Private The Healing Sands of Time

[Karra Tor]

The flowing water served as a calming presence for Karra's troubled mind, the ramifications of her experiment still echoing in the recesses of her mind. It had been four months since she had begun research on a treatment method for the Lervon, four months locked in her lab, surrounded by scientific instruments, a myriad of tissue samples (for lack of a better term), and the growing stench of her own putrid body. As a doctor, she knew that refusing to sleep and adhere to basic hygiene was irresponsible and detrimental to her health and wellbeing. As a person, she didn't stop thinking about the pain Ura was in and how every second she wasted on herself was a second that could have been used getting closer to her goal of ending her pain. It was a highly uneven balance she walked, viciously fighting to hold on to the tightrope each day and failing every time, but that didn't matter now - it was finished.

She pressed the button and the warm water stopped, receding until all that was left were droplets hanging precariously from the showerhead, making quiet dripping sounds as she stepped out and dried off. She eyed the Artificial Seed Crystal from the open doorway, it's green piercing gaze staring back at her as she dressed. Ura shouldn't be too long now, she thought - as soon as it was ready, she had made the call and asked her to come hither so that she could test it. She had tested it as much as she could on samples and animal testing was both unethical and pointless, the only way to know if it would work would be to test it on Ura...and pray.

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura was shocked when she got the message. Karra... she told her she had something. The Lervon couldn’t believe it. If this worked, it could be amazing for all Lervon. A way for them to actually heal. To get back what they lost. Mostly at least. Ura looked around as she walked up, not knowing what the doctor would have for her. But it was hope that maybe... she could get some of herself back

Ura would soon knock on the door, waiting as she called out “H-hello?”

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

Karra looked around for a moment, letting the soft sound of the rustling leaves wash away all her thoughts so she could relax and focus on getting things ready. Another benefit of actually taking care of herself and the lab was that she wouldn't need to constantly clean up whenever she had other people around. It wasn't exactly dirty, just cluttered, but clutter was never fun to tidy up and, no matter how long she put it off, she would need to tidy it eventually. She sighed and spent the next 5 minutes putting everything back in their proper place and watering the plants before she heard a knocking at the door.
”Come in!" She called, topping off the last plant as Ura walked in. The sight of the sandy Jedi brought a smile to Karra's face and she walked over, shaking her hand somewhat awkwardly - patients didn't always appreciate a hug. "I'm glad you came, I've been working for 4 months on this, and I needed to show it to you." She turned and moved over to a small table where the green seed crystal slumbered, perched on a small stand ready to be studied if need be. "How has the pain been since the last time I saw you?"

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura walked in slowly, seeming to give off a happiness about her that day, though there was also a hint of worry. The Lervon would soon shake hands, one of the few organic things she understood, and slowly looked to the crystal. Four months.... She’d done this for four months. Ura eyes the weird crystal, looking at it and noting the green color.

“Th-that’s the crystal?” Ura was wide eyed at the sight. This was... it was what she was working on. The question of pain then came up, and Ura seemed pretty happy.

“It’s faded. Maybe another month or two before it’s gone.” She was still fascinated by the crystal, wanting to know if it would work.

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

Karra stopped in her track when she said that, her ears perking up in a slightly unnatural ark before she turned around, surprise spreading across her face.
"Gone...?" She asked, her voice little more than a hushed whisper. Four months of endless work pouring over codex after codex and experimentation with horribly fickle tissue samples, four months of waiting, sleepless nights, and the putrid stink of unwashed skin...and it was gone??? The feeling of having wasted her energy washed over her, a fist clenching and shaking with tired rage as she turned back and leaned on the work table, staring at the glowing green waste of time. Let it go Karra, her mind said; even though Ura's pain had began to fade, this was still a potential medical breakthrough that could help and enable thousands, and it would allow Ura the chance to move freely again without being feeling like she was half the person she used to be. It was not a waste of time. It was not.

