Sylvana had shuddered at the chilling sound in Sci's voice while she disembarked from the Gaia, her pack thrown over one shoulder, a small bag in her hand. She said nothing, watching his swift retreating form as Emily asked the Mendellian if their commanding officer was all right.
A soft, sad smile played on her lips as she heard the explanation. She nodded, and without a word headed to the room she'd been given upon acceptance to Terra Group. Good, she thought to herself. Kids are the universal remedy. Mayhaps the child will help banish whatever it is that ails him?
Quietly, saying nothing to those she passed with a courteous nod, Sylvana headed to her room. She soon entered, not seeing the small being in the corner as she dumped her bags down on the bed and sat dejectedly on its edge.
The sound of excited twittering assaulted her ears, and she looked over to see Fate rolling over to her at a breakneck speed. She quickly pulled her feet up off the floor before he could roll over them. "Hi."
The droid twittered happily as she changed into something loose and comfortable, taking off the shoes and glorying in the cool flagstone and carpet beneath her bare feet. "That's better," she sighed.
The droid bumped against the bed, then extracted a gripping arm to pull out her datapad from one bag so she could see what he'd been dithering on about. She smiled a conciliatory smile, and picked it up, looking at it. She read about his antics, and things that had happened since she'd gone.
Something caught her eye. "The Destroyer?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Who the Sith is that?"
Obligingly, Fate rolled backward and a holo appeared on the floor between them. Sylvana sat back on the bed. Hard. "That's..." she pointed a shaking finger at the image.
The droid twittled, and she looked down at the datapad. "That's the 'Destroyer'?"
An affirmitive whistle.
"But... he's dead," she drew her eyebrows together and upward, perplexed. "Isn't he?"
The droid tweetled.
"No, I don't think he's dangerous. He's a nice guy. When was this?" She looked at the datapad as the droid blatted. "He really is alive!" she jumped up and spun around briefly in joy. Captain Josh Nolan had been the first member of Terra Group to befriend her. She was glad her dream had apparently been proven wrong. "Is he still here?"
A negative blatt was her answer. She didn't need to look at the datapad for that translation.
"What about... Corletti? Have you seen him?"
Fate didn't know.
She sighed, and sat on the edge of her bed. "Yeah, I guess he probably isn't. That'd be too much good luck, wouldn't it?"
After sitting there a few minutes, she tossed the datapad onto the coverlet and patted Fate's dome. "I'm going to go out for a bit. Probably try and hide in the gardens some. I'll probably come back tonight."
Fate's reply was lost to her as she wandered down the halls in the castle. They felt mildly claustrophobic to her, musty and suffocating; so she wanted nothing more than to scent the open air. After so many days either cooped up on a small ship, or surrounded by technology and man-made things, she just had to get away from it.
And so, barefoot, she padded out to the gardens, and began exploring their depth. A small smile lit her face as she found a brook, and walked along it a while until she came across an inviting tree. She'd always felt comfortable in trees, she knew why now, and so she scrambled up to rest among its branches in thought.
As she walked, she'd apparently stepped on a thorn; as throbbing in the heel of her left foot suddenly informed her. She reached down and pulled it out, seeing a few drops of blood well in its wake. Biting her lip slightly, she decided to experiment with one of her 'memories'. To see if she really could do what she seemed to recall.
Sylvana pulled her foot up and rested a hand over it, not touching. She closed her eyes, and concentrated. She imagined her heel as a piece of tightly woven cloth with a small hole in it. She visualised it knitting together. After a few moments, feeling mildly drained, she looked at her foot and swiped at it with the edge of her sleeve. The cut was gone, the small hole completely disappeared as though it had never been there.
"Interesting...." She settled back among the branches and peered through the leaves to the clear sky beyond. It was then that she realised how much she'd missed it.
She fingered the beads draped from the headband that Hobbie'd given her before they parted on Coruscant. Mildly, she found herself wondering if she would ever truly be willing to actually leave Terra; and if she wasn't... what then?