Chapter Seventy Nine

Two days later Harry, Aayla, Kass, Mak, Master Fay, and Lily flew up to the Lucrehulk, intent on taking it to Naboo. The Lucrehulk was carrying all of the parts for the planetary shield generator along with several hundred technicians to help emplace it and to continue to work on the Lucrehulk which would remain under Naboo's command with its hyperdrive removed.

In fact, it was carrying parts not for one planetary shield generator, but for two. The parts for the second were hidden in one of the monstrous ship's loading areas which the Jedi had closed off to everyone else, claiming that they had changed it into a training area. They had hidden the purchases behind several cutouts, and even if someone looked into it they would have assumed the parts were simply spares for Naboo rather than for the Jedi in the first place.

That loading bay was the area where Harry and Aayla had begun work on creating the expansion arrays and everything else that they would be needed. It turned out, however, that Lily and Master Fay had underestimated the number of parts they would need once the expanded area was taken into account. One light per five hundred yards was quite bad, after all. So while the expansion aspect was done, they had barely begun the follow on work and had barely a tithe of the equipment they would need to continue. That was quite daunting considering they had only done the charms on one of the eight cargo holds the ship contained.

Admittedly, Harry and Aayla did not have to be part of this mission, though they both did feel an obligation to make sure that Naboo's part of the agreement was paid in full now that the Serenno had been paid. And after that they would be heading to Kashyyyk, where their two friends, Mak and Kass, would be meeting with their prospective masters. Quinlan would also meet them there after being away for several weeks on another undercover mission, once more with Knight Vosa.

But they were also getting out of Dodge, as Lily put it, while R'sonan and the other Jedi Masters at the school talked to Master Dooku and Master Giiett. Shaak Ti was taking over many of Harry's classes, with Giiett taking on the others while Lily and Master Fay were away. While Shaak had come quite far in her runic studies, she was in no way able to experiment without someone else watching, and she knew it.

Master R'sonan had not been the only Master to have noticed the connection between Harry and Aayla, and they were all looking for answers to that, what had happened, how it had happened, and why the high Council was allowing it to remain in place. After getting to know two padawans over the past six months, they didn't have any real concern that these two would fall to the Dark, but they were greatly concerned about the rest of Clan Saa, the fact that they would all be taking the Old Oath, and the idea of other Jedi following in Harry and Aayla's footsteps in trying to create relationships.

But as a council member, Micah could answer their questions on all of those points, and even why Master Yoda had decided on how he chose to integrate the new techniques. He would not tell them about the Dark Side user/users still being out there, but he would hint that the new techniques could offset the Veil of the Dark Side. Micah would not lie, but he would allow the masters to reach their own conclusions on that point.

So it was a good idea for Harry and Aayla to be elsewhere for a time, just so they weren't around to incite things further. And both of them wanted to check in on Padme. While they had been in contact with her at least once every three weeks or so, they did want to make sure that the young queen had not worked herself into an early grave. There was only so much you could tell over the Hypercom, after all.

Besides the technicians, the Lucrehulk also carried Shmi and all of the other slaves that had either been moved to Serenno for repatriation elsewhere or taken from Tatooine. The group of them in part had organized now, thanks to a large donation from Master Dooku. Shmi had slowly become the head of a small but growing group devoted to freeing slaves or easing freed slaves back into normal society. They were already in contact with several other groups and hoped to create an actual network of both aid stations and more proactive groups which would hunt down slavers and actually free slaves. That last would take a long while, but they were also beginning to slowly build up a public awareness campaign on the evils of slavery, which would hopefully grab galactic interest.

Harry was optimistic, Aayla skeptical, and Master Fay resigned when they heard that one. Lily thought it was a fantastic idea, but Master Fay knew that such things were flash in the pan concepts. They would not have any staying power spread out over the entire Republic, if they could even get that level of penetration, which was itself doubtful

The trip to Naboo passed peacefully if quite busily as Harry and Aayla kept working on the electronics of the expanded loading bay. On Naboo they went down to the palace and were greeted by Padme there, while the parts and technicians were dropped down to the center that Naboo's citizenry had built for the new planetary shield generator.

Padme was not in her formal garb, thankfully. Instead she was wearing a formfitting dress of black that didn't hinder her movement at all along with a small circlet on her head, her hair falling loosely straight down her back. She stood slightly away from the other workers in the palace hanger area, several Wookie bodyguards standing nearby even here, massive and imposing to most.

