"I think we've been trying the wrong approach, "Jemmiah explained to the keepers, "We've been trying to tempt it with things that it likes." She saw she had everyone's attention. "How about we persuade it with things it DOESN'T like."

The keepers looked blankly at each other.

"There must be something that Murrits don't care for." Insisted Jemmy doggedly. She was met by row upon row of vacant looks.

"Fire, I s'pose." Offered one of the more vocal of the keepers.

"What, so we set fire to Master Windu's cloak and smoke it off?" Jemmiah folded her arms. She saw Mace hovering in the background, and found herself feeling genuinely sorry for him.

He reminded her an old lampshade.

"How about water?"

The keepers consulted each other. The general consensus was that Murrits didn't care for water either, but that merely dowsing it would achieve little. Once a Murrit was stuck, it took a lot to unstick it.

"How about a hose? Knock it off with a huge jet." Grinned Jemmy. All her sympathy vanished instantly from whence it came. Three of the keepers went away to fetch their extra large hose, the one they used to cool down the giant Sea Galukks.

She was going to enjoy this.

*******

Mace couldn't quite understand what was being attempted. He tried to utilize the force to his best advantage, but all it told him was that something was about to happen. And that his heart was beating way too fast.

He thought he heard Jemmiah shout "Ready", followed by the faint hiss of something that sounded fairly fast and furious, like a jet of air... Why wouldn't they tell him what was going on?

"Ready for wha..."

Then it hit him.

The blast was so strong and unexpected that it knocked both himself and his furry companion clean onto the ground. It felt as if a hundred weight of Banthas had been invited to jump up and down on his chest. In the background, there were excited cries of mixed voices, and one above all others: "Turn it up!"

Mace tried to wave his arms to fend the blast of water from him, feeling the waves of downright anger from the creature as it screamed and chittered and dug its claws further and further into Windu's head to secure himself further.

"Turn it off!" yelled Mace.

"Turn it up!" yelled Jemmiah, aiming the increasing jet of water at the thoroughly soaked pair, trying to knock the Murrit off...

*******

Mace Windu stood, with not a single inch of him dry. If he'd been swimming in the Flipperphant's enclosure he couldn't have been wetter.

Up top, a highly bedraggled Murrit sat still firmly welded to Mace's head, only this time the hair didn't hang so much in curtains but in wet clumps, which fell plastered down the sides of Windu's head. If anything, the smell of wet Murrit was worse than when it was dry, and Mace felt as if he were going to vomit.

Jemmiah had made a quick getaway after her attempt at saving the day had failed, having asked one of the keepers where the Gurnaf area was and bidding Mace a hasty and somewhat mirthful retreat, before setting off to find Obi-Wan. Windu's situation had not improved one tiny bit.

And it was about to get worse.

A tall, long striding figure walked in astonishment through the crowds, taking in the vast number of spectators that lined the outside of the barrier. Mace recognized the man's force presence straight away.

[QUI-GON!] He sent. [YOU'VE GOT TO HELP ME!!!]

Jinn was shown into the enclosure by one of the keepers who knew he was with the Jedi temple party. He swept the area with his eyes, reassuring himself that all was well with the initiates, before letting his vision settle on the stricken Mace Windu. Wet Murrit hair fell like bunches against his cheek. The sight he saw before him caused Qui-Gon to completely forget his swollen eye.

"Qui-Gon, DO SOMETHING!!!" Hollered Mace.

Qui-Gon did do something.

He laughed

*******

Ocen-Bai Talz looked around him. He was surprised at how well the trip was going.

"Everybody done?"

"Yessss." his charges chorused.

"You sure? I don't want any accidents."

"We're sure."

"Good. So what do you want to do now?"

"Can we feed the ducks again?" "I wanna see the duckies!"

"Again? That's where we just came from."

"Pleeeeeeaase?"

"Oh, all right. Do you still have some credits?"

"We do."

"Come on then."

As they walked, Ocen-Bai contemplated his good fortune. His group of initiates seemed to be obsessed with ducks. That made it easy to keep track of them. Even better, they all appeared to have good bladder control. Quite a relaxing trip, all in all. Well, once they'd settled down from the excitement of a zoo. They reached the duck pond.

"Don't give all your pellets to any one ducks, kids. Too much food for any being is bad."

