The Twi'lek pulled the blanket off the cot and stood with it in her hands, looking at her former master with wide eyes. He had always been kind to her. Well, compared to others... And seeing him in such a state was very difficult for her. Her lekku curved painfully.
If she hadn't met a worker in a worn-out jumpsuit at the pub and talked to him, Karvo wouldn't have sold her to a new master, and the new master wouldn't have saved him from the bandits who tormented him so much, the lethan thought.
"But if we hadn't met – maybe Muha wouldn't have been hurt at all?" it suddenly occurred to her. It was because of their acquaintance that everything started. Karvo started working for Rick. He came into the sight of these terrible people. And suffered so cruelly...
She perked up her ears: the Toydarian was trying to say something.
"Th-th-they wanted me to lead them to the ship..." Muha rasped. "I refused... Then they ssssaid to call for a meeting. I called. I warned them. I hoped Nemo would understand."
"Nemo understood," Sher said softly. "You are a heroic person, Mr. Karvo. Everything will be fine with you now. You are on the ship..." Sher's words were sincere and came from the bottom of her heart. Little, scrawny, brave Muha... Who would have thought that a mediator would stand to the death, defending the client's interests? Literally – to the death.
"Where does it hurt, Mr. Karvo, what's bothering you?" she asked tenderly, carefully cutting away pieces of fabric that were once clothes. Ampoules of local anesthetic appeared from the case. She would have to inject it to set the dislocations. Deformed, swollen joints, bruises, and burns on the skin... The proboscis... The wings... "Ah, a bacta chamber would be so useful right now... – Sher thought. – Or at least some kolto..."
"Everywhere," Muha rasped. "But not too much. They beat me..."
"I'll help," Larius reminded her softly. "I know how to do that. But first, he needs to be placed somehow. I can't hold him and treat him at the same time."
"Yes, yes... Of course..." Sher glanced briefly at the mercenary, taking out a scalpel. "I forgot... crazy regeneration, no bacta needed..." she looked a little confused. Three gifted people out of eight on the ship?
"Well, Weimi, hold the blanket stretched by the edges... Mr. Karvo, you'll have a bed like this now..." Sher quickly worked with the sharpened scalpel with jeweler's precision, cutting mesh holes for the wings on one side. And this helped her somehow come to terms with the reality where suddenly almost everyone around her turned out to be gifted. But complete reconciliation was still a long way off...
Together with Weimi, they constructed a decent hammock. It would hold Muha for a couple of hours with 100% certainty, and maybe much longer, considering the Toydarian's weight. Into the holes made in the edges of the durable synth-cloth blanket, Sher made strips from the same cloth, which were then reinforced by her and Weimi on the cabin's screws.
"Done," Sher jumped to the floor after testing the hammock's strength.
At that moment, the door opened, and a disheveled navigator appeared. He didn't look like the killing machine that had recently burst in on the captain, but if Bus were here, he would definitely have identified him as "dark." The echoes of a brief fight – or, more accurately, a slaughter – still disturbed the Force around him, like a thrown stone disturbs water, even after sinking into the depths. Larius didn't give any definitions – she was very busy.
"Help me carry him," she said to Nik. He nodded understandingly, and Mr. Karvo, supported by two forces, was safely placed in the hammock.
The doctor's gray eyes widened even further when she saw the navigator beside her. Wider and brighter, her expression immediately shifted from worried to joyful. "Nick... - her tenderness touched his mind, heated by battle. - I was afraid I wouldn't make it in time..."
But then, regaining her composure, she turned away to connect the bioanalyzer to the datapad. A few touches of the keyboard, her heart still beating very fast, and the symbols on the monitor once again shifted her attention to the wounded man. "Multiple dislocations, fracture of two ribs on the right, ligament tears... Hemarthrosis in one joint. Fractures... Monstrous..."
"Mr. Karvo, don't worry," Sher took out syringes. "I'll give you a shot of anesthetic now, so you'll be more comfortable enduring my manipulations. And then I'll set the dislocations and splint your wings."
"And perhaps you'll be able to fly again..."
She carefully felt his ribs with her fingers. "There it is... Step-like. Bone crepitus. Carefully move towards the spine. No, everything is really fine there. Here's another step, on the next rib... Thank the universe - internal organs are not affected. But the blood spilled from the joint will have to be removed..."
With quick movements, she injected local anesthetic into all the dislocated joints of the little alien, especially the one with hemarthrosis.
"It's going to be a little unpleasant now," she smiled apologetically at Muha, "but it won't hurt, I promise..."
