The Dawn after the Darkness

[Akasha Khan]

Three days after Parasitosis (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=21743)

Sleep came naturally to a race as ferally feline as the Orryxians, and after the harrowing events of the past four days, something like sixteen hours a day felt just about right for Akasha Khan. But that still left the question of what to do with the other eight, and the current agenda of getting poked for blood samples and IVs, coughing for the benefit of a stethoscope, eating bad food off of plastic trays, and being assisted to the loo had all worn thin well before the end of the first cycle. After facing a corrupted Sith witch, a ravenous orbalisk, and chemical death and resurrection at the hands of the Challenger medical staff, the black-furred padawan was facing a new, and possibly even more terrible, danger.

"I'm bored."

Magda, the bronze-skinned woman who was just then slipping a needle into the port on Akasha's arm smiled. "Well, that's good to hear," she said. "If you're complaining about boredom, you must not be feeling too bad otherwise."

Akasha rolled her slightly glassy eyes toward the nurse. "No, you don't understand," she said. "I'm ravenously, dangerously bored. I'm losing the use of my senses. I'm going to hear those beeping machines for the rest of my life. I'm seriously considering dying just so I can see if there's more going on in the afterlife than there is here."

"Well, we can put some holos on your bedside monitor if you like," Magda replied. "Or bring you something to read."

"I need to do something!" Akasha complained. "I'm sick of being stuck in this bed. If my strength's not back tomorrow, can't you cut these arms and legs off and replace them with bionics?"

Magda shook her head as she drew a tube full of dark red blood. "You're still flushing that thing's toxins out of your system," she said. "And your heart is still recovering from those shocks. Your body will mend, Akasha. You've got to be patient."

"But who has time for that?"

The nurse patted the Orryxian girl lightly on the shoulder. "You've got plenty of time. There's no need to rush. Your Jedi training will still be there when you're back on your feet."

Magda withdrew the syringe and discarded the needle. "I'll be back in an hour to bring lunch around, all right?"

"Can't wait," Akasha grumbled, and she leaned her head back into her overstuffed pillow and tried not to scratch at the puffy wound on her chest beneath her gown.

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

She looked like she had a hangover. Felt like it too, for that matter. Kala sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror, fingertips brushing under her bloodshot eyes.

But, it had been worth it. Akasha was alive and recovering. Her pain over the past two days paled in comparison to what her best friend had endured.

The blonde shook her head to dispel the dark threads of memory for the time being. A small satchel of random things was waiting for her by the door, which she picked up as she made her way out. She jogged down the seemingly endless parade of hallways and bounced from foot to foot in each turbolift. Kala skipped through the doors of the med-center and waved to Magda as she passed.

"Are you bored senseless yet, furball?" the blonde grinned as she entered Akasha's small recovery room. "I brought you a ball of yarn..."

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha's eyes flipped open. They were clear and alert, which was a vast improvement over the last time Kala had seen her, but her nose was still pale, and the fur on her head was sticking in every direction except the right ones.

"Get me out of here, Kala," she pleaded. "Quick, while they're not looking. You can throw a blanket over me and say I'm your furry grandmother."

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

"Yeaahhh...my furry grandmother who hasn't seen a brush in Force knows how long. We need another plan...because my only living grandmother has gills, not fur, sorry." Kala giggled, peeking back outside for a moment to see if Magda was nearby. She slid over near the bed and whispered.

"Ok, I sort of got permission to get you out of here for a little while. I will have to bring you back, so you can spend the night attached to the monitors and med-drips. How do you feel about a few hours in one of the lounges? We could eat junk food from our stash, pick up our dejarik game where we left off, or watch a holo. Nothing strenuous, but at least its not here?"

