Solasta had to keep reminding herself to slow down and take her time writing her exam, but it was difficult to stop thinking about Tasa waiting outside for her. This was the last exam that either of them had to write and Tasa wanted to take her to the beach on the east coast of Oradam Peninsula to teach her how to ride a Waveboard as a thank-you for helping him finish with a 78% in math. (Solasta finished with a 97%, but they seldom discussed her marks).
When she finished keying the last of her answers she immediately pressed the 'End Exam' button on her console keypad and waited for the mark to display. After a few seconds the two marks appeared onscreen; 72% for her exam and 88% for the final course mark. She sighed at the sight of her mark dropping below 90% and thought maybe she should have reviewed her answers before completing the exam, but she was too eager to get outside and start her summer vacation. Grabbing her bag she bounded out the examination room as fast as she could.
Outside Tasa was talking with a group of students who were either arriving to write an exam or had just finished one. When he caught sight of Solasta running towards him he broke into a wide smile and waved to her, which only encouraged her to run faster. When she reached them she threw her arms around Tasa's neck and rubbed her cheek alongside his in greeting, while he reached down to scoop her up and place her in the waiting speeder. "See you guys later - good luck with your exams" he said while climbing in and starting the engines.
As they rode Solasta untied the bun she hastily put her hair in in that morning. It was much longer now, reaching the middle of her back, and let it blow wildly in the wind as they sped to the Naval Base to catch a transport across to the island. Looking around the speeder she saw that Tasa had brought towels, the bag she packed with her swim clothes, and his Waveboard was strapped across the back of the speeder.
"Well, how did you do on the exam?"
"I passed," she replied.
"What does that mean? Did your mark drop?"
"Only a few percent but my other marks will more than make up for it," she said, and he rolled his eyes and shook his head at her reply.
When they reached the Naval Base to get a transport to Fort Garnik, a perk of being Commander Dinn's daughter, they slowed as they approached the gates and one of the guards started walking forward. Recognizing him immediately Solasta waved and yelled, "Good afternoon sir, do they have you guarding the place now?"
Major Gegne replied, "Hardly my dear, I happened to be headed to the Mess Hall for some lunch when I spotted you coming up the road and thought I'd come say hello. How are your parents doing?" Solasta replied, "Oh, they're doing fine but they don't go out much anymore, sir. They seem content around the house or in the garden these days."
Laughing, the Major said, "Tell your father three more years and I'll be able to relax in the garden with him. Give them my best and let the Commander know he's always welcome to come visit." The Major then looked sternly at Tasa, "Son, you best take care of this little lady or you'll have an angry garrison to answer too," and grinned as he stepped back and yelled to the young soldier at the gate, "Let 'em through!"
The gate arm raised and Tasa pulled into the parking area just inside the walls. "That guy is a 'Major Pain' if you ask me," Tasa mumbled. Solasta frowned and slapped his arm lightly saying, "Don't say that! I've known him my whole life and he's a sweet old man. In fact, when Mom would go out to teach music lessons, Dad used to sneak down here in the afternoons to sit in the Officer's Club and have a few 'cold drinks' with Major Gegne."
"That sounds real responsible," scoffed Tasa.
"Anyway," Solasta continued, "Dad couldn't take me into the Officer's Club with him so the Major, who was still a Captain then, would pin his bars on me and leave me in charge at the gatehouse. I'd sit on the chair in the little booth and the soldiers would check the documents of the speeders and transports that would pull up, then call into me asking if they were okay to let through, and I'd give a big nod," at which she made an exaggerated 'yes' nod, making Tasa laugh.
Solasta became thoughtful for a moment before continuing, "The Major and my dad go way back, I think they were in some battle together and Dad made sure he came home- or something like that. Dad doesn't talk about some of the places he's been and that is one of the stories he's never shared."
When they arrived at Fort Garnik on Avilitan Island, there was a short speeder ride to the settlement on the north side of the island, then a hike over the volcanic ridge that separated the east and west beaches to get to where they were going. It was customary for students in the Senior Forms to all meet at this stretch of beach after exams, and as they left the gates at the Fort they could see many other students leaving the public shuttle pads and making their way to the beach as well.
As they cleared the ridge and made their way down the path to the beach they could see hundreds of senior students on the beach or in the water. Tasa spotted some of their friends at the far end of the beach and pointed in their direction, so they headed that way. As they walked along the sand Solasta recognized someone she knew. Her heart began to race and she tightened her grip on Tasa's hand until they passed in front of Metho Nodjunri and her little clique of friends.
"Oh look, it's Solasta! I'm surprised to see you here, I thought Cathar were afraid of water," called out Metho, making her little group laugh.
Solasta started to yell back "Why don't you just go 'an - " but she was interrupted by Tasa, who said, "Tya nei zvokat vas a' tras sica [Do not listen to that bitch]" while pulling her forward from her spot.
One boy from Metho's group, who didn't even understand what Tasa had said, found his courage nonetheless spoke up, "Yeah? Come back here and say that!"
Tasa dropped Solasta's hand, and spun around to walk back to the boy, where the other boy met Tasa halfway and they faced each other down. Tasa curled his lips back to bare this teeth and growled lowly, "Do you really want to do this?" Before the other boy could answer a passing security speeder chirped it's siren to remind them that they were being watched, so the other boy turned and walked away muttering, "lucky for you."
"C'mon, it's not worth it," Solasta said, pulling him close so she could rest her head on his shoulder as they walked.
