4. Party Time

"Jolee!" Bastila exclaimed, pulling Juhani and me into the conversation. "You look dashing!"

"For an old man." He added, brushing off his beige dress robes. Even if he didn't embrace the Jedi Order, he embraced their fashion.

"That was implied." I chimed in.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the trio of unstoppable redeemed Jedi." He grinned. "And you all look stunning." He bowed and kissed each of our right hands in turn. "I know you'd love to spend all evening being charmed by me, but I believe some others are looking for you, Miss Shan, Miss Orion." Juhani bowed her head and excused herself to speak to some friends. I wondered if she and Jolee had this planned out. Jolee wedged himself between Bastila and me, took both our arms, and paraded around the room like a Tarisian pimp. I was nervous, but Bastila looked calm. I was slightly jealous, which soon subsided.

"Enjoying yourself?" Canderous asked from his predictable spot near the bar.

"Quite a bit." Jolee beamed. "It's not every day that I'm in the company of such radiant ladies."

"Except for the past few months." I corrected.

"Mind if I take one of them off your hands?" Canderous was being polite, which completely confused me. He took Bastila's other arm and led her off. Why was Carth always last? I began to get even more nervous, not to mention really jealous of Bastila. What if he didn't recognize me? After all, I did look different.

"Calm down, there." Jolee turned his head to look at me. "He's just nervous. I should parade you around for awhile while he gets the nerve to talk to you." Stupid mind-reading Jedi.

"Why would he be nervous about talking to me?" I asked. I didn't feel like utilizing the formalities of the party, like taking arms and asking indirect questions.

"I couldn't tell you." Jolee smiled. "I don't think anything's wrong, you two just have to catch up a bit."

"But why is he nervous?" I had a feeling Jolee knew something, and I was going to get it out of him.

"Why are you?"

"Damn." I hadn't counted on that, even though I should have seen it coming. "You got me there."

"Back when I was training Nayama, I was nervous like you kids are…" Jolee began. I stopped listening, but I'm sure Jolee wasn't offended. I got the feeling he was making the story up to see how much I'd listen to. I focused my attention on the faces we passed as we circled the room, greeting members of the Council and important Republic emissaries. I anxiously scanned the crowd. Canderous and Bastila were standing quite close to each other. Mission and Dustil were chatting merrily, with T3 in tow. Big Z had found the refreshments and was gleefully helping himself to sevenths. He was enjoying being a Wookiee – no one would tell him to stop it. Juhani was standing in a large group of Jedi, laughing and talking. I could tell that many of them were impressed with her outfit. Maybe it was just me, but love was in the air and I couldn't handle not getting any. "I can't do this anymore." I hissed to Jolee after the umpteenth circle. "I'm going outside." Without waiting for a reply, I slid my arm out of his and headed for the double doors to the balcony and stepped into the cool, reassuring night.

"Greeting: Good evening, Master. You look delightful." HK-47 stated. I heard T3 rolling up behind me.

"Just the droids I need." I sighed, leaning on my elbow on the stone railing.

"Query: Why are you so down, Master? Are there meatbags for me to blast?"

"No. I'm just confused. I want to know what's going on."

"Placation: Perhaps I have something that could help?"

"What is it?" HK plugged a datapad into T3, who projected a scene aboard the Ebon Hawk. I was about to ask what it was when it began.

"Damn them!" Canderous was obviously irritated. "And I thought that woman drove me crazy!"

Carth laughed. "We can tell."

"Deal with it, Canderous, you love her." Jolee chuckled.

"Wait, are you saying I'm going soft like Pretty Boy over there?" Canderous raged, pointing at Carth.

"Love isn't going soft." Jolee's voice betrayed his words. "It's just looking out for someone else."

"Well I've been looking out for Revan."

"Ciara." Carth stated. "And you know she doesn't need your looking out for her."

"Whatever. I've been looking out for her, but I don't love her."

"Alright, can you tell me, honestly, that having her aboard does nothing for you?" Carth challenged.

"What do you mean?" Canderous' gaze shifted. "Not that I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not like you, Republic. I could handle both of 'em at once." Carth opened his mouth defensively, but was interrupted.

Mission laughed. "I don't know about that. You guys seem pretty similar to me."

"Only I'm not whipped." Canderous shot at Carth.

"At least I'm man enough to admit it." Carth's tone was challenging.

"Why don't you two handle this like soldiers?" Juhani suggested. The men turned to her, forgetting she'd been there. "Go to the cantina and talk it out over some drinks. HK, go with them to make sure they don't kill each other."

"Affirmative: if you say so, surrogate female Jedi to Master."

