Last time: Cien and Sasha trained in the mindspace only to run into some not so friendly faces.
Now: Cien tries her hand at helping Sasha relax.
Chapter 4- Spa Day
Cien lit the last of the candles and waved the match out as she held her bathrobe closed. The late afternoon sun filtered in through the windows from beyond the trees, dappling the light across the warm stone floor that glowed in the candle light. The bath was filled with warm water with a swirl of jets, and the sauna was on, for when they might feel like getting out of the spa later. Soft music played, something from Naboo that she hoped Sasha might like. And she had made sure Kyr knew Not To Come In The Room Until He Was Allowed To. She also felt a little bad, showing off this palatial spa she had been lucky enough to claim for her own, but if it could give Sasha a safe space to relax in, since even the mindspace had betrayed them, it seemed like a worthy cause.
A soft knock came from the other side of the bathroom door. "Cien, I'm ready," Sasha's voice spoke up from the other side.
Cien took one last look around, wishing that Op had made cookies or something, and went out to her bedroom door where Sasha was waiting. "Hi Sasha, come in." She invited her.
Sasha came in with her hover chair and dressed in a bathrobe with her bathing suit underneath. She looked around in awe at the bathroom. "Wow. This is huge. And really nice," she complimented.
"Yeah." Cien said with a smile, "I snooped around the house a bit and stumbled across this room. I have no idea why it has such an incredible bathroom,'' she said a little sheepishly. "Are you ready for a nice afternoon in the…" She paused, "spa?" She asked, looking around.
"Well it's very cool. And yeah, that sounds nice," Sasha said with a hint of a gentle smile appearing on her face. She shrugged off the bathrobe to reveal her purple bathing suit, but also her scarred shoulder from the vornskr claw marks. The scars were still visible despite the bacta treatments. However, she didn't seem to register them as she followed Cien over to the large bath tub. With Cien's help, Sasha got out of the chair and climbed into the warm water. It was so big in there that she was able to sit comfortably on one side of it, leaving plenty of room for Cien. Cien shrugged off her robe as well, wearing her dark red bathing suit that she had gotten before her first trip to the beach, and the scars on her arms visible as she stepped into the water and settled into the bench opposite Sasha.
"Juice?" Cien offered, there was a bottle and two glasses ready for them.
"Sure," Sasha said with a relaxed smile as the water felt great. "I could so get used to a bathroom like this. Viran would never see me again though, if we did have one."
Cien poured out some juice for both of them and she passed a glass over to Sasha. "What made you guys choose your room? I was curious if there was one in your wing that was like this. I kind of figured you guys had a room like this over there since you had first pick."
"Honestly, at the time, it was more of a temporary choice," Sasha explained as she took the drink. "Thanks," she said before continuing. "We had just found a way to get Op back and we stopped here. That was the room I chose because out of all of the ones I saw it seemed to be unoccupied. Meaning there wasn't really anything in there of sentimental value to the rest of the Xiv clan. It was just a neat, tidy, empty room with its own bathroom. Viran actually took the one next door to me before we turned into the nursery for Lana. It used to have two beds in there."
"Well did you guys ever look in the other master suites and see if there was something like this?" She asked curious, "I never really explored that wing very much." She said, taking a sip of her juice.
"During those months when we were here after the Bloodstorm exploded, I did wander this house a lot. I mean there wasn't much else the others would let me do while I was pregnant with Lana. Anyway, while doing so, I did look into some of the rooms except for Oppie's and Kitsu and Illara's. But I did see other master suites with varying setups. But by that point, Viran and I had kind of become attached to our room and the view it provides," Sasha told her.
"Your room does have a beautiful view of the valley." Cien agreed. "First time I tried this out was when you guys were on Naboo." Cien said as she settled back into the water. "And Kyr and Op were outside blowing up trees." She said with a slight smile.
"So much for a moment of peace," Sasha said with a slight chuckle. "I mean those explosions made this entire house shake. I'm honestly surprised those fools didn't get hurt or cause an avalanche doing that."
"Yeah, well, at least we have plenty of firewood for this winter." Cien said with a slight laugh.
"Oh yeah," Sasha chuckled. She then looked out towards the window. "You know since they cleared so much land by taking out those trees, I guess I can try the idea I had the next warm season we have."
"Oh? What idea was that?" Cien asked.
"You remember when we went into the mindspace to save Kyr? How there was that garden we walked through? After the stuff with Master Hill, Kyr first told me about that garden and how his mom and Anna always worked on it. I told him that I thought of trying to keep one here in honor of them," Sasha explained wistfully. "I just never got around to it."
"That would be nice, I… would be interested in helping, I've never grown anything." Cien said a little sheepishly. "Though out in the forest?" She asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Neither have I. At least nothing plant based," Sasha said then chuckled. "And no, it would be closer to the house. I was just making a joke since the guys took down so many trees."
