It's not about where we go

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

I like to start my mornings with a bit of productive reflection. It's something uou instilled in me early - that, like all things that live in the light, I am healthier for putting my hands and mind to use as the night ends. Now, I'm not going to say I'm perfect. I'm really not - ask anyone who knows my name. Even after half a decade of living here on Dayark, the rain begs me to spend an extra hour or two under the covers every day, soaking up the warmth of her body and pretending that peaceful introspection is an acceptable substitute for getting out of bed. Maybe for some, it is. For me, it's not.

So I pull myself out of bed as quietly as possible and take an assessment of myself - the same way I've started every morning since I can remember. Remember how concerned you were when I told you that I checked every inch of me for lacerations every morning? Codi's been sharing my bed for almost a decade, now, but neither of us are perfect. I'm a little ashamed of how long it took me to be able to admit that to you out loud. I cannot imagine that you'd be anything but supportive, like you always were, but I was always afraid of judgement. I could shoulder the Galaxy thinking little of me, but I always held my breath at the hinge of your approval. I know it'd hurt Codi to know how many minor bruises and hairline fractures I've quietly mended over the years to preserve her pride, so I count it among my blessings that she sleeps in, and sleeps heavily. She's always been a nocturnal creature. Today, I am unharmed. It's a good day. I miss you terribly.

A bit of small vanity before I face the day in earnest - a nightgown exchanged for proper clothing, a quick fix of the tangles in my hair, mostly. Don't think you'd begrudge that. I don't bother with shoes, most of the time. Neither did you, but Light knows we had our different reasons! I won't, today. It's only drizzling out. A quick breeze out into the kitchen to grab a piece of fruit and my tablet, and I'm outside. I like that I can be outside from pretty much every part of the house very quickly. And that we have trees! Imagine that! Growing up on Coruscant, I didn't realize how much I missed out by just having stuff to climb and watch grow, until I met you.

Dayark really is a lovely planet. Six or so years ago, when Codi and I were looking for a place to settle down, we had a real time of it! You can imagine - her heart beats in time with the thrum of the city. Coruscant really was her vision of heaven. Maybe Nar Shadaa would be more accurate, but still. And I've always like a bit of green. That wasn't even entirely your fault! We considered Naboo for awhile, as it'd still be close enough to the Galaxy for me to do my work, but that whole region is growing a bit tense for my tastes. Eventually, we found Dayark. It's out in the middle of nowhere, sure, but that's why the Holonet exists, right? It's always raining here, and it's mostly humans and Ithorians so Codi sticks out like a sore thumb, but Rytal Prime is just busy enough to keep Codi happily busy, and for me? Well, there are Ithorians, here. Some of them even knew of me. I wonder how much of that was your doing, sometimes.

I wish you were here. Well, that you were alive. Sometimes because I think you'd really love Dayark, and other times for the very worst reasons. Selfish reasons. After I escaped from Jared Ovmar, I did my best to erase myself. My body was exhausted and my health was failing, my spirit was flagging. Pride insisted I'd done enough for the Galaxy, that I'd given enough, but nothing seemed to have helped. And I know how you'd said that even a small seed can grow to a mighty vine, and that any small act of good makes the Galaxy a better place, but I grew afraid. I felt I was losing myself. And I ran. And I'm sorry. You taught me better than that, I feel, and while the rational parts of me insist that you'd support what I'm doing, I'd give almost anything to hear you say it. I'd give anything to have been with you when they killed you. And it's your lessons that taught me that seeking your killer won't bring you back, but still. I hurt. I'm getting better, but I count not being there with you at the end as one of my most profound regrets.

Anyway.

I'm sure the tabloids would love to hear what I'm up to. Former Chancellor, Barsen'Thor, the woman who stopped Velok and secretly runs Silk Holdings, guess what she's up to? You'd never, in a million years, believe it. Or maybe you would! You always did see right through me. I'm a waitress! Couldn't you just die laughing? Sure, I maintain my garden. And funnel most of my (way too inflated, in my opinion) wages into relief funds. But day-to-day, I'm still serving people; just with appetizers and stuff instead of with a saber and the Force.

I suppose I should elaborate. Thanks to Jorus and Alna - lovely people, I think you'd like them aside from Jorus' violent history for good causes - Je'Gan and I were running Silk Holdings, which you might now as a really big company. Je'Gan fell off of the side of the Galaxy (along with most of the people who, in reflection, likely think I'm dead) so I'm basically in charge of things! Which is neat. But I've got people to handle the day-to-day, and the 'big picture' stuff I'm responsible for is usually just making sure the Board doesn't do crappy, bad-company-like things. The best part is is that nobody knows it's me issuing orders, so there's a lot less pressure. But it also means I have more money than I know what to do with, which is why most of it goes to charities. In entirely related news, Trevel'ka is doing better every year.

