A Father's Blade: Chapter Seven

Noelani throws herself onto her bed, arms stretched out as she stares at the ceiling of the hotel-her eyes following the pattern of cracks in the plaster there.

Finally, she twists her head to look at her Master who is sitting on the edge of her own bed, staring at the wall. She rolls onto her side, propping her head on her hand, and watches Tahiri for a moment.

"So, what are we going to do now?"

Tahiri doesn't respond, just continues to stare at the wall, lost in her thoughts.

"Master? Master!"

Noelani giggles as Tahiri jumps slightly. "What?" Tahiri scowls at her giggling apprentice. "Don't do that when I'm thinking."

She lowers her head acting abashed and says, "Sorry, Master. But I asked what are we going to do now?"

Tahiri smiles at her. "You're going to get some sleep. And in the morning, you'll begin looking for the various parts you will need to build your lightsaber. As well as thinking about hilt designs. Remember, this is something that you will probably be using for the rest of your life-so you want it to build it with care and design it with thought."

She sits up in the bed, suddenly happier. "Thanks Master! But what are you going to be doing?"

Tahiri shakes her head slightly. "I'll be following up our one and only lead, by having a rather boring meeting with Thera Holsom and with her boss if I can manage it."

Noelani flops back onto the bed once again. "Thanks for not making me go to that."

Tahiri shakes her head slight, and gets up, walking towards the door. As she nears it she glances back over her shoulder towards her apprentice. "You get some sleep. I'm going to go look around a bit more – and don't be surprised if I'm gone before you wake up."

Noelani smiles cheerfully, happy at the thought of being able to sleep in late. "Okay!"

Then Tahiri opens the door and walks out into the hallway. The door closes behind her with a soft sigh, and Noelani gets out of the bed and changes into her sleeping clothes. Then she climbs back into the bed, pulling the covers up tight around her shoulders and is asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.

She awakes to a steady drizzle of rain falling on her, filtered by massive trees stretching up as far as she can see. She glances down and notices that she is in neither her sleeping gown nor her Jedi robes but rather some type of shift which seems to move of its own accord. She pulls at the lower edge of the white fabric, lifting it so she can look at the material it is made from, surprised at its warmth and the fact that it feels like the pelt of a doorvi – a small Tatooine mammal, raised for its suede-like fur and the protein it provides.

She frowns as she sits up, looking around the darkened forest floor, the smell of decaying leaves and rain assaults her nose. The gloom of a perpetual twilight, caused by the massive trees around her gives her a slight chill that has nothing to do with the crisp autumn air. She stands up; brushing the moldy leafs from her hands and the shift that she wears- looking around for some sign of where she is at, of how she got here.

She finds nothing.

She calls out, "Hello?"

And is answered only by a muted echo and the caw of some animal.

Frowning she walks forward, as her eyes slowly begin to adjust to the gloom. A new scent assails her nose, something different than the smell of wet forest. Smoke. A fire. She looks around, trying to find where the smell is coming from and darts along beside the fallen trunk of one of the giant trees. She rounds the corner and finds a small cottage built into the trunk. Paneless windows glow with the cheery warmth of the fire, and Noelani exhales in relief at finding something-some sign of intelligent life.

She raps on the simple wooden door and can hear shuffling sounds coming from within.

The door opens to reveal a boy a few years older than herself. Piercing blue eyes, tussled brown hair and a rakish smile. She has the feeling that she has seen him somewhere before. That she knows him. It takes her a second to regain her composure, and as she is about to speak, he does so first.

"Hello, Noelani. How nice of you to join me."

She takes a step back, biting at her lower lips as she wonders how he knows her name. "Who are you?"

He sadly shakes his head. "That doesn't much matter. I have something for you."

Noelani glances up at the sky-the drizzle has started to come down harder, and more and more drops are making it through the canopy above. She glances once more into the brightly lit hut, "Can we go inside?"

"No. You're not allowed in just yet. Wait here."

