His comlink beeped and he reached down to answer it. "Master?" "Yes Padawan?" "I’m sorry to disturb you, but it seemed important." "What is it?" "A woman named Merina called and said that there is a problem with a certain item, and she wanted you to come and pick it up immediately. Do you know what she meant Master?" Qui-Gon sighed to himself knowing exactly what his Padawan was talking about. He had most definitely been in this position before. "Yes Xanatos, I know what she meant. Thank you, I’ll take care of it." "Yes, Master." As Qui-Gon turned off him comlink, he turned to his friend that he had gone out with. "Mace..." he started. "What has she done this time?" Mace wondered. "I don’t know, but I have to go get her." "Why do you put up with her?" Mace asked his friend. A smile played across Qui-Gon’s lips. "I don’t know Mace. I think it’s because she keeps me young." Mace threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "Fine Qui. Let’s go. Maybe this time she’ll do what you tell her to." "I doubt it." Qui-Gon chuckled to himself as he rose to leave. As the two hooded figures walked towards the building they heard a rhythmic thumping. The closer they got the louder it was. Before they had a chance to knock, the door was flung open revealing a short stout looking woman who was about to snap. The figures stood in the doorway for a moment until the woman’s eyes focused enough to recognize them. "Master Jinn! Thank the gods you came! She won’t stop! She’s been at it for hours and nothing will stop her!" Wordlessly Qui-Gon and Mace stepped in the room. Then he saw her. Qui-Gon, thanking the Force for telling him to keep his hood up, had to smile. There she was, wild curls framing her face as she stomped up the stairs. Determination set on her small face as she reached the top of the stairs, walked towards a room, slammed the door as hard as she could, then started back down the stairs. "Master Jinn! Isn’t there something you can do to make her stop?" Merina yelled trying to be heard over the thumping. "How long had she been doing this?" he asked. "Since early this afternoon. Ever since she got home from school." Qui-Gon looked at his chrono. Eleven o’clock. Even he knew that she should have been in bed hours ago, and not have spent almost eight hours tramping up and down the stairs. "Why did she start?" he asked calmly dreading the answer. "I told her to." Merina explained. That he wasn’t prepared for. "Excuse me? You told her to?" he clarified. Merina started rubbing her hands together nervously, and started to look around the room. "Y-yes sir. It began as punishment. She had left her jacket at the foot of the stairs while she ran up to put her school things away. When she came back down she picked up her jacket and began to head outside. Well, you see sir, none of the children are allowed to play until they get their schoolwork done. She said she had finished it, but I knew for a fact that she had her mathematics to do. She lied to me, Master Jinn, because I know that there is no possible way she could have finished it. So for punishment I told her to come in the door and take her jacket up to her room then come back down stairs and start all over again." "For eight hours?" he stressed. "No, Master Jinn. Just until supper, but she wouldn’t stop. Little thing doesn’t eat that much anyway. That’s probably why she’s so small." A snicker from Mace told Qui-Gon that this woman needed to be put in her place. He slowly took off his hood and stood in front of her in an intimidating pose. "You can’t blame me for her attitude Master Jinn." Merina nearly begged. Qui-Gon gave her ‘the look.’ "Did you ask to see it?" "See what?" she snapped back confused. Qui-Gon used everything available to him to avoid rolling his eye at her. He bent down and stared hard into her eyes. "Her mathematics that you swear that she didn’t do." "No." she whispered realizing her mistake. "She may be small, but she has a keen mind." Qui-Gon stressed while still staring at Merina. "Even for a seven year old." Disgusted Qui-Gon turned his back to the now nervous woman and walked over to the stairs. "Rela." he said calmly. THUMP! THUMP! "Rela!" he said a little louder. THUMP! THUMP! The snickering from Mace and the huff from Merina weren’t helping the situation. Finally Qui-Gon stepped in front of the stomping Rela and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Rela!" he stressed. "Oh! Hello Kai!" she said innocently as she looked evenly at him. It never failed to amuse Qui-Gon that she was never scared of him. He could make the ruler of an entire planet shrink in his or her seat with one look, yet if he tries it on this seven year old girl she would come up and give him a kiss on the cheek and tell him everything was going to be okay. "Small one, go get your things. You’re coming with us." "Yes sir." she answered excitedly and raced up the stairs. They waited in silence until Rela came barreling back down the stairs. All she carried was a small pack and her jacket. "Go with Master Windu out to the sky car Rela. I’ll be along in a moment." She nodded her head as she continued her way down the stairs. Without pausing Rela walked in front of Merina, dropped her jacket on the floor and continued her way out the door with Mace. "Thank you Merina, but your services have been enough." Qui-Gon told her politely as possible. "Good luck with that one Master Jinn." Merina called out. "She’s got a mind of her own. I couldn’t even get her to stop wearing those boots." "I gave her those boots, and there is no such thing as luck, only the Force." With that said he quickly turned and left. Qui-Gon reached the sky car just in time to catch Rela reaching out to touch Mace’s head. He gave her a stern look and she quickly pulled her hand back, but still managed to give him a cheeky smile. "Now where to Qui?" Mace asked. "The Temple." Qui-Gon quickly answered. "Really?" Rela asked excitedly. "I’m sorry Rela. It's only for one night and you’ll be staying with Mace. Early tomorrow we’ll go to your new foster home." Qui-Gon couldn’t bear to look at her as her face fell dejectedly. "Me?" Mace quickly asked. "He can’t know about her Mace. I don’t know why, but I just have this feeling that I can’t let him know" Qui-Gon explained quietly while keeping an eye on Rela who was pouting in the backseat. "Don’t pout Small one." Qui-Gon pleaded