Chapter XV – Unexpected
Guests – Part V
Noon
“Whoa,” the driver said to his team of hestans as he
pulled back on the reins, stopping the carriage in
front of the Montique Resort.
“Cela, please see if you can locate a hover-chair
from guest relations.”
Immediately, the girl jumped down and ran into the
resort to fulfill the Jedi’s request.
“I hope you don’t mind being detained briefly,”
Obi-Wan said to the coachman.
“Not at all, sir.” He glanced down at Mara and
asked, “Will she be alright?”
Obi-Wan masked the doubt he felt and replied, “Yes,
I believe she’ll make a full recovery.”
“Very good, sir.”
They waited in silence until Cela emerged from the
resort sitting in the hover-chair. It zoomed right
for the Jedi and he had to duck in order to avoid
the contraption.
“Sorry, Ben, I thought this would be easier to
guide. It’s a little touchy,” Cela shouted from
nearly 5 meters away.
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. In spite of the seriousness
of the situation he couldn’t help finding the humor
in her antics. “Cela, get over here,” he barked
good-naturedly.
Cela tried a few more combinations of the controls
and finally guided the hover-chair over to the
seemingly disgruntled Jedi.
“Sorry,” she humbly said.
Obi-Wan couldn’t stay upset with her and it wasn’t
her fault in the first place. “C’mon,” he said with
a twinkle in his eye, “let’s get her in that crazy
thing.”
Cela beamed and happily obliged.
“If that will be all, sir?” the coachman politely
inquired.
“Yes, thank you.” Obi-Wan began to search his
clothes for some credits but the driver stopped him.
“Unnecessary, sir. I hope the lady makes a speedy
recovery. Good day, sir,” the driver tipped his head
at the Jedi and set his carriage in motion once
more.
“Thank you for your kindness. Good day,” Obi-Wan
replied. As the carriage went on its way the Jedi
turned and said with a smirk, “I’ll control it now,
thank you.” He couldn’t help remembering Leia at
this age but Cela seemed more of a free spirit than
Leia ever allowed herself to be. Leia’s love was and
is politics whereas Cela adjusted and adapted to the
difficult changes life cast her into. She had no
single passion that he was aware of. I’ll have to
ask her sometime, he thought. For now, he and
Sakoya enjoyed the teenagers company and he knew
that both of them hoped that her future would be as
bright as she appeared right now. You deserve it,
he silently told himself.
“Nervous?”
“A little,” Cela shakily replied as they entered the
turbolift. She didn’t know if her sudden chills were
a result of the storm or Mara regaining
consciousness or both. “If Sakoya can heal her… I
can only imagine how she’ll be when she wakes up.”
Obi-Wan conceded her point. “Yes, that has been
plaguing the back of my mind. However, we both know
we couldn’t have just left her.”
Cela looked over at her unconscious mistress,
slumped over in the hover-chair, a trace of fear
etching her face. “She doesn’t look so intimidating,
does she?”
Obi-Wan followed her gaze. “No, she doesn’t. But you
know better than anyone not to underestimate her.”
Cela nodded and fell silent.
__________________________________*****__________________________________
The man who had been so casually sitting at the desk
in the suite rushed over to the fallen Jedi and
cradled her in his arms.
“Sakoya, you okay?” he asked panic-stricken.
“Mmm, I think so,” she replied, rubbing her right
temple. “Help me over to the couch.”
The man easily picked her up and quickly strode over
to the furniture and then gently set her down. “Do
you want something to drink?”
Sakoya leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
“Yes, please. Some water.”
The man turned around and raced over to the desk
where a decanter and a couple of glasses had been
set upon it. He quickly filled one of the glasses
and rushed back to Sakoya.
“Here.” He handed her the glass of water.
“Xar’ek, I’m not going to break,” she sarcastically
commented as she accepted the glass and took a sip
of the cool liquid. “Now, would you mind telling me
why you’re here and in my suite of all places?”
“Mara, of course!”
Sakoya laid her head back again and groaned. “All
you’ll do is complicate an already complicated
situation.”
Xar’ek scratched his head, a resigned expression on
his face. “I only want to help. She’s mine too,
remember?”
