Warmth surrounded the young woman, but that was all she could feel beyond a dull thrumming of pain from her sternum. She moved her fingers slowly and felt the warm liquid, thicker than water, flow around them. The pain was more of a dull ache, and seemed to tingle lightly in a straight line through her body, just to the right of her navel.
She wasn't exactly floating in the liquid, though. She was vaguely aware of a harness that suspended her under her arms. The light pressure of a swim top and briefs went almost unnoticed against her skin. She could also feel the gentle pull of a weighted belt offsetting her buoyancy.
Her breathing was regular, the air stale and moist, and the sounds of her own breaths echoed within her head. She was unable to open her mouth and a rubber tube between her teeth didn't allow her to completely close it either. A pressure against her nose prevented her from inhaling the liquid, as well.
She carefully parted her eyelids to stare at what could have been a star with her sleep dilated pupils. Between the light and the alien feeling of the warm liquid on her eyeball, she slammed them back shut. She tried it again, and was able to withstand the overwhelming brightness. Her vision was clouded by the liquid and the slope of the transparent tube in which she floated. Movement in front of her drew her attention. She squinted through the liquid to see a shape slowly right itself.
He stood there, a vanguard against the evils of the world. The thought in her head was that he was always there and would always be there. That alone gave her comfort. A smile crept onto her hidden lips.
The dull image of his hand raised and pressed against the glass. As if the world righted itself in the sweet liquid, it appeared to her in its full detail. His rough fingerprints and palm became as clear as if she were holding it before her. The calluses, the small scar there beside his thumb, and the newer scar that was still healing across the pad of his middle finger; it was all too real for her.
The figure leaned closer to the transparent wall of the tank. Fuzzy features sharpened themselves into a face. A small scar ran across his left cheek, and he hadn't shaved for a couple of days. The gentle stubble had built into a respectable shadow, giving him a roguish guise. However, her attention was drawn to his eyes.
Their piercing brown gazed into her soul. His brow and the set of his jaw made him appear as hard as duracrete, but his eyes were as soft as shimmersilk. She had stared long hours into those eyes, and knew they had gazed likewise into hers. They were filled with concern; an emotion that she knew was misplaced. Even now, she felt her body strengthening between the healing fluid and her own powers doing what they could.
A dulled sound reached her ears as he spoke. She could not hear it clearly, but the movement of his lips was unmistakable. "I won't leave you," she heard his voice in her head a moment before it escaped his lips. She knew it to be the truth, just as she would not leave him when their positions were reversed so long ago.
Her hand was smaller than his, but she reached it forward and laid it over his palm. The movement caused a stabbing sensation through her that out shadowed the previous gentle throb. She heard the flat tones from to her side, something monotone and without any true feeling. The medical droid was probably admonishing him against touching the glass.
She heard the hiss of an injection into the fluid around her. A warm surge reached her skin, a numbing sensation that seemed to flow over her from one side to the other. Her eyelids began to flutter. She would be out in mere moments. The last thing she saw as the narcotic robbed her of her consciousness was his piercing brown eyes. The thought made her warm as darkness enveloped her like a comfortable blanket.
The young girl sat up with a gasp. Her heart was racing and her breathing was faster than it should be for a normal dream. The pajamas she wore were sticking to her body with sweat, though her mind told her it was from the strange liquid she was floating in just moments before.
It was dark, but the dim glow of the night lights let her see what she needed to. She was in her bed, not some tank. In the bunks beside hers, she could hear the other younglings, her brothers and sisters at the training house. Her gasp hadn't woken any of them. Or, if it had, they were still pretending to sleep.
Unlike most of her other dreams, this one was very clear. She still felt the light throbbing in her tummy all the way through to her back. Rubbing it didn't help it go away, but it seemed to be fading like an old memory. It was very strange how real the dream had been.
She licked her lips and felt them crack slightly under the moisture of her tongue. It didn't help that her mouth also felt dry, though the light taste of the sweet liquid was still present. She knew that she needed to drink something, but did not feel that water would wash out the taste. 'Some hot chocolate would help,' she determined.
The problem came from the fact that she was not supposed to leave the youngling dormitory; it was against the rules. The refectory was across the yard and she was sure to get spotted by someone. Nevertheless, she made up her mind. She would have hot chocolate.
There was little noise as she twisted herself off the bed. She had to slide over the edge on her stomach because her legs were too short to stand up from the bed like the older apprentices in the other dorms. Her toes touched the chilled stone floor quietly as she turned and made her way for the door. She shivered slightly as the cool air hit her dampened night clothes, but it soon passed. The gentle slapping on her bare feet was less than a whisper, but seemed to echo through the room. Thankfully, none of the other children stirred.
As she pushed the large door open, she wondered if any of the others had dreams like hers. She ran her fingers through her hair to dismiss the question, removing a few stray hairs from in front of her eyes. It didn't matter, and she had to stay focused if she was going to convince one of the nice cooking droids to give her hot cocoa. She slipped out of the room as quietly as she was able.
