Emalda woke with a start, her blankets too warm. A lingering confusion stayed with her from a dream that slipped across the edges of her consciousness. She remembered that there had been thunder without rain. The rest eluded her but it didn't seem particularly important. She stared up at her sister Yulana's graffiti. Written perpendicular to the rest of it were the words for an Ekaran nursery rhyme. It was a game that involved lines of children whispering a poem and adding new lines as it moved from child to child until it reached the other end of the line. By the time it was done, the poem would have been misheard and changed. The line that had the most accurate whispers to the original poem was the one that won. By tradition, the first line of the poem was always the same and was also the name of the game: My mother says your mother says. Yulana had written it across the top of the bunk in her cramped scrawl.

My mother says your mother says, the ats are in the flowerbeds
My mother says your mother says, the marching guard wears only red...

Emalda couldn't have been asleep long but she felt better than she had earlier. Nearby Anakin laughed softly in his sleep. Emalda glanced to him briefly but he didn't show any signs of awakening. Emalda reached out a hand to touch the graffiti. She wondered what Yulana had been thinking when she'd written this. Had she gone home afterwards to eat a meal with the family? Or had she returned to the lonely apartment she'd moved into after their mother had fled into exile? Was this before she had stormed into the military base, trying to drag Emalda home with paranoid warnings that Emalda would regret ignoring?

My mother says your mother says, no power like good family.

Tears pricked at the edges of Emalda's eyes. Yulana had built a ship from scratch in order to escape but hadn't lived long enough to use it. There were so many things Emalda still wanted to tell her.

"I love you."
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you said you were being followed."

Emalda thrust up a hand to cover the graffiti as the tears began to flow in earnest. When that wasn't enough, she slid out of her bunk to get as far away from the reminder as she could. Anakin twitched and mumbled in his bunk but still didn't wake.
"We've been looking for you," mumbled Anakin sleepily.
Emalda stumbled into the cargo bay and into the cockpit, where she knew there was a seat she could recline comfortably. She threw herself into the pilot's chair. How could it have come to this - Emalda alive and Yulana the one lost? It had always seemed fated to be the other way around. Emalda's escape, though, wasn't something she had done on her own. It was Ben who had started it.

The first time Emalda had met Ben she had been crouched inside a hangar bay, armed with only a scanner tuned into the military's communication chatter. She had finally been pushed too far by corrupt officials and fled. They were looking for her and the Fahren had been commandeered by the advancing New Republic forces. Emalda had made a promise to herself that she would not go back but she was not at all sure how to keep that promise. She was terrified and alone, with nowhere to run to.

Blasters fired outside and she nearly gave herself away with a cry of terror. She swallowed it down, where it stuck in her throat as a lump she couldn't clear. She knew they had come for her. She heard the humming sound but it did not seem important at first. When the low hum rose and fell in quick bursts, confusion started to override her fear. She crawled forward on her stomach until she could see underneath the partially raised hangar door.

The landing pad outside was empty of ships and the vegetation growing through the cracks revealed that it hadn't been used in a long time. The half a dozen Ekash guards outside weren't there for ships. Their uniforms stood out clearly from the purple foliage that grew in the wild jungles behind them. They were firing at something that Emalda couldn't see. A stranger swept in gracefully in between the guards, holding a glowing rod and looking less like a a fighter than an exotic dancer. It wasn't until the stranger deflected a blaster bolt that she realised she was watching a Jedi wielding a lightsaber. She'd heard of the Jedi in passing from Natheb and even then a lot of it was speculation. Natheb would have dismissed her fear. He certainly wouldn't have had any appreciation for the way the Jedi moved, for the complete awareness of his body. Emalda couldn't take her eyes off him.

The Jedi ran at the guards, his abrupt charge causing one to flinch back and flee. The other five kept firing but couldn't hit their target. The Jedi leapt over the heads of the guards, deflecting two bolts in mid-air. Another guard broke and ran. The lightsaber slashed through the barrels of two blasters and a boot to the chest knocked a guard to the ground. The rest of the guards fled into the forest, most without their weapons. Emalda smiled to herself, despite knowing that her situation was no less serious and that she should still be afraid.

The Jedi turned his head and looked directly at Emalda, where she was lying on the floor of the hangar bay. Emalda blinked, too surprised by the stranger's face to react. She had guessed from his build that he was male. She had seen humans before, with their strange round-pupil eyes, but she had never seen one with a beard. She stared at him and he stared right back.
"Well, are you going to come out or are you going to just sit there?" asked the Jedi, his tone calm and his accent unfamiliar.
Emalda's life had all but fallen to pieces in the last day and she had no fear left to feel.
"I'm going to come out," she said.

An electronic twitter brought Emalda from her memories and announced that the Fahren was receiving a transmission. She wiped away the tears that had been coursing down her cheeks and activated the comm system. A holographic image flickered and then solidified into the blue Achid plant and spaceship that was the symbol of Spaceport Security. The symbol faded as a chubby Kuhd face and torso appeared, tongue flickering like mad.
"Officer Crose?" said Emalda, surprised and straightening even further in her seat. "I was beginning to wonder where you'd disappeared to."
"I apologise, Miss Colash, on behalf of both myself and Spaceport Security," began Crose. "My inattention..."
"Inattention?"
Crose blinked at being interrupted. He clutched at his belt and squinted at her through the holographic image.

"I stop to ask for information on this woman you look for," said Crose. "I find something but when I turn to tell you, you are not there."
"No," said Emalda. "I was busy being nearly mugged - and you didn't even show up to the MedCentre!"
The tongue flickered again and his hands clenched, and unclenched, around his belt. Emalda could hear the noise of the Fahren's ramp lowering and the voices of the others returning.
"I apologise, Miss Colash," he said again. "By the time I know what is happened, you are already released from the MedCentre - but I have information for you."

Emalda sighed out loud and ran a hand through her hair. It couldn't hurt to listen to what the portly Kuhd had to say. She waved at him to go on. Crose beamed.
"I know a hostess who work on a passenger liner," said Crose. "She said she remember an Ekash, about two year ago."
"Coming to or from Wefhuk?" asked Emalda, immediately interested.
"Away. To Canemone Orbital Station, in the next system," said Crose. "It is not far and is more... cosmopolitan than quiet little Wefhuk."

Emalda told herself to not get her hopes up. There weren't many Ekash that had ventured off their home planet but there were some. It was possible that it was a stranger. Emalda realised that her knuckles were white from gripping the arm rests of the chair. Crose looked puzzled by her silence.
"Canemone is close and transport regular," said Crose, continuing hopefully. "No name required for passenger manifest but this Ekash remembered for getting multiple clearances to carry local plant life off world."
Emalda may have squeaked in her excitement but she forced herself to be calm.
"Thank you, Officer Crose. It looks like it's all turned out for the best after all."
"I am glad to help," said Crose. "I am transmit coordinates now. Good luck in search."

The transmission ended in the Spaceport Security symbol. Emalda crossed her arms triumphantly behind her head and swiveled in the chair as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan appeared at the door. Gui-Gon's expression was as serious as ever.
"So, did you have any luck?" asked Emalda.
"I'm afraid not," said Qui-Gon gravely.
"After two years, it's a very cold trail to follow," added Obi-Wan.
"Success may not be possible," said Qui-Gon.
Obi-Wan nodded as if he had come to a similar conclusion. Emalda tried not to smirk as she stood and approached them.
"So, you would be surprised to hear that she was seen boarding a transport for Canemone Orbital Station?" she asked coyly.
Obi-Wan looked pleasantly surprised. Qui-Gon looked annoyed and it took him a moment to school his expression back to polite interest.