Private Crazy Rich Jedi

[Xian Xiao]

The smell hit before anything else.

Warm, real, immediate in a way that cut cleanly through sleep without dragging her out of it too fast. Xian shifted under the blanket, her brow easing instead of tightening this time, the scent of food doing what noise hadn't managed to.

Her eyes opened slowly, not forced, just… waking.

"…okay," she murmured, voice still rough with sleep as she pushed herself up onto one elbow, taking a quiet breath like she was making sure it wasn't imagined.

It wasn't.

She sat up properly after a second, rubbing at her eyes before letting her hand fall, the last of sleep fading as the smell pulled her fully into the morning.

"…that's better," Xian added, softer now, already reaching for something more functional than irritation.

Food worked.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko was moving as she breathed in and followed her nose towards it. The main hall in the clouds was smelling delicious as the table was set up not like a mess hall below. NO it was one massive table that wrapped around with a head of it where Unaga sat overlooking all of them. The shoji screens had been drawn back to frame the garden, but it was the low, polished table of black persimmon wood that commanded the room. A testament to morning abundance, the spread seemed to breathe upon its lacquered surface. Steam rose in ghost-like threads from a central iron pot of miso shiru, the fermented soybean paste whispering of dashi and soft, silken tofu. Beside it, a haze of heat danced above a smaller, ceramic vessel of steamed rice, each grain a pearl of impossible whiteness.

The eye, once caught, could not escape the careful geometry of the meal. A rectangular, unglazed platter held a fillet of grilled silver-skinned fish salt-crusted sake its flesh still sizzling a faint, wet song. To its left, a trio of porcelain cups cradled tsukemono: amber takuan cut like coins, deep green spinach glistening with sesame, and nukazuke pickles the color of a winter sunset. A stoneware crock, rough and unassuming, promised the fermented punch of natto, the sticky beans coiled around chopsticks left deliberately across its rim. Golden sheets of tamagoyaki, built in delicate, sweet layers, were still warm, sweating faintly against a bamboo leaf.

Then there was the aroma. It did not assault, but rather unfolded. The clean, oceanic salt of the fish mingled with the toasty-nutty fragrance of the rice. From the miso rose a deep, savory umami the soul of the sea captured in a bowl. The pickles offered a bright, acidic counterpoint, a sharp inhale of vinegar and salt that cleared the senses. Underneath it all was the earthy ghost of charcoal from the hibachi, and the distant, green scent of the garden's morning dew filtered through the screens. A single, wide bowl of dark, roasted sobacha sat at the head of the place setting, its buckwheat scent a promise of grounding warmth.

The layout was a map of intentional care. Each dish had its designated zone, its own pair of hashi resting on ceramic hashioki like sleeping dragons. Small, shallow dishes of pale green yuzu-ponzu waited for the fish. A tiny, lidded pot held nori, the black sheets as crisp as silence. Nothing was crowded; there was a deliberate, breathing emptiness between each vessel, a space for the eye to rest. It was a landscape of the edible, prepared not just for hunger, but for a quiet, reverent attention a morning ritual set in porcelain, wood, and steam. Noriko finding a place to sit down and enjoy while there were plenty of cousins and space for everyone with a smile on her face.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian followed the smell before she really meant to, still half in that slow, waking state until the warmth and richness of it pulled her the rest of the way into the morning. She slowed when she stepped into the hall, her eyes taking in the spread with a quiet sort of disbelief, not because she hadn't seen meals like this before, but because it still managed to catch her off guard every time.

"…that's a lot," she murmured under her breath, not complaining, just acknowledging it as she moved toward the table.

She slipped into an open spot without ceremony, tucking one leg in and then the other as she settled, hands hovering for a second like she wasn't entirely sure where to start. Her stomach made that decision for her. Xian reached for the rice first, the simple, steady warmth of it grounding in a way she didn't question, before moving to the miso and letting its heat settle into her hands.

The first sip made her shoulders drop just a fraction.

"Okay… yeah, I needed this," she admitted quietly, more to herself than anyone else, though the faint ease in her voice made it clear she wasn't guarding it.

She picked at the rest more slowly after that, not rushing, tasting things instead of just eating them, even if she didn't have the patience for the ritual of it all. A piece of fish, a bite of rice, something pickled that made her pause and blink before going back for more anyway.

Her gaze drifted briefly across the table, catching Noriko already settled in like she belonged exactly where she was, and Xian looked away again just as quickly, not avoiding, just… not engaging yet.

