Archive of Our Own

Quinlan watched his padawan try and fail again at the exercise for the day, feeling his frustration rising and matching hers. 

"Alright, Aayla, I think it's time to be done for the day. We'll practice again another time."

Aayla groaned and stomped over to her water.

Quinlan was pretty sure that if she had anything in her hand besides her lightsaber, she would have thrown it.

He waited out her frustration, taking sips of his own water and trying to calm himself at the same time, hoping that it would give them both some space to be able to have the conversation.

"You're not going to keep me from going on the trip now, are you?" Aayla asked suddenly.

Quinlan shook his head. "Why would I do that?"

"Because I didn't complete today's lesson."

"You still did everything I required of you on top of the requirements for the annual padawan trip. I'm not about to take the privilege away the day before the trip when I had already given permission."

Aayla brightened immediately. "Alright!"

Quinlan shook his head in amusement, realizing that was really the problem. "Go on, enjoy the rest of the day and make sure you're packed."

"Thanks Master!" Aayla waved with a brush of affection in the Force as she headed out to go meet up with friends to discuss what the trip was likely to be this year.

There was a trip just about every year. Padawans were not required to go on it, and there was a limit due to how many Jedi were available to handle the padawans. 

Generally, it was recommended that if they went one year, they did not go the next year.

Aayla hadn't had the opportunity to go thanks to the timing of missions, so she was extra excited to finally get to go this time.

Quinlan relaxed on the bench, taking his time to breathe. He was grateful that he didn't have to go. He would have volunteered to chaperone of course, if they needed more, but there were a lot of young knights that wanted the opportunity to relax. That was their mistake. There was no relaxing with that many padawans going on it.

The best part about not going was that Obi-Wan was going to be in the Temple as well. Anakin had met all the requirements and was going, probably just as excited as Aayla based on his reaction when Obi-Wan told him he could go if he met all the goals they had set for around that time.

Spending time with his best friend without padawans... it had been so long since they had done it that Quinlan was looking forward to it.

Even better, the trip was set to last a month, though the exact return date would be determined the day they started the return trip.

Quinlan stretched. He better go make sure Aayla ate something because he had a feeling she might forget if he didn't remind her.

.

Quinlan saw Aayla to the classroom where she was to meet up with the chaperone in charge of her and four others for the trip, just to make sure she made it and everything was in order.

He glanced at the knight, pleased to see one he could trust with his padawan.

He knew that every volunteer had been vetted for the trip, that the padawans would never be put in danger knowingly.

He still had a few knights he wouldn't trust with his padawan for a month.

With an affectionate tug on her padawan beads, Quinlan said goodbye and left.

He spent some time drinking his caf leisurely while he caught up on some reading. 

An hour later, Obi-Wan entered without knocking, putting in the code Quinlan had given him the moment he had moved into the quarters.

Obi-Wan flopped onto the couch dramatically.

"What happened?" Quinlan asked.

"You know how Anakin gets about remembering to bring stuff?"

"...oh no."

"Oh yes. Last night and this morning. I eventually had to convince him that what he had packed was enough, since he had everything on the packing list, all the essentials, he was just missing what he would like to have, because if we searched for them anymore, he would be late."

"But they're leaving now."

Obi-Wan nodded. "They're leaving now."

"That means that unless a mission comes up, it's just us. We can do whatever we want, without worrying about our padawans. Whether or not they will interrupt us, or see us, what they think of what we're doing... no having to try to explain things when we're about at our own boiling points."

"Sounds like bliss." Obi-Wan sighed. "You and me. When's the last time we had that?"

"Right after I was knighted. Then I got the usual new Knight mission load, you and Qui-Gon kept getting sent off on missions... then Naboo, and we have not been padawan free since then."

"We made some attempts at dates. But that was only for a few hours and not all of those were successful."

Quinlan winced at the memory of how disastrous some of those were. "Yeah, let's not talk about those misadventures."

Obi-Wan hummed and kissed Quinlan before settling in. "I think today I just want to chill. Tomorrow we can do whatever."

"That sounds wonderful."

They stayed like that for a while.

.

The first three days of no padawans were bliss. They could sleep when they wanted, eat what they wanted. They didn't have to monitor their padawans while meditating and try to squeeze a little more in while the padawan was at class. 

They didn't have to dedicate time to training their padawan, instead sparring with each other and taking some time to mess around.

Neither of them spoke; they didn't have to. They just liked spending time together whenever possible and that meant that they didn't mind being quiet. Especially after getting the initial giddiness out of their systems.

Quinlan stood and stretched. "Wnat to go get Dex's?"

"Not today... I feel like not moving today. Overdid it yesterday."

Quinlan winced as his own muscles reminded him that yes, he overdid it as well. 

"Fair enough." He sighed. "I'm just getting a little restless and want something other than what we've been having."

Obi-Wan hummed. "You could just go grab something from a food cart outside the Temple?"

"Oh, a short walk there, yeah that works. You going to join me?"

Obi-Wna huffed. "I am not moving. I think I pulled a muscle. I'll stretch, don’t worry, I know what I'm supposed to do, but I also just don't want to move too much because it hurts."

"Fair enough>" Quinlan nodded and headed to go get food. He didn't bother asking Obi-Wan what to get because he knew everything Obi-Wan loved and everything Obi-Wan hated, so he also knew what new things Obi-Wan may or may not be willing to try based on that alone.

It was nice knowing his partner so well.

Partner. Not like they got to act like partners often ever.

Quinlan considered that. He didn't really mind it; they had padawans to worry about and as long as they were there when they needed each other and weren't busy with their bigger obligations (Padawans and missions), then it was fine.

The bigger issue was that they weren't getting breaks from their padawans, and maybe they had let that build up a bit too much over the last few years.

It was something to consider before the padawans got back; how to give each other breaks and maybe sneak in a break together or something.

The padawans were getting older so it should get easier, and it wouldn't be too long before they were both knighted, but thinking about it... Quinlan wasn't certain he could wait.

He shook his head. That kind of thought could wait.

He picked up the food and headed back to Obi-Wan. 

Obi-Wan was looking a bit more alert and willing to move by the time he returned.

Quinlan smiled at him and set the food down. "Found your favorite!"

"You're the best, Quin," Obi-Wan told him and gave him a brief kiss before going to eat.

Quinlan joined him and they chatted over their meal about anything they could think of, enjoying not having to censor their words.

They cleaned up and then it was back to their lazy day.

Quinlan was just happy to have Obi-Wan around.

Eventually they realized they needed to do some cleaning since they hadn't actually done more than clean up after themselves in the kitchen since their padawan free time started.

Quinlan picked up Obi-Wan's lightsaber and froze at the echo that flashed through his mind.

It took him a bit to tear himself away from the loop and let go of the lightsaber.

He eyed it warily and moved it to the hook next to his, wondering why Obi-Wan had left it there.

He started cleaning up again, shaking just a bit as he worked his way through the bits of trash that had somehow accumulated.

Obi-Wan came out of the bedroom, where he had returned some clothes and ended up doing some tidying once he realized it was also a little bit of a disaster. 

He tilted his head. "Quin? Did something happen?"

"What makes you ask that?" Quinlan asked without looking up from the blanket he was attempting to fold.

"You're shaking."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"How close you came to dying on your last mission?"

"How did..." Obi-Wan noticed that Quinlan had moved his lightsaber. "Oh..."

"Why? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to I just... I needed some time to process what happened and I just wanted to relax for a bit once Anakin went off. It was terrifying and he brushed it off like nothing, back to his usual self almost immediately, I needed the break to even be able to begin to process and I just... I was going to tell you. Tomorrow, probably, now that I feel better."

"You should have told me."

"I don't have to do anything Quin. I nearly died, yes, but that was my traumatic moment. I had nightmares for days after that.  I needed time. Please, Quin. I always give you space, please let me have some."

"That's different." Quinlan kept his mind closed off, not letting Obi-Wan in as he usually would.

"How exactly is it different?"

"I never kept something like a near death experience from you. I told you it happened. I told you I was tortured. I never kept it from you and we just didn't talk about it until I was ready. You should've said something."

Obi-Wan stared at him, puzzled. "It was terrifying, yeah, but no more terrifying than half of all the missions I've been on since I was a padawan. I... I'm afraid I don't understand the problem, I mean I was going to tell you I wasn't keeping it secret or anything but it was only a near death experience. I didn't actually get hurt badly or almost die. I'm still here. I just... I just wanted to enjoy my time with you for a bit, forget everything that happened."

Quinlan shook his head. "I felt it, Obes... it was bad. You could have lost a leg. You almost died. It's a miracle you weren't more injured. You should have told me sooner. We didn't have to talk. I just want to know these things."

"I was going to tell you, tomorrow. I don't... I don't understand why this is a big deal."

"Because I FELT it!" Quinlan exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "Because I didn't know there was anything to be wary of when it came to your lightsbaer. Force, Obes. You're usually more careful about the echoes than this! Don't you care anymore?"

Obi-Wan froze, a stricken look crossing his face. "...I didn't consider that it had that strong an impression," he said slowly. "I'm... a bit too used to things going wrong in that way and while I did need to process it, it wasn't any worse than others you have not felt echoes for."

"Well something was different about this one. I can't... just go. Please."

"Quin..."

"No. You've done enough damage. I can't... I can't deal with it."

Obi-Wan let out a breath. "Alright. I am sorry... I... I didn't mean to hurt you, and I was going to tell you. I just... didn't consider that it would be so bad and for that, I am truly sorry, Quin."

"GET OUT."

Obi-Wan flinched at the volume and tone of voice, something he had never had directed at him, not from Quinlan.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and let it out before grabbing his lightsaber and leaving.

He was halfway to his quarters when he realized he had left most of his things with Quinlan.

He decided it didn't matter. He could give Quinlan at least until morning to calm down.

He knew how bad echoes affected Quinlan.

Why hadn't he thought of it? He did care, but... why had he forgotten?

Was it really what he claimed, that he had just gotten too used to the circumstances?

Yeah ,that had to be part of it, and he still wasn't sure why the echo was so strong that Quin felt it this time.

Or maybe... oh.

Obi-Wan shook his head at himself. He hadn't handled his lightsaber enough with more positive memories, with more neutral experiences, since the last mission. It had only been a week, after all. Usually it had been a longer span of time and he had at least been training with Anakin in that time.

Of course it was still strong when Quinlan touched it.

The question was... how did he make it up to Quinlan? 

Obi-Wan didn't know but he wished he did. He had hurt his partner. He should have been more careful.

