A/N: Late, I know, sorry. I started school again, and it's utter, utter hell. I'd like some friends for Christmas please Santa. To make up for it, this chapter is long. WARNING: Very mild slash. If that bothers you, sorry, it just happened. My fingers ran away with me, and they created a sassy gay boy who flirts with Obi-Wan. Anyway, Enjoy!
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan stayed in their rooms until the designated dinner time, setting up and discussing plans. As he was getting changed to go down to the dining hall, Obi-Wan tried to centre himself.
'Stay calm, watch what you say, and don't let anything slip,' he told himself firmly, running his fingers through his hair. His mind was busy, and calm was eluding him. He could only hope he could stay focused outside his rooms. He looked in the small mirror in his room, tugging at the collar of his tunic. It was a lot tighter then he was used to. He began to wonder if Dandy hadn't had a little too much fun dressing him; surely not all teenagers wore clothing that was this tight?
He joined Qui-Gon in the living room. His Master had his eyes shut, and Obi-Wan could see him shifting from the serene, stoic Jedi Master he was, into the absentminded, kindly man he was playing. Qui-Gon opened his eyes, and smiled Kendren's smile as Obi-Wan approached.
"Shall we make our way down, then?" he asked in Kendren's voice. Obi-Wan shrugged, and then nodded, easily slipping into Cale's shy, awkward persona. The pair made their way out of the room, but Obi-Wan paused in the doorway.
"Did you forget something?" Kendren asked, looking over his shoulder. Cale looked at him pointedly.
"Did you grab the keycards?" he replied. Kendren looked thoughtful, and started patting his pockets.
"Keys, keys…" the older man muttered, before he wandered back into their rooms looking perplexed. Cale rolled his eyes. He caught the eye of a patrolling guard who had witnessed the exchange and grinned, a little wryly. The guard smiled back as she made her way down the hall. Kendren appeared in the doorway again, smiling triumphantly with the ring of keycards in his hand. Cale just sighed.
They walked slowly through the ship towards the dining area, taking the time to look around. Under the guise of finding their way around, the two Jedi sighted the entrances to the security wings and staff corridors, just in case. There was plenty to see. The ship had many large communal rooms with all sorts of entertainments; from rooms with comfortable couches and holovid screens obviously aimed at entertaining teenagers and young adults, to a large crèche with a huge playground, to a dimly lit, fashionable bar.
As they wandered, Obi-Wan could feel the guards watching them closely. Any families which consisted of a single parent and a single teenage child would be under close scrutiny. Luckily for the sake of the mission, there seemed to be two or three dozen families like that running around. Cale looked in awe at the throngs of sentients milling about. The vast majority were human, or at least humanoid, but there were other species threaded through. As they approached the dining hall, Obi-Wan let himself trip on the corner of a rug. Qui-Gon feigned obliviousness and kept walking, still chatting to the empty air. Cale's face burned with embarrassment as he scrambled to his feet. Several nearby children laughed at him as their parents shushed them, smiling at him apologetically. Cale ducked his head and tried to hurry after Kendren. Instead, he walked face first into a solid mass in his path.
"Are you alright, child?" the mass said in a deep, resonating voice, reaching out a thick golden arm to steady him. Cale looked up at the mass…and up and up and up. The 'mass' was actually yet another guard, an enormous humanoid with golden skin and limbs like a Wookie's. While Obi-Wan wondered if he'd ever seen a humanoid that large, 'Cale' looked up at the man with his mouth wide open.
"Uh…" he said stupidly. The enormous humanoid seemed used to this sort of reaction and smiled, revealing pointed white teeth.
"Your father has gone into the dining hall. I do not think he realizes you are not with him," the guard informed Cale, not unkindly. Cale gave him a terrified smile.
"Th-thank you," he stammered, before running after Qui-Gon, stumbling in the doorway but catching himself in time.
Qui-Gon was standing next to a table in the middle of the hall, looking around with a perplexed expression. When he caught sight of Obi-Wan, he smiled and waved him over, saying something to someone sitting at the table Obi-Wan couldn't see. Obi-Wan began walking over, assessing the room subtly as he did.
The dining hall was the largest room in the ship Obi-Wan had seen yet. There were probably two or three hundred beings in the room, at Obi-Wan's reckoning, including a large number of staff, and there were tables enough for an army. A huge buffet ran down the side of the room, filled with food of all description, for every species imaginable.
When Obi-Wan reached the table, he saw Kendren chatting to several people he didn't know. He guessed the portly human man and the pretty teenage girl sitting next to him were probably the neighbors Qui-Gon had mentioned, but the dark skinned humanoid male and the tanned teenage boy on the other side of the table were a mystery.
