Preface

Largely taking place on Earth, this story will not be part of The Trips to Shili sub-series. However, it's still part of the larger Ahsoka's Legacy series. Picking up where When Cultures Collide left off, we'll see the opposite plot from that of The Other Half of the Family. Here, a native Shilian Togruta takes her first trip away from her family tribe—and her planet—to experience Earth life with her cousins and their colleagues.

As always, reading prior stories in the series is not an absolute prerequisite. However, one may miss out on background information or detail that provides explanations for present characters and events.

For this story, passages in «angled quotes» represent words spoken in Togruti. For words and phrases in other, non-English languages, I use italics with the translation immediately following in [square brackets].

Acknowledgments

Very special thanks to the Walt Disney Company for Star Wars characters and concepts.

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental.

Earth Date: Saturday, 2030-08-17

"Shalene?" Sarah asked.

Shalene blinked her eyes in response to her cousin's query. The experience of a three-hour flight traveling at the speed of light still left her feeling surreal. Sure, she talked to the others on and off during the trip. However, she felt unsure about what to do or feel now that the trip ended with Shili-1 parked in its usual hangar.

"I'll be fine," she replied, mostly saying it to reassure herself more than her cousin.

"OK. Everyone else is waiting. Emi even wanted to come back in to get you."

Shalene cracked a small smile. Over the previous two weeks, Emilina formed a bit of a bond with her. She slowly undid her safety harness and stood up.

"Here, I grabbed this for you," Sarah said as she handed Shalene her belongings she packed for the trip.

"Thank you. It feels weird walking again after flying and sitting so long."

"You'll get used to it."

"I just wish I had better shoes like you, Sarah," Shalene conceded. As a tribal Togruta, she spent most of her time barefoot, except for the most special or formal of occasions. The wedge sandals she wore today, her only pair of footwear, might be appropriate for those rare occasions. Presently, she felt slightly wobbly as she started to walk again.

"I'll come with you," Sarah promised. The two silently walked down the gangway and rejoined the rest of their fellow travelers.

"There you are," Tim said. "I hope you're OK."

"I am, thank you. I'm just trying to regain my bearings," Shalene replied.

"That's understandable. Anyways, here you are. Welcome to Earth."

Shalene nodded and looked around. Earth, or this particular part of it, felt far different from the scrub lands of Shili. What appeared to be the duracrete floor of the hangar stretched from one end to another. Worse, she noticed nobody else around.

Where is everybody? She thought.

As she turned to face everybody again, she noticed three humans walking towards them.

"Mom, Dad, what are you doing here?" Molly asked.

"We got a message asking us to pick you up. Apparently, Tim said he can't bring you home because he has no room for you," Lynn, Molly's mother, replied.

"They had room for me before..." Molly said before she trailed off. "Oh, yeah, we have one more person with us now," she realized.

"Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah. I even got to dress like they do there. I'll have to show you the pictures I took."

"You can tell me all about it when we get home."

"Yeah, I want to hear more too," Molly's brother added.

"Sure thing," Molly answered. Turning to Tim, she said, "Well, I'll see you on Monday, master. Thanks for bringing me."

"No problem," Tim said. "I'm glad you could come."

"Molly, you never told us Sarah had another sister? Or have you all been hiding her all these years?" Mr. Douglas asked.

He's worse than my master, Molly thought.

"This is Sarah's cousin. She wanted to come visit here," she told her father.

"Oh! That makes sense. Well, I hope you enjoy your stay here."

"Thank you," Shalene replied.

"Well, I guess I better get going. Shalene, I hope I see you again soon," Molly said.

As the Douglas family left, Tim said, "Well, we should go, too."

"Don't we need medical scans?" Ahsoka asked.

"Rachel is off for the weekend. I was told we could self-administer basic scans today and come in first thing Monday for full ones."

"Oh, OK. I guess we'll do that when we get home."

⁂

Shalene set her belongings down again. After riding in an enclosed vehicle that used wheels instead of hovering above the ground, she looked in awe at her final destination.

This could hold an entire extended family back home, she thought.

"Alright, we better scan everyone and get that over with," Tim stated.

"Scan me first," Sarah replied. "I want to show Shalene it won't hurt."

"Very well."

Sarah stood up as her father passed his datapad up, down, and around her body.

"Nothing to report here. That's good."

"Me?" Emilina said.

"You want to go next?"

Emilina nodded her head yes.

As Sarah took her sister's hand, Tim scanned her as best he could.

"Good news, little one. You're OK, too." he told her.

"I guess I'm next," Shalene said.

"Yeah. As you see, it won't harm you in any way."

"I trust you."

Shalene stood silently as Tim scanned her. Lacking such technology back home, healers appeared to rely on instinct or their patients' complaints to determine a course of treatment—if any.

"Nothing major to report. You'll be OK until Monday," Tim told her. "Sarah, since we decided she'll share a room with Emilina until you leave on Monday, show her to her room."

"Sure," Sarah replied. "C'mon. Let's go upstairs."

As the pair walked up the stairs, Shalene said, "This place is so big. You're lucky."

"I guess," Sarah answered with a shrug. "It seems average to me."

