“Eight,
nine, ten, eleven-” The counting was loud and clear as children of
all ages from five to eleven ran off around the room, desperately
scrambling for a hiding place while muffling their giggles.

Under
the amused and grateful gaze of the creche masters, the troopers had
taken charge of amusing the children until all the Jedi had arrived
and everything could be settled up and today Commander Snow and his
men had decided to play hide and seek with the children. Snow, Lapra,
Browbeat and Tyr were all gathered in a group with their hands over
their eyes as Snow counted for all four of the troopers.

Settling
even more on the bench as he took a small break from the clean up,
Dolan smiled indulgently as he watched one of the older children
scale a beam to hide up in the ceiling scaffolding while a smaller
one crawled under a table with a delighted beam at having found her
hiding space.

Much
to Dolan’s amusement, he noticed one of the mon calamari Initiates
slowly inched her way into the nearby pond and sunk under to hide.

‘I
don’t think that was allowed little one.’ Dolan rubbed his clean
shaven chin, grinning before grunting softly as Master Vos sat down
next to him on the bench, the kiffar watching the troopers count with
bemusement in his eyes.

Neither
said anything for a long time, only observed as Snow finally stopped
counting and started to search the cleaned and prepared room.

These
rooms had been on the priority scale apparently Dolan had learned,
the clones explaining with serious and stern faces that younglings
always came first and needed the comfort of clean and safe spaces.

Dolan
had wholly approved of that, he didn’t mind a slightly drafty or
dirty room if his creche classes were safe and sound in their rooms
and he knew that the rest of the temple was on the agenda to be
cleaned.

“I
don’t really like the clones,” Dolan glanced at Vos, raising a
brow as the man rubbed the yellow streak over his nose. “Don’t
trust them if I’m honest.” He trailed off, watching as Lapra
found the youngling under the table and grabbed them, playfully
tickling and throwing her into the air to the Initiates utter delight
as she hugged the man tightly.

Raising
both brows, Dolan settled his hands in his lap. “…The troopers
have been nothing but respectful and kind to the Jedi,” He said
slowly. “Something we have sorely lacked if the stories I’ve
heard from mission active knights are true.” Dolan tilted his head,
his nerf
tail tickling his neck.

Huffing
a bit, Vos leaned his elbows on his knees, muscles flexing lightly
and most likely unintentionally though Dolan took a moment to admire
them still as the other master generally went around in a sleeveless
outfit. “I… you’re right. I just don’t…” The man pursed
his lips.

Dolan
watched the other for a long moment, the sound of laughter filling
the room as the troopers searched and found kids, playing with them,
bonding with the children who had come to learn that the troopers
were more than soldiers. “…As I understand it, you should have
nothing to say about them, considering their loyalties have never
been in question nor have they ever conspired with dark siders or
killed Jedi on purpose.” Dolan said as lightly as he could.

Vos
still tensed and looked down, staring at his feet.

“Nor
are they on probation,” The creche master returned to watching the
children. “I am not telling you to like them, one can not be
universally liked. But the very least you can do is respect them.”
Dolan hummed a bit.

The
Jedi master said nothing, only clenched his hands on his leggings.

“Beside,”
Dolan smirked ever so slightly as he watched Tyr walk towards the
middle with two human Initiates clinging to his legs on each side.
“If you were to show your displeasure, I believe our Initiates may
just decide that you need a lesson in basic human decency and decide
a tickling match against a Jedi master is a good idea for the honor
of the troopers.” Dolan chortled out as Browbeat finally managed to
find their calamari Initiate in the pond and was struggling to get
him out without getting wet.

Sitting
up at that, Vos watched the kids and the troopers before snorting.
“Guess you’re right. So far every trooper I’ve seen interact
with the younglings adore them and the younglings adore them in
return… not enough adult to play with them I guess?” He glanced
at Dolan.

Shrugging
slightly, the creche master glanced about then gestured. “Not many
choose to become creche masters, we make do with those we have but
unfortunately we are not always enough to play when babies need
feeding and younglings need their injuries tended to.” He smiled
gently before humming as he heard a noise. “But if I’m not wrong,
it sounds like a shuttle is coming closer. The council seems to have
arrived.” He grinned warmly.

Finally,
they were all away from Coruscant to the safety of Eedit.

He
hoped it would remain that way.