with her. "Ven and Spiri are a very nice couple. You’ll like them." "Yes sir." Rela answered halfheartedly which almost broke Qui-Gon’s resolve. "Why can’t she go stay with them tonight?" Mace nearly begged. "It’s too late. It will be fine Mace. Trust me." Qui-Gon told him confidently. "I hate it when you say that Qui." Much to Mace’s dismay they quickly reached the Temple. Being so late the Temple was quiet except for a few Knights and Masters returning from a late night out. Qui-Gon scooped the small Rela up in his arms because it was so late, but mostly to keep her hidden. The trio soon reached Mace’s quarters and briskly stepped inside. Qui-Gon put Rela down and knelt on the floor in front of her so he could be at her level. He took her small hands in hers and looked her in the eye. "Please, please, Small one don’t cause any trouble tonight. Just do what Mace tells you, and I’ll come and get you first thing in the morning." He could see the tears start to well up in her eyes, but could also see the determination set in her face not to let them fall. He couldn’t understand how this seven-year-old slip of a girl be so strong at something that almost caused his own heart to break. "Do I have your promise that you won’t cause any trouble tonight?" he begged. "I promise Kai." she told him bravely. "Thank you. Now get some sleep, we have an early day tomorrow." He kissed her on her forehead and hastily stood up. "Take care of her for me Mace." "She won’t cause any trouble?" "No, she promised me she wouldn’t" "She could be lying..." "I don’t lie!" Rela interrupted angrily. "I know you don’t Small one, and now Mace knows you don’t either." Qui-Gon said pointedly. Mace just rolled his eyes. "You owe me for this one Qui." Mace told him through clenched teeth. "Yes I do Mace, and thank you." "Goodnight Small one, and goodnight Mace." Qui-Gon paused long enough to give Rela another kiss on her forehead, then he was gone. The loud sound of hands clapping together grabbed Rela attention. She turned to find a nervous Mace doing his best to brighten the situation. "Now what shall we do first?" he asked in an overly happy voice. "Kai said for me to go to sleep." Rela answered skeptically. "Good because I’ve got a Council meeting first thing in the morning." Mace said in a relieved voice. "Now let’s get you settled and both of us can get some sleep." Rela stood silently in the middle of the room as she watched Mace race from one side to the other. If she had known what he was searching for she might have helped him out. As she continued to watch him an odd look came over her face and the same thought kept running through her head. <This guy is WEIRD.> "A-HA! Here they are!" Mace exclaimed. He turned with an armload of blankets and handed them to Rela. She ended up dropping most of them since the stack was about as tall as she was. "The sleep couch is right over there." he told her as he pointed to the sofa in the main room. "If you need anything, I’ll be right in here." He pointed to his room. "So, um, well, goodnight." he quickly said and disappeared in to his room. <This guy has NEVER been around kids!> Rela thought to herself. She started to dig through the pile of blankets until she found one to her liking. She wrapped it around her until it looked quite like a Jedi robe and went and stood staring out the window. After a few moments she sighed to herself and laid down on the sofa waiting for the sleep that she knew wouldn’t come. KNOCK! KNOCK! "Mace!" KNOCK! KNOCK! "Mace!" KNOCK! KNOCK! "What do you want?" an angry muffled voice asked "Where’s the ‘fresher?" "Right where I showed you." "No, you didn’t!" "Yes, I did!" "Mace!" Suddenly the door was flung open to reveal a very unhappy Master. "It’s Master Windu, if you please." "Windy?" "Windu." "Windy." "Windu...What did you want?!" "The ‘fresher!" Rela answered now jumping up and down. "It’s right there!" "Thank you." she replied as she quickly raced inside. For some reason Mace decided to wait until Rela emerged before he went back to bed. He knew she was only seven, but that didn’t stop some of the thoughts running through his head. <Qui, you owe me BIG! Only the Force knows why you keep this little one in your life. She’s not even a Jedi, and is going to end up being nothing but trouble.> "She’s nothing but a thorn in your side Qui." he muttered to himself. Soon the small redhead came out and gave Mace an odd look. <Where have I seen that look before.> he quickly thought. "Finished?" "Yes sir." "Good! Now go back to sleep." "Yes sir." Rela’s eyes narrowed dangerously as she watched the dark-skinned Master return to his room. "I’ll show you a thorn in your side Master Windu." she said quietly to herself as she quickly formed a plan. Qui-Gon arrived early the next morning and was surprised to find Rela sitting calmly on Mace’s sofa with an angelic look on her face. <She’s been up to something.> He quickly looked around and could find nothing wrong. With a shrug of his shoulders he continued his way toward Rela. "Good morning Rela." "Good morning Kai." "Did you get any sleep?" "As much as I usually do." she sighed. Qui-Gon took another look around the room. "Where’s Mace?" he wondered aloud. "Still sleeping." Rela quickly answered. "Well we need to get going. Have you got all your things?" "Yes sir." "Let’s go then." Qui-Gon took Rela’s hand as they made their was out of Mace’s quarters. Qui-Gon paused a moment to quickly knock on the bedroom door. "Mace! If you don’t get up you’ll be late." Some sort of grumbling was heard and they could almost make out an "I’m up." Qui-Gon just looked down at Rela gave her a smile and shrugged his shoulders. Rela quickly returned the smile as they made their way out. Before the door shut, Rela quickly called back. "Bye, Master Windy!" As soon as he heard the door shut, Mace leaped out of bed. It wasn’t as if he didn’t like the little redhead, it was just he didn’t feel comfortable around kids. He quickly made his way toward the ‘fresher and took a good look at himself in the mirror. He had intended to berate himself for being so unpleasant toward her. He was met with his reflection that had a large flower drawn on his head. One that also included a small thorn. |
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| Things That Go 'Thump' In The Night By Mouse |
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