Gifts
Everyone slept late the next day, as seemed to be an accepted part of festival tradition. After all, it had been a long few days. Indeed; shortly after his conversation with Ysella on the doorstep, Ben had fallen fully and deeply asleep where he sat. So much for his intention to maintain a vigilant eye open for his pursuers – anything could have happened while he slumped there, oblivious. Fortunately, nothing had, and if any Jedi were in the town that evening they stayed far away from the festivities. A few hours later, as the festival wound down, Shaarm and Pakat had carried Ben and Tiki, both asleep, back up to the Dhosana enclave on the top of the hill, with Ooouli, Falayan, Yalani and Ysella at their sides. Everyone had collapsed gratefully side by side in the sleep room for several blissful hours, uninterrupted by fear or nightmares.
Peace, however, was not long lived. Falayan had woken them all around 10 turns, bouncing around the sleeping room and shrieking like an incoming TIE fighter. Ooouli and Tiki were soon also leaping about in excitement, their parents dragged out of their beds shortly afterwards and soon the entire household was awake, stumbling sleepily one by one through the 'fresher and out into the living area of the house. Ben took his own turn in the 'fresher and then braided the girls' manes for them, weaving the tiny beads and charms into the fur, while the other adults made tea or dressed.
Shaarm was one of the first ready, and after a quick farewell she left them, returning across the town to her patient at the medcentre. She would return later, she assured them, with any further news. They mustn't worry. Falayan also disappeared a short while after; apparently he didn't think much of Yalani's cooking and usually went around the enclave enjoying breakfast at several different apartments before he would return at some point later in the day to receive his Kel-Marr gifts. To Ben's surprise, Pakat agreed to Tiki's mumbled request, and let her and Ooouli go along with the boy. The girls were often separated from their age mates by the isolation of their home out by the moor, Pakat explained to Ben. It was good for the children to experience other homes and cultures and be with other children where possible. And it would be good for Pakat to experience an extra few hours in bed.
Although he quite seriously considered doing the same thing, Ben found his mind was too wakeful and unsettled to attempt more sleep. Even through his weak, cold and numbed state, the previous day had been an exhausting whirlwind of emotions. Some good, though not all. There had been fear, of course, guilt and uncertainty too, and frustration, all mixed up with the wonder and relief and love he had felt. And as the Force began to stir in him as he slowly regained his strength, Ben was starting to feel again a sense of disquiet. Whether that was a warning sent by the renascent curl of the Force unfurling in his chest, or if it was just his own mind becoming aware of how close he had come to death once more, he could not be certain. Perhaps the disquiet was the Force. Ben could feel the echoes of the damage he had done deep in his mind. When he tried to touch that bright current, his grip felt shaky and weak, like it would give out at any second. Like resting one's weight on a broken bone or overstretching torn joint. Not painful, precisely, but frail and unsteady. He dared not use the Force, not yet, for fear it would shatter entirely. He needed to rest. Reinforce the damaged part, shore up that weakness. Somehow.
His hosts spent the morning otherwise engaged. While Pakat napped, Yalani set about preparing a meal with a great deal of gusto. Ysella was occupied on some private matter of her own elsewhere; Ben had thought she seemed tired and drained this morning, and could almost sense her pain. The walk to the town had been a long one for her as well.
Ben retreated alone to the garden room he had first entered and took a seat on one of the low mats. He didn't really know what he was doing, but some powerful instinct was scratching at the back of his mind, telling him that he had to try and centre himself somehow or this feeling of dislocation, of weakness, of being overwhelmed and adrift all at once was going to only get worse. Still uncertain, he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. Nothing happened at first as he instinctively tried to push a connection through the damaged pathways in his brain. That hurt, and it didn't work either. Instead, he relaxed, not trying to touch the Force but just letting himself sink into it. Better. The Force drifted, slowly at first, across his consciousness like waves, ebbing and flowing through the essence of his being with the tide of his breaths. He loosened his hold on awareness, letting himself be washed along with it like driftwood. There was warmth here, and comfort and purpose, though he sensed the currents of the Force were deep and unknowable, and at any moment he could slip beneath its surface and drown. But there was no fear. There was only the Force.
Actually, that was not entirely true. There was not only the Force. There was, not a voice, perhaps, but a presence here. A feeling of intent. A sense of searching, of hunting. He had awoken something here, deep in the flux of the Force. An eagerness. A hunger. His mind touched another, just for a moment, and he fled, far away.
It felt like he had been lost in the flood of the Force for an age when Yalani woke him from his slow contemplations with a touch to the shoulder. Ben came back to awareness, blinking. Only a single turn had passed. He was in the apartment in the Dhosana enclave in Tszaaf, and breakfast was ready. Ben followed the Dhosan male into a small eating room he had not yet seen, lost in thought. He felt improved. Stronger in himself and his sense of the Force was more complete than it had been in days. The damage inside his head was still there, but he had worked around it. It was like he had splinted the weak limb, until it could heal on his own.
But that hadn't been the sole purpose of Ben's search of the Force. He had hoped to gain some sort of insight from his meditations. Guidance, perhaps, on what he should do or where he should go. What to make of that low note of undefined foreboding that he could now feel humming through him, or of how to hide from the Jedi when they returned to Thet. What that searching essence might be which had brushed so ephemerally against his mind before he had fled from it. But he had found no answers. No signposts telling him to take this path, or that. Was that even how the Force worked? He honestly didn't know. Perhaps he was still just too weak to sense it properly. What he had found, though, was a new sense of clarity, of focus. The Force, whatever it was, was his ally. He must allow it to guide him, where possible. And if it wasn't possible, well, then he must make his own decisions as carefully and as tactically as he could. Yes, he was concerned about what they would find when they returned to Thet. But he would not let that fear consume him.
He wondered, for perhaps the hundredth time, where the lightsaber was, but there was no chance to get Pakat alone to ask. The adults ate their meal together in a small dining room. No chairs, of course, but Ben was content to sit on the floor to one side of the tall table. It was a quiet mealtime; Ysella and Ben were both lost in their thoughts and the children were absent, out playing with their new friend. Yalani and Pakat held a hushed conversation about the events which had happened in Thet and out on the moor, though Ben noticed the Kheelian mentioned nothing of the Jedi or Ben's lost memories. As Ben choked down yet another cup of raw lizard's eggs, the conversation turned to what the Third Night of Kel-Marr would entail. No procession tonight, although they would again all make the long walk down to the town as the townsfolk gathered together to see the moon reappear at end of the eclipse. But that was later in the evening; first the day was usually spent visiting neighbours and friends in the town, attending performances of art or poetry, and the children in a household traditionally received presents from their parents and relatives.
The others rose from the table one by one to clear away the dishes or engage in other household tasks but Ben remained where he was for the moment, lost in thought. He recalled Ooouli's halting, uncertain words from the previous day, her concerns that Tiki would miss out on a 'real' festival because they were away from home and the family was divided, uprooted. This certainly could not have been within anyone's idea of what a proper festival would entail.
Ben mentioned his concerns to Pakat, but the Kheelian tried to reassure him.
