Private Counting Aftermath

[Nida Perl]

Nida awoke in the hospital wing of The Halls of Healing, lured out of a dreamless sleep by the rhythmic beeping of monitors and the smell of antiseptic. Her journey from Yurb back to Kashyyyk had been hazy, but the Zeltron understood that she’d been in need of medical care.

As the murk of sleep lifted and Nida’s senses latched onto the sounds and scents around her, she realized where she was. At once, she was instantly overjoyed at being alive, thinking for sure that she was going to perish in Edsert. Reaching to push a piece of hair behind her ear, Nida’s had brushed against the packed gauze and bandages over her right eye. All at once, her joy plummeted into the pit of her stomach.

Leaning back into the sterile sheets and pillows, Nida replayed the events of the battle in her mind. The assault, the shield going down, the drop pods carrying a strange toxic gas and even stranger beasts. Then the ship shattering above them in a hyperspace ram, sending flaming debris rocketing across the unprotected city. Their last stand, Kyra bracing over her—

Panic rose in her chest as she realized that she could not recall what had become of her sister. Kyra—she was here because of Kyra, who’d made the instant decision to protect her sister in the face of death. She could have run, she should have run, should have saved herself and let Nida—

Her breath hitched in her throat right before a sob could escape, noticing that she was not alone in the room. Turning her head entirely to compensate for her limited range of vision, Nida gasped upon seeing her sister in the hospital bed next to her. She was hooked up to a similar assortment of monitors, broken arm set and strung up to her side. Fortunately, there were no ventilators or assisted breathing machines attached to her sister, which made Nida calm down, if only a little.

“Kyra?” She called out, trying to rouse her sister, voice parched as she hadn’t had a drink in quite a while.

Kyra Perl | Thirdas Heavenshield

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

"Congratulations, young man," the Colonel replaced the three chevrons with a silver bar, pinning the new insignia on the collar of his shirt. Thirdas remained at attention, weary though he was from the intense fighting back on Yurb. His blonde hair dishevelled, his gaze tired and unfocused, he maintained a straight back throughout the brief ceremony and somehow kept from tipping over.

"Thank you, Sir," he shook the man's hand with enthusiasm somewhat lacking. "Though I still feel the honour should go to Gunny... er, Gunnery Sergeant Tulan Kor . He's been with the Corps far longer than I. Taught me everything I know."

The Colonel smiled softly and patted him on the arm. "It was his recommendation that we should come to you instead, Heavenshield. Said he prefers to 'remain in the muck with the rest of the boys'." Thirdas smiled back. "That does sound like something Gunny would say."

"Congratulations again, Lieutenant Heavenshield." The two officers saluted one another, and the Colonel and his aide walked out the hospital room, leaving him with his thoughts. There was barely a chance to register his newfound position before the call came.

"Kyra?"

Thirdas turned to find Nida squirming in her bed, her first sign of consciousness. "Nida?" He rushed over to her bedside to take her hand, skin against metal. "I'm here, Nida."

"Kyra is going to be alright," he briefly turned to her sister's bed. "She hurt her arm back on Yurb and got knocked out, but she will live."

His fingers of flesh and blood gently stroke her violet hair, hoping to soothe her as best he could.

Nida Perl | Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

You know what Kyra didn't want to be her last memory ever? A fireball of ship parts landing on her head. You would think waking up would bring her all sorts of warm feelings. Yay I'm alive. You know, all that. And truth be told, it did. For a moment. And then she rolled her head to see her sister's meat stick getting all sloppy with her on the hospital bed.

I mean come on! Talk about a raw deal! She had just nearly died! She groaned in protest, blinking groggily. Maybe if she blinked enough times it'd wash him away. You know, like blinking a lash out of your eye.

He stayed firmly in place as her vision cleared. "No fair," Kyra protested, trying to bring her torso up before quickly surrendering herself back to the pillows. She groaned again, this time disgruntled with rigged state of her arm-- completely encased and bound tight to her torso. Oh that was right. She had chose to keep it.

