Chapter II

Master Ry-Gaul had sent his apprentice to gather the supplies they would need for their journey while he went to the docking bay in the Temple to secure suitable transportation from the Jedi fleet. He chose something modest, not too big. It had enough room for two people, space to exercise and practice katas without lightsabers. It had no sleeping area as it wasn't necessary since both the pilot's seat and co-pilot's seat reclined so that master and padawan could take turns resting. It was equipped with a small fresher that had a sonic shower and a small area with a small cooler to store supplies and water and a heating unit to heat meal packs.

Tru arrived at the docking bay while Ry-Gaul was preforming a flight check with one of the maintenance droids. "Have you obtained the necessary supplies?" Ry-Gaul asked Tru.

"Yes, Master," Tru replied.

"Please then, go aboard and set up. We will leave momentarily."

Tru bowed to his master and said, "As you wish," and boarded the transport. Ry-Gaul followed shortly after. He took the pilot's seat and finished the flight check.

As they left the docking bay Ry-Gaul said, "The journey should last three days. We will resume your training schedule when we reach hyperspace. In the meantime, I'd like you to review the mission details."

Tru did as he was told and sat back in his seat and began to view the details of the mission.

Being engaged in training for most of the trip seemed to make the time go faster. They had arrived at the spaceport on the island of Kla'taal and immediately set forth to the home of L'mar's sister. Ry-Gaul could see why people would want to settle in such a place. The homes were lined above beautiful white sand, set upon durasteel platforms that were painted light colors to match the landscape. Tall trees, with large oval leaves of different colors were strategically planted in beds around the houses to give shade from the sun. The homes were structured to be opened by day to the salt air and to let in the warm breeze from the pure, blue ocean which surrounded the small island, and secured again at night for safety. This also kept the settlers safe during violent weather which occasionally plagued the island.

The sounds of the morning beach were very peaceful.

Ry-Gaul and Tru stepped onto the first step of the moving staircase that that led from the beach to the raised home. Ry-Gaul pressed the up sensor to start the stairs accent to the upper level.

When they reached the top, Ry-Gaul rang the door's buzzer and a blonde woman in her mid-thirties, with a small child clinging to her, opened the door. "Yes, may I help you?" she inquired sounding a bit frazzled and annoyed that they had disturbed her morning routine.

"I am Jedi Master Ry-Gaul and this is my apprentice, Tru Veld. Are you Madam Zainos?" he asked her.

Her annoyance turned immediately to fear and nervousness. "I don't understand. Am I in some sort of trouble?" she was near tears.

"No madam, not at all," Ry-Gaul tried to ease her fear. "We would just like to ask you a few questions about your brother, Pietro," he told her.

"Petey?" she questioned. "Has he done something wrong? Has something happened to him?"

Again, Ry-Gaul tried to quell her fear and said, "No, no, nothing like that. Please be assured. An incident has occurred at his place of employment on Coruscant and we need to know if he has any knowledge of it. We believe he could be a great help to our investigation."

"What kind of incident? Do you think he was involved?" Domenica was getting nervous again.

With a wave of his hand Ry-Gaul said, "That doesn't matter."

And Domenica repeated with a dazed look on her face, "That doesn't matter."

Ry-Gaul waved his hand once more and asked, "May we come in?"

"Please, come in," she replied.

The Jedi entered the small dwelling. It was nicely furnished and opened to the morning breeze coming from the ocean.

"Please, have a seat," she offered and the Jedi obliged by sitting on small wicker sofa in the common room. "Would you like something to drink?" she asked.

"No, thank you, madam," Ry-Gaul replied.

Domenica sat in the matching wicker chair across from them and sat the clinging child on her lap, a little girl of about two standard years of age that had a striking resemblance to her mother. The child had been staring at Ry-Gaul and was sobbing.

