It's a Foreign Language

[Kana Truden]

It had only felt right for Kana to transfer here. The landscapes of Ruusan were certainly a change from the forests of Ossus but it was manageable. After all, she had no intentions of letting that pretty jedi valley just sit around unattended. It was a small enclave but so far that had worked rather well for her as a healer. After all, there were not many injuries to be had when your numbers were this small and when the others actually came crying for help it usually proved itself easy enough to fix. Nasty bruises, a cut here and there from careless exploration of the surrounding areas, the usual stuff.

There was the part about students pushing themselves to the limit but overseeing little kids after they had passed out was no biggie. Perhaps one day she would learn how to speed the recovery of such things up for a bit but there was no real rush for that. All in good time, as the wise men put it.

Still, as much as Kana loved to call herself a healer-in-training she still had little idea what kind of business a healer actually had to do or endure or where they did it. If there was ever a person with an answer to that it’d be the one and only [member="Avalore Eden"].

For this very occasion they would appropriately enough be meeting inside the infirmary. As much as it would have been nice to meet in a chamber or even outside there was still the small matter of the two kids who were all resting up after being put hard to work by their master. It could be seen as guard duty to some but a healer’s duty to others. In any case it left plenty of opportunity for Kana herself to get some rest, usually.

Now, where was her honored guest?

 

[Avalore Eden]

Ruusan - not a place Avalore had ever been to before. Yet here she was, responding once more to the call of duty. Despite the rumors it seemed the life of a Healer was anything but boring and routine.

She arrived late, which was not so unusual, and moved in a flurry of blue Healer robes. Ruusan's Padawans were particularly stalwart, it seemed, and liked to return from training more than a little battered. Though aware that [member="Kana Truden"] had a beginning knowledge of Healing skills within her repertoire, seemed it wasn't quite enough to deal with the latest batch of injuries. That's where Jedi Order Chief Healer Avalore Eden came in.

Literally, that's where she came in.

Puffing, Avalore sagged as she finally reached the designated room where she was to meet with Master Truden, allowing her bags to drop to the floor at either side of her feet, "Oh," she breathed deeply, "I'm here, I'm here. Got here soon as I could, traffic was a disaster. Let me just take a load off for a few ... catch my breath."

With that the Jedi slumped into the nearest open seat.

 

[Kana Truden]

A quiet chuckle parted Kana’s lips at the arrival of [member="Avalore Eden"] as the chief slumped down into a seat. Traffic being a disaster seemed to have caused her some stress. Perhaps not all Jedi held to Kian’s saying of Jedi and arriving exactly when they intended to. Nonetheless it was an honor to have one-on-one time with Master Eden.

Not that there hadn’t been an opportunity for such things back at the hospital, but that was a group exercise. This was more of a colleague asking for advice, or something like that.

“Oh certainly, I hear the jams around Kashyyyk can be awful at this time of the year.” Not even a hint of sarcasm, just good old joking around as Kana took a seat herself. “It’s great to see you again, Master Eden. How have you been?”

Her attention set upon the two padawans on the beds. “I mean, better than them, I assume. Tried to outstage each other in handstand push-ups or something. I guess some kids just don’t know their bodily limits.”

 

[Avalore Eden]

"Bloated," Avalore replied, puffing out her cheeks, "I've been traveling so much lately I don't even know if I'm coming or going anymore. What day is it?"

Smiling, she glanced to the two Padawans who were watching silently and lofted a brow, "Handstand pushups? Oh my, I'm sorry, but Shatterstar-itis is an incurable disease. We'll have to put them down ... how dreadful, but it's for the best."

[member="Kana Truden"]

 

[Kana Truden]

A hand quickly covered Kana’s mouth as she withheld the laughter trying to break into something more similar to a monkey’s scream. It settled down into a snicker at the cost of nearly biting her own hand.

“Is that so? What a shame.” The laughter quieted down and Kana let the silence hang for a bit. “On a more serious note these two guys are definitely out of it. Whether it was their actual masters driving them this hard or a personal will to ‘perform as best as possible’ is beyond me.”

“Oh and, it’s Primeday. Got somewhere else to be or were you just curious?”

[member="Avalore Eden"]

 

[Avalore Eden]

"I'm mostly just losing my marbles," the Chief Healer admitted with a sigh, granting [member="Kana Truden"] an amused glance at the other woman's tittering.

With a deep breath she pushed herself back to her feet, adjusted her robes and moved to stand between the two beds. The occupants were more or less rather pathetic looking, even for being out of it. Best not to waste any time.

"Show me what you can do on this one here," Avalore said with a gesture to the left bed, "and we'll go from there."

