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El Taco Taco
The ElvenqueenWhen the loading ramp made contact with hangar floor, both of their apprentices vanished very quickly, leaving the Champions with cart blanche to do…well, whatever they wanted. It was a strange feeling, but one that Yerbol could easily get used to, especially when Ari mentioned their agenda for the day.
“A hotel room DOES sound nice, but our place on Coruscant has set a high standard for us. Guess that means we’ll have to stay at someplace even swankier to compensate.” He shot her a playful grin as the duo intertwined hands, walking past bustling Alliance personnel, heavy machinery and other assorted reminders of work with a kind of reckless glide that is normally present in those who receive a chance to take a vacation.
When they emerged out of the hangar, they were greeted with the crisp, refreshing air that was the norm for Alderaan, even with the capital city just a taxi stop away.
“Let’s just…be, today.”
Which they did. After checking into their hotel, Yerbol voiced his desire for food, which then led to a discussion about WHERE to eat. Eventually it was decided that they were to enjoy the serene environs of the planet, setting up a picnic spot at a park just outside the city limits where there wouldn’t be too many onlookers who would call the city guard on the hounds. They had arrived and were enjoying a nice lunch when he had turned around to watch Taral chase down a pack of squirrels, about to comment on how little of a challenge the hounds were facing on Alderaan when he was met with fateful of snow. His spouse’s cackling triggered an immediate response.
“Oh no. We’re not doing this.” Before she could react, he scooped her up in his arms and found the biggest snowlike he could find, plopping her down with a satisfying thud.
“Somehow, you make a snowpile look very inviting.” A smirk crossed his features as he joined her in the snow and the Champion was very grateful there weren’t park visitors around their location for a few moments.
He was also very thankful that before he had to kick the hounds out, they had departed, giving them both snorts of approval for them to leave before setting off past city limits. This left them some time.
Which they took advantage of.
_____
His eyes opened to a few slivers of sunlight peeking through the heavy curtains that he had drawn last night before he had entered the fresher unit, silently wishing he had drawn them tighter so that they wouldn’t be roused from sleep. Groaning in protest, he cast a glance at the chronometer next to their bedside and rolled his eyes.
Seven forty five local time.
On the one day they had off, he couldn’t even sleep in. Figures. Then again, the activities of last night(and early this morning) were more than enough to compensate for the early rising. Yerbol turned over, placing an arm around his partner’s waist as he drew himself closer to her, planting a handful of kisses on her neck before settling onto the pillow, eyes closing. Maybe he could sneak in a couple of more hours before they were drawn away fro-
His comm unit vibrated.
“Oh for the sake of all that’s living…” He muttered, choosing to ignore the vibrations and closing his eyes. Whoever it was, they could wait.
It vibrated again with even more incessancy.
“Fine, fine.” Rolling out of bed, he stumbled over to the comm unit laying on a coffee table nearby, the unit half covered by his shirt(how did it end up here? Oh yeah…heh.) and answered:
“Yerbol speaking.”
“Hey, Yerbol…ah…could you come down here?”
“Ethan? What’s going on?” His apprentice’s voice was shaky when he responded:
“I think…I think I’m sick.”
“From what?” Silence.
“From. What?” A mutter.
“What was that?” A more audible, yet slurred answer this time:
“Cocktailswithgirls.” Son of a bantha.
“Are you hung over? That’s what this is, isn’t it?”
“I think…I’ve never been…hung over before…my head hurts.”
“Just…where are you?”
“Ah…” A pause.
“Think I’m...outside a big house.” Well that helps.
“What district? No, wait, forget it, just send me your coordinates and I’ll get you back to the ship.”
“Ok.” The call ended abruptly, Yerbol receiving coordinates and plotting the destination before biting his tongue in an attempt to suppress a loud stream of curses. Ethan was right outside House Kenaya’s complex, the aforementioned house a pivotal family that had lobbied for Alderaan to be one of the first Alliance planets to have the Qyaari involved in building Alliance governmental policies. They were trusted allies.
And somehow Ethan was right in front of their main base of operations. Hung over.
