A/N : Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Really appreciate it guys. I hope you keep enjoying the story.

Sorry my guest reviewer found it too slow going - the "action/adventure" tag might be misleading but it seemed appropriate. But yeah, there's a lot of talking and thinking and not that much lightsaber waving in this story, consider yourselves duly warned.

CHAPTER 4

Dinner was a quiet and unformal affair. Bail was reminded of Neeka's presence when he saw the boy sitting with Sateen at the table, although he looked much different from before - gone were his braid, lightsaber and Jedi clothes, leaving an ordinary child in its stead. Ordinary in appearance only, from what Breha had told him, but since no harm had been done and Neeka had apologized Bail had decided against bringing up the matter again. What weighed more heavily on his mind was how he was going to get the boy off-planet and to Alderaan discreetly but it turned out that Breha, bless her, had already come up with a plan, which she explained to them after dinner.

"The war has made a lot of refugees", she explained. "We'd already talked about helping refugees settle down on Alderaan, and I thought it'd be the perfect cover. I'll gather orphans and foster them and Neeka will just be another one of them. The lack of official documents can easily be explained by the state of chaos many planets are in because of the war, and I already had new papers drawn up." Breha held up a brand new ID card with Neeka's photo on it and handed it to him.

The boy stared at the card in wonder. "Kaylan Kadaris", he read the name written at the top.

"That's your new name", Breha said. "Sorry I couldn't consult you about it, but it all had to be done in a hurry. If anyone asks you're from Ancella, and were evacuated after your parents died."

"But what if people ask questions about Ancella ?" Neeka objected. "I've never been there."

In Bail's opinion the problem lay more in the boy's distinctive Coruscanti accent but there was nothing to be done about that.

"That's why I expect you to read up on Ancella", Breha said, and handed him a datachip. "You can read that with the datapad in your room, there's general information about the planet and about your fictitious life before the war. If people press the issue you can also tell them that it's too painful to talk about."

Neeka made a face although he quickly wiped it off his face. "I'll do my best." He hesitated. "Thank you for all the trouble you're going to."

Bail smiled to put him more at ease. "Well, considering how many times Jedi helped me out, you can consider that I'm only paying them back. Speaking of which, I have a message for you from Master Kenobi, but we'll get to that later... please, Breha, go on."

"I was pretty much done actually. I've already begun to put together that fostering program, and as soon as we have enough refugees we can do a first trip to Alderaan."

Bail kissed her swiftly on the cheek. "And I consider myself lucky to have married such a clever woman."

She smiled and playfully kissed him back... on the nose. "I try to keep up."

Bail turned to Neeka. "I told Master Kenobi that you are alive and well, and he was very happy to hear it. He could not record a message because it would be too dangerous, but his instructions for you are to stay safe and lie low for the time being. He says you should continue your Jedi exercises, especially meditation - "

Neeka made a face. Visibly, meditation was not his favourite subject. Not that Bail blamed him.

" - but only when it is safe to do so."

Neeka looked disappointed. "So he..." he hesitated. "Master Kenobi does not want me to join him ?" he tried not to show him but Bail could see the quivering lower lip and the painful swallowing. He could understand Neeka's feelings. As a fellow Jedi Kenobi was pretty much the only family he had left, and he did not want him by his side. The boy was bound to feel rejected.

"It would be dangerous", Bail said kindly. "And Master Kenobi's hiding place is not very suited to a boy your age." He spared a painful thought for Luke, condemned to grow up on that hellhole of a planet. "I think Master Kenobi would be happy to have you with him, but he daren't risk it, not with so few of you left."

"But... who will teach me ?"

Bail let out a sigh. "No one", he admitted. "There's no one left in a position to teach you." He hesitated only slightly before adding, "but there are many other things you can learn. You don't have to be a Jedi. You can be anything you want."

Neeka looked a little dazed and daunted by the prospects laid to him by Bail, and Bail took pity on him. "Listen, Neeka, you don't have to decide anything right now. In a few days you'll go to Alderaan and you can start a new life. You'll have a lot of time to decide what you want to do."

"I guess", Neeka mumbled. Of course, for someone meant to be a Jedi, the possibility to be a schoolteacher or a merchant was probably not all that appealing.

"Why don't you go to your room", Breha suggested, "and read up on Ancella ? Try and get used to your new name, and remember your new birthday, that sort of things. Like a secret agent." She smiled. "That's what you'll be, essentially."

Neeka nodded heavily. "Yes ma'am. I'll do that." He disappeared obediently in the direction of his room. Bail turned back to Breha.

"I gathered from your letter that it's not always been easy with him..."

Breha grimaced. "Well, to be fair he was not being purposefully difficult, and he's been through a lot. The only thing that really frightened me is when he did... whatever it was he did to Captain Durane."

