A year had passed since Marasha and Bearsh lived in the house of Kuvuta Pindi and her wards. It was one of those days in the late afternoon when the green Twi'lek wanted to watch her favorite soap on the Holo-Net, as she often did.

Bearsh and Marasha had already completed their chores for the day and were about to go into the yard together when the doorbell rang. They stopped to see what was about to happen. Kuvuta listlessly rose from her comfortable couch to open the door for a humanoid of an indefinable species, who brought over a large package.

The Twi'lek's mood suddenly brightened. She hurried past the two Vagaari children with bright green eyes, who were looking at her and the package with interest.

"There's my new dress in there, which I've been waiting for a long time," Kuvuta explained in anticipation. "It's convenient to have it sent to you by mail via order from the company, or don't you Geroons know that?"

"Um," Marasha began. "We always had an internal distribution system. The others always took things for you when they were here and there."

"So no secure postal delivery system with you. I could have guessed that," Kuvuta replied sarcastically, placed the package on the living room table and went back to the holodrama in her native language.

Now finally Bearsh and Marasha found it time to go into the courtyard, where the Trandoshan child Charky and the human child named Sidoo were taking advantage of the break to play ball with each other; so they wouldn't disturb them any further. Marasha sensed that something was bothering her cousin.

"I have to get out of here – at least for a while, even if only for half a day," Bearsh gushed. "I don't plan on spending the rest of my life in a house like that, which is always in the same place."

"I already thought of that. But if we ask Kuvuta about it, she will definitely become suspicious. And I feel like we still have a lot to learn here."

"What that you couldn't learn somewhere else?" Bearsh replied irritably. "You must also feel how weak it makes us when everything is so quiet here and runs along narrow lines."

"It only takes a few more years until we are grown up. Then we will know enough and find a way to get out of here."

"Nobody here knows when people are grown up in our species," Bearsh said with a sly look. "We're going to get a ship - a really big one with a kitchen, living area, playground! Then we won't owe anyone anything anymore!"

Her purple eyes looked back into the past. "Yes, such a big ship, that would be something. Although a house like that as a second base wouldn't be bad either. Dool Pundar has both."

"But that makes him vulnerable. All anyone has to do is bomb their house and be out of the dream," Bearsh countered.

"Would people here build houses if they had to constantly expect to lose them?"

"You almost think like them," Bearsh admonished his cousin. "You should never forget where we come from and what we are."

She took his hand and looked up into his purple eyes. "If we buy a house, we will only do so if we can bear the loss of it, promise?"

Bearsh's left mouth flashed a crooked smile. "Why not? It would be worth a try. Then we would at least have a recognized postal delivery address."

The next day was one of the rare days, where Dool Pundar also stayed for breakfast. As always, the Neimoidian wore his hat with three high peaks, which made him even taller than he already was with his standard height of at least two meters. He greedily ate the omelette that Kuvuta Pindi had prepared for him from green eggs while the children were also having breakfast.

"Bearsh will accompany me on a mission today," the Neimoidian announced near the end of the meal.

The Twi'lek at his side seemed to be considering something. Bearsh suspected that she had already assigned him to another job and now had to reschedule him in order to get certain customer requests taken care of. He looked at Marasha, who was talking quietly to Ysca in Twi'leki, so she didn't incur a public rebuke from her foster mother like those children who tried to speak languages other than Basic at the table.

After breakfast, Bearsh flew in Pundar's speeder with the Neimoidian to a hangar outside Jedha City. There was a ship in the hangar that was circular and resembled a ring. Inside this ring, a core could be seen that was connected to the ring by a bridge. The ring had a recess on the opposite side of the connecting bar.

In the spacious hangar next to the round ship stood Bearsh's yellowish Vagaari shuttle. So they hadn't been deceived in this matter, as the young Vagaari noted with satisfaction.

"What are we transporting?" Bearsh asked the Neimoidian.

"First of all, I'm sure you'll be happy about this," Dool said, pulling a blaster from beneath his loose, folded robe and handing it to the Vagaari.

Bearsh weighed the gun in his hand. He knew it and knew by its weight that it was fully charged. It was the blaster that had been stashed against the wall in his shuttle - just in case - for days like this. There was a pleasant tingling sensation in the back of his neck and he was looking forward to this day.

"This is my Profit, a Lucrehalk-class battleship," Dool introduced his impressive ship.

When they got into the ship, another Neimoidian, a Trandoshan and a Sullustan, who made up the ship's crew, were already waiting there.