"Even a Hutt, Bai?"

"Even a Hutt."

Ocen-Bai sat down and relaxed. The kids had been feeding the ducks for over an hour now, and didn't seem to get bored. This trip had turned out to be a great idea. He glanced at his chrono. Only an hour 'till I have to get them to the exit? Wow, this has gone fast. He decided it was time for a head count, just to be safe.. One, two, three, four.. five? Wasn't there only four before?

"Hey, umm.." Darn it, what's his name.. "uhh.." Arrgh. Forget it. "Alderaanian kid?"

"I have a name."

"Sorry, but I don't remember it. Anyway, weren't you with the masters?"

"Yeah, but Master Windy saw you here, and said I could come feed the ducks, if you didn't get upset. Please let me staaay."

"You're sure you okayed it with Master Windu? You're not trying to lie to me?"

"You can ask Windy yourself."

"Not that I don't trust you, but it's best to be sure." He pulled out his comlink. "Master Windu?" No response. "Master?" Still nothing. "Hello? Is anyone hearing me?" Silence. Ocen-Bai examined his com. "Darn. Power's dead."

"Can I please stay?"

"Okay. You can stay." He's going to be a Jedi, right? So he wouldn't lie to me. "Kids, we've got a bit less than an hour left, so start saying bye to the duckies."

"Do we haaave to?"

"Yes. You want to be Jedis, right? A Jedi always keeps his word."

His original four agreed rapidly, but the fifth.. "I want to stay longer!"

"No, we can't disobey."

Great kids. Really obedient. Actually.. Obedience is normal, in a kid under ten, isn't it? Or.. "Hey, how about getting something to drink on the way out?"

"Sure."

They do sound kind of dazed.. Force! Didn't that food vendor realize I was kidding, when I asked if he could slip a sedative in their lunch? If he didn't.. This is bad. Very bad. I wonder how the others are?

*******

"Where in the name of Yoda's toasting fork have you been?!!!"

Jemmiah could almost hear the exclamation marks in her friend's voice, and Obi-Wan's face made for an interesting study in both annoyance and relief. She swept downwards from the grass embankment, holding her shawl tightly around her shoulders until she reached the bottom of the verge where the bench was that Obi-Wan and a seemingly comatose Simeon were sprawled upon in un-Jedi like fashion. He half arose from his seat, but she waved him back down, trying to place herself between the two weary figures by squashing herself in.

"Budge up!" she frowned as Simeon just looked glazedly at her.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

She matched his stare before conceding the point. Politeness. Right.

"Budge up, PLEASE!" she repeated, copying Obi-Wan's educated and precise tones. When she received no response from Simeon, she reached over and tipped up his crossed legs, so that Simeon went rolling off the bench.

"You never really grasped the concept of consideration to others, did you?" Obi-Wan said dryly. He looked at Simeon, wakening somewhat from his stupor.

"Just leave him there," smiled Jemmy. "He looks happy enough to me."

Obi-Wan placed his hands on her shoulders. "Where were you?" he asked, the urgency back in his voice. "I was getting more than a little worried."

"Well, as you can see, I'm fine." she reassured him. She looked back down at the sprawling mass on the ground that was Simeon Cates who, it seemed, was making an intense inspection of her feet.

"What's his problem?" she wondered out loud. "I know, he's one of those foot fetishists, isn't he? You sure no how to pick your friends, huh?" As she spoke, she caught Simeon with an extremely daft expression on his face making a delighted thumbs up sign and pointing to her feet. Obi-Wan groaned inwardly.

"What's he been drinking, and where do I get some?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I thought you told me you'd sworn of alcoholic binges. Especially after last time."

"That wasn't my fault. Your friend Abran spiked that drink." she paused, looking at Simeon. "He wasn't much better. Kept going on about Dimallie."

"Dimallie!" Obi-Wan's face lit up. Of course! No wonder Simeon had seemed so distracted of late. Oh, the agony of unrequited love...

"You were well gone," muttered Obi-Wan, "and from where I was you were really making the most of it."

She wrinkled her nose. "Was not!" she said, indignation beginning to set in.

"Oh, yes? How do you explain the earring episode?"

"I don't remember." she replied far to swiftly.

