The Love of an Engineer

She Can, She Will And She Must

Marking the third week after the return from Maridun, things were almost back to normal. Inside the Jedi Temple, the Jedi quietly carried out their daily routines. It was peaceful and tranquil; except for the occasional excited whispers of the younglings gossiping about the loud sounds of cheers coming from the clone barracks outside.

Which in turn made Master Windu curious to see what all the fuss was about. The Jedi master had wanted to visit Shima at her chambers to check on her condition after returning to Coruscant. She was even the all clear to leave the halls of healing two rotations ago. But seeing Shima's behavior made him rescind of Stass Allie's decision to let his daughter resume with her Jedi training.

Mace sharply exhaled, turning towards Stass with a hard look. "I think it was too soon to let her leave the halls of healing."

Hearing the concern in his voice, the tholothian lifted her head to him. She tried to reassure him, "She herself said that she was fine, master."

He continued to voice his concern, "She's been training nonstop since you cleared her. At this rate she'll end up going back to the Jedi healers. You recall seeing how weak she was when she returned from Maridun..." His voice died down, remembering the scene of Shima being carried inside the temple, so fatigued of the force.

It also scared Stass as well as the other Jedi healers to see their fellow healer so vulnerably weak. They understood her intentions as to why she forced herself to use her abilities but she had to be reminded that she also had her limits. Stass made it her personal mission to make sure that the Atalekian Jedi recovered.

"Everything will be fine, you shouldn't worry so much. If anyone is capable of making a speedy recovery, it's Shima." Stass said, patting him on the shoulder before leaving to return to her duties.

Meanwhile at the 501st Barracks~

After her morning meditation, Shima went to the 501st's barracks just to visit her friends Fives, Echo and Etch. However, visit ended up becoming a sparring match with the rookies. Anakin, Ahsoka and Rex watched their soldiers getting their butts kicked and Obi Wan and Cody observed with smug grins on their faces.

Fives was down within the first ten seconds. A single punch to the face knocked the tatted clone to the ground unconscious. He had to be dragged away by his fellow brothers.

Echo lasted five minutes tops. He certainly came a long way from his cadet days on Kamino, but he got distracted from a sly comment made from one of his brothers. He was dropped onto his back and was embarrassed from the loud laughter.

Etch was the last one standing.

"Etch, you're dragging this on. Just admit your defeat and we can call it a day." Shima said, turning her back to him about to walk away.

Instead of giving up, he silently rose to his feet and unsheathed a vibroblade from the scabbard on his thigh holding it up to the young woman's unguarded back. He knew it was low of him to do something so underhanded, but he had no other choice.

Shima quickly spun around, clashing his blade with her staff.

"Honestly, Etch?" She said over their locked blades. "That was low, even for you." She overpowered their hold and his vibroblade flew out his hand. Her blue hues lifted up to meet his own tired brown eyes. "Stop letting your pride get the better of you."

"Hard not to when your opponent is a Jedi..." Etch said dryly.

She scoffed, shaking her head. "I'm not even using the force. Me being a Jedi has nothing to do with this match."

It was then his turn to scoff. "You have more heightened senses than a clone does! You could probably predict my every move before I even make it!"

"Actually, I merely observed how Echo and Fives were giggling like idiots and knew that you would do something stupid." Shima said with pursed lips. True to her words, Echo and a now conscious Fives were snickering from the benches.