Ahlea and Leannon stood in front of the open garage. Eric helped Kura out of the house. She knew a surprise was in store. When she saw the droid, which looked like someone had sliced droid in half and peeled it open from the middle, she said, "Oh, look, how wonderful, a broken droid."
5R-Zed's robotic voice rang out in the quiet of the forest, "I am not broken, Master Kura. Despite this rather embarrassing new chassis, I am fully functioning and ready to serve."
Eric grunted, a small smile on his face. "Come on, let's get you in that thing."
Kura gave the droid a doubtful look, "Zed? I'm getting in Zed?" Leannon laughed and Ahlea looked a bit sheepish.
Ahlea said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Eric smiled at her.
"Ah." Kura laughed uneasily. "Well, here's to new experiences." Eric helped her back into the open droid. When Zed piped up and started giving suggestions, "No, not like that, Master Eric. The other foot first," Eric said, "quiet, Zed, you've never done this before, either."
Bemused, Kura let Eric close the droid around her and fasten each part shut. Soon, only her head showed. She looked like someone had put her head on top of a large, black robot. Then Eric placed a small sensor array on the bottom of Kura's skull, near where her head joined the back of her neck, and pushed a button.
"Alright, take a small step," Eric said. He looked tired, but not as tired as Ahlea, who tottered on the edge of falling asleep on her feet.
Kura concentrated and moved her left foot forward. The robot body assisted her and she moved. Interested, Kura took another step and then another. She started waving her arms around. Used to seeing Kura as thin and lithe, it was odd to see her moving around in a bulky suit of metal with overly large fingers opening and closing on gorilla arms. Then Kura started stomping around faster and faster, with Zed warning, "Not so fast, Master Kura, you need more time to become familiar with the controls." Zed seemed genuinely concerned for his health.
Kura stopped. Then she said, "Zed, walk forward ten paces for me."
"Yes, master," Zed replied and the robot moved forward out of the garage while Kura closed her eyes, grinning.
"Jump as high as you can, Zed," Kura said. The robot shot nearly sixty meters into the air and landed with a loud mechanical thump, cracking the duracrete driveway.
"Oh my," Zed said with surprise. The droid did not have a traditional head, with Kura's grinning face where a droid would normally have one. Instead, his voice came from the chest, where some lights slowly blinked green and red.
Kura said, "Not bad, Eric, you didn't buy the cheap version, did you?"
"No, ma'am," Eric said, with a grin, adding, "Ahlea helped build it."
"Did she?" Kura turned and stomped over to Ahlea. "Thank you, Alli."
"I'm glad you like it. We worked all night." She smiled. "Dad did most of it. I just handed him his tools."
"So, are we heading out?" Leannon already wore a backpack full of supplies and stood next to two more. She'd packed during the night. Her bag was the largest and heavier than Ahlea's. She'd packed the black armor her mother gave her. She didn't want to wear it, but something in her gut told her she might need it. "The lightest one is for you, Alli."
"I don't know." Tired, Ahlea wanted nothing more than to sleep the day away and the prospect of walking off into the strange woods for who-knows-how-long didn't appeal to her. She felt better about leaving Eric now. Her hard feelings towards him dissipated over the night and she even got the impression that her adoptive father thought it was a good idea. Hiking off into the woods to think things over was something he would do, but she wasn't sure it was what she wanted to do.
"C'mon, sis. It'll be fun. Girls day out. We can come back if you don't like it." Leannon, despite only having a few hours more sleep than Ahlea, seemed as full of energy as ever. She picked up the larger of the two packs on the ground and walked over to Kura and Zed and started strapping the pack onto Zed's back.
Zed complained, "A little lower, please, you are covering my sensors." Leannon let out the straps a bit.
"I'm tired," Ahlea said. "Can't we leave tomorrow?"
"We don't have to go far," Leannon said. "Just up to the glade where we meet Hoffen. We might get to see him again."
Ahlea considered for a moment. She did wonder what happened to Hoffen. He disappeared when they approached the house last night. And though she felt better about Eric, the idea of not having to try to interpret his grunts and signs for a while seemed like a good idea.
Ahlea said, "What about Monte? I want to say something to him."
Leannon replied, "No one's seen him since last night."
Feeling a sudden resolve to get going, Ahlea said, "Dad, can you tell him something if you see him?"
Eric nodded.
"I'm glad he came back. You know, when I was a kid." Ahlea turned and walked over to the last pack, picked it up, and walked into the woods.
Leannon gave Eric a cheeky grin and said, "Have fun with Korlan!" She ran off behind her sister.
Kura stomped over to the edge of the trees and said, "What do you think, Zed?"
