Chapter 18

Lenaas and Tana had both known that after everything that had happened they would need to leave Narshadaa for a good long while till some years had passed and so they had bought a good freighter ship from one of their many contacts off planet since they didn't want anyone from where they were at knowing what they were planning, the arrival of the two Jedi had somewhat changed their approach and planning but not the outcome they knew would happen no matter what.

After nightfall had come the group of four left the security of the warehouse they had been hiding at and began to make their way to a hidden location that Tana had used to stash the freighter she and her companion had bought and though the running from one shadowy spot to the next had seemed long they all took a deep breath when they finally arrived with no issues, or so they thought. The landing ramp immediately came down as they began Tana began to walk up to the ship and out walked one of the assassin droids they had faced and a rodian holding a blaster, the situation though was not what the two assailants expected as the droid was quickly dismantled by Thann and Quinlan used the force to influence the rodian into thinking that he had captured his targets and began to walk away from the group pointing his blaster at nothing but air.

Once the immediate danger had been settled Tana ran up the ramp and began to check the entirety of the ship looking for anything that could be used as a tracking device and also turned on the astromech droid that she had bought along with the ship since she knew that the little droid could save them a great deal of trouble by communicating with the ships computer as well as repair any technical trouble that was to hard for a human or any other humanoid to reach and so she checked all areas and found nothing only once the astromech had hooked up to the computer and given her a full diagnostic check that came back as all clear did she dare to start up the engine knowing that it would take time before they could make for lift off.

A few hours later the group was in outer space and on it's way to the outer rim of the galaxy planet Tatooine. both Lenaas and Thann spent their time in the holding area talking about their past and where they had come from and it surprised Lenaas that Thann had not been fully raised in the Jedi Temple like most foundlings she had heard about and that his parents had given him up due to their war torn world and how the Jedi had raised him at the urging of his former master and how the former master had just recently lost his life in the line of duty and his promotion to knighthood had been so sudden even at his extremely young age. After Thann had told his story Lenaas sat there and just let what she had been told fill her mind and soul, after some time had passed Lenaas then spoke about her own life and about how for a time she had been one of the many poor that had been brought to the planet as refugees and how when she was found by Tana when she began to enter her teenage years and began to learn how to play the game of survival, after a long while of speaking Lenaas ran out of breath and words but Thann could feel all the emotions good and bad as she talked through the events that happened in her life and so once she had stopped talking he suddenly hugged her as he could tell she needed some comforting.

Once the coordinates had been set in the nav-computer and everything had been double checked both Tana and Quinlan had made their way to the main hold and walked in on Thann and Lenaas having a private moment and so they decided to leave the two alone and went to their own sleeping quarters. Time quickly passed as the ship sped its way on to Tatooine, and Lenaas began to realize that she had grown fond of Thann and would like for their relationship to progress even further since she knew that finding someone she could love and trust was a rare thing in her line of work and life yet she knew that Thann had his commitment to the Jedi Order yet she still hoped for more.

Thann was fully aware of what Lenaas was filling and knew that he wanted the exact same thing but he also knew that the council would forbid his pursuing this woman with the intent of marriage due to the code and its restriction on attachments, still he knew that what he felt would not go away or be kept silent, and so he began to reason as to how would reconcile all that was going on in his mind and so he sat there and began to meditate in the force. A few hours had passed and Quinlan came to check on the two making sure that nothing had happened that might be unfixable and then he knew that he had come to late as he secretly used the force to take a peek into Thanns' mind and saw what he was thinking, so he did what he thought was right and waited for the young man to come out of his meditative state so they could have a chat, after another few hours had gone by and then Thann had finally broken his meditation and was surprised when he saw Quinlan sitting close to him and what he felt coming off the senior Jedi was a sense of worry which caused Thann to worry a bit himself and so he asked what was the cause " Is everything alright Quinlan?" the older man was quiet for a bit and then he spoke " You like Lenaas more than you led on back on Narshadaa don't you." It was not a question but a statement and one that Thann knew would lead to what he knew was coming next if the conversation kept going, which it did " Thann you better really think about your vows to the order, breaking them and leaving the order is not as simple as you think and trying to keep a secret love on the side is no easy task sooner or later you will have to choose which one is worth more to you I hope that you will take my words into consideration."

Thann sat there and let the words sink into his mind and again began to meditate on what was said after then came to a conclusion that had been quietly sitting at the recesses of his mind but had now come to the forefront and that was the fact that he'd inadvertently been breaking the code by trying to free Anakin's mother and reuniting the two but he knew that somehow this was all the will of the force, even his meeting Lenaas and he realized that his calling was to that will more so than the Jedi Order, still he meditated and waited listening for the will of the force.

Finally the ship dropped out of hyper space and they were sitting right in front of Tatooine which led to the question that had been bothering Tana since the request to go there was a bit strange and she didn't know if it was for Quinlan or Thann and so she wanted to ask the question when she saw the both of them in the hold sitting at the holo table playing one of the games installed on it which made her laugh since she saw that Quinlan was on the losing hand which was where she usually was when she and Quinlan played so it was fun to see the roles reversed, after the game was finished she finally asked the question that she had been waiting to ask " So who exactly wanted to go to Tatooine and for what exactly would be the reason?"

Thann knew that the question would be asked at some point but didn't think that it would come from Tana but he knew that the truth would be the best route at least with others and not the council " One of our new padawans was a former slave and was rescued from that life yet his mother was left behind due to the situation at the time and now that things have changed me and Quinlan here have tasked ourselves with setting her free." Tana knew that slavery was a big deal and that those who were involved could and would be dangerous especially if it was related to the Hutts which she hoped it wasn't which Thann quickly confirmed that no one was looking for this person in particular and all that had to be done was to simply buy the woman's freedom which is why the went to Narshadaa first.

Once they had made their landing and headed for Mos Espa where Anakin's mother was supposed to be located and once they had the information they made their way to Watto's shop and found the Toydarian in rough shape on top of his shop looking as if it had been recently looted so the offer that they made for Shmi Skywalkers life and freedom went off without a hitch and soon they were all on their way to Coruscant to reunite a mother and son who in one of the crews opinion should never have been separated in the first place.