Last time: Sasha had an anxiety attack and Viran was able to calm her down. The others set up the beach.

Now: It's beach time!

Chapter 8- Welcome to Paradise

After a day and a half of travel, they soon arrived to the planet with the beach. Viran pulled back the levers and the swirls of hyperspace disappeared to reveal the planet. From orbit, they could see that the planet was made of mostly water with several dozen strings of very large to very tiny land masses. It almost reminded him of the planet Scarif from when he did his research on the fall of the Empire after they returned from their six year hiatus. And where they were headed was to one of the small island strings. He looked over at Sasha as soon as the ship settled into a gentle hover after being in hyperspace for so long. She was looking out the viewport to the planet below with a smile growing on her face.

Viran had noticed during their travels that as soon as they left Artemis, Sasha was already in better spirits. He knew that she was afraid to leave because the thought of being in danger or getting hurt again still haunted her. Especially if Oppie and Cien's guess was right, that was the reason why she wasn't leaving her hover chair and getting better was because of that fear. However, he noticed through their day and a half of traveling that she loosened up and relaxed with each passing hour, practically acting like her old self again the whole time. So this trip really was a good idea.

"Shall we?" Viran asked, pulling her from her daze of staring at the planet.

She looked at him with that smile he knew and loved so much, and nodded eagerly. That made his heart soar. He was so thrilled to see Sasha like this. Ever since they got home from the Valor, Viran had noticed just how distant she was being and how depressed she was after everything. It tore him to pieces to see his wife like that. He did everything in his power to make her happy. To make her laugh again. And when it worked, he felt the weight on his heart lighten. When it didn't, he felt terrible and didn't know what to do. But ever since that conversation with Kyr last week, Viran was so glad to see her feeling better. And it was an obvious change from what he had been seeing. She was smiling more and playing with Lana more.

That was the other thing that had broken him. The fact she was so upset and closed off, she wasn't spending as much time with Lana as she normally did. He knew she wanted to, but he could tell that there was something holding her back. But after that late night conversation, Viran noticed just how much that helped Sasha heal. And then he noticed how much more relaxed she seemed after her spa day with Cien. He even noticed she had apologized to Oppie, and their relationship seemed to be mended after they hadn't talked to each other for two days. That nearly broke his heart to see. And now with them arriving to their vacation, Viran was a hundred percent sure that this place would hold the final step to helping Sasha finally heal. What that final step was… he wasn't sure, but he knew it would be here.

Beaming back at her, Viran put in the coordinates for the beach and flew them down towards the surface. As the planet enveloped the viewport, the two of them gaped at the sight and beauty of the planet. Viran felt a pang of anger towards Kyr for not telling them about this place sooner as it was just so gorgeous. The way the water glistened in the sunlight. The colors that painted the trees of the islands and larger land masses. And the snowy peaks that Kyr had mentioned that added a sense of wonder to a planet that was supposed to be tropical.

Bringing the ship down lower, they spotted the island in question and noticed the Shadow sitting on the far end of the beach. Viran moved the Forerunner over to park near its fellow ship, the sand being blown away into a dust devil as he landed. As soon as the landing gear settled into the sand, Viran shut the ship down and looked back to Sasha.

"Ready?" He asked her as he got up from his seat.

"Yeah," Sasha said as she looked up at him, excitedly.

Viran grinned at that and went to grab her chair. He brought it over to her and for the first time ever, she didn't hesitate to get into it. Because as soon as she sat down in it, she took off towards the ramp. He laughed at her level of excitement.

"Wait for us," he called back to her as he made his way over to Lana in her booster seat. The little one was getting fussy after being it since before they emerged from hyperspace. "Alright, kiddo. Calm down. I'm getting you out," he said with a chuckle as he unbuckled her from her seat. Once free, he lifted her up into his arms, making sure to still have her doll, and headed for the ramp which Sasha had lowered. Viran descended the ramp and joined his wife who was sitting at its base taking in the warm, tropical air.

"This feels amazing," Sasha breathed out with a pleasant sigh.

"It really does," Viran agreed as he sunk into the sand a little. "Let's go find the others."

Sasha nodded. Together, the two of them made their way through the sand and around the Shadow Runner towards the camp site that was set up.

Cien came to meet them, her straw colored hair glowing in the later afternoon sun, and started speaking a little hyperactively. "Hi guys welcome it's great to see you we just finished setting everything up and we still have some lunch left over if you want a snack but it's getting towards dinner so you shouldn't spoil your appetite we were making sure everything was okay for when you'd arrive and your tent is over there we," she took a breath, "set it up you brought sleeping bags right? We assumed you would but if not don't worry we could make a run to the market or Kyr and I could sleep in the Shadow."

