[Jedi Quest] - 03(16)

“No, it wouldn’t,” Obi-Wan answered firmly.

Didi stopped and turned. “Do not take this wrong. I am honored and blessed with your presence. But being friends with you is not easy, Obi-Wan.”

“I know.”

Didi turned into a crowded open-air plaza. Fountains played in the center, each one displaying the colors of a different world and changing in the next instant to another, so that the sparkling water seemed to glow with a thousand colors at once. Trees and bushes from planets around the galaxy had been placed in huge stone urns that offered shade for the chairs and tables set up underneath. A large screen flashed the opening times of various events, as well as the best routes to get to them. Other smaller screens showed events taking place in the various stadiums. Beings from around the galaxy sat watching the screens, sipping juice or tea, eating sweets, and watching children play in the multicolored fountains. A four-piece band played soft jizz-wail music.

Obi-Wan’s glance swept the plaza. Although he had not seen Fligh in many years, he recognized him immediately. He sat with his back to a wall snaked with blooming vines, tapping one long foot to the music. He sipped from a glass of bright yellow juice. He was as thin and spidery as ever, and his long ears appeared even longer, the lobes resting on his shoulders. A tuft of graying yellow hair sprouted from his balding head. Several gold rings were stacked on his long fingers. As they came closer, Obi-Wan saw that Fligh had replaced his pride and joy - his fake green eye - with a bright gold one.

Obi-Wan had first met Fligh when he was Qui-Gon’s Padawan. Fligh had sworn to help his best friend Didi even as he squirmed out of telling the truth to the Jedi and faked his own death. Getting the whole truth out of Fligh wouldn’t be easy.

His pleasant expression darkened with apprehension when he saw the Jedi, but he quickly turned it into a welcoming smile. “Didi! Old friend! Such a surprise to see you on Euceron! Though everyone who is anyone is here, so there you go, not such a surprise after all.”

“Do you remember Obi-Wan Kenobi, the great Jedi Knight?”

“Ah, but he was just a Learner when I knew him,” Fligh said. “Obi-Wan, what a fortunate meeting! It is my luck to be able to renew our great friendship.”

“We were never friends,” Obi-Wan pointed out.

“We weren’t, it’s true, and that is a pity,” Fligh agreed sadly. “But now we have a second chance. I see that now you have a Padawan Learner yourself.”

“I am Anakin Skywalker,” Anakin said.

Fligh turned to examine him curiously with his good eye. “I have heard about you.”

Anakin looked defensive. “What have you heard?”

“Whoa-hoa, relax, young friend,” Fligh said. “It was all good things, I assure you. Yes, promising Jedi, amazing talents, there you go.”

“Didi tells us you have some information about some of the events at the Games,” Obi-Wan said.

Fligh narrowed his eye at Didi. “Do I? I hear things, but nothing important enough to involve the Jedi.”

“That is not what Didi said.” Obi-Wan stood casually, as though he had all the time in the world, but he was prepared to pressure Fligh. He was impatient to get to the bottom of this. He didn’t want to waste more of the day.

“All right, all right,” Didi said when Fligh shot him another look. “I told him. But he’s a Jedi, Fligh. You can’t lie to a Jedi.”

“I don’t see why not,” Fligh shot back, too angry to watch his words. “They’re no different from anybody else.”

“Oh, yes,” Anakin said stridently. “We are.”

Fligh’s head whipped around, his ears taking a moment to catch up. They bobbed gently and came to rest on his shoulders. His gaze flicked to the lightsabers tucked into Obi-Wan’s and Anakin’s belts. “Errrrr, you do have a point. There you go. I concede it. In that case - and considering our deep friendship which I cherish despite your refusal to acknowledge it - I will tell you what I know. I heard a rumor that one of the events was fixed. I told Didi about it. After all, why shouldn’t my friend benefit?” He gave Didi a hard stare. “If I’d known that friend had such a big mouth, I might have reconsidered.”

“Are you involved in this?” Obi-Wan asked him. “Do you know who fixed the obstacle race, and how?”

“I know nothing except this - the participant from Alderaan will win.”

Obi-Wan frowned. How could a swoop obstacle race - a series of timed individual races against the clock - be fixed? “How do you know?”

“I don’t have to tell you that,” Fligh said defiantly. “That’s true,” Obi-Wan said. “But you will have to tell the security force for the Ruling Power.”