Post by Marshall on Nov 13, 2018 19:47:53 GMT -5
It had taken time for the results to come in. A few days later and the last of the results finally arrived. Eve didn't take long to return to the Tekal house. She waddle up, breathless from just the walk from the speeder to the rear door.
Dressed in casual clothes appropriate for the morning weather, the younger Azalee could already feel swear dampen the back of her neck - wishing she would have pinned her brown locks up instead of laying across her shoulders.
That morning was quiet at the house. There was no outdoor activity but for the chirping of native birds that were hidden by the trees and the natural motions of the well blossomed world around her. Just as Eve was reaching the backdoor, Solomon was opening it. "Morning, Eve, please come in." He was dressed as if he had been getting ready for some heavy labor, his clothing made of a thicker weave of fabric. His shirt was light grey in color but stained in places to a thick and almost greasy looking pitch of black. His pants were a darker color, almost black with spots where the black had been bled away and turned a rusty orange-red.
"Thanks." The airy tone in her voice matched the shortness of breath she felt. A hand rested on the swell of her stomach as she smiled. "Down to just a few more days." The smile faded as she added in afterthought. "I hope."
Not far behind her was Eve's older sister, Ava. Silent and watchful, she made sure her pregnant sister made it safely to Solomon's steps without stumbling on swollen ankles.
"I have the results of your test. Sorry they took so long to come in but I had them do a retest." Eve explained as she entered into his home.
He had moved out of the way to let the sisters into the kitchen, heading to pull a chair away from the table for Eve, "A retest?" He turned his head, catching Ava behind Eve and sending a nod of greeting the Jedi's way.
The nod returned, Ava followed behind her sister making sure she was comfortable as Eve unceremoniously plopped onto the first seat she saw.
"Yes." She confirmed carefully. "None of the test we ran showed any indication of what could be causing your nerve damage. It's there but I can't find what's causing it."
As Eve made herself comfortable, and Ava saw to her sister, Sol turned and retrieved a cold bottle of water for them both, "That means -- what exactly? There's no way to treat it?"
"No. But its going to be hard to treat... because we don't really know what it is." Eve replied as she gratefully took her bottle of water. "Thank you."
"Thanks." Ava picked off. "Do you remember when the nerve loss first started?"
"That hand has been pretty weak since I lost the pinky tip, but I only -really- started noticing the numbness after my fight with Vikas." He had slipped into a seat of his own, sitting across the table from Eve. He looked back and forth between the doctor and the Jedi as he spoke, "I figured the two were related..."
"How so?" Eve asked.
"It wasn't exactly a surgical cut, and it had gone for a good while before the injury had been tended to medically. It was well taken care of once I had gotten it seen to, but I thought maybe I had just done something to it during the war and this was the result."
"Did you lose the tip of your pinky during the war?" Eve asked.
"No," Sol gave a shake of his head, "Its an -old- injury. If my count is right, its been roughly seven years, give or take a few, since it happened. Do either of you remember the Lock Crisis?" he looked between sisters once more.
"Vaguely." Eve said in reply while her sister nodded her head.
"It happened just as that was beginning" he told the Azalees, "So yeah. It was a long time ago, now."
Ava nodded.
"How did it happen?" Eve questioned.
From Sol came a small quick 'Hm' noise that was accompanied by a sharp little twitch of his chin toward the left, "I was sucked into a rift and fell into the hands of the bad guys. I was a dick when I shouldn't have been. The Commander of the last Imperial ship I was on did not enjoy my sense of humor. My pinky got to taste a lightsaber blade because of it."
"Was there any moment during the war where you noticed the loss of feeling more than any other time?" Ava asked as while her sister took another sip of water.
"My fight with Vikas at the end," he looked toward Ava as he spoke, giving her a shallow nod, "We were both leaning into The Force pretty heavily. There was a moment in battle where I had to switch hands. I just couldn't hold onto the lightsaber I was using. I couldn't feel it between my fingers, or against my palm."
Ava fell quiet. She stared at Solomon's right hand; looking but not seeing. Her mind was elsewhere with gears turning. "When you first got hurt... do you remember feeling any darkside energy... or anything disruptive in the Force?"
"No, not from my hand, or directed toward my hand. The person who made the cut was not sensitive, and I was fairly protected from damage. That the cut was made was about as much of a miscalculation of judgement the commander was willing to make. Point in fact, he jettisoned me in a malfunctioning ship to cover his ass."
"Well..." Ava said after a minute. "I was thinking that maybe the two incidents could have been related.... your fight with Vikas and then when you first were injured. I thought maybe the reason Eve can't find a solution to the source of your nerve damage was because the cause came from an involvement from the Force - specifically the Darkside. It would explain why there was more notice of it when you were fighting with Vikas. I've read about similar cases in the past."
