For once, Brinna rose early. In fact, she rose so early that Mission, Bastila, and Sasha were all still asleep. She dressed as silently as she could, carrying her boots in her hand as she tiptoed out of the bunkroom. The common room was deserted except for T3, who beeped and whirred quietly as she sat and pulled her boots on. When she was finished, she headed for the cockpit.

Jolee was piloting the ship, Juhani sitting in the co-pilot's chair. The two were conversing in low voices when Brinna entered. Sensing her presence via the Force, they turned simultaneously and smiled their greetings.

"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that," Brinna confessed, shaking her head but smiling back at them anyway.

"I thought so too but it became more and more natural as time passed," Juhani told her.

Brinna moved behind Jolee's chair and leaned a hip against the center console. Through the viewscreen, she could see Dantooine. They were still some distance away, so the planet was little more than a distant yellow ball. As Brinna studied it, she could sense the presence of the Masters and she knew they could sense hers as well. She supposed that was one advantage of being a Jedi; it would be next to impossible for anyone to drop in on you unexpectedly.

Her thoughts wandered away from Dantooine and she found herself focusing more on Juhani, from whom she could sense sadness.

"Is everything all right, Juhani?" she asked.

The Cathari sighed. "I was just speaking with Jolee of Taris. It was my home world, before the Jedi found me and I was taken to Dantooine to train."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Brinna said. She felt a wave of sadness and anger at the thought of Taris.

Juhani began speaking of Taris and Brinna listened attentively. The more she learned about Juhani, the more surprised and fascinated she was. Juhani had not had an easy life, so Brinna supposed it wasn't too surprising that the dark side had found a toehold in her.

"It is so hard to lose your entire past. You would not understand," Juhani finished.

"You're right, I don't," Brinna agreed.

Glancing over at Jolee, she saw that he was studying the two of them with great interest and Brinna felt a slight shiver run up her spine.

"Sometimes I have the feeling that you know things you aren't telling me," she told Jolee, the words coming out of her mouth of their own accord.

"Oh, I'm sure I know a lot of things that I'm not telling you," he said in a pleasant tone.

Brinna wasn't fooled by his casual demeanor, though. The whole time she had been speaking to Juhani, she knew that Jolee had been gently probing at her through the Force. It was as if he was searching for something specific but what it was, Brinna couldn't say. She wished he'd be more up front with her but she knew if she asked him he would just talk in go-nowhere circles. Maybe one day he would deign to tell her just why he seemed to find her so fascinating.

He must have sensed something of her thoughts because he looked back at her and gave her a wide grin. "It's all that Force swirling around you, remember?"

"I remember," she sighed, thinking back to one of their earlier conversations. She knew there was more to it than that but she let the conversation drop, unwilling to pursue it further in front of Juhani.

Fortunately for Brinna, she found an excuse to beat a hasty retreat. Dantooine loomed larger and larger in the viewscreen and she pushed off the console. "I'm going to go let the others know that we'll be landing soon," she said.

When she wandered back into the common room, she found a sleepy-looking Wookie, a red-eyed Republic star pilot, and a grumpy Mandalorian gathered.

"Don't you all look cheerful," she said to them, moving over to the caffa and pouring a mug.

"I couldn't sleep all night for that damned Wookie's snoring," Canderous complained. Zaalbar growled bad-temperedly

"Somebody's in need of some caffa," Brinna chirped. "Drink this so that you can return to being the homicidal maniac that we all know and love." She handed the steaming mug to Canderous.

"One of these days that mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble," he growled. A hint of a smile played about his lips.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Too late, it already has plenty of times."

"I'll bet it has," Canderous murmured.

Brinna poured a couple of mugs for Carth and Zaalbar before heading off to the women's bunks. She could feel Carth's eyes on her as she disappeared into the corridor and she couldn't help but smile. If she was on his mind half as much as he was on hers… But no, she couldn't allow herself to think about things like that.

Mission and Bastila were just beginning to stir as Brinna entered the room. The other Jedi looked surprised to see Brinna up and about before she was.

"We'll be landing on Dantooine shortly," she told them.

"I have much to discuss with the Masters," Bastila said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Brinna asked.

"No. It is a…personal matter."

