Somewhere on the Forest Moon of Endor, 14 ABY
Another morning dawned upon him. Another morning where he was not sure if he was happy for having survived, or if the very fact of his survival was the pinnacle of his misery. Another morning that he woke up in his own dirt, but this time he could not tell it from the mud that the soil around him had turned into, as it had been raining.
The night was a blur, so he didn't even know when it happened, but his cold belly was a clear sign that he was in pain again. The night was long. The night was loud. He could hear the boar-wolves howl in the distance, the cackling of small nocturnal rodents, and the rustling of leaves in which they hunted their prey. It was unbearable to him, as he had not slept for two nights before that. He figured out that he must have fallen asleep before it started raining, otherwise he would have moved from what was now a mud puddle.
If only the Master hadn't punished him for stealing a shank of meat. If only! He could have slept in his usual place – in the larger cave that served as the colony's stable, with the rakazzak beasts. Even though they made constant rattling sounds, he would have been in a much warmer place, able to cover himself with hay and sleep until sunlight kissed his fur with its comforting warmth, – the only pleasant touch he ever knew.
Exhausted from belly ache and still half-asleep, he crawled to the nearby stream and drank some water. It was colder than the night, colder than his belly and making him dizzy on empty stomach. He lay down on the cold pebbles, holding his head, squeaking. For a couple of moments, everything was spinning around him and he was close to screaming. Eventually, it all settled and he got on his knees and looked at his reflection in the stream.
That brown-furred, black-eyed fuzzy creature never spoke to him, but he was still his best friend. He never hurt him, hit him, whipped him, forced him to eat something that he didn't like or make him lift stones and large chunks of wood. And he did not look like his owners either. They were tall, with oval bodies, thin long limbs and gigantic mouths. He was small and stubby, with bright eyes and a tiny nose, and he could tell his head from the rest of his body. He had fur growing on his arms and legs as well. His best friend, in short, looked just like him. If nothing else, it made his life as an ugly, abnormal creature that did not look like everyone else around him, a bit better. Perhaps there were more fuzzy ones like him in the plains and forests he would often look at from the top of the cliff.
A small fish pranced in the stream. He first reached for it, but then he remembered eating raw fish some time ago and crying from pain in cold sweat for a couple of nights. He also remembered almost choking on a fish bone that one time the Master roasted some on the campfire. No fish after a night of soiling himself in his sleep - he just did not want to be in any more pain.
He waved at the brown-furred creature and went back to what used to be the campfire, to see if the remains of his most recent meal were still edible. As he approached his wooden bowl, he noticed an unusually large rugger licking its edges. He growled and jumped. The animal hissed and soon, they were rolling in the mud, biting and scratching each other. The rugger delivered a painful cut to his left leg, causing him to bite it on the neck. Its blood went straight into his eyes and mouth, and the rugger stopped moving. The boy spat out the blood, smearing it on his face and tossed the animal aside. He saved his meal and he had the right to enjoy it. Moreover, he knew that the Master and his wives liked rugger meat, so maybe he would be rewarded for killing it.
With his leg still bleeding, he sat down to slurp the remains of the thick greyish-yellow paste. A couple of drops of the rugger's blood made his first bites taste metallic, but he was so hungry that he didn't even mind that. His upset belly was now making the sounds it usually made when he hadn't eaten for a while. He licked the bowl clean and, for a couple of moments, he was more than pleased. The morning sun was peeking from the clouds and he was finally feeling warm.
Sadly, this was not his day, just like most other days weren't, and his next troubles were about to hit him, the same way the Master's cubs would when they would catch him nibbling on their fruit.
The water he had drunk earlier was causing him pressure in his groin. He went to a nearby tree, as the Master's oldest wife hated it when he would relieve himself closer to their cave. He was hoping that they would not be able to smell it from this far.
