“A Jetti dala, Harry?”
Harry looked up from his starfighter’s schematics to see his mentor/uncle/father figure’s smug and strangely delighted expression. His garish orange armor only made his presence harder to ignore.
“Uh, what?”
Sirus barked a laugh, “Oh, no, don’t play the fool with me, kiddo.” he placed a datapad in front of Harry who grimaced, it was the last job’s report, with a few ‘notes’ from H3-W1, the traitor, there were even pictures.
“Yes, Sirius, I saved a Jedi from the Seps, was a bit hard because General Grievous got involved, but we managed to come out ok, and I even got bonus pay from the Senate for getting some intel Fleur was after.” he realized his mistake too late.
Sirius’s smile widened, “Fleur, is it? Not…” he read the datapad for a moment, “Padawan Delacour? Why Harry, how unprofessional of you.”
Harry rolled his eyes, honestly, it was the same thing every time, Sirius was way too much into cheap romance holonovels.
“She’s a Jedi, Sirius, and okay, we may have, developed and friendly professional relationship, but that’s where it will stay, and I don’t think she likes me very much, our personalities kind of clashed.”
Sirius looked surprised for a moment, before his smile returned, “And you say that with that sad smile, Harry you got it bad.”
Harry huffed and closed his eyes, he didn’t need this right now, “What does it matter, it’s not like…it could happen.”
“Who told you that?”
Harry looked up at him in surprise, “Sirius, you know the Jedi and their...Code.” for some reason talk of the Jedi and their Code sometimes made his uncle angry.
Something dark flashed in his uncle’s eyes before it was gone, “Yes, I know it, better than you, I think, because I know that they don’t have to be celibate.”
“What?”
Sirius sighed and sat down, “Their Code forbids long-term attachment, that they put their feelings over their...service to the galaxy, it doesn’t forbid them to get closer to people.”
Harry looked offended at that, “So we could have a one-night stand and that’s it.”
For some reason, Harry thought that would be worse than not having anything at all. He didn’t even realize he had just admitted what he had been trying to deny.
“Well, that’s the gist of it, if you want, but I can tell you that not every Jetti follows that Code of theirs to the letter, in fact, many of their own Masters are very loose with it.”
Harry’s eyebrows lifted, “How would you know that?”
His uncle smiled smugly at him, “Oh, Harry’ika, I have worked with Jetti before you were born, I once even went on a mission with one of their Masters, for two weeks.” a fond look passed over his face, before he focused on Harry, “Her name was Fay, most powerful Jetti I’ve met, didn’t even use a lightsaber, could throw speeders around as if they were made of paper, and very, very wise, she taught me a lot about the Jedi Code, it’s failings and well, some other stuff.”
“Now you’re just pulling my leg.”
“Marauder’s word, kiddo, yes, she didn’t want anything long term, but it was fun while it lasted, and I improved a lot as a person too, and honestly, I think it would be good for you.”
Harry dropped any pretense and turned fully to the closest thing he had to a father, “Why?”
Sirius’ rubbed his chin for a moment, trying to find the words, and assumed a serious countenance that was rare for the laid back Mandalorian, “You know, normally I would tell you to drop this, because most Jetti are stuck up snobs who would place their Order over everything, including those they love,” another inscrutable look that Harry wasn’t even sure it was there before it was gone, “but, she, whatever she did got you smiling, truly smiling, not that crappy mask you wear around me and Rem.”
“Sirius..”
“No, no, kiddo, you may think you are fooling us, but you aren’t.“Sirius took a deep breath, before his sharp grey eyes looked at Harry with a determined glint to them.
“You aren’t even twenty-five yet and yet you live like an old verd, job from job, bounty to bounty, here in this ship with two old relics and a bunch of crazy droids, this is no life for you, you rarely truly smile, you don’t go out with kids your age...”
“Sirius, they..”
“Yes, yes, I know most of them either despise you for using your armor or for using it and not following that asshole Vizla around as if he was the Indomitable, but, there’s a whole galaxy out there, Harry…”
Sirius gestured to the viewport, now showing part of the asteroid field of the Mandalore system, “You don’t need to go out and party like crazy, that isn’t your style, but staying here and leaving only for work isn’t right either, you are meant for great things, Harry, we know it, and believe me, we were pulling our hair out trying to figure out how to light a fire under your ass, but then you met that Echani girl and suddenly you are smiling, listening to music that isn’t battle hymns and even painting your armor with more colors.”
Harry blushed, “It’s just…” how could he explain to Sirius how Fleur made him feel, how after two days of meeting her, she felt like a piece he was missing from the puzzle of his life, how her smile made him lighter, he had even suspected something was amiss, but his suit was vacuum sealed and for some reason, he was resistant to Force manipulation, so it was all her.
“That mission, made me feel like I did something that mattered, you know, helping in those people and working with her was...refreshing.” his blush intensified, and he wished he was wearing his helmet.
Sirius looked like Life Day had come early. “Well, that is more than we have seen for years with you Harry, you’re too young to be stuck in a routine, even if one as crazy and dangerous as ours.”
Harry nodded, thinking on the cryptic words of Fleur’s Master.
‘Strange creature you are, warrior, wings you have, yet, fly, you do not, hmm.’
“Perhaps you’re right, and maybe I should, talk, or do something, but how will I find her?” He couldn’t exactly comm the Jedi Temple as ask for her contact info.
Sirius’ eyes twinkled, “Well, your awesome ba'vodu Sirius has a solution, because we just received another contract from our friends, the 301st Legion,” he pressed a few buttons on the datapad and a nearby screen started showing the contract information.
“It appears they need your expertise to help do recon work on a Separatist base in Wayland, apparently their ARC Troopers are too tied up elsewhere, and their Clone Troopers aren’t fans of jungle worlds.”
Harry looked at Sirius with a flat look, “You planned all this?”
“Well, I was going to talk to you about it one way or the other, and it appears that even that Force of theirs wants for this to happen.”
Harry snorted, but he couldn’t help the smile on his face, “Well, I am gonna pack up.”
“Take the Thestral this time, and maybe you can get into a nice tussle with your Echani girl”
Harry shook his head, “She isn’t Echani, she’s Veela, from Veelar.” Though her hair had too much silver in it, so Sirius’ confusion was warranted.
“Ah, that explains the name, Veela, Veela...aha! Chocolate!”
“Chocolate?”
“Yes, they love sweet things, but chocolate is a delicacy to them, their planet is too cold to grow large quantities of it so it’s one of their major imports, there’s even contraband of it.”
“And you know this, because…”
“A story for another time, now, you are going to take a nice box of Trammitan chocolate to her and read up on how they curtsy to nobles on Veelar.”
“Curtsy?”
“Oh, believe me, she’s going to pretend to be annoyed but will wonder if you learned it for her and it may make her think of you if she thinks of that curtsy and even of her homeworld.”
As Harry was pushed to his quarters, he thought of how Sirius surprised him sometimes, and how grateful he was to have him.