"I have already begun reconfiguring my parameters for the increased mass and size of this body. It will only take three hours to complete the initial…"
"Off we go!" Kura raised a large mechanical hand and pushed her way past a bush, branches creaking and cracking as she stomped her way into the forest. Kura couldn't slip between trees as easily as the two teenagers and she managed to stumble and fall a few times because of the newness of her droid support and the unpredictability of the forest. This, of course, did not please Zed. When Kura finally caught up to them, she saw a furry creature riding on Ahlea's backpack and looking down the hill at her with golden eyes.
Hoffen growled at Kura, causing Ahlea to stop and turn around. She'd caught a second wind and seemed almost back to her normal self. "Oh, Hoffen, don't worry, that's a friend. That's Kura." Hoffen continued to growl at Kura from behind Ahlea's red hair.
Kura stood still and whispered to Zed to remain quiet as Ahlea slowly walked towards her. "See, she's nice," Ahlea said as she approached. Walking right up to her teacher, Ahlea reached out and touched Kura's face. "See, she's not all robot."
Kura said, "No, not all. There's a bit of Twi'lek left." Hoffen sniffed the air and crawled up Ahlea's arm to inspect Kura. He looked her up and down before retreating to sit on Ahlea's backpack, but he stopped growling.
"About what I deserve," Kura said as the party continued up the hill. Before long, they reached a small glade in the forest: a break in the trees where a large tree had fallen. New saplings with bright green needles and neighboring trees worked to close the gap in the canopy.
Ahlea sat on the fallen tree and pulled off her backpack. Leannon went to stand in the small patch of sunlight while Kura stomped up to the glade, sounding like a gundark crashing through the woods. Kura said, "I feel as graceful as a dancer in this thing."
5R-Zed retorted, "This 'thing' would be much more efficient if you allowed me time to build my movement algorithms. As it is, you make a Gamorrean war machine look like a work of inspired design."
Kura grinned, "We will make the Gamorreans squeal and snort with pride, Zed."
Zed considered whether he should dignify her comment with an answer. Finally, he said, "May I begin compiling data, Master Kura?"
"That depends on our young ladies. Are we setting up camp?"
Leannon set her pack down. "Sure, this is as good a place as any."
"Wonderful," Kura said, "Would one of you young ladies help me out of this delightful Gamorrean war machine?"
Zed beeped in protest, which Ahlea took as his version of a disgusted snort. Though she felt tired again, Ahlea stood up and helped Kura out of the body of the droid. She'd help build it last night, so she knew how to open it up. As Ahlea helped Kura, Leannon gathered some dead wood and dry pine needles and then began to prepare a fire pit. Before long, Kura lounged against a sleeping bag and mat that Ahlea set up against the log for her and Leannon had a small, merry fire going with a pot of water heating up over it.
Leannon poked the logs with a stick, keeping the front of the fire open. "This'll be good for a nice lunch." A little wisp of smoke rose through the gap in the trees. Leannon learned how to build a smokeless fire from Eric.
Hoffen liked Kura much better now and he explored her face with his tongue. She pet him with her mechanical arm, which he didn't seem to mind too much after examining it for a bit.
"How long until lunch." Ahlea lay her head on the log and closed her eyes.
Leannon pulled a soup mix from her pack. "Oh, an hour or so."
"I'm going to take a nap." Ahlea pulled out her own sleeping bag and mat and laid down. With a slight breeze through the trees and noise of the crackling fire, she fell asleep quickly.
Leannon played with the fire for a while longer and set up a few potatoes and vegetables to add to the soup once it boiled. She looked over at Kura, who stared up at the sky, absentmindedly petting Hoffen, who had settled down on her chest.
"Hoffen seems to like you now, Kura," Leannon said.
"Oh, I think he likes you better, but he doesn't seem especially fond of your fire and I'm a good backup," Kura said softly, aware of Ahlea sleeping nearby. "Aren't I Hoffen? I'm a decent backup, aren't I?"
Leannon smiled. She watched the fire some more and then said, "How do you do it, Kura? Even with Ahlea's bad news, she's still way better off than you. But you are happier than all of us."
Kura played with Hoffen's ears a bit. "I spent a lot of time being angry at the universe for how it treated me. Didn't do me much good."
"The universe does seem pretty rough on you. I wouldn't blame you for being angry."
"We all get hurt, Lee." Kura looked right into Leannon's eyes.
"Yeah." Leannon turned from Kura to look into the fire. They let whispers of wind and fire fill their ears. A bird called nearby. "I guess I'm still like you used to be. It makes me angry. Mom, the Sith, even dad and Monte. It isn't right."
Kura thought for a moment. "You don't want to be hurt again."
