Later:

It was nearly the dusk of evening when Aira finally came. Dragging Padme to come open the door, which delicate, wonderful fingers had touched from the other side in a polite yet too harsh knock, he straightened his hair for the tenth time.

"Alright, everyone, get in your places!" he called behind him towards the kitchen, briskly clapping his hands to get their attentions. The house was hauntingly empty, the volunteers, clones and mad masses of people having gone back to the base for the night.

Intrepid, Nava and Padme had spent a majority of the day fairly scrubbing the house until it shined. Obi-wan and Ahsoka had been preparing a special dinner, which passed Lux's report of 'suitable for her' and thus were confined to the kitchen.

Rex and Cody had been getting the twins ready, rehearsing their lines of admiration for Lux over and over until the three and a half year old twins repeated every word flawlessly. Anakin had; despite Lux's protests, been giving him advice all day on how to impress girls.

"We have places?" Nava asked dryly as she and Intrepid came down the stairs, dusting off the banister in a last polish. "Yes!" Lux snapped, shoving Padme towards the door.

He had already established that she would be the one to answer it. He didn't want to terrify Aira right away by having the first impression of the house be a Jedi opening the door.

The others had taken it with amusement. "You heard him Obi-wan," Anakin said as he walked into the kitchen. "Go sit on the back porch, near the garbage cans if possible, because that's where all your lectures belong," he teased.

"Come here, Anakin, I'll show you your place, and what I think of your paltry insults," Obi-wan called back, menacingly calm. "With you eyeing your saber? I don't think so…" Lux groaned and pushed his hair back.

His heart raced in his chest and their banter was not helping. "Not now!" he cried hysterically. "Please, everyone just don't embarrass me, and try to act normal," he begged as another knock came at the door.

He stood a few feet away from the door, trying to act not too desperate and not too indifferent either. "What do normal people act like?" Intrepid asked in a whisper from the back.

Oh, gosh, why did I agree to this? Lux had a very bad feeling about tonight. Glancing at him with mirth, Padme opened the door and grinned widely at their unhappy guest. Aira's face, beautifully carved, melted into relief at the sight of the non-force sensitive.

"Senator," she breathed, with a small bow as Padme moved aside and gestured her in. "It's an honor to meet you. You've been one of my role models since the Battle Of Naboo," she said, eyes sparkling to have met one of her idols. Padme had the modesty to blush, as if she weren't aware of the several fan clubs in her name around the galaxy.

"Oh. Thank you, it's a pleasure to meet you too," she said, obviously flattered by Aira's words. Lux cleared his throat and stepped forward. So far so good. Aira looked at his ware appraisingly, and smiled. "You look nice, Lux," she said shyly. Lux gulped.

Despite the fact that she was in the same pilot's suit she had been in, cleaned as it were, when she had arrived, he still considered her the most beautiful being in the galaxy. "Uh…I…Ugh…Er…" he stammered, no response coming to immediate mind.

Padme smiled from behind Aira and shook her head, laughing softly. "You're a master of words, Lux. Well done," she teased. Aira giggled softly and nodded. "He does have a way with the ladies," she agreed, with a fond glance at him. His face burned. He had a way with ladies. Whoa.

"Er…Ha. Come meet the others," he invited. Aira's face fell into distaste but she nodded and grabbed his hand. He gave a small start, surprised that she would touch him with such worthy hands, but strode forward, striving for a confident air.

Leading her towards the kitchen, Padme chuckling softly behind them, he did not get two feet before Ahsoka jumped down from the top of the stairs and landed right before them.

"Oh!" Aira gasped, startled by the sudden appearance. Lux inhaled sharply and skidded to a halt. Aira, one hand pressed lightly over her heart in bewilderment, looked up and then down at Ahsoka again, flabbergasted.

Lux sighed, reflecting that for Ahsoka, that was normal behavior. At least she hadn't come from a corner, fresh from watching them again. Or, had she…? "Aira, this is my friend Ahsoka," he introduced, glaring at his friend, who returned the look innocently.

Aira did not hide her dislike. Reaching out a hand as if she were about touch a dead animal, she wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something vile, though the air only smelt of baking roast and sweet bread.

"Nice to meet you, General Tano," she said coldly, grim in her duty. Lux cringed, but Ahsoka only beamed at Aira as she shook her hand amiably. "Please, call me Ahsoka. It's good to meet you," she said optimistically. "Now," Ahsoka slung one arm around Lux's shoulders companionably, eyes bright with humor.

