Chapter 6. The Dragon's Mouth
Early in the morning, Steve woke up with the warmth of Revan's kiss. The woman was all dressed up and ready to leave. She had moved all of the Sith holocrons onboard the Ebon Hawk. She wore the robes and armor of the dark lord she had been. All that was left was the mask she held in her hand. She wanted to say goodbye before she left. Steve quickly jumped into his outfit and followed her to the ship. The younger Echani woman was already up and exercising in the training room. When she saw that Revan was ready to leave, she followed her and Steve to the ship. Once at the hanger, the Echani went up to the control room while Revan and Steve boarded the ship. Steve helped get the Ebon Hawk ready and gave Revan a big hug before exiting the ship and going up to join the Echani in the control room. The handmaiden lowered the shield, and the Hawk blasted into the air and rocketed past the clouds.
"What am I supposed to do until she gets back?" Steve asked the woman.
"You can do whatever you like." The Echani answered the question that wasn't really directed at anyone.
"Really? Aren't you going to need help with… stuff?" Steve knew there was a lot of work to do in any facility, even if it was largely automated.
"If I need your help, I'll ask." The woman smiled.
"It's a deal. Just don't be shy to ask." Steve smiled back.
Steve went back down to his room but saw that the other sister was using the training room now. She was exercising much like her younger sister had been. Steve approached her slowly and said:
"Would it be possible for you to teach me how to fight?" He knew he would prefer to learn from the other sister, but she was so busy. For some reason, it was the younger Echani who was doing all the housework. She didn't look like she minded, but it was still curious how they had made this arrangement without having said a word. Besides, this would be a good opportunity to learn more of this woman and vise versa.
"I don't think you'll ever learn how to fight like an Echani." She replied.
"I didn't say I wanted to learn how to fight like an Echani, I said I wanted to learn how to fight." Steve said plainly before turning back the way he had come from, knowing this woman wasn't interested.
"Wait. I can't teach you how to fight like we can, but I can teach you a few lessons." She said after finally pausing from her exercise. Steve turned around and approached the woman again.
"As a first rule, you must fight without your clothes, armor or weapons. You may keep only your underwear." The woman said while disrobing herself. Steve soon did what he was instructed to do and tossed his suit, just as the Echani did, on the side of the large mattress that covered the training room. He had to wait until the Echani was finished with her clothes. He had nothing else to do but look at her. When she was done, she said:
"The second rule is: you do not hit to wound. Anything more than bruising will not be tolerated. You break this rule, and I will break you. Is that clear? Are you even listening to me?" Steve couldn't help but remember what she looked like naked. Though he was barely conscious then, he was still very curious how the Echani looked compared to the humans of his planet. There were very few differences. As he has expected, the hairs that covered their bodies were all short and of a rich white color. The Echani were also slim. Considering all the training they did, he expected them to be very muscular. Though these women seemed very healthy, they didn't look particularly muscular. However, they were much stronger than they looked; they were not to be judged by their size. If they lived back on his planet, they would make great athletes: they were light and strong, which made them excessively fast and agile. This Echani looked a little different now than she did that day in the shower. She was more focused now, more determined. She looked even sadder than before. Also, she wore the mark of someone who had escaped death, much like Steve did: just under her bra, there was a blackened scar that portrayed the entry point of the energy bolt that was fired into her beautiful white skin. It was terrible to see such an awful scar on an otherwise healthy woman. No one deserved to be shot that day. Not even her sisters. It was clear there was no other alternative though: HK-47 was not built to make a wise decision concerning the value of this woman's life, not like Steve could. If he had it his way, he would most probably die rather than sacrifice the Echani's lives in his rescue. Having known he would have felt this way before, he never would have allowed Revan to come after him at all. Either way, his decision was going to cause pain to people, and it was very hard to bear it. This is what he truly wished for this handmaiden to know.
"I'm sorry… I was distracted. I heard you though. I won't hit to injure, I promise." Steve said seriously after finally looking her in the eyes.
"Try to focus, we are about to begin. The last rule is to stay on the mattress." The Echani was annoyed. Steve raised his arms in a position to protect his upper body and moved slowly towards the woman. The handmaiden stretched apart her legs and extended her arms outward, lowering herself in a balanced position. When Steve was close enough, she jumped up and spun her legs trough the air in a rapid spiral. Steve moved back to avoid the kicks, and, before he could try and move back close to her, she was already getting prepared for another attack. She had very strong legs that made her capable of almost floating in the air as she quickly unleashed a series of lunging kicks. Steve couldn't just keep backing up to avoid the kicks because he saw the gap between him and the end of the mattress getting smaller by the second. He tried blocking the kicks with his forearms and stepping sideways when he could. As he quickly discovered, it was very painful to block the kicks with his arms. When he saw kicks that were coming too fast, he figured it would be best to attempt to move away instead of blocking them. He wasn't fast enough though: the kicks caught up to him and landed on his side as he was strafing away. After the second kick landed, the woman stepped forward and lifted he right knee up to Steve's stomach. Because he was expecting it, Steve caught it with both of his hands, but that left his upper body vulnerable to the Echani's quick strikes of her fists. The first fist landed on his abdomen, and, as he tipped forward reflexively, the second fist intercepted the side of his face in an uppercut. It wasn't powerful enough to send him backwards. As the Echani said, it wasn't meant to inflict damage. It was enough to stun him though: while his face was turning away with the outgoing fist, the woman used her torso to continue the impulse of the punch while she followed her body's motion with her right leg. Her leg reached behind him, far enough to wrap him around with it. Steve tripped down on his back as the Ecahni pulled her leg back towards her. Steve acted on instinct and got back up very quickly, but the woman was standing so very close. He stood no chance. He tried pushing her back to make room for him to see what the rest of the woman's body was up to. As he extended his arms in a powerful push, the handmaiden caught one of his arms with one hand around his wrist and the other locking it at the shoulder. She used his momentum to hurl him forward with her, and, when they were both moving at a synchronized pace, she lowered herself in state she had started in, both legs stretched far apart, and pulled the man over her and guided him down to slam against the mat. She kept holding his arm in a very powerful lock as she moved on his back to prevent him from getting back up. She crouched over him with both her legs distributing her weight on his back and bent his arm towards his head until his shoulder joint completely seized. At that point, she only needed one hand to keep it there. She used her other hand to press his face down, squeezing his cheek on the rugged mat. She held him there with an angry look on her face.
"What the hell are you doing? Get off him!" Mira yelled as she was running down the hallway of her room. She just woke up from all the noise and felt compelled to see what the ruckus was all about. She didn't like what she saw and immediately intervened.
