Private Cloudbusting

[Lief]

She grinned somewhat timidly up at him as he informed her of how evil she was, willing into existence some unseen halo that might all together prove him wrong. Sadly Asha had never been one for illusions, only seeing through them, so her attempts were for naught. As the necklace was brought about her neck, and the crystal settled upon her chest, she felt momentarily breathless and struggled to keep up her standard intake of air. Heart skipping a beat. Whether from the gesture itself or the coldness of the crystal she was not sure, but it took her a second to recover from either way.​

​

For a moment she considered toying with him, claiming that he had gifted her the crystal as so now it belonged to her, or something to that effect, but sadly it simply wasn't in her to do so. So she meekly nodded in response, not daring to look at those who lingered around them, and hastily followed in his footsteps. She held his hand tightly as they pressed on through the streets of Cloud City, all pretense of a nobler air done away with in seconds. Asha was honestly glad, she had never been one for pretending to be someone else.​

​

When they finally came upon another suspended, secluded plaza she let out a soft sigh and released the tension which had been built up with the spectacle. She reached up, gently releasing the clasp which held the necklace in place and returned the crystal to its rightful owner. "I didn't mean to embarrass you," she confessed, "I simply couldn't help myself... Would you believe me if I told you I'd wanted to do that since last we stood in one of these pesky plazas?"​

​

She slumped down onto one of the benches, and patted the seat at her side. In truth she had been waiting to make sure it was okay to do so, to know where they truly stood. Joke or not the open invitation simply had to be capitalized upon, or else she was worried she'd never build up the courage to again. Not that he had to know that, of course... For all the wonders it beheld, for all the knowledge it contained, at times her mind was a strange beast in and of itself. A near constant battle fought between herself.​

​

"I'm not sure how it works, exactly. Do we meditate upon it? Draw from it amidst a traditional Force Heal?" She knew of it, it was a legend she never really anticipated seeing in her lifetime, but the hows of it eluded her. Still, between the two of them they could surely figure it out.​

​

... Right?​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Unfathomable. Sometimes she reacts to the jokes just like I want, sometimes she brushes them off entirely.

Not that Asha's refusing to ever let him win entirely bothered him; their constant back-and-forth was, after all, one of the foundational blocks of their relationship. "Couldn't embarrass me any more than I already was," he replied with a shrug, joining her on the bench. "That was enthusiastic, though—I almost expected that you'd tell me you wanted to hold me to it as soon as we pulled away." True to form for Cotan, his diction belied his actual thoughts on the matter. Just as Asha might not reveal some of her worries, Cotan wasn't going to outright reveal that he wouldn't have been particularly bothered if Asha did hold him to the accidental-turned-performative proposal.

More just bothered by the fact that there'd been people around to make the assumption in the first place, and he hadn't accounted for it like he should.

He definitely wasn't going to tell her any of that.

"Truth be told, I'm not entirely sure," he confessed at her questioning. "From my reading, the full healing crystals could be used just to amplify a normal attempt at healing ridiculously. This being just a shard, well, while it still amplifies everything, if I had to guess, this would be more of a meditative type deal." He turned on the bench, lifting up into a cross-legged position so that he could face Asha directly. In his right hand, he held the crystal; his left rose back to her cheek, petting it lightly with his thumb.

As much as he wanted to try, there was just as much he wasn't sure of. "Now, the wounds have already healed," he started, his tone a bit subdued. "I don't know if this will be able to restore things to how they were before, or not. If anything can manage it, it would be this, but..." He just didn't know for sure. Similar feats had been accomplished in the past, removing scarring, restoring sight, fixing that which had already healed, but improperly, but he'd never been a healer. He'd never been good at that sort of thing.

If Dantooine had shown one thing, it was that he was far better at removing hands than he would ever be at putting them back on.

"Between the two of us, between what I've figured out about this thing so far, and just what all you can do, I still want to try. We've at least got a good chance, right?"

