A much longer snippet, dealing with Jinx's life while still on Wasskah. Beware of violence, both verbal and physical.

Heartless

It was night on this particular hemisphere of the Trandoshan moon called Wasskah, and the terrain was about as peaceful as it would ever get, humming with the tranquil white noise of nocturnal wildlife. Light reflected off the planet and its other moon, Akoshissss, gently illuminated the jungle of Island Four, the effect being comparable to the "blue hour" after twilight, only more long-term. The two small beings who trudged as quickly as possible through the overgrown underbrush weren't in the mood to look at the beautiful scenery, however.

Lorelei wasn't fighting him tonight, not yet anyway. Jinx praised the Force for small blessings, though he kept a firm grip on his companion's webbed hand in case she changed her mind. There was no mistaking the wistful look in the Nautolan girl's black eyes as she looked back every now and again, in the direction of the beach from which he was leading her away.

The Twi'lek bit his lip, strangling the only curse word he knew before it could come out of his mouth. Lorelei hadn't been the same since the day he, she, and the other three younglings captured from Eagle Clan had been released on this island. Most of the time – which quickly degenerated into all of the time – she was off in her own little world, unable to speak or even understand Basic, and singing softly to herself in her odd, halting native language. She looked at the sea with a passionate longing by day, and frequently tried to escape to it at night, when her friends were less likely to chase her, unaware of the danger from which they were trying to protect her.

Anya, who, he was told, had had some healing training before her Master was killed and she was brought here, told him that it had something to do with the concave, ugly-looking wound on Lorelei's head, received when she landed wrong on the beach the very night they were brought here. The Falleen had promised him she would do her best to cure his friend, little as her best might be. Despite the objections of Noric, the group's leader and Anya's one attachment, the older girl had worked with Lorelei every night from then on, trying to at least prevent her from worsening.

But Anya was…gone, now, and Lorelei was getting worse by the minute.

As was Noric.

The Zabrak boy stood at the doorway to their camp, his arms crossed, and anger emanating from him in waves. Jinx stopped short upon seeing him, his limited vocabulary of profanity almost coming up again, like last night's frugal dinner. He'd hoped to get back before Noric could awake and notice they were gone; he shouldn't have underestimated the teenager's senses like that.

There was a moment of silence, broken only by Lorelei's humming. "Another midnight swim?" Noric inquired, keeping his voice soft and almost friendly.

The younger boy swallowed, and nodded. There was no point in lying; both his and Lorelei's robes were wet, since he'd had to wade out into the water to fetch her. Of all the nights he had to fall asleep when it was his turn to watch her…

"You know, one of these days, you and she are going to lead the hunters right to our camp," the older boy continued, the friendliness in his voice escalating to the point of being creepy. "Which is why I told you last time that if she ever did it again, she wasn't coming back."

There was a stir of movement from behind Noric…one of the other children had heard the quiet confrontation from outside. Jinx hoped it was one of the Eagle Clan younglings, or perhaps Kalifa; if it was Polara, the Wroonian girl who now served as Noric's second in command, he was not going to have any backup on this.

"Her escape tonight was my fault, Noric. I promise it won't happen again." He made sure to look into the older boy's eyes when he said this, so that his promise wouldn't be dismissed as simple deferral to the authority of the only remaining Padawan on the island.

Noric chuckled bitterly. "You're damn right it won't happen again. Leave her."

It was, without a doubt, a death sentence. There was no way Lorelei could survive out there alone, all of them knew that. There were no other groups to join, for strength in numbers; non-Force sensitives got killed off fast. Like it or not, the crazy, twisted Noric and his tribe, who had survived longer than anyone in this awful place, were Lorelei's only chance of survival.

"Leave her," the Zabrak repeated, allowing a touch of iron to color his words a bit more. "It's obvious that she wants to die; let her. We don't need her slowing us down."

Jinx bristled. "She doesn't want to die, she wants the sea! She did the same things when she first came to the Temple!" He knew that because he grew up with her, but Noric always refused to believe him.

"You're full of it."

"I'm not coming back without her."

"Fine. Then we'll be rid of both the retards."

That word was not technically profanity, but in Jinx's book, it should have been. He clenched his fists, but tried to breathe slowly nonetheless. At this point, there was only one way to get Lorelei back into the group. He wasn't looking forward to it, but he had to do it, since he was the oldest member of Eagle Clan. It was his responsibility to take care of them, all of them, and that was what he'd do.

"You were supposed to be a Jedi," he hissed, aiming for the last remaining soft spot Noric had after Anya's death: his considerable pride. "Jedi defend the weak and the powerless. How can you call yourself a Padawan when you don't even try to do that?"

Noric's orange, un-tattooed lip twisted in an expression that tried to pass as humor. "I am doing what Jedi do. I'm leaving helpless little kids to die alone in this place."

Jinx nodded, forcing an expression of dawning realization onto his face and mimicking the creepy friendly tone Noric had used. "Oh, I guess you're right. Your Master did abandon you, didn't he?"

