Hello there! I know, I've been hideous about updating this story but as I basically moved from France to Spain where I didn't have the internet for half a year and then back home, it took me ages to be able to post this chapter. I can tell to those who are still interested in this story that there's a lot more to come. There, I give you this part unbeta-ed so forgive the spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Thanks for your patience again and don't hesitate to tell me what you think!

Nila gaped at the tall and burly alien decked out in a greasy t-shirt still squeezing an oddly passive Kenobi.

"Dexter Jettster?"

"I'll be damned! Sohal!" the Dexter creature thundered jovially, altogether oblivious of the sabre and the fact his enthusiasm met no echo.

"Step back from my partner and keep your hands where I can see them," Nila ordered. "The four of them, you creep. You won't fool me twice with that trick you pulled last time."

Kenobi peeled himself from Dexter's embrace as the Besalisk let out a whistle.

"Still has an attitude, eh?"

"A rather lenient understatement, Dex," Kenobi observed with deceptive sobriety.

"Well, she does have a light sabre at my throat. Speaking of it, could you remove her from my carotid?"

Nila dropped her arm, dumbfounded.

"Sorry about the lateness and all. Theeatery was overcrowded when I got your message," Dexter went on.

Kenobi graciously dismissed the apology.

"I caught sight of young Anakin the other day, growing like a weed, isn't he?" The alien said, starting a conversation as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Her weapon hanging uselessly at her side, Nila watched her usually taciturn partner engage a genial small talk with the disagreeable impression she had missed something. Dexter Jettster had been a regular of the Unit records. He had had a well-chosen place in Nasrin's organization while the old Arda was still alive. No doubt, Kenobi was aware of that since the Besalisk had a solid reputation of a smuggler in the Outer Rim…

"I'm glad to see that business is going well," said the Jedi Master, his abnormally cheery tone making Nila grit her teeth.

"Can't complain, really, though prices have shot up with that new tax. It will kill the business, I'm telling y"

"Hey! I'm here!" Nila exclaimed, exasperated.

"Oh." Kenobi seemed to remember her presence and gestured toward the alien. "Dex is an old friend. I didn't know you two were already… acquainted."

"I bet he didn't gloat about it," she ground before turning toward the Besalisk with a stern look. "Now you're here Jettster, will you at least make yourself useful and get us out of here?"

Dex's face broke into a sunny grin.

Nila took deep breath as Dex nonchalantly zoomed past yet another air taxi, narrowly avoiding yet another fatal collision. They had just entered the airspace of the Collective Commerce District, dubbed CoCo Town by its inhabitants. Releasing the death grip she had on the front seat, she leaned forward and yelled to cover the traffic din.

"Would you care to tell me what we're doing in this neighbourhood?"

"There's something I want you to see," replied Kenobi.

A few minutes later, he pointed a small building standing by the main highway of the district. "Here we are. Dex's Diner."

As they landed in front of the common eatery, the alien and the Jedi master promptly leaped out of the craft, making their way to the entrance. Nila, on the other hand, did not budge.

"What is all this exactly?" she called out, pointing at the eatery and Dex even though she had a good idea of where things were heading.

Dex darted a faintly surprised look to Kenobi.

"Why don't we discuss this over a drink?" he offered, glancing at a stoned faced Nila. "And preferably something strong…"

"We needed a place for the meeting and a back up for tomorrow night," Kenobi answered.

Nila scoffed making the master's features tighten. The Jedi never questioned a fellow's decisions or exposed potential disagreement in public.

"Dex's canteen was our best option," he said coolly. "This part of the district is crowded at night. We will be able to vanish without difficulty if things go wrong."

Nila was clearly sceptical. "Heavy traffic makes the snipers impossible to spot. You're giving them an asset they won't fail to exploit"

"We've already thought over this possibility."

This reply stung her unpleasantly. "'We'? I don't remember having ever been consulted about this issue."

Kenobi squared his shoulders, visibly growing tired of the exchange.

