A/N: I know it's been a long time but here you go. :-) Thanks for your reviews and DMs, they mean a lot to me. People were asking for a meeting of Lok and Raven. I don't write Raven but we might do it at some point when my co-writer has time. People also asked about the conclusion of Eet's and Lok's last mission. Well, basically, the Jedi returned to the Temple safe and sound, gave little Marla to the creche masters, and Eeth made good on his promise to spank Lok every night – the usual. I wasn't that inspired to write it which is why I skipped forward to the present story. There's not as much spanking in it as in previous ones. Lok has matured and this is a journey of growth for him. But we'll see.

While Lok meditated on the balcony, Eeth sat at the terminal and logged into the archives, requesting access to all messages the Temple sent to Iroqa during the last thirteen years. While he was at it, he also downloaded all other information on Iroqa that the archives had to offer. He scrolled through it and thought for a while.

"Lok?" he finally called, rising and making his way to the couch. Lok emerged from the balcony a moment later.

"Did you find anything?" he asked.

"No and yes," said Eeth. "Your creche masters sent brief annual reports to your adoptive parents every year until you were six but the Temple has never received a reply. I presume it is for this reason that we stopped sending further reports. I am sorry that this line of inquiry did not yield any promising results. However, there might be another way to find out more. I went through our files on Iroqa and saw that the colony has sent repeated requests for assistance to the Republican Senate. They have asked for help against raids from the neighbouring Ortal system, which is not a member of the Republic. They have also asked for mediation to help them settle disputes about the formation of a representative government. Unlike many other Iridonian colonies, Iroqa has a high proportion of non-Zabrak settlers and there has been a lot of dissatisfaction with the Zabrak way of administering government affairs through informal networks and hierarchies. Iroqa's requests are currently being processed somewhere in the Senate administration but without leverage, the decision will probably be delayed indefinitely. I believe that, given the circumstances, the Council could be persuaded to send us to Iroqa to see if we can be of assistance – and to find out more about your family. For the latter purpose, we might consider accepting Master Omir's offer."

Lok frowned. "I'd rather not," he said. "Apart from that, it's a great idea. Do you really think it might work?"

"It might," said Eeth. "And whether our team will include Master Omir is not up to you to decide. If it were, though, you might consider being more charitable. She clearly wants to make amends. And holding grudges is rarely helpful. I advise you to lose that habit."

Lok scowled. "Doesn't she have a padawan who doesn't have mission eligibility yet?" he asked.

"She does," said Eeth, "but this is not a dangerous assignment. The Council could give her permission to take her padawan along if she were chosen to accompany us. As I said, this is not your decision to make, so do not concern yourself with it. Now, if you agree that a mission to Iroqa would be helpful, I will bring up this proposal in the Council meeting tomorrow."

"Yes, I absolutely agree with the proposal itself," said Lok. "I'm still not thrilled about your idea that we need Kat Omir to tag along. Taking another Jedi team with us, just so she can show us the way to some place on the beach, seems a bit unnecessary."

"Since Iroqa has tens of thousands of kilometres of coastline, I am not so sure about that," said Eeth. "Besides, Master Omir is very good at identifying Force signatures and finding people. Which is why she was sent on a scouting mission in the first place. If we end up having to look for a needle in a haystack, she might be a valuable addition to our team. Would a trip to Iroqa still seem worthwhile to you, even if Master Omir were to accompany us?"

Lok nodded without a second's hesitation. "Yes," he said. "I want to know. And … master? I'm sorry. I don't mean to be obnoxious about it. It's just… This is very personal. I guess I'd just feel more comfortable if it was only the two of us."

"Thank you for voicing your wishes in a polite and mature manner," said Eeth quite gently, feeling that Lok was really making progress in this area. "They will be taken into consideration. However, I cannot make any promises. Much will depend on our overall mission mandate. If it is too broad to entrust a team of two persons with it, we will take further Jedi with us, whether it be Master Omir and her padawan or someone else. But I can assure you that we will find a way of identifying your family that will exclude other persons from private moments."

"Thank you, master," said Lok, obviously resigning himself to the fact that he might not get his way here.

"Alright," said Eeth. "Go and get ready for bed, then."

Lok pulled a face. "I won't be able to sleep anyway," he said.

"Padawan, we will certainly not leave for Iroqa first thing tomorrow morning," said Eeth sternly. "We might not leave at all, or not in a long time. You need your sleep. You know I will always help you fall asleep if you need me to. Get ready for bed."

