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Description
Chapter 1
Mira

It was nice to get a quiet moment for once. I sat in our little clearing, just relaxing and thinking. Kana was in town, stocking up on provisions for the coming month. Kirin and Marl were gathering firewood in the forest. I’d worry about the little troublemakers, but they’d both always had a knack for communicating with animals through the force. I felt a pang of regret, thinking how they’d have been great Jedi in a bygone era.

All around me the usual sounds of Vernon’s forests echoed, signaling the coming of night. In the clearing round me was our camp, a few tents, some supply crates that we used for storage, and a fire pit for the night; modest and somewhat primitive accommodations, but enough.

I was actually considering meditating. I hadn’t meditated in a long time, not much chance to in the last five years, running from the so-called Galactic Empire. Then the moment came crashing down as a certain Pantoran and his Dathomiran friend burst into camp, apparently seeing who could win a race while carrying firewood.

I stood, walking over to them, wondering what was going on.

“Hey, guys,” I said, “You aren’t being chased? Are you?” I tried to make it sound like a joke, but they could tell I was serious. If anyone found us here, well, it would be a bit harder to get going now, seeing as how we’d been here for a year as opposed to spending a week or two everywhere else we’d been since the temple fell.

“Nah,” Kirin chuckled, “Just showing Marl who’s faster.”

“Excuse me,” Marl said, feigning (or maybe just feeling) outrage, “But you piled almost half your wood onto my pile before we started!”

“You’re stronger.”

“Not by that much.”

“You used the force!”

“Did not!”

“Guys!” it was louder than I intended, but if I didn’t cut them off now they might go for hours or until Kana got back, whichever came first.

They calmed down, but they also shrunk a little, which made me feel kind of guilty.

“Hey,” I said, trying to be a bit calmer, “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just that, you know, we need to be careful is all.”

“Careful of what,” Kirin asked, bitter, “Honestly, we’re in the middle of the forest, where we’ve been for the last year now! What are you still afraid of? We found a haven, why can’t it be that simple?”

“Kirin calm-”

I didn’t let Marl finish. “I am not afraid of a damn thing,” I snapped, “I am simply realistic. I know you’ve gotten comfortable here, we all have, but it can’t last and you need to be ready for that! This is a good hiding place, but it is incredibly likely that someone will find us one day, so we always have to be careful!”

Kirin, backed away, and I wished I hadn’t yelled at her, but she ran off to her tent before I could apologize, Marl following after shooting me a look of mixed anger and sadness.

I did meditate after that; I needed to clear my mind. I’m not sure how long I sat there, in the growing Darkness, thinking about nothing, but eventually, Kana stirred me.

“Hey,” she said, tapping my shoulder as she took a seat next to me, “What’s up? Where are the others?”

“Kirin’s tent, I think,” I said, stretching and meeting Kana’s Brown eyes, “I’m not sure. Been out for a couple hours, it seems.”

“Any particular reason you only answered one question?” Kana inquired, probably already knowing the gist of it. She could read people like they were books, part of her natural talents for the force. Sometimes very useful, mostly very annoying.

“I snapped at Kirin,” I confessed, knowing Kana would pick up my guilt, “I was trying to explain why we need to be careful, then she asked why, and I guess I forget that it’s not as obvious to them as us.”

“You know keeping them out of as much as we could up to this point was the best choice,” Kana said, “Give them some semblance of normalcy until they were old enough to have been padawans.”

“Sorry if that still confuses me a bit,” I said, “But since when has any Jedi had a normal life?”

“Fair enough,” kana said, “But you know what I mean.”

“I know, I know, try and let them just be younglings for as long as we can,” I said, “But that time is about up. I don’t think we can keep them out of the nastier stuff much longer. They’re the same age now as we were when the Temple went down.”

“True enough,” Kana admitted, “But would you really want them to grow up as fast as us? They’ve been through so much already.”

I mulled it over. She had a point, as usual. “No,” I finally said, “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Then there you go.” Kana had a grin on her face now. She always did when she won an argument. She grinned a lot. “Now, can we start putting this behind us?”

“Right,” I said, happy enough to change the subject, “You got supplies, we should get the stored.”

“Already done,” Kana said, “I figured it was better not to interrupt one of your rare meditations over sorting our stuff.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” I said, feeling guilty she’d done it alone, “I wouldn’t have minded.”

“I know, this was my call. You needed to think, I gave you as much time as I could.” Kana smiled as she said it, her shoulder length hair blending into the darkness except when it blew over her copper skin, which was contrasted just a bit with the darkness, “Now, get some rest, I’ll deal with them,” she gestured to Kirin’s tent, “Explain what you meant.”

I wanted to argue, but I didn’t have it in me. Kana had that effect on people, the other half of her force talent, getting people to agree with her. Funny thing was, I didn’t feel her really using it. Normally I would’ve felt it. “Alright,” I surrendered, “Good night and good luck.”

