Hello everyone! We know it's been a while and you have been waiting so patiently for another installment of the Chronicles of the Whills. We are sorry it took so long, but our next story that we wanted to tell was spilt into 3 awesome books! So here is the first part of this tale! ENJOY AND REVIEW!
Part 1- Chapter 1- Hand-Me-Downs
Sasha sat on the couch in the living room reading through the medical journals from Kelce that she hadn't touched during her recovery time after Myrkr or before they took off back to Caranas. However, over the last three months since they had returned home Sasha had gotten a lot of reading done. As she scrolled through her datapad, she took a sip of hot chocolate. She set her mug aside and then placed her hand on Lana's back as the little girl was curled into her, napping on the couch. Lana was getting so big. Viran and Sasha predicted that she may be a rather tall kid once she was older based on how quickly she was growing out of her clothes already. That and her second birthday was approaching quickly. Sasha couldn't believe that Lana was almost two. Hell, she couldn't believe she was almost thirty, but that was beside the point.
Sasha smiled down at her daughter as she slept with her little doll in her arms. Using the Force, she summoned the small blanket nearby and wrapped it around Lana with one hand. Once the little one was tucked in, Sasha turned her attention back to her datapad and rubbed circles in Lana's back.
Cien walked in with her datapad in hand and a steaming mug of tea, since hot chocolate did not agree with her stomach as well. She settled heavily onto the sofa with a sigh, "I feel like a whale." She commented under her breath annoyedly to Sasha.
Sasha snickered. "I completely understand," she said looking up from her datapad. "How are you feeling today?"
"Fine." She said, "you?" She asked, smiling slightly seeing Lana curled up against Sasha.
"Pretty good," Sasha said, smiling. "It just feels nice to relax."
"Yeah." Cien agreed, trying to adjust so she was comfortable. "Which journal are you on now?" She asked. She took a sip of tea, and wished it was hot chocolate.
"It's the one on child care and pregnancy stuff oddly enough," Sasha said with a chuckle. "I thought since Lana is getting older and the twins will be here soon, it may not hurt to know a little bit more of how all of this works." She gestured between the three of them.
"Hmmm." Cien said, pursing her lips. "I should probably study more on that myself."
"Well I am almost done then you are more than welcome to read it," Sasha said. "But it is a long one." She joked.
"Sure, that sounds like a good follow on to this." She said, waving her datapad slightly to gesture at it.
"Oh? What are you reading now?" Sasha asked curiously. "Or is it the archeological board again?"
"Looking into old Sith songs." Cien said, "there's a song that has been stuck in my head the last few months and I can't figure out where it's from. Mariss sent me a few references to works that included music, but nothing seems right. Mostly funeral dirges or military music."
Sasha looked at her with a bemused expression. "Well I assume the Sith weren't known for their powerful pop ballads," she joked. "But seriously, that does sound cool and creepy."
"Yes." Cien said, "I grew up on some of these." She said with a smirk, "but not quite what I was thinking. These are more appropriate for a festival that Kyr mentioned he encountered on some planet or other where people donned odd costumes and carved gourds to celebrate death and scary things."
"I have never heard of a festival like that before," Sasha said, unsure what to think. "It sounds like it would be interesting to check out. And also very creepy. Where did he hear about it?"
"I can't remember." Cien said, "he said that he was carrying his buy'ce in his hand, though, and people kept putting candy in the empty helmet for some reason. He didn't mind." Cien said with a smirk. "I kind of want to track this festival down, now." She said, thoughtfully.
Sasha clapped a hand to her mouth to try and suppress a laugh at the thought of Kyr getting free candy in his helmet. "Well it would be quite a sight. If you need help doing the research, let me know."
"I might look it up, now that I'm thinking about it." Cien replied, trying to remember the name of the planet or the name of the festival from what Kyr had said.
"Alright," Sasha said, then looked around. "So where are the guys? I haven't seen them since breakfast."
"Outside playing more wargames, I think." Cien said, taking a sip of tea. "Kyr said something about 'extreme snowball combat', I don't know what that entails."
"My guess is them throwing snowballs with a bit more 'force'," Sasha said, adding air quotations to the word 'force'. "Well if they give each other black eyes again, it's on them."
"I kinda want to go join them." Cien said, in a slightly pouting fashion. "Or at least go out and build another snowman or something. All of my cold weather stuff is too small for me now, though." She groused.
"Well I have a few things you could borrow if you'd like and then we can go out and have some fun of our own," Sasha suggested as she set her datapad aside.
Cien considered for a moment, "sure, thank you."
"Come on, you may want to try them on first before we go out," Sasha said, moving Lana carefully off of her and laying her back down. She then stood up and gathered her sleeping daughter up into her arms, her head resting on her shoulder. With her free hand, Sasha grabbed her mug.
Cien got up, taking her mug but powering off her datapad and leaving it on the side table next to where she sat as she followed Sasha. "I miss my flight suit." She admitted.
"I know," Sasha said with a reassuring smile and started walking. "And in time you will be able to wear it again. But I should have plenty of maternity wear you can borrow. It might be a little big though, so try it on first."