"This is Bearsh – a Geroon," Dool Pundar introduced the new arrival. "He will serve us as a cabin boy and prove his suitability."

"My species mate is Gath, the Sullustan here is called Kjell and the Trandoshan is Massk," the captain introduced his crew.

The young Vagaari noticed some boxes that were standing near the boarding ramp. They reminded him fatally of the boxes that the Miskara had had unpacked in the throne room a year and a half ago.

"That's where the battle droids are, right?" Bearsh asked Pundar.

The Neimoidian noticed the distrust in the supposed Geroon's gaze. He pulled a control out of the pocket of his green robe, which reached to the floor and gave his already dignified appearance something regal. "Do you have any problem with that?"

"How long have you had these?"

Pundar's nictitating membranes twitched. "What kind of question is that? But we'd rather talk about it inside."

Dool gave his Neimoidian pilot a command in his nasal language and the man brought the ship out of the hangar and up. Dool Pundar went into a cabin with Bearsh and handed him a uniform which was brown and appeared to be his size.

Bearsh's purple eyes lit up. "We had similar uniforms back then," he said and tried them on.

The uniform fit him like a glove. The young Vagaari twisted and turned in front of the mirror and puffed out his chest, raising the blaster he had been given as Dool watched. A few scrutinizing glances and routine grips were enough for Bearsh, to check the weapon's functionality before he proudly placed it in the holster integrated into the belt of the rift and turned back to Dool, pointedly standing upright.

"That's your true nature, isn't it, Bearsh?" Dool said, his lipless mouth curving into a smile. "You've been patient, boy. I like that. Now tell me exactly what happened when your people were massacred."

Bearsh swallowed. "A traitor came aboard our flagship. He claimed to be organizing help for his friends who were being held captive by the Chiss."

"Another species I don't know."

"The traitor programmed the droids to obey our leader's orders. There were also a few tests, all of which worked. The human then lured us to the Chiss base, where we were supposed to free his people. A Republic starship was still there, for whatever reason."

He thought for a moment what he should say next. "Then suddenly these remote-controlled droid bombers appeared from the Chiss base and destroyed our fleet. The Chiss then attacked the Republic ship. Then me and my cousin escaped."

"That sounds very complicated," said Dool. "But what does this have to do with the battle droids that were aboard your leader's ship?"

"I was on board this ship when it was attacked. I wanted to see what was going on because my cousin... Her father was our leader. By the time we arrived, the droids had completely destroyed our leader and his men. Some had been strangled, but no strangulation marks were visible."

"Then how did you know they had been choked?" Dool probed.

"They were just laying on the deck with their mouths tense and their eyes wide and glassy where you could see the red veins. Just like someone who has been strangled to death."

Dool looked at Bearsh. His red eyes widened slightly.

"These droids were probably brought onto your ship already contaminated," Dool suspected. "You can feed in secondary programs and activate them at a later point in time. But my droids have been here since I've been in charge. Nobody messed with it."

Bearsh looked over the crew members. "I hope so."

"What happened to the human traitor?" asked Dool.

"He was freed by the Chiss and a human. I was later able to overhear the enemy's conversation. I didn't understand a word, but the word Darkvenge came up. I can't remember anything else now because I didn't understand basic back then."

Dool's lips curled into a grin. "The Darkvenge was the ship of Vice Lord Siv Kav, who was out there at the time. It looked like mine, but was considerably larger and better armed."

"How armed?" Bearsh interrupted.

"With battle droids, droidekas, droid starfighters."

"Droid starfighters," Bearsh muttered. "Did they look like this?"

Dool nodded. "You're well versed in the Trade Federation's arsenal of weapons, boy."

"That was exactly what our fleet was facing at the time. Could they also have been part of Siv Kav's arsenal?" Bearsh probed.

"Absolutely! Siv Kav was even more stupid and careless than Nute Gunray back during the Battle of Naboo. That's exactly why Gunray always sent Siv Kav on such missions that were doomed to failure anyway, but where we had to show our presence and present someone to blame. Apparently the Chiss took away his weapons back then and used them for their own purposes, if you didn't even know his name."

Bearsh's right mouth twisted mockingly as he acknowledged Dool's assumption.

Dool took Bearsh's silence as a sign to keep talking. "You said the traitor was freed by a human and, what did you say, a Chiss. Can you give me a personal description?"

