Meet the Parent

[Ayda Elisantra]

She went silent a moment, thinking about her surrogate world Lianna and how she herself could not easily return to. Lianna was sith occupied since TSE incurred upon the old Allied Tion sector as it were still called by many.
The hospital had incurred many sanctions and restrictions imposed by the sith overlords. as such the hospital administration had secretly commissioned a hospital ship and had it build no less by Mandal Arms. The ship was made to operate outside of sith space and reach and support 'Doctors Without Borderes'. as such, Ayda was most likely not on the sith's good list.
Yes, she understood as to Maeve's dilemma.

"No doubt you'd have to expect that it would be on someone's agenda to exercise their option in making an example of whom they've deemed an outcast returning.
But you're a Healer, Maeve...a humanitarian. What would be in their gain for them to deny one's right to see their family?" Ayda shook her head, as this were indeed a perplexing situation.

She was experiencing the closeness of family ties here on Alderaan.
Well, she had offered to accompany her friend, should she decide to chance going to Mandalore. So for the moment, and to not make the moment any somber, Ayda looked over the collection of exotic plants. There were so many to choose from, it were kind of mind boggling.
"It would be nice to have and care for one of the plants, yes. Only there are so many beautiful ones to choose from.
Then again, I wouldn't know if i would pick the right one.
I mean, well, I travel a lot as you know...
I would need a plant that is robust in a varied environment and one that doesn't mind space travel..you know, no sunlight for a few days. And it would have to remain small so that it would be easily transported..here..there..everywhere." She beamed a bright smile, knowing that if anyone could pick a perfect little robust plant for her, that it would be Maeve.





[member="Maeve Ar'klim"]

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

[member="Ayda Elisantra"]​

​

"Healers are always needed Ayda, but when a declaration is made it doesn't matter what or who you are if you are mandalorian and go against the decree you run the risk of being called before either your Alor or the Mand'alor to answer. i just don't know how it will go. I know my mother aches over it she wants to see that those she knew are safe. But. "

Maeve shrugged finally it was hard to answer and harder yet to think on. "I'm just going get it out of the way find out what I can do, if anything, and maybe..." She chuckled, "maybe figure out what the other half of me is to do now."

"So you need a cactus or something..." Hmm she thought what could she find, "well let's look around."

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"A cacti...." she repeated, sounding it off to see how it would fit.

"Hmm... Yea.
Yea, that's actually a perfect plant for me." Ayda nodded in agreement. And it was a practical plant as it required very little attention, just a little water now and then. With her responding to medical emergencies and long shifts..often triple shifts, a cacti was a perfect plant for her to keep and nurture when she found the time.

"Uhm...do you have something that won't grow so big?
I mean something that will remain manageable by which I can pack in an enviro tube along with the rest of my personal items... in my knapsack as you know. "
Yes, it would have to be a kind of small cacti variety that was slow to grow and remain dwarf-like. Maeve knew how light they were required to pack for 'Doctors Without Borders' and it meant a plant robust enough to be packed away with personal belongings in a travel knapsack.

"Speaking of knapsacks..." Ayda took a moment to stare over to her friend, whom seemed to be eyeing out some cacti.
It took a few seconds, but she finally attracted Maeve's attention.
Ayda looked into her friend's questioning orbs.
"You know...
I would go with you to see if your family on Mandalore are alright. I mean, I see how you miss them and wonder as to how they are doing. There is a sadness darkening your spirit which needs to find out..."




[member="Maeve Ar'klim"]

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

[member="Ayda Elisantra"]

Her family on Mandalore. "I could reach out for my sister [member="Ginnie Dib"] she would meet us, she's a little older than I am, married and I believe Buir got a message a bit ago about her having a baby. We could use that as part of our reason to go, to see the baby." It haunted her really about Mandalore maybe it would help, or maybe it would gut her to be there.

She didn't know, but yeah Ayda had a point if they went maybe it would put some of her pain to rest.

