Before - Legends Swings and Roundabouts (JA - RR) *Final post *

"Master," Ambianca squinted sideways at the tall, slender figure of the Jedi beside her, "why are we back in the gardens?"

Sal-Fina said nothing. Whilst her padawan sat down upon the little stone bench at the edge of Master Quillan's elaborate borders, brimming with giant green ferns higher than the average Wookiee, she continued to pace up and down, back and forth like some kind of trapped animal held behind an invisible force barrier. From where she was standing she should quite easily be able to get a good view of any activity happening via the temple launch and landing pad. And there most certainly would be further activity, of that Sal-Fina was sure.

"Because we were getting in the way of the healers." Sal-Fina replied with a toss of her blonde mane. "And it doesn't do to get in the way of healers. It makes them annoyed. And annoying healers is a big mistake in the long term. They have a collectively long memory and you can be sure that at a time more convenient to themselves they will remember it."

She scanned the area with her eyes. Still nothing.

"Because after what happened at the cantina crawl, do you really expect the same motley crew to behave at an amusement park?" She continued. "Or because everyone else has their hands full with the more important matter of the tragedy surrounding Master Fione's death." Out the corner of her eye she thought she saw Ambianca hang her head a fraction. "And because the council have officially asked us to investigate."

"They?they did what, master?" Ambianca gasped.

"Investigate." Repeated Sal-Fina.

"Because they were wrong about you and wanted to make amends?" Ambianca's face lit up with delight. "This was their apology?"

"No." Sal-Fina said simply. "Because it wasn't important enough to assign anyone else."

"Oh."

"Oh indeed." The fact that she and Ambianca were in many quarters considered as something of a joke was not lost on Sal-Fina. Her own fault no doubt, for she hadn't exactly gone out of her way to challenge that belief. The kind of missions they were sent on were specialised but nothing they could easily foul up: ones that relied on cunning, deviousness, beauty?

Her master had instilled the first two 'virtues' well within her. The latter she had been blessed with - or cursed - from infancy. And for better or worse she was teaching her own padawan the exact same lessons that had been passed down to herself with such bitter perfection. What she had told Ambianca was no less than the truth as to how the council regarded them, but it was more than that?she'd had her suspicions for a long time now that something sinister lay at the route of it all, that they were watching her every move and reporting what they saw. Paranoia? Some might say so, but at the end of the day paranoia was only an applicable label when it transpired that your fears were unjustified.

Hers own fears were real enough.

So she tested the council. Pushed them further and further than most would dare, or even dream of daring. The harder she pushed the less reaction she would get in return. What was she supposed to make of that? There was only one reasonable conclusion: they thought there was something?wrong with her. Something dangerous.

No doubt it was all Qui-Gon's fault. It usually was.

"What are you expecting to find, master?" Ambianca wondered outloud, resting her chin in her hands and sounding thoroughly bored with it. "More padawans?"

As investigations went it was hardly taxing: find out which particular miscreants were responsible for posting Alex Arieh and a gaggle of drunken padawans through the post. Considering it was pretty well known within certain circles exactly who had gone where and who had followed afterwards, then, eliminating those who had already been returned in ignominious fashion to the temple, Sal-Fina already had a pretty good idea of exactly who the culprit was?

"It's Qui-Gon." She said simply, addressing nobody in particular. "It has to be."

Ambianca scratched her head. "But why would he do such a silly thing?"

"You'

 

Wow there is a lot of bitterness there towards Qui-Gon. No wonder Ambianca is the way she is with Sal-Fina for guidance. LOL at her comment that Sal Fina was past it! Uh oh she has the chair!

 

She has the chair. And now?

 

"I can't believe how amazing that was!" Rela said for what seemed about the hundredth time, radiant with excitement. "Jem, that was fantastic! The way you went through that waterfall?"

Jemmiah seemed distinctly unimpressed by her display. The euphoria of the moment was beginning to wear off and the thrill of the ride was well on its way to being consigned to the distant past. Lilith was gone, leaving Jemmiah feeling slightly?well, depressed was far too strong a word for it, but certainly a little down in spirits. The Corellian smuggler led an existence that Jemmiah knew in her heart she didn't want for herself: she'd experienced more than enough in the way of unsavoury characters in her short existence and wasn't particularly thrilled at the idea of adding further to the collection. But for Jemmiah, Captain Lilith Demodae of the good ship Scorpion represented freedom. She was a breath of fresh air that swept into the temple - and then all too soon vanished again.

