Lowie arrived early to take them to the Millennium Falcon. "Dad knows, and he's fine with it," the little Wookiee explained to the two as they made their way through the halls. "He agreed we shouldn't tell Uncle Han till we're far away from Coruscant, too, so I guess that's exactly what we aren't going to do."
It was not yet five in the morning, yet the docking bay was already packed. Lowie led Cahra, Xicanti, and Odin to a separate bay, which had been set aside strictly for the Falcon. Han had insisted, upon moving into the Palace permanently, that his ship needed the space to herself; no one had questioned him on it.
Chewie waited by the ship as the four approached. "So, these are our two stowaways!" he rumbled.
Xicanti nodded. "This's them. The little furry one's Odin, and the human's Cahra."
Chewie grinned. "Good to meet you both," he said. "Lowie, bring 'em inside and I'll show 'em the loose panels."
The compartments in the bottom of the ship were fascinating; originally used for smuggling, they now carried supplies and toys for the children. They contained extra space, though, and so Chewie led Cahra to the largest of them. "This'll be a good one," he told her. "Lots of space left, and some cases of stuff to sit on." The Wookiee Lord sniffed the air experimentally. "Some cases of ale to sit on," he corrected himself. "Twice as good!"
Odin did not agree. The dog situated himself as far from the cases as he could get. He lay on the floor and tucked his nose under his tail. "He doesn't like it much!" Lowie commented. "He'll have to live with it, though. This one's the only compartment with room for both of them."
:I don't mind being away from Cahra for a few hours! Really, I don't!: Odin looked up at Xicanti pitifully.
He did not get much sympathy. "Just live with it!" Xicanti laughed to the dog. "It's just for a bit. You might even get to like it after a while!"
:That's not very likely.: Seeing that Xicanti wasn't going to be a sympathetic listener, the dog buried his face deeper into his fur and went to sleep.
The task of waking Xepher went to Xicanti. Though he loved his brother, the boy would rather have allowed someone else to do the job. Xeph was not a morning person; he did not appreciate rising earlier than noon, and was known to take out his testy mood on whoever awakened him. "That'd be me, today," Xicanti grumbled to himself as he entered Xeph's room. "If he's gonna be pissed at me anyways, I might as well do somethin' fun to get 'im up."
With a certain eagerness, the young thief slid into position. Xepher lay sprawled across the bed, oblivious to the world. "Now," the young thief whispered, "I've just gotta get an idea."
A few ideas had slipped through before he finally arrived at the perfect one. The whore thing again, he decided, but with illusions this time. That'll really wake him up fast!
The young thief focused his mind on the images, just as Mara had taught him. It took much of his concentration, but before long he had conjured fifteen scantily clad whores of various races, all buxom and attractive. With a grin, he proceeded:
"XEPHER!"
His shout, amplified with a simple mind trick, awakened Xepher immediately. Groggily, he stumbled out of bed; Xicanti quickly adjusted one of his illusions so it was out of the way. It skipped back merrily, giggling as it went.
Had that illusion been anything else, Xepher would not have noticed it in his hung-over state. But it wasn't; it was a near-naked, giggling young woman. The boy very much noticed her.
Xepher took in a sharp breath as he realized what these fifteen beautiful creatures were. His breathing increased even more rapidly as he stumbled towards the giggling one. "How much do you charge?" he blurted. "I don't have much, but I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement..."
Xicanti had the illusion blush and lean forward. "Let's see how you kiss first," he said, changing his voice to that of a woman and projecting it into the illusion. "I'll decide based on that."
Xepher was more than eager. He pressed up against the courtesan, kissing her for all she was worth. Xicanti heard his brother's gasp of enjoyment as his fingers gripped the arm of the 'woman' in a decidedly sexual manner. With a grin, he altered the illusion very slightly.
Xepher was far more than surprised when the willing, buxom whore turned into an ugly, knarled old man in his arms.
"Well, thanks sonny," Xicanti said in his best old man voice, projecting it into the illusion once more. "That was mighty good, but I'll have to say I can't take you on. Too much for me old bones, ya know." The old man patted Xepher's cheek and faded out as Xicanti released the illusion. The other women disappeared with him.
Xepher looked around the room wildly, not quite comprehending their sudden lack of existence. "Where'd they all go?" he cried. "I want them back! Bring them back!"
Xicanti, meanwhile, was having a great deal of difficulty with keeping his laughter internal. As he had already dispersed the illusions, he let it all out, drawing Xeph's attention to him.
The other was evidently not pleased. "You really are an evil, evil being," he grumbled as Xicanti rolled on the floor, nearly dead from laughter. "An' you think it's funny, don't you?" He shook his head back and forth as he headed off to relieve himself. "Some people!"
