This chapter is rated "T" for "Too Much Information." If menarche humor doesn't really sit well with you, be warned.
Coming Of Age
Trandosha – the actual planet, not its wild, unfriendly moon – was proving to be a little more agreeable than Jinx had first expected. The inhabitants were at least civil toward them, though they still glared daggers because the Jedi dared prosecute some of their most upstanding citizens simply for carrying out Trandosha's most sacred religious traditions (i.e. kidnapping, hunting sentients for sport, and eventual murder).
This comparatively cordial welcome was probably due to the fact that Lissarkh, the Master commanding this particular mission, was a Trandoshan, and well-respected as the Jedi Watchman of this planet during peacetime. How she had managed to become well-respected on a planet that revered the hunting of sentient beings for sport probably needed to be looked into, but the lizards hadn't yet swarmed the Jedi headquarters demanding blood, so the other six Jedi on the mission weren't complaining.
Well, Jinx, O-Mer, Ahsoka, and Sipora (Lissarkh's Barabel Padawan) weren't complaining. Master Koon and Knight Secura were doing an admirable job of holding their tongues, but their discomfort was made quite plain.
Still, Lissarkh's reputation had ensured that today, at least, the young ones could take a break from identifying and incarcerating suspects who had had a hand in their kidnappings and have a few minutes to be kids again for a while. All four of them were at least wise enough to take advantage of those moments when they came.
Such as now, when the older three Jedi were downstairs having some sort of important conversation and the younglings were winding down right before bed. The girls were visiting the boys' room (with the door left standing open, of course), and they and O-Mer sat cross-legged on the floor, making a rough three-point triangle. Jinx had settled into his bed, the top bunk of the bunk-bed set of the room, and was pretending to be disinterested in talk, save for when the opportunity for him to crack some snarky comment presented itself. They spoke of everything, and nothing, and didn't really care about minding the topics of their conversation as long as they got to enjoy each other's company while they could before lights-out. Really, the question that came up shouldn't have taken them by surprise as much as it did.
"So Ahsoka, I've wanted to ask," O-Mer began, pausing long enough to let the girls stop laughing at one of Sipora's odd serpentine jokes. "Why, exactly, do you wear that red sash? I've only seen you and Master Shaak Ti wearing it, and I was wondering if it serves some sort of cultural purpose."
Only a Cerean could word a casual question so formally, and it made Ahsoka giggle and Sipora…siss for a few seconds. Jinx, however, was used to such things, having grown up with O-Mer in the same youngling Clan; he ignored the unintentional hilarity of his colleague's question and leaned over the bunk rail in genuine curiosity, since this was a topic he had been pondering as well.
"You're right. It's a…a coming of age gift," Ahsoka replied. When the special emphasis she placed on her words seemed too opaque for her non-Togruta audience, she cleared her throat in mild discomfort. "You know…for when a girl becomes a woman."
There was a moment of silence. "Oh," said O-Mer politely, and then realization dawned on him. "Oh…"
Jinx couldn't help it; O-Mer's expression was just too priceless. He burst into raucous laughter that echoed off the ceiling above him, as Ahsoka and O-Mer tried to explain the delicate details of the female mammalian reproductive cycle to poor, hapless, reptilian Sipora. At last, he started to calm down from his hysterical state, just as Sipora began to understand.
"All thiz one haz to say iz…you'd complain even more if you had to lay an egg every month, me thinkz."
A few minutes later, Master Koon was forced to come in and enquire just what was going on and why it was so funny to make Jinx wake the neighbors up at this time of night. Ahsoka just smiled and waved him off, and didn't point out the fact that it was the first time she had heard Jinx laugh without bitterness.
Lissarkh is not mine; she's an actual character, background though she might be. Sipora, however, is mine, added just for the joy of having a Barabel somewhere in here.