#orentha

Orentha and Riya traded looks as the ship door slammed shut below.

“Oh Force help us,” muttered Leikar.

“I have had a rough day!” Doc dramatically stormed into the lounge, hair disheveled, a bruise forming on his jaw, and looking particularly upset. “Honestly, all I want right now is a drink and someone to cuddle with… Hey gorgeous.”

Orentha’s glare could have sent the dejarik table into a bubbling puddle of molten metal. “No.”

“C’mon, beautiful, I’ll even pour you a virgin juice mix thing.”

“I said no. I’m busy.” She picked a tile for her rancor to go. The little hologram squashed Riya’s mynock. “And winning.”

He sighed. “Oh, poor o’ Doc, forever alone.”

“If only you’d leave us forever alone,” Kira snapped from the couch.

Doc took that as an invitation and collapsed on the other end, sticking his boots up on the holoprojector. “Sorry, doll, I’m sticking around.”

“Like a fungus.”

He stayed silent, watching Riya and Orentha’s dejarik game.

Leikar leaned over to sit behind Orentha and signed rapidly at Riya.

She grinned and moved her gundark to the rancor. Both hologram creatures defeated one another. Riya signed something rather rude back to her brother.

“You’re not being discreet, ‘Kar,” warned Orentha. Her creatures charged Riya’s last one. “And I still won.”

He shrugged. “I tried. Now my turn against you.”

Riya flicked her eyes to Doc as she traded spots with Leikar. He was trying to stay awake, head bobbing forward as he slowly blinked. She slowly stood and sat next to him. “Tired?”

“Never…” he yawned. “Never got that drink. Or anyone to cuddle with, Ree, but eh, not the first time ol’ Doc’s been left alone.”

“You can lean on me if that’ll count.”

“Ree, you’re fantastic.” Doc  slouched down and gently rested his head on her shoulder. “And you’re better than the couch.”

“It wasn’t that boring of a game,” Leikar said defensively.

Orentha stared hard at him. “You had us in stalemate for ten minutes. Twice.”

“Once. The other time we had to look up the rules.”

“Because you’ll help Riya cheat but you won’t dare break a rule for yourself.” Orentha rolled her eye and groaned. “Oh no.”

Liekar twisted in his seat.

Kira was dead asleep on the couch, mouth open at an awkward angle as drooling on the armrest.

It was Riya and Doc that bothered him.

Doc was leaning on her, looking very at ease and almost decent in sleep. Riya had her head resting on his, dozing.

Both looked too comfortable for Liekar to like.

“You can wake up Kira,” Orentha said snidely.

Oh no. She had a very un-Jedi veiw of him. Before Leiakr could protest, Orentha launched herself across the lounge and none too gently poked Doc. “Hey, get up.”

His eyes popped open. “Wha…?”

“Up. Get off the couch.”

Doc blinked at Orentha, then at Riya. “But she’s so tired. I don’t wanna move and wake her up.” A soft, gentle smile played on his face. “She should sleep. Doc’s orders.”

“Yeah, get up, Doc, or you’ll be complaining that you didn’t get your beauty rest.” Orentha grabbed his arm and hauled him up.

Leikar turned to Kira and shook her shoulder. “Kira. Kira, get up.”

“Bite me.”

shout-out to @fer8girl for the inspiration of this!

The ship was peacefully quiet, only the soft hiss of the air filters creating any sound.

Orentha exhaled.

Slow inhale.

Pause.

Exhale.

Repeat.

Gradually her muscles relaxed; her mind emptying until it was her and the Force.

Silence.

Inhale.

The ship’s door creaked open, followed by a tremor in the Force, the-

The annoying doctor from Balmorra was back on board.

Orentha listened to his boots thud up the stairs, thud across the floor, and thud down into the med-bay. Where he sounded as thought he was stomping as loud as he could and trying his utmost to make as loud a racket as possible.

Slow inhale.

Pause.

Exhale.

She softened her posture, feeling the Force again.

Doc was coming back up the stairs again. It was that, or someone had brought a Taun-Taun on board to roam.

“Hey, Orentha,” the doctor drawled. “You wouldn’t mind some company, would you?”

“I am trying to meditate. Alone.”

“Aw, you don’t want Ol’ Doc’s company?”

Orentha opened her eye and mustered as much dislike as she could into the glare. “I am going to ignore you now.”

He smirked. “You can try, but you’ll be missing me in five minutes.” Doc winked and thundered back down to the med-bay. “I’ll be waiting for you, Gorgeous!” he hollered.

