| ***** There came a whistle from the other end of the line. "Hey, Kenobi!" Abran laughed. "Looks like your partner’s done this before!" "Nope," Jemmy said through tightly locked teeth, pulling the white fabric slowly upwards, "I can honestly say I’ve NEVER pulled a pair of these up before." She winked at Abran, who winked right back at her. "Who’s winning?" Biwo asked Fin-Tial, who was standing next to him in the line. "Who cares?" The lecherous voice shot back happily, "I’m just enjoying the moment!" Biwo looked down at the somewhat flustered Vernice Ashdal. He didn’t think she was doing very well, but perhaps that was for the best. The state she was in it would be advisable to keep her away from that barrel of ale… He glanced over at Garos. That Wookie was certainly being very thorough! The lad was trying his best to endure all the little appreciative grunts and growls that came from the giant being but it was proving very difficult. It wasn’t helped by the ribald comments that were flying back and forth. "Hey, Garos." Jemmiah briefly released her hold on Obi-Wan’s boxers, "She says you’ve got really nice legs. She wants to know what else you’ve got hidden away!" Hmiol went red, but not through embarrassment. Jemmiah was not endearing herself to him this evening. When Obi-Wan threw his head back and laughed like a braying Nargot, Garos made a mental note to include Jemmy’s boyfriend to the ever-extended hit list he was mentally keeping note of. "How are we doing?" Mace shouted to Kylenn, who was busy filming the whole event. "Huh?" She frowned. "Oh, don’t bother her. She can’t even see straight." Gethin Territ smiled. He turned to An-Paj, who was on his right. "Something to tell the patients about when we get back, huh?" "You can say that again, Healer Territ." An-Paj noted the dreamy expression on Ambianca’s face and muttered, "I think you’ve got problems of your own, anyhow." "Pardon?" The handsome young man frowned at An-Paj. "Nothing." Leona was faring somewhat better. She obviously wasn’t distracted by his charm and good looks. He didn’t know whether he should be glad or not. He may not be Mr. Smooth, as Gethin was jokingly referred to by the other healers on account of his babyish, youthful features but then again, Healer Territ didn’t have six wives. He, on the other hand, did. Again he didn’t know whether he should be glad or otherwise… "Quick, Jemmy. Leona’s doing VERY well." Obi-Wan tried to encourage her. "I’m going as fast as I can!" Jemmy inched up to his thigh. Obi-Wan looked up in the air and whistled nonchalantly. "Stop that!" Jemmy laughed. "It’s distracting!" "It’s doing much the same for me!" Kenobi grinned. "Whilst you’re down there, I don’t suppose…" "NO!" She nipped him deliberately on the leg. "Whatever it was, I don’t want to hear it!" "We do!" Jodi Mullicar and Zac V’Aladee said together. Junine hadn’t really got the hang of this game. Jodi’s boxers were still hovering unceremoniously round his ankles. Meri, on the other hand, was doing extremely well. She was just about level with Jemmiah. "What if there’s a tie?" Kylenn asked woozily. "Huh?" Mace frowned. He was still being expertly tickled by Lilith Demodae. "A tie." She repeated. "There’s about four or five of you who are level." Dimallie called out to Leona. "Come on, Master. Get stuck in!" An-Paj’s eyes widened ever so slightly. "I don’t know how to tell you this, Leona." He deadpanned. "But I think your Padawan’s been drinking." "Really?" Leona asked, hauling the boxers up and moving behind him for a better grip. "I’d never have guessed." "Have you ever played anything like this before?" Jodi asked Zac. "Only in my dreams." Zac smiled at Jemmiah. "It takes a Corellian to think of a game like this." Dex grinned hugely. He stared down at Krelo. "You alright down there?" She raised an eyebrow. "Will you stop wriggling about!" Sybelle scolded Griff. "It’s not my fault!" He replied. "I’m not the one who made me stand with both feet through one leg." "Typical man. Always quick to blame other people. You never mentioned it before!" "If you gave you mouth a chance to do what it’s supposed to be doing instead of bleating away we might be doing better than… OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Sybelle