 

[Lief]

Her cheeks retained their rather rosy complexion in light of his revelation, joke or not that it had even come to his mind surprised her. She opened her mouth a couple of times in a vain attempt at responding though nothing really came out in the end. Instead she looked like a codfish on a hook, gawping. Grateful when he provided her with a much needed change of conversation.​

​

She mimicked his position and brought her own legs up into a crossed stance, facing him on the bench and leaning ever so lightly into his touch. Both eyes settled upon his, an easy smile upon her lips. "All we can ever do is try," she agreed, lifting a hand to touch just beneath her eye. It remained somewhat tender even to this day, and much of the healing it had sustained had been over time, as opposed to focused. She probably should have done more to help it along, but with losing Jyn so soon after she hadn't exactly been of the soundest minds.​

​

Asha had not yet even informed him of her hearing issues. Whether she had in the past or not, she could not wholly recall... Either way, she did not wish to get either of their hopes up, nor place further burdens on the crystal, so unless this was successful she would not bother to mention it. In many ways she did not mind the outcome, for her this was more for science... To figure it out.​

​

And if she was able to regain her full vision? Potentially even her hearing? Well that would just be the icing on the cake.​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan nodded, wordless for the moment as his mouth went dry. Already, he could feel the trepidation—what if it didn't work at all, what if something went wrong and it didn't heal right, what if he did more damage somehow—starting to set in; before any of it had the opportunity to kill his nerve, he closed his eyes. Focusing away from the thoughts, just on the weight of the crystal in one hand, the soft touch of Asha's cheek against his hand in the other; with a breath, he let them pass. "Take my hand with the crystal," he instructed, pulling away the hand she'd brought up to her eye and drawing towards his other as he did so, before promptly returning his hand to her cheek. This time he didn't stroke it gently, though; his fingers were light, careful, but probing.

Perhaps more experienced healers and Force-wielders wouldn't need such a blatant somatic component to enact their efforts; he certainly didn't for effects such as telekinesis and the like, but such was one of the few realms in which he showed particularly experience and skill. He breathed again, slowly opening himself to the Force, just as in meditation. The crystal in his hand pulsed lightly in response, growing warmer as he held it, its own presence in the Force growing brighter, more noticeable.

"Now, focus through the crystal, and back to yourself." With his own sense extending out from his fingers, everything grew sharper, more distinct—he could count each individual sensation of her skin against every ridge of his fingertips, he could easily feel the slight tenderness around the eye itself. Then deeper, smaller; beyond the surface level, reaching out more. Cell by cell, able to differentiate through the Force everything that hadn't healed quite right, every carefully aligned strand of scar tissue against the normal weave in the cells around it.

Hopefully, with Cotan to guide the way, to show each piece that was out of place, Asha could step in to reorder it all, and enact the restoration according to the path he picked out.

 

[Lief]

It had been a very long time indeed since Asha had stepped into the throws of the Force alongside another. Not since Svivren, with Veiere, or perhaps Teth with Sargon, had she attempted to achieve something through that mystical process, more often than not preferring her own company within the strands of time.​

​

This was different than both of those. She was not looking into the past, witnessing what had once been, nor was she gazing upon the full majesty of the universe at large under the directions of an Ithorian sense-Master. This was simply she and Cotan, and that which they were observing was her own body. It was strange, intrusive almost, as she took his hand and sunk deep into the Force, following him into the scarred skin present upon her face.​

​

Her hand trembled in his, feeling the heat of the crystal washing over her palm. She had utilized the Force to heal many times, but for some reason this felt different. Surreal. She inhaled a shuddery breath, and followed through her typical steps to achieve a meditative state. Clear thoughts of all save the crystal, the strength which emanated from Cotan, and herself.​

​

It was not difficult to find what they were looking for, the scarring upon her face was intrusive but localized. Had they been trying to locate something similar upon her torso they would most certainly have had a harder time, there were innumerable to be found there but none of them affected her beyond the occasional ache and pain. None limited her vision, or her hearing. So they were left be, ignored. Most days she didn't even remember that they were there anymore.​

​

How far she had come.​

​

With Cotan as her guide, the Crystal as her focus, and Asha's experience with healing, they ought to have made quick work of it. But it was not as simple as knitting together the skin. They were undoing a natural occurrence, and that was far more difficult to achieve. But she would never have it said that she did not try... So she got to work.​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

With his focus so narrowed, the object of his work so small, it seemed as though time had slowed to a crawl. He just skimmed along, his touch light, carefully drawing Asha's attention here and there to return things to their right place. The skin and soft tissue around the eye was not particularly difficult; between the two of them, they were able to progress through it fairly quickly, at least from Cotan's current sense of the passage of time.

