Yerbol’s self-confidence in their capabilities as potential instructors was comforting, drawing a warm smile from the fellow Champion. “Mhm, I suppose you’re right. Sometimes I forget how many important things we’ve done together...or at least, they don’t seem like that much for a while.” she chuckled softly, the smile fading somewhat as she leaned into his touch against her cheek. 
“When I couldn’t get through to you after you told me you were underground I...I thought I was going to lose you.” she admitted, not quite sure how else to put it. He leaned over and kissed her, a content hum leaving the Champion as she returned the gesture, the duo breaking apart as they were met with a disapproving grumble. 
“I love you, too.” Aria murmured, the corner of her mouth twitching as she cast a glance in the hound’s direction. “She’s probably just jealous because she’s not getting any attention, you know how she sulks.”
___________________________

While everything they had remembered on Zinuthra was in fact still in its place as they had left it, the large new Academy building was a sight to behold. Perhaps what was even weirder was the fact that the duo were charged with overseeing all the preparations in the facility. They barely saw anything of most of the Elders, though Aria did glimpse both Kira and Malu once or twice on her forays to make sure various furniture was placed in the correct room. She could hardly complain, they were kept far too busy for that; when she wasn’t helping greet the potential new student body, stacking chairs or placing beds in sleeping quarters, she was making sure Yerbol made his daily trips to the medbay for a Kolto soak to ensure his wounds healed up properly, or spending time helping Vano with the archives while she caught up with her adoptive sister. The Elders seemed quite evasive whenever Aria DID try to enquire about the role that had been assigned to the duo, and it wasn’t long before the Champion suspected they were hiding something, though she could never get a straight answer out of any of them. 
Presently, she was confronting her adopted sister in the library, determined to GET an answer and this was the reason for her being late to their agreed meeting time. 
“I KNOW you’re hiding something from us and I’m tired of everybody dodging around the answer! Va, WHAT is going on and why are we moving furniture around when we should be out there helping track the Xiis?” Aria demanded, hands on  her hips as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the other Qyaari. 
The Mirialan sighed heavily, pressing her index fingers to her temple for a brief moment before she decided that (knowing Aria as well as she did) it was probably better to just give her the truth.
“Alright! You REALLY want to know? The Elders are worried about Yerbol. I know he’s healing well, but they didn’t want to send him out there before he’s had a chance to...to put himself back together. Physically AND mentally. They didn’t want to separate you and send you on recon without him either.”
Aria blinked, dumbfounded. 
“So you’ve had us moving furniture around?!”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed he hasn’t been right in the head since you got back!” Vano snapped back, then withdrew, her expression softening as Aria’s jaw slackened.
“He’s not CRAZY, Va!” she didn’t, however, make any attempt to protest that she hadn’t been worried about her lover’s mental state for a time. “There’s nothing wrong with him.” the Champion scoffed, lifting her chin.
“Maybe not now, but if you’d gone charging out there sabers blazing without giving him chance to heal, you and I both know what would have happened.” the Mirialan smiled apologetically, patting Aria’s shoulder gently. She informed the Mirialan of their planned practise bout, and shared her optimism that she felt her partner’s skills would be more than up to snuff again.Though she nodded, the Mirialan also spoke a quick caution:
“Ari….I know you love him and you want him to be happy, but if he’s NOT ready, you need to be honest with him.”
Then, with a glance at the datapad she had set down on the shelf behind her, she grinned and shooed the Champion off. 
“Now go on, your little lovebird’s probably wondering where you’ve gotten to.”
It wasn’t until that moment that Aria realised she was ten minutes late, cursed and hurried away to change into an outfit that would be more practical for a sparring match, if a little under-handed on her part due to its clingy nature. She had spent so much of her time wearing robes ever since they had begun the skirmish with Bracknell, it was oddly refreshing to be back in the synthleather jumpsuit. Made her feel more like..Aria again, although she had to admit she had changed a lot since then, arguably for the better.

