OPTIONS
by ardavenport
- - - Part 4
Qui-Gon arrived at the café, but turning around, he did not see Obi-Wan and Mayb amidst the thinning midday meal crowds.
He had learned little more than what they already knew when he received Obi-Wan's com. No one knew much about what Yinis and Binoka had been doing on this moon, though he strongly suspected that the court clerk he had spoken to was hiding something.
Qui-Gon slowly turned around again. He could easily see over the horned heads of most of the tourists and shoppers. He was reaching for his com when he spotted Obi-Wan and Mayb coming out of a shadowed shop-tent. They crossed the stone walkway. Qui-Gon walked toward them.
Mayb leaped forward and threw a long garland of flowers over his head. He bent forward with her weight as she attached herself to his neck. She squealed and kissed his cheek. His hands on her arms, he gently pulled her away and she leaned back to admire him.
"See, I told you it would match his eyes," she tossed back to Obi-Wan who was doing a poor job of hiding the glint of his amusement.
Qui-Gon looked down at the long lengths of flowers that hung down to his knees. They were large petaled, pale blue flowers strung with clusters of blooms of varying hues of deep blue and indigo with dark green leaves poking out among them. A few of them were bent and displaced from Mayb's hug. Not too sweet and vaguely similar to sapir tea, their fresh, delicate scent now surrounded him.
"Thank-you," he said.
"You are most welcome." Mayb smiled back and then glanced a little smugly at Obi-Wan.
"You were attacked?" Qui-Gon addressed his apprentice.
"Oh, it didn't go that far," Mayb said. "Obi-Wan just broke something and scared off a fresher peeker with that energy thing."
Qui-Gon assumed that 'energy thing' had to mean 'lightsaber'.
"Yes, Master. You were right about the possible danger," Obi-Wan said a little guiltily. He produced the broken halves of a seeker droid and handed them to him. It was a sophisticated, but fortunately unarmed model, not something sent hastily by a panicky school dean. "I injured the droid's owner, but I was unable to follow without leaving Mayb unprotected in case it was a ruse."
"And his pants fell down," Mayb blurted out.
Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows. Obi-Wan looked embarrassed.
"We were in the fresher," she explained.
Qui-Gon did not try to hide his amusement. He asked Obi-Wan to describe what had happened. The attacker had been an older and oversized Tukmos, or a related species, in black body armor, poorly concealed by a long gray cape. Whoever it was did not sound like a local, body armor not being in fashion on this moon, but there was plenty of multi-species traffic in the area, so it would not have attracted attention.
"I'm sorry, Master." Obi-Wan lowered his eyes. "There was a danger," he looked up again, his blue-gray eyes earnest. "I didn't take it seriously. I should have been more prepared."
Qui-Gon laid his hand on Obi-Wan shoulder. "You did well, my Padawan. I was not expecting an attack like this myself." He sighed and smiled. "And I gave you ample reason to question my guidance earlier." Sometimes all his apprentice needed was time to think over a situation and Qui-Gon regretted that he too often forgot that. Obi-Wan only half smiled in return; then his eyes looked toward Mayb with concern. She watched them both.
There wasn't much foot traffic around them, but Qui-Gon guided them all toward the side of the café, away from any onlookers.
"We have received a communication from the Jedi Temple." Mayb looked completely uninterested while Obi-Wan perked up.
"Two Jedi were dispatched to the Ob Krim Academy on Massko. They arrived just in time to stop an attempt on Dean Hawxol's life. They are pursuing that attackers."
Mayb crossed her arms before her. "Well, that just can't be so. It must have been a robber or something. Nobody's going to want to kill Dean Hawxol. He doesn't do anything like that."
Obi-Wan grimaced up at him but remained silent. Of course, Qui-Gon acknowledged to himself, he had ordered Obi-Wan to say nothing. So, the task of telling Mayb Oeschus Arimba about the real reason why she was with them fell to him.
