| ***** "See, I told you they wouldn’t notice." Rela said to Spider. "Well, they were concentrating on the food." "Yeah, you know the old saying. Where there’s food..." Rela giggled. "Someone’s bound to notice." Spider insisted. "Nope, pay up!" Rela laughed. "Here maybe this will help. Attach it to your bellybutton." Spider told Rela as she handed the redhead a small loop. Rela attached the hoop to her now bare bellybutton. Thanks to Simeon’s little accident from earlier, Rela had to change shirts. The one she had been wearing, in Rela’s opinion, was ruined. She ended up having to wear the thin strapped tank top that she wore at work when it got busy. The only problem was it left her midriff bare. Spider had commented on it when she had caught Rela in the ‘fresher washing her hair in the sink. "You are going to wear that?" she had asked surprised. "Yes. Why? Nobody will notice." Rela responded nonchalantly as she moved to the hand dryer to dry her hair. "Would you like to make a friendly wager on that?" "Well if I were a betting girl..." Rela started. "You are!" Spider laughed. "Oh, that’s right. Then yeah! Usual wager?" "Usual wager. What are you doing?" Spider finally asked. "Let’s just say that Simeon got more than my sleeve." "EW!" "Tell me about it." Rela said dryly. Sal-Fina’s insult towards Jemmiah snapped Rela back to the present. Rela just laughed to herself as she listened to the tall Jedi witch try and out insult the Corellian girl. She was somewhat surprised when Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon jumped in, but Rela realized that Qui-Gon has probably wanted to use the blue movie against her for years. Then Jemmiah took Sal-Fina down. "At least I don’t go locking people in cupboards for over a day without food or drink!" Rela visibly paled. Spider looked at her friend. "Hey, Rela are you okay?" she asked slightly concerned. "Yeah." Rela answered trying to disguise the shakiness in her voice. "I just need some fresh air." She quickly walked outside was soon assaulted by the cool night air. Thankful for being alone, Rela leaned back on the wall, hugged herself, and closed her eyes. It didn’t happen to you. Breathe. No one knows about it except Obi-Wan and maybe Qui-Gon. They won’t tell unless it's an emergency. Just breathe… ***** Jemmiah saw Rela leave suddenly and wondered if she shouldn’t go after her. Perhaps, she thought, after she'd heard Hmiol’s revelation regarding Simeon. "I’m going to tell you a little story involving a lump of modeling clay, some wax…" Hmiol broke off with satisfaction written on his face, "and not inconsiderable pain. You see, two years ago the gentleman directly opposite me," he stared at Simeon who was still feeling the effects of too much alcohol, "and a number of his friends, who for the sake of saving further embarrassment I shall refrain from naming, decided to take a cast of their…er…downstairs bits and pieces and make candles from the mould." "You are joking!" Qui-Gon laughed. "This wouldn't happen to be my modeling clay by chance?" Jemmiah scolded. "I want to know where the pain comes into it." "I’m glad you asked that." Garos smiled lazily. "You see, Cates made the critical mistake of not using any, er, lubricant. When he tried to remove the clay he found it had set fast onto his…" "How did you know that!" Simeon exclaimed, holding his head with the pain of shouting. "Which of you low life guys told this mollusk what happened." "Walls have ears Cates." Hmiol shrugged. "I’m sure An-Paj had a laugh though. Having to remove all that clay from the…" "Ok, Ok." Simeon had turned red with disgusted rage as he saw An-Paj chuckle at the memory. He made a mental note to extract an excruciating revenge against Hmiol. And he knew just how to do it… "I hope you threw the clay away after you finished with it." Jemmy muttered. There was a long, extended silence. "I think it was put back with the rest after a few days." Hmiol smiled as Jemmiah’s expression turned to revulsion. "No wonder my model of the Jedi Temple was all hairy." She spat. "Oh, well. If we talking about hospital revelations," Gethin smiled whilst idly flicking his shoulder length dark hair backwards with a toss of the head, "I’m sure I can mention quite a few