Author's note: this chapter has been edited to erase grammar and spelling mistakes

~ 12 ~

Presage

- Clouded, the future is, and treacherous to know the line between prophecy and truth -

"Hey, Kano!" Before Anakin had time to process the unsettling information about the chalice and Palpatine's office, his attention was drawn to a large Kiffar standing in the open cargo compartment of an approaching ship. The man didn't wait for the shuttle to land; instead, he leapt onto the landing platform, landing swiftly and giving Kenshin a solid fist bump to his shoulder.

"Looking strong, man! How's temple life? Getting all the Coruscanti ladies?"

Kenshin rolled his eyes and replied, "Your expertise in that matter far exceeds mine."

Anakin gave his Master a questioning look.

"And who are you?" the man asked, curiously eyeing Anakin.

"I'm Anakin Skywalker."

"The Chosen boy, huh? What are you doing hanging out with the likes of Kano? Hold on, wait..." Realization dawned, and he looked at Kenshin with a mix of incredulity and amusement. "They made him your Padawan? Really? Holy shit, that's the best thing I've heard in a while!" Vos exclaimed, bursting into hearty laughter. "Can't believe they let you teach," he added, still laughing.

Kenshin's dry retort came swiftly. "They allowed you to train Aayla, and she not only became an amazing Jedi knight, she even has manners. Not all hope is lost. Anakin, meet the galaxy's greatest nerfherder, and unfortunately my friend, Quinlan Vos."

"Fair enough, K-dog. Anyway, you probably didn't call me just to show me your new pet."

Finally, Kenshin cracked a smile. "Indeed not. Having Anakin and you meet is a risk I wouldn't take unnecessarily."

"Hey!" Anakin protested.

Kenshin explained, "A lot has happened. Much of it doesn't make sense to me yet, but it might to your psychometric ass. We've found a holocron, an unidentified artifact, and a Sith chalice."

"You're collecting even more trouble than usual, huh? I bet Coruscant has become a lot more interesting since you're back," Quinlan replied.

"That's one way to put it. Let's have a look at our collection of trouble." he invited them to the archives.

...

"What was that all about?" Anakin asked his Master as they walked back into the temple.

"It's Quin. You'll get used to it," Kenshin shrugged his shoulders.

"No, I mean the Coruscanti ladies," Anakin grinned.

"Oh, nothing..."

"He didn't tell you about his girlfriend, did he?" Quinlan chimed in.

This was heading in a direction Kenshin had no intention of exploring further, and he made a mental note to punch Quinlan hard in the face later. Why had he even told the scoundrel that he had asked Kyra for help with the rune artefact from Vanquor? Quin had obviously concluded something Kenshin wasn't even sure about himself.

"She's not a girlfriend. We just see each other, occasionally."

"To do what?" Anakin nagged, grinning knowingly.

"Are you saying you haven't had 'the talk' yet?" Quinlan inquired.

"No, Master Vos, I don't think I lack that particular knowledge," Anakin flashed a wide, mischievous grin.

"Okay, good. You had me worried for a second."

"Just shut up, both of you! If you worked your combat skills as much as your overactive imagination..."

"I can't speak for your apprentice, but as far as I'm concerned, none of my partners has ever complained about my 'sword skills,'" Quinlan commented.

"Force, help me!" Kenshin said. Anakin and Quinlan were both trouble. Anakin did his best—though it wasn't much—at maintaining a minimum of composure. Observing the Kiffar so effortlessly unnerve his always-so-serious Master was formidable; he had to take notes.

"Tell me, Master, isn't 'it' against the code?"

"The code forbids attachments. Getting laid? Not so much," the Nantoan answered exasperatedly.

"True words, K-dog," Quinlan said, grinning from ear to ear. "Now he's talking. Hey, Chosen boy, ever seen his face that red? And I have arrived less than ten minutes ago."

"In the name of all seven Corellian hells, are you two done anytime soon?" Kenshin protested, uttering a few more words in his native tongue. Expletives, if his tone was anything to go by.

"I can only imagine the nice things he just said," Quinlan complained jokingly. "Skywalker, how do you put up with him all the time?"

"How do I put up with Skywalker! Or yourself, for that matter."

"Look at it this way: Anakin's probably Yoda's late revenge on you."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Anakin asked.