 

[Kana Truden]

[member="Avalore Eden"] had a stressed life? Perhaps as much should have been expected from a woman with duties, but to forget what day it was? Not an entertaining prospect for the future and the why of it didn’t feel like anything that would have to concern Kana, at least not yet but since it had certainly been brought up a note to maybe ask about it later was safely stored at the back of her mind.

The moment of performance anxiety was calling for her at the Chief’s request.

“Certainly.” Kana got out of her seat and approached the bed. “This one took the most of the beatings. A bruise on his arm, not something I usually spend my energy on, but still...”

She rubbed her hands together before gently placing them upon the arm. It was a courtesy she usually saved for live subjects but there was no shame in letting Master Eden fall under the assumption, or not, that Kana knew exactly what she was doing.

The words of Master Adonai echoed as it had so many times before. This wasn’t a miracle cure or a quick fix, small regulated doses of the force to simply help accelerate the healing of a wound. The focusing on the small things in the body, understanding each cell of her student’s body. Unconscious knowledge of the Art of Small that the ghastly teacher had embedded into the lessons Kana had received. Build up an image of what they were and fix the damages, slowly.

A look of unease spread on her face as the focus drained her fatigue at a steady pace. The bruise shrunk ever so slightly before Kana took her hands away and slumped back into her chair again. The bruise on the kid’s arm was still there. It was smaller, but it was still there.

“I’m still getting used to how draining this is.” Kana scratched her forehead. “But as long as I can keep the kids going on, I’m good.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, Master Eden, but how long have you been doing this?”

 

[Avalore Eden]

"It's a selfless skill," Avalore said quietly, standing at the child's bedside with her eyes focused down upon him, "and it's often a thankless one. So many people take a Jedi's power for granted because they don't understand what helping them does to us. They don't know because we don't complain. They aren't aware of the sacrifice we make to fix things."

She moved to place one hand on the child's upper arm and the other just under the bruise, closed her eyes and concentrated. Kana, being familiar with Art of the Small, might feel the minutiae of powers at work here, though Avalore's own were far less focused on a single spot. They flowed seamlessly, the bruise slowly fading from sight. When naught but the faint yellow tinge of skin remained Avalore pulled away and turned to face Kana.

"Seven years or so (assuming this is set after Netherworld event? I don't remember. We'll just go with that.). Not nearly long enough to be called a Master, in my opinion, but a title doesn't dictate what I know, what I'm capable of, or what I am willing to do to help others. Because I was pregnant when I joined the Jedi I wasn't approved to join classes of the blade or go on dangerous missions. Due to my limitations within the Force, I was told to consider Archival Studies, Diplomacy, or Healing. I wasn't particularly interested in the first choice and after watching my father's life crumble under the weight of politics I wasn't entirely keen on Diplomacy either. But Healing, I thought, Healing I could manage. I always liked helping people and it wouldn't require me to use a weapon or hurt anyone. So unlike other Padawans, instead of a basic training that covered a broad range of subjects and skills, I went straight into specialized Healer training. I spent my pregnancy in technique study classes and going on Humanitarian missions to practice in the field. I was able to progress through the levels of training quickly because of my specific focus."

Avalore smiled, "Your focus was too narrow. Work with the body. Help it heal itself. The less of your own energy reserves you have to use, the more you can do. I'm going to assign you some reading material that will help you with this."

[member="Kana Truden"]

 

[Kana Truden]

Seven years. That was just before the galaxy went crazy over the force. Kana was in a similar boat but the lack of any real guidance had left her stumped during the crisis. Not that she had been in a seat where the skill had been practiced. She had tried it once, but to see your every attempt to heal someone result in nothing but open wounds had a way of leaving a novice in a position where she’d much rather rely on the more practical healing. Bacta salves and adrenaline shots, now those she had learned how to use.

“Of course, thank you.” There was little she could say. “I’ve read some books, but most of them were about very basic methods used by ‘regular’ doctors.”

Which felt weird to say, in the end they were equal. Force or not their tasks were the same, that was all that truly mattered. Regardless, the tip to focus on the entire body rather than an individual spot was greatly appreciated.

“And I always sort of had my suspicion that this was what I wanted to do.” Kana shrugged. “But by the time I had truly figured that out I was well into my knighthood and most of the healers were absent at worst.”

Then came the part where she had to explain how she had learned what she knew. The first step was to find a good way to say ‘I got help from the other side.’

“I learned most of what I know from a ghost.” Apparently she chose to be blunt. “Her name was [member="Adele Adonai"]. She taught me everything I know. Funny enough it was also my first experience with force ghosts. Freaked me out when I first saw her.”

“It took me a few years to truly get a hang of how to work the method but that didn't stop me from taking what she told me to heart and try my luck at becoming a healer through practice. It’s gotten me this far, so I can’t complain. Did you by any chance know of her? Adele, I mean.”

[member="Avalore Eden"]