| It Takes One to Know One By Jemmiah |
| Jemmiah stared up at the man, who still had a grip on her wrist - albeit a much slacker one. She'd never seen this person before in her life, but just because she didn't recognize him as one of Merdan's henchmen didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. The fact that he'd dragged her off the street didn't particularly bode well…and what could he possibly want with her? Jemmy swallowed, not taking her eyes off the unshaven gentleman - if of course he was a gentleman. He didn't much look like it to her. She'd seen enough dirty old men back in her days living in the brothel to know that everyone, no matter how they dressed, was a potential danger. This man had gimlet eyes that Jemmiah felt bore into her like tiny sharpened diamonds, and rough callused skin on the palms of his hands, her flesh creeping at his touch. There was a weathered, almost parchment look to his face shot through with patches of course grey stubble on the area of his chin. He couldn't have been older than Master Jinn, but this person was nothing at all like Qui-Gon in any other way imaginable…for a start Qui-Gon would never have grabbed at her like that. Whatever this man wanted, it sure wasn't friendly. "You're all wet through with the rain." The man's words were accompanied with a small cloud of fetid breath, which caused Jemmy to hang back even further. "Look, just let me go!" "I know a place where you can shelter. Would you like that?" He asked, wearing the same artificial smile and guileful expression patented by Levinstowe. "Away from all this nasty rain? How about I take you there?" "How about you just leave me alone?" Jemmy tried to pull her wrist away from him, feeling the grasp tighten as she did so. Maybe she could lure him a little closer and then give him a real hard kick where it most hurt? Because at the moment this disgusting louse was having his say of the argument, and there was little Jemmy could do to get away from him without the man snapping her arm off - which he could do if he so wished. She considered screaming for help but that would be pointless: what had she said earlier about people not helping each other on Coruscant? Passers by would simply think that it was a father having an argument with his wayward child and not venture to poke their nose in where it might get punched! "I think you'd like to come away with me." The man grinned, stepping up the pressure on her arm. "Hmm?" "Do you know what I think?" Jemmiah lowered her voice so the man had to lean forward to hear her speak. "You're a sick pervert and I'm not going to speak to you anymore." She aimed a Teras-Kasi style kick at his nether regions, which didn't so much as land a blow, the man anticipating her move and deftly side-stepping her attack. Damn, for a scruffy tramp he could move! Something about the man's mannerisms suggested to Jemmiah that he was ever so slightly high on some kind of substance: he looked exactly the way that the padawans and initiates had after their unfortunate encounter with the Tree Winders in the temple gardens. One thing that Jemmiah knew however was that those experiencing the euphoria associated with substance abuse tended not to have much in the way of fear and this revolting being, his clothing ragged and dirty from living on the streets, appeared no exception. There was much this man would dare if she could not stop him. Jemmy decided to give up being brave and tried hollering instead, hoping that her theory about the cold, unfriendly people of Coruscant was wrong. "Look, I live in the jedi temple. If you don't let go I'll send the whole lot of 'em down here to chop you to bits with their lightsabres!" Jemmy grabbed hold of the man's hand and tried her hardest to peel his fingers away from her wrist. "Give me my arm back! You're hurting me!" "I don't see any hordes of jedi, do you?" The man laughed, sarcastically scanning the area for the supposed rescuers dreamt up by the girl. "Where are they hiding, in the garbage bins? You're no jedi youngster!" "Let go of me!" Jemmiah yelled at him angrily, managing to release her arm from his grasp. She wanted to run…she knew she had to get away but her legs just wouldn't carry her, so great was her fear. "You're just some crazy glit-sniffer! Go away and find yourself some alley to die in, just leave me alone…" The man stopped momentarily, very much surprised at her outburst: astonished that she would have the temerity to brazen things out to his face rather than turn tail and flee. Then, when the stupor lifted he staggered a few paces towards Jemmy until she retreated as far as she could go, her back flat against the wall of the nearby cantina. Neon lights flickered several stories above, casting a sickening orange glow onto the paving and Jemmy dug her fingers into the permacrete brickwork to remind herself that this was not another nightmare: this was real. There was no Qui-Gon there to comfort and reassure her that all was well this time. Why don't you run?!? Jemmiah thought wildly, begging her terrified body to move. Just run, now! Whilst you have the chance! But she couldn't move. Fear had caused her mind to freeze, just as it had in the past. The circumstances may have been eerily similar, but this time there was no guarantee she would get out alive… "What's going on here?" A sharp, female voice