"On Shili, a place this size could hold quite a number of extended family and «blood cousins» quite comfortably."

"I suppose you're right. OK, here's your room you'll be sharing with Emi. Father will probably get the roll-away bed for you."

To Shalene, the bedroom appeared to be roughly the same as her room back home—perhaps a little bigger.

"Go ahead, put your belonging over there for now," Sarah told her cousin.

Shalene nodded as did so. Turning to face Sarah, she asked, "Sarah, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Since we're not outside, is it OK if I take my shoes off? I just don't feel right wearing them unless it's a special occasion."

"Go ahead. That reminds me."

Shalene cracked a small smile as she watched Sarah bend down and remove her own sandals, tossing them across the hall into her room. Shalene then did the same.

"Better?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. But it is a bit cooler here. I wish I had something else to wear that was a bit warmer."

"Hmm, I could let you try on a couple of my outfits later, but I don't know if they'll fit."

"We seem to be almost as tall as each other."

"True, but you're 18—two years older than I am—and your... chest seems a bit bigger and maybe your hips. We'll have to see."

"Oh, OK. I don't want to disrespect my parents, but I really would like to look more like people here and not dress formally all the time."

"That makes sense. Like father always says, 'When in Rome, do what the Romans do.'"

"What's that mean?" Shalene asked, arching an eye marking at the unfamiliar expression.

"Just that when you travel to a different place, you should try to follow the local customs as much as possible."

"That's exactly what I want to do."

⁂

"Ladies, dinner!" Tim called upstairs.

"Alright!" Sarah called back. "C'mon, let's go eat."

"Now that you mention it, I am a bit hungry," Shalene replied.

Both teens went downstairs and joined the rest of the family. Sarah noticed the dining room table pulled out to accommodate one more person.

"Sit here, Shalene," Ahsoka stated.

Shalene nodded and sat in the designated place. In place of the tray-like objects she ate on at home, a round, heavier object sat on the table. Three elongated metallic objects sat to the right of it.

Sarah looked at everyone's plate, noticing a small yet peculiar detail.

"Father, why didn't you put her hot dog in a bun?" she asked.

"You didn't give me a chance to explain," Tim replied. "From what your mother has told me, and what I observed the past two weeks, most Togruta eat meat as their primary food—with certain exceptions here and there such as the berries I saw some eat on occasion. So, we decided to try to do our best to match that for Shalene. Also, I'm not sure how she will take to Earth food, so it's probably better to give her small portions first to see what she likes. Let's just hope she doesn't have any food allergies."

Sarah nodded. Turning to her cousin, she asked, "Do you?"

"What does that mean?" Shalene asked in reply.

"Have you ever eaten anything that made you feel ill or sick?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"If she wants to try the baked beans, she can if she wants," Tim added.

As Sarah nodded, Shalene asked, "What are these things?"

"Let me show you. This with the prongs is a fork. It can be used for holding pieces of meat. This flat one is a knife used for cutting. We cut up Emilina's hot dogs, so let me show you." He then showed Shalene how he held the meat with the fork as he cut it up into smaller pieces.

"Oh, that makes sense."

Shalene took her fork and knife and slowly repeated what she had observed. Instinctively, she sniffed at the unfamiliar meat.

Well, it's definitely not thimiar or akul, but here goes my first Earth meal, she thought.

⁂

Later that evening, Sarah took her recharged datapad and logged into her account. Sarah immediately deleted the reminders about off-season cross country workouts and other time-sensitive messages that were no longer relevant tonight. Spotting a message from her academic adviser regarding her summer class, she opened it.

This is a general reminder that summer students need to complete any remaining assignments no later than Monday, August 19. When you log in, note that potential topics for your final assignment will be posted. Please indicate at least two choices but no more than three in order of preference. One of these will be chosen at random when you log in to complete the final assignment no later than Friday, August 23.

As always, contact me with any questions or see me between 1 and 4 PM during weekday study sessions.

Sarah noted the details. I'll take care of this tonight or tomorrow, she thought.

Sarah scrolled through the rest of her messages. Most didn't require an immediate response. She scrolled back to read of couple of messages she noted earlier—two from her master.

Sarah,

I arrived home today. Despite my periodic time off, it always feels weird not to have you by my side as I've grown accustomed to during our time together. Don't worry, everything seems to be going smoothly, and I'm here to work out the last few details. I'm glad you'll be attending my wedding. If I remember, this may be your father's first time visiting here since I was two years old.

MTFBWY*,

Master Del

Sarah then checked the second message. It came on the 12th—her master's birthday. She tapped on the message and read it.

Sarah,

It was good to spend time with my parents and family today. I can't remember if I told you, but I have a cousin, Jade, who is 14 and a padawan. She's very eager to meet you next month. My sister also looks forward to seeing you again.

So far, the wedding plans are going smoothly. That's a surprise. Maybe I should be worried, but I'll be happy everything appears to be working out for now. Let's see if it stays this way.

I hope you're having a good, adventurous trip on Shili. Stay safe. I look forward to hearing about your trip once we resume our time together. I must confess I'm quite curious what Shili is like, since your first trip took place before we met and your second trip was rather quick and short... and perhaps upstaged with your sister's sudden arrival.