Pushing deeper, into the hearing system—as Cotan had noticed quite well how often Asha had to try to read his lips in the past—was more challenging; repairing damage to her eardrum was about as 'simple' as around the eye had been, but delving deeper, using the Force to stimulate the regrowth of the inner hair cells, was what started to give him strain.

The eye itself, of course, would prove the most difficult. Corneal scarring and some cataract formation due to the trauma would prove more difficult to heal than re-randomizing collagen patterns and re-invigorating dead cells. It would require more care, as it was much easier to go past the margin of error. More complicated to heal.

More delicate, by far.

The crystal itself remained warm in their grasp, almost uncomfortably so; while the Healing Crystals of Fire had been named such for the optical patterns they produced, but if they were like this same shard in use, then he imagined that the name had taken a double meaning at some point. He carried the warmth with his presence, both to maintain his energy, and more importantly, to keep Asha from flagging; because if she were to fail, there was no way that Cotan could carry on and finish what they had started.

After helping to rearrange the last few fibers of the lens, Cotan drew back fully into himself; he'd since broken out into a sweat, his breathing as heavy as if he'd just been sparring for the last hour. Cracking his eyes back open, he let his hand rest fully upon her cheek, still clutching both the crystal and her hand with the other. "Feel any different? Think it worked?"

 

[Lief]

They were playing on a nano-scale now; that thought both terrified and excited her. Usually it was an overall wound that was being worked upon, something which could be seen and altered on a surgical level, with regular eyes and hands. This? This was far more intense, far more investigative. ​

​

It reminded her of an ability she had once read about in a datacron lost within the depths of an old Jed Temple she and her father had been exploring. Art of the Small, if she recalled the name correctly. The practitioner would shrink themselves, or at least their presence in the Force, down to a mere microscopic level. Many used it to avoid detection, but its most prevailing use was healing. Through it miraculous things were possible, you weren't dealing with skin, or blood, or bone, but literal atoms... And unless you knew precisely what you were doing it was very difficult to navigate.​

​

Or so the datacron claimed.​

​

This was not Art of the Small, though she believed it held a very similar essence at its heart. Alongside Cotan she focused on the microscopic levels of her scarring, and then from the scar tissue to her damaged eardrum - apparently, he'd noticed that - before finally returning to her eye. Outside of their bubble of meditation she felt sure the day would have drifted by, she would not have been surprised if night had somehow descended upon them when all was said and done. Fatigue threatened to take her over several times, yet he held her aloft. Channeling his strength, and that of the crystal, into her until they were done.​

​

Whatever done meant.​

​

She sagged when they pulled themselves from that state, her head thrumming as blood rushed to the admittedly small areas it had been denied access from for so long. For a moment she did nothing, she did not open her eyes, she did not strain to listen, she simply sat there and allowed herself to hang in limbo. Afraid that it had been in vain, ashamed of how much she hoped it had worked.​

​

When his hand rested upon her cheek she leaned into it, and finally upon hearing his words she let out a small unsteady breath and steeled her nerves. Then she looked at him. There was still very subtle discolouration to her iris' but even as their gazes met the colour was righting itself. She gulped, swallowing back her uncertainty, and blinked a couple of times.​

​

"I..." she raised a hand, touching just beneath her eye once more. As quickly as she had done that she settled one grazing fingertip over the crevice wherein her face met her ear, gingerly touching overtop of where the ear canal lay. She couldn't tell just how effective it had been, it had been so long since she'd had full use of the right side of her face and all that made it up, but it was definitely an improvement.​

​

"Thank you..."​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"You don't have to thank me for wanting to help you, you know?"

Cotan let his hand fall, turning and stretching his legs back out. The crystal was returned to his pocket, and he reached out, pulling Asha over to him in a hug. While it wasn't quite night, the rest of the afternoon had certainly slipped away while they were at work, stretching into the late evening. "I mean that, by the way. Unless you feel like you absolutely have to, in which case I'll always accept more enthusiastic affection, just like I said earlier." He did have to wonder, though, just how many people might have gone by without their notice while they were in the middle of the meditation.

What an odd sight that would have been; two people sitting on a bench, clutching a crystal, one with his hand over the other's face, starting to shudder and sweat in unseen exertion. And, of course, how odd it must be that Jedi, Sith, and other Force-sensitives all took such aspects of their lives for granted, compared to the rest of the galaxy. He yawned as the thoughts went by, resting his head atop Asha's.

