Qui-Gon Jinn looked unusually anxious as he stood in the middle of the Jedi Council room - faced by a frowning Yoda and Mace Windu seated in their respective chairs.
"I am sorry, Masters," Qui-Gon sighed. "I told him to return to the temple. He must have been sidetracked somehow."
"Perhaps you should call him on your comlink again." Mace suggested with a tone of impatience in his voice.
Qui-Gon hesitated as he recalled the strange questions and behavior that came from his padawan earlier. He wasn't sure that the two Jedi Council members would find these things proper or even remotely amusing if this were to occur again. "No, that's not necessary. I'm sure he's on his way."
"Start without him, we shall." Yoda told him.
"Very well." Qui-Gon agreed - eager to get the topic off of his missing Padawan. "While searching for Marae Fantui, I came across an elderly Twi'lek man who told me that his son has been missing as well for several weeks. He reported this to the local authorities but they have yet to find any information on his disappearance."
"And you think the disappearances are connected?" Mace asked, interested.
"I think there is a strong possibility of it, yes." Qui-Gon continued. "Marae has been missing for several days and there has been no ransom demand. I believe if this has been done for political or monetary gain, Senator Fantui would have heard from her kidnappers by now."
"Mmmmm..." Yoda interjected. "Lack patience, the greedy do. Want everything all at once."
"I checked the Coruscant Police's database as well," Qui-Gon explained. "There have been five other cases of missing persons reported in the past two months; all have disappeared without a trace."
Yoda scratched his chin for a moment, deeply concerned. "Cut out for you, your work here is."
"Indeed." Qui-Gon nodded at the smaller, much older, Jedi master. "The Coruscant Police have doubled their night patrols, so that should help prevent any more kidnappings. I believe the best course of action in the meantime would be for my Padawan and I to investigate these other cases ourselves."
Mace raised an eyebrow. "That is, of course, if you can locate your Padawan."
Qui-Gon cleared his throat anxiously before answering. "I don't know what could be keeping him."
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Obi-Wan pulled Nahlia close to him as he pressed his lips down upon hers. She resisted only a moment, then he was intrigued by the feeling of her soft lips opening against his. Inexperienced with kissing, he matched the gentle pressure and motions of her mouth with his own. A small murmur escaped her lips for a moment as she continued kissing him back. The sound excited him almost as much as the kissing. She slid her hands under his robe and around his waist. As she pulled her petite frame up against his firm young body, an unfamiliar feeling grew within Obi-Wan, a feeling he had, like so many other Jedi, forbidden himself to feel: desire.
Just then, the door opened up and Nahlia's friend Trindi entered quickly - catching the two kissing. "Oh, I'm sorry..." The Twi'lek woman appeared amused as she watched her embarrassed friend pull away from Obi-Wan.
"Nahlia, your cheeks are nearly as red as mine." Trindi teased.
Nahlia continued to catch her breath for a moment. She could feel the heat coming off her now bright red cheeks, but instead her fingers and thoughts were drawn to the warmth generated on her lips from her embrace with Obi-Wan. "Um..." she tried to think of an explanation for what had happened but all that came out of her mouth was, "He's drunk."
"I see." Trindi watched as the young Padawan swayed slightly, still somewhat unsteady on his feet, as the ardent gaze he kept on Nahlia remained unbroken. "But you're not."
"Why did you stop?" Obi-Wan finally asked. He stepped closer to Nahlia and reached out to touch her cheek but she pulled away and grabbed a black jacket from a hanger on the wall, before she headed for the door.
"Nahlia!" Trindi called, bewildered. "Where are you going?"
"Home," She said, her agitated state obvious. The door slid shut behind Nahlia before either her friend or Obi-Wan could say anymore.
"But..." The romantic in Trindi became disheartened, "you kissed."
"Why did she leave?" asked Obi-Wan. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, it's not your fault, cutie." Trindi consoled him. "Nahlia has other issues." She looked down and noticed a lightsaber on the couch behind Obi-Wan. She walked over and retrieved it for him. "This yours?"
Obi-Wan took the object from her and fumbled as he tried to hook it back to his belt.
"Here, let me." Trindi stepped closer to snap the weapon back in place for him. "Jedi, huh?"
Obi-Wan nodded. The effects of Nahlia leaving, combined with his drinking earlier, had quickly gone from making him amorous to depressed.
"Thought so." She smiled. "Looks like you had a little too much to drink."
"That is entirely possible, yes." He sighed.
"Come with me, I'll fix you up." She headed for the door then turned back toward Obi-Wan to give him an encouraging wave. "C'mon. After what I just saw, you can't tell me you're shy."
