Oh dear.  This might...

Mm.

Be difficult to resolve effectively.

If she quietly starts offering a well of Light energy for Pradnakt to direct, instead of the both of them leaning on Pradnakt's prodigy status to fuel their technique...

That's not too much, surely?  She doesn't want to be - overbearing.

Pradnakt doesn't seem additionally upset, at all, but it also doesn't especially help; she needs to be Light to heal, and the state is fragile enough that any significant emotion threatens it.

(She could lean on Kalbetis more literally, and that would help, except for how she's absolutely not going to do that in front of the Jedi or anyone else for that matter. She doesn't mention it.)

...Blast.  Why though, the guidance portion is neutral...

"...We're taking a short break, have to keep our minds sharp for when the Jedi arrive and we have to handhold them through this."  That should be unobjectionable.

Sure. "...sure." ...I'm even more likely to lose the Light if I'm not working; keep it brief, please.

Yes, about that, is there anything I could do that would help, she not-quite-asks.  She is usually more insulated from other people's nerves than this and it's kind of sympathetically infectious - case in point, that she just plain missed that trying to run Light Force-energy through a Dark and worry-filled mindset just ends up with a mess, a minute ago!

She rather wishes Elcie were here.  It would...  Work, better, if she was.  But Elcie needed to be on the mission.

Force with us, the first ten minutes will be the worst. If I can hold it through that we'll probably be fine. And they're on their way.

    I'd normally suggest she recite something but I don't think we have anything with the right tone, Daisy adds. Maybe music?

Music.  Music, she can do music, she does music all the time for herself - What kind of thing are we trying to invoke with the music, here --

Ideally, bravery but in a yielding way - Invictus is close, in some ways, if you're familiar with that.

The master of my fate, the captain of my soul?  Yes, actually, somewhat...  Let me see.

After a brief period reflecting on the shortlist that came to mind, she settles on a piece that contrasts a quiet and rapid repetition of piano arpeggios against a soft, and almost mournful, but nonetheless far more driven cello section, accented with what could be an echo thereof in the very high notes of a harp - she's never been quite sure what the original artist did to accomplish the effect, if it was a physical instrument to begin with, and it's never quite been worth the effort to figure out who she'd need to ask.  ...The Force is pretty sure it should help, or at least meet the requirements.

I should have a spare set of - she taps where her ears would be, behind the mask, then signs these, because she hardly expected to need to know that particular word in a sign language even if she should have probably expected the subject of sound output devices to come up at some point - if you'd like to keep listening while we're working.  Force knows it helps me to do that, sometimes.

Good idea.

The music helps; she's still noticeably more emotional than the last few days, but not noticeably struggling to keep her Force alignment.

A spare set of her earpieces is thus promptly fetched.  My turn to go 'keep them', I believe.

The redundancy is typically framed as 'in case of breakage', if anyone really has the temerity to ask, but it's actually because some of her favorite music has stereo effects.

Thanks.

It is perhaps ten minutes or so after this is settled that the Nightfall Spectrum finishes docking and safety checks.

It would be easy to miss how Pradnakt falters for a moment when the Jedi step out of the ship, if Kalbetis wasn't working so closely with her.

You can do this.  We can do this.  Those are the last words she can sign before Sith sign becomes an infosecurity problem that she can't just wave off, let alone Lord Pradnakt.  (Not that she'd let it be known that Pradnakt had anything to do with that, but...  The problem is with the Jedi.  Who knows what they'll say, when this is over.)

Pradnakt nods, and shifts in a way that lets her hand plausibly deniably brush against Kalbetis'; they aren't being watched too closely for that just yet. And then she takes a breath and passes into the Force just a little farther - she shouldn't do this for more than a few minutes, and she'll certainly feel it later, nevermind the vulnerability now, but first impressions are important.

As it is, Darth Kalbetis is taking point on that.

And, Force help her, she is about to give her future selves, her Force echoes, whatever they are, conniptions.

Because when next she sees Elcie, Elcie is getting a hug, by some inscrutable whim of the Force and herself.  And if that happens to be in front of the Jedi, establishing an excuse to be a bit more touchy with Pradnakt and showing unmistakeable and honest care for another sapient being...

Well, that's just another example of how good plans always accomplish multiple goals at once, then, isn't it?

She might think this is a fundamentally absurd plan, now that she's made it - but she knows she will not ever regret it.  Not in any way that's true.

Even if this sudden whim is a bit surprising to Elcie - not that she minds, she's always happy to see Darth Kalbetis doing anything about her chronic lack of positive physical contact.  She's just a bit surprised it's happening here, now, and in this manner - to wit, Darth Kalbetis powerwalking up to the point where she would have stopped to address the group, and then not stopping as she continues directly towards Elcie.

(The hug is quite readily reciprocated, of course.  The murmur of 'missed you', quiet enough for her audio receptors alone, is something she will have to inqure upon a bit later, because Darth Kalbetis is addressing the crowd now, and interrupting at this point would be tactically unsound.)

...That was, perhaps, even more unexpected than they expected.  The Force is laughing at something.  Best to hope they're not the butt of the joke.

This is exactly what she meant to have happen right now and no-one will ever be able to say otherwise.

(Aww.)

(Aww.)

(Y'know, she probably can't be all that bad if she still has the capacity to love.  He thought Sith generally disdained that sort of thing as 'weakness'.)

(What is the point of power if not to protect the weak?)