A/N: There are some graphic descriptions of injuries coming up. If you're squeamish, or this is a trigger for you, skip this chapter or at least its first half. To make up for taking so long, it's quite a substantial one. :)
Raven threatened to be overwhelmed by the fear and panic she sensed from a group of animals close by. Her eyes unfocused for a moment as she allowed herself to feel the sensation and release it into the Force. She turned to alert Eeth, but he was already standing, his eyes scanning the horizon. "A lot of animals are trapped," she told Eeth in a quietly controlled voice. Much to her surprise, at that moment Belle started crying. Of all her family members seated at the table, her baby sister was probably the last person she'd have expected to grasp what was going on. But perhaps she hadn't, perhaps she'd just sensed a bit of what Raven could also feel.
Jobe immediately picked up his youngest and sat her on his lap. He looked from Raven to Eeth. "What is it?"
Eeth pointed at a thin column of smoke rising from a small group of buildings, maybe one kilometre from where they were sitting in the garden restaurant.
"Fire," he said curtly. "Animals are trapped; orbaks or nerfs, maybe. And several humans are panicking. Call the firefighters, please."
Before anyone could say a thing, he and Raven had taken off towards the scene so fast that they were practically blurs.
"Wow," Jai said, but nobody was minding him. Selwin had already pulled out her phone to call the firefighters. Baka was taking Belle as Jobe jumped up to get the speederbike and see if anyone needed medical attention.
Before he could start the ignition, Bram piped up. The idea that his sister was out there, possibly saving lives, while he was hanging out at a restaurant was not sitting well with him. It made him feel useless, and he did not like that feeling. "Can I come?" he asked. "I swear I'll only do what you say and go where you tell me."
"Yes, come on, it sounds like they could use a few more hands," Jobe said, tossing the boy a helmet as he jumped onto the speederbike. A second later, they took off at a speed that he would never have attempted in the city.
Meanwhile, Eeth and Raven had arrived at the source of the fire which turned out to be a large barn. Some people had become trapped in the loft while trying to extinguish the fire and free some birds, and quite a few larger herd animals were still trapped between the doors and fire below. Raven could vaguely make out the shapes of some frantic nerfs, fathiers and orbaks, and easily sensed the presence of at least three bantha. She looked to Eeth, her expression urgent but controlled.
Eeth reached out with his senses to check out the situation. The barn was adjacent to a stable building which had not caught fire yet. The barn itself was mostly built out of wood, with a straw-covered roof.
"The front of the barn is completely on fire, but the roof is not yet and the back only partly," he said. "We use the Force to jump onto the stable roof, proceed to the barn roof and cut through it with our sabers. From there, we will see whether there is any way for you to get the animals out the back. While you look after the animals, I will try to get the people out. Be mindful of the smoke. Use the Force to slow down your breathing. If you honestly feel the smoke is too thick for you to continue safely, tell me immediately. Any questions?"
"No, master," Raven replied and followed him onto the roof where they made short work of creating an entry that was big enough to be practical, but not big enough to feed oxygen to the fire and draw it upwards.
The back of the barn was already mostly alight from the inside, although there was enough room to lead the animals out if Raven could control them long enough. "They are afraid to go this way because the fire is so close. I can try leading them through. Do you see any other way, other than levitating each through the roof?" Raven shouted over the noise; the fire was loud and the smoke thick.
"No, levitating would take far too long," Eeth said immediately. "So would leading them out one by one. Try to lead out several at once, preferably the lead animals, and to make as many of the others as you can follow. Go."
He lowered himself through the hole in the roof and vaulted over to the hayloft. It was a wooden structure that covered the back half of the barn and was accessible only by a ladder which was already burning. It held a birdhouse. Presumably, it had already been closed for the night and the two young people who were lying semi-conscious on the floor had come up to open it and release the birds. This had been successful, at least; the birds were one thing less to worry about.
Eeth's feet landed on the edge of the hayloft and he flung himself forward, rolling as he fell. While he rose, he was already checking for ways to get the two people out, neither of whom were in any state to move. Thankfully, they were still alive. He quickly assessed their condition. Finding that the man seemed worse off, he hauled the woman into the corner that was safest for the moment and covered her face with his cloak to filter out some of the smoke. Then he kicked open the window on the back of the hayloft and dragged the man towards it. Flinging him across his back, he jumped, using the Force to cushion his fall. Without pausing, he ran away from the fire, around the barn where Jobe and Bram were just skidding to a halt.
"Take care of him," he said curtly, letting the man drop to the ground, and made his way back into the barn to retrieve the woman.
"Unroll these and lay them out flat," Jobe instructed Bram, tossing Bram a couple of packages from the medkit kept on the speederbike. Thankfully, this man only had minor burns but was suffering from shock and smoke inhalation. Once the man was on the foiled sheet, Jobe had Bram pin it to the ground while he started cutting fabric around the worst of the burns.
"Bram, this is most likely going to get messy," Jobe said. "This man is not seriously burned but others might be. I need you to tell me if this gets too much for you, alright?" He didn't want to risk psychologically damaging his son, although Bram did not appear to be showing signs of distress. In fact, Bram was fine; he was completely focussed on helping his father.
Eeth made his way back to the barn to get the woman out. As he had her on his back and was preparing to jump, suddenly, from out of nowhere, a man wrapped in a blanket that was already scorched and smoking in places was running into the barn through a gap in the flames, yelling at the top of his voice: "Thom! Ayla!" He was clearly looking for the people Eeth had just salvaged, and he was equally clearly in a state of total panic.