She was something, Doc decided. She’d barged into the hospital to save him (and with three other Jedi and to save patients, but still. He could pretend, right?) and had done so with some amazing Jedi-lasersword skills.

He was impressed.

Fiery red hair, enough freckles to make it look like she had her own galaxy on her skin, and sharp cybernetics to contrast against the smooth curve of her lips.

She was beautiful. 

Sure, he didn’t believe in love at first sight, but there had to be exceptions to that.

This Jedi was definitely one of them.

Doc turned to her sister, who was sitting on the cot behind him. Her cybernetic hearing aids had needed new calibrations. “Obviously you can’t tell a woman that you just met that you love her, but it sucks that you can’t.”

The sister’s head snapped up. Riya, was her name? Yeah, Riya. “What?” she asked in disbelief.

“I might just believe in love at first sight.” Doc picked up his tray of med-packs and whistled as he headed over to introduce himself. “Hey Gorgeous, I’m Doc.”

So when the triplets are found by the Jedi, they’re three little twelve-year-olds who are malnourished that collectively have 4 eyes and 4 working ears between the three of them. They swear and curse and are all on the defensive, waiting for this Jedi who’s found them to take-back all his promises of a safe place for them to grow up. Leikar’s especially defensive of his sisters. He’s had to fight off creeps. Orentha’s protective of Leikar and Riya, Liekar’s the one who acts like he’s got street cred and he protects her. Both of them are fiercely protective of Riya, she’s been deaf since they were nine. She doesn’t hear all the bad stuff said to them, but she senses the gist of it. They’re heavily reliant on the Force and are in-tune with each other.

But the Jedi who finds them gets them medical care; cybernetics so Riya can hear, and help for Leikar and Orentha’s missing eyes. And this Jedi takes them to Tython where the three of them are sequestered away for a couple months while they slowly learn they don’t have to steal, or fight, or worry about survival. The Jedi Masters there work with children and teens who’ve been through hell and aren’t trusting. They also try and work on the swearing. Riya doesn’t really swear, Orentha is able to mind her language, but it’s Leikar who cusses like a sailor.

When the triplets are finally entered into the Temple, they’re thirteen. They insisted on being together.

And Leikar still swears something awful when he gets frustrated. Master Satele personally works with him to get him to calm down and control his emotions. Leikar’s 13/14. He’s never had a woman give him undivided attention, even if its just Jedi training. He develops a little crush on her, which Orentha and Riya can sense. (They NEVER let him live that down).

Master Satele gives him ‘the talk’, aka the “Jedi don’t form attachments” talk. That he shouldn’t feel that way towards anyone.

Leikar takes it to heart.

Fast forward another year. They’re fifteen. The triplets are slightly more independent, they aren’t glued together at the hip anymore. One is always near Riya, because the habit of keeping an eye on her is ingrained in them, even though she can hear now and keeps telling them she’s fine alone. Leikar’s better at not swearing. Sometimes he’ll accidentally let a cuss slip, but that’s rare and he immediately apologizes.

Orentha sees @starrypawz‘s Gev, a damn good-looking Jedi. She accidentally stumbles into the clearing he’s meditating in, startles herself, and tries to backtrack. He sees her all embarrassed and invites her to meditate with him (I hope this is in character!)

Orentha develops a crush on him. Leikar, since the triplets are still very connected to each other emotionally through the Force, senses it and tries to talk to her about it not being the Jedi way. She pushes him away and says he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. So he tells Master Satele (Leikar really really likes the Jedi, and if Orentha breaks the rules, she could be kicked out, and he can’t lose his sister).

Master Satele gives Orentha ‘the talk’. The same ‘no attachments’ that she told Leikar.

Reference Images below the cut

Yeah they're triplets, and this is long before Fallen Order came out so pls excuse any Cal Kestis similarities

“No, no, I can sense it with the Force,” Doc continued sarcastically. “I don’t think we need to bring our datapads with a map.”

Leikar ignored the tirade.

“Can I shut him up?” Orentha asked sourly.

“If you don’t, I will.” Kira came up alongside them, frowning. “Why’d we bring him?”

I do not like the cold. It makes everyone angry.

“He’s a doctor.” Leikar kept his voice emotionless. “If we get hurt, he can administer kolto and keep wounds from getting infected.”

Kira gave him a patronizing smile. “But we’re Jedi, Kar.”

“We can still get hurt.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Either way, we need to stop for the night.” Orentha crossed her arms to keep back the bitter breeze. “Let’s just find somewhere safe. I don’t want Thul soldiers finding us again.” She shot a dark look behind her at Doc.