Once he was done, he noticed something was wrong. He was able to pull back some skin, which he had never seen his owners doing, not to mention that they were relieving themselves through what looked like a plain hole in their fur. He tried to push the skin he thought was falling apart, which caused him almost as much pain as drinking cold water on an empty stomach and the rugger bite. Something seemed to be stuck. He squeaked out loud, grabbing his crotch and seconds later, he was wallowing in the mud for the third time that morning. This was the last straw.
And then, he blacked out.
Once he came round, he was in the rakazzak stable again and his owners were standing behind him – the Master, his three wives and seven cubs.
"You woke us up again, boy."
"Aaaae eeeye aaaaayyaaaa" he managed to mutter, pointing to his throat, the wound on his leg, his belly and his groin.
"What have you done to yourself?"
With more vocalisations, gesticulations and only an occasional word, he tried to explain how he soiled himself, drank too much cold water, fought an imposter and hurt himself. The Yuzzums' mouths, full of razor-sharp teeth, were making him even more anxious. There was always the fear of his owners eventually eating him, though he never had proof of their doing so to anything larger than a gee-om.
"Did you kill this?" The second of the Master's wives lifted up the dead rugger and threw it in the hay.
"Aaaye."
She shrugged, knelt next to him on her long legs and pulled a grimace again. "I guess you can have a meat shank over dinner, then. A small one, of course."
"He had one ten days ago!" One of the cubs protested. "Less for him, more for us!"
"Shut up, Kiddft'wdfvu!" The father of the family tapped his feet against the stable floor, causing the rakazzak beasts to roar. "Don't you see that he is an animal? He bit the rugger and maybe he even sucked its blood! We need to give him food, or he may attack one of you. Whose idea was not to keep him fed when he does something wrong?"
"Yours, Yertwwzzwg."
"One of you must have talked me into it. From this day on, we will keep him fed. Maybe he should be overfed for the first couple of days, so he develops a dislike for certain foods if he vomits them more than once. That way, we can make sure he does not sneak into out hole to steal food."
"That's brilliant!" Kiddft'wdfvu pulled the same grimace as one of his mothers had earlier and nudged the cub next to him. All seven of them clapped.
"He is a chore, the boy." Yertwwzzwg waved his hands. "Give him the diarrhea remedy, Atywxwwha. And if you've not had your morning meal yet, clean his wound and see what's wrong with his groin. We want him to father some more Ewok slaves someday if we manage to raise a female. We don't want to end up having to cut that off him."
As the largest female Yuzzum held him up with her gnarly hands, "the boy" started screaming. The remedy had an awful taste and he had not taken it well the last time.
She hit him and looked at him angrily. "You want to live, don't you?"
He calmed down and swallowed the remedy. Once the Mistress' gnarly hand pulled the stuck skin on his groin and placed a piece of hot cloth soaked in healing potion on his wound; he passed out again.
"Oh, great." Atywxwwha was fuming. "He is playing dead again. I still don't understand why we took him in the first place. Why would anybody want to own an Ewok cub?"
"It's revenge, my dear meatlump. Revenge. The Ewoks have beaten us so many times, they control most of the sources of water and they're better hunters than us. If all goes well with the boy, we can groom a whole new bunch of Ewok slaves, by kidnapping more of them. The less they're exposed to their species, the more helpless they will be."
As Yertwwzzwg was nearly drooling from excitement, telling his family of his plans, the boy opened one eye. He could tell the word "Ewok" meant something important.
"Ewok…Ewok…" he whispered to himself.
Bright Tree Village, a month later
Yertwwzzwg was approaching an Ewok village, dragging the boy on a leash and accompanied by a group of his tribesmen. They hated dealing with their enemies, but after the news had spread that the furballs were eager to trade food for whatever they could find lying around that belonged to Offworlders, the Yuzzums' greed had prevailed.
"Halt! What do you want?" A brown Ewok wearing a blue hood extended his spear to Yertwwzzwg's face. "And why does everything happen only when I'm standing guard?" he quietly sobbed to himself.