"Oh, you don't know? The stunts Kenshin pulled off as a Padawan? He was quite a handful for poor old Yoda to handle. Still is, now that I think of it."

"Shut it, Quin! I only learned from the best," Kenshin replied, punching Quinlan in the chest, which was followed by some legitimate rough-housing that earned them a raised eyebrow from Jocasta Nu as they walked into the great hall of the archives.

Anakin wondered how the uncouth, quirky Vos and the grim, reserved person he knew as his Master had become friends, but he already liked the tall Kiffar with his contagious grin and wild dreadlocks standing in all directions.

******Two months earlier, Coruscant, scientific district, Intergalactic Institute of Archaeology

A few more pages and Kyra would finally be done with the reports. Kyra loved her job; most projects were exciting, especially when they involved searching for artifacts and working with a certain Jedi.

She remembered her very first field trip as an archaeologist to the ancient ruins of a Force cult on a desolate, remote Outer Rim world. A Jedi Knight had been assigned to support and protect the excursion. At first, she had found him pretty awkward. A bit grim, not very talkative, and looking like the teenager that he was at the time, the young man didn't exactly live up to the image she had of Jedi Knights. On the planet, however, he had proven a valuable asset. It was he who had found not only the entrance to the temple ruins but also deciphered the Sith runes engraved on the walls, a skill none of the archaeologists had. Thank the Force he had also proven proficient in more forms of combat than Kyra could name, which had saved their lives several times when smugglers attacked the makeshift excavations in the hope of relieving it of valuable artifacts. Kenshin and Kyra ended up becoming good friends, and it was usually he who accompanied particularly dangerous excursions that required Jedi support.

She shook her head as if to shake the memories from her mind and refocus on her report. Sighing, she looked up from her datapad and jumped. Someone was in her office! Instinctively, she reached for the mini blaster hidden under her chair and put it back as she recognized the intruder.

"Kenshin! By the stars, you frightened the hell out of me! Can't you just use doors and knock on them, like normal people? How did you even get in here?"

"You left the window open," he replied with a small smile.

"Sneaky bastard! You certainly haven't changed much," she admonished, but smiled.

"Should I have?"

"I didn't complain, did I? You're a bit early. I'll just finish this report real quick, then I'm free. You up for a drink down at the Skylight Café?"

"Sure."

"As for your artifact, I'm afraid I have bad news. Well, I have no news, really. I ran it through every single decoder and scanner we have, but I couldn't identify the runes, not even their origin. If you ever find out what it is, make sure to fill me in. It could be from a culture we have never heard of before, possibly something completely unknown to science until now. And you found it on Vanquor, you said?"

"Yes. Although I have a feeling it was just dropped there, originally coming from somewhere else. I have scoured through the entirety of the Jedi archives over and over again. Nothing."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you more. Did the holocron you found reveal anything?"

"It speaks about some sort of key that can create life or destroy the galaxy. It sounds like a prophecy text. Not very insightful. And it was written in the tongue of an old, extinct Nantoan culture."

"So you'll go back to your homeworld to find out more?"

"There is one last person who could possibly help me find answers. But he won't be available for the next two months. For now, all I can do is wait. I don't want to go back to Nanta just yet."

"Why not?"

"You know why," Kenshin said frustratedly.

"No, I don't. You told me about the rebellion. You helped your people get their freedom back. I see nothing wrong with that."

"I did things a Jedi shouldn't do. I don't want to be reminded of it."

"I don't think I'll ever understand that Jedi thing. You can't always run from your past, though. You're fast, but the past is usually faster."

****** In the present, Coruscant, Jedi Temple, the Archives

The three of them settled into a secluded corner of the archives, and Kenshin briefed Quinlan on how they had found the holocron and the artifact.

"Master, you've never told me what the holocron says. Could you decipher it?" Anakin wanted to know.

"Yes, and no. It seems to be a prophecy of some sort. I'm sure my translation is correct, but it's very odd."

Kenshin had written the words on a datapad and placed it, next to the holocron itself and the artifact, on the table for Quin and Anakin to read.

A key to create or destroy

All life of the galaxy entire

A child of the shadows and child of light

Only combined their strength can seal the gateway of eternal darkness forever

"That certainly does sound weird. Even stranger than that prophecy about you, Chosen boy!" Quinlan commented.

