Reflection

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

“Oh money!” Jacen exclaimed, realising what Destin was waiting for patiently. The infant grunted in frustration. Always the case with this age, they could comprehend far more than they could express. Jacen also wasn't quite familiar enough with the way they pronounced certain words yet.

He took the offered plastic saucer and fished a small credit chit from his pocket and handed it over before pretending to eat whatever had been cooked. This seemed to please Destin, perhaps he'd been expecting imaginary money. He turned it over in his little hands a few times.

“More?”

“You'll have to make more food for more won't you?”

Destin took this news stoically and tottered back off to the wooden play kitchen Gabe had made for them. They were outside the homestead, a pleasant breeze in the air as the sun flirted with the treeline. Arnaud was playing on his own with some marbles and a plastic course for them Jacen had helped him put together.

They were far more dextrous than when Jacen had last watched them. More mobile too. He'd discovered that suddenly, earlier in the day. Taking them for a walk the pair had bolted in different directions. For a split second Jacen had been faced with deciding which his favourite was to save from inevitable danger, before Destin promptly stumbled and sat down on his rump leaving Jacen to collect his brother.

Destin returned with a new plate, holding out his palm for another coin. Jacen couldn't help but see the resemblance to his biological mother. He thought back to that day when he'd tried to make her truly think about whether she wanted to miss out on seeing her children grow up. That Brough a sudden pang of regret.

“I'll get in trouble for this with your mother. Probably when you're found flushing credit chits down the toilet.”

“Mumum?” Arnaud called, now rapidly heading towards them with a slightly unstable gait. He barely slowed down before colliding with Jacen's right leg. Both toddlers now stood against him, clinging to a leg each.

“Mum will be back soon, she had something urgent to organise. And your father is on the far side of the moon. And I sent Stali on work…so…good job Lilin can mind my padawans I suppose.”

“Mik pwease,” Destin suggested. Jacen reached under his chair and handed him an empty, plastic cup. The infant gave him a withering stare and grunted.

“Oh right, for real,” Jacen said, checking his chrono. “No not now I'm afraid, you won't eat your dinner. Actually we should head on inside and get on with that. I do hope you mother is back for bed time. I bet you two wind each up a treat if someone else tries to get you down.”

 

[Avalore Eden]

It would be another hour before Avalore Eden returned home. Stepping out of a speeder taxi she'd caught at Baron's Hed, the Jedi sighed as she slung her Healer's bag over her shoulder and bent to pick up the groceries she'd brought along. Always the opportunist since Sulon didn't have much in the way of what many considered to be luxury things - even some foods - she made sure to fill her bags on Sullust before returning.

Sugar, salt, spices and seasonings. Chocolate - hmm, she thought to herself as she stepped along the path of brick pavers, she couldn't recall the last time she'd had chocolate. As she rounded the side of the homestead and walked in through the courtyard the scents of dinner rolled in along a faint breeze. Avalore's stomach growled and she pushed her way in through the side door.

"Hello?" glass jars and cans clinked against one another in the bags as she set them on the tiled floor, reminded briefly as she looked around for D3PO droid who always greeted at the door. A sigh, she forgot he was out of commission. How long did it take to find a replacement battery cell? The weight of fabric fell from her shoulders as she shrugged out of her robes and leaned to hang the thick blue material on a nearby rack. She set the Healer's bag off to the side, making a mental note that she needed to restock it in the Med Bay later.

"Gauze, antibiotics, alcohol ... Jacen? Wait...where..." the running tally of necessary supplies would simply have to wait, too many things going on at once, too many thoughts crossing her mind.

"Mumum."

Stooping over the bags, rifling through them to check she hadn't forgotten anything, Avalore looked up to see Armaud standing at the end of the hall and felt a warm smile fill her expression, "Well what are you doing Mister? Look at you greeting Mumum at the door. Wanna help me carry the bags?"

Armaud, steadying himself against the wall, smiled a toothy smile and toddled over.
"Ohhh," the Healer grunted as she lifted the toddler off the floor and settled him over her hip, nuzzling into his chubby cheeks, "Mumum missed you. Where's Uncle Jacen and your brother, hm? Let's go find them."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

"We're in here," Jacen called. He was busy cleaning Destin down. They'd eaten some fritattas they'd be left in the freezer and had clearly had some sauce with them by the mess on the high chairs. "I did hear you coming so I wasn't just letting him wander off."

