"Left Behind"

Chapter 2

Tal woke up late in the afternoon. At least, he thought it was late in the afternoon. He slept so much it was hard to keep track of the days. But, judging from the sun's rays coming in through the kitchen window, it appeared to be getting on toward evening.

When Tal looked toward the window, he felt restless and confined. He longed to be outside again, since as a regular infantry trooper deployed in the Outer Rim, he'd spent much of the past three years outdoors. He'd grown used to being outside almost of the time, except when he was sleeping. And, when conditions called for it, he slept outside as well. He wasn't used to prolonged resting time. It was yet something else that was strange and different to him. It was... unsettling. Usually when Tal had broken bones and burns like this, he was quickly pieced back together again with bone knitters and a full-sized bacta tank. He was sent back out to the field with the greatest expediency possible.

A voice startled Tal out of his musings. "How are you feeling?" Tess asked. He hadn't even heard her approach. Tal was annoyed with himself. Like all clones, he prided himself on having reflexes superior to normal humans. Usually, no one could sneak up on him. But, it seemed with the blow he'd taken to his head, his keen senses were off-kilter. Annoyed at this new discovery, Tal added this to the list of parts of him that were damaged.

"I'm fine," Tal muttered, automatically. It seemed to be a standard clone response, because all his brothers said it, even when they had body parts sticking out and falling off.

Tess laughed, "Very good, soldier. OK, how are you, really?"

Tal studied her for a moment, and found his depressed mood lifting. When she was near, he forgot all about the places where he was still achey and sore. And, he had many, many places where his body still hurt. Frankly, he was still surprised that he wasn't dead.

"Well…I feel…." Tal still wasn't sure of the proper polite response, "less damaged?"

Tess put her head back and laughed. Tal cocked his head to the side, and just watched her laugh. He liked the way the light reflected off the curve of her throat. He suddenly realized she was watching him watching her. He flushed, embarrassed.

"Is everything alright, Tal?" Tess asked, looking concerned.

"Huh?" Tal answered, unable to come up with a better answer on the spur of the moment.

She frowned, and put a hand up to his forehead, "You don't have a fever. Are you experiencing mental confusion and disorientation?" Tess questioned.

Only around you, Tal wanted to answer. But, he didn't. He decided to change the subject because he wanted to keep Tess talking to him longer. He didn't want her to go off to tend her eopies again, or to that other place she went when she was gone for even longer periods of time. "I remember you now," Tal said, hoping that was a good conversation starter.

Tess brightened and looked pleased, "You do?"

Tal started to nod, and then immediately stopped, wincing. Tess noticed right away, and her hands were already reaching out, searching out trigger points around his skull again. Tal sighed happily, relaxing into her touch.

Tess laughed, "You like this, don't you?"

Tal was just about to nod again, and then thought better of it. "Yes, ma'-…Tess." It felt a bit strangely intimate to call her by her first name, especially when she was giving him such a nice scalp massage.

"What do you remember, Tal?" Tess encouraged, softly, leaning in so that she could look him in the eyes as she worked her fingers around the trigger points in his skull.

"You tried to touch my blaster," Tal blurted out.

Tess reddened, "Yes, sorry about that. I didn't mean to just grab it like that. I never would have just grabbed it like that- had I known. I mean, I don't normally go around grabbing- I thought you were-" she stopped, mid-sentence. She looked away, and flushed an even deeper shade of red. Suddenly, she was at a complete loss of words. There was a short, uncomfortable silence, and her hands had stopped their massaging.

"Dead?" Tal supplied simply.

Tal reached up with his good hand and directed Tess' face back so she was looking at him again. It hurt his chest to stretch out like that, but it felt nice to touch Tess' skin. It was a fair trade-off. "Tess," Tal said, "it's OK. I'm not dead."

