It took another two days of good behaviour before Eeth finally agreed to take Jas into the town. "We will leave tomorrow morning," he said that night during dinner. "Provided you still want to go?"
"I do," Jas replied, thinking Eeth crazy for even asking such a thing. She sneezed once and then again, but this time she used a handkerchief.
"Alright," said Eeth. "Raven will be busy with the imoodas, so it will be just the two of us. Since we have time, we can walk down the beach to the next holiday resort and rent a speederbike."
Jas was keen on this. Thus, she woke early that morning, excited about the trip. "Wake up, wake up," the kid said, shaking Raven who was still in a deep sleep. Jas had become strangely sweaty overnight to the point where she had pulled off her long-sleeved shirt, but despite the hot and cold flushes, she was keen to get moving.
"It's five in the morning," Raven complained. "Go back to bed."
This was ignored. "I'm hungry, and nobody will let me use the kitchen by myself," said Jas, swiping her nose on her arm. Her joints hurt now too, but she put that down to the new workout schedule and, well, her punishments.
Raven groaned. She was about to make her comment an order, but she was already awake, and at least the kid had not tried to do it herself. Sighing, the padawan rolled to her feet. "Alright, go change into a clean uniform," she said. "You're not making breakfast in your underpants."
When the kid dashed off to do as she had been told, Raven dressed and quietly padded into their kitchen area.
By 6am, they had cooked breakfast. Fried tubers, lentil balls, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, diced cheese that was made from a local goatlike animal, yoghurt dip and sliced meats. It really did look rather tasty.
Eeth heard them and decided to leave them to it. He felt that spending time with Raven was doing Jas good, and besides, he had worked late last night. Once again, the crisis on Mahau required his attention. He had spent hours, after Jas had gone to bed, studying reports and writing recommendations. Thus, he preferred to stay in bed until Raven and Jas had finished making breakfast, at which point he rose and came to join them.
"Master," Raven greeted him with a bow, as she had done each morning for the last nine years. And surprisingly, Jas did the same, although she said nothing.
"This looks good," Eeth said appreciatively. "Thank you very much. I will get dressed, and then we can have breakfast. We can do our morning meditation afterwards for once."
"We're still going into the town, right?" Jas said before Eeth could leave.
"Yes, of course," Eeth replied. "There was nothing in your behaviour that induced me to change my mind, after all." He gave her a brief smile and went to fetch a clean tunic from his wardrobe.
Ten minutes later, the three sat down to eat. Eeth gave Jas a scrutinising look as she blew her nose on a tissue. He had a sense that something was slightly off with her, but since they did not share a training bond, that impression was not very precise.
"Are you feeling well?" he asked.
Jas shrugged him off. "I'm fine," she told him and changed the subject. "Where are we going first?"
The truth was she didn't feel so well today. In fact, the last few days she had felt increasingly unwell, but there was no way in hell she was going to say as much and risk having their trip cancelled!
Eeth gave her another scrutinising look and laid a hand on her forehead. Her temperature seemed to be normal.
"I'm fine," Jas said again, this time shaking his hand off her forehead.
Eeth frowned slightly at her reaction, but before he could rebuke her for the disrespect, Raven cut in. "What are you looking forward to most?" she asked Jas.
"The food and the town. Maybe the waterfront. Probably all of it. I just want to leave the cabin!" said Jas and Raven thought that was understandable.
"Alright," said Eeth. "Once we have finished breakfast, we will clean up here and leave."
Half an hour later, they walked down the shore to the next cove where the beach was sandier than theirs and therefore had a small holiday resort. Eeth rented a speederbike there, hoping that Jas was going to enjoy this.
As he pushed the speederbike from the rental station's yard to the street, he asked, "Have you ever ridden a speederbike?"
No," said Jas, "but I want to. Can I take the controls?"
"No," said Eeth flatly, mounting the bike. "Get up on the back and hang on."
Jas hadn't expected him to say yes, but she had to try. She jumped up onto the back of the speederbike and hung on to the grab bars tightly. "I could have done it, you know," she told him just as he took off.
Eeth did not dignify that remark with a response.
Jas thought this was exhilarating, not that she was willing to show it, especially so as she was trying hard not to sneeze. Her nose had been clogged up for the last day now and whatever was messing with her was starting to interfere with her thinking.
Eeth parked the speederbike next to the town hall and took Jas on a tour of the place. They strolled around in the sun, looking at shops and visiting a fishing exhibition. It was quite a pleasant morning. Still, Eeth could not quite shake the feeling that something was not quite right. As Jas blew her nose for the third time in an hour or so, he asked her, "Tell me honestly. Are you quite alright?"
Again, Jas brushed him off. "I'm FINE, eesh," she exclaimed. She wanted to buy food and if she admitted to feeling poorly, he probably wouldn't let her! "Can we go to the place Raven was talking about yesterday, where they sell the jerky and raw meat? Please?" she asked excitedly.
Eeth gave her a sceptical look but decided to believe her for now. Jas was typically an honest person, after all.
"We may have lunch there," he said. "After that, we can go to the market square, the temple and the beach promenade."
Jas smiled. This was the most fun she'd had in, well, in forever! It wasn't every day that the ten-year-old got to travel to an off-world planet the likes of Borleias and tour the sites! She ate hungrily, although she made sure to mind her manners. The food gave her body a boost, and thus the market square was explored with a little more energy.
