Last time: Cien found out some wonderful news!
Now: She tells the rest of the family.
Chapter 17- News and Plans
"Broccoli." Kyr stated, "definitely broccoli. If it's roasted, it's way better than vorpan beans."
Viran snorted. "I mean it's good roasted and all, but have you even tried it covered in cheese?"
Kyr sat back as the shock of the moment hit him. "No." He stated quietly, "no, I have not. But doesn't that apply to all things?" He countered.
"But what if the vorpan beans are in a casserole?" Oppie countered.
"Like the one you made for Life Day?" Kyr asked thoughtfully.
"Yes." Oppie stated.
Cien looked over at their conversation with an extremely confused look, almost a glare through her fingers since she had her palm to her face. She shifted her eyes and glanced at Sasha with a look of incredulity.
Sasha just rolled her eyes before meeting Cien's gaze. "I swear this is the weirdest dinner conversation they've had yet," she whispered to Cien. "Have they run out of ideas already?"
Cien smiled, "no, I think they got more ideas by adding random food to the circle of debates."
"I guess," Sasha chuckled before turning her attention to Lana in the high chair next to her who was actually wearing her vorpan beans instead of eating them. She grabbed a napkin and started cleaning off Lana, who just giggled at her. "Well let's be grateful that they haven't added the idea of… blowing things up," she whispered that part to Cien, "to the discussion. Yet."
"I don't think they would think it's debate worthy. All three agree that blowing things up beats everything else." Cien whispered with a smirk.
Sasha giggled at that. "Very true."
"What are you two laughing at?" Viran asked, butting into their conversation. "You don't think steamed broccoli can beat mashed vorpan beans?"
"Mashed vorpan beans?" Cien asked with a look of distaste.
"Okay, another question, since it seems like we think Broccoli has won this round." Kyr said, "how many broccoli would it take to defeat a rancor?"
Sasha stared at Kyr, dumbfounded. Viran burst into laughter.
"Easy! The rancor wins. Every time," Viran said, matter of factly.
Sasha smacked herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand before trying to hold back a snort of laughter.
"Six." Cien said, after a moment of serious contemplation.
"What?" Sasha practically chuckled. "Really? Six pieces of broccoli would beat a rancor?"
"Yes." Cien answered matter of factly.
"How do you figure?" Oppie asked, surprised. Kyr also looked at her a little confused, she rarely waded into their dinnertime debates.
"A head of broccoli is this big." Cien said, holding her hands apart appropriately. "And a rancors windpipe is about this big." She said, adjusting the size between her hands. "Ergo, six heads of broccoli should be enough to choke a rancor." She stated.
Sasha stared at her in shock. Kyr beamed at her. And Oppie just looked bemused.
"I guess when you put it that way," Viran said, also shocked by that. "Then yeah the broccoli would win, but that's if it doesn't chew first. Or if you just throw them into its throat."
"Have you seen a rancor eat?" Cien asked, putting her head to the side.
"No, no I have not," Viran said.
"I don't think they chew." Cien said with a slight smirk.
"Okay, okay," Viran said, narrowing his gaze at her. "Have you seen a rancor eat? How do you know if they chew their food or not?"
"I saw several of them eat…" she paused, "some things on Dathomir, once." She said a little pensively.
Viran felt his eyes widen at that. "Okay. Point taken," he admitted defeated.
Sasha chuckled. "Well should've seen that coming," she said to herself as she returned to cleaning Lana.
"Granted who they were eating was significantly larger than broccoli and they didn't seem to have trouble downing them." Cien said thoughtfully, more to herself.
"Okay what about vorpan beans? How many of those would it take to beat a rancor?" Viran asked, folding his arms across his chest. He wasn't ready to end this discussion yet.
Cien looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "two hundred and seventy three." She stated.
"That's a lot of vorpan beans," Sasha commented, incredulously.
"Yeah." Oppie agreed, curiously.
Kyr just watched the debate back and forth with keen interest, and no small amount of surprise.
