Star Wars: Arcturus (Jedi Master Eeth Koth/ Padawan Raven Trebeck)

[Livia Yoran]

“You will not need your weapon in order to fetch coals, you know,” said Thoar jokingly. “We don’t usually have assassins hidden in the basement. C’mon.”
There was a big store room for coals in the basement that was filled from street level through a sealable hole. Arcturus had large coal mines a few hundred miles to the south of Calinia. Most of the energy used to heat the houses was geothermic, but they all had fireplaces in the living rooms as well for added comfort. Coal was also used for producing electricity. Thoar would have been the first to admit that this was not a very clean way to produce energy, but he saw it as a preliminary measure while the colony worked to expand and create enough income to buy power cells. At the moment, population was so small, when compared to the size of the planet, that pollution was minimal.
Thoar handed Indigo a basket and a shovel.
“Just fill it with coals and bring it upstairs to the container next to the fireplace,” he said. “But take care, they’re heavy. Don’t take more than you can carry. We’ll need to go three or four times in order to make Panthea happy. After that, she’ll probably want us to get a new load of cider.”

Arcturus had special greenhouses devoted to producing fruit. An enterprising colonist had started making cider out of the planet's small, sour apples a few years ago and it had been a huge hit. Thoar was rather proud of this.

[Raven.]

“I’d hope not, assassins are probably out of my league,” Indigo quipped, his tone jovial and matching Thoar's. He didn’t anticipate trouble, then again life was rarely predictable, especially the life of an inexperienced Jedi padawan whose senses were not yet honed enough to detect minute fluctuations in the Force with the absolute precision of a master or senior apprentice. Indigo did not explain any of this, though. He was not sure if the man - like his master might have - would simply roll his eyes in an indulging fashion and patted his back.

Accepting the shovel with a nod, the boy threw in a single load and tested the weight; apparently Thoar wasn’t kidding, this stuff was heavy, although he had the Force on his side. He had not done any Force work in a few days and deemed this as a good opportunity to ‘work out’ in more ways than one. He hefted the shovel, filling his basket but not nearly to the level Thoar had, as he didn’t want to lose the lot should his concentration fail, no that would be and embarrassing fail, he needed to be capable of muscling the basket to the ground before that happened. Satisfied with his load, he moved towards the door, stopping when he reached it to place his basket down and open the door for Thoar. “What Cider?” he asked, the moment spent idle having brought the question to the surface.

[Livia Yoran]

"A drink made of apples," replied Thoar. "Panthea loves it. I like a glass every now and then. Rulla mixes it with water. We have nearly run out of it, anyway. We can take two skids, skate to the next store and load up on cider."

As it turned out, that was exactly what Panthea had in mind for them. Thoar had procured iceskates for Indigo and his master when they had first arrived, and he knew that the boy knew how to skate by now although he was not nearly as proficient as the average inhabitant of Calinia. It would do, though.

Lined up against the wall of the house, on the canal's frozen surface, were several skids with handles that a skater could push in front of himself.
"Grab one and let's go," said Thoar.

[Raven.]

No, Indigo really wasn’t the best skater, in fact, he felt all gangly and unstable, unlike Rulla who he’d watch from their window. She looked like she was born with skates on. The boy eyed them with a mild look if distaste, not that it was noticeable given his naturally stoic expression, then pulled them on. He took hold of the skid, at least that offered him something to stabilise himself with, and took off after Thoar.

The store was not far, but far enough that the skate there had caused his body temperature to rise enough to shed his coat once they arrived. “How many of these do you want? I can load it while you pay if you like?” Indigo offered, tossing his coat over the handle of his skid and rolling the first barrel onto his load.

[Livia Yoran]

“Load mine with four barrels,” said Thoar, giving him a brief smile. “You take two. That will be enough for you to handle, both in terms of weight and in terms of skating.”
It had not escaped his notice that Indigo was still uncomfortable on ice skates. All the more reason for Rulla to help him along, rather than leaving him behind when she went out, he thought. He was going to tell her so when he tucked her in. On the rare occasions on which he was home early enough, he always did that.

