Sunlight fell gently on the still waters, creating golden ripples and reflecting off the silver fish beneath the surface. A light, warm breeze blew between the trees' new leaves and scattered a few, sending them floating to the brook.

Jax stood, admiring all of it. It wasn't often he got to admire nature without getting shot at or yelled at to duck—he spent most of his time in battle, on other planets that were dusty or bare or made entirely out of carnivorous plants. All of this greenery, this softness that he brushed his fingers against, was new to him. A small blue beetle flitted by his face and he had the sudden urge to catch and admire it. Before he could make a move, however, it buzzed away into a flowery bush.

He continued down the slightly-visible path, now a bit more accustomed to the dozens of roots and branches that crossed the path. He made much less noise than he normally did. Jax continued down the gently sloping path when he heard a splash from the brook. In a fit of curiosity, he skidded down the rest of the slope and came upon the water's edge—and froze.

There was a woman in the water, her back to Jax. She scooped up water and splashed it over her face. Her pale blue skin shone in the sunlight, freckles lining her skin.

Jax spun around and slammed himself against a tree, his face flaming red. Someone was bathing in the brook and he'd been (unintentionally) spying on them. A small, short gasp came from whoever was in the water, and without thinking, he spun to see what had happened.

Kiki broke the surface, her back still to him. Her black hair glistened with water, and it was much longer than he'd thought, much thicker. It stuck out a bit awkwardly at both sides.

Jax covered his mouth with his hand, his face undoubtedly reaching new shades of red. That was Kiki.

He'd seen Kiki bathing.

Granted, it was only for a split second, but in that moment he'd seen more than he'd intended or wanted to, and it was the closest he'd been to a naked woman.

Maybe his embarrassment was so strong that Kiki could sense it; she gasped and her gaze bore straight into Jax despite her not being able to see him. "Who's there?" she yelled.

Jax didn't know what to do, so he kept quiet.

Her skills in using the Force had obviously been sharpened since they last met. "Jax? Jax is that you?"

"Kiki I—"

"You were spying on me?!"

"N-No I wasn't! I swear—" He stepped out from behind the tree, immediately regretted it as he slipped and tumbled backward down the slope. His booted feet landed in the water, but the rest of him was dry and covered in dirt and leaves.

She shrieked.

"I'm not—I didn't mean to—I'm not a pervert!" said the man currently looking at a naked woman in the water. He hastily closed his eyes and crawled away from the water's edge, settling underneath a bush. "I-I'm sorry!"

"You were spying on me!" she shrieked.

"I-I wasn't, I swear!" How could he make Kiki believe him? He hadn't seen anything besides her shoulders and hair (and face), but there was no way he could prove he wasn't stalking her while she bathed.

There was silence on her end, then the sound of water splashing and someone stepping on the opposite shore. There was an odd shaking noise, like a bird flapping its wings before taking off, but it only lasted a moment.

Kiki called from across the brook: "You can come out now." She was less than pleased, to say the least.

Jax stood, sewing his eyes to his feet and folding his hands in front of him, head hanged in shame. Cheeks ashade with embarrassment, he barely managed to stutter out and apology. "I-I'm sorry Kiki," he said. He wasn't even sure if she could hear him; it was quite a distance. "I promise I wasn't trying to do anything o-or see anything. It was a mistake."

Kiki eyed him from her spot on the other side of the brook. Her senses were telling her that Jax was being honest—he'd actually accidentally seen her in the brook. She looked further and saw that he'd looked away as quickly as possible.

"How much did you see?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"Huh? I-I, um, saw your shoulders and hair…" And the things that didn't look like her wavy hair. "A-And part of your arm that was really it." Jax risked a glance up.

She believed him. "You came to take me to that restaurant, right?" Kiki didn't like having to speak to him from across a body of water. "Wait there; I'll come around and we can go."

Jax nodded mutely.

OoOoO

The square was filled to the brim with Coruscanti citizens—Twi'leks, Rodians, Humans, and a mix of dozens of other species. There wasn't much space to move around. A large, circular fountain rose up in the middle, where children and some teens played and splashed water at each other. Nobody dove all the way in.

No Cursed, of course—if there were, they were well hidden.

People walked, and they bought things from the kiosks and small businesses that lined either side of the long, wide pathway dotted occasionally with benches and duracrete tables for eating. An older couple fed each other food at one of these tables.

Kiki clung to Jax's arm, her finger nails digging through his shirt and feet nailed to the ground. Every second she spent in the public was a chance for someone to discover she was Cursed, despite her heavy cloak that covered her feathered arms and recently-plucked face, now down feather free.

Despite all Jax's reassurances that it would be okay, that they wouldn't be out too long, she was still terrified. A man brushed past her shoulder and she almost yelped, biting her tongue hard to prevent any sound from escaping.

"Are you alright?" Jax asked, noting the now painful grip on his arm. "What's wrong?"