By the time they reached the beach promenade, though, her body was starting to feel hot and sweaty again. She continually swiped at her forehead with the handkerchief Raven had bought her and Eeth insisted she carry lest she blow her nose on her sleeve again. Jas simply thought it was the heat, maybe combined with a reaction to some sort of pollen which caused her nose to be clogged. She hadn't really cared so far. Now she was starting to mind, but again, she said nothing, simply because she didn't want to go back to their cabin. It was far more interesting here.
Eeth, however, was perceptive. He had been monitoring her closely since lunchtime and it did not escape his notice that she was frequently blowing her nose by now and her movements were sluggish. In the shade of a palm tree, he stopped Jas and felt her forehead again.
"You are running a fever," he said immediately. He reached out with the Force, scanned her condition and thought for a moment.
"You are in a fairly bad state, and your condition is deteriorating fast," he finally said. "I will call Raven and ask her to take care of the speederbike. In the meanwhile, I will take you to a healer, and then we will go back to the cabin by cab."
"Wait, no I'm not!" Jas protested all Eeth's statements. "I don't need a healer, it's just some bullshit cold! I'll be fine!" Jas was huffing now, yet she had to admit that her skin felt tingly and strange. That wasn't typical of a normal cold, nor was she prone to contracting those, given that she was a Zabrak.
"It is not 'just some bullshit cold,'" said Eeth sternly. "You know as well as I do that Zabrak do not usually catch those. Your energy reserves are seriously drained, and unless we get going now, I will end up having to carry you." He pointed her towards the road that led back to the market square where he had seen a clinic earlier on, the look on his face brooking no objection.
Jas stood her ground, not moving an inch. "I do not need a healer. This is ridiculous. How many times do I need to tell you that I'll be fine? It's just some pollen or a cold." This was a half-hearted claim at best. Jas knew that this level of argumentativeness would not go over well with Eeth, but the last thing she wanted was a healer confirming his suspicions! She would be stuck inside for days!
Unfortunately for Jas, Eeth took his responsibilities seriously, and he had no intention of standing around and engaging in an argument about Jas' health-related needs. He grabbed her ear, bent her forward and delivered a scorching swat to the seat of her pants.
"Ow!" Jas complained, which was very unlike her after only one swat, even if it was from Eeth. Still, they were in the middle of the street! And there were people walking by everywhere.
"We are going to see a healer and that is final," Eeth snapped, without releasing his hold on her. "Are you coming or do you need more convincing?"
"No more, I'll go!" Jas brought out. She wasn't happy about being swatted in front of all and sundry and she didn't want to risk another one. When Eeth let her go, she scrambled to get up and scowled at him, but that was the extent of her protesting. It would seem he wasn't giving her any choice.
The healer, a mild-mannered elderly human female, made Jas lie on an examination table, took her temperature and noted down her symptoms. Then she ran a scanner across the girl and took some saliva with a swab, which she put into a diagnostic device. After less than thirty seconds, the device beeped and displayed the results.
"Yep," said the healer to Eeth. "Just as I suspected. She has the Azura virus. Do you know what it does?"
"Only vaguely," said Eeth. "I know that it only befalls Zabrak. According to the Temple healers, I am immune, probably because I caught it as a toddler. I have heard that it is very unpleasant but ultimately harmless."
"That's basically correct," said the healer. "It's good that you're immune. That way, there's no unpleasant surprise for you in store. The incubation period is rather long, around thirty days. You should notify all other Zabrak the girl has been in touch with. The Azura virus can cause quite severe symptoms. There is no cure but there's medication that can speed up the healing process and relieve some of the symptoms. I'll give you a prescription. If you show it at the front desk, they will provide you with what she needs. Even with the treatment, the next two days are going to be bad, but after that, she'll get better. I recommend she stays in bed for at least four to five days and takes it easy for a couple of weeks after that. It usually takes around a month to make a full recovery. She's bound to feel quite weak for a while."
Jas remained silent through all of this. She was accustomed to the Temple healers and knew that pissing them off was never ideal. She had no idea what this Azura virus did, but four to five days in bed? Her eyes went wide. "Are you sure?" she questioned very politely as Eeth set her on her feet.
"Absolutely," said the healer quite kindly. "And believe me, you'll be glad to be lying down very soon. You are not quite steady on your feet, are you?"
Jas didn't need to reply because she swayed as she stood and Eeth immediately put a supportive arm around her.
"We will just pick up the medication and take a cab right away," Eeth said. He had already called Raven from the waiting room and knew that the speederbike would be taken care of.
Jas wanted to protest, really she did! But her movements were starting to feel sluggish even to her. Her skin was clammy, and was starting to feel sore to the touch as she made to roll up her sleeves.
The staff at the front desk helpfully called a cab for them. When it arrived in front of the clinic, Jas allowed Eeth to help her in. Against his usual habit, he sat on the back seat beside her. Jas remained silent despite being glad for the company. She wasn't happy about having to miss out on the rest of their excursion, or their speederbike ride back for that matter. It was something she was going to have to deal with, though, as every minute that passed by, she began to feel worse. The speeder ride was not helping her stomach at all.
Eeth did not try to make Jas talk, but he made her drink some water. By the time they reached the cabin, she was pale, sweating and Eeth did not trust her ability to stand. Thus, he paid the driver and, without further ado, lifted Jas from the speeder and carried her towards the cabin.
"It's not that bad," Jas continued to protest, but if she were honest, it really did feel "that bad." And to make matters worse, her stomach was starting to cramp up. Oh, noooo, this just wasn't going to happen!
"It is exactly as bad as it is," Eeth said firmly, lowering her gently onto her mattress and pulling off her boots. "Stop denying it."
