sanctity and serenity

 TEXX LISTENED WITH UNBROKEN ATTENTIVENESS to the poor Padawan’s words, his reptilian eyes ever trained respectfully on her tear-streaked visage. His scaly brow creased in visible concern: it was the first he was hearing of Nerra’s crash landing, and that, too, made a flower of WORRY blossom in his too-caring heart. But if there truly was any uncertainty of Nerra’s survival there, Texx did not let it show – he only let out a soft, “Aw, kid…” and wrapped a large arm around her tiny shoulders, pulling her in close to his side. Texx wasn’t sure if this was the kind of comfort she needed – oh, he was never the best with words, not even in Dosha – but it was the kind he had to offer.

 “Don’t cry, okay? Can ya take a deep breath for me?” The brutish Trandoshan requested of the weeping girl, his lips curling into a sympathetic smile & yellowed teeth poking out slightly. Texx gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze with his gigantic three-fingered hand and SIGHED. “Lisssssten, I know it’s real sssscary thinkin’ about all of the thingsss that could be happenin’ over there with him. Nerra’sss my friend TOO; I know exactly where yer at right now.” 

“But think about it, Chyla. Ya gotta have a little faith in the guy. He’s SSSTRONG, an’ he’s brave, an’ he’s way sssmarter than ME, for example.” He chuckled, hoping a light tone would alleviate her fears. “—– TRUST in the Force, little one. Let whatever comesss, come: THAT issss the JEDI WAY. An’ in a day or two, you’ll find that you had nothin’ t’worry about at all. Okay?”

Chyla curled into Tex’s large, scaly body, pressing against her eyes with the sleeve of her robe to try and stop her tears. She knew it wasn’t the Jedi way, which made her feel all the worse for being so scared about Nerra. The Masters applauded her for her gifts with the Living Force, so why couldn’t she focus well enough to know Nerra was safe?

“I know--I’m sorry--I know I’m supposed to be better, think better, feel better--” She sniffled and wiped her eyes again with the sleeve of her robe.

“I don’t mean to be so weak, so emotional, I promise,” she whimpered.

Either she was playing along or, more likely, based on the response, she was genuinely unsure. He could use that. He felt a little bad taking advantage of it, of course, but it might buy him enough time to get some food. And maybe he could explain then.

But the biggest flaw with this whole plan, of course, was having to talk.

He didn’t understand the first half of what she said, it being mumbled around some waffle, but he got the gist of the context from her follow up. Tarion shrugged halfheartedly before sitting down across from her. He took a moment before answering to grab a napkin, then looked around–only to see no pen or pencil around. Which meant he couldn’t write her a message or anything, which would have been easier.

Fiddling with his now useless napkin, Tarion grimaced slightly. “I’m okay,” he said, despite his nose hurting like hell and his stomach growling. He didn’t elaborate, instead asking, “you?”

She raised an eyebrow as he sat across from her. A waffle, some iced coffee, and a stranger sitting across from her at her favorite diner as she was just trying to eat some food before going back home and going the hell to bed.

Still--was this nice company or something else or was, in her exhaustion, she actually did forget who this guy was?

The napkin thing was, sure, a little weird, but she did her best not to judge. Everyone had a nervous fidget.

You can’t leave, Lyra. Not now. Now when I–

But, she could. Of course, she could, because she was one of the kindest beings he’d ever met, incessantly putting herself aside to help others. His mind felt like it was running through every memory they had together since they’d met, as if it were reminding him exactly how much she meant to him…

Reminding him of each time in the last couple of months that he, always so open with his emotions, had not been able to tell her that he loved her. He hadn’t done it before, and perhaps he should have, but how could he drop that on her now, right before she left?

Would he ever see her again?

“It’s been wonderful to have met you, Lyra, and to have gotten to know you,” he murmured, his gaze flitting away for a moment before he looked back at her again. “I hope you know what you’ve done here means to people…what it means to me.”

He looked like she’d knocked him upside the head with the hilt of her blaster. Chyla wanted to look away, but couldn’t bring that much more cowardice into her heart. It was dumb to ever let herself get this close to anyone. Why was he so special? What made him worth all of that risk to let him near her?

“I know. And I’m sorry I have to leave, but somewhere else needs me more.” Everywhere needed her. Everywhere was hurting and in pain; she just needed to leave Talia and put it behind her.

Ferus’ own first month after having left had been chaotic. He’d already been through three planet by then, had worked for board for a week or so before moving on, never felt like he had any idea where to go or even if he wanted to go anywhere at all. He’d been completely without direction and in a lot of ways without soul. His own decision and the factors behind it had tormented him every minute, every day.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure how he’d kept going. But he was happy that he had. And he would be more than happy to be a point of stability for Chyla.

