Indeera treated her injury, Porter fed her, Bell named her, and Loden had allowed her to stay, declaring that the Force had brought them a new member of the team. That was a neat workaround to the Order’s rule against forming attachments, because of course you were supposed to take care of your fellow team members, and make sure they were safe and happy and well fed and their coat was brushed and…well. The Jedi of the Elphrona Outpost had all become extremely fond of Ember the charhound, rule or no rule.

“Yes please,” Bell said, holding up his bowl. “It’s fantastic today.”

“It’s the stone peppers,” Porter said, pleased, ladling up another serving of the thick yellow stew. “Found some nice hard ones at the market.”

Veteran Jedi could live wherever they liked once the passage of time naturally reduced their ability and desire to participate in the more active work of the Order. Most remained at the Coruscant Temple, which maintained lodgings for all its older members, to live out their days as they pleased. Porter Engle had taken the opposite approach, actually requesting an assignment to the Elphrona Outpost. He seemed intent on remaining as useful as possible despite his age, and an outpost was the best way he knew to ensure his three centuries of Jedi experience could directly help the galaxy.

In an average day, an Outpost Jedi might be called upon to settle a dispute, defend a town from marauders, bring criminals to justice, teach children, offer medical assistance, or just wield the Force in any of the ten thousand ways it could be used to help people. Not every problem required a Jedi to solve it, but when a problem did rise to that level, people tended to be glad they lived on an outpost world.

“Starlight Beacon’s almost ready for the dedication,” Loden said as Bell dug into his second bowl of stew.

“Just a few weeks,” Indeera said. “But the chancellor’s hyperspace closures might push that back.”

“Mm…I hope not,” Porter Engle said, taking a seat at the head of the table. “It wouldn’t be the end of the world if it didn’t open on time, but I know it’s important to the chancellor’s future plans that everything runs smoothly. I’d like to see it, too. It sounds beautiful.”

“It is,” Loden agreed. “Wouldn’t you say, Bell?”

“Gorgeous,” Bell said. “There’s a biosphere zone, where visitors can check out actual re-creations of various worlds in the Outer Rim Territories. Dantooine jungle, an ice flat from Mygeeto…I liked it.”

Loden dropped his spoon into his empty bowl.

“The idea is to showcase the diversity of the worlds out here,” he said. “They’ll rotate the biospheres from time to time, bring in different creatures…it’s very ambitious.”

Indeera spoke, not looking up from the datapad she was perusing.