The Children of the Stars

Charted Course

Nellith did like the skill of being able to start a fire with her mind.

The sun was setting, and while Allana had handled the Ewoks well enough that they wouldn't bother the crew of the Millennium Falcon or Serenity. But Nellith, like her grandfather before her, didn't trust those little bastards as far as she could throw them.

"I'm pretty sure they've eaten people," she informed Tahiri when the blonde Jedi laughed at her refusal to stay in the Ewok village. "They tried to eat Grandpa once!"

"Like Grandapa Han didn't deserve it sometimes," Jacen had teased.

But then there was the sobering fact that Tash had exposited at them: Ben Solo was most likely conceived in the Ewok village during the post-Death Star victory party.

Nellith, in no uncertain terms, informed her that it was gross that Tash knew that, and asked her as politely as she could manage to kriffing please not talk about things like that.

Tash did admit later that she should've kept that bit of speculation from the history texts to herself.

But the damage was done and it was thoroughly decided by the three children of Ben Solo present that there was no way in the nine Corellian hells they were visiting the Ewok village.

But that left them with the problem that it got cold on Endor at night.

Thus, Nellith started a fire with the Force. Jacen walked her through it— apparently before she'd captured him as the Emperor's Hand, he'd had to do it on some mission or another.

It was quite simple, on the technical level. It was causing the molecules to speed up and heat— until fire sprang from the wood.

It made her feel more powerful than lightning or lifting rocks ever could, in her opinion. It was like something in a holodrama about Jedi.

But now they had a roaring fire and could enjoy cooked rations packs as two crews.

Well, except that the Falcon's crew retired sooner. Allana took her rations pack with her when she was the first to leave. She'd wanted to investigate the new holocron they'd recovered, and figure out where they would go next.

Valin ate his rations silently beside Jysella before handing the majority of them to her, and then retiring to the Falcon without another word.

Kyp nudged her as the loading ramp closed.

"Are you sure we should let him go?" Kyp asked. "Alone with your sister? Especially after last night?"

"Allana can handle herself." Nellith kept her tone even, her words diplomatic. "She can make her own choices."

"Don't worry, I'll be bunking in the Falcon on the next hyperspace flight," Jacen promised. "I don't like what happened."

"Look, I don't either." Nellith tried to avoid looking at Kyp, and the scarf he'd wrapped around his neck to cover the bruises from Valin's chokehold. But her blue eyes were drawn to it all the same, a reminder of the time-bomb aboard her sister's ship. "But Allana still wanted him on this trip, didn't she? You said he offered to leave and go back to Tatooine for help."

Kyp was solemn. "I don't think Allana's unbiased when it comes to Valin."

"Ew." Jysella stabbed her fork into the rations, mixing them around. "Can we not talk about my brother's love life, please?"

"It's relevant right now." Tahiri shrugged. "If Allana and he are, you know, hooking power couplings, then we know that she might not be thinking with the clearest Jedi vision."