continued slowly upwards. "Did you say something?" Griff shook his head, tears in his eyes. "I thought not." She said. Obi-Wan was nearly helpless with laughter by this point and Jemmiah wasn’t much better. Krelo was beginning to edge ahead, but he didn’t care. He’d almost forgotten that business with Kryztan earlier… He looked down and saw Jemmiah’s rather Sithly looking grin. He was Soooo pleased his master wasn’t here to see this! ***** I’m gonna win! I’m gonna win! Jemmiah chanted in her head as she started to catch Krelo bit by bit. Broken hands or not, it was clear that Obi-Wan was enjoying himself. She could tell by that gleam in his eyes. "Just where a woman should be." He joked as he looked raptly down at his girlfriend. "On her knees on the floor." Jemmiah’s mouth dropped open. "You wait until you are fully healed. I’m going to pin you down and thrash you to within an inch of your life!" "Woooohoooo!" Abran crowed. "I didn’t know you were into kinky stuff, Jemmy?" "Just keep your mind on your underpants." Jemmiah growled as she continued to pull up Obi-Wan’s boxers. "That’s where it always is." Letina said between mouthfuls of fabric. Garos was getting more and more nervous as the Wookie began to rapidly work her way upwards. He didn’t particularly appreciate the snuffling and the warm breath around his thighs… "Will you cut that out!" Mace was bent double with the inadvertent tickling spree he was being treated to. "You’ve got me at a disadvantage here." "Uh-huh." Lilith nodded, letting go of the boxers a moment or two. "I always find that a man with his underpants round his ankles is at his weakest." She looked across at Jemmiah and Krelo and Leona, realizing it was between those three. Oh, well. It wouldn’t do any harm to have some fun… "Are the tears running down your legs yet Mace?" Lilith grinned. "Eh?" Windu half-chuckled. "They soon will be!" She reached out with her hands and started to tickle the back of his legs behind the knee. "Tickle-ickle-ickle-ickle" "Stop!" shrieked Windu. "That’s not fair! I…I can’t stand that!" "Awwww. Poor baby! Tickle-ickle-ickle" Mace made a sound from his throat that came out something like: "Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Lilith continued with the close range torture, aware that the game had all but stopped as everyone turned to watch the extraordinary display. "Is it just Mace or are all males really tickley?" asked Krelo. "Must be a Jedi thing." Jemmy grinned. "Is that so?" Meri smirked back. All the women looked at each other. Then they lunged at their respective partners. "Nooooooooooooooooo!" Screamed Obi-Wan, unable to defend himself as Jemmiah assaulted him with her deft fingers. "That’s not remotely sporting!" "Ok." She laughed, as she saw a hysterical Mace Windu complete with headband and boxers back round his ankles falling over onto the floor like a felled tree. "I’ll give you ‘till the count of three. Then I’m gonna get you!" Obi-Wan moved back a pace. "THREE!" Screamed Jemmy as she lunged at Kenobi, nearly knocking him over. "Leona, STOP!" An-Paj swiped at the tears of laughter that were rolling down his face. "Krelo, DON’T stop!" returned Dex Berlingside who looked like the vrelt that stole the cream as Krelo attacked him. "Someonegetthisdamnwookieoffme!" came a muffled scream from Hmiol. "I am still going to win!" Jemmiah insisted as she realized that Meri was still intent on the game. "Where are those boxers, Ben!" "Oh, Siiiithspit!" Obi-Wan gulped as Jemmy made a lunge with her teeth. "Would you be a little more careful? That’s something I really don’t want An-Paj to have to freeze and put in a sling!" Simeon and Qui-Gon walked slowly back into the bar, laden with parcels of take-out. The sight that met their eyes almost caused them to drop the food packages. "Oooooh, look." A drunken Simeon nodded at the twisted, writhing bodies on the floor. "It’s an orgy! Can I play too, guys?" Qui-Gon walked soundlessly over towards his padawan, who was on his back with a rather hyperactive looking Jemmiah bent over his waistband. As Obi-Wan saw who it was his eyes opened in utter horror. "This is my idea of a party game!" Jemmy said as she pulled the boxers with her