"Before we do anything else, do you want to hear about the time Lux here drunk himself into a stupor on Candor VI?" She asked impishly. Lux paled and glared at his friend. She wouldn't dare…

Thankfully, Intrepid was there to play hero. Tactfully grabbing Ahsoka by the shoulders, she steered her away from the conversation. "Don't mind her; she's been hit in the head too often. I'm Intrepid, by the way," she said with a broad smile as she shoved Ahsoka back into the kitchen inconspicuously. Aira seemed even less inclined, if possible, to meet intrepid, but she accepted the handshake easily enough.

"Aren't you a healer?" She asked, to Lux's surprise. Intrepid cocked her head and smiled gently. "That depends upon your point of view," she responded mystically. Aira frowned but only shook her head at the nonsense. Lux could have slapped his forehead. He had said normal, not mystic and wise.

Aira must think they were a circus show of freaky monks. "Is dinner almost done, Intrepid?" Padme asked, soothingly unruffled in the face of the end of his life. Intrepid nodded. "I believe so. Let's go see, shall we?" With that said, Intrepid led the way back into the kitchen, Padme at Aira's side and Lux lagging pitifully behind.

This was going to be a long night.

Inside the kitchen, Nava leaned against the bar, laughing over something Obi-wan had said. Anakin sat in a chair next to the twins, sitting gleefully in their booster chairs as they watched him make faces at them. Ahsoka, Rex and Cody stood to the side, conversing softly with a small holo-gram. Lux caught the sight of Ahsoka's comm. link and heard a small gnarled voice. He sighed.

He had said normal not war general.

Hating himself for being irritated, because they were, in the big scheme of things, still war generals, he hurried Aira over to the twins before she could notice. Glancing up, Anakin cocked his head, studied Aira a minute, then flashed him a quick thumbs up to show he approved.

Moving so that the twins got the spotlight, he went to bombard Obi-wan in the kitchen with his presence. Luke and Leia, friendly by nature and accustomed to meeting new people every day, turned to smile dimpled grins at Aira, whose face softened as she gazed down at them.

"Hi!" Luke chirped. "My name is Luke. My name means Light," he told her, this second phrase having been drilled into his head by proud parents. Their names assured that they would always remember who they were. Jedi. Yet Aira need not know that.

"And I'm Leia. My name means Peace," Leia said just as proudly, tiny pig-tails especially adorable today. Aira grinned down at them and gently took tiny hands to shake, her eyes lighting up by the two children.

"Well it's nice to meet you Mr. Light and Ms. Peace," she said teasingly. The twins bust into giggles. Lux, deciding that the twins were now his best friends, let out a breath of relief. Perhaps this would not be so bad after all. Aira leaned back, grinning down at them. "They're so cute. I have a little sister about their age," she recalled fondly.

"Cute and mischievous," Padme agreed, with a tired but loving smile at her two children. Luke and Leia, aware that their destructive tendencies were being addressed, burst into squealing laughter.

"I have to chase them around everywhere. They never run out of energy," she sighed. Aira nodded and looked up. "My little sister, Sierra, is the same way. Always off and about. She'll never learn patience," Aira did not sound very repentant about this. In fact she sounded proud. "A daredevil, huh?" Lux teased, finding his voice again.

Aira nodded and smiled at him gently. "Just like her big sister," she agreed with a trifle teasing. Lux looked down, embarrassed for no apparent reason, shuffling his feet nervously. Those violet eyes studied him intently.

"Ah, children. Anakin and I are proud of them though," Padme said, hands upon hips as she sighed fondly. Aira blinked confusedly. "They're force sensitive?" she gasped. Padme glanced at her, a small crease in her brow.

"Yes. Two of the most force sensitive children in the Order," she answered. Aira seemed more surprised than displeased. She gazed down at the twins thoughtfully. "I don't believe it. I always thought Jedi children would be…Different," she said slowly. Lux wanted to say that oh yes, they were different but not demons, nothing to be feared or despised.

Just different. Just like them all.

But Padme took the other approach, laughing softly. "Oh, no, they're just like every other child in the galaxy. Full of giggles and curiosity. Though, the trouble they get into might be extra," she said poking her beloved children in their bellies. Once more, they burst into gleeful peals of laughter, and Aira's face relaxed minimally. "I see," she agreed softly, watching Padme and the twins thoughtfully.