Swoops had become Jemmiah's lifeline to the real, non-Jedi world and Lilith understood that. It wasn't just about speed and excitement but about choices and doing something different in her life. That was why, despite Lilith's rapturous greeting and Rela's unbound enthusiasm, it galled Jemmiah when she remembered that she had come second. Even if she'd sort of expected the result it hadn't gone any way towards taking the sting out of it now that it was fact.

"It was hardly anything special." Jemmiah felt uncharacteristically shy all of a sudden in light of all the attention focused on her. "It was just a race on a simulator?"

"Sure it was!" Rela slung her arm over the back of her friend's shoulder and hugged her briefly to her. "I never saw such a fantastic performance! Where's Scrubby?" She looked about her for the familiar sight of Obi-Wan, only to find him joking and laughing with his master. "Scrubby! Tell her she was fantastic! She doesn't seem to believe a word I say for some reason."

Obi-Wan smiled reassuringly at Jemmiah, knowing it wouldn't go any way towards relieving her self-doubts. Jemmiah was like that sometimes: always so self-critical when she least needed it and alas, never inclined towards soul searching when most it was required. He had in fact been the first of the many to offer congratulations - he'd even managed to sneak a chaste kiss from Jemmiah before Qui-Gon had exited the booth as victor, but she'd been so overwhelmed that he doubted she recollected it. And if the reception she'd received from her friends had been exceptional it was as nothing when compared to the ovation she'd got from the public watching the contest from the gallery. The fact she had lost clearly meant nothing to those who enjoyed a spectacular race. One could even be forgiven for thinking that she and not Qui-Gon had returned the winner?

Certainly the rounds of applause had startled his master. As a Jedi he most likely wouldn't dwell too much on the fact that Jemmiah had been hailed far longer and louder than he?although his pride might have taken a slight knock in the process!

"She fought an exceptional battle- and she knows it!" Kenobi grinned back. "And what is more, so does my master, seeing as how she was only about five seconds behind him!"

"Thank you Obi-Wan." Sighed Qui-Gon, feeling slightly put-out. "There's no need to rub it in."

Jemmiah glanced across at Qui-Gon when he was looking away, and lowered her voice so that only Rela might hear:

"I'll get him next time." She said in a whisper.

"Course you will!" Rela clapped her heartily on the shoulder again. "And I'll be there to see it when you do! And so what if you didn't win this time? Big deal! You are the moral victor!" She paused long enough to clasp a hand behind her ear, pushing her long red curls out of the way with a smooth sweep of her fingers. "D'you hear that clapping and stamping? That's for you! You didn't think it was for Qui-Gon, did you? Shoozer, I'd hate to see what you'd be like sat on a real swoop - you'd be pretty lethal at a guess!"

Again Jemmiah ri

 

Simeon sniffed the air as they exited the simulator suite; nostrils flaring like a Nargot before a race.

"I'm hungry." He declared, staring wistfully in the direction of the nearest junk food stall from which the appetising aromas were emanating.

"How can you be hungry?" Rela asked him in amazement. "Don't you remember the food you stuffed down your gullet? The little green jelly worms that you guzzled? The ones currently adorning the ground because you ate too many of them?"

"Yes." Simeon nodded, remembering the queasiness and sore stomach muscles he'd been suffering on and off since then. "But I'm hungry now."

"You are weird." Rela remarked admiringly. "You must have a stomach the size of a Rancor!"

"Amongst other things." Simeon whistled airily, causing Spider to gag at his immodesty. "Leastwise I've never had any complaints."

"That's because nobody's ever seen it, have they?" Jemmiah drawled, watching Simeon colouring rapidly to a flame-grilled red. "Your stomach, I mean?" She winked as the word stomach was mentioned but Simeon more or less took it as a subtle hint to keep his inflated ego to himself.

"You say the most wonderful things." Simeon pulled a crooked face. "I say nice things about your talents in relation to swoop racing and?"

"You did NOT say nice things about my swoop racing!" Jemmiah laughed, treating Simeon as the harmless buffoon she knew him to be.

"I said I'd like to see you astride a proper swoop."

"You said you'd like to see me naked astride a swoop." Jemmiah slapped him playfully on the arm. "Posing for one of those perverted flimsy magazines?Tug my Whatsits or whatever it was called." She saw Simeon's eyes light up dangerously. "And no, before you say anything - that wasn't an invitation."

"Simeon would like to see anyone naked." Rela grinned at the embarrassed looking padawan. "I bet the sight of all those old wrinkled bodies in their infirmary night gowns must really make the job worthwhile."