He didn't have an appetite for dinner, and he didn't make it to bed, just crashing on the couch, feeling sorry for himself and alternating between playing the argument and the memory of what had happened through his mind.

When he woke up, he found an urgent message asking if he was available for an emergency mission to try to help some obscure planet with a missing prince and princess-twins, apparently. Prediction was that it would take at least two weeks, if not a month, possibly more time depending on how things played out.

Obi-Wan didn't hesitate to take it. He would normally be likely to take it, but he also would have talked about it with Quinlan since they were supposed to be spending time together.

After the argument... 

Yeah. He would let Quinlan have his space and go do the mission. He should be able to check in with Quinlan at some point. Maybe once he had gotten through the briefing and was headed for the planet. 

He checked where the planet was located and grimaced. Outer edge of the inner rim, almost near Hutt space. Hmm. That was something to consider. Obi-Wan filed it away to think about later and packed up before reporting to the Council.

Once he was settled on the ship for the three day journey, he tried to message Quinlan, but but the time he went to bed, Quinlan still hadn't answered.

Even the rare times they were at odds like this... Quinlan usually answered.

.

Quinlan woke up the morning after the argument feeling a bit bad about how he went off on Obi-Wan.

He should know better than that. He hadn't processed all the emotions in the echo, and so those affected his emotional state which made it harder to be rational.

He should have at least meditated before confronting Obi-Wan like that. He should have gone straight to meditating instead of trying to continue the clean up.

He wished he hadn't kicked Obi-Wan out. He missed sleeping next to his partner.

When Quinlan checked his comm, it wasn't a message from Obi-Wan he found, but an emergency undercover mission to investigate a trafficking ring that might have been part of the kidnapping of a prince and princess (twins?) of some obscure planet he hadn't heard of before. 

He took the mission without hesitation, forgot to send a message to Obi-Wan, and within an hour, he was getting set up to go undercover, a process he was used to but also meant he would be out of contact from most people until the mission was over.

As he set off to the meeting point they determined would be the best place to get him undercover, he did his best to put the argument with Obi-Wan out of his mind.

He'd apologize in person once he got back. Obi-Wan knew how he was about taking missions.

.

Obi-Wan stepped off of the ship, putting his worry about Quinlan and how they had left things into a box.

He hadn't gotten a single response from Quinlan, which was unusual.

Either that meant that Quinlan was far more upset than he had been in the past and he had a lot to make for or something had come up and Quinlan was unable to answer.

Obi-Wan really, really hoped that it was the latter but he kept thinking it might be the first.

He hadn't seen Quinlan that upset since they were kids.

He put on his usual diplomatic face and greeted those who met him.

After he was shown to his room, he got right down to the business of investigating the disappearance of the twins, learning more about the culture than what the Jedi Order had and what had been sent along ahead of time, and generally trying to figure out the best way to approach the issue.

It was clear that though some organization had taken the twins- like their initial assumption, likely some sort of trafficking ring- it was an inside job. 

Obi-Wan needed to figure out who and why and help the king and queen smooth things over if necessary while also figuring out some sort of plan to keep it from being a problem again.

Obi-Wan started on the investigation immediately, looking at the room the twins had been taken from; their usual lesson room.

Supposedly, their teacher had left them alone while they worked on some lines, and then came back to them missing.

That meant that naturally the teacher was the top suspect.

Obi-Wan talked to them first, and ruled them out immediately.

The teacher was too genuinely distressed and there were enough things out of place that the teacher wouldn't have left out of place to believe it.

There was still a chance, but it was very unlikely; the teacher would have had to be both very calculating and be an amazing actor.

Times like this, Obi-Wan wished he could use psychometry to confirm or disprove his theories.

He examined the classroom.

As they had told him, there was no sign of a struggle. It was someone the twins trusted, or maybe enough of an incentive to lure them out if they didn't.

The person certainly knew the mansion well.

Obi-Wan was able to follow a trail through some corridors and then into a series of tunnels that servants used and the royals knew about as a safe place to hide, and then he got confused, so he asked about where the tunnels ended up, and he was unsurprised that at least two ended up not just outside the mansion, but outside the wall that protected it, making it easy enough to get the kids out, if one knew the tunnels well enough.

The question was... who was it? Especially since it seemed that whoever it was had handed the child off and then returned to the mansion to pretend that they had been doing their job the whole time.

Or... 

Obi-Wan stroked his chin and returned to the dining room just in time for dinner.

"Have you had servants leave, get fired, or go missing? What about family members? Anyone that has reason to have a grudge against you that knows those servant tunnels?"

The king froze, staring at him. "...my wife's mother was a servant..."

"She was mad that I was given opportunities to not need to be a servant, but that was something done for all children of servants," the queen said quietly. "When we started courting it was too much for her and she cut ties with me though she kept working here until we caught her with the twins when they were four... hurting them."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Then she is the most likely suspect and though I do want to check to make sure I'm not missing some less obvious suspects, I will continue as if she is the culprit. Can you tell me more?"

He listened to everything they had to say. Afterwards, he sent a summary to the Council to update them, since he knew they were hoping to work finding the children from another angle while he investigated.

Obi-Wan returned to work, eventually finding confirmation that it was the disowned grandmother of the twins that kidnapped them and then he found a trail. He was quite happy to finally get on the trail properly to find them.

He hoped it wasn't too late and that the other angle approach was working, though he didn't know what that angle was. It could be a few different things, from pulling a shadow to go undercover, to diplomats dealing with the politics of trying to stop the trafficking outside of Republic space.

.

Quinlan took one last deep breath before settling into his cover fully. 

It was going to be a tough mission.

He had talked it over with those involved after taking the mission and there had been one conclusion. 

Based on all the information they had on the trafficking ring that likely had the twins, they needed someone to go undercover as someone being trafficked, though that certainly came with risks. 

Someone on the inside and someone on the outside to sell the person on the inside and ready to extract when he gave the signal.

Quinlan had been paired with someone he hadn't worked with before, but was supposed to be good at extractions and making judgement calls in an emergency. A quick check of his file bore that out, with some bad calls here and there, but most of them involved factors he hadn't been aware of at the time of making the call, so it wasn't even really his fault.

He should be trustworthy, but Quinlan never could bring himself to fully trust Jedi he had never worked with before. 

They could make mistakes. They didn't know him and wouldn't be able to read him well, even if he kept strictly to the agreed upon parameters on when to call for extraction, they might not believe him. They just might not get along which would make extraction harder. There were a lot of reasons why he didn't like working with Jedi he didn't work with before and relying on them to extract him. 

So far, it was mostly just the professional work ethic he was used to, and then awkwardness when they had nothing to talk about, which was fairly typical regardless of if it went well or not.

But now it was time to be sold and to see if that would lead him to the twins, and if not, if it would lead him to information that he could use to find the twins and save them. 

It didn't matter who they were, no child deserved to be in that situation.

As a bonus, it was the perfect excuse to work on dismantling the trafficking ring, and if not dismantle it entirely, they could cripple the network, let all Republic systems know what to look out for and hand off the information to anyone not part of the Republic that also wanted to put a stop to them.

In other words, his job was multifold, using the excuse of the twins to get a lot more done even if they weren’t his mission goal.

Quinlan stood in character as they arrived, keeping his head down.

It wasn't the first time he would play the captured Kiffar who had already been beaten into submission and it wouldn't be the last. 

It wasn't his favorite role because of how sadistic people could be and in a lot of ways it was worse than being tortured. But it was nicer to try to blend in and stay out of trouble than play up being some kind of sadistic bastard the way he needed to on some of his missions.

They had found an invite to a party that would be their in for the trafficking. 

Once they arrived at the party, they were directed to the 'trading floor' where Quinlan was given a number and put on display, and the other Jedi put on a sales pitch for Quinlan, eventually walking off with someone and coming back to hand Quinlan off to that person.

Quinlan let himself flinch away from the probing hands, keeping his eyes down, like he was afraid of eye contact and in general just scared.

This was met with laughter and amusement before he was led away to stay by the person who 'bought' him for the rest of the night, until the party was over. 

Quinlan spent the entire time listening and gathering information about the sort of people that were there.

Then he was dragged away from the party to where a lot of people were kept to be trained until they found someone that suited them.

Quinlan had picked up that the person who had bought him was one of the organizers of the group. Not the highest ranked person but close enough that people treated him as such unless the highest ranked person was in the room. 

They came to a stop outside a room.

"He said that you're good with kids. Let's see if that's true... a new caretaker is definitely someone we need right now."

That was all the warning Quinlan got before he was shoved into the room.

It was clearly converted to keep a bunch of people in one spot.

He noticed several bunkbeds, what looked to be a bathroom with a door (to his relief), and even a small kitchen area.

Then he saw the toys and looked closer at the bunkbeds. 

More than half of them were filled with children.

Kriff. 

Quinlan let out a breath. Mentioning that he was good with children had been a gamble in an effort to make it easier to get him near children. 

He didn't expect it to put him with children right away.

He turned back to the door, but it was locked already, leaving him alone with the kids and no clue about how it was usually run.

Quinlan shrugged it off and quickly explored the room, running his hands over everything to see what memories he could pick up until it was too much, checking what was in the little 'kitchen' and what was in the bathroom.

As he expected, it was the bare minimum, but at least he could handle giving the kids food once he learned what the rules were and how often they got more food.

Once he was done with that exploration, he checked out the few toys and books the kids had- interesting. 

Probably had figured out that as long as the kids had something they would be quiet and more easily controlled outside of when they were wanted.

He took a moment to secure a hiding spot for everything he had hidden on him, planning on finding a new hiding spot later.

Quinlan counted the kids, finding a total of eight. There were a total of five bunkbeds, meaning ten beds.

Although only seven beds were occupied. Two were sharing a bed. 

Quinlan took a quick peek at them and hoped that they were the twins he was supposed to find because that meant his main objective was achieved, he'd just have to find a way to get more information and get them out. 

He had a few days to check in, anyway, so he could form a plan while he waited.

He tucked in a few kids, and noticed as he did so the kids looked to be somewhere between six years old and thirteen or so... no one that wasn't going through puberty. 

He carefully did not think about what that could mean, and instead focused on the kids that were there.

The twins were ten years old, so they should be in the room, unless they had already been sent out with someone.

Quinlan didn't have a firm enough grasp on how the trafficking worked, how the network these people had built worked, to know what to expect.

He let out a yawn after a while and shook his head. 

