Ashes

7: An Unexpected Call

LUX BONTERI

Lux woke up in the morning to find himself in the hospital wing of the palace. Ahsoka was next to him, sound asleep. Her chest rose and fell at a steady pace, and everything on the monitor looked normal.

He carefully sat up and put his feet on the floor. He didn't want to wake her; she deserved a full night's sleep after everything she'd endured. As quietly as he could, he crept towards the door.

"Thank you," Ahsoka said, barely above a whisper, startling Lux. "Not another nightmare after you came."

He turned his head to look at her. She was facing the opposite direction, so he couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed. "Your presence is..." she paused, searching for the right word. "Calming. Soothing. Comforting."

"Glad I could help." She didn't seem mad at him anymore, which was a good sign. "Now that you're awake, I'll send for Alema."

She rolled over, her sapphire blue eyes gazing up at him. "Is she well cared for?"

"Absolutely," Lux replied instantaneously.

"Then she can wait another hour or two. If she comes, she'll talk my ear off, and I'll never get back to sleep."

Lux didn't think this was the appropriate time to point out that she didn't actually have any ears, though the sarcastic response definitely crossed his mind. The expression probably came from General Skywalker, or maybe from General Kenobi about General Skywalker. 

Whatever the case was, he caught her lips creep into a smile. "It was actually from Master Skywalker about Threepio, if you must know."

He always forgot that his mind was an open book when Jedi were around. He chuckled, picturing Senator Amidala's droid and General Skywalker in his mind. "I'll have Koyi show you to your room when you're discharged in a few hours. Please try not to kill anyone here. We're on the same side."

She rolled over and pulled her blanket up higher. "Yes, because I'm so clearly in shape to fight right now."

He sighed. "I meant that I just want you to let my people help. It's the least I can do for you. My staff has no idea who you are, and I'd really like to keep it that way."

"As would I, Lux. As would I."

"I'll come by to see you after my first round of meetings, okay?"

"Okay," she said softly. She muttered something else under her breath, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was.

"See you soon, then." He turned and walked out of her room and toward his personal wing of the palace.

When he arrived, Koyi was still asleep. While he would've liked to say good morning, he didn't want to wake her up, and it would be easier if she didn't know that he'd spent the majority of the night in the hospital wing. Nothing happened between him and Ahsoka that she needed to worry about, but he really didn't feel like having that argument right now.

He quickly changed into a simple white tunic with the Onderonian royal insignia and grabbed his crown before heading downstairs to the conference room. As far as he knew, he wasn't going to have any offworlders visiting the palace today, but he had a long list of problems to solve regarding food production and resource allocation. The Empire was demanding that he feed the troops and officers living there a ridiculous percentage of whatever the farmers produced, which meant that his people were having to either ration or starve.

He sat down at the head of the conference table, his advisors and heads of staff sitting in front of him. They discussed the food dilemma for what felt like hours with no real progress made.