Canderous looked at Carth. "Aren't you going to sigh at the mention of your beloved?"

"Can it."

Static clouded the transmission. "Is that it?" I asked.

"Irritated reply: No, Master, I simply stopped recording while we walked to the cantina in awkward silence." The static cleared into an image of the two men at a cantina.

"All right, so what if I do?" Canderous' voice was resigned and tipsy. He was sitting at the bar, sipping a glass of ale. He had already downed a few, judging by the glasses in front of him. "What do I do?"

"Well, you can always get an apartment with a couple droids and breed like gizka." Carth suggested, not sounding too sober himself.

"But I don't want to settle down." Canderous stated. "Not that I don't like the idea about the breeding part." He laughed approvingly.

"Is that all you can think about? Maybe Jolee was wrong. Maybe you just want her." Carth mused, sipping his drink.

"Hey, this isn't like another conquest, you know? Those were women. She's a lady."

"Ciara?"

"No, the other one." Canderous gulped down his ale. "Although she sure has a nice body on her, and I did consider…"

"The other one?"

"Revan."

"Ciara. And you wanted to—"

Canderous laughed. "That was only at the beginning when she actually started talking to me, unlike the snobby Jedi princess."

"You're not complaining about it now." Carth smiled. "And she hasn't changed."

"And you're letting me get away with turning your woman into an object of desire?"

"First of all, I can't say I blame you. Second, I don't own her. To tell the truth, I'd rather not. It'd make things a lot less interesting."

"Oh?" Canderous was interested. "This seems a little out of character for a conqueror."

"I am not a conqueror, remember? The speech I tell myself so I can sleep at night?" Carth laughed.

"If it helps you sleep." Canderous chuckled and gulped more ale. "So you don't seek to win?"

"I used to, before I was married. I was a kid then. That was long ago…" Carth's voice trailed off.

"To be young again…" Canderous mused. "Am I too old for her? The other one?"

"She has a name, you know." Carth laughed. "And I don't think so. Jolee is, but he isn't hitting on her, now is he?"

"If he was, I'd snap his neck." Canderous threatened. "Hey, what would you do if I told you that Ciara and I…"

"I'd snap your neck." Carth stated flatly. "Why?"

"Well, at the beginning, like I was telling you…"

"What did you do?" Carth exclaimed. He was getting angry. He'd told me I'd be able to tell when he got angry, and he was right.

"Nothing!" Canderous retorted. "I just wondered what would happen if you and I'd had to duke it out, you know, not that I want to now."

"You know I'd win." Carth challenged.

"If it helps you sleep at night." Canderous dismissed his challenge.

"She'd pluck your eyes out with her bare hands."

"So, you're into the savage kinds, huh?" Canderous couldn't resist being bawdy.

"I like them better than snobby Jedi princesses."

"I thought I did too." There was a lull in the conversation that was filled with drink. It was funny how much ale loosened Canderous up. I'd never be able to get him to admit to this conversation, not even with the holo as proof. I was surprised at how he and Carth were almost getting along. They'd been at each others' throats throughout the voyage.

"So how'd it happen? You hated each other." Carth asked after a while. I couldn't help but be amused at how the drink was affecting their voices, slurring their speech.

"Well, at first, she really got on my nerves. She refused to trust me and insulted me. She thought she was so much better than me, you know? Well, then I got used to it. It didn't bother me anymore. When we met her mother on Tattooine, I thought, 'So this is what aged princesses look like.' I think then I realized…"

"Cute." Carth taunted.

"That she wouldn't age well." Canderous shot back. "I didn't think I liked her any more than I appreciated her looks – she really has a better figure than Ciara does – and her combat skills until Mission started making fun of me."

"I know how that goes." Carth rolled his eyes. "Was this after the Leviathan?"

"Yeah. She, I mean Mission, teased me on Manaan, asking me how I thought she'd look next to the ocean. I mean, how Bastila would look."

"It wouldn't hurt to have a backdrop like that…" Carth mused.

"Don't rub it in." Canderous' eyes flickered, betraying a bit of jealousy. "You got to spend time with her—with Ciara I mean—in these gorgeous places. I got ripped off." He sighed and muttered something about too many women onboard as he took another gulp of ale. "I hated her for too long."

"Do you think I was savoring the scenery with her on Dantooine? I hated her and Bastila both for keeping me in the dark."

"Observation:" HK began. A loud thud and static suggested that Canderous had whacked him on the head.

"So what do I do about it?" He asked.

"Well, first you acknowledge that you love her, then you tell her. You can't be too direct about it though, or she might get scared."

