Chapter 30
Recovery
Melissa looked up as the door to her room at the medcentre opened. There was a blur of movement and a sudden weight on her legs.
"You are getting fat." Melissa said
"No I am an active girl, unlike you who is just lying here. I can see a double chin forming." Ellia replied
"No chocolate for you then." Melissa stated
"Why?" Ellia whined
"Well since I am getting fat I have to keep it all for myself as I will need the sugar to keep myself going." Melissa replied, hiding a grin
"No chocolate or sugar for either of you." Fay said, reading Melissa's chart
"It is all your fault." Ellia said pointing at Melissa
"Me? You are the one who dragged the doctor in behind you." Melissa objected
"No it is more a case of me having to keep an eye her constantly while I am here." Fay absently replied
"What have you been doing?" Melissa asked Ellia
"Little miss troublemaker has declared a certain master as an enemy and have been fighting a clandestine war." Fay answered."So far she had broken into his room six times and changed his access codes to his terminal, added body paint to his shower products, paint bombed his cupboards. Replaced his shampoo with hair remover. Smuggled a sex doll into his room and shoved a training saber in a delicate place and left a note saying he is next and no lube will be supplied."
"Good job." Melissa high fived Ellia
Fay glared at her.
"I mean. Bad, Ellia, bad."
Covertly she gave a thumbs up. Fay cleared her throat, obviously she was not covert enough
"Now if she will confirm who got the doll for her she may get a reduced sentence."
"No. Snitches get stitches." Ellia replied adamantly
"That statement just makes it easier to confirm who it was." Fay pointed out
"I got that from a prison holodrama." Ellia tried to deflect
"And who let you watch that type of holodrama." Fay demanded
"No one, I borrowed it from Mission's lockbox" Ellia confessed
"And how much clothes were they were wearing in that?" Melissa started snickering
"Not much." Ellia admitted.
"Seems I have something else to discuss with miss Vao then." Fay observed
Melissa started reaching for her comlink
"If you warn her I will have you put on a soft vegetable diet." Fay casually observed
"You are a dark lady." Melissa declared
"No my dear, I am your doctor. Everything I do is for your benefit of course." Fay answered sweetly
"If you challenge her, I don't know you. Prison rule number three" Ellia whispered
"Fine convict. Let your girl down, why don't you" Melissa answered.
"Sometimes you have to know when to cut and run. No need for us all to go down in flames." Ellia shrugged
"Definitely a dark lady and her apprentice here. I will have to call for help." Melissa stated
Fay pointed to the healers office.
"Ellia, I believe you have homework to do."
"Do I really have to? You might need my help with Melissa." Ellia tried to dodge
"Homework, now." Fay reiterated
Ellia marched of as if to her execution. With a miserable imploring look over her shoulder she tried one last time. Fay gave her a stern look.
"Get to it. I will know if you are not working."
Fay waited till the office door closed before putting down the datafile.
"Children. That one will make me grey before my time." She muttered
"But you are so good at it." Melissa replied
"I am counting you as one as well. Once I am satisfied with your progress I will be pulling you over my knees."Fay warned her
"What will you be wearing? Leather , lace or just a doctors coat?" Melissa shot back
"You are as incorrigible as Mission." Fay groaned
"But you love for me it." Melissa sassed
"Now is not the time to be joking around. Melissa, I pulled you back twice. Do you have any idea what you put me and the others through."
"I am sorry, it was not my intention." Melissa replied abashed.
Fay sighed and sat down in the chair next to the bed. Taking Melissa's hand she made sure the girl was looking at her
"I know it was not your intention. But you have to stop taking unnecessary risks. You need to stop pushing so hard to prove yourself. We love and accept you for who you are, you have nothing to proof to anyone. Nearly losing you hurt all of us, losing you would be so much worse." Fay said clearly but softly
"I will try, it just…I keep trying to take everything on me so that the rest don't have to. They are much more important than I am." Melissa replied
"Melissa, you are as important as anyone else. And I will keep repeating that till you accept it. We may be a highly dysfunctional family, but we are a family and no one is more important than any other. You are not alone anymore, you have grandmothers, sister, uncles, brothers who love you more than you can possibly believe."
