"Mareeja, look at this," he said, stopping suddenly and kneeling to investigate something on the other side of the tangle.
Mareeja slid through the opening he had created and tried to see what Obi-Wan was talking about.
The young Jedi held a small, cylindrical, black object in his hand, turning it over and examining it curiously.
"What is it? What did you find?" the Princess asked, kneeling down by him for a closer look. Upon closer inspection, she realized what it was even before Obi-Wan answered her.
"It's a communicator," Obi-Wan told her what she already knew.
"Why, how do you think it got here?" she asked in surprise.
Obi-Wan shook his head, mystified. Her guess was as good as his. "I don't know, maybe somebody dropped it, or lost it out here."
"Do you think it still works?" Mareeja asked excitedly.
"It looks pretty new," Obi-Wan assessed. Indeed it could hardly have been there for very long at all. "Only one way to find out!" he switched the comlink on. There were no controls to direct to whom the signal went, so it must have been one of a set of comlinks that were either tied only to each other, or else operated in some manner that Obi-Wan was not familiar with.
"Hello?" Obi-Wan spoke into the top of the comlink. "Hello, can anyone hear me?"
The pair waited for several, breathless moments and the silence seemed deafening. Then the communicator crackled and the wonderfully welcome sound of a voice from the other end broke the silence.
"Hello? Royal Security Officer 309 here. Who is this? Identify yourself," the voice responded. Obi-Wan guessed it was a man's voice.
Mareeja nearly jumped for joy. *Royal Security!* By some happy chance the signal for the comlink they had found was apparently tied to her own Security Patrol's signal. In her happy eagerness, the Princess snagged the comlink out of Obi-Wan's hand.
"This is Princess Mareeja," she declared. "My friend and I found one of your comlinks in the woods. You will come and get us up immediately," she ordered.
"Your Highness! Everyone has been searching for you for days your Highness! Thank the powers you're all right! We'll be there at once!" the man replied in shock. "Leave the comlink on and we'll trace its signal."
"Very well," Mareeja replied. "Oh, and one more thing," she said quickly, her lips pursing tightly, her face darkening. "Call the Palace Security. Have my Uncle Warren Dejabold placed under arrest immediately, for conspiracy, kidnapping, murder and attempted murder, do you understand?"
"Yes, your Majesty," the guard replied soberly. "I will do as you command. Over and out." The comlink fell silent once more.
Mareeja sat down on the stunted, scraggly, dew covered grass. She was very glad to be so near to the end of this ordeal, but she was also intensely angry with her uncle. *He would pay...*
Obi-Wan watched her quietly. He could tell the Princess was caught somewhere between being happy and being angry.
"It won't help," he said softly.
"What won't?" Mareeja asked in surprise, not understanding.
"Being angry," Obi-Wan replied. He did not intend to preach at her about it, but he really, truly liked Mareeja so he offered his opinion. For normal people, anger was not perhaps as dangerous as it was for Jedi, but it never did anyone any good.
"Why shouldn't I be angry?" Mareeja asked, a little indignantly, chagrined that her emotions had been so easily readable to her companion. "Aren't you angry Obijeena? He had us kidnapped, he had my parent's killed, probably would have had *us* killed if we hadn't escaped. So why shouldn't I be angry?"
"Because it doesn't help anything," Obi-Wan said, gently, but bluntly. "No, I'm not angry," he answered her question. "Because it would do nothing to improve the situation. What does it accomplish? The law will punish your uncle; your anger hurts no one but yourself."
Mareeja looked away.
Obi-Wan felt a little sorry. He hadn't meant what he'd said as an insult. "It's a natural response," he hurried to add, not wishing to sound like he was in any way condemning her for the way she felt. "I'm not saying it isn't," he said earnestly. "I'm just saying that not all responses that seem natural to us should we let ourselves express." Obi-Wan thought he might have twisted the grammar in that last sentence around a wee bit, but that was probably because he was referring to a lesson that Master Yoda had taught him as a child. Sometimes when referencing Yoda's lessons he half-slid into the wise old Jedi Master's peculiar speech patterns. Qui-Gon never corrected Obi-Wan for this, but sometimes the corners of the distinguished Master's mouth would twitch after a particularly backward sentence and Obi-Wan got the feeling that he had just inadvertently been a source of great amusement.
