| It Takes One to Know One By Jemmiah |
| The next day Jemmiah was to get her answers…but not necessarily the ones she wanted to hear. If nothing else the spare time she had from school enabled her to explore more and more of the temple each day, wandering the corridors and halls, memorizing them as she went. Every now and again she would happen upon people she knew - padawans introduced to her by Jay Abran - who actually stopped to nod at her or even offer her a smile. That had certainly been an unexpected bonus and no mistake! But of the mystery apprentice there was no sign, no matter how hard she searched or how diligently she sought him amongst the youthful beige and brown clad figures that haunted the training rooms. This was proving difficult…like trying to find a microscopic tick on the back of a Hutt! Instead Jemmy resolved to fall back on Plan B: and went in search of Menali-Jay Abran instead. Even although she barely knew Abran it seemed as if the entire temple knew him, at least from what she gathered from Obi-Wan on the occasions he was inclined to talk about his fellow padawans. Abran it seemed was highly regarded amongst the masters as having the potential to go right to the top - if only he would temper his natural enthusiasm and self-adoration. Obi-Wan always suspected that half of Jay's big-mouthed routine was precisely that: a big show for the benefit of others, yet there was no doubting that Abran seemed to have a mighty high opinion of himself. That was alright, Jemmiah thought slyly; she sometimes felt the same way about herself! Then again she had an excuse for her ego problem: Corellian genetics! On stopping the beauteous but tousled Ned Sequedes outside the training rooms to ask if he knew of Jay's whereabouts, the padawan simply replied with a nod and a wink, followed by a jerk of his head in the direction of the adjacent shower room. Jemmy screwed up her face. "In there?!?!" She exclaimed with revulsion. "Yes." Sequedes batted his elegant long lashes once more at her, rubbing his short hair with the towel that had been hanging round his neck. "He and Master Amaline just finished wiping the floor with my master and I, so he's in very good spirits. If you hang around long enough you'll catch him when he comes out. That said," Ned's lips broke into a crooked grin that quite spoiled the handsome, unruffled appearance of his regular features, "you might be in for a very long wait. I've known Jay a few years now and he's rather fond of his own appearance…devil take the vain fellow! You won't see him until he's scrubbed clean and smooth as a pebble - satisfied he's as perfect as perfect can be!" "He can't be any worse than Kryztan Harkley." Jemmiah rebutted instantly. "He spends houuuuuuuuuuurs in front of his mirror!" "They're a right pair, sure enough!" Ned admitted, shrugging his arms back into his brown robe. "Jay does it to keep his master happy. From what I hear she's a stickler for tidiness…doesn't like to see a crease in a tunic or a crumb on the carpets. It's just one of Master Amaline's foibles. I sometimes feel Jay would like to wallow in mud just for the hell of it, but she'd never let him. I think all her cleanliness is beginning to rub off on him. I left him preening himself in front of a steamed up mirror which he'd wiped just so he could admire his profile!" Jemmiah cast a doubtful look in the direction of the shower room. She wanted to speak to him now! If Ned was right he'd be in there until just before he turned into a wrinkled prune! "If it's that urgent, you know where to find him!" Ned smirked, waving at the doorway again. Jemmy rose to the bait and tipped her head backwards imperiously. "I might just do that." She sniffed. "Go on then." Sequedes dared her, flashing his bright smile, watching her inwardly dither. It was that knowing look that finally made up Jemmiah's mind for her, that insufferable Jedi-padawan expression of smug confidence that so many of the young apprentices seemed to break into at a moments notice. Didn't think she would, did he? Thought she wouldn't have the ba…the, er, nerve? Mentally rolling up her sleeves Jemmiah set her sights firmly on the door that separated her from the men's shower room and marched towards it, stiff-necked and proud. She'd show him… A single blunt shove with her outstretched hand pushed the door aside as if it were of no consequence, but where one barrier was now removed another stretched to meet her in the form of a wall of steam, causing Jemmy to flail about for a moment to get her bearings. For obvious reasons the men's shower rooms were out of bounds to the likes of her, and