The Senator And The Jedi

Chapter Fifteen: And Then The Senator Got Sick

Lux

Lux rolled over in bed, sighing. Although it was nearly midmorning, he couldn't bring himself to get up. He was so tired...

He pulled the blankets up over his head with his good arm, blocking out the light. He would message the Queen's office in a little while to inform her that he was feeling ill. He didn't think he would feel well enough to work on the negotiations at any point today.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

He poked his head out of the sheets, which he had wrapped around himself like a cocoon. "Yeah...?" he said groggily. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Lux," came Annina's voice. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, just hang on a–"

Mid-phrase, he realized he hadn't checked to see if he was dressed. He pulled the blankets down a little to check, and winced as the cool room-temperature air hit his skin.

He wasn't, but he would just keep the blankets up. After all, it was too cold to do otherwise, and he was wearing pants. He pulled a stray fold up over his head like a hood, curling up in a ball so that only his eyes and some of his hair were visible.

The door opened slowly, and there stood Annina, dressed in a loose green dress with an empire waist and a hood. She walked gracefully into the room, shutting the door behind her...

... And then bust out laughing.

"What?" he asked. "What is it? What?"

"You... You look so funny like that!" she replied in between giggles. "You..." She seemed to have lost her ability to speak.

Lux stuck his head out of the covers indignantly. "Well, Miss Janren, I'll have you know that I probably have a fever and it feels like it's below freezing in here!"

"Lux, it's summer," she reminded him. "But you look...!"

"All right, fine," he said, giving up on trying to hide the smile on his face. "I guess I do look pretty silly."

She sat down on the bed next to him, finally managing to stop laughing. Then a look of concern came onto his face. "Wait, you said you have a fever..."

"I think so, yes."

"Let me check," she said softly.

Then, she put her palm to his cheek, and he felt his face heating up even more than it already had. Well, what teenage boy wouldn't, when they an extremely pretty girl putting her hand on their face?

She checked his other cheek, and then moved on to his forehead, brushing his bangs gently out of the way. "Well, you definitely have a fever," she murmured. "Do you want me to get my aunt?"

"N-no, it's okay," he whispered, snuggling deeper down into the blanket in hopes of getting rid of a sudden chill. "I... I don't really want a ton of people to know I'm, uh..."

"Sick?" Annina finished, a light smile on her lips. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. Even grand and mighty Senators such as yourself are allowed moments of weakness because they happen to fall victim to a cold!"

He sighed. "Yeah, well, I don't like moments of weakness. I need to appear strong when I'm representing Onderon... when I'm representing my people."

She huffed, rolling her eyes. "Well, enough about that. Do you know what caused the cold?"

"No, I don't think so... There was just my shoulder wound opening up last night – I told you about the whole mess with the bounty hunter on Coruscant, right? But Ahsoka healed it using her Jedi powers."

Annina jumped. "Wait, she used the Force to heal you?"

"Yes... Why? What is it?"

"Lux, it's not healthy for you! Anyone except a Clone Trooper or another Force-sensitive is bound to have an allergic reaction!"

"What?" he gave her a surprised look. "I've never heard about something like that... Wait, how do you know, then?"

She bit her lip. "Um, I've been around... I've spoken with Jedi before, I mean." She looked very unsettled all of a sudden, and abruptly switched the subject. "Well then. If you're burning up with fever, then the best thing to do is..."

Then she yanked the blankets off him.

Lux was taken completely by surprise. Emitting a squeak that sounded like it would come from a startled Loth-cat rather than a person, he scrambled for the other side of the bed, where there was still a heap of unoccupied blankets.

He wrapped them around himself, again pulling some over his head so that only his eyes peeped out, and shot her a look. He could only hope she hadn't noticed his cheeks had turned the same color as a Nubian grassland rose.

Annina's hand flew to her face, and her eyes were wide. "Oh, kriff! I'm so sorry, I thought you were wearing a shirt! I was always told that you're supposed to cool down when you have a fever, so..."

"Well, I'm not wearing a shirt," he said, curling up even tighter as if that could somehow squeeze both their embarrassment to death. "And–"

A knock at the door cut him off mid-phrase.

"Hey, Lux? It's Ahsoka."

Kriff.

He bit his lip, not sure where this was going to go. "Uh, yeah, sure..."

The moment Ahsoka walked in, Annina stood up and made for the door. As the two girls passed one another, their pace slowed, and they shared a long – and maybe even hostile – look.

But no words were exchanged, and Annina left the room without looking back, shutting the door behind her.

Contrarily to Annina, Ahsoka didn't laugh when she saw him curled up in the blankets. It was probably due to her Jedi training, and besides, it looked like she had something serious on her mind.

"What is it, Ahsoka?" he asked.

She sat down on a chair next to the bed, folding her hands in her lap. She sighed. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable with sharing what she wanted to say. He shifted a little closer, blanket in tow. It was obviously important, and he wanted to hear everything that she had to say.

"We... We need to talk about last night."

*Hehehehehehehe... Sorry, I know I left off on a semi-cliffhanger and that it was a kind of awkward chapter... But that's ALL PART OF THE DYNAMIC, MY FRIENDS!!! But remember this chapter, there are some things that could become important later...

And I actually wasn't going to update this tonight, but (obviously), I did. I was all geared up and inspired to write a new chapter of UAAT... (I rewatched that battle sequence from the last SWR episode to get the creative juices flowing and everything... wait, spoilers... sorry) And then my brain chose this moment to remark,

"Oh, look! There's the document for THE SENATOR AND THE JEDI open on your computer, all cued up to an unfinished chapter! Why don't you write this, instead?"

Thanks, brain. Remind me not to give you chocolate later.

But anyways, I'll update this soon. UAAT and LtLB are next on my list, and I should be able to get the former done tomorrow night. That episode of Doctor Who I never finished is calling to me...

Bye!