He checked the clothes and winced. They were all the same, nothing separated by gender. He eventually found what had to be the clothes for adults. He stared at the near identical look to the children's clothes and shook his head, closing the wardrobe and instead just going to bed as he was, deciding to figure it out the next day. 

There was a lot he would have to do the next day, twins in that room or not.

Quinlan took the bed nearest the door, which was the only bunkbed that was untouched by children, and settled in to sleep.

It was only his training that enabled him to fall asleep fairly quickly, otherwise he might have been stuck thinking about everything he had found so far.

Quinlan woke up to whispers.

It took him a moment to remember where he was and what he was doing, then he opened his eyes, finding five of the eight kids staring at him with wide, scared eyes.

He gave them a smile. "Hi." He sat up and stretched.

The oldest kid stepped closer. "Who are you?"

"My name is Quinlan."

"You're new."

Quinlan nodded. 

"How long?"

"How long?" Quinlan echoed.

"Yeah, how long ago did they buy you and how long since you were free?"

"They bought me last night at their party," Quinlan responded. "And... It's been a month since I was free."

"Oh you're almost as new as the twins! I've been here since I was five and I don't really remember being free, I remember being with my mom before here but..." she shrugged. "I'm Lyssum, that's Rhod, he's been here two years. The twins just got here, and sounds like they went from free to here immediately, but I don't really believe that they're a prince and princess."

Quinlan noted that the twins both bristled though neither said anything.

"Yrissa has been here for six months, Falec for a year, Vonnie is six but has been here for three years, and Stev has been here for two years."

"That's a long time..."

Lyssum nodded. "So you're our newest caretaker."

"I guess so... I didn't really get an explanation last night."

"I've seen over twenty caretakers since I got here. They just want someone to keep us out of trouble, make sure we're not sick, and take care of any injuries since they realized that if they leave us to our own devices kids will die."

Quinlan nodded slowly. "And what happened to all the other caretakers?" Over thirty in eight years... that was about four a year.

"Sometimes they catch someone's eye and get bought out, sometimes they do something stupid and get taken away from us. Sometimes they die. Can be anything really. Most of them sucked."

"Didn't know how to handle kids?"

"Definitely not. And they were too scared to do anything. Are you too scared?" Lyssum challenged, looking him up and down.

"I am scared, but you kids need someone to look after you. Guess that's me now, though I'll need you to teach me how things work here."

Lyssum nodded approvingly. 

Quinlan must have passed his test. He would have been amused by how Lyssum was approaching this if it wasn't so sad that it was so necessary to approach things in such a way.

He resolved to make sure that there was no reason to be upset with him. He was going to prove himself to them.

The kids led him through the routine, with the twins sticking close to him, apparently intimidated by how used to the routine the other kids were, and not used to the limitations yet.

Quinlan didn't blame them at all for it, though he could see the impatience in some of the kids that had been there longer, though Lyssum apparently also had the patience for them after having been through it all many times with new kids and had a better understanding of how hard an adjustment period it was.

First Quinlan had to put on his new clothes and discard the old. It was a good thing he had found some hiding places while he was exploring the night before so he didn't have to slip anything into hiding places and hope the kids didn't notice.

Quinlan planned on moving them to better hiding spots soon after getting a better idea of how things went. He could handle it, he was sure of it, but he wanted to be certain that he knew the lay of the land.

After that, he helped the kids get breakfast, learning that they got the same amount of food delivered every week, no matter how many kids plus a caretaker they had, so the more kids there were, the less everyone ate.

Quinlan took note of that. The kids likely preferred it when there weren't so many of them.

He didn't say anything to draw attention to that though, and instead just focused on continuing to learn his way around the place.

After breakfast, all the kids handled their hygiene, the older kids helping the younger, though the twins were a bit more tentative about it, likely because of being royalty though apparently all kids needed an adjustment to the different ways required to do things like take care of teeth with such limited resources.

After that, everyone made sure everything was clean and went to stand by their bunks.

Quinlan hesitated, looking around before walking over to do the same, making the effort to appear like he had no idea what was going on, which he didn't, but he had been through such things enough to get the idea and know that following those who had been there was the best way to do it.

"You catch on quick," Lyssum said. "For a newbie. Last caretaker didn't and got whipped."  She shut up when the door opened.

Quinlan did not like the sound of that. It also meant that the kids weren't done testing him, if they weren't planning on telling him he had to stand by 'his' bunk like the kids were.

The door opened.

Quinlan quickly looked down, staring at the floor. The part that made him most nervous was not knowing if he was doing the right act. People who liked owning other people often liked similar things, like a lack of eye contact, but they didn't all want the exact same things, so though he was doing what most might expect, he might also be missing the mark and he wouldn't know until he was in trouble for it. Which always sucked.

"Hmm they did find a new caretaker for the brats last night..." He grabbed Quinlan's chin to lift his head and look at him.

"Kiffar... Kiffar are notoriously protective of younglings, maybe you will be just what we need for once. I'm tired of training a new one every few months."

Quinlan held still, keeping his eyes wide as if terrified.

He smirked. "Scared, are you? You should be. Your job is to take care of these kids every day, all day, and at night. You will take note of when they get sick and hurt and let us know every night and morning if they are anything other than healthy, then we will make the determination of if they deserve to get the aid they need or not. Do you understand?"

Quinlan nodded. 

"Good. Hey you, everyone's good?"

"Yes sir," Lyssum said quickly, not sounding nearly as assertive as when she was talking to Quinlan. 

"Good. Now... to teach you what we expect."

Quinlan quickly learned that it was going to be incredibly difficult to get the information gathering part of this mission done as the caretaker of the kids.

He was basically meant to be their supervisor, herding them from thing to thing over the course of the day.

He was also the one to get hurt if any of the kids acted out.

With the twins being so new and having been spoiled, they caused him to get whipped three times and electrocuted twice.

They both cried each time, apologizing and trying harder afterwards, though they kept failing.

The kids sometimes did get hurt as punishment as well, but it did seem that seeing the adult get hurt for not keeping them under control was more effective and they were only also hurt if it was a repeated offense or that egregious to those in charge.

Each thing the kids were expected to do were just different things expected from those who kept people, typically as some sort of slaves.

There was time cleaning a different room every morning. Time in the kitchens learning how to cook and navigate the kitchen.

They would return to their room for lunch, which Quinlan had to quickly prepare and set out as they only had an hour of downtime.

There were also a couple hours of lessons around reading, writing, and learning languages for those that liked having slaves that could do administrative work and write letters for them. 

Then time outside doing whatever kind of yard maintenance and gardening and whatever else was required.

As Quinlan followed the kids back to the room, he felt exhausted.

He was expected to do everything alongside them. If there was anything in the lessons he didn't know, he was expected to learn and otherwise be helping them learn.

He was also expected to keep them in line, keep them on task, and generally supervise.

It was clear that the kids who had been there longer would continue to use such things as a test, see how fast he crumbled under the pain, how long before he snapped or if he would handle it well.

Children looking for a bit of control in the horrible situation they were living with.

Quinlan rubbed his face as he glanced through what they had for dinner and quickly started making a dinner, thinking about what he could do with what they had.

He'd have to prep lunch while making sure they had breakfast, that way all he had to do was pull it out, and maybe toss in leftovers from the night before for lunch, if the kids didn't eat it all.

Quinlan considered that and nodded to himself, leftovers that could be served cold or heated up the next day would be a good quick lunch. As would sandwiches. 

As he waited for everything to cook, he checked through the ingredients they had and nodded to himself. Assuming they got a refill on everything every week, he should be able to make at least one loaf of bread every week. Judging by the extra bags hidden away, he would have some wiggle room to figure it out and they probably would get a new bag every week.

He could work with that.

The question was, could he work with all that to get the information he needed to send on to his back up?

And he definitely would need some time to figure out the best time and way to get the kids out.

With them constantly being forced to work with the only down time being for lunch, dinner, and sleep despite the toys and books in the room…

He didn't know yet what he would do but it would take time to figure out how to save the kids.

Quinlan dished up the food for all the kids, pleased that it was surprisingly balanced for growing kids, though he would need to refresh his memory on what different species would need to grow, especially for the Nautolan (Rhod).

He didn't know what was going to happen after their dinner time. They had two hours for dinner, and then there was supposed to be something, but no one had told him what.

Quinlan left the kids to eat, ignoring the stares as they realized it tasted good, and headed into the bathroom to check out the supplies they had. As he had hoped, someone had been hoarding, but he decided to hold off on taking care of his injuries until after he reported them and knew how that worked. Spares could be useful.

Quinlan took note of what was there and stood to examine his injuries more closely in the mirror as best he could.

He didn't dare heal them like he normally would, not with the kids around and likely to notice.

The burns from the electrocution weren't too bad. Painful, but they'd be fine. The whipping... he could see the dried blood and that made it hard to tell how bad it was.

He checked on the kids again, relieved that none of them had been hurt more than bruises, grabbed something to eat and disappeared back into the bathroom to clean off his back so he could get a better view of how hurt he was.

He rinsed off quickly, wincing at points. He dried himself off and checked the mirror.

Okay, the wounds on his back weren't as bad as the blood had him thinking, but it was certainly painful.

Quinlan carefully pulled his shirt on and returned to the kitchen to clean up from making dinner.

The kids were mostly done eating, so that was good. 

He wasn't sure if they were just so hungry they'd eat anything or if they liked the food. Either way, at least they ate it without a fuss.

He took his time cleaning up, making sure he knew where everything was and went, finishing up just as the alarm went off.

The two hours were up.

Quinlan dropped the washcloth into the sink and walked over to his bunk to wait.

The person who bought him came in this time.

He glanced over the kids and nodded approvingly before grabbing Quinlan's chin and looking at him again. "Heard you had a rough day? What's the damage?"

"Kids are fine. I've got a couple of burns and some bleeding on my back."

"Supplies will be waiting after we're through. You are with me tonight." He yanked Quinlan closer. "For a special sort of training."

Quinlan flinched, not even having to act how terrified he was of the idea. He glanced at the kids.

"Don't worry about them. They get their own specialized training depending on who likes them. Sometimes they might watch yours but not for the first go around."

"I thought my job was to worry about them."

Quinlan winced at the slap that earned him.

"You don't get to speak unless I tell you to."

Quinlan nodded, dropping his gaze. 

"So you do still have a bit of fight in you... good. The mostly trained ones are the best. Now let's go."

.

Quinlan stumbled back to his room after the hours of 'lessons'. 

The worst part of any time he had to go undercover anywhere near people who liked sex. This wasn't the first time, nor was it the last. Sometimes he wondered if it was worth the undercover. In this case, even after one day, he was certain it was.

