[Fic] Popsicle Bliss

[Bee Hoon]

A/N: I feel way too lazy to actually put more effort into this, so here goes!

 

***

 

When he finally spotted the two children sitting in a gazebo, the Padawan heaved a sigh of relief. “There you are! I’ve spent the entire day looking for the two of you.”

 

The two children sized the Padawan up, their faces unusually grave for such young ones, while he did the same to them. The boy standing in front of the girl protectively was a couple of years older than her, with sandy hair and hazel eyes. The honey-skinned girl was sitting on the balustrade with her feet on the bench, and peeking over his shoulder. She was about 5 or 6 years old, with very dark hair and eyes.

 

There was a long silence, during which Kavar resisted the urge to examine them through the Force. It was generally considered poor etiquette among the Jedi, unless you were willing to subject yourself to similar scrutiny.

 

“He’s very tall,” the girl observed.

 

“Not as scary as Master Vrook though,” the boy replied.

 

Kavar chuckled at that, and his annoyance dissipated a little. “So, I presume that you are Revan,” he nodded at the boy, “and you are Lei?” he inclined his head at the girl.

 

The girl said, “No, I’m Revan.”

 

The boy said nothing, but he smirked a little. His friend gave Kavar an utterly earnest look, but the Padawan was unconvinced. He merely sighed, flipped open a datapad and handed it to them

 

As they were poring over it, they whispered to each other continuously. Kavar found his curiosity quite unreasonably stoked, and he tried to eavesdrop on their conversation.

 

“Look, they mention the time you locked Malak in the storeroom…”

 

“At least I didn’t hide in Atris’ library while cutting class. Of all places…!”

 

Kavar reached forward and pulled the datapad out of Revan’s hands. The boy scowled at him, his short-cropped hair glowing like a halo in the golden light of the Coruscanti afternoon. He looked like a rather petulant angel as he said, “We’re not following you back, you know. You might be Sith.”

 

The two of them exchanged glances, and Kavar sensed an argument that he was not privy to…which was odd. Finally, Revan shrugged and Lei said triumphantly, “See, I told you that he was okay! He’s all bright. Definitely not a Sith.”

 

“What?” Kavar was horrified. He hadn’t even felt them reaching out through the Force.

 

The girl frowned a little, a very small wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. “What what?” she asked, genuinely confused.

 

Waving his hand expansively, the Padawan exclaimed, “How did you do that? I didn’t even sense you looking at me!”

 

“Oh. That.” She looked at him dubiously. “How come no one else can do this?”

 

“’Cuz you’re special!” Revan said with a grin, and he gave Lei’s hair an affectionate tug, for which he was rewarded with a scowl.

 

“Don’t talk nonsense!” Turning to Kavar, she said, “Come on, I’ll show you.”

 

He hesitated, but took the proffered hand, his own large one swallowing it up, and plunged straight into a sensory overload. Afterwards, he could only compare it to suddenly being shown what colour was after having lived in a monochrome world, or jumping into a fourth dimension. Looking at both of them was overwhelming. Revan’s flame was unbearably bright, and Kavar sensed that he would burn brighter still as he matured. Lei was indistinct, her own life bound to the Force so tightly that she seemed inseparable from it. When she drew her hand away, Kavar was reeling, and the world slowly returned to normal, although it now seemed drab and dingy by comparison.

 

Revan took Lei’s hand and pulled her down gently. “C’mon Lei, let’s go. I don’t wanna go back to the Temple.”

 

She winced a little as she stood, and she sat down again promptly. “It still hurts a lot.” Pulling off her right boot, she pulled her foot into her lap and rubbed her obviously swollen ankle. The doleful look on her doll’s face was enough to melt Kavar. Kneeling in front of her, he touched the ankle gently and probed the injury with the Force. The sprain was pretty bad, and he didn’t dare to risk healing it as he would probably do it all wrong and leave her with a permanent limp.

 

“What happened to you?” Kavar’s voice was gentle.

 

“There was this kid, and he wasn’t very nice…”

 

Revan interjected fiercely, “He called her stupid and then pushed her down the slide!”