As she stepped into the room, Yerbol’s gaze flicked over her attire once and he shot her a questioning, if exasperated, look that only made her flutter her eyelashes “innocently” in return. 
“I never promised to fight fair, did I?” she shot back at him, stretching lazily. “I missed this outfit, actually, much less extra fabric flapping around to slow me down.” she chuckled teasingly as she circled closer. “Besides, it wouldn’t be fair for me to get an eyeful and not give you anything to look at would it now?” she dodged sideways as he lunged for her. “Hey, I never said ‘go’!” 
Though in a way she was comforted by his lashing out, it provided some reassurance that he was back to his usual self despite the ordeals Illesia had put him through. They hadn’t discussed the sparring match in much detail the previous night, but perhaps that too was for the better. The spontaneity would make it a better judge of his current combat prowess, which was the whole purpose for the match in the first place. Hand to hand it was. Aria sidestepped as his hand flew past her left ear again, striking out as her partner lost his balance from the force of the swing and managing to connect a foot with his ribs, though it didn’t unbalance him for long. Aria had thought about letting him win for the sake of his pride, but was mindful of Vano’s warning. No, she couldn’t pull her punches if she wanted to make sure he was REALLY ready to get back out there. After a few flurries of exchanged blows, dodges and parries, any worry the Champion might have had about her partner’s combat capabilities were quickly dissipated. Ducking past a blow to her shoulder, she swept her leg out with the intent to trip him up, but was instead surprised when his hand flashed out to grab her by the ankle and threw her backwards so that she landed on her back, staring up at the ceiling. 
Laughing out loud, she sat up to find her partner also grinning broadly back at her. It would seem their trains of thought had been similar.
“Well, this looks familiar, doesn’t it?” She smirked at him as she dusted herself off. "Thanks for not twisting my ankle this time."
“Not made of glass, right?” he quipped back at  her. 

After several more minutes of sparring, they were both too exhausted to take another step and called it even. As they returned to their assigned quarters to freshen up again before meeting with the gathered younglings (Cheriss had indeed dropped that bombshell on them the morning before; not only were they to be present at the opening of the new academy but they were apparently to be the instructors for the first class, too), Yerbol confessed his reasoning behind suggesting the sparring match in the first place and Aria was somewhat surprised to discover he had suspected the same thing as she did. They’d laughed it off again, and the subject turned towards their potential students as they made their way down to the main atrium at a leisurely stroll.
“Tell me you’re as nervous as I am.” she pleaded softly, snorting with laughter as he raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, I’ve never BEEN a teacher before.” she clarified, biting her lip. “I mean, what if they don’t take me seriously? LOOK at me!” Aria made a quick sweeping gesture to indicate her petite stature, trying not to laugh yet again. “I’m practically their height!” which was perhaps, a slight exaggeration, unless there happened to be a few slightly older children there of course. There was nothing to stipulate anyone had to be below a certain age in order to train, as they couldn’t afford to be too picky and the Elders seemed keen to acknowledge that the Jedi’s previous thoughts on students being unable to properly absorb teachings once they passed a certain age may have been slightly flawed.
Yerbol had much encouragement to offer her as to her “more than adequate skillset” and “patience she didn’t even know she had” (he was good at that), and if all else failed they could always put unruly pupils in their place with a menial punishment or two; which lifted the Champion’s spirits a bit.
“Maybe.” she concluded with a shrug as they rounded the corner towards the atrium, “Although I’m PRETTY sure stringing them up by their toes in that creepy temple down the road until they acknowledged their bad behaviour would be frowned upon as “unorthodox” by Saresh and the Alliance Cabinet.” 

Aria flashed him a sharp-toothed grin as her lover snorted and rolled his eyes. 
“And before you ask, yes, my father DID do that to me once, though it was Tulak Horde’s tomb...I was eight and I got a little too sassy for his liking. Took me nearly two days to get myself down; Vano said it’s hilarious when it isn’t happening to you...though I never did get to be on the other end of the stick since I never had younger siblings.”