Kyle landed the Raven's Claw just inside the opening of the canyon. It had tall, curved walls with thousands of layers of dirt in varying shades of red, orange, and brown. Nearby stood a lone sandstone hut, typical of the types of houses built out in the Tatooine desert. Jaden had read that the dome roofed huts were actually built as the entrance and led underground into the real living space.

Cooler underground instead of burning up above. Smart.

They'd seen more of them surrounding the outside of the canyon. While Kyle went to the lone hut inside the canyon entrance, Jaden sat atop the Raven's Claw, binoculars in hand, watching for Rosh's arrival to make sure he knew where he was headed. The X-wing he'd been lent from the Academy appeared shortly and he landed almost expertly close to the Raven's Claw. Jaden jumped down from the roof of the ship and hollered, "Kyle, Rosh is here!"

Rosh hopped out of the cockpit with a rehearsed swagger, the wind catching his short dark locks and hurried over to her and Kyle. He looks cool, I'll give him that, Jaden thought. "Hey, how was it?" She said aloud, pointing to the X-wing.

Rosh waved his hand dismissively. "Aww it was nothing! Especially for my first flight in a real ship on my own."

"You've never piloted a ship before? I thought you'd been training in the hangar this whole time?"

"Well," Rosh shrugged. "I've driven plenty of speeders before I came to the Academy and I got to pilot a Y-wing one time a few days ago, but that was while I was still in the planet's atmosphere. I've apparently been doing so well that I finally got the go ahead from Officer Nuss to take an X-Wing out. And perfect timing too, seeing as how Kyle needed me to come help today."

"That's pretty impressive. Kyle's been showing me the controls on the Claw, I've piloted a few speeders too but never a ship. I'm gonna have to learn quickly though if I want to pilot a ship for my own missions soon." Jaden put her hands in her pockets, it felt good to catch up with Rosh, because even though they had the same master, they trained so much when they were together that they hardly seemed to have a moment to really talk, even in the dining hall they were usually just waking up or too tired from training to do anything but eat or make the occasional comment when their fellow new students talked or asked a question. Come to think of it, their conversation on the Academy's rooftop that first night had been their longest. The memory of it made her feel warmer, amplifying the planet's twin suns heat beating down on her.

She suddenly looked away from Rosh in the direction of the Claw. Where was Kyle?

"Well, maybe not too soon, I don't wanna get ahead of myself," she added hastily, wiping away the sweat that beaded on her brow. "Do you have enough water with you?"

Rosh scratched the back of his neck. "I think so, Master Tionne gave me a bottle before I left, hold on, it's in my X-wing." He ran back to get it.

Kyle sauntered back up into the heat, "No one's home," he said. "No Jawas either. Never around when you need them." Rosh returned with his bottle of water. "Ah, Rosh, glad you're here, it'll make this search a lot easier. Good to see that you got here in one piece."

"It was no problem," Rosh said easily. Kyle bent down to examine something he noticed in the dirt.

"Tracks… maybe they've already come and gone." He straightened up and looked at both his students. "Follow these tracks through the canyon and see if you can find their sandcrawler; they might have stopped further in. I'll talk to the moisture farmers around the area, see if they know anything about this cult."

Jaden looked sideways at Rosh then back to Kyle. "All right," she said, not sounding particularly confident.

"Don't worry. Jawas are pretty friendly," Kyle chuckled. "You kids have fun, this'll be a great way to build teamwork." Without another word, he turned and headed towards the exit of the canyon. Rosh glanced at Jaden, Jaden glanced at Rosh.

"So, I," Rosh's voice lacked the casual confidence from earlier. "I guess we just… go that way until we find the sandcrawler? Not that hard, right?"

"I guess so." Jaden lifted her shoulders. Seemed easy enough, but Kyle had given them no other instructions, no advice on what to do if… if what? He was basically throwing them off a metaphorical cliff to see if they'd fly without his help. Seemed reckless, but then again, nothing about Kyle was like the other masters, he'd already shown himself as unorthodox. Not necessarily unprofessional, just… different.

