The Survival of Two

Early Mornings

Osha woke much earlier than usual, her mind far from quiet. Her body was whirring with anticipation over the pact she had made with Qimir. She had agreed to train with him. She almost felt nervous—she hadn't trained like this since she had left the Jedi. She couldn't believe she could still use the Force, much less as strongly as she had on Brendok. The Jedi had always taught that if you didn't stay active with the Force, your grasp on it would disappear—and by all rights, hers had! She had tested it now and again when she was alone. She would try to summon a tool from across a corridor or pull hard-to-reach wiring closer to her, but it never worked. Each failed attempt saddened her, but there came a day when she accepted her loss and eventually stopped trying. But now, she had an opportunity to reclaim this missing part of herself.

Knowing she couldn't possibly fall back asleep, she slid out of bed and started preparing a kettle of tea. As the water was beginning to warm, she grabbed a change of clothes and ducked into a nook along the cave wall. After making sure Qimir was still asleep, she turned towards the cave wall and quickly stripped out of her old clothes and into the new ones she had found. She crossed back over to the kettle, rushing to pull it off of the heat just before it started to whistle. She could wake Qimir herself once the tea was prepared—being startled awake by a shrieking kettle wouldn't be a good start to such an important day. She poured the water into two heavy ceramic cups and set the kettle back onto the heating element, turning it off so that it wouldn't boil again. Rooting around on a high shelf, she pulled down a tall, dark jar. She shook out a handful of dried herbs and divided them between two small mesh cages, which she dropped into the cups. She picked them up and strolled back to her bed, setting them on a nearby table while she straightened her blankets. Satisfied, she watched as the liquid in the mugs slowly turned to a deep amber hue. She retrieved the strainers from within the cups, and walked them back over to the shelf, setting them in a small bowl to be used again. She looked down, wiping the moisture on her fingers off on her pants. As she lifted her gaze, a flash of blue caught her eye. A small, cerulean metal box was carefully tucked behind a stack of wooden bowls. She grabbed it, turning it over in her hands. It was shut tight, and the surface was smooth and clean; it stood out against the well-worn, soil-toned jars and pots. She pried at the lid, but she couldn't manage to get so much as a fingernail beneath it. After struggling with it for another moment, she pulled a small knife from her belt and wedged the point beneath the inset lid. She worked the blade back and forth until finally, the lid popped off. She flailed to catch it before it could hit the floor, not wanting its metallic clang to alert Qimir to her snooping. Placing the lid on the counter, she peered into the canister, breathing in a familiar scent—one she hadn't known in what felt like years. The box was filled with dense blocks of sugar, pressed into the shape of various creatures. She plucked one in the shape of a convor from the top of the pile, breaking off its tail and dropping it onto her tongue. She closed her eyes, relishing in its sweetness as it slowly dissolved. She fished a second sugar creature from the canister before pressing the lid back onto it and placing it back on the shelf. Not wanting her tea to get any cooler, she hurried to the table beside her bed, dropping what remained of the convor into her cup and placing the other sugar creature next to Qimir's. She knelt down beside him and softly placed a hand on his shoulder, hoping to nudge him awake.