The Legend of the Jedi Queen

56. The Phantom Pain

Days had passed. The room was approximately thirty-five degrees, and the vents were blasting as cold as they could, feeling like they were cutting through the thin flimsi-based hospital gown she wore. Her stomach hurt worse than it ever had in her life, and when Nellith wasn't forcing herself to sleep, she was taking her water rations that they sent through a small passage in the wall, too small for her to crawl through.

Between the cold and the lack of food, Nellith knew she was already losing weight. She wasn't going to give in to Kiernan's demand. This was just extra icing on the cake for the Jedi. If they were going to imprison and torture her like this, the New Republic would know, and would surely come for her.

It was just a little difficult to stay stubborn at this point.

And now that she had thought about it, she had no idea how much time had gone by at any point. It could've been weeks for all she knew. Because there had been no care materials provided, her prosthetic hand had surrendered completely to the cold and seized up.

The point was, Nellith Solo was miserable.

She spent most her time huddled in a ball, knees to her chest the entire time.

It was in one of the twilight periods, when she was fading in and out of consciousness, when she saw him.

Covered in his own blood, his hair almost completely white, and several bruises on his skin and face, and his white jumpsuit covered in dirt and blood, Nellith immediately felt pity for the boy she had failed. He sat against what must've been a wall in his surroundings, but she couldn't see him.

Then all sound was sucked out of the room. He looked up, as if the same had happened to him.

"I-I-I-It c-can't be y-y-you," Nellith whispered. "I-I m-m-m-must be d-dying or—"

"Nellith?" Despite what he'd clearly been through, he still showed some concern for her. He crawled toward her, stopping merely an inch in front of her, his eyes surveying the damage. "Who did this to you?"

"K-K-K-Kiernan," Nellith sobbed. "His J-Jedi."

"His Jedi did this to you?" His hands, from across space and time, reached to her then, the only warmth in the world. "You're like ice, Nellith. Hold on. I'll make it to you, I promise. Where are you?"

"D-D-Don't," was all Nellith could get out.

"I promise, I'm coming for you," he said, lilac-gray eyes intense.

She reached her prosthetic hand out, gently hovering over the bruises on his face.

"P-P-Please d-don't," Nellith managed to exhale.

He kissed her for a second, throwing her back to the last one, before he faded away completely and the sound came roaring back in. She wrapped her arms around herself, placing her hands where Tallis had just placed his.

The doors slid open, but Nellith didn't even look in the direction of the doors. Then she was pulled to her feet roughly by a Jedi knight who forced her arms behind her back so they could handcuff her, and he half-dragged her out of the freezing room, into the hallways of wherever she was. She glanced out to see a viewport of a night sky, but before she could get a better look, she was yanked into a lounge where twelve Jedi, headed by Kiernan, sat.

The burly Jedi knight who had dragged her in threw her onto the Jedi Council's table. She just lay there in the flimsy hospital gown, shuddering violently with fear and cold.

Kiernan stood up. "You were communicating with Tallis Shan. We sensed his dark presence in your cell!"

"Dark?" Nellith murmured.

"His resolve and anger were so tightly entwined together, it must've been his commitment to the dark," Kiernan said. "You will tell us what we told him, or I will be forced to go in your mind again."

Nellith spat on his table.

"Such insolence," one Jedi murmured.

Kiernan outstretched his hand, but Nellith was ready for him. As she lifted in the air, she focused on fighting off his presence, overwhelming him with her own. She would not be caught off-guard again. It hurt her, it physically hurt her to resist him, she writhed and screamed in the air, but she would not give up. She knew this wasn't a true Jedi, a person who hurt others to get what they wanted— when she did it, she wasn't very Jedi-like either. There was a reason she was ashamed of those moments.

When she was slammed back down onto the table, she heard a grunt of frustration from Kiernan.

"It's no use," he muttered. "We'll have to force her to work with us. It's been two weeks."

Two weeks? Nellith thought dully.

"The galaxy needs her response, especially if that boy is coming for her," Kiernan said. "We have no time to lose."

"What do we do?" a female Jedi asked.

Nellith was lifted up in the Force into the air and turned around slowly.

"One of us will have to clean her up, and we'll get her her lines," Kiernan said.

"After that?" another Jedi asked.

"We'll have to start with IV fluids," Kiernan mused. "She'll be confined to her bed for a week. After this broadcast, we'll have as much time as we need to make her into what we need her to be."

There were murmurs of assent around the room. The first female Jedi looked slightly disapproving, however. She merely pursed her lips that she had painted purple and said noting as Kiernan dropped Nellith back on the table.

"We are in agreement, then?" Kiernan asked.

There were more nods.

"I will inform the others," the burly Jedi behind Nellith said.

"Thank you," Kiernan said. He looked to the disapproving female Jedi. "Tiki, will you take this?"

Tiki looked to Nellith, her birdlike features somewhat apologetic. "I've got this."