Insert Title Here
Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to Lucas Arts
Author's Notes: Eheh.
-o-o-o-
The massive forests of Kashyyk slowly flashed beneath the belly of her ship, Aayla Secura frown as she felt the sudden, imploring pull of the Force calling her. There was nothing urgent in the call, nothing warning. It felt, almost as if the Force were… begging?
The blue skinned Rutian twi'lek frowned slightly , her eyes narrowing for a moment in consideration before she sighed and shook her head, reaching out to the plea, acknowledging it, and letting the Force guide her path. The sheer jubilation and eagerness in the Force would have immediately put off a more seasoned Jedi. As it were, the twi'lek was merely confused as she felt the almost… giddiness saturate the Force as she followed its guidance.
Still, she followed the call, deftly navigating her way through the dense trees before she came to a desolate and almost completely hidden landing almost completely over run by foliage. Frowning, she carefully navigated her craft down to land next to an almost completely decayed freighter of some kind, it's form long since succumbed to the ravages of time. As she slowly unstrapped herself from the cockpit of her vessel, she shook her head with a slight feeling of confusion at the way the Force seemed to be swelling further and further with each passing moment.
It was a moment later that she carefully exited the craft, and took a brief measure of the somewhat warped and overrun landing, and the path run from it down towards the massive trunk of the tree. With a careful, calm step, she began to follow the walk, letting the Force guide her path as she moved steadily forward. A moment later, she frowned as she couldn't seem to find anything further.
It was entirely likely, given the state of the ship on the pad itself, there had once been bridges of some kind in place that had led to another try, or even several other trees. With a slight sigh she shook her head, lekku shifting slightly in the cool air and admitted to herself that it could even be miles away. And yet, the Force was so insistent.
"What is it you're trying to tell me?" The words were muttered softly past her lips, before she slowly shook her head once more and sighed as she again surrendered herself to the Force and allowed it to guide her actions.
It was then; she saw it, a thin hollow in the tree, the opening masked to where it seemed a simple ripple in the tree's base unless you were practically on top of it. Even then, the thick veil of vines and foliage that wrapped about its made it seem and uninteresting venture. Yet, still the Force called out to her, and once more, obediently she followed, after igniting her light saber a moment to carefully sheer her way into entrance.
As she did, her eyes slowly studied the retreating shadows as the flowing light of the sun overhead light up the entry way. A moment later, she blinked slightly in surprise as glinting crystals imbedded in the bark, hidden until now, began to cast the light all about, illuminating a hidden expanse. A rather roomy expanse, covered in dust, and from what she as far as she could tell, were desiccated piles of rags.
It was only when they shifted, and lifted in a weak motion, as a literal pile of dust fell off to reveal what looked to be pile of skin and bones with long, sparse, wisps of hair and sunken grey eyes. For a moment, she stared at the figure in sheer disbelief before slowly came to a realization. It was a human. A worn down, beyond elderly and apparently starved human.
For a moment, she simply stared at the figure who looked up at her with bleary, pain wearied eyes before a wheezing cough filled up the air. There was no fear in those eyes, only a growing pulse of irritation. When the coughing finally stopped, she paused and opened her mouth.
"Err... well, hello there." She winced slightly at the words, her lekku twitching slightly in annoyance at her own stupidity. "I'm here to help?"
For only a moment, dulled grey eyes lifted up and regarded the twi'lek Jedi before a wheezing grunt left his throat and an atrophied voice spoke a quiet, hissing slur of words. "Lemme 'lone."
Aayla blinked for a moment at the wizened husk of a man in front of her before she raised her hands up non-threateningly. "I'm not going to hurt you, Sir. I just want to help."
"'En lea.'" Was hissed back before she could feel the gaze sharpening on her. "'Am medlin' Je'i."
"Sir, you're obviously in a great deal of pain, let me..." It was strange, she could tell that the old man was in a great deal of discomfort, but she could feel none of it through the Force. He was there, practically glowing in fact, but it was strangely disconnected.
