"Modesty is the conscience of the body."

—Honore de Balzac as cited on brainyquote·com

Preface

This story takes place approximately three weeks after the conclusion of When Cultures Collide 2. Sarah will briefly reflect on events from the gap between that story and this one before she focuses on the present and her 16th birthday celebration. Readers desiring to see more of our characters' daily lives and routines should enjoy this outtake. For those that choose not to read this, though, they won't miss any significant plot points or development.

—Count Mallet, September 2017.

Acknowledgments

Very special thanks to the Walt Disney Company for Star Wars characters and concepts.

Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental.

I know it's here somewhere, Sarah thought as she looked in her closet.

As she searched for a dress that she kept packed away for roughly two years, she thought about the previous two weeks since her master's wedding.

Sarah recalled her surprise to learn that she'd have Knight Jen as her temporary master. Sure, the pair briefly worked together during a past mission. Training with her for two weeks, however, proved to be a unique experience. Upon earning her Bachelor's Degree, Jen received an appointment to be the Jedi Order's security director—both online and for the property. As such, Sarah's training regimen included learning the basics of cybersecurity and making rounds with her acting master. Sarah found her sparring sessions with Jen more challenging because of the latter's preferred defensive form as opposed to Sarah's own offensive one.

As Sarah moved older clothes inside the closet, she thought about her first two cross country meets of the season. The first meet featured two other teams. Sarah felt proud to barely crack the top ten with a time of 24:49 for the five kilometer race—what she believed to be her best time so far. With the team finally having a fifth runner, it placed third just mere points out of second place. Yesterday's meet, a multi-team invitational, a light drizzle of rain slowed everyone down. Still, a finishing time of 26 minutes and some odd seconds pleased Sarah.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, finding what she was looking for. She removed the dress from the box and looked at it. The backless purple dress was a gift from someone she met during one of her missions to Manila. Two years ago, the dress didn't fit properly. Today, however, Sarah felt eager to try it on again.

As Sarah removed her outerwear, she noticed that her skin appeared to be a slightly darker shade of orange.

Mom told me that might happen when I'm older. I just hope it doesn't make my orange bras too obvious, she thought.

Sarah tried the dress on and looked at herself. The bottom portion ended slightly past her knees, satisfying her. She smiled as she turned around and saw that it fit neither too loosely nor too tightly in the necessary places.

My back shows more than I thought, but I like it. Thank goodness it finally fits me, she thought.

Happy with how she looked, she slipped into her pair of navy blue heels and then went back downstairs.

"Sarah, where did you get that?" Ahsoka asked.

"Remember, I got it as a gift a couple of years ago from my mission in Manila?"

"If you insist. Purple really looks good on you."

"Thanks, mom. Today's a special day, so I wanted to dress up nice for it."

"I don't get the whole big deal about turning 16," Ahsoka conceded, "But if you're excited, I'll be happy for you."

"It means I'm closer to being an adult, and a Jedi, and I can finally learn to drive."

"Point taken."

Meanwhile, Tim came up from the basement with Emilina following close behind. As the former left the kitchen and turned into the dining room, he stopped.

"Sarah..." he began.

Sarah turned around. She didn't need Jedi skill to know her father's tone meant something concerned him."

"Yes?" she replied.

"Where did you get that?"

"From your friend."

"Don't you think it shows a little too much skin?"

"What?! It's not that bad," Sarah insisted.

"It's cut so low in the back everyone is going to know you're not wearing a bra."

Sarah gnashed her teeth in frustration, resisting the urge to snarl at her father.

"Tim, it's fine," Ahsoka interjected. "I think it's modest enough for her."

Tim shook his head in disagreement.

"Tell you what, if you think this inappropriate, I'll take her upstairs and let her try on my outfit from when I was her age."

As Sarah looked on curiously, her father replied, "Wait, you still have that?"

"I sure do," Ahsoka replied, grinning slightly. "I may as well see if Sarah fits in it and let her have it if she wants."

"You wouldn't dare!" Tim exclaimed.

"Can I?" Sarah asked, solely to tease her father.

"It's up to him. Your choice, this dress, or mine?" Ahsoka asked.

Tim gave a conciliatory sigh.

"If those are my choices, she can wear this dress, even if she's showing too much of her back."

Sarah sighed and finally asked, "You know I have a white birthmark on my back, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you see it?"

"No."

"Well, what does that mean?"

Tim realized the answer; he wasn't sure if saying it out loud would leave Sarah feeling more awkward, however.

Sarah broke the silence by reaching behind her and tugging on her bra, making it more noticeable as it pulled away from her back.

"You do the laundry sometimes. You ought to know by now I wear these. You should know better," Sarah stated as her lekku stripes darkened slightly. She then returned upstairs to her room.

"You better make this right," Ahsoka told her husband.

"You still have that outfit?" Tim asked, somewhat shocked.

"You never seemed to mind me wearing it."

"If I remember, I was largely indifferent about it because I figured it was how you dressed wherever you came from. It was Master Cara who suggested you dress more modestly."

"Fair enough, but you still better make this right."