The night was peaceful. Three of the four moons were up in the sky; their blue glow was like that of the dorm night light. It was enough to let her see around the edge of the yard. There were no lights in any of the other buildings beyond those normal for the night. The only noise came from the chirping of the local insects and the high pitch keening of their natural predators. 'None of them will pay me any attention, though,' her young mind mused.
Some of the other children were afraid of the night, but Kaia didn't know why. The largest predator on the planet was the horned shrew, and they were only as big as her foot. Just touching one with a training saber was enough to make it go to sleep for a few minutes. She knew that from experience. In addition, she never saw more than one at a time. One of the caretaker droids said they were 'tear-ah-tore-eel.' Kaia didn't know that that word meant, but she was sure that they would fight each other if they got close. They were just that mean.
Cool damp grass greeted her bare feet as she walked toward the refectory. It was a refreshing feeling. The crinkling blades of grass covered with the nightly dew were more soothing than the cold stone floor of the dorm she had left. Normally, she was out after the sun had dried the grass. This was nicer, though.
"What are you doing up this late, youngling?" The familiar baritone voice of Master Gnul startled the young girl. He was standing not more than two steps to her right, even though she didn't know how he had gotten there so fast.
She froze in place, as if by stopping she could avoid being seen. A great blush seized her fair skin; she knew she was caught. Tears threatened to spring up at the thought of punishment, but she forced them back down. She was a big girl; four years old was too old to cry. Steeled with that thought, she turned to face the Jedi Master. Her hands went to the customary position of respect, clasp together in front of her, like she was taught.
Master Gnul was the caretaker of her youngling dorm. His gray robes stood out in stark contrast to his light red skin, even in the dim light of the yard. The black breath mask and goggles further alienated his appearance from hers. The silver glint of his lightsaber hung from his belt. He was very tall, far taller than she was, but less than that of some of the other Masters at the training house.
Some of the other younglings often said that the Kel Dor Jedi looked funny. She told them that they looked funny, too. That brought up a completely new argument about what normal looking was. In the end, it was decided that since everyone looked funny to at least one other youngling, they were all equally funny looking and thus normal. She felt proud of herself for that bit of arguing, even though the masters said that arguing was bad. However, Master Gnul told her she did a good job of using logic.
"I… um," her voice was tiny, barely audible to her own ears. "I had a bad dream, Master." She lowered her head in shame. "I was going to the refectory to get some hot chocolate and was trying not to get caught." She started wringing her hands, knowing that she had just lost out on sneaking some of the sweet drink. She would probably be given some water and sent back to bed.
Master Gnul reached down and lifted the girl into his arms, cradling her seat on a forearm as the other wrapped around her back. In a child-like protest, she refused to wrap her arms around his neck. Well, that and the fact that the points on his breath mask looked really sharp.
"Tell me of it, little one," his reply was gentle. Rather than walking back toward the dormitory, he had instead continued the path she was taking to the refectory. Of all the Jedi at the training house, Master Gnul was definitely the nicest.
With a joy in her heart, she finally consented to wrapping her arms around the Jedi's neck. His skin felt different from hers. It was not as soft, but also was warmer. His hands were rough, too. His three fingers each ended in a claw that was as sharp as those of a horned shrew. Unlike the small vermin, Master Gnul wouldn't even think of hurting her.
"I was floating in water, but it wasn't water, it was something else because it felt all tingly on my skin and tasted kind of sweet," she began in an excited fashion. Her voice was lowered because she was right next to his head, even though she didn't know if he had ears. "And I was under it, but I could still breathe because of a tube in my mouth, and there was a glass wall all around me, and it was really bright, and everything was all white and gray and fuzzy outside the tube."
Gnul sat her down at one of the tables that the bigger apprentices used. Her feet dangled above the floor and she swung them back and forth. The top of the table was higher than she was used to, but she was tall enough to see over the top. She was a big girl now, sitting at a big table. The other members of her dorm would be jealous, but she wasn't going to tell them. 'Keeping secrets is one of the fun things about being big,' she thought to herself.
"It sounds like a medical center," the Jedi's voice was soothing. He filled a cup with hot chocolate from the dispenser nozzle on the wall. He poured a little milk in it, which made it lessened the steam in the night air and then finished it off with a dollop of mallow paste. He set the full cup, as opposed to the half cups she was used to getting from the cook droids, in front of her. "A kolto tank," he finished as he sat on the other side of the table.
Her eyes were wide as she stared at the treasure. She smiled and flashed her bright blue eyes up at the elder Jedi as she reached for the cup. At the last moment, she stopped, calmed herself as much as she could, and said, "thank you, Master." She remembered that a Jedi had to do those things.
Gnul waited patiently for her to take a few sips of the treasured brew. Then, he waited for her to lick the mallow paste off her upper lip. It always happened when she drank hot chocolate. Some of the other younglings giggled at her, but she didn't care. It was good. "Go on," he finally said.
"I felt hurt a little right here," she pointed to the spot right below her rib cage. The hot chocolate had made the phantom pain totally melt away, though. "It felt like it went all the way through me and out my back. The water felt a little tingly on my skin, too. But, I already told you that. It also made the hurt tingle, but in a good way. And, in the end, a droid did something that sounded kind of 'wooshing' and I felt numb and sleepy."
