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“Why is there a dead body on the floor?”
Xanatos looked up from the book he was currently reading and over at the dead human man lying next to the kitchen door. “Oh, has he died? He was still working on that the last time I looked.”
Cody felt his left eye twitch. “And why was there a dying man on the floor?”
Xanatos shrugged, attention being visibly drawn back to his book. “He tried to steal the book. I’m surprised he came as far as he did before he collapsed. The wards must have weakened over time.”
“The book?” Cody’s voice had become tense. “That book?” he pointed at the one Xanatos was currently reading from.
Cody took a deep breath and reminded himself that if Xanatos had been in the room while someone tried to steal one of his artifacts, the thief wouldn’t have lived long enough to be considered dying. Xanatos, distracted by whatever he was trying to read, seemed to notice nothing of Cody’s distress.
“Hm? Oh no. That one over there. The one in blue.” He gestured at the glass cabinet that housed all the things Cody had learned to not touch under any circumstances. Wait a moment…
“Xan?” Cody asked very carefully.
“Yes?”
“Is there a reason that the cabinet with all the dangerous and valuable artifacts is made of glass?
“Yes?”
“Is that reason so that people who want to steal said dangerous and valuable artifacts can better see said artifacts?”
“Yes?” He made it sound like that should have been obvious.
“And why exactly do you want people to know the position of those extremely dangerous and valuable Sith artifacts if they want to steal them?”
“They aren’t all Sith. Some of them are—” He broke off. Nice to know that Cody’s glare still had some impact. Xanatos sighed. “They are behind glass because anyone who gets this far knows what they want and isn’t going to stop to consider politeness. I got sick of people digging through my stuff. I’m not going to hide my books in my sock drawer, for all that they seem to think so. So I made them obvious. They will just hang themselves on the curses anyway. That’s why the curses are there to begin with.”
“So there is a dead body on the floor because…?”
“His own damn fault. The cleaning droids will take care of it in a bit.”
“Of course.” Cody took a deep breath. “Here is what I’m going to do now: I’m going to get food now. And when I come back the body will hopefully be gone. That would be very appreciated. Did you eat?”
The thoughtful blinking told Cody that no, Xanatos had not eaten recently and was currently trying to remember when he had last done so. Yesterday, perhaps, going by how long it was taking him to remember. Or the day before.
“Right. If Obi-Wan comes back, don’t let him leave until I have gotten food into both of you.”
Xanatos nodded absentmindedly, eyes already going back on his book. Cody wondered if he would even notice if someone who wasn’t currently trying to kill him entered the room. Or for that matter, what would happen to anyone who did tried to steal that book. The stains on the cover looked rather ominous, now that he thought about it.