"First you omit the implication of the RAID and now I discover that you deliberately neglected to discuss strategic details with me." Nila stated before a less than pleasant smirk appeared on her face. "Come on, Kenobi, let's have it then."

Dex cleared his throat, sensing the atmosphere turning sour. "Er, I—" He started but Kenobi's even voice covered his.

"Have what, Nila?"

"The little speech where you finally choke out that I'm playing the Order false. Go on, speak frankly for once."

The master's eyes hardened singularly. "Where exactly were you last week when I needed you to plan this encounter? What can I say about my partner's habit to vanish without explanations?"

Something akin to surprise flickered in Nila's eyes before she retorted. "I had other business to attend to and you never told me you were preparing the meeting!"

"Oh? I'm rather curious to hear about this business," he said, never raising his voice as he goaded her on.

But as suddenly as she had picked up the fight, Nila dropped the matter, sighing tiredly. "This is just not working, is it?" she murmured to herself. "Let's go inside and see what you have planned."

That abrupt reversal of situation had Kenobi drop his arms in consternation and annoyance. Nila was seriously starting to mess with his head with her unpredictable change of moods and mind. She just spread confusion and uncertainty in his methodical ways. He hated that but chose to remain quiet in front of Dex, moving again toward the entrance.

Nila stopped on the threshold as she quickly thought the situation over. CoCo Town was Abenok's territory. No matter how well they would plan things ahead, he would always be able outsmart them.

What they needed was information coming directly from the Clan, she reckoned. For that, they had to find another informant not as directly implicated as Eru… Perhaps Dex was not such an awkward choice after all: his insight could prove useful and his name was known in the Mob.

However, Nila needed someone still active in the Circle. She watched her partner while Dex left them to fetch the drinks. Poor Kenobi, he was not going to like this. As she looked in his eyes, a name came to her almost at once.

"What now?" Kenobi inquired stiffly.

"You were right to contact Jettster," she conceded by way of apology. "But he has been retired for too long now to enlighten us on Abnok's motives. I think I know someone who can help us."

He cast her a wary look. "What are you up to this time?"

Nila handed him her data pad where was recorded the addresses where she could find Farah Panasana.

"The archives' keeper?" he whispered, raising his eyebrows in mild surprise.

Nila nodded and deliberately laid a hand on his scarred arm. "I'll go alone." He moved to protest but she held his gaze, pressing his arm gently. "I won't fail you."

The master remained silent, suddenly unable to oppose her. Her fingers strayed on him a moment longer and then she went out before he could comment.

Kenobi frowned, nonplussed as he watched her walk away outside the window.

"Stay put, Obi-Wan," Dex said, coming up behind him with the steaming cups. "She has no information the Families don't have already."

The Jedi shot him a sharp look and a subtle feeling of insecurity made its way in his mind.

The Besalisk shook his head sagely and echoed his friend's thoughts. "That's how the Underworld manipulates you, Obi-Wan. It erases all landmark, who to trust and who to keep an eye on. Stay rational, man, whatever you see," he advised as he motioned him toward a secluded booth.

"What I see at the moment is that I find myself partnerless again," Obi-Wan said with a half ironic, half fatalistic shrug. "At least this time she did it in my face and went into the trouble of finding an excuse."

"You know," Dex said as they sat together. "I'm not an expert of human relations. But you might want to do something about that partner of yours."

Kenobi gave him a long-suffering glance. "Whether we get along or not isn't exactly the problem here."

"But it bugs you."

"Well, sometimes I am under the impression there is some progress. But every time I make a move to get closer she shuts me off instantly."

Dex grinned. "Not used to unresponsive females, huh?"

But Obi-Wan Kenobi was not in the mood that day. "You don't understand. And she obviously doesn't either!" he growled, venting his frustration. "How can I keep her safe when I don't even know where she is? Or what she does for the matter…"

He dropped his gaze to the table, suddenly unwilling to continue the discussion.

