Private Waiting Here For You

[Rhia Kesyk]

Tribunal Station.

It had been a long haul to get here, stuck with just Ideon and Marus Saretti for company, but now that she was here Rhia was finding herself feeling mighty unsure about the whole thing. Maybe she should have asked to be taken somewhere else, somewhere he wasn't, but it was over now, much too late to change her mind. Besides, Vero's sacrifice could not be in vain. They couldn't just retreat back into the shadows, not now.

Ideon was as quiet as ever at her side. This was perhaps the busiest place they'd had the displeasure of exploring in a long time, and he was understandably unnerved by the whole experience. That meant that Rhia had to take the reins. It was that or they'd get nothing done at all. So she took one of his hands in her own and led him through the Station.

Asking around had led her to the door of a training area, and once outside of it the girl could not help but hover. Her heart thumped so loudly in her chest that she was afraid it might break the ribs themselves. Ideon must have picked up on it, because he gave her hand a squeeze. With an exhale, Rhia pressed a button beside the door to alert the one inside of her presence.

Far be it for her to walk in unannounced.

Especially given who it was inside.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

From beyond the doorway, the visitors could clearly hear the sounds of lightsabers clashing. Cotan stood within, surrounded by a trio of training droids that were hammering at him with their blades. Live blades, no less; though Asha had tried to convince him to take his training a bit more safely, he knew his own tendencies enough that going in against training sabers would be enough to cause him to get lax. Not that it made much difference; his amber blade spun gracefully about him as he danced along the floor, each blade deftly dodged or expertly turned aside before they could touch him.

He stepped out from under one overhand blow, the strike going wide. A thrust that was coming in his way was knocked away with a circular spin of his blade, catching another strike before it could connect. His left hand shot out, punching the first droid hard on a single panel in its chest, and it deactivated. As it fell to the floor he hopped over it, turning fully back to the other two as he backed into the corner—

And heard the knocking. "Halt," he commanded the droids, which both ceased their advance immediately. "That's enough for today. Veeseven, reactivate eight and stow your blades. Veefour, the door, if you'd please." His brow furrowed as the droids moved, deactivating his own lightsaber and placing it on his belt. He could sense...a pair of visitors? But he had no clue who'd be bothering him during this time, as even Asha would rarely deign to do so unless it was some emergency, and if it was, he'd likely already have known of it.

Situated where he was, he also didn't have a good view past the door once it was opened. "Come in," he bid the pair waiting for him, as V4 went to rejoin V7 and V8. "Just don't expect me freshly showered or anything like that."

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

The pair gave one another a weird look in the interim, while the door was closed. Not that they had any right to find it strange, given that they were stood outside of a training room. Even so, what else was there to do? Rhia was regretting every choice she'd ever made in that moment, maybe if she turned away now they could flee before he even answered the door?

She half turned as though to act on that, but Ideon held strong and refused to budge. He sent a feeling of resolve through their connection, and his expression was oddly stern for one so young. But he made his point clear, and so she stood and waited.

Soon enough the door opened, revealing a droid on the other side. Then a familiar voice drifted out toward her, and her stomach was immediately in knots. Rhia turned a deeper shade of green than she usually exhibited... And then she crossed the threshold.

Cotan was finishing up, a droid in the center of the room was being reactivated, and Rhia feigned interest in a spot on the ground between the two. She couldn't even look at him as she rounded the droid and came into view, Ideon clinging tightly onto her hand as something of an anchor.

She should have said something, she knew that right away, but she couldn't form the words. Her mouth just opened and closed like a fish caught on a hook.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

His eyes fell upon the pair quickly as they shuffled in, sizing them up almost instantly. Lithe, athletic, clearly speaking to a life of either work or training. But they were young. Barely an adult, the one, and the young boy seemed...too young for the stern set to his jaw. His eyes narrowed, but neither said a word. The elder came to a spot and stood, looking away from him, unspeaking. Through the Force, he could recognize...worry, regret, and a whole knot of other emotions he couldn't begin to pick apart. So he was left marvelling at the strange, straight-backed girl, unable to meet his eyes, unable to speak.

He looked more closely. The boy was near-human at least, but the girl, beyond the nervous set to her face...When he caught a glimpse, he could see the emerald green of her eyes. The slightly greenish tinge to her skin, below the crop of dark brown hair. His brow furrowed deeper. If she was who he thought she was...when last he'd seen her, she was a child. One he'd had to set aside for her own safety, somewhere that she could receive the training she deserved, only for her to disappear not long after.

