Star Wars Fan Fiction

In The Blazing Heat

By Kraven Ergeist

Chapter Six

Working with Dak and Aldrea, Kellen had never worked so hard in his life, either at home on the farm, or at any of the jobs he'd managed to find in Mos Espa. For every bit of added difficulty, however, there was an equal addition of enjoyment and fulfillment. Dak may have been a swindler, a smuggler, and a con man, but he also knew his poodoo. He had only been on Tatooine for a month, and he had already picked up numerous local customs, traditions and even languages. Not only could he speak Hutese, an invaluable skill for a smuggler, but he could speak passable Jawa, which made scavenging a lot easier, and even some Ryloth. However, every time he made an attempt to practice with Talia, she would shy behind Kellen's back.

Kellen wasn't too concerned. In the beginning, he had wondered why Dak had truly taken an interest in him. Despite being a self-acclaimed con man, he didn't seem to have any ulterior motives with Kellen – after all, Kellen didn't have anything to be conned out of, save for Talia. When Kellen inquired about this, Dak just smiled.

"Even if I wanted to steal Talia off of you, Twi'Lek slaves, even a Lethan Twi'Lek as beautiful as her, don't sell for much from a private owner."

Kellen had wondered why, and Dak's grin had widened.

"Because…" he said, checking to make sure the two females on board weren't listening in. "There's no guarantee that a private owner hasn't…inspected the goods…"

Kellen blushed profusely. "What!? Why would that matter!?"

Dak just laughed. "Price, for one thing. Pure young girls demand a much higher price in the slave trade."

Kelln looked away, his face still flushed, trying to get the subject back on track. "Still…you could want her for yourself…"

Dak laughed so hard, he nearly fell out of his chair. "Come on, kid, you've met Aldrea! She may have taken Talia under her wing, but do you think she'd like it if I wanted Talia for myself? She'd be unbearable!"

"I heard that!" came a voice from the kitchenette.

"Whoops!" Dak yelped, switching on the auto-pilot and ducking into the head before Aldrea came storming into the cock-pit, ready for a fight.

"Kellen, where is that no-good layabout!? When I get my hands on him…"

Kellen kept his mouth shut, more out of fear than loyalty to Dak.

Those two were an interesting bunch. They would fight like cats and dogs one day, and then other days, like that day they found a little cache of Tusken Raider treasure out in the Dune Sea…

"Kid, you and Talia might wanna vacate the premises…" Dak said, his eyes only on Aldrea, the woman already starting to remove her clothes. "In fact, you might wanna leave the ship. We're about to make a lot of noise…"

Kellen wasted no time in grabbing Talia by the wrist, opening the hatch of the ship and scurrying down the ramp and onto the sand of the Dune Sea, darkening in the fading twilight, latching the hatch behind them. He grumbled – it wasn't safe out in the dessert after sunset. Dak should know better than to send them –

"Why did we have to leave?" Talia said, confused. Aldrea had been ecstatic that their efforts were finally paying off. They had spent the whole day digging and hauling treasures from the Tusken storehouse, filled with loot from their aptly named raids. "Aldrea said we could try on some of the jewelry we found."

Kellen, still blushing from narrowly avoiding being flashed by the aforementioned treasure hunter, just smiled at the red skinned alien girl. "You can try on jewelry with Aldrea later, Talia…right now, Aldrea and Dak need some…private time…"

Aldrea's cheeks seemed to color. Despite her skin being red already, it was still rather obvious. "Oh…" Aldrea had been instructing Talia about the facts of life over the last few weeks, and Talia now had a rather accurate notion of what was going on in the ship.

The fact that Kellen's complexion bore a resemblance to her own at the moment was slightly troubling to the young Twi'Lek.

"Kellen…" she muttered, looking away. "You think Aldrea's pretty…"

Kellen's expression fell. "Talia?"

She bit her lip. "If Kellen prefers Aldrea…that's…I understand…"

Kellen held his hands up, laughing uneasily. "Wait a minute, Talia…I may think she's a looker, but that doesn't mean I'm going to ask her out or anything. Besides, you see how she feels about Dak…"

Talia's spirits didn't seem to lift. "So…if Aldrea wasn't with Dak…?"

Kellen sighed, exasperated. "Look…it's not that simple. Yes, I think Aldrea's pretty. But do you want to know a secret, Talia?"

Talia's eyes sparkled. "A secret? What is it? Tell me!"

Kellen smiled. Mentioning a secret was one of the easiest ways to get Talia's attention. "Do you know why Aldrea treats you so nicely? Why she gives you all these nice clothes and teaches you all these important lessons?"