Simeon tried vainly to protest his innocence. Why was it that people never believed a word he said? Was it the way he looked? Was it perhaps the tone of his voice? Had he perhaps sprouted a pair of horns - what was the matter with him?

"That's not true! I'm a Jedi! I don't have those kind of thoughts." The female howls of derision behind him only left him feeling even more cowed and vulnerable than before. "Not often, anyway. Scrubbing floors and cleaning sluices can do that to a person. I'm not some sex maniac who can't control himself. A Jedi should always?"

"Oh, cut out the big Jedi talk!" Jemmiah pinched him on the cheek as if he were a loveable little child. "We know what poor little Simmy-wimmy's like. Watching the female padawans with cannoid-like devotion and big, black, soulful eyes."

"I am not like that at all." Simeon squirmed uncomfortably. "You make me sound like some kind of creepy spider waiting to pounce on unsuspecting women!"

"Well, aren't you?" Jemmiah asked him, regarding him with deadly honesty. "I've never yet met a man that doesn't seem to grow an extra six arms when he's in the mood!"

"I don't get 'moods' as you so quaintly put it." Simeon attempted to address his lady critics by speaking in a calm, resolute tone he'd learned to copy from An-Paj. "That's what the force is there for."

Jemmiah stopped in her tracks. "Is it?" She asked dubiously. "You use the force to keep your urges under control? That's what I use Ben for, but nevermind?"

Rela snickered; glad for once that Qui-Gon wasn't there to hear what was being said. Like Jemmiah she found it almost impossible to picture some of the older jedi growing 'extra arms' as the Corellian had expressed it, and Qui-Gon was no exception. Then again, some things were best not dwelt on over-much. Besides, sometimes it was difficult to even think about the jedi in such a base and?well, human way.

Except, strangely enough, for Simeon!

"Ah, cheer up Frizzling." Jemmy ruffled the oddly textured, close cut curls of Simeon's scalp. "I'm only teasing. I'll buy you a bag of Takk

 

I loved the interactions between Jemmy and Quiggy, the thought of Simeon naked parading through the streets of Coruscant...the abhorrence of the word 'weird.' Great posts.

 

I was crying with laughter at the teasing they gave Simeon but was almost crying for another reason when Qui-Gon told them all the bad news and his reaction to it.

Simeon's mind was already turning towards matters of a medical nature and considering what use he might be to An-Paj and the other healers in assisting Kylenn's recovery ? This shows that he isn?t quite as bad as the others try to make him think he is!

 

The journey back to the temple was, as Qui-Gon has anticipated, a muted and subdued affair. Sat in groups of twos and threes the remainder of the padawan amusement outing found themselves for the most part staring wordlessly out of the airbus window. Simeon would occasionally venture to check upon his swollen nose, twitching spasmodically with pain when his fingers pressed too firmly during the course of the investigation. Hmiol had slipped effortlessly back into his virtually silent routine periodically punctuated by grunts and nods in response to mumbled comments from Maye. Qui-Gon could hardly blame him: what after all was there to say? Weighted so heavily with silent grief and anxiety, the master wondered by what trickery the airbus dared to stay in the skies?

It was a bad business. A bad business not only for Kylenn who was everybody's primary concern, but also for Yaddle who must have been informed at that point of the accident which had befallen her padawan. There were other issues that would inevitably follow as the details of the incident leaked out and that was also causing Qui-Gon to feel more than a little wary. In the seat before him he could hear Obi-Wan and Jemmiah quietly talking, their voices low. His words remained calm and hushed whilst Jemmiah managed to give the impression of somebody who was trying not to be heard but nonetheless drawing attention to herself due to the frantic way she hissed out her answers.

"Forget about Kryztan." Qui-Gon heard Obi-Wan say. "He's of no importance."

"You heard what Master J said." Jemmy's reply was little more than a distressed whisper. "Kryztan saved Kylenn's life! Master Berlingside told him so!"

"Then it's about the only decent thing he'll have done in his life." Obi-Wan retorted. "Although if he thinks this has wiped out the past then he's in for a shock."

Jemmiah was all but holding her head in her hands at that point. "I don't care about him being a big hero. I don't want anything bad to happen to Kylenn just because she sticks up for him all the time. I'm glad someone was there to help her! Even if it was him?" She closed her eyes, evidently trying to think of all the permutations that would come about as a result of Harkley's actions. "But you know what's going to happen?"

"Nothing is going to happen." Obi-Wan answered stoutly.