"Gladly," said Bearsh. "But I would like to have the guarantee that me and my cousin will not be separated from each other. I know we won't stay with Kuvuta forever. Children have told me that sometimes children are picked up and they don't know where they have been taken. And if that's the case, then I don't want Marasha to be out there somewhere unprotected."

"You're a smart kid and you take good care of your cousin. I like that," Dool said, patting Bearsh on the uniformed shoulder. "Let's finish this mission and then we'll see."

"We'll be leaving hyperspace in five minutes and entering orbit around the planet Jakku," the pilot announced.

They sat down, buckled up and that was it. The yellow ball of a very barren and inhospitable looking planet appeared before them. To their left they saw a transporter rising upwards. The pilot activated a channel and Dool Pundar walked to the cockpit comm console.

"This is Dool Pundar speaking. Disable all your weapons and prepare for the arrival of my droids! Fight back and you will die!"

"This cargo belongs to the Black Sun! You should think carefully about whether you want to risk a confrontation with the cartel!" came back from the other side.

"Nice try, but the Black Sun will get over it," the Neimoidian replied calmly. "Because I learned from good sources that the transport is insured. However, the Black Sun does not insure its transports!"

"What is on the ship that we need?" Bearsh asked his boss.

"Lommite ore mined from the trash on Jakku. "That way we don't have to refine it like we would if we just got it from Dorvalla's mines," Dool explained.

Behind Bearsh came the clicking of boxes opening after Dool Pundar activated the controls. A shudder ran through the Vagaari as the B1 battle droids climbed out of the crates, unfolded, and marched in step toward the dropships that would take them aboard the freighter to be boarded. The green lines of silent gunfire could be seen as the freighter tried to stave off the planned boarding. A few well-aimed shots from the Profit stopped this by disabling the freighter's cannons.

"Massk, you round up the people and check the goods!" Dool assigned the Trandoshan a task before turning to the supposed Geroon. "Bearsh, you will assist him and watch out for traps that the droids cannot detect, and you will cover the retreat!"

Bearsh nodded silently. This didn't look like a normal handover process. He remembered similar actions he had taken on his own earlier with his older brother on Geroon. Even then, he was the one who secured the whole thing and made the watchboy.

After a while the gunboats docked with the freighter.

Massk deployed the docking lock and sent a line of battle droids forward.

"Aim at targets and secure the room!" the Trandoshan ordered.

They entered the ship behind an advance guard of droids, while their rear guard covered them from behind. The entrance room was empty. They left two droids behind to maintain control of the room, then headed inside the freighter. In the central room they finally found the crew, who stood ready in a defensive position and began firing as soon as the door opened. Their fire was deflected and returned by the shield of a Droideka sent forward. A few screams could be heard after some of the shots ricocheted off the Droideka's round shield and landed as stray ricochets in the legs of one of the crew members. Several others on the crew were already raising their hands at the massed firepower that had just been demonstrated.

"Cease fire!" ordered Massk.

The droids stopped firing. Immediately all hands of the crew rose in surrender.

"Bearsh, look for a sssuitable room for ththem!"

The young Vagaari looked at the doors leading off from the lounge and opened one of them. He strode across the room, scanning it with his purple eyes. Then he raised the blaster, aimed and fired once to disable a comm system.

"The room is clean," he reported outside to Massk.

"Get in there!" barked the Trandoshan and the ship's crew ran into the room Bearsh had prepared for the captivity, their hands still raised.

"You stay here and come with ussss!" Massk barked to a crew member. "You lock up here first!"

After the unfortunate man locked the room behind his comrades and they left two droids behind to monitor them, the band of privateers continued on to the storage room.

There they inspected the coveted boxes and the captured crew member was given the honor of opening them first. During this review, Massk marked all the boxes that were worth moving from the ship.

Massk let the dark metal grains run through one of his green, clawed paws. "Uassss!" he said contemptuously. "Lommite ore as scrap metal! Look at it, Bearsh, so you can recognize it later. Feel it! Ssso dirty and ssso valuable!"

Bearsh grinned with both mouths, then stuck a hand into the box to mimic the massive Trandoshan. "Like what we do here."

Massk let out a rhythmic hiss, a laugh like Bearsh knew from little Charky. They inspected a few more boxes and then they had the load they had been told.

"BX-13, you can then send out the enforcement report!" Mask growled at the red leader of the clatter racks.

The droid immediately connected to the Profit.

