Ask Naboo On the Streets of Theed

[Quin Leonkri]

“Do you think,” Quin mused, “that she knows she’s coming home?” Nyssa snorted once and stamped her foot, craning her neck to peer out the small window of the back door of the ship before Quin gave her a light rub on the head.

It had been a few years since they’d rescued and adopted Nyssa here on Naboo, and a lot had changed since then. He and Elidan were both knights now, and Nyssa had grown into an energetic young gualama. It was her first time back on her home planet after so long, and already Quin could sense her enthusiasm. Her energy was infectious. It had been so long since Quin and Elidan had spent any time together as well, and he was looking forward to catching up with him too.

The trio had landed in the outskirts of Theed, in a farming district between the main city and the forest. That way they would be able to get the best of both worlds and have easy access to wherever they wanted to go. The weather was gorgeous, so it didn’t really matter where they started or ended up.

“Well Elidan, you remember what happened last time I chose the path. Do you want to take the reins on where we’re going today?” Quin grinned, offering Nyssa’s physical reins to his friend as the door opened.

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

”Maybe. She was so excited about it.” Elidan said, while he helped Nyssa walk out of the ship. It had been a long time since he and Quin had visited Naboo and rescued the gualama. Now they were both Knights and she wasn’t a cub anymore, but an adult.

Many things changed, but others remained the same. Elidan still suffered from selective mutism, preferring to use signal language when dealing with strangers. There were still few individuals with whom he felt comfortable enough to talk. Quin was one of the members of this selective group.

Their ship had landed in the outskirts of Theed, close to the green plains that surrounded the city. From there, they could allow Nyssa to run and perhaps even ride on her a bit. She was already large enough to carry one of them.

“Of course!” he smiled at Quin, before accepting the reins. Elidan looked around, trying to find a good place for them to. “Maybe we could go toward this lake?” the half-Annfyn pointed toward it. “It seems like a nice place.”

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

Quin’s gaze followed Elidan’s once he looked around, settling on the nearby lake that his friend was pointing to.

“You got it. The lake it is!” Quin started forward, heading down the grassy slope towards the lake. Below was a mini beach and a path that wound around the water. Seeing the latter reminded him of the road that they had found Nyssa on last time. Though he was certain that they wouldn’t encounter any poachers today, he wondered if it would bring back any memories for the gualama. Turning around to give her a glance though, it appeared that she hadn’t thought much of it. In fact, she was tugging on the reins so hard going down the hill that she might be able to pull Elidan down if he wasn’t paying attention.

“How’s it going over there?” Quin broke into a smile, watching as the gualama pulled the reins this way and that. It was quite a sight. Just then, he had an idea. With a mischievous grin, he reached into his bag and pulled out a carrot, holding it up so that Nyssa would see.

“Here Nyssa, look what I’ve got you!” Nyssa’s ears perked up, and her head swiveled over to face him— or the carrot in his hand— as she stopped. However, in the next second she was sprinting down the hill towards him, with or without Elidan Quin didn’t know. Uh oh—

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

Elidan smiled with the human’s enthusiasm, it was contagious. It had been so long since the half-Annfyn had interacted with the other Knight that he had forgotten about how Quin was fun. He hoped that this time they weren’t going to stumble in hunters and end in a race to survive.

The half-Annfyn guided Nyssa toward the lake, taking some time to appreciate his surroundings. The sky was clear and the green grass extended to all directions, only being replaced by white sand when getting close to the water of the lake, whose waters were transparent. The Naboo really cared for their environment.

He had been guiding the gualama in front of Quin, when the two heard the human calling for Nyssa. Elidan turned to see his friend shaking a carrot, the gualama’s favorite food. She immediately reacted to the sight of it, pulling away from the half-Annfyn.

He smirked, before releasing the reins. The gualama went running toward Quin and if he wasn’t careful, she would bring him down while trying to eat the carrot.

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

What started as a mischievous smirk suddenly changed into an expression of jaw-dropping fear as Nyssa barrelled down the hill toward him— without Elidan. Having little time to react, Quin had no choice but to dive in the direction of the beach, bracing himself and hoping that the gualama wouldn’t trample over him.

Fortunately, Nyssa went on right past him, romping around on the grass instead as she sniffed around for the missing carrot. Meanwhile, Quin was left face-first in the sand, flat on the ground, his arms stretched out in front of him with the carrot still stuck in his fist. Getting back up slowly, he looked around for Elidan. When he spotted the other knight, a grin broke across his face. Instead of playing a trick on Elidan, the half-Annfyn had played him right back.

