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The child had clenched his teeth on the Jedi's hand and he wasn't letting go. He wasn't going to let go, Maul didn't like the smell of him.
"AHHHH!!!"
"Maul, please let go of this man."
But Maul wouldn't, he remembered another life where he had killed this pathetic old man, so he wasn't going to be pushed around today by this overgrown idiot who wasn't looking where he was walking!
The Zabrak clenched his already powerful jaw tighter, he was already five years old after all, when a firm grip on his horn and a hand pinching his neck caused him to calm down without him even being able to think about it and he was pulled away from Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.
"Maul, boy, I asked you to let him go, a Jedi should not use violence to no good purpose," Jedi Master Eeth Koth continued very calmly without letting him go.
Master Windu looked at him warily, tempered only by the fact that his best friend seemed to be handling the situation and that Maul had never attacked him before. It had to be said that Eeth had been really decent to Maul when the four-year-old had found him and told him about his "Sith Master Palpatine". So decent that he'd gone to find his brothers on Danthomir, making him meet Feral for the first time. He'd never had a chance to get to know Feral until it was too late, until... everything was destroyed.
And Savage had died before his eyes, killed by his former Master. A former Master who was now a prisoner of the Order and being interrogated by the Jedi who were dismantling his plans.
And now two little Zabrak were getting used to the Jedi ways and living with Jedi Master Eeth Koth, who had offered to take them in and help them make the transition to gradually adapting while their little brother stayed at the Crèche with the other babies.
Maul had been difficult, undisciplined, while Savage was a good student eager to learn. That was because Maul was much more of an adult than he looked, so learning to read and count was not for him.
"What a savage!"
Maul smiled broadly at Master Jinn and very ostensibly licked his teeth and lips to savour the blood taken from his enemy. He couldn't do more than that later, so he'd taken the opportunity. Pretending to be a child was sometimes so useful.
"This is Maul, my friend Eeth Koth is hosting him and his twin while they get used to our... ways."
"And it's a great success!" the Jedi snarled.
"Maul is still young," Eeth tried softly, rubbing his temples absentmindedly. "And he's only just arrived, so we must be patient."
"How old is he even?"
"Five."
"And that's why we're not supposed to take in children older than three!"
Maul knew immediately that there was something he didn't know when Eeth's hands loosen their grips on him and Master Windu frowned.
Maul didn't hesitate: he raised his foot and kicked the human between the legs with all his might.
"That's for insulting us, you pathetic, decrepit old fart!"
Master Jinn fell to the side onto Master Windu who caught him with difficulty, quickly backed up by Eeth.
Maul didn't ask for anything else and ran off down the corridors, giving a wild, triumphant smile to the very young adult Twi'lek he vaguely remembered seeing images of during the war. She was very kind, and had been helping Savage a lot since she'd nursed them back to health when they'd arrived at the Temple.
"Hello, Knight Che!"
"Hello, Maul."
"You'd better get going, there's a patient waiting for you up ahead!"
"What have you done now?"
Maul just laughed, he knew the admonishment would come soon enough.
Barely ten minutes after he had returned to Eeth’s now overcrowded flat in which Maul and Savage shared Sharad's room, he was interrupted, and not by the pale human who had been Knighted for only a few weeks and traveled a lot.
"Master Windu. Where is Eeth?"
"He's otherwise occupied," the other replied, looking at him with a wariness that Maul didn't understand.
Yes, he was not trustworthy, but this man had no reason to know that!
"Do you sincerely intend to become a Jedi?"
"I'm trying," Maul promised, and sincerely at that. "You focus on my difficulties, but I have improved a lot!"
"Your brother has integrated very well-"
"My brother is used to living in a community of sharing and support, and he is used to being around people his own age. I've always been alone."
The other hummed but finally agreed:
"Yes, and we appreciate your efforts, but I'm going to ask you to make an extra effort to control your temper."
"Okay," Maul replied with an innocent smile.
... the grandiose Master of the Jedi Order was unfortunately not convinced. What a shame.
"Are you having fun pretending to be a real kid?"
The Zabrak's mind went temporarily blank.
He knew. Oh Kriff, he knew?
"Are you having fun, fucking Eeth?" He returned without thinking, suddenly remembering that the foreign body odour he had smelled on the Zabrak was the one currently filling his nose.
He was thrown with the Force before he even received a warning of danger from the Force. Ouch.
"An artifact made you young again and you thought you could manipulate us gullible Jedi?"
"More like unexplained time travel and I decided to make a better life for myself and my brothers," he admitted without thinking, almost stunned.
A forearm held him to the wall, and Maul flinched at the hand violently slamming against the wall right next to his head.
"Good answer. Let's get this straight," the Korun whispered in a tone so low that Maul had to keep his ears open to hear it despite their proximity and his superior hearing.
The young Zabrak swallowed, breathing hard through the worry but listening very intently.
"I'm not fucking Eeth, I'm making love to him, understood?"
Maul blinked, was that what he was saying?
"Understood?!"
"Yes!" he yelped. "Yes!"
"Mace? What are you doing?"
"I explain to Maul the way a Jedi should speak. I'm sure he's figured out what kind of vocabulary is appropriate by now, right?"
"Yes, Master Windu," he repeated docilely.
He wanted to keep his horns and teeth intact, thank you.
Never again in his life would he think of Master Windu as anything other than a hopeless romantic when he saw the other diverting his secret companion, placing a relaxed hand around his shoulders to block his view. They walked out with a final look... meaningful, that look.
Kriff... what a creepy man this guy was.