Last time: The rest of the family arrived to beach and enjoyed smores.

Now: They decide to go for a hike.

Chapter 9- On Top of the World

The Shadow Runner settled down at a flat area that was near the top of the central volcano. Off in the near distance the very peak of the volcano rose like a hill from where they were some ways away, hopefully Viran and Kyr might hike it even if it would be a short and mild climb. But at this altitude they were above the main cloud layer that formed over the warm jungle below, looking down not only at the island around them, but also the tops of the clouds. There was snow on the ground, in the shadows, and the ground underfoot was loose volcanic scree.

"Got yer jackets on?" Kyr asked as he came in from the cockpit to where everyone was in the lounge. He and Cien were in their armor, and Cien was sitting next to Sasha.

Sasha was wearing her winter gear with a bundled Lana in her lap in her coat and beanie with little mittens. Viran was wearing his winter coat, strapping on a baby harness to carry Lana for their potential hike.

"Ready to go," Viran said as he adjusted the strap before giving Kyr a thumbs up.

Oppie stood up in his own cold weather gear, "yep."

Kyr went around and lowered the ramp, stepping out into the rarified air and looking around at the gorgeous view. "This is boring, let's go back to the beach." He declared, turning on his heel.

"Oh no you don't." Cien said, pulling him back around and heading down the ramp.

Viran chuckled as he picked up Lana and slipped her into the harness on his chest. Sasha climbed into her chair. Together, they followed the others towards the ramp. They stopped short at the foot of the ramp as they looked around at the view.

"Whoa, this is insane," Viran gaped. "How is this the same place?" He asked rhetorically.

"It's so pretty up here," Sasha said, looking around in awe. As soon as they stepped outside, their jaws dropped. Neither of them had expected to see such an amazing view from the ice capped mountains. Plus it was a little hard to figure out how these two biomes could exist on the same island. Actually, it wouldn't be that hard if they sat down and did the science behind it, but it was more of just a… not believing it until they saw it kind of thing. They made their way out from the ramp and looked around at the stunning view, seeing the vast ocean far below in the distance.

"This is surreal." Oppie said, looking around. Far off in the distance and below them they could just make out the beach where their little camp was. "We should come up here at night and see what the stars are like." He thought out loud.

"I bet they are spectacular up here," Viran said, liking Oppie's thought.

"You guys want to go up to the very top?" Kyr asked, gesturing at the rise that made up the highest peak of the mountain.

"Sure," Viran said as he adjusted Lana in the carrier on his chest.

Sasha followed Kyr's gesture and swallowed. "I'll… be okay. I can stay here with the ship. I don't think I'll be able to make it," she said, adding the last part quietly.

Kyr nodded as Cien stepped to her side. "Yeah I think I'll stay here and enjoy the view," she said.

"I think I'll stay, too." Oppie said, nodding towards Sasha and Cien.

"Have a nice hike," Sasha said to Viran.

"Will do," Viran said, giving her a small smile. He leaned over and placed a kiss on her head. As he started walking away, Lana started getting fussy in her carrier. "Do you wanna go hike or stay with Mom?" He asked her as he looked down at her.

"Mama," Lana urged, still being fussy. "No hiv."

Viran snorted and rolled his eyes. "Alright, she is staying with you apparently," he said as he pulled Lana out of her holster and set her on the snowy ground.

Lana waddled over to Sasha, giggling. Viran chuckled.

"Or she just wanted out of the harness," Sasha observed with a chuckle.

"Snew!" Lana squeaked as she sat down next Sasha's chair in the snow.

"Alright, we will be back soon," Viran said, waving to them.

"This is just like home, except for the lack of trees and being at high altitude, and also only a little bit of snow instead of meters of it." Cien said, looking around. She kicked a little volcanic scree. "I guess it's not very much like home." She mused with a smirk.

Oppie smiled at that, "there's still some snow, though." He said, looking around at the thick dusting that covered the ground and the taller drifts that had stayed despite the sun shining down. "When they come back should we assault them with snowballs?" He asked the girls mischievously.

"I like that idea," Sasha said, smiling at the idea. "But in the meantime, maybe we can gather enough snow to make a snowman." She then looked down at her daughter. "Lana, do you wanna build a snowman?"