Kenshin scrutinized the screen. "I've never put much stock in prophecies. You never know who wrote them and with what intention in mind. Force visions and prophecies paint one possible outcome, but you can never truly know what the future brings."

Quinlan touched both objects, remaining particularly long on the triangular artifact. It took a long while before he spoke.

"I see many things, but it seems incoherent. I see a battle. The person who carries the artifact runs from something. It's a woman...her robes resemble ceremonial clothing...a priestess? She seems to try and hide something. She enters a dungeon, deep underneath a complex of several stone buildings. Then she is caught and taken onto a starship. She's now on a planet where the sky is filled with lightning and heavy rain. It's nighttime, but the sky is a strange shade of dark red. She fights someone, something gets taken from her, and she flees. She steals a ship and travels to yet another planet. She seems to be in a temple and again hides something. There's another fight, the artifact drops to the ground, but this time she gets away. I'm amazed how much I can see. It feels like..." Quinlan blinked incredulously .."it feels like she tried to store her memories in that artifact for someone to find."

He went on to describe the buildings and surroundings of the first venue in more detail.

"The structures were surrounded by dense subtropical forests. The buildings I saw were of a kind I've never seen before. I would say they resembled a temple of some sort."

"A Jedi temple," Kenshin said, pensively staring into empty space.

"A what?" Quin and Anakin asked in unison.

"You said you don't like sand. What about dense jungle?" Kenshin asked.

"Uhm, sounds great, Master. As long as there are no gundarks... but may I draw your attention to the fact that you're making zero sense right now?"

"The holocron was created by a tribe called the Dunari, now extinct, on my homeworld. That much we know. There are legends of an ancient Jedi temple having existed on my planet millennia ago, at the same time the Dunari, the aforementioned extinct tribe, lived in a period of great prosperity. To find this temple, or the remnants of it, was the reason why my Master originally came to Nanta. What Quinlan just described to us, this can't be but that Jedi temple."

"Wizard," Anakin commented in awe.

"Your Master never found anything or left anything behind, I take it?" Quin wanted to know.

"No. At least if she did, I have no knowledge of it. If you'll excuse me for a moment."

Kenshin stood up and left the table. His head was swirling. He needed to be alone for a minute, the ideas starting to form in his mind giving him a headache. He recognized the second world the Kiffar had described with its dark red, lightning-filled sky. A planet that was a focal point of the dark side of the Force.

"Where's he going?" Quinlan asked.

"No idea. I've given up on trying to understand the guy."

"So, what's it like with K-dog as your Master? Bet he's kicking your ass, but once he's done with you, you'll be kicking everyone else's, believe me!"

"Hm, I don't know."

"You don't look happy. You don't like him?"

"It's not that. I do. He's a good teacher. He's powerful, and he makes an effort. That's more than I can say about most people. But he's really sealed up, you know? And we argue a lot. Actually, we do nothing but fight."

"He's a little rough around the edges. But hey, he wouldn't bother arguing with you if he didn't care about you. It's a sign that he gives a shit. Granted, he can be a bit of an idiot. He's been through a lot in his life, and he has a somewhat messed up way of coping with things. But he's a good person! If shit goes down, he's the one who'll give his life for you in an instant, and there's little in this galaxy that's capable of stopping him. If there'd be one single person in the entire Jedi Order I had to put my trust into, it'd be him. Force, he has saved my ass more than once. Cut him some slack, he does like you."

"How would you know?"

"I've known him long enough to know how to read him. Since the day he came to the temple when he was thirteen. Have a bit of patience; he'll open up eventually."

"Why do I have a feeling that Hoth will unfreeze before that happens."

"Before what happens?"

Anakin turned his head in surprise; he hadn't expected Kenshin to come back already.

"Never mind."

His Master gave him a doubtful look but didn't reply further.

Once they had concluded their analysis, walking out of the archives, the trio was greeted by the two persons Kenshin wanted to see the least: Mace Windu and Chancellor Palpatine. He murmured something about more business to attend to and quickly excused himself, dragging Quinlan with him.

"Anakin!" Palpatine exclaimed. "I heard you had been hurt, my son!"

"It's okay, I'm alright, Chancellor."

"I understand the service as a Jedi can be of dangerous nature, yet I must inquire, what happened?"

The Padawan gave a short and slightly whitewashed synopsis of the scrapyard incidents.

"I admit, I had left the temple at night without permission and got assaulted. I was taken by surprise..."