"Do not concern yourself, Ben, it cannot be helped, and I know the children understand that. If we had known, of course, that we would be away for the entire festival, we would have brought some of the children's presents and decorations with us, to make them feel more at home. It was just unfortunate timing. Ooouli is a good girl; she understands that Nenka's needs had to come first, and if Ooouli is content then Tiki will be too. You are not asking because of the gift-giving, are you? Honestly, there is no need to provide anything; the gifts are just trinkets really, small tokens. I expect we will have a small celebration when we are back at home, and the children can have their gifts then. When we are all together."
Ben nodded, though he thought he detected something more in Pakat's tone. The Kheelian still looked tired and a little stressed. It had been clear from the start that Pakat was far less comfortable with complex social situations than either Chana or Shaarm would have been. He was coping, but the intricacies of his research or the isolation of the moors suited him far better than managing a sick human, several lively children and their sometimes prickly Dhosana hosts without either of his more confident spouses to take the lead.
With this in mind, Ben asked; "And you? How are you feeling?"
Pakat gave a little laugh and a slightly sad twist of smile. "I am fine. But I do wish Chana was here," he said.
"Me too," Ben agreed. "And Grandmother. But we'll see them again soon."
Pakat went off them to help Yalani with some task, but Ben couldn't help but continue to turn the situation over in his mind. Lack of activity was starting to eat at him again. Until they learned more of the situation back at Thet there was little he could do and that chafed at him. He inevitably returned to his standard pastimes of thinking and worrying. Guilt, he supposed, was the root of that. Guilt at his role in stirring up the narms, of failing to anticipate the danger to Nenka, of somehow drawing these Jedi to him. Guilt at uprooting the Kheelians and forcing them apart on this one day when they should be together.
But enough. He would not wallow in self-pity. That achieved nothing. He could not reverse time, restore the Kheelians to their homes. He could only learn from his mistakes and protect them from this point on. Show them how much he appreciated their unconditional acceptance of him. And not just the adults - Pakat was right; Ooouli had a kind and generous heart, and Tiki a level of perception and curiosity that belied her years. He was not sure he believed in luck, but something beneficent had been at work when his weaving path through the universe had crossed with theirs.
Ben shoved his hand into his pocket as he thought. His fingers brushed against the now familiar metal of the suppression bracelet and then closed over something unexpected. He drew out the two small stones he had shaken out of his boot the previous night and stared at them. Pale, almost white, and smoothed round by the action of some long-ago river.
Hmm.
Ben found Yalani in one of the hydroponics bays, standing up on his back legs as he tended an ugly succulent with bulbous purple fleshy leaves like bruised fingers hanging from an overhead trough. Across the room, Pakat was crouched beneath a humidifier, fiddling with the controls and humming. Ben caught Yalani's attention and explained his request, but the Dhosan only looked puzzled. He explained that all of his precision tools were in his workshop back at the medcentre. But there was a Dhosan in the compound who created art sculptures from engraved glass and transparisteel. He might have tools of the type that Ben needed. Ben should really ask Ysella.
The directions Yalani gave were rambling and vague, but Ben eventually found his way down several winding corridors back to the large common room with the climbing plant pillars. Ysella was there, pulling on the large loose coat she had worn the previous night, clearly about to go out. She waited as he explained what he had in mind, and what he was looking for.
"Yalani mentioned an artist, Katapti, who might be able to lend me the right kind of tool?"
Ysella considered him with that odd, side-on look. "Yes. I should think Katapti may have tools that could do such a task. But he would not lend them to an outsider I am afraid, and besides, your hands are too small to use Dhosana tools. He might do the work you want for you as a commission, if you could offer sufficient payment."
Ben frowned. This whole thing was meant only to be a nice gesture for the children and now it was becoming rather more complicated. There were still the credits that Shaarm was storing for him, but he still had no knowledge of how to access them, so that wouldn't do. Ysella was still watching him and no doubt drawing her own conclusions about his situation.
"Perhaps you have something to offer as trade?" She suggested, but Ben again shook his head. He had ever fewer possessions than he did credits: the clothes on his back, a fake Ident card, the suppression cuff. He thought briefly of the lightsaber. It would be wonderfully symbolic to trade the weapon for an artist's skills, to exchange a mechanism of death for children's trinkets. The thought was delightfully civilised. But no, he did not seriously consider it, even for a second. Whatever the Dhosana might think of him, he would never be responsible for allowing such a dangerous thing fall into the hands of the innocent.
"I really don't have anything, I'm afraid," Ben said. "Never mind, it was a foolish thought. I'm sorry that I interrupted you."
Ysella seemed torn for a moment. Perhaps she was warming to him after their talk to previous night, or maybe she merely approved of his plan. Whichever it was, she suddenly said;
"He owes me a favour, you know. Katapti. I might be persuaded to use it for you, if you could offer me something in a currency that I value. You come from a different culture to mine, a different place. I asked you last night who you are. Tell me of yourself, or part of your people's history. Even a folk tale. That would be my price."
Ben felt suddenly bereft then, destitute, as he had not felt for a long time. Being without credits or possessions was of no real concern to him – he would find a way to survive. But being without his past, his identity? It was that which truly made him a pauper. The Kheelians had filled much of the void his lost memories had left within him, but the emptiness was still there, nonetheless. He cleared his throat and made a decision.
"I am afraid you have chosen yet another currency in which I am deficient. As much as I would wish it otherwise, I have nothing of my people to offer you either. I... I have no memory of my life before I arrived in Thet."
Ysella stared. She made to speak, then stopped. She stared again.
"Is that true?" She eventually asked.
Ben nodded. "Every word."
Her eyes widened. "Then that sounds like a rare tale, indeed. I would very much like to hear it. Tell me how you came to be here and it will be more than sufficient payment, I am certain."
And so Ben told her everything. It was a relief, in a way, to just let all the hiding and secrecy go, for a little while. To share it all with someone who found it as strange and bewildering as he did. Someone who had maybe once felt as lost and isolated among this new culture as he himself had, even if only for a moment. Ysella was a good audience too; she listened, wide eyed, with her head tilted to one side, first sitting, and then eventually lying down on her forelegs as the story lengthened.
Two things only did Ben keep to himself; the lightsaber and the Force. For obvious reasons he knew she would not approve of the weapon and he had no desire to restart that argument a second time. And as for the Force... well, for one thing he knew Ysella would not believe in it. She would be as sceptical as Chana and Pakat had been and, like them, she would demand proof, demonstrations. The thought of it made him...uneasy. The Force felt such an integral part of him now; more private, more intimate than his own body. It was not his to display or flaunt; a conjuring trick exhibited for the benefit of the cynical. It was beyond belief or disbelief – it simply was. And it was the only real thing he had. His one true possession.
It took some time for the tale to come to an end – longer than Ben had intended. Perhaps half a standard turn passed as he told of his awakening, his constant battles with injury and the search for the crashed ship. Then came the narms and the flight to Thet, the negotiations on the moor, Nenka's injuries and the arrival of Jedi in the night. Ysella was silent throughout, asking no questions and she remained silent after he finished speaking. After a moment, she said, quietly;
"You lost...everything. Your past, your people. Your history. How can you bear it?"
Ben smiled. "I bear it because I must. What other choice do I have? Besides, there is much that I have found, too."
Ysella was silent again for a moment.
