Private Take a Breath

[Trextan Voidstalker]

MINDABAAL

Choli Vyn

The air was clear. It was in the literal sense. There was still unresolved tension between them both.

"Caf with that?"

"Just a water is fine for me. Thank you."

They had found a small cafe between the spaceport and a river. Small boats drifted by. It was quite peaceful. Trextan waited until the waiter had left them with the table.

"How've you been feeling?" he asked. Trextan didn't want to launch into quizzing her about the future. He was aware that he might have initiated events, but it took two to start. However, it had taken strong wills from the both of them to stop.

---

"Lord Orryx."

"Yes?"

The cruiser hung in open space. They were in dangerous territory, but the vacuum of space was too large to sweep.

"The Wardens you wanted. Spotted back in Alliance space. Mindabaal. Should we prepare a strike team?"

"No I have something else in mind to bring them to me. Plot a course to Chalcedon and prepare a data packet for our spy."

 

[Choli Vyn]

Interacting with: Trextan Voidstalker
Armor- x x x x x | Gear x x x x x x x | Weapons x x x x x

Choli leaned back in her chair, the leather of her flight jacket creaking as she folded her arms. The caf-house was quiet, save for the hum of speeders in the distance and the gentle lap of the river against boat hulls. Too quiet, almost, like the silence after a dogfight when the comms cut out and you were left with only your own breathing.

She kept her gaze on the drifting boats, not Trextan, as if that might make answering easier.

"Better," she said at last, though her voice carried that rough edge that suggested she was still working on convincing herself.

"Food, sleep and water helped out... the caf will take the rest of the edge off."

Her fingers drummed against the table once before stilling. It wasn't the whole truth, but it was what she could give right now. At least, without her mind drifting over towards the bits her body ached to remember again.

Another breath, but then she added with genuine wonder.

"Just so much water. Still not used to seeing it." she admitted, looking out to the riverways.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

TREXTAN

The hum of traffic felt distant, the river’s gentle lap at peace with everything but the ache still tight behind his chest.

Choli sat across from him, arms folded over the tabletop, her gaze drifting over the boats rocking downstream. She didn’t meet his eyes, not yet. But she was here.

“Yeah. Being on Tatooine was such an experience,” he said. His lightsaber crystal had come from the world. His family line had too, even if they had emigrated to Coruscant a generation before he was born.

"Thanks for coming out," he added, voice low.

He realised that even Tatooine was a subject that could conjour so many memories. It was impossible to separate them from their past. They still had to look at where they were now honestly.

"We could take a small boat out, if you'd like," he offered. He tried to give a little breathing room rather than diving into things.

 

[Choli Vyn]

Interacting with: Trextan Voidstalker
Armor- x x x x x | Gear x x x x x x x | Weapons x x x x x

Tatooine.

The word brought with it a lot of memories with it. The heat of the Twin Suns. The sand. The Sandcrawlers. Trextan kissing her silly in that tiny room. Feeling out of breath. Tipsy. Floaty feeling. Hot. Hands sweaping over --

Choli coughed, bringing her mug up to take a long sip of her caf, as if the bitter brew was going to wash away the flashback of tipsy and hormone fueled series of events that had last seen them on that backwater world together.

She was glad for the topic switch regarding the boat. It was enough to cause her to swivel her eyes at him and perk both brows up in mild, incredulous amusement at his offer. A boat. Peaceful, slow, and nothing like the cockpit of a starfighter.

Water everywhere.

"I can't swim." She said plainly, putting into focus the trouble they'd have if said boat tipped. She let her arms loosen,hands wrapped around that warm mug, and while she was not quite ready to close the gap between them yet, she wasn't pulling away either.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

TREXTAN

They were going to need to work this out if they were going to spend more time around one another. Otherwise they would find themselves in a moment when their defences were down - tired or hurt or drunk - and the next morning they would find themselves in a place they weren't ready for yet.

"I know, but that river really isn't very deep. We'd get a life jacket so you could float. I promise you'd be safe," Trextan said. He smiled back at her. "It would be peaceful."

She had said she would do her best to keep him safe in Tatooine. Then he had betrayed her trust and walked into a sandstorm. This was a very different level of danger. Almost zero.

He reached out first. Just briefly. He stretched across the table and set his hand on top of her wrist. Trextan met her gaze and then drew his hand back. He wanted it to be a small, reaffirming gesture when he wasn't certain what to say. In truth, he knew he needed to give her space to let her thoughts filter into words.

 

[Choli Vyn]

Interacting with: Trextan Voidstalker
Armor- x x x x x | Gear x x x x x x x | Weapons x x x x x

A life jacket.

The thought made her lips give a twitch in humor, her eyes melting from a rich hazel into a soft blue in mirth.

A tell in a good direction.

Her eyebrow rose, a finger tapping against the rim of her mug as she chuckled out, “I’m sure that will look flattering on me.”

Not that she hadn’t used one before, she had, it was just funny.

At least until she saw and felt him reach out to gently graze her wrist in a reaffirming gesture she’d never seen him do before.

It was strange, thinking about how he’d matured in three years. This wouldn’t have been something he’d done in the past, most often tending to brood or keep to himself about whatever concerned him or was in his mind.

Choli didn’t mind it. It was just … new - - but she didn’t turn away.

