Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, but Mara Jade, author of the Ryan stories, and I do own this story. I will provide descriptions of the three new characters later. That's it. Enjoy!
... means thoughts
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A few minutes after Lynelle had negotiated with the Cheniak ground control for landing rights, which seemed to the others as just another way for Lynelle to argue with authority, the Millenium Falcon landed in a space port district of Teriqia, a roughly formed town called Rem'mus. Lynelle explained that it was the central space port and inter-planet trade stop in the Far-Outer Rim Territory.
"So basically it's just like Mos Eisley?" Han asked.
"Just about," Lynelle responded. "Except the pilots here don't pilot buckets of bolts for a fortune's worth of credits."
"Nice," Han said, glaring at Lynelle, who grinned back, then glanced at Luke and Leia.
Before Leia could say anything to add to her description of the Falcon, Lynelle mentioned that it would take about two or three hours to walk to Ret'niw if they went through the woods.
Chewbacca growled something in the young Jedi's direction, which Han translated. "Couldn't we just fly there?"
"It's impossible," Lynelle said in response. "Ret'niw's in the middle of the forest. There are clearings, but none of them are large enough to land the Falcon in."
"Well, we better get going then," Luke said, standing up and moving towards the cockpit door. The others agreed, and after gathering some supplies, exited the freighter. Once the hatch closed, Han went to talk with the docking bay guard while Lynelle walked to a communicator system set up inside the docking area. Luke and Leia shared curious thoughts as to who Lynelle was talking to, but ended the conversation as their adopted sister returned. After Han made arrangements to keep the Falcon in the space port and locked up, the group began the trek to Ret'niw with much complaining from Threepio.
This sure brings back memories, thought Lynelle, upon reaching a particular tree in the Teriqin forest. The group had stopped in a grove of interesting trees near a stream. What varied this grove from the others was that every single tree in this area had the distinguishing marks of war etched on their surfaces. The one by which Lynelle stood was no different She touched the bark of the familiar tree, and could still feel the scorched ditches on the surface. I hid up here during the rail. That must have been nearly ten years ago. Amazing. This forest, after eight years, still shows the scorches and charred branches.
The Imperial raid had changed her life. Her Jedi Master had been killed protecting her from a shadowy figure, only seen in her nightmares. Her parents had died a little over four years before that attack during a previous raid. Both of which had been failed attempts by the Empire to control Cheniak, but had succeeded in destroying the lives of so many people. "Lyn?" She turned and smiled at the sound of the voice.
"Hey Luke!" He half-smiled.
"Brings back memories, doesn't it? Reminds me of Dagobah, without the swamps."
"Oh, there's a swamp here, if you want to visit it. I don't recommend that though." Luke laughed.
"I think I'll pass. At least there aren't any Tusken Raiders or Nightsisters here." He looked around the jungle. "I'm glad we finally reached here. Maybe this can be a 'vacation' for Han and Leia. So, where's this city?"
"Climb this tree, and you'll have a great view of it. And it's not a city; it's a village," Lynelle corrected.
"Hey DelRao! That you?" said a boy standing about ten meters away next to a taller boy.
"Yeah, Tezican. It is," Lynelle responded with a smile. She began walking towards the two boys, Luke a step behind.
"Took you a while to get here," the other boy said once Lynelle and Luke reached them.
"You try getting anywhere with a pair of droids who have a distaste for woodlands," the Teriqin girl said.
Both boys nodded in agreement, then the shorter boy said, "Well, who's he?"
"This," Lynelle said with a grin, motioning at her brother, "is Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, brother of Councilor Leia Organa Solo and my adopted brother."
The two boys looked at each other, at Luke, and back again with disbelief. After a while, they began speaking to each other in a language indistinguishable to Luke, which Lynelle identified as 'Chelulic'.