finding her way about was proving difficult to say the least. Hundreds of cubicles, housing both sonic and water showers, stretched as far as the eye could see. There seemed to be some kind of giant sauna-thing going on as well just off to the corner, and if she were to turn left she would be facing what looked like a glass steam room no doubt favored by the masochistic amongst the jedi. Everywhere was so hot and steamy…with the overpowering smell of liniment and male sweat. Yeuch! A large shadow stepped forth from the steam cloud and regarded her for a moment with some surprise. "I think you've maybe gotten lost." The unknown master suggested in a kindly voice. "Perhaps you wanted to use the ladies shower room…" "No thanks," Jemmy flashed him a smile full of Corellian bluster and bravado, "I like it here better. Besides," she craned her head in the direction of the familiar voice coming from the nearest of the shower cubicles, "it's more interesting!" And with that she moved on through the steamy haze, leaving the master to make his confused exit, staring at her over his shoulder. Well, whatever happened now should prove revealing! No doubt he'd head for the nearest Council member to complain there was a strange female prowling around the men's shower room! A guilty part of her didn't think that Qui-Gon would approve of her actions…but then again if he'd been on Coruscant where he was supposed to be, she wouldn't be attempting such downright craziness! So, using that string of logic, it was all Qui-Gon's fault thus absolving her of any of the blame! There. Who dared to say her point of view was warped! Stopping not quite outside the cubicle that housed the eponymous Jay Abran - close enough to hear without directly eavesdropping - Jemmiah wondered how she should approach the young man. Bursting in on him didn't seem to be a good idea…people got very defensive when it came to privacy. It was something she understood very well: prior to living with Master Jinn privacy was something she'd rarely been allowed to experience. Maybe she should just grab him on exiting the shower - and hope he had some clothes on! "…Force, and that's not all that happened." Abran was saying to someone presumably in the cubicle to the right of him, his voice loud and unguarded so that his neighbor might hear him over the steady jet of water. "Erig Draine…you know him?" "Yeah." A Corellian sounding voice replied. "What about him?" "Seems like Brinkly Hamin and he got into a scrap. Don't ask me what about! I was completely on the opposite side of the room when I elbowed Hamin in the eye." "A likely story!" Answered the other in a mixture of amazement and mirth. "You just happened to be separating them I guess and your elbow accidentally found its way into 'the Brick's' eye, I suppose?" "Something like that!" Abran's surprisingly rich voice held what Jemmiah knew to be evidence of a large, feral grin. "Poor Erig…I mean he's as quiet as sand hamster. Half the time you don't even know he's there, poor fellow! I can't imagine what could have started it all off…" "Brinkly Hamin doesn't need a reason." The other voice retorted scornfully. "He'd better learn to curb his ways before Master Yoda curbs it for him." "Don't worry - I'll get him back, for Erig's sake. Next time my master wants to train with somebody I'm going to make a point of asking to train with the Brick! Then I can have the pleasure of wiping the stupid grin off his face by smearing him all over the floor…" There was a brief pause, as if Abran had suddenly remembered he was in the shower to get clean and not just to chat with his friends, but it wasn't long before he put such trivialities behind him and returned to the important business of speaking for the sake of it. Jemmiah took a tentative and curious step forward…it was amazing the things you could learn from the most diverse sources! "To top it all off," Jay laughed, turning the shower spray down to a slight trickle, "there was that business with Ocen-Bai Talz…force, he's going to get it in the neck if his master ever finds out what he did!" "What?" Demanded the other, likewise turning down the spray. "What did he do?" Jay cleared his throat a couple of times before continuing. "Restaurant." He cleared his voice. "Ned Sequedes, Kryztan Harkley and a few others dared him…" "Oh, no!" groaned the other, as if in mortal dread of an answer he seemed to already know. "He didn't!" "He did, Jodi! I swear, if his master finds out then Bai is as good as smoke! I mean, what I don't understand is how he thought he was going to get away with smuggling three live lobsters out of a tank, in broad