“Peaceful. Hmm. Well maybe peaceful might be good now and then considering.” A pause then she canted her head to the right, studying him.

“Do you know how to swim?”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

TREXTAN

"Considering," Trextan agreed.

He felt like there was a quiet between them now. Similar to the gentle river it was occasionally rippled by a few words but the surface remained peaceful.

He took a slow sip of his own drink before setting it down. The liquid was warm. It wasn't enough to match the warmth that rose up every time he let his thoughts drift. Even though they kept things quiet now, it had been something of a litmus test for whether they still shared chemistry.

"I can swim," he said. "No lakes on Coruscant but we had swimming pools."

"I think it's important you wear the life jacket for safety," he quietly teased. It was a strange thought, that even though he wasn't afraid of water he was far more used to the lethal vacuum of space than water.

"I like your jacket," he said of the white and blue she was wearing.

He glanced over his shoulder. Their food would be out soon.

"I can probably figure out how to row," he said. "So you don't have to pilot. Can still tell me what to do."

 

[Choli Vyn]

Interacting with: Trextan Voidstalker
Armor- x x x x x | Gear x x x x x x x | Weapons x x x x x

So he could swim.

They actually hadn't talked deeply about his childhood on Coruscant. At the time they met, Trextan had still been feeling the emotional surge of not only losing his mother, stepfather, the gauntlet that was the Sith Academy, then thrust upon the battlefield before coming face to face with his father, Jacen Voidstalker, the end result leaving him having to have a cybernetic arm attached.

He rarely talked of the past. His time at the Academy. Or what he had gone through. He had spoken of his surviving sisters, though, and was active enough in their lives to go to one of their weddings.

She was about to ask about them when he complimented her jacket. It threw her off slightly, comically so, and she couldn't help the slight laugh that came out as she took another sip of her caf.

"Thank you. Traded it and a few other clothes for fixing up a droid. Easier to barter labor for trade than spend the credits."

The smile lingered and she gave in.

"Alright, we can do it.. just let me warm up to the idea." She conceded, but then followed up with what she had wanted to ask.

"How are your sisters doing?"

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

TREXTAN

"Oh, thanks for asking," Trextan replied.

That simple reply more firmly established changes in his life. He didn't shy away from talking about family at all.

"Selandra seems happy enough. She's a mid-level analyst on Coruscant and I have no idea what her works means."

Trextan gave a shake of his head. It wasn't as if he liked his step sisters. Not like friends. But after the death of their parents they had slowly grown a relationship.

"Oh, they have a son. Tavian. Still...small."

Trextan didn't really know how to describe children. He was aware that it wasn't quite a baby any more and had seen photos.

"Cassira is still mean."

He thought of telling Choli that she didn't need to go on the boat if she didn't feel like it. Then he reflected that if she didn't want to she would simply tell him.

"I should go and visit them again soon. You can come see them if you'd like."

 

[Choli Vyn]

Interacting with: Trextan Voidstalker
Armor- x x x x x | Gear x x x x x x x | Weapons x x x x x

Choli took another sip of her caf as Trextan updated her on the circumstances of his sister's lives. IT was strange, hearing about the family lives of others still, but nice in a way as well.

Choli had long since made peace with herself that she will never locate the Tusken Tribe that had adopted her, that she would never see her adoptive father again. It had been years and the Dune Seas of Tatooine many.

Family now was a handful patchwork of spacers and Force using hermits and Wardens she could trust.

Of course, when he suggested that she could come see them, she paused, bringing her caf midway to her mouth, her arm hovering for a bit as she peered at him over the rim.

"Visit?" she asked, a bit surprised. "Me?"

That seemed ... odd. Especially since she didn't have any ties to them. The one time she met them was when Trextan had invited her to come for one of his sister's weddings and even then, she'd gone in her Alliance uniform at the time. IT had been... and a curious experience. Too many people for such a celebration. So open.

"Thank you.. but..." She began slowly, setting her mug back down. "Perhaps that might be a bit too ambitious right now."

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

TREXTAN

Trextan rubbed at the back of his neck, realizing too late how clumsy that sounded. He huffed out a breath, catching himself before the silence stretched too far.

“What I mean is… I wasn’t trying to make it sound like a big thing...” He gave a faint shrug, lips tugging into the kind of half-smile that only showed when he was self-conscious.

He trailed off. His expression was a reminder of how he had often been lost for words. She knew he didn't mean to make it an escalation. She was simply blunt when pointing out the truth.

She was an arrow that could fly true through a desert storm. He liked that about her. Even if it had meant she had been the one to make the difficult decision to end their relationship before. Did she think he was weak for cultivating feelings for her again so soon after their reunion?

"Yeah," he agreed. "Families are weird. A wedding is a weird place to meet someone too."

Actualky weddings were just strange things.

The waiter passed and dropped their plates onto the table with a perfunctory nod. Trextan seized on the chance to shift. He leaned forward as the steam rose between them.

“Smells good,” he said, a little more certain now. Food was easy. He picked up his fork, giving her a sidelong glance.

"You'll have to tell me more about surviving a tundra," he said.

His tone softened on the last line, and he left it at that, letting the food and the quiet of the riverside café carry them a while longer.

There was an unspoken rule that food came before conversation.