It wasn’t the first time she was confused.

Asri paced in her room, Trazu’s last words to her repeating themselves over and over again in her head. Damn him. As much as she wanted to dispute what he had said she knew in her heart every single word was true. Damn him! She didn’t know whether to hate him or…something else altogether and it was making her mind spin and flip: it was a wonder she didn’t have a headache right now.

” If there's one thing I know you are not...is a coward."

He said she wasn’t, yet at the same time he implied that she was. I’m not a coward! She thought furiously. I don’t tell anyone for my own safety and everyone elses! Why can’t they understand that!?

They couldn’t understand her reasoning because they didn’t know what it was that she was keeping from them. Yet at the same time she couldn’t ‘make’ them understand without telling them her secret. It was a ‘damned if you do…damned if you don’t’ situation if she ever had one.

” if you keep locking yourself away like this you'll never see the doors of opportunity I know are out there for you, open and ready for you to take them. There is so much more you can do with your life if you just open yourself up to them.”

Puh…like what? She thought. I’m an assassin, a killer. What else could I possibly be good for? The only other thing I wanted is out of my reach forever….

If he was there now he probably bring up the kids, which she admitted she did enjoy looking after but deep down it was painful. Painful because they were constant reminders of what she always wanted but could never have now: children of her own flesh and blood.

Finally she decided she needed to do something else to just…get the whole thing out of her head. Remembering about Trazu’s request to help Maskis watch over Lavality she headed toward her room to see how she was doing. She got along rather well with the girl and in a strange way felt a kinship with her. However when she reached her room she found it empty.

“Odd…” She muttered to herself. “Training is over for today and it’s not meal time…” Still she checked the cafeteria anyway, followed by the library and the courtyards, only to find no trace of her. Hoping that maybe they just missed each other, she started back toward Lavality’s room. Halfway there she heard a bunch of screams coming from one of the bathrooms down the hall. Wondering just what the heck was going on she headed that way, only to watch Maskis suddenly burst out of the girls bathroom, flying brushes, bottles of soap, and various underwear pelting him as he made a hasty retreat.

Asri could only watch dumbstruck for a moment as he stopped down the hall a ways not that far from her to remove some of the ‘unmentionables’ that had got caught on his person. He didn’t seem to notice she was there, until she started laughing like crazy.

“A failed attempt at starting a harem…Maskis?” She sputtered out between laughs. She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed like this, boy did it feel good too….

Maskis panted and put the 'unmentionables' in a near by basket, then put the basket near the door and quickly retreated before getting clobbered again

As a few minute's of catching his breath he looked up at Asri. "H.... have you seen Lavality anywhere?!" he asked her, almost frantically, well ok, it was frantic because he was afraid another bounty hunter might've gotten to her

Asri’s mirth stopped abruptly at the mention of Lavality. “You can’t find her either?” She asked and when he shook his head, her whole body tensed up with worry.

They thought the girl would be safe here in the Academy, but Ruse, Maskis’ recently deceased former partner, had proven that the most determined Bounty Hunter would find a way to get to his or her target. Even when that target was in a temple filled with Jedi. They were very lucky that Lavality herself was able to fend Ruse off, her Force powers erupting into a violent storm of raw power to repel, and ultimately kill him. There was no way of knowing though just how long that luck would hold…and now Lavality seems to have disappeared.

The albino tapped a claw on one of her fangs, thinking. When needing to track down someone that was missing, it was best to start with the last place and time you saw them. In Asri’s case, it had been in the library a couple nights ago, just before…

“Oh skrag…” She cursed. “I bet you she overhead Lord Trazu telling me about the mission he was to be a part of. You know her better then me Maskis so tell me, what are the chances she decided to ‘join in’ on the expectation without being invited?”

Maskis stared at Asri for a second then sighed. "She's always been the explorer of the Serandevis, so there's no doubt in my mind that she decided to join them." he shook his head. "But why though.... she must know that the fleet can't protect her, I mean theo nly reason she would even go in the first place is if she felt protected. I mean no disrespect to Trazu, if I may call him that, but..." he stopped himself... some things about Lavalitys where best left untold

He walked back down the hall then back up. "When are they due back?!"

“Considering the exploration party was full of Jedi she probably would have felt ‘very’ safe with them.” Asri said as she watched him pace up and down the hall. “Of course…they can’t really protect her if they don’t know she’s with them, which is the biggest problem. I can only hope they discover her before she ends up getting herself into trouble.”

She shook her head and sighed before replying to Maskis’ next question. “I have no idea. Since they will be exploring a network of caves it’s possible they’ll be gone for weeks. Lots of opportunity for trouble….” Another sigh. “Well, we can hope they discover her quickly enough to where it wouldn’t be much trouble to turn around and drop her right back off here. Somehow though, I am doubting that will be our luck.”

