Author's Note: Okay, here's chapter ten. I'm nearly done with chapter eleven, and I'm hoping to get started with twelve. Bu-ut, I love many, many reviews (- hint hint - ) and that gets the chapters up faster. ;)
Dovasary: I know. I was writing it and thinking about it, and I thinking what a great story that would be. x.x I'm getting myself all twisted up, here. But, yes, considering Tyl's character, he was pretty brave about that, it would have been easy to do something, as you say, rash right there. I know I probably would have. xD :D And if you're wishing for Han Solo, there's always chapter twooo... :DDD - is evil- Muaha. I love your reviews, keep 'em coming!
yellow-lily: xDDD But of course, there cannot be a complete story without Ewoks.
CHAPTER TEN
"Ochok emee-o a japka. Uhno muun! Wy kcet wah ryck!"
Tyl and I throw eachother yet another exasperated glance. This little thing had been trying to tell us something for the past half hour, but neither Tyl nor I know any dialect belonging to these sentients. This little one is very old: his fur is nearly white, and there is an old, crude leather hood atop his head.
The little Ewok makes an impatient grunt-sigh, and plops down on his rear, facing Tyl and I. Then he changes his mind, and stands up again. In his short, clumsy strides, he crosses the room over to me, and grabs my hands. I jerk them back on impulse (you'd be jittery as well if you were in my position), but the stubborn little thing simply grabs them again. I feel his cold, wet nose touch them as he sniffs deeply, then looks up, excited-seeming, starting to blabber about something again.
It's all helpless. I could feel my head shaking as I wipe my hands on the trousers of my suit, and smirk at Tyl as the old Ewok clambers over to him. Tyl ignores me, sighing and looking contemtously at the Ewok then half-heartedly and grudgingly holds out a hand. The Ewok fervently sniffs that as well, and starts saying what I'm recognizing as the same phrase he's been repeating for the past half hour.
I knock my head against the wall behind me, and groan in frusteration. Great. Just great. Now I'm going to have a massive bump on the back of my head.
"Syprek pac! U unuuo ofsew kabe gina."
Oh, now this is wonderful. A new phrase I get to have to mix up with all the others.
"Wy kcet wah ryck!"
"We don't know what you're saying!"
My voice is utterly hysterical. Even I can hear that. I'm vaguely aware of Tyl rolling his eyes, but I'm too budy trying not to scream in frusteration to care. The old tribal thing merely tilts his head in aggravating curiosity with a soft, inquiring "moo?".
My head tilts back again, consequently knocking it in the same spot where the bump is. Agh.
Gods, I need something to rip -
No. Can't think like that. A Jedi needs to control her anger.
I take a deep, shaky breathe. Then three more. And I feel slightly better.
I look forward at the Ewok that has plopped itself down in front of me again. I calm down slightly more with a few more breathes, then reach out to the Force for clairvoyance and understanding. Then I focus on the little guy in front of me.
He points a stubby finger at his face.
"Wy kcet wah ryck."
"I promise I won't hurt you. Now, come here." A disheveled girl in camoflauge takes a scrap of food out of her pocket and offers it to him. An Ewok takes a step backward, then cocks his head and moves cautiously toward Leia, chattering in his squeaky language. "That's right. Come on. Hmmm?" Sniffing the food curiously, the Ewok comes toward Leia and sits on the log beside her. She takes off her helmet, and the little creature jumps back, startled again. He runs along the log, pointing his spear at her and chattering a blue streak. Leia holds out the helmet to him. "Look, it's a hat. It's not gonna hurt you. Look. You're a jittery little thing, aren't you?"
And I understand.
"Wicket Warrick."
In response, Wicket jumps (surprisingly for his old age) and hugs me. And then another thing dawns on me.
He knows who I am. He knew my mother, and he can smell her all over me. Thank the gods that Tyl doesn't know their language.
"He's friendly." I smile hopefully at Tyl, patting the Ewok awkardly on the back. Tyl snorts.
"Yeah, dragging us up here in blindfolds, I sure call that frie - " he is silenced as Wicket glomps onto him as well.
"So, you guys know eachother? Get together for sabaac every week?" I tease lightly, smirking, knowing this would infuriate him. He sneers at me.
"What about you? Get together for - "
"Ohmee jab! Uunkut err a lan!"
I hardly hear this, being too busy glaring at Tyl, full-well knowing exactly what he was just about to say.
"Come again?" Tyl asks mock-politely, after sending a subtle smirk in my direction.
"Don't even try, I can understand him much better than you can." I snap at him, before turning my attention back to Wicket.
"Pardon me, princess." I vaguely hear him mutter
Turns out the little guy wanted to bring us to dinner, after telling the tribe that we were, indeed, safe. After having our weaons given back (which was difficult, the oh-so-curious creatures were still prodding them), we were taken to the fire. So we sit, cross-legged, feasting on roasted nuts. Tyl looks less than enthused, yet this has opened a whole new horizon to me. I listen to them talk, and chatter, trying to understand their language through repeated words and gestures and feelings they were emitting. The little ones, to my amusement, have been crawling all over Tyl since he's got here, and he hasn't been able to scare them off with threats so he can do little but permit.
I wipe a bead of sweat from my forehead. Throughout the seeming festivity, and even in front of a roaring fire, it's actually quite cool here and the sweat's starting to get on my nerves. I glance behind me, but there's only Tyl who's sitting partially behind and on my right, trying to be inconspicuous and failing miserably with a young Ewok crawling all over his face. I smile lightly and accept more food from the Ewok to my left, and hungrily eat up the little nuts. It seems forever since the sandwich this morning.
Its probably only around four hours past midday, but already the sky is getting golden and the light shafts more bronze as they path their way through the broad leaves. The shadows that are cast are long, and the air is light and warm and sweet. Even the crudeness of the architecture seems beautiful, and raw, and natural. They are hardworking folk, those Ewoks; even now, at dinner, I see a few thatching a hole in a roof, and quite happily so. Albeit primitive, this tiny race is quite civilized.
But even tonight, divine as it is, I'm not altogether relaxed. I wipe yet more prespiration from my forehead, and scratch at the back of my neck, then I'm still feeling oddly hot and uncomfortable, so I proceed to roll up my sleeves and legs of my pants.
All the Ewoks within five feet of me stand, digging out little stone knives and pointing them at me. Tyl, behind me, lightly groans.
What the...
Oh.
I smile, hoping its reassuring, and stop rolling up the pants on my right leg, tugging out a piece of the rolled cloth to them. An adventurous one steps forward, prodding at it lightly with the tip of the knife. I feel my body tense lightly at the sudden touch, but I force myself to calm down. After all, its not doing anything to me. I'm in no danger right now. Unless I choke on an acorn.
The little guy seems satisfied, and continues to inspect it further, drawing some more curiously out of their defensive stances. I flash a grin back at Tyl, who rolls his eyes at me. The toddler Ewoks aren't scrambling all over him anymore; they seem to be hiding behind his back and arms, clinging tightly and sticking their noses out as the elders relax. They abandon a greatly relieved Tyl and start tugging on me along with the rest of the group we were eating with.
It's a calm atmosphere again, but I still feel tense, and my muscles seem ready to spring at the drop of a hat. I tug my arm away, and use my hand to wipe the sweat off my forehead again.
"Relax." says Tyl's deep voice in my ear. "They're not trying to kill you."
"I'm fine. Just worked up from today's action." I throw at to him. I hear him merely yawn, and ruffle my already twig-and-leaf stuck hair.
But I'm not. That's the thing. I'm not jittery at all about being kidnapped by Ewoks. There's... something else, something I can't place my finger on.
...
BOOM.