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Narglatch in Shaak's Clothing Chapter 3
71 BBY
The meeting is a happy accident, long before Dooku had planned it. Dooku has just returned from a mercy mission to Dantooine. A mishap with a territorial and bad-tempered graul has earned him a one-way trip back to Coruscant and the best Jedi healers in the Temple. He sits on the edge of the simple bed, feeling tenderly along the bacta-soaked bandages that wrap tightly around his ribs. They won't release him yet, telling him at least four more standard hours before he is well enough to leave.
A commotion sounds in the hallway, and soon two Jedi Knights enter, carrying a youngling between them, bone white edge of bone jutting though one of his shins.
The Youngling.
Palpatine's thin face is pinched with the agony of his wound, but his gaze settles on Dooku almost immediately as they place him in the adjacent bed and two Jedi healers try to make him comfortable, cooing over the poor unfortunate youngling.
Dooku finds himself arrested by the youngling's attention.
"You are Knight Dooku," Palpatine suddenly announces in the long silence that has built between them. His boldness does not surprise Dooku; somehow he has come to anticipate this straightforwardness, and it is refreshing when he is proven right.
"I am, and you are young Sheev Palpatine," Dooku smiles faintly. His chest twitches, and he ignores it.
"You know who I am." Somehow, the way Palpatine says it, Dooku knows it is not a question.
"I do," Dooku nods. "I've noticed you around the Temple on occasion."
"I'm honored, Master Dooku," and from anyone other than this boy, the older man would suspect empty flattery. However, Palpatine looks very pleased, thin mouth cracking in a fleeting smile, and his open respect in the Force creates a warm feeling in the Jedi Knight's mind. Of course he would be honored; it's not every day a talented knight like Dooku notices a youngling. This boy already knows how to recognize true ability. Dooku straightens on his bed, suddenly and faintly embarrassed to be caught so wounded, so weak. He decides on distraction.
"How did it happen, by the way?" Dooku inclines his head toward the grisly wound. The youngling appears barely aware of its existence.
"Does it really matter?" Palpatine tilts his own head in reply. "I'm here now, and so are you."
"So I am," Dooku mutters.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Who's scouting whom here?