"And you shouldn't threaten to dress Sarah immodestly just to spite me," Tim insisted.

⁂

In her room Sarah laid on her bed.

How can he say that about me? It's not that bad. And he didn't even say anything when Molly and I wore nothing more than bra tops on Shili. I don't get it, she thought.

A short time later, Tim appeared at her door.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Sarah silently nodded her head.

"I didn't realize you were dressed more than I thought. That's the only problem with orange stuff on you. It blends in too much," Tim conceded.

"That's partly why I wear it," Sarah admitted. "People can't stare at what they don't see... mostly. Why are you so overprotective of me all of a sudden?"

"When you were born, I told myself I wouldn't be an overprotective father when you were older. I guess I'm losing that battle right now, huh? But, you can't blame me after what happened on Shili."

Sarah nodded. Hearing that her captor potentially drugged her water for reasons unknown scared her when she found out. However, she found herself missing the relationship she had with her father before that—and before he discovered a native taboo.

"Father, you should know me well enough I won't wear anything I'm not comfortable in. I get the whole modesty thing you've taught me, but you have to trust me now. I'm 16. I know what I can or can't wear... what I want and what I don't want."

"I trust you Sarah. I'm sorry I overreacted, but I still feel an obligation to look out for you as your father—without crossing the line into overprotective territory."

"OK."

"Besides, it does look nice on you."

Sarah got up off the bed, stood up and hugged her father. She sighed as he hugged her around the waist, still too nervous to brush up against the lower part of her rear lek.

"What's wrong now?" Tim asked.

"You know," Sarah replied. "I miss our old hugs."

"Maybe once it's long enough."

Sarah shook her head.

I'm a hybrid, that could take years, she thought.

"On the plus side, we get to see your master for the first time in two weeks."

Sarah nodded and smiled.

⁂

Later that afternoon, Ahsoka joined Sarah as the latter finished reviewing her class assignments for the coming week.

"Did your father make up with you?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah," Sarah answered. "He still won't hug me like he used to, but we're cool now."

"It's not that your father doesn't love you less. That's definitely not the case. He's always been big on respecting other cultures and when he heard what contact there means on Shili, he wanted to avoid it at all costs. He didn't want people getting the wrong idea."

"I know, but he'd never do anything like that to me. I wish he wouldn't think about it."

"It's a little too late for that. I wish he felt differently, too. But, we're not going to change his mind anytime soon. Anyways, I wanted to show you that outfit and how I looked in it."

Sarah sat with her mother on the bed as Ahsoka activated her datapad and retrieved a picture of herself on her first day as Master Cara's padawan. Sarah's eyes widened as her jaw dropped.

"You wore that?!" Sarah exclaimed in disbelief.

Ahsoka nodded.

"And you wanted to have me wear it?"

"What's wrong with that?" Ahsoka asked in reply.

"Mom, it shows off like half of your boobs! I couldn't wear something like that. It's bad enough when the guys stare at my chest, especially at the Master-Padawan social. It's like they're surprised I have boobs because I'm a hybrid or something. If I wore that outfit, I'd feel like I was telling them, 'Hey guys, look all you want!'"

Ahsoka shook her head. Great, now she's freaking out at me. Good job, Tim, she thought.

"Didn't you have guys staring at you when you wore this?" Sarah asked

Ahsoka thought back to one of the first times she wore the outfit out on a mission.

"Yes, they did at times," she conceded as she thought about her mission on Raxus. Lux Bonteri made no attempt to hide the fact he looked her over from her boots to her montrals—with a brief yet noticeable pause when he noticed the keyhole portion of her top.

"And it didn't bother you?"

"OK, I didn't always enjoy it. But teen boys do stuff like that... not to say it's right. But I was in the middle of a war back then, and that wasn't something I worried about."

"Father was right. I'd rather show my back off than my front," Sarah stated.

"Alright, I get it. You don't want to wear this. Forget I even asked. "

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I'm not sure. If I knew this a couple of weeks ago, I could have offered it to Shalene. Maybe next time I see her, I still can—or offer it to one of my nieces. Or, I could save it for Emilina when she's older."

"If father won't let me wear it, I doubt he'd let her—and that assumes she'd want to."

"I guess you're right," Ahsoka replied. "It's still meaningful to me. I crash landed on Earth with just this outfit, my lightsabers, and a small box with a few keepsakes—some of which I later got rid of."

Sarah nodded.

"Sarah, are we OK?"

"I think so."

"Alright. Master Del should be coming over soon. Molly and her family are joining us, too."

"I can't wait," Sarah replied eagerly.

⁂

That evening, Sarah enjoyed a pizza dinner with her family, her best friend and her family, and her master. After finishing her ice cream and receiving most of her gifts, she noticed one more waiting to be opened.

"Oh, that's mine," Molly stated.

Sarah removed the gift wrap and opened the box inside. Inside, she found a silver bracelet with occasional designs beveled on the edges.

"Molly, you got me this? It's lovely, but it had to be expensive," Sarah said.

"Actually, I got it for you when we were on Shili," Molly answered.

