Thanks for all of your reviews, everyone, they mean A LOT! Here's a song posted by Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay:

Ie no alamete mmoka.
Nako setsu.
Ieno ielo.

Hooray!! :-D Thanks, Master Sman-Esay, I'm so glad somebody posted a little song/poem! If anyone ever wants to still try it, feel free to do so and submit it! ;-D

Padmé sighed as she looked out the window of the transport. She could see traces of Noriyuki City underneath the morning mist that had settled on the valley. It was early morning of Unification Day. Tonight there would be a ball held at the royal palace where Padmé, Jar Jar, and others would attend.

Nihoma had proved to be more beautiful than Padmé had imagined. She had met people from Nihoma and sent supplies there before, but she had never set foot on the planet itself. It rivaled Naboo and Alderaan in beauty. No wonder so many people wanted to live here.

The shuttle landed in the spaceport just outside the city. Padmé disembarked alongside her Gungan companion and walked outside. She gathered her handmaiden robe around her as a chilly wind blew. It was autumn in this hemisphere of Nihoma, so it would naturally be cold. Besides, valley wind always found a way to chill one to the bone if it blew hard enough.

A JG-8 luxury landspeeder hovered just in front of them. Jar Jar climbed in first and Padmé followed. The trip had been long, so both remained silent during the twenty minute drive.

The landspeeder flew them into the city, taking a large road that was used solely for landspeeders. It took five minutes to reach the palace.

Padmé and Jar Jar climbed out of the speeder and thanked the driver before being escorted inside by a servant. They met with Senator Demora and talked for a short while before being shown to their rooms.

Her room was beautiful. The wooden floors shone in the pale sunlight that the two windows against the back wall had to offer. The cream colored walls held ink paintings with calligraphy of the native tongue written on the side. To the left was a large mirror with an ornate golden casing. A dressing table was underneath it. Directly between the two back windows sat a large bed with wooden framework. The four bedposts were formed as pillars that held a curved wooden roof. The four corners of the roof pointed upward, as well as the center of the roof. The edges of the roof were red, as well as the silk curtains that spilled over. To the right was a large dresser. A desk sat beside it. She found this room to be quite comfortable as well as elaborate.

Padmé walked over to the bed, barely noticing the luggage that had been dropped off for her, and collapsed. She found the pillows exceedingly soft and the bed exceedingly relaxing. Breathing out through her nose, she smiled in contentment and quickly fell asleep.

Two guest houses away from hers, Little One lounged about on his own bed. "Where's Kobayashi?"

"He's not here yet," Lo's roommate, Kerrick, said from the desk.

"What are you doing, Kerrick?"

"I'm writing a letter,"

"Who are you writing the letter to?"

"I'm writing it to my family."

"You… have a family?"

Kerrick paused from his work and looked at Lo. "Of course I have a family, Little One,"

Lo didn't understand. He thought he and the others were Kerrick's family. "But—but who are they?"

"Well, there's my wife, Lynorri, and my four beautiful children: Anjylle, Sei, Kaia, and Nash."

"Right…" Lo paused, looking away.

The sound of Kerrick's laser pen scribbling on the flimsy suddenly stopped. Lo heard the scraping sound of Kerrick's chair moving against the wooden floor. He could feel Kerrick walking towards the bed and then sitting on it.

"Little One, look at me."

Lo couldn't. He just couldn't. He thought Kerrick cared… did the others just think of him as a burden, too? Was that all he was?

"Little One, you're not a burden,"

But… you have a family to worry about. I'm not your family.

There was silence for a moment before Kerrick answered, "Yes, you are my family. You're like a son to me."

Lo's eyes widened. He had never had a father before. Not even… not even… not even what? There was no before the others… that's why they were family to him!

"We all look at you as family, Little One."

Lo finally rolled over on the bed to face Kerrick. He searched his eyes and then felt out with his mind. He could sense the sincerity in Kerrick.

