Private Bleeding Out

[Corazona von Ascania]

The Summer Rain Rebellion had left the people of Ukatis damaged, burned, torn, and dead.

Those who had not sustained physical wounds were still subject to mental trauma - how could they not be, when demons had come from beyond the stars to prey upon their own feeling of discontent? When greats torrents of flame, spewed from the maw of a creature of myth, scorched their fields? When their city had been bathed in a toxin so potent that it caused the afflicted to fall into an insanity so hellish that neighbors ripped one another apart?

To her students, Cora had always cautioned them in overbearing themselves.

If you exhaust yourself, she'd chide gently, you will be able to help no one.

Now, she was incapable of taking her own advice. A steady diet of caf and the occasional stim kept her energy focused and flowing. Sleep did not come easily to her, and when it did, it wasn't the restful sort.

Thanks to the Alliance, Ukatis' meager resources were quickly supplemented. They brought food, shelter and medical care to attend to the immediate needs. Already, plans were being hashed out for more long-term construction projects.

Several tented field hospitals had sprung up in the immediate aftermath of the rebellion. In one, Cora tended to a patient.

The boy's body was still, medically comatose. A rare victim of the toxin who'd survived, he had to be sedated. He looked almost serene, when hours before he'd been in the depths of insanity.

Cora held her hands out, palms down, hovering just above his midriff. A steady pulse in the Force emanated from her fingers as she tried to find a way to purge the toxin - if one could be found at all.

The boy was hooked up to one of the few vital monitors Ukatis had on hand before the Alliance's arrival. The screen threw off a cyan light, casting her haggard face in shadows.

"Come now," she murmured to the boy. "You're a fighter."

Everest Vale

 

[Everest Vale]

Outfit: Robes
Equipment: Lightsaber, Bracelet, Earrings, Engagement Ring
Companion: Isari
Tag: Corazona von Ascania

The air smelled of smoke, blood and antiseptic. Eve moved quietly through the hospital camp, her steps steady, but her heart anything but. Just a few steps ahead, Isari trotted, glancing and sniffing curiously as they moved. There were tents all around her, billowing gently in the breeze, their white canvas stained with soot and blood. Children cried in the distance, high, keening sounds that never seemed to stop. A medic’s voice rose in a harsh whisper, pleading for another stim. Somewhere, someone screamed.

She passed them all, jaw tight, eye open.

A body was being covered with a cloth. The small, stiff limbs beneath it made her stop, for just a second. Her breath hitched. Too small. Too still. She blinked hard and moved on.

Nearby, a girl no older than ten sat alone with bandaged arms, gazing into nothing. One of her braids had come undone. Eve crouched, gently tied it back, and said nothing. The girl didn’t react, but didn’t flinch either.

It was all wrong. All of it.

She reached the edge of the tents and exhaled slowly through her nose, grounding herself. She could feel her own pain curling in the corners of her ribs like cold, coiled vines, but it was the rage that simmered hottest now.

Serina.

Eve's jaw clenched. Just the name sent a tremor through her spine. The image of the great beast in the sky — flames descending like the wrath of some cruel god, no care for the lives beneath — seared itself behind her vision. She could still see the twisted bodies, still smell the burning. And all because she seemingly wanted to make a statement. To show power. To apparently play at war. As if tormenting Reina, and whatever else she did out there, wasn't enough to satiate her perverted needs.

"I’ll kill her," Eve whispered under her breath, the words escaping like smoke before she even realised she'd said them.

She stopped in her tracks, eye wide. Then shut it.

No. That wasn’t the way. Not hers. She pressed a hand to her chest and breathed in. Counted to four. Held. Counted out.

When her eye opened again, it glimmered, but her face was composed.

A passing nurse, haggard and pale, pointed her toward a particular tent when asked. She nodded in thanks, then approached, basket still lightly swinging from one hand. The other was clenched just a little too tight.

As she drew closer, the air seemed to hush. The sky overhead was soft and blue-grey now, like silk stretched thin. Crows perched on the poles of the hospital tents, black silhouettes watching, waiting. The flap to the tent stirred.

Eve stepped inside.

And there she was.

Cora stood over a cot, her hands glowing faintly, hovering above a comatose boy. Golden hair shimmered in the low light. Heavy shadows clung beneath her eyes, but her face held the same quiet strength it always had, worn now, hollowed by grief, but still burning like a candle in a storm.

Eve froze, lips parting slightly.

She didn’t speak. She didn’t move. She just watched her.

The sight was enough to make her throat ache. She'd come to offer support, to check on her, but all at once, Eve felt like a child again, helpless before something so much bigger than herself. Cora’s presence filled the space like gravity.

She blinked quickly and looked away, brushing the edge of her sleeve across her eye. Still silent, she set the basket down gently near the flap: some dried fruit, healing salves, and tea. She stayed where she was, arms loosely crossed, as if she could hold herself together that way. Isari sat up in perfect stillness, sensing the weight of the moment through her bond with Eve.

There would be time to speak. But not yet. For now, she let Cora work.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora registered Eve's presence in the periphery. Ripples came in the Force as she moved. Little ones, but they were steady and strong. Unobtrusive, but undeniably present. Like the beating of a heart.

