To Cut the Sky: Second Phase - The Waxing Quarter (c. 5)

Curled up on her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, Tara slowly rocked back and forth, her eyes open and blank, staring at the wall.  They’d left her here for going on six hours now, and she was beginning to wonder if they were going to just get rid of her.  She severely regretted digging her teeth into the Skywalker fellow’s wrist, given that he might send her back.  It had occurred to her in her long moments of solitude that she needed to learn how to control her temper and her actions - they were going to get her killed or sold back into slavery.

Given that they didn’t just sell her now anyway - she was already tagged, it would seem.  That had been the ultimate betrayal.  And Kero hadn’t even said anything to her about it - she was furious with him for that insult, and would let him hear when she saw him later.  On top of dislocating her shoulder, which was still hanging rather loosely and throbbing with pain.  Perhaps she should have allowed them to place her in the care of the medics...

She’d done a lot of stupid, silly things in the last few days, a great many of which she severely regretted.

Well, what was done was done.  She might be able to divert the course of events later with a few apologies, and some big teary eyes, but for now she was screwed.

There was a quiet tap on the door, and she looked up from her knees, staring as it hissed into the frame, and revealed a girl that seemed a bit younger than she was.  Tara stared at her confused.  The girl, however, seemed to know what she was doing.  In silence, she brought in a covered tray, and set it on the little table beside the bed, lifted the lid to reveal steaming food, and then retreated.  As she was moving back to the door, Tara noted her robes seemed very similar to Kero’s and the other fellow.  It intrigued her.

“Um, excuse me?” she called softly, gaining the other’s attention.  The other girl looked at her over her shoulder out of one eye, and then turned to face her, folding her arms quietly.

“Yes?”

Tara blushed slightly, unsure of how to talk to her without being offensive.  Maybe if she was nice... “Are...are you one of them...too?”

The girl’s neutral expression broke, and she smiled.  “They started my training only a few months ago.”

Tara cocked her head to one side.  “What...what do you...do?”

A shrug so far.  “I’m just a padawan,” she explained “A beginner.  All that they’ve taught me so far is how to meditate, sense the force, and simple things like using the force to float a stylus or a twig across the room.  But...it’s amazing what the masters, and even the knights can do.”  She seemed almost excited.

Her interest piqued.  “What...where...is the force?” she asked softly.

The girl held up a finger for a moment, indicating a pause.  She pressed the button in the wall to close the door.  “I’ll get scolded for staying in here, but they won’t see me now.” she smiled slightly.  “The force is everywhere.  It’s everything.  It’s you, it’s me, it’s life.  Can’t you feel it?”

Tara shook her head.  “I don’t know how.”

“It’s easy...you just have to let your mind fade...and stretch out your senses.” she hopped up onto the bed and sat with her legs crossed, facing the other far more apprehensive female.  “My name is Kari, by the way.”

“Tara.”

“Nice to meet you.  Anyway,” she brushed it all aside, far more interested in speaking of the force “Just close your eyes.”  She waited for Tara to do so, to little avail.  “Come on, don’t you want to try it?”

Reluctantly, the short-haired girl closed her eyes, and listened instead.  Kari’s voice came, smooth and lilting, relaxing.

“Push everything aside, except my voice right now.  But shut out everything in your mind.”

“How?”

“Hmm...I usually just envision everything trickling away into whatever surface I’m sitting on.  It’s called grounding.”

Tara tried, and found that things kept popping into her head, and her agonizing arm was making it very hard.  “Uhhnnn...it might be easier if my shoulder wasn’t...”

Kari opened her eyes, and leaned forward, causing Tara’s eyes to pop open as well.  She managed to hold still as the girl inspected her, but she wasn’t too impressed.  Being studied like that was something that had always upset her - it was why she’d adopted the practice of doing it back to people.

“They didn’t take you to the infirmary for that?” Kari asked, amazed.

Tara went bright red, and turned her face away, causing the other girl to blush faintly as well.

“Oh...that was you they were talking about...?”

“Uhm...”

“Ah...it’s okay...but...you should probably be go before that starts to heal wrong...”

Tara shivered slightly, apprehensive. “What happens if it does that?”

“You’ll never be able to use it properly again.”

Her face went white.  “Uhm...you want to show me where the sickbay is?”

