fh_trips | Endor [Monday, December 29]

Luke, a tall golden droid, and the Ewok chief Chirpa, were waiting for the volunteers when the portal finally deposited everyone on Endor. "Welcome," Luke said, giving them all a smile, "and thank you in advance for your help."

He gestured to the Ewok. "This is Chief Chirpa, the leader of Bright Tree Village, where we'll be staying for the next few days." Chirpa bowed to them, then spoke a few words. The droid shuffled forward to translate. "Chief Chirpa welcomes you to Endor," he said, words coming out pinched and precise, "and requests that you make yourself at home. If there is anything he or his warriors can do while you are assisting their neighbors, please let him know."

There was a brief conversation between Threepio and the Chief. "Or tell me and I will convey it," Threepio said. "I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations, and will be serving as translator for you during your stay here. Do watch out for the bugs, and the large drops, and the variety of creatures found in the forest..."

Luke shook his head at him and Threepio stopped speaking. "He worries a little too much," he explained with an easy smile. "If you'll follow me, you can drop off your stuff in the visitors' quarters and we can get started building some huts."

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By this point, Penelope couldn't look at Ino, and hid her face with a curtain of long dark hair. Such a sad story. Heartbreaking. How could friends ever be like that to one another?

"And their friendship was lost forever?" she asked quietly.

She couldn't ever become like that. So prideful... Is that how she came across to Ino?

Oh. How terrible.

"It might have been if things had continued like that," she said, watching Penelope. "But as it happened there was an exam, and the third section of it was one on one fights--this was a very military sort of place, you understand, and both of the girls had been in training since they were five. They were thirteen when this exam came around, and their names came up."

"Right there, under the eyes of their teammates, their teachers, they had to fight each other until one of them won over the other." That got a huffed laugh. "In the Academy, the popular girl had always won against the shy girl, no matter how much they tried. But all the tears the popular girl had shed in her room, while she was nothing but venom and scathing words in public, had borne fruit--neither of the girls won. They achieved the first double-knockout in fifteen years. They were evenly matched, finally. The popular girl told the other girl, no longer the just the shy girl, that she'd made it, that she was strong. Their bickering while the rest of the exam went on was a lot closer to how it had been before the boy had come."

"And that night, when the popular girl went home and told her father what had happened, her father knelt down and looked her straight in the eye and asked 'was it worth it? All those tears you spent on her?'"

"'Yes,' the popular girl said, bursting into tears and hugging her dad, 'it was. But now she doesn't need me at all and I don't like that!' Because, even if it had been as her enemy, the popular girl had taken comfort in the idea that, without her, the shy girl wouldn't have been able to grow.

"When her father said 'it's okay, you did it, you made her grow' the popular girl could only shake her head and tell him 'she did it herself, I just gave her a target to aim for'. And she was proud of the progress the shy girl had made, so proud, but also sad because she thought it was all over. Her father just held her for a long time, before sending her off to bed."

Ino smiled slightly. "The next day, the popular girl was helping her mother in the shop, and the not-so-shy girl now came by, asking if the popular girl wanted to go train. The popular girl only had one answer for that, because the girl asking had always been her best friend, and that answer was 'yes'."

Head still ducked, Penelope brushed at her wet cheeks, embarrassed that the story brought tears to her eyes. But it was so moving and thought provoking, and she knew that Ino told her for a reason.

She peeked over at her, her lashes wet, and smiled sadly. "There was a happy ending after all."

[*wibbles!*]

"In a way," she agreed. "Though both girls had had to work for it a great deal."

She knew that better than almost anyone, after all.

[It's canon omg! Heee.]

"And for such a long time. It doesn't seem fair, but the popular girl must truly have loved her best friend to go through what she did," she replied quietly.

"It makes me wish for a best friend, and yet it doesn't." She looked at Ino fully. "How did you learn of this story?"

"She still does," Ino said, hitching one shoulder up in a shrug that was designed to look nonchalant. "Love her, I mean. As for how I know..."

She pressed one finger to her lips, then clasped her arms behind her back and spun around. "Who better to tell that story," Ino said, over her shoulder, "than one of the girls from it?"

She gasped when she caught on to that, looking at Ino in a whole new way. And she gasped again when she realized now, why she had told her that story and why she had spoken to her like she did beforehand.

And, of course, it made Penelope tear up. Again. She stepped towards her, her own hands clasped together in front of her. "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you would share that with me."

Ino flushed. "Just... think about it, okay?"

"Yes, I won't forget it," she replied. She didn't have a best friend to push her, but she didn't necessarily need one.

"And," she bit her lip, "if you want to talk about it with other people, that's fine, just leave my name out of it, okay? I don't want that story attached to my name."

"I believe I would like to keep this story to myself, Ino. It means something and I wouldn't mention you if I did retell it. You may trust me."

Endor [Monday, December 29]

Re: Make some huts!

Re: Make some huts!

Re: Make some huts!

Re: Make some huts!

Re: Make some huts!

Re: Make some huts!

Re: Make some huts!

Re: Make some huts!

Re: Make some huts!

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Re: Make some huts!