commanded. The man recoiled at the sound, but did not retreat too far. Shaking slightly, Jemmiah turned her head to face the direction of the oh, so welcome interruption, wanting to call for help but totally unable to find her voice. The shadow of somebody cloaked for protection from the rain lay cast upon the ground, stark against the dull and nauseating light of the garish advertising signs. "What's your problem, lady?" The man asked lazily, affecting a drawl. The hooded figure stepped forward, the shadow on the ground stretching to ludicrous proportions. Jemmiah watched the elongated shape as it approached her, praying that whomever it was would stand their ground and not leave her at the mercy of her assailant. She couldn't move…she couldn't even think straight! What would happen if…if she… An oddly familiar snap-hiss sound accompanied by a bright green glow lit up the darkness: a single solid beam of light cutting swathes through the seemingly impenetrable gloom, causing Jemmy's hear to leap with joy. A lightsabre…a jedi lightsabre! And where the lightsabre went the jedi went too! If she'd had the inclination to do so Jemmy would have wept with relief, her unsupporting legs threatening to buckle beneath her and send her sliding slowly down the wall. "I don't have a problem." The female voice said dangerously. "But if you don't back off, I'll make this your problem." The hooded figure lowered the sabre in a defensive gesture, clearly waiting to see if the man would launch some kind of attack. "Clear out of here before I do something you'll regret." The man's eyes fell on the unwavering green column of light and nervously licked his lips; clearly weighing up his options and not liking the choices open to him. The only one that made any sense at all was retreat, and this he did with all due expedition, backing off with his jedi opponent still in his sites, upsetting the rats scurrying between the garbage filled skips as he went. The shrill, high-pitched squeal of the rodents brought Jemmy to her senses, cutting through the fear-induced funk even if the adrenaline was still pumping around her body at a terrible rate. After a moment of staring into the darkness, following the fugitive with her eyes to make certain of his escape, the figure deactivated the lightsabre and slowly, curiously made her way over to the trembling Corellian, still pinned against the wall. A pale hand reached up to pull down the large cowl, fingers gathering up the excess material, letting the bunched fabric fall back to reveal a face that at that moment Jemmiah could happily have kissed. "What in the name of the force," Evla Sovalla hissed in distress, "are you doing out here?" Jemmiah tried her best to relax, letting her emotions escape through the released flood of her breath. Her body was still shaking from the shock of the confrontation, but she hoped at least Evla might put that one down to the drenching she'd received from the rain; the conditions showing no sign of abating as she cast a nervous glance up at the boiling sky. Slowly Jemmy began to feel the pounding of her heart abate, the hammering less frantic than minutes before. Thank the force…thank Qui-Gon…thank anyone… "T-thank you." She mumbled, daring to look the crèche master in the eye. "This is a dangerous place for a child to be." Evla's words were as chilling as the rain that ran down Jemmy's neck, causing her pinafore to stick unpleasantly against her skin. "What were you thinking coming out here by yourself? And in such foul weather?" She didn't want to frighten the child when her own eyes told her that Jemmiah was already very much afraid: and small wonder too considering the scene she had just stumbled across. And if she hadn't, what then? So many tragedies happened every day on the streets of Coruscant; their heartbreaking stories broadcast dramatically all over the Holonet for the inquisitive and the ghoulish alike to lap up. Worse still were the stories that went unreported: the crimes that went undetected, even happening on the backdoor of places like the jedi temple. What would Qui-Gon have said if he'd returned to find out his young ward had become one such statistic? Or simply disappeared from the face of the planet? "I…I didn't want to." Jemmy rubbed at her soaked arms, trying to get some warmth into them. "I get scared out in the city…it's so big! I feel like its going to swallow me…" "Then why…?" Evla looked about her, gesturing with a wide sweep of her arms at the buildings and the nearby pedestrian walkway. Jemmiah's chin trembled fractionally but she made no attempt to give her an answer, leaving Evla to battle her own creeping sense of disappointment. It was nonsensical! To even attempt going into unknown territory alone, and at such a vulnerable age…it was beyond all comprehension. "I can't begin to tell you how stupid you're actions were." Evla concluded, watching Jemmiah's face crumple despondently. Maybe it was harsh - but it had to be said for her own good. "Things happen on the streets…things that are not nice…" "I know." Came back the sullen reply. "You can't even begin to understand…how do you know?" "I do so know!" Jemmiah found her anger beginning to simmer. How dare she? Evla knew nothing about her background - how dare she presume to guess! "I just do!" "Then that makes what you did even more foolish, doesn't it?" Evla