teeth. "Jemmy…" Warned Obi-Wan. Jemmiah looked at her boyfriend, and then behind her at the menacing looking Qui-Gon Jinn. "So, I won’t regret this, will I Rela?" Qui-Gon mumbled to himself. "H-Hello…Master!" squeaked Obi-Wan. "What can we do for you, Master Jinn?" Jemmiah asked politely. "What can you do for me? Hmmmm? Well, let me see?" Jinn paced up and down a little. "You could start by telling me why everybody is rolling on the floor. You can tell me why you are attacking my padawan with your teeth. You can tell me why everyone appears to have large, unfashionable underpants round their ankles." He broke off as another question formed in his mind. "But most of all, I want you to tell me just what the heck Hmiol thinks he’s doing with that Wookie!" With Qui-Gon's arrival, the game wrapped up quickly. Far cast an amused glance at his padawan, who was still trying to extricate himself from the Wookie known as Flint. Biwo stopped to scratch his arm. That's funny, he thought, I don't remember these robes being this itchy when I put them on. Far hoped his allergies weren't acting up again. After the last time... Oh well. Maybe it was the drink. Far turned and poured the remainder of his Riptide into the two glasses beside him. "GET OFF ME!!!!!!" Hmiol yelled again and again. If he never saw another Wookie as long as he lived... "GET OFF ME!! NOW! GET OFF ME DAMMIT, OR I'LL SHAVE YOU BALD!" The Wookie woman let out an enthusiastic and highly suggestive growl, and Garos decided he should have chosen his threat more carefully. Between balls of fur, Hmiol caught a glimpse of Jemmiah and Obi-wan being grilled by Master Jinn. At least there was some justice in the universe. ***** Jemmiah was unrepentant regarding the antics of the previous game but decided not to push her luck. "I know it looked bad," she replied to Qui-Gon in a level tone of voice as, "but it was just a bit of harmless fun." "Things have a nasty habit of starting out as harmless fun and then escalating into something much more undesirable. Kindly control yourself in future." He retorted. "But everyone enjoyed it. Look." She pointed over at the still helpless and laughing collection of beings that were slowly picking themselves up. Her gaze landed on Hmiol. "Well, nearly everybody. You would have enjoyed it too." "I doubt that." "I had you lined up with Depa Billaba." Jemmy let her words hang in the air before moving away from him. Qui-Gon looked at Depa Billaba. She didn’t seem overjoyed at having to suffer being partnered with Fin-Tial. And he had missed out on his chance… Damn. "Does nobody want to eat anything?" He said irritably. A huge swarm of Jedi descended upon him and physically wrestled all the food parcels off of him, like locusts or ants or… Termites! "Padawan!" Jinn scolded as he saw Obi-Wan lift two packages with the force at once. "They’re not both for me," Kenobi insisted indignantly, "One of them is for Rela. You know what she’s like. She forgets to eat." "No, she’s too busy to eat." Qui-Gon mimicked as he remembered her words. "In which case she’s hardly likely to want to…" he trailed off as he saw his padawan make off into the distance with his ill-gotten gains. He sighed. There was one packet of Takkini chips left. Before he could do anything about commandeering them for himself a large hairy Wookie paw swiped them from his grasp. Oh, just great! The others began to file out towards the Wandering Star, stuffing their faces as they went. That’s all the gratitude I get, thought Qui-Gon grumpily. I’d have been better off listening to Yoda’s singing… no, hang on. Nothing’s as bad as all that. He felt a small tug at his tunic. "What now?" He asked wearily as Jemmiah returned to his shoulder. She held out her packet. "Share with you." She grinned. "Why?" He asked suspiciously. "Because I feel guilty at having shaved your beard off. Because I’m sorry for having spat Papyri Juice all over your face. Because I seemed to have embarrassed you just a few moments ago. Because I escaped from the infirmary against your express wishes." She grinned her special grin. The one she reserved for buttering up Qui-Gon when she knew she was in trouble. "Take your pick." "Ah, yes. The infirmary. I haven’t