True to her word, Kariss's destination was impossible to miss. A large elegant building made of bronze stone loomed before them. The building reminded Ahsoka of a temple, stretching up into the sky with wide columns etched with designs lining the front and sides. Tall trees crowded in on either side of it and – oddly enough – extended their branches into the building. However, a small clearing at the front marked the graceful entryway.

Kariss led them through the elegant doors of shiny dark wood, and as the group stepped into an enormous room, Ahsoka heard Rex whistle under his breath.

Upon entrance, Ahsoka's eyes were instantly drawn upwards to the hall's enormous ceiling where, just below it, gaps had been carved out of bronze stone walls. Branches from the outside trees stretched through these large spaces and well into the room, nearly obscuring any view of the ceiling. The roof outside had extended far beyond the sides of the building, which would restrict any inclement weather from invading the building, but it allowed breezes to freely access the interior chamber. It had the bizarre effect of blurring the lines between the indoors and outdoors and, despite the noticeable warmth of the chambers, kept Ahsoka immersed in the calm freshness that came from being amongst nature.

"It's beautiful," she said to no one in particular.

"I'm glad you think so." Kariss smiled. "Our people enjoy the beauty of our planets nature, and seek to keep it as close as possible. Our royalty is no exception."

Ahsoka caught her master's glance out of the corner of her eye.

He indicated their surroundings and mouthed to her: Royal hall?

She shrugged in response, but understood Anakin's surprise at what Kariss had implied. The hall was elegantly built, with the inner walls made of the same bronzed stone as the outside and the floors stretched out in a warm, tanned marble. However, at least two dozen people were scattered about the interior. They sat on dark wooden benches against the sides of the hall or stood in the center, talking in small groups. A couple gathered near a large open fireplace set into the far left corner, sitting in chairs thrown with green cushions. The room felt more like an extravagant community lounge than a royal hall.

None of the people had taken any real notice of the group when they'd entered, but those in the center parted easily in front of Kariss as she lead them towards the back of the room.

As people moved out of the way, a spot of red in the corner of the room opposite the fireplace drew Ahsoka's eye. There, on a slightly raised platform, sat a throne.

It was a striking piece. Made of the same dark wood that formed the other pieces, it looked like a more sophisticated and elegant version of the benches that lined the room. It flowed from top to bottom, twisting and curving more like water than wood. Intricately carved designs of vines and flowers inlaid the sides and front.

Behind the throne, heavy dark green fabric hung from the walls in the corner, going all the way the ceiling where it melded with the shade from the foliage. The curtains stopped at the edge of the platform.

The red that Ahsoka had noticed was a cloth – a cloak; she noticed the hood as they got closer. It had been tossed over the back of throne, the color contrasting with a dark green cushion that was in the seat. But no one sat on it.

A pair of woman stood in front of the throne platform, one of whom Ahsoka recognized from the previous night: Taliah. The other was older – Ahsoka thought she might have been there last night too, but didn't recall a name. The two were watching the group as they approached, talking quietly before the older woman turned to leave.

"We were wondering if you'd gotten lost, Kariss," called Taliah to them.

As the young woman stood in front of her, Ahsoka couldn't see Kariss's expression, though it was easy to guess from her answering tone. "If you wanted them lost, you should have gone yourself."

Taliah smiled, but didn't respond. She instead turned her attention to the others in the group. "How was your night?"

"Peaceful," Master Kenobi responded. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Well, what would I be if I'd turned you away?" Taliah replied good-humoredly.

An odd statement. Ahsoka noted the woman's proximity to the throne. "I thought you said you weren't the queen," she asked, doing her best not to sound rude as they reached her.

"She's not," a voice behind them responded. Ahsoka turned to see the couple by the fireplace approaching them. One was Gaylen, who'd helped them last night, but Ahsoka didn't recognize the other – a tall middle-aged woman who'd spoken.

The two took a place beside Taliah, close to the platform, and the woman inclined her head to them. "I am Queen Clarona; my apologies for not meeting with you last night." She didn't offer an excuse, but Ahsoka supposed that as queen, she didn't need one.

As she looked at the queen, Ahsoka realized that while hadn't really formed an image for how she'd expected her to look, Clarona certainly looked the part. The woman was beautiful, elegant, and carried herself with poise. Her blond hair was twisted and pinned up off her neck and framing a face with strong, straight features and clear, intelligent blue eyes. She was taller than Taliah, nearly Master Kenobi's height and looked to be about his age.

The group bowed respectfully to her.

"No apologies necessary," Master Kenobi assured. "We certainly didn't give you much warning before we intruded. We thank you for allowing us to stay at all."

"I'm glad to hear you were comfortable," Clarona said. "I understand you crashed down here sometime yesterday?"

"Shot down actually, but yes, your Majesty – yesterday afternoon. In fact, we had just gotten free of the ship when your soldiers found us."

"Your ship sustained damage?"

Like a Hutt smells...

Her master was clearly thinking along the same lines. "That… would be putting it mildly."

The queen nodded. "I haven't seen it myself, but I had people out inspecting the crash site this morning, and they agree: the ship is beyond repair. However, this does bring us to a problem. While we are not in the habit of turning away people in need, we are equally not in the habit of allowing visitors to stay long. Arrangements will need to be made for you to be on your way as soon as possible."

Master Kenobi started to reply, telling the royal that their party had no intention on intruding long on her planet. However, Ahsoka was distracted by a small disturbance outside and missed the details of their exchange. She looked at the door, where a boy entered and hurried across the room towards the group.

"I'm sorry, your highnesses…" The boy paused, suddenly unsure, and Ahsoka wondered if he wasn't supposed to give news in front them.

This seemed supported by Taliah curt response in their native dialect. She and the boy walked to the side and talked in low voices.

