Joma Phrel raised her hand to her friend's doorchime, but drew it back. Maybe Obi-Wan didn't wish to be disturbed. On the other hand, she was the only other person dealing with the same situation he was dealing with, and while she hadn't wanted to be disturbed, she would have welcomed him. She pressed the chime.

After only a moment, Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared. At the sight of her, his stern expression softened. "Joma." He looked like he might say something else, but he didn't -- he just stood aside, mutely inviting her in.

Joma watched him as he went to the kitchen and put the kettle on for tea. Of course, Obi-Wan, like Qui-Gon and Sionnach, was hard hit by the loss of Anakin -- he wasn't the kid's master, but he'd been close enough. And he was there when Skywalker really, literally, turned. It wasn't the same for her. She had Sionnach to take care of, but she didn't have to worry about taking care of herself at the same time. "How is he?"

Obi-Wan was standing in front of the cold box, looking blankly at its top shelf. Without turning around, he shrugged one shoulder. "Not any worse," he said, pulling the cream jug out and setting it on the counter. "How's she?"

"About the same." Joma looked carefully at Obi-Wan. He got a tin of tea down from the cabinet, turned and leaned against the counter to face her, and began to pry off the lid. "How are you, Obi-Wan?"

"Hmm?" He struggled with the lid.

"How are you?"

"I'm --" He rapped the tin against the counter once. "I'm fine."

"Good."

He was really fighting it now. "Yeah, I'm doing fine, if I could just --" His hand pulled away from the tin, but the lid stayed where it was. "Just get the damned --" He hit the tin against the counter twice more, rotating it. "The damned TEA!" He hurled the tea tin across the kitchen; it bounced off the wall, landed right-side up, and sat innocently in the corner while Obi-Wan dropped to his knees and sobbed.

Joma let him be for a minute, then came over to him and sat down at his side. She reached up with the Force and switched off the heat under the teakettle, but remained next to Obi-Wan, sitting cross-legged on his kitchen floor, not speaking. What was there for her to say? She sat and watched him while he cried, and when he seemed to be quieting, she leaned her head on his shoulder. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her, the way she had seen scared children hug their parents; she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him until she felt him start to let go.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

He dried his eyes. "Wow. That was unexpected."

"Not really," she said with a slight smile.

"Well, I wasn't expecting it." He managed a smile also, and helped her stand. "So where were we?"

"I had just asked you how you were, and I got my answer." Joma tucked her arms back into her sleeves and swung her hair over her shoulder.

"Right. And I was going to offer you some tea," Obi-Wan said. "Would you like some?"

"Only if you're making some for yourself," Joma said.

"Then I think I won't," Obi-Wan decided, putting the milk back in the cooler and retrieving the tea tin from the other side of the room. "I don't think I care to know how I'd react if the tin went two out of three." He laughed a little.

Joma didn't. She watched him put the things away, and followed him back out into the living room to sit down. "Palpatine's established another layer of government," she said. "He's putting about a hundred of his own people in as regional governors. All across the galaxy."

Obi-Wan looked at her. "But he can't do that," he said. "All the members have their own governments."

"The planetary governors still govern their specific constituencies. But they're to be responsible to these regional governors, now. Supposed to be a step in the direction of equality."

"Responsible to the -- but what about the senators?"

"The senators represent their people, he says, but they live here. The regional governors live there, among the people." She made a wry face. "The people are crazy about it. They don't realize that the governors represent him."

"They also don't realize he's dripping with the Dark Side of the Force," Obi-Wan said. "Why do they --"

"Kenobi, these people don't know the Force from a thunderstorm," Joma said. "If you told them 'This guy is dripping with the Dark Side of the Force,' they'd think the Dark Side was what made good government."

"Why are you telling me this, Joma?" Kenobi said, getting to his feet, suddenly irritated. "This is supposed to distract me from the fact that --"

"No, not at all," Joma interrupted. "The Council is meeting the day after tomorrow to try to discuss what to do about it. Since, with Anakin on his side, now, I mean --"

"I see." Obi-Wan paced back and forth.

"They'd like you and Qui-Gon to be there."

"I'm sure they would."

"Come on, Kenobi. You're the one who said the chancellor is dripping with the Dark Side. It's a good bet that bad things are going to start happening pretty soon. We're not the only ones who can fight back, but we can at least fight fire with fire. Isn't it better to have a plan in place ahead of time, rather than always be catching up? General?"

