Premonition By Sylvana Lorrdain and Josh Nolan ------- There she was, standing in my doorway. "Josh..." Sylvana said, looking freaked. "Something is going to go very wrong here... and I think it's going to be soon." I shot a look at Dis - it must have been him who'd opened the door, I'd barely heard the knock - and told her, "Come in. Have a seat. What's up?" She wrung her hands a bit as she slowly entered the room, letting the door slide shut behind her. She didn't sit though as she looked at some point on the wall beside me. "I ... had a dream." I stood, thankful I'd decided to nap in my clothes, and approached her carefully. "What sort of dream?" "Blood... a nightmare really," she still wasn't looking at me, shaken for what could be many reasons. I didn't like this - whatever it was, it was something major. "Everything went mad here... " "How do you mean 'went mad'?" I asked, trying to get into her field of vision. "What happened?" She turned her horrified eyes towards me and locked on, as her twisting hands moved to hug herself. "Some kind of attack. Weaponry, mutilation... everyone was after everyone else. My... cousin was here, with a few other people, somehow everything got all tangled. I... " she closed her eyes tightly. "I even saw that nice Duros orderly's head forcibly removed..." she whispered. "Do you know when this is going to happen? How long have we got?" I had to ask. She shook her head, "It was too vague... I've only ever seen actions... sometimes it's as something happens, or after... I'm only guessing it's before," she shifted her stance, "Seeing as I've still got my leg...." "Your leg? You're going to lose your leg?" This was probably the point I decided I was officially weirded out. "Some kind of monsterous creatures get in during the chaos," She dropped her head, even though her eyes were closed. "One tried to eat me... that awful Herthrir cut off my leg to save me.... It... it was all jumbled up - I don't know what happened when.. it just happened, and I don't even know if we can stop it." She visibly shuddered. "Here, sit down. I'll get you something to drink." I tried to guide her to sit on a chair, while giving 'help me out here' eye gestures to Dis. Dis ignored me, but it was worth a shot. She hesitated a moment, then nodded, opening her eyes and watching the floor as she let me guide her. It was unnervingly like how she was on our voyage here - she seemed so insecure and broken. Frightened. At least it probably wasn't my fault this time. I sat her down, then raced to the sink, wishing I actually had something other than water. Even some of that cheap gutrot Randel hated so much would be handy. But no, I filled a tumbler full of water, chucked some ice in and brought it back to where Syl was shaking like a leaf. She accepted the glass with both hands, but seemed to stare at it, maybe fascinated by the patterns the breaking ice made. Maybe she thought they would tell her she was wrong. "I'm going mad... I must be, it's too horrible - this place, as awful as it is, is supposed to be safe..." she mumbled. I crouched in front of her, resting one hand on her knee. "This place is safe," I said, and hastily added, "For now," when her expression changed. "But listen. There are people here who're going to be looking out for you. I'm one of them. Okay?" Her eyes locked on mine again, narrowing. "Yeah..." the worry was back, "Until you get ..." she closed her eyes and shuddered, finally bringing the water to her lips. Oh, that was NOT good. "I get? I get killed, do I?" She didn't even look up. "Blade through the eye..." she whispered. I gulped. If I'd been a little weirded when she was talking about losing her leg, I was put out a little more by this. What do you say to someone who's told you you're going to get killed in the foreseeable future? I thought a bit, and decided to try and get a bit Yoda. "But there's no guarantee, right? You don't know for sure what'll happen." I kept my voice firm and level. I was quite proud of myself. "We don't know for sure it isn't.... Don't do anything stupid, Josh, please." She still didn't look up. "I'll do my best to keep my eyes away from blades. I make no guarantees on the stupidity - it's me, after all." I smiled a little, hoping she might, too. She looked up at that. "You're a lot smarter than you let on," she nodded seriously. Dis chose this point to make a loud blatt, which I figured meant he was paying attention after all. "You'll go letting out all my secrets," I said, doing my best to pay Dis no mind. "Fair trade," she tried on a small smile, that lasted barely a moment before she looked back to the water again. "Listen," I said, trying to find something I could do to ease the burden. "You get any more of these flashes, you tell me, okay? The more people who know about 'em, the more people who might be able to stop them. You with me?" She nodded, "That's why I came... to tell you. Everyone else thinks... knows I'm crazy. At least you humour me," a mirthless smile touched her lips at that. "You've got a gift I don't understand, Syl. I've seen - even done - a lot of crazy stuff. I'm not going to rule out anything just because you say it, okay?" "It's a curse," she frowned at the drink, looking as though maybe she would appreciate a bit of Randel's rotgut, after all. "Maybe so. But you don't have to bear it alone." I realised my hand was still on her knee, and I moved it off. The movement seemed to call her attention, as though she hadn't quite noticed before - and her eyes darted to look at my hand before meeting my eyes... then looking away. "I don't want to cause anyone trouble... I've done enough." There's just no talking to some people. "It's no trouble for a friend to help a friend," I said. "And you've got friends." Even if the friend you're talking to nearly killed you, I didn't say. She slowly nodded, as though to agree, then on a seeming impulse, threw her arms around my neck in a small hug. What could I do? I returned the hug, holding her until she started to move away. Whether or not the visions were actually real (and given that I kind of wanted to remain unstabbed through the eye, I was hoping they weren't) they were real enough to her. She needed to know people cared. Then she pulled away. