Two Q's on a Tatooine Side Street

After an early breakfast at the tavern (even Jedi masters can't live on spunk alone), Qui and Quin were strolling through the Tatooine dawn. There was a surprising amount of activity on the streets at this hour, before the opressive heat of full day. They were just two more humans in the crowd.

"I don't know, Qui-Gon; it's one thing to influence the fall of a chance-cube, and another to bet the entire ship on a pod-race. The odds are terrible. You know half the crowd at these events is there to see the contestants die."

"And die spectacularly, yes. But you don't know this boy, Quin; he's more than just lucky. He can see the future for that crucial ten seconds ahead, and change it."

"Really?" Quin scowled from under his sooty brows.

"Really." Qui truly believed what he was saying. His baby blue eyes were as steady as a mountain range.

"That would certainly come in handy." Quin scratched at his chin, more out of reflex than anything else; it didn't itch anymore. Qui had shaved him in the fresher this morning.

"Did you get his midichlorians?"

"I'm having Obi-Wan do the test tonight, before the big race."

"How is my old student chum, by the way?"

"Fine, fine, probably amusing himself with the Queen's Handmaidens even as we speak. But to get back to the boy again-- if he were going to juggle live thermal detonators on stage, I'd still bet on him. He bends the Force to his will, without even realizing what he's doing."

"This I have to see."

"Well, don't come to the Skywalkers' quarters with me. I don't want to have to explain you."

Quin grinned smugly. "I am pretty inexplicable."

Qui's eyes twinkled. "That you are, Quin. But I meant that I have already had to admit to them that I was a Jedi. Anakin could tell. No need to complicate things with another of us popping up, not to mention possibly compromising your mission."

"Agreed. But I am obliged to hang around here until my contact shows, so I may have to miss the actual race. Guess I'll just have to take your word for it about your prodigy--- unless, of course, it all falls through and you're still here in a week, consoling a bereaved mother."

"It won't fall through, Quin."

The Jedi master paused, on the covered porch of a dwelling whose inhabitants were either absent or still asleep. Quin stopped, too.

"Are we almost there?"

"Yes; let's make our farewells now."

He took Quinlan into his arms. Their eyes were exactly level; night-dark gazed into sky-blue.

"Thank you for making yourself known to me, Quin."

"Anytime." And Quinlan brought his lips to Qui-Gon's for a lingering kiss. Both were pleasantly reminded of all the other things their lips had been doing previously. Then Qui-Gon gently pulled himself away, and walked around the corner, disappearing from view.

Quin sank into the shadow and shut his eyes, becoming part of the shadows himself, Force-extending his sense of hearing to detect the retreating footsteps. They stopped not far away. He caught the start of a conversation.

"Master Qui-Gon, I want to talk to you about Anakin." It must be that teenage cutie, the Nubian queen's tag-along Handmaiden. She was up early and waiting for Qui.

"What is it, Padme?"

"Master Qui-Gon, he's only a child. I'm not sure if the Queen--"

"The Queen is not here. And we have had this conversation before. The boy's mother has given her permission, and the boy is willing."

"But--" Qui-Gon's footsteps disappeared into a dwelling. Quin hadn't heard any footsteps of this Padme in pursuit of him; she hadn't left.

She was muttering to herself. "Not here? That's what HE thinks." Lighter footsteps hurried inside, followed by the piping voice of a young boy, too distant to make out.

Quin sighed and turned to leave. That whole drama would have to unfold without him. Back to the spy business.