daylight, from a restaurant packed with people stopping off for a mid-morning snack! Must've pulled some kind of mindtrick on the waiter at a guess…" Jodi, if indeed that was who it was, couldn't seem to make up his mind whether to condemn or congratulate his fellow padawan for the stunt. Jemmiah found herself growing ever more close to the two cubicles, totally enthralled by the tale of her very own lobster-boy! So, his name was Ocen-Bai Talz? What else might she find out if she listened closer? "Takes a lot of nerve." Came back Jodi's sit-on-the-fence remark. "Considering he's a born worrier." Agreed Jay reluctantly. "He'd never have done it if Kryztan hadn't dared him. If Zac or Obi-Wan had been there to stop him…" Jemmy's ears pricked up instantly at the mention of Obi-Wan. This Bai and her own Ben must know each other after all! That explained a few things! "It's always the quiet ones you have to watch. First Erig and now Bai…" Jodi's voice echoed within his cubicle. "Sithspit…where's the soap gone?" Abran snickered, which led Jemmy to believe he knew exactly where the soap had gone - probably vanished mysteriously next door with a flick of his hand! "You know what Bai's like about animals. Can't stand to see them in pain or suffering…I mean, who does? But stealing living creatures out of restaurants and hiding them in your robe…well, I dunno. It's petty thievery and Bai will get into hotter water than his precious lobsters at this rate. If he comes back home with any more 'rescued' pets his master will commit padawancide, mark my words!" Abran's words sounded a touch too gleeful to give the impression of truly sympathizing with his friend's predicament. "Here, Jodi…what do you think he did with them? The lobsters, I mean." "Gave them to Master Egrobov, no doubt!" Mullicar's delighted laugh sounded like a misfiring speeder. "That's too cruel!" "I'm telling you…it'll be lobster on the menu for Master Windu and the other council members once Egrobov gets them. Bai's master will take 'em straight round to our resident gourmet chef and it'll be straight into the food prep-unit the moment she finds them under his bed with all the thousand other 'rescuees' he's wandered home with…force, remember that baby Nerf!" "B-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-H!" Abran answered, turning off the shower completely. Jemmiah froze. What had she done??? Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire - or the pot of scalding water in this instance! What was she ever going to say to this Ocen-Bai Talz when he came to collect his lobsters? She could never bring herself to admit the fact that she had as good as handed his pets to a psychopathic lobster killer! "He'll murder me!" Jemmy wailed, instantly slapping her hand over her mouth. There was a moment of stunned silence. Then - "Kriffit, Jay! There's a girl in here!" Mullicar panicked, scuffling about inside the cubicle. "Frell, where's my towel!" "What?!?" Abran's voice soared disbelievingly as he stretched out with the force, reaching towards the intruder so that he might work out who the spy in his midst was. What had he said? How many people had he and Jodi insulted? As long as it wasn't Ambianca or Junine…who would go straight back to Brinkly Hamin and report what they'd heard. That would teach him to be mindful of what he said - and whom he said it to! Who else would be brazen enough to spy on the men's shower room??? Jemmiah turned and fled the scene as fast as she possibly could, slipping underneath the arm of a knight as he opened the door and sliding all over the floor outside from the condensation on the soles of her shoes. This was turning into a ghastly and incident packed day. "Relax," Abran poked his head round the cubicle door. "I think it's only the little Corellian girl. I doubt she's after your modesty Jodi." He regarded the frenzied trail of shoe tracks on the floor; not to mention the baffled looking knight Jemmiah had left in her wake, and broke into a brilliant, crescent-moon smile. "Sure as heck doesn't seem as if she has any!" She'd gone in search of 'lobster-boy', knowing nothing of who he was or where he might be. Now she had a name for him - and had not the slightest wish to find him. But find him she must, and quickly: before he found her. It was important that she got her side of the story over to him before he did a deeply un-jedi thing and skewered her with his lightsabre! Ocen-Bai Talz…animal lover…quiet and introspected…possessing an ordinary face that Jemmiah wasn't even sure she'd recognize if she were to see it again. In truth, if he'd walked past her whilst she'd been