That is quite an extraordinary tale," she concluded, at last. "Quite unlike anything I have heard before. Were you not standing here in front of me, I should call it a work of fiction. But I have seen your injuries and heard the talk of the Kheelians who were attacked by narms, so I know there is truth in it. I wish we were not in the middle of that tale now, so that I was able to hear how it all ends. But one thing I do not understand – why are these Jedi pursuing you? Or is their arrival nothing more than coincidence?"
"I don't know," Ben said. "But the galaxy is too large, I think, for me to believe in coincidence. Do you have stories of the Jedi in your own tales?"
"No, I am afraid not." Ysella answered, to his disappointment. "Nothing other than their involvement in the War, and to be honest, even then I had thought them little more than a myth."
"They are real. Shaarm saw them," Ben said. "At the peace parade."
"Did she?" Ysella said, surprised. "Another story I shall have to hear. But I give thanks, to you, Ben. That tale was indeed a rare gift. I have no doubt you shall one day regain all that you have lost. I will see Katapti now, and he may have your task completed by the end of the day."
It was, in fact, even sooner than that. Ysella returned by mid afternoon, holding a small velveteen bag, which she passed to Ben with a wink. The girls and Falayan had returned perhaps a turn before and were playing some sort of ball game outside in the courtyard with Pakat. Ben waited patiently until there seemed to be a lull in the game before he called the girls over. They came scampering up and proceeded to shower him with affection, patting his head and untidy hair. He led them inside to the garden room before kneeling down and holding out the bag. Both of the children sat so they were more on a level with Ben. Tiki glanced at Ooouli, uncertain, but the older girl was looking curious.
"I hear that it is traditional to give gifts during the Kel-Marr festival," he said, glancing at Patak. "I am afraid I have very little to give. These are just small tokens, to show that...well, to put it simply, I feel honoured that your paths through this existence somehow, against all odds, intersected with mine. You are both quite extraordinary, and I am richer for your trust and affection and the kindness of your hearts. All the things that have happened to me, everything I have lost...I believe they were a fair price to pay."
The children looked stunned and when he saw Pakat wipe at his eyes, Ben wondered if he had been a little too honest. He held out the bag, first to Ooouli and then to Tiki. They reached in and then opened their hands. In each child's open palm lay a white stone bead, carved from a river pebble. They were simple in design, spherical and carved with clean lines. Ooouli's had three thin bands etched around the centre and Tiki's a pattern of seven small circles. The artist, Katapti, had done a perfect job.
"They are carved from stones from the moor, where I came from." Ben said. "I hoped that they might remind you to always seek out good things from bad places."
"Oh, Ben!" Ooouli beamed, beyond delighted. "It is so lovely! It looks like the moon."
"Want to wear it!" Tiki insisted, holding the bead back out towards Ben. "Please?"
"Of course," Ben agreed. He took the beads back and pulled left arm free of its sling. Carefully he braided a strand of the girls' manes behind each right ear. The white beads, woven into the strands, glimmered against their pale fur like water droplets. The girls admired each other's plaits, delighted, and then turned back to Ben.
"We give thanks!" Ooouli said, formerly, but with a grin.
"Thanks!" Tiki echoed.
"Girls, did you not have something for Ben, too?" Pakat reminded them.
"Oh, I forgot. Just a minute!" Ooouli dashed off, and returned a moment later with a folded-up piece of paper. She handed it to Tiki, who thrust it at Ben, shyly.
"Gift," said the younger girl, simply.
Ooouli added; "This is from Tiki and me. I know grown-ups do not get gifts but Tiki says you are lonely sometimes, without your memories. So we painted a memory for you."
Ben unfolded the paper, expecting to see a self-portrait of simple figures or perhaps a depiction of the house by the moor. It was indeed a painting, but there his expectations were shown to be feeble beyond words. Like Chana's art that graced the walls of the house at Thet, the painting he held was fiercely abstract; untamed swirls of orange burst out from the centre, tendrils of energy that splashed their way across a tranquil sea of deep cerulean blue. To one side of the paper was a darker shape, the only part of the entire piece that may be representational; a small figure perhaps, being both consumed and lifted up upon an ocean of texture and colour and light.
He stared for a long time, unable to lift his eyes away.
"Papa bought us some paints," Ooouli was saying, "as we left ours at home. We painted it while you were sleeping."
Ben finally managed to tear his gaze away from the painting he held, away from the conflict of passionate oranges, sometimes dark as earth and sometimes bright as fire, dissolving away into a balm of peaceful blue, as quiet and deep as dreamless sleep.
"Thank you," he said, unable to say more. All of his words had deserted him. "I...thank you."
He refolded the painting and tucked it safely into his inner pocket. The he inclined his head and shoulders into a deep bow. Both children stood, and then stretched out their front legs, dropping their heads in return. Ben smiled, and then the girls threw themselves at him like excited puppies, laughing and hugging for all they were worth.
The rest of the day proceeded quietly, or as quietly as any household in which young Falayan was known to make sudden appearances could be. There was another history performance that afternoon in the common room. Ben watched quietly from the corner as Ysella led the singers in their interwoven song, the Dhosi words tumbling from the air around them. The Kheelians nodded or hummed along politely to the forbidden language. Ben knew that the tale spoke of a time very long ago, of boats upon a long forgotten ocean, of a great migration from danger into the unknown. He gave no sign of his comprehension, however. Ysella had been upset enough the first time he had indicated that he was starting to understand their tongue.
Long before the song was at an end he slipped out, unseen, and returned to the garden room. It was by far his favourite place in the house, but Ben did not let himself fall into meditation again. Instead he had decided to make use of the quietude to make good on the promise he had made to himself the previous day. He would record everything he could remember of the strange half memories and dreams that had plagued his sleep, and he would find a way to made sense of them. There must be clues there to his former life that he could use. Clues as to why these Jedi pursued him. Clues as to why he could remember nothing.
It did not amount to so very much when he had written it all down, and Ben sighed a little in frustration. He had been rescued, that he knew, by a man with blue eyes who took him away to a large ship. And yet he also remembered escaping, alone, in an out-of-control pod. He had been held captive. He had been tortured. He had been told to speak, and to be silent. He was with others. He was alone. He remembered. He forgot.
Defeated, for now, Ben folded away the sheet of flimsi, tucking it into his pocket beside the children's painting. The fragments of memory refused, for now, to coalesce into anything useful and besides he couldn't concentrate any more. The Force was starting to chime again, uncertainly, and it was like an itch behind his sternum. It wasn't quite a 'bad feeling', not yet, but it wasn't good. He needed to know what was going on. He couldn't check on Grandmother and Chana, but he could go and make sure that Nenka was all right.
Mind made up, he went to find Pakat. The Kheelian was back in the hydroponics lab, still working on the humidifier. He was initially hesitant, reminding Ben that Shaarm had only said perhaps in answer to his request to visit and wasn't Ben supposed to be laying low and avoiding the medcentre? It didn't take long, however, to secure the Kheelian's complicity – a few well-chosen phrases indicating how careful Ben would be, a reminder that the Jedi hadn't been seen for days, and the added bonus that this would mean them both escaping from the enclave for a short while, and Pakat was very quickly on board. When they went to let the Dhosana and the children know that they were going down to the town for a few hours, Ooouli insisted on coming with them, and Tiki would follow her sister anywhere. And because the girls were leaving, Falayan, of course, wanted to come too. He was sporting his own Kel-Marr gift of a brightly coloured scarf in orange and green stripes which he wanted to show it off as widely as possible.
