Jedi or Joke?

It was still summer. Late summer yes, but before fall chills had a chance to descend on the landscape. Up in these foothills, it was a consideration. In the near-permanent heat of Cover City it probably seemed insane to worry about cold on Shili, but Raasha had faced it as a part of her life since she was small. Dealing with snow and ice was scarcely any surprise to her. Even so, the warm summer temperatures were still cooler than the sweltering heat of the badlands. It felt pleasant on her skin, not excessively hot for once. Absolutely, well, perfect.

The village was indeed ahead, and she nodded in reply to Bekk's question. It was 'it.'

Not that 'it' was particularly much. There were a mixture of below and above-ground living areas in what was essentially a half a box canyon, with a waterfall streaming down and then babbling by in the form of a small creek. There was a wide berth around it for the seasonal floods they knew well in spring. However along the sides of it grew what crops they did tend. Wood buildings stood, some quite large, with ornate carvings. Others were practically facades by the red-stone walls. It was an eclectic variety of housing, mingling with trees. Racks of drying meats were visible, fish in evidence as well as game.

Raasha stopped the speeder below a large conifer at the very edge, and it settled down to the ground, the whining finally dying away and revealing the pleasant sounds of nature. A few Togruta looked over, and a tall woman approached. If anyone could say there was a family resemblance, it was found here. Adri Ka was at least two inches taller than her daughter, but they had the same burgundy skin, and very similar markings. To top it off, she had the same cheekbones, the same lips. Her eyes were different though, not ice blue, but a dark purple. Of course the height difference wasn't so apparent until Raasha slid out of the speeder and stood next to her mother.

"Hello daughter," She said, a little uncertainly. "I wasn't expecting you now. Is everything all right."

Raasha's eyes flitted over to the Zabrak with her and she weighed her options. There was the full truth and the chance of demeaning Bekk's lightsaber incident and the need for immediate flight. Or there was... Well, diplomacy. A proper diplomatic explanation that let him save some face.

"My friend found a lightsaber, and the Empire saw us both with it. We had to run. He needed somewhere to hide, and this was the only safe place I knew of."

The frown on Adri's face was obvious and cutting, but she did nod.

"I will go and discuss this with your grandmother."

She turned, and walked away, and Raasha looked to Bekk.

"Um. Welcome to home?"

Raasha's attention wasn't very heavily focused on Bekk. Since arriving at home again, the smells were very old friends. The wood had a certain scent even, and it was all coming back. Many childhood years had been happily spent running about here, barefoot in summers. It was all so familiar still, almost like she'd never left. What was more, judging by the sun in the sky, there'd be an afternoon meal soon. Her mind darted to Shili's deeply complicated lunar cycle and the phases of the many moons as she'd last seen them... Oh yes.

There was indeed going to be feasting tonight.

Her eyes flitted back over to the Zabrak when he spoke. He was starving apparently. Hadn't he eaten those survival bars all day? It still hadn't registered with her that a lot of Basic-speakers didn't actually mean the words they said. Hyperbole was something she didn't understand, in fact the very word was unknown to her. So she gave him the Togruti equivalent to a raised eyebrow, but she didn't outright question that he was. She did, however, pursue another avenue of questioning.

"Time is less meaning in village," She answered the second question first, before doubling back to the initial one of food. "And this mean you eat like I do now?"

Her head inclined to the main longhouse, where she could smell meat being cooked. It wasn't something they always did. However, he was quite lucky to experience it all in a festival. It meant more foods, cooked foods. There still would be no bread, and little not meat or cooked with meat. She was already savoring flavors, her previous worries evaporating steadily. However, the new worry reared its head to nag at the spaces under her headtails. The manners. The shame. He'd embarrass her so much with his... eating habits.

"There will be less food now, more food later," Raasha amended, correctly remembering 'less' and 'more' were a matched set of words. They ate light during the day, to save room for the night's festivity. She tugged on his sleeve.

"Come, maybe food in home."