It had to be his apprentice, right? It couldn’t be Aria’s. Nope. She had to get the one who probably fell asleep at a library watching holo-vids of Alderaanian history. Grimacing at his lack of clothes once more, he walked to his spouse’s side of the bed before whispering:
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. With breakfast. And caf. I promise.” He kissed her cheek, taking one last longing look at the bed before he dressed and walked out of their hotel room.
___
When Yerbol arrived, he found Ethan standing against the complex’s outer wall, two armed guards bearing the emblem of House Kyanna flanking his position. Ethan’s nearly red hair looked duller somehow, his eyes somewhat bloodshot, clothes limply hanging off of him. With a shake of the head, he addressed the guards:
“Yerbol Massani, a Qyaari whose apprentice decided to embarrass the entire Order. My sincerest apologies if he was any trouble.”
“None at all this morning, sir. We didn’t even know he was here until Lady Jetsa told us of a ‘frumpy visitor’ at the gates that she saw on her security feed.” The matriarch of the family saw him. Great.
“Well please convey my deepest apologies for the unsightly visitor and I will personally see to it that he is disciplined for his actions.”
“Of course.”
__
The taxi ride back to the outskirts of Aldera was silent, Ethan occasionally drinking the electrolyte beverage Yerbol had purchased for him on the way to his location. It wasn’t until they reached the Commodore when Yerbol spoke in a restrained manner:
“What happened last night?” Ethan shook his head.
“I don’t know, I just-“
“Bull. Tell me what happened.” Ethan’s eyes widened slightly as words began to tumble out of his mouth:
“I was at the swoop track and I was betting on races and there were these girls there and they were cute and I told them that I was here on official business and they kept asking about it and I told them that I was your apprentice.” He stopped, smiling proudly.
“They liked that. Thought I was a big shot, bought me some drinks and-“ Yerbol grabbed Ethan by the collar of his shirt, eyes ablaze with indignation.
“YOU USED YOUR POSITION AS A QYAARI TO GET DRINKS?!”
“Woah, woah, I’m not finished, I’m-“
“YES. YES YOU ARE. GET YOUR ARSE BACK ON THE SHIP, NOW!”
“But-“
“SHUT IT!” Yerbol inadvertently clamped down on the boy’s collar so hard that he ripped a chunk of fabric as he tore his hand away in disgust. Ethan stood still, jaw slightly ajar as Yerbol jabbed a finger into the boy’s chest.
“You have NO idea what we’ve done to get to where we are now as an order and yet you flaunt our status like we’re bloody celebrities?! If I had known you were going to be that reckless, you would’ve been on lock down the moment we landed!”
“Hey, hey, I can have fun, can’t I? I mean, we’re allowed to blow off steam?! You and Aria went prancing off to-“
“ON THE SHIP!” The apprentice’s brow furrowed in frustration, turning on his heel back towards the ship, storming up the loading ramp.
As his initial wave of anger faded, he knew that many of the things he had said were ill-advised. He could have handled that better, but to see the carelessness, the stupidity that Ethan exhibited was jarring. He needed to talk to someone who had been through something like this before, someone who had a lot of experience training younger people-
Malu. She’d know how to handle something like this.
Yerbol walked out of the hangar and took a taxi back into Aldera, the stop about a few blocks away from their hotel. He located a restaurant that proudly declared they served breakfast along with lunch and dinner, strolling in and placing an order before finding a seat and withdrawing his comm unit, placing it on the table in front of him. He did a quick scan of the restaurant, happily acknowledging the scant populace of the eatery with a nod. The Champion then withdrew an earpiece from a hollowed out compartment on the rear of the unit, planting it firmly in his right ear before reaching out to Malu’s frequency without thinking of what time it was on Zinuthra. Thankfully the voice that answered didn’t sound like it was roused from slumber:
“Yerbol, what a pleasant surprise.”
“Sorry about the ambush, but I ah…had a bit of a blow up.”
“Oh darling, that happens in a marriage.”
“No, no, not with Ari, with Ethan.”