He glared at her. She glared right back. Finally, he looked away. "Fine. If I can get Qui-Gon to go, I'll go with him."

"Will you try?"

"I promise."

"All right," she said, rising. "Please tell him I stopped by." She thought for a moment. "Would he come, if Sionnach asked for him?"

Kenobi smiled a genuine smile. "He'd rise from the dead if Sionnach asked for him. Swore himself her protector."

"That's a good thing to keep in mind," Joma pointed out, turning to go. "Speaking of which, how's Amidala doing?"

His face clouded again. "Bail Organa is looking after her. She does better when she's not near the temple. I believe she spends her time weeping and trying to forget." He swallowed once.

"And the child?"

"Healthy. It grows."

Joma nodded. "Stay well, Kenobi," she said. "And tell Master Jinn I'm thinking of him. Don't -- I can let myself out," she added, when he would have gotten up. She palmed open the door, closed it softly behind her, and turned to go home.

"Master Phrel," an unfamiliar voice called from behind her.

Joma stopped and turned. The voice belonged to a tall, fair-haired woman, her face lined with as much character as age. Joma tucked her hands into her sleeves and bowed slightly. "It's Knight Phrel," she said, "Master ... ?"

"Jendea Ral," the other woman said, her bow even more shallow than Joma's -- scarcely more than a nod. "apVess-Norill is your first padawan?"

"She is. Is there --"

"How is she doing?"

Joma was puzzled. "You're asking, so you must know that she's not well. If there's nothing I can do for you, Master Ral, I should --"

"Yes, the loss of Skywalker is a terrible thing. Those who were closest to him are feeling it the hardest, of course," Ral said, gesturing to Jinn and Kenobi's door, "but it has affected us all."

Realization hit Joma like a blow to the head. "Of course! Master Ral! Forgive me, I --"

The woman smiled. "I knew you'd place me sooner or later. Let's walk and talk." They set off down the corridor. "What surprises me," Master Ral said, "is how long I've been unaware of you, and of your padawan. And, it seems, of Knight Skywalker and seven other Adepts." Joma looked sideways at the master, whose gaze flickered over to her only momentarily. "Eleven of us," she said. "That's a lot." Joma opened her mouth to speak, but Ral raised a preemptive hand. "Spare me the dissembling, Knight Phrel," she said. "I spoke to Mace this morning, and he confirmed it. His padawan is the eldest of eight Adepts between the ages of ten and twenty. If that's not a sign that something big is coming, I don't know what is."

"Master Yoda says last time it was the Sith Wars."

Jendea Ral snorted. "Does he? Well, there you are, then. Yoda's not good for much, but he does have a mind like a durasteel trap." They reached a corner. Master Ral stopped walking, and fixed Joma in an icy blue stare. "Skywalker has turned," she said. "The backlash, as I understand it, was the Force trying to strengthen us. And now Palpatine has --"

Joma nodded. "I know. The Council is meeting to discuss that the day after tomorrow."

Ral's eyebrows arched. "Really. I wonder if they were intending to mention that to me -- or to any of the other Adepts' masters." She narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment, then looked back at Joma. "Well. I'm glad to have met you, Knight Phrel, brief though our meeting was," she said. "I suddenly have urgent business elsewhere, but I have no doubt we will meet again soon."

"I look forward to it, Master Ral," Joma replied with a smile as she bowed low. The elder woman bowed and glided away down the corridor.

Turning back toward her own quarters, Joma felt a tiny stab of discomfort at having revealed the Council's schedule to Master Ral. It didn't last long, though; when she had been sworn to secrecy, none of the past week's events could even have been imagined. Now, all bets were off.



Two days later, Joma stood in the Council's antechamber, gritting her teeth and curling her toes inside her boots to keep from pacing. It was just like the Council to keep them waiting, after having specifically requested that they be there. Hurry up and stand there doing nothing, she thought. Serenity ain't all it's cracked up to be. At the same time, it was fortunate the meeting hadn't begun yet, because Kenobi and Jinn hadn't arrived. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sionnach raise her head. The girl had been sitting quietly, looking toward the floor -- she couldn't really be said to have been looking at anything. Joma turned to see what had attracted her padawan's attention.