Lux opened his mouth, racking his head for something to say but Luke beat him to the point. "Do you know that Lux-Lux has dreams about you?" he asked this new girl, squinting at her with recognition. Lux froze in place. Leia wrinkled her nose. "And in the dreams, you two are always naked," she added distastefully. My life is over, Lux thought with a groan.

Behind them, Ahsoka let out a strangled noise that sounded rather like; "Phoo shaw!" As she guffawed, along with several others in barely contained laughter. Lux's face burned with mortification as Aira straightened up, confusedly, eyes wide.

"What…?" She breathed, blinking at them with puzzlement. Before the twins could elaborate, Anakin and Rex plunged down to grab them from their seats like hawks swooping down on their prey.

"Do you all just meander around in my mind at night?" Lux demanded hotly, irate and humiliated. Anakin flashed him an apologetic grin, apparently holding back laughter as he discreetly covered Leia's mouth with one large mechanical hand.

"Sorry, Lux, we can't teach them how to shield until they're older. And in their defense, we don't snoop around in your dreams, you sort of just shove them at us. That one even scared me! I was so confused I got up and stumbled to find Obi-wan, but he threw a shoe at me, and told me it was four o'clock in the morning and whatever it was, it could wait and wasn't I too old to be scared of the tooth fairy anymore?"

He informed him as Rex hustled the twins into the kitchen so that they could help set the table. Lux glared, this was no time for joking! Yet to his surprise, Aira let out a surprised laugh at Anakin's description. Anakin stopped, astounded as well, but finally smiled in some relief.

"You're never too old to believe in the tooth fairy," Aira said, sounding a bit taken aback by her own amusement. "Yeah, see Obi-wan? You're never too old to believe," Anakin shot amiably at his partner, who cocked one eyebrow at him, opinion of this statement clear on his expression.

"I'll decline answering that for the sake of your pride. Anyway, that was in you in my room?" He asked. "Who did you think it was?" Cody grabbed several plates, efficiently and almost mechanically setting them around the table. "Frankly, I had no clue. It could have been Dooku and my response would have been the same," Obi-wan replied, with a small shrug.

"It would have," Nava assured them, with a wink at Aira. She returned with a delicate smile, and Lux could see how much she was at least trying to be open-minded. Knowing the amount of loss and anger she carried, his admiration and respect for her spiked in his heart.

"Ah, master, if Dooku would have been in your doorway I would have been right behind him ready to sever his head for even daring to try and hurt you," Anakin promised fiercely.

Obi-wan sorted, not fooled by the charade. "Anakin, you would have been the first to point him in the direction of my room. And then go to the council with a sob story claiming he'd murdered me, and ask for my seat in the same breath," Intrepid, who had been tasting the soup on top of the oven, quickly choked on her strangled laugh.

Lux could not help laughing at the shenanigans of these two. "Well, as I'm sure you know by now," he said, calmer now as the chuckling died down. "That's the famous Team in the flesh. Anakin and Obi-wan. That's Nava over there, Rex and Cody," he finished introductions.

Aira nodded. "I sort of guessed," she leaned in, her warm breath close to his ear. "And I'll wipe the details of your…Dreams off your tally," Lux exhaled in relief. "Thanks," he gave her a grateful grin and she shook her head. "Clones?" Aira then asked curiously, noticing that Rex and Cody seemed to be helping. Lux read the thought in her eyes that they may be servants.

He hurried to fix this minor misunderstanding. "Rex and Cody dine with us sometimes, when they get tired of their own food and their own brothers. We'd invite everyone in here if we could, but," he smiled tentatively. "We'd drive them insane," he said softly, as if it were a secret.

"Jedi dining with clones?" She made it sound so unbelievable. Her voice rang in his mind from that evening. "Oh, so they don't have time or energy to stoop to the inconsequential levels of us lowly mortals? They sound like real good people," she must have been surprised to learn the Jedi put no judgment on others. He hoped it helped.

"We'd bombard them whether they let us in or not," Rex told her matter of factly. "Besides, these guys are the ones who watch our backs during battle. We owe them at least a good meal every so often. I don't think we disturb you guys too much anymore," Anakin said, slinging his arm over Rex's shoulders convivially.