searching amongst the training rooms she might not have noticed him. Still, if she couldn't find him then there was somebody who could… Jemmiah, trying to make herself appear slightly less steamed up and flushed by the repeated fanning of her hand before her face, cut a swathe through the refectory food halls and homed straight in on her quarry: an intelligent young man with an air of studied grace, who tried to give the impression he did not know that he was often the center of many a young girl's attention. He was certainly the focus of Jemmiah's concentration at that point, and pulling back the seat opposite him with a deliberately surprising screech of metal against floor Jemmiah threw herself down on the chair, gazing unblinkingly at Kryztan Harkley. "Jemmiah." Harkley smiled warmly. "What can I do for you?" "You can play a little word association game with me." Jemmy folded her fingers through one another, interlacing them purposefully. "If I was to say to you….'lobsters', what would your reply be?" Harkley beamed radiantly at her. "Ocen-Bai Talz!" He grinned. "You know, don't you?" "I know what I heard Jay Abran say." Jemmiah rolled her eyes at the memory. "Kriffing cost me enough to find out as well! I had to follow him into the men's showers to get what I was looking for!" "There's, er…no answer to that." Kryztan coughed, feigning embarrassment. "You're certainly thorough! However, you could have come to me and asked. You'd have saved yourself a lot of trouble if you have. I keep my ear to the ground in the temple: I know a lot of what goes on behind closed doors. Comes of having a master like Dex Berlingside: everyone confides in him!" He laughed good-humoredly. "I can't imagine Master D would ever betray someone's trust." Jemmy scrutinized him for a long moment, taking his measure. "So I guess that by keeping your ear to the ground you mean you listen in on your master's conversations?" "Sometimes." Harkley admitted reasonably, fixing her with an intuitive stare. "Just like you when you wander into men's shower rooms, hmm?" Jemmiah flushed a deeper shade of red, and this time knew it had little to do with the heat. She'd been enjoying her battle of wits with Kryztan - until he'd outsmarted her! "Anyhow," Harkley shrugged it off as unimportant, "my master talks freely enough when he feels he's able to do so without breaking confidences or such like. You, er…were given the fugitive lobsters by Ocen-Bai Talz to look after, weren't you? Because he was going to give them to Obi-Wan and then he realized he wasn't at the temple, so thought you'd do instead." "How did you know that?" Jemmy demanded crossly, twisting her tangled hair into a loose plait down the side of her neck. "Because he had to give them to someone." Harkley put down his fork, regarding her earnestly. "I was the one who dared him to steal them in the first place! He'd always been on about how inhumane it was to keep lobsters in tanks for food, to suffer the indignity of being handpicked for dinner. I actually agree with him," Harkley was surprised to note, "but we decided it was time he put his money where his mouth was and challenged him to stage a rescue, not thinking for a moment that he would. And, low and behold…" Kryztan spread his hands in a gesture of incredulity, "he did! So, it was simple after that…he couldn't take them home. His master would slay him! And to hand them in to a master would arouse deep suspicion: questions would be asked as to where they had come from and exactly what a padawan was doing with three lobsters in the first place. I therefor deduced he'd have to give them to a friend. The only ones mad enough…that is to say, considerate enough to do such a thing are Zac or Obi-Wan. Kenobi's not here and Zac says he doesn't have them so I guessed it would have to be the next best thing: some friend of Obi-Wan not under suspicion." Harkley finished with a flourish. "And so I reckoned it was probably you." "Bravo." Jemmy drawled, clapping slowly. "Kryztan, the great Jedi detective." "Impressed?" Kryz asked her with a shy laugh. "I guess." "I'm not surprised. Of course, all that deduction and problem solving would have been amazing indeed, except for the fact that I just asked Bai what he did with them and he told me he gave them to you." Kryztan dodged Jemmiah's pretend arrows, tittering as he did so. "So it's maybe not as triumphant sounding in reality!" "You're a regular Jedi pain in the rear." Jemmiah grinned at him. "But I like that." Harkley bowed his head, accepting the compliment for what it was. "You know me…anything to dazzle the ladies! But if you're looking for Bai," he