"It's YOUR fault!"
"You didn't say 'no'. As a matter of fact, YOU suggested the colours!"
Qui Gon and Mace stood at the door of the empty Council Chamber. Their voices echoed slightly off the walls.
"I never realized how big this place is!" Mace said.
"Well, standing here won't do the job." Qui Gon sighed. "Let's get to work."
For a time silence reigned.
Then:
"They said it was washable!"
"It was; off the duracrete. But not off the palva-wood or the tarhide. And you had to pick pink and yellow." Qui Gon glowered at Mace. "Oh Sith! This mosaic, I swear I'll never come in here with dirty boots again!"
"Yeah, And look by the chairs. Did they have a party in here or something? I didn't know they were allowed to eat in here!"
Silence.
Then:
"I didn't think it would stain. I mean, we tried to clear it off the paneling! How was I to know the bleach would strip the wood?" Qui Gon's voice quivered. "And I didn't know the couch and rug weren't stain guarded. I mean, you'd figure having a kid around he'd take some precautions!"
Mace looked at him from behind one of the Councilors chairs.
"Yeah, I'm really sorry about the wood, but at least Master Yoda can stain it back to the dark green it was. It won't always be green and white and...pink."
"But the rug! It's bright yellow with big pink blotches all over it."
"What's he going to do with it?" Mace asked.
"He stuck it in MY room. He told me: 'teach you not to play with paint balls, this will.' I thought that was going to be the end of it, but nooooooooo! We have to do this! It's not fair!"
Qui Gon moved to Master Piels' chair.
"AUGH!!!!! I think you're right: they did have a party here and Master Yoda supplied the food! This stuff is like duracrete! I'll never get it off."
Silence fell again.
"It was good Force training, wasn't it Qui?"
"Yeah, but I think we so...except we should have stuck with making them change shape instead of playing tag with them. Well, at least the bathroom cleaned up." He said brightly.
"What do you think made him most mad? I mean we didn't go into the bedrooms." Mace commented.
"He would have killed us both if we did. Most mad? I dunno...maybe the walls and rug, maybe the curtains, maybe our clothes. Maybe when we hit him in the head when he came through the door… You'd think after all these year his reflexes would be better!"
The sound of a stick tapping the floor brought both boys to their feet.
Master Yoda stood by the door, a bright blotch of pink and yellow paint sat squarely on his forehead.
"Missed a spot, you did." He handed them both fresh toothbrushes. "Do it
again."