beauties." "Careful, Healer Territ." An-Paj grinned. "Why?" "Because I might want to tell the same stories that you do!" He grinned. "But remember. No victims names." "What about the perpetrators?" Jinn asked. "Oh, that’s a different matter altogether." Smiled An-Paj. "For example, I know that one of the Masters sitting at the table here came to see me at the infirmary because they had been suffering from extremely "green" water, which not surprisingly caused a little concern." There was a groan from all the others. "And?" prompted Mace. "The culprit, as I soon discovered, was…let’s for the sake of this story call her Miss J…responsible for dosing the anonymous master’s morning cup of Caf with several spoons of a brand of indigestion remedy. Harmless in itself. No taste. No effects." "Just the green water?" Meri laughed. There was a hiss of air as Sal-Fina breathed in deeply. "YOU LITTLE TOAD!" She yelled at Jemmiah. "Oh, c’mon. It was funny!" Jemmy replied. "It was very distressing!" "Everyone else is laughing." Jemmy pointed to Qui-Gon who had buried his head in his arms and was shaking like a building in an earth tremor. "I thought I’d caught something…" she let her voice fade as she realized she’d said too much. "So, this mystery patient wouldn’t happen to have been you, would it?" Krelo grinned. Gethin smiled. "I can top that. There was another case of a padawan who believed she’d picked up some kind of internal, gut dwelling parasite. The culprit was, funnily enough, a Miss J, who had dosed the aforementioned padawan’s morning meal with a novelty joke powder available in certain children’s party trick kits. This made the padawan believe that she had a severe case of worms…" "Now THAT was funny!" Jemmiah rubbed her hands as Ambianca glanced round looking for something to throw at Jemmiah. "How dare you inflict all that suffering on my padawan and myself." Sal-Fina snapped. "Well, when you are locked in a cupboard for a day you have a lot of time on your hands to plan what you’re going to do when you get out." Jemmy said pointedly. She glanced at the quaking frames of Qui-Gon and Mace. "Look, I apologize." Jemmiah said. "I promise I didn’t mean to use those substances." "Really." Sal-Fina snapped. "Yes." Jemmiah stood up, craning her head in the direction that Rela had disappeared. "It’s just that I’d run out of poison, so I had to improvise." As Lilith tipped her head back and howled with laughter, Jemmiah paused by Qui-Gon’s side, clasping a hand to his shoulder. "Somebody get this man a drink. I think he’s bust a gut laughing." "I’m going to have my say, if you don’t mind!" Jodi Mullicar grinned; his slightly freckled features crinkling with a diamond cut smile. "Nobody will top this one, I guarantee!" "Oh, I think nothing will top the last ones." Qui-Gon sighed, enjoying Sal-Fina’s discomfort. "This one involves Jay Abran, and a rather naughty trick he played on some friends just barely a week ago." Obi-Wan looked ashen. "Jodi, no…not if it’s the one involving…" "Yup!" Jodi ran his fingers through his sandy hair. "You see, Jay decided to play a little prank on Obi and Jemmy whilst we were having a bit of a merry time at the Hell’s Chance several days back." Jodi waited until he had everyone’s attention. Everyone except Obi-Wan, who was hiding his face in his hands. "It can’t be all that bad, padawan." Qui-Gon chuckled. "It is, it is!" Moaned Kenobi. Jay Abran squirmed in his seat. He was squashed between Tanni Welasa and Lilith Demodae, so escape was not a likely option… "Abran had met this guy out drinking about a month ago. He was a Gurolian Priest." "Don’t see many of them on Coruscant." Berlingside observed with a hiccup. "It appeared he had been trying to spread the faith, but somewhat unsuccessfully, and was chronically in need of funds to get back to Gurolias. So Abran slipped him some money to do him a bit of a favor." Obi-Wan groaned again. "Which was?" Jinn asked suspiciously. "He had to trick your padawan and Jemmy into saying a few words in Gurolian." "And they were?" Mace asked. "Hmmm…I think it went along the lines of "I do." Or something to that effect." Jodi winked. "WHAT!?!?!?!?" Exclaimed Qui-Gon in shock. "We didn’t know what we were saying." Obi-Wan mumbled through