It's fuzzy when he wakes up. Not just the blur behind his eyes, but the general feeling in his head and around him in the Force. Everything is just – fuzzy. His fingers seem to work on their own as he lifts them up towards the general buzz around him.

"He's awake," someone says. Their voice sounds disappointed.

They would be. It comes back to him slower than he would have liked, but it comes back. He should have died, but he didn't and now they can't have his position. He's still alive and that's the most important thing for a Sith. What else had happened? His memory was fuzzy too. He can't feel his face, can't manage to open his eyes more than a crack. Something inside him made him feel like he didn't want to.

He tries to speak. All that comes out is a horrible noise. A noise that could haunt someone's dream. It's not natural.

What happened? He had gone to Dantooine. He was a Sith. He wanted to make one big gesture, destroy it.

She had said no.

He went anyway. And he was still alive. Maybe not for long.

There was a time when he was sure she wouldn't do anything, but now—now he didn't know anything. Just the fuzzy feeling behind his eyes.

He tries to speak again, but this time the noise is so bad that it hurts his throat. He doesn't try again.

Dantooine. He'd gotten to Dantooine – three he'd killed, four he'd injured, many had run. Run from him. Because he was a Sith. A big powerful Sith that Jedi were afraid of. But not him. Not his old Master. He'd stood there with a sad look on his face, lekku pointed down.

Disappointment. Resignation. Not a glimmer of hope. There would have been hope for her. If he'd been her. But no, he'd fallen too far to even be told to turn back. Just a sad shake of his old master's head and then it had started. He'd been winning at first. He was bigger. He was stronger. He was a Sith.

But he'd lost. Zhar – that was his master's name. Like the horrible noise it came back at him sharply. Zhar had beaten him. It had happened so fast that he couldn't move in time. Couldn't duck back. Hadn't wanted to.

Zhar had said he was sorry. Sorry for what? Sorry that his student was a Sith? Sorry that he couldn't give his student a redemption speech?

Redemption was never an option for him. Malak never would be given the chance after he walked down that path – he knew that and he walked it anyway. Walked with her.

But she would have been given a speech.

And then she was there. She did get a speech. He was on the floor; it was an almost fatal swing of Zhar's lightsaber slamming into him so hard he fell back. Something cracked against his skull – part of his own face. The horrible noise came out again.

"In here," the voice says again, this time nervously.

Nervous about what? She wasn't mad. She saved him from another swing. Came and listened to the speech, told Zhar to go away. The Force had been clear for a moment before it all went black. It wasn't just the Force – it was her. A beating, living source focused right at his attacker.

She came to save him.

"When did he wake up?" Her voice is sharp – tinned metallic. She's wearing the mask. He can only make out a fuzzy figure and can't tell her distance, but he knows it's her.

"Just a few m-moments ago, Master." The voice is shaking. "I c-called you as s-soon as—"

"Stop whimpering and get out." She sounds disgusted. She should be. Weakness is a trait of the weak. Not the Sith.

There are footsteps. More noises and he can finally distinguish the color of the room and the heavy equipment all around him. There's cold and wet all over him. Especially his neck. It smells like blood. She waits until he can open his eyes fully and see her mask, before taking it off.

"Hey, Mal." Her voice is soft. Her face looks softer. She looks like she used to.

He tries speaking again. All that comes out is the horrible noise. Why can't he speak?

She sighs and sits down next to him. "We're getting you a vocoder. Don't try to speak." She traces a finger down the side of his face and then she stops. She looks down. "Mal… why didn't you listen to me? You weren't ready for Dantooine. It's not a weak point anyway. We have goals –" She corrects herself. "I have goals. You're supposed to support them." She smiles. "We're a team, Mal."

He wants to tell her that he does support her. That he did this for her. To show her he was strong. But he can't speak and doesn't want to make the noise again. He tries staring at her, tries ignoring the pallor of her face and just focus on her expression.

"Zhar beat you." She says calmly. "How could you let him do this to you?" She traces her finger down his face, but it doesn't touch his face – it touches somewhere that shouldn't exist. His face doesn't keep going anymore.