All while talking Maeve looked around, "Small huh..nothing stays small it will get bigger..it's life...maybe just something slow growing...until ya know you get a place that's home." Maeve stood looking at the small patch of what were known as violets...a weed really they spread like wild fire but they were pretty.

It had to be a cactus because...well small, needs only a little water, and hard to kill. "I know just the thing actually, they are over there." Maeve laughed as she remembered.

"There, it's a baby aloe, takes forever to grow, but has medicinal purpose too. For burns..." Maeve looked at the 5 plants, "Which one do you like?"

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

Ayda looked over the tiny cacti, that Maeve had collected for her. Yes, she knew of the species as she had studied many of the more common known plant varieties that had medicinal qualities. Such a cactus produced an ointment that predated bacta.

"The smaller of them looks quite robust" Ayda pointed to one of them.
"Although wouldn't it be lonely being separated from the others?" She asked, knowing quite well, plants , most plants if not all thrived better on their own.

"I mean..well, I will take care of it well enough. But you know there are days, weeks, even months that all we can possibly have time for is the unfortunate wounded and sick. I know most plants don't mind being on their own...it's just that-..
Well, any way possible it can have a friend or two of its own kind to keep it company?"

Well, lord and behold, her friend was already preparing a geranium for her to keep the plant in. It were open top for a cacti didn't require much moisture. And the top did close when it was transported to protect the plant...or as Ayda observed her horticulturist friend...plants.

As it turned out, Maeve did exactly that... she gave the cactus company, by way of including other smaller cacti planted alongside of it.
It were actually quite nice.

"Thank you, Maeve. I'll take good care of it." She beamed when Maeve was done with her creation, handing it over to Ayda. But not without first taking soil, acidic readings and such. Maeve knew plants and what was needed in keeping them healthy. She then gave Ayda simple instructions in how she herself could check on the plant's condition and when/how to water and feed it.
The small geranium was just the perfect size for someone like her.

With that completed, they returned on the subject of Maeve's family on Mandalore.

"So you are an aunt now, you think?... that is a wonderful thing." Ayda spoke with encouragement.

"There very little in comparison to a new born. Babies are so precious...so innocent.
It would be good for your spirit to meet and connect with your sister's child. It will later make it easier for that child when grown to know you also. Not may understand, but a new born subconsciously remembers those whom shared their love with them, when they were so helpless. They subconsciously remember that person's scent. It remains with them, even if they never see that person again..."

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

Maeve worked quickly her fingers knew the dirt, knew the plants and whatever else was needed for them to survive. She had worked with her mother since she was small not just here on Alderaan but on the planet Aldera, Mandalore, and home. The farm. She didn't think about it too long.

She was pleased that Ayda was pleased she nodded then answered the family question, "Yes I am...kind of odd to think about being an Aunt, it would be ba'vodu it's like buir applies to Aunt or Uncle."

She thought about it a bit more, "I'll send a message to [member="Ginnie Dib"] and see, well test the waters." Family was family course now Ginnie had ties to her cousin Arabella. Arabella was married to Muad Dib. How did that work for her? It's just more family really. Nothing more.

Maeve listened to Ayda as she tried to give reasons why Maeve should go. "Seeing the baby would be sweet. I haven't seen Ginnie since ...' since the funeral rights for their father. "since the day we said goodbye to Buir."

Was she ever to let this go? She had to it wasn't good.

"Remember to water your plants Ayda." She let go of a sigh, "Come let's walk a bit more and then I'll find a terminal to send a message." During the course of the walk Maeve found one of the terminals for orders and sent a message to Ginnie about a visit.

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"Will certainly do..." Ayda nodded, as she downloaded the cacti species and the required care for them.
Maeve had access to her mother's entire database of plant species known throughout the galaxy. Not all were physically represented in the green house, but what had already been discovered and categorized, they did have on file.