Jaden started walking forward, the tracks stretching out in front of her as far as she could see until they disappeared around the corner where the canyon curved.

"You coming?" She turned back. Rosh looked as confused as she felt, then picked up the pace and came jogging after her, a smile spreading across his face.

"We've got this, just like our first day! Rosh and Jaden, against the world!" They both chuckled.

"More like Rosh and Jaden against the blistering heat," she commented. More laughter.

Rosh added, "Or, Rosh and Jaden against a Dark Jedi and two stormtroopers!"

Jaden sobered a bit. "Well, that was more like 'just Jaden' against all that."

"True," Rosh muttered quietly. "You know I am sorry about that, I was looking for help, honest! I'd found a way around the clearing and I… I was just doing what I thought…"

"What you thought was right?" Jaden said quietly. "I'm sorry for holding a grudge, I had just wished I didn't have to face it all by myself but… I mean, even though you had your blaster, there wasn't much you could've done when that cultist jumped down from the tree."

"I could've used the Force to help you, instead I ran away. I… I was… kinda scared, you know?"

"Me too." Jaden stopped a moment and looked Rosh in the eye. "Still friends?" She extended her hand.

He smiled, took her hand and shook it. "Still friends."

"And training buddies?" She tilted her head, smirking playfully.

"And training buddies… When I'm not trying to kill you," he said. They both laughed. "And don't worry," he added as they trekked along. "I promise to never try anything that stupid ever again."

"Which part? Leaving me to find help or sicking a training droid on me?"

"Both. Not ever. If that helps paint a picture for you. Oh, last one I promise, Rosh and Jaden against the dark side!"

"Rosh and Jaden against the dark side!" She agreed and they continued on in relative ease, taking sips from their water bottles, that feeling of being lifelong friends returning, even though they'd first met over a week ago. As they went, Jaden caught Rosh up on what happened in Mos Eisley.

"You got to see the Millennium Falcon and meet Han Solo? Wow." Rosh shook his head. "Talk about lucky! What were they doing there anyway?"

"Kyle said that Han and Chewie were on an assignment for Senator Organa. They were sent to investigate some unknown organization that's been contacting various mercenary groups, but she had no idea that it was a cult, and a Sith one at that!"

"Wow," Rosh said again, "I'm just glad we're all on the same page. By the way, you mentioned getting to work with the Senator's son? How was it?"

"Well, considering he's nine -and a quarter- I'd say it went relatively well. I didn't put him into a dangerous situation that would cause him bodily harm so I'd say that it was a roaring success for my first time babysitting!"

Rosh laughed. "Wish I could've seen that!"

"He kinda reminded me of you actually." Jaden cut her gaze at him.

"Really? What part? Cute and intelligent?"

"More like energetic and a bit reckless," she said playfully. "...And pretty tech smart… and a little bit cute," she added. Rosh ran his hand through his short raven hair, looking away to try and hide the fact that his already ruddy cheeks were coloring even more.

After about twenty minutes of walking, they came to a fork in the path of the canyon. Looking down on the ground, they realized they hadn't been checking the tracks regularly and apparently they'd been trampled over by footprints, several of them, in the past day and a half.

"Let's check the right hand path first," Jaden said.

"Shouldn't we split up and save time? Isn't that what we're supposed to do?" Rosh asked. But neither of them wanted to admit they didn't want to go alone.

"Let's stay together," Jaden answered for them, and they picked up the pace. They didn't have to run far, because not thirty yards down the path, they were met by a tall stone wall blocking their path.

"Can't go that way," Jaden said. "C'mon, we've gotta make up for lost time!" Tapping into their reserves of Force Power, they sped back, retracing their steps and continuing up the left hand path.

A short time later the canyon opened up a bit more and they started noticing homes and other domiciled structures built into the cliff sides above them and on ground level.

