Aria rolled her eyes at his teasing response, simply chuckling and adding:
[i]Hmm, yes, that would be fantastic. It would be nice to be able to hug or kiss you without having to worry about my eyebrows falling out because of the smell.[/i] It of course made very little difference to her in reality, but where was the fun in admitting that? It was comforting to hear him volunteering to take Taral and Chwuq on their next walk, she had been worried that she was more fond of them than Yerbol, but it was a sign that they were slowly growing on him. Apart from the occasional offering of a dead bird (or, on one occasion a half-grown juvenile Nexu cat) brought back from a hunting foray; the two tomb beasts were as much like any other ordinary dog as could be. It was almost too easy to forget that there were rows of serrated teeth that could easily strip flesh from bone waiting in those slightly slobbery jaws.

[i]Had a little conversation with Manso about how stuff’s going over in Wild Space, sounds like ‘good’ is omitting a few details. We should probably take a trip back out there sometime. [/i]
The duo hadn’t been back that way since their arrival on Taris, and while letters and the occasional holomessage worked well enough for exchanging information it was no substitute for face-to-face encounters with their old friends. They might not have missed the politics and the war councils, but it sure was easy to start missing their company. Overall, the progress had been positive. Saresh had followed through on her promise to make sure that they received the resources they needed to continue the rebuilding effort on the Wild Space planets, and there were even rumors circulating that the Supreme Chancellor had been lobbying for a petition of one of the experienced members of the Elders to be signed on as a formal representative in her new cabinet. The right steps were being taken, as had been promised, to re-integrate the Force users into mainstream society. 
In fact, the initial sanctuary town set up on Coruscant, according to last month’s update message from Ailel, had been such a booming success (within its district) that there were talks of attempting similar projects on other heavily populated worlds like Nar Shaddaa and Alderaan. 
___________________________

Dinner had been pleasant, as always, and after helping Tabitha to clear away the used dishes, she had bid Yerbol’s parents goodnight and shuffled into their room to join him, giggling softly as she scooted across to settle into her usual place beside him. “Flattering, huh? Likewise I appreciate it when you decide to sleep without a shirt on.” she echoed, her fingertips absently tracing patterns across the back of his hand and his forearm. It seemed like far too much effort for her to get up again to change out of it, even if the clingy fabric PROBABLY wouldn't be the best thing to sleep in, Aria instead concluding: "It IS comfortable, and I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your little bit of eye candy.” she tilted her head back to grin at him, leaning upwards to close the distance between them and plant a kiss on his lips. “Does start to get uncomfortable in this kind of heat, though.” The weather had been getting almost unbearably hot lately. 
“Maybe we should all take a trip out to Hoth till this heatwave is over.” she whispered, dissolving into another fit of giggles as her partner grumbled loudly in response and gave her a half hearted shove with one shoulder. Just like Yerbol couldn’t stop himself from picking on her height (or lack thereof), Aria couldn’t resist the temptation to remind him of the Wampa incident at every possible opportunity. 

She retorted by snatching one of the pillows he had been leaning on and hitting him over the head with it. Her lover’s eyes narrowed before he lunged for the next nearest pillow and a tussle of near-epic (as much as they could both muster after a long day of various work tasks, at least) proportions ensued until one of them had been disarmed. Determined as ever not to admit defeat, Aria lunged for him and tried to grab the pillow from his hands, missed, and lost her balance. Yerbol abandoned his weapon in favour of trying to catch her before she hit the floor, leaving him open to a sneaky tickling maneuver. She would have to thank Neta in her next correspondence for reminding her that his ribs were particularly vulnerable. 
Both out of breath by that point, they both collapsed onto the mattress as he feebly attempted to duck out of her reach, Aria managing to pin him down by the wrists with one knee resting on either side of his torso. There was no way he could have escaped without physically moving her body out of his way, which she knew he would never do (he was a massive pushover when it came to their playfights, she always won). Without the energy to keep up the punishment, they remained like that in silence for several moments, until Yerbol playfully scowled up at her as he proclaimed:
“You are...a dirty little sneak!” She grinned back at him, leaning in to whisper in retort.
“Hah, you could always actually try to stop me...till then I’m gonna keep doing it!” her head tilting to one side, she added, in a SLIGHTLY more serious tone. “...I’m not made of glass, you know.”