Bail shrugged. He remembered some of the things that had happened on Zigoola, during that first mission with Kenobi, and he thought he had a rather good idea what Breha had witnessed. But Kenobi had pulled through and Bail was willing to bet that Neeka would, as well.

"I wouldn't read too much into it", he said. "He was probably not even aware of what he was doing."

"Yes", Breha said dryly, "that's what I'm concerned about."

That was a fair point. "It's no use worrying now." Bail kissed her on the cheek. "We can but hope he'll manage to control himself when he isn't under so much pressure. That said, are you sure about this foster program scheme ? Surely there would be easier ways to smuggle him off planet... I could just get him through customs with my diplomatic immunity and we don't need to explain anything to anyone."

"Yes", Breha said after she took a sip of wine, "but first off, I really do want to put together that fostering program, and it has nothing to do with Neeka. It's bad enough when adults suffer because of war, but children... I think they deserve a second chance and I think someone in my position, with the means to do something, has no excuse to remain inactive. I couldn't live with myself if I did not at least try to do something for them. And since this provides us with the perfect cover story, it would be silly not to use it. If Palpatine's lackeys come sniffing around, this way we can always tell them we didn't know anything. If you smuggle Neeka out, it'll make it obvious that you're hiding something and it'll be that much harder to claim ignorance."

"And you're right, as usual." Bail smiled tiredly and he plucked the glass from her fingers to take a sip of wine for himself. "Fine, we'll do it your way. I'll let you put this together however you like... and in the meantime we'll have to decide what to do with Neeka once on Alderaan, because I'm stumped. We can't very well foist him up on a random foster family without any warning what they're getting into."

"And telling them means that we have to trust them to a remarkable extent", Breha observed. "Yes, it certainly is a conondrum. Either way I was thinking we shouldn't send him too far away from us. I thought we could foster him ourselves but it's a little too high profile... though we could say we're just showing the right exemple to our fellow citizens. But he might need more attention than we're in a position to give him."

Bail sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I suppose we'll have to draw up a list of suitable families who live not too far from the palace on Alderaan."

"Hmm." Breha tickled him playfully. "But we can do that tomorrow."

"Oh..." Bail raised an eyebrow. "Did you have something else in mind for tonight, your highness ?"

Breha's lifted her eyebrows suggestively. "Find out for yourself."

Breha kept herself busy during the next few days with her foster project, and soon became very involved in it. The war had remained a rather abstract notion to her until now, even though she was well aware of its implications ; but to know about it and to see the genuine distress of torn families were two different things. Meeting up with refugees, going through medical centers with rows upon rows of maimed victims only reinforced her desire to act positively.

Bail had left her entirely in charge of the project, with his blessing ; he was too busy with his senatorial functions to involve himself much into the proceedings, but Breha told him about it every evening, usually after he was done complaining about the way the Senate was now being run.

"You know", she said one evening, "I was thinking perhaps we should set an exemple."

"Hmm ?" Bail looked up from the report on the armament commission he was reading. "What do you mean by that ?"

"About the orphan refugees", Breha said patiently. "We should set an exemple, show our people that we are not asking anything from them that we would not be willing to do ourselves."

"You mean take one of them ?" Bail had obviously not entertained the notion before. "But we already have Leia !"

"That's not the same thing." Breha had to refrain herself from rolling her eyes. "We're adopting Leia, but here we're talking about fostering. Most of these orphaned children are older, many of them in their early teens, and they obviously cannot be adopted in a family the same way an infant would. We're asking people to foster them, that is to say to give them a home and a stable life, but not to adopt them. A little like taking in a cousin, if you like."

"Oh." Bail rubbed his chin. "I see. Well... I don't know. I'd like to think about it. I'm not against the idea, but I don't think we should rush into anything when we don't even know how things are going to work with Leia..."

"Of course", Breha said, though she was a little disappointed. But it was a little unfair of her to drop the idea on Bail and expect him to jump at it, when she herself already had had days to consider it. "Anyway, we already have about twenty orphans at the center here on Coruscant, who were evacuated from their homeworld in the past few months."

"So few ? When you started this I thought you'd have more requests than you could handle."

"Well, it's not that simple", Breha said with a slight grimace. She had been though enough heaps of paperwork in the past few days to know just how not simple it all was. "You see, my program can only apply to children who have no remaining living relatives, or whose relatives have expressly stated that they will not take them in. Considering the chaos reigning on these children's homeworlds right now, the paperwork takes a great deal of time to come through, and that's when we still have archives to work with. So there are a lot of children refugees here on Coruscant, but very few of them fit the requirements." She sighed. "It's hard going to all these temporary shelters and see so much misery, and know that I can help only a handful of these people."