Rex glanced at his leader, a small smile playing around his lips. "You're all still very disturbing, but I've learned to like it. Cody?" He asked. Lux hid a smile as Cody tore his eyes way from Intrepid, who was painfully unaware of the attentions, adding last minute spices to the stew.

Aira glanced at him; eyebrows raised as she noticed, Lux gave a shrug. Love wasn't the smartest emotion in the universe, but reason wasn't what made the worlds go round all the time. Just mostly. Cody gave them a nonchalant shrug. "After awhile it even becomes endearing," he deadpanned.

"Good to know. Dinner's ready! Everyone take your seats!" Nava called cheerfully as she clapped her hands, using the force to carry over the plates of steaming food.

Obi-wan watched them being put on the table thoughtful, last minute ingredient already swirling in his calculating head. Lux was sure of one thing at least, if not anything else, and it was that the food prepared would be better than most dared imagine.

Hurrying forward with hands slick with sweat, he pulled out a seat for Aira, next to the twins, who were being suitably silent as they were served their plates. Eyes wide, they once more practiced with their forks, having recently mastered spoons.

The Jedi settled into seats, the comforting rhythm of each talking in turn to the other filling the air as dishes were served around and stories were shared. Lux's shoulders relaxed at the familiar sound. Aira, too, seemed to relax if not slightly by the warm sounds.

Turning to the twins, her friends so far, she smiled. "So, what have you two done today?" She asked. Luke and Leia looked up from devouring their food to smile back, always happy to talk about their days. "Well, we blew up the blender this morning," Luke offered.

"You what?" Padme demanded, in a shriek. All eyes went instinctively to Anakin who put his fork down, and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Um…Yeah. I was going to tell you about that later," he mumbled. "You blew up my blender!" Padme accused, probably already knowing the answer.

"We were trying to make pancakes!" Anakin defended. "Anakin, you know how to make pancakes," Obi-wan pointed out confusedly. "Raw," Anakin elaborated. "Force save us all," Nava muttered hopelessly, placing her head in her hands. "I got the flour and cream, and egg part right, I think," Anakin told his wife, trying to sound optimistic. "And we added berries," Leia put in.

"Good berries," Luke agreed, trying no doubt to be helpful. Anakin nodded. "And…Well…We tried to mix it all together by putting it into the blender, but I didn't exactly know that you needed to put the top on," he explained. Padme groaned, already no doubt imagining the sort of torture her new blender had had to go through before it was finally allowed to die.

"So then it started spattering all over and I tried to shove the top back on but it got stuck sideways. Then the blender started blending the top into pieces and I wanted it to stop, and I kept pushing buttons to make it stop, and…." Luke and Leia, obviously having a need to illustrate, threw their hands into the air, "BOOM!" They finished the retelling.

Padme groaned, no doubt trying to figure out how she was going to get a new blender for her otherwise homely kitchen. "This," she sighed, looking to Aira despairingly. "Is what it's like to live with Jedi. They blow up your blenders," She told her with a shake of her head.

"Well, Anakin isn't the most esteemed cook, Padme. At least he tried," Obi-wan came to his friend's rescue evenly. "Yeah, don't I get points for effort, Padme? After all, I didn't give any less than my best," Anakin tried to say.

"You're best was blowing up the blender?" Aira asked dryly, butting into the conversation. Lux almost choked on his soup at her statement, he was cognizant she had meant it as an insult; he knew one had had to have been coming this evening, but the others took it in good stride. Anakin glanced at her expressionlessly, smiling a little in defeat as the others sniggered. "She's got ya there, master!" Ahsoka told him unapologetically.

"At least we didn't melt the blender like we did the caf machine," Rex put in, obligingly. "You melted the caf machine, Rex. I know how to work one of those," Anakin informed him self-righteously. Rex was unperturbed by his virtue. He smiled, warm brown eyes dancing. "True…But Padme won't kill me, Skywalker," he answered.

Anakin's face fell. "Oh. Right," he agreed. Padme snorted. "I wasn't going to kill him, Rex. Force knows he can make me a new blender. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to teach the twins not to blow up every blender they see from now on," she studied her children with a professional air.

Luke and Leia gave her looks of innocence, despite sparkling eyes, that obviously said: "what, me?"

Lux chuckled. Aira smiled, and took in a deep breath. "Alright," she resigned herself. "Since I'm determined to at least try and last more than twenty minutes here," she glanced at him disparagingly.