"There are two languages on Cheniak," Lynelle explained. "Teriqin, my native language, and Chelulic, which they are currently speaking. Most of the words are the same, but there are considerable differences in the writing and formal speaking of both." Then turning to the two Chelulics, Lynelle spoke to them in Chelulic to demand their attention.
Switching back to Basic, Lynelle introduced her friends as Mika Tezican and Arique Damion. Luke sensed a flicker of the Force from both, but it came stronger from the black haired boy, Mika. The brown haired youth, Arique, had just barely enough of the Force to be trained, but it could possibly become greater if he was trained correctly. Luke brought himself out of his thoughts just in time to hear part of a conversation between Mika and Lynelle.
"Well, Lyn, I bet the forest brings back-" Mika started.
"If you say 'memories', Mika, I will personally tie you to a tree and leave you for someone else to find." Lynelle interrupted, glaring at the dark brown eyed boy.
"You wouldn't be able to. I'm taller than you."
"No, you're not."
"Yeah, I am."
"Guys!" Arique cut in. Lynelle glared at him.
"Were they always like that, Arique?" Luke inquired.
"All the time, Jedi Skywalker," Arique answered, receiving glares from both Lynelle and Mika.
"You can just call me 'Luke,' Arique. You too, Mika," Luke said, trying to head off another argument, then turned to Lynelle. "Lyn, you were about to say where the village was." Luke said.
"About two kilometers that way."
"We should get there by sundown, then," replied Leia as she, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids walked up to the others.
After Lynelle introduced everyone again, Arique suggested using the forest speeder he and Mika had arrived in. The others agreed and followed the Chelulics to the speeder, which was slightly larger than the XP38 landspeeder model. Mika explained that this speeder was larger because it was built to haul goods between Ret'niw and Rem'mus.
As Arique took the steering controls in hand after everyone had gotten in, Lynelle noticed Mika cringe slightly. Before her mind could ask why Mika became nervous, she received her answer.
A short while later, the forest speeder arrived at a small village composed of equally small buildings made of stone. Once the vehicle landed and they all got out, a girl about twenty years old made her way towards the speeder. As Lynelle squinted in the dimming sunlight to see her, the girl reached them and greeted the speeder passengers. "Gynoma y teronsa munesas."
"Lynelle?" Leia said, turning to her sister. "Could you translate?"
"She said 'Hello and welcome travelers'," Lynelle answered, still trying to recognize this girl.
"And welcome home to you, Lyn," the girl said simply, turning to her. The sound of the voice speaking Basic caught Lynelle's ears and finally registered.
"Sandy!" Lynelle said excitedly, leaping towards her friend and hugging her.
"It is so good to see you again!" Sandy said, hugging Lynelle back. As they stepped back, she added, "It has been too long. But at least you made it back."
"I have so much to tell you, Sandy! Unless Cantiqa has told you already."
"She and Daren told me about some of the Rebellion, but most of it was pilot and mechanic things," Sandy said.
"Yeah," Lynelle agreed. "Oh!" she said suddenly, then turned to the others. "This is Cassandra Netaripo. Her father is a councilor for the Ret'niw government and was the one who sent us the distress message."
"Hello," Sandy said, bowing in the formal Teriqin manner.
After Lynelle introduced the others for the second time that day, Sandy offered to take them to meet the Ret'niw officials the next day since it was too late now. Leia hesitated a second before agreeing. She usually preferred to get things done earlier to make sure that further disaster did not occur, but then again, she knew how politicians didn't wish to be bothered after a certain time.
As Sandy led the group into the village, everyone with the exception of the Cheniak natives were amazed at how much the interior of the village was different from each section they passed through. The village lost its rugged appearance the closer they go to the center as small, gray-stone buildings gave way to larger, white- or red-stoned buildings. Lynelle and Sandy explained that the simplicity or complexity of the buildings showed what social level lived where.
"Gray-stones mean poor. White-stones used to mean Force-adept, but now is another color for the higher level, who normally live in the red-stoned houses," Sandy said.