There is only so far we can go to restore it. The rest will be up to you.

The conversation on the medical ship came back to her through the thick canopy of meds in her system. Her fathers face came through, then dispersed as Kyra found herself floating like a cloud back on the bed at silver rest.

Where was she again? Oh, right.

"I saved you, what is he doing here?" She was never too weak for sass.

Nida Perl Thirdas Heavenshield

 

[Nida Perl]

Nida settled as Thirdas appeared, taking her hand in his and stroking her hair, drawing in her panicked attention. In a soothing tone, he explained that while Kyra had been injured, she would be alright. While this did help to calm her immediate nerves, Nida would not rest easy until her sister’s injuries were healed.

Her head finally turned towards Thirdas and she couldn’t help but smile at him, noting his disheveled hair and the fatigue he wore on both his face and in his posture. “You look exhausted.” She spoke in a tone of hushed relief, smile growing as she reached up carefully to cup his face in both hands. What she meant by that was ‘You’re alive!’. Her eye caught a glint of silver at his chest, and one of her hands left his face to run her fingers along the metal bar. “This is new.” Her smile widened as the implication formed in her mind.

By some absolute miracle, the three of them had survived and Nida couldn’t stop smiling, exhausted as she was. The sounds coming from the bed to her side filled her with new vigor, however.

Kyra was probably more drained than she was, but the fatigue in her voice did not give way to her own brand of displeasure. Even in the face of that, Nida smiled. In fact, she very much preferred her sister to be complaining rather than listless and apathetic. “You’re awake-“ The words caught at the edge of her throat and Nida had to pause, bringing a fist to her lips while she swallowed a sob. “Oh, Kyra…”

Clearing her throat, Nida turned to Thirdas to elaborate. “When one of our ships was rammed from hyperspace and exploded over the capital, Kyra saved me from the debris. We’d both surely be dead without her quick thinking and brave heart.” She reached a hand out to Kyra, bridging the gap between their beds, before realizing that she could not extend a hand back.

“Thirdas is here to see that we’re both well—I’m sure.” Awkwardly retracting her hand, she gave her love an encouraging smile, hoping to assuage any spats between two of the most important people in her life.

Kyra Perl | Thirdas Heavenshield

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

He couldn't help but smile as Nida discovered the new rank insignia pinned to his collar. It was just nice hearing her voice. "You just missed the promotion ceremony. There were parades and confetti everywhere," he joked softly, his smile turning into a grin. It was replaced by surprise when Kyra suddenly started speaking from the bed next to Nida's.

At this stage Thirdas did not bother addressing the younger Perl's sass; whether Kyra believed it or not, he was genuinely concerned for her. While they may not get along, or flat-out dislike each other, he did not wish her harm. He understood full well Kyra was only being protective of her sister -- it was her obvious attempts to get between him and Nida that he would not stand for.

Nida explained what events she could recall, highlighting Kyra's part in defending her sister. He turned to the younger sister, meeting her gaze whether she liked it or not. "Thank you, Kyra," he offered in earnest, even going so far as to place his mechanical hand upon her shoulder for but a moment. His eyes fell upon her broken arm. "I hear you decided to keep it. I'm glad. Giving up a part of yourself isn't easy..."

He took a seat in between the two beds, all at once realising just how exhausted he was. "I heard about the ship getting rammed; the whole city got peppered by falling debris. I was at the outpost tasked with defending the shield generator -- it got real bad real quick. After they disabled the citywide shield we managed to get a smaller secondary shield going which blocked the falling debris. Guess we were the lucky ones in that regard, and we managed to take down one of those huge worms in the process. But a lot of good men died there."

Reaching for Nida's hand, he gave it a squeeze as if to make sure she was really still with him. "I... I tried to find you. I really did. Somehow I just knew you were in trouble. After my company pulled a flanking maneuver on the city outskirts I fought my way into the city in a desperate attempt to find you."

