Starlight

Deteriorating

Osha rests her head against the glass door of the shower. She wishes the scolding waters would burn away all her worries and troubles, that when the steam clears everything would be easier, simpler.

Right now, Osha feels like she is drowning.

Her secrets are a boulder plunging into a dark ocean, her fears of losing everything if the truth is discovered, a shackle and chain that binds them. With each passing day, the boulder sinks further and further below the waves. It takes Osha with it, dragging her into frigid waters that threaten to fill her lungs and consume her whole.

She is running out of time.

Her place in The Order has always felt like it is hanging on by a thread, but now, The Stranger has the power to snip that thread at will. Osha suspects that The Stranger is keeping her secret, only because he wants her to leave of her own accord. To join him of her own free will.

How long he will remain patient is yet to be seen.

It would be so easy for him to send a secret message to The Jedi Order, revealing her relationship with Qimir. Such a claim would need to be investigated. If any proof were found then it would be grounds for immediate expulsion from The Order, for both her and Qimir. It was the perfect ace up his sleeve, a means to have her cast from The Order whenever he chose, right into his waiting arms.

Osha refuses to let that happen.

One way or another, she will find a way to protect Qimir and herself from The Stranger's mechanisms.

Osha turns off the shower and wraps a fluffy grey towel around her body. She smiles when she spots Buttons on the countertop, blissfully relaxing in a bowl of bubbly water she had filled for the little creature to bathe in.

"Since you're comfortable, I'll leave you in there for a while longer." Osha kisses her fingertip and then touches the Shura on the head with it, earning her a content purr. "No falling asleep. You got ten more minutes."

Osha leaves the refresher, switches on her bedroom light-

"You missed Intergalactic Politics this week."

And nearly jumps out of her skin at the unexpected voice, her back hitting the refresher door.

Her eyes fall to her bed, startled to find Qimir lying there, looking perfectly relaxed for an uninvited intruder. He is dressed in his cotton sleepwear; a flowy white shirt and trousers, while his Jedi robes sit neatly folded atop her vanity table. His legs were kicked up on the bed, his back propped up against the pillows, her sketchbook held in his hands as he idly flips through it.

"I see you've made yourself at home," Osha scoffs.

She is floored by the audacity of this man. Letting himself into her room without an invitation? Already in his sleepwear as if it was a given that he would be spending the night? Osha lets her displeasure be known, crossing her arms and giving him a firm glare.

"What happened to being discreet?" Osha asks pointedly. "Because sneaking into my room past midnight, when Yord resides three doors down, is the exact opposite of discreet."

"That's why I came in through the window."

Osha blinks at his nonchalant declaration. Her eyes shift to the window, finding it left ajar when it had previously been shut and a puddle of water on the window sill. Outside, rain lightly patters against the glass, a firm wind shaking the panel. If Qimir had climbed all the way up here, it would not have been an easy feat.

"You actually came in through the window?" Osha murmurs, stunned. She gives him an incredulous look. "And you think that is more discreet than sneaking down the hallways?"