Silver fingers pulled Akasha's favorite robe from the satchel. "We just have to avoid Magda seeing us. I...umm...I may have left out a few details when I asked." The blonde padawan looked completely unrepentant, her lilac gaze bright with mischief.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha had slid down pathetically from the raised third of her medical bed which was supposed to lift her into a semi-seated position, but with the glimmering promise of freedom, she hauled herself back up with only a momentary grimace at the complaint from her wound. "Kala, you're a saint," she said. "I'll go anywhere as long as there aren't beeping machines and needles."

Her ears turned at the sound of footsteps moving through the next enclosure. The Orryxian waited until they'd retreated for the nurse's office.

"I can still sense if I'm being watched," she whispered. "We're clear for now, but how do we get past the front desk?"

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

Kala grinned like...well, for lack of a better phrase, like the cat who'd gotten away with the dish of cream. Nimble silver fingers carefully set the monitors on stand-by and gently removed the two intravenous lines from the top of Akasha's paw.

As the Orryxian took the robe from her hands, the blonde winked. "Easy. I can set off one of the monitor alarms in the back recovery room. Magda will have to go physically check it to turn it off, and we can sneak out while she does."

Busying herself to give Akasha a moment to change, she carefully took a small med-kit from the cabinet and two vials of the medication she was on. Not that she'd need it, but it was better to be over-prepared. A lesson she'd learned over and over, the hard way.

"Ready? I'll set the alarm off now. Fluff up your bedding so it looks like you're still in there while I do this." Kala asked, turning her attention to the glowing screen on the wall. Biting her lip in concentration, she flicked through the screens to find the one she wanted and uttered a soft 'gotcha' when she heard the alarm going off in the back.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha swung her legs off the side of the bed and very carefully lowered herself to the floor. It wouldn't do to slip and fall to the floor tiles and have Kala worrying all over her and giving away the game before it started, but the strain of supporting her body weight with her arms left her chest throbbing even after she was pretty sure she'd keep her balance this time. Once that was done, she had no compunction in getting rid of the gown-that-was-not-really-a-gown and throwing it to the--

"Bleh!" She'd pulled away the medical gown, leaving herself naked except for a pair of boxer shorts and a thick band of gauze around her trunk holding a bacta patch to her wound, but immediately a minor blizzard of black hair went spiraling around her and floating gently to the floor. "Maiur's eyes, I haven't properly brushed in ages," she spat, and she furiously rubbed her arms and neck and tail until she had clouds of fluff sticking to her paws. With a wrinkling nose, she scraped the excess fur off onto the mattress and then pulled on her tunic and robe.

But even if there was an Orryxian's worth of fur in the bed, there wasn't nearly enough bulk. Akasha scanned the room and grabbed the spare blanket and pillow another nurse had so helpfully left behind, threw them onto her bed, and pulled the top sheet over both.

"Okay," she whispered, her ears buzzing with excitement, "Let's go."

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

Kala bit her lip to stifle her giggle as she turned, silver fingers nearly glowed in the dim light as she waved away the bits of Akasha-fluff floating in the air. "Oh very nice...the extra fluff on the bed is a nice touch."

Shifting towards the door, the blonde adjusted the bag across her body and grinned. If it was even possible, Akasha managed to look cute for a moment, fluffy ears pricked forward with eyes bright and round. Shaking her head, she peered around the doorframe and watched as Magda ambled down the hall talking to herself.

When she disappeared around the bend, Kala stepped out and motioned for Akasha. "Quick...let's go..." she whispered, staying by Akasha's side as they snuck down the hall, past the empty front desk, and then out the front door of the med-bay.

Kala breathed a sigh of relief as they took some of the lesser used passages, in order to encounter the least amount of people. Months upon months spent wandering the Challenger were finally coming in useful. It took a few minutes to reach the lounge, and she stepped to the side to allow Akasha to enter first.

"No one really uses this place because its so small and so far away from most of the living quarters. But I brought down all of our pillows, blankets, and cushions earlier, so we'll be comfy. Let me tell you, avoiding Ilias with armloads of bedding was not easy." the padawan grinned and let the door whoosh closed behind them.

