…7 years later…
"Keven give that back! That's my apear!" Esuna glared at her friend, who had scampered out of reach up a huge tree. Keven merely looked down at her mischievously, and then held the piece of fruit up to his nose, sniffing it appreciatively. "Are you trying to make me angry?" the teenaged Kushiban warned. Her fur was beginning to ripple slightly with grey overtones and her green eyes were darkening, as they began to adopt a red tint to the edges.
Keven couldn't help but grin. He would never admit it out loud, but that was exactly what he was trying to do. There were very few things in life that gave him as much pleasure in life as watching his childhood friend get angry at him for a ridiculous reason. Esuna tended to over-react so much over the littlest things that it was hilarious! The colour of her fur would not only turn black in accordance with her mood, but even her eyes would change colour and her fur and tail would stand on end, until she looked like the Demon Kushiban herself. Keven found the extreme degree of Esuna's transformation absolutely adorable; he had even given her a nickname for it a couple of years back. "Oh, come on now Spitfire," he teased, "What's a little apear given to a friend? It smells so de-li-cious." He licked his lips for effect.
Esuna's eyes sparked indignantly. "That's my lunch!" she insisted. Her fur was beginning to bush out.
Keven eyed the apear ungratefully. "This is your lunch?!" he scoffed. He hopped gracefully down from the tree a couple of meters away from Esuna. Then, before she had a chance to react, he bit into the juicy fruit. "This is a pretty lousy lunch," he remarked between bites.
"YOU….?!" Esuna eyes bulged as she watched her best friend begin to consume her meal. She lunged towards him, aiming to grab the fruit out of his hand, but Keven caught her wrist and grinned at her once again. "Let me show you a real lunch," he said flippantly, as he began to casually lead her through the forest.
"What are you talking about?" The outraged look on Esuna's face was now coupled with confusion. "You'll see," Keven promised. The black colour of Esuna's fur shimmered uncertainly. It only took a few moments for them to arrive at the edge of the landing field of the Ovnine docking port. Esuna's eyes grew round as she witnessed what was lying on the ground awaiting them. A large blanket had been spread over the short-cut grass and a vibrant display fruits and vegetables of various sizes, shapes and colours adorned it.
"See, now this is what I call a lunch." Keven announced smugly to his speechless friend. "So, how about you forgive me for the last little incident, and we'll have a picnic?" Esuna turned her shocked eyes towards the male Kushiban. "You planned this," she accused. "This is why you invited me over on my lunch break and stole my apear. You planned this!" Her voice sounded outraged, but the colour of her fur had recovered its silvery white sparkle.
Keven laughed good-naturedly, and stroked his whiskers. "You can't possibly suggest that I would be so sly as to plan something like this?" he asked innocently. Esuna smiled and shook her head in disbelief at his audacity. "Hmmmm, you don't believe me now, do you? Okay, then let's eat now, before you have to leave." He quickly led his female friend the rest of the way over to the blanket on the ground and both Kushiban settled down to leisurely dig into the prepared feast.
The two friends ate and chatted for about three quarters of an hour until a growing humming noise, like that of a large engine, caught their attention. "There's a ship coming in today?" Esuna asked as they both looked up into the sky. Keven nodded, "Yeah, the Devil's Breath is scheduled to arrive at any time." Esuna grinned, "Oh yay! I hope Alistaire brought more reference books for me!" She referred to the female Ithorian pilot of the Devil's Breath, who also functioned as ship medic. Ithorians were large strange looking creatures that had large flatted hammer-shaped heads and several mouths that would speak in stereo. Despite the physical differences between the two species, Alistaire and Esuna had developed a close since the Ithorian had joined the crew 6 years ago. The rest of the crew referred to Alistaire by her nickname "Star-Lady", but both Esuna and Alistaire insisted on calling other by their first names as a gesture of mutual respect, and the two medics would often trade notes and resources with one another.
Esuna peered up into the sky and frowned, lifting one hand to shield her eyes. "The sun makes it hard to see," she complained. Just then a look of comprehension dawned on her face and she looked down towards Keven in alarm. "The sun, Great Spirit! I've got to go! I'm going to be late for my shift, and Erdict's going to kill me!" She was speaking metaphorically of course, since Erdict was reknowned for his calm nature, but even still she jumped up on her feet in panic, before looking down at the scattered remains of their lunch helplessly.