"…you weren't kidding about food," she added after a moment, a hint of something lighter threading into her tone as she reached for another piece of tamagoyaki.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

The food was delicious as she had much more of it. She had a plate and she had the others who were around her. They were always making an impressive display of the food while she had some rice. THe sounds of conversation going as she saw Xian shuffle in. NOriko grinned at least she had gotten up for the food as the sound went silent. Unaga rising up from her seat while she walked with a look around the table to see all of them. "Silence." Her voice was not a shout, it was stern, it was powerful but it was not a shout for them and it didn't give any emotion when she marched down the table. "We have a new addition to the family, a new child of the clan was found and we welcome her." She was walking and stopped behind Xian with a look as she didn't need to put hands she just stood there. "We will welcome her as family does. Make sure she is taught properly." She said it with a look while she was moving. "She has already taken to her new quarters I am told and has great talent."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian nearly choked on the bite of rice she had just taken.

Her eyes widened slightly as the room fell silent around her, and the moment Unaga's voice cut through the hall, she immediately knew, with absolute certainty, that something terrible was about to happen to her specifically.

Then Unaga stopped behind her. Xian froze.

The heat rose into her face so fast it felt physical, climbing all the way to the tips of her ears until her expression matched her hair almost perfectly. She stared down at the table as if it had suddenly become the most important thing in the galaxy, hands tightening slightly around her bowl while every instinct she had screamed at her to disappear into the floorboards.

She could feel people looking. That somehow made it worse.

"We will welcome her as family does."

Xian's shoulders pulled in just slightly at the word family, not rejecting it, just overwhelmed by the sudden weight of hearing it spoken aloud in front of everyone. She kept her gaze fixed firmly downward, trying very hard to become invisible through concentration alone while Unaga continued speaking about her talent and quarters like Xian wasn't internally combusting in real time.

"…please stop talking about me," she muttered under her breath, so quiet it barely existed outside her own head.

The moment Unaga moved on and the attention finally began to drift elsewhere again, Xian let out the smallest breath of relief and immediately focused on the safest thing available to her.

Food. Without lifting her head much, she reached for another piece of tamagoyaki with the careful seriousness of someone pretending they had been deeply invested in breakfast the entire time.

She was still red. Very red. But at least people were eating again instead of staring at her.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

The woman passed and only stilled. "I didn't quite hear you niece." She said it but kept moving and hid the small smile of amusement on her face while NOriko was eating. Other cousins all welcoming, as several hadn't met her or seen her. NOriko was able to take a moment when she finished and the conversations resumed. Walking over and behind her padawan as she offered hands on her shoulders. "See making friends already I am so proud of you. Just look at those rosy cheeks." She was laughing to herself with that but not to be mean more to have fun. "I trust you have been enjoying yourself and didn't fill up too much?"

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian's eyes widened slightly when Unaga answered her without even turning around, and whatever remained of her dignity immediately collapsed into mortified silence. She stared harder at her rice as if concentration alone might undo the last thirty seconds of her life.

The moment the conversations resumed around the table again, she relaxed by perhaps half an inch, only for Noriko to appear behind her a second later.

Xian closed her eyes briefly.

Of course.

The hands on her shoulders made her sink just a little farther, where she sat, while Noriko happily announced her embarrassment to the world as if it were some great personal achievement.

"They are not rosy," Xian muttered automatically, which only made the very obvious redness across her face worse.

When Noriko mentioned filling up too much, Xian finally looked up with the expression of someone who had suffered tremendously and unfairly.

"I've only had about three bites of food," she said, gesturing faintly toward her bowl before reaching immediately for another piece of tamagoyaki like she intended to defend it from further interruption.

"Every time I try to eat, someone announces my existence to the entire room."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked at her and spoke. "It is only because your family loves you and cares for you and Unaga wants you to be happy... or if not happy then to not cause trouble... same as she wants for all of us." She said it with a look. "And yes she considers it of us all no matter what... our original sin, we are born guilty of testing her patience." She said it but was grinning all to herself. "Plus there is the whole point of you being here.. participating in family activities, a family gathering. THis is progress Xian, it needs to be marrrked in the family records. Celebrated yearly, given parties and celebrations. Oh we could get some A-Pop dancers to preform a musical number." She said it while walking back towaards her seat and getting some more food.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian looked absolutely horrified by the time Noriko reached the part about annual celebrations.

The redness in her face deepened so dramatically it almost looked painful, and she immediately dropped her head into one hand as if that might somehow protect her from the conversation continuing any further.

