Revived by a lazy day of solitude, and sex, and staring into each other's eyes, and regaling teary-smiled memories about lost friends, and fighting over who would get the best dresser drawers. . . Luke and Kess returned to the Federal Complex refreshed and ready to get down to business.

Their first stop was to visit the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee about that rumored office in which to base their work at the Capital. The answer was 'yes'. Requests of donations were all well and good, but as long as they didn't demand compensation for their services, the Jedi did not have to pay rent on the space.

The small office complex was conveniently located right on the lobby floor, only a dozen steps away from an entrance to the Senate chambers. It had a utility room with a lav, four little offices, a decent-sized conference room, and a lobby big enough to dud-saber duel if they wanted. Compared to the grand operations of Senators and System Royalty, this beige little collection of rooms was tiny and simple, as if it were once some lack-luster support division in earlier times. Luke noted with a smile that it was perfect because the Jedi intended to be exactly that: a lack-luster support division.

They spent the next few hours rearranging the leftover furniture, figuring out how to connect the comm terminal, and scrounging for office supplies abandoned in drawers. They shoved one empty desk up toward the entrance on the idea that someday an assistant my occupy it, and, as if on cue, Raól showed up.

He had just met with the Chamberlain, he announced, and brought with him a great deal of correspondence and data regarding the Jedi Senate Office and its functions. They ushered him to the meeting table in the otherwise naked conference room to put down all the datafolios, at which Kess queried that his donated time by the Ansion government had already expired.

Raól put down his stuff and sat down with a pert nod. "In all honesty, I'm taking sick time so I can assist you today."

Luke was glad for the help and promised to reimburse the man for the lost sick pay, to which Raól crossed his legs at the knee and nodded with a patient smile. "Yes, well, we'll get to that later."

Kess was secretly ready to hire the man on the spot, but Luke's clear reservation was that they probably couldn't afford a salary for anyone just yet. That aside, they already trusted him, and were glad to explain what they had organized so far and what they were still figuring out how to do. Raól's depth of experience in the Federal Complex had him producing fast answers about who to contact for what and how to get things done. Luke and Kess pushed forward with new delight and used whatever help this skilled political assistant was willing to offer.

They had Artoo haul over all the data cards from the apartment that were full of notes and task lists, and they had Eye-D send over all the messages from that comm terminal to this one so they could start working on agenda. Together, the three of them sorted out the entire workload into three categories: Academy, Politics, and General Function. From there, they began a master task list for each project.

And the list was extensive: An assistant or protocol droid to serve in the office full time as a primary contact point. Mediation agenda. Research materials for the mediations. Permanent residence on Coruscant. Living expenses. Transportation off planet. Static channel the public could reference on what resource donations they needed. Jedi Records to be sorted out and uploaded to the database. New Jedi Records now that they might get more of that from the Imperial side of things. Surveyors and archeologists to map out what was left of the Jedi Temple. How do we find new students? How do we train them without a clearing? Or a grinder? How are we going to find a real location for the Academy?

And all of these answers required money.

Luke and Kess sat side by side at that meeting table and struggled against the temptation to ask how many credits were in the account.

They pushed forward on the premise of pretending there was no money in there. They would prioritize all these thousand things that needed to happen right away and start from the top. Donations were key. And the key to donations was to get started on mediation services as soon as possible. So they set forth on sorting out the many requests and started putting together their own agenda. Several of these projects required travel to various parts of the galaxy to visit systems first hand, so they asked Raól for sources of a cheap transport they could buy.

Raól declined. "You already have one."

Luke and Kess shared a glance. Both squinted at him. "We do?"

Raól stood up from his seat and shuffled through his many datapads to find one specific, then walked it over to place it on the table between their elbows. He covered the screen with his hand until they agreed to see it. "I understand why you don't want to know what's in the account, but perhaps you would like to know the list of supply donations already waiting to be of use?"

Luke agreed to that, and met eyes with Kess who also agreed to that. Supplies already on hand meant they wouldn't have to buy them. Best to make use of everything in the virtual stockroom before they went shopping.

Heads angled together over the datareader. Eyes popped wide.

A thumb paged down . . . and paged down again. . . .

