Mand's heart had settled in her throat as she kept up stride beside Horatio, following his nephew Aalon Roeken through a winding network of vacant, narrow corridors. The passages were hardly spacious, only barely passable by the two of them; had her frame been any broader built, their trek would have been far more uncomfortable. For the time being, though, she matched Horatio's pace, her muscles tense and prepared to intervene should he suddenly become...violent.

Aalon had led them through the Guild's complex for what felt like a half hour, though whether the Hunter Lead's private rooms were actually situated so far from where they'd started or Aalon had intentionally disoriented them as much as possible as they traveled, Mand wasn't sure. She could only sense how physically drained Horatio had become once more, and she briefly wondered if he would be able to last much longer without aid. He had again returned his hand to his wounded side, applying pressure that seemed to relieve his pain somewhat, but his gaze was firmly fixed ahead of him and he occasionally took a weak, shuffling step to catch himself. Would he even allow her to help him?

Mand kept her voice soft, the first to speak since they'd left their holding room.

"Let me see your hand."

His broken right hand hadn't yet been addressed, as his problematic side wound had continually commanded her attention instead. If she could provide him with some pain relief and a subtle energy boost at the same time, she'd feel much more confident that she could keep him stable. He seemed to blatantly ignore her, though, continuing forward without even a glance at her, apparently more interested in withholding his other injuries from his nephew. He relented after a lengthy moment, albeit reluctantly, holding up his shaking right hand to her, palm down.

His entire hand was swollen from the trauma it had repeatedly endured, most recently as he had held his fist against Aalon's throat while threatening him. Mand took great care in gently closing her hand around his, already calling on the Force to quickly soothe and mend his broken bone before he withdrew his compliance. He inhaled sharply with her touch, but he kept his hand extended to her, much to her surprise. Though it was dark in the corridor, the pallor she saw returning to his face forced her to work quickly but earnestly, healing him and feeding him energy she knew he'd need.

After another dozen turns, Aalon finally slowed as they approached an unmarked door at the end of the hall. Instantly alert and tensed, Horatio returned his hand to his side, leaving Mand no choice but to grip his upper arm instead. He didn't appear to register her touch or the strength she continued to share with him, only interested in the movements of his nephew ahead of them, and Mand was briefly unsure which of the two she needed to monitor more. Aalon had only slightly turned his helmeted head back to them as they wordlessly stood before the door, clearly reluctant to continue forward.

"...she hasn't been harmed, Horatio," he repeated his earlier assertion, but Horatio didn't tolerate his hesitance at all.

"Open the door."

Only pausing a moment longer, Aalon pressed a sequence of buttons on his wrist commpad and quickly stepped inside as the door softly slid open. Mand struggled to keep up with Horatio on Aalon's heels, and as the Hunter Lead moved aside, revealing the small bed at the center of the room, she hardly had the chance to shield herself from the sudden eruption of emotion from her former partner.

"Jewel!"

All traces of his earlier stumbling steps were gone as Horatio swept up to his daughter's side, looking on her tiny, still form with patent relief Mand knew all too well. He took in trembling breaths as he lightly traced his fingers down her cheek, her lek, eventually taking up her small hand in his as she remained peacefully asleep. There was only one small monitor above her head, displaying a slow, steady heartbeat, and one lone line of clear fluid attached to her other arm presumably fed her a sedative and sustaining nutrients. Though Mand had never met the sweet little one before, it was still difficult to see such a young, healthy, vibrant child in such an unnecessary suspended state, made even worse by the anguish she felt freely radiating from the girl's distraught father.

Still gently holding Jewel's hand, Horatio looked to Mand with an intense, expectant expression; worry and fear were so readily apparent in his eyes, a state she had never seen from him before. Without a word, he was pleading for her help, trusting her and her abilities with the most important, precious thing in his life, and it took her a moment more to interpret his request in her daze. She stepped closer and gently rested her hand atop the girl's leg under a heavy blanket, closing her eyes briefly to again call on the Force, assessing Jewel's condition without disturbing her...

