Saga of the Bridgers-Year 6

Chapter 14: A light on Lothal

May 19.

Jaral opened her eyes on another morning in her hospital room. She was still tired but her sleep had been filled only by the most beautiful dreams. Soon, the memories of the adventurous last day rushed to her mind.

It had all started when she started having the first contractions all of a sudden, as she hadn't noticed that her waters had already broken, one of the tricky side effects of her biology. At that moment she was preparing her lunch at home, and the first thing she did was unconsciously send a message down the bond, to the point that when she dialed Ezra's number in her comlink, her brother barged inside the house and rushed to her rescue with Sabine following him confused at first, then herself rushed to prepare the skycar. Mira was at the hospital, so Ezra warned her that they were arriving as they car sped through the prairie and into the capital. But there the car started emitting smoke from the engine and they had to pull over. Seemingly stranded, instead of calling the ambulance, Ezra did something so brash and yet so like him: he used the Force to summon a Loth-wolf in the middle of the city, who then galloped them in front of the hospital and disappeared quickly, to the disbelief of many testimonies.

Still, in the end everything went well: Jaral was brought urgently in the delivery room, where Mira was already waiting for her at the head of the medical team. The birth of the child had been very expensive in terms of energy, but with Ezra next to her and her mother leading the effort, she finally managed to push the baby out.

The cries of Samira were the proof that she was finally born. Jaral had only had a handful of minuted to hold her newborn daughter, so she could meet also her grandma and uncle, both happy beyond words as well.

The baby had briefly opened her eyes, revealing that she had the emerald eyes of her father, something that prompted in Jaral the need to make a picture and at least try to send it to Darvos, hoping that he would receive it. Though now she felt sure he did.

She felt her stomach rumble and realized she was very hungry. She turned and pushed the button to call the nurse, who arrived a few moments later and smiled at her.

"Good morning, Miss Bridger. How do you feel?" she asked as she started to take her blood pressure.

"Never felt better." she said with satisfaction.

After making sure that all parameters were green, the nurse went away to inform the doctor on guard and prepare the rations for Jaral's breakfast. Meanwhile, as she was instructed, the young woman cautiously slid her legs down on the side of the bed and sat up. Her head didn't start spinning, which was a good indication that she had recovered most of her strength. She looked at the clock and noticed that it was quite early. Mira would have started her shift in around an hour. So first she tried to send a small pull down the bond, since she could feel that Ezra was already up and running.

"Hey, there. How you doing?" Ezra answered joyfully.

"Just woke up. I wanted to hear your voice, uncle." she joked.

"Are you trying to melt me?" he replied in tone. "You feeling all right?"

"Pretty much. I'm just waiting for permission to see Samira."

"Of course. I'm running the younglings through the morning training, but I'll come visit shortly."

"Nice. See you soon."

She closed the bond and waited a couple minutes until the medical staff came back with her food and the last routine checks. After the doctor gave her the green light to leave the room in autonomy, Jaral ate the fruit and energy bar she was given and headed straight for the nursery where all the newborns were. There, among the various dozens of human and alien infants that had seen the light a few or the day before, she quickly spotted her daughter, sleeping peacefully while at least half of the babies were crying, though she couldn't hear them through the soundproof glass. Yet there was no better sight than the small bed with the tag 'Samira Bridger'.