"But you are doing something", Bail said quietly. "If everyone devoted as many efforts to this cause as you do, we'd be getting somewhere."

"To be fair, not everyone is in a position to help. Not everyone has money to give or political influence. And it's also true that there are a lot of volunteers working in these shelters for free." Breha shook her head. "I am just frustrated, don't pay attention."

"What matters is that your project is moving forward in a timely fashion, so we can go back to Alderaan", Bail smiled, "and then you can get buried under some more paperwork trying to find homes for all these children."

"Good grief !" Breha found herself laughing. "What a way to lift my mood, why, Bail, thank you ! But we should be ready to depart soon, that much is a relief. I'll appoint someone to keep running the program on Coruscant when I'm not there, and I'd say within a few days we'll be on our way."

"So soon ?" Bail raised his eyebrows. "Good. I can't stay away from Coruscant too long but I need to take a break before I pull out all of my hair."

"I was thinking about taking Neeka to the Center tomorrow. It's better to keep him with the other children so he attracts less attention."

"You think it's safe to leave him on his own ?"

Breha nodded. "Hm-hm. He's been well-behaved these past few days, and his behaviour the first day can be blamed on the stress he was under. He's perfectly aware of the risks and I'm sure he'll be careful. He's assimilated his new identity very well, I had Sateen quizz him." She giggled at the memory. "She was giving him chocolate biscuits every time he got an answer right."

Bail appeared thoughtful for a second, before he snapped back to reality. "I trust your judgment in this, and I don't think he would do anything to jeopardize the operation... I was more worried that he might slip up without meaning to. You know he won't behave with other children the way he behaves with us."

Breha shrugged. "That's to be expected, but I think Jedi children have to be more mature than most. Besides, we don't have a choice."

"True enough. How did he react when you told him you'd be taking him to the Center ?"

"Ah..." Breha had an embarrassed smile. "I may have forgotten to mention that to him." Bail's look turned incredulous. "Well, I didn't want him to worry about it all night long", she defended herself, "so I'll just tell him tomorrow morning."

Bail snorted. "That'll go over well."

"Necessity rules", Breha said firmly. "Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to come along ? That way you can visit the Center and see what it looks like ?"

"What time are you planning on going ?"

"Oh, sometime after lunch."

"Hmm..." Bail glanced at his datapad. "I suppose I could stop there before going to the Senate."

"Marvelous !" Breha yawned. "Sorry, long day. I keep having to go back and forth between the Central Administration Archives and the Liaison Office for the Separatist planets, and..." she yawned again. "I think I'm going to bed. Are you coming ?"

"In a little while", Bail glanced at his datapad. "I have a little more homework to do first." He leant forward to kiss her quickly. "I know we're not spending much time together but I'll make it up to you on Alderaan."

"That'd better be a promise." Breha stood and lay her hands on his shoulders, enjoying for a fleeting moment the warmth of his skin and the way his muscles moved under her fingers. "I'll just read a little and then sleep."

"I'll try not to wake you." Bail reached for her hand and rubbed it with his thumb. "Tempting though the thought may be."

Neeka awoke from a sleep filled with nightmares with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He did not know why exactly, but the Force whispered to him that something was going to happen that he was not going to like. Of course, with that sort of helpful, precise warning it was no wonder the Masters could not foresee their own demise.

Hiding in bed was not going to help so he reluctantly got up and shuffled to the bathroom. Peeking at his own reflection in the mirror, he noticed that the burn on his face was finally healed, with a scar in a jagged pattern on the side of his left eye. Well, he could live with a scar, at least it did not hurt anymore.

Discarding his pajamas, Neeka showered and dressed. He was still used to the Temple discipline so he woke up very early everyday, and he had learnt to wait at least until seven thirty before going to the kitchen for breakfast. Sometimes he used that time for meditation or exercise, but today he felt too tense to really relax as much as meditation required. Instead he read the morning news, and his mood plummeted further when he was subjected to the very graphic rendition of a Jedi's execution that happened the past night. That was Tehanna, a Padawan he had been acquainted with when she was a youngling. He almost retched at the explicit pictures of her body, almost carbonized all over by blaster fire and after a hundred and fifty stories fall. He switched off the news and had to center himself for five good minutes before he felt well enough to go to the kitchen for breakfast, his appetite all but dead.

Lady and Senator Organa were not there yet, they usually came in around eight, but the rest of the household was and Neeka picked his usual seat at the corner of the table, as far as physically possible from Captain Durane, who had not really warmed up to him in the past days. Sateen glanced at him when he sat beside her and shook her head.

"You know, when I was your age I took every opportunity to sleep in. In fact, that's what most children do. You should take advantage of it before you start school."

