Disclaimer – I do not own Star Wars. I'm still sad about it.
This chapter is a short one – more tomorrow! Thank you so much for reading, I appreciate it heartily!
Chapter 6
Neri woke with a start, nearly falling off of the chair she had curled her small body into. She pushed her uneven hair off her forehead with a sleeve-covered hand, looking around the room for what had woken her. She saw nothing amiss; the apartment was as quiet as the night before. It nearly felt as though she was alone but then she saw him, sitting in the same chair by the window.
Pushing the blanket from her, Neri rose carefully, stepping quietly on the cold floor towards him.
"Good," he said as she approached. "You answered at my first call." He stood gracefully from the chair and walked towards her. His hair was damp, clothes changed. Neri wondered how she had slept through him moving about the apartment and was unsettled by his ability to navigate around her dull senses.
"You will learn to sleep lighter," he said, easily reading her concern.
Her face crumpled.
"What?" asked the bemused Kylo Ren. "Do you dislike me looking into your head?"
"I am a private person sir," she replied quietly. She had always been in her own thoughts, keeping them from others as best she could. It bothered her more than she would admit that he could speak so plainly of her thoughts.
"You can be private again, in time. You must earn that right."
She nodded, looking at the floor.
"Change your clothes. You cannot train in baggy garments and bare feet."
Neri was perplexed. She did not have other clothes.
In the bathroom, said his voice in her head. She jumped, wondering if he had heard the other voices she had heard since crashing on the Starkiller base. She walked quickly to the bathroom, as though lack of proximity could mask her thoughts from the powerful man she had given herself to.
She shut the door with a quiet click and used the toilet hastily, praying to whomever may be listening that he would not look into her actions now. She rinsed her mouth with minty water, scrubbing her teeth with her fingertips, and smoothed down her hair that had gained a mind of its own in the night. Finally, she dressed in the clothes left for her. She winced at the dark undergarments, hoping that he had not placed them there, and pulled everything on as quickly as she could. She knew he was not a man to be kept waiting.
A few minutes later, Neri emerged from the bathroom in her new uniform. She wore a soft but sturdy black tunic that reached just below her backside atop black leggings that hugged her legs intimately. On her feet were forgiving boots, their material allowing her to move without blisters.
Kylo Ren turned from where he stood at the window and inspected her. "The droids determined your sizes well."
Neri wondered if this was a compliment and looked at her feet, feeling her face grow warm in his gaze.
"Eat," he said, gesturing to the table against the far wall.
Neri's stomach seemed to suddenly remember that she had not eaten in days and growled loudly, embarrassingly, as she walked quickly across the room. She sat at the table and ate just as quickly, not wanting to make her new master angry at her for dawdling.
He walked over to her lazily as she finished the last of the food set before her, his hands clasped behind his back. He looked down at her, hopeful that she would be what he needed to gain redemption in the eyes of his master. "Let us begin."