Stupid stupid stupid, Carth thought to himself as he blindly made his way around other guests in the hotel. Why hadn't he realized she would react that way, that anything from Telos would reopen old wounds, not signal a happy tomorrow? He rolled the ring box in his hand, the impulse to pitch it growing with each step. He knew she blamed herself for the destruction of Telos, for the loss of his home, the death of his wife…. but he didn't blame her. Even as Darth Revan, she did not issue the order. The attack was a personal message from Saul Karath: it was the price for Carth refusing to join the Sith. No, she was not responsible, not then, certainly not now. Carth tightened his grip around the ring: he hadn't realized her reaction would be one of remorse and disgrace because he didn't see things that way—and he was going to make her understand that. Right now. With these thoughts, he lost track of himself in the hall—as he slammed into someone, the ring knocked free from his grasp.
"Watch it bud…" the gruff voice warned.
"Excuse me," Carth said as he bent over to scoop up the ring. When he stood, he found himself face to face with a burly Mandalorian. "Oh, its you," Carth dismissed.
"Yeah, its me, so what? Why don't you watch where you're going? Bah, who am I kidding, you fly the same way."
"I don't have time to get into it with you Canderous…" Carth began. He tried to side step around the mercenary, who matched his movement and blocked him where he stood.
"Hey, what's with all the spit and polish?" Canderous asked as a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes. "That damned dinner is tomorrow, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's tomorrow," Carth growled through clenched teeth.
"Then why the hell you running around in that monkey-lizard suit now? Less time in it, the better, I say. Hey, what ya got there?" Canderous motioned to Carth's fist.
"Nothing that concerns you," Carth snapped as he slipped the jewelry box into his pocket.
"Ahh…" Canderous smirked as he caught a glimpse of the distinctively shaped container. He then looked past Carth's shoulder, to the direction he had come from. The doors to the presidential suite were there, at the end of the hall. "So, fourth time wasn't the charm either, eh?" he said with a laugh.
"Stow it, Mandalorian!"
"Look at you! Fancy dress and trinkets. What made you think THAT would impress her? These are true honors from battle," he said tracing scars on his arms and cheek. "This is what Revan knows."
"Isn't there," Carth snarled, "a particularly handsome gizka somewhere you'd rather be…".
"Gentlemen!" Carth and Canderous felt compelled to turn towards the stern greeting. Bastila was in the hall, approaching them rapidly; so quickly in fact, the door to her suite was still in the process of sealing shut.
"Oh great," Canderous grumbled. "First soldier boy, now the Jedi princess."
"Always a pleasure to see you too, Canderous," she responded coolly. After first calling her spoiled princess back on Dantooine, Canderous addressed her as such from then on. She long since gave up on correcting him as it seemed only to further his amusement. "What are you two bickering about now?"
"Hey, I was minding my own business when the paranoid pilot here came flying down the hall looking like a disturbance in the Force," Canderous snarled. Bastila raised an eyebrow as she turned to Carth.
"I admit I wasn't watching where I was going…" Carth began. "But there was no harm done. Why does everyone make a big deal over everything!"
"Yes, well, I don't think an accidental run-in is worth this fight. Please control your emotions. We have… an image to uphold for the Republic. Now, Carth, you are looking rather formal…Am I mistaken about the dinner being tomorrow?"
Carth drew a deep angry breath and looked up at the ceiling. "It is tomorrow, yes, tomorrow!" he hissed. Canderous let out a howling cackle.
"Captain Courtship was just shot down over Planet Revan…AGAIN!"
"Oh, I see," Bastila said softly in her controlled manner. "This does explain quite a bit," she whispered to herself. She stole a glance behind her, to the droid standing in front of the silent doors at the end of the hall as he unceremoniously waved off a hotel maid. "And I take it things did not go well? I am sorry, Carth, but you must understand—you are asking her for something she is not at liberty to give."
"The Council does not own her!" Carth spat back.
"Now that I can agree to," Canderous boomed. "No one owns she who claims victory in battle over the entire might of the Mandalorian Clan guild. She is her own woman, she is Revan. Not Jedi Revan, or padawan, or knight or anything else: just Revan."
"That was a life ago, she has begun anew as Jiara Anatalis. You must respect that, Canderous," Bastila cautioned.
"She is Revan, and I seem to be the only one willing to respect THAT of her," he growled. "Why does everyone try to deny it? What dishonor is there in being a successful warrior? Her acts as Darth Revan are shameful only because the council decides so. Mandalore would have written songs for her glory in battle. The role of the weak is to serve the strong. As the leader of the Sith, she understood this."
"It doesn't matter to me what she calls herself. Whatever name is fine, just as long…" Carth's voice trailed to silence.
"Just as long as her last name is Onasi?" Canderous teased back. He snorted dismissively. "You go to her asking for Jiara only. You forget, you ignore, she is Revan too. You do not honor a Sith lord with candy and flowers!"