The few minutes that passed had felt neither short nor long. Time bent and blended together in the aftermath of the war, and as Cora dropped her hands with a quiet sigh, she realized that she could not tell which day it was if asked.

She blinked. Then, she turned towards Eve. Her pained smile was slow to come, and it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Thank you for coming." A pause. "Thank you for staying."

The Padawan before her looked different. It wasn't just the eyepatch - though that did make her frown - but the bearing Eve now had. Still soft, but soft was not a bad thing. To retain softness after harrowing abuse was remarkable. It was strength.

The boy's chest rose and fell to a steady rhythm. Cora cast a glance to his body, immaculately still, with disappointment.

"A victim of the toxin," she murmured. "He injured two medics on the way in. We had to put him to sleep for now.”

Cora blinked again, her bleary gaze shifting from Eve, to the basket, then back to Eve. Hosting mannerisms kicked in.

"Can I…get you anything?"

Despite the fact that there was nothing left to give, she still asked.

Everest Vale

 

[Everest Vale]

Outfit: Robes
Equipment: Lightsaber, Bracelet, Earrings, Engagement Ring
Companion: Isari
Tag: Corazona von Ascania

Eve’s gaze followed Cora’s to the boy on the cot, and for a moment she didn’t say anything at all. There was a silence in her chest, heavy and aching. She didn’t need the whole story. She could feel it, in the air, in Cora’s voice, in the weariness behind her dulled eyes. The kind of ache that only came when you had done everything you could and it still wasn’t enough.

She stepped forward quietly.

And then she wrapped her arms around Cora without a word.

It was a full embrace, warm, grounding and steady. She didn’t lean in or hesitate. She just held her. No explanations, no reassurances. Just that quiet, unspoken 'I am here for you'. Her hand came up gently to rest between Cora’s shoulder blades, fingertips still faintly stained with healing herbs from earlier that day. She stayed there a long time, saying nothing, letting the silence speak for her.

Only when she slowly let go did she finally murmur back to the woman who she looked so up to.

"Can I get you anything?"

Her voice was soft, but firm. Not asked out of politeness, but offered like a hand held out in the dark.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

As Eve's arms wrapped around her, Cora stood still. This time, it wasn't for the unfamiliarity of touch. Everything around her seemed to be moving in slow motion and at warp speed all at once. It occurred to her, in the Echani's embrace, just how dulled her own reaction time had become.

Cora lifted her arms and wrapped them around Eve. For a few long moments, she allowed her weight to lean against the other woman. Woman, not a girl. Not the same cautious, quiet little thing who'd sat anxiously in her office all those moons ago.

The scents lingering around Everest had a medicinal quality to them. Cora drew in a breath full of sweet, herbaceous air, which seemed to restore a bit of life into those tired, dull eyes.

"No, I-"

She stopped herself from waving away the metaphorical hand as they parted.

"I think that I could use a little break."

Cora smiled. A sad, fatigued sort of expression. The way her lips faintly pulled at the corners felt stiff and foreign. When was the last time she'd smiled?

"When you become a Jedi, no one really tells you how many different ways there are to be heartbroken." She shook her head and dropped her arms to Eve's shoulders. "There aren't words for it, I feel. Not proper ones. It's an experience."

"How are you, my dear?"

Everest Vale

 

[Everest Vale]

Outfit: Robes
Equipment: Lightsaber, Bracelet, Earrings, Engagement Ring
Companion: Isari
Tag: Corazona von Ascania

Eve’s eye glimmered with quiet understanding as she stepped back just enough to meet Cora’s gaze, still holding her gently by the elbows. The words about heartbreak landed with resonance, deep and familiar. She didn’t flinch from them, only breathed them in, like the herb-sweet air Cora had just drawn.

And now, standing face to face, she could see how weary Cora truly was.

Her voice was soft when she answered, but it didn’t waver.

"I’m… good. Really. Better than I’ve been in a long time. But... don't worry about me."

She paused. She would tell Cora about the engagement later, but it didn't seem fair to drop that on her now, when she was in the state that she was in. Her eye flicked to the hand that now instinctively brushed her hip, where the ring nestled against the fabric of her robes, before flicking back to Cora. Eve tilted her head just a little, silver eye searching.

"Can I do anything for you, Cora? Anything. I mean that. Maybe we can take a walk, or sit down somewhere quiet?"

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Eve wasn't lying for her benefit, that much she could tell. Even with her solemn expression, there was a subtle glow to the Echani. There was a measure of relief in the way Cora's shoulders relaxed. The Padawan had been through her own harrowing trials, and it was heartening to see her begin to emerge from the light at the end of the tunnel.

"I'm glad to hear that."

And she was, truly.

"I can't leave-"

"A walk would be nice."

Cora's head whipped to the side, observing as a middle-aged woman in a habit entered the tent. The nun nodded to Everest. "Go on now, dear. I will look after him."

The blonde sighed and rubbed at her temple. "I've been given my marching orders, then." There was some reluctance there, but one look from the Sister had her straightening up. As the pair of women exited the tent, Cora muttered to her fellow Jedi: "I swear, the Sisters are tougher than any Sith I've faced."

Everest Vale