“That happens quite a bit, too. Well, tell me what unfolded." Yerbol summarized as much as he could, fully aware that he was in a public place and omitted as much unnecessary detail as he could. When he was finished, Malu chuckled.
“What?”
“That sounds very much like a typical apprentice.”
“How so?”
“Think about this for a moment. Apprentices, even in the former days, were young, weren’t they?”
“Yes…”
“How old were you when you first became a Padawan, hmm?”
“16.”
“Right. Aria was even younger than you when she became an Acolyte. Did either of you know very much when you started?”
“No, but we were teenagers with little to no field experience. He's older and was hand picked thanks to his experience…or I assumed that.”
“You assume correctly. He performed well enough in field assignments, but we passed on several other more qualified candidates.”
“What?”
“Yes, we passed on several who we thought would be a better fit on paper…except for Kytra. She was one that we knew would flourish right away, albeit with a little guidance here and there.”
“So you gave him to me for what purpose?”
“What else? To become a Champion.”
“But you said there were others who would be a better fit!”
“Certainly. His arrogance, irreverence and sensitivities towards the opposite sex were all noted. But surely you’ve seen his aptitude with the Force? He has so much potential to succeed and we trust that you can bring it out of him.” Sighing, he placed a hand under his chin, asking her:
“You really think that much of me?”
“Of both of you. You two represent the future of our order and it would be a shame to not use your talents to train others.” Yerbol was quiet for a few moments, allowing Malu to continue:
“Apologize for your outburst, but make sure that you reinforce that those kinds of behaviors are what made Force users very unpopular in the galaxy. He will learn, grow and adapt. Trust me. I’ve had apprentices with worse attitudes and they grew out of them with enough guidance…and yet this isn’t all you have on your mind, is it? Too bad it’ll have to wait.” A moment later, the woman he had placed an order with planted a bag with their food on his table.
“I mean, I can talk about it with you later.”
“There won’t be time. I know you’ll figure it out. And with that, I must be off. Take care of yourselves…please.” The call ended, Yerbol both grateful and mystified by Malu’s sound advice and cryptic messages about the larger issue at hand he was struggling with. In any case, he had to return to Aria. He was hungry.
When he entered the room, he quickly apologized:
“So sorry I had to leave like that. I brought an offering if that helps?”
“A hotel room DOES sound nice, but our place on Coruscant has set a high standard for us. Guess that means we’ll have to stay at someplace even swankier to compensate.” He shot her a playful grin as the duo intertwined hands, walking past bustling Alliance personnel, heavy machinery and other assorted reminders of work with a kind of reckless glide that is normally present in those who receive a chance to take a vacation.
When they emerged out of the hangar, they were greeted with the crisp, refreshing air that was the norm for Alderaan, even with the capital city just a taxi stop away.
“Let’s just…be, today.”
Which they did. After checking into their hotel, Yerbol voiced his desire for food, which then led to a discussion about WHERE to eat. Eventually it was decided that they were to enjoy the serene environs of the planet, setting up a picnic spot at a park just outside the city limits where there wouldn’t be too many onlookers who would call the city guard on the hounds. They had arrived and were enjoying a nice lunch when he had turned around to watch Taral chase down a pack of squirrels, about to comment on how little of a challenge the hounds were facing on Alderaan when he was met with fateful of snow. His spouse’s cackling triggered an immediate response.
“Oh no. We’re not doing this.” Before she could react, he scooped her up in his arms and found the biggest snowlike he could find, plopping her down with a satisfying thud.
“Somehow, you make a snowpile look very inviting.” A smirk crossed his features as he joined her in the snow and the Champion was very grateful there weren’t park visitors around their location for a few moments.
He was also very thankful that before he had to kick the hounds out, they had departed, giving them both snorts of approval for them to leave before setting off past city limits. This left them some time.
Which they took advantage of.
_____
His eyes opened to a few slivers of sunlight peeking through the heavy curtains that he had drawn last night before he had entered the fresher unit, silently wishing he had drawn them tighter so that they wouldn’t be roused from sleep. Groaning in protest, he cast a glance at the chronometer next to their bedside and rolled his eyes.
Seven forty five local time.