They continued on walking through one section of the green house to the next. There were so many varieties and subspecies, it were mind boggling to even name all. But each species had names, and as Maeve pointed out, her mother and family used the plants and variety to send secret messages to each other.
Maeve collected and put together such a message with ease. Ayda couldn't have done it faster if she took to pen and paper.

With the plant message completed, Maeve set them in a transport box that would be picked up and delivered ASAP to the rightful system and recipient.

"Wow..just as easy as that, huh?" Ayda had never seen or heard of anything like that before. She were amazed at the ingenuity of using plants to relay secret messages.


[member="Maeve Ar'klim"]

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

"Genetic coding into the plants was once considered but ya know it was really easier this way. No hidden messages to be revealed or put someone in danger just straight forward. If they need something else they tell us on the spot and we add it to the next order." Maeve revealed something about the operation and then realized that if Ayda mentioned it to the wrong person.

"Ayda, don't tell anyone that. The wrong person be told it could put my family, my mother in danger" Not that her mother was afraid of danger Maeve though was afraid.

"Yeah Ginnie will likely say to come when time is right. She just needs to tell us the right time. "So yeah, easy. Least it sounds easy."

She didn't want to invite Ayda into the resistance right now her friend needed to make the decision another time. Maeve knew that Ayda was a doctor first helping everyone and anyone.

"I haven't heard much about movement of the Sith have you?" A slight change to the subject matter.

[member="Ayda Elisantra"]

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"Sigh...
No, it saddens me every time the Empire move further into the core." She replied, carefully putting her small geranium into her pack. Maeve had shown her how to close and open the dura-glass little globe with the cacti nestled safely inside. It were a durable planter like display that acted also as a safekeeping for delicate life forms. this one in particular were the little cacti that Maeve gave her to keep.

"So much they take for granted...life mostly which they have no right to take." Ayda knew she didn't have to elaborate to Maeve as they both had been to several campaigns where the sith took life with extreme prejudice...and then there were times they didn't. There was no rhyme or reason to their different onslaught. But it were clear. If systems oppose their will, they were mercilessly dealt with. those which complied, were for the most part able to almost function as they once had. The latter had taken place on Lianna. The system didn't oppose the sith occupation and the overlords who now dictated over the system...and consequently the hospital that Ayda had come from.

Where once The Allied Tion Med Center were considered the center of medicine of the Expansion and Outer Rim Territories, it were now just a former shell of what it once were.
It was because the sith overlords or TSE itself had anything directly to do with downsizing it. It was due that it now was located in TSE territory and no free minded patient or doctors of the free systems would patronize it, despite it still had the same medical expertise.
As such, the Allied Tion Med Center had commissioned a mobile prodigy of itself. It had built a massive mobile hospital, the ATM Serenity which operated outside sith territories. From there it could once again serve to help all whom were in need of humanitarian medical assistant. It were where Ayda had been dispatched from. And incidentally, it were operating hand in hand with the 'Doctors Without Borders' organization.

"I mean... I know how you feel about wanting to return home to visit family and friends on Mandalore. I kind of feel the same way about Lianna and the hospital." Ayda replied.

"Maybe one day, I'll visit the hospital on Lianna...walk through it's gardens and bring the flowers that I picked on my way from the dorms to the patients I'm seeing. " Seemed both girls yearned to see a place so close to their hearts, but other outside forces prevented them from easily doing so.
They certainly shared a common lost and love for what they once each had in their life.




[member="Maeve Ar'klim"]

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

Maeve stood silent for a moment considering a number of things she had hear that [member="Ginnie Dib"] had been ill so that trip might have to wait. But then if Ayda wanted to see Lianna.

"We could use the Doctors without Borders to go to Lianna. I mean offer them a few classes in exchange for a visit or something. that is if you want to" Not that Maeve was putting anything off but she wanted well she wanted to make sure Ayda was able to be happy too. If going to Lianna would do that, why not.

