The Dining Hall was barely half-filled when they entered.
"I think I know why Lando was so generous." Ezra nodded in the general direction of the other guests as they found a table. "The suites probably weren't being used anyway."
"It was still a nice gesture. "Luke held a chair for Mara, then sat beside her.
Ezra held Sabine's chair with one hand, popping Violet-Meadows in a baby chair with the other. He slid the Loth-kittens' carrier off his shoulder and tucked them next to the baby chair. They started purring as Violet-Meadows sang the chorus of "Baby Purrgil".
"Mind if we join you?" Waving enthusiastically, Eli led Vah'nya over to the group.
Glancing at the others, Ezra gestured to a chair. "Sure. As long as you don't comm Thrawn during supper."
"I just talked to him. He's not expecting another call for a couple of hours." Eli pulled out a chair for Vah'nya and claimed the last chair for himself.
"That's good." Ezra hid a smile. No Death Troopers or hourly check-ins. It was a slight improvement. Of course, Thrawn might very well have sent an undercover agent to keep an eye on Eli and Vah'nya.
"We need your help, Ezra." Vah'nya placed a small box on the table. "The supplier had some kind of problem the last time we ordered Eli's medications and ended up sending powders instead of pills."
"And the Big Blue Guy usually prepares them, so you don't know how much." Ezra quirked an eyebrow.
"Thrawn wrote the amounts." Eli frowned at Ezra. "Only, the labels came off the bottles. Vah'nya says it'll just worry Thrawn if we tell him."
"Ezra will know. There's no need to tell Thrawn," Vah'nya said firmly, opening the case and removing three bottles. She showed Ezra the note with the dosages.
He opened the bottles, touching, sniffing and tasting each powder. The Loth-kittens mewled at his feet.
"You two do realize that Ezra's an animal Healer, right?" Luke asked dubiously.
"Shh," Ezra scolded, calling on the Force to calm the kittens,"I'm concentrating."
Taking a pen from his pocket, he wrote the corresponding color by each medicine's name and dosage.
"One big spoon of the light blue, one small spoon of the dark blue, two tiny spoons of the red."
"Thank you, Ezra." Vah'nya beamed, stuffing the bottles and note back in the bag.
"No problem"- Ezra jerked at a tickling sensation on his feet. He ducked down to check the Loth-kittens. "Tricky! What are you doing here?"
"Tricky, you found your Uncle Ezra!" a woman's voice cooed.
Ezra quickly sat up. "Hi, Mrs. Pumphrey."
"Tricky and I are so glad you're here." Mrs. Pumphrey scooped up her plump Naboean lapdog and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "We chose this cruise because we heard you were coming. I knew it would be safe to bring Tricky."
Ezra managed a smile. Tricky was one of his best patients, but this was supposed to be a honeymoon.
"Well, I see you're busy with a patient, so I'll let you get back to work."
She started to walk away before Ezra could explain that the medicine bottles were for Eli, not an animal.
"I almost forgot the best part," she called over her shoulder, "we have the suite next to yours!"
"That's...wonderful."
Sabine rolled her eyes as Mrs. Pumphrey bounced away. "You and your animals."
The waiter droid shuffled over to take their orders. When he finished, Eli reached for Vah'nya's hand.
"Care to dance while we wait?"
"I'd love to." She took his hand and followed him to the dance floor.
Ezra shot a glance at Luke, recalling Eli and Vah'nya's wedding dance.
With a graceful bow, Eli drew Vah'nya into his arms. They stepped in perfect time to the music and each other, hopping, gliding, pivoting. When Eli spun Vah'nya under his arm, Ezra dared a peek at Sabine.
Her eyes glowed.
Violet-Meadows cooed and clapped. "Dance!"
Ezra stifled a groan. He and Luke needed to start practicing- as soon as possible.
An insistent poke in the Force told Luke that Ezra was growing impatient. Luke sent a jolt of calm in return. It had only been five minutes and he hadn't been awakened at six o'clock by a toddler. Pulling on his outer tunic and grabbing his shoes, he headed for the adjoining door.
"Come on, Artoo."
The door slid open at Luke's touch.
"Mara?" Ezra asked.
"Sleeping. I told the AI to keep the room dark and cool and keep the ambiance going, so she shouldn't wake up for a while. Where's yours?"
"Taking a long soak in the tub and watching a holodrama while she's at it."
Violet-Meadows toddled by, chasing the Loth-kittens.
"We're watching the kids?" Luke picked up a kitten that sought refuge on his feet. It promptly began to purr.
"Yep. Let's go to the parlor. It's the farthest from the bedroom."
Luke followed Ezra, with Artoo and Violet-Meadows trundling behind. As Ezra found a toy to entertain his daughter, Luke found the memory of Eli dancing with Vah'nya replaying in his mind. They danced perfectly. If only he had that poise and grace. He wouldn't be surprised if Lando used a holovid of their dancing in future advertising. After all, what could be more romantic than a flawless Royal Naboean Waltz?
With a trilling beep, Artoo displayed two life-sized holographic women.
"This one looks like Sabine." Ezra put his arms around one of the projections. "This is really weird."
Luke claimed the second image, which strongly resembled Mara. Beeping again, Artoo added diagrams at their feet. Regal music flowed from his speaker and the diagrams shifted. Luke did his best to keep up while still holding on to his holographic Mara.
"Whoa!" He missed a step, landing in the floor. He bumped into Ezra on the way down and his friend wobbled and fell, joining him in the floor.
Her toy forgotten, Violet-Meadows clapped and laughed, toddling over for a closer look. The Loth-kittens followed.
As Luke and Ezra tried to stand, the kittens crawled over their feet and legs, mewling loudly. Luke sensed Ezra calling on the Force to calm them. The mewling stopped and they curled up on the couch, purring.
They had been practicing nearly an hour when Luke's comm beeped.He pulled it out.
"I'd better go. I set the AI to notify me when Mara started to wake up."
Ezra nodded. "I should check on Sabine. Come on, Violet-Meadows."
Mara rubbed sleep from her eyes as Luke sat down beside her on the bed.
"Morning, Farmboy."
Leaning over, Luke kissed her gently. "Morning, Honey."
Mara nestled close to him. "Let's just stay here."
Laughing, Luke wrapped his arms around her. "Now who doesn't want to go anywhere? Don't you think we should we get breakfast sometime?"
She stretched up and kissed him. "Sometime. Just not now."
Author's Note: Violet-Meadows must be about 18 months old. She's clearly getting ready for a vocabulary explosion. Also, Ezra is definitely Space James Herriot. He will probably write a book called All Loth-creatures, Great and Small.