Chapter 9
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Two times a week Kyn was sneaking out of his family's apartment and meeting Salue.
Sabaac, betting on races both in person and across the galaxy, as well as gambling on simple rolls of a chance cube were the names of the games. Some nights Kyn and Salue lost but most nights they won. Kyn was always careful not to bring too many credits with him so he wouldn't be tempted to get reckless and lose it all.
Through all of their triumphs, Kyn not only began to feel more comfortable around Salue, but actually like hanging out with her. Maybe it was because she treated him like more of an adult than anyone else did. Whether it was in school or at home, Kyn always felt like he was being talked down to.
On his time on Coruscant he had now turned sixteen standard years old and was beginning to resent those people in his life that wouldn't let him grow up.
As for his gambling partner, Salue; she had won herself enough credits that she actually looked as decent as could be expected. Her robes were new, she took daily showers it seemed, and she wore makeup to hide several tiny scars that littered her face and neck. She had even paid to have a fancy hairdo and now blond streaks ran through her naturally light, blue hair.
Kyn had won a considerable amount of credits but living at home, he knew he couldn't flaunt it. Sure he would like to go out and buy an air-speeder and he almost had enough for a brand new model. But alas, how would he explain it to his parents?
Finally he broke down for Kyra's tenth birthday party. He knew his parents could not afford much for her and that she was lucky that they were throwing her a small party with some of her new classmates. He knew the perfect gift for her.
Kyra always wanted to watch her style of programming on the one holo-set they had in the living area of the apartment. Kyn was always frustrated to see her in front of it after school. After considering a small holo-set for her own room and looking at the newer models and the price tag attached to them, he decided a used set would be easier to lie about.
He passed a place in the lower city every night when he snuck out that looked like it sold used everything. He was able to procure a working holo-set that was just the right size for Kyra's small bedroom.
Kyn had clumsily wrapped it and it was sitting in the middle of the dining room table with the rest of her modest pile of gifts the day of her party.
One by one, Kyra's little classmates were dropped off at the apartment. Most of were human kids but there was a small togruta girl there as well. After everyone arrived, Rayna assembled the girls in the living area and introduced a few games for them to play. After she was shot down ten times, she gave up and let them run wild throughout the apartment.
Kyn decided to stay out of the ruckus and helped his mother and father in the kitchen with the final touches on the birthday lunch.
"What did you guys get Kyra?" Kyn whispered.
"Some book chips and hair accessories." Rayna murmured back.
"I hope she likes it," Tyon grimaced. "We couldn't get her much. The utility bills here are outrageous."
"120 credits for electricity, it's unthinkable." Rayna agreed.
Kyn grabbed some vegetables and started to chop them up and display them on a large plate.
"I'm glad most of her little friends brought gifts," Rayna said, motioning towards the dining table.
"I noticed your clumsy wrapping, Kyn." Tyon pointed out. "What did you get her?"
Kyn gritted his teeth. He knew this was the time to "come clean" because he didn't want to do it in front of the rest of the party.
"Don't get mad," Kyn prefaced.
"Uh oh." Tyon shook his head, setting down the knife he had been working with.
"Maybe you want to step away from the knife," Kyn joked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Out with it, young man," Rayna demanded.
Kyn held up his hands as if he was surrendering and began to look for the words.
"Okay, like I said. Don't get mad please. I know you will but here it goes… I've been sneaking out two times a week when everyone goes to bed. I found a job in a factory, helping clean for a few hours. I've been saving my money and I bought Kyra her own used holo-set for her room." Kyn explained.
Rayna looked at Tyon and there was a long silence. Suddenly the front door opened and it was Cole.
"Cole!" Kyn exclaimed. "You were able to get away from the academy after all?"
Cole nodded and walked in with a wrapped present of his own and set it on the table. He then hugged his mother.
"So, what's going on?" Cole asked.
"Kyn was just telling us how he's been deceiving us and sneaking out of the house to work." Tyon snarled.
"Uh oh," Cole chuckled. "Could be worse I guess. I mean, he could be sneaking out to rob people."
"While it's nice that he wants to work," Rayna shot back. "To lie to us Kyn… What if something happened to you and we didn't know where to find you? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to not let us know where you are at all times?"
Kyn rolled his eyes angrily, "I'm not a kid!"
"You are as long as you are under this roof." Tyon's fist hit the kitchen counter hard.
"We will talk about this later; we aren't going to ruin Kyra's party. And you are quitting that job." Rayna said.
"I can't," Kyn said.
"This is why your grades at school haven't been up to snuff since we got here. You used to be an honor student and now you are barely passing. I lied to myself and said it was you adjusting to your new home. I'm done making excuses for you, Kyn!" Tyon said heatedly.
"Guys," Cole pointed to the girls reentering the living area.
Everyone fell silent but the air was still saturated with the remnants of the argument.