His shoulders slumped as he reached behind his head to awkwardly rub the back of his neck. "Didn't know you guys were already on a shuttle taking you out of the city..."

Nida Perl | Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra groaned as Thirdas Heavenshield spoke, melodramatically trying to drown out his words and save them the headache. She sounded like a dying whale. Or toddler throwing a fit.

In her defense, she was heavily medicated and it sounded neat as it echoed around her too.

She gave a final groan as he fell silent, shrinking deeper into the bed. I hate you, her gaze seemed to say, the girl giving a weak glare at his hand holding the pink one that had been meant to console her.

But crap wait where was her own?

Kyra blinked sharply, shaking her head and falling back limp into the pillows. It would be obvious she was disoriented, the girl breathing heavily as she gave the room a panicked once over.

All at once her sudden fear seemed to pass, the girl remembering where she was. Her attention fell back to her sister as she attempted to sit up again-- to no available.

"Nida," she balked, her face draining to a pale pasty cream.

She leaned in and whispered tightly. "... h e s t o l e y o u r e y e."

 

[Nida Perl]

As Thirdas spoke about the battle on Yurb, Nida squeeze his hand. “What matters now is that we’re all alive and safe. So many lost their lives to the Bryn’adul…” Her voice went soft, in reverence for those who’d met their end trying to defend the world from a senseless slaughter. Even though she’d lost her eye, in this moment, she was feeling whole. It was an absolute miracle to her that she and Kyra had made it out alive, given what they had been facing.

Kyra’s groaning faded into the background for her, having been used to her sister’s tantrums since she was young. But when her sister whispered harshly that Thirdas had stolen her eye, Nida looked startled for a moment. Then she dissolved into giggles. It hadn’t hit her until then that her baby sister was heavily medicated.

The telltale clacking of expensive heels on hospital tile signified the return of her mother, who’d gone to the hospital’s cafeteria to retrieve a meal for her daughters. The echo of the hall made the sound seem faintly ominous, as Nida’s anxiety surged as she recalled that she had yet to introduce her mother and Thirdas. And mom could be…opinionated.

“Thirdas-“

A third Zeltron appeared not a moment later, bustling into the room and balancing a pair of beige hospital-issue treys in each hand. “Sorry that I took so long, girls. You would not believe how long the line was in the cafeteria! And to top it all off, they didn’t have any…” At first, it appeared that she had not noticed the new addition to the room, but as she went about setting the trays down, Joza finally took stock of the giant blonde soldier holding Nida’s hand.

“…”

Straightening, the Perl family matriarch took a few moments to examine the young soldier at her daughter’s bedside. Suddenly the conversations she’d been having with Coci Heavenshield made more sense, along with Kyra’s often incoherent babbling about Nida’s boyfriend. Surely, her painfully shy daughter had simply found a friend who happened to be male?

A beat passed, and Joza offered the young man a tight, polite smile. “I didn’t realize we had a visitor. I’m Joza; Nida and Kyra’s mother.” Her fingers threaded carefully into Kyra's hair, gently stroking her youngest child's head through her delirium.

Kyra Perl | Thirdas Heavenshield

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Moooooooooooom," Kyra cooed, flopping into Joza's torso and giving her a one-armed hug. She inhaled deeply, her eyes closing as she fell into the soothing feel of her mother's fingers stroking through her hair.

All at once she was reminded of how starved for contact she first felt when leaving Zeltros. Humans were so weird about that kinda stuff, and Kyra had been hell bent on fitting in. But it all came back to her as the subtle scent of her mother warmed its way through her. Her shoulders dropped, relaxing into her mother's frame. The sensation was a stark contrast to Yurb. She clutched her a little tighter.


Joza's voice vibrated against Kyra's ear, and the emotions that followed-- well-- Kyra smirked against her chest. 'Soooomeoneeeeeeeee's in troooooooooooubleeeee', she hummed wordlessly.

