Girl Talk

[Alva Heavenshield]

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Eirin's Reach​

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Alva found herself with a free afternoon, so she had decided to helpout around the Reach. She wasn't as gifted a healer as her mother, so she mostly took to doing chores—laundry, changing bed linens, restocking rooms and delivering meals to patients. The teen stepped brightly into a patient's room with a covered cloche in hand, fresh from the kitchen. But the smile on her face suddenly faded upon seeing that the patient was a handsome young man just a few years older than she. Alva blinked and set the meal down on the boy's bedside table.

“There you go,” she said quickly, her mouth formed a sort of strained smile.

“Thanks,” he replied, smiling. “You're Alva, right?”

She nodded. Her family's name was well known here, and she herself was a fairly common sight around town. Why else would he know of her? But when the boy winked an eye at her, she stood rigid in a speechless display.

“Erm, I've... got to go,” she said, darting from the room.

Outside the room, she pushed out a sigh... only then realizing that her heart was racing. Her shoulder slumped slightly, and she looked around. She spotted [member="Nida Perl"] working nearby, hopefully she hadn't witnessed Alva's awkwardness. She couldn't talk to mother about boys, not without her mom having a bit of a cow. But... as she looked at Nida, this woman seemed like she had the answers.

Walking up to Nida, she fixed her wide blue eyes upon her almost expectantly. “Hi.”

Alva had seen Nida around, but had yet to really talk to her before. “Do you need any help?”

 

[Nida Perl]

It hadn’t taken very long for Nida to become charmed by Midvinter. Perhaps a certain [member="Thirdas Heavenshield"] colored her opinions, but she was quick to take any opportunity to accompany him back home, whether it be a trip for pleasure or under the banner of the Silver Jedi. When she’d first set foot on the snowy world several years ago, she’d found the people to be intimidating not only in stature, but in mannerism. Nida herself had been far more timid back then, easily overwhelmed and consistently worried about messing up.

Now she was more at home with herself, still reserved but less nervous. What was more, Nida had discovered the Valkyri to be a hardworking, resourceful people who were capable of the greatest warmth—especially so in regard to the man she loved. When Thirdas got leave to visit his family, Nida bundled up and joined him back home.

The young healer had been busy sorting through medicinal herbs and medications when [member="Alva Heavenshield"] approached her. One thing she had learned from her time on Midvinter was the value of more natural medicines, especially so since some Valkyri did not trust the medication brought in from off world, preferring to stick to home remedies. The roots and petals that could be found in Midvinter forests did hold healing properties, many of which formed the basis for modern medicine. Still, it was always good to have both on hand. Nida found value in understanding the origin of contemporary treatments, so much so that she’d dragged Thirdas into the forest on more than one occasion to search for medicinal plants to catalogue.

Pink hands paused, and the Zeltron looked up to find the young woman fixing her with an intent gaze, which was a little more than she’d expected. She offered her new companion a soft smile. “Yes, that would be wonderful. I could really use the help!" Today was a relatively slow day, which meant busywork. Even so, Nida took busywork seriously. "Can you sort these here, by name? They’re all listed on the parchment.” A hand hovered over a pile of herbs which had been sectioned and tied off at their stems. A small book was tucked underneath the cart, sitting on a lower level.

She went back to arranging medications, eyes squinting at the small print on the bottles, looking comparatively sterile to the dried plants sitting several inches away. After letting her new helper get settled, she sought to catch her blue eyes once again. “I’m Nida, a Padawan with the Silver Jedi. Who might you be?” Her gaze drifted towards the frame of the door from which Alva had recently exited, then back to Alva herself. She’d been witness to the interaction only in sound. “How is our patient doing?”

 

[Alva Heavenshield]

Alva nodded. “Sure, I can do that.” Her blue eyes looked from the little bundles of herbs to the aforementioned parchment list. She lifted the first with nimble fingers and began to quietly sort them. But, out of the corner of her eyes, she looked to the Zeltron girl, her eyes narrow and focused on bottles of medication. The other girl was so petite and pretty. Alva, by comparison, was a few inches taller and not the same kind of slim... but rather lanky.

She blinked, but met Nida with a friendly smile. “Alva – Alva Heavenshield,” The young Valkyri, or rather... half-Valkyri nodded her head towards the back offices. “My mum works here... Valae.”