She could sense Bastila's evasiveness but she was too pleased to be getting out of another tedious meeting with the Council to worry about it. She moved over to Sasha's bunk and woke the girl gently. Sasha opened her eyes and smiled as she saw Brinna. The trusting expression on her face made Brinna's heart ache and she was very glad that Sasha would soon be back home with her parents. She could only imagine how desperate the girl's parents must be.

"We'll be landing on Dantooine soon, Sasha. When we get there, I'm going to introduce you to Lur Arka Sulas. He'll take you to your real home," Brinna told her, speaking in the strange Mandalorian-like dialect that the girl had taught her over the past several days.

Sasha looked apprehensive. "I want to stay with you," she said.

Brinna smiled and stroked the girl's hair. "I would be happy to have you but your parents miss you and you need to be home with them. You don't want them to be sad anymore, do you?"

"No," Sasha said, but she still looked uncertain.

"Just a second," Brinna said.

She got up from Sasha's bunk and rummaged through her footlocker for a moment. Once she found what she was looking for, she sat down on the edge of the girl's bed again.

"We'll always be friends," Brinna told her. "Whenever you feel afraid, I want you to look at this and remember two things. The first is that you're very brave and the second is that I'll be thinking about you."

Brinna took Sasha's hand and gently pushed a bracelet onto the girl's wrist. It was just costume jewelry, something that Brinna had picked up during one of her scouting trips. It had been in her pack, one of her few belongings that had made it off the Endar Spire with her. Sasha's eyes widened as Brinna released her hand. The girl touched the bracelet hesitantly and stared at it wide-eyed, as if it were made of precious gems.

"Thank you, Brinna. I'll keep it forever," she promised. She knelt on her bunk and hugged Brinna tightly. Brinna smiled and returned the embrace.

"You get dressed now," Brinna told Sasha. "I'll be back soon."

Mission stayed behind with Sasha but Bastila walked out of the bunkroom with Brinna. Brinna could sense the approval that Bastila felt and she turned to the other Jedi with a smile.

"You want to say something?" Brinna asked her.

Bastila sighed but then smiled, perhaps the first genuine smile Brinna had seen. "You have done a very good thing with Sasha. I will be sure to inform the Council of your actions," she said, taking Brinna rather by surprise.

"Thanks, Bastila," Brinna said.

The other Jedi nodded in acknowledgement and left Brinna in the common room as she continued on into the cockpit. Brinna's astonishment must have shown because Canderous looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You look like you've just seen a Hutt doing charity work," the Mandalorian told her.

"Something like that," Brinna told him. "Bastila just praised me for what I've done for Sasha."

"Will wonders never cease? The Ice Princess can actually speak for some purpose other than to lecture you?" Canderous snorted.

"Jealous?" Brinna asked, with a smile.

"Just surprised. That woman normally has the warmth of a starving kath hound."

Brinna laughed and then felt instantly contrite. "She's not that bad," she told Canderous. She didn't know why she felt the need to stick up for Bastila. It wasn't as if the other Jedi had actually earned it.

"If I didn't already know that you're the most willful woman in the galaxy, I might suspect that she pulled one of her Jedi mind tricks on you."

"All right, that's enough," Brinna said lightly. "Much more of this and I'm going to feed you to a starving kath hound."

"I'd like to see you try." Canderous drew himself up to his full height and looked down on her.

Smiling in response to the challenge, Brinna looked up and met his eye with a flashing gaze of her own. Though he was at least a head and a half taller than her and twice as wide as her, he smiled and backed down from her challenging expression.

"You're no match for me," she gloated.

"No, I don't think I am," he admitted, which surprised Brinna even more than Bastila's praise had.

"You'd better be careful there. Keep that up and everyone will discover that you've got a soft heart," she teased him.

"I've never even heard the old man say something that crazy," Canderous told her, with a derisive laugh.

"Oh well. At least I try," Brinna sighed with a shrug.

She looked over at the others and saw that Carth was watching her exchange with Canderous with a frown on his face. When he caught her looking, he colored slightly and pretended to be very interested in his empty mug. Brinna was tempted to try to tap into his emotions but she felt it would be a gross invasion of his privacy. Still, the temptation was so strong, she found herself nearly giving into it. She would have given a thousand credits to know just what that blush meant.

