"Are we good to go? All riders report." Tenel Ka, in her 'battle queen' mode, confirmed that everything was ready to roll.
"I'm good to go" Malinza replied, unafraid.
"All green here" Valin chimed in, wishing himself in a starfighter cockpit rather than a saddle.
Jacen winked at the feisty redhead. "Ready as I'll ever be, my love." This was her arena. Queen of sixty-three worlds or no, Tenel Ka was first and foremost a warrior. That's why she spends all of her vacations with the Jedi, rather than at some spa Jacen mused, grateful for her mere existence.
"All right, let's move!" Tenel Ka spurred her mount into a slow walk towards the gate. As the rest of the group followed suit, a local student band played the anthem of the Alliance as a departure fanfare. All four riders were touched as they quickly transversed to the gates.
Upon reaching the massive portal, the mounts broke into a brisk trot, the six-legged gait and sheer speed unnerving Valin and Malinza slightly. They exchanged worried glances, which Jacen saw. "They're just warming up." His mischievous grin plainly told everyone he knew something they didn't about the mounts.
Tenel Ka was clearly intrigued, "How do you . . . never mind." Moments after she begun the question, the answer crystallized in her mind. Jacen's connection with nature was unusually strong, even for a Jedi.
Meanwhile, Valin, usually fanatic about raw zoom-power like most Corellians, was getting a little worried. "Warming up? We're already pushing NINETY!"
"You haven't seen anything yet! Elup!" With that the speed of the mounts nearly doubled. Riding four abreast at one hundred seventy kilometers per hour, the immense windmills surrounding the city looked like bizarre fence posts to the four Jedi.
Tenel Ka's long red tresses flew behind her like the tail of a fiery comet. "This is incredible! Will we rapidly fatigue the mounts at this speed?"
"No. You like to run after being cooped up too." Jacen called back. "And you know it."
They made camp on the banks of a meandering river just as the system's primary seemed to kiss the crystal stream. Tenel Ka built a small fire, upset that she might need to create a campfire rotation, each of the others wanted to light it. She told them to unpack the bedrolls and draw water for the suubatars.
Malinza produced two devices, each the size of a small melon out of her saddlebags. "Repulsor couches," she explained with a grin, as she set them near the fire and flipped a small switch on the bottom of the units.
A slight aqua glow poured out of the base as it began to emit a muted whine. "Have a seat, milady." Malinza gestured to the unit nearest the Hapan, "Just stay where the ground is blue-ish, lest you get a surprise."
"Thank you, Malinza." As the warrior queen lowered herself carefully onto the repulsorfield, she noticed how comfortable the unit was.
The men returned and saw their respective lady-loves seemingly sitting on air, and sat down beside them.
At least Jacen did. Valin landed butt-first on the grass. Malinza pulled her boyfriend up while trying to stop laughing and explain to him that the light show wasn't just for pretty.
Valin changed the subject off of his now-green pant seat - to the first thing that crossed his mind . "Your Highness, if you're here, who's in charge on Hapes?"
Here we go again thought Jacen, my whole family's biggest embarrassment
"My apprentice is steward while I am vacationing." The Queen replied, bemused.
"Who is this most-trusted apprentice, to whom you would grant command of sixty three worlds?" Malinza inquired, intrigued.
Shavit! Shavit! Shavit! Jacen cursed inwardly, Why, oh, why did this kriff happen in the first place
"A former politician who focused more on her career than on her training and her family combined. She was placed with a Master a generation her junior to motivate her into completing what should have been completed twenty years ago." Tenel Ka winked subtly to Jacen, who scowled. A touchy subject she thought.
Both Malinza and Valin knew exactly who this was by the time Her Royal Highness finished explaining, and the Queen's wink would have confirmed it if they hadn't got the hint by then. Out of sympathy for Jacen, they dropped it.
Jacen and Tenel Ka cuddled quietly while Valin and Malinza broke out kebab skewers, sausages, and marshmallows. Proper campfire food Jacen mused.
"Indeed, marshmallows and sausages are ideal for this," Tenel Ka whispered.
/Are you reading my mind, love/ Jacen was startled and overjoyed simultaneously.
/Yes, my love Tenel Ka mindlinked back, /Our minds kiss/
/Then let our lips do the same/ Jacen replied mentally and kissed her, passionately.
Meanwhile, Valin's voice rang out, "Kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff, KRIFF!" His sausage was burning like it had been soaked in rocket fuel and lit with a plasma torch.
"Toss it in the river and start over, unless you want an ash sandwich!" Malinza was not happy to have a star jockey whipping a burning wiener around her. Not that she wanted to subject any fish in the river to Valin's cooking, but it was either that or burn vast expanses of prairie.
It flew off the skewer, and with a little Force-nudge from Jacen, hit the water's surface with a splash and a sizzle. "Men! Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em!" Malinza griped under her breath.
Jacen Force-pulled his and Tenel Ka's bedrolls to their repulsorcouch, /Separate but adjacent, my love/
/Of course, beloved. I would not have it otherwise, my love./
/We shall sleep under a blanket of stars, upon a bed made of wind, my love/