Blind Faith

[Eyna]

The day had finally come and now it was just a matter of taking a few more steps. Before the young girl stood the hulking figure of a ship that just seemed to get bigger and bigger with each step that she took. The sun’s rays poked out from over its edges to grant the entire situation a more ominous overtone than it really had any right to, at least under normal circumstances with a normal individual. Perhaps that was just it, Eyna wouldn’t have been here if she was normal to begin with. Her entire situation was rather ominous, and no matter how she tried to wrap it her mind told her that she was making a mistake.

The warm stone beneath her boots seemed to burn as she approached the ship with yet another step. It had already taken her a minute or two to get this far, and by the looks of it there were many minutes more before she had even reached the ramp that took her inside. Within her chest she could feel her heart tried to break out through her rib cage and bare her panic to the world. What little of the anxiety that wasn’t evident already.

She wanted this.

She needed this.

But she couldn’t fight against the temptation to run away.

By the time she reached the ramp she found herself coming to a complete stop. Her eyes peered into the cramped spaces of her temporary home and a greater sense of discomfort would spread across her entire body. Cramped spaces had never done her good, at least not for the few months that she remembered on her own. It brought forth too many memories of being isolated and afraid with no-one around to hear her scream for help. There were names carved into walls out of desperation to remember herself. There were scars in her arms from fights and struggles that she didn’t know of.

Eyna was at the precipice of her inner turmoil, and she didn’t quite know how to act.

She remained still at the bottom of the ramp. Standing. Remembering. Panicking.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"]​

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

The attack of the Mandalorians had thrown everything she had planned to the wind. Coci had wanted to see Eyna again before the girl would make her final decision about her offer, to see if she truly was ready to not only come with her to Midvinter but start a journey that would be hard for her. This was not a light decision to be made, for either of them, but in Coci’s mind, this girl had everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Théo would be taking Thora back to Midvinter on his own ship, but it had been nice to see them both even under these circumstances, [member="Thurion Heavenshield"] had flew Oathkeep to Kashyyyk to take her home and is Thurion’s way he had involved himself in many of the events the Silvers had to offer, but now the time had come to leave.

The ship was prepared for departure, her bags on board as well as Thurion, but Coci had been speaking with the high council before she left, speaking of many things but informing them of her intentions with Eyna, they were hopeful for the girl, some even voiced concerns but they understood that in order for Eyna to be given every opportunity to be free of this torment, Coci was her chance.

So, when she walked toward the ship and saw the girl there, it was a good sign, a great one in fact, that this just might work. It showed her that Eyna was ready, and more importantly, willing to face whatever would be thrown at her. Not from her but from herself, and her past.

“It’s an old ship, but it has been through a lot and survived”, she walked up behind her, standing next to Eyna. She doubted Eyan cared so much about the ship, the sense of her uncertainty clearly felt, another good sign. “I am pleased you have decided to come with me Eyna”, was all she said as now was not the time for pretty speeches, all that would start day one of her training and recovery.

“My husband will be wanting to depart, shall we?”, Coci moved forward and entered the ship from the boarding ramp and vanished within the shadows. It was up to Eyna now.

[member="Eyna"]​

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

The light footsteps belonging to his wife proved a welcome distraction from the same, old start-up procedure to get the Oathkeeper ready for takeoff. How many years since this ship came into his possession? He truly did not know, but the two have since become inseparable - not unlike one legendary smuggler and his YT-freighter almost a thousand years earlier. The same could definitely be said about his ever-loyal travelling companion and ship's caretaker, the old astromech droid Teetoo.

"Hey," he smiled at her arrival, taking the time to reach for her hand to place a kiss upon. "I've missed you," he added in earnest, for Coci had left Midvinter weeks before he arrived on Kashyyyk, to see about this troubled, young girl the Silvers had happened upon. "Though, I should say 'we'. Bib and Bub will be happy to see Mum again." The two Corellian felines are likely to pounce both of them upon their return home.

"Will she be joining us?"

