"Look, I told you not to stick your hand in there before the circuit was switched off." Elizabeth tutted, washing Zavvi's hand in kolto gel. She glanced at her 'apprentice', sympathizing with the electrical burns on the teenager's hand whilst gauging her reaction.

She didn't answer the Cathar, staring sullenly at the floor. She couldn't tell if it was typical teenage moodswings, if it was her natural state or if had been a result of her injury. Elizabeth hadn't really had the time to stop by Kestrann's home to see the newest addition to their family, though she had seen Zavvi when she was merely a baby, kicking and gurgling happily in her proud father's arms. She could understand why Kestrann had been so happy with her; his first child had been incredibly Force-sensitive and the Jedi had been chomping at the bit to take the youngster under their wings. As a result, the trooper barely got to see her, so there was a distance between them, so he was overjoyed when he could make up this lost time with the new baby.

And it showed, the way he doted on her. She certainly didn't lack her father's love and attention. Her mother, however, was another thing. Azi'lee had always been a bit stand-offish to the Cathar because she had dated Kestrann in the past, before he helped her accept that she was in fact attracted to the opposite sex and steered her towards like minded people, but after an event three years ago, she'd got even worse, hoarding her family close to her, especially Zavvi, as she hadn't the Jedi Order or the wider galaxy to go back to. Kestrann hadn't told her what exactly had happened, but whatever it was, it had affected Azi'lee deeply.

So Elizabeth sort of understood why Kestrann had called her that morning to hand his youngest off over to her in a desperate bid to free her from Azi'lee's grip, but even so, the Cathar had her doubts. A wanderer or not, she didn't know if Zavvi was right person for a smuggler; most, like Elizabeth herself, ended up in the profession through accident rather than choice, so she couldn't really believe that the Twi'lek would ever be a spacer, let alone a good one.
But she owed Kestrann for being her friend and helping her realize her proper sexuality without malice or anger, and so she would do the best she could to help his daughter. It was the least she could do.

"The pain gone yet?" She asked the young Twi'lek, running a hand over her orange and white fur and brushing the strands of dark brown hair over her pointed ears. Elizabeth wasn't the picture of typical beauty, as she was overweight and lacked much of a bust, but she'd gotten through smuggling fairly well, as no-one argued when her claws were unsheathed. Zavvi, on the other hand, would be able to use her feminine wiles as soon as her body filled out. Elizabeth couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy for the younger woman, yet a respect for her too.
"Still hurts." Zavvi admitted sadly, glancing at the angry wounds, though the redness was fading as the kolto got to work.
"Do you want some more kolto? I only gave you a little bit..." Elizabeth spoke, going for a vial.
"No, I'll be fine." The Twi'lek shook her head, waving away her mentor's help. "My father didn't raise me to be a wuss."
"There is a difference between being a coward and being in pain." The Cathar replied. "No-one deserves to be in constant agony, and there is no shame asking for relief. Do you think people would think less of a birthing mother if she asked for relief when she's giving birth?"
"I know, but there's a difference between that and a little burn like this." Zavvi replied. "I feel like a coward if I ask for more kolto for something like this."
"Because your father takes far worse in his job?" Elizabeth suggested. There was a pause, before her apprentice nodded. "I thought so. You must be missing him, being so far away and all."

Zavvi nodded again, a little more reluctantly this time. Elizabeth shifted to sit next to the young woman on the medical cot, wrapping an arm over her shoulders and being careful to avoid her lekku. Kestrann had told her that the brain injury had managed to make Zavvi's lekku more sensitive than normal, and that if a headtail was treated roughly it would be if the Cathar stubbed her toe with her claws extended, and the claw was broken off. So pretty serious pain, and Elizabeth was sure to be careful around her. Where the surgeons had cut open the Twi'lek's head to access her swelling brain was now covered by a Twi'lek headband, which Zavvi refused to take off, even for her mentor. Elizabeth could understand her reluctance to acknowledge what had happened to her; she'd woken up with amnesia of the event that landed her in hospital, and to be told that her brain had been damaged through the accident...She couldn't have imagined what had gone through Zavvi's mind. What had gone through her parents' minds.

They'd done tests on her, much to Zavvi's annoyance, and had made discovery to the effect that part of the frontal lobe on the Twi'lek's brain had pressed against the skull for a little too while and the resulting damage had caused a shift in personality. It was only when she got home that they realized how her personality had shifted; she was less fun-loving, more serious, and her arguments with her mother started to get very close to coming to blows. Apparently it had affected how Zavvi controlled her anger; it was now possible that if she was pushed too far she could do harm. The medics prescribed anti-psychotic drugs to tame any rages that would occur, but the side-effects meant Zavvi refused to take them. Indeed, they were sitting in the medical cabinet right now, just in case, but Elizabeth hadn't forced her to take them. Better to help the Twi'lek in learning to control her anger than have her on pills for the rest of her life. It was a fate she'd seen her mother taken by, and so she totally understood Zavvi's dislike of them.

"Hey, it's alright. Your father will always love you, and I'll teach you to be a smuggler that will make him proud." The Cathar assured her. Zavvi looked up at her sadly. "Come on, let's go and get some lunch. I can rustle up a curry, if that's what you want. Maybe you can go and see if you can do something with the Phoenix's computers." She smiled. "Besides, I think you earned some time off, don't you think? How about after lunch I teach you to play sabacc?"
Zavvi shifted slightly, considering it.
"Yeah...I'd like that." She said, looking up at her mentor and smiling.

Elizabeth smiled back. She had a good feeling about Zavvi...