"Do… do you really think of me as family?" he asked slowly, a little scared of the answer.

Kerrick smiled and gathered Lo into a hug. "Yes, I do."

Lo closed his eyes and sank into the embrace, being grateful of it. Suddenly, he heard the others coming and quickly broke away to run to the door. Kerrick sat where he was, blinking stupidly for a few moments before getting off the bed.

"The others are coming!" Lo said excitedly. "Kobayashi's with them!"

Kerrick chuckled. "That's great, Little One."

The door to their room slid open and Kobayashi led the group inside. He was wearing a red eepudah-no with black kuze. He wore a golden cotton coat over his eepudah-no. When Lo looked at his feet, he saw socks that divided the large toe from the others. The shoes Kobayashi wore were made of straw rope and tied around in numerous areas.

"Well if it isn't the prince himself," Kerrick said, putting his hands on his hips. "Should I bow to you?"

"Oh, shut up," Kobayashi snapped.

Everyone else gathered on or around the bed. Little One jumped on the bed between Moeema and Kerrick.

"Now explain," Rowan ordered.

Kobayashi sighed. "Yes, yes, I am the prince of Nihoma. I didn't tell you because I didn't want anyone to know. I… when I was nineteen, which was seven years ago for those of you who don't know, I ran away from this place. I—my older brother, Sano, is the crown prince, so he has more power than I do. I didn't run away because of a power feud, though; I ran away because I wanted to help the galaxy, and I knew I couldn't if I was stuck here. Besides, I was curious. I didn't want to spend my whole life just looking at life as royalty; I would never be able to see it like you guys do. So I ran away.

"I traveled around for a bit during the Clone Wars helping in any way I could (and just trying to survive). It was hard, but you know what? I loved it. I was surviving off the sweat of my own brow; I was responsible for myself, and I was helping people out there by myself!

"By the time I was ready to join the Army of the Republic, the Clone Wars had ended, so instead, I enlisted in the Imperial Academy on Coruscant. I had to make a fake background so they wouldn't know I was the prince of Nihoma… but I'm willing to face the consequences for that. I don't regret anything that I did."

The room was silent as everyone took this information in. Then Lo asked, "So… are you going to be staying here now?"

Kobayashi laughed. "Not if I can help it."

"You mean you're coming back with us to Death Squadron once shore leave's over?" Lo went on.

Kobayashi nodded. "Yes, I am. I can't become a deserter, you know."

"That explains why you knew everything about this place's culture," Moeema muttered.

"Why didn't you tell us, Koby?" Jifo asked. "Didn't you trust us?"

"I didn't tell any of you because I myself didn't want to believe it anymore." Kobayashi shook his head. "I mean… I just—I didn't want… I had put it behind me. It didn't matter anymore. I missed my family and I still loved them, but I believed in what I was doing. I still do."

Everyone was silent for a long time. Kobayashi sighed and looked down at his straw shoes before saying, "I'm so sorry for keeping this a secret from you all. I know that I've probably betrayed your trust, but… I hope I can still be able to have a good time with you all."

Lo stood up. "Kobayashi… I still haven't been to those hot springs you mentioned during lunch yesterday."

Kobayashi blinked for a moment before looking visibly relieved and then laughing. "You're right, you haven't been there yet. I think I can arrange something. We can spend a week here and then go to my family's retreat. It's out in the middle of the forests of the mountains; I think you'll like it."

"Force, I'm glad they recognized you!" Zhymmia laughed. "Otherwise we would have been stuck in an inn for two weeks!"

"Yeah, look at us now," Rowan agreed, joining Zhymmia in laughter. "We get to live the life of luxury. This is why being in the Imperial Navy is a good thing."

"It pays off!" Carh'la giggled.

Kobayashi laughed some more, happy to know that he had been forgiven. He then paused. "Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Yesterday's parade was a precursor to this evening's parade. The royal family will have to attend—unfortunately—and then there will be a ball afterwards. You all are invited, of course."

