Revenge of the Jedi/Part 24

"Ah, Bernius!" said Gaebrean Kaivalt. "I find myself moved to poetry, and yet I face a dilemma."

"If I can help, sir, I will."

"Splendid, splendid. How many languages do you speak?"

"Merely verbal forms of communication? Approximately 700,000."

"Capital! That can't let me down.  What rhymes with 'Zaella'?"

The droid fixed its photoreceptors on Gaebrean rather longer than he thought necessary for that keen machine intelligence to come up with an answer, but in the end it said, "Excluding proper nouns, I have 147 perfect matches, and an additional 2,886 slant rhymes whose aberration would be almost undetectable when rendered in Basic."

"That's fantastic! What's the most romantic?"

"Your great-grandfather did not ask for my advice when courting Lady Eserzenna, so my observations of Human courtship have been only secondhand, but Howlshzek gives us tayfella."

"Ooo. Sounds almost like a flower, doesn't it?  'Darling, I've picked you some tayfella from the meadow'.  What's it mean?"

"It refers to a certain piquancy a Wevnarrian perceives in the dungpile constructed by another, which leads him to draw favorable conclusions regarding her fertility in that moon cycle when—"

"Ahaha…yes, well." Gaebrean cleared his throat. "I appreciate you checking."

"May I assist you in any other way, sir?"

"No, no, I think it's probably best I shift for myself. And a good evening to you, Bernius."

"Master Gaebrean?"

Gaebrean spun on his heels in a way that would have won any dancer's heart. "Yes?"

Bernius held up both hands near its head and made a small, undulating motion; the sides did not match each other. "This motion signifies impatience in the language of Twi'lek lekku. I advise you to watch for it carefully; I have observed it more than once already."

"Cheers, Bernius."

Despite housing over a dozen Force users, the manor hardly sang with life; even on the evenings they gathered, it could most generously be described as a tuneful hum, but not a particularly loud or snappy one. Though Gaebrean had always enjoyed visits to Inimă Eserzennae, that was largely due to his cousins; from his boyhood onward, the island's isolation had made him restless rather than instilling any kind of tranquility. Some Jedi—some beings, when it came down to it—were simply born for the cosmopolitan life of the busy city, and all the many distractions it offered. And of course, a Jedi could appreciate all forms of life, not merely stocked wild animals and blood relations.

Your ability to see the beauty in any female truly is a testament to your appreciation for the Force in all living creatures…

Gaebrean smiled to himself. They were all Jedi in their own ways.

As he passed by the den, he noticed Sir Amaani and Sir Kobold sharing a bottle of brandy, one of the handful of not-Bernius serving droids waiting on them. Gaebrean gave a gentleman's bow from the neck, and Sir Kobold nodded, but Amaani said, "Gaebrean. Join us, won't you?"

Sir Kobold raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, and Gaebrean laid a hand upon his breast. "I don't wish to intrude, my good sir."

"Nor would you." He tipped the rim of his snifter toward an empty chair. "Please."

Gaebrean sprawled in one of the luxury leather recliners while the serving droid poured him a brandy. "I suppose I can't refuse anything to the deft-tongued thief who's stolen my sister's heart away."

Sir Kobold closed his eyes and arched his brows as Amaani sighed. "Given the way our conversations have gone these past few days, I think I'm fortunate she hasn't handed it back."

Gaebrean snorted. "Oh, come off it. She'll forgive you; you're her charming knight, the future sire of a long line of Kaivalt descendants who shall sadly lack the name.  Pity, I find it such a good, strong one.  Not to speak ill of 'Wisté', of course…"

"Of course." Amaani smiled. "And Cesylee?"

"I couldn't tell you," Gaebrean said. He could, of course, but he wouldn't. "Though I'm sure any man she chooses will be at least as honorable and storied as yourself."

"Is there such a man?" asked Sir Kobold.

Unlike Sir Kobold, Amaani was not too Tapani to roll his eyes, and he made a little skeptical sound in the back of his throat. "Apart from yourself, you mean?"

Sir Kobold waved off the praise, which pleased Gaebrean. He thought his sister would do best with a quieter sort of man, it was true, but Kobold Baliss was a different sort of quiet. Courteous, to be sure—to a fault, sometimes, if truth was told—but always insistent on correct action and upstanding presentation. A fine quality in both a Jedi and a Pelagian noble, but while Sir Kobold would never treat Cesylee with anything but the sincerest respect, Gaebrean doubted he would ever make her laugh the way someone should.