I also use a part of that credit pile for an entirely selfish thing: Fulfilling Codi's life-long dream of owning her own bar. It's actually doing pretty great! And she named it after me, which is super flattering. She's 'big city' enough that she can make it exciting for Rytal Prime. Out here, it's mostly rain and farms aside from Rytal Prime, and as cities go? Well. Compared to Coruscant, it's obviously a tiny village! But it's kind of a gateway to the rest of the Kathol Republic, so there's plenty of homesick travelers to drink alongside the regulars who like a little taste of Inner Rim neon and excitement. It's fun! Codi likes running the place, which makes her happy. And I'm finally making her happy, so I'm glad for it. She spent so many years watching me flay myself trying to save the Galaxy, and she was right there beside me every step of the way. I'm glad I can validate the love and faith she's always shown for me.

I'm working with some local Ithorian friends on a new breed of succulent. It flowers, we estimate, once a decade. So by the time I'm thirty, I might get to see it! I'm glad I am at a point in my life where I can plan that far ahead. I think that'd make you happy. Hopefully, I can convince the Priestess to name it after you! I tend my garden, I am keeping busy, and living well. I miss home, but my home became strange and hostile. The place is there... but without you there, without Master Watts and all the others, it isn't really home at all anymore. But listen to me prattle on like an old woman! I always did have a dramatic tongue, didn't I?

I know you're here with me, connected through the Force. When the sun breaks through the clouds and dries my garden, I can almost hear your deep, thrumming laughs. I miss you dearly, though. Thank you for everything you taught me, Master.

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Taking a deep breath, Aleidis signed the letter before carefully folding it and sliding it into an envelope. Sure, it wasn't going anywhere, but it was the thought that mattered as much as the action in this case. It was an emotional way to start the morning, to be sure, and Aleidis wasn't really sure why she'd felt the sudden, powerful urge to hand-write a letter for maybe the first time in her adult life, but she was glad she did.

There was something cathartic about putting words on paper.

By her estimation, Aleidis had an hour or two before Codi woke up. Which made this the perfect time to get some work done! Popping a slice of citrus into her mouth, Aleidis opened up her Holomail to catch up on what Silk Holdings was up to, write a few emails, that sort of thing. nothing too strenuous. It was too nice a morning to work hard. The rain had faded into a modest drizzle, making her garden really pop as the flowers anticipated the sunlight on it's way. Paths that were nearly overgrown with exotic herbs and bushes, flowering things. Some of them were medicinal, a couple made for really good tea, most were there simply because they were pretty and Aleidis loved watching them grow. The center of the garden was dominated by two broad, squat trees with shallow, exposed roots and frond-like leaves, perfect for providing shelter from rain or sun.

Sliding away from her patio table, Aleidis quietly lit a thin cigarette and peeked her head out to gauge the clouds. They were breaking - it'd be a sunny day for the first time in weeks. A rare treat! Her plants were no doubt excited. Folding her arms, the Ghostling got comfortable; she'd watch nature spring to life to take advantage of the brief reprieve, at least until her Togruta woke up and came looking for her and possibly breakfast.

Life was pretty good. Odds are that everything would be alright.

 

[Codi Zrgaat]

For some reason I'm awake way too friggin early. My tight ass isn't ready to get out of bed yet, but Alei's already outside, so I've got plenty of time to myself. Figured I'd drop you a line. Not bothering with a call. Not sure when you'd be available to receive it. Besides, it's not like I don't have time. Life's slowed down pretty handily since the last time we saw you. My fault, of course. If I left it up to her, we'd be out freeing slaves on Evilzon IV or something.

I guess I'm the one who never really moved on, because I can still remember the dorms. Three kids goofing around, avoiding lessons, watching crappy Jedi movies together. I remember the locker that we got stuck in. I remember your, like...sixteenth birthday party, where everyone thought I was just going to screw with you and we just went out for food. All of it is still fresh on my mind. It's been years - more than a decade, probably - but I still haven't moved on beyond being a kid. I still stay up late, sleep in, laugh too loud, and swear too much. I wonder how she puts up with me, honestly.

I finally found Alei. It took years (intentional plural is intentional) to track her sorry ass down. She was off crusading again and again, until she started losing things. It was just time at first. Then it was her loved ones, then her arm. Thank the Force she stopped when she thought she was going to lose me. Even if that's just silly paranoia on her part. I tracked her halfway across the blasted galaxy three times over. No matter how many times she ran away from me, I was always on her heels. "Losing me" would have been next to impossible.

Anyway, we're doing pretty well, all things considered. One of her ridiculous friends turned out to be ridiculously rich, and when he died or something he gave her his little gas station company. You may have heard of it. It's freaking Silk Holdings. Yeah. That's Alei's now. So it's pretty easy to say that we're doing well enough. Picked a planet to settle on that I still think there was no way I'd agree to when I was sober, so I do believe alcohol may have been involved in this decision.