Destin started to rock back and forth. "Alright, alright, you didn't have any peas but I guess there were some vegetables in this. Besides it's my job to spoil you and mummies job to get greens down you, isn't it?" Jacen said, lifting him up and plonking him down so he could toddle in avalore's direction.

"I guess it'll take them a while to wind down now," Jacen said to avalore before scooping up some leftovers. "Useful trip?" he asked.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"No peas?" Avalore gasped as she set the bags on the counter and smiled down at her tiny green son as he tamped around the kitchen island, "But those are you're favorite, right?"

"No bees!" Destin shrieked and ran right past her.

Avalore blinked as she watched him make a beeline for their play area in the family room, "Well then..." she chuckled and looked to Armaud in her arms, brows raising as the boy yawned, "one of them at least. Destin will settle down after he gets some warm milk with honey." The boy had a sweet tooth and a particular taste for the Ankarres honey.

She watched him play with his blocks and slipped onto a stool at the kitchen bar where she could monitor his antics without too much trouble, "There was a mass, localized poisoning on Sullust. Something about the water pipes and sulfur. I didn't get many details - there were a lot of sick people, but we managed to round everyone up in time. No one's died but it takes a few days for everything to pass through. The hospital was overwhelmed. Uffff. At least I picked up some groceries on the way back. More sugar and salt, some odds and ends I can't get here. And chocolate."

"WAIYOU. WAIYOU WAIYOU WAIYOU-" yelled Destin from the play area as he stamped around with two blocks in his hands.

"Oh dear...did you eat or just the twins? I'm starving."

"Peas," said Armaud, smiling contently.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

"Ah there was a promise made regarding milk after dinner actually," Jacen said with a grin. He busied himself with tidying away their plates and then wiping the chairs down. They'd been enthusiastic about their dinner at least, but that enthusiasm had been spread far and wide.

"Goodness," he said as he went, "Glad I could stop by. Lilin took my classes for me. And no I didn't eat actually, just leftovers. Getting the two of them fed together is a little too involved. No idea how you manage twins to be honest.

"Tell you what, I'll swap getting those two down for making some proper dinner. Doubt they'll want me to put them to bed now anyway!" Jacen looked up at Avalore with a smile as he gathered some peas from the floor.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"I'd like to say there's a routine, but really anything goes here..."

"WAIYOOOOUUUUUUUUU!" a block zoomed across the room and bounced off a lampshade, making the lamp shudder.

"Waiyouu!" Avalore slid off her stool, Armaud watching brightly in her arms as she moved to scoop his green brother up off the floor, "why you fussy little green bean! It's time for milk and honey!"

"Miewk!" chirped Destin with a screech and a laugh.

"And honey, that's right...we'll put Armie to bed first though. He's got a head start on you. It's those peas, I tell ya."

"Peas," said Armaud again, babbling over a yawn, "pea-pea-peas."


Some time later...

It had taken about an hour but Destin finally settled in to sleep. The twins were in separate cribs now, much to Armaud's sleepy delight. Maud typically slept soundly through the night anymore unless Destin woke him up. Des, on the other hand, seemed to suffer from similar night terrors as Avalore, or so she came to think. On random nights he would wake, inexplicably, screaming bloody murder. Avalore couldn't figure out what caused them, could find no direct correlation to moon phase or diet or any other physiological or mystical thing. Destin often refused to go back to sleep unless he was snuggled onto her chest. Ava had watched a lot of late-night soap operas that way.

"Wufffff," said the Healer as she sat down again on the same stool as earlier, pushing her hair from her face, "some warm milk and honey would do me good, I think. What did you make? Smells good..."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

Jacen looked across at Avalore with a guilty expression, eyes turning to the glass in his hand. “I did consider the milk and honey myself, but then I'm afraid I took the liberty of opening a bottle. Sorry!”

He took a sip of white wine and placed it back down. He turned one of the plates set on the counter before him. “We have miscellaneous fish, baked with garlic, butter and some herbs. With some rice and salad. Jacen looked a touch abashed as her met her gaze again. “Sorry,” he added with a shrug. “I think after a decade of army food and rations, delicate flavours are just lost on me.”

Still, he figured if he'd been the one putting the boys down it would have been another hour to actually get them settled. Having been brought up on Coruscant, rather than tatooine like his grandparents, he probably would have found life on the homestead quite isolating. Nice as an occasional retreat though.

