#elatar

  --

  Lord Elatar was fidgeting noticeably.  His large arms were crossed over his chest and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, over and over again.

“My lord.”  A strong, red hand, slightly age-worn and rough, rested on his forearm.  “Be at peace.  You will be fine.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about,” the newly-christened Sith Lord said to Darth Oboa, his one-time master.  Sukhera was still hairless and handsome, and the years had only put jovial lines of laughter on her red skin.  Elatar smiled at the sheer faith in the woman’s gaze.  Of course he would be fine.  Sukhera had seen to that.  Years of sparring in the backyard.  Being knocked on his back again, and again, and again -- he had fought her incessantly until he beat her.

She had cried out for him to yield and had promoted him on the spot.

“The twins.”  Sukhera nodded solemnly.  “You’re worried about them?”

Her child loved the garden.  It was the brightest spot in the entire compound; a small grassy plot with fruit trees and a fish pond and a few lazy blurrgs that spent their time sunning themselves on the boulders spaced throughout.

Hanneke sat in the grass, her head tilted back to enjoy the unexpected sunlight on Dromund Kaas, when Elatar’s happy gurgle caught her attention.  She cast her eyes back down to see him sitting up amongst the grass, blades of green poking out from between the fingers of his chubby brown-orange fist.  He noticed her looking at him and smiled widely, an endearing gap-toothed grin as he held out his hand.

“Mama,” he said, holding out his grass-filled hand, his yellow eyes wide with wonder.  Hanneke laughed, scooting herself back a few paces.

“What do you have, honey?”  She held out her hands, beckoning him to come toward her.

Elatar frowned slightly, looked down at his hand and back up at his mother, and reached again.  “Mama.”  His tone was insistent and he stared at Hanneke, looking extremely put out at the fact that she wasn’t coming to pick him up.

“Come here,” Hanneke said, a soft smile on her face, “and show me what you’ve found.”

He did.   She watched in awe, her heart swelling as Elatar took his very first steps.  He didn’t quite know what to do with his own legs, but he stood up and took a few stumbling steps straight into her arms, tripping at the end such that the handful of grass flew into her face.