forgotten that." He said with more than a faint hint of retribution. "You are in major trouble on that score." "Oh well. The condemned had better eat a hearty meal in that case." She leaned towards him. "If I share these with you, can you let me off the beard thing?" "It’ll take more than a bag of Takkini chips to fix that." "It’ll grow back." Argued Jemmy, "But if you don’t want ‘em then I’ll take them away…" "Wait." Qui-Gon closed his eyes. "Very well. It's a deal. I won’t mention your mutilation of my face again." "Good. I won’t mention your kissing me again, either." She watched him flush slightly in discomfort. "Have a chip." He reached into the bag before she could change her mind and unceremoniously tipped back his head and threw a good handful of chips into his mouth. "That’s not very Jedi-like." Jemmiah regarded him with an amused expression. "A Jedi has to eat. Just ask my padawan." "Yes, well that explains why there are so few Gamorrean Jedi around. You wouldn’t have wanted one of those as a padawan, would you?" "I thought I had." Jinn stole another handful of chips before she could complain and started to walk towards the door. "Now I see where Ben gets it from." Jemmiah said under her breath, following him out. "You just wait until the story telling takes place at the next cantina. Then you’ll be for it. I could tell a few pretty stories about how you put those laxatives in Ben’s tea when…" "If you do, don’t think for a moment that I couldn’t say some extremely embarrassing things about you. I know you put Corellian Brandy in the initiates Jelly at the party earlier this year." "They had the time of their lives." Jemmiah smiled. "Who needs the force when you’ve got a double measure of whisky in your hands?" "I’m sure you weren’t brought up to act like this." Qui-Gon hastened along the road to catch up with Simeon and his padawan. Further down the road he saw Rela and Spider armed with their carryout. "It must be some hideously malformed Corellian gene that’s cropped up in the last few years. What happened to the sweet little girl I used to know?" "I ate her." Jemmiah grinned. "That I can believe." Qui-Gon muttered. "Where’s the next Cantina?" Jemmiah frowned, straining her head to look round the weaving and unsteady figure of Jay Abran. "Just follow the trail of vomit and you can’t go wrong." Jinn shook his head as he saw Rela run to catch up with him. "Hi, babyface. We meet again!" She beamed. "Give us a chip, Jemmy!" "Obi-Wan’s got you a packet." "Well, I’m not likely to see them, am I?" Rela pounced on the chips. She looked at the packet. "I like the ones shaped like worms." "Mmmm!" Jemmy agreed. "Really crunchy." "Don’t you think they look like worms, Qui-Gon?" Rela asked. "I’ve never really considered it." "Hey, guys. This one’s shaped like…" Jemmy snatched the bag away and gathered Spider and Rela around her. There came a gale of somewhat dirty laughter from the little huddle. Qui-Gon rolled his eyes and kept walking. Sweet little girls, indeed! ***** Lilith and Krelo were in such a fine mood that both of them goosed Griff on their way past him and Sybelle towards the door. Griff's startled yips and Sybelle's high-pitched shrieks of outrage followed them out into the streets. After that they goosed about any male Jedi they passed on the way to the next bar. And, happily, several of the men were sloshed enough to goose them right back. They were whispering loudly to each other and giggling as they swaggered with almost identical strides up the street. Not too far ahead, Lilith spotted Qui-Gon and company and hurriedly whispered in Krelo's ear. After a moment Krelo grinned enthusiastically and the two women jogged forward to catch up with the group ahead. "Master Jinn?" Krelo called. "Yes?" Krelo grinned like a cat spying a clip-winged bird out of its cage. "Lilith and I were having a small . . . 