Willow glided around the hab, her humanoid form disintegrating as she moved to clean up the mess. She needed something to distract her, to keep her mind off the fact that she was a horrible excuse for an Affini. Twice she had noticed Sarah was suffering and twice she had simply allowed it to happen, buying into the girls obviously false claims of being fine. The least she could do for the poor thing was make sure she had a clean home to live in before some other, far more qualified Affini could come and give her the care she needs. Willow tried to sort the clutter into some semblance of organisation. Sorting her belongings into separate piles of what to keep and what to throw away. Yet she quickly found the keep pile growing ever larger while the throw out pile stayed pitifully small. It’s not like she even had a use for most of the things she planned to keep, she just couldn’t bring herself to throw them away, some part of her just wouldn’t allow it. Taking a moment to centre herself Willow carefully rearranged the piles, doing her best to ignore that nagging voice inside that demanded she not throw anything out and after a shameful amount of time she managed to get the hab into a somewhat acceptable state. No doubt it would go right back to being a mess as soon as Sarah was gone but even Willow could keep things clean until then.

Willow soon noticed that in all the time she was cleaning Sarah had not come out of the guest room. Silently cursing herself for getting so wrapped up in her own problems that she forgot to check in on her ward, Willow tapped a vine against the guest room door and called out. “Sarah dear, are you alright in there? May I come in?”  Willow was met with silence that probably felt far longer than it actually was before finally getting an answer.

“Yes, you can come in”

Taking a moment to reassemble her humanoid form Willow moved into the room and saw the girl sitting on the edge of the overly large bed. It was clear that Sarah had finished unpacking some time ago, given the shockingly small number of possessions she seemed to have. Everything she owned seemed to serve some practical function and nothing seemed to be without purpose. The only exception to that rule appeared to be the four objects she had arranged at her bedside, almost appearing like a shrine to willows eyes. Hovering in the doorway, Willow called out. “Sarah dear, are you alright? I know all of this must be…..difficult to process. If you need to talk, I'm here.” 

“It’s fine. It’s just been…….a very long day.” Sarah’s answer was quick, with an almost imperceptible tremor in her voice. Willow could tell it wasn’t true, something was clearly upsetting the girl. Maybe she was just nervous, her presence here wasn’t exactly voluntary and while she was taking it far better than most rebels she was still obviously upset over the ordeal. It was in moments like these that Willow wished she was a mind reader. That she could see all the little thoughts going on inside this cute girl's head and would know exactly how to fix things for her. Willow was not a mind reader however and would have to do her best with what she had. Thinking about the problem she decided that something to distract her from the situation might be helpful.

Walking over to Sarah, Willow placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, feeling her flinch slightly but soon relax under her touch. “It’s about time to make dinner, though i’m not very familiar with Terran cuisine, perhaps you could assist me in making something you’ll enjoy?”

She watched as Sarah’s pensive expression shifted slightly and soon she was on her feet making her way towards the door. Willow moved to follow but Sarah paused in the doorway and without turning around said a quiet “Thank you” that caused a wave of relief to rush over Willow's core.

Once the pair reached the kitchen Willow soon found her plan was not as well thought out as she had first believed. All of the countertops stood well above Sarah’s head and all of the utensils were far too big for her to use properly. She gave Sarah the best apologetic look she could affect with her wooden mask of a face and was thankfully met with a slight smirk. “Perhaps it would be better to just compile something this evening, we can cook once I get more appropriately sized furniture installed. Is there anything you would like to eat?”

“Compile?”

“Here I'll show you.” A few of willows vines tapped on the screen of the compiler and within moments a glass of water had materialised out of thin air. She handed it to Sarah who now wore a look of shock and confusion that would have had Willow's heart flutter if she had one. “It’s a device that converts energy into matter and vice versa, a pretty handy thing to have around.” The explanation did little to assist the poor girl.

After a few more moments of stunned silence Sarah finally spoke. “Th…That thing must cost a fortune!! The energy alone needed to power something like that is….is insane!! And you use it to make food!?!?” 

Willow couldn’t help but let out a little giggle at the girl's reaction. That mix of shock and confusion was just adorable. “Don't worry about that little one, “Cost” as you put it isn’t something anyone needs to worry about in the compact.” Willow watched the gears turn in Sarah's head as she slowly came to comprehend the statement.

“So everything's free? No matter what you can just make anything you want in that compiler?”

“You’ve got it! The compact has been post scarcity for a very long time now and while you can’t quite make anything for safety reasons you’ll be able to make most things.”

Again there were a few moments of silence before Sarah suddenly burst out laughing. Willows foliage ruffled in confusion, had she said something funny? She wasn’t trying to make a joke. “Sarah dear, would you mind telling me what's so funny”

After giving Sarah some time to compose herself she finally gave Willow an answer. “Sorry about that. It’s just, this entire situation is ridiculous. Just a few days ago I was stuck on that overgunned nightmare ship barely scraping by on our dwindling supplies and now I'm in some giant plant aliens' home listening to how you can make anything you want from thin air.”

