Chapter Thirteen: Pride and Jedi-ness
On the morning of the second day of the Trade Conference, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were to meet in private with Denn and his business partners. The meeting was not for little ears, apparently, and so Jane, Jace and Asana Jaan—the seven-year-old daughter of one of Denn's partners—were staying in the suite Denn had gotten for the duration of the conference.
Jane sat on the floor in front of the window, her legs crossed and her eyes closed, breathing deeply, trying to meditate. It was hard to do with Asana sitting beside her, talking non-stop about fashion, gossip, and handsome holo-stars.
"Is Raylor Cometdust hot or what?" Asana asked as she looked longingly at a teen gossip magazine, that happened to have a fold-out poster of said actor. "I would love to be Krisly Cyert, getting to kiss him every single day, for every single take! Coruscant Sunset is the best holo-vid in the entire galaxy, isn't it Jane?"
"I wouldn't know," Jane said irritably, pinching her thumbs against her forefingers hard and trying to keep a scowl off her face. "I haven't seen that movie."
"But you must have. Isn't it, like, a Jedi training video? I mean, Bellana is a Jedi Knight in love with the amazingly handsome half-vampire, half-werewolf hybrid Jared who just wanted to become a Jedi, but didn't believe he had a soul so he'd have to become a Sith Lord and how she had to help him overcome that so that they could get married. How can you not watch that? It's so educational about real life!"
"Must have been sick the day they showed that in class," Jane said sardonically.
That movie had been the laughing stock of the entire Temple. Some of the older apprentices had gone to see it and told everyone about it and everyone had been mocking the actors' lines and more than once had people jokingly tried to get out of assignments by claiming that they were soulless, Dark-Side bound vampire-werewolves.
"You were lucky, then, as it was a waste of credits to see the movie, and an even bigger waste to make it," Jace said from his armchair, where he was typing on a datapad.
"Who are you writing to, Jace?" Asana asked, getting up to read over Jace's shoulder. To Jane's relief, she had finally taken the hint that Jane was not interested in her latest obsession like the rest of her friends.
"My cousin, Maria," Jace said, trying to push Asana's curls out of his face.
"Oh, the one living on Endor! Oh, do please tell her that I send her my love!"
"I already have," Jace said in a bored drawl.
"Poor, poor Maria," Asana said, clicking her tongue. "Living on Endor with no shopping malls or salons at all! What do her parents do again?"
"My uncle studies botany and my aunt studies zoology."
"Oh, Jace, we must go visit Maria!" Asana said, taking Jace's free hand. "She must be so bored on that jungle moon."
"Forest," Jane corrected from her meditating pose.
"What?" Asana asked, one of her perfect eyebrow raised as she turned to look at Jane, giving Jace an opportunity to free his hand from Asana's grip.
Jane turned from her pose to look at Asana.
"Endor is a forest moon, not a jungle," Jane explained.
"I knew that," Asana said haughtily, tossing back her onyx curls. "I just wanted to see if you were listening."
"And Maria is not lonely," Jace said. "In her last letter, she was telling me about all the fun she has with the children of the other scientists and the locals. The inhabitants of Endor are primarily little bear-like creatures called Ewoks."
"Oh, they sound delightful!" Asana said. She plopped herself down at Jace's feet and attempted to start more conversations with him, but he ignored her. Refusing to be ignored, she turned to Jane.
"Jane, please do let me brush your hair." Asana asked. Jane opened one hazel eye.
"Uh, alright," Jane said, hoping it would keep Asana quiet.
It didn't.
"I don't know if Jace has told you this or not, but we're going to be married!" Asana said as she ran a brush through Jane's long hair.
"No, we're not," Jace said, but didn't look up from his datapad.
"Well, it's not official yet, but it's been agreed on for years! Since we were little, my mommy always said, 'oh, look at how cute Asana and Jace are together! I just know that they will fall in love and get married and give me beautiful grandchildren one day!' My mommy is never wrong about love. You know she predicted Princess Tali of Kuat marrying Duke Mason of Hapes?"
"Did she predict their divorce eight months later?" Jace asked sarcastically.
Asana ignored him.
"Jane, who styles your hair at the Temple?" Asana asked.
"I do. Or I have Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon help me," Jane responded. "Why?"