"Shouldn't your Master pay greater attention to your whereabouts? I disapprove of you breaking rules, of course, but your superiors surely should take their duty more seriously, shouldn't they?" Palpatine said with a note of disdain.

"Your Excellency, you are right in scolding me about my disobedience, but if it weren't for my Master, I would not be talking to you now, your Excellency. It was he who saved my life!"

"Well, I am very glad your Master is at least capable of protecting you, as it seems."

"Allow me one question, Chancellor," Mace Windu spoke up. "During this incident, Padawan Skywalker found an object, a chalice. A Sith chalice, and it closely resembled a vase, a piece of decoration in your office, as Anakin had reported. Can you make sense of this?"

"I'm afraid I have to ask you to explain: what is a Sith chalice?" an astonished Palpatine asked.

"An object used by the Sith for ritual purposes. The possession of such dark side artifacts is formally forbidden, since they can be potentially dangerous," Windu explained.

"I had a few pieces of art stolen from my office recently, some of which have a certain financial value. Cleaning personnel turned out to be the culprit—about time we replace them with droids. Said vase, I believe I know which piece you speak of, had once been offered to me by a representative of the planet of Eriadu as a traditional art piece from their world. Of course, I understand nothing about the Force, but had I been aware of this, I would have notified your graces immediately. I had thought it to be a simply decorative piece of ceremonial value, and the case of theft not of an importance that would require Jedi attention."

When Anakin later recounted the scene to Kenshin, his eyes seemed to take on an even darker shade than they already were.

"Stolen artworks. Of course!" Kenshin said, his voice icily calm. He couldn't prove it, not yet. But he felt there was more to it than the Chancellor was letting on. Something felt not right about the former senator of Naboo. Sooner or later, he would find out what it was. But for now, other mysteries were waiting in the depths of the jungle of a remote world at the edge of the known galaxy. Nanta.

Nothing, absolutely nothing that happened in the hangars would slip past Anakin's attention. The hangars were his favorite spot in the entire Jedi Temple, his sanctuary in a place he didn't like all that much to begin with. This was where he spent most of his free time, to the delight of the mechanics who were more than happy about his skilled helping hands. So, of course, he had spotted (and admired) the ship stored in a dimly lit back corner a while ago. It was a heavily modified ARC-170 fighter. It didn't bear any markings, at least not any displaying an allegiance to the Jedi Order, and the hull was painted in a matte, dull, dark grey. It was not a type of starfighter the Order usually used, and very few Jedi had a personal ship at their disposal. None of the mechanics could or would tell him more, other than that it belonged to one of the Jedi Masters. He now learned which one.

An excitedly beeping astromech with a grey and purple paint job hurtled around the ship and started whizzing in circles around Kenshin.

"This is your ship...?" Anakin said.

"Yes. And that bucket of bolts here is Roku, who's about to get his circuits blown if he doesn't stop driving me nuts. Roku, stop this! Yeah, I'm glad to see you too!"

The droid then gently rolled against Anakin's leg, taking his circus up a notch. He couldn't help but smile and patted the droid gently on its domed head.

"He likes you," Kenshin said.

"Never seen such modifications before," the Padawan said admiringly, his eyes wandering over the hull.

"Altered hyperdrive, enhanced close-range engines, and a beyond state-of-the-art cloaking device. No known scanning system can detect this ship."

"Wizard!" Anakin stared at it, full of wonder. "Tell me, Master, how exactly does a Jedi acquire their own personal ARC fighter?"

"It belonged to an unfortunate bounty hunter who happened to perish on his last hunt. His target was a statesman I was assigned to protect. When he went in for the kill, I did my job, and even did so without killing the bounty hunter, but the guards were a little too eager to do theirs. His ship was left with no one to claim it, and I needed a way to get off the planet anyway, to pursue his ordering party. Eventually, I had said upgrades done. Being able to keep a low profile can come in handy."

"You sure are practically minded, Master. I can fly, right? Pleeeeeaaaase!"