"Hey, let's stop and see if anyone's home," Rosh suggested and they approached the nearest doorway in the side of the canyon wall.

Jaden knocked. "Hello! Anyone there?" Then she saw that the door was cracked open slightly. She looked at Rosh and jerked her head at the door. He nodded, lightsaber at the ready. Jaden quickly slid the door open and entered the room, looking around, Rosh at her heels. No one could be found. Now that she was inside, she realized this place was more a cave than a house. The "room" they were in just extended backwards into a narrow passage and seemingly onward. Junk and boxes were scattered around them on the sandy floor.

"Hello?" She called softly. "Is anyone here? Are you hurt?" They carefully stepped around broken droid parts. What are these doing here?

"Hello?" She called as they walked further into the cave, large rocks with stalagmite and stalactite formations surrounding them.

"We're here to hel-" Out of nowhere someone with a large staff swung at Jaden's face. With a scream, her lightsaber came up and severed it in two. Behind her, Rosh's saber lit up the assailant in a golden yellow hue.

"Tusken Raiders!" He yelled, swinging his saber and slicing the Raider's arm off before stabbing it in the abdomen. "C'mon we have to go!" Together they ran through the cavern, passing more crates, droid parts and random weapons. They were met by more Sand People, armed with gaffi sticks, but they weren't caught off guard this time. They had dispatched about a half dozen before they came to their first door in the strange cave home. It only opened into a small, enclosed space, maybe a storage room? A crack ran horizontally along the wall, too thin to fit through but wide enough to see daylight and the environment outside. There were more droid parts. Jaden bent down to examine a R series droid.

"You're not an R5 unit though," she muttered, then glanced up at the crack. "Can't go that way either."

"I found where the Jawas are at least," Rosh said, pointing through the crack. Sure enough, the hulking square figure of the Jawa sandcrawler sat stationary not far from wherever they now were.

"We just have to find a way out of here." Jaden left the room with Rosh right on her tail as they hurried through the cave. "What do you think happened here?" She asked.

"Looks like the Sand People took over, and it seems like they've been here a while. They might have stopped the sandcrawler and that's why it's not moving. I mean, I didn't see any Jawas around it."

"You're probably right. This is really bad! And if the droid we're looking for is still on that thing, it's only a matter of time before the Tusken Raiders find it and…"

They ran faster. A door stood up ahead, wide open, and the war cries of the Sand People reached their ears. Sabers ready in defensive positions, they leapt out into the open, surprising their would be attackers. Jaden took the two that stood to their left, Rosh handled the ones on the right. The first one Jaden went for was holding a long rifle at close range. She ducked, slashing its legs, then was up and finishing off the second one when she suddenly heard Rosh.

"Jaden! Look out!" Something hard connected with the back of her knees and she fell hard, rolling onto her back, blinking as a dark shadow blocked out the suns above her. The monstrous Tusken Raider lifted its gaffi stick above its head in celebration, roaring at the top of its lungs before delivering the killing blow. But it never came. A bright yellow blade burst through the Tusken's chest, and for one frightening moment, the Raider gasped, dropping its weapon and clutching at its chest, its horrible hands getting caught in Rosh's lightsaber blade, severing fingers and parts of its hands. Then, it fell as its killer shoved it to the side, landing hard on the course, dry ground.

Jaden was now looking into Rosh's face, it was twisted and distorted with something she could only describe as unchecked rage and aggression, almost animallike. And it scared her. She shrank back.

His face slowly softened back to his calm self. He reached out his hand as he put his saber away, "Jaden, it's okay, I got him. He's dead."

