Last time: Sasha revealed how she saved Kyr and the trio sat down for a nice meal together.
Now: The family gathers for a nice evening.
Chapter 8- Op's Decision
The warm glow of the fire from the great fireplace mingled with the cold snowy night outside the transparisteel windows, and blocked out the great forest that stretched away outside. A few dim lamps illuminated the area, but everyone crowded together on the comfortable chairs and sofas, sitting in the warm glow. This was the first time they had all been able to simply sit and enjoy each other's company, ever. The first time the entire family was together.
They had had a great dinner to celebrate Kyr's recovery. Kyr had insisted on wearing his armor before leaving the small recovery room, and Kitsu and Illara had helped him into the set before he had exited. The coppery beskar was still relatively intact, only a few minor welts of damage had remained after they had spent a while cleaning all the carbon scoring and ash off. The flight suit and soft parts had had to be replaced, though Kyr had had extras, which Tac was quite happy to rifle through Kyr's things - with permission - to find aboard the Shadow Runner. Tac sat with everyone and joined into the conversation where he could, though he also spent time softly beeping to himself wishing he could enjoy a mug of the hot chocolate that the organics were partaking in. Kyr was happy to simply be out of the recovery room, though the sling that kept his arm locked in place was a terrible pain.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to watching the snowfall here," Sasha said as she sat curled up on one of the sofas with a cup of hot chocolate resting in her hands and watching the flakes fall outside the great windows. "I don't recall there ever being a planet we lived on that had snowy nights like this."
"Yeah, I like this place, I always have." Kyr said. He chuckled a little and looked over at Oppie. "I remember one snowy night though, when we first met." He eyed his brother over the rim of the mug as he took his sip.
Oppie took a sip as well and rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah I remember you scaring the heck out of me." He replied.
"I scared you? You were the one that ambushed me." Kyr smiled.
"How exactly did that whole encounter go down?" Viran asked curiously as he sat back on the sofa next to Sasha with his legs propped up on an ottoman. "You two have mentioned it a couple of times, but I want to hear the whole thing."
"Please, do tell," Sasha agreed as she smiled over the rim of her mug before taking a sip.
"Not a lot to tell." Oppie said simply, glaring across the room at Kyr, who had a huge grin on his face. "Remember when we had to split up after the Empire found us on Tam'?" He said looking back at Sasha and Viran, using their shorthand for the planet Tamdararerara, which was a pain to say more than once in your life.
"Yeah," Viran said with a slight nod. Sasha nodding as well to his question. Kitsu and Illara both smiled since they knew the story.
"I had to make a stop on Lokina to get some supplies, and also see if the Empire had tracked me." He took another sip. "They hadn't, Kyr did though." He glared at his brother. "So he decided it made the most sense to follow me out into the woods on a snowy night just like this, and introduce himself. I thought he was just a bounty hunter-"
Kyr interrupted him. "Everyone always thinks we're bounty hunters." He rolled his eyes.
Oppie just continued. "And so I tried to ambush him, after I couldn't shake him."
Kyr piped up, "thankfully beskar does stand up to light sabers." He said around another sip.
"Yeah, and we fought, and then he introduced himself, and we went our separate ways." Oppie said around his own sip, remember the experience with all the depth of feelings that moment had held.
"Oh come on Oppr'ativ!" Kyr exclaimed, and winced only slightly as his body complained about the sudden outburst. "We didn't just 'fight', we had a good propper tussle. Probably the first time since the Clone Wars a Mandalorian and a Jedi had a proper duel, and you just gloss over it." He rolled his eyes again.
"Cool," Viran commented with a smirk.
"Easy. Don't strain yourself," Sasha said to Kyr before looking between the both of them. "Also Oppr'ativ?"
Oppr'ativ Xiv facepalmed after wincing in disgust, and Kyr just chuckled, and Illara laughed as well around a gulp of hot chocolate.
"You didn't know that was his name?" Kitsu said, with a smile and also holding back a laugh.
"No, we knew his name was Oppie Xiv," Viran said as he shook his head. "We just never assumed it was short for something."
"Yeah, since the day we met him he has always been Oppie or Op to us," Sasha said with a shrug as she smiled innocently.
"Yeah, for good reason." Oppie mumbled.
Kyr burst out laughing at that.
"What are you laughing at Ke'vaan?" Kitsu said. Instantly Kyr quieted down and glared at her. And Kitsu burst out laughing.
Sasha and Viran both stifled a laugh.
Illara turned to Sasha and Viran, "They're old names on Mandalore. They're… let's say they are out of use for being a bit too old fashioned and a little embarrassing if you get my meaning." They said with a big smile.
"Understandable," Viran chuckled.
"Well, don't worry, Op. Old habits die hard," Sasha assured him. "You'll always be just Oppie to us." She beamed at him before taking a sip from her mug.
"So hey, about those temples." Oppie said, trying quite obviously to change the topic.
"Oh yeah, Sasha tell them what you found," Viran said, getting excited.
Sasha set her mug down on a nearby side table before sitting up straight.
"I was going through the temple data we gathered again and I noticed something different this time," Sasha started. "I pulled up a star chart of the galaxy and then highlighted the systems we visited. They ended up forming this strange shape that almost looked like it could be a constellation. As I dug deeper, I realized it had to be just that and whatever system sees that constellation must be where the temple originates from. However, I couldn't find a system on record that has seen a star shape like it." Sasha sighed as she finished.
"Well if they've been around for thousands of years, maybe no system now can see it, but it could then?" Kyr suggested. "Only problem is, when was 'then'?" He pondered.