"Thank you." Melissa whispered
Fay sat back in her chair
"Now you are probably wondering as to why you have not been swamped by visitors when you woke up?" Fay asked
"I suspect a certain enemy of our local terrorist has something to do with it." Melissa replied
"Right on the nose, as it were. Unless summoned by the council there is a blanket ban on them entering the enclave. Ellia and myself are excluded on the ban by orders of Vandar." Fay reponded
"Then why no calls on the comlink?" Melissa asked
"Take a look at your comlink." Fay answered
The casing of the comlink was cracked and charred black from within.
"Before you ask, your armour is also beyond repair and you will need to replace it fully. Your bow as well, I actually had to dig piece of your armour inserts out of your back. If not for your armour you would have been killed on impact." Fay stated bluntly
"Just how bad was it?" Melissa asked
"Base of skull fracture, facial fractures. Six broken ribs, pneumothorax and a renal tear. You were a solid mass of bruises. You coded twice."
"Sorry for putting you through all that." Melissa apologised again
"Do I need to slap you behind the head? There is nothing I would not do for my family and you are a big part of it, so stop apologising." Fay said firmly
"Thanks Fay, I guess I need to get used to that." Melissa answered
Fay squeezed her hand.
"Normally we would be looking at months in physical recovery time but a force sensitives we have a boost on natural healing."
"Okay I know this already but I am guessing you are leading to something here."
"We have a way to accelerate our healing even more. There is a general technique that you would have been taught by your master on becoming a padawan, and yes I will teach you all three stages. As a Healer I have been taught a much more advanced version."
"So what are the positives and negatives?" Melissa asked
"There are no negatives. The first one is more akin to a force assisted nap to accelerate healing, progressing through the levels the nap time could be extended. It just takes a lot longer than the second version. In the second version the healer augments the force healing of the patient by a large percentage and both the healer and the patient will be in an augmented sleep, the effects are accelerated but there is a very slim chance the patient and healer could develop a force bond." Fay explained
"And with me having two bonds already I would be at higher risk of another bond." Melissa surmised
"Yes. The possibility is higher." Fay concurred
"It is up to you to decide. Another bond will not bother me as I already consider you family, though if a bond is going to make things harder for you with Lance maybe we should not." Melissa said
"That is not likely to happen. So, do you want to sleep with me?" Fay grinned
Melissa groaned
"Hormonal teenager here. Did you have to put it like that?"
"Dark lady here, remember?" Fay teased
"You are evil." Melissa reiterated
"Just so you are clear, this is not an instant cure. You will still be receiving a lot of physical therapy, it will just make recovery a lot faster."
"Yes, I understand. So when can we start?"
"As soon as I find someone to watch a certain person; who should actually be doing her homework."
Fay looked up at the airvent and certain girl who had her face pressed against the vent grill.
"I can explain." Ellia said, hopefully.
In the end the new healer had vetoed the procedure which saw Melissa being discharged and pushed on a hovertrolley to the Ebon Hawk. Upon being loaded the Hawk lifted off and proceeded to the Khoonda airfield as their landing privileges had also been revoked. Melissa was almost asleep in the double bunk as the short trip had completely exhausted her. She felt the matress shift as Fay climbed in and took her in her arms, acutely aware of how little they were wearing. She felt Fay pull the covers over them
"I know this is uncomfortable for you, it sure is for me. The more skin contact we have the more effective it will be." Fay stated
"So how do we do this?" Melissa asked, awkwardly
"Just start your meditation breathing and relax, I will start the process and pull you in at the right time." Fay replied.
"I am not sure how long I can stay awake." Melissa responded
"Don't worry I can still pull you in even if you are asleep."
Soon the room was filled with the soft breathing as Melissa drifted off. The door hissed open and Bastila and Terri entered. Fay had a momentary green glow as she slipped deep into the force followed by a silver flash as Melissa was pulled into the force as well. There was a brief intermingling of their aura's before they started breathing deeply and completely relaxed. Terri sat down in the single armchair and pulled Bastila into her lap, crossing her arms across Bastila's waist.
