Author's Notes: This is a little harmless fic I began writing in my christmas vacation while battling Darth Boredom. It's set about two years after "Reevaluation". In that story Myn Donos had to reevaluate his life so this time it's Kirney Slane who will have to solve a small emotional problem of hers.
Much of the setting is based on my own ideas, including a number of things about Midwinter (= christmas in the GFFA) and the importance people attribute to it. I admit having borrowed ideas, concepts and details left and right and I hope the respective folks don't mind me doing that.

Enough of my spiel. Have fun. :)

Putting down roots

Dramatis Personae:

Kirney Slane (aka Gara Petothel aka Lara Notsil; human female from Coruscant)
Selan Donos (human male from Corellia – father of Myn Donos - OC)
Jaleela Donos (human female from Corellia – mother of Myn Donos - OC)
Kolot (modified Ewok male from Endor)
Tonin (R2-series astromech)

Coronet City
(9.8 ABY - 3 months post "Isard's Revenge")

Closing her thick jacket she watched the last two flatbed cargo skimmers disappear in the general direction of the spaceport's main storage facility and shivered. Temperatures had dropped a good ten to fifteen degrees in the past few days, from 'almost cold' to 'decidedly freezing', and an icy wind swept across the flat duracrete surface of the tarmac.

"Hate cold. Reminds me of the cage."

She cast a glance over her shoulder and saw Kolot pulling his favorite blanket around his shoulders. He seemed to shiver in the cold breeze.

"You've got fur," she said with a puzzled frown. "You shouldn't be cold."

He shrugged, a completely human gesture and again she was struck by just how far he'd been pushed away from his Ewok origins, and muttered, "Toxins frayed nerves. Have cold feet in space, too." His stomach rumbled, a deep growl that was audible even through the cacophony of noises a busy spaceport could create.

"But apparently they omitted your middle section," Kirney quipped and raised an eyebrow. "Your appetite is worse than anything I've ever seen and that says a lot."

The Ewok affectionately patted his stomach. "Kolot still growing. Needs energy."

That drew an un-ladylike snort. "The only direction you'll grow in is your width if you keep eating this much."

He looked at her and she could see a twinkle in his strange black eyes. "Kolot no needs to impress females. No need for training."

The look she shot him was mock venomous. "You think I'm trying to impress males with my looks?"

Kolot shook his head. "Not several. Just one." His eyes twinkled again and he added, "Besides males are already reading Kirney's palm."

She sent him a withering glare, one which bounced off without any apparent effect, and half-threatened, "For that quip alone I'll put you on half rations for the next week."

He glared back. "Kirney evil."

"And don't you forget it," she retorted with a wicked grin. She looked up the ship's lowered boarding ramp and banged a fist against the hull. "Tonin," she yelled into the ship. "Where are you?"

A decidedly irritated squawk answered her, followed by a litany of beeps, whistles and hoots which betrayed agitation.

"Come on out, Squirt. I don't want to stand around in the cold here any longer than necessary."

The round-capped astromech rolled down the ramp and squealed.

Kirney cast a quick glance at his monitor for a translation, as much practice she had deciphering his binary speech she wasn't able to get most of what the little droid said, and crossed her arms. "Clamp down on your vocabulator, Tonin. You were built for ops in hard vacuum and freezing cold, I wasn't. Put a bit of speed on, will you?"

Tonin rolled off the ramp so that Kirney could close it and twittered sharply.

She narrowed her green eyes at the astromech. "What did I say about vocabulators?"

The droid blatted rudely, swiveled around and moved off towards the main flight terminal. Humans had no idea how strenous a task keeping oneself functional was for an astromech. He needed an oil bath … badly.

Kirney rolled her eyes and punched the lock-down code into the keypad to secure the ship. It wasn't the simplistic lock she'd frowned at two years ago. She'd enhanced security greatly, adding layers of defenses against attacks of even the most skilled of slicers. Of course being a master slicer myself has helped immensely, she thought smugly and stifled a grin. Anyone who'd try to steal her beloved ship would be in for a surprise.
She looked up at the high fin rising above the ridgeline of the hull and felt pride at the sight. The Fair Trade was a good ship. She and Kolot had modified it greatly. They'd removed the concussion missile launcher and the ion cannons, no need to antagonize overzealous government officials with an armament like this, enhanced the tiny chamber and the bunk she slept in, tweaked the sublight engines and hyperdrive as well as reconfigured the hold to allow for more cargo to be transported.

Kolot's voice drew her from her musings. "What time?"

She cast a quick glance at her wrist chrono, but the blasted thing didn't make sense for it showed just after midnight. "Sith," she swore. "It's still on Hapan time. I forgot to set it back to Corellian time."

The Ewok scowled. "We better hurry. Need to shop for supplies. Shops close this evening for a whole week."

"Huh?" Kirney didn't understand. "Why that?"

He simply looked at her. "Forgotten Midwinter Festival?"

She slapped her forehead with her palm. "Oh Sithspit! That's this weekend? I thought it was the one after."

"Nope." The Ewok shook his head. "This one. Kirney better move or shops will be closed. We need food."