Meanwhile, just outside the ship said girl stood contemplating whether to take the first step. Not long after Coci left her standing there however, a light bump would cause her to jerk forward. A series of beep and boops coming from the astromech droid served to both welcome the girl onboard as well as urge her to make up her mind. "His" blue paint had faded in the decades since being assigned to Master Thurion, but the droid itself was just as spry as ever.

Teetoo then gave the girl another light push, just in case she didn't get the message the first time.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] | [member="Eyna"]​

 

[Eyna]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"] // [member="Coci Heavenshield"]

It was hard not to hear the way the air went in and out through Eyna’s nose as she looked up the ramp. This was another cell and a trap, or so some part of her told her. This was a road towards help and redemption said another. As Coci spoke Eyna looked at her, and as she urged Eyna to come along the girl found herself unable to do so. At least until a certain little droid pushed her forward. Her foot fell upon the ramp with a loud boom, her eyes burned red with rage at the little machine, and almost as if on command the little whispers at the edges of her hearing grew louder and spoke of betrayal.

Yet Eyna turned back towards the entrance again, and pushed. Her feet pulled her further up the stairs to the great dismay of whoever it was that she held onto inside. It wrapped its talons into her mind and tried desperately to make her turn back but no matter how intense the feeling of dread grew, the further towards the ship she pushed. This was going against everything that she knew and stood for. Or so the voice would tell her. With its last few words it made itself silent, but not unfelt.

For each step Eyna took into the corridors of the ship she felt her vision narrow into a tunnel. The walls began to push closer and Eyna raised her hand to her side to keep it at bay and play it cool as she held her hand against its metallic surface with a grip that paled her skin. She was afraid and with it the darkness around her flared out while inside of the fear pushed against her perception of reality. She felt disoriented but with just enough control to hopefully not let it show.

“I…” Eyna spoke and her voice shivered. She took an equally shaky breath and nodded.

“Masters Heavenshield.” Eyna said and felt the claws tug at the end of her mind again. Her eyes closed as she held it off. “It is an honor to meet you both together at last.”

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

She leaned down placing a kiss on Thurion's head as he took her hands in his, "I have missed you too, all of you", she grinned at the thought of the felines back home, who knew what mischief they had gotten into while they were away. "Just hold off on take off for a moment", she added as she heard Teetoo beeping outside and she knew Eyna must have arrived.

As Eyna entered the ship and came to them, Coci could sense her trepidation, her struggle with her 'demons' and for now she was keeping them in check. It was a big ask of her, Coci knew this, standing before her the two prime targets whoever had programmed her to kill, right there. But the fact she could voice their names aloud and fight against the desire to kill, was a good start. She had not had the time to brief Thurion on the situation, although he knew of her possibly coming home with them, but as soon as they could find the time alone, she would. "Thurion, this is Eyna", a simple introduction, over time the two would get to know each other.

"Eyna I am pleased you decided to come", she approached and stood before her. "It will take us a few hours to get to Midvinter, I shall show you to your quarters. But before I do that .. is this truly what you want?", one last out if the girl had changed her mind, or had any doubts.

Coci had taken precautions for this journey, Eyna's quarters prepared and comfortable, there would be no lock on the door for she could roam the ship freely. If .. there was a 'situation', Coci was quite prepared to take the measures necessary to make sure they all got home safely.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"] | [member="Eyna"]​

 

[Eyna]

No. The voice inside of her roared, screamed, tore at her every fiber as the girl reached out towards Coci with a shaky hand that just as likely to try and choke her as it was to place it on her shoulder. Though her mind wasn’t her own, the glimmer in her eyes was. Or perhaps more accurate would be to say the tears that caused the glimmer to be there to begin with. It strained her to push against the urge to pull her hand over just ever so slightly to the left and just get started on the primary objective that whispered at the back of her mind.

But she didn’t. The hand landed upon Coci’s shoulder as Eyna mouthed a quiet yes. She tried to speak again, but once more it ended up as little more than an exhale or a hiss. It would be clear what Eyna said but she made it a point to outright say it. She pushed against the wall, hissed and whispered until her nerves began to cramp up in anger. Her brows furrowed, her teeth gritted

“Yes!” She almost shouted after at least five rapid shots at saying it out loud. “I- need- the help.”