"Right," She finally said after around a minute of silence, sucking in a deep breath and turning with a small tired smile. She moved over to the water machine and poured a cup, taking a long draw of the sweet, clear, clean, calming liquid before looking at Ura again. "Good, sorry about that, I was just lost in my thoughts there, I started thinking this whole thing was a waste of time, but ah...rational thinking, it's a blessing." Karra put the cup down and gestured for Ura to sit, picking up the pedestal and placing it on the table in front of them before sitting down herself. "Ok, so this is an artificial recreation of a Lervon seed crystal, substantially weaker than the real thing, but I think that will work to our advantage. As we both know, the Force surrounds and binds all living things together, and in addition, it can be passed on and taken away too. A seed crystal typically creates a fully grown new Lervon, but as I imagine you know, sometimes the crystal just isn't strong enough to complete the process and the birthing fails...it's tragic." She trailed off for a moment, the thought of this experiment's failure crowing again, images of a pile of dead sand, a tribunal, guilt and hatred and-

"Anyway, when the birthing fails, the accumulated minerals used for the birth begins to break down as the crystal fades, I hypothesize that, if we used a weak crystal to grow some Lervonian sand, then we transferred, no wait...joined the crystal's force energy with your own, those minerals would attach to you and fill in what you've lost, becoming a new part of you."

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura looked at Karra, noticing the feeling she was having. Ura was by no means empathic, but it was how her species shared emotions. She slowly looked at the doctor, closing her eyes. "Not gone. Just faded...." The Lervon looked around, hoping the doctor would be ok before looking at the crystal again. She listened carefully, trying to understand how the crystal worked. When she heard the comparison to when a Lervonian "birth" failed, the sandlike being seemed to "tense up." She looked around a little, seeming to get uncomfortable before she listened to the rest.

The idea was that the crystal would eventually join with hear Force, becoming her. The Lervon's eyes flicked back as she processed everything. "Wait? So how does this.... How does it produce crystal mass without a second seed crystal? How does it become attached to my Force? How would it affect things like how many more injuries I could take?"

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

Karra mentally breathed a sigh of relief that she had worked out the answers to these questions earlier, otherwise she would have gone quiet.
"The other crystal is you, actually," She explained, pointing at Ura's eyes. "The treatment is therapeutic in nature, you will be placed into the incubation jar with the second crystal, and I will place a temporary bond on you and it via the Force, when the minerals begin to form, it should automatically transfer and mold into you since it can feel a mind present, similar to how the two crystals come together as the shell of a person starts forming." She paused for a moment, leaning back in her chair and taking a deep breath as her hands threaded together with her index and middle fingers straightening up and resting against her lips in thought. This was the part she didn't want to talk about, but she had to as part of her oath. She was almost certain it would work, she would be healed, they could go on with their lives, but images of dead Lervon in her lab held her tongue back from simply dismissing it. She was a healer and a scientist, she knew there could be unexpected consequences to new and experimental treatments, especially in unfamiliar biologies. Not saying anything would be negligent, no matter how confident she was in her abilities.

”...alright, here's the problem." She pulled herself upright in her chair, trying to look a little more professional as she looked Ura in the eye. "You know there aren't a lot of Lervon in the order, most don't leave the homeworld because of reasons like this, injuries are a much graver threat to them. Tis is the first treatment ever developed, and as such, there are unknowns that no amount of time in a lab can figure out. What I'm saying is that I don't fully understand what'll happen during or after this treatment, there may be many side effects or maybe none at all, this treatment night even be a monumental failure, but the only way I can find out..." She shrugged and looked away, unable to finish the sentence. "So, uh, it depends, really, on whether or not you feel it's worth the risk."

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura looked at Karra as she explained. The Padawan was the second crystal. She would have to spend some time in an growth jar, and the crystals would be her's. But then... the reality of this came back. This treatment was experimental, and the doctor had no way of knowing what the effects would be. She looked down, showing her wounds again. It was somewhat risky, but this wasn't just for her. If it worked... it could help her entire people! She looked at Karra, closing her eyes.

"This isn't just for me.... It could help everyone. I trust you with this. I'll... I'll do it." Ura looked back over, a worry and excitement coming over her. She waited to hear what she needed to do.

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

That was it, the confirmation she needed, now the experiment could go forward...with all the fear and uncertainty that it entailed. If she was honest with herself, Karra would admit that part of her wanted to say no, absolving her of this potential disaster that could end with a dead patient and even more weight on her shoulders than before. She could have just thrown the research in the trash compactor and forgotten about it, trying some other route or just letting the pain fade naturally - wasn't like Ura was too bothered by it now. She pushed all that down though, she wasn't like that, she had hope, she kept going in the face of defeat when it meant the health of her patients and beyond. Besides, it wouldn't fail, she had made it, nothing she made fell apart like that, right?