"Sir, the boxes have been found and checked. All goods are on board and ready to be transferred to our ship," BX-13 explained to the Neimoidian's holo-image.

"Then begin transport and ensure the withdrawal of our droids and Massk and Bearsh!" ordered the Neimoidian.

"Roger, Roger!" came back tinny.

They retreated to the entrance area with the boxes. When the last of the droids and Bearsh disappeared into the docked lock, Massk gave the key to the crewman next to him.

"You can let your people out again. But firssst, count ten and don't do anything ssstupid!" hissed the reptilian at the staring human.

The lock closed and disconnected from the freighter. It was Kjell, the Sullustan, who was waiting for them at the entrance to the Profit and brought the lock back in to fold it up like an accordion. Bearsh went with him and Massk to the command bridge to pay his respects to the captain. Something in a side window caught his attention.

"Something's approaching back there," Bearsh warned his boss.

Dool looked out the window in the direction the suspected Geroon was pointing. Sure enough, a small object was moving in a wide sweeping circle toward the ring of the Profit.

"A boomerang tracker," Dool muttered. "Watch out, boy! They wanted to follow our path, but not with me!"

"By the counter!" the Trandoshan intervened. "Then they did ssstupid things. Ssssshall I smack them, Bossss?"

Dool leaned back in his command chair. He pulled out his control panel again and typed something. A spider droid crawled out of a hatch to remove the newly docked tracking device from the Profit's hull and bring it into the ship. The small, eight-legged spider crawled towards the Neimoidian. He bent down with a flourish, picked up the tracking device and stood up to examine the find.

A faint metallic clink could be heard as the tracking device fell to the ground. Dool Pundar raised his knee and kicked hard, gleefully crushing the tracking implement beneath the vardium-steeled heel of his heavy boot.

"Why? They were just trying," Pundar replied generously, answering Massk's question.

Meanwhile the cargo was stowed and the Profit left Jakku for hyperspace to return to Jedha.

"So you're pirates," Bearsh stated.

"Why do I have the feeling that you're not particularly impressed by that?" the Neimoidian asked the supposed Geroon.

"Because I'm good with a blaster?"

"Hmmm, many people can shoot with a blaster. But you knew exactly what strangled people looked like, even though there were no strangulation marks. And you carried out this mission with a routine as if you did something like this every day."

Bearsh's left mouth grinned. "Then I guess I was born for this."

"At least you'll keep it shut. And it will be worth it for you, because from now on you will receive some pocket money," announced Pundar, "fifty credits a month."

"Thank you, Sir," Bearsh replied politely.

"And now you describe to me what the Chiss and the human looked like who freed your traitor while talking about the Darkvenge," Dool returned to a point that had already bothered him before his raid.

Bearsh saw no further reason to withhold this information from the Neimoidian.

༺༻

Marasha watched the Holo-Net news with Kuvuta. A report has just come from Coruscant about a Jedi mission to settle a dispute on the planet Malastare.

"... the Jedi Council sent Jedi Master Maks Leem to the planet Malastare, whereby the Republic hopes that a Jedi of the Gran species will be able to make their voice heard by the rulers of their people more than humans or others."

"Kuvuta, what can Jedi actually do that diplomats can't?" Marasha asked the Twi'lek.

"Jedi wield great power," Kuvuta began to explain. "They can use something called the Force to move objects without touching them. They can influence other people using mind tricks. And they have lightsabers. That is their most important identifying feature. A Jedi without his lightsaber – unthinkable!"

"Can I see a picture of a lightsaber?" Marasha asked.

Kuvuta laughed. "Do you want to become a Jedi?" she asked amused. "Even if you were as strong in the Force as Master Yoda himself, you would already be far too old. Charky might still have a chance, but he's as insensitive as a log."

"Do you know if the Jedi can use the Jedi Force to strangle people without touching them?"

"How did you come up with that?" Kuvuta wondered.

"Back when I had to escape, there were people lying around strangled, but they didn't have any strangulation marks."

"Then how did you know they had been strangled?" the Twi'lek asked.

"My cousin discovered this."

She smiled amused. "You guys must have been watching too many action movies, huh?"

She grabbed the cleft of her chin that separated her two mouths. "Well, that was live and real. And if Jedi can move objects without touching them, then surely they can choke people from that distance."

"Oh Marasha, the Jedi can do so many things that we have no idea about!"

"Do the Jedi have any center where they gather?"