"There's too many people," Kiki squeaked. Her wide eyes frantically flicked back and forth, from small children to grown men and women, to the droids that ambled among the crowd. "You didn't tell me there'd be so many people." This was too much. Her paranoia spiked every time a stranger brushed against her arm or back, her stomach tightening with terror at every person she made eye contact with. Each breath was becoming harder and harder to take, and her palms grew damp.

"You'll be fine, Kiki—hey…" He stepped in front of her, effectively blocking the faces of people walking towards them. It only barely calmed her a little. "Nobody here cares about us, or about what we're doing." He disengaged her hand from his arm long enough to place his on her shoulders, slowly massaging them and rubbing her arms up and down. He kept his voice low and soothing, something he knew worked on animals, although he hated to admit it. Kiki wasn't an animal, she was a Cursed person. Maintain eye contact, he reminded himself. Don't scare her, no sudden movements, and no negative facial expressions. It normally worked to pacify the woman.

Like he predicted, the small red flecks in her eyes turned gold and blue as her fear was slightly quelled. "We're just gonna get some food—we don't even have to eat it here. We can go back to your place or to the river. Okay?"

Kiki's eyes flicked to a Twi'lek man that walked past them as he loudly spoke into a comm. Although she was tight-lipped and stiff, she nodded. "O-Okay," she said. She shakily met his gaze before forcing it to her feet.

A thin, smoky tendril of guilt curled around his stomach. Jax didn't like having to force Kiki so far out of her comfort zone, and he hadn't taken into consideration what she might have been fine with. The pair likely wouldn't be going out again for a while.

"Come on," he said, offering an arm.

Kiki swallowed and took it, clutching it tightly and standing almost on top of Jax's feet. "Where is it?" she asked, a nervous hand reaching to tug down her hood. It must have been the tenth time she'd readjusted it.

"It's right over here." Jax pointed and lead Kiki to the little noodle shop. Steam rose from the small chimneys in its roof, and the square cloths spelling out "KOSA'S NOODLES" lined the upper part of the shop. There was no place to sit down as it was just a counter and kitchen and the stools in front were taken, so Jax and Kiki stood by the menu while they waited to be called on.

Kiki narrowed her eyes at the menu, which stood to her left on something like an artist's easel. It was a bit worn and grey with dust, but the bright red lettering stood out plainly. She could tell the items were numbered.

"See anything you like?" A Sullustan man said, presumably the chef. His shirt was stained and there were lines on his face, but his dark eyes were smiling. "Y'know, we have a special today."

"I'll have the chinda noodles, please," Jax said. He turned to Kiki: "They're my favorite. What do you want to order?"

"U-Um…"

Jax was confused at Kiki's sudden reluctance to look at him or the menu. "Kiki? Do you just want what I got or—"

"I-I'll have the number five, please!" she blurted hastily.

The man raised a brow. "You sure? They're pretty spicy."

"C-Can I have a number six, then?" She didn't look at the menu. "Please?"

The Sullustan nodded, grinning widely. "Alright, one number six and chinda noodles!" he hollered behind him. "It'll be a few minutes."

Jax offered his arm again and she took it; he led them to the side a bit and leaned against the wall behind the menu. "Do you know what you ordered?"

Kiki dodged his eyes. "Well, noodles, I'm hoping," she answered, trying for humor. She didn't quite make it.

Jax gave her a look but didn't press it.

The Sullustan man leaned over the counter. "Your order's ready!" he said. Two circular containers were sitting in a plastoid bag. He put two forks and some napkins.

Jax paid and took it, leading Kiki over to a recently vacated duracrete table in the middle of the square. Kiki took the side with a small tree to her back. He sat across from her.

"What are chinda noodles?" Kiki asked as Jax passed her a fork.

"They're fried noodles in a sorta sweet sauce, and they're served with nuna." Jax opened the lid to his container. "It's my favorite and I order it every time."

Kiki considered ordering it the next time they went out. She removed the lid to her disposable bowl of noodles and was amazed at how much there was. "Wow…"

"What? Is it not what you wanted?" He wouldn't have been surprised; Kiki had barely looked at the menu when ordering her food.

She continued to stare at the noodles and tried to reign in her shocked face. "No, it's…" She poked it with her fork. "It's just more than I thought it'd be." The food was golden brown, steam curling gently from the noodles. It was served with a side of vegetables and bantha steak slices.

Jax frowned. If the noodles were too much for her, how much was she used to eating day-by-day? Jax wondered if the care packages he sent her as regularly as he could weren't enough.

"B-But I'm not complaining!" she said, and to prove it she ate a forkful of noodles. There was brown sauce around her mouth. "See? It actually tastes better than I thought." She ate more.

Jax laughed. "If you want, we could come here more." He certainly wouldn't have minded it. He enjoyed Kiki's company.

