Farm Chores

Quiet echoed throughout the Farm, the sun just peeking over the horizon. On a small path to the nerf pasture, Makai walked with Kellan. The half-Galan had gently woke the boy up, a little groggy despite the excitement from the night before. Now that the cool morning air had woken the boy up a little, excitement was creeping back in.

“You know, all us Dashiell men are farmers. It’s how we started once we left Hapan territory. Escaped, crash landed on Saleucami, made it our home. So us feeding nerfs? Its in our blood.”

Kellan wandered alongside Uncle Mak in a little bit of a stupor, still waking up, caught between feeling as though the comfort of bed would have been a far better way to spend the early morning, yet also not wanting to disappoint.

Aside from being the father of his cousin and best friend, Kellan had grown to love Makai and Myra dearly. They were his family outside of his home environment, his second home to which he knew the blessing of a loving environment free of the worrying stares, the judgmental thoughts from others over what he looked like and how he was different.

“So that’s why Dad loves plants so much?” Kellan asked innocently, not sharing in his fathers interest in botany or gardening, merely taking part when it was required of him. Truthfully, he found it boring and grubby. “We crash landed somewhere?” He soon asked, wondering who the first of their family was. “Were there Nerfs on their ship too? They would have gotten hurt, right?”.

“Yeah, it might explain why your Pa loves plants so much.” Crunching along the gravel path, Makai was taking Kellan to the feed shed first. It was near the nerf pasture, so their effort would be more minimal than carrying loaded buckets clear across the farm. “Or, your Pa is just old and the plants are his grandpa activity.”

Chuckling at his own joke, Makai nodded as he pulled the feed shed door open. The clean smell of grain hit them, piled inside with empty buckets on either side of the space.

“Crashed on Saleucami. The first Dashiell men were former slaves of the Hapan region. Made a daring escape with a stolen freighter. There were no nerfs aboard, there was nothing aboard. They had nothing.”

Moving to scoop the grain, he continued on.

“These nerfs here, on this Farm, belong to Myra’s Pa. He passed away some time ago, before we were even married. However, I had convinced him to get the nerfs as a hobby. He was retired in a sense. We spent hours in his office talking about them and so, I feel obligated to maintain the herd.”

Makai looked back at his nephew.

“Sentimental, I suppose.”

“Pa is old”, Kellan giggled as he followed his uncle, though the thought occurred to him that his Uncle Makai was about the same age, if not older than Balun was; “But then so are you”, he grinned happily, a cheeky comment made out of jest.

Kellan’s father likely would have lectured him about being polite, but the young boy had seen how Balun and Makai spoke to each other, taking proverbial stabs at each other and seemingly enjoying the banter, so he figured it was normal behaviour between boys.

“Starting with nothing sounds really hard though, I’m glad we don’t have to do that” he thought aloud as they entered the feed shed and more farm smells hit his sensitive nose, earthly smells, soil and grain, wheaty and heavy on the senses, yet none of it was off-putting as Kellan seemed to be quite at home with the natural world. Perks of growing up on Joiol and then later, Jhaessa Prime, where technology wasn’t always in your face like other worlds.

Kellan watched as Makai scooped up the grain into a bucket, soon moving closer and doing the same, following suit with his uncle. “How much do Nerfs eat?” he asked curiously, not knowing much at all about them aside from the fact that they were farm animals and generally friendly creatures.

“Although I may be older I am still the more handsome one out of the both of us. A good payoff, I think.”

Thinking on the nerf question, Makai shrugged his shoulders. This was a potential question for his wife. She had spent her time on bed rest watching nature documentaries and maybe one program covered nerfs.

“Not sure. They eat all day too. Grasses and hay. I imagine a great amount.”

Buckets filled up, he instructed Kellan to keep the scoop half-filled with grain and bring it along with them. Picking a full bucket up in each hand, they exited the grain shed and back into the cool quiet morning. Throughs were kept a bit down the fenceline, near a gate.

“You’ve got an important job. You got to shake the scooper and call the nerfs, alright? I’ll pour in the buckets once they start coming.”

Kellan giggled in response to his Uncle's remark. Being good looking wasn't exactly something that he understood the importance of for galactic society as a whole, his young mind rooted in the fact that wherever he went, he was different from others; thus the joke towards being better looking than someone else wasn't as funny to him but rather he laughed at the sight of his uncle doing the same, and being generally happy. As simple as it was, that was plenty enough to make Kellan smile and laugh, seeing those he loved and who loved him, enjoying themselves.

Holding the scooper carefully so as not to spill the grain held within, he followed his Uncle back out into the open air, the beauty of the farming landscape all around them. Every time he saw the view, plain open fields but filled with different hues or greens, life flourishing as nature often did when left free of sentient hands. This land was tended as much so by the Nerfs as it were his aunty and her father before her, but even so, life was on gorgeous display out here.

