Repairing Beyond Ambition - Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order fanfic *EDITING*

Chapter 11

It was late. Cal couldn't even settle and he knew everyone else was in their cabins. His mind was thinking far too much and too fast for his liking. He decided to get up and go for a quiet wander around the ship. He proceeded into the main area of the Mantis and learned that Altheeda too had the same idea. She sat on the sofa with her legs tucked towards her, she had taken off her over-shirt, wearing only her long sleeve shirt; her hair out of its half up-do, flowing in dishevelled waves. He rarely saw her with her hair completely down, but as untamed as it appeared – he found it quite charming.

"Mind if I join you?" He spoke softly.

The pair didn't want to disturb the rest of the ship, so in response Altheeda turned to him with a small smile and patted the empty space on the sofa next to her. He walked quietly to the sofa and sat by her side. He had no clue what to say to her, what they could talk about; then he remembered back to the Jedi Fighter at the scrap yard.

"You know what's ironic?"

"Hm?"

"Prauf and I – we found a Jedi Fighter today, moments before he found out about me."

"Really? That's so..."

"Weird?"

"Yeah, a little bit."

Silence again.

"Do you think it was a sign?" She spoke thoughtfully.

"A sign of what?"

"Doing what you're actually meant to be doing?" She proposed. "You being a Jedi?"

Cal fell silent, it was quite possible, a freaky coincidence; but he didn't know how to respond. He sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"I haven't processed it all." Altheeda said softly, her grey eyes glistening in the dim light. "I'm half expecting to wake up tomorrow on Bracca, getting ready to go to work and meet Prauf in the morning."

"I know..."

"Except... we'll never get to see Prauf again. We never got to say goodbye to him."

"I feel like it's my fault."

Altheeda turned to him and shook his head at him.

"Don't you ever say that." She spoke sternly. "None of this is your fault. Please look at me."

He timidly looked into her eyes, they were filled with reassurance.

"Feel what you need to feel, but please just remember that what happened to Prauf was not your fault. You know I would be completely honest if it was."

He gave a small smile and looked down to the ground.

"Theeda?"

"Yeah?"

"... Do you think I can do it?"

"Do what?"

"What they want me to do; rebuild the order?"

She sighed and gave him a look, she could tell he was run down, lacking confidence in himself; the events that had just unfolded were definitely the cause of his timid demeanour. She remembered how he started off that way when he first joined the Scrapper's Guild and over time, he came out of his shell, volunteering himself to do all the risky work. She admired him for that but in present time, he needed something to get him back to that frame of mind.

"I think your confidence has been knocked." She stated truthfully. "It's not something to be ashamed of, it's understandable. To me, I think what they're possibly asking of you is a lot for one person."