When they met up with their friends they found a spot to drop their bags and lay their towels out. Solasta, grabbed her bag saying she would be right back and headed for the change rooms. While she was gone Tasa ran off and brought back the Waveboard he bought for Solasta with the credits he earned working at his parents shop. When she returned wearing a bright red two piece bikini his eyes widened and someone whispered 'blink' to him. He hadn't seen her with so little clothes on before and was in shock at just much her baggy and shapeless clothes had actually been concealing.
"Ok I'm ready to learn - hand me your Waveboard Tasa," she said. He smiled and handed her the new orange one he was holding.
"No, where's yours? Oh it's over there," and pointed at his board lying in the sand, but he motioned for her to take the one he was holding. "Here, this one is yours," he said, and it dawned on her that this was for her. She threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss before taking her Waveboard. While she was waiting for Tasa to pick up his board when one of the girls threw her a shirt saying, "put this on or one good splash and you're going to be advertising your 'Goods and Services' to everyone here."
Aside from stopping eat some lunch, they spent the most of the afternoon in the water while Tasa taught her how to ride the board out to the deeper waters, pick the right waves to try and time herself with, and how to get from a sitting position to a low crouching position when the waves and timing all connected perfectly. After several dozen attempts and many adjustments of her bikini top underneath the shirt, she finally was able to stand and ride the gentler waves short distances before losing her balance and falling in the water. While she thought her agility and reflexes would be ideal for this, she in fact was over compensating terribly and most times toppled herself into the water.
When the day began to draw to a close and they all had their fill of the beach, they packed up and started to make their way to the shuttles. Tasa and Solasta followed everyone back to the settlement and said their goodbyes before splitting off towards the Fort. When they returned to the mainland they packed everything into the speeder, tied down both Waveboards across the back, and started for home.
As they rode, Tasa asked, "Have you picked out a dress to wear at my Seventeenth Season celebration next week?"
"Not yet, I haven't found anything that looks good on me because I'm so freakishly tall," she moaned as she waved her sandals in the wind try to shake the last of the sand out of them.
"Stop being silly, you're normal height for Cathar," he said.
"Well, they make dresses for normal height Human, Twi'lek, Rodian, and Mirialan woman, but not normal height Cathar," and she flopped back in her seat and sighed.
Trying to console her he said, "I know you'll find something and you'll look beautiful."
Tasa was becoming anxious for this celebration as this would be the first time in many years their whole Clan would be together in the same house. He thought, I love her in whatever she wears but the rest of the Clan will be very critical if she doesn't appear to be paying respect to the day.
By time they reached Solasta's home the sun had set and she was curled up in her seat with her back to him, fast asleep. Tasa parked the speeder and leaned over to nudge her awake "Time to wake up, you're home." Solasta opened her eyes slightly to see Tasa's face and reaching up pulled him closer to kiss. Shifting in her seat to face him, she held his cheeks in her palms and they kissed deeply until Tasa hugged her close and she gently bit into his neck causing him let out a deep smooth growl to express his pleasure. After a few seconds of this Solasta was a little more awake and became aware of the position the two of them had gotten into.
Snuggling her head into the crook of his neck and trying to catch her breath, she whispered to him "We need to slow down, now."
"I know... but the way you make me feel Solasta... don't you -"
"I feel it too... we have to finish school first. This is for life and I want to be Soul-Bound first"
Tasa rolled back into his seat and they both exhaled deeply. They sat quietly and let themselves cool off, when Tasa asked, "So does this mean you want to be Life Mates?" Solasta reached over and punched his arm, "This means you need to go to University and I need to the Navy, before we can commit our lives to each other."
After another quick kiss goodnight Solasta grabbed her things and went inside. Once inside she squealed with delight over what had just happened, and from the next room the Commander called out, "What's wrong?" She answered, "Nothing Dad" before running to the refresher to wash off the sea water.
That weekend Solasta and Aisii went to town and spent the whole day trying to find a dress that she felt comfortable in, and it was in the eighth store they visited that she found a plain styled dress that was very nearly the same shade of bright blue to match Tasa's eyes, so they bought it.
She arrived at the party and was introduced as 'Tasa's Nya'mayu' [Tasa's Friend/Companion] and she carefully canted her head forward and to the side, just like she practiced, to show respect and submission while saying, "Zrtravejt ah shyah Rai" [The sun rises upon you] to the room filled mostly with Cathar who smiled and nodded slowly to show their appreciation. Tasa took her by the hand and escorted her from the door and whispered, "I told you, you would look beautiful."
Throughout the night she was introduced to everyone in the Clan while Atan and Cudu hung off her or tugged on her dress asking her to come play with them. She found that conversations switched from Catharese to Basic quite fluidly but the subtle body language that Cathar secretly speak was always present.
Eventually, she told Atan and Cudu, "We can't 'rough house' tonight because I'm wearing my good clothes, but if you find something quiet to play I'll play with you." They brought back a matching game and showed it to her, so she carefully gathered her dress beneath her and knelt on the floor to play with them, and all the cousins who joined them, and the one kitling who toddled over and plopped into her lap.
From across the room Tasa watched her playing with all the kit's when his Uncle Itik walked up and stood beside him. Tasa greeted his uncle with a slow blink and nod to show affection, and as the two watched Solasta, his uncle patted him on the back and said, "Solasta will make wonderful Mate, don't let her go."
When the hours began to run late Tasa drove her home. Parked outside her house Solasta asked, "Do you think they liked me? Did I make a good enough impression?"
Tasa kissed her saying, "I think they loved you."
"And you?" she asked.
Shrugging his shoulders he said, "Eh, you're okay," and he caught her hand when she reached over to hit is arm. Looking into her wide eyes he kissed her hand and said, "Ra'tikaya ri" [My heart belongs to you / I love you].