Kellan breathed it all in, and felt the Force wash over him in lapping waves. An endless ocean of currents, the ethereal energies spurred on by the growth cycles of nature and life in abundance. Here, like on Jhaessa Prime where his home was miles away from the capital, he felt truly at ease and peaceful within himself.

“It's so cool out here. How come you don't live here all the time?” Kellan enquired, sounding as though the farm was a startlingly obvious preference over the busy nature of other worlds teeming with the traffic and rushed nature of other people. He didn't much like being around vast crowds of others, always fearing that they might be looking at him like some sort of monster. It hadn't escaped him that his appearance looked similar to some of the bad guys he had seen in holovids, cartoons for those his age.

“Isn’t it cool? I’ve loved it since I was a kid. As for living here, yes, Aunt Myra and I are planning to.”

Makai paused as they drew onto the feed troughs. He could see the nerfs below at the end of the rolling hills, just along a stand of trees. He looked back at his nephew, some of the grogginess worn off and seemingly enjoying the morning now.

“Alright, shake the scooper and call them.”

As the boy started, Makai dumped the feed over in a line into the bins, allowing the livestock rumbling up the hill to all get a chance to eat. The herd was moving up quickly, bellowing in excitement at the prospect of breakfast. With both buckets unloaded, the half-Galan went back to his nephew, scooping the boy up.

Kellan could see over the fencing now, and pet the heads of the nerfs. Docile creatures, like overgrown yard pets really. Munching on the grain, heads lifted occasionally, looking at the pair. With his nephew in one arm, Makai patted the head of a nearby nerf.

“I think they are saying thank you for breakfast. Good job Kel, an excellent nerf wrangler. Making generations of Dashiell men proud.”

Kellan Dashiell’s grin was wide, watching as the Nerfs approached, all from the arm of his Uncle as he could now see atop the fenceline, the scooper shaking from side to side as he tried to urge the massive creatures over to them. “I like animals a lot”, he replied, a simple choice of words, though not for the four-year-old who seemed more fixated upon the cattle than his uncle himself. When they reached the fenceline and bellowed and mooed at the pair, Kellan let the scoop drop at the front, and the grain began to pour out for them to feed upon.

“Dad and me watch the animals back home a lot. They live in the forest around our house, but they’re never mean to us because of the Force” he explained, speaking of the ability to communicate and connect with wildlife as though it was all the Force, rather than his father teaching him how to exert his power gradually over the months. “We have a lot of farm land near us too, but no one lives there. I think Dad owns it all, but doesn’t farm”. In truth, Balun didn’t have the time or the energy to spare for farming, but Kellan didn’t yet grasp how much else his pa actually did outside of their homelife.

“I could be a farmer maybe, I dunno if the Jedi have farmers, maybe. They must do. They need food and help people with looking after their worlds, so I bet there’s gotta be some”.

Makai moved closer down the line of nerfs, close enough so the creatures eating could be easily patted on their heads. The half-Galan listened to his nephew talk about animals in the forest and the inability to keep animals on the surrounding pasture land. Makai was surprised Balun wouldn’t just hire ranch hands for the times he was away, much like he did for Danger, but perhaps his brother didn’t want any responsibility in the slightest.

“A farmer? I can see it.” Using his free hand, he reached out to scratch one of the nerfs. “I’ll be working on acquiring an agriworld out there. You’re welcome any time you like.”

“Maybe I can work with you on holidays and stuff then!” Kellan exclaimed happily, beaming with an excited grin.

“Sure can. Whenever you want to come I can make the time.” Carefully he set the boy back down, leaving the nerfs to eat their grain. Despite the hour it seemed the trip had done Kellan some good.

“Do you think Dad would like to help too?” Kellan asked, looking up to his Uncle as he was settled back down on his own two feet.

“He taught me about planting trees and vegetables and all kinds of gardening stuff. We have our own fruit and food we grow at home. I know he secretly likes spending time in the greenhouse!”.

Balun had often spent time teaching Kellan how to nurture the soil and tend to the garden, it hadn’t only been a way of bonding together for them, but Kellan’s father had spoken of how the Force was present even in the plants and the dirt, and that growing food like this was a small way of encouraging strength in the Force, providing nourishment for others, consistency in the natural cycle of creation, growth, decline and renewal.

Kellan hadn’t quite understood the latter, too young to comprehend his fathers musings, but he had certainly enjoyed gardening together and growing their own food.

“I’m sure he will help.”

Makai was certain his brother would be far too busy to assist but Kellan didn’t need to know such a thing. Realistically, he could not see Balun balancing every aspect of his life perfectly and without flaw. There were too many spinning plates.

Even he had learned to stop and delegate or simply just not get involved. With Balun being a Jedi Knight, having a student, raising Kellan, having a business, and being involved in the High Republic something would drop.

“Does your Pa have a big straw garden hat? The kind old ladies wear? If not, I'll buy one for him.”

Kellan laughed and shook his head no.

“It's settled then, we will buy him one on the holonet during breakfast.”