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🪽Je te Laisserai Des Mots  - Patrick Watson

*****

It was a bright sunny afternoon and the medical tent was bustling, with Elysia and Ren both busy handing out vials of medicine to the Bleisian citizens. It’s been several days since Ren had started to accompany her, at first as an unwelcome guest but eventually, she got used to his persistent presence and just let him be. The Bleisian citizens quickly warmed up to him as well, charmed by his politeness, gentle smiles, and of course, his good looks. Well, maybe mostly because they had no idea that he was actually a Jedi, and Elysia just introduced him as a “traveller” to avoid a complicated situation.

"Miss Elysia, your boyfriend gave me this!" A young child ran up to her and proudly held up a small horse figure haphazardly made of dry straws.

"Oh, that's nice. But he's not my--"

"You're welcome!" Ren purposefully cut her off as he cheerily waved at the kid. Knowing that he did that on purpose, Elysia gave him a nagging look for even allowing the misunderstanding, but Ren just responded to her with a shrug and a sly smile.

Once Elysia had finished healing some people, she finally approached Ren who was standing just outside the tent, busy making more straw horses to distribute to the children.

"I can't have a rumor going around that I have a boyfriend, you know?"

"Hey, that didn't come from me." He raised his hands defensively, but the mischievous glint in his eyes gave away the fact that he liked the rumor nonetheless. "It's not my fault that people say we look good together."

"No they don't," Elysia shook her head in denial, but she couldn't hold back her own smile. Deep inside, she knew that Ren wasn't that bad. After having been spending time with him for days now, she could see that he was a genuinely good soul. Despite knowing that the Bleisians hated the Jedi, he was brave enough to make the effort to connect with them.

Ren was curious, persistent, and had a charming sense of humor. He single-handedly shattered her rigid view of the Jedi as being simply boastful and selfish who knew nothing else but obey the rigid Jedi Code.

She might even go as far as to say that she didn't mind him to be mistaken as her boyfriend; the only issue was that once the rumor reaches Chief Vymirr's ears, he wouldn't be too happy given that fact that he knew the truth that Ren was in fact, a Jedi.

"You still need to teach me how to heal," Ren changed the topic as he stood up, brushing his hands clean against his brown coat.

"I told you, it's complicated. It took me years to master it. It takes a lot of meditation and---"

"If so, I'm willing to take lessons from you for years."

She chuckled and shook her head. "Silly. There's no way you're staying here for years."

"Try me." He smiled, and for some odd reason this made Elysia's heart jump. She was starting to wonder since when did his mere smiles and flirtatious words had these effects on her cold stagnant heart, when just a week before she couldn't care less about his existence.

"Well...," she cleared her throat to dismiss her thoughts. "To be able to do it, your mind needs to be completely at peace. Then you reach deep into your own force and transfer it onto the other person, focusing on their pain."

She gently laid a hand over his chest to demonstrate. Ren's eyes fluttered close at the comfortable warmth that started to envelope his chest. Despite not feeling ill or anything, it felt like something deep within him was feeling healed anyway. And just as she described, he could feel the energy flowing from her hand and into his body. He understood that this was not something simple to do, but Elysia made it look so easy.

"Ren," a painfully familiar voice suddenly rang from a distance, shattering their serene bubble in an instant. His blood went cold when he saw Master Vernestra across the street, and even worse, Chief Vymirr was standing right beside her, his eyes sternly fixated on Elysia's hand that was on his chest. Both of them had disapproving looks etched on their faces.

Elysia quickly withdrew her hand as if she had been burnt by him, her back immediately straightening as if she switched back to her councillor persona. Though fear was still evident in her eyes as she stared back at her adoptive father as him and Master Vernestra approached to where they were.

"I didn't know a Jedi was present in one of our tents." Chief Vymirr stated, although Ren understood that his words implied that he was not welcome in these kind of places, let alone in the presence of a councillor such as Elysia.

"He had been helping me distribute medicine to the people. There has been a large demand lately with which I found difficult to accommodate." She quickly covered up for him, despite knowing that it's not enough to justify the situation in his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could've sent you some help." Chief Vymirr said.

"I insisted on helping," Ren interjected, hoping that it would save Elysia some grace. However, he didn't seem welcome to the conversation as the chief just stared at him, as if questioning why he was even speaking.

Ren glanced around and realized that the remaining Bleisians at the tent, all of whom had started to warm up to him, were now looking at him either in confusion or disgust. It was as if all their admiration for him had vanished the moment they found out that he was a Jedi. He had expected that their reaction would be like this, but he didn't expect that it would still hurt.

"Chief, I think we would need to postpone our meeting for now. I suppose there are other... matters that we have to deal with respectively." Vernestra said as she sharply glanced at Ren.

