Sirion Lanor - The reporter is basically just a mouthpiece for some anti-Jedi arguments. Some people are going to be big fans of the Jedi. Some are not. Most probably don't care. The musical is just a musical - we'll learn in this chapter why there is a character named after Sascha. Thanks for the review, as always.

if-inconvenient-come-anyway - I'm actually kind of on Martis' side. The Jedi sit in their Temple too damn much. Spiderman is a hero because he fights all the superpowered heroes, but he stops ordinary crime too. The Jedi see themselves as above that, I suppose. I kind of wanted to show that there is some anti-Jedi sentiment even before the Clone Wars, because it seems to kind of emerge from nowhere. And yeah, poor Sascha. He just wanted a nice, normal birthday party! Jedi don't exactly do 'normal' though.

IonTheChosenOne - Aurine is non-canon. There was one canon character in that last chapter, and that is Tiplee - she appears in season 6 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. We'll see a bit more of her in the next book. Thank you very much for the compliment. Thanks for reading!

Lord Darth Yoda - I definitely included the Temple Guard because of Rebels. That's a good point about it is why the CIA doesn't involve itself in local police actions. But if you were a citizen of Coruscant, you might wonder why the high and mighty Jedi are always within their little Temple and not helping out the Republic. Glad you enjoyed the musical, I always thought that being an old Jedi must kind of suck. You still have awesome powers, but your body just begins to fail you. And yeah, Tyra, still crushing (sigh).

A/N - Please excuse any editing mistakes this chapter may contain, didn't get to edit it for as long as I would have liked.

Please enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter 10: How to Embarrass a Padawan, an Evening in Several Acts. Act Two: Reception

As the show ended, the Padawans weren't entirely clear on what to do next, and they sort of milled around their suite aimlessly. Tyra was the first to speak,"I told Master Nal'ma that I'd meet him after the show at the front entrance, and I think he was with Master Tiplee, so let's go Nara."

Nara looked confused, "Uh, okay. Bye Sascha." Tyra led the Togruta out of the suite, leaving him alone with Trigg and Doro.

"Um, did our Masters forget to tell us where to meet them afterward?" asked Trigg.

"Probably just Tyra making a good excuse to leave," replied Doro.

"I guess we could follow her," said Sascha without conviction. Why hadn't Aurine told him what to do after the event ended? It seemed like an oversight.

Before he could pull out his comlink and contact his Master, a Nautolan dressed in official looking clothes entered their suite and bowed politely, "Master Jedi, on behalf of Kant Pesqui, who brought this show to Coruscant, I'd like to invite you to our official reception, you would greatly honor us with your presence."

The three Jedi shared a glance, not sure what the best course of action was. Finally Sascha decided that someone should speak, "We'd be pleased to attend, though I do not know how long we can stay."

The Nautolan nodded and led the Jedi from their suite. Sascha knew that if his Master was looking for him that she would probably look for him in their suite, so while he followed the Nautolan, he sent a sort of mental summons to his Master through the Force, trying to let her know that he would not be there. He could have used his comlink, but opted for the more subtle approach.

The three Padawans were brought to a large and lavishly furnished ballroom, where wealthy Coruscanti all milled around dressed in their finest clothes. The three humbly dressed Jedi Padawans stood, at a loss of what to do. "We just blend right in," Trigg muttered.

"I guess we just make the best of it," Sascha said with more good cheer than he felt.

"Somehow I don't think the star of the musical gets to blend in," said Doro.

Sascha grimaced, "Is there any way I can bribe you to forget that one of the characters was named after me?"

"I don't think Jedi are supposed to take bribes," said Doro, grinning.

He sighed dramatically. He was sure that Doro and Tigg weren't going to let him forget about this...for about the rest of his life. Awesome.

Trigg glanced around the opulent ballroom, "So, what is the plan here? Pretend we are part of the musical? Be ourselves?"

Doro let out a long breath, "No, I guess we treat this like its a diplomatic function, and walk around introducing ourselves and talking to people. Such a great party this is Sascha."

"Take any complaints you have about the venue to the person who planned this little event," he said petulantly. He had thought that this night out was supposed to be a reward, but the further on the night went, the more annoyed he was getting.