Seeing Padme, Aayla quickly stepped forward, pulling the younger girl into a hug as Padme's arms went around her, automatically squeezing back just as hard. Leaning back, Aayla studied her friend's face, frowning a little as she saw the dark marks under Padme's eyes and the slight slump of her shoulders. Yet there was a gleam of confidence and a feeling of accomplishment that Aayla caught through her Force-based empathic powers. Though exhausted, Padme looked far better than she had the last time Aayla had seen her in person.

"Jedi who give hugs, that will never catch on, I swear!" Mak said with a chuckle, moving down the landing ramp after his friends.

Harry shrugged, pulling him into a one armed hug even as Mak tried to get away. "Yeah that is kind of weird…" he said after second, letting the other boy loose before looking at Kass.

She laughed, shaking her head. "Don't even think about it!"

Master Fay coughed delicately. "Children, can we get on with it, please?"

Padme smiled at Master Fay over Aayla's shoulder, then surprised the older woman by pulling her into a hug in turn. "Thank you for whatever you did too. Getting rid of my tiredness wasn't even the main issue; my emotions were all over the place, and I couldn't actually force myself away from work." She looked over at the others, then added quietly so that the Wookies and others nearby couldn't overhear what she said next. "I was actually becoming addicted to sleep suppressants."

"I knew that at the time, your Highness," Master Fay said smiling slightly. "I wouldn't have said anything, but you were indeed."

"Well, ahem, thank you anyway," Padme said, blushing now and stepping back quickly to regain queenly poise, gesturing around them. "I've already had my people begin the unloading process at the site. And as for the smaller parts being offloaded here, my people can handle it at a much lower level than my august personage, so I…" She paused, looking back at the Jedi. "I've actually planned the rest of today as a day off. It'll be my first in a while. I was, I was hoping you could all join me?"

The padawans all looked to Master Fay, who sighed, but nodded acquiescence, her lips twitching into a warm smile. "In fact, I think a day off of training will do all of us quite a bit of good."

She looked up at Lily, who smiled brightly at her, leaning down and whispering. Fay rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "No, I'm not that interested in shopping. Hiking, perhaps."

"Hiking works too," Lily said with a smile. "Unless Padme has specific plans she wants you along for?"

When Fay relayed this question as her own, Padme shook her head. "No, not really. I've asked my family to let me stay at one of their two houses. It used to belong to my aunt, but we rent it out these days. It's got the most amazing view over this small lake, and I thought it would be perfect for a day off."

"You know what that means!" Aayla said with a mental giggle. "Better get those fingers of yours ready for some transfiguration, Harry," she said mentally.

Harry chuckled, but couldn't stop the image of Aayla in a bathing suit coming to his mind. He couldn't quite decide if she would look better wearing a black bathing suit or a pink one.

Once she picked up the image from his head, Aayla replied in no uncertain terms. "Pink, Harry. Dark pink for preference."

Kass looked at Padme and was about to speak out, but Aayla quickly shook her head, gesturing to Harry and leaning in. "Don't worry about it. Harry has us covered; you'll see!"

Mak looked over at Harry, nudging him in the shoulder. "You know, I get the distinct impression this is the kind of thing the Jedi aren't supposed to enjoy…or, um, look for? Something like that, anyway."

"I'm not as interested in what normal Jedi are supposed to do as you might think," Harry replied mildly, causing Mak to laugh.

Chewbacca, the leader of Padme's security detail, growled and snarled for a moment in the Wookie language, a small box on his bandoleer translating his words automatically. "I realize with several Jedi padawans along you won't need us, but I feel the need to ask if you want us to come along."

Rolling her eyes so much the others could tell she was doing it for their benefit, Padme turned to look at her towering bodyguard. "You're right, Chewie, I won't need a bodyguard today. You may also have the day off." She paused then, adding wickedly. "Besides, no offense, but I bet Wookie fur smells horrible when wet."

Chewie and the other Wookies near enough to hear her laughed at Padme's joke, and Chewie patted her shoulder in response, nearly knocking her to her knees. "In that case, Malla and I will drive you over there and then go exploring. We haven't had any time to look at the rest of this beautiful planet of yours, Padme." The Wookies rarely used Padme's title, which she rather liked.