Amaani continued, "One little skirmish and the media make it out to be such a grand affair…"

"I rather think the Freeworlds consider it more than a little skirmish, Amaani," Gaebrean said.

Sir Kobold narrowed his eyes. "'Amaani'?"

And there's the formal correctness, Gaebrean thought.

Amaani raised a hand. "This time next year, Gaebrean and I will be brothers. I see no purpose in standing on ceremony, at least when we're not in mixed company."

Sir Kobold frowned, but Gaebrean caught Amaani giving him a subtle nod, and after a moment he sighed. "Yes, I suppose so. I extend you the same liberty, Gaebrean.  I suppose you're more used to women extending you liberties, but my name's as far as I'm willing to go."

Gaebrean put on a suave smile for him. "Be brave now, Kobold, but I have to confess, you're not my type."

Amaani laughed, and though Kobold did roll his eyes this time, one side of his mouth quirked up.

"So what do you think so far?" Gaebrean asked them. "Been a good bit of practice, then, hasn't it?"

The two knights exchanged looks before Kobold said, "We were just discussing that."

"Tirien Kal-Di is an exceptional swordsman," Amaani observed; if bad blood still polluted the waters between the men, he gave no sign of it. "Your cousins as well. Even the Zygerrian Padawan and your Twi'lek…companion show unusual skill for their age."

You think she's good with her lightsaber… Gaebrean almost said it aloud, but he wasn't sure Kobold's tolerance stretched that far either, or that Amaani had drunk enough not to remember it the next day. Instead, he said, "Well, yes, they're all rather dab hands with blades, but even apart from that. I've learned some skills I doubt I'd ever have picked up elsewhere."

"This isn't a broadening assignment, though," Amaani said. "This training is supposed to prepare us to kill a Sith Overlord."

"Do you feel unprepared?"

"I admit they have skills I hadn't acquired, but I've yet to learn anything that makes me feel any more equal to Gasald."

"That goal may be beyond us," Kobold cautioned. "But if we can support those who do…"

"Does the Force favor one Knight over another?" Amaani shook his head. "I won't believe it. The Force chose us—snatched us from whatever destinies we might have had, for good or ill—and made us Jedi.  Any Jedi should be able rise to any challenge the dark side can present, if he trains hard enough and trusts enough in the Force."

The bit about rearranging destiny affected Kobold enough that his expression showed it—which, even with what little Gaebrean knew about Kobold Baliss, he understood to be quite a lot—but the dark-haired knight shook his head. "The Force doesn't exist in a vacuum. We none of us became Knights on our own—the people who train and guide us shape us as much as the Force does.  Or more."

Amaani smiled wryly, and Kobold raised an eyebrow in what looked like a challenge; Gaebrean suspected this was not the first time they had had a variation of this debate. After moment Amaani shook his head, and as he drank, Gaebrean noticed belatedly that only the brandy bottle and Amaani's glass sat on the table between the two men. "I'll have to speak to my uncle about getting that droid reprogrammed if it hasn't offered you any brandy, Kobold."

The droid reached for the bottle, but Kobold placed two fingers over its rim and shook his head. "It has."

"You don't partake?"

"No."

"Keeping the senses sharp for a duel at all times, eh?"

"…something like that, yes."

"A pity. I've sampled every vintage from Achillea to Tocco—"

"I've heard."

Gaebrean blinked, then laughed. "Yes, all right then, get it all out."

But Kobold didn't press him, and inside Gaebrean relaxed. A little ribbing was all well and good, but Lezascan Wisté was nearly as bad as Gaebrean's own father, and with as close as Lord Wisté and Kobold were, Gaebrean had feared the former Padawan would be a mouthpiece for the former Master's disapproval. For all Lord Wisté's snide remarks about Gaebrean's jaunts, one would've thought Amaani and Kae had sprung the marriage on him rather than Lord Wisté plotting with Gaebrean's father to arrange it…

After a moment, Amaani said, "What's your view of the Zygerrian girl?"

"Narasi?" Gaebrean shrugged. "Seems a lovely young woman, if you ask me. Bit of a roughhouser, of course, but I suppose that can't be helped with those Form V stylists; Razam's the same way."