pointed his index finger to the right, where a miserable and somewhat subdued looking young man sat, looking extraordinarily cowed, "that's him over there on his own. Speak to him by all means…infact please do! You'd be doing us all a favor. Ever since he thieved those lobsters he's been riddled with guilt for what he's done." "I'm not surprised." Jemmy smart-mouthed Kryztan. "You were the one who persuaded him to do it. So if someone finds out and he gets into trouble it'll be all your fault." Kryztan looked slightly uncomfortable. "He's got a free mind. He can act for himself." He replied uncertainly. "Besides, who is going to tell? Are you?" Jemmiah smiled enigmatically at him then walked away, leaving Kryztan in some doubt as to what her true intentions might be. Ocen-Bai Talz appeared to be very much lost in his own little world, his head resting lethargically in his hand almost as if it were suddenly too heavy for his neck to support without assistance. He had a somewhat thin face and a rather long lower lip that leant his features a rather brooding quality - yet Jemmiah thought in the latter respect he looked just like any other padawan who had learned to frown studiously at his master's behest. Hooded eyes fixed themselves unremittingly on the table surface, like he was staring past the dull metallic surface in search of something else. Could a boy be more miserable? And what had he to be miserable about? When she thought of all the misery she'd suffered in her short lifetime it irritated the hell out of her to see others do downcast…nothing anyone else experienced could have touched her own inner darkness…could have caused so much pain. She wanted to shake the young man by the shoulders and tell him to cheer up! Life was just too darned short to brood… Instead of resorting to physical violence to get his attention Jemmiah resorted to subtlety instead. "Hey, lobster boy!" She yelled in his ear. Bai sat up with a start, looking as if his heart was about to stop with the sudden shock. "Oh," he cried in relief, "it's you! Thank the force!" Jemmy shook her head. Some Jedi he was going to make - he was a total nervous wreck! But then again she supposed that was what came from having such an extraordinarily guilty conscience. He'd probably spent the last day looking over his shoulder and wondering if anyone had dropped him in it or if the manager of the restaurant he'd stolen the lobsters from had somehow contacted the temple and made a successful identification…not to mention what his master would do when she found out. She did feel kind of sorry for him…she didn't approve of stealing but she guessed she could understand why he'd done it, and after all it wasn't as if she had led a blameless existence, was it? What right had she to judge him? "If you don't calm down," Jemmy drawled, "you'll be dead by the time your twenty. Stress can do that to a person. I knew a person once who spent every waking moment terrified they were going to get murdered." Bai looked at her uncertainly. "I suppose you're going to tell me that the worry actually killed them, yes?" he asked skeptically. "No. She got murdered. But that's not the point," Jemmiah perched on the edge of the table, drawing one or two disapproving looks from the older masters in the food halls. For once Jemmiah did not care, "the point is that even when you know you've got something to worry about you just got to smile and pretend you haven't. It confuses the enemy and it almost convinces your brain that you're not lying through your teeth for appearance sake. Try it! Better than lying dead on a mortuary slab through stress. Now, onto other matters…" "The lobsters." Bai caught his breath. "You've still got them? They're safe?" Jemmiah swallowed but somehow managed to maintain her sabaac face. She'd intended on coming clean but now she just couldn't do it! Not just to save her own hide but to cheer up the abjectly miserable padawan before her who looked as if he were just one bridge short of committing suicide! Nervously licking her lips and setting her mouth into a sweet smile, Jemmiah decided that the truth was better diluted in this particular instance. "I don't have them." She admitted, her eyes settling on the nervous tick that seemed to be developing in the boy's neck. "But don't worry about a thing! They've been taken to a place where they'll be well looked after…by someone who I'm sure will appreciate them." Don't let him ask who by! Please don't let him ask who… "Who?" Jemmiah felt her jaw beginning to ache with insincerity. "Well, I know someone who likes that kind of thing…fish an' crabs and stuff…you