A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. This chapter is proving to be increasingly harder to write, so I decided to skip the part that was bugging me and get straight to it. If you are at all confused, don't worry; all gaps will be filled in future chapters. This gap being about a chapter long however. Thank lordy for the flashback! Onwards…
Nothing
Karva stood up solemnly and breathed in steadily. She turned quietly and stepped softly into the ships cockpit. She mindlessly pressed a few buttons as she prepared to send a message to the Jedi Council.
A faint chirping sound indicated that the recording had begun.
With her shoulders slumped in a sign of defeat Karva began.
"Masters, Knight Spince has fallen. I am currently escorting…" At this Karvas voice cracked and she broke off for a moment. "Her back to Coruscant. We will be arriving in less than three hours. Thank you."
Her voice was hollow, devoid of any feeling, of any sense of life. She was mechanical.
The witless Padawan bowed and ended the transmission.
Myn Spince was gone. She had become one with the Force.
Karva was not going to cry.
Now was not the time for tears. There was never a time for tears.
Raising her head firmly. Karva recalled her Masters words from the elevator just mere days ago. She now knew why Myn had told her those ghastly things, and she knew she had meant every word.
Karva was not going to mourn, and it was this vow to herself she repeated constantly in her head.
Myn had been the only friend that Karva had ever known, the only person she had ever loved. Now that she was gone, it left her feeling empty.
There was nothing else in the universe anymore, nothing to strive for, nothing to hope for. There was just, nothing.
She felt nothing, not sadness, not anger, nor despair, nor frustration, nor hatred, nor guilt, nor pain, just nothing.
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
She knew it wasn't her fault. She knew it wasn't her fault a spiteful Aqualish had pulled out blaster and shot her Master before either could react.
The filthy creature had stared at them all through the treaty signing, looking at them with its four disgusting black eyes. She had not sensed anything.
The thought that Myn had terrified her.
Myn had known it was coming, and Karva knew this now.
When Myns spirit had joined the Force, it hadn't felt like all the other Jedi had described.
Some said they felt a shockwave ripple through the Force, others a sudden bolt of inexplicable pain.
Karva had felt her Master slowly dwindling away, she had seen her Force signature diminishing, blending into the background.
When she had passed on, Karva had felt a great sense of relief, as much as the thought disgusted her.
It had felt as though there had been a weight on her chest for the past ten years that she hadn't known was there, and then suddenly it was gone.
There was nothing keeping her there anymore. Karva could die at that very moment and would not have given it the slightest thought.
Karva loved her Master.
She had held her in her arms as she slipped away, slipped right through her fingers.
She was gone now, and she had taken a piece of Karva with her, a piece of Karvas soul. The part that smiled, that laughed, that loved.
Karva couldn't even imagine being happy again, loving again.
Her only friend and only source of happiness was gone, and Karva was alone, completely alone. It was a feeling she had never experienced before.
Karvas hollowed footsteps echoed through the vacant hallway as she walked deftly towards the back of the ship.
She froze when she say her Master lying completely still on the small galley table.
Myn did not appear to be dead, just resting peacefully.
Her hands were folded gently on her stomach and her twin lekku were lovingly framing her face.
As she studied her beautiful young Master more closely, Karva saw something she hadn't before, there was hint of…a smile on Myns face.
Her lips were turned upright in the coyest of gestures, a look that had always told Karva what was on her Masters mind, usually something mischievous.
Smiling slightly now to herself, Karva shed her cloak and took it in her hands.
With a loud tear, Karva solemnly ripped apart the gathering of fabric which sat at the back of her neck and stretched it to it's fullest extent.
She gracefully draped the heavy warm cloak over Myn, as a mother would tucking in a small child.
The cloak covered her perfectly. Karva held the hood for just a moment longer, taking one last look at her friend.
"Goodbye Master." Karva whispered softly. "Know that I love you."
With that she tenderly lowered the hood onto Myns lovely fragile face.
Karva withdrew and stepped back a few feet before fully turning back towards the cockpit.
Karva knew, she knew. She knew her Master was gone and wasn't coming back. She felt her presence now, a steady pressure on her heart.
It hadn't been like the weight that had been lifted from her chest. No, this pressure was of Karvas creation, and it would never leave her.
She passed through the corridor slowly to the cockpit, her dry footsteps clanging against the cold hard grated floor. Karva caught her reflection in a smooth light piece of durasteel and stopped to study it a moment longer.
The person looking back at her didn't resemble the Karva she knew at all.
Her eyes wee hollow and vacant, as though no soul inhabited her body. Although she hadn't cried, although no tears had slipped from her grasp, her eyes were ringed with red, it made here irises look green, maybe even a little yellow. She did not like it.
In fact it frightened her a little. She didn't even know who she was anymore.
Her hair was tangled and scraggly and her robes were disheveled. She frantically ran her fingers through her nest of auburn tangles. The memory of her Master brushing her hair came flooding back and stung her like a slap across the face.
Breathing heavily now she finished with her crimson locks and moved on to rearranging her robes. They were soaking wet and clung to her body in a most improper way, yet Karva couldn't have noticed.
She expected there to be a party to greet her in the hangar and it would be a disgrace to her Masters memory to return looking like a drowned womp rat.
Karva almost chuckled at her own terminology, it was exactly what Myn would have said.
She deserted her reflection and stepped quietly back in to the cockpit. Silence.
It was the one thing that upset her, the silence. There was never silence when Myn was around.
Karva sighed heavily and dropped her aching body into the co-pilots seat. It took her a moment to realize she couldn't take the ship out of hyperspace from this seat.
She picked herself up, walked the two steps to the captains chair and sat back down again.
The captain's chair, her Masters chair.
While being a fine pilot herself, it had always been Myn who had piloted their vessels.
It felt awkward sitting in her Masters seat, strange. It felt wrong.
Reaching out numbly Karva pulled back a lever and the misty haze of hyperspace turned slowly back into the crisp blue stars she knew and loved.
When she was younger, Myn would take out small speeders from the hangar and take Karva to the industrial section of Coruscant where there was less light pollution.
There, she would hover the speeder as high up as she could get it and show Karva all the Coruscanti constellations. Then she would spend hours teaching Karva the names of the systems that made up her favourite constellations
Myn had hoped that when Karva took a Padawan of her own she would do the same. Karva quietly promised herself she would do just that.
Karva sighed as the giant black and gold orb of Coruscant appeared ahead of her.
Truly, it surprised Karva deeply that only hours after her Masters death she had come to terms with it.
Come to terms yes, but she had not yet dealt with it head on.
Right now she was too numb to do anything.
She was too unfeeling to think about anything.
Too numb to barely breathe. Too numb to live.
--
Fin.
Next Week: The Jedi Councils take on Myns passing and Karvas return to the Temple.
Sorry it was so short!