There was no more time to mull it over, however, as Jolee's voice came over the comm telling them all to strap in for the landing. Mission and Sasha came into the common room and everyone strapped themselves into a seat, talking idly as the ship touched down in Dantooine's spaceport. It was a good landing, but not nearly as good a landing as it would have been had Carth been at the controls, Brinna thought.

As soon as Jolee cut the engines, Brinna unstrapped herself and got out of her seat. "Carth, don't let Jolee and Juhani go anywhere until I get back. I'll only be a couple of minutes," she said.

He nodded and she joined Bastila, who was already on her way to the loading dock. The two chatted idly as they waited for the ramp to lower and then went their separate ways.

It only took Brinna a few minutes to find Lur Arka Sulas. She told him about Sasha stowing away on her ship and explained to him that the girl spoke nothing other than the dialect of Mandalorian that she had invented. Lur Arka Sulas asked if he could go onboard the Ebon Hawk to see the girl and Brinna immediately agreed.

Once on board, he tried to speak with Sasha but quickly found that communication between the two of them would be difficult, if not impossible. Regardless, he recognized the child right away and said that her father would be overjoyed to see her again. Brinna spoke a few words of assurance to the young girl, who hugged her tearfully before departing with the Twi'lek. As they left the ship, Brinna found herself brushing away a few tears of her own.

She went looking for Jolee and Juhani and found them in the common room with the rest. It seemed that Carth was Mission's latest Pazaak victim and Brinna couldn't help but smile at the look of stunned disbelief on his face as Mission won their current hand.

"I was wondering if you two might join me in meditation," Brinna said quietly to the other two Jedi.

"And miss all the fun here?" Jolee asked. Brinna raised her eyebrows and looked at him sternly. "Bah! I guess I could do with a bit of meditation then."

"I would be happy to join you," Juhani told her.

"I think we should go to the grove," Brinna said, reaching out to Juhani through the Force and watching the expression on the Cathari's face. Jolee watched as well; Brinna had told him the tale of how she and Juhani had met.

A flash of fear went through Juhani but was replaced by a steely determination. She nodded curtly at Brinna. "Yes, I think it is time for me to return to the grove," she agreed.

Brinna placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You'll be fine, Juhani."

"Yes. I believe I will be," Juhani agreed.

"We'll be back in a couple hours," Brinna told the rest of the crew as Jolee and Juhani stood up and gathered their things.

"Soldier ought to be good and broke by then," Canderous replied, earning a glare from Carth.

"Hey there, big talker. I seem to recall you losing a good number of your own credits to our young Twi'lek cardsharp," Brinna reminded him.

"I seem to recall that you've also been on the receiving end of her skills," Canderous shot back at her.

"I'm sure she'll swindle all of us before this mission is done," Brinna replied placidly.

"You may have been foolish enough to lose to her, but I won't be," Jolee said, clipping his lightsaber to his belt.

"That's only because Brinna wouldn't cheat by using the Force to read into my next move, unlike you," Mission said to him.

"I do believe she has your number already," Brinna said, with a grin.

"Damnable cheek of the youth," Jolee grumbled, but Brinna saw the smile he tried to conceal as he bent down to grab his pack.

The three Jedi made their way out to the grove. What kath hounds they saw maintained their distance and Brinna could sense Juhani's shame. She looked over at the Cathari with a reassuring glance and Juhani looked grateful for the gesture.

Brinna could sense Juhani's discomfort as she set foot once again in the grove; however, Brinna thought it was necessary. She had devised the meditation plan the previous night, before she'd finally drifted off to sleep. Juhani was repentant over her fall to the dark side but Brinna had sensed that the Cathari was still having difficulty coming to terms with it. Brinna had decided that the best thing for Juhani would be to face her fall head on as much as possible.

They sat in a circle, each of them closing their eyes and tuning their senses in to the power of the Force. Juhani was reluctant and struggling with a mixture of fear, anger, and discomfort but Brinna and Jolee reached out to her via the Force and, gradually, Juhani's negative feelings dissipated until she was at peace.