"I'm afraid we don't have one you can use," Clarona said, as Ahsoka tuned back into the conversation. "Long range communication is a technology we've never needed."

"We have com stations that we use to communicate planet-side, though." Gaylen looked towards the queen. "We may be able to modify them to have them send out a short range burst into space. But you'd need a ship nearby. "

"We're likely to have one looking for us," Anakin said. "But we should be careful about what we send. Dooku's ship is equally likely to be out there."

"If you're referring to the ship that shot you down," Clarona said. "We have reason to believe their gone by now. Late last night, my people spotted a drone entering our atmosphere and travelling to your crash sight. It stayed less than a minute before leaving again."

"Searching for survivors," Rex stated.

"Well, since they obviously didn't find any there, you are right," Master Kenobi said to the queen. "They're probably gone."

"Well, that's one less thing to worry about," Anakin said. "Now there's just the rest." He looked at Ahsoka. "You talked to Master Unduli after we picked up Obi-wan and Cody?"

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, but not after the Separatists cut us off. I'm sure she expected to hear from us again by now, but she won't know what happened. Only that we're not back."

"She'll still come looking," Master Kenobi said. "And if we get the transmitter working, then she'll know where to look."

Anakin rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, but you know how Luminara is. She was about as thrilled as I was that the council asked us to divert troops away from our mission. That's one of the reasons we came to get you ourselves rather than bringing the Resolute. My guess is she'll want to finish that assignment before she loses more people searching for us."

"What was the mission?" Cody asked.

"Kariss," Taliah said suddenly.

The girl looked up and, at the woman's wave, walked over to the boy, while Taliah came back to the group.

Anakin glanced at them, hesitating, but evidently decided it didn't matter if the others heard. Ahsoka supposed it didn't at this point. "Intercepting a weapons' shipment to the Destreg Spaceport. It wasn't too involved, but you know how Golan likes to outfit their space stations. We weren't supposed to get close, but if something went wrong, it could've gone very differently."

"Plus, we're smack in the middle of Separatist space," Ahsoka added. "That's why they sent us along with Master Unduli's squadron."

"So," Rex said. "We may have another two rotations before we hear from her or we may have already missed her?"

"Pretty much," Ahsoka said dryly.

"We're not that far from the location where we last transmitted," Anakin said. "I'm sure they'll be in range if we can get the signal out."

"Isn't it lucky you didn't get hyperdrive when you asked?" Ahsoka teased.

"Hilarious, Snips."

While they spoke, Kariss walked over to Gaylen and wordlessly touched him on the arm. They exchanged a look, then Gaylen turned and followed as Kariss rushed off with the boy.

When she turned to watch them, Ahsoka noticed that the room had cleared considerably – less than a half dozen other people remained.

"Something wrong?" Master Kenobi asked as the trio disappeared through the doors.

"Nothing to be concerned about," Taliah said simply.

Rex glanced at the door with an eyebrow raised. "Looked concerning."

Taliah straighten a bit and exhaled. "There's a group of Cor'akas gathered near the river at our Southern border. They opened fire on a small group there a few minutes ago."

If there was one thing you shouldn't say to people who spent most of their time on a battle field, it was 'opened fire.' Rex and Cody noticeably stiffened, and Anakin immediately asked, "How can we help?"

Taliah waved them off though. "Gaylen and Kariss are handling it, and the group is being subdued now."

Clarona did not seem quite as at ease as Taliah appeared, her eyebrows knit in thought, and at Master Kenobi's question, Ahsoka thought she realized why.

"I thought they didn't attack your borders?"

Taliah was slow to respond. "It is unusual," she said hesitantly. "But not unheard of."

Clarona spoke up, her face tense and thoughtful. "It's possible that the sight of new people on the planet has them anxious, but it's likely that something else entirely has provoked them." She cleared her throat. "Either way, you can see why this is not an ideal time to be here. I'll have techs sent to the com stations to see if the necessary modifications can be made."

"I'd like to accompany them, if you don't mind," Anakin said.

"It's no problem," the Queen replied.

"What can the rest of us do?" Ahsoka asked.

Taliah grinned at Clarona before responding. "Enjoy the village! I'm sure you're all starving – choose a bonfire at the square, and I'll have some food brought to you."

Clarona showed a small smile before nodded. "Of course. But please, inform Taliah or one of the guards if you wish to leave the forest. For now, stay clear of the borders entirely."

As the group turned to follow Taliah out of the hall, Ahsoka stepped closer to her master. "Do you think they're in trouble down there?" she whispered.

Anakin responded in kind. "I don't know. I got mixed signals from them both, but there was an awful lot of tension from the queen."

"I don't think she likes us."

"I don't think she trusts us," he responded wryly. "But keep your eyes open while I'm gone."

"You too. If I see Gaylen or Kariss when they come back, I'll ask them about what happened. Maybe one of them will be a little more open."

Anakin nodded.

"Take Rex with you," she said, as she held open the heavy door for him while they exited.

Anakin gave her a look. "I'm feeling fine, Ahsoka. Besides, I don't think we're in any danger here. They let us keep our weapons."

"Well, maybe the com stations are near the borders we're supposed to avoid," she retorted.

He sighed. "Fine. So long as you stay close to Obi-wan and Cody like a good little girl."

His voice was sarcastic by the end. "Be nice, or I'll pull those stupid stitches out one by one."

"Shut up."

I think I've said once that I promised I never gave up on stories - well, here's me making good on that promise. Thanks again to everyone who didn't give up! Btw, since writer's block is an unspeakable atrocity, I've rewritten some things in the previous chapters. Nothing drastic to the storyline, but there are some changes if you guys want to check it out.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!