It wasn’t only likely danger to Lavality’s life that bothered her. On a more personal level Asri had one less thing to keep herself busy and not go stir crazy. A side effect you could say, of living a life that was full of activity and needing to keep looking over your shoulder. She needed to find another way to keep herself busy it looked like.

“So, since we are both kind of out of the job until Miss Adventure comes back what are you planning to do with yourself?” She asked him, curiously.

"Since it's possible she'll be gone for a couple weeks, we really haven't much to do." he glanced at her, then away. "Is there anything you'd like to do while we wait?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't have asked you." Asri said, slightly irritably. "I 'could' go shopping, but I'd rather not spend all my inheritance in one place, not to mention I am currently not actually getting income."

In actuality she could go on a shopping spree everyday for several years before her funds ran out: her father had been ridiculously wealthy for a warrior. Just went to prove just how resourceful her father had been, getting in on deals and contracts most warriors wouldn't have even thought of. A part of her wondered just how much he got when he sold her to that...

No... She shook her head, driving the thought out of her head. I will not think of 'that'. Not here. Not now. Not ever if I can help it. She noticed that Maskis was now looking at her curiously. Damn it all, he must have caught her brief pained expression just then. "It's nothing." She said hastily. "Just...a part of my past I wish I could forever bury...."

"Miss Asri?"

Asri looked down to see the beaming innocent face of Trazu's son, Silonik, who was a padawan here at the Academy. She felt that one pain, that longing again and it took all her willpower to squash it before it showed on her face. "Yes Silonik, what is it?" She asked him.

"Well I..." The youth seemed a little nervous, so to help encourage him she remained patient and gave him a gentle smile. "I was wondering if you'd be interested in taking me to the carn...um..." It must have been a new word to him in basic, as he was having a time of it. "Carn...e...vul."

"Carnival?" Asri repeated. "What carnival?"

"This one." Silonik handed her a poster advertisement. "The Masters said that it was ok to go as long as we had an adult with us. I would have asked dad....but..."

"I understand." Asri said giving him a comforting smile. She was sure Trazu would have jumped at the chance to spend that kind of quality time with his son, but the duties of the Jedi came first. "If he was able, I am positive he would have taken you in a heartbeat. I...." Her words of acceptance got caught in her throat, doubts about her own safety coming to mind. At a carnival there will surely be a lot of people, a crowd were Bounty Hunters and other unsavory types could easily hide in. Surely there will be other Trandoshans there, ones that likely wouldn't accept her for what she is and would try to kill her. She could handle herself, but what of Silonik's safety during such a brawl? Padawan or not, there was a serious risk of them hurting the child, intentionally or otherwise. "I...don't know if it would be a good idea for me to go...where there'll be so many...people...." She said slowly, the doubt and fear in her voice painfully obvious.

"Why not?" Silonik asked, looking a little hurt. Asri was a little taken back by this: could he not sense her feelings with the Force?

"Because they'll likely be people that would hate me." Asri said plainly. "And try to hurt me. I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

The young Trandoshan's face screwed up in confusion. "I can handle myself." He said confidently. "And they'll be full Jedi there for sure to help keep an eye on things. It be stupid of people to try to hurt you with Jedi around."

Oh little one...you don't know how deep the hate for an individual like me can be... She thought, a frown on her face. It was then Trazu's last words to her decided to reemerge in her head.

"You're not willing to even take a chance? If there's one thing I know you are not...is a coward."

Damn him. She thought, slightly bitterly, only for another phrase to recall itself.

"if you keep locking yourself away like this you'll never see the doors of opportunity I know are out there for you, open and ready for you to take them. "

Damn him. She clenched her teeth and balled up her fists in frustration. Silonik, seemingly unable to tell what was going on in her head, looked up at her confused with her sudden change in temperament, able to tell that she was upset by her body language but not at who. He couldn't 'sense' the mental battle that was going on her in head and could only wait, slightly apprehensively, for her to say something.

"Alright." She said finally with a heavy sigh. "I'll take you."

"Yay!" Silonik cheered and jumped up into her arms, hugging her for a moment before dropping down and running off, only to screech to a halt and come running back. "Uh..." He looked a bit sheepish. "Can you take Mortor too? He doesn't have any family to take him...."

"I don't see why not." Asri said with a smile.

Silonik beamed and ran off again, presumably to tell his friend he could come to. Asri chuckled faintly, her heart lightened by the child's happyness. She then looked over at Maskis, whom she had forgotten about completely up until this point. "What you want to come too? Sorry but you're too old to be in the field trip gang." She quiped, beaming a very mischievous grin his way.

Maskis chuckled at what Asri had just said. "No.... just that I know Lavality would've ... might've.... no... she wouldn't." He waited until Silonik was no longer within hearing range of him. "Lavality was never around other children, she's always been around military and only military. I think it's actually impossible for her to be a child, despit her being eleven year's old."

