***Mature content advisory***

Kyrell Family Home

High Mountain, Jelucan

Grhan and Kendy had been completing diagnostics on the Shuttle all morning. In spite of the chaos swirling around the people they were with, somehow Grhan and Kendy had found themselves in a peaceful place. They weren't in denial about the danger, they just weren't immersed in all the holodrama craziness. Kendy understood the reason she wasn't. His name was Grhan Solo.

They'd had an interesting two nights. It began with the meeting with the Jelucan Valley Kindred Elders. Grhan asked Kendy to accompany him, which made her a little nervous. She felt out of place until the meeting began and she listened in fascination as the Elders shared stories with Luke about the Jedi they had known. Luke listened in fascination as they mentioned locations where Jedi Temples were known to exist, many about which Luke was unaware.

Every Elder had an individual account of witnessing Jedi performing miraculous feats – the most of which never involved a lightsaber. They were known as excellent warriors, though their talents in negotiation and finding peaceful resolutions were of the highest interest for the Elders. They spoke of the widespread reverence held by most people in the Galaxy who were law abiding citizens. With humor, several recalled how even many of the less honest beings couldn't help but consider at least a few Jedi as friends. This seemed to be because every being knew that regardless of who they were, a Jedi would risk his or her life for the helpless and the innocent, and while not always innocent, even criminals could be helpless.

Luke shared about his experiences with Yoda and Obe Wan. He even spoke of the death of Obe Wan and how he witnessed him become "one with the Force". One of the Elders had great fondness for Obi Wan Kenobi from a personal encounter. Luke was moved by the story and hearing his Master's name spoken with such reverence.

Though at first Luke hesitated, he was easily persuaded when the Elders asked if Luke and Grhan would exhibit "light sparring" with their sabers. For ten minutes or so they put on quite a show. Afterwards, while he rested his hands on his knees and worked to catch his breath, Grhan caused a great deal of laughter when he said, "I should have told them there is no such thing as 'light' sparring with Master Skywalker."

Kendy enjoyed it as much as anyone – especially watching Grhan and his impressive agility. Clearly Master Skywalker had the benefit of experience, but Ghran moved with incredible speed and agility. As she later told Grhan, she liked his saber color much better than Luke's plain old blue. Grhan laughed as they walked with his arm resting lightly across her shoulder. It was a comfortable place she found herself in with Grhan. He was just so… easy.

The night before, after everyone was out for the evening, Grhan and Kendy found themselves truly alone. Grhan asked if she wanted to watch a holodrama or play a game. Kendy wasn't interested. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, so they ended up hopping on the zip line, and as always they did their routine. Grhan said, "Trust me!" and she kissed him on the cheek. Well, she was supposed to kiss him on the cheek. Instead, she kissed him very perfectly centered on his mouth. He was supposed to be stepping out into the darkness while they flew through the air to the Hangar below, but he just stood there. The lights from the house made his hazel eyes glimmer. He smiled, gripped her tightly and paused. He said, "Trust me?" again, only this time it was clearly a question. Kendy said, "Yes. I do trust you." He grinned slightly then nodded. "Hang on," he said, and they took their little flight down to the Hangar.

Grhan took her hand and walked away from the Hangar toward the hideout, but continued past the hideout. As the continued down the path, Kendy saw lights flickering, and when they rounded the corner, she gasped. There were glass candle holders with flickering candles causing light to sparkle and dance off the water. There had to be at least twenty, maybe even thirty lights. Kendy had a smile on her face that showed her wonder at the beautiful setting.

"When?" she began to ask, as Grhan just smiled and shook his head.

"A Jedi never tells his secrets." From somewhere back up the path came a little "bloop" and Kendy laughed. Grhan rolled his eyes. "You did great Artoo! Goodnight you two!" Artoo and his new buddy, nicknamed "The Professor" by Kendy, were headed back to their charging ports Grhan had set up for them in the hangar.

Kendy tapped her toes in the water. "Brrrrrrrrr," she said.

"Tell me about it, it's where Master Luke and I cool off after sparring practice. It feels good then. Now…not so much." He stood back, looking at Kendy, his lightsaber hanging against his thigh, arms folded casually across his chest. He was very tall, strong, muscular, and yet lean at the same time. Kendy had noticed a lot of things about Grhan in recent days. Like how narrow his waist was, how broad his shoulders were, how his hair wasn't just brown in the sunlight, but had auburn highlights in it. She noticed how light the hair on his arms and legs was, how he bit his bottom lip when concentrating on something he was reading, and how simple things like birds could capture his attention and make him smile. Grhan was…easy. No chaos. No conflict. No drama. Yes, Kendy had been noticing a lot of things about this man who, for some reason, had noticed her.