Lana cocked her head to the side, confused by the word snowman.

Sasha chuckled. "Here, I'll show you," she said as she moved out of her chair and sat down next to Lana in the snow. She started gathering the snow with her gloved hands into a mound before herself. Lana watched her mother before slowly following suit. Once she figured it out, she let out a series of giggles as she gathered as much snow as her little hands could handle.

Cien knelt next to them, on the other side of Lana, and started gathering and rolling the snow the same way that Sasha had just shown Lana. She packed it tightly once she had a big enough roll, several centimeters wide.

Oppie sat, watching the three on the ground with an amused smile, it was a cute scene, Lana between the two women while all three busied themselves with building a snowman.

Sasha finished rolling her mound of snow into a ball that was large enough for the base. She looked down at Lana and saw that she wasn't really making a ball with the snow, it was more of a hill of snow. "Here, make the snow a ball," she guided her as she took some snow and rolled it in her palm making a snowball.

Lana grabbed the snow and squished it between her hands, giggling instead. Sasha rolled her eyes and tried to make her snowball bigger for a potential head to the snowman.

"Does this need to be proportionate?" Cien asked, eyeing the snow and wondering if they had enough to make it so tall.

"Not really," Sasha said with a shake of her head, glancing at her. "It just needs to have a head and a body. That's really it." She looked at Oppie. "At least that's what you told me and Viran."

"I am not well versed in the rules." Oppie said, shuffling a little closer. "It was something Master Redika taught me when we were on one of the moons of Pantora. He just had a head, torso, and legs."

"Legs?" Cien said, looking slightly confused at the snow, trying to figure out how to make structurally sound legs out of them.

"How did you make legs?" Sasha asked, incredulously. "This snow is barely staying in ball form. Do we need legs?"

Oppie laughed, "No, not like, leg legs. Just… a bigger ball of snow for the leg portion, then a ball for the chest, and then a smaller ball for the head." He explained, being relatively fuzzy on the concept. "That was one of Master Redika's lessons I didn't really pay a lot of attention to." He admitted sheepishly.

"Ah, now that makes sense," Sasha said, chuckling. "I can make this one a lot bigger then and we can use your's, Cien, for the body." She gestured from the ball Sasha had initially made then to one Cien was working on.

"Very well, then." Cien said, concentrating on making the torso for this man of snow.

Sasha set the one she was trying to help Lana make aside before adding more snow to her base to back the lower half of the snowman. After a few moments, Sasha had a base she felt was big enough. She patted it down to make sure it stayed together. Lana continued to mash the snow pile before her with much amusement.

"I'm going to go collect something to use for the nose and eyes." Oppie said, getting to his feet. "Kyr doesn't have a pipe, does he?"

"Like a water pipe?" She asked, confused.

"No." Oppie said with a smirk, "I'll be back in a few." Oppie said, walking off towards the Shadow.

Sasha chuckled as she looked to Cien. "If that's done, go ahead and stack that on top of mine. I'm gonna help Lana finish the head," she said with a smirk.

"Okay. Do we need something like a skeleton?" She said, looking at the rotund shape of the 'legs' and trying to picture how the torso would not just roll off.

Sasha shook her head with a chuckle. "No, what you made is correct," she clarified.

Cien went to lift up the ball of snow and did a double take, trying to heft it and not knowing it would be so heavy. She tried once more, picking it up and awkwardly placed it on the legs almost with a throwing motion. She packed it down, and patted the sides, now seeing the imperfections that made it more like a mound of packed snow rather than the spheroid it was supposed to be. She looked down at Sasha and Lana and smirked. "Lana, does this seem correct?" She asked.

"Ye!" Lana exclaimed happily.

Sasha giggled as she finished the head. "Give it one last good pat, Lana," she said, holding out the snowball that was gonna be the head of the snowman.

Lana patted on it like it was a drum and it thankfully stayed in its shape. Sasha then moved to put it on top of Cien's when she realized it was actually out of reach from where she sat in the snow next to Lana. Frowning slightly at that, Sasha forgot she still had a hurt leg that she couldn't stand up on her own quite yet. But she didn't want to ruin the moment. So pushing that aside, she used the Force to place the head on top of the snowman. It actually looked like one now. It was just missing the parts that would give it a face.