The apprentice shook his head. "I didn't mean to offend you Princess," he added softly.
Mareeja stared at the trees on her right. Trying to decide if she was upset with her friend or not. After everything they had been through together, here they were, about to be saved and *now* they were quarreling? It was stupid. Mareeja sighed. She supposed it was her anger's fault that she felt this way now. Well, she wasn't going to let something like that spoil the situation.
"You didn't," Mareeja turned back towards Obi-Wan. "I'm sorry I behaved so, it wasn't very grown up of me, was it?" she shook her head. "But let's not think about it anymore. We're finally on our way out of this whole mess and I just want to be happy!" She grinned and Obi-Wan returned her smile. "Wasn't it wonderfully lucky that we found that comlink?" she bubbled happily. "I mean, what are the chances?" A sudden cloud passed briefly over her face. "You don't think any of my Uncle's men could have heard the conversation do you?" she asked hesitantly, suddenly wishing she had not been quite so quick to declare her title and presence to the world.
"I don't know, I don't *think* so," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully. "It's usually pretty hard to eavesdrop on tied comlinks, that's why they do them that way for Security forces," he reassured, but kept himself on guard anyway.
"Oh, good," Mareeja sighed in relief. "So tied comlinks work only with each other?"
Obi-Wan nodded. "Or within their own set. There can be hundreds all tied together, but they'll operate only on their own, coded signal. Sometimes they are even programmed to recognize voice patterns so that only specially designated people can use them."
"I see," Mareeja nodded, only half interested. "I guess we're fortunate that this wasn't one of those. We have droids like that at the Palace though, who'll only take commands from the person or persons they're programmed to serve. All the officials' droids are programmed that way," she mused. "It was really funny, because one time when I was a little girl, oh, about ten or eleven probably, I was home on break from school and I found a book on droid programming. For some reason it fascinated me immensely at that time, so I read the whole thing. When I was done I was sure I could do everything it talked about, so I got one of the servant boys to help me and we snuck around and altered almost all the personal, voice-recognition droids so that instead of obeying when they heard their master's voices," Mareeja started to grin a little in spite of herself, seeing now what a terrible nuisance she must have been. "They would respond with rather rude, personal comments that we programmed into them ourselves. It was quite funny."
Obi-Wan cocked an eyebrow and smiled wryly. He bet it had been funny, he also bet that people were probably pretty annoyed. Everyone at the Temple sure had been when *he* was ten and he had... well, Obi-Wan flushed just remembering it. He probably should never have let the good natured, but disasteredly prank-war between he and his friends and some of the other Initiates go that far. Obi-Wan still remembered standing in the dark, realizing that their bungled joke had just left, not only the entire Temple, but also half of Coruscant without power. "Kenobi," a Master's voice said, using that tone that made you just know you were in trouble. "You will come with me please."
Obi-Wan shook his head to dispel the memory. It was funny in hindsight, but he had certainly found nothing humorous about it at the time. He had taken the blame for everything, even the parts he did not do, to keep his friends out of trouble. Looking back, he realized he had not fooled the Masters, they knew the truth, but if he insisted on claiming responsibility for it, they would let him see how that went. It was the only time he could recall the Masters ever actually punishing him in a sterner fashion then just assigning him extra exercises and duties, although they had done that too.
"What happened?" Obi-Wan asked, curious despite himself.
"Well," Mareeja said, blushing a little herself. "My parents weren't very pleased. I can laugh about it *now*."
"But it wasn't very funny then," Obi-Wan finished for her, knowing precisely what she meant.