Mace Windu strode in, positively radiating tension. He bowed briefly; Joma was sure he would lock his knees and fall over. "Padawan. Knight Phrel. Haven't they started yet?"

"Ah, no, Master Windu, they haven't," Joma said. "Aren't you ... I thought your leave of absence was only partial?"

"It was -- well, but until Morgesh is knighted, he's the top priority. I'm more master than Councilor these days. So my remaining with the Council is only partial, in fact." He did pace back and forth. Joma found that his anxiety leeched hers right out of her; immediately, she felt as calm as the morning.

"Why isn't he with you now, if you don't mind my asking?" Joma gestured toward Sionnach. "This is a meeting that will concern him, after all."

"Well, it's a meeting about the chancellor's increasing seizure of power ..."

"Master Windu, please. You know as well as I do that --"

"Yes, I do," he interrupted her, "but given that I do still have a seat on the Council, I thought it might be wiser to maintain the fiction that ..." He trailed off, staring open-mouthed at the large doorway to the corridor.

Master Jendea Ral had just sailed into the antechamber, followed by a small crowd of her fellow-Jedi. Joma didn't need to count to know that there were fourteen of them: Ral's own padawan and master, and six master-padawan pairs. The group spaced out; though there was plenty of room in the antechamber, it suddenly seemed to be quite full. "Fiction, Mace? It's time, I think, for facts." Her smile was sad, weighted with the knowledge that despite having hoped and wished and even prayed otherwise, she had been right all along. Qui-Gon Jinn arrived, head high, shoulders slumped, eyes sunken. "And foremost among the facts at the moment," Master Ral went on, "is that this group now outnumbers the Council."

As if on cue, the double door to the Council chamber swung open. Sionnach rose and came to stand by Joma's side. Without realizing she had done it, Joma found that she and Sion had fallen in line behind Master Ral; along with her master and her padawan, they and the other Adepts and their masters formed a sort of ordered cluster behind the senior woman as she squared her shoulders and made to lead them into the Council chamber. Ral turned to Mace Windu. "Perhaps you'd like to comm for your padawan," she said. "Wherever you sit, don't you think he'd like to join us?"

Following Jendea Ral into the Council chamber, Joma marvelled at how smoothly the woman had assumed leadership of the situation -- brought seventeen confused, frightened people together and effectively made them a lobbying group -- and took a moment to be glad she wasn't the Council. Oh, you masters, she thought. There's a new sheriff in town.

She did wonder where Kenobi was, though. He'd said he'd be there if Jinn agreed to go, and she suspected Jinn would have made the same promise. Well, but they had specifically asked for Kenobi, she thought, so they'd certainly let him in even after the doors had closed.

There was no more time to muse. Several of the Councilors were on their feet; Yoda was angry, which was something Joma didn't think she'd ever seen before. Some of the padawans and younger knights hesitated uncertainly, but Master Ral strode right to the speaker's spot and took root there. She threw her cloak back over her shoulders and planted her fists on her hips.

"Master Jendea," Yoda said firmly, "closed meeting this is. You should not have come."

"Well, but I did. And I brought some other wrongfully-excluded --"

"How does this ..." Ki-Adi-Mundi began again. "Why should we have deliberately included these particular individuals?" he asked. "This is a discussion of the Supreme Chancellor's recent appointment of regional governors, and its --"

"You specifically summoned Jinn and Kenobi, and Phrel and apVess-Norill." Point to Ral. Joma's old debating days were never fresher in her memory. She smiled slightly.

"The Supreme Chancellor is now in control of Knight Skywalker. Qui-Gon Jinn was Skywalker's master. Obi-Wan Kenobi is Master Jinn's bondmate." An incomplete answer, but a faultlessly true one.

"But Knight Phrel and her padawan are not so closely tied to Knight Skywalker," Master Ral returned, picking up the dropped point. "Even Knight Kenobi is a stretch. If you include him, if you include Phrel and apVess-Norill, you should include all of us -- you should include all Jedi."

"You have not yet answered my question, Master Ral," Ki-Adi-Mundi said. "You speak of including all Jedi, but you bring a select group unbidden into our meeting. I see, looking around, that you have brought everyone who was in the infirmary last week with backlash. Are your Adepts to be considered more important than the rest of the order?"