"It will! People have split into three camps over what happened on the cantina crawl. I didn't want it to happen but it has! There are those who were there and saw what Kryztan did," she swallowed, "and what he tried to do to me. Then there are those who weren't there but think that I must have led him on! And then there's a third group who don't even like me that think I don't belong in the temple, who wouldn't believe me over Kryztan even if they'd got a signed confession and twenty witnesses armed with holo tapes!"

"You're getting wound up over nothing." Insisted Obi-Wan, puzzled at her reaction to Kryztan's rare heroics. He'd hoped to calm her with his words of resolute denial but he could see that she was in no mood to be rational. "All will be well. Kylenn will get better and then life will return as it was before?"

"You don't see it, do you?" Jemmy groaned. "This gives the people who were against me exactly the opportunity they were looking for to stick the knife in! They'll say "Oh, that Kryztan Harkley - he can't be that bad, can he? Maybe it wasn't his fault after all! Maybe it was her?" Or it'll drive those who were sitting on the fence over to the side of the people who hate my guts?"

"Now steady on." Obi-Wan's voice became as sharp as a vibro-blade. "There isn't a single person in the temple who 'hate's' you. There are only people who like you or who haven't met you! The temple has thousands of Jedi staying at any given time. You can't have met all of them." Obi-Wan pointed out, his eyes twinkling. "But the same applies to Kryztan, too. He hasn't met every single jedi in the temple: I know I haven't! Those who don't know you only have the usual sources of gossip to gather their information

 

Wonderful introspection from Qui-Gon. As Leona said, that last line was brilliant.

 

I loved the last paragraph, the use of the title. The introspection was so heartbreaking, the conversation between Obi and Jemmy so mature. great job.

 

"What in the meantime am I supposed to do with you?" Wondered Lilith Demodae outloud, accompanied by the somewhat crumpled figure of Jake Jivinan. His pirate outfit had clearly seen better days; the cheap Kruskan skin boots had the beginnings of an encrusted white tidemark where the water had begun to dry in. His cloak hung in great, lifeless folds that reminded Lilith of an unwieldy and very badly hung curtain. All those things could easily be put right with the correct treatment and a little tender loving care?but what about the sour expression on Jivinan's face? Frankly Lilith wondered if anything could possibly remove that.

"I dunno." He sighed, scuffing at the paving with his feet. "It seems that everything I do is doomed to failure. Money's rather on the tight side right now - I just can't seem to stop it from slipping through my grasp. I guess it's no worse for me than any other person in these competitive times. I ain't got no right to moan."

Lilith looked him up and down; an amusing sight to be sure but not one she could bring herself to laugh at. Jivinan always had a sort of hangdog appeal when he was down on his luck: the rough and ready look would slide inexorably towards downright scruffy, the stubble would become more pronounced, and his favourite and threadbare blue spacer's vest was worn almost constantly, almost as if he'd given up the will to look after himself properly. Lilith actually had a sneaking suspicion that was exactly what he was trying to get people to think in the hope of winning some kind of sympathy vote. Certainly if she'd been the mothering type she might have taken him in, offered him a hot meal and most certainly a razor to shave off the bristles on his face which seemed to be growing almost as she watched.

"You should try something a little more profitable." Demodae suggested casually, regretting it the moment the words were out his mouth.

"By that you mean illegal."

The droll reply was instant. "There's very little profit in legality, something you've no doubt found out for yourself." She shook her head, allowing her eyes to wander up and down the sorry looking figure. The fact that he wasn't strictly legit - yet remained walking the tightrope of honesty - was something Lilith found rather appealing. He'd take on more dubious cargo when times were pressing but when all was said and done he was a poor excuse for a pirate, and an even poorer smuggler. She didn't want to push him over that line into a career of out-and-out crime. It would be a difficult, dangerous and rocky path: one that he simply wasn't cut out for. Lilith put the thought from her head. Jake was game for most things but she couldn't see him surviving as a full-blown smuggler.

"Well, the way things are going you just never know." If it was at all possible his expression soured even further. "Although it would never work out. My droid wouldn't let me."

At this Lilith's grin became as bright as a solar flare. "Your nanny droid, huh?"

"Shush!" Jake looked furtively around him at the crowds of happily playing children as if he were afraid that someone might hear. "Don't tell the whole galaxy!"

"You'd think the way you were carrying on that you were ashamed of having a nanny droid!" Lilith snickered at him as Jake scratched desperately at his stubble. "Doesn't she make you shave, Jivinan? There's enough growth there to lose a Bantha in! She must be slipping!"