"But not much," she said with a smirk. "You're on half rations, remember?" Then she laughed at his indignant huff and picked up a parcel she'd placed at her feet. "Let's get going then. I'll drop your off at home since I need to deliver this to Myn's parents. Take a look into the cooling unit and make a list of things we need to buy."

Kolot moved to her side as they made their way over to the main terminal, looked at the parcel and tilted his head curiously. "What this?"

"Something Myn's father wanted," she explained. "Two bales of Hapan silk for his wife as Midwinter gift."

"Ah. So when Kirney left spaceport cantina at Hapes she went looking for this."

"Yup." She patted the packaged cloth and flashed Kolot a proud smile. "Took a bit of haggling but in the end the vendor decided that selling it for the price he charges locals was a brilliant idea."

The Ewok chuckled. "Threatened him, did you? Thought Kirney would be more diplomatic."

"Tonin's the resident diplomat," she teased. Her merriment died and she half-snarled, "After dealing with those stuck-up Hapan trade officials my stock of diplomacy was drained."

"Kolot begins to understand why better stay on ship most of the time." He shook his head ruefully. "Kolot no patience. Afraid someone would have died already if Kolot had to deal with all those people."

Kirney gave him a friendly shove. "And you wonder why I refuse to give you a blaster?"

The Ewok snorted and fell silent.

* * *

The multi-story underground speeder park underneath the main flight terminal was just part of a much bigger complex which also housed the planet's largest shopping mall. Built one and a half centuries ago it was a masterpiece of marketing and public relations. In the center the four main turbolift shafts ran all the way down to the large MagLev railway station fifty meters below the surface. The lifts opened into the multi-story shopping mall which enclosed the turbolifts in a circular pattern. To reach the speeder park you had to go through the shopping mall, past a long procession of shopping windows and what they offered, and the designers had made sure that a person heading for the exits had to cover at least half of the shopping area in each of the four quadrants before he got to his destination. In the outer, the third circle of the complex the speeder park enclosed an area of about twenty square klicks on ten levels. Divided into four quadrants it was the largest canopied parking area in the Corellian system.
They rode down to level five in one of the turbolifts and managed to extricate themselves from the lift cabin crammed full of tourists and spacers on leave. Kolot attracted a fair amount of curiosity but the two years of being exposed to the galaxy had given him the ability to ignore the stares he got wherever he showed up. The curious stares, however, didn't stop when the lift doors slammed shut again.

"This is worse than Coruscant rush hour," Kirney remarked as she studied the crowd filling the walkways and shopping lanes. She saw families trying to drag their children away from the brightly lit and garishly decorated windows, couples strolling hand in hand along the walkways, men and women hurrying by trying to find last-minute gifts for their loved ones. She glanced at Kolot and Tonin and added, "You better stay close or we'll loose sight of each other in this mess."

Tonin squawked indignantly. He knew exactly where they were headed to as he'd saved the exact coordinates where they'd parked their speeder. He would not get lost.

"Which is exactly why we need to stay together," Kirney said and stifled the urge to roll her eyes. Moody astromechs, she thought and gave a mental headshake. "I for sure would loose my way in here."

Kolot snorted and patted the astromech's domed top. "Tonin now promoted to navigator. Congrats."

Tonin swiveled his optical sensor and focused it on the Ewok. Then he emitted a high-pitched screech which sounded very much like a blaster shot, and repeated the noise twice more.

"No disintegrations, please," Kirney said mock sternly. "It would be impossible to replace my chief pilot." Then she ushered them forward.

Tonin led them towards the right-hand shopping lane, the Outer Walkway as numerous signs stated. They passed toy shops besieged by children flattening their little noses against the windows, little tapcafs, stores for consumer electronics, a perfumary leaking a heavy mix of various scents and even a large lingerie shop with a small crowd of uncomfortable-looking men waiting outside. But finally, ultimately, they arrived at the passage leading into the speeder park, Northeastern Quadrant, Level 5.

Kirney gave a rueful smile and let get gaze roam across the multitude of airspeeders, gravtrucks and speederbikes. "I have no idea where to start looking for our crate," she admitted. "And I parked it just a week ago."

Kolot chuckled quietly. "Kirney no find fresher without navsat help."

"Quarter rations," she growled and sent him a glare, but the Ewok waved her off.

"Empty threat," he said lightly and moved to follow Tonin.

She heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes. There were times when the two were frustrating her immensely, but most of the time the banter was refreshing and reminded her of the loose tongues of her former Wraith squadmates. And hey - who could claim to have an Ewok friend who talked back and could swear in more languages you could ever learn in a lifetime? A tiny grin spread on her face and she hurried to follow her two most unique friends. She could already hear them bickering again ...

"Hey, Kirney!"

The voice startled her and she whirled around. A man was approaching her, a big smile on his face. He was tall, easily as tall as Kell Tainer, but a lot scraggier due to the lack of muscle. He sported a mess of light brown hair with curls some women would kill for and his confident swagger betrayed the native Corellian. "Now look what the Hutts dragged in," she drawled but softened it with a smile of her own. "Jarrath the Wet Rag."

