Farm Fun

[Reuben Azari]

It had been five long years since leaving the farm and his family behind to join the Jedi and while he didn't regret it, he often felt a longing for home that until now he could never visit. He would have come with Avan only he didn't know where his cousin was, he hadn't seen him for a week and no one else seemed to know where he was either- something he would keep from his aunt and uncle for now, for their own sakes.

He was greeted the day before with surprise, none of them knew if they would ever see each other again but it wouldn't last, he would have to leave again soon, unsure if he was even allowed to visit his family. Reuben didn't think it was a problem, though the Jedi weren't supposed to form attachments, his family were safe in rural Corellia as far as he was concerned, he would never do something irrational to protect them because they didn't need protecting. That was the problem with taking on old padawans, not that the Jedi had much choice since they were quite desperate for members, they would always remember their previous lives and those familial ties couldn't just be cut.

His aunt had gone into town to go to the market and his uncle was in a field on the other side of the farm, it wasn't a very successful farm but it gave them enough to live on and not much more. Reuben had spent most of the morning trying to de-weed one of the fields that had become overgrown, wearing a shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow and trousers rolled up to the ankle since they were his uncle's and so far too long but he didn't have any of his own clothes here that fit since he left when he was fifteen and had grown considerably since then.

After a few hours, he got off the floor and wiped the dirt from his palms onto the side of his trousers, there was still a lot to be done but his aunt and uncle would be back soon and they appreciated help with the cooking. He climbed over waist-high fence that separated the fields and as he was on the fence the height gave him the advantage of spotting a figure among the grass which looked like it should've been cut months ago.

After a moment of trying to decipher what the shape was he quickly came to the conclusion that it was a person and jumped down off the fence and ran towards them. Reuben kneeled down beside what appeared to be a young woman and apparently unconscious. He gently shook her shoulder, though with a sense of urgency. "Hello? Can you hear me?" He asked, hoping that he would somehow rouse her.

@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

Reuben would suddenly feel a spike in the darker side of the force from the girl as she suddenly sat up with a scream. The most she shot up in a sitting position, her magick flared up, her eyes devoured, completely showing green glowing mist instead of eyes. The girl's hair began to move in unnatural ways as if underwater and just floating. The girl turned her face towards Reuben and within a few seconds, the spike of the dark side from her fell again as she went unconscious again

A sort of warm feeling to Reuben's hand as he had his hand on her shoulder, turned out to be blood as blood from the girl's shoulder would be on his palms. Not only the blood ran down her shoulder but her stomach had some very deep cuts with blood slowly making its way down the side of her stomach and drip from her side to the ground.

Whatever had happened to the girl, it really tore into her, even weaken her enough to lose consciousness, despite Reuben shaking her shoulders. It wouldn't take a doctor for the Jedi, to figure out that if this girl wouldn't get some kind of help, she would most likely bleed out in the field that surrounded the home of Reuben's family's farm.

@Sunfrog

 

[Reuben Azari]

Reuben gasped and pulled his hand away after feeling a sudden surge in the dark side from the young woman and watched in shock as she sat bolt upright and screamed, eyes a green mist, hair floating, he watched with bewilderment having never seen anything like it but in a few moments it was over again. It took a few seconds for Reuben to even partially comprehend what had just happened and to realise that the wet feeling on his hand was blood.

Quickly, he mentally debated with himself about what he should do, could he bring her into the house? Should he? If she was a dark force user then surely she was his enemy... or at least that was what he had been led to believe. He had no idea what his aunt and uncle would think about it if they knew he was bringing a dark force user into their home, though with any luck they would never know. But there was no time to think about it in great length, he had to act now, there was no time for any other decision and he was not willing to let her die under his responsibility.

He carefully slid an arm beneath her knees and the other behind her shoulders and picked her up but since time was of the essence then he couldn't afford to be too gentle. He walked quickly to the house, kicking the door open as he walked in and through the living room, into the bedroom he shared with his cousin. After placing Eithni gently on Avan's bed, he opened the wardrobe and pulled out a few old shirts that were far too small for him and used them to try and stem the flow of blood from Eithni by applying them to her wounds with pressure, this was only the first step, there was still a long way to go after this.


