Private Bazaar of the Four Winds

[Zaiya Ceti]

Aris Noble

"Yes!" Zaiya couldn't contain her excitement, her voice barely a whisper as she mouthed off, accompanied by a little fist pump. Her anticipation was palpable as she added, a bit louder this time, "Totally enough time!"

Another excited shoulder shimmy, the Lovalla rocking on her heels, and her fingers seemed to fly over her datapad as she connected them wirelessly to transfer the information.

"Where do you want to start? Coruscant? Corellia? Near Niv Hani?" Depending on Aris's decision, Zaiya could plan an itinerary and see which day trip would work best—at least until Aris learned how to fly his own ship. Talk about motivation to get that started.

"We can start with day trips first! Then, as soon as you learn to fly, we can do overnights!" There was just a joyful, infectious giddiness to Zaiya, the young teenager practically glowing in delight in a beautiful display of vibrant colors. It was as if she were a living canvas, her shifting patterns a mesmerizing iridescent display of hues and shades, some within Aris's color spectrum, others beyond what he'd be able to pick up. For another Lovalla, she'd practically exclaim just how excited she was for this. Her first outing with a friend. Her first real friend.

 

[Aris Noble]

"Well the idea is we take turns showing the places we've been to first. And all I've been to are on Coruscant, so we'd have to sort of go off world and-" Well that would just be confusing, having to travel that much. He frowned in thought, reaching for his datapad again to start scrawling out a list between his already been to places and hers.

He paused though, glancing up to see just how brightly she was shining. His focused expression softened as he realized he was trying to plan it alone. She was so excited. He was too. There was no way he wasn't going to share that. "It might take more time, but what if we limit it to one a visit? Whenever we can see each other."

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Aris Noble

"One each visit is fine!" Zaiya exclaimed, bounding up to stand close to him to look over to see how he was organizing them. The scent of lemon verbena and citrus came with her close proximity, along with her jingle of bracelets. She clearly enjoyed wearing jewelry.

"That way, we can spread out our visits much longer and I can see you more often!" Zaiya utterly admitted this with no shame what-so-ever, grinning widely in a mischievous tone, cyan and light blue shades dancing about her skin with a soft golden hue.

"And we can plan a whole day of it! Maybe visit your temple." she offered as an idea. "When it's my turn, I can take you around the university and maybe show you the lab. Are you interested in anything else you'd like to see?"

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris, for a brief moment, seemed relieved. He was of course. He wanted to see her more just as much as she seemed to, but there was a part of him that thought that maybe it'd be too much to only go to one place at a time. There were a lot of stops, there'd be a lot of trips. He was honestly looking forward to it. "Absolutely. If you want to see around the temple just let me know whenever. There's some rules with visitors, but I don't see a problem with a student your age coming to the Temple to explore, especially if it's also to learn more about your connection with the Force."

He paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Honestly, anything you're interested in. I want to know more about you, and what you like."

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Aris Noble

It was great to hear that she'd be able to visit whenever she liked. A thought percolated in the back of Zaiya's head that she should make sure she did as much of her work for her studies in advance as possible so Dr. Izar wouldn't object to her traveling too much.

Pleasure radiated from Zaiya's giddy expression at hearing that Aris Noble was interested in her and learning what she liked. Opal blue eyes would flash in excitement, and she grinned, "Well... ask away. What do you want to know?"

"I'm an open book!" Literally, she wore all of her emotions out there for anyone to see. It was why being dishonest was practically unheard of for Lovalla. There was no way to hide it.

Meanwhile, she peaked again at the list Aris was organizing, "And which place should we go to first?"

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris opened his mouth, then closed it. Then opened again, only to close it shortly after. What did he want to ask her? He hadn't thought of an actual question, he just wanted to get to know her better. Should he have known a question to ask? He really retreated inward trying to think of something, anything, to actually ask her. He came up with nothing.

A sheepish smile formed as he shrugged his shoulders. "I'll think of something another time, I imagine. .. Where would you like to go? I'm pretty indifferent, honestly. I just like spending time around you so.. .. I'm not very helpful with this, am I?"

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Aris Noble

Zaiya saw Aris's struggle and she gave him a comforting rub along his bicep, "It's okay, I wasn't expecting you to bombard me with questions like I did with you. I know I talk a lot. It was more for you to know that it is okay for you to ask me whatever you'd like to know about me, at any time. " she relayed to him with a half smile, her patterns giving off a soft, comforting blend of soft blues and golden highlights.

"And you are pretty helpful, look what you did!" she gestured back to his datapad that he had been steadily adjusting based on their combined data. "See! This is a good list to start. Give yourself more credit, Aris. You're pretty awesome."

