TITLE: Long Day
AUTHOR: Obi the Kid
RATING: PG
CHARACTERS: Jaythen Talari, T'narr Kresson, Eryck S'Val, Marcus Kaavi
SUMMARY: Pre-TPM time-frame. (Jaythen is 10). Jaythen's best friend from the Jedi Temple (Eryck) finally gets a chance to visit him on Kembar Lune.
NOTE: This story will make more sense if you've read my other stories that star Jaythen Talari.
DISCLAIMER: The characters and venue of Star Wars are copyrighted to Lucas Films Limited. I make no profit from the writing or distribution of this story.
**This is story is part of a challenge I made to myself. My goal, to take the 12 songs titles from the Matchbox Twenty album "Yourself or Someone Like You" and write a story that goes with each song title (these are NOT song fics). In no particular order, the stories will be called: Real World; Long Day; 3AM; Push; Girl Like That; Back to Good; Damn; Argue; Kody; Busted; Shame and Hang. They will be a mix of Jaythen based stories, Yappy Obi (YO) stories and Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan based stories. I hope you enjoy!**
"Master, he's here, he's here, he's here! He's here!"
"Okay, Jaythen! Settle."
Jaythen Talari didn't listen to his teacher. Well, he did listen, but he couldn't obey. His best friend and fellow Jedi apprentice from Coruscant, Eryck S'val, had just arrived on Kembar Lune for the first time. For the first time since Jaythen had come to establish residence away from the Jedi Temple and to the twin moon planet that was the home world of his master, T'narr Kresson.
Needless to say, the black-haired boy was beyond excited.
And there was no containing the exhilaration of a ten year old boy, Jedi or not. T'narr made a weak effort to contain his charge as he reached to grab the apprentice. His hand fell just behind the small shoulder as Jaythen ran headlong towards his friend. Eryck was stepping off the ramp of the tiny transport when they saw each other for the first time in months. They launched towards each other as Jaythen kept yelling, "He's here, he's here, he's here!"
T'narr just shook his head as he walked towards the ship, muttering to himself the entire time. "Crazy child. Act like you've never seen another human kid before." There was only humor in the words though. T'narr had been overjoyed when he found out the Eryck and his master, Marcus Kaavi, would be stopping by on their way home from a mission. They were more than welcome. Jaythen had had a rough year, and although he'd made a friend in a local shaman apprentice, T'narr knew there was a special click between his padawan and Marcus' trainee, even at such a young age. Both boys were approaching age eleven and so different in appearance and abilities, but their personalities worked and meshed perfectly. Given time, they would become more brothers than friends. But that was a long way off. Right now, T'narr followed in the hurried footsteps in time to see them bash into each other in a bone breaking hug.
The big man smiled and then greeted Marcus with a hand shake and a pat on the shoulder. "Good to see you, Marcus. I can't tell you how off the wall he's been since he found out Eryck was coming. He's not slept in two days."
"Eryck too. Youthful exuberance is something, huh?"
"It's wearing me out," T'narr replied with a smirk.
Later that morning, the two young Jedi sprinted out the door of the house and in a general west direction. The deep voice of Jaythen's master stopped them in their tracks.
"Jaythen, what did I tell you?"
The boys came back. "Oh yeah." Jaythen whistled loudly and the response was immediate. In the nearby paddock, a plain brown horse flicked her ears forward, whinnied once, reached her head over the gate, lipped the latch and sprung herself free. That was Saber. Saber was a horse with a personality all her own. She also was a protector of sorts for Jaythen.
Nickering loudly, she pushed her head into Jaythen's chest until he scratched her ears in just the right place. Then she moved away and rolled her eyes back, tossing her head, towards Eryck. The boy was strange to her, but she quickly sensed he was no threat. If her Jaythen trusted him, she would as well.
"Eryck, this is Saber."
Eryck, the most average looking boy you'd ever meet, with his brown eyes and brown hair and medium height – though taller than his best friend - reached a hand out to her. His face lit with a grin, eyes wide. "She's beautiful, Jay. I've never seen an animal so beautiful. All you've told me about her, it's all true."
Saber shook out her mane. She was a plain as Eryck was. Small, brown, crooked – but strong in so many ways. Already she knew she liked this new friend.
T'narr enjoyed the scene but always a bit worried about his apprentice, he cautioned them. "Eryck's only here until tomorrow, and I know you have a lot of exploring to do, and things you want to show him, but remember the rules about how far you can wander. I mean it. Saber goes with you, just in case." He quickly strapped a saddle and bridle on her and hooked Jaythen's satchel to the horn.