Nicely argued, Joma thought. That was the sort of spin that threw a novice debater right out of the game. Fortunately, Jendea Ral was no novice. "Not at all," she flung back, "but we are different, and that difference could have killed us all. There are eleven of us, and the fact that this Council has kept that number a secret these ten years could have killed this child." She turned and pulled Banye Uinja, at twelve the youngest in the room but one, forward by the arm. "And not just Adepts are affected." The nearest non-Adept was her own padawan, Quellus Zavidni, and Ral grabbed him to stand on her other side. He was about sixteen, nearly as tall as his master, with green hair and broad, bony shoulders. Not releasing the two padawans, Master Ral suddenly turned and looked over her shoulder at the chamber door. "And not just Jedi are affected," she went on, triumphantly, turning back. "Here is Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan."

Precisely on the cue, the senator came through the doors into the Council chamber. Mace Windu and Morgesh Kwahl slipped in behind him and stood at the back of the group of Jedi. Organa stopped when he saw the crowd of Jedi already inside, his eyes resting on Joma and one or two others she supposed he recognized; quickly, though, he recovered his composure, and stepped briskly to the speaker's spot on the other side of Padawan Uinja from Master Ral. As one body, the rest of the Jedi took a half-step back, thinking not to crowd the senator with their presence, not wishing to impede his petition to the Council. Joma was pleased to note, though, that Master Ral and Padawans Uinja and Zavidni held their ground, subtly but effectively proving Ral's point.

Organa bowed low. "Master Jedi," he said to the whole Council, "please forgive the interruption. I've come to bring you news of Senator Naberrie." The Council stirred uncomfortably, and Joma could read Master Ral's smug grin on the back of her head. "Her condition is deteriorating rapidly. I do not believe she consistently recognizes anyone but me any more."

"Another psychic defense, this is," Yoda nodded. "Friend of the Force, Amidala is, but unable to hear its call. Shielding her mind from memories, it is, to spare her the pain -- but control it she cannot. Losing access to her mind, she is." Every head in the room bowed just a little. "Mind healers only can help her. Skilled in the Force."

"Right now, she won't come near the temple," Organa sighed. "If a Jedi healer can help her, can it wait until she's forgotten even more why the Jedi upset her so?" Yoda nodded solemnly. Organa thought for a moment. "In that case, she should go home. She can't maintain her seat in the senate. Not like this."

"She can't go back to Naboo." It was Sionnach who had spoken; everyone looked at her, startled. Joma hadn't heard the girl speak in eight days, but now her voice was clear and strong. She took a step forward out of the crowd, and looked unwaveringly at Master Yoda. "It was the chancellor who did this. Anakin turned to protect her from Palpatine. We can't send her to a place where he'll get her back and have them both -- and the baby."

Some of the Council squirmed again. Ki-Adi-Mundi spoke. "Is Senator Naberrie really our responsibi-- "

"I concur," said Qui-Gon Jinn and two others at the same time. All three stepped out of the crowd as well, one on the same side as Sionnach, two on the other. Joma nodded approvingly at the symmetry of it all, and could see the Council's resolve starting to weaken. The two knights, whose names Joma did not know, deferred to Jinn. He nodded his thanks to them and turned to address the Council. "Senator Naberrie isn't the issue; Chancellor Palpatine is. He is well skilled in the Dark Side of the Force. Only we can meet him on a level pitch; only we can use the Light Side to protect the people, including Anakin's wife and child, from the Dark Side. And because we can, we must." He looked over his shoulder at Joma, and though the haunted look did not leave his eyes, he shot her a grateful smile. I'll be damned. The old coot was listening.

Master Ral looked around her, plainly pleased with what she saw and heard. "Now tell me this, the knowledge that Palpatine is of the Dark, is unrelated to his institution of regional governorships," she said to the Council in a low voice. "Tell me his use of the Dark is unrelated to the numbers of Adepts we have in the order now. Tell me --"

The door banged open, and Joma felt a surge of someone else's emotions that hit her in the gut and made her see stars behind her eyes. Reaching blindly for support, she stretched out a hand and found a shoulder; she grabbed it and held on as she carefully dialed down her reception. She opened her eyes and saw the rest of the Adepts straightening up after having done the same. Their masters and Ral's padawan, the non-Adepts, wore expressions of helpless but informed concern. Joma nodded her appreciation to the owner of the shoulder. From the front of the small crowd, Qui-Gon looked back at her with worry darkening his eyes. 'It's fine,' she mouthed, making a don't-worry-about-it gesture with her hand. He glanced at Sionnach, back at Joma, and nodded slightly but significantly to the speaker's spot.