"Used to mean Force-adepts?" Luke asked. "What do you mean?"
"Most of the Jedi were either killed, kidnapped, or, like Lyn, fled Cheniak," Sandy answered. After the few seconds' silence, Sandy continued giving her tour of the village.
At the end of the short tour, which ended in the center of the village, the few Teriqins still remaining hospitably received the group and made room for them in one of the white-stoned houses. Lynelle was glad not everyone had fled Teriqia and spoke to a few of the elders and young adults she had known. A few of her childhood friends other than Sandy, Mika, and Arique were still there, but most of them had left. The elders were overjoyed to see her alive, and they spent the night talking to her about the rest of the group. Lynelle laughed at some questions, such as when a woman asked her if Han was Leia's boyfriend, or if one of the other 'fine boys' were her boyfriend. Most of the time, Lynelle got a work out of translating things the elders said for Leia and the others, then back again. Threepio wanted to tell them a story like he told the Ewoks, but Lynelle threatened to switch him off. They relaxed that night, listening to stories told by the people of the village or the songs sung by them. The festivity continued well into the night and eventually ended early the next morning. As the last of the songs ended and shifted into silence, Lynelle easily fell asleep.
-*- -*- -*- -*- -*-
Hey! Phoenix, Goddess of Fire here! I finally have done Chapter Two!!! Yea!!!! I was considering taking this story off fanfiction.net, but really didn't want to. Since it's summer, I'll probably get more of my stories done. If I'm not working or having fun. I will have about two more stories coming out. Two of my friends and I are going to start a Charmed fanfic. Don't know when it'll be worked on though. All that I know is I get to write the first chapter. And thus chaos shall ensue!!! By the way, the writers will be myself, Christy Anderson, and Aries Sythax. Okay, the whole reason I know a few of the other writers is that we go to school together. With and exception of Anime Leo, who is my pen-pal. I'll shut up now. Sugar highs are wonderful things. ***Sigh*** TTYL!!! ^_^
... means thoughts
-*- -*- -*- -*- -*-
A few minutes after Lynelle had negotiated with the Cheniak ground control for landing rights, which seemed to the others as just another way for Lynelle to argue with authority, the Millenium Falcon landed in a space port district of Teriqia, a roughly formed town called Rem'mus. Lynelle explained that it was the central space port and inter-planet trade stop in the Far-Outer Rim Territory.
"So basically it's just like Mos Eisley?" Han asked.
"Just about," Lynelle responded. "Except the pilots here don't pilot buckets of bolts for a fortune's worth of credits."
"Nice," Han said, glaring at Lynelle, who grinned back, then glanced at Luke and Leia.
Before Leia could say anything to add to her description of the Falcon, Lynelle mentioned that it would take about two or three hours to walk to Ret'niw if they went through the woods.
Chewbacca growled something in the young Jedi's direction, which Han translated. "Couldn't we just fly there?"
"It's impossible," Lynelle said in response. "Ret'niw's in the middle of the forest. There are clearings, but none of them are large enough to land the Falcon in."
"Well, we better get going then," Luke said, standing up and moving towards the cockpit door. The others agreed, and after gathering some supplies, exited the freighter. Once the hatch closed, Han went to talk with the docking bay guard while Lynelle walked to a communicator system set up inside the docking area. Luke and Leia shared curious thoughts as to who Lynelle was talking to, but ended the conversation as their adopted sister returned. After Han made arrangements to keep the Falcon in the space port and locked up, the group began the trek to Ret'niw with much complaining from Threepio.
This sure brings back memories, thought Lynelle, upon reaching a particular tree in the Teriqin forest. The group had stopped in a grove of interesting trees near a stream. What varied this grove from the others was that every single tree in this area had the distinguishing marks of war etched on their surfaces. The one by which Lynelle stood was no different She touched the bark of the familiar tree, and could still feel the scorched ditches on the surface. I hid up here during the rail. That must have been nearly ten years ago. Amazing. This forest, after eight years, still shows the scorches and charred branches.