She led the way across to a house facade set against the red rock wall. There were numerous intricate carvings, some telling stories of ancestors past, others symbols of luck and fortune. There was an entire mild belief system to them that she'd never really learned. She pulled on the latch, and the door swung open to reveal a spacious interior beyond a second doorway. An interior that was immensely natural. It was a cave. The stone walls were natural, with paintings on them much like wallpaper. There were small candles in carved alcoves, currently unlit. Ropes strung between iron hooks held up swaths of dyed fabric that served as walls. Everything was dim, but pleasantly so. In the farthest inside corner was a large, spacious hearth of clay. A low fire was in it, accompanied by pots and an ancient-looking kettle.

With the familiarity of someone carrying out ritual, Raasha slid her tall boots off her legs, leaving them in the wood entry, closed her eyes, made a gesture, and rapidly whispered strange words. Then she headed in, stoking the fire and placing the old kettle atop it. Dangling above her were dried herbs, assorted vegetables for cooking. Only now that she looked at them was she questioning exactly what kind of herbivore Bekk was. Could he simply bite into a head of garlic?

She waved a hand around broadly.

"Is this food?"

Raasha's question was answered by the fact he started eating one of the vegetables right away. Well that and the most dramatically affirmative statement she'd ever heard. He was excited. It wasn't usually how he was. She was a little bit pleased by that as she lowered herself onto a cushion on the floor. She'd never quite learned the 'well-mannered' way to sit in a skirt, and the result was that a little more red skin showed than was generally polite. She didn't bother looking at the kettle. She could hear the boiling sounds over the crackle of wood in the hearth, and she wasn't hearing them yet. Instead her pale eyes flitted about the familiar dwelling. The little woven carpets, the worn wood utensils.

It was nice to be home again.

Truth be told, she'd hated the city. Maybe there was something to be said for burying the speeder and calling it quits. Simply staying out in the village. But then again there was a certain something to be said for seeing things through. Bekk, who was munching cheerily, couldn't survive here. He could maybe live for a while, but it wasn't remotely acceptable for the village or him to put up with each other.

She'd have to see him to safety.

Mother knew that. Grandmother knew more. Raasha had never met another soul who knew more than her, who saw more. If Bekk had the potential, she'd know. Either by looking, or maybe she already knew even. It was hard to guess. In fact it was also probably best not to.

"Mother is talking with the Wise Woman now. I think it won't be long."

The sounds of boiling carried over to her, and Raasha poured three cups of tea. The smell was spicy and earthy.

The tea slowly turned a lovely rusty brown shade, and Raasha didn't take her eyes from it for a quick moment, until the heat of the kettle started to register and she turned to set it back in place. While doing that she remembered again that Bekk was very capable of understanding Togruti, which was fortunate given their remote village. He did know that grandmother was the wise woman. He was probably aware such a position was highly esteemed and honorable. Some things were the same all across Shili, and perhaps the galaxy.

"Yes," She confirmed before setting the kettle down.

The next question prompted a quizzical look at him, simply because he'd used a word she didn't know. It was a strange one, and she tried to roll it around her mouth before questioning what it was.

"What is proh-voh-kat-eevly?" She asked, her head tilted, sitting back down in almost the same position as before, save at a slightly different angle that allowed her to watch the tea from up close. One leg draped a little over the other this time instead. It might have been a little bit sexy if not for the fact her face had a puzzled curiosity and was devoid of any remotely flirty look. It was very clear that sex was the last thing on her mind at the given moment. Probably behind planning vacation destinations and learning how to fly.

"Is very strange a word, why give bad idea?"

Raasha's eyes didn't quite glaze over when Bekk defined it. However her brow was so furrowed that it attempted to knit a sweater. She was racking her brain trying to process the words. They were dense. Very dense. It reminded her of the Dictionary, or of the manuals at the Imperial Bureau of Vehicular Affairs. Her understanding was... Limited. What she mostly had was 'a picture illegally forming a real thing or a feeling because of metal stee-mooli in the brains.' It was... Definitely not unlike trying to smell a color.