Ry-Gaul was a tall, imposing looking man with white hair and grey eyes. He spotted an abandoned doll on the floor near Domenica's chair and he used the Force to float the toy to the child. Tru had to hold his surprise in check. He had almost scolded his master which would not have fared too well for him. This was completely out of Ry-Gaul's character and Tru had never seen his master use the Force for even so much as to acquire a utensil in the Temple commissary let alone for something as foolish as the entertainment of a small child. But, Ry-Gaul liked children and he wanted this child to be comfortable in his presence so he allowed himself this one-time indulgence.

The little girl smiled and plucked the doll from the air. She relaxed against her mother, held the doll close to her, put her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes. Domenica looked at him quizzically and said, "That was some trick." Ry-Gaul just gave her a nod and smiled.

He checked his surroundings in the Force and was able to tell they were the only ones there. He felt no other presence within the home but he asked her anyway, "Is your brother here? Or has he been here recently?"

"No, he has not been here," she replied hastily.

Master Ry-Gaul knew immediately that she was lying. She was clearly agitated and would not look at him. "Madam Zainos. I know that you think you must protect your brother, but please, do not lie to me."

"I'm not lying," she said nervously still not looking at Ry-Gaul.

"A Jedi knows." he told her. Then he asked again, "Has your brother been here?"

Domenica had become clearly upset. She had heard stories of people who were taken into Jedi custody for all sorts of reasons and she was scared to death she'd be one of them so she swallowed the lump in her throat and replied, "About a month ago, but only for a day, then he left again."

"Did he tell you where he was going?" Ry-Gaul asked her.

"No, he left without notice," she replied.

"Are there any other family members he may be staying with now?" asked Ry-Gaul.

"No, I am the only family he has. Well, me, my husband and Seraphina," she looked down at the child.

"What of your parents?"

"Our father passed when Petey was only six. Our mother died just before he moved to Coruscant," she explained.

Ry-Gaul nodded in understanding and asked. "Did he give a reason for his visit?"

"He said he came to tell me of his engagement to a woman he is to marry on Coruscant," she explained.

"Was this woman with him?" Ry-Gaul inquired.

"No. He was alone."

"Did he tell you anything more about her?"

Domenica replied, "Just that her name is Madelaina and that she lives above some night club or bar where she works."

"He didn't happen to mention the name of this club or bar?" Ry-Gaul questioned.

"He did, but I can't remember it," she said.

Her facial expression now told Ry-Gaul that she was scanning her memory to see if she could come up with the name.

"It was something Cove," she said. Ry-Gaul gave her few more moments to finish her memory scan. "Cosmic!" she exclaimed. "Cosmic Cove. That was it!"

"Is there anything else you can tell us that may help us to find him?" Ry-Gaul asked.

"No, Master, Ry-Gaul, is it?" she changed her statement to a question.

"Yes," was his simple reply.

"Madam Zainos, we have taken up enough of your time. We will take our leave now." He and Tru stood and she followed with the now sleeping child in her arms.

Domenica walked the Jedi to the door. Master Ry-Gaul thanked her for her cooperation and he and Tru headed back to the spaceport.

When they were far enough away from the home, Tru asked Ry-Gaul, "Do you think it's possible, Master, that L'mar made up that story about his engagement so that he wouldn't have to tell her the real reason he was there?"

"It is very possible, Tru," he replied.

"Where do we go from here, Master?" Tru asked Ry-Gaul.

"For now, back to the ship. I am going to contact the council and see if they can spare another Knight to check out the lead on this Madelaina. I don't want to take a three-day journey back to Coruscant for something that may be a false trail. In the meantime, I'd like to stay on Kothlis for a while to monitor her transmissions. I feel she is telling the truth about not knowing where he is now, but there is always a possibility that she's been able to deceive us. It has been a month since she's seen him, perhaps he will contact her. And if she has been able to deceive us, no matter how slight the possibility, she may try to contact him to warn him of our inquiry. Should they make contact, it will lead us right to him. We will watch until council has exhausted this new lead," Ry-Gaul explained to Tru.

Tru nodded and they walked the rest of the way to spaceport in silence.