cupped hands. "Jemmy was rather the worse for drink, and Jay told me that the priest would be offended if I didn’t take part in this blessing that he wanted to bestow on me." "Are you trying to tell me," Qui-Gon looked suddenly ill, "That you and Jemmiah are actually married?" "Umm, yes and no." Obi-Wan didn’t dare face his master. "Which?" Qui-Gon eyed Jay dangerously. "Both." Abran replied. "Gurolias is not a part of the Republic, therefor the marriage is not legal on Coruscant or any other planet within the Republic." Qui-Gon breathed a sigh of relief. "They should be fine if they stay away from Gurolias, then." Dex nudged Qui-Gon reassuringly on the arm. "Yes." Abran agreed. "Unless Gurolias ever joined the Republic. Then I think there may be a few problems…" Qui-Gon shot Obi-Wan a heated stare. "Go and tell your "Wife" I would like a word with her." He growled. ***** Unnerved by the sudden change of mood in Qui-Gon and feeling that both Obi-Wan and Jemmiah had been through enough tonight Leona decided to relate a story that would turn the tables on the stern Jedi Master. Taking a quick swig of her drink, she had lost count after the fourth cantina and was feeling pretty loose, she joined the dishers of dirt. "Well, seeing how one of the popular topics seems to be the unwitting ingestion of a foreign substance" she drawled giddily, "I have a story to tell." "This took place a number of years ago, right before one of Master Yoda's infamous Master/Padawan Sports days. A certain padawan, one who, shall I say, has made a name for more then himself in the infirmary, was brought to the healers after a particularly severe bout of what was considered food poisoning." Qui-Gon, who was in the midst of taking a swallow from his freshened drink, suddenly gasped. Choking on his drink, he proceeded to spray the liquid across the table in an uncontrolled coughing fit. "Go on Leona." Mace laughed, clapping his friend sternly on the back. "Seems that after eating a dinner prepared by his master, said padawan was seized by a rather nasty episode of urgent evacuation on both ends." Leona said in as gentle way as possible. There was a unanimous grimace from everyone around the table. "He was eventually brought to the healers and as a matter of course his stomach was pumped." Leona paused taking a sip of her drink to moisten her throat, noticing the dark expression she was receiving from Qui-Gon. Being quite inebriated and feeling unusually bold she continued. "As routine, the stomach contents were analyzed and the interesting thing here was that we found a high concentration of diexypolysynthnal. Seems this master had taken to preparing his padawan's meals with a little 'all-purpose hyper-drive cleaning grease'. Needless to say this young man's insides were thoroughly expunged." The story was met with shocked silence as all eyes turned to the large Jedi Master who was trying his best to disappear into the chair he sat on. "Oh, ho!" Dex snorted a loud laugh, breaking the silence. "You didn't Qui-Gon! We understood your apprehension of the games given your past track record, but to resort to such dastardly measures?" Qui-Gon flamed brightly, his newly shorn face adding to the effect greatly. "I would have never expected such a diabolical scheme out of you old man!" Mace laughed heartily, reaching over to swat him stiffly on the shoulder. "Really Qui-Gon" Sal-Fina sniped icily, thoroughly delighted at her ex-lover's humiliation. "I'm sure the poisoning of one's own apprentice goes against some Jedi code. I should think the Council would find it a bit extreme...even for you." The group roared at the comment, Sal-Fina and Ambianca's high-pitched titters being the loudest. Simeon turned to Dimallie in a drunken guffaw, "Kenobi's gonna go Sith when he finds this out." "When he finds out, Padawan Cates?" Qui-Gon rounded on the boy, offering his most menacing glare. "I mean 'if' he finds out sir." Simeon reissued his statement suddenly sobering. "I thought so." Qui-Gon glanced challengingly around the room only to be confronted by more uproarious laughter. ***** Krelo caught her breath and sighed, still grinning widely. She took another sip of her drink and glanced at the people congregated around the table