The opportunity to pilot a top-notch starfighter like this didn't present itself very often, and Anakin made sure to make the most of the ship's capabilities. He was the best star pilot in the galaxy, after all! Violating all written and unwritten air traffic regulations on their way out of Coruscant's atmosphere, he performed a number of literally breathtaking stunts. Ruefully, he reminisced about Master Atal, who would have heavily protested and scolded him to no end for this way of flying. Admittedly, the moves he put the ARC-170 through to test its limits would have driven most beings to a quick reunion with the contents of their stomach. Kenshin, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed. "You clearly know what you're doing," was his only, dry comment. Despite the off-the-charts performance of the Kage, as the ship was named, and Anakin's more than progressive flying, it took them two entire standard days in hyperspace and then some to reach the planet.

In preparation for this mission, Anakin had actually put in the effort to research the archives. It was unlike him to voluntarily step foot in the archives, but his curiosity about the planet Nanta was too strong. Mysterious, dangerous artifacts, cryptic prophecies, and adventures on remote worlds were right up his alley. However, he found nothing. Even Madame Nu couldn't dig up any information. This was more than strange. If something couldn't be found in the Jedi archives, it didn't exist, people said. While in hyperspace, he brought it to Kenshin's attention, and his Master indeed had an explanation as to why nothing about his homeworld was written down in the libraries.

"I deleted it!"

"You did what? How? Why? Are you even allowed to do that?"

"Of course not! But I have to protect my people. The less known about my planet, the better. Even the Jedi archives can be compromised, so I erased everything."

"I'd call that crazy paranoid!"

"Maybe. Nanta had very few interactions with off-worlders—the last one nearly left it destroyed."

He didn't go into further detail about what had happened or why. From what else Kenshin reported, Nanta was a real backwater slughole. It had only one small spaceport in the planet capital, no industrial centers, and a basic level of technology. For the most part, it was sparsely populated. A great part of the population didn't even speak Galactic Basic. By now, Anakin understood a little Nantoan, although it was mostly the profanities Kenshin habitually used, whether appropriate or not.

They would be off on a treasure hunt in the vast wilderness of the planet, looking for the ruins of a Jedi temple of unknown location. The Dunari, the civilization that had created the holocron, had lived in peace with those Jedi until some mysterious calamity had wiped them out along with the Jedi. Anakin wondered what could have caused the demise of an entire civilization.

"And there are no gundarks on Nanta," Kenshin completed his unusually brief lecture.

"I'm relieved to hear that!"

"What, I thought you liked them!" the Master said, keeping a straight, stern face for a few moments before a small smile told Anakin that he was teasing him.

Kenshin's sparse report had not prepared Anakin for the overwhelming view that unfolded before his eyes as they entered the atmosphere and approached Karimaoru, the planet's capital. It didn't deserve the term "city" in terms of size, but it was the largest settlement the planet had. What he saw reminded him vaguely of Naboo, only Nanta looked wilder, untamed, less civilized maybe. It was mesmerizing and breathtakingly beautiful. Lush green stretched as far as the eye could see, mild warm air filled with the songs of colorful birds, and the place hummed with life. And there was so much water! An ocean gently pushed its waves against the shore, a broad river delta plummeting into it, embracing the city harmonically nestled in the hills. At its center, there was a small palace built on top of the largest hill, and scattered around were hundreds, if not thousands, of stone buildings and a maze of streets forming the actual town. In the distance, more green, forests, and mountains formed fascinating, intricate lines against the sky. The spaceport was tiny, with only a handful of small space freighters docked on a few landing pads. Customs and air control consisted of one person, a man even shorter than Kenshin and with the same pitch-black hair, who gave the Jedi Master the joyful and warm welcome one would greet a long-lost family member with. The Padawan didn't understand a word of their conversation, but he gathered they knew each other. Only one thing attracted his attention. The man called Kenshin not by his name, but Yashkaru.

The center of Karimaoru was so close to the spaceport that they could walk. Kenshin had mentioned getting a means of transport to travel to the monastery where he had grown up. If there were any hints as to where the ancient Jedi temple could be, if Kenshin's Master had found any leads, she would have left whatever she had documented with the monks. According to Kenshin's report, they were an Order of warrior monks, not unlike the original Jedi, pursuing a spiritual life in the back country and practicing their martial arts not only as a way of defense but also as a way to train the mind. They called themselves Hogosha, and combat was their way of expressing their soul.