"He's told you the truth," she breathed after a tense silence, returning her gaze to him. She kept her voice as gentle as possible. "She's not hurt. She's just sleeping."

"I made sure she didn't wake up before I left with her," Aalon offered again from behind them. "I never had any intention of harming anyone."

Horatio's eyes never lifted from his daughter; he remained unconvinced and answered with a hard edge to his voice. "You threw a detonator at me."

The hesitation in Aalon's response was telling. "Wil had tackled me from behind right as I threw it. It was just a flash detonator; it was only meant to blind you temporarily, not injure you."

Again Horatio remained wholly focused on his Jewel, his posture slowly sagging as his adrenalin rush ebbed. It wouldn't be long before he would need help to even remain standing, and the thought wearied her. She let go of a short breath before she turned to face Aalon, and she was surprised to see a slight woman standing closely beside the Hunter Lead, though no one had entered the room after them. She was an olive skinned, dark haired beauty, but a sharp fierceness in her eyes led Mand to believe she wasn't just a bounty hunter's decorative trophy. Aalon had removed his helmet and placed it aside, wrapping his arm around the woman's shoulders, and he waited only a moment before answering Mand's wordless inquiry.

"This is my wife, Talithana. She hasn't left Jewel's side since I brought her here." He paused again as if expecting Horatio's attention, but when the elder Sheridan continued to ignore him, he went on with the introductions. "Tali, this is Jedi Master Mand Natiyr. She knew the Jedi Master who delivered me, the one I was named after." Tali nodded politely to Mand, and Mand returned it weakly, but Tali's gaze slowly migrated to Horatio who, though he still had his back to them, she seemed to recognize anyway.

"...I thought you said you weren't going to bring him here."

Aalon shook his head, also looking at Horatio. "I didn't. They came to me." He considered his thoughts a long moment, studying his uncle briefly before returning to Mand. "You didn't expect to meet me. And you also didn't know that you'd find Jewel here...did you?"

Mand only responded with a blank gaze, still somewhat unwilling to trust the Hunter Lead. Aalon's question was more of a statement, anyway; he'd already deduced that from their reaction upon being told that he had in fact been the one who had taken the girl from her home days ago. He seemed to be testing their resolve. "So what did bring you to the Guild, then?"

With a soft breath, Mand turned to Horatio for his approval, since it was his family's affairs, not hers, that had tumbled so wildly out of control so suddenly. He again refused to focus on anything but his sleeping daughter, though, and she could appreciate his state to a point. She had been in his place not so many years ago, concerned only with rescuing her daughter and bringing her home... But his ongoing silence wasn't going to improve their chances of finding answers and preventing it from happening again. She could be tactful enough in his stead.

As she responded to Aalon, she reached up and gently rested her hand on Horatio's shoulder for reassurance. "We found out that Horatio's son Wil had been looking into your older brother Max. Wil was trying to find him. We left Dantooine before he had recovered from his injuries enough to wake up, so we don't know how much, if anything, he had been able to dig up about Max, but...if Soran felt threatened by Wil's search, we thought he might have taken Jewel as retaliation. We came to the Guild to get any information on Soran that we could."

Horatio's shoulder tensed under Mand's hand, his upper body hunching over Jewel's bed as a protective reflex, but despite his ongoing distress, he remained silent. She continued to share soothing, peaceful energy with him...

"That might make sense," Aalon answered with a brief nod, "...if Soran was still alive."

Engaged for the first time, Horatio whirled around. "Soran's dead?"

Aalon crossed his arms over his chest, somewhat reluctantly sharing such sensitive intel. "We haven't been able to confirm it, officially or unofficially, but...no one's actually seen the man himself in years. His spice runners have continued to operate fairly routinely, but the rest of the hierarchy is slowly being dismantled from the inside out, bit by bit. Rumor is, in Soran's absence, someone with enough power has taken over his spice empire, not to operate it or expand it...but to dissolve it. No explanation, no fanfare, nothing. There'll be nothing left of it by the end of this cycle."