Tess suddenly laughed, startling Tal again. Tal cursed softly under his breath, annoyed again at himself that his reflexes were so off. Tess put her hand up over Tal's, "I'm sorry, Tal. I didn't mean to startle you again. It's just that you said that to me. You said you keep calling me 'not dead.' You said to me that 'My name's isn't-"

"-not dead, it's Tal," Tal finished, "yes, I said that."

Tess beamed at him, "You do remember!"

"Yeah," Tal acknowledged, his hand still interlocked with Tess', "you took a huge risk pulling me off that battlefield. You could have gotten killed. You could have just taken the blaster and gone."

"I know," Tess said, softly.

"But, you didn't," Tal said, still not letting go of her hand. He noticed she wasn't letting go either. Tal liked having her around. It was like the companionship of a brother, a really good one, like Cooper, (or Sky, Tal thought with a pang.)

"No, I- I couldn't just leave you there," Tess said, as if that statement alone could somehow explain what she did.

Tal was lost in thought, thinking about Sky, but also thinking about Tess and what she'd done for him. He was trying to reconcile the two, the life he had before and the woman he'd just met. As he took a deep breath, he noticed Tess always had this amazing earthy aroma. Tal looked up at her, thinking he'd never met anyone quite like her. Tess seemed to be studying him in return, and they stayed like that, just looking at each other in mutual curiosity. It was a pleasant, warm moment, broken by the braying of an eopie.

Tess looked up, toward the barn, "I should get back to work," she placed a gentle hand on Tal's arm, lightly stroking it, "and you need to rest."

Tal didn't want to rest. All he did was rest. But, Tess was already leaving, back to her chores and eopies. Tal let out a sad sigh as he watched her go, thinking he didn't much like these eopies. She paused, though, at the door, looking back and giving him one last smile. Tal couldn't help but return the smile still wondering why somebody so pretty was putting so much energy into saving a clone like him.

# # #

As Tess stabbed at forkfuls of hay in the barn, she muttered to the eopies. "Too handsome. I'm in so much trouble. What was I thinking bringing home somebody who looked like that? Well, I guess at the time, I guess I was just so focused on the droids, and the shooting, and the danger, and the fact he was injured. But, now, by the light of Kali's moon, what am I going to do with a man that handsome living under my roof?"

The eopies stared back sympathetically as they chewed their cud, as if they, too, faced such problems in their everyday lives. Tess sighed, and reached out, scratched the nearest eopie behind the ears. The eopie bumped it's head up against her shoulder affectionately.

Tess leaned her head up against the eopie's head, so that they were looking eye-to-eye, "What am I going to do?" Tess asked the eopie again. The eopie blinked back at her, and continued to chew.

# # #

When Tal next awoke, he could tell he'd slept another long stretch of time. He was groggy, hungry, thirsty, and the lighting had changed again in the window. The overhead lights were still dimmed, and he was glad, because his head still ached. He didn't feel he could tolerate bright lights or loud noises. OK, admittedly he'd lived his life surrounded by both of these things, but he was still feeling the effects from the blow that had cracked his helmet.

All in all, though, Tal could still his condition had improved. It was easier to breathe, and his broken ribs felt like they were knitting back together. His back still burned uncomfortably, but Tal knew he'd taken a very bad hit to the back. Given enough time, he knew the pain would continue to ease as the bacta regenerated muscle and tissue. Tal's mind felt clearer still and it was easier to keep track of recent events.

He spied his determined little savior, sleeping in a plush chair next to the bed. She looked exhausted, with blackened half circles smudged under both her eyes. Tal decided to let her sleep. He knew that he was probably the cause of her exhaustion. He still wasn't sure he understood why she was so determined to save him. He'd given up on himself a good three months before he ever fell out of that gunship.

