"Your son?" asked Atton, bewildered. "You mean you've procreated? Who in their right mind would ever allow that to happen?" He glanced uneasily at Daynn. "Son of the Dark Lord…" He shuddered. "I suddenly have a really bad feeling about this." I knew there was a reason why he creeps me out!
Revan ignored Atton's questions and worked hard at avoiding Carth's eyes. She remained quietly defiant.
"Liah?" Carth asked in what was evidently meant to be a casual voice, but which instead came across as rather squeaky and slightly desperate. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
Revan resignedly nodded. "Stay with J—Atton, Daynn," she said before following Carth back onto the ship. Atton gesticulated in irritation.
"Of course! Because we all know Uncle Jatton is the designated Ebon Hawk babysitter!" he bellowed after her. I can't believe she hadn't even told Carth she had a kid! And I thought I was secretive! He glanced over at Daynn. I have to be careful with what I think. This kid… Oh, what the hell do I care what this kid hears? He's Revan's kid! "Come on, squirt!" he said out loud. "I'll… um… I'll show you around the ship while we wait for Jena and Mical to come back from their little chat." Mical… I swear if he even lifts a finger…
"He won't hurt her, you know," piped Daynn. "You're not the only one who loves her."
Atton frowned. "I told you to stay out of my head. Which rule number is that again, Daynn?"
"One…" Daynn replied meekly. "But I was staying out of your head! Honest! I just guessed!"
Atton sneered. "Sure, you did," he said, unconvinced. Yeah, like Revan's kid would ever tell the truth… Revan's kid… Too bad, I was almost starting to like the runt. "Now, come on." He less-than-delicately nudged Daynn on the back of the head. "I don't need to spend any more time alone with you out here. I don't want you accessing any more of those thoughts I warned you about. Your mom's pissed off at me enough already over everything I've ever done. Follow me." He started making his way up the loading ramp, and Daynn, taking great strides to try and keep up with him, followed right behind. I can't believe Revan's actually got a kid. How old is he, anyway? And who…? He frowned suspiciously. "Hey, wait a minute," Atton said, stopping abruptly, causing Daynn to bump into him. The boy rubbed his nose and looked up at Atton indignantly. "If Revan's your mom… who's your dad?"
Daynn shrugged. "Jena didn't tell me names… just that my mom and my dad were Jedi."
Revan, a Jedi. That's rich. Atton looked dubious. "How old are you?"
"Eight and a half."
Atton did some quick math in his head. This kid was born during the Civil Wars. Yeah, his father's no Jedi. He's a Sith. Malak's the father. Never heard any rumors of her being with anybody else, and everybody knows he and Revan had a thing… No wonder nobody told him who his father was. 'Hey kid, your mom and dad were both Sith lords, and then your mom killed…' He stopped and glanced apprehensively at Daynn. The latter had become distracted by a large bug crawling on the loading ramp, and was poking at it with his finger. I really have to watch what I'm thinking. He probably thinks his dad's still… And I'm really not the one who should be telling him he's… A wave of sympathy suddenly swept over Atton. Poor kid. Everybody's hiding stuff from him. Force knows I know how that feels. He bent down and clumsily put his hand on Daynn's shoulder. "Come on," he told him gently. "Let's… let's go in." Daynn looked up at Atton, stood up, and stomped energetically on the insect, causing a loud squishing sound and spraying green guts on a thirty centimeter radius—some landing on Atton's boot. Atton looked at his foot and wrinkled his nose. "That was really sick, kid. Rule number three, no squishing bugs that are bigger than your fist if I'm around."
"You have a lot of rules," commented Daynn.
"Oh, there'll be more, don't you worry," Atton promised, finally stepping aboard the ship as he struggled to remove the insect entrails off his boot. The instant they walked into the main hold, they were greeted by Carth's voice booming from the direction of the cockpit.
"Were you ever planning on telling me any of this?" he bellowed at Revan. "Who else knows about this?"
"Only Jena knows," Revan assured, almost as loudly. "I wanted to tell you. I just… They're looking for him, Carth. They're after him," she cried desperately. "I couldn't tell anyone about him—it might have helped them find him. I had to protect him! He's my son. You of all people should understand!"
"Seven years!" Carth shouted. "I've known you seven years! They can't possibly have been looking for him that long. There was never a time…?"
