Part 2

We sat in the transport, Kit was explaining about the culture of Glee Anselm, being a native of that planet he knew a lot about it, most of the planet was covered in water.

"What about cities and towns?" I asked him.

"There are some, most of them belong to the Anselmi." He answered. I nodded; we were supposed to negotiate some sort of trade agreement between the Anselmi and the Nautolans, as they called themselves. Kit himself came from the Sabilon region of Glee Anselm, which meant nothing to me; I just nodded my head and tried to stay awake as he kept speaking about Glee Anselm. But he must have noticed how tired I actually was, because he eventually told me to go to bed. I woke to the sound of an alarm blaring, Kit came into my room.

"Get up, the ship was damaged entering the atmosphere. We may crash." He said, calmly. I hurried after him up to the bridge, where the captain seemed to be panicking and shouting conflicting orders to his crew, as we flew towards the ground. Kit grabbed one of the handrails with one hand and me with the other, as the ship hit I felt like my arm had been pulled out of its socket. The crew had buckled themselves in, and weren't badly injured, the captain led us toward the ramp, which still seemed to be working, the captain said that he and his crew would stay with the ship and try to get it operational again. Kit decided that we were close enough to make it to the Anselm City, so we started walking through the thickly forested island we had landed on. By the time night came Kit realised that we just so happened to crash on the wrong island, he pointed off into the far distance.

"That's the island we're supposed to be on. We're going to have to swim." He said. Oh, great, I thought. He noticed my expression.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

"I can't swim, Master." I mumbled. All Jedi are required to take swimming lessons and then a test, everyone has fears; mine was being drowned; so I had of course managed to put it off as long as possible. He just shrugged his shoulders, as he stepped into the water.

"You have gills, Padawan. Put your hands around my waist and hold on tightly." He said.

"Yes, Master." I replied. I lowered myself cautiously into the water and nearly all but freaked out as I sank below the surface, Kit grabbed me and lifted me back above water again, for a moment I sputtered and coughed.

"Perhaps you should close your mouth before you attempt that again. Do not look so worried, Kiara, your gills should work automatically." He suggested, smiling. Then he put my hands around his waist and made sure that I was holding on securely, and then he ducked under the water and shot off. I kept my eyes closed, trying to stay calm, I don't know how long it took us but eventually we popped above the water again.

"We're here; you can stop trying to choke me now." He said good nateredly. I blushed a bright blue as I looked up at him and loosened my grip on him.

"Sorry, Master." I said. He hauled himself up on the bank, and then reached down to help me. I stood on the bank, squeezing the water out of my tunic and hoping that I didn't have to go into the water again anytime soon.

"You don't like water, do you?" He asked. I shook my head, trying not to shudder at the thought.

"Not really, I mean I don't mind showers or whatever. It's just that being in that much water" I gestured to the sea. "Makes me…panic. I don't know why." Kit nodded thoughtfully.

"We can work on that while we are here. Remember there is nothing to fear from the water." He said. Except the big fish, that would like to eat you. He thought.

"Thank you, master. Knowing about the creatures that live in there makes me feel so much better." I said, shuddering. He gave me a weird look; it took me a moment to realise why.

"And there is the other reason why Yoda wanted you to train me, I have no control over what it is that I can sense." I said. He nodded as he pulled his boots back on.

"Come on, if we plan on making it there before morning we should hurry." He said. I trotted after him, as we once more made our way through the dense undergrowth. I followed closely behind him, until I felt an overwhelming hatred, from somewhere behind us.

"Master-" I said.

"I sense it as well." He already had his lightsaber in hand and moved in front of me, as blaster bolts pierced the night. His lightsaber moved easily, deflecting the bolts back into the trees, but there were more coming up behind us, I took out my training saber, even though I knew it would be no defence against blaster bolts. I never got a chance to use it though, I felt someone behind me but moved to slowly and something slammed into my stomach, sending the saber flying from my hand and me backwards to slam into one of the huge trees, I fell painfully to the ground and lay there, unable to get up. The sound of the blasters were fading away, then Kit was bending over me, I could feel his worry, so I tried to raise myself with my hands, which caused pain to lance through my stomach and my back where I had hit the tree. I fell face down back into the ground, gasping for breath, I felt Kit removing my belt and pushing my tunic up, so he could look at my back. I winced, as the tunic scraped up my back

"Relax, Ki'ara." He said. I hissed in pain as he touched my injured back. Then he turned me over onto my back, which wasn't all that entertaining, unless you like to hear people scream that is. I didn't realise until he said it that whatever they had used had a sharp edge on it, if it weren't for the belt I had been wearing, I'd be lying in a pool of my own guts. As it was I didn't feel much better. Kit went over to one of the packs that we had brought and took out a strip of bandaging, he asked me to sit up so he could wrap the bandage around me, but the weapon they had used had cut through the muscle in my stomach and; if it weren't for the pain I was in, I probably would have laughed, I looked like a fish out of water as I flopped around trying to sit up. Finally he came over by my head and lifted me up by my shoulders, (insert more screaming here) resting me against his chest. He quickly and gently finished with the bandage, and then he looked at my back again.