"It was his idea." The Echani woman said as she was releasing the man from her inescapable lock. The woman quickly disappeared in one of the rooms that were surrounding the training room after picking up her clothes from the side of the mat. Steve got up, stretched his arm out and rolled his shoulder a few times to ease the pain. When he saw the frustrated look on Mira, he stopped moving completely.
"Can I speak to you alone for a moment?" She said loudly, and she dragged Steve into the narrow hallway she had rushed through. Steve picked up his suit on his way, and, when they were a good distance in the hall, Mira pushed him against the wall.
"Are you crazy or something? Are you purposely trying to get hurt? When are you going to get it through your head that that woman doesn't like you?" Mira was a little mad.
"I was just trying to learn how to fight." Steve said defensively.
"You think she's trying to teach you how to fight? Ha! She doesn't care about that! Don't you understand what she is doing? She's only doing it so she can hurt you. I've seen sadistic people like that before, trust me, all she wants it to beat the shit out of you!" Mira said loudly.
"You're wrong about her. Believe me; she knows of much more creative ways… and more efficient ways to do that. If she wanted to hurt me, she would do it some other way. This is how they fight… She's Echani, she's trying to communicate something through her fighting… that's what they do! This is the best chance I have of making myself understood." Steve explained. He couldn't help but feel ashamed in this situation. He didn't have a reason to be ashamed though: he really thought that was his best chance. But being scolded by and older woman, and an intimidating one at that, was enough to make him feel like a child again. Mira was a killer and a good one too, but she was also wise: she knew what she was talking about. Steve knew the Echani would love to hurt him, but there was more to it than that: there was something that was being said in that battle, and he wanted to know what it was.
"There are plenty of other ways to communicate things to her. Why don't you just pick a way that doesn't end up crushing your bones on that mat?" Mira said in concern.
"Believe me, if there was another way to do it, I would. This is how things are done around here… it's like they say: when in Rome…" Steve said.
"What?" Mira asked.
"When in Rome, do as the Romans… Never mind, it's just an expression." Steve answered.
"You do what you want. You want to get yourself hurt? That's fine. But just keep it in mind that I won't always be there to help you." Mira shook her head in disappointment before she turned around to get back in her room.
"Wait! Mira… what difference does it make to you? I mean why did you get mad at me?" Steve said.
"You and Revan are the only ones that are keeping me here: if something happens to you, I may as well be packing my bags right now because I'm not staying here alone with that crazy man-hating woman." Mira said defensively.
"No. Revan knows I'm taking full responsibility for my actions here. She wouldn't blame the Echani if something happened to me… I wouldn't let her blame anyone else than me. There has to be another reason for you to get upset like that. Tell me the truth." Steve pleaded.
"What do you want me to say? I care about you? I like you? I think you're a nice man, and I'd like it if you stayed in one piece. Does that answer your question? I mean, if I you get yourself killed, who else am I going to be friends with?" Mira admitted before retiring in her room. Steve was happy with her answer. He still didn't trust her completely because, as a bounty huntress, Mira was made to be deceitful. If it weren't for that small doubt, he would be very happy. He was capable of setting his doubt aside and of giving Mira all the credit she probably deserved, but he preferred to play it safe. He chose caution when thinking of what her real motives are, but it didn't keep him from being happy about her attitude towards him. Even if Mira was trying to deceive him in some sort of creative ruse, some of what she said had to be true, and that was all he needed to hear.
Steve looked at his suit and then at the sweat that covered his body. He decided to head straight to the shower room. It was a square room with six showerheads spread across three walls. Just outside of that room, there was a small changing room. When he was done, he got dressed and left the changing room. Just outside that room, the fifth handmaiden was leaning against the wall.
"There you are. I've been waiting for you. I need your help with something. Mira is waiting for us. Come on let's go." She said as she showed Steve the way. She brought him to the hangar bay where Mira was.
"I've just discovered something this morning, let me show you." She brought him closer to where the bounty huntress was. At Mira's feet, there was some sort of bending in the floor's surface.
"Look. We haven't had any problems like this before, but I think it's because this place wasn't meant to house a big ship like the Hawk. This material can't support that much weight. Our floor is ruined now. Luckily, we have large plastisteel sheets that we can use to cover the whole deck. They're all stored at the lower levels of this facility. I'd like it if you can help us install them." The handmaiden explained.
"Sure, I can help. How long do you think it'll take?" Steve asked.
"Actually, first we have to get rid of the old tiles before we install the new ones. We also have to fill in the print the Hawk left in a few places. After that, the new tiles have to be welded together and stapled onto the foundation. The whole thing can take a very long time to complete. I don't think we can complete it before Revan gets back, but we still need to hurry. We can't leave the large vessel on the surface for too long or people may detect it…" The handmaiden said.
"I understand. I'll help as much as I can." Steve replied.
"Excellent, let's get started." The Echani said. This was going to be a big job, but Steve didn't mind the company. He grabbed a tool that looked like a crowbar and helped remove the small tiles that covered the surface of the hangar bay. Not far away, Mira was doing the same thing. The Handmaiden was taking care of disposing of them as Steve and Mira were pulling them off the floor.
"That's a nice little ship you have, Mira." Steve started a conversation.
"What kind of weapons does it have?" He continued.
"It comes standard with mini-turbolasers and two missile banks, but I added a few surprises on it." Mira smirked.
"I bet. Kind of like your armbands right? What do you have in them anyway? Other than antidotes." He asked.
"A bunch of things. I have a mini-rocket launcher in the right one. I can use it to project darts and rockets. It also has a harpoon launcher and a miniature torch. In my left armband, I have a mini computer with a folding display. I don't go anywhere without it. I use it to store all the information I can ever need on the job. I got maps, picture files of every bounty out there… always up-to-date. And it also contains detailed instructions for the use of various objects like: weapons, vehicles, fighters, cruisers. Oh, and It has a computer interface with advanced slicing capabilities." Mira was proud of her gadgets.
"Can it play music?" Steve joked.
"Hehehe. Unfortunately… no." She laughed.
"Mira… I was wondering… Were you serious about being friends with me?" He asked honestly.
"Of course I was. Why would I lie about that?" She smiled.
"I don't know. I don't pretend to know much about you. I can't know what your motives are." Steve said.
"I can't say I trust you either." She replied.
"I guess not. Still… I want to trust you… I really do. I'm just afraid that, one day… you'll choose your business over friendship… Am I paranoid or do I have good reason to be afraid?" He said in a low tone.
"How am I supposed to answer that?" Mira asked seriously, not too offended.
"It's a question of personality really. I want to know if you're honest… so far I like what I see, but you never know." Steve paused from his work to concentrate more on the conversation.
