Brianna leaned against a pillar in the NRDI lobby, scrolling through HoloBook. It was a good mind numbing activity to give her brain a break for a few minutes. It was crowded in the lobby. She liked it that way. Between the crush of people and her vertical challenges, anyone who wanted to bother her was less likely to even see her. A text notification came up. Probably Elena. She opened it. Ah, not Elena at all.

Hey! We're going to this indoor climbing place and then getting ice cream and coffee and then hanging out at my place. Wanna come?

That sounded awesome. Brianna felt like she hadn't had any real fun in ages. Not that good lightsaber fights and early morning practice sessions weren't fun. But those weren't normal people fun. She started to reply when she picked up some agitation in the Force. "Ah, what now?" She refocused. Two angry Bothans and at least three other people in a group. She focused on the group dynamic as they moved down a corridor toward the lobby. The two angry Bothans and one other angry person in front, two others behind. And in the back corner, what appeared to be an empty space. The person next to the space didn't move over to make the group more symmetrical. And people they passed avoided the space. "Oh, Satchel. I'm getting better at this."

Not better enough though. She needed to be able to spot him when he was alone and out of sight.

Climbing, she reminded herself. She started to reply again.

"There you are."

Brianna grumbled. "What do you want?"

"Councilor Fey'lya is looking for you," Brollin said.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"He's angry."

"Isn't that a normal state of affairs for him?"

"Listen, I understand you have some security concerns -"

"Shh."

" - but you can't just lie -"

"Shh! You know, for the head of a security organization, you could do a bit better at not blabbing about things in open spaces where any fool could walk by."

"What do you -"

"Skywalker!"

"See?" Brianna said.

Fey'lya marched up to Brianna and put himself nose to nose with her. "You lied to me."

Brianna slipped her communicator into her back pocket. "One, as if you've never done that. And two, I certainly did not."

"You said you were going to Charapath."

"That part is true."

"You went to Xalos instead."

"I don't recall saying when I was going to Charapath." Brianna smiled.

Fey'ya's eyes flashed. "Brollin!"

"You said a Force user was going to steal an election!"

"Oh, hey Sofi," Brianna said, recognizing her third angry person. "I did not, in fact, say that."

"Election integrity is of the highest priority!"

"Lots of things are priorities, Sofi."

"We are the government committee. We set the priorities."

"No wonder nothing important gets done around here."

"We never had this attitude problem with your father."

"No, even if he had tried to set boundaries with you people, you wouldn't have respected them anyway."

"Councilors, can I suggest a private meeting for the two of you, myself -" Brollin started.

"I insist on being present!" Kra'fey said.

"Yes, yes, of course. The three of you, myself, and Assistant Director Wessiri -"

"I want her," Fey'lya said, pointing at Brianna."

"Yes, I'm sure we can find a suitable time -"

"Tomorrow. Zero seven hundred. My office."

Brianna scrunched up her face. "Does that inconvenience you, Master Jedi?" Fey'lya sneered.

"Well, I'll have to skip my early morning training session."

"My condolences."

"Because I'm definitely not skipping breakfast for you."

"I'm sure you'll find time to make it up. Let's go." Fey'lya led the group back down the corridor they came.

Brollin looked at Brianna. "Sounds like a date."

"This is why the only conversations you should have in public are about fun things."

"I'll see you in the morning."

Brianna pulled her communicator out of her pocket as Brollin walked away. She'd felt it vibrate while Fey'lya was yelling.

It's okay if you're busy. Maybe catch up later or some other day?

Brianna started to reply one more time, when another one came in.

Sir'ren and Visalia have questions.

Brianna kicked the pillar with the heel of her shoe, then replied to Elena.

Yeah, on my way up.

"Good evening Camas. I trust you have some good news to report this time?"

Still kneeling on the floor, Camas hoped his grimace wasn't visible. Because the truth was, he really didn't. "Master, I believe I have exhausted the usefulness of this mission."

"You've discovered how they are targeting places we're training then?"

"No, Master. I… have not been given the access I was promised. It is… possible that our young Jedi suspects something, given her untrusting nature. However, the political class seems to return her distrust in full. She may be inadvertently accomplishing one of our goals for us."

"Very well. That is useful to know. Make your way back to your brothers and sisters. You will be rewarded."

"Thank you Master." Camas shut off the holoprojector and exited his office space for the last time. He would not miss it.