Meditation had always been one of Brinna's favorite things about being a Jedi but now, here with her friends, it took on a new meaning for her. Though solo meditation was calming, allowing Brinna to really tune into the Force and filter out all other everyday distractions, it was even more calming to meditate amongst friends and to feel their presence within the Force. It made Brinna appreciate her connection to her Jedi brethren and instilled in her a sense of gratitude for the closeness that they could share.

When they had finished meditating, Juhani rose from the ground with a serene smile on her face. "Thank you, Brinna," she said quietly. "I was most anxious before we began but, once again, you have helped me to face and cope with my darker emotions. I am very grateful to you for your continuing care. It is good to be amongst friends."

"A little group meditation was good for this old Jedi too," Jolee agreed. "It's been far too long."

Brinna took Jolee's and Juhani's hands and squeezed them. "We were all brought together for this mission and though we started as complete strangers, I feel that you're now all my friends. None of us needs to feel alone as long as we're all together."

"My teeth are starting to hurt from all this sweet sentimentality," Jolee grumbled. "Can we go back to the ship now?"

"You always do know just the right thing to say," Brinna said with a grin.

They returned to the ship, and found Canderous arm wrestling with Zaalbar while Mission pounded the table and goaded the two of them. From the gleeful look on the young Twi'lek's face, Brinna guessed that Carth had made her very rich. He was on the other side of the common room, ignoring the arm wrestling competition and looking as though he was going to jump out of his skin.

"Hey," Brinna said, walking over to him.

"Hey," he replied.

"You look like you're going to start climbing the walls if something doesn't happen to you soon."

"I'm that transparent, am I?"

"Not really. I just know how much you hate being idle," Brinna told him.

He smiled ruefully. "The funny thing is, I'd love to be idle, utterly and completely idle…"

"Once this is all over with," Brinna finished for him.

Carth nodded. "Until then, I'm not going to be able to relax."

"Do you want to go for a walk? Work off some of that nervous energy?"

"That's the best suggestion I've heard all day."

As the two of them headed out, Brinna caught Jolee looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She glared half-heartedly at him in response.

Neither she nor Carth spoke as they walked through the enclave and out to the outer courtyard. They sat on one of the low walls and looked out onto the plains. Brinna hadn't realized just how long she, Jolee, and Juhani had been out meditating and she was surprised to see the long shadows that spoke of late afternoon.

"You know, you never did tell me about that necklace," Carth said gently, breaking into her thoughts.

Brinna reached involuntarily for her neck, her hand closing around the stone in the center of the leather strap. She had suspected that he would eventually raise the subject again and, really, after her endless harassment of him until he told her his tragic tale, the least she could do was share her own with him. She drew an unsteady breath and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear with a rather shaky hand before speaking.

"It belonged to my mother," she began. "I told you about my sister Amara. Well, when she was five, she and I were out 'exploring' and we stumbled across the stone. She thought it was the prettiest thing that she'd ever seen. Mom's birthday was a week away and Amara wanted to give the stone to Mom as a gift. I drilled it for her and helped her to string it on the leather lace." Brinna smiled as she remembered the expression on her sister's face when Brinna had handed her the finished project. "She thought it was a really special treasure and she could hardly wait until Mom's birthday. You should have seen the expression on her face when Mom opened it and proceeded to make a big deal over it."

She paused for a moment, organizing her thoughts. She stared out over the plains but didn't see them; she was too caught up in thoughts of the past. "Times had been tough ever since Dad's death. Mom was devastated and I had trouble coming to terms with it myself. Amara became our focus. As I said, she was only a baby when Dad died so we did our best to see to it that Amara would know her father as much as possible. We put a holo of him next to her crib and told her endless stories about him. Gradually, Mom and I started to get over the pain, thanks to Amara.

"I don't really know how to explain to you what she was like. From the moment she was born, Amara was the most beautiful child you could imagine. People used to tell us all the time how pretty she was. Everywhere she went, she charmed everyone she met. Mom and I loved her like crazy. She was our whole world."

"What happened to her?" Carth asked softly.

Brinna felt a lump in her throat and she swallowed. "She…she died. It was my fault," she said, her words becoming unintelligible as her emotions overwhelmed her, as they always did whenever she thought about that horrible day.

"That can't be true," Carth said gently.