"Oh, okay." Cien said, taking a sip of her juice. "That would be really interesting to try though. I wonder if…" She started to say, "I wonder if the house on Mandalore, if that garden is there?" She asked a little wistfully. She had been too distracted by what was happening to really pay much attention to the garden when they had visited it in Kyr's mind, but even that dim awareness it stood out as beautiful.
"I've been curious too if the one on Mandalore is still there, but we won't know unless we went to check," Sasha said before taking a sip. "And I'd love your help on the project. I think it would be fun for us to do. Plus I think Lana would love to play in the dirt as we work on it. She's getting to the point of always being… messy." She chuckled lightly.
Cien chuckled slightly. "Yes, I have noticed." She paused, "I brought up the house on Mandalore but Kyr got a little distant when I asked about checking in on it. We might need to go ourselves and see if we can get… seeds or whatever." She wasn't sure what roses grew from.
"I understand. It's still really hard for him. But that wouldn't be a bad idea," Sasha mused. "I've always wanted to see what Mandalore looks like and visit the capital of Sundari."
Cien took another sip of her juice. "I wouldn't mind taking the opportunity to visit there. Anywhere, really." She said, "I grew up in such desolate places, Korriban was a world that was more than dead, and you saw Morgual when we went to that temple." She mused with a hint of melancholy. "This is the first place I'd really been with trees." She said, gesturing out the window, "I looked up images of Naboo, it looks so beautiful. And more places like the beach." She said with a smile. "Even Coruscant might be nice to visit." She said a little guardedly.
"Naboo was really beautiful," Sasha said with a nod. "And I'd love to see that planet with the beach too. But Coruscant?" She looked out the window, thoughtfully. "I never even thought about going back after all of these years. I mean it would be great to see the Jedi Temple again after all of this time, but it always felt like we were never able to go back. However, now with the Empire gone I guess we can go."
"I wonder how the Jedi Temple might react to me." Cien mused quietly.
"I don't think it'll do what that Sith Temple did to us," Sasha said, assuringly. "If anything it might welcome you as we have."
"Yeah, you, Viran and Op can vouch for me." She said with a mischievous smile. "That would be so strange to visit the Jedi Temple. Any Jedi temple, really." She admitted.
"I mean technically you've already visited a couple if we count the temples with the stelas," Sasha pointed out before taking another sip. "But visiting the Jedi Temple might be a whole different experience for all of us. But don't worry we'll put in a good word for ya."
"Well thank you." Cien said, raising her glass in a toast.
"Of course," Sasha said, doing the same gesture.
"Were those Jedi temples?" She asked, "did you ever figure out their origin?" She had talked with Kyr about them, but this was the first time she had ever talked with Sasha about them. She thought perhaps Sasha might have more insight.
"I'm not entirely sure, and no, we never did," Sasha explained. "After we got back from the World Between Worlds, we were too focused on trying to catch up to the galaxy and then Lana came along, then everything else happened. I haven't even looked at my datapad full of notes in years. But I would be curious to finally get back into it and finally figure it all out. How and why they predicted the future and all." She sipped her juice.
"I've been to two of them." Cien mused. "No, wait, three I suppose." She said, playing with the water around her a little bit. "Chikara, that shattered one that you and Viran visited, and then the one underwater off the beach." She ran her hand under the water and created a little wave. "They didn't feel Jedi or Sith, they felt like something else."
"Well whatever they were, they were strong with the Force," Sasha said. "And technically four, if you count that garrison one. Though I'm not sure if you actually saw that one or not. But close enough I guess." She chuckled.
Cien thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah I did go visit that one." She said, with her brows furrowed. She blushed slightly remembering Kyr teasing her about what he had said when he saw her there.
Sasha chuckled again, noticing the blush. "Well hopefully we can check out the rest here soon and maybe find out the origins," she said before finishing off her juice.
"Yeah, that would be interesting to investigate. " Cien said, "you guys reached a dead end though, didn't you?" She asked as she lifted the juice decanter and wiggled it slightly to see if Sasha wanted more.
"Sort of," Sasha said with a shrug. She nodded at the same time and handed over her glass to Cien for more. "Viran and I hit a dead end as we found the crumbled temple. And what we found at the garrison was enough to find the planet to save Op. But when it came to looking into the constellation and everything, well we certainly hit a deadend there when Tac said there were nine thousand more systems that had that constellation. Oddly enough, though, it was the Viran from a different time who had spent so long in the world between worlds that told us Talokore was the first temple. But even with that knowledge I don't feel like that changes anything. I still feel like it's kind of a dead end." She finished.
Cien handed Sasha's glass back to her. "I might have seen the stela at the shattered temple." She thought. "I had thought to maybe ask if you could go into the mindspace with me and retrieve that memory. But I guess without whatever the alignments you guys needed to calculate it's not useful."
Sasha flinched slightly at the idea of going back into the mindspace right now. "It may not hurt to at least see the alignment and the stela. But maybe a later point," she said, kind of absently as she sipped her juice.