Amaani looked thoughtful. "She's definitely not what I would've expect from a Zygerrian."

"Well, I should think not. She is a Jedi, after all."

"Shaped by her experiences, and her master's teachings, no doubt," Kobold added with a meaningful look.

Amaani nodded in concession. "True. Of course, she's a bit dogged in following Tirien's lead…"

Kobold frowned. "I've noticed that too—it's one of the things I respect most about the girl. You speak of loyalty to one's master as if it's a vice, Amaani."

"I didn't mean to."

"What did you mean?" When Amaani made a face and did not continue, Kobold glanced at Gaebrean, but pressed, "You don't like Kal-Di."

"I don't," Amaani conceded, "though I hope no act of mine has inhibited the success of this mission over such a personal feeling."

"Not at all, Amaani," Gaebrean consoled him. "Your skills have been a vital component of our training. Both of your skills."

"Thank you," Kobold said dryly.

"And you?" Amaani asked. "What do you think of our fearless leader?"

Kobold chuckled once, but Gaebrean said, "Not an inapt word, I think. I can't say I'm entirely sanguine about doing battle with Gasald, but you'd think he was proposing a mission to Caamas, the way he talks about her.  Steady as still water, that one.  And Raven vouches for him."

"Is that courage, or bravado?"

"Sometimes projecting courage helps develop the real thing," said Kobold.

"I suppose."

Gaebrean inhaled the aroma of his brandy with a smile before asking, "You're not having second thoughts about the mission?"

"No," Amaani said firmly. "Gasald has to be defeated, or we're all in danger. And I won't let my father risk his life alone."

"And you, Kobold?"

Kobold took a moment to reply. "I stand with Lord Wisté and Amaani, always."

"And the rightness of our cause?"

"Gasald is a threat," Kobold conceded. "If she can be destroyed, she should be. And if we fail, at least we'll be remembered well."

Casual and cheerful, Gaebrean thought. Yes, Cesylee would melt indeed…

"Which isn't to say we're predestined to success," Kobold continued. He glanced at Amaani. "Your fiancée's concerns—"

Already a bit piqued that Kobold referred to Kaelora as Amaani's fiancée rather than his sister, Gaebrean asked, "You mean Zaella?"

Kobold raised his eyebrows, but maintained his cool, even tone as he said, "I was more concerned with her tactical analysis, but that's a valid consideration as well, yes."

Gaebrean finished his brandy and beckoned the droid for a second. "I disagree. She's a fine fighter, and she hasn't exactly let loose the Force lightning during training, has she?"

"You disagree with a critique of your…companion." Kobold gave the word the same pregnant pause Amaani had. "You can imagine my surprise."

"Zaella understands the Sith in a way none of us do—"

"And hopefully none of us ever will," Amaani added. "That makes her an invaluable source of intelligence, I agree, but it hardly commends her as a battle companion of Jedi Knights."

"Tirien and Raven have fought more Sith Lords than all of us put together," Gaebrean said, "and they don't have a problem with her."

"And Raina?"

Trapped there, Gaebrean tried a new tack. "She's really a remarkable woman when you get to know her—not at all what you'd expect from a former Sith."

He could tell he had not convinced them, but Kobold shrugged and rose. "I think I'll turn in. Need to be well-rested for whatever our blue taskmaster comes up with tomorrow."

Amaani snorted and raised his glass in salute. Gaebrean said, "You're sure we can't tempt you with a nightcap? My uncle has some of the best—"

"I don't doubt Baron Kaivalt's taste or his generosity as a host, but yes, I'm quite certain. Good evening to you both."

Gaebrean waited until the sound of his bootsteps had faded, then asked, "Never?"

Amaani shook his head. "Not once, in all the years I've known him."

"Cleanse my house, what a horror. Why not?"

"It's personal. You'd have to ask him."

"It's…oh. Oooh, yes of course, I understand."

Amaani frowned. "Do you?"

"About his father, isn't it?"

"…I would not say that too loudly, nor at all in his hearing. Now, how did you discover this?"

"Well, it was you, wasn't it?"

Blinking, Amaani asked, "Me? I've told you nothing of the sort."

"Not directly, but it's the same way your father seems to have an index of everything I've done of which he disapproves. Rather annoying, isn't it?"