Raven had by this time managed to lead out most of the nerfs and orbaks in semi-controlled herds. It had been messy work as nerfs had a tendency to snort mucus through their mouths and noses when distressed. Consequently, Raven was coated in the stuff. She was struggling to gain control over the far flightier fathiers when she saw the man rush inside.
"Carry on with the animals. I'll get him in a moment," Eeth told her through their bond before she could take off after him. In a split-second, he decided to save the woman first and retrieve the man second. He jumped and ran, once again, over to Jobe and Bram.
Bram took the woman from him and laid her down on the blanket in the same fashion he had seen his father place the man, tilting up her head so she could not choke. When she started coughing violently, he gently cradled her head and calmed her down until his father could deal with her.
Eeth found that Raven was managing to wrangle the fathiers, even though it was hard work. They were harder to control than nerfs and orbaks as they were a species that had only recently been domesticated and still retained a lot of innate distrust of humans and wild instincts. Thus, they were far more reluctant to trust Raven and make their way through the flames, which by now were starting to engulf the only exit that would be easily accessible short of cutting a new one elsewhere.
Leaving Raven to her task, Eeth looked for the man who had come running into the barn and found, to his dismay, that he had flung himself across an older woman, presumably his wife, who had gone unnoticed so far. She must have already been unconscious by the time he and Raven had arrived, lying in a corner of the barn on the ground floor, hidden by stacks of hay. Eeth found the man coughing and choking, down on his knees, trying to extinguish his wife's burning clothes and to drag her towards the exit as the blanket he had wrapped around himself was catching fire, too.
Eeth knew he did not have much, if any, time left to get them out. He used a strong Force compulsion on the man to subdue his panic, rolled the woman back and forth to extinguish most of the flames, slung her across his back and dragged the man after him. Seconds after they were out, part of the roof collapsed in a rush of flames, just as two fire trucks were coming up the road.
Eeth released his control on the man once they had reached Jobe and Bram and gently lowered the woman to the ground, fleetingly noticing that he himself had sustained substantial burns on his arms from the collapsing roof. They would heal. Whether the woman would, was not as certain. Her husband started screaming as he saw the full extent of her burns, starting to fling himself upon her once again.
"I'll deal with him," Bram told Eeth, catching hold of the man and pulling him away from his wife. This left Eeth to look after Raven, using the Force to subdue the pain in his arms.
He found her coming around the barn coughing, one hand hooked in two harnesses and the other dragging a third. These last three fathiers had been reluctant to jump across the flames and so Raven had to literally drag them out by the harness. Her trousers had caught fire, so she ran to the water trough nearby and dumped herself in it. She had minor burns, if any, but her head was pounding from all the Force work; it took a lot of mental effort to control frightened animals. She put her head in her hands, leant forward over the edge of the trough and threw up.
Eeth knelt down next to her and steadied her. When she was done, he splashed some water onto her face.
"Are you alright, padawan?" he asked. "Any burns or injuries?"
"Just minor burns," Raven replied and looked up at him. She had nerf mucus matted in her hair and down her tunic but the water had at least gotten most of it off her pants. She was also white as a ghost, although throwing up had helped settle her stomach. She was about to tell Eeth as much when she noticed that he had a number of blisters, some still forming as she watched, up his arms.
"Those look serious," she said, assuming that she wasn't telling him anything new – but she was, in fact, because Eeth had so far focussed on suppressing the pain and neglected to pay attention to how badly he was hurt.
Raven turned on the water tap above the trough she was sitting in so he could run his arms under the cold water. "Do you have them anywhere else?" she asked, taking in the full extent of his skin as he rolled up his sleeves slowly and carefully. There were patches of skin on his forearms and the back of his hands that had gone white and looked leathry, and areas where the fat layer was visible.
Eeth shook his head, focussing on his breathing to maintain his composure. "It is going to be alright, padawan," he brought out as he held his arms under the cool stream of water. "I have some bacta in our room at your family's house, and I can perform Force-aided healing. Later. Right now, I am drained, I have to admit. How about you? You got all the animals out, which must have put quite a strain on you."
"Same," replied Raven. "We should get my dad to look at your burns." They really were quite bad and although Eeth was more than able to look after himself, her father was a doctor and might have something that could help ease the pain at least, she thought.
However, Jobe and Bram still had their hands full with the woman that Eeth had pulled from the barn last. She was coming in and out of consciousness, and her husband was frantic.
Bram was far calmer than Jobe had expected; most boys his age would baulk at seeing such gore and lacked the life experience to know how to deal with a frantic adult, yet here Bram was doing both. He managed to calm the man down and make him lie down, and then he looked after the young woman that Eeth had brought out second, turning her to her side and cutting her clothes off her back which had sustained the most severe burns. Jobe clapped his son on the back crisply, and then he got to work on the most badly injured woman who, as far as he could see, had third degree burns to at least 30% of her body.
Jobe wasn't a religious man, but he had to thank the gods that Selwin had called the emergency services as this woman was going to need numerous skin grafts and the attention of a specialised burns unit at the very least. For now, though, he did his best to remove her clothing, cutting around areas of fabric that had melted to her skin. She was so badly burned in areas that her earrings had melted onto her ears and the skin on her forearms was swelling faster than he could get her shirt off. She stopped breathing several times so Jobe would have loved to intubate but the standard med kit kept on Dennis' speederbike wasn't going to cut it. Thus, he did his best with chest compressions, and thanks to Bram, her husband was not hampering his efforts.
