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It’s a little difficult to tell time on a space station of this size. If she’s done the math right, Zia Zaldor Zanna is almost certain it’s well after midnight on Tenoo. She’s well aware Starlight keeps its own calendar and day, but nonetheless, without a solid planet beneath her feet, she can tell she’ll be heavily relying on some caf tomorrow to get the younglings all rounded up to get back to the Tenoo temple.
As wise as it would be to sleep, Zia knows she’d just toss and turn if she headed for her bunk. So, she’s walking, with two mugs of tea in hand. If her memory serves her, she still remembers how an old friend takes his tea, and she can only assume he’s just as awake as her.
Zia uses the Force to type in her entry code into the Operations Hub, and sure enough, Estala Maru is still hovering with his half a dozen screens floating around him.
“Avar, we can’t do anything else—oh, Zia!” Estala exclaims as he turns towards the door Zia has just walked through. She smiles and raises her two mugs.
“I hope I’m not bothering you,” she says. “I think my circadian rhythm is off with Starlight’s artificial day and night, so I decided to take a walk with some tea and figured you could use a fresh mug, too.”
“Oh, Zia, you’re too kind,” Estala sighs. Gracefully, he flats down to the floor and seamlessly walks towards her. The screens stay hovering in the air, though, to her surprise. Zia briefly wonders if there is some sort of gravity suspension on them, or if Estala is splitting his focus to keep them hovering.
She hands the mug with the much stronger tea to Estala. He inspects the mug’s contents with the kindness of a friend that appreciates a heartfelt gesture, but also with the discerning eye of someone who is very particular about their tea. He hums approvingly after a moment, though, and sips thoughtfully. Warmth flutters in Zia’s chest. She still knows Estala’s preferred tea! The fact that her memory wasn’t all taken up with the younglings’ schedules and curriculum was a welcome relief.
“I also wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you again for how welcoming and kind you were to the younglings. I can’t imagine how busy you were. Half of the younglings have been chittering with earnest dreams of logistics and operations,” she grins. Estala waves away her praise. They fall into step side-by-side, and Estala guides them to a table in the far corner of the Operations Hub to sit.
“It was my pleasure, especially for a friend. I look forward to working alongside Master Kriss and helping her run the day-to-day of this station, and as likely as I am to throw myself head first into my work without abandon, it is nice to take some time to live in the moment,” he says. They take their seats across from each other, like they so often did over the years of their friendship. Estala was a little older than her and they hadn’t known each other particularly well as Padawans, but had grown close as Knights. They’d both been identified as two Jedi that were particularly skilled at working with others—Zia, with the initiates, and Estala, with logistical minutia.
“Well, either way—I’m deeply grateful, I rarely see all of the younglings with their attention so focused together ,” she smiles and reaches across the table to squeeze Maru’s hand. Estala smiles warmly back at her.
“How are you doing on Tenoo, anyways, Zia? I may be on Starlight for the foreseeable future, but can I be a better friend or ally in any particular way?” he asks. Zia shrugs. It is difficult to care for so many children, and to basically be solely responsible for all of their care and training, but it is the most deeply rewarding assignment she’d ever had.
“I sometimes forget there are other adults out there to talk to,” she laughs. There’d been a moment about a week after the temple had opened up that she nearly taught half the initiate class a particularly colorful set of swear words after she’d tripped down some stairs. “I’ve also been meditating on taking a Padawan to help me with some of the day-to-day classes. But, I see other Jedi all the time that stop by at Tenoo, and the civilians around the temple have deeply invested in caring for the younglings, too. I really feel like I’m training them alongside the people in Kublop Springs and the rest of the planet,” she says. Zia quickly realizes that she hasn’t actually answered Estala’s question, though, but judging by the amused twinkle in his bright blue eyes, he doesn’t mind.
“It sounds like you’ve helped build quite a special life on that planet for the younglings in your care,” Maru says. Zia’s heart warms; she’s not used to praise that’s not a small child exclaiming about how ‘wizard!’ she is.
“Thank you, Estala,” she smiles. “That—that praise means quite a lot.” Frankly, it was too easy sometimes to forget about the woes of the galaxy while in the secluded Tenoo temple. Zia figured she knew the least about the Nihil or the Hyperspace Disaster of any Knight in the order.
But, the children in her care are happy, safe, and beautifully unique and independent, and she can’t imagine a greater blessing in the galaxy than getting to be their teacher.