It was eventually decided, over a hasty evening meal, that all three children would go with Pakat and Ben and that they should therefore take the speeder. Ysella, Yalani and the other Dhosana would be heading down in to the town anyway before too long for the last night of the festival. They would not be far behind.
As the children scampered out of the building and over to the speeder, Ben finally got the opportunity to catch Pakat out of earshot of the others.
"Pakat," he asked, low. "My lightsaber...do you have it?"
The Kheelian glanced about, quickly, before he said, "Do not worry. I took it from your belt and gave it to Shaarm to look after." He paused then for a second, and then his eyes widened. "You do not think..."
"No, no," Ben reassured him quickly. "I sense no immediate danger. I would just feel more ...reassured if I had it to hand."
They all piled into the speeder and, with Ooouli's help, Pakat piloted their craft out through the enclave and into the busy streets of the town. When he wasn't grasping the back of Falayan's jacket to prevent him leaping out of the side of the speeder in his excitement, Ben looked around. The pervasive fog had lifted slightly to a heavy mist and all around, the cleaning-up efforts from the previous night's festivities were well underway. Ben saw a family of two adults, both with infants strapped in slings to their backs, sweeping up discarded wrappers and fallen streamers. In the next street they passed an old Kheelian woman, hunched with age and seated on a doorstep, playing a flute-like instrument while children danced in the street. Everything seemed at peace.
As they passed the grand-looking station building, Ben could see a train standing at the platform; a gleaming blue locomotive rested at the head of clunky, tattered carriages coated from roof to rails in dull black solar panels in that odd mix of old technology and new that was starting to be so familiar. Through the fog it resembled little more than a lumpy, black-scaled snake. The platform was full of Kheelians disembarking, jumping down from raised doors or lifting down packages and excited children. There had been thousands of Kheelians in the town the previous night, and Ben wasn't sure he could imagine more. The town of Tszaaf was obviously more of a focal point for the surrounding area than he had supposed, and the Third Night of Kel-Marr was looking to be even more of an event than the Second.
Just in case of any onlookers, Ben ducked down low as they passed in front of the medcentre, hiding his face, but there was no-one in sight. As was becoming customary, Pakat drove them around to the back entrance in the narrow alley and parked up. Ben was climbing down from the speeder before the sound of the engine had died away, the children quick on his heels.
"Why are we here?" Falayan said, leaping eagerly out of the speeder. "Is this the medcentre? Are you sick? Are you getting more of your teeth replaced?"
"No," said Ben, looking around, carefully.
"You've got a sling on," the boy pointed out, staring at Ben's sling with fascination. "Are you getting your arm amputated?"
"No," said Ben.
Falayan pointed to Tiki's cast arm. "Is Tiki getting her arm amp-"
"No!" said Ben and Pakat at the same time. Ooouli frowned and held Tiki's hand tighter. Tiki just laughed.
"I just want to see Shaarm briefly," Ben explained, "and check on Nenka. We are not going to be long."
"Who is Nenka?" said Falayan, as they made their way to the door, and Ben tapped in the staff access code.
"My nephew," Pakat answered.
"And before you ask, no, he is not getting anything amputated either," said Ben.
Falayan sighed.
The medcentre itself seemed quiet and they passed no-one on their way to the waiting room. The single receptionist did not even glance up. Ooouli wanted to go with Ben to see her cousin and Pakat seemed to have no objections. They left Pakat staring rather perturbed at Falayan who was entertaining Tiki by parading about the room on his hind legs in what appeared to be an unflattering imitation of Ben's bipedal gait.
Ooouli seemed to know the way through the building better than Ben after his previous short explorations and led them up several ramps towards the recovery area. That was when the first sign of trouble appeared.
"Careful!"
Ooouli had dashed through the door into the surgery unit and almost bowled over a figure on the other side. Ben recognised the tiny nurse who had been watching the post-op ward when he had made his escape not three days ago; although he now noted that she was, in fact, a Dhosan and not a petite Kheelian as he had first thought.
She glanced over Ooouli, and then her eyes fell on Ben and widened. He remembered the clumsy Force suggestion he had laid on her before and cringed internally. Surely she wouldn't recall that?
"Oh!" The nurse said, with a tone of awe and delight. "You are back!"
"So it seems," Ben said, pasting on a smile but silently cursing. He had hoped to get in and out of the medcentre without being seen. No such luck.
"And did you find your missing friend, Master Jedi?"
Ben's blood turned cold, but his mild, neutral expression never flickered.
"My...? I'm sorry; I think you must have me confused with someone else."
"Of course I do not, you are the Jedi that was here, looking for the shipwrecked Pechnar."
"I was here three days ago, but it was to receive surgery and I assure you, Madam, I am not searching for anyone."
"He lives with us," Ooouli vouched for him, earnestly. "He is not a Jedi."
"Oh," the nurse looked even more confused. "Yes, I suppose perhaps your fur is perhaps a slightly different colour to the other Pechnar that was here. I apologise. Pechnar do all look so alike; I do not know how you tell each other apart."
She hurried off, casting a confused backwards glance as she disappeared.
"That was weird," Ooouli said. "Why did she think you were the bad Pechnar?"
Ben beckoned her on and they continued.
"I suppose it is like she said," Ben said as they walked, distracted. "Pechnar are so different to Kheelians that she struggles to see the differences between us."
"Can you tell us apart?" Ooouli asked, curious. "Different Kheelians, I mean."
"Of course," Ben said. "Well, I can now. I will admit; at first I did find it rather difficult. But now, Tiki, I find it quite easy."
Ooouli laughed, which was nice as it distracted Ben from his realisation that the nurse had not precisely specified when the Jedi had actually last been there.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go find your mother."
As it turned out, they found Nenka first. He was in the post-op recovery ward two doors down from where Ben had awoken after his own surgery. There was no-one at the nurses' station, so Ben led the way into the room and slid the door closed behind them.
Nenka looked... there was no good way to describe it. He was curled up on his side on a sleeping mat, bedecked with tubes and wires and bandaged from chin to chest. The patches of his shaved skin were pale, and he looked far younger than the adult years Ben knew he possessed. He seemed so small, somehow; thin too, as if he had been burned out from the inside, fur stretched over wasted tissue like he had been starved. The havoc that the accelerated healing had wrought upon the young Kheelian's body was clear to see.
Ooouli was uncharacteristically silent. She sat down at her cousin's side and took his hand, gently.
Ben knelt opposite her and also reached out, laying his small palm against Nenka's broad forehead. This was why he was here after all. He closed his eyes, and sank into the Force. It felt as if a long time had passed as he drifted, but then he felt it. A tiny flicker of light; far off and almost extinguished, but glowing steadily. There was Nenka, deeply unconscious, as Shaarm said. Damaged but dormant, for now. It would take him a long time to wake, but all the while his body was healing. He was hurt, badly, but in time he would be all right.
Ben pushed a ball of warm energy towards that light, not to heal; he certainly didn't have the strength for that, but to proffer strength, comfort and serenity. The reassurances wove around the flicker of Nenka's life-force and then Ben slowly withdrew. It felt as if an age had passed as he picked his way carefully out of the torrent of the Force, but when he opened his eyes, wincing against the pounding headache, Ooouli was still at his side and nothing seemed to have changed.