Trigg puffed himself up, "Right, Tyra abandoned us and took the little scamp, so it's up to us men to make a good impression. Maybe if we do well, some businessman will by us a Starfighter when we are older."

Sascha enjoyed it when Trigg took on the responsibility for the group, but would never stop needling him about it, "Sir, yes sir!" he said, striking a military pose, "Engaging 'act normal' protocol."

"See, that's the spirit," Trigg said to Doro, as Sascha walked towards the crowd.

Being a Jedi in public took some getting used to. Some people would openly stare at you, which Sascha never really understood. Besides the clothing and lightsaber that marked him as a Jedi, Sascha Whitestar was a perfectly average looking human male, yet some people stared at him as if he was some sort of freak. Most were too polite to stare openly, but they would gawk at him when his back was turned to them. It was annoying to say the least. Some people wanted to test a Jedi, to see if they could make him angry, or to see if they would lift some rocks for them, all in all, they wanted proof that he was a Jedi, not someone just dressed like one. And some, the people he liked talking to, were those that treated him as a normal person.

He had been trained laboriously about the rules for being a Jedi in public. Always be polite, never lie, respect your Master, never contradict your Master, and speak like you are speaking for the Jedi Council at all times. Then then we wonder why our Masters don't let us out much, thought Sascha to himself with an inner smile.

He made his way towards a gathering of Bith musicians, complimenting them on a fine performance. Being a musician was vaguely like being a Jedi, you practiced your entire life to do one thing, and when you came right down to it, no one gave you much credit. For a musical, credit went to the singers, not the backing musicians, just like when a Jedi helped negotiate a peace treaty, it was always Politician 'A' or Foreign Minister 'B' that took the credit, while the Jedi who put in all the leg work might be noted by a historian, but probably not.

The Bith musicians were pleasant enough company, they were clearly honored that a Jedi had chosen to notice them. Sascha knew from his few experiences in dealing with the public that compliments from a Jedi went a long way, and it often prevented a question that he very much dreaded, 'what's it like being a Jedi?' The question was both perfectly logical and completely inane, it was like asking him what it was like being a human. What was it like being a Jedi? Sascha didn't know, it wasn't like he could just stop being a Jedi for a few moments and then compare the experiences, he simply was a Jedi. None of the Biths asked that question though, mostly they asked him polite questions about whether or not he enjoyed the musical.

He was about to ask a another question when a rippling of applause came through the crowd. Sascha thought that this might have signalled the entrance of an important person, Sascha was too far away to see exactly who it might be…he wondered if it was perhaps Chancellor Valorum? The Chancellor had a long history of attending events at this particular institution.

An amplified voice spoke, "Please friends, don't clap for me, I'm merely the talent scout. The real credit goes to the hard working musicians and singers that brought that show to life." Ah, thought Sascha, not Chancellor Valorum. The voice continued, "I want to give special attention to a person this theater knows well, Valix Gornt, the elder statesman of musical theater, a man who refuses to go silently into that good night – and why should he with a voice like his!"

The crowd finally parts enough for him to see a tall, elderly Gotal join a flamboyantly dressed human at the front of the ballroom. Sascha joins in with the applause for the Gotal, in his opinion he had been the best part of the show. The flamboyantly dressed man continues, once the applause died down, "And I think we know that this young man has a bright future, today was his first performance at the Coruscant Opera House and I think I speak for all of us when I say that this was just the first of many. Ladies and Gentlemen, Gardeth Weims!"

The applause for the man that played 'Sascha Whitestar' is loud, rapturous almost. Gardeth saunters beside the other human, a large smile on his face as he waves to his adoring public. Sascha rolled his eyes, annoyed at this over the top celebration.

Sascha waited for the human to introduce the rest of the cast, but it was not to be. Sascha shrugged slightly. He would have liked to have seen that beautiful Twi'lek again. And to be honest, he thought that she was a better singer than Gardeth 'Sascha Whitestar' Weims.

As the ballroom returns to its familiar din of conversation, he noticed that Doro and Trigg were no longer in evidence. He cursed under his breath, maybe this had all been a test. Well, if it had been Sascha had clearly failed. He wasn't even sure what this test was!