"No." That word was almost completely clear as he glared, stubbornly back at her, skin and bone arms crossing defiantly about his chest.
"Sir, I really must insist, I can't just leave you here." Teeth were gritting together now, as a flash of irritation broke through the Jedi's calm demeanor.
"No." Simple and defiant as the old man glared back at her.
"Yes." She shot back just as stubbornly as she started to glare back at the rag clothed man.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes, even if I have to drag you out of here kicking and screaming like you're a disobedient youngling." A glare again before she rose up challengingly and loomed over the hunched down man.
"Su'pid Je'i, s'ed NO." The answer was shot back, somehow even more stubborn than before.
"Fine you want to play it that way?" Angry now, the twi'lek turned and stalked back towards her ship.
For a moment, the man beamed in triumph before blinking slightly as she returned a few moments later with a length of rope and a smirk on her face.
"So, we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"
She only received a stubborn silence in response as the man continued to glare back at her.
-o-o-o-
"I can't believe you bit me!" Aalya glared at the now securely bound old man in the seat next to hers.
"Tol' ya, No." The huffed response and scathing look he sent back at her was nothing new from the last few exchanges they'd had.
"You BIT me!" She growled back as her grey eyes flashed angrily. "What are you, four?!"
The man blinked at her, then blinked again, before letting out a weak, hissing laugh of amusement.
"What's so bloody funny?!"
"'Mind me 'f ol' frie'n." He managed to wheeze out between the laughs. "S'e lik'd ta w'ine ta."
"I am NOT whining!" Aayla immediately objected before shaking her head in exasperation. "When someone is childish enough to bite me, I have a right to complain!"
"Na' 'en ya 'orce meh 'gains mah 'ill!" the man declared with a sage nod of his head before coughing rather painfully.
"And when you're just coughing and being so obviously unwell like that, of course I'm going to force you when you won't go yourself." Aayla countered as she gave the man a hard look and crossed her arms defiantly about her chest.
"'D'em J'di 'itch." The man muttered softly with a glare before kicking weakly at her shin. "Lea's ge' ma' ch's."
"….What?" She blinked blink without quite comprehending as she stared at the man.
"Ma' ch's!" He glared back at her growling softly in turn, a brittle whispering thing that came out more akin to wheezing than anything. "Wh'r Ah p't mah st'f!"
Aayla blinked back at him, staring for a long, long moment at the man as she processed what the man had said as her lekku twitched slightly in response. "Your… chest?"
"Yuhs!" He glared back at her with a huff as he crossed feeble, brittle arms about his chest.
"… You'll never let me hear the end of it if I don't, will you?" Aayla forced herself to calm, centering her mind as she let the boiling pulse of aggravation flow off of her.
The simple, smirking nod the man gave her in turn had her hanging her head in resignation. "Fine."
When she turned and left, the old man slowly turned his head and glared at everything around him as he hissed out a breath. "Yuh th'nk Ah'm d'n? Nut d'ng et 'ga'n"
There was a soft pulse in the air, and a gentle, almost pleading hum that seemed to echo around him, but still, he sat there, stoically ignoring it all with what appeared to be a long practiced ease.
-o-o-o-
When she returned to the old man's abode, Aayla had little trouble finding the chest. It was an odd mix of smooth, well cared for wood, and bright, polished metal that felt warm to the touch. A part of her couldn't help but wonder how she'd missed the obviously unique piece before.
"Well, you're certainly interesting." She lightly traced her fingers over an interface inlaid in the wood, and stared over the dulled an inactive surface. "Wonder where he found you?"
There was a pause as she glanced around the room, studying it with a careful eye. There wasn't much, rags here and there and plenty of dust in the corners. No food, or water to be found, or any dishes or utensils. In fact, other than the rough hewn length carved out into a makeshift bed, there was nothing to indicate that anyone actually lived there.