"Now we wait." Terri said, nervously
"You are still thinking about joining in, aren't you?" Bastila remarked
"Yes. I know Fay said it could really screw up our bonds if we did, but I can't help but thinking of joining." Terri reponded
"I know. I do too. But we have to trust in Fay, there is no point in having a healer and not listening to her advice." Bastila reasoned
Terri snorted in amusement
"What is so funny now?" Bastila asked
"Just had an idle thought. I wondered how much raw talent the council throws away in a year. They let Fay walk away, a qualified healer who had aced the most rigorous medical program on Coruscant in her spare time to become a doctor too. You have that girl Luna who is a qualified pilot, that they wanted to ship of to some farm, yet they rely on the fleet to fly them around." Terri replied
"That does seem wastefull. I guess they are just so stuck in their ways that they cannot think of doing things differently." Bastila mused
"We have really corrupted you, haven't we?" Terri smiled
"What do you mean?" Bastila demanded, slightly indignant
"Criticizing the council, punching out masters. Drinking in cantinas, getting arrested. Now we just need to get you to start swearing and wearing provocative clothes." Terri teased her
"Getting arrested was a mission complication." Bastila objected
"But you are not disputing the other statements." Terri pointed out
"Fine, you win." Bastilla sighed. "Yes I am more liberal in my thoughts and actions than before."
"So about that provocative clothing." Terri said leadingly
The watcher stirred as Fay opened her eyes. A water bottle was held to her lips and Fay drank gratefully.
"How long?" Fay asked
"Two and a half days." Marina answered.
"Going to need some help here, need the refresher something bad." Fay said
The older woman easily held the healer upright as she hobbled to the refresher. Once Fay was done Marina helped her back to the bed and pulled up the covers. She passed Fay several protein bars and another bottle of water. She patiently waited as Fay wolfed down the meagre meal.
"That took more out of me than I expected." Fay stated truthfully.
"Yes, we had to ban Bastilla, Terri and Lance from coming in here, we were all getting rather worried you were asleep longer than you predicted." Marina said, stroking Fay's arm
"There was a lot to fix, had to stay in longer than planned" Fay shrugged.
"You are as bad as that granddaughter of mine, no hurting yourself to help others is that understood, missy." Marina scolded.
"Yes, mam." Fay said, contritely
Marina stood up.
"Now I will be back with real food in moment. Should I get something for Melissa as well?"
"Yes, she will be awake pretty soon."
"Good then I will bring Karana and Anaka in as well to help clean you two up. Now, no standing up by yourself, you will wait for someone to help you."
"Just who is the doctor here?" Fay groused, smiling slightly
"Mother and grandmother outranks a doctor any day, or do I need to call your mother in law in to lay down the law?"
"We are not that close." Fay objected
"Yet, dear girl, yet." Marin replied walking away
Melissa felt as if she had been in the desert with how dry her mouth was, yet her bladder was demanding urgent attention. Strong arms lifted her from the bed and carried her to the toilet.
"We will let you have water soon, but first we have to ensure we do not have to clean the bed." Karana said, jokingly
Despite her joking tone Karana was worried for her adopted younger sister. She had lost a considerable amount of weight, her ribs standing out slightly on her chest. The mass of bruises were yellowed as they finally started to fade. Akana was already starting to fill the bathtub. After letting her finish on the toilet, Karana lifted Melissa into the bathtub and handed her a large bottle of water. Akana was starting to wash her as Melissa greedily drained the bottle.
"I can do that myself." Melissa objected as Akana kept on with washing her
"We will decide what you can do, grandmothers orders." Akana ignored the objection
"As soon as she is done we will tuck you in and start spoon feeding you some broth while we have some hot chocolate." Karana added salt to the wound
"How about we skip the broth and let me have the chocolate." Melissa countered
"Till you have regained several kilograms, that would be a no. Fay has prescribed a very strict diet and we are all under orders to see that you follow it."
"What happened to the rebellious older sister?" Melissa tried another tactic
"Nice try, adika. Fay handed the diet to the Buir's , there will be no deviations from it. You will just have to get used to broth and soft vegetables." Karana laughed
"It could have been worse. Fay could have put you on baby food, you know." Akana added
Karana lifted Melissa from the bath and carried her to the bed, after holding her up for Akana to dry her off and get her dressed in underwear. Akana bought a tray containing two covered bowls over. Despite her protest Melissa felt her stomach growl as she smelled the meat broth in the one bowl. Karana filled a spoon and brought it closer
"Now open wide, here comes the freighter." Karan grinned
Melissa finished her meal and managed to get through a second serving, feeling satiated she started feeling tired again. Before she could sleep there was something that had to be done first
"Could you call Mission for me please?" She asked Akana
Mission came in looking nervous. She hesitantly sat down on the edge of the bed and would not make eye contact. The older two women left the room. She cleared her throat.