Jaden took a slow, steadying breath. Had she really just seen what she thought she saw -no, knew she had seen- pass across her friend's face? I did see it. That unbridled anger…

She slowly lifted her hand and took his, allowing him to help her up. Back on her feet, she hoped she wouldn't start shaking, hoped Rosh wouldn't notice how scared she was. But he'd already started walking towards the sandcrawler. They were in a box canyon. There were no signs of Sand People lurking around that they could see, so they set their sights on finding a way into the crawler itself. Walking around the far side of it, they saw that the large rear door was open, forming a ramp to walk up, but the doors on the bottom level were all locked. They looked up to a higher level that had no visible way of getting up except through the locked door.

"I wonder if we can get up there," Rosh said. He looked up to see a crane holding an old landspeeder several feet above them. He got an idea.

"Jaden, see that small landspeeder up there? Help me lower it and we'll use it to ride up to the higher level."

They stood side by side, with Jaden putting some space between herself and Rosh. If he noticed it, he didn't show it, and together they called on all the Force they could muster and focused on pulling the speeder on its pulley system down from the top of the sandcrawler. It came down to hover a few feet from the ground. Rosh hurried to it and gestured for Jaden to step into his cupped hands. She almost didn't want to, she felt an aversion just being near him after what she'd witnessed. Just shake it off, you have to work together to complete this mission! Stop treating him like he's diseased, it's not like he's gonna turn rabid on you! She put her boot into his hands and jumped onto the hood of the speeder, then pulled him up after. They then used the Force to make it lift back up until they were even with the upper level of the sandcrawler. It wasn't a far jump for them to make and they were soon searching for a door that would lead them deeper into the crawler.

"Is there any way we can check the computers for records to see if these are even the right Jawas?" Jaden asked, checking some of the control panels.

"Not really, I've heard that Jawas keep sketchy records at best, none if worst. We're just going to have to find one of the cargo rooms," Rosh replied. "Let's try this lift here."

Thankfully, the lift wasn't locked and led to another higher level, with a catwalk leading to a door that would hopefully take them inside. It did, and they rushed down a passage and into the sandcrawler's belly. They found no living Jawas, only their bodies, confirming Rosh's earlier suspicions. Another lift took them down a level and into what Rosh had described as the Jawas' "cargo room." It was chalk full of crates and pieces of droids.

"How many droids do these Jawas have?" Jaden said in amazement, her mouth on the floor.

"If they didn't sell droids I'd have said they were hoarders," Rosh commented and stepped further into the room. A roar like cry sounded from the side and the two young Jedi instantly stood back to back, sabers out. The Sand People were coming in at both sides and the two found themselves swinging wildly and trying not to get hit with the gaffi sticks. It was all heat and adrenaline and sweat and then… at least a half dozen, give or take of the Tusken Raiders lay dead all around them. Jaden and Rosh simultaneously leaned back against each other and sagged to the floor, panting. Jaden could feel the heat radiating off Rosh's back and was glad she hadn't seen his face throughout the whole ordeal.

Rosh could feel the cold fear coming from Jaden's side but thought it was because of what just transpired. They sat like this in cold silence, the stuffy air of the inside of the sandcrawler seeking to suffocate them with the scent of body odor, filth and death.

Finally, they stood shakily and stepped over the bodies, quietly searching the dimly lit hull. Jaden stepped around a large black box and spotted a red and white R5 unit. She nearly cried out with mad joy. Wiping sweat from her brow, she kneeled down in front of it; the poor droid must have been through a lot, because it backed away, beeping quietly. It must have been hiding from the Sand People…

"Hi there, don't be afraid. I'm a Jedi- err, Jedi student. You must be the droid we were sent for. My friend and I are going to get you out." She waved Rosh over. "It doesn't look like there's any Jawas left to negotiate with," she said to him and shrugged, turning back to the droid. "Well, I guess you'd better just follow us."

The R5 beeped cheerfully and then rattled off some more beeps and sounds.

"Or we can just… follow you. Okay." Jaden stood up and she and Rosh followed it to a small door across the way, where it tapped into the locking mechanism. The door opened and the droid shocked them by going through it and dropping down.