The Imperial raid had changed her life. Her Jedi Master had been killed protecting her from a shadowy figure, only seen in her nightmares. Her parents had died a little over four years before that attack during a previous raid. Both of which had been failed attempts by the Empire to control Cheniak, but had succeeded in destroying the lives of so many people. "Lyn?" She turned and smiled at the sound of the voice.
"Hey Luke!" He half-smiled.
"Brings back memories, doesn't it? Reminds me of Dagobah, without the swamps."
"Oh, there's a swamp here, if you want to visit it. I don't recommend that though." Luke laughed.
"I think I'll pass. At least there aren't any Tusken Raiders or Nightsisters here." He looked around the jungle. "I'm glad we finally reached here. Maybe this can be a 'vacation' for Han and Leia. So, where's this city?"
"Climb this tree, and you'll have a great view of it. And it's not a city; it's a village," Lynelle corrected.
"Hey DelRao! That you?" said a boy standing about ten meters away next to a taller boy.
"Yeah, Tezican. It is," Lynelle responded with a smile. She began walking towards the two boys, Luke a step behind.
"Took you a while to get here," the other boy said once Lynelle and Luke reached them.
"You try getting anywhere with a pair of droids who have a distaste for woodlands," the Teriqin girl said.
Both boys nodded in agreement, then the shorter boy said, "Well, who's he?"
"This," Lynelle said with a grin, motioning at her brother, "is Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, brother of Councilor Leia Organa Solo and my adopted brother."
The two boys looked at each other, at Luke, and back again with disbelief. After a while, they began speaking to each other in a language indistinguishable to Luke, which Lynelle identified as 'Chelulic'.
"There are two languages on Cheniak," Lynelle explained. "Teriqin, my native language, and Chelulic, which they are currently speaking. Most of the words are the same, but there are considerable differences in the writing and formal speaking of both." Then turning to the two Chelulics, Lynelle spoke to them in Chelulic to demand their attention.
Switching back to Basic, Lynelle introduced her friends as Mika Tezican and Arique Damion. Luke sensed a flicker of the Force from both, but it came stronger from the black haired boy, Mika. The brown haired youth, Arique, had just barely enough of the Force to be trained, but it could possibly become greater if he was trained correctly. Luke brought himself out of his thoughts just in time to hear part of a conversation between Mika and Lynelle.
"Well, Lyn, I bet the forest brings back-" Mika started.
"If you say 'memories', Mika, I will personally tie you to a tree and leave you for someone else to find." Lynelle interrupted, glaring at the dark brown eyed boy.
"You wouldn't be able to. I'm taller than you."
"No, you're not."
"Yeah, I am."
"Guys!" Arique cut in. Lynelle glared at him.
"Were they always like that, Arique?" Luke inquired.
"All the time, Jedi Skywalker," Arique answered, receiving glares from both Lynelle and Mika.
"You can just call me 'Luke,' Arique. You too, Mika," Luke said, trying to head off another argument, then turned to Lynelle. "Lyn, you were about to say where the village was." Luke said.
"About two kilometers that way."
"We should get there by sundown, then," replied Leia as she, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids walked up to the others.
After Lynelle introduced everyone again, Arique suggested using the forest speeder he and Mika had arrived in. The others agreed and followed the Chelulics to the speeder, which was slightly larger than the XP38 landspeeder model. Mika explained that this speeder was larger because it was built to haul goods between Ret'niw and Rem'mus.
As Arique took the steering controls in hand after everyone had gotten in, Lynelle noticed Mika cringe slightly. Before her mind could ask why Mika became nervous, she received her answer.