"Who are you?" The words left her lips as she gave voice to her thoughts. "And why are you out here like this?"
When she gained no answer, she slowly shook her head with a sigh of frustration. She reached down a moment later and grasped hold of the chest with both hands, before unthinkingly letting out a sharp grunt of strain when she tried to stand. The thing was much heavier than it looked.
"What does that man have in here?" She couldn't help but mutter under her breath before taking a step back and focusing with the Force.
To her shock, while she could, indeed lift the object it… resisted her, for lack of a better term. It was almost disturbing the way it almost seemed to fight back against her. Still, move it she could, even if only scant inches off the ground as she guided it back out along the branches to her ship.
When she had managed to get the chest into the ship, and up to near the man, she paused, before glaring a bit at him again, watching the way his eyes danced with laughter. "What the kriff do you have in here?"
"S'f." He answered back mysteriously with a grunt before closing his eyes.
Again, Aayla forced herself to take a slow, deep breath, forcing away the storm of emotions that threatened to well up inside of her, before muttering under her breath. "There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force."
She repeated the words in cycle, as her flushed skin slowly returned to its normal blue coloring. With every cycle, the man glowered at her more and more. When she finally spoke up, his words broke the momentary silence.
"Em't'n, y't p'ce. Ig'nance, y't kn'l'dge. P's'n, y't s'r'nty. Ch's, y't h'm'ny. D'th y't th' F'rce!"
Aayla stared back at him in confusion, before slowly shaking his head. "You know, I really can't understand you that well." She paused, before smirking slightly. "So, if you really want to yell at me, you have to get better."
The old man opened his mouth to respond, before it fell shut and he simply glowered at her.
-o-o-o-
The trip was passed in an almost eerie silence for Aayla as for some reason, the thought of simply taking the man to a medical facility on planet never really occurred to her. The man himself kept a glower directed at her in between his bouts of racking coughs. He only intensified that glare whenever she made any attempts to lure him into a conversation, shrinking back into an almost fetal position in his seat.
There was something about him. She wasn't sure what it was, and the Force remained elusive about him. It seemed to almost be… purring?
She wasn't sure how else to describe the diffused comfort that seemed to be rolling through the air around him. It was almost maddening honestly. Especially with the way the man simply refused to eat. At all.
Yet, for some reason, he never ate, never moved his position, never did much of anything beyond sitting there, glaring. It was rather disconcerting if she was honest. The man hardly ever seemed to need to blink.
It was almost as if he'd learned to sleep, with his eyes open and glaring.
A disturbing thought, though she couldn't help but imagine Master Windu doing much the same.
When they finally entered range of Coruscant communications, Aayla immediately opened up a channel. "Coruscant, this is Jedi Knight Aayla Secura, requesting vector for the Jedi Temple."
"Please transmit your ID codes, Knight Secura." A crisp down answered across the speaker, as Aayla watched the old man roll his eyes in apparent boredom.
"Transmitting now." Aayla waited in silence as the codes transmitted ahead of her.
"Received and Verified. Transmitting approach and docking vectors now." The crisp tone answered back briskly.
"Vectors received and locked in. Thank you." Her lips twitched slightly in amusement as she listened to the voice's quick response.
"Acknowledged."
Turning her head Aayla's smiled dimmed slightly as she saw the look of pure horror written across the old man's face. " C'r's'nt?! J'di!?"
"Oh, hush. Where did you think I was taking you?" Aayla resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"W'kies… K'sh'k." Was the simple flat response.
Aayla blinked, then blinked again, before fighting down the urge to blush as she realized she hadn't even considered that thought. Pushing her back up stiffly, her lekku twitching unconsciously, she gave him a look. "The wookies don't have the facilities to properly treat someone in your condition."
The man gave a weak snort, but didn't call her on her answer. However, when she looked into his eyes, she could see the clear fact that he didn't believe her. It was unsettling to be honest.