The group of young people, truly acting their ages for once, boarded a small suborbital ship with Chewie at the control. It took them out of the capital city to the lake side house swiftly. Lily and Fay did not go with them. Instead Lily floated unseen behind Fay as she took another personal flyer out of the city deep into the mountains, where she would hike the rest of the day away in quiet near-solitude, communing with the Living Force of nature without any distractions. Harry wondered why Lily had decided to go with Fay, but put it down to wanting to give the youngsters some time alone.

At the lake house Padme and the others were surprised to find her mother, who greeted them at the door. "Padme, there you are! Your father and I were just restocking the larder."

"Hello mother," Padme greeted the older woman, hugging her tightly. She had only been able to check in with her parents once since returning to Naboo, she was so busy, but they had been able to go to ground easily, avoiding the Trade Federation's droids so they couldn't be used as hostages against her. "How are you and father doing?"

"Quite well, as is your sister. She wanted to come see you too, but is currently down with a rather nasty cold, and we felt that getting her sister-queen sick would be a bad move," the older woman replied, stepping back lightly.

This let the padawans and the two Wookies get a better look at the woman, and Harry could not stop the errant thought. Wow, if it's true that you should look at the mother to get an idea of what the daughter will look like, whoever dates Padme in the future is in for a treat.

The woman was taller than her daughter by a good bit, but despite being a little past middle-aged she retained the same svelte, athletic frame as her daughter. She had a chest that looked a little larger than Shaak Ti's, and slightly wider hips as well, though Harry tried not to dwell on those. Instead it was her warm chocolate colored eyes that caught his attention.

Of course, Harry could not have those kinds of thoughts without Aayla catching them, and the Rutian Twi'lek giggled. "Planning for the future, Harry?"

"EEP!" Harry eeped, quickly projecting his mental image into Aayla's brain. "Aayla, you know I wouldn't… That is, I…!"

"Harry, shush," Aayla commanded as her own mental image appeared in the hallways of her mental plane. "I know you wouldn't do anything; I know!" she emphasized, touching her forehead against Harry's as she pulled him into a hug. "But I also know we both, um...have kind of wandering eyes… We, we need to talk about this…"

"Wandering eyes? Huh? But, but you've never, that is, you've never looked at other boys." Harry actually knew this for a fact, since when they were sharing memories of their time apart on Tatooine, Aayla hadn't shared anything like that and hadn't seemed to be hiding anything from him. Wait…

"Not, not boys, no. We'll talk about it tonight, Harry," Aayla replied, then kissed Harry on the lips before pushing him away firmly, and their consciousness returned to the physical plane.

"Mother, these are my friends from the Jedi Order, Padawans Potter, Secura, Lotor, and Tod. Behind them are Malla and Chewie, two of my Wookie bodyguards I told you about," Padme was saying as Harry and Aayla tuned back in, turning to gesture to the others. "Everyone, this is my mother, Jobal. My father, Ruwee, is inside, apparently restocking the fridge."

"That's nice of them, and please, just call me Harry," Harry replied, bowing over Jobal's hand and wincing.

"Ah, yes, children can be cruel, can't they?" Jobal replied whimsically, smiling at him, then over at Mak. "My, they're handsome ones, aren't they, Padme?" she said as an aside to her daughter. "Now, is this the same Harry that you've mentioned before? You're right, those eyes should be illegal on a boy!"

"Mother!" Padme gasped, flushing while Harry blinked, looking between the two Naberrie women askance. Next to him, however, Aayla simply nodded, agreeing with the point, as did Kass, much to Mak's chagrin. "I never said anything of the sort!"

"Trust your mother to read between the lines, Padme. Besides, this is the first time you've brought a boy home, or nearly home, anyway. Let me have some fun," Jobal replied, waving a hand airily at her daughter before turning and shouting into the house. "Dear, some of Padme's friends staying with her are boys!"

"Oh, Force damn it!" Padme groaned as someone inside bellowed like a raging bull.

"Er…should we maybe run away now? Only, I've seen comedies and sitcoms on the Hypernet that warn about moments like this," Mak muttered out of the side of his mouth to Harry.

"Never run; stand your ground. They can taste your fear," Harry replied, not specifying who 'they' were in this instance.

