The Show Goes On

[Jamie Pyne]

"Not terrible?" She looked at Aela with an odd look of astonishment. "It's delightful!" She exclaimed, her face scrunched into a contorted pose, eye raised, staring towards the girl. "What do you mean by not terrible!? A great many things can be described that way, but blossom wine is so much more than not terrible!" She shook her head and groaned. "So uncultured, Aela Talith. So uncultured."

The blonde lifted the glass, swishing the contents in a slow circle momentarily.

"Blossom wine is delicious."

Jamie brushed back the hair draping over her left eye, tucking it behind her ear. Setting the glass down then she turned, taking a slow gentle stab into the shaak, and just before she took a bite she remembered Aela's earlier question.

"We can leave this evening, if you want."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Well. Perhaps I'm not an alcoholic." Aela stated plainly, taking another small jab at her padawan with a smile.

Alcohol was never really her first choice of drink, in fact it was more like the fourth or fifth depending. There were better things to drink when it came to eating. Juices, tea, and of course water. She shook her head for a few moments. Of course not drinking meant she also got drunk a lot faster than others, but still.

"Tonight?" She echoed her padawan.

She had thought Jamie would want to stay at least for a few days, but given how this morning had gone...it made sense. She frowned for a few seconds, looking at her Padawan across the table and then slowly shrugging. If Jamie wanted to go then they would go. "We'll need a ship."

Not like they had any other arrangements to worry about.

Jamie would stay with her in her apartment and the Temple provided them landing codes with no problem.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Perhaps you're just boring." Jamie commented with a quick wink. The girl set to cutting into the food, separating several pieces before setting down the knife and turning back to Aela, lingering the fork a few inches from her plate. "One of these days I'll teach you to really enjoy the simple gifts life offers." Perhaps the words would come across as a backhanded offer, but for once she actually meant it in a non-sarcastic way, to get Aela out of that introverted corner she kept herself in. "Even if I have to get you completely sloshed first."

After taking a bite or two the girl set down the fork, dabbing her lips with the napkin.

"Tonight." She confirmed. "I can get us a ship. Whether or not that is a freighter whose captain we have to convince to go out of his way or a stroke of luck that one of the ambassador ships are still docked is to be seen." Jamie wanted time to consider her decision, time away from Naboo.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She ignored the first part of her Padawans statement, mostly because it made her remember the sickening morning after on Borleias. She could still recall just how much her stomach had hated her for the actions she'd taken on the previous day.

It was not an event that she was at all eager to repeat, ever.

"In a hurry?" She asked, though of course she knew why. Jamie wanted time alone, or rather, time away from the pressures of her family and planet. Aela couldn't really blame her, in fact she might have done the same were their roles reversed. For a moment the Jedi Master simply frowned, thinking back to her own decisions of leaving SIS and the front lines of the fight against Sith. It had not been an easy thing to do.

Not at all.

"No freighters please." Aela told her Padawan. "At least not ones that are falling apart."

She'd rather fly there on the back of a Star Dragon then go on another cramped freighter.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"No. Not a hurry. But we did only come here at first to see my family and show them I am still in one piece. That didn't go so well, so aside from showing you around, there's little reason for me to stay here while I consider my decision, right?" Lingering around her family would only serve to stir up more trouble and more arguments between her and Melinda. That was something she didn't need more of. As a younger teen she recalled the number of times that she did not see eye to eye with her parents, in particular her mother. The frequency of the arguments between Jamie and Melinda only grew in number after Jamie had left Naboo for the first time. It seemed as though despite everything, she never forgave her daughter for running off to become a Jedi.

"No freighters? Then you had best hope that one of the ambassador ships are still docked at the royal hangar."

Otherwise getting to Wroosti might be a bit uncomfortable.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She frowned. "Maybe we should call the Alliance."

Not for Jamie's parents obviously, that was a situation the young woman needed to take care of herself, but Aela wasn't too happy at the idea of sitting uncomfortably on a freighter for the trip back to Wroosti. Not at all actually. She frowned for a moment more and then looked up.

"Though that would take a few days." Something Jamie didn't want.

The Jedi Master let out a sigh. Perhaps it was time that she get her own ship again, something with a pilot droid. If she was going to be frequently moving around the galaxy then it would probably be a good idea to have her own ship. Same with Jamie actually. She glanced at her apprentice. "Why don't you have your own ship?"

She asked.

"Isn't that something you should have?" Her voice became somewhat teasing. "As important as you are I mean."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie shrugged in response to Aela's question. "I typically board the ambassador ships, manned by RSF. Generally visits off world are scheduled in advance and have pilots appointed." Perhaps Jamie could have a ship of her own if she desired it, but who would fly it? "In case you forget, I am a terrible pilot. My father doesn't allow me to use his speeders."

The few times Jamie had been in the pilot's seat it nearly spelled death each and every time.

Anyone who had a right mind would never sell her a ship.

"We can check the royal hangar and see if any are unscheduled, but it's unpredictable."