The Jedi students hurried to the open doorway and looked down, the droid sat several feet below, safe and sound on the sand. It bleeped up at them to follow, that it was perfectly safe; Rosh and Jaden exchanged a glance.

"Ladies first." Rosh gestured. Jaden rolled her eyes and leapt through the opening, clearing out of the way before Rosh landed soon after.

"Great, now let's get this droid back to Kyle." They made their way back towards the path they had been taking before going through the cave. As they went along, the R5 unit started alerting them to lifeforms it was sensing.

"Where are they at?" Rosh questioned. The R5 didn't know exactly, but they seemed to be high up. "Snipers," Rosh murmured, glancing at the ridge, he saw a flash of something metal. His blaster was out in a second and they were ducking for cover, trying to keep the droid safe. Rosh managed to shoot the sniper on the ridge and then they were being rained on by blasts from the others. By this time they were near the doorway into the caves.

"Hold them off, I'll be right back!" Jaden yelled and rushed inside, the droid close behind. She came out a minute later with an old, but working rifle on her shoulder. In no time they'd finished off the Tusken snipers and were booking it as fast they could back to the start of the canyon.

"I was starting to get worried, any problems?" Kyle asked when they returned, tired and thirsty, to the Raven's Claw. Both their water bottles were spent and they took turns gulping from Kyle's.

Jaden let out a forced laugh. "Not unless you count the Sand People we ran into."

Kyle grinned mysteriously. "Well! You're both still in one piece, so you must have handled yourselves all right."

"And you? You said you'd check with the moisture farmers?" Rosh said, swallowing the lukewarm water as though it was the freshest, coldest in the galaxy.

"None of them would talk, and most seemed awfully scared. But I wasn't too concerned about the both of you succeeding."

"Well, it wasn't an easy assignment after all. Turns out a lot of people who lived in that canyon have either been turned out of their homes or murdered by the Sand People." Jaden narrowed her eyes at him. "Did you know we'd face that kind of trouble?"

There was that smile again, then a sober look crossed Kyle's face. "No, I honestly thought it would be easier for the two of you." He crossed his arms over his chest and his voice grew more serious. "Look, I'm supposed to train you, to prepare you for anything so that when I'm not with you, you can handle yourselves and solve problems on your own." He sighed. "I'm sorry that I threw you both in the deep end today, but I'm not sorry that you two learned to grow and work as a team. That's what's important, relying on each other. And did you learn to work as a team and make hard choices?"

"He's got us there." Jaden looked at Rosh who looked like he was either about to cry or punch Kyle in the face. Or both.

"Yeah," Rosh muttered, then more loudly, "We did work as a team." The teens smiled wearily at each other.

Yeah, we made a pretty great team, Jaden thought.

Kyle unfolded his arms. "Good. Now let's get this droid back to the Academy."

They went their separate ways, Rosh to the borrowed X-wing, Jaden and Kyle to the Raven's Claw. The R5 unit, who was really glad and expressed its relief at leaving the desert planet hopefully for good, was loaded into the droid compartment. As they exited the planet's atmosphere, the image of Rosh's face, twisted with anger, flashed before Jaden's mind. She couldn't forget it, that mental picture. It made Rosh look like a monster and it scared her. She hoped she would never see her friend like that ever again.

"Kyle told me about what happened in Mos Eisley. It's a good thing Chewie was there, but you did well regardless. Thank you for also looking out for my nephew," Luke said. "I'm sure my sister slept better knowing he wasn't hurt."

"No problem!" Jaden smiled, clasping and unclasping her hands behind her back. She was trying hard to stand still with her back straight, to look professional.

Luke and Kyle addressed her and Rosh in one of the Academy's conference rooms. They had been used previously during the Rebellion as war rooms or to debrief missions. Which, come to think of it, Jaden thought it poetic that they were still being used in more or less the same capacity.