"Exactly," Mareeja nodded, her eyes glinting. "I see we perhaps have some common experiences in our histories?" she asked with a knowing smile.
Obi-Wan just grinned sheepishly and nodded. "You could say that." *At least you didn't black out half a planet!*
"Of course," Mareeja had a distant look in her eye, remembering. "It was almost worth it really, to hear those droids go. Prime Minister Bosh was sooo angry! He's a very proud man, but he's woefully over-weight and when he tried to talk to it his droid kept saying the things we programmed it to say, which all had to do with his chunkiness. It wasn't very nice I'm afraid, and the jokes probably weren't that funny since they were thought up by eleven-year-olds, but."
Obi-Wan had stopped listening to her story several sentences ago. A thought had struck him, and it was not one he liked. "Wait a moment, are the droids at the Palace *still* programmed for voice-recognition only?" he asked suddenly.
Mareeja shrugged, unperturbed by Obi-Wan's uncharacteristic interruption. "Many of them, why? You don't want to try playing the same joke when we get back do you?" she teased. "I'm afraid it wouldn't exactly be queenly..."
Obi-Wan shook his head, dead serious now. "Mareeja, are Prime Minister Bosh's droids still programmed that way?"
"Yes," Mareeja shrugged, still not sure what her friend was getting at. "Like I said, the officials are very picky. They won't keep droids unless they're programmed like that..." Mareeja's voice trailed off, thinking about what she had just said.
"Mareeja," Obi-Wan said, urgency creeping into his voice. "That means that if one of Prime Minister Bosh's droids came to you with a message, you would know it was only from him, *could* only be from him."
Mareeja nodded mutely, a tingling sensation creeping up her arms, giving her goosebumps.
"Think Mareeja, this is important," Obi-Wan said earnestly. "Was that Bosh's droid who came for you at the party?"
Mareeja nodded again, slowly. "Y-yes, it was. I'm certain of it. I'd know Three-Dee anywhere. Obijeena," she said, her eyes narrowing in terrible suspicion. "Do you realize that that means that it actually *was* Prime Minister Bosh who sent it, and not the traitorous guards like we thought?!"
Obi-Wan nodded solemnly. That was exactly what he had realized. "I think we've been barking up the entirely wrong tree Mareeja."
"My Uncle isn't behind this after all!" Mareeja cried, jumping to her feet, the truth of her Prime Minister's betrayal rushing in on her. "Bosh is the one! He masterminded this, letting me think it was my Uncle! He is the one responsible for my parents' death!" Mareeja clenched her fists, so wrought up she was nearly shouting.
At that moment, the Royal Security officers arrived.
"Captain!" Mareeja said urgently. "We must get back to Radoon at once! Prime Minister Bosh is a murderous traitor and must be apprehended immediately!"
"Mareeja!" Obi-Wan called out, springing to his feet, but he was too late to stop her declaration.
"Really your Highness?" the Captain asked, but something in his eyes made Mareeja uneasy. "Isn't that a shame," he said, coolly drawing his blaster on her.
Mareeja stumbled back a step in shock as the other officers drew their weapons as well. "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded. "How dare you draw your weapons on me?"
"They work for Bosh Mareeja," Obi-Wan's voice came from behind her. "This whole thing has been one huge, elaborate scheme," the young Jedi said as all the pieces finally fit together. "The Prime Minister planned it from the first. That's why he kidnapped you instead of killing you and had his men drop all those little hints to make us think it was your Uncle. That's why the fence was off and we got away so easy, they *let* us escape. They've been watching us this whole time. They even planted that communicator." That's what had felt wrong about it, Obi-Wan realized. While the ground was covered in dew, the communicator was dry because it had been purposely left there for them to find not twenty minutes before they came across it. "They *wanted* you to come rushing back and have your Uncle locked away, because then, when Bosh did get rid of you, Mr. Dejabold was out of the way and as the next highest-ranking Official, Bosh could step in and take over," Obi-Wan and Mareeja backed slowly away as Obi-Wan talked. "Only now that we know, they're going to have to just kill us and work something else out."
