Kess had never been to the High Tower restaurant. It was too rich for her pocketbook. She wasn't expecting a real date. They'd never been on one before. The invitation sounded like it was going to be all business. She only showered and changed into civvies after work, so when he pulled up in the fancy parking valet, she hesitated getting out. "Shouldn't I go home to change or something? Put on some makeup at least?"

Luke shook his head as he came around (but she opened the door and got out before he could do it for her.) He met her eyes with warmth. "You don't need makeup."

Kess flushed. At least she wasn't in a greasy flight suit so she didn't feel too embarrassed by her appearance. Luke hadn't said anything about Kess never wearing that black getup he once instructed was her Jedi uniform. Kess didn't like wearing black. It was too . . . dark. Most of the time these days, she just wore dirt brown pants and sand-colored tunics per her original Mos Eisley city style. Her clothes weren't grungy or rags, but they certainly weren't fancy enough for this place.

Luke walked beside her and eyed the other patrons as if this were a mission too. Protocol droids opened doors for them and escorted them up the elevator to a table overlooking the sea of yellow city lights. Kess noted with apprehension the finer clothes and snooty people enjoying their dinners. She recognized an Alliance senator but didn't remember her name.

Luke was clearly being careful about his actions with her in public, but he seemed to struggle with it. The rich location of the dinner could have been suggestive enough. Kess sat down at the little table by the big window, entirely uncertain how to act.

Luke sat down in the other seat. They ordered different kinds of wine from the server droid and settled in. Kess eyed the view without seeing it until she noticed Luke was eyeing her. Kess grinned bashfully.

"You okay?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," Kess nodded at the table. She clasped her hands in her lap and tried a nervous smile.

Luke chewed on his lips with a new uncertainty too. But he pushed ahead. "So let's fill some of those questions in your mind about the not-so-distant future."

She sipped the glass of ice water. "I'd like that."

"Right now, all things are on hold until we get Nik back in one piece."

She nodded with deep agreement and thanks.

"And before that happens, there aren't any immediate concerns. Right? Or are there?"

"Well, we have the barracks. And the galley. And now that I've got this thing with Han. . . ." She shrugged slow and dropped her shoulders quickly. "No, I guess there's nothing else. I'm okay for a while. Until we leave."

Luke nodded. He inhaled hard through his nose to think and angled his head. "Then let me tell you what I've already planned for the Academy."

"Yes!" Kess was eager for this part, not that he had hid any of this from her, but they never talked about it as a specific topic. This was her chance to get an overview of the whole thing.

"We need a location, that's still up in the air, but once we get one, I have a list of facilities I want to get for the students, things like dorm and cafeteria and medical services so that all our basic needs are met. Transport pad, meditation chambers, library, etcetera. My rule will be that anyone studying with us will be able to avail themselves of these facilities for free as long as they are training."

She absorbed this like a sponge. "How are you going to pay for it all?"

He flashed a smile. "Similar to how the original Order did it. After BoE, Leia helped me set up a non-profit credit account. Everyone's welcome to donate. And for those to whom we serve mediation services, we will ask (but not charge) for donations toward that end for our living expenses."

"What about the Senate support you keep talking about?"

"That's going to come more in the form of the location to do all of this, which would be the most expensive part of it. But the 'stuff' is going to have to come out of the account, if it isn't donated by someone else. And every purchase will be visible for all to see."

Kess calculated this plan for a long moment, then she came back with more. "Can I ask how much is in it?"

"You can ask," Luke admitted with a smile, "but I don't know the answer."

She blanched. "You haven't checked the balance?"

"Nor do I intend to," he said with a particular grin. "That's the catch. We're always going to pretend like it's almost empty. 'Does it have enough to do this thing we need next?' 'Yes or no?' Beyond that, how much is in there should be of no interest to Jedi."

She shoved her tongue in her molar and nodded fervently. "That makes sense."

The wine arrived. Luke raised his glass across the table in a silent but smiling toast. Kess returned it just as warmly.

Now she was energetic and interested, propping her elbows on the table as his already were. "So, without prying too much, can I ask how much you've already used it?"

"I've used it twice," he told her. "And both were for small expenses on that trip when I went to see the man you kissed to shut up." But he grinned at his description. He only described Danje that way because couldn't say the name in public, just as he couldn't mention the upcoming Big Mission in public.

Kess flushed anyway. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

His fingers lifted, "Hey, your kisses shut me up just as well. I can't get mad at you for using a tactic that works."

He said it in public. No one was listening to them, but Luke said it in public. Kess loosened up. This dinner felt like the first time they were planning this out as a team. To be included in this private data made her feel awesome.

"Really? Only twice? In two years?"

He shrugged, "I had a job until recently too, just like you."

"What about now?"

"Now, I get to benefit from not spending it all on partying every weekend," he chortled.

Was that a dig at her spending habits? Kess stretched her mouth to the side.

Luke eyed her with respect and grinned more. "Honestly, if I could go back and do it all again, I'd have done it the other way around. I learned recently . . ." he eyed the air to remember what someone once said, and nodded some more, "what I missed out on was worth far more than what I gained by saving the money."