"You want to know what kind of person I am? Alright… I'm not the kind of person that chooses her work over friendship… Satisfied?"
"Alright, but are you the kind of person that would choose her work over me?" He asked specifically in case Mira was speaking between the lines.
"Ah, now you're asking the right question. Ask me again sometime if you're still not sure. I'd rather if you found that answer out for yourself." Mira smirked. Steve smiled, as he understood that this was as friendly as Mira would get at this time. That meant she was trying her best to become friends with him. The three of them worked hard until midday while the fourth handmaiden was doing god-knows-what. The two women he was working with broke out for lunch while he retired to Revan's room and fed himself the only way he could. Not long after he was set up, Mira came knocking at the door. She invited him to join them in the dining room. He had nothing else to do while his blood was mixing in the pouch so he gladly accepted the invitation. As he sat down with his friends, he noticed the fourth Echani handmaiden was not there… again.
"Where is your sister? How come she never eats with us?" He asked the all-white woman.
"She has different eating habits than we do. She prefers to eat many small meals per day rather than three big ones. It just so happens that she ate not long ago, and now she doesn't need to be here anymore." She answered.
"What does she do all day anyway?" Mira asked.
"My sister has been very… upset lately. As have I. She's finding much harder to deal with our sisters' deaths than I am… She spends her time alone now. It's better if we let her mourn the deaths of our sisters in privacy." She answered.
"I can't imagine how terrible it must be to lose so many relatives at the same time. Still, I don't think that being alone will solve anything. Why don't you talk to her after lunch? Mira and I will take care of the hangar. Just go see if you can cheer her up a little. You're the only one that can do it…" Steve observed.
"I don't like seeing her that way either, but there isn't anything I can say that will make things better." The Echani said sadly.
"You have to convince her she's not alone. That's all that matters. Take her up to the surface or something. Get some fresh air. You need to show her that life goes on, that the world hasn't stopped. As I'm sure she does, I wish none of this had happened. But now that it did, we have to be able to see the good things that came out of it. She may not value her freedom as I do, but she can still understand what it means. Tell her to forget about the past and think of all she can do now and in the future. She can do anything she wants." Steve tried to motivate this woman to console her sister, to give her positive thoughts.
"I'll give it a try, but it doesn't mean she'll help us fix the bay's floor…" The Echani started.
"I really don't care about that. Your sister can spend her time as she pleases as long as it's not making her unhappy for nothing." Steve said sincerely.
"Alright, I'll go see her after lunch." The white woman said.
"Great!" Steve was pleased.
"I'm sure that'll make things so much easier for you, Steve." Mira said sarcastically.
"It'll be better for us." Steve clarified.
"And what do you think she'll want to spend her time doing if not to spend it finding ways to avenge her sisters' deaths?" Mira asked frankly.
"What are you guys talking about?" The handmaiden was concerned.
"Steve and I have a little bet going on about your sister's intentions. I keep warning him she's too much trouble for him to handle, but he won't listen." Mira said to the white woman.
"Who says she wasn't thinking about revenge from the beginning now… I mean, that's why you're here now isn't it? If she hasn't done something by now, it's because she isn't planning anything." Steve said to Mira.
"Right? Revenge isn't your kind's only resolve right? She isn't all that interested in that anymore right?" Steve directed his question at the Echani woman.
"We aren't known to… well actually it really depends on the person. I was certain Atris wasn't the kind to resort to revenge. And my sisters… well they usually follow Atris as an example to us all…" She couldn't really give a straight answer.
"So you're saying you're not sure if she wants me dead or not?" Steve was concerned.
"I… I really doubt she would jeopardize anything just to… to kill you." She said honestly.
"Alright. You see? When she cheers up, we should get along just fine." Steve said sarcastically. Mira laughed but didn't push the subject any farther.
After lunch, Mira went back to work and the handmaiden went to speak to her sister. Steve was still in the process of recycling his blood and returned to Revan's room to lie down until it was complete. When it was done, he switched the robe for his suit and marched to the hangar. He and Mira worked all afternoon without taking a break. Steve felt he had to work until the Handmaidens' situation was resolved. They must have been talking for hours and hours. It was a very good thing though; it meant the younger Echani wasn't about to give up on her sister. Working long hours was the least he could do for them. He was surprised Mira was pitching in just as much as he was though. She had no obligation to help. Perhaps it was because she, too, had some kind of guilt she wanted to get rid of. Steve couldn't know for sure. He found it hard to read women's minds. There were only two women in the world he understood enough to read like an open book: Revan and Bastila. He shared his soul with Revan and Bastila was like a child: everything she did was predictable. If she hadn't been a Jedi, it would have been much harder to understand her, but, because of what she was, she had a one-track mind guided by the most basic and straightforward emotional responses. She was just like a kid trapped in a responsible being. It was very charming, but Mira didn't share any of those qualities, which was why she was so hard to understand. She wasn't crazy though. In fact, she was very intelligent. That was the only thing Steve had in common with her, but it was also a source of confusion: Mira was easily smart enough to mask herself completely. There was just no other way to understand her than if she helped him out willfully. They worked very well together though. Time was going by faster than Steve thought it would. It was late though. It was already well into the evening. Mira was starting to get hungry.
"What happens if you don't feed yourself during the day?" Mira asked Steve out of the blue.
"Same thing as if you didn't. Except I don't feel hungry anymore. Instead, I suppose I would just get really exhausted and collapse. I'm sure I could go for a long while though. I still have reserves. Last time I was here, I was able to go four days without eating. Actually, I can't tell how I would have faired if I wasn't in such a bad shape. I suppose I can go without food for longer than that." He answered.
"Ok, so you're not completely useless after all right?" Mira smirked.
"Not quite. Still, I have no wish to be left alone. I have the greatest bodyguard I could ever ask for… I'm not going anywhere without help anyway. Why do you ask?" Steve said.
"Just in case something should happen, that's all." Mira said. At that moment, the young Echani came in the room.
"Thank you for working so long." The Echani started.
"How did it go?" Steve asked.
"She's not so bad. She just doesn't know what to do anymore… I don't even know what to do. It's an awkward situation for all of us." She said.
"True. Has she lightened up a bit? What took so long?" Steve asked.
"I can't say she changed much, but we did speak a lot. She just has too much on her mind." The Echani said.
"What about you? Are you all right?" Steve asked seriously.
"Me? I'll be fine…" She said, but Steve wasn't convinced.
"I need to speak with you in private." Steve said. The woman nodded and followed him to the corner of the hangar bay.
"You can't fool me, Echani." He started.
"How can you expect to convince your sister everything will be all right if you don't believe it yourself? If there is one thing I don't like about you, it's that you don't respect yourself! It would mean so much to me if you only told me your name." Steve pleaded.