As he stood there, patient and still, she saw there were two blankets stacked beside the tree she'd seen him use as a prop in his long battles with his master. Kendy walked over and unfolded then spread a blanket on the soft ground. She sat on the edge and looked at Grhan, who was slowly walking toward her, his expression remarkably calm compared to Kendy's heart. It was beating very fast, and she tried to slow it down by steadying her breathing.

Grhan sat next to her, to her left like in the cave that evening when they first arrived on Jelucan. He took her left hand and wrapped his pinkie in hers, then slowly pulled her hand against his chest. His tunic was rougher than she imagined.

"They could be softer," Grhan smiled. "But we prefer the armor weaving for protection."

Kendy could feel his heart beating, steady and sure. It made her feel silly. "How?" She said softly to herself.

"How what?" he asked quietly.

"How is it your heart isn't racing like mine?"

He looked down and shrugged, a little color coming to his cheeks. "Maybe it's because I don't know enough yet – once I know what to expect my heart will race, too?" Kendy looked at him, puzzled at first. As an awareness dawned on her, she doubted she understood his meaning. "You have it right," he said, his head still looking down, with a small grin and the color settling in on his cheeks.

"How?" Kendy asked. "No, I mean… I've only once but it… well it wasn't really…" Kendy wanted to walk straight into the water and drown herself at that moment.

"What do you mean, 'it wasn't really'?" Grhan asked, looking at her now with curiosity, but not a hint of judgment.

"Really? You want to hear this – now?" She watched him look down and to the side, he even bit his bottom lip. Oh my goodness you're so adorable. Please say no.

"Yes. I think I do. If you won't feel disrespected by my asking, I mean." Kendy was confused by his curiosity, but she brought it up and if the moment was ruined it was ruined when she opened her mouth to begin with.

"Okay," she said quietly. "We had been running for days – from the Empire. My closest friend was a trooper named…well, we called him Stax. We were bone tired, scared, and had lost so many of our unit that it began to look hopeless. We knew if we could only negotiate our way through one last stretch of Imperial fortified territory, we'd be able to reach a rebel safe house. That was what we were led to believe, anyway.

We had a chance to catch our breath behind a large structure – a warehouse of some sort. One of the guys found a door unlocked, and for the first time in days we were using running water, shedding our filthy armor, bathing and sitting on actual furniture. Among the treasures was a rather large stash of Ale. I'm not a big drinker to begin with, but the stress and constant fear – I drank a lot. I remember Stax punching Kale, one of our guys, because he made some sort of inappropriate remark about me and him… Anyway, Stax carried me to a separate room and stayed by me until I started to sober up a little. I started to cry and he comforted me, then he asked, 'What if we don't make it tomorrow?'" Kendy looked down and sniffled. "The thing is...I made it. Stax didn't."

Kendy didn't look up, and it was clear the recollection was hard on her. Grhan put his hand on her head and stroked her hair, then sat back and waited patiently. "I can't even recall clearly how things happened in those few minutes. I mean, I know it happened and wasn't exactly…comfortable, physically...for me, I mean. But, I can't regret it because of Stax. It's just a part of a bigger story that in my heart and mind I convinced myself doesn't count. Stax didn't make it, so whatever it was, if it helped him, I can't regret it."

"Kendy," Grhan said. She looked up at him and he had the smile she loved – it was warmth, compassion, admiration, and all that says everything is like it's supposed to be. "You haven't been drinking tonight. We can do or not do whatever we wish. There's no distance between us and our safe house. We're not running. We're exactly where we want to be, and now I believe we are both with exactly who we want to be with. If we just sit here and watch the lights, it will be a wonderful night."

Kendy reached her arms around him and held him, resting her cheek on his shoulder.

"But, I want you to know that I want you. Every part of you. The experiences, what they have or haven't been for us both, I believe the most important ones are the lasts. I've always known that when it comes to making love, I wanted my first to be the same as my last. War could have changed that for me, too. I do promise you that if – when – we are together, we will make it special enough that you can consider it a first if that is what your heart tells you is right." Kendy felt so much love in her heart at that moment she could barely breathe. It radiated off of Grhan, and was like bathing in the warm sunlight on the beaches back on her home planet. That's what Grhan was becoming to her. He was her home.

Thirty minutes later they were lying together, completely naked, engaged in an almost comical exercise of exploring and naming each other's bends and curves, differences and similarities. "Belly button," Kendy said.

"Navel," Grhan said.

"Belly button!" Kendy insisted. "It's….funner."

"First, 'funner' is not a word. Second, 'belly button' makes no sense. A button for what? It's ridiculous."

"This is way more fun than a regular anatomy class," Kendy said in a mockingly low, sultry voice. They had laughed at their own naivety more than a few times. And then, as they found they'd covered pretty much everything, came the quiet moment. Kendy was relaxed and comfortable, her heart steady and calm. Of course, that would change.

