Chapter 3 - TRANSLATING

Aria was outside, with Charlebbekka, working on the repairs her mother had almost completed the afternoon before. She was glad her father and mother could be alone together for a while.

“Hey, thanks for coming with me, Charlebbekka,” she said, looking up from her work. “They obviously don’t like me to be alone out here.”

Charlebbekka nodded.

“I don’t know what the big deal is,” she snorted. “There’s nothing out here. At least nothing that will show itself at this time of day.”

She glanced at Charlebbekka, who was sniffing the air.

“Did my father tell you where he and mother went?”

The Wookiee shook her head, and pointed at something Aria had missed welding.

“Thanks, but I was getting there.”

She looked up at the Wookiee who had cocked her head to one side. “Okay, okay, you’re right, I missed it,” she admitted, blushing. “There how’s it look?"

Charlebbekka nodded and gave a thumb’s-up, growling an affirmative.

“I wish I could understand your language,” she said. “Do you think you could teach me?”

The Wookiee straightened, smoothed her fur thoughtfully for a second and then nodded. Charlebbekka pointed at herself and slowly let out a short sequence that sounded like,”Gggharrr-yip-bark-ah.”

“Oh that’s how you say your name in... in... What do you say it in? Shryywook, right?”

Charlebbekka nodded and barked an affirmative, “Ghharrirrwoof,”she enunciated.

“Maybe start with what my name sounds like in your language.”

“Arrh-aah,” said the Wookiee, sounding it out gamely.

Aria smiled encouragingly, “Hey, that sounds pretty good! What about ‘blaster’?”

Charlebbekka made the appropriate sounds, “Gahrr-ghgh.”

“How do you say ‘shoot’?”

The Wookiee barked shortly and harshly.

“Okay, I wanna see if I can hear it in a sentence,” she paused in thought. “Can you please say ‘Shoot it with a blaster’?”

“Rah-grrrrrrr raawr arra ah gahrr-ghgh.”

“Okay, how about ‘Drop your blaster?”

The lessons went on for about a half an hour. Aria finished up her repairs, snapping the security doors shut on the vaporator. She glanced up at her furry care-taker who was leaning limply against an outcrop of rock.

“Hey you look a little sick,” she observed. She pulled out her water bladder, “You better have some water. What did you do with yours?”

Charlebbekka responded by taking the cork out of hers and tipping it upside down. Not a drop came out.

“Sheez, Charlebbekka,” Aria shook her head. “I guess I can’t blame you, you’re not exactly dressed for climate. We might have to get you a bigger water container.”

The Wookiee growled mournfully.

“Here, you can drink some of mine, just leave some for the walk back.”

The Wookiee gratefully tipped Aria’s water bladder and drained a good amount.

“Okay, woah,” Aria pulled on her friend’s arm. “We have to share the rest until we get back home. Here, I think you need a little shade. Put this loosely over your head.”

Charlebbekka took the white cotton cloth Aria had draped across her head and shoulders. She made a protesting sound and shook her head, and made as if to give it back.

“No, no - it’s fine,” grinned Aria, pushing it back toward Charlebbekka. “I can tie my hair up and I have sleeves to cover my shoulders. You’re just... Well... You don’t have a lot of choice in wardrobe.”

The Wookiee made an amused sound and nodded. She placed the sheet over her head, and hung on to the corners to lift it so she could see properly.

Aria packed up her toolbox and motioned the tall furry being to follow her. She grinned up at her. “You sure don’t get quite the same coverage as I do with that thing.”

Indeed, the cloth easily draped over Aria’s head and over her shoulders and could be tied or clasped in the front, shawl-like. With the Wookiee, the cloth covered her head more like a hand towel.

“So it will be faster if we just head straight home, but if you start feeling over-heated, let me know & we’ll detour it through some shadier spots. It’s still not the hottest time of day, so we should be okay.”

“Raahhahh?”

“Yeah, it gets hotter here,” said Aria. “In a few hours I wouldn’t want to be out here in the middle of all this reflective sand, that’s for sure. Then it gets hot underfoot as well as over your head. You don’t have shoes, so I hope the pads of your feet won’t get uncomfortable.”

The Wookiee looked apprehensive.