"My name is of no importance. I represent and serve my kind… That is all you need to…" She said in a fluctuating tone before Steve interrupted her:
"Don't give me that crap! You may be an Echani, but, above all, you're a person! A unique individual… and, as such, you have characteristics that belong only to you. If you continue to refuse to give me your name it means you make yourself believe you are nothing special… that you hold no influence on the events around you. If you believe that, you're brainwashed!" The Echani was about to turn around and leave, but Steve held her hand and kneeled in front of her, begging her to listen:
"You're free, Echani. Don't you understand? You don't need to stay the way you are! You serve no one! YOU MUST BREAK FREE OF THIS BRAINWASHING BULLSHIT! You're my friend! I can't bear to see you like this!" He cried out. The Echani woman was hurt; tears dripped down her cheeks and her eyes irritated her. She pulled her hand away from Steve's soft grip and cried her way her way out of the room. Steve stayed on his knees for many minutes, just trying to calm himself down. Mira just watched from a distance and decided to go speak to the handmaiden; to comfort her and perhaps repair whatever Steve may have done to her. Though Mira didn't believe Steve would intentionally cause the Echani pain, he may have involuntarily stabbed a sensitive nerve.
Mira found the Echani woman in the kitchen, buried in her duties and crying her heart out. The white woman was tearing up the place, throwing food together without a care of the mess she was making. Mira gripped the handmaiden's hand to make her stop her destructive acts.
"Calm down honey… talk to me. Why are you so upset? What did Steve say to you?" Mira asked in a soothing tone. The Echani woman breathed and sniffed erratically and said what she interpreted of what Steve told her:
"He said that I wasn't… I wasn't the Echani I was raised to be… sniff … that I'm not who I am supposed to be."
"I'm sure he didn't mean to say that… you're a great Echani…" Mira started.
"I know what he meant… he's right. I was never a good Echani; I was always… I was always distracted. I wasn't called the last of the handmaiden because I was the youngest… I imagined so many things that I wish were different about my life. I thought about other people and how differently they led their lives. I'm always thinking about things that never concerned me… things that were never going to happen to a person like me. It was as though I was trying to live another life… I AM an Echani, and I do what my people do… But there's a part of me that never belonged… a part of me that, until now, was a thorn at my very being; something that was a constant obstacle to what I was taught to believe was a noble path. I felt like I was never doing anything right… and, now, I don't know what to feel… sniff … I don't know what to think! I was always trying to be something I'm not. Steve was right… I don't know what I am anymore." The white woman cried.
Standing at the kitchen's entrance was the fourth handmaiden. She must have overheard the conversation. She left as soon as Mira looked at her. Meanwhile, Steve was in Revan's room. He was upset as well. He had known the moment to give his opinion of the Echani way would come, but he didn't expect it to have such an impact on himself or the woman he was kneeling in front of. He had to say it though. He strongly believed this woman needed to hear it. He cared for her. The whole day tired him, but that final chat had exhausted his mind. He was running through what he said, over and over again, trying to see if there was a better way of saying it, to see if there was a way he could have avoided causing pain… He wanted to forget he needed to say these things. He tucked himself in the cold empty bed and fed himself before falling asleep.
The next morning, he woke up late, just as he usually did. He disconnected the blood pouch from his side and put on his suit. Sleep had done its job. He felt much better now. He exited his room and walked down the small corridor. In the training room, there was the older Echani woman training again. He looked at her for a moment. He thought he should just continue helping the others with the hangar bay floor. As he made his way to the exit, the handmaiden stopped her exercise and called out his name:
"Steve! What do you say we finish what we started yesterday? It's not my style to begin a lesson and not finish it." She said in the usual unfriendly tone she favored when she spoke to him. Steve just stood there, considering it.
"Where are the others?" He asked.
"Working in the hangar. It's just me and you now… what do you say? Or do you fear me?" She said coldly.
"I don't fear you, Echani." Steve said honestly. He paused and looked at the exit that was so close… then he chose.
"Alright. Let's finish what we started." He said. The two of them took their clothes off and made their way to the center of the mattress.
"Same rules." The Echani said before starting her attacks as fast as she could. Even though the woman had started even more aggressively than the previous time, Steve felt more ready this time. He already knew the only way to avoid the kicks was not to fear them. This time, he wasn't about to back away to the end of the mat. He moved swiftly and made the kicks land harmlessly against him. When the gap was closing between them, he got his dukes up and ready to defend his upper body. It went much better then the previous day. He was quickly learning the Echani's attacks and conjuring up some defenses against them. The way he was, he was not a fighter, but he did have the potential. All he was lacking was the flexibility in his legs and the balance to kick the way the Echani did. The way he moved his upper body, however, was worthy of recognition by the woman. He tried to stay on his feet for as long as he could, just trying his best to avoid the hits that were meant for him. Just as when he fought the Cathar on Dantooine, he felt he was improving very fast. It wasn't long before the woman understood what Steve was doing. He was doing the same thing as he did just the day before, only he was getting better at it. She knew what she had to do. When she was close enough, she changed her fighting style from a striking type to a dishabilitating type. Unlike Steve, she didn't use her physical skills to fight, but she used her tactics and experience. It was a flawless thing to do. Steve had only his creativity to help him against the next set of moves. Steve immediately noticed the woman's arms going around his back and her upper body coming in contact with his. He didn't know what to do except try to undo what she was doing: when she moved closer, he moved farther, and, when she put her arms around him, he tried getting them off of him. It worked the first few times. The woman couldn't get a grip on the silky smooth skin of the man she was fighting. If only he still had hair on his body… the woman thought. She was trying to find a good place to grab him. Eventually, she was able to press her hand in between two of his ribs and throw him off balance on the leg she set outwards to make him fall over. It worked just as she had hoped, and, before Steve could even land, she hopped onto her other leg and kicked him in the side before he could roll over or get up again. As he was getting back up, she elbowed him on the back and kneed him on the side of the leg to make him collapse back down. It didn't work though; Steve had balanced himself on his other leg and punched off quickly towards the woman to throw her out of the way. The woman backed off only for a split second before noticing another opening that enabled her to strike a very powerful combo against her enemy. As Steve still carried momentum in one direction, the woman set her leg strongly in his path and waited for him to inevitably run into her. When Steve was above her leg, she pulled his upper body onto hers and lifted him over her head with her strong leg as she fell backwards onto the mat. As the move intended, she was the first to land. She used her legs to punch her up to the pivots of her extended arms, sending her upright into a handstand, and flipped back down on top of Steve. She held him underneath her with one leg and used the other one and her fists to strike at him angrily. Steve had nowhere to go; he was trapped. The more he tried to set himself free, the more his efforts were met with aggressiveness. He tried grabbing the woman's legs and lifting her off him, but all she needed to do was kick him in the shoulder or step on his arm to prevent it. He was completely helpless. As she stood above him, the handmaiden could see the bruises that were developing on the man. All she thought of was creating new ones. She wasn't trying to injure him as much as hurt him. Steve thought of minimize the damage by placing his arms in place of where the woman was striking but realized he needed his arms to be in good shape if he was to continue doing the manual labor required of him in the hangar… if he could work at all after. A few minutes later, when the woman tired herself and eventually got bored, she lowered herself to his level and cupped his neck tightly with her arm and held him that way as she decided what to do with him now. She peered into the eyes of the unbelievably calm man underneath her. As he said, he wasn't afraid… He should have been though. She could break his neck right then and there or choke him to death if she wanted to. Somehow, he knew she wouldn't do it. She despised him for it.
