Once the Gaia had cleared Mendellian airspace and settled into its slow and innocuous route to Jerusalem, there really wasn't much for Thayer to do as Sci's copilot. Less than an hour into the flight, Sci, recognizing the Dictator's restlessness, suggested that he take a break.
Thayer considered and then nodded. "I'll do that. I've been thinking--I ought to go find your new recruits, anyway, and introduce myself, since I'll be working with them for a time."
Sci readily approved this plan--though to Thayer it seemed the Major's inscrutable expression gave way for just a moment to what almost appeared to be amusement, at the mention of the recruits.
He ducked out of the cockpit and into the body of the shuttle. Neither of the other passengers was anywhere in sight, so he began exploring, knocking on doors of side-chambers and peeking into corners.
In the very back of the ship was a door hanging open; beyond it, he could see what looked to be a storage area of some sort. He pushed the door aside the rest of the way--and his eyes widened at what he saw within.
The young woman who'd run into him earlier was cross-legged on the floor. There was a small cutting tool set beside her, and a small amount of blood pooling on her already much-scarred arm. She raised her opposite hand above it and closed her eyes tightly, as though in concentration. A small blue glow seemed to emanate in the small space between her palm and her skin, and when she wiped at her skin, there was no longer a cut.
With a happy sigh, she reached into a bag at her side, and pulled out a syringe. She drew out a small amount of some sort of fluid, and then jabbed the needle into her vein. At the sound of a slight gasp she looked up to see Thayer standing in the doorway - and she coloured quickly, a stricken look crossing her features. She bit her lip then turned her face away from him as she finished administering herself the drug.
"Er, excuse me," Thayer frowned. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but--what are you doing?"
"Headaches," she said simply. "I've had splitting headaches ever since going to Coruscant. I was giving myself a pain-killing drug."
"Oh." He looked unconvinced, and his glance drifted to where the cut had disappeared from her arm.
She pointedly said nothing as she put the syringe away, the blade disappearing as well. She stood, "Is there something I can help you with, Milord?"
"How did you do that?" he asked directly, still staring at her arm.
"Do what?" she hedged.
"It isn't bleeding now. It was when I came in."
She looked at him innocently as she flawlessly imitated his accent, "It was? You must have been seeing things, Milord. I see no blood," she looked down at her arm.
Thayer's eyes narrowed at the evasion; but after staring her down for a fruitless long moment, he let it slide. "Well, however that may be--I actually just came looking for you and for our other passenger to introduce myself, since it seems we'll be working together in Jerusalem. Now, however, I suppose the introduction would be a bit superfluous, in your case, Miss Lorrdain--although it did take me a moment to recognize you there, sitting still rather than tumbling to the floor," he grinned.
She put a hand up behind her head and laughed slightly, "I suppose so. I am so sorry - I just... well, I have trouble keeping my mind on the present." Then, with a slight bow, "Agent Doctor Sylvana Lorrdain, at your service," she said with a half smile.
"Once again, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance," Thayer returned the bow. "And I can understand about one's mind straying--after all, mine mustn't have been all too present either, or I'd not have been in your path."
"I'm sorry to hear that, but I imagine one of your station has much on mind." She paused a moment, "Speaking of mind, have you found use for that toy at all?"
"Oh! Good Grace, I'd near forgot about that. Yes, well, it was rather a pleasant distraction. But with all that's happened since then, I'm not sure where it's got to." He smiled ruefully. "Perhaps Kitten hid it away somewhere."
"It's very possible. If that droid's anywhere NEAR as eccentric as Fate," she shook her head and smiled. "A lot has been going on, hasn't it?" she said, suddenly a serious and slightly sad tone taking over.
"So it would seem," Thayer said quietly, lowering himself to a seat on a crate just within the door.
When he did so, she went back to sitting on the floor. "I must admit, I've had more adventure than I might like, these past few weeks." She shrugged, "But then again, I think I may thrive on it. It's nice that I'll finally be able to join the rest and really start making a difference."
Thayer nodded distractedly, staring off into space for a moment. When at last he looked back to her, his gaze was intense. "Do you know what we'll be dealing with in Jerusalem, Sylvana?"
"Well, technically, No. Hypothetically... I think I might."
"You're better informed than I, then; all I know is . . ." he broke off to backpedal. "Well, Terra Group needed backup, so presumably they expect trouble--which is nothing unusual for them--and I only hope I can help fend off that trouble." He shrugged. "What's your hypothesis, then?"
"Actually, you know about as much as I do," she shrugged. "My hypothesis? Well, basically it is 'anything that can go wrong, will'."
Thayer laughed--Sylvana thought she detected a hint of bitterness in the sound, but she didn't know him well enough to be sure. "You've been in Terra Group so short a time and already you've reached that conclusion? You're a fast learner, Sylvana."
"More like a confirmed cynic. Getting nearly killed in the lower levels of a city planet can do that to you," her voice was a touch bitter itself... as though there were something else she was thinking as well. Her accompanying laugh was one of self-deprecation.
"There's a story here, I see," he mused. "Well--there's an advantage to being nearly killed, you know. Survive it once, and perhaps you'll survive more easily the next time."
"If I had the advantage of using Bacta, I would probably agree with you." She spread her hands to either side, resting them on her knees as she sat cross-legged on the floor before him, "Unfortunately, I haven't that luxury."
"How's that?" Thayer asked.
"I'm allergic." she stated simply, then shrugged, "So it's old fashioned, or ancient fashioned as the case may be, healing for me."
