Last time: Viran paid Oppie a visit and got to sit in with Sasha.

Now: Cien stops by.

Chapter 4- Big Sister

Oppie woke up, feeling better than he could remember in a long time. He felt like he was waking up in a bed back at home, or at an inn or something, rather than a hospital. As that thought went through his mind, the events of the past week flooded through his mind and he awoke blearily, looking around the small recovery ward.

"Hello." Cien's voice said, he looked over, and she was sitting on a stool, lowering her datapad to her lap.

"Hi." Oppie said, a little confused at her presence.

"Viran's in with Sasha so I thought I would come see my little brother." She said with a very slight smirk. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, pretty much normal, actually." Oppie said.

She nodded, "Kelce said you would probably be allowed to leave later today or tomorrow morning."

"That would be nice." Oppie said, "how is Sasha doing? If Viran's with her does that mean she's awake?" He asked hopefully.

"Not yet, she's still sedated and recovering. But Kelce says she's going to be fine." Cien assured him.

"That's good to hear." Oppie said, relaxing back into the bed slightly. "How have you been?" He asked, remembering how deeply affected she had been when Kyr was missing, and worried that Sasha might have elicited the same kind of response from her.

"Okay. I was worried about you two." Cien said. "I was just barely able to find Sasha in the mindspace while you were on that planet, so we caught glimpses of how you were doing. But it was hard. But we knew you were okay, for the most part." She answered.

"I'm surprised you could find us at all." Oppie said, remembering the absolute lack of the Force on Myrkr.

"It wasn't easy." She said slightly evasively. "If it wasn't for Kitsu and Illara I'm not sure we would have found you." She admitted.

"You guys found us, and in time. That's all that matters." Oppie replied.

Cien smiled lightly, "you really are a Jedi." She said, in a slightly teasing tone.

"Yeah." Oppie said, with a little bit of a grimace.

"What's wrong?" She asked, noting the shadow pass across his face.

"At the end there, facing Von, I wasn't facing him in a particularly Jedi manner." He admitted.

Cien considered that admission for a second, not quite sure what to say. "In what way?" She finally asked, not entirely sure what he meant.

"When I was facing that Mandalorian hunter, she had taken Sasha's heart piece. And I thought that meant she had killed her." Oppie confided quietly, "and I lost control of myself a little bit. And when we were finally facing Von, after everything he had done to us, and then when he ordered his droid to punch Sasha, I lost myself in that fight a little as well."

She was a little surprised by that, he had always seemed like such a model Jedi to a fault. Even if he had admitted in the past that he wasn't as Jedi as he appeared.

Cien started to speak, and stopped. Not sure what to say, then continued, "it's not which powers you use, it's how you use them and, more importantly, why." She said slowly, "if you were angry at them for hurting Sasha, and you used that to empower yourself to save both you and her, that's what matters. You once told me that I could use my passion for our family to save Sasha, you were doing the same." She said quietly.

"Yeah. I guess." Oppie agreed. Then he looked at her slightly quizzically, and she also returned the look, blinking. "That may be the first time in ten thousand years a Sith has ever counseled a Jedi." He said with a slight smirk.

"Yes." She said, with a smirk of her own, "it feels odd." She said with a slightly sour expression.

Oppie just chuckled at that, and so did she after a moment.

"Also, I thought you might like to know." Cien continued after a moment, speaking of not acting in a very Jedi manner, "when we went to Nivon," she noted that he tensed slightly when she mentioned the name of the planet, and she had to suppress a smirk, "we had quite an encounter there."

Oppie looked at her for a moment. "Oh?" He asked guardedly.

"Yes," she said innocently. "We met some of the local police forces that were involved in the investigation." She enjoyed the studiously passive face Oppie was trying to keep in place, even though he tensed even more. "And we went to the bar you and Sasha went to, to try to see if we could find whoever you two had seen who was watching you there. Kelce mentioned it." She said.

Oppie looked confused for a moment, and then remembered the incident she was speaking of after a moment. "Did you find anything?"

"No." She answered. "We were there for a while, but nothing happened at the bar. I did strike up a conversation with a captain, though, what was her name..." Cien said, feigning concentration to try to remember Captain Messan.

Oppie just waited, thinking perhaps there were other captains it might have been.

"Oh, yes, Messan." Cien said after Op chose not to supply it, and Oppie tensed subtly when she said the name. "She mentioned that she knew you back when you guys were on the run."

"Yes." Oppie said, relaxing slightly since it sounded like they hadn't had too much of a conversation, "she was a rookie when we were hiding on Nivon, before the Imperials chased us away." He explained. "I didn't deal with her much." He clarified.

"Well she seemed very nice." Cien continued, "and she did seem concerned about what happened to you and Sasha, which was kind of her." Oppie looked at her with a slightly quizzical expression that he was trying to hide, but stayed silent.