Finally, the firefighters arrived and started extinguishing the fire, and more importantly, a team of paramedics showed up with two ambulances. As the doctor in charge exchanged a few words with Jobe, a hoverglider with an ICU came speeding up. Once it had landed, the paramedics lost no time in carrying the older woman off.
"Good job, boy," a female paramedic told Bram, slapping him on the back. "Thanks for the first aid. We'll take over now."
"Sure," Bram said and stood aside as they cautiously laid the remaining patients on stretchers and carried them towards the ambulances.
He and his father were now free to check on Eeth and Raven. As they made their way to the trough, Bram stopped for a moment to watch the firefighters at work. They had already nearly extinguished the fire and, what was more important, were efficiently preventing it from taking over the stables. Two of them were herding the fathiers towards a corral. It seemed to Bram as if they were working together flawlessly, each of them knowing exactly what to do. That must be a bit like what his sister was raised to be, Bram thought: a part of something bigger that worked towards a worthy goal. He wondered whether he could be like that one day, too.
"Thank you for your help. You did an excellent job there," said Jobe as he and Bram made their way to the water trough where Eeth and Raven were. "I'm proud of you. I don't know many your age who could have managed that situation like you did." Jobe pulled his son into a brief, one armed hug.
"Thanks, Dad," said Bram, a little embarrassed. "I did nothing special. Ouch. It looks like either Eeth or Raven or both need looking after." He pointed at the vomit-splattered ground.
"Dad's coming now," Raven told Eeth as he and Bram could be seen coming through the smoke and dust. "He might be able to get something to help, although judging by the look of that mess, I doubt there's going to be much of anything left. We might need to rely on the Temple issue stuff we carry on our belts," Raven amended quickly upon seeing the teams of people rush on those lying on the ground.
"Did we lose anyone?" she asked Jobe and Bram hesitantly and was relieved when Bram shook his head.
Jobe took Eeth's arm gently and examined it. "Are you alright otherwise? Both of you?" he asked. Eeth's burns were bad and Raven looked pale, which for her was really saying something.
Eeth had already assessed his padawan's condition through the Force and replied, "Raven is basically unhurt, but exhausted. She did a lot of Force work tonight. We need to get her home and to bed. She will most likely be alright by tomorrow morning."
Turning towards Raven, he said, "You did a very good job, padawan. Without your good work, we would not have managed to save the animals. Well done."
Raven nodded at his praise but she was more worried about Eeth's burns. "You need some pain relief, and you should let my dad look at you." Raven told Eeth.
"You do," Jobe agreed, scrutinising him. "You have some third degree burns and those will need more attention than I can provide you here. I have enough medication at home to get you through the night, but tomorrow I will insist that you come with me to the hospital and let the burns unit look you over."
Raven popped two analgesic pills from her belt pouch and handed them to Eeth, doing her best to make sure she did not cause him pain by making him move more than he had to.
"If you insist," said Eeth with all the dignity he could muster, but he could not quite prevent himself from wincing as he reached out with his less injured right arm to accept the pills. Bram took a metal cup hanging from the side of the trough, filled it with water and handed it to him. Then he detached Jobe's comlink from his belt.
"I'll contact Mum and ask her to come here with the speeder," he said. "That way, Raven and Eeth won't have to walk back to the restaurant. No offence meant, but neither of you look that great."
Jobe nodded at Bram and then he lifted Raven from the trough and set her down, only to grab her again when she almost fell over. "I'll take a better look at you both once we're home," he said.
"Thank you," said Eeth curtly. He did not feel like speaking any more than necessary because he really needed to focus on his breathing.
"Do you think the woman will live?" Bram asked his father quietly as they waited for Selwin to pull up.
"I'm afraid it doesn't look good," Jobe replied honestly. Bram had done well today and deserved to be given the truth and not coddled. "It will largely depend on how badly her lungs were damaged, and the only way to know that is through a bronchoscopy. Hopefully, they will manage to stabilise her, put her into an induced coma and submerge her in a bacta tank for a week or so. If that does not help, then unfortunately there is nothing more anyone could do."
Raven put a hand on her brother's shoulder, wanting to offer him comfort. As she did so her head began to pound in earnest and the hand was suddenly less of a comradely gesture and more of a steading manoeuvre.
Thankfully, Selwin pulled up in their speeder at that moment. Eeth noticed how unsteady Raven seemed to be and, despite the considerable pain this caused him, made to lift her up. However, he hissed with pain and all colour left his face as he tightened the muscles in his left arm.
"Whoa, easy there," said Bram quickly, putting a hand around his back to stabilise him.
Jobe saw what Eeth was trying to do and, after making sure that Bram could help Eeth to the speeder, he picked Raven up and carried her to her seat.
"Raven, child, what happened to you? Eeth, young man! What in the universe?" Baka said upon seeing Eeth's injuries but she started to calm down when Al placed a hand over hers and pulled her close to his side.
Mans went whiter than Raven, swallowed and looked away. The smell of charred flesh was getting to him and he was forced to put his head out the window lest he make a scene. And he really, really didn't want to make a scene.
Belle was still teary. Thanks to some quick thinking from Eeth and Bram, she did not get to see the extent of Eeth's burns. Raven had noticed her baby sister's reaction to the suffering of animals was similar to her own. She didn't really get to think about that in detail, though, as all she wanted to do was lie down in a dark room and sleep.