He makes the noise again, struggling against himself to find his arms pinned down.

"It wasn't a clean cut. We had to take the rest off—" She shakes her head sadly. "There's not much we can do for prosthetics, it's not like it was an arm. You have to hand it to Zhar, he knows how to make a statement."

His heart pounds against his chest. He feels weak. Exposed. Not a Sith. He has to get out of here – somehow go back and start it over. Win this time.

"It's my fault." She says, blatantly ignoring his struggle. "I thought you were ready. You still have so much more to learn." She brushes her hand against his head and kisses his forehead. "Poor, Malak. I thought you'd listen. That we could be almost equals." She stood up and shook her head. "But we can't. We never were and we never will be."

She smiles at him. He feels sick.

"But maybe…" She pats his hand. "Maybe I can still teach you something."

She turns away for a moment. Goes out of his vision. He spends a desperate minute trying to adjust to what has happened. Trying to get her back with that soft face. Not to look disappointed like he did.

When she comes back she's eyeing him sadly, with a shake of her head. Resigned. She turns to the voice – a young man. "Turn off the anesthetic."

He doesn't even waver. Barely gives her a look before moving towards one of the machines by Malak's head.

She walks over to Malak as the pain comes back, slowly at first and then searing and burning – more than just the part of him that's missing, but reliving the pain he felt when it was taken from him.

"Malak…" she shakes her head. "Listen to me next time."

She snorts softly and puts the mask back on. "Don't turn it back on." She says before turning her back on him.

He knows she can hear the horrible noise that is all he can make for a scream. But he can't tell her that – he has no lips to move.

Her boots clunked against the hard permecrete floor Anchorhead, Tatooine. She'd had a couple of days to stew since the ship had taken longer than she expected to hit the right hyperspace route. It was not the best thing that could have happened to her. She felt like anger was bubbling underneath her skin. And she knew exactly who to take it out on.

A feral grin lit up her face as she entered the Cantina. Bounty hunters, actual hunters, and a slow sludge of wannabe swoop riders were slung over the barstools. Everyone had sullen expressions and hard hands.

It was good to be home.

She swaggered in with a hand resting on her hip. She'd known where he was before she even entered the Cantina. Mandalorians were nothing if not consistent and Canderous seemed to only enjoy one spot in any Cantina in any sector. She still didn't get why he was on Tatooine. Something to do with Jagi, or being bored, no doubt. But right now she was just glad she was going to talk to someone without any preconceptions about her – someone who was simple to understand.

Basic and steady.

The perfect drinking partner. And after Taris she wanted more than anything to have a good stiff drink.

Revan slid into the barstool next to him and leaned her elbows up against the bar. She glanced around – there were no servers and she couldn't see a bartender. Everyone seemed to have a drink though. "Some service."

"Order your drink," Canderous said, a cigarra dangling from his fingers as he tipped back his own drink.

She eyed him strangely for a moment, nonplussed as his not greeting. "Uh… Deralian Lager, cold as you can get it."

After a moment, the drink seemed to float up on the bar. "What the hell?" she muttered and leaned over the counter to check. A Jawa was fussing underneath the counter with stacks of bottles and liquor. Revan leaned back and shook her head. "Talk about short staffed."

Canderous snorted as she made herself familiar with the alcohol. He took a drag of his cigarra and looked her up and down. "You have something interesting for me, Revan or is this one of your social calls?"

"That bored already, Canderous?" Revan cocked an eyebrow and enjoyed the cool drip of lager down her throat. The weather wasn't Telosian climate controlled – that was for sure. "And here I thought the illustrious life of a snazzy business man such as yourself was all shits and giggles."

"The bounties that come in are less than thrilling," he grumbled and took another drag of his cigarra, before finishing off his drink and slamming the glass down on the table. "I'm sure you've had plenty of war stories to bring back to me. From Telos."

Revan narrowed her eyes at him. "Watch it, Mandalorian." They hadn't left off on the best terms. Basically Canderous' opinion of her going to settle with Carth instead of traveling the galaxy and killing stuff was not pleasant.