"What do you usually have done with it?" Asana asked, trying brush the hair around Jane's Padawan braid.
"A ponytail and Padawan braid, although I'll do a single braid for special occasions," Jane replied, now worried. "Again, why?"
"Because I'm going to style your hair!" Asana cried. "Oh, we'll do some braids here, some ribbons there, curls here and there, maybe some glitter. Oh, this will be so much fun, won't it? I'll go get my things!"
And with that, Asana ran out of the room, leaving a horrified Jane sitting stunned on the floor.
"Come on."
Jane looked up to see that Jace had come around to stand beside her and held out his hand.
"Where are we going?" Jane asked, taking Jace's hand.
"We'll go for a walk around the nearby park."
"What about Asana?"
"Look, Asana doing someone's hair is something I wouldn't wish on the most evil Sith Lord in the history of the galaxy."
"But won't she notice that we're gone?"
"Yeah, she will. Then she'll find a new play-slave."
"I feel bad for whoever that is."
"Would you rather stay here?"
Before Jane could respond, Asana opened the door looking—if possible—even more excited than a few minutes before.
"Jane! I found a do-it-yourself perm kit! With it, I can make you look like a holo-vid star! I'll go get it!"
And she ran off, not noticing Jane's white face.
"Yeah, let's go," Jane said quickly.
Jace grinned and they were off.
"So Naboo's senator is a Sith Lord?" Jace said, in shock.
"Yeah. But he destroyed all my evidence, so it's my word against his. Despite my IQ, people are more willing to believe the respected senator over the little kid," Jane said with a sigh. "Besides, it's a done deal, case closed. Without my evidence, we had to say that it was a freak accident. I don't think he would have told me he did it had he not known that we'd already given our analysis on the case."
"That stinks, that really stinks," Jace said, kicking a rock in anger.
Jane tilted her head to look at Jace sideways.
"You know, you're the first person who's ever believed me right away," Jane said.
Jace shrugged.
"Dude always freaked me out," Jace said.
They continued to walk, chatting about different things. At first the conversation had started out awkward, but then they both started to relax.
"So," Jane said. "Any idea about what your dad and my master are talking about in their secret meeting?"
"Wish I knew," Jace said. "But I think my dad is sharing his concerns about the Trade Federation."
"What about them?" Jane asked. Two years before, the Trade Federation was on the verge of causing a civil war. Then, a year later, they just stopped communication. Six months later, they were active again, and more determined to get what they wanted. They had started blockading planets so that no trade was imported or exported. Many Jedi and diplomats had been dispatched, and every time the Trade Federation stated that the blockade was misinterpreted, or a mistake and apologized profusely.
"I think Dad thinks that they are building an army of some sort," Jace said.
"Why would the Trade Federation want an army?" Jane asked, her brow furrowing.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Jace said as they walked on top of a hill. He looked down at the valley of the hill, where loud voices were being projected. "Hey, look," He said with a grin. Jane looked down at the pavilion, where actors in costumes were performing. It appeared to be a duel.
"The Thorn of the Rose," Jace said, listening to a spoken line and recognizing it. "One of the best Corellian romantic tragedies ever written."
Jane paled; she knew that, and she also knew the name of the main character's love interest.
"Yeah, that's great," Jane said. "Hey, look, let's-"
But it too late. One character was lying on the ground, apparently wounded.
"Jaina, Jaina my rose, where art thou?" The actor called. A pretty young woman in a flowing dress knelt down beside him, professing her love for him and fretting over his wounds as he died dramatically onstage.
"Let's go," Jane said, her eyes wide. She flinched as the young woman's name was said, and, though she tried to hide it, Jace noticed.
"Jane, what's wrong? Why did you freak out when the character's name was said?" He asked.
"Just… just leave it, okay?" Jane said, tugging on Jace's hand.
"Why would you freak out at the name 'Jaina', unless…." Jace said, his eyes widening. "Your name isn't really 'Jane' is it?"
Jane's blood heated with anger. In frustration, she shoved Jace.
"Shut up Jacen Solo!" She screamed at him.
His own frustration rising, Jace shoved her back.
"Don't shove me Jaina Mago!" He yelled back.
One look at her horrified expression gave Jace the sickening realization that he was right.