Before the Saga The continuing, continuing, continuing saga of the Ultra-Stressed Jedi Students

This foreshadows a plot suggestion from @K'Tai qel Letta-Tanku which is going to make the next bit, rather, ahhh...interesting...


***


“I think we’re done.” Eena looked up at Kirsten and gave her a timid smile.

“Smells amazing,” Kirsten leant over the pot and wafted the scent towards her. Eena’s grin grew. It had been a bit terrifying at first, not knowing what half the ingredients were. There were quite a few that just didn’t exist on her home world or, if they did, they weren’t something that was commonly available. Her aunt may be the head of their community, the The R'gomaiwhenua of Ai'Nalani as she was formally known, but that didn’t mean that any of her extended family was treated with any deference. It had only been recently, when her aunt’s only daughter had died that Eena’s family had even rated a mention. Now her sister was living in the city and spoke of the special banquets and meals she had to attend, but that didn’t make a difference for Eena. For her it was still vegetables and stews and hoping that Tiviali would provide.

“I just hope I did the right thing with the eggs,” Eena grimaced at the memory of the feel of the eggs in her hands. There had been something weirdly slimy about the way they’d come out of the lizard’s egg sack.

“How do you think the other’s went?” Eena asked adding a last minute garnish as Master Samukay called last warning. Kirsten shrugged.

“Kirsh looks more dazed and confused then he always does but that’s probably because he’s paired with Eiko.” Eena glanced across to where the very tall, blonde-haired padawan was staring quietly at Eiko as she plated up their dish.

“What do you mean? Doesn’t he always look like that?” Eena asked confused.

“Not quite like that,” Kirsten grinned, “haven’t you noticed that when he’s around your friend he lights up like a festive tree?”

Eena frowned.

“No, what do you mean?”

Kirsten raised one eyebrow and then shook her head.

“Never mind, it’ll become evident soon enough.”

Before Eena could inquire further there was a commotion on the table behind them. They swung around to see Kithera giggling hysterically and T’lor on her hands and knees on the floor trying to scoop up the contents of one of the spice jars while giggling herself.

“Padawans, is there a problem?” Master Samukay’s sonorous voice boomed over the hall.

“No Master Samu…Samukay,” Kithera said trying to look serious and stifle her giggles, “just T’lor being clumsy.” The girls grinned at each other until Master Samukay turned away again and then collapsed into giggles again. At the front of the room Master Samukay clapped his hands and said that he would begin sampling meals. Behind them there was another explosion of giggles. Beside her Kirsten shook her head.

“If those two are giggling then I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

 

Eiko looked at Kirsh and smiled. "Now or never," she commented as Master Sammukay said he was going to start sampling meals. "Eena's and Kirsten's offering smells delicious! Oops, what are those two laughing about?"

Kirsh glanced over to T'lor and Kit. "Uh-oh. I don't think we want to know." There was a laugh in his voice and a sparkle in his warm eyes that made Eiko laugh outright.

 

“Ooo! OOOoooo! I have an idea!” Kit said swinging around and staring at T’lor, giggling manically.

“Master Samukay just called time,” T’lor said staring at her. The stew for Master Samukay was plated and Kit was bouncing from one foot to the other, as her brain fizzed from one idea to the next.

“We’ve got the bottle of white wine left, right?” She asked, her grin broadening, “why don’t we do something with it?”

“We don’t have time,” T’lor said sounding almost exasperated.

“Come on. It’s a drink, it won’t take long.”

“A drink?”

“Yeah, I saw Starblooms back in the fruit bowl,” she grinned at T’lor’s perplexed look, “I’ve seen Master Zahalin mix them with lemonade and the wine. It tastes nice and it might give us an edge.”

“On that?” T’lor pointed at Kel and Rujeno’s table. Kit shrugged, still grinning.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

“What do we do about the time then?”

“I don’t know, cause a distraction.”

“Like what?” T’lor swept her arms wide, knocking one of the little bottles of spices off the table. The lid came off as it hit the ground, scattering green slivers everywhere. Kithera giggled hysterically and T’lor immediately went down on hands and knees on the floor trying to scoop up the contents of one of the spice jars while giggling herself.

“Padawans Rinani and Kaden, is there a problem?” Master Samukay’s sonorous voice boomed over the hall.

“No Master Samu…Samukay,” Kithera said trying to look serious and stifle her giggles, “just T’lor being clumsy.” The girls grinned at each other until Master Samukay turned away again and then collapsed into giggles again.