Eyna’s breath parted through her nose and she began to heave in order to get it back. A deep sense of disbelief at what she had said spread in her body and a new sense of clarity spread across her mind like if someone had just torn a figurative weight out of the wrinkles of her brain. It was uncomfortable but for a second she could see clearly. The walls were still trying to crush her, but for the moment the anger was gone. The panic lingered, the anger did not.

She pulled herself into a hug around Coci. To close her eyes and let the claustrophobia settle down.

“Thank you.”

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] // [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Though every fibre of his being wished to go help Coci care for the child, it would seem the girl was suffering from some sort of trauma and introducing himself to her so suddenly was likely not a very good idea. His wife had not offered any details regarding their third passenger other than she'd decided to take the girl under her wing to resume her training on Midvinter. Thurion knew to allow her the breathing room necessary, and he had no doubt he would get the chance to get to know her at the right time.

Seeing how everyone was on board, the entrance closed and the ramp was raised, engines were primed and rearing to go. "We're good to go here if you guys are," he reported over the ship's intercom. "Let's go home, buddy." The droid chirped happily and bounced excitedly on his two legs. The Oathkeeper took off from the landing pads outside the Silver Rest and headed for the stars, making for the easternmost border of the known galaxy. Coordinates were punched in and the ship went to hyperspace.

From that point no further input was required by the pilot, and so Thurion pushed off the armrests of his Captain's chair to join his wife, stopping only briefly to give his loyal First Mate a pat on his metallic head.

By the time he found the pair the girl had her arms wrapped tightly around Coci, looking like she was never intending to ever let go. Rather than step in and risk startling the girl, Thurion stood back and watched the two interact, trying to discern what ailed the poor thing.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] | [member="Eyna"]​

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

She rested a gentle hand on the back of Eyna’s head, turning it slightly so her face buried into her shoulder. “Close your eyes and breath deeply”, she said softly in a whisper. They stood for a while longer, the slight shudder from the floor told Coci Thurion had commenced take off, this would be the worst part for Eyna. Coci knew that all to well. Although she had never been claustrophobic, Coci had held a fear of flying for many many years, Thurion would remember that all to well.

But now was not the time for lessons in that, and some things you just don’t get over.

Once the ship had steadied and levelled off, her hold on Eyna relaxed a little to give the girl some room to breath or relax herself. But she did not take her arms away entirely. Coci sensed the near presence of Thurion, and she turned her head to him. “Eyna, my husband and I will make this journey as pleasant as it can be and whatever you need, we will provide”.

“Let me take you to the biggest room on the ship”, she said gently, still looking to Thurion to see if you had an idea of where that might be. Their personal quarters were big, but any space might be better, if it sets the girls mind and heart to rest.

Coci raised her hands and cupped Eyna's face with a smile, "We will not let anything harm you". This would be the first time Eyna had seen an entirely different side of Coci, when they first met it was all business and each of them testing the waters in their first meeting. Before Eyna did not stand the Jedi Master but a woman concerned for a young girl.

[member="Eyna"] | [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]​

 

[Eyna]

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] // [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

It wasn’t a familiar feeling letting someone hold the balance of your life in their hands. Or rather, it wasn’t familiar to let someone else hold the balance of your life in their hands out of your own volition. Nothing was stopping Coci from taking everything back in this very moment to choke the life out of Eyna. She had her arms wrapped around Eyna, and it wasn’t exactly as if Eyna was in much of a state to muster the strength and fight back in comparison. Yet this weird feeling would linger as they kept it going. There wasn’t a word that Eyna could find for it. Warmth, fear, they all applied in this very moment yet at the same time they didn’t. Nobody had ever done this to her, at least not that she could remember.

And then the promises, and the weird hand held to her cheek. Eyna tensed up for a second as if this would be the part where Coci did it, but there still was no suffocation. It was all so very unfamiliar. As they walked away and towards a bigger room Eyna felt her hand grab at her arm again as she tried to make herself smaller, much like she had every other time she felt vulnerable. The thought kept repeating across her mind that this wasn’t safe, but the threshold that took her back to Kashyyyk had already disappeared. For better or worse she was stuck on this ride now. Not that there was any real ‘worse’ for her. Or so that small spark in her gut told her and she was intent on listening to her gut on this one.