Thayer gave a low whistle. "I've never heard of anyone being allergic to bacta. Mind you, then--this habit we've got of running into each other's paths had better stop once the shooting starts, if we can't be just dunking you in the bacta afterwards!"
That made her laugh, "I suppose so, Milord."
"A pact," he stuck out his hand on a whim. "No running into one another's line of fire. So sworn?"
She leaned forward and upward to shake his hand firmly. "So sworn, and duly noted."
Her grin was lopsided and genuine as she looked up at him from the floor. She tilted her head at him once they'd parted again. "Why are you coming along, anyhow? I don't mean to be disrespectful, Milord, but...." she waved a hand wordlessly.
To her surprise, he flushed slightly at her question and looked away uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, if you don't want to say . . .I shouldn't have asked," Sylvana began.
Thayer shook his head. "No--that's all right. It's just that not many people know the whole story--I don't think even I know the whole story, really that's part of why I'm going--yet everyone knows what the rumors are saying." He smiled and spread his hands. "But then, perhaps your time in Mendellia was too short for the rumors to have reached your ears. Perhaps it would be best if you heard the matter from me first."
"I never much listened to rumours anyhow - I prefer to know from the source, Milord," she nodded to him in a half bow. "If you don't mind, that is. I'm a good listener."
"Well, then, I'll tell you what I may--if," he amended with a near-feline grin, "you'll answer my question about that cut on your arm."
Again, the near striken look crossed her eyes as she looked on the ground before her in thought for several long, uncomfortable minutes.
Finally, she spoke. "I had had much of my past blocked from memory until recently. On Coruscant, Master Skywalker returned those memories. I was testing a theory on whether the memories could be trusted as real..." her unspoken hope they weren't was near tangeable.
"One of them involved healing, I wanted to see if I really could do that, but I didn't want to try when it really mattered. Who better to use as a medical guinea pig than oneself?" she said all these things without looking up at him.
There was a long pause before she heard him say: "You healed yourself. Based on . . . memories, you simply closed up that cut, like it had never been there, in the space of seconds."
She nodded, not looking up, "Yes, Milord."
Again a pause. "But how? Grace, Sylvana, had my own eyes not seen you do it . . ."
She was trembling slightly, so slightly one could barely see, but for the terrified look in her eyes when she finally raised them to meet his. "I... please, please don't tell anyone!" She bit her lip, "I don't want anyone to know.. at least, not yet... I just want to be a normal human being... but something like this can save lives and I'm a Doctor first... I... please don't tell anyone!"
Thayer looked pained. "I'm sorry. . . . Again, it seems there's a story here, but perhaps it's not for me to hear. I suppose I should be accustomed by now to strange talents in Terra Group," he smiled. "I'll let you keep your secret, if you'll let me tell you one in place of it."
"Yes Milord," she nodded. The man may be younger than herself, but he was in authority and deserved her respect.
"My secret's this," he said, leaning forward conspiratorially, such that she found herself leaning forward too before she realized it. "There are no normal human beings in Terra Group." He winked pleasantly and sat back again.
Sylvana blinked as that settled in, "You're certain?"
"As certain as I can be from a year or so of hosting them in the Palace," he shrugged.
"Not even the one you're marrying?" Sylvana teased.
Again he looked pained, his conspiratorial manner suddenly vanishing. "Some rumors you've heard, I see," he sighed.
She put a comfourting hand on his knee, "Forgive me, Sire."
An image flashed through her mind, of a ring hitting the floor in a dream she'd had. She gasped and pulled her hand away. "It was a mistake," she whispered to herself, remembering the feelings she'd had.
Thayer looked up, puzzled. "It what?"
"In the hallway," she looked up at him, understanding coming from some of her dreams, "And on the riverside. All a mistake."
"How do you know about that?" Thayer's face showed alarm. "The river . . . I thought not even the Mendellian rumor mill had yet taken hold of that."
She put a hand up to her head again, as though to massage away pain, "I had this dream... I don't know - I shouldn't have said anything, I...."
"I don't know," Thayer said quietly, "how it is that your dream should show such things--if it has indeed shown what I think; though perhaps it's just that I've leapt at a conclusion, hearing in your words an echo of what's weighed so long on my own mind, and perhaps there's no real connection between your dream and . . ."
He trailed off into silence. The silence grew as Sylvana blinked, waiting. Finally he shrugged. "You asked why I've come on this mission."
She nodded.
"I'm here because I'm thinking that your dream, if indeed it has any bearing on my situation, was right. It was a mistake--at least, the hallway was; as for the riverside, that's what I have to discover."
"Lord Atner - If there is something wrong between yourself and your fiancee, you need to speak with her."
"Indeed," he smiled sadly, "you are a fast learner. Come what may--I intend to speak with her."
"Just observant. I'm glad you will," she nodded. "I just know everything will be alright."
"So I'm told," he sighed. "Everyone's quite optimistic. I am not so certain myself."
"Do you love her more than life itself?" she asked bluntly.
"Even there I'm no longer certain," he shook his head.
"Well, you'd better figure that out, Milord." She leaned back on one hand and played with the beads falling from her headband with the other as though she were pondering something similar.
Both sat thinking for a long while, before Sylvana quietly opened her pack and pulled out a datadisc to look over galactic specs.
After a while longer, Thayer returned from wherever his thoughts had taken him, bid Sylvana adieu, and wandered off to discover whether the other new recruit to Terra Group were as peculiar--and as peculiarly intriguing--a person as she had proved to be.