He was spared from dwelling on that cheerful thought by the appearance of his Master, who wandered over to him slowly. He quickly strode over to her side, "Glad you could make it, Master, we're the only ones left, so can we please make our escape?"

Aurine is about to respond when she is interrupted by a loud shout of, "Master Jedi!" Sascha and Aurine turn toward the direction of the voice. The voice belongs to the man that had spoken earlier. He is a middle aged, flamboyantly dressed, and can seemingly not stand still for a second, he's always moving, his long black hair bobs around like it has a mind of its own. "Why you must be Sascha Whitestar," the man says grabbing and pumping his hand in a firm handshake, "I'm so glad you could make it tonight, did you enjoy the show?"

"I am Jedi Padawan Sascha Whitestar, and you must Kant Pesqui," Sascha hazarded a guess.

"Yes, yes, but I am of no importance," he said, putting an arm around the Padawan before he can react. "I want you to meet Gardeth Weims, I know it must be odd to have someone with your name on stage, but we felt it would add an extra layer of authenticity to have all our characters all named after actual Jedi." Sascha would rather have joined the cleaning staff for the night then have a conversation with a person that had appropriated his name, but when he turns to his Master for support, she only smirked at him. He wondered why his Master is not sparing him from something that he obviously doesn't want to do.

Before he can manage to come up with an appropriate excuse to get out of meeting Gardeth Weims, he finds himself standing in front of the man himself. Gardeth Weims resembled Sascha in only a couple of ways, he has Sascha's pale skin colour and his dark brown hair, past that they might as well be opposites. He is short and pretty unremarkable looking. Gardeth on the other hand is tall and if his musical career doesn't work out, he could easily transition into a career in modelling. Judging by the mostly female crowd that surrounds him, he already has his share of admirers.

"Gardeth Weims, please meet Sascha Whitestar. Sascha, meet Gardeth Weims," said Kant before the businessman is distracted by another conversation.

Sascha offered his hand to the taller man, and Gardeth shakes it with seeming reluctance. Gardeth's cool grey eyes evaluate him, "Padawan Whitestar, I am honored to meet you, you've been quite an inspiration to me," Gardeth said with a distinct lack of emotion.

Such a charmer, Sascha thinks, "It's a pleasure to meet you Padawan Whitestar, I mean Gardeth Weims," Sascha said with a false smile plastered on his face. "I always wanted to meet myself. I seem to have gotten a bit taller."

Gardeth looks around at the small group of young women obviously vying for his attention, "Maybe is this a bit uncouth of me, but aren't you a bit short for a Jedi?"

The crowd laughs at Gardeth's joke, and by extension at him. Sascha attempted to keep his hands from clenching into fists. He isn't entirely successful. "Jedi come in all shapes in sizes," he said rather lamely.

"Ah yes," nods Gardeth sagely. Gardeth leans in close and speaks quieter, "Now, I saw a couple of cute female Jedi in the suite with you – do you think you could introduce them to me? I'd like to study them in private...you know for research purposes."

Anger boils within him, and it takes all of his composure not to bring his knee right into Gardeth's crotch. "I assure you that they can do much better than you, Gardeth," he said, shoving the man lightly.

Gardeth smirked, obviously amused that he has been able to make Sascha lose his cool. "Well that's too bad youngling. Anyway, I have more important people to talk to," Gardeth said, dismissing the Padawan with a flick of his hand. Gardeth turned his back to him and immediately involved himself in conversation with a rather comely young Zeltron.

Sascha is so angry at the moment that he can barely see straight. He turns and stalked away angrily, not caring if he makes a scene; he just wants to get away from his impersonator. His thoughts are dominated by the idea of punching Gardeth right in his smug face. Where were Doro and Trigg when you needed them? Finally they had a worthy target for their pranks and now they were gone.

As he stalked through the crowd, he is stopped by someone who grabbed at his arm. "What!" he shouted.

As he turned, he saw that the person who had grabbed at his arm was the lovely young Twi'lek from the musical, "Hey there. Slow down before you run someone over."

"Sorry, I just need to not be here right now," he said.