“I…” Eyna said and took a seat. Her eyes began to wander around the room. “Thank you.”

Much like Coci wasn’t the same, Eyna wasn’t either. She was still tensed up but she was willing to open up and let her guard down, which almost looked more stiff than keeping it up. Trust was a thing she needed to work on, but she was making attempts.

“Small spaces, they remind me of my cell.” Eyna said and looked at Coci. “I would blackout, and every time I later wake up in that room never knowing why or how. Sometimes with a new wound, other times with literal blood on my hands. And most of the time, I think, it was mine. I used to carve my own name into the walls, and…”

Eyna exposed her forearm. The four letter name of the identity she had in reality only assumed was carved with capital letters into the skin under her arm. It was one of many scars but the only one of its kind on her body. The rest were smaller cuts and lacerations from fights she had no memory of.

“I don’t even know if this is my name.”

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

"With time and patience we will unravel all these mysteries, together. You will not be a lone", Coci gently took Eyna's arm and took a closer look at the name, and she was right it could have been anyone's name, but that was all they had at this point, and hopefully this would be answered for her too.

This was not going to be easy for the both of them, the mind is not that simply to fix or find the layers that needed attention. Pain is a great motivator to block such things, fear equally so but Eyna was strong, she already proved that by walking onto the ship knowing she needed help.

She wanted help, Eyna wanted a different life.

"Would you prefer to stay here in this room, or come with me to the kitchen, I think some dinner would help. I know I am hungry", Coci did not want to leave Eyna alone on the trip to Midvinter, not that she did not trust her more because the girl needed company to distract her for the next hour.

"Can you cook?", she suddenly asked. Not too many people do, preferring to rely on others or technology to do it for them.

​

​

[member="Eyna"] | [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]​

 

[Eyna]

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] // [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]​

As far as Eyna could remember she had never held the name on her arm as much of a secret to anyone. More than once it had become visible during exercise, and once noted it had undoubtedly been something her as-of-now former Overseer was worried about. Not that it was all that necessary. Eyna hadn’t done much carving at all since she had reached Kashyyyk, let alone on her own body unless exercise and putting on muscle counted. Not that she had grown out of her frail shape just yet, but the progress was being made.

Then the question became whether to stay here or head for the kitchen. Eyna wasn’t sure what to make of it. On the one hand she wanted to eat, on the other hand this room was a good size. The kitchen might not be. Then again, nothing said she couldn’t just come back here if it proved to be too small either. The girl slowly rose from her seat and was asked yet another question. One she hadn’t ever really considered.

Her brows furrowed as she tried to think of it, maybe she did?

The answer was a very firm no.

“I don’t.” She said and followed behind Coci. Sure enough the hallways felt cramped, but she managed to handle most of the stress. “I…” Now that she thought about it, “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a proper meal at all.”

“The Order is a big organization.” She said and felt her hand reach for her arm again with a cramped grip. “I wasn’t really a member, more like a prisoner. I had a biscuit at the potluck, but that’s apparently not food.”

A brief moment of silence passed before Eyna spoke up again.

“I hope they will be okay.” Eyna said and felt an unfamiliar feeling in her chest. Pained almost, caused her to worry. “Not everyone down there were well-equipped with handling the dead. Or death.”

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Throughout their interaction as Coci showed the girl around the vessel, Thurion kept silent and out of the way so as to not make Eyna feel uncomfortable. So when Coci had suggested they show her the bedroom, he was quick to open the door and then step aside to let the two enter. Yet he always remained nearby, studying their young passenger and the way she behaved around Coci; it had quickly become clear that she was suffering from a number of mental scars and ailments, though seemed to have found some sense of safety in the company of his wife from the way she clinged to her arm.

It would have made for a charming scene, if not for the dark implications that this girl has never had a parental figure until now. To someone who cares so dearly for the wellbeing of children, it was enough to put a frown on his face.