He checked on the kids first, relieved to find them all in bed and asleep.

There was a package of supplies on the table.

Quinlan took them to the bathroom and applied the minimum amount he knew he could get away with- all the healing classes came in handy at times like this.

He then used the Force to get the bacta patches onto his back, careful not to make it look too perfect. 

Quinlan sighed in relief at how much better that felt, then put everything extra away.

He still needed to make a plan for gathering information and for escaping.

At least he knew what he was dealing with and he knew where the twins were. 

Quinlan found different places to hide the things he didn't want to be found and made sure they were hidden securely so that even if cleaning was done they wouldn't be found.

Only then did he lay down on his side to go to sleep.

He was halfway there when he heard sniffling.

Quinlan took a deep breath in and let it out before moving.

It was Lana, trying not to wake up her twin.

"Hey," Quinlan said softly. "Are you okay?"

Lana shook her head, rubbing her eyes.

"Wnat to come talk about it with me?"

Lana glanced at her twin, then slumped, nodding.

"Alright." Quinlan held out his hand and wrapped his arm around her before leading her to the dining table that was a bit away from the beds.

He pulled out a chair for her. "Do you want something warm to drink?"

"I just want hot cocoa the way my mommy makes it," Lana whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Alright. Maybe some tea instead? Do you like spicy or sour?" Quinlan glanced through the flavors in the cupboard, recognizing most of them.

"...Sour is nice if there's some sweet too..."

"Then you might like this one." Quinlan took it out and started the tea before sitting down with her. "Ready to talk?"

"I don't want to be here. I want to be home. I miss my parents, I miss our home, our pets, the butler, our nanny, our teachers... I miss it all."

Quinlan nodded and pulled her into a hug. "I know. It's hard to lose all you know."

"Why aren't you making fun of me for being spoiled like the other kids do?" Lana whispered.

"Because it's not your fault you were born into such good circumstances and being in a place like this isn't fun for anyone... I wouldn't wish this on anyone, much less children."

Lana cried harder. "I don't understand why that woman hated us... I don't even know her but she said she was our grandma? But mommy said that our grandma was mean and they sent her away and... and I don't get why we're here... it's not... it's not the same as them."

"It's not?" Quinlan asked as he stood to check on the tea.

She shook her head. "Falec, Stev, and Yrissa were kidnapped from raids where they lived, Lyssum and Vonnie don't remember not being a slave even if they weren't always here, and Rhod says he was kidnapped from a shopping center."

"So the ones who remember were victims of opportunity, but you and your twin were specifically targeted and sold off," Quinlan said quietly as he passed her a cup of tea.

She nodded, sniffling. "I think it would be better if it was just 'cause we're prince and princess, to get at our parents and stuff. We know we can be in danger 'cause of who we are. But she... she chose us because she hates our parents and hates us and I guess blames us for our mom firing her? And now... and now we're here and I don't know how we're ever going to get out."

"There is one advantage to being born into royalty."

"There is?"

"Depending on where, there's a good chance your parents have called for help and they're doing everything they can to find you in a way the other kids don't have."

"Oh. I don't want to leave them behind though, if we are found."

"Good."

"Good?"

"It means that you're not selfish, it means that you're not just looking out for you and your brother and that you care for them. That's a good trait to have for a leader."

"Oh." Lana was quiet for a bit. "You're not like the other caretaker. She was terrified and jumpy and didn't want to hear us crying."

Quinlan hummed, thinking about how to explain it. "I'm still new to being here, but I've been in this kind of situation more than once in my life, I know how it goes. Makes it easier for me to fall in line even if I want to escape and don't want to listen."

"Oh."

"I'm also a Kiffar and we care a lot about younglings. Very important to look after the young ones and keep them safe. I've done time taking care of kids before, and I'm happy to do so any time, especially if it means I can try to keep you all as safe and happy as I can in this sort of place."

"Really?"

"Really. I've even got some experience in teaching. I'm not going to hurt you, and I'm not going to ignore you. You're allowed to be hurt and upset by all that has happened, okay, Lana?"

"You remembered my name!" Lana burst into tears. 

"Of course I did, it's as pretty as you are." Quinlan pulled her into a hug and hummed one of his favorite lullabies from Kiffu.

She cried into his chest for a while before finally calming down. "Sorry we got you hurt."

"It's okay. Better me than you, alright? I don't want any of you to be hurt, so let's work on making sure that doesn't happen, alright?"

"Alright. It's hard meeting their expectations."

"Yeah, it is. It usually is."

"Why are they so mean?"

"Some of them are really particular and are angry if they see that it's not meeting their expectations and take it out on the ones who they think are the problem. Others like to set impossible tasks or near impossible to watch us struggle 'cause they think it's fun to be mean and want to hurt us."

"I don't like that... I didn't... I didn't realize people could be so cruel... It thought it was all just stories."

"I know. Reality sucks sometimes." 

Lana drank her tea. "I really like this one."

"Me too. I'm surprised they have it, it's one that comes from Kiffu, they don't export a lot."

"Oh! Is it your favorite?"

"No, my favorite is the spicy one, but I like it enough to be happy to drink it before getting some sleep."

"Oh."

"it's nice to have a bit of home here, honestly. What about you, is there anything you like about home?"

"There's these sweet rolls that we always got for breakfast... A little bit spicy but mostly sweet. And the frosting was amazing."

Quinlan hummed, thinking through what he knew they had. He might be able to improvise those kind of rolls eventually. "That sounds delicious and a bit messy."

"Yeah... but it was always a great way to spend the morning and... and our parents always helped us clean up." Lana sighed, then let out a yawn.

Quinlan put their cups in the sink to clean in the morning and stood up. "Do you want to go back to your brother, join me in bed, or what?"

"...can you join both of us? I don't want Vona to be alone."

Quinlan nodded and followed her to the bed, waiting a moment for her to get comfortable then he laid down on his side. It was a tight fit, but the bed was just big enough. 

Lana snuggled in.

Quinlan smiled and started singing a lullaby, one his parents used to sing to him when he had nightmares.

Lana fell asleep listening to him sing.

Quinlan stayed there until he was sure that she had fallen asleep, then he got up. He winced as he stretched out, then he went to his bed and curled up to try to sleep.

He wasn't sure he would get any sleep but he had to try. He'd need all the sleep he could get with what they had to deal with thanks to the people here.

Quinlan woke up at his usual time and took a quick shower to rinse off. 

After he got half dressed he prepared to try to get the bandages on his back again without being caught using the Force.

Lyssum cleared her throat. "I can help you with that."

"Could you? Thanks." Quinlan handed her the supplies and waited.

"It's not my first time. You're not like the others."

"How so?" Quinlan asked curiously. 

"A lot of them got mad at us for getting them hurt. Some didn't know how to take care of us. Others had never been a slave before and couldn't handle being a slave, let alone us."

Quinlan hummed. "I suppose that makes sense. I have been a slave before, I have never liked seeing others get hurt, and I have taken care of younglings before and enjoyed it."

"Done. You've been a slave before?”

Quinlan nodded as he carefully pulled his shirt on. "My life's not been easy. Always something new coming at me."

"Oh. that sucks."

"Yeah. It does. But I'm glad it means I can help you all since it seems you could use some kindness in your lives." Quinlan headed for the kitchen to start preparing breakfast and make sure he had enough simple food for lunch.

"I guess... what are you doing?"

"Multitasking. Lunch will be easier if I get it ready ahead of time."

"Oh. No one's thought of that before."

Quinlan gave her a smile. "Well, now you know." He turned back to making food.

"...can I help?"

"If you want. Remember this food is for everyone, so we best be careful with it."

She made a face but nodded.

Before long, the other kids joined them, getting through their routines with some help.

By the time they were done, breakfast was on the table.

Quinlan ate, watching the kids and making sure that they were eating and taking notes on how they reacted. If he could make the food part of this easier, he would.

Once he finished his own breakfast he started cleaning up without a word, not wanting to make the kids help when they would be spending the day in chores and lessons.

Throughout the day, he made a couple of mistakes as he didn't know everything he needed to know yet, and the kids of course made some mistakes. 

It was during the lessons he finally learned what the point of all this was.

The trafficking ring had people who preferred kids, but didn't like training them in. Every so often they'd visit the complex and check on the kids and pick one out that they liked and buy that kid.

Yeah, that didn't really surprise Quinlan as much as it would people who didn't have such close encounters with trafficking and slavery in general.

They made it through the day.

Having lunch ready made things easier, and Quinlan was able to take a bit to get to know each of the kids. 

By the time he started making dinner, he was far more sore than the night before, like the day before was a test before the real problems began.

It was a problem, but he had expected pain going into this. He just had to keep acting like he was mostly broken, keep his head down and do what they expected him to, and gain the kids' trust. 

Being able to gather more information would come with time.

Sooner would be better, but he was only on day two. 

After dinner he reported the injuries from the day and what the three injured kids would need, and then he was dragged off to do his least favorite part of many undercover missions.

When he returned hours later, sore and exhausted and ready to cry, the kids were all asleep.

He tucked them in and then took the medical supplies to the bathroom and cleaned himself up as best he could, taking his time to help with lingering feelings and make sure that all wounds were cleaned out to minimize the risk of infection.

Only then did he start applying the supplies where he needed them, bandages on all wounds for the night. Bacta on the bigger ones that would need help healing, leaving it off on the smaller ones. He once again was careful with his back, making sure that he covered everything up but that it looked like someone struggling to do things on their own rather than using the Force.

Only then did he take himself to bed, exhausted. He fell asleep strategizing about the best way to start gathering information.

It took him a week to find a good rhythm to gather information. There were times during the day he could sneak it, if he planted a bug while doing chores and picked it up later. 

After the third day, he was trusted to take the kids back on his own and to make his way back from the evening 'lessons' on his own, where he could take a brief moment to find a computer once he was ready to risk it to send off the information he found.

By the time he had been there two weeks, Quinlan had decided it was his toughest mission.

He was keeping kids safe, looking for ways to save them, trying to find information, and while he had checked in, his back up was oddly silent.

He hoped nothing had happened, but started planning accordingly.

If his backup was unavailable, that meant he was on his own and he would have to make his plans for getting the kids out on his own.

For the next two weeks, he sent the information off with the tools he had hidden when he arrived, straight to the usual Jedi information drop off once a week. He didn't want to do it too often or he would end up getting caught, but a few minutes here and there wouldn' be noticed, especially as they seemed to believe that he was already broken in.

