LordDarthYoda - I didn't even think of the statue being torn down. Wow, now I'm sad too...

Speechbubbleme - Well, I've had The Phantom Menace on the mind because I'm reading your fic! But yes, much of this book is an 'echo' of the story in The Phantom Menace, so it is intentional. The ending was certainly bittersweet, but it was a nice way to end things.

Child of Whimsy - The cameras were something of a red herring, admittedly. I wanted to make Ubroran society feel unique (and provide a bit of social commentary), so I thought up the cameras. The cameras did continue to play a bit of a role, but they were certainly pushed to the back seat. The whole war was supposed to come out of left field, so I needed to set up something equally interesting (hence the negotiations). Thanks for the well wishes! Happy reading!

A/N - Going to divide this into two parts - quick epilogue, and then a short preview of book 3.

Quick note that for book 4, I'm going to go to 1 Chapter per week. Now that I have a full time job, I simply cannot keep up with the prolific level of writing that I've been doing. I'll start posting book 4 on Sunday March 12 and a chapter every Sunday thereafter. I want to stick to a schedule, but doing 2 updates a week really stresses me out, especially as I'm running low in pre-written material. so we'll go to 1 chapter a week. Sorry! But it will hopefully allow for a better edited story with less mistakes.

If you are reading this...thank you! Thanks for dealing with my terrible grammar, horrendous writing, spelling mistakes and plot holes. I have no idea why you do it. Thank you so much!

Please enjoy the next chapter.

Epilogue: Time Well Spent

Sascha Whitestar woke up in a bed that was not his own, but that was as he had expected. In true Jedi fashion, He and his Master were hitching a ride to their destination, the sanctuary world of Neida. Ravar Ecalt had agreed to drop the Jedi off free of charge as he returned back to Noonar to continue running Ecalt Industries. To that end, he had summoned his own personal yacht, the stylishly designed Ecalt's Fancy. It was one of the nicest ships Sascha had ever seen, and certainly the most luxirous that he'd ever been on. His bed had been so comfortable that he had slept for almost eleven hours, which was quite unlike him.

Sascha, still in something of a haze after waking up, put on his robe and padded out the door, barefoot. Despite the unfamiliar design of the ship, he had made sure that he knew where the food was stored the night before, and he made his way there, yawning as he did. He decided that he wanted something simple so he grabbed a pre-prepared container of fruits from the refrigeration unit, hunted around for a utensil (always hard to do in unfamiliar surroundings) and upon procuring one, sat at the small table nearby.

As he quietly munched on his breakfast, his mind drifted elsewhere. That was why he was a bit surprised to see his Master slide into the seat right across from him. So surprised that he almost choked on his fruit as he was swallowing it. He managed to choke it down before coughing a greeting to his Master.

Aurine watched in amusement as he struggled to eat his breakfast. "Now there would be a headline, 'War Hero Padawan Dies Eating Breakfast Fruit.'"

Sascha coughed to clear his throat one last time before answering, "Better than the headline, "War Hero Jedi Knight Watches Padawan Die Eating His Breakfast Fruit.'"

His Master smiled broadly, "You may have me on that one."

He grabbed a nearby napkin and wiped the sticky remains of the fruit off his hands, "How long until we get to Neida?"

Aurine leaned back casually in her seat, "About one standard day. We had to make a couple of shorter jumps on our way to get there as Neida is a bit out of the normal space lanes. Did you do your research on the planet?"

He had. Neida was a long time sanctuary world with a temperate climate and a nice lack of any large predator that could be to decent sized omnivores like humans. Noted for its lush forests and numerous rivers, Neida had been a long time favourite of Jedi that wanted to relax and commune with nature. "Is anyone else going to be there with us?"

"There is a Republic research team on world. They are just about ready to complete their trip, so we'll be catching a ride back to Coruscant with them."

"The classic Jedi tradition of hitchhiking," he said drolly.

"We are supposed to be austere monks. Traveling aboard luxury starships is not what you should be expecting or anticipating. Anyways having a Jedi on board your ship is considered to be good luck by most starship captains," said Aurine.

"Do you think that applies to you and me?"

His Master's eyes glittered, "Very funny, Padawan."

"I try," he said.

Aurine paused for a few moments, "I'm glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor."

"I'm glad too."

Aurine took out something from the pocket of her robe and put it on the table. It was his datapad, "You left it out last night before you went to bed. I saw this morning that you received two messages when we dropped out of hyperspace last night."

"Did you look at these messages?"

His Master managed a slightly wounded look, "As you know I do have access to your datapad. I don't use it very often. I have not used it since the whole Tyra incident. I trust you, Sascha."

"Sorry, I wasn't accusing you. I just wanted to know if you knew who they were from."

"I'd bet that one is from Nara. The other one...I don't know. Got any hot dates I don't know about, Sascha?"

"Ha, ha, very funny, Master."

"Well, you have a free day. I'd like if we mediated for a while today, but I'll leave the time up to you."

Sascha nodded, "I think I'd like a nice morning meditation. I'll find you soon," he said as he stood, swiping his datapad off the table as he did.