He snapped his fingers and another drink seemed to float up to the bar. This time Revan noticed tiny black fingers before they disappeared. Canderous took another long drink and put out his cigarra stub in the empty class. "Why are you here? Finally come to your senses?"

"Thought I'd enjoy the nice relaxing boredom of sitting on my ass and sulking," Revan chirped, batting her eyelashes. "You seem to be enjoying it."

"I don't see Onasi here," the Mandalorian said brusquely, a smirk cracking on his lips.

Revan glared at him and nursed her bottle. "He's busy. And I don't have to stay there all the time. It's not like we're m-" The word died on her lips and she quickly downed most of her lager. That was definitely she didn't want to think about. "I have business."

He turned in his stool and crossed thickly muscled arms over his chest. "And that would be?"

She thumbed the steady perspiration on the bottle and dug her nail under the label. "You'd said you'd follow me anywhere. That still true?"

Canderous snorted and turned back in his stool. "Mandalorians don't need to answer stupid questions from snippy Jedi."

"I'm not a Jedi," she snapped. "And I'm not snippy!" Revan shoved the bottle forward and pushed on his shoulder so he turned towards her again. She stared hard into those uncompromising grey eyes and cocked her head up, "If you're going to follow me, I suggest you pack up whatever craphole you've rented here and meet me on the Hawk in an hour."

He eyed her steadily. "You'd actually wait that long?"

"No, but I was hoping you'd have nothing with you except your gun and just follow me now."

Canderous nodded and threw his repeater over the side. "Lead the way, Revan."

Revan grinned at him and threw some credits on the counter. Small black fingers made them disappear and she vaguely heard either 'thank you for your business' or 'rats eat heavy in the winter' in Jawa Trade language.

Hyperspace with someone always taught Revan something. Carth was bitchy if anything was wrong with the ship he was piloting. Bastila liked to corner her if she felt like 'talking.' Mission got bored after an hour and hit up anyone and everyone to play Pazaak with. And from this trip she learned that Canderous didn't look any more cheery upside down than he did right side up.

"What the frack are you doing?" Canderous didn't look amused. Although from this vantage point she couldn't tell if he was frowning or smiling. Just thinking about it was giving her vertigo.

"If I say meditating will you believe me?" Revan asked from where she was standing on her hands and breathing in.

"No."

Revan snorted and shifting her weight to one hand, bending her leg forward. "It's an Echani agility technique."

"I can tell from how stupid it looks." He narrowed his eyes and she identified it as glaring. "How agile are you going to be when someone shoves a knife in your gut while you're prancing around like a - - an Echani."

She shifted her weight to her other hand and curled both her legs in. "Try it."

He arched a grey eyebrow. "I don't want to get blood on the wall."

Obvious lie. He'd think it would go with the décor and besides he was already reaching for a blade. "Carth's ship."

That seemed to get the blade moving faster than she expected it. She spun on one hand for balance and lifted one of her legs up to catch the blade, before flipping over and snatching it from his loose grip.

He looked begrudgingly impressed. "If I'd had two blades you would have a weak spot."

Revan snorted and handed him back the blade before pulling her arms back behind her head and lifting herself up like a table. "That's why I'm practicing to be quick enough to block both."

"Sedentary life left you this out of practice, eh Revan?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

She lifted her head up just enough to glare at him. "I had lots of practice at other things. Things I'd missed while working on my fighting." She twisted her legs and flipped around, drawing a long stretch from her leg to her foot.

He frowned. "Mandalorians know how to do both. But I suppose Onasi and the Space Station made it hard to do either."

No, just hard now that he wasn't here. "If you're asking if we fracked like gizka then yes. Yes we did." Revan popped her back and folded backward, grabbing at the back of her ankles. "I'm going to need practice in other areas."

"So's Onasi."

She snapped herself back up to a standing position and glared at him. "For someone who's been on Tatooine for a year, you don't look any more tan. What'd you do, stay in the Cantina and throw peans at the bartender?"

"Passed the time. There was a lot of that after you left." His glare was making her squirm.