replied sharply. For a moment there was only the sound of the rain hitting the pavement, hissing like hot butter in a pan. Evla looked the miserable child up and down, noting the indignant, rebellious tilt of her chin strangely at odd with the visible hurt in her eyes. Qui-Gon would have been suitably annoyed with the girl, and justifiably so, but who was she to criticize in his absence? It wasn't her place or her right to do so…what part in Jemmiah's life did she play? Evla knew she had no say at all, just the same as when a master took on one of her crèche charges. Even if she had an objection to the way they were being taught or raised, it counted for nothing. Her job was only to give the younglings as good a start in life as she possibly could. So why did it seem so difficult to keep a distance in the case of Jemmiah? "I…I didn't come out here by choice." Jemmiah finally admitted, not wanting to see the end of her semi-truce with Sal-Fina, as would surely happen if she confessed the truth. "My feet hurt already…I've got blisters on my blisters! And I'm all soaked to the skin…and my shoes are letting in water! It's been a kri…" She stopped short of using the colorful expletive that came so readily to her lips, "…a very bad day! All I want to do is go home…not with Sal-Fina. I want to go back to my own room." Jemmiah dropped her eyelashes forlornly; the irritation all but washed out of her with the falling rain. "I just want Master Jinn to come back." She added in a low-spirited whisper that Evla only just managed to catch. Evla could understand that. Many was the day when she had been but a teenage girl that she'd longed for Qui-Gon's return, and whilst her days helping at the crèche had been full and rewarding there had been a part of her that had felt truly lost without the presence of the redoubtable Knight Jinn. In time she had learn to live without him, their paths taking each other in different directions, but at the time she had experienced what she could only describe as a wistful sadness whenever he was absent from her life. Sal-Fina had tried her hardest to come between them, just as Evla had inadvertently come between Qui-Gon and Sal-Fina, something which the woman had never truly forgotten... "I know how that feels." Evla said gently, stretching out her hand and softly tousling the tangled ringlets of wet hair. "And it's not pleasant. But whatever did you mean when you said you didn't want to come out here? Why are you here? It's an awful place for a child to be…not just because of the less stable people you might happen across of you're unlucky," she nodded back in the direction Jemmiah's assailant had retreated, "but because of the places…the cantinas and the gambling dens…the arcades…all the sort of things you'd do well to avoid. What if there was a drunken fight outside one of the clubs and you got caught up in it, or hurt?" "Sal-Fina made me come out!" Jemmy blurted out, no longer being able to bear the implication that she was irresponsible and reckless. Even if it were true to an extent Jemmiah, for reasons she was unable to fathom, could not bear the idea that Evla would somehow think ill of her! "She doesn't like me under her feet so she likes it if I disappear…" "Would she be happy if you disappeared permanently?" Evla asked with a sharp intake of breath. "Because that could have happened…" "I usually go hide in the gardens." Jemmiah hoped she didn't come across as too whiny. "Maybe even the library if I have school work to do. But when I came back from school today she told me to get lost in the city for a few hours. Told me to go get myself something to eat." Her expression darkened to match that of the weather. "Gave me a shopping list. Look!" Evla watched, astounded, as Jemmiah held out what looked like a sopping wet piece of folded flimsy, ink streaks gathering into a small blue lake at the crease. She could hardly credit what she was hearing, but the girl was so adamant that Evla dazedly found herself taking the list off, eyes scanning what was left of the flimsy mush for any legible words. Two bottles of citrus? Evla's brows shot up in shock. //Three packets on Banajj crisps? Six petal fruit…what is Sal-Fina trying to do here? Why send a child out to do her shopping when she could very well order it herself or suffer like everyone else at the temple refectory? Jemmiah saw Evla's lips thin to such an extent that she could barely see them any more. There was something so still about the stillness of her face and the hard glint within her eyes, which gave the impression of terrible inner rage: something she was trying desperately to keep under control. Yes, the Corellian could see it; she knew all about anger and how to recognize it in other people but whereas Jemmiah would snap and lash out, Evla's training allowed her to slowly dispel her fury into the force. Jemmy could see it all happening before her, played out infront of her eyes. She shrank down, not wanting to catch the fallout from Evla's temper. "Don't hate me." She begged her. Evla closed her eyes. "A jedi does not hate." She replied, dropping her hand to Jemmiah's shoulders. "And why should I hate you? Master Falmar's to blame here. I can see what she's up to…trying to play her little games of revenge against Qui-Gon! I'm sure when we get back we'll discover that she has had guests round." The