"And now you're completely hopeless. Your friends can't help you… we are alone here." She said coldly.
"What are you going to do Echani? Kill me? If you wanted to do that, you would have done it long ago." Steve said calmly.
"Why shouldn't I? You insult me in everything you do… and you insulted my sister." She spat.
"Oh? Have I? Am I really that despicable to you? You can't fool me Echani; I know who you are… just because you look like your other sisters, it doesn't mean I don't see you differently. You're the one who took care of me after your sisters tortured me… You even stood up for me once. Do you expect me to believe you're just like they were?" Steve said.
"Why should I care what you believe? I already know all there is to know about you. I see it in your fighting and it insults me in everyway: You fight me as if I were not a worthy opponent. You cower away and don't fight back. You believe me to be of the weaker sex. Look at where you are now! You are nothing!" She almost shouted.
"You think, just by observing me fight, you know what I think? This isn't a real fight! Your beliefs don't apply to this situation. If I refuse to attack you, it's because I am not here to learn how to. All I want is to learn how to defend myself!" Steve said defensively.
"You lie! You just can't stand being overpowered by every woman you meet!" She said.
"You misunderstand me. I believe no such thing. I love every woman in this facility, including you. Perhaps that hasn't occurred to you before you judged me so." Steve said.
"You lie! You disrespect me and you disrespect our ways! I know what you told my sister! You have no honor!" She yelled as she tightened her grip on him.
"I may know nothing of honor, but I do know much of respect and I KNOW you don't respect yourself as much as you should… nor does your sister. I respect you both more than you possibly know. I just wanted your sister to stop hiding behind her honor and start respecting herself. In fact, respect I why I'm here. I'm mostly here because of you, not because I want to learn how to fight! I want you to respect me. I've done nothing to you! Nothing! You treat me like I was a damn murderer! I'm terribly sorry for what happened to your sisters, but it wasn't like there was much choice in the matter. You think I wanted it to be this way? You think I wanted you to get shot? You don't know me! I hate that stupid droid!" He cried out.
"You would rather it let our sister get killed?" She asked.
"NO! Don't ever say that! I would rather die myself than have you kill each other! I just wanted to help ATRIS! Why did she have to drag you into this! WHY?" Steve was actually crying now, and he couldn't hide his tears away.
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" She whispered to him as her eyes were swelling up as well. A few tears dropped onto the weeping man's face. The woman just picked herself up and left the man there, half naked and weeping on the floor like a baby. Before she left the training room, she looked at the pathetic scene, and tears poured down her cheeks. She was not proud at all. The man was trying to lift himself up. He was crouched on his arms and legs now with his face buried in the mattress. He was just building up the courage to stand up. When he did, he just walked away ever so slowly with his face in his hands. He just walked blindly towards the shower room, forgetting to pick up his suit on his way there. The woman just stared at him in shame.
"I hate you." She whispered to herself as she shook her head at left the room for good.
Steve entered the shower and threw his underwear aside. He was incredibly sad. He couldn't stop crying. No one ever hated him before, ever. He couldn't stand it. As the hot water poured the sweat off his bruises, he fell down to his knees holding the wall in front of him with his arms and just wept there.
Mira came back to the bedrooms to look for Steve. She knew he would be up by now, but he didn't show up for work. She looked in Revan's room but found nothing. On her way out of the bedroom hallway, she noticed his suit was lying on the side of the mat. OH YOU IDIOT. She thought to herself. She knocked at the door of the room the Echani spent most of her time in, but there was no answer. The door was locked, and she couldn't get in. She thought of picking the lock it but decided to look for Steve herself. She went by the changing room and heard loud cries. She went into the room and walked through the steam. She saw Steve kneeling at the shower foot, naked and bruised, crying more than she had seen anyone cry in a long time... possibly ever. She rushed in there and pulled him out of the water. She sat down beside him and held him in her arms like she would a child. Steve buried his face in her shoulder and just kept crying. She didn't want to say anything to him. She had already told him her opinion previously, and it would only make matters worse to bring it up again. She just looked at him. She noticed the man was mostly hairless and the rare hairs he had looked like they just started to grow. She looked at his bruises and at the skin-graphing on his abdomen and on his back. Then she looked down at his sex. She noticed that his testicles were swollen and that there was some sort of red scar on his penis.
"My poor dear! What happened to you?" She whispered as she rocked the man back and forth to comfort him like she remembered how her mother had done when she was a child. It took almost twenty minutes for him to calm down enough to speak:
"She hates me. She really hates me. Help me Mira! Help me! I can't stand it!" He whispered incoherently. Mira knew it was true. There was nothing she could say about it.
"Why did you do it? She could have killed you!" Mira said without getting mad.
"I wanted her to know the truth!" Steve sobbed.
"Why, why? I don't understand. Why can't you just leave her alone?" Mira was confused.
"I can't do that! I tried Mira, I tried! I just can't do it! This is wrong! She can't hate me, she can't!" Steve continued sobbing.
"You don't need her Steve. You DON'T need her. Why can't you ever be happy with what you have?" Mira observed.
"How can I be… knowing people hate me? I can't live with that! How can I be proud of anything I do if it still ends up causing people pain?" Steve said.
"Don't say that! I'm sure you've done what's best!" Mira tried comforting him.
"I thought I had… I really did! But look at me now! LOOK AT ME! I'm weeping like a child! I've never cried like this before in my life! I almost never cried!" He said.
"Maybe you're crying more now because you have more to lose, because you care more about things now." Mira observed.
"I do, I do. But she doesn't believe me! She thinks I don't respect her! How can I undo what happened! It's impossible! Why can't she believe me?" He cried.
"You have to live with it Steve. What makes this day any different then yesterday?" Mira asked.
"Yesterday I had hope. Now I don't." He answered.