Jake rolled his eyes. He was trying not to think about Nan-1. "She did." He admitted after an uncomfortable silence had developed. "That was when I told her I was going to hawk her metal carcass out to the other droids and see what price I could get for her tin body."

"Droid prostitution?" Lilith's face formed a disgusted inverted U-shape. "What a nauseating idea!" Then she thought further about the process and shuddered with revulsion. "I think I know one or two people who wouldn't be above the notion. Or under it either, if you get my meaning. Imagine?could be a whole knew fad! Madam Otis and Madam Ying would go out of business for

 

Btw, if STWOM was reposted would anyone read it?

 

Me too!

 

Back at the temple feet trampled along the crooked path that led through the gardens, past the ferns and thornwood bushes in the direction of the nearest turbo lift. Weary legs lifelessly carried over-indulged bodies stuffed full of unhealthy junk food. Spirits were irretrievably low; heads bowed towards the ground. Amongst the despondent and uncertain party numbered Rela and Spider; this time there was no repeat of the mistake made at the cantina crawl where they'd been so ignominiously turned away - dismissed at the end of the fun like children deemed too young to stay out with the grown-ups. This time however, Rela wasn't certain she wanted to return to the temple. Healers and needles and bacta and blood?it really wasn't the sort of thing that made for a cheerful or entertaining evening. Besides which nobody was in the mood to laugh?

"Will your feet survive the journey to the infirmary," Qui-Gon was asking Jemmiah, "or do you want me to carry you?"

"I am NOT going to the infirmary." Jemmiah replied stoutly. "All I need to do is just put them up for the next day or so."

"And have Evla running about after you all day?" Qui-Gon tutted, his voice containing more than a hint of rebuke. "That's little short of shameful in my opinion!"

"I will not let Evla run about after me." Sniffed Jemmiah, sliding her butterfly clasp into her hair.

"Good."

"That's your job!" The smile that lurked beneath the surface was easy enough for Qui-Gon to anticipate even although it was of short duration. It was as if people were afraid to smile lest it be seen somehow as disrespectful to Kylenn.

Qui-Gon tried to enliven proceedings a little with some light-hearted banter. "The sad thing is that it's probably perfectly true. The way you manage to manipulate me into getting your own way?you should write a book on it!"

"I did." Conceded Jemmy. "It's called my diary. And you haven't always run after me! What about that time you sent me to school camp, huh? No matter how much I pleaded and begged and batted my lashes at you - nothing seemed to work! Our entire class got lost?we camped in a field containing a mad killer Reek, we got attacked by savage rodents as we slept - Miss Vram lost the tip of her nose - my tent got struck by lightening and then to cap it all our transport began to sink in quicksand!"

"I pulled you out." Qui-Gon answered reasonably. "I rescued your entire class!"

"Yeah, but if you'd listened to me in the first place I wouldn't have needed rescuing, would I?" Jemmiah retorted, knowing that he wouldn't have an answer; not one that held any weight. Rat bites aren't fun, you know. Neither is getting struck by lightening! My hair stood out at right angles for weeks! It looks like how Rela's hair does normally!"

"Thank you ever so much!" Rela grimaced, trailing alongside her friend. "As if I'm not paranoid about my hair as it is already?"

"There's nothing wrong with your hair." Qui-Gon replied, striding effortlessly onwards. "She's only teasing you."

"Except that she looks like a baby Wookiee when it gets wet." Obi-Wan remarked in his usual polite manner, which only seemed to make the remark sound even more derogatory than was intended.

"At least I don't look like a demented fresher brush!" Rela grinned back at him. "Or have a girlie braid!"

"Hey, I like braids!" Jemmiah replied, taking the opportunity to reach out and secure her boyfriend by his own pigtail. "They're so useful! It's amazing the things you can get someone to do for you when you have their scalp in your hands."

Qui-Gon's mouth pursed in a silent whistle. "Manipulating people again, Tangles?"

But Jemmiah was no longer staring back at Qui-Gon. Her eyes were focused on another, not quite so appealing individual waiting in ambush by the mouth of the doorway.

"Sal-Fina." Jemmiah said unnecessarily as if nobody could see her.

Qui-Gon almost stopped in his tracks; he could feel the unusual urge to curse welling up inside him like an uncapped spring. Such was the effect Sal-Fina automatically produced. In her own way

 

Ouch...SF in fine form.

 

This was a simple day away to the amusement park and it shouldn't have been remotely dangerous. But we have dead masters, injured padawans?broken repulsar chairs."