No, I'm not telling you where we are. Not until I know that no one else will find out. We'd like to see you sometime, but as far as I know you still work for the council, and I'm not letting them any-frakking-where near Aleidis. She's given enough to the galaxy. I'm not letting her get conscripted into losing anything else for the sake of people who bitched at her because she couldn't die for their sins. So when I know I can trust you to keep a secret, I'll come pick you up. I'd like you to see our new place anyway.

Alei's got a garden outside the main house. It's pretty open-air, which means everything has to be humidity-shielded because this planet doesn't frakking stop raining ever. It's cool, though. I like the rain. It's natural here. Not like on Coruscant. Unfortunately that's about the only thing here that isn't Coruscant that I like, so I made my own mini-Coruscant. My own little spec of neon lights and loud music right near the spaceport of the capital city. Tons of offworld traffic to keep things interesting, and my own personal touches.

One part watering hole, one part night club. Even without my angel here, I'd be pretty close to heaven right now.

But she is here, and that means that I'm going exactly nowhere. And neither is she. Write me back sometime and we can talk about getting you down here to come visit, but so help me the first person who tries to talk to Aleidis about going to save the galaxy again will be educated firsthand that I still carry lightsabers. That's you, Watts, Raaf, or anybody. I'm not letting anyone take her away from me now. She's given you bastards enough already.

Later, Nerius.

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As her fingers clicked those last few keys on her datapad, Codi let out a quiet sigh. She wasn't really one for writing letters, considering there were so many easier ways to communicate with people. This time, though, she wasn't sure when whoever she was talking to would be available. It was a big galaxy and Jedi tended to be busy. But really, wasn't that what holomail was for?

Time to get up. The world was waiting for her. Codi dropped her datapad back on the bed as she stood, tossing on a sloppy oversized shirt to keep too much of her panties from showing as she walked around her own house. Well. Aleidis' house. The entire reason they even had this place was because the Force had decided to provide Aleidis with some small measure of compensation for all that she'd done for a galaxy that had offered exactly nothing in the way of thanks. Zrgaat never forgot for a moment that Alei was the root of all of this.

She wouldn't let herself. If she did forget that, she might have started to remember how Aleidis' mission to save the galaxy at the cost of her own life was more important to her than Codi was.

Okay, sun was up. Walking out of their open-windowed bedroom and out onto what had to be one of the biggest patios in five systems, Codi still couldn't help but be amazed that she had agreed to this. A house surrounded by a garden wasn't exactly what she had expected to live most of her life in, but at least inside it had all the amenities of a proper, civilized house. And if she ever got tired of being civilized? The view outside was gorgeous...and so were the plants, when she stopped looking at Aleidis.

Aleidis Ijet. The most important creature in Codi's world...and the most frustrating. As a girl she had been beset by doubts and overburdened by responsibility. As a young woman she had become a war veteran with all of the scars thereof. And now, as a proper adult...she was finally happy. That was enough for Codi. As long as Aleidis was smiling and safe, her job was complete.

With her bare orange feet dodging puddles, Codi wandered out to Alei's favorite smoking spot, beneath the two big 'ol trees she'd grown in their back yard. It was pretty much impossible to be stealthy while bright orange, half-naked, and evading rainwater, so Codi only tried to do so ironically. When she was close enough to Aleidis, she pounced, falling short of actually colliding with her fragile SO and instead only resting the tips of her fingers on the Ghostling's shoulders. "Mornin', firefly."

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

Codi had a singular privilige in the galaxy - a practiced enough hand to touch a Ghosting without hurting her. Aleidis didn't like wearing her inertia belt around the house any more than her prosthetic arm, so it was a useful talent. When she was pulled from her reverie by touch, she gave a small gasp of surprise, then relaxed when her rational mind reminded her that it had to be Codi. And then Codi reminded her it was Codi, and everything was alright.

They'd figured out early how to hug. That hadn't changed. Aleidis delicately moved Codi's arms to her waist and leaned back into the Togruta's taller form, flicking her cigarette away into a convenient receptacle. "Good morning!" She chirped warmly, anticipating the gentle, eager way Codi's lek would no doubt begin wandering from her own shoulders to explore her neck and collarbones soon. "You're up a bit early, aren't you?"

This was what heaven was, in her own honest opinion. Aleidis had spent her whole life chasing ideals and bleeding herself on the altar of Galactic Peace - and Codi had stood by waiting for her the whole time. Now, standing in their house together, with nothing to do but enjoy life, Aleidis had a measure of peace all her own. Tranquility was orange skin and snark, love was careful touches and tiny squeezes. Leaning her head back, the Ghostling put her head to shoulder, it wasn't long before her lips found the corner of Codi's own by way of greeting. "Any exciting plans, today? I was thinking breakfast, and we could get around to watching Spirit Warrior 7." Aleidis suggested with a smirk. They'd been putting off the final installment of that time-honored wuxia flick for days, for lack of free time. Why not finish it up, though?