"But—we don't have any clothes for a ball!" Zhymmia protested.

"The servants will bring something," Kobayashi compensated. "I'll get them to bring ethnic clothes from all your homeworlds!"

Everyone laughed and excitement sang through the room. Then Lo asked, "Um… what's my homeworld?"

"Eh…" Kobayashi trailed off awkwardly, rubbing his hands together.

"What do you think your homeworld is?" Moeema asked.

Little One closed his eyes. He thought hard and searched his mind. What was his homeworld? How would he know what it was? The first thing he thought of when he said the word homeworld was…

Coruscant. He could see himself in a small room, far less ornate than the one he had just been sitting in. There was one rectangular window on the wall opposite from the door. Against that same wall was a small sleep couch. To the left of the couch sat a desk. On the opposite wall was a dresser. The floor was littered with droid parts. On the desk were numerous data pads with information such as important historical dates and planetary coordinates. On top of all that sat a metal cylinder. It had a familiar look to it…

"Well, Little One? What do you think your homeworld is?"

Lo blinked. He was back in the room in Noriyuki on Nihoma. The image of the small bedroom fell apart and scattered. "I don't know…"

"Hmm… well how would you like to wear Nihoman clothes?" Kobayashi offered.

"I'd love to!" Lo said excitedly. "But… what's a ball?"

Everyone laughed and Kobayashi answered, "I'll explain later, Lo. Just get yourself ready because we're going to have a delicious banquet for breakfast and then I'm going to give you a tour of the palace. By the end of the tour we'll probably have to get ready for the parade."

"That sounds like fun!" Lo nodded.

"All right, then let's head off to breakfast!" Jifo motioned to the door.

Obi-Wan paced back and forth in front of the large wall before him. The Force signature was here. The person he had been looking for was in the palace. How could the person get in there, though? Did he know the royal family?

How am I going to get in there? Obi-Wan thought.

Sighing, he backed away from the palace and returned to the inn. He was exhausted. He had stayed up all night tracking the Force signature and trying to figure out what was going on.

As Obi-Wan rounded the corner to his inn, he saw numerous Imperials gathered there. They were yawning and stretching and talking about getting some breakfast. Among them were some stormtroopers. Obi-Wan even recognized the face of a clone trooper. Why were they at the inn? Was that why everyone was in such a fuss to make sure it was clean? The Imperials were staying there?

Wonderful, Obi-Wan sighed mentally. He had to get out of Noriyuki. Maybe he could go into the mountains until they left.

"This is so amazing!" Zhymmia said excitedly.

Shiine found that he had to agree with Zhymmia. The royal palace was truly beautiful to behold.

Kobayashi was currently showing them the throne room. It was actually smaller than Shiine would have expected, but the room drew attention right to where it needed to be: the monarchs. The room, like the others, had wood floors. The walls were red. The room was box-shaped. The center of the room was a large stage-like platform. It had gold carpeting. The platform was attached to the back wall with two separate doorways for the king and queen to come and go. Instead of doors, though, the doorways had red curtains covering them. Two red cushions sat side by side on the floor of the platform where the monarchs would sit. The platform itself had four wooden pillars and an ornately carved wooden roof. The roof started as a point in the center and then curved downwards before tilting upwards in the corners. Golden dragons stood on the corners of the roof. A small decorative wooden fence about ankle-height was built all the way around the platform. Standing in front of the platform, it rose to about mid-calf height.

In front of the main platform was a smaller one. Like the ornate one, it was rectangular, had a carpet—though this one was blue—and had a small decorative wooden fence going around it. The wooden fence stopped to leave a small opening where a person could step onto the platform. The opening was actually in the right corner of the platform since the door leading into the throne room was on the right wall. There were no cushions on the platform floor. This was where those speaking to the monarchs would sit.