"I didn't remember him before!" Revan exclaimed tearfully. "Not until I went to the Unknown Regions… and by then they already were searching. Carth, please!"
The voices became quieter, and Atton peered uncomfortably at Daynn, whose eyes were aimed fixedly at the cockpit corridor. "Oooo-kay… Seems like your mom's got her hands full right now… and I guess there goes my plan of showing you the cockpit."
"Who's Liah?" asked Daynn, still staring ahead of him.
Atton did a double take. "I'm sorry?"
"The man said, 'Aw, Liah, don't cry… I'm sorry, it's just a little surprising, that's all.' And then he laughed, but it didn't sound like he really thought anything was funny."
Atton whistled admiringly. "Powerful little toddler, aren't you? Listen, kid, you probably shouldn't be listening in on your mom's conversation either."
Daynn let out a tiny sigh. "Is that another rule?" he asked plaintively.
Atton shrugged. "The hell should I care? It was just a suggestion. You're her kid, not mine. The rules are for things that affect me. That being said, rule number four is never listen in on any conversation I'm having. Especially with Jena." He glanced down at Daynn, who rolled his eyes and exhaled dramatically. "And quit your bellyaching!" Atton said unsympathetically. "Now, speaking of Jena, I really need to get back to her to make sure she's okay. I need to find someone who'll look after y—Mira!" he called out to the redhead who had just stepped into the room with Dustil. She slowed down her pace and eyed Atton suspiciously.
"You're not looking for someone to do your work while you get drunk again, are you?"
Atton pretended to be insulted. "Mira, I'm hurt. That a beautiful woman like you would automatically assume I'm up to no good just because I happen to strike up a conversation with her…"
Mira put her hand up in front of her and motioned for him to stop. "Knock it off, Rand. I'm not so stupid that I can't tell when you're trying to get me to do something unpleasant. What do you want?" He eyes shifted over to Daynn. She frowned. "Who's the kid?"
"The kid? That's um…" Atton's eye darted over to Daynn, who was starting to wander off in the direction of the medical room. Atton ran off after him and dragged him back to the main hold. Daynn stared blackly at him. Atton tightly held him by the shoulders in front of him. "This is Daynn… He's… well, he's Revan's son."
Mira gasped and Dustil nearly choked on his own spittle. "What?" the latter exclaimed in a strangled voice.
Atton shrugged and let go of Daynn. "Yeah, we were all shocked too. But apparently she's got…" Atton paused and, with sudden realization, added, "Hey! I guess that would make him your step-brother or something." Dustil arched an eyebrow, a borderline terrified look in his eyes.
"Not quite yet, he's not," he said, his voice still faint. He cleared his throat. "I take it from the yelling we heard earlier that Dad did not know about this."
"That would be a most correct assumption." Atton turned to walk away. "Anyway, love to stay and chat, but I have to leave Daynn with you people while I go off to look for—"
"Whoa, you just hold on a minute there, flyboy!" Mira interrupted crossly, folding her arms. "We're not Revan's babysitters. What is it that you have to do that's so important that you have to ditch your little pal?"
Atton rolled his eyes. "Well, as I was about to tell you before you so rudely interrupted me…" He glanced over his left shoulder just in time to see Daynn disappear down the portside corridor. "Dammit, Daynn! Don't force me to set another rule!" he yelled as he ran after him. He re-emerged a few seconds later, bearing a most sour expression, with Daynn tucked under his arm. "What the hell is wrong with you, kid? Can't you stand around and keep still like an actual person?" He unceremoniously dropped him back down to the floor. "And stay here. Don't make me put you in stasis." Daynn pouted.
"I want Jena back. She's a lot more fun than you," he mumbled sulkily.
Mira gasped. "Atton, did he just say 'Jena'?"
Atton was mildly annoyed. "Well, yeah, that's what I was just about to…"
"Jena's here?" Mira squealed.
"YES! JENA'S HERE!" Atton yelled, exasperated. "And if you don't mind, I'd really like to get back to her before Mical… hell I don't even know what he'll do to her. So if you could just look after…"
Mira laughed sardonically and shook her head categorically. "Oh no. No, no, no… You're not dumping this on me. Just because I happen to be female doesn't mean I automatically know what to do with kids, you primeval schutta. If you must know, they really creep me out, this one in particular."
Daynn, who had started wandering off toward the starboard corridor, stopped and turned. "Atton, the lady said schutta!" he stated.