and laughed again. "I got one for ya'll. It's a story of 'I though you wouldn't find out'." She shifted on the booth bench seat and clunked her elbows on the table. "Someone here at this table seems to consider himself a bit of a 'lady's man', having been through a long line of women in his time." Beside the tall redhead, Dex began to shift nervously and fiddle with his drink. He was trying very hard not to make eye contact with anyone. "Well, a few years ago, one of my old friends decided that she'd come and visit my master and myself while she was on vacation and passing through this system. Mayatta had barely set foot on the landing pad when she was immediately greeted by a tall, handsome man. Now, seeing as how my master and I were off planet for a few days, this charming gentleman decided to take it upon himself to," she paused to think and clear her throat, "well, entertain May for the time being." Krelo dipped her fingernail in the dark blue liquid in the short tumbler in front of her and traced lazy circles on the table top. She dipped her finger again and brought in to her lips, sucking at the faintly blue stained digit. "From what she told me, she and the young man had quite a time together." She took a quick sip on her drink. "A -very- good time. Unfortunately, her relatively tight schedule required her to cut short her stay and she had to leave before I returned. I entered my room to find a vid message from her stating that she was very sorry that she'd missed me and that she'd be back to visit in another few weeks, and to say hello to a particular young man if I chanced to see him around the temple." She leaned back and turned to a now very frightened looking Dex Berlingside. Placing both her long fingered hands on his broad chest and flopping the leg she'd had crossed over his knee, she turned the full intensity of her leaf green eyes on him. She smiled very sweetly, leaned towards him and placed the barest brush of a kiss on the tip of his nose. "Now Dexy. I'm just wondering. Was this before or after you'd decided to break up with me? Because from the welcome home you gave me," she grinned suggestively, "I'd say you were still quite taken with me." ***** "This isn’t so much dishing dirt as actual mud-slinging!" Mace said to Qui-Gon out the corner of his mouth. "Feeling nervous?" Qui-Gon asked Windu? "No." Mace laughed as he adjusted his makeshift headband. "Should I? I’m not the one who fed laxatives to his padawan to avoid a sports day!" "You mention one word more about that and I shall inform Depa Billaba of the tattoo on your rear with her name emblazoned on it!" "Damn!" Muttered the dark skinned master. Mace was feeling pretty pleased that nobody had anything on him whatsoever. Just looking about him he could see the tension on everyone’s faces. Sal-Fina was glowering at Qui-Gon. Dex was still squirming under Krelo’s close scrutiny. Vernice Ashdal seemed very edgy, as if waiting to be caught out… "I can tell you that when Mace was in the crèche, he used to pick at his ears and make the wax into little balls, which he’d try and flick into the crèche master’s tea." Dex grinned. "Who told you that?" Mace demanded. "Gilda Amaline. She used to be your biggest fan." Mace remembered. Gilda used to follow him round with big Nerf’s eyes, like a devoted cannoid. She’d share her meals with him. She’d play footsie with him under the table. And nothing had impressed her more than his uncanny ability to flick earwax into the crèche master’s tea at long distance. "That’s disgusting." Sal-Fina snorted. "For once I agree." Qui-Gon grimaced. "Oh, yeah?" Mace wasn’t happy at the way his friend had sided with his ex. "What about what you did to Yoda? Swapping over his insect repellent with liquid Caf sweetener so that he would get bitten to within an inch of his life?" "Who rubbed red hot Takkini onto their master’s underwear to avoid being taken for their medical?" Jinn shot back. "That’s nothing compared to him!" Mace jerked his head at Dex. "At least I didn’t put Sand Maggots in the refectory’s Alderaani rice pudding!" "So it was YOU!" Vernice Ashdal screamed. "I ATE SOME OF THAT!" Qui-Gon yelled at Dex. "Quirida-Xac ate all of his. He didn’t notice." Mace added. Obi-Wan stalked in