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry Josh, I'm so sorry," she whispered as she withdrew. "For what?" I asked, stamping down the hope she'd stay on a little longer. "That I.. you... I don't..." she seemed unable of forming a complete thought, let alone sentence. "If it's about the eye-stabbity thing, that's not your fault. Unless it's you doing the stabbing, in which case I might have to hit you." "It wasn't me, I didn't see who it was, I can't even warn you of that, I.." she shook her head. "Well, that's a relief, at least." I took one of her hands in both of mine, and squeezed it. "We'll be all right. You'll see. We'll make it out somehow." And a cynical piece of my mind pointed out that if I was wrong, I'd be dead anyway, so I wouldn't have to face up to the consequences. "It's bad luck to be my friend," she said, but didn't pull away, as though she were thinking something out aloud. I almost made a crack about how my luck's always been bad anyway, but decided not to. Instead, I went with "Don't you know what the Jedi say? There's no such thing as luck." "I'm not a Jedi... and it's all about Fate and Luck when it comes to me." "I'll keep that in mind, then - we could luck out of what you've seen." I gave another little smile, trying to buoy up her spirits. She looked. She blinked. And again, then started shaking her head bemusedly as she chuckled, "That didn't make a lick of sense." "Hey, don't argue with my logic - there's a droid in the room," I whispered, and then tipped a conspiratorial wink. "Duly noted," the small smile stayed. Alleluia. I found myself returning it, and squeezed her hand again. I tried to think of something to say, but everything I thought of might have reminded her of what scared her so much - so I kept my trap shut. Her smile remained a few moments longer, before she got a determined gleam in her eye. "So, how do we prepare for battle, when we're not allowed weaponry? I don't have any of mine, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were still on Ear... Terra." "The Ewoks have a saying," I told her, and then yubbed it as best as I could. I nodded to her, without translating it, trying to keep a grin off my face. Her eyes twinkled, and she replied "Bell'ind - i curu ned na i er'minai i ista lin gar'goe an guruthos," Then, as a follow-up, "Nedh i lu im niphred, im anno nin estel vi Le, a Brannon Adar." Then, she smirked. "Touche," I acknowledged with a bow of my head. "Mine was 'A hunter who cannot find prey is nothing - a hunter who can find prey can never be." Basically, saying that as long as your goal's in sight, you can't be stopped. What's yours?" "Courage - the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death," she chuckled. "And also 'in what time I am afraid, I put my trust in thee, oh Lord," she shrugged. "not as inspiring, but," she shrugged. The last one actually dredged a memory up, and I began to giggle. Never mind that the me in the memory was scared to death, never mind the events that followed - that one moment now seemed hilarious. I took one of my hands from hers as I laughed, so I could gesture 'hold on' to her. She raised both eyebrows, seeming not sure whether she should be affronted, or laugh as well. She seemed to settle on bemusedly perplexed, which I guess is a good thing. "There was a time where I was afraid, and tried putting my trust in the Lord. We were heading up in the Home to the Admonitor, and I was certain we were all going to die. So I prayed, hard, and was so scared I prayed to pretty much every deity I could think of. I remember thinking, "Even L. Ron Hubbard, if he's not a total quack" or something." I drew a breath. "Sorry. There's something serene about your saying, but when I got scared, I was anything but. And that struck me as funny." She chuckled, "I suppose I can see where you're coming from." And then she drew in a breath. "It's actually a scripture verse... from the Psalms I think. I remember first hearing it in my mother's language... and the mantra of it kept me from giving up when I was young." I moved my hand back to hers and gave it another gentle squeeze. "The Big Kahuna isn't going to want bad stuff to happen to us. If there's a way out, we'll find it." "We'll find it," she repeated, squeezing back this time. I returned the squeeze, by way of affirmation. I couldn't think of anything more to say. She cleared her throat. "I... should probably go...." Ah well. "You're welcome any time, you know that, right?" "Not gonna bite my head off this time?" she asked teasingly - and I remembered how we'd ended the last conversation we'd had together. It stung, but I could tell she didn't mean anything by it. "Not if I can help it," I replied, grinning in spite of myself. She smiled that quirky half smile, one corner of her mouth lifting. "That's nice to know. Just... keep an eye out... er.. well, you know what I mean." "Yeah, I do. Like keeping my eyes peeled, only without the gross bits." I shuffled back from her a bit, letting her stand up. As she stood, she turned slightly to set the glass down, "Thanks.. for everything, Josh." "No worries," I told her, smiling. She looked at me for a moment, and I kept smiling at her, until I realised what her expression meant. "Oh," I said, and let go of her hand. "Sorry. Forgot I had it." She chuckled. "No blood, no foul," she replied, smiling before she headed to the door. "I think I'll go get something to eat, you want to come along?" she offered. My breakfast protested. "Um, no thanks, my stomach's still recovering from the polymer dung I had for breakfast this morning. But enjoy." "It's not very good... but I can't stand having an empty stomach," She shrugged and headed out the door with a small wave of farewell. I watched as she left, and closed the door with a sigh, bowing my head. I pointed at Dis without looking at him. "Don't say a word." The last I needed was his opinion of the two of us. Dis didn't even beep.