"What is wrong, Mi?" Melissa asked
"I feel like scum doing this now, but we need to break up," Mission blurted out a moment later
"Can I ask why?" Melissa asked carefully
"When you were in that tank I had a lot of time to think, I kept thinking I should be more upset than I was and then it hit me…"
"That you love me but you are not in love with me." Melissa finished for her
"Yes, I kept running through everything and while everything we did together was great there was something missing but I never noticed before."
"Almost as if we were finishing a to do list of couple things." Melissa clarified
"Yeah, you must think I am a horrible person now and I will understand if you hate me." Mission rambled
"Mi, I can never hate you. Like you I realised there was something missing. I love you like a sister, you are family to me, but we can not be more." Melissa said gently.
"Can I at least have one last kiss before we end this?" Mission asked
"As long as I can get a last grope in, sure." Melissa replied
"Pervert." Mission grinned, her eyes brimming
The kiss was long and sweet, saying more in emotion than words possibly could. Melissa pulled Mission down next to her
"Mi, I want you to promise me something." Melissa said stroking Mission's lekku
"Anything." Mission replied
"Don't get all noble on me and think of running away to give me space. I need you here with me, more than ever before. We may no longer be girlfriends, but I will always love you. If you need some space though I will understand, just don't leave me, please. I can't loose people I care for."
Mission softly kissed her forehead.
"Go to sleep. I will be here when you wake up. I will always be around for you." Mission said
Mission waited till she was asleep before standing up. Terri was outside the door leaning against the wall. She simply held out her arms and Mission rushed into her embrace. Terri held the crying girl tightly.
"What you did took great courage, I am proud of you, little sister." Terri whispered to Mission
"Why does it hurt so much?" Mission demanded
"Because you built expectations and dreams and now it cannot be. We are hurt more by regrets than we know, but living a lie would have hurt you a lot more." Terri gently said
Terri led Mission to the galley where there stood a tub of chocolate ice cream with two spoons stuck into it.
"Now me and my little sis are going to finish that tub and moan about girlfriends who cannot see how wonderful we are. Then we are going to find exactly it is you are looking for in a girl and we are going to hunt her down for you." Terri firmly stated
"I…"Mission started
"No, you do not want to be alone. If I leave you alone you are likely to do something you will regret later." Terri broke in.
Terri held the girl as she cried herself to sleep. They might not have been truly in love but a break up no matter how amicable still hurts irregardless. She made a promise to be there for both of them. Bastila softly entered the dormitory. She looked surprised to see Mission in Terri's bed
"They broke up." Terri mouthed
Bastila motioned to herself and then the cargo bay area and made a walking gesture. Terri mouthed a thank you at her. Bastila walked to the cargo bay to see Melissa moving fitfully in her sleep. Karana and Anaka were watching her, concern etched on their faces.
"I will take over." Bastila said.
"Thank you." Anaka replied
Bastila made herself comfortable in the bed and pulled the covers back over Melissa. She placed an arm over Melissa and softly started crooning a barely remembered melody. Melissa relaxed slightly and pulled closer, placing one hand in Bastila's.
Melissa woke to the smell of food. Bastila and Fay were quietly chatting while eating. Fay looked over and realised she was awake
"Good morning. How are you feeling?" Fay asked
"Hungry." Melissa replied
Bastila brought over a lap tray and placed it over Melissa's legs before uncovering a bowl of porridge and another of fruit pieces. Melissa ate hungrily and the other two finished their meal. Breakfast was followed by passive physiotherapy and another embarrassing bath. Fay with occasional input from Bastila started explaining force heal to her, the implication being she needed to practise it on herself once they were done. Something nagged at the back of her mind.
"Bastila do you still have the data from that first contact drone?" Melissa asked
"Yes, I do. Why do you ask?" Bastila replied
"Can you look up a few names for me there, you will probably find them in the section on religion."