"I have to ask," she glanced around at the, curiosity bubble in violet eyes. "What's the weirdest thing anyone of you have ever seen?" She asked the Jedi, who seemed surprised by her proclamation. Considering the fact that it wasn't easy to surprise Jedi, this was partly a step in the right direction.

"Weirdest thing," Nava marveled, leaning back in her seat to ponder it. "Never been asked that before…Which one do I choose?" she asked herself, with a small smile. "One that won't make the rest of us lose our dinners, please?" Padme requested politely, shivering in remembrance of some of the other stories that had been passed around during dinner.

"Well then that cuts out most of them," Anakin pointed out. "Fine. Funniest thing," Aira began again impatiently. This seemed to spark more interest. "Well, we could talk about the time we crash landed on the Ewok planet," Ahsoka suggested to Intrepid, who sighed. Lux laughed. "With all the bear people? No thanks!" he snorted.

"Remember when we went camping, master?" Ahsoka asked Anakin, who cocked an eyebrow. "No. I remember nearly getting eaten by boars and giant centipedes. There's nothing 'camp like' about that," he told her. "Well, I had fun," Ahsoka grinned cheekily. "You put me running on the holo-net, that's why," Anakin harrumphed.

"Those were the auld lang syne," Ahsoka said dreamily. "The what?" Aira asked. Lux shook his head. "Don't ask," he advised her. "What about that crazy snake woman?" Rex suggested. "Ah, her and Hermit?" Anakin asked, with a cock of the eyebrow.

"That was just weird," Ahsoka wrinkled her nose. "A crazy person? I should think Jedi meet crazies all the time," Aira pointed out darkly. "Oh, we do, there are just varying levels of crazies. She was a nice old lady, but she was hopelessly confused," Anakin assured her. "Story time! Story time!" The twins crowed laughingly.

"Okay," Ahsoka was more than happy to begin. "I think it was the second year of my apprenticeship. We had been sent out to the mid-rim somewhere to negotiate something, but due to the wonderfullygracious atmosphere of the warring matriarchs, we were shot down from the capital and landed on the other side of the planet," she sighed, sparing Lux a churlish look as if he had shot them down. He smiled back. You probably deserved it, he thought, hoping she heard that part.

"It wasn't so bad. We only landed in a tree," Anakin told them logically. "Yeah, but we landed clear away from any civilization. There was another duchess living on that side. She was matriarch over the three districts around her town. The people seemed pretty happy, and they were hospitable anyway," Ahsoka, told them, with nonchalant shrug.

"None of them were starving, even if they didn't have a modicum of technology on them," Anakin, who naturally relied upon machinery for most mundane tasks, huffed good-humoredly.

"We went to see the duchess, thinking she might have some way to contact the capital, or at least something to get us there faster than the giant mules they used for farming," Lux snorted. Though neither Jedi very much liked riding wild animals, Lux had seen enough to know they probably would have had substantial luck with the farm mules.

"You should have went with the cow," Nava clucked at them, shaking her head. "Was she even legally ruling over the districts?" Obi-wan wondered. Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "She wasn't ruling anything, master. The people had established their own councils and democratic system; she just got the biggest house at the top of the hill and claimed it was castle. Again, she was hopelessly confused," she reasserted.

"And let me guess, they went a long with her to humor the old woman?"Intrepid guessed. "They even sent some teenagers up there every once in a while, for punishment, mind you, to play the part of her servant," Lux felt so sorry for the poor teens.

"Nevertheless, at the time, we didn't know that. They said she was duchess, she said she was duchess, so we went to the castle, because it obviously had been a palace at one time or another, decrepit as it had looked then." Anakin informed them, ignoring the reflective look Obi-wan was giving him, obviously wondering about the punishment system for teens that the village had set up, and if it would have worked with a certain apprentice of his.

After all, they often joked about Anakin's teenage years, and Anakin had admitted to have been an inconsiderate, selfish, unreasonable, defiant brat. But with love. "So what happened?" Aira asked curiously. "She happened," Ahsoka shuddered.

"The townspeople had been kind enough," Anakin's tone made it just how clear that the kindness had not really been helpful. "To alert her that we were coming. When we got there, she was tangled around a chair painted gold and the gold chipping, trying in vain to look even faintly attractive, which really didn't work out for her since she was probably ten billion years older than Yoda, with a giant snake in her lap," he told them.

