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For Harry this was as close to leaving home as he would ever feel. Despite knowing it had been coming, despite preparing for it for days, leaving his friends behind was like a kick to the head. Leaving Aayla behind was worse. She was his first real friend, and leaving her hurt, like someone had taken a lightsaber to his guts.
Aayla was feeling it too, judging by the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She clung to him tightly as the two of them stood in the hangar Bay while behind them Fay's ship powered up. It still had no weapons, despite Yoda's insistence that she get some, but the shields on it had been revamped just as much as on the training vessel.
Fay waited by the entry ramp, the only person there. Lily and she had known this parting would be difficult, and wanted no one else there to watch. Harry had already said his farewells to the knights, masters and of course his fellow clan members. Those had been touching as well, with many a tear shed (by those races able to), though all the students understood the importance, even the younger ones understood how much of a draw Harry's power could be to someone who had some darkness within them. There had been after all a few examples of pranks and teasing that went too far even among them here.
"I'll miss you!" Aayla said, her voice muffled against Harry's chest. Harry nodded, whispering the words back to her as he rested his chin on top of her head. "Write to me?"
"I'll com-mail you constantly, at least once a week!" Harry promised, standing back for a second so he could put one hand over his heart. "And at least you'll be able to learn from Master Giiett for a time. That's a good thing right? And you'll only be stuck there for a year or so until Quinlan's ready to take you as padawan anyway. After that we'll arrange to meet up again as soon as possible"
Aayla nodded wanly.
Partly to soften what he knew would be a harsh blow, Master Giiett had added his own communique onto the Council of First Knowledge's orders. He had checked in on Aayla and Zule, and had told them he would continue their training in Jar'kai specific exercises when they arrived at Coruscant. It was indeed a very nice carrot, but it really was no match for the stick.
Then she locked eyes with Harry, and Harry understood. Both of them reached into their own minds for a moment, unlatching the doors they normally kept closed these days, having wanted to get into the habit so their parting would not seem as wrenching. It hadn't worked. "I'll miss you," Aayla said again, the words reaching Harry both via his ears and via his mind now, carrying with them a lot more depth and feeling than mere physical words could contain.
"Me too," Harry said, and Aayla could feel his sincerity through their link. "I'll keep this open as we leave, though I don't know what it will feel like when we enter hyperspace, it could hurt or something."
"Master Yoda always told us the Force was everywhere, so hopefully nothing will happen. Maybe distance won't matter at all to our link."
Even as she said that Aayla knew that was somewhat wishful thinking. She couldn't for example feel her bond to Quinlan any longer, not since he had left them several years back. Before that she had been able to feel his presence anywhere in the system, but the hyperspace limit or light speed limit seemed to be too much for such things. Still, she was hopeful. Her bond with Harry was after all deeper and though she would never say it aloud, more dear to her than the connection to Quinlan. And she wanted to stay in touch with him regardless.
Harry nodded, and pulled Aayla into another hug, squishing her against him so much she actually giggled a little, as she did the same to him. After a moment they stood back again, staring in one another's eyes before nodding. "May the Force be with you Harry," Aayla said, before she resolutely backed away again.
Harry took a deep breath, nodded and grinned at his first and most special friend, manfully banishing his own tears. "May the Force be with you too, Aayla Se'cura."
He turned away then, moving over to Master Fay and his mother, who nodded to Aayla before turning and gently escorting Harry aboard the ship. The two of them had already paid their own farewells to the girl of course. Only when the ramp closed, did Harry allow a few tears to appear in his eyes, but he shook them off quickly, knowing that somehow Aayla would feel it through their bond.
Instead, he looked around interestedly. He had never been in Master Fay's yacht yet, but he knew that she and Lily had been busy here. The first sign of this was the size of the room he entered from the landing ramp. It should have been a very small seating area, good enough for two or three people to sit comfortably together within talking range around a circular table but with room for little else beyond a few plants and a recessed series of drawers.
Instead it was nearly as large as the living quarters aboard the Explorer. In one corner was the original chairs and other things near the door to the kitchen. The rest was blank, save for a few extra lights strung up here and there running on the same runic array Fay had first experimented with.
Fay smiled, gesturing him on with a gentle touch to his shoulder. "Your room will be across the hallway from mine, we expanded it from a maintenance locker, it was our first real success with expansion arrays that didn't go out of control."
"A whole day of traveling in blank, white nothingness," Lily groaned, exchanging a wry look with the other woman, who shrugged her shoulders in return, a small but warm smile on her own face. The two of them had become fast friends over the years, and greatly enjoyed one another's company even when not working on any projects.
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