A Weekend on Shili

[Rae Anne Jarrus]

Taylor looked up to her aunt who had just entered the area and smiled. "Yes Aunt Ray, I did. And you?" she said returning the question to her aunt. After she asked, she stood up giving her aunt a hug and another smile before walking over and grabbing one of the passenger seats.

She then watched as Adun answered Tammy's question leading Taylor into giggling slightly, before continuing to watching the planet and civilization growing bigger. Seeing Shili from where they were, made her feel like she was on top of the world, well, pretty much she was, but the point was that it felt great to finally see the planet in person rather than holonet.

 

[Tristyn]

"That's great, I'm really good thanks" Ray nodded and smiled to Adun,then she turned around to speak with the children in the back of the room,"I really hope you'll love it here. This is the first time I've been to a festival on Shili for like..." She turned to Adun, trying to jog her memory,"....eleven years?" She had been once, and without her family because of reasons. Like Cain being grumpy every time she proposed an outing. Ray hated to see him upset. She was a bit biased against her second born, being much stricter on Tamara than Cain, thanks to how she was raised.

"Well I've got a couple of stuff planned....like swimming in an ocean wide and really awesome lake....eating the local meats" Adun had eventually convinced her to start eating meat, and she loved it,"....dancing around the Se'kra fire....ahh....and all the dances and singing.....it's like a party really....and no alcohol at least....I'm looking at you Tammy" Ray stared back at her daughter inquisitively, causing Tamara to shy away and throw up her arms and attempt to plead her case,"Mom, I told you it was an accident! Corellian Ale and apple juice look the same! You know I spat it out!"

Ray began to laugh,"Calm down! I'm kidding! Anyway with your father's permission...I want to all to hunt an Akul"

 

[Algarus]

Adun smiled back at his wife. "Twelve dear." He corrected her. He listened and nodded his head as Rayla listed off the activities they would do. This was something he needed, the business with the order and the pressure they were putting on him was starting to get to him. It seemed the war had everyone on edge, not to mention he had to keep up appearances around the temple instead of attending to matters on Corellia. His assistants said they could handle it, he just hoped they actually could. Adun stopped himself. No, no this is a vacation with your family time to relax and not worry about everything else going on. Rayla's comment about Akul hunting drew his attention as he gave a disapproving look towards her. "You know how I feel about that."

Cain let out an inaudible grunt that could of been mistaken as an alien language as he raised his head and looked out at the planet before him. "We are going to land sometime today right?" He said, yawning in between his words. He wasn't sure why his sister had even woken him up, it had been almost half an hour and they still hadn't even landed.

Before Adun could reply to his son, the ship began to go through reentry, as a low rumbling began to be heard from outside the ship. Adun held the controls straight and prepared to guide the shuttle in. Knowing that denying them the oppertunity of hunting, Adun relented. He had to let them grow up, he couldn't protect them forever. "Fine, they can go hunting. But I still don't like the idea of it."

 

[Tristyn]

"And yet you were around the same age as them we you got me my headdress. And you did it alone, I don't see why you're complaining. You're all doing it together!" Ray smiled and kissed Adun.

Tamara shook her head and looked away to her brother,"I don't really like the idea of having to kill one of those tiger things. Can you please do it for me?"

 

[Rae Anne Jarrus]

Taylor smiled slightly, looking between her aunt and uncle as they discussed the hunting. "Hunting sounds interesting to me, and it can't be that hard." she responded to them.

 

[Algarus]

Adun smiled sightly and focused on piloting. The ship began to shake and buckle as the shuttle began reentry. He pulled on the lever for the wing flaps of the shuttle and pulled it up as an angle so it came in bottom down to the planet. The shuttle rocked and caused the passengers in the cockpit to shift as the new force hit. Adun kept it steady and switched over to the atmospheric thrusters as they began their descent into the planets troposphere.
"That was different." He replied to Rayla. He didn't worry about himself getting hurt, but if anything happened the them he'd never forgive himself.

Cain huffed and gripped the sides of his chair to prevent himself from falling out. Did Tamara really expect him to do all the hard work for her? "Seriously Tam? Its just an animal. Just one quick slash and its dead. Im not killing it for you, wheres the fun in that?"

 

[Tristyn]

"Oh alright....it doesn't matter" Ray said.

Tamara had her seat belt on and wasn't affected by the reentry,"It's not supposed to be fun. It's rite of passage...." She began to feel ashamed that she wasn't going to kill it, and that kind of branded her a coward. Togruta normally hunted the beast when they were around eleven years old. The three cousins were already teens, so they are already jumping the gun on the ritual. Tamara turned to Taylor and was preparing to ask her to do the same thing, but stopped. She frowned and looked in front of her again. It is part of my culture to hunt this animal....but as a Jedi I can't just slay an animal like this...

"I don't think I wanna do this"

"Nonsense. Everyone your age has killed it...and you're not getting that headdress you wanted if you don't" Tamara remembered how she would wear her mother's headdress on her head, even though she had no montrals or lekku. Ray would wrap the beads around her daughter's head to keep the headdress from falling. Tamara really liked it, and she looked quite pretty. It was essentially a golden headband made of polished teeth. Very exquisite indeed. Taylor would be swapping her fake akul-tooth headdress for the real when when she took rite.

 

[Rae Anne Jarrus]

"Tammy, Cain and I are doing it, why don't you want to? I remember you always wanting a headdress." she said. Taylor remembered when Tammy would take her mother's headdress and pretended it was hers.

As they reentered gravity, and was about to land, the ship shook, scrambling Taylor's brains. She never fell out due to also having her seat belt on, but she still clutched the seat as if she would. Taylor was excited as she saw the surface of the planet growing closer and closer as they landed.