“I should’ve known! My bad, my bad,” he called over to his friend, shaking his head in amusement. As he did, a few grains of sand rained down onto his shoulders and the ground. By now, his hair was as unkempt as a bird’s nest, smattered here and there with pieces of sand. Trying to brush some more of it out with his hand, he saw Nyssa making his way back towards him. He reluctantly offered her the carrot before leaving her for Elidan. She could run around as much as she wanted, and hopefully not at him this time.

“That… was great!” Quin smiled at Elidan contentedly. “I missed you, man.”

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

Elidan laughed while he calmly walked after Nyssa. Quin had fallen with his face on the sand, while the Gualama simply ignored him. She was far more interested in the carrot that was at the other Jedi’s hand. He shouldn’t have tempted the animal with her favorite food. It was a great mistake.

Quin was also very silly in thinking that Elidan would fall so easily for this trick and let himself be dragged by Nyssa.

The half-Annfyn stopped Quin, the human still on the ground. He offered a hand to his friend, but was still chuckling with his silly attempt to trick him. “You should have thought twice before trying to do that.” Elidan had become good at understanding the intentions of others through their corporal movements. In the other man’s case, he didn’t even try to hide what he was planning to do.

“Let me help with it.” Elidan said, while brushing some parts of Quin’s hair that were still covered in sand and the human couldn’t remove yet. Once it was clean, the half-Annfyn stared at his face, a large smile appearing at his lips. “Done! Looking cute as always!” his cheeks got pink when he noticed what he had said.

He didn’t say anything, deciding to allow Quin to think that he was being playful rather than embarrassing himself.

The Knight grabbed Nyssa’s reins and started to walk with her through the beach. He stopped when Quin said that had missed him. Elidan turned back to him, his cheeks pink and ears twitching. “I missed you, too.” the human had been the last person of their class that had remained. It was obvious that he would miss him, but it didn’t explain the color of his cheeks.

For now, he wasn’t going to think about it.

“We should continue the walk. Do you want to ride?” Elidan said, offering the reins.

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

Quin gladly accepted Elidan’s hand to help him up. It was just like old times— only not as stressful. That was something he could get used to.

“Welll, it was worth a try.” Quin grinned right back at his friend as he brushed the rest of the sand out of his hair. His eyebrows shot up when Elidan called him cute though, and he noticed that the other knight’s cheeks went bright pink as soon as he did. It was almost as if he had been the one to fall flat on his face instead of Quin.

“I am quite handsome, aren’t I?” Quin played along with it, running a hand through his hair and smirking as if he were in some kind of commercial. But then he dropped the act and shook his head, his hands on his hips as his friend grabbed Nyssa’s reins. “Just kiddin’ with ya.” He grinned.

Once Elidan changed the subject to continuing the walk and gave him the option to ride Nyssa, Quin bit the inside of his cheek. Did he really want to ride the gualama that had just run him over without a second thought? Even if it was for food…

“Uh…” He took the reins when they were offered, but decided at the last minute that he would stay on the ground. “I think I’ll walk for now.” Then he glanced at Elidan. “Do you want to ride? I could lead.”

Like one of the pony rides, he thought with a smile.

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

The sight of Quin’s face made Elidan burst into laughter. His impersonation of a model in a holomag ended up being too comical for the half-Annfyn to take it seriously. “You need to improve your poses, top model. If you continue this way, people will think that you came out of a holo comedy.” he said, while staring a bit longer at the human’s face.

Elidan silently agreed with Quin’s statement.

The half-Annfyn tilted his head when Quin refused to ride Nyssa. “Are you sure? You seemed so excited back on the ship. Don’t tell me that you are traumatized because of what happened?” it came out as a joke, but Elidan soon realized that his friend could really be afraid of it.

Suddenly, he was feeling guilt because it was his fault for releasing Nyssa’s reins. Quin could have been stomped by her.

“You don’t need to be afraid. She is a good girl.” he caressed Nyssa’s head, with the gualama happily lowering it to receive more. “I’m sorry if what I did scared you.” Elidan looked down, visibly sorry for what he had done. “Then, I think that we should continue walking.”

After saying that, Elidan started to walk through the beach. He pulled Nyssa by the reins, with the gualama following him. He felt terrible for having robbed that fun from Quin.

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

Now that Quin thought of it, life wouldn’t be so bad if it was all a holo comedy. He wondered what it would be like if his whole life was laid out for everyone to see, to read about. All the silly mistakes he’d made, his adventures grand and small, the friends he met along the way. If it made people happy like a holo comedy did, it wouldn’t be so bad. Not at all.

