[Qui-Gon meets said expression with a practiced placidity that may as well be royal in its nature. His master—as different as the two were—taught him well.]
You are right.
[Because. Well. She is. In a lot of different ways.]
You'll understand if I doubt the sincerity of your apology.
[she says it lightly, in a way that's a complete contrast with how completely unmoved she is by his apology. She doesn't leave yet, though; but she does cross her arms in front of her, waiting for his response.]
Not just the apparent disdain held between a few individuals, but the reasons why. In order for that to happen, everyone needed to be in the same area.
[on one hand, sure, that makes sense. But on the other--]
It's not your place to decide that. The issues involved are more complex than you seem to appreciate, and one meeting in which your intentions were not made clear is hardly the place to get into those.
[He got what he wanted out of it, mostly, and there's no need to try and defend his actions or push for anything further. That, and Leia is very much right in her reasoning.]
[Acknowledged, but not accepted, because there's no way to make up for that just yet. And while she's being petty about things, she might as well go all the way, so--]
[Which might-or-might-not make Qui-Gon the Problem ChildTM of the Jedi Order, but that's a conclusion Leia can probably draw for herself, given her experience with the guy.]
Obi-Wan carries far closer to what one would consider a 'Jedi-like attitude'.
[It is indeed something she's assumed, with that confirmation. And she's really realizing now that the stories she may have heard about the Jedi when growing up are far more elaborated than she would have assumed before.]
Knowing what I know now, I find myself disagreeing with that. Weren't Jedi meant to destroy the Sith?
[Not, you know, leave them assumed dead in lava. Even if that Sith was their best friend/brother/all of that.]
[Okay, see, he’s cool with taking flack for things he’s done, but once you start picking on his Padawan, shit gets real. Qui-Gon manages to keep himself and his tone calm, but the slight, almost unnoticeable furrow of his eyebrows gives away the low-key irritation.]
[She likes Obi-Wan in general. She does. He helped out when she needed it, but at the same time, learning he could've prevented Darth Vader altogether is something she's not taking well.]
And when those you care for become Sith, what then?
[to say that han is annoyed by the message he just received is a fairly massive understatement. after accidentally ripping the missive in half out of sheer rage, he manages to calm down enough to stomp into the house, find leia, and drop the pieces into her lap. which is pretty good, considering the urge he had to rip the thing into tiny shreds. signed "jabba the hutt"...what an ass. han would like to give a good kick to whoever really sent it, but first he needs to find out who it was.]
What the hell kind of friend is this?!
[...that's right leia, no context for you, just a ripped piece of paper and an extremely irate han.]
[And as usual, an irate Han only brings about an irate Leia in response. She doesn't give the paper scraps more than a passing glance before her attention is squarely on Han, her eyebrows raised and her lips pursed.]
I'll give you a chance to try that again.
[Because that's not how we ask people to do things, Han, and she's not looking at that paper until she's not being yelled at.]
[It's not much better of a response, but there's less bellowing directly at her, so for now she'll take it. And while there's still some of that annoyance present, most of it has given way to confusion at what Han has to say. She shakes her head, finally picking up the scraps of paper, but not yet looking at them.]
There's no ex-boyfriend of mine here.
[as far as she knows anyway. If there is, he hasn't made himself known. She's about to look at the note, before she glances back at Han.]
It's a good thing you're not jealous, so I don't have to waste time telling you how pointless it would be.
[it's said lightly, despite the fact that it's 100% true and she feels that Han should already know that. Whether or not he actually is jealous. But it's that mumbled "Jabba the Hutt" that has her finally giving in and reading the torn paper.]
You'll no doubt be relieved to hear that I doubt Jabba considers me a friend.
[The question brings up some painful Xanatos flavored memories for Qui-Gon. Not that his fallen apprentice ever went full Sith, but his descent to the Dark Side still stings all the same.]
[He's silent for a few moments before he responds.]
According to the Jedi Code, one would have to fulfill his or her duty and destroy the Sith regardless of their origins.
[She's no Jedi, she doesn't know what's actually in the Jedi Code. She only has her own assumptions based on what she knows of the Jedi. And Qui-Gon's response is in line with what she assumed. So instead of repeating arguments from the previous disaster--arguments she knows Qui-Gon has already heard--Leia regards Qui-Gon silently for a moment, tilting her head as she does so.]
[Qui-Gon bites back what would've been an admittedly childish retort with yet another reminder that Leia isn't wrong. The entire situation surrounding Anakin and his fall to the Dark Side is mired in grayscaled should haves and would haves that all culminate in perhaps one of the worst inflictions upon the galaxy since the days of the Old Sith Empire. He can't deny that.]
[But he also can't deny what he knows Obi-Wan did to Anakin. The forbidden marks used, and the emotional turmoil it's put the man through to know that even committing an atrocity himself couldn't stop the destructive force that is Darth Vader.]
[And he won't betray it, either. If Obi-Wan already told Leia in confidence, then that was his business. Qui-Gon won't make any assumptions in that regard, just as he won't make any assumptions that he can ask Leia to forgive Obi-Wan at the very least.]
Fair enough.
However, it is my sincere hope that you have not been put into such a position yourself, and never will be.
[She pauses for a moment before actually responding, debating whether she actually should say or not, without getting a reassurance from Han that he won't go bellow at Ezra or something. But, he seems much calmer now than originally, so she decides it's as okay as it probably ever would be.]
His name is Ezra Bridger. He just arrived this month.
[he has calmed down a bit, and although the question is offered through gritted teeth, even han is wise enough not to question the the claim of "no ex-boyfriends" in town. although he does have some burning questions.]
Page 3 of 53