Last time: Sasha and Viran talk about their future after what happened on Caranas.

Now: Kyr and Cien do some chores for the house.

Chapter 6 The Barrier

"So how many spares do we have of those?" Cien asked Kyr, hiking through the forest with him. It was a spring day leading into the short warm season, Cien and Kyr were both in their flight suits. A broken barrier spike needed to be replaced. Kyr had planned to do it alone, but Cien had never been so far away from the house and she took it as an opportunity to spend some time with Kyr as well as hike through the woods and see more of the property. They were about two and a half kilometers up the trail that went up to the top of the mountain apparently, and then had to leave the trail to find the barrier spikes. Not too far away, and a pretty easy hike so far. Albeit Kyr was the one who had to carry the barrier spike even though it was a relatively small device.

"Dozens." He said, "and these things are pretty common in the Outer Rim to keep critters away so we can get more too."

"Do they break often?" She asked as a twig broke underfoot. The ground was otherwise made of a soft layer of leaves and debris that gave slightly under foot and made them move with a rustle.

"Not too often. Usually I only have to replace one every year or so." He said, "usually it's like this, a little hike out into the woods."

"It is nice out here." She said, taking in the serene landscape. "I never think to just go hiking in the forest." She said absently.

"Yeah." He said with a smile. "It is nice out here." He wistfully remembered running through these woods with training blasters and playing games with Anna, Kitsu and some of the other younger cousins. He had a lot of good memories out here on days very much like this. When the family would gather to come enjoy Spring coming to Haven after the lodge was usually shut down for the Winter. It was a little strange coming out here as an adult, and with his wife. It made him feel like an adult, in a strange way.

"We didn't have forests like this." Cien said wistfully. "Korriban was such a dead planet, just red dust and stone mountains when I was a child there. A lot of planets I visited did have forests, but I never had any chance to just enjoy them."

"Don't read my mind, that's rude." Kyr said with a smile.

"What?" She asked him quizzically.

"I was just thinking of when I used to play out here in these woods as a kid."

"Oh." She said with a smile. "It must have been nice to grow up here." She observed.

"I didn't grow up here, we just visited once or twice a year for an extended stay. I grew up on Mandalore and it's pretty desolate." He replied, "just salt flats and dirt colored dust."

"Oh, yeah." She said, remembering the salt flats, and the general atmosphere of the area around the house from his memories.

"This seems like a nicer place to live than Mandalore or Korriban." Kyr observed wryly. "Not sure why we didn't stay here more often, and for longer."

"Probably because it's buried in snow for most of the year." She groused good naturedly.

"Yeah, that might be it." He laughed.

"What happened to the house on Mandalore?" Cien asked. It was a question that had flitted through her mind on more than one occasion.

"I think some Moff took it for his estate. Gotta admit I didn't actually follow up." He replied.

"So it's still there?" She asked.

"Maybe, not sure." Kyr replied.

"Would the rose garden still be there, then?" Cien asked.

Kyr stopped, and she was worried she had struck a raw nerve. "I'm not sure." He finally said. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to go find out some day."

She just nodded, and decided not to press the subject anymore. After a few minutes they got to the broken spike, and Kyr stopped, looking at where it had fallen.

"What?" She asked, coming to his side, and sensing him getting tense.

"It's not just dead, it's been destroyed." He said, looking around. "In the logs this one's power cell had been getting weaker recently but I procrastinated and didn't replace it." He looked around, and pulled the new spike off the sling from his back.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"Not sure." He said a little worriedly. "Keep an eye -"

He was interrupted by a deep, low growl that came from the forest around them. It sounded like it came from the house side of the barrier.

"Osik." Kyr said, pulling his blaster out of his hip holster and backing up protectively in front of Cien as he put his arm in front of her without even thinking of it.

"What's that?" She asked, looking around.

"One of the cats." He said, looking around trying to see where it might be.

"An arkothrax cat?" She asked quizzically. She picked up on Kyr's worry and reached for her lightsaber.

"Yeah." Kyr replied, tensely looking around like he was on a battlefield.

Cien had been vaguely aware of the presence of other animals around them, and now that she reached out she felt the predatory sense of something nearby. Not monstrous or evil, just a predator looking for its next meal to survive. An odd change from what she usually faced.

"Not sure how good this little blaster will be." Kyr groused. He still hadn't gotten a proper replacement for his favorite blaster he had lost on Caranas, and for this trip he had just grabbed one of the pistols in the armory.

"Are they blaster resistant?" She asked, some creature's hides were thick enough to brush off blaster bolts.

"They're just coming down from the mountains, so they're really fluffy - " Kyr said tensely.

"Fluffy?" She interrupted, snickering at his wording.

Another low growl sounded and instantly brought their attention back to the matter at hand.

"You want to get the spike setup?" She suggested, slightly on edge.

He hesitated for a second, worried about letting his guard down to install the spike. Then he realized that Cien was out here able to cover him, and she could probably deal with this thing single handedly. Then he hesitated.

"If I set up the spike, it will be trapped on the house side of the barrier." Kyr observed tensely in a low tone.

"Well, what can -" Cien said, before she was interrupted by the foliage rustling, ever so slightly. Their heads shot around to look just as the huge creature leapt out at them. Kyr brought his blaster up and tried to get in front of Cien. Just before he was able to squeeze off a shot, its path suddenly changed mid-air like a gigantic fist had slammed into it, and it went rolling off to the side, towards the outside of the barrier.

It recovered quickly and got up, looking like it was about to lunge almost instantly.

"Stop that." Cien commanded, in a voice that brought Kyr up short. She stepped around in front of him, putting an arm in front of him protectively. And that surprised him a little.

The cat growled low and menacing, facing her down.

"I said stop that." Cien hissed back, staring at the cat menacingly. Kyr felt his skin prickle from some energy that was in their air, and he looked nervously between his wife and the huge feline that was facing her down. It was probably four times her size. Five times, since she was kind of little, and it was very fluffy so it looked huge. One of the bigger cats Kyr had ever seen, its dirty white coat fluffed out to try to make it look scarier.

"Go. Away." Cien commanded, pointing away from the house.

The cat snapped its huge jaws and took a step forward.

"I said go." Cien said in a voice that chilled Kyr.

The cat hissed and started backing off as it growled.

"Go." Cien growled.

It took several moments for the cat to back off, before it turned and left. She had directed it to the exterior side of the barrier, away from the house. Kyr stared frozen at what he had just witnessed.

"Kyr, the spike." She said, still looking at where the cat had disappeared, in case it came back.

"What?" He asked, "oh, yeah." He grabbed the new one from where it had fallen on the ground, forgotten, and slammed the sharpened end into the dirt and hit the activation button. Both of them relaxed a little as the barrier was back in place to keep the creature away permanently.

"So it should be -" Cien said, turning back and relaxing, before she was interrupted by Kyr pulling her into a kiss. She was startled but instantly returned it back with a passion as she melted in his arms.

"Sorry." Kyr said as he pulled back, and Cien seemed like she was in a slight daze.

"Oh, don't apologize." She said a little breathlessly.

"I'm married to the scariest thing on a planet known for scary things." He said with a rueful chuckle, while she was still slightly dazed.

"I uh… Thanks?" She replied as she recovered.

"Think anyone else might disturb us out here in the woods if we take an hour or two of us time?" He asked.

She looked around, "No." And eagerly kissed him again.

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