Obi-Wan couldn't find Emily anywhere.

He and Anakin had checked the Library. The roof gardens. The training dojos. Obi-Wan had even wandered down to the aquatic levels, thinking that perhaps Emily had decided to take up Master Fisto on his offer of exploring the underwater training quarters and living area. She wasn't anywhere to be found, and no-one they had spoken to had even caught sight of her in passing.

Normally Obi-Wan wouldn't think much of it. The Temple was huge and sprawling. There were a thousand different areas to explore, where she could tuck herself away to draw or - as was sometimes the case - nap, but her art kit still lay untouched in her room. She had been absent at the morning meal, and then again for the midday one, and now as the afternoon was wearing on without a sighting, Obi-Wan was starting to worry. It wasn't like her to just disappear without a word. What if she'd decided to explore the lower depths as she had with Vos? The whole area was a death-trap; parts of it old and crumbling, a never-ending maze easily as large as the Temple built on top of it. If his recklessness had…

His comlink chirped.

"Master?" Anakin's voice said, crackling through the speaker.

"Anakin, have you found anything?"

"I'm searching through the security-holo now, Master," Anakin said. There was a long pause. "Looks like she left her room at oh-five-fourteen hours this morning… she went down to the First Hall, and…and she left the Temple through the Grand Entrance, Master."

"She left?" Obi-Wan said, turning on his heels and picking up his pace to a jog, as he headed for the turbolift.

"Yes Master. Should I meet you at the entrance?"

"Alright, I'll see you there."

Emily had left the Temple; that couldn't be right. Perhaps she'd thought about exploring the Processional Way or even the wider Temple District - it was dotted with ancient statues that many tourists came to view. Not that Emily had ever shown more than a passing interest in the statues inside the Temple itself. What other reason could she have for leaving, especially on her own? She had no credits. No comlink. If she'd found her way down into the apartments and lower-level hangers…how would he even begin to track her?

"Master," came Anakin's voice, as he emerged from under one of the pillars of the Four Founders, near the top of the ceremonial staircase. The sun was already starting to dip in the sky, casting warm slanted rays across the stonework.

"We should split up," Obi-Wan said, his eyes sweeping out across the vast expanse of the Temple District laid out around them. He'd never really appreciated how massive the space was until now, with the prospect of having to sweep the area before nightfall now upon him. Even the more respectable upper areas of Coruscant could be dangerous at night, especially for someone with no knowledge or experience of them.

"I don't think-"

"-comms into the Temple security as well. We should dispatch droids to help sweep the area," Obi-Wan said, as he started to walk towards the stairs. He stretched out with the Force, hoping to pick up the distinct feel of Emily's lifeforce. He could have used Vos and his tracking skills right about now, as much as he hated to admit it, but he'd left for another undercover mission weeks ago now.

"Master-"

"We don't have time to stand around Anakin," Obi-Wan said, turning back to scowl. Couldn't his padawan see how urgent the situation had become? She'd been out here for over twelve hours. Goodness knows what could have happened in that time.

"She's right there, Master!" Anakin blurted out, pointing across to the farthest statue overlooking the stairs. There, tucked into the corner of the railing, was a little figure. Her body was hunched over, her legs either side of a railing post, feet dangling over the edge. Obi-Wan couldn't tell which of the feelings that rushed through him at the sight of her was strongest; his annoyance or his profound relief.

He walked towards the statue, Anakin at his side. Had she been out here the whole day, curled around the railing strut? As they drew near, the parallel's to how he'd found her once before, slumped at the top of the abandoned tower in the Works, evidence of the experiments still welded to her skin, were just a little too close for comfort.

"Emily?" he said, his shadow falling over her. She didn't turn at her name. He looked to Anakin, who shrugged his shoulders. Obi-Wan couldn't sense anything from her. She had grown better at tucking her feelings down; drawing the wavering pulse of her essence under her skin. While it was something he'd encouraged Emily to learn, it was moments like this that he missed the honest feel of her in the air. At least it gave him something to work from.

After a long moment of silence, Obi-Wan slowly approached the railing's edge. Lifting up his cloak, he folded himself down beside her, stretching his legs out to dangle next to hers, the guard-rail brushing against the top of his head. Emily had tucked the railing strut into her shoulder, her cheek pressed against the metal, arms wrapped around and moulding her body to it. "Hi," she eventually whispered, as they sat quietly watching the traffic crawl across the sky-lanes.

"Hi," he replied, lowering his voice to match hers. "We've been looking for you for hours."

"Oh," she said, rubbing her cheek against the metal. "Sorry." They lapsed back into silence. Anakin eventually joined Obi-Wan on his other side. They must have looked odd to the people milling around below. Three people sat in a row, looking out onto the city beyond.

