Chapter 35

The infirmary had finally settled down for the evening and a thick blanket of silence fell over most of the rooms.

Meri had fallen into a deeper sleep and was now lying on her side, having curled herself into an even smaller size than normal. Her foot with the bone-knitter on it, stuck out from the rest of her, looking rather uncomfortable.

Damiel shook his head at the sight, a deep sense of relief passing over him at the knowledge that she was safe. He studied her face in sleep and noticed that even with the shadows of exhaustion haunting her features, she was still rather pretty and again he had to wonder at the relationship between the knight and his apprentice.

The Jedi Master was very sick so he knew what he had thought earlier was impossible…but he still wondered. He hadn't really thought of the two that way until he had seen them together like that.

Alex was younger than he by two years…surely he wasn't blind to what was right underneath his nose. But this just caused more questions to crop up in Damiel's mind. All the little things he noticed and facts he'd gathered added up to some interesting thoughts. The Master's protectiveness of Meri was something that had stuck out to him all along. From everything he'd seen, she was more than capable of having accompanied the Jedi on his mission, even with the risk factor. She might have looked like anything but a warrior, but Damiel sensed she was quite capable of defending herself. It was in the way she moved. Or had before she broke her foot.

A curious quirk crossed Damiel's brow as he stared down at the young woman, his thoughts in a whirl. Maybe her Master had simply fatherly feelings for his apprentice …Yet something didn't ring true with that thought at all to him.

It was something in Alex's eyes. Damiel had only seen it once, a curious light that had shone through along with the desperation when he was searching for his apprentice.

A soft sight escaped Meri's lips and she shifted slightly as her eyes opened slowly.

A mischievous grin crossed his face as Meri's eyes turned slowly towards him. For a moment she stared blankly up at him, her dark brown eyes uncomprehending and hazy with sleep.

"Hellooo," he drawled, cocking his head to the side as he stared down at her.

She blinked sleepily up at him, and then pushed herself to a sitting position.

"How's the foot?" he asked conversationally.

Meri looked down at her foot and shrugged faintly. "I guess it's better," then her gaze turned towards him with a question in her eyes.

The smile on his face faded and he glanced uncertainly from the intense gaze of the apprentice to his fumbling hands. "I guess you're wondering about…," he trailed off.

"Why the healer called you Damiel," Meri supplied.

"Yeah," he said softly. "That. Well, she called me Damiel because…because that is my real name." He shot a quick glance at Meri, but she didn't look surprised only curious.

"Do you remember when you asked me how I found you and your Master? At the chalet?"

Meri nodded slowly. This seeming change of topic was anything but. "You told me to ask you again later."

Damiel nodded nervously. "Right, right. The reason is because… I used to live there, with my sister."

Meri didn't interrupt him so he continued with his story quickly. "This was a long time ago, I was two or three years older than you at the time. We lost our parents in this bloody war and my sister and I had only each other. She was 16 at the time and I was young and foolish." He sighed. "Very foolish," he added softly.

"I wasn't always neutral about this war. At that time I was excited to serve for the 'cause'," the last word was spat in bitterness.

He didn't explain which side he had been on and Meri didn't ask.

"I often left my sister alone, while I went off to fight in glory and I would come back every few days to check on her." He looked up at Meri and the pain shone from his eyes. "She was so little and very pretty, like our mother."

Damiel took in a measured breath before continuing. "I didn't know about the Rebel group then, not many did. And I didn't…I didn't know when they moved into our area. But they knew about us."

"They found out my sister and I lived there. And I guess they also found out I was part of the war." Damiel looked down for a few minutes and tried to calm his raging emotions. When he continued his voice was thin and strained.

"I came home one day, after having been away…and I found…I found," he jerked to a halt, then took in a few shuddering breaths.

"They had killed her, but not before, not before they hurt her," he said haltingly. Anguish filled his voice.

"I was SO foolish to have ever left her alone," he said harshly. "They left me a crude note, telling me what they'd done to her and…and why. And that I should deliver that message to the other two sides."

He finally glanced up at Meri and saw only warm sympathy filling her eyes.

He sighed heavily. "First I grieved…then I became so blinded by anger that I did something even more foolish. I almost lost my own life, but at the time I wouldn't have cared."

"I ran across one of their hunting parties one day…I knew it was them because I had discovered the camp they had not far from the chalet, where it is now. They out numbered me, but that didn't matter at the time, nothing did but revenge for what they'd done to my sister."

"Folly," he whispered. "Pure folly."

A light of understanding dawned across Meri's face at his words.

"I killed them all," he said blandly. "But not before they shot me in the chest with a hunting bow. I would have been happy to die; I would have deserved that, but fate intervened. Someone found me and brought me to this infirmary where I met Elisia."