He was just about to voice that thought when Elidan teased him about Nyssa. “Oh, I’m so traumatized. She could have killed me!” But he soon saw his friend’s face drop.

“Oh no no El, it’s not like that,” he said quickly, trying to reassure Elidan. He handed over the reins regardless though. “It wasn’t you. I was just messing with you.” Maybe he shouldn’t have. He knew what his friend had been through when he was younger, maybe he shouldn’t have joked about trauma like that. It was serious. “I’m sorry.” He scratched his head, unsure what to say.

A few quiet minutes later, Quin would break the silence again. “Have you…” Maybe I should have thought of a question before I started asking. “Have you ever… thought of taking a Padawan?” He raised his brow, glancing at Elidan.

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

Elidan noticed that Quin was joking when he said that was traumatized, but the half-Annfyn couldn’t forget how his friend had looked at Nyssa with distrust. It only happened because he released the gualama’s reins, allowing it to nearly trample the other Jedi. The worst part was that he could have held them with enough strength to not be dragged away.

Perhaps Elidan should have thought better about what he was doing, leaving jokes behind. It was due to a bad judgment on his part that he lost one hand.

He couldn’t even think about being responsible for something similar happening with Quin.

Quin's voice brought him out of these thoughts. "It's fine. I shouldn’t have released her. You could have gotten hurt.” Elidan accepted the reins, but any interest in riding Nyssa had completely vanished. He put a strand of his hair behind his ear, before turning to the lake. “I would never forgive myself if you got hurt.” he muttered, his voice so low that the human would need some effort to hear it. Then, he turned away and started walking.

They had been walking in silence for some time, and Elidan wondered if they were back to the years when he couldn’t speak near Quin. Suddenly, the human broke the silence with an unexpected question. “Yeah, sometimes. It would be good to teach someone about the things that I know, but the ongoing war, I don't know if the students would want a Healer as their teacher. However, I still want to give it a try.”

“And you? Do you want to pick a Padawan?” Elidan asked, looking at Quin's gray eyes.

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

Quin appreciated the concern that Elidan had for him— he felt the same way back. Neither would forgive themselves should something happen to the other. Dorks. Knights. Brothers. They had been ever since that fateful day on Jakku.

That was the only good thing that came out of there.

“You know, my first master was a healer.” Quin glanced at Elidan after his friend responded to his question. “Without healers, the war would be lost. I think any Padawan would be lucky to have one as a teacher, especially if it’s you. You’d be a great master.” He grinned, but he meant what he said. Though he wasn’t one of them, he felt that healers were often overlooked. Elidan had done so much in his career— they’d have to catch up on that sometime too— and it would be invaluable for anyone to study under him.

As for Quin, though…

“Personally, I don’t think I’m ready for one.” He scratched his head. He would definitely not be able to provide the same level of training as his master, and frankly he didn’t think he was mature enough. “I can teach skills. Like how to fight with a lightsaber, how to fix droids, that kind of thing. But I don’t think I could teach the Force.” That was something that came somewhat naturally to him— he wouldn’t know how to instruct someone on it. It fell quiet for a moment after that, then Quin asked another question.

“How have you been, lately? I know it’s… been a while.”

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

Elidan smiled at Quin, his friend still was good at giving motivational speeches. However, his praise was enough to make the Knight blush. He turned away from the other Jedi, incapable of seeing any word. He was still bad in dealing with compliments and it seemed that with the human saying them it was even worse.

It took some time until the half-Annfyn recovered from his sudden embarrassment. When it happened, Elidan finally was able to talk again. “I’m not that good, there are a lot of people that are better healers than me. Like, I'm not Clove Vanhoop.” he stared at Quin for a time, a smile appearing on his lips. “But I’ll take your opinion into consideration. I think that the Crusaders could use some people specialized in healing.” he still didn’t want to pledge himself to their ideals, but the Knight would happily help those that were suffering because of the conflicts.

“Don’t be so negative. If I’m prepared to teach someone, you are too. We are the same age and trained in the same Temple.” Elidan smiled at Quin, now was his time to give a motivational speech. “We went through a lot. Remember Jakku? You fared so much better than me here. I mean, you still have both your hands.” the half-Annfyn waved his mechanical limb. “Have more faith in yourself. I think that you would be a good Master.”

He smiled, meaning every single word.

“I have been traveling around, learning more about the Force and healing people that can’t afford paying for doctors.” Elidan didn’t do much beyond it. Although healing people could be very time consuming. “And you? What have you done these days? Did you finally talk with your parents?” he remember how Quin used to have problems with them. When they visited Naboo last time, the half-Annfyn remembers how cold their interaction was.

