Somehow resisting the urge to break into a full sprint, Mand walked briskly through the Rys'tihn Retreat's halls, intent on not causing anyone alarm due to her rapid pace. She had been quietly summoned to the medical wing, but she had left her messenger far behind, reacting the instant he had relayed the request to her. She had left a somber conversation with Koril and Elena, and thankfully, they hadn't followed her, at least not immediately. As she rounded the corner and swept into the room, she met Master Kanomin's calm expression before she looked to Cordira in the center of the room.

"Everything's alright, Mand," Master Kanomin soothed her worry with her warm, low tone, allowing Mand to release a breath she had been holding since she'd received her summons. "She is showing signs of waking, though. I thought you would want to know."

Her daughter was resting peacefully in the bed she'd been placed in after their return to Paneau days ago, though her position hadn't changed much. Except for her slow, steady breathing, she wasn't moving, either, but perhaps Master Kanomin had picked up on some other minute change in Cordira. Despite the close monitoring the Retreat's medical staff had kept on her, it could have been a change that only a Jedi could have identified.

"Yes, of course," she breathed, looking to Raval as he slowly stepped up to Cordira's side, as well. The aging medic had been Koril's personal medical attendant for more than twenty years, but the Rys'tihns had been beyond insistent on temporarily assigning him to Cordira as she recovered. While Mand's husband Rech was himself still recovering from injuries sustained at Lucidia's hand just days before, Mand didn't have the heart to refuse the Rys'tihns' assistance.

Raval gave her a calm nod. "She is remaining stable, Master. She doesn't seem to be in discomfort any longer, but we will continue to monitor."

Master Kanomin, though, looked expectant. "Should I send for Rech, as well?"

"No," Mand returned quickly, shaking her head. "Not right now. He's been more focused on her than on himself since we got her back, but he needs the rest, too. If she does wake up soon, we'll let him know after he's had some time to heal himself."

Though she seemed somewhat disappointed, Master Kanomin bowed slightly as she and Raval left Mand alone with Cordira, closing the door behind themselves. Mand sighed lightly, pulling a chair up to Cordira's side as she glanced about the familiar room. Even before Cordira's current stay, Mand had spent a considerable amount of time in the Retreat's medical wing, visiting Koril as he recovered from his numerous bouts of ill health. It was only slightly more comfortable than a typical Paneau medical center room, but at least loved ones were always in close proximity, and the private staff devoted their entire attention to the recovering occupant.

Returning her gaze to her daughter, she began to study Cordira's serene face, her face, briefly pondering everything that had brought her to this point in her life. Never would she have imagined that her training as a Dark Jedi from a very young age would set the basis for her transformation to a Jedi Master in her thirties, nor would she have expected to become a wife, a mother to three girls, and a grandmother to a little boy when she had known nothing of her own family for the majority of her formative years. Her identical twin sister Adalia had only just been discovered on their search for Cordira, filling in the gaps of her Tarthos lineage while also explaining why she had given birth to her identical twin daughters; she was a twin herself, and the Tarthos had sought her out to use her for their experiments when she was in her teens.

How fortunate she was, then, she mused, for having survived so much turmoil, so many catastrophes, with the help of her husband and her close friends who had been right by her side through it all. The Force had tested her in a number of ways over the years, forging her by trials of strength, fortitude, and courage into the Jedi she was now. She felt personally responsible for some of the recent tragedies that had befallen Paneau, but perhaps, she thought, that it was by design? Could it have been the will of the Force that she had been so involved in Paneau's affairs in order to draw Paneau into hers in return? The network of friends she had relied on the most while tracking and stopping Lucidia were all connected to the peaceful Outer Rim world in some way, some more directly than others. The Legacy of Paneau, it seemed, the impact just one small planet had on the entire galaxy, was its influence on the formation of the team of Jedi and allies that ultimately prevented the Darkmyres and their scientists from unleashing an untold number of cloned Dark Jedi on the galaxy. Only so few of the trillions of beings inhabiting the hundreds of worlds within the known reaches of the universe would ever know what disaster might have enslaved them all, but Paneau could be proud for a millennia that it had made such a substantial difference in galactic history.

Had that ancient Rys'tihn Jedi ancestor seen that terrible future? Had Master Falur experienced a vision in which the galaxy was ravaged by these clones and descended into chaos, and had he identified Cordira as the central factor in it? Koril's late sister Deilia had believed Cordira's safety to be far more important than her own nieces' and nephews', and even more important than her own life, but did she know just how crucial Cordira's role was in whether or not the Darkmyres' research could be completed? Deilia had taken down one Darkmyre, and her sacrifice had almost been for naught had it not been for an anonymous tip a few years later that alerted the Natiyrs to the resurfacing labs, prompting them to proactively protect Cordira from Lucidia's grasp...

Pulling her from her pensive thoughts, Mand felt a fluttering change in Cordira's consciousness, freezing her breath in her chest. She watched her daughter's eyes slowly open without much movement elsewhere, and as Cordira silently took in her surroundings, Mand didn't dare move or say anything until their gazes met. Cordira's expression remained blank and she didn't seem to react as they studied each other for several moments, leaving Mand to wonder if Cordira's memory was still locked away as it had been on Myrkr. Undeterred, though, Mand smiled warmly down at her, restraining the intense emotion she felt overtaking her as she looked into Cordira's slate gray eyes for the first time in more than a year.