There, she paused to look at both her sister and Solomon.
"But I don't know. There doesn't seem to be anything Force related connecting it to when you were first hurt beyond going through the Rift. Can you think of anything else from back then?"
His left hand was brought up, palm toward the table where he gently laid it after a moment, "There might still be some sort of correlation. During the Lock Crisis-S," a quick glance went toward Eve, and the name he was about to say died very swiftly and didn't make it any further off of his lips than that, "I was stuck in the facility that was to become Altar. Everything I touched was a part of a....anti-Force – a Taint. Contact with it was painful. It burned just through touch. There was another side to that. They could...control...you by use of The Taint. It was everywhere around me. It was everywhere -in- me like an oil living beneath my skin, sinking into my mind but sharp like glass."
"If there is something that connects it... then that might explain why none of test revealed anything. And why it recently started becoming noticeable." Eve said, her eyes flickering to her sister. "Is it possible for you to confirm this?"
"I don't know." She replied. "It's not really an area of my expertise." There, Ava glanced to Solomon. "Darien might be able to. He studied in Force healing."
"I'll talk to him about it," Sol said with a nod, looking between Eve and Ava before slumping back, "I'm really hoping there isn't one and this has some other explanation."
"Me too." Ava said softly.
"The bright side," Eve spoke. "Is that we are eliminating the options."
"That is some comfort," he agreed, "Should I keep taking the medication, knowing now that the reason for the numbness isn't medically found? Would it do any harm to continue with them, Eve?" A disquiet was growing, a small nudge of uncertainty that could be felt wiggling its way up through the peace that permeated through the house. He was ready for the war to let him go, so ready that he had thought he was past it all.
"The supplements are there to help repair tissue and stimulate growth. They're not going to do much for nerve damage. How has your shoulder felt since you started taking them? Do you notice an improvement?"
His head bobbed in understanding, "It has been feeling better, I think. Movement's been easier, and the range of motion has improved a bit."
"Keep taking them for a few weeks or until you feel like your shoulder doesn't need them." Eve instructed. "How long before you can reach your brother?"
"It shouldn't take me long at all. I've never known him to ignore a call from me."
"Keep me posted, please. I'll try to hang around here as long as I can but..." her hand went her stomach. "I don't have plans to give birth here."
"No, I wouldn't expect that of you either," He gave Eve a small smile, "Don't push your time for my sake, Eve. I'll keep you informed, I promise."
Dressed in casual clothes appropriate for the morning weather, the younger Azalee could already feel swear dampen the back of her neck - wishing she would have pinned her brown locks up instead of laying across her shoulders.
That morning was quiet at the house. There was no outdoor activity but for the chirping of native birds that were hidden by the trees and the natural motions of the well blossomed world around her. Just as Eve was reaching the backdoor, Solomon was opening it. "Morning, Eve, please come in." He was dressed as if he had been getting ready for some heavy labor, his clothing made of a thicker weave of fabric. His shirt was light grey in color but stained in places to a thick and almost greasy looking pitch of black. His pants were a darker color, almost black with spots where the black had been bled away and turned a rusty orange-red.
"Thanks." The airy tone in her voice matched the shortness of breath she felt. A hand rested on the swell of her stomach as she smiled. "Down to just a few more days." The smile faded as she added in afterthought. "I hope."
Not far behind her was Eve's older sister, Ava. Silent and watchful, she made sure her pregnant sister made it safely to Solomon's steps without stumbling on swollen ankles.
"I have the results of your test. Sorry they took so long to come in but I had them do a retest." Eve explained as she entered into his home.
He had moved out of the way to let the sisters into the kitchen, heading to pull a chair away from the table for Eve, "A retest?" He turned his head, catching Ava behind Eve and sending a nod of greeting the Jedi's way.
The nod returned, Ava followed behind her sister making sure she was comfortable as Eve unceremoniously plopped onto the first seat she saw.
"Yes." She confirmed carefully. "None of the test we ran showed any indication of what could be causing your nerve damage. It's there but I can't find what's causing it."
As Eve made herself comfortable, and Ava saw to her sister, Sol turned and retrieved a cold bottle of water for them both, "That means -- what exactly? There's no way to treat it?"
"No. But its going to be hard to treat... because we don't really know what it is." Eve replied as she gratefully took her bottle of water. "Thank you."
"Thanks." Ava picked off. "Do you remember when the nerve loss first started?"
"That hand has been pretty weak since I lost the pinky tip, but I only -really- started noticing the numbness after my fight with Vikas." He had slipped into a seat of his own, sitting across the table from Eve. He looked back and forth between the doctor and the Jedi as he spoke, "I figured the two were related..."
