Private Crazy Rich Jedi

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stiffened a little at being addressed so directly, then caught herself and straightened properly, hands tucking behind her back the way she did when she was trying very hard to behave.

She looked at Cat, Unaga, and Xhao in turn, eyes wide and curious, taking in their confidence, their posture, the easy way they stood together. Family. The word still felt strange in her head, heavy and unreal.

"Hi," she said, a little quiet at first, then a touch firmer as she found her footing. "I'm Xian."

She dipped her head in a small, slightly awkward bow that mixed Jedi respect with something she had learned simply by watching everyone else. "It's really nice to meet you."

At Noriko's last comment, Xian's mouth twitched despite herself. She glanced sideways at her master, then back again, heat creeping into her cheeks.

"I can jog," she protested quickly, earnest and defensive. "Just not forever. And not uphill. Or on stairs. Or when someone's laughing at me."

She stamped her foot once, lightly, more to make the point than out of frustration.

Then her gaze drifted again, taking in the clearing, the blades, the people, the sheer scale of everything she was standing in. When she spoke again, her voice was quieter, honest awe slipping through.

"I'm just trying to keep up."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"But what if we are jogging on stairs in front of laughing gundarks?" Noriko looked at her for the moment but showed her face completely serious as she started to laugh with the others. her father and Unaga walked away to talk leaving the three as they came over. Unaga speaking as she looked down and stayed in the middle. "You'll get there, eventually." She said it while Xhao gave a look but she clipped herr saber to her hip. "Cousin, you haven't heard the good news. Maki is pregnant again." She smiled though as Noriko looked at her and was walking. Cat joining them as the twi'lek waited for a moment with a sterrn expression that softened when Noriko wrapped an arm around her. "Oh... that is what nine... twelve. Doesn't she have aa grav ball team yet?" There were laughs as Noriko motioned for Xian to follow them after the other two aheaad. "No eleven but she says it might be twinss again."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian blinked, trying to keep up with the words, the names, and the laughter all at once.

She glanced from Noriko to the others, then down at the steps beneath her feet, as if measuring them automatically, imagining for half a second what it would look like to jog them while being laughed at by gundarks. Her mouth twitched despite herself.

"That sounds…loud," she said, a little uncertainly, then added, more honestly, "and probably terrifying."

When the conversation shifted to pregnancies and numbers that made her head spin, Xian slowed for half a step, eyes widening just a fraction before she caught herself and hurried to keep pace.

"Eleven?" she echoed, clearly impressed in the way only someone who had grown up alone could be. She shook her head once, small and disbelieving. "I can't even imagine that many people in one family."

She followed when Noriko motioned, staying close without crowding, still taking everything in with open curiosity. After a moment, she spoke again, softer this time.

"I've never been around this many people who are related to me before," Xian admitted. "It's…a lot. But not in a bad way."

She looked ahead at the others, then back to Noriko, a shy, almost conspiratorial smile appearing on her face.

"And for the record," she added, "if there are ever laughing gundarks involved, I am absolutely walking. Not jogging."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked at Xian forr a moment and then the others. "You heard her, we don't have to run fast, just faster then her." There were laughs as Noriko walked with the cousins who were speaking lower mostly about other affairs. ZHao looking at Xian though and offering a sympathetic look but nonetheless joined the others. NOriko looking at her. "Come on, you can tell them all about how you don't know stuff until you are bluer in the face Xian... best way to learn something is to jump in there and once we ge to the base of the mountain you are going to have a whole lot of people pinching your cheeks and trying to make sure you are eaating enough."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian slowed for half a step, staring after them with wide eyes as the laughter carried ahead, then looked back at Noriko like she was being led toward a very affectionate ambush.

"…I don't think I'm emotionally prepared for cheek-pinching," she said honestly, voice somewhere between dry and faintly alarmed. Her hand lifted as if to guard her face on instinct, then dropped again when she realized how ridiculous that probably looked.

She shook her head and started walking after them anyway, quickening her pace to keep up. "I am eating enough," she added, glancing sideways at Noriko with mock seriousness. "I just didn't grow up in a place where people showed love by feeding you until you couldn't move."

A beat, then a small, reluctant smile crept in.