On the one day they had off, he couldn’t even sleep in. Figures. Then again, the activities of last night(and early this morning) were more than enough to compensate for the early rising. Yerbol turned over, placing an arm around his partner’s waist as he drew himself closer to her, planting a handful of kisses on her neck before settling onto the pillow, eyes closing. Maybe he could sneak in a couple of more hours before they were drawn away fro-
His comm unit vibrated.
“Oh for the sake of all that’s living…” He muttered, choosing to ignore the vibrations and closing his eyes. Whoever it was, they could wait.
It vibrated again with even more incessancy.
“Fine, fine.” Rolling out of bed, he stumbled over to the comm unit laying on a coffee table nearby, the unit half covered by his shirt(how did it end up here? Oh yeah…heh.) and answered:
“Yerbol speaking.”
“Hey, Yerbol…ah…could you come down here?”
“Ethan? What’s going on?” His apprentice’s voice was shaky when he responded:
“I think…I think I’m sick.”
“From what?” Silence.
“From. What?” A mutter.
“What was that?” A more audible, yet slurred answer this time:
“Cocktailswithgirls.” Son of a bantha.
“Are you hung over? That’s what this is, isn’t it?”
“I think…I’ve never been…hung over before…my head hurts.”
“Just…where are you?”
“Ah…” A pause.
“Think I’m...outside a big house.” Well that helps.
“What district? No, wait, forget it, just send me your coordinates and I’ll get you back to the ship.”
“Ok.” The call ended abruptly, Yerbol receiving coordinates and plotting the destination before biting his tongue in an attempt to suppress a loud stream of curses. Ethan was right outside House Kenaya’s complex, the aforementioned house a pivotal family that had lobbied for Alderaan to be one of the first Alliance planets to have the Qyaari involved in building Alliance governmental policies. They were trusted allies.
And somehow Ethan was right in front of their main base of operations. Hung over.
It had to be his apprentice, right? It couldn’t be Aria’s. Nope. She had to get the one who probably fell asleep at a library watching holo-vids of Alderaanian history. Grimacing at his lack of clothes once more, he walked to his spouse’s side of the bed before whispering:
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. With breakfast. And caf. I promise.” He kissed her cheek, taking one last longing look at the bed before he dressed and walked out of their hotel room.
___
When Yerbol arrived, he found Ethan standing against the complex’s outer wall, two armed guards bearing the emblem of House Kyanna flanking his position. Ethan’s nearly red hair looked duller somehow, his eyes somewhat bloodshot, clothes limply hanging off of him. With a shake of the head, he addressed the guards:
“Yerbol Massani, a Qyaari whose apprentice decided to embarrass the entire Order. My sincerest apologies if he was any trouble.”
“None at all this morning, sir. We didn’t even know he was here until Lady Jetsa told us of a ‘frumpy visitor’ at the gates that she saw on her security feed.” The matriarch of the family saw him. Great.
“Well please convey my deepest apologies for the unsightly visitor and I will personally see to it that he is disciplined for his actions.”
“Of course.”
__
The taxi ride back to the outskirts of Aldera was silent, Ethan occasionally drinking the electrolyte beverage Yerbol had purchased for him on the way to his location. It wasn’t until they reached the Commodore when Yerbol spoke in a restrained manner:
“What happened last night?” Ethan shook his head.
“I don’t know, I just-“
“Bull. Tell me what happened.” Ethan’s eyes widened slightly as words began to tumble out of his mouth:
“I was at the swoop track and I was betting on races and there were these girls there and they were cute and I told them that I was here on official business and they kept asking about it and I told them that I was your apprentice.” He stopped, smiling proudly.
“They liked that. Thought I was a big shot, bought me some drinks and-“ Yerbol grabbed Ethan by the collar of his shirt, eyes ablaze with indignation.
“YOU USED YOUR POSITION AS A QYAARI TO GET DRINKS?!”
“Woah, woah, I’m not finished, I’m-“
“YES. YES YOU ARE. GET YOUR ARSE BACK ON THE SHIP, NOW!”