"So who wants dessert?" Sasha asked, eyeing the others at the table who were just watching.
"Me." Cien announced, glowing at the thought of yet more sugar, even though it was tending to make her nausea worse.
There was the sound of activity from the other room as footsteps pounded up the stairs from the hangar bay. Everyone looked between each other and then Kitsu stuck her head around the doorway as Illara's boots could be heard disappearing back to their room. "Hey guys, we got the little bas…" She stopped, and looked down at Lana, "our job ended early so we're back."
"Oh, you guys need any help?" Kyr asked.
"No, we're good, thanks." Kitsu said tiredly.
"There's extra dinner if you guys want something." Oppie called out.
"Thanks, we'll be back out in a second." Kitsu's voice called back from the living room.
"Here, while we wait for them, I can clear some of this and get dessert out," Sasha said as she stood to gather empty dishes. She then looked pointedly at Kyr and Cien. "And make sure you two tell them the news." She added.
"What news?" Kyr asked, confused.
Cien, who was standing up to clear the plates and go help get the sugar, smacked him on the shoulder as she started to walk away. Sasha just chuckled at that as she headed into the kitchen with the dirty dishes.
As Cien turned the corner into the kitchen with a glowing smile she slowed and wavered on her feet as she felt a wave of dizziness.
"Easy," Sasha said as she managed to grab Cien's arm with her free hand and keep the dishes from crashing to the floor with the other. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Cien said, recovering, "thanks I think I just stood up too fast." She said. "Reya said that might be something I'd need to watch out for."
"When having twins, I wouldn't be surprised if you are going to have more dizzy spells," Sasha said as she let go of her arm slowly. "I had a few with Lana, but not enough to remember them all." She then held her hand out to Cien. "Here, I can take the dishes if you want to take a minute."
"Thanks." Cien said, letting Sasha take the dishes. She looked a little green as well as she recovered and stepped into the kitchen. "The… evening sickness goes away, right?" Cien said, since 'morning sickness' seemed out of place for dinner time.
"Depends," Sasha said as she managed to balance the dishes on her arms all the way to the sink. The Force was handy for that. She set them all down without dropping a dish. "For me, it stopped about half way into my second trimester, but I've heard Reya say that she's had patients who still had it until the last few weeks of their pregnancies."
"Oh, great." Cien said, putting a hand over her stomach.
Sasha smiled softly at her. "It'll be okay," she assured her. "How about I make you some tea that helped with my morning… or I guess in your case, evening sickness?"
"That sounds good, thank you." Cien said, leaning back against the counter. "I guess I could make it." She then said, stepping forward, "which tea was it?" She asked.
"It's the herbal one in the blue box in the pantry," Sasha said, gesturing to it with her head. "There should be a couple bags of it left. And I can get the water started for ya, if you'd like."
"Thanks." She replied, heading towards the pantry.
Sasha moved over to the stove and pulled out the kettle. She filled it with water before placing it on the stove top to start boiling.
"Hey guys." Kitsu said as she walked into the kitchen.
"What was dinner?" Illara asked, right behind her.
"Hey, it's corn chowder," Sasha said as she glanced at them. "It's still warm." She gestured to the large pot of chowder on the stove top. "Go ahead and grab a bowl."
"Thanks." Illara said, walking over to the cabinet.
"How are you doing Sasha?" Kitsu said with a slight smile, "it's good to see you up."
"A lot better. Thanks," Sasha said, smiling at them. "Kelce and our med droid have cleared me for missions and jobs again."
"That's fantastic!" Kitsu said.
"I'm so glad to see you doing better." Illara said with a smile as they started ladling the chowder into the bowls.
"Thanks," Sasha beamed. "It feels good to be better. Anyway, how was the job?"
"Tiring." Kitsu said. She looked over and saw Cien stepping away from the pantry, looking a little unsettled and she had a tea bag. Which was odd, since Cien didn't usually have tea.