"But… I guess jumping in is better than standing around pretending I know what I'm doing," Xian admitted, softer now. She took a breath, squared her shoulders, and followed the others down the path.

"…Just warn me before someone actually tries to pinch my cheeks," she added. "So I can brace."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko looked at her with a grin as she held her hands up and was motioning with her fingers. one finger and thumb like clamps. "But they are so squeezable." She laughed with the others as approaching they came to an open area of a palace and there were a few more people but they were busy. Mostly eating as some lounged around, with barrels of fruit and droids who were working. The jungle providing shade for all of them as the sounds of working was going on. Noriko walking around with the jungle palaces terraced looming ahead, its ancient stone steps half-swallowed by thick vines and emerald moss, dappled sunlight filtering through the dense canopy above to cast shifting patterns across weathered carvings.

Massive trees had rooted themselves into cracked walls, their aerial roots draping like living curtains over faded friezes of forgotten deities and serpentine guardians. At the heart of the open courtyard stood another cousin, poised with focused intensity amid her sprawling collection of sculptures. She was a striking figure tall and lithe, her skin lightly sun kissed golden and glistening faintly with sweat in the humid air. Dark red hair cascaded in loose waves down her back, occasionally swept aside by an impatient hand as she worked. Clad in simple shorts and tank top for the heat streaked with clay and stone dust she moved with deliberate grace, chisel in one hand, mallet in the other.

Surrounding her rose dozens of statues in various stages of completion, arranged in loose rows and clusters like a silent army awakening. Carved from pale stone that gleamed softly in the filtered light, they depicted elegant, almost ethereal female forms warrior goddesses, serene guardians, mythical beings with flowing hair, ornate headdresses, and intricate armor or drapery. Some stood fully realized, their surfaces polished to a subtle sheen, eyes alert and lips curved in enigmatic half-smiles. Others remained partially trapped in raw blocks: a graceful arm emerging from uncut rock here, the curve of a shoulder or the suggestion of wings there.

Tools lay scattered at her feet chisels, rasps, brushes, buckets of water for dampening stone while fine dust hung in the air like golden motes. NOriko looked at her with a grin though as she found a place she would be able to sit there. "Beautiful."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian made a small sound somewhere between a gasp and a stunned laugh as she took it all in, her eyes moving from the vines and statues to the cousin working among them. She slowed without realizing it, feet almost forgetting to keep up as the courtyard opened around her.

"…Wow," she said softly, like speaking any louder might break something. Her gaze lingered on the half-finished figures, the arms and faces still emerging from stone. "She makes them look like they're about to breathe."

She glanced at Noriko's fingers when she made the pinching motion and instinctively leaned her head away, raising a hand in mock defense. "I heard that," Xian said, trying to sound stern and failing completely. "I'm not squeezable. I'm… temporarily compact."

Then her attention snapped right back to the statues, curiosity overriding everything else. She took a few careful steps closer, hands clasped behind her back the way she'd learned when she didn't want to touch things she definitely was not supposed to touch.

"She did all of this?" Xian asked, awe clear in her voice. "By herself?"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Yeah she did." Noriko gave a small grin to that as she was looking around. "Not everyone is a force user... or jedi more appropriately." She was walking around and all of the statues were there for the moment. With interest for them to be able to see and watch. She turned around though and offered a wave. "I can hear you you know and it is loud." She said it but Noriko looked over. "Yeah I know you can, I also know you ain't going to do anything about it so enjoy working while I show your new cousin around." There was a moment but both mirrored each other with their tongues sticking out at each other. Cousins to the core before they finished and Noriko spoke. "She sells them across the galaxy, to temples, palaces, senate buildings and yes even gangsters sometimes but the auctions and shops are considered legit and honest. Each one being handcrafted though means it is able to be tracked back which gives information able to be given to the authorities."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian slowed a little as she took it all in, her head tipping back to look at the statues rising around them. For a moment, she forgot to keep walking, caught between awe and the quiet weight of how many hands, how much time, must have gone into each piece.

"They're… really pretty," she said, honestly, voice a little softer than before. "Like they're watching, even the ones that aren't finished yet."