Even the walls and other normally overlooked features were attractive. On the wall left of the two platforms were large windows bringing in natural lighting. The back wall was almost entirely covered by the monarchs' platform, but in each corner were long scrolls with calligraphy written on them. The right wall had a decorative wooden pattern going from floor to ceiling and reaching to both corners of the wall. The only break in this decoration was a circular opening which was the door leading in and out of the throne room. The back wall had wooden furniture with decorative items placed on them.

"What does the calligraphy say?" Kerrick asked.

"The one to the left of the platform says honor," Kobayashi answered. "The one to the right says duty. They're very important principals here on Nihoma."

"So who were all those people in the parade yesterday evening?" Carh'la asked.

"I'll explain that to you during this evening's parade." Kobayashi said. "This parade is going to have the same people yesterday's did and have even more."

"Will we be allowed to be near you during the parade?" Jifo inquired. "After all, I thought you would be with the royal family on some sort of float or something."

"Technically, yes," Kobayashi nodded. "But I can arrange for you guys to be close by,"

"How close are we talking?" Zhymmia folded her arms.

"Right behind me with your own float, maybe?"

Lo bounced in the air. "Yippee! We get our own float?"

Kobayashi laughed. "Of course you do, Little One,"

Shiine laughed with Kobayashi and then said, "Well it's nearly fifteen on the chrono. We'd best be getting ready for that parade."

Everyone nodded and rushed back to their separate rooms. Shiine, who shared a room with Jifo, quickly put on his formal military uniform.

The formal military uniform was essentially the same as regular uniform. Like the standard uniform, it consisted of regular pants, a double-breasted folded tunic, hat, and a black plast-leather belt. Like all uniforms, the formal uniform had a color-code of its own. The formal uniform was white and it had gold epaulets. The hat was white too and was trimmed with gold. The collar was gold as well. Even the code cylinders had a gold casing that could be put on or taken off for such occasions.

Shiine looked proudly into the mirror before moaning in dismay. He really needed to shave. He quickly grabbed a razor and severed the grizzly red hairs. Stroking his face to make sure it was smooth, Shiine smiled at his reflection. He exited the refresher and entered into the bedroom once more. Jifo was combing his black hair out of his face.

"What do you think of Zhymmia?" Jifo asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Shiine replied.

"I mean as an ensign; what do you think of her?"

"Zhymmia does her duty well," Shiine said, leaning against the large fluffed pillows. "I remember her first day on the Executor her face was like a stone. All she could say was yes sir and no sir for about an hour before she started asking questions. She ignored all the flirtatious looks from my other ensigns in the area and paid them no mind. Never once have I heard her mention anything that women would normally talk about. She's the perfect Imperial."

"I've noticed," Jifo sighed.

"Why do you ask, anyway?"

"I just wanted to know how she was doing," Jifo commented with a shrug. "Because I think I know someone who's got feelings for her,"

Shiine raised his eyebrows and laughed lightly before sitting up in bed. "Who has feelings for her?"

Jifo smiled and shook his head. "I'll let you figure it out."

There was a slight pause and then Jifo asked, "How did you first react to Lord Vader when you were transferred to Death Squadron?"

Shiine paused to consider the question. "Well… I joined Death Squadron a year after the Declaration of a New Order. I was an ensign just like you. My duty was to oversee security in cell block Dorn. I did nothing but my duty for the first five months and then I found myself exhausted. That's when I met Lieutenant Dexen Marth. He was so laid back and fun to be around, rather like Kobayashi is. Lieutenant Marth was Kobayashi's predecessor when it came to that.

"One day the lieutenant I were talking in the lounge when he got a call from the bridge. He told me that we would finish our discussion some other time. I, however, being a curious idiot by nature, decided to investigate the bridge for myself.