I hope you thought about me today. MTFBW, Sarah.

Master Del

"I did," Sarah whispered. I'll send her a quick reply after I take that quiz, she thought.

⁂

Meanwhile, Tim and Ahsoka watched as Emilina sat in Shalene's lap. The latter was eager to help her young cousin remember some of what she learned over the previous two weeks.

«Very good,» Shalene told Emilina after the latter correctly named a few colors in her maternal language.

"Shalene," Ahsoka interjected. "As much as I appreciate you doing this, it's time for Emilina to go to bed for the night."

"Oh, OK. Do I have to go, too?"

"Not right away, but you may want to rest up after what you've experienced so far and the difference in time between here and Shili."

"You're right. I think I probably should join her soon."

"Sleep well, little one," Tim told Emilina, kissing her on her forehead just below her small patch of fine hair.

Ahsoka joined the cousins as they went upstairs.

"Shalene, I hate to ask you this, but how do you sleep at night?" Ahsoka asked discreetly.

"What do you mean?" Shalene replied.

"Let's just say I know some of our people sleep in little or nothing at night. I was curious if you do that."

"Oh! No, I don't. Besides, it's a bit too cold here for that."

Ahsoka chuckled. For their location, it felt warmer than average during the day. For a tribal Togruta accustomed to a tropical savanna, however, Shalene's comments had merit.

"Hmm. I think I know what to have you wear over night. Tell you what, I'll help Emilina change and you can change in the room yourself. Just shut the door."

"OK," Shalene answered. They really do have a different sense of modesty here, she thought.

Shalene closed the door and noticed what looked like a gray top and gray pants on her bed. As she changed into them, the heavier fabric surprised her.

Hmm, this may help me stay warm, she thought.

Finished changing, she opened the door again and removed her jewelry for the night. Moments later, Ahsoka returned with Emilina.

"Alright, Emilina," Ahsoka said, "Be sure to go to sleep and be a good host for your cousin."

Ahsoka then put Emilina into her bed and tucked her in.

"Shalene, I'll close the door for you. With your sharper hearing, I don't want to wake you up when we come up to bed later. I'll see you morning."

"Good night, cousin Ahsoka," Shalene replied.

As Ahsoka closed the door, Emilina looked over at her cousin.

«Good night, Emilina,» Shalene told her.

«Good night.»

⁂

The next morning, Shalene joined Sarah in the latter's room.

"Thank you for taking me to that ceremony this morning," Shalene said.

"It's OK," Sarah replied. "I'm surprised you wanted to come. I didn't think you had spirituality on Shili."

"We certainly don't anything like that, Sarah, but we do have our festival. We just celebrated it before we came here, remember?"

"I do, but is that spiritual to you?"

"I think so. At least it sounds like from those words you said in the middle—the ones with all the 'I believe' lines."

"Oh, OK."

"I have to admit though. Even though we don't have a god to worship, there must be someone who leads all our warriors in the great afterlife."

"What makes you think so?" Sarah asked.

"Every pack has a leader, Sarah. Somebody has to lead over our past warriors, too."

Sarah nodded.

⁂

Later that afternoon, Shalene spent time with Ahsoka and Emilina.

"I appreciate you taking time to help us remember what we learned," Ahsoka said.

"I enjoy teaching you, and I hope you remember enough for Emilina to be able to speak our language more when she's older," Shalene answered.

"We'll see. I'm not sure how much we can visit Shili. And it's not like we can speak it to anyone here except ourselves."

"Still, learning a language is important."

"Yeah, Sarah is learning one as part of her academic lessons."

"She told me," Shalene replied. "Maybe at some point she can teach me something about it, too."

"We'll see."

⁂

That evening, with Emilina already in bed, the remainder of the family sat together.

"What's going to happen tomorrow?" Ahsoka asked.

"Shalene wants to come see what I do during the day," Sarah said.

"Is that a good idea?"

"Relax, Ahsoka," Tim replied. "She's our cousin and she already knows about us. Her seeing Sarah training for a day won't betray us." Turning to Shalene, he told her, "I don't see a problem with that, but there may be times when you need to observe quietly and hold any questions or comments to the end of the session. Is that OK with you?"

"Of course," Shalene answered. "I'm here to learn and observe, just like Sarah did years ago."

"That's good. I'll send a message to Master Del. If she doesn't mind, you can spend the morning and afternoon with Sarah before coming back here for the night."

"She can't stay with me at night?" Sarah asked.

"Well, you have cross country practice at four. And your quarters will be a bit cramped with an extra person. Besides, she's here to learn more from all of us—not just you."

"I'll be fine, Sarah," Shalene insisted. Besides, I want to spent more time with Emilina, too.

"OK that works. But I want to do something nice for you first thing tomorrow," Sarah told her cousin.

"Now that we have tomorrow worked out, we should probably get to bed, too. Tomorrow starts a bit earlier than it did during the past two weeks," Ahsoka told everyone.

Chapter Endnotes:

* For the unfamiliar, this is an initialism for "May the Force be with you."