He did disobey to protect the kids a few times over the four weeks, but that was few and far between since they always punished him if the kids did something wrong, only punishing the kid who did it if it was considered bad enough or it had been a consistent problem.

Quinlan otherwise only got in trouble for making mistakes but he was a fast learner and fixed them quickly, doing his best to appear like a broken slave.

That was always harder than it looked. 

Especially since he was a fighter at heart. 

There were a few times he had a hard time controlling himself but after they realized that he was protective fo the kids and would do anything he could to keep them safe, that was used against him and he couldn't be impulsive, he had to control himself and keep the fight locked down so that he could keep the kids safe and get them out.

Then came the day that a buyer for kids came through while they were scrubbing out the main hall after a party the night before. A buyer who actually wanted to buy one instead of just looking this time.

Quinlan was close enough to hear his comments.

"I don't think any of them are what I'm looking for... But that Kiffar..."

"He's not for sale at this time. So far, he is the best one we've had and we're not replacing the caretaker for the younglings so soon after getting a competent one."

It was weird hearing them talk more like he was an employee but whatever.

"Hmm. They are protective of younglings... I'll have to keep that in mind."

"What are you looking for?"

Quinlan listened to him describe more of a personality and age than anything.

Lyssum matched that description.

He continued scrubbing, but made sure to shift closer to her to try to protect her if anything went wrong.

She varied between helping him and lashing out at him but that was Quinlan.

The kids were mostly delights but he was the only safe person they had, so they often lashed out.

That was normal, but it did sometimes make their little free time a pain. 

She had years of built up emotions, years of being passed over and breathing a sigh of relief while mourning those bought and taken away.

There was a good chance that this time she would react, though she usually was the one least likely to need to be punished as the oldest and most experienced.

He didn't know what would happen, either. He only knew that their days were rarely interrupted by the potential buyers.

He reminded himself to be careful how he reacted. He was supposed to be a cowed slave who was a bit protective of kids, nothing more.

"You."

Lyssum looked up, startled. "Me?"

"What's your name?" 

"...Lyssum." She sounded shaken, not like herself.

"Lyssum... Good name for a pretty girl. Stand up."

Lyssum stood up, still gripping the scrub brush tightly, a tremble in her shoulders.

Quinlan noticed the other kids were watching and motioned at them to keep scrubbing.

The more experienced ones winced and quickly went back to scrubbing before their lack of scrubbing was noticed, but the twins were looking between them with wide eyes.

Quinlan eyed them worriedly but didn't dare actually call them out on it because then they all would be in trouble and Lyssum didn't need that.

The man gripped Lyssum's chin and tilted her head from side to side. "Hmm... She wouldn't fit what I had in mind, but she's about to hit puberty isn't she? She'd make a good addition to my club, perhaps as a dancer.”

"She doesn't have the training for that, we keep anything entertainment related minimal among the children."

"Hmm... Then maybe not." He manhandled Lyssum and ran his hands down her body.

Quinlan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, pretending to be engrossed in scrubbing.

"No!" Lyssum cried out and slapped him.

He had tried to pull her closer.

"You don't get to tell me what to do, little girl." He grabbed her wrist before she could hit him again.

She squirmed, trying to get away kicking him and trying to hit him with her other hand.

He laughed and grabbed her other arm. "So you still have some fight in you." He held both her wrists in one hand and lifted her up, laughing at her struggles.

That was when Quinlan hit his breaking point and he jumped up, shoving the man away from Lyssum.

The shock that hit him was so painful it brought him to his knees instantly, gasping for air.

Lyssum hit the ground and started crying.

Quinlan, wincing, moved to stand over her, keeping a wary eye on the potential buyer who was smirking at him.

"Kiffar are protective of younglings, huh? He looked so docile I didn't see that coming."

Quinlan glowered at him.

"First time he's been outright violent. Usually he just gets between us and the kids." 

Quinlan decided it wasn't worth it to say anything.

"Too bad he's not for sale. He really would fit in anywhere, could use that versatility."

"I'll talk to the others. Maybe his punishment for this can be spending time with you at night."

The buyer smirked and stepped closer to Quinlan.

He didn't move, staring him down until there was very little space between them.

"I think that I will take the girl. But only after she's trained in what I need. She'll be perfect, especially once she grows up a bit. Might take her for a night or two just to see how she's coming along. Teach her to behave." His eyes stayed on Quinlan, taunting.

He was baiting Quinlan.

Quinlan was supposed to be a slave protective of younglings, he wasn't supposed to be thinking ahead, or noticing those things. 

So he shoved him away and then punched him in the face, stepping forward as if ready to keep fighting.

The shock was even more painful this time. He dropped to the ground as it continued longer than they usually let it go on for.

Then it stopped and he gasped for air.

He looked up to see the buyer going for Lyssum again.

Lyssum had the look of a cornered massif. Which meant there was a good chance she was about to lash out.

He moved to get between them, breathing heavily, but not wanting Lyssum to get hurt.

He sensed her surprise, then the way she relaxed despite still being terrified.

"Stubborn today. You don't want the other kids to get hurt, do you?"

Quinlan glanced between the other kids and Lyssum and how she was not looking at him, just at the ground, looking smaller than usual.

He looked at the kids that were pretending to be working but were clearly paying attention, based on the way their hands were shaking.

"She's not his yet," Quinlan said finally, eyeing the man. 

"Hmm. You have a point. Back to work girl."

Lyssum scrambled to get the scrub brush she had dropped and got back to work.

This prompted the other kids to get back to work, doing a better job of looking busy.

"Now for you... You need additional punishment. I expected better of you."

Quinlan dropped his gaze, shuffling. He let his shoulders drop out of defiance.

"There we go. He needs immediate punishment and then I think you can up your plans for the week, as long as he returns to their room eventually. He does need to take care of the kids in the morning."

Quinlan glanced up at the buyer and flinched at his smirk as he stepped closer. He remained still as he stepped closer and closer until he was close enough to whisper in Quinlan's ear.

"It's a good thing they give you supplies for your injuries. I wouldn't want you to die."

Quinlan gasped and staggered back with a knife in his shoulder.

"On your knees," he ordered coldly.

Quinlan dropped to his knees, squeezing his eyes shut as he let the pain he was in show.

"You clearly need more of a reason to be obedient instead of interfering with violence. Let's see... how else can I make sure this lesson sticks?"

Quinlan remained still as his top was torn off of him. He'd have to get a new one at lunchtime.

"Such a good little slave." He grabbed the knife and twisted it as he pulled it out.

Quinlan whimpered.

He laughed and stabbed Quinlan's thigh. "Stay."

Quinlan held still, breathing and keeping his eyes closed, letting his emotions show to sell the act, shaking a bit and the occasional tear slipping through.

The pain continued for a long time. As it grew worse, Quinlan let himself cry, then sob to keep up appearances. Sometimes it was nice when he could just let the pain show instead of pretending he was fine.

"Take the kids back to the dorm. Lunch."

"Yes sir," Quinlan murmured, swiping at his eyes to clear out the tears before he stood up.

He took a few deep breaths at the pain in his legs, stiff from kneeling, but also in pain from what wounds were inflicted on his thighs.

He stumbled as he tried to walk, letting out a yelp. He glanced around and noticed that he was being watched closely.

Quinlan regained his balance and took a few more cautious steps before he got used to the pain, then he turned to the kids to find them all lined up, staring at him solemnly.

Lyssum was holding some supplies for his wounds. 

Quinlan gestured at them to walk and followed behind, using the Force once they were out of sight of everyone, and certain that the younglings weren't going to look back at him and catch him moving in a way that shouldn't be possible.

As they walked, he thought over what had happened. He had time to get the kids out before Lyssum was gone.

He was now on a time crunch. He'd have to make contact as soon as possible.

Quinlan spent the last part of the walk lost in thought planning out how he would get the younglings out and the best way to convey his plan when he reached out to his back up.

He had the beginnings of a plan once they made it to the room.

He stopped using the Force and started letting the pain show again; it always felt weird to show the amount of pain he was in, like he was exaggerating it, but it also always worked.

The kids ushered him over to his bed.

The twins started getting out lunch while Lyssum started bandaging the wounds, shaking and rambling apologies and scolding in a mix that he couldn't quite make out.

He decided to let her ramble after the scare she had had. He couldn't blame her for being so shaken by what had happened. 

Before he knew it he had a sandwich in his hand and the kids were urging him to eat and lay down until it was time for afternoon lessons.

Considering what was waiting for him that evening... that wasn't a bad idea.

Lyssum gave him a quick hug before going to make sure everything was in order.

Quinlan ended up taking a short nap after finishing the sandwich.

It was hard to get through the afternoon, and even harder to make dinner.

But the worst was yet to come.

He reported his injuries at the evening check and then reported for his punishment.

Six hours later he was stumbling through the halls to get back to the dorm, trying not to cry.

He stopped at the alcove that also happened to have a spot he could use to get in contact with his back up.

It was dark and still in the mansion, so he gave it more time than usual but there was nothing.

No response at all.

Quinlan frowned and sent another message before giving up for the night, leaving and musing on what could have caused his back up to abandon his post without a warning in the places they had established beforehand.

Finally he made it back to the dorm. 

Lyssum was sleeping on his bed, supplies in her lap.

Quinlan sighed and tucked her in. He didn't have the strength or energy to carry her to her bed.

Then he cleaned himself up, taking longer than usual, and wincing his way through it, before he finally bandaged everything.

Once he was done, he grabbed a blanket off of one of the other beds and nudged Lyssum until she rolled over, then he curled up on the side that hurt the least.

He slept restlessly that night.

The next few days were a blur of forcing himself to work through the pain, reassuring the kids that he was okay, and more pain.

Every night he tried to contact his back up, sending more information each time, making sure he had sent on everything he could.

And yet...

There was nothing. No response.

He didn't think that the trafficking ring knew about it or he would be getting further scrutiny as the person that had been sold to them by the Jedi.

So something else had to have happened.

(or the Jedi had abandoned his post which... did occasionally happen, particularly in the younger knights who hadn't been exposed to the really dangerous operations yet. Quinlan didn’t want to assume, so he did his best not to think about it.)

After three days, Quinlan started adapting his plan for escape without any help. He could do it, he was pretty sure he had the routes around the mansion memorized, and the kids all trusted him after he protected Lyssum and got hurt for it.

But it was going to be difficult to find the right timing.

Middle of the night would be best, he was certain.

And he would have to let himself heal up a bit more before he even thought about attempting the escape because he was in no shape to do so, but he also had a limited window before it was too late to save Lyssum and he was determined not to fail her.