"There's not much I can do here, once we get to the city I can help it heal, but I don't want to still be here if they come back. Can you walk?" He asked.

"Yes, Master." I answered, struggling to my feet. He picked up both our packs and slung them over one shoulder and waited for me to catch up with him. He slowed his pace to keep in step with me, which was a good thing, we still had a long way to go before we reached the city and I didn't make it all the way, the last thing I remember is watching in morbid fascination as I fell towards a broken off tree stump and knowing it was probably going to pierce one of hearts. Then I wake up here, lying on my stomach; which didn't hurt all that much anymore, as Kit focused the Force into the long process of healing my back. When I turned my head to look at him, he grinned down at me.

"Welcome back." He said.

"Wha-how did I get here?" I asked.

"I carried you, you passed out last night. Which is probably what I should have done in the first place, instead of making you walk."

"A Jedi shall not know pain." I recited. He laughed as his hand touched my bare back and I yelped as it sent a jolting pain through me.

"Except when you do that."

"Sorry, but the injury goes deeper than I originally thought." He said. I could feel some of the pain receding as my back started healing, but then he moved his hand away.

"It can't be healed all at once, but I might be able to get some bacta tomorrow." He said. Oh, goody. Pain, I love pain. I thought sarcastically. He put his hand on my forehead.

"Sleep." He said and I was out like a light.

I was burning up, swimming through fire that seemed to be radiating from my stomach and back. It was much worse than the slight, stinging burning pain that was caused by a training lightsaber. My eyes snapped open. This was no dream. My fingers clawed at the bandaging on my stomach, as I desperately tried to stop the pain. I felt someone pull my hands away and I could see my Master leaning over me. He cut the bandages off and took off the bacta patch that he must have found. Without saying anything he sat me up and did the same to the bacta patch on my back.

"It's alright." He said.

"Still burns." I hissed through gritted teeth. He was wiping the remains of the bacta off me.

"I know. Do your calming meditation." He said. I closed my eyes and tried to do as he instructed. Deep breaths, find your centre of calm and move through your body relaxing every muscle. It was easier said than done. Especially when all I could really focus on was the pain. It was finally starting to lessen and I was able to breath properly again.

"You should have told me that you were allergic to bacta." My Master said.

"I didn't know, Master. I never injured myself badly enough to have to use bacta." I said.

"I think you might be bad luck, Master Kit."

"At least now I have someone to share it with." He said jokingly. I giggled immediately regretted having done so.

"Ow," I groaned.

"You really are trying to kill me."

"No, not yet." He smiled at me.

"What's that supposed to mean 'not yet!" I asked in mock annoyance.

"Have the negotiations started yet?"

"Yes," He replied.

"They're not going so well?" I asked. He turned from the window to look back at me.

"Have you been sneaking out of here to listen in while I wasn't paying attention?" He asked.

"Call it a Padawan's intuition." I said.

"You shouldn't be worrying about them. You need to get more rest." He told me.

"You know something? Back at the Temple the healers told me not to keep doing stupid stuff like hoverboarding down steps. Not because I can seriously injure myself but because I make a terrible patient. I'll go mad just lying here. I need something to do." I looked up at him hopefully. Finally he nodded, going over to his own bed he picked up his kit bag, rummaged around inside it and took out a datapad. He gave it to her.

"I have recorded all the meetings that I have had with them so far. There are also some observations I have made about both sides that you might find useful." He said.

"Thank you, Master. I am sure this will keep me occupied for some time."

"Good. Now I have to go back to the meeting. I don't want you overexerting yourself, so if you find yourself getting tired then take a break and get some sleep, alright?" He asked. I refused to meet his eyes, if there was something that needed to be done then I usually didn't let a small think like tiredness get in my way.

"Ki'ara." He was staring down at me, knowing full well that I would not get any sleep if it meant doing this properly.

"Yes, Master." I responded dutifully.