Bram was sitting next to Eeth and looking out the window, deep in thought, as his mother drove them home. The others' voices washed over him, strangely comforting. Had he really done as well as his father had said? He had ruled out years ago the idea of becoming a doctor like his father. He knew perfectly well how much studying that required, and he would hate that. What was worse, he would most likely suck at it. But maybe being a paramedic was something he could be good at? He had no clue what was required to become one; he only had a vague idea that paramedics trained for several years, with a combination of studies and training on the job. But his father would be able to tell him more. Bram decided to talk to him. And if he needed to get better grades in order to be accepted for that training, well – realistically, he knew that he was capable of much more than he had achieved so far. Even in maths.
Thankfully the speeder ride home was vomit free, both Mans and Raven holding themselves together long enough to make the trip. When Selwin pulled the speeder up, Raven threw open the door, steadied herself on it for a moment and then made for the house where she planned to make a beeline for their bedroom. She was nauseous, drained, and unable to use Force-aided healing to help Eeth in this state, which she did not appreciate at all.
Eeth made to come with Raven, ignoring her protesting, but Bram stopped him and said, "Why don't you get your wounds properly treated while I help Raven get to bed?"
Eeth's protective instincts rankled, but rationally, he knew that the proposal was sensible. "Bram is right," Selwin said, settling the matter. "I'll help get Raven to bed, too. Come, Raven."
Between her and Bram, they steadied the girl and escorted her to the bathroom where they more or less forced her to take a quick shower to take away the worst of the smoke. Then Bram, like a mother hen, made her wash out her mouth and brush her teeth; and only then did they allow her to flop down onto her bed and fall asleep.
Meanwhile, Jobe grabbed his bag from the bedroom and sat Eeth down at the kitchen table to get a proper look at the state of his burns. He had the man take off his shirt and pulled out a tin of bacta, as well as some saline and other things to clean up the wounds. It was actually worse than he had initially suspected; Eeth had sustained second or third degree burns to most of his forearms, especially on the left side. Jobe had Katlin working on one arm while he tended to the other. With some strong hypo analgesics, they managed to get Eeth comfortable enough that he could relax his focus on controlling the pain.
They both noticed a large scar on Eeth's chest and wondered, not for the first time, how dangerous the life of a Jedi must be. The realisation that losing Raven was a very real possibility was a thought that neither of them were willing to indulge in at the moment.
Eeth closed his eyes and entered a light meditative trance, using the Force to speed up the healing, but he was severely drained from today's efforts and knew that, realistically, it would not do much. He did need the treatment Jobe was giving him.
"Thank you," Eeth said to Jobe when he was done. Selwin had come to join them. She placed a cup of herbal tea in front of Eeth.
"Drink this," she said. "It might help you sleep."
"Thank you," said Eeth again, quietly. He did indeed hope that he would be able to sleep because that would help a great deal with replenishing his energy reserves, which in turn would enable him to perform more efficient Force-aided healing than had been possible that night. But he also knew that at least one or two of his burns would need professional attention.
When he had finished his tea, he excused himself and went upstairs to try and clean himself up a little before turning in.
Bram had taken a shower and was slowly getting ready for bed, unusually thoughtful. He was trying to come to terms with the events of the evening. The woman's potentially fatal injuries tore at his heart. At the time, though, he had been able to push this thought aside and focus on what needed to be done. Apparently, this was a skill that not everyone possessed. He knew that his father would not have told him that he had done well if it hadn't been true. The idea that he might have a talent of sorts was so new to Bram that he found it hard to digest. He hoped that his father would come to tuck him in; he felt an urge to talk to him.
Tossing his bag on the bed, Jobe pulled on a clean shirt and then went to check on the children before he showered. He stuck his head into Belle's bedroom. She stirred briefly, so he entered, tucking the blankets that she had kicked off back around her and kissing her forehead. He watched her sleep for a little while, and then he went to look after Bram and Jai. Jai was snoring softly but Bram's reading light was still on, so he approached the bed quietly. "Trouble sleeping?" he inquired, sitting down on the bed. Jobe thought that Bram looked like he had something on his mind, but then, he had looked that way for the past few days now.
"Uh-huh," Bram said, shifting to look at his father. "Do you… do you think I might be good at this kind of thing? I'm not asking because I want to be flattered. It's just... I liked being able to help. I'd never thought about it before because I knew I don't want to be a doctor. If I had to study for years, like Katlin does, I think I'd die."
He had to laugh a little at his own theatrics. "Anyway, there are other ways to help people, aren't there?" he asked.
"I don't think you would be good at this," said Jobe, "I know that you are because I saw it myself today. The way you handled yourself and the situation was, at the risk of flattering you, impressive, and I believe this is worth pursuing, especially if you found fulfilment in the work you did. Did you?"
"Yes," said Bram. "I think I would like to work with others towards a purpose. I'm a tiny bit jealous of Raven, to be honest. But of course I can't do any of that Force stuff, and that's fine. It's not really what I'm jealous of anyway. It's more the whole concept of … I dunno, being part of something bigger? I'd like that. As long as it doesn't mean I'd have to spend years and years of studying first."
"There are careers that don't require years of study." Jobe scratched at his chin reflectively. "Paramedics, for instance, require only part-time study, but it is mostly on-the-job training. It is the same with many of the emergency services. If you like, I will ask around work tomorrow and see what I can find out for you. We can look into it more after Raven returns to the Temple?" he suggested.
"That would be great," said Bram. "Do you think there are any opportunities to do, like, voluntary work? Maybe with the firefighters or something?"
"Most emergency services offer an introductory volunteer program. We will find out, son. If there's a will there is a way," Jobe said confidently. The truth was, Jobe would pull as many strings as he could to get his son a placement if that was what he wanted to do with his life.