Obi-Wan smirked. "You pulled it from your ear, dropped it down the front of your top and said to anyone within shouting distance "I appear to have lost my earring. Anyone want to help me find it!" She blinked.

"I wouldn't have minded so much," grumbled the padawan, "except every male in the cantina started to form a line!"

Jemmiah pinched his cheek playfully. "Awww, bless him. He's jealous." She broke off to look at him more closely. Something about him seemed a little bit different...a bit...green.

"Ben, are you feeling ok?" she asked hesitantly.

"A little light headed," muttered Obi-Wan, "and these damn kids aren't helping in the least. They won't stop fighting and yelling and..."

He caught her smile.

"You're not very good with kids are you?" she snorted.

"And you are?"

She began to feel uncomfortable. "What makes you say that?"

Obi-Wan stood up and discretely slipped his arm through hers when Simeon wasn't looking. They started to walk a few paces. "Just something that Qui-Gon said. Remember that time he was joking that children should be seen and not heard? And you said that you didn't think they should be seen either!"

The mention of Qui-Gon seemed to completely dampen the conversation.

"I think he saw me on the way in." she stated.

"What!"

"Which means he's going to put two and two together and realize we've been sneaking around behind his back. Although I think we'll be fine for the moment," she added coyly, "as he was a little tied up when I saw him last!"

Obi-Wan was looking back at Simeon, who was attempting to pull himself back onto the bench. Was it his imagination or did Simeon look a little greenish? Or was it the sunlight playing tricks on him? He turned to Jemmiah, noticing she didn't look too good either.

"I'm ok." she murmured, reading his mind. "Too many Takkini chips. They don't agree very well with my digestion."

Obi-Wan himself didn't feel too great either. When he walked, his head seemed to be up in the clouds, as if completely detached from his body. And he had drunk much less of that stuff than Simeon. Force knew how he was feeling...

"We need to talk about Corellia." Obi-Wan said flatly. "But I'm not too happy about having to do it surrounded by legions of screaming kids and a padawan who doesn't know his own name anymore." He made a decision. "We'll get Abran back here. In the meantime, we'll have to try and sober him up a little." He jerked his thumb at Simeon.

Jemmiah nodded. "Pity I left that hose behind. That would have done the trick..."

"What?"

She smiled alluringly at him. "Nothing. You contact Abran and I'll try and find a vendor that sells hot caff." She walked back towards Simeon, pausing briefly to ruffle his dark, spiky hair. "Hang in there, laughing boy." she grinned to herself. "We're not finished with you yet!"

*******

Qui-Gon couldn't help it.

He just couldn't!

Every time he thought he was over the worst of his laughter attack, he would look up at Windu and crease up all over again.

Damn, but it was funny!

The terrible thing was, that everyone else had taken this as their cue to laugh as well. Before, there had been only the occasional muted titter, a small chortle from outside the enclosure, or a high pitched giggle from the initiates inside. But unfortunately for Mace, everyone had taken the tall, bearded Jedi Master's lack of control as a sign that it was ok for them to do exactly the same. And they had.

For nearly twenty minutes.

Tears were streaming down Qui-Gon Jinn's face. He didn't really know if the crowds were laughing at him, or laughing at Mace, but he didn't have the energy to care. He took a deep breath.

"When I said you should try to embrace the living force more," he choked, "this isn't quite what I had in mind!"

There was a moments quiet.

"Just get this thing off, will you!" growled Windu. He felt he was about to suffocate from the smell of damp Murrit.

Qui-Gon frowned. This would be interesting.

Gathering the force to calm himself, Jinn mulled the problem over. They'd tried persuasion. They'd tried compulsion.

They hadn't tried the force.

He walked towards his beleaguered friend, and as he did so he felt the soaking Murrit tense itself for another assault. It stared at Qui-Gon, who reached out with the force, trying to touch its mind. He wanted it to feel unthreatened. He now stood only a couple of paces away.

Slowly, he raised his hand.

"All right, my little friend. You've had your fun. Time to go home."

And with that, the Murrit jumped off.

*******

"You just ASKED it?" Windu couldn't believe what was being said. "You mean to say that we tried every means possible in the world to shift it, from berries to water cannons...and you just ASKED it to let go?"