Her eyes flicked toward the sculptor when Noriko explained where the statues ended up, and Xian blinked at that. Temples made sense. Palaces, maybe. Senate buildings felt unreal. Gangsters made her frown.

"They buy art?" she asked, genuine confusion in her tone. Then she latched onto the next part, relief easing her shoulders a little. "Wait, they can be tracked?"

That seemed important. Comforting, even.

"So if someone bad buys one," Xian continued, glancing back at the statues and then at Noriko, "people can find out where it went. That's… smart." She paused, then added, quieter, "It's kind of nice that even something beautiful still has rules."

She hesitated, then looked back at the cousins sticking their tongues out at each other, and a small smile crept onto her face.

"You all do that a lot," she said, not judging, just observing. "It's loud. But… I think I like it."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Unaga looked at her for a moment as she gave a nod. "We're family, if we aren't interacting with each other or supporting or even fighting... some of the best and worst fights are family against family but we are united in our purpose." She said it and walked through that garden of statues being able to see more of them as Noriko came over and was still looking at her cousin. Even putting two fingers up as she moved them from her eyes to point at her. She turned to Xian. "See family." The laugh was there as the continued path went around the palace and the jungle area to show more pathways leading down throughout the valley and then up towards the mountain as it leveled out to show an overhang with fortifications.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian nodded slowly as she listened, taking a few careful steps to keep up while her eyes kept drifting between the statues, the jungle, and the people around her. It was a lot. Loud. Warm. So different from the places she'd grown up that it made her chest feel a little tight in a way she couldn't quite name.

"I don't really know how to do that yet," she admitted, glancing down at her boots for a second before looking back up at Unaga and Noriko. "The arguing or the fighting or the… being loud about it."

Her gaze followed the path out toward the valley and the fortifications beyond, trying to fit all of it together in her head.

"But," she added after a moment, voice quieter but sure, "I like that you all stay together anyway. Even when you're annoying each other."

Noriko's gesture made her huff a small laugh despite herself.

"If this is what family looks like," Xian said, a little shy, a little overwhelmed, "I think I can learn it. Just… probably slower than the rest of you."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

Noriko took it in for a moment and she offered a nod. "Yes." She was looking at Xian and her amazement was interest as the pathways rounded, going up towards the stairs leading up. Walkways and alcoves in the rock as it went up and up for them all to walk and see. Noriko's attention went to finding the others for a moment as there were more people that they were passing going up and into the stone chambers. Carved into the mountain and hollowed out as there were benches with pillows, alcoves with smaller plants. They had made a grand hall throughout the mountain the cousins were moving off to join others and the sounds of conversations as well as others eating, or training, or just having fun as children ran around.

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian slowed without meaning to, her steps going a little quieter as the space opened up around them. Her head tilted back, eyes wide as she took in the carved stone, the way the mountain itself had been shaped into places where people lived instead of just passed through. Pillows tucked into alcoves. Plants growing where she would have expected bare rock. Voices layered over one another in a way that felt busy but not sharp.

"There's… a lot of people," she said softly, not overwhelmed so much as stunned. Children running past made her pause, instinctively stepping aside to let them go, watching them disappear into the crowd with a small, thoughtful look.

She glanced back to Noriko, then forward again, trying to take it all in at once and failing completely.

"I've never seen anything like this," Xian admitted, awe slipping into her voice. "It's not just a palace. It's like the mountain decided to be a home."

Her fingers curled lightly at her side as she started walking again, a little closer to Noriko this time.

"I think," she added, almost to herself, "I'd get lost here. But… maybe that wouldn't be the worst thing."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Xian... you are a jedi we can use the force to sense direction... getting lost is like wheen you forget you have hair on your head." Noriko said it but offered a smile to the girl while she was walking through the halls and leading the way. More family members, droids, biots, workers in everything. Rooms filled with supplies, food, artwork and even some weapons. Soldiers as well as chutes for pressor cannons. Fighters that they had able to be launched into an attack should the situation come. Noriko was looking at all of the people and it was a happy place to be as she stood there. "NOw Xian just imagine this but bigger, we're just on the edge, there is an entire city... an entire mountain aan entire palace still... we have so much family."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian huffed softly, half amused and half overwhelmed, and glanced sideways at Noriko as they walked.

