The Delusions of Dreamers

Twelve

Something nudged Satine's side, and she rolled over, mumbling in her sleep.  Then she felt the thing force open one of her eyeballs, and she screamed.

All the little Jawas around her screeched in response, scattering everywhere.  The duchess had been sleeping on the sand, and she scrambled backwards in surprise only to accidentally slap her hand onto Obi-Wan's face.

"Ah!" The Padawan lurched awake and budded heads with Satine.

"Ow! They both exclaimed, rubbing their heads.

Just my luck, the duchess thought.  This is the second time I've smashed my head into his in the past week. 

And while all this went on, Qui-Gon was sleeping peacefully in the corner of the cave.

"What is happening?" Obi-Wan asked with a grimace.

"Those awful Jawas woke me up and frightened me!" They were all fleeing the cavern now, and she glared into the last one's yellow eyes.

The Padawan seemed to relax and started yawning.  "Could be worse." But then his eyes widened.  "Oh, no."

"What?" Satine asked warily.

Obi-Wan jumped to his feet and held out his hand for Satine.  "Well, I suppose you could refer to Jawas as scavengers." The duchess took his hand before he pulled her up.  "Which means they like to steal things, and they don't care who it belongs to."

Satine moaned.  "Which means they probably took our speeders?"

Obi-Wan nodded grimly.

"Shit," the Duchess growled.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the Padawan waved his hands in front of her face.  "This situation does not permit such a vile word."

Satine rolled her eyes and held up the middle finger.  "It does in my book." Obi-Wan gasped.  

She would have to teach him that cussing often made things a lot better.

"Vulgar," the Padawan said with a smile.  "Absolutely barbaric."

"Oh, be silent." Satine flipped her hair and marched to the opening of the cave.  She almost enjoyed bantering with the Jedi.  "Let's see what the Jawas have done with our speeders."

"Nothing good," Obi-Wan sighed, coming up beside her.

Satine placed her hand on her forehead, shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight, and saw the Jawas in the distance with their giant sandcrawler.  They were hauling the speeders behind them, leaving a trail of spare parts in their wake.

"Damn it," she growled.  "They've taken the speeders apart."

Then she heard footsteps behind her, and turned to see Qui-Gon shuffling to them.  "What's all this ruckus?" 

Obi-Wan rubbed the back of his neck.  "The Jawas might have invaded our camp and stolen our speeders." He flashed a nervous smile.

Qui-Gon stroked his beard.  Satine had noticed that it had gotten longer, and when she glanced at Obi-Wan, she realized that he had some stubble along his jawline.  For someone his age, it would usually look sloppy or silly, but the stubble on the Padawan's face almost made him seem... manly.  The duchess barely stopped herself from snorting at the ridiculousness of the thought.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to get the speeders back," said the Jedi Master.

"But how?" inquired Obi-Wan, throwing up his hands.

"We shall see when we get there."

So the group of three made their way through the sand and to the Jawas, picking up spare parts along the way.  Satine curled her lip when she picked up a little pipe.  It was greasy.