Except that the door was sliding open. And Shaarm was stepping into the room.
"Mama!" Ooouli greeted her, delighted.
Shaarm hurriedly darted in, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Ben!" Shaarm hissed. "What are you doing here?" She sounded angry, but that could mean anything.
"We just came to visit Nenka, as we agreed last night," Ben reminded her, standing up.
"I only said 'perhaps'," Shaarm snapped, but she accepted her daughter's proffered hug, gratefully. She was worried then, not truly angry.
"He needs visitors, Mama," Ooouli said. "It is good for sick people."
"We have only been here a moment," Ben agreed, quietly. "We haven't tired him out."
"You did not try any further healing?" Shaarm asked.
"No," Ben answered, puzzled. "Like you said, he will be all right. There is nothing more to be done until his strength improves."
"Very well," Shaarm said and Ben was surprised to hear she sounded relieved. But before he could push her to explain just what exactly was going on, she glanced quickly out of the window and then turned back to them.
"It is not Nenka we need to worry about now," Shaarm continued. "I just heard word from Chana. The Jedi left Thet. They are on their way here, right now."
Ben wished he could have said that he felt surprised, but truthfully he wasn't. He knew that Chana and Grandmother would not be able to delay his pursuers forever. Sooner or later they were going to realise they were being stalled and then they would leave. Had he really thought that the Jedi would just depart the planet without first returning to Tszaaf? Even if they had their own ship, there wasn't a spaceport for miles around. They might have a shuttle, perhaps, but then someone would have seen it. Tszaaf could be their only possible destination.
All this passed through his head in a second, and calmly he said; "Well. In that case, I rather think I am going to need my lightsaber."
Shaarm nodded. "Come with me," she said.
Both Ben and Ooouli each glanced back at Nenka, and then Shaarm was hurrying them out of the room. As she led them on, Ben plied her with quick questions about the new message.
"No, Chana is not here," she answered. "Thalla came; she is one of the older girls in the village who couriers messages for Grandmother every so often. She has a speeder bike, you see. She arrived about fifteen minutes before you did, with a note that Yanto had brought down to the village. The Pechnar are leaving and are heading back to Thet. Thalla said they had grown impatient; she had seem them around the village last night, searching."
"They were not going to be fooled forever," Ben said, hurrying to keep up with the taller creatures. "I am surprised that Chana and Grandmother managed to distract them so long. Nearly 30 turns."
Ooouli gave a little laugh. "Grandmother and Dada will have put them to sleep by talking! Maybe they only just woke up!"
"Maybe," said Shaarm. "Come, this way. I stored your lightsaber in Yalani's work room."
"Even if Thalla came directly here," Ben considered out loud as they walked, "the note said the Jedi were leaving. I assume they have their own speeder? They cannot realistically be much more than one turn behind." Even as his voice laid out the timescale they were dealing with, Ben's mind began to spin, offering up one strategy after the next, each considered and abandoned in turn. They could remain here, hole up at the medcentre – but there were too many indefensible entrances, too many civilians. That meant too many casualties if things went badly. Or they could abandon the medcentre and return to the Dhosana enclave – Ben might hide for a few days in its maze-like structure, but the Jedi would eventually track him down. Too many civilians: too many casualties. They could try hiding Ben in the speeder like before, and returning to Thet – but the Jedi must have figured out they'd been duped by now and they'd be on the lookout for that same trick. If they were caught all the Kheelians would be implicated. Too many casualties.
Shaarm didn't answer Ben's statement. She led them through the centre down to Yalani's workshop and ducked inside. From the doorway, Ben saw her rummage about in the desk before reappearing with the 'saber clutched in her hand. She handed it to him, and suddenly, weirdly, it was as if he could breathe easily again. Ben gripped the smooth chrome tightly for a second before he tucked the weapon away into his coat.
"What now?" Ooouli asked.
"We need to get out of here, for starters," Ben said. "We know they'll probably come here first. Ooouli, that window over there...Can you see if there are any Pechnar out in the street?"
The girl dashed off to fulfil her task, and Ben turned to Shaarm. Voice low, he said:
"Shaarm, is there anyone in the medcentre that you know well, and trust? Two people, if possible."
"I do not know," Shaarm frowning. "Yes, I suppose...yes. Why?"
"I need you to go and fetch them, and have them sit with Nenka for the next few turns."
"You do not think the Jedi would try and...?" Her eyes were wide.
"Right now, I don't know what to think," Ben said. "But they know Nenka was there, injured, when we left the house. They know where you were planning on bringing him. I don't want them to find him alone here if they come here looking for me."
"Perhaps we should stay...?"
"As soon as they are close enough I fear they will sense me. I at least need to leave, to draw them away."
Ooouli came dashing back over at that moment, and they stopped their conversation.
"There are no Pechnars there that I can see," the girl reported. "I could see twenty-four Kheelians and three Dhosana walking up and down the road, but there weren't any speeders or anything."
"Good," Ben praised. "Very good. Time for us to go then, I think."
They split up, briefly, as Shaarm went to find two Kheelians she thought reliable to sit with Nenka while Ben and Ooouli made their way down to rejoin Pakat. They found him rather helplessly watching Falayan who, having abandoned his attempts to walk on his back legs, had instead found his next entertainment in seeing just how far he could slide along the waiting room floor after a good run up.
Shaarm arrived a few moments after Ben had begun to explain the situation and held out a sheet of flimsi: Chana's letter. Pakat held it low so that Ben could see and read it aloud.
Dear ones,
I hope this note finds you well. We think on Nenka often as we wait for news. The narms have not left the moor again – Grandmother is sure they will honour their word. In other news, our guests did not find what they were looking for. They intend to return to Tszaaf within the hour – perhaps you will see them there. Grandmother and I will arrive later to visit Nenka. When we all go back to Thet perhaps we can bring Ooouli's little bird back home, if he is well enough to leave the veterinarian's.
My heart,
Chana
"Dada is coming!" Tiki said, with delight.
"Yes, Tiki, soon," Shaarm agreed. "As soon as he can find Porra or someone else who can fly him and Grandmother here."
She sighed. "It is well the Jedi did not get hold of this note, as Chana clearly feared they might. He has never been adept at subtlety. But 'little bird'? That must be Ben, but..."
"Yes, that's me," Ben confirmed.
"Grandmother must have told him it is the name the narms called him," Pakat added. "I do not know why."
"It is because of Ben's ship, of course," said Ooouli, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He came out of an egg!"
One small mystery solved.
"So I did," Ben said, with a smile. "Clever girl."
Ooouli beamed.
"Come," said Shaarm. "We cannot stay here. Like you said, Ben, the Jedi cannot be far behind. We'll take the speeder back up to Yalani's house and figure out what to do."
The group headed towards the rear door they had entered by. Pakat and Shaarm, at the front, talked in low anxious tones, while Ben hurried the children along behind. Ooouli and Falayan both looked at ease, but Tiki was pressing up against Ben's side in a way that suggested she was starting to feel anxious.