"I considered that," Sasha said as she folded her arms. "That's the new dead-end I have seemed to hit." She groaned as she rested her head back, staring upward at the ceiling. "It's almost becoming a wild bantha chase the deeper I seem to go."
Viran placed a hand on her knee. "Don't worry. You'll figure it out." Viran then looked to Oppie. "Did you figure anything out from your read through of the notes?"
Oppie shook his head. "No. I looked through all of it, but I didn't see anything new you guys hadn't discovered." He paused for a moment, "I was thinking I might want to visit some of the sites, maybe do some investigation of my own." He took a sip of hot chocolate.
"That sounds like a good idea, Op," Viran said with a nod. "We could go back and investigate them again, but this time to discover their origins."
"That might be more helpful than staring into a data pad for hours," Sasha agreed.
"Yeah." Oppie said, noncommittally.
"I know a cute little tour guide who might give you some tips." Kyr piped up, and Tac warbled excitedly at being able to return to the tourist planet, and Kyr just shot the droid a glare.
"Oh?" Kitsu said, raising her eyebrow at Kyr.
Kyr just moved his glare from the droid over to his cousin. "Oh shush, you. Not like that."
Viran chuckled at them. Sasha, however, noted Oppie's response with a small frown. She could sense his thoughts on this.
"Op?" Sasha asked to catch his attention. "What is it?"
"Nothing." Op said around another drink.
Sasha didn't believe him, but she didn't press the matter for now.
"So who wants a round of Sabacc?" Illara asked, the others hadn't noticed the brief exchanged between Sasha and Op.
"Me!" Kitsu called as they got up.
"Let me go find the card deck." Kyr suggested, wincing a little as he got up out of the chair. Tac whistled at him. "I guess you can if everyone else is fine with having a computer at the table." He said gesturing to the other players as he moved to go figure out where the sabacc set was.
As they got up from the fireplace, Oppie started gathering the mugs to take them into the kitchen.
"I'll join you guys in a minute," Sasha said to Viran. "I'm gonna give Oppie a hand."
Viran nodded. "Well don't take too long. I want to see if we can beat a droid." He winked at her before following the others out.
Sasha moved from her seat and grabbed a couple of the cups around her area. She then followed Oppie to the kitchen. Once they were alone in the kitchen, Sasha set the cups down at the sink.
"Op… is everything okay?" Sasha asked after a moment. "I can sense something is… wrong."
"No, it's fine." Oppie replied. He winced a little internally for letting his mental barriers down so much that she was able to read him so openly. In helping train Sasha how to build her barriers, he had built his own up, just for a sense of privacy and to keep her from reading him so easily. In earlier years he had thought that her nightmares of Order 66 might have been bleeding over from him.
Sasha raised an eyebrow at him while also frowning.
"You're lying," she said simply. "Oppie, please. Talk to me."
"I…" He trailed off, not sure how to phrase it. "I was thinking of investigating the temples on my own." He said, finally.
Sasha felt her eyebrows raise in surprise. "Without us? But we just got the family back together. Why? Did we do something wrong?"
"No, no no." Op said, wincing externally this time. "I don't mean anything like that, just that," He paused for a second, "when I do investigations I think I'd be better off by myself. You know those cases I handled on Vecktore? Like those, when I'd needed some quiet." He said, not wanting to admit that spending a little time alone sounded like a nice break from all the changes.
"I remember those," Sasha said with a nod, turning her gaze away from him. "I understand why you want to go alone. It's just that we finally got you back. I guess I'm not ready to have everyone separate again. At least, not yet."
"I know." He said, looking down at the sink full of mugs. "I'm not going away forever, I just want to visit a couple of the sites, get a feel for them, get a sense of them." He was glad she didn't seem to pick up on alternative reasons for wanting a little alone time. He glanced up at her, "And hey, this time we can just use the holonet to talk, that will be a treat." He said with a smirk. Admittedly trying to lighten the mood between them a little.
Sasha did chuckle to herself for a moment. "I guess so. Just promise that you do keep in contact with us." She then frowned again and met his gaze. "But what is the real reason? I can tell there is more you're not telling me."
Oppie looked back down towards the cups, but at nothing in particular. "It's nothing, Sash." He replied, he looked up to regard her. "A lot has just happened lately, I think it might be nice to have a little time alone to assimilate it." He finally conceded, hoping it was enough.
Sasha took a step back as she leaned against the counter, considering what he said.
"Is this because of me and Viran?" Sasha asked, almost afraid to hear the truth. "Because of all the time that has passed?"
"No, Sasha I'm happy you guys are together, truely." He said, looking her straight in the eye. "But so much has happened. Three weeks ago we were on Vestora, since then we've fought Sith, I've been reunited with more family than I ever thought I'd have, I faced down that monster, got trapped in that void…" He trailed off before he said anything more. "It's just a lot, Sash, and I think a little trip, a little time alone would be good." He finished.
Sasha didn't break his gaze. She looked at him almost as if she was reading him like a data pad. She frowned.
"Whatever you say," Sasha said with a slight chill in her voice. She then broke his gaze and turned toward the exit of the kitchen. She started to leave.
Oppie turned back to the sink full of mugs, not sure if he could have ever said anything that would make this okay, and feeling a little annoyed at that, and mad at himself.
Sasha stopped in the doorway, glancing back over her shoulder to Oppie. She was staring at his back. She hesitated as if she wanted to add on more, but she huffed silently to herself and stormed out of the kitchen.
Oh no! REVIEW!