"This guy was a shipjacker, so whenever we had a track on him he'd just steal another ship and be on his merry way." Illara said with a roll of their eyes. They came over and put a bowl of soup in front of Kitsu.
"That sounds annoying," Sasha commented as she leaned against the counter top with her arms folded across her chest, waiting on the kettle.
"Yeah." Kitsu agreed. "He was a jerk, to. One of the ships he ended up forcing the crew into escape pods in deep space so we had to help them out before we could continue hunting him down. He put the sheb in shabuir." She said, also with a roll of her eyes.
"Sounds like it," Sasha said just before the kettle started to whistle. She moved it off the heating element and set it aside to cool for a moment. "So how did you guys catch him?"
"Whenever he ran, he'd keep heading in a certain direction. Couldn't figure it out at first, until we looked up that there was a rare ship auction. So we skipped ahead and laid low, and we kept him from stealing a collectors ship that was like five hundred years old, worth a fortune." Kitsu said, eating a spoonful of soup.
"Got a nice bonus from the owner of it for taking him down, too." Illara added.
"Very nice," Sasha complimented. "Sounds like a fun trip." She said as she pulled a mug from a nearby cabinet before gesturing to Cien. "Water's ready."
"Thanks." She said, stepping around the island, swallowing, "just let it steep for a minute or so?" She asked, not quite familiar with this tea.
"Yeah, it shouldn't take too long," Sasha said. "But be warned, it will be hot."
"Thanks." Cien said.
Kitsu looked at Cien, a little worried about how subdued she was. "We miss anything fun while we were gone? Kyr sent us a message you all went to the beach planet."
"Yeah, we took a little vacation there to relax, but also to help me heal a bit," Sasha said with a nod. "Since then…" she glanced at Cien, "not much has happened." She tried to hide a smirk as she turned towards the cabinets to grab plates for dessert.
Cien shared a slight smile at Sasha for that.
"Wish we could have joined you, that place sounds amazing." Illara said with a smile.
"It was. We'll make sure to take you guys with us next time," Sasha said.
"Anything else interesting happen?" Kitsu asked, a little worried about how subdued Cien seemed. "Feels like it's been forever since we were back here at Haven."
"No, not really." Cien said quietly, playing with the teabag in her cup, trying to get it to steep a little faster.
Sasha felt a smile grow on her face as she set the plates down and grabbed forks. "You shouldn't keep them in suspense much longer," she teased in a low voice to Cien.
"You feeling okay?" Kitsu asked Cien, a little worried. And she didn't hear Sasha's comment.
"Yeah, the twins just made me feel a little ill the last couple of days." Cien said, still playing with the teabag. Sasha turned her head away so Kitsu and Illara wouldn't see her suppress a laugh.
"What did they do? Were they blowing up trees again?" Kitsu asked. "You didn't eat any of Kyr's cooking, did you?"
"Well, he did make some chili for us when we stayed an extra night at the beach." Cien stopped and blinked, realizing for the first time that was the evening when this must have happened.
"You ate Kyr's chili?" Illara asked, incredulously.
"No wonder you've been sick!" Kitsu said, aghast.
Sasha was now hunched over the counter top, trying to keep it together. Especially at the irony that Kyr's chilli was consumed before Cien ever found out about the twins. But the mere fact that Kitsu and Illara weren't picking up on what had happened was causing her to laugh so hard her sides hurt.
"I thought it was actually very good." Cien said, taking a sip of the tea. It instantly seemed to help, a little. "Just like this tea, thank you Sasha." She said.
"Of course. I told you it would help," Sasha said, finally composing herself, but a big smile still on her face.
"Do you need me to go yell at the twins for whatever they've been doing the last few days?" Kitsu said, falling into her big sister mode.
"Yeah, I'd appreciate that." Cien said, taking another sip of tea to hide a sudden smirk. "You'll have to wait another eight months or so to talk to them, though." She said, turning to head back towards the dining room.
