Carth:
He stared out the window of his office absently tapping his pen against his desk, a nervous habit, he supposed.
His desks' comm buzzed and he heard his secretary, Zerre inform "Admiral, your daughter has arrived from school."
"Thank you, Zerre. Send her in please." He responded automatically.
He watched Adalia skip into his office with her back-pack on and smiled as her hair bounced in her two pig-tails "Hi, Daddy!" She smiled.
Carth patted his thigh and she crawled up onto his lap.
"Hey, Princess. How was school?" He asked.
"Boring." She smiled at him then reached to pull off her back-pack.
He chuckled "what't'cha got there?" He asked as she pulled out papers from her bag.
"I made pictures today." She handed them to him "Do you like it?"
Carth almost gasped but he stopped himself, he stared at the picture then his daughter "Who-who is this?" He pointed to the black haired woman holding two lightsabers in the drawing, a green saber and one blue to be exact…
She shrugged her shoulders "I don't know who she is." She admitted and jumped off of Carths' lap to skip across the room to look into the fish tank full of exotic fish and tapped at the glass.
Carth flipped through the drawings, the woman re appearing in each of them and then the last one was the one that caught his attention most of all… It was a black cloaked person with, his eyes widened, a red mask and glowing red lightsaber..
It's getting worse. It never used to be this intense, she'd mention a few things that hinted towards her knowing Scarrlet, but this was really a slap in the face.
He looked over at his daughter "Are you sure, Adalia?" His voice was just barely above a whisper "You-you don't know who this person is?"
She shook her head "Nope." She said "I only see her when I dream." She looked at him innocently.
He shoved the pictures back into her bag then stood up slinging it over his shoulder. "C'mon," he told her, reaching for her hand.
She looked at him a bit confused "Daddy, what's wrong?" She took his hand.
"Nothing. Everything is fine, Sweetie." They walked out to the lobby and said to Zerre who was sitting at her desk. "Cancel my later appointments."
"Are-are you sure, Sir?" She looked at him with her bright green eyes, confused "Since when do you turn in early?"
"When I need to, goodbye, Zerre." He said impatiently.
"Wait, wait a second!" She jumped up from her seat and stood in front of him. "I just, I wanted to…" She trailed off twirling her blonde hair around one finger and looked down at Carths' boots.
Carth looked at her a bit irritated now. "What is it, Zerre?"
"I just thought that maybe-maybe you wanted to go and get a drink or have dinner. You know, some time when you aren't busy." She gave him a small smile, looking up from under her lashes.
"No." He said and he saw the hurt look on her face "I'm sorry it's just that…" He smiled slightly and gestured to Adalia who was clinging to his arm "I've got a lot on my plate." He was a bit tired of her attempts but no matter how many times he would shoot her down she came back up. She was a good person but he couldn't get it through the young girls' mind that he wasn't interested.
"No, it's alright." Her shoulders slumped and she bit down on her lip "I'll-I can finish up the papers for the Z-K-9925 act for you." She offered.
"That would be great, Zerre. Thank you." He told her as he walked with Adalia out into the hall.
"Daddy?" She asked and poked his knee while they walked.
"Yes, Princess?" he asked still not giving anything a hundred percent of his attention.
"Why does Zerre always want to buy you food?" She asked.
He laughed and tousled her hair with his free hand. "Don't know, Gorgeous."
She nodded "Maybe she just thinks you look hungry." She suggested.
He laughed again "Maybe, Princess, maybe."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"I just-I don't know what to do, Jolee." Carth was pacing in his room talking to Jolee Bindo over the communicator "I know she 'sees' things in her dreams…"
"Sound familiar to ya, Sonny?" He asked "Now hold still, boy! Pacin' around aint gonna do anything besides make me go cross-eyed."
"There isn't anything you can do?" He demanded raking his hand through his hair.
"I'm sorry. I'm no jedi Master, I don't know how to help her, I wish I did but I don't." He shrugged. "But I'm not the only jedi you know, now am I?"
"Dammit." He groaned and slumped down onto his bed "You've been talking with Mission, haven't you?"
"Actually, yes. But she did have a good point." He rolled his eyes at Caths' glare. "I'm not sayin' you have to send Adalia packing. It wouldn't be a bad idea to just talk to Bastila though."
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he knew that he was going to have no choice.
"I don't think she can keep goin' on like this, by the sounds of it she'll master training by the time she's ten."
"She's not doing any training." He snapped "We're-we just need to get through these-these 'visions' and try to figure some things out."
"Sonny, be in denial all you want but I think we both know what would be better for her. Bahh, don't listen to an old mans' 'wisdom'." He waved his hand "You won't listen anyways. Now go swallow your pride and talk with 'Master Shann', boy."
He rubbed the back of his neck "Thank you, Jolee." He knew how this was going to turn out so he decided to skip to the end…
That caught Jolee by surprise, these past few years had really worn him down and it was a little sad to see. "Sure thing, kid."
The communicator went silent and Jolee disappeared from view.
He groaned and fell onto his back slinging his arm over his eyes. "Time to swallow my pride, eh?" He said to the ceiling "That's a new one."
Adalia:
She absently poked at her food as she sat with her Father at the dinner table while he was bent over a pile of files he had brought home from work and occasionally would take a random piece of food from his plate and pop it into his mouth.
She turned her head to the dent in the wall she made a few days ago "Daddy?" She asked.
"Hmm?" He asked without lifting his head.
"Am I a bad person?" She asked with a very serious look on her face.