"You see, up until I met the lieutenant I was so intent on doing my role and nothing else. I wanted to be the best ensign there ever was. What I found out from Dexen was that being stiff as a board is not the greatest ideas because when you're required to be flexible for a situation, you find yourself breaking instead. He told me to relax a little and get used to my situation. The only unfortunate thing was that after I relaxed, my real flaws began surfacing, mainly being my insufferable need to know everything that's going on.

"So I gave into my curiosity and went to the bridge to find Dexen. When I was about to enter, the door opened and lo and behold there was Lord Darth Vader standing right in front of me."

Jifo gaped and then asked, "What did you do?"

Shiine laughed. "I did what any Imperial ensign would do in that situation: I turned on my heel and ran right back to the turbolift."

Jifo burst into fits of laughter, clapping his hands together in mirth. While he continued to do so, Shiine went on with his story. "I banged that call button so hard I thought I had broken it. Meanwhile, behind me, Lord Vader's breathing steadily grew louder as he approached me. Finally my saving grace arrived and I literally flew into that turbolift. I pressed for Deck 1. As I turned to look at the doorway I saw Lord Vader coming ever closer. I started smacking the button for Deck 1 until my fingers throbbed. The door started to close… I thought I was saved… but then the door sensors picked up Lord Vader's movement and opened once again.

"Darth Vader entered the turbolift. I stood in terror as he walked towards me and waved a hand in my general direction. I thought he was trying to kill me with a wave of his hand. I started trembling and began to back away from him. His hand paused all of a sudden and I could have sworn he regarded me before lowering his hand. Then I looked at the list of decks on the turbolift and I noticed the button for Deck 5 was lit. I wondered if I had pressed it but then I realized that was what Lord Vader had been doing. Believe me when I say that that was the longest turbolift ride I have ever experienced."

When Jifo finally got control of himself he asked, "Why were you going to Deck 1? Wouldn't you go to Deck 2 or 3?"

Jifo posed this question because Deck 1 had nothing for a security officer. On Deck 1 were the engineering section, a droid maintenance facility, and the primary hangar bay.

"Because I could hide in the droid maintenance facility," Shiine replied, causing Jifo to laugh even more. "Not to mention it was as far from the bridge as I could go."

Jifo laughed again and they heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Shiine called from the bed.

The door slid open and Kobayashi walked inside, leading the others.

"What was all the laughing?" Numel asked.

"Just some… reminiscing," Shiine said with a dismissive wave of his hand which caused Jifo to snort in laughter.

"Let's go," Rowan said. "The parade's setting up."

The group left the hallway and exited the guest house. Off in the distance, Shiine caught a glimpse of senators gathering in a private area so they could get a good view of the parade.

Kobayashi led them to an area off the main road. They walked passed the main building in the palace grounds and then headed towards a building in the far right corner. The building was rather large and taller than the others. Shiine could have sworn he heard something snarl as they drew closer.

"What is that place?" Vader asked.

"It's the stable," Kobayashi answered just as he pushed one of the large doors open.

Shiine felt his jaw drop.

There was a reason the stable was so massive. Shiine could count three dragons in there!

Shiine read about Nihoma before they had arrived, and he remembered reading that Nihoma's wildlife brought many tourists. The most famous of all was the Nihoman dragon, the nook.

Nooks were extremely beautiful and deadly. However, despite popular opinion, they could not breathe fire. Their ferocity lay within their claws and fangs, as well as their sheer size.

The males were a fiery red in color. They had humungous wings, spanning fifteen meters from tip to tip. They were eighteen meters long from their nose to their tail. Their jaws could easily crunch a Wookiee in half. They had horns sticking on of the back of their head, pointing straight back allowing for good aerodynamics. They had tough plate-like scales going in a straight line all the way down their back. The plates curved backwards. On the tip of their tails, they had a small vertical fan-like fin. The males were the more benevolent of the sexes when it came to dragons.

The females, unlike the males, were royal blue. They averaged about the same size and length as the males, but weighed slightly more. The males weighed nine tons while the females weighed an extra ton. The females didn't have plates going down their backs, but they had more horns on their necks. They also had the same vertical fin on the tips of the tails. The females were far more aggressive.