"No," she said at once, the word muffled slightly by her fingers before she looked back up with the expression of someone witnessing their future becoming increasingly catastrophic in real time. "No parties. No records. Definitely no musical numbers."

The fact that several cousins nearby looked amused by the idea only made it worse.

"A-Pop dancers?" Xian repeated weakly, sounding personally betrayed by the concept. "Why would that even be part of this?"

She could already imagine Noriko making it happen purely because she had objected to it, which made her narrow her eyes immediately in suspicion.

"You are not allowed to celebrate me successfully eating breakfast," she informed her master with as much dignity as someone bright red and clutching tamagoyaki could manage. "That cannot become a family tradition."

And yet, despite the embarrassment threatening to consume her entirely, she didn't leave.

Didn't shut down.
Didn't retreat back into silence.

Instead she finally took another bite of food, muttering under her breath while trying very hard not to smile at the ridiculousness of it all.

"…the food is worth surviving this, at least."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko was looking at her and raised an eyebrow. "You are right as always." She looked at the others. "She is right we should not celebrate her morning meal. That she is here and eating." NOriko said it while she walked around and looked at the others. "I shall make a pronouncement, on this day we shall celebrate Xian, newest member of the Ike Clan, padawan to me Noriko. We shall celebrate her actions this day not in her ability to eat food, or possibly draw the ire of our revered elder the Lady Unaga please do not judge us." She said it and there were murmurs from the others as Noriko gave a look. "No we shall celebrate her true talents and skills. We shall celebrate that she has had a good morning bowel movement and is healthy." NOriko said it and the Makie droid projected a hologrram of applause as the cousins laughed and were clapping.

 

[Xian Xiao]

By the time Noriko reached the word bowel, Xian already knew this was going catastrophically wrong.

Her eyes widened in immediate horror while the cousins around the table started laughing, and the moment the Makie droid projected applause, she made a strangled sound somewhere between outrage and disbelief before dropping her forehead directly onto the table with a soft thunk.

"No," came her muffled voice against the polished wood almost instantly. "No, absolutely not. We are not celebrating that."

The laughter around her only got worse.

Xian stayed there for another second as if seriously considering whether death by embarrassment was now a viable outcome before finally lifting her head just enough to glare at Noriko through hair that had fallen halfway into her face.

"I agreed to the family part," she informed her master with the exhausted dignity of someone trying very hard to survive this interaction. "I agreed to breakfast. I even agreed to being acknowledged publicly against my will."

She pointed accusingly toward her with a pair of chopsticks.

"But bodily functions should remain private and uncelebrated forever."

A few more cousins laughed at that, which only made her flush harder.

"The rest was fine," Xian muttered, trying and failing to recover composure while grabbing her rice bowl again like it was emotionally supporting her through the ordeal. "The welcoming thing was nice. The clan thing was nice. The healthy and alive thing is appreciated."

Her eyes narrowed immediately afterward.

"The bowel movement was where you lost me."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

She looked at Xian with shock and surprise and sat down. "Oh you poor sweet summer child, no one has explained.. you do not know... how could you... what horrible people have not explained such things to you." Noriko looked at her and wrapped her arms around her. "Oh don't worry my padawan we will give you an education, our family has credits and I have Sor-Jan's credit card.. we can pay for the best schooling, the finest tutors so that you can understand basic biology and what is within your body." She was looking at her. "It is going to be okay, we have all the time in the univerrse, we can take as long as is needed to teach you these things. Even if it takes ten no twenty years."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stared at Noriko for a full second in complete disbelief while her master wrapped her in the dramatic embrace of someone consoling a tragically uneducated child. Around them, several cousins were already trying and failing not to laugh into their breakfasts, which only made the heat in Xian's face climb higher.

Her composure finally cracked.

"Master," she said slowly, with the dangerous calm of someone balancing very carefully on the edge of losing patience entirely, "I know how my body functions."

Noriko's continued sympathy only made her narrow her eyes harder.

"You do not need to explain that shit to me."

The curse slipped out before she could stop it, earning at least one startled noise from somewhere farther down the table while Xian immediately buried her face in one hand again out of pure exhausted embarrassment.

Then she looked back up, red-haired, mortified, and trying very hard to remain respectful despite the fact that her master was publicly discussing her digestive health at breakfast.

"May I," she asked with strained dignity, each word growing more emphatic as she went on, "finish eating without being utterly and totally and completely embarrassed by you for five consecutive minutes?"

A pause.