That the used transport ship was 'magically' donated without them ever asking for it smelled of behind-closed-doors-rebel-politics, but neither of them mentioned that suspicion aloud. The transport wasn't the only significant item, but most of list was of various small supplies. Things like service droids, data readers, desks, food stocks, dorm furnishings, utility belts, meditation zufas, monk tunics, simple robes, sandcubes, lightsaber parts. . . .

Luke sat up with a boyish grin and rubbed his palms together like an evil genius.

Kess grinned at Raól to explain the man's reaction. "Now all we need is a location and some students."

With new energy, they started sorting it all out, prioritizing the work, scheduling the most urgent mediations, starting a 'wish list' the public could reference in order to donate specific supplies instead of money. Yet gathering all this 'stuff' created a new chore of figuring out where to store it all until they had a permanent place to put it. They decided to cram it all in the empty offices in the back here, and in the empty bedrooms in the apartment at home. That wasn't enough space, clearly, but the space was free. And they started tossing around the idea of laying claim and utilizing the Jedi Temple ruins to store the rest of it.

Explore it? Sure. Visit it frequently? Not so much. It was a 'ruin' after all, and so deep under the living world of the planet it felt like a tomb down there. But they agreed it may work as an option until they figured out a location for the Academy.

Again, Luke reviewed their Catch .22 as if still trying to find a way out of the loop. The Academy was key to getting help, and getting help was crucial to getting all this up and running. To which Kess noted that the mediations were key for bringing in donations, which would in turn make the Academy possible. But they needed the help before they could really get going on the mediations.

Luke buried his face in his palms and cringed with frustrated laughter, and Kess grinned across the table at Raól to ask (almost) as a joke. "Want a job?"

"Wait a second!" Luke spat with a smile then eyed Raól apologetically. "We can't afford anyone yet."

Raól returned a grinning but curious squint. "Forgive my ignorance, but if you haven't seen the balance of the account, what makes you so convinced you can't afford to hire anyone?"

"Because we haven't done anything yet?" Kess said with a laugh. And Luke nodded with deep shrugging agreement of this point.

Raól lifted a hand and squinted harder, trying to gesture but hesitant to do so. "Erm, beg your pardon. Can I just— Can I say something beyond my position here?"

Both looked at him, shrugged, and nodded. "Of course."

Raól smiled at them like the couple was crazy. "'Haven't done anything yet'?" He spread a palm at the giant Senate building outside, where a new galactic government was currently not shooting at each other for the first time in thirty years. "'Haven't done anything yet?!'"

Kess flushed at the table. Luke angled a single-shoulder shrug and tried to figure out how to respond to that—

Raól continued, lecturing them with deep respect and a little dismay. "You gave us everything without asking for anything in return. The help is pouring in because now they have a way to show their gratitude for what you've already done. And they want you to keep doing it. So use what they've given you," and he laughed to stress it, "and for pity's sake, quit worrying about how much you may or may not have in the account!"

It was clear now that Raól knew what was in the account. Kess lifted an eyebrow and asked because she knew Luke wouldn't. "Do we have enough to hire you?"

This, it turned out, was why Raól was here. The man drew in a breath of poise and explained, "I took a sick day to help you because I promised my mother I would. She once served as a civilian Senate attaché to the old Jedi Order. For the first decade of my life, I was surrounded by Jedi, and my mother, who is now retired, is deliriously happy to see your return to the galactic stage."

He continued to explain that, upon Mon Mothma's long-awaited return to the capital, Raól sought out the Alliance leader about re-creating that political post. Mon Mothma, in turn, sent him to meet with the new Chamberlain and Jedi-in-Training with his credentials and resumé in hand. Chamberlain Solo, in turn, loaded him up with every scrap of notes and correspondence she had about the new Jedi Order and sent him on his way with her blessing.

Kess smiled, "So you came here hoping for an interview."

"I came to prove my worth," he corrected politely and gestured at all the work they'd done so far, "in hopes that it might earn an interview."

Luke rested his elbow on the arm of the chair and cocked an eyebrow at the man, "Well . . . then . . . I think you need to go back to Chamberlain Solo as soon as possible and deliver my request that she negotiate a reasonable salary with you."

Raól smiled from ear to ear, got up from his chair, bowed at them both, and left on his first mission as an official Jedi aide. "I'll return first thing in the morning."