While Coci then took to breaking out the kitchenware, Thurion took a gamble by slowly approaching Eyna, one step at a time until stood towering over her. Realising this would likely frighten her, he got down on one knee before her so that she would be taller than him and, hopefully, feel more confident regarding his presence. He didn't say anything or introduce himself, for she knew who he was, but rather let his eyes speak for him as for the moment all he did was meet her gaze. He could see the overwhelming pain in behind her eyes.

"May I see your arm, little one," he asked softly, holding out his open palm for her to place her arm in. If willing, he would then place his other hand upon the self-inflicted scars. She would next feel a sense of warmth in her arm and a slight tingle in her stomach as his talents in healing removed any remaining ache or soreness in her arm. As soon as she wished to be let go, he would comply immediately.

"It's a pretty name. Eyna." He offered a smile.

[member="Eyna"] | [member="Coci Heavenshield"]​

 

[Eyna]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"] // [member="Coci Heavenshield"]

From down below the look of a tall Valkyri Jedi Master was hard to not feel frightened by. Something in the way that the shadows seemed to dance around his eyes made Thurion seem even more frightening than it had any right to be and Eyna found herself faltering just for a moment before the giant eventually knelt down. They seemed to stare into each other’s eyes, one broken husk into the lively blue fire of a former grandmaster. It was a fire that Eyna against all odds would have been expected to extinguish and a greater part of her still wanted to.

Her brows furrowed for a moment as the cycle began, the voices and whispers of people she didn’t know. It was a debrief. Continuous blaster volleys would prove effective should they manage to isolate him in the field. Either he would deflect with his lightsaber or find cover behind a force shield. The first was a matter of attrition, the other could be fixed by having someone sneak around the back and go for the spine as he maintained the shield. That was to assume he wouldn’t be able to predict such a move in the first place.

A warm sensation spread across Eyna’s arm that brought her out of the memory. It was pleasant, it made the pain in her arm more bearable. Yet at the same time she couldn’t seem to find peace. Eyna’s shoulders began to rise and sink with each breath she took as she panickedly pulled her arm away and held it close to her chest.

“What did you do?” She asked, clearly terrified. “Why did you do that?”

Was that fear hers? Was it really how she wanted this to go? No, not at all. This alien feeling that someone out there, a man such as Thurion Heavenshield would go through such lengths to try and help someone like Eyna was not something that struck her as familiar in the slightest. Yet he didn’t seem to do much after the fact either.

Eyna’s eyes averted over towards Coci for some measure of affirmation that this was normal. Before long her breathing would slow down again. Uncertain what to even do she let her eyes linger on the wounds that no longer hurt, asking herself how to act or what to say.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

The moment [member="Eyna"] appeared to pull away from him, Thurion loosened his grip and released her. He made no further attempts at touching her, yet he would not move from where he knelt before her. Instead he maintained eye-contact throughout, unrelenting in his gentle gaze. The poor thing panicked, not unlike how his own condition would cause similar panic attacks.

"Because I care," he replied calmly. "Because I could see you were in pain. And I can see you still are. Very much so."

His face turned to the right, revealing the deep scars covering the left side of his face, the reason for the loss of his eye. He was close enough for her to reach out and touch him should she wish to.

"You see, you are not alone in being at war with yourself. Like your soul is being torn apart by some dark entity, over and over again, and there is nothing you can do." Only now did he rise to his feet, and he leaned forward to place a hand upon the girl's shoulder, staring her square in the eye.

"Except there is, Eyna. With our help, you will find the strength to fight this demon that rages inside you. That is my promise to you."

Thurion stepped back and shared a look with his wife, then turned to exit the small canteen and return to the cockpit.

[member="Coci Heavenshield"]​

 

[Eyna]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"] // [member="Coci Heavenshield"]

There was a sense of trepidation wafting off of her. Thurion turned to let her see his own scars yet she remained frozen in place. She couldn't tell what it was that had scarred him, but it had left an undeniable mark on the man's face. With his hand to her shoulder she felt another sense of worry, fear that this was the point that he would end it. Yet as he withdrew it she didn't really want him to. Something inside, that one small part of her saw the tenderness of this moment. Another saw the threat to her.