"Get em, take away his jaw-- I'm telling you." She tilted her chin up, imploring Joza with those blue, wide-set eyes. "It's the jawline. You should see'em drink coffee."

One would like to say she spoke clearer when not medicated, but...

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

It was nice to hear Nida laugh again, even if just a giggle at her younger sister's slurred nonsense. He was even able to join in, mustering a light chuckle of his own. Those drugs Kyra were still recovering from must have been some good stuff.

The sound of clicking heels from the hallway reached his ear as it had Nida's, however he'd assumed it was perhaps one of the nurses or doctors coming to check on their two Zeltron patients. It turned out he was half-right.

Stepping into the hospital room was a third Zeltron, more mature-looking than either Perl sister, and with luxurious red hair. Given Nida's gentle attempt to warn him beforehand, he could only assume this to be the mother. Joza.

He rose from his seat and stood by Nida's bedside, still holding her hand. He didn't have to speculate for long as the woman introduced herself.

"Master Perl," he bowed his head, trying not to look too awkward doing it. "I am honoured to finally meet you."

Kyra interjected with some more delirious words while being cradled by her mother. Something about a jawline and drinking coffee?

"Err, right," his black eyes blinked before settling on the Perl matriarch. "I am Thirdas, son of Thurion. I believe you know my mother, Coci?

He paused a second or so to swallow his nerves, then spoke the words.

"I'm also... Nida's boyfriend." He bowed his head once more, averting his gaze as if awaiting some kind of approval, or perhaps punishment.

Nida Perl | Kyra Perl ​

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza seated herself at Kyra’s bedside, gathering her delirious daughter into her arms as she drooped onto her mother’s lap. Stroking Kyra’s hair, Joza nuzzled her face into the crown of Kyra’s head before planting a soft kiss where her hair parted. She’d rushed to Kashyyyk the moment that the news of the Bryn’adul assault had reached her. The Silvers had retreated while Joza was en route to Yurb, and so she’d changed course to the Silver capital. The Perl matriarch arrived just after her daughters were admitted to the halls of healing in a frantic worry, utterly relieved to find them both alive. Intact, not as much, but they were young and in the best of care, she’d been told—which translated to good recoveries.

Her eyes were drawn to Thirdas as he rose, but Joza remained seated, arms around her youngest. “Hush now.” She murmured to Kyra, one hand rubbing her back while the other continued to stroke her hair. The drugs in her system were making Kyra even more incomprehensible than usual. In truth, when Kyra had reported to her mother that Nida had a boyfriend, Joza had dismissed the concept as a figment of Kyra’s imagination. Now, that figment was standing before her. And so, Joza regarded him with guarded politeness, though not without an undercurrent of hostility.

A landmine, as Nida had once described.

Master Perl. That title caused a smile to pull at her lips. It had been so long since she’d heard that name, as formalities were often looser in the Outer Rim than in the Core. “You’re a Heavenshield, then.” It was a statement of fact made after Joza had studied him head to toe. Blonde hair, sharp jawline. Didn’t Thurion have light eyes? “You look just like Thurion.”

He’d been the Grandmaster of the Silver Jedi when she’d joined as a new Padawan. Thurion and Coci had lead the Silvers through many trials, always working alongside the other Jedi rather than becoming useless figureheads as galactic leaders were sometimes prone to do. She had great respect and admiration for them, though she kept in closer contact with Coci. Even moreso when her daughters embarked on their own Jedi adventures, Coci had kept subtle tabs on them when she could.

And then he’d dropped the word boyfriend.

“I see,” Her response was tightly spoken, behind the practiced smile of a businesswoman. “And how long has this been going on for?”

“A few years.” Nida interjected, squeezing Thirdas’ hand tightly and looking over at her mother. “I love him, mom. And he loves me. We can’t help it, we just fell for eachother.”

