Kyp threw back his head and laughed, pleased
that he'd managed to rub Brodey the wrong way. The young man was so overly
sensitive when it came to some topics. Kyp figured it was his duty to
desensitize him.
"It's not that funny!" Brodey yelled, taking the ice pack off his badly bruised
face to glower at Kyp. "I don't poke fun at your shortcomings."
"That's because I don't have any," Kyp declared, smiling smugly.
"I'm not sure who has the larger ego problem here," Brodey sighed, shaking his
head. "You've had the same luck as I have with women and yet we both have egos a
parsec wide."
"That's because I'm comfortable not being in a romantic relationship right now.
I prefer playing the field to settling down for a few months with the first girl
I dub as 'the one'," Kyp said, staring intently at his apprentice. "Your problem
is that you're trying to hurry things way too much."
"I can't help it!" Brodey exclaimed, placing the ice back on his nose. "Do you
realize that, at the age of nineteen, I've never even had a girlfriend yet?"
"Not all that uncommon, especially with all the things you've been through in
the past few years," Kyp answered.
"If I was still living back at home I'd be well into the process of choosing a
suitor. My father would see to it that I started early, just so I could make up
my mind by the time my twenty-third birthday rolled around."
"Ah, so what you're saying is that it's also a race against a cultural clock,"
Kyp said, sitting down on the couch across from Brodey.
"Precisely," Brodey said. "I feel a lot better after seeing a vision of my
future."
"I still don't know how you're so sure it's a vision. Why couldn't it just be
that you were tired from staying up with Jaina? Dreams are the mind's way of
healing itself."
"I told you, I don't dream. Ever," Brodey said adamantly. "You want an example
of a prediction I've made? When I was sixteen years old I almost died in a
vortex skiing accident. I was in a competition and I missed a trick. The result
was many broken bones and the avulsion of my left arm."
"I was wondering how you got that prosthesis," Kyp interrupted.
"I'm not done yet," Brodey said crossly. "I had a dream about the accident
before it happened but I didn't do anything to prevent it because I was
thick-headed and on spice back then. Regardless, I still predicted it."
"Fine, I believe you," Kyp sighed, giving in. "Congratulations on your future
wedding."
"Thanks," Brodey said, smirking slightly. He leaned back against the cushions,
trying to replay the events of the dream in his head. He was hungry for any
clues that might lead him to the identity of his future bride. After going over
it a bit, something caught his eye.
"Fel's in my dream," Brodey muttered. "The weird thing is that he seems happy
for me."
"Maybe you and Jag will resolve your differences at some point," Kyp insinuated.
"I guess it's possible," Brodey said with a shrug. "You were there, sitting next
to him, and it looks like Jaina's on his other side."
"Of course."
"You don't think it was her?" Brodey asked, sensing the hint of doubt in Kyp's
voice.
"You didn't actually see her there, you assumed," Kyp replied. "I was just
calling you on it."
"Well, who else could it be?" Brodey cried. "I mean, they're pretty much married
already!"
"I'm not saying it wasn't! I'm just saying that you don't know for certain."
"Oh," Brodey said softly. He slowly got to his feet and stretched. "I should go
now before Captain Perfect comes back out and decides he wants to use me for
target practice."
"Colonel," Kyp reminded him, his voice reproachful.
"Whatever," Brodey mumbled, shrugging his shoulders again. "I've a lot of things
I need to take care of in the hangar."
Kyp watched him grab his belongings and leave, shaking his head as he heard the
door slam.
"I hope you and Jag do end up working things out," Kyp whispered, "Because I
don't know how much more of this I can take."
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