‘This situation was awkward on many levels. Let’s just think over my options here calmly.’

‘It seems that I have managed to dig my grave again somehow. This guy seems like a ridiculously powerful jedi knight even if he is relatively young.’

‘Adding the careful way he holds Tano’s body while sending doom promising glares towards me, I would have to say that he must be her master.’

‘He is indeed surprisingly young for clearly being a master. Aren’t jedi masters usually appointed in their mid-twenties at least? I would think that he is not even twenty yet...’

‘Well, it could be explained by his outstanding level of midi-chlorian count. This vibrating raw power radiating around him is the telltale sign of extreme force powers. This guy is going to be a pain to face in the future. In fact, I bet he already is.’

‘Looking at the way he holds himself, he doesn’t lack actual battle experience.’

‘His also extreme anger was probably another factor in the equation.’

‘I considered trying explaining to him that he totally misheard what I said. But when I looked him in the eyes to start my explanation, I had to realize that he already made up his mind about what I said, and anything else I might say would sound like an excuse to him.’

‘Come now Ahsoka, please wake up. I have a feeling that I will need your guarding capabilities, very soon...’

‘Now, while he is still preoccupied with checking over her injuries, is the best chance to run away. I turned around slowly, as if that was the most natural thing in the world to do.’

‘I was getting ready to break into an all-out run when I heard an even more threatening voice from behind me. It was daring me to run away.’

‘I looked behind me for just a second, yep he was even angrier than before, if that is even possible. I began to run, using my best speed enhancements and agility enhancements through the force.’

‘Then I also begin to hide my presence in the force, which should do the trick, at least until Ahsoka wakes up and calms him down.’

‘After about a minute of running around the corridors in breakneck speed, I stopped. He didn’t follow me. He most likely has gone to the infirmary with Tano. Good enough, I am not in the mood to deter his rage-induced advances at the moment.’

“Damn, I am hungry.” — ‘Where is the kitchen here? I am obviously cursed to lose my guide so soon. Since it is breakfast time, I will go where I sense the most force signals gather.’

‘I carefully sensed my surrounding. Then I began to walk roughly toward the largest gathering of force signals. I also checked that mister crazy guy is not heading in that direction for safety standards.‘

“Finding happiness in the small things is the key of lasting happiness, they say.”

‘I started my long walk towards the supposed public cantina.’

‘While I walked, I had time to look around in a relaxed manner. The temple was truly empty. Or at least it felt like that. This war most likely cost many jedi lives already.’

‘I focused on this thought to clarify my hypothesis. I began to channel a very minuscule quantity of dark side energies, forcefully siphoning towards me some of the negative thoughts and feelings lingering around the empty corridors.’

‘Pictures of crying padawans, depressed friends, and emotionally broken or hurt masters began to appear in my mind. Some lost their masters, some their padawans or their friends, in many cases both, and all of this happened in the last few months.’

‘This thick yet almost invisible taint was present in every corridor I walked through. These negative energies have already begun to weaken the senses of the light siders.’

‘I only realized it because my light side powers became somewhat dull in the few days I arrived here. On the other hand, my dark side energies are having a small party in the backyard.’

‘It was strange since this was supposed to be a Jedi Temple, not a sith one, but I guess I have found the source of it. Grief, no man or woman can truly suppress his or her emotions. The jedi were only lying to themselves if they thought otherwise. Hmm, anyway, I can snack on these dark side energies while I find the cantina. It’s not like anyone would miss it.‘

‘Thinking about it, this is quite a splendid exercise for my current body. Constantly expending force energy while replacing it with siphoned ones is very economical. I frowned for a moment.‘

“Except maybe the fact that I feel like a damn vacuum cleaner. I hope the food is good here. Since I am doing a favour to these guys anyway.“

‘A few minutes later, I was still wandering the corridors. This place was like a giant labyrinth, it was made to even confuse force sensitives.’

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‘Like when you rely on your senses and try to follow them in a straight line, it always ends in a dead-end or turns in the exact opposite direction.’

‘I saw this kind of building style in old sith ruins too. It was created this way to buy time for an evacuation or to organize a defense while the potentially force-sensitive intruders tried to reach their goal, most likely using the force to guide them.’

‘I sighed. Every temple had its own unique defense layout, therefore it was no help, that I have many examples in the archive.’

‘I was about to turn off my force-sensing ability that I used to find the location of the cantina. When I noticed that in a few rooms down this corridor, there was another weak force presence in a room. It is time to ask for help, I decided. I walked up to the door, then knocked on it politely.’

‘I waited for a while, then the door opened. A small human girl was standing before me. She had beautiful black hair while being a few years younger than me.’

‘I looked at her silky hair admiringly, noticing the padawan braid proudly displayed on the side of her head.’