 

[Codi Zrgaat]

"I guess I can call in late," the Togruta began, her fingers stroking along Aleidis' hair just barely gently enough to keep from pulling any strands or pressing down on her scalp. She thought idly back to those early days, years and years ago, when the two girls had tried cuddling for the first time. After she'd fractured the Ghostling's arm during relief efforts on a planet whose name she'd forgotten, Codi had a violent paranoia about touching her, for fear of seriously injuring her.

Now here they were sleeping together. It had taken years for Codi to train herself how to remain exceedingly still in her sleep.

"Eebee is enough for the early morning regulars, an' that new girl, Corrine? 'Bout time she handled a day shift on 'er own." Her hands didn't-actually-rest on Aleidis' lap, completing the hug with an always-present, always-careful concentration to keep from applying too much weight anywhere...but maintaining skin contact. That's all Aleidis needed, after all. And Codi? All she needed was Aleidis.

Topic at hand. Bad Jedi movies. It'd been their secret passion for...basically forever. They'd picked it up with Talen Nerius back in the padawan dorms, and it really just stuck. Space Wuxia had the unique blend of melodrama, bad special effects, and decent choreography that was both funny and emotive. And the good stuff? Oooh, that was so much more than just amusing. Crouching Vornskr, Hidden Rancor, despite the anthropological inaccuracies of naming a movie about Dathomiri clans after an animal not native to their planet, was just a masterpiece of subtle drama, incredible fight scenes, believable and heartbreaking romance, and gorgeous visual effects.

Spirit Warrior 7 likely couldn't compare. "I do need t'go in later, though. Evenin' crowd an' all. They'll be expectin' the orange schutta t'make with the magic."
[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]

 

[Aleidis Zrgaat]

[member="Codi Zrgaat"]

"Oh, I don't doubt it! That place just isn't the same without you in it." Aleidis chuckled, leaning back into Codi as much as she was physically comfortable doing. She wasn't as frail as she'd been back in her youth, but compared to Codi, she was still quite breakable. "Less lively. More organized. Not as many tips. It's a wonder you even let the other girls bother to show cleavage when you're there - it is a wasted effort, to say the least." Turning her head, Aleidis planted a quick, affectionate kiss on one of Codi's curious little sensory appendages - she loved those things terribly - before pinching her arm.

"Go get the movie set up. I'll get some puffed rice to snack on and meet you in the den." She decided with a grin. A long morning of movies and cuddling - her plants could wait until Codi left for work. And once she did, Aleidis would handle all the little things around the house that needed to be kept up on before joining her. Waitressing was fun, in it's own right, but it was more fun to watch Codi work and to be a part of that work.

 

[Codi Zrgaat]

Aaaand she was off. Aledis moved like a woman possessed when she had anything she wanted done. That kind of work ethic might well have been what separated her from the normal Jedi, like Codi. The Togruta was fearless in the face of danger and willing to put her life on the line to protect others, just like every other warrior of galactic peace...but she didn't have the same motivation, the same drive that Alei did. Watching her glowing little lover in motion was like being in the center of the fluffiest hurricane ever.

But Codi had her own job to get to. Padding back inside, past the wet grass, the wet walkways, she took a moment to change into something drier that she wouldn't have to worry about changing for work. Pants tight enough to look like she had painted her, a low-cut tank with a healthy a midriff to give her firefly something to gawk at...pretty standard stuff for her wardrobe, minus shoes. Unlike some women in this house, she actually covered her feet. Blasted rainwater would get everywhere if she didn't.

The living room was huge. Open-air second floor, tons of space, multiple separate areas for bars and couches, several holovid screens...and the best part was the front window, which could tint itself black and be used as a massive-screen entertainment center. Codi loved that window a little too much, honestly. It let her keep up with her Huttball games or watch sappy movies with Aleidis...and the couch was just a biiit too big to comfortably sit up on. Perfect size for cuddling with thick, fluffy comforters an a zillion pillows.

Codi picked up the local datapad to bring up the big screen, tinting the front window. Spirit Warriors 7 had been on their watch queue for at least a good two weeks. She'd never found the time, because she had to train the new girl. Now, she'd made the time. Also, she should probably call in... two clicks. "Hey, Eebee, I'm gonna be in a bit late today. See if Tibba can fill in behind th' counter. See if Alen or Phiedra will come in today for a bit of overtime pay. Someone's gonna need to watch Corrine."

Dressed enough for cuddles but not enough for work, Codi wandered off to go find those million pillows and acre of blankets that she'd thought up earlier. Linen closet, maybe?
[member="Aleidis Zrgaat"]