Kira laid in bed, stared at the ceiling, and thought, how did this happen? No, she knew how it happened. Why did it happen? No, she knew why it happened. What were they going to do?

It started out so simply. The Twi'lek villagers lost a lot of livestock in the attack, so they prepared a feast for the Jedi. They stood under canopies in the devastated village and ate and ate and ate. Ranna appeared for a short time with Dax'l. Son of the Matriarch and the Hero, born in battle, destined to do great things. With his parents, it could happen.

"Chancellor Janarus contacted me," Ranna told Master Satele. "He wants to use any non-archeological areas of Tython to supply Coruscant while Uphrades is recovering. He offered us shield generators, more droids, the best possible seed."

"Reasonable," Satele said.

"I turned him down," Ranna said. "We came to Tython to be free. We have a good arrangement with the Jedi, but you don't own us. Tython has a lot of arable land. It doesn't need ours."

Agenord chuckled. "You were so unsure of yourself a year ago."

"Life happens," Ranna said.

"It does," he replied.

Ranna said, "Eseni, he's hungry again."

Eseni nodded and grabbed the handles of the hover chair. "Master Agenord, your son is a monster."

"Babies are like that," he said.

Eseni shrugged and pushed Ranna toward the door. Before she was back inside, Ranna looked at Agenord when he wouldn't notice. That was more pain than Kira could have survived.

Soon after, a Mirialan Padawan appeared, headed straight toward Agenord. He seemed to be expecting her.

"Tell me it's not true," she said. "Tell me he's not your cousin."

Oh, shit, Kira thought.

"What did you see?" Agenord asked.

"Him, ready to kill Master Jarro," she said.

Agenord said, "How did he make it past the crew of the Aurora?"

"The captain only sent droids, no crew."

"Did you sense the deaths of the crewmembers?" Agenord asked.

"I didn't know them well enough," she said. "We hadn't been on the Aurora very long. I spent most of the time training."

"Why were the two of you on the Aurora?" he asked.

"To escort it," she said.

"One of the most famous Jedi alive was needed to escort a ship about to be decommissioned?" he said.

"That's what Master Jerro told me," she said.

"Ter'viro would never kill the crew of the Aurora," Agenord said. "It's not in him. His target, yes. Innocent crewmembers? No. Something else was going on, something Master Jarro didn't want you to see."

"Are you just protecting your cousin?" she asked.

"No," he said. "I'm getting to the bottom of it. Why did the Mandalorians commit an act of war against the Republic? Why has the Republic response been so restrained? Help me find the real answers, Padawan."

"Don't you have a conflict of interest?" she said.

He shrugged. "So do you."

"How do you know he didn't do it?" she asked.

He smiled. "Yarra pups."

"I'll admit," she said. "Master Jarro's behavior was strange. If we searched for an answer, where would we start?"

"The Mandalorians," Agenord said. "Especially the hundred Master Jarro killed."

"I will meditate on it," she said. "Thank you. If he's guilty, what will you do?"

"Send him to prison," Agenord said. "I wouldn't have any trouble subduing him."

After the Padawan left, Kira said, "Why those hundred?"

Agenord and Master Satele shared a look. "Master Jarro never killed a hundred Mandalorians at the Sacking of Coruscant. I trained with him. He was good, but not a hundred Mandalorians good."

"The Council knew?" Kira said.

"Suspected," Master Satele said. "He was sent to save lives. He succeeded. How he succeeded was less important at the time."

"Now what?" Kira said.

Agenord said, "We poke the nest."

Then, she had to train with Master Yvie.

"Something wrong?" Yvie asked.

"Surprised is all," Kira said. Yvie was fully clothed. "With the stories I've heard. But let's start training."

"If you want me naked, I don't mind," Yvie said.

"That's okay," Kira said. "Why do you do that?"

"I prefer being naked," Yvie said. "I always have. When I learned it could get me things, I enjoyed it even more."

"Get you what, exactly?"

"Feeling the lust from a room full of men," she said and smiled. "Hearing the thoughts of the louder minds. Seeing glimpses of what they would do to me." She sighed.

"Is this just a power trip for you?" Kira said.

Yvie paused for a while. "That's an interesting point. I need to think about that. Anyway, let's get started."

After two hours, they took a break.

"What was this for again?" Yvie asked.

Kira took a long drink of water from her flask and said, "The Council thinks it will protect me from the Emperor's intrusion."

"The Emperor," Yvie said. "Really?"

"Problem?" Kira said.

"No," Yvie said. "It's fine. Agenord is fighting the Emperor now." She sighed. "Be careful when you shield someone else, especially if they have a preexisting influence. It's more control than most people want."

"Like what?" Kira asked.

"Sergeant Dorne," Yvie said. "I needed to calm her down. I found something buried pretty deep, but it worked. She calmed down."

"Did you tell her about it?" Kira said.

"I forget," Yvie said. "But, I'm sure she's fine." She glared at nothing for a while. "I need to stretch." She stood up, pulled off her clothes, stretched for five minutes, and sat down again. "Ready?"

"You're still naked."

"I know," Yvie said. "Sit down. We need to keep going."

