Theodosia

Chapter 8

Everything was back to normal the next day. The tension between Poe and Astrid had disappeared once he suggested they have a movie night to unwind. While they settled on the couch eating a whole tub of ice-cream and watching the movie projected from a Holo device, they both fell into their normal routine.

The only difference was that now, Astrid had been given things to do instead of spending her day cooped up in the apartment. As promised, Leia had arranged and sent a list of small tasks that Astrid had to do throughout the day. They were menial jobs, just enough to keep Astrid busy.

Along with the list came a pair of white rope bracelets with a small frame like a watch. A handwritten note from Leia told her she was to wear the bracelet while Poe wore the other one.

"Not really my colour," Poe muttered jokingly, slapping it on his wrist. When they both wore them, Astrid slid her finger over the face of her bracelet and a small beep sounded from Poe's own device, immediately followed by Astrid's coordinates.

"A tracking device," Astrid observed, sighing as this did confirm her suspicions that Leia didn't trust her. "Guess I really am your prisoner now, aren't I?"

"It's not half bad; you still get ice-cream," he shrugged, playing around with the bracelet. "It goes both ways. That way you can find me, and I can find you. And look, it even tells you the time. Not so bad after all, huh?"

Astrid chuckled, shaking her head. "Alright, alright."

The two of them decided to have breakfast in the apartment instead of the cafeteria, opting for a quiet morning. Astrid went through the list Leia had sent her while Poe read through a report he had been given the day before.

Most of Astrid's jobs were cleaning, but some were maintenance jobs and some were delivery jobs. Her tasks ranged from scrubbing the floors to tidying up the public rooms and to assisting the technicians in the maintenance department.

Once the clock struck 8 am ("Look, Jones, our fancy watch says so"), they left the apartment. When Astrid reached the area she had been assigned to, she said farewell to both Poe and BB-8 before going about her day.

***

Astrid was in a living area she had been told to clean up. She had to stop at the sanitary station, which proved to be an awkward situation as the janitor stared at her strangely while she tried explaining to him that Leia had allowed her to stay on base. "You're the intruder!" he had shouted loudly, sending her into a panic as she reassured him she wasn't going to hurt him. After receiving the same look of shock on his face even after her explaining, she gave up and just got a broom, mop and whatever cleaning materials she needed.

The living area she had to clean was quite a mess, to her surprise, but she didn't mind, busying herself with cleaning it up. Thankfully, there was no one in the room. She picked up the thrown books and pieces of paper that were scattered around the room. Then she got to sweeping.

She had made it a grand total of thirty minutes before she became bored. She was more than happy to go through with an idea that popped into her head. Sitting down in the middle of the room, she glanced around to see that no one was looking before raising her hand. She turned her focus on the brushes she had brought along with her. Singling out one of them, she lifted it with the force and gently dipped it into the bucket of soapy water. Smiling, she started to make the brush move itself to scrub the floor.

Finding it more than entertaining, she practiced with more brushes, adding them one by one as she got more confident with her power. With each passing minute, she got better, and she could feel the power burning in her, urging her on.

She let out a laugh when about twenty minutes later, she had succeeded in controlling three brushes that were scrubbing the floor, the feather duster that was dusting the empty shelves and the books which she then levitated to fill up the shelves. Everything was moving around with a whirl around her as she split her attention to focus on different tools.