"Cole!" Kyra said excitedly and ran towards her oldest brother.
They exchanged a quick hug and then Kyra seemed to remember her school friends were watching and became embarrassed.
"So Kyra," one of the little girls spoke up. "Is that Jedi going to be here today?"
"Jedi?" Kyn asked, the word slipping from his mouth before he had thought it.
"Yeah, Kyra said she had a great friend who was a Jedi and that she was expecting her here." The little girl smirked.
Kyra looked at the girl crossly, "I never said for sure she would be here Tia! I never said that. I said that it sure would make a great birthday present if I got to see her."
Tia rolled her eyes, "Does she even know it's your birthday?"
Kyra looked stumped, it was true that she had never mentioned when her birthday was to Zafii.
"Great friend to not even know when your birthday is." Tia giggled, looking at the other girls for a reaction as well.
"She's a Jedi," Kyn said, walking into the room and standing by his sister. "She knows it is Kyra's birthday because she could read her mind for an easy piece of information like that. I'm sure she is busy though."
"Too busy to come to a party of a girl that only talks about her Jedi friend?" Tia shot back.
"That's enough young lady," Rayna stepped in.
"Sorry ma'am." Tia said with little sincerity.
"It's okay, now would you girls like to eat so Kyra can open her presents?"
The girls cheered in unison as they gathered at the dining room table and greedily grabbed at the food. Kyra didn't seem hungry however as she sat down in an empty chair in silence as everyone else ate.
No matter what she did, Zafii could not stop the weeds from growing in the large garden outside of the residence that once belonged to her parents.
After finding their Will, Zafii learned that she was the rightful owner of the small house in the countryside outside of Theed. She had not used the Force in the six months she had been living in the house; not to clean the house, not to grow the exotic fruits that her parents once did to make their living, or for anything else.
Her lightsaber was hidden in the bottom of an old chest in her parent's bedroom, along with her Jedi robes. She found that she fit perfectly into her mother's old clothes that were hanging in the closet.
On her first day, she had taken all of the clothes, even her father's, down to a small freshwater brook and cleaned the stale air smell out of them.
The only thing that she had that reminded her of the Jedi Temple was R7, whom she liked tremendously. She just didn't have the heart to shut him down. He seemed to understand her dilemma and helped her out around the house where you could.
There were no electronic doors to unlock or navigating for him but his other, lesser-known utilities came in handy from time to time.
"R7, have any ideas on how to stop weeds from growing?" Zafii asked, as she pulled up a handful with her fist.
R7 tooted something at her, but she wasn't listening. She had spotted a small but ripe, purple berry clinging to a vine. She reached out and picked it and black juice began to trickle out onto her fingers. Zafii looked at R7 and smiled before taking a small bite out of the berry.
She savored the flavor and she was amazed at how much juice was contained in such a small berry.
"It's wonderful R7, we did it!" She said excitedly. "We actually grew something. My parent's used to grow these all the time. The pictures I found inside… the gardens were full of these."
R7 shimmied in place, showing how excited he was for his friend.
Zafii took another bite and the berry was gone but the sweet taste lingered in her mouth for hours.
"Come on, buddy." Zafii said, standing from her squatting position near the ground.
R7 followed her back towards the house and ran a quick diagnostic scan on her.
"Bleep boop beep!" R7 chimed.
"What?" Zafii said, turning to face him.
R7 then produced a holo projection of a graph. Zafii kneeled down to read what it said and it had to do with her weight.
"Oh," Zafii said. "Yeah I've lost a little weight."
Zafii had lost more than a little weight. She had always been tone from her workouts but still on the thin side like her mother. From R7's limited scan though, he could tell it was borderline malnutrition at this point. Her toned muscles had all but disappeared. Her stomach was in a sunken state and her face was dangerously hollow around the cheeks.
"I just wanted to make it on my own. I wanted to catch and grow all my food for myself, like my parents did. I think that's what this was about. That's why the Council sent me here, wasn't it?"
Zafii couldn't be sure, even after six months on Naboo. She never knew exactly what she was supposed to be enduring for her trials but she figured it wasn't supposed to be easy.
"You saw for yourself though, the fruit is beginning to ripen. I'll soon be back to looking normal." Zafii promised R7.
R7 swiveled his head as to say that wasn't good enough. He then brought out his jets, fired them up, and took to the air.
"R7!" Zafii called out. "Where are you going?"
The droid bleeped and blooped something that she couldn't understand but did not stop.
It was nearly an hour later when he turned back up. Zafii walked outside from the house and gave him an exasperated look.
"And where did you go? Leaving me all alone?"
R7 then opened up a front compartment on his robotic body and two large fish fell out.
Zafii roared in laughter as the two fish gave weak flops as they neared death.
"You caught me dinner huh? Well I would have liked to see that." Zafii said, gathering up the fish with her bare hands and bringing them inside.