"Well, it might be getting too late to check out some of the things I'd mentioned. Want to go see them in the morning instead?" He glanced down for a reaction—entirely pointless, as he soon realized, given that the only thing he could see was the mass of red hair his face was resting on. "I do have a residence of sorts, here, a few levels down. It was originally a sort of condominium, but it got turned into a sort of consulate for the Judges. So, if you want to come stay there with me, you've got a free invitation."

 

[Lief]

"Oh, but I do," she retorted, as he pulled her in close. For a moment she simply leaned into him, happy and content to sit there with him. So lost was she in his comfort that she didn't even bother to expand upon what she had said. It seemed like a no brainer to her, after all. At his side she felt little more than peace, even the smile she'd been exhibited faded away as she closed her eyes and simply... existed.​

​

There was no worry to be had, nowhere she had to go, no one she had to be... No expectations.​

​

She felt his head shift some, as he attempted in vain to peer down at her, and nestled in closer in response. "Tomorrow works," she assured him, as though promising that she would not simply disappear on him again. "Consider it a date."​

​

Of course the next invitation was made soon after, bringing with it the return of her smile. "A Judge Consulate? Sounds like quite the boys club," she joked, with a very light shake of her head. Slowly, though it pained her to do so, she sat fully upright once more and turned to face him. "Of course, Cotan. Need you even ask? I'd love to join you."​

​

Their time together had been fleeting at best, and he had promised to help her resist the whims of the Force had he not? He could not be rid of her that easily.​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

As much as he didn't really want to let her sit back up, he didn't have much of a choice in the matter; if they were going to get back to where he'd been sleeping, they'd have to move, unless Asha had learned how to teleport while she'd been away. "It's not a boys club," he protested, putting on his most peevish, pouty face—not that it lasted for more than a moment before softening back to his usual expression. "It's only polite to ask, you know? Just assuming things gets dangerous." With a grunt, he pushed himself off the bunch, standing up and stretching more. As long as he'd been sitting cross-legged, his knees weren't exactly happy with him.

"I hope you like white and shiny, like most everything else in Cloud City," he warned her with a small smile on his face. "It's not as home-y as my ship. Needs some books, a bit of clutter, some plants...but I'm normally never around long enough to try and make that all happen." He held out both of his hands, for her to take and be pulled back up to standing. "At least the holonet connection is good, so if you want to watch anything after dinner, they set that up right."

Needless to say, he wasn't the biggest fan of Cloud City's sense of artistic aesthetic or home decor.

Once Asha had stood, he reached into his pocket, pressing a button on the small datapad he carried. "Alright, the cloud car should be making it up to us in a minute or so. You want to drive?" Not that there was any piloting to be done with the one he had to ferry him to and from important locations on the floating city; it might as well have been a giant droid that he could ride on. "I don't know about you, but I don't really feel like walking my way to the turbolifts, going down a few levels, and then walking to the consulate, after everything we just did. I'm in more of a 'sit down on a sofa and fall asleep' sort of mood."

 

[Lief]

It was nice to be asked, that much was certain.​

​

She took both of his offered hands and found herself pulled up to her feet, her limbs groaning in response. Her eye seemed to be doing its best to adjust to the changes, blinking more rapidly than the left, but funnily enough she carried on as though nothing was happening. As though she didn't notice it at all. And soon enough that stopped too.​

​

"White and shiny," she mused, peeking up at him while he fumbled for the datapad, "My favourite..."​

​

Sarcasm dripped from her tone, something she did not often exhibit, as she stepped up to his side and took his free hand in hers. Truth be told Asha did not actually care about the aesthetics of things, all that she knew was that she liked a lot of greenery. Life, vibrancy. Maybe she would have to fund some hardy plants for the room, or insist upon a self-misting system that could keep them alive and well even when Cotan was away for lengthy periods of time.​

​

Maybe a tea bush, too...​

​

Those thoughts faded when he offered her the drivers' seat, and she looked between the cloud car and Cotan several times as she considered her options. "Will it mean I have to sit upright?" she queried, already knowing the answer to that question. Though honestly she knew first hand that they were often pre-programmed.​

​

"If I could jump us through space I'd make sure we were there already... Alas..."​

​

She slid into the drivers' seat without another word, giving Cotan a little mental respite on their journey to the consulate. She was tired too, sure, but soon enough they'd be warm and cozy and able to rest. That was enough to keep her going.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan couldn't help but laugh at her response to asking if she wanted to 'drive.'

