Towards the future I see

Chapter 38 Part 3

I should be grateful to Thrawn. For more than one reason. One was that he asked Vader to borrow me to look after the girls with a Systems Maintenance Technician. We both spoke Sy Bisti and could communicate with the girls. Vader said that the Technician was enough to look after the children but Thrawn managed to get his way, pointing out that I wasn’t necessarily needed by Vader but I was needed by the girls. Another reason was that by keeping me looking after the girls, I didn’t have to remain in the same room with the Dark Lord and the Grand Admiral. I almost had a heart attack several times, when Thrawn was making remarks about Anakin Skywalker and a couple of times hinted that Vader knew about the events he and the Jedi have experienced. Naturally, Vader made quick comments that Skywalker was dead or that he had not been there. Thrawn then calmly claimed that he had misspoken. Either way, those moments made my heart almost stop and made me faint from the tension. Watching after a few kids, shouldn’t be that bad.

Thrawn had placed the children in my previous suite. It felt a bit weird to be there again, but now there were eight little girls there too. Three of them were sleeping since they were placed in hibernation chambers. The other five were up and kept mostly to themselves. The Technician had gone to get some food for the girls while I remained with them. One of them spoke Sy Bisti and spoke for the other girls as well.

“Is there anything else you need?” I asked in Sy Bisti.

“No, we are fine.” The girl said.

“Alright, please tell me if any of you need anything,” I said to the girl smiling.

They seemed fine and after talking a moment with Thrawn they weren’t as scared as they were before but I could still tell that they were a bit nervous. The three who were still sleeping slept now on the bed. The five awake ones were seated around the table and looked around the room. Taking in the strange surroundings. Suddenly all of them turned their heads towards the bedroom as they heard something from there. Fearing the worst, I rushed to the door. I opened the door and saw all three girls sleeping. What did the others see? Before I could turn and ask what was going on, one of the sleeping girls woke up and let out a scream. She didn’t know where she was. And since she was in a hibernation chamber when they were rescued, everything felt unfamiliar and scary. I went quickly to the bedside and kneeled down so I could be on the same level as the girl.

“It's alright. You are safe.” I tried to calm her down. She looked at me with scared and confused eyes. If she didn’t know Sy Bisti then this would be pointless. But I still tried to keep my voice as calm and soothing as possible. The girl who knew Sy Bisti rushed to the room and spoke in the strange language I heard Thrawn speak with the girls before. The girl in bed turned to look at her and I could tell that the fear was going away but she was still confused. The other two girls began to wake up as well and also looked around with caution. The girl at the door spoke once again and all three first looked at her and then they turned to look at me. I gave a small smile at them. Two of them inclined their heads to greet me and acknowledge my presence. The third one, the one who had to awaken first and screamed, looked at me a bit more carefully. Maybe she hasn’t seen a human before. She said carefully something that I couldn’t understand but the girls at the door helped with that.

“She asks what will happen to us?” The girl said repeating the words of the girls in bed.

“You will go home. Until then I look after you.” I said looking at the little girl on the bed. She was still “studying” me but the other two girls got up from the bed and joined others in the living area. I was about to go myself but I saw that the girl on the bed was about to say something instead of getting off the bed. I knelt down again next to the bed and looked up at her.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” I asked in Sy Bisti. She didn’t speak Sy Bisti but maybe she understood something. In any case, I kept my voice calm and soothing for her to be at ease. She hesitated a bit but then she pointed at me and said something I couldn’t understand. I crooked my head to the side not understanding her words. She seemed like she got troubled about something.