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Nahlia quickly put on her jacket as she pushed her way through the crowd in the club and out the doors. She took no notice of the assorted creatures who passed her in the neon lit Coruscant street, too consumed with her own stupidity. 'What was I thinking back there?' She asked herself. ' That guy just doles out a little sweet talk and kisses me and I'm all over him... I'm such an idiot.' As the crowd thinned, and the street darkened, she hurried her pace. She was well aware of the dangers of a young lady walking home alone at night through the Paltry District.
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Obi-Wan rested his head on his hand as he sat at the bar. The crimson-skinned Twi'lek woman, Trindi, mixed various liquids in a cup behind the bar and let it mix in a blender until the concoction became a clear liquid. She removed the mixing cup from the blender and poured the drink into a short glass for him.
"Here ya go." She set the glass in front of Obi-Wan but frowned when he hesitated drinking.
"What's in it?" He asked suspiciously.
"Oh, it's an old family recipe to cure drunkenness. I really can't reveal the ingredients. Just know that it'll clear your head, revitalize your body, and your breath will be as fresh as the back end of a Gnagwa."
"Really?"
"Oh, yeah..." Trindi smiled as she watched him pick up the drink and sniff at it a bit. "Don't worry, it's just a little bit of this, little bit of that... Oh, and a little hair of the Kaja that bit you, too."
Obi-Wan couldn't hide his disgust. "There's hair in this?"
"No," She reassured him. "It's just an expression. Now come on, drink up."
He shrugged and lifted the drink to his lips. The liquid was sweet and smooth coming down his throat. A few moments later, just at Trindi had said, his head cleared, his depression lifted, and his memory of his mission returned. "Nahlia!" He looked around the club quickly but could not find her.
"She went home, remember?" Trindi answered. She watched Obi-Wan get up from his seat and head for the exit. "Take a left out the door... then a right at Mazaru Street. If you hurry you'll catch up to her no problem!"
Obi-Wan turned back to her only long enough to shout back, "Thanks!" He nearly knocked down another young man as he ran out. "Sorry. Jedi business." Obi-Wan told him, then took a left out the door as Trindi had instructed.
"Jedi business? In this place?" The tall handsome young man with brown hair and blue eyes muttered. 'Probably one of those Jedi posers, trying to impress the ladies.' He sighed as he searched the crowd. 'Takes all kinds to make a galaxy, I suppose.' He smiled as he noticed several young ladies take notice of his presence in the club. 'Of course, not everyone has the charm and dazzling good looks to attract the opposite sex that I do.' He made his way to a gaggle of exotic groupies. "Hellooo... ladies!"
Nearby, Trindi headed back to her DJ table where a creature with 4 arms and a long thin neck had been standing in for her. "Thanks for taking over for a few, Nex." The creature nodded his grey, bubble like head, making only a few squeaks in his native tongue to her in response. As she started looking through the silver music cards on the table to make some new selection, she heard a familiar voice and looked up to see the young man heading her way. A lady with a tress of white tentacles and dark skin was on his arm smiling and looking love struck as he flirted with her.
"My dear," He said with a mischievous grin, "you must be from Cloud City."
"Really?" She giggled. "Why's that?"
He sent a smoldering gaze into her bright blue eyes while delivering his next line. "Because when I look at you, it feels like I'm walking on air."
Trindi's jaw dropped, as did the music cards in her hands. "Oh, no. Not him." She ducked behind the DJ table in the hope he wouldn't see her and she began to pick up her music cards. "Nahlia's not going to be happy."
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Obi-Wan darted through the crowd and down the street. 'She could be in danger right now.' He kept his eyes focused ahead searching for Nahlia as he sprinted. 'I've got to find her before something happens.' He kept checking the street names as he ran faster and faster, and slid nearly off of his feet when he tried to stop short at a certain sign. 'Mazaru Street... that's the one.' He took a right down the street where soon he noticed the crowd no longer hindered his movement. As he made his way in this much quieter, darker environment, there seemed to be no one around aside from a couple of drunken derelicts sitting by the communal garbage disintegrator of a run down housing unit. As another man came out of the building with a sack of trash, the two drunks asked him if they could have what was in the bag. Obi-Wan was shocked as he watched the tenant refuse their request and curse at them before he threw the entire bag into the disintegrator.
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Nahlia was getting jumpy. First, a couple of drunks accosted her, then some huge rodents scurried in front of her causing her to screech out a yelp in surprise, and now she would swear she was being followed. 'I'm almost home... I'm almost home...' She chanted in her head as she kept glancing into the darkness behind her. The sound of someone walking behind her repeated and hurried in pace with her own. 'Those are definitely footsteps behind me...'
TO BE CONTINUED...
