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Collateral Damage 2/28/22
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
It's much later in the evening than Tesara realizes when she leaves Astra's room. She hesitates for a moment, wondering if it would be best to leave Hadaza alone until the morning. After standing in the hallway for a moment, she decides to give Hadaza some peace and not wake her. She returns to her room and goes to sleep. In the morning she wakes up around 6am and blearily gets dressed to head to the cargo bay for morning practice. She smiles a little to herself to see Hadaza obviously having already been there for a bit. She waves to get her attention.
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
Lost in the music, eyes closed, she's cooling down with some of the forms that both Tesara and Durro have taught her combined with deep stretches. The dampness at her hairline and the sheen of sweat on her skin gives Tesara the impression that she had been at it hard today. It takes her a few minutes to notice Tesara waving at her. She walks blithely to the instrument panel to turn off the melodic strains that are different from the driving beats that usually propel Hadaza's routine. She turns, grabs a towel, and heads over to the young blonde.
"Good morning, Lærer!" she says brightly.. "I didn't expect to see you hear so early. It's all yours. I'm just headed to get cleaned up and then breakfast. I'll leave you to it and keep some warm for you, if you like."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
It's good to see her smiling. "Good morning, Hadaza." She says. "I was coming to find you, actually. Not surprised to find you've already been here long before me." She grins.
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
Haj drops the towel behind her neck, attempting to stave off the river running down her back. She pulls her hair up on top of her head, trying to help the towel by keeping her damp locks from her skin.
Concern crosses her face - "Me? Why me? Is Astra alright?"
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
Tesara chuckles. "Yes, she is. Hopefully still asleep, actually. She's had a rough few days." She comes closer. "I came to see you to ask if you would like me to heal the bruises. That sort of thing I can take care of with my healing capabilities. More difficult wounds or breaks require the help of med lab droids or a doctor. But if you'd like, I can ease the pain of what he did." She says.
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
"Ah ... ", she says dismissively, dropping her hair. She lift the corners of the towel to pat her face at the hairline, poorly trying to disguise the offending marks. The move is obvious and Tesara can see Hadaza's discomfort in discussing the subject.
"I'm sure I will be fine in a few days. Save your skills for Astra, who, I have no doubt, is more in need of them after her time under Quinn's tender mercies"
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
"No judgments." Tesara says, reaching her hand out with a questioning look. "Once gone the subject is dropped. Is that all right?"
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
Notoriously uncomfortable with this sort of attention, she eventually capitulates. "Thank you. It's ... uncomfortable:, she says rubbing the dark stain on her skin, "... and it slows me down."
She walks to a crate and sits down so that Tesara can more easily do her work.
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
Tesara follows her. On closer inspection, the bruises are much worse than she thought. Frowning, she closes her eyes and concentrates on the Force, calling upon the teachings of her elders to heal Hadaza. (((Rolled 8 on heal another)))
It is nowhere near as easy as she thought it was going to be. It takes nearly five minutes of intense concentration but when she opens her eyes, very little has changed. She steps back, biting her lip. "Well, that isn't what I was hoping for." She says. "Hadaza I am sorry, but these seem to be much deeper than I expected. I'm sorry, I cannot do anywhere near what I was hoping to. Have you been to the med lab for some salve?" She asks.
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
"There hasn't been time," she says. Tesara knows that is both true and misleading. "Thank you for trying", she says earnestly, rising from the crate.
As she turns to go, she adds, "Hey, if you have time later, I'd love to get in a sparring session. I need to improve my reaction time and cement muscle memory for Form 1. We've been practicing with Stun Batons, since most things in here don't react too well to lightsabers. Are you game?"
She adds wickedly, "You might have a chance, what with this", she runs the back of her fingers down her neck, "to slow me down."
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
Tesara hesitates for a moment, then shakes it off. "Yes. I'll bring the salve to even the odds." She smiles. There's something off but it's subtle.
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
Haj catches the hitch in Tesara's usually seamless flow. "Lærer?", she says with a raised eyebrow.
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
Tesara tries to look ok but it's not working. "I'm sorry I didn't offer this yesterday when I was woken after you returned from the ship. You were hurt and I was too wrapped up in my own drama to offer to help heal you. That was insensitive of me." She says quietly.
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
Hadaza is taken aback by Tesara's confession. She walks back over to her teacher and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You have nothing to be sorry for. There were other priorities."
She shakes Tesara's shoulder gently. "Astra is home, safely. That's what matters. And now there are your new charges. What will you be doing with them, anyway? I can't imagine that getting them sugared up on cupcakes and letting them loose in here is on your list of things to do ... is it?" she ends with a speculative glance.
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
Tesara relaxes a little at Hadaza's hand on her shoulder. She was fully aware of how her emotions caused the Force ripple Durro spoke about. Hadaza hadn't mentioned it, so she wouldn't either. "Yes, Astra is safe. For now. Who knows what is coming next." She says. "As for the girls, they are good. I think Vaschi is navigating for us right now. When she gets off her shift, one of the other girls will replace her. Their shifts are much shorter than what Durro and Astra was doing. It's not fair of us to ask more than 3 hours at a time. They need rest after what they have been through." She sighs. "I know Durro wants to teach them, and I am sure that there will be time for that between here and Origin, but I don't think it is a good idea to keep them very long. If Origin is a safe place to leave them I told Durro I think we should. If not, perhaps back to Warkinles. But who knows what the future holds. Astra can only catch glimpses." She says. It's obvious to Hadaza that Tesara is tired and has a lot on her mind. "I'll be back here after lunch to spar with you, is that all right?"
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
"Why don't you skip today, Lærer. You look like you could drop right here. The girls will be happy with a day to rest, just the same as you and Astra. Maybe you could all have a nap together!" she grins. "Big ole pile of navigators and blankets ... Durro would be so pleased", she ends impishly. The image of him sprawled out on the floor amongst all the pillows, blankets, and girls makes her actually chuckle out loud.
@Tesara Anerin
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
Tesara swallows against the lump in her throat, partial relief of not having to spar today and having a quiet, relaxing day sounds heavenly. "Yes, that sounds much more my speed today. I do want to spar with you, but perhaps tomorrow instead." She hugs Hadaza briefly (but carefully as to not cause her neck pain) and steps back. "I'm going to go sit in the library with a book and my data pad for a while." She smiles. "Let the Professor stumble across a puppy pile of little girls, he'll exit so quickly all you'll see is a blur." She smiles.
@Haj
Haj — 02/28/2022
Hadaza's chuckle dissolves into full throated laughter at Tesara's statement. It may be the first time Tesara has seen Hadaza so absolutely sanguine in the whole time she has known the Zabrak woman. "Those poor guys. If they were outnumbered by us before, they are hopelessly so now. I almost feel sorry for them."
With a return of the light hug, she says "Rest well, Lærer. I'll catch up with you later.
@Tesara Anerin
(((?end)))
Tesara Anerin — 02/28/2022
"I don't." She grins, then leaves the hangar bay to go to the library for some quiet time.
/end
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