Pilots' Quarters

[Dav Man'Sell]

He woke, to the gentle sight of light streaming in through the door into the sleeping chamber, and to Tebana, seated, waiting for him. There was something troubled in her expression, and it took him a second to remember that her expression, and the slight unease he felt himself, was because they were in the middle of a siege, at what was probably just the start of a long, drawn out war. As he made the realisation, his awareness in the Force slowly came into focus, and the energies of the war-torn moon suddenly flowed into your awareness. A myriad of skirmishes, the flow of high-strung emotions, the fear of death, the pain of loss, the righteous rage of defenders and the crusading fury of the invaders.

He closed his eyes for a second, sat up, reaching up a hand to rub his face.

"Nnnn."

His eyes opened, and he looked at her again. Yes, they faced a war. Each of them had their own battlefield. His was probably the most viscerally violent, so far - his, or Lita's, at any rate. But her battlefield had been the most painful, the saddest, the most tinged with lost. So yes, her pained, troubled expression fit. Each day, she entered the Medical facilities, ready to help another soul or two, or ten, or twenty, through their last hours. For a lot, the most she could do was ease pain, enable a peaceful parting.

He did not envy her her battlefield at all.

He gave her a pained smile.

"Deci-cred for your thoughts?"

[Tebana Sor]

She turned her lost gaze from the slowly growing light to face him. Dark eyes, pools of infinity that had clearly been focused elsewhere.

“You would have made a wonderful father.”

The words were spoken in the purest form of love and emotion. There was regret, of course, but also admiration for what he was, for what he had fought day in and out, and for what he was ready to die. No matter the debates or even the rift between them past, present and future… she knew him, like nobody else. His pain, his loss and his strength.

Yes, loss was on her mind. But with the revelations of the past hours and her own restlessness, loss in itself had taken on so many forms and expressions, it seemed to have covered her in its grips.
And yet, how could she think about an old personal wound when families and friends were being ripped apart at any moment in this present war? How was it just? And why?

Jago would leave into the jungle. And he would be doing it alone if need be. But the painful truth that he himself seemed incapable of making the connection between past pain and present danger, worried her beyond measure. Whether it was a conscious act of avoidance on the white Jedi Master’s part or an automated response to a dark day in all their past, she couldn’t tell for sure.
She only knew that she couldn’t follow him. But Dav could. And he would, if she asked.

[Dav Man'Sell]

Dav arched his eyebrows high, the momentary surprise at this unexpected train of thought expressing itself. He sat even more upright, and his brows dipped again into a frown.

"Where's this come from?"

He shifted in the bed, moving closer to her, and reached out to take her hand. He watched her carefully for a long moment, turning over in his head the odd timing of the statement. It seemed unprompted, but he knew it wouldn't be. People generally didn't say things without a thought process leading to it, and for Tebana that was doubly true.

His first thoughts leapt back to her battlefiend, and to the sense of loss she must have been feeling with each soldier that passed into the Force. Their own loss, all those years earlier, had been a painful and poignant moment for them both. For him, it had been the pain of a future stolen, a child he'd never had chance to even know. For her, it had been a future and a past, as her brother had finally turned away from light and become a servant of evil.

He looked into her face, into her own dark eyes, touched her spirit fleetingly in their shared bond, and knew that, although her thoughts did indeed dwell on that day, those ruins, that it was not completely as he had perceived. Something else, more specific, had drawn her attention there. There was a sense of anxiousness, of present concern, in her. Something more recent than even his visit there to meet Ander, a few days earlier.

He dipped his chin, worked his jaw for a moment, before he looked at her again.

"Something new has happened, hasn't it? Opened up some old wounds?"

[Tebana Sor]

Tebana’s hand rested in his and as he examined her, brushing ever so delicately against her mind and spirit, she held his gaze and as he spoke she drew closer, finally her lips brushing up against his. His thoughts, ever drawn by conflict and danger had quickly dashed ahead, but this kiss sealed her words into his heart, because she truly believed them. He would have been incredible as a father.

They had both been robbed that day. Dav worst of all for she had kept her pregnancy a secret from him, fearing his reaction… until it all had been taken out of her hands. The only person who had ever know about her child had been none other than Jago.

She shook her head lightly as if searching for words before she finally reported to him all that had passed in the last day while he had been resting. The virus, the spores, the examination through the Force in which she had led Jago to discover and his determination to head out into the unsecured jungle on the dim chance of getting samples.

There was a moment of silence.

“It’s not like I have anything to test them with here. We are on limited energy supplies and lab supplies. Let alone the fact that there is no way we can isolate and contain such an element accordingly. It would be madness to even bring them here and expose the whole defense and every single soul in this place to spores altered through Sith magic!”

She finally turned her eyes back on him, the ever growing light from the outside window drawing in the morning and the following day. Her anger and words weren’t just an expression of her own pain of a loss so fundamental that it had changed her forever. No, her words and concern were born out of consideration for the people under her charge. And that included Jago Pulastra.

“Jago is determined. And he seems to be incapable of making the connection between the ruins from then and the ruins now. If by choice or refuted memories or… I don’t know what reason, once he gets there…? He will be devastated. It’ll all come back to him. And this is not the time for even more trauma.”

She searched his face for some kind of reaction, but other than stern consternation there was none. A million things were probably running through his mind. About as many has had been coursing through hers for the past day or so.

And as if her last thought needed even more weight, she eventually went on: “I cannot go there.” It was a simple statement, but there was an apologetic tinge to it.

“I am afraid of what happens when I do. To me. Personally. You have been back there. To meet Ander. And you came back to me. Please… go with him. While I try to save the five soldiers here.”

Nothing in her words wouldn’t state through what means however.