"Yes," commented Atton absent-mindedly. "And she can say it because her mom's not here."
Mira burst out laughing. "Atton!" she protested.
"What?" Atton asked irritably. "Are you saying you would say that if she was here?"
Mira smirked. "Atton, I'm an orphan…"
"Oh." Atton looked almost uncomfortable for a few seconds, and shook his head violently. "Stop avoiding the topic!" he declared angrily. "Just look after Revan's kid, already!"
"No way! I'm going with you to find Jena."
Atton clenched his teeth and said coldly, "Well, nobody's going to be going anywhere if I can't find anyone to look after this little…" He stopped, raised an eyebrow, and smiled deviously. "Dustil, my man!" he said underhandedly. "You're almost family. Look after your brother."
Dustil scoffed. "You're kidding, right?"
Atton finally blew up. "All right, well ONE of you better look after him, and I don't care which one. Just pick. Cause I'm leaving." Mira and Dustil exchanged a glance, and without a word, both reached into their pockets and pulled out their pazaak cards. They sat down in the middle of the floor, and Mira started dealing.
"Are you people joking?" cried Atton. "To think everybody says I'm obsessed with pazaak!"
Dustil held his hand up silently as he peered down at his cards and Mira shushed Atton. "We're deciding who gets to go. Quiet." She slapped a card down onto the floor and Dustil rubbed his chin ponderingly. Atton beckoned at Daynn, who approached slowly.
"Learn this, kid," Atton said, pushing the child closer to the two players. "It might save your life one day."
Mira glanced up from her side-deck at the curious hazel eyes peering over her shoulder. "You're kidding, right?" she asked, turning to Atton. "This kid's what, nine?"
"Eight," replied Atton.
"And a half!" Daynn immediately corrected.
"He's eight and a half and you're teaching him how to gamble?" Mira asked incredulously.
Atton frowned slightly. "What's the problem? I learned when I was seven, and I turned out all right."
Mira shielded her eyes with her hand and bit her lip, shaking her head in disbelief. Dustil played his card, trying his best not to laugh. "Your turn, Mira," he said.
Still shaking her head, Mira pulled a card from her side-deck and slapped it down onto the floor in front of her. Both Atton and Dustil looked at the card confusedly. Noticing their puzzled glances, she looked down. She had played a plus five card, and her total added up to twenty-one.
"Sith's blood!" she cursed. "That's not the card I meant to play!" She slammed her fist against the floor. What came out of her mouth after that was a string of profanities that caused Dustil to run over to Daynn and alarmingly cover the child's ears with his hands. Atton shook his head.
"Useless, man. He can still hear. He's a Force adept. A particularly strong Force adept, might I add. Makes sense, considering the parents he's got… He can read minds. He probably knows what color underwear you're wearing right now." He glanced at Mira, who was still swearing and gesticulating angrily. "Let's just go… she'll calm down… eventually."
"But what about Daynn?" enquired Dustil. "Mira's not exactly keeping tabs on him right now…"
Atton shrugged, lazily held out his hand and put the child into stasis. "There. Now he won't run away." He turned and briskly walked toward the exit ramp.
"Are you kidding me?" Dustil gasped as he caught up to Atton. "Tell me you did not just put Revan's son in stasis. She is not going to be happy with you when she finds out about this."
"And this is different from every other day… how, exactly?" Atton retorted nonchalantly.
Dustil laughed. "You don't understand… I've seen her really mad…"
Unperturbed, Atton continued on toward the door. "Kid, until you've been Force choked by her, I don't think you'll ever be able to tell me you've seen her really mad. Believe me. And I know she won't Force choke me this time, because then she'd be proving me I'm right about her, and there's not a chance in hell she'd ever allow that to happen."
Dustil glanced curiously at Atton as they stepped down the exit ramp. "So… what you're really saying is you're wrong about her."
Atton stopped in mid-step. "What?" he breathed. He shook his head energetically. "No! I just said…"
Dustil grinned. "What you just said is that Revan will never go back to acting the way she did as Dark Lord because she wants to prove you wrong. You just admitted she won't go back to being Lord Revan."
Atton opened his mouth and closed it again. Damn Jedi and their logic… Dustil burst out laughing. Atton glared at him.