“Go!” T’lor said watching Master Samukay make his way down to the front of the room. “Quick!”

Kit skittered away to where the fruit was kept, grabbing a bunch of Starblooms, a bowl and bottle of lemonade. There was also a strange green herb that curled and smelled amazing. She grabbed that and put it in the bowl too, figuring that it wouldn’t hurt. Racing back to the table, she roughly chopped the fruit, while T’Lor dumped the sparkling drink into the bowl with the wine. Hoping that Master Samukay hadn’t noticed they were still working, Kit dumped the StarBlooms and herb into the bowl. She stirred it quickly.

“That smells amazing,” T’lor said picking up the herb and smelling it. She nibbled a section. “Tastes amazing too.”

“Wanna put it in our stew?”

“Sure, what’s the worst that can happen?”

Kit dumped the chopped herb into the stew and stirred it.

“Here comes Master Samukay,” T’lor said quietly. They watched as the aged Jedi Master moved between tables, tasting dishes and doling out praise or criticism where warranted. They watched as he went to Kells and Rujeno’s table. They watched Master Samukay taste every dish.

“Good work, Miss Solo, Padawan Rujeno.” Master Samukay said, “that is a remarkable dish.”

“We are stuffed.” Kit screwed up her nose and stirred the stew again.

“As long as we don’t come last, we are fine.” T’lor said quietly, “I can live with that. Even Jazz and Castin got an okay.”

“I can’t live with Rujeno’s insufferable face if he wins though.” Kit said scowling, “even if I would be happy for Kells.”

Master Samukay was heading towards Eena and Kirsten’s table now. He tasted their dish and beamed too. “Very good. Nice work again Miss Plum. Good job Padawan Lien.”

“They got a good remark,” T’Lor whispered.

“Yeah, but it was good. Not remarkable. We’re stuffed.” Kit wasn’t grinning any longer. Instead she glared at the bowls and at the punch, wondering where the excitement of only a few minutes before had gone. She hated this – she loved the cooking part but the being judged was always terrible. Even though it was only a simple dish, it felt like it represented everything about her life in the temple – being judged for a small representation of who you really were.

“So, Padawans Kaden and Rinani, what are we serving today?”

“Uh,” Kit stumbled, “Lizard stew.”

“Sounds, appetizing,” Master Samukay raised an eyebrow and Kit winced.

“With a Starbloom palette cleanser,” T’lor said beside her scrambling to make it sound better, “a hearty meal followed by a delicious refreshment.”
The Jedi Master nodded and took a mouthful of the stew.

“Mmm. AheMmm. Adequate although the meat could have used some tenderising or a longer cooking time. It’s a bit chewy in parts. Needed to burn off more of the alcohol too. You supposed to taste it, but not get drunk on it.”

Kithera frowned and blew out a deep breath. It wasn’t the worst criticism but they definitely hadn’t won.

“Drink?” T’lor asked offering the Jedi Master a glass. Master Samukay took a sip and frowned.

“You said this is just Starblooms and wine?”

“And uh, lemonade,” Kit added startled at the question and completely forgetting about the herb. The Jedi Master frowned slightly and nodded his head as if he was thinking, “I normally don’t allow drinks, but I think this one is quite refreshing. However, padawans, given the alcoholic nature of the drink I’m going to say only one glass per student. We don’t want anyone getting drunk.”

Kithera nodded and smiled politely feeling T’lor do the same. The two girls watched the Jedi Master walk away, drink in hand still frowning. When he got to the class he frowned and put the glass down to dig deep into his robes and take out the precious orange globes.

“Well, padawans, ladies and gentlemen.” Master Samukay said obviously savouring the moment. “it’s time to announce the winners.”

He tossed the orange globes high into the air and straight towards Rujeno and Kells. Kit groaned at the look of delight on the Twi’lek’s face.

“We are never going to hear the end of this.” She grumbled quietly. In front of them Master Samukay raised his voice again. “And now it’s time, my students, to eat. Make sure you try as many different dishes as you can. Today, at least, there is plenty to go around that's edible for once.”

 

"Yes!"

Hands reached up and snatched the flying orange spheres out of the air.

"Hey, nice catch Solo."

"Thanks."

"We did it! We won!"

"No washing dishes! Yes!"

As their free hands smacked together in midair, Rujeno froze, then yanked his hand back as if he'd been burnt. His happy excitement disappeared and was replaced by a scowl.

