A/N: Neesta's meditation accident solution... because, while I can't seem to make any headway on the story itself, I do have an idea about this which does not involve waiting weeks for Elsie.


Week 9 (11.19.07) (UDC 2) – Meditation Accident - Need For Contact


41. Family


It had bothered Jaina for a while as she watched her now-translucent cousin speak and interact as if she wasn't, in fact translucent. What did having to wait until Mara's friend got back have to do with this problem? "It doesn't make any sense, you know."

Everybody turned and looked at her, and Mara frowned. "What doesn't?"

"When Jacen and I switched bodies, it was us that solved it, not your friend."

Neesta chuckled. "This is a little more complicated than that, Jaina."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

At that, Neesta simply stared at her, unsure of what to say.


42. Travel


Jaina sighed and looked at Mara, who was frowning in thought. "Where is she?"

"You mean her, herself?"

"Yes."

"Home."

Gingerly, Jaina stood and put her hands on her hips, a look of determination on her face. "Then let's go. We're not going to solve anything just sitting here."

"What if I don't want to solve this yet?" Neesta called after her. Jaina turned back and glared at her, and she winced. "Okay. Now is good."

"Glad you agree. Lead the way, Aunt Mara."

Ben, Riana, and Talina stayed behind just long enough to share a collective laugh after looking at each other in amusement.


43. Food


Jaina studied the figure laying on the bed while trying to ignore the smells of cooking food wafting in from the other rooms in the apartment that were unsettling to her stomach. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought her cousin was simply deeply asleep. "So..."

"I don't know," Neesta told her from the other side of the bed. "One minute I was deep in the Force, willing myself to find information, the next... poof. And I still want to wait for Elsie."

Jaina shook her head as she sat down on the edge of the bed and thought about the problem. It felt oddly familiar, somehow.


44. Blessings


Mara, meanwhile, was thinking about the other time this sort of thing had happened to a family member. To her husband, in fact, not a year after going to Byss and joining Darkness only to return not quite the same. He'd been very proud... "Pride."

Jaina blinked and looked at her. "What?"

"Pride," Mara repeated as she held Neesta's gaze. "You don't want to fix this on your own, but you're the only one who can. That's fear and pride, Neesta."

"I don't see how knowing that helps me," Neesta muttered, spectral arms folded across her chest in defiance.


45. Thanks


Startled, Jaina stood up, at once understanding what her aunt meant. "Oh." Her cousin had always been a show-off, especially before the accident that had made her solid. Of course she didn't want to figure this out for herself the hard and easy way... "Oh. Come on, Aunt Mara."

"Where?"

"Dinner." She glared hard at her younger cousin. "I expect you to join us... solid."

And Neesta was left alone with herself. Eventually, she allowed herself to figure it out.

Jaina's smile when she joined them half-way through the meal was worth it.