Nida’s words didn’t not seem to pacify her mother, not when her political mask of a smile hardened into a thin line.

“Have you two had sex yet?”

As an afterthought, she covered Kyra's ears.

Thirdas Heavenshield | Kyra Perl

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra opened her eyes, her head tucked under her mother's chin as she looked the couple's way. There was no doubting their relation in that moment-- from the hair to the lips, Kyra sat in her mother's arms as a smaller ... slightly desaturated version of the matriarch. And they both looked at him with thinly veiled distaste.

Well, now he would know where Kyra got it from.

Wordless, she stared, not needing her ears to sense the answer.

The tension from the two amplified off the empath in that twisted way of Kyra's. Nearly pheromoneless, the quarter zeltron had learned young how to influence those around her. Her and her mother's anticipation echoed off of her like a beacon. To say the tension in the room was thick was an understatement. Kyra's influence in the force at that moment was oppressive.

Had he touched her sister?


Thirdas Heavenshield Nida Perl

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

The sheer bluntness of the Perl Matriarch hit him like a truck, and he physically had to grab hold of Nida's hospital bed to maintain balance. It was such an unexpected phrase to hear coming from the mother of the woman he loved that, at first, he didn't know how to react. And she asked them with such cold collectedness too, which was just... weird.

Especially to a simple Midvinter lad who grew up valuing notions of honour and chivalry, to speak openly about such intimate matters was just unheard of.

He turned his head to look at Nida as he tried to find the right words.

Finally he could think of little else but to come clean. Relinquishing his hold of Nida's hand, he slowly got down on one knee before Joza.

"Lady Perl, I will not lie to you," he began.

"We'd been together for a few years when we decided to visit my homeworld, to see my family. But our world came under attack and we had no choice but to partake in the fight. My father led the armies of Midvinter to battle, but there was no guarantee of survival. The night before, we... shared a together. I swear it on my mother's soul, I had never touched her before that night, and I would never have done so without her approval."

He let the facts settle before lifting his head to meet Joza's judging stare, disregarding Kyra Perl entirely. It was not her approval he sought, but the mother's.

"Mrs. Perl, I've loved your daughter from the moment I laid eyes on her. I had never known such feelings existed before meeting her. I may have saved her life on several occasions by now, but her love saves me every single day. And I will not be made to feel ashamed for my feelings about her."

His gaze lowered once more, he instead stared straight ahead where he knelt before Joza. "I await my punishment, Matriarch."

Nida Perl ​

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza stared down at the giant of a Valkyri, prostrated in front of her as he confessed to laying with her daughter. He was not asking for forgiveness—and Joza had yet to decide if there was something to forgive—but owned up to his deeds and willing to accept whatever penalty she deemed fit.

She glanced to Nida who was now sitting up as far as she could manage, back and neck tense with anxiety. Her hands fidgeted with the sheets as she looked from Thirdas to her mother, her worry palpable enough to clash with Kyra’s tension.

“He’s only ever showed me kindness.” Nida found her voice, and as soft as it was it carried through the room. “Thirdas would never hurt me.”

Joza’s gaze went back and forth between the two youths as they spoke, letting them each speak their piece. It was plain to see that the two loved each other, and Nida knew better than to try to fool an experienced empath. She also found that her painfully shy daughter looked at Thirdas with adoration, to which he’d returned in kind. There was no questioning their feelings for each other; they were genuine. In the moment, that did nothing to soothe her protective instincts.

Untangling herself from Kyra, she rose to her feet, grabbing Thirdas by the ear. “Up.” She commanded, dragging the hulking blonde out of the room and into the hall. She stopped once they were out of immediate earshot of her daughter, turning on her heel to face him.

“If you get her pregnant,” She hissed, jabbing an immaculately manicured finger at his chest. “You are marrying her.”

"If you hurt her," Her words hung in the air, a lingering sense of lethality about them as her expression hardened.