"Don't worry," assured Dustil. "I won't tell her." They headed down the path Atton had used earlier. Dustil did his best to keep up with Atton's strides. "So… I hear we were changing our course before we crashed… That we weren't going to Coruscant after all." Dustil tried to sound indifferent.
"Yeah, I guess that was the case, but I suppose that'll be changing now that we've found Jena. This trip's pretty much over, little buddy."
"Oh." Dustil had a difficult time hiding his disappointment.
Atton smirked. "Yeah, I'll bet you weren't in any rush to get back to that dusty old Jedi temple anytime soon…"
Dustil frowned and glared at Atton. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you insinuating…?"
Atton exhaled loudly and rolled his eyes. "Dustil, Dustil, Dustil… always so suspicious of me. You Onasi boys really need to work on your trust issues, if you ask me. Give me a break. Contrary to the reputation I may have around these parts, I'm not an idiot. I'm talking about you and Mira… hooking up a power coupling, to borrow one of her favorite expressions."
Dustil blushed and grinned sheepishly. "It's not like that…"
Atton furtively glanced down at his feet and noticed his boot still had insect particles on it. He rolled his eyes, stopped walking, and removed his boot. "Sure, and that's what she says too…" he said, shining it with the edge of his robe and grimacing, as he did his best to hold his balance on one foot. "Doesn't mean you wouldn't like to. Trust me, Carth Junior, I've been there."
Dustil smiled understandingly. "You're talking about you and the Exile."
"She has a name," snapped Atton. He dropped his boot to the ground and slipped it back on. They immediately resumed their hike.
"Sorry… force of habit… At the temple, they always referred to her as… Never mind. You and Jena, then. How did it happen for you?"
Atton furrowed his brow. "What's with everybody asking me this these days? Are your own lives really that boring? Or do you all get some kind of twisted voyeuristic pleasure out of hearing my stories? I mean, no offense, I like talking to you and all, kid, but I'd really like to get to Jena…"
"And exactly how is talking to me slowing you down?" asked Dustil. "I just wanted to know so I could pick up pointers…" He coughed and colored slightly. "You know… if I ever found somebody I was interested in…"
Atton snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah… 'If'." He exhaled in resignation. "Fine, fine... I don't know, I guess I had many things going for me… good looks, a frustrating personality, the right timing, sheer dumb luck…"
Dustil looked perplexed. "So you didn't really… do anything to get the Exi—I mean Jena… to fall for you."
With his eyes looking up in a puzzled manner, Atton pondered for a moment. "Not really, no," he finally said, perplexed. "In fact, for a while I thought she hated me." He laughed heartily. "I was such an ass!"
"Hated you?"
"Well… hate may be a bit too strong of a word," Atton conceded. "Maybe more like… despised."
"Why did you think that?"
Atton laughed. "I thought that because it was true!" He shrugged. "A woman walks in her underwear into the room where you're being held captive… and apparently you're a schutta just for making a comment or two or for staring at the wrong place." He shook his head. "Trust me, kid, never, ever stare at a strange woman's chest, especially if she's a Jedi. I'm a little surprised I lived to tell the tale, to be quite honest…" He chuckled over the memory.
Dustil scoffed. "What was she doing in her—"
Dustil's comlink suddenly activated itself and Revan's voice was heard. "Dustil? Where are you? Is Jaq with you?" She sounded annoyed.
The two men exchanged glances. Dammit, she found out about me putting Daynn in stasis. "Yeah… He's here," Dustil replied, trying to sound casual. "We went to look for Jena." He turned to Atton and mouthed the words, "You're so dead!"
"That's what I thought," said Revan. "Look, you guys need to come back. Jena's contacted us on Mical's comlink. They're headed back this way."
Is that what this is about? "Screw that!" Atton interjected angrily. "I'm not turning around! I'm going to go meet her. I'm already halfway there."
There was a pregnant pause at the other end. "Jaq, she specifically asked that no one go meet them." She hesitated. "I think she was mostly referring to you. I… guess that with… Mical… I mean, you didn't exactly explain what happened, but from what I can gather…" Revan sounded uncomfortable.
Atton's teeth snapped shut. "Fine. Fine!" he said unpleasantly. "I've waited a year and a half, I guess I can wait an extra five minutes." He didn't sound convinced. "We'll be right there." He pursed his lips and his nostrils flared. Mical again. I swear…
Atton turned abruptly and started making his way back toward the ship. Dustil caught up to him and glanced at him sideways; he was glowering. "Um… Atton?" Dustil asked tentatively in a desperate effort to lighten the mood. "The… underwear thing?"