He hoped that things got better.

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

Elidan was so humble. It was a good trait to have for a Jedi, though Quin hoped that his friend knew his own value even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud. He certainly knew the great deeds of Clove Vanhoop, but Elidan was at the very least just as competent in the eyes of Quin.

“I’m sure they could.” Quin nodded in agreement at Elidan’s response. While he didn’t have anything to do with the Crusaders, they were ultimately on the same mission as the traditional Jedi Order, just with different methods. “Anyone could use a healer.”

When Elidan gave a few words of encouragement to Quin too, the knight smiled.

“That’s true,” he admitted. Jakku, though… “I think I was just lucky there. You took the brunt of the fighting.” He still felt guilty about it. Survivor’s guilt, he was told, but he genuinely believed he could have done more. Elidan didn’t have to lose his hand. Either way, Quin appreciated that his friend believed in his ability to train a Padawan. It meant a lot to him, even if he didn’t voice it out loud.

In the grander scheme of things, Elidan appeared to have been doing a lot.

“That sounds awesome.” Quin grinned. “Living up to your Jedi title.” He couldn’t picture Elidan doing anything but. “Me? Delivering supplies, fighting pirates, stuff like that. Same old.” Not that he didn’t like it— he loved what he did.

“My parents have gotten used to it, I think. They seem to tolerate me now.” Quin chuckled at that. “More or less.”

He gazed in the direction of the lake when something caught his eye. A figure on a beach. It looked still at first, just hunched over, but then he could see that it was shaking. She was shaking.

“Uhh, Eli,” Quin lowered his voice and slowed his pace, tilting his head in the direction of the woman on the beach. “I think… there’s someone crying over there.”

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

”Yeah, but it was only a hand. It was easily replaced.” Elidan said, trying to diminish the fact that his limb had been blown out during that mission. He only didn’t want his friend to go in another depressing moment because he came out of Jakku without any wound.

He was enough of moments like this one on this trip

“It’s a lot of work. Not everyone is happy with having a Jedi around.” Elidan had learned how the poor areas also attracted criminals, eager to exploit the desperation of the people. These types really made his attempts to offer help more difficult, sometimes or the half-Annfyn was forced to leave or he had to chase them away.

“Fighting pirates seems cool.” he smiled, before turning to look at the lake next to them. Naboo was really beautiful. “I’m happy to hear that things between your parents and you are better. Family is important, even for Jedi.” Elidan was an orphan, but he knew that having a good relationship with parents was important to have peace of mind.

Then, Elidan also saw the figure on the beach. “Yes, I can hear their cry.” his keen hearing helped him to identify the sound. “Maybe they are in trouble? I think that we should go here and give it a look.” he said, while already walking toward the person.

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

Quin smiled, even if he didn’t respond out loud. Elidan was right that Jedi were not always well received, and that sometimes the locals ended up chasing them away instead of accepting their help. To him, though, it was the attempt that mattered, and he was a firm believer that only those who wanted help could be helped.

As for this woman, the pair of Jedi had yet to find out whether she needed it or not. Ever the healer, Elidan went first before Quin followed. It didn’t seem like the woman saw or heard their approach, because when Quin spoke up she looked like she’d been spooked by a ghost.

“Ma’am? Are you alright?” He went around the human so that he was at her side, getting down to a knee so that he could meet her gaze.

“My… my son…” Quin would wait until she was able to respond. “He was kidnapped.” Quin exchanged a worried glance with Elidan.

“We’re Jedi, ma’am.” He showed her his lightsaber, but when she flinched, he immediately took it back. “We’d like to help.” Though he hadn’t really asked Elidan, he knew that his friend would never say no to something like this. “What can you tell us about the kidnappers?”

Her answer was more than a little concerning. And it explained her reaction to his weapon.

“They said… they were Jedi too.”

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

While they approached the woman, she continued crying. Elidan frowned, she didn’t even show any sign of noticing that the Jedi were getting closer to her. Her lack of reaction could only mean that she was in shock. It was bad, something really terrible must have happened.

Due to obvious reasons, Elidan let Quin be the one to talk with the woman. The half–Annfyn could now be able to say short phrases when talking with strangers, but in a situation like that it wasn’t going to be useful. He could end up making her even more nervous. His friend would need to do that in his place.

He watched their interaction, wincing when the woman looked at them completely scared. His heart dropped when she told them that her son had been kidnapped. Elidan immediately decided that he would do anything to help the mother find her son. No one deserved to lose their family.