She set the churning blender of emotions aside and just focused on the warm smile that had somehow made it's way to her face as she stood and patted Ura on the shoulder reassuringly.
"Let's get to it then," She said simply, picking up the crystal and turning toward the balcony looking out over Kashyyyk from behind a veil of vines and leaves. Sitting in a large sunbeam in the middle of the balcony was a medium-sized transparent glass box filled with composting Kashyyyk soil, softened up and murky with water - perfect minerals for Lervon conception. "Water, soil, and sunlight: everything a grown girl needs." She gestured for Ura move over to it as she began to make preparations, moving a few sheets behind the box and sprinkling some incense and snacks around them. "Ok, so this is how it'll go: I'm going to place the Crystal inside the tank and let it sit for a minute so it soaks some of the minerals up, then when it's done that, you'll need to step inside the tank and just rest, that's it. Let your mind go blank, open yourself to The Force, reach out, and I'll connect you to the Crystal so the process can begin. I'll be here the whole time, so if something goes wrong, I'm just a stone's throw away, the box is open-top so you can get out easily."

She kneeled down and leaned over the box, her arm drifting to just above the clouded brown surface. She found herself hesitating in the moment, her mind rolling through tragedy after tragedy, but the Crystal seemed to calm her as she looked at it. It was almost as if she could feel a trickle of the Cosmic Force through it's presence, maintaining one foot in the land of the living, and the other in that mysterious place all life stems from. She exhaled, opening her palm and letting it roll into the liquid, a soft plop punctuating the entire arduous experience.

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura would follow behind Karra, not quite sure what to expect, and dealing is a ride of emotions. While she was excited, she was worried about the results. What would happen if this didn’t just fail? Would she be... gone? The Lervon shook her head. It’d be ok. Yeah. It’d be fine.

And then the actual “jar” came into view. It was a pretty large glass chamber. Ura looked at its contents before eying the doctor curiously.

“You really did your homework on Lervon....” It was almost crazy to see in all honesty. Then came the explanation about what was to come. She’d put the green crystal in, let it rest, then get in and open herself to the Force. To let Karra ensure the bond’s good. It was also good to know she wouldn’t be alone through this.

“So how long should the whole process take?” Ura was curious, but it didn’t stop her from getting in when her time had come. The Lervon would slowly slide into the water. It was murky, but that wasn’t unexpected from Kashyyyk. Then she slowed her mind down. Trying to keep it clear and she opened up. She opened her eyes again slowly. She was ready. Ready to test this....

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

Karra held back the urge to scoff at that comment - of course, she had done her homework, what professional wouldn't? She hated the idea of someone trying to do their job without all the information at their disposal, especially medical personnel. It wasn't just negligent on the part of the worker, it was blatantly endangering the life of the patient too, and that was unacceptable. Moving on though, Karra moved to the back of the box and sat down cross-legged, wiggling around a little to get comfortable for the foreseeable future. She didn't know how long it would last, after all, a fact that Ura picked up on quickly as well.
"I honestly don't know, the tissue samples indicated a few minutes but, being a fully grown Lervon, it could take significantly longer for you," She said, taking a quick drink of blue milk before shaking out her upper body, cracking her neck, and letting out a deep breath as she started to relax her own body. Shi'ido didn't develop sores or knots like humans, but they still felt the wear and tear of going long periods without sleeping, it just manifested throughout the body as opposed to one part of it, so the relief practically washed over her, flushing away any stray thoughts as the sound of sand against water sharpened her focus. "As for when it'll be done, I imagine you'll feel whole again when it's over so that should be a sign."

Karra inhaled and exhaled deeply, letting her muscles relax and go limp as her arms slumped down and came to rest on her lap. She let herself tilt ever so slightly forward and her head touched the cold glass, sending a momentary chill down her spine before the quiet calm quelled everything. There were no thoughts, no feelings, no doubts or fears, just her and the quiet, the contentment, the peace...The Force. She reached out with The Force, sensing the soft flow of the growing crystal ebbing throughout the moisture, pulling it together and filling it with life it never thought it could have. Ura was almost imperceptible among the river, a drop in the ocean, but she knew what to look for. Karra opened her palms, focusing intently on Ura and the Crystal, letting her own power thread into the river and cut small lines here and there, tilling the ground, redirecting, funneling. The two bodies of water began to flow into one another, becoming unified and joined together in the Living Force. "Contact!" She gasped softly, her breathing faltering a little before returning to that steady rhythm. She had done her part, now all they could do was wait, and hope...

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

“Ok,” she said, looking from the box as Karra explained the process a bit more. Ok. So the exact time wasn’t know, but it was somewhat comforting. She’d be their with the Lervon too. So with that, Ura closed her eyes and focused on being open.

