--sparkvallen
All the usual disclaimers apply! And thank you for reading!
Chapter SixPharinseaya awoke to an empty apartment. Rym was gone. She felt her own frustrations rise to the surface and simmer for several minutes before finally letting them go. Being irritated at Rym and her decisions wouldn't help the relief efforts at the casino nor her own well-being. Pharinseaya knew that the mechanic would've gone back to Wingnut's to plead for her job.
She made her way to the casino disaster site alone.
The rescue crews had done an amazing amount of rescue and recovery in the night, she saw. The area where she and Rym had worked had been cleared of debris completely. The crews had moved much closer now to the expected blast center. There, the focus was much more on recovering bodies and evidence.
She pitched in silently, helping move heavy debris through her Force powers when mechanical equipment was unavailable or couldn't accurately reach the location. Pharinseaya helped sense out the weak and dying so that they could be rescued before it was too late. She threw herself into her work, hoping to put Rym Svoby out of her mind entirely.
Rym had arrived at Wingnut's before the owner himself had put in an appearance. Through the windows, she could see that another bike had been crashed and was in need of repair. She could also see Spyder's work-in-progress lying in pieces on the stained floor. To Rym, the familiarity of Wingnut's was suddenly gone. The building looked uninviting and "flat" to her eyes. The work area seemed foreign.
She puzzled over this for several minutes before Wingnut himself arrived on his swoop.
"Whacha doin' lurkin' der, Rym? Didn't ya hear I fired yer lousy, lazy butt yesterday?" he said, spotting her seated on the edge of the porch.
"Fired me?"
"Ya heard me. G'on. Get outta here."
"But Wingnut... why? Ya don't even know where I was yesterday, do ya?" she protested.
He pushed past her to enter the office. Rym followed closely before the door could whisk shut, leaving her outside.
"I don't care wheres ya were yesterday. Ya weren't at work and that's where yer 'sposed ta be, eh?" he snapped. "G'on, tell me den. Where were ya?"
She frowned. She knew Wingnut was a stubborn man, but she'd never seen him in such a negative light before. "There was a bombin'. At the casino uptown."
"Yeah? So?"
"Lot of people got hurt, Wingnut. I was down there and got involved in helpin' to rescue people cuz... cuz... I... could." Her Force sensitivity had been kept a secret for so many years, she didn't know how to even tell her employer about her ability. "I was der and could help, so I did."
He looked unimpressed. "What'd I always tell ya? Ya don't get involved. Simple. Stay outta messes dat others make and ya live a lot longer."
"Am I still fired? I... I came back after all. I..." Rym hesitated as her anger began to grow. "I... ya know what? Fergit it! I don't need this stinkin' place anyway! Ya just figure out how ya gotta fix dees damn bikes that the kids keep crashin' and ya do it all yerself. I don't need you!"
Wingnut stared as the woman turned on her heel and stormed out the door.
Rym marched four standard blocks before finally slowing down. She stared back down the street, eyes ablaze feeling the anger course through her.
"Aw, Sithspit, what've I done now?" she whispered in a hoarse, emotion-choked voice. "Gone and tole off the boss! Aw, flaming deathsticks, what've I done? What'd I do now?"
She collapsed against the wall behind her and let herself sink to the duracrete-paved ground below. Her knees pulled so close that she could rest her forehead on them, she trembled. Having lived her life in the slum area, Rym suddenly found it all unfamiliar. Nothing made sense. Nothing looked right.
"The Jedi!" she hissed. "She did this ta me!"
Rym leapt onto her feet and stormed toward the casino, a several kilometer walk away. She had to find and confront Pharinseaya.
Pharinseaya sensed Rym's stormy, anger-leaden approach long before she saw her actually approaching. She'd been unable to get the woman out of her mind, having wondered where destiny was supposed to take the two of them. When Rym approached, the Jedi Knight had taken a short water break and was resting beneath the relief tents.
"YOU!" she screamed.
Other workers in the area looked up and saw the confrontational look on Rym's face and quickly cleared out. Pharinseaya, on the other hand, calmly continued to drink from her canteen and regarded the other woman.
"My life! YOU did this to me! I... I dunno what's happened! Nothin' is familiar! It's all yer fault! Ya did this to me!"
She waited and watched Rym tremble with rage. In all honesty, Pharinseaya wasn't quite sure what to say to the angry mechanic. She could only guess that the effort to return to her job at Wingnut's had failed. Rationally, Pharinseaya knew that every decision had been Rym's: to meet her initially, to get involved without second thought in the rescue efforts and to then rapidly change up and go back to the mechanic and plead for her job. She knew she was just the easy target. But "being there" for someone had never been her strongest suit either. Pharinseaya waited.
"What am I gonna do now?" Rym ranted. "I ain't gotta job now so how'm I gonna keep my place? I... I'm... I'm so scared!"
Pharinseaya said calmly, "The Force moves us in mysterious ways. Perhaps this is a new beginning for you then."
Rym's eyes widened. "What's dat 'sposed to mean?!"
The Jedi set her canteen aside and looked Rym square in the eye. "Perhaps things went this way for you for a reason. Maybe you're supposed to have a different life from that as a mechanic, Rym."
Confusion settled on her face again. Rym knew now what Pharinseaya was saying: the opportunity was there to become a Jedi. Her eyes narrowed.
"I shouldn't've ever met ya," she retorted. "Ya ruined my life!"
Pharinseaya said nothing.
"What'm I gonna do now?"
"Since you have nothing else better to do with yourself, why not help down here? Maybe a new opportunity will present itself," she suggested.
Rym flinched. "An' get involved again? Look where dat plan lead me this time!"
"It's entirely up to you... as it always has been," Pharinseaya said. "Me, I have work to do here. Whether you're a part of it or not is your decision."
She turned to walk back to the site. Rym chased at her heels, fuming. "My decision? Whatcha mean by dat?! I didn't choose to lose m'job! I was... I was doin' da right thing by helpin' here! 'S not my fault if Wingnut didn't like that!"
Pharinseaya slowed. She turned to face Rym again. "You're right, it's not. And you're right that you were doing the right thing by helping here. However, we cannot control the reactions of other people who fail to understand that we have to help others in need. So, you can only accept and move on when people like Wingnut make the choices that they do."
The Jedi again walked away, leaving Rym standing alone in the controlled chaos of the disaster site. She heard Rym's heavy footfalls as she hurried to catch up.
"OK, so I'll stay and help here... what else 'm I gonna do wif myself now?" Rym said.
Pharinseaya nodded. "The opportunity will present itself, I'm sure."
They paired up again, working in an uncomfortable silence. As Rym calmed down, her telekinetic control improved, which relieved Pharinseaya's nerves. As angry as the woman had been, she'd been quietly concerned that Rym would cause more harm than good lashing out with her raw Force powers.
They'd struggled through the rubble for nearly three hours before a Lieutenant from Emergency Services approached them.
"You're the Jedi, I gather."
Rym turned to give him a surprised look at being called a Jedi as Pharinseaya spoke up. "I am, yes. My name is Pharinseaya and this is my associate, Rym Svoby."
"Lieutenant Klo'lo. We'd like your assistance in the investigation though your work here in rescue and recovery has been a godsend," the fur-matted Bothan said.
Pharinseaya nodded. She glanced at Rym, who nodded an agreement to help.
"This way, please."