'discussion' and I was wondering if you would help me clear up a small point in her argument?" Meanwhile, Lilith strode up beside Jemmiah and draped a companionable arm across the girl's shoulders and began to casually steer her out of Qui-Gon's hearing range. "Of course, Knight Rei'ch," Qui-Gon responded, pausing to face the redhead. "What exactly was the nature of your discussion?" Krelo threw her arms around Qui-Gon's neck and locked lips with him. The Jedi Master gave a startled grunt, but responded inspite of himself. With the diversion well underway, Lilith tipped her head over near Jemmiah's ear and spoke softly. "Seeing as how no one actually won that last contest, what exactly were you planning on doing with that big cask? Because I think between us," Lilith's green eyes danced with wicked mischief, "we could find a suitable use to put it to." The smuggler's gaze led her fellow Corellian's eyes back to where Krelo was just releasing an astonished and slightly scandalized looking Qui-Gon and she chuckled low in her throat. Then she slipped away from Jemmiah's side, and approached Krelo. "Well?" "You were right." Krelo grinned impishly. "He -is- a better kisser than Mace." "Told ya so," Lilith crowed, and then the two women were striding away again, but not without both goosing Master Jinn before they left. ***** The Wandering Star had been gutted and renovated fairly recently, and had that brand new, shiny appearance that Jemmiah just couldn’t stand. It seemed to targeting a fairly cliquish clientele; thirty something, well off wine drinkers who were just trying to look as if they had something important to discuss as they chattered inanely into their comlinks to business people they were never likely to meet face to face. Jemmiah sighed. Give her the good old, down market grimy but honest filth of the Hell’s Chance any day. The atmosphere seemed as mind numbingly dull as the people that lined the plasti-chrome booths. No chance of any fights or entertainment here, she observed sadly. Mind you, it would be interesting to see what would happen if some of the more undesirable punters decided to make an appearance. For the moment, there was the small matter of ordering drinks and the ‘Dish-the-Dirt’ game to begin… "Who is going first?" Jay Abran asked. "You are." Grinned Kenobi, trying to ignore the discomfort of his two broken hands. "Seeing as how you brought the topic up." Abran looked surprised. "Really? Anybody here?" "Yes." Qui-Gon smiled. "But do remember that if the revelations are too drastic then there’s a fair chance that retaliation of a similar nature will take place." Hmmm, Abran wondered. That might make things tricky. He was fairly certain that virtually everyone here could drop him in it for something he’d done. And some things he’d forgotten. "Ok." He said eventually. "I’m going to recall to your minds the little matter of a holiday trip to Florizan about a half a year ago." There was an uncomfortable glance round the table between the masters and padawans involved on that trip. The former group had contrived to keep the incident that Jay was referring to a secret from the other masters because the whole thing was embarrassing. The latter had done their best to cover up their own little ventures away from their study schedules, because the masters would kill them… "You might remember that there was an incident involving missing items of clothing." He laughed as Mace slunk down in his chair, fingering his makeshift headscarf in annoyance. "Who?" Vernice shouted. "Well, lets just say that after a short but harmless stint at skinny dipping, certain masters seated around this very table," Jay circled with his finger for effect, "were forced to tread the water for hours because when they got back to the shore, their clothing had mysteriously vanished. They had to cover up their modesty with a clump of seaweed." "Qui-Gon? Was this you?" Sal-Fina laughed drunkenly. "You never did have much in the way of inhibitions, did you?" "Not just me," Jinn insisted irritably, "Mace and Dex were there too…" "Oh, thank you!" Mace said crossly. "Just tell everyone, why don’t you?" "I wasn’t the one with the drooping seaweed." Qui-Gon smirked. Mace fumed as the others laughed at him. "My revelation regards the mystery of the missing clothes." Jay snickered. "And?" Windu hissed, eyes promising death to whoever had caused him to lose face infront of the other padawans. "Why don’t you ask Jemmiah what happened to your robes?" Abran cockily leaned backwards on his chair and folded his arms in triumph. "YOU LITTLE SITHCAT!" Mace