Padawan
Lumiya remained still as he spoke, though stillness did not come naturally to her. Even now, with the survivors breathing steadily around them and the immediate danger finally beginning to recede, some quiet part of her remained poised to rise the moment someone needed something. But his words settled deeper than she expected. If you fall....all those relying on you will suffer because you are not there.
Her gaze lowered slightly, thoughtful now rather than resistant. The truth in it was difficult to argue against, not because she had never understood it intellectually, but because she rarely applied it to herself with the same compassion she offered everyone else.
The sensation of the Force moving through the strained muscles of her shoulder drew a small breath from her; not pain, exactly, but release. Tension she had been holding without noticing began to loosen beneath his guidance and the warmth of the treated patch. The ache did not vanish. But it softened enough for her to finally feel how exhausted she truly was.
For a long moment, Lumiya said nothing. Then, quietly her voice broke the stillness: “…I’m not very good at stopping.” There was no self-pity in the admission. No attempt to make it sound noble either. Just honesty worn thin by fatigue. Her eyes drifted toward the resting survivors again. One of the patients shifted weakly in their sleep while a nearby medical droid adjusted a monitor with quiet efficiency. No alarms followed. No crisis demanded her immediately. The galaxy did not collapse because she had sat down for two minutes. The realization felt stranger than it should have.
A faint, tired breath escaped her; something almost like reluctant amusement brushing softly through it. “I think,” Lumiya murmured, “some part of me always assumes that if I stop paying attention for even a moment, someone will slip away when I wasn’t looking.” Her fingers rested lightly against the edge of the bunk beside her as she allowed herself, finally, to follow the instruction he had given instead of merely listening to it. Slow breath in. Slow breath out. The tension in her shoulders eased by degrees rather than all at once. Her posture softened slightly as the constant readiness she carried loosened enough to become something sustainable instead of relentless.
Only then did she look back toward him again. “....But you’re right,” she admitted softly. The words came easier now. “They need me steady more than they need me exhausted.” A small silence settled afterward, quieter than the ones before it. Not heavy. Resting. Then, with the faintest trace of warmth returning beneath the exhaustion, Lumiya added: “So I’ll try.”
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Syn
Her gaze lowered slightly, thoughtful now rather than resistant. The truth in it was difficult to argue against, not because she had never understood it intellectually, but because she rarely applied it to herself with the same compassion she offered everyone else.
The sensation of the Force moving through the strained muscles of her shoulder drew a small breath from her; not pain, exactly, but release. Tension she had been holding without noticing began to loosen beneath his guidance and the warmth of the treated patch. The ache did not vanish. But it softened enough for her to finally feel how exhausted she truly was.
For a long moment, Lumiya said nothing. Then, quietly her voice broke the stillness: “…I’m not very good at stopping.” There was no self-pity in the admission. No attempt to make it sound noble either. Just honesty worn thin by fatigue. Her eyes drifted toward the resting survivors again. One of the patients shifted weakly in their sleep while a nearby medical droid adjusted a monitor with quiet efficiency. No alarms followed. No crisis demanded her immediately. The galaxy did not collapse because she had sat down for two minutes. The realization felt stranger than it should have.
A faint, tired breath escaped her; something almost like reluctant amusement brushing softly through it. “I think,” Lumiya murmured, “some part of me always assumes that if I stop paying attention for even a moment, someone will slip away when I wasn’t looking.” Her fingers rested lightly against the edge of the bunk beside her as she allowed herself, finally, to follow the instruction he had given instead of merely listening to it. Slow breath in. Slow breath out. The tension in her shoulders eased by degrees rather than all at once. Her posture softened slightly as the constant readiness she carried loosened enough to become something sustainable instead of relentless.
Only then did she look back toward him again. “....But you’re right,” she admitted softly. The words came easier now. “They need me steady more than they need me exhausted.” A small silence settled afterward, quieter than the ones before it. Not heavy. Resting. Then, with the faintest trace of warmth returning beneath the exhaustion, Lumiya added: “So I’ll try.”
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