with Jemmiah, who had been dragged away from her search for Rela. Annoyed, Jemmy regarded Qui-Gon with a scowl on her face. "Oh, look. It’s the newly weds!" Mace grinned to himself. "I didn’t get to go to the ceremony but the least I can do is buy the happy couple a drink." "You wanted to see me?" Jemmy frowned at Qui-Gon. "What was it about?" Qui-Gon looked at the faces regarding him round the table, anticipating his remark. "Nothing." He said shortly. "Great. He drags me away for nothing." Jemmy said dryly. Dex laughed. "What are you having to drink, Qui?" "Alderaani Black Rum." Jinn glowered. "And for the Bride and Groom?" Jemmiah’s eyes widened in shock. Obi-Wan gulped softly besides her and a bruised and battered Kryztan Harkley sat in a distant corner glaring daggers at the pair of them. "I don’t know what he wants," Jemmy hissed at Obi-Wan, "but I want a divorce!" ***** Lilith held her hands up, palms out, and made settling gestures until the unruly group, some elements being more unruly than others, quieted enough for her to be heard without raising her voice. "Now, I know that by now, there isn't anyone here who does not know exactly what it is that I have selected as my vocation of choice." She darted a glance sideways at Krelo and smirked at her friend. "And, no, it isn't drinking, Kre." There was a smattering of tipsy laughter around the gathering, but most waited politely, if drunkenly, for the smuggler to continue. Most had absolutely no clue who she could possibly dish dirt on other than Griff or Krelo, but neither of them looked the least bit worried as she spoke. "As such, I have handled some very, shall we say, 'delicate' cargoes for some rather influential people who would prefer it if as few people as possible knew about these transactions." "You mean they'd be kicked out of office, or plain off the planet if people found out you were smuggling in illegal substances," a very drunk, and tactless Simeon slurred happily. Lilith nodded in concession to his blunt phrasing. "Likely so," she confirmed, her eyes twinkling. "And keeping that in mind, I shall not divulge anything incriminating this evening, as that would ruin my reputation for discretion." Groans of disappointment echoed back and forth at that declaration, but Demodae waited only a moment before continuing and they were forced to shut up or miss what she said. "But, I will say that I have had the opportunity to haul a 'delicate' cargo, nothing illegal mind you, just embarrassing, for a member of your distinguished Order. And here, tonight, in this very cantina, I will reveal to you not only the name of the personage who hired the services of a known smuggler, but the nature of the cargo as well." There was a rousing cheer around the circle, but more than one person looked close to panic. Lilith knew that more than one of them had smuggled things into the Temple, she'd performed the service more than once herself. She also had many friends in the business, after all, and if there was one thing people in her line of business liked better than an easy run with a lot of profit, it was telling each other stories. Lilith smiled as everyone leaned in close to hear her better and she started to tell her tale. "This was, oh, about three years ago," she began and saw several previously anxious faces relax. "I was carrying a mixed cargo, mostly mariel pelts from Triax 3," Griff sigh in envy at the thought of so rich a cargo, "when I landed on Coruscant and a very worried looking intermediary arrived at my ship to check up on the status of one of the parcels I was carrying. "After being reassured that the parcel was intact and that I had received my delivery instructions, the intermediary rushed on about his business and thought nothing of it until it came time to make actual delivery. The parcel was a box about yea big." Lilith held out her hands to describe a box roughly 60x30x10 centimeters in size. "And it was loaded end to end, side to side, top to bottom, with datadisks. These datadisks contained . . ., " and she trailed off and paused dramatically. "C’mon, Lil, don’t keep us in suspense," Krelo demanded, though she thought she might have heard this story, minus the name of the intended recipient. "Yeah, Demodae," Griff