"Yeah, no I definitely didn't mean right now." Cien said, hoping she hadn't ruined Sasha's enjoyment of the evening. "When we go to the beach we'll need to bring rebreathers, the temple ruins in the cove are beautiful."
"I can't wait to see it," Sasha said, her mood brightening slightly at that.
Cien smiled lightly, seeing Sasha's reaction.
A gout of steam rose up as Cien poured more water over the coals using the little dipper thing. She wasn't sure if it had a proper name. She had asked Kyr how this room worked some weeks back and he had just shrugged, so she and Sasha had to figure it out after moving into the sauna. She stepped back, holding her towel closed over her bathing suit as she sat back on the wooden bench next to Sasha.
"Well it seems to be working okay." She said with a shrug.
"Yeah and it feels good. Viran would hate this room," Sasha said with a snort.
"Oh?" Cien asked with a smirk as she settled down.
"He hates the heat," Sasha said as she adjusted the towel. "He has always preferred it cold. Like I'm sure he would rather relax in a walk-in freezer than a sauna. However, he is actually willing to keep our room at a moderate temperature for me."
"How kind of him." Cien said with a chuckle. "Kyr's the same way, I wonder if they are out playing in the snow."
"I wouldn't put it past them," Sasha said with a smile. "Hopefully they took Lana with them. Maybe they are making a snowman or something."
"A snowman?" Cien looked at her quizzically.
Sasha chuckled. "A snowman is when you gather up snow into three large spheres and stack them on each other. Then you grab rocks and twigs to make a face and arms for it," she explained, using her hands to mime out the process. "When we were young, there was a planet we were hiding on from the Empire that had a really big snowfall one day. Viran and I were maybe fourteen at the time. The snow was nothing like it was here on Haven, but it was the first time either of us saw it. So we had a snowball fight and did stuff like that while Op was at work one day. When he came back, he taught us how to make a snowman."
"So it's like a sand castle… except it's a person, and snow instead of sand." Cien said with a smirk.
"I guess yeah," Sasha said with a shrug.
"For all the snow we've had here we haven't really gone out to play in it." Cien said, there was a small window that let them look out at the trees in the distance as the last vestiges of the sunset faded away. "I wouldn't mind trying to build a snowman." She admitted.
"I'd be willing to show you," Sasha said, smiling. "It would be fun."
"Thanks." Cien said as she wiped some sweat from her brow. "You could easily forget about snow being in here, though." She said.
"That's for sure," Sasha said as wiped some sweat away too. "Hey Cien, thanks for suggesting this," she added after a moment. "This has been really nice."
"No problem." She said with a smile. "I have been wanting to do this anyway, it seemed like a good evening for it. I felt odd trying the sauna by myself." She admitted.
"Well thanks for inviting me to join you," Sasha said, returning the smile. "Though no one would blame you if you did use this on your own." She chuckled.
"We should do this regularly." Cien said. "Also, I want to apologize." Cien said with a slight smirk.
"For what?" Sasha asked, confused.
"For being mean to you when you gave me my dress." She said, "I really appreciate it." She said, looking away with a guarded smile.
"It's okay," Sasha said with a gentle smile. "When you first tried it on, I could tell that you wanted it as it reminded you of that mindspace moment with Kyr. That and the dress shop owner really wanted you to have it." She giggled. "But I knew that at some point you might need it. I thought maybe your own wedding, but I think it worked better for your honeymoon. But I am glad you like it. It is a really pretty dress. So you're welcome."
"And you were right, Kyr really liked it." She said with a bit of a blush.
"I'm glad," Sasha said, grinning at her. She then laughed. "You should have seen the others' reactions when you talked to me over our bond that night. They were all confused by my reaction. I promise I didn't tell them about the origins of the dress. I just said I got you a nice wedding present to show Kyr. But it was still really funny."
Cien laughed. "I can imagine. Maybe one of these days I'll work up the courage to wear it for something." She said, swallowing and looking away.
"If you'd like, I could dress up with you when you decide to do that so you're not alone," Sasha suggested with a bashful shrug. "And then that way we can both torture our husbands." She giggled at that.
Cien giggled as well, and then clapped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment.
Sasha beamed at that before laughing with her. Whatever she was feeling before was gone for now as she was too busy having fun.
"I'm trying to think what an appropriate event might be for that," she said after their laughter had faded. "maybe Op's wedding." She said with an amused smirk.
Sasha choked on her laugh for a second. "Maybe. But Op needs a girlfriend first before we can think about that," she pointed out with a chuckle.
"True." Cien said, looking away with a smirk.
"Well maybe we can do a double date or something and dress up all nice for them then?" Sasha suggested.
"Perhaps" Cien agreed. "Doing something formal for a change might be interesting." She said. "Maybe an opera."
"I like that idea," Sasha agreed with a nod. "And let's actually have it be a play or an opera. Because if Kyr suggests Hill again, I might slap him." She added with a giggle.
Cien shuddered, "oh, no I think after he dragged us to Master Hill Kyr deserves to be dragged to an opera."
Sasha laughed at that.
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