@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

Eithni was in a very deep slumber as she was pulled up in Reuben's arms and carried off from the field and towards the house. When Reuben placed Eithni on the bed, she moaned a bit in pain and turned a bit back a forth, but ultimately laid still and only moving her thorax as she was breathing slowly. Eithni's face even looked peaceful as she was unconscious.

She had some very weird dreams, maybe even call them nightmares if she was awake right now. She dreamt of running away from shadows, or more as in shadow people and everytime she thought she would escape them in the dream, the shadows would appear in front of her. A few times as she laid on Avan's bed, the dark side would spike forth in her and her magick would flare, giving her the green glowing mist eyes.

The bedsheets would quickly stain from the blood running down her shoulder as Reuben placed pressure on her deep cuts on her stomach. While it helped, he would still need to find a way to get the bleed to stop, clean the cuts and of course close them, or no matter how pressure he placed on her, she would bleed out.

@Sunfrog

 

[Reuben Azari]

If Reuben didn't act fast she would be beyond saving but it was all happening so fast, he felt panic rising within him. He hesitated for a moment before rushing to the living room and quickly searching through disorganised cabinets, grabbing a small bottle of rubbing alcohol and then filling a jug with water from the kitchen before returning to Eithni's side and kneeling by the bed. Using a clean shirt, he used a mixture of water and rubbing alcohol to try and gently clean the wounds, it was just as well she was unconscious because it would've definitely stung but it might well also save her life.

But it wouldn't be enough, not unless he could close the wounds and he was no surgeon but there was the force on his side and he would try to use it to his advantage. It would require a clear mind, which would definitely be a struggle but he had to try nonetheless. Reuben took his hands off Eithni and instead placed one over her abdomen and the other over her shoulder, closing his eyes as he did so, attempting to attain calmness and use the force to heal her. He hoped to at least relieve some of the strain on her body, even at a cost to himself.

@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

Eithni was in a strange limbo land of some offputting surrounding. It was hard to describe what she was looking at as the surroundings kept shifting form, never staying long with one type of look. "Hello?! Anyone?!" Called Eithni with both her hands cubbing around her mouth to get the call to go further. No reply. After Eithni had called out a few other times, she gave up and decided to find a way out of this strange place.

The strange part was, however, completely covered in black smoke, the path she walked on seemed to be of physical material. Or to be exact, the smoke path wasn't shifting in place every few seconds and she didn't fall through the path. As she continued to follow the strange smoke path to, somewhere? Eithni wasn't exactly sure where she was going. She just started to skip her way down the path, looking around the very strange place, often stopping by the edge of the black smoke path to examine the edge and every time she placed her hand on the floaty shifting ground, her hand went right through.

However, when she did it again, her hand felt cold, as if all life from her hand withered away. Eithni quickly pulled her hand back with a loud "yelp" and began to feel her hands for any damage. Nothing felt wrong and her hand felt as normal, which made Eithni now really cautious as she continued down the path of endlessness.

She suddenly felt somebody behind her, but when she looked behind, no one was behind her. "Whoever you are, leave me alone!" Yelled the Dathomirian girl and waited a bit for somebody to show itself, but nothing came. She continued down the black smoked path for unnoticeable among of time until she now heard footsteps behind her. Eithni now snapped around, getting both nervous and alarmed as she scanned the surroundings. "Quit it already!" She yelled annoyed and was about to draw her bow, but Eithni only tried to grab air behind her back.

The footsteps grew louder and closer, but nowhere could Eithni see anyone come at her, so she panicked and just dashed down the black smoked path as fast as she could. A sharp pain shot through her whole body as she was shocked a good chunk through the air by something rock hard. She landed with a loud painfully thud and screamed a hiss out as she had landed on her back.

The moment she was struck in her unconscious nightmare, she began to moan which quickly transformed into hoarse breathing in the bed when Reuben placed his hands on her, trying to heal her. It was almost the girl's body and her subconscious was fighting against Reuben's attempt to heal her. She even unknowingly began to turn and shake a bit with sweat showing on her forehead.