 

“So, erm, yeah. That’s what happened.” They exchanged meaningful glances, and looked vaguely guilty.

 

“Are you sure that’s all that happened?”

 

“Weeeeell…” she shifted uncomfortably, and avoided Kavar’s sharp blue eyes.

 

“I’m listening.”

 

She exhaled loudly. “Okay, I’ll tell you if you promise not tell anyone. We…lifted him.”

 

“Just a bit,” Revan added, looking not the least bit repentant.

 

“He did scream a lot when we made him do cartwheels in the air though,” she said thoughtfully.

 

Kavar wasn’t really sure that his eyebrows could ascend any further without merging into his hairline.

 

Revan shrugged noncommittally. “I dunno why he screamed so much. It seemed like fun.”

 

“Yeah! Revan, let’s try it! Me first!” she tugged at the boy’s sleeve while wearing such a pleading look that even Vrook—that old fart—would have wavered if that look had been directed at him.

 

“I dunno if I could keep you up, especially since you’d forget to hold yourself up,” he said uncertainly. At least one of them had some sense, Kavar thought wryly.

 

She redirected the aforementioned look at Kavar, but he steeled himself and said sternly, “We’re all going back to the temple now.”

 

Their noisy protests ranged from “Master Vrook is meaaaan” to “There’s nowhere to play hide and seek without getting scolded”, and of course, Lei’s ultimate proclamation that “They don’t have any lime popsicles in the temple!”

 

“And I can’t walk back anyway, so I’m just going to stay here,” she finished triumphantly.

 

Kavar sighed the sigh unique to the long-suffering; a dramatic, drawn-out sigh which sounded thoroughly martyred. “I’m going to carry you back,” he said.

 

“Piggy-back?” she actually sounded hopeful.

 

Rolling his eyes, Kavar crouched in front of her, and she clambered on gleefully. Revan hovered around her, still reluctant to return to the temple, but unwilling to leave her. She seemed to have forgotten all her apprehension about going back, although Kavar was not complaining.

 

He supposed that he would have to read them the riot act about appropriate use of the Force, and began mentally reviewing it. It should only be used to do good, their duty was to protect people, a Jedi should always be in control, there is no emotion, there is…

 

“Ow!”

 

The only reply he received was a muffled giggle and a not-so-muffled snigger.

 

“What was that for?!”

 

“For fun,” Lei said innocently.

 

Kavar sputtered, “Fun?!”

 

“Yeah. Your Padawan braid is so cute. I think it needs to be pulled some more,” and she proceeded to do so.

 

“Don’t—Ow! Stop it, you little scamp!”

 

“We’re not scamps, we’re scoundrels! Right, Revan?”

 

Revan bowed with a flourish, and struck a pose. “Arrr! We be space pirates!”

 

Kavar didn’t bother waiting for Revan, but strode on while muttering to himself. Revan had to run to catch up with them, and when he did, he said to Lei, “You can pull my Padawan braid anytime! Once I get one, anyway.” Punching Kavar on the arm playfully, he grinned at him and said “You should learn to lighten up! Lei will teach you how.”

 

“And to do that, we need lime popsicles! Now now now!”

 

“No!”

 

In unison, they began singing, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream…”

 

To his credit, Kavar did endure it for five full minutes before caving in. “All right! All right! We’ll get some ice-cream.”

 

10 minutes and 3 credits later, they were sitting on a bench and licking their lime popsicles. The looks on their faces bespoke utter bliss, and Kavar had to admit that simply sitting back and enjoying the sour-sweet popsicle was more enjoyable than anything he had done for a long time. Even if the weather was a bit chilly for ice-cream.

 

He hadn’t realized that he had spoken aloud until Lei yanked on his braid gently and said, “Spoilsport!”

 

He batted her hand away and said jokingly, “Hey, if you keep doing that, it’s going to drop off.”

 

“That would be kinda cool.”

 

Horrified blue eyes met serious dark ones, and she nodded empathetically. Revan slung his arm around her, and his smile was that of a person resigned to some awful, inevitable fate. “You get used to it after a while. Sort of.”