An alliance ship would likely take two to three days to arrive.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She let out a groan.

"What use is all the money on Naboo if you can't bribe some Ambassadors to give up their ship." She really did hate the idea of taking some junker off of this world and back to Wroosti. The trip wasn't all that far, just a day or so in hyperspace, but she just hated the idea of getting stuck on some piece of junk freighter.

The idea alone made her heart skip a few beats.

Aela didn't like flying, and since her crash with Adder she liked it even less. There was something about it that just made her nervous, and the older the ship the worse her anxiety became. Eventually the Jedi Master took a deep breath, shaking her head for a moment.

"We need to get a Star Dragon." She told Jamie. "They can jump through hyperspace you know."

Though they were sentient, so they'd have to befriend it.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"One would imagine being unable to bribe ambassadors with credits to be a good thing. Sometimes I wonder where your morals are Aela Talith." The blonde clicked her tongue several times in feigned disappointment. "So unethical of you." Her head shook, sending loose strands of golden hair past her eyes before carefully brushing them back.

"Besides, even if they are scheduled for departure we can perhaps ask them to make another stop, if one is close by. I'm sure they would accommodate me, though they might ask who the riff-raff is tagging along."

The woman finished eating what remained on her plate and drinking from her glass in short order.

"I don't know what a Star Dragon is, but I don't want to travel through hyperspace on the back of some monster. No thank you. I would like a comfortable bed and a cabin to look out of."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Riff-raff?" She perked an eyebrow.

"Do I have to remind you of who exactly I am?" Probably not, they had this conversation when they'd initially arrived on Naboo. Aela was about as much riff-raff as the Empress of Teta. Not to mention that all her life people had claimed that she carried herself like royalty. Something that had always bugged her in a certain way. "I think they'd more than welcome me."

She stuck out her tongue for a brief moment.

The food that they had been brought was by now nearly gone, Aela having been hungrier than she'd first thought. Perhaps it was simply the fact that over the last few weeks she had eaten naught but military rations adn whatever snacks happened to have been laying around her. Something that eventually grated on the body.

"Star Dragons aren't monsters." She waggled a finger at her padawan.

"They are highly intelligent beings." Though Aela had never met one. "Who just happen to have the ability to naturally jump into hyperspace."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie wagged her finger and made a clicking noise with her tongue.

"I don't need any reminders, princess. But you are not royalty here, after all. They'll want to know why you're looking for passage on a royal advisor's ship, rather than a typical passenger freighter. Telling them you're a princess of some far away world just wont cut it here." She winked, "That's why you need me for this."

The girl crossed her arms, raising an eye in disbelief of Aela's star dragon story.

"Unless you can just so happen to find one of those flying dragons on Naboo, but I've lived here my whole life and never heard of one. But I will still take my ride inside of a nice, comfortable starship."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Comfortable." Aela parroted the word rather mockingly.

"That's presuming we find a ship that isn't falling apart at the seams." By now the idea of just buying her own starship was becoming more and more attractive, though even if they did that they would still need a pilot which in this day and age wasn't exactly and easy thing to find. "You won't find it so comfortable when mid-way through the voyage we're told that the hyperdrive isn't functioning anymore and we'll have to land on some Alien world with giant octopus monsters."

The scenario was unlikely, but still.

"Or worse yet, we just blow up." She made an explosion motion with her hands.

She presumed that by now she and Jamie would have figured out a much smoother way to actually settle things like this. Perhaps they would have to start some sort of corporation that would allow you to hail a space ship to travel from one world or another. They could call it Suber.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"You need to relax! Most ships that dock at Naboo are either trade ships, meaning they are generally fancy merchants arriving, or diplomatic ships that are almost always the definition of luxury. Naboo isn't some desolate, poor world, as much as one would assume due to our galactic location. We won't blow up in hyperspace or crash land on some alien world, at least, not unless you put me in the pilot's chair." The blonde elbowed Aela gently. "Then I can make your dream come true, if that's what you really want."

Jamie mimicked Aela's explosion gesture with her hands, only far more drastically, with a fist into her palm to signify a very hard crash landing at the end.

"We'll be fine. Safer than on the back of some mythical creature."

She stuck her tongue out. "Let's take a walk around the back of the palace. The falls are incredible to see, assuming I don't push you over the edge anyway."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Star Dragons aren't mythical." Aela said as she dabbed a napkin to her lips and slowly stood up from the table.

She still wasn't too hot on the prospect of ending up one some piece of junk freighter, but Jamie's logic had some truth to it. Naboo was a wealthy world, and the people who came here tended to share in that status to a rather grand degree. Though of course there were always outliers. With a sign the Young Woman followed Jamie's lead, heading back into the palace itself.

"If you push me I'm taking you with." She told her padawan. "And I'm pretty sure I'm the better swimmer."

She'd been raised on a chain of islands after all.