Sith were everywhere and so long as they didn't try to....start a rebellion it might be a nice trip.

"What do you think?"

[member="Ayda Elisantra"]

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"That would ease my heart...to know the people whom cared for me were doing well, Maeve." There was a touch of happy memories and sadness at the same time.
"But it is well within the territorial borders of The Sith Empire now. I wouldn't think your mom would like you to go to Lianna like she wouldn't want you to risk yourself on Mandalore."

True, both had their reasons for going to either system. But both systems were currently out of reach for them. And Ayda was certainly not going to risk her friend Maeve to go to Lianna. Although Ayda didn't consider that Maeve was thinking the same. Neither girl really wished to risk the other on their behalf. It were what true friendship was like. And this was indeed forming into such a friendship.

"Come...show me more of the greenhouses here and then of the others that you know of. We can think about where our hearts want to be at a later time. Right now, I am enjoying your mother's greenhouses and plants..." She gave another look around at all the varieties. It were true, she could visit many, many systems in her lifetime, but could never see such varieties as she were seeing now. There were plants from more systems than she could ever visit...

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

"What my mom doesn't know doesn't hurt her. Besides I'm grown woman I don't need permission to do much." She didn't need permission to do anything really she just liked tell her mother where she was going and doing in case she needed help.

Her mother wouldn't be happy if Maeve got herself caught by the Sith. Yeah that wouldn't be a pleasant conversation.

"Sure come over this way its tame plants, just pretty colors, warm temperatures, and lessons on where they are from and what they can do. Amazing really how plants morph and change to fit their environment. They are...incredible." They were really some were so small only a trained eye could find them and yet that teeny tiny plant could kill with a single smell. Scary and Amazing.

"I once thought about doing more with plants. There's a lot to learn though." Maeve walked slowly she could hear the water running through the green house no matter what was happening outside this was a refuge. Protection and warmth.

She just walked not lost in thought just looking at the splendor around her and Ayda.

[member="Ayda Elisantra"]

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

It had become quite a day.

First she got to enjoy herself doing some cross country on a speeder bike, then not only learn more about plants throughout the galaxy, but actually have a few younglings of her own to take care of. Maeve had placed them in a smart compact geranium that could be closed up and easily transported in her bag, her satchel.

It were fun for Ayda, as it weren't something she often did; spend some time with a friend. It had been difficult for her to make and keep friends as she grew up because she were so different from others. Her quietness and soft mannerism almost gave the impression she were delicate. But far from a delicate creature she was. It weren't that she hid or downplayed her hidden attributes. It was just the fact that they had never come to be called on. There was never a reason to escalate any confrontation or situation. There was nothing for her to prove to anyone who or what she were capable of or what exactly she were intended for. And she had been given free will and choice.

Still, her quiet reserved mannerism, her reclusiveness, and her lack of interest in play with children of her own age growing up, alienated her from the other orphans. As thus, she went about her school years and internship basically without any close friends. Her only interactions were said to be with her keepers, her teachers and instructors that lead all the way up to her acquiring a MD degree from The Allied Tion Medical Center.

It wasn't till The Sith Empire encroached on the system Lianna that forced not only her hospital, but Ayda to seek extending their services outside the sith iron curtain to the open galaxy that she began making friends. Being a near adult with the same attributes as she had as child didn't make her stand out with people of her age and older. they just accepted her as being a quiet individual. But Ayda's temperament and her look on life as a child never changed in her more adult form. It were just simply fitting in with those of her age group now and older.

But she enjoyed this little sidetrack of her life with Maeve. it were in many ways a kind of vacation..her very first in extending her life experiences. And she were learning much from Maeve with not only observations but with actual understanding as to what life was to live. And she found that she actually enjoyed herself, especially in Maeve's company.
Funny thing was that she would occasionally peek inside her side bag at the geranium Maeve gave her and check on the baby cacti to see how they were faring. She had somehow taken to them like they depended on her. But no, they weren't asking for much, if anything at all.