Desperate to not feel completely defeated, Mand looked to Horatio, searching his eyes. They had already been proven wrong in thinking Jewel had been kidnapped by someone who had intended to use her against Horatio, and now their initial suspect behind the kidnapping had long been removed from his own criminal empire? Though Jewel was safe and unharmed in Aalon's care, they were back to no leads, no clues, and no ideas. What were they to do now?

"My father had worked closely with Soran for a long time," Aalon continued with a softer tone, "at least, up until he died a few years ago. Whoever's helming that spice empire in his place wouldn't have any personal reason to take up arms against you now. I don't think they're the ones behind the bounty placed on Jewel."

Something clicked with Horatio as Aalon spoke, and his eyes sharpened as he looked back up at his nephew with intense distrust. "...your father was killed before you were born."

Aalon only partially masked his surprise. "My biological father, yes. But the Asakuras took me in after Mom died. Kun raised me. He was my father, he taught me everything I know. When he died, I took his place, and I became the Hunter Lead."

A sudden darkness had overtaken Horatio's mind; Mand had sensed it without even seeing the look of betrayal on his face. "My sister...sent you to live with Kun Asakura, a man known for the most brutal, ruthless, and twisted hunting methods, instead of me?"

Aalon's eyes narrowed. "Kun was a good friend to my parents. He took care of Mom in her final days, even with Tzymo's control over her. You didn't."

Mand gripped Horatio's arm in earnest, though he hadn't moved. The loss of his sister had always been a painful subject for him, landing him in a cantina fight he couldn't finish years ago, and she knew he still carried such grief and guilt for his failure to protect her and her sons. She could easily feel his trembling, and she expected him to erupt at any moment. "Horatio..."

But surprising her, even without her influence he remained in place, his gaze locked with his nephew's. His broken voice was difficult to hear. "We're leaving. With Jewel. Now."

"I can't let you go," Aalon refused again, resolute. "Not right now. Not while we're still trying to figure out who sent that bounty. You leave now, you'll be more vulnerable than ever, and you'll invite someone else to try again. And I won't allow that."

Horatio suddenly moved to lunge at Aalon, but Mand restrained him with greater strength than he could muster. "No, Horatio!" she commanded with force, standing between the two men as she stared Horatio down from his ill-advised decision. He began to angrily resist her hold, shuffling to get around her, but she wasn't prepared for him to collapse to his knees as his hands clutched his side in agony. His face had become sallow once more; he was bleeding again.

With her arms around his shoulders, Mand gently eased his limp upper body to the floor as he blacked out, her fingers finding his erratic pulse at his neck while her other hand pressed his side to heal his wound that was just as stubborn as he was. Aalon cautiously knelt beside him, concerned but watching him closely for another attempt at an attack.

"Is there any way we can get him a transfusion?" Mand begged, wresting her own final reserves of strength. "He can't heal if he keeps losing blood like this."

Though Aalon was clearly reluctant to answer, he looked up at his wife behind him. Tali hesitated, as well, but she eventually nodded with a weak breath. "There's a bed in the room next door, we can get him set up in it for now."

Aalon stepped around to lift Horatio under his arms as Mand tucked her hands under his knees, but Aalon paused before moving him, his voice conveying nothing but concern. "Jewel can't leave, Master..."

Swayed by the compassion in his eyes, Mand answered in kind, agreeing to convince Horatio once he was conscious again. "We'll stay. I'll keep him asleep for a while, too."

Satisfied, Aalon nodded and stood with her, slowly carrying Horatio between them as Tali opened the doors along their way. As she had said, the nearby room just down the hall had an empty bed they settled Horatio down on, and Tali wasted little time in getting him hooked up to monitors and replacing the bacta patch on his side. Just as the door closed behind them, though, Mand could have sworn she heard the faint sound of astromech wheels slowly rolling down the hallway.