"Cale! Where in the galaxy did you get to?" Kendren asked cheerfully. Before Cale could respond, Kendren turned back to those assembled. "This is my son, Cale. Cale, this is Mr. Moor and his daughter Miili, and Healer Andrae and his son Anon."
"Hi," Cale blushed at the friendly stares of the people at the table. Kendren clapped him on the shoulder.
"Why don't you sit down that end of the table, with the other kids? That way you don't have to listen to us old folks blather," Kendren chattered, pushing Cale down the table towards Miili and Anon. Cale slipped into the seat next to Miili, across from Anon. He smiled at them both, and was a little concerned to get two meaningful smirks back.
While the adults launched into a conversation about some sport Obi-Wan knew Qui-Gon didn't care about in the slightest, Cale looked nervously between Anon and Miili. Miili was looking at him speculatively, and despite the fact that she was already right next to him, she leaned over to speak.
"So Cale," Miili began, twirling her hair around her finger and smiling prettily. "How old are you?"
"I'm, um, I'm seventeen," he responded, inching away from her as she leaned closer to him. She giggled.
"Great! I'm fifteen."
"That's… that's great," Cale floundered. His eyes were on the hair being twisted around her finger. It was getting precariously close to a large ring, and he was sure that-
"Ow!" Miili suddenly yelped. "My hair's caught! Ow! Daddy!"
"What is it, princess?" Mr. Moor looked anxiously at his daughter. Miili was pouting dramatically. Cale watched the pair with morbid curiosity.
"Daddy, my hair is caught in my ring again!"
"Again?" Anon muttered incredulously. Cale bit back a smile.
"Daddy, get it out! It hurts!"
"Hold still, precious, I'll fix it."
"Ow, ow, ow…"
"Alright precious, I almost have it…"
"Daddy, hurry up."
"There you go, princess!"
"Omigosh, you pulled some of my hair out! Does it still look okay?"
This last question was delivered to a startled Cale. Miili looked at him with pleading eyes, and he felt himself blush.
"Um, yeah, it still looks…lovely?" Cale stammered. Miili gave him that same meaningful smile. With growing horror, Obi-Wan realized it was meant to be seductive.
"Good!" she purred, stroking her hair flat. "I would hate to look all messy. You never know when you might run into someone…special."
"You're too right, Miili," Anon drawled in an accent that was clearly from the Outer-Rim. He sent a sly look at Cale, before looking back at her. "I'm sure none of us realized what a special girl you were until just now, for example."
His inflection on 'special' let Cale know that it wasn't a compliment. Miili was oblivious.
"Thank you!"
Anon smirked at Cale, "Well, Cale, since we're asking around, I'm sixteen."
"Okay, cool," Cale smiled back. Anon kept looking at him, and Obi-Wan realized that it was a heated look similar to the one Siri had sent him (and Miili had tried to send him) earlier.
'Oh, for Force sake, they're all hitting on me!'
Miili was glaring at Anon, having caught on to her competition. She chose to ignore him, and turned back to Cale.
"So, what are you into?"
Anon snorted at the unintentional double entendre and Cale blushed, "Oh, um, I like lots of stuff…"
"Really?" Anon leaned forward, smirking. "Lots of stuff? So, would you say you like to… experiment with different things?"
'Nothing unintentional in that double entendre,' Obi-Wan thought, genuinely floundering for an answer. 'Eh, might as well go for shock factor.'
"Yeah," Cale replied casually. "You could say I'm open for a lot of new experiences."
Anon's eyebrows raised, and he grinned. Miili tried to break into the conversation.
"I think it's a good way to be, you know? Open to new things. I like new things. This dress is new. Do you like my dress, Cale?"
"Uh, yeah, it's very pretty."
Anon couldn't help but add, "Just like your ring!"
Miili glared, and seemed to be about to say something in response when Kendren spoke loud enough for them to hear, "Ah! Ka'Teeka! An! So glad you could make it."
"Sorry we're late," Ka'Teeka smiled at the assembled group. "There was a slight… clothing catastrophe."
"Well, if you had just let me wear the dress I wanted to wear-"
"That wasn't a dress, An, it was a glorified tunic…"
Obi-Wan missed the next part of the argument when Siri moved into his line of sight. She was, for the first time in his memory, wearing a dress.
What's more, it was a short dress, not even close to reaching her knees. It was also a very flattering dress, made of dark blue shimmersilk and clinging to Siri's slight frame in a way that made Obi-Wan's mouth run dry. She smiled a lazy, confidant smile, and Obi-Wan forced himself to blink.
'And shut your mouth, too,' his inner voice seemed to sigh. 'Good grief, have a little respect.'
Before he knew what was happening, Siri was sliding into the seat next to Anon, all grace and poise. She smiled that dazzling smile.
"Hi."
"Um, hi," Cale stammered his reply. Anon took a long look at An, glanced at Obi-Wan, and sighed.
"Damn."