"On Coruscant, in the capital, there is the Jedi Temple. There are thousands of them, when they're not on missions."

"What kind of missions are these if not diplomatic negotiations like on Malastare?"

Kuvuta's expression became strained. "They protect important people, sometimes they free them. And sometimes they intervene in fights between opposing factions, even though or precisely because they are peacekeepers. But it's complicated because politics dictates what the Jedi should do. In this case and now Supreme Chancellor Palpatine!"

"Does Palpatine also have Jedi power so that he can assess whether and what the Jedi can achieve?"

"I don't believe that, otherwise he would be one of them and not be in the Senate. At least the galaxy is relatively peaceful at the moment, so he'll have the Jedi well under control," Kuvuta replied, then opened a magazine to show that the conversation was over.

It was already late evening when Bearsh was brought back to the house by Dool Pundar. Before they entered the dining room, the Neimoidian grabbed the supposed Geroon by the shoulder.

"Don't worry, boy. If your cousin leaves here, we'll make sure she has a very good time where she'll be. And that you will know where she is. You can then visit her with your old ship."

"Thank you, Sir," replied Bearsh, genuinely touched, before Dool opened the door to the saloon.

༺༻

In the year 24 before the Battle of Yavin

Two more years had passed, during which Bearsh often accompanied Dool Pundar on raids, while Marasha remained in the house and collected information about the Jedi and communications wherever she could. As Pundar was about to bring the Profit back into hyperspace from Abregado-rae after another successful pirate mission, he received a call. It was Kuvuta Pindi.

"Ah, the new child has arrived – good!" the Neimoidian said happily.

"But there is a small problem," replied the Twi'lek on the other side of the connection. "Are you alone?"

"Not yet," he said, making a waving gesture that shooed everyone out of the command room.

Bearsh looked suspicious. The other pirates on board usually didn't care much if or when a new child came into the house. Sidoo had left them in the meantime and a Sullustan child had moved into the house on Jedha. Kuvuta had also discussed this with Dool while they were on their foray without sending any of the crew away. Bearsh got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he followed the instruction without questioning it.

It was late evening when Kuvuta came home with the new child. Marasha was just coming into the dining room from the kitchen with a bowl of home-made stew to set it down when the door on the opposite side of the room opened. Kuvuta Pindi entered, at her side a very small girl with fair skin, large brown eyes and dark brown messy hair that reached her waist. And from that brown mane, two pointed ears stuck out on the sides of her head. The little girl wore a simple, white linen dress, white tights and white sandals. The moment the new girl laid eyes on Marasha, her brown eyes widened as wide as they could in fear, while her thin brows drew down as if to shield those eyes from what they were seeing.

Marasha froze for a while when she saw the strange child, then the little one let out a blood-curdling scream that didn't fit at all with her tiny figure of perhaps just over a standard meter. Marasha calmly placed the bowl on the table and took a few steps back to the kitchen door to continue watching what was happening and waiting for Kuvuta's reaction.

The girl on the opposite side of the room tore herself away from the Twi'lek and ran screaming from the room to flee towards the exit of the house. When she got there, she noticed that the handle on that door was way too high up. Marasha knew that even if her small hand could have reached it, it would be useless, because Kuvuta always locked the front door. Deprived of a way out, the girl desperately banged on the door with her little fists and shouted something in her own language. Kuvuta went after her to calm her down, but the little one didn't stop screaming. Although she let go of the door, she instead clung to the Twi'lek's legs and began to cry bitterly, pleading and whimpering in her language between torrents of tears.

"Ysca, Tsvala!" Kuvuta shouted loudly upwards.

Immediately the two Twi'lek girls came down. "Take her up to the protocol droid and have a little chat with her until Dool gets back."

The two children immediately rushed towards the new child and tried to lead her away. However, it wasn't that easy because the little one was still clinging to the legs of her new carer. So Kuvuta Pindi had to accompany them until they reached the room where the protocol droid was.

"Hello, I'm C4PX, protocol droid. "I'm here to learn Basics with you," the silver protocol droid parroted, as if three distraught children and one worried adult were completely normal.

"You'll get something to eat later," said the Twi'lek, leaving the three girls alone with the silver protocol droid. Then she went back downstairs to finish organizing dinner.

Dool Pundar and Bearsh had returned. Bearsh, as he had always done for the past two years, wore his uniform proudly, preferring it to the clothes he had arrived here with. He only had to leave his weapons on board the Profit; Kuvuta had insisted on that.

