Son'uva Bish

She stood at the foot of his bed…

No. This wasn’t his bed. Surrounded by the immaculate white walls of a medical ward, Balun Dashiell found the familiar hard mattress beneath him, which was bought out of necessity rather than built for long-term comfort.

Vague memories threatened just beneath the surface. Waking to those who had visited him over the previous few days since he had been released from bacta regenerative therapy. He could recall his father Judah Dashiell being there. His Master Ala Quin had stopped by, too. Several of his colleagues had checked in, offering their regards, yet he didn’t have a name to go with the face now looking down over him…

“Who are you?” he asked outright, too dazed to be polite about his question to the stranger. Prior to being hospitalised, he last recalled engaging a horrific-looking Sith Lord in combat. The possibility that someone might have come to finish the job didn’t escape him, even though most others did with the drugs running through his system.

Seeing that he was conscious enough to speak, the hooded woman moved around to the right side of the bed where he could get a better look at her, her hands pulling back upon the hood that masked most of her features, speaking as she revealed herself; “This will come as a shock to you but my name’s Kristyl Arenais ” She would give pause, allowing the name to settle with the younger man before clarifying “Your mother, as I’m told you’re aware”.

“What?” He blurted out, trying to sit upright. Balun suddenly felt all too vulnerable to be having this discussion, clothed in bandages and a pair of medical pants, not a weapon in sight, and they were alone, too weak to deny the woman this conversation.

Pain shot up through his side, having moved too quickly, muscles that were still recovering tightening within. Balun winced as he retreated to lie back, still looking up at her in disbelief, anger and distrust. “Had you messaged me over the holonet, I’d have saved you a trip”, he said, resentment clear in his voice for the position she had placed him in. And every other point of his life that had led up to this moment, no less. “Why’d you come here after all this time. I get hurt in a mission, and suddenly you second-guess leaving your kid with the Jedi?” He sneered, his words rhetorical, doubting he truly wished to hear her reasons, or even if he would believe them to be truthful.

“Mm. I considered waiting longer before seeing you, but given your state, we never do really know what’s to come our way. When our time is up in this life. Better sooner than later,” Kristyl moved to lean against the nearby wall, wrapping her arms across her chest, along with the robe covering her. Balun’s feelings were anticipated, and Kristyl had already hashed out a similar conversation with the boy's father, Judah Dashiell. Allowing him to vent was the least that she owed her estranged Son. Twenty-Four years of age, and she had left him with the Jedi of the Galactic Alliance at six months old. “I didn’t come here to make excuses to you, Balun. I made a decision at the time to keep you safe. In hindsight, I could have left you with your father, but I couldn’t be sure I could trust him at the time. My father and his father before him were Jedi. I felt you were safest in their hands”.

Balun's gaze had shifted to the roof above his bed as he listened, and he made an effort to slow his breathing, a distraction from the sheer frustration he felt at her presence. Barely able to leave the bed, there was little chance of avoiding the woman, and he doubted he could scramble from the bed without cords being torn from his arms and some sort of medical alarm being set off. “You’ve got chit timing”, He muttered, speaking as though he hadn’t truly been listening to her, yet he had heard every painstaking word.

“...Your friend mentioned the ISB”, he glanced sideways, taking in the form of Kristyl once more, still struggling to wrap his head around her being there. For the first time he could recall, his Mother was standing in front of him. It felt surreal after a childhood of yearning to know her, only to grow into adolescence and hate every path that had grown from her abandonment of him.

“Not a friend, a contact…-But yes, the Security Bureau. The Imperials are scrambling to retain some form of organisation at the moment, though it’s afforded me a degree of movement I’d not have risked previously. They’ve been a persistent threat in my life for too long, however, and I didn’t want you caught up in that. I was younger then too, more impulsive…Desperate,” she voiced her thoughts, reflecting on the past as her eyes seemed to darken with the glimpse of emotion that broke through her self-imposed mask.

“And now?” Balun asked, trying to gauge what her reason for being there necessarily was, and what kind of person she had become. He’d had time to think on things prior to the fight on Moorja; his trip to the Mahina Shipyards on the moon of Mnemosyne with his father had been quite enlightening to say the least, not to mention the articles he had pulled on the rest of House Arenais, Kristyl’s family that had fallen years before his coming into the Galaxy.

“Honestly?” She glanced back to him, almost scoffing in spite of herself, “Save for you, there’s not much of my former life left to speak for. Places like Mahina that were financed by my father, but no friends or living family left to speak for my character. Certainly no maternal instinct in these old bones. Sorry, but I’m not here to offer you a happy family”.

“Ch’yeah…” Balun rolled his eyes, “You’re a couple of decades late on that front”, he grumbled, resigning himself to shift slightly, searching for greater comfort in the hard bed with scratchy sheets. Hospital service was found lacking in many ways. The present company, no better.

“True, but I can offer help in other ways. Nothing that will make up for leaving you with the Jedi, but the offer’s there, should you find yourself curious. If anything, it will give us time to talk in a more appropriate setting. One you can run away from if you so choose,” she concluded, speaking as though she could see right through his desire to be anywhere else in that moment.

“I don’t need anything from you, and coming here isn’t going to absolve you of your sins. I’m not sure what you expected to find here, but you lost the chance to have a Son long ago,” Balun snapped, feeling infuriated by the notion of Kristyl trying to alleviate her guilt by extending an olive branch.

Reaching across for the edge of the bed, his fingers curled around a remote, pressing the call button for the on-duty nurse to attend to the room. Above where Kristyl stood, the red light came on signalling the request, and she glanced up, noting Balun’s decision. “Fair enough. Should you change your mind, your father will have my contact details. Try to take better care of yourself in the meantime,” she bid him farewell with a slight dip of her head before exiting the room.

And then it was silent, the room empty save for Balun as he reeled over what had just happened. “Son’uva bish” he swore aloud to himself, trying once more to sit up in his bed, growling under his breath as pain once more rocked his upper body.