Tales of Path - The Healing - Timeline 03002

Egee Medical Center – Bestine, Tatooine
Twenty-five Turns from Present

A small child, deepest brown hair sweeping sanitized floors, curled into a tight ball. Her lips moved rapidly. Eyes closed. Not a sound save short rapid breaths emerged from the shivering form.

“Make it stop. It hurts. I want to be alone,” The young girl’s voice was heard only to herself. She felt wounds in every form. They tortured her body and attacked her mind. She pleaded, “Please go away. I can’t help you. Please, please stop.”

The Medics scooped up the child. They scanned; probed, prodded only to find a healthy child, approximate age of 7, female, in seemingly morbid pain. “Damned if I know why these scans don’t show the trouble,” The doctor slammed the palm sized diagnostic tool against her hip. “Take her to level 41. Isolate the child as a precautionary measure. It may be a new bio-virus. “A severed arm or seared shoulder I can deal with. A mystery I have no time for.” The doctor waved the orderlies to remove the child from her level and hurried off to the next patient.

Two men, one tall and human the other a product of some off planet genetic fad, steered the floating gurney to the waiting lift. “41,” the human worker announced.

Computerized vocals echoed off the polished steel enclosure, “Level 41 is a high bacta area. Please prepare for neutralizing. Commencing in 3, 2, 1.

The lift filled with a pink fog. The two men inhaled deeply. The process, not unpleasant however the thought of millions of unseen bio-probes scrubbing one’s insides was not exactly appealing. The lift shot up, pink clouds were suctioned into the vented floor. Silver panels clicked as they retreated to the walls of the lift. The orderlies methodically emerged and guided the still shivering child down the glassy hall. “Poor thing,” the taller orderly looked to the child. “And to be sequestered on Level 41.” He shook his head in a manner that suggested sorrow. The other orderly, eyes darting from patient to patient, continued with the gurney towards the waiting protocol droid. He understood the shields were safe yet remained uncomfortable with the absence of a tactile wall separating the healthy from the incurably ill.

“No, no, no, no….” the child screamed but none heard. She began building a wall. One of stone her mind constructed. She knelt and placed a rough block, reached for another and set it beside the first. “You can’t pass. See my wall? I will build it tall and strong. I will keep you out. I don’t want a wall but you are hurting me!” she cried. Small hands lifted each stone in place. Palms raw from the abrasion, she smoothed each stone as if trawling mortar. Tiny streaks of blood sealed the wall and distanced the voices.

“Her breathing is shallow now.” The tall orderly halted the floating pallet. He leaned to the child. Tenderly, the man pried open her lids to revel a hint of vivid green surrounding a black dilated pupil. “We need help. Stat!” The man smacked a circular panel. Silent alarms woke any nearby doctors. From behind a filling bacta tank a tall, slender woman felt the alarm. Not from any wizardry of modern science, but from within. She ran to the child. Two hands, one on either side of the now porcelain face pressed deeply into the shallow skin. The woman narrowed her eyes, held her breath and snatched the child from the bedding. Without explanation, she raced to lift.

“What are you doing with that patient? The orderly hurried after the kidnapper. The lady still cradling the child, raised her left hand in a stopping motion to the orderly. The man halted, nodded and cleared the lift.

Ak’Binda Haku, pulled the comatose form to her chest. In a hushed whisper she spoke to the child, “Wait little one. Hold off the last stone. Hold onto hope. There is still time and many things to learn.” Ak’Binda ran to the doors of the Medical Center. She held her gaze on the twin suns. All around blurred and stilled. The heavily tinted wall of glass parted. Heat assaulted Ak’Binda. She fell to the sands, child in her arms. “Hear me little one. Allow me to be your guide. Build your wall if it keeps you from harm but know, I can see beyond it. I see that stone you hold. The last, you fear to place. Keep it close but do not surrender.”

The child held the final block above her head. She stalled. From beyond her wall, or perhaps from within, a calming soul cautioned her and offered help. She hesitated. The stone grew heavy, it’s weight too much to push towards the wall. Small hands lowered the block and gently placed it in the warm sand.

“Ahh…there is hope.” The voice cooed. Ak’Binda smoothed the raven strands from sleepy green eyes. “You are not alone little one.” She opened her thoughts to the child, allowed her to pass beyond her own carefully constructed wall of stone and spirit. Together they journeyed in thought. The child’s mind allowed Ak’Binda to steal her wounds. The lady drew in pain, sorrow, fear and removed it from those emerald eyes. The little girl watched and understood. She allowed this lady to take what she had only before received. A slight smile formed on the girls face. The lady nodded, drew a deep breath and released all wounds to nothingness.

“I am Ak’Binda,” the woman raised her palm to the child. A swirling circle could be seen just at the bend of her wrist. It pulsed with form and color. Ever-changing. The child lifted her left hand, looked intently at the veins of her wrist and the unblemished skin. She turned her palm to Ak’Binda, “There is nothing there.” The small voice dared.

Terra cotta skies drew long shadows of teacher and apprentice along the cooling dune. Wrist met wrist, pulse met pulse. Two hands were lowered palm up to catch the falling light. Both glowed with swirling circles shifting in pattern and shade. “But there is,” Ak’Binda’s voice sang on the wind.