"You go on ahead; I'll take care of cleaning up here," Keven offered. Esnua shot him a grateful look. Then she sunk down onto all fours and began to bolt away at top speed. "Thank you for the lunch Keven!" Esuna turned her head to call over her shoulder as she ran. "Say hi to the crew of the Devil's Breath for me!"
"I wi…WATCH OUT!" Keven shouted at his friend, who had looked forward just in time to barely miss running headfirst into a tree. Even still Esuna managed to stumble slightly on the roots. "Oooops," Keven heard her say clearly even as she continued her relentless sprint forward, leaving him alone at the edge of the woods.
Keven blinked and then laughed softly. "That idiot," he muttered softly to himself as he bent down to pick up the first piece of discarded fruit. It was so typical of Esuna to nearly get into an accident like that, since she was the type of Kushiban who would often leap before she looked. If there was one quality that Esuna did not lack in life, it was enthusiasm. It came out in everything she did, even in the manifestations of her temper. Her commitment to her convictions was extreme, but that was a quality that Keven liked about her. He found that being around her made his life just that much more interesting.
…
It only took Keven a little while to clean up, and by the time he had finished the Devil's Breathe had just finished its landing procedure. He hurried back to the docking buildings clutching the pack that held the lunch remains, hoping to dispose of them before the Devil's Breath crew caught site of the pack and started asking questions. He suspected that if they found out that he had been having a picnic with Esuna on the edge of the landing field, he would end up as the target of all of their teasing for the rest of the night. Moving deftly between a pile of crates towards his dad's office, Keven suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar red, horned head walking past on the other side. He ducked and listened as Belthrak, who was in deep conversation with his father, finished up with last bit of business formalities and then moved with the rest of the crew towards the Leafy Paw.
Keven breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't caught yet! He poked his head around the corner of the crates. Good, they were entering the restaurant area. That should give him the cover needed to make it to his dad's office in the loading area and… "Beep-da-beep?" The beeping sound came from behind him and nearly caused Keven to jump out of his fur. He whirled around to confront the interloper and found himself face to face with a small rusty-orange droid about the size of his head that was floating in the air on tiny repulsor lifts. It cocked its optical scanner in a manner that could only be called inquisitive.
Keven breathed out. "A0K," he whispered hoarsely, "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Bleep-da-Beepa?" The droid seemed to be asking him a question.
Keven shook his head and moved out across from the crates towards his dad's office, making a blatant show of ignoring the curious machine. A0K was a custom-made mini-astromech droid that belonged to one of the newer members of the Devil's Breathe. It was at moments like this that Keven was glad that he couldn't understand the series of beep and whistles that the astromech used to communicate, because if he had to guess he would bet that A0K had just been asking, "What are you doing?" That wasn't a question he was too keen on answering at that minute, since he felt a little foolish for all the sneaking. It was just that he didn't want to give his friends any more fodder to tease him with than they usually had. Thinking about his friends renewed Keven's anticipation to meet with them, and he began to move faster, more confidently this time, until he had made it safely to his dad's office and disposed of the pack he had been carrying. Thus unencumbered, he then made a bee-line back to the Leafy Paw.
"…there he is. Trance!" A voice called out his nickname as soon as he stepped through the door. Keven looked up and quickly spotted the crew of the Devil's Breath seated at one of the few large folk tables in the room. The one who had called his name was the shortest member at the table, although certainly not as short as Keven. He had a long angular face that sported an extended snout with heart shaped nose. Large pointed ears protruded from the sides of his head, and his skin was completely covered in a short dark-grey fur. "Hey Bimm!" Keven responded to the greeting and walked quickly over to the table. "Bimm" was a Bimm whose real name was actually Pashak. Keven didn't know why, but since he first met the Bimm two and a half years ago, everyone had just called him by his species name. Bimm was the newest member of the Devil's Breath crew. He had joined them as some sort of technical genius, replacing their previous engineer who had been a Bith. Bimm was particularly good at verbal gymnastics, and on a good day, according to Belthrak, he could smooth talk a Wookie right into a hair-cut. Keven glanced at Jowurra and wondered if it was true.
"Hey guys, welcome back to Korriban." Keven greeted the Devil's Breath crew as he leaped up onto a chair where he could stand and see them from a more equal height.
"Hey there Trance, glad to see you could make it," Belthrak grinned and raised his cup to his lips.
"Yeah, why were you sneaking around and being all hidden-like earlier?" Bimm asked, perhaps a little too innocently.