"I'll leave early tomorrow but will be home around 1700," he said. "I'll spare you the lecture on safety, but whatever you two decide to get up to tomorrow, be safe and look after your sister."
Bram snorted. "Honestly, that girl can watch out for herself much better than I ever could," he said. He yawned and sunk back into his pillow, taking his father's hand. "Thanks, Dad," he said sleepily.
Jobe smiled, fixed the blanket and left Bram to sleep. He needed to take a shower as he still smelt of smoke and God only knew what else.
Raven opened her eyes as Eeth entered their room and she pushed herself up. Her head still pounded a little but it was not nearly as bad as it had been an hour ago. "How are your burns?" she asked, making to drag herself off Eeth's bunk so he could crawl in. Her head was still pounding but it was getting better.
"I will be fine, padawan," Eeth said quietly. "Sleep. I will just pull the upper mattress down to the floor and sleep there."
He knelt down, rested his hand on her forehead and sent a light sleep compulsion through their bond, not letting on how much of an effort that cost him.
"Sleep," he said again, softly. "You did a very good job today. You need to rest."
Raven was about to protest that she could move, that he didn't have to sleep on the floor, but Eeth's sleep compulsion was far too alluring to ignore, and any arguments she might have fronted were abandoned as she fell asleep.
When Raven woke the next morning, Eeth was no longer on the floor, and nor was the mattress, for that matter. She threw her legs over the edge of her bed and scrubbed at her eyes, realising that her head no longer pounded. "Oh, thank the Force," the padawan muttered and got to her feet. The curtains were still drawn so it was dark in the small room, but she still managed to find the door knob. The smell of porridge and fruit drew her down the hallway and into the common room where Belle and Jai were watching cartoons on holo.
"Haha, you're wearing master Eeth's shirt!" Belle giggled upon seeing her sister's sleep-bedraggled form emerge from the stairway.
"Well, you're only wearing your underpants!" Raven shot back, chuckling at the indignant expression this garnered. She winked at Jai as she passed them and entered the kitchen where her mother was stirring a pot. "Morning. Where is Eeth?" she asked, concerned. Raven couldn't sense him nearby, which worried her.
Selwin put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Jobe took him along to the hospital to have a specialist treat his burns," she said. "They've already finished, apparently. Jobe just called to say that they put Eeth in a cab and he's on his way home. He should be here any moment. He's under strict instructions to spend the day in bed, and Baka and I will make sure he does. You go off with Bram and enjoy yourself."
The idea of going off having fun with Bram while Eeth was in bed recovering didn't sit well with Raven. She knew that Eeth would only tell her that there was no point arguing over being there to "guard his sleep" as they'd had that argument when he was recovering from the Neimoidian virus years ago. "If there's nothing I can do to help, I'll go wait outside for him to arrive," Raven said, but before Selwin could reply, the cab pulled up out front and Raven ran out to meet it.
Eeth was reasonably steady on his feet due to the medication he had received, as opposed to this morning when he had woken up with a fever. The doctors had treated his wounds with ointments and bandages and had given him several anti-inflammatory drugs and analgesic hyposprays. They had sent him home with a bag of medication and strict instructions to be back tomorrow morning for another assessment.
"Good morning, padawan," Eeth said, giving Raven a slightly forced smile as she came sprinting to the door, almost running into him. "I hope I did not give you a fright when you found me missing. I was not feeling too well this morning and your father took me to a colleague of his so I could get proper treatment. I am fine, or at least I will be in a day or two."
"You did," Raven replied, although she was too concerned about him to become indignant over the fact that he had left without waking her. She took his arm briefly, scanning for the severity of his injuries.
"Padawan, I said I would be fine," said Eeth, who hated it when people made a fuss over him.
Raven released his arm but Selwin spoke before she could. "But right now, you are anything but fine," she said. "And therefore you will lie down. You can have Jobe's and my bed. It will be more comfortable than Bram's bunk bed. Raven, would you like to bring your master some breakfast?"
"If you can stomach it?" Raven looked to Eeth, honestly unsure.
"I should probably try," said Eeth. "But nothing too heavy. Thank you."
Raven nodded and left to find something that she thought he might be able to keep down.
A short time later, Raven tapped on her parents' room where Eeth would be resting for the day. "It's grain cereal with tarra juice," she told him, placing a half-filled bowl on his bedside table and sitting by his side. "I'll get you more if you want it. Also, you know I can do some healing to help. It's not going to be on the same level as you but it's something, yes?" She put her hand on his arm and sent a rush of healing energy.
"Thank you, padawan, but do not exert yourself doing this," Eeth replied softly. "You were quite exhausted yourself yesterday. Your father's colleague gave me a full range of medication and he is confident that I will be fine soon. To make sure of it, I will spend most of the day in a healing trance."
He ate a few spoonfuls of cereal, but the food was sticking to his throat and made him queasy.
"Could you get me some herbal tea, please, padawan?" he asked. He hated asking for favours, but he had learned long ago, as a padawan, that he needed to take care of his body and accept help if necessary.
Raven was out the door in a flash. She was both pleased and relieved that she could be of some help to Eeth while he was in this state. In her haste, Raven almost collided with Baka. "Uh! I'm sorry. I'm just going to get some …"
"Tea?" Baka replied knowingly. "Here you go, dear, take this to your master. And then you need to go have some breakfast yourself. I noticed your bowl is still sitting on the kitchen counter, and if you don't want Bram to eat it all, I wouldn't dawdle."
"I won't," Raven assured her and took the tea back to Eeth. She knew he didn't really suffer from boredom, but still, she couldn't imagine being "sentenced" to a day in bed, especially so on a planet like Chine, and therefore, the look she gave him was sympathetic.