"You know what MEL told me this morning?" Emily eventually said, breaking through the stillness. Obi-Wan cast a look over to Anakin. What could the droid have said that would cause her to sit out here all day? Maybe its personality programs had glitched? Anakin was always tweaking the stupid thing. "He said that I'd been here for two hundred and eighty-four days. That's over nine months."

Nine months! Had it really been that long since he'd pulled her from the burnt-out wreckage of the airship? It didn't seem possible. Then again, Obi-Wan struggled to remember what it was like before Emily had crashed into their lives. It felt like she'd always been there somehow. She saved him a response by continuing after a second's pause.

"I've missed everything," she said, voice low and thick in her throat. "All the birthdays. All the terrible, endlessly long dance shows. The judo competitions. Laser tag and McDonalds on Saturdays. Pub quiz with the girls every Tuesday. Christmas..."

"You know," she said, finally turning to look at him. There were no tears in her eyes, but he could hear the faint echo of them still lingering in her voice. "I've never missed a Christmas. Never. It was the one thing we'd always make sure we came back home for. And even though it always ended up with the kids fighting and falling out, and everyone eating till they felt sick, and my brother having a beer too many and arguing politics with anyone who'd listen - it was good, you know? The stupid jokes, and the ugly pyjamas, and watching The Muppets Christmas Carol like we didn't know all the words off by heart. It was good."

He tried to think of something comforting to say, but everything he'd been taught by the Order, all the words he'd normally reach for, had only ever caused her to pull away from him before. Emily loved her family deeply. Telling her to let go of her grief - her attachment to what she had lost - was almost always met with barely restrained contempt. So, he did the only other thing he could think of; he reached out to gently place his hand on the pale freckled skin of her shoulder. Her skin felt like ice under his palm.

"You're freezing," he said, pulling off his cloak and tucking it around her. Emily didn't move. "We should get you back inside." He pulled himself up on to his feet, Anakin following him.

"Come on," he said, gently easing her arms from around the railing strut. Emily didn't seem inclined to move, but slowly got to her feet as he lifted her by the elbows.

"Jedi don't do anything like that, do they?" she asked, as though she hadn't really heard him.

"Like what?" he said, pulling his cloak more tightly around her. If she'd been out here all this time, she probably hadn't had a thing to eat since yesterday. He'd have MEL bring her something from the kitchens to her room, while they got her warmed up.

"Presents and games and drunken arguments about taxes."

Obi-Wan kept a hand at her elbow, as he led her back inside. "I'm afraid not, no."

"Do the people out there do it?" she said, stopping to look back at the city. Obi-Wan followed her gaze.

"Most species in the galaxy have holidays that they share with friends and family. There's probably a thousand worlds out there right now, holding all kinds of festivals and celebrations." Emily's face softened, but she didn't move when he squeezed her elbow. Obi-Wan swallowed down a sigh. The Temple didn't hold celebrations; their life was one given to duty - not in a joyless servitude, but in the quiet devotion to maintaining a peace which freed others to enjoy such things. It was something she wouldn't find in the Temple, the closest thing he could think of was…

"Well, there is one tradition I try to keep," he admitted. Emily turned her face back to him, eyes focusing on his, a small flicker of curiosity brightening them. "Though, I'll admit, it's a little overdue. It would kill two Porgs with one pebble though," he continued, talking more to himself as he smoothed a hand through his beard. "We're going to need a change of scenery for it though."

"You know that Quinlan already showed me all the areas I'm not supposed to be in, right?" she said, her mouth lifting into the shadow of a smile.

"I'd be more surprised if he hadn't," Obi-Wan replied. He gave Emily a gentle tug on her elbow, and she began to move with him again as they walked back inside. "I was thinking of somewhere a little further afield this time. Anakin, we'll need a transporter."

"You're taking me outside?" Emily asked, when they'd reached the eastern hanger bay. Rows of transporters were laid out, Anakin moving ahead with explicit instructions to find something sensible.

"Well, it seems about time, don't you think?" he replied with a smile. They walked towards the enclosed airspeeder Anakin had chosen. It was one of the faster models (of course) but at least it was equipped with a roof, so there was far less chance of Emily plummeting to her death due to Anakin's flying. He handed Emily in, before climbing into the backseat beside her. Anakin was flicking on the engines at the front.

"Where to Master?" Anakin said, leaning back over the pilot seat to look at him.

"I have a rather strong craving for a nerf-burger, don't you?"

Anakin grinned, turning back around before gunning the engines. "Hold on."

Emily turned to press her face up against the glass window, as they lifted into the air and zipped away from the landing pad and into the early Coruscant evening. The lights from the buildings were already starting to glimmer as the sun set behind them.