The Kel Dor interlaced his fingers in front of him, his elbows on the table. 'That is a no-no,' her young mind told her. Elbows did not belong on the table, but Kaia was not going to tell him that. Maybe Masters were able to break the rules like that. Putting their elbows on the table and taking younglings for hot chocolate in the middle of the night. 'I can't wait to be a Master so I can do that,' she smiled to herself.
"That is how doctors give you medicine when you are in a kolto tank," he said with his patient and even demeanor.
"What's kolto, Master?" Her question got a bit of a chuckle from the Jedi in front of her. She realized after a moment that it was because she forgot to lick the white paste from her upper lip. She smiled with a blush as she licked it off.
"It is a liquid from a planet called Manaan. When you use it on an injury, it will heal it very quickly. Even the worst injuries can be healed in about a month."
Kaia drank some more of the hot chocolate and licked mallow off her lip again. "There was a guy on the other side of the glass. He was tall and wide, like Master Antilles, but he was different because he didn't have a beard and he had a scar on his face."
The lightsaber instructor was wide in the shoulders. Once, she saw him with his shirt off teaching some of the older kids in the heat of the day. His skin was all lumpy and the lumps were moving under his skin. Added to the fact that Master Antilles was also sweaty and a boy, made the whole thing that much ickier in her mind.
"He was standing in front of the glass and put his hand on it like this." She pressed her hand flat to the table. "When he did that in the dream, it made me feel calmer, like when we 'med-tate' like you showed us." Maybe he was a Jedi, too. Kaia thought about that as she took another sip. No, Jedi wear robes and he was wearing different clothes.
"It is med-i-tate, young Kaia, but go on," Master Gnul urged.
"He was wearing tan pants and a blue shirt with gray padding on the shoulder," Kaia thought for a moment, the dream was starting to fade slightly in her mind, seemingly washed away by the hot chocolate just like the strange pain. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to use a focusing technique to bring the image back into her head. "Oh, and he didn't have any hair, like those guys who sometimes come with boxes or to escort the older kids out of the training house."
"Those are soldiers, young one." Gnul emphasized his comment with a light tilt of his head.
"Yeah," Kaia blurted out loudly. That was where she had seen those kinds of clothes before. She looked around guiltily before lowering her voice again. "He was a soldier, Master Gnul! But, he wasn't wearing his hat and didn't have a blaster and he also had hair on his face like some of the older kids before master Antilles yells at them to shave."
Kaia didn't know what shaving was. However, the older kids came out without the hair on their faces. She wondered if it was like when a training saber burns off the hair when it touched the skin. That would hurt; maybe shaving wasn't a good thing. Maybe it was a way to punish boys when they start to grow up?
Kaia wasn't sure, but could almost hear a chuckle from the Kel Dor's breath mask. She took another sip of her hot chocolate, but there was no more mallow paste. That was okay though, it still tasted good.
"He looked at my eyes and said that he would always be there, but I couldn't really hear him except in my head, and it made me smile." She smiled at the thought, but she didn't know why. He was a soldier, as Master Gnul said. That meant that he wasn't a Jedi.
'Jedi looked out for one another and soldiers only look out for the Republic.' At least, that's what Master Antilles always told the older girls when they came back from the town with the soldier base in it. Most of them were giggly when they came back until Master Antilles talked to them.
"That sounds less like a dream and more like a vision, little Kaia." Master Gnul had still not moved his arms from in front of him. It was strange to hear him talk without seeing his lips move, if he even had lips. But, Kaia knew that he was okay. Her mother told her to trust him when she was brought here last year.
"What's a vision, Master?" She drank the last of the sweet cocoa in one shot, but was only able to swallow half of it. The rest puffed her cheeks out and threatened to break the seal of her lips. After a moment, she was able to swallow it, as well.
"When the Force wants you to know something," Gnul began; he rose and collected her cup. "It will send you a vision." He put the cup in the washer cubby where the cleaning droids lived. They would take care of it and have it all clean for the morning.
"But, what's a vision?" The last of word was almost drowned completely out in a yawn. The chocolate made her feel sleepy which was good because she was tired. Master Gnul picked her up as he had before and began walking her across the yard to the dormitory. Kaia was resting her head against his shoulder now; it was comfortable, especially through the padding of his tabard. The other side of the tabard made a good hand-hold, as well.
"A vision is a view of something that is going to happen. Sometimes it comes to you as a dream and sometimes when you are meditating."
"Is it good or bad, Master?" Her voice was low as she was fighting to stay awake. They entered the dormitory and he laid her back in her bed. She snuggled into the pillow as he pulled the covers up around her shoulders.
"What do you think?" He ran his clawed fingers through her blonde hair to pull it away from her face. It was comforting, even though it normally made her nervous because of his claws. But, she knew that he wouldn't hurt her.
"I think," she faltered, pushing herself awake with a quick burst of will. It would only last a moment, but that was all she needed. The words came out as she fell back into a peaceful sleep, aided by the gentle warmth of her Master's hand through her hair.
"I think he was a hero."