If he knew his big sister, she should be out here somewhere.... and most likely near the stream. He walked along, then looked up at the sound of a long sigh. "Hey sis, how're you feeling? Still feeling down?"
She looked down through the braches, in which she had perched, to see her brother standing by the stream as he looked up at her. "Me? Down? Nah..." she faked a smile and turned over to lie with her stomach over the branch, not unlike a wild cat. "Got something on your mind?"
"Yeah. The way you're feeling. What I went through was bad enough, what you went through was even worse, so I want to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine bro, no worries," Sylvana smiled down at him.
"I don't believe you," Arrek folded his arms as he looked up at her. "Look. You need to talk to someone about this before it eats you alive. If not me, then at least talk to someone else you trust enough."
"Fine, don't believe me," she chuckled. "But don't worry about it right now. Actually," she turned over and then hopped to the ground to sit at the base of the tree, "I was wondering if there was anything you wanted to talk about."
"I have many questions, but I don't know if you can answer any of them."
"Try me." Sylvana pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them as she rested her chin on them to look up at her little brother.
"Who were they, why did they do it, what did they have against us, who are we, why did we have to come here, will they come after us again?"
She looked at him blankly then started laughing. "One at a time, there. One at a time. Try again... slower."
"Uhm... any idea who they were?" He asked as he pulled out his ever present pack of cigarettes.
She sighed, having given up on talking him into quitting the, to him, calming habit. "The ones who...?" she waved a hand wordlessly.
"Yeah. You don't have to say anything that upsets you or makes you feel uncomfortable, though."
She waved a hand, "I don't care. From what my mind's pieced together; they were pretty much a group of racial purists."
"Are they still out there?" he asked before taking a nervous draw of his drug.
"Probably," she told him as she looked away to the babbling water of the small stream.
"Think we should prepare? I mean, we could become pretty high profile out there."
"Nah. They wanted to keep us... away," she didn't really want to admit to why. "To make an example of us, or something."
"Hn." Arrek looked reflective, "What about... you know... our brother? Are you ready to talk about that?"
Her face closed up, "He's dead."
"We can't be sure of that, you know. He may just have been injured or something. Maybe taken captive again?"
She looked up at him, "What do you remember from that time?" she asked quietly.
"I remember seeing him struck to the ground, after you fell. Then I closed my eyes and tried to hide away. Then nothing."
Sighing, Sylvana closed her eyes as she recalled the last time she'd seen him. "You're lucky, but then you always were. I guess you've blocked it so successfully it was completely erased. They didn't touch you, just made you watch. I guess. But... we were beaten, whipped. It wasn't pretty. After several days of that, I guess he finally couldn't take it anymore." A tear fell down her cheek, "They left him there as it started snowing. He wasn't breathing. I couldn't..." she broke off and looked at the stream again as she spoke numbly. "He's dead."
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I thought there might be hope, now... now I know I used to have an older brother."
"Yeah," she muttered with a sigh. "And I used to have a twin...."
"At least you still have a little brother," Arrek said with a tight smile.
She looked up and then grabbed his hand, pulling him down to sit beside her so she could put her head on his shoulder. "Yeah. My big, little brother." She half smiled, "Anything else on your mind, bro?"
"Do you think we'll ever see our home? You know, our real home?"
Sylvana lifted her head and looked at him curiously, "Whatcha mean by that?"
"Our birthplace. It wasn't Earth, and there's a whole other planet out there we were supposed to grow up on. Personally, I wonder what it's like."
She grinned, "Well that's one thing you don't have to worry about. You were born here... on Terra."
"Well, that's good to know. But, still, I wasn't supposed to be brought up here. Neither of us were, were we?"
"Actually, we were... sort of. It's complicated," she sighed and readjusted how she sat, leaning back against the tree and crossing her bare feet atop one another. "Way I figure, God knew where we were supposed to grow up, and here's where we're supposed to be. Besides, Momma's from here, so either way we've just as much right to call this our home as anyone."
"That's true. I mean, it's already my home. It's just... I feel there's another place out there," he pointed to the sky, "that I can call home too."
"Arrek," she looked at him seriously. "Home is wherever you want to be. It doesn't matter, physically, where it is."
"Oh, I don't doubt that, but my heart is telling me something. I can't describe it, but I have a longing to be somewhere. Somewhere I can make a difference." He shrugged, "I don't know if it's Terra, or our father's world, or somewhere else out there...."
"Right now, here is where we can make a difference. It's kind of like our fate. I mean, who else can say they're part of a handful who protect an entire planet?" she chuckled.