 

[Tristyn]

"I want the headdress but I don't want to kill for it! Mom, can't I just buy one?" Tamara was getting worried and hoped that there was an easier solution than having to hunt for an accessory item. Ray pressed a button as soon as the ship landed and opened the boarding ramp. She unbuckled, got up from her seat and turned to her daughter as she began to walk out,"No, you can't. It's like....well it's a rite of passage..."

"Yes well I know....I really...I...um...I don't know"

"We can discuss it later"

"Sure...alright"

Tamara unbuckled and quickly followed her mom out after grabbing her pack. The two stepped out the boarding ramp and smiled in unison. It was still a bit early in the morning. It wasn't very crowded and the temperature was quite cool. It was really quite beautiful. No wind either. Birds were chirping, butterflies went by and you can smell the fresh dew on the red and white grass nearby. The only other freighter in the small city took off and was gone. The streets weren't paved but there were street lamps and only one speeder passed by. Togruta walked about the streets while others were setting up decorations for the coming festival.

Both Ray and Tamara forgot about the issue with the akul and got rather excited,"Come on you guys!"

 

[Rae Anne Jarrus]

Taylor was pretty much quiet until they landed, pretty much unbuckling right before the feet of the ship touched the ground. she got up the same time as Tamara and was right behind her and her aunt, feeling the sun on her face as she exited the ship. She then remembered that she had left her backpack under her seat and ran back to grab it real quick before quickly returning right behind Tamara and her aunt.

"This place is amazing!! It's so pretty!!!" Taylor exclaimed as she saw the area.

 

[Algarus]

Adun stepped down the ramp of the shuttle and sighed. "It's been a while.". Looking at the planet though his force enhanced eyesight was strange. The array of colors that seemed to swirl together before Adun were disorienting, but after taking a moment to attune himself to the planet's force energies the flurry of color ended. "So Ray, what do we do first?" He asked as he looked to his wife.

Cain followed after his sister and cousin to be the next one to marvel at the planet before them. Seeing the lack of advanced technology was strange, yet comforting to see. It felt as if despite all the advancement in technology this planet hadn't been touched in the slightest, which he liked as hail from Corellia technology was everywhere. Another thing he noticed was how hot it was, as he put a hand up to cover his eyes. "Woah, is it always this hot here? It feels warmer than normal."

 

[Tristyn]

"First of all....I'm getting something to eat. Who's ready for breakfast?" Ray took off walking down the street to find a restaurant, and one that was owned by a foreigner. It was understandable to doubt that a restaurant on this planet that was run by a togruta would obviously not sell vegetables, and just meat. Tamara walked along with her and looked at her brother skeptically,"What are you complaining about? The weather is great! It isn't any warmer than Corellia or Chandrila at the moment! I'm sure they sell meds are sunscreen to resist the heat. Mom, can we have a look around just now?

"Wait. Let's find a hotel first and put our bags away" Ray altered course to look for said hotel,"You know...your father nearly fainted the last time we were here"

 

[Rae Anne Jarrus]

Taylor was practically bouncing with excitement as she was close to being right behind her aunt. When she had mentioned breakfast, Taylor smiled. "I'm ready for breakfast!" she said excitedly. That was until they remembered that they needed a hotel to stay in while they were there. "I wonder if Dad has seen Shili? He doesn't talk about that much when we're together..." she thought out loud to no one in particular.

She looked over to Cain who immediately started complaining about the weather. "Look, I'm pretty much the same as you when it comes to weather, but this is nice right now." she said giving him a small wink including a sight smile. She then turned back around and followed her aunt and Tammy as they made their way through the town to find a hotel.

 

[Algarus]

Adun only rolled his eyes at his wife's exaggerated comment. The knight stopped and began to head back to the ship. "You guys head to the hotel, Cain and I need to get the bags." This caused a groan of disapproval from the young man as Adun laughed. "Your telling me, it could be worse you know?"
"How can it get worse dad? It's super hot and we have to take all the bags across town."
"First of all we have a hover sled, and second of all it's not raining acid."
The padawan stopped and looked confused. He only know of the pollution effects that created acid rain, but he couldn't recall it being harmful to people. "Acid rain? The pollution stuff right?"
"No, it's like rain, but with acid. And it burns, it burns really bad." His father replied bluntly.

 

[Tristyn]

Ray smiled and spoke to Taylor, regarding her father,"Well if I remember correctly....you were born here? Or was it Kiros? I'm not sure....but next time we can invite him if you want" She turned around to see Adun after he said he was going to fetch the bags,"Alright, honey, we'll wait for you there and then get that breakfast"

Tamara turned around and smiled at Taylor, before walking back to her brother and father,"Mind if I help? It'll go a lot quicker if I carry some weight" She really just wanted to enquire about why Cain was always so grumpy,"It's not even that hot you know. Could just try to enjoy this time away from home? You always seem to lock yourself in your room and find it more enjoying to be alone there. What do you even do there anyway?"

 

[Algarus]

Adun nodded to his daughter as he began to depart. "If it's okay with your mother then sure. Come on Cain."
Cain gave his sister a dirty look. Little did she know he actually sneaked out during the night, but he had no reason to reveal that.
"Sleeping, duh. Not like your any better, I know those books you have can be all for education." He said the last part with a smirk as he would hurry to catch up with his father.

 

[Tristyn]

Tamara stopped dead in her tracks with her face turning bright red from embarrassment. She spoke quickly, but softly, and ran back up to her brother in an attempt to explain,"I was just a bit curious" She was relieved her father didn't hear though, or didn't seem like it. Her mom and cousin were far behind now, and she was regretting her offer to help.