“I imagine all of this can be a bit overwhelming, if you would like I can leave you alone and let-”

“Not on your life! You’re gonna show me how this thing works.”

Willow was taken aback by the girl's sudden enthusiasm, but seeing her eyes light up like that after how sad she had looked before made Willow melt, how could one Terran look so cute?!?. Composing herself, Willow decided that this would be as good a distraction for the girl as any. Besides, she would need to know how the compiler worked sooner or later.

“Gladly little one, though it’s not particularly complicated.” Willow quickly compiled a stool for Sarah to stand on so she could actually reach the device. “I’ll turn on the voice activation systems so all you need to do is say what you want and it’ll be made. Why don’t you give it a try.”

Sarah paused for a moment, probably trying to think of something she wanted to compile before speaking. “A seven by seven inch steel plate with an engraving of two horses howling at the moon.”

What a strange request, perhaps she was trying to push the limits on what the compiler could do. “If you’re trying to trip the machine up you’ll have to do much better than that.”

As if on cue the saccharine voice of the compiler chirped up “Coming right up cutie!” Willow thought it was adorable but Sarah clearly disagreed if the frown on her face was anything to go by.

That frown quickly changed to delight however as Sarah's request was fulfilled, and an appropriately sized square of mat grey steel with a depiction of two horses, fins and all, howling up at terras moon. Sarah took the object into her hands, inspecting it thoroughly, looking for even the slightest flaw. “Now if you’re done playing around, how about you compile yourself something for Dinner?”

“Yeah alright, you say this thing can make anything i want right.” Sarah paused, thinking on what she wanted to make before speaking into the compiler. “Spaghetti Carbonara”

“What's the magic word” Another frown and sigh came from Sarah that Willow couldn’t help but giggle at 

“Please”

“Right away cutie! I hope it’s super yummy!” 

“Does it really need to talk like that?”

“I have no idea what you mean dear.” Lies were generally frowned upon in the compact, but a situation like this was an exception. 

Sarah simply rolled her eyes ever so cutely in response, though her annoyance was quickly dispelled when the compiler finished its task. Sarah carried the bowl of steaming hot Carbonara to the dining room table, only needing a small amount of assistance from Willow to get into her chair.

The first bite lit up Sarah's face as she let out a delighted squeal, she eagerly tucked into her delicious meal, only pausing to take sips of her water before digging right back in. Willow tried not to stare too much at the adorable display and failed near instantly. Once the girl had finished her meal, a satisfied sigh slipped past her lips and she leaned back in her chair.

“That was delicious, I don't even remember the last time I ate something that good!” 

Willow couldn't help but feel a little saddened by that statement, remembering that Sarah, like most rebels, had probably been subsisting off of synth cubes. “Well I’m glad you enjoyed it dear, If you want seconds feel free!”

“Nah I’m good, having seconds of something like this feels far too indulgent, even if you can just make it out of thin air.” 

Willow cocked her head in confusion. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean?” 

“Well back on Terra the ingredients to make this would have cost an arm and a leg, only reason we could ever get our hands on it was cuz my Mum worked in one of these dairy mega farms. Sometimes she’d be able to sneak some cheese out with her and she would make it for us as a treat.” Sarah paused, her expression becoming distant and ever so slightly sad. “But that was a long time ago now.” 

Just as Willow began to reach a vine towards Sarah, a loud ping from her datapad drew her attention away from the girl. Taking out the pad Willow could feel herself wilt on the spot. Roots. Roots and dirt and frost she knew there was something she was forgetting. She’d been so focused on making sure Sarah was comfortable that she’d forgotten about her actual job. There were several dozen notifications detailing minor problems with a variety of systems and even more reports that required her signature, but it was the most recent notification that actually had her worried. Apparently something was wrong with the ship's reactor and the matter-antimatter ratio was getting dangerously out of balance. Willow looked up from the pad and across the table to Sarah, still wearing that same expression. Dirt, this is why she didn’t want to take a ward in the first place, it was obvious that Sarah needed someone to comfort her right now but this kind of emergency demanded Willows attention. Though it pained her to do so, Willow got up from the table. “I’m sorry Sarah, but there is an emergency that I need to attend to. I’ll try to be as quick as I can. Do you think you’ll be alright on your own?” Her voice seemed to pull Sarah out of whatever deep thought she was lost in.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be alright. You do what you need to do. I’ll be fine.” 

Willow made a quick detour to the compiler and had it make a Datapad in Sarah's size before handing it to the girl. “If you need to get in touch with me for whatever reason you can use this. It also has a full library of Terran media.” Something deep in WIllows core begged her to stay, to ignore the emergency and just keep this adorable little Terran company. But that wasn’t an option and after much hesitation Willow forced herself to leave the hab before racing off towards the ship's reactor.