"And I mean this snake was colossal," Ahsoka went on. "The things head must have been as big as her chair, and force, its body was long enough to fill up the room with its coils. I couldn't count how many colors it's scales were, but it was enough so that the final effect was dizzying. And it was slithering in her lap slowly, winding its way around her body," she related to them. "Maybe it was tame," Padme suggested.

"It was trying to suffocate her so that it could devour her. How she managed to go uneaten for that long anyway is beyond me," Anakin corrected matter of factly. "So of course we tried to help her. I started to take out my saber to attack the thing, but it liked shiny things," she sighed.

"And, well, it basically tried to grab my saber with its tail, or maybe that was its stomach…Oh, well, it burned him. And for some reason, it was then mad at me and tried to devour me next," Ahsoka crossed her arms, unhappy to have been a potential devoured victim.

It was such an discreditable way to go, Lux was sure. "While Ahsoka was distracting the snake," Anakin continued, not without a snort from his former apprentice at the word 'distracted' as if anything they ever did was planned out beforehand.

Lux glanced over at Aira, and saw her eyes were as wide as the twin's were at the tale that was being spun for her amusement. He caught Padme's eye and grinned. Padme winked at him knowingly.

"I was planning on grabbing the lady to get her out of there, but before I could even reach out to grab her, she had suddenly bashed my head in with a pan. I have no clue where she got the pan, or how long she had just had it sitting there but it hurt like the altogether blazes when she hit me," Anakin snorted. "You think you were in pain?" Ahsoka demanded incredulously, narrowing her eye sat him.

"That snake had my leg in its mouth, and the fangs were longer than my fingers, added to that was that they were in my leg, thrashing me around. What really didn't help was that you got in an argument with the old lady while I held off a giant snake," Ahsoka glared at Anakin, who gave her an apologetic smile and shrugged.

"You had it distracted. And besides, she was yelling at me that we were hurting Thomas. I tried to assure her that we had no clue who the heck Thomas was, and frankly I really didn't care at that point, but then she pointed to the snake," Lux cocked an eyebrow.

"She named it Thomas?" he asked. "She named it all sorts of things," Ahsoka grunted sardonically, "One minute it was Thomas, the next hermit and then again it could also be pinkie-pie or pixie dust or something. And it didn't matter to her that it was trying to eat me, no, she was fully intent on banging my head with the pan too unless I stopped harassing her beloved Thomas/Pinkie-pie/hermit/whatever else she called it."

"Which, admittedly, really didn't seem like too good of a plan with the snake. He did not want to let you go Snips," Anakin told her. "I know. I wish Obi-wan had been there to give him the attachment is forbidden speech, the thing was way too clingy," Anakin snorted in response.

"Did you kill it?" Luke interrupted; eyes wide. Ahsoka shook her head. "No. trust me, I wanted too, but no. The old lady just called it's name, I didn't have time to hear what it was that time, and it let go of me to slither back towards her," so it had been tame.

Or at least trained. "Leaving you bleeding and half conscious," Anakin added. Ahsoka gave him a half lidded glare. "Something like that," she grumbled in sullen agreement, always peeved to know that she had been at a disadvantage at any moment in her life.

"Then, obviously not noticing the bleeding, unconscious girl on her rug, the lady told me she liked baboons," Anakin said, matter of factly. "Why?" Aira asked, blinking in confusion.

"Because she was hopelessly confused," Anakin answered mildly. "She introduced herself, and for the life of me I cannot recall her name, I was a bit worried about the unconscious girl I was supposed to be protecting, but then again, Thomas didn't look like he was going to be good either," Anakin considered, looking faintly thoughtful that perhaps he should have attended to Thomas first.

"So, like a sane person," Ahsoka enunciated 'sane' with a careful sarcastic edge. "He let her convince him to let us stay in one of the spare rooms in her castle to let me heal," she crossed her arms and glared.

"Well, you were bleeding Ahsoka. I didn't want to move you too far, besides I couldn't leave the old lady, as confused as she was, with a giant reptile who liked blood. I still don't know why it hadn't eaten her, but I would have felt bad if we came back the next day and saw her sticking out of its mouth," he informed her. Rex snorted.

"She probably would have tasted horrible," he grunted. "Like toe jam and apricots," Padme agreed magnanimously. "Ewww!" Luke and Leia shrieked in unison, giggling at the thought of what that could taste like, Lux smacked his mouth, thinking that suddenly everything he had just eaten tasted sour in his mouth.