The streets were crowded, but the atmosphere Anakin sensed was relaxed, nearly cheerful, and he found he was enjoying himself just wandering along, thinking of nothing in particular, listening to the chitchat around him that had an unfamiliar but melodic rhythm to it. He liked the sound even though he didn't understand what people were saying. What a vast difference from the nearly hostile ambiance of Mos Espa or the stressful hustle he had felt in other places. Especially Coruscant... Coruscant was yet another story. Anakin could see why Kenshin, coming from a place that seemed so full of harmony like this, didn't much appreciate the galaxy's capital. His Master had his hood pulled over his head despite the comfortably warm air, as if to hide. It was not the first time he found Kenshin's behavior odd and out of place, so he didn't think much of it.

His thoughts wandering, the Padawan's feet carried him across a wide plaza, his eyes captured by an intriguingly strange monument. It was a large sculpture carved out of white stone, showing a beautifully detailed dragon-like beast and a bird, holding onto a sword with a curved blade in their claws. Then it struck him. The dragon looked exactly like the demon he had seen in this strange dream, the creature that had protected him. He tried to read the writing at the bottom of the monument. To his surprise, Anakin found the inscription to be in both Nantoan characters and Basic, written in Aurebesh letters.

We fought with blood

We live in freedom

Our swords the bearers of independence

Guided by the light of hope

A war monument? Another surprising detail was carved into the stone. A list of names, apparently, and Kenshin's name was among the first three on the list. What could possibly be the meaning of this? What was this all about, what did the inscription mean, and why was his Master's name listed on a public monument in the planet's capital? Question after question popped up in Anakin's head, and he jerked up. Kenshin! Letting his feet carry him, he hadn't paid attention and, of course, not followed where his Master might have gone. Where the blazes was he! The teenager bit back a curse. Great! Not even an hour on the planet and he had gotten lost already! He was in a place completely new to him, looking for a person he couldn't sense in the Force and, not speaking the language, he probably couldn't ask anybody if they had possibly seen a Jedi. People wouldn't understand him. Anakin started to frantically scan the place and moved. Wherever his freak of a Master had disappeared to, he had to find him! He was obviously giving off the sense of being lost. Soon, a boy who seemed a bit younger than himself approached and spoke. Anakin gestured that he didn't understand and decided to try his luck and ask in Basic if he had seen a Jedi.

"Jedai? Jedai... Jedai..." the boy said pensively. "Yashkaru?"

"No, no, his name is Kenshin. Kenshin Kano," he tried. "But yes, Jedi!" Kenshin's physical appearance didn't exactly scream Jedi and peacekeeper, so he had little hope. The chances that a random teenager would happen to know who or where his Master was were very slim. The boy wrinkled his forehead, contemplating for a moment, and then took his hand and dragged him along until they joined a group of young people. He spoke to a girl, a few years older, and turned back to Anakin.

"You a Jedi?" she addressed the Padawan.

"Yes. And I've gotten lost. Have you seen...?"

"Another Jedi? No, but there is only one Jedi who would come to this planet. Come!" the young woman said and gestured for Anakin to follow her.

"Who or what is Yashkaru?" Anakin wanted to know. He felt relieved she spoke Basic and he could converse with her.

"His name."

"But his name is Kenshin."

"We call him Yashkaru."

A very short walk later, they found Kenshin standing in the gate to what seemed to be a workshop, talking to another man. Oily parts were scattered around, along with shinier, newer ones—a place quite to Anakin's liking. Two fueled-up speeder bikes were waiting outside the shop.

"There you are. Wondered where you went," his Master casually greeted him.

"Just had a look around," Anakin replied, raising his eyebrows. He'd been gone, lost, and this freak wasn't even bothered?

"Thank you," he turned to the girl. "How did you know where to find him?" he asked. The girl smiled and said, "Force told me. You Jedi use it, no?" She laughed and ran away, back to whatever business he had distracted her from. Bewildered, he shook his head. Strange place, strange people. And why did he have the feeling Kenshin was guarding yet another secret.

"Ready?" Kenshin asked.

"Sure. Master, how come people around here seem to know you? How did this girl know you or know how to find you, and why is your name written on a monument in the capital city of your home planet?"

"What do you mean?"

"On that large plaza where I got lost, there's a monument and your name is on it."

"My name is very common on this world. Whoever they refer to, it's not me," he replied evasively.

"What about the girl? How did she know you? And what does Yashkaru mean?"

"The guy I got the speeder bikes from is an old friend of mine. The girl is his cousin, and Yashkaru is just a nickname. Doesn't mean anything."