Talia shook her head, entranced. "Tell me!"

Kellen smiled at her, his blue eyes shining behind his untrimmed locks of gold hair. "Because you're even prettier than Aldrea. You're the most beautiful girl on Tatooine, Talia."

Talia's eyes widened. She blinked a few times. The tips of her head-tails flicked back and forth, looking agitated, sensitive. While she was wearing one of Aldrea's more conservative outfits, she still insisted on wearing her old black leather head decoration that weaved its way around her elongated red tails, catching the dimming light of Tatooine's setting suns.

"Kellen…"

Kellen took a breath. He had been honest, but it had taken all his effort not to shy away from her as the words left his mouth. Whether he should have regretted that he had managed it, or been glad, he was still not entirely sure as Talia practically leaped into his arms, wrapping her arms and legs around him, squeezing him tightly he toppled over into the sand under the unexpected onslaught.

"Kellen! Oh, Kellen!"

Kellen blushed as she clung to him, her lithe form wrapped around him, her weight resting against his lap, her chest making itself known to him even hidden beneath Aldrea's hiking tunic.

"Talia…" Kellen blushed, his composure lost in the attack on his senses.

She smiled at him, her sparkling green eyes speaking only of innocent, honest adoration.

"Kellen…" she breathed, looking up at him. She had explained her story to Aldrea, who had taken it upon herself to rid Talia of her slave-girl teachings and instruct her how to properly treat men, and at the same time, offered her advice on how to win over Kellen in a manner he might be more recipient to.

"Kellen…" she blushed, hoping her lessons would pay off. "Would you…kiss me?"

Kellen was too stunned to properly respond. "Wait…what?"

Talia's eyes fell away. "I…I know you don't think we should share a bed…Aldrea says so too…but…" He blush deepened. "She also said…just a kiss would be more reasonable…"

Kellen blinked, his ears burning as he watched Talia's eyes meet his shyly.

"Just…just a kiss…?" he muttered, turning the idea over in his head.

Since he had rescued Talia (freed, bought, whatever) he had objected to allowing her to try to repay him with her body in any manner, until she learned about the world and grew up enough to make a free-thinking, rational decision. But she had been learning – Aldrea had seen to that. If her feelings were truly…truly genuine…what harm could one kiss cause?

Talia nodded. "I…I really like you, Kellen…and I want to kiss you…" she blushed up at him. "…Please?"

Kellen swallowed hard, his eyes locked on her lips, somehow even redder than her skin – had Aldrea been allowing her use her makeup? Truth be told, he wanted to kiss her, probably even more than she did him. He wanted to do a thousand unspeakable things. And that was the problem. One kiss, and he may lose all ability to stop himself.

But those eyes…those lips…that adorable face that looked up and him and quietly begged for just one simple token of affection…

They were too much to endure.

"One kiss…" he said, holding up a finger, more for his own sake than hers.

Her eyes lit up once more, and she tilted her face up, closing her eyes.

Kellen leaned down and-

"HURGH!"

The war cry startled the two of them, sending them both scrambling to their feet. Kellen blanched as he saw seven Tusken Raiders, angry at having been robbed of their spoils, waving around their gaffi sticks in a menacing fashion that indicated the singular purpose of reclaiming their property and destroying those that relieved them of it.

"Talia! Get back to the ship!" Kellen shouted, drawing his stun baton. "Get Dak! Go!"

Talia just stood behind Kellen, clutching his shoulders, quivering in fear.

"Talia!" Kellen shouted, panic overtaking him.

He turned to face the Sand People, who were already charging them, gaffi sticks raised.

"No!" Kellen wrapped his arms around Talia to protect her from the coming onslaught. He heard Talia's squeal of alarm inside his arms, and wrapped around her even tighter, determined to keep them off her.

"HURGH!"

The Tusken Raider let out an abrupt cry as they were swept off their feet and hurdled back away from Kellen and Talia, landing unceremoniously on their backs. The attack had come out of nowhere, and they could not see who had struck them. The Tusken Raiders were fighters though, and quickly regained their footing, and were soon charging again.

BLAM! BLAM!

The hatch of the Morning Star had opened, and Dak stood their with his blaster drawn in one hand and his pants held up with his other.

"Do you mind keeping it down out here, kid?" he joked as if he had to deal with this sort of thing on a regular basis, taking aim and firing at the Sand People again, not aiming to hit them, but doing plenty to scare them off in the other direction. "We're kind of in the middle of something…"

Kellen was still holding Talia protectively, not understanding entirely what was going on. "Dak…what…what happened?"