Aira wrinkled her nose, and glanced at the senator incredulously, obviously surprised that she would say such a thing. "Thanks for the image, angel," Anakin chuckled cheerily.

"Anyway, I carried Ahsoka to the room she suggested we stay in and that was even creepier. The walls were a dark maroon, blood red, and there were portraits of different snakes everywhere. I mean, I've seen fanatics, and I can even understand sometimes, but she was just taking it way too far. The giant bed was maroon, the walls, the tables, everything as dark red and there were portraits of snakes everywhere. I even checked underneath the bed and in the closet to see if there were any hiding in the cracks or something," he shuddered at the memory.

"I bet there was a nest of eggs in the attic," Ahsoka said with a shiver. "Ah, come on Snips, why'd you have to go and say a thing like that?" Anakin groaned miserably.

"Because that's what you told me when I woke up in the middle of the night, later, when things got really weird," she reminded him pointedly. "Things could get and weirder at that point?" Lux chuckled softly at Aira's question, having had enough experience to know the exact answer.

"Things can always get weirder when you're with Jedi," he told her knowingly. "Matter of fact, I've yet to experience a time when things don't get weirder just when you start to think that everything might be alright," Padme shook her head. "Never think that," she said with a shiver.

"Then things only get worse," Aira nodded sagely, curiosity and a bit of waning anger reflected in deep violet orbs. "Don't scare our guest, you two. What happened then, poor miscreants?" Nava scolded, with a twinkle in her eyes that said she found this assumption very amusing.

Anakin snickered at the title as Ahsoka screwed her lips thoughtfully as if she were giving it some consideration. "Well, as she said, she woke up in the middle of the night. I had stayed with Ahsoka in the room, keeping track of the old woman with the force. Well, by the time Ahsoka woke up, I was a bit worried because I could sense she was a bit…Er…Riled," Anakin's mouth perked at the corners, his eyes sparkled with mischief as he glanced at the twins, obviously debating something.
"Riled?" Obi-wan repeated sounding a bit worried as to what would have riled her with a giant snake in her room. "Yeah," Ahsoka's mouth quirked up at the corners as well, and she shook her head coming to fold her hands before her with a delicate grace that would be appreciated by many admiring males in the galaxy.

"We could sense it. Pheromones and excessive excitement for someone of her tender age. She was a billion years older than Yoda, note," Ahsoka told them with a scholarly air. "What had her so excited then?" Aira demanded, impatiently. "We went to investigate exactly that, and, well, it wasn't a pretty sight," Anakin shuddered.

"Did the snake eat her?" Padme asked, suddenly placing a flexible noodle down as if I were a reptile itself. "Not exactly," Ahsoka exchanged a glance with her master. "She was with the snake, of course, and having quite a bit of fun. In bed. Without any clothes on. Moaning. I think you all get the picture," Anakin finished with a discreet wave of his hand. Aira's mouth dropped. Lux found he was not all that surprised. He had sort of been expecting an end like that. The universe was full of diverse people.

"She was trying to…?" Aira gasped. "What was she doing?" Leia piped in, her eyes wide, not understanding the exchange between the older ones. "Something that if I ever find you doing when you get older I'll rip his head off, and I won't care if you love him or not," Anakin informed her determinedly. Leia stared at him with further confusion. Luke shook his head, befuddled.

"So the snake ate the lady?" he asked after a moment of shocked silence from the others. "We never found out," Ahsoka said with a short bark of laughter. "After a moment she looked up to see us standing there, and the poor woman was so frazzled. She started to get out of bed, hurriedly stuttering that she and Hermit were only getting reacquainted and where was her manners and would we care to join them?"

Lux let out a snort of laughter at Padme's expression and splutter, which ranged from horrified to indignant. Ignoring the twin's exclamations of "join them in what?" Anakin gave her an innocent shrug to indicate he had felt much the same.

"The poor women was so tangled up in her friend that she was could barely get out of bed, and neither of us wanted to go hunting for her bare behind or interrupt their business, so we did what any responsible, respectable Jedi would do…."

Skywalker told them in case they mistook their actions for what it assuredly would be. "We made a graceful retreat towards the door, maximum speed, and grabbed the nearest cow we could find to hike our way back to the castle like we should have in the first place," Ahsoka finished with a satisfied clap to signal the end.