"I do understand, Obi-Wan but she can fend for herself, no?" the Besalisk asked. "Nila Sohal isn't a bad person I think. Wouldn't betray the Order to be sure, but she's never seemed to know very well what her side was even in the Unit's days. The Mob got her good, you see."

Dex stroked his large chin pensively. "I think today's pretty different, though."

Obi-Wan looked up.

"The Jedi Council officially dismissed the Unit since the creation of the RAID relieved them of their duty in the Underworld," the Besalisk went on. "It's not entirely true. The real reason was that Sohal raided her Family's HQ with some of her fellows to get Santillian and Taev right after they decimated the Unit. They risked the Council's anger but they all followed her without a question. Damn hellcat she was… turned out a bloody mess but dreadfully efficient. They did not tell you that at the Temple, eh?"

Kenobi shook his head, a bit unsettled. This story fitted so little the circumspect woman he knew. "I can't say I've had a lot of information from the Council about Nila," he confessed. "I even have the impression that they have been covering up her absences during the past weeks."

He regretted his words. Voicing that kind of opinion in front of a civilian, friend or not, was not the wisest thing to do.

"You bet." Dex chuckled. "They cushioned the whole incident and locked Sohal up in the Temple for fear of reprisal because believe me, that partner of yours got some reputation in the circle after this. Fortunately, there was no dead among the Ardas. I think that's the only thing that saved her from being kicked out of the Order."

"Is that her real motive then? She accepted the mission to finish what was started that night," Kenobi wondered aloud.

"Possibly. Though it might already be done, at least partly. I don't think anyone saw Taev in person after this. And that was four years ago."

"You told me there had been no casualties among the Ardas."

The burly alien shrugged. "Just quoting the facts."

A pregnant silence passed between the two friends.

"I don't like this, Dex."

Dex's face immediately lost some of its gravity. Despite their sincere friendship, he was aware that he only had a limited access to the Jedi's mind and inner feelings but the alien was a fine judge of character. Obi-Wan Kenobi was a clever man, yes, clever and capable he always nailed the problem right away and was be quick to provide ingenious solutions. Today though, he definitively lacked the proper distance and above all, the right angle.

"See," Dexter said with a smile. "I'm pretty sure her past is not the only thing that sets you off kilter."

"What do you mean?"

"Well. Use some of your legendary Jedi insight."

The master sighed wearily and sloped back against the booth.

"Dex…We abide by the Code…" he gestured to signify his friend knew the rest.

"I never suggested it had to do with fraternization, Obi-Wan…"

"I…," he shook his head. "I don't even know why I keep discussing with you."

"Because it's been on your mind," Dex said with his streetwise, implacable logic.

"Absurd. I don't even think of Nila as a woman," Kenobi muttered.

"Ah. Then your eyes have a mind of their own, mate," the alien answered gently.

During this time, down in the Eastern Sector of the Lower City, the air taxi Nila had hailed outside Dex's eatery pulled in front the location she had indicated. She checked the address and looked up to discover the discreet window of a reading lounge café. She mechanically paid the driver and walked up to the door.

A pleasant atmosphere where the rich aroma of fresh jawa juice and tobacco wafted from behind a dark wooden bar welcomed her. Customers moved about quietly, reaching for a holobook on one of the low shelves separating the cream coloured sofas where they could recline to sip their drinks and watch their selections.

Nila peered around her with keen eyes and spotted a figure sitting in a corner, at the far end of the room that made her heartbeat quicken.

"May I sit with you for a moment, milady?"

The white haired woman raised her head and considered the Jedi wrapped in a dark cloak standing in front of her. "You finally came."

So the archive keeper had expected her visit. Sitting in an armchair, Nila glanced experimentally at the grave face in front her and decided to go straight to the point. "Tomorrow I will meet Abenok Santillian as you might already know. Force knows what the Clan is up to, so…" she paused with a hollow smile, crossing and uncrossing her fingers. "So I came for two things. First because I need your help about the Scroll and secondly… Because want to know tonight."

The Lore keeper tilted her head but made no sound.