Keven froze. How did they know? He thought he had made it around them perfectly without being spotted at all! His concealment had been perfect; how had they seen him? "Beep-deda-blep-da?" a small droid's curious whistle seemed to echo the Bimm's query. Understanding dawned on Keven and he looked up to glare at the hovering A0K. He had forgotten all about the nosey droid. Regardless of the fact whether he understood astromech or not, Bimm certainly did because the Bimm had built the droid himself from scratch. No doubt the droid had ratted on him.
"Oh really, you were wearing a pack?" Bimm interpreted the droid's latest serious of beeps and turned to look at Keven for clarification.
Keven felt the tips of his ears gaining heat. He resisted the temptation to leap up from the table, grab the orange floating droid, and hightail it out of there for some serious demolition work. "I…I… had to put something away," he managed to stutter out a vague reply.
"Is that so?" Belthrak replied casually, taking another swig from his mug. At this point Siren directed her own penetrating stare at the young male Kushiban and asked, "By the way Trance, where's that Spitfire girlfriend of yours today? She didn't come with you?"
Keven could feel the inside of the rest of his ears turning red, and his whiskers gained warmth. "She's not my girlfriend," he muttered lamely, wishing that he could change the direction this conversation was going, although honestly he wouldn't mind if Esuna was his girlfriend. It just didn't seem like it was the right time yet for him to move their relationship in that direction; after all, she probably only still viewed him as a childhood friend.
"Speaking of relationships this reminds me," a warm harmonious voice spoke up that had previously been silent, "earlier, while I was landing the ship I thought I saw a couple of young Kushiban having a small picnic at the edge of the landing field. I thought to myself, 'Wasn't that nice?'" Alistaire's eyes twinkled mischeviously.
Keven groaned inwardly. Even the Star-Lady wasn't cutting him any slack on this one! At this point he could see no other option than to confess. "Yeah, um, Esuna and I were just having a small lunch before she had to go to work. She says hi. I just had to get rid of the leftovers before I came over here, that's all."
Bimm snickered under his breath and began to hum with a sing-song voice, "Trance and Spitfire sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N- ouch! What was that for?" The furry creature rubbed the back of his head where Siren had smacked him.
"Let's give the young kid a break. He's confessed now, and besides, can't you see he's dying of embarrassment?" Siren spoke up in Keven's defense, with the expression on her face being an odd mixture between amusement and annoyance. As for Keven, well, by now his skin was so red that even his fur had taken on pinkish undertones.
"I was just having a little fun," Bimm grumbled sulkily. He didn't continue with the chant though, and for that Keven felt relieved.
"Work huh?" Captain Belthrak was stroking his chin looking thoughtful over the contents of Keven's confession. "You mean the pretty little kit is already old enough to work now?"
Keven drew his head up with more dignity. "Yeah actually, we both are. Kushiban kits become recognized as adults when they reach 13 galactic standard years, and today was Esuna's first day of operating the clinic solo."
"Good for her!" Alistaire praised her friend melodiously, "So then, what have you been up to Trance?"
"…uh…I'm…I'm working on that," Keven fumbled his words lightly, "I'm going to try and see if I can talk my father into letting me go up into space."
"Really?" Belthrak seemed interested. "You have an interest in space-travel, boy?"
"Yeah, um, well, I've seen a lot of aliens come and go since I've lived so close to the docking port all of my life, and I just think it would be fun to see what else is out there that I might be missing out on."
"Believe me, it isn't all fun and games," Siren muttered softly enough that barely anyone heard.
"What was that?" Keven turned a curious head over to hear her more directly.
"I was just saying that space might not be all the adventure that you thought it out to be," Siren clarified, "There's a lot of time that you spend doing nothing."
Keven nodded, "I know that, but I still want to try it one day."
"In that case," Belthrak interjected, "Trance, why don't I have a talk with your father? I've been thinking lately that our ship could really use some sort of cabin boy to help keep the place tidy, and I think you might just fit the bill."
"You telling me," Bimm chortled once again, "What with the mess that Siren and Jowurra keep making – ouch! You hit me again!" Bimm turned to Siren with an injured expression, and Jowurra let out a grateful rawr in the human's direction. "Don't push it," Siren warned the Bimm.
"So what do you think kid?" the captain asked Keven.
Keven was stunned. "R-Really?! You would take me on as a crewmate?! That would be awesome!" His long, bushy tail was almost wagging with excitement.
Belthrak smiled, "Well then, let me finish up my drink and then I'll go have a talk with your dad."