As soon as the man was gone, Luke slumped back in the meeting chair and sighed out a wistful smile. "Man, it's nice to have a productive day again, huh?"

Kess stood and finished sorting out the last of the stacks so she could figure it all out again tomorrow. "Yeah, we actually accomplished something this time."

While she was bright and easy about it, Luke still detected an emotional tether holding her back from full glee. She still needs time to heal, he recognized, but already he was thinking about steeling her away to Yavin, for there was no better place to propose than the clearing.

"Guess now we know what Leia was talking about," she commented as she packed up to go home for the day. "But it feels like we're doing the 'reaping' when it was the old Jedi order did all the 'sewing'."

"Well, we'll just have to earn it ourselves," he said lightly, just to say something on topic. Clearly, Kess hadn't detected what Leia was really talking about, but now Luke wondered mildly if he had detected it correctly himself. No matter. Kess still had no idea there was a wedding locket hiding in his boot.

"Well," Han thumbed over his shoulder, "you see how absorbed she is right now. If she wasn't, she'd know about it before I even thought it up."

Luke slowly got up from the table to follow her out. He watched her as she turned off the lights and squinted at the temperature controls. He watched the way she moved not too quickly, and smiled not too much. She was feeling happy for him more than she was happy about all this progress. The Academy was his pet project after all. The mediations and Jedi Senate Office stuff was only a means to an end for them both.

Luke considered it that Kess might need a pet project of her own, something with which she could have complete authority, something to sink her teeth into to help with the healing. He secretly wondered if that donated transport might need repair and thought of sending her off on a shopping spree for tools so she could get filthy in her flight suit again. Maybe he could get Yana over for a few days—during which he could make himself scarce—so they could have some 'girly girl' time together. Whatever the solution, at least now he had some ideas on how to solve this last elusive 'undone' thing that was still blocking his path.

Gladly leaving all the bureaucracy work at 'work' this time, they stepped to the coliseum lobby and paused to figure out how to lock up the new Jedi Office.

But their shoulders stiffened to find their exit was blocked by now-President Tesseoni of Tyrona and Her Holiness Ro'Salia of At'Bintar, both accompanied by a dozen aides. Both sides closed in on the Jedi like they were about to launch unreasonable demands on the other and expected Jedi backup for their half of the mess.

Luke put his palms up with apologies. "I beg your forgiveness, madams, but we are closed for the day."

"No you're not," President Tesseoni stated firmly.

"No," Ro'Salia said sharply. "This is urgent."

Both women stepped around the Jedi to help themselves into the office behind them.

Kess shifted to watch at their audacity as the two leaders and a dozen assistants filtered around their bodies as though they weren't even standing there. Luke rubbed the corner of his eye with a fingertip. He just wanted to go home and have sex, and he only realized that desire now that he couldn't. Once they were all gone inside and waiting for the Jedi to come in too, Kess lifted her palms and spoke gently at Luke, "Let's just hear what they want and we'll put it on the agenda."

Luke nodded, inhaled for strength and patience, and both returned to work.

Lights. Temperature. More chairs for everyone. The conference table was still a mess with stacks of datacards and folios, but the two leaders didn't seem to care about that. Ro'Salia and Tesseoni took seats far away from each other at the round table, but not entirely across from each other like it was going to be some kind of debate. Their assistants stood along the wall in the form of a dais behind them. Luke and Kess wearily returned to their same side-by-side seats that were still warm from already being in them all day. They gave their guests as much patience and respect as appropriate for this unscheduled late hour.

"What can we do for you?"

With chin up and eyes icily stuck to the table, Ro'Salia said nothing.

Tesseoni began without checking with the other if she should. "As you know, Tyrona and At'Bintar are currently in disagreement about the religious rights of the holy moon of Iktri."

Luke nodded and sat back in his chair. "I know well of the conflict, but I am less educated in the details of the case. Something about 'evidence in scripture'? Would you like us to add it to our mediation agenda?"

"We have one now," Kess piped.

Ro'Salia blinked up. "You have one what?"

"An agenda." Kess gestured at the mess on the table before them. "As you can see, we're still trying to get our office together to serve in that capacity, but we're working on it." She offered respectfully, "We're happy to put you on the schedule."