Then she could feel it. The Force of the crystal around her, and then feeling a link between herself and the energy around her. She could feel something forming. It was weird. Lervon usually either grew too slowly to notice, or they weren’t aware yet. As she sat their though. She felt the Force flowing through. It was... unique. She couldn’t explain it.

Ura wasn’t sure how long it had been before something felt right though. The pain that had been left seemed to have melted away, and it didn’t feel like any of her was missing. She would slowly move to the surface, peeking her head out of the top, not sure what to say as she finally slid out. When she went to reform, she looked down. Green crystal mass pocked her body, and her left fingers seemed similar. She looked at Karra, almost in disbelief.

“It.... Did it work?”

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

The minutes trickled into hours as time started to fade from the mind, stillness enveloping the duo in a shared moment of clarity and peace. Karra came here a lot, often to remind herself that she wasn't as bad a person as she thought herself, relying on the testimony of others rather than the poisonous self-loathing that so often whispered toxic nothings into her soul. Here, she was free from the Dark Side, free from fear and doubt, all things wrong with her just faded away into the aether, leaving just her and the wind, gently licking up and down her face and whipping small strands of loose hair around her. The sounds of a flowing river soothed her consciousness into its smooth slumber as her breaths deepened and The Force bond grew stronger between symbiote and host.

It felt like an eternity had passed when she heard Ura slipping out of the box, the noise pulling her back to the lab where, hopefully, everything had gone according to plan. All it took was a glance to see the differences now present in her, missing pieces of her replaced with some kind of crystalline substance. She looked healthier, and she could feel her presence in The Force too, stronger than before. Any pretense of the 'motherly healer' vanished, replaced with an honest and glowing grin as Karra got to her feet and moved to her patient, dragging the chair with her.
"It worked...?" She muttered softly in disbelief, gently trailing her left hand across the new addition on her torso, getting a sense of it's feeling against her skin, it's texture and softness, compared to the more sand-like skin above and below. "How do you feel? How does this feel?" She hoped it was painless, otherwise, this would have been all for nothing. Even mere seconds after coming out of her mental safe zone, bad thoughts plagued her again, now bringing images of a crystalline infection or easily shattered replacement parts that barely did anything. Once again, she tried to push them aside - she needed to focus on Ura and there were a lot of tests to run to make sure she was ok (not to mention refining the process from the data she acquired here). "I'd like to run some scans and tests to make sure you're alright if you don't mind."

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura looked at her body, and the newly added crystal mass. It was strange. It felt sharp compared to her normal sand-like crystals. Then again, it was fresh. New. It hadn’t weathered any amount of time or movement yet. She looked over, reaching her left hand up to see the new fingers again. She then heard Karra, bringing her back from what was like a dream. How did it feel?

“I.... I don’t really hurt anymore. And the new crystal mass. It feels sharp. Rough. New.” It was a strange feeling. Something few Lervon had felt before, and no mature one at that. Their body actually healing. Ura looked over to Karra, who asked about running tests. A happiness showed through the Force still, but it didn’t stop Ura from answering.

“Yeah. That’s probably a good idea. Would rather know if it’s all good now than later.”

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

Karra glanced at her datapad, already shooting over to her, and started taking notes as it entered her hand, recording Ura's statements for review later on. There was only so much that she could glean from a physical examination, so she copied those down first before catching up to Ura, fingers tapping away in a blur of movement for a moment before beginning to slow down. She didn't feel any more pain right now, that was good, the main objective was achieved, now they needed to understand this new state of being if they wanted to bring it to other Lervon that were ever injured.
"Sharp, rough, and new, right...hm," She said, pinching her lower lip between her thumb and index finger in thought while looking between her notes and the new mass. "Does it feel like a part of you right now or does it feel more like something filling what's missing? Feel free to think about that one."

Karra stood and moved back into the lab, taking one last deep breath of the natural air beforehand and briefly letting her mind entertain the idea of moving the lab entirely to an outside space - wouldn't work given how temperamental outside weather could be, but it was a nice thought. "Lie on the table please." The medical scanner would be able to tell them more about what was going on inside Ura's body, though admittedly not as much as she would like it too since Lervon were so different to other forms of life. The yellow light spread over the sandy mass and did confirm what an outside look implied, displaying results before Karra as she furrowed her brow in annoyance. "The scanner won't be able to pick up everything, Lervon are too radically different from carbon-based life, but it tells me a little more than beforehand. The seed crystal seems to have completely shattered, or maybe atomized, and spread throughout the new mass, that's why it looks green. It's registering as a foreign body compared to the rest of you, but I don't think that means much if you don't have a blood supply or a nervous system, or organs...or susceptibility to disea- my point is that everything seems to be fine, but there are still a lot of unknowns since we can't really scan Lervon bodies with much accuracy. Time might be the only way we can feel this out."

