Chapter 2
The trip to Pylos Satnik had been a long one. They had spent several days traveling through hyperspace just to reach the Outer Rim. Kass hadn’t slept well during the journey, unused to such lengthy space travel. By the time they finally arrived she was exhausted, but too nervous and excited to rest.
Kass’ room (Master Farlander and Oukranos were sharing a suite across the hall from hers) was equipped with a holo projector and other gadgets. Though she had been very young when she left her homeworld, she could remember how rare electronic devices had been back then. She wondered if it was just the hotel catering to the expectations of offworlders who were used to such technology, or if Pylos Satnik had really modernized so much in such a short period of time.
With not much else to do, she turned on the holo and started surfing channels. To her surprise, there was a mix of both foreign and native shows. The local news was delivered in the Common Tongue of the Sashkatros, a language which she hadn’t spoken since she was a small child. She was forced to turn on subtitles in order to fully understand it.
Growing bored, she switched to a music channel. An all-female
Arctic band was singing in Basic. She watched the holograms of their sinuous bodies swaying to the beat. Their pale hides were dusted with glitter that looked like sparkling snow and their piercing blue eyes were ringed with silvery paint. They exuded an unabashed confidence Kass wished she had. The song was repetitive and kind of boring, though. Not really her style.
She continued to flick through the channels, eventually stumbling upon a scene of a Pylantian couple strolling along a beach, spouting cliched romantic dialogue. Some sort of soap opera. She was about to change it to something else, but then the music swelled and the male pulled the female into a passionate kiss. Kass had seen Humans express affection for each other plenty of times, but she could not recall ever seeing a recording of two of her own kind like this. The male began to kiss the female’s various other mouths, pressing his lips to each one with increasing fervor…
There was a sudden knock on the door. Kass hurriedly turned off the holo. “Who is it?”
“Oukranos.”
She went over to the door and opened it. Oukranos stood outside, wearing civilian clothing in place of his Jedi robes. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
“I—Yeah,” Kass said. It was past dinner time.
“There’s a restaurant on the first floor. We can eat there.”
“Okay.” Hopefully the food would be good. She glanced either way down the hall, expecting to see a certain axolotl-esque Jedi. “Where is Master Farlander?”
“He said he wasn’t hungry and wanted to rest.” Oukranos held up a credit chit. “He gave me this to pay for dinner.”
“Oh." So it would be just the two of them. "Uh, just let me get my things…”
In an effort to please both natives and tourists, the hotel restaurant served Pylantian cuisine and the usual intergalactic delicacies. Perusing the menu, Kass was delighted to find dishes she remembered fondly from her youth. Oukranos, on the other hand, ordered a simple burger.
They sat in silence while they waited for their meal. Even though he had expressed a desire to talk to her, Kass hadn’t seen much of Oukranos since their first meeting. She figured he must’ve been busy with that training he mentioned. But then he hadn’t said more than a few words to her during the trip from Kashyyyk to Pylos Satnik either. She was beginning to wonder if he was avoiding her.
“So,” she finally spoke. “How’s your training going?”
“It’s… different,” he replied vaguely. His eyes kept wandering the room, though she wasn’t sure what was so distracting about it. Apart from a single male Pylantian, they were the only people dining this late. The tables were lower to the floor than he was likely used to, and they sat upon cushions instead of chairs, but otherwise the setup wasn’t too different from restaurants on other planets.
“Different how?” she prompted.
His gaze slid back to her. “The Silvers are more traditional than what I’m used to.” He probably would've left it at that, but he must've sensed she intended to keep prying, because he quickly added, “It's a lot bigger, too. The Jakku Enclave is just a little underground praxeum hidden out in the desert. We don't have a Council. Master Jade is technically in charge, but we get training from all the masters and knights. I like to compare and contrast the different styles, so I can take the best aspects of all of them.”
“I do that too,” Kass said. “Although most of the comparing and contrasting I do is between what the instructors say, and what Master Farlander tells me.”
“Your master is a little… eccentric, isn’t he?”
“I suppose so.” She smirked. “If it hadn’t been for him, I’d probably be in the Service Corps. I had a hard time becoming a padawan. Most of the other masters didn’t think I was good enough. But Master Farlander insisted that I had potential. It just wasn’t being cultivated properly. He took me as his apprentice, and the rest is history.”
“Is it nice, having your own master? Do you like it?”
“I don’t really know what it would be like to not have a master. But I guess it’s pretty nice. He treats me like family.”
“Did you have a family before…?” He trailed off. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. It’s none of my business.”
“It’s fine. My mother died when I was young, but I remember living with my father here in the capital.” She sighed. “He was an alcoholic with a gambling addiction. He handed me off to the Jedi when I was five years old. Said he wanted me to have a better life than he could give, but I think he mainly wanted the money they offered him for me.”