Atton's head jerked toward him. "What? Oh. Right. Well, it's kind of a long story…" he said vaguely, glancing over his shoulder to see if he could spot anyone coming toward them. When he didn't, he sighed and resignedly answered. "Basically she'd just woken up in med bay all alone and I had been in that force cage for ages… I hadn't even eaten in two or three days. I thought they were being unusually cruel. Turns out they were just dead. And then she walks in…" Despite his bad mood, he couldn't help but repress a smile. "For a second I thought I was hallucinating… but then she starts ordering me around, demanding all sorts of information from me… stuff I couldn't possibly know… and telling me to stop staring at her chest. I figured that if I was hallucinating, I had developed a weird submission fetish during my incarceration." An odd yelping sound was heard off in the far distance. Atton stopped and looked anxiously around them. "Must be those animals Jena was warning me about," he muttered. "You do have your lightsaber, right?" Dustil patted the hilt hanging from his belt. "Good. Ship's not that far off now, but still…" he said absent-mindedly, trailing off.
"It doesn't sound like you and Jena were off to a very good start," commented Dustil, in an effort to focus the conversation back on topic.
"Yeah…"Atton scoffed lightly. "Not really, no. But hey, she was female, she was hot, she was in her underwear, and she was paying attention to me. Already that was more action than I'd had in weeks. But then of course, she found some clothes… That was rather disappointing… We hopped on the Ebon Hawk and got out of there, and then she discovered how much more of a pain I could be."
"So then, how…?" None of it made any sense to Dustil.
Atton rolled his eyes impatiently. "So then one minute she's berating me for being an ass to Mical, and the next minute she comes to see me, and says something about caring about me as she's leaving, so I ran off after her and pulled her back into the cockpit and kissed her, and that's sort of how it started happening. There. You happy?" He glanced over his shoulder again. He still couldn't see anyone coming.
"That's how… what started happening?" Dustil asked wonderingly.
"That's how… it started happening," Atton replied blankly. "Us! Our… thing."
"Your relationship?" Dustil grinned.
Atton shrugged. "Sure, if you want to call it that…"
Dustil laughed. "Wow, Mira was right—she told me you had commitment issues… and you really do!"
"What? What did she get that from?" Atton protested. "I don't!"
"Right," Dustil said with a smirk. "And that's why you can't even admit in casual conversation that you and Jena have a relationship."
Atton frowned. "Sure I can."
"Then say it. Tell me that she's your girlfriend," mocked Dustil. Atton opened his mouth and immediately closed it. Dustil burst into peals of laughter. "I can't believe this! You've been waiting for her all this time, you've traveled from one end of the galaxy to the other looking for her, but you still can't admit that she's your girlfriend."
"It just sounds weird," grumbled Atton. "Besides, I don't see you making any progress on the Mira front."
The shot hit home and Dustil flushed. "Yeah, well, if I did, I at least wouldn't have any problems admitting the existence of our relationship," he snapped, folding his arms.
"All right, all right!" Atton cried out, waving his arms around theatrically. "Fine! Jena and I have a relationship. She is my girlfriend. Happy?" He felt a little dizzy as the blood drained from his face, and was quite thankful that they had finally arrived at the ship.
Dustil smirked. "Not as happy as I am seeing your face right now. You look terrified."
"Yeah, well, at least you won't be going around telling people that I can't admit I'm in a relationship." He swallowed. "And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a heart attack," he said, making his way up the loading ramp.
Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews and to those who have joined my Yahoo Group... I feel so loved! ;) LadyJA: The creature you're thinking of is actually the ysalamiri. The vornskrs are as I described... Here is a quote from the Star Wars Databank: 'As part of a defensive mechanism that protects them from Force-sensitive pack animals called vornskrs, the ysalamiri have developed the unusual ability to "push back" the Force.'
Okay, so maybe this chapter wasn't all you hoped it would be, as Jena's not even IN this one... However, she'll be back next chapter, and I promise that chapter 16 will be quite eventful. I had a LOT of fun writing that one. (One of my favourites so far...) Anyway, please still feel free to comment on this chapter, and to give me theories, suggestions, anything. (You can also join my Yahoo group and get -- gasp! -- timely responses! Just check out my author page for the link.)
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