Revan kicked the mat she was practicing on and with a tug at the Force it rolled up. Another thing she was being blamed for. "You could have done something on your own. Or are all Mandalorians brainless drones who fly into bright lights when there's no one to order them around—" She passed him. "Oh wait. They are."

He clamped a thick hand on her arm and squeezed tight. "If I didn't think you were going to give orders. I wouldn't have stayed around as long as I did. And look – here you are." He stared her down. "What does that make me, Revan?"

"I didn't-" she bit her lip.

"Right. It makes me right." He pulled her closer to his face. "I told you that the day would come when you'd realize who you were and that you weren't done with the galaxy yet."

Revan shoved herself away from him, his grip still tight on her arm. "I have to fix it. It's not something I want."

Canderous snorted in disgust and let her arm go. "Keep telling yourself that, Revan. Maybe one day you'll believe it."

From a dry heat that scorched off the top layer of her skin to being hit in the face with the wet sock of humidity. She decided if she ever planet hopped again Tatooine to Dxun was not going to be her choice of destination. She almost edged back onto the ship, but they were already walking in the dense jungle atmosphere so there was really no point.

The cooling unit would have been a nice point, but if she went back to it and the ship she might not come back. Though that might have not been a bad thing.

"Mandies got pretty mindless over the past few years, huh?" she called back to Canderous who was purposefully staying one step behind her to piss her off.

"I'd be mindless if I was stupid enough to answer that," he said, soundly completely unaffected, behind her.

She turned around to glare and kept walking backwards, keeping a careful eye out with the Force to make sure she didn't trip on anything. "You haven't asked me once why we're here."

He shrugged one large shoulder.

She gritted her teeth. "No biting remark about Carth or anything else in my life? You've been eerily quiet since we got off the ship, Ordo."

Canderous crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't need to fight with you. You're already fighting yourself. Besides," he flashed his teeth. "I don't think you could take it."

"I'm sooo scared," Revan rolled her eyes and stopped walking backwards. "A lazy-assed Mandalorian ex-general that can't even keep his old troops is going to read me the riot act." She flashed her teeth back and glared at him. "Try me."

He raised one eyebrow and lifted his chin. "I don't need to insult or fight you, Revan – because you've been too busy doing that to yourself since I met you off the battlefield." He towered over her and shook his head. "And I don't need to listen to you bitch and whine like an Onasi recording, because I've been tuning you out the entire trip. And I sure as hell don't need to make you feel better by letting you get angry at me, since you're obviously too busy being stupid by yourself." He scoffed. "If you honestly think that you did all these visits to say goodbye and make your peace with everyone, you're as stupid as you sound."

A muscle in her jaw twitched and she crossed her arms under chest. "And what pray tell were these trips about then?"

He rolled his eyes. "You wanted to make yourself feel better, because you're leaving people behind you that are weaker – and you have to make yourself feel better, because you keep forgetting who you are Revan." He glared at her. "Or should I start calling you Ariate again?"

Revan whipped her foot out towards his head before she even knew what she was doing. Unfortunately this was what Canderous had been waiting for and caught her ankle. He gave her a moment before jerking her balance out from under her and letting her fall to the floor. She growled something out in Mandalorian at him about his mother and spun her other leg up, kicking him in his chest plate – and possibly bruising her foot.

Canderous shoved his full weight towards her and slammed his foot against her unprotected chest. A slur of curse words tumbled out of her mouth as she held a hand to her chest.

He came at her again, but this time she shoved her elbow at and it caught him in the face. She kicked her leg up in an attempt to pay him back for bruising her chest, but he caught her ankle in his thighs and knocked her off balance again.

She swore again and tried to roll herself up, but he pinned her down and held her in place with his thighs. He pulled the repeater off his back and shoved it at her chest. "I shot you once, I have no problem doing it again."

Revan growled at him. "Try it."

He shoved the repeater uncomfortably into the bruise he'd made earlier. "You make your own battles, Revan and you need to take it out on yourself because it's obvious you're the one you're angry at." He shook his head and removed the repeater. "Not that I can blame you – if I was that whiny I'd kick my own ass."