Qui-Gon nodded, finding it difficult to keep a straight face. He knew how embarrassing this must be for his friend. The worst aspect of it was that he had been feted as a hero by the keepers and the crowds, whilst even the initiates had a new icon to worship. Qui-Gon basked momentarily in his transformation from villain to super-Jedi, and raised his hands in a mock salute to the crowds.

They cheered him.

Poor Mace, he thought, as he lapped up the adoration somewhat smugly. It always seemed to happen to him. He was at that moment, wiping himself down with a towel, trying to remove the hair and filth from his head and face. But the smell remained.

"IF you've finished," Windu growled unappreciatively, "I think we'd better get moving. Don't you?"

Qui-Gon smiled. "Of course." He waved behind him with his hand. "But if you really don't mind, I'd prefer it if you walked at the back of us where we can't smell you!"

Mace's features were stony.

Revenge might not be the Jedi way but he'd get his own back somehow. And soon!

*******

"I need to grow more arms," muttered Jemmiah as she wandered back over the hill laden with as many plasti-cups of caff as she could fit in her grasp. From what she'd seen of Simeon, she didn't think she'd asked the vendor for enough of the stuff either. Master Jinn was going to go ballistic...if he ever caught up with them. She really hoped that Simeon and Obi-Wan would sober up before he did, but Jemmy didn't hold out much hope of that. When was she ever going to get to talk to Obi-Wan?

She remembered the look on the face of the vendor when she'd asked for seven cups of caff "as black as Sith, please." He'd given her a knowing look. Alcohol was not permitted in Coruscant Zoo. But that didn't really stop any determined revelers...and it certainly hadn't on this occasion. Oh, Simeon was in deep poodoo this time. She began to lengthen her typically loping, Corellian stride as the caff began to burn her arms through the plasti-cups. The nearer she got to where she had left the little group of padawans and kids, the more she began to tense. Something wasn't right here...

There was a sound carrying on the wind, a sound that Jemmiah didn't think was usual within the confines of a zoo.

Singing.

The loping stride became a gallop as she retraced her steps over the embankment and then descended, only to face a clearly revived Simeon, waving his hands about in animated fashion to the kids, who it seemed, he had lined up in three neat rows. The singing was coming from the kids. If you could call it that. Jemmiah didn't think she had ever heard such a collection of tone deaf individuals in one place at a single time. It was not surprising that the temple didn't have a choir.

She walked over to Obi-Wan; who not for the first time today was sitting holding his head in his hands.

"What happened to him?" Jemmy asked incredulously. "When I left him he was barely able to see out of his crossed eyes!"

Obi-Wan didn't look up. "He recovered somewhat about five minutes after you left." He hissed. "And he's been in Hyper-Space ever since!"

Jemmiah frowned. "The ungrateful wretch. What do I do with all this caff?" She glanced at Simeon dancing about maniacally and caught sight of his face. He looked much, much worse than he did when she'd last seen him.

"Burning blazes!" she stared.

"What?" mumbled Obi-Wan.

"He looks like he should be swimming in the amphibian pool with the Madalese Emperor toads!"

That kicked Obi-Wan's self pity to one side. He looked up at his fellow padawan. He was a distinctly unhealthy shade of green. There was no mistaking it.

"Sith! He looks like Yoda's better looking twin brother!" Obi-Wan's mouth fell open. What was going on here, he wondered?

There was a brief pause, as he caught Jemmiah looking at him, overly long.

"Err...I don't know how to tell you this, Ben, but..."

He caught sight of his own hands. They weren't as bad as Simeon's, but they were tinged with perhaps the slightest hint...

"Uuuurgggh!"

It seemed the only thing Obi-Wan could think of to say that was appropriate to the situation. He decided that cowardice was the better part of valor, and covered his face once more. He just wanted to hide.

"Is this death?" He wailed to Jemmiah.

She considered. "Sith, no. Death is when Master Jinn catches up with you two for being inebriated whilst in charge of these darling little squidlings here."

Obi-Wan glared. "Suddenly, everyone's a comedian today."

It must have been that drink, he thought to himself. Hellfire, what had Simeon put in it? How much did he have?

"Where's Abran?" Jemmiah wondered.

Obi-Wan's only answer was another groan. "You just HAD to ask that, didn't you?"