"Studious as ever, I see." Sailens sits next to him on the edge of the rocky canyon. Where she had been small before, now she was all but dwarfed by Aaron's size. Her red hair is short and loose, a style she started wearing in the last year.
He looks down at her, the 30 centimeter height gap obvious even when sitting. Without looking away from her, he tosses another rock into the canyon. "I just… want a break from it all sometimes. Five years is too long to keep one eye on my back the whole time."
She leans back until she's laying on the ground, legs hanging over the edge. A relaxed sigh escapes her mouth. "Have I really been saving your hide for five years?"
"Hey, I managed the tombs without your help."
"And you've been right chuffed about it ever since." Her droid sets on the ground next to her around and rolls over her hair. "What are you now, seventeen?"
"Yes, Sai. My birthday was last week. You forgot. Again." He can't bring himself to get upset about it, though. Not with her laying there with her academy robe pulling over her-
"I don't have a birthday. Why should I care about yours?" She swings her legs and the Force picks up dust and small rocks to swirl around them.
"Because we're friends, that's what-" He notices her smirk and growls deep in his chest. "Nevermind. I can't just waltz into a legacy room like you can. And don't get smart with how you'd let me in. You've got the protection of the Sa'alles and the military, with your father."
Without getting up, she pulls her upper robe off and tosses it into the canyon. She closes her eyes and soaks up the heat from the sun on her pale skin. "Some protection."
Aaron knows she's trying to make a point about her torture scars, but he can't get his eyes off the white skin of her stomach and where it disappears under her chest bindings.
She stretches her arms up and yawns. "And the Moff would never go against Lord Sa'alle. You're just making excuses for your own anxiety. For being raised by a Darth, you certainly don't think like a Sith."
I can't get much thinking done when you're like that! He sighs. "I trust you. We're in this together." He lowers his hand to the ground between them, hesitating over her stomach.
"Speaking of being in this together, have you actually thought it through?" Her voice snaps his resolve into place and he doesn't touch her.
"...thought it through, how?"
She cracks her eyes open against the glare of the sun and wiggles her fingers at him. A few small stones float around in response. "As a political arrangement, there are certain expectations."
"Well yeah, I mean, we're going to get married in a few years. Isn't that it?" He swallows when she starts wiggling her scarred torso again.
"You're a no one, of course, but I am the only Sa'alle heir. Even if you are a half-breed…" She trails off and smirks at him.
"We're expected to have a child." His blood races almost as quickly as his thoughts as soon as the thought strikes.
"My family is also particularly high class, so once we are apprentices we will be expected to make public appearance. Both Sith and military. Even if most marriages are political, we're expected to seem friendly."
"Uhhh…" Aaron can't respond to her words, still caught up on making a child with her.
"I was under the impression we got along fairly well." She sits up, stretching and meeting his gaze.
"We do. That is, I mean, I even like you. Making appearances wouldn't be, you know, bad, or, anything." He pulls on the collar of his academy robe, tries to keep his eyes on her face, doesn't do very well.
She raises her eyebrows. "But you're upset by the thought of kriffing me?"
"I hadn't really thought about it before." It all comes out in one word and he pulls his knees up to his chest.
Sailens leans in, her chest bindings brushing Aaron's sleeve. "So you have a problem with it."
"No! Yes!" He jumps to his feet and points down at her. "You're doing this on purpose!"
In a single, slow motion Sailens stands with her hands on her hips. "Are you just now realizing this?"
"Come on," he says, already walking towards her. He scoops her up and tosses her over his shoulder. "You're opening one of those legacy rooms and I'm going to show you exactly what I have problems with."
"I have no idea how you survived this long with no form at all," Aaron says, while he walks a tight circle around Sailens. At one point he stops and moves her arms up.
"I am not subjected to combat trials. She does not will it and so they do not happen." Her speaking droid is resting in the hood of Aaron's academy robe so that he doesn't miss anything she says.
He steps back and clicks his tongue. "That's still no reason not to learn."
Sailens just raises an eyebrow in response.
"Right, right, I know, she tortures you. It's just so important! How are you supposed to protect yourself?"
She breaks the posture and rolls her eyes at him. "I can kill a man with my mind," she says, throwing the practice saber away, "What do I need a lightsaber for?"
Aaron picks it up and shoves it back into her hands. "Because if you have skills she doesn't know about, you won't always be under her control."
"I know that, Aaron. I was the one who told you that about sorcery. Unless you were not listening?"
"Look Sai, you can smart talk and shake your chest all you want, but I'm going to teach you combat." He corrects her posture, moving shoulders and legs until her stance is correct.
She growls and shakes her head, red hair flying. "This doesn't feel right."
"Well it is! I've been in combat training since I could walk."
"You've also a different body from me! My center of weight isn't located where yours is."
Aaron opens his mouth to retort, but then closes it and stares at her critically. He moves back in and adjusts her body this way and that, frowning the entire time.
"I'm not your mannequin."
"I'm trying to do this right, Sai! You need to be able to defend yourself physically."
"Why?" She bares her teeth at him.
"Because it's only a matter of time before someone tries to attack you and sorcery leaves evidence. Sa'alle isn't the scariest name on Korriban anymore."
"It should be."
Aaron's hands clench into fists and he grits his jaw to keep from yelling at her. "I just want to keep you safe."
"Says the one that constantly needs me to pull him out of the fire." She straightens and drops the practice saber again.
"You're all I have, Sai. Why is it so hard for you to understand that I want to keep you?"
She stares at him for a while before raising her hand. Sailens's droid floats out of his hood and over to her. She presses a few buttons on it and then lets it hang in the air over her shoulder. Then, she meets his eyes again. "Because we are Sith."
Aaron sighs and puts his face in his hands.