Kari bounced off the bed, followed by the slower, stiffer Tara, who was really starting to feel the stabbing jabs from the loose shoulder.  In file, they scuttled out the door quietly, making sure no one was around, and Kari led her through a mass of corridors and down a flight of stairs before stopping in front of a door with a red cross painted on it.  She knocked softly, straightening herself, and looking up as an adult answered.  He was the one that Kero had tried to palm her off on before, and he didn’t look to eager to see her again once he noticed who it was. 

“Kari, what are you doing?” he inquired sternly.

The girl shrugged.  “She’s hurt, and asked me to bring her up here.” she answered.  “Fix her.”

Tara was amazed at the girl’s audacity to be telling the other Jedi what to do, but was only confused when his face broke into a grin.  “Brat,” he retorted, ruffling her hell “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” 

Kari gave a soft bow, and disappeared down the corridor, leaving Tara alone with someone she was certain didn’t like her.  She turned her face away, watching him from the side, unable to look at him without feeling awful.  She was fairly certain he’d been the one she’d caught in the gut with her toe.  Without a word, he put a hand to her good shoulder, and bent down, scooping her up gently.  It surprised her, but given her small stature and slight form, it wasn’t that odd.

She looked up at him in fright, unsure of what to think.  He cast her a glance, but continued navigating through the bay toward the far end to an empty, clean bed.

“I see you’ve calmed considerably.” he commented.

She just flinched in shame, biting her injured shoulder to keep thoughts of what she’d done to him out of her head.  He should hate her. 

Instead, he became upset.  “No, no, no!” he cried, setting her down on the bed quickly, his soft, gentle hands flying to her connected teeth and shoulder.  “Don’t do that, you’ll make it worse!”

Coaxingly, he managed to unlock her jaw from digging into and drawing blood from her skin, and she curled up around her stomach, tears flowing down her face.  She couldn’t look at him.  “I’m sorry...” she whispered desperately, hiding her face in her good arm.

“No, no, silly.” he informed her, pulling at her.  “You have to stretch out.  I need you to relax so that I can heal that.”

Without a word, she uncurled and flopped on her stomach, burying her face in the pillow and going limp so that he could perform whatever practice he needed on her.  Oddly, she felt no pain of her shoulder being jerked back into place, and-Crack.  She cried out in agony, twisting up to strike him away from herself.  But he had learned her trick, and ducked out of the way, wringing his hands as she flopped back down, crying in pain.

“It’s okay, I just put it back into the joint,” he assured her, patting her shoulder awkwardly “It only hurt so much because it had started to heal - you left it a little long...”

She whimpered softly, and tried to relax, shaking in fading pain. 

“Please...just hold still...” he placed his hands on her shoulders, feather light - she barely noticed it.

As her consciousness began to fade, she wondered at the intelligence of allowing him to give her whatever was making her so sleepy.  But her mind flooded with calming, soothing darkness too quickly for her to dwell on the thought - she was too busy enjoying the lack of pain, and allowing it to caress her.  It was...bliss...

***

The medic watched her in silence as she drifted off into the deep healing trance he’d placed her in.  It wasn’t too often that Raven Slade received such odd customers at his door.  He was used to dealing with burns from practice sabers, and battle injuries...injury on top of emotional trauma was something completely new to him.  It was a sickening combination.

He put a hand to his brow and sighed in exhaustion.  She was a difficult one.  Hell, he himself was only two or three years older than her, and he was already working full time in the damned hospital wing.  He had a natural touch for healing, and so Luke had designated this as his area.

But he didn’t think he had the spirit for this - the constant pain and suffering wore him thin and harshly, and cases like this were beyond draining.

Leaning on the cot, he looked her over, though it was difficult with her lying on her front like that.  He moved over to the other side, able to see part of her face, resting to the side as it was.  It was framed by the bright crimson hair that fell to her shoulders.

She was quite pretty, when she wasn’t terrified and angry, trying to claw someone’s eyes out...

But she was his patient, and that made her untouchable.

Sifting through the closet, he searched for a set of spare robes that would fit her size.  The only ones he could find were very dark, black, actually.  He winced; Skywalker wouldn’t like that.  But they were all he had.  And besides, it was only a colour.

Leaving the hanger with the tunic, soft pants, and obi beside the bed, he turned the lights down to a dim glow, and slipped out of the bay - she’d be fine now - she wouldn’t wake back up for at least twelve hours.