Thank you, Falcona. Personalities are tough to get right. Let me know if I slip, okay? :) 'Bout the joke, try to think of alternate meanings to what she's saying. I can spell it out to you by e-mail or you can wait for more details on Misti in the story. (There's something—I think it's in chapter 15—that might give it to you.) Which do you want?
You might want to pay attention to what Yni says to Lando. Especially the apparently nonsensical ones. See if you can figure out what she's saying… ) It's normal word usage, just not normal context of that word usage. That's the only hint I'll give.
Review if you want the next chapter, please. Barring foul language, I welcome any sort of review, including purely negative. Thank you.
Enjoy! :)
WARNING: Very blunt statement made by a character. Not swearing, but something that would not be heard in polite conversation. But then, the woman who says it is a doctor.
Chapter Eleven
Jedi Master Kyp Durron sipped some stim-tea,
focusing on his datapad. He'd dropped this a while ago, but if he found
any clues he'd missed…
Master Skywalker sat across from him, eyes surrounded
by dark rings. "What's so interesting?"
"Eh…" Kyp reddened a bit, embarrassed for Luke to know
of his failure. "Remember that pilot Nonni? She was really popular for
a short while. Appeared one day on Malastair; moved out from there. Never
lost a race. Rumor sounded like she was Force-sensitive, maybe highly so."
Luke eyed him, not hiding his interest. "Was she?"
Kyp sighed. "Would you believe, just days after I started
tracking her, she vanished? She's hasn't been in a race, since."
"That's odd."
He nodded. "I tried following up on her, too. Found
nothing. It's as if she's never existed." He swallowed a little more tea. "I'm looking back over my records to see if I missed anything."
"Have you asked Karrde?"
He shook his head. "Thought I'd handle this myself." He snorted. "Some job I've done."
"Ask him now. Anyone who can tell when they're being
tracked had ought to be worth uncovering."
Kyp didn't have any qualms about looking Master Skywalker
directly in the eye. "You know, you're right."
"Look, missy—"
She slammed her glass on the bar. "Let's get one thing
straight, Calrissian. I am not 'missy'. I am 'Yni'. You want me to answer
you'd better call me by the right thing."
"You say that like it's not your name." Lando was wondering
how he'd ever thought her a dolt, again. But she still never, ever, wavered
one iota from her forthright attitude.
"It isn't." Her brandy-brown eyes narrowed, her features
resembling Jaina's or Leia's when those women were peeved. "I don't have a name."
"What are you talking about? Everyone has a name—"
"I'm a zilch, Calrissian. Got that?"
"What did your parents call you?"
"My parents lost me when I was two years old."
It took him a minute to figure that one out. "What
happened? Was there a natural disaster or something?"
She cocked her head to the side, watching him curiously. "Natural disaster…" she murmured. She shook her head, blinking groggily. "Funny you should ask that."
He finally sat down beside her to have a drink himself. This was too crazy a conversation to drop… if she'd even let him drop it,
which he had a nagging feeling she wouldn't. "Oh?"
Yni squared her shoulders and drew a breath as if preparing
for a fight. "I am a natural disaster."
Lando laughed. Talk about a random response! That
woman— "Wh—?!" He shot out of his chair, cursing.
Next thing he knew, his nose was broken. "Yes, little
rodents are chewing up my feet. No, I'm not going to stop them. Can't blame
them for my unwittingly activating their attack instincts, now can I?"
Already, her feet were bleeding, and Lando imagined
the bones would be showing, soon. "D—doesn't that hurt?" he sputtered.
"Does your face hurt?"
"…Yes," he managed, still trying to stop his nose's
bleeding.
Yni raised an eyebrow. "Well…?" She sipped her mild
beverage and choked it down, wiping tears off her face.
"Yni Lecarr!" A small humanoid woman stood in
the bar's entrance, covered by a dark brown cloak which didn't hide her glare
at the young woman.
Yni shifted guiltily in her seat, eyes on her glass. She quickly quaffed the rest of it.
"Padawan! My foot!" The petite older woman came closer
and scowled at Yni's current predicament. "Your feet, rather! What
were you planning to do, find every little bit of your feet that the creatures
used as bedding?"
Yni still didn't turn around, staring into her empty glass. "…I was thinking more along the lines of bacta, Master."
Realizing his offer of buying her a drink had gotten Yni
into this mess, Lando gave the woman a dashing smile and took her hand. "Master Thracia, I presume?"
Those beady eyes narrowed at him, face further souring.