He pointed a look at Lok that was designed to make him obey. And it achieved its purpose.

Half an hour later, the boy was asleep and Eeth went to his room to file a request with the Council to put the situation on Iroqa on their agenda. Then he called Kat Omir.

"I will request a mission to Iroqa," he told her. "They have asked for Republican assistance, and I believe this would be an opportunity for Lok to find out more about his roots, which are obviously important to him. If the Council decides to send more than one team, would you be willing to come?"

"That would depend on the nature and duration of the mission," said Kat. "I would not be happy to leave my padawan behind for an extended period of time."

"The Council would not ask you to," said Eeth. "Do you feel that your padawan could be safely taken on a mission that will not involve direct action?"

"Probably," said Kat, "but there's a reason I have not recommended Takhya for mission eligibility yet. She is highly competent in many areas but tends to overestimate herself. And I'm afraid to say she has problems with the concept of obedience."

Eeth felt himself reminded of a former padawan of his. "Some people," he said, "will only learn such things from experience. And between you and me, we should be well able to take her in hand."

The edges of Kat's mouth twitched. "I have no doubt about that," she said.

Kat's and Takhya's company turned out to be the least of Lok's worries.

"Why," he demanded to know, "is the Senate sending a Falleen along? Why are they sending anyone with us, for that matter? Is babysitting a diplomat suddenly part of our mission mandate, too?"

"Why indeed?" said Kat quietly. "This is very unusual."

"It is," said Eeth woodenly. He was not letting it on, but he was at least as displeased about this development as Lok, or possibly more so.

"Are the Falleen even members of the Republic?" Takhya piped up.

"Not currently, no," said Kat. "But they change their mind every ten years or so, so I guess someone in the Senate is hoping they might rejoin if they get their way often enough."

"This might indeed be one of the reasons this person is imposed on us," said Eeth in a carefully neutral tone of voice. "But that still leaves the question why they so desperately want to be part of a mission to Iroqa in the first place."

"Look, isn't there any way to get rid of this…" Lok glanced at his datapad. "Zyle Xatrax?" he said. "Could she at least take a separate ship or something?"

"The Council tried, to no avail," said Eeth. "And I could not very well tell her that the real reason we requested this mission was to give my padawan an opportunity to look for his family, could I?"

Lok sighed.

"So, how good is everyone at dealing with the pheromones?" asked Kat conversationally.

"What are ferronomes?" asked Takhya innocently.

Lok laughed. Eeth frowned, wondering, for the first time, if it had been a good idea to take along a team that included such a junior padawan.

Kat turned a suspicious look at Takhya. "You," she said, "are poking fun at us. I'm positive they're teaching even the junior initiates about Falleen."

Takhya grinned. "Of course they do," she said. "But they didn't teach us how to actually deal with their 'ferronomes'."

Eeth raised his eyebrows, but before he could say anything, Lok piped in. "Judging from the look on my master's face," he said, "lots and lots of ferronome lessons are in our future. Because I'm not very good at dealing with them either." He and Takhya grinned at each other. Eeth felt that at least this part of the mission might be going alright, after all. As for Zyle Xatrax… it would remain to be seen. But Eeth had a bad feeling about her.

"Why are you having a bad feeling about someone you know nothing about?" asked Lakhri that night as the two of them were having a drink in Lakhri's quarters. "When I said such things, you always told me off."

Eeth thought about this.

"For a start," he said slowly, "I resent the fact that the Senate imposed her on us. It is entirely unclear for what purpose and in what role she is accompanying us, but it will definitely be hard to look for Lok's family with her on our team."

"Fair enough," said Lakhri, "and I agree that it's weird. But we both know you are resourceful enough to find a way around this. It might actually be a good thing that there are four of you and not just two. Makes it much easier to justify splitting up, and I'm sure you'll be able to manufacture a reason to do so. That said, I do wonder what Falleen is playing at."

"Or someone else who has leverage in the Senate," said Eeth. "I do not have the slightest idea what is so important about this mission that it made the chancellor send a Falleen attaché along. And this is only one of the reasons for the bad feeling I am having. Another one is the fact that she is a Falleen, of all species."

Lakhri raised his eyebrows. "You do know that there are perfectly nice Falleen," he said reasonably.

"Yes," said Eeth, stony-faced.

"Don't tell me the fact that Ragan Greyhym managed to capture you and you needed your teenage padawan to free you is still getting to you after all these years," said Lakhri shrewdly.