The statement wasn't true, and Jinx knew it, probably because he had one last feeble bit of faith left in his heart. Noric didn't have that luxury. He stiffened, his poisonous green eyes doing their best to bore holes into the Twi'lek's forehead. Jinx felt the cold shock hate had in the Force, but willed himself not to shudder. Noric only thought in survivalist, militant terms now; winning a fight against him was the one long shot Lorelei had at living. He couldn't win if he allowed the older boy to undermine his resolve.

With a dismissive shrug, Jinx smiled ruefully, delivering the punch line. "And who can blame him? It's obvious that a heartless monster like you was never Jedi material."

Noric was upon him before he even felt him move, throwing a blind haymaker at his head with an anguished snarl. Jinx had no time to duck, and he fell back a few steps, dazed. The Zabrak didn't let up, however, throwing blow after vicious blow at the smaller boy without mercy, giving him no opening to counterattack. He ended up backed against the trunk of the tree right next to the Jedi camp, Noric's big hands encircling his throat. As his vision started to darken, Jinx's only regret was that the younger kids no longer had anyone who would stand up for them.

And then, a fisted hand came down on the base of Zabrak's neck, eliciting a pained grunt. Noric released Jinx, who fell to the large branch beneath their feet, coughing and holding his injured throat. O-Mer, who had delivered the blow, backed up in shock at Noric's rage, but Jinx managed to kick out at the older boy's knee, tripping him.

O-Mer took advantage of Noric's prone position at once, straddling his chest and pounding relentlessly at his face. After about ten punches, the Zabrak threw the younger boy off of him with the Force. The Cerean nearly fell off of the branch, clutching at a fragile handful of moss at the last moment. Noric stood and tried to step on O-Mer's fingers, but was nearly unbalanced when a weight descended upon his back.

The Twi'lek boy sat on the Noric's shoulders, delivering blow after blow to the neck, avoiding the head and the vestigial horns. The Zabrak reached up and grabbed Jinx's right lekku, squeezing hard. Jinx screamed, and let go, but managed to get a hit on Noric's exposed armpit through the Force.

With a grunt, Noric tried to attack again, but turned his back on O-Mer. Gripping the branch as tightly as he could, the Cerean punched the air through the Force, aiming for the sensitive spot between Noric's legs. He had started the dirty fighting by targeting Jinx's lekku; O-Mer finished it without hesitation.

Jinx stood, preparing for another attack once the older boy recovered. A quick glance back at camp showed that the rest of the children were up, with Kalifa and Polara holding the two younger children back so they would not join the fight. Lorelei had helped O-Mer back up onto the branch, and the Cerean boy stood ready, so that Noric was flanked on both sides by his opponents. Even the reckless Zabrak thought twice before striking again.

But only twice. Upon laying his eyes on Lorelei where she stood next to O-Mer, he lost whatever control he had had. "You killed her!" he bellowed, charging toward the Nautolan. "You killed her you little…"

"Enough."

Noric stopped in his tracks, holding his neck and standing on tiptoes, as if someone was strangling him. All the younglings, even Lorelei, blinked collectively, and turned around, back toward the camp entrance.

Kalifa stood solidly on the branch, her hand extended toward Noric. "Get behind me," she ordered the younglings, without taking her eyes off the older boy. "Go back, get some sleep."

Hesitantly, they did as asked, with O-Mer taking the lead, his hand on Lorelei's back to prevent her from running off again. On their way, they passed Polara, whose blue jaw was agape at the nerve of Kalifa, the next lowest on the experiential totem pole besides the five members of Eagle Clan, who were tied for last. Jinx paused by her side, looking back through puffy, swollen eyes to see what the human girl would do.

Kalifa made a slight motion with her hand, pushing Noric until his back was against the tree-trunk in the same way he had held Jinx a few moments ago. She let him linger there, her grip strangling but not deadly, her amber eyes regarding the boy coldly.

"The Nautolan stays."

And then she let him go, turning her back on him without another word. Jinx, awed, almost, by the simple way Kalifa had just taken power, obeyed her repeated order to go back inside without question. Polara cast a glance back at the defeated Noric, but wordlessly did the same.

Noric chose to stay away. Later, they discovered a clearing in the jungle, where trees had been ripped up by their roots with the Force and two Trandoshan speeders had been crushed. There was both Trandoshan and Zabrak blood in that clearing, as well as the imprint of bodies. But the site had already been cleaned of any "trophies."

Jinx studied the site, but did not cry over it. He did not regret the night he confronted Noric. However, the day Lorelei finally died, despite the lengths he had gone to in saving her, he secretly wondered if he had not been as heartless as he had accused the other boy of being.

Yeah, I figured you might want to know a little bit more about that girl Jinx cried over in Broken.

I will probably deal more with this part of Jinx's life in future snippets. For now, you may speculate at the identities, personalities, and fates of the other younglings as you wish. At this point, I'm doing that myself in many cases.