With a small hum, Zaiya leaned close to look at the list Aris had adjusted, her height making it easy for Aris's breathing to fan the stray hairs off the top of her head in a silly dance.

"Umm... Let's do Coruscant, unless something comes up and we need to adjust it to a different place," one never knew if Aris had to be elsewhere by the time their plans came about.

"Dex's Diner."

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris blinked in surprise, but smiled after a moment. He reached up, taking her hand to squeeze ggently. There was no uncomfortness or stress or anything with his emotions. He just wanted to figure out a question. It was really good to know that he had been doing things right so far, though. At least as well as he could tell.

There was a lot to figure out with friends. With them is what he really had to remember though.

"Dex's Diner works great, I feel. We can try the Kenobi special."

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Aris Noble

“Ooo what’s the Kenobi special?” Those types of specials were either really good, or really bad. The type that were put on the menu as challenges to see if anyone would eat them.

Enjoying the comfort and warmth of Aris’s hand again, Zaiya glanced back up to Aris and flashed him a conspiratory grin,”Okay so Dex’s diner. We can do that for lunch. You said that I should be able to visit the temple right? Or do I need to fill out any paperwork for it?” Zaiya had to do the same for Commonor every few years to maintain her visa. The last thing she needed was to get deported back to Volik.

“Is there anything else what would be fun to visit there?” Aris would know more, as Zaiya hadn’t visited Coruscant before.

 

[Aris Noble]

"Meat on meat with meat, is what it's advertised as. It's not as heavy as it sounds, though. They take the best cuts to make the sandwich. There's the patty, then some thinly sliced prosciutto, and bacon. Cooked just to the right temperature so it's crispy without being dried out. You get the three different distinct flavors and then the different textures they provide. Then there's the bun and- I can go on and on about this but we really should try it together than just talking."

If anything it was going to make him too hungry for a burger. He'd already cheated on his diet, and he certainly didn't know a good place around here to even find a burger in the first place. Better to avoid such troubles, especially while he wanted to focus more on Zaiya.

"There shouldn't be much for paperwork. Basically your guardian giving you permission to be there, but that's more just so we know who all is in the temple. Tensions are.. Rising, with other nations." It wasn't something he wanted to really get into, since he didn't really know much about it. Instead he smiled. "There's a sort of theme park we can visit there. There's not too much for rides, but it's really pretty for the city."

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Aris Noble

Even Zaiya was getting more hungry the more Aris Noble described the burger. Deciding it was best to grab some more fruit, she stepped back towards the count and grabbed a handful of nuts.

“Haha okay, yeah let’s just plan for that. Talking about it just makes me want a burger now,” she chuckled, popping a few nuts into her mouth to sate some of it. After chewing thoughtfully, her eyes brightened at the prospect of a theme park. Swallowing she said with perked interest,” Oh a theme park sounds neat. I’d be happy to go there with you,” a pause then a question, a medley of curious bright orange hues rippling across her skin,” Do you think they’ll have fireworks? I love watching those. Festivals too.”

Thus why she was having a great time in the bazaar.

 

[Aris Noble]

"Yeah, same, honestly."

Which was a problem. He frowned as he snapped up another fruit to munch on and delay the thoughts of burger hunger. It wasn't doing much to delay it, but he was trying anyway. "I believe they do. .. Wait do they have fireworks here?" Aris blinked in surprise, glancing right to Zaiya with a rather curious expression. He was.. Admittedly excited about the idea of seeing fireworks. They were beautiful, even if they were loud.

Thankfully not too loud for him.

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Aris Noble

A glance at Aris’s face told all Zaiya had to know; he was interested in watching fireworks. A sudden jolt of excitement ran through the young teen Lovalla, and she gave an excited nod of her colorful head, her tier earrings giving a little musical jingle.

“Yes! They aren’t as loud or ornate as ones I’ve seen during the harvest festivals on Corellia, but I heard these are really neat. You’ve seen the colorful flags around the bazaar, right? They are in the middle of their Kleur festival to celebrate the unity of the various drifter colonies coming together to make Liliac what it is today.” Zaiya explained, giving a series of bounces in her ever-growing enthusiasm. Even the edges of her patterns were starting to give off a soft golden glow again.

“That’s why there are even more food vendors, games, fireworks, and also,” Zaiya laughed. “They’ll throw colored powder into the air and splash it on each other on the main square as the celebration continues. Each color has a specific meaning, like green stands for new beginnings, while orange represents strength, sacrifice, and courage.” There were more colors; ann entire rainbow of them.