"What next?" Cien said, looking at the snow person and thinking it looked rather incomplete.

"We need to make a face," Sasha explained. She looked back towards the Shadow. "Op was supposedly grabbing something for that." She looked back to the snowman. "But we can find some twigs for the arms."

Cien looked around, not seeing any twigs, nor the makings of a face. With a smirk she stepped forward and used the side of her hand to press in a horizontal line across the eyes, and a vertical line down the center, forming a distinct T-visor. "Well, I guess we made a snowman-do." She said with a bigger smirk.

Sasha laughed at that. "I guess that works."

Cien laughed as well.

Oppie came down the ramp, carrying the makings of a face and stopped short, seeing Sasha, Lana and Cien looking at the snowman and laughing at it. It struck him, as it occasionally did, how improbable that scene should be, remembering back to how they had all met, especially seeing Sasha and Cien playing in the snow like that. He almost felt bad intruding on the moment. "I found a carrot in the galley." Oppie said, as he stepped forward, with the bright orange offering.

Cien looked back at him, then laughed a little more. "That's supposed to be one of Kyr's snacks, I'm trying to get him to shy away from sweets and eat a little healthier." She said, chuckling more.

Sasha chuckled at that. "And is it working?" She asked, curiously.

"I'm guessing not since it was hidden away in the back of the refrigerator." Oppie said with a smirk.

"What do we use it for?" Cien asked, looking at the carrot.

"A nose," Sasha stated with a smirk.

"Oh." Cien said, looking at the fake helmet. "Very well then." She said as she reached down and grabbed a handful of snow and started roughly smacking it into place to smooth out the visor lines. She stopped, and look down at Lana, "you may not want to see this Lan'ika." She said with playful seriousness.

"Huh?" Lana asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion as to what Cien meant.

Sasha giggled at her daughter being adorable.

Oppie laughed at the display and picked up a handful of the loose scree from the ground. "These can work for eyes and buttons." He stated.

"Here, I can do the buttons if you wanna get the face," Sasha offered as she held her hand and opened her palm up to Oppie.

"Okay." He said as he deposited some of the stones in her hand. He hefted the carrot like a knife and made to push it into the now vague remains of the T-visor after Cien had filled it in and patted it away. As he did so, he froze, remembering the Mauldalorian they had faced on Myrkr that had almost killed him, and a shadow passed across his face.

Cien saw his look and she blinked, surprised, then spoke. "Here, let me." She said, offering her hand out for the carrot.

Oppie nodded. As he recovered and handed her the vegetable, and watched as Cien jabbed it into the center of the face. He stepped forward, and placed the eyes and then started placing the rocks in place for the mouth.

Sasha took the rocks Op gave her and placed them in an even line down the front of the snowman, not having noticed Oppie's reaction. As soon as she placed the last stone, she looked upon the snowman with satisfaction.

"It looks great," Sasha said, smiling gently at it.

"It does." Oppie said, taking a step back.

"Should it have arms?" Cien asked.

"Yeah." Oppie said, looking around. "You use sticks or something, but we're way above the treeline here."

Sasha looked around for another option, biting the inside of her cheek. "I've got no ideas. Maybe we could look around and find something that might work. Or we just don't give it arms," she said, unsure.

"Yeah." Cien said, considering the armless figure.

Then an idea came to mind. Sasha snapped her fingers as she remembered something that would work. "Wait, what about Tac's knitting needles? He hasn't used them since Reggie came around. They would make the perfect arms. They would be small, but it would still work," she suggested.

"Oh! Yes." Cien said, "I know where he keeps them, I'll be right back." She said as she turned and walked off towards the Shadow.

"Speaking of arms, should we start making some snowballs?" Oppie suggested.

"Sure," Sasha smirked. "I can sense them heading back. We must be ready."

"Lana." Oppie said gravely, "are you prepared for your first dose of combat?"

Lana looked up at him and babbled at him. Then she took some snow in her little hand and threw it at him. Sasha chuckled at that.

"I think that is a yes," she translated.