"And everyone lived happily ever after!" Leia shrieked, this being her favorite and oft-repeated statement to accompany the end of every story told at the table. Luke and Leia burst into gracious applause, despite their obvious incomprehension about what exactly had happened between the lady and the snake. "Well, that was… Interesting," Intrepid observed without much emotion. "It was downright weird!" Aira disagreed, still in complete shock. Lux had heard worse.

"The things you two get into when I'm not there," Obi-wan agreed with a long-suffering sigh as he stroked his beard. "Some would say they need a chaperone," Nava agreed.

"Hey! That's not fair, master, whenever I'm not there you always end up getting injured or get yourself into life and death situations," Anakin said defensively, feigning a glare at his partner in crime, who cocked a meager eyebrow at him as if to challenge him to elaborate. "Like the arena on Geonosis," Padme chuckled, with a fond glance at the two.

"Or the trip to Toydaria, Xin IIV, the Rishi system, Castle Nomadia…." Obi-wan cut off the list with a wave of his hand. "May I also remind you Anakin, that the only reason I ended up injured or in a life and death situation was because you arrived? I was only slightly in trouble whenever you'd get there and by the end somehow I always end up with something broken or punctured," He told his younger counterpart mildly, mouth quirking at the corners.

Anakin narrowed his eyes, about to snap a comeback, but after a moment of deliberation, gave up.

"Hmmm….True enough. It's only because we're a magnet for trouble," he announced as if that were the last word on the matter after a moment. "You're a magnet for trouble, Anakin. I'm just the innocent person caught in the middle trying to get you out of trouble…"

"No way! You start it…"

"And finish it with more injuries than was my fair wont…"

"Hey, it's not my fault you like to make selfless, heroic gestures all the time!"

"Yes, but it is your fault that we get into a situation where I'm prone to make selfless, heroic gestures…"

"You'd make them whether we were in a life or death situation or not! Like that time on Cato Neimodia when I had to save your tail because…"

"I already told you that does not count!"

"It does too count! Because the bomb on Mandor counted!"

"Well, of course, it was a bomb. Bomb scenarios always count,"

"So do criminal scenarios! I mean seriously, the guy tried to kill you…"

"He was innocent; he was only defending himself…"

"He held you hostage, master!"

"It didn't help when you tried to blow the compound sky-high, you have to admit,"

"I will admit no such thing. He was trying to kill you,"

"You act as if it's something new…"

"No, it's not new but it's still offensive…"

"Nonsense. He was a perfectly nice man, he was only desperate…"

"Desperate to get himself blown sky-high by your maddened troops?"

"I thought those were your troops,"

"My troops were using the battering ram at the door, thank you! Shows how much you know."

"Oh? The same battering ram that knocked over two support beams which then fell on top of me?"

"Only because you jumped to push criminal man over so he wouldn't get crushed!"

"Crushed by your battering ram catastrophe, my very young apprentice,"

"Oh, for goodness sakes, master, I am a Knight!"

Aira leaned in against his ear, chuckling softly, a real smile (force, she had a gorgeous smile) on her face. "Do they always do this?" she whispered to him softly.

"All the time. Don't worry, they're hilarious to watch when they really get into it. Nothing like a good old fashioned Kenobi/Skywalker argument to cramp your sides," Lux said softly, oddly at ease as he sat back watching he familiar spectacle of Anakin and Obi-wan arguing without any awareness of the others around them.

"I might try to add a perk or comment in there here and there to keep it going," Padme snickered, whispering to Aira conspiratorially. "It's fun to watch, just like fanning the fires," Rex agreed, as the twins watched the twosome argue and bicker good-naturedly. "Are they best friends or arch enemies?" Aira asked him, crossing her arms and seeming to sink into her chair as if she intended to stay awhile.

Lux watched her affectionately, wondering if she felt the same warmth in her chest as he did as they went over this familiar familial routine. In the end, he really didn't know how anyone could hate the Jedi.

"Better," he almost whispered as a trembling and sweat soaked hand grabbed hers underneath the table. "They're brothers," but force they were the oddest pair, and he wondered if she would actually believe it.

But she was a fast learner. She squeezed his hand and settled in her chair for the long and comical wait. "Oh. Okay," she accepted merely, perfectly fine with this already. Lux, delighted that she was actually allowing him to hold her hand, grinned unabashedly. "Okay," he breathed back, and also watched the growing spectacle with amusement.

I have the best family ever, he thought contentedly.