"Oh, do you suggest a box of grenades and some severed heads?"
"Now you're talking!" Canderous said with genuine glee.
"My, my, advice for the lovelorn from a Mandalorian," Bastila said stifling a smile. "I now understand Master Vandar's wisdom when he told me each dawn brings a new wonder to the world."
Carth snickered and tried to hide the smirk slipping across his lips. Canderous shot a sideways glance at him, then fixed his hardened gaze on Bastila. "At least my advice is drawn from experience…and I have plenty, would you like to hear more, sister?"
"No, that is quite enough!" she blurted, a hint of pink flushing her cheeks.
"Touched a nerve there, princess?" he flashed his teeth in a wide grin. "You need to loosen up, pull that lightsaber out of your…"
"You will NOT speak to me in this manner!" Bastila's voice was raised in uncharacteristic anger. Carth took a slight step back: while grateful he was no longer the center of attention, this was a dangerous distraction. Everyone seemed bristling for a fight tonight, Carth thought, and these two meant more trouble than most.
"Okay, maybe we should all just settle down…" he offered, but his words were lost.
"Oh, now THERE'S some fire!" Canderous shot back. "Too bad the only time you warm to a man is when you are ready to run him through. Otherwise you could freeze a wampa."
"Do not bait me Ordo," she snapped. "I warn you."
"Or what? This from the ONLY Jedi in history to be held captive by Vulkars. I am quaking!"
"You shall be rewarded for your disrespect!" she thundered. Her hand hung dangerously close to the hilt of her light saber. "Do you forget I have fallen once to the Dark Side? I am told the next time is all the more easier," she sneered.
Carth stepped further back—Bastila had never mentioned her fall without contrition and remorse, which always ended up with her launching into a sermon against the forces of evil. But now she had brandished it with pride, and menace.
"Oh yes, a dark Jedi… for all of a month was it? Sister, I was terrorizing the Outer Rim decades before you were potty-trained. Don't talk to me about dark…."
Carth did not hear the mechanical slide of the door opening behind him, but he felt the even, firm pressure of two hands on his shoulders. Calm washed over him. "Come on in here, son." The smooth yet graveled voice wrapped around Carth, he could hear nothing else. He allowed the hands to guide him backwards though the doorway. After Carth disappeared into his room, Jolee turned to the two left in the hall right at his doorstep.
"You shall know pain!" Bastila shrieked. The rest of the hotel guests had already fled—so much for the Republic's image—but Canderous stood his ground, a wide smile creeping across his face.
"Now this is what I've been waiting for!" he said taking a defensive stance.
"Oh, you two, get a room!" Jolee boomed at them. All the emotion—and color—drained from Bastila at the words. Canderous dropped his fists and turned to see Jolee standing next to him where Carth had been. "You heard me! Git outta here! Take this lover's spat inside somewhere; no one wants to see this! Least of all me; my eyesight is bad enough from age, I don't want to go totally blind!" Bastila's jaw quivered, her eyes widened. Canderous looked back to her, then impulsively twitched an eyebrow and moved his gaze up and down her frame; his mouth parted slightly, the tip of his tongue tracing across his lower lip. Bastila stiffened instantly.
"Gammorean sewer slime!" she huffed and turned back towards her room. Canderous's roaring laughter chased her down the hall. By the time she got to her door, her face was a searing scarlet.
"Feel better now, do you?" Jolee asked. Canderous allowed his laughter to die down as he caught his breath.
"That was worth all the armor on Mandalore!" he nearly giggled.
"What was?" Jolee asked.
"What was…" Canderous tried to think. He looked around. The hallway was empty…no, Jolee was there. "Where'd you come from?" he asked in his usual brusque manner.
"Why, right here from my room; where you headed?" Jolee asked lightly.
"I'm just out for a drink. I hate being here. Damn dinners and ceremonies! Do I look like a hero?" he grumbled. "Man, I feel like kicking someone's ass…. I'm sure someone deserves it at the cantina, wanna join me?"
"No, you go right ahead, I don't want to steal any of your fun! So you just go on and set someone straight…shoo!" Jolee watched Canderous march around the corner and out of sight to the elevator. Once he was sure the Mandalorian was safely away, he slipped back to his room.
Bastila stood in the hall staring blankly at her own hotel room door. She felt the presence of another in her mind…a Force touch. Blurred smudges of memory drifted behind her eyes. Someone had changed her thoughts…but she seemed to know she was better off for it. She suspected Jolee, but when…? She decided to worry about it later. Right now she needed to track the surge in dark energy that had flooded her senses. She thought back, concentrating on how she came to be outside her room…. yes, Carth and Canderous were arguing in the hall, about what, she could not recall…but they were not the source, they had been affected by the malignant power. She turned away from the scene of the spat…and looked directly at HK-47 standing guard at the presidential suite. She broke into a brisk trot towards the doors.