"You're pretty smart girlie," the Captain grinned.
Several of the traitorous Security Officers cut around behind the Princess and the Jedi, halting their retreat and taking them by the arms.
Obi-Wan was inclined to struggle, but with all these blasters pointed at them he decided he had better wait for a slightly better looking opportunity.
"You've got it all figured out. But you don't have all the surprises, I know something about you too, young *lady*," he grinned, stressing the word. "You're no girl at all, *Obi-Wan Kenobi*. You're that blasted Jedi Jinn's Padawan, and you are both going to die." He pointed his blaster directly at Obi-Wan's head.
"What?!" Mareeja nearly shouted. This was all a little too much for her to grasp so quickly. Her Uncle was not a traitor, the Prime Minister was, Obijeena was really a boy, and a Jedi Padawan and they were going to be killed. Sure, she could deal with this, no problem.
Obi-Wan slammed his head back into the face of the man who was holding his arms behind him. Making the man let go his hold he jumped to the side, missing the blast that was intended for him and knocking Mareeja's captor sprawling all in one move. "Run Mareeja, run!" he urged, grabbing her hand and tugging her once more into the trees with him as blaster shots and security officers followed them.
*"Well *this* is familiar!"* Mareeja thought sarcastically. Only this time, the people chasing them weren't going to simply let them get away. This time, they really wanted to kill them.
Obi-Wan tugged her behind a tree with him, scanning quickly for the best route through the tangled forest. Mareeja looked at him. She could see it now, why she had thought him familiar at first. It *was* the young Jedi that she had seen so often at Master Jinn's side. "I don't believe this," she shook her head. "You're a *boy?* All this time, and you're a *boy?!*" She was felt so embarrassed she thought she would die. All those things she said and did, she had done in front of a man!
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at her sense of timing. "I'm sorry about this your Highness, really, but is it imperative that we discuss it right now?" he asked as a hail of blaster bolts drove them out of cover of the tree, putting them on the run again.
Mareeja guessed not, so she fell silent.
Pushing and scrambling their way through a tangle the pair reached the other side, only to find themselves staring straight down the barrels of half-a-dozen blasters.
"Game over, kids," the Captain said coldly. "You lost."
********
Moving so fast that his motions blurred, Qui-Gon whirled around and grabbed the attacker's wrist before the blow could land.
He found himself staring into the startled and enraged face of the Prime Minister.
"Well Mr. Bosh," he said calmly, pushing the short, fat man up against the trophy case. "I have found something in here after all. And I think perhaps you can explain it to me."
*************
With only a moment to act, Obi-Wan pulled Mareeja protectively behind him, prepared to take the shot first. Only the shot never came.
"Halt! You are all under arrest!" a voice shouted, causing the traitorous Security Officers to look up. They found themselves surrounded by a company of soldiers, their weapons drawn.
The traitors, clearly out-numbered, laid down their arms without a fight.
Obi-Wan saw his Master step out of the trees. Beside Qui-Gon was a General with gold-braid on his Uniform. "Your Highness, are you all right?" the General asked in concern.
Mareeja nodded wordlessly. Speech seemed a trifle beyond her at this time.
"How did you find us, Master?" Obi-Wan asked, both surprised and happy to see Qui-Gon there. He had gotten so used to having to disguise his voice that he forgot that he didn't need to now.
Qui-Gon almost smiled at the sight and the sound of his apprentice. He had forgotten how good the makeover had done its job and it was odd to hear a young lady call him Master.
"Prime Minister Bosh planned his trap craftily. A little too craftily for his own good. Everything was so well planned that he became over confident and took risks he should not have," Qui-Gon replied.
"Once Bosh's treachery was discovered, he spilled the whole thing like the coward he is," the General added. "From there, and with Master Jinn's help, we were able to locate you. Thank the powers that we made it in time."