Viran and Sasha looked at her in confusion as well as concern. Neither of them completely understood what Cien said. They caught a couple words here and there. Something about lunch and their tent and sleeping bags and the Shadow. The rest was just a word jumble to them as Cien had talked a million kilometers a minute.

"I'm gonna go unpack," Viran finally said, not really sure how else to respond. He handed Lana over to Sasha before taking a couple of confused steps back and returning to their ship.

"Cien, are you okay?" Sasha asked, slightly amused by a hyperactive Cien.

"Yeah I'm fine why wouldn't I be I'm just excited to start the vacation and to see you guys here and also for the seafood boil tonight and the bonfire and," she took a breath, "also Op brought cookies did you want one?" She asked.

Sasha felt a smile grow on her face as she tried to hold back a laugh. "Cien, you're hyper right now. Aside from Op's cookies, have you had any other sugar today?" She asked, now very amused by this.

"Just the sugar that was in my caf this afternoon since we were up late and then Kyr and I stayed up late to enjoy the stars and we ended up staying up late and I wanted something to wake me up before you arrived." Cien responded.

"By the Force," Sasha breathed out as she put a hand to her mouth as she started to laugh. "You're on a caf high right now." She burst into laughter at that. Lana laughed too.

"A what?" Cien asked, the words running together into one word as she blinked quickly.

"It's when you have too much caffeine and your body starts reacting as if you have way too much energy," Sasha explained through her giggles. "In about a couple hours, all that energy is going to be gone and you're going to pass out. It's called a caf crash or sugar crash, depending on what you eat."

"Oh, I only recently started drinking caf so I don't know I've only had a few sips before this but this was the first time that I've had a full cup of caf I guess I need to pace myself better from now on." She replied, then started looking around.

Kyr had walked up during the conversation and spoke in a very normal, if groggy tone of voice. "Hey Sash'ika, you guys have a good flight?"

"Hey Kyr," Sasha greeted him, still giggling. "It was fine. But I think your wife has had too much caffeine." She pointed out.

"What makes you say that?" Kyr asked with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.

"It's not affecting me that much I feel fine maybe a little jittery but I'm also excited to get started with things and show you around Sasha come on you guys I can show you the beach isn't it pretty?" Cien said moving over to push Sasha's chair along.

"Oh dear," Sasha said in surprise as she suddenly became terrified, in an amused way, of the idea of Cien being her chauffeur at this very moment in time. And being stuck in this chair meant that she couldn't escape even if she tried. "Cien, I'm alright. We can do the tour later. I just want to get settled first. Plus someone needs to help Viran unload," she said, still in an amused tone, but also in a way that would hopefully distract Cien long enough for her and Lana to escape to the campsite.

"No I can -" Cien started to say.

Kyr saw what was going on and decided to intervene for Sasha's sake. "Cyar'ika can you come help me on the Shadow? I was going to get the rebreathers out for swimming tomorrow."

"Oh sure I can do that you'll be fine right Sasha? I'll be right back." Cien said as she started following Kyr.

She shot Kyr a thankful glance at that. "Yeah, I'll be good. You guys have fun," Sasha called after them before sighing in relief

Viran walked up at that moment with a couple of bags slung across his shoulders, a bag on his back full of the camping equipment they needed, and Lana's crib in his hands. "What was that all about?" He asked Sasha curiously.

"Cien is on a caffeine high," Sasha told him with a snort.

"Ah that'll do it," Viran chuckled.

"Yeah," Sasha said before looking to him. "Do you need a hand?"

"No, I've got it," Viran said as he shrugged his shoulders to adjust one of the straps. "And I can get the rest too."

"Okay," Sasha said with a smirk before maneuvering her hover chair over towards the campsite. She slowed to a stop as she stared up at the set up in awe. She couldn't believe the others put it all together. Even Lana looked up at the set up in awe as well as she chewed on her dolls hand. "Whoa," she breathed out.

"This is a hell of a set up," Viran said also in awe as he stopped next to her.

Oppie stepped out of the large pavilion tent. "Hey guys!" He said, "welcome to whatever this place is called."

"Hey Op, thanks. This place looks great," Viran said, smiling at him. "Which tent is ours?" He asked, gesturing to the other tents.

"This one." He said pointing to one that was nestled securely between the main tent and another. "That one's mine," he said, gesturing to the one that was on the other side of theirs, "and that's Kyr and Cien's." He said, gesturing to the remaining tent on the other side of the bonfire pit.

"Ah, thanks," Viran said with a grateful nod as he went to the tent to drop stuff off.

Sasha looked at Oppie. "This place looks incredible. Do you guys do all of this?" She asked.

"Yep, we were up enjoying the beach while we finished setting it up." He said with a smile, "this place is beautiful, especially at night."