"School ?" Neeka stopped reaching for the toasts and stared at her. Him ? Going to school ? As in a normal school with normal children ?

Sateen looked amused. "You haven't finished your education, so it's a safe bet you'll be going to school, yes."

"But..." Neeka trailed off. He was not sure how he felt about that. He had liked going to class (mostly) at the Temple, but a normal school was probably very different. Probably boring, too, if they could not use the Force. Then again, there might not be a meditation class, which would be quite all right by him.

Sateen seemed to feel that she had perturbed him. "Don't worry about it too much", she said brightly. "You can deal with it when the time comes."

Neeka reached again for the toast but with much less enthusiasm. In the past few days he had managed not to think about his future, clinging instead to the present in a way that would make Master Yoda proud, but he knew he could not avoid it forever. It was like flying a battleship into a blackhole. He could close his eyes to not see the black hole but he would still be dead at the end of the day.

By the time Lady and Senator Organa arrived, Neeka had finished his breakfast and was hanging around only for lack of anything better to do, and also in the slight hope that Sateen would have a little time later on for a game of strat-tac.

"Oh, there you are, Neeka", Lady Organa said brightly. "Up early as always, I see. I need to talk to you after breakfast."

The sinking feeling in Neeka's stomach worsened and he regretted going for that third piece of toast, but he nodded dutifully. He waited with some anxiety as the breakfast table slowly cleared until only he, Lady Organa and Senator Organa remained. They were mostly done too, with Lady Organa taking her time to sip at her juice, and Neeka's attention wandered.

"So, how are things going for you Kaylan ?"

It took a minute for Neeka's brain to send an alarm signal. Lady Organa had not raised her voice, or even looked in his direction. A test, he realized.

"Good, thank you Lady Organa", he said, rather proud of himself for catching it.

She shared a look with Senator Organa and smiled back at him. "Very good. A slight delay in answering but nothing awful."

"The poor boy was distracted, Breha", Senator Organa said, sounding slightly amused. "Don't be too harsh on him."

"Well, it's important to be sure he has it right", Lady Organa replied, then turned back to Neeka. "You already know we've been working on a way to get you off-planet, and you know I plan on smuggling you out with other war orphans."

Neeka nodded to show he was listening with all due attention.

"The time has almost come to leave Coruscant and you need to mingle with the other children in the program."

Neeka winced slightly at the word "children". He didn't like that word. After all he would soon be thirteen, so technically he was almost a teenager.

"So, I'll be taking you to the Center this afternoon."

What ? Neeka's brain finally caught up with what Lady Organa had been saying and he felt anxiety wash all over him, with a swirl of conflicting feelings. He was relieved that they were finally moving rather than waiting, but at the same time he knew very well that when he left Coruscant was when the newly formed Empire would have the most chances to get him. And mingling with other kids was not something he was looking forward to either. He had grown up with Force-sensitives and he had no idea what to do around normal kids. It was a safe bet that they would not play the same games, or follow the same codes and rules that had been ingrained in him since birth. In a word, they were a complete unknown, and that... well, not frightened him, right ? Jedi were not frightened. But he might be a little worried.

"Neeka ?" Lady Organa said tentatively.

"Yes, ma'am", he said reflexively, his mouth dry.

"It will only be for a short while", she said with a reassuring smile. "If everything goes as planned you'll be off this planet tomorrow, or in the next few days, depending on how fast we process the paperwork. And Bail and I will also be on the ship, so if you have any problem you can come to us."

"The..." Neeka cleared his throat. "The Center you mentioned, who runs it ?"

"It's a Togrutan called Tohru Andala", Lady Organa said. "She has very good credentials and was recommended to me by a number of people. I've worked with her in the past few days and she's very professional."

"Does she know about me ?" Neeka was not sure what he wanted the answer to be. If she knew, she might be an ally - but she might also turn him in. He trusted the Organas, but he was not sure about trusting anyone else after what he had seen in the Temple.

"No", Lady Organa said. "It's best that as few people as possible know, in everyone's best interests."

Hard to argue with that. "And the other children ? Who are they ?"

Lady Organa smiled. "War orphans, most of them."

"I know, but I meant..."

She laughed. "I'm afraid that if you want specifics, Neeka, you'll have to find out by yourself when you meet them."

Not helpful. Neeka wanted to make a face but instead he nodded politely. "I understand", he said, but he could not keep back a dejected sigh. Whatever the Center was like, he was fairly certain he would not like it... and then he thought about the past few days and almost snorted at himself. He should be grateful to be still alive, rather than complain about the accomodations. He looked more serenely at Lady Organa. "I'll go and pack my clothes then..." he hesitated. "Unless you want them back..."