Ghran leaned up on his elbow and placed his palm on her cheek, lightly rubbing his thumb across Kendy's lips. She closed her eyes and smiled softly. Grhan slowly began to explore those mysterious places he'd discovered on Kendy, first with his hands, stroking her smooth skin, massaging her lean muscles and lightly exploring more secretive areas with his finger tips and hands. And then he followed his hands with his mouth, kissing the places new to him lightly, and with more passion as Kendy responded with sounds of pleasure. He watched her. She was beautiful in the glowing light, her skin perfect and smooth like a statue. Her mouth fascinated him as she smiled, then spread her lips while breathy, low sounds escaped when he touched her here or kissed her there. He spent at least thirty minutes learning to play this beautiful instrument – his Kendy. And then it was her turn. However, she did not have the luxury of a full lesson, as Grhan realized he lacked the control that Kendy must have, which Kendy was clearly aware of as well. She lay back and gently pulled him toward her, and he paused, simply to be certain. Every moment, as she embraced him tighter and he became more and more connected to her, the greatest moment of his life was replaced by an even greater moment of his life. Grhan thought there had to be a limit to how much pleasure, passion, and desire a human could achieve, then Kendy would say his name, with her beautiful eyes closed and brow slightly furrowed as she'd gasp, then a new smile would cross her lips – one he'd never seen, but could see a thousand times a day and still feel an ache from its beauty.

Afterwards, they remained in their tight embrace, quiet as they slowly calmed, hearts slowing, muscles relaxing, and enjoying the experience together. They sat completely wrapped around each other, neither wanting to move for fear of bringing this incredible experience to an end. "Kendy," he said between breaths.

"Yes," she replied.

"I never…" he paused.

"Me neither," she told him. Grhan began to lightly stroke her back with his fingertips, twirling the ends of her hair. The sounds of the creek were soothing, and now almost inviting. "Grhan?"

"Yes?"

"Do you…are you?"

"Yes. I am." He replied.

"I love you, too." Kendy put her hands on his face and kissed him. He kissed her back. This time getting more passionate as the kiss progressed.

"I love you, Kendy Idele." Their kissing continued in earnest. "From the moment…. you boarded…. my ship…. I knew…. I would."

With the afterglow now evolving back into a more coherent state of mind for them both, their witty banter that was as natural as breathing returned.

"Grhaaaaan," Kendy said in a low, mischievous voice, "are you looking for extra credit? You're solidly in A+ territory already." They remained in the position they'd been in, without having separated in any way.

Grahn's eyes grew wide and he glanced down then back up to meet her sideways grin with one of his own. "I may not be needing extra credit, but I'm going to always give a solid effort." She was kissing him again as he finished his thought. "It's…just…the…kind of….guy…..I am."

Slightly less inhibited this second time around – he said, "Kendy Idele, if special gifts in sex are Force related….we need to start your formal training…..immediately ."

Kendy laughed out loud, then said, "Shut up, Jedi Solo. I'm meditating."

He didn't say another word – well, conversationally speaking - until the sun was barely peeking above the horizon. As they lay under the second blanket, having awoken from maybe an hour of sleep, Grhan very confidently, and loudly, stated, "This was the greatest night of my existence!"

Little did he know that his Master was some distance away, in a stand off with R2-D2, as Luke was headed down for an early morning workout.

"Artoo, what has gotten into you?" Whichever way Luke stepped, Artoo would zip over and block him as a non-stop stream of anxiety ridden droid chatter spilled out of his dome. Without the datapad, Luke was left dealing with the feisty droid with only chastising strings of bleeps and blurbs and, most clearly understood, Artoo's famous raspberries. But, Artoo was rarely stubborn with Luke. The way he flew down the trail after Luke, zipped around him, them banged into Luke's shin, Luke was realizing Artoo really didn't want Luke to go down the trail. "Artoo, What are you hiding?" Luke did a feint and leaped over Artoo, laughing and beginning to sprint, when, over Artoo's frantic jabbering he heard a male's voice from further down the trail. Luke froze. After, "greatest night of my existence," he heard giggling – a female giggling.

Luke turned and looked at Artoo, who let out one very loud raspberry. As Artoo turned and headed back up the trail, Luke followed, face burning red. He caught up with Artoo. "Hey buddy, how was I supposed to know? I'm sorry Artoo…".

"Bleep bleep brrrrrr oooooooo bloop!"

"Yah, well, you really hurt me back there. My shin's gonna be black and blue!"

The chastising and apologies went back and forth as the two old friends headed back into the hangar.

Luke was secretly relieved. The tension he felt coming off his apprentice had been almost suffocating, and his sparring had grown a little too aggressive and…frustrated. Luke began his workout outside the hangar by his X-wing, face still red from embarrassment, but very at peace for the joy of his Jedi brother.