They never reached the door to the alleyway where the speeder was parked. Pakat halted abruptly at the edge of the last corner and everyone froze, hearing voices ahead of them. One was the familiar cadence of a Kheelian and the other was quieter, higher pitched, as if from someone smaller.
"...usually ask visitors to use the front entrance, but I suppose it will not hurt," the Kheelian was saying. "This way, follow me, please..."
Pakat dashed back, drawing Shaarm with him, and the group hurriedly retraced their footsteps.
"We will go out of the front door," Shaarm said, taking the lead. "Quickly now, Ooouli, Tiki. Come on!"
They hastily crossed the waiting room, and out into the grander entrance hall of the medcentre. There was no time to worry now about being spotted by watchers in the street outside and the group hurried out onto the pillared steps that formed the medcentre's portico. The remnants of the heavy fog still clung about them, but the earlier quiet had long passed as evening drew on. The street was crowded with Kheelians, wandering up and down or standing in small groups, drinking or eating. The sounds of laughter and talking and music filled the air; the scents of peat-smoke and cooking food. It would soon be fully dark.
On instinct Ben glanced over to the spot where he had first seen the Jedi, all those days ago after his surgery. Two Dhosana were unloading crates of vok out of a small antigrav cart, but there was no sign of the tall Jedi.
Shaarm pulled Ben up to her side and they hurried down the steps and out into the street. The others crowded around as they walked and Ben stayed close, keeping his head down and his mental shields up, trying to stay as hidden and unobtrusive as he could. Kheelians pressed in on all sides, but Shaarm didn't pause, quickly leading them out into the crowd. The medcentre was soon out of sight behind them, as they made a series of quick turns left into another street and then right, and right again. Ben soon stumbled, trying to keep up with the fast pace. Pakat, who had Tiki on his shoulders, murmured a word to Shaarm. Glancing quickly about, she led them into a narrow space behind a row of stalls. Ben sank down to the floor amongst a stack of crates, curling around his aching chest and trying to breathe. His limbs were shaking already and he cursed this lingering weakness and the chill he couldn't shake. He was getting better, yes, but he was not yet well enough for this fight.
The Jedi were here. The Force, such as it was, thrummed with danger.
"Why are we hiding?" Falayan was asking, loudly. "Is this like a game?"
"Yes," Shaarm said, distractedly. "Like a game." She ducked down at Ben's side, anxious.
"I'm all right," Ben said. "Where are we?"
"In a side street, looking onto the market place," Pakat answered, peering around the stalls.
"The other Pechnar are bad," Ooouli was telling the boy. "They hurt Ben."
"What other Pechnar?" Falayan said. "I do not see any."
"They were at the medcentre," said Ooouli. "Are we going back up to Ysella's house?"
"This is a rubbish hiding place," said Falayan.
"Is Dada coming?" asked Tiki.
"Children," Shaarm said, a touch sternly. "A little hush please, if you don't mind? Ben?"
Ben didn't answer her unspoken question but nodded. The bad feeling, like a cold pressure, was back. Not as strong as before, but there was danger here, growing every second. He turned and peered out through the gaps between two stalls. Through the darkening mist he could make out the market place they had been in the previous night. At least fifty Kheelians were sitting or wandering around the area, talking or laughing, some playing with children, or eating, or clutching small cups of vok. Many held long streamers, like flags, in shimmering colours. There must be several groups of musicians somewhere out there too; the sounds of their instruments creating a woven mesh of melody. As Ben watched, two or three more families of Kheelians wandered out of houses or appeared down the road, approaching the stalls. The streets would only get more crowded as the night drew on.
Too many casualties. He closed his eyes.
"This is not much fun," Falayan complained. "When is it their turn to hide?"
Just at that moment there were whoops and cheers around them and Tiki tapped on Ben's arm. He opened his eyes to see her pointing out of their hiding place across the square. It seemed the evening's events had finally officially begun. The area about them was suddenly flooded with light. The mist glowed around strings of tiny bulbs laid along the edges of the square and dangling like streaming water from the rafters of the buildings. Clusters of lights and lanterns lit up the stall fronts and doorsteps.
A Kheelian woman wandering past with a tray of drinks stopped to stare at the group of them all clustered in the narrow space. Her eyes fell on Ben and widened.
"Ben is just resting," Ooouli told her, firmly.
"Aww," she cooed to Ooouli, looking down at Ben. "Poor dear. Is your little pet sick?"
Falayan was right. This hiding place was terrible.
"Happy Kel-Marr," Shaarm said, a little icily, and stepped neatly between the woman and Ben. The woman shrugged, returned the greeting and wandered away.
"Come on, Ooouli, Falayan," Pakat said, aware the group were drawing attention and seeing the boy was beginning to fidget again. "Let us go for a look around the festival, and see what we can see."
"Be careful," Shaarm warned, as they set off back up the street, towards the medcentre. The streets were so busy by now that they were soon lost in the crowd and Ben did not think they would be seen. Shaarm disappeared briefly and returned with a packet of kirtone buns and several of the brightly coloured festival streamers. She gave Tiki a bun to eat and tied streamers into both of their manes. It was a simple but effective disguise; blending them into the crowd as just two more festival attendees. Shaarm offered a bun to Ben, but he shook his head, too keyed up to eat.
"Do you truly think there is threat to Nenka?" Shaarm asked.
Ben was quick to reassure her. "No, and if I did I should not have left his side. It was Chana and Grandmother I most feared for – I was concerned that when the Jedi found out that you had lied about my being there they might react badly. I was most relieved to see Chana's letter. Perhaps the presence of Kerra and Diega and the others was enough to see the humans off, but I hope it means they truly have no interest in anything but me and he will safer the further away I am. I am sorry."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Chana and Grandmother bought us a whole day and a half distracting the Jedi, and I am afraid that I rather squandered it. We are stuck out here in the open with no speeder and no plan. I am afraid I am no closer to coming up with a way of defeating the Jedi than I was days ago."
"I would not stay squandered. You might still be weak, but you can walk, move and keep your eyes open," Shaarm reminded him, "which is more than you could do yesterday morning. Your recovery rate is quite astonishing; do not fail to appreciate that. You're probably even healthy enough to start being stubborn again."
Ben smiled, briefly.
"We just have to come up with a plan," she said, but at that moment, Pakat returned, accompanied by both the two older children and by Yalani and Ysella.
"We just arrived from the enclave with some of the other Dhosana," Yalani explained, "and we heard Falayan's voice from across the square. You all look very solemn...what's going on? It's not Nenka, is it?"
"No," Shaarm reassured them. "Nenka is still fine. But there the good news ends, I am afraid. The Pechnar that are pursing Ben...They are here."
"We just checked and the Jedi did go to the medcentre," Pakat clarified, "but they left again straight away and now there is no sign of them. No-one knows where they were going."
"Perhaps they are heading for the train station," Ooouli suggested. "Maybe they want to go home-"
Yalani interrupted, suddenly, as if he had only just processed what Shaarm had been saying. "Jedi?" He asked. "Jedi!? As in... mythical space wizards? Why the sky would there be Jedi here?"
"I will tell you later," Ysella said.
"How do you know about it?" Yalani asked, even more astonished.
"Ben told me," she answered. "Now hush. What is your plan, Shaarm?"