But, as he just lay there, propped up on his side by pillows, watching her, he noticed something else. She was very beautiful when she was sleeping. Tal studied her for a long while. Tal didn't know if he would ever have the opportunity to look at a pretty human female again once he was shipped back to his unit. So, Tal decided it might be best to study her as much as possible. So, Tal just lay there and watched her sleep. He tried to memorize every little detail of her features. After a long while, though, mundane matters intruded upon his pleasant gazing. Tal realized he was painfully thirsty again. He tried to ignore it. But, the more he tried to ignore it, the more it seemed to find a way to keep creeping back into his thoughts. Now he wasn't just thirsty, he was getting parched to the point of pain. There was a glass of water on a stand near the bed. Tal wondered if he get to it on his own. Tal extended his arm reaching toward the glass. No good. His reach was still short by several inches. Hmmm...maybe if he just sat up a little bit... then, that tantalizing glass filled with cool, refreshing relief would be reachable. Tal attempted to push himself upright into a sitting pushing using his broken hand, so that his good hand would be free to grasp the glass.

All in all, it was not a very good plan.

Tal yelped in pain and surprise when he put pressure on his hand. He'd forgotten just how badly he'd fractured that hand when he'd first been struck in the gunship. Tal's cry awakened his sleeping host.

"Tal! What's wrong?" Tess was immediately right by his side, concern evident in her features as she studied him.

"I'm OK," Tal said quickly, cradling his injured hand. He wasn't quite able to stifle a groan, and an accompanying grimace.

"Let me see it," Tess commanded firmly, Tal was reluctant to release his hand. Keeping his hand tightly cradled against his body was helping with the pain somewhat. "I'll wake up OneOne," Tess said, reaching over to tap on the droid.

"No, not the tinnie," Tal groaned, "medical tinnies are the worst!"

Tess put her hands on her hips, and looked at Tal sternly, "This 'medical tinnie' saved your life, Tal!"

"I shoot tinnies for a living, Tess," Tal said, eyeing the disactivated droid, warily.

Hearing her name roll of his tongue was her undoing. "OK, fine, I'll take care of it. You really have a thing against droids, then, huh?" Tess shook her head, "Alright, hang on, I'm going to get the medical scanner," Tess disappeared into the backroom and reappeared momentarily with an older model medical scanner. "OK, then, let's see what you've done to yourself." She took Tal's hand in hers, and began gently moving his fingers up and down. Tal bit down on his lip to keep from crying out. Tess looked up at his face, meeting his eyes. Tess peered at him, "It's OK to admit that something hurts, you know." Tal just looked away, not wanting to admit how much it hurt, especially when it had been his own fault. "Tal," Tess said. Tal kept his face turned away, reluctant to meet her gaze. "Tal," Tess called again, this time in a stronger tone of voice. Tal kept feeling her voice pulling him back. He tentatively turned his face back and met her gaze, "it's OK," she said, trying to reassure him with both her eyes and her tone of voice, "I can fix this."

"Are you mad?" Tal asked, quietly.

"Mad?" Tess looked surprised at this, "why would I be mad?"

Tal remained quiet.

"Tal," Tess prompted again, "why would I be mad?"

"On Kamino," Tal started out tenatively, "there were healers, female, Kaminoans, but they could get... angry... very angry... if you didn't follow all their instructions... to the letter."

Tal seemed lost for a moment in a memory. Tess continued to check Tal's hand over gently bending and flexing his fingers. Tal hissed when she hit a particularly tender spot.

"Sorry," Tess apologized, as she examined the movement of his ring finger carefully, "you have a particularly bad fracture on your hand leading into that finger."

Tal looked down at it, "Good thing it's not my shooting hand."

Tess looked a bit startled by that statement, but didn't comment. Tal didn't notice her reaction, he was still studying the damage to his hand, "Still, if it doesn't heal up properly, it's going to make it difficult to sight up on my rifle."

"Tal," Tess asked carefully, "how long have you been a soldier?"

"How long?" Tal repeated, surprised at the question, he turned his attention from his hand and looked at Tess, "I'm - I'm a clone, Tess. I was born to be a soldier."

Tess looked like she was trying to understand, "Yes, but, how long did you train to be a soldier? On Kamino? Did you say you were from Kamino?"