When Nida's gaze shifted towards the young man's room, Alva's eyes widened sheepishly and her cheeks colored an almost Zeltron shade of pink. She matched Nida's gentle gaze for a moment before her icy blue orbs dropped back to the pile of fragrant herbs.

“Oh,” she tried to sound nonchalant. “He seems to be doing alright.” Alva nodded. It was the truth, the patient was in pretty good spirits, despite his healing injuries. “Just, uh, don't make me go back in there...” Alva trailed off.

“He winked at me,” she admitted a moment later, her face still rosy and warm.

[member="Nida Perl"]

 

[Nida Perl]

“Heavenshield?” Her hands stopped moving and lowered, medication labels momentarily ignored. Her mind raced, trying to discern where she fit into the family out of curiosity—she didn’t recall the name ‘Alva’ being among Thirdas’ siblings, so she naturally assumed that this girl was a bit more distantly related. “I’m sorry, did you say Valae?” Nida followed Alva’s gaze to where she tilted her head, towards the hall that lead to the offices of the higher ranking healers and administrators.

Before the proper question could form, Alva flushed at the mention of the patient she’d been delivering lunch to. “Did you not like that he winked at you?” Nida empathized, as public affection had never been her strong suit. Neither had been interacting with the opposite sex in a romantic way, but she and Thirdas had conquered that task together. She never would be quite as suave as the rest of her family, it seemed.

“Pardon me if this is intrusive, but was your mother once called ‘Valae Kitra’? My mother used to work with a woman by that name in her youth; she’s spoken of her as a great healer.” Hoping to shift the topic away from Alva’s embarrassment—and to be honest, satisfy her own bubbling curiosity—Nida gently poked around for more clues. Her mother and Valae had been Padawans together in the Silver Jedi, but they’d lost contact when her mother left for the Outer Rim. Whenever stories of her time with the Jedi came up, Valae’s name often surfaced. So far, Nida did not know that Valae had been adopted into the Heavenshield family—or that she’d had a child.

[member="Alva Heavenshield"]

 

[Alva Heavenshield]

Alva nodded in response to Nida's first questions, but her mind was still drifting towards the patient's room. And when Nida asked about the incident, she stood for a moment in thoughtful silence. Pinching a bundle of herbs in her fingers, she looked down at the little sprigs and brought it up to sniff. The herbs were quite fragrant, but smelled more medicinal than anything.

“Erm, well... I don't know,” Alva said shrugging. “I just don't really know how to react to it is all.”

Part of her was flattered, and the other—larger—part was embarrassed. She hadn't known what to say or do. Alva glanced at Nida once more, as she asked again about her mother. Kitra? She squinted slightly and then nodded. “Yes, that's right... her maiden name.” Alva reached up to scratch her head. “Or... the name she had before she was adopted by grandpa.” However that worked.

But Alva blinked as she took in what Nida had said.

“So... your mom knows my mom?” she canted her head. “That's weird – but really cool. I just have a hard time picturing my mother when she was younger.” Alva said, chuckling. “I know she grew up on Tatooine... but she ended up settling down here on Midvinter after she retired from the Silver Jedi.”

Alva couldn't even imagine a world with two suns, it sounded... dreadful.

[member="Nida Perl"]

 

[Nida Perl]

Nida’s disposition brightened with newfound curiosity as the dots were connected. So Alva was the daughter of Valae Heavenshield—Kitra—a friend from her mother’s youth. “It would seem so. My mother is Joza Perl; she and Valae Kitra were Padawans together in the Silver Order.” Or had it been the Silver Sanctum back then? Nida had only come to know the collective group of Jedi to the east as The Silvers.

Her eyes lingered towards the patient’s door, then back to Alva once more. She’d long since placed the bottles of medication down on the tray after the revelation, never ceasing to be surprised by her mother’s connections in the greater galaxy. Privately, Nida hoped one day to have as many adventures a her mother had.

“My mother used to tell me tales of her journeys with the Jedi.” Her hand hovered over a sterile white bottle, mind elsewhere for the moment. “As Padawans, our mothers explored a jungle world with their comrades. That story is my favorite.” The memory of being curled up beside her mother as a child was enough to bring a serene smile to her face, recalling the redhead’s soothing voice. “They’re part of what made me want to become a Jedi.”

Lithe pink fingers closed around the bottles cap, which she lifted to inspect the contents within. “Have you lived on Midvinter all your life, Alva?” Fitting the cap back in place, she made a mental note to deliver the antibiotics to the young man who’d startled Alva.


[member="Alva Heavenshield"]