The smuggler grumbled. "I'll tell you what happened – the missus was just about to show me some appreciation, when you guys had to go and get yourselves shot at by some irritated locals. But, I suppose it's my fault for sending you out here after sunset. Come on in – we've taken it to the bedroom anyhow…"

Kellen was too confused to object or complain in any fashion. One minute, the Sand People had been about to beat them to death, and the next minute they had been flung back ten meters. And that was before Dak had shot at them. It'd hadn't been his doing…

Kellen stared at his hands.

Had it been himself?

"Baby…" a honeyed voice came from Dak's bed chamber, a leg waving seductively by the door. "I'm waiting…"

Dak ushered the two of them into the cockpit where there'd be less noise, before wandering back to the source of the voice, turning only to say. "Oh, and kid? You've got some serious bolts. Were you seriously about to take on a bunch of Sand People with a stun baton? First thing we do when we get back to Mos Espa is get you a blaster."

"Dak!" came Aldrea's slightly irritated voice. "Get that tight rear of yours in here before I get up and drag you in here myself!"

Dak grinned mischievously. "Gotta go!"

Kellen and Talia were still too shaken to react to Dak and Aldrea's rather overt copulation. Letting Talia sit in the pilot seat, Kellen found a blanket and wrapped it around Talia's shoulders.

"You alright?" Kellen asked, sitting in the copilot's seat beside her.

Talia was still shaking. But she turned up to look at Kellen, smiling weakly. "I think so…just a little scared…"

Kellen bit his lip, and wrapped his arms around her, trying to keep her warm, and shake off his own fears.

"How did that happen?" Kellen asked, not really expecting her to be able to offer an explanation. "How did those Tusken Raiders get flung away from us like that? It's almost like what happened in that alleyway in Mos Espa. Is someone watching out for us from on high or something?"

Talia had no answer. She just continued to shake, but she leaned against Kellen with all her strength, clinging to him as best as she could while wrapped in a blanket.

"Hey…" Kellen caressed one of her long, twitching head-tails. Talia closed her eyes, inhaling sharply. Kellen suddenly remembered reading how sensitive a Twi'Lek's head tails were, and withdrew his hand.

"Oh…I'm sorry…"

Talia bit her lip. She was blushing again. He could tell she wanted something badly, but had lost all the strength needed to ask for it.

He swallowed.

"We, uh…never did finish that kiss…" he offered, his cheeks coloring.

Talia inhaled again, looking at him with wide eyes. "Kellen, I…" her eyes lowered. "You don't have to if you don't want to…"

Kellen lifted her chin with one hand, his other returning to where it been, stroking a single finger along the length of one of her trembling tails. She closed her eyes, blushing harder than ever as she let out a shallow whimper, her lower lip quivering.

"But I do want to, Talia…" Kellen smiled. His fingers made their way to the very tip of her tail, pinching it gently. Talia began to shake harder, her jaw dropping in a silent moan, a tiny voice escaping.

"…Kellen…"

She leaned in closer to him, allowing him to press his lips against hers. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around Kellen's broad shoulders. He deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist, his hands circling around her tails, drawing excited moans from her twisting form.

Their lips parted, but Talia leaned closer, urging for another more passionate kiss. It took all the steel in Kellen's mind not to respond to her.

"It's late, Talia…" he cupped her cheek, smiling at her, biting his own lip. "You should go to bed…"

Talia said nothing as he helped her to her feet and walked to her room. A dull thud and loud crash sounded from Dak's room. They ignored it.

"Kellen…" Talia whimpered as they reached her door, clinging to his wrist, pleadingly. "Please…stay with me?"

Kellen's heart nearly broke at the look of unfettered love in her eyes.

"I'll always be with you, Talia…" he kissed her hand, longing to kiss her everywhere else. "Goodnight…"

She swallowed hard as she watched him walk away, disappearing into his own room. They both retreated to their beds alone, their bodies aching for each other. Talia tried to take comfort in Aldrea's lessons, that Kellen was a timid boy by nature, and would need time before he was ready to open up to her. And in a situation like hers, he didn't feel it was right to indulge in her desires. Talia was not a fool. She could tell Kellen wanted her. Both Aldrea's lessons and her slave teachings had taught her to recognize carnal tides in men's emotions. But Kellen was a good man, too good to take advantage of her just because of how she was raised. And as she exercised another of Aldrea's lessons alone in bed that night, she reminded herself that it wasn't because she herself was not good enough, as her feelings inevitably told her…

But that good things were worth waiting for…