For the first time in the whole story, a light spread across his face at the mere mention of her name. "From that time forth I told everyone my name was Folly and no one questioned me but Elisia." He grinned at the thought.

"It took many years, but she led me out of the darkness I had fallen into and she hates the name Folly."

"Too right," a voice added outside of the privacy screen. A moment later it was pushed aside and the healer stuck her head through.

The moment their eyes locked, Damiel forgot Meri was in the room and he smiled at Elisia.

Elisia returned the special smile.

Finally Elisia started and glanced quickly towards the apprentice.

Damiel followed her gaze and saw Meri watching them both closely.

"I'm just here to get that thing off your foot, Hon," the healer muttered in a rush as she stepped up to the cot and began to unhook the bone- knitter.

Damiel grinned at the rosy blush that had spread across Elisia's creamy skin. Just seeing her pulled him out of his melancholy mood that telling the story had put him in.

He walked up behind the healer and slid his arms around her waist.

She startled. "Damiel," she hissed in a whisper that was clearly heard by all around.

Damiel glanced at Meri and saw with delight that she was looking put off by his open display of affection. His grin widened.

"Yes," he answered evenly.

Elisia pushed forcefully against his arms and he stepped back, letting his arms drop to his sides, but not before whispering a promise into her ear.

Elisia blushed a bright red then grabbed the bone-knitter and hurried away.

Damiel folded his arms across his chest, still smiling as he watched her retreating figure. With a light chuckle he turned his attention back to Meri.

The apprentice looked slightly uncomfortable and had turned her attention to her fumbling hands.

Another grin spread across Damiel's face.

"Can I—can I go see my Master now?" she questioned hesitantly.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Alex?" he questioned lightly.

"Yes Al—my Master."

Damiel couldn't stop grinning as an idea cropped into his head. "Why is it always Master and never Alex?"

Meri looked quite sure of herself as she answered. "Because he is my teacher."

"Ahh," Damiel nodded as though he understood completely. "Is he never anything else?"

Meri startled at that question and answered haltingly. "Wha…what do you mean?"

Damiel grinned mischievously. "Well, you know…a friend?"

Meri eyed him suspiciously, but Damiel didn't miss the fact that this vein of questioning was flustering her.

"Well, yes, certainly he's a friend, but he's also my Master" she answered carefully.

"He seems to care for you deeply," he added with a raised brow in an almost suggestive manner.

"He's my Master," she said again, as though that explained it all. She was now becoming even more obviously flustered.

"I think there's a little bit more there than that, isn't there?" Damiel had no idea if there was or was not, but just the way that the young woman was becoming so flustered spoke volumes.

She wouldn't look at him now and her face had taken on a definite flushed hue. "I don't…don't know what you mean."

"Well, for instance," Damiel began. "Do you think Alex is attractive?"

He almost burst into laughter at her reaction.

Her dark eyes widened and her complexion flushed even more.

Damiel smiled at the wordless apprentice. "Ah, forget I asked," he said casually. "How about I help you down to see him?"

Meri nodded warily and he helped her limp down the hallway and into the room that Alex was being kept in. After seating Meri in the chair near the bed, Damiel backed out of the room and watched from the doorway.

Damiel was quickly forgotten and he watched as the restless and fevered knight calmed almost instantly when Meri took his hand.

Damiel smiled a small knowing smile and then strode away down the hall.

***

//Meri?\\

The call floated through Alex's mind, but never reached it's destination, fading away in a confusion that muddled his thoughts. All he knew was his apprentice wasn't near him and he was in a strange place. As soon as he attempted to focus on anything, where he was, where his apprentice was, it would slip away, and the haziness surrounding his mind would close in.

The Force proved just as elusive, but he didn't need the Force to know he hurt. Everywhere. All over he ached as though he'd received a bad beating. It hurt to breath and it felt as though a bantha were sitting on his chest.

*Drip…*

*Drip…*

*Drip…*

As the faint sound reached his ears, the knight struggled to sharpen his senses by focusing on the unusual sound.

*Drip…*

*Ping…*

At the new sound he detected, a light seemed to blaze on inside his mind. The "ping" sound was a drop of water hitting metal. A bucket perhaps?

He tried to listen closer, but the fog was trying to push in once more, threatening to send him back into a place of oblivion. He resisted; the thought of his missing apprentice spurring him into slight alarm the more he dwelt on it.

Breaking through his chaotic thoughts, came the sound of light, though halting footsteps and along with it, a familiar presence, full of light and sweetness that left him no doubt as to whom it was.

Relief coursed through his aching body and he relaxed, allowing the fog to rush in and sleep to claim him. Shortly before he succumbed to the welcoming darkness, he felt a small hand take his own and his lips curved into the faintest of smiles.