Kenobi had come in, and Joma couldn't remember when he'd looked more wretched. His robe was gone, his tunics ripped and singed; his skin was smudged with soot and burned, his hair wild, his eyes empty. Had his face carried an expression, he would have been the picture of abject misery. He had walked around the crowd of Jedi and stopped in front of the speaker's spot where Master Ral stood; now he went down on one knee, and said, his voice so quiet Joma could barely hear him, "I swore an oath I have been unable to keep. I beg the Force's forgiveness, though I know I do not deserve it."

"Told you, I have, that the Force blames you not," Yoda said gently.

"For Anakin's turning, you told me," Kenobi said, eyes shut, fists clenched. "But today I have failed in my own promise. I swore to protect them both, and I could not."

"No," Jinn said. All heads turned to look at him. "You swore to do what was in your power to protect them. I've taken the same oath before, and felt the same heartbreak when my power was not enough." He concluded simply, and did not step forward to Kenobi's side. Joma was mildly surprised, but supposed the couple was communicating out of the hearing of all others present. If Kenobi had wanted Jinn next to him, that was where he'd be.

"It's the truth, Obi-Wan," Depa Billaba said. "Tell us what makes you think otherwise, for I can see that you are not persuaded."

Obi-Wan swallowed. "I went today to bring Anakin back. I knew that he had not chosen the Darkness for its own sake, so I meant to convince him to renounce that Darkness and come back to us. This was my obligation, under the oath I swore on his bonding day. But he would not turn. He told me he had traded himself fairly for his wife and child, and that if he broke his word, their lives would be forfeit.

"He doesn't understand that at the root of the Dark Side is treachery and deceit. He thinks Palpatine has him instead of Amidala and the child; I tried to tell him Palpatine will continue to pursue Amidala, if she is what he wants. He became angry, and attacked me. I couldn't tell if he was angry at what I had said, or at me for saying it. We fought for some time; we were trained by the same master --" he glanced back at Jinn -- "so we were evenly matched. Finally he said that coming back to the Jedi would make him the sort of renegade I was insisting Palpatine was, and as long as he honored his promise to his new master he would escape being a liar and a cheat. That was when Palpatine arrived."

Kenobi took a deep breath that looked like it hurt him. Joma relaxed her shields just slightly, to see whether she could tell if and how badly he had been injured. "Palpatine said it was the Jedi who are liars, supposed to be guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy but really only guardians of ourselves, serving the Force instead of our fellow-men. He said men," Kenobi added hurriedly, when at least three Councilors opened their mouths to speak. "Not creatures."

Joma felt Sionnach's tug of distress a moment before the girl drifted back to stand at her side. She gave her padawan her hand; Sion grasped it in both of hers and stood close behind her. Gradually, as Kenobi continued to speak, Joma could see the rest of the crowd of Jedi do the same: one at a time, the padawans moved to stand nearby their masters, for strength or for comfort. The youngest ones wrapped themselves up in their masters' arms, facing front but now safely anchored in their masters' embraces. For others, it was enough simply to stand close by. Mace and Morgesh stood shoulder to shoulder, arms folded in their sleeves, stern looks on their faces -- a formidable pair. Even Jendea Ral retreated into the security of her master's immediate presence, followed by her own padawan; she wound her arm through his, and her master laid a hand on each of their shoulders.

Only Kenobi and Jinn did not go to each other. Kenobi remained on one knee on the speaker's spot. Jinn was alone behind him and to his right, a shade more than two arms' lengths away; for some reason, they kept far enough apart that they could not simply reach out and take each other's hands. One of them would have to choose to move. Further away to Kenobi's left, slightly in front of the knot of Jedi, Bail Organa stayed where he stood.

Kenobi was still speaking. "I told him we serve all creatures, and the Force is our ally, but he laughed - - he said an ally is one who is too weak to succeed on his own. He intends to be the Emperor of the Galaxy, to rule even the Force." He swallowed. "I said that sounded less like serving his fellow-men than what he had accused us of, and he shot lightning at me ... I've never felt such pain." He paused for a moment, then shook his head. "Anakin shouted at him to stop, but he would not. 'See, now, my apprentice,' he said. 'See how we can use the anger that they have always taught you to suppress.' Anakin asked him how harming me was a service to anyone, and Palpatine said 'One less Jedi.'"

