"Teller could help us get this off."
"He's staying in the cockpit."
"The kid should know how to bargain."
"This isn't bargaining. It's extortion. It's bad enough you're grooming him for this business in the first place."
"Somebody has to take over The Lost Purpose."
"Not him."
"Come on, Millicent. If you won't do it, he's the next best choice."
"No. I'm not letting you do that to him."
"Fine. If you want him to wander the galaxy as a drifter with no job or slave away as a dirt farmer on some backwater planet, then that's your fault. Now, go get your other brothers and tell them to hurry. We're only two days away from Nal Hutta."
Hazy voices slowly became coherent as Teller opened his eyes. Fuzzy shapes transitioned into human beings.
"Good morning."
"When did I go to sleep?" he asked Jon, who reached a hand down and pulled the young smuggler to his feet.
"About two minutes ago. I started a timer, just to make sure you didn't have brain damage."
"Brain damage from sleeping?"
"Are you having trouble remembering?"
"Not at all. I was sparring with Thayla…"
Jon smiled as Teller trailed off. "Don't take it too hard. Thayla was a lightsaber prodigy back at the academy. You never stood a chance, kiddo."
Teller's senses fully returned to him and he suddenly realized that the ship wasn't moving and there was sunlight streaming on his face.
"We stopped?"
"Just for a few minutes. The girls needed some air."
Thayla and Jamie were sitting on a piece of red crystal that jutted from the ground, tossing a ball for D0-1T to fetch.
"Go get it!" said Jamie, chucking the ball as far as she could. A small harpoon shot from the droid's chest and struck it in midair, and after it hit the ground Teller could hear a loud metal winch reeling it back in.
"Does Jamie know who Thayla is?"
Jon looked over at him. "You're too observant and way too nosy. If you were any other partner I would have left you here in the dusts."
"But I'm not any partner."
Jon sighed. "We haven't told her, yet. We're waiting for the right time, but I have no idea when that will be."
"You've raised her alone this whole time?"
"Ever since the raid on the temple."
"What exactly happened there? You two seem to still have some hostility over it."
"What exactly happened to your family? Thayla said they all mysteriously died right before you arrived here."
"Ok, point taken."
"I'm sure we'll be working together for a while, kid. Histories and secrets have a habit of boiling up to the surface, but for now let's keep a few things to ourselves," Jon said, with a sigh. "It's been a busy few days. I need simplicity, right now."
Teller looked out at the setting sun and silently agreed.
The two of them stood there for a long while, watching Dolt go running after his lost toy, Jamie scrambling after him and Thayla laughing harder than she had in a decade, but it didn't last for very long.
Soon enough, the sun set and the five of them climbed back aboard. D0-1T returned to the cockpit and everyone else to their bunks.
Well, except for Teller.
While Jon and his daughter grabbed their datapads and prepared to get some reading done, Teller grabbed his small iron stick and got to work.
However, he was surprised when a female voice suddenly came out of the blue to correct him.
"You're bending your knees too much," Jamie told him, even giving him a quick kick in the shin when he didn't move fast enough. "Don't kick your front foot out so far."
"Oh, thanks. I'll keep that in mind."