"Hey, buddy, good to see you made it out of there okay!" Lando hollered over the din of the gamblers at the Idiot's Fortune casino. "How'd you do?"
Making his way through the card tables and around gamblers of various species, Yugi shook his head. "Don't ask. It was a flop."
"Well, you're alive."
"Yeah, with my virginity barely intact. Be nice if I had a lightsaber to prove I'm a Jedi." Lando gulped loudly, giving Yugi an askew glance. "Some jerk thought I was good-looking, and if he'd tried forcing me, I don't think I could have fought him off. I had to play a game of sabacc to get him off of me."
"You said you don't play games."
"Yeah, well, it's not like I had a choice. It was do or be done."
"Good point." Yugi glanced at Lando's hand, seeing the eight of staves, the Star (Value -17), and the Queen of Air and Darkness (Value -2). Not a great hand, but Lando had a great gaming face.
Not so the lady three seats over. Her skin was orange, so it wouldn't have been easy to see a flush, but her left eye was barely twitching. Otherwise, her face held a wide grin.
Chuckling lightly, Yugi muttered to Lando, "You'll never guess what I saw Sensei- er, pardon me- Luke doing."
"Really?"
With a giggle, Yugi leaned in and whispered in Lando's ear, "Orange bluffs."
Lando's eyes grew wide, and he made a face. "Leia would skin you alive if she knew you were spreading rumors about her brother's love life." A perfect cover for a hint.
Or not. "What love life?" Yugi whirled, knocking his chair over, to find Luke standing there, his eyebrow raised. "Oh, you must be talking about my Cathar holovids."
Busted. Yugi wasn't, but he knew he had to play along. "Anoooo... gomen, Sensei! I just-"
"You just nothing. It's no big secret anyway." Picking up the overturned chair, Luke continued. "I got a lead from a spy in Mos Espa that there's a connection. We've got to fix your mess-up. Let's go."
Lando complained. "I've got a good game going!"
"And we've got work to do. Stay behind if you wish, but we've gotta go."
"So, how did you know so soon that I had problems?"
"We have a double-agent among the smugglers. He's a fat, horny drunk with an attitude problem, but he's smarter than he acts. Not as smart as he thinks he is, though."
Fat... horny... "Oh, no. Not him!"
With a rueful grin, Luke replied, "I'm sorry that he treated you like that. It's unacceptable, but it was the way he thought of to release you without seeming like he was betraying them."
"He didn't go easy on me in that game, did he?"
"Of course not. I had that part planned, actually- to try to make you face your fear of games."
"You tricked me!"
"I had to. You need to be able to use every tool at your disposal that will avoid violence. I was a fair gamer, when I was young, but I can tell a good gamer, and your knack for it is far more than mine ever will be."
Sullenly, Yugi muttered, "You still tricked me."
"I don't like being dishonest, but sometimes it's necessary- and for the good of the victim of dishonesty. Trust me."
"I'm not sure how much I can, now."
"I knew you would win."
"You still tricked me! What sort of friend would do that?"
Luke stuck his finger in Yugi's face. "The sort of friend who has been through more than his share of trickery, and knows that sometimes it helps a person become more aware. You are my Padawan, and although I do not ask obedience, I ask respect. I took responsibility for you when I took you off of that seventeenth-rate, low-tech backwater planet. I'm not going to see your talents- or your life- go to waste."
Shaking his head, Yugi whispered, "That does not mean you have the right to lie to me."
"No, I didn't, but I was lied to by all of my elders when I was your age."
"So you do it to me."
"I did it for your own good."
Yugi turned his back on his teacher. "Luke, I don't want to talk about it any more right now. I'll cooperate for the mission- it's my job as a Jedi-to-be- but I hope you know that this is not the end of it."
"I don't expect it." With a sigh, Luke placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I am sorry."
Turning back to face Luke, Yugi sighed. "I know. Let's get the mission over with, though."
Luke nodded, but halted. Bringing his hand to his forehead, Luke frowned. "Wait a minute." Glancing around, he walked over to a vent in the wall. "Yugi, go back to the casino. I have to do something first."
Raising his arms in exasperation, Yugi sighed. "Go for it."