Carth dropped his fork and stared wide eyed at her his mouth gapping open. "How could you ask something like that?"
She looked at him with a shrug then went back to staring at the dent. "When I do the 'bad' things I-I break everything and make you sad, Daddy…" She whispered "Then I feel sad because I make you upset."
"Hey, you listen to me." He said firmly and grabbed her shoulders so that she would face him "You have special ability's and that does not make you a bad person. You should be proud of what you can do, things may happen that you don't have any power over but I am going to help you control these things, okay?" He shook her gently when she didn't answer. "Okay?" He repeated
She nodded and a few tears fell from her eyes. "Kay, Daddy." She sniffled.
"Come here, Princess." He patted his knee and she ran over to him. "It'll be okay." He stroked her hair gently.
She held onto her father for comfort but couldn't understand how she couldn't be a bad person. She had watched the woman in her dreams do the same things that she could when she hurt people.
But she had also seen the woman as a good person, what could she do stop herself from being a bad person?
She closed her eyes and buried her face against Carths' neck with another sniffle "Don't let me be a bad person, Daddy." She begged.
That made his heart want to burst in pain. "Never, you will never be a bad person…" He felt tears sting in his eyes and held her tighter against his chest, he knew for sure now what he needed to do now.
Carth:
Carth anxiously sat in his chair tapping his fingers against his knee, what was taking so long?
He glanced at Adalias' bedroom door then back to his wrist watch, Bastila had agreed to come and talk with him and Adalia but they had been there in her room for almost an hour now.
"Anytime, now." He said impatiently then stood up to start pacing again.
A few minutes later they stepped out of the room and walked over to Carth. "How'd it go?" He asked anxiously as he picked up Adalia when she lifted her arms to him.
"She is very strong in the force, Carth." Bastila said calmly, never showed any emotion the whole time she was here, Carth thought. "She is way beyond her age expectations." She gave a gentle smile to Adalia who smiled back.
"Master Shann showed me ways to control the bad things that can happen." Adalia announced proudly.
"That's great, Princess." He smiled at her and kissed the tip of her nose.
"How about you go and play in your room, Adalia." Bastila suggested "So I can speak with your father."
He let her back down and she skipped along to her bed room, he watched his innocent little girl with a frown on his face, he knew where this conversation was going to lead.
"Admiral." Bastila said gently and sat down on the couch and Carth followed her lead sitting back down on his chair, sitting on the edge with his elbows on his knees and his hands folded.
"'Master Shann'" He said with a raised eye brow.
"I believe you are aware of her situation and I'm positive you already know what I will suggest to you and I already know your answer." She said fixing her dress. "And I wouldn't bother asking…"
Carth nearly laughed his head off when he saw Bastila had arrive wearing a very 'un-jedi like' dress that was very revealing, "I'm undercover! I'm not supposed to be here." She had explained when he stared wide eyed at her.
"But" she interrupted him before he could speak "this is a very different case." She explained.
"All I'm asking for is a little advice and any help you can give." Carth said firmly.
"Admiral Onasi, you have witnessed what she can do when she loses control." She said "If you were doing what was best for her you would give her the opportunity to learn how to control her emotions."
"Her emotions are just fine." He said "Will you please, Bastila, for old time's sake, help us?" He whispered.
Bastila opened her mouth then closed it, she had never seen Carth so desperate it had caught her off guard. "There-there isn't much that I can do without her coming to the academy."
"There isn't anything else?" He pressed on "There has to be something, Bastila please, I don't know what else to do. I have nowhere else to turn."
She felt pity for him, she knew how rough he had it ever since Revan had left unexpectedly.
She looked over the weary man with careful eyes, he may have not shown it on the outside but he was a real wreck. "I promise I will try to come and visit as often as I can, I will help you when you need it but I cannot make all of the problems go away. I'm sorry."
He nodded and was quiet for a few minutes.
"Did-did you find anything more about her dreams?" He asked quietly.
"Visions" she corrected him "I believe that is sharing in her mothers' memories."
"Can that help us find her?" He asked anxiously "I mean can she-can she 'speak' with her through the visions?"
"No. These, I believe are Revans' memories that she is subconsciously sending to her the easiest way she can; through her dreams." She explained "And Adalia is even sending some of her own memories to Revan."
"She has a bond with her?" Carth asked.
"No. I don't believe so, if they were bonded Adalia would also share a bond with me even though Revan has blocked me out completely, our bond is still there." She continued to explain "They are almost… connected. I do not know how to explain it, it is almost as if when Adalia was conceived a part of Revans' spiritual being was given to her."
He stared at her wrapping his head around this information. "So that means she isn't 'just' force sensitive." He stated.
Bastila shook her head "It's much stronger than that."
Carth rubbed his temples with his index fingers and shut his eyes tightly.
"She is in a very vulnerable spot" She said "And we both know the consequences of an untrained jedi…"
"I-I need some time to think this over." He whispered "Thank you, Bastila."
The man that looked back at her was broken and she frowned knowing that she had done nothing to help him.
She nodded "I'll show myself to the door." She stood to leave. "Feel free to call anytime you need." She added.
He was silent, a few minutes after Bastila had left he brought himself up to his feet and walked to Adalias' room.
He watched his little girl as she played with her dolls, her back to him, and he leaned against her doorway with his brow furrowed.
How could he leave his daughter to lead the emotionless lonely life of a jedi? But how could he be so selfish that he wouldn't let her go where she was better off for her own well-being?
"Again, with that instruction manual." He mouthed then closed his eyes and just listened to Adalia, sweet little Adalia playing with her toys.