"I can't wait to see it," Sasha said, looking around. "So… what is there to do around here?"

"Uhhh…" Oppie said. "Beach… things." He said, not quite sure. "There's relaxing on the beach, playing on the beach. Eating on the beach. Kyr and Cien went to go get the rebreathers if case we wanted to go swimming. For this evening we were going to make a seafood boil and just relax around the fire."

"All of that sounds like fun," Sasha said. She looked down at Lana in her lap. "You excited to play at the beach tomorrow?"

"Ye," Lana said with a giggle as she waved up at Oppie.

"That was fantastic," Viran said as he lounged back in his folding chair in front of the large bonfire. "Kyr, where did you learn that recipe?" He asked.

"A Mon Calamari friend of mine, actually." Kyr said, "nice and simple so even I can't mess it up." He said. "Especially with help from Op."

"It was very good, Kyr," Sasha complimented as she held the now sleeping Lana in her lap. The toddler was sound asleep, drooling slightly onto her doll.

"Yeah, and so is this place." Oppie said, looking at the fire and the starscape above. "I'm glad we got a chance to come here, finally."

Sasha shot a glance at Cien, who had crashed and was trying to stay awake, at that. "Yeah, same here," she said in agreement.

Viran looked up at the stars above. "I have never seen a starry sky like this before," he admired. "How did you find this place again, Kyr?" He asked.

"The temples." Kyr said, "there's one out in the cove we can go visit tomorrow, but it was like the… fourteenth? Sixteenth one I visited? I can't remember." He said dismissing it. He pulled Cien a little closer to him on their shared camp chair as they relaxed around the fire.

"It would be neat to see it tomorrow," Viran said as he folded his arms behind his head.

"It's in the water?" Sasha asked, a small hint of a frown trying to appear on her face as she wasn't sure she would be able to swim to it.

"Yep, don't worry the water is plenty warm." Kyr said.

"I can't wait to get into the water tomorrow," Sasha said, absently as she stared past the fire towards the ocean as she picked at her brace.

"It's nice down there." Cien said absently and tiredly from where she was snuggled into Kyr, "the fish are so colorful, and the water is so beautiful."

"And no one else lives here?" Viran asked. "Man are we lucky. This place is awesome."

"I don't think anyone else is here, I've only been on this little island though," Kyr mused, "I guess there might be people here but we've never seen any sign of it."

"Well, then I guess we can claim this island in the name of Clan Xiv," Viran said with a chuckle.

That got a small chuckle out of Sasha as she came out of her daze at that.

Oppie chuckled at that. "I forgot to bring a flag."

"I was thinking we might go up to the top of the mountain while we're here," Kyr said with his own chuckle. "Cyar'ika and I haven't done that yet. If we had a flag we could plant it up there."

"I'm so down for a hike," Viran said. "We packed our winter gear just in case."

Sasha looked up behind them towards the volcano. "I think I'll pass. The elevation might be too much for Lana. So I'll stay down here with her. But you guys knock yourselves out," she said, distantly.

"Oh we can just take the ships up there." Kyr said, there's a spot big enough for them to land. "I bet the stars are even better up there."

"Oh well then, sounds like fun," Sasha said, actually sounding more interested in the idea of not hiking.

Viran looked over to her with a smile. Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers, giving her hand a tight squeeze. Sasha looked at him and felt a smile return to her face as she appreciated his comforting gesture. At that moment too, Lana let a loudish snore escape her tiny lips. Something that caught both parents attention with a light chuckle.

"Alright, I'll go put the kid to bed," Viran stated as he got to his feet. He let go of Sasha's hand and gathered his sleeping daughter into his arms, doll in tow. He then moved off towards their assigned tent to lay her down in her travel crib. Sasha stretched as he relieved her of the toddler.

"Should we break out the booze?" Kyr suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Sasha said with a smirk.

Kyr extracted himself from Cien to go rummage in the main tent.

"We also found this weird thing at the market, if you want to try it." Oppie said, "the guy selling them said to poke them on skewers and then roast them over the fire." He finished, grabbing a bag of puffy things. Cien perked up seeing him take the bag out.

"What are those?" Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Can I try one?"

"Sure." Oppie said, handing her the bag, and passing a skewer to her. "They smell like pure sugar so I'm not sure what to make of them."

"I want to try one." Cien declared.

Sasha took one out of the bag before passing the bag to Cien. She then took the white puffy thing and skewered it onto her skewer. Making a strange face as to what the point of this was, she slowly extended her arm and the skewer out to the open flame. She watched with growing curiosity as the white thing roasted slowly over the fire. After a moment, the little thing turned a tan color then a dark brown before catching fire. Sasha panicked and pulled it out to blow on it. The fire extinguished, but the white fluff cube was now burnt. Sasha made a disappointed face.

