Okay everyone here's chapter 19. I hope to update a little more regularly now that work has slowed down for the year.
Atollon-out by the perimeter fence. Two weeks later
Ezra meditated, trying to connect to the krykna. So far he had been mostly unsuccessful, every time the connection started to form his stitches began to get strained, or his ribs ached, or one time he even threw up a little. It had been a rough two weeks being stuck in the med-bay. But today was the first day Ezra was allowed to go outside and have a supervised meditation session. But his injuries made it hard for him to clear his mind which led to frustration, he had to stop several times because of the call to the Darkside was strong everytime an injury flared up.
Nevertheless, Ezra continued, recentering himself each time and trying to reconnect to the light and the krykna. Not far off Galen and Sabine kept a keen eye on him, Galen monitoring Ezra's force signature and Sabine to help bring him back in when he had sufficiently wore himself out. They had been outside for nearly twenty minutes when Galen caught something. A force signature was coming closer, small, and intensely focused on something.
"Must be Shilli," Galen thought as he scanned the hill behind him waiting for the sight of pink hair and blue skin to pop out.
"What are you looking at?" Sabine asked, seeing Galen's head turned in the opposite direction of Ezra.
"We are about to have a visitor," Galen mumbled out as he scanned one more time before seeing the bouncing pigtails of Shilli. She had become something of a celebrity among the Phoenix squadron, but especially with Riyo. The former senator had seemingly adopted the two sisters, helping Shilli with some education, simple things like learning her colors and the alphabet. Making sure they both were taken care of and even helping Choni with her dating skills. The two girls seemed to respond well to Riyo's instruction. Choni now worked full time with Sabine designing propaganda, while Shilli helped Riyo recover, While Riyo did her schooling.
"Is Ezra okay?" The four-year-old Pantoran called out in excitement.
"I'm feeling a little sore, but other than that I should make a full recovery in a few days," Ezra replied, not moving a muscle while keeping his eyes closed and keeping his concentration up.
"It's gonna be more than a few days, probably around three months at least," Galen shot back, a scowl in Ezra's direction that could have melted durasteel from Sabine silenced the young Je'daii.
"You guys are no fun," Ezra muttered under his breath as he continued to meditate. Breathing in what felt like the very essence of the force.
"Galen!" a voice called out,
Turning the Je'daii and Mando saw Hera struggling to keep up with Commander Sato who was marching over towards the group.
"What do you need?" Galen responded, unsure of what the commander could want now.
"I require you and your brother in the command center immediately," Commander Sato's tone barely giving away the annoyance he felt.
"I'm sorry, but Ezra is on bedrest, doctor's orders" Sabine replied, looking down at Ezra still meditating, the only difference was the straightening of his back and flexing of his biceps, as well as the deeper breaths.
"Well fine, then Sabine can come, and you two can fill him in afterward. I will send an orderly to collect Ezra and return him to his room," Sato replied with a huff before marching back toward the command center.
"Okay, Ezra looks like it is time to wrap things up, be sure to listen to the orderly," Galen told his brother over his shoulder.
Ezra merely slumped over, he hated how much the specters and his family babied him. Ezra felt fine, so what if he had a small threat of internal bleeding, that's where the blood is supposed to be. Recentering himself Ezra felt outward, feeling the force ebb and flow around the Phoenix squad base. Then Ezra felt a tug at his side, glancing down he saw the small orbs of Shilli staring back up at him.
"Whatcha doin'?" Shilli asked, kneeling next to Ezra her gaze transfixed on his.
"Trying to meditate," came Ezra's stern reply, once again trying to refocus on the limited amount of time he had left to meditate before an orderly found him.
"How?" came the almost too squeaky reply of the toddler Pantoran.
Sighing Ezra knew that he wouldn't be able to shake her of the transfixion. Turning behind him he tried to see if the orderly was on his way. But there was no one making their way over.
"Do you want to try?" Answering with a question was Ezra's way of testing the waters, seeing if the toddler would become disinterested. But she was nonetheless undeterred.
"Yeah!" Shilli proclaimed as she jumped up onto Ezra, causing some slight discomfort.
"Okay, well first you need to sit like this," Ezra replied turning gingerly to Shilli and showing her a traditional meditation pose. Looking at him carefully for a few moments she quickly and deftly assumed the exact same posture while fidgeting her hands.
"Good job, now the hard part. You have to be completely still," Ezra said, Shilli immediately ceased her fidgeting. Ezra watched as she seemed like a ticking time bomb, just waiting to explode from her position.
"Okay, now close your eyes, and clear your mind of all thoughts-" Ezra started as he closed his eyes, "How?" Shilli interrupted.
"Ummm, imagine a large room and a trash can. Now fill the room with your thoughts, then one by one place them into the trash can," Ezra replied,
"But then I will still be thinking about an empty room and trashcan," Shilli retorted,
"It's just a metaphor-look do you want me to trai-," Ezra stopped short, before continuing, "Just try it okay, I'll even help you,"
Ezra closed his eyes and centered himself before feeling for Shilli in the force, what he found worried him. But he continued onward, helping the little girl get around her fidgeting, soon she was expanding her mind, and Ezra backed off. And for a few moments, the two sat in the fading sunlight and meditated on the force.
Okay, guys, that's it for this chapter. Hope I can update sooner next time.