disgust in Evla's voice was not difficult to recognize, and Jemmiah felt herself quaking in relief that she'd been believed…that Evla knew Sal-Fina so well as to see her for what she was. Few others in the jedi temple would have taken the word of a ten-year-old girl from the gutters… "…And I shall be having 'high' words with Master Falmar, just you see if I don't!" Evla hissed through firmly gritted teeth. "The council were out of their minds letting her take somebody else on, the infuriating woman that she is!" There followed a string of curses, muttered underneath her breath, that Jemmiah should not have understood under any circumstances had she had a normal upbringing…obscenities that no self-respecting crèche master should ever know, let alone use! But Jemmiah, who had associated with many different peoples from different cultures, speaking different languages, could more than comprehend the diatribe aimed Sal-Fina's way. When you associated with the scum of the galaxy, you learned to understand their swear words, and Jemmiah remained momentarily perplexed as to whether she should lower Evla in her estimation or raise her because of it! A crèche master who could curse a blue streak? She had to be an interesting character, right? Jemmy decided that revealing to Evla she'd understood every mumbled word would only embarrass the poor woman further and ventured to hold her tongue. Evla straightened up, letting her tirade come to an abrupt end. "Look at you." She shook her head affectionately. "You look like you've been drowned in a river! Come here," She held open her long robe, inviting the girl into another hug, "or you'll catch your death." Jemmy hung back uncertainly. "I'll get your clothes all wet." She blinked the rain from her lashes, hardly able to see ahead of her. "I'm sure I can find something to change into when we get back to the temple. Forget about Master Falmar for the moment," Evla warned her with a cautionary raised finger, "I think what you need is a hot bath and something warm to drink. Come on," she smiled, holding her long, jedi cloak open enough for Jemmy to step under, "let's go back." Needing no further bidding Jemmiah finally allowed herself to be guided away from the wall, stumbling into the almost cavernous warmth beneath Evla's cloak, feeling the same drowsy cocoon of comfort encircle and surround her just as it had done with the previous day's hug. Even when she'd been trapped in Sal-Fina's claustrophobic dark cupboard Jemmiah had still felt that hug several hours after it had been so kindly given. What was her secret, Jemmy wondered? What was it about Master Sovalla that could make even the most miserable of days become bright and full of hope? "How did you do that?" Jemmy wondered aloud as they walked back towards the temple, her words almost buried within Evla's robe. "That thing with the hug, I mean? I felt it for hours and hours afterwards." Evla smiled. "I can't tell you." She answered with a knowing wink. "It's a trade secret. But I will tell you one thing, something Sal-Fina would do well to remember…a little love goes a long, long way." The journey back to the temple had been mercifully uneventful. There had been no terror plunges, no air traffic entanglements…everything that Jemmiah had secretly expected to happen after such a dreadful day! Sitting beside Evla in the back of the air taxi, however, had reassured her that nothing else out of the ordinary would happen that evening. Other than the inevitable clash with Sal-Fina… Once inside Evla's rooms in the housing block of the temple all such grizzly and unpleasant thoughts of Sal-Fina were banished from Jemmiah's mind. From the moment Evla had placed her hand on the door panel, activating the lock and letting the light flood into the corridor from within, Jemmiah felt and enormous sense of calm and peace descend upon her. The comfort she had felt from the crèche master's presence extended, so it seemed, to Evla's personal abode. And it was so warm and bright! It was everything that Jemmiah had not expected a Jedi's room to be…softly, if modestly furnished, gentle pastel colors on the ceiling and the walls…fluffy rugs upon the floor! How different to Sal-Fina's clinical grey and white colored dwelling…how full of life! It was so different to the sterile environment she shared with Ambianca. Not that neatness was a bad thing: Jemmiah was a relatively precise and tidy person without wanting to take it above and beyond the finicky standards of her temporary guardian. Evla's rooms were inviting, appealing…why, the rug looked as if it were made to curl up and go to sleep upon! "It's lovely!" Jemmy surprised herself by saying outloud. Evla nodded, looking around her. "Thank you." She smiled, unplatting the three interwoven strands of thick brown hair, letting it fall in waves down her back. "I'm glad it meets with your approval." "It's not at all how I imagined it would look." Jemmiah walked toward the center of the room and gazed around her slowly, taking in the tiny little knickknacks arranged along a thin shelf above the heating unit. "This is all so smart! All those things…I didn't think that jedi were supposed to have personal belongings. Not like that, I mean." "Gifts, mostly." Evla smiled fondly, looking at all the trinkets sitting neatly in line. "Ornaments and things that the children have given me