Yet when he tried to get past the Twi'lek, she moved to stand directly in his way, "I saw you talked to Gardeth. Now you know what I know, that he's a jerk with an ego the size of a starship."

Sascha is still not exactly looking for a conversation right now. Right now, he needs somewhere to vent his anger, "Yeah, he's a real tribute to the name Sascha Whitestar, a name that I'm pretty sure was spotless until his musical happened."

The lithe, blue-skinned Twi'lek puts a hand on her chin, "Yet, I can't decide who is a bigger jerk right now. You, or him."

"What!"

"You just about ran me over, in case you didn't notice," said the Twi'lek.

"I didn't notice...sorry," he said.

"You're the real Sascha Whitestar, aren't you?" she asked inquisitively.

"It depends what you means by 'real' Sascha Whitestar, if you get confused, he's the handsome one, I'm the one that can lift rocks with his mind," he replied, deadpan.

The Twi'lek smiled and took a sip of her drink, which was an exotic yellow drink in a tall glass, "So which one of you do I want beside me if I get in a fight?"

"Gardeth. People will throw themselves in front of punches just to preserve his pretty face."

The young Twi'lek grinned, and took another a long sip of her drink, "Don't let Gardeth get under your skin," she said. "He's not worth it."

Sascha rubbed his face, taking a deep cleansing breath. It helped take away some of the anger he was still feeling. "Sorry. I should properly introduce myself. I am Sascha Whitestar of Sluis Van, despite what that musical may have told you."

The Twi'lek curtsied politely, keeping her drink elevated so it does not spill, "I'm Ezah Resel."

"I enjoyed your part in the musical," he offered.

The Twi'lek smiled a bit shyly, "Thank you, that is praise indeed from a real Jedi. I don't get much praise these days. It also seems to go to Valix Gornt, and Gardeth. Valix deserves it. Gardeth does not." The Twi'lek shrugged, "But really its fine with me, I never loved the spotlight much myself. I sing because I love it."

"I think Gardeth loves the spotlight more than singing," he speculated.

Ezah nods, "The two things Gardeth love are fame and women."

"I guess they cast me perfectly then," he replied sardonically.

Ezah laughed loudly, "Ah, don't worry about it. It's just a name." The Twi'lek cocked her head to the side, "I must know, what did you like about my performance?"

"You were honest, you believed in what you were singing, unlike someone people I could name," he said bitterly. Realizing how petulant he was sounding, he tried to purge the bitterness he was feeling, but was finding it difficult to do so.

"Making friends, are we Sascha?" said Master Brynar strolling over to join their conversation.

"You must be Sascha's Master, a pleasure to meet you, Master Jedi," said Ezah, a picture of politeness.

"You act more like a Padawan than some actual Padawans I could name," said Aurine, a hint of a rebuke in her voice. He looked down, stung by her comment and knew that she was right.

"Excuse my Padawan and I for a second," Aurine said politely.

"It was nice to meet you, Sascha," said Ezah. The Twi'lek headed towards a bar that had been set up, somehow maintaining an amount of anonymity despite her status as one of the stars of the performance.

After gaining a bit of privacy in the crowded ballroom, Aurine looked down at him, "I'm disappointed in you, Padawan. How is it that you are so polite in the Temple, but you are unable to swallow your pride for five minutes outside of it? Do you even realize you that were making a scene?"

"They used my name!" said Sascha a bit louder than he wanted to, "Then the actor who was playing 'me' insulted me and my friends, so yeah, you can say that I'm a bit upset at the moment." He stopped to consider for a second, something was not adding up, "You knew that one of the characters was named after me…this was a test. You knew this would happen."

"Yes this was a test," said Aurine. "And you have failed it utterly."

His Master's words feel like a painful stake being driven into his heart. He hated failing his Master, but he refused to let himself be dragged into feeling self-pity. He bowed his head politely, "I am sorry, Master…I don't know why this has affected me this way, I'll spend some time meditating on it," he promised earnestly.

Aurine nodded, "You will, but first you will do penance. When I spoke to Kant Pasqui, I learned that it is tradition for the younger cast members to go out for drinks and dancing as a group after their first performance on a new planet. I want you to go with them."