Any further conversation was cut off as the com sparked to life again. "Knight Secura, this is the Jedi Temple. You approach has been logged. Your designated bay has been transmitted. Will you need any further assistance?"
"Thank you, and yes. I have a companion that will need medical treatment." Aayla stated simply as she met the elder's glare with a hard look of her own. "He's suffering from severe malnutrition and Force knows what else."
"F'h." The old man spat back as he continued to glare at the twi'lek.
"He also can't move himself, so they'll need to bring something to transport him in." She added with a smirk she couldn't quite hold off her face, earning her another glowering glare from the man.
"Understood, Knight Secura." The voice answered her back. "Healers will be standing by."
"Thank you." Aayla smiled back at the com, before turning and smirking at the old man. "And now, we're going to get you better."
"F'h." Was repeated defiantly.
-o-o-o-
"You could've warned us he bites, Knight Secura." One of the healers, a mon calamari half glowered back at the twi'lek.
"Sorry, Healer." She bowed her head in a slight bit of shame as she rubbed her own arm in remembrance. "I'm not sure why I forgot that particular aspect of him, all things considered."
"He's an interesting one, that much is certain." Another healer, a human male observed with a slight murmur. "I've never seen the Force react like that to an individual. To congregate around someone that's apparently completely cut off from it."
"Honestly?" Aayla spoke up with a slight shiver. "I don't even want to think about it."
"It's quite fascinating." The man continued, vaguely ignoring Aayla's comment as he gestured at the man. "I mean. This kind of phenomenon is completely undocumented as far as I know."
As Aayla shifted uncomfortably, she ignored the way the old man was glaring at the healer now as she spoke. "Do you think you can do something for him?"
"Oh, assuredly." The male healer agreed a quick nod of his head and a serene smile towards the still glowering man. "Some time in the Bacta Tank will start things off nicely to help replace the lost nourishment, before we do a more thorough diagnosis to find the extent of the damage."
"Just make sure you're careful with how you treat him." Aayla offered neutrally as she continued to watch the glaring man. "He's a bit… spirited for someone his age."
"Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure." The male spoke up as he nodded his head absently, still staring at the old man.
"You can do the handling then." The mon calamari shot back as she crossed her arms about her chest. "He already bit me."
"'D' 't 'g'n ta!" The old man declared firmly as he mimed snapping his jaws at the healer.
"What in the Force possessed you to bring something like that here?" The mon calamari glared back at the man, even as she warily took a step out of range of his mouth.
"The Force." Was her simple answer, before she walked off, trying to clear her mind, leaving the old man in the care of the pair of healers. She could already feel the headache working its way from her cranium, down her lekku.
Before she could go too far, she was immediately stopped by a padawan, who stepped up to her. "Knight Secura? I was sent to bring you to the Council. They have need of you."
"Now what?" Aayla muttered softly beneath her breath even as she nodded towards the padawan and followed him to the council.
From there, it was to Geonosis, and the first battle of the Clone Wars.
-o-o-o-
He floated, almost weightlessly in the bacta tank, feeling the pulsing warmth of the thick liquid seeping into him. Breather covering his mouth, he knew he should probably allow himself to fade into unconsciousness, but the feeling was unsettling. So very much like the old kolto tanks he'd spent entirely too much time to in his earlier years.
It brought up too many old memories he'd rather have forgotten. Faces he hadn't seen for longer than he wanted to imagine. Lives long since gone, friends and family that had moved on into a place he had been too long denied.
All because an almost all powerful force had decided it liked him too much to just let him go.
He shook his head, and again was through the tank as the healers went about their work. Their bodies were tense, eyes glancing at one another often before glancing off into the distance. Too tense for Jedi to be during...
Ah, it was that time again it seemed. No wonder the fickle bitch had pulled him into play again. Jedi and Sith, all over again.
It was old. Too damned old, just like him. How many millennium was this thing going to keep happening until finally they got a new script?
He shook his head and leaned back, feeling the heavy weight of the life bearing down on his shoulders.