Squeezing her shoulders, he let go of her with a smile. He’d be sure to give her another hug later. For now, he was just happy that she’d actually given him a laugh, small as it was.

“Trust me, I don’t mind. I’m happy to see you. How did you know I was here?”

She stood a little straighter at his insistence, the care in his words giving her a little more confident ground to stand on. So maybe this wasn’t that bad of an idea, maybe this was what she needed to do, what needed to happen for her to find some stability.

“I looked you up,” she admitted. “I--there was a little bit of some other help, but I tried my best to find any instance of a Ferus Olin.” She’d had a dream of him three months ago, before she’d even left, of him sitting by a lake. Some sort of gift of the Force, some sort of direction to go. When the last news she’d heard had been of Bellassa, she connected it back to her dream and bought a ticket with nothing more than a little bit of hope.

[Chyla Richi: 7:35 AM] i’m gonna plead the 5th or whatever. no comment. [Chyla Richi: 7:37 AM] i’m on my way now

She had been on planet, attempting to figure out her next move, and if it would be worth the risk with the Empire’s current suspicions about her. She had broken off from them moments ago, choosing to explore the base. She might be spending more time here soon.

“Not at all.” Satine gave her a kind smile. “I do have experience with children, I understand completely.” She walked closer, getting a better look at the child in the woman’s arms. “How old is she?”

Satine paused, looking back up at the woman. “I apologize that was rude of me.” Introductions were so tedious she often forgot them. “My name is Satine, it is a pleasure to meet you two.”

“No, no, no, it’s all right, I promise,” she smiled, looking briefly back at Adiri before back at the woman--Satine...Satine? As in the Duchess Satine Kryze? Chyla wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to voice her recognizing of the woman or not, as Satine hadn’t used her title. Maybe she wanted to hide for a moment, too.

Ferus laughed some more, soft and friendly, at the way that little remark completely carried her away. And like he’d said to her, she was acting a suspicious amount like he himself had, back when he’d met Roan – head over heels too quickly to want to admit it.

“I can tell you think it’s working”, he said, grinning. “Relax. Enjoy yourself.” And then, just to be difficult, “blush some more.”

He’d heard the sparknotes of this story before, but he was internally approving the more he heard of the guy. Not that he needed to hear a lot a lot, because Chyla was a pretty good judge of character, and she was giddy all the time now.

“So … let me guess, you’re in the texting all night phase?”

She threw her pillow at him for the snarky comment with a laugh. So, apparently there was no hiding it--she was smitten. Doesn’t mean she wouldn’t still try to play it cool.

“Ugh. Yes,” she laughed, hiding as she covered her face with her hand. “I was up until two or three last night. We were just....talking. It was really nice. Talked to him about Elaine, my job, my friends. He sent me some pictures of his sketches.”A pause. “He uses a ridiculous amount of emojis when he texts.” It was pretty endearing, though, if she had to say. Certainly made her smile.

@enneads || i don’t wanna go find the meme

There was nothing but a dim fire between them. Camp was two or three clicks behind them, but Chyla had taken a walk for the space. About an hour ago, Tarion had enjoyed her. For a bit, they talked, for most of it, they stayed silent. Then Tarion said that and Chyla looked over at him with a soft, speechless smile.

[Chyla Richi: 7:27 AM] well some of us sleep at that hour ok [Chyla Richi: 7:27 AM] I’m at Roan and Ferus’s ya and sounds good I’m ok with that much pizza

[Trever Flume: 7:30 AM] So did I wake you up or were you up, too? [Trever Flume: 7:31 AM] Is this an instance where I’m ordering for a later point for you to come over or are you mysteriously on your way?

“Great,” the teenager said. “Can do.” And he would. But he mostly just wanted to get to the food and then sleep part of things.

So.

Sitting up now that she was done, Trever shrugged. Normally he preferred something with a little more heft than the vegetarian fare that Chyla could offer, but well, ‘pizza’ was still sufficient.

“Pizza’s fine,” he said. “Unless you wanna order more.”

“So you want me to order more,” she corrected, rinsing off her tools in the sink with hot water and antibacterial soap. She’d fully sterilize them later, but mostly wanted to get at least the cleaning out of the way to focus back on Trever.

“What do you feel like?” she asked, filling a glass of water and bringing it to him--with a straw so he wouldn’t have to tilt his head back too far.

From a future reply to be queued featuring like 6~ year old Chyla.