Dragons lived in mountainous areas such as the mountain chain surrounding Noriyuki City. The reason was not only were dragons creatures of the air, but also of the water. The reason why they had fins on their tail was because dragons were good swimmers. They could hold their breath for two hours.

Dragons had a large effect on Nihoman culture. One would earn the title tengfei if they could tame a male dragon and the title longwei if they could tame a female dragon. People on Nihoma highly revered dragons and often did plays and songs about their ferocious beauty. When Nihoman warriors, called chuuno, came of age, one of the ceremonies and tests was to slay a dragon. Dragons were also a sign of prosperity and honor. People who had tamed dragons were considered very prestigious. This was naturally why the royal family had three.

"This will be your float," Kobayashi pointed to a male dragon. "His name is Minh. He's my older brother's nook."

"Your brother has his own dragon?" Jifo exclaimed.

"Yes," Kobayashi replied. "My parents have their own nooks as well."

"Do you have a dragon too?"

"No," Kobayashi shook his head. "You go through the taming ceremony when you're thirty."

"Taming ceremony?" Shiine repeated.

"Well, I'll explain that later," Kobayashi laughed. "Anyway, you're going to be riding Minh. Believe me, he may look terrifying but he's a softie."

"No wonder he found it so easy to befriend people," Shiine heard Kerrick muttering. "He had to befriend dragons first!"

Padmé smiled as Jar Jar panicked at the sight of dragons walking out of the palace stable. Beside her sat Bail Organa, who was engrossed in watching the parade begin to go on its way. He, Padmé, Jar Jar, and Mon were all in an airspeeder that would take them around the city as the parade went through the streets.

The front part of the parade began walking forward. The speeder carrying the senators began to fly away from the palace to get a better view. As it flew away, Padmé threw a glance at the two dragons exiting the stable. One was blue and the other was red. Both had large howdahs on them. The howdah on the blue dragon—which was leading the red dragon into the parade—had a curved roof in typical Nihoman style. The poles holding the roof were red with golden curtains hanging on the back of the roof. Two rows of two plushy chairs were inside the howdah. The royal family sat inside. The second dragon held a larger howdah. Each row had two chairs as the first one, but there were six rows.

Padmé had heard that a long-missing member of the royal family had finally returned. Prince Kobayashi had supposedly gone missing seven years ago. It was amazing that he reappeared on Unification Day.

Jar Jar pointed excitedly to the beginning of the parade and they were on their way.

The parade was started by the fan dancers from before. Crowds even larger than last night's were cheering wildly. Speeders flew overhead and released large fireworks that made one feel a drumbeat in their own chest whenever they exploded. There were other speeders throwing red, gold, and black confetti everywhere.

"So what's with all the dancing?" Kerrick asked Kobayashi over a comlink.

"They're traditional dances," Kobayashi answered. "Back in the day they were created to please the gods and bring good fortune."

Kerrick laughed. "That's interesting,"

Leaning back, Kerrick looked around him at the parade. It was far more elaborate than the other day, with musicians in between playing indigenous flutes and drums. As Kerrick watched, he looked back at Vader, who was excitedly pointing out everything to Moeema.

From what Kerrick had observed, Vader had started to make a wide variety of attachments to the group. With Moeema, he looked at her as a motherly figure and sought affection from her constantly. Zhymmia was more like a close friend since the two had not spent too much time around each other. Ooke was most certainly the mischievous brother who plotted and played with Vader constantly. Kobayashi was also a brotherly figure, ever playful and fun. Shiine was rather like a favorite uncle. Carh'la was an empathetic aunt. Jifo was another brother, though an older and sterner one to be sure. Marrax was like Zhymmia since they had not known each other too long, but Numel was turning out to be another brother to Vader. Kerrick believed that Rowan, due to his rank and general distance from Vader, was rather like the big one in charge who made sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to.