"It looks like this cult and the Imperials may be working together more closely than we thought…" Luke mused, then shook his head lightly and smiled. "I need to commend you both for a job well done recovering the droid in the canyons. It's too bad about the Jawas, but I'm proud of both of you for working together and protecting each other. Kyle tells me you did it all by yourselves and worked as a team. Well done, well done."

It was Rosh's turn to say, "No problem!"

Luke turned to the side and gestured to a nearby console. "There's something I want you two to hear. Artoo has scoured the R5's memory banks to see what information it has and found the moisture farmer's recording." He pressed a button on the console and a faded, scratchy image of a table at a cantina with three men sitting at it appeared. Kyle crossed his arms. "We couldn't get Artoo to clear the image that much, R5 units aren't known for their quality hologram imaging but we did get slightly better audio."

The lights in the room dimmed as the hologram's image started to move a bit as the figures did and the sound kicked in as one of the men ended a sentence he was saying, an indication that the farmer had just hit the record button.

"-telling you, that Twi'lek's crazy but she assured me the pay's good, alright?"

"I don't know Marc, the Remnant's one thing, but Sith? And a group of them? Sounds like a cult if ever I've heard one. I've heard the Sith are like sorcerers, but worse."

"Keep your voice down, why don't you? As long as we do our job right, there's no need to worry a bit about them, sorcerers or no. What about you, Girgis?"

"Eh, I go where the credits take me, and if this job is as lucrative as you're saying it is, then I'm in."

"Good, and you Cal?"

"Fine. If you're both in, then I'll go too."

The image suddenly faded and the lights came back up.

"Well, it's not much, but it's at least something," Kyle said.

"I wonder who that Twi'lek they're talking about is?" Jaden wondered out loud.

"No clue, but it's a lead," answered Kyle.

"We believe she might be someone important in the cult, not the leader, but someone who the leader trusts," Luke said. "What do you think, Rosh?" He asked, turning in the young man's direction. Rosh held a hand to his chin as if thinking, or hoping to look like he was deep in thought.

"Hmm, not sure yet," he mused. "But I agree with you, she's definitely gotta be someone important. Thank you for trusting us to show us this."

"Of course." Luke turned back to face Kyle and Jaden. "In the meantime, I want you all to keep your eyes and ears open for anything else regarding this cult and the Twi'lek that the smugglers mentioned; including anything to do with the smugglers themselves now that we know what they look like and what their names are."

"Of course, Master," Jaden said and they were both dismissed.

That night after dinner, Rosh passed by Jaden in the crowd of students heading back up to their dorms, and whispered, "Meet me on the roof in three hours." And then moved on without any further explanation.

Once Jaden made it to her room she realized how late it was and that he meant for them to meet at midnight. She felt her stomach churning as she laid down, thinking back on the events of the day. So much had happened, Mos Eisley, the canyons, Rosh… The memory of his eyes as he killed the Sand People still burned into her mind. She was almost afraid to meet him alone, especially so late that she considered not joining him, or perhaps bringing her blaster or lightsaber, just in case.

C'mon Jaden, you're being ridiculous!

"Are you? Do you know what kind of power one's anger is capable of?"

She shot straight up and looked around, the dark, mechanical voice was so deep and clear it was like it spoke right into her ear. She trembled at the nagging, faded memory from the Massassi Temple and looked at her chronometer. She now had thirty minutes. How long was I laying here thinking? Did I doze off?

She got up without taking her saber, and went out to meet Rosh on the roof.

Without running into anyone, Jaden was able to climb to the roof and lift the trapdoor with no issue. Rosh was waiting, sitting near the edge some distance from the front of the trapdoor, holding a carton of something in one hand and a small object she couldn't see clearly enough in the other. It looked made of metal by the way it reflected the moonlight.

"Hey," Jaden said softly once she'd pulled herself up through the hole and started towards him. He startled slightly and pocketed the object quickly.

"Hey," he replied, then held up the carton which was open at the top. "Want some Mantell Mix? I swiped some from the dining hall."