"How so?" Eve asked.
"It wasn't exactly a surgical cut, and it had gone for a good while before the injury had been tended to medically. It was well taken care of once I had gotten it seen to, but I thought maybe I had just done something to it during the war and this was the result."
"Did you lose the tip of your pinky during the war?" Eve asked.
"No," Sol gave a shake of his head, "Its an -old- injury. If my count is right, its been roughly seven years, give or take a few, since it happened. Do either of you remember the Lock Crisis?" he looked between sisters once more.
"Vaguely." Eve said in reply while her sister nodded her head.
"It happened just as that was beginning" he told the Azalees, "So yeah. It was a long time ago, now."
Ava nodded.
"How did it happen?" Eve questioned.
From Sol came a small quick 'Hm' noise that was accompanied by a sharp little twitch of his chin toward the left, "I was sucked into a rift and fell into the hands of the bad guys. I was a dick when I shouldn't have been. The Commander of the last Imperial ship I was on did not enjoy my sense of humor. My pinky got to taste a lightsaber blade because of it."
"Was there any moment during the war where you noticed the loss of feeling more than any other time?" Ava asked as while her sister took another sip of water.
"My fight with Vikas at the end," he looked toward Ava as he spoke, giving her a shallow nod, "We were both leaning into The Force pretty heavily. There was a moment in battle where I had to switch hands. I just couldn't hold onto the lightsaber I was using. I couldn't feel it between my fingers, or against my palm."
Ava fell quiet. She stared at Solomon's right hand; looking but not seeing. Her mind was elsewhere with gears turning. "When you first got hurt... do you remember feeling any darkside energy... or anything disruptive in the Force?"
"No, not from my hand, or directed toward my hand. The person who made the cut was not sensitive, and I was fairly protected from damage. That the cut was made was about as much of a miscalculation of judgement the commander was willing to make. Point in fact, he jettisoned me in a malfunctioning ship to cover his ass."
"Well..." Ava said after a minute. "I was thinking that maybe the two incidents could have been related.... your fight with Vikas and then when you first were injured. I thought maybe the reason Eve can't find a solution to the source of your nerve damage was because the cause came from an involvement from the Force - specifically the Darkside. It would explain why there was more notice of it when you were fighting with Vikas. I've read about similar cases in the past."
There, she paused to look at both her sister and Solomon.
"But I don't know. There doesn't seem to be anything Force related connecting it to when you were first hurt beyond going through the Rift. Can you think of anything else from back then?"
His left hand was brought up, palm toward the table where he gently laid it after a moment, "There might still be some sort of correlation. During the Lock Crisis-S," a quick glance went toward Eve, and the name he was about to say died very swiftly and didn't make it any further off of his lips than that, "I was stuck in the facility that was to become Altar. Everything I touched was a part of a....anti-Force – a Taint. Contact with it was painful. It burned just through touch. There was another side to that. They could...control...you by use of The Taint. It was everywhere around me. It was everywhere -in- me like an oil living beneath my skin, sinking into my mind but sharp like glass."
"If there is something that connects it... then that might explain why none of test revealed anything. And why it recently started becoming noticeable." Eve said, her eyes flickering to her sister. "Is it possible for you to confirm this?"
"I don't know." She replied. "It's not really an area of my expertise." There, Ava glanced to Solomon. "Darien might be able to. He studied in Force healing."
"I'll talk to him about it," Sol said with a nod, looking between Eve and Ava before slumping back, "I'm really hoping there isn't one and this has some other explanation."
"Me too." Ava said softly.
"The bright side," Eve spoke. "Is that we are eliminating the options."
"That is some comfort," he agreed, "Should I keep taking the medication, knowing now that the reason for the numbness isn't medically found? Would it do any harm to continue with them, Eve?" A disquiet was growing, a small nudge of uncertainty that could be felt wiggling its way up through the peace that permeated through the house. He was ready for the war to let him go, so ready that he had thought he was past it all.
"The supplements are there to help repair tissue and stimulate growth. They're not going to do much for nerve damage. How has your shoulder felt since you started taking them? Do you notice an improvement?"
His head bobbed in understanding, "It has been feeling better, I think. Movement's been easier, and the range of motion has improved a bit."
"Keep taking them for a few weeks or until you feel like your shoulder doesn't need them." Eve instructed. "How long before you can reach your brother?"
"It shouldn't take me long at all. I've never known him to ignore a call from me."
"Keep me posted, please. I'll try to hang around here as long as I can but..." her hand went her stomach. "I don't have plans to give birth here."
"No, I wouldn't expect that of you either," He gave Eve a small smile, "Don't push your time for my sake, Eve. I'll keep you informed, I promise."