After a moment of struggling under him she blew out a frustrated breath and gave up. "Fine."

He smirked. "So… Revan. Why are we on Dxun?"

Revan glared at him. "You're such an asshole."

He shrugged one shoulder, still pinning her down. "Feel better?"

She made a face and brushed some of the hair that had stuck to her forehead from sweat. "If I'd won I'd feel better." She felt her face heat up – not from the precarious position they were in but the fact that she hadn't even thought to use the Force. She either wanted to protect him or she wanted to kill him with her bare hands. She slumped back against the grass – she did feel slightly better. "Would you get off me?"

He laughed. "No."

"Fine!" Revan growled and lifted herself up by her elbows. "You heard of Mandalore's helm?"

Canderous shot her a bored look. "Hit your head on a rock?"

She sneered at him. "I mean have you heard of what happened to it?"

"Last I heard you had it." His expression changed for a brief moment and he glanced at their surrounding with a bit more interest. "Why are we on Dxun?"

"I'm going on my own." She started, pretending she was standing and not pinned to the ground by a Mandalorian more than twice her size. "But I need people here to watch out for things while I'm gone."

He frowned at her. "I'm not helping the Republic."

"Well duh, stupidass," she rolled her eyes. "It's not—you know what this is ridiculous!" She huffed and wedged her knees up and pushed with the Force to fling him off her, before standing with a wince. "There's more to balance and everything than just the Republic. There's been a large void in the galaxy without the Mandalorian push and pull."

Canderous pulled himself to his feet and narrowed his vision at her. "And?"

"And… well— I remembered everything so I know where I put the damn helmet." She put her hands on her hips, ignoring the searing pain through her bones. "So claim it, take back your people and build a damn army."

He looked around, as if the helmet would pop out on it's own. "Where is it?"

"On Dxun," she said, tartly. "Fetch."

He took three steady steps towards her. "You think that offends me, Revan?" He snorted. "If you had've handed the helmet to me like some trinket I would have kicked you in the face." He took a deep breath and color seemed to flood his face. He looked around Dxun. "This will be a good start."

"Yeah well knock yourself out. Go drink blood or whatever you do when you're happy."

Canderous raised his chin. "Don't crash the ship on your way to the Unknown Regions. It'd be a fitting – but not worthy end."

She punched him in the arm. "I'm going to miss your Mandalorian ass." He was almost the only one she wanted to take with her.

Revan and Canderous clasped arms and shared a look that didn't translate before he let go and put a hand on her shoulder. "Vor entye, Revan. May the journey be short and the battle prosperous."

She smiled at him as he walked off into the dense jungle. "You're welcome, Canderous." She took a deep breath and sighed until he was out of her sight before heading towards the ship. "Ow—" Revan swore and ended up hobbling to the ship, instead of walking.

She hugged her knee to her chest as she stared at the machine. Somehow thinking that if she stared at it for another hour it would give her some kind of sign. Some kind of signal that she could make the call or move. Or walk away. She sighed and her hands reached out like they'd been doing for the past fifteen minutes and she snatched them back.

T3-M4 beeped at her.

"Shut up," she snapped, glaring at the droid. "I'm not calling him."

T3 beeped shrilly again and whirred.

"… I-I'm checking for dust!" She bit her bottom lip and sighed before putting both her legs down on the floor. "Fine." She brushed herself off and rubbed her hair. "The ship running okay, tin can?"

T3 beeped in the affirmative.

"Then what are you doing here? Is your main function annoyance – because if so you are the highest quality model I've ever known."

HK-47 stepped into place next to T3. "Statement: My unnecessary counterpart would like to know what course to set. Suggestion: Perhaps a planet with grazing animals that splatter easily. Supplication: Tanaab has an interesting variety of humans."

Revan blinked and ignored her copper colored droid and glanced at T3 before strolling towards the cockpit, their metallic steps and rolling echoing behind her. She sighed and crossed her arms under her chest, before leaning against the wall and taking in the steady colors of hyperspace. The drone of the ship's equipment seemed to be the perfect cacophony to the view.