Apology accepted, she thought.

The droid rolled up. Kess absorbed this new information as they ordered food. Her future began to have a vision.

The droid rolled away and Luke angled his head to focus again. "So all in all, you don't have to worry about jobs and expenses in that part of your future. . . . Assuming of course, you decide you want to be part of the Academy."

"I thought that was a given," she grinned as she sipped her wine.

Luke shook his head at the table. "I'm not accepting anymore 'givens'." He seemed to stiffen with his own self-discipline and met her eye. "I'm not assuming things I've no right to assume."

Warmed, she offered with a light in her eyes. "Are you asking me to present certain assurances?"

His eyes flared too, and his grin grew big, but his voice died to that same whisper just as he said it before. "Not yet."

Now she was wildly curious. And the excited interest shined from her whole face. "What is this thing you have on your mind?"

"It's just a surprise," he dismissed easily, and he dashed his head aside, "and I'm still working out the details."

"But you're not going to tell me?"

With a comic tone, he threw her own line back at her. "Sometimes you have to take a lie as, 'I'm not ready to talk about it yet.'" But even his words ended with a glow and a grin.

"Okay." She acquiesced, but still she wondered.

He watched her for a long minute, then, "So what else is worrying you?"

The food arrived. Kess reminded herself that she needed to train herself way from avoiding questions as much as he was clearly training himself not to keep things from her. She came back to the conversation eager and interested. "Ben," she said, "and Vanech. What's the plan?"

Luke grinned at his plate. "I guess it's high time I start letting you on the mysteries of curriculum, huh?"

"If you want me to train Ben," she pointed out.

"Generally, it's just 'light side first and save tricks for later'," he explained. "Vanech is a tough one. I wasn't expecting him to come. I know he's going to let us in on why he's here in his own time, but even after he receives all the training he wants, I doubt he's going to stick around."

"Plus he knows a half a dozen tricks already, apparently."

"Right. So my focus on him will be to bring him back firmly to the light side and give him all the tools he needs so he can stay there after he's no longer with us."

Kess chuckled. "Hard to imagine a back street pimp as a light sided Jedi."

Luke grinned strangely, "Yeah, that was my thought too."

"But you know," she squinted into memory, "Those women were not mistreated."

Luke sat up. He listened.

"They were healthy and clean (for the most part). They had moxy and a power in their own right. I mean, it was still a brothel but," she fought for the words to describe it with accuracy, "they were just doing their job, like I fixed fighters or you trained pilots. Taking care of people in that specific way was just their business."

"So he took good care of them," he noted.

"I don't know if he 'took good care of them' as much as he was just their business owner. Not that I saw much, but the place was running like a well-oiled machine. None of the women got nervous when he entered the room and none of the guests seemed to react to his presence. It was not what I expected for a whore house."

His brow lifted with humor. "May I ask if you've been in one before?"

"Yes." She smiled, and she nodded. "I had a friend once who got caught up in it thinking that was her only way out of a difficult situation, so me and a bunch of buddies crashed the place to do an intervention."

Luke smiled, "Did it work?"

"Yes actually," she brightened as she ate. "Eventually. It took a couple of tries. But we got her out and got her bacta dipped. Once she got the spice out of her system, she found her own feet."

Luke beamed. "Good for you."

"Guess I was already being Jedi-like back then, huh?" She joked. "Saving people from their own dark side."

He dashed his head aside. "The more I learn, the more I consider myself to be your second Master."

Kess had just shoved a bite into her mouth and blurted before she was done chewing it. "He didn't teach me anything."

"Oh yes he did," Luke stressed. "'Light side first, tricks second.' All I taught you was tricks."

"Oh yeah?" She smiled big but her voice went quieter. "Are you dropping hints now?"

Luke squinted. "What do you mean?"

She eyed for onlookers and whispered dirty. "We haven't had sex since the circuitry bay."

Luke rubbed his lips with grinning embarrassment. He set his elbows on the table and clasped his hands loosely to bounce against his smiling mouth. He tried to shrug it off, "Our minds have been on other things."

It was true, but she teased him about it anyway. "We can't go too long or we'll have too much catching up to do."

The bill came and Luke paid without noticing he did. "Sounds like you're the one who's dropping hints." But his smile was from ear to ear now.

Kess dashed her head innocently aside. Her Force Print was radiating anything but innocent.

Luke liked the comfort of this whole conversation, even if most of it was just business. It was nice not to have to hold back. It was nice to learn there was more about her than he already knew. But the best part was that she was growing more comfortable with the idea that he wasn't entirely in charge. There was a new synergy in this partnership. There wasn't as much shyness and nerves getting in the way anymore.

And he really liked it.

He stared at her passed his fingers and grinned more. Soon, he thought. Very soon.

With a fresh breath, he sat up. "Ready to get out of here?"

"Depends on where we're going," she whispered sneaky, her eyes flared with suggestion.

Luke's tongue played with his teeth as he eagerly climbed out of the chair.