Eeth opened his mouth to deny it and closed it again. "It might be," he finally admitted. "But it is more than that. Their superiority complex and lack of loyalty make me very wary of them."

Lakhri chuckled. "They are hard to boss around," he said. "I can see how that would annoy you."

Eeth gave him a severe look.

Lakhri raised his hands. "Peace," he said. "But you know I'm right. At least partly. As are you. Falleen can be mightily annoying and hard to deal with. But we don't know if this is true for Zyle Xatrax. Try to keep an open mind."

Eeth sighed. "I will," he promised.

The problem was that Zyle Xatrax turned out to be just as annoying as he had feared, and then some. What was worse, she went out of her way to stay with the four Jedi the entire first day of travel. She even went to watch their workout. They had no chance to talk amongst themselves the entire day. Eeth decreed that they would turn in right after dinner because, he claimed, "the padawans need their sleep." Once they had arrived in their cabin, he told Lok, "There is no need to start complaining. I know you do not need to sleep at eight. But we do need to talk without Zyle Xatrax around."

At this moment, his terminal beeped. He was unsurprised to see that it was Kat calling him from her cabin.

"I would have come to meet you but Zyle actually keeps her door open so she can watch the corridor," she said. "She claims she's claustrophobic. As if."

"Someone assigned her to watch us," said Eeth. "This is the only explanation for her presence that I can think of at this point. The question is, who? And why?"

There was a moment's silence. Then Takhya said, "There could be a great big secret on Iroqa that none of us is supposed to find out about. Like, they have an alliance with Falleen to go to war against a planet that's a member of the Republic or something."

"But if that's true, why would Taroqa have asked the Republic for help in the first place?" asked Lok.

"No idea," admitted Takhya, looking somewhat embarrassed at having brought up such a stupid idea.

"But it's not a bad thought at all," said Kat. "There might be different factions on Iroqa that pursue different strategies and alliances, which matches what we know about their lack of a formalised political system. Or the political climate has changed since they made the request."

"Or this has nothing to do with Falleen and whoever is behind this is just using Zyle Xatrax as a pawn because Falleen owes them something or might hope for a political reward later on," said Eeth. "This would be consistent with Falleen's history of manoeuvring among the different factions inside and outside the Republic. The fact is, we lack information. And I suspect we will not gain it before we reach Iroqa."

"Where we will spend day and night being nannied by Zyle Xatrax," said Lok morosely. "I guess we'll just have to solve their political crisis and then return to Coruscant."

Eeth gave him a severe look. "If you are implying that I will allow her to keep us from the original purpose of this trip," he said, "you are very much mistaken. We want to find out more about your family and we will certainly not let Zyle Xatrax keep us from doing so. What is more, I intend to get to the bottom of this. We will not leave Iroqa until we have learned why she is with us, who sent her and what they are trying to achieve. There is a plan behind this and it could have serious consequences for the Republic."

"I agree," said Kat. "And if things become too dangerous for the two padawans, they will just have to take a trip to the seaside."

"Did any of you notice her firing her pheromones at me at every opportunity?" Lok asked abruptly. "Or am I just imagining things?"

There was another moment of silence. Then Eeth said, "You are right. She seems to be targeting you specifically. I must say you did a very good job at shielding yourself against it. Maybe she thinks that, being a teenage boy, you are the weakest link in our group?"

"Not a bad thought, from her perspective," said Kat. "Glad that it hasn't worked so far."

"Yeah, but it does require an effort," said Lok. "To be honest, it's exhausting."

"I will try to put a stop to it, then," said Eeth quietly.

The next morning, the Jedi had breakfast at six thirty, at Eeth's orders. Takhya initially looked none too happy about these orders but she changed her opinion when she discovered that Zyle Xatrax was not up yet at such an early hour. Falleen generally needed little sleep, especially the older ones – and they could get very old. But Zyle was young for a Falleen, probably around sixty and therefore roughly the same age as Eeth. However, in a Falleen, that equaled a human or Zabrak in their late twenties. She could not be very high up in the hierarchy at the Embassy, Eeth thought. And she was clearly young enough to have a certain desire to sleep in. The Jedi finished eating, cleared up after themselves and went to the hangar to do some kata practice. About ten minutes into their warm-up, Eeth could sense that Zyle was up and about. He was fairly certain that she would seek them out and he was interested to see what excuse she would find for that because officially, she was, of course, neither supervising nor tailing the Jedi. And yet, her task was clearly to do both.