"It is," Brinna insisted vehemently. She took a deep breath and did what she could to compose herself before she continued. "I'd been away on business a lot and I'd had to miss Amara's seventh birthday. I promised her that when I came home I'd spend the whole day with her, just the two of us. I was going to take her to the zoo, feed her junk food until she got sick, that sort of thing. She was so excited about it that she drove Mom crazy for a week, until I got home. We were supposed to go on our outing the day after I got home and Amara was wild with excitement. When it was time for her to go to sleep, I just fed her excitement even more. I sat on the edge of her bed and told her about all the fun things we were going to do the next day. She barely slept a wink that night.

"Amara was a very gifted child and I'd been working so hard because I was trying to earn enough to send her to a special school. I was scheduled to leave on a very lucrative trip in a few weeks but I got a call early the next morning informing me that the deal was about the fall through. I was in a panic. The job was supposed to pay enough for me to finally send Amara to her school and I couldn't let it fall through. I ran out of the house in a frenzy and told Mom to let Amara know that I'd be home shortly. I didn't think it would take me long, so I was sure that I could get home in time to keep my promise to Amara.

"Naturally, things were much worse than I'd imagined. It took me a whole day of meeting with the client to convince him not to renege on the deal and he would only maintain the agreement if I promised to leave the next day. By the time I got home, it was late and Amara was already in bed. Mom told me she'd cried herself to sleep. I felt awful, especially because I knew I wouldn't get a chance to see Amara before I left the next morning. But I told myself that I was doing it for her and that I'd make up for her disappointment."

Her voice broke and she covered her face with her hands as the old grief washed over her. "I just wanted what was best for her. That's all I ever wanted. I made a short holovid full of promises for her and left it with Mom when I left the next morning."

The tears were falling now and Brinna dashed at them futilely with her hands. She bowed her head forward, the loose tendrils of her hair spilling over the side of her face and screening her from Carth's view. It took several long minutes before she was able to continue and Carth sat silently at her side the whole time.

"Amara didn't care about the school," Brinna said in a small voice when she was able to continue. "She cared about me. She wanted me at home. For the five months leading up to her birthday, I'd been away so much that I hadn't seen her for more than a couple of days here and there. When she woke up the next morning and found out I was already gone, she was furious. Mom tried to talk to her, tried to explain to her but Amara wouldn't listen. She ran out of the house and disappeared for the whole day.

"There was a little wood near our house and she loved to climb the trees. Mom and I used to tease her and say that she was a Wookie in disguise. Mom figured she'd headed for the wood and would sit up in her favorite tree all day, having a good cry. When she didn't come home in time for dinner, Mom got scared and went to all the neighbors. They formed a search party and headed for the wood. It wasn't long before they found her."

Brinna could hear the deadness in her own voice. She could barely speak the next words because they dredged up such vivid and devastating memories. "She…she'd never fallen before, not once, but she must have been so upset that day that she lost her footing. It was impossible to tell how high up she'd been. She was lying on the ground, her head bent at an unnatural angle, her neck obviously broken. Mom fell completely apart and had to be sedated and carried back to the house. I had to hear the news from one of our neighbors. By that time, I was already almost a day away from home and I couldn't get that ship back fast enough. When I finally got home, I was so terrified by my mother's condition. She had to be kept sedated for days, otherwise she would cry and rant so hysterically that we were all afraid she'd hurt herself."

She was sobbing now and Carth put his arms around her, letting her sob against his shoulder. Brinna gave in to her overwhelming sadness and just cried and cried until she didn't have any tears left. When she was finished, she was hoarse and exhausted.

"When she wasn't crying, Mom was like a zombie. This went on for months," Brinna said, her voice muffled by Carth's shoulder. "She refused to take the necklace off. I know she loved me but even though I was all she had left, she still withdrew from me. I always suspected that she blamed me for what happened, even though she never said anything about it. Things just got strange and cold between us and I spent as little time at home as possible both because I wanted to forget and because I couldn't bear Mom's detached treatment of me when I was there."

"How can you think that was your fault?" Carth asked her. She could feel the slight rumble in his chest as he spoke.

"The same way you can think what happened to your wife and Dustil was your fault," she said, pushing away from him. "Like you, I've always been positive I didn't do everything I could to stop it from happening. I left. I wasn't there. If I'd just let the deal go, I would have taken her out like I was supposed to and she'd still be alive. That's how it was my fault."