Leannon nodded.
"That's quite a goal. Do you know anyone who has escaped pain?"
After thinking for a moment, Leannon said, "Maybe those rich people from the holovids. Born rich and die rich. They live the high life."
Kura smiled. "Do the wealthy betray each other?"
Leannon frowned. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Do they lie to each other? Feel loneliness? Believe in lies? Get sick for no apparent reason?"
Leannon nodded. Somehow, the thought made her relax.
"So if it isn't the rich, who can avoid all pain?"
Leannon considered Kura for a moment. "A Jedi master?"
"A better Jedi than me, then?" Kura asked, grinning. Leannon smiled back awkwardly.
"Obviously, I suffer, so you know that at least some Jedi can feel pain. Even if I am a poor example of a Jedi. Have you read the history of any Jedi Masters?"
"Yes."
"Did any of them live a life without suffering?"
Leannon shook her head. Her brow knitted up again, but from thought, not anger.
"Do you think any of them wanted to live a life without suffering?"
Leannon frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Do you think, if given the choice, I would find myself a cave somewhere, separate myself from the world, and meditate all day?"
"No."
"Even if I did, would I be free from loneliness, unfulfilled desires, and death?"
"What's your point?" Leannon looked Kura straight in the face, leaning forward.
"It is impossible to avoid pain."
"So life is just pain, then." Leannon looked back at the fire, frowning heavily.
"Not just." Kura smiled. "You and your sister have gifted me with a fair bit of purpose and even pleasure. Little Hoffen here does his part, too." Kura paused, becoming serious. "But you can become someone who can bear a great load without breaking."
"How?" Leannon, hunched over the pot of water, looked over her shoulder at Kura.
Kura smiled. "You have felt pain. How did you survive it, or even triumph despite it?"
"I had to, to survive." Leannon stared into the pot, stirring occasionally.
"Survival is one reason to endure pain." Kura sighed. She shifted her body slightly with her left arm. "But I do not find it enough. Can there be greater reasons?"
Leannon looked up at Kura, her brows raised in a mixture of worry and earnestness.
Kura smiled. "You will find your reasons, Leannon."
Taking a deep breath, Leannon said, "What if I don't have a reason?"
"You aren't born with it, Leannon, though some may try to force a destiny upon you. You choose it, or you accept what someone else designs for you. I recommend choosing your own."
"Mom tried to give me a destiny. To kill the Sith."
"Do you want that?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I guess because I don't want to be like her. Full of hate and anger. Hurting everyone without even seeing it."
"What did she accomplish with all that anger?"
It took Leannon a moment before she answered, her face solemn. "She hurt everyone, including herself. Hurt me and Ahlea and Dad and Monte."
"Considering what she did, not what she said, what was her true purpose?"
"Spreading pain." Leannon ran her fingers along her knees and thighs and tilted her head. "She suffered a lot and couldn't take it anymore, so she," Leannon swallowed before continuing, "she spread it."
Nodding, Kura said, "I was once like her. Not the same, but like her. It took me a long time to change."
"I don't want to be like her," Leannon repeated. "I don't want to hurt my family." She swallowed again and looked at the ground. She put her hands to her face.
Kura's face calm, she looked at Leannon with a benign expression, "You do not want to be like her. That's a start. You know what you don't want."
Wiping her eyes, Leannon, sat up. "I won't be like her," she said, then more softly, "I won't."
"You know what you are running from. What will you run towards?"
"I want to be like Dad and like you."
"Your father may be a good example, but be careful of following me. I took the long road with a lot of unpleasant detours."
"Still, you are both strong. Dad, well, Mom hurt him. But he won't stop taking care of us, helping us. He won't become a monster to fight monsters. And you," she paused, "you've been hurt by Mom, too. But you are the same. It's like it doesn't even affect you." Leannon gave Kura a quick look of admiration before looking at the fire again.
Kura smiled. "I know what I want and I can still achieve it if my body is weak, but it is hard."
"But you can handle it."
"Thank you for the encouragement. Do you have any questions, or would you like some time to think?"
Leannon asked, "What do you want?"
"I'd rather you watch what I do, watch the results." Kura shifted herself again. She continued to spend more time awake each day, though she still slept half the day. She appeared tired now. Hoffen had fallen asleep on her chest. Leannon took the small pot off the flame. She bit her lip and paused for a moment, watching the steam roil off the pot.
"Lunch is almost ready." When Leannon looked up, everyone else was asleep. So she made lunch for herself and put the small pot back over the flame, spreading the logs out a bit to reduce the heat. After she ate lunch, she strung up her hammock between two trees at the edge of the glade and lay in it, looking up through the branches at the sky and thinking.