She had been through too much to let her go to someone else and out of reach of rescue.

Quinlan made it through the rest of the week. 

At the end, he could barely move, but it was over.

The only reason he was somewhat functional was that he had experience in such things, but the kids (aside from the twins) didn't bat an eye.

He suspected that they were so used to the concept of pain and functioning around it, especially the adults that took care of them, that they didn't have much of a frame of reference for normal anymore.

The twins did eye him oddly from time to time, but never brought it up and instead just sought comfort.

Everyone sought comfort. Not that Quinlan could blame them with all that they had been through.

He gave himself a day, then he started really planning out the escape, careful about making sure it wasn't obvious what he was doing.

He tried a few more times to get a hold of his back up but there was still nothing.

He really was on his own on what was probably his toughest mission.

Finally, what he was waiting for arrived. 

A big dinner party.

The nice thing about the dinner parties was that everyone always ended up being too drunk to take anyone for the evening.

They just needed to eat their dinner and be dismissed for the night.

Quinlan held himself back from reacting when they were left alone after the evening check in.

Perfect.

Even better, sometimes the mornings started late because they were so hung over.

Quinlan let out a breath and turned to the kids. "I'm getting us out of here tonight."

They all stared at him like he was crazy.

He smiled at them. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," they chorused, not even needing to think about it.

"I've been thinking about ways to escape for weeks," he told them. "Now, grab anything you want to keep." He knew the kids each had something they kept to give them comfort, and he didn't want to make them leave it behind.

While they scrambled for those items, Quinlan pulled out everything he had hidden away, carefully stowing it all away, making sure the kids didn't see the lightsaber as he secured it where he could summon it to his hand but it wouldn't otherwise be visible.

Once the kids were ready, all looking scared but determined and hopeful, Quinlan smiled at them and started explaining the plan and making sure they were as prepared as possible, and set up as well as he could in case something happened. They all listened seriously and asked questions as needed.

That took up a good hour, which meant that everyone at the dinner party should be thoroughly distracted and drunk. 

He had them line up. Then led them out of the dorm.

He took them to the side halls that most of the people who occupied the mansion had no clue about. 

Quinlan glanced around and kept going, having taken a route that would keep them away from the kitchens. 

Everything was going well until one of the last corners.

Quinlan almost ran into someone.

Before he could panic, he felt Obi-Wan reaching out with surprise and then horror and worry as he took in Quinlan's state.

Quinlan took a deep breath in and let it out, wishing he could just hug his partner and not let go. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for twins that were kidnapped recently. I take it you were the one sent into the most likely trafficking ring to find them?"

"Yep." Quinlan turned and gestured at the kids to come forward. 

They were scared but they trusted him.

"I haven't been telling you the truth about me. I'm a Jedi, and this is Obi-Wan Kenobi who is also a Jedi."

"Got a safe place to discuss? Before I arrived there hadn't been any information on this place."

Quinlan frowned. "I've been sending in information. I doubt it's been intercepted, they would have been keeping a closer eye on me and where I sent the information from."

"Then your back up is lying." Obi-Wan sighed. 

"Figures. Not the first time, won't be the last. Some don't take this seriously. I know a place we can hide and discuss. Was hoping to avoid using it but better to coordinate." 

Obi-Wan nodded. "Lead the way."

Quinlan started walking.

Obi-Wan followed behind the kids, noting that they seemed terrified but were willing to trust Quinlan.

They made it to their destination, one of the storage rooms. 

"What's going to happen?" Lyssum asked as soon as Obi-Wan closed the doors.

"We're going to go over the plan to get out. Lana and Vona will be going home, and we'll try to find your families."

Obi-Wan nodded.

"I want to stay with them," Lyssum declared.

That was enough to get the other five kids to say they wanted to go with the twins, and the twins agreed that they didn't want to be separated from any of the kids.

Obi-Wan and Quinlan shared looks, neither particularly surprised.

The twins hadn't been there long but it really didn't take long to bond with others in a situation like that.

"We can start with that," Quinlan replied. 

"So I'm a bit confused," Obi-Wan admitted. "I thought this was like the main meeting place, there would be a bunch of slaves and servants, and otherwise this just hosts events between all those involved."

"You're not entirely wrong," Quinlan responded with a sigh. "It is the main hub of the trafficking ring near as I can tell. There are likely other smaller points around the galaxy but this is the main one."

Obi-Wan nodded. "But they were talking like there were many more slaves here than just being sold or needed for maintaining the mansion."

"That's because they don't just deal in the trade of people," Quinlan replied darkly as Lana pressed close to him. He noted the kids were all looking nervous so he gestured at them to come closer, and wrapped his arm around Lana.

Obi-Wan smiled at him fondly, but didn't say anything about it.

"The benefit of this trafficking ring is that they buy slaves, train them in everything that the slaves could be used for, and eventually they would be sold off. There are only those in charge of each area as permanent slaves- such as the caretaker for younglings, me. I knew I couldn't wait longer when they came to an agreement to sell Lyssum in a couple of weeks after making sure she had the additional training, which is apparently another thing they like. There's many who live here most if not all of the year and take advantage of the slaves all learning. Eventually, all slaves are bought. Even the younglings, if someone prefers getting them young."

"...they don't come  back here, do they?" Obi-Wan asked with trepidation.

Quinlan shook his head. "From what I've gathered, and the files I found when snooping, it looks like if someone doesn't want them, they either trade with others, sometimes even outside the network that is the backbone of this trafficking ring, or sent to one of the other hubs for training. They never come back here."

"Kriff." Obi-Wan sighed. "And your plan?"

"A night like tonight is the best time to go. Everyone ends up drunk and no one leaves. Sometimes they crash in the ballroom, sometimes they crash in a guest room. No one leaves. I checked in the past and a lot of them aren't careful with how they secure their ships, so it should be fairly easy to hijack one and get off."

"Makes sense. What was your plan for raiding the mansion?"

"Start with a quiet approach once everyone is fairly drunk, surround the mansion, lockdown the hangar and all the exits, lock the rooms that the party is taking place in, send out teams to clear out the rest of the mansion before using as big a team as we can manage to arrest everyone. There is one problem."

Obi-Wan sighed. "There always is."

"They have bombs in this mansion. Because the people who run and finance most of this don't want anyone involved to spill if they get caught. Which is why the quiet approach is best- greater chance of getting people to interrogate."

"But still with a risk of those coming in for the arrest getting killed," Obi-Wan replied, thinking it over. "Where did you drop your information?"

Quinlan told him. 

Obi-Wan nodded. "I'm going to step away to call and have them go over the information. Once everything is in place, we'll get out of here in the ship I used."

"You-"

Obi-Wan leveled Quinlan with a Look. "You are very injured, Quin. I'm not leaving you with eight younglings with that many injuries."

Quinlan huffed but nodded reluctantly because Obi-Wan wasn't wrong. It would be a bad idea for him to be alone with them, it always had been, but until Obi-Wan was there, there had been no choice.

Obi-Wan walked away to place the call.

"You really trust him?" Lyssum asked suspiciously.

"Yep. We grew up together and trained together."

"You're really a Jedi?" Vonnie asked, eyes wide.

Quinlan smiled and used the Force to get his lightsaber to his hand. He turned it on.

They all gasped.

Quinlan put it away before anyone could try to touch it.

"How did you get here?"

"Well, my job is to go undercover to make it easier to catch the bad guys. In this case, there was a kidnapping of a prince and princess, and their parents asked for help, which had one Jedi go to their home to find who kidnapped them, while I was sent in to look for the twins undercover with the trafficking ring that looked most likely to have bought them."

"You're here for us?" Lana gasped. "Really?"

Quinlan smiled. "Really. Of course, while you're the reason I'm here, my full mission was to gather information so that we could take down the ring and get everyone out we could." 

"Wow!"

"Why did no one come sooner?"

"it's difficult to do this," Quinlan started slowly, knowing the usual answers probably wouldn't work for Lyssum, especially with how resentful she sounded. "If we're not careful, we could get captured, and then we're in this position and have to find our way out. These sorts of people love to brag about catching and breaking Jedi." He wouldn't normally use that sort of language around children, but these children had been through a lot and it was the sort of thing they would have heard before.

They all nodded solemnly.

"The other unfortunate thing is that a lot of the people involved are rich and will bribe people to make themselves look innocent. So we have to be careful how we approach or we could be in trouble for handling it wrong or hurting the 'wrong people'. Especially when, like this place, it isn't in Republic space which means that there's a lot of politics involved."

Lyssum sighed. "I don't like it."

"I know. It sucks. I don't like that there's not much we can do without someone rich and important asking for help."

"You could have just aimed to get them out and leave the rest of us," Stev pointed out quietly. "But you didn't. You wanted to get us all and do what you could to get all the people here too. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Quinlan ruffled his hair.

Obi-Wan returned to them. "They'll be moving in an hour. We're going to wait until we get the signal then we'll go. We don't want to be caught up in it but we also don't want to clue everyone in to something going on."

Quinlan nodded. "Makes sense."

"One hour means I have time to look at your injuries."

Quinlan sighed and nodded, moving to sit down. He carefully pulled off his shirt.

Obi-Wan inhaled sharply. "Quin... You're covered in bandages..."

"Yeah."

"They hurt him whenever we did bad," Falec explained matter of factly. "And he tried to protect Lyssum but they didn't like that."

Quinlan nodded. He decided he would tell Obi-Wan in more detail later. For now, it was better to just let the kids say their understanding of things.

"Well, I'm glad you kids aren't hurt them."

Obi-Wan started removing the bandages. 

The youngest kid gasped. Quinlan had been careful to keep the kids from seeing how bad it had gotten, though most had gotten a peek or at least suspected.

Obi-Wan winced. "Good thing I thought to bring a first aid kit."

Quinlan just nodded and started telling the kids stories, going with whatever they were most interested in, to distract himself and the kids.

Obi-Wan listened with a smile as he worked, making sure that every wound was cleaned out properly, then he applied bacta and bandages, carefully rationing the supplies to make sure he had enough to use on all of Quinlan's wounds, especially since he hadn't been able to look at Quinlan's legs yet.

Before long he had worked his way around to the front, wincing when he confirmed that yes, Quinlan did have some cracked and broken ribs.

Quinlan continued to tell the kids stories, generally ignoring the pain though allowing it to show a bit. Not enough to worry them but he didn't want them to think there was no pain or that he was hiding it.