He wrapped her into a blanket. Then he noticed that she was starting to retch and trying to suppress it. Quickly, he fetched a bucket and helped her into a semi-upright position.
Jas wasn't sure what was going to let go first, her bowels or the contents of her stomach. Thankfully for them both, the latter proved true, and she only just managed to get her head into the bucket before losing her lunch. "Argh, yuckkk!" she cried, coughing, her eyes watering. This was just gross and it was about to get even grosser. She looked up at Eeth, her expression becoming a bit desperate despite efforts to be tough about all this.
"Do you need to use the loo?" Eeth asked, and when Jas nodded, he carried her out and freed her of her pants just in time.
"Stay here," he said, probably quite needlessly. "I will fetch something to suppress the diarrhoea and vomiting."
He applied a hypospray to Jas' neck that was going to calm down her stomach and intestines. Ten minutes later, the medication took effect and he was able to clean Jas up and carry her back to the cabin. He undressed her, wiped the sweat off her face with a cool washcloth and dressed her in a clean set of pyjamas. Seeing that she was shivering, he again wrapped her into her blanket. Then he prepared some rehydrating fluid and returned to her bedside with the cup and the medication the doctor had prescribed.
"You should try to drink this now and take a pill," he said gently, sitting on a stool beside her bed.
Jas thought she was going to die. This was horrible. "Thank you," she said through chattering teeth as he wrapped another blanket around her and pushed the cup to her lips. She took the pill, knowing it would do her good despite the fact that she didn't want it.
When Jas had finished the cup, Eeth linked with her and tried some Force-aided healing. Working against an infection was much harder than healing injuries, though, even for a trained healer, which he was not. The most he could do was to ease the symptoms a little.
"Try to rest now," he said softly as he withdrew from the link.
At this point, Jas didn't care if his link with her was successful in healing her or not; the mere act of linking with him was a comfort. She looked up at him and nodded. By now her head was aching and even nodding hurt. She squinted her eyes shut against the pain and did her best to do as he said.
Meanwhile, Raven returned in a cab, the speederbike having been returned. She had procured some basic jelly and other things in a bag that Jas might be able to stomach.
"Is she okay? Does she need anything?" Raven asked, entering the cabin and shucking off her cloak. The girl was a hot mess, literally.
"Not right now," said Eeth. "Jas has the Azura virus. It is not dangerous, but quite unpleasant. Fortunately for us, I am immune and humans are not susceptible to it. We can expect her fever to rise fairly high. Jas will probably be in a bad way today and tomorrow, but when the medication takes effect, she should start feeling better by the day after tomorrow."
Raven put her pack down and started pulling things out, setting them on the table. "A high fever might not be such a bad thing in a Zabrak, it would help kill off the virus," Raven said, knowing that Eeth would be well aware of this but unsure if Jas was.
"I assume that is why the fever is still rising," Eeth said quietly, gently wiping sweat off Jas' forehead. "She might get delirious at some point. Zabrak bodies are made to withstand the heat for quite a while, though, and at some point, the medication is bound to take effect."
He sat on a stool next to Jas' bed and laid his hand over her clammy one. This seemed to relax her a little, so he leaned back against the wall and remained like this.
Raven could tell that Jas was finding comfort in Eeth's presence. "I will get some dinner started for us, something mild so the smell won't set her off," she said and began pulling things from the kitchen cupboards and cooler.
An hour later, Raven set a pot of mildly spiced lentil stew on the table. "I will take over for a while if you want to eat," Raven suggested, wanting to give Eeth a break; he had not left Jas' side since they had arrived back.
Eeth smiled at her.
"Thank you," he said. "You eat first. I had a good lunch in town with Jas and am not overly hungry yet."
Automatically, as he spoke of the girl, he reached out and checked her forehead; it was still burning. But then, in the rare cases that Zabrak ran a fever, it tended to become much higher than in humans.
Raven nodded and covered the pot for later. It could be reheated in any case.
That evening was not an enjoyable one, especially so for Jas. The girl was resting fitfully and the few times they had to wake her to either drink rehydrating fluids or take more medication, she was hallucinating with the fever. Around eleven that evening, Jas woke of her own accord. Her body was sweating out most of the fluid but she still needed to use the toilet. Her mouth felt drier than a sand hut on Tatooine, her eyes were stingy and her head pounded when she moved. "I'm gonna die," she told Eeth as he put her back into her bed after having carried her to the bathroom. The fever was still raging, but thankfully she was not currently hallucinating because that had been horrible.
"No, you are not," Eeth said mildly. "I grant you that you are feeling horrible, but you are not in any danger. I went through a much similar thing when I was roughly your age. As you can see, I am still alive. Zabrak fall ill more rarely than humans, but when we do, it is nearly always spectacular."
"Maybe, but right now it doesn't feel like I'm gonna live through this. Everything hurts," Jas whined. This time it really was a whine and she didn't care. She could not remember a time in her life when she had felt this ill. Jas slept on and off for the next few hours, her body still raging with fever although the hallucinations had reduced.
Raven woke at three in the morning to the sound of Jas crying. She climbed from her bunk and padded over to where Jas was sleeping. Eeth was sitting on a chair next to her bed, had her head resting on his lap and was gently patting her forehead with a cool cloth. Raven reached down to feel the girl's skin; yep, she was roasting hot. "Master, you've been up all night. Let me take over so you can get some sleep," she offered.
"Thank you, padawan, I am fine," said Eeth, giving her a small smile.