After an hour or two, Hoffen woke up. First he looked into the trees and barked several times. He waited, then barked again, and waited. Nothing happened and he nosed around the camp before climbing into the hammock and cuddling up with Leannon, who greeted him with a smile. He moved around the hammock so excitedly Leannon realized he would soon dump her out of it if she didn't get out herself.
"Alright, alright, I'll play with you. But we have to be quiet, Ahlea and Kura are still asleep."
Hoffen jumped around the camp. Leannon watched him with an amused expression and then picked up a stick she'd planned on using in the fire. "Do you play catch?"
Hoffen's stance changed. He perked up his ears and looked to the east, then he started to growl again and make barking noises, his tail straight up. Leannon frowned and looked about the camp. 5R-Z stood stock still on the south side of the camp, hard to see in the shadow of the trees. That wasn't the problem.
Trusting her instincts, Leannon said, "Ahlea! Kura! Wake up, I think…"
As Ahlea stirred and Kura opened her eyes, a small spaceship flew overhead. Ropes dropped down into the glade.
"Move, move! Get up Ahlea!" Leannon ran over to Kura and picked her up. Hoffen ran around Leannon's feet as Ahlea got up and grabbed her pack. They ran down the hill as several figures dropped down the ropes, making a whizzing sound. They landed with blaster rifles drawn.
Leannon looked over her shoulder and saw the weapons. She put down Kura, pulled her lightsaber from inside her leather jacket and stood guard over the older woman. Ahlea ducked behind a tree and began fishing in her backpack for something.
"Put down your weapons and lay flat on the ground!" Shouted someone in polished metal armor. It sounded like a man, his voice muffled a bit by his helmet. He wore black armor and an open mouth full of white teeth framed his visor. The two fighters behind him also wore armor with similar helmets.
"Not a chance, sleemos," Leannon took calming breaths but her eyes were sharp, "I don't take orders from slugs in metal jackets."
The lead figure stepped forward, blaster rifle held up to his eye. "Face first in the dirt, girly, before you get hurt."
Leannon ignited her lightsaber, "Last chance, but I doubt you've the brains to take it." Hoffen growled at the armored men from behind Leannon's legs.
A woman soldier motioned to the leader, pointing her rifle at Hoffen. The leader said, "Look, I don't know who you are, kid, but I just want the animal. Hand him over and we all leave happy." As he spoke, Ahlea came out from behind the large tree she'd been behind and turned on her lightsaber. She did her best to look confident.
"Hoffen?" Leannon could hear the little animal growling behind her. She didn't take her eyes off the three fighters in front of her. "What're you going to do, sell him to a Hutt?"
"You got it, kid. No need for a fight. Hell, I'll even pay you a little, huh? A cut of the business."
Leannon said, "How much?" Ahlea gave her sister a surprised look.
"Two hundred creds. Plenty to go around, eh?" The leader fidgeted with something on his rifle.
Leannon said, "No deal, sleemo."
"Fire!" The leader shouted and, as he did, all three soldiers began shooting. Worse, the ship overhead fired its turbolasers at them, it's more powerful laser just missing Kura, sending great clumps of dirt into the air.
Leannon charged as Ahlea scooped up Kura and ran into the woods, dodging blaster fire from above. Lightsaber swinging, Leannon sliced apart the leader's rifle in the blink of an eye, but his two companions reacted quickly, one firing an electro-net and the other igniting a flamethrower on his right arm. Leannon dodged the flames but only partially avoided the electronet. It wrapped around her leg and side, causing her to stumble.
The ship overhead hovered, waiting for an opportunity to fire on Leannon, who stood within arm reach of her attackers. The leader pulled a blaster. "You've lost. You have until the count of three to surrender. One, two…"
"Unacceptable, you crude hooligans." A large, metal fist crashed into the head of the third soldier, dropping him instantly. The woman tried to turn and face 5R-Z, but before she could, Zed grabbed her in a tight bear-hug and began to squeeze. With the sound of metal grating on metal, the fighter shouted, "I give up, I give up, don't kill me!"
Leannon grimly grabbed the electro-net and tossed it away from her as lightning crackled up and her hand and arm. She pointed her lightsaber at the throat of the leader, who fell to his knees, shouting, "Fire, fire!"
But the ship above began to tilt oddly, and then shake. It dipped down towards the trees off to the east, vibrating as if it was about to burst. Finally, its engines roared at maximum, scorching the tops of the trees, and it roared off into the distance.
Leannon let the tip of her red lightsaber scorch the skin of the leader's neck. "What do you really want with Hoffen?" The tips of the trees just up the hill began to smoke and drop burning embers onto the forest floor.