That's quite a good summing up of the events of the day. Phew, that was an excellent confrontation between Qui-Gon and Sal-Fina. For a moment I thought that she had changed, her handling of the lydia affair was quite sensitive but she soon slipped back into her old ways.

Superb!

 

Hmm...I confess I have toyed with the idea of the camping trip story for some time. It'll probably make an appearance at some point soon. Not sure if it'll be first or the young Sal-Fina/Qui-Gon story I've got planned.

 

Hiya! Yes I'm still around. Able to read but posting time has been limited. What can I say. I've gone from highs to lows to wanting to get a piece of Sal-Fina myself.

I'm certainly up to reading about the camping trip! As well as a Qui/Sal story, although agreeing with Leona it just seems wrong.

Anyone seen Shrek 2 yet? I must say that the one scene where Prince Charming does the slow motion hair flip back move I thought to myself, "Now that's a really Dexy move." Same with when he got the "Medievel Meal" and put the kiddie crown on!

 

Well, at least he hadn't offered to carry her again?

Qui-Gon had assisted Jemmiah all the way up to the door of Evla's apartment but there he had been summarily dismissed with a demure thank you kiss to the cheek (one that was a little more seemly than that which she had performed on him at the cantina crawl) and a promise that she would behave until Evla got back. One swift glance at the man's face told Jemmy he didn't particularly believe her, but given that she was in the company of his padawan, Rela Quinn and Geri 'Spider' Pippage it was probably a reasonable reaction. For a while he seemed to hesitate, hovering uncertainly by the door as if wondering whether to command his padawan to return with him back to their own lodgings, but then after several seconds of consideration Qui-Gon eventually deigned to leave them to their own devices. Jemmiah liked to think it was because he trusted them but knew in reality that there wasn't anything she and Obi-Wan could get up to than was any worse than what he'd witnessed in the Tunnel of Love?

It did however sound like the sort of challenge she relished.

Spider delicately lowered herself into one of Evla's chairs, all too aware of the precious life nestling within her jacket pocket. Even wrapped inside a small layer of insulator cladding Spider was taking no chances, not after what had happened to its sister egg. Rela showed no such decorum and simply threw herself into the seat next to her, almost tipping it backwards.

"What a day!" She exclaimed dramatically, allowing her head to loll against the chair rest.

Opposite, Obi-Wan neatly removed his cloak and folded it over the arm of the sofa before sitting down next to it. Rela's little exclamation didn't go far enough, somehow. His heart ached for Kylenn, her accident overshadowing all memory of the happy times spent as they'd toured the various attractions in the park. Of course the attraction he'd liked best in the park had actually been Jemmiah but he wasn't about to tell her that. Her opinion of herself was already way too high as it was without adding to her magnificent ego.

"It's certainly been dramatic." He conceded, moving over slightly to allow Jemmy to hobble to the sofa and seat herself beside him. The Corellian groaned as she felt the welcome contact of her back against the chair, swinging her legs round so that they rested directly across Obi-Wan's lap. She always thought that her boyfriend's special role of 'cushion' was perhaps the most vital in their relationship. Forget love, forget passion?who needed those when you had something to cuddle up to?

Obi-Wan looked down at the shapely trouser-clad legs.

"Ah, my two fine friends." He remarked drolly, placing his left hand on Jemmiah's right kneecap and giving it an affectionate squeeze. "I can't decide which of these I prefer. The one on the right? Or perhaps," he transferred his hand to Jemmy's other knee cap, "the one on the left? Personally I'm?"

"If you dare say 'stuck in between' I will personally see to it that you never get within kicking distance of my legs again." Pouted Jemmiah, affecting the sultry look that nearly always reduced Obi-Wan to an insensible, quivering heap.

"?Undecided." He finished with a gleeful smile.

"Is the correct answer!" She closed her eyes, shutting out the throbbing from her swollen feet. Rela had been correct in supposing it to be a bizarre day! The highs had been so high whilst the lows had been?well, low. She wanted to remember the highs. Wanted just to thing of all the fun she'd had with Obi-Wan. It was moments like that which made her want to punch the air and tell her long-standing fears and neurosis to take a jump in a lake?to show Rufus Merdan he had no hold over her life anymore. It was a lie of course, for there was rarely a day that went past when she wasn't watching over her shoulder, but somehow on wonderful days like the one she'd just experienced, nothing seemed to matter anymore. Just herself and Obi-Wan, her extended family of Rela, Spider Qui-Gon and Evla: all the people she'd dare