Star Wars - Kenobi

different direction. He was about to turn yet again when Annileen saw him and called out.
    “Hey!”
    She approached him. “Orrin, what was going on in there? What was that about?”
    Flustered, Orrin looked back at the building and started walking. What passed for police in Mos Eisley arrived, while others gathered to watch the fattened whistlers roosting across the way. Orrin charged through the crowd. Annileen had to walk quickly to keep up. Orrin finally slowed when he reached where Boopa had parked the USV-5, some distance from the town house.
    There, he caught his breath and flashed a beleaguered grin to Annileen. “Well, I’m not selling any water to that place!”
    “Are you joking? Who were those people?”
    “A dead end,” he said, pulling a mirror from inside his landspeeder. “Serves me right for trying to follow every lead.” He combed his hair with his fingers.
    Annileen looked at the others in disbelief.
    “Yeah, uh, it was a business deal,” Mullen said.
    Veeka nodded. “That’s it. Er, I mean, that’s why … we’re here.” She gulped. “Yeah.”
    Orrin rolled his eyes. He moved to straighten his collar. But the act of tugging at his shirt caused dozens of credit chips to tumble from his vest pockets.
    Calwells and Gaults alike gawked. “Orrin, what is this?” Annileen demanded.
    Orrin knelt, red-faced, as he tried to collect the credits from the dusty ground. It was mostly small change, but from a wide variety of systems—and there was a lot of it. “The, uh … client compensated me for my travel.”
    Kallie looked at the pile of currency in his hands and laughed. “Did you come here from Coruscant?”
    The jittery man didn’t answer. He looked up at his son. “Get down here, Mullen, and give me your hat!”
    Mullen stared blankly. “Where’s your hat, Dad?”
    “Shut up and give it to me!”
    Mullen passed his hat to his father. Orrin resumed his frantic gathering, only looking up when he saw motion from the end of the street, in the opposite direction from the town house.
    Orrin dropped the money and stood. “Kenobi,” he said, watching Ben approach.
    Annileen turned. “You’re back!” She looked at Ben and then at the town house. “I thought you were going to check on Orrin?”
    Ben bowed. “It seems you’ve found him first.”
    Annileen stared at him searchingly.
    Jabe shook his head. “Big help you were.”
    Orrin looked at the ground, puzzling things through. His eyes widened. “You were looking for me? You’ve …” He stopped mid-sentence and looked back at the town house in the distance. He turned back to Ben. “You’ve been here all the time?”
    Ben pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “I’m having some repair work done. The Calwells were kind enough to direct me where I was going. And, yes. Annileen thought she saw you earlier. But I got sidetracked by a rather insistent street merchant.” He clasped his hands together. “Has there been some excitement?”
    Orrin glowered at him. “No, none at all.” He turned back to Annileen—and saw the glistening new landspeeder behind her. His face brightened. “Hey, you got it!”
    “It’s what you sent us here for,” she said. “It’s lovely, Orrin. But it costs so much—”
    “It’s nothing. I’m good for it!” Orrin gestured to his feet, where Mullen and Veeka collected the remaining credits. He stepped over them to join Annileen next to the new vehicle. Putting his left hand on the JG-8’s front steering vane and his right arm around Annileen’s midsection, he managed to hug both her and the landspeeder at the same time. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”
    Accepting the hug despite her unease, Annileen nodded. “It is.”
    “And so’s my Annie,” he announced to the others, his arm grasping her more tightly. “A beauty, I mean.”
    Orrin released her and turned her to face him. “Annie, listen. This is important. It’s, uh—why I wanted to be here in the city with you now. I knew Mos Eisley was special for you.” He took her right hand. “That landspeeder is just the start. I want you to marry me.”
    “Marry you!” Annileen’s eyes bulged. What?
    “The whole oasis has had us married for years. What are we waiting for?”
    “We’ve been waiting?” This was news to Annileen. She looked out at the others. Kallie and Jabe looked as astonished as she was; Mullen and Veeka, attentive. And Ben simply watched, emotionless.
    Orrin clutched her hand harder. “I’ve