything going on in his sector and beyond. No one in the Underworld would stand in his way."

Nila paused, missing the look he was fixing on her. From the slight flush on her cheeks and the gleam in her eyes that had not been there a few minutes ago, he could tell she definitely enjoyed being back to field business. Why this woman was a warden assistant was a mystery to him.

"The danger is real, Master. If disturb the mud at the bottom of the pond, you'll have no ally," she concluded. "The chieftains will never accept a bargain from the Jedi."

"It has happened before if I'm not mistaken."

"Two Families out of nine had an arrangement with the Unit. The Unit was dismissed, end of the agreement."

"Well, the Council decided "

"Oh, of course, if the Council decided…" Nila mimicked with a smirk though she was anything but amused. "And what is your plan once down there? Swagger in and save the day?"

"Well. I won't be alone to er…swagger. It seems."

Her eyes narrowed. Kenobi moved to speak but she threw up a hand. "No, let me guess. The Elders set this up to get me involved whether I like it or not?" she fumed. "But there is a reason why I stay at the Temple. Do you know what those people do when one of them switches sides, screws up one of their major operations and causes some of their best elements to be sentenced to death?"

"I guess they ambush the person during a routine operation and slaughter the majority of the Unit she works with," he replied before saying more gently. "That much was in your report."

Nila looked away. It had been a minor mission indeed… She had spotted the Cleaners too late. There had been the blaster shots that had wrenched Idriss Rehyu's sabre from his hand, the muffled sound of the second impact on his chest, his noiseless fall… There had been nothing to do; he had been gone before he had even hit the floor.

"I do not give you a day down there," the young woman declared slowly. "And I personally have a better use of my time than to barge into my worst enemy's territory."

"Like what? Sorting holobooks? Listen, I was assigned to get back the Holocron, but I admit that I can't do it alone. I think that the outcome of this mission could… well, 'bail you out' of the Archives to practice again permanently."

He hoped he had made a point with his last statement.

"Bail me out to find my head on a stick. An improvement, I'm sure," she grumbled.

"You cannot hide from them indefinitely."

Her jaw tightened. "My decision is unchanged, Master, I'm sorry. If you don't mind, I'd like to go back to the Temple by myself."

He lowered his eyes to the ground. "It's dangerous. Allow me to walk you there; we'll get the speeders later."

The offer was a tad stiff.

"I will be fine. I'm in plain view of the Temple's spires."

He nodded though clearly unconvinced. "Good night, then."

He turned round and within seconds, he was swallowed by the crowd.

Nila rubbed her fingers over her burning lids, wincing as her calluses caught on the sensitive skin. When she opened her eyes, she saw a girl no older than ten, standing still a few meters away in the moving crowd, considering her gravely. By the gaunt aspect of the small face and the alert knowing eyes, there was no mistaking her for a regular kid. A wave of dread coursed through Nila and she searched the crowd to spot the child's mates. But she was alone. Without further notice, the girl turned around and started to walk away. She looked back expectantly as though to make sure the knight took the hint.

Nila found herself falling in step behind her. After all, if they wanted to kill her it would have been done by now and they would have not bothered to send a messenger.

They left the Plaza and went into the narrow streets lined with colourful little shops. She followed until a group momentarily blocked her view and separated her from the child. By the time they cleared the way, the little girl was nowhere to be seen. Nila exhaled exasperatedly and began to retrace her steps.

Suddenly, she paused and turned her head to the left. She saw nothing but a dark passage yet her senses indicated something there. She drew closer, cursing her curiosity and lack of better judgment.

"Well, long time, no see, Knight Sohal," drawled a shape that detached itself from the wall against which it was leaning.

Nila distinctly felt her jaw drop a good inch. Her voice failed her.

"Eru," was all she could murmur.