A long needle for puncture, another warm smile to Mr. Karvo - and, checking the image on the monitor, she extracted the accumulated blood from the cavity. Now, carefully set the dislocations... And splint with spray...
While she was tending to the wounded man, Nick and Larius stood silently behind her. Their presence was felt, but their attention was focused on what she was doing, not on her herself, and therefore it was not oppressive, but... strangely supportive. As if Sher was now leading and guiding them, and receiving silent approval for her actions. Where the doctor finished, the gifted ones began to act. By the end of the procedures, the crippled intermediary looked noticeably better than at the beginning, although he was still very far from full recovery.
Wrinkled eyelids drooped as he was left alone.
"Let him sleep," Larius said quietly, stepping away from the hammock.
Nick didn't move away...
Sher took a breath. Splints were applied, the fractured rib area was anesthetized. The fracture was uncomplicated, no fixation was required. The only thing that worried Sher was the possibility of respiratory distress, as lateral fractures are harder to tolerate. So Muha tried to breathe shallowly until the anesthetic took effect. This means one must be wary of stagnant phenomena and pneumonia...
Hematomas and burns were treated, as was the proboscis. Necrosis was avoided, and after that... After that came the processes of recovery and regeneration, which would be rapid in the toydarian. Sher was somehow sure of this...
Still not taking her attentive eyes off the falling asleep Muha, she subtly took the navigator's hand.
"Thank you, guys, thank you, Larius," she glanced at the mercenary, and in that look, besides warmth and gratitude, there was something else. "Veymi, you worked excellently too," all this was said in a whisper, so as not to disturb Karvo.
Nodding, the Twi'lek slipped out of the cabin to finish with the records. Larius, after a slight hesitation, followed her with the words, "If you need me, call," said in a low voice.
Dry, strong fingers squeezed Sher's palm.
"Are you okay?"
"Thank you," Sher replied a little belatedly to the departing ones, no longer looking after them, no longer taking her eyes off the navigator's face.
"You weren't hurt, Nick?" Her voice soared to an unimaginable height. "I'm perfectly fine," she added quickly.
"I didn't have a single opportunity to do it," his grin was almost predatory, but at the same time outlined his newly sharpened cheekbones. "I was very careful. We just came, without greeting, took Muha, and left without saying goodbye."
The navigator looked back at the sleeping alien and hugged Sher - barely holding himself on the edge where a simple strong hug turns into a steel grip. His dry lips burned her breath.
"You were worried."
It was not a question.
"You felt it..." the tone in which she said it was upset. "Did it bother you?" Her slender fingers gently slid over the navigator's sunken cheek and smoothed his tousled, gray curls. "You didn't get to rest..."
"Of course, I felt it," Nick pulled her towards the bunk, sat down, placing the girl on his lap and rocking her slightly, like a child. "It was very... motivating to survive," he finally found the right word. "I have someone to return to now, Sher... That's enough reason not to take unnecessary risks."
"Always return," she turned his head to her, holding his face in her palms. "Even if not to me... But I'll know that you exist in this Universe. And I won't be able to live if you don't exist in it."
And there was something in those watercolor eyes that left no hope for her to have other options.
She wanted him to hear her, but not to draw his attention to it.
"And how did you learn to braid a braid? And how do you know that hair can get tangled?" she asked, enchanted, touching his cheekbones with the back of her fingers, where the skin is thinner...
Nick rubbed against her palm with an almost cat-like movement.
"My mother had beautiful hair," he replied softly. "Like yours, only dark... I loved playing with it when I was little... She always braided it at night, saying that otherwise it would be impossible to comb in the morning. She taught me."
Nick spoke, and she saw this strong, willful, indomitable, perhaps furious man - as a child, with clear green eyes... Tenderness pierced her sharply, to the point of pain. To protect, to shield at any cost... to make his life joyful, to shield him from grief and despair, so that he never forgot how to smile... She hurried to hide her eyes, which had become too shiny, hugging him around the neck.
"I'll make you some caf, okay?"
"Together?" he suggested, burying his nose in her crown. The emotions were too bright not to feel them. Too attractive... "Mr. Karvo can do without us for half an hour?"
"Half an hour? I think so... He's breathing normally," she said, turning back to the patient and listening intently to the toydarian's breathing.
The cocktail of anti-shock, analgesics, and local anesthetics was working conscientiously.