This set the two Wookies and the two female padawans to laughing as a man moved into the doorway. He was a wide shouldered man, but a bit on the short side, actually standing a little shorter than the two boys. Harry was six feet, while Mak was five foot eight. He wore a gray suit that looked something like a uniform, but not quite, and had a face made to smile, which he was doing now instead of the scowl they had all anticipated, winking at the youngsters before speaking to his wife. "Dear, stop teasing the poor youngsters. Remember what Padme said: her friends would be Jedi. Jedi can't have relationships. Now come inside and I'll show you all around."

"Oh pooh, stop spoiling my fun! Besides, just because everyone knows that doesn't mean it's true, and I know my daughter is certainly interested in a little rule-breaking," Jobal teased, causing Padme to bury her head in her hands even as she walked forward into the house followed by the four padawans. The two Wookies waved their farewells and turned back to the passenger ship, taking off moments later.

"Jobal, be nice…" Ruwee warned, though his voice sounded rather amused rather than censorious. "It's good to meet you all, anyway. There are enough beds for you all, four rooms that you can divvy out and a pull out bed. The kitchen is through that doorway over there. I understand that one of you knows how to cook?"

Harry nodded, indicating himself, while Jobal ignored her husband and continued to tease Padme, only starting to tease the others. This, however, she had much less success with, and eventually after several minutes Ruwee pulled Jobal away. As he did so, however, and just as Padme was beginning to calm down, Ruwee actually let loose a parting shot. "Now remember, we're showing a lot of trust in you, Padme. Don't go and make us grandparents just yet."

"Father!" Padme shrieked, reaching for a nearby sofa cushion. But her parents were both out the door before she could throw it.

"I can't believe they're so embarrassing!" Padme moaned, throwing herself onto the sofa and burying her face into a cushion.

"That actually wasn't as bad as Miss Skywalker talking about past lovers in front of young Anakin," Aayla replied without a hint of sympathy in her tone.

"Okay," Padme said after remembering that time, turning around on the sofa to look at her Twi'lek friend. "Yes, that would probably be more embarrassing. And…" Padme bit her lip, cutting herself off.

Kass and Aayla glanced at one another then laughed. "You don't have to worry about us. Both of us know we've never known real parents. But when we were along on the Explorer we had several different parents to watch after us, and in a way Lily has always acted like she's everyone's mother from the clan," Kass said with a smile.

"That's good. Sorry if I seem overly sensitive about it," Padme said with a sigh, getting up and leading the two girls into the room she stayed in while she was here as the two boys headed off to find the kitchen. "But since I learned how Jedi younglings were taken from their families at such young ages, it's bothered me a little."

"It bothered Lily a lot from what I remember," Aayla said with a frown. "I think she and Master Yoda had a very long discussion about that. I hope that the Order acted on that more than the rest of his suggestions at the time, but I can't say if they did or not. I've never been involved in a mission to retrieve any force sensitive younglings."

"Enough about this depressing topic," Kass said, clapping her hands. "We're here on a break, a day off from training for us two, a much-needed break from work for this one, oh, and the two boys, of course," she added almost absentmindedly. Even as a complete stranger Kass could see the marks under Padme's eyes and the pallor of her skin which said that she had not been getting nearly enough sun lately. That last, at least, we're going to change today! "Now come on, show us your bathing suit, Padme?"

Padme held up a bag, reaching into it briefly, then gasped and turned to the other girls. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Do you, that is, do Jedi even wear swimsuits?" She paused, thinking. "Actually, what do you all even wear under those robes?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Aayla said with a laugh, causing Padme to blush once more.

In the kitchen Harry and Mak were busily looking through the food on hand. Harry had already transfigured the pair of them some swimming togs, and they had both changed into them quickly. "Padme's parents have a lot of good spices here! I haven't even seen half of these, and this bread, smell this?" he demanded, holding out the large baguette to the other teen.

Mak did so, chuckling a little. "Smells good, but you and food, it is so weird for a Jedi to care all that much about something so trivial. Especially you, given what you can do with those transfiguration and conjuration powers of yours.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I am what I am. I took a chore and made it into a strength. Master Giiett helped though, I'll admit."

Mak chuckled. "I wasn't complaining, merely making an observation. Considering that I feast on the fruits of your labor, that would be a remarkably stupid thing of me."

At that point the girls came back. Kass and Aayla came out of the room the girls had been assigned to dressed in their normal training garments. "Harry, can you do something here?" Aayla asked, gesturing down at her clothing and at Kass, smiling happily as she felt Harry looking at her with appreciation already. "Wait until you see how I look in the bathing suit, love!"