"Sure, I love that stuff, used to get it as a treat on my birthdays." She sat next to him, not too close, but close enough to reach over and grab a handful of the salty, crunchy snack, popping several pieces into her mouth. "Thanks. So why did you ask me to meet you up here?"

"I wanted to… apologize for today."

"About?"

"I know I scared you, I could see it on your face after we fought that tough group of Tusken Raiders," he said, slightly ashamed. Jaden couldn't think of what to say. "Don't deny it either."

"I won't, it's okay. I don't think you're dangerous to me or anyone else." Don't you Jaden?

"Well, I could still sense it, your fear and I'm sorry. I'll try to control my emotions next time. It's just it was my first time actually fighting real enemies, I was…"

"Afraid?" Jaden offered.

"A little, I was full of adrenaline and didn't know what to do with it, I felt angry and took it out on them." He sighed.

"Have you talked to Kyle about it?" She suggested gently.

"I know I need to. I will, soon, I just… I wanna have a little time to sort things out myself first, okay? Promise you won't tell?"

Jaden didn't like this agreement, but she did it anyway. It wasn't her place to go telling on him to their master; they'd already had a shaky start to begin with, she didn't want to put a wedge in their friendship now. But she couldn't help but wonder if that decision was truly the right one to make after all.

Rosh smiled wearily and switched the subject. "Hey so I have something for you!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the shiny thing from earlier. Now that she was closer she could see it was a round piece of metal with a hole in the middle like a washer, but bigger, maybe three inches in diameter.

He might have made it out of a large washer, she realized. It was polished smooth and silvery in the moonlight. As Rosh handed it to her she realized it was attached to a leather cord. Engraved in Aurebesh letters around its circumference were the words: "Rosh and Jaden against the dark side!"

Jaden looked up at Rosh and felt her heart soften at the pleased boyish look on his face. He averted his gaze as he reached up to rub the back of his neck, his cheeks coloring bashfully.

"I… made it for you this afternoon down in the Academy's workshop." His rich brown eyes met hers.

Jaden's heartbeat quickened and she looked away, her fingers closing around the pendant. "Thanks Rosh, I really like it."

"I hoped you would."

Jaden swallowed, shoving down feelings that were springing up. Feelings that felt foreign and she wasn't sure she entirely trusted. Rosh is my teammate. We have the same master and that's it. We're friends. Just friends…

But as she made her way back down to her room a while later, she couldn't shake the thought that she was just lying to herself.

For a few days, Jaden felt like she was able to relax a bit and sort out some of her feelings surrounding Rosh and their run-ins with the Sand People. As well the other feelings that were cropping up. She'd thought about telling Kyle some of her concerns but felt that was overstepping her bounds. Besides, Kyle was Rosh's master, not her. And she'd made a promise, though it was getting harder to keep. She wasn't even sure if Rosh had even told Kyle, and she didn't want to push him by asking if he had, that felt like she was intruding more than she already had at this point. And Maybe Kyle already knew, he could sense stuff she didn't know was there; or perhaps Rosh had actually spoken with him about the mission…

Or perhaps not. Rosh didn't seem the type to want to talk about issues that involved himself, it made him uncomfortable. Talking about things he was great at, that was a subject he was more than comfortable discussing.

She walked past the common room early one afternoon, where most students gathered in their free time to study or hangout. She spotted Rosh standing near a table talking with Jas, who was seated. The room was empty for the most part with only a few of the other tables occupied.

"So how's your training going? I've been sent on a few errands, nothing exciting." Rosh didn't sound like he was in the best of moods given his crossed arms and jaded tone.

"Same here. I guess that's just how the training works," replied Jas, ever the optimist.

"Huh, I thought it was just me." Rosh looked up as Jaden approached but continued to address his fellow student. "Ever wonder if your master is holding you back? Y'know, making sure you don't become too powerful?"

Jas' brow furrowed. "Why would you say that?"