Ro'Salia blinked again and exchanged a strange glance with Tesseoni. Tesseoni seemed less pleased with the eye contact and dismissed all this with a tiny rattle of her head.

Luke pointed out, "We can't mediate what we haven't yet studied enough to understand."

Tesseoni dismissed that too and gestured to an assistant, who brought over a data reader to hand to the Jedi.

Luke and Kess leaned elbows on their respective armrests to squint over the data reader together.

"Chamberlain Solo was kind enough to take time out of her very busy schedule to propose a solution for Iktri—

"A solution," Ro'Salia noted in dark warning, "that we have already tried, with very little success."

Tesseoni paused to keep her temper. "However, Chancellor Solo introduced a possible element that we hadn't yet considered."

Ro'Salia finished for her. "We've come to hear your opinion on the matter."

Luke glanced up and looked down again. He and Kess read the laundry list together.

No mining. No logging. No fishing. No heavy subspace communication. No heavy off world transportation. No military presence of any kind. No off-world commerce. No planetary shield. All utilities must be based on renewable energy. Prior to the start of construction, all structures must be approved by both hemispheric governments.

'Hemispheric governments', Luke noticed. They were going to share Iktri by slicing the moon in half.

There will be no advertising of symbols of any kind. No buildings, structures, tools, or supplies may be labeled with the names, titles, or symbols of system or persons that donated said objects. Monthly surveys of both hemispheres are required without fail. Survey reports must be delivered in person to both hemispheric representatives on a timely basis. Any concerns of either party will be addressed immediately by neutral mediation on the host reservation. . . .

Luke's brows knitted, "What are we looking at here?"

Kess had already read ahead and pointed at the text with a growing grin.

The reservation site must be approved by both hemispheric representatives. The reservation site must be free of any previous settlement or archeology. The reservation site must be on the prime or anti-meridian border between At'Bintarian and Tyronan territories. The reservation site will be twenty kilometers in area with no room for expansion. The layout and operation of the reservation site will be entirely at the discretion of the Jedi Order. . . .

Kess propped her elbow on the table and hid her smiling mouth in a backwards palm. Luke suddenly arched his back and scratched the bridge of his nose as if to hide his cringing grin of hope.

This agreement may be cancelled without notice if both Tyronan and At'Bintarian governments are in agreement of the cancellation, at which time all abandoned structures and supplies will be thenceforth the possession of At'Bintar and Tyrona, to be divided at a later date. It is preferred that the Jedi Order avoid interference with the religious practices of both Tyronan and At'Bintarian settlements, however, it is required that the Jedi Order immediately interfere with either community in case of breach in the communal agreement of land use, expansion, and/or manifest destiny.

Kess licked her lips to rub them closed and tried not to snicker at the fireworks going on inside Luke's Force Print right now. But he put up a good front. Luke lifted his eyes from the data reader only to give the dueling women a curious squint.

Tesseoni added, "This, of course, is temporary. Scientific study suggests the moon has little time left to support life without shields or biome containment."

Ro'Salia countered with a wry smile, "And yet, the Force of God has blessed the holy ground with long life. Iktri still shines as a veritable paradise regardless of 'science'."

Luke bowed his chin at Ro'Salia, "Fair enough, but enlighten me anyway. How much time does the moon have left?"

Tesseoni reported with a shrug, "Five hundred standard years, maybe. Perhaps as long as a thousand."

Luke pursed his lips, but his eyes sparkled like blue diamonds. His voice was calm and respectful, but the grin on his mouth was not to be contained. His finger tapped on the data reader in front of them, but he couldn't quite formulate the words, "A-and this is . . . ?"

Ro'Salia spread a regal hand. "Simply put, Master Jedi, we have agreed to share the moon equally between us, as we have tried before but—

"We need a babysitter," Tesseoni blurted wryly. Ro'Salia flattened her mouth with ire at being interrupted, but Tesseoni continued anyway. "We are offering you a small reservation for your 'Academy' in return for keeping an neutral and non-military eye on both of us."

Ro'Salia continued it further. "And to help make peace and secure against illegal expansion when someone steps out of line."

"We understand the restrictions may be quite limiting," Tesseoni said respectfully. "We might be able to negotiate changes on the function and procedure of it, but—

Ro'Salia interrupted this time. "But Iktri is a holy ground and the treatment of the planet as a deity is non-negotiable."