Tal nodded, "Yes, I'm from Kamino. How long? Well, I didn't start doing any live weapons fire training until I was two. So, with regards to the training that starts before then, I think it's mainly flash training and it starts in the pods-"

"Whoa! Back up! Say that last part again."

"Pods? Maturation happens in gestation chambers-"

"No, before that."

"Oh, well, flash training is the fastest method to assimiliate large amounts of data. Clones have eidemetic memories so we can-"

"Fascinating. We'll get back to that, but no, the part before that, Tal."

"Live weapons fire training?" Tal wasn't sure why Tess was suddenly so interested in his training.

"Yes, how old did you say you were? I didn't hear you correctly."

"Two," Tal answered simply.

"OK, I did hear you correctly. What in the three moons of Triluna were those Kaminoans thinking giving live weapons to two year olds?" Tess said, her voice rising with indignation.

Tal wanted to smile, she was very pretty when she was upset like this, and now she was upset on his behalf. This was getting to be a very interesting conversation.

"Well, technically, only our biological age was two," Tal supplied, "clones age rapidly. So, really, we were more like four or five."

Tess shook her head, and Tal could tell she was really getting worked up about this. To him, live weapons fire training was such a normal part of life. It was rather amusing to him that Tess was getting so stirred up on his behalf.

"Children!" Tess sputtered out, "they put live weapons in the hands of children."

"Well, not always," Tal clarified.

Tess looked at him, waiting for him to go on.

"Sometimes we didn't have any weapons," Tal explained, "and the Kaminoans just shot at us."

Tess looked like she might explode with fury.

"It was to test our reaction time," Tal explained, "they said it was to simulate real-life scenarios. You know, if we ran out of ammo."

Tess put her hands to her face.

"They said it wouldn't be the same in a simulation. You wouldn't get the same kinds of reactions. So, it was important to actually use live fire."

"Did anyone ever get hurt during these live fire exercises?" Tess asked.

"Yes," Tal responded, looking more subdued, "it's what seperated the clones who were going to make it, from well, the ones the Kaminoans considered," Tal grew much quieter, "... inferior."

Tess looked at him in horror, "And, what happened to those that were considered 'inferior'?"

Tal looked away for a moment, then finally met Tess' gaze, "Well, they didn't pass the test."

Tess thought this through, but finally she just had to ask, "And, by didn't pass you mean-"

Tal sighed, "Yes, it was live weapons fire, Tess. That's exactly what I mean."

Tears started running down Tess' face, "So, the same people who raised you, gunned down 4 and 5 year old children?"

"Well, technically we were two-" Tal clarified, but then seeing how upset Tess was, he stopped, realizing he wasn't handling this very well. Tess had hung her face down, and was no longer looking at him.

He realized then that his military ways were very different from Tess' civilian life. Had he done that? Had he made her cry? He tried to reach her face with his good hand, but couldn't. So, he reached out with his broken hand. It hurt, but at least he could get as far as her face. He touched her tears, grimacing as he did so, but glad he could finally touch her.

"I'm sorry, Tess," Tal said gently, as he touched her face. "I... didn't mean to do... this..." he wiped more of the tears away, grimacing, but feeling every brush of his fingers was worth it, "...cause you tears." His fingers continued to brush against her cheeks.

Tess lifted her face and looked up at him, "Tal, I'm not crying because of something you did. I'm crying because of something they did to you."

Tal just stared at her, absolutely stunned, as her words washed over him. His fingers resting against her cheeks, continued to get wet, as her tears, gently washed over him. He felt a cleansing begin to happen then, as her tears soaked into his skin.

Suddenly, it made sense to him now- why it wasn't amusing to her that two year olds were in live weapons training. It wasn't natural to her. It wasn't a natural part of her universe. Suddenly, it didn't seem so right to him either.

"Tal," Tess said softly, "I'm not Kaminoan. I'm Kalilean. Our ways are different. For as long as you are here, you won't... you... I... " Tess struggled for words, "just see yourself as someone very special and unique, OK?"