"You're still alive! You can still try…" Mira just didn't know what to say. Perhaps she started to believe Steve had done the right thing to try and convince the Echani woman.
"What's the use? Next time, she'll just kill me." He cried.
"You don't believe that!" Mira said seriously.
"I know, but it's the same thing!" He sobbed.
"She's just a sadistic bitch! Why do you even like her?" Mira was confused.
"No! No! She isn't! Don't talk like that about her. She had a hard life! Harder than I can possibly imagine! She isn't supposed to hate me! Don't you understand! It's not like her! She isn't supposed to be like this! She needs to forget… she needs to forgive!" Steve cried.
"Oh Steve, Steve! I'm sure she tried her best to forgive. If she can't do it, she can't do it! You can't expect to perform miracles." Mira said.
"Why not! It's what I want! More than anything! Why can't people ever forgive? I just want to make things right! I want to set an example! Why would revenge even exist? It makes no sense!" Steve cried.
"Revenge is everywhere, Steve. It's as much part of human nature as love. Hell, it's part of my job! You can't make it go away." Mira said.
"Please make it go away, please!" Steve cried. Mira just held him in a tight embrace.
WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY? How is this possible? Is he just crazy or something? Mira thought to herself.
"Come on; let's get you out of the shower." Mira said as she helped the naked man up. She grabbed a towel and dried him, and then she helped him put on his underwear.
"I'll get your suit. I'll be right back. Just stay here." Mira said before she quickly disappeared. Steve just stood there, staring at nothing in particular, just like a zombie. Mira came back with Steve's black suit and helped him slide in it and zipped it shut for him.
"Come with me." She said and held his hand as she led the way back into Revan's room.
She set him down on the bed and sat next to him, just looking at his wandering eyes.
"Steve… I noticed that you're… well wounded, down there." Mira said as she pointed at his crotch.
"What happened?" She continued.
"It was the… god damnit; I don't even know their names! It was the first Echani woman. She was the one that was leading the torturing. She hated me more than hate itself! She did this to me… for hours and hours a day. She took some damn shock staves and burned my skin! What the hell did I do? I'm twenty years old damnit! I just had my birthday a few months ago! What the hell is wrong with the whole damn galaxy?" Steve said but tried not to cry.
"I can't believe how much trouble you are! You poor thing…" Mira put her hand on her mouth. She thought it was time to change the subject.
"I suppose it's natural for you to want to be friends with everyone after what you've been through… Tell me of your friend Bastila." Mira was finally saying something that would keep Steve from crying.
"Bastila? Bastila… my friend… I have a picture of her. My god, I forgot to post it on the wall!" He got off the bed and looked through his bags. He took out the large picture he was given by the Jedi healers of Dantooine and showed it to Mira.
"That's Bastila right there; my guardian angel. This was taken the first day I was in the tank at the enclave. They were both there, Revan and Bastila, the two people I love the most in the galaxy. Look at them. They look so happy. Don't you see? The Jedi thought I was doing the right thing. Maybe even Atris did. This is my most valuable possession. Bastila will come here eventually… when she can. I don't want her to see me like this. I don't want her to feel the hate that the Echani feels for me. The Jedi can sense that, you know? It would ruin everything… it would make her feel so uncomfortable. Make it stop!" He said sadly and lied back down on the bed.
"What do you want me to do?" Mira said sadly while placing the picture gently aside.
"Try and win the bet. Talk to her for me. Her sister couldn't do it, but you can." Steve said
"Actually, her sister is doing much better now. You really worked her yesterday, you know." Mira observed.
"I did? You mean it worked?" Steve was curious.
"I think so. She didn't seem well yesterday, but you should have seen her today. She's really better now. I think you did this to her." Mira said.
"Oh I hope it's true! I really hope it's true!" Steve said.
"Why don't you go find out? Go lend her a hand in the hangar. She's been waiting for you all morning." Mira said.
"Will you go talk to her sister for me?" Steve asked.
"I really don't know what good it'll do, but I can give it a try. Go to the hanger, Steve." Mira said. Steve nodded and was heading out the room.
"Wait. Come here." Mira said. She approached Steve and wiped the tear marks he had all over his face. Steve gave her a hug and said:
"Thank you Mira. You're a good friend. I'm just so glad I'm not alone in this place." He said.
"I don't think you'll ever be alone, Steve. You're an amazing person." Mira said honestly. Steve kissed her on the cheek and left the room. Moments later, Mira did what she promised to do.
She knew where to find the Echani woman. She had locked herself up in an adjacent room to the training room. Mira knocked at the door again with no response. She was about to pick the lock, but she noticed the door wasn't locked anymore. She opened it and saw the woman sitting at a workbench and sharpening her staves.
"What do YOU want?" She said in a low tone.
"I want to talk to you about Steve." Mira said frankly.
"You want to punish me for what we did to him? You want me to apologize? Because you won't get either from me." She said.
"I'm not here to tell you what you did was wrong, it seems to me, you already know that. No. I'm here to see if there's anything I can do to help make things better between all of us." Mira said.
"I don't want to be your friend! I don't ever want to be your friend!" She raised he voice a little.
"What about him?" Mira asked. There was a pause.
"How can I be his friend? I hate… never mind. I can't be his friend, it's impossible." The handmaiden said.
"Bull shit! You don't hate him at all, do you? You just don't want to believe you actually don't want to kill him!" Mira observed. She was bright all right.
"How dare you?" The white woman started.
"You know I'm right! I was wrong about you, but he wasn't! He believed in you! Don't turn your back on him, you're breaking his heart!" Mira said.
"That man is pathetic! He would cry about anything!" She yelled.
"Oh really? Did he cry when your sister practically tortured him to death, over and over again?" Mira asked.
"Leave me alone!" The handmaiden yelled.
"That man cried his heart out in my arms today, but he didn't cry when he was tortured. How dare YOU speak like that about him? He cried because he cares about you! Not because you beat the crap out of him!" Mira said defensively.
"Don't push it, woman!" The white woman shouted.
"What are you going to do? Beat me like you beat him? Is that the only thing you know how to do?" Mira shouted back. She could see the Echani was about to cry. She didn't expect that, not from her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I'll just leave." Mira said.
No, I'm sorry.
In the mean time, Steve walked into the hangar and looked for the handmaiden. He didn't see her at first, but then she appeared from behind a vertical sheet of plastisteel.
"There you are. I've been expecting you all morning." She said as she approached him. She noticed his face looked a little grimmer than usual.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it right now… Listen, I'm sorry about what I said yesterday." Steve started.
"It's all right, Steve." The woman answered.
"No, it's not all right. I really didn't mean to upset you." Steve said.