“Want a glass?” he asked, picking up the plates.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"Ohh..." eyes followed the path of the glass of wine with growing interest. Avalore didn't partake in alcohol very often, but it had been quite the day and she was certain that she'd earned it. The Healer nodded in response with an impish smile, "yes."

Brown gaze transferred to the plates as he walked them over and set them on the table, one before herself and the other at the seat beside her, "Don't be so modest. I'm sure it's better than the majority of cardboard they served at the Ossus Temple." Actually the food at the temple hadn't been half bad, but Avalore was certain that the food meant for the Masters was leaps and bounds above the protein snot they served the Padawans.

Once handed a fork she tucked in with a healthy bite, "Jacen this is really good. Selling yourself short..." munch munch. Maybe she was just really hungry.

"Did I ever tell you I started a food fight in the mess hall of the Coruscant Temple when I was a Padawan?"

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

"No you didn't," Jacen chuckled as he sauntered back to take another glass from the cupboard. He topped his own glass up as well, returning with both. Perhaps she wouldn't notice that the bottle was already nearly empty.

"Been seventeen years since I was at the Coruscant temple. Not sure I can remember the food. Ossus wasn't so bad, Talon used to be able to charm the kitchen staff into bringing out the best dishes."

As Jacen sat the smile remained on his face, but it seemed to recede from his eyes. His glass paused before him for a moment before he took another sip. Absent friends, he thought to himself, no need to bring the mood down.

"So..." he said as he took his knife and started to cut into his fish. "...who was present for this mighty battle, anyone I'd know?" The fish didn't smell bad, but then it was hard to go wrong with a bit of butter and garlic.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"Hmm," Avalore grinned into a sip of wine.

Oh, Talon. That reminded her, she would need to go check on the seed.

"Ah...well, there was Preacher and Moridena," she ticked off the two she'd recognized from her memories immediately. Diana had been her Master at the time and Preacher another of Diana's students. Though Diana was no longer living, Avalore was certain Jacen had at least heard of Master Moridena, even if not for her great accomplishments.

"Heavenshield was there, and his wife, though I'm not sure they were married at the time. The rest of the faces are a blur, to be honest. I don't think I saw any of the others again or ever learned their names." She was, admittedly, pretty bad at remembering names. Avalore took another bite of fish with a sigh and realized that for the first time in a long time her immediate memory of Coruscant had not been the invasion. Perhaps time did heal. Good friends helped too.

"So strange, how it all just...split afterwards."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

"That lot in a food fight? A little hard to picture, but I'll do my best. I'd been kicked out of the Jedi Order long before the temple was razed by the Sith. Got into enough trouble I suppose. Then again that was the problem really," he said. The chuckle that followed before his next sip of wine sounded quite half-hearted.

It set his mind to where he'd come from and where he was now. It had taken a long time to train himself to be able to look at his situation objectively. He'd been prone to depression ever since he'd been kicked out of the Order in his youth, analysing had never been a healthy activity for him. So much had been out of his control when the Sith had risen. Much still was, but at least he had a part to play now. Sometimes that part involved entertaining toddlers and pausing for a glass of wine. Another day it would involve being at the front to take back all they had lost.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"I am shocked and appalled, Jacen Voidstalker."

Deadpan broke into a snicker only moments after. Avalore ate, content to let the man have his silent reveries - a thing she'd become accustomed to in living with Gabe. Sionoma was nothing if not a curious case of the social introvert. Much of his dialogue was internalized, as she'd come to learn. Sometimes for the better. You know, when he would have said something stupid otherwise.

Gabe was good at that, too.

"So," said the Healer as she finished her meal, still nursing her wine - glass half full - and pushed her plate away, "I'm a bit torn on how I want to approach this with you. You've sent my boyfriend away on a mission and I feel like you owe me, but -" she swilled the contents of her wine, watching it slow when she stopped and the sediment settle along the bottom, "this also feels a bit awkward to ask of you."

"See, Stali and I made plans, and then you sent him away, and now I'm at a bit of an impasse," Avalore lifted her hands before her, fingers spread, "and I've already paid the babysitter."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

"Huh?" He turned towards her slowly, felt his pulse quicken at the shock of what his mind interpreted was being suggested. He set down his glass and placed his hands on the table. Thoughts were reined in and gathered as he pulled himself back together. He did feel more than a modicum of guilt for the amount of times he'd sent Stali to the various arms of the Galaxy on Hound business. Though he did actually bend the rules a little and was more inclined to place him on more domestic matters within Alliance space.