Was it truly too much to ask?
At the thrumming pulse around him, trying, to wrap around him, to embrace him, he had his answer. It wouldn't let him rest. It wouldn't give him up.
And it had pulled him into its game all over again, just when he'd almost escaped. Again.
-o-o-o-
Amidst the chaos of battle, Aayla moved calmly and certainly. Her blade moved, humming through the air as the whine of blaster fire was thrown aside. The air smelt of ozone and burning, slagged metal and silicon, mixed with the smell of spilt blood and death of at least a dozen different races.
She moved with harmony through the chaos, as even as the first gunships landed and shining forms garbed in gleaming white landed on the dusty earth, blasters already spewing their fire. They felt odd, and comforting all at once to her senses as she cut through one drone, and a wave of the Force threw a trio of the thin, skeletal drones into one of their hulking brethren. As she did, she fought to keep her composure as another death rolled into her through the Force.
Around her, they were dying. Jedi were dying. More than she'd ever heard of in a single battle beyond the histories of old. It took everything she had to work through it, to ignore it, while keeping alive.
She caught sight of Mace Windu, falling, cloak on fire from the balcony Dooku was fleeing from. She was already moving towards him as he tossed the clothing away, even as the armored figure of Jango Fett dropped after him.
It was only moments later, she frowned at the hollow feeling that suddenly pulsed through the Force when the bounty hunter's head left his shoulders. As Windu turned to move on, the not even paying the fallen corpse more than a moment's glance as he headed off in pursuit of other quarry. She looked away for a moment, catching another blast on her lightsaber before something made her look back.
There was a boy, cradling the fallen helmet, and potentially the head of the bounty hunter.
-o-o-o-
Not for the first time, Aayla found herself questioning exactly why the Force seemed so intent on forcing frustrating, childish creatures into her life. Of course, it was mitigated by the fact that one of them was, in fact, a child. At least the child didn't bite.
She wasn't sure exactly how it'd happened, after she'd captured the boy before he could escape and fade away, somehow the Jedi had decided it would be best if he remained in her care. After Count Dooku had escaped, everyone was busy working to clear up the fall out. Master Windu was left… unavailable to take care of the boy he'd apparently made an orphan of.
So, now it was left as her responsibility. Not only did she have the stubborn, surly old man to deal with, but now they'd added a stubborn, surly child on top of it. One who refused to speak Basic, and had continued to spout curse after curse at her in a variety of languages, only a few of which she recognized.
The old man looked better. Aayla couldn't help but admit as she half dragged the angry young boy after her. The angry, and probably cursing boy who kept letting off a string of syllables in one of the languages she wasn't familiar with.
Then, she blinked as the man spoke up in apparently the same language and the boy went still. A moment later he was nodding. Then, it was a smirk and a nod as she watched the old man gesture at her.
Her eyes narrowed only for a moment before shaking her head. "And of course. Why is the Force doing this to me?"
"Because you were dumb enough to listen to the fickle bitch." The old man shot back and snorted disdainfully. "Stupid Jetti. Never know when to leave things well enough alone."
"And you can talk in complete and full sentences now." Aayla noted to herself as she reached up and rubbed at the base of her lekku. "Fantastic. Wonderful."
"So, when did the Jetti start kidnapping people, again?" The old man grunted a bit, before he snapped off something else that immediately made the boy go still with wide eyes.
"We do not kidnap people." Aayla snapped back with a slight touch of irritation in her voice.
"This is the second time I've been kidnapped by Jetti." There was a pause as an unreadable expression flashed across his face as for a moment his eyes grew distant. "At least they send the pretty ones to do it."
It was then that the boy chose to open his mouth, making what to Aayla's ears seemed to be a particularly scathing comment. She hadn't even really noticed the cane resting at the man's side, but she certainly noticed the sound it made hitting the top of the boy's head. A rather meaty smack she had to admit.