"You'll be no help to her if you are exhausted tomorrow," Raven told him matter-of-factly. It was unusual for Raven to question him, but she didn't like that he would be up all night when she was here to help.
Eeth raised his eyebrows.
"I will not be too exhausted to function from missing out on a night's sleep," he said. "It is hardly the first time I have done so. I will gladly accept your offer once her fever breaks. Until then, I would prefer to monitor her closely. Her fever is very close to a point where it might need intervention."
"Well, yes. Don't you think I'm capable of knowing when that is and caring for her in an appropriate manner?" Raven felt a little indignant at this. She was a very good healer, better than any of her peers.
"You have less experience with Zabrak physiology than I do," Eeth said calmly and firmly. "And besides, I am the one who is primarily responsible for her health. I promise you that I will take you up on your offer when I feel that I am actually nearing the point of exhaustion, which is nowhere near the case. Now go back to sleep."
Raven stared at him for a long moment. Then, when Jas' cries started to increase in both volume and intensity, she lowered her gaze and nodded. Her heart went out to the girl and she didn't want to cause her any more stress, nor could she disobey Eeth's direct order. "Yes, master. I don't like to feel useless, is all, you know that," she explained unnecessarily, and obeyed.
Meanwhile, Jas was in seven kinds of hell. She didn't want Eeth to leave her and it had nothing to do with not wanting Raven; the padawan had been good to her this entire trip, after all. She did, however, view Eeth as the adult here; Raven was more like a peer. "Master Eeth, please make me sleep," she begged him. Jas had never once in her life asked for or willingly accepted a sleep compulsion but she was just so sick. It was torture.
Eeth had been a little reluctant to do so because he knew that a fever could interfere with sleep compulsions in unpredictable ways. Still, he felt that Jas would benefit from being able to rest and he also acknowledged how much it must have cost her to ask for help.
He fetched his med kit, administered a light sedative and helped it along with an even lighter sleep compulsion. At this point, Jas' body was so worn out from fighting the disease that it succumbed immediately. Her breathing became deeper and more even and her facial features relaxed a little.
Eeth gently cleaned her sweaty forehead once again, leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes to meditate. This would enable him to remain focussed on Jas' condition and still get some rest.
That undisturbed rest lasted until around six in the morning, at which point Jas woke, her body wet with sweat. "I'm all sticky!" she complained. Her fever had not yet broken, although it was a little lower than last night and she had not had further hallucinations since Eeth had helped her sleep.
Raven had gotten up at six in the morning almost every day since she began her apprenticeship with Eeth, so it wasn't surprising that she was awake just as Jas started complaining. "Master, you haven't slept yet. Let me take care of Jas for a while?" she sent him across their bond and got to her feet. Eeth wasn't fatigued, she knew, yet he might want the chance to take a break by now.
"Thank you, padawan," Eeth answered through their bond. "Could you help her take a shower and get dressed into something clean? And maybe change her bedding?" He was not going to sleep at six in the morning, but since he felt rather sticky himself, the chance to go for a quick swim would be much appreciated.
Raven inclined her head. "Come on, Jas, let's get you cleaned up," she said. She grabbed the girl a towel and some clean clothing and helped her up.
"I can walk, I'm okay," Jas said, but with far less indignation than she might have in the early days here.
"I know you can." Still, Raven stood close enough that if Jas fell, she'd catch her. Jas didn't complain about the supervised shower. The water felt just too good; she hated to feel sticky. Once Jas was dressed, they returned and Raven set her up at their kitchen table with a bowl of soft fruit. It was all she was able to stomach and at least it had some nutrients.
"Where is Eeth?" Jas asked as Raven walked by with an armful of bedding.
"He's gone for a swim. He should be back soon."
This surprised Jas because he had been up with her all night. Wasn't he tired? She didn't say anything, though, and instead focussed on getting the medication Raven had provided as well as some fruit down and keeping it down.
When Eeth returned from his swim, he took a quick shower and then helped Raven put Jas back in bed. She was exhausted from having been up for half an hour and soon fell asleep.
The morning passed quickly for Jas. She slept through most of it, only waking occasionally to take in more fluids or use the toilet. By late afternoon, she was starting to feel a little better – still rotten, but not as bad as yesterday or during the night. Her fever finally broke just before dinnertime, but food was still not an option; her stomach flipped at the thought of eating anything other than fruit.
"Your infection is receding," Eeth told her. "I will help you fall asleep tonight if you need me to. Would it be alright if Raven stayed with you for part of the night? I need to get at least a few hours of sleep. But if you need me, I will be right there."
That Jas had a choice in this came as a surprise to her. She hadn't expected Eeth to put himself out so much for the sake of her comfort, but that was exactly what he was offering. Had she been a more selfish child, she might have taken him up on that; she wanted Eeth, after all, not Raven. As it was, she offered as much of a smile as she could muster (which wasn't really a smile at all, it was more of a grimace), and said, "Yes, I just want to sleep. I can't help it. My eyeballs are burning and it's more comfortable to close them."
"Sleep all you want," said Eeth. "Your body needs it. You should not try to fight it."
Raven sat by Jas' bed as Eeth put her to sleep. Raven had developed conjunctivitis as a child and her eyelids had actually fused shut from the pus at one point and needed to be bathed open again. That had been scary for the then six-year-old initiate. Raven hoped that wouldn't happen to Jas but if the amount of pus starting to build around her eyes and the number of handkerchiefs Raven was going through cleaning it off were anything to go by, she didn't like her chances; there was only so many times you could bathe eyes before the skin became painful.