"I am sorry to inform you that my option on your marriage contract was merely a ruse to get you out of danger at the school. And I presume it is the same danger that led to the attack on Dean Hawxol," he said, his tone serious. He still held the two halves of the seeker droid in his hands for her to see.
"Oh." Mayb looked unimpressed. "So, you think someone, somewhere, for some strange reason is trying to kill me?"
Qui-Gon shook his head sadly. "No. To enslave you. The two people we were looking for, Yinis and Binoka, were freelance liberators. And our search for them led us to your school. And I believe now that Dean Hawxol was complicit with the activities of slave traders. And that you were their next target."
The skin between Mayb's thin eyebrows crinkled. "That's a bit un-real, don't you think? It sounds like a cheap holo-drama. Obi-Wan told me you didn't like those." Her small mouth puckered. "And what do you mean that you 'were' looking for those Yinis and Binoka'?
"They are unfortunately, dead- -"
"Then why are you looking for them?"
"We are looking for their killers. We are simply using the pretense of searching for them to conceal our motives from whoever killed them."
"So, you're done with this now? Now that they're dead. You can pay a little more attention to me. Your fiancé?" she reminded him.
"I cannot honor the contract," Qui-Gon told her, a bit surprised by her reaction. Her determined aqua eyes looked up at him with annoyance. "My vows as a Jedi Knight forbid me from marrying anyone."
"Well, it's not like I haven't changed jobs before." She grinned playfully, reached out and began to pet the flowers on the garland still around Qui-Gon's neck. "You said you were 'sorry' that you optioned my marriage contract as a ruse. Maybe after this, you won't be." Her fingers move past the flowers to the fabric of his tunic.
He stared down at her, dumbfounded. Obi-Wan, looking equally surprised, watched. Qui-Gon took her wrist and gently held it away from him, but she moved her body closer and looked straight up at his face.
"I cannot marry you," he explained carefully. "The Jedi Code forbids it."
"Fine," she answered agreeably with false pleasantry. "You'll lose your deposit on the option. And there are triple penalties for withdrawing. I'll just take your money and go back to Massko." She stepped back, but he held on to her wrist, his grip firming.
"You cannot go back there. You are in danger," he told her sternly.
"From who?" She jerked her arm, but he did not release her.
Her expression had changed completely. Playful teasing had swiftly transformed into genuine hatred and it momentarily astonished Qui-Gon, but he did not let go.
"I have other options. If you're not serious about this." Her voice had turned loud and hard and accusing. "I don't just have a marriage contract on file all the time as if I'm on the market. I have had another offer. If you really don't think you can handle this, you can just cancel, pay your penalties and I'll re-open the negotiation with him," she finished proudly.
"Who?" Qui-Gon asked, his instinct suddenly stirred.
"Mak Edoma," she said smugly. "I admit that he's a bit plain. You certainly wouldn't have had a chance if he weren't. And the coms from his lawyer proved that he was very well situated. And Dean Hawxol assured me that he was quite interested."
Obi-Wan's mouth was open, his eyes going from her to him. Mayb looked quite satisfied by their reactions. Qui-Gon released her wrist and he bowed his head to her.
"I see that I have underestimated you. I beg forgiveness," he said formally. Suddenly Mayb Oeschus Arimba had become their best source of information, whether she knew it or not.
The apology satisfied her. Her anger gone as quickly as it had materialized, she smiled, moved toward him and put her arms around his waist, under his robe. Obi-Wan tilted his head, worriedly peering toward the exact spot where Mayb's hand was fondling his buttocks.
"There," she said, her head resting against his chest. She sniffed a fragrant indigo bloom. "I forgive you."
=== oO%*%Oo ==%%%== oO%*%Oo ===
Obi-Wan kept his nose to the ship's computer screen, quickly scanning the data that they had been able to collect about Mak Edoma on Ayma's moon. They were back in hyperspace, heading toward Cucadu. It was a verdant core world that Mayb had heartily approved of. And Mak Edoma's estate was on its largest continent.