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

She moved she body a little looking over at Karra as she asked about what she felt about the crystals. Did they feel like they were her, or just a replacement. Ura stopped, thinking a bit. She looked at all the crystal, closing her eyes a little.

"It feels... like it's in the middle. Like it is a part of me, but different." It was the best she could explain it. The Lervon would then follow the doctor to the scanning table, trying to be still as the scan happened. Karra went over everything with her. The seed crystal had shattered, giving her new mass it's green tint, but Karra noted that for a Lervon it probably wouldn't be an issue. She also noted only time would tell if anything would eventually come up. They just didn't know how to scan Lervon.

"So it may take some time, but otherwise, I'm ok? Just greener? This is just crazy. I... I guess I'll need to come back for some check-ups?"

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

Once again, each line of dialogue was cataloged for study and further research later on, with Karra finally putting a pin in things as she asked about check-ups. Placing the datapad on the table, she felt a great wave of relief come over her as things started to truly set in. It had worked, she had created a method of treating a previously untreatable species, and now Ura didn't have to face a life of near-constant pain. Then again, she mentioned that the pain faded so maybe that wasn't going to happen either way, but it was still a breakthrough! This was a true victory as a healer and a Jedi, and the realization almost made her giddy with excitement. Best to save the squeeing for after Ura left though, she thought, getting up and moving over to her.
"Oh most definitely, with the notes I have on the initial session, I should have a good bead on any changes in the future, though that will obviously rely on your cooperation since I can't see everything," She said, walking with her to the door. Now that she was healed, she figured that Ura would want to get out and stress test the new skin, something she didn't need to be there for.

Before they reached the door, she handed Ura a small metallic diamond-shaped device with blank readings displayed on the front. "Before you go out and break it in, take this with you, it's a modified Medisensor, something of a prototype. It's calibrated for your atomic structure based on the scans I just did, just absorb it and hold it inside you, it should let me know if the new skin starts to destabilize or break down. It's not perfect, but for now, it's the closest I have to a medical scanner for a Lervon. As for me, I have more tests to run and research to do, the workload grows ever larger in this imperfect world." She hit the door switch and turned to Ura, pointing accusingly at her. "Now don't go getting into any more duels young lady or you won't get a sweet next time, understood?"

Ura Iolar

 

[Ura Iolar]

Ura's eyes even showed how happy she was to hear that she'd still have support as she went forward. Before the Lervon couldn't say anything before being handed a metal diamond. She looked at it and listened to the explanation. It was a scanner. One that would let Karra know if the sandy being was still stable after she left. A curious joy came from Ura as she grabbed it and slowly placed it in her chest.

"Thanks. I hope everything will be stable though." She then chuckled at the doctor told her not to get in any duel, or she wouldn't get a sweet next time. She couldn't do anything with one anyway, but it was funny.

"Ok, ok. I won't get in trouble. Or at least I'll try. Thank you, Karra. I... I hope this ends up being as good of a treatment as it seems so far." She then walked out the door, feeling the green crystals again. It was like she never lost the first part of her crystal mass.

Karra Tor

 

[Karra Tor]

Karra watched Ura walk away with renewed hope, a brief sense of contentment settling on her shoulders. All that time, it seemed, hadn't been in vain. Even with the pain dulled, she seemed so much more depressed than when it went away - she only hoped that this treatment wouldn't backfire on them. Though her mind was all too quick to go through the motions of paranoid thoughts and worst-case scenarios, she found it a little easier to let them go now, probably wouldn't last but it was nice to have it for a little while. She pushed off of the wall she was leaning against and walked back into the lab, the door sliding shut behind her as she looked around cluelessly. Now that Ura was gone, she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do; the schematics for the ship were still waiting for her and, even though everyone had pulled out, she wasn't going to let that expedition vanish in the realm of 'what if?'. She could just meditate for a while, let the silence soothe her...the empty, hollow silence that left only her thoughts to occupy the time. Karra walked out on to the balcony and sat down on her rocking chair, like so many days before, head on hand as she stared out at the daylight, wondering what to do next...

/END THREAD