Description
Chapter 1
Mira

It was nice to get a quiet moment for once. I sat in our little clearing, just relaxing and thinking. Kana was in town, stocking up on provisions for the coming month. Kirin and Marl were gathering firewood in the forest. I’d worry about the little troublemakers, but they’d both always had a knack for communicating with animals through the force. I felt a pang of regret, thinking how they’d have been great Jedi in a bygone era.

All around me the usual sounds of Vernon’s forests echoed, signaling the coming of night. In the clearing round me was our camp, a few tents, some supply crates that we used for storage, and a fire pit for the night; modest and somewhat primitive accommodations, but enough.

I was actually considering meditating. I hadn’t meditated in a long time, not much chance to in the last five years, running from the so-called Galactic Empire. Then the moment came crashing down as a certain Pantoran and his Dathomiran friend burst into camp, apparently seeing who could win a race while carrying firewood.

I stood, walking over to them, wondering what was going on.

“Hey, guys,” I said, “You aren’t being chased? Are you?” I tried to make it sound like a joke, but they could tell I was serious. If anyone found us here, well, it would be a bit harder to get going now, seeing as how we’d been here for a year as opposed to spending a week or two everywhere else we’d been since the temple fell.

“Nah,” Kirin chuckled, “Just showing Marl who’s faster.”

“Excuse me,” Marl said, feigning (or maybe just feeling) outrage, “But you piled almost half your wood onto my pile before we started!”

“You’re stronger.”

“Not by that much.”

“You used the force!”

“Did not!”

“Guys!” it was louder than I intended, but if I didn’t cut them off now they might go for hours or until Kana got back, whichever came first.

They calmed down, but they also shrunk a little, which made me feel kind of guilty.

“Hey,” I said, trying to be a bit calmer, “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just that, you know, we need to be careful is all.”

“Careful of what,” Kirin asked, bitter, “Honestly, we’re in the middle of the forest, where we’ve been for the last year now! What are you still afraid of? We found a haven, why can’t it be that simple?”

“Kirin calm-”

I didn’t let Marl finish. “I am not afraid of a damn thing,” I snapped, “I am simply realistic. I know you’ve gotten comfortable here, we all have, but it can’t last and you need to be ready for that! This is a good hiding place, but it is incredibly likely that someone will find us one day, so we always have to be careful!”

Kirin, backed away, and I wished I hadn’t yelled at her, but she ran off to her tent before I could apologize, Marl following after shooting me a look of mixed anger and sadness.

I did meditate after that; I needed to clear my mind. I’m not sure how long I sat there, in the growing Darkness, thinking about nothing, but eventually, Kana stirred me.

“Hey,” she said, tapping my shoulder as she took a seat next to me, “What’s up? Where are the others?”

“Kirin’s tent, I think,” I said, stretching and meeting Kana’s Brown eyes, “I’m not sure. Been out for a couple hours, it seems.”

“Any particular reason you only answered one question?” Kana inquired, probably already knowing the gist of it. She could read people like they were books, part of her natural talents for the force. Sometimes very useful, mostly very annoying.

“I snapped at Kirin,” I confessed, knowing Kana would pick up my guilt, “I was trying to explain why we need to be careful, then she asked why, and I guess I forget that it’s not as obvious to them as us.”

“You know keeping them out of as much as we could up to this point was the best choice,” Kana said, “Give them some semblance of normalcy until they were old enough to have been padawans.”

“Sorry if that still confuses me a bit,” I said, “But since when has any Jedi had a normal life?”

“Fair enough,” kana said, “But you know what I mean.”

“I know, I know, try and let them just be younglings for as long as we can,” I said, “But that time is about up. I don’t think we can keep them out of the nastier stuff much longer. They’re the same age now as we were when the Temple went down.”

“True enough,” Kana admitted, “But would you really want them to grow up as fast as us? They’ve been through so much already.”

I mulled it over. She had a point, as usual. “No,” I finally said, “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Then there you go.” Kana had a grin on her face now. She always did when she won an argument. She grinned a lot. “Now, can we start putting this behind us?”

“Right,” I said, happy enough to change the subject, “You got supplies, we should get the stored.”

“Already done,” Kana said, “I figured it was better not to interrupt one of your rare meditations over sorting our stuff.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” I said, feeling guilty she’d done it alone, “I wouldn’t have minded.”

“I know, this was my call. You needed to think, I gave you as much time as I could.” Kana smiled as she said it, her shoulder length hair blending into the darkness except when it blew over her copper skin, which was contrasted just a bit with the darkness, “Now, get some rest, I’ll deal with them,” she gestured to Kirin’s tent, “Explain what you meant.”

I wanted to argue, but I didn’t have it in me. Kana had that effect on people, the other half of her force talent, getting people to agree with her. Funny thing was, I didn’t feel her really using it. Normally I would’ve felt it. “Alright,” I surrendered, “Good night and good luck.”