"Thank you, padawan," said Eeth, who had closed his eyes and was leaning back into his pillow. "Now go and enjoy the day with your brother. Let me know where you are going before you leave."
"Yes, master," Raven said, and left him to rest. He would need to spend quite some time in a healing trance, she knew.
Despite desperately wanting to enjoy this day with her twin, Raven was worried about Eeth. It was very un-Jedi-like to focus on her anxieties, but she was still young and such discipline took time and perseverance to develop. Thus, Raven was a little quiet over breakfast to begin with, although Bram's light chatter soon picked up her spirits.
"Where would you like us to go?" asked Bram. "What would you like to see? More of the city? The pools again? Or the surroundings of Allbost – like, a farm? Or nature? Wildlife?"
"That's a lot of options," said Raven. "I don't get to see a lot of wild animals, you know, that aren't in captivity. Could we do something like that? "
"Wild animals," Bram repeated, frowning in thought. "That's tricky. Chine doesn't have many, you see. When it was colonised, there were almost only plants and some species that were a bit like insects, no large mammals or reptiles or anything. The colonists brought some, but mostly livestock and stuff. Oh, I know! We could go to the White Forest. It's one of the few places where you have a chance of finding indigenous species. Mostly shonargs, which look a bit like huge dragonflies and emit a curious noise that nearly sounds like music. It's a nature preserve, no roads, no barbecue spots, no crowds. I haven't been there more than once or twice but if it's animals you want, it's definitely the best destination within reach. It will be a bit of a ride, though."
"Sounds great," said Raven, grinning at him.
They helped clear up the breakfast dishes, and then Raven went to check on Eeth. She gave him a scrutinising look. "Are you certain you're okay if I go?" Raven was feeling a bit guilty even though she knew that being left alone for the day would be bliss for Eeth.
"Padawan, I will spend most of the day sleeping or in a healing trance," Eeth said wearily. "Why would you want to watch that? Besides, Selwin, Baka and Al are here to look after me. Enjoy the day with your brother. Where are you going?"
Raven inclined her head. She knew he was right, yet she couldn't shake the feeling of guilt at going on to have fun while he was here recovering. "The White Forest," she said. "Bram says it's one of the few places where we might find some animals indigenous to Chine. He was telling me about these giant dragonfly things, I'm really excited, actually."
"That sounds like a good plan," said Eeth. "Padawan, go. I will be fine. You need not hover over me."
Raven smiled. "May the Force be with you, master," she said. And with that, she tossed her pack over her shoulder and, realising that Bram was making a last-minute refresher stop, she went to organise both their bikes for the trip.
It was even hotter than the last few days, and riding along the dusty country road that led them out of the city, they were soon drenched in sweat. It was probably mostly the heat that made Bram come up with what was, in hindsight, a rather bad idea but seemed like a stroke of genius to him at the time.
"Hey, sis," he said as they were pedalling down the road, the summer sun strong on their backs. "Would the Jedi, by any chance, have taught you how to ride a speederbike?"
Raven paused, allowing the hill to do the work for a moment as she contemplated where this was going. "They did," she said, letting go of the handle bars and cruising down the hill, a huge grin on her face at the slight rush. "Why, were you thinking of hotwiring one?" It was a joke, but she did have to wonder what prompted Bram to ask that question.
"In actual fact," Bram said, "I was thinking of borrowing one. Uncle Dennis – he's my mother's youngest brother, he only just turned twenty-five or so – has got one and he's at the beach right now. He told all the family we could borrow it if we wanted to. It's the one Dad used yesterday. What do you think? He lives on the outskirts of town, we'll pass by his house in a moment. Which is why I thought of it. We wouldn't have to ride along the streets or anything, just across the fields and into the woods. I've done it plenty of times."
The truth was that Bram had done it plenty of times seated behind Dennis, but he thought it best not to mention that.
"Seriously!? Yes, that sounds awesome," Raven said as the idea of them riding the speederbike flashed to mind. Unfortunately, it was at that exact moment that another idea followed and she winced slightly. "Eeth would probably want to clear this. I suppose I could contact him when we get there, although…" She sighed, not wanting to be a kill-joy. "He might say no."
"Yeah, he would, wouldn't he?" Bram said in resignation. "Okay, forget it. He's sick. Don't bother him with it. I don't see how he would ever find out if we just drove across the fields out of town, but you know him better than I do."
He sighed and wiped the sheen of sweat off his forehead.
Raven sighed, too, feeling bad for ruining Bram's great idea. And she had to admit it did sound like fun. She pushed her bike a little harder to ride by his side. "But if we stay clear of the roads, and you've done it plenty of times before, maybe I could just tell him when we get back," she suggested. "I mean, he's not going to be happy that I did it without asking him first, but you're right, he's sick and needs to rest. It's not like I haven't passed my course a year ago." This all didn't exactly sit well with Raven, but the more she reasoned away to Bram, the less likely she thought it was that Eeth would actually say no, or mind that she'd gone ahead without asking.
"You passed your course? Well, then what's the big deal?" Bram asked rhetorically. Besides, they were only a few months under the legal driving age on Chine, he though. And there were never any patrols out of town anyway. Really, this would be so much fun that the practically non-existent risk of discovery was tolerable!
They rode their bikes to Dennis' house, which was hidden in a copse of trees off the road. There was only one house in the neighbourhood, and that, Bram told Raven, was inhabited by an elderly couple who rarely went outdoors these days and spent most of the weekends with their children. Bram knew where Dennis had hidden the keys to the backdoor and he also knew where he had hidden the ignition control to his speederbike, which he kept in a shed.
