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| - Aft - Black Ice The passenger compartment of this shuttle is modified to handle less than the actual passenger complement of a regular shuttle. There are six black leather seats arranged in a semi-circle around the compartment, surrounding a round black cherry table. Each seat sports a built-in holoviewer and communications console for privacy. Slightly ahead of the fore-port wall is a fully stocked bar of fine liqueurs and other beverages from around the galaxy, manned by a serving droid. The aft wall has two doors, one leading to a rather spacious bedroom of ship this type with a double bed and other amenities for the long-time traveler. The other door leads to a nicely-sized refresher unit with sonic shower. Unmoving, Simon lays flat on his back, a white sheet draped over his body. Monitoring machines with their cables hooked up to Simon glow dimly in the dim light as he lays unconscious. For the first time since before that fateful incident on Yavin, Simon looks peaceful. The large, bulky respirator has been removed. His right arm, laying at rest on top of the sheet over his stomach, looks natural and real. Thick bandages cover his right eye and where the new arm was attached. Unmoving as he is, he could be mistaken for dead. Yet, his chest rises and falls, assisted by the miraculous medicinal work done by the Healer Satine. Pacing back and forth like an expectant father, Mailyn is a bundle of nerves and an excess of energy. Satine had been very reluctant to give her any details of how things with Simon were progressing. She had come in with thermal coolers of various sizes and always seemed very much in a rush. But Satine was not here now, and so Mailyn peeks into the lab where Simon is being kept. The work she was doing had occupied part of her brain, but now, with no one to stop her, she will see for herself what has been done. Save the absence of putrid smelling bacta, Mailyn is reminded of the last time healing had been done on Simon by this healer. Then, as now, she had found him in a room that was more closet than room. Then as now, he was peacefully asleep. It had been a long time since she had seen him without anger or worry furrowing his brow. She cannot help but smile. Reaching out a hand to touch his face, she jumps back as a loud alarm begins to sound. Even as the alarm begins to fade away as Mailyn pulls back, a figure stands in the nearby doorway, looking to her and to the sleeping figure of Simon with an emotionless mask. Finally he lets his voice call out, his tone flat, "He looks peaceful." Kyyel states quietly, even as he steps off from the doorway, no longer using it to support himself, and letting his crossed arms fall to his sides. Stepping forward slowly, his gray eyes settle down onto the sleeping figure of the Selas... a source of more torment and sorrow for Kyyel than he cared to admit even to himself. Seeming almost mesmerized by the sight, Kyyel's gaze sweeps up towards Mailyn only through a great deal of willpower, and the young Corellian forces himself to look towards her carefully, "I came to say goodbye Mailyn. I'm going to be leaving Nar Shaddaa soon." The blaring of the alarm stops as soon as Mailyn pulls away, alerting Mailyn to the fact that the alarm is sensor based. Chagrined for not knowing better, Mailyn mutters under her breath some rather colorful words. Spinning around at the sound of a voice. Mailyn tenses. "Kyyel," her voice is flat and emotionless. But it is not because she is surprised to see him or hear his voice. Indeed even in this dim light she appears haggard and tired. Her features are drawn tightly, and tension plays around her eyes and mouth. She exhales. "I hope he is at peace...goodbye? Where are you going? Have you found what you were looking for here?" "No." Kyyel speaks quietly... and for once, his features aren't marred by exhaustion or worry. At least not as much as many of the times Mailyn had seen him before. Sorrow remains though, and his gaze focuses on her again, "I'm heading back out... what I wanted to find isn't likely to be found without me getting into as much trouble as I got in last time I showed up on this moon. Besides, even if I did find out what I wanted, it wouldn't do me much good." He seems resigned, even if a little disappointed. A pause, and then his gaze flicks to Simon, and then back towards Mailyn again, "What will you do now, Mailyn? Where are you going to go?" He exhales quietly, a touch of disappointment clear upon his face now. "I do not know" is Mailyn's honest answer. "I have a contract to square away, and then...I have to get my ship back. I don't know what is next. That depends on," her eyes flit over to the Selas, "a number of things. I will be glad to be away from here, but for just now it suits my purposes." There is an awkward silence. "What are you looking for Kyyel? What is it you seek here?" "Information." Kyyel states flatly, and he turns around to walk towards a nearby wall, resting his shoulders against it as he takes another moment to give his feet a rest. "Information that doesn't seem to be so easily gotten either, but I expected that." A sad smile is offered towards her, and he shrugs his shoulders once. And then his eyes look down towards Simon, and the smile fades, "Just don't forget about what you said. Sometimes you don't see the strands that strangle you." His eyes look back over to Mailyn