True to his expectation, Zyle strode into the hangar barely five minutes later, looking stunning as usual. She was wearing a long and narrow purple skirt and a fitted tank top in the same colour, an outfit that emphasised the glow of her green, reptilian skin and the curves of her long and slender body. She tossed back her glossy black hair and stared down the Jedi with her bright blue eyes.

"Good morning," said Eeth politely, but without interrupting the flow of his kata in the least, and the other Jedi followed his lead. This clearly did not satisfy Zyle.

"I thought," she said pointedly, "we should discuss our mission."

"As you can see, we are busy right now," said Kat. "Takhya, repeat that move. Your stance was wrong. Look how Lok is doing it."

"We may schedule a meeting after lunch," Eeth informed Zyle, still in a very polite tone of voice, as he momentarily stopped in order to allow Takhya to repeat the move.

"I want to have it now, not after lunch," said Zyle.

All of the Jedi stopped moving. Lok, Kat and Takhya simultaneously turned and looked at Eeth. Eeth turned, too, to look straight at Zyle. He knew that this was the point at which he had to draw a line. The Falleen was trying to walk all over them and he could not allow that.

"I have been asked by the Jedi High Council, of which I am a member, to conduct this mission and lead this mission team," he informed Zyle, his voice expressionless. "While the Republican Senate has informed me that you will accompany us, I am not aware that you have been put in charge of us. As such, I will gladly take your wishes into consideration but I will not take orders from you. Nor will I discuss this mission with you before I have learned your exact function and purpose during this trip. If you are ready to tell us more about those, we may have a meeting after lunch. Not now."

Zyle made to speak but Eeth raised his hand, stopping her. "One more thing," he said. "I really have to ask you to stop exuding your pheromones. We know that you are doing it and it does not work on us. It is fairly irritating, though, and if you really wish us to carry out this mission together, you might want to refrain from annoying us. Now excuse us. We are busy teaching our padawans."

With this, he turned his back on her. He could see that Lok was trying very hard, and not entirely successfully, to hide a grin. Kat's face was impassive, but Takhya's jaw was practically dropping to the floor.

"Your stance," Eeth said to Takhya, nudging her right foot with his own until it was positioned correctly. Behind himself, he could hear Zyle silently leave. Good, he thought.

"Wow," said Lok in a low voice. "I didn't think you could get this… confrontational."

"Nor did I," said Kat. "It wasn't very… diplomatic?"

"No, it was not," said Eeth. "I would have preferred a more polite approach but we tried that yesterday for a full day and it did not work. With a certain type of Falleen, it never does. They are too convinced of their own superiority."

"Alright, so what do we do now?" asked Lok.

"We continue our workout," said Eeth.

Lok rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm as happy to have a workout as anyone," he said, "but it's still early in the day and it seems we are rid of her, for the moment. Could be a good time to discuss things we don't want her to be privy to, no?"

"I like that idea," said Kat.

"Yeah," said Takhya enthusiastically, "and then, after lunch, we could bore the pants… umm, skirt, off her by going through economic data or something."

Lok had to laugh at that.

Eeth paused for a moment. "Alright," he finally said. "This sounds like the best option we currently have. But we will have to keep moving and make some workout-related noise, else she might become suspicious. She is not far."

It ended up being the most unusual mission preparation routine that Eeth could remember ever having been part of. It might even have been "fun" although he would never have professed as much.

For the next three days, the Jedi kept discussing the important things in the mornings while running through katas or sparring at a moderate pace. This did not mean that those meetings were all about entertainment, of course. Eeth insisted that every member of the team learn all the details of the current government of Iroqa, which was difficult because it was all very informal and most of the strings were pulled by members of the two oldest Iridonian families in the colony, the Kaath and the Takar.

"There's an endless number of Kaaths and Takars," complained Takhya, "and they all have like six names they share among each other. It's impossible to remember!"

"It is not," said Eeth coolly. "It is merely difficult, and is no excuse for not making an effort." He stopped in his kata and used his comlink to project a holograph of two Zabrak who looked to be in their late forties, one of them male, black-haired and extremely dark-skinned and one of them female, light-skinned and dark blonde. "Tell me their names," he ordered Takhya.

"Uh," said Takhya. "Kol… Takar and Triz… Kaath?"