A breeze pushed through the doorway as they stepped inside, the pleasantly warm air of Naboo rushing around them. Aela could easily see why Jamie loved her homeworld, the atmosphere alone was something to be admired.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Will you? Just like when I pushed you into the freezing waters in the cave? I don't think you'd react in time. Not to mention swimming would be the least of your worries when you see the depth of the falls below."

That was still a deeply satisfying memory. So much so that it forced a devious smirk on her expression almost instantaneously. The look on Aela's face as she fell, the scream once she felt how terribly cold the water was, the shivering. Oh, it was so amusing! Jamie nearly broke out into a laugh simply imagining that day once more. "Oh, your expression of betrayal and cries were invaluable. Seeing you drag yourself and your wet, soggy clothes was simply too much."

Her face was beaming with joy now. "But anyway, I wouldn't push you this time, so don't fear. The fall is more than enough to kill. But it is quite the sight. The water rushing over the edges is really something else."

It would take several minutes simply to reach the main hall of the palace again, and another ten or so to reach the falls behind the palace, with some careful maneuvering over a number of boulders, steep dips, and crevices that made up the surrounding landscape behind the tall walls.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I'd have time before I hit the water." She reminded her young padawan.

For a brief moment Aela wondered what it would actually be like to jump from those falls. The experience would likely prove to be fatal, though Aela had fallen from high places more than once without the assistance of a parachute or some sort of jetpack. She mused on the thought for a moment more as they wandered through the Palace and towards the back.

When they finally reached the outer reaches of the Palace itself Aela could see the architecture begin to change slightly. Corners became more rounded, stone became rougher, and everything appeared to be slightly more natural than in other places. It still very much fit with the aesthetics of Naboo itself, but she could tell it was different. Eventually the two women found their way to the falls, Aela peering over the edge as the massive rush of water.

"Wow." She said over the roar of the falls. "Where's the water come from?"

She guessed an underground lake of some sort.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Time enough to see my evil grin maybe." She made a mock maniacal face with her hands raised in an imposing, spooky manner. "A few seconds at best before..." Her hands clapped together, making a loud crack. The blonde then stuck out her tongue and made a blegghhhh noise as if she were dying. "Bantha food." She giggled and slid herself over one of the large boulders, holding out her hand for Aela to pull herself up with her help. The girl then hopped over a small gap between two rocks, and settled on a rather large outcropping of stone just a ways away.

"It comes from the mountains, as the ice melts it runs deep under the surface through an incredible series of streams and rivers, caverns and wells. Eventually it makes its way through one of the several rivers surrounding the palace, a few of which cut straight through Theed and the outlying villages. It's pretty remarkable how much fresh water runs off the snow capped peaks. But it does make for a beautiful scenery. I think that's why the Naboo of old built the palace here."

Jamie picked up a small rock, about the size of her palm, and tossed it over the ledge, watching as it faded from sight until it was no more. The sound of the rapids drowned out any hint of the stone ever reaching the bottom.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela listened carefully, smiling for a moment as Jamie picked up the pebble and throw it into the falls themselves.

Briefly the young Jedi Master wondered if the ancient Naboo had really built Theed here because of the scenery, or because it was more defensible. She knew very little of the history of this world, at least it's ancient past, though that could be said for many planets. She mused on the subject for a few moments.

"Next time we'll have to go to one of the Gungan Cities." She told Jamie with a smile.

Aela had no idea when they would be returning, but she liked the idea of going to see Otto Gunga or one of the dozen other cities that the strange amphibian species had plastered all around Naboo's oceans and deep swamps. There was something...beautiful about them.

"I'm sure you fit right in." She smiled as she spoke. "With all the gungans I mean."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie eyed Aela with an aura of suspicion. "Are you insulting me right now? That feels like an insult."

Some Gungan were known to be a bit intellectually slower than others, occasionally cast out from their cities for causing too much trouble or lending nothing of value back to their people and as such, were seen as burdens rather than communal members. Interestingly enough however, a great many people that visited Naboo had no knowledge of the Gungans at all, some coming and going without ever having known of the underwater cities, or that the Gungans called her planet home as well.

"I don't know if I can bring you there. They tend to be weary of foreigners."

Their cities weren't exactly being broadcast about the galaxy for visitors to come and gander at after all.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She frowned for a moment.

"Shame." Aela didn't want to push the issue if Jamie didn't feel it was a good idea. This was her planet, and in a weird way the Gungans were her people too. If she felt that it wasn't the right thing to do then Aela wouldn't try to skirt around that. "I would've liked to see."

A shrug rolled over her shoulders.

There was always something appealing to her about amphibious species, or more exactly how they lived. The underwater cities on Dac and Manaan were the stuff of legends, and in truth Aela had wanted to see them for quite some time. She knew that she probably romantiscized the idea in her mind a little bit, but there was nothing wrong with that. She smiled for a moment, looking down at the falls for a few more seconds before she finally turned away from the railing. "Come on."

She told her padawan.

"Lets see what kind of junk freighter will take us to Wroosti." They could enjoy a sort of simplicity in her new home.