Sure enough, at five in the morning, after they had both slept for a few hours, Jas woke in a panic. "I can't open my EYES!" she screamed, trying to pull them open with her fingers.
"Stop that, you'll tear your skin. It's going to be okay. You need to stop panicking. Relax and breathe. I will get a basin of warm water and we will fix it," Raven coached. But Jas wasn't letting go of her sleeve. She was panicking. The loss of her sight coupled with hallucinations were proving too much for the ten-year-old. Raven hated to do this but she decided to call for Eeth, However, when she looked up, she found that he was already at the sink filling a basin.
The second Jas sensed Eeth's presence close enough, she grabbed for him and buried herself in his arms. She was terrified. Fortunately, he had only just managed to put the basin down or they would have been both drenched.
"Stop working yourself up," Eeth said firmly and gave her a swat across the seat of her pants in order to get her attention. It was not a painful kind of swat, just hard enough to be felt. In his experience, this was sometimes enough to snap children out of a fit of panic. If it was not, he was going to use a sedative, but he would rather avoid that. Lacking a training bond with Jas, there was little he could do by using the Force unless she cooperated.
Jas stilled immediately, her jaw falling open. It was half out of shock and half because she didn't want another one. Her skin hurt and despite the fact that this had been nowhere near the usual teeth-rattling extravaganza she had learned to expect from Eeth, it had been enough to have her actively want to avoid another one. "You can't smack me, I'm sick," she complained, not removing her head from his shirt.
"Hush," said Eeth. "We will take care of your eyes. Just do as we tell you and you will be alright. Let go of me and let me clean them."
Jas sniffled, her nose running onto Eeth's shirt, not that she could see it. She didn't want to leave his arms, but not being able to open her eyes was scaring her more, and thus she sat up on her knees, ready to comply.
"Thank you, initiate," Eeth said kindly. He bathed her eyes gently and carefully while Raven held the basin. It did not take long until the pus dissolved in the warm water solution and soon Jas was able to open her eyes again. Eeth could see that this would need medication, though.
"Raven, you will need to go to the pharmacy once it opens and buy something for conjunctivitis," he said. "For now, go and get some sleep. I will take over here."
Given there was only an hour until Raven would typically wake, she went back to bed and read some more on the Azura virus.
When Raven had left them, Jas looked up at Eeth, her expression piteous. Having her eyes sealed shut had been scary, something that even the tough Zabrak who wasn't scared of anything would admit to.
On the plus side, while she was still feeling dreadful, she at least didn't feel as hot as before.
And sure enough, by breakfast that morning, Jas was feeling a little better.
"Do you want to try some toast or cereal? Anything you can stomach, I'll try to make it for you," Raven asked her. Jas picked toast and was able to eat the whole piece and keep it down. That was good. Eeth and Raven were both looking forward to a full night's rest and it looked unlikely that Jas would continue to need around the clock care. Time would tell.
After breakfast, Eeth sent Raven off into town to buy medication for Jas' eyes. In an undertone, he also told her to find some games, music and audiobooks.
"Nothing that will require her to get up, and nothing that will be overly taxing on her eyes," he said. "She should stay on bedrest for at least three more days."
Raven understood and left to find things for Jas. At ten-years-old having to stay in bed for so long would have been an ordeal. Then, she wasn't sure how Jas would respond to it, since Jas wasn't nearly as fidgety as she had been. She was, however, ten and once the infection began to subside, she was going to get bored staying in bed. For the time being, she was still too sick to care about being bored and would reliably sleep for most of the day.
"Did you get anything good?" Jas asked when Raven entered just after lunchtime, bag in hand.
"Of course," Raven said. She placed some ointment and cool eye patches on the table, suppressing a chuckle at the groan this drew from Jas.
"More medicines!" she griped, scratching at her eyes. Eeth had told her not to scratch her eyes but they were just so itchy that it was hard not to.
"Yes, among other things. Don't scratch, you'll make it worse," Raven told the girl and put the eye patches in the cooler. She gave Eeth the ointment she had been given, which was meant to help with the itching, and an antibiotic that would help with the infection. Raven then pulled from her bag a stack of audio books she had borrowed from the local library, some music and a couple of audio-driven games as well as some that would be more fun once Jas' eyes had healed a bit.
Jas frowned at her. "It's itchy," she defended herself, but said nothing more.
"Yes, that is why Raven bought the medicines you seem to dislike so much," Eeth said drily. "Now do stop scratching. Raven is quite right. Lie back down and I will treat your eyes. This should stop the itching fairly soon."
He applied the ointment to Jas' eyes, gave her the antibiotic and then allowed her to choose from the audio books and music disks Raven had brought.
"If you want to eat or drink anything specific, let us know," he said. "We will do our best to accommodate your wishes. It will help your recovery. You are to stay in bed by all means, at least until the day after tomorrow."
"I'm not hungry," Jas said politely and gratefully took an audio book called "Yarell Linet: Secret Spy." The initiate raised a brow. She'd never heard of this but apparently, it was a series that had over a hundred books to its name. She popped in her headphones and closed her eyes.
Ten minutes later, the kid was out for the count again, headphones still in, mouth open and drooling onto her pillow.
Eeth spent much of the afternoon exchanging messages with the Council concerning the situation on Mahau where a group of rebels had been publicly executed and their friends had retaliated by taking hostages which included the Republican Ambassador. Eeth knew the planet better than anyone on the Council, and therefore, his input was needed.