This one had to be nearly ten years older...had it truly been so long? Had time managed to pass his form by so easily even as others around him kept growing older? Judging by how different Jorus looked, by how much older Coren's kids had grown...yes, it likely had. And if this was her, then that knot he couldn't unravel...

"Ah."

He broke the silence at last, when she wouldn't. His face and tone were kept carefully neutral, his mind willed as still as a pond within moments, although he couldn't keep all the warmth of care from his tone when next he spoke:

"Breathe, Rhia. It's only me."

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

Cotan was quick at putting the pieces together, faster in truth than she'd expected he would be. It had been a decade, after all, she'd expected him to have forgotten her entirely in that time. He hadn't, though. She hadn't even said a single thing and yet he'd known it was her.

Rhia didn't know what to do with that little slither of information.

He told her to breathe, and there was a calm warmth and familiarity in his tone that stuck a dagger in her gut and twisted. Ideon half hid behind her when he sensed it, though he kept his hands tightly in hers.

"Only... you?"

Red overtook green on her skin then, and finally she turned her gaze toward him. The shock of seeing him stood there as though not even a day had passed by had her take a surprised step back, and tears welled in her eyes. It was as though she was eight years old again. Her next breath caught in her throat.

She swallowed the lump down.

Everything she'd planned to say, every rumbling of rage which had been boiling deep inside, dissipated in that instance. All she could do was stare, take in his face again, a face she'd never truly forgotten.

"Ten... Years. I've waited ten years to find you again. Only you..?"

Those two words seemed to perplex her the most, she couldn't shake them from the space they'd stolen within her mind. She shook her head to try all the same, and tried to breathe in a breath that might steady her some. It felt as though the room was closing in on her, though, and she even released her hold of Ideon's hand in order to put her head in her hands.

Breathe... Yeah, fat chance.

"You never came back. You just... Left me there. Gave me hope and then... Then..." A sound of pure aggravation escaped her before she could push it back down, and she pushed her palms gently against her eyes to try and relieve some of the rising pressure which was building behind them.

"This was a mistake."

This had all been a mistake.

She turned to leave. At her back, Ideon shook slightly. His grief washed over her then, a grief she could only share in, giving her pause. If this had been a mistake, then Master Shif was gone for naught... Though she'd released the boy's hand, he clutched onto her arm all the same. Begged her, in his own way, to take back the words she'd just uttered.

Instead they just hung there in the space between them.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

He stood silent as Rhia slowly picked her way through the thoughts and emotions rising up within her. Sadness—fear—anger—grief—rage; it was all present, each one fighting each moment for some semblance of control. But for the moment, he stood silent, still as a statue as she tried to figure out what to say, what to feel, what to do. He fought down the urge to step after her when she was first shocked seeing how unchanged he was, to rush up and hug her like he had when she'd broken down crying in the medbay on his ship years before.

Even when she turned to leave, he didn't make a move, letting the boy catch her instead. A boy with his own wellspring of pain ready to pour into the room, silent as he was; no doubt, some of it was shared between the two, but much of what was in the room right now...much of it was Rhia's, not the boy's.

A mistake.

He'd made many in his time. As much as it had hurt...seeing her alive and well, even if she had disappeared eight years ago, just when the galaxy had been starting to come to enough of a sense of normalcy that he felt it safe for him to go and visit Eira Pechal and see her again, that proved to him that leaving her there couldn't have been one, not entirely.

Not compared to the alternative had she followed at his heel in everything he'd done since.

"Was it? Is it?" Hope. Rage. Despair. Nostalgia. It was almost palpable. He breathed out again, slowly, measured, maintaining his peace. Another breath, in and out.

"Yes. Only me." Her back turned, the boy clinging to her almost desperately, refusing to let her rush out as she'd been so close to doing. "There's nothing here you need to fear, Rhia."

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

"I needed you" she finally said, back still turned to him. Rhia shook her arm slightly, enough to dislodge Ideon's hands, and then took up one of them in her own again. There was a comfort there, shared between the pair of them, and though it was clear they were not actually related it would have been easy to mistake them for siblings. He settled some when her hand was back in his, and in her own way she did too.

A soft intake of breath was her initial response to his question, one she'd regarded as more rhetorical than anything. And then she turned to face him once more. Her emotions were a little more guarded now, as she tried to grapple for control over them. She couldn't afford to fall apart, not now, not after all that had happened to bring them here. Even if only for the boy's sake she had to breathe.