"Half an hour, yes," Sher smiled, returning her gaze to Nick's face. She couldn't get enough of him, as if she hadn't seen him for an eternity. "I'll leave the door open... I have spices for caf that Mr. Karvo brought me. Shall we go?"
"Let's go," Nick agreed, lifting her up. "Or rather, let's ride..."
The door opened by itself, even before the sensor activated.
"Nick, I've been walking on air lately... I'll completely detach from the ground," she said quietly, touching his temple with her lips and tightening her arms around him.
Only for a few seconds did Sher loosen her arms when the sensor was above her, to disable the door closing function.
"...told the pilot," Nick chuckled merrily, carrying her down the corridor. "Who spends much less time on the surface than above it. Get used to it."
The galley was empty, quiet, and tidy.
"Shall I warm something up for you to eat?" Sher asked solicitously, already lowering her feet to the solid surface, but not interrupting her flight above the clouds. "Your cheekbones have become sharply defined again..."
Her fingertips, barely touching, outlined the navigator's gaunt face, and then she stepped back, threw her braid back, and began preparing, smiling secretly and returning her gaze to him. The words she heard in her half-sleep... She remembered.
"I'll soon become fat, good-natured, and stop catching mice," Nick grinned, watching her. "It's because of Acceleration. It makes the body live faster, minutes pass in seconds, and you have to pay for it. That's why I try not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Resources... are not limitless."
"You live faster? Sixty times faster?" Sher stopped smiling, her hands froze over the plate she was about to cover with scrambled eggs. "And... how often have you had to use it?" she asked in a slightly tense voice.
"I haven't counted," the navigator sniffed. "At least, the light is turning reddish, so it could be more than sixty. But sometimes... I have to. If something needs to be done VERY quickly. Like today."
"The light is turning reddish... That's like Gungan literacy," Sher thought, placing a dish of sliced meat, green asparagus vegetables with pieces of juicy red, covered with eggs, on the top compartment of the kitchen cabinet. The equipment automatically selected the correct mode.
Nick's words reminded her once again that there would always be a distance between them. The size of her ordinariness... Or his giftedness?
The caf, spreading a subtle aroma of spices, took advantage of her thoughtfulness and sideways glances and made a desperate attempt to escape. But it was caught in a metal mug.
"Let it be," Sher thought, setting the cutlery in front of Nick, the hot, appetizingly fragrant food, and the strong, spicy caf breathing heat.
"I'll try to study Hapan cuisine," she promised with a smile, sitting down opposite, and quietly asked, continuing the conversation interrupted by a pause.
"And... resources... - she chose her words carefully. - Can they be restored? Or is everything spent irrevocably? Can I help you with anything?"
"Let the distance..."
"Resources - it depends on which ones..." Nick began to eat with appetite, as if he hadn't been fed for a day. "There's a limit you'd better not cross - the body will start to destroy itself. I was very close to it... when we met. But as for helping..."
The fork hung in the air over the plate.
"Sher, you don't know yourself how much you do for me. Just by staying close."
He paused, choosing his words.
"When I found you, I was empty inside. A hole into which everything disappeared - strength, life. You taught me what a mentor couldn't. I couldn't myself."
"You... You'd better eat, not talk..." she smiled with her lips only. "And if it weren't for you," her voice trembled with tenderness, "I probably would have continued to be one of the shadows on this Moon. I even tried to write to you about it... - Sher spoke very quietly. - You know, I don't care who you are. Tardi, Nikolaus... Kailas, or someone else... You are the most precious. And I'll always be waiting for you. No matter how you return."
Very slowly, without a sound, the navigator put down his fork and stood up. The galley was small, he covered the distance to Sher in two steps.
"But I do care who I am," his whisper burned her ear as the world around them shrank to a tight circle of male arms. "I care about what kind of person I return as... I don't need you to share my pain and worries. I don't need you to suffer from uncertainty. All I need from you is for you to smile. Not because I want it. Because you are happy. Because you are doing what you want to do yourself. Because you are not alone. For a thousand other reasons - your reasons, Sher... And as long as you smile - I will return. Wherever I am. As I left..."
"I didn't tell you the most important thing, Nick," she smiled at him through tears that inexplicably welled up, as if a blind summer rain had passed.
"If it weren't for you, I would never have known what it is to love... I probably walked towards that wall on that street where we met all the time... And it's such happiness to talk to you, to see you, to make you caf, to cook for you... I don't know about a thousand other reasons... - her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. - And the happiness of loving you will be with me always. Just come back. I'll meet you with a joyful smile..." she whispered, pressing her tear-soaked cheek to his shoulder.