Nothing frightened her more than young love.

Thirdas Heavenshield | Kyra Perl

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

Hearing Nida's soft words on his behalf caused the slightest of smiles to pull on the corner of his lips, but he managed to maintain the solemnity of the occasion. He felt he couldn't afford to spoil this pivotal moment in their relationship; to earn her mother's approval. There was no doubt left in him now that Joza Perl's will was law in her family, and if she felt he was not worthy of her daughter she would make certain they would never see each other again.

Then suddenly he felt a sharp pinch on his ear, combined with her simple command that left no room for protest.

He strained his neck and his back hunched as the significantly shorter woman dragged him out of the room, away from her two daughters.

"If you get her pregnant..."

He rubbed his aching ear while hanging onto her every word. Her finger jabbing at his chest proved sharper than he'd expected, digging into his muscles with each jab.

"...you are marrying her."

Thirdas assumed the military stance of standing at ease, hands folded behind his back. He swallowed once, then offered a sharp nod, as if having received a command from his superior. Joza merely mentioning him possibly marrying Nida gave him hope that maybe he'd won her over.

"If you hurt her..." She didn't finish, so he felt he was in the right to finish for her.

"If I hurt her, there is nothing you could do to punish me that I will not have already done unto myself, Lady Perl." His own expression hardened to match hers, and she would see the honesty in his dark eyes. "I would tear out my own heart and shatter my own soul before I lay a finger on her, I swear to all the Gods."

His stance shifted once more, going from Thirdas the Soldier to Thirdas the Valkyri Warrior, placing a metal fist upon his heart along with a soft incline of his head. This was the pact he made with the Matriarch Perl.

Joza Perl | Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Ah!" Kyra made a noise of complaint as she was left to the cold world outside her mothers arms.

The room grew still and quiet as the two left, one pulled by his ear and the other leaving with that warm clickety clack of heels that Kyra hadn't realized she missed.

Maybe she should buy a pair.

The moment seemed to disperse, Kyra's attention shifting erratically as they were left to silence. Nida's stress no longer seemed to reach Kyra, who sat with a dopy look in a cloud of fuzz.

As the family drama spilled out into the hall, Kyra looked over at the Nida and asked simply, "Do you think she knows Dad's here?"

Coren Starchaser had brought her in. Wouldn't this be just the best moment for that DNA test???

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza didn’t doubt the sincerity of Thirdas’ emotions. Her Force empathy had been trained to a level of precision that she’d practically walked into the cloud of adoration between her daughter and the Valkyri the moment she’d stepped in the room. Perhaps that’s why Kyra was so irritated.

Still, it didn’t take an empath to notice the connection between the two. Joza had studied him interacting with her daughter, noting the gentle way he held her hand, how lovingly he’d stroked her hair. And perhaps more poignantly, the way Nida looked at him with such confidence in her affection, a level of comfort she’d only previously shown around immediate family. Joza wasn’t afraid of losing her child, she was afraid of one of them falling out of love just as hard and leaving Nida a broken, sobbing mess.

Observing Thidas’ promise, she nodded once. For now he’d earned her respect as the son of Thurion Heavenshield and Coci Heavenshield , knowing that Coci would send her son to whatever moon hung over Midvinter if he ever mistreated Nida. There was something she’d found admirable about the way the Valkyri conducted themselves and the morals they held. Perhaps her caution would erode with time, and she’d come to accept him fully as a part of the family.

For now, she was satisfied.

“I will indeed hold you to that, Thirdas. Remember your promise.”

With that, the pair returned to the Perl Room, just in time to hear Kyra in her drugged up stupor.

"Do you think she knows Dad's here?"

Joza smiled at Thirdas, the sort of terse, polite mask she wore when something was irritating her during a business meeting. “Thirdas, why don’t you take Nida out to the garden? The weather is just lovely and she’d do well with some fresh air.”

