On the next day, Ec Pand, Mid Rim

Jedova and Degu walked out of the transport ship alongside the crowd at Ec Pand's spaceport. They knew where to go. They also had the instructions from the governor to stay inconspicuous throughout the mission. To Degu, that meant no chasing criminals while on Ec Pand unless Hopeakuu – or someone else – decided to strike their position and run.

They walked around through random routes like tourists and approached their destination slowly, listening to the Force for any potential sign of trouble regarding them. At some point, Jedova sensed that someone was following them – and this someone was up to no good.
"Somebody seems to be following us," Degu murmured, his voice as long as it could. "Feels like it."
"We're being followed," Jedova confirmed, looked around and noticed a café. "Hey, why don't we go to visit that café, Fallen Leaf? It looks good."

Degu already knew what his Master was planning but looked at the café for the sake of acting.
"Sure, why not? My legs were starting to get sore from all this walking," he noted. They walked into the café, doing their best to look casual, and ordered drinks. The woman who worked at the counter shouted the order to the kitchen in a foreign language and another woman brought two middle-sized steins of the ordered drink which she slammed on the counter before returning to the kitchen. The Force rippled around them as they worked together.

Ignoring the apparent Force-bound communication of the café's staff, the Jedi duo took the steins and walked to a table next to the window and sat down. There they could see who was following them.
"My legs aren't sore at all, but I had actually started become thirsty," Degu mumbled at the table and drank a sip from his stein. "You read my thoughts, Master."

Jedova forced the laugh to stay inside and settled for just a small smile. When he drank a gulp, that smile was suddenly difficult to maintain.
"Great choice, this drink I mean," Degu noted when he noticed that the muscles on his Master's face tightened ever so slightly. The drink they had ordered tasted absolutely horrible; neither of them had ever drank anything so bitter. Jedova looked at the drink list again and memorized the name of that drink.
"Vair Shiro. Now that's something I will not order ever again," he said. Degu chuckled and drank again, forcing his smile to stay on his face; the person following them was nearby.
"Believe me, Master, me neither. Unless I'm about to pull a mischief on my apprentice when I'm a Master myself, that is," Degu said, grinning. The grin started to fade at the next sip, however.
"Oh, that poor Padawan," Jedova sighed. "I pity them already."

He drank again, wishing that he would soon get to wash this bitter taste away from his mouth with something else. Then he looked out of the window as if in passing and saw the person who was on their trail: a Vurk who had dressed in unusually vapid clothes. The Vurk looked around himself, went to lean at a corner and smoked. Many passersby looked at him with disapproval.
"If we keep up going to the same direction, we can smell him if he keeps up following us. Unless someone gets so upset about smoking so badly that they give him a little beating," Degu noted. Jedova looked at him strictly and send the scolding through the Force; a Jedi was not supposed to wish harm to someone. Degu winced and looked at his Master, startled, sending a small apology through their bond. Jedova nodded and turned to look at the scenery that opened up from the window before he forced himself to drink again.
"Good that we didn't order a bigger stein," Degu sighed in relief and emptied his stein. "Well then, now that ordeal is over."

Jedova looked his Padawan, astonished. How had he managed to drink the moderately big stein empty already?
"Just straight down the throat," Degu answered to the question which had risen to the face of his Master and then shook his head. "Never, ever this thing again..."

Jedova looked at his own stein. There was about one third left yet. And that third was a lot. Degu looked at his Master with compassion.
"If I managed to get it down my throat, you can do it too," he noted and hid his grin behind his hand.

Jedova sighed, closed his eyes and drank the rest of the Vair Shiro as fast as he could. He could sense how difficult it was for Degu to stay as serious as he normally was and sent a warning through the Force to him; they would talk about this later.

Degu only grinned visibly when Jedova put his stein to the table, his face expressionless but clearly whitened. He let a short glare to be seen only for so long that Degu would notice it. The boy was only fifteen, Jedova reminded himself, but the Padawan should still at least try to control his amusement.
"Shall we go, Master?" Degu asked, a conciliatory tone in his voice.
Well, one really can't be angry at that boy for very long, can they? Jedova caught himself thinking and nodded. "Let's go."

They stood up from the table and a cleaner droid came immediately to snatch the emptied steins to itself. It delivered them to the kitchen with such swiftness that one could have thought that it feared that someone would steal its dishes from its hands. Meanwhile, the Jedi continued their travel and the Vurk followed them.

/Author's note: Star Wars (c) Lucasfilm, any characters you cannot find on Wookieepedia, Veledos, Veledosians and their language (c) Me/