It went on as such between her and her baby cacti in thoughts...
No drink?...nope, no drink...not thirsty today.
Fresh air? need more air in there?... no, plenty of air to photosynthesize.
How about sunlight? Need more sunlight to make your food? No, the little sunray of light is enough (small artificial built in lamp).

"Hmm..." She would then close her bag and check on her baby cacti again later, as she walked along with Maeve throughout the vast connecting greenhouses in this one location.




[member="Maeve Ar'klim"]

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

wWas there a voice? Nahh couldn't be, Maeve looked back to where [member="Ayda Elisantra"] it was...eh she didn't know. Maybe she was talking to the plants lots of people did it was rumored to be healthy for them.

Maeve actually couldn't see if it was healthy or not. After all they were life but was it really a form that could understand intonation and emotion? She didn't know, but it might be worth experimenting with....maybe....if Ayda was talking to the plants..maybe what Maeve could do was watch and see how the plants did and if Ayda acted any different.

"Maybe we should head back to Sanctuary City visit a bit more and make plans for the next step." Maeve the planner.

"I think the galaxy is holding its breath right now waiting for the next big confrontation, maybe we should find some more places for supplies."

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"A storm does seem to be brewing quite near..." Ayda's attention were drawn away from her plants, as she seemed to reflect on something that were about, yet not as close as her words had seemed to speak.
Ayda had not meant their current location, nor meaning the weather patterns on Alderaan. She had reached out to sample what were brewing about in the galaxy. It were nothing specific, but the negative vibes of the force were abound all amassing, churning and churning... getting closer and closer to critical mass itself.
Something were unbalanced for sure and it would no doubt come to form a storm. Only this storm forming were close, and it would mean many, many more souls would perish on account of it. It were war coming.
And this war were brewing close to this system's borders. Only that it were not Alderaan that would be at war but those whom were close to her...her allies.

"Gasp..." Ayda had stretched too far, to distant and were about to fall into that very void that were brewing, like as if she were to slip off a steep cliff. She pulled herself back before it pulled her into it. yes, she could sense such things if she had a mind to, but she rather not. It weren't anything she could do or change anything that were coming, only to prepare herself for it.

Ayda were not one to go about changing the course of wars or conflicts...she could however ease the sufferings of those whom the storm swallowed up. And ultimately, guide those deserving to everlasting light.
It were not something by which she had chosen to do, but created to do.

"Yes, I can feel something like that pressing upon us, Maeve. I don't know how long it'll be before it's over us. I do wish we had more time...wish we had more good times like these, here together before the storm's darkness overshadows us once more..." There were a sadness in her eyes. She had come to know and like Maeve. Had come to like sharing their current serenity here.



[member="Maeve Ar'klim"]

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

"That would be another reason why I come home every once in a while. Just in case the galaxy does something I can't see." Like her mother passing that would be unexpected her father already gone.

She had begun to consider the mandalorian traditions though she was not a warrior. She was fairly certainly she couldn't beat her way out of a paper bag but there were other things she could do as a mandalorian. Maybe...it was time to check the homestead.

"The darkness is always [member="Ayda Elisantra"] there it may seem elusive and just out of reach, but its waiting for its moment to diminish the light." She had read once that there could be no darkness without light.

"Come on let's go grab the speeders and head back. We can do rounds in the hospital in the City and make some deals on supplies." The Alderaan Hospital could spare some, she hoped.

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"That would be something...to visit the hospital here on Alderaan. " She replied, now more eager to get back to Maeve's house.
Her mother's greenhouse had been some sight to see and especially in the manner that plants were used in secret messages. Then again, there were so, so many plants from all over the galaxy that she got to see, that she wouldn't otherwise.
And of course, she were given a few baby cacti to take care of and keep her company on those long nights when on their campaigns.

