Heirs of the Fallen {1} (Remastered)

Chapter 16

By the time Leena arrived at the fuel depot she was about to explode with anxiety. It seemed like every few seconds during the journey she risked a glance behind her to see Luke getting paler and paler, making her speed so fast that he almost fell off once.

But either way she made it just as the sun was coming up, and took a deep shaky breath before killing the engine and hopping off to check on him. He looked horrible, with his blonde hair plastered to his forehead, his already white skin almost translucent, his eyes were sunken in, and his dry lips were parted in an eternal silent groan of pain. She hesitantly placed a hand on his forehead and felt it burning, making her chest squeeze in fear. "Luke? You alive?"

His eyes flickered up towards her, and through his feverish haze her small, fearful round face stood out to him and made his stomach clench with guilt. Luke attempted to nod but couldn't even do that, instead resulting in the weakest attempt at a smile he'd ever done. Based on her expression it didn't help much, and maybe made things even worse.

"Hang on, I'm gonna go get help." Leena grabbed both sabers and hid them in Luke's tunic before turning and running into the depot. Luke wanted to cry out to her to be careful but couldn't, instead waiting in frustration and worry for her to return. The poison churned within him, spreading fire through his veins and rendering him completely immobile. During the speeder ride Luke had attempted to retreat within himself and surrender to the Force for a few desperately wanted moments of relief, but couldn't even muster the strength to call on it for aid.

Meanwhile, Leena ran inside and tried her best to mask her panic as she approached the desk where an uninterested woman sat. Her eyes slowly drifted to Leena, and based on how her entire face shifted Leena could tell she hadn't seen a Togruta before. "Can I help you?"

The girl winced internally. The woman's question was tinged with disdain, meaning she probably wasn't a fan of humanoids. "Yeah, uh... My friend got scratched by a Twii'lan and he's really not doing well. Do you have anything for it?"

The woman's eyes widened and she stood up immediately, all disdain forgotten. "A Twii'lan? Of course, I have a kit especially for Twii'lan poison, but I'd never expected to actually use it."

She raced around the desk and Leena had to jog to follow her frantic pace although she was glad for the speed. Luke laid still on the speeder, but his head tilted to the side as he heard the two females approaching. The women winced. "Oh, he got it bad."

Leena tapped her foot anxiously. "What can you do for him?"

"Let's get the speeder inside the doorway so we can treat him in there."

So the girl slowly drove the speeder into the depot once the woman had made room for it, then hopped off and watched her get to work while biting her lip. After several minutes that felt like years the woman stood up and brushed her hands against her thighs. "Well, he's stable. But for how long I don't know. You should get him to a professional."

"What should we do?"

"You can camp here until he gets better."

Leena gave her a small grateful smile, hiding her distrust. It was in her nature to immediately suspect people she didn't know, a habit grown by living alone in a hostile environment. But this woman had just possibly saved Luke's life, she deserved a bit of trust. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." She frowned. "Did you drive all night?"

Leena shook her head. "No, I'm fine." She lied, feeling fatigue dragging at her legs.

"All the same, you should get some rest. It's not like there's much else for you to do anyways."

The girl couldn't argue with that as the woman walked away and the garage door closed behind her. Now alone with Luke, she looked around the immediate area and resisted her natural instinct to steal anything worthwhile although she saw some tempting items on the shelves. She rubbed her shoulders and sat against the wall, watching Luke worriedly. Every inch of her wanted to fall asleep now that she was sitting and somewhat relaxed, but her anxiety for Luke kept her awake.

Sighing, she stood back up and analyzed him, staring at the bump under his tunic where the sabers were hidden. She'd lost her blaster during the skirmish with the hunter and Twii'lan, so she needed something to defend herself.

"Promise me, Leena. Promise me you'll be safe."

Leena scowled and looked around, her eyes settling on an old dusty E-11 blaster on the shelf. A standard Imperial blaster. After grabbing it and dusting it off, and seeing it had a mostly full power pack, she sat down with it in her lap and messed with it absentmindedly.

Her mind was still drawn to the lightsabers, but she'd made a promise. Her last promise. She'd promised she'd stay safe, above all else. Which meant keeping her head down and keeping the powers her mother had possibly passed down to her to herself no matter what.

No matter who came along.

Leena glanced at Luke, her stomach twisting with conflict. Growing up she'd heard horror stories about the Jedi of the Old Republic, how they were ruthless and ignorant to the people who suffered from their war. Her mother had never told her bad stories about them, actually she'd never talked about them at all, so Leena had no idea what to think when she met Luke.

According to the rest of the galaxy Jedi were bloodthirsty and selfish, and were the cause of the Emperor's rise to power because they were too blind to see it. But Luke... Luke didn't seem to be any of those things. He even saved her life, which didn't seem selfish or bloodthirsty to her at all. Then again he also dragged her into all of this mess, but the more she thought about it the more she knew deep down that she'd wanted to be dragged into it anyways.

Leena sighed in defeat as she remembered trying to reach out to the Force the night before, remembering a story of a Jedi who'd called their lightsaber to them just by reaching out a hand and it had flown into it. But she felt nothing when she'd tried and she grumbled; maybe she wasn't as extraordinary as she thought. Maybe it was just good instincts and intuition. Why was she disappointed by that?

Either way, she'd made a promise that she planned to keep considering it was her last words to her mother, and even though she'd dumped her on a trash planet and Leena still resented her for it she couldn't bring herself to go back on her word when it was her last interaction with her. She noticed that Luke was beginning to have a bit more color to his face and sighed in relief; maybe she could sleep now that she knew he was healing.

The girl slid against the wall and wrapped her arms around her knees, hiding the E-11 in her lap. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall, trying to push her worrisome thoughts out of her head. Whether she had Jedi powers or not, either way she needed sleep. She slid into a fitful sleep, dreamless but never fully relaxed.

Meanwhile, past the depot and deep in the forest a young woman put down her binoculars and pulled out her comm. "Mother, he's here and gravely wounded. Permission to infiltrate?"

"Permission granted. I want him alive; get rid of all others."

"Yes, Mother." The girl slid her comm back into her pocket and subsequently slid down the hill, brushing her hands off and starting towards the depot with a small excited smirk.