encouraged. "And it had better be good." "Good?" the bleached blond snorted in amusement. "They were loaded with fully illustrated back issues of ‘Maxim’, ‘Blue’," Lilith ticked the names off on her fingers and there were more than a few sidelong glances at Sal-Fina when the word ‘blue’ came up. " ‘Raw’, even a few issues of ‘Tug My Slug’!" she ended in disgust. There was a chorus of disbelieving gasps around the table at the list of porn magazines. ‘Maxim’ and ‘Raw’ were human porn, ‘Blue’ was a Twi’lek publication and ‘TMS’, as it was shortened to, was a disturbingly kinky Hutt publication. The very thought of Hutt porn was enough to turn most people’s stomachs, let along full color glossy photos of it complete with sub-captions and articles. "I’ll bet it was Kryztan," Griff hazarded. He didn’t know about the scene behind the last cantina, and he couldn’t resist getting a shot in at the punk. Jemmiah choked and Obi-wan wrapped a concerned arm around her shoulders and looked worried until the fit had passed and she waved a reassuring hand at him. "Naw, Dexy," a slurred unrecognizable voice muttered. A dozen theories were tossed out in the next few moments, before everyone turned expectantly back to Lilith. "As I said, it was time for the actual delivery," she continued. "The problem was that the intermediary had been called away or come down sick or was otherwise unavailable to pick up the package at the designated meeting point, so the true owner of the parcel had no other option but to come out and get it and make payment themselves." There several hoots of appreciative laughter from around the table and Rendar smirked. He had been wondering how she had ferreted out the buyer’s true identity if he had been using intermediaries. "So you can imagine my surprise when I arrived at the meeting place and was greeted by none other than." "Oh, get on with it, Lil," Krelo griped, elbowing her friend in the ribs. "Master Yoda." The spit takes that erupted around the table at that proclamation were spectacular. Qui-Gon was choking and Mace had to thump him soundly a few times before he could breathe in an approximately normal fashion again. All the Jedi Masters were looking at each other and Captain Demodae in astonishment, but it was Jemmiah who summed it all up for all of them. "Who’da thought?" ***** Drunken laughter brought Rela back to the present. She slowly opened her eyes, took a quick look around, and sighed to herself. Well at least I wasn’t missed. Although it would be nice if someone did come looking for me, at least once. Then again I would have to explain why I was out here, and I can’t do that. It’s stupid and embarrassing. That reminds me I need to see Hruggla tomorrow. Why does that still bother me? Every room has a way of escape. This place has at least four not including the front door. This is STUPID Rela! Stop thinking about it, and go back inside and join the party. Rela stayed where she was. Okay Rela you have to move your legs to go back inside. I don’t believe that one sentence bothered me that much! It wasn’t even me that it happened to. Rela just forget about it and go back inside. You can worry about it all tomorrow. Rela sighed again, willed herself to move, and started back inside the cantina. ***** "Tug My Slug?" Spider groaned. "That’s just…that is too…UGH!" "Better than shake my snake!" Jemmiah laughed at Spider, whose passion for reptilian creatures in general was well known. "Is that right?" Spider’s mouth curled up in mirth. "Well, how about I tell everyone here what happened at the débutantes ball a few months back?" "How would you know, Dinko girl?" Jemmy punched Spider playfully on the arm. "They wouldn’t let you in the building incase you scared everyone off." "Verity Filbers was there and she told me." Jemmiah looked uncomfortable. "Did she?" "Uh-huh." Qui-Gon looked suspiciously between the two of them. "What DID happen?" he asked. "Spider, if you don’t tell him I’ll pay for all your drinks for the next month." Jemmy pleaded. "Not good enough." Spider beamed. "You may recall that Miss-Coruscant-Queen-Of-The-Debs-Ball here had to attend the aforementioned gala function in her white dress…" "The one that Kenobi wanted to rip off her back!" Abran