He bowed and kissed her hand. "I am pleased to meet
you. I am Lando Calrissian. It always interests me to meet such facscinating
individuals as your charge."
Thracia's eyes widened. She burst out laughing. "Gracious,
Padawan! If I knew you were in such good company I wouldn't have worried
myself quite as sick over you!" Almost immediately, though, Thracia turned
the displeased caretaker, again. "There is a very good reason I didn't want
you in a bar."
Yni looked around, trying to figure out the problem. "People are staring at me. So?"
"They're thinking of how they can get you on the floor,
dear."
It was then that Lando knew not all of Yni's ignorance
was feigned. "Huh?"
"Sexual intercourse."
Lando choked on his drink, and a few others did, too. Yni winced, looking apologetically at him as Thracia hauled her out. "That's
the downside to having a Healer for a Master. Very direct info."
He got up to follow her. "But—"
"Not now!" Yni waved him back, face grim.
Making Lando get an idea of just how much trouble he'd
gotten the lass into.
"Ever fly an XJ3 wing?"
"No. Ever flown a Naboo Starfighter?"
"Can't say I have." Jedi Knight Jaina Solo eyed the
young man before her. Blue-eyed with brown hair and beard, he towered over
her. Lando was trying to get this guy into Rogue Squadron. "What's it like?"
she asked, referring back to the Nubian ship.
He hesitated. "Nice." He avoided her, looking out over
the crashing sea. "Beautiful," he whispered, and she wasn't sure if she'd
been meant to hear it.
"Got a girl, there?"
Dan Stanley abruptly was still; too still. He stood,
silent, entirely unmoving, facing the raging ocean.
Jaina didn't press for a reply. "Sorry."
He drew a quick breath, suddenly moving once more. "No. I need to think about that."
She swiftly considered, deciding to go for broke. "What
happened?"
Stanley turned, his rueful gaze slowly taking her in,
a mournful quirk to his lips. "You remind me of her." He looked back at the ocean, quickly continuing. "A long time ago, Naboo
had this Senator. Immensely popular, influential, strong-willed."
A pause. "Honest, too," he added as if an afterthought. "After an assassination attempt, I was assigned to be her bodyguard."
A mask arose on his face, and his voice thickened. "I
betrayed her." Haunted eyes met hers, giving Jaina a chill. "Destroyed
her reputation, her life, even the history of her. Now that I regret it,
I can't tell her. She's gone."
"I'm sorry," Jaina said automatically, her mind blown. 'A long time ago,' he'd said. It must've been. Jaina'd never even heard
of such a Senator. But he didn't look much older than her! "How long ago
was this?"
Stanley shrugged. "Oh… half a century ago."
The Jedi Knight stared. "How old are you?" she
asked before she could think better of it.
He met her gaze frankly. "I was born seventy-four years
ago."
"You're seventy-four?"
He shook his head.
Jaina frowned. "But then you weren't born, then."
"Oh, I was born then." He hurled a fist-sized rock
out to sea. "I'm just not seventy-four."
Floored by the seemingly young man's cryptic response,
she stayed, staring at the roaring ocean as Stanley departed. His words
didn't make any sense.
One thing he'd said was chillingly clear. As a bodyguard,
he'd betrayed his employer. He obviously regretted it, now, but…
Why had he done that in the first place?
"Whatchya staring at?"
Jedi Knight Jacen Solo started, nearly dropping his datapad. "Danni!"
She stood before him with her arms crossed. "Well?"
He showed her the datapad. "A Queen wants a 'Jedi protector'
while on vacation and asked for me specifically."
"You going to take it?"
Jacen shrugged. "It'll be refreshing."
Danni Quee's jaw dropped. "Refreshing? Where
are you going, Hapes?"
He blinked, surprised. "Huh?"
"What other Queen friend do you have?"
"Well, first of all, she's not a friend. I have never
heard of her in my life."
She scowled. "But she asked for you."
"Right." He looked at the message the Queen had sent
him, still trying to figure out where she'd got this stuff. "She somehow
got the idea that I'd be good with kids. Particularly her teenage son."
"Well, there you have it." Danni smiled slightly. "You're
a role model, Jacen. You know that, don't you?"
"Uh… I'd rather—"
"You'd rather what? This woman's asking for you for family
reasons. It's just few weeks. Help the poor woman with her son. She probably
doesn't have enought time to spend with him, and Force knows where the father
is."
"Are you saying I should accept?"
"That," Danni said sternly, "is exactly what I'm saying."