Luke shrugged both hands, looking for something on the list that he couldn't live with, and found it hard to believe he couldn't find any. "I have no problems with these restrictions." As if expecting for the other shoe to drop, Luke shyly scratched the side of his neck, afraid to ask. "And um . . . how soon do propose this plan to begin?"

Ro'Salia blinked at him. "We have thousands of elderly citizens eager for pilgrimage before they pass—

Tesseoni interrupted her again. "Part of our agreement with each other is that neither of us begin our own settlements before your hemispheric surveys are underway."

"As soon as possible," Ro'Salia urged.

Luke looked down at the list with widening eyes, but his heart was beginning to pound so hard he couldn't focus to read it.

Kess sat back in her chair with a happy grin aimed out at the two women, but her fingers sneakily dragged a signature stick from the tabletop and flipped it over in her fingers to hover in front of his face. Luke snatched it out of the air and curled over to scribble his approval, then shoved both stick and datareader in front of Kess to do the same.

"Yes." Luke nodded fervently and his smile grew big. "Yes."

They escorted Ro'Salia and Tesseoni to the exit with a hundred bows and handshakes, promising quick contact and secured communication for now they had an assistant too. The two women split away from each other once they were in the coliseum lobby, each trailed by their own staff. As soon as they were gone, Luke slammed the door shut for one last moment of privacy so he could wrap his arms around Kess with a happy laugh of delight.

She flew them home because Luke was bouncing off the walls of the speeder as if he'd just won the lottery. He wanted to celebrate at Teedee Q's but Kess gently declined because it was 2100 already. She was exhausted from the stress and excitement of this day and wanted to meditate, but she didn't tell him that. Like a teenager, Luke jumped and skipped and squealed ideas and plans and hopes and Maybe This and Maybe That and Maybe Your Brother and Maybe My Nephew or Niece . . . all the way into the apartment while Kess dragged her feet behind him. But she smiled wisely at his glee and enjoyed him enjoying the moment.

Standing in the living room and throwing down their cloaks to a chair, Luke cupped her face in his hands for a long, happy smooch. "I'm going to make love to you until the sun comes up," he declared.

She sniggered to correct him, "You're going to make love to me until I fall asleep."

Luke couldn't stop smiling, and his cheeks were beginning to hurt from it, but he understood humbly and took her waist with a nod. She was happy, he could tell, but she wasn't as happy as he was.

"Iktri's only a two hour jump from here," he offered. "And we have a transport now."

Kess nodded benevolently. "Go check it out."

"Don't you want to see it too?"

"Well, yeah, of course I do, but we just scheduled a dozen mediations, and we need to get Raól started in the office tomorrow . . . ." Now, it was Kess focused on work and Luke eager to go play, but she assured softly, "You go check it out. Pick us a good spot. And show me later."

Luke didn't like this, but he couldn't deny himself this chance. "But block out the next free day so you can come see it too."

"I will," she assured again, still grinning up at his boyish energy.

Luke again detected that emotional tether in her soul, that still palpable sadness, but she supported him anyway. In everything. All the time. Appreciative to the deepest possible level, his thoughts turned back to the task of figuring out how he could help make her dreams come true too.

And he realized he had power over only one.

Kess kissed him on the cheek, proud of him, happy to serve so he could enjoy this moment, and turned away to go cook dinner.

Luke's eyes watched her go and, smiling more, he set his foot on a dining chair. He reached for his boot sock—

The door chime beeped.

Eye-D answered the door and they could hear the conversation going on in the foyer. Someone asked to talk to the 'Jedi people', someone very young, complete with an adolescent, begging, 'pleeaassee?'

Luke and Kess eyed each other and began to move to cross the great room together, but they stopped short when the little person pushed passed the big droid and skidded to a stop in the archway. Eye-D apologized for not controlling the situation and Luke shut him up with a gesture.

The girl was maybe eleven or twelve, not yet hitting puberty, dressed like a member of a street gang, and had a chipped canine tooth in her smile. Her species wasn't obvious because of the punk clothes and hairstyle. She was dark-skinned with deep green hair, and a pair of eyes that looked like pale diamonds in the rich color of her young face.

