Mother ~ The Sequel to Breeder

12

"Mommy?"

My head throbbed, a bitter taste clinging to the back of my throat.

"Mommy, wake up!"

I blinked into a horrible, yellow light, immediately rolling over and vomiting onto the floor, my two eldest sons audibly reacting with loud, "Ew!"s. A pair of hands held my hair out of my face as I emptied my stomach of toxins, my mouth burning as gastric acid tore it open.

"That's it, child, get it all out. You're very sick."

"Sick... with what?" I gasped between heaves.

The woman cradling my head spoke to a droid, but I couldn't understand the intermittent beeps.

"You don't have any physical ailment. I'm afraid your sickness goes deeper than the body."

I laid back in bed, my vision swirling as though I were being sucked into a powerful vortex, waves crashing over my body. I struggled to string together a coherent thought, and speaking was absolutely out of the question. Images flashed through my brain, the colors and noises too bright and chaotic to parse out. I saw the red glow of Ren's lightsaber, felt its heat, sweat pouring down my face. There was an island, waves crashing against a rocky shore, the darkness of space illuminated with thousands of explosions...

The second time I woke, I was tired, my limbs heavy, my stomach gurgling from hunger, but the horrible headache had passed, and I didn't feel the urge to vomit.

"Oh good, you're awake. Time to get dressed."

For a moment, I forgot where I was, surrounded by daylight for the first time in ages, the sun pouring in through open windows, patchwork curtains drawn to the side. Incense burned in stone and metal holders, filling the room with a soothing fragrance, silky sheets enveloping my body.

"Who- where?"

"You are on Takodana. And you may call me Maz Kanata."

I sat up, popping the joints in my neck as I examined the woman in front of me. I mean, I think she was a woman, her voice and affectation distinctly feminine, but she didn't look like any person or alien I'd ever encountered, her skin a dark orange and her features pinched and tight.

"Do you have any more questions, or can we get a move on?" Her abruptness took me aback, but it was sort of nice to have someone take charge of me for once.

"Where are my sons?" I asked as I stepped into the fitted, grey pants she provided, struggling to button them over the excess fat on my lower stomach.

"They are waiting for you downstairs. Don't worry, Maz takes care of everything."

The peculiar little alien took me by the hand and roughly tugged me out of the warm, tranquil room I'd been sleeping in and down a stone, spiral staircase.

"Wait, I have important things to tell you-"

"I know-"

"From Leia and the Resistance-"

"Shhhhh." Maz pressed her finger to my lips. "Not everyone here is an ally to your cause; I wouldn't be so cavalier about discussing your plans out in the open, especially not at that volume."

Swallowing thickly, I allowed her to lead me into an open-air room filled with all manner of people, the music so cacophonous and strange, it sounded like several different songs were playing at once. But, even after my years of traveling, I still hadn't seen much of the Galaxy; hiding out in safe houses didn't provide many opportunities to absorb other planet's cultures. For all I knew, this was a trendy genre in this system.