"Master?"

His Master is frustrated, he can tell by her presence in the Force, but her body posture remains calm, polite. He hoped that he'd be able to develop similar control when he got older. "Sascha, if you had not been so caught up in your anger and bitterness over your name being used you should have been able to sense a small disturbance in the Force surrounding the young Twi'lek over there. Open yourself up to the Force and tell me what you feel."

He closed his eyes, first carefully purging his built up emotions and then centering himself in the Force. Then he expanded his awareness, just so that it envelops the room. He can sense the emotions in the room as they swirl around, there does not seem to be much out of place, most of the beings in the room are in a good mood having either experienced or put on a top rate performance. He's about to close down and return to full awareness of himself when he notes a small disturbance that seems to envelop Ezah Resel. A disturbance in the Force was something like a beacon, telling a Jedi that something is…off. Better Jedi could get more specific in detecting what sort of event the disturbance was foreshadowing, but he had never been good at that.

Sascha frowned, "It's a very minor disturbance Master."

"Yes, it is," Aurine agreed. "I doubt that Ezah is in deadly danger or anything like that, but something...interesting is sure to happen to her tonight. This will be your mission, Padawan, blend in with the cast and make sure they come to no harm. You may even enjoy yourself, after all it is your birthday, but your primary task is their safety."

"How do I fit in with the cast? I didn't pack any civilian clothing," he asked.

"Figure it out Sascha, don't make me more disappointed in you than I currently am," said an exasperated Aurine. "See them home safely and I'll see you in the morning, my comlink will be on if you need me." She looked him straight in the eye, "I am rebuking you and trusting you at the same time Sascha, show me that my trust is not misplaced."

The young Jedi could sense that he was perilously close to damaging the goodwill and trust that he had built up with her over his apprenticeship. He also knew that she had a point, if he could not be trusted to act properly in these rather controlled circumstances, she might not want to risk taking him on a mission, lest he imperil it in some way. To a Padawan, being left behind at the Temple while their Master went on a mission was almost a fate worse than death, it was very public, very obvious rebuke that told their fellow Jedi that their Master did not trust them enough to take them on a mission with them.

He was not going to let that happen.

"Yes, Master, I'll see that they are the safest young men and women on Coruscant this evening," he said solemnly.

Aurine gave him a reassuring smile, "Good, then let me give you your cover story and then I'll be off."

The two Jedi find Kant Pesqui and Ezah Resel chatting casually, the Twi'lek sips another exotic looking concoction languidly while laughing at a story the businessman is telling.

After the story ends, Aurine bowed politely to Kant and Ezah, "I would like to reward the cast and crew of this fine production. "I'd like to offer the services of my Padawan for the night, he can be an invaluable source of information for the cast. Plus," she shrugged, "It's Coruscant, you never really can be too safe, can you?"

Kant Pesqui looked delighted, almost bouncing in happiness, "That sounds like a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Jedi, and it is so thoughtful of you to offer to protect my dear cast members, if only for a night. Truth be told I fretted about the dangers of Coruscant, but the price of bodyguards is just so high."

"I work for free, sir," he said politely.

"Yes, and I'm sure a Jedi Padawan will outperform a hired thug as well," commented Kant with a smile.

He normally would have smirked at that compliment, but he's trying very hard to get back in his Master's good graces and he's going to do that by playing the perfect Padawan that he normally is, so he merely nods.

"Most of the cast was about to head back to our hotel," said Ezah, "If Padawan Whitestar is coming along for the night, I'll make sure he ends up in the right place." Aurine and Kant nod in approval, with his Master giving him a last stern glance before taking her leave.

The Twi'lek places a delicate finger on her chin for a second, "I've never had a bodyguard, and certainly not a Jedi bodyguard…do I get to order you around?"

He smirked at her good-naturedly, "Only my Master gets to order me around…but I might take suggestions." He liked Ezah, probably partially because of her good looks, he's rational enough to admit, but partially because she seems to treat him like a normal person who just happens to be a Jedi…it is a rarity that he appreciates.

"Okay then I suggest you follow me, Master Jedi." He suppresses a smile and follows the young Twi'lek out of the ballroom and into the Coruscant night.