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"Look!" Obi-wan calls as Mace leads his horde past the training halls. "It's Nantos!"
The horde perk up.
"Hewwo Nantos!" Obi-wan yells as he darts away from Mace and barrels into the hall, his feral little gremlins at his back.
Luckily, Padawan Du Crion manages to turn off his lightsaber before the tiny redhead leaps into his chest, knocking him backwards and taking him to the floor, where all the other younglings pile on top of him.
"Do you have no control of them?" Master Jinn sighs, switching off his own saber.
"None at all." Mace confesses without worry. They have more than enough control of themselves.
Obi-wan seems to be happily explaining to the captive and highly amused Padawan why three bantha would beat a krayt dragon in a fight. For some reason the bantha seem to have access to quite large quantities of explosives. And knowledge of how to use them.
"If we could perhaps return to our lesson, Padawan." Jinn asks, and the Padawan stands up with a smirk, tiny bodies cascading off him.
"Sorry creepy little Initiate and his identical tiny friends."
"Force be wivvu!" Obi-wan chirps, and then they're all headed off, back towards the council chambers.
Mace frowns. Something is different. There's an extra presence following him, in step with his children. He reaches out into the force. It's not a being, but a kyber crystal. A lightsaber.
They had actually stolen Master Jinn's lightsaber. Without Mace noticing. Or Master Jinn for that matter, given the absence of particularly tall Jedi chasing them down the corridor. Mace wonders how long it will take him to realise it's missing. And how long to find it.
Without changing his stride, Mace turns his head until he locks eyes with Cody. The look of polite enquiry he gets is perfect, but he's given away by the smug satisfaction oozing through his force presence.
Mace turns forwards again before saying
"We need to work on your shielding."
"Shields are gone?" Cody asks, surprised then resigned. "Gen'ika!"
Obi-wan giggles, flaring with mischief in the force. That had been a deliberate oversight then. Not telling them. A way to keep a tactical advantage over his friends.
"Worried about attachment, we are." Yoda says, which is a predictable but not great start to the council meeting.
"Not tached." Obi-wan says with a frown. "Inna war. Might die ewwy day. Not stop me fwom lovein dem. Jus havta cept dat me or dem prolly die tomowow." He shrugs, tiny shoulders going up then down. "Lossa people died. Evone dies somepoint. Not stoppin lovein dem nenyway."
"So you admit that you love them?" Master Mundi asks.
"Yep." Obi-wan says, cheerfully and without hesitation. "But snot nimportant. Force is nimportant. Galaxy is nimportant. Feelins might be big, but feelins not nimportant."
"Master Yoda not big, but Master Yoda is imporsant." One of the children adds.
Yoda chuckles.
"Size matters not." He repeats, to the eye rolls of everyone on the council who've all heard that a hundred times before.
"If he did turn dark, he'd probably take over the galaxy." Master Dooku mutters, wry.
"Gen'ika's not been takin over galaxy." One of the children says as if this is the stupidest thing they've ever heard. "Cody's been takin over galaxy."
Most of the children nod in agreement, and Obi-wan snickers.
"Nuh uh." Cody says with a smirk. "S against wegulations."
"More important than feelings, regulations are hmm?" Yoda asks.
Cody frowns and looks at his fingers as if counting.
"Goes not beein di'kut, den keepin Gen'ika alive, den keepin bwovers alive, den wegulations, den feelins."
"Awww!" One of the children coos, "Cod'ika lowves us more dan wegulations!"
"Wuv you too, Cod'ika!"
Cody remains visibly unmoved by his siblings enthusiastic declarations.
"Bwovers not wery good at not being di'kuts." He says with all the gravity of someone imparting great wisdom, not taking his eyes off Yoda. "Wery difficult keepin dem alive."
"And, err, what is a deekoot?" Master Gallia asks.
"Somewone who forgot to put pants on!" Obi-wan calls out, and promptly falls over with the hilarity of it. From the uncontrolled laughter of the children, this is apparently the height of humour for younglings.
Master Yoda hums, ears twitching in amusement.
"Attached, perhaps, you might not be. Attached Master Windu will become, hmm?"
Of course Mace is attached. Can nobody see how adorable his younglings are? This would be a very bad time to get caught in a lie, so he just raises a scornful eyebrow. In an order of space wizards who know if you're lying to them, there are advantages to being a man of few words.
His look of utter scorn is interrupted by the chamber doors flying dramatically open, and a slightly harried Master Jinn stumbling in.
"I'm so sorry, Masters," he says, reaching out a hand. His lightsaber flies across the room, not from the gaggle of children as Mace had been expecting, but from the folded hands of one of the statues lining the walls between the windows. He has no idea how the children got it there without anyone noticing. "There it is." He breathes in relief, then graces each member of the council with a suspicious, narrow eyed look. "May the force be with you." He says, then he bows and strides out through the doors again.
Not a single one of his children gives any indication of guilt, other than the wild sense of glee they're radiating into the force.
"Well," Plo says happily, "they're going to be a credit to the theater class."
Mace looks around the council.
Nobody objects.
"Agreed it is then." Yoda says.
Mace feeds his flare of triumph to the force. It's unbecoming of a Jedi. He stands up, and takes deliberate measured steps until he's standing in front of his children. They're all watching him cautiously.
"Ad'ike." He says, and watches them all perk up at the word, heads tilting. He sends his thanks for the quick language lesson he'd been given last night to Obi-wan through the force. "Would you do me the honour of allowing me to become your adult supervision?"
In the force, there flares joy and satisfaction and... something like triumph. Over the excited acceptance of what are now undeniably his children, Mace narrows his eyes at the Initiate. The very smug Initiate. This was their goal from the beginning. He's been thoroughly manipulated. By a tiny child.
"Well played, Kenobi." He mutters.
The brat just grins at him. Utterly unrepentant. Then holds his hand up to Cody for a clumsy high-five.
No matter. They're his children now. No take-backsies.