'There's no time to lose,' Adi said.
They left the building and hurried to Nen and Melie's dwelling. Adi quickly explained that the autohoppers would be grounded for about three hours.
'We'll gather as many dissidents as we can,' Nen said. 'We'll try to find out if anyone has seen your Padawans.'
'We must find out where the Learning Circle is located,' Qui-Gon told them. 'I have a feeling the key is there. Have you ever heard of the Re-Learning Circle?'
'I've heard it mentioned,' Nen said. 'Nobody really knows what it is.
Some sort of training facility.'
'The mothers talk,' Melie said. 'They say if your child is reassigned they are not allowed to contact you again. Do you think that's where Lana is?'
O-Yani, the elder caregiver, stood in the doorway. 'No,' she whispered.
Melie turned, her gaze suddenly sharp. 'O-Yani, your grandson V-Onin was sent to the Re-Learning Circle six years ago.'
'It was not my fault he was ill,' O-Yani said quickly.
'I know,' Melie said gently. 'I saw how you cared for him. Why was he taken away?'
'For the General Good,' O-Yani said promptly.
'O-Yani, we have disabled the autohoppers,' Qui-Gon said to her. 'You don't hear them flying, do you? You can speak freely.'
O-Yani paused. She looked out the window, waiting for the sight or sound of the autohoppers. 'They gave me this job. I like working with children,' she said wistfully.
'You won't lose your job,' Nen told her. 'We know that what happened to Lana wasn't your fault.'
'But if you know where she is, please tell us,' Melie said.
'The medics didn't know how to treat V-Onin. They said they had a place for him to go… a place where research was done. What could we do?'
O-Yani's face was bleak. 'I never saw him again.'
'Do you know where they took him?' Melie pressed.
'A trader came one day and knocked on my door,' O-Yani said. 'He had seen a boy in the country who was traveling with Guides. The Guides had trouble with their airspeeder and were repairing it. The boy stopped the trader.
He gave him something to bring to me. A goodbye gift.'
'What was it?' Nen asked.
'Wildflowers,' 0-Yani said. 'I pressed them in a book. Wait.'
She disappeared and came out a moment later with a leather-bound book.
She cracked it open and carefully extracted a delicate, pressed bloom.
'May I see it?' Melie asked respectfully. At 0-Yani's hesitant nod, she plucked it from her hand and examined it. 'I know this bloom. It comes off the calla tree. They only grow on the highest plateau of Kegan. It's about two hours away by landspeeder.'
Thanks to the Jedi's faster craft, they could cut that amount of time in less than half, Qui-Gon calculated. 'How big is the plateau itself?' he asked.
'You could cover it in a matter of minutes with the right craft and surveillance devices,' Melie answered. 'It's not very large.'
'Let's go,' Qui-Gon said to Adi.
Suddenly the door flew open. Six Enforcement Guides stormed into the room.
'Qui-Gon Jinn and Adi Gallia, we are here to escort you to the High Court. You have been found guilty of mind control. Come quietly or you will be shot.'
Siri used the bustle of departure from the food hall to drift close to Obi-Wan.
'Davi was taken to The Re-Learning Circle,' she told him in a low voice. 'I overheard O-Bin talking to another Teaching Guide. We've got to do something.'
'I thought you wanted to escape,' Obi-Wan said.
Siri bit her lip. 'Not until we find Davi.'
'I feel the same way,' Obi-Wan agreed.
'I think the Re-Learning Circle is right here, in the Learning Circle itself,' Siri told him.
'We have rec time today. Let's try to sneak away and explore then,'
Obi-Wan suggested. 'Just don't cause trouble in class, or we'll have cleanup duty instead.'
Siri nodded. They walked in orderly rows to class. The morning stretched on. Often O-Bin would glance at Siri during the lesson, waiting for her objection. But Siri remained silent, her face serene. Obi-Wan could feel members of the class wondering if O-Bin had won the battle and subdued her.
At last, classes ended and the students filed outdoors. Rec time consisted of running along a track that