"Well… Kyle doesn't seem to really foster my talents. I've gone on a couple of missions with him, but he doesn't let me do any of the really important stuff." Rosh huffed like an annoyed child.

Jaden felt confused, she'd only gone on one mission with him to date and what they'd done seemed pretty important. Even Luke let them both listen in on the R5's recording. But then again, he'd gone with just Kyle more times so maybe he had a point? Or maybe he's just venting to get it out of his system. After all, his behavior seems pretty cavil for the most part.

"Hmm, maybe he's observing you, ya know, seeing how you accomplish your missions. I wouldn't worry about it," Jas said.

Rosh dropped his arms to his sides and stepped over to an empty chair near Jaden, resting his hands on the back of it, he leaned forward a bit. "I'm not so sure," he said, then glanced at her. "What do you think Jaden?"

"Well, I…" She began, a bit caught off guard. She wasn't expecting to get called out about such a subject. Various answers ran through her mind, all of them in positive favor of Kyle. He'd done a great job with her training. But all that was just her opinion on her experience, right? She had no clue Rosh thought this about his training. Thankfully, she didn't get to open that can of kouhuns further because Kyle entered the common room a second later.

"Ready to get back out there?" He said cheerfully as he approached, then stopped, clearly noticing the strange expressions on his students' faces; slightly guilt ridden, the same look he'd had on his own face as a child when he had his hand caught in the treat jar. "Did I interrupt something?"

Jaden and Rosh shared a quick glance and then looked back at Kyle.

"No, not at all," Rosh answered for them, dropping all hints to his previously cavil behavior. "Well I'm ready, let's go!"

"Well slow down a minute," Kyle grinned, holding up a hand. "I've gotta fill ya in first. Jas, do you mind giving us this space?"

"Of course not, I need to check in with my master soon anyhow." He stood and left the room. Kyle, Rosh and Jaden each pulled up a chair around the table.

"Alright here's what I got. Rosh, you and I have to get to Naboo to help settle a small political dispute there, - believe me, no one dislikes putting their hands in anything remotely resembling politics as much as I do - so this should be an in and out operation. We leave within the hour." Jaden couldn't help but notice that Rosh seemed a tad disappointed at this latest news and saw his cheeks heat at the memory of his words just a moment ago.

"Jaden," Kyle snapped her back to attention. "You'll head to Bakura first thing in the morning."

"Bakura?"

"Officials from the planet have requested our assistance. They tell us that an unknown party has taken control of a power station up in the mountains. They've sent a team of their own to investigate, but they haven't reported in. Their concerns are two-fold: they want to stop whoever has taken over the station, and more importantly ensure that the station itself remains undamaged."

"Why is that?" Jaden asked, leaning forward, noticing that Rosh did the same.

"The station is built over a dormant volcano, and if the facility is destroyed, the volcano could destroy a heavily populated city."

"Oh," Jaden and Rosh said in unison without meaning to.

"The Bakurans' need someone to infiltrate the facility and thwart the group's plan. So, Jaden, what I need you to do is head there in the morning and wait for me once you get there so we can investigate the station together."

"Would it be okay for me to scout the station if I get there ahead of you?" She asked.

"No, I sense there's more to this situation than it seems and if it gets out of hand, I don't want anything happening to you if it is. Wait to hear from me before you do anything. My mission to Naboo shouldn't last more than half a planetary rotation, so keep your com on for any updates from me. Okay?"

Jaden nodded. "Alright, sounds good."

"Okay, Rosh, let's get moving. Jaden, get some rest and if all goes well, I'll see you on Bakura." And with that, Kyle and Rosh rose from the table and hurried out the door to head to the Raven's Claw.

Jaden sat a moment longer at the table, contemplating her newest assignment. Kyle was so insistent that I wait for him instead of doing anything without him. Does he fully trust me? Rosh's words about wondering if your master was holding you back echoed in her mind and she began to wonder if maybe there wasn't some sliver of truth to it.