He walked back to his room, still limping slightly. His knee was still pretty sore, but as long as he didn't do anything crazy he didn't think he could reinjure it. Sascha got to his room and laid in his bet, propping himself up with his pillow. He pulled out his datapad and put in his password. From the main screen he saw that he indeed has two messages. He opened the first message. As his Master had suspected it was from Nara.

The face of his friend appeared on his screen. He could tell that Nara was in the Halls of Healing, there was no mistaking the colours on the walls for anywhere else in the galaxy. Nara's face had a brightness to it that it had lacked when she had departed, obviously having some quality medical help and time to relax had helped her.

"Hey Sascha. I'll be quick because Master (whoever) is already annoyed with me and I've only been here for one day. I wanted to give you a quick update before you escape into the peaceful wilderness." Nara looked around, "I'm doing...okay. It's a bit weird to be back at the Temple. And it's odd not to have you here with me," she laughed. "I wanted to say that I miss you, but that sounded weird...even though it's true. I'll miss your companionship, but hopefully we'll be on another mission soon, one that's maybe a little less intense than the last one."

Nara's smile faded for a moment, "I also wanted to say thanks for all that you did for me. I know you are the selfless type so you don't need my thanks, but I am thankful. I'm glad that I've really gotten to know you, and I think your influence has made me into a better person." Nara looked off screen, "Hey, i gotta go. Message me when you can Sascha! Thanks!"

Sascha smiled and put a note into his datapad to craft a response to Nara at some point. While Nara certainly deserved a response from him, it would probably be a good thing if they had a little bit of distance between themselves for a while.

Sascha cued up the next video. He almost dropped it when he saw who had left him a message.

Tyra.

It had bee probably more than a year since he had seen her last and in some ways she hadn't changed much at all. Her hair was different, having ben cut short into an almost boyish looking hairdo. Her facial features had become just a slight bit more defined, her cheekbones were now very slightly more proiminant, but it was still very obviously Tyra Harker. The girl that had broke her heart, and him.

Tyra smiled faintly, "Hey Sascha. I guess this will be quite a shock to see me in this message."

"You have no idea," he muttered.

"So I'm back in the Temple and resuming my studies after my mission, which I can tell you was long and fruitless." Tyra looked rather frustrated, "There were lots of times where I thought I was close to a major breakthrough. If I didn't know any better I could swear that whoever I was chasing was taunting me. But now I'm back."

She smiled and Sascha's heart melted just slightly, "I heard that you got yourself involved in a war, on an out of the way planet called Ubrora. You've become something of a small legend in the Temple, you, Aurine, Tiplee and Nara that is. A Jedi fighting a war...it sounds unbelievable. But trouble always seems to follow you around, doesn't it Sascha?"

Tyra Harker took a long, deep breath and her expression became more serious, "I heard from Doro and Trigg that you took what I did to you...badly. I am sorry that I acted the way I did, but I felt like I had to make a clean break and that was the easiest way to do it. It was a bit cowardly of me, I'll admit. But sometimes it's easier to recover from one stab wound than a thousand little cuts." Tyra winced, "That's a pretty awful metaphor, but you get the point."

"It took me a while to get over you, Sascha. But I think I finally have. I think, that when you are ready as well, we can try to be friends ago. We can take it slow...resuming our friendship, but I'd really like to be friends again."

Tyra did a little wave, "See you around, Sascha."

Sascha closed his datapad and leaned back into his pillow. That had been unexpected. But despite the small twinge of emotion he had felt upon seeing Tyra again, he didn't feel as if he still had this huge pool of unrequited emotion like he'd had many months ago. Maybe he would be able to rekindle his friendship with Tyra. Who knew. It was a strange galaxy out that was something he could worry about for another day.

Because today belonged to Sascha Whitestar, Jedi Padawan, and no one else.

And Now A Preview of Growing up Jedi, Book 4

Aurine Brynar's glass was empty, but she wasn't drunk. She was certainly pleasantly buzzed though. In the seat across from her Tiplee looked similarly pleased. "Good memories," said the Rishati.

"Yes," she agreed.

"When it came to being, uhm, amorous, were you more like Nara or like Sascha when you were younger?" inquired Tiplee.

"First I was more like Nara, but without the restraint," she admitted. "Then I became more like Sascha," she admitted. "I let my guard down around boys too easily when I was younger. It took me a little while to find the appropriate balance between fun and, well, stupidity."

"That's not exactly uncommon among young people."

That was probably closer to the truth that Aurine was willing to admit, slightly buzzed or not, "Good psychoanalysis. I can see why you are a Jedi Master."

Tiplee smiled wanly, twirling her empty glass, "I would not have made that rank without you, Aurine."

Aurine waved a hand dismissively, "I disagree, you were going to be made a Jedi Master regardless of if you met me or not."

Tiplee bowed her head in gratitude at her praise, and paused for a moment before speaking again, "I have a question for you."

"Go ahead."

"Do you think that Nara and Sascha are ready to go on a mission together?"

She frowned, "Sascha and Nara have been on missions together before."