The young thief, laughter now under control, tromped in after his brother. "You shoulda seen the look on your face!" he laughed. "It was great! Just about killed me! I'll have to show you some day with illusions. I don't think I'll ever forget it."
Xepher looked over at his brother crossly. "Do you mind?" he asked. "I'm taking a piss!"
"I can see that. Piss away." He leaned against the wall the toilet was situated on insolently. "Like the way I set up the whores? I thought I did a real good job on 'em, personally, especially the one with the blue hair. She had nice tits, huh?"
Xepher was forced to admit that the blue-haired one had been incredibly well endowed. "But that don't change what you did!" he scolded his brother. "I don't think anything ever will."
"That doesn't matter. You woulda been pissed at me for wakin' you up anyways, so I just went an' made it fun! You remember we're goin' today, right?"
"Yup. How could I forget? You can be quite unthinking sometimes." He glared over at Xicanti. "An' very disrespectful of your poor little brother's feelings!"
"I really am sorry you took it so hard." Xicanti grinned over at his brother, who had finished up. "Till I think a' how your face looked when that whore turned into an old man, that is!"
Han was waiting for the brothers as they made their way to the ship. "Took ya long enough," he grumbled. "Hurry up and get in so we can take off."
The twins obliged him. Inside, they were presented with a somewhat chaotic scene; Chewie prepared the cockpit while Lowie tried to calm the young ones down. He was evidently frustrated. Jacen and Jacen N. rolled about the floor frantically as Jaina attempted to teach Icky to use the Force to levitate things. The small one was catching on quickly. He had dozens of cups, spoons and bits of lint suspended in the lounge section of the ship.
Icky let his concentration slide as he saw the two enter. "Skanti and Xeppa!" he cried happily as the objects involuntarily dropped down a notch. "Come see me lev-tate stuff! It neat! Jaya say I do good at it!"
Happy to have an audience, the little boy returned his concentration to the floating objects. His eyes narrowed into slits as he carefully pulled them down. "He's actually doing it!" Jaina cried happily. "I've been trying to get him to take that stuff down without breaking it for months now, and he finally got it! Jasas, look at this!"
Obligingly, the two fighting boys quit with their play and watched Icky place each object on the table. When the last one was safely down, they applauded with whoops and cheers. This made Icky grin. "I do it! I do it!" he cried gleefully. Raising his voice, he called to the cockpit, "Dadda an' Chewie, I do it!"
"Do what?" Han called back.
"Put stuff down from ceiling. Odie show me how! He nice."
Han stuck his head into the lounge. "Who's Odie?" he asked. "One of the 'droids?"
Icky shook his head. "He nice, that what he is! He teach me Force stuff. Help with gettin' stuff down. Really nice! I like Odie. Keep him?" He looked up at his father questioningly.
Quite unsure of what to say, Han replied, "I guess so. Just tell him he can't get into my ale. That's mine."
Icky nodded vigorously. "Odie, no go in Dadda's ale!" he proclaimed. Then, tilting one ear to the ground, as though listening, he nodded a bit and looked back to his father. "Odie say he don't want no stinkin' ale!" he announced to everyone. "Ale taste bad and smell bad and Odie don't like! He already too close to it."
Han nodded and headed back to the cockpit, thinking it nice that Icky had found an imaginary friend. Xicanti suspected otherwise, and headed for the hall containing the storage compartments.
:Odin?: he asked, ensuring Xepher could not overhear. :Have you been talking to Icky?:
:A little,: the dog replied mournfully. :I was getting bored, and he needed some help with his trick, so I told him how it went. He's really a very bright kid, you know.:
:I know. Maybe it'd be good if you didn't talk to 'im anymore till we tell Han you're here, though,: the young thief suggested. :We haven't even left the planet yet, an' if Han finds out you two are here, he'll just send you right back. You gotta keep quiet.:
:Whatever you say!: Odin went back to sleep.
The boy returned to the lounge, where Icky was now happily spinning a cup around. "Odie good teacher," he said to Xicanti as he entered. "He show me just how it done, and I do. Icky good learner!" Having told his uncle all he wanted to, Icky returned to his spinning. He sent the cup whirling off to the cockpit, where a startled cry followed it.
Chewie came from the cockpit with the cup in his hand. "Yours?" he asked the grinning Icky. The small boy nodded and took the cup; Chewie headed back to his seat, mumbling something about behavior as he went.
The Falcon took off at eight o'clock, heading straight for Tatooine. "Normally I make a few shortcuts," Han explained to the twins, who had come up to the cockpit to get away from the adolescent squabbles in the lounge, "but we'll go right there this time. We can take a look at some other stuff on the way back."
