Telti Obrim stopped at the door to Fi's sickroom. She leaned against it and blew air out through her puffed cheeks.
"Bardan, dear," she said slowly, a strained look coming into her eyes. "My daughter is one of the most truly gifted people in the galaxy. She's smart, she's compassionate, she's observant and she's a pain in the ass when she's right-which she usually is. But...she's..." Jusik's brow rose as she stalled. He could hear the music he'd been warned about pounding through the wall. Since the walls were build to be virtually soundproofed he'd already braced himself to be blown away inside. "She's eccentric, I suppose."
Jusik met the other woman's gaze, no expression on his face.
"We allowed it and even encouraged it a bit when she was younger. She far outpaced her peer set and giving in to her whims seemed harmless then."
"I understand that homeopathic medicine has achieved as much as biochemistry and other modern technologies, ma'am. There's been a great deal of research-"
"It's not that, dear," she said. Her face begged his understanding. Jusik felt the force tentatively again. Nothing alarming. There was concern in the front of him and in the room beyond. But there was also a peace beyond spaces normally occupied by people. He felt a being with strong passions and strong emotions and just...strength. And with that strength came a blessed certainty and that peace that came with conviction.
The distraught woman tried to explain. "She trimmed his hair. She didn't like the patches and all. But she didn't just shave it; she trimmed it close. So that he woudn't feel self-concious about it. And she went out and got herbal supplements. She has prisms and crystals and stones and inscribed lanterns and scented candles all over the place and she got hold of some nutritional supplement normally used for premature infants. It's supposed to do something to something and is different than the feeding tubes used in geriatric and coma patients because of some carbon bond thing. So he's hooked up to that. And she keeps spooning some sort of infused tea into his mouth. Just tiny drops of it. But she uses his hand to do it. I just wanted to warn you-things might be a bit more...difficult until she goes back to school."
"It's okay, Mrs. Obrim," he assured you. "I grew up with the mystic mob. Nothing much gets to us. Plus I feel pretty confident in my methods regarding Fi's healing. I won't say that I'll accept all of Miss Obrim's suggestions without question, but I'll consider them fully and respond respectfully no matter what, okay?"
Telti Obrim looked less relieved than resigned.
She shook her head a bit as she twisted the knob and let the door swing open.
The first thing Jusik noticed was that the curtains had been changed. A sea-colored swath of sheer material hung from the rod now, allowing more light into the room. A trio of prisms had indeed been hung in the corner of one window. Somehow the bold emerald cut seemed masculine instead of fanciful. He scented jasmine and clay and something rich and dark and sweet.
Fi's eyes were still partially opened. His color was up; he looked much, much healthier. His hair seemed stark. The black mess of it had been worn a bit fuller than regs on Kamino had dictated and Jusik had gotten used to that longer hairstyle. Obrim's daughter had left it in what seemed very much to be a modified crew cut. Or a wide, flat mohawk, depending on your point of view. The bare patches that had accomodated sensors had been blended in as best as they could be. The result wasn't unpleasant, merely different. Jusik reached to turn the music down just a notch or two. His hand was still on the control when he heard his hostess hitch in a deep breath.
"Oh, for the love of-"
A grin broke out on his strained face when he caught sight of the daughter, who seemed to be meditating. The dark-haired beauty was sitting cross-legged in the traditional lotus position. Her hands rested easily on ankles looped over her knees. A huge, wide band of multicolored bracelets raced up one arm. Matching rings-one in translucent turquoise gemstone, the other in something dull and opaque and resembling permacrete-balanced each other on each thumb. The woman's feet were bare below trim trousers and a no-nonsense tunic both in shades of grey. And neither her feet for her legs nor her hind end were anywhere near the couch, the chair, or the floor.
The jedi couldn't help his reaction to the sight.
"Check it out, Fi," he called. "Somebody brought us a body to play boloball with." A small gesture-just a soft flick of the wrist-sent the woman's form into a slow-motion tumble. Her long hair, nearly as dark as Fi's, brushed the cushion of the sleepcouch she'd obviously started out on as his manipulation of her still form spun her in a complete vertical 360°.
"Dammit, Bardan," Telti Obrim hissed. "Somebody has to be the adult here."
Jusik's grin was matched by the teenager's as she floated back into her original pose. The younger man watched as she exhaled slowly, bringing her body back down to the synthafiber sleepcouch in a smooth, controlled motion. She let her eyes slide back open and grinned at her mother as she rubbed at the strange sensation in her lower legs.