A short while later, the forest speeder arrived at a small village composed of equally small buildings made of stone. Once the vehicle landed and they all got out, a girl about twenty years old made her way towards the speeder. As Lynelle squinted in the dimming sunlight to see her, the girl reached them and greeted the speeder passengers. "Gynoma y teronsa munesas."
"Lynelle?" Leia said, turning to her sister. "Could you translate?"
"She said 'Hello and welcome travelers'," Lynelle answered, still trying to recognize this girl.
"And welcome home to you, Lyn," the girl said simply, turning to her. The sound of the voice speaking Basic caught Lynelle's ears and finally registered.
"Sandy!" Lynelle said excitedly, leaping towards her friend and hugging her.
"It is so good to see you again!" Sandy said, hugging Lynelle back. As they stepped back, she added, "It has been too long. But at least you made it back."
"I have so much to tell you, Sandy! Unless Cantiqa has told you already."
"She and Daren told me about some of the Rebellion, but most of it was pilot and mechanic things," Sandy said.
"Yeah," Lynelle agreed. "Oh!" she said suddenly, then turned to the others. "This is Cassandra Netaripo. Her father is a councilor for the Ret'niw government and was the one who sent us the distress message."
"Hello," Sandy said, bowing in the formal Teriqin manner.
After Lynelle introduced the others for the second time that day, Sandy offered to take them to meet the Ret'niw officials the next day since it was too late now. Leia hesitated a second before agreeing. She usually preferred to get things done earlier to make sure that further disaster did not occur, but then again, she knew how politicians didn't wish to be bothered after a certain time.
As Sandy led the group into the village, everyone with the exception of the Cheniak natives were amazed at how much the interior of the village was different from each section they passed through. The village lost its rugged appearance the closer they go to the center as small, gray-stone buildings gave way to larger, white- or red-stoned buildings. Lynelle and Sandy explained that the simplicity or complexity of the buildings showed what social level lived where.
"Gray-stones mean poor. White-stones used to mean Force-adept, but now is another color for the higher level, who normally live in the red-stoned houses," Sandy said.
"Used to mean Force-adepts?" Luke asked. "What do you mean?"
"Most of the Jedi were either killed, kidnapped, or, like Lyn, fled Cheniak," Sandy answered. After the few seconds' silence, Sandy continued giving her tour of the village.
At the end of the short tour, which ended in the center of the village, the few Teriqins still remaining hospitably received the group and made room for them in one of the white-stoned houses. Lynelle was glad not everyone had fled Teriqia and spoke to a few of the elders and young adults she had known. A few of her childhood friends other than Sandy, Mika, and Arique were still there, but most of them had left. The elders were overjoyed to see her alive, and they spent the night talking to her about the rest of the group. Lynelle laughed at some questions, such as when a woman asked her if Han was Leia's boyfriend, or if one of the other 'fine boys' were her boyfriend. Most of the time, Lynelle got a work out of translating things the elders said for Leia and the others, then back again. Threepio wanted to tell them a story like he told the Ewoks, but Lynelle threatened to switch him off. They relaxed that night, listening to stories told by the people of the village or the songs sung by them. The festivity continued well into the night and eventually ended early the next morning. As the last of the songs ended and shifted into silence, Lynelle easily fell asleep.
-*- -*- -*- -*- -*-
Hey! Phoenix, Goddess of Fire here! I finally have done Chapter Two!!! Yea!!!! I was considering taking this story off fanfiction.net, but really didn't want to. Since it's summer, I'll probably get more of my stories done. If I'm not working or having fun. I will have about two more stories coming out. Two of my friends and I are going to start a Charmed fanfic. Don't know when it'll be worked on though. All that I know is I get to write the first chapter. And thus chaos shall ensue!!! By the way, the writers will be myself, Christy Anderson, and Aries Sythax. Okay, the whole reason I know a few of the other writers is that we go to school together. With and exception of Anime Leo, who is my pen-pal. I'll shut up now. Sugar highs are wonderful things. ***Sigh*** TTYL!!! ^_^