"No, it's the other way round," Lok said quickly in a transparent attempt to distract Eeth from turning his wrath on Takhya. "The Kaaths are the dark ones and the Takars are the fair ones. Anyway, before you complain too loudly, be glad none of them is called Atqaf-Twawfaqqahh-y-awn-P'tarawnahh. And, no, I didn't make this up. He was the head of the Balawnaq delegation at a conference I attended with my former master and I spent just about half the trip memorising his name and practising the correct pronunciation. That was two years ago and I still know what he was called. Having someone called Triz Takar to deal with should be the least of our worries."

"Unless you mix her up with Triz Kaath," said Eeth pointedly. It was clear from their files that the relationship between the Kaath and the Takar was one of rivalry, rather than cooperation, and each family's fear of being sidelined by their rivals had been the main impediment to the implementation of a representative government so far.

"We won't," said Lok. "It's easy enough to tell them apart, anyway. It's weird that all members of either of these clans look so similar to each other and so different from the other one."

"Apparently," Kat said, "intermarriage is the norm within the Kaath and Takar families. Very occasionally, some of their less high-profile members marry outside the clan to prevent excessive inbreeding, but when they do, they look for mates that match their family's complexion. I was told that in all the known history of the colony, never has a Takar married a Kaath."

"There must be a story behind that," said Eeth, "because this kind of aversion between families is not in line with Iridonian customs at all. Iridonians encourage rivalry between individuals, not families. But then, Iroqa is a fairly old colony, with one thousand six hundred years of history to look back on. A lot of time for it to take a different route than Iridonia."

"Yes, but given all that, it's weird how uber Iridonian they try to be," said Lok. "I mean, look at their tattoos!"

Eeth switched the holo projection to one that showed a group of six Zabrak, three Kaaths and three Takars – the members of the current informal governing body. They were among the most heavily-tattooed Zabrak he had ever seen. They also wore warrior outfits of leather and each of them carried a ceremonial spear.

"It looks as if, no matter the outcome of this mission, you will get your wish of finding out more about Zabrak culture, padawan," he told Lok, his voice tinged with slight amusement.

"I have always thought Iroqa's nobility looks like they're starring in a tacky Coruscant movie about noble savage Zabrak natives," said Kat.

Takhya chuckled. "But why?" she asked.

"It happens with a certain type of colonists," said Kat. "They have a nostalgic idea of what their homeworld used to be like. These people clearly want to be more-Zabrak-than-thou. Now remind me again what the governors are called."

Takhya groaned.

"Do as your master told you," said Eeth severely. "Preferably without complaints."

Takhya looked as if she had to make an effort to swallow another groan, but she did. "Kol Kaath and Triz Takar," she said, this time getting the names right, "are apparently the most important representatives of the colony. The others are Triz Kaath, Lok Takar, Srok Kaath, and Kartha Takar."

"Good," said Eeth.

They had regular meetings after lunch, too. They used those to "bore the skirt of Zyle" to the best of their abilities, and judging from Zyle's mood, which was going from bad to worse, they were successful. Even Eeth had to admit that this gave him a certain sense of satisfaction, as un-Jedilike as it was. Still, Zyle's presence made the trip a tedious experience and all four Jedi were glad when the starship left hyperspace on the morning of their fifth day of travel.

"It's so… red," Lok said in wonder as he caught the first glimpse of the planet. It was true. The oceans were mostly red, due to the makeup of the local maritime fauna, and the two continents were largely reddish, too. Red sand, red hills, red mountains, with the occasional patch of green. These areas of vegetation were concentrated at the westernmost edge of the central mountain range, where it rained frequently, and along the three big rivers. Apart from that, there were only a handful of oases, some of which had grown to become cities. The largest of them was the capital city, Iroqa-Tira, on the continent of Ikto. This was also the continent where the majority of settlers lived and on which Lok had been found. As they entered an orbit around Iroqa, Ikto slowly came into full view and Eeth felt, once more, that it had been a good idea to take Kat Omir and her padawan because it did have a lot of coast line.

Sensing Lok's agitation, Eeth reached back and briefly rested a hand on his padawan's knee, his eyes never leaving the navigation screen. Lok grabbed the hand briefly, obviously grateful for the comfort. They benefited from the fact that there was no space for Zyle in the cockpit and she was waiting in her cabin for the landing, much to her obvious discontent. While Eeth took them downwards through the atmosphere to Iroqa-Tira's main spaceport, Kat took charge of obtaining clearance. And then, the ship touched down, the ramp lowered, the hatch opened, the four Jedi and Zyl were hit by a gust of hot desert air and Lok took the first breath of the air of his home world that he could remember.