Chapter Four

Groaning, Ayla cracked open an eyelid. Her head felt like it was clamped in a vice; it throbbed and ached, and she felt a little sick from it. She felt like she could not concentrate, her brain seemingly a series of unconnected thoughts and sensations that she could make no sense of. Squinting against the bright light, she slowly opened both eyes half way.

"Ayla?" cane her Master's worried voice. Though bright, Ayla could not quiet focus on anything in her visual field, and all she could see of her Master was a large shape leaning over her. She could not organise her thoughts enough to say anything, and managed only a low, pain filled groan in response to him. She felt a large hand stroke her hair back from her head, and another voice addressed her.

"Can you remember what happened, Ayla?" came Luke Skywalker's voice, pitched low and calm. She tried to concentrate, she really did, but she felt as though all her thoughts had become scrambled. She tried to shake her head, but the movement caused a wave of pain to overcome her, and she succumbed once more to unconsciousness.

She woke later in an unfamiliar bed, a cover pulled up over her torso and resting on her collarbone. Opening her eyes was slightly less traumatic this time, and she was able to see a little better, although everything was slightly blurred still. Gingerly turning her head, she saw Master Fallon sat in a chair by her bed, studying a datapad with a slight frown tugging at his mouth.

"Master?" she croaked, her voice hoarse.

"Ayla!" he exclaimed, turning to look at her searchingly. He raised a hand and placed it atop hers where it lay on the bed covers.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Better than I did...when I woke before – I have never felt such pain," she murmured. "But what happened to me?"she queried.

"We don't know precisely," he replied. "You touched Ben – Luke's nephew- and blacked out. You came to briefly but when you passed out once more, we deemed it best to make you comfortable. A medi-droid will be by soon to examine you again," he explained.

Ayla frowned. "Are you sure it was something to do with Ben? After all, I have never met him before. What about him would cause this?" she asked. She did not have a clue what might link him to this...this episode. She wasn't quite sure what to call it, to be perfectly honest. It was not like her visions – they only came when she slept – and she had never experienced anything like this before. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that she had gone to shake hands with him when it came on – Alya had heard of certain types of headaches that came on suddenly, without warning, and were debilitating and painful. Migraines, she had heard them called. Perhaps that was it, perhaps that was all?

"Perhaps it was a migraine?" she offered. "I've heard they can be painful," she said.

Master Fallon frowned thoughtfully. "It's true that they can come on at anytime in life, and they certainly cause the sufferer a great deal of pain," he admitted. "And there are no other symptoms?" he queried. Ayla shook her head.

Just then, the door to the room opened to admit a medi-driod, who bustled into the room. After introducing itself, it took various measurements of Ayla's health, including a blood test, and it too came to the conclusion that in the absence of other symptoms, the episode was likely a migraine.

"Should one come upon you again, or you find you feel unwell again, please come back for further evaluation," it informed her, concluding its evaluation. "For the purposes of ensuring your optimal health, it is recommended that you spend the next night cycle in the medward for evaluation," it informed her. Ayla groaned and opened her mouth to indignantly reply that there was no need for that, when she was forestalled by her Master.

"The droid is correct, Ayla. Just to sure, you should spend the night here," he said firmly. She knew that tone of voice, there would be no point in arguing with him.

"Great," she muttered. So she has come to a temple to mix with other students – something which historically had not gone well for her – and instead of quietly slipping in with them at dinner, she had to pass out. Oh, and then get carried in (no doubt in full view of them all) to the medward, and to cap it all off, she would have to remain overnight, before being released to what she felt sure would be whispers and sniggers – more than her presence would normally generate anyway, if her past experiences were anything to go by.

"We want to try something, as well," her Master continued, as though she had not spoken. She quirked an eyebrow in disinterest.

"We want to bring Ben in, to be sure that all is well," he said. Ayla groaned. Excellent, another chance to alienate the young man she had so briefly met. However, she knew there was no avoiding it if Fallon and Luke had decided it. Giving a resigned nod, she watched as the medi-droid left and her Master spoke into a communicator, whilst she lay back against the covers and tried to relax. Ruffling her hands through her hair, she attempted to make her hair a little less wild, and straightened her robes so that they sat a little more normally, whilst she tried to appear disinterested in what was to occur.

All too soon, she heard footsteps in the corridor outside and she tried to brace herself for either another round of extreme pain or extreme embarrassment as she confronted the youth she had met before. All eyes were upon her as he and his uncle approached her slowly. Up close, she could appreciate him a little more; she saw the artfully messy black hair, the small moles that littered his face, the strength concealed beneath his robes and his eyes...His brown eyes, that appeared so hard to those who looked, but underneath them – underneath them, she saw a world of hurt in those deep brown eyes.

Gingerly, he reached forward to touch her hand, his hands large, his fingers slender. She inhaled sharply as he touched her hand, his fingers warm, but otherwise there was no reaction. Both Luke and Fallon stared at her intently, and after a moment Ayla raised her gaze to Ben's. She smiled at him tentatively and gave a little shrug.

"A one time wonder I think then," she quipped, trying to break the tense mood. "Looks as though I'm fine," she observed.

Fallon and Luke both exchanged glances, then nodded.

"Well, that's one thing sorted," Luke said mildly with a smile. "Ben, why don't you keep Ayla company for a while? She has to stay in overnight to be sure, so I'm sure she would welcome the company whilst I monopolise her Master for a short time," her proposed. Ben started slightly, then nodded reluctantly. Ayla noted that he did not seem enthusiastic at the prospect. The two Masters rose and left, Fallon giving her his assurance that he would be back shortly.

She fidgeted awkwardly, not knowing what to say to this nephew of the famed Luke Skywalker, whose touch had triggered such pain in her and whose demeanour now screamed his desire to leave.

"So," she began. "Ah...you're Luke Skywalker's newphew?"

She could not have apparently made a worse comment, as a stern frown crossed his face, and he removed his warm hand from hers.

"That's what I'm told. I'm also told I am nothing like him," he said curtly, striding away from the bed.

"Master Fallon says you should never be anything other than who you are," Ayla parroted without thinking; it was something he said so often she had taken it to heart.

Ben snorted. "Well, what if you are is never good enough?" he asked challengingly. "Never as good as your sainted Uncle? As politically astute as your famous mother? As charming as your father?" he said heatedly, his posture tense, his expression a mix of fury and something Ayla could not recognise. Shame? A sense of...not being good enough? Ayla realised that he must be the child of Leia Organa and Hans Solo – a legacy indeed.

"I assure you – I know a great deal about not fitting in," she said fiercly. A shadow crossed her face as she recalled incidents from her past. "Of people being afraid of you – of what you can do, of what you might do," she said heatedly. "I know exactly what that is like,".

She seemed to have gotten through his anger that he wore like a cloak around him.

"What do you mean," he grunted, temporarily drawn away from his anger and self-hatred.

She sighed. "I'm sure you know who I am. At times, it seems like the whole Galaxy knows who I am. They know who I am and what I am capable of...and they fear me for it," she began. "And people….sometimes people are not kind," she trailed off. Ben tilted his head, his soft black hair falling around his face. Ayla sighed once more.

"If you really want to hear, you had best sit down," she invited. "It's a long story and quite frankly not a pleasant one," she warned him. He regarded her for a moment, and then begrudgingly strode to the chair beside her bed that Master Fallon had previously occupied, and motioned for her to begin.