"Want to see something cool?" Anakin said.

Emily said, "Yes" at the exact same time as Obi-Wan replied, "Absolutely not." So of course, Anakin ignored him. The speeder spiralled, Obi-Wan grabbing the cloth at Emily's back in case she went tumbling, and then Anakin took them into a nose dive, weaving through passing traffic lanes before he pulled up, shooting less than a meter past the side of a building.

"Could we please, for once, fly somewhere without you trying to kill us?!" Obi-Wan shouted at him. That managed to get an honest bubble of laughter out of Emily, which grudgingly almost made him forgive Anakin's reckless flying.

"Does it just keep going down forever?" she asked, pulling herself onto her knees and craning her neck to see as far down past the window as possible.

"Pretty much all the way down to level zero," Anakin said, looking back over his shoulder. "Though it's dangerous going down any level below three thousand."

"There's three thousand levels?" Emily said, turning to Obi-Wan.

"Five thousand, one-hundred and twenty-seven, to be exact," Obi-Wan replied, smiling as Emily shook her head in disbelief, before turning back to peer out at the passing buildings. It took around an hour to get to Coco Town, even with Anakin flagrantly breaking the speed limit. Emily was quiet, only asking a question every now and then, one of her hands pressed to the glass as she watched the city dip into evening.

They reached the main shopping strip. Anakin pulled in alongside the squat red and grey building, steam from it's vents catching and fogging over the side windows.

"Here we are," Obi-Wan said, opening the door before helping Emily out.

"Where are we?" Emily asked, pulling his cloak closer around her as she peered over his shoulder at the people walking past. Anakin stepped up beside them.

"This place has the best food in Coruscant!" he enthused, because of course he did. Any hint at the chance to fill the bottomless void of his stomach, automatically had Anakin ecstatic. "Just wait until you try the sliders - and the cakes!"

"I'm also hoping to introduce you to an old friend of mine. I think you'll like him," Obi-Wan said, leading them around to the front of the building. As soon as they turned the corner, the garbled sound of music and talking and the clattering of pans could be heard pouring out through the open doorway. The air was tinged with the smell of fresh bread, fried meat and the sharp tang of caf. The inside was already bustling with people, crowding around the scuffed bar area and filling the worn red booths. Obi-Wan wasn't even sure they'd get a table. He hadn't timed it well for the rush hour.

A streak of blonde hair and pale blue pushed through the milling people, quickly depositing a tray of drinks before turning round and catching their eye. Harmony, or 'Harms' as Dex called her, took a double take as she recognised his face, giving him a quick once over, before tipping him a rather lascivious wink. Obi-Wan tried not to smirk at her ongoing attempts to make him blush.

"I'll go let Dex know you're here," she said, turning her scantily clad back to them. Emily's eyebrows were raised when he turned around, and Obi-Wan felt the sudden compulsion to explain that really, she was like that with everyone! He heard his name shouted over the noise of the diner, turning to see Dex, grease-stained and wearing a beaming smile, as he waddled through the parting crowd towards him. Obi-Wan was treated to his customary hug, huge hands coming round to give him a rough pat on the back.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Dex said, then he caught sight of the others. "And you brought your padawan too. Look at the size of you kid! What are they feeding you at that Temple of yours? You're a hand taller than the last time I saw you."

"Nothing as good as your sliders Dex," Anakin replied back, as the Besalisk clapped him on the shoulder, nearly knocking him off balance.

"Oh, and you've brought another Master from the Temple," Dex said, looking towards Emily. It took Obi-Wan a moment for him to realise that she was still wrapped up in his brown cloak. Emily was already shaking her head.

"Oh no, I'm not a Jedi," she said. Dex looked back down at the cloak, eyebrows raised. Technically it was against Galactic law, to dress up in Jedi robes and pretend to be one of the Order.

"This is Emily, she's a friend," Obi-Wan quickly explained, helping to ease his cloak off her. He ignored the heated kick in his stomach, when he pulled it back on and caught the lingering scent of her skin still clinging to the rough cloth. "She was just cold," he clarified, before adding, "I was hoping to introduce her to the best food this side of Coruscant."

"Well, you've come to the right place then!" Dex said, looking Emily over with interest. "Any friend of Obi-Wan's is a friend of mine. Come on, I'll get the girls to clear you a table. It's a busy one tonight, but I could use the break."

Before Obi-Wan could object, a couple was shuffled out of one of the larger booths onto a smaller side table. Dex disappeared back into the kitchens as they settled in, the droid waitress whizzing up to their table on her uni-wheel. "We got caf, jawa juice and blueshakes. We also got photon fizzle or plasma pulse cocktails for the adults."