Everyone sat down at the table to eat. As usual, Bearsh happily sat on Dool's left side, while Kuvuta sat on his right side. After the meal was over, Kuvuta sent the children to their rooms, but took Bearsh and Marasha aside.

"You two have a lot to explain to us," Kuvuta said in a threatening tone. "Can you think of anything you wanted to tell us?"

Cousin and cousin shook their heads in unison.

"Then let's go upstairs," Kuvuta said sternly.

Bearsh looked at Dool, who, however, looked at him with a blank expression, which in turn indicated to Bearsh that the Neimoidian already knew what was to follow. He became even more uncomfortable.

They entered the room where Ysca and Tsvala were talking to the new girl and the protocol droid.

"The protocol droid doesn't recognize her language," Tsvala said. "And she doesn't speak any other foreign languages."

The new girl recoiled, pressing her back against the wall as Kuvuta, Dool, Marasha, and Bearsh entered.

"It's okay, they won't hurt you," Tsvala tried to calm her down and spontaneously hugged the new girl.

The new girl immediately buried her head in the little Twi'lek's lap, as if not looking could save her.

"Well, Bearsh and Marasha...perhaps you can explain the girl's reaction to me," Dool began.

Marasha and Bearsh looked at each other. Bearsh's expression vacillated between concern and uncertainty as to how to behave as his cousin waited to see if, or rather, that he would say something to break the silence.

"Perhaps Tsvala and Ysca should leave before we explain," Bearsh began.

Kuvuta squatted down and took the girl from Tsvala. The little one immediately crawled into the Twi'lek's lap and nestled against her chest. The two Twi'lek girls left the room, leaving the six of them if you counted the protocol droid.

"Well?" Dool asked more forcefully, his gaze sliding over Marasha to settle on Bearsh, who was rubbing his right hand sheepishly over his brown uniform. "She seems to know you, although perhaps only by species. And I have a strong suspicion that you two know her species too. So…!"

"We're not Geroons," Bearsh finally said. "She is one."

Kuvuta smiled at the little one and pointed her finger at herself. "I Twi'lek."

She pointed the same finger at the strange girl. "You Geroon."

Then she pointed her finger at Marasha and Bearsh. "They are …?"

"Vagaari!" said the little one, more quietly than she had ever spoken since she was in the house.

Marasha noticed Kuvuta wince. Apparently she had no idea what kind of new arrival Dool had organized for her that day. The Twi'lek's bright green eyes scanned her and her cousin as if they were seeing them for the very first time. There was a moment of silence.

"Is that true?" Kuvuta asked Marasha.

"Yes, that's right. We are Vagaari," she confirmed.

"You know," Dool began, "your cousin has been involved in some contradictions aboard my ship. Considering that your people were allegedly hunted and harassed by others, he said far too little about these others - for example about the Vagaari, whom he had mentioned to the immigration officer as persecutors. Three years later, however, he no longer considered it worth mentioning to me - even though the Vagaari had supposedly shot at him and you back then."

Marasha began to remember. Yes, the immigration officer had asked her in Minnisiat who had shot at her. Why did Bearsh have... back then?

"And his entire behavior on board the Profit showed me that he was used to shooting, making decisions, and accepting the suffering of others," she heard Dool Pundar continue. "It is also not fitting for a people to allow themselves to be oppressed by others when they own slaves themselves!"

At these words, Kuvuta abruptly turned her head away from the group and looked out the window at the city.

"So I sent someone to the Crustai Sector to investigate," Dool continued. "It is true, the Vagaari have disappeared. You two appear to be the last of your kind, but the memory of you and your actions out there is still quite fresh."

He paused. Bearsh's expression had fallen slack, while Marasha slumped her shoulders and looked worriedly at the floor.

"Now I'm not an Un-Neimoidian and I know that a lot of people there are mad at you and you don't want to get into trouble because of it," the Neimoidian continued in a more conciliatory manner. "On the contrary, I completely understand that. The question now is, do you want to keep your secret or admit it to everyone?"

"We must protect our people in case there are any of us left in hiding," Bearsh replied as if from a blaster. "If the Geroon stays here, she will rat us out and cause problems!"

"Not if you leave here," Dool continued.

"Are you sending us away? Because of … her?" Bearsh asked in disbelief, suppressing what Marasha suspected was a meaner word.

"No. We obviously waited until we had arranged something suitable for you, before we decided to take this step," Dool began, broaching a new topic. "Nevertheless, we wanted to know who we were actually dealing with."