"I might have to go to Coruscant for a day," he told Raven quietly when Jas had gone to sleep that night. "Possibly the day after tomorrow. The Council will send a fast ship for me so I can leave in the morning and return in the evening. Will you be able to look after Jas in the meanwhile?"
"Of course," said Raven, "although I daresay she will be none too happy at receiving that news. She has become rather …" Raven paused and tapped her lip with her finger, searching for the right words. "…fond of you," she concluded.
Eeth raised his eyebrows but did not comment. If he were honest with himself, he had no idea what to say to this.
Raven noticed Eeth's discomfort and took it in stride. "Is this about the Mahau rebels?" she asked, changing the subject while stacking the last of their dishes away. He had spoken to her about this crisis before, after all.
"Yes," said Eeth, "and I will only go if it cannot be helped. But I think it is likely that this is going to happen. We are waiting for the Mahauan government to give their consent to receiving a team of Jedi negotiators. Under normal circumstances, I would be part of that team. The least I can do is brief them."
"Yes, it is," Raven said because she really did agree with him, despite how she thought Jas would respond to this news. She finished up her evening chores, and then she turned to Eeth. "Do you think we need to monitor her tonight?" she asked. She didn't think the girl needed supervision, but then again, this wasn't up to her.
"I think," said Eeth, "we can both go to sleep. We are all in the same room, after all. If something is wrong with Jas, I will be sure to notice. And I will check on her once or twice. But she will be likely to sleep for most of the night and will not need constant supervision."
Raven nodded. The padawan yawned, changed into a sleep shirt and climbed into her bunk.
The night was uneventful for the most part. Both Eeth and Raven woke up several times to check on Jas. She slept for most of the night, only waking occasionally to take a few sips of the re-hydrating fluid that her carers had kept filling throughout the night.
Jas woke the following morning to the sound of Raven opening the door. The padawan was dressed in a bikini and was just slipping on her shoes. Jas peeled open her other eye. Only one had sealed shut and, thanks to the ointment which had been diligently applied, it had not sealed so tightly that it needed to be bathed open. "Yuck," she complained, pulling her eyelashes between a thumb and forefinger and scraping off crusty globs of pus; it was gross. She sat up, swung her legs over the bed and scratched her eyes. They still itched but not nearly as badly as before.
"Stop scratching," Eeth said sternly from the kitchen area where he was starting to prepare breakfast. "You may use the toilet, but apart from that, you are staying in bed today."
Jas frowned. "The whole day? I can't even get up and walk around?" she complained.
"No, because you will relapse if you do," Eeth said. "I know this is not how you feel like spending your day, but I suggest you mind those restrictions because you will be in serious trouble if you do not."
In his experience, it was better to add such a warning because the temptation to disregard such instructions was just too high.
He crossed over to where Jas was sitting on the edge of her bed and asked in a softer tone of voice, "Are you feeling any better?"
"A bit," she said honestly. "I don't feel dizzy when I stand up and I don't feel frozen on the inside and burning on the outside. My skin still hurts, though." Jas walked to the toilet. Yes, she was feeling a lot better than before. Then again, she had felt so dreadful that anything was an improvement. She washed her face and hands and brushed her hair, which was knotted and sweaty from the last couple of days. When she emerged a few minutes later, the kid looked slightly fresher, although she still had a sickly pallor.
"That is enough exertion for now," said Eeth. "Now lie back down, please.
"Alrighttt…" Jas sighed and fell onto her bed.
"I will bring you your breakfast in a moment," Eeth said. "I am making porridge with fruit, but if you want anything else, tell me and I will see what I can do."
He did not normally indulge people like this, but when they were sick, he felt it was justified.
"Porridge is good, thank you," Jas said. She wasn't a picky eater, but she could tell that Eeth and Raven had been trying to make her nice things to eat when she could stomach food and appreciated that they went to the effort.
Eeth filled a small bowl with porridge and one with fruit and took them to Jas' bedside where they had put up a small table.
Jas did her absolute best to eat it, but her stomach was still not quite right and as hungry as she was, she left most of the porridge. "I'll eat it later. I like cold porridge, especially with lumps in it," she said.
At that moment, a freshly showered and dressed Raven entered after her run, still running a towel through her hair. "Smells like porridge, yum," she said. "How was the morning? How do you feel, Jas?"
"I'm okay, for a prisoner," Jas said. She pointed a slightly miffed expression at Eeth, who pointedly ignored it, but said nothing more.
Raven smiled. "I know how it feels." She sat at the table and started to fix her hair and do her padawan braid, which now hung to the middle of her chest.
"Could you cut my hair after breakfast, please?" Raven asked Eeth. "It's getting too long." She pulled oddly-socked feet into a cross-legged position and stirred the porridge. It looked good and after her run, she was hungry.
"Padawan, have you been unable to find matching socks?" Eeth inquired. "Find some, and sit properly. And, yes, I will cut your hair after breakfast."
"Ah, I see you are in your usual fastidious mood," Raven said, smiling just a little to take the edge off her tease. She liked wearing oddly matched socks. Granted, Eeth didn't always see that, but if he did, he reliably asked her to change. Thus, the padawan stood and went to do as told.
After breakfast, Eeth cut her hair. Given that he was very precise and deft with his hands, he was good at this for someone who didn't specialise in it. Her hair didn't end up crooked, nor did he use masking tape to line it up. Raven no longer had a fringe to contend with as it was now all the same length. When that was done, Eeth and Raven did their best to keep Jas entertained. One of them was always sitting with the girl, ready to play games with her or talk. Eeth also made her rest whenever he felt that she was tiring, which happened frequently, but not as frequently as yesterday.