Chief Vymirr nodded as he stepped onto Elysia's side. "Agreed. And I suggest you manage your Jedi more carefully. We both know these streets aren't particularly... safe for your kind."

Master Vernestra curtly nodded before leading the way back to the temple. As they left, Ren glanced back at Elysia one last time, but her attention was already fixated onto Chief Vymirr as they seemed to have started a heated discussion.

He returned his attention to his front and quickly felt that Master Vernestra was purposefully maintaining five steps in front of him. Even without seeing her face, he could definitely feel her anger and disappointment.

"Master, I--"

She shot up a hand to silence him.

"Save it for once we reach the Temple." She snapped. This left Ren no choice but to suffer in silence the entire way back to the Jedi Temple, his mind racing at the possibilities that could happen. But he was certain of only one thing: his pleasant days with Elysia were bound to end soon.

As soon as they entered the grand hall of the temple, Master Vernestra finally turned around, the hems of her coat snapping against the air. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, her eyes sharp as she waited for him to start explaining.

"Master, I was making progress. I've earned her trust and she has started to see the Jedi in a different light."

"That is not the issue here." She quipped, seeing right through his words. "I saw the way you look at each other. You are treading a fine line between acquaintanceship and something deeper."

"It was necessary," he insisted. "Elysia was not a very trusting woman, so I had to bare my entire soul for her to see. And I told you that I would win her trust by simply telling her the truth, which was what I exactly did. Wouldn't it be natural for us to form a deeper connection?"

"I'm pretty sure that was bound to happen after all your late night meetings with her." She paused to see the shocked look in Ren's face, which only proved that he had been doing it not for the sake of the mission, but for the sake of his personal interests. "What, you thought I didn't know? That you've been sneaking out of the temple at night to go into the city?"

"Master, although I appreciate your concern, will all due respect I am no longer a padawan. However I spend my nights are up to my free will."

Her eyes narrowed at his response, obviously offended by his demonstration of independence.

"If it causes you to stray away from the Jedi principles, however you spend your nights are still my concern. I am still your master, Ren." She stepped closer to him, her powerful aura reimposing her status over him as his master, making him feel like a small padawan once again.

"The issue here is that you've been acting on your own accord, under the excuse of doing it for the purpose of helping win the Bleisian Council's favor on the construction of the temple."

"That was my intention. It's just that as I got to know her, I realized that what the Bleisians are fighting for are just as valid as ours." Ren reasoned, desperation lacing through his voice.

"You promised to convince her to take our side. Not the other way around." Her eyes shut close as her patience wore thin. "Ren, I thought you were better than this. I brought you here in high regard to the Jedi Council, so don't give me more reasons to regret it."

Her words were like a lightsaber through his chest. Despite the obvious emotional barrier between them as master and student, she was the closest he ever had as a motherly figure, having worked closely with her for most of his childhood. Which was why hearing her say that she was basically disappointed in him hurt deeper than he had expected.

"If Elysia and I did start to have a deeper connection, what is so bad about it?" Ren could hold back the words anymore. He stared at the marble floors since he knew Vernestra's gaze was only going to burn into him, but he wanted answers. He needed answers.

"How is it any different from your connection to the late Grand Master Gios?"

"Don't bring him into this," she hissed, pain momentarily flashing in her eyes at the mention of his name. There was a brief silence before she managed to speak again. "We do end up deeply caring for others, but as Jedis, we need to keep our hearts tethered and not let it control our decisions. That is where you failed."

She turned around just as her voice quivered, perhaps to not allow Ren to further see the emotions in her eyes. Master Vernestra was the best in that, Ren realized. She was the best in keeping her heart tethered, making sure no one else could reach it. Which was probably why she would never understand his emotional dilemmas.

"This is my first and only warning, Ren. That woman is poisoning your mind. She's clouding your commitment to the Jedi order. Accomplish what you have promised to me otherwise, I will have you sent back to Coruscant immediately."

She turned around and walked away, officially ending the conversation. Meanwhile, Ren was left with a bitter taste in his mouth, his heart and mind raging with conflicting thoughts between his commitment as a Jedi and his personal feelings. He had been a Jedi for all his life, and he knew the Jedi Code like the back of his hand. Yet, he was having such difficulty accepting his master's words and his inner thoughts were just becoming too loud that he couldn't simply brush them off anymore.

Despite his confusion, there was only one thing clear for Ren: he was devastated by the idea of going back to Coruscant and never seeing Elysia again. And so he did the only thing he could think of at the moment; accomplish his end of his deal with Elysia. It was the least that he owed her.

And so he headed straight towards the library with a stronger resolution to identify Erin Viska's killer once and for all, determined to make things straight before it's too late.

*****

[A/N]:

Vernestra is giving evil stepmother that hates her daughter in law 😤

Dontcha dare come at our girl like that or I'm throwing hands 😤