"I know what you meant, Steve. It's all right, really. I'm actually glad you told me." She replied.
"Really? You're not hurt anymore?" Steve asked.
"Really really. I had it coming. It was time I faced the truth." She answered.
"So it did work! I had to come see for myself! This is wonderful! How do you feel now?" Steve cheered up almost instantly.
"Better, I supposed. I still don't know what I want to do with my life… But I can manage." She said honestly. Steve hugged her and said:
"I'm so glad to hear it."
"Steve I… What happened to you this morning?" She said.
"I had a… an encounter with your sister. We fought, I lost… she hates my guts and it tore me apart…" He said simply.
"Steve, I already told you: she doesn't hate you PERSONALLY. Perhaps my sister is harder to understand, that's all." She said.
"What are you talking about? What's the difference?" Steve was puzzled.
"I mean: if she hated you personally, you wouldn't be here. That's the difference." She said honestly.
"How can she hate me but not hate me at the same time? I fought with her. She beat me up like I had murdered her parents or something… doesn't that mean something?" He asked honestly.
"Maybe you should ask her." She said.
"Ask her? Are you serious?" He asked. Just looking into the white woman's eyes, he could tell she wasn't kidding.
"For now, we have some work to do…" She said.
"Right, of course." He said as he helped the handmaiden continue working on the floor of the hangar bay. He helped her set down the large plastisteel sheet and stapled it to the foundation using a very powerful tool. The welding was what took the longest. It required precision because the plated were too thin to allow any mistakes. They were strong plates, but heat was such a powerful force. Steve and the Echani had just completed welding the plate against the other ones they were able to set the previous day. They had to repeat this so many times, they were sure now that they couldn't finish by the time Revan returned. As they were getting ready to set another one, they saw Mira entering the bay. Steve stopped what he was doing and waited until Mira was close enough to speak to her. The handmaiden had to stop too because she couldn't set the plate herself.
"How did it go?" Steve asked. Mira stopped just in front of him and said:
"I admit, she was hard to understand… but you were right about her… She doesn't hate you." Mira said seriously.
"How can you be sure?" Steve asked.
"I figured it out, that's all. She's an angry woman, but you're not really responsible for how she feels… not really. She must have been crying before I got there... and now she's at it again. Whatever you did, I think you got the message through to her. She's a mess now, but she isn't as aggressive as she usually is." Mira admitted.
"She's crying?" Steve was surprised.
"You better believe it…" Mira said.
"Waw… that's… that's really something. I had no idea she would do that…" He was thinking aloud.
"What do you think she'll do now?" Steve asked.
"I have no idea… hopefully, she'll get out of the room she locked herself in." Mira lifted her shoulders.
"My god, Mira… I don't know what to say… thank you so much! You're the best!" He smiled.
"Nah. If I was the best, I would have won the bet by now." She said sarcastically.
"Alright you two, I think it's time for lunch." The Echani said in a friendly tone.
"You guys go ahead; I'll join you at the table later." Steve said to the two women. The group split up.
Steve took his suit off and sat on the bed. He took out the blood pouch from his bags, disinfected the needles and inserted them into his side. As he was sliding them into his flesh, the door suddenly swooshed open and startled the man. He struggled to keep the pouch from sliding out of his hand but not before he overshot the needle's insertion. When he held the pouch tightly in his hand, he set it down on the bed and looked at the white woman at the door. It was the fourth handmaiden. She held something in her hands, but, as soon as Steve looked in her direction, she hid the object behind her back.
"I… I didn't expect you to be in here… I should have knocked…" She said.
"It's all right… I was just… feeding." He said before he realized he had to pull one of the needles out a little. As he did that, a large jet of blood squirted out, but he was able to catch it with his free hand. As the blood was quickly leaking out of his side, he got up and picked up a towel from his bag. Before the blood could drip down to the gray-carpet floor, he quickly wiped his side up with the towel. He thought of sitting down, but his boxers were starting to soak up some of the blood that had made its way down.
"What are you ehm… what are you doing here anyway?" He said cautiously.
"I was just going to… to drop something off." She said. She finally entered the room completely and the door closed behind her. Then she approached the man a little more. She hesitated before revealing the object she was holding. It was a lightsaber. Steve took a step back instinctively, fearing what the woman intended, but, when he thought about it, he realized she was not here to use it but to give it to him.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not going to use it on you." She said calmly. Steve nodded slightly but slowly.
"It was Atris'… or it became hers. I'm not too sure. It's customary for the Echani to retrieve the weapon of their enemies after… after they die. I think you earned the right to claim it… you and Revan, that is." She said slowly.
"Atris wasn't…" Steve was about to say our enemy but would sound foolish if he said it: It would go against the very meaning of the word to say she wasn't… even if he didn't believe it.
"What does it mean?" Steve asked.
"What? I just told you: it means you defeated…" The woman was saying before Steve rephrased his question:
"No. I mean, what does it mean that you decided to give it to me now? What changed?" He asked gently.
"It means I… it means I haven't been very fair." She said honestly.
"I wouldn't blame you for forgetting to give it to me…" Steve was saying.
"You don't understand… I mean I haven't been fair to you about everything…" She admitted.
"Listen, I… I don't blame you for what your sisters did to me… and I just… well I just wish you didn't blame me for… Please forgive me." Steve said faintly.
"You make it so hard for me." She said.
"I'm sorry." He said sadly.
"No. I mean, you ask me for forgiveness when I… when I was supposed to be the one to ask for it." She explained.
"Well, I guess you have a lot to learn of me, Echani. If only you were able to learn this during our fight, you would have known I forgave you long ago…" Steve said.
"What about what I did to you today… look at all your bruises…" She said pointing at the blue bulges on his skin.
"Well, I'm just as responsible for that as you are… but you already know that." He observed.
"What about… what about what I was trying to do by hiring Mira?" She asked.
"What do you think?" Steve said.
"I shot you full of nerve poison… How can you… forgive that?" She was confused.
"Do you still want to pump me full of poison?" Steve asked honestly.
"I… No… No, I don't." She said.
"So why shouldn't I forgive that? As far as I'm concerned you're not that person anymore. If you believe you aren't that person anymore, then it's because you were being… mislead in the past. How can I not forgive you for making mistakes? We all make mistakes, and we all learn from them…" Steve said.
"What about my sisters? Did you forgive them too?" The woman was not convinced Steve was beyond feeling some kind of hate for what they did to him. He didn't say anything at first; he just set a fresh towel on the bed and sat down.
"I wish I understood why your sisters did what they did…" Steve sighed sadly.
"Even I felt terrible about what we did… what my sisters did… But you never seemed angry. I don't understand… I've never seen anyone react to torture that way. It's supposed to make you angry. It's supposed to make your mind fail just as your body does… How can you not have been mad? How can you still not be mad?" She was puzzled.