"I'm a clone, Tess."

Tess sighed, "No, Tal, you are a sum of your parts, as my Dad used to say. Right now, you are a product of the training you were given. Just as I've been trained to run a farm. But, I see myself as so much more than just a farmer. Truth be told, I don't even like farming. I just happened to be born on a farming planet. You just happened to be born in a gestation tank on a clone planet. But inside, Tal, you are so much more than that."

Tal cocked his head again to the side, considering her. She was unlike anyone he'd ever met before, "No, you're not like the Kaminoans, at all," Tal said, quietly.

He gazed at her steadily, still trying to figure her out.

"OK, come on, we need to get this hand fixed," Tess said. He was still deep in thought when Tess went back to her examination of his hand. She ran several more scans. "It's not too bad, considering. We need to reset this one finger, but everything else is fine. There's some signs of increased inflammation, but I can give you an anti-inflammatory for that."

She reached down, and pulled up a sturdy satchel from beside the bed. Tal recognized the lettering on it, as the kind carried by a medic, or someone that worked in the medical field. Cooper had carried a kit with markings like that. Seeing the symbols gave Tal a pang in his gut, as he once again felt the loss of his dearest friend. Cooper went everywhere with that bag, and had saved many, many lives with it. The bag was lost on Agamar, left behind, with Cooper.

Tal stared at this medical bag. It was well-worn, made of sturdy leather, and looked like it had been used many times over the course of many years. Tal thought that perhaps if Cooper had been an old-country doctor, he would have carried just such a bag. As Tal watched Tess work, he wondered what Cooper would have thought of Tess. He was sure the two would have gotten along. He could just picture the two of them chatting away about some folk remedy or another, or about what a bonehead he was for reinjuring part of his hand again.

"Hang on, let me check my Dad's notes," Tess' voice interrupted Tal's musings.

Tess set her data reader down, and pulled a much older model data reader out of the old leather satchel. The old data reader was chunky, and not so elegant as the thin, sleek, full-color data readers that were popular these days. Tess chewed her lip as she searched through data. The yellow glow from the old-style, single-color screen cast a golden tint to Tess' skin. Tal found himself just staring at her lip, as she chewed on it.

Tess finally looked up, and noticed Tal staring at her. "What?" she said. "am I taking too long?"

Tal looked away quickly, embarrassed. He tried to think of something to say, but all he could come up with was: "Uhhhhh...", his mind was a complete blank. All he could think about was the way she was biting her lip. Her teeth were white and very straight. Her lips looked soft.

"Sorry, all this medical stuff is always so interesting," Tess said. Tal looked at her blankly. Huh? Was she talking? Oh, yes. She was talking. What were they talking about? Probably not her lips and teeth. Something about stuff?

"I lose track of time when I'm reading," Tess continued, "Dad always said it was both my best and worst quality," Tess switched the reader off and carefully set it back into the satchel. "OK, Dad says... well, Dad's notes say an anti-inflammatory will fix this right up," Tess poked her head inside the bag, rummaging around, "I enjoy reading," Tess said, conversationally, with her head still stuck in the bag, "That's the part of me that's positive I was not destined to be an eopie farmer…. Ah hah!" She pulled her head out of the bag, and emerged with a syringe. Tess double-checked the label, while Tal eyed the needle warily. Tess noticed his expression, "I'm going to give you something right away to help with the pain and swelling, and then I'm going to reset that finger," Tal was still giving her a look as he eyed the needle, "Tal, it's just an anti-inflammatory."

"It's a needle," Tal countered.

Tess merely laughed, and shook her head. Tal liked that she laughed so easily. But, then again, in this case, she was not the one who was one the receiving end of the big needle. She rested his injured hand down onto her thigh, and then used both hands to administer the injection. She held his hand in place with one hand, and then slid the needle under the cast. Tal gritted his teeth to avoid making a sound as the needle punctured over-sensitive nerves. She pulled the needle back out, and Tal breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry if that hurt," she said, setting the needle aside.