crowed as the others jeered at Obi-Wan’s embarrassed expression. "The very same." Spider chuckled, thumbing the strap of her top in order to stop it from sliding down her arm. "You also may have heard something about an injury to Senator Moesti." "Yeah, what happened there?" Simeon wondered. "They said an unspecified injury had somewhat marred the occasion but they never said what it was." "Jemmy? Want to explain?" Spider offered as Jemmiah fell under Qui-Gon’s executioners’ gaze for the umpteenth time that night. "N-not really." She stammered. "Allow me then." Spider stood up to demonstrate. "One of the guests at the ball, as usual, was Senator Moesti’s wife Florri." "Is she the mad one with the dog?" Jodi wondered. "Yup." Spider saw she had everyone’s attention. "That is the first dog of the republic." She laughed. "It’s rumored that he bought that dog as a publicity stunt. So they could have their pictures taken with it and look like a normal couple." Spider sighed. "Nothing normal about that dog, I can tell you. I’d have fed it to my snake given half the chance." "That’s horrible." Shuddered Dimallie. Spider shrugged. "Anyway. Wherever the mistress goes, the cannoid goes too. Verity said she spent most of the evening stuffing the little hairy footstool’s face with cakes and things. In particular she tried to impress all the Debs with a little trick she’d taught the creature." "I’ll pay for your drinks for two months!" Jemmiah put in. "Not a chance." Spider smiled. "What was the trick?" Mace asked. Spider pulled a napkin from the plasti-chrome table surface and folded it into a cylindrical shape, waving it about. "She’d shout "TAVISH! SAUSAGES!" and the little beastie would jump from a sitting position some three foot off the ground and take a whole sausage from her fingers." "What’s this got to do with Senator Moesti’s injury?" Dex asked. "I’m coming to that." Spider nodded. "Twinkle-toes here," she pointed at Jemmiah, "was getting bored to tears with listening to Florri Moesti’s doggy-talk all night and so when Senator Moesti asked her to dance, she waited till they were on the floor and slipped one of the smoked Corellian sausages from the dog’s plate into the band of his trousers." "Didn’t he notice?" Qui-Gon shook his head. "Verity said it looked as if he was getting groped. He probably didn’t mind in the least." "The old lech had it coming to him." Jemmy muttered. "What?" demanded Qui-Gon. "When the dance stopped and the applause had died down, someone not a million miles away shouted "TAVISH! SAUSAGES!" and pointed at Moesti’s rear. Verity said that dog was scampering across that polished floor quicker than a Vrelt up a trouser leg." "And?" prompted Biwo. "The dog fastened itself to the senator’s behind and wouldn’t let go for nearly ten whole minutes." Dex laughed at that image. "What did they do?" "What could they do? They had to lead the man -with the dog still hanging off his rear- away to one of the anti-chambers. Senator Rowli was having a hysterical fit of laughter. Even Chancellor Valorum was laughing. Infact, he was so enchanted with the whole thing that he monopolized Jemmy for the rest of the dances." "Most of ‘em." Smiled Jemmiah. "I had to dance a few with my date. And Senator Palpatine." "Oh, yes. Verity said he was quite taken with you." Spider watched Obi-Wan grit his teeth in annoyance. "Don’t remind me. There’s no love between him and Moesti, everyone knows that. But it was really freaky. He kept staring at me all night. Gave me the creeps." Jemmiah shuddered. "There’s something a bit strange about him, I’m telling you." "Like what?" Qui-Gon asked. "I dunno. He smiles far too much for starters. I kept thinking he was going to eat me." "Moreover he was bowled over by your immense beauty." Dex said chivalrously. "Oh, probably." Jemmy agreed. "But there’s still something weird about him. The way he muscled in when I was dancing with Chancellor Valorum was extremely irritating." "Got some competition I think, Kenobi!" Mace grinned. Obi-Wan laughed the joke off but felt just a little bit uneasy as Jemmiah blushed a fraction |
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| A Night to (almost) Remember |
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