"Representative Kra'fey, I believe it is time I took my leave."

Kra'fey looked up from behind his desk and snarled. "Far past time, for all the use you've been."

"You promised me access."

"You promised me information!"

"Which was contingent upon access."

"You have access to every person and every area of every government building that I do. Apparently your 'special abilities' aren't as good as you thought they were."

"If you and your colleagues had spent less time antagonizing our target, I might have been more successful."

"Don't blame this on me. You sold yourself as someone who could penetrate the Jedi."

"How we work requires a partnership."

"I am no longer interested in how you work. All of you Force people are a useless burden on society. Consider yourself lucky to exit this building and this planet without being reported."

Camas laughed. "To whom would you report me? Your Jedi? She seems the type to say 'I told you so.' Your ego doesn't seem equipped to handle that."

"Get out. Or I will report you."

"No, I don't think you'll be reporting anything for quite some time." Camas was on the other side of the desk before Kra'fey could get out of his seat.

"Hm. Ten."

"Ten."

"Fifteen."

Tycho watched Brianna take another sip of whiskey as she threw her candy pieces into the pot. It was their third match of sabacc in forty-five minutes and her fourth whiskey. He hadn't said anything, but it was pretty clear she was irritated about something. He assumed it was about whatever she was helping Iella with. He'd heard about the argument they had with Corran.

Wes kicked him under the table. "Make your bet!"

"Ow. All right. All right." Tycho looked at his hand again. Six total. Not great. "Five." They were playing with candy pieces instead of money. Brianna had dumped a bunch out on Wes' dining table when they started. Different types and different colored wrappers represented different values. Wes thought it was brilliant and Tycho had to admit it was a fun, low-stakes way to play. As long as you didn't eat your way through your winnings. "Start calling."

"Eighteen," Hobbie said.

"Negative twelve," Wes said.

"Negative nineteen." Brianna's communicator started vibrating. She clicked it to stop.

"Six," Tycho said. "Anyone else want a new card?"

"Nah, I'll stay."

"Mm, yeah I guess."

"Stay." The communicator vibrated again. She poked it.

Tycho swapped one of Wes' cards and one of his own. Ten now. Hardly better. The communicator vibrated and Brianna jabbed it more vigorously. "Maybe… you should answer it?" Tycho suggested.

"Maybe we should start calling again."

"Still eighteen," Hobbie said.

"Negative -"

It vibrated again, and Brianna stabbed at it, this time to answer it. "What do you want," she snapped.

"I need you to come in." It was Iella's voice.

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"I'm busy."

"Not that busy."

"What for?"

There was a pause. "Are you by yourself?"

Brianna glanced around the table. "Yeah, sure."

"I absolutely do not believe you."

"I'm busy."

"Have I asked you to come in after hours before?"

Brianna scrunched up her face. "No."

"So I wouldn't unless I really needed something, right?"

Brianna groaned. "Fine. I'm on my way."

"Thank you."

Brianna disconnected the call. She downed the rest of her glass of whiskey, then swept half of her winnings back into her backpack. She left the rest, including the hand pot and the match pot, which would have been hers, on the table. "Don't wait up."

"What did you have?" Tycho asked after she'd left.

"Negative sixteen," Wes said. "She'd have won."

"Just as well she didn't know."

"Bet she knew anyway," Hobbie said.

"Think we should have said something?"

"What, while she was talking to Iella?" Wes said.

"No, of course not. I mean when she came in. She was obviously annoyed about something."

"I don't think she would have - or could have - said anything if we'd asked," Hobbie said.

"But isn't that where we went wrong with Luke?" Wes asked. "We never asked?"

"I get the impression that if she were pressed on something she didn't want to talk about, she'd start avoiding those people."

"So, more like Luke than she seems," Tycho said. "Or, more like you." Hobbie shrugged.

"But, doesn't that just make my point? Wes said.

"We can't do anything if she's avoiding us," Tycho pointed out.

"We can't ignore it."

"We're not ignoring it," Hobbie said. "We're watching. We've known Luke for forty years. We just met her. She may not know if she can trust us with that stuff yet. "As Luke would say," he patted Wes' hand, "patience."

"That's why I would make a terrible Jedi."

"I think Luke would say he's not very good at patience either," Tycho said.

"That's a whole separate issue."