Well, maybe another humanitarian campaign was just around the corner. Ayda wished not, for it meant many would suffer. As much as she did her best to ease suffering, she would have rather not see any suffering at all...maybe just welcome newborns into life. That were her wish.
But the stars, the heavens had other plans for her. But whatever the call was, she'd do her best.

The speeder bikes were where they had left them and Ayda followed Maeve's cue in getting on hers and firing it up. She were to follow and keep pace with her friend back to her mother's house.

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

The ride back was uneventful, they chit chatted back and forth about the landscape and the mountains. Her cousins had grown up in palaces on Alderaan, if not the mountain palace then the palace in New Aldera. If anyone had been born with a silver spoon it was her cousins Theo and [member="Laira Darkhold"] . She wasn't jealous...well maybe she was but she rarely saw them or her cousin Faith.

Perhaps it was a choice made she didn't know she only knew her mother put effort into Alderaan that rarely was acknowledged by her family. That was irritating.

"We will be just on time for rounds" Maeve reassured her friend, "The Alderaan Hospital is...well a marvel of technology. Maybe comparable to Coruscant...maybe." There were places they could go to build hospitals...maybe that was the thing now...maybe they needed to build...

"Ayda....ever thought of building a hospital or clinic in the rim?"

[member="Ayda Elisantra"]

 

[Ayda Elisantra]

"You mean like building a hospital?..." Now that was an interesting question.
One Ayda had never considered.

"Hmm.... haven't given it any thought on it before..." No, she certainly hadn't, as there had been no need to. There were hospitals all over the galaxy. Well, mostly on civilized colonies and systems. Then the lesser developed systems had sort of clinics or privately operated banks, offices of sort. Ayda herself had been mostly educated and received her doctorate on a remote system in the old Allied Tion Sector called Lianna. It were where her parent hospital the Allied Tion Medical Center was located. It was once one of the largest and best known non-profit, free care, humanitarian hospital in the Outer Rims.

But that was before the sith empire encroached in that sector, claiming territories and thus the ATMC (Allied Tion Medical Center). As a result of TSE's presence and new provincial governing laws, the hospital experienced a massive shift in admittance. The drop off of new patients seeking healthcare was significant enough for the hospital to commission an extension of itself in the means of a mobile hospital...the ATM-Serenity. With that, it was able to expand its services outside of TSE and keep to its standards in providing humanitarian aid to any and all who needed it.
Ayda were one of the doctors the hospital sent as a permanent resident to the ATM-Serenity. There she served as a mobile emergency doctor, often deployed to hot zones and systems under the 'Doctors Without Borders' humanitarian flag.
It were she and Maeve had met.

"But off hand, I don't believe I would like to go into administrative services.
I cannot serve my purpose behind a desk in an office.
So, no.
No, I wish to remain in the field where I am needed most...no matter where it is." She replied, now pretty sure of where she stood on that matter. Ayda had never thought about it at all until Maeve asked her.
But it was evident that Ayda wanted to serve as a practicing doctor/surgeon and not as an administrator. She wished to be where the sick, the wounded and the dying were.
Her purpose was to ease the suffering.




@Maeve Arklim

 

[Maeve Ar'klim]

[member="Ayda Elisantra"]

Maeve laughed, "its not just about paper pushing. We would get to train the interns, set the level of care...bring better health care to places that don't have it. think of it, a settlement on the rim that needs a clinic, that is fed by a larger hospital like the one here on Alderaan. We could help so many by training someone to be able to care for others."

It was something that her mother had once done with the responders sadly they were no more but...there were a lot of ways to help people.

"Or getting people together to build a hospital in a place where its needed."

Maeve pictured a fundraiser, and then building the hospital, ensuring the staff was trained, then leaving to build the next one. What a difference they could make....the outer rim might have that need...when not working with Ayda she could do that...if she wanted...

They were drawing closer to Sanctuary City, "OK....about another 15 minutes we'll be in the City."