Lady Organa rolled her eyes at him while Senator Organa bit his lips not to laugh - Neeka saw him. "Good grief, no, Neeka, these are yours of course."

He had expected as much, but was wary to take anything for granted. "Thank you ma'am", he muttered and left quickly.

The morning passed all too quickly, it seemed. Before Neeka knew it, it was lunch time, and then time to go, and his apprehensions grew. This would probably be the last time he saw Senator and Lady Organa before leaving Coruscant. From now on he would be Kaylan Kadaris, a war orphan with no connection whatsoever to the Jedi. He felt very unimportant as he sat in the airspeeder, then walked to the Center behind the Organas.

The Center was made up of an entire floor on the 327th floor of the Corusad building, high enough to be reasonably safe but low enough to not be too fancy. Even so, it must be quite costly, and it made Neeka realize anew how dedicated the Organas were to this project although he was still puzzling out why they cared so much. Probably for the same reason they helped him - because they were good people at heart. Strange to think that people like that still existed, after the way the Jedi had been gleefully and maliciously crushed under the approving eyes of a majority.

A Togrutan was waiting for them, probably Tohru Andala herself, and she bowed her head with an engaging smile to welcome them.

"Lady Organa, a pleasure as always." Her voice was light and musical. "And Senator Organa, it is an honour to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine", Senator Organa said politely. "Breha was very satisfied with the way you've been running the Center, especially in such a short amount of time."

Andala nodded. "I'm honoured she chose me. It's wonderful when one's work is also a way to better society. I find that very fulfilling." She looked at Neeka. "And this must be our latest addition ?"

"Yes indeed", Lady Organa smiled. "This is Kaylan Kadaris. I sent you the paperwork this morning."

Andala thought for a second. "Ah, yes, I remember." She smiled at Neeka. "You're very welcome here, young man."

"Er, thank you ma'am", Neeka said nervously. He still did not feel entirely at ease with his new identity, and he was not in tune enough with the Force to use it all the time to soothe himself.

"I assume you would like to tour the Center", Andala added, adressing the Organas. "And Kaylan can come along to see his temporary accomodations, if everyone is agreeable."

Everyone agreed and the tour began. Tohru Andala proved to be a pleasant conversationalist, who never allowed for awkward silences, and she spoke of the whole operation with a passion that left no doubt as to her dedication. She took them through the hall to the refectory, which was empty at the moment, then to the dormitory - empty as well at this time of day.

"We try to keep the children occupied", Andala explained, "but we don't have the personnel to set up classes so most of the time it's free activities under adult supervision. We also organize some sports games to allow them to spend their energy and to encourage group activities. And since most of these children come from planets that were at war and have been through much, we hired a psychologist to conduct evaluations, so that every child may receive the care they need. I'm very satisfied with Jalem so far. We also hired a doctor, an Ithorian called Panek. He's in his last year of medical studies and was looking for part-time employment, so that suited our needs perfectly. We give every newcomer a medical examination. Almost all of the children come from other planets so we have to control the microbes and bacteria they might bring with them, that might be harmful."

Neeka listened in growing horror. A psychologist ? How would his cover hold under that kind of scrutiny ? Not to mention the medical evaluation - did they check for midichlorians ? They did so routinely at the Temple. Oh Force, Force, Force, what was he going to do ? He could not stay at the Center. Surely the Organas would see that. He sent a pleading look toward Lady Organa, but her only answer was a patronizing smile, probably meant to be reassuring. Neeka shook his head frantically while pointing discreetly at Andala, who was giving some more details to Senator Organa. Lady Organa edged closer to him.

"There's nothing to fear, Nee... Kaylan", she murmured.

"What about the psychological evaluation ?" Neeka whispered furiously back. "It's too risky ! And if the doctor tests my blood he might find out that I'm a..." he cut himself short before he said the word.

"I'm sure it'll be fine", Lady Organa said softly. "I've given Tohru very specific instructions to call me if anything is amiss."

"But - "

"N - Kaylan." Lady Organa's tone was still soft but very firm. "I understand that you have good reasons to be worried. But this is the way it has to be. It's our best shot to get you off Coruscant. Bail and I are doing our best to help you, and I'm sorry if everything is not going the way you'd like, but circumstances rule."

Neeka swallowed thickly. This was as close to a rebuke as Lady Organa had ever come, and it made him feel like a childish brat. There was clearly nothing to do but go along with the plan, at this point, so he nodded albeit with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

Senator Organa and Tohru Andala were finishing their conversation about some monetary details and the direction in which to take the fostering program.

"...and I understand your vision", Andala was saying, "but it seems to me we would be more efficient if we worked in relation with other planets, instead of only sending the children to Alderaan. Your generosity is very commendable and inspiring, of course, but the ressources of Alderaan will allow only for so many placements in foster families. I'm reasonably certain that planets such as Naboo would be willing to become part of the program, if you allow me to contact them in your name."

