Days later the sun shined in the clear blue sky and Captain Rex walked down the now familiar path to the house where Sivvy lived to bring General Skywalker to meet her. It was a very large multifamily home that had survived the conflicts. Originally, it was an ancestral home and over time it was used for different communal activities. At the present it was a home for the displaced women who survived the destruction of their private homes. It was also the place where much of the debris and a handful of useful items were being held. While cleaning the fields a tactical droid was found intact and full of CIS secrets.

Ladies walked about the lawn carrying buckets of feed, being chased by live poultry. Little girls rushed by in giggling blurs of ribbons and lacy bonnets. Anakin noticed Rex was a bit anxious, but in a giddy way. Skywalker put the pieces together when Rex began to ramble on about Miss Sivvy.

"She's a petite woman, sort of, so, it was kind of funny to see her with that big rusty pitchfork but thank goodness she has a cool head too because if she had been at all spooked she would've no doubt come at me with that thing. And she said later she thought we were all droids until we took our helmets off, well, until I took my helmet off and she saw-"

"Rex?" interrupted Anakin. He stood in the middle of the lawn and pointed over to a large tree with dangling green foliage. He saw two familiar clones. "Is that Echo and Fives?"

Rex's brow jumped when he saw two of his ARC Troopers trying to hide behind the wide trunk, wearing nothing but fluffy white towels around their waists. "What in the…?" said Rex to himself as he took off at a clipped pace as he charged over to his men.

Echo grabbed Fives by the upper arm and pulled him back behind the tree trunk. Anakin followed Rex at a more relaxed pace and when the two near naked men peered out from the space between the two largest branches, Anakin let out a chuckle. "dorks…" he muttered.

Rex and Anakin arrived behind the large tree just in time to overhear Echo chastising Fives "I told you! If you just sat down and waited with me we…" Echo halted when he saw the angry look of his commanding officer. The two troopers stood at attention and saluted their Captain and General.

"What in the blazes are you two knuckleheads doing!?" snapped Rex. "Where is your armor, your gear, your uniforms?"

Echo and Fives shared a glance and Echo said "We were surveying the forest as you had asked, Captain, sir, when we heard a couple of the girls crying. We went to investigate and found their, eh, toy, had landed on the roof of the house here. We offered to help, but well, we…"

"Sir, we fell off the side of the house, sir" said Fives. "And straight into a swine pen, sir!"

Echo's posture was every inch as straight and disciplined as Fives but his expressive eyes always gave away his feelings. This time they were of disgust at the memory. Rex paced, containing his feelings, back and forth in front of his two best men. "You fell in swine shit?"

Anakin couldn't help but laugh at the idea of the two elite warriors falling like two big klutzes straight into a puddle of a swine pen.

"Yes, sir. On retrospect our gear was too heavy for the lattice we were climbing, sir" explained Fives.

"Lattice?" asked Anakin. "Could you not have gone inside and popped out a window or something?"

Echo said "The top floor is all bedrooms, sir. We…didn't want to invade their personal space, sir."

Rex appreciated his men trying to respect the locals, but did not find the situation amusing. He said "But where is your gear now? And what are you doing out here?"

Fives and Echo shared a glance. Fives started speaking and Echo looked pained. "Sir, Miss Sivvy came outside, sir, and offered to launder our clothing and hose off our gear, sir."

This caught Rex's attention and he stood in front of Fives "You two inconvenienced Miss Sivvy? You know she has enough to care for here!" he hollered. Anakin smiled as Rex's feelings for Miss Sivvy became more obvious.

Echo turned his wide eyes to General Skywalker to plead for assistance.

"C'mon Rex" said Anakin. "They were just trying to do the right thing."

Rex relaxed a bit and nodded. "Yes, General…" he took two steps back over to stand next to Anakin. "But why are you naked out here?" he asked pointing at the tree.

Echo said "Sir, we were inside, sir, but then…eh…some ladies entered the room we were in and…" Echo's eyes flashed with hope when he saw Miss Sivvy skipping down to the tree with a pile of clothing. "Well, we ended up unintentionally causing a stir."

"Mr Echo! Mr Fives! I have some clothing for you to borrow!" She rushed down and came to an abrupt halt when she saw Rex. "Oh Captain! Hello" She eyed Anakin "Hello Sir."

"Hello Ma'am" said Anakin respectfully.

She turned to Echo and Fives and handed them each a pile of clothing. "Your textiles, the black clothing is clean, but has to line dry. These are…well they were my brothers, but" she shrugged. "He won't be needing them."

The two soldiers glanced at the clothing, and both said "Sorry ma'am. Thank you."

"Thank you, boys. And sorry about the fuss. I told the ladies you two gentlemen were in there, I don't know why they just barged in on you like that. If you like, you can go back in and change in the refresher room. It has a solid lock on the door."

"Yes ma'am" "Thank you, ma'am!" said the two ARC troopers. They both looked at their Captain for his ok and he gave them a sharp nod of approval. They saluted their Captain, their General, and then they were off. They ran across the green lawn out of view of the ladies and girls and Sivvy turned her attention to Rex and Anakin.

"So may I ask…?" she looked to Rex, then Anakin, and back to Rex.

The captain, however, was distracted as he saw Five's towel drop to the ground and his subordinate's subsequent panic as he tried to cover his most private parts. Fives dove to the ground to grab the towel. In the process he accidentally tripped Echo who face planted into the grass in the opposite direction.

Sivvy was unaware of the commotion behind her and Anakin began to cough to cover his laugh as the ridiculous scene played out behind her. Rex's eyes darted back to Sivvy and said "Ah, yes, apologies, Miss Sivvy. This is General Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Master."

Her brow jumped in recognition "A Jedi. We've read much about the Order, but never had one here among us. She nodded her head at the young handsome man. "It's a pleasure, Master" she said.

"The pleasure is all mine" he said. Ignoring Fives and Echo scrambling into the back door of the large house and the subsequent giggles and feminine hoots that came from within.

Sivvy glanced over her shoulder and shook her head "Those poor boys. The ladies have been teasing them relentlessly. I think Mr Fives secretly enjoys it, but Mr Echo? I can't say I have ever seen any human face get so red."

From Master Skywalker's crooked smirk she gathered he was familiar with the men.

Rex was apologetic "I am so sorry for their meddling and any inconvenience they cause."

She began to walk back towards the house and invited the two officers inside. "Come on in, I think I may need to shoo away the girls from your men, but I can make you some tea if you like."

"I…" stuttered Rex.

Anakin accepted for both of them and as they walked the Jedi saw the little girls that ran by earlier sitting on the edge of the front porch watching them. Anakin pointed a finger upward and slipped their toy, a pink frisbee off the roof.

As the pink plastoid disk floated down to the grass the group of girls squealed with delight and Anakin shot them a wink.

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