"Already so keen to lay down? We haven't even had dinner yet, dear."

He stepped up to the waiting vehicle, where it hovered slightly just a short ways away, blocking one of the flying walkways that led to the platform they'd stopped on. When the two canopies swung open, he quickly slid into the 'passenger' seat, stretching his legs out. "At least this model has more leg room than normal!" he quipped just before the canopies swung shut again, and the car lurched slightly as it started to move.

Normally, such vessels would lift up, go towards the outermost edge of the level they were on, and then descend through pure repulsor power, remaining comfortably vertical. Cotan and his droid had seen fit to reprogram the cloud car; this one, instead, lurched forwards, pointing downwards and slipping down between the walkway and one of the other platforms as though Bespin's strong gravitic pull had just taken hold of it.

Which, given that it accomplished its rapid descent via disabling the repulsorlift, it had been taken by the gravity.

The level just below they were on passed quickly as the craft accelerated to terminal velocity, falling like a brick through the air, passing between a pair of platforms without issue. The level below that presented the first snag; a particularly dense assortment of flying walkways, platform supports, and circular platforms themselves, all arranged in a very artistic pattern, and many of which were right in the path of the falling repulsorvehicle. Normally, the cloud car—or anybody who was directly piloting it—would simply right itself, go further out, and avoid the tangle entirely. With piloting programming hand-modified by K1-S5, however, the droid brain of the cloud car took the assemblage as a challenge.

The ion engine propelling the craft kicked on, sending it into a quick roll off to the left; a small adjustment from the repulsors as they activated tipped the nose up, pointing it at an angle. Then, the engines immediately went to full blast, and the cloud car rocketed through a gap in the artfully constructed tangle that was barely any larger than it was.

Before, finally, putting itself upright and casually, relaxedly flying the rest of the way towards the consulate, past the next two levels.

Once it landed on the small landing platform in the entire complex, the canopy hinging open again, Cotan finally released his white-knuckled grip on the edges of his seat. "Good thing they make these with inertial dampeners nowadays, yeah?" he asked Asha, standing up out of it. "That was...certainly unexpected. I didn't realize Kiss was being serious when he said he'd make that thing more fun." Then, one shaking hand raised, Cotan waved at the door ahead of them; it slid open at his command, revealing the common lounge space of the entire consulate. "Ladies first, of course."

 

[Lief]

She shot him a bemused look, one slender brow raising in response to his goading words. It only lasted a few seconds before devolving into a grin, accompanied by light laughter. Did his mind ever stop conjuring up the worst possible jokes? She shook her head some, slipping into the seat and glancing over the vehicles controls. Thankfully as luck would have it she did not have to do very much at all.​

​

Pre-programmed. Great!​

​

She knew better than to take too much advantage of the situation though. Her eyes would remain upon the skylanes... As much as she might have preferred to do otherwise.​

​

"Dinner would be nice" she agreed, reaching out one hand to enclose it around his. The cloud car began its strange route to the lanes, catching her quite off guard with the odd pathing it took. She squeezed his hand a little tighter than intended, and hastily released it back to a relaxed state once they joined the traffic.​

​

Nothing else was said, had to be said, for the journey. Both were exhausted and with good reason, what they had done.... that took a lot, even with the aid of the crystal. Still, she couldn't wholly relax. Not with the erratic way in which the cloud car made the journey.​

​

When it was over and they could leave she did so hastily, happy to have her feet back on solid ground. She looked a touch green. But that faded soon enough as she inhaled the clean air and turned to follow Cotan inside.​

​

"Next time, I really am driving," she remarked, with a small chuckle. "Remind me to thank Kiss for such a thrilling ride next time I see him."​

​

Into the lobby she wandered, and boy had Cotan not been lying. Sheer white indeed, it hurt her eyes to look at it. Still, not much longer now and they'd be able to relax, rest. Maybe eat something... Her stomach growled in agreement. Yeah, food would probably be a good start. But all she really wanted to do was sleep.​

​

She felt sure she could have slept for a thousand years.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Well, it's a good thing he's here, isn't it?" Cotan asked, in response to Asha's comment on his droid. Sure enough, he could already here servomotors whirring as the droid made its approach around one corner; before, suddenly, the astromech came to a screeching halt. Mechanical and expressionless though the droid was, it was clear that even it was surprised to see Asha back around. "Yeah, right? I almost didn't believe it at first myself." K1 rattled out a quick question after that, prompting Cotan to sigh in annoyance. "No, he wasn't any easier to talk to today than he was yesterday. He's intent on causing me pain, I think."