"Stop acting like a spoiled Correllian." The old man grunted sourly. "Or stop speaking Manda'o."
"… You're a Mandalorian." Aayla repeated it half to herself as she stared back at the old man.
"Meh. Close enough." There was a pause as his eyes grew distant for a moment. "Had a friend who was. Invited me to join his clan, but I had other… responsibilities."
"Close enough is good enough for me." Aayla nodded her head and then lightly pushed the boy to the old man. "Here."
"… You kidnapped me to play baby sitter?" The old man stared, incredulously back at the twi'lek before looking back at the boy who looked just as incredulous.
"I did not kidnap you." Aayla repeated back. "I followed the guiding of the Force.
"Which had you kidnap me." The man repeated as he kept up the glower.
"You were starving yourself to death."
"My choice." The old man stated stubbornly, arms crossed about his chest.
"You can't expect a Jedi to just sit around and watch you suffer!" Aayla said pointedly as she crossed her arms about her chest.
"Seen em do it before," he said in turn and grunted. "But, you might have noticed, I was choosing to do it where there was no one kriffing around!"
The boy chose that moment to make another comment as he rubbed his head and glared at the man.
He earned another rap of the man's cane for his trouble. "Didn't I just say to stop acting like a Force damned Corellian or stop talking like you're a Mandalorian?"
The boy glared sullenly back at him before busting into another string of words. This time, the old man him him hard enough on his shins to make him start jumping about with a pained yell.
"What the kriff is your problem? So what if a Jetti killed your father? Was he or what he not a Mandalorian?" the man stated with a glare.
Still glaring at him, the boy nodded his head sullenly.
"Was he on his feet fighting when he died?" the man pressed, earning another annoyed nod from the boy, before he yelped as his other shin was rapped, "Then stop insulting his kriffing memory! He died a Mandalorian!"
The boy twitched slightly before crossing his arms about his chest, glaring silently back at the man, refusing to pout, despite the trembling of his lower lip.
"Kids these days," he muttered under his breath, "When I was…"
He paused there before snorting quietly and turning his attention to Aayla, "Never mind, now, are you happy? Will you stop trying to kidnap me now?"
"Depends, are you going to go back to trying to kill yourself?" she countered back.
"That was the plan," he agreed glibly with a nod of his head, "I refuse to be beaten by an omnipotent child."
Aayla rubbed her head lightly as the Force suddenly seemed to let off a keening whine of displeasure at his statement. "… Why do I always end up in these kinds of situations?"
"You're a good little Jetti," the old man stated sarcastically, causing the boy to break from his scowl long enough to snort in amusement, before quickly snapping back into place, "So, ever going to introduce yourself, or shall I keep calling you the pretty Jetti kidnapper with the nice ass?"
As the boy actually broke into a brief giggle at the words, Aayla flushed slightly and settled a glare of her own on the suddenly smirking man, "… I am Jedi Knight Aayla Secura."
"Well, at least it's not Vao, then I'd know Mission was behind this," he muttered a bit before sighing in irritation, "And the little Correllian pretending to be a Mandalorian?"
"He refuses to tell me his name, he also refuses to speak basic," Aayla smirked softly as it was the boy's turn to flush and glare at the old man, progress at last.
"Boba Fett," the boy stated curtly.
"… A Fett. It had to be a Fett," the old man groaned softly as he glared vaguely up at the ceiling, "Couldn't I have at least gotten stuck with an Ordo?"
When the boy only glared angrily back at him, as he had been doing steadily since he had first rapped him on the head, the old man nodded to himself and leaned against the cane, "Fine then, what does the Jetti with the nice ass want with an old man and a bratty Corellian?"
"I. Am. Not a Corellian!" Boba finally roared as he lunged at the man, only to be intercepted with a smack on the side of his head from the man's cane.
"Then start acting like it," the old man muttered sourly as he looked down at the dazed boy.
"… Didn't you ask me my name so you'd stop calling me that?" Aayla demanded, even if her cheeks colored just slightly.