"Oh, I'll have a jawa juice please," Obi-Wan said, then realised that Emily probably hadn't tried any of the things on the menu.

"You should get a blueshake," Anakin said to her, from where he sat across from them on the booth, a menu in hand. "They're really good." Emily nodded her agreement.

"And two blueshakes for my companions," he added. The droid pivoted on her axis, rolling back towards the counter.

"I try to come here at least once a year," Obi-Wan said, watching Emily as she looked wide-eyed around the room. "You could say it's almost a tradition, though I'm afraid I've been a little lax in recent years. Luckily Dex is very forgiving."

"How long have you known him?" she asked.

"Oh, since I was around Anakin's age, maybe even younger. We have a habit of helping each other out of tight spots. I think Dex may have been to more planets than even I have. He only really settled down here in the last ten years or so, and set up this Diner. It's one of the most popular places to eat on Coruscant."

As if summoned at the mention of his name, Dex made his way from the kitchens back over to their table, a plate laden tray gripped in each hand. "Hope you're all hungry. Decided the best thing on the menu to try, is everything," he said, with his trademark modesty. The trays were unloaded with practiced ease, until the table was overflowing. Dex jammed himself into the seat next to Anakin, as his padawan was already making a grab for one of the nerf burgers. Sometimes he despaired of ever teaching the boy table manners.

"So," Dex said, his curiosity raising his browridge as he watched Anakin pile Emily's plate with food. "How did you meet Obi-Wan?"

"He pulled me from a burning wreck," Emily said, picking at a fried nuna-nugget. Dex went quiet, his eyes narrowing.

"What is it Dex?" Obi-Wan asked, a chill running through him.

"You're that woman that was all over the holonews today, aren't you?" he said to Emily, eyes going wide in realisation. "The one they're calling the 'Mother of Humanity' or something. Hardly been anything else talked about all afternoon."

"Wait, that can't be right," Obi-Wan said, shaking his head. "The agreement was that nothing would be released until Emily was ready, and certainly not to the Galactic holonews. We've not been notified about any of this. Do you have a holoprojector?"

"Sure," Dex said, then waved a giant hand in the air. "Harms, bring us over a table projector, would ya?"

"What else did the holonews say?"

"Oh, just stuff about it being some big discovery; well for humans anyway. Said she was a 'pure' human, without any contributions to the gene pool from scummy non-humans like us, or at least, that's how they made it sound. They'll sure be some types out there in the rich old core-worlds that'll be getting really excited about it."

Stars, it was worse than he thought possible. Harmony brought over a projector, settling the disk down on a small clearing, as Dex hit a few of its side buttons, flicking through the floating images until they got to the news channel. The clipped voice of the anchor faintly echoed up from the table.

"- clearing a path along the Ison Trade Corridor. The Nothoiin Court has not released a statement at this time. And finally, in an announcement today that has rocked the scientific and wider community, leaked reports from a reputable inside informer, has revealed that a new species of human was recently discovered, dubbed Human-Prime, who scientists believe to be from the long speculated first homeworld of Humanity. Only one surviving member of this new species, a woman who was rescued several months ago from the airship crash which partially destroyed the Ruhullitz plasma-weld factory in the Industrial sector-"

At this, the hologram changed to a clip, taken from far away, showing the burning crater of the airship wreck, where it had punched a hole through the duracrete building. This then changed to a long shot, which showed Obi-Wan carrying the limp form of Emily into the speeder, before it flickered back to the news-caster again.

"-is currently being kept in the care of the Jedi Order. This unidentified female has been called by scientists, "The Mother of Humanity", and is currently thought of as the only known genetically pure human in the Galaxy. Attempts have been made to discover the homeworld of Human-Prime, and to find others of the species, but so far there has been no further information to date. Scientists have said that this is one of the biggest discoveries ever made, dubbing the find as "The Crowning Jewel in Human History". It is hoped that more information about the woman, and her homeworld, will be revealed in the future."

Dex turned off the holoprojector, as Obi-Wan scrubbed his hands over his face with a low groan. This wasn't just bad; it was absolutely the worst possible way for this information to be released.

"What does this mean?" Emily asked. Obi-Wan didn't know where to start.

"Well," Dex replied instead, "if you ask me, they've just managed to make you about the rarest thing in the galaxy. Just be glad you're with Obi-Wan and the Jedi here, cause otherwise, you'd have every slaver, bounty hunter and collector from here to the Outer-Rim after you, and that ain't something to take lightly, trust me."

"We need to get back to the Temple," Obi-Wan said, fighting the cold grip of dread in his stomach. "It isn't safe for you out here anymore."