"Years ago, I made researches to find the identity of my parents. Only one name came up." Nila finally dared to look up, a bit uncertain, vulnerable. "Yours?"

Again, the older woman remained silent but a strange emotion started to show in her eyes.

Nila cleared her voice. "I discovered a file with this name and this location in Santillian's headquarters. You are Farah Panasana, aren't you?"

Two slender hands dusted with pale freckles caught hers. "This place is watched, Nila."

The young woman stared at their joined hands. Both trembled slightly.

"You were waiting for me in the Families' archives?"

"Of course." Farah Panasana's moved smile gentled a bit her lofty features.

"Tell me our story please."

"Where to begin, child?" Farah said, looking a bit overwhelmed. "Kiel Taev, my Arda, had always been fascinated by the Myth. Where most people saw a symbolical truth, he saw the genuine power of two forces fighting for supremacy. A power that could be used. He hired me over thirty years ago unbeknownst to my family and my husband to make all the necessary research to find the Three. I came to realize that the Prophecy was dangerously potent and naught but the Jedi should deal with its mysteries. Therefore, I started to hide clues from Taev and do anything I could to slow the research."

She paused as a Mon Calamari client walked by, politely bowing his head to them.

"By the time I found out I was pregnant, he had managed to discover that the last incarnations of Delemissei and Hanoch were Force sensitive and he started to check everyone for midichlorians or birth marks. Your father died and I started to feel unexplainably unsafe. That feeling grew into a certitude when you were born with a high midichlorian count and Queen Asalwa's mark on you chest." Her long fingers brushed her own collarbone and Nila's hand instinctively mirrored the action.

"The moon crescent?" Nila asked

"It's not a moon… it's a runic symbol: Perthro, the lot cup. The Queen became the first incarnation of this rune at the end of the First Age."

"If you knew about the midichlorians why didn't you give me over to the Temple then?" Nila asked.

"Too conspicuous. We were all being watched. I had hoped you would find your way back to the Jedi but"

Both women fell silent as they studied each other avidly.

"I would have never imagined you would look like this,' Nila said as the first genuinely happy smile in a long time crossed her face. "Yet you seem familiar somehow. Your eyes…"

The archives keeper inhaled sharply before she could catch herself. "Did you…" She stopped abruptly and shook her head as though to clear her thoughts "Of course not." She smiled benignly at Nila's slightly confused expression.

"I should have sent you away," Farah suddenly said. "Somewhere you would have been entirely safe from them and from that Prophecy. Now you pay the price of that weakness."

"Please, no," Nila cut gently. "I'm just content to be here now."

Farah shook her head. "You are not safe Nila, Jedi or not. Queen Asalwa did not die of old age."

"I know. But I'm not alone."

"Delemissei? The Protector found you?"

Nila nodded with a vaguely amused smile as she recalled how the protector had flung her into a shelf when she had found him. "You saw him at the Families' archives."

"Does the Order know of my association with Taev and the Holocron, Nila?"

Nila shook her head. "I'm quite certain you realize why I cannot tell them."

Farah Panasana's eyes scanned the bar and she quickly leaned in to whisper.

"Taev is dead then?"

Nila shrugged lightly.

"So he is…" Farah whispered wide-eyed. "But it happened four years ago. How could the Republic manage to hide that from both the Mob and the Jedi?"

"Oh, the Jedi Council knows he died …and how," answered Nila, risking a glance up to Farah's concerned face. "The Senate did not lose time made the most of it. Supposedly to keep an upper hand on the traffic from the inside…"

A meaningful silence hung between them.

"This is insane!" Farah breathed. "Who did they appoint to replace Taev while everybody thinks he's alive?"

Nila leaned back against the sofa, looking deep in thought. "That's the great question but not my business right now."

"Don't be so sure. You are aware that if the Families find out, it will trigger a real war this time."

"War has already been brewing for years in the Underworld and I intend to get back the Scroll before that. Speaking of this, do you know what Abenok Santillian has in mind?"