A Heart Without A Beat

[Long Gone]

It seemed like forever ago.

She floated effortlessly around in a circle, the artificial gravity on her mother’s ship was turned off. A holoimage of [member="Fiore de Noir"] rotated before her, smiling at her as she stared blankly into the flickering electronics. Mira’s heart felt heavy – she missed her so much. How could one reach across the stars and touch the flesh of the one who felt like the balance in the universe? Mira had tried a few times; she wouldn’t lie to herself but there was nothing. It was like Fiore was a void in the Force – a nullified essence. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes, spreading her arms out wide. Attachment was a hell of a thing, something that she couldn’t quite get used to. Beyond the flickering image of Fiore were countless hololetters from Fiore to Mira – scattered about the ship, banging freely into the walls and into each other.

The space around her looked as if she had ended up in some junkyard around Nar Shaddaa – but none of this was junk. It was all cherished items that she had begun pulling out after attempts at meditation. She promised she would only read one but soon one became two and so on – and shortly after she began to read them she found herself not wanting to be bound by the laws of gravity. She wanted to feel that sensation that Fiore gave her, the euphoric feeling of floating, of being an untethered object. Despite her best efforts, she failed at replicating that sensation.

Nothing made up for the real thing.

A soft tweet caused her to stir, her gaze shifting as she continued to spin gently in a circular motion. Pixel had managed to attach himself to the hull of ship, latching out with fiber cords in an effort to prevent him from bouncing around like a ball. Mira cracked a smile and reached out to grasp one of the cords, pulling herself in an upright position. Her tendrils of chestnut hair waved through the air as she adjusted herself and her momentum.

“What’s the matter buddy?” She poked the alloy cased body of Pixel with a soft giggle. “Don’t like it?”

His response was less than flattering, but amusing none the less. Through a series of beeps and warbles – he let her know his dissatisfaction. Mira rolled her eyes and brought her other hand to latch onto the second cable as she brought her forehead to rest against his dome. “I’m sorry, I just need a moment of being like this, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

The tone of the droid softened a bit, obviously sensing her emotional discomfort through her vital signs. He warbled a reply to which Mira smiled. “That’s my little Pixel.” She kept her forehead rested against his dome.

 

[Long Gone]

The droid warbled something that resembled continued displeasure before tweeting and twittering away at the floating being before him. Mira chuckled softly and pushed off the cables that tethered him to the hull of The Ardent. “We’ve been out here for a couple of months now, I’ve got to continue my training.” She gestured before Pixel. “You know that zero gravity can heighten your reflexes, naturally.” She allowed herself to free float backwards a bit more before throwing a few random punches in the air before her. “It will allow me to become faster, almost lighter on my feet – you know, increase my agility?” She chuckled softly despite the groaning and twittering of her droid who kept going on and on about the displeasure of his sensors being out of balance. Mira sighed softly and tilted her head lightly to the left. “I am serious, I will make it up to you with a nice oil bath…” Pixel suddenly stopped and his head swiveled before he let out a series of beeps.

“Yes, and I'll give you a rub down personally...” She chuckled softly.

“But if you don’t quit complaining, I’ll hire some rough handed smuggler to do it – or maybe even a torture droid!” She fired back at the tiny BB unit before pushing hard off the hull towards the cockpit, ignoring the wailing droid behind her. She’d probably end up paying for that later, no doubt. Mira grabbed onto various points throughout the corridor, guiding herself through the passage way as she brought herself into the cockpit and into one of the chairs. With relative ease, she strapped in and stared out into the vastness of space and the twinkling of the stars beyond. She had left the comfort of known space some time ago and plotted a course towards the edges of the Unknown Regions. She didn’t know why, but she felt something pulling at her. Maybe she just had to get away and the further she got away – the deeper she could drown herself into the depths of the Force.

Out here, there was nothing to break her concentration. There were no worries, there was no war. There was nothing but her and the flowing ebbs of energy coursing through her mind and body. She could push herself beyond her limits, faster and harder than ever before. It was how she desired it, it was what was expected of her. Her mother had raised her like that – to be the best she could in every facet as a Jedi and beyond. She had consumed herself in the attachment of Fiore for weeks, hell, if not months on in and since Fiore was away – there was nothing but emptiness. Ontop of that, she had not spoken to her family in some time, nor had she been around since Aaralyn died. Mira was essentially the wayward child of the Rekali family. There was really no one or anything to blame for that – she just was out there.

At times, she regretted the decision to stay away but would drown out the thoughts through training. It was the best way possible to forget and to focus. The loss of her eye, the darkness that shrouded her life from the very first time she engaged Vornskr. Everything that was conflict in her life, every time it came to the surface – she trained and pushed herself beyond her limits. It was how it was she forgot. Her mother was known for defying her limits, for being a warrior.

Mira would be no different than her.

She would know her limits and defy them at every turn.

It’s just who she was meant to be, and it was time for her to accept that.

[member="Fiore de Noir"]