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“Aayla, stop that.”
The little blue Twi’lek crosses her arms fiercely as she finally-- finally -- stops chewing on Quinlan’s Padawan braid. He’d grimaced disgustedly the first time she did it, but after a few days of space-travel with her, he’s now used to having youngling saliva everywhere . Master Tholme, who has much more experience with little monsters, always snickers when she reaches for the braid.
He’s snickering now, actually, signing off on some paperwork for Aaylas’ecura, a new resident of the Jedi Temple.
Quinlan shoots him a glare, knowing he can feel it through their bond, then looks back at Aayla. “Are you excited to meet some new people?”
“Wanna stay w’ you,” she mumbles, head shaking and tiny hands grasping his robes.
He snorts. “You can’t stay with me all the time, silly. I have missions and classes.” Quinlan very nearly melts at her adorable pout. “But I’ll come visit you lots , I promise.”
That gets him a wide, gap-toothed smile. “Okay!” she chirps.
“Quin!”
Quinlan’s grin almost-- almost -- matches Aayla’s. He whirls around to see a familiar, short figure with bright red hair making a beeline for them. The boy makes to hug his friend,but abruptly remembers the toddler in his arms and stops, simply using his free hand to wave.
“Hey, Obi,” he greets. Then, he frowns. “What are you doing in the Halls? Are you hurt again?”
Obi-Wan winces. “Um...no, it was Master Jinn this time. He actually found a creature that he couldn’t adopt.”
He earns a glare by snickering, but ignores it. “Serves him right.”
Meanwhile, Aayla wiggles in Quinlan’s grasp, trying to get a good look at the new person. She examines his traditional robes and his pale, freckled face with more scrutiny than a judge, eyes squinting. Then, her gaze lifts to his hair and her eyes widen.
She points. “Your hair’s on fire!”
Both boys laugh-- not at her, she can tell-- but Quinlan shakes his head. “It’s supposed to be that colour, don’t worry.”
“Hello,” Obi-Wan says to the little Twi’lek. “I’m Obi-Wan. What’s your name?”
“Aaylas’ecura,” she declares, crossing her arms again. “You like Quin?”
He blinks a few times. “Well, yes. He’s my best friend.”
Quinlan beams , all happy-proud-sappy in the Force. Aayla looks between them, considering. She remembers how they smiled at each other and the way their presences were immediately twenty times brighter in the other’s vicinity.
She pokes Quinlan’s chest as if he isn’t already paying attention to her. “He can stay.”
He cackles . “I’m so glad you approve, oh Grandmaster. He lived here before you did, genius, of course he’s gonna stay .”
Obi-Wan muffles his laughter at the offended look he gives Aayla when she ignores him, rolls her eyes, and looks back over at the ginger.
“Quinlan’s gonna train me,” she says. “When ‘m bigger!”
Obi-Wan softens when he sees Quinlan’s proud little smile. “Good. You’ll keep him on his toes.”
Aayla Secura certainly keeps everyone on their toes, long before she’s even left the creche. Quinlan and Obi-Wan are sure to visit her often, as they’re apparently the solution to quelling her rebellious streak, a streak which only intensifies after someone introduces her to holonovels.
(Bant regrets nothing.)
She’s very nearly ten years standard when she picks up on Quinlan and Obi-Wan acting weird.
Today, they’ve convinced her to join them in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, beside one of the artificial lakes. Aayla is perfectly happy to throw herself right into the water-- Quinlan taught her to swim a long time ago-- while they sit on the edge, only letting their feet soak.
She isn’t really paying attention to what they’re saying, but she is paying attention to them. Quinlan’s trying to get Obi-Wan to laugh and he’s doing pretty well, actually. Every time he manages a snort, his Force presence beams , creating a little bubble of joy around them that’s almost blinding. More than once a Master has paused in passing them to soak in the emotion before leaving.
They don’t even notice. Aayla thinks they’re silly.
It reminds her of Master Tholme and Master Saa, sort of. The Masters are better about not being a tiny sun in the middle of the Temple, but sometimes when Master Saa does something, Master Tholme just... lights up .
Bant says they’re in love, which makes sense to Aayla. She decides that Obi and Quin must be in love, too.
But, clearly , this is the same situation as The Dragon and the Knight , where the Knight doesn’t even realise he’s in love with the boy that was cursed to be a dragon forever. Aayla frowns. Okay, maybe not the same situation because Obi and Quin won’t break a curse by kissing. But still! They’re supposed to live happily ever after!
Aayla huffs and crosses her arms. Then, she takes a deep breath and shouts; “Will you jus’ kiss already?! ”
Both of them jump, heads snapping around to face her.
Obi-Wan is bright red , pulsing with embarrassed-afraid-horrified in the Force. “What?” he squeaks, as if he didn’t hear what she said.
Meanwhile, Quinlan glares. Aayla! He shouts over their Force-bond.
Don’t yell at me! She shouts back. He loves you.
Quinlan’s eyes widen and Aayla watches, bouncing on her heels, as he looks back over at Obi-Wan like lovesick tooka. The ginger boy, however, is covering his face with both hands in an attempt to hide the fact that he’s turned into a space tomato.
“Obi?”
He makes a despairing noise, wordless and kind of hilarious.
Reaching out with more gentleness than Aayla has ever seen him with, Quinlan grabs Obi-Wan’s hands and draws them away from his face. Still, he doesn’t get him to look up, but that doesn’t matter. Aayla cheers when he leans forward and kisses him, earning him another surprised noise. Obi-Wan is completely still for a long moment, but relaxes, his hands finding their way into Quinlan’s dreadlocks. It’s really cute, Aayla thinks, and a long, long time coming.
She ducks her head under the water to shoot a thumbs up at Bant and Master Fisto.