T3 beeped in query.

Revan gave him and HK one last look. "Set in a course for Malachor V."

She was sure there was something in the Jedi rules of law, order, and decorum that would make her lose serious points for skidding across the temple and literally jumping on Malak, before wrapping her legs around him, but at this moment she didn't care. "How was Ralltir?" She said, multitasking kissing him and grinning at the same time.

Malak made a noise that resembled. "Mpph." But didn't seem to make any effort in prying her off.

"Revan. If you wanted to be more subtle you could have waited till I left first." Xaset's voice was calm next to them.

She twisted slightly and smiled at him. "Sorry, Xas. How was the mission?"

"Ralltir Tiger's smell should be what they warn you against," Malak said, sighing and putting his hands at her hips. "Instead of their ferociousness."

Xaset nodded in agreement. "They were probably the most thrilling part of the mission." He gestured with his head. "How was Kuat?"

Revan shrugged one shoulder and leaned against Malak, her legs still wrapped around his waist. "The Gardens of Tralala were beautiful, but mostly it was just solving economic squabbles, nothing too exciting. Plus they don't have their own language so it was basic." It would have been more boring if Cariaga weren't there to spar with and work on their thesis for the council. She wished she could go back and tell herself as a Padawan that Knight's didn't have that much more fun than when they had masters.

"Rev!" a familiar voice and blonde hair strolled up.

Revan leaped at Talvon and hitched her arms around him, while still attached to Malak's waist. "Tal!" She grinned. "It's been ages."

"It's been two weeks," Xaset said with an eye roll.

Talvon punched his friend in the arm and grinned at all of them, before frowning. "Would you not do that?"

Revan blinked, her hands hitching on Malak's shoulders. "Do what?"

"That!" He crossed his arms over his chest.

She blinked again. "We're behind the columns. And Knights – it's not like anyone will do anything. I mean except lecture us."

Talvon scowled at each one of them before resting on Revan. "When you do that you're all taller than me."

Revan laughed and unhitched herself from Malak, dropping to the floor gracefully. "Am taller than you anyway," she snorted putting an arm around his shoulders. "Been boring without us?"

He lifted himself up a bit so he was even height to her. "I've made do."

Xaset cleared his throat and gave a meaningful look to Malak who was still staring at Revan. He snapped his head up. "Oh. Right. Xaset and I have to get our report in. Vrook's overseeing our outcome and it might take a while."

Revan felt her lower lip jutting out and stopped. "You just got back!"

He shoved Talvon off her and cupped her chin. "I swear we can do whatever you want when I'm done. It shouldn't take more than an hour."

She frowned and sighed. "Fine." Revan lifted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed him hard and illicitly enough so he'd be distracted during their report to Vrook. "Have fun." She said in a singsong voice.

Malak closed his eyes and clenched one of his fists. "You're vile."

She grinned at him. "I know."

Xaset and Malak made quick goodbyes and rushed off towards Vrook's chambers. Revan frowned at their backs and stretched her arms above her head. "Well – Tal. You want to-"

"Go to the archives?" He finished before she had the chance to.

Revan eyed him from the corner of her vision. "Don't get smart with me. I haven't been around to keep you in line, but I'm back and things will change."

Talvon snorted. "Come on, let's go grab some lunch and then you can go back to slobbering over Malak."

"I don't slobber." She stared up at the clear skyway above the temple grounds and smiled. "Sometimes I don't even feel like I'm in Coruscant when I'm here."

"That's the point-" Talvon gestured around them as they started to walk towards the gate. "They want something that has the feel of Dantooine so there's the possibility for meditation, but with the strategic location of Coruscant."

Revan balked at him. "Did that just come out of your mouth?"

He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. "I've been seeing the archivist."

She nodded to herself. "Well. Seems like the rumors about Atris were true after all." She dodged his finger poking at her.

Talvon glared. "Her assistant Sona Loanin."

Revan shrugged. "Sure, Tal. Sure."

