The Dark Academy on Korriban

He lowers her hand back down onto her lap. "I'll make sure it's a two seat model. It wouldn't be right if I couldn't ride Death's Shadow with you... and have you fly it someday."

"So, how are you feeling? It has been a long, well-fought day and for me it's been pretty exhausting."

"It's been very... eventful. Tiresome, and exhausting. Whatever good feelings I might've felt from our victory felt hollow once I learned that Kristal was seriously injured when she stopped a Jedi from going into the ancient temple."

Her brows furrow in worry.

"We weren't on the best of terms these past days, but... it seems we might've put that behind us now, when I checked up on her earlier."

Zeno sat up slightly and turned to Shaisha at the news.

"I hadn't heard... I haven't gotten to know her as well as you probably do, but I've only gained more respect every time I've spoken to and worked with her. I hope that she will be alright, that would be a tremendous loss of a comrade." The concern in his voice is obvious.

"I have no doubt that she has the spirit to pull through as a stronger person from anything that does not kill her."

How bad it actually was, she didn't want to say. It was none of Zeno's business how utterly defeated Kristal had been earlier.

"She'll pull through. With a new arm, sadly, but she will grow stronger from this."

"I'm glad to hear that she will be fine," he says to her, before looking down.

"It must have been a hellish fight. I saw Instructor Von send her into the temple with two other students, and wondered why, but had to push it from my mind during the battle."

"She doesn't seem the type to want well-wishers to stop by, at least not ones that she is not more familiar with. So I imagine you will see her before I do next. When you do please give her my regards... unless you feel she might receive my presence well. I know that not all warriors are comfortable with others seeing them in such a state after battle."

"... I'd give her some space, at least until we get back to Korriban. She doesn't like people seeing her in a weakened state, probably from all the times she had to act like the toughest one around. And if you've met her mother, it would seem Serasai women all come equipped with durasteel wills."

He nods to Shaisha. "Of course. I look forward to seeing her when she is back on her feet then. I don't have much to offer in a situation like this but if you or she can think of anything let me know. The faster she's back on her feet the better we all are for it."

"It's good she has someone like you to look out for her. You seem to be good at that," he says with a smile. "I imagine that it can be difficult at times to have so many leaning on your strength."

He pulls her into a hug.

She doesn't resist the hug and gladly accepts it as she returns the hug.

"... It's unusual. I've always been the odd one out, the one getting into trouble or pulling them into trouble, relying on them to get us out of it, because I was too reckless." Her voice was heavy as the weariness wore down on her. "I've never been the one others rely on."

He rubs her back warmly. "Well, I appreciate it. I'm sure that Kristal does too. You sound like you could use some rest to ease the burdens of this whole Yavin trip."

"I swear, I might just ask Vowrawn for a week's vacation before I get to work after our graduation," she breathes out a chuckle. "This trip has been... eventful. I might almost say that the landing was the best part."

"The landing was the best part," he replies. "I hadn't been airborne in months. It was like a weight lifted from my back, almost literally." She could hear the humor in his voice. "Well, it was the best part. More now I think you've been the best part. After all, this is the first conversation I've smiled during since before yesterday afternoon."

She reaches up and ruffles his hair.

"I'm glad I could make you smile again. Maybe I should consider a career in therapy, considering what I've been doing here on Yavin."

"It's been amazing really, to go from happy to the brink and back. Just the full range. I don't know if you've ever been through that before. It takes a toll. But it has been an experience I wouldn't change for anything." He pulls back, putting his back to his tent once more and retaking her hand.

"If you haven't I would definitely not advise doing so without someone you can trust nearby. But to be honest, I think it's made me stronger."

She closes her eyes for a moment, turning her face slightly away from him.

"I've experienced a lot in my life. Probably not what you experienced, but... yeah, it's been a wide spectrum of emotions. Up and down. Numbed and sharpened. It has made me who I am today, but if I could change it... I would."

"Can't change the past. You know there are things in my past that I would change if I could. And I can understand that feeling. But I'd only ever want that for the things that have hurt those I care about."

He softly puts a hand on her cheek to turn her and look in her eyes.

"The pain that I've felt? I want it to be a part of me, so that I can be ready for the future. Part of the problem with being as young as we are... there's going to be a lot of bad shit to come. It's important to try and make the best of the good. For me, here on this planet, you've been the best part of it."

"You mean like a 'seize the day'-kind of thing?" she forces a smile and pushes away the feelings the topic had brought up. Back down. Back to that forge of her wrath.

"I guess I've lived with that kind of attitude for a long time now. The past is far away, and as you say, we can't change it. We can stop it from repeating, perhaps."

"No, not at all. I'm not talking about seizing the day," his tone turning serious. "Bonds... they're not shackles by default. And as long as they lift us up we should embrace them, only throwing them off when they turn to shackles and start to drag us down. That way we always keep moving upward and forward."

He smiles then, "But there are times when we should seize the day. But sometimes that can come at a cost and do more harm than good."

"There is some truth to that..." she agrees. "There will always be bonds, you know. To the Empire, to one's family, to a master. Yet rarely does one ever call them chains, or consider the chains placed upon some of the more powerful Sith to be a hindrance to them."

"You have to be able to recognize when they are chains. Otherwise you'll never break them," he says, his thumb stroking her cheek, smiling. "And here? It almost broke me to break chains I didn't realize were there until too late."

She pulls him in closer in a tight hug and buries her face in his shoulder without a word.

She was so tired, and there was so much on her mind. The fight, her worry about Kristal, and Zeno had up until now kept her mind distracted enough to not think about herself and her own concerns.

No tears or sobs as she holds onto him, only her weak trembling.

Zeno embraces her, wrapping his arms around her comfortingly, his arms warming her and keeping her close. "Do you want to rest? We can go in and just lie down. I know this must not be easy, but I want to be there for you just as you were for me."

The silence continues as she tries to compose herself. Her hands curl together in frustration, as she realises she is just too worn out to manage that.

She gives a wordless nod.

"Alright," he says. "Go ahead and head in. I'll put your gifts for Master Vowrawn next to the tent so nobody trips over or damages them."

He holds her for a few more seconds, before helping her to her feet.

Then he goes to retrieve the pottery and set it next to the flaps of the tent.

Shaisha heads inside, and oddly enough, she finds the darkness of the tent comforting for now.

It wasn't like her to break down like that with others, she knew, but the weight on her shoulders since they touched down on Yavin had just increased more and more. In this very moment, she wanted nothing else but to see her father, which was perhaps an odd feeling, as she had never wanted him to see her like this. But now she felt like a child who wanted to be held by her parent, and be told that everything would be alright.

"... What would your parents do for you when you were younger, and you were scared and worried?" she asks quietly as Zeno enters.

Stepping between the flaps, he looked to her with a warm smile, though it was difficult to see in the dark. But he did turn a lamp up a little to proved a comfortably low light.

"Well, my father would just walk away and let me know he had no time for that nonsense. I learned that going to him was a dead end. My mother would tell me to fight. That if you couldn't go around you had to go through. She would tell me that fear and worry were our minds way of telling us we were in danger. And that you have to steel yourself to face it."

As he explains Zeno moves to lead her over to his sleeping bag, laying it open so there was more room, then move to pull his thermal blanket from his pack to join her.

"I realize that that may not be a huge comfort. But my parents have been preparing me to accept death as a circumstance since I was old enough to speak."