Private A Breath Between Storms

[Runa Trozky]

She was lost in her thoughts as she piloted her speeder up to the Porte Estate. It had been a while since the Black Sun attack on the Jedi Temple and the Senate, and she had not seen Aiden much in that time. She had heard he got wounded fairly badly, but she honestly did not know how bad, with not much in the way of details, or perhaps he was not even hurt at all, and he was fine. There were a lot of unanswered questions with that. So a check-up was in order.

The song from the speeder’s engines, that ever soft harmonious hum, seemed almost meditative, like a simple grounding in a galaxy of uncertainty as she went along.

Pulling the speeder to a stop, she cut the engines and let herself pause for a moment, letting the Force settle around her. There was a calm in the air that felt different. It was the kind of calm that made the world feel a little less heavy, a peaceful stillness, and she stayed there for a point in time, if only briefly.

She stepped from the speeder, moving at a smooth, measured pace. Ahead, she saw him as she approached quietly.

She closed the distance between them thoughtfully, slowly. “Hi...” she said softly. “I thought I’d come by and check on you.”

She stopped just short of him.

“How are you holding up?” she asked gently. She didn’t press and didn’t expect an answer immediately.

She let the silence linger around them before she softly spoke again. “I can stay a bit if you’d like,” she added quietly. “Or I can give you some space. Whichever you need... of course.”

Outfit: xxx | Tag: Aiden Porte | Equipment: Lightsaber
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[Aiden Porte]

Runa Trozky
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The hum of the speeder had reached him before the sight of her did. It was faint at first that Naboo softness that always came with approaching engines, blending into the quiet rhythm of the countryside. He'd felt her presence long before that, though. A familiar echo moving closer, steady but marked by traces of concern.

He sat at the front of his house of the Porte Estate, sunlight filtering through the olive trees, the scent of soil and blossoms on the air. His shoulder still ached sometimes, especially when he drew too deep a breath or moved too sharply. The wounds suffered in the Black Sun attack didn't cause any lasting damage, and had missed anything vital, but there were deeper wounds the bacta couldn't quite reach. That just simply required time to mend.

When she stepped out of the speeder, her quiet grace felt like something grounding like a reminder that not everything in the galaxy was built from chaos. Aiden met her eyes as she approached. "Runa, Hey, what brings you out here?" he replied softly, the word carrying both warmth and fatigue. The Force between them stirred faintly gentle, familiar like the way a current brushed around a stone. And her responses brought both a smile and chuckle.

He exhaled, not quite a sigh, but close. "Better than I was, should be all ready to go in a few days." he said after a moment. His gaze drifted toward the horizon the lake in the distance shimmering in afternoon light. "Still catching up to the quiet, I suppose."

Silence fell again, but it wasn't an empty one. Just the kind that felt necessary.

When she offered to stay, Aiden's expression softened, a faint curve at the edge of his mouth. "Please stay, this place could use some more charm, better than my own." he said quietly.

He stood up as he offered her a chair, gesturing toward the terrace. "I made tea earlier." he added, almost as an afterthought, but there was an unspoken sincerity beneath it an invitation not just for company, but for normalcy.

"Would you like some?"