"But master if something happens I can just…"
T'narr silenced him immediately with a touch to his mind. As much as his learner wanted to share his telepathic secret with his best friend, the master Jedi wasn't yet ready to have that secret divulged to anyone. Jaythen's ability to read thoughts and communicate completely and clearly through the force to almost anyone – even non force users - was wonderful and scary as hell at the same time. It was a weapon that could be used against him should he ever fall into the wrong hands. And the ability had grown considerably in the past few months. T'narr had no doubt they would eventually share this secret with Marcus and Eryck, but for now it was safe for all if the others were kept in the dark.
"You two go. Have fun. Be back before dark. Eryck, you have your comlink?"
"I do, Master."
"Good. Oh and stay out of that old man's farm. You know how he feels about kids and horses. Stay out of trouble, boys. I mean it!"
The padawans bounced on their toes waiting for T'narr to release them and when he finally did they ran full speed into the distance. Saber took a glance back at T'narr.
"Keep an eye on them for me, okay, girl?"
The mare tossed her head again as if to nod yes and then she trotted off after her catch.
"What is it, Jay?"
They stood together, heads cocked to the side, looking up at the strange object that rose fifteen feet above them.
"It's called a scarecrow. I think they're used to frighten birds away from crops."
Eryck frowned oddly. "There's a bird making a nest on its head."
"Huh. Maybe they've learned to cohabitate after so many years of being enemies?"
"I can go with that. Hey, where are we?"
"On old man Olemani's farm."
"The one that Master T'narr said to stay away from?"
"Yes."
"Let's go deeper in."
"Saber, you should stay here."
The mare lifted her head, and gave a white-eyed glare to Jaythen. A look that said, I think not. Where you go, I go, even if we both shouldn't go there.
"Okay, never mind. Come on. There are fruit trees on the far side. We can have a snack. You won't believe the size of the majan pears. They're almost as big as my head."
And then they ran. Again.
They climbed the fruit trees. They ate the giant pears. They explored the rest of the farm. They got chased off the farm by old man Olemani. They laughed and carried on as they made their escape. At one point they laughed so hard that they fell over, holding their stomachs. Most of the time they had no idea what was funny, but it didn't matter. They weren't Jedi. They weren't peace keepers of the galaxy with the weight of a hundred of planets on their shoulders. They weren't being followed with scrutinizing eyes of the Jedi Council. They weren't worried about the strict rules of a code.
They were just kids. And they were making the best of their short visit together by taking a long day of just being kids.
The method puzzled Eryck who stood knee deep in the cold stream. Boots off and plants rolled up, he stared at his friend. Jaythen was in the same position, but held a fat slimy fish in his hand. His face was splashed with muddy water, and he looked as happy as ever.
"You have to wait until the fish start nibbling on your toes. Then you grab them!"
"These fish eat human toes?"
"Not really. It's more like a taste test."
"And the point of this is?"
"To catch a fish. A dot fish."
"Do we eat them?"
"No, dot fish are poisonous. But I think they like this game."
"Why would they like being snagged and dragged out of the water?"
"Because when you put them back in the water they come right back and start nibbling again."
Eryck started laughing as a fish began attacking his toes. It tickled. A lot. He tried to snatch the spotted swimmer, but the dot fish was quick and Eryck ended up face down in the water. That event began Jaythen and then his friend laughing hysterically. And by the time they gave up, an hour later, they were both soaked to the bone and joyfully exhausted.
The smaller boy pulled Eryck up and towards a short hill. "Sunny spot up there. We can dry off and see what Master T'narr put in my lunch satchel."
They wiggled their bare toes in the sun and dumped the contents of the satchel onto the grass. An assortment of snacks and two flagons of juice rolled out. The boys ate. They talked about nothing in particular. They bathed in the warm sun.
Once rested and dry, boots went back on and they were off on their next adventure.
The steamy red foam dribbled over the edge of the geyser just before the earth spit boiling water tens of feet into the air. The hole from which it spewed was about the size of a horse, so they had to keep a distance. The rainbow prism of colors that cascaded from the spray once it found the sun was breathtaking.
"Why is the foam red but the water isn't?"
"Master T'narr says he thinks it has to do with how much hotter the foam is than the water, but since the water is burning hot, he told me that I shouldn't listen to him about this, because he really has no idea and it just him guessing."
Eryck laughed. "So really we can just make up our own story. What's that thing there?" He pointed to a ghost-white spider-like creature wandering sideways out of the boiling geyser hole. It seemed totally unaffected by the intense heat.
"It's a foam crab. Well, that's what I call it. I guess it lives in the geyser."
"Without burning up?"
"A mystery of nature, I guess. They bite though. See those little pinchers there, they have four of them. Don't tick them off. They're fast and they'll go after your feet. Then they'll craw up you leg and start pinching everywhere."