The trip took much less time than Xicanti had anticipated. Within three hours, the Millennium Falcon had landed on Tatooine, ancestral home of the Skywalkers. Chewie took Xicanti aside and said, "I'm going to tell him now. There's not really much he can do about it except let her stay until we go someplace else."
Xicanti nodded in agreement. "Ya think he'll be real mad?" the boy asked uncertainly.
"With Han, it's hard to tell. He would have really minded before he had kids of his own, but I don't think he'll mind so much now. You'd still better let me be the one to tell him, though."
Han did not take it too hard. He simply shrugged and asked, "Stowaway? And you helped her get on?" He sighed. "I guess I have to trust your judgment then, Chew. Where'd you stick her?"
"In with the ale."
"What?!" The great Han Solo was, apparently, far more concerned with his ale than the violation of his ship. He raced to the compartment holding the ale and ripped it open. "My ale!" he cried, leaping over Odin to reach. "You didn't drink any, did you? This is quality stuff! Extremely important for the trip!"
Cahra, evidently startled by Han's sudden appearance, stuttered, "I d-didn't touch it! Just sat on the case, that's all. Chewie said it was okay."
Han glared up at the Wookiee Lord. "Chewie has no taste for good ale," he grumbled. "He should've stuck you somewhere else, if he was gonna help you stow away. Anywhere but the ale!"
As Han was ranted about the ale, Jacen snuck up behind him. "Who're you?" he asked Cahra. "And what're you doing with my Dad's ale? He won't even let Mom near it most of the time! He must really like you." The little boy stuck his hand down into the compartment. "I'm Jacen Solo. That's my Dad over there, and the big hairy one's Uncle Chewie. The other one's Xicanti, and the little hairy one's Lowie. The ones that look like me are Jacen N. and Jaina, and the one that looks like Xicanti is his twin brother Xepher. Oh, and the small one running around lifting things into the air with his mind is my little brother Anakin. We call him Icky so we don't get him mixed up with our Grandpa, whose name's also Anakin. He's dead, though, so we don't see him that often. You'll get to meet him when you get out of there. Icky, that is, not Grandpa."
Cahra took Jacen's hand and shook it warmly. "I'm Cahra Wolfspeak," she told him. "I'll look forward to meeting the rest of the people you mentioned."
Jacen grinned at her. "You'll like them!" he proclaimed. "I do. Especially Jaya and Jasa. They're my twins, you know. Or maybe I should call them my triplets, since we're triplets. I don't know. But I should stop talking and let you out of there. Dad's ale doesn't smell that good, and I wouldn't want you to have to spend more time with it than was absolutely necessary."
Cahra took Jacen's suggestion and climbed out of the compartment. Odin barked to be let up, so Lowie climbed in and hauled him out. "There you go boy!" the little Wookiee said cheerfully as he placed the dog on the floor of the ship.
Odin glared at Xicanti. :I'll never forgive you if I have to ride in there again on the way back!: he declared grumpily. :You have no idea how bad that stuff smells!:
:I do too!: the boy retorted. :I used to get it lots while I was little. It tastes lots better than it smells.:
:I'll take your word for that. I don't think I want to be sticking my nose into a bowl of that crap!:
:Your choice.:
As Odin and Xicanti discussed the virtues and evilities of the ale, Han spoke to Chewie. "What do you mean she's a good friend of his -" he pointed at Xicanti "- so you thought you could let her into the ale. Chewie, sometimes I really wonder about you!"
"Well, she didn't drink any of it," the Wookiee Lord protested, "so I really don't think you should be that mad at her!" He looked over to Xicanti and asked, "Should he?"
The boy agreed. "She didn't do anything wrong, Han!" he told the smuggler. "All of it was my fault, so get mad at me, not her!"
"It was not all your fault!" Cahra joined the conversation by snapping at her friend. "I was the one who made you take me along. It's my fault, so don't blame him!"
Xicanti glared at her. Cahra glared right back. The two would likely have stayed there for hours, had Lowie had not stepped in between. "You really do have a most damnable habit of trying to take all the blame on yourself, you know," he muttered to Xicanti. "You've gotta except that not everything can be your fault." To Cahra, the little Wookiee said, "you've got it all wrong. It's not your fault, and it's not Xicanti's fault. It's not my fault either. It's no one's fault. Except maybe fate's." He turned to Han and asked pleadingly, "Can't she stay for just a little while?"
Han looked slightly mollified. "I guess so," he muttered. "Just as long as she doesn't drink any of my ale!"