Oppie brushed the snow off himself. "She takes after her parents too much." He groused, good naturedly as he knelt down and started trying to pack the snow together and start on their ammunition stockpile.

Sasha grinned at him before she followed in suit. She made as many snowballs as she could.

Cien came back, knitting needles in hand. "Found them." She said, and without preamble she jabbed them into the side of the torso, so the small metal implements stuck out at obtuse angles from the middle sphere. "They look disproportionate." She said with a hint of slight annoyance at the tiny arms.

"They look adorable," Sasha commented with a chuckle. "I like it."

"I agree. It looks complete now. I feel like it needs a name." Oppie said, looking at the figure that was now excitedly staring back at them.

Sasha cocked her head to the side as she tried to think of a name. Lana looked up at the snowman and pointed to it.

"Oopa," Lana said.

Sasha looked down at her daughter with an amused quirk of her eyebrow. "Oopa?"

"Ye," Lana giggled.

"Oopa." Cien said, considering the name. "Sounds Huttese. I like it."

"So Kyr would call him Oo'ika?" Oppie mused.

"Oo'ika," Sasha laughed out. "Perfect!"

Cien also chuckled. "Yes. Yes he would." She said, burying her smiling face in her hand.

"Speaking of which, I sense them getting closer," Sasha said, pulling herself back into her chair. "Shall we get ready to attack?" She asked the others.

"Yes." Cien said, taking her buy'ce off her back shoulder and putting it on while she knelt down to start gathering snow, then looked over at Lana. "Lana, prepare for battle."

"Ye," Lana said as she patted her mound of snow.

Sasha chuckled lightly at that as she bent over and gathered her ammo.

"So did you notice the price of the most recent model of the X-Wings just went down? They are several thousand credits cheaper than before," Viran said as he hiked behind Kyr on the trail as they headed back down towards the Shadow and the others. The top of the mountain was spectacular and gave such a wonderful view of everything. Viran wished he had a cam droid of some kind to snap a few photos, it was that amazing. Like literally being on top of the world. As they were hiking back down after staring at that view for a solid ten minutes, he continued their discussion on ships and the thought of maybe acquiring their own X-Wing. But that was a really big maybe.

"Oh really? How many do you think we need? One for everyone including Lana? So six?" Kyr asked excitedly.

Viran chuckled at that. "Well let's see there's you and me who will definitely fill them. Op will too. Sasha might if she had one, but she'd probably prefer to be my wingman. I don't know about Cien. We can give one to Lana when she's older because she will definitely need one. And I think Kitsu and Illara would get a kick out of having one or two for themselves," he rambled on in a joking manner.

"Seriously though, having some little fighters might be a good idea," Kyr replied. "Maybe some of the two seaters? We have Tac and QT, so we could have at least two, if we didn't want to deal with the headache of another droid."

"I totally agree," Viran said. "And if we can get them for a smoking deal, that would be amazing. I mean I know I just said I saw those X-wings for a lower price, but they are still fairly expensive for just one of them. Two might break the bank. But I'll keep my eyes on the market and see if anything worth getting pops up."

"I wouldn't mind some X-wings and we might be able to swing it." Kyr mused. "They still look a little flimsy to me, but I kind of have a soft spot for them. During the war, the only sound better than a U-wing coming in low to pick you up was a flight of X-wings screaming in just above the deck to give you close air support." Kyr said with a bittersweet grin. "Unless you were the guy in the AT-AT they were coming to take out." He said with a smirk.

"Well when I flew it with the 19th, it was like an adrenaline rush. And I would just love to do it all over again," Viran reminisced. "So if we can just convince our wives then we are in business." He added with a chuckle.

"Well Cien sounded like she was game." Kyr said with a smirk.

"And I guess Sasha said she would be fine with it if the others were. So it looks like we are getting X-Wings!" Viran exclaimed excitedly.

"Huzzah!" Kyr exclaimed, "so now we need to figure out a paint job." He said thoughtfully as they continued walking down the slope.

"I think Shades said she knew someone last I spoke with her who could paint them for us, but yeah what color?" Viran pondered out loud.

"I feel like the squadron might be your baby so that might be more up to you." Kyr said with a chuckle.