Anakin had a strong feeling that was only half the truth, if that. They mounted the speeder bikes, and their journey began. For the following hours, Kenshin wasn't very talkative, but that was nothing new. Following the semblance of a dirt road, civilization soon gave way to grassy plains and increasingly thick jungle, intermitted with rice fields. Nearly the entire day had passed, the terrain becoming more and more mountainous, and the sun was about to set when they neared a village. A few faint lights illuminated a group of houses in the near distance. Underneath the trees, glow worms, emitting a beautiful pale green light, performed their gentle dances. The two Jedi slowed down their vehicles. A few leaves in a tree rustled, and before he knew it, a dark-clad, hooded figure had abruptly kicked Kenshin off his transport and held him in a lock, holding a knife to his throat.

"Welcome back, bastard!" a female voice said in Basic.

Anakin instantly ignited his lightsaber, but Kenshin raised a hand and said, "It's okay. Just a welcoming ritual."

The woman released Kenshin and lifted her hood. She, too, had sleek, black hair that fell down her back and dark brown eyes. She wasn't much older than his Master, although a little taller.

"You've finally cared to show up again. We were beginning to think you'd forgotten us completely!"

"Good to see you, too!" Kenshin replied, rueful admittance in his eyes.

She suddenly smiled, dropped her knife, and threw her arms around Kenshin, squeezing him tightly before letting go again.

"Good to have you back, idiot. And you must be Anakin," she said, turning to the Padawan. Anakin nodded; a bit dumbfounded that she knew his name.

"I'm Aiko. Welcome to Wataro," she introduced herself.

"The monastery is close. This village is where Aiko and I grew up together; she's basically my big sister," Kenshin explained, noticing Anakin's questioning look.

"And yet you couldn't be bothered to show up for four entire years, and all we got was a holo message once in a while!" Aiko admonished.

"I had my reasons."

" You mean excuses. At least you're back now. Come, Miho and Hisao are waiting."

The young woman led them to a house, although it was more of a hut, where an elderly couple - apparently her parents - awaited them. They were given a warm welcome and, much to Anakin's delight, a tasty meal. Aiko's parents barely spoke any Basic, so Anakin didn't understand most of the conversation. He realized, though, that he could perceive a lot through the Force, as if part of their communication was non-verbal. He sensed that they had a deep connection to Kenshin, like parents to a child, and that they loved him like a son. And they had missed him a lot. It wasn't lost on him what this was – it was a family, this was a home, and his Master was a part of it. Not by birth maybe, but at some point these people seemed to have adopted him as one of their own. Did the Council know about this? Did the Council allow it? If his Master could be part of a family, could he see his mother again? His Master had told him he had been a foundling, an orphan, but these people behaved like family to him. This was the kind of family Anakin had often wished he had. How could one not come back to their home planet if they had exactly that—a home, a family? Once he was a knight and not under constant watch, he'd be on Tatooine the first chance he got to see his mom—to finally free her!

Reaching out through the Force, he once more wondered why he couldn't sense his Master's presence. He could sense Aiko, and with a slightly weaker intensity, also the old woman and the man. Kenshin had explained that most humans on Nanta could touch the Force, at least to a certain degree.

The old woman smiled at Anakin, handing him the bowl she had just refilled with the delicious stew. Even without words, these people managed to make him feel welcome in this house. It was a simple but beautiful, peaceful place. A sudden feeling of sadness overcame him. The last time he had felt this way, so warm, welcome, and comfortable, was in an equally simple hut on Tatooine, with his mother. He thanked the woman with a grateful nod and stared into the flames as he ate.

"Are you okay?"

Surprised, Anakin looked up. Kenshin was watching him, worry etched on his face. The older Jedi had sensed his sadness.

"Uh, yes, Master. I'm alright."

Anakin could see that Kenshin didn't believe him, but he couldn't talk about his mother. At the temple, he had been chastised every time he spoke about her; no matter who he talked to, they would admonish him that attachments were not allowed. Kenshin was different, not as harsh or cold, but the teenager still couldn't imagine he would understand.

Sleep wasn't much of a relief. Whenever he remembered his mother and home, thoughts and emotions formed an indistinct but unsettling blur in his head. He woke up and saw it was still dark. Dawn had not yet begun, but some birds were already filling the clear nighttime air with soothing, melodic sounds. Carefully, he rose not to wake his Master, who was sound asleep next to him, and stepped onto the porch that offered a spectacular view of the valley opening up beneath the small settlement.

