The duo spent the best part of the following two and a half months lodging with Yerbol’s parents and doing what they could to help with the restoration efforts. This not only involved the more physical projects such as moving and constructing barriers and walls (which Yerbol evidently preferred) but also accompanying investigatory forays into the pockets of Rakghoul-infested territory in order to collect samples for scientists (research towards developing a vaccine of sorts was in full swing now that the war effort was over, with many leading brains of the field boldly proclaiming a “Rakghoul free Taris in the next century!”), or to scout out the safest way of setting up another thoroughfare route between one growing settlement and the next one over that AVOIDED the Rakghouls. Having the two Tuk’ata around to frighten away any of the walking corpse-creatures that tried to approach helped with that; the duo had attempted to train them to stay on the freighter but within two weeks the beasts had become despondent and complained that they weren’t getting enough attention (they really WERE just over-enlarged lapdogs….with massive teeth). Aria had taken pity on them and persuaded Yerbol to consider letting them accompany the duo back to the settlement. Tabitha and Vol had been wary of them at first, but with reassurances that they were (mostly) harmless seemed to be willing to give them a fair shot at it, provided that they stayed outside of the main part of the house (which had been quickly agreed upon within two nights of the tomb beasts joining the impromptu family; Aria had drawn the line when she had been rudely awoken in the wee hours of one morning to find that Chwuq and Taral had attempted to climb between them and virtually forced the pair out of the bed and onto the floor. Yerbol had not been pleased when he had woken up either!). 

During their stay they had encountered Kira and Voldon and managed to catch up with the older duo to find out how the sanctuary on the planet had been coming along. Kira had shooed them away again with a knowing grin that gave Aria the nearly irresistible urge to stick her tongue out at the older woman. Though Kira wasn’t one to run her mouth off to the nearest person with the latest gossip, Aria still had a feeling that the news would reach Vano and the others back out in Wild Space before too long. Speaking of the Mirialan, Aria had kept to her promise of keeping in contact with her, though perhaps not as often as Vano had originally insisted, and Aria had withheld giving the news of the pair’s budding romance at first, not because she was ashamed to admit it by any stretch but because she struggled to find a way to word it that would elicit the LEAST smug response from her adopted sibling. The next time they saw the Naylons, Kira had handed them a letter(containing updates on the goings on back at Zinuthra, such as their success in cleaning up the mess from the previous battle, Cheriss making a full recovery and subsequently staying on to aid Matt, Janika and Manso in establishing the planned sanctuary there, which freed up Vano to continue on the scholarly pursuits of analysing the stash of holocrons and scrolls they had retrieved from Quensu...something Roan would have been proud of she was sure) and a small package, which had contained some of the crystals they had found on Zinuthra, fashioned into a rather attractive almost-heart shaped arrangement that now sat on one of the shelves on full display back at the house. Attached to it had been a small note, which proclaimed only four words written in the Mirialan’s elegantly flowing script: 
“I TOLD YOU SO!”
Aria and Yerbol had just laughed.

They did a lot of that, both on their own during walks they took along the trails behind the house during their breaks, or over the dinner table with Yerbol’s parents, whom Aria found herself quickly growing fond of (especially Tabitha, whose never-ending supply of comebacks Aria often tapped into when her own wits deserted her temporarily). None of their disagreements had devolved rapidly (or vehemently) enough to be called proper arguments, but rather differences of opinion that usually ended in more teasing: “Shut up and kiss me, you idiot” was quickly becoming a favourite on both sides. In summary, it had been delightfully peaceful, relaxing and...normal. 

Though they stayed in touch with the Council of Elders they had kept their distance from all that political malarkey, Aria didn’t miss it, at all. She was sure Yerbol didn’t, either. The closest thing they had ever encountered to anything of that sort was during their trips to the main part of base Echo for supply runs (which she and Vol or Tabitha frequented while Yerbol was out working on the restoration works during the day), whereby they would occasionally encounter a diplomat or two who had stopped by to check up on the progress; Saresh was always sending people to look in on the planet, the Twi’lek had a fondness for it though she rarely had the luxury of visiting in person anymore. 
Today was apparently one of those occasions, as they had collected their latest run of supplies Vol had gotten word of some new faces being sent in from Coruscant and the other Core Worlds as part of the latest construction team to help finalise the latest repairwork to the restored zone just north of the original Brell settlement where they lived. Vol had insisted upon making a detour out to check up on their progress and Aria could hardly refuse.

She’d been pleasantly surprised to find a VERY familiar aqua-coloured face among the engineers of the construction team. Manso had insisted he was only making a temporary detour from the work on Zinuthra because Saresh had been short on engineers and needed somebody ‘sensible and reliable on very short notice’. Nonetheless, it was good to see him again and catch up, like the duo he had found a mixed bag of acceptance and hostility among the general population towards his talents, but the hostility seemed to at least gradually be shrinking away. They were bidding the team farewell to head home when Aria felt the familiar gentle tug of her partner’s consciousness against her own, shortly followed up by his question.
She chuckled softly, responding:
[i]Maybe...sort of? You know what he’s like, Bol. Besides, it wasn’t far. We’re on our way back now, and you’ll NEVER guess who I’ve just seen with the new construction team on ‘emergency engineer duty’. FORCE he’s gotten tall![/i]
She braced herself for another “everybody’s taller than you, sweetheart” joke, realising all too late what she had walked herself into. She’d have to enlist Neta’s help to get appropriate revenge whenever the duo had the chance to go and visit the former spec ops slash pilot on Onderon.