"That is a strange request, can you clarify a bit?" Fay asked
"I just need confirmation first before I can tell you all." Melissa hedged her answer
"I can do that for you. What are the names?" Bastilla responded
"Aphrodite, Clotho, Lacesis, Atropos and Adrasteia." Melissa listed them
"I will tell you what I find." Bastila promised
"Thank you, now I guess I better start taking this force nap then." Melissa said
Terri found Bastila looking blankly at the screen of her datapad, tapping a finger on the edge of the device. Bastila startled as Terri lightly touched her shoulder
"How long have you been standing there?" Bastila asked
"A few minutes, what has you so lost in thought?" Terri asked
"Melissa had me look up a list of names. What I found has left me perturbed.'
"What did you find?" Terri prompted
"It is more what the names signify. The information she asked me to look up was from the first contact drone data. The religion section. Four were goddesses of fate and the fifth a love goddess." Bastilla answered
"You know she is probably pranking you, right?" Terri rejoined
"The thought did cross my mind, so I checked both the ship terminal and my datapad if anyone had accessed it. The file has not been accessed by anyone but me. I had T3 check if maybe the file had been accessed and the entry erased, but it found no traces of the file being sliced." Bastila continued
"So we need to have a long chat with our bondmate then." Terri replied
"There is more but not related to Melissa." Bastila added, hesitantly
Terri made a go on gesture
" Have you won or seen anyone win a game of chance against Ellia?" Bastila asked
"That is a bit random, but no, now that I think of it."
"I read further from the file and came upon something just as troubling. There was a mention of a group of young women named the oracles of Delphi. Now I am as sceptical of predicting the future as anyone, but cannot discard it as the force gives us a limited prescience at times and there are force visions. But Ellia seems to be gifted beyond normal, she knew before any of us did that Melissa had coded in theatre, she knew she was coming back before any of us. I have never seen her lose a game of chance. I also saw her side step someone just before they dropped a piece of pastry from behind her that would have hit her otherwise, the force will not warn you against dropped food"
"What are you implying?" Terri asked
"That is the thing I don't know. But we seriously need to find out." Bastila replied
Terri's comlink chirped a message alert tone. She groaned as she read the message. She rubbed her hand across her face
"We need to go bail out Mission , she got herself arrested." She sighed
Mission was sitting in her favourite booth at the Last Round listlessly stirring a spoon through a melted pile of ice cream. Misses Maria Webster slowly waddled up to her table and sat down. Mission looked up in surprise not having heard the pregnant woman approach.
"What is wrong Mission? Did you and Melissa have a fight?" Maria asked
"We broke up." Mission sighed dropping her spoon into the bowl
"I am so sorry. What went wrong?" Maria consoled her
"Nothing, and that is the problem, we realised we were better off as friends than girlfriends. It would be easier if one of us screwed up or we had a fight." Mission moped
"Do you really believe that?" Maria asked gently
"No."
The door to the cantina opened and a farmhand strode in. Normally this would not be an abnormal occurrence, however this one looked straight at Mission and marched over. The green skinned twi'lek looked vaguely familiar to Mission
"You Missio n'Vao?" The girl demanded
"Yes I am Mission Vao." Mission emphasized her preferred pronunciation of her name
"Lena is my sister. You have greatly upset and insulted her and I am here to clean your clock." The girl snapped
Mission stood up and unbuckled her gun belt, placing it on the table. Maria tried to pull her down.
"Mission don't, you don't want to do this. Talk it through," Maria protested
"Sorry Misses Webster, but a fight is exactly what I need right now."
Mission pointed to the door
"Shall we take this outside, By the way what is your name?"
"Selin a'Fourie."
Selina did nod not wait to step outside and threw the first punch. Mission rocked back a bit at the blow and gingerly touched her split lip. Seeing blood on her fingertips she gave a small smile
"Lets do this." She muttered
Mission moved in throwing a left high kick, rocking Selina back as she failed to effectively block. She moved in and threw a gut punch. Selina grunted and returned with a face punch. They did not notice Maria making her way to the cashier station and pressing the alarm button.
