Unexpected

chapter nineteen: reminisce

Although Echo and Elara had taken a V-Wing, they hadn't deserted—at least not for good. Elara carefully flies the ship out of Coruscant's orbit and connects to a hyperspace ring before making the jump.

"Where are you taking me?" Echo asks, not completely comfortable with leaving Coruscant.

"Somewhere to distract us from the war." Elara admits. "I'd take you back to Grange if it weren't in the hands of the Separatists. The farmland there is beautiful, unlike any other planet I've seen." She sighs.

"Well Kamino isn't much." Echo admits. "Just a big ball of water floating in space, but it's home."

Elara stifles a laugh. "I've never been to Kamino." She adjusts her seated position so that she's facing him. "Does it really rain all the time?"

"More like 90% of the time." Echo laughs. "On Kamino, all of the action happened indoors. Our breeding, training, eating, sleeping. Nobody ever really went outside."

"That must've been terrible." Elara sighs.

"Eh, it rained most of the time anyway." He nudges her as a small smile appears on his face. "Plus I had my brothers to help me pass the time."

Elara smiles softly. "I wonder what it's like to have so many brothers." She speaks more-so to herself, but Echo still hears her.

The ship pulls out of hyperspace to reveal a big green and blue planet and Echo's eyes widen. Elara carefully lands the small ship in a field just as the sun begins to set.

"Welcome to Naboo." She smiles at the trooper as they jump down onto the grass.

"It's so.. Green." Echo looks around at the few grazing shaaks.

"And peaceful." Elara points, plopping down on the grass. "No city lights or speeders rushing around." She smiles. "And most importantly, no war."

Echo sits beside her and observes her as she looks up at the sky. He catches the sparkle in her blue eyes as she looks up at the slowly-appearing stars above her and smiles to himself as he looks up as well.

"You didn't have any siblings?" Echo asks, bringing up their earlier conversation.

Elara seems to hesitate in her answer. "I don't consider him a brother anymore." She looks down.

Echo curiously glances over at her.

"When the attacks on our home first started, a message was sent to all of the civilians. The Separatists offered protection and security to anyone who offered their services to them." Elara explains. "My older brother decided to take them up on the offer." She clenches her jaw. "Maybe he thought it would protect us too? Honestly, I have no idea what was going through his head." She closes her eyes.

Her brother, Galen, was a good amount of years older than her. In fact, it's a miracle that Elara's parents had her at the ages they did. Growing up, Galen had taken Elara under his wing. He showed her everything she needed to know about farming the land around them, and some less useful things like where the shaaks would gather or how to properly saddle one.

"He defected?" Echo asks. "But.. Is... Was he a sympathizer?"

"No." Elara laughs. "No, he hated the Separstists. He hated all forms of government, actually, but the Separatists especially." She shakes her head. "He's a coward. He abandoned his family. And for what? A life of servitude?"

Echo sighs and gently places a hand on her back. He pulls her into a hug and she clenches her jaw to fight back tears as she hugs him.

The dreary atmosphere quickly fades after Echo makes a joke about her not having to deal with brothers like Hardcase. They spend quite some time on Naboo, looking up at the stars once the sun had completely set, but eventually they decide to head back.