Obi-Wan helped Quinlan put on his shirt once he was done, quietly scolding him for trying to do it by himself when he was so injured.

Then he started checking over Quinlan's legs.

They weren't nearly as injured as his upper body, but he did have a sprained ankle, cuts on his feet, nasty burns, and a fracture in both legs, on top of the healing stab wounds from the day he protected Lyssum.

Obi-Wan finished splinting and bandaging everything. "You're not going to walk."

Quinlan glanced at the kids. "And what if something happens?"

"You will walk only if it becomes necessary," Obi-Wan amended, "but your injuries are bad enough. I don't want them to get even worse when we can make sure that you stay off your feet."

Quinlan sighed and nodded. "Alright, I'll let you carry me then."

"Good. Now any injuries the kids had I can check over?"

Quinlan listed off the few minor injuries there were.

Obi-Wan almost laughed at the betrayed expression on all of the kids as he took care of the minor injuries and then made sure they were all good to go.

He took over telling the stories when he noticed that Quinlan was slowing down, picking up right where Quinlan was in the current story and then telling new stories.

The kids didn't trust him entirely, but they definitely trusted Quinlan, and that would have to be enough.

At least Quinlan was able to get their trust. That would have made this so much harder otherwise.

Obi-Wan got the notification that they were getting ready to go. "Alright, let's go."

He made sure that Quinlan was secure in what was the least painful position, then led the way to the hangar.

He took a moment to make sure that no one was around before ushering all the kids onto his ship and getting them settled and buckled in.

He only had to wait a few more minutes before the notification arrived that the teams were descending down to the planet.

As soon as they made it into space safely, Quinlan let out a sigh of relief.

They made a stop to get Quinlan's injuries taken care of properly before continuing on to take the twins home and the other children with them. This stop also had everyone change their clothes into something more comfortable, something that delighted all the children.

Quinlan was just relieved to have ways to get around with help that didn't require Obi-Wan carry him. Especially with all the kids, and the twins in particular, wanting to stay close to him.

He was worried about all of the kids. They had good reasons not to trust anyone. They had all been treated poorly.

At least the twins only had to endure two weeks before he arrived. Any amount of time was bad, but at least it wasn't years on years with no hope of getting out.

Quinlan also knew that they had not fit in as quickly as others might have due to their background. Over the time since he arrived, he had heard how much the others hated them for trying to claim they were royalty and that this was nowhere near what they were used to. 

It was understandable that those who had lived that way for a long time were having a hard time and didn't want to see the twins talking about what they were used to, but it did seem harsh to act like the twins weren't allowed to have a hard time adjusting.

Quinlan was pretty sure everyone had a hard time adjusting.

But that was a problem for their guardians. He had already been working on helping them process and handle their emotions, but it was better for someone trained in such things to handle it, especially with kids.

Then, finally, they arrived. 

Quinlan was a bit surprised that the twins didn't run down to greet their parents, who it sounded were good parents.

Instead, the twins stuck close to the other kids, and Quinlan, looking quite nervous.

"Not running out?" Quinlan asked them lightly.

Lana shook her head. She was the more talkative one. "I'm scared."

Quinlan nodded. "What are you scared of?"

"That they'll be mad, that they won't like us anymore... that we brought home friends..."

Quinlan hummed. "Well, if they're good parents I don't think they will be upset. They'll just be happy you're home and ready to help you in any way you need. If they react badly, Obi-Wan will protect you."

"Of course," Obi-Wan agreed quickly. Having met their parents, he didn't think they would be reacting in the way the twins feared, but supporting them and letting them know that they were safe was the best option. Especially since such anxiety could only truly be shaken by facing it.

"You'll come with us, right?" Vona asked, looking up at Quinlan with a pleading look.

"Of course. I'll be with you every step of the way. Don't you worry." Quinlan ruffled his hair and started moving, grateful that at least his arms were not so injured that he was banned from using crutches.

The kids froze when they saw their parents, but the moment their parents called their names, the twins rushed to meet them, crying and excited to see their parents.

Lyssum let out a whistle. "Their parents really are rulers! They weren't lying!"

Quinlan nodded. "Tragedy can happen to anyone."

"I shouldn't have been so mean to them."

"Probably not. Always hard to adjust to tough circumstances, and it's harder for those that have always had a life of luxury, but none of you have to worry about that anymore."

"What if you can't find our parents or they don't want us?"

"We'll start with looking for any family, and if not, the next step is up to you. We can look into how your home planet handles younglings without guardians, we can contact varying organizations meant to help with younglings found in a similar situation, we can also take you back to the Temple to help you get started on recovering from your time and prepare to find a family. That's a discussion we'll have before we leave, so you can think on it now and we'll come back to it later, alright?"

"Alright." Lyssum sighed, watching the twins clinging to their parents and crying.

Their parents were crying as well, hugging them tightly, crowns out of place.

It took a few minutes for them all to calm down and the king and queen to take charge once more.

Quinlan was relieved when he was finally able to go into a guest room with Obi-Wan and relax. 

They agreed right away that all the kids could come if they needed to not be alone, as all the kids were paired up but they weren't used to sleeping with just one other in the room and they might need an adult.

Quinlan took a nap while Obi-Wan kept an eye on the kids.

He only woke up to go to the feast and then he returned to the room, where Obi-wan checked over his injuries, helped him clean up, and then bandaged what needed to be bandaged.

Finally, they were cuddling in bed, both quiet and thinking about everything.

"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan said after a bit. "I should have mentioned it. I didn't think it was a big deal because it just a close call and I was barely hurt, but I also should have known that it would affect you because of your psychometry especially when I barely handled my lightsaber after that and that was really stupid of me so I'm sorry for that."

"I'm sorry for losing it," Quinlan apologized. "I shouldn't have started an argument. I know better than to try to talk about things when I'm still processing what an echo shows me emotions or otherwise, and that meant that we left things on a bad note for this mission... I'm glad it was you that was investigating."

"I wish you didn't have to get hurt. I know it was the best decision, you don't agree to these sorts of things lightly, but seeing you be so hurt... I only kept it together for the kids, if it weren't for them, I would have been panicking."

"I know." Quinlan pressed their foreheads together. "You did a great job. Did you hear what happened to my back up?"

"You ready to hear about it?"

"Yeah. I am."

"Alright. It was a combination of things, mostly youthful arrogance. He believed that you wouldn't need him for a while."

"Figures. Not the first time that's happened, where my back up thinks they know better than me."

"Your reputation also had him thinking he didn't need to take you seriously."

Quinlan rolled his eyes. "Of course. Again, not the first time. The stupidest thing is when the plan relies on information being relayed from me to my contact to whoever is going to help take the organization down or whatever it is. Like. You're just the middle man at this point, why aren't you doing your job and letting them decide if I'm right or not?"

"Yeah. They also said something about you deserving it for some other mission?"

Quinlan shrugged. "People dislike my choices, nothing new. I did have a couple missions in the last year or so where someone got hurt but I still made the best choice I could with the information I had at the time. Not my fault that things went wrong."

Obi-Wan nodded. "It's not fair. You did everything right and they dropped the ball... if I hadn't been there... You might not have been able to escape."

"I know. I was careful not to let the kids know but... that was a very real risk and it was a bit terrifying. Things always get harder after being caught escaping. And I didn't want them to face that but... it was terrifying."

"I know, Quin." Obi-Wan sighed. "It shouldn't have happened. He should have been going through the information and coming up with his own plans so that you could combine them when you finally got back in contact, and instead he chose to ignore you. He didn't even do his job at all."

"I'm sure he's in trouble and I'll never have to work with him again. This time it worked out. It's not as bad as other times, honestly. And it meant I got to see you again. I wished that the last thing we said to each other hadn't been because of an argument. I didn't think we'd end up leaving it like that but then..."

"Duty called and things went south."

"Tough mission," Quinlan agreed. "Surprised you were able to trace things all the way there."

"Finding the person who kidnapped them was fairly easy once I told the king and queen that it had to be someone that knew the secret ways and asked if there was anyone who was disgruntled. The queen was born to a servant here, you see, and her mother was quite resentful of her marrying the king. She was caught with the twins one day- doing what, they haven't mentioned though harm was mentioned- and kicked out that day. Once I had that information, I tracked her down and all the evidence pointed to her, and she didn't hold up once I started asking her questions."

"Wow. Glad one of us had it easy."

"Me too... because it means I can focus on you and help you recover."

Quinlan nodded. "It does bother me that sometimes you can get injured and because I wasn't around I might never find out. I'm not expecting to know every cut or bruise but... you had a fracture that I never heard about in the echo."

Obi-Wan winced. "Yeah, not my brightest move. I did forget about it. It was so inconsequential, but that just means maybe I should be writing down the highlights of our time apart so I don't forget to inform you in the future."

"I suppose that could work, yeah," Quinlan agreed, smiling slightly at the thought of Obi-Wan doing something like that for him. "I love you." 

"Love you too."

"I am sorry I reacted like that. I should have taken a step back and tried to calm down and listen. Or at least gone to meditate instead of continuing with the cleaning"

"It's alright. I understand. It's hard to know you're hurting and not be able to do much about it. I can't imagine what it feels like to learn about it through an echo and still have nothing you can do about it."

Quinlan nodded, clinging to him.

"Now, enough about the argument. I want to know how you feel, really, Quin, right now. Emotionally. I know physically you're hurting."

Quinlan was quiet for a bit, thinking it over and doing an assessment of how he actually felt. Finally he let out a heavy sigh. "I don't really know how I feel," he admitted. "it's... it's not been long since we got out, and even less time since I've had the chance to breathe since I don't have to worry about the kids on my own."

"Alright. Anything I can do?"

"Just keep holding me." Quinlan was quiet for a bit longer. 

Obi-Wan held him quietly, patient, wishing he could do more to help Quinlan.

"Most of the day was with the kids. There were twelve bunks in the room. One was mine. Every morning, I made them breakfast and prepped lunch. Then we had to stand by our bunks, I reported any injuries in order to get supplies, and then we were off on the morning chores. Then we went back for lunch, then there were lessons. Apparently some people liked it when their slaves could read, which meant I had to help fill in any blanks or learn the material myself. Good thing we learned pretty much everything growing up or that would have been a pain. Then more chores, some of it outdoorsy stuff. Then dinner. Then bunks and report again. Then... sometimes the people staying there wanted one of us. I went to a room every single night."

Obi-Wan winced, but didn't comment.