"We have some things to trade." the Yuzzum leader exclaimed, showing a cart full of metal scraps, machine parts and human clothes.
The scout shrugged and showed his guard mate to stay there, as he led the Yuzzums to the treetops. Once they were on the platforms, the boy, who had kept quiet ever since he woke up that morning, was overwhelmed. Some little beings were playing near him and they looked just like his friend from the stream. The adults looked fairly similar to the little ones, too, except that their heads, necks and often upper backs were covered in fabric and leather. He started squeaking. A couple of little beings turned around, but got away when his Master pulled the leash. The guard put both hands on his mouth.
"What are you doing with that wokling?"
"Where is your Chieftess?" Yertwwzzwg asked, ignoring the question.
"She is with her best friend who is mourning the loss of her father, so here are…Master…Chieftess and his two friends. Meet Wicket, Paploo and Teebo."
"What did you just call me, Gwig?" a short Ewok wearing a red-orange hood with a large bib asked the guard, who just shrugged, and smiled awkwardly.
"Sorry, Master Wicket. I did not mean to, Master Wicket. I am going back to guard the village now, Master Wicket." With that, he ran off.
The trio approached the Yuzzums. While "Master Chieftess" was only a little taller than the boy, the other two were quite big. Not as big as the Leader, but one of them was quite tall and the other quite wide.
Yertwwzzwg did not like the vibe he got from the tall one. He could swear that had seen those eyes before, long ago, and they were making him uncomfortable.
"Does he have to be here?" he asked the short Ewok, who just shrugged and gave him a blank stare. The one he didn't like spoke again.
"Sorry, but I do. Wicket and Paploo don't speak the Yuzzum trade language and our protoc …err, our new God stopped working some days ago, when a drunken village elder stabbed him."
As Wicket and Paploo roamed rummaged through the Yuzzum cart, Teebo noticed the boy. He quickly signaled to his friends to be quiet and then he addressed the Yuzzum trader.
"Why is this wokling on a leash? Where did you get him from?" he snarled.
"That is none of your business, Ewok."
"It is." The snarl turned into a calm expression, accompanied by a tone of voice Yertwwzzwg did not expect from what seemed to be an intimidating creature…for an Ewok. His green eyes were looking straight into the Yuzzum's yellow ones. "So, is the wokling for sale as well?"
"Y-yes. As long as you can trade us something valuable in exchange for him, he is all yours." Yertwwzzwg could not believe his own words.
The other Yuzzums were confused. No matter how many times they had told their clan leader to dispose of the Ewok cub or roast him on a stick above the fire for all of them to enjoy, he did not listen. What was causing this change? And what was the strange thing the Ewok just took off his shoulder and presented him with?
Ten minutes later, the traders were on their way down to the forest floor. Wicket and Paploo did not seem interested in the scrap metal they got in exchange for some honey melons and sausage. They approached the wokling.
"Just wait until Kneesaa hears about this. Slavery has been banned after the Great Battle and ten snows later, look what happens!"
The cinnamon-coloured Ewok calmed down his diminutive friend, as the large one with an animal skull on top of his head took a deep breath and started explaining the problem using the words his friends still had trouble getting used to.
"Wicket, you know it's not that simple and it has never been. We're a melting cauldron of past, present and future on Endor, and we have no representative in the Senate because those screaming creatures are the dominant species in the Moddell sector and they don't like dealing with us."
"And that is precisely the loophole that allows the Yuzzums and other free-roaming, non-aligned beings to do what they want. Is that what you wanted to say, Teebo?"
"Chak, Paploo. And until we can solve that, we have just freed another innocent wokling from slavery and abuse. Hey…that hurts. Calm down!"
The boy was clinging to Teebo's leg, scratching him. And then, all of the sudden, he collapsed.
"Go get Kneesaa and Latara, quick! I know Latara said that she does not want to be disturbed while she's mourning, but tell her I called."
Not used to taking orders from his friend, who had only returned to Endor a couple of days ago, Wicket was confused for a moment. And then, realizing that sometimes even the Chieftesses' husbands take orders, he ran as quick as his little legs could carry him.