Marshall Thornton readied his stun blaster as he heard the sounds of breaking furniture inside the cantina, cries came from within as spectators urged the fight on. As he was about to step in, the window shattered as two bodies came tumbling through it, clawing and scratching as they grappled. He lined up and fired, the two spasming as the electrical stun bolt brought their fought to a draw.
Terri stopped in surprise as she stepped into the cell block to find the two combatants actually joking around with each other. Bastila and Lena also saw the picture but was far from amused by it
"Selina! Explain yourself!" Lena demanded
"That includes you too, Mission." Bastila added
"We had some issues, we sorted it out." Mission shrugged
Thornton cleared his throat behind them
"Both have refused to lay charges against each other, and miss Vao have declined to lay charges for property damage on miss Fourie. And obviously she cannot be charged for destroying her own property, so legally there are no charges. Since the fight was contained to a private venue they both cannot be charged with public misconduct. So they are free to go."
The two miscreants looked happy on hearing that, their smiles slipped away as they saw the faces of their escorts, realising they might have been better of in the cells. Terri motioned for Mission to come over as the force field dropped. Mission stood with a sigh
"Can I Com you later?"She asked Selina
"If Lena does not confiscate my comlink, yes. Somehow I think my movement is going to be restricted for a while though"
"Oh there is no think about it." Lena snapped visibly irritated
The trio was silent as they walked back to the Ebon Hawk. Mission tried to start a conversation a few times but was met with stony silence. On arriving she noted Marina and Daria impatiently waiting by the boarding ramp and tried to fall back, only to cry out in alarm as she levitated from the ground. Bastila nodded to the older women and pointed to Mission
"Don't be gentle." She said through gritted teeth.
Mission found herself being levitated in front of the elders on her feet before being let go. She could not look them in the eyes and shuffled her feet. Terri and Bastila walked past, leaving her to her fate
Bastila looked over her shoulder when she heard the sounds of berating beginning, she looked hesitant.
"Did we do the right thing by calling them?" She asked
"Bas, neither one of us knows how to effectively deal with a teenager. They have the experience to deal with it correctly. Do I feel like I sold her out? Yes. Do I feel guilty for doing it? No. She needs help I cannot give her, they can. Now we have another teenager to deal with, so game face on and lets get it done."
Melissa put down the datapad she was watching a holodrama on, barely paying attention to the plot as the door to the cargo bay opened and Bastila and Terri entered.
"Looking at your expressions you did find something in the records" Melissa started
"Yes, we did find references to the names you mentioned." Bastila stated
"I was afraid of that, so it means it really happened." Melissa sighed
She pointed to the two chairs.
"You will want to sit down for this, please just hold all questions till I am done and then we can discuss it. What I am about to tell you may seem insane"
Melissa shuffled in the bed till she was more upright and the two others waited for her to speak. Melissa reached for a water bottle and took a sip, her mouth suddenly dry.
"Let me start by saying I know exactly how was close I was to dying, Fay bringing me back twice was something I already knew. I remember falling asleep on Lothal and found myself waking here in my bed."
She lifted her hand as Bastila was about to speak and gave her a slight glare
"I knew something was wrong the moment I woke. For one I woke up naked, and I do not sleep naked. Two the fact that it did not seems to bother me. Three the ship was completely silent and no ship is ever completely silent. I got up and found my clothing locker empty and when I looked again I found it full. I got dressed and decided to check out what was going on, never did I think to look for a weapon to take with me. I found three people in the lounge."
She looked directly at Bastila
"One was your first master, Kashana. The second one was Berek and the third my father. They were solid, not like the blue see through state they appear like here when they manifest here, solid. I stupidly asked if I was dead and they told me that I was on the edge, from the way they explained it I was in a waiting area of sorts, that is the only way I can describe it."
She gave a delighted smile
"I got to spend some time with my father and grandfather, well pseudo grandfather. Time moves differently there so I cannot judge how long I was in there, but I think it was a long time, longer than I was in the kolto tank and in the watch unit. I actually got to hear my father say he is proud of me."
She fell silent, happily reminiscing. Terri and Bastila gave each other a look as the silence went on for several minutes
"What did you do in that time?" Terri prompted
"They spent time teaching me things and trained me, played games and we talked. I can actually cook now, though fishing will always elude me it seems. Then one day I suppose you could call it, I found a gate in a hedge and felt compelled to walk through it."