Aria nodded. "Yeah, we’d better get moving.”

As the two of them walked, Aria tried repeating back and reviewing the phrases she had learned. She asked her Shryywook language teacher questions in Basic. Charlebbekka would reply in Shryywook, which Aria attempted to translate back into Basic. The Wookiee laughed a few times, but mostly nodded and patted her young charge on the shoulder once in a while, encouraging her.

At first Aria asked general questions, like, “How do you like Tatooine?”

Charlebbekka growled & pointed a hairy finger at the suns.

“The suns...?” Aria guessed.

The Wookiee nodded. She pointed at Aria’s forehead, & then raised her hand to her furry brow and pretended to wipe away sweat. She made a disgruntled sound as she did so.

Aria wiped real sweat from her own forehead, “Hot?”

Charlebbekka nodded mournfully, then she repeated the sounds in one entire phrase.

“The suns... are hot.”

The conversation was like this, gradually increasing in length and complexity. At one point Charlebbekka snuffled and then barked out a coughing sound.

“My... what is going to burn off?” Aria mumbled. Then she grinned and translated: “Ah! ‘My fur is going to burn off!'”

Charlebbekka growled and nodded. She seemed to be panting slightly.

“Look Charlebbekka,” said Aria, putting her hand on her arm, "We’re only about a half-mile away. Then you and I can have a nice long cool draught of water.”

The Wookiee sighed with relief and nodded.

They continued the last while in silence. The Wookiee looked down at the youthful woman-child beside her with interest. Aria wasn’t really focused on the path to the house, but rather her eyes were on the ground. She didn’t speak until they had entered the threshold and she had ushered Charlebekka into the visiting lounge.

“Here, you can start with this, and I’ll bring out a pitcher,” she said and went to the kitchen to fill one. On the way back she turned the cooling unit to full power.

By the time she brought the pitcher of water, Charlebbekka had an empty glass and was wiping her mouth with some satisfaction. Aria refilled it and had a drink herself.

Both the diminutive human and the formidable Wookiee sat back, relishing the re-saturation of dry throats & the refreshing coolness sitting in their stomachs.

“Charlebbekka - what is it my father calls you? Lebbie - may I call you Lebbie?”

The Wookiee nodded and patted Aria affectionately on the shoulder.

“I want to thank you first of all, for the language lessons,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve had so much fun in, well...” She shrugged, “Well, it’s been a long time. I still remember a couple times I spent with my father, when my mom was healthier and I didn’t have to look after her so much...”
She felt a furry finger pull some hair out of her eyes. She blinked, surprised at the wetness that suddenly sprang to her eyes.  “Do you mind if I ask you a more personal question?” she asked shyly. Lebbie looked at her intently and woofed an affirmative. “My father doesn’t tell me everything about what he does. I know he wants to protect me, but... I still need to know things. About my father.  Anything at all.”

Charlebbekka nodded and leaned back, accepting this line of questioning.

“My father rescued mother. He rescued his captain,” she said softly, looking down at the glass of water in her hand. “He rescued you.”
She glanced quickly at Charlebbekka, and felt rather then saw her staring intently at her, patiently waiting. “Don’t tell him this, Lebbie,” she implored sternly, her voice breaking. Lebbie wrapped a comforting arm around the girl and Aria edged in closer, hiding her face for a moment in the dusty fur. Aria looked up at the Wookiee. “But I sometimes wish he would rescue me, too.”

The Wookiee gently slid an arm under Aria’s shoulders, picked her up and placed her squarely across her lap, and wiped what remained of the tears on Aria’s face.

“When you were alone, in the dark, in the storage container...?”

One of the Wookiee’s eyebrows raised and she shifted in her seat slightly, but she nodded for Aria to continue.

“When you were there, and my father came to help you,” she asked. “What did you feel?”

The Wookiee looked kindly at Aria and gently squeezed her arm. She growled softly and put her fist to her heart. Then she put her two fists together and made a motion as though she were breaking something between them.

“Your heart was... broken?” she asked, wrinkling her brow. “I don't understand...”

Aria watched the Wookiee’s expressive hands as she pointed to herself; then pointed to a picture of Aria & her parents hanging on the wall. Then she pointed at herself again, pointed at Aria and then made a slashing motion with her hand. Aria swallowed a large lump that had formed in her throat with some difficulty.