"Are you Mister Jedi, sir?"

Luke blinked back and angled his head with a grinning guard. "Yes."

"I um, my mom's boss says I should come talk at you." Her eyes shifted from Luke to Kess and back, suddenly nervous to realize whom she was facing.

"Why?"

"Er," she smiled with sweet embarrassment. "This is going to sound nuts, but I hear a voice in my head. And my mom's boss says I should come see yous about it."

Kess spoke carefully, "Explain."

"I don't hear the voice most times. It don't get in the way of schoolwork or chores or nothing. Mostly I only hear it when I close my eyes, and be all quiet, like this," she closed her eyes and paused in a deliberate silence.

Luke started—

And she popped her eyes back open with new energy, "When I do that, sometimes I can hear him talking to me. I been hearing it all my life. Since I was a kid."

Humored, Kess's brows knitted at this kid. "What does the voice sound like?"

"It's a man," she said. "A nice man," she insisted to note. "But it's a man. He never telled me his name. He telled me things like to calm down and stuff. He telled me nice things. And I like it. I didn't wanna do nothin' 'bout it. But my mom's boss says I should come anyways."

Luke shifted his feet and met Kess's eyes with a devious glance as he turned, but his voice was particularly bright. "Come sit down."

The two adults relaxed on one couch while the girl sat gingerly on the other, guarded to keep her manners in this pretty place.

Luke began the kind questions. "You said your mom's boss told you to come. Does your mom know you're here?"

"Yeah, she don't care. Well, she does. But only cuz she says I gonna make more bank doing that than this. She don't tell me what this is tho. But my mom's boss says this be better for me than doing that. She gave me the address cuz you says you'd help us cases we ever needs it."

Luke's mouth parted. His eyes shifted over to Kess, who glanced back with new understanding.

"But I says I don't need no help. Peoples think I'm crazy for it." She insisted this part at them, "I don't wanna make the voice go away. I whaddn't gonna come. I like it when the man talks to me."

"So why'd you come?"

The girl considered whether she should answer this part or not. "Well, the voice says I should prolly talks to you bouts it too."

Kess grinned warm. "Do you do everything he says?"

"No." The girl shook her head. "No, course not." Then she smiled to admit it. "But most times I don't, I fingered it out later that I shoulda."

Smug with that, Luke turned his chin and looked directly at Kess, rubbing it in with a big smile.

Kess shifted on the couch to squint at this girl . . . this girl and Yana's eyes, and Joanne's complexion, and Ashten's hair. . . . "What's your name?"

"Tayla."

Kess closed her eyes with a reddening face.

Luke clopped his palms over his head and shook them strong in the air with gritting smile of victory.

Tayla's green brows lifted into her brown forehead. Big diamond eyes shifted back and forth at this weird reaction. "Whad I do?"

Kess gestured for Tayla to disregard Luke's reaction and explained, "He's just thanking the nice man in your head."

"You believes me?"

"Yep." Kess lounged back against the couch. "Y'know why?"

"Why?"

"We hear them too."

Tayla's mouth hung open in comic pre-teen shock.

Luke added, "And we have no intentions to make him shut up."

"Super cool!"

Luke snuck a grinning eye over at Kess, but Kess didn't look back for his opinion, or his permission. Instead, she hopped off the couch with a decision of her own volition and walked over to the kitchen. "You hungry?"

"Yeah, kinda." Big eyes watched the woman go.

"Come over here. Help me cook something. I'm starving." Kess said from the other room.

Uncertain, the girl's eyes shifted back to the man still on the couch, unsure what she should do.

Luke thumbed over with a secret, "It's actually her you needed to see."

Tayla accepted this permission and stood from the couch. Her feet stepped timidly into the kitchen where Kess told her to sit down at the little table inside. "So tell me about stuff. . . ."

And Jedi Training began.

This. . . .

Luke listened to the 'girl chat' in the other room and sensed out Kess's mood. He could hear it in her voice. Her emotional energy amplified anew. And he knew it, he knew it in the depths of his soul, he knew he was right to wait. Not Yet had finally pinnacled to Now.

This is what he was waiting for.

With a smile stretching from ear to ear, Luke closed his eyes, reached out as far as his mind would go, and whispered it into the void.

Thank you.