"It's OK," Tal said, "it's my own fault."

Tess just shook her head, but she had a mysterious smile.

"What?" Tal questioned, sensing there was more to the smile.

Tess shook her head again, "No, it's just I was thinking that maybe you and I aren't so different, after all."

Tal watched her, just waiting patiently for her to continue. Tess reached back into the satchel for a finger splint, and fracture wrap. "OK, I'm going to re-do your cast a little bit to protect this one finger better. I should have done this in the first place," Tal watched her work, noticing she had a very gentle touch. He liked her much better than the medical droid. Much better. She smelled so much better, and he liked the way her body brushed up against his when she got so close to him and- Tal noticed she was talking. Right. He should be listening, not thinking about her body. Sigh. Such a pretty body, too.

"-she wasn't always sick. Back when my mother was healthy, she had the energy to be both bossy and nice. There were times when she was all loving and everything was perfect. And, then, gheesh, that woman could lay a guilt trip on you like nobody's business. Do something wrong and she would not let you forget it. I was a curious child, and tended to injury myself through my own, well, I guess you could call it, folly. My Dad would just laugh it off, say kids will be kids, and patch me back up again. But, my Mom, she always had this double-edged sword approach. Initially, she'd comfort me, dry my tears. Then, blam! She could not stop reminding me of how my getting injured was my own fault. The woman was relentless, at times," Tess shook her head, her tone a mixed one, of bewilderment, amusement, and a touch of sadness. Tal just looked at her intently, listening to it all, his eyes big and brown, with compassionate understanding. Tess looked at him, and a tear trickled down her face. "Goodness! Look at me! I'm being absolutely ridicilous! One moment, we're talking about your Kaminoans, and then the next moment we're dreadging up the ghosts of my past! What has gotten into me?" Tess quickly finished putting the supplies away and closed the satchel.

Tal reached out, and stopped her, holding her hand with his, "Stay, Tess."

Tess looked at him, a tear eking out the corner of her eye, "Anyone ever tell you that you're a good listener?"

Tal went to shake his head, thought better of it, then simply answered, "No."

Tess began to gently massage his other fingers- the only part of the hand sticking out from his cast. "This will keep the swelling down," Tess said softly.

"Tell me more about your family?" Tal asked, he coughed, and had to swallow hard, because his throat was so dry. Tess picked up on it.

"Tal, you need water?" Tess asked.

"Yes!" Tal said, his voice sounding loud, even to his own ears.

Tess looked at the glass, and then back at Tal. "Hang on, I never even asked how this happened?"

"I was trying to get the water," Tal admitted, a bit sheepishly.

"Tal! I would have gotten it for you!" Tess protested, "why didn't you call me?"

Tal met her eyes, and tried to look apologetic, "But, I didn't want to wake you up. You looked so tired."

"That bad, huh?" Tess said, with a little laugh.

"No, I meant-" Tal was instantly concerned he'd offended her.

Tess laughed, "Relax, Tal," she reached up and playfully ruffled his hair, "How about I get you that drink now?"

Tal didn't want to risk saying the wrong thing, so he just nodded. His scalp tingled a little where she'd just ruffled his hair. Tal wasn't used to someone touching him in such a familiar manner. He only touched his brothers during training, arm wrestling, or carrying them off the battlefield. He certainly never ruffled a brother's hair. He looked at her in confusion, trying to sort out all these new tactile sensations. But, if she noticed his confusion, she didn't say anything. Tal was still trying to get the image of a brother ruffling another brother out of his head, when suddenly she was there at his side. She lifted Tal's head, and cradled him against her chest. Tal took several sips, immensely relieved to finally get his long awaited drink of water. Then, Tal decided to drink more. OK, granted he wasn't all that thirsty anymore, but there was still some water in the glass and this was just such a great method of drinking water.