"We were heading back up to the enclave," the Kheelian woman answered, checking her chrono to work out when Chana and Grandmother might arrive. "But we had to abandon the speeder and now I fear the streets are too crowded to drive now anyway."
"These Jedi are the Pechnar you say are pursuing you?" Yalani asked. "What will they do if they find you?"
No-one wanted to answer that. Falayan made everyone jump by suddenly leaping up and yelling at the top of his lungs.
"There they are! Found them!"
Every head spun around. Across the market place, a family watching a troop of Kheelian acrobats had moved aside and through the haze they saw three small figures in brown. Ben froze, not wanting to draw attention by a sudden movement, but Pakat quickly stepped between him and the distant threat. Ben dropped to a crouched, moving into the shadows.
There was a tense few moments of silence, before Shaarm spoke up again.
"I cannot see them. Can anyone see them?"
"I think they have gone," Ysella said.
"I can't stay here," Ben said.
"He is right," Pakat said. "We have to hide him somewhere. Where can we go?"
"Back to the medcentre?" Shaarm said, doubtfully. "They will think they have checked it and may not go back."
"Even if they mean him harm," Yalani argued, "surely they would not do anything to him in a crowded public place such as this? There are far too many witnesses."
"Perhaps not," Pakat answered, "But they are Jedi. Who would dare to intervene?"
"If we take the back streets by the old river," Ysella suggested, "we could hide out in the tailor's district until dawn and..."
"It is too far," Shaarm said, shaking her head. "Besides, we know they have asked townsfolk to look out for Ben. They may give him away without meaning to."
"We just have to hide him long enough for Chana to arrive," Pakat reminded them. "Then we can take him safely back to Thet. The Jedi will not go back if they have already..."
"Ben?"
While the adults had been arguing, Ooouli had been watching Ben. She was too smart not to have noticed what was showing in his expression, because, in that moment, Ben had come to another realisation.
There was no hiding. They weren't going to give up, these Jedi. If he returned to Thet, so would they. Today, tomorrow, or the day after, they would find him. They were never going to give up. Wherever he was, the Jedi would always come for him. There was only one way to make sure they never went near the Kheelians again.
"I'm sorry," he said, meeting Ooouli's eyes. "I'm so sorry. I have to leave."
The adults fell silent, one by one.
"What do you mean? Back to Thet?" Pakat sounded confused.
Shaarm understood, though she tried to argue. "Chana will be here soon, with the speeder. We just have to wait, we..."
Ben shook his head, and she fell silent.
"They are going to find me. You'll never be safe, as long as I am here."
"We don't want to be safe!" said Ooouli, fiercely. "You were supposed to stay with us, forever. You were supposed to teach me Basic and how to fly a spaceship!"
"You don't need me for that, Ooouli," Ben said, kindly. "You are clever and determined. You will learn everything you ever want to without my help."
The Kheelians were still silent. Ben thought they were desperately trying to think of some other way out and failing.
"Why do you want to leave us?" said Ooouli. She was crying now, distraught. Ben hated it.
"I don't want to leave, Ooouli. Of course I don't. I want to stay here, forever, like you said. But I can't, not while the Jedi are still searching for me. I have to see this through."
"I don't care about them," said Ooouli, but quietly. She clung to Tiki, the younger girl silent, not understanding.
"Where will you go?" said Shaarm, just as quietly.
"The city," Ben answered, not even knowing that was the answer until he said it, but it was, after all, the only other place he had heard of. He stood up. "I would always have gone, at some point, to see if I could learn anything about my past. This is just a little sooner than I intended."
"There they are again!" squeaked Falayan and Ben cursed, dropping back down to the floor. Through the forest of Kheelian legs, he could see a swirl of brown fabric. They were close and getting closer.
Ben started as Ysella suddenly burst into song. It was a lively, upbeat tune and after a moment, Falayan and Yalani both joined in with gusto. Faces turned to look at them and Ben wondered what the blazes they were doing. More voices joined in from the crowd and suddenly all the Dhosana he could see were singing and dancing, wildly. The Kheelians broke into cheers and clapping, moving back to give space to the dancers and the Pechnar were forced back out of the way.
"Go now!" Ysella said, dropping the song for a second and Ben took her at her word. He scrambled up and set off, ushering the children ahead of him back up the street, feeling Shaarm, Pakat and Yalani at his back. They sprinted back up the side street and out of sight of the market. Ben let Ooouli take the lead, dragging his arm, and she didn't slow until they reached a broad open space planted with hundreds of tall grasses in different colours and textures, crossed by paths of laid gravel. It was a park, as busy as the market had been and the hazy halos of a million tiny lights illuminated food stalls and jugglers, the swirling motion of dancers and the children running to and fro.
Ben slowed and stopped, leaning against a wall and breathing shallowly, trying not to cough.
The adults looked at him with concern and then drew away into a small huddle, talking quietly and urgently. Tiki, as if sensing a dark turn to Ben's thoughts, folded her long arm around his back and hugged him close, rubbing her face into his shoulder. Ooouli just looked at the adults as if silently questioning why no-one was doing anything to stop this.
After a moment or two the group broke apart and turned back to Ben.
"Ben," Pakat asked. "Are you sure about this?"
Ben nodded, breathless but firm. "If I could think of anything else, you know I would do it."
Shaarm looked at him, hard, but Ben closed his eyes. His chest burned and his hands shook. It was becoming increasingly apparent that he wasn't going to be able to fight his way out of this, even if he had wanted to. Almost dying twice in five days had done little for his slow recovery. The Jedi were here, and he couldn't hide and he couldn't fight. Flight was his last option.
That, or surrender. But he wasn't quite ready to give up, not yet.
"I am going to carry you," Shaarm told Ben. "I do not think you will even make it to the station otherwise."
They set off again, Pakat led them at a quick trot across the misty, crowded park, as they wove and dipped through the crowd. Yalani, bringing up the rear, kept glancing anxiously backwards. Ben curled up as low and unobtrusive as he could on Shaarm shoulders. He glanced anxiously back up the road; from his new vantage point he was far more exposed but he could at least see over the Kheelian's tall heads. There was no sign of his pursuers yet. Perhaps they had not seen him in the market place after all. But if they had not sensed him yet they soon would. He reinforced his mental walls once more and found his hand straying to the hilt of the 'saber where it was hidden in his coat.
"How soon can we expect the next train?" Ben asked.
"There are two trains a day," Yalani answered, as they ducked around a line of cheering partygoers. "Even on festival days. They usually arrive about 5 or 6 turns in the morning and afternoon as we are at the end of the line and they spend some time repairing or refuelling. They depart at noon and at midnight."
Shaarm checked her chrono. "It is 70 past 11 turns," she said, grimly. "We do not have long."
Suddenly, they rounded a corner and the station lay before them. It was a wide, squat building, only two storeys high but several hundred metres long, shaped like a long oval with a curving roof, rather like an upturned boat. The surface gleamed and glittered with overlapping plates of white and grey stone and bronzed metal, like the scales of a lizard. Beyond the station must lie the platform and the train, his one chance at salvation. At the front of the building, the roof flicked up and curled back, giving a broad opening which faced onto a wide plaza. The plaza was not as busy as the market place had been, but there was still a sizeable crowd arrayed in a circle around some kind of theatrical show comprising larger-than-life puppets of brightly coloured paper and painted fabric on long poles.