“Have you had a better life, at least?” Oukranos asked.
“In most ways, I guess.” She thought about the Ardentian ambassador, and all the other repulsed reactions she had gotten over the years. Things she wouldn’t have had to deal with if she had stayed on Pylos Satnik among her own kind… “Sometimes I feel very alone.”
“I know that feeling,” Oukranos murmured. “I feel like a freak most of the time.”
Kass stared at him. “How?” she asked. “I mean, you look Human. I figured you would fit right in.”
He shook his head. “That’s just it. I’m
not a human, but everyone expects me to act like one. And when I don’t fit their expectations, they think something’s wrong with me.”
“Like what?”
“Well...” He fidgeted with the utensils. “Sometimes a Human will be interested in me, and they’ll flirt with me or ask me out. But all Humans, men and women, look like males to me. And I’m not interested in males.”
An unexpected laugh escaped Kass’s throat. “I hope you haven’t told any of the women that.”
“No, not yet.” He laughed too. “Do they look that way to you?”
“I suppose they all look
vaguely male,” she answered softly. “But none of them are interested in me. I look like a monster to them.”
“You don’t look like a monster to me.” His brow furrowed. “You know, having tons of admirers isn’t as nice as it sounds. At least, not if the only reason they like you is because of how you look.”
“I guess,” Kass muttered, not quite believing him. But Oukranos went on.
“People don’t see the real you. They’ll develop an idealized version of your personality to suit them, then get disappointed when you don’t measure up. I’ve had so many fake friends who pretended to like me, but really they just wanted something from me. When they didn’t get it, they turned cold and cruel.”
Was she imagining things, or had the temperature in the restaurant dropped a few degrees? Her gelatinous body rippling in the Pylantian equivalent of a shiver, Kass changed the subject to something lighter in tone. “So, does this mean you’re going to try and find a girlfriend while you’re here?”
He gave her a little half-smile, and the room grew warm again. “I didn’t think of that, but maybe. They’re a lot more appealing to me. Of course, Humans aren’t going to understand that.”
She wanted to ask him if he found her attractive, but she didn’t dare. Besides, their food had arrived.
Oukranos stared at her meal, barely paying his burger any mind. “What is that?” he asked.
“
Mhari omawamo.”
He mouthed the words. “It smells really good.”
“Yeah, it tastes good too. You can try some if you want.”
He reached over and carefully took a bite. The look on his face was priceless. “It’s delicious!”
She stifled a giggle. But his ignorance was strange to her. How could you be a Pylantian and not know what mhari was? “Where are you from?” she asked.
“Uh, Jakku.”
“No, I mean—what part of Pylos Satnik are you from?”
“I’ve actually never been here before.” He smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know anything about my heritage.”
Well, that explained it. “Really? Were you born on Jakku, then?”
“No. I don’t know where I was born, exactly.” He took a bite of his burger. “I was found abandoned as a baby in a starport on Bardotta.”
“Oh goodness.”
“Yeah. The Jedi took me in and raised me.”
Something about the way he said it made her think there was more to the story he wasn’t telling her. “Bardotta,” she echoed. “That’s in the Colonies, isn’t it? Pretty far from here. Why would your family have traveled that far just to leave you there?”
“I dunno. Maybe they weren’t from Pylos Satnik.”
“Most of us never leave our homeworld. It just seems unusual, is all.” While she talked, she had also been eating, putting the food into her various other mouths. Oukranos watched her openly, evidently quite fascinated. “Did you ever find anything about your family?”
“No.”
“Do you want to try and find them?”
“No,” he repeated firmly. “If they didn’t want anything to do with me, I don’t want anything to do with them.”
“How do you know they didn’t leave you on Bardotta for a good reason?” Now the room felt too hot. Was there something wrong with the ventilation system?
“What good reason could they have had to abandon their child like that?” Oukranos asked incredulously.
“Maybe they were trying to protect you.”
He snorted derisively. “You’ve been watching the holo too much. Real life isn’t that romantic.”
She frowned. “My father sold me for money. But you don’t know why your parents abandoned you. There’s always a chance—”
“Look, I just don’t care, okay?” he interrupted. “I don’t want to know. My parents are dead anyway, probably.” The “probably” sounded like it was tacked on as an afterthought.
“Okay,” Kass said sheepishly. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s fine to ask questions.”
“Want to come back to my room for a little while after dinner?” she asked suddenly. “I mean, to watch the holo? Since Master Farlander is trying to sleep in your room...” The noise would disturb him.
Oukranos considered the offer for a few moments, then nodded. “Sure.”