"I waited for you, and you never came back. I thought you'd at least visit... Or call. You could have called..."

A crack in her voice betrayed the emotions her face had shielded, and the next exhale was shaky and breathless.

"I tried to find you. I searched the Galaxy until I stumbled upon another like you, a Je'daii. He taught me, raised me, trained me, so that I could better understand you, and he died to bring me here... There is everything to fear here, Cotan."

The girl fell silent, quieter even than her soundless companion. Gaze drifted away from him once more, and a faraway look fell over her. She was stood on the edge of the unknown once more, with no idea of where to go or what to do. Her only duty stood at her side, and she knew that in coming here she'd already failed him in more ways than one. Lost him the only stability he'd known.

Nothing to fear...

"We were supposed to come here with Master Shif. Continue our training, alongside the rest of you. But now..?" Her free hand ran up through her hair again. "I don't know what to do. Trust you? Stay here and hope everything works out this time?" She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, unsure if she could truly meet his gaze. "Head out there with Ideon, hope we can find someplace among the stars?" Rhia scoffed at that notion.

How had it come to this?

How was it she was stood before Cotan for the second time in her life with no clear path for the future?

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

His neutral expression broke slightly, his brow furrowing in...

Not confusion, she'd be able to tell soon enough. Consternation. Frustration, even. Varo Shif...he could take the time to process that later, to let Asha know the news, as undoubtedly she'd want to be told as soon as possible. For Rhia to have found him afer that grouping of Je'daii had split apart and scattered to the winds was a stroke of fortune he could scarcely believe, and certainly helped to explain how she'd managed to eventually find her way to the station. One that hadn't even existed before she'd disappeared. "Why?" he asked, after a moment.

"Rhia, why would there be anything for you to fear here, here, of all the places in the galaxy?" His voice was quiet, no louder than necessary in the otherwise silent room. "Why wouldn't you know what to do? Is seeing me truly such a shock, that everything else you've built up shatters around you?" His glance slid to the boy again, unsure which of them was relying on the other. Likely both at once, in that moment, but even then, she at least had one black that would not fall away so easily.

He shook his head, before looking back to her eyes, almost willing her to meet his gaze head on. "I'm glad you're well, Rhia. When I found out you'd gone, after Asha'd already been disappeared for so long...I don't rightly think I slept for nearly two weeks straight. I thought I'd lost you both." In and out, he breathed. His face had softened again, returning to its neutral expression, betraying nothing for the moment.

"In the face of that..." He sighed, spreading his hands. "Rhia, I'm still me. Only me, and just me. I truly don't know what you think there is to be afraid of, in this moment." Certainly, he had guesses, but in the face of his reaction to her arrival she should know that at least one source of fear and worry was baseless. "You know why I made the choice I did, and you know which of us I made it for. So am I truly so hard to trust? Is it truly so hard to see again?"

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

He spoke, and tried to snatch her gaze; for a moment he was unsuccessful, but the more she tried to look away the harder it became. Eventually her gaze settled back on his, hardening slightly. It was the only way she could look him in the eye without faltering.

"Because nothing's as it was meant to be."

Had she come here seeking him? Yes. She might have painted it as searching for more of their kind, but she knew the truth as had Vero. But she was supposed to come here with a Master of her own, with something akin to independence. This was... A lot more independence than she'd been expecting to have. And with a dependent of her own?

That wasn't part of the plan.

The plan had crumpled around her. Now she'd be forced to adapt.

"He was the one in control, he knew what to do, he had it all planned out. How am I supposed to live up to that now?" Her gaze dropped from Cotan to the boy, and the true meaning behind her words became evident. It wasn't her fate she was worried about, it was his. How could she replace Vero where he was concerned?

Frankly, she couldn't.

But then Cotan spoke, spoke on the decision he'd made, and the suffering he'd felt when Rhia and Asha had both disappeared simultaneously, and the knife in her gut twisted of its own volition. She'd worried him. She should have known she would, leaving without a word, but she hadn't been thinking then.

His words made sense, they cut through the remainder of her frustrations until all that remained was sadness and grief. She pulled Ideon closer, and he stepped in front of her; it might have looked as though he was trying to protect her, if not for the way in which both her arms wrapped around him and held him close. Defensive of him even then.

If he'd had somewhere else to go, somewhere else to be, she would have spared him this reunion. But there wasn't anywhere for him, not yet at least.