"You did that deliberately!" he accused with a low chuckle, covering his embarrassment. "For just a moment I thought I'd spoiled some romantic weekend away plans, know what it's like with just one kid interrupting a relationship."

Though I didn't for long, he silently reminded himself. They'd broken up before Tristan was one, hadn't shared a word with her in five years.

"So what can I help with? Ask away." Jacen went to recovered his glass, along with his composure. Would need to open another bottle soon, though this time he would ask. The glass whilst cooking had probably been a little rude.

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore smirked.

Gotcha.

A brow bobbed upwards as she looked down at the remainder of her wine thinking about the intended purpose for its purchase and how it had become something to enjoy, instead, between friends. The Healer sighed.

"The...anniversary of my parents passing was last week. It's been, gosh, maybe ten years since I've visited their graves. Information on the holonet at least has indicated that the lands where my childhood home and their cemetery are still intact. Stali...was supposed to take me to Corellia this week."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

"Hmm," was his initial response. He scratched his hairline behind his left ear as he considered this. Her little joke at his expense, and the wine made him a little groggy as he tried to think this through. Mostly the wine in reality; he didn't get to drink much these days.

Corellia wasn't the hardest place in Sith space to access. His face was well known, but it was the borders of their space they would have to worry about. The crust of the planet had been shattered by the collision caused by the galactic rapture. Putting facial recognition systems in was hardly the highest priority.

"When do you want to leave and what do you already have planned?" he asked. As per usual with Jacen, it wasn't a matter of whether to so the right thing, but a matter of when and how.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"We were set to leave in two days. Stali had arranged transportation within civilian vessels. He uh...made some nondescript purchases for fake identification last week. I suppose we could have taken a more legitimate route for that, probably would have been cheaper, but-" Avalore scratched at the side of her head, hand coming to rest in the thick of her brown hair, she shrugged, "deed's done."

"The plus to this is you get to see what I look like with blond hair and you can lord that over Stali for the rest of your days."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

"I'm guessing you've already ordered the fake ID with Stali's biometric and holoimage?"

What concerned him more was being recognised against the images the OSI might already have of him. That wasn't insurmountable. Someone on GA staff could easily make a few minor and reversible alterations. A machine recognised a face very differently. It didn't compare an image to a databank of existing people. Instead it used a limited number of archetype faces and defined a new face as a bit of A, some of C and picked a position in eigenface space. That formula got matched against whatever they stored for Jedi Master Voidstalker.

Simple, quick and troubling accurate. But a little padding to the cheekbones and eyeshape could throw them off.

"If you have, I could probably arrange something within a few days," he said before having another mouthful.

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore nodded, "Mmhm."

He wouldn't be able to use Stali's ID. The two didn't look a thing alike and she didn't imagine any amount of costume would even come close.

"Do you think two days is enough time?" He was being surprisingly casual about this. Enough so to have taken her a bit off guard. Avalore cleaned out the remainder of her wine to take a moment to collect her thoughts. She'd expected ... well, she wasn't really sure what she expected. As a fellow Marshall Avalore supposed she thought he would have chastised her for the idea; wandering into Sith controlled space to visit some graves. Yet here he was considering the timeframe for getting himself his own method of safe travel.

"So..." she said before he had a chance to answer the last question, "you're really...ok with this?"

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

Jacen tilted his head back and forth as he considered this. "It's not the safest, I would probably have said no if you were talking about going to a secure world."

Jacen pursed his lips and looked pensive. He didn't even know how or when Avalore's parents had died. "Security isn't that tight on what's left of Corellia," he ventured. By all accounts there wasn't much of a surface left, let alone security. Though perhaps the one Sith would go as far as placing military installations there. It would probably make more sense to deploy pre-built stations, or put bases near existing infrastructure.

He looked back up at Avalore, thoughts having drifted to the war and away from his companion so easily. "If I said no, would you still go alone?"

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore wanted to snort in response, thoughts quickly drifting back to the secure planet she'd been to not once, but twice, in the hands of the Sith no less, but she reminded herself who that Sith had been. The Healer, instead, gently cleared her throat and stood from her seat to take her glass to the sink where she rinsed it out.

"No," she replied plainly, "I would find some other poor sop to take me instead. All those boons to cash in on..."

Not that she would have wanted to go with anyone but someone she knew and trusted. Jacen was both of those on a short list of others. [member="Ryan Korr"] came to mind. The man owed her for Arkania, big time.

"More wine?"

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]