After a short binary expletive—that brought a smile back to Cotan's face—he shifted on to other topics. "So, fixed that power allocation issue you found? Managed to take care of that zero-point-zero-zero-three percent drop from optimum efficiency?" Completely ignoring the sarcasm, as Cotan knew for sure that Kiss wasn't oblivious to it, the droid beeped out something affirmative, with Cotan just rolling his eyes. "Well, good on you. I'm sure you've got something else you want to bother with, so I won't keep you from it. Don't trundle off without saying hi to Asha, though." That said, he started walking on forwards, past the odd sculpture in the middle of the lobby, giving his droid time to give some greetings.

And, knowing him, probably complaints about his master.

Going up a short flight of stairs to the second level, he keyed on the code to his door, opening up to the hall of the apartment. While he found the layout a little odd—opening up straight a short, thin hallway, with a wall on one side and windows on the other—he did at least like the view it gave. And only a short distance away, the living room, the kitchen, and eventually, sleep. Already kicking his shoes off, he called back out to the lobby: "Just remember, when you get up here, to take off your shoes and leave them by the door. Socks or barefoot only up here, I don't need to give Kiss anything more to get mad at by making the apartment itself dirty."

 

[Lief]

"Quite the little speed demon, aren't we, Kiss?" she mused with a grin, as the astromech wandered into view, watching on as he and Cotan got into some sort of verbal sparring match. For all her worldly knowledge, the girl had never really been around droids before, certainly the one before her was the first she truly came to know. That came with its own issues, though. Asha did not really know binary.​

​

Sure, she had picked up bits here and there, come to understand the various beeps through deduction whenever Cotan or Rhia had spoken with him, but the intricacies were lost upon her. Holding a full blown conversation was difficult, exhausting even.​

​

Maybe she'd come to remedy that. There was no reason she couldn't, right?​

​

Cotan powered on past them, presumably eager to simply crash. For her part, Asha approached the droid and gave him a very light pat on the head. Or what could be considered his head. Kiss chirped something she vaguely understood, prompting a genuine smile from the girl.​

​

"Missed you too, buddy. Thanks, for keeping an eye on him..." She tipped her head in the direction that Cotan had wandered off to, as she said it. "I owe you one, truly."​

​

Not wanting to keep the droid for too much longer, she left him with just one more gentle pat and strolled into the apartment. Her shoes were off the moment she crossed the threshold, and she stepped barefoot toward the living room. Before anything could be said she slumped down into the sofa and closed her eyes. Fatigue gripped her limbs, and made her mind swim. Hungry as she was, eager as she was to spend some quality time with Cotan, happy to simply be in one another's company as they always had been, she was truly tired.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

As Asha settled on the sofa, Cotan rummaged around in the kitchen. Through the cabinets, the fridge, looking everywhere he could; try as he might, he couldn't find much of anything that inspired him to make anything. Cotan's stomach was a capricious creature, and often it was prone to flights of fancy, picking things to eat that he had no capacity to cook at any given time. As all-too-often seemed to be the case, this was one of those times; so, he punched in a quick order on a datapad, sending it out to the holonet, and grabbed the one thing he found that he did want at the moment.

He walked back out to the living room, setting a bottle of blossom wine and two glasses down on the small table in front of it. Not even bothering to try and find a corkscrew, he slowly pushed the cork out of the bottle with the Force, but he stayed his hand from pouring any in the glasses...

And instead flopped down on the couch, his head in Asha's lap. "Something from home," he said, tilting his head slightly in the direction of the glasses. "The bottle's a bit over-chilled, though, so you'll have to let it warm a bit." He rested both of his legs up on the opposite arm of the couch, ankles crossed, and closed his eyes contentedly.

"Also, I couldn't think of anything to make, so I just ordered in some Atrisian take-out. They specialize in the same part of the planet that the Tching dynasty originated from. You like noodles, right?"

