The Art of Broken Pieces

0.5 Porgs

Rey shuffled the bag off to the children and dropped to her knees in front of Ben. She took his shoulders, felt the weird shuddering of his body. Something about him was...wrong. Ragged. Exhaustion and energy spinning inside him in a confusing cocktail that didn't feel natural.

"Ben? Ben!" She said, tapping his arm. "What's wrong?"

He didn't respond, but she felt him slipping, felt his mind's ability to bend the Force trickling away. Panic rising, Rey wiped at the dark brown dust clinging to his sweat-drenched face. "What's happened—what did you do?" she asked, a burning hunch in her gut. His head slumped forward, and he was heavy, capsizing toward her. She tried to catch him with her good arm, but he was too heavy, and his weight dragged her down. "No, no, no, no—agh! Ben!"

He slumped, half on top of her, and Rey shoved her boot against his leg and pushed, trying to roll him off. "What have you done you idiot," she growled, dipping into his unshielded mind.

She saw his exhaustion, saw the moment of indecision. She felt his protest growing in his mind as she watched him injecting himself with epinephrine. He shouldn't have done it! But his mind was rebelling—he hadn't wanted to, but her face appeared in his mind, her fear of the sandstorm and the demons she'd faced nearly every night. She saw herself in his arms, from his perspective, her tearstained face at last relaxed in sleep. He refused to leave her, no matter how tired he'd been. The protective instinct had driven him to idiocy.

"You shouldn't have done that," she said, struggling between the desire to hug him, and the equally strong desire to punch him as hard as she could in his stupid shoulder. "It's designed for when you're about to die, not when you need an energy boost!"

She motioned Sarissa forward. "Help me move him!"

The Wookie girl seemed reluctant, but convinced by Rey's desperation and Ben's semi-consciousness. Together, they peeled Ben off the floor and toppled him onto the couch, which was far too small for his massive frame. Ari'li stepped up curiously and tilted his boot, pouring out a wealth of sand.

"You were right," the girl said. "Your Ben returned to you."

"And bring with food!" another child said.

"And this!" Said a human boy, thrusting out cupped hands, in which nestled the downy form of a porg chick.

"Is food!" said the first child.

"Is not food!" The boy said.

The porg chick trilled happily as the children began to chase each other around, arguing whether it was meant to be part of the dinner ration.

Sarissa gave an inquisitive moan, and Rey nodded. "That's probably a good idea," she said. A moment later, the young Wookie brought a shallow dish of water and several pieces of cloth. She didn't exactly help as Rey and Ari'li washed Ben's face and hands and peeled off his sandy boots, but she fetched more water and even returned with a fresh shirt and a second inquisitive moan.

Rey contemplated the shirt. "I don't know about that," she said, peering dubiously down at Ben's shirt and jacket. They were both crusted from sand and sweat, but most things in this place were. She placed a hand on Ben's chest, feeling the still-erratic beat of his heart. "This will pass out of his system in an hour or so. I think we should wait." She lifted her injured arm. "I'm not a great helper right now, and he's surprisingly heavy."

Ari'li organized the other children and stored the rations, then brought a portion each to Ben and Rey as the others began a game of "lure the porg", the prize of which she could only imagine involved either new ownership of the porg chick, or permission to eat it for dessert.