[Akasha Khan]

Even a few minutes' hurried walking had left Akasha short of breath. "I can't wait until I feel less like an invalid... wow."

She stood in the threshold of a modest little room, not much bigger than a personal quarters module, furnished with a few bolted-down couches and armchairs made infinitely cozier by the blankets and cushions Kala had strewn about like a mother orrycat bedding her den. It was little wonder the lounge wasn't often used; it was one of the dozens of leftover spaces that inevitably appeared on a ship the size of the Challenger after all the decks had been jammed full of important stuff, and they were all the way at the end of a corridor past a ship's laundry and a row of supply closets. But incredibly the room still had something Akasha hadn't seen in what felt like a cycle of the moons.

She shrugged her robe onto a chair as she walked past the low-slung table to the triangular porthole cut into the slanted wall. They were on the leading edge of one of the Challenger's two massive bridge towers, and with her face pressed against the surprisingly warm transparisteel she could see the gleaming white-and-red plane of the Star Destroyer's dagger-shaped hull stretching out beneath her like a hillside under an eternal night sky.

The Orryxian turned back toward her roommate, her fur limned in blue from the starlight. "Thank you, Kala," she said quietly, with more feeling than she realized she even had.

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

"You're very welcome...Akasha." the blonde replied just as softly, uncertain of just what to do next. While they were close, and each considered the other the very best friend they had, such tenderness was somewhat uncharacteristic between them.

"I have the strange urge to hug you, furball..." Kala added after a few moments, lilac eyes brightening as she sought to lighten the mood - before one of them got maudlin. Something the blonde did often enough on her own time. Ryn, bless him, had quietly retreated to the back of her mind and remained silent.

"...but I won't, because I'm not in the mood to be shed on..." she grinned brightly and proceeded to unload the goodies from her satchel, setting out all the treats and snacks she'd brought for the afternoon.

[Akasha Khan]

"That's just as well," Akasha replied. "I'm not in the mood to get wet, fishbait."

A grin kindled around the corners of Akasha's muzzle. And then she saw the bounty of junk food Kala was drawing out of her bag and moaned.

"Are those... Cavaellin creams?"

The Orryxian tiptoed over to the table and, with a care that nearly amounted to reverence, delicately plucked one of the foil-wrapped candies in her claws. She feverishly peeled away the wrapper and stared at the little orb of chocolate-covered cream, and then, with the utmost deliberation, she raised it to her mouth and took a slow, meditative bite.

She closed her eyes as the sweet, spicy flavor burst onto her tongue. She rolled the morsel back and forth in her mouth, not willing to lose a single molecule of the thick, buttery cream to haste. It was an age before she swallowed.

Her eyes popped open. "I'm cured," she said. "Those doctors don't know anything. To hells with bacta, this is it right here." She looked at the half-eaten cream in her paw. "Of course, I'd better have another couple, just to be sure."

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

"That they are!"

Kala giggled as Akasha set into one of the candies, the foil wrapper shredded to bits in her excitement. Plopping down amidst the cushions, she nibbled on a sweet-sand cookie.

"Oh several to be sure. Which is why I brought the whole box from our quarters. So..." the blonde paused briefly, searching the cushions for the remote control to the holo-screen.

"...what'll it be? Action? Drama? Horror?"

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha grimaced. "To be honest, I'm not really in the mood to stare at a vidscreen for two hours right now," she said. "What I'd love is a chance to get in some practice with my staff, but..." The Orryxian rubbed gingerly at her tunic where it crossed the swath of bandages over her chest. "I'm not sure that'd be a great idea right now."

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

"Well, I didn't bring your staff, I'm afraid...that would have been impossible to sneak by Ilias. But! I have something else..."

Kala bounced up and tripped over the cushions behind her, sprawling inelegantly on the floor. She rose quickly however, smoothing out her soft, fitted tunic with an overly bright smile.

"I meant to do that."