"And you know this how?"
"I ticked one off one time, don't laugh, it um crawled under my pants and tunic and…well, it hurt!"
Doing his best to keep a straight face, Eryck gave up the effort at the image of his friend scrambling to get the tiny annoyed crustacean out of his pants. "I have to laugh, Jay. No one has stories like this on Coruscant. This is great!"
Again, Jaythen joined him in hilarity and they giggled until the tears came. The foam crab clicked his claws together, seemingly in an agitated state, warning them to stay clear of his path. And that was all it took for the two young Jedi to lose control yet again.
It took them some time to settle after the whole foam crab-geyser incident, but they did, and were soon hiking up and down a long stretch of stunted hills. The boys nicknamed them the wavy hills since they resembled the quick up and down of deep sea surface waves. They'd exaggerate the struggle up one side and then run like the wind down the other side. Sometimes their young feet moved so fast, they lost footing and tumbled down instead. And of course that resulted in more laughing.
On the sidelines, walking parallel to the wavy hills – on flat land - Saber strolled unfazed by the youthful noise nearby. A watchful eye on them at all times. As much fun as they were having, she'd be the one to know when it was time for them to head back home.
The hills eventually wore them out and the padawans found a shady spot to rest.
"I wish you could stay longer, Eryck. I don't get to have this much fun very often."
"Me either. But our time apart makes it that much better. It's too bad we have to cram everything into one day though. Master Marcus is due back with the Council at a certain time, so we only had time to come here because we wrapped up our mission early."
"I don't know when our next mission is. Master T'narr tries to get information from the Council ahead of time, but I don't think they like him much."
"They don't like anyone."
"Master Yoda is okay. At least he seems to care about some of what's happened to me in the past."
"Yeah. Hopefully next time you're on Coruscant, I'll be there so we can hang out. But Master Marcus loves to work, so we get a lot of missions. Do you ever miss it, Jay? Working from Coruscant and working frequent missions?"
Jaythen shook his head without much thought. It was an easy answer. "I don't. I mean, I like visiting places and learning all about them and meeting people, but bad things seem to happen to me on missions. The only things I really miss on Coruscant are you and Obi-Wan and Master Kaai. Other than that, I'm really happy here."
"I'm glad, Jay. I really am. I mean, I'd rather see you more, but it sounds like we're both content. That's more importans than anything, right?"
"It sure is."
Their somewhat serious talk was interrupted by an ear piercing whinny from Saber standing off in the distance. She pawed the ground and then looked up towards the sky. Storm clouds. Not imminent, but ugly. Jaythen knew that lightening storms on Kembar Lune were vivid and dangerous. It was time to go home.
"I see it, girl. There's a storm out there. We'd better get back."
The day was late. Jaythen knew they had a hike to get home. Tired legs would make the walk home even longer. The storm would hit long before that. So they decided on the backup plan. Hitching a ride. And this was one of the reasons that T'narr was insistent that Saber come with them. Not so much as protection, as a free ride home for weary padawans.
The mare wandered to a nearby rock and stood patiently.
"We get to ride?"
"Yup! Saber will get us home and we won't have to do a thing except stay on."
"Good, my legs are so done."
Jaythen stepped onto the rock and then straddled the saddle. Eryck followed the example and sat behind his friend, on the blanket that stretched a foot beyond the saddle.
"I feel tall!"
"Just hang on. The ride can be a bit bumpy."
With his good hand, Jaythen held the saddle horn. With Saber there was no need to hold the reins when heading home. She knew the way better than any.
The ride took an hour, so they easily beat the storm. By the time the trio reached the house, Eryck and Jaythen were practically asleep sitting up. Saber woke them from their half dozing state with another ear shattering whinny. The boys were immediately upright and fully awake. From the kitchen door, T'narr and Marcus watched with humor. It pleased them both to see the learners getting time together. Jaythen had few friends, especially within the Jedi community, so it was important for he and Eryck to have opportunities to see each other. Nevertheless, it was an amusing sight seeing them so exhausted. No doubt there would be good sleeping tonight.
The storm raged outside as dinner filled four plates. Tired as the boys were they were just as hungry. The snacks during the day didn't cut it when it came to old fashioned hunger pains. They cleaned their plates – including a generous portion of sweet powder cake as they recalled their adventures.
"Long day, boys?"
Eryck beamed about it. "We saw an irritated foam crab who, I think, told us off as he walked past. We ate pears bigger than our heads. We ran up and down the wavy hills and let the dot fish nibble our toes. Climbed trees and lay in the sun. We saw something called a scarecrow too." There was a pause, then "Ouch!"
Jaythen kicked Eryck under the table. He wasn't supposed to mention the scarecrow part because then T'narr would know…
"Scarecrow, huh? Jaythen."
