The morning was bleak, filled with relentless rain and Nima was only slightly less annoyed by it because she could listen to it hitting the roof. It was calming, so she sat on the bed, closed her eyes, and started her daily meditation.
Once she was finished, Nima headed down to the lake to bathe and clean her clothes before cooking food again. The same happened the next day. Bleak and rainy and Nima was left to return to the hut alone after spending some time outside when the rain stopped.
Opening the door to the hut, warm air hit her skin. Odd, she hadn’t cooked anything that morning, she’d had some of the local fruits instead. Then she took a moment to look at the fire, at the pan above it and the person sat by it.
“You’re back,” she whispered, a smile spreading across her face as she quickly shut the door behind her. “What are you doing?”
“I thought it would be nice to cook you something.” Not sure what to say, Nima moved to sit beside him on the floor. He offered up the knife with a small strip of meat on the end of it. It looked spiced, and had turned a wonderful crispy brown on the outside.
“This is nice,” she said while chewing. “Really nice actually.” She was surprised, since he never had to spice his own food.
“I have some presents for you, they’re on my ship.” She hadn’t seen it land, and she’d spent the last hour or so walking by the lake. “I can get them for you now.”
“I don’t mind having them later,” she said. In truth, she was just happy to see him again and she didn’t want him to leave her sight so soon, even if it was just to go to his ship. “I’d like to just spend time with you.”
He stared at her. “You’ve missed me?” How did that surprise him? He was almost as surprised as when she told him how he felt, except missing him should have been less of a surprise now.
“Of course I have.”
“I have too.”
“Missed yourself?” Nima said in an attempt at a joke. He huffed and shook his head slightly, but he smiled a little.
“Missed you.” She knew what he meant but hearing him saying it felt completely different. Her heart grew warm and so did her face.
Maul moved to sit somehow closer to her, his leg pressing against her own and she smiled, as she ate.
“Have you eaten?” He nodded. He must have been back longer than she thought. “I know you’re not fond of spice, but I think it’s worth trying this.”
“Why would it be worth it?”
“Because it tastes great, and you cooked it. Food is always better when you cook it. At least, it is for me.” There was something satisfying in getting to eat what you’d put the effort into cooking.
“I will try a small portion,” he said after a minute. Nima offered him the knife she had been using to eat but he shook his head to refuse and picked out a piece with his fingers. Some of the spice stuck to his nails and he looked hesitant for a moment before eating it. He chewed and stayed quiet before taking another piece. A smile spread across Nima’s face.
“You like it,” she said as he reached for his third piece. She figured she better carry on eating too, before he ate more than she did.
“I don’t hate it.” He spoke quietly and Nima laughed.
“Close enough,” she said as he took a fourth piece. She just smiled and ate a little quicker. “Maybe you’ll have to cook more sometime.”
“Perhaps.” He stopped taking pieces of food from her now, not that she minded too much. She’d eaten most of it anyway.
Once she was finished, Maul insisted they head to his ship together, so that he could give her the gifts. A fluttery feeling in her chest almost took her breath away as she headed inside the ship. She’d wanted a surprise, but he had gotten her several.
The first thing Nima noticed was a staff, a gleaming silver staff, taller than her by half a foot and
“That’s for you,” he said. “And what is next to it is yours too.” Nima hadn’t even noticed the box next to it. She gasped and looked at him, watching as he picked up the staff from where it rested.
“It’s mine to keep?”
“Yes, like everything else I have given you.” She smiled and watched him spin it effortlessly, and carefully avoided the ship’s walls. He then slowed it, stopping it easily, and held it out to her.
“I feel I should head outside with it,” she said as she took it from him. He might be able to avoid the ship’s walls, but only narrowly. She had no chance of doing the same.
The staff was well balanced, with rounded points at either end that could easily hurt someone with some force behind them.
“Phrik. That’s the material it’s made from,” he said as Nima tried twirling in herself. It was perfectly balanced, despite the patterns and designs along it. “It’s different from most metals. I can do this.” Before Nima could ask what he meant, the bright searing red of his lightsaber flashed towards her. Instinctively, she held it up, blocking the swing. It hit, but didn’t cut like it would to most metals, nor did it heat up or start to melt it.
“It’s intact,” she whispered, staring at the lightsaber pushing against it.
“Lightsabers are hard to come by,” he said as he retracted his blade and put it back in its place on his belt. “You cannot forge your own and this is the next best thing. I figured you might like it.”
“I do,” she said, nodding as she looked at the staff with a new sense of awe. “It’s amazing. I didn’t even know there were metals that couldn’t be cut by lightsabers.”
“There are a few.” Nima’s grin widened but it faltered as she turned back to him.
“Does this mean that you can train with a lightsaber? With me, I mean.”
“I could,” he said quietly. “I had no intentions of it.” Nima hummed and twirled the staff and moved through a couple of the defensive stances he taught her.
“I’d like to,” she said finally. He looked surprised again, not quite as surprised as her admission a few days ago, but surprised nonetheless.
