A day at the races

[jamessour]

Swoop racing was exciting, fast, energetic, and at times barbaric... Tarnit loved them. Even in his older, wiser state, there was something deeply exciting about the skill and adrenaline in racing. Perhaps it was his Corellian heritage, or perhaps it was because as a jedi he so often and yearned for a different life - especially the last few years.

It was a jedi assignment that brought him to Malastare. A low-level crime boss was tracked here, and he had ties to some trouble on Jakku. It wasn't hard to deal with him. Unfortunate that he had to die, but he didn't seem to want to repent at all.

So, before he left, Tarnit decided to enjoy a race. Walking in the high gravity felt weird. The native Dugs seemed to have no issue with it, as they grew up in it, but Tarnit's muscles were strained after chasing down the thug. Walking towards the race track, the population grew more and more diverse in species and class. Everyone liked the races. Everyone.

@Queen

 

[Queen]

Among the masses of natives, a single young face stood out among the crowd. The face of Leira Rys, a young woman, on the cusp of her nineteenth year. Her face seemed strangely unenthusiastic, unamused, compared to the cheering, screaming faces around her. In all honesty, the woman wasn't a downer. She was simply tired. Wrangling troubled children was a tiring job, and this was her one night out.

Her one chance to take a deep a moment and breathe.

Her life had been hard, and chaotic, and there were very few of these moments. The last four years had been spent searching for her adoptive father, after escaping the clutches of an ex Sith Lord, Vereshin. But she hadn't. And eventually, a horrible truth manifested itself in her mind; That the man who had taken such a vital place in her younger year, the man who, quite literally, kept her from going insane and turning into a complete and utter wreck, had likely been killed in combat. He was a Jedi, afterall. And the world seemed to be crumbling.

So she stopped. She decided to make a difference where she could. Leira went back to her home planet, Malastare, despite hating the place. She figured that she could help young children like her, give them a better life. And now, she ran a small scale, makeshift orphanage with a few other loving, willing people. And it was hard.

But she made it. She was strong.

And this was her purpose. And she was finally happy.

After grabbing a drink, she took her place back into the crowd, before running face first into a strange.

"Oh my Gosh, I'm so s-"

She looked at his face for a moment, and couldn't speak when she realized who was in front of her.

It couldn't be real.

No, it was too good to be.

 

[jamessour]

The buzzing of the crowd was electrifying as the race was about to begin. People were rushing to get concessions before returning to their seats for the siren sounded marking the start of the race. The excitement and craze of the crowd made it extremely difficult to navigate without running into someone, but Tarnit was doing a pretty good job.

Of course, he couldn't control others. As he was nearing the stands, he was met with the stopping force of another human, and a liquid that had now found it's home on his pants. Stepping back, he looked down at his legs, inspecting the damage, then looked up as the person began to apologize.

As he made eye-contact the noise went away. He had found her... his daughter. He barely recognized her yet at the same time her features were exactly as they should be. Her eyes, her hair, the way she smiled when she apologized... she was a perfect young woman. And they found each other.

"Leira..." he spoke. It was barely audible, but for Tarnit, and likely Leira, it was a loud cry of a father and daughter being reunited after years.

He reached out and pulled her tight to his chest in a massive hug. Tears filled his eyes as he finally breathed free again.

@Queen

 

[Queen]

"Daddy."

Leira said, as Tarnit pulled her into a hug. She returned it, wrapping her arms around his back and shoving her face into his chest. She missed him, so, so much. She missed the way he held her, reassuringly, the sound of his voice, his scent, everything about him. She missed her dad.

Tears of happiness escaped her eyes, warm streams rolling down her face, her shoulders shaking in his arms. It'd been so long since she'd cried out of pure happiness; She had never been so happy, spare the time he'd first shown her the adoption papers, when she was only 14.

"I t-thought you were dead. I r-really did. I missed you so much. You don't even know." She murmured, her voice filled with emotion.

This was the best day of her life.

 

[jamessour]

"I'm alive. We are alive. Finally..." Tarnit turned, keeping an arm around the girl's shoulders, and leading her from the crowd. He needed to talk to his daughter. As they walked, Tarnit breathed freely for the first time in years.

"How... where... I missed you. I love you so much, Leira. Where can we go to talk? Do you have a home?" Tarnit often was more in control of his emotions, but this, he figured, was worth being emotional over. Tarnit had hundreds of questions, and he was sure Leira did.

 

[Queen]

Leira stayed almost directly by his side as he lead her out of the crowd, wiping tears from her eyes. She didn't want to make a scene, afterall, she'd done plenty of that in her lifetime.

But, the tears kept coming. A part of her thought this was just another good dream, something her subconscious mind presented her while deep in her slumber, but it was all so tangible. She could feel the familiar weight of his hand on her back, a feeling she hadn't gotten in years.

Once they finally got out of the thick crowd, and in a place where they could talk in more length, she threw her arms around him again. She didn't care, at that moment, if she seemed too eager or excited or impulsive, she was overjoyed to see her father.

She listened to his questions, and had a quick answer for all of them.

"I have a home, here, with a few others. I'll take you there, w-we can talk there. I missed you so much. I love you."

She didn't even consider the fact that the children would probably disrupt their conversation once or twice. Or three or four times. But she didn't care, Leira knew Tarnit would love them.

He loved her at her worst years, afterall.

"I have so many things to ask you."

 

[jamessour]

Tarnit followed Leira down the street as they talked. Being with her again was therapeutic. Her presence spoke peace to his soul.

He couldn't stop smiling. "Well, we will have time. We are together again. I'm glad you made your way here and made a home. There are few places safe from the reaches of the Sith."

Slowing slightly Tarnit's tone turned lower, as if the lights in a room were slightly dimmer, "Is there anything you need? Are you hurt? Last we spoke you were taken by Vereshin."

@Queen