“I’m so sorry your family is gone,” Aria said hoarsely. She embraced the Wookiee. “I’m so very very glad that you are part of my family now. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to my father or mother.”

The Wookiee was stunned and now it was her turn to lower her head.

“When you pointed at me, does that mean you had a daughter, too?” asked Aria, still with her arms around the Wookiee’s neck.

Charlebbekka nodded.

“What was her name?” she asked, curiously. She got up and refreshed Lebbie’s glass. Charlebbekka took a few sips and leaned back again and growled her answer.

“Your daughter’s name was Jrrlwra?”

Lebbie grunted and nodded. She pointed at Aria and growled another phrase.

“I remind you... of her?” Aria laughed. “How?”

Lebbie chuckled throatily, and began to explain. The Wookiee patiently explained until Aria understood that the Wookiee thought she and her daughter shared the same spirit. Curiosity and self-discipline and a sense of family convinced Lebbie that, had Jrrlwa been alive and the two youths had crossed paths, they would probably get along very well.

“Wow,” said Aria. “That is...” She tried to think of words to describe how she felt. She gave up and just hugged her Wookiee friend again. “That is a great compliment. Thank you.”

There was a comfortable silence then, while the two of them just sat with their thoughts.

Aria looked at the time piece on the wall.

“Hey, after we grab some lunch, do you want to go into town?” she asked. “I need to buy some food for when mother and father get back.”

The Wookiee hesitated. Aria laughed at Charlebekka’s rumpled expression.

“It’s okay, we can take the speederbike,” said Aria. “Have you ever driven one?”

Charlebbekka shook her head.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I can drive it. My mother showed me how.”
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There were several visits with Charlebbekka and her father, and after some visiting with family, Aria was always keen to practice her Shryywook. When the two were out on a hike or an errand to Mos Eisley, she would tell Aria what really happened - some extra part of the stories that Reissem would sometimes leave out, like the first time her family had met Charlebbekka. Even though the Wookiee would expand on things, Aria suspected Lebbie was still leaving out some detail, but she had a better idea of what her father risked out there. She knew he felt this was the most lucarative and quick way to keep up with the costs of looking after his wife; paying workers when Ariasha had bouts of pain and fatigue.
He had paid scientists and doctors with all manner of pirate booty to find out what was wrong with her, but no treatments or prescriptions or diagnosis seemed to help. Indeed,  as time went on, Ariasha seemed to age a lot faster than normal, grew tired more and more easily, and sometimes could do nothing but sleep.

Her more concerning symptoms were muscle weakness, sometimes accompanied by seizures and debilitating pain. And the "attacks," as her mother called them, were never in any pattern. The sporadic nature of the disease made Ariasha decide she would begin to stick closer to home, where medication, neighbours and family were near.

Although it was never spoken, Aria knew her mother was never going to get better. When her father and Wookiee friend had conversations in front of her Aria could understand most of what was being said, even if her father pretended what Charlebbekka was saying something else. No one ever mentioned that Ariasha might slowly be dying, but it was a fear that sometimes came unbidden to Aria's mind. She noticed the anguished expression her father would have on his face when he thought no one was looking. Sometimes he would speak to Charlebbekka about his concern for his wife or about some upcoming missions when he thought Aria was out of hearing range.

Aria hid the fact that she could understand Shryywook from her father so when the two shipmates had conversations in front of her, she would hear and understand more of the conversation than her father was aware. The Wookiee had told her that she should tell her father soon, or she would. Aria said she would tell him, and made Lebbie promise not to tell before she got a chance to. "I'm just waiting for the right time."

Eventually, with Reissem being quite an alert and observant father, he did catch on that Aria knew how to understand and even speak some Shryywook, however was quite a good sport about it. "At least you have someone else to talk to, when you and Aunt Lebbie go off on your walks," he said cheerfully. "Could come in handy, getting on a Wookiee's good side!" Little did Aria know, that there was a little more meaning in that statement than what was on the surface.

Every time Reissem came to visit he commented on how his little girl was a little more mature and taller... growing up a little too quickly, but beautiful - tall and willowy, like her mother...

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