Foreword: Wow! A story! It's been a long time. Can't say much, but that life was really busy. This story on the other hand, is pretty short. A short, compact story that sprang from my head as Athena from Zeus. I like that comparison. Anyway, enjoy the story, comments always appreciated. - Cptn. Suz
In Two Weeks
by Cptn. Suz
Minot Win'Yaul had only been up for two hours when he received the early morning call from his good friend Daved Bucel.
"Morning, friend."
"Morning, Minot. I can't chat long, but this is important. Remember my younger sister?"
"I remember Sitka like I remember finding arthropods in my bedding."
"Well, yeah, she does bring back some horrid memories, but that was years ago. Anyway, she was engaged to another Jedi...uh, his name was...Cariv Helion, I think..."
"Oh, news to me. When did they..."
"Wait. See I just got a message from Sitka saying that she was going to Yavin 4. She said Cariv had turned Dark Side and they fought and she ended killing him. She looked really distraught and asked me to meet her there."
"So when should I be expecting you two?"
"I can't come now. That's the problem. I'm in the middle of pitching the sector expansion around Asecae. If I were talking with the Council, they'd understand, but this is the Senate, and you know how it is. I absolutely can't lose this opportunity of address.
"And I get your anguished sibling?"
"See, I knew you'd accept! Thanks, I'll come as soon as I can."
Sitka arrived later that day to find Minot standing alone on the landing pad. She promptly locked down her ship and shut herself up inside it.
Minot waited several hours and finally, when she didn't emerge, pried his way into the ship, dreading that she'd try and commit suicide.
"Go away!" her voice echoed down the passageway, along with the ring of receding footsteps.
"I just came to see if I can help you in any way," Minot replied, following the voice to it's source.
"Go away," was her reply.
He found her curled up in a corner of the cargo bay. Rocking back and forth, she tried to withdraw farther when Minot approached.
Placing a hand on her shoulder and crouching beside her, Minot tried a technique that worked on his nieces and nephews, reaching out to comfort her through the Force.
Sitka was immediately different. Her pain was not childish fear or confusion; it was pure, raw wounds of betrayal. Minot was shocked by its intensity. She thought she had betrayed her fiancée by killing him, even though he had left her for the Dark Side. Unwilling to back away, Minot pressed forward, trying to soothe this complete agony.
Lost in his efforts, Minot did not realize how he was reacting physically until after rousing himself from what seemed like a deep sleep; he found himself holding Sitka perhaps a little too closely.
Several days passed and Sitka emerged from her ship from time to time. She puttered about in the jungle, walking trails and revisiting childhood haunts.
It was one afternoon that Minot hiked out to the reflection lake. More like an oversized pond, the mirror-like water, with it's various vantage points, made for an excellent place for meditation.
He sensed Sitka's pained presence before he saw her. Sitting on his favorite overhand, feet dangling over the edge. Minot went and sat beside her. She was crying softly, behind the tangle of hair that covered her face. Gently, Minot pulled back the matted hair to look at her face. As he did so, she turned, and reached out through the Force.
Such a sensation, Minot had never felt anything like it before. Never had he felt this close to his parents, his siblings, his teachers, or even Daved. As if their Force identities were interwoven, it was so personal, so intimate, so primal and basic a feeling. He...
Spwoosh! Minot was bobbing to the surface and wiping the water from his eyes. They must have fallen in. Sitka emerged from the water coughing and spitting. Together they lumbered out of the disturbed pool and plodded back to the main complex.
Night had fallen by the time they arrived and Sitka returned to her ship. Minot went back to his rooms to change.
He knew that Sitka was at this door even before she entered.
Sitka had never worn traditional Jedi attire in Minot's memory and she certainly didn't now. Clad in fitted pilot's pants and a careworn shirt, she wouldn't have won any fashion awards but her allure was incredible.
Minot himself had paused. Pants already on, his arms had stopped in the midst of putting on a tunic that had seen better days. His arms finished the motion and the tunic swished silently.
"Why haven't you ever married?" Sitka asked. Her voice barely ranked above a whisper.
Minot's voice replied even before he recalled that he could speak, "I never found the right person."
"Neither did I," she replied.
Lean, calculative fingers reached out and grasped his worn, callused ones. Minot and Sitka sat down on the hard stone floor. They sat for a long time.
About a standard week passed, then Daved arrived.
He found Sitka and Minot waiting for him.
Sitka was dressed as he'd never seen her before, wearing a very Jedi-like brown tunic and cream-colored pants. Minot looked typical, though, usual dour Jedi robes and such.
"How are you doing, Sitka?" he asked, embracing his sister.
"Pretty good. It gets easier. I almost forget some days."
"So quickly?"
"You and I need to talk," Minot interrupted.
Sitka looked not at all perplexed as Minot began to haul Daved away.
"There are a few things I wanted to tell you before you learned it all rather rapidly from your sister," Minot started.
"I'd imagine. How'd you manage this turn around?"
"It wasn't actually my doing, or Sitka's. We've kind of settled the matter as the will of the Force."
"Wonderful. A miracle."
"We're getting married."
"WHAT?!"
"You hear me correctly."
"But...but Minot! What's addled your brains? She just lost her fiancée! You shouldn't be taking advantage of her!"
"I'm not. Like I said, it was the will of the Force."
"You're confusing me."
"Reach out. Feel my presence and your sister's."
"I don't know what you're getting at but...gack! It's like a web of sunlight!"
"Now you see what I mean? We're connected somehow. It's incredible."
"I guess I can understand, but I really don't."
"Neither do we. I've been meditating on this and have realized that sometimes the Force can not be passive, and it really has a will to accomplish.
"Uh huh."
"We're naming the kid after you."
"No. No! You're joking right, Minot? Right? Minot?"