Harry nodded both to Aayla's question and to her mental comment, raising a hand to point at Aayla. "What color did you want again? For some reason I can't seem to remember…"

"Dark pink, Harry," Aayla said with a laugh, flashing an image of the color into Harry's mind since she knew that helped.

Harry nodded, then began to form the image in his head of what he wanted. Aayla helped, and eventually she was happy with the image. The other two padawans felt the very brief wave of the Force as Harry went to work, changing what Aayla was wearing into the image in his head between one blink and the next. She now stood in a two-piece bathing suit that was rather modest in comparison to what could be found on a lot of worlds, a sporty kind of two-piece rather than a sexy one. Of course, Harry thought, looking at Aayla's body, it didn't really have to try to be sexy to, in fact, be sexy on my lady.

"Me next!" Kass said with a laugh, looking over at Mak who was looking between the two female padawans, his eyes wide now. "Same cut, only make mine white, I think."

Harry nodded and duplicated the feat, the image already in his head helping to speed up the process quite a bit.

"Thank you, Harry," Aayla said, kissing him on the cheek before turning back and gesturing for Kass to join her in heading back into the room where they had left Padme. Behind her the two boys looked at one another, then away, both blushing at how good the girls had looked.

Soon enough all three girls came out, with Padme also dressed in a bathing suit, a slim one piece. As the boys looked at her she flushed a little, but not a lot. It wasn't the first time she'd been dressed like this around boys, after all. It was just the effects of those emerald eyes of Harry's on her.

"Let's get swimming!" Kass shouted, breaking the somewhat awkward silence and heading out the door with a will. Mak laughed and followed her, with the other three trailing behind them.

Walking beside her friends, Padme chuckled, looking between the padawans. Hearing this, Aayla nudged her with a shoulder. "What?"

"It's just, you are all so different from what everyone thinks about the Jedi Order! I wouldn't be ablt to tell if you were Jedi right now instead of regular young people," Padme explained.

"Regular, ordinary? Those words aren't in our vocabulary," Aayla said, linking her arm with Padme's. "Though admittedly, coming from the fourteen-year-old queen of the very planet we're currently on, I don't think it means the same thing as it would from most people."

"Point taken, but you are still different," Padme said, now looking at them all closely.

"We are, and that's in part because we're padawans; we're not actual Jedi yet. And we're very different from most of the Order in a way. It's hard to explain the difference between the Old Oath and New, but the Old Oath really just…allows for more emotion, I suppose, as well as for relationships at all."

Padme's paused, biting her lip once more in the way that Aayla felt looked rather cute on her. Seeing it for the first time, Harry had to agree, though he sent a comment to Aayla, "Should I be worried that you find other girls cute?"

"Only if you don't, Harry!" she replied with a mental giggle, causing him to mentally raise a finger like he was acknowledging a point. He still thought that Aayla was the prettiest, no, the most gorgeous girl in the Order, but he couldn't deny that he had noticed that Padme and Zule before her were both attractive as well.

"I did some research into the Order after the last time we talked in person," Padme said hesitantly. "I know that attachments aren't allowed. I remember the conversations on Tatooine on that score, but I want to know why the Order put such a rule in place, and if anything bad will happen to you two if your relationship becomes known throughout the Order?"

"Nothing bad will happen to us, though I'm afraid it will be many, many years before Jedi are openly allowed to have attachments other than us," Harry said with a sigh. "We have a mental connection, Padme," he said slowly. It wasn't like this was a big secret, not like his transfiguration abilities or other powers, but it still felt odd to share it. "It was forged when were very young and facing a bit of a threat at the time."

Ahead of them, Mak and Kass had paused in their walk and moved back to them as Harry began to explain, interjecting their own memories of the Bando Gora's attack on the Explorer and the construct that Harry had conjured up. The description of the massive Jedi Knight made of solid light made Padme gasp, and she looked at both of her friends fearfully as the tale wound to the part where they both collapsed from Force exhaustion.

"Something happened during that," Aayla said. "Something we've learned since was based on my empathy powers, the link I forged to Harry to help him power his construct. But it isn't something we could re-create. It's been there ever since, and yes, we did have to hide it from the Order for many years. But thanks to Master Yoda putting the framework in place, and Master Fay and Master Vos backing us up as well as Harry's rescuing me, we were able to convince the High Council to let our bond remain in place. That's why we were on Coruscant that one time, to meet with them."

