Chapter 12

A faint beeping noise was nagging at her subconscious, and she couldn't quite place it. But it was getting repetitive, and a little bit irritating, and she wished that someone would make it stop.

Very slowly, she cracked one eye open, then the other. The bright whiteness of where she was blinded her momentarily, and she shut her eyes tight for another minute, then tried again. This time, she could see blurry figures to her left and to her right—was she lying down? Had she been asleep?

One of those blurry figures leaned in closer, and she could now make out distinct features—Master Biir? What was she doing here? What were they all doing here? And where was "here"?

She attempted to open her mouth, to say something, but it seemed glued shut. Squeezing her eyes closed in concentration, she made another effort to speak. "Mmph…bmm…" She worked her jaw, noticing that the activity around her had greatly increased since she had opened her eyes. But still, nothing seemed to connect. Her head was throbbing, and everything remained fuzzy.

"Where am I?" she managed to mumble at last, though it still seemed garbled to her.

"Shh, don't try to speak," a disembodied voice above her urged. Anatika couldn't tell exactly who had said it, but it sounded like her Master. "You're in one of the healing rooms in the Temple, recuperating after our time on Tatooine," the voice continued.

Ah, yes. Tatooine. Images floated around in her mind, and she struggled to arrange them in their proper locations. The man in the Temple. The trek to her home planet. That same man wanting her dead. The blaster bolt.

Despite Master Lecti telling her not to speak, she tried to again, formulating the sentences. She had too many questions, and none of them would be answered if she couldn't talk.

"What—what happened?"

"It looks like you took a bad hit. The gun's darts were laced with some sort of poison—the analysts are still out on that. It's a mercy that more of the poison didn't end up in your bloodstream, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Ana winced. She might have died? For real? That was a scary thought. She tried to nod in understanding but found that it only made her headache worse, and she winced again and lay still.

Lecti laid a hand on her shoulder. "Get some rest. You're alive, you'll get better, that's all that matters right now."

"Haven't I been resting?" The sarcastic comment came out almost without her even thinking about it, and she thought she heard her Master snort.

"It's good to know that your injury has not damaged your tongue, my young apprentice," the Jedi Knight muttered, turning away. "I'll be back in a few hours, Ana," she said, as she walked out the door. "The healers will take good care of you."

Yes, I'm sure they will, the young woman thought as the doors slid shut behind Lecti. But now that she was awake, now she had to think. She worked to concentrate past the headache and discovered that the pain lessened if she turned her head just so, and as a result stayed in that position for probably the next hour, sorting everything out that she could. At last, her eyelids closed of their own accord, and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Author's Note:

I'm sorry, but I will not be writing on this story any more. I did have elaborate, wonderful plans for Anatika, once upon a time, but it has taken too long to even get close to that point, and I've lost interest. Again, I am sorry.