"This never happened. Got that Solo? Never. Happened."

"Sure, Hisbana. Because everyone else in this room is obviously completely blind."

"Fine. It happened. But it doesn't mean we're gonna be friends now."

"Of course it doesn't."

"And next time we get paired up for sparring, you'll be the one on the floor."

"Whatever. Let's eat."

 

Eiko gave a congratulatory wave to Kells and Rujeno and started sampling all the scrumptious food. T'Lor's and Kit's made her feel all warm and bubbly inside. She even found the lizard stew to have an exotic flavor.

 

Methinks that lizard stew might be some trouble.

 

Y'all! I made a picture of Kells!

 

Love it! That’s awesome!


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Glad you like. The idea was to capture the moment when she first walked in.

 

Here's cooking class from Rujeno's POV. I hope he comes across like I wanted.

««««««««««o»»»»»»»»»»

Rujeno wasn't surprised when no one picked him to be their partner. He knew he wasn't very well liked. 'Not very well liked'? Hmph! 'Not liked at all' would be more like it. (As if he cared. The others were all jerks anyway.) Looking around, he saw that the only other person still without a partner was one of those dumb exchange students, the fat girl who apparently knew how to catch eels. Not having any other choice, he walked towards her. At least she knew how to cook. Then Master Samukay decided to pair Eel-Girl with Rinani's equally annoying friend (What was her name? Lien? Not that he cared.), which wouldn't have been so bad, except....

"Miss Solo, it would seem that Padawan Hisbana is now the only person without a partner."

Of course. Of course he was stuck with her. If it wasn't bad enough that she'd practically walked in off the street and wiped the floor with him in Lightsaber Practice of all things, the way things went, she'd probably turn out to have the same kind of non-existent cooking skills as Aleski, and they'd end up with Yoda Stew. He knew she was saying something, but he couldn't be bothered to listen. He moodily studied the collection of ingredients, trying to tune her out. Unfortunately she wasn't having it. She addressed him again in a tone which made it clear that she would not be ignored.

"Look Hisbana, here's the deal. I know you don't like me, and honestly I don't care for you very much either, but like I already said, we're stuck with each other, so let's combine our knowledge and cook something amazing, okay?"

It wasn't much of a choice. Not if he wanted to avoid last place and its consequences. (Though "cooking something amazing" sounded pretty good too. Not that he'd let her know that.) He reluctantly agreed.

As they headed over to gather the "foraged" ingredients, he asked her what she knew that was going to help them (and maybe he was kind of rude about it, but it's not like she wasn't expecting that), and received some brief information about the lizards and their habitat. (Which actually was pretty helpful) The "foraging" took only a few minutes, despite Rujeno's run-in with Rinani at the spice rack, when they both grabbed for the parsley at the same time. And of course Solo noticed that and questioned him about it.

"What? She's a jerk."

"Have you ever considered that maybe the reason people are jerks to you is because you're a jerk to them?"

(He did not like hearing that. But.... Maybe she wasn't wrong?)

"You didn't give her anything nasty, did you?"

"Just cilantro." (The only way cilantro could ever qualify as "nasty" is if somebody didn't like it. It was possible Rinani loved it. He didn't know, and he didn't care.)

After a moment of thought, Solo seemed to accept his answer (which she absolutely should have, because it was the truth!), and dropped the subject, putting them both to work in a manner so businesslike that Rujeno found himself following her orders almost without question. To his further surprise, he discovered that they actually worked quite well together, to the point that, when they won, he forgot himself a little in the excitement, and gave her a high five without thinking. Which he followed up with considerable surliness the moment he realized what he'd done. (He couldn't have her getting the wrong idea and thinking he liked her. Because he didn't!)

Nope, Rujeno couldn't really figure Solo at all. By her own admission, she didn't like him. But in her own annoying way, she seemed to be trying to help. Maybe he didn't hate her. Maybe.

 

I almost squeed aloud when I saw this, this afternoon - but I was in a staff meeting and that wouldn't have been a very good idea.

You absolutely nailed Rujeno. I loved every word of it. That was just great. Yay for building a slightly more sympathetic villain!

 

That was a super mix of I don't care and maybe the other person has a point LOL

 

Lol.

Not exactly what I was going for, but thanks.

Sort of what I was going for. A general vibe of "everybody hates me anyway, so kriff them", with some, "people clearly expect me to act like a rude jerk, so why disappoint them", and a tiny hint of, "most of my jerky behavior is a load of nerfcrap".