"You're not hard to trust," she finally responded, meeting his gaze once more. "But that's the problem. How do I know you're not going to just send us away, when I let my guard down again?" Send them where? Back to the Jedi? Even considering that made her shiver. No, she was older now, she'd make a point of rejecting that.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Nothing's ever as it's meant to be," Cotan replied. His words came a bit quicker, a bit sharper than he'd intended, but he had meant them fervently. Trying to focus on what was, on what could have been, would never lead to anything but more pain. A lesson he'd learned the hard way back when he was the age Rhia looked to be now. And living up to a master...

"You're not supposed to live up to what he was going to do, not so soon, not so young. In time, maybe, but not right now." Force, he still didn't think he'd ever prove capable of living up to the example he'd been given by his own master, but at least he was of an age where it made more sense to even think about the idea.

"I have a station that's harder to get to, and probably safer, than Eira Pechal," he replied. "And I doubt I could send you away, now, or ever get you to stay in one place, even if I was of a mind to do so. Or am I reading what I see before me wrong?" He glanced at the boy in Rhia's arms again, frowning. The bond between the two was obvious; the dependence, as well. But the boy had a strength to him, the same as Rhia seemed to. "Veefour, Veeseven, Veeeight," he called, raising his voice slightly. The training droids responded, stepping forward. He frowned again, thinking about what he was about to do. No doubt he'd meet with objections, but there was nothing new in that.

"Take this young man along to get a proper meal. Show him the garden, show him any of the free apartments in the habitat module Asha and I are in, whatever he likes after he gets something other than anxiety and pain in his belly, except..." He sighed, again, deeper. A bit more raw; and his following words were directed just as much at the boy as the droids.

"My Padawan and I need at least a few minutes alone."

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

His words broke through the last of her defenses, and the tears she'd done so well at holding back came flooding through.

"But how can I do right by him" she gave Ideon a squeeze, subconsciously projecting who it was she spoke of, "if I don't live by Vero's example?" If not now, then when? If she didn't have the boys back, who would? Who knew his quirks, how to handle his selective mutism, how to comprehend the emotions he projected in lieu of his voice? Show patience and strength in the face of the strife he'd experienced?

But in a way Cotan gave an answer to even that. They'd be safe here, away from the dangers of the Galaxy, as they had been under Vero Shif's tutelage. They could study among their peers, and Ideon could... He could breathe. Be a child again. Could she let go of the reins, though? Could she give some of that control over to another?

Rhia wasn't so sure and her dubiousness was writ across her expression.

What happened next truly set her on edge. The trio of droids were called forth, and asked to escort Ideon elsewhere on the vessel. Rhia bristled at that, and held him tighter, went so far as to even glare in Cotan's direction. "He's not going anywhere," she stated, firmly, though when she opened her mouth to further explain her stance, to further reject the insane notion that they were to be separated, she heard the rest of what the man was saying.

Words he said as much to the boy in her arms as he did the droid.

Nay, as much to her.

Rhia stared at him. What had he just said? Disbelief was the dominant emotion, more so once she squashed down some of the hope which tried to make a home of her heart. No, she couldn't let hope back in. Not now. Not yet. She exhaled and slowly slackened her hold on Ideon, more so when the boy expressed to her a feeling that all was well. He was hungry, he was always hungry, and even more than Rhia he understood what was needed in that moment.

"Make sure it has two rooms," she whispered as she leaned down slightly to his level, speaking of the apartment. "Otherwise, it's your choice."

Two bedrooms. Rhia wasn't going to hand over all of her trust in a heartbeat. Where he went, she would too. That was the simple reality of things now. Even so she released him and watched as he was led away by the droids. In his absence she felt hollow and weak, as though someone had sucked all of the air from the room.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Rhia's words washed over him, netting no response for the moment. The boy seemed fine, pulling from her embrace after a moment. V4 reached down, placing one of its hands on his shoulders, or taking his hand if he'd so prefer, before the three escorted, led, and guarded the boy out of the room. He'd be perfectly safe with the trio, designed as they were to stand up to Cotan's own training regimen, and they'd been designed with a modicum of protocol functionalities beyond their normal battle droid programming.

Then the boy and droids were gone, the door shut again, and Cotan and Rhia were alone. He turned back to her, meeting her gaze.

In, and out.

"Rhia, by the Force, come here."

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

The boy had taken the hand of the droid. It was no substitute, of course, but he seemed to take comfort in it all the same.