"That's an interesting idea", Senator Organa said thoughtfully. "To be honest I did not realize Breha's project was going to reach such a scope, but it's worth considering all possibilities. What do you think, Breha ?"

"Actually, I think it's a wonderful idea", Lady Organa said. "I hadn't thought of it but of course it makes sense that other planets may be interested in helping out. In fact I think we should send information about the project to all members of the Senate."

"Maybe not all of them", Senator Organa sounded amused. "I can't imagine myself sending war orphans to be fostered on Nar Shaddaa, to quote but one exemple. Perhaps we could start communication with the diplomatic representations most likely to participate, such as Naboo. When we have the support of several systems it might be worth making a public announcement, but let's wait until then."

"Quite right", Tohru Andala agreed. "There is no need to rush, especially since the paperwork takes so much time. We are far from overreaching our supplies as of yet."

"I suppose so", Lady Organa nodded. "Besides, in any case we'll be taking this one group to Alderaan in the next few days, tomorrow if all the authorizations come through, so there is time."

Senator Organa glanced at his chrono. "Well, all this is very good. I don't mean to be rude but I do have to go to the Senate and I'm running late."

"Of course", Tohru Andala said quickly. "The tour is almost over anyway, we only have the playing areas to see, if you care to see the children you are helping."

"I can spare five more minutes for that", Senator Organa allowed.

"There is one more thing", Tohru Andala said as she led them along a coridor. "Since our operations are growing, and likely to grow more before the need for the Center disappears, I was wondering if I may hire an assistant."

"Of course, if you feel the need", Lady Organa said. "I certainly have no objection."

"Thank you." Tohru Andala looked very relieved - the matter had obviously been weighing on her mind. "Well, here is the playing area."

They heard the children before they saw them, shouts and laughs and the echo of a ball hitting the walls. When Tohru Andala opened the door they saw a very wide room, that had been arranged like a garden with pseudo-natural light and a holographic imitation of the sky. There were even plants framing the walls, that gave the place a rather cheerful appearance but Neeka barely paid attention to those details, more interested in the children with whom he would be sharing quarters for the days to come.

They were of all ages and species, some of them Neeka had never even heard of, though a majority seemed human at least in appearance. The youngest may be two or three, while the oldest were teenagers, some older than Neeka. In fact he was only a little older than the average, most of the children appearing to be eight to ten years old. A few of them were animatedly chasing after a ball while others read or played board games. Two adults, one human and the other twi'lek, kept an eye on them. A few of the children were staring at Senator and Lady Organa, and Neeka, but most of them ignored them in favour of their games.

"It's nice to see children happy despite the circumstances", Breha said. "I think I could stay and watch all day."

"Unfortunately we don't have that luxury, or at least I don't", Senator Organa said with a smile, but he too looked at the children with longing. "I really must be off. Thank you for the tour, Mrs. Andala, it was most interesting and I must agree with Breha that you are doing an outstanding work here."

"Thank you, Senator", Tohru Andala said brightly. "I am very pleased to have gained your approval."

"I'll be off as well", Breha said. "I have more paperwork to deal with at home. Kaylan, goodbye. I'm sure you'll have fun with other children your age. I'll see you on the ship to Alderaan."

"Thank you, Lady Organa", Neeka said formally despite the gnawing fear in his stomach, "Senator Organa. I look forward to seeing you again."

Senator Organa gave him an encouraging grin. "I'm sure you'll be fine on your own."

The Senator's trust was heartwarming, though Neeka could not help but feel a little abandonned when they left. Tohru Andala waved the human caretaker over and murmured a few words to him, before leaving with the Organas to show them the way out.

"Hello, Kaylan", the caretaker said kindly. He was a human with long brown hair gathered up in a bun on the top of his head. His accent made it obvious he was from the Core worlds, although his clothing was strangely made up of colourful pieces of fabric.

"Greetings", Neeka said politely.

"My name is Dekel, but you can call me Deke. So, how are you ?"

"Fine, thank you, and you ?" Neeka answered automatically.

That made Deke laugh. "I mean really, not just to be polite."

Neeka found himself smiling back. Deke sounded a little like one of the nicer Jedi Masters, with that playful expression and easygoing attitude. Actually he reminded him a little of Master Kenobi.

"I'm not sure what to expect", he admitted. "It's... a lot of changes."

"You bet ! But I hope you'll like it here. We do our best to make it like home for everyone, though it's not easy everyday."

Neeka bit his lip. He could imagine.