"You're still thirsty?" Tess said in surprise, as Tal continued to drink.

Tal nodded his head, mid-sip, feeling the top of his head bump into her chest as he did so. He knew he should feel ashamed for his actions, but he just felt giddy instead. He would have grinned, but was worried water might have escaped his mouth if he did so. So, he just continued to drink until he'd drained everything out of the cup. Tess settled him back on the pillow. Tal knew he'd never want to some medical droid to impersonally give him water through a tube again. Tal struggled to think of something to say, so that she'd stay with him a bit longer.

"You're good at this," Tal said. It was all his brain could come up with, and considering all the images and sensations he was processing, he thought even coming up with that was pretty good.

"Yeah, well, my mother was sick for a long time, and she was not the easiest patient," Tess said, her voice a mixture of a self-deprecating laugh, and a groan that spoke volumes.

"I'm… sorry about your loss," Tal said, struggling to recall his brief flashing training that covered good manners and etiquette.

"Well, that was a long time ago now, Mom's been gone several years now," Tess said, quietly, looking off into the back of the house as if gazing back toward distant memories, "that was hard. But, harder still was losing my Dad. I managed the farm OK when it was just him and me. Mom and I didn't always get along, but Dad loved her in all her moods. He was just devastated when she died. As sick as she was for so long, he was still crazy about her. I always thought my Dad was so strong- that he would live forever. But, after Mom died, somehow the fighting spirit went out of him," Tess' voice was hollow, like speaking to the ghosts of her past, trying to understand what had happened. "He was always so tough. But, then, he just seemed to get frailer and frailer. One day, he just didn't wake up," her voice broke on the last word, her bottom lip trembling.

Whoa, is she crying again? Tal stared at Tess, trying to think of an appropriate response. He knew exactly what to do when someone was trying to kill him. But, when someone was crying in front of him? Well, this was much more difficult.

"Tess," Tal said softly, and somehow that one word just seemed to open up a floodgate of emotion. Tess dropped to her knees beside Tal's sofabed. She buried her face into the sodabed side and just cried. Unsure what to do, Tal just patted her shoulder, and said: "Tess." She continued to cry, despite Tal's shoulder patting. Her hair was right there, within his easy reach. Tal decided perhaps now would be a good time to touch that. He reached out with his good hand, and began stroking her hair. He knew that when she'd massaged him it always felt soothing. He felt better afterwards. Maybe the reverse was true and it would have the same effect on her. "Uh, there, there," he said awkwardly, and then added in, "Tess," He continued to run his hands down her hair, and then searched out some of those trigger points that she'd used on him earlier. He massaged the base of her skull, moved on to the top of the scalp, and then reached his hands around to gently massage her face. He was so intent on what he was doing, he didn't realize at first that she had stopped crying. He stopped, too, wondering if he'd someone crossed a boundary and was doing something wrong. But, then Tess pressed her face into his hands, edging him on. He realized that she liked what he was doing. With renewed confidence, he began exploring the planes of her face, gently stroking and massaging. He heard her moan. He froze. Had he hurt her? Again, she pressed her face back into his hands. Tal guessed perhaps that was a good sound. He continued stroking and massaging everyplace he could reach on her face and scalp.

Eventually, Tess lifted her face and looked up at him. She smiled at him, and Tal realized he'd never seen a smile quite like it before. She reminded him of a sunrise he'd seen on Agamar the day before Cooper had disappeared. So beautifully breathtaking that it was hard to put into actual words.

They just stared at each other for a long moment. What was Tal supposed to do now? He had absolutely no idea. They both looked away after a long moment.

"I should let you rest," Tess said, standing up, slowly, giving him one last tentative smile, "I'm going to go check on the herd."

Of course. The shabla herd.

With that, she walked away, retrieving her coat off its' customary peg by the door. Tal watched her slip her feet into her barn boots, and disappear out the door, leaving him alone once again.

# # #