Flaws of the Jedi

The Super Virus

A week and a half passed that Astoria was confined to her hospital bed. The doctors said it was best that she rested as much as she could before beginning recovery. She hated being stuck on that bed for so long, but she understood that it was necessary. Still, that didn't stop her from arguing and complaining about the confinement.

Out of this week and a half that she had been awake, she had still been decently loopy on very strong pain medications, so no one had been able to ask her anything and receive a straight answer. If they asked exactly what her parents did, she would start with the obvious things they already knew, then would trail off and forget about the question. If they asked if she found out anything about what was going on, she would say something like "I don't know" or "What?"

It was frustrating. Everyone wanted answers. But no one could get them. Not even Ezra could keep her attention for more than a couple of minutes, though. The doctors said that they had switched her to the less strong pain meds recently and that her loopy state would wear off soon, but how soon? They were all anxious and impatient waiting. Especially Ezra, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan. Ezra and Ahsoka wanted to know more about the soldier-like figures that Ezra had spotted outside as he was escaping with Astoria. Obi-Wan wanted to know more about the depression that Ezra had told him Astoria has.

He promised he wouldn't tell anyone, not even Astoria, but now that he knew, confronting her about it and saying it was based on a guess was his best option. He was going to find out the exact root of the issue and solve it. No matter what it took. He wanted her to be happy, not sad.

Now we find Obi-Wan pacing the floor of Astoria's hospital room while Ezra tries to keep a single conversation going with Astoria. He was finding it quite difficult, though. She could barely keep her gaze fixed on a single place. First she would be looking at Ezra, then look to the windows, then to the sheets on her bed, and so on. With the medications wearing off, she was managing to keep a decent conversation, but her focus was still everywhere.

Astoria really proved how much she cares about her friends in this one moment where she somehow managed to focus long enough to notice how anxious her Master was and worried her boyfriend was by saying this:

"You two seem off... what's wrong?"

This surprised the both of them. How did she focus long enough to notice? Did the medication just wear off suddenly? That couldn't be... her eyes still trailed off around the room, but anyone could see she was trying to focus on Ezra and Obi-Wan. What was forcing her to focus well enough to notice these things?

Then, thinking that word - "forcing" - gave both of them the answer. They suddenly realized she was somehow channeling the Force in a way that 'forced' her to focus. Doing this could be dangerous to someone not quite ready for this kind of ability. Ezra didn't know this, but Obi-Wan did. He immediately sat down in a chair next to Astoria and began trying to get her to stop.

"Astoria dear, you should not be using that ability yet..." He began, "It's not safe..."

"Why not? I feel fine," She replied, still drowsy a bit.

"Why can't we let her? She can finally focus a bit! That's good, isn't it?" Ezra chimed in, arguing in favor of Astoria.

"Not with this ability. Astoria, I'm not sure you're ready to channel the Force in such a way as this. Especially not in your current drugged state. Please respect my wishes and stop."

She frowned a little. "Tell me what's wrong first. Then I'll stop."

Ezra agreed it would be ok and Obi-Wan sighed. After a minute, he gave in and said fine.

Ezra began first on why he was worried. It was simple, really. He just wanted her to be ok. He explained that he was fine, just a bit worried for her, that's all.