Back in Eithni's nightmare, she was desperately fighting what looked like a shadowing form of herself with the same glowing green eyes when Eithni used her magick. Eithni flared her own magick, surrounding her whole body with the ichor spirits, or that was what normally would happen, instead of nothing. Nothing happened and her face got slashed by sharp shadow claws and then knocked all the air out of her lunges with a knee. Reuben could literally feel it through his hands, a poison that slowly tried to eat Eithni's lifeforce away until her heart would stop beating. However, Reuben would also feel how his attempt at healing Eithni, fought the poison coursing through the girl's veins.

@Sunfrog

 

[Reuben Azari]

Despite the effects his attempt at healing may have on her body, Reuben knew this was the best chance she had at survival at the moment and concentrated all his focus and energy onto healing her. Last time he had attempted to force heal he had less than desirable results although it could've been down to the trying circumstances he was in at the time, although it was stressful under the circumstances now, there was no risk to his own life and he wouldn't have to remain constantly on guard... hopefully- though he still didn't know who or what caused the wounds.

Using force heal was particularly draining both mentally and physically, though the consequences would be worse if he were attempting to force heal himself, but this was different to the last time he attempted to force heal. Last time it was just a broken bone but this felt like there was something internal fighting back, it was difficult and he didn't think he would be able to totally heal her but he hoped he would be able to give her the best chance at survival by healing her until she wasn't in a critical condition and could be tended to with medical attention without the use of the force.

@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

What Reuben would start to see, was the veins began to glow a sharp bright reddish colour all over her body where she could feel the poison. Slowly it began to slither its way towards where Reuben's hands are placed on Eithni. Closer and closer the poison came and while that happened, blood began to show in the corner of her mouth.

Reaching both hands, the poison lit up like a star and suddenly the Jedi heard the young girl on the bed cough and cough violently. As she coughed continuously, a black substance splashed out of her mouth and landed on the floor and mattress. Eithni breathed in a long breath as if she had been drowning and Reuben just saved her from having water in her lungs.

There were showing tears in the girl's eyes just from how much she continued to cough for a good five minutes. After the coughing died down to just minor coughing, she laid back in the bed and just sighed contently. "Note to self, don't prank a crime lord" commented the girl to herself, making a mental note. That was when Eithni felt the presence of Reuben beside her and actually gave her a tiny shock. "Who are you?! Why am I? Why are you standing ov~ ouch!" Began the witch to ask Reuben a bunch of questions, but was interrupted by falling out of the bed and landing on her back, hitting her head.

"Ouch~," said Eithni and started to rub her sore spot in the back of her head, sitting up on the floor, seemingly for just a minute forgotten about Reuben again.

@Sunfrog

 

[Reuben Azari]

Finally the force seemed to be having some effect on Eithni with whatever was damaging her body from the inside finally revealing itself and becoming less potent though he was worried when blood showed in the corner of her mouth but he knew he couldn't stop now, not until he knew it was safe to do so, so he closed his eyes again to concentrate and continued but opened them when he suddenly heard her cough. He took his hands away from her and moved back to give her some space while she coughed up whatever was in her lungs, hoping that she was out of the woods now that the most serious of the damage seemed to be dealt with.

Reuben was shocked at the black substance that came out of her mouth, it was indiscernible but what she said next helped to shed some light onto what might have happened to her for her to be in this situation but then again she had just woken up, the validity of her words couldn't be determined yet. She seemed panicked when she saw him, understandably so, she must've been in a threatening situation when she was attacked and now she wouldn't know if she could trust him or not but then again, he didn't know if he could trust her yet either. "Are you ok?" He asked, in shock after all that had just happened. "I'm Reuben, I found you outside, you were severely injured." He replied to her as he knelt beside her, ready to put her back on the bed if she was unable to get up herself.

@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

While rubbing her sore spot, she laid her eyes on the stranger as he kneeled down beside her and back away into the corner. Eithni eyes locked her eyes with Reuben as she pulled her vibroblade dagger from behind her lower back area, hidden under the ragged hooded coat. "I-I was?" Asked Eithni, clearly disoriented after waking up. Quickly glancing around the room, trying to get a sense of location, but all she could gather was that she was in a room that this Reuben guy carried her inside.

