Jedi Master Hallok sat on a stool smiling, as infants were passed to her arms for a moment, cradled for another, and in a few breaths passed onto one of her two padawans. They were all so innocent, promising of so much potential in life. No more than a year old, every single baby she would see that day was an orphan. It was disheartening to know that so many children could be parentless but the war between the Seperatists and the Republic was only escalating. Master Hallok had faith in the Force though and in the heroes of the Republic, beacons of light in the blight of times. But her job was just as important. She was one of the Jedi that would detect the gift in children and determine whether or not they would have the oppurtunity to serve their life as they were meant to, as Jedi, with the Force.

"Master, do you need anything? A drink, or even a break? You have been working for hours now, Master."

The old woman turned and smiled to the voice of her eldest padawan, nearly a knight, Zerxes was a grown man and maybe a tad too over protective at times of his ancient Master.

"I might be blind, boy, but I've nothing to fear of these darlings and they don't weigh enough to make these old limbs creak with weariness. But if you strain my ears too much with your worrying, you'll get to me before they do."

"Yes Master."

Hallok was indeed blind but it seemed to serve her purpose well. She could sense the Force's ability and potential in others clearly, using the Force as her vision and her trusted sense above all else. Hallok couldn't hear that well for that matter by herself either. At times she would joke that the Force was the only thing keeping her moving. Zerxes at times would even believe it.

"You have a question, Cyan?"

Cyan was her second padawan, a quiet young zabrak who said little but spoke well and effectively when he did. Hallok always had a vague idea of what was on Cyan's mind, he kept himself organized and under control at all times, always trying to maintain the mental discipline of a Jedi. Commendable in his efforts, the zabrak was still quite predictable in his youth.

"Yes Master... I was wondering... why are we taking and marking the children that register but that you know don't have... what it takes?"

"Insightful, Cyan, but be sure to be mindful that everything serves the Force, from mindless matter to Master Yoda. The government authorized that we mark children that might even seem promising in hope that we might find something that links to the decreasing number of force adepts.

The Republic assured the Council that the Chancellor was only interested in restoring what has been lost after all this time, what with the war and all. The Republic is running tests on the orphans we mark and giving grants to the orphanages in exchange. It helps in matters of cooperation, of course, Cyan. Now hand me that next darling, won't you?"

The zabrak reached for the next baby and handed it gently to the old woman. She rocked the quiet baby for a moment and tilted her head, as if in contemplation.

"Is there a problem, Master?"

Zerxes noticed with concern the troubled look taken upon Hallok's old face as she rocked the baby slowly.

"No, nothing at all."

She wouldn't tell her padawan that the Force seemed so distant, getting farther and farther away each time she reached out to it. As if she really were blind, some blackness always seemed to interpose itself between her and the light that was the Force on the other side. She tried to let it in, to let the Force fill her, but she seemed to only taste that blackness there. And this child, unlike others, seemed so distant, that she assumed the child was in the Force, on the other side of the darkness. No innocent child would actually be of that blackness.

"Mark this one, Zerxes."

"Yes, Master. Orphan Y'roth, marked for force sensitivity, no innate talent."