With a bit more care, she retrieved the box of spare bits and bobs they kept in their quarters. Different projects they'd each started, pieces they'd collected with ideas in mind...it was a catch-all for whatever took their fancy. Lying across the top was Akasha's last find from the forsaken planet she'd been hurt on.

"I found that length of pipe you picked up...if you're careful, you can probably stretch out and practice moving with it a little." Kala said as she plopped back down, setting the box beside Akasha as she herself picked out some of the crystal chunks and bits of shiny wire.

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha's eyes lit up like beacons. "You found it!"

She leaned forward and took the battered pipe fragment almost reverently in her paws. It was covered in oxidation, but Kala had obviously washed it, and it no longer held any of the stench of the miserable planet it had come from. It was almost forty-five centimeters long, three and a half centimeters in diameter, with a gently ribbed texture and a flared nozzle on either end, and the metal itself was surprisingly light in her paw. She had no idea what it was made for - it could have been part of a hyperspace smoothie machine for all she cared. To her, it was something different. A new beginning.

She gently ran her paw pad across its length, wondering how much of a shine she could restore to it with a bit of polish and elbow grease. "I thought for sure it had been left behind," she said. "Do you think it'll work? To be honest, I've only got the vaguest idea of what actually goes into a lightsaber."

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

"Yeah...somehow it ended up on the shuttle with all the other stuff people bought on...that planet. Been trying to find out who picked it up for us so we can thank them, but I haven't had any luck so far." Kala said brightly, devouring another cookie and licking the pink sugar from her fingertips.

She cast a critical eye toward the pipe fragment and thought for a moment, trying to remember what little she'd gleaned from her father about building a lightsaber. It wasn't much, granted, but enough to offer a bit of an opinion.

"I think it'll suit nicely for a double bladed weapon. You'll just have to be careful when you sand and polish the outside, you won't want to make the casing too thin."

[Akasha Khan]

Akasha laid the pipe down the length of her forearm and imagined deadly blades of plasma leaping from either end. Then she rolled the imaginary saberstaff forward one and a half turns, then back a full turn, presenting her hypothetical foe with five cleaving strikes in in the space of two seconds. It felt right.

"I really don't know anything about lightsabers," she confessed. "But I've been thinking about making a staff for a long time."

She stared into the space where her blade would be humming like a horde of raptor wasps, a warning to any who dared to oppose her. It was a nice fantasy, but nothing more at this point.

"Maybe if I'd done it already this never would have happened," she said in a low voice.

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

Black eyes followed Akasha's movements, fascinated by the Orryxian's sharp, precise 'strikes'. "I know a little bit, but not enough to actually build anything. Dad hadn't gotten around to teaching us yet, and then he was gone. But I'm sure someone knows...or we could raid the supply closets. There must be a kit for building a training saber somewhere."

Kala shifted on her cushion, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her chin atop them. Akasha's comment made her wince.

"And maybe if I'd never seen the damn passage between the stalls it wouldn't have happened. And maybe if I hadn't dragged you down there trying to get out from under Anbira's gaze, it wouldn't have happened." Kala closed her eyes and took a deep breath, blowing it out as she straightened her legs out and folded her hands in her lap.

"And maybe if I hadn't been so distracted by that stupid book, I would have realized something was horribly wrong." Her pitch black gaze was hooded and her expression pained as she avoided Akasha's eyes. The book was still stashed beneath her bunk, wrapped up tightly in a piece of canvas and tied with a leather strap.

[Akasha Khan]

The bitterness in Kala's voice surprised Akasha. Orryxians didn't typically concern themselves with other creatures' pain; there was enough of it in the universe to go around without multiplying it sympathetically like noises reverberating in a cave. Kala, on the other hand, had a curious habit of throwing herself on other people's swords. If anything, she seemed to feel worse about it right now than Akasha did.

The Orryxian studied her roommate's drooping expression and downcast eyes and tried to work out what the appropriate response was. She settled on sitting down next to Kala on the sofa.