And then he was gone.

Then it was just the two of them.

When her name was uttered she snapped her gaze back toward Cotan; the rest of the words had her frozen in place. She swallowed with uncertainty, chewed the inside of her cheek as though somehow that would help, and then forced herself back into action.

She approached him with what she had believed to be a measured pace. In reality, however, there was an urgency behind each step that she failed to notice for herself.

There hadn't been much space between them, but it felt like an eternity all the same before she halted in front of him. An awkwardness washed over her, and she just stood there unsure of what she was even waiting for.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Where she stopped, there wasn't even any time for the awkwardness to take over before Cotan reached out, pulling Rhia into a crushing hug. He fell to his knees with her in his arms, chin atop her head as he finally let go of the enforced peace he'd been holding himself together in. Tears flowed silently and freely, his breahing hard but measured, and everything he'd been feeling those last few minutes would be as evident to her as her emotions had been to him.

Relief, that she was okay. The joy that she was back. But also the sadness that she had gone, that she had such trouble bringing herself to meet him, the worry he'd been holding onto for the last decade, and the same undiminished pain he'd felt the day he'd had to part with her at the praxeum on Eira Pechal. Cotan had always been one to control himself, but he'd never been one to truly hide his feelings, and he certainly wouldn't hide them then.

Nor could he, if even he'd tried, hide the amount of anger he felt as well.

"You foolish girl," he growled, when he could make himself speak again, though he just hugged her all the tighter. "You foolish girl. I've loved you since I first saw you smile, first heard you laugh, first heard you cry. Did you really think I would push you away? That I would deny you?" He pulled back slightly, looking down into her eyes. The streaks of tears down his cheeks were obvious, but he would not sob. He would not give in completely.

His jaw was set, the pain was evident in his face, but even as open as this he was still as measured as always. "Rhia, I felt like a part of me died that day I had to leave you, even knowing that I was doing it for your safety. For your benefit. Even when I couldn't respond, even when I couldn't visit, I still read every report they sent back to me, and I was on my way there when I received the message that you'd disappeared."

He wrapped his arms back around her, a bit more gentle. Even denying himself the right to lose himself, she could easily feel as he still shook. "Rhia, please, don't ever put me through something like that again. It's been hard enough when Asha's done it, but this galaxy is too dangerous, and I've lost too many people to take something like that again. It's hard enough contending with the knowledge that I might never be able to come back, and that's why I always make sure I at least say goodbye."

He wrapped her in tighter, that slight tremor still noticeable. "Please."

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

"I..."

Whatever the girl was going to say was immediately lost within the bear hug to end all bear hugs. She was pulled down to her knees alongside him, and though at first she tried to resist it she soon found herself embracing him as wholeheartedly as he did her. Having already opened the floodgates earlier, Rhia succumbed to her grief without resistance.

Her hands clenched into the back of his shirt, more so when his emotions became all the more apparent to her, his own grief and worry and relief matching hers. She didn't want to let go, didn't want the moment to end, because despite all of the raging emotions in that moment she felt only peace. Those ten years melted away into nothingness and she simply existed.

Then his growling words were uttered, and she stiffened in response. At first she primed herself for the worst, but all she got were the words she'd needed to hear all those years ago. He pulled back in the aftermath, and she was forced to look at him again. It was both easier and harder this time, if only for the weight of all that was being said.

She couldn't reply, there were no words because in that moment she didn't entirely know why she'd been so resistive, why she'd been so afraid. It all felt so foolish now, didn't it? Now that the bandaid had been ripped off and reality had reared its head.

Rhia fell back into his embrace and just listened, heard all that he had to say without interruption, heard his concerns, his pleas. She swallowed, then she nodded. When she finally spoke the words were muffled, the girl refusing to even lift her head. Shame washed over her, in truth, and it was easier to stay hidden than face the truth in totality.

"I couldn't live like that again" she replied, oblivious to the fact that he hadn't actually asked her to explain herself. Only that he'd asked for no repeats. "I'd take uncertainty at your side over stability with strangers any day. Please, I'm not a child anymore... I won't put you through it, I promise, and I'm sorry for the strife I caused. Just... Don't ask me to leave again. I won't do it, Cotan. I won't."

In the aftermath of all that had been said, Rhia was left feeling drained. In every sense of the word, drained. No doubt Cotan was feeling similar. She shrank slightly then, huffing out a long exhale, and shook her head.