"Kriff," she cursed. "I think I did it wrong."

Cien looked on worriedly at what had happened to the precious sugar. "He did say to roast them, maybe they're supposed to do that?" Cien breathed deeply the smell of the sugar from the bag before picking one of them out and also piercing it with the metal implement. She smirked, doing that.

"Here, he said to make a sandwich of it with these little wafer things and these chocolate squares." Oppie said, passing them over to Sasha. "I think they break in half."

"Okay," Sasha said, still unsure if she was doing this right. She broke the crackers in half and placed a piece of chocolate down on it before adding her burnt sugar. She then pressed them together like a sandwich. White goop oozed out as she did that and her fingers became sticky. Taking a bite, the flavor of the dessert hit her tongue. It was so good… except for the burnt sugar pieces. The non burnt pieces were fine, but everything else was delicious. "This is really good, but I think I overcooked the puffed sugar. But you guys should try this." She said with a mouthful of sugar.

Cien carefully put her puff of sugar to the flame, trying to be careful with it, but it also burst into flames. She pulled it back with an involuntary "eep!" sound and started blowing on it, trying to douse the flames before it got too burnt.

Viran returned at this moment, sniffing the air. "What are you roasting? It smells good," he said with a pleasant smile.

"I think the guy called them…" Oppie paused, trying to remember. "Marshmhellows? Marshmelons? Something like that. He saw us buying some camping provisions and said they had become really popular in the Core Worlds." He said with a shrug.

Cien was busy assembling her small sandwich as he walked up, and she looked at it, unsure. Then she took a bite, and her eyes lit up like the first time she tried a parfait. "Ish so good!"

Kyr also came back with a bottle of ortavian whisky and some zherry cider, and a small stack of disposable cups. Cien was munching hers down as quickly as she could, thoroughly enjoying the wonderful mixture of sweetness. "Whatcha got there?" He asked.

She ignored him as she finished wolfing down the treat, and reached for one of the other bags of marshmelons. "I need s'more." She said around a mouthful of thoroughly sticky melted sugar.

"S'more?" Viran asked with a chuckle.

"Sounds like a fitting name to me," Sasha said as she finished hers and readying her skewer for another. "They are quite good. You should try one."

"Sure. Hand me a skewer," Viran said as he resumed his seat next to Sasha.

"You guys want cider or whiskey?" Kyr asked as he settled down next to Cien in their large camp chair.

"Whiskey," Sasha and Viran said at the same time before exchanging a glance. They chuckled at that.

"I'll try the cider." Oppie said, as Kyr started pouring and passing the cups out. He poured a whiskey for himself, and a cider for Cien who was still enraptured with the 's'mores'.

Viran grabbed the cups for himself and Sasha as well as a skewer for himself and two more of those sugar puffs. He handed Sasha one and her drink before resuming his seat, sipping from his. He recoiled slightly at the strength of the drink, but still let out a relieved sigh. "Damn that stuff is good."

"You know. For all the times we've all spent sitting together at the fireplace, this seems like a lot more fun." Kyr said, "we should do this more often." He stated as he took a sip of the whiskey.

"Yes." Cien said. She had snuck a marshmelon thing from the bag and was eating it directly.

"I would be down to do this more often," Sasha said as she skewered her second marshmallow thing and placed it at the edge of the fire instead of directly into it.

"One of the other temple planets I went to was really weird," Kyr said, "it had deserts, forest, tundras, all kinds of biomes all on one little planet. It had a lot of tourists though, some things they called themed parks, or something. I always thought it might be interesting to investigate it."

"Sounds like a lot of fun," Viran said, doing the same with his sugar puff cube as Sasha.

"Maybe when Lana's a little older so she can ride the rides," Sasha said excitedly. "If they have rides."

"Is that what one of those themed park things is?" Kyr asked curiously. He glanced at Cien who had snuggled in next to him and was eating marshmallows slowly one after another from her bag.

"I think so," Sasha said with a light shrug as she pulled her marshmallow from the open flame, it was golden brown this time instead of a burnt husk. She took a sip of her whiskey before continuing. "After reading through your notes on that temple, I did a little research about the place. And from the description I read, theme park places can have rides of some sort."

"Huh." Kyr said, trying to imagine what that might be. "Like… swoop bikes?" He asked.

"No, it described them like rides on tracks or rail systems going at fast speeds. Or ones that spin. A lot," Sasha described as she built her second sandwich of sugar. Viran doing the same, but his marshmallow was completely burnt.

"That sounds kinda like fun." Kyr mused.

"That really does," Viran seconded before taking a bite of his dessert. His eyes lit up at the flavor. "By the Force…" he mumbled as he ate it.

Sasha chuckled at that as she took a bite of hers.

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