"Brinna…" he said, his voice sounding stricken.

She shook her head. "Mom died a year ago. She'd been having heart problems for a while and I think she just gave up. After her death, I got rid of everything. I couldn't stand to look at any of it anymore. There were just too many memories. But I couldn't get rid of the necklace. I kept it so that I wouldn't forget, no matter how badly I wanted to."

"I know what you mean," he said, his voice so quiet it was barely audible. Gently, he took her hand. "Brinna, look at me."

Shaking her head, she tried to disengage her hand from his but he held fast. He reached out with his other hand and caught her chin, turning her head and forcing her to look at him.

"You showed me that I don't have to face my grief alone. Well, neither do you. Let me help you, like you've helped me," he said to her.

"I'm not sure I want the help," she confessed, her lips trembling as another tear fell.

"I know, but I'm helping you anyway, just like you insisted on helping me."

He pulled her into his arms once more and this time she didn't fight him. His fingers were gentle as he stroked her hair. He rocked her slowly, as if she were a child, and after a while peace returned to her. She allowed herself the indulgence of staying in his arms for just a moment longer before she pulled away.

"Thank you," she said, wiping at her eyes.

"Anytime," he said, giving her hand a quick squeeze.

"Give me a minute before we head back to the ship. I don't want anyone else seeing me like this," she said.

"Of course," he told her.

A gentle breeze blew over the plain and stirred the tall grasses. Brinna closed her eyes and lifted her face to it, allowing it to cool her burning cheeks and dry the last of her tears. She was more grateful for Carth's solid presence than she could say. Just having him there was enough to make her feel stronger than she'd felt since Amara's death.

On the way back to the Hawk, Carth chatted quietly about unimportant topics and Brinna was grateful for the distraction. Before boarding, she gently squeezed his hand and thanked him once more.

"Anytime," he repeated. "I mean that."

"I know," she said, smiling faintly at him.

They found the rest of the crew at dinner in the common room and though Brinna tried her best to be casual, she knew that Jolee, Juhani, and especially Bastila could sense that something was wrong with her. As soon as she was finished eating, she headed for the peace of the bunkroom, where she sat on her bunk and meditated.

A little while later, Mission poked her head into the room. "Hey. Do you want some company or should I go away?" the Twi'lek asked.

"Come on in," Brinna replied.

Mission dropped gently onto the edge of Brinna's bunk and studied her friend with some concern. "Are you okay? You seem a little…off tonight and you and Carth were gone for a really long time."

"I'm all right," Brinna assured her. "I was just telling him about my family."

"I take it that's a story you'd rather not repeat right now," Mission said, studying her.

Brinna shook her head. "No, not particularly."

"Some other time, then."

"I'm not sure I could ever bear repeating it," she said. Mission looked a little hurt and she added, "Not that I don't want you to know. It's just…very painful. Ask Carth to tell you. Tell him I said it's all right for him to talk about it with you."

"I'll do that," Mission promised. She put a hand over one of Brinna's. "I just hate to see you so sad, especially after all you did for Zaalbar and his family."

"I was glad to help him," Brinna said, clasping Mission's hand.

"Sometimes you just seem to be so lonely," Mission said gently. "I used to feel that way too, after my brother left. But then I found Big Z. I want you to know that I'll always be your friend. I hope that knowing that will make you feel a little less lonely."

"It makes me feel a lot less lonely," Brinna told her with a smile. "All of you…you're almost like a family to me."

"I know what you mean," Mission agreed. "We're a bizarre bunch but there's just something right about all of us being together, ya know?"

"Exactly," Brinna said, squeezing Mission's hand.

"Maybe you should get some sleep now," Mission suggested, standing up. "Me, I've got a few more credits to win from Canderous. He seems to think he can do better than Carth did this morning."

"Yeah, good luck!" Brinna scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, no one ever said Mandalorians were known for their brains," Mission said with a grin.

After the Twi'lek left, Brinna thought about what she'd told Mission. She did feel like her crew was her family now and the Jedi and their creed of "there is no emotion, there is peace" could be damned. For the first time in a very long time, she had a sense of belonging. She hadn't thought she'd ever find it again and now that she had, she was not about to let it go.