It was frustrating to not know which voice to trust.

As the man left it was just Eyna and Coci left. The silence, short as it might have been, felt heavy as the kid simply sat there and considered what had just happened. Her eyes set upon Coci again as Eyna slowly got up and approached the nearest counter.

"I..." Eyna said to begin with but found that no more words would part her lips. "This..."

Those green eyes hid themselves behind a hand that rubbed against her eyebrows. Thurion hadn't killed her, she hadn't killed Thurion. The help was still offered despite what and who Eyna was.

"He coul- shoul-" Words just didn't come easy. "Why are you..."

"Should we-... Cooking?"

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

She attentively watched the entire interaction between Thurion and Eyna with a lot of interest. For two reasons, it was telling for the both of them. In a sense, it was therapeutic for Thurion to voice is pain and suffering, to show others and little by little it would let go of the guilt he feels.

For Eyna she saw first hand and maybe for the first time in her life, a sensation of caring from one person to another without the obligation of returning it, or for payment later. Coci could sense Eyna’s confusion, her frustration at her lack of understanding. It was good, she was questioning her and in turn, questioning the reason behind her mind control placed on her against her will, or rather without consent.

“He could have, should have … done what Eyna?”, she moved from her place as Thurion headed back down the ship. “Killed you”, she answered for her.

“No Eyna. But I will ask you why you think he could have, or should have”. And to answer her other question, Coci took up a knife and began to cut up some bread on the chopping board. It was not going to be a big meal, just something light to get them through till the evening meal once they reach Fridheim.

“As you think about it, and your answer. I want you to consider your time on Kashyyyk with the Jedi. And with all their restrictions, the Overseers as well, do you think that they could have killed you? Should have killed you? .. they didn’t though did they”.

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"] | [member="Eyna"]​

 

[Eyna]

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] // [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

A quiet nod had Eyna's head bobbing up and down as she was given the answer that she wanted to give. The kid looked down at the small meal being made with the pain in her eyes all the more evident while she struggled to undertand the inner workings of her own mind. She tried to think of a reason as to why they would have hurt her, but it wasn't a question that had an obvious answer. At least not to Eyna. She furrowed her brows and looked up at the Jedi Master and tried to find the answers in her eyes, but there was none to be found.

The Jedi could have killed her, and by the right of their power and the reason for their struggle they should have done so as well. Yet, that wasn't really what Coci was asking. The Jedi had Eyna locked in a cell for reasons that Eyna herself had come to them for. For little over a month she had been held at their mercy during which the chance to have ended it had been presented over and over again. This wasn't a question why they should have killed her, but rather why Eyna thought such a thing was something so obvious to do.

She looked away again as she tried to think about it. Eyna placed her hand on the top of the counter to lean in against it for support, and with a gentle push she started the process for trying to remember again. It hurt to do it, like putting a knife straight to her brain. Much as it always did, her mind began to make a loud statement against her efforts as she pushed against the programme in her head. The newfound belief or hope in something better and a hope for the future would serve as an anchor as Eyna tried to recall her past. She had expected a struggle, yet in this clarity of the moment -- turmultuous as it was -- it almost seemed as if something snapped like a thin piece of glass that crashed against concrete. It felt like something had been torn off, yet where the kid would have expected pain she instead found a soothe.

Vivid images flooded over her as she pushed into the memory of small fingers holding a small frame up from the ground while it heaved for air. The area around her was hard to see, but the bruises all over her arms were not. Eyna was a child, far smaller than she already was. Yet in the memory the little child would turn right back around to try and wrap the force around her tutor's throat with a potent grip. The hatred that already ran within her tiny little body in that very moment spoke only one word:

Father.

Yet the man wouldn't gasp for air. Instead he pushed against the attempt and stepped up to her. The girl tried to tighten the grip even more but it was futile. With a frustrated sigh and a whip of his cane she was out cold and with it the memory came to an end. There had been no face, no features that would allow her to tell who this man was. He had graying dark hair, circular glasses, and a big fur-lined coat. He was either burly or wore a piece of armor, but that could have been anyone.