"No, I was going to keep calling you the pretty Jetti kidnapper with a nice ass," he clarified simply, "Now, I'm just calling you the Jetti with a nice ass. I didn't even make a mention of you being a kidnapper."
"A troublesome situation you have found yourself in, Knight Secura," a calm voice noted from just outside the door, "Frown upon kidnapping, the Jedi order does."
"And yet, it never seems to stop you," the old man stated blithely to the shrunken, green form of the Jedi Grandmaster Yoda, "Imagine that."
"Most troublesome, never before seen the Force act so, have I," Yoda noted as he leaned upon his stick, "And a most spirited individual does it occur with."
"I bite too," the old man stated simply, snapping his teeth in the Jedis' direction.
"Master Yoda!" Aayla stated with shock as she quickly turned to face the older Jedi, "I was…"
"Heard about the interesting individual you had found, I did, and of the boy from Geonosis," Yoda stated simply as he peered at the man who simply glared back at him, "If the Force chose you for this task, to the Force we will defer. In your care he will remain."
"… What? But...!" Aayla immediately began to protest, "The war!"
"More important than the war it would seem this is," Yoda stated serenely, his lips only quirking into a smirk when her head bowed in acceptance, seen only by the old man, "But, coming, a specialist we have."
"I… But…" Aayla stared back at him, wracking her brain for any kind of excuse, but coming up frustratingly short. "I… understand, Master Yoda."
The old man snorted as if she'd stated something entirely too amusing to him.
"But, our guest, call him what, we do?" Yoda asked as he looked more closely at the old man.
"Well, I don't know about me, but I've taken to calling her the Jetti with the nice ass and the brat's the Corellian," he answered without skipping a beat as he looked back at Yoda thoughtfully, "You though, I'm torn on. On one side, there's the troll, on the other, there's the green womp rat. I'm still deciding."
"Partial to troll I have become. Foolish younglings are, to think these ears are just for show," Yoda stated easily as he leveled a look back at the man while waggling said ears.
As Aayla paled visibly, the old man merely nodded, nonplussed, "It's a deficiency of the young. They always assume they're smarter and know more than they actually do." He deftly rapped Boba on the knuckles without even looking at him as the boy reached for his cane.
"A sad truth it is," Yoda agreed with a nod of his head, "Old Goat you shall be then."
"Whatever you say, Troll," the old man agreed with a slight smirk and a nod of his head.
"In the care of Knight with nice posterior, I leave you," Yoda stated simply before turning and calmly walking out.
Aayla stood there for a moment, staring from the spot Yoda had just vacated, before looking back at the old man, trying to decide what on ear she could possibly say in response to that.
"I suggest you try not to hurt your pretty head by thinking about it too hard," he advised with a smirk.
A spark of fire flashed across her eyes before she growled slightly, "Fine, Master Yoda might be fine with calling you that, but I want a name."
"I thought you already had one?"
"Yours," she stated again, crossing her arms about her chest and giving him a look.
"If I ask my what, will you walk away in a huff and show off that very nice ass of yours?" he asked curiously.
"You're not winning that easily," she stated simply.
"Ah, alas, thwarted for now," he stated agreeably as he would stomp on Boba's toes when the boy again tried to steal his cane.
As Boba cursed loudly and viciously, Aayla stared at him for a moment, before rubbing her face lightly, "What is your name?"
"Well, since you asked so politely..." he responded trailing off as he watched the way he could almost see the way her eyebrow wanted to twitch, "You can call me... Davad."
"... Davad?" she repeated as she eyed him suspiciously.
"It is my name," he answered back with a light chuckle, "And are you really going to let this ill mannered Corellian brat continue to try to accost me?"
"You look to be handling him fine on your own," she countered back.
The man once known as Revan chuckled softly as he looked back at the twi'lek woman and shrugged his shoulders, "It's the principle of the matter."
-o-o-o-