Kira sighed and sat down.

Master Yvie was naked for the next three sessions, and Kira had trouble concentrating.

"Try it," Yvie said.

Fine, Kira thought. She stripped down, but it did not help her concentrate.

"Not bad," Yvie said. "Do you want Tharan to come in so you can feel the lust?"

"No," Kira said.

"Let me call him," Yvie said.

"Master Yvie," Kira said.

Yvie tapped the comm. "Tharan, would you come down to the cargo bay?"

Tharan sighed. "You got Master Kira naked, didn't you?"

"Do you want to see her?" Yvie said.

"I respect Master Kira and her ability to do me harm with the Force," Tharan said. "I will therefore decline."

"His loss, I guess," Yvie said. "Let's get back to it."

She had the whole thing stuck in her head. They had to finish early. When she got back to the Guardian, Agenord was training. Shirtless. That really didn't help.

Then, Grandmaster Satele spoke with her.

"I get it," Kira said. "If it happens again, Agenord is one of the few people that can stop the Emperor."

"It's more than that," Satele said.

"No one else can keep up with him," Kira said. "That's why you won't give him another Padawan."

"Yes," Satele said. "And you work well together. And he trusts you. And you keep him balanced."

"You want me to stop him from turning," Kira said. "I don't know if I can. I didn't tell you about Nefarid. Agenord didn't just kill him. He used more Force power than I'd ever seen and held Nefarid in place until the Death Mark killed him."

"Do you know why?" Satele asked.

"We'd just seen Master Orgus killed," Kira said. "Agenord let it get to him."

Satele said, "Then you are needed more than ever."

"I can barely keep up with him," Kira said.

"I know," Satele said. "But you've done better than most."

Then Xal.

"Is that what I think it is?" Agenord said. He was in the conference room with Xal on holo.

"It is," Xal said. "Your father confirmed it."

"Is what?" Kira asked, poking her head in.

"Complicated," Agenord said. "I'll tell you later."

"What's it about?" she asked.

"Ter'viro's girlfriend," Agenord told her. "She's dying. This looks like Republic and Imperial tech."

"That too," Xal said. "Before the grenade, they were contacted by someone claiming to be from SIS."

"When it rains, it pours," Agenord said.

"Anything about the Aurora?" Kira asked.

Xal said, "Ter'viro told me he knew Agenord would be looking into it. He didn't say how he knew."

"I know how he knew," Agenord said. "How serious is he about her?"

Xal smiled. "He made Mom's casserole for her twice."

"No shit," Agenord said. "I will ask Agent Galen. Maybe he can help."

"Thanks," Xal said. "He'll be happy to hear that."

"Don't get too close on either one, Xal," Agenord said. "I know that will hurt, but you'll make it easier for the rest of us."

Xal said, "Yeah, that'll hurt, but I get it."

Kira said, "How is Sergeant Dorne?"

Xal looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Master Yvie said something about finding buried commands," Kira said. "She used them to calm Sergeant Dorne on Tatooine. Or something like that."

"Oh," Xal said in a hard voice. "I will pass that on."

"I've been training with Master Yvie," Kira said. "Maybe I could help."

"Please," Xal said. "Contact her as soon as you can. I know you're busy, but she needs the help."

"I will do that," Kira said, and Xal switched off.

"He was serious about that," Agenord said. "Something scared him."

"Scared him, how?"

"I don't know," Agenord said. "But she needs help."

He defended her to Master Kaedan again. Of course, he had to defend her like Agenord.

"The Emperor tried turning Kira against me. He failed. She's proven herself to me, and I trust her with my life."

Shit, Agenord.

She was supposed to train more with Master Yvie, but the other Jedi had to leave for Mos Entha. Something about someone "fucking up her game." So, Kira trained on her own in the Guardian. She thought about training naked, but decided on shorts and a simple shirt. Then Agenord showed up, shirtless, and ready to train.

"I'll come back," he said.

"It's fine," she said. "I'm too distracted right now." Put a shirt on, Agenord, please.

"Do you still want training?" he asked.

"We can train together," she said. If she didn't, she'd never keep up with him. "The best part about being a Knight is I can stop calling you 'Master.'"

"You were never that serious about it anyway," he said.

"Right," she said. She was walking past him and stopped to-

Agenord sighed and rolled over. "I can't sleep with you thinking so loud."

"Don't read my thoughts," she told him.

"I can't," he said. "But your emotions are screaming at me."

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"We'll figure it out," he said.

Figure it out. Sure. The two heroes of the day just violated one of the biggest rules.

"Do we tell them?" she asked.

"Eventually," he said. "But, the Council is busy. We're going to be busy. And I think we've earned a favor or two."

"Yeah," she said. "Am I just a distraction?"

"Bastila Shan was anything but a distraction," Agenord said. "Revan needed her like no one else."

She smiled at that. He was right. Champions did not travel their paths alone. The most successful had people around them, people that gave them strength the Force couldn't. But, Bastila was also a tragic figure in her way. And her grandchildren. Damn. The fate of the Champion follows you. Hopefully, the same wouldn't happen to Dax'l.