Viran smirked at that. "Okay, so I have to think of the right color then? Hm." He thought to himself for a moment. After a second he sighed. "I'll figure it out later. Might need to do some samples and see what I like best."

"That's fair, it's a big decision." Kyr said with a smirk.

"Yeah," Viran agreed. As they entered into a silence, Viran could see the Shadow come into view as well as the others even though they looked tiny from where they were. But he could still see Sasha's hover chair. That reminded him of something. He looked back to Kyr. "Hey, Kyr?"

"Yeah?" He asked, looking at the same view and the island down beyond the mountain.

"I've been meaning to say this since last week, but thank you," Viran told him.

"For what?" Kyr asked.

"For talking with Sasha the other night," Viran explained. "I noticed she seemed in a better mood when she came back to bed. Also how much better she had been feeling all together since that night. So that night I guessed it had to have been you that talked to her. So thank you for whatever you said to her."

"Oh." Kyr said, "well you're welcome, but you don't need to thank me." He said in a subdued manner. "I went out to get a drink since I couldn't sleep, and she was on the sofa and we just talked. I'm glad it helped her though." He paused, "it helped me a little bit too, seeing how affected she had been it reminded me too much of me. And I decided to make myself wear my armor more now, because it seemed wrong to push her to get better if I couldn't do the same for myself." He said, looking away, off in the distance.

Viran was silent for a moment. "Well I'm glad it helped you too. And I think this trip is helping her even more. So thanks for helping suggest it," he continued.

"Yeah, I have been meaning to bring the family here at some point." Kyr replied a little sheepishly. "I felt bad that it ended up remaining a secret. You guys all know Cien and I came here before we returned home after all the stuff with Ikari?"

"I think you mentioned once to us before you two went on your honeymoon," Viran tried to remember. "But I think that was all you told us."

"This is a really special place," Kyr said as they walked around the Shadow Runner to where the others were on the far side. "It's so peaceful, it's always so relaxi-" A snowball smacked into his face interrupting him.

Viran skidded to a stop and started to feel a laugh emerge from his lips. But before he could burst into laughter, a snowball got him upside the head.

"Ha!" Sasha's voice erupted from nearby cover.

"Revenge for the mountain top!" Cien declared with a smirk.

"Xiv's are mean." Kyr said under his breath to Viran.

"Yes, yes they are," Viran agreed as he wiped the snow from his hair. "You know this means war."

"Agreed." Kyr said, grimly.

Cien prepared to throw another snowball as Oppie threw another, and Kyr swept his right gauntlet up, using the flame projector to melt it before it could impact.

"You're cheating!" Oppie yelled.

"Am not!" Kyr said as he ducked for cover and to try to gather some snow.

Viran tucked and rolled forward, dodging another couple of snowballs as he scooped up snow in the process. As he left to his feet, with a ball in hand, he readied to throw it at Sasha.

"Wait! I have Lana!" Sasha cried out.

Viran slid to a stop, afraid he might peg his daughter with a snowball. He wouldn't anyway, she was sitting beside Sasha in the snow. However, that allowed Sasha to throw another one at him, nailing him in the shoulder.

"Oh that's evil!" Viran declared as he threw his snowball anyway, using the Force behind it to avoid Lana and get Sasha.

Kyr threw a quick snowball at Cien as he came up and it smacked her directly on the face in the glass of her T-visor. She froze, slowly wiping it off and fixing him with a deadly glare.

"Oh osik." He said under his breath, as she raised her empty hand and three snowballs came with it, hovering in the air.

"Oh no," Viran observed as he saw what was about to happen, briefly pausing his endless snowball throwing between him and Sasha as she observed too.

Kyr ducked for cover as he was pelted with the cluster of snowballs propelled with great force, and Cien laughed as he tried to get away.

Then Oppie threw a snowball at Sasha.

Sasha gasped as the snowball hit her in the arm. She looked over at Oppie. "What the hell?" She exclaimed. "I thought we were on the same team?"

"Free for all." Oppie declared, as he scooped up another snowball and threw it at Viran.

"So be it," Sasha said as she threw a snowball at Op then at Viran. And this game went on and on for a while.

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