"So, there's only two of us and twenty of you, and you little guys do outnumber us, but please try not to take advantage." Deke was all mock seriousness and Neeka could not keep back a giggle. "So, in order to make this possible, there are a few groundrules that everyone has to follow." Deke waved a finger. "Yep, everyone, even me."

"Alright", Neeka said. "Do the rules say "no making fun of the newcomers" ?" he dared to joke. He had been raised to be more formal and polite than this, but Deke's open attitude had made him swallow back his instinctive "yes sir".

"Hum, let me think... nope, sorry, I don't think they do." Deke grinned. "Love a kid with a sense of humour. Anyway, here it is. First rule ; no violence of any kind. I know some of you guys have been in the middle of a war but here you're safe and if anything happens, you're expected to come to us."

"Understood", Neeka said. That sounded reasonable enough.

"Rule two, what we say is the word of God, or whatever deity, pantheon or spiritualism you happen to believe in. When we ask you to do something we expect you to do it."

"Hum, if I may ask, who's we ?"

Deke shrugged. "Basically, any adult. On the rare instances when we might leave you alone, we'll always name one of the older kids responsible for the group and in that case you'd have to do as that kid says."

"Hmm", Neeka said non-commitally. He did not like the idea of promising obedience when he had no idea who might be giving him orders, and under what circumstances.

"I'm serious", said Deke, who seemed to have caught on to his reluctance. "We're not gonna give you any stupid orders, don't worry. I'm talking about stuff like, going to bed on time."

"I understand", Neeka said, and it seemed to satisfy Deke although Neeka did not in fact promise anything.

"Great, let's move on to rule three ! Which is, follow the rules."

Neeka scratched his head. "Shouldn't that be rule one ?"

"You'd think so, eh ?" Deke grinned. "But no, they're ranked by priority. No violence is more important than follow the rules, if you have to chose. Which you won't."

"Okay", Neeka said. It was a vague enough answer. "What's rule four ?"

Deke shook his head. "Nope, that's it for the rules. Well, we do expect you to be generally polite and well-mannered, but that doesn't seem to be a problem with you. Now, here's the normal schedule ; in the morning you have to be up at eight. Breakfast is from eight thirty to nine thirty. After that, free time, but you have to spend it in this room."

Neeka looked down so Deke did not see his scowl. He could not even hide away in his room to wait out the time until they left for Alderaan.

"Hey, it's not that bad", Deke said softly. "We have to do that because as I already said, there's only two of us and twenty of you. We can't keep an eye on you if everyone is in a different place."

"Oh." It made sense. "I guess."

"Good. Then you have lunch from noon thirty to one thirty. You'll see, the food's quite okay. I don't know how but Director Andala found us a Calamaran chef. He does tend to cook a lot of seafood, but it never tastes bad."

Neeka smiled despite himself. Deke was an awfully nice person, he thought. At least he took time to explain the reasons behind the rules, and he was not patronizing or impatient about it.

"Looking forward to try it."

"That's the spirit ! So, after lunch you have some more free time, though we ask you older kids to be quiet because the little ones usually take their nap around that time, and I usually read them a story."

"Oh. Right."

"Four is snack time." Deke had a confidential grin. "My favourite time. And after that we organize softball matches so that you guys are tired enough in the evening and me and Elav can catch our breath. That's Elav'Amersu", Deke nodded in the direction of the red Twi'lek who watched the children.

The schedule was not altogether dissimilar to the discipline at the Jedi Temple and Neeka, who had more or less dreaded this moment, actually found himself slightly comforted by the perspective of a safe routine. Although he did not think he would ever feel completely safe again.

"Okay", Neeka repeated. It was not a very inspired answer but he did not really know what else to say.

"Then there's dinner between seven and eight, and after that some more free time but we ask you not to make too much noise because the young kids go to bed very early. We encourage you to read or play quiet board games during that time period."

"Okay." Neeka hesitated. "What about self study ?"

Deke stared at him like he had grown another head. "Self study ?"

"Well, Director Andala said there aren't enough people to program classes, but I thought..." Neeka trailed off when he saw Deke's incredulous look. "I thought we'd be given assignments or something like that", he finished weakly.

Deke shook his head. He looked like he was trying hard not to laugh. "First time I see a kid eager to study when he doesn't have to. But no, we just don't have the ressources to follow up on you individually, and this is all temporary anyway. If you feel like studying, by all means, we have a few datapads lying around for those who want to read or use the Holonet, but I gotta warn you there's a fierce competition for their use. We had to set up a list where you can register if you want to use one, and you can't have one for more than two hours in a row."

"Right", Neeka sighed. He liked to read and he had expected to fill up most of his time doing that, but it looked like it was not going to happen.