 

They finished off their popsicles, and Kavar brought them back to the temple...slowly. The two of them kept stopping to point out things, and their constant commentary was surprisingly amusing.

 

When they finally arrived, he handed them over to Master Vandar, who healed the ankle while Revan peppered him with questions about healing. After that, as Kavar turned to leave, Lei pulled at his sleeve. “Wait, I’ve got something to tell you.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“It’s a secret. Come nearer, I’ll whisper it.”

 

He bent his head close to hers, and she tugged his braid sharply. Revan grabbed her hand and they fled, the sound of their laughter echoing through the marble halls.

 

“I see that you’ve met the little rascals as well.” He turned to see Atris smiling at him. She raised an eyebrow when she saw his face, and asked diplomatically, “Kavar, are you aware that your lips are green?”

 

“No, but I’m not surprised for some reason.”

 

“Your tongue is too.”

 

He grinned and said, “Lime popsicles. Who would have guessed?”

[Inyri]

 

Bee, that was excellent. I prefer grape myself, though.

[Rev7]

That wan't bad at all Bee. Perhaps Kavar is getting a taste of what it is like to be a father?

[Writer]

Very well written. I loved your portrayal of Revan and Lei as children, and their interaction with Padawan Kavar was great! Apart from their Force sensitivity, the children come across as quite ordinary children, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. At somewhere between five and eight years of age, even with Jedi training, I don't think you could fully be rid of that playful side in a kid.

 

One thing I've only just recently discovered though... Malak was the name that man chose once he turned to the Dark Side. Before that, his name was Alek. Alek Squinquargesimus, to be exact. Poor guy... last name like that, no wonder he switched to Malak

 

Popsicles. Little things to make us happy, indeed And I loved how Kavar sort of casually dismissed the observation that his mouth was green

[Bee Hoon]

Inyri, thankies:D Lime is the best:P In reply to the PM, hrm, I imagined her the same age as Kavar (late teens?). Not so much having her own library, but being library furniture to the extent that the kiddies simply think of it as being hers.

 

Rev7, thanks. Not a dad, just a harassed older brother:p

 

Writer, yay, a detailed review! *gives Writer a lime popsicle* Kavar just needs moar abuse of his Padawan braid:P Squinquargesimus...is that even pronouncable?>.> After spending an extended period of time with mini Revan and Lei, I didn't think that anything could really shock him anymore xD Thanks for the comments!

[JediAthos]

A very entertaining story Bee. I love the mischievous spirit that you injected into the children, and the way Kavar tried to be stern with them before giving in. It was just a fun fun story.

[Bee Hoon]

Thanks, JediAthos:) I had a lot of fun visualizing it. I guess I wasn't as meek a kid as I thought;p

[Rev7]

I imagined her the same age as Kavar (late teens?). Not so much having her own library, but being library furniture to the extent that the kiddies simply think of it as being hers.

 

Rev7, thanks. Not a dad, just a harassed older brother.

Ahhh, I see. I know that Kavar would be younger, but I didn't see him being that young. Regardless, you answered my question! Thanks.

[Jae Onasi]

Nice job portraying the children's actions and speech--that was fun. I had a little trouble imagining 'popsicles' as being part of the SW universe with that particular name, but that's the only thing that jumped out at me.

 

I can just imagine Kavar trying to keep a straight face as the 2 kids described flipping the other child over in the air.

[Bee Hoon]

Thanks Jae! :] Hehe, I wish I could have seen that particular look on Kavar's face xD Writing this story officially decreased my mental age by another 15 years. I'll be moving into negative numbers soon

 

I was wondering about the popsicles, but the whole idea stemmed from it, so it seemed a bit silly to axe that bit.

 

Plus the word 'popsicle' is cuuuuuuuuuuuute<3

[The_Catto]

Hahaha, "Arr! We be space pirates!"

 

I looooved that bit. I'm still laughing!

Awesome, awesome, awesome, AWESOME, story, Bee! Gre-hey-HEY-hey-HEeeeyeat work!!!!

[Bee Hoon]

Thanks, Mr_BFA! Methinks that they would make very good space pirates!