Just as Miss Korin had told them, Merrin and Cere arrived at the old woman's home at noon.

Greeted without the blaster this time, Miss Korin had begrudgingly guided them into the hut. To their relief, the inside of the little stone house hovered at a pleasant temperature, some place that would have been comfortably warm again the biting cold, but felt like a welcome reprieve against the oppressive heat.

"Don't track in your mud." The little old lady barked to them from the door.

Exchanging a glance and then deciding that it would be far better to just listen, Cere and Merrin did as they were told, wiping their feet on the mat just as they entered.

Inside the hut was simple. A cramped kitchen sat to the right, pots and pans hanging above a stove and facing a window. The main room was cluttered, an unlit and unfilled fireplace along the outer wall. Opposite the living room were a series of doors, the rooms beyond them needing to be small to fit into the tight building.

Of much more consequence than the rooms was the company.

A young man, Cal's age as far as Cere could tell, lingered in one of the doorways on the opposite end of the room. Tall, he had striking teal-blue eyes and a slight tan. Hair a medium brown, his face was long, ending with the beginnings of a goatee on his chin.

"Alright, now. No funny business." The elder kalleran closed the door behind them, "I got more than just the one blaster, you know."

"Understood, Miss Korin." Cere tried to be cordial, "Thank you for inviting us into your home."

The old lady snorted, rolling her eyes and stepping into the kitchen for a drink as she shouted, "I know better than to do something that dumb!"

"I can take the hint." The young man lingering in the doorway rolled his eyes, as if he had already had this conversation a hundred times.

"It's not a hint if I just tell you." Miss Korin poked her head out of the other room to look at the young man, "You're acting a fool."

"It'd be weird if I wasn't." he talked back before looking at Cere and Merrin, "and I didn't think you would actually show up."

Knowing that she had walked into an odd relationship dynamic, Cere kept her voice neutral, "We had to, especially with the world like it is now."

"Just speak plainly." The old kellaren interrupted, gesturing as she spoke so that the ice in her drink clinking slightly, "Get to my age and you'll realize there's no point in talking around what you want to say."

"Thanks for that, Miss Korin," the young man walked into the room, thanks dripping with sarcasm as he plopped down onto a couch.

Cere remained in place and tried not to cast a glare at Miss Korin, "What's your name?"

"You can call me Kanan" he answered, "and you?"

"I'm Cere, and this is Merrin."

Kanan looked the two women up and down, "Ok, Cere and Merrin. What are you two doing out here, besides looking for me?"

"We're just trying to make sure the remaining Jedi stay safe," Cere answered.

"Then you're doing a bang-up job," the sarcasm flowed as a defense mechanism, and Kanan knew it, "I've been real safe these last couple of years."

"I know it's probably been hell out here, trust me, I know." This conversation had been much easier with Cal, "but if we're going to keep surviving, we need to look out for each other, in any way we can."

"I look out for myself-"

Miss Korin gave an exaggerated cough from the edge of the kitchen.

"… With some exceptions."

"Be that as it may, the Empire is only getting stronger with each passing day," WORDS, "It pays to have friends that can help you keep an eye out."

The young man sank into the cushions, carefully faking the act that he hadn't a care in the galaxy, "I prefer friends that help me keep a low profile."

Sensing a twist of something like guilt out of Cere, Merrin interrupted, "What are you doing here?"

"Just laying low."

"But why on this planet?"

Kanan looked at the nightsister. Not recognizing her from the temple, despite them being so close in age, he was sure that she had never actually been there, "I'm just visiting. And who exactly are you? You're not a Jedi."

"I am a nightsister." She answered, "How I came to travel with Cere is… complicated."

Kanan looked back at the Jedi, "Complicated is usually just another way of saying bad."

"When it's bad, I usually just say it's a long one instead," Cere tried to deflect, before changing the subject completely, "and if you're looking for some help in laying low, try not to make such a big ripple in the force, she knew you were in here the last time we came by."

Immediately on the defensive, Kanan snorted, "They can't find me like that, but whenever the Empire starts recruiting Force sensitives, I'll keep that in mind."

Cere's turn to be guarded, she begrudgingly answered, "They have."