Kerrick personally didn't know what Vader thought of himself, but he supposed it was in a good light since the boy practically panicked when Kerrick mentioned his family. What was odd was that he had heard Vader's voice in his mind. He wished Jifo's sister-in-law Fernanda had more information on the Jedi, but it naturally would have been confiscated after the Declaration of a New Order.

Am I a burden to them?

Kerrick had originally thought Vader voiced that question, but when he looked at it in retrospect, the query had been directed only at Vader himself. He had been thinking… his thoughts somehow managed to transfer over to Kerrick. How was that possible? He supposed it was another odd Force trick Vader inherently knew.

The very idea that Vader thought of himself in such a negative light worried Kerrick. He didn't want the boy to think that way… he might try to avoid them and that would cause problems.

But what of Palpatine? Kerrick had heard nothing from the emperor. He didn't know much about the emperor's uncanny ability to always be informed even when something had just happened, but the fact that not even after almost four weeks Vader's disappearance was still unnoticed. Not to mention that Death Squadron hadn't reported to any other breathing Imperial since the incident began.

Kerrick snapped back into reality when Kobayashi spoke through the comlink to explain parts of the parade. He was pointing out the younglings in the cream-colored eepudah-no with brown kuze. They were doing movements with two thick wooden dowels attached by a rope.

"Those are the nian chuuno, or young warriors," Kobayashi said. "They train themselves in many different fighting styles. The ones in the parade come from the best school on the planet. The school is actually out in the mountains far away from the city.

"Behind them are the chuuno, the warriors," he continued. "People show them much respect. They live their lives out as warriors. They have strict traditions and codes that they live by."

"Why do they walk in pairs like that?" Numel asked.

"Because warriors are only allowed to marry fellow warriors," Kobayashi answered. "Those walking in pairs are married couples."

"I'm supposing their children have to follow that path as well?" Moeema inserted.

"At least the eldest," Kobayashi affirmed.

"Who are the people with all the face paint?" Vader asked.

"Those are geinjou, or actors, Little One," Kobayashi said with a hint of excitement in his tone. "They dance and sing and play all the time. Maybe we can go see them some time."

"That would be wizard!" Vader laughed.

Kerrick noticed the boy's vocabulary had expanded, and some of the terms he used were not normally spoken by the Imperials. Did Darth Vader used to say wizard at some point in his life?

A speeder flew by carrying some senators and Vader's smile somewhat faded. His eyes darted over to the senators and curiosity dawned on his face, though something deep in his eyes showed contempt. His look made Kerrick nervous.

"Little One, are you alright?" he said, touching the boy's shoulder.

Vader blinked and looked at Kerrick, his eyes refocusing. He smiled and nodded. "Yes!"

The rest of the parade was exciting, fun, and insightful with Kobayashi's tidbits of cultural information. The parade began to round the border of the city before turning once more towards the royal palace. Once it reached its destination, fireworks exploded, making one's heart skip a beat. Kerrick found it exhilarating.

Everyone disembarked their dragon mount and began talking loudly as they walked towards their guest quarters. Kobayashi went with his family but promised Vader he would see them before the ball. Kerrick led Vader back to their guest room.

When they entered, Kerrick immediately grabbed his bag and began rummaging through it. Vader watched him curiously before looking at himself in the mirror. He finger-combed his hair for a while and then he sighed and collapsed on the large bed.

"What's a ball?" he asked.

Kerrick hissed in pain as he accidently had snapped his luggage shut upon hearing the boy's query.

"It's a formal party, Lo," he explained while nursing his somewhat swollen finger. "You have to dress very nicely for it."

"Is what I'm wearing nice?"

"Well… not nice enough for a ball, I'm afraid." Kerrick sighed. "I'll see if I can find something in my luggage that you can wear."

"Okay," was the reply.