"Thank you General," Mareeja said, still slightly shaken and shell-shocked from everything that had happened. "And thank you Master Jinn." She said nothing to Obi-Wan. She didn't even look at him. Obi-Wan's heart felt heavy. He had been afraid of this. Afraid that because their friendship started out based on a deception it could not last once the truth was revealed.
"Now you know what happened with us, but what about you? We expected to find you two still in their clutches, not here in the middle of the forest!" the General continued.
Qui-Gon glanced at Obi-Wan. The General had expected them to still be there. Qui-Gon had not.
"We would have missed you if Master Jinn hadn't insisted that we turn aside here," the kindly older man finished.
"I don't feel well General and I'd rather not talk about it," Mareeja put a hand to her head, the long ordeal finally taking its toll on her. "I'm sure Obij- Obi-Wan here can fill you in on everything." Was that ice in her voice when she said it?
Obi-Wan sighed.
The General turned to the young Jedi expectantly and Obi-Wan obediently filled in the details for the Radoonian and his Master. When he finished, he looked around for Mareeja, but found her gone; already whisked away back to the palace. He wanted to talk to her, but supposed it would have to wait.
Qui-Gon placed his hand gently on his apprentice's shoulder, knowing what he was thinking. "Come, it's time to go back."
Not very far distant there was a clearing where the army had parked the small fleet of swoops that they had used to reach the area so quickly. There were only enough swoops for the soldiers and Qui-Gon who had ridden out so the General had sent for a transport to come to take the prisoners and Obi-Wan back.
As they arrived in the clearing, one of the soldiers approached Qui-Gon. He was a trifle timid, but seemed to be bolstering himself up to ask something. "Master Jinn," he said with forced braveness. "As you know, it will take a good fifteen minutes for the transport to arrive. I would hate to see the lady stranded here that long after everything she's been through sir and I, that is, I was wondering if I might have your permission to give her a ride back to Radoon with the rest of us sir," he asked hopefully. For a moment, Qui-Gon tried to figure out what on earth the young man was talking about. *What* young lady? The Princess had already been ushered back to the Capital... then a smile spread across the tall Jedi's face. *Oh, *that* young lady...*
The dashing young soldier had obviously not grasped the truth of Obi-Wan's situation. He was under the impression that 'she' was what she appeared to be and that Qui-Gon was either her father or her guardian.
Qui-Gon raised his eyebrow.
"There's plenty of room and I'll fly carefully Sir, I promise," the young man said earnestly.
Qui-Gon glanced at his Padawan with a funny little smile that Obi-Wan did not like.
Obi-Wan glared at his Master. *"Don't you dare,"* his look spoke louder than words. Despite Obi-Wan's many adventures and long ordeal; he still looked quite pretty with his flushed cheeks and a soft halo of loose hairs framing his face. Qui-Gon did not blame the young man for wanting to give 'her' a ride.
*"Well Obi-Wan, I have encountered a lot of things since taking you as Padawan, but I never expected to be asked for permission to give you a ride home..."* the look on Obi-Wan's face made Qui-Gon want to laugh so badly.
"How can I refuse such a polite and generous offer?" Qui-Gon said with an amused smile. "Certainly, you have my permission."
"Master!" Obi-Wan started to protest.
"Do you want to get back, or stay here for another quarter of an hour waiting for the transport?" Qui-Gon asked mildly.
Obi-Wan sighed and rolled his eyes as the happy young soldier pulled him off towards his swoop. He supposed he could tell the man the mistake that was being made, but that would be awkward and embarrassing, so he decided to suffer through and focus on getting back as soon as possible.
That was how Obi-Wan found himself flying back to Radoon seated on the back of a swoop with his arms wrapped around the waist of the young man at the controls. The soldier intentionally went too fast and made a lot of dips and fancy maneuvers that were entirely uncalled for.
Obi-Wan wasn't sure whether the young man was trying to impress him, make him hold on tighter or knock him off.
