CORUSCANT

I stood in the living area of our new apartment on Coruscant, looking out the window in the
living area. There was a lot of traffic. This is going to be . . . different, I thought. Not at all
like living on Kamino. No rain. There's still noise, but the noise is . . . different, not as
peaceful as the rain. Not as calm. Lost in thought, I was just barely aware of my brother
Damon standing next to me. Did he ask me something? I wasn't sure. I was to busy thinking.
Worrying, actually. I often missed things that he told me. Always lost in thought.
Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Damon looking at me.
"Didn't hear me, did you?" he asked.
"Sorry," I apologized. "It must be frustrating."
"Actually, I don't mind."
"Well that's . . . different."
Damon laughed. I did not understand what was so funny, but I didn't ask. I wanted to let
him have as much fun as possible. Neither of us wanted to be here. We both missed Kamino
terribly. I was grateful for anything that might make him feel better.
I never understood why my parents always said that their siblings always got on their nerves.
Damon was my best friend. Nothing could tear us apart. Not even our differences. And we didn't
have many differences. We both liked music, and usually the same music. We both liked it to
be more or less quiet. Both of us didn't care much about the holonews.
"Was there something you wanted to ask me?" I asked.
"Huh?" Damon said, still smiling. "Oh. Yes. Are you ready to get to work?"
I suddenly remembered all of the boxes full of things me and Damon had promised our
parents we would put away while they were gone.
"I guess we should," I said. "If we plan on finishing before Mom and Dad get home."
I turned and headed toward our sofa. On the sofa were several boxes, filled with things
from our old apartment on Kamino. I stopped short of opening a box.
"What is it?" Damon asked, noticing my pause.
"I'll be right back," I said. "I'm going to go find my datacards, so we'll have some music to
listen to while we work."
I went into my new bedroom without paying much attention to the room itself. I looked through
the boxes on the floor in a corner. One of the boxes was labeled "BOOKS". Another was labeled
"DECOR". Finally, I found the one labeled "DATACARDS". I brought it to my bed, opened it, and
searched through the datacards until I one titled "Skillet".
I left my room and went to the computer console in the living area. I plugged in my datacard
and played the music. I turned to get back to work and noticed that Damon had stopped working
and was just standing there. Trying to figure out what band I picked out? I thought.
After a moment he smiled.
"Skillet," he said, then he got back to work.
I looked around and noticed he had already finished with several of the boxes that had covered
the floor. I headed back to the sofa to get to work. As soon as I got to the box I decided to work
on, there was a beep at the door. I hurried over to the computer console to stop the music, while
Damon headed to the door. As soon as the music was paused I went back to the sofa to put the
contents of that box away. I hoped very much that I would not be interrupted again.
While I unpacked, I heard voices coming from the hallway leading to the door. I didn't listen
to what the voices were saying. I wanted to finish unpacking as soon as possible.
"Hey, Cat?" Damon called after a minute.
"Yes?" I called back, still putting things away.
"Could you come here for a sec?" he asked.
I finished putting away the objects I had in my hands as quickly as I could, then turned and
headed down the hallway.
When I got there I saw a tall man with black hair standing with my brother.
"Cat, this is Tannis Vilim," Damon introduced me. "He lives in the apartment next to ours."
"Pleased to meet you," I said to Tannis, stretching my arm out toward him.
"You, too," he said, smiling and shaking my hand. "Are your parents around?"
"Um. . . . No," I said slowly, not sure if I should be telling him that me and my brother were
home alone.
"Oh," he said, looking disappointed. "Well, when they get home, I would very much like to meet
them. You probably have some unpacking to do, so I'll let you get back to that. It was nice meeting
you."
"Nice meeting you, too," Damon said.
Tannis turned and left.
Me and Damon stood there for awhile. Well, I thought. That was odd.
I went back into the living area and got back to work. Damon followed after a few
seconds, and we worked the rest of the time in silence.