"That One Time"

[Kaytren Li]

In those dreamy days...

Kaytren glanced from Erril’s mild grin to the base of the fire, soaking in the warmth of the tangible presences around her. Eventually her eyes wandered back to the generations-old freighter while she looked at the memories and the shape of it against the starry valley landscape.

From her place a little to one side of the healer, the second human-enough woman nudged the toe of one of her shoes against the side of Kaytren’s sandal. Rain's five and a half decades traced faint sketch lines in her features, and the stark black of her hair was a little less severe now with touches of ash and silver. Returning to the present, Kaytren took in a quiet breath and reached to gently clasp the smaller woman’s shoe. Rain smiled faintly to herself and moved to sit closer with the women’s sleeves and shoulders just touching. Soon enough, the Healer ​returned her hands to her lap.

“I lied a little when I asked you about Jray, you know,” Kaytren said with a curious look at Erril. She couldn’t recall having much reason to look back and say it before.

“Not so much that it mattered. I was learning to let things that felt.. right become true while I said them… so I honestly appreciated the perspective, too, by the time you finished. But Jray wasn't there. I was looking at the walls full his work, and breathing the air of his ship, holding a cup from his kitchen… while I was using all the diplomacy tricks I’d learned so far to nudge his student behind me into being…”

An ally? A resource? The Corellian Jedi woman pressed her lips together and shifted her right hand in a small shrug motion. A streak of pleased pride and a little bittersweetness had found their way into her expression, but not so much that either took away from her smile. She certainly hadn’t been looking for a friend yet.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Kaytren breathed out in a quiet exhale and took a sip from her coffee cup. She was quiet for a moment, too, schooling away the sense of relief that she’d given herself the freedom not to hide from her expression, and reflecting on the Jedi behind her while she turned his answer and tone around in her mind. Eventually she glanced at her wrist with a wry look, but by the time she’d taken a second sip of caf, there was only a spark of stubborn pride her eyes and a little genuine gratefulness. Whether Erril agreed with her or not, he'd come to speak calmly about it... a great deal faster than she had; honestly.

“Thank you for sharing him,” She said after a moment.

“And for bearing with me. You can lead again now if you would like.”

[Erril Winterhold]

The heavy weight in Erril's chest lightened just slightly as the other Jedi handed the proverbial reins of the conversation back to him. He wasn't afraid to have his beliefs challenged, generally speaking, but this particular conversation cut like an especially sharp knife, and he didn't like feeling that defenseless. Even so, he now understood the foolishness of the woman he'd felt so dubious about not even 12 hours ago, and it seemed clear enough to him that it was the sort of courageous foolishness that had made the Jedi great, once upon a time. He breathed in, and did his best to exhale a bit of doubt and disturbance when he finally did so. He wasn't sure he wanted this particular vein of conversation to continue, but at least it had yielded him enough trust that he didn't feel a need to worry about Kaytren's good judgement in a difficult situation. She definitely seemed to have a pension for flirting with disaster, but didn't he as well? That was - as they'd already pointed out - the life of the Jedi.

At behest of Erril's privilege to choose the next topic, the two of them sat in silence for a few moments again, and the young Jedi sipped quietly at his tea. But he knew he needed to say something eventually.

"Well, thank you for being candid with me. Your point is well made, and I don't want to be guilty of forgetting the things I've learned."

Erril allowed himself another pause to to breath the vapors of his tea, and then added, "Also, I don't know if anyone's ever told you this before, but... your shoulder blades have a very authoritative edge to them when you sit up straight like that. It's very master-like."

He cracked a grin, not even caring that he was trying to smokescreen himself with humor. He wanted to move on, but he didn't want to just leave the threads hanging untethered in the air.

[Kaytren Li]

Kaytren’s nostrils flared as she breathed out in a warm scoff of chuckle. It didn’t matter to her if Erril’s mildly critical observation was a redirection tactic; she would take the humor either way. The young woman in dusty civilian clothing grinned a little over her coffee cup while she jabbed the man’s back with a helpful shoulder blade. Maybe it was the Masterly thing to do.

“Thank you. Not quite in those flattering words, but I’ve been informed similar sentiments from time to time.”

Then she pressed her lips together and waited for him while she glanced thoughtfully over the shelves on ‘her’ half of the room for the third or fourth time, making a conscious point not to move or fidget much.