"I know why you did it. I knew why you did it even then. But knowing doesn't always make it easier... I was so angry..."

Now, though, if he was to feel for it, the rage had subsided. There was none of that anger remaining, which was a strange sensation for the girl who had in many ways been driven by it for so long now.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan held her like that a while longer, silently, before eventually he pulled back again. One hand lifted up, brushing away Rhia's tears with his thumb, before he pulled a towel over from the wall with the Force and wiped his face down as well.

Once his face was uncovered again, Rhia would notice his trademark smile was back. "Asha's going to be overjoyed that you're back, you know," he told her. "How'd you even make it here, anyways? If Shif died, that...must've been one hell of a trip, kid."

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

"We, uh," she lifted her head up, and glanced at him; the smile was back, and she felt some of her residual nerves waning in response, "Our escape pod was picked up by a ship. A Jedi. He brought us here..."

Long journey, a difficult one too with a grieving Ideon to care for, but it had given her time to process and they'd made a few stops along the way, visited planets she'd never witnessed before. All in all, if not for the circumstances it had actually been rather... nice?

Not that she'd let Marus know that, of course.

"I can't believe you put your station so far off the beaten path," she grumbled, "It added like an entire month onto our journey..."

The tiniest hint of a smile pulled at her lips then, and she let out a soft sigh. This... Wasn't as bad as she'd been expecting. Truth be told, Rhia wasn't even sure what even she'd been expecting.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"That was kinda the point," he replied with a shrug. "Keep it deep in the outback, that way it could function as a last hold-out if any groups like the Sith or the old First Order swept through the region, before we had to retreat right into the rift itself. Also, if something ridiculous happens and any of the criminals we keep locked down in the bowels of the station manage to escape, they're going to have a hard time getting anywhere. Win-win." He was nothing if not careful in his planning, and the station had been part of that.

Even if he'd had to have it constructed out of a lot of old salvage and such, rather than a fully dedicated brand new station build. Money was tight in the Rim those days, and he'd at least managed to get it all looking new and clean on the inside; besides, the outer appearance belied the extensive defensive capabilities the station possessed.

"But...a Jedi? Who was it? Did you come from out in Kashyyyk's direction, then, or the core? It wasn't Coren or one of his kids, was it?" The potential for embarrassment there was not something he wanted to consider, unless he also considered how he'd get back at the man and his family if they'd done or said or learned anything they ought not.

Rhia Kesyk

 

[Rhia Kesyk]

Of course that had been the point, why wouldn't it? Nothing Cotan had ever done had led her to believe he wasn't the careful and calculating type, after all, thinking about the future, thinking about those around him. She wondered if he ever really stopped to think about what was best for himself, too. But she wasn't about to voice that.

Instead she nodded her head.

"At least Ideon will be safe here" she mused, gaze straying toward the doorway he'd left through not too long ago. Force, what was she going to do with him? She swallowed back some of the rising dread, and looked back at Cotan.

Not least because now he was asking about who had saved them and brought them this way.

"I don't much remember where we were," she admitted, the events which had led her toward Marus were hard to recall. "Near the Maw, I think..." Her jaw hardened as she mentioned that, and she glanced down at her hands. That was who the Jedi had been fleeing from, and that was who had snatched their ship with a tractor beam, who had...

No. Don't think about that.

"It uh, his name's Marus." Rhia rubbed the back of her neck with one hand and avoided his gaze. "He mentioned something about Kashyyyk though. Maybe he's with the Silvers, not the Alliance." Maybe? Hadn't she asked? Maybe she had, but again, it was all a haze. Especially those earlier days when such topics might have come up.

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"That'd be a pretty far way away from where he's supposed to be, then, if he had been up in Maw space," Cotan mused out loud, raising one eyebrow slowly at how Rhia avoided his gaze. Almost...sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck. Was it just not wanting to remember what had led to their rescue by this mysterious Marus? Embarrassment that they'd needed rescue to begin with? She almost seemed the type, as tempestuous and protective of the boy as she'd grown. Ideon, he thought he heard her say his name was.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he continued to think about the first one, and the way Rhia was conspicuously not meeting his eyes.

"Marus, Marus...can't say I know a Marus," he muttered, just clear enough for her to understand, doing his best thinking-really-hard voice. "Hmm." His smile returned again, this time mischievous, not just happy and relieved. "I hope he's at least about the same age as you. Hopefully not too old—you don't seem the sort to go for younger, if I had to guess."

Rhia Kesyk