complained as Jemmy shrugged and looked at the table. "I didn’t know they were your clothes." She mumbled. "They weren’t s’posed to be." "Whose did you think they belonged to?" Dex asked. Jemmiah answered with a sideward glance at her boyfriend and Simeon Cates. "They told me they were going skinny dipping. What was I supposed to think when I saw those clothes? Who ever heard of Jedi masters going bathing in the nude? It was just too good an opportunity to miss." "What about the lessons we set you?" Qui-Gon stared into her eyes. "If you’d had to do four solid hours worth of studying galactic poetry you would have been begging for something exciting to happen to you." She hit back at him. "And what did you do with our clothes?" Mace asked menacingly. Jemmiah gulped. "I was going to bury them in the sand, but by chance I happened upon a man who asked if he could have them. He said he could really do with them, so I said yeah, sure. Better than see them go to waste." "You gave them to a down-and-out?" Jinn almost felt proud that she’d at least shown some compassion for someone less well off than herself. "Well, done Jemmiah." "Erm, not exactly." She swallowed again. " He was taking his family for a day out to the beach. He was a farmer. Er…he said he wanted them for the birdscare in his fields…" Qui-Gon and Dexy exchanged rueful looks. Mace was still fuming. "Do you mean to tell me that somewhere in the fields of Florizan there is a scarecrow standing dressed in MY clothes and MY boots!" He yelled. "No." Jemmy added quickly. "He didn’t want your boots. He said they smelled like a Dinko had died in the toes and didn’t want his crops to wither." Qui-Gon and Dexy by now were shaking with merriment. "Oh, shut up!" Windu groused. "Whose turn is it next?" Jemmiah felt nothing but relief when she saw that she had been forgiven for the "bathing" incident on Florizan. Well, at least by Qui-Gon and Dex. Mace might take some buttering up. Her thoughts snapped back to the present just in time to hear a somewhat unstable Sal-Fina crowing to her padawan. "What do you expect, dear? She’s a street rat. It’s no wonder she steals people’s clothes and gives them to strangers. That’s what comes of being trash." Ambianca nodded in agreement. Jemmiah suddenly saw a blanket of red mist fall upon her. She’d give that ghastly woman something to speak about! Trash, was she? "If I’m trash, what does that make your airhead of a padawan?" Jemmy asked bitterly, watching as Ambianca’s mouth dropped at the insult. "I am NOT an airhead!" Hissed Ambianca. "Yes you are." "I’m NOT!!!" The girl turned to the nearest person to defend her. "Meri. Am I an airhead?" Pause. "Yes, I’m afraid so." Meri nodded. Ambianca could be heard gritting her teeth. "I’ll have you know that I was the head of my year! I was the cream, and as we all know," she said smugly, "Cream always rises to the top." "So does pond scum." Jemmiah retorted. "Doesn’t necessarily make you socially desirable." Outrage flickered on the blond girl’s face. "Did you hear what she said?" She yelled. "Of course they did. They’re not the stupid ones." Jemmy put in, ignoring Qui-Gon’s heated look. "When you were born, they must have got your brain mixed up with somebody else’s. Just think," she snickered, "somewhere out there there’s a really intelligent Bantha…" "You Corellian strumpet!" Ambianca growled. "I’d rather be a Corellian strumpet than an airhead." Jemmiah smiled in victory. "You’d better be careful you don’t get vacuumed up with all the other bits of fluff…" "See what I mean? She’s got all the breeding of a Womp rat!" Sal-Fina said arrogantly. "Don’t speak to her like that!" Obi-Wan came to Jemmiah’s aid. "Don’t be impertinent, padawan." Qui-Gon warned. "Oh, come on. She belongs in the gutters where you found her." Sal-Fina grimaced. "How dare you say that!" Qui-Gon snapped, changing his tune instantly. "Well, it’s true." Sal-Fina replied. "At least she hasn’t made any blue movies." Jinn challenged. yes flashed. "I could tell you a few stories about your precious Corellian pet over there that would make you see her in a completely new light." Jemmiah had had enough. "At least I don’t go locking people in cupboards for over a day without food