[Raven.]

Although he did not say as much, Indigo was silently grateful that he didn’t have to carry more than two, he was wobbly enough as it was and stacking his skid with a load of cider barrels was not exactly something he was keen to do. That Thoar was taking double his load did dent his manly pride, but not quite enough to voice a protest.

Twenty minutes later they were on their way back. The skating paths were an effective way of getting about on Calinia, something he planned to put in his report, yeah, if he managed to start writing it tonight that was. The boy was finding that motivating himself to do his work without his master pushing him was harder than expected, the urge to procrastinate, to do fun things other than his work was high. He wondered what Eeth was going to be like also, would the man have expected him to complete the list of work his master had tasked him with? Would he check? Would he even know?

Needless to say by the time they got home Indigo fully intended to get stuck into some of his school work, although when he saw dinner thoughts of his work went out the window; it could wait. “Smells wonderful,” he commented when they’d carted the last of the barrels to the storage room. “Is there anything else you want me to do?”

[Livia Yoran]

It turned out that the only thing they were expected to do at this point was to wash their hands and eat, so that was what they did. As usual, the meal was delicious. Panthea had even produced a dessert made from berries, nuts and a flaky concoction produced from a type of beans that could be sweetened and tasted quite good then.

After dinner, they sat at the fireplace and Thoar entertained them with stories about funny people he had met during the course of his work. He was very good at giving impressions of others, and it sent Rulla into peals of laughter. She loved being with her father. It was a rare occurrence, and she cherished it all the more when it happened. When he finally sent them off to bed, she obeyed only reluctantly, but she did obey. It was simply not a good idea to disobey her father.

[Raven.]

It did not occur to Indigo to question Thoar’s instructions, he’d spent his entire life at the temple with rules and structure, that didn’t mean that he never disobeyed, just that he was accustomed to being told what to do and his first reaction was to obey. He walked the stairs behind Rulla, her love for her father had not gone unnoticed, and it had him wondering how much time they actually to got to spend together, and whether or not she felt sad for the times that she missed with him.

Ever the gentleman, Indigo let her go first, then when she was finished with the bathroom he went about brushing his teeth. The home was warm despite the freezing conditions outside, warm enough so that he could sleep in the standard sleep pants and singlet he used at the temple. His bedroom was quiet and had an empty feel to it when he entered that night. Indigo was missing his master, missing her presence and affection and for a long time that evening he tossed and turned until sleep finally took him.

The next few days were much the same, although Rulla had started inviting him with her a couple of times and showed him around. He’d thought it strange that she asked him to come given he was quite certain she thought him a nuisance, but wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth and took the opportunity gratefully. The day had been kinda awkward, and there was just no way he could keep up with her on skates, Force or not.

On the fourth day Thoar had taken him to his office where he was to call his master on what passed as their communits. Apparently she was doing well and everything was going as planned. She was safe, or at least for now, which came as a huge relief to the boy; he’d truly been missing her. Unfortunately, when she enquired about his list of class work, the boy was forced to admit having done absolutely nothing since she left. That didn’t go over well, and with Thoar seated at his desk his lack of progress was now common knowledge. When the call ended he had a smile on his face, he had enjoyed talking to her and it was showing despite his usually impassive features.

[Livia Yoran]

“It seems,” Thoar remarked, “that you should spend more time on your school work than you have done so far. Now, you know I’m very busy and not often home during the day. And I really don’t want to burden Panthea with policing you, she’s got more than enough to do. So can I rely on you to do your work without being bullied into it, or do you need more than that?”

[Raven.]

“More than that?” Indigo repeated, wondering what exactly he meant, then quickly added. “Nobody needs to bully me. I’ll do it I guess,” he said with a resigned sigh. The truth was he really didn’t want to, but nor did his master seem pleased, in fact, he was quite certain that she was going to have words with him when they caught up again. For now, though he just had Thoar to contend with, sure he looked plenty intimidating, but he was a Jedi and could be intimidating himself if need be, or so he thought.