"And finally, bed time. We expect you to wash your hands and face and brush your teeth if that applies to your species, or whatever else needs to be done before going to sleep. Bed time depends on your age. From two to six it's at nine, from six to twelve it's at ten, and over twelve is at eleven. We drew up equivalent for non-humans."

"I understand", Neeka said, just not to repeat "okay" yet another time.

"I must warn you", Deke said, and his face grew uncharacteristically stern, "some of the kids have nightmares. Sometimes they wake up in the middle of the night. Sometimes they scream or cry. Sometimes they wet their bed. You're not allowed to make fun of them, in any way. We'll be very strict on this point. The little ones have a droid to keep an eye on them and wake me or Elav up if anything happens", he grimaced, "which usually happens a few time each night, but we don't have spare droids for the rest of you. If you're woken up by something like that and it looks bad, you're supposed to come to me or Elav. If it happens to you, you can come and see us. We won't turn you away."

Neeka's throat constricted and he felt unshed tears burning his eyes. He had had more than a few nightmares since he escaped the Temple, but he could not imagine himself confiding in Deke, despite his friendly attitude. He felt ashamed to think of all those who had died while he was running away to save his own life. He was ashamed to remember that he had been so scared for his own life that he had hardly spared a thought for the others until much later.

His throat burnt so he merely nodded, not trusting his own voice.

"Right", Deke said gently. "Speaking of which, we'll have to schedule appointments for you with the doctor and the psychologist."

Neeka made a face, and did not bother to hide it this time. It made Deke laugh.

"Hey, it won't hurt, the worst that can happen is that Panek decides you need a vaccine or two, but you're not scared of needles, are you ? Not after this", Deke nodded at Neeka's scars on his face from the close call he had had with a blaster bolt. It was all healed up now, but there would probably always be a scar. "How did you get this anyway ?"

Neeka looked away, his heart skipping a beat. The cover story Lady Organa had made him read did not include a story for that, and he had no idea how to explain himself without taking the risk to blow his cover. Maybe if he made up something vague enough...

But thankfully, he did not have to as Deke misinterpreted his hesitation and lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, shouldn't have asked. Come on, I'll introduce you to the other kids !"

Before Neeka had even time to brace himself Deke dragged him to the center of the room and called the other children loudly. "Everyone, gather round !"

They obeyed fairly quickly, leaving behind their games, though not everyone seemed very eager to meet the latest arrival. "Jod, that means you too !" Deke said in a no-nonsense voice.

With a heavy sigh, the Kaminoan complied and soon, all twenty children formed a circle around Deke. "So, kids, let's greet our newest addition, Kaylan Kadaris."

Neeka glanced at the twenty faces that stared back at him. He noticed one zabrak and two twi'lek twins, as well as a togrutan girl. A very young Devaronian was clinging to Elav's robes, and Neeka's heart beat faster. He knew Devaronians could feel the Force in others, regardless of their own sensitivity to it. That one looked barely old enough to know how to talk, but even so - one word could make the difference between Neeka's life or death. How far did a Devaronian's senses extend ? Neeka had no idea, but he edged away from the kid just in case.

"I expect you to be nice to him", Deke was going on, "and include him in your games. Kaylan, why don't you introduce yourself to your new mates ?"

Taken by surprise Neeka blinked at him. What ?

"You can start with how old you are, what planet you're from, what you like to do", Deke probed.

Neeka looked down. He did not really feel like sharing, especially since anything he could tell them was a lie anyway, so there was not much point in it. But the fastest way to escape it was to comply. He wanted to draw from the Force to calm himself, but he dared not with the Devaronian nearby.

"I'm twelve", he said. Soon to be thirteen. He should have been getting ready for a Master to pick him as a Padawan, not masquerading as a normal kid... "I'm from Ancella. And I like to read." One truth drowned in an ocean of lies.

"Good, good", Deke said brightly. "Now I'll let you guys get acquainted while I get the snacks ready. Whose turn is it to help set up the table ?"

One kid raised his hand and went off after Deke, leaving Neeka alone in the middle of twenty kids. He took a deep breath ; he had survived the clone commandos, so he could not be afraid of kids. Even though there had been only a handful of commandos, not twenty.

He need not have worried, though. Some of the kids began to drift away, simply ignoring him, and then the Zabrak threw him the softball he was holding. With his Jedi reflexes Neeka caught it easily, and he looked uncertainly at the Zabrak. He flashed him a grin.

"You know softball, Softskin ?"

Neeka grinned back, regaining some confidence. "Sure do, Thickskin." He threw the ball back with a little more strength than necessary, but the Zabrak caught it deftly.

"I'm Regon."

"Nice to - " Neeka caught the ball again. " - meet you." He threw it back to someone else and in a matter of minutes they set up a makeshift indoors softball field, although they did not have much time to play before Deke called them for snack time.