In reality Eyna would have dug her nails into the countertop with a claw-like grip. Her teeth were gritted and bared as her breathing grew ragged. Tears streamed, eyes glossed as she glanced over at Coci. The memory remained this time. At this point it would have faded, but not this time. The shadow of the man burned against the forefront of her mind, the feelings of his betrayal raging like a torrent against her nerves.

"He destroyed me." Eyna said and did very little to contain the immense hatred that she had fostered within the unconscious pockets of her mind that slowly began to spread out into the room around her and the rest of the ship, feeding on the influx of raw emotion that flooded from the crack that she had just caused within the darker confines of her mind. "My father did this."

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

Eyna's condition, for want of a better word, is going to take time to unravel all the damage that had been done to her mind. Coci would spend as much time as would be needed to help the girl gain control over it, to give her her freedom of choice back. Even people like Sith have that for the most part, even if misguided in what they believe, they still had to choice to walk that path, they even have the choice to turn from it if life turns in that direction. The same could be said for a Jedi as well.

The effort in sorting through her mind, to answer a question here on the ship, even this was dangerous to Eyna but what happened was in effect, a main break through. She did not answer the question directly, literally, but what followed was a realisation that her actions, whether remembered or not, were not her own. But a directive programmed in her mind by someone that removed her strength of will, her choice, and that someone was her own father. In a way Coci supposed that all parents do this so some degree, molding the minds of their children through action and nurture, setting examples etc, etc, but this .. this was something entirely different and to Coci's mind. Pure evil.

She would not rein in Eyna's emotions, as they built up to a horrid crescendo but rather let the girl experience this for herself, and if things got out of hand, Coci could subdue the girl. There was little to say in this moment, what words would herald comfort to someone who gained the knowledge that someone who was suppose to care for you, love you, did something so unforgivable. Coci reached out to her, and place her hand gently on her arm feeling the tension in it, the strength in it that would pierce a hold in the counter top.

The moment hung heavy in the ship, all over the ship and Coci knew that Thurion would feel it too. There was silence save for the low hum of the ship's engines, and Eyna's breathing and as it subsided somewhat. "We will reach Midvinter soon, and there we will work to set you free".

​

​

[member="Eyna"] | [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]​

 

[Eyna]

[member="Coci Heavenshield"] // [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

That hand on her arm, the gesture that Eyna would understand to be some sort of empathetic measure of trying to say something or show care. What did Coci know? Had she been raised by a stranger that abused her? Did she know this kind of pain and hatred? This gentle side of interacting with others, the softness and whispered words, they weren’t anything that were familiar to this child and it never really had been. They were touching her as if she should have known by instinct what it meant. It was confusing, it was alien and far from as familiar to Eyna as the fire that roared in her chest. It crawled under her skin like a horde of spiders seeking prey, pierced against her skin like dulled knives that wanted to escape from their skin-covered prison. She could control that, she could manifest it however she wanted, and in that very moment she wanted to wrap her hands around her father’s neck to try once more to take from him what she had not been able to take before.

Yet he was not here. It was just Eyna, Coci, and somewhere in the distance Thurion. She knew that this was the moment that she had practiced for, and the tools to do so had been revealed right before her eyes. At this point it would have served her well to threaten the force and to use her hatred and fear to exhaust the air from Coci’s lungs. She could have kept going, reached far down and just end it. The mere thought was a tempting one she entertained for far longer than she should have. It would be hard to push against the seduction and utter belief that she would find some measure to calm her own hatred if she did. Yet there was one thought that kept her from even trying: this was exactly what her father had wanted her to do. It was what she had been programmed for.

He wanted this.

He wanted her to kill.

She wasn’t going to.

Difficult as it was to let go of that sheer amount of hatred, Eyna remained seated and looked at the food that had been prepared. In this moment there was no peace of mind for her. She remained tense, struggled to keep her mind from straying away from where she didn’t want to go. A fire had ignited, yet at its center flickered an even smaller one no greater than a candle. A small measure of peace that for each moment seemed to strain and thin out.

“I need to find him.” She nearly growled. “I need to fix this.”

“Will you help me with that?” Eyna’s lips pursed into a scowl. “He needs to die.”