On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CXXXV

It took Padmé longer than she'd have liked to get the almost burning armor off of an unconscious Luna—the woman was almost positive the girl had a fever and on top of that was being cooked alive by the protective metal coverings. She knew what it was made of simply by looking at all the seemingly innocent scratches layered over the burning black plates and found herself wondering—with a sizable amount of concern, she might add—how many times a lightsaber had successfully landed a hit on Luna to heat the cortosis up to such an extent.

Considering the number of scratches that the ex-Senator was rather sure were not present that morning, far more than she wanted to know. And between Luna's sudden seeming disregard for her life and Vader returning injured, Padmé honestly didn't know what to do. At least the Sith Lord was willing to go to the medbay to get patched up—she had thought it would be necessary to drag him there regardless of the injury's severity (though the once Queen wasn't all that sure of how to properly drag a Sith somewhere, she had only ever tried it with Jedi and they could be more than stubborn enough). If the man knew what was good for him, he wouldn't leave until he was properly healed.

Based on past experiences with her husband, that was rather doubtful. Padmé was going to have to make sure Vader didn't do something stupid. He and Luna both, actually, as it was rather clear the girl was in no state to be up and about either despite the fact she'd appeared to have been fine before she left the ship. Honestly, Padmé was amazed that the girl had even made it back, let alone in one piece—cortosis armor or not.

"What are we going to do with you?" she asked aloud, brushing sweat from the girl's forehead with a cloth dampened by cold water. Luna should have gone straight to the medbay, but Padmé wasn't entirely surprised the girl had just made a beeline to her room. Clearly, the apprentice took after the master when it came to illnesses.

Problem was, Padmé was all but certain that without Luna conscious enough to help, the woman wasn't strong enough to move her to the medbay. Thankfully, as far as she could tell, it just seemed to be some sort of disease that had taken the girl by surprise. Likely nothing serious.

But the fever paired with the burning armor Luna had been wearing did little to comfort the woman. Perhaps if she couldn't bring the girl to the med-droid, she could bring a med-droid to the girl.

"Watch her for me," Padmé said to Cerberus as she stood up. It was unlikely the girl would be waking up and trying to move any time soon, but perhaps the hound would be able to keep her down if she tried. The Tuk'ata didn't move, only eyeing the Nabooian as she carefully avoided stepping on him while walking to the door. The Sith hound had been rather quiet, seeming to know that it was better to allow her to move about at will. Either that, or Luna's pet had finally become used to Padmé's presence.

The once Queen walked through the ship's empty corridors, eventually finding herself in the small medbay. It was rather empty, having only a couple empty beds for parents. She glanced at the closed door that led to a separate room where Vader was being treated before focusing on the storage unit where a second, inactive med-droid was being housed. Before she had the chance to activate it, a door opened and the sound of a respirator filled the room.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Padmé questioned as she turned to look at the Sith.

"How is Luna?" the Sith quarried instead of answering.

Padmé frowned but answered all the same: "Seems she's come down with some sort of illness. Pretty sure she's running a fever. I was going to have one of the droids check her out." The Sith nodded in agreement.

"Tell me what the droid says."

"Of course," she agreed. The ex-Senator watched in silence as Vader reentered the room, door closing behind him.