Then, quieter and more wounded than angry:

"I was having a nice morning."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"I get the distinct impression you're embarrassed of me." NOriko said it while she was looking at Xian and spoke tapping her fingers together it faux nervousness and she was looking at her. "You know I only want you to smile and be happy, you have such a frowny face... we need you to smile Xian. You are a nice and pretty girl and smiles add ten years to your looks... frowns make you look like you bit into a lemon." THe jedi master said it while she was moving but went back to go sit and eat while her makie droid was looking at her. "Worry not cornhusker, she'll come around. I am incredibly hard to stay mad at, it is like a superpower... or a super force power."

 

[Xian Xiao]

"You are embarrassing me," Xian said immediately, the protest coming out with far more feeling than she ever allowed herself to show in public, especially while several cousins nearby tried and failed not to laugh into their breakfasts. Her face was still red. Very red.

When Noriko began explaining that smiling added ten years to her looks, Xian narrowed her eyes with the exhausted patience of someone enduring a natural disaster they had somehow become emotionally attached to. "I also want to look my age," she informed her master flatly as she reached for her tea again. "So if I never smile again, that's fine." A tiny pause followed before she added, with complete seriousness, "And lemons are actually quite good."

That earned another ripple of amusement from the cousins, which only made her sigh harder into her cup.

She watched Noriko wander back toward her seat with the Makie droid in tow, still talking confidently about her inevitable forgiveness, and the moment enough distance existed between them, Xian let out a long, quiet breath of relief like someone who had just survived a battlefield encounter. "…Force help me," she muttered under her breath.

Yet despite all the embarrassment and the public suffering inflicted upon her before she'd even finished breakfast, she didn't retreat into silence this time. Instead, she eased back into the rhythm of the table, her shoulders loosening little by little as the conversations around her resumed their natural flow. One of the cousins nearby offered her another dish with an amused smile, and after only the briefest hesitation, Xian accepted it with a quieter, less guarded thank you than she would have managed even a few days earlier.

The embarrassment remained. But so did she.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko shrugged when she sat back down with a grin before she was moving. To get some more food but her hands were also getting a few. "WHen this is over, majokai races." She said it with one and he gave her a look as they would be able to move. She was getting more food for herself, more rice and something to drink as the otherrs were planning things out. "Perrfect." She was spending a few more moments and took a final bite of some of the meats before she was moving up and had herr plate for the cleaning droid. She left with some of the others while they would be able to let Xian finish beforre she spoke. "Xian we're going to the majokai stalls join us when you are ready."

 

[Xian Xiao]

By the time Noriko finally wandered off toward the majokai stalls with several of the others trailing after her, the atmosphere around the table had settled back into something mercifully normal. The nearby cousins had moved on to other conversations; the laughter had faded into the comfortable noise of breakfast; and, most importantly, nobody was discussing Xian's digestive system anymore.

Which meant she could finally eat in peace.

Xian let out a slow breath she had apparently been holding for the last several minutes and lowered herself back into something resembling calm while she focused properly on her food for the first time all morning. Without the constant attacks on her dignity, the meal was actually pleasant. The rice was warm, the tea had cooled enough to drink comfortably, and someone nearby passed her another small dish without making a public event of it.

It felt… normal. Strangely normal.

When Noriko called back to her about the majokai stalls, Xian looked up from her bowl with far less panic than before, though there was still a cautious narrowing of her eyes as if verifying this was not somehow another trap designed specifically to embarrass her.

"…Alright," she said after a moment, the tension finally easing from her shoulders little by little. "I'll come when I'm done eating."

The answer came easier now, less guarded and less resistant than it probably would have only a few days earlier.

As the others disappeared further down the hall, Xian returned her attention to breakfast and found herself slipping naturally into the quieter conversations around her instead of retreating inward again. A cousin beside her started explaining something about the races while another argued over who always cheated during betting, and before long, Xian was listening with the hesitant but genuine interest of someone slowly realizing she didn't need to stand at the edge of the room anymore.

The embarrassment lingered.

Noriko practically guaranteed that it would never fully disappear.

But for the first time that morning, Xian actually looked comfortable sitting there among them, eating, listening, and letting herself exist without bracing for the next thing to go wrong.

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

She allowed the force to guide her towards the stalls, the massive beasts were beautiful, serpentine and sleeping. THey were not going to wake all of them but but you needed to be able to train and teach them at least the ones who would and could come out. Noriko looked at her droid as some of the cousins were running around the pens, others with their own and bonding with smaller ones while the largest were almost the size of ships and built like flying tanks... of massive power and lightside energy. Their whiskers and tails beautiful as she went towards one fo the oldest ones that they had there and she was wrapped around a clutch of eggs that were as laarge as any of them