"This is it," he said, opening the door of the shed. "It's quite new. Dennis spent a lot of credits on it. He counsels farmers all over the region and drives around a lot. But as I said, he's on vacation right now."
"Whoa, it looks even better close up," Raven said, catching the ignition control deftly as Bram tossed it over. At that point, all thoughts of whether or not she should be doing this fell by the wayside as she circled the sleek model, eyeing it in appreciation. "The Temple teaches us to operate just about every variant of transport practical, but Eeth wouldn't let me start on speederbikes until I was almost fourteen, he said I was too reckless." Raven glanced up at Bram knowingly. "Honestly, I can't imagine why he would think such a thing."
Bram chuckled. "Neither can I," he said. "But what's important is that you do know how to ride one, right?"
The moment Raven threw her leg over the bike, their first problem became immediately apparent as she couldn't reach the foot controls. "Yes, but I learned to ride on a MVR-3 speederbike which is a standard military model. This is a luxury civilian model designed specifically for grown-up humanoids, so the seat is not going to adjust enough for me to ride it," she explained and glanced around the garage for a moment before clicking her fingers.
Ten minutes later the pair were racing across fields and paddocks towards the White Forest, Raven piloting with a couple of folded towels wedged between herself and the backrest that they'd borrowed from their uncle's rag pile, and both wearing huge grins. Thankfully, she only needed the foot controls for starting up the bike whereas most of the navigation controls were either on the handlebars or on a heads-up display which she could access easily.
Bram whooped in delight at the rush of speed. In between, he kept shouting directions at Raven, taking her towards the White Forest but not exactly the most direct way. If they had chosen the route they would have taken by bike, they would have passed three villages; he wanted to avoid that. Besides, using a speederbike, they could easily afford the detour. Bram yelped in a mixture of fright and exhilaration as Raven took them in through a gap in the trees, a few branches whipping his arms.
Raven piloted them between the trees at top speed as Bram shouted a different course, and by the time they arrived on the outskirts of the White Forest, the pair were on a high. "I don't want to get too close to that." Raven pointed to a parking lot where a few people were walking into the forest along what seemed to be the officially designated path. "We can always head into the forest from here if you know the way, I'd rather avoid being seen."
"Let's explore," Bram said excitedly. "With the speederbike, we can go really deep into the forest where speeders won't reach because the trees are too dense. And it will be too far for walking or riding a bike. We'll be all on our own and can discover parts of the forest that we'd never get to any other way. Look, the bike has a built-in compass. As long as we head due west, we won't get lost."
Raven didn't need telling twice. She dropped the bike into gear and took off west as fast as she could do safely, enjoying the rush as much, if not more, than her twin who whooped as they took off. As they got a little way in the forest, Raven could understand why the path Bram had chosen was unreachable by foot or speeder.
Bram really started to appreciate having a Jedi as a pilot because a human would have hit a tree long ago at this speed. He alternately screamed and whooped as Raven swerved around to avoid huge tree trunks. Only when they found a creek and followed its bed for a while, was he able to relax a little.
"Let's take a break," he proposed. "I'm getting dizzy. We could cool our feet in the creek and have a picnic."
Raven pulled the speederbike over and waited for Bram to jump off before immobilising the engine; she felt important at being able to do so, because so far it had been only Eeth, Lakhri and her teachers who were able to mobilise and immobilise vehicles. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked, hoping that she had not made her brother sick. It hadn't occurred to Raven that the fast pace she set would be anything other than fun to him.
"Sure," said Bram. "It takes some getting used to, though. You navigate these woods in ways no one I've met ever could. Except for Eeth, of course. Let's see what Bubcha packed us, shall we?" He sat down at the edge of the creek and pulled off his backpack.
It was sandwiches and pancakes! Bram took a sandwich in one hand and a pancake in the other and took alternating bites of both, and Raven did the same. It was beautiful here, the sky was clear, the air smelled of flowers and the water was cool on their feet. "I could stay here all day," Raven commented, enjoying being with Bram and the surroundings.
After their picnic, they moved on some more and found a small lake, hidden between slopes, with dark blue, clear water. The place was totally deserted. Bram assumed that this was because it was too far to be reached on foot or by bike (not that there was even a path that would have enabled cyclists to come here) and inaccessible by speeder. Few people in the city had speederbikes. They were not exactly a family-friendly vehicle, after all. Uncle Dennis's speederbike was really the exception, rather than the rule.
"I guess if we have any chance of finding shonargs, it should be in a place like this," said Bram. "They always live close to the water, as far as I know. Can you sense them through the Force?"
"I'm not sure," said Raven. "Some animals are completely resistant to the Force, others form voids that can be sensed instead." She closed her eyes, reaching out around her for anything that might be unusual but sensing nothing out of the ordinary. "So, exactly how big do they get?" Raven asked, curious to know.
"Quite, quite big," said Bram. "About the length of my forearm. They emit a strange trilling sound that they seem to use to communicate, so maybe they have some intelligence - nobody seems to be too sure about that."
"What colours?" Raven opened her eyes, intrigued to know more.
"Varies; there are green, blue, red and brown ones," said Bram. "They breed in reeds, so you find them at the edge of lakes and ponds. That's all I know about them, really. They're quite rare these days, at least on the main continent. More common on the isles that aren't inhabited."