‘Oh, what a surprise, she was already a padawan. Sadly, her eyes looked haunted and sad. There was as immeasurable loss surrounding her for presence.’

‘She was likely crying just a few seconds ago. I thought back to those dark memories I had consumed recently. She likely lost her master in a skirmish. What a mess. I bent over a bit and looked her in the eyes.’

“Hi sweetheart, could you help this big sister a little?”

‘She looked at me with a bit of confusion, but she was obviously interested. I made a sad and lost expression while describing my predicament to her.’

“It seems that I have lost my way. I am hungry and can’t find the cantina.”

‘She looked at me funny. Clearly caught in my act.’

“Oh, look at silly me! My name is Nizzal.” — ‘I smiled at her.’ — “You can call me Nizzy if you ask me. In exchange for your help, you can become my first friend here.”

‘She smiled at last and giggled a little. Then she nodded.’

“Thank the force! I am really hungry, you see. I didn’t eat anything since I arrived to this planet and that was almost a whole day ago.”

“This big sis is still in her growth period. If I got stuck at this height, I will sue the jedi council for child abuse.” — ‘I boasted. Making the young girl giggle again.’

‘On a whim, I picked up the very surprised little girl, placed her on my shoulders with considerable effort. She wasn’t that small compared to me… but I managed with some minor force enchantments.’

“Lead the way, captain!”

‘She snorted. Her warm, happy laughter seemed to quickly fill the empty corridors with life.’

“By the way, captain, how may I address her ladyship?“

‘She laughed again, then answered.’

“You may call me Rika!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

‘Ten minutes later, we arrived in high spirits at the cantina. The moment we walked in, I could sense the people’s genuine surprise. They were looking at me with a somewhat shocked expression, which soon turned into a sense of gratitude.’

‘Oh, I see. They were not surprised because of my arrival, but Rika’s arrival. She must have been holed up in her room for quite some time for her presence to have such an effect on the knights, and some of the older padawans.’

‘I saw the healer lady that helped me out yesterday, sending me a very relieved and thankful smile, but also a slight frown. Oh, I should probably put down Rika before each youngling demands a piggyback ride from me. I put her down on the floor, giving her my thanks.’

“May I join you at the table, my lady?”

‘She was hesitating, then slowly nodded. Ah, there was a handful of disapproving glances sent towards me for my little act. I guess they didn’t have windows in their children’s room back then. Wait, they are jedi. That means that they are even proud of this fact.’

“So, how do you eat here usually Rika?”

“You will have to go to that droid behind the counter and tell it the number of the menu you want to order. I and my master always used to eat number six.”

‘She looked a bit sad after telling me that.’

“Hmmm... how about this? I will choose something to eat for you and you will choose something for me? It’s a game, if some of us didn’t want to eat it we can exchange it with each other. Oh, as a twi’lek I can eat mostly the same things as you, so chose something that you can eat at least.”

“Okay.”

‘I looked at the menu. There were a few different dishes available, it seemed that on every day of the week there were ten different pickable options.’

‘Let’s see what is the number six, ah, sandwiches with different toppings and sauces. I can understand why a child would want that. There are about five choices that are not for humans, so that is off-limit.’

‘There are two fish menus, interesting. Fried meat pieces of the giant baiting fish of Naboo and Mon Cala’s special squid.’

‘No, not really what I was looking for. What are the other two? Oh, Klatooine paddy frog steeped in grog placed on potato bed.’

‘I looked at Rika, no she is definitely not a Hutt then skip. What is the last one? Krayt dragon steak softened and smeared in spiced bacta. Wait, what? That is actually cool. I will pick this one.‘

‘We got our already finished dishes from the droid and picked an empty table. It turned out that Rika decided to pick the sandwiches for me.’

‘I had no problem with it. I got three of them, each one had different meat slices and toppings on them, also different sauces. It was nothing special, but I liked it. She was looking at the Krayt dragon steak, but I could see after the first bite that she liked it.’

‘Thank the force, I wouldn’t want to make her disappointed. We were immersed in our own world while happily eating the food.’

‘I was finishing the last half of my third sandwich when a heavy hand suddenly grabbed my right shoulder.’

‘I looked behind and almost choked on the sandwich piece I was munching on at the moment.‘

“Come with me.” — ‘Came the emotionless voice in an ordering manner.’

‘I completely forgot about him! I coughed a few times, trying to clear my wind-pipe from any sandwich residue. Earning more than a few curious glances from the other people in the meantime.’

‘I felt the robotic hand under the thick gloves slowly tighten its grasp around my shoulder.’

“Move.” — ‘Sounded his imperious command.’

‘I stood up, gave a weak smile to Rika, who was looking at us with wide eyes, then I was tugged out of the cantina by the self-proclaimed... Well, you know.’