"Mak and I, we have a sort of understanding," Kass said softly, taking Mak's hand. "We're not going to act on it, not until we're Jedi Knights, but it's there. If we have to, we would be willing to leave the Order, but we won't. With Aayla and Harry's example, we'll fight to have the same rights to have a relationship that they do, regardless of their bond."

While Padme suddenly worried about being a fifth repulsor, Mak nodded firmly. She looked between them all, but Aayla quickly shook her head, allaying Padme's concerns that they would make her uncomfortable or unwanted.

After that, Harry began to speak again, explaining why the Reformation had been allowed and why it had been permitted to remain in place, in his opinion. The Senate politics aspect of that Padme understood easily enough, though the internal Jedi politics took her aback, having firmly believed before this that Jedi were above such divisions.

By that point the four teens had reached the edge of the lake, and without a word Kass let go of Mak's hand and dove in. The others watched for a time then her head appeared, followed by a hand. "Come on in; the water's fine!"

Laughing, Aayla leaped in after her friend, with Padme following quickly as the boys shucked off their shirts. Padme turned after walking into the water, only to stop and stare, taking in the image for a moment. The two boys were among the most fit she had ever seen. Even some of the boys in the images she had found on the local net her parents would probably not approve of paled in comparison. Harry was slightly thinner in the shoulders and slightly taller, but his core muscles looked to be a little better than Mak's. Both boys, however, were very attractive, and Padme took a moment to memorize this image before turning away.

The boys swiftly dove into the water, racing forward together. From deeper in the water Kass laughed and joined them, leaving Aayla and Padme behind. Aayla, for her part, simply floated on the water, smiling up at the sky with Padme joining her.

"Are you jealous?" Aayla asked after a while, not elaborating further. She didn't have to.

"I may be a little…" Padme said with a nervous giggle as she turned, treading water as she looked at her friend. "I mean, Harry is so…" Padme blushed and looked away.

"I know Harry is so…!" Aayla said with a grin, grabbing the other girl by the shoulders and pulling her into a hug, uncaring of their nearly naked bodies pressing together in the water, though she did feel Harry's sudden flare of interest and vowed to tease him later about that. Then again, I suppose we need to have this talk at some point anyway. "It's not a big deal if you are, and I've seen Harry check you out too. You are incredibly attractive too, Padme. I bet you could get any guy you wanted to," she said bluntly.

"Any guy but Harry. That's the other aspect I am jealous of. You two, the bond you share is so incredible, I doubt anyone can come between you," Padme said. There was a sense of awe in her voice, but no actual jealousy.

"No, no one could come between us, but…" Aayla paused, one hand moving to play with the end of her lekku in a nervous gesture, the semi-prehensile muscle moving against her fingers and very obviously changed what she was going to say. There were some things she needed to talk to Harry about first. "I'll tell you later! For now, come on; let's catch up to the others."

The day passed by with Padme slowly getting to know Kass and Mak, learning more about what they had been doing lately on Serenno. She in turn told them all about her own work, and the day passed swiftly. That evening she also introduced them all to some of the local movies and found herself falling asleep between the two couples. Despite her earlier concernabout being a fifth repulsor, she had never felt more accepted and happy as she had today around these four padawans. No expectations, no preconceptions, no need to excel. Damn, I could do with more days like this.

Despite her happiness, however, Padme couldn't keep her eyes open for very long once the sun went down. She fell asleep curled up against Kass, who in turn was leaning against Mak, the only one of the three who was still awake. He looked up as Aayla and Harry stood up, smiling at them both before turning off the holo and leaning back against the sofa back, not questioning what the two were up to.

The two young lovers walked down to the lake shore, walking around the lake for a time, saying nothing, just holding hands. Aayla was still wearing her bathing suit, and Harry thought the sheen of her blue skin under the moonlight made her look particularly enticing.

Feeling Harry's attention on her both through their mental link and through her own empathic powers, Aayla could not stop herself from teasing him a little, pressing into his arm so that Harry's arm was caught between her breasts. "See something you like, Harry?"

Aayla was fit and trim, her muscles those of a gymnast or sprinter, her rear small but enticing, with just the right amount of jiggle. Aayla's breasts also felt amazing as they pressed into Harry's arm and side.