again, searching for her gaze, "How about you. What are you looking for Mailyn? What is it you want?" "I'm not being strangled, Kyyel, and there are no ties that bind me. But Simon deserves a chance, just like Jessalyn did, and I'm going to see to it he gets it. It is hard to explain to you, and we always argue over it anyway. But you have to understand that this isn't about you. It isn't even really about me." Mailyn sits down backwards in a chair beside contraption that supports Simon so that she can see Kyyel. Leaning on the black of the chair with her elbows she continues. "I want answers too, Kyyel, and I don't even know what questions to ask. And I want revenge - my kind of revenge. And I'll have it too." "What information was it you were looking for? I've made some contacts here. Maybe I can help. Or maybe better, I can get that information for you." She smiles encouragingly. "Tell me what you are looking for, plainly and without artifice. We've danced around each other for far too long". "Fair enough... you deserve that much at least." Kyyel's voice grows softer now, and he kneels down where he stays, so that his eyes are level with Mailyn's, "I know that Karrde was talking about attacking the Jedi. I was looking for any information on him, or what his plans were, if there were any. I found out nothing. So I'm leaving... just in case if something does happen, I can be there." A weary shrug of his shoulders is given now, and then he looks back towards her. He's silent for a long moment now, and then a deep breath escapes him, "I think you're right Mai... it's not about either of us. I'm not entirely sure what it is about anymore." Another pause, and then, another question escapes him, "Why is it that we've always danced around each other Mailyn? Can you answer me that?" Mailyn's eyes narrow at the mention of the smuggler Talon Karrde. "He has no reason to attack the Jedi that I know of. They WORKED for him. You'll never find out anything about him, Kyyel. He runs one really tight ship, and he has a way of dealing with any leaks that isn't very pretty. I would not try to cross him, even if the Jedi are in danger. One thing I've learned, they can take care of themselves. They don't need you or me or anyone to protect them. And if Karrde wants Aurejin, he is welcome to the man. If Karrde would talk to me, I'd give him Aurejin on a platter." Mailyn looks back over at Simon. "I don't know what it is about either Kyyel, but I think it has red hair and green eyes" The conversation around Simon had been carried in respectfully quiet tones. Throughout, the estranged Telgossian didn't seem to stir, even when his name was mentioned. Even when the Jedi were mentioned. If anything could get a rise out of Simon, surely it would be the Jedi, wouldn't it? Finally, Simon does move. Whether it had to do with anything Mailyn had to say or not, it's unclear. Simon's left hand rises from where it had been resting by his side, and he reaches up towards the ceiling. His mouth falls open and his voice is cracked and slurred as he says, quietly, "Jessal... no...." With that, his hand drops back to the table and he stirs more wakefully, his head rolling to face Mailyn and Kyyel, his exposed eye fluttering open sleepily. Kyyel merely shrugs his shoulders, "That's not what he told me. And I'm quite aware of the kind of ship he runs... but if I don't help them, then I betray my friends. You know me better than that, Mai." He lets out a weary sigh; Mailyn's feelings for Jessalyn and Aurejin were quite well known to Kyyel, and it looks as though he were ready for the same debate that they had fallen into time after time. Simon's words bring his response to a halt, and he stands up slowly, his lips curling into a deep frown as he looks towards the Selas. He says nothing, instead he merely watches with a bit of caution. "Contrary to what you may think, Kyyel, I don't hate..." Mailyn is already interrupting Kyyel when she herself is interrupted by Simon's stirring and his coarse cry. The name stops her dead in her tracks. Sitting as she is in the chair, her back is to Simon, it is Kyyel who will see her stunned and disappointed reaction. It is as though someone stabbed the woman from behind and let all the air out of her. Slowly rising to her feet, Mailyn turns around. Simon's left eyelid finally remains opened after a few moments of indecisive fluttering, as if he couldn't make up his mind as to whether he was awake or not. His single blue eye focuses on the empty space in front of him, not seeing. With Mailyn turning to face him, his eye tracks her movement without really seeing her. Finally, he does focus on her and the corners of his mouth rise into a sleepy, lazy smile. His eye flickers towards Kyyel, and strangely, his smile seems to include him as well. He says at last, his voice still slurred by not as slurred as it had been a moment ago, "Is it done, then? I'm still alive." With this last, he purposefully draws in a deep breath through his nostrils, letting it out slowly in a satisfied smile. "I can breath. I am alive." Mailyn's disappointment is noted, and a pang of sympathy goes out towards her along with a touch of understanding. Kyyel then turns his gaze up towards Simon, taking in a deep breath, "Yeah, you're alive." That seems all Kyyel is willing to say to the man, even if the smile is not returned... but it is also not met with a frown. Maybe, just maybe... it would finally