Ovise III, six standard weeks later
Long ago, my wife asked me where I see myself ten years from now.
I misunderstood her question, just like every other thing she said that night. She too misunderstood me. Back then, we were young. We had spent a couple of years awkwardly trying to get each other's attention and each new brush with the real person as opposed to the ideal, lustful dream of who each of us thought the other would open a new wound, start a new conflict. One could say that the way we saw each other before our relationship was very similar to the way an audience sees actors, musicians, athletes, even royalty.
At the end of one of the most important days of my life, and I am sure many others' lives, I could not grasp the extent of the changes ahead. I knew that what happened was important and I needed some time to think about it, as I was sore from one of the biggest battles in history and the sound of my own drumming was causing this strange noise in my ears.
Before I knew it, the two of us were being smuggled away from Endor by somebody we barely knew.
I should be taking a lot of these things more lightly now. From what I learnt over the course of the past ten years, your species considers that to be the age when people are reliable, when they make amends and do not take offense like they used to in their youth. But we do not see youth the way you do. We do not have schools, we still don't have any form of personal identification, and we don't have the law as you know it. And that may have been the reason we have always been under tight scrutiny – as near-animals who somehow ended up in the civilized world. And chak, that was an actual description of us by somebody called Yilda Lami, Jr.
Once we first met the world and the world met us, we were frightened beyond belief. We did not speak the language; we needed a personal assistant for almost every other everyday thing, we were frowned upon for our lack of formal education. On top of that, we were too small compared to most.
Sorry for this lengthy introduction and more on my life than you ever wanted to know. I will get to the point now.
Some weeks ago, I bought a feral child out of slavery. He had spent the past six years or so as a slave to some Yuzzum traders. I traded my most precious instrument for him. He cannot speak anything besides a handful of words in the Yuzzum trade language; he mostly screams and giggles instead. He does not have the grooming habits we are used to. He is not quite sure of what he is or what is going to happen to him. He cannot remember having a name.
My wife and I saw some of ourselves in him. You see, it took us nearly a decade to get to where we are now. We never truly blended in with the world that was, so we were told, thousands or years ahead of the one we grew up in. Now that I can speak and write in this universal language fluently, I am told that I have "a singsong accent". Now that she can operate a speeder, she is called cute and adorable for being only 95 cm tall and operating a vehicle. Seemingly, I often get asked how come I am not cute, when all members of our species are supposed to be cute. We are told that we display affection in childish ways, that our voices are high-pitched and that we are fluffy. People ask about what we eat all the time, expecting to be told something outrageous, as if Endorian chicken wasn't now being cultivated pretty much everywhere.
The way we saw the world beyond Endor is the way this precious wokling sees us. He is frightened, his words have no meaning, normal life in an Ewok village is just too much for him to take and his recovery will be slow.
Taking him with us would make his life even worse. He is so scared of anything artificial that the first time he saw a droid he screamed until he passed out. He is still not refresher-trained. He tried to bite our daughter at first and luckily, she lay on her back like a playful pet and let him know she was not going to hurt him. This is all too much for us – and yet, at the same time, we feel responsible to make that boy a proper Ewok and give him all the love he never had.
Yes, we are going to be taking a break. It could be months. It could be years. I hope you understand that this was a joint decision and that our friends and associates support us. We are hereby cancelling the remaining seven performances on our tour and heading back to our homeworld to dedicate all of our time to this boy.
We are truly grateful for everybody who supported us. Latara would like to thank you as well; she did not feel like facing the lot of you after that most recent offensive article.
Half an hour later, press room
"Why did he choose to address the press and not her? Is she pregnant again?"
"Yeah, I thought she was the face of the band, not him."
"I heard that her father passed away days before they found that gross feral child. That said, what did he mean by 'feral child'?"
"Is she avoiding criticism for having breastfed her baby...I mean, their real child... during interviews?"