He briefly grinned. "However... I noticed something.. when she was attacked, the look in her eye's toward you after she somehow came out of whatever it was.... I don't know but I think she view's YOU in a different light," he folded his arms. "We won't know more until she get's back, which is when I plan on giving her a LONG lecture about..."

"Are you Maskis?" A jedi came up to him

Maskis turned. "I am.. something wrong?"

"We have a comm disk here from an 'Admiral Tzhali'?" The jedi seemed a bit confused

He accepted the disk and put it into his datapad, the disk wasn't visual, just text. "Hmmm... hmmmmm... uh huh.... i see..... yes.... yes..... huh?!" he suddenly stopped. But just shook his head and put the datapad away. "Wookie must've had to much to drink," he smiled and looked at Asri. "Lavality hate's lectures, expically when she is treated like a child.. thats why no one in the fleet treats her like one, she has more respect than any adult has," was this the right moment to actually tell her? That Lavality viewed Asri as a trusted Ally? That she gave Asri access to the fleet's financial database? No... he felt it wasn't quite right.. besides... he didn't even have the code for the database.. let alone permission from the brass to even disclose that information

"I think it is best I go along with you, I don't believe Silonik is in any danger, but think about it. I'm a trandoshan, not the same as you, but if there are other trandoshans there and if they see two different Trandoshan's together they might think we are m-" he caught himself and looked away. "Errr... I mean.. they might consider that Trandosha is allowing your type in now, and that there is no hatred toward your kin" he hit himself mentally... marriege? Damn.. he already knew she was developing something toward Trazu... but everytime he looked at her it felt at ease... something he hadn't felt since he lost his mate those few year's back

***

STC Prowler "Invisible" orbiting Naboo, in gerosync orbit directly above the Jedi Academy

Activity aboard the Prowler had ceased abruptly, another ship appeared on scene, a police cruiser of some kind from Naboo, obviously suspious at what it was seeing

The crew aboard the cruiser came aboard, but what they saw caused them to leave the ship, and to place several guard ships around it. Before leaving the scene entirely they made several attempts at finding out who it belonged to, but all attempts to get into the ships core where met with hostile actions from the ships AI. After sometime, these words and letters appeared: siksam tcatnoc ytiroirp agemo

Asri blinked at him: did he nearly say what she thought he did? With a sigh she shook her head. “I’ve heard you’ve been rather….out of the loop…when it comes to our culture Maskis, but you are being incredibly naive about our society being able to except outcasts like me.” Another sigh. “The hatred toward the white scales is so deep and has gone on for so long that no one remembers why it is so anymore. If we knew the reason it would be easy to try to debuke it, but without knowing the reason…” She shrugged and shook her head helplessly. “I admit the majority of the K’Satikur Clan accepting me was a shock, a big one, but the reality is that it would be too much to ask for a random T’Doshok at a carnival to not act on that hate upon seeing me. If anything, they’ll just think you’re crazy and try to kill me anyway.

“Either way, you are free to accompany me if you want. I’ve heard that Silonik’s friend, Mortor, can be a trouble maker at times, so it would be good to have an extra set of eyes to watch him. Can’t possibly be more troublesome then Silonik’s brother Trissan though.” She giggled, remembering some of the mischief that one had gotten into.

She paused and thought back to his earlier comment. “No doubt once Lavality gets found by the Jedi she’ll be getting earfuls to start with.” She said with a faint chuckle. “Being a pre-teen though…a bet it will all go in one ear and out the other.”

Asri noticed Maskis had been looking at her strangely, only to look away with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. Trazu had been doing the same thing with her, only he didn’t look away. Just what was up with these males?

When it came to the male side of the species….who knows.

He coughed; attempting to change the subject a bit. "My family never told me anything about your kin, in fact, until I meet you; I never even heard of the word Akisi" he said, hoping he wouldn't stare up any hornets nest

"Asri, before you meet up with Lavality once more. There's something you really should know about her, her parents... they weren't human.. in fact.. she ... isn't really full human." he said, tapping his claws on the wall briefly while thinking. "At least... according to the doctor's who first examined her five year's ago, she has trace amounts of Trandoshan DNA." he could see her facial expression of 'wtf'

He tried to think up of an eaiser way to explain it, but finally gave up. "An extra pair of eye's on Mortor will be a good idea, but to be honest, I was Lavality's caretaker when she first arrived in the fleet five year's ago, she was six then and didn't know the first thing about the military, it was myself and Fikan who got her up to where she is now." he stopped then took a breath. "I think... having her away from the fleet is both good and bad... I have a bad feeling she's going to go into a reversal type child stage... where she will want to get away from anything military... she might even try to figure out what she is." he brought a hint of worry on his face. He KNEW what she was; it was him and Fikan who found her after all, on that planet.. a planet that was considered long dead... Korribon... the way they found her would never leave his mind and it still plagued him today. He turned back around and walked away from Asri briefly. "If she remembers her past," he began to mumble. "she will probably recall what he did"