"Good morning. You're up early!" Aiko's melodic voice greeted him.

"Good morning. Uh, yes, I couldn't sleep anymore."

"Kenshin is still asleep, I guess?"

Aiko handed him a cup with something hot in it, which he gladly accepted. The morning air was crisp, and he felt a bit cold. It was a kind of tea, better than any he had ever had before.

"Yeah, I'd rather not wake him up. He tends to be even more grumpy than usual when I do that."

Aiko chuckled. "I can see that. He's never been much of a morning person."

"So, you grew up together? You two seem to be close."

"Yes. He was training and living with the monks and his Jedi Master, but he spent some of his free time here with us in the village. As children, we would often play or hunt together; sometimes the monks would allow me to join their training and study swordsmanship alongside them. He's like a brother to me. What are you to him? He only told me your name and that you'd be coming with him, but nothing more."

"I'm his Padawan."

"Oh. He never told me he had an apprentice!"

"He was assigned to train me only a few months ago. My previous master died. Then Grandmaster Yoda, the head of our Order, decided Kenshin should be my Master."

"Yoda is a small, green guy? Kenshin told me about him; he always calls him the green troll."

Anakin laughed. "Yeah, that's about right. Hold on, what is that?"

The night was now nearing dawn, but the mesmerizing glow worms, shedding their soft light, were still there. Dancing green points in the dark velvet of the night. Green points... and two purple ones, next to each other, that were not dancing, a lot larger than the green ones, and staring at him, and bore an eerie resemblance to the beast he had seen in his hazed dream in the healer's ward. While Anakin tried to figure out if he really saw what he saw, they disappeared.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"There were two purple points. Glowing, like the glow worms, and then they disappeared!"

"Oh, that? That was a Yashkaru."

"A Yashkaru? I heard the word before; what is that? Down in the capital, in the spaceport, they used that word instead of Kenshin's name."

"The Yashkaru are animals that live around here. They're semi-sentient and Force-sensitive. For the most part, they're nocturnal; they're predatory creatures native to these jungles, hunting at night and at dawn. They generally steer clear of humans. They only attack when provoked; however, if they do, they're lightning-fast, powerful, and very lethal. They'll easily kill creatures three times their size before their prey knows it's dead. Shy as these creatures are, they seem to be drawn to Kenshin. He was always more deeply connected to the Force than all of us, and he could always commune with animals in a way that few others roughly translates to 'Force shadow.' In ancient times, they were believed to be demons. In the resistance, people would use Yashkaru as a name, or rather, an honorary title for Kenshin. Wherever he attacked, he was so fast, striking with deadly precision, and he never got caught. It was as if he could completely blend in with the shadows and his surroundings, slip through and attack, no matter how tight the enemy defenses were."

"Resistance? The what?"

"He didn't tell you about the invasion on our world? The rebellion?" Aiko asked incredulously.

******* Cato Neimoidia, four and a half years earlier

A series of mysterious incidents had the system supervisors of the Trade Federation wondering what in the moons and stars had hit them. All three leaders of a division, tasked with an operation on a backwater world far in the Outer Rim, were dead. They had been found lifeless on the floor of their headquarters' offices. Nobody could tell who or what had killed them. They seemed to have been choked to death, but their necks bore no traces. All data hinting towards what exactly they had been tasked with had disappeared from the Trade Federation's systems. It was as if they had never existed. The detectives sent to investigate the mystery equally vanished, leaving no trace.

In the end, Nute Gunray had decided to drop the case. The planet of Nanta was a meaningless backwater world anyway, the possible profits too small to be worth the extra effort. He didn't understand what his subordinates had even wanted on that world. There was another, far more important incident that troubled him. The Trade Federation and its system boasted the highest, most complex security levels technically possible, even more sophisticated than those of the Intergalactic Banking Clan. Yet, they had been hijacked. A mysterious virus had infiltrated their systems, causing losses of several million credits before the issue could be rectified. He couldn't see a link between the two incidents, but once more, nobody had ever found out who or what exactly had caused this disaster. Not even traces. He didn't yet dare to ask his most powerful ally for help. Security measures would be increased as far as possible, and Gunray kept battling sleepless nights for a long time.