Sitting up from his slouch, Kanan tried and failed not to sound rattled, "What?"

Tempted to say that it was a long story, Cere chose her words carefully "Their called Inquisitors. Former Jedi that have fallen to the Dark Side. There are two on planet now… Keep a low profile and you should be fine."

"I've been keeping a low profile." Kanan impatiently pointed out, "Which has gotten a lot harder sense all these probe droids started puzzling around... I take it they're here because you are?"

"For now," Cere spoke about the droids and about the Mantis crew, "once we leave, they'll follow."

"Maybe, but I'm not sticking around long enough to find out." He stood from the sofa, "Miss Korin, it's been good."

Suddenly included in the conversation, she seemed taken aback, "Don't tell me you're leaving just because of a couple of Imps."

"Fallen Jedi don't sound like just a couple of Imps to me." He told the old woman before looking back to Cere, "anything I need to know about those two?"

"…It's a long story," She began.

Understanding, and sure that he didn't want to know more, Kanan dropped it, "Fine. Thanks for the tip about the inquisitors"

"It's the least we could do," Cere paused, an odd felling picking at her "Hey, Kanan?"

"What?"

She pulled at the clasp near the back of her belt, "Take this."

Watching the woman critically, Kanan felt his eyes widen as they fell upon a Jedi holocron, "Where did you-"

"I happened upon it. Master Obi-Wan sent a bunch of them out, as a warning not to return to the temple." She tossed the cube to Kanan.

Half unwilling to touch the reminder of the past he barely caught it.

"It's got all the other usual information on it." Cere continued.

Kanan looked at the dully glowing cube, metal frame made of haysian gold, it seemed delicate, a relic to be protected, "Why are you giving this to me?"

Cere shrugged, "I already know everything that's on it, and I got a feeling that you'll need it someday."

Looking critically between the cube and the mysterious Jedi, Kanan muttered, "I don't think I will."

"Maybe," Cere acknowledged, "or maybe not."

.***.***.***.***.

One day after another sliding by, it was another two days before they had narrowed down the Mantis' location to the northeast quadrant of Sector 27. Rocky and at the base of the mountains, the town was only protected from the occasional avalanche by a mazelike series of cliffs and gorges that had been cut over the centuries by melting snow.

Relocating from Plateau City to a modest town at the eastern edge of the sector, Cal and Trilla both were on edge, ready to move on their target at a moment's notice. The anticipation, the excitement, that came from waiting almost weighed heavily on Cal's mind.

But, whenever a tenge of guilt threatened to rear its ugly head, Cal's mind twisted and squirmed, and found itself fixated on that awful call with the Mantis crew.

"This is goodbye."

It certainly felt that way, Cal's opinion increasingly final when it came to what he might do when he finally found his old crew.

Yet, he hadn't quite admitted to himself what he was thinking. Instead, letting this day drift by much like the last, Cal found himself wandering the market at the center of town. Given a handful of credits and left to do what he pleased with them, he had quickly found a stall selling street-food. He had no idea what it was, but it was fresh, and hot, and delicious.

And it served as a perfect complement to the distracting bustle of the other stalls in the market.

Finishing his meal and then walking through the market stalls, Cal caught snippets of conversations, each of them quickly hushed as he drew near. He passed chatter about the price of kallnuts, and the algae harvest from a nearby lake; about the logging camp, and the need for a new foreman and the train derailment; about the summer heat, and the unusually few avalanches this late into the season.

It was oddly quaint, calm and so disconnected from the dark deeds that had grown all-consuming to Cal. He relished his walk through the stalls, the local's distrusting air and quickly averted gazes seemingly insignificant compared to the unrelenting dread that Cal was used to.

So he was tempted to turn back for another loop through the place when he reached its edge. But, he instead continued on, turning the corner down a residential street and back towards his temporary lodging.

As the dull chatter of the market gave way, the much sharper sounds of children at play filled the air.

They didn't last long before one voice shouted above the others.

"Now you look what you did!" A small voice shouted, sounding as indignant as a child could.