"Thanks." Cien said a little sheepishly as she followed. "I guess a little big might be better, now."
Sasha smiled at that. "It won't hurt later," she giggled.
They walked down the hallway towards the wing that had Sasha and Viran's bedroom. When they got there, they made a brief stop to drop Lana off in her bed to continue to nap. Once she was lying down and tucked in, Sasha then led Cien into her room next door.
"Okay, I kept the stuff in the closet. If you wanna take a seat you can while I dig them out," Sasha said loosely gesturing to the bed before setting the mug on Viran's nightstand. She approached the closet.
"Thanks." Cien said, guardedly. This was the first time she had really, properly been in Sasha's room, it definitely felt strongly of her presence, as well as Viran's. They had several photographs and holo displays of various moments. And, even though she had seen it before in the mindspace, her gaze rested mainly on the photograph of Sasha and Viran's wedding day. "Where did you find your wedding dress?" Cien asked Sasha, who was digging through her closet.
"Kitsu," Sasha said, sorting through her clothes. "She knew of a dressmaker on Concord Dawn that Illara's family used once for a wedding. So they both took me there and helped me find the perfect dress."
"It really is very pretty." Cien said, looking around the other adornments in the room.
"Thanks," Sasha said, appearing from the closet with an arm full of clothes, jackets, and dresses. She laid them out on the bed in neat piles. "Well, here you go."
Cien looked at the selection with a slightly furrowed brow. "Are these for formal events?" She asked, gesturing at the dresses, "or are they meant for casual wear?" She asked, perplexed.
"Well," Sasha rubbed her neck as she leaned back. "I never actually got to do anything formal when I was pregnant with Lana, so they are all casual. Well, except these two." She gestured to a couple of rather nice dresses. "Those are formal, but I never got to wear them."
Cien looked at them, still perplexed by the idea of a dress for just daily wear. "Is this what you're supposed to wear? I thought dresses were just for… dressing up. It's in the name?" She said, terribly confused, she was used to her acolyte skirting or pants.
"I know," Sasha chuckled. "But they can be casual too. Oh and I almost forgot, but I do have skirts and pants too that you can borrow." She went over to the dresser in the room. She knelt down and opened one of the drawers and sorted through the clothes in that drawer.
Cien breathed a sigh of relief at that. Sasha pulled out a couple stacks of pants and skirts, and then laid them out with the other clothes. "So if you wanna try stuff on, you can use our bathroom or you can just take what you like and try it on in your own in your room. Whatever you want to do," she said casually as she grabbed her mug and took a sip.
Cien thought for a moment. "Maybe I can try these on really quick if we wanted to go outside and enjoy the snow?" She suggested, grabbing a pair of likely looking pants, and a shirt.
"Go ahead," Sasha said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "The bathroom is open for you to use." She gestured to the bathroom door.
"Thank you." Cien said as she disappeared into the bathroom. A few moments later the door opened and she appeared in the doorway. The pants were a little too long and the shirt a little too big, the sleeves hanging down over her hands. Sasha was several centimeters taller than her, especially if she wasn't wearing her heeled boots, and this was evidenced as she tried to wear her clothes and looked not unlike she was a child trying on her older sister's clothing. The look on her face was somewhere between sour and bemused as she stood there for inspection. "This doesn't feel quite right." She observed.
Sasha giggled and set her cup down. "We can go out and buy you some that will actually fit you better. But here," she said, getting up and coming over to her. "If we roll up the sleeves and hem the pants, they would fit better. Or at least won't look as baggy." She snickered.
"Thanks." Cien awkwardly said. Sasha helped her roll the sleeves up and otherwise adjust the clothing. Before this all of her clothes had been tailored, or at least it had been easy to find her size at the various markets she had gone to with Kyr. Since she was about sixteen years old everything had just fit. "I can make Ke'vaan take me shopping, but this can work if we wanted to go play in the snow today." She suggested.
"I can give you a list of shops that have great stuff," Sasha said, pinning her pants. "But yeah for today, this stuff should work." She looked up at her. "How does that feel?"
"Better, thank you." Cien said, shaking out her arms a bit and still looking a bit like a child.
Sasha smirked at her as she stood up. "Well let me grab my jacket, boots, and a baby monitor then we can go join the guys."
"Okay." Cien said, grabbing one of the heavy jackets that Sasha had also brought out and shrugging in on. Thankfully the boots from her armor should still fit. "I'll go grab my boots, meet you in the living room?"
"Yep. Meet you there," Sasha said and grabbed her jacket from the closet.
Cien nodded, and stopped as a thought came to her mind while thinking about snowmen. "Have you spoken with Op recently?" She asked.
Sasha paused as she pulled her jacket on, thinking for a moment. "Last I heard from him he was helping Kait with another assignment. He is supposed to be home in another week or two. But I'm sure he's fine."
Cien smirked, "well I hope whatever he's doing he's having fun." Sasha smiled at that and finished pulling her jacket on. Cien walked out the door, idly wondering what Op and Kait were doing.
REVIEW!