or drink!" She spat. Qui-Gon turned to her. "What was that?" He asked. "Sal-Fina. When I had that miserable spell living with her, she locked me in a cupboard whilst she was busy "entertaining" somebody. Then she promptly forgot I was there. Ambianca knew I was in there as well but she didn’t bother to remind her. They both went out that night to some holofilm and then on to a restaurant. By the time they staggered in next morning I had nearly suffocated!" Sal-Fina’s eyes promised Jemmiah a long and painful death. "I think the council might want to hear about that one." Qui-Gon said eventually. "Don’t be silly. It wasn’t important. It was over four years ago." Sal-Fina dismissed him. "Is that right? Well, perhaps everyone here would be interested in something else that was unimportant and happened over thirty years ago." Qui-Gon stared at Sal-Fina, who squirmed a little under his gaze. "I would just like to tell everyone that the unidentified person who streaked infront of thousands at the Coruscant Bolo Ball final was…" He pointed at Sal-Fina. "You swore you’d never say!" Sal-Fina was livid. "Guess what. I fibbed." Jinn smirked. Sal-Fina spluttered in fury, Ambianca looked astonished, Jemmiah looked vindicated. And Qui-Gon…was very happy indeed. "Your turn An-Paj." Qui-Gon nominated the master healer. "I’m sure you must have lots and lots of tales to tell." "Oh, yes indeed." The blue-skinned healer nodded in response to Qui-Gon. "And I’m afraid it might spell a little embarrassment for one of our number." He rubbed his hands together. "Isn’t that right, Garos?" ***** Krelo Grinned at the thought of Mace, Qui-Gon, and Dex running back to the temple housing with only reeds covering them and gave Dex's rear a wicked pinch. The only thing that saved him from further harassment was Sal-Fin's vicious remark to Jemmy. "Hey Sal, care for another Shrunken Head? I'm sure I can teach this bartender how to make them too." Her voice lost its merry jingle and took on an undertone of metal. "I wonder if you'll be this witty when you're kissing the tile . . . again." An-Paj turned conversationally toward Master Biwo. "Far, do you happen to remember that allergenic test I gave you during the whole Hospital Watch fiasco?" "Yes..." Far replied, uncertain. "As I remember, one of the results caused you great distress." "The Juenyi..." Biwo said, not knowing what the Healer was getting at, and what it had to with Garos. "Well, as it turned out, the test was not only faulty, it was tampered with," An-Paj turned his gaze back toward Hmiol, "by your padawan." "What? Why?" Far's head snapped toward Garos. "I was hoping..." his voice trailed off. "Hoping?" "I was hoping that it would convince you to stop making Biwo Stew." He said, recalling the whole incident. He had tampered with the report in order to make it appear his master was allergic to Juenyi, one of the key ingredients of Biwo Stew. But the plan had backfired on him when Far merely found an even more foul-tasting replacement for it. "Why didn't you tell me before?" Far asked, turning back toward the healer. "I sympathized with him. Plus I hoped it would keep him from needing that bi-weekly supply of stomach pills." "Excuse me?" "Oh, that's been taken care of." Hmiol said, trying to change the subject. "I've already expressed my feelings toward that particular dish to my master." Quickly, Garos scanned the room. If he could pick his victim quickly enough, he might be able to shift the conversation away from himself. There were so many to choose from. Everybody had secrets, things that happened when they thought nobody was looking. But even the walls had ears, and in the Temple, those ears belonged to Garos Hmiol. He briefly considered trying Kenobi, but, no, he had already made his arrangements for revenge against him and his Wookie Wrangler. Instead, he chose item number one on the nights revenge list. "Anyway, let's move on." He said, casting a "We'll talk about this later" glance at his master. "Permit me to recount to you an amusing and of course, incriminating tale, starring Simeon Cates." |
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| A Night to (Almost) Remember |
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