as presents, by way of saying thank you for looking after them. I've got a trunkfull of them," she laughed, "but how can you throw away such precious memories? So I keep them all, and take them out from time to time so that I can remember them. All the flimsy drawings…all the little stories that they wrote. It's what makes being a crèche carer such a special privilege." "I like the shell!" Jemmiah pointed at the conch-shaped object sitting in the middle of the collection. "It's huge!" "It came from my home planet, Florizan." Evla replied, removing the wet robe and draping it over her arm. "My padawan picked it for me." Jemmiah stopped in her tracks, puzzled. "I didn't know you had a padawan." She hesitated, looking around for some evidence of a second being in the apartment but she could see nothing: no clothing, no books…no telltale shoes lying under the table. Maybe Evla's apprentice was working in the crèche? Or perhaps…maybe…? Jemmiah slapped a hand over her mouth in horror. "Has something happened to your apprentice? And I put my foot in it…I'm so sorry!" "W-what?" Evla tried to follow Jemmiah's whirlwind logic as best she could. "I don't understand…nothing has happened to my padawan. She was knighted some many years back. She works mostly outwith the temple, collecting children that are force sensitive and bringing them back to Coruscant. I'm afraid I don't get to see her as much as I would like but that's the nature of the tasks that she takes on." Her eyes softened, but still held a great deal of confusion. "What made you think that something had happened to her?" Jemmiah looked at the floor, feeling thoroughly ashamed that she had managed to let her emotions get the better of her on this occasion. What a stupid conclusion to come to! Just because a person was conspicuous by their absence didn't mean that something diabolical had befallen them! Even although she didn't dare look Evla in the face she could feel the weight of the woman's eyes upon her, wondering if she would sense with the force how utterly embarrassed she was. Because I'm used to people disappearing on me, Jemmy thought grimly. And when they disappear it's usually because they can't come back. Whether she understood the source of Jemmiah's discomfort or not the jedi had both wisdom and tact enough to know when to change the direction of the conversation. Shaking her head in mild bemusement Evla started to unbuckle the belt around her waist, so that she could remove the damp outer layers of pale blue tunic top. "My padawan, force keep her safe, moved out some time ago into a room of her own. She has a padawan of her own now." The master explained as she slipped her arms through the wraparound top. "Yes, I miss her as much now as I did the day she moved out but I like to think she's been well grounded in her duties as a crèche carer. It's a job that calls for a lot of understanding and tact…it's not easy asking a mother or father to part with a force sensitive child. I myself had just come from such a meeting when I happened across you." Jemmiah felt strangely disheartened on hearing Evla's words. It had been a silly, juvenile hope that she'd harbored but deep down the Corellian had somehow hoped Evla had gone looking for her…she didn't know why. Perhaps because she had been one of the few people who had genuinely showed her some affection? Ridiculous…why would she go looking for her? They'd known each other barely a day! Even with the force there was no way that any kind of bond could have been formed between them, especially as she herself had as much force sensitivity as an old, discarded sock! Maybe it was because she'd secretly hoped it might be true… "I don't know how people can do that." Jemmiah chewed down hard on her lip, hoping to keep her annoyance at bay. "Do what?" "Give up something or someone they love. I don't even like babies and I would never do something like that." Jemmiah looked down at the wet footprints she had left on Evla's carpet. Great, what would the woman think of her now? She came into her home, messed it all up and had the cheek to argue with her too! "Because it's in the best interests of the child at the end of the day." Evla answered simply. "And that is what we tell the parents. We never force them to give up an infant, but we do stress how difficult it is when that child grows up unable to use the special gifts they were born with…how frustrating it is for that person." "I don't approve of abandoning little kids." Jemmy hugged her arms to her defiantly. "If you ask me it stinks! What's the point in having them in the first place if you're just gonna pass them to the first stranger you meet? Why bother if you're just going to leave them to anybody?" "You think the temple is just anybody?" Evla asked her curiously, wondering if they were even taking about the temple anymore. "That the crèche masters wouldn't look after their children?" "People make promises to look after kids when they're born…that they'll take good care of them until they can fend for themselves, but it's all so much hot air." Jemmiah retorted hotly. "You can't trust anyone. That's the end of the story." Once again Evla wasn't certain she understood where the conversation was headed, but she thought that she could guess. "I'm sure that Master Jinn didn't want to abandon you…" Evla began in earnest to defend her former