"Sub-missions, where we are always around. Even on Ubrora, we were on the same planet as them. I meant do you think they are ready for a mission where they'd be completely on their own?"

Aurine felt her eyes widen, "Somehow I don't think you are asking a hypothetical question."

"I'm not," said the Rishati. "Earlier today, while I was waiting for you to arrive, I received two missions from the Council and their suggestion was that the Padawans could be given one of the missions, while we take on the other one together. They've left the final decision up to me, though."

"And the two missions are?"

"One is tracking down a bounty hunter that has gone...shall we say beyond the call of duty in tracking down some bounties. He is to be arrested on a rather lengthy litany of charges. The other mission is investigating some anti-Jedi sentiment at a few institutions of higher learning and if possible, putting an end to it."

It didn't take long for Aurine to figure out which of the missions would be assigned to their apprentices, "So you are essentially giving me the choice of going to track a bounty hunter with you, or to observe my apprentice as he goes undercover at a University."

"Pretty much," replied Tiplee with a knowing smile.

She leaned back in her chair, thinking the scenario over. She has a far-reaching trust in Sascha. Her apprentice was now nineteen and more experienced in the ways of being a Jedi. In her opinion, he was level headed enough to be entrusted with a mission without her direct or indirect supervision. Especially a mission that doesn't seem to bring too much danger to it. Yet, there is still that old disquiet that she has about Sascha and Nara being together, alone. At this point its a stupid thing to worry about, Nara hasn't shown the slightest bit of interest in Sascha and Sascha is too shy to kiss any girl, let alone Nara.

Aurine decided that it was about time she puts her trust fully behind Sascha and Nara, "I believe that Sascha and Nara are mature enough to handle being on a mission together."

Tiplee nodded solemnly, "I agree. When they get back, we'll give them the good news."

Sascha Whitestar entered the code to lower the boarding ramp of the Emerald Dream. Upon the ramp lowering to the ground, he gestured to the droid that he had rented that was carrying the supplies that he and Nara had bought. Compliantly, the silver-gray droid, well-laden with the numerous supplies, rolled up the ramp. Once the droid had gotten inside, the droid turned it's optical sensors on him in a silent question, "Just put it anywhere. We'll unpack the supplies. Thank you."

The droid lowered the pallet on to the ground, and beeped in satisfaction. Sascha bowed slightly to the droid and the loader droid wheeled itself down the boarding ramp and back towards the shop. Nara closed the ramp once the droid was off the ship.

Aurine and Tiplee soon joined them in the small cargo hold, "You got everything on the list?" asked his Master.

"Yep," he replied.

"Did you get anything for yourselves?" inquired Tiplee.

He jerked a thumb at Nara, "She got some of that Quintillan jerky that she likes."

"It's tasty!" said Nara defensively.

"And a mild stimulant for Togruta," he added impishly.

"It's legal in a vast majority of planets in the Republic," Nara retorted.

Sascha nudged Nara lightly on the shoulder, "It's so much fun to get you riled up."

Nara advanced on him, feigning being angry, "Oh, I'll show you riled up."

Sascha ran and hid behind his Master, "Help! She's high on Quintillan jerky! She thinks I'm her next snack!"

Tiplee cleared her throat, instantly, the two Padawans stopped their playacting and snapped into an attentive pose, hands politely folded behind their backs. The Rishati smiled at their instant compliance, "While I generally enjoy your playful banter, I would appreciate if cut it out for a moment." The Rishati took a deep breath, "Why don't you join Aurine and I in the lounge."

The oddly formal phrasing from Tiplee gave Sascha pause, and he cast a look at Nara to see if she knew what was going on, but the Togruta seemed equally confused. Sascha shrugged, and sauntered towards the small lounge. The four Jedi gathered around the small table, each Padawan shoulder-to-shoulder with their Master.

"We have a mission for you two," said Tiplee without formality.

It took a second for Sascha to process the peculiar phrasing, "For me and Nara?"

His Master turned her head and smiled slightly, "Yes. You two have proved time and again that you are an effective pairing. You are both older now, and more than mature enough to handle being on your own together. This mission that we have for you is a good fit for your skills."

Across from him, Nara was trying, and failing, to keep her delight off of her face. He wasn't quite sure what his expression was at the moment, but he was probably doing something similar. Tiplee grinned knowingly at the two apprentices, "I know this is a big moment for you two. Your friendship has been one that has invited scrutiny at times, but Aurine and I also wanted to show the faith that we have in both of you."

"Where are we going? What is our mission?" asked Nara excitedly.

Tiplee pressed a button on her datapad, and Sascha heard his datapad beep, indicating that a file had been transferred to it, "I've sent you two the mission profile. I want you and Nara to look over the mission and give us a plan as to how you are going to complete it."

"Be open ended," Aurine advised, "As you know what is written on the datapad before a mission is rarely what you get when you actually arrive at the planet. Still, planning does have its uses."

Nara bounced off her seat enthusiastically, "Come on, lets go to your room and start planning, Sascha." The Togruta put words to action and took off for his room. Sascha offered a slight shrug to the two Jedi Knights and followed the Togruta to his room.