“It is dangerous,” he said. “They’re not…”
“I know,” she said quickly. “Maybe we don’t have to go straight too it, I’d need to get used to it, but I trust you not to cut my arm off. It’d help me focus better, and you haven’t actually hit me while training for ages.”
“I did it for you to focus, to give stakes, it stopped working.”
“That’s because I was a bit distracted by you.” Her words were quiet.
She swallowed and her lekku twisted around each other. Maybe it was a stupid idea, but she thought she’d voice it anyway. He’d wanted her to do that, for her own sake. He’d wanted her to be stronger and less timid, she’d never felt bolder. Even as a child, she’d been quiet, but now she didn’t feel afraid to talk to people, even if it was mostly him.
“Consider it, please?” He nodded, just once.
“I will. But we can start normal training with it. Besides that, you will need to do that regardless if I involve a lightsaber or not,” he said. Slowly, he turned heading back to this ship. “Come on, I have other things for you.”
The smile spread across her face and she followed him back inside. The box. She headed straight too it and he watched, waiting for her reaction. At the very top was spices, in bags that when she opened a tiny bit, the aroma filled the air immediately. Refills for the spices she had been using. Underneath were several boxes. Three, each different sizes and shapes. She picked up the largest, which took up most of the space. She pried open the cardboard box, and gasped at what was inside. Though it was wrapped in padding to keep them safe, it was cutlery. She didn’t mind eating from the pan, but it was difficult eating at the same time.
“I haven’t eaten from plates as nice as these in years,” she said as she pulled the padding off of them, smiling at the pretty patterns decorating the edges of them. “Not since I was a handmaiden for that rich lady. They’re wonderful.”
They looked handmade, hand painted. It was probably cheaper, since they didn’t conform to the rigid rules for identical products many factories required. She preferred this, it seemed to have life in it, someone had spent their time replicating the pattern around each of the sides. There were knives and forks too, bowls and cups, and while she had no idea where they had come from, she liked them.
“We can actually eat at the same time now,” she said, turning to look at him. “Probably a good job, since we both liked what you cooked earlier.”
He gestured for her to open the other two boxes. The next was smaller, containing a holster made of some sort of leather. Plain but functional. He informed her that it could fit several kinds of blasters, and would be very useful when they left this world. Maul wasn’t exactly kind to most, he was still Sith. The people he was involved in might not be as kind to her, and being able to carry a weapon so close would be useful. It wasn’t quite the same as the staff, but she appreciated it anyway.
“Open the last,” he said as she set down the holster. He stepped closer to her and she raised her eyebrows at him.
“Why? What is it?” she asked as she picked up the smallest box.
“Just open it.” She looked at him, standing next to her. He seemed eager enough about this box that she was surprised he didn’t want her to open it earlier. It was the size of her hand and curious, she opened it.
Inside was a bangle, made of some kind of shiny silver metal with a purple gem polished and set in the centre. Its ends didn’t meet and she could easily fit it onto her wrist.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, admiring it on her arm. It was loose around her wrist, but she could push it further up her arm if she needed it to be tighter on her arm.
“I was told jewellery is a good gift.”
“It can be,” she said. “I’ve never owned any.” Her mother had, but she’d sold it all to try to provide them food in the middle of a famine. All of the crops in the region had failed, either due to the heat or the pests that year.
“Do you like it?” Nima laughed a little and nodded.
“I do, the stone is so pretty.” It wasn’t an expensive crystal one, it was opaque, with several visible flaws. It made it interesting to look at, with flecks of black and white in the stone.
“I’m glad.”
She looked at him and fidgeted with it around her wrist. He did seem rather relieved about it.
“Thank you.” Before he could say anything, she flung her arms around him tightly. “I appreciate all of this.” It was surprisingly thoughtful. He was clever, yes. But she had assumed his talents were with battles and combat, not gifts for partners. Maybe he’d had to swallow his pride and rid himself of that intimidating and mysterious air he had and asked for help.
He didn’t say anything and she pulled away, worried she might have upset him somehow.
“I’m sorry, it’s just been so long and you just give me such nice things.” Some were practical, like the plates, which were really for them both, but the holster and weapons were practical too. Somewhere away from this planet were bounty hunters trying to search her down. After seeing Maul’s training, she hoped they wouldn’t find her while he was there, for their sake. It was easy to forget that here, but now she thought about it, she’d have a decent chance fighting them too. It was just that with Maul, it would be less of a fight and more of a massacre.
“It’s alright,” he said. He sounded uncertain, which he’d sounded more often recently. “I’m not used to this.”
“I know,” she said softly, but smiled at him.
“I am genuinely glad you like them. Relieved, even.”
“I love them,” she said. “We’re going to have to find somewhere to put it all though. Will you help me carry them back?” There wasn’t going to be much more room left under the bed, with all of the weapons and other clothes stored under there.
“Of course. Let’s do it now, before it gets dark.” Nima smiled again as he packed the things back into the box before picking it up. She met his eyes and smiled as she grabbed the staff, the bracelet dangling from her wrist. Despite who he was, she loved this.