“What’s going on?” he asked, tugging down his scarf to be heard over the mild snowstorm.

“We’re stopped for the night.” Leikar pointed towards a rock outcropping. “There?” He felt Riya grab his attention with the Force, and he looked over at her.

She was pointing at a silhouette of a building sticking out of the side of a mountain. ‘House’, she signed.

Doc followed Leikar’s gaze. “Hey, there’s a lodge!”

“We can see it,” growled Orentha.

Leikar studied the group’s faces. Kira’s nose was bright red, Orentha looked more irritable than normal, Riya… well, she’d turned off her cybernetics since she couldn’t hear with her hood and scarf covering her ears, and Doc’s face looked pinched with cold.

They were all looking up at the lodge with hope.

“Let’s see if they can make room for us,” Leikar suggested.

It was empty.

And creepy.

Leikar led the way into the room with a huge fireplace, stirring up dust in his wake.

Really… creepy.

Kira’s lip was curled in disgust as she took in the place. “Would’ve thought someone would have droids keeping it nice.”

Orentha pointed to the covered furniture. “Let’s just move the sheets first. Then you can complain.”

“We’re in an abandoned lodge in the middle of nowhere.” Doc strolled into the middle of the room like he owned it, and gave Leikar a smile filled with dark humor. “Sure, you’re totally right, nothing bad could ever happen here.”

Leikar frowned at him. “Is… is there a significance to staying in a lodge? I don’t get it.”

Doc mocked outrage. “You’ve never seen a horror flick?”

“A what?”

“Oh stars, I’m working with people who don’t know anything about pop culture.” Doc sighed dramatcially and pointed to Riya to catch her attention. He sighed ‘water’ and gestured that she should go with him. “We’ll be back, we’re going to find the kitchen. Maybe they’ve got energy pudding in the coservator.”

“Ick!” Kira shook her head. “I wouldn’t be caught dead eating that.”

Orentha caught Leikar’s eye and sent him a questioning look. “Think we need someone to keep watch tonight?”

“Maybe. I doubt it, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” He looked out the window. “The storm’s getting worse.” Leikar shed his heavy cloak and scarf, and found the button for the fireplace. He flicked it on and smiled at the warmth.

Kira joined him and stretched out his hands. “That feels nice.”

He could feel her watching him.

Please stop looking at me that way.

Leikar turned away and looked at the furniture Orentha had uncovered. Lots of heavily cushioned couches and armchairs. “Good, we’ve got places to sleep.” He checked his chrono. “We just need food, and then we can take turns on watch duty.”

Orentha shook him awake. “Your turn, Kar.”

Leikar rubbed the sleep out of his eye. “Okay.”

His sister didn’t move towards the couch she’d staked out earlier, she was frowning in distaste at a couch closer to the fireplace.

Leikar turned and frowned as well.

When he’d fallen asleep, Doc and Riya had still be up, talking together on that couch. And now they were dead asleep, Riya resting her head on his shoulder and Doc with an arm around her. They both looked exhausted

I thought we discussed this, Riya.

She must have sensed his disapproval through the Force, because she shifted closer to Doc and looked sad.

“I don’t want to wake her up,” Orentha whispered. “She’s been pushing herself lately.”

“Doc doesn’t return-”

“No, he’s still harassing me.”

Leikar pursed his lips. “I’ll get her up and moved away from him when its her watch. You can go to sleep now.”

She didn’t move again. “We should discuss Kira. I’ve picked up on things today-”

“No we should not.” Leikar could see Orentha’s brow raised in teasing surprise. “I told her no.”

“According to her, you said it wasn’t the Jedi way.”

“Exactly.”

“She’s a teenager, Leikar. Do you remember when were her age a few years ago?”

I don’t like where this is going.

“Actually,” Orentha shifted on the arm of the couch. “You had a huge crush on Master Satele when we first arrived to the Temple. Me and Riya could sense it.”

“That… I did. And she told me it wasn’t the Jedi way.” Leikar frowned at her. “That’s what I’ve told Kira.”

“She’s not twelve. She’s eighteen. You need to tell her no. That word, too. No.” Otherwise she’ll end up like Riya with a crush on someone when she shouldn’t. You might have to do it in a very un-Jedi way and actually hurt someone’s feelings.” Orentha messed up his hair and dropped onto her couch, pulling her cloak up as a makeshift blanket.

Leikar sensed her drift off to sleep a moment later. He stood, stretched, and went for a walk around the room, pushing the Force out and sensing no one in the lodge.