friend. "I'm not talking about Master Jinn. I'm talking about…" Jemmiah stopped herself dead. No, there wasn't any point in dredging up the past, especially to a total stranger. What good did it do? The past was far behind her: little she could do to change it. "You mean your mother?" Evla smiled sadly at her. "How did she abandon you?" Jemmiah compressed he lips angrily. How had she known?!? "She…she left me!" The tight, unbearable pain in her chest returned, constricting her breath. "Left me on my own…promised me she'd be there to look after me. And what did she do? She went and died!" "I'm sorry to hear that." Evla answered, holding out her hand to the girl. "But people can't help dying. She wouldn't leave you on purpose…" "She PROMISED me!" Jemmiah shouted back. "She said I'd never have to worry as long as she was with me…then she left me in that hellhole and I didn't have another day where I didn't worry. I had to wait five years before Master Jinn and Obi-Wan rescued me…and even then they didn't want to take me with them. Not to start with anyway." She amended rapidly, knowing exactly how much the pair of them had done for her since then. If Qui-Gon had realized he'd made a mistake then he'd more than made up for it. A safe haven…a roof over her head…if only he'd come back, then everything would be perfect again! "Look at me. I'm ten years old. The people I go to school with judge only on what they see. To them I'm small and ugly. I'm poor and most of all they laugh at me because I haven't got any real parents. I keep telling myself that if only my mother had lived things would have been different…" "Yes." Evla tilted the girl's chin upward in her hand so that she could see her face. "It would have been. You would never have met Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, would you?" Jemmiah swallowed back her hurt long enough for her to consider Evla's words. If things had gone as they should have and her mother, father and brother had all lived: where would she be now? Back on Corellia totally none the wiser, innocent and unknowing of all the bad things in life…would she have swapped that for what she had now? Of course she would; she'd have been insane to say otherwise. Yet there would be no Qui-Gon, no Obi-Wan in her life: and now she had got to the stage where she could admit that felt almost as unbearable as losing her real family had. What the force had taken away it had been kind enough to replace in a roundabout manner…the different, twisted paths that fate could have taken at various points in her life hurt Jemmy's head to think on! "No." She whispered eventually, feeling utterly defeated. "I wouldn't have." Evla placed her arm over the girl's shoulders and led her in the direction of the fresher room. "I don't pretend to know what your life was like before you met Qui-Gon, and I'm not going to ask." She reassured Jemmiah with a ready smile. "Although if you ever want to talk to me then I'd be happy to listen to you. I can't fix the past any more than you can, but I can maybe do something about the present. So, I think you should get out of those soaking clothes and then take a long hot bath. I'll try and dry them out, and then I'll fix us something to eat…maybe we can find some suitable holo to watch for a few hours. Does that appeal?" Jemmiah regarded her with surprise. "What about Sal-Fina?" She asked, feeling that dreadful creeping sensation of impending doom beginning to snake its way up from her stomach. "Oh, I assure you," Evla switched on the lights above the bath with a flick of her hand, "I will take care of Sal-Fina. And if she gives you anymore trouble you come and tell me about it and I'll see what I can do!" ENTRY FIFTY THREE: Diary, We got an air cab back to the temple, and when we were back at her place I got a good look round. It's not at all like Quiggy's place. It's quite brightly painted in warm colors and the furniture has got wine colored throws draped over them. There are some nice fluffy rugs on the floor. My toes just vanished in them! She doesn't have a padawan so her extra room is vacant at the moment, although she told me she was thinking of looking for a padawan in the near future. She made me change out of my wet dress and take a hot bath, then gave me her huge towel dressing gown to wear whilst she tried to dry my clothes out. I think I must have looked almost invisible, it was so big on me. You know that thing you get when you suddenly see a picture of yourself and what you must look like to other people? I reckon I looked like a Jawa, with these big eyes poking out from amidst this robe… Evla fixed some food: salad stuff - but it was nice anyway - and we talked for a bit about how I was getting along with Sal-Fina and Ambianca. I gave her a catalogue of incidents and complaints as long as her arm, although I omitted the cupboard thing the other day. I'm going to keep that one for when I need it. Corellians always keep something in reserve. All too soon I had to go back to Sal-Fina. She made me go to my room whilst she had a 'talk' with Sal-Fina and whatever she said must have worked because it shut the wicked witch up for the rest of the evening. I think Evla's okay. The padawan who gets her for a master will be very lucky. Maybe I'll see her in the gardens tomorrow. Jemmy |
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