The Legend of the Jedi Queen

30. Constellations

Rey awoke, sensing her daughter's distress in the Force. Ben sat up beside her, and they shared a look. They quickly put clothes on and ran down to the foyer of the Imperial Palace, ready to hurt whatever had caused their daughter such distress.

The palace doors swung open as Nellith half-dragged, half-carried an unconscious Tallis in.

Ben rushed forward, taking him from Nellith.

"What happened?" Ben demanded.

"We went exploring in the ice caves, and we saw some Force Ghosts in them, and one went through Tallis, and he just went unconscious," Nellith rambled, sobbing. "I'm so sorry, if I'd known—"

"He's ice cold, we need to get him hooked up to a life support," Ben said.

"We'll talk about this later," Rey said. She grabbed her commlink out of a pocket. "We need a transport as soon as possible! We've got an unconscious Padawan with unknown symptoms but needs a life support!"

Ben rushed off towards the Uphatu medical center, leaving Rey to comfort Nellith.

Nellith entered the room in the medical center. Sterile and white, it wasn't the most comforting place, but was a sharp contrast to the majority of First Order rooms in the Imperial compound.

Tallis lay on one of the beds, still unconscious, and hooked up to several medical machines.

"He stabilized last night, but we don't understand what's going on," Rey said. "He's blocked his mind off from everyone."

"I'm so sorry," Nellith said. "If I'd known—"

"To be fair, we didn't even know that was there," Rey said. "A cave that can bridge the gap between the living and the dead. . . "

"Are you going to go and see it?" Nellith asked.

"I sent Kiernan to take a look," Rey said. "Mostly to get him out of my hair."

Nellith gave a laugh in surprise.

"I trust him, and he means well," Rey said. "But he doesn't know how to forgive, quite yet."

Nellith nodded, looking back to Tallis. What had she done?

"Something's been happening to him for a long time," Nellith murmured. "I don't understand."

"You weren't the only one who ignored the signs," Rey said. "I knew them, but I kept thinking I could figure it out. I was wrong, too."

Nellith leaned her head on Rey's shoulder. It seemed that the mother and daughter had less time together since they had left Aquilae. It was funny, how allowing more people into their little life had made it so much bigger, but left them with so little time for each other.

Rey wrapped an arm around her daughter's shoulder and smiled sadly. "All we can do is wait. I know how hard that can be."

"Does it get any better?" Nellith asked.

"The wait might be the hardest part, but the joy of seeing them again after the wait— that's the best part," Rey said.

Nellith nodded.

The relative silence of the infirmary was interrupted by the beeping of Rey's commlink.

"Kiernan must've found something," Rey said. "I need to take care of this."

Nellith nodded, and Rey smiled sadly before walking out. Nellith looked back to Tallis. She reached out her hand to touch his. It was still surprisingly cold. Then, all of a sudden, Tallis's lilac-gray eyes flashed open.

A medic droid came over to help unplug him, essentially. Nellith couldn't help but notice how still he was, how he seems barely conscious, or even alive at all.

The medic droid finally rolled back, and shakily, Tallis started to prop himself up on his elbows, before carefully sitting up.

"Tallis?" Nellith's voice was tentative.

"What happened?" he asked, sounding scared.

"You passed out when that ghost went through you," Nellith said. She hesitated. "Tallis, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" he asked defensively. Already, he was retreating, closing her off. She felt helplessly angry.

"Have you taken a look at yourself lately?" Nellith demanded. "Tallis, you look tired. Your hair's turning gray. You're only fifteen, for the Force's sake! Something's going on, and everyone can tell. We want to help you, but we can't, not if you leave us in the dark."

He met her eyes, his face expressionless. That was, for a moment. Then the tears started.

"I tried so hard to hide it," he said. "I didn't want anyone to know."

Nellith reached her hand out, and he took it, gripping it as if it were an anchor to life itself.

"I've been dreaming of Snoke and Sidious and Revan, ever since I left Corellia," Tallis said. "They've made promises, threats— all of it. I've been struggling with it for a long time. But things got worse after you came back from Korriban."

"Something happened, didn't it?" All the pieces were starting to fall into place for Nellith.

"You were floating and freaking out," Tallis said. "And I could sense a shred of Snoke's ghost in you from some holocron or spirit you encountered on Korriban. I lured it out, and into me. Blood is highly valued by the Sith."

"So now you've been struggling with Snoke in your head ever since," Nellith realized.

Tallis nodded, and swiped his sleeve across his tear-stained face. "I thought I could win this on my own."

"Oh, Tallis." Nellith's voice was sympathetic.

"There's more," Tallis said. "I learned some things, from having Snoke up here."

He gestured to his head.

"There's more of his spirit somewhere else, and Andromeda Hux has whatever vessel contains it," Tallis said. "I don't know what she's going to do with it, but—"

"We need to be there when the ceremony happens tomorrow," Nellith realized.

"What ceremony?"

"The one Maz Kanata got word of," Nellith said.

The two teenagers exchanged a panicked look before scrambling to their feet and out of the medical center.