Master Koon was called away by the Jedi Council to go on a dangerous mission to the Hapes System; Zak was to continue to stay with us, until Master Koon got back. Master Koon left, and it was the three of us and the servants.
I came upon Zak one day soon after his Master left practicing with his lightsaber and a couple remotes in our garden. I was tired. I had just had my dance class, and an hour after that, my self-defense class. Say whatever else about me, but I was in shape. I sat down on the ground and watched him. He wore only a blindfold and a pair of pants. He gracefully deflected blaster bolts almost effortlessly.
"I know you're there Rabé." He said as he deflected a bolt from behind him.
"I wasn't trying to keep it a secret." I retorted as his lightsaber danced in the air. I paused, "Are you angry at your master for going on a mission without you?"
His lightsaber whirled and hissed, "Kind of. I mean, I know that the Hapes Cluster is dangerous, but how do they expect us to know how to deal with it later, if they are shielding us now?" He paused, and the lightsaber sliced through the air, deflecting two bolts at once. "I guess I'm more frustrated about how the Council deals with these with theses missions in general, than I am with Plo."
"And, of course, all missions have a potential to be dangerous."
"Right." He shut down his lightsaber, pulled down the blindfold, and paused the remotes with the Force. He came over and lay down on the ground next to me with a huff. "Sometimes the most innocent seeming missions are the ones with the most potential for disaster."
I gave a quick burst of cynical laughter. "Kind of like my "vacation" to Coruscant." I had started on the bitter phase.
"Kind of." Zak said. Then leaned up on his elbows and looked me up and down. "The skirt again?" He asked incredulously.
I laughed. "Yes, the skirt, again."
"What is with you people? Spiceheads, each one of you. Did you know that in the month or so that I have been here, I have not seen one woman in pants?"
"It's the style, nerf-herder."
"Of when? 3,000 years ago?" He asked sardonically. I grinned at him and we both laughed. A servant came down the path, bowed.
"A Riv Jakeen is here to see you, milady."
"Send him out."
"Yes milady." The servant bowed again and left. A moment or two later, Riv came down the path. Zak stood up. Riv came up to us. His eyes darted from me sitting on the ground to Zak standing shirtless. His eyes flickered.
"Was I interrupting something?" He asked, a slight edge in his voice.
"No." Zak said. "I was just leaving." He lifted his things with the Force and walked away. Riv watched him go, then flopped down on the ground next to me an let out an explosive sigh.
"Why don't you like him?" I asked him curiously.
"Nice to see you too, my day was great. And you?"
I rolled my eyes. "Hi Riv, it's nice to see you. How have you been?"
"I dunno why I don't like him." He mused. "Why do you like him?"
"He's nice, he's funny, he's understanding, he's smart, he listens to me, he helps me with my stupid, messed up life, which, by the way, he saved." I paused, looked at Riv's face, which was clouded over, angry. "I could go on if you wanted me to." I added scathingly.
"No." Riv said shortly. "I'm good." We sat there for a couple seconds, in silence.
"So," I said, trying to ease past the awkwardness. "you obviously didn't come here to argue."
"No." Riv said slowly. "I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out with me and Dek and Joss right now."
"Sure. That sounds like fun." I said. Then added, "Just let me tell Natan and change."
"Change?"
"Yeah." I smiled secretively at him, "You'll see." So we went inside and I changed into some black pants ,a blue sleeveless shirt, my black boots, a tight green and blue vest and my small backpack. I had on the necklace Riv gave me too. I came out of the 'fresher and Riv stared.
"C'mon." I said.
"What are you wearing?" He asked, shocked.
"They're called pants, Riv." I said slow
ly, as if explaining to a small child. "I decided to start a new fashion statement. Something I picked up on Coruscant." He still stared, dumbfounded. I arched my eyebrows at him, "We're gonna have fun, right?"
"Yeah."
"A girl can't have that much fun in a skirt. Remember how mine got stuck, then torn in your speeder bike the night of graduation?"
"I suppose."
"Glad you see my point." And we went downstairs. Natan! I called. I'm going out with Riv, don't stay up!
All right! He yelled back. Be safe little sister!
Of course!
We left in Riv's speeder and picked up Dek and Joss. We ended up going swimming in a small lake, on the outskirts of town in the middle of the night. That was entertaining; swimming was always enjoyable to me, having grown up on a planet full of oceans. Joss had to be home by 2300 hours, so we dropped him off and Dek had to be back by 2330 hours, so he just had us drop him off at the same time. Riv and I went back to the Palace and got his speeder bike.
I could have sworn I saw someone's silhouette against a window, watching us, but when I looked again, no one was there. We raced around town and out in the country at incredible speeds, it took me a long time to get all the tangles out of my hair afterwards. In a way, it was very peaceful and relaxing, the wind in my face, my arms wrapped around his chest, my cheek on his back. Almost a form of meditation. I got home very late that night.
~~~