"Hello, sweetheart..."

Cordira searched her eyes in return, but still Mand could see no reaction from her. She could tell Cordira's mind was churning, but her face was stoic and unchanged until...

"I told you all...not to come after me," she breathed weakly, barely audible. "I begged you not to..."

"I know," Mand countered quickly, equally as breathless as she gently gripped Cordira's hand at her side in her elation. She did remember! "I know, Cordira, but we had to! Sweetheart...you were pregnant when Lucidia took you." As Cordira's eyes gradually widened in surprise, Mand was sure she already knew the answer. "...did you know?"

A distant, unfocused look in Cordira's eyes was enough of a reply, but she feebly shook her head. "No..." She hesitated a moment more, seemingly coming to another realization. "...I'm not anymore."

Mand could hardly contain her smile, hearing echoes of her grandson's content, joyful giggling in her head. "No, you're not...because he's almost eight months old now."

Cordira's confusion and disbelief was patent, weakening her voice further. "I don't understand... How?"

"Lucidia kept you sedated until your son was born," Mand explained softly, squeezing Cordira's hand for comfort. "Then you were frozen in carbonite until you woke up on Myrkr. That's why you don't remember anything about the past year." She paused briefly, allowing Cordira some time to process before she continued. "You do remember everything before Lucidia took you, though, don't you?"

Tears began streaming down her face from the corners of her eyes, searing Mand's heart into a white-hot knot with the pain in her voice. "...I don't want to."

Moved with compassion for her, Mand reached up and caressed Cordira's cheek, brushing her tears away with her thumb. "I know, love, I know..." She could feel Cordira's heartbreak through the Force, reliving Derek's death with her as if it had just happened mere days ago. She could only do so much to soothe such a debilitating loss...

"You shouldn't have wasted your time on me," Cordira deflected. "You know I'm not meant to survive. I never was."

Mand shook her head defiantly. "And you know that I never believed that. I fought for you from the moment I knew I was going to have you. It didn't matter to me, or to your father, how you were created, but from the very beginning, I knew you were worth fighting for. You were worth saving. And I'm not the only one who thought so. Cordira," she tightened her grip on her hand, looking deeply into her eyes, "...your connection to the Force has been completely restored. Can't you feel it? I'll admit that at first I couldn't quite tell what I was sensing that was so...different about it, but...I think you know."

After a moment, a wave of unrestrained emotion rolled over her as she recognized the nature of her renewed connection, how it had taken the sacrifice of her best friend to save her life. Her entire body trembled with intense sobs, and Mand could no longer withhold tears of her own.

"I didn't piece it together until Elena mentioned that she could feel part of Derek's presence within you, and now it makes sense. He saved you, and your son, by repairing your connection to the Force himself after his death." She paused briefly, her breath trembling with emotion. "So now you'll get better. You're going to be okay."

Overwhelmed, Cordira tightly closed her eyes though tears continued to stream from them, openly weeping as Mand leaned over and warmly embraced her. Relief and joy freely flowed from Cordira as she sobbed, though it was somewhat overshadowed by guilt and grief. All Mand could do to comfort her was hold her, extending the Force to her to soothe her aching. In that moment, they were no longer each other's antagonists, no longer Master and Apprentice, but simply mother and daughter, a feeling Mand deeply reveled in. For so long, Cordira had kept Mand at an extremely distant arm's length; she was so stubbornly determined to establish herself as her own unique person and not just a clone of her mother, and it often left Mand helpless to support her. All those years of wounded trust and tenuous communication seemed to disappear as they held tightly to each other, no other words needing to be said. As Cordira calmed and weakened, Mand helped her settle back down on her bed, gently brushing her fire-red hair from her face.

"So...Master Rys'tihn is okay?"

Mand hesitated a moment, briefly unsure where Cordira's question had come from until she remembered just how devastated Paneau had been a year ago, the last time Cordira had been aware of anything. She knew of Derek's death, she had experienced that firsthand, but the fate of everyone else after the pirates had ravaged Dalon and Kirodai had remained a mystery to her. "Yes, she's fine," Mand nodded with a warm smile, drying a few stray tears from Cordira's cheek. "Dirani ended up losing her arm in the blast, but she has a very good replacement now. Koril took Derek's death the hardest, understandably. He was in a coma for two months, but he's recovering well, and so is Wil. Everyone else - your father, your sisters, your three friends from Coruscant, our closest Jedi friends - we looked for you for almost six months, until we found your son. Your little boy was...struggling, so I sent them all home while Elena and I kept looking. We had almost run out of shadows to chase when we finally got the message that you were recovering in that medical center, freed from the carbonite."

The fear in Cordira's voice was heartbreaking. "...Lucidia?"

Mand had to clench her jaw to quell the tremor she felt rising up from within her, earnestly taking up Cordira's hand in hers once more as she locked gazes with her. "I swear to you...Lucidia will never hurt you, or anyone else, ever again."