However, the situation became more problematic when she revealed that the kidnappers were Jedi. “It’s impossible! They must be fake!” he screamed, scaring the woman. Elidan looked at her apologetically, before turning to Quin. He expected that his friend would say something to support him.

No Jedi would kidnap children.

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

When Elidan screamed, the woman wasn’t the only one who was startled. Quin’s head turned around to his friend, his eyes wide. Elidan? He’d never seen his friend sound so passionate. The knight could understand his emotion, though. No Jedi would kidnap a child. He was sure of that.

The woman, her eyes still on Elidan, would look at Quin once more when he spoke.

“My friend is right. Jedi don’t just take children— least of all without permission from the parents.” Quin had run away from his, but that was besides the point. “We’ll get your son back, ma’am. I promise.” He gripped her shoulder, trying to reassure her. “What does he look like? Did you see his kidnappers?” She nodded, though her eyes were still red and swollen from her tears.

“My son… has red hair, like him.” She pointed at Elidan’s auburn locks. “He’s nine years old. His name is Eskol.” Quin took a mental note of that and waited as she moved on about the kidnappers.

“I don’t know who took him. They— they wore a cloak. When it happened this morning all I could see was they were holding my son’s hand, and when I called him…” She nearly started crying again. “He didn’t look back.” Quin looked at Elidan. That wasn’t much to go off of, so he tried asking a different question.

“Do you know where they went?” She shook her head. As she clearly had no more information to give, Quin would rise to his feet again and turn to Elidan.

“We can pick up the trail,” he said, half to his friend and half to the woman. “We’ll find him and bring him back to you.” With that, he would ask the woman for her contact information. Unless Elidan wanted to ask her any more questions, Quin would make his way back to Nyssa to ponder the information that she had given.

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

As he had expected, Quin supported Elidan’ affirmation. They had lived as part of the Order for many years and had learned how the Jedi operated when finding a Force sensitive child that had parents. They needed to ask the family for their permission to have their child join their numbers.

The Jedi couldn’t take the children away!

Unfortunately for their rescue mission, the woman didn’t have much information about the kidnapper to share with them. She didn’t even look at the criminal’s face. Now Elidan was sure that she only thought that they were Jedi because of the cloaks. Really, the Order wasn’t the only one that dressed that way.

After the woman gave all the information that she could to them, the two Jedi walked back to where they left Nyssa. “I think that you should lead us. Naboo is your homeworld, after all.” he said, while picking the gualama’s reins. “Do you know where this criminal could have gone?”

@Sicadorito

 

[Quin Leonkri]

Quin, too, had his reservations about what the woman had said. She mentioned nothing that indicated the kidnapper was a Jedi, nor did she give any indication as to whether she’d even had a conversation with them or not. How would they have told her that they were a Jedi if she hadn’t gotten a chance to speak with them?

Unless… she didn’t trust the real Jedi enough to give them all the information she had. Maybe she was still protecting her son, in some twisted way. It only added to the mystery, but her grief seemed real enough.

When Elidan prompted him for a possible location, Quin did have something come to mind.

“Typically when something’s going down, it’s in the Agrovale.” He glanced at his friend. “It’s a few blocks on the outskirts of the city. Mostly criminal-run.” Gangsters and mafiosos. “Thing is… I’ve never been there.” He scratched his head at that, meeting Elidan’s gaze before breaking into a wan smile. “Looks like we’ll have to explore it together.”

With that, he would lead the way toward the edges of the city, hoping that they would be able to get that child quickly and get out of there.

@LouJoVi

 

[Elidan]

”I never heard about this place.” Elidan wasn’t a specialist in planets, but Naboo was famous and constantly being advertised in the holonet that the Knight couldn’t believe that there were still parts of the planet that were barely known. Well, if Agrovale was really dominated by criminals, then it was no surprise that no one talked about it.

Who wants to damage the appearance of an idyllic world with such an evil spot?

“Well, hopefully it’ll go better than Jakku.” Elidan laughed, before gesturing for Quin to show the way. It wasn’t the first time that he went to a place without even knowing what was awaiting him. Jakku, that warehouse in Yavin IV and that planet where he crashed the Padawans. There were a lot of times that it happened.

And he really doubted that these were going to be the last.

“Do you know anything else about that place? Like, who is the boss?” these types of places always had a boss, and he doubted that Agrovale would be different. He wondered which type of criminal could have made their den in Naboo. “Are they Hutts? It’s usually them that control this type of stuff.”

@Sicadorito