"You don't mean to tell me that came up in the marital investigation?"

No self-respecting Tapani nobleman would arrange a match for his child without a thorough investigation into the potential partner's family. Such inquiries were particularly exhausting if the partner was a petty knight or, Force help him or her, a commoner, but nobles demanded a different sort of probe. Since all the noble families sought to put forth the best face to one another—the face most likely to advance themselves and their children, and to court favor with the House's Privy Council—an entire boutique industry of private investigators had sprung up, and some nobles went so far as to bribe or blackmail the servants and confidants of their prospective in-laws to dig up the family's buried secrets.

"Of course it did," Gaebrean said. He wasn't sure his father would approve of sharing that fact with Amaani, but he was sure he didn't care. "Not that I was in the discussion, but my father's voice carries. Perhaps you chanced to notice?  Your father is…well, he's about as scrupulous as any other noble, if you take my meaning, and you're clean as a Diathim's undergarments, aren't you?  And Kobold's basically your family."

Amaani looked so overloaded by things at which he might take offense that he seemed unsure where to start. "My father's been more of a father to him than his own, that's true enough. And yes, I suppose we're like brothers, in a way…"

Gaebrean nodded. "How could his family not come up? Not that it did any harm; he's turned things about, hasn't he?"

Kobold Baliss's grandfather, Lord Baliss, had inherited a tidy fortune, the vast majority of which he had lost on unwise speculations and straight-up gambling; Gaebrean had lost a fair few hands of sabacc in his years, but nothing like the catastrophe Lord Baliss was reputed to have been. His son, Kobold's father, had merited a knighthood by birth, but had never been advanced beyond it; the Privy Council had feared the wastrel son would be an echo of the prodigal father and kept him far from House Pelagia's businesses. Denied any chance for advancement, Sir Jelyk Baliss had spent what remained of the family's assets on drink; the pretense of supporting Tapani breweries had collapsed within three years, and Sir Jelyk had drunk himself to death after shooting his wife. By then, however, Kobold had been found to be Force-sensitive and taken to the praxeum.

"He has," Amaani said. "He'll attribute it all to my father, for taking him as a Padawan despite…despite everything that had come before him. But make no mistake, Kobold earned both his knighthoods.  I'd be very surprised if your investigators didn't find more indiscretions on my part than on Kobold's."

Gaebrean cleared his throat and sipped his brandy. "I wouldn't know anything about that…"

"A charitable species of ignorance." Amaani chuckled. "Speaking of indiscretions, did you ever get those falsified transponder codes?"

"I set it up on my last trip to Pelagar. My contact should have them for me presently."

"Where?"

Gaebrean toasted him and smiled. "Ask me no questions and I shall tell you no lies, good sir. I prefer to keep my indiscretions…discreet."

Amaani choked on a swallow of brandy, and Gaebrean cleared his throat. "I make a good faith endeavor to—"

"What about her?" Amaani tipped his glass toward the ceiling.

"Her?"

"Your Twi'lek, Zaella." The older man gave him a stern look—he's like a balding version of my father, Gaebrean thought. "A barely-legal, foreign, alien Sith—former or otherwise—is a bit radical even by your standards, isn't it?"

"She's a perfectly lovely, legally adult woman," Gaebrean insisted. "You should talk with her."

Gaebrean saw at once that he had made no headway with that suggestion. Kaelora's got to him. "I train with her, without malice or prejudice. I'm content with that."

"Well, you needn't worry about our collective image, if that's what concerns you. No one's here but Jedi, and I don't think Tirien's on PCN's payroll." Not that Pelagon Consolidated News hadn't tried to get more than a glimpse of Inimă Eserzennae, but the Kaivalts valued their privacy on their island retreat.

Amaani finished his brandy; the droid moved to pour him another, but he laid a hand over the snifter and shook his head without taking his eyes off Gaebrean. "And when we're through here? If we conquer Gasald and come home in triumphant glory, after you've told off my bride-to-be, what will become of your latest inamorata then?"

Gaebrean sat back, fumbling for a suitably witty answer, but it eluded him. Amaani rose and patted his shoulder on the way out. "Food for thought, old chum. Good night."

A few minutes later, the droid plodded over and held up the brandy bottle. "Would you care for another, sir?"

"…yes. Yes, I think I would."