Next to him, R4-2B quietly beeped and clicked to itself, monitoring the ship. The text and holos flicked past Obi-Wan's eyes. He took in the information with little enthusiasm. Edoma was only a moderately wealthy financier with no significant political connections according to the information they had received from their data inquiry to the Jedi Temple. He seemed to enjoy doing a little bit of business in multiple fields; specialty droids, land renewal, nature tours, deep water tours, asteroid tours. Edoma's minor manufacturing activities mostly supported his service interests. All of it was very unremarkable and legal.
Only Edoma's name had been in Yinis and Binoka's files. They apparently had not tracked down who he was when they were killed. But he would have been a target of the two. One of their methods of attacking the slave trade was to identify legitimate business people, like Edom, and discourage them with threats of public revelation of their flirtation with the illegal trade. This tactic also made the two liberators ridiculously visible to any slave traders who would not be intimidated.
Qui-Gon returned to the pilot's seat. Obi-Wan did not move or look up as his Master passed behind him. Qui-Gon settled himself with a familiar sigh and a low hum of seat adjustment, though Obi-Wan felt that the silence in the cabin was loud with his own tension. Qui-Gon was clearly ignoring it; he had said that they would talk in the morning. Obi-Wan knew that he was expected to think carefully about what he said before then.
Obi-Wan had not talked to Qui-Gon yet about his physical attraction to Mayb. He had hoped that she would leave them alone for another extended session in the fresher, but apparently her beauty maintenance time was reserved for the morning. Obi-Wan had only gotten as far as telling Qui-Gon that he was disturbed by Mayb before she emerged again, cheerful and asking about where they were going next. Qui-Gon had frowned back at Obi-Wan over Mayb's blond curls while she played with the flowers still hanging around his neck.
Mayb was asleep on one of the bunks in the cable, but she had fallen asleep curled up in Qui-Gon's lap. As soon as they were in hyperspace, she had been all over Qui-Gon with caresses and little kisses, her perfect, shapely body pressing next to him. She had coyly suggested that Obi-Wan might be more comfortable in the ship's airlock so she could be alone with Qui-Gon. But his Master's mind influence had convinced her that she was more tired than she thought.
Obi-Wan rubbed his neck and stopped the data viewer. He wasn't seeing any of the information anymore. He was accomplishing nothing. He felt worn out from this mission, though they had done nothing dangerous or strenuous or difficult. In the pilot's seat, Qui-Gon was already asleep. For a fleeting moment he considered waking him up, he wanted to speak so badly. But too often in the past, his Master had counseled patience and this had been the right course in the end. He did need to think. And he did not wish to whisper his problem to Qui-Gon, fearful of waking Mayb up with his secret.
Obi-Wan glanced at Qui-Gon's discarded garland, now draped over R4-2B. Reaching out to one large indigo bloom, he felt its smooth, powder-soft petal between his calloused fingertips. So similar to Mayb's skin.
He got up from his seat, leaving his robe behind, draped over the backrest. Only removing his rear belt pouch and lightsaber, he stretched out on one of the bunks, his boots still on. He glanced toward the other bunk and then quickly looked away.
The Jedi Temple had answered their request for assistance, but the two Jedi who had been dispatched were off chasing whoever tried to kill Dean Hawxol. And nothing was said about Qui-Gon's marriage option with Mayb other than a curt order to keep them informed. Mayb would have to stay with them for protection. From slavers? From Edoma? They did not know.
Closing his eyes, Obi-Wan cleared his mind of the image of the besotted and sleepy look he had seen on Mayb's face as Qui-Gon stroked her temple. He had felt his Master's mind influence over her through the Force, quieting her amorous advances with a suggestion of sleep. Obi-Wan had stared blankly at his viewer then, not seeing anything on it and unable to get away from the sounds behind him. Frozen in his seat, unable to think, not daring to feel, he had let the tingle of Mayb's sleepy pleasure pass through him as his Master easily picked her up and carried her back to deposit her on a bunk.
Breathing deeply and quelling the tension in his neck and stomach, Obi-Wan cleared his mind again, hoping that this time it would work.
- - - End Part 4