"Found me... outside?" Asked Eithni and while still holding her dagger pointed at Reuben, she started to pat around her hips and at the lower part of her back frantic. "No-no-no! It's gone!" Said Eithni with a more panic voice. Lightning-fast she grabbed around the front of Reuben's clothes and moved very close and looked him in the eyes. "Where's my pouch?!" Asked the panic girl, but before he was allowed to reply, was the girl jumped over the bed and dashed out of the room. With the door slammed open, disappeared Eithni out of the room and down a small corridor until she stood in an empty room looking for an exit. Quickly she found the exit and was out into the open courtyard by the farmhouse. As she stood in the open air it suddenly struck the girl, she had no idea where that Reuben guy had found her, "damnit" cursed Eithni under her breath and took a chance as she went for the nearest field.

However, as she went with determined steps, buckled the legs under her and she crumbled in the courtyard, feeling the exhaustion in her body after getting healed and the poison removed in her. Now, Eithni was a stubborn girl, really stubborn and started to fight her exhausted body, to get over to the field.

@Sunfrog

 

[Reuben Azari]

Reuben was surprised that the young woman was threatening him with a vibroblade but he couldn't say he was too offended, she was likely disorientated from her ordeal and afraid of the unfamiliar environment. He held his hands up to show they were empty and he was unarmed, hoping to provide her with some comfort that his intention was not to harm her, though he would likely need to gain her trust.

Everything happened so quickly and in a few moments she was gone, no doubt searching for whatever pouch she professed to have lost, so Reuben knew he had no choice but to run after her to try and stop her from further injuring herself, she was not yet in the best of shape. "Wait!" He called out to her as the distance between them increased.

As he got outside he watched her collapse in on herself but valiantly attempt to fight her body's weakness. When he was close by her he crouched besides her. "I'm not going to hurt you, I can help you with what you need but I need you to be calm and trust me." He spoke gently, trying to reason with the girl so that she would not try and run again thus injuring herself further. As for trusting him, he didn't know her opinion on Jedi but hopefully it wasn't too negative.

@Raven_41

 

[Eithni Vala Stark]

Eithni heard that Reuben guy as he wandered up beside her as if she was a cripple girl and she cursed her weaken state right now. If she was unable to find her pouch, she would be laughed at her sisters and get so much scolding from her mom about losing it. After fighting her weaken state a bit more, she finally gave up and just laid there on the ground. With the little strength she had left, she was able to roll on to her back, looking up at the clear blue sky above her. Her ruby-coloured eyes moved from the blue sky to Reuben.

"I need my pouch~ It's important to me" explained Eithni in an almost begging tone. "It's not very big, it's brown and most likely going to be where you found me... I am not moving until I get my pouch!" huffed the stubborn girl and she wanted to cross her arms, but her body was too tired and refused to listen. So instead, she just huffed and was a stubborn girl, unable to move or actually stop Reuben from just lift her up and carrying her back inside.

Actually, in truth, Reuben could do pretty much anything to Eithni right about now and the white-blondish-haired girl was in his mercy. She wouldn't even be able to use her magick in order to help her out of her tired situation.

@Sunfrog

 

[Reuben Azari]

The young woman was definitely stubborn, certainly an admirable quality to some, though it could also be foolish depending on the situation. Here, Eithni would be in safe hands, as long as she didn't prove to be a threat to himself or anyone else then she could stay with him for as long as she needed, at least until she was able to take care of herself.

Hopefully she wasn't too inquisitive or cultured otherwise it wouldn't take much for her to realise he was a Jedi, though she didn't seem the most threatening at the moment you could never be certain how people would react to a Jedi in such a divided galaxy, especially since there was certainly a presence of the dark side of the force in the young woman which generally pertained a dislike for light side users. The presence wasn't overwhelming but it was there, Reuben just had to determine whether or not there was an appropriate threat to match.

"Ok, ok, just... wait here." Reuben instructed, as though she was going to do anything else. He retraced the steps he had taken earlier back to where he had found Eithni and sure enough found a brown pouch of indeterminate importance to the young woman and picked it up without inspecting it or giving it much thought, it didn't seem like much so whatever it was must've been of sentimental value, or so he thought. He returned to Eithni and held the pouch out to show her. "Now will you please come back inside and rest? You're not well." He tried to reason with her and crouched down beside her again, ready to pick her up should she be unable to walk.

@Raven_41