Melissa took another sip of water
"I walked through the hedges and into a clearing. I found one of the most beautifull woman I have ever seen tending to an ancient weaving device. She introduced herself as Clotho, a second woman showed up and I might have embarrassed myself a bit there." Melissa blushed
"How so?"
"She showed up naked and I could not stop staring for a moment, I had to remind myself I had a girlfriend. She was upset with me and kept bouncing as she berated me, I could not concentrate on what she was saying."
"So on a scale from one to ten?" Terri grinned
"Fifteen. As I kept reminding myself I have a girlfriend the third appeared and she was a solid fifty. I could not help but recall one my best fantasies and she complimented me on it." Melissa kept on blushing
"Aphrodite, I take it." Bastila commented
"Yes. Now this is the part that scares me beyond reason Clotho and Andrasteia are personifications of fate . Clotho sister Lacesis and Andrasteia are designers of fate for a basic decription. They said we broke or rather my presence broke the fate that was envisioned for you two. Clotho seemed delighted with it, Andrasteia not so much and apparently Lacesis was not there because she too was upset with me." Melissa said
"And Atropis?" Bastila asked
"Apparently it was not time for me to meet her. They allowed me to see all of you as you were around the med centre. Bastila that was a nice punch but you really have to keep your thumb out of your fist." Meliisa replied
She rubbed her neck awkwardly.
"Yeah that was a sobering experience. They gave me a chance to see the future but I did not use it on us. I felt that if I did that I would lose my independence if it makes sense. They were surprised but happy, it seems they value free will greatly. During that time my skin kept on tingling, the longer I was there the worse it got. What scared me the most is that they themselves were answerable to what they called the higher I came back."
She looked at the two older women as they processed her story
"What did Aphrodite say to you? Did it have anything to do with your break up with Mission?" Bastila asked
"She pointed out a few things that I have been ignoring. Did she influence me to break up with Mission. No, I don't think so, Mission actually broke of our relationship first and no you are the first ones I have told all this. She did keep on saying she wanted to introduce myself to her daughters."
Terri sat back and contemplated the ceiling for a moment.
"Bas, what did you find out on them?"
"They are all listed as goddess. Aphrodite is a major goddess and part of their ruling council of twelve as it were, she is listed as the goddess of love and lust, the other four are less important. Clotho is called the spinner, she implements fate, Lacesis or the allotter is the one who creates it and Atropos the inevitable is the one who ends everything,if I read correctly she is the one who decided when you die."
"That would explain why I did not meet her then." Melissa gulped
"Adrasteia is the goddess of inevitable fate." Bastila concluded
Terri sat forward and ran her hands across her face.
"I can see why you wanted to verify your facts first before speaking of this. I find the idea of higher beings as disturbing as you seemed to have found it." Terri said after a moment of thought
"They actually pointed out that we already believed in something more than ourselves. Be it science or the force." Melissa replied
"The question is where does that leave us?" Bastila asked.
"I don't think we need to mention me meeting actual goddesses, but I have some meassages to deliver from my father and I have one for you from your master Bastila."
"What is it?" Bastila asked
"That she is firstly very proud of you and secondly happy that you are pulling your head out of your rear as she put it." Melissa answered
"Did you meet any others apart from the three you mentioned?" Terri asked
"No, though I wish I could have met Carth's wife to get him a message from her to help him deal with his grief."
"I take it Carth said something that you saw in your vision?" Bastila asked
"Yes, and that will remain between me and him." Melissa firmly said.
"I agree passing on the messages is harmless, but bringing up the other part, no the others don't need to know." Terri concluded
Melissa leaned back deeper into her cushions.
"Actually, I do not think meeting them will have any effect overall. We were going to go after Revan's trail anyway before I took a little side trip. So ultimately does it really change anything apart from the fact that know we know there is more out there than we believed before."
"Not that I can see." Bastila mused
"So we get you back on your feet, kick your ass for putting as through hell as it were and go on with our lives."Terri concluded
"Yes to all but ass kicking part." Melissa answered
Bastila and Terri shared a look
"What type of big sister would we be if we did not each you to be more carefull through structured pain application." Bastila stated
"You both suck." Melissa retorted.
"And for that you have earned yourself another round." Terri remarked