With an excited rock of her heels, Zaiya stared up at Aris and asked, “Do you want to go?”

Was it silly? Yes. Would it likely stain them all sorts of colors if they went? Definitely. But would it be fun to do it with someone else? A thousand times yes!

The celebrations would be starting soon. There wouldn’t be a need to rush, but it would be nice to plan around what to do if that were the case. Zaiya intended to go anyway, as the thought of being immersed in so much color was so enthralling. For once, she’d fit in with everyone else.

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris's eyes practically sparkled at all this new information. Not so loud fireworks, and they were actively having festival? With colors and paint? He hadn't heard anything like that before, so now he was teeming with excitement. Was that why they'd stopped here for so long, so he could actually see the festival while it was ongoing? The only thing better now was the fact he could do so with a friend!

He reached out to the last of the food, throwing it back quickly. He wasn't going to let the fruit go to waste, but the moment he was finished he got up and took her hand in his with far too big of a smile.

"Let's go now! I actually really like festivals."

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

"Really?!" Zaiya exclaimed, giving another enthused series of bounces, a dazzling display of bright cerulean hues and glowing golden highlights radiating from her skin. She gave his hand an excited squeeze and then another shimmy.

"Okay, let's finish this up. I'll clean up and then we can go." She told him, setting down her datapad to rush to finish the ice grapes and the few figs she had left. After drinking the rest of her juice, she began to clean up.

"If you need to use the refresher, it is down the corridor to the left. I can finish with this," she called out to him, far too overly excited to clean up and get underway.

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris blinked.

Then blushed. Red took over his features as he glanced to the mess. Right, they were supposed to clean up. In all his excitement he was just about to pull her along and out of the ship to head right to the festival. The red tinge didn't last long as he quickly started to gather up the remnants of their snack to at least help. She might've said she'd do it by herself, but he couldn't let her do that, especially after just forgetting that they had to.

"I'll do the washing, you put them away. I.. Don't know where everything goes, heh."

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Zaiya gave a small chuckle, her opal blue eyes flickering to catch the red flush that had swept over Aris Noble 's face. She didn't tease him about it, because she was just as excited to go, but it was cute. A delighted rush of light blue in mild amusement shimmered over her patterns, and Zaiya's attention went back to cleaning up. "Okay, that sounds like a plan. You wash them in the sonic sink, and I'll put them away."

While she was overexcited to go to the festival, it was just so nice to be able to do this side by side. "Come on over, the sonic sink is here." She gestured beside her, then began to put away the cartons of remaining food that she had not placed on the plate and put them back in the conservatory.

"I'm glad you are excited to go with me," Zaiya admitted, " I was going to go by myself, but it is a lot more fun now thinking that I'll be going with you," she added, her skin taking on a rosy hue adorned with a golden shimmer, her lips curving into a smile of giddy contentment.

"Have you gone to any other festivals?"

 

[Aris Noble]

Aris nodded once as he moved to the sonic sink to start getting the dishes clean. That much he knew he could handle at least. He paused only for a moment to look towards her before his smile widened quite a bit in turn. There was no understating just how happy he was to be here, though he did dim down his smile so he could focus on the actual cleaning.

"The Epicanthix have their own, yes. We've been celebrating them on Niv Hani since the town was rebuilt. And there have been others I've gone to, but I do want to go to more. They are.. Very beautiful."

Zaiya Ceti

 

[Zaiya Ceti]

Zaiya finished putting away all the containers and shut the conservator. With a wide and colorful smile, she padded back quickly towards Aris Noble .

"Oh, really?" she inquired, her curiosity as vivid as the shimmering citrine orange hues dancing across the mottled spots and stripes on her face and down her arms. She paused beside him, awaiting the completion of the first dish.

"What celebrations do these festivals include? Do they involve combat, as you mentioned earlier?" Since he had noted that the Epicanthix were keen on preserving and assimilating other cultures, did this imply a blend of various traditions, cuisines, and events?

 

[Aris Noble]

"There are combat festivals, yes. This one coming up though is the festival of fire. It was.. A lot darker of a festival before, but to stop the festival would only to be hiding that." He didn't go into detail, since he himself didn't know all the details with it. What he did know was there was often human sacrifice, and it wasn't a hard stretch of the imagination to know how.

"The last King brought it when he got married to the Vahl, a culture that does worship fire, I think? The festival is about the renewal that fire offers though, at least because of my father. We hold it in spring because that's when life renews. Snow melts. That sort of thing." He passed over the first plate before turning to the next. "It's very pretty."

Zaiya Ceti