"Sounds like setting her up," Canderous observed, "like manipulating the battle so it'd be won without honor."

"It's not like that." Carth retorted. "Damn you Mandalorians. It's not a battle. It's hard to explain, but winning a woman makes her into a possession, a— trophy, which is fine, if that's what you want. But I think you and I both don't want trophies."

"We could have trophies in every spaceport." The men laughed and each took long, self-congratulatory gulps of their drinks.

"It wouldn't work either, because they're both stubborn and independent and…" Carth mused.

"We're pathetic." Canderous spat.

"I'm just trying to keep you from ruining it with Bastila."

"I won't ruin it. I'm twice the man you are."

"If it helps you sleep at night." Carth smiled. "So, do you have a plan?" Canderous thought for a minute.

"What are they doing, keeping them like that?" Canderous fumed, bringing his right fist down on the table.

"I don't know, but if they don't let 'em go," Carth never finished.

"Statement: That is the end of the transmission, Master."

"HK, I never told you to spy on him." I exclaimed. "I know – I could have told you to stop playback, but…"

"Placation: Don't worry, Master, I won't tell your love interest that you were pining. I thought you might be interested in what they were doing, especially since it involved you and you were moping."

"Thanks, HK." I sighed. "So there's no more?"

"Amusement: I didn't think you were that pathetic, Master."

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were laughing at me, HK."

"Placation: Oh no, Master! I would never laugh at you!"

"All right, now what should I do?" I asked.

"Suggestion: Perhaps you should go back inside, Master. Your love interest may be looking for you." I couldn't help but laugh. I turned around and went back inside. The exchange was funny, but it only assured me that Canderous and Bastila were becoming a solid couple and that the Mandalorian got kicks out of teasing Carth. I didn't know what exactly I'd wanted, though. A confession would be too dramatic, and I'd rather that it was directed at me, not my assassin droid. I wandered around the party some more, looking for Carth, but he was nowhere to be found. I found myself wanting to ask Canderous where he was. I laughed softly, realizing that these two sworn enemies had become friends. I spoke diplomatically with every member of the Council, each assuring me that I would be found completely reformed and asking what I planned to do next. I wished I could have told them, or at least bounced the idea of marriage off them, but I wasn't going to do so without having first being sure of what would happen with Carth. Maybe I don't recognize him, I wondered. The thought of the two of us looking for each other and only finding a stranger who looked somewhat familiar didn't seem so farfetched. Finally, I gave up looking by myself. I was about to go outside again and hope HK had more information, but I ran into Jolee, who was charming some women.

"Have you seen Carth?" I asked politely, realizing I should try not to be too straightforward after the words came out. I probably should have said "Commander Onasi" or something. At least I hadn't called Jolee a dirty old man, although I was tempted.

"You know, I haven't." He mused. "Odd."

"Thanks." My voice was taut. Insecurity started setting in. What if he'd stayed back, if he'd decided to run off… My mind was racing and my heart was trying to keep up. I walked up the grand staircase to the promenade, trying to look self-assured and more graceful than usual. I strolled along, looking at the couples dancing below. Dustil and Mission seemed to be hitting it off okay. They were dancing together, albeit awkwardly. I smiled. Then I saw him. He was over by the bar, chatting with Canderous and Bastila. I wanted to run to him, but I remembered what had happened the last time I did that, and this time I'd fall down a flight of stairs in front of all kinds of important people. I took a deep breath, focused my gaze on him, and plotted the safest course through the crowd. Even going slowly, I wouldn't put it past myself if I "decided" to somersault down the stairs. I wanted to stay there and look at him, but I would have plenty of time to stare at him when I was down there. HK was right; I am pathetic. I lifted my skirt daintily so I wouldn't trip and began descending the stairs. Bastila caught my eye and smiled. Canderous' eyes followed hers, and, after a minute, Carth turned to see what they were looking at. The look on his face stunned me. He began pushing through the crowd toward me, hardly ever taking his eyes off me. I descended the stairs a little faster, keeping my balance in check. My heart was pounding even harder.

We met at the bottom of the staircase. Carth stood at arms' length from me and took my hands. "You look amazing." He managed. I looked at him. He was wearing a sand-colored dress uniform, complete with his medals and a high collar that looked uncomfortable.

"You don't look so bad either, especially for the most handsome pilot in the galaxy." I examined the gold cording on the edges of his jacket, realizing that Juhani and Bastila had made us match. I made a mental note to yell at them for that. "Not that I know any other pilots though… I've been looking for you all night."

"I got here late." He explained.

(standard disclaimer goes here...) Thanks to all reviewers! You people are friggin' awesome!