Shortly after lunch, he received a call from the Council that confirmed his expectations: a courier vessel was going to pick him up early tomorrow morning and bring him to the Temple where he was to brief the team of negotiators who were going to leave for Mahau in the afternoon. He was going to be back to Borleias by the evening.
As soon as he had terminated the call, he sat down next to Jas' bed and said bluntly, "I will have to leave for Coruscant tomorrow morning. Only for the day. The Council needs me."
Jas had overheard Eeth's conversation – it was impossible not to, as they were all in the same room! Her heart sank. The truth was that she didn't want him to go. He had taken care of her, even put himself out to do so, and the many meditations and healing links had forged a bit of a bond with the man; Jas hadn't experienced anything like this before but assumed this was a taste of what it was like to have a master. Maybe she did need a master, she could have a master? The thought was both exciting and scary at the same time. Exciting because it would mean a chance at realising her dream of becoming a knight, and scary because what if nobody wanted her? Her shields slammed up at the thought. Jas wasn't sure about anything anymore. Her thoughts and feelings on a lot of things were changing. However, the way she dealt with her fear of rejection was still to put on a nonplussed façade and block it out.
"Can't I go with you?" Jas asked pointedly. Jas had nothing against Raven, but she didn't want to be in bed for another day and a half, either. "If I can't help, maybe I can return to creche for the day," she added. Today the kid could concede that she wouldn't be up to the trip. She still felt rotten. But by the next day, she would undoubtedly be up for it, surely!, she thought.
"No," Eeth said firmly. "You will stay in bed tomorrow, and Raven will keep you company. And I expect you to behave yourself and do as she tells you. Apart from the fact that I will certainly not allow a sick child to accompany me on an interplanetary flight if I can help it, you are still contagious to other Zabrak."
"But I'm getting better by the hour!" Jas exclaimed, jumping to her knees to prove it and ignoring the roar that erupted in her head. "I will stay on the ship so I don't infect anyone."
Raven rolled her eyes. She hoped that Eeth would have the kid suitably terrified over disobeying him before he left because tomorrow would be very annoying if she would have to fight her constantly.
"You," Eeth snapped, entirely fed up with Jas' protests. "Lie back down now. And tomorrow, you are staying. That is final. The argument stops here. When I say you are on bedrest, you are on bedrest, and you had better mind me or you will not like the consequences. Am I quite clear?"
Jas lay down as instructed, but the look on her face was far from placated. She ignored his question, folded her arms and glared at the ceiling. It was as much of a protest to his orders as she was willing to risk.
Eeth recognised the signs of "bedrest rebellion" and he thought he'd better stop it in its tracks. He pulled out his paddle and lifted the blanket off Jas. "Wait," Jas started to protest, but it was too late. Eeth had already turned her sideways and administered a solid swat to her bottom.
"I asked you a question, initiate," he said. "And I expect an answer. Am. I. Clear?"
This stung more than Jas had expected! She clenched her butt tightly and tried to throw a hand back, but the blanket was trapping her arm. "Yes!" she told him quickly, while struggling to roll onto her back with little success.
"Good," Eeth replied grimly. "Because once again, this is not about what you feel like doing, this is about your needs. And your body's needs come before anything else because you need your body in order to function. I learned that lesson the hard way when I was your age, and so will you, I suppose."
Jas was silent for a moment, but given she didn't want another swat, she decided it best to give some sort of worded response. "I learned already. But how did you? What happened?" Jas smarted, but at this point, she wanted to feel like someone else had been there too.
"Much like you, I caught a harmless but very nasty virus," said Eeth. "I was silly enough to think I could simply refuse to be sick, though. I considered it an insult to my Zabrak superiority. Thus, I ignored all my symptoms and hid them from my master. I became delirious during an oral exam, whereupon my master finally caught on to what was happening. The whole thing earned me a stay in the healers' wing, as well as my master's considerable displeasure. In short, I was utterly stupid."
Jas looked at him, wide-eyed. "But you lived," she said unnecessarily. "Also, you thought that being Zabrak makes you superior, too? I mean, doesn't it? We are stronger, we have two hearts." She beat on her chest to emphasise this. "Our pain tolerance is superior," she continued. "Why is it wrong to think we are superior at base things if we are?" And Jas really wanted to know this.
"We are physically superior to some species," said Eeth, recognising this for the serious question it was. "And inferior to others in terms of strength, speed, resilience or the age we can reach. I have gained the impression that it is mainly humans you are comparing yourself to, though. The average Zabrak is physically slightly superior to the average human but we are neither inherently more intelligent nor better at Force control than them. Humans have superior social skills to the average Zabrak. And if you look at individuals, all of this might still differ from case to case. It is fine to be aware of the strengths that come with belonging to a particular species. However, it becomes a problem when you are unaware of the shortcomings you have, and when this leads you to considering yourself categorically superior to others. The Jedi Order consists of beings of many different species and is stronger for it because we draw on all their strengths. If there is any hierarchy among us, it is based on the degree of Force control we possess, not on physical attributes. Look at Master Yoda. Do you think he should be inferior to you because he does not have the physical attributes of a Zabrak?"
Jas paused for longer than she would usually to think about that, thinking. "I guess you're right," she finally said.
Eeth gave her a small smile in return and sat down again, reaching for Jas' hand and checking her condition through the Force. She was doing better, but she was still weak. He decided to postpone the inevitable talk about trying to hide an illness until after his return.