"What?" Illara asked, confused. "Why would we have to wait?" They asked.
Kitsu looked at Cien with a furrowed brow, then her eyes suddenly got wider. "Wait! What?" She yelled as she jumped off the stool and chased after Cien.
Sasha burst into laughter as she gathered the dishes. "Well that's one way to tell them," she giggled.
"What's going o-" Illara started to say tiredly, then their eyes got bigger. "Oooohhh…" They said in realization.
"Yup," Sasha said, patting their shoulder as she passed them on her way out to the dining room. As she went into the dining room, Kitsu was hugging Cien tightly, and Cien was hugging her back as well, while still trying to hold onto her mug.
"I'm so happy for you guys." Kitsu said, stepping away, looking between Cien and Kyr with a smile.
"Thanks." Kyr said.
"Here, I'll help with the cake." Kitsu said excitedly, stepping away to go help distribute dessert.
"Nice job on telling them," Sasha commented to Cien as she set out dishes. "If you kept leading them on like that longer, I'm pretty sure I would have collapsed from laughing so hard."
"I feel like we missed quite a moment in the kitchen just now," Viran said, glancing to Kyr and Oppie.
"Yes, you did." Cien said with a glowing smile as she took her seat next to Kyr.
Sasha smirked at that before going back in to help Kitsu. After a moment they both returned with a piece of cake for everyone including Lana. Once all the pieces were passed out, Sasha resumed her seat next to Viran. Illara walked in carrying the chowders for them and Kitsu.
"So how did you guys find out?" Kitsu asked excitedly, sitting down.
"Sasha and I actually knew before we knew." Cien answered, taking a sip of tea. "We felt a strange presence in the Force, and we thought it might be something dangerous. Until my morning sickness started and I realized what it was." She said, glancing at Sasha, a little guiltily for how she had reacted.
"To be fair, after everything that happened on Myrkr and Caranas, it was understandable to be a little on edge with that at first," Sasha said as her face became more serious with each sentence. "But now that we know it's the twins and not some looming threat, that means we can focus on figuring out who put that bounty on me."
"You still think its Cordova right?" Viran asked, clarifying.
"Yeah, I think so," Sasha said with a small nod.
"I feel more certain of it now." Cien said, nodding. "When we thought there might be some involvement with the Force I was doubting it was him. But now he definitely feels like the most likely source."
"Were we still thinking of going out there?" Oppie asked the table.
"I think we should," Viran said simply. "We need answers to who put the bounty on Sasha before other hunters decide to come after her." Sasha frowned slightly at that. Viran noticed and grabbed her hand. "I won't let that happen."
"I know and I agree with you," Sasha said. "The sooner we figure this out, the better. Plus it sounds like the NR needs a little help tracking him down. Sounds fairly easy when four Force users are on the case."
Kyr blinked as if suddenly realizing something. Mostly that Cien's ab plate did not extend very far down over her stomach. "Did you still want to go out with them?" He asked Cien cautiously.
Cien gave him a glance that was fairly sharp. "Yes, I'm fine." She stated in a voice that would not allow argument.
Kyr looked like he wanted to say something more, but nodded and chose to say nothing.
Sasha glanced at them. "If we go, this could be very dangerous. Caranas proved that to us last time we were there," she said to no one in particular, but was hoping Cien understood the worry of her going.
Cien nodded, "that's why all of us need to go." She said, as if in agreement.
Sasha kept her face neutral, but she was worried about putting her sister and her unborn children in danger. She knew that reality a little too well herself.
"Okay, so what is our plan then?" Viran asked.
Oppie glanced around the table, since Kyr looked like he had clammed up for the moment. "Not quite sure, I think we need to make contact with the local contingent of marshals who are there, and then we can see where we can help out with their investigations."
"That sounds like a good idea," Sasha agreed. "What was the name of that marshal again? The one you talked to Kyr?" She asked him.
