After nearly three hours, Kyp
finally motioned to Siee. While he waited for her, he pulled out his
lightsabre and cut the boards from over the front door.
The
crowd's murmering grew to shocked sounds as he did so.
Siee walked over and smiled. "Better?"
Whispered
words of "Jedi." and, "no wonder the Empire wanted them..." floated on
the air. But Kyp ignored them and nodded to Siee. "Yes. Better."
"Care to carry me over the threshold
then, husband?"
"I
was planning on it," he smiled and flicked off his lightsabre to clip
to his belt. Then he gathered her up into his arms, and used the Force
to push the house door open.
several
in the crowd made "awww" sounds.
Siee laughed a bit. "Don't drop me now,
Durron."
Silently,
almost afraid of what he would see after so long, he stepped over the
threshold, "Don't tempt me," he chuckled before he did so.
She pinched his shoulder. "Drop me and no
nookie."
He
said nothing as he stepped in, his eyes taking in his old home.
Amazingly enough, though a bit musty, it was exactly as he'd remembered
it, and in decent shape as well.
However,
other things were reminded to him. Several chairs were overturned,
there were some stun-blaster scortches on the wall, one chair had a
small hole burned into it. He stiffened.
Siee felt him stiffen and hugged him
closer. She opened herself to the Force and let some peace from herself
drift into him.
He
took great comfourt in his wife's action. Gently he lowered her feet to
the floor that she might stand on her own. After he did so, he moved as
one might in a dream, righting chairs in the parlor.
She helped him along, not sure whether if
would be right to talk or to let Kyp go though his motions and talk
later.
When
they'd finished, he sat tiredly and let out a long sigh.
She walked over and knelt beside him.
"You ok?"
He
nodded, "Yeah. It's just..." he shrugged at a loss for words. "Been
twelve years... that's a long time."
"I know. But at least it's still here for
you." She squeezed his leg gently.
"I
suppose. I don't know, maybe it would have been better if it wasn't."
he looked down at his feet and sighed again. Poor lad.
"You don't believe that."
"I
don't know what to believe, Siee," he said quietly. "I was both
expecting it to be gone, and hoping it wasn't. But..." he shrugged
eloquently.
She lay her chin on his knee. "You have a
chance to start again here."
Kyp nodded, "Yes, yes I do." With
a bracing sigh, he stood and held a hand down to help her to her feet.
"Come with me as we see how things have fared?"
"Of course." She took his
hand and stood up, then kissed his cheek gently.
He
smiled sadly, and hand in hand, they wandered from the parlor to the
living room. Again, it was still musty, but untouched. still holos hung
framed on the walls, as well as a few old-fashioned paintings. A
fireplace stood in one
corner of the room
Siee
walked over the the photos and wiped a hand over one of them to reveal
the picture underneath
There
were two young boys, holding fishing rods, a large aquatic creature
they'd caught held between them. Huge grins plastered over their faces.
Siee smiled. "So that's
what our son will look like* she thought as she ran her finger down the
picture of the younger boy.
Kyp
moved to stand beside her. He chuckled sadly, "That's me and Zeth -
first time I'd ever caught anything. He was so jealous, but Dad fixed
it by having us both in the picture.
Besides...
I did need my brother's help in getting that thing in. It was heavy."
"Looks it," she grinned.
"Must have fed you for a week."
"It
did," he chuckled as he moved away to brush off the dust from another
picture. He stepped back and smiled sadly. It was his parents, and his
brother, and himself. All wore bright grins.
"Your family looks so
nice."
"They
were," he said softly.
"I wish I could have
known them... seen the family that created such a wonderful man."
"You'd
have liked them, and they would have loved you," he told her softly as
he looked down at her. "I know they would." He moved away and cleaned
off the other still-holos
in
the room, telling her little things about each of them as they moved
along. Soon, they had finished the circut of the huge room, and they
headed to the old-fashioned stepcase.
It
was wide, the steps curving around elegantly.
"So beautiful. Much
better then my famrhouse. I bet you slid down those banisters quite a
bit."
"First
time I broke my arm," he chuckled as he led her upward.
She laughed. "No
banisters for the twins then."
"You're
no fun," he nudged her lightly as they moved to the first of the rooms
down the hallway. It was a large library, rows upon rows of datacards.
He
looked around, "Wow, it's bigger than I remembered...."
"OOOOOO," Siee breathed
in awe. "All those books..."
"Yeah.
Mom and Dad both loved reading... that is, when they weren't busy in
matters of state or something silly like that," he waved a hand.
"I'll have to look
through these later," she noted to herself.
"Feel
free," he told her as he moved out.
Kyp
headed down to the next room, pushing the door open and standing in the
doorway. It was the master bedroom, a beautiful four poster bed in the
centre, with antique furniture scattered about.
He
smiled sadly, "Miss you," he whispered to the empty room.
Siee went to follow him,
then decided not to. He needed his space. So she opened herself up to
the Force and used her fledgling talents to keep tabs no him while she
browsed through the databooks.
A
solitary tear drifted down his cheek as he looked about the room,
untouched for over a decade. "If you could see me now," he questioned
quietly, "Would you be proud?
Would
you be disappointed?" His eyes drifted about the room as though
searching for an answer. Yet, only silence greeted him. He sighed
slightly, and moved away from the door, drifting down the hall.
He
found himself before the door to the large room he'd shared with his
brother. His eyes drifted to the bunk beds, still unmade after all t
his time. Several toys strewn about the floor, toy fighters, toy
swords, toy blasters. t
ypical
toys for young lads.
A
game sat unfinished on the floor. He remembered that they'd been
playing before they were called down to the parlor before supper in the
dining area.
He
sighed a long, drawn out shuddering sigh as he looked around the room.
More tears began to fall. "I'm so sorry, Zeth. I'm so very sorry."
Guilt
flowed over him, drowning him to the point where he could barely
breathe. He fell to his knees and began to cry despondently.
Siee walked up behind
him, having felt the emotions rolling from her husband for the last few
minutes. She gently knelt beside him and hugged him from behind. "It's
not your fault, love," she whispered to him.
"Yes...
it... it is..." he choked out between sobs. "I.. I killed him! If... if
I wasn't so... so," he shuddered. "*thoughtless*, he'd still be... be
alive."
"You didn't know. And
it's the Empire's fault for breaking your family up in the first place."
He
leaned back against her, choking out denial as he cried into her
shoulder.