The Jedi brought her head back up and took another
sip of her drink before replying. “Yes…I’m aware of
that fact, but also realize that she doesn’t know
who we are.”
“Ha-have you seen her?” he timidly asked.
“…Not precisely…”
“But she is here…in Kuryn?” he pressed.
Sakoya took a deep breath. “Yes, we believe so.”
Xar’ek sat down next to Sakoya, unsure of what to
say next. Finally, he said, “So…she’s the
Emperor’s Hand?”
“Apparently,” the Jedi replied behind closed
eyelids.
Xar’ek could only shake his head in incredulity. To
grasp the reality of what his little girl had done
over the years… “How are you holding up?” he asked.
Sakoya took another deep breath before answering,
trying to get her body to obey her commands. She
hoped more meditation would enable her to handle the
situation better than she had been. “In truth…I’ve
been better.”
The sound of the suite’s durasteel door sliding open
interrupted their conversation and both of them
looked to see who was coming in.
Relief at the sight of her husband and Cela filled
Sakoya’s eyes, until they fell upon the woman
strapped into a hover-chair. “M-Mara?” she
whispered, her eyes now opened wide in shock as she
clasped her hand to her mouth.
Obi-Wan led the hover-chair more into the suite and
stopped a few feet from his wife. “Hello, Xar’ek,”
he greeted Sakoya’s former suitor rather aloofly.
Xar’ek suppressed a chuckle. “Nice to see you again,
Obi-Wan.”
“I assume your presence here has to do with Mara?”
Xar’ek nodded. “That’d be correct, Master Jedi.”
Obi-Wan ignored Xar’ek’s smirk and turned toward
Sakoya and asked, “Did you know he was coming?”
Sakoya didn’t respond as her attention was adhered
to her unconscious daughter.
“Mon aimé?”
She didn’t even hear her husband’s endearment as she
walked toward Mara. “Is that really you?” she
whispered, reaching out to stroke Mara’s cheek.
Sakoya felt her heart flutter and then it began to
pound. She couldn’t even feel the tears slipping
down her own cheeks as she stroked her daughter’s
red hair that was so much like her own. Force
help me, she silently told herself. Finally
turning toward Obi-Wan, she asked, “Wh-what’s wrong
with her?”
“The toxin I believe. Do you think you can heal
her?”
Sakoya turned back to Mara and casually wiped a lock
of hair from her face. “I don’t know. I’ll try and
Force willing, she’ll recover.”
Obi-Wan went forward and wrapped his arms around his
wife. “Do you have the strength to do this?”
Sakoya melted into his embrace. “I’ve faltered today
but I can’t not try.”
Obi-Wan didn’t sound convinced. He could not only
see but also sense Sakoya’s weariness and distress.
“You need rest yourself. How long have you felt so
drained?” he inquired, his face echoing the concern
in his voice.
“I’ll rest when she’s more alert and functioning
normally,” she determinedly stated.
“No.”
Sakoya looked up into her husband’s viridian eyes.
“No?” she said warily.
“No,” he repeated. “I didn’t realize how exhausted
you were. I should have felt it through our bond but
didn’t.” He glared at her accusingly.
Sakoya cast her gaze downward and softly replied. “I
shielded it from you.”
Obi-Wan breathed in deeply and knew what had to be
done. He cupped her chin in his hand and lifted her
head until their eyes met. “Jedi Knight,” he began
softly, “I hereby order you into seclusion. You will
meditate and heal yourself; the Force will be your
guide. From what I can ascertain, Mara will be no
better or worse in the interim. We will keep her
fever under control while you regain your strength.
You would be doing her a disservice if you tried to
help her in the state you are in now.”
“But –” Sakoya began to protest.
The Jedi Master placed his forefinger over her
parted lips. “No, beloved, please. I won’t risk you
like that. I won’t chance losing two lives.”
Sakoya slowly nodded in agreement. She knew he was
right and in spite of the motherly instinct rising
within her to help her child, she accepted the fact
that she was far too weakened to do any good. “At
least lay her on the bed beside me. Perhaps she can
make the journey with me and find her inner soul.”
“I hope you can reach her, Mistress Sakoya. But be
forewarned, she doesn’t give up easily,” Cela
advised.
“Neither do I,” she replied with a wink.
“Stubbornness is a family trait.”
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