Kyr came out of his daze a little. "J'onz. He was a bit of a shebs though, so I have a feeling we might need to do our work there mostly on our own. We can probably just work directly with Colonel Ceros."
"Do you still trust him?" Cien asked a little sharply.
"Yeah," Kyr said, "he and I spoke a while back after we got back. I still trust him." He stated.
Cien just nodded and took another sip of her tea.
"Well we just got home and we need a little break. If you want we can watch Lana while you guys go take care of this. At least for a little while till we can come meet you." Kitsu spoke up.
"I was going to ask. That would be great if you could," Sasha said before giving a small smile to Lana who was just covered in cake. "And I'm sure Reya and Zeran can watch her again when you do join us."
"Then I guess the next question we should be asking is, when should we head out?" Viran asked.
"The sooner the better, probably." Cien said. Kyr glanced away at that.
"Kyr, do you feel up to going back to Caranas?" Sasha asked carefully. She knew what his answer was probably going to be, but she felt like she had to ask.
Kyr looked at her and started to say something. Then stopped and chose his words very carefully. "Last time we were there, all of us almost ended up dying one way or another. I don't want to be in a position where anything like that happens to any of us." He said, pointedly not looking at Cien.
"I understand. All of us do," Sasha said in agreement. She did, however, look at Cien. "Are you sure you want to go?"
"Yes." Cien said sharply, "all of us should be there to watch each others backs and keep eachother safe. We only ever seem to be in danger if we split up." She stated more like an empress than the sister they were more familiar with. Kyr pointedly had no reaction other than to shift his eyes slightly when she said that.
Sasha was about to add on, but was unsure how to phrase it.
"I have something to fix that," Viran spoke up instead. "I have been working with Tac on this for a while, but we created very small tracking devices that we can hide on our person and activate when in danger. That way if we are split up or in a position where the others are in danger, just activate it and the rest of us will rush to your location."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Sasha asked, surprised.
"I started coming up with it when you were missing on Myrkr. Why do you think I've been in the hangar a lot over the past couple months? I wanted to surprise all of you before the next mission or job," Viran explained sheepishly.
Kitsu snickered at that, "didn't you suggest something like that a few months ago?" She asked, looking at Illara.
"Yep." Illara replied with a smirk.
"I like that idea." Kyr stated.
"Me to." Cien said.
"What are they?" Oppie asked.
"They are bracelets that can be worn around the wrist or ankle. Right now, they are still in the hangar. In my tool kit," Viran said. "Tac, QT, and I have tested them already. They should work."
"Should?" Sasha questioned.
"Well, we've only done on planet tests. We haven't had much of a chance to test the long range abilities, but if my calculations are correct they will work… with maybe a few bugs," Viran said as confidently as he could.
"Well as long as they don't shock us." Kyr said, then blinked a little when he realized what he said. Cien reached over and took his hand under the table with a worried glance towards him.
"Don't worry they won't," Viran assured him. "I've already fixed that problem a while ago."
Oppie snickered a little at that. "First setting fire to a hangar, then bracelets that shock us?" He asked.
"You and I both know how awful their wiring was there," Viran said, pointing a finger at him as if he had made this point a thousand times before. Which he had. "Besides, I thought bracelets since they would fall under the radar better than having a tracking device strapped to your back. But I will warn now, they are still in that prototype stage. Which means any problems we have with them, let me know asap."
"Like what exactly?" Sasha asked curiously.
"Well, I learned already that they don't respond well to water," Viran said simply. "Still working out that bug on a couple of them."
Kyr thought for a moment. "I love this idea, I wonder if we could get a beskar case made for them?" He mused.
"If you've got extra beskar around, I'd be willing to give it a try on the gen two models," Viran said with a smirk. "But what I've got now will work for this trip."
"Yeah." Oppie agreed.
"Well I guess knowing that we have that now puts my mind a little more at ease. And it makes me a little more excited to get going," Sasha said with an eagerness to her tone.
"Cordova better look out, because he messed with the wrong family," Viran added with a smile.
Review!