know, weird and wonderful things in tanks. So you don't have to give it another thought! That's what I came to tell you…." Jemmiah gave a nervous little laugh. "Trust me. And nobody will ever know what you did…" Jemmiah had never seen a face so transformed with joy…so altered with rapture! Bai stood up, grabbing her by the hand and professing his undying gratitude, pumping her arm up and down like it were some kind of metal lever! Great, thought Jemmy. What was she supposed to do now? That had been a whopping great big lie even by her standards, her only comfort being that it had been done for someone else's benefit. Hardly able to look Bai in the face, Jemmiah continued to offer him the weakest of weak grins whilst all the time hoping that the ground would just open up and swallow her. "Thank you!" Bai gasped delightedly. "I knew you wouldn't let me down! Obi-Wan told me how much you loved animals…and then when I saw you in the gardens…and old Quillan spied me and I panicked…you have no idea how this has played on my conscience!" "I think I do." Jemmiah grimaced. "But there's no need to thank me, really. Perhaps though if I might have my hand back before it falls off…" Bai stopped the furious shaking and allowed Jemmy's hand to fall from his slackened grasp. "Oh, sorry." He mumbled. "But this is wonderful news! Now I don't have to spend the rest of the day wondering what's happened or if I'm going to get caught…" "Yeah, okay." Jemmiah waved the extremely relieved padawan on his way. "Whatever…just remember not to stress out, okay? I don't want to find myself stepping over you on the floor one day because you never listened to me. Besides, that would make the temple look plain untidy! And don't worry about the lobsters…" She encouraged him with a hesitant smile. "They've, er… they've gone to a much better place." Well, she thought as she watched him leave with a definite spring to his step, that went better than expected. Okay - she'd had to lie her head off to get him to feel better about himself, but surely it had been worth the sacrifice? And anyway she could always just blame Ben for being a bad influence with that 'point of view' garbage… Fantastic! She'd done two things wrong that day and both of them were attributable to either Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan! Thus feeling greatly reassured in her innocence Jemmiah slowly sauntered back over to face Kryztan Harkley, who it seemed was watching her every move with interest. Had she really managed to get under his skin this time? Worried him just a tiny bit? So much the better! Kryztan feigned disinterest, folding his arms and affecting as casual a gaze as he could muster, but his words betrayed his true feelings. Scratching idly at his hair with his left hand, he asked: "So…you're not really going to mention the dare to anyone, are you? I mean," he continued reasonably, "it would get you in trouble too for aiding and abetting a crime…and then of course poor Bai would get toasted…" "Should have thought of that before you dared him, shouldn't you!" Jemmiah resisted the childish temptation to stick out her tongue at him, reminding herself it wasn't ladylike. "But as I like you so much…I guess we'll just say this is one you owe me!" Harkley's eyes sparkled like bright, transfixing Corusca jewels, fascinating Jemmy - as they always had. There was such life in Kryztan's eyes…such mirth. It always felt so good to be near him: it was as if he radiated warmth and light. This time however she recognized something inescapably different about the boyish twinkle…something that warned her that Harkley was in no mood to lose. "Ah, well." Kryztan grinned. "If you put it like that…I'll do a deal with you. How about you don't tell anyone that I dared Bai about stealing the lobsters," he stood up and stretched out his hand, "and in return I won't ask Bai why Master Windu is over in the corner tucking into lobster sandwich…" Jemmiah's eyes rounded indignantly. Damn him! Damn, damn, damn… "Do we have a deal?" Kryztan asked, the hand remaining unwaveringly outstretched by way of a truce. Jemmiah bit her lip to stop her from swearing outloud. "Let's not call it a deal." She replied finally, shaking the padawan curtly by the hand. "Let's call it a draw. A stalemate between two superpowers…" "A declaration between two friends." Kryztan became suddenly serious, looking slightly distant...perhaps a little uncertain. "After all, that is what we are. I hope we will always be friends." Jemmiah nodded, unsure of Kryztan's sudden uneasiness. "I hope so too." She answered. |
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