Kerrick pulled out a formal outfit for the boy. It was an outfit his wife had bought for him. It consisted of a rich deep red robe that went all the way to the ankles. It was bound by a dark brown obi. The sleeves were wide and allowed for a lot of maneuverability. A brown cloak could go over it, attached around the neck by a small clip. It would certainly do for a ball.

Holding the outfit in front of Vader to see if it fit properly, Kerrick found himself laughing at the boy's odd expression. "What's wrong?"

Vader's face had contorted oddly when the outfit was held in front of him. His eyes had clouded and a curl of distaste framed his lips. His brow was furrowed. "I… don't like it."

"Well why not? My wife bought this for me, you know."

"Why did she buy it?"

"My birthday, silly," Kerrick explained before his mirth went away at the boy's dark brooding mood. "Well, what's wrong?"

"I just don't like it."

"I've never heard of someone getting into a bad mood because they don't like an outfit," Kerrick laughed again.

Vader examined the robe for a short while longer before blinking and looking away. He muttered something, his face darkening further.

Somewhat disconcerted, Kerrick put the robe away and placed a gentle hand on Vader's shoulder. "What's bothering you, Little One?"

"I… I don't like it." He said again, shaking his head.

"Why don't you like it?"

"It reminds me s-someone…"

"Who does it remind you of?"

Vader paused, shaking his head once more. His face was still dark, but he finally shrugged and collapsed on the bed, moaning, "Does this mean I can't go to the ball?"

Kerrick blinked and suppressed a sigh. He thought he had almost found something there! "Of course not, Little One; maybe Kobayashi can spare you his formal uniform."

Vader bounced of the bed happily. "Really?"

Kerrick laughed and nodded. "Yes, really… but first we have to do something about your hair."

Vader's hand automatically reached up and twirled some locks of his sandy hair around his finger. "What about my hair?"

"Well you've never properly taken care of it," Kerrick noted. "It's always been a mess. You can't have that in a ball."

"What—b-but… you're not going to cut it, are you?"

"No, I'll just brush it."

Vader blinked. "Brush it? You mean like brushing your teeth?"

Kerrick laughed even harder. "No, Lo, with a hairbrush,"

Pulling out just that, Kerrick sat the boy down on the bed and began running the brush through his hair. Occasionally he'd run into a knot and earn a yelp from Vader, but it wasn't anything too serious. The boy's hair was layered but it actually looked rather unhealthy and dry.

"Do you wash it?" Kerrick asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not like I have time during a war…" a low voice muttered.

"What?" Kerrick said in a high tone, startled. His hand automatically jerked and tore through a knot. Vader barked in frustration and pain and jumped. "Ow!"

"Sorry, Little One," Kerrick said automatically before resuming.

As he brushed through the curls, his mind wandered to the voice. From what he had seen of the security feeds when Vader was cornered by Commander Sypikne in the detention center, his voice had lowered menacingly when he grew panicked. It was almost like an automatic defense came when the boy became too scared. It was definitely an authoritative tone, denoting that it truly was Darth Vader speaking for a moment. The tone Kerrick had just heard though seemed different. It was not Little One's pitch, which was light and bouncy, always holding mischievous and excited undertones, and yet it was not the murderous tone he had heard through the security recording. It was… dead. The voice was a low, rumbling tone. It had some semblance of warmth, but overall it seemed to be flat, even dead.

The chime for the door rung and Kerrick called them inside. The door opened and all the men entered, dressed in their formal uniforms. Kobayashi was with them.

"Ah, perfect," Kerrick smiled towards the men. "Koby, I need your formal uniform. Let's see if it'll fit Lo."

"All right," Kobayashi nodded and ran out of the room.

Rowan sighed and leaned against the wall contently. "Are you excited about the ball, Little One?"

Vader nodded enthusiastically before groaning as Kerrick ran into another knot.

I think I can safely say that's one of the longest chapters I've submitted, LOL! Please review!