"When? How?"

"One morning during that festival thing, I noticed someone with jewelry. I wanted to get something for you and mom, but I was only able to get one thing. So, I decided to get something for you for your sweet 16."

"That was very thoughtful of you, Molly," her mother interjected. "And don't worry. I have enough bracelets for now, even though it's nice you thought about me while you were there. But how did you pay for it?"

"They really don't sell things there, mom. They trade for stuff a lot—kind of like the barter system. When I checked to see what I had to offer, I somehow brought some change with me. The person selling the stuff saw it and wanted to use it to make jewelry with, so we agreed to trade my change for any one item I wanted. So, I got the bracelet for Sarah."

"I just hope you didn't take advantage of that person. You can't buy something like this for less than a dollar."

"Actually," Ahsoka stated, "tribal Togruta generally don't use credits—money as we'd know it—for stuff like that. Trading items of value or potential value is quite common. If an artisan saw value in the coins as a form of jewelry, the trade was entirely reasonable."

"Thanks for telling me," Lynn replied. "I guess Molly is quite the deal-maker now, too."

"Indeed," Del said. "Sarah, how have the past two weeks gone?"

"I'll probably tell you more tomorrow, Master," Sarah replied. "But they went well. Knight Jen took over as my temporary master, so I learned some different things than usual. How's married life?"

"It's OK, I suppose. I'm glad we finally got married after spending so much time planning it. It's not easy when everyone is seven hours ahead. Oh, that reminds me. Jade asked me to give you something in case you ever wanted to contact her. Are you interested."

"OK. Yes."

"Sarah, who is Jade?" Molly asked.

"Master Del's cousin. She's now a padawan like we are. We met at the wedding. And we got to briefly spar."

"Oh, that's cool."

Sarah received a slip of paper from her master and read it.

Sarah, it was nice to meet you. If you ever want to stay in touch, if you can, you can email me at jade -at- ojj·fi·invalid. If you have FacePlace or PhotoTalk, I'm on there, too.

⁂

"Thanks for coming," Ahsoka told Molly and her parents.

"It was our pleasure. It's cool to have both our daughters 16 now," Lynn replied.

"Thanks for the bracelet," Sarah told Molly.

"You're welcome. If you ever go to Shili again, maybe I can come, too. That way I can get something for my mom. I'll see you tomorrow"

"We'll see if the happens."

"Bye, Sarah. Happy birthday. Bye Emilina," Matt said.

"Bye!" Emilina quickly replied back.

"Sarah, I'll see you tomorrow. Let's hope the coming year is one of many milestones," Del stated.

"I think so, Master," Sarah answered. "I'll be a high school graduate—and most likely a college freshman—this time next year."

"There are other things I hope happen, too. We'll see. I'll probably ask more about your past two weeks in the morning."

"So will I."

"Oh, check in with Ashley tomorrow," Tim interjected. "She'll need to update your records to reflect your new name, and give you a new email alias if you want. I'm going to have to get used to you having a new last name. Your mom didn't change hers when she got married, and I had half-expected you to do the same."

"What can I say?" Del quipped. "But don't worry, I'll see Ashley first thing tomorrow."

"It'll be easy, father. How hard is it to remember the name Del Etsijä?" Sarah asked.

"It is shorter," Tim admitted. "But it'll still take some getting used to."

⁂

Sarah paused for a moment before she continued her journal entry for the day.

As much as she's happy to be married and such, she's also happy to be back here with me again. :-) Also, Emi seemed happy to have everyone over. It's kind of cool that Molly's brother is nice to us as well. I think he's 11 now, so I guess he knows more about being polite to people.

With cross country right now, I haven't had time to help mom with her repairs. She said she may still need my help once the season ends, since it takes time to repair the damage only on weekends.

So, today didn't start off as good as I would have liked, but it worked out well by the end of the day. I guess I can say today turned out to be a Sweet 16 after all. It's just a shame grandma wasn't here. Perhaps she would have liked my dress. :-)

I look forward to working with Master Del again tomorrow. Later this week, I also have my senior pictures.

~ Sarah ~

As she saved the entry and closed the application, she realized something else she wanted to do before she called it a night. She reached into her pocket and removed the note Master Del gave her earlier in the day. Opening her contact list, she made a new entry for recording Jade's email address. Next, she chose the option to compose a new message.

To: jade -at- ojj·fi·invalid

Subject: Hello from Sarah.

Jade,

Master Del gave me your note today, so I decided to let you know I got it. Today was my 16th birthday. There was a little drama, but it turned out to be a good day in spite of it.

I enjoyed meeting you while I was visiting for Master Del's wedding. It was also interesting to spar with you. Very few people have sparred with me that aggressively, so you were a good challenge for me. Master Del's sister must be training you well.

It's late here, so I have to go to bed soon. That reminds me, I'm not allowed to use social media, so I don't have any accounts on FacePlace or PhotoTalk or anything like that. But we can write back and forth when we have the time, if you'd like.

Sarah.

Sarah then shut off her datapad and began to get ready for bed.

END