"Did he say that he traded his most precious instrument for him? Is it the gee-om horn? How does he still have it, then?"
"Isn't Joh Yowza a Yuzzum? They seem like noble creatures! What kind of nonsense is this?"
"Maybe they are both addicted to rokna blue and afraid to admit it? Sure one trip home is enough to get into it, now that it's a thing!"
"If their tribe wasn't under scrutiny, they would never get famous. She's arrogant beyond belief, he's just plain ugly and mean."
Bright Tree Village, one week later
The boy was standing in the middle of the Council hut, as the large table usually taking that place had been moved towards the window. This was the first time since his arrival to the village that he was not scared of being looked at, and at the same time, his first time in a crowd. There were at least one hundred Ewoks present. His adoptive parents were standing close to him, with his aunt holding two fellow woklings, the slightly younger girls that he grew to like during the two moons of life as an Ewok.
A white-furred female wearing a bejewelled pink hood and carrying a ruling staff approached the group and singled out the one whom the boy was told to call "mother".
"Latara, I forgot something! - I have to address him somehow during the ceremony! I know you don't know what the Yuzzums named him, but are there any of our words that he likes?"
Latara turned to her friend. She completely forgot about having to name the boy, and, naturally, the thought didn't even occur to Teebo, who was staring at the hood in a wooden box. As his wife nudged him, he almost lost balance.
"Honeydrop, we didn't talk about the boy's name! Kneesaa is asking for his name."
"I…I don't know. Is that really necessary at the moment?"
"K'vark, now I remember why it took so long for you to notice me. Malani, do you have an idea? You have spent quite a lot of time watching over the boy."
Malani smiled. She never thought somebody would ask her for anything more than taking care of little Luufi and Theesa during the ceremony.
"He likes the word yehan; it's the one he picked up as I told him stories of the Big Battle. It would be an interesting name, if the two of you agree…and, of course, if Kneesaa agrees."
"Yehan and Luufi. Yehan and Luufi. It sounds green, like the trees and that's always good." Teebo hugged his sister. "I did notice him repeating that word, but…chak."
"Is this your final decision? Latara?" Kneesaa addressed her friend who just nodded her head.
The wise Chieftess took the wooden box from the table and walked up to the boy. He looked into her eyes, his mouth wide open, and let out a couple of unintelligible sounds.
"This young wokling has had a life harder than most of us and he is only about six snows old. He was used for hard labour by a notorious Yuzzum trader and crook, he was not well-fed, nor taught how to take proper care of
himself. This is not the way to treat a cub, nor should anybody on Endor ever be treated that way. While we cannot determine what tribe his parents were from, we doubt that they were left alive after he was kidnapped, for Yuzzum raids are bloody and violent. Our friends Latara and Teebo, who have originally planned to spend a moon or two with their families, have decided to adopt this wokling and stay at home, after ten snows of travelling around. Since they came back to the Bright Tree Village with a little girl of their own, I believe that they have all it takes to help this boy become a respectable young Ewok in his own right."
Kneesaa looked at her friends standing by and smiled. They smiled back. Suddenly, the years they spent apart did not matter at all. As the crowd was waiting, she put the red hood with trinkets over the boy's head and helped him set it right. His face lit up, as he managed to speak his first full sentence in proper Ewokese.
"Thank…you."
"Yehan, from this point on, you are a member of our tribe. Tomorrow morning, we will plant a soul tree for you. I wish there was a way for you not to feel the pain for everything you went through, but we hope that our love will make up for it." As everybody clapped their hands, she hugged the boy and whispered to him. "You're a brave little one."
The crowd cheered for the newly-hooded wokling. Luufi and Theesa jumped to congratulate him, followed by Grael and Talthuk, then a bunch of other bare-headed children. The celebrations continued until deep in the night and, for the first time since the Big Battle, the friends who had been separated for so long, were bonding again – all thanks to the unexpected visitor the Light Spirit had sent their way.