Lowie smiled. "You aren't going to drink his ale, are you?" he asked the girl.
Cahra smiled back and shook her head. "I guess not," she replied. "If it tastes as bad as it smells, I wouldn't want to!"
"It's a deal then!" Han proclaimed. "She can stay for the whole trip, if she wants. It's up to her."
"I think I'll stay the whole time, if you really don't mind," Cahra replied. "I've never been off Coruscant before, and I'd like to see the rest of the galaxy."
"You'll like it! It's a nice galaxy. I've lived here for a really long time, and I've never seen a better one!" Jacen piped up. "There's lots and lots of really neat planets. Like Yavin 4. That's where my Uncle Luke has his Jedi Academy. I'm gonna go there when I'm older, 'cause I'm gonna be a Jedi Knight. So're my brothers and sister, and lotsa other people all over the galaxy. Lowie might go too, even though he knows almost everything already. Everything that Uncle Luke and Aunt Mar can teach him, that is. So he might not need to go after all. He's a Wookiee, you know. They live for a really, really, really long time. Sometimes they don't even die until they've been around for several thousand years!"
The little boy stopped for breath. Chewie bent down and picked him up. "He's a good kid, but he talks a lot," the Wookiee Lord apologized to Cahra. "Once he gets to know you, he won't blabber so much."
"Oh, that's fine. It's nice to have someone to talk to besides Xicanti and the Droids." She looked over at Xicanti and smiled. "Not to say that what you talk about is boring, of course. I've always found it really interesting, about your brother and all." She stopped and looked around. "Jacen mentioned he was here. Your brother, that is. Could I meet him?"
Xicanti shrugged. "Sure. He's probably in the lounge playin' with Icky. The kid just learned how to levitate stuff today, ya know. He'll wanna show ya."
The young thief led the girl into the lounge, where Icky was busy playing with his cup. He had somehow managed to fill it with tap water using only his mind; the cup was filled to the brim. Carefully, he maneuvered it into a position just over Jacen N., who had fallen asleep. Icky concentrated on the cup harder, tipping it - slightly, at first - and eventually upending it over his older brother.
Jacen N. was awake in a flash. "Icky!" he shouted. "That was mean!"
Icky pouted. "I no do!" he protested. "It Skanti. He make water on face." The little one pointed over to Xicanti.
"I did not, Icky!" Xicanti protested. "I wouldn't do something like that."
Xepher barked out a laugh. "You'd miss a chance to wake someone up like that? I don't think so! Just like you haven't missed an opportunity to create one of your illusions." He pointed to Cahra.
Xicanti was perplexed. "You mean her? She's not an illusion!"
"Of course she ain't! An' that blue haired one this mornin' wasn't either!" Xepher moved to where Xicanti and Cahra were standing. Carefully, he circled the girl, who moved aside as he examined her. "She seems real," he said dubiously, "but most of your illusions do. The only sure way I know of to test for 'em is to kiss 'em, but you'll probably turn her into some sort of Gamorrean or somethin' if I do. I don't want that happenin!"
"I would not change her into a Gam on you!" Xicanti protested. "You're fully awake now, so there's no point. Besides, I couldn't. She's real."
Xepher laughed. "I know that," he replied, his tone telling Xicanti that he did not, indeed, know 'that'. "I just don't wanna to take the chance, that's all."
Xicanti shrugged. "Your choice." He turned to Cahra. "This is Xeph. He's my twin brother."
"I think she can figure that out for herself, don't you bro?" Xeph cut in. "I mean, we do look almost exactly alike! Only I'm better lookin', of course." He grinned impishly at his brother.
"Are you now? We'll just see 'bout that! There've gotta be tons of people out there who'll tell ya in a second that I am, if anything, better lookin'!"
The twins' argument attracted the attention of young Icky, who came over to them with disapproval written all over his features. "Skanti, Xeppa," he said solemnly. "No fight. Fight bad. Be friends, like before! You good at it before, so you good at it now!" Having made his point, Icky strode off happily and went back to playing with his cup.
"He's right, you know," Cahra told them. "You shouldn't put so much emphasis on your appearance. Especially a certain person who spent most of last night explaining to me how he wasn't vain." She gave Xicanti a pointed look.
"But I'm not!" the young thief protested. "This's just somethin' me an' Xeph do! We don't mean it!" He elbowed his brother hard in the ribs. "Do we Xepher?"
Xeph grunted his agreement while clutching his ribs and glaring at his brother. In mindspeak, he said, :We need to talk!:
Xicanti nodded and followed his brother into the side bedroom. "Just stay here for a sec," he told Cahra. "Xeph says he needs to say something."
Copyright 1998, Jadis Darkmore