"Bardan, this is my daughter Maone Meskey. We call her Meek. She's not, but we tried. Meek, Bardan Jusik. Bardan is the one who's been working with Fi. He's a friend of your father's."
Meek was already extending her hand as she untangled her legs and rose. "I've heard about you, too. Lots about you. Fin and Leath are impressed. Dad's always been impressed. I met Besany Wennen this afternoon and she was impressed. So either you're an efficient con man or you've taken good care of my dad's hero here."
"I try. He's precious to me."
Meek smiled again. "Good. Then you can call me Meek. I'm really not, although I think it's too pretty not to hear at least a couple times a day. So you're going to put up with me until Fi's well enough to tell one of us to shove it, okay?"
Jusik found himself nodding. The young woman stood a bit shorter than he and radiated goodwill.
"You got it. You cut his hair?"
Meek nodded. "Besany said that she felt like she was violating him by touching him when he couldn't send any signals one way or the other. But I'm a toucher anyway and I don't usually give in to people's whims, so I did it anyway. Da said you healed him by laying hands. Are you religious or are you using some sort of accupressure?" As she spoke she slid a hip onto Fi's bed and gently stroked the back of his hand, then traced the curl of his ear.
"I'm a jedi knight, actually," he said. "I'm just gathering the force, then envisioning the brain tissue healing itself and becoming fully functional again."
The young woman's head jerked and he caught a gleam in those eyes that made him feel like prey before a large, calculating predator. "Good. I'm going to consider that good. Force adepts have proven throughout history to be capable of a great many things. Where science and faith fail, you might give us an edge." She leaned forward and tapped Fi playfully. Her next words were whispered and obviously meant only for the man on the bed. Jusik could have bent his will to receive them, but he allowed the woman-child the bit of privacy she wanted. "You hear that, little brother? My dad brought us a jedi to make you come back to us. I'm so excited. You stay here and work with Master Jusik and I'm going to go memorize more sequences. And maybe by the time you can recite the Forsaken Tenants of Teraphy I'll have worked out a way to get your whole life back. Yes?"
Jusik's heart ended up in his throat as he watched her lean close and kiss Fi gently on the forehead. Tears were in Meek's eyes as she leaned back and stood up to stretch.
"Don't move anything, okay?" she asked without looking at him. "I look young, but I've studied everything and I have several different schools of thought going in here. Some of them borrow energy from different focuses and some might cancel each other out. So don't move anything and don't change his drip until I say so, okay?"
"That's fine for now. Later I'd like to discuss some of your sources, if that's all right."
"I left his armor where you had it," she told him, arching a superior look over her shoulder at him. "I didn't mess with your mojo. Fi's going to be fine again. So I'm going to be looking over your shoulder at every step and making sure he gets the best of everything. I'll be the care droid. Okay, Master Jusik?"
"Call me Bardan. I get the feeling we're going to be getting to know one another pretty well." He looked back and forth from the man in the bed to the woman standing beside him. "I didn't think Fi had a girlfriend."
She looked shocked. "Oh, shit. Some girl's out there wondering why he isn't returning her comms?"
The jedi faltered. "I meant...you look as though the two of you were very close. You seem very attached."
Meek's smile became ageless and wise. Her eyes gleamed again with that superiority he found very reassuring. "I am attached to him. This man, of his own free will and with disregard to his own well-being, dropped himself onto a grenade in order to protect the unarmored bodies of strangers. I hear his story every time I come home for a break and run into CSF bodies. My dad's men got to go home that night thanks to him. They'll live until the next time they're asked to go into the line of fire for civilians. So he literally gave them life. And I'm going to by God return the favor. I am subscribing to the theory that anybody that brave or that stupid doesn't go down during routine ops. So it's just a matter of finding the right combination to getting him up and running again. His scans look amazing already. You've done a good job. Obrims are very protective of family. Very protective. So there's no harm hedging our bets when it comes to the newest member of the family."
Jusik watched her face. There was fire in her. Passion to protect a way of life that belonged in holovids. He didn't want to be around when she realized the futility of wishing for a fair and equal world. "How old are you?" he asked.
"Eighteen. I know I'm old enough to know better." Her hands went to her hips. "I see no reason to give into defeatism and pessimism. I've always gotten exactly what I want out of this life. There's no reason to stop now, is there?"
"Good guys don't always win," Jusik told Fi after the girl had left the room. "But you fell into the cream this time. Now let's make it so you can actually enjoy all this attention, eh, vod?"