“But-“
“SHUT IT!” Yerbol inadvertently clamped down on the boy’s collar so hard that he ripped a chunk of fabric as he tore his hand away in disgust. Ethan stood still, jaw slightly ajar as Yerbol jabbed a finger into the boy’s chest.
“You have NO idea what we’ve done to get to where we are now as an order and yet you flaunt our status like we’re bloody celebrities?! If I had known you were going to be that reckless, you would’ve been on lock down the moment we landed!”
“Hey, hey, I can have fun, can’t I? I mean, we’re allowed to blow off steam?! You and Aria went prancing off to-“
“ON THE SHIP!” The apprentice’s brow furrowed in frustration, turning on his heel back towards the ship, storming up the loading ramp.
As his initial wave of anger faded, he knew that many of the things he had said were ill-advised. He could have handled that better, but to see the carelessness, the stupidity that Ethan exhibited was jarring. He needed to talk to someone who had been through something like this before, someone who had a lot of experience training younger people-
Malu. She’d know how to handle something like this.
Yerbol walked out of the hangar and took a taxi back into Aldera, the stop about a few blocks away from their hotel. He located a restaurant that proudly declared they served breakfast along with lunch and dinner, strolling in and placing an order before finding a seat and withdrawing his comm unit, placing it on the table in front of him. He did a quick scan of the restaurant, happily acknowledging the scant populace of the eatery with a nod. The Champion then withdrew an earpiece from a hollowed out compartment on the rear of the unit, planting it firmly in his right ear before reaching out to Malu’s frequency without thinking of what time it was on Zinuthra. Thankfully the voice that answered didn’t sound like it was roused from slumber:
“Yerbol, what a pleasant surprise.”
“Sorry about the ambush, but I ah…had a bit of a blow up.”
“Oh darling, that happens in a marriage.”
“No, no, not with Ari, with Ethan.”
“That happens quite a bit, too. Well, tell me what unfolded." Yerbol summarized as much as he could, fully aware that he was in a public place and omitted as much unnecessary detail as he could. When he was finished, Malu chuckled.
“What?”
“That sounds very much like a typical apprentice.”
“How so?”
“Think about this for a moment. Apprentices, even in the former days, were young, weren’t they?”
“Yes…”
“How old were you when you first became a Padawan, hmm?”
“16.”
“Right. Aria was even younger than you when she became an Acolyte. Did either of you know very much when you started?”
“No, but we were teenagers with little to no field experience. He's older and was hand picked thanks to his experience…or I assumed that.”
“You assume correctly. He performed well enough in field assignments, but we passed on several other more qualified candidates.”
“What?”
“Yes, we passed on several who we thought would be a better fit on paper…except for Kytra. She was one that we knew would flourish right away, albeit with a little guidance here and there.”
“So you gave him to me for what purpose?”
“What else? To become a Champion.”
“But you said there were others who would be a better fit!”
“Certainly. His arrogance, irreverence and sensitivities towards the opposite sex were all noted. But surely you’ve seen his aptitude with the Force? He has so much potential to succeed and we trust that you can bring it out of him.” Sighing, he placed a hand under his chin, asking her:
“You really think that much of me?”
“Of both of you. You two represent the future of our order and it would be a shame to not use your talents to train others.” Yerbol was quiet for a few moments, allowing Malu to continue:
“Apologize for your outburst, but make sure that you reinforce that those kinds of behaviors are what made Force users very unpopular in the galaxy. He will learn, grow and adapt. Trust me. I’ve had apprentices with worse attitudes and they grew out of them with enough guidance…and yet this isn’t all you have on your mind, is it? Too bad it’ll have to wait.” A moment later, the woman he had placed an order with planted a bag with their food on his table.
“I mean, I can talk about it with you later.”
“There won’t be time. I know you’ll figure it out. And with that, I must be off. Take care of yourselves…please.” The call ended, Yerbol both grateful and mystified by Malu’s sound advice and cryptic messages about the larger issue at hand he was struggling with. In any case, he had to return to Aria. He was hungry.
When he entered the room, he quickly apologized:
“So sorry I had to leave like that. I brought an offering if that helps?”