"Yes, Master?"
"Of course you were where you shouldn't have been, am I correct?"
"Yes, Master."
T'narr was trying to be serious, but was having difficulty knowing how much fun the padawans had had on the day. His grin broke through his stern face. "Well, don't do it again."
Green eyes smiled before the rest of Jaythen's face did, but in seconds it lit up. "Yes, Master!"
"Old Man Olemani chase you off?"
"He did. He can really run fast too for his age."
The master spared a glance at Marcus, shook his head and snorted under his breath. "Kids."
"We had a great time, Master. I might sleep for a week."
"I'm glad you two enjoyed the day. It's healthy for you to have fun once in a while without the worries that come with Jedi life."
Dinner wound down, baths were had and dirty padawans became clean smelling ones. Jaythen made sure the horses were set for the night before calling it a day. A long day. An earlier than normal bedtime was welcomed. Eryck settled onto a blanketed spot on the floor, Jaythen in the bed. A few spare giggles crept out as they thought about the angry little foam crab and the nibbling dot fish, but that was it. Deep sleep came quickly and settled until morning.
Neither felt completely energized by the sleep, the day before being so exhausting, but they did manage themselves out of bed and to the breakfast table. Short black and brown hair stood out at odd angles all around. Clothes were rumpled. Sleep lines creased their boyish faces. If not for the braids hanging from behind an ear, one would never associate them with the Jedi.
Marcus encouraged his apprentice to eat a full meal as they had a long journey ahead and would be leaving soon. The learners though needed no encouragement as they inhaled the meal of eggs, elkon bacon and fresh fruit.
Eryck wiped his face and sat back, patting his stomach. "This is why I am jealous of you, Jay," he said with amusement. "You get to eat food like this every single day. This is so much better than the stuff they have in the dining hall at the Temple. If I could box this stuff and take it home, I would."
"We grow most of it ourselves now. Not the bacon, but most of the other."
The forth member of their group, T'narr, stood and readied to clear the table. "And speaking of growing, it's back to work today for you Jaythen. The gardens won't farm themselves will they?"
"No, but sometimes I wish they could. Eryck you're leaving just in time. Manual labor comes next." Jaythen smiled at his friend as he watched Marcus put hands on the boy's shoulders.
"Get your things, Padawan. We need to be off."
T'narr nudged Jaythen through the force to say his goodbyes to Eryck and the two students disappeared from the kitchen. The tall Jedi turned to his fellow master Jedi, big and blue and always smiling. "Thanks for stopping by, Marcus. Jaythen needed this. I worry about him being so isolated. He has a good friend here, the shaman's apprentice, but they don't get much time together. He adores spending time with Eryck."
"Yeah, Eryck is the same. Although he has friends on Coruscant, he'd be content hanging out with Jaythen every day. They're good for each other. We'll visit as often as we can. Perhaps even a mission together at some point."
The boys came bounding back into the kitchen, much more awake this time, although neither had found the ability to groom their pillow-angled hair.
"Ready, Master." Slung over a shoulder was Eryck's bag into which Jaythen stuffed several sweet powder cakes for the trip home.
"They'll stay fresh as week if you keep them sealed up."
"If Master Marcus doesn't eat them first."
Eryck snuck a grin at his master and then shared a giggle with Jaythen.
"Yes, yes, Padawan. I know about my sweet tooth. Have you said your goodbyes to Jaythen?"
"Yes, Master. I'm ready."
The odd pair exited the house, escorted by their friends. The walk to the transport ship wasn't far. Marcus and T'narr shared a fond grip of hands. Eryck and Jaythen ended their visit with a hug.
The ship engine grumbled to life and within minutes, master and padawan were gone from sight. T'narr put a hand on Jaythen's shoulder as they moved back to the house. He tousled the sloppy hair. "Get your work clothes on and get started on your chores for the day."
"Yes, Master. I've got a lot to catch up on from yesterday."
"You do, but yesterday was good, wasn't it?"
"It was great! One of the best days of my life. We had so much fun. It was a long day of nothing but good."
"I'm glad. Go on now. Busy day ahead."
Gray eyes watched the small form hurry to the house. T'narr knew he couldn't offer his padawan the same type of companionship that Eryck could. There was something that boys that age needed from each other. The giggles. The sneaky secrets. The silliness. The shared worries and fears. The friendly competition. The ability to let their guard down in the presence of the other. So he was beyond pleased to allow his student down time from chores and training to spend needed time with his best friend.
As Jaythen quickly bumbled out of the house and into the stables to feed and water the horses for the day, T'narr sincerely hoped that the boy's next 'long day of nothing but good' wouldn't be too far in the future.
END