"Fine. Don't believe me." He stepped lightly as they left the perimeter of the temple. "I won't ask her about that new Illiarm text that came in last week."

Revan latched onto his robes and pulled him violently towards her. "I've been waiting a year for the new one. It's got the updated grammar tree—you'd better not be joking."

She hadn't been keeping up on her reading as much as she'd wanted. The trip away from Malak had been a relief as much as she'd missed him. There had been plenty of down time to keep up her practice. Plenty of downtime since the missions they decided to give her were as exciting as watching a Zuran slug move.

"I'll get it for you just relax." Talvon took her hands off his robes and brushed himself off.

"So did you do anything other than brush up on your studying?" Revan snorted, but Talvon was staring off into the distance, his face blank. She glanced to where he was staring and blinked. "What's that?"

"Looks like a protest rally," he sighed. "They've been having them the last few weeks since you've been gone."

"Protest rally?" Revan rested her hand on her hip. "For what?" She peered around the crowd, attempting to get a better view.

"The Mandalorian attacks have increased lately. The Republic has put in four petitions with the council for Jedi aid, but all they've been getting is a few guardians for out world skirmishes. Some… others are very against this." Talvon ran a tongue over his lips. "We're friends, right?"

Revan blinked and took a step back from the abrupt change of subject. "Yeah, Tal. You're like a brother to me. Annoying and—" she stopped at his serious face. "Why?"

His usually cheerful face was stiff. "Rev. The leader of the protests is-"

"Revan?" The voice shot right through her shoulders and it felt like there was a bar spinning her against her will towards it.

"Kae?" Revan's voice cracked.

Her former Master made her way from the rally as Revan's footsteps were heading towards the woman she hadn't seen in years. Kae's face was more worn and she looked older, but it was still strong and soft at the same time.

She smiled at Revan and it pulled at something in her chest. "How have you been, my st-" Kae looked down for a moment and then back up with another smile. "My former student. You are a Knight now, I hear."

Revan nodded the corners of her lips quirking. "It's been almost a year."

Kae smiled again and her eyes narrowed very slightly as Talvon came up to join them. She barely inclined her head towards him. "Talvon Esan. Vrook's Padawan."

"Former." Talvon said, crisply, his face doing a fairly good imitation of Vrook at the moment anyway. "You know this is completely against the council's wishes."

"I am no longer under the council," Kae said steadily, regarding them both. "And they are not always right."

Revan knew that was true. It always nagged at her when they would send them out on idiotic diplomacy missions that could easily be solved by less skilled Knights – but hearing her old Master talk that way about them made her uncomfortable. "How's your daughter?" Was all she said.

Kae's smile slipped off her face. "With her father on his world." She shook her head. "Revan, I am sorry that I left you in such a vulnerable position – but what I'm doing now is as equally important as your training was. People are dying. Everyday more and more are lost to the brutality of the Mandalorians."

"Revan," Talvon tugged at her arm but she shrugged him off.

"Kae…" Revan looked at her feet for a moment. "The council knows best."

Her former Master regarded her sadly and shook her head. "I thought I taught you to think for yourself."

Revan glared at Kae – her eyes stinging. "You taught me that people leave." She spun on her heel and headed back to the council. Taking one undignified sniff and then calming down enough, even though her pace didn't slow.

Talvon caught up to her after a moment. "Sorry – I was trying to tell you, I just-"

"It's okay, Tal," Revan shrugged and slowed down a bit as they entered the temple grounds. "I'm going to head over to the archives, maybe eat later – I just don't have an appetite right now."

Talvon nodded. "Sure. I'll walk with you, maybe get that book you wanted."

She shook her head. "No. I want to research something else."

"What?"

She tightened her belt around her middle and shrugged. "Don't worry about it." She smiled at him. "I'll catch you later."

Talvon eyed her warily for a moment but then waved her off. She stepped towards the archives, up a familiar path towards the information terminals. Once she was there she typed in her access codes.

"Coruscanti Information Terminal – Output/Input. Type command." The machine buzzed out.

Revan deftly typed in the commands for all the information from the last six weeks. Then she typed one word.

Mandalorians.