It was a wind-blown and not-too-happy looking Padawan who met Qui-Gon back in Radoon.
"That man," Obi-Wan said dryly, "Does not know how to fly."
Qui-Gon smoothed Obi-Wan's wig, combing it down with his fingers. "Oh, I'm sure he's a better pilot than you think."
Obi-Wan batted Qui-Gon's hand away from his hair. He was not amused. "I just want to go back to our rooms, get out of this dress and take a long, hot shower."
"We will, but we must take care of some details here first. It shouldn't take long."
It took much longer than anticipated and it was well past midnight by the time the pair finally found themselves making their way back to their rooms.
"I'm glad it didn't take long," Obi-Wan muttered, half under his breath. If one more man tried to flirt with him, that unfortunate fellow was going to end up flat on his back so fast he'd think the sky was falling.
"Master," he asked as they took the lift up to their floor. "Do girls actually *like* having men drool all over them that way?"
Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow. "Never having been one, I could not say. However, I would suppose it depended on the woman. Some perhaps find it flattering, but I'm sure there are a great many who find it just as annoying as you did."
"I am never going to act that way," Obi-Wan shook his head. "It makes a person feel more like a thing, than a sentient being."
"Then it seems you have learned something important from all this after all," Qui-Gon commented.
The clock on the wall was registering some absurdly late hour of the night as their door swished open for them.
Obi-Wan yawned.
"Better get changed and get some sleep," Qui-Gon advised. "Tomorrow is the coronation and Radoonian's are known for their ornate and lengthy ceremonies. Now that all is safe and well, they will doubtless wish to make it a day to remember."
"Well this has certainly been one to forget," Obi-Wan sighed.
The young Jedi left to change, but reappeared several moments later, tugging in frustration at the zipper on the back of his dress. He was not accustomed to having to reach at that angle. He was also not accustomed to having such long hair and did not know what a volatile combination hair and zippers could be. The wig became helplessly tangled in the teeth of the zipper and the apprentice couldn't get the ornery clasp to budge.
*"I *hate* long hair,"* Obi-Wan thought, tugging at the recalcitrant fastener. *"I don't know how Qui-Gon stands it. I am *never* going to wear my hair this long,"* he resolved to himself.
Qui-Gon saw his apprentice's distress and shook his head with a smile. "Mon Drane's injuries were much less serious than at first thought. I hear he is already out of his healing sleep. We will have to see him first thing in the morning, *before* the coronation, to have you put back to normal," the Jedi Master said, surveying the mess that Obi-Wan had made of the zipper. "Not a moment too soon either it seems."
Patiently untangling the sandy locks, Qui-Gon pulled the fastener free, unzipping Obi-Wan's bodice all the way down his back.
At that moment, the door opened. "Pardon my intrusion at this late hour Master Jinn, but-" Warren Dejabold stopped short, taking in the situation.
Qui-Gon straightened up immediately, realizing what this looked like.
Obi-Wan unconsciously hugged the front of the loosened bodice to him in a distinctly girlish manner. He was very apt at picking things up and did not realize how many feminine gestures and mannerisms he had incorporated in his attempt to make his act believable.
"It seems I have chosen an inopportune moment to drop in," Warren apologized with a knowing smile. "I did not mean to interrupt anything..."
"No," Qui-Gon shook his head quickly. "You're not. I can explain," he was trying to figure out how to say this wasn't what it looked like. He wanted to explain that this was his Padawan, but Mr. Dejabold had never met Obi-Wan and if the Radoonian still thought it was a girl he was seeing, that would sound worse.
Warren winked at the Jedi Master and waved his hand, dismissing whatever Qui-Gon was going to say. "No need, no need," he assured. "I simply had no idea the Jedi partook of such... amusements. I am sorry for intruding and only stopped by to say thank you for clearing my name. I did not like you when we first met, because I was sure you were against me, but I was wrong." An idea seemed to strike him. "I'll have a bottle of Champagne sent up for you," he said with a suggestive smile.
TBC
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