After they finished, Jax threw out the trash and was surprised to see Kiki playing in the fountain water when he got back, and that she had regular hair on her legs instead of feathers. She gently splashed water at smaller children and they screamed with laughter, running away and almost tripping over themselves. In her merriment, she hadn't noticed that her hood had fallen off her head. Her anxiety was temporarily erased.

"Kiki, we have to go now," Jax said. He watched her and the children's faces fall simultaneously.

One of the kids' mothers, a blue-green Twi'lek woman, called to the group. "Bena, we have to go now, too. Say goodbye to the nice woman."

A little boy groaned and pouted. "Bye," he said, obviously upset. He trooped over to his mother and climbed out of the fountain.

Kiki stepped out as well. "This was fun." She smiled, bright and happy. "I'd love to do this again, Jax."

Jax could feel himself getting warm. "M-Me too." He wished they could have stayed longer, but the sun was getting low; the sky was turning a hazy orange and people were beginning to leave.

Kiki pulled her boots on and stood beside him, ready to leave. People milled about her and moved much slower than they did earlier. The conversations were quieter, people were packing up kiosks and closing shops, and the sky was closer to turning purple. Everyone was going home.

What she didn't notice, however, was the strange look the Twi'lek mother was giving her. The woman's eyes were narrowed at Kiki's head.

Jax started walking, unaware of anything. "I think next time we could try this other restaurant—it's on the other side of town, but they have really good fried nuna, and—Kiki?" He spun around, his eyes flicking over each face for her. "Kiki, where are—"

She stood nearly in the middle of the path, a vacant look on her face. Her eyes were narrowed, however, muscles tense and shoulders sort of hunched.

Oh no. Jax began rushing to her. She was going to do something stupid, or regrettable, or too sudden for anyone to handle. He'd seen that look on her face and knew it could only end in disaster. "Kiki!" he called, pushing between a couple and not pausing to apologize. "Kiki!"

She jerked suddenly, and started sprinting, but not towards Jax. She went in the opposite direction to where a fruit cart piled high with melons as large as a head trundled along the side of the pathway. Its wheels rattled and the rickety cart shook violently. Little Bena and his mother walked by just as it tipped over.

"Watch out!" Kiki screamed. She couldn't make it to them in time, not when she was so far away. Without thinking, she thrust her hands out.

Bena and his mother shrieked when the cart had tipped over and melons toppled over, his mother immediately holding him tight and trying to cover his body with hers, but nothing touched them. Hesitantly, they opened their eyes and saw that the melons—large and hard melons—were floating around them. Only a few had made it to the ground.

Kiki stood hardly a meter from them, her eyes narrowed and brow furrowed in intense concentration. "Move," she ordered, and they did—they scrambled away from the roof of melons and stood well away from them. Kiki only managed to put a few of them back before the rest fell to the ground and splattered.

Jax, who had arrived late, had to push through an awe-struck, cheering crowd in order to get to her. But he couldn't say anything while Bena's mother was thanking Kiki so profusely.

"Thank you so much—"

"No, it's okay, you don't have to thank me—"

"But you saved my son!"

Despite her best efforts, Kiki couldn't force down her embarrassed smile. "It's alright, trust me."

"Are you a Jedi?" Bena asked, staring at his new hero wide-eyed. "Can you teach me how you did that?"

Feeling a bit awkward, Kiki laughed. "No, I'm not a Jedi—and I don't think I'd be able to teach you how I did that."

"Aw…"

Jax reached her before she could be swallowed by the crowd. He could see that her anxiety was starting to spike again. "Come on, let's go." He tugged on her arm and began leading her away. A few people clapped her on the back, but otherwise they weren't stalled.

Bena waved to her back, watching as a sleek, black object fluttered to the ground in front of him. He stooped and picked it up, admiring how shiny and neat it was. "Mommy, look what I found!" He held up the feather like a trophy, presenting it to his mother. "Do you think this was hers?" He'd seen the feathers in her hair when her hood fell off while they were playing, and this one in his hand matched the ones that were on her head.

Bena didn't understand why his mother's smile vanished so quickly, or why—leaving him behind—she rushed forward and grabbed the back of the woman's cloak and yanked, hard.

Kiki didn't know what to think when he cloak suddenly started choking her, or when the tie snapped and the button popped off with ease.

She didn't think when the little boy's mother stared at her, wide-eyed, and pointed one blue-green, accusing finger at her: "Cursed! She's Cursed!" Her raw instinct took over, even as the crowd surged as one at her and tried to grab her, even when their anger pounded her and Jax's small, drowned out cry of "Kiki!" was lost to the shouts and swears of people with hatred burning in their eyes and hands ready to draw blood, ready to kill her.

She ran.

Apologies for taking a while to update this. I'll have to develop the next chapter a bit more, but my updates may be more constant now that summer is almost upon us.

Review, comment, critique, etc.!

~AAx