"Maybe if I'd tried to catch that Squib, I'd have had a hot lunch instead of a near-death experience," she said. "Look, Kala, you didn't tie me up and drag me in there. I was as bored as you were. And besides, you might have found the place, but..."

She hesitated, realizing too late how close she was to betraying herself.

"I was the one who wanted to stay."

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

Kala opened her mouth to reply, then thought better of it and closed it again. She settled for a soft, rueful sigh instead, knowing that neither one of them was going to win the 'fault' argument in this case.

The blonde shook her head and let go of her legs, her feet landing on the floor.

"While the Squib might have looked appetizing, he did have a miniature sword. And I think he's currently on the Novgorod...if you're feeling particularly famished, you could always chase him down the next time they rendezvous with us." Kala replied with a touch of mirth, trying to let the tension dissipate so as to not throw a pallor over their afternoon.

[Akasha Khan]

"I'll consider it," Akasha said, idly examining her claws. "I might even save you a leg."

She was joking, of course. Mostly. If only because the blue fur was somewhat off-putting. Prey wasn't supposed to advertise itself like that.

She devoured another cream to take her mind off of meat that may or may not be unnaturally cyan. "So, what have I missed while I've been out?" she asked. "Any pearls of wisdom from our frog-faced lightsaber tutor?"

She could imagine Loki's smug satisfaction at being free of his most contentious pupil for a few days.

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

"Oh, no...no pearls of wisdom. I spent most of the last couple of days just sleeping. Suppressed Force abilities roaring to life in the span of ten minutes do a number to your head, let me tell you. I haven't had to take part in any of Loki's classes."

Kala nibbled on another cookie, sighing happily as the sugar melted in her mouth. It was polished off in short order, leaving her to lick the clinging sugar from her fingers.

She rose briefly, getting each of them a cool drink before plopping back down on the couch.

"Any word from your master?"

[Akasha Khan]

"She visited me pretty early on," Akasha said, taking the glass of fizzade in her paw. "We talked. I was still pretty out of it, so I don't remember many details."

She sipped at the sweet, tickly liquid. It had taken some doing, but she'd finally learned how to drink it without sneezing.

"She seemed worried, though. About..."

Akasha hesitated. Her memories of that afternoon were a nightmarish collage of pain, desperation, and hallucinations, and she was having difficulty sorting them all out. She remembered the emotions, but not so much the events.

"Kala," she said, "what do you remember about what happened after you got me onto the Challenger? I remember some things, but I'm... I'm not sure how much of it was real."

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

"Bits and pieces, really."

The blonde replied, with a bit of trepidation. How much did she reveal at the risk of hurting her friend's healing process? No one had told her how much was safe to tell her. No one, frankly, was doing much of anything in the way of communicating with the Padawans as of late.

And that bothered her a great deal. In spite of what they'd been through, it felt like they were still at square one. Kala frowned and then shook her head, bringing herself back to the topic at hand. All she could tell Akasha was what she thought she knew.

"I remember being panicked...and you clinging to my hand...the Reverend was praying and meditating even as we rushed you into the medbay. Chaz took charge immediately...but that's when everything went really...really strange."

Wrinkling her nose, Kala sipped from her drink and breathed deeply before continuing. "You were telling her to get away from you. That she couldn't have you. As if she were still in the room. And I think part of her really was there. The shadows in the back were so dark and thick...and...moving. There was shrieking with everything we tried, like a host of mental nails on the blackboards of our minds. You felt so desperate to my mind. You were yelling at me, at Chaz, convinced we were trying to kill you."

She stared into her glass and swallowed hard. "It took a jolt of nearly four hundred to get the orbalisk to let go. And then it was too late. It was as if she'd taken you. This is where I get royally fuzzy myself. According to one of the nurses, I levitated the blade and sent it blazing with energy into the shadows, pinning the writhing mass to the wall. You were gasping your last and I tried Healing you...and...in my panic, it worked. Enough to where Chaz could do the rest."