Aeris held back a laugh when Jek broke out into laughter at her smirk and her comment. When he suggested that they listen to her, that she would find a way to get him to join. She shrugged with an enigmatic smile, her face carrying both a look of innocence and a look that said “see, what did I tell you?” She looked his way and held back a smile as he crossed his arm and squared his shoulders before sighing and then making his way around her and the mother, to the young man. He had been a member of the Dragon clan even before she had, and his tenacity rivaled her own.<br/><br/>She was surprised, albeit pleasantly so when Jek whispered conspiratorially to the young man, appealing to him in a way she had not been able to. She had not expected those words to come out of his mouth. It was kind of impressive, actually, and her gaze said as much as she watched him return to her side, and giving him a look that said something like “huh… who knew?” She then turned her attention back to the young man and his mother, as if to ask what the verdict was.<br/><br/>The young man was about to speak when his mother spoke up instead. “I think you should go,” she told him, evidently surprising him. “But… are you sure?” he asked. “You’ve spent your whole life helping us, even if it meant that you couldn’t do what you wanted to do. If this is really what you are supposed to do… I don’t want to keep you from it. None of us do,” she said, glancing to the side where several younger teens and children could be seen poking their heads around the corner, listening.<br/><br/>Aeris smiled, watching his siblings rush in and crowd around him. “We’ll be okay,” his mother told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, then his siblings, then up to Aeris and Jek, then back to his mother. “Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll go with you,” he said, turning to look at them. “Great,” Aeris nodded, “Do you think you can be ready to go in a few minutes?” she asked, barely holding back her laughter as several of the younger ones proclaimed that they would help him before running up the stairs. “Yes, I can,” he said, shaking his head a little and following the little ones up the stairs.<br/><br/>She couldn’t completely mask the smile that tugged at the corners of her lips as she looked from them to Jek. It was partially to hide her silent snickering, partially because she just wanted an excuse to look at him, and partially because she wanted to let him see that she was grateful for his help. She looked away only when the young man’s mother spoke again. “Please take care of him,” she said, looking at the two of them. Aeris nodded, “we will,” she told her before pursing her lips a little, “He’ll be fine. He’s lucky that he had a mother who cares so much. Not all of us are so lucky,” she said, her voice softening as she spoke the latter before clearing her throat as the young man returned, coming down the stairs with several followers in tow.<br/><br/>“Alright. Time to go,” she said as she spun around on her heels, eager to leave before she let any other things like that slip. She headed out the door and towards the speeder with children swarming around her. “Your stuff can go in there,” she told him, pointing to the trunk. “You can sit in the back with<br/>Veena,” she added before she hopped back into the passenger seat of the speeder to wait for the others to join so that they could go on to pick up the last of their three recruits.<br/><br/>--<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">”No one deserves to be tortured,”</span>he retorted,<span style="font-style: italic">”And we don’t get to decide what crimes deserve death and what crimes are justified,”</span>he added, making it clear that he did not approve of her whole judge, jury, and executioner act. He didn’t outright say it, but nor did he hide the fact that he would view her killing the man as murder, and that in his mind, that would make her no better than the man she killed. As far as he was concerned, killing someone in cold blood was wrong, no matter how one tried to justify it. He would never approve of it, nor would he stand by and allow it.<br/><br/>If she wished to torture and/or slaughter the man, she would have to go through him first.<span style="font-style: italic">“Can you honestly tell me that you have never made mistakes? That you never hurt anyone? </span>he asked. He knew that she’d done things in the past, that she wasn’t an angel, he accepted that, and he loved her no matter what she had done. He wasn’t trying to hurt her or even change her into something she wasn’t, only to make her realized how messed up this was. He couldn’t lie to her and pretend like this didn’t bother him. It would serve no one for him to do so, so instead, he was honest, even if it hurt.<span style="font-style: italic">“If you can honestly tell me that you have never done anything wrong, I will step aside and let you pass your judgement.”</span><br/><br/>He waited, feeling the heat of her anger and keeping himself calm, to offset her anger. She stood in the doorway, an imposing figure, but he showed no signs of fear, nor could any such emotions be felt from him. He reminded himself of the Jedi code. “There is no emotion, there is peace,” he reminded himself silently. He knew she would not hurt him, so he had no reason to fear, despite what seemed like an attempt at intimidation, whether aimed at him or the other two men.<br/><br/>He could see the way she shook, and he wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms, despite knowing that she was likely shaking out of anger rather than anything else. He didn’t act out of impulse, though, instead he took slow, purposeful steps towards her. It stung a little when she turned away and refused to even look at him, stomping off towards the speeder. He didn’t show it, though. He had expected her to be angry, and this was probably the mildest way this scenario could have played out, so he couldn’t complain.<br/><br/>He headed to the speeder without a word and hopped into the driver’s seat. An told him to take them back to the shuttle as she continued to refuse to look at him. He didn’t respond to her words, just turned the speeder on and gestured for the alien to follow as he headed back the way they had come, back towards the city. He knew that An needed time to cool off, that anything he said now would likely only backfire, so he made no attempts to interact with her for the moment. “We’re heading to the large city to the north west, then we will take a shuttle to our battlecruiser that is in orbit,” he answered the young man, glancing back at him as he did. He noted in his peripheral vision that An had bundled herself in her coat to hide her face, so he focused his eyes on the road as he drove, not looking her way as he usually would. He would allow her whatever time she needed to cool down. When she was ready to talk, he would be happy to oblige.