 

[Lief]

Though she heard him rummaging around, Asha couldn't find the willpower to stand and help. Whatever he was looking for he didn't say, and soon enough he was padding toward her. There was the light clink of glasses touching the coffee table, and then Cotan joined her on the sofa.​

​

As his head settled against her lap she reached up a hand and lightly caressed his hair. It took her a few moments, but soon after she opened one eye and peeked down at him. Then at the things he'd brought over. Wine. Asha wasn't sure if she'd ever tried wine before...​

​

Leaning down she kissed his forehead, before continuing to lightly run her fingers through his hair. Her head returned to the back of the sofa, and she sat there contentedly. This was... Nice. More than nice. A true moment of rarity, peace in the presence of another. What she wouldn't give to make it last for an eternity.​

​

"Yeah, noodles are good," she mused with her sleepy voice, the smile upon her lips obvious in the way she spoke, "I've missed this... Missed you."​

​

Asha was happy to just sit there for as long as he wanted, she didn't care if there was anything to watch or do. To simply exist alongside him was enough.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan's smile just grew wider. "I missed you more," he replied, being purposefully childish with the response. Asha would know just as well as he how pointless it was to attempt to quantify such feelings, but Cotan was in a lazy, playful mood. "Kiss will grab the food for us when it comes, so you don't have to worry about me not letting you up from here." Because he had no intention of moving until the food came around; while spending time with Asha was grand enough, the opportunity to recline in her lap again could not be squandered.

Though he did crack his eyes open, slightly, glancing up at her face.

"And you said I looked tired, earlier." He reached over, grabbing the hand of hers that wasn't busy playing with his hair, holding it happily. "Maybe I should be the one being a pillow, for a change?" Of course, he was tired, but the constant back-and-forth between the two of them, each constantly trying to take care of the other, wasn't something he'd ever willingly end. "Take a nap, Asha. I'll wake you when the food gets here."

Lief ​

 

[Lief]

She shook her head with a smirk as he tried to outdo her, but didn't retort in kind. Happy enough to give him that, since both knew the truth of the matter. Her hand continued to stroke through his hair, though the motions became slower as she lifted her free to stifle a yawn.​

​

"Thank the Force for Kiss," she mused, "I don't know if I even could stand..."​

​

He took her free hand and she squeezed his in response, before humming and nodding her head to the suggestion of her napping. Why not, who knew how long it would take for food to arrive and it wasn't as though her eyes wanted to stay open. So she leaned her head back against the sofa, kept Cotan in place where he lay, and closed her eyes.​

​

She didn't say anything else, didn't do anything else, until the time came to be awoken.​

​

Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Unlike Asha, Cotan didn't immediately close his eyes, no matter how much he might've wanted to take a nap as well. It was more important for the moment that he enjoy the view he had—odd angle though it might have been. Getting to see the worry-prone young woman in a state of total peace and relaxation was something he couldn't ever pass up. It didn't hurt that she was absolutely beautiful, either; his free hand reached up, one finger gently running along her now-napping cheek.

"Oh, Asha, what am I going to do with you?" he whispered to himself. For all the talk earlier in the day of the various choices they each had in how they fulfilled what the Force asked of them, his duties had been keeping him far less sedentary than when the two of them had first decided to pursue their relationship, and he couldn't well expect her to always follow him around the galaxy in pursuit of everything. At least giving her some semblance of home to return to, either here on Bespin or back on Tribunal station, might manage to keep her around better than letting her be a true space-borne drifter, but he still wasn't sure.

"This galaxy's too much of a mess for us to just be happy, isn't it?"

But, he'd long since learned to take the good when he was able, without entirely spoiling it with all the what-ifs and could-have-beens. He withdrew his hand, now clasping both around her other and closing his eyes as well.

Only to feel like he'd barely blinked when he heard some irritable knocking at his door. A quick glance at the window said otherwise—time had indeed passed—but nowhere near enough for his tired mind. "Well, food's here," he observed to himself, sitting up and sliding off the couch. Asha got a gentle shake as he walked by, just to make sure she awoke, before he let his droid in with their meal. "Thanks, Kiss. Yes, yes, I know, this isn't what you're normally supposed to do, but you're better than any protocol droid. Wouldn't trade you for the galaxy, buddy."

Somewhat mollified, the astromech turned and started its careful descent back down to the main lobby, while Cotan started setting out the meal on the table in front of the couch. "Want to watch something while we eat? There've been a few ridiculous new shows popped up since you and I last got to have dinner together, and one of them—as bad as it is—is always good for a laugh."

Lief