Though she took a lengthy moment to accept Mand's assertion, Cordira nodded weakly and squeezed Mand's hand back, allowing her eyes to close drowsily as she released a relieved breath. Mand watched her closely, prepared to answer more questions about the old woman's ultimate fate, but Cordira's mind instead went elsewhere.

"...and my...my son?"

Immediately taken by thoughts of the boy, Mand couldn't restrain her smile, grateful for the levity it had brought back to their conversation. "He's here in the Retreat somewhere, probably downstairs in the playroom where your sisters don't have to fight over him." She laughed lightly to herself, considering over the months how enthusiastically they had assumed their roles as aunts to the young Jake Redgrave. "They've taken very good care of him, as have a lot of people...including Ethan."

At the mere mention of her fiance, a strange, anxious expression suddenly took over Cordira's face, prompting Mand to soften her voice as she continued. "He's been an excellent father, Cordira. He is so good with the boy..."

But Cordira's gaze only evaded hers, and she even turned her head away as fresh tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

"I'm tired."

Recognizing her distress and regretting her part in it, Mand nodded. "Okay." She affectionately tucked Cordira's fire-red hair behind her ear, gently brushing her fingers down the side of her face. "You rest as much as you need to. Your father will be back up here after a while to continue some healing sessions." Though she hadn't expected much of a response anyway, Mand still felt compelled to console Cordira somehow before she left. She stood from her seat at Cordira's side, holding tightly to her hand as she leaned closely over her and whispered with care.

"I love you, Cordira. You have always been special to me, and now everyone else sees it, too. We are all richer for having you back in our lives, and I couldn't be happier than I am this day." Planting a tender kiss at her temple, Mand hesitated but a moment before she squeezed Cordira's hand once more and slowly left her side, allowing her daughter the chance to process everything she had just learned. Mand wouldn't go far, of course, should Cordira change her mind and have need of her, but she at least stepped out of the medical wing, meeting concerned but patient Koril and Elena just beyond its doors.

Ethan's heart was about to beat through his chest wall as he made his way through the crowd that had gathered in the hall outside the Retreat's medical wing. It wasn't until he was nearly at its door before he found Master Natiyr quietly talking with Kaylina Rys'tihn, and he was barely able to contain himself.

"She's awake? Can I see her?"

But Master Natiyr was quick to stop him as he began to step past her. "Ethan, Ethan!" she pleaded for his attention, gripping him by his shoulders. He could hardly feel himself breathing, wanting nothing but to be at Cordira's side in that instant, but he obeyed her, looking to her as she politely dismissed the others around them.

Settling her gaze on him, Master Natiyr released a soft breath before she began. "She is awake," she explained carefully, "and she does have her memory back, with one exception. Ethan...she doesn't remember anything of the past year. Lucidia kept her sedated; she was never conscious for any of it. That means that everything that happened right before Lucidia took her...for us, that was so long ago. For her...it's only been a few days. She lost her best friend. She saw her city destroyed. She believed she was going to die, and she had prepared herself for that. Now it's a year later, she's going to get better, and she has a lot to catch up on. It will take her time to process everything, and I know that eventually she'll be okay, but right now she is still so fragile. Please," she concluded, gently touching his arm at his side, "take care in how you talk to her. She's had a lot to take in all at once."

Letting go of a weak breath, Ethan nodded, understanding her request. "Of course, Master." In his dazed elation after hearing the news, he hadn't even thought to consider how Cordira would have experienced the past year, but Master Natiyr's warning made perfect sense. It tempered his excitement, but only slightly, forcing him to truly think through what he might say to her, how she might react to him. So many questions swirled through his mind all at once, but one stood out...

"...does she know about Jake?"

A wan smile softened her features. "She does now. I never mentioned his name to her, though. I didn't feel that it was my place to do so, only yours." After looking around the empty hall behind them a moment, her brows furrowed. "Speaking of, where is he?"

"He's napping, Aruun and Woxl are with him. He's fine."

A brief smile returned to her face, but it didn't linger long. "Ethan...I'm not telling you this to make you afraid of talking to her, I just want you to be prepared for the mindset you'll encounter from her. She's being very hard on herself."

He gave a soft laugh, a weak grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Sounds about right."

Master Natiyr laughed, too, shaking her head though she seemed to appreciate his lighthearted humor about Cordira's nature they both knew well. With a hand on his cheek, she lifted up onto her toes to give him a light kiss on his other. "I have some...business to attend to, but I won't be far. Rech should be back up here soon. If you need anything, Nasu and Raval are just down the hall."

Ethan nodded, sending Master Natiyr silently on her way. Despite her words of encouragement, he struggled to quell the fear he felt rising within him. He had been through a whirlwind of emotions over the past year: so many days of searching, so much lost hope, but finding it again in the recovery of his son and only experiencing more and more joy each hour he spent with the boy. How much harder it had to have been, then, for Cordira to have experienced it all within the confines of just a few days! With deep compassion beginning to overtake his anxiety, Ethan released a centering breath as he slowly stepped into the darkened room.