Ben took in all this colour and motion at a single glance and then dropped flat against Shaarm's back. Because he had also seen immediately the single still point through the crowd – yet another human figure outlined black against the pale stone. Someone had anticipated his flight from the town and they were trying to cut off his escape routes, one by one.
This was getting extremely tiresome.
He felt Shaarm's back tense as she spotted the figure too and then she carefully stood up on her back legs as if reaching to touch a cluster of lights above their heads. Ben took advantage of the movement to slide down to the floor and then duck back behind Pakat out of sight. The Kheelians and Dhosan crowded around like they had at the market, hiding him from view.
"Stay here and I'll get the tickets," Yalani offered, glancing at the figure across the square. There was no sign they had been spotted but this wasn't a good hiding place. "Stay out of sight." The Dhosan took Falayan and headed across the plaza towards the station. Ben couldn't help but tense as the cloaked human turned his head towards them as they passed, but he didn't seem to show any interest and the Dhosana disappeared unhindered into the building.
Then it was just the five of them. Ben looked around at the little family slowly, trying to fix each of them in his mind's eye. Knowing these could be the last few minutes they would spend together, despite all the days that he had hoped for, all the plans that they had made. They should have had years together. For all that he had lost he should have been allowed this, a lifetime of working, teaching, farming and peace, of living and loving and laughing. But, just like his past, that future had been stolen from him by the Jedi.
So he drank in the sight of the Kheelians, making the moment last. Gentle Pakat, who was so afraid; tense and anxious, glancing from Shaarm to the children and away across the park into the distance. Always looking for Chana to complete them. Dependable, spirited Chana, to whom Ben had never had the chance to say goodbye. Clever, perceptive Grandmother, subtle but adamant. And to his right was Shaarm, still and steadfast. She understood the decision that Ben had made and she would help him see it through with her fire and her ice-calm. He had no fears for her.
At last he looked to the children. Tiki was wide-eyed, quiet as always, but unhappy. She knew something bad was happening but probably nothing more. She was young still, and it would pass. He wondered, if he never came back, if she would remember him when she was older. Ooouli was crying again, quietly. Perhaps she hadn't stopped.
It wasn't enough. It would never be enough.
Ooouli threw her arms around Ben, Tiki quickly joining her, and he held on to them both as best as he could, silent. Eventually Ooouli loosened her hold and sat back.
"Say you'll come back," she said, fiercely, brushing the tears from her face. Her strength humbled him.
"Ooouli," Shaarm said, but the girl paid no attention.
"Promise me. You have to promise me you'll come back."
"I'll come back," Ben said. "One day, I will come back.
He hugged them both again. "Go and be spectacular," he said, kissing the top of their heads.
Ben stood up, and turned to the adults. "Thank you," he said. What else was there to say?
Yalani reappeared with Falayan, holding out a small metal chip to Shaarm. "It is 11.90," he warned. "The train is about to leave. You have to go, now."
The watcher was still standing by the door to the station. The moment they moved he would see. Ben straightened his shoulders. One reason for leaving was to draw the Jedi away from the Kheelians. Perhaps it was time that they saw him at last.
But before he could move, Ooouli was turning to Falayan.
"Falayan," she said, politely. "May I please borrow your scarf?"
The garrulous boy handed it over for once without a word. Ooouli threw it around her own shoulders, the bright orange and green stripes instantly altering her look.
"The Pechnar cannot tell us apart," Ooouli said to Shaarm. "Ben said so." Then, to the other children she said. "Want to go and tell some lies?"
Falayan gave a wicked grin. "That is what I do best!" he announced.
Ooouli grabbed hold of Tiki's hand in one of hers and Falayan's in the other. Then she looked at Ben.
"Love you, Ben," she said, and then ran out and across the Plaza with the other two children at her heels.
"Ooouli!" Ben realised her intention too late. He ran forwards to stop her, but Shaarm caught his arm, holding him back.
Ooouli, fearless and unstoppable, darted through the crowd and dashed up to the human.
"Hello," she said, her clear voice and the alien-sounding Basic tongue carrying to them across the noise of the festival. "Hello. Are you a Jedi?"
Ben couldn't see the other's expression but he heard the response.
"Yes, kid. That's right."
"He is a Jedi? That is awesome!" said Falayan, recognising the word.
"We met a Pechnar, just like you," Ooouli announced. "He gave us five credits. I am supposed to tell you that he got on the train."
"Are you, now?" said the Jedi. "And where did he really go?"
"He ran this way," said Ooouli, pointing away towards the east road. Tiki copied her, pointing and nodding seriously. "We will show you. Come on!"
And the children set off at a sprint.
"Kid! Wait!" shouted the Jedi, and then, just like that, he abandoned his post and ran after them. The entrance to the station was clear.
"I'll look after them," called Yalani, already moving after the disappearing children. "Take Ben and go, now!"
"No!" Ben said, but Shaarm picked him and they ran, weaving through the crowd, across the plaza, and into the cool dark of the station. Ben caught a fleeting glimpse of the entrance hall; grand but dimly lit, low orangey light glinting off the copper ceiling high above and shimmering across the pale grey stone floor. The vast space was mostly empty; a dozen Kheelians were milling around, carrying packages or pushing antigrav carts out through the wide opening on the other side of the building. There he could see a long, gleaming black shape; the train waiting on the distant platform. His salvation.
Then they were through the low archway and out into the dark station, and up to the wide open door of the train, spilling its light out across the platform. Shaarm lifted Ben up through the high doorway, some two metres off the ground. He stumbled as his feet hit the metal floor and he gripped onto the door frame, tightly.
"Move over," Shaarm said and then she was nimbly leaping up at his side, followed by Pakat.
"What are you doing?" said Ben.
"You don't know this land," Shaarm said. "You'll be lost in a strange city you don't understand, with nowhere to hide. If they catch you the Jedi will never let you go. They're going to hurt you again"
"We already agreed we couldn't let you face that alone," Pakat explained.
"But the children..." Ben said, desperate and grateful, guilty, and sad, and afraid. He stared out of the open door at the station, the Kheelians on the platform and beyond, across the moonlit roofs of the distant Tszaaf houses.
"You said they would be safer if you were not with them," Shaarm said. "Yalani and Ysella will look after them until Chana arrives. The Dhosana are formidable. They will be safe."
"The Jedi..." Ben said, but was cut off by a shrill bell and the deep echoing thrum of engines humming into life. A blue light burst out from under the train, spilling across the platform. There was a sudden, loud whir of electronics close by and Ben pulled his hand back just in time as the door slid shut with a slam.
"Look!" said Pakat, pointing out through a narrow transparisteel window. Shaarm lifted Ben up and he grabbed for a rail above his head, pulling himself up to the window with his good hand and looked out into the night.
He saw the dark platform and the glinting station building and, in the archway, the light glimmering off golden fur. Chana was there, Yalani behind him, and he had Tiki on his shoulders and at his side was Ooouli and they were all crying and smiling and waving. Then the train gave a shudder and there was a rush of sound and the whole carriage lifted as the maglev rails burst into life. Then the train began to move, quickly picking up speed, and then they turned a corner and everything behind them faded away into the gentle night.
Thank you, all my readers.