"Close your eyes and rest for a while," he advised her. "The more rest you get, the faster your body will shake off the disease. 'Fast' is a relative term, of course. Zabrak viruses are notoriously hard to shake off."
Raven worked to hide her smile as Jas immediately shut her eyes, then allowed herself to be swaddled in her blanket. Moments later, she was facing the wall, and given that Eeth hadn't been kidding about Zabrak viruses, she was asleep in less than ten minutes.
"I'll stay with her if you want to go for a swim or get some air," Raven offered across her bond with Eeth. They'd taken to communicating like this when Jas was resting so as not to disturb her.
Eeth readily took her up on her offer. Five minutes later, he was at the beach, running through a set of challenging katas at varying speed.
When Jas woke up, he read to her and they played a game. She fell asleep again in the late afternoon, about an hour before dinnertime.
"Let us meditate together, padawan," Eeth said quietly through their bond motioning towards the door. "It will do both of us good."
Raven nodded and followed Eeth to the tree where they both knelt. The grass was still warm from the sun and smelled earthy. "She's improving," she said. "I don't think it will take much longer; a couple of weeks, I'd say. What do you think?"
"I agree," said Eeth. "She is slowly getting around to admitting her needs. That will require her to stop thinking of such things as a weakness. Her illness might actually help; it has at least served to show her that she is not invincible. She might give you a hard time over staying in bed tomorrow. She will feel just well enough to imagine she has recovered, which she will not have. It is important that you keep her in bed. There is a very real chance of a relapse."
"I'll make sure that she does," said Raven. She looked up at him briefly, and then closed her eyes to send him her gratitude at having spent some time with her; lately they had had time for little more than taking care of Jas. That was okay, of course. In fact, it made the padawan appreciate the quiet times that she and Eeth got to spend together all the more.
That evening was tiresome. By dinnertime, Jas was again feeling better and getting bored. "Come on, let me help, I'm not going to die from peeling some tubers you know," she told Eeth, a frown on her face.
"No, you are not going to die if I can help it," Eeth said, returning her frown, "but you might relapse. None of us wants that. You might feel well now because you are lying down but I assure you that you are not up to leaving your bed. Could you try to be mature about this?"
Raven couldn't help it: she snorted, covering it with a cough. Asking a ten-year-old to be mature was something only Eeth could get away with, she was certain. Burying her head in the cupboard, she pulled out some spices along with several other things they would need for dinner, and when she emerged, her features were once again neutral.
Jas huffed at him, his comment garnering an eye roll. "How would you like to be stuck in bed forever?" she complained.
"I would not like it at all," Eeth replied stiffly. "But if the healers told me it was necessary, I would obey. I had to learn that lesson, just as you do. A few years ago, I was struck by a genetically modified virus that was worse than the one you have. Much worse. It took me a very long time to recover, and as my padawan can testify, I hated it. And nevertheless, I had to accept my body's limits, however much I detested it."
"I'll get bedsores and then you'll be sorry," Jas claimed.
"Nonsense," said Eeth curtly.
"It is not nonsense at all," Jas retorted haughtily. "It's exactly what happens when you are forced to stay in bed for too long."
"It is what happens when you lie in bed for days on end, unable to move, let alone get up to take a shower," said Eeth. "And I think you know it perfectly well. I advise you to stop arguing. It will not accomplish anything. Or at least, it will not produce the kind of result you would find desirable."
Jas glowered at him. Her displeasure at his response would be clear to anyone, Force-sensitive or not. Eeth ignored it, for now. He supposed that a certain amount of complaining over having to stay in bed was to be expected.
Thankfully, dinner was ready soon. All Jas wanted was raw meat, and Eeth indulged her. When she was done, Eeth helped her to the shower while Raven pulled the last clean sleep shirt and pair of underpants from Jas' cupboard. They had been diligent in doing the laundry, but two days of fever meant that most of her sleeping clothes were either still soaking in a bucket or on the line drying.
Eeth ushered Jas to bed, confident that she was going to become tired again very soon. She might feel better, but she was still very weak and any trip out of bed was bound to be exhausting for her.
"We can play a game if you like," he offered.
Jas shook her head and continued sulking, still holding a grudge over losing the bedsores disagreement. But as Eeth had correctly surmised, the shower had taken it out of her and she was out like a light shortly after.
Raven looked over at the kid who was now sleeping peacefully, her mouth open and drooling on her pillow, then looked across at Eeth. "What time do you leave in the morning? And is there anything I need to know about Jas' condition that I don't already?" Raven asked across their bond. She had a feeling Jas was going to give her a hard time and hoped that Eeth's order to behave would be enough to keep her in line.
Eeth shook his head.
"Unless she relapses, she will be fine," he replied. "Do not allow her to get up any more often than necessary. Discipline her if you must. Should there be a problem, comm me or, if you cannot reach me, the Temple healers. I will leave at six."
"Six? That's good," said Raven. "Hopefully she will be sleeping when you leave, which will spare you a morning of begging you to take her along. I'm hoping it won't come to that, but I have a feeling she's going to push the limits once you leave. I'm not sure how hard to be on her, given she has been so sick. She's also a Zabrak, and as she doesn't fail to remind me, she's tougher than me." Raven gave a small smile, finding the comment amusing.
"In some ways," Eeth replied matter-of-factly. "Not in all. Discipline her as much as you need to make her behave. You will sense when that is the case. I hope it will not come to that, but it is rather likely that she will exploit my absence."