"Every day with you, Aayla. Every day…" Harry said, shaking his head at Aayla's teasing nature even as he looked down at her, drinking in the view, not even trying to hide his growing reaction to her. It only came out when they were alone, but the Rutian Twi'lek loved to get a rise out of him both figuratively and literally.

Aayla flushed, enjoying the feel of Harry's body against her own, her hands moving up and down his back and chest. Like Aayla and most Jedi, Harry's muscles were that of a gymnast or swimmer rather than those of a body builder. Even so, he had some decent muscle on him, which included a well-defined six pack. Her fingers traced along older scars here and there, but they defined him rather than taking away from his beauty in her eyes. The emerald eyes currently staring into Aayla's, gleaming slightly in the light of the moon, completed the package.

However, Aayla had something else on her mind right now. "Remember when I said we had to talk earlier, Harry? Well, I think now is the best chance we're going to get."

Sighing, Harry nodded, gesturing with one hand. He conjured a small bench for them and handed Aayla down onto it before sitting next to her. "I had hoped we could just have a nice romantic evening without thinking deep thoughts, but I should've known better," he lamented, now projecting his mental image into Aayla's mind along with the words.

"Oh, we'll be getting back to the romance soon enough, my love," Aayla replied, her own image appearing next to him. She took his hand and began to lead him down the hallways of her mental plane, looking for a few specific memories. "But right now, we need to talk about this."

She paused for a moment, then decided to take the plunge. "Remember when I said I wasn't jealous, and that I had a wandering eye too? Well I do, but, not for other boys. The only man who has come close to making him notice him with first you around and then the memory of you was a young knight named Kit Fisto, but I was already connected to you long before I met him. But, but I have looked at other girls. In fact…" Aayla paused, then reached out a hand, catching a specific butterfly out of the air of the cavern they were now in.

She gestured for Harry to touch it as she went on. "In fact, I had a bit of a crush on Shaak Ti at one point." The image was of Shaak, of course. Several dozen images, in fact, all organized into one butterfly showing the Togrutan Jedi from several different angles and from several different times when she and Aayla were talking or otherwise interacting. "'Course, she never even noticed, or if she did she never acknowledged it, which looking back I'm happy for. It would have ruined our friendship, I think, since she has never shown any indication she was interested in romance at all, let alone with another girl.

"And I sure noticed Zule a time or two. And there's something about Padme, something that is drawing me to her, just like it is you." Aayla shrugged, answering some of the questions she felt coming from Harry before he could voice them. "I don't know if I was always going to be bisexual, or if that is some carryover from our connection, and my interest in the male body besides yours went away because you're about as straight as a hyperspace jump. But it is what it is."

"So, so where does that leave us? I thought, I thought after we met up again, after our bond deepened so much and our hormones had been added in, that we wouldn't even look at other people. But I can't deny that I've noticed other girls…" Harry admitted, his projection looking a little shame-faced even as his arms went around Aayla's body, his hands falling to her hips. It wasn't as if Aayla hadn't already known that, but it was the first time he had actually admitted it. "And Zule for sure is one of the ones I noticed. I just, I…"

"Jealousy is one of the emotions which cause Jedi to fall, Harry, but with this bond, we both know what the other is thinking and feeling. Jealousy won't ever come into it, not on our end…" Aayla murmured while kissing Harry's neck, trailing kisses up his neck and chin. The feelings in their mental plane were almost exactly the same as physically, thought they hadn't gone any farther in the mental plane than in the physical one.

That didn't stop Harry from shuddering slightly, but he still nodded, his arms tightening around Aayla as they both reached the same conclusion. "If we both know about it and if we can somehow share this connection with someone else like we did Mother Fay then…then why not share?"

"Exactly, though we'll need to be slow about doing it, and…" Aayla replied.

"All firsts have to happen between us first, then we share them with others. And we need to make certain they know that…" Harry answered, the two now sharing thoughts so quickly they were finishing one another's sentences.

"It won't be like whoever it is would be secondary, not quite, but they would have to know it wasn't exclusive…" Aayla said with a smile, before Harry twisted his head down just enough to capture her still wandering lips in a searing kiss.

The two lovers found themselves back in the real world once more, as Harry pushed Aayla back against the side of the seat he had conjured, kissing her so ardently it took her breath away. He broke off for a second, letting them both gulp in air, murmuring, "And that, I think, is enough of the deep thoughts. Now it's time to go back to the romance…"