She was already holding the device that would check his blood, but she stilled when she saw Harry's face had turned hard and his entire body had tensed. There was no mistaking the sudden caution in his mannerisms.
Harry stared at her for at least ten seconds before he finally said, in one of the rare times that Ahsoka and Aayla had heard him use an utterly serious voice. The only other time they had heard it was when Harry first realized the wookiees were being attacked. "You may draw my blood, but I will require that it doesn't leave my presence and I will watch you destroy it after you finish whatever test you intend to run."
"There is one thing that is precious to everyone who can access magic, and that is their blood," Harry was aware of the attention on him, so he spoke quietly and firmly to all of them, not a trace of joking on his face or in his tone. "Freely given blood, can be used to heal, curse, destroy, and do any number of absolutely horrid things to someone. The same can be said of forcibly taken blood if one is unprepared."
He turned to Aayla and Ahsoka, "It's one of the things you must always be conscious of. Do not give your blood, or allow it to be deliberately and consciously taken."
All three women looked like they wanted to ask exactly what could be done. But Harry shook his head slightly, not willing to get into it.
He turned to Shaak Ti, and held out his arm, his countenance continuing to convey the seriousness of the circumstances at hand.
Shaak Ti hesitated under Harry's gaze and despite her desire to know, felt compelled to be honest with the man after he expressed such seriousness. "Taking your blood is not strictly necessary. I admit to some curiosity about your midi-chlorian count." Harry's head tilted and a puzzled expression crossed his face. "My whata whata what?"
"Your Midi-Chlorian count," Shaak Ti repeated as she exchanged a look with the other two Jedi. As Harry's face still reflected confusion, her tone switched to explanatory. "It's part of what gives life, life and is found in the blood of all living beings. It generally determines how much potential someone has to wield and feel the Force. Quite simply, The higher the count, the more potential."
"Huh. So you think you've found a way to scientifically determine if someone is a magical or not. That's…. interesting." Harry's voice was musing as he considered that. He hadn't really bothered looking into anything medical as it related to the Jedi. All efforts he had ever been aware of had been ultimately unsuccessful. "I am curious because I feel the Force around here. But... unlike Master Secura and Ahsoka Tano, I cannot feel you within the Force at all. It is… a puzzle," She left unsaid that hiding oneself was a skill most prominently used by disciples of the dark side of the Force.
Harry had a wicked grin on his face, "Well if you wanted to feel me, all you have to do is ask…"
Shaak Ti's mouth twitched ever so slightly but otherwise showed no change in her demeanor as she regarded him.
He took in her expression and his tone turned more serious once more, "And how do you count my Midi-whatsis's?" "It only requires a… small prick, Harry," She smiled beatifically, as she held up the small medical device. "Something I wonder if you're intimately familiar with?"
The different reactions to this were priceless. Both Ahsoka and Aayla's mouths dropped in shock. But Harry … seemed elated beyond compare "It seems like the Jedi Order didn't manage to kill your sense of humor completely. Oh, I think I might actually eventually like you… maybe."
"Sorry, I can't say the same," Shaak Ti responded with a bit of a smug smile. "It takes more than a mere small prick and boasts of grandeur to excite me."
"Exciting a woman when I've set my mind to it has never been a problem for me," Harry chuckled and held out his arm once more, far more eager to satisfy this request suddenly than any other previous request any of the three women had previously made. "I freely give my blood, for this one circumstance."
Shaak Ti blinked as she felt a small surge in the Force. When nothing else happened she took a small device and pressed it against his hand for a moment. Harry felt a sharp pinch and then nothing as she pulled back the device. She held the device up and then turned to one of the machines on the table, sliding the small device in. The device beeped after a moment and she peered at the little screen with a frown.
"That's … odd." Shaak Ti pressed a few buttons on the machine. "What does it say?" Aayla asked curiously, she had after all tried to see the same thing when she had taken the blood from off of her skin. A fleeting thought occurred to her that her results had been gotten without his permission.
Shaak Ti tilted her head as she read the results. "I don't know… the reading it has just keeps changing. It can't seem to figure out what to read, but it keeps bouncing all over the place, including right off the charts in both directions."
"Try adjusting the charts?" Harry ventured.
Shaak Ti shook her head, "Not an actual chart, just a number but the number is continuously changing." "Maybe it's broken." Harry offered helpfully. "Try smacking it on something! That sometimes works for me!"
He turned to Ahsoka, "Alas, the two morons we met back on Coruscant aren't here. Their heads would've certainly been hard enough."
Shaak Ti hesitated before nodding, more to the first comment. Harry's second 'helpful' recommendation was dutifully ignored. She pulled the smaller device from the bigger machine and pressed it quickly to her own hand.
There was a small hiss from the machine before she efficiently pushed it back in the bigger device. Shaak Ti quickly shook her head. "It's not the device. My reading is always between seventeen and eighteen thousand, which is where it's reading right now."
"Isn't Master Yoda's reading around twenty thousand?" asked Ahsoka, her voice still cool to the Jedi Master, but also asking to give Harry some clue as to the numbers they were talking about without him remaining utterly clueless. Though she wasn't sure whether he would really care.
"Yes," Master Shaak Ti confirmed. "The only reading ever recorded as higher was Anakin Skywalkers, which we've estimated to be around 22 to 23 thousand."
"So what does that mean for Harry's readings?" asked Aayla as she glanced at him, still sitting there shirtless on the table. "Harry's readings should read accurately … But his rating just continues to change up and down. Not in any discernible pattern," Shaak Ti explained as she continued to examine the readouts.
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For some other reason this novel will only be published 3 times a week.
[Advanced chapters on my ko-fi page]
https://ko-fi.com/fictiontopia