Several of the Jedi in the chamber, children and Council members alike, gasped out loud. Kenobi raised his head. "He means to destroy us."

"How did you escape?" Adi Gallia asked. "How have you come back to bring us this news?"

"Anakin. He stepped in front of me, and Palpatine stopped the lightning." The anguish in Kenobi's voice was like a living thing. "He said he'd turned to protect Amidala, and I was sworn to protect her, so it was consistent with his turn to the Dark to let me go. Palpatine hit him with the lightning then. It was awful. Anakin screamed, but he didn't try to get away. I was weakened from the attack, and couldn't have fought to free him. So I ran." He paused and looked around, but when nobody asked him a question, he continued. "Will Anakin die?"

"Always in motion, the future is," said Master Yoda. "Die, will he? Yes. At the hands of his new master? Perhaps. Today? I do not think it."

"But Master Yoda, the lightning," Obi-Wan groaned. "It seemed to burn my very bones."

"Likely that it did," Yoda said. "To the healers you will go, when meeting is ended. But kill Anakin today, Palpatine will not. Too valuable he is."

"Yoda is right," said Ki-Adi-Mundi. "The man now has an apprentice. If he loses him, he will not succeed in turning another Jedi -- particularly one as powerful as Anakin."

"But the baby." Bail Organa had not spoken since suggesting that Amidala return home. "If I understand you correctly, you don't believe the chancellor will relent in his drive for Amidala, even though such were the terms of Anakin's bargain." Obi-Wan nodded once. "Why would he not kill Anakin, then, if he knew he would have the baby soon? And he wouldn't have all that Jedi upbringing to train out of an infant."

"I think Palpatine must not know of the baby," Kenobi said. "Anakin never mentioned it, so neither did I -- we spoke of my promise to protect him and Amidala, but never the child. I don't know how in the worlds he's keeping it a secret, but he seems to be. I must have reached him; he must know it's true that Palpatine won't stop at him."

"But he'll know," Depa Billaba said. "He'll know once she has the baby."

"No," said Bail Organa. "Let me take care of that." Everyone looked at him, surprised that he would make so bold in the Council chamber, where he was in every way a guest. "You've just said she mustn't go back to Naboo," Organa went on, determined, "or even anywhere Palpatine might find her. She must, in short, go into hiding -- and someplace where she can be protected."

"I am sworn to protect her," Obi-Wan began, struggling to his feet.

"With respect, Knight Kenobi, Palpatine knows that." Organa spoke softly and gently, but Joma could see Obi-Wan's jaw set. "In addition, she's very frightened just now of Jedi. It may be that a better way for you to protect her is, for a time, not to be where she is." Kenobi could not answer him. "I propose, therefore," said Organa, speaking as if the assembled Jedi were a Senate committee, "that I remove Amidala to Alderaan with me. She will be safe there, and I will find a way to hide her child. I owe you my life," he added, when Obi-Wan would have interrupted him again. "And Skywalker too. "This is the least I can do to repay you both."

For long minutes nobody moved or spoke. Yoda broke the silence. "Adjourned, this meeting is," he said. "Senator Organa, take Amidala to Alderaan you will. Broken your vow is not, Knight Kenobi. Responsible for Amidala's safety, and her child's, you still are."

"In light of today's events," Depa Billaba said, "we shall refuse, as an Order, to recognize the regional governors' authority. We shall conduct business with the planetary governors and the senators, and whatever agents they may name."

"But the chancellor won't like that," Adi Gallia continued. "And we now know he has no qualms about attacking any of us. So be careful and prepared. Watch your back, and spread the word."

"May the Force be with you," Yoda finished.

The Councilors rose; the assembled Jedi bowed. As soon as the first pair turned to leave the chamber, Sionnach dashed from Joma's side to Kenobi's, threw her arms around his waist, and pressed her face to his chest. Jinn was there an instant later, pulling them both into his embrace. Kenobi's head fell back against Jinn's shoulder. Jendea Ral raised an eyebrow at Joma as she watched them. "Eight Adepts between the ages of ten and twenty," she said simply.

"Yes," Joma nodded. "And it looks like this is the beginning of what we've been waiting for."

---

Comments always welcome!