She shivers, and imagines that she must look quite a sight with her hair hanging limp, plastered to her face and back by the rain. She rubs her bare shoulders, trying to warm them, a little surprised at how dry and warm her chest and upper thighs are where covered by the still squirming shift.

The boy returns to the doorway and holds out a shaft of metal with black and steel ribbing which runs the half not currently covered by the boy's hand. He pushes it towards her.

"Here, take it."

She reaches out and grasps the metal ribbing and fire races up her arm. She can feel it as it consumers her nerves and arteries as it blisters her muscles. She can feel bands of something wrapping around her arms and legs, holding them together – refusing to let her go.

She screams out.

And bolts upright in the bed of her hotel, feeling trapped and pinned by the covers and sheet which she has tangled around her limbs. Finally she struggles free of the sheets and pushes them away from her, focusing on her breathing and heart rate trying to get them both under control.

She looks around the hotel room, a deep sense of unease filling her.

"Master?"

There is no answer and Noelani frowns for a second until she remembers that Tahiri said she was going to get up early for some meetings with BioTech officials.

She looks around the room once again - Tahiri's perfectly made bed, Noelani's which is trashed from her dream, the small dresser where some of their clothes are and a closet where the rest of their clothes hang. She steps into the small refresher, noting that all the cleansing supplies are still arrayed where Noelani had placed them while unpacking.

She frowns trying to figure out what is bothering her, unable to put a finger on it.

She strips out of her sweat soaked nightgown and steps into the refresher, allowing the hot water of the shower to wash away the last of the tension of the nightmare from her shoulders.

She calls on the Force, allowing it to bleed off her anxiety and fears, quieting her mind, focusing her spirit. With her eyes closed she captures a single drop of water with the Force, and begins making it orbit her body, breaking a small grin she captures another and then another until she has hundreds of water drops flying around her. It's a game she taught herself on one of the first nights she was on Ossus at the Jedi Academy, it was the day that Master Tionne taught her class how to push things with the Force and it was the first time in her life that she had been allowed to spend as long as she wanted to take a shower.

She grins to herself remembering her amazement as she sat on the tiled floor of the shower stall, the water rushing over her as she flew the hundreds of water drops around her with the Force. Marveling as much in the ready supply of water as she was her ability to move the water drops themselves.

Finally the water grows cold, and she turns off the water, stepping out of the shower and grabbing one of the towels from the rack.

She counts the towels again and then turns towards the sinks, once more noting that everything that she unpacked the previous day sat in the exact same spot she placed it. The small bottles of perfume, soaps, and makeup all arrayed in neat, little stars, complemented by the extra, decorative soaps from a bowl the hotel left on the counter.

It is a trait which Tahiri frowns upon, and rearranges at every opportunity.

Wrapping the towel around her, she walks out of the refresher and grabs her comlink, flipping it open to check for any messages. She punches in Tahiri's com code and instantly gets shunted to the message queue.

She drops to the edge of her bed, chewing on her bottom lip, trying to figure out what she should be doing.

Then she grins to herself as she realizes that this must be one of Tahiri's tests. To see if Noelani will panic. That must be the reason she did not come home last night.

With that as a theory, Noelani pushes the uneasiness to the back of her mind, and opens up the closet to pick the clothes to wear for the day. She pulls out a long black cotton skirt, and a light blue linen tunic. She quickly dresses and then admires herself in the mirror. Happy that she snuck this outfit in with her standard Jedi robes. She twirls around, watching the skirt swish around her ankles, and then jogs in place for a second to ensure that it won't hamper her movements.

She puts on her boots and then opens up their travel case of weaponry. The first item she pulls out is a single-use stokli spraystick. Where a standard spraystick is a bit longer and wider around than a lightsaber, the single use version is not much bigger than a writing stylus. She twines the spraystick into her hair, using it as a bone in her braid. Then she pulls out a collapsible staff and straps it to her forearm so that it hides under the long sleeve of her tunic.

Finally she slides a vibroknife into each boot.

Feeling a bit better now that she is armed, Noelani closes up the travel case and leaves the room, checking that the door is locked as she goes.