He grimaced at the use of the less than flattering nickname, which he'd gotten after a most unfortunate incident some twenty months ago. Back then Kirney had been a newcomer in the community of freighter and shuttle pilots and target for more or less clumsy displays of affection from a number of more or less inebriated pilots. One evening, she'd enjoyed a quick dinner and an ale in one of the tapcafs, Jarrath had decided that she should sample some of his charms and had not been put off by her very definite refusal. He had pressed the issue, his bravado fueled by a considerable input of alcohol earlier that evening, and ... well. It was sufficient to say that a three-hour surgical procedure to replace the crushed kneecap and two days in Bacta had managed to repair the damage she'd done. After that noone dared to challenge the lithe woman this way again.

"You back in time for the holidays?" he asked and shook her hand.

"Honestly?" She made a wry face. "I thought it was next weekend, not this one."

His eyes widened in mock indignation. "You forgot the most sacred holiday of your home planet?" He shook his head and declared dramatically, "I'm shocked!"

"Remember I lost my parents early," Kirney tried to defend herself, "and when they were gone I wasn't keen on celebrating the holidays."

He lost his fake expression of disbelief. "Sorry," he muttered contritely. "It's easy to forget that not everyone can grow up in a stable family."

"It's okay," Kirney soothed. "It was a long time ago."

He nodded. "So what are you going to do on the holidays?"

"Me? Nothing. A few decent meals, a few hot showers and a few early nights. That's all."

He eyed her for a moment. "Heard you were on Hapes. Tough days?"

"Yeah," she growled and motioned him to follow her as she resumed walking towards her speeder. "I've seen enough pompous officials to write several holobooks, but the Hapans take the ryshcate."

"Guess why I don't take jobs that involve anything hapan," he said with compassion colouring his voice. "They're so stuck-up that they'd fracture their necks if they tried to glance at their own toes."

She gave a snort of amusement at the mental picture. "That I wouldn't consider a loss." Casting him a glance from the corner of her eyes she asked, "And you? Going home to your parents?"

"Yup." He grinned again and lifted two big shopping bags. "Someone has to spoil my nephew and niece."

"So you risk the wrath of your sister," Kirney retorted in mock amazement and clapped her hands. "Brave boy."

He laughed. "As if she didn't spoil them the rest of the year. It's all facade, all show, I tell you." Just then a wry expression wormed its way on his face and he pointed ahead. "Looks like the old couple is at it again."

Kolot and Tonin stood face to optical sensor in what looked like a staring match. The Ewok didn't blink, didn't move a muscle as he glowered at the astromech.

Kirney rolled her eyes. "Minions of Xendor," she breathed in exasperation. "Not again!"

"How long can they keep this up?"

"Last time they did this," Kirney said and shook her head in amazement, "I had to separate them after three hours."

"No way." Jarrath's voice was definite. "That's impossible."

"Oh, I can assure you it's true. I was watching them the whole time. Kolot didn't move a muscle or blink for three kriffing hours." A frown wormed its way on her face as a new thought took root in her mind. "Sith, I don't even know if Ewoks have to blink at all."

The Corellian burst out laughing. "You're such a cute couple, you know."

"Watch your words, Mister," Kirney shot back with a small glare which turned into a wicked grin. "Want to have children some day?" she asked and modified her voice into a pretty good imitation of Kolot's singsong accent.

Jarrath laughed harder. The words said in the singsong tone Kirney had just imitated had become a joke among Corellian pilots and one not to be used in polite company. A few months ago Kirney and Kolot had been breakfasting in a tapcaf and a dumb pilot had made some snide remarks about the Ewok. Before anyone could react Kolot had snatched the man's blaster from its holster and had shoved the muzzle hard into his opponent's groin. Then he'd muttered the fateful words ... and waited. The spacer had turned white, had stammered an incoherent apology and had fled. Once he'd been out of the door the whole tapcaf had erupted in hysteric laughter.
"I'd have sold my grandmother to have been there," Jarrath said once he'd managed to subdue his laughter. "That must have been a sight."

"Oh yes." Kirney grinned. "I haven't laughed so hard in a long, long time." Turning her attention back at her two companions she clapped her hands. "Okay, enough of it."

Kolot turned his head and glowered.

Snatching the remote out of a pocket she pointed it at her speeder and unlocked the doors. "Kolot, get in," she ordered and pointed at the co-driver's door. "Do it now or it'll be a week of fasting for you." The Ewok scrambled to comply with her order.

Jarrath snorted. "He really thinks with his stomach."

"And you don't?" Kirney arched an eyebrow. "He just hates the stuff our food processor spits out. It satiates, but ..."

"It ain't real food," he agreed. Then he gestured at the astromech. "Shall I help?"

"That'd be nice." They both grabbed the curiously silent droid and lifted him into the luggage compartment in the back. "Must be really nice to have Jedi powers," Kirney panted.

"Not to mention swinging shiny swords around," Jarrath gibed. He shot a glance at his wrist chrono and said, "Gotta hurry. I want to get to my parents's before the sun sets." He hugged her quickly. "Happy Midwinter, Kirney."

"Happy Midwinter to you, too." Said it, waved and slid into the driver's seat of her speeder.

* * *