Following the source of the noise, Cal saw a handful of kids at the opening of an alley. Five of them, they stood over lines drawn into the dirt as makeshift goals for some game. A well-worn leather ball was stuck on the building next to them, lodged between the chimney and a near vertical section of the doomed roof.

"Throw stuff at it. We can get it down," one older boy crossed his arms, obviously thinking that the others were listening to him.

But they weren't, one of the kids pushed a little girl, a SPECIES with DESCRIPTION. "You did that on purpose!"

Catching herself and avoiding a backward tumble, she came back with a shove and a shout of her own, "Did not!"

"Hey!" Cal didn't shout so much as he only raised his voice to be heard from across the street, "what's going on over there?"

Immediately jerking their heads up at the sound and spotting Cal, one child shouted, "Run!" as he darted off into an alley.

Three of the other four followed suit, scattering and leaving the SPECIES alone at the mouth of the alley.

Frozen from fear rather than running for it, she stood in place like an animal in shock as she watched the red headed imperial cross the street.

Seemingly larger than life compared to her small size, the man came to a stop one feet away. Halfway armored and dressed head to toe in charcoal black No blaster on his hip, the little girl instead saw a metal tube hanging from his belt. Assuming it to be a weapon, she took half a step back.

Cal noticed the movement, "It's okay, I'm not going to do anything to hurt you. Are you ok?"

Growing more uneasy by the word the little girl looked past Cal, wondering is she could dart out into the street.

Cal cast a short look up and down the road. Completely sure that the other children had fled, he Cal crouched down and tried to sound kind when he said, "Looks like those other guys ran off and left you here, that was mean of them."

The little girl said nothing, sight firmly affixed on the ground now that the imperial was eye level with her.

BD landed a soft thud on Cal's side, accompanied by a sequence of beeps and whirrs telling Cal to mind his manners.

"I'm working on it," Cal told the worried droid before looking back as the kid, "What's your name?"

"Lana," her parents had always told her not to talk to Imps, but if she ever had to, then she should be polite like her life depended on it.

"Well, Lana. It seems like those kids jerks, leaving you behind wasn't very nice of them, was it?"

"…No, sir."

BD beeped more harshly this time,

"I am being nice" Cal looked at the droid directly, "Lana, do you think I'm being nice?"

She didn't look up, "Yes, sir."

Cal sucked in a breath, "Ok, BD, maybe you have a point." Looking past the droid and up onto the roof, he paused, "Hold on, I got an idea."

Not even standing from his crouch, Cal reached a hand up to the ball stock on the roof. Dislodging the thing was trivial, gently lowering it so that it softly came to rest n his hands was even more so.

"Hey, Lana, hold your hands out."

Meekly, she did as she was told.

Without a word, Cal dropped the rough brow ball into her outstretched hands.

The child looked up at the sudden weight, as if surprised to find the thing in her hands, and then over to the strange imperial, "Thanks! Uh, mister… sir."

"Don't worry about it." Cal told her with a soft smile, "Do me a favor though?"

Guard immediately going back up, Lana was sure that this was the part that her parents had been warning her about.

Cal took the silence as a good enough response, "Get really good at whatever game you were playing. So you don't get the ball stuck on the roof again, and so that when they come back, you can kick their butts."

Quietly giggling at the surprise of the imperials' odd comment, and at the fact that he had said what she considered to be a funny word, Lana was suddenly sure that her parents had no idea what they were talking about when it came to the imperial soldiers, "Sure thing, mister!"

Satisfied that he was done here, Cal returned to standing and to continued his way down the street. As he did, his communicator buzzed. Leaving Lana in the alley to practice her game, Cal took a few steps away before answering.

"Come in," Trilla's voice buzzed in Cal's ear, colder than usual and sending a shiver down his spine despite the summer heat.

"I hear you, loud and clear."

She didn't mince words, "Rendezvous at the landing pad. We've found them."

Cal expected some elaboration. Maybe a snide comment or harsh gloating that they wouldn't get far. Instead, he just found deathly silence. He broke it, voice rougher than he'd meant. "Where?"

She knew better than to give him an excuse to run headlong into the words. "The landing pad, Cal."

He looked towards the forest, barely visible over the tops of the huts, before hissing out, "Fine. Be ready to move when I get there."