end. Maybe they all could find some kind of peace. His eyes look back over to look onto Mailyn's back, and he finally searches for words again... but everything he thinks sounds utterly inadequate. The least she can do is manage a smile. But Mailyn has to ask herself why she's done everything she has for this man whose devotion, despite what he may claim, lay in other priorities and in other people. The unconscious mind never lies, and although dreaming men were often haunted men, it was clear that what haunted Simon was also all he desired and thought about. "You are alive, and you can breathe. She's done a good job Satine. You are whole now." Mailyn did not know what the healer had done, though she suspected. And Mailyn also suspected it was best any explanations come from the healer and not from herself. "You should rest though. I am sure you are not meant to be up. I am pretty sure you shouldn't even have visitors." Mailyn won't even look at Kyyel, and she isn't really looking at Simon. She was looking through him to try to see the man she so desperately wanted to see there, saying things she wanted to hear. Focusing on keeping her expression neutral and peaceful, she speaks. "I guess we should let you rest. I'm glad you're better." "You have always been there for me, Mailyn," Simon says, intentionally slipping into the familiar address that Telgossians chose between lovers or mates. His right arm twitches as he attempts to lift it to reach towards her, but medication prevented him from moving the arm just yet. Instead he left his left, but reaching across his body, he's unable to reach her. Giving up the effort, he lets his arm fall back to the bed. "It must have been you that I had seen in that vision," Simon says to Mailyn. His eye focuses and unfocuses on her, and occasionally slides over towards Kyyel where it focuses and unfocuses on him. He addresses the young Corellian before continuing, "There are things I shouldn't say in front of you, but I do not care right now. You can be witness, like it is done in the Courts." Swallowing, Simon looks back to Mailyn. He says, "I had seen myself giving up my fight as you reached your hand out to me. You were bathed in light. Do you remember, _Beledonna_? Or was that something I only dreamed and remember it now as though it were real?" As Simon begins to address Mailyn, Kyyel's eyes widen slightly. He's torn between a smile and a frown... and he's not sure why for either emotion. Instead he watches and listens, his face a mask of emotions now, and he cannot help but feel a bit of hope... hope that Simon was indeed sincere. He gives the Selas only the faintest nod to show his understanding, and then he says nothing more, watching on from his place near the corner of the room. Mailyn. It always had an effect on her when he called her less formally. It made it easy to forget what she had heard, what she had seen. On Yavin, on this ship, in so many places. She nearly reaches out a hand to him, but memories of the alarms still her hands. What she wants to say is "Are you sure it was me?" But the sarcasm would be out of place, and it was so close to the truth that Mailyn was not sure she could say it without bursting into tears. So instead she manages a bittersweet smile "I think that you perhaps have had too much of Satine's medication" Mailyn gently chides. "You were ready to give up, and I encouraged you not to, but it is nothing that I did. You had to do it for yourself. Any light you associate with me, was probably medication and pain doing the seeing. It was a part truth and part dream." Mailyn suddenly feels overwhelmed. "I should go find Satine" she offers quietly. "She'll know what to do" "But I remember, Mailyn," Simon says, frowning slightly as though by mental effort alone he could sway Mailyn into his train of thought. Licking his lips, he looks once more towards Kyyel. How awkward it must be for him to be standing there, hearing Simon speak as he had. The last time Simon had spoken to Kyyel, the Telgossian had managed to enrage the young man into a killing fury. Satine had managed to address that wound as well, though the bandages were hidden beneath the sheet that covered Simon's lower half. "You do not take enough credit, Mailyn Raines," Simon continues, his voice becoming more muddled and slurred again as the heavy medications start to wear down his consciousness once more. He groggily turns his gaze back upon her as he says, "You doubt how much I love..." Whatever else Simon was about to say is swallowed in darkness. His left eye rolls back with the effort of staying open, before the lid flickers close and his body sags, a sigh back into sleep. Awkward was hardly the word for what Kyyel was feeling right now. He looked between Simon and Mailyn once more, and then shook his head wearily. Even Simon seemed to be able to find peace and companionship. Perhaps that wasn't in Kyyel's future; it certainly didn't seem that way. With a weary shrug, he turns towards the door, "I'll leave you two alone now. Tell Satine I send my regards. And... good luck to the both of you." He states his words to Mailyn; knowing Simon cannot hear them. He pauses at the door, offering Mailyn a warm smile, "Take care Mai, and... I guess I'll see you around sometime." With that, he departs the room, leaving the Selas laying alone even as Mailyn seems ready to find Satine now...
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