"They sound a bit like something I encountered during a mission to Arkuna." Raven smiled at the memory. "I was with Drkai Luthan, a Jedi Master who Eeth arranged to tutor me, and who shares my gift for communicating and connecting with animals through the Force. We came across these giant creatures that sound a lot like what you describe."
"Why did she tutor you?" asked Bram. "Isn't that Eeth's job?"
"Yes, but I have a particular skill that Eeth doesn't, so he asks other Jedi to fill that void. It's not uncommon." Raven grinned. "To be honest, sometimes it can feel like a bit of a break to be taught by a master who isn't quite as demanding as Eeth is."
Bram pondered this. He knew that Eeth was demanding and also rather strict. And if he were honest with himself, he was somewhat surprised that he was so comfortable with the concept. After all, it was very different from what he had been raised to expect from parents and caretakers.
"Does it bother you?" he asked Raven. "I mean, Eeth being so demanding? And, well, punishing you if you do things wrong?"
"Sometimes," Raven admitted. "I mean, at first, it felt daunting to be apprenticed to Eeth. He was a high-ranking member of the Jedi Council, among other things. I've also gone through periods over the years where I felt I couldn't get anything right and I was embarrassed at Eeth repeatedly calling me to task for it; the strict discipline imposed by the Jedi lifestyle can be overwhelming at times." Raven looked sideways at him. "You're probably glad that our parents are so much more easy-going than Eeth." As a matter of fact, she wasn't sure how Bram was going to answer that at all.
Nor was Bram. The statement brought up the confusion he had been feeling over Eeth's presence since the pair's first night in their home.
"I am," he said slowly. "Mostly. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love them dearly and they're wonderful parents. I wouldn't want to swap them for anyone. And yet, I'm a bit jealous of the life you've got, and it's not because of your lightsaber. Maybe more so because of your sense of purpose? And the guidance Eeth gives you. I can imagine it's not always fun but … Doesn't it, I dunno, feel kind of comforting to know that he won't let you fail?"
"Yes," Raven replied with conviction. "I suspect that's a large part of the reason the Force brought us together. I need that clarity, to be pushed, in order to succeed in such a difficult career." Raven tilted her head to the side watching Bram curiously for a reaction. "Both approaches have their merits," she said. "Our parents want you to want to push yourself and succeed. I don't have the luxury of that choice any longer. I decided to become a Jedi, and this is what it takes for me to become one. I don't think Eeth would allow me to quit on myself now."
"No, I don't suppose he would," said Bram. "But then, your goal is clear. Mine isn't. I have to find one first. I talked to Dad last night about, maybe, training to become a firefighter or paramedic or something like that. I suppose that isn't as glamorous as being a Jedi, but it might be something I could do. Without, you know, needing to put in years and years of studying." He glanced across the surface of the lake, which remained disappointingly void of a single shonarg.
"I think you would be wonderful at those careers," said Raven. "You were very controlled at the fire yesterday. Also, you seemed to enjoy being of use. I think we're a lot alike in that way; I like to be useful, to feel what I do has meaning." She smiled at him.
"I haven't had a lot of chances at doing something meaningful so far," said Bram. "You're right, I liked it. – Another pancake?"
After they had finished their second picnic, Raven had an idea. "We're going to make less noise and look less threatening if we get in the water. We might have a better chance at seeing a shonarg. I don't sense anything that will eat us in the water. Are you up for it?" The water was cool and shallow and the sun hot, so it was just what Raven felt like doing .
"Sure," said Bram readily. "I'm nearly always up for a swim. Also, there are more reeds at the opposite shore. If we wade or swim over there, we might have more luck."
Meanwhile, Haymer, Dennis' older brother, was hunting around his brother's house for the ignition control and not finding it. Dennis had explicitly promised him he could have the speederbike this afternoon, so Haymer found this strange. He went to the shed to check and found the speederbike gone. Frowning, he went back outside where he found Waris, the elderly neighbour, cutting flowers in her garden with the help of a daughter and granddaughter. Apparently, this was one of the few weekends that Waris and Sindrik had their family over to visit and not the other way round.
"Hi Waris," he said, leaning on the fence and smiling at her. "How are you doing?"
She returned the smile. "Oh, you know what it's like," she replied. "My back is giving me a lot of trouble these days. What are you doing here, with Dennis on vacation?"
"I wanted to borrow his speederbike, but it's gone," Haymer said. "Do you happen to know who borrowed it?"
Waris frowned in thought. "No, I don't think I saw anyone," she said.
"But I did," her daughter butted in. "I was just looking out the window this morning when they were driving past. A petite, blonde girl I didn't know and one of your nephews. Selwin's older son. You know, the blond one? With the curly hair?"
"That would be Bram," Haymer said, a little surprised. "But he's only fifteen, he can't have his licence yet. Well, he might have a girlfriend who's older than him. I haven't seen him in a while. Thanks. I'll check with Selwin, then."
Ten minutes later, Selwin called Jobe at work.
"They did what?" Jobe said disbelievingly as he shoved things into his bag. Selwin had caught him at the end of his shift, minutes before he was about to walk out the door.
"According to what Haymer told me," Selwin repeated, "they took Dennis' speederbike. Waris' daughter saw them. She might have been mistaken. But she thinks she saw Bram and a petite blonde girl… Well. How likely is it that it wasn't them?"
Jobe sighed. "Unlikely," he had to agree. "Did you try contacting him?"
"Yes," said Selwin. "He didn't answer."
"Alright. I'm on my way. In the meantime, if Eeth is up to it, he might try contacting Raven," Jobe suggested.
"I'll check," said Selwin. She terminated the call and went to knock on Eeth's door.