 

Can y'all guess who this is, or do I have to tell you?

 

That's a great pic @Cowgirl Jedi 1701 Love it

*

“Kit, that isn’t a cup, that’s a mug.” T’lor said raising one eyebrow as Kit set a dozen large mugs down on the counter.

“He said one glass per student,” Kit said grinning in a way that didn’t make T’lor feel entirely at ease, “he didn’t say how big or small they have to be.”

“What if we run out of punch?” T’lor asked eyeing the bowl in front of them. Kithera shrugged.

“Then we make more. Eena still has a bottle of white wine. Besides it wouldn’t be fair if people missed out.”

T’lor shrugged setting aside the quite whispers of the Force that this was a bad plan. Many of Kit’s plans seemed bad on the surface but remarkably worked out one way or another. Besides, T’lor mused, she too had been the instigator of lots of plans that ended up being rather fun.

Kithera grinned at her and proffered the first mug to fill up as Kirsten came up to the table. T’lor grinned back and filled the mugs to the brim.

“I’m not sure you’ll have enough,” Kirsten said as she reached the table.

“Don’t worry,” Kithera said taking a sip of the drink, “I’m going to go get Eena’s bottle of wine now.”

“Don’t forget the special ingredient,” T’lor said filling the rest of the mugs on the tray.

“On it,” Kithera called back as she danced away from the table towards where Eena stood, unsure of herself. The two mugs she held in her hands sloshed merrily. “I might even get extra.”


*


Kithera couldn’t stop giggling. There was nothing funny about the situation really. Their stew bowl was empty and the punch bowl even emptier. Master Samukay still hadn’t come back from wherever he’d gone off too. There was a buzz in the room as people talked animatedly. Cups had been handed out and sampled, sometimes a couple of times. Kithera had taken over serving punch which had meant that she’d remade the mix at least three times.

Was it three? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was the people seemed far more relaxed then they had been since the start of this whole exchange thing. Even Rujeno was chatting to Kirsten in a rather animated fasion.

Kirsh came up, grinning at her.

“Do you have any more?” He asked. Kithera shook her head and tipped her cup upside down.

“You drank it all,” she accused, scrunching her nose up in what she hoped was a cheeky smile. Her face was warm and the tips of her fingers tingled. The music of the Force was dulled and distant, leaving her almost in peace and quiet for once. It was the feeling that she normally for when-

She cut the thought off. The drink didn’t have enough alcohol to get an Ewok drunk, let alone a Jedi.

“Think you should have won,” Kirsh said and grinned again. Kithera shook her head.

“Nah, Rujeno and Kel’s food was much better,” she admitted. She didn’t really want to admit to it at all. Rujeno irked her and although she was happy for Kels, she didn’t want the Twi’lek to get anymore big headed then he already was. The thing was, their food had been good. Really, really good.

“If we’d had a drinks category we could have won that,” Kit admitted after a moment.

“Are you sure you don’t have anymore?” Kirsh asked with that same stupidly sweet grin on his face. Kithera smiled and glanced down to where she’d stashed one last bit of their ‘secret weapon.”

“I could be convinced to do one more bowl,” she said with a grin.

 

Eiko felt a warm, soft buzz. The drink was delicious, it had a sweet tang to it. Eiko was still on her first drink. She liked having something to eat with her beverages. Kirsh had wandered off and was talking to Kithera.

Eiko noticed everyone in a relaxed mood and that the instructor had left.

Guess class is over, she thought, and headed towards the door.

 

This is getting interesting.

And I'll assume that since no one is asking, y'all know who my art is supposed to be. But for the benefit of any readers who are just lurking around, I'll say anyway. It's Rujeno.

 

Definitely knew it was Rujeno - it’s cool


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"Did you sense that?"
"Sure, they have had something and that's getting them funny," Kaagi Adin nodded to his friend Aaqu Maerhin. "Eiko should know better."
"And I am sure Windu and Jinn are involved," Aaqu Maerhin grinned. "Mace likes anything purple."

 

Yay @earlybird-obi-wan - thanks for joining us. I'm so going to have to get back ot this at some stage, I think Eena needs some more stories!

 

Just re-read this from the beginning, and my brain is playing with some ideas what could come next.

 

That would be absolutely amazing. I keep feeling so guilty for not doing anything with this for such a long time.

 

Don't feel too bad. Life happens.