He flashed an inane grin, "Yeah, I guess we do have a big role to play here."
"Yeah."
"Well, I guess to make a difference, you have to be different. So, we've already accomplished half that."
"Yep. No worries, right?"
"Right. Do you think we'll ever figure out what it means to be us? I mean, we're different from everyone. We could be the last of our kind...."
"Oh, I"m pretty sure we're not the last. There's plenty more," Sylvana chuckled bitterly. "Although half-breeds like ourselves are a bit less common," she picked up a stone and threw it into the water.
"So we're kinda like that Elrond guy in Lord of the Rings - the last of the half-elves, as it were. I mean, I hope we can meet more, but if we don't. What if we never figure out what we are capable of? There's so much we don't understand, do you think we ever will?"
"Dunno Arrek. I dunno. We could always talk to Momma, of course... and I remember some things. Once I've got a handle on them, I'll show you. Kay?"
"Sure thing. I think it'll all work out, but now it's all a confusing mess."
"Something like that. But we'll make it just fine," she spoke as though trying to convince them both.
He looked up wistfully at the sky, tears beginning to form. "I hope we can understand, because not knowing will be hard on us both."
"Did fine not knowing for about twenty years. People've done fine with worse. Who knows, maybe Momma'll be able to teach us more, or something."
"But not knowing was a lot easier than knowing. Then again, I guess that at least we now know, and it's not another twenty years when it'll be harder."
"Something like that. When you untangle it all, that is."
"I just hope it's soon," Arrek sighed. "We still have a job to do, and distractions won't be much help."
"Just don't be thinking about it," she shrugged. "Go on like this never happened, and we'll untangle it later... when there's time."
"Sure thing. It'll likely be safer that way."
"As long as nobody finds out, I'm sure it will be." She shrugged again, then sighed.
"I'm glad we decided not to tell anyone other than the Major here. I don't want people coming after us again."
"Sci promised not to tell anyone, so we should be safe."
"Then let's agree," Arrek held out a hand, "no talking about this to anyone without telling the other first."
She took it and they shook once, "Deal."
"Cool. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Do you really need to hash this out? I could go to a shop and find some training swords...."
"I'd trounce you, and you know it. Seriously," she half smiled, "everything's fine."
"If you're lying to me, sis, I'll go Vader on you." He thought a moment, "Well not literally but you know what I mean."
She chuckled, "I promise if I need to work things out I'll take care of it. Okay?"
He sighed, "Okay."
They sat there for a short while longer, before Sylvana stood and brushed debris from her clothing. "C'mon, my stomach's telling me it's time to head back."
"After lunch, you wanna go reinvent our look? Since everything's changed, our appearance may as well too."
She nodded, "Yes. I'd rather look as much Human as possible, and striped hair isn't quite that. Besides, I'm starting to get those silverwhite roots in again."
"We could both go bald."
"Hmmmmm... hmmmmm... I don't think so," she chuckled. "You could, but I'm not cutting my hair. Nope, it's off to black again, for me."
"I think I'll go back to blonde, it'll probably be weirder for me after this, anyway. You reckon the major would let me get my labrette pierced?"
"You're lucky unicolour is your natural colour," she chuckled. "And no, I don't think he'd go for that. It's 'unprofessional' I wager."
"Yeah, but I'm not exactly getting younger, and I was thinking of getting it done before I'd look stupid."
"Arrek," she sighed. "You're gonna look like this for a long while, remember? You could get it done twenty years from now, and you still wouldn't look stupid."
"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. Thing is, I wanna look like I'm totally human, but not - if you get my meaning? I still want to be a bit far out... are you okay?"
Sylvana had put one hand up to rub at her temple for the n'th time that day, with a long sigh. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Just this headache, I've had it since before we left Coruscant, and it doesn't seem to be abating any. I can't quite figure it out." She shrugged, "Yes, I understand what you mean, but it's your head and not mine if you decide to pierce your lip."
"True. well, I hope your head gets better soon. If not I'll be dragging you to the doctor. As for the lip thing, I think I'll eat on it before deciding."
"Arrek, I AM a doctor," she chuckled.
"Being a doctor doesn't mean you can't go see someone other than yourself!" he laughed.
"Eating sounds like a plan," she backtracked. "I'll meet you in the cafeteria in an hour or so - I think I'll go pick up some hair dye in town first."
"Sure thing, Sis. I'll save you a seat."
She stuck her tongue out at him, some of her old playfulness slightly returning, before they parted ways.