Out of Time [Star Wars Story]

9. The Apprentice

Lorash picked up the bowl of food for Seia and took a deep breath. The sith had not emerged from her room even after dinner. Her dark emotions still battered at Lorash's serenity if the jedi padawan tried sensing, so Lorash had stopped trying. It would be easier to talk to her without engaging with the Dark Side within her, if possible.

"Good luck," Eso said with an encouraging, if slightly doubtful smile. "If she gives you too much grief, just, uh, run back here."

"Will do," Lorash promised. She turned and headed for Seia's room, steaming bowl in one hand and a mug of water in the other.

The door to Seia's room was closed, but it opened when Lorash went to knock, heat spilling out in a wave. The sith sat not on the floor, but on the edge of her bunk with the krayt dragon pearl in her hands.

The jedi padawan advanced nervously. "I brought you dinner."

Seia looked up abruptly. "I am not hungry."

"You should eat, Seia," Lorash said as she held out the bowl. It felt like dangling a piece of meat towards a wounded rancor. Seia was unpredictable at the best of times, at least as far as the padawan was concerned.

The sith warrior took the bowl, but set it on the bedside table instead of eating it. "Your feat today was more than I expected you to be capable of yet. You should take pride in your accomplishment."

"Do you want to talk about Yaikâ?" Lorash asked gently.

Seia hissed at the sound of his name, an expression of bone deep pain. For a long moment, she held her silence like a wall.

The padawan softened her expression and her voice. "Please."

"Do not overtax my patience, jedi." The rasp in Seia's voice sounded worse than ever before and those beskar eyes glared a hole in the wall. "You would not enjoy the outcome."

Lorash could take a hint. She hunted around through her endless array of questions about the sith for something that wouldn't set Seia off. "So you cook."

Seia sighed, but it seemed less hostile. "A fact that you have benefited from."

"You're pretty good at it. That's not what I was expecting." Lorash pushed a little, trying to find something that would defuse Seia further.

"I imagine you were expecting me to rip your head off and drink your blood for sustenance," Seia said, an edge to the words that might have been sarcasm. It was harsh and biting, but slowly, the muscles of her shoulders relaxed as she buried her pain again.

"I was trying to give you a compliment, Seia."

"I am aware." Seia sighed, running her fingers through her hair. Once she'd smoothed herself out again, she picked up the bowl of food. "I see the wookie cooked in my stead."

Lorash blinked in surprise. Seia had seemed completely involved in her own thoughts. Had she still sensed the entire time? "How'd you know?"

Seia plucked a long wookie hair out of her stir fry and held it up for Lorash's inspection. "His hair is wavier than yours."

"Is that the real reason you didn't want to eat?" Lorash asked. It was a dumb joke, but she said it anyway.

Seia raised an eyebrow at her, but the tempest in the Force around her seemed to ease by another degree.

"Sorry," Lorash said sheepishly. "I'm not known for jokes."

A ghost of a smirk curled on Seia's lips. "You're a jedi, aren't you?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Lorash demanded. It gave her a little hope to see Seia amused by something, even if it was coming at her own expense.