"I wasn't mad. Your sisters were mad… not me. Would it make sense if I were mad at someone who was rightfully mad at me?" He asked.
"I don't understand your question…" She said.
"I try to make sense of things… I try to understand my emotions; I try to understand other people's emotions. In a typical situation, it wouldn't make sense for two people, who haven't been associated to one-another, to be angry at each other. If I were to understand if it would make sense for me to be angry with your sisters, I would have to know why they were mad at me. So far, that piece of the puzzle has been… very elusive…" Steve said honestly.
"Does it really matter? They were wrong to be angry with you, and so was I." She said.
"I wish they were here to tell me themselves… Still, I … I can't be convinced they were wrong unless I knew what they really felt. I took a chance with you… I suspected you didn't fell… dangerously hateful. Still, I could have been wrong. I could have been killed today… You could have killed me with a flinch of your arm. I can't say I would have been spared if it were one of your other sister… am I wrong?" Steve asked sadly.
"No… no you're not wrong. My sisters would have surely… well I… I think they might even have done worse than just snap your neck…" She said sincerely. Steve turned his eyes away, just looking at the wall with a very sad face.
"Don't you think I deserve to know why?" He asked.
"It's hard to explain." The woman said.
"Maybe there are better way to explain than just in words." Steve said.
"What do you suggest?" She asked.
"Teach me how to fight… teach me how to defend myself and tell me what your sisters felt… I think you were telling me something similar this morning… I'm trying to understand as best I can… help me. Give me the time to learn… give me the opportunity. I don't want to be a burden to you, but I must know this. If you don't have the patience to teach me, I'll understand… but please consider it." He said.
"I can try. But I can't promise anything. It may not explain why my sisters did what they did… even if you can sense it from our fighting." She said.
"Well, if I don't, will you tell me what I am missing in words?" Steve asked.
"I… I don't know. Steve, I… I don't really think I want to tell you. I barely know you… and what you're asking of me is a very…personal subject matter." She said.
"Are you ashamed of your past, Echani?" Steve observed.
"I am… and I'm not." She answered vaguely.
"Shame isn't an easy thing to deal with. But I'm not here to judge you, or your family, or your ways… I don't know what sadness you hide in your past, but maybe it will help to talk about it. Even to someone you don't care about… like me." Steve was looking at his feet now.
"I never said I didn't care about you." The woman said in a low tone.
"I know you didn't. But it would help if you shared what you feel. Did Mira tell you why I was crying so much after our fight?" Steve said.
"Not exactly." The woman answered.
"I was crying because I honestly believed you hated me. I can't stand that. But I was wrong to think it. If only you let me know how you felt earlier… When you were taking care of me, all those days ago… when we were alone together and I was watching you… I didn't say anything. But if could, I would have asked you how you felt. Ever since that moment, I have wanted to ask it." He said honestly and then looked into her eyes. The woman was completely stunned. She just stood there, completely frozen.
"Why do you care so much what I feel?" She finally managed to say.
"That's just how I am. I can't help trying to place myself in someone else's shoes and trying to understand what they feel. Just like you couldn't help taking out your anger on me. We are built differently, you and I, but it doesn't mean we can't get along." He said. The woman stood for a moment and then sat down beside him. She looked at him quietly and then said:
"I was thinking you were different… I FELT you were different. Everything about you was different from anything I could imagine. It felt different to look at you. Your stare was different, your… body was different, your sent was different… Everything I felt about you wasn't how I expected to feel. I didn't feel, at all, like my sisters felt about you. I felt you were… harmless… pure… good… a combination of things... I still feel that way. It made me feel hurt to see you tortured. I was even angry that you made me feel guilty… for a long time anyway." There was a pause.
"I just have one more question." Steve said before he sat in an angle to face her better.
"Were you angry at yourself or were you angry at me when we fought?" He asked clearly.
"I was angry at myself." The woman confessed and lowered her head in shame. Steve placed three fingers on her chin and softly lifted her face up.
"You said you hated me. Why?" Steve asked.
"I wasn't talking about you." The Echani confessed and she slid her hand on the three fingers Steve's placed on her chin.
"I guess it wouldn't make sense if you were. I just hope you can forgive whomever it is you were talking about. And if that person was you, I NEED you to forgive." Steve said gently.
"I wasn't me either… maybe it's better if we stop talking for now… here, take the weapon. It belongs with you now." She said as she was getting off the bed and handing the lightsaber over to Steve.
"I'll hold on to it, if you wish." Steve said as he accepted the gift and watched as the woman let the room much more peacefully than he had ever seen her.
Steve took out a new set of white boxer shorts from his bag and replaced the blood covered one he was wearing. He took the towel off the bed and wrapped it around the stained shorts. He did the same with the blood-covered towel. He put on the ugly robes and carried the blood pouch and the stained towel with him out of the room. He went to the dining room and approached the table where Mira and the last handmaiden were sitting. They seemed to have finished eating already and looked at the man curiously.
"I thought you were going to join us earlier." Mira said.
"I'm sorry… I was… your sister came to my room. Listen… this may sound like a silly question, but where do you take your dirtied laundry?" Steve asked the Echani woman. The two women looked at the bloodied towels and observed the white shorts that were wrapped up inside them.
"What did she do?" Mira frowned as she took the towels and shorts and inspected them.
"Nothing… it was an accident." He said quietly.
"An accident? Your shorts are soaked in blood!" Mira said loudly.
"It's not what you think… see, the Echani and I… well we… we just talked." He said honestly.
"Oh, you just talked? And what language were you speaking? Hers or yours?" Mira asked.
"I think we were largely speaking my language… look, the blood is mine… see, I was just inserting the needles in me when my door swung opened… I jumped in surprise. It was an accident…" He said defensively.
"Really? Open you robe and show me." Mira said. Steve hesitated and did what he was asked. Mira could see there was some dried blood on his side, just underneath the needles.
"Look… we… we reconciled. I'm fine really. Your sister's much better now." Steve said slowly to the women.
"All right, all right… I believe you." Mira finally said.
"Here, give me your clothes; I'll wash them for you." The handmaiden took the wrapped towels and shorts from Mira's hands and disappeared.
"Why do you look so lost if everything went so well?" Mira observed the quiet man.
"I'm just… well I got lost in my thoughts… we had a… a deep conversation. I'm still thinking about it. I really think… I think it went well." He said in the same distracted way he was speaking from the moment he entered the dining room.
"All right… so what happens now?" Mira asked.
"Well… the journey will be much easier now that I've crossed the bridge…" Steve spoke metaphorically.