As the meeting dispersed and it seemed she and Yerbol would have some decisions of their own to make, turning to find Neta had joined them, seeming a bit sad. Aria nodded slightly as she and Yerbol accompanied their former pilot, taking a (for once) leisurely stroll through Zinuthra's wilderness in silence until Neta led them to an expanse of cliffsides overlooking the rest of the plains, where the spec ops soldier had left her ship (that Aria had silently and affectionately dubbed “the Ice Box”, not very creative true but it gave her a chuckle or two when she thought about it). She remained quiet as Neta reflected on her own memories, pleased to hear that she was considering returning to her kids, it didn't take much to tell that Neta was very fond of them and she had an immense amount of respect for the woman being able to stay away from them for so long, to risk everything she had in order to help the resistance to make the galaxy a better place for everybody. Nothing could have prepared her for what Neta said next.
Like Yerbol, at first Aria could only gawk at the red-headed woman in shock. After roughly half a minute of silence for Neta's words to sink in, she finally piped up in protest:
“Ne-Neta! No...Neta you can't give us your ship!” she sighed, raking a hand through her hair as the redhead shook her head and firmly insisted that she was one hundred percent certain of her decision. They could hardly refuse the offer, especially considering the tearful scenario they now found themselves in. All they could do was say thank you and promise to take care of the quirky freighter. Aria managed a choked up laugh of her own, returning Neta's embrace she mumbled:
“We're gonna miss you, too, Neta. This won't be the last you see of us, I promise.” she smiled at the offered invitation, affirming that they would visit her and her kids in the near future.
Dammit, she'd cried enough for one day, but since Yerbol had started crying a bit after they parted ways with Neta again, she couldn't help it. Yerbol finally brought forward his idea of wanting to go see his parents, then asked if she would accompany him, nervously waiting for her response. Tucking Neta's leaving gift into a pocket, she smiled and squeezed the Knight's shoulder comfortingly. “No it...it sounds like a lovely idea. I promised we'd stick together if that's what you wanted, and I meant it.” she hadn't forgotten their last walk together nor the things they had talked about during it (despite not fully understanding her own feelings yet, she intended to honour that promise, both that they'd stay together no matter what and that they should take time to try and figure out exactly WHAT had happened between them to make everything feel so...different about their friendship, or whatever it was now.)
“Well, guess we'd better think about getting stuff together, then. And fetching the dogs.” she chuckled softly at the thought of the two Tuk'ata, probably searching high and low through the compound trying to find them. “We're going to have to give them a bath first, though.” she certainly wasn't going to have them looking in their current state if they'd be accompanying the duo to go and see Yerbol's parents.
They ambled back to the base at a leisurely pace and quickly managed to find the dark-furred creatures, however tending to the male’s limp and cleaning them up a little turned out to be trickier than even they had predicted. It involved (quite literally) wrestling them to the floor and pinning them down in order to get a toothbrush anywhere near their teeth (they were stronger than they looked and Aria had to enlist Yerbol's help to hold them down and tackle them one at a time) but about an hour later they were less bloodstained and no longer coated in a sticky layer of...whatever in Force that had been stuck to their fur. Aria had nearly been bitten twice, which was quickly solved by sharp reprimands (“bite me again and I'll knock your karkin teeth out, understand?”).
Having had enough emotional farewells for one day, she had suggested that they slip back out and head off as soon as possible, though they would be stopped by another voice shouting out from the atrium as they made for the exit:
“So you thought you could just leave without saying goodbye, did you, Saal?”
Aria groaned softly, turning to face the Mirialan as Vano jogged up to them.
“That was the idea.” she muttered, slugging her in the shoulder with a playful fist.
“C'mon, I won't keep you long.” Vano insisted, dragging her into another hug.
“Oof!” Aria grunted softly, managing to return the hug. “You doing okay?” she enquired, knowing that Roan's absence had been hard on her as well. Her father had been Vano's mentor and the pair had always been close to him and to each other.
“I'll live. You two are heading out to have a break I hear?” her remaining eye passed over Yerbol, twinkling knowingly before she tugged on Aria's arm, imploring her:
“You had better write, or call or...something, you hear? Once a month!”
“That's a little excessive…” Aria protested, “But regularly, I promise.”
“Good.” Vano's features split into a grin, pulling Aria aside for a moment to whisper:
“Y'know, I'm starting to think it's a good thing my brother died when he did; watching you prance off into the sunset with some ‘Jedi punk’ would have probably killed him.”
“We aren't prancing off-” Aria bristled in protest, Vano quickly cutting her off.
“Please, EVERYONE on base has seen the way you two have been making eyes at each other the past few months, you can't even deny it any more.”
Aria felt the blood rushing to her face, and didn't dare turn around and risk Yerbol seeing.
“I have NOT!”
The Mirialan raised her hand in a final wave of farewell, retreating with a final cackle of:
“Suuuureeeee, you remember that when you're writing out the wedding invitations, Aria!” and fleeing before Aria could lunge for her again.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, Aria turned back to Yerbol and muttered.
“She's mad as a rabid Krayt Dragon, don't mind her. Let's uh...let's get outta here before anybody else gets any ideas shall we?”
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