Dool turned to Bearsh. "I have an arrangement with the Banking Clan who is looking for debt collectors to bring defaulters to justice. Tomorrow morning a Muun will come by and pick you up and give you instructions. You've learned enough from me to make a good impression there, now that you're sixteen years old."

"But you," he looked at Marasha, "will sing from now on, for Noggox the Hutt. He resides on the planet Affa and is very rich. He loves the arts and you will have a good time with him. Your cousin is welcome to visit you there. In return he will get his old ship back from me."

Dool Pundar gave Bearsh a smile, but all that came back was a gasp.

"Was I really that bad?" Bearsh asked.

"No, not at all," Dool assured, patting Bearsh on the shoulder. "Otherwise I would not have sent any of my people to this star cluster in the Unknown Regions because of your secret. Instead, I would have sold you off to some lousy provincial prince who gives you no vacation and even less salary. But a job with the Banking Clan is safe and well paid. Plus, you can make connections there that benefit us all."

"How much do you get for the transfer?" Bearsh asked reservedly.

Dool smiled mysteriously. "More than enough. The Muuns don't care where you come from as long as you do what they ask of you."

"Will I really just have to sing there?" Marasha asked doubtfully.

Kuvuta smiled at the young Vagaari. "You are one of the last of your kind. And you have two mouths, so you can warble to some extent. Noggox would truly be stupid to harm you. But I guess you'll know how to sell yourself well once you get to Affa."

"Sell," Marasha said skeptically. "The word has the ring of semantics to it."

"We all do that occasionally – some more, some less," Kuvuta replied evenly. "But the most important thing is that we make the best of it and always have something in our hands that protects us from others."

"Here's my com link number," Dool said, handing Marasha and Bearsh a business card. "You can call me or leave messages at any time. Now go to sleep so that Hana, Ysca and Tsvala can have dinner too, because it's already pretty late."

"And what if she tells others about us and our people?" Bearsh asked suspiciously.

The Neimoidian placed his green hand over his heart. "She won't sing, I guarantee you that with the life of my stock!"

Bearsh looked up into the red eyes that glowed down at him from above, without seeming arrogant or snooty. He had never heard Dool say such a vow before. So he decided to leave it at that.

"Bearsh, you will be waiting in the lobby at six o'clock tomorrow with your suitcase packed," the Neimoidian said about what was next. "The Muun transporter is big enough to take your ship too." He smiled. "The banking clan appreciates it when people bring their own flying devices. I had it overhauled so you don't get into trouble with security checks."

He turned to the Vagaari girl next to Bearsh. "Marasha, it's your turn to leave us at eight o'clock."

She nodded and the two Vagaari left the room to go to the hallway from which their rooms for each four people led off.

"So her name is Hana," Marasha said to Bearsh as they made their way to their rooms.

Bearsh mouths twisted in displeasure. "What does it matter? Tomorrow a new life will dawn for us."

Marasha slept restlessly that night. Before the alarm bell rang, she got up because she felt a tingling sensation on her neck. She quickly put on something and sneaked into the girls' washroom to get ready. She had barely finished washing and dressing when she saw Bearsh knocking on the door of her room, his packed suitcase in his hand.

"Here I am!" she said from the washroom and stepped into the hallway.

Bearsh smiled at her almost imperceptibly. They went downstairs to see a tall, very thin humanoid with almost white skin. His yellow eyes were small and his mouth was similar to Dool Pundar's, but a line and not as jagged as the Neimoidian's. As if he wasn't already tall enough, he wore a tall cylindrical hat on his head, which went well with his black and green robe. Dool stood next to the stranger to talk to him quietly in Basic.

"Goodbye, cousin," Bearsh said to Marasha. "If the Hutt does anything to you, I'll slit his throat myself!" he promised.

She smiled and looked into his purple eyes. "Good luck and goodbye. See you!"

They hugged briefly and she felt a fleeting kiss from his left mouth on her neck. She flinched briefly, then the farewell was already over and she turned away to prepare for her new life.

Author's Note: Dool Pundar, Kuvuta Pindi and Charky are characters that appear in the comic Strange Allies, which was published as volume 11 of The Clone Wars series by Panini in 2011. All the other children can be seen in the comic, but do not have names.

There are no descriptions of what Geroons look like in the current Star Wars universe. So all descriptions of Hana and other Geroons in this story are mine.