The Knight, Death, and the Devil

Interlude: Breathe Out

Torin opened his eyes to blinding whiteness. He squinted and brought his arm up to his face, blocking out some of the light to give himself time to adjust. The bare skin of his wrist pressed into his forehead, and he lifted his arm up to see that he wasn't wearing his tunic—or shirt—anymore. A thick blanket was pulled up to his chest, tucked under his sides in a soft embrace of comforting warmth. Swiveling his head around, he saw white walls on either side of the bed he lay on. A nightstand stood to his right, on top of which was a potted plant with autumnal leaves and flowering pink blossoms. It looked familiar, though he couldn't quite place it.

Was this heaven?

Pushing himself up in bed with his hands, he winced and pulled his right hand into his lap. His blast wound was healed, though covered in scar tissue that snaked out to all corners of his hand on either side like a spiderweb. He wiggled his fingers back and forth awkwardly, finding it hard to control them.

His chest had fared no better. The wound was sealed, and if there were any internal injuries they were healed enough not to bother him, but the right side of his ribcage was a mess of scars.

Unable to recall hearing about any afterlife where you kept your scars, he decided that this probably wasn't such an outlandish place. No, he was alive again—somewhere, somehow, he was alive.

He swung his feet out of bed and scanned the rest of the room until his eyes landed on a single door leading out. Was this an Imperial hospital? Would his Master burst in here to chastise him?

Was she alive too?

He pulled up on the waistline of the ankle-length pants someone had put on him and tip-toed towards the door, then pressed the controls on the wall next to it. To his surprise the door opened immediately. No lock, no key card, nothing. He moved out into a short hallway that looked more like the entryway of someone's home than any hospital he had ever seen. Halfway down the low-ceilinged corridor was a window built into a beige wall. He walked over to it and peered out at alpine terrain, a rolling landscape of evergreen trees and snow-capped mountains.

The whoosh of a door reached his ears, and he spun around back to the room he had just left, only to see that the way was still open. Looking to either side of the hall, he saw that a new door had opened. A woman stood in the entryway, barely visible with the bright sun shining behind her. She stepped inside, and the door closed.

She had olive skin, and short brown hair swept over her eyebrows. The woman was on the older side, no younger than forty, but fit-looking. She wore a red and brown tunic with a yellow sash wrapped around her waist, and similarly colored wristbands below both hands.

Torin's eyes went wide and he jumped back as he recognized the Jedi Knight he had fought on Dominus' ship. His hand went to his waist, seeking out a weapon before he remembered his situation.

She took a few steps towards him, and he backed away further, his hand brushing the wall as he moved. With a bright smile and moist eyes she clasped her hands together and pressed them to her chin.

"Welcome home."