Chapter Three – The Dream

The area around her was dark and smelled almost moldy.  The sound made against the walls of the place made it very clear that they were a thick, water-resistant material.  The scent of sweat was strong, just as was that of a dirty container that once held some sort of nerfsteak.  The darkness was evident, even when she opened her eyes, trying to figure out what was going on.

Quite suddenly, a force stronger than herself grasped at her upper arms, shoving her frame into the material.  Though it wasn't stone, that didn't mean it didn't have an effect on her head.  It became readily apparent to her at that moment that she also had a splitting headache and a bruise on her right cheek.  Before she could logically register the extent to which her body hurt, she heard a roguish voice saying something to her.  Yet try as she might, she couldn't interpret what was being said or asked of her.  Before she could try to form a question of repetition, a fist came out of nowhere to deliver its blow to the side of her face.

She squeezed her eyes shut, as tight as they would go, biting her lip to keep from crying out.  A hand gripped under her chin, forcing her face in another direction and she opened her eyes...to find herself sitting bolt upright in bed, her breath coming in short, uneven jerks.

As Adra wrestled for control of the dream and everything that came with it, she looked around for her wristchrono.  With aid of the Force, it was found and Adra looked quickly at its face to see the time.  2417.  Right.  One hand was spread flat over the base of her neck, seen as a mother's action of compassion by some, now merely a reminder that she still needed to breathe and swallow.  Her other hand returned the wristchrono to the bedside table silently.

She let herself fall back, head hitting the pillow lightly and soundlessly.  As if on fast forward, her mind replayed the dream, and though it was short, it held tremendous detail.  With startled realization, Adra felt a phantom ache on her right cheek.  A stray memory clicked very suddenly:  the bruise on Kai's cheek.  It was almost invisible now, but it was still there.  And it was on Kai's right cheek.

Undecided on whether or not she should go and find out what was really going on in her youngest child's head, she nearly jumped when a hand brushed a patch of loose hair from across her face.  Her overloaded brain quickly realized whose hand it was as she had grabbed the wrist of, ready to break it if she had to.

"Is there a reason I'm the new punching bag?" Face's laughing voice came across to her through the darkness and she immediately released his wrist with a slightly muffled 'sorry'.  The same hand she had been threatening with a broken ligament ruffled her loose hair, pulling more out of the braid she had it in.  Forgetting her troubles over the dream for the time being, Adra rolled up onto an elbow to face him and then, in the same movement, had both hands pressed firmly against his shoulders, pushing him firmly into the mattress and his pillow.

"And if you were, what would you do to stop me, eh?"

For the most part leaving her question unanswered, Face raised his still relatively-free arms up to frame her face before he pulled it down to his, kissing her firmly on the lips.

* * * * *

Kai was startled out of her sleep by the dream she was having, a dream so vivid that it was more like going back in time to the point at when it had really happened.  Before she did anything else, a hand rose to touch her right cheek, fingers treading carefully over the slightly discolored skin there.  But the bruise was fading and she could cover the fact that it was there at all by using the Force.  Kai closed her eyes again, staring into the black depths behind her eyelids, not really seeing the lack of color there.  No, it was more like her eyes roaming her mind, searching out whatever had prompted her dream.  But it wasn't as if she didn't know because she knew all too well, where it came from, and how it was prompted.  She was the one who'd experienced it, after all, wasn't she?

Opening her eyes once more, Kai carefully took in the dark and shadowed surroundings.  The holoprojector's light indicated it was still on, but not showing anything.  Abruptly the situation returned to her.  She and Ty had left his siblings in the lounge and gone off to talk.  After dinner earlier that night, they'd decided to come and watch a holovid, even if they had seen all of the holodramas in the building.  But they had settled on a couch in the lounge around 2130 and watched their holovid.

Or, rather, watched it until she had fallen asleep.  That in itself was a bit surprising, since Kai hadn't slept in increments larger than thirty minutes for a while.  If she did, dreams of what had happened at Kessel would float to the surface and haunt her.  And that in itself was enough to keep her shying away from sleep.

She didn't realize Ty was awake right off, content to merely allow her thoughts to rest on nothing at all, so long as where they roamed wasn't into darkened memories, her head on his shoulder.  Movement on Tynian's part- shifting to move his foot out from under his other leg- caused her to see he was awake.  Abruptly she drew back, allowing him more mobility than with her leaning on him as well.

When she straightened to the best of her ability while sitting, a light tug on her loose hair caused her to think about maybe putting it up or braiding it.  Deftly, she pulled the caught pieces free from her tank top's strap, wincing as it pulled directly at her skull.  One sure she wouldn't be receiving any other sharp jolts from her tank top or hair, she at last turned to look at Ty.  As she resettled, she pulled her bare feet from the floor to sit loosely cross-legged on the couch, angled slightly towards Ty.

Casting around for something to say, her mind landed on the easiest subject to follow.  "Sorry I fell asleep...  Really tired I guess," she said quietly.

Beside her, she heard him laugh.  "Hey, I don't mind.  It's still time with you, without any siblings or friends around."

Kai grinned in the shadowed darkness, giggling slightly.  She scooted back over to rest her head on his shoulder once more, saying, "Yeah, Ciny's deciding to finally lay off was a good thing."

From their bond in the Force, Kai could hear Ty's agreement, as well as vaguely see him nodding.  Carefully, she studied his expression, wondering what was going on behind it, but refusing to just invade his head- a lesson learned the hard way from Garik.

"What?"

Ty released a sigh and chewed on the inside of his lower lip before he decided to answer.  "You were broadcasting...  But, well, this isn't what I want to go off on, but was that an actual memory?"

Not trusting her voice to answer for her, Kai nodded once, closing her eyes again to stop the tears ready to leak from them.  Truly, Tynian was the best person in the universe.  He cared about her and it meant more to her than she could've ever imagined.

A finger traced its way over the bruise on her cheek, taking care not to press against it.  Quite the opposite from the way the bruise was attained, that's for sure.  Kai glanced up to see Ty's head leaned forward and titled slightly, brows furrowed.  Suddenly she realized why he looked confused.  Since her return, she'd used the Force to hide the mark as best she could and it had paid off in that none of her siblings or friends had asked about it.

One of her hands loosed itself from the other and she covered his hand with hers.  Sensing his question before it had even been fully formed and asked, she smiled sadly.  Even though she'd shared with him the memories from the Kessel Mission, she purposely delivered them in a manner that would be too quick for the mind's eye to comprehend each scene.  And it wasn't because she didn't want Ty to know.  No, it was more like she was afraid of what he'd do if he did know.

"Reminder of Kessel," she said simply, interlocking her fingers through his and pull the hand away.  Though her remark had come off in an uncaring way, Kai knew it wouldn't satisfy Ty's need for an answer in the long run.  So instead, she removed her head from his shoulder and turned to face him completely.  "I showed you what happened...and you said I was broadcasting a memory.  I got punched in the face before that.  If you take what I showed you earlier," she sighed at the thought of going through it again, "then you'll be able to find, I'm sure, when it happened.  It's not that hard to find out."

Ty raised their still-connected hands and brushed away loose hair from her forehead as he nodded.  Silently he planted a kiss on her forehead before extricating his hand from hers.  Kai was pulled into a hug soon after, one she readily returned, face buried in his shoulder.