She silently thanked a thousand generations of ancestors that he agreed to explain what he meant.

He did. He seemed to say her skin was an attractive view? She was a little bit confused, over that, her brows continued trying to knit a very small sweater, simply because she wasn't showing so much skin, certainly there'd be much more in a hot summer or in the badlands, when she'd probably just go about topless. And then at the tail end of it he said that he 'noticed' her legs. The phrasing was what stuck with Raasha, because she couldn't quite get a feel for how he meant it. She had something unfolding in her mind, but it was slow. Surely he'd noticed she had legs before, nobody was dense enough to... But maybe he didn't really mean notice? Maybe he thought it sounded politer?

Bekk had stood up to crunch more stalks, and hunkered in a corner.

Raasha leaned a little closer to him, trying to read him. He wasn't a Togruta, so it was hard to guess from heart rate or how hot he seemed, but a suspicion was forming in her mind.

"Are you saying... You find me..." She momentarily rolled through Togruti before finding the Basic word, "desirable mate, how you say, attractive?"

Raasha failed at grasping personal space.

"If so, why you not say so earlier?"

Raasha wasn't surprised at the answer. Not compared to how surprised she'd been by Bekk saying she was physically desirable. If he'd delayed so long already then he probably hadn't been thinking about the plethora of rituals and traditions that would be needed if he was serious about such a feeling. Of course, in cities people were different. Aliens were different. Sometimes she didn't understand, but she was at least momentarily appeased. The answer was good enough.

She gave him a nod as she sat back.

"Don't speak of it to mother or grandmother, they would take it more serious than I do."

As if on cue the door opened, and in came a very old Togruta. She was hunched with age, but still moved along perfectly well under her own power. The elaborate cane was purely ornamental. Or possibly for hitting little ones who didn't show respect. There was family resemblance of a kind, namely in the general sense of skin tone and facial markings. But what was most striking about the old woman, even apart from her lavish headdress of teeth, bones, and feathers was her eyes. They were milky-white, and it was clear she couldn't see a thing with them.

Or perhaps from the sparkle still in them, it was more accurate to say she could see anything with them. At the moment they were trained squarely on Bekk.

She finally settled wordlessly onto a cushion, still staring at Bekk, and Raasha hurriedly distributed the cups of tea.

"Well Raasha, who is this handsome young man you've brought home?" She asked, in refreshingly perfect Basic.

"His name is Bekk, grandmother," Raasha provided.

She nodded.

"Well Bekk, you've come looking for answers have you?"

Grandmother stared quietly, listening to Bekk talk. She sipped her tea very patiently the whole time. She directed a thin smile at Raasha over it, a little way to let her know the tea was done well. But even despite that it was quite clear her attention was on the Zabrak. On him, and undivided. Finally after he finished, she chuckled softly.

"My boy, I can't say if you have what it takes to be a Jedi. It takes a lot more than the Force to guarantee that. It's not my place either," She explained in a tone that was remarkably even and patient. "Nor am I the only one at that. There's plenty in the galaxy who can tell. But I know what you mean. You want to know if the raw material is there. Well, it is. The Force swirls around you, I can see it. But I'm no more capable of training you to be a Jedi than I am capable of turning into a Corellian Banshee Bird and flying away to Coruscant."

She turned her head to Raasha again.

"Very good tea little one, another cup would be very welcome."

Raasha smiled gratefully and topped it off with more hot water.

"Now if I were a lad who'd come all this distance in search of some answers I wouldn't leave it there. I'd want to find some answers myself. Well, we in this village used to rescue Jedi fleeing the Empire, and ferry them up to the mountains, and then out wide and free. Well if you can get through the passes safely and reach the contacts we had in Corvala, then maybe they can help you find a Jedi, a real Jedi to train you and make the judgments about if you've got what it takes. I'm sorry it wasn't more Mr. Bekk, but knowing your own limitations is the beginning of wisdom."