"Okay, first of all," she said, tilting her head up to look at all the corridors, balconies, and moving people, "you're supposed to teach me how to do that part. I didn't just wake up knowing which way is north on every planet."

She gestured vaguely around them, a small, helpless circle of her hand.

"And second," she added, a little more earnestly, "directions change. Planets spin differently. Some don't even agree on what counts as up. I can feel things, sure, but that doesn't automatically mean I know where I'm going."

Then, quieter, with honest awe creeping into her voice as she looked at the family, the soldiers, the workers, the sheer scale of it all:

"…I've never had this many people around me who weren't trying to ignore me."

She swallowed, then gave Noriko a small, sincere smile.

"So yeah. You're going to have to teach me. Step by step."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

She looked at her. "I tried to teach you remember how I was navigating around a palace that I had never been to before? I was using the force to guide my path around instinctually." She said it while she was walking with a look at her but she was walking and motioning. "You just have to do as I teach and tell you., Everything has a purpose, everything has a place. even the stuff... no especially the stuff I say." NOrriko said it while she walked and weaved around the people as she moved backwards. "Cause I am the best teacher for you.... or so you think. I might just be the one who is taking you to your real master at the top of the mountain, an ancient and old member of our family who will suffer no baacktalk or doubt lest she throw you off the mountain top and makes you climb back up."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian blinked, then frowned just a little as she tried to line that up with her memory.

"…I don't remember that," she said honestly, glancing around at the flow of people and then back to Noriko. "We were kind of just… following everyone. In a line. I didn't get lost because there wasn't anywhere to get lost to."

She picked her way carefully around a passing droid, then hurried a step to keep up, clearly still thinking about it.

"I know the Force can help with instincts," she added, slower now, like she was choosing her words. "But you still have to know what you're listening for. And places feel different. Palaces, cities, jungles. They don't all point the same way."

Then, at the mention of being thrown off a mountain, her eyes widened.

"…She won't actually throw me off, right?"

A beat.

"…Right?"

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

There was a small pause in her steps as Noriko turned around to look at her. "We... we spent like three days there you argued the entire time and didn't want to do anything asked of you. I got to work out and make out with an empress... the people were all tall and muscled... we left in an airship... nothing maybe we need to like get your memory checked or something be bad to teach you why things are done for you to just forget it... though that does explain why you keep forgetting that I am awesome and as your master always right." She said it as he grand walks ways revealed themselves... going up and up aand up into more levels. "Come on we'll take you to the medical area and get your head examined. Maybe all of that red dye is eating away at your memories."

 

[Xian Xiao]

Xian stopped short, stared at her for a second, and then planted her feet like that alone might keep the mountain from growing any taller.

"That is not what happened," she said immediately, heat rushing into her cheeks. "All you wanted me to do was exercise. Constantly. Upstairs. Downstairs. Sideways stairs. I remember that just fine."

She crossed her arms, scowling up at Noriko with the full intensity of a teenager who absolutely refused to be gaslit by someone taller, cooler, and far too smug.

"And I do not want to even think about making out with anybody," Xian added quickly, horrified. "That part does not belong in my brain. At all. You can keep it."

She took a step forward again, muttering as she went, boots hitting the stone with a little more force than necessary.

"And my memory is fine," she insisted. "You just talk a lot. And most of it is… weird."

After a beat, quieter, but still stubborn:

"…Also, the red dye is permanent. I checked."

Noriko Ike

 

[Noriko Ike]

Xian Xiao

"Yes, run to work out your muscles, practice your breathing and build your stamina, clear your head to focus, find a route to train your navigation, early in the morning when there is a chill to train your ability to regulate and warm yourself with the force for environments." She said it while moving and going to the stairs as she started going up. Motioning with a hand to come on. "See, I am like totally awesome and have the sage wisdom shiznit Sor-Jan wishes he had yo. Like hip and cool dawg." She said it while using the wording to bounce up the stairs with a grin on her face. "You just are too young aand prudish to realize the wisdom of your master but I'll get you there or there is always the thrown off a mountain and having to climb the stairs back up and explaining to everyone what happened."