A Mother's Touch

HIS SACRIFICE, HER GIFT

Sometime during the night, his fever broke.

The Stranger remembered fragmented bits of consciousness where Osha stood vigil over him, hovering like the mother skura that lived with her family on the beach. Drained and sore from his excursion on Dantooine, he gritted his teeth and sat up. Almost fainting, he second guessed that decision and laid back on an elbow until the cave Interior stopped spinning.

He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths to steady himself before opening them again, and then slowly sat up. Barefoot and barechested, he was wearing in his usual pants. His wounds, multiple burns from the Force-Lightning, were dressed, including the lightsaber injury to his left hand.

The cortosis helmet, the bracer, and his lightsaber were on the workbench with his clothes folded neatly beside them. He panicked for a moment, wondering if she had found the reason for his side trip to Dantooine. The cord from the velvet bag was sticking out from beneath his cloak and appeared unopened. That amazing girl! he thought. His heart ached for her.

There was no way of knowing, without asking Osha, how long he'd been out. He looked around the cave, disappointed when he did not find her. So he swung his legs over the side of his bed, not certain if he could even walk when a shadow moved across the cave entrance.

"You're awake!" Osha rushed to the side of the bed and stood on tiptoe beside him. "I was beginning to wonder if I was going to end up fighting off Jedi at the nearest med-facility or planning a burial at sea."

"A thermal detonator at the mouth of the cave will do," he replied, cocking his head to the side. "This place wouldn't be so bad as a tomb. Besides, I get seasick."

Osha laughed at his cynical attempt at a joke. "Well, you're alive and breathing, so let's not even think about it."

"Thanks to you. Excellent dressings, Osha." He smoothed the bandages about his waist. "I couldn't have done better myself."

"I had a good teacher." Osha smiled, but the expression soon faded. She leaned against the bed, troubled. "You say you did this for me? Was this a test? A test to see if I'd make a good Acolyte?"

She had been discarded once, by the Jedi Order, thrown away and rejected. The last thing the Stranger wanted was for her to think she was unworthy in his eyes. "If it was a test, it was a test for both of us." He cocked his head back to stretch his neck. "And I'd say we passed. With top marks."

"The power of two?"

"Yes."

She curled her fingers in the black blanket over his legs, avoiding any eye contact. "You called to me. Because I was ready. And I answered."

"If you hadn't answered, I might be dead. Or worse." The Stranger laid his hand over her fingers to quiet her fidgeting.

"But then you tried to send me away. When you were still in danger." Her voice vibrated with a flurry of emotion, and he felt her rising anger, an indignation that came from the mere idea of his loss. "You're with me," Osha said adamantly. "I'm with you." She drove her fists into the thin mattress.

The Stranger leaned over her and whispered in her ear. "Always one, but born as two." He took her by the chin and forced her to look at him.

"Unless you send me away," Osha said, her body trembling, "I will never leave your side."

"I promise to never give you a reason to leave." The Stranger bowed his head, hiding behind the dark strands of his bangs. "I want to show you something."

She had to help him down, keeping an arm around his waist for support. "Careful," she warned. When he shivered in the dampness of the cave, Osha took the blanket from his pallet and draped it over his shoulders.

Removing the velvet bag from beneath his cape, the Stranger retrieved the triangular object from within it. The crystalline relic glowed a fiery red, casting its crimson light over his chest and face. He handed it to Osha, reverently, his fingers lingering over hers as she carefully received it.

"W-what is it?" Osha whispered.

"What do you think it is?"

"A holocron?"

The Stranger tilted his head, appraising her reactions from the shadow of his long hair. "Yes."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Osha scrutinized the holocron, enraptured by its smooth texture and vibrant colors. "I only heard of these in stories at the temple. Younglings weren't even allowed on the level where they were kept. They're so rare. It's hard to believe they even exist." She turned to him, her eyes glazed with unshed tears and her lips drawn up in a snarl. "This is what you risked your life for? But why? You're already powerful with the Force. What can this do for you that you can't do for yourself?"

The Stranger grinned and tilted his head to the side. "It's not for me, Osha. The holocron is for you."

"But why?! You could have died!" She was furious, believing herself unworthy of such a gift or the peril involved to retrieve it

He chuckled, the way he always did when she failed to understand the importance of a lesson."When properly attuned to the wielder, holocrons can hold considerable repositories of knowledge. Imagine if you had one place to store everything your mother taught you?"

"My...my mother?"

"Imagine practicing your exercises with her. You can archive those lessons and track your progress, taking what she taught you and storing it here." He put his hand on top of hers. "Forever." A head taller than Osha, the Stranger stood over her and looked down into her bewildered face. "Please don't be angry with me." He then took her hand, longing to kiss each delicate finger, but restrained himself. "Lately I'm not so certain who's been the master and who's been the pupil. But your mother? She truly knew what she was doing."

Mention of her mother always sent Osha into a kind of traumatic shock. She wavered between his reassuring face and the cryptic holocron in her hand. "What do I have to do?"

"Meditate and master the relic. Work your way through the layers of the holocron and into the center. Until it is yours, solely yours to command." Though he felt haggard, there was an exhilaration to be with her and the untouched relic. "It'll take some time, but you will reap the benefits almost immedi—"

Osha interrupted him with a kiss, a prolonged kiss that became the inhale and exhale of several shared breaths. The Stranger shuddered, leaning back on the old generator. He laid his forehead against hers, swaying on unsteady legs. His fever was back, or was it a fever?

She raised her chin and kissed him again, her mouth lingering over his lower lip, drawing it in. She loosened the cloth belt about his waist.

The Stranger pulled away. "Osha," he whispered, "I did this because I wanted to. I—" He went quiet, his jawline tightening. "You don't have to do this."

"Remember when I first saw you bathing in the springs? You invited me to join you?" Osha set the holocron down beside their makeshift cooker and shrugged out of her shirt. "The worst decision I ever made in my life was wanting to be a Jedi. The second? Was refusing to get in the water with you."

It was cold in the cave, but her breasts were warm against his chest. The Stranger let the blanket cover them both." Wrapping her arms about his neck, Osha pushed him back to the edge of the small pool where he had made his bed. She knelt down onto the tattered throw rug and pillows, straddling him.

His muscles were taut, the veins showing, as if he were braced for a fight. Anchored by his strength, she held onto his shoulders as the Stranger cradled her face in his hands. "Are you sure?" he whispered, brushing the locs back from her flushed cheeks. He wanted her, but not unless she wanted him with the same ardent passion.

She parted the dark forelock hiding his eyes and kissed his forehead. "When I took my sister's place to train with you, I knew exactly what I was getting into...exactly...and I don't regret it."