Thirdas Heavenshield | Kyra Perl

 

[Thirdas Heavenshield]

As the pair re-entered the room, Thirdas couldn't help make a relieved face at Nida behind her mother's back, eyes wide and puffed cheeks. For a moment there he thought she'd slash open his throat with those impeccable nails of hers. Or just stab through his chest and tear our his heart.

But, the Matriarch had given her consent to the two of them seeing each other, which was more than either could have hoped for.

At Joza Perl 's request, Thirdas carefully removed the IV tube attachment from Nida's wrist, held in place with just a single piece of tape. As he pulled the blanket off her he looked around the room and found a wheelchair in the corner. Looking back at her, the two shared a nod before he instead put one around around her shoulders and hooking the other under her legs and lifted her out of the hospital bed, carrying her out of the room without the use of a wheelchair. Until she felt strong enough to walk on her own two feet, he would not let go of her.

They passed several nurses on the way through the corridors, all of whom stood aside as they strode forth until finally they reached the exit and the peaceful sounds of nature graced their ears.

It was here that Thirdas lowered Nida onto the ground, to walk on the green lawn on her own accord. Whether she would request a substitute eye to be fashioned for her in the future, for the time being she would have to get used to being half-blind. He'd seen his father stumble and suffer through a similar experience, so he knew what to expect as a loved one.

"How do you feel, Nida," he asked gently, offering a hand in case she would suddenly feel dizzy or stumble in her step. It would be much more difficult to keep track of your surroundings with just one functioning eye.

Kyra Perl ​

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra blinked owlishly up at her mother, her mother's emotions not matching up with the pleasant expression on her face.

"Haaaaaaaaai. You're so pretty. And you smell so good. Why don't humans smell good? " She rambled, reaching out like a child wordlessly demanding a stuff animal. The room abruptly felt cold and empty without the nerves and the stress of her sister and Jawline macking it up on the bed.

Though the matriarc felt a little odd. Almost like she was trying not to be felt at all. Kyra paused and gave her a long look, clearly probing for answers.

"Oh you don't want me to know he's here." She stated with no explanation, eyes lighting up.

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza sat down on Kyra’s bed, watching Thirdas extract Nida from her IV and remove the Zeltron from the room. The young pair had shared a look between them, one that agreed that they would not want to be in the room for whatever happened next.
That, and they were probably relieved to have some time to themselves.

As the pair exited the room, Joza closed her eyes and largely ignored Kyra’s barely coherent babbling. When her youngest reached out to her, Joza reached back on instinct, allowing Kyra to snuggle her arm while she thought how to best broach the subject. In the end, she wouldn’t have to.

“I didn’t,” She said finally on an exhale. “Not at first. But I suppose now is as good of a time as any.” Sober Kyra would have been angrier at her.

“You’ve met him already, haven’t you?”

Coren Starchaser | Kyra Perl

 

[Coren Starchaser]

With the war effort, Coren was typically already moving to the next war zone, but within the Silver Concord? Life was much different. He missed the war, at times, but mostly because it was the only way he knew to continue moving. Now, with his marriage to Celeste, finding Kyra, and the desire and overall need to be anywhere but with the Jedi was almost not needed. He was a teacher now, and that was where he felt more comfortable. Maybe the exploration and the path of Skywalker mellowed him, or he just knew that the war was doing more harm than good.

Still, he was doing his rounds and last time he came through to visit Kyra, she was a bit out of sorts. But as he reached out, he could feel her more awake than before.

But she wasn’t alone. The trace of another bright Light Side family had been around, not to mention… Joza.

This was going to be well. But still, he couldn’t back down, he made a promise to himself he wouldn’t be backing away from things any more, and as the door went up, he smiled. “Hey Kyra, hi Joza.” No, he was not going to say ‘Hello Miss Perl’.

“How are you feeling?” He said, looking at Kyra, then a helpless look to Joza.

Joza Perl Kyra Perl