[i]"Jerek, come here. I want to show you something."

The voice, much like his own, drifted through the trees growing in the artificial sanctuary, a green respite planted in the heart of the Jedi Temple, interrupting the thoughts of the young boy sitting beneath them. Scrambling to his feet, Jerek kicked off the shaded knoll where he had laid and went in search of the voice. The grove of trees was one of many within the Temple's lake level, ringing the outer perimeter of the five story conservatory. Its centerpiece was the multi-level lake from which it derived its name, the water nearly as green as the grass surrounding it, with its massive waterfall and calm beaches that made the lake the perfect spot to steal a relaxing moment. One could always find something new and interesting here. The problem was, the new and interesting always seemed to interrupt Jerek's thoughts. 

His curiosity grew as the boy loped through the trees, breaking out into the grassy field before the lake. He searched in earnest for the speaker, circling the area where the voice had come from. The sandy-haired boy called out as he went, passing familiar landmarks, like the stone carved with the initials of generations of younglings, or the nest of particularly defensive Alderaanian swans that had somehow found their way into the temple in the distant past. Just when he was about to reach the lake, Jerek heard a small rustle, the overgrown shrubs moving as if they had a mind of their own. The boy reacted all too late, turning just in time to see a blurry shape form out of the shrubs and collide into him, knocking him to the ground. 

Jerek's twin brother, a few minutes older and still a few pounds heavier, giggled in ecstasy as the boys wrestled on the ground. It wasn't very amusing to be tackled, but Jerek was too busy trying to trun the grapple in his favor to be annoyed. Bushes grabbed at his arms and legs, scraping skin and staining his youngling tunic and leggings with their sap. Sticky and sweating, Jerek finally managed to gain the upper ground and grinned as he squatted on top of the squishy form beneath him, only to feel his arm dampened a moment later by a very wet attacker. The thinner boy wrested his arm from the piercing clamp of his brother's mouth, and inspected it, relieved by the lack of any permanent marks from the bite. His distraction provided enough time for his opponent to gain the ground he had lost, and Jerek found himself on his back once more, his twin's arm at his throat and a satisfied grin on the older boy's face.

"Gerrof me, Elias!" Jerek cried, squirming under his brother's restraint, kicking futilely with his legs.[/i]

"Gerrof me, Elias!" 

The words were muffled by the weight of his brother's body on top of his face. It felt lighter than usual, though no less suffocating. Jerek squirmed, kicking and clawing at his brother. To his surprise, the pressure vanished as something sailed through the air, hitting the wall with a slight 'poof' and sliding to the floor. The youth sat up from his makeshift bed blinking, staring at the pillow that lay on the floor of the sleeping area. He crawled forward, retrieving the pillow from where it landed, and took it into a tight embrace. 

It was just a dream, he told himself, but the blond-haired boy just hugged the pillow tighter. No mere dream, in fact, but a memory. That was all he had left of his brother now, just the memory of Elias to keep him safe, just the memory of Elias to share his thoughts and fears with, just the memory of Elias to be friends with. The bundle of cloth and stuffing in his arms was an ill substitute for the real thing, yet for once, Jerek reveled in the tangible nature of the pillow. It was hard thing to hug a memory. 

Jerek glanced about the empty room, his neighbors already awakened and occupied with the day's activities. It was better to be alone, the boy decided. Were he back at the temple, no one would have excused a padawan learner in his second year of apprenticeship to lay around in bed all day. Vor'loch, especially, would not be pleased, but the Noghri Jedi was stuck in a bacta tank until he healed. Jerek had spent the first night there, beside his master in the tank, the blue glow of the bacta made it easy to stay awake in case something went wrong. The next morning, once Vor'loch had awakened and been pronounced stable by the medical droid, the Noghri had shooed Jerek away to rest. 

The padawan didn't want to spend all of his time resting, or meditating, like the other Jedi were. He wanted to [i]do[/i] something. His frustration betrayed him, escaping his mouth in an angry yell as he pushed the pillow back to the floor. The boy stood, shaking the blond mop on his head in the physical act of clearing his mind. Grabbing his tunic, still marred with holes from the attack on the temple, Jerek pulled it over his head and winced at the still-tender bruises, all that remained of his injuries from that fateful day. 

With only a few surviving members of the attack, the starship was mostly hollow as the sandy-haired youth stalked the halls. The massive spaces looked big enough to house a full company of Clone troops, and the markings on the walls and floor betrayed that as their very intention. Jerek scuffed at the floor with his boots, creating an echo that reverberated throughout the cavernous hanger bay. Thoroughly spooked, Jerek moved on in his search to find the other Jedi. 

He found them in original hold, still dominated by the blaster-damaged LAAT that had provided escape from the temple. The Jedi knights and masters were seated around one of the strangers flying the ship, discussing something. Something important, it seemed. He found a familiar face sitting near the outskirts of the circle, a padawan who had helped him defend Vor'loch in the temple's hanger bay. 

"I hardly recognized you without your lightsabers," the boy joked by way of greeting as he sat down next to the brown-haired padawan, eying the expert stitching of her grey robes compared to his pockmarked tunic. "I'm not sure we ever formally met, especially after all the...you know. I'm Jerek Zenduu."