"But after that, on the way back to the ships, we were ambushed by some of the Imperial remnant." She noted Op's turn towards concern, "we were fine, we were able to handle it, but we captured a former stormtrooper. After I interrogated him a bit, it sounded like he gave them the information they needed to take out that cell. So I think, in a way, our presence there may have also resolved whoever bombed the hospital you and Sasha went there to help."

"That's good to know." Oppie said, glad that some good came of it, and some resolution to that case occurred. "Hopefully something that the local security can handle."

"Yeah, well maybe you could return to help out." Cien said, seeing an opening. "I am sure Captain Messan would appreciate it."

Oppie blanched slightly when she said that. "Yeah, maybe. I'm sure the Republic could spare some forces if needed."

"I'm sure they could." Cien agreed. "Though Captain Messan seemed very competent." She stated, keeping a close eye on Oppie.

"Yes, she did when I spoke with her." Oppie agreed carefully.

Cien nodded, and paused for a moment. "She asked me to let her know what happened with you and Sasha, I already sent her a message letting her know that you're both back safe." She said quietly.

Oppie looked uncomfortable for a moment before responding. "Why would it have mattered to her?" He asked with a hint of caution in his voice.

Cien considered him for a moment before answering. "Any number of reasons." When she said that he frowned and looked slightly away. "I imagine in large part because she is in charge of security, and you were kidnapped in her jurisdiction. I feel like she may have felt some responsibility for it."

Oppie nodded at that, a little absently.

"Also." Cien said, cautiously teasing, "she asked me to remind you that you still owe her a drink." Oppie blanched at that and looked away, and she instantly felt bad for teasing him about it. "She seemed very nice, Op." She said in a more gentle tone.

"She does." Oppie admitted, "I just…" he trailed off, not sure what to say.

"What?" She asked quietly.

"I'm a Jedi, that's not supposed to be a part of my life." He responded.

"It seems to have worked for Sasha and Viran." She responded with a slightly raised eyebrow and hint of teasing returning to her voice.

"I know, just that they…" he paused, "I was raised at the temple, they weren't. They didn't have the same experience I have."

"A lot has changed since then." She replied.

"Yes, but I was raised that way. That was never supposed to be a part of my life."

"Do you think what I have with Kyr was supposed to be a part of mine?" She asked. "Both our temples were fairly strict about that, for different reasons. That doesn't mean we still have to adhere to the strict tenants of our orders. Neither of them have survived, even though we have. Besides, she was just asking about a drink, nothing more."

"Yeah." He said, absently.

She looked at him for a moment, a little unsure of what to say. This was the first time she had ever felt like Oppie was the one who needed advice or guidance about something. That was such a strange turnaround compared to the last few years he had been in her life, or the impressions of him as a mentor she had received from Sasha. For the first time since she had known him, their joke about him being her little brother felt more real than ever before.

"Is that something you would want?" She asked quietly.

"I have no idea." He admitted. "It's just never come up. Never been a possibility before."

"Op," she started, not quite sure what to say, "it hasn't escaped my notice sometimes the way you shy away when it's just Kyr and I, or Sasha and Viran, or Kitsu and Illara. Especially when we're being overly…" she tried to think of the word and settled for what Kyr would say, "cute. I know it makes you uncomfortable sometimes when it's you and the six of us in one form or another. I've never known if that was because there was too much of that in your life, or…" she paused, "too little."

He looked uncomfortably away, not having any idea how to answer.

"I'm sorry I teased you about that." She said, "Until Sasha told me how Kyr felt, that was never a part of my life either." She admitted to him quietly, "but making that leap and opening myself to that has made my life infinitely better. If you don't want that, it's perfectly fine. But if you do, don't turn away from it because of adherence to an order you have outlasted." She said, "take it from me, adhering to what you're supposed to do because that's what your order told you to do doesn't always lead to someplace good." She finished quietly.

"I just don't know what to think of it." He confided. "She asked me out for that drink and I didn't even realize what had happened until I was out of her office."

"Then just go get that drink, if you want to." She said, "It's just a drink, it isn't anything more. Captain Messan seemed to appreciate the advice you gave her all those years ago, so maybe she just wants to thank you. Maybe it's just a professional thing and you don't have anything to worry about." Cien said with a small smile. "And maybe ask Sasha for advice when she wakes up, she knows more about this than I do."

Oppie blanched anew, "I can't talk with Sasha about this, she'd tease me even more than you." He said, only half joking.

Cien chuckled at that. "Well, she is Clan Xiv. We are known for being kind of mean."

Oppie snorted. "Yeah."

"If you need a big sister though, I am here." Cien said, "and I promise I won't tease you very much, or be very mean." She said with a soft smile.

"Thanks." Oppie said, genuinely.

"No problem." Cien said quietly, and the comfortable silence lingered for a moment. "But she is very pretty and smart. You should definitely go for that drink." She said abruptly with a slight smirk.

"Oh for the love of the Force." Oppie said, covering his face with his hands.

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