"It was a good thing, made it easier to sneak around for the information, but that didn't make it any less painful. The kids weren't always required for that and even when one or more was sent to someone, they usually made it back before me. I comforted a few of them during nightmares. Made bread, learned their favorites. Did my best to keep them safe."

"But you weren't in a situation to keep them safe."

"There was the illusion I could," Quinlan said softly. "That might have been worse, actually. Any time one of them made a mistake? I got punished. If it was bad enough or a repeated mistake they might have gotten punished too, but I was always punished for their mistakes, whether it was missing a spot, breaking something, or not falling in line on orders. They were my responsibility. If they weren't learning fast enough, if I wasn't helping them, I got in trouble for that too when it came to the lessons."

"Which meant that in a way, you were shielding them and your very existence kept them from experiencing as much pain as they might have otherwise."

"Exactly,. And when we were in our 'dorm', I was playing guardian, comforting them, bandaging wounds, helping with hair and getting clean, making them food, their favorites included, and so much more. I got everyone's trust eventually, and that was with everyone but the twins were rather jaded with how many caretakers they had gone through. None of the ones put in place before could handle younglings and they were waiting for me to fail. I proved them wrong."

Obi-Wan nodded. "You said the illusion of keeping them safe?"

"While they had parties and set times to do events where they sold people off, they also let people come through to see the slaves they kept on the property, who were all doing their own thing and learning their areas if they didn't already know. One of them picked out Lyssum. She's been there for years and always passed over. I could tell she was panicking."

"You tried to step in."

"Worst pain yet," Quinlan replied quietly. "He wanted me to suffer for daring to speak out against them, for pointing out that Lyssum wasn't his yet. She was sent back to work. I was punished. and then I was his for a week of evenings while Lyssum learned skills that she was supposed to use with him."

"And that's what made you decide you couldn't wait any longer."

"The night that guy decided he wanted to buy Lyssum was the first night I tried to get in contact instead of just dropping information. I tried all week. Then decided to make my own plan after making sure that others could find all the intel. I knew I'd really only have one shot. If we got caught... they'd make sure we would never even think of trying to escape again. I had plans to make sure the kids got away while I let them catch me, but I didn't want to face that. The thought terrifies me."

Obi-Wan hugged Quinlan tightly until Quinlan winced, then he loosened up a bit.

"I am so sorry you went through that," Obi-Wan whispered. "I am more furious that your back up decided to disappear for no reason. I wish that you could have had someone to rely on out there. I wish I could have been there with you, but I am glad that I showed up when I did to ensure that you never had to go back there, so that they didn't punish you for trying to escape. Kriff, that would have been awful for you. You already are so injured and I can tell which ones are fresh and you weren't really healing well and... Oh, Quin, I just wish you didn't have to go through that."

"It was worth it. We thought that I'd have a greater chance of finding the twins if I was there as a slave, since that can offer an oddly high amount of freedom of movement because as long as slaves are doing their jobs, they tend to be seen and not heard and no one thinks twice about them moving through rooms and messing with consoles and all that. It's not the first time I've been put in that situation and it won't be the last."

"Pretty sure it might be the worst though, just by looking at all the injuries you have."

"..yeah it might be the worst," Quinlan conceded. "We'll be talking medical leave, it sounds like. Doesn't sound like there will be any complications but then that also depends on how well I follow the healer's directions."

"Then I will be here making sure you follow each direction to the letter."

"Of course you will." Quinlan chuckled.

.

Quinlan woke up feeling quite a bit better, if a bit stiff from laying in one position all night.

A good night's sleep with Obi-Wan was just what he needed.

Obi-Wan hovered worriedly as Quinlan got ready for the day, making sure that everything was still okay and that Quinlan was not about to hurt himself.

Quinlan humored him because he had missed having Obi-Wan around and he kind of wanted to be fussed over. It reminded him that he was safe and he wasn't back there. It reminded him that he had people who cared about him and loved him and didn't want to see him get hurt, so he didn't need to push himself to act mostly normal the way he did there.

He could just be himself and take his time. 

Finally, they were ready for the day.

Quinlan limped around, checking on the kids before going to the dining hall for breakfast.

All the kids seemed to be okay, having slept well, though most of them were still jumpy.

When they arrived at the dining hall, the twins were once again clinging to their parents.

Neither Obi-Wan nor Quinlan commented, just seated themselves and helped themselves to the breakfast laid out.

Obi-Wan knew how the king ran things and knew it was okay, so he had no problem doing so.

Quinlan just followed his lead, quieter than usual, but checking on the twins from time to time, and then the other kids as they filed in.

When some of them expressed uncertainty about the food, Quinlan was quick to point out foods they might like based on each preference.

They took his advice.

At some point, the twins started telling their parents all about how Quinlan had helped them, how he had comforted them both after a nightmare on separate occasions, how he had reassured them and talked them through their feelings.

Obi-Wan watched Quinlan try not to show his awkwardness at being bragged about, amused that Quinlan still couldn't take a compliment easily much like Obi-Wan, though Quinlan was usually better at passing it off casually- something to note about his mental state.

Then the other kids got into it, and Quinlan looked like he wanted to disappear as the kids kept singing his praise and talking about how he had taken care of them and made sure they were okay.

Obi-Wan had a hard time not laughing at Quinlan's face when the queen thanked him.

"It was nothing. All of the kids were sweet. They just needed someone who cared and had an idea of what to do."

"How did you know what to do?" the king asked curiously. "Do you have experience with younglings?"

Quinlan nodded, swallowing his bite of food. "I volunteer to help in the creche in my free time sometimes. I've also taught a few classes."

"That's how you knew how to help me figure out that math problem!" Stev exclaimed. "You've taught that stuff before."

Quinlan gave him an amused look, awkwardness fading away as he fell into the comfortable pattern of interacting with younglings. "Yes, yes I have, though I usually don't stick with what's considered 'core' classes."

"Oh, what do you teach?"

"Investigations, mostly. Taught an undercover class once."

"Whoa!"

Quinlan fielded questions the rest of breakfast, and looked quite a bit more relaxed...

Until the king and queen wanted to talk to him and thank him again for rescuing their twins.

Obi-Wan nudged him when he didn't move.

Quinlan accepted their gratitude and explained some things that happened when they asked, with permission from the twins because he didn't want to say anything they didn’t want their parents to know.

They seemed to want their parents to know but had a hard time explaining it, huddled in between their parents together, uncertain but hoping they were still safe there.

Quinlan explained as much as he could, giving them breaks whenever he noticed that they were getting uncomfortable, might throw up, or the tears were starting to flow.

Finally, they were through it, just in time for lunch.

Quinlan and Obi-Wan left the king and queen showering their kids with love and affection as they reassured them that they didn't need to worry.

The other younglings were waiting when they arrived.

Quinlan once again pointed out to them which ones they would like, and then they told him all about the morning and the exploring they had done. How big the palace is and how strange it was to have freedom.

After lunch, Quinlan hung back to talk to Lyssum who had been quiet throughout lunch.

"I don't know how to be a kid." she said finally. "They're all excited and playing around and making stuff up. I don't know how to do it. I... I don't remember anything but being in that mansion, terrified but as obedient as I could be..."

Quinlan nodded. "Adjustment will be hard. That's why we recommend therapy. For now, just take it one small step at a time. Join in a game. If that seems like too much, try something smaller. Like... ohhh you could slide on the floor."

"What?" Lyssum looked at him like he was nuts.

Quinlan grinned at her. "Take off your shoes, get a running start, then slide the rest of the way."

It was a sign of how much she trusted him, that she started taking off her shoes even as she sighed heavily.

Then she got the running start and let herself slide.

By the end she was giggling, despite how off balance it made her.

She slid her way back to Quinlan, smiling wider than he had seen.

"Well?"

"That was awesome."

"There you go. Step one to being a kid. Though truth be told, that's something you might never grow out of. I like doing that on occasion. When I can anyway." he added with a gesture at the crutches.

Lyssum winced. "You're hurt because of me."

"I made the choice, Lyssum. I'm just glad I was able to get you all out and contribute to them taking out the trafficking ring so they can't hurt anyone else that way."

"But what about the ones that escaped?"

"Well, they're scattered. They can still cause harm but not in the same way. Most of them we have quite a bit of information on them so they won't be safe everywhere."

"I guess that's better but... I don't like it."

"Neither do I. We got the main players based on all the information, and that's going to have to be good enough for now. It's my least favorite part of my job after failing to save people from harm, but when there's such a big group... some getting away isn't inevitable."

"Oh. I'm glad we're out and that place can't be used again and they're all getting locked up. I don't want other kids to suffer like that..."

"Me either." Quinlan gave her a half hug. "What are you going to do?"

"I dunno. I wanna stay with the others... they need me."

"Don't forget to take care of yourself. You're still a kid. Don't waste this time."

"I won't."

"Good."

Lyssum was going to say more but Vonnie came up and grabbed her, dragging her off to play a game.

Quinlan chuckled and watched them, happy to see that they were all relaxed and starting to believe that they were safe.

Obi-Wan came up to him and wrapped his arms around him. "They're willing to host the children and get them caretakers to keep living here so long as they want to stay. Knowing that what these kids went through is what their own could have gone through if we hadn't been called in and taken the steps has really shaken them."

Quinlan nodded. "Good. I don't think the kids that had been there a while would want to be separated... Lyssum says the younger ones need her. They probably do, since she's likely the most consistent older figure they have since they arrived, but I want her and the others to have a proper chance to be a kid."

"They will be. They'll make sure of it."

"I know. I'm just... worried. I lived with them for months."

"You can stay in contact with them."

"I know. I want to. Just... having a bit of trouble with my own emotions right now, you know?"

"Yeah, I think I do. You did good, though. They trust you. You're good with them."

Quinlan nodded. "They needed me to be."

Obi-Wan huffed. "You're usually good with kids. Better than me"

"You're not bad with kids."

"You're still better than me."

"...okay, fine, maybe I am," Quinlan conceded as he leaned on Obi-Wan. "It's worth it though. They deserve better. I'm glad to see them acting like kids."

"Me too. Want to stay for a week, make sure they're settling in and trust that they can message you, then head home?"

"Yeah that sounds wonderful," Quinlan agreed quickly. 

"And Quin?"

"Yeah?"

"Lets not leave things on such a bad note again. At the very least we should check in with each other before we leave on missions, so that we know we love each other and have a chance to make up?"

Quinlan nodded. "Maybe try to make up before bed and if not, after morning meditation? That way if there's a sudden mission we don't have to rush it or skip it entirely."

"That's a good point. We can do that. Love you, Quin."

"Love you too, Obes."