It was several days before I heard from Lord Vader again. I had begun to wonder if I had imagined it all. Family dinners became tenser and tenser. I couldn't tell if I was projecting my insecurities onto my family or if the tension was there. The same topics were still discussed, Mira and Eri's school day, what Kenna and Enoch had going on at work. We discussed my non-relationship with Vader the same way we discussed Enceladus' indiscretions; everyone was thinking it, no one was saying it. It felt like all the times Enceladus had caused trouble, but this time it was about me. It was a foreign feeling. I was the good one. I stayed out of trouble because my family had enough problems. I was the one extended family members always forgot about. Because of Enceladus, my family kept anti-overdose medications in our handbags and pockets. I admit she gets a lot of grief for being the 'problem child,' but she's just more outward about her problems. The entire family has secrets and problems to hide. Mother starves herself, to the point she was nearly tube fed when pregnant with Mira and Eri. Father is likely having an affair. Kenna is an alcoholic. Enoch gambles. It's only a matter of time before Mira and Eri show their dysfunction.

If my relationship with Vader turned into marriage, even better, children, my family's place in the Empire would be cemented for generations. Everything my father had worked for wouldn't disappear. Although he seemed to think it would take a blood sacrifice for me to get pregnant.

Every sound around me was amplified; Enoch was gnawing on his bread, the constant clicking and clashing of dinnerware. Mother wasn't speaking. She did that when she was upset.

"Can we just address the situation like a normal family, please?" I exclaimed.

"What situation?" Father asked.

"About how her first real relationship hasn't even started, and it's already going down the tubes," Enceladus answered, a cheeky grin on her face, spinning her butter knife on her plate by the tip. She was sitting improperly with her legs crossed in her chair. Mother hated her table manners but gave up long ago. She stopped dressing like Mother wanted us to, as well. She threw out all her blue dresses and gowns and replaced them with hole-ridden pants and leather jackets. She even cut her hair with Mother's fabric scissors. Tonight, Enceladus graced us with loose pajama bottoms and a ragged tee-shirt, last night's makeup streaked across her eyes. Mother always expected us to dress for dinner. Enceladus had just woken up for the day.

"Aniasis, are you sure you didn't do something to upset him?" Mother asked, as though she were dying to this whole time.

"I barely said ten words to him!"

"Lord Vader is very aloof. I wouldn't be concerned," Father said. "He's a, uh, a bit of a character, from what I hear."

"He's just being man, Sissy," Kenna said, reaching across the table to pat my hand. "He's probably totally oblivious." Mother noticed the breach in table etiquette but said nothing.

Dinner resumed quietly.

A comm came in for me just as everyone was getting ready for bed.

We all gathered around as a withered man in black robes appeared.

"Miss Brahe, I am Vaneé, Lord Vader's attendant. He would like me to extend an invitation to tonight's showing of Inferno."

Relief flooded over me like a wellspring, then more panic. I was half undressed! My hair was already down for the night. I wasn't sure I could get ready in time!

"Oh," I started before Mother burst in.

"She'll be ready upon Lord Vader's arrival." She insisted, her hands squeezing my shoulders.

Vaneé bowed, and the comm ended. Chaos ensued. Mother and Kenna darted up the stairs, debating my attire for the night in hurried voices. I hurried off to get ready. I quickly washed my face and then sat down at my vanity to prep my skin for my makeup.

Mother and Kenna came in. Mother was holding a blue evening dress and Kenna, a pair of tall heels that matched. Mother shopped for all of us more than she did herself.

"Oh, Kenna, I can never walk in those," I said.

"It's time you learned, my dear," Mother said. "Do your face first, then your sister and I will help you get dressed and do your hair. Hurry, hurry!" She chirped as they left my room.

I sighed and looked at myself in the mirror. I could only see my big Brahe nose. Mother would die if any of her children had any work done on it. It was so pointy. It reminded me of a beak. Shaking my head, I put on my moisturizer and primer. Kenna knew how to use makeup to minimize it but never got around to showing me how.

As my face dried, I put in my earrings. Aside from two sets in my lobes, I also had three piercings in the forward helix of both ears. I steadily got them pierced over the last few years. I got the first set done with Enceladus on our birthday. Mother was furious when she saw what I had done. She didn't talk to me for a week. I was angry, but her ignoring was so depressing that it made me cry for several nights. It's an awful feeling to have your mother ignore you. I tried to get back in her good graces for days. She eventually relented, saying it didn't look terrible but made me promise no tattoos. Of course, she didn't know about Kenna's. I placed three small diamond studs of increasing sizes in the holes. I smiled at my reflection. It was something I did for me, not Mother or anyone else.

"Thanks to your fancy date, everyone is up and about, and I can't sneak out," Enceladus grumbled as she stormed in. She squeezed in next to me on a seat meant for one and began doing her makeup with my own, smearing kohl around her eyes.

"Sneak out? Ence, we're 21. So you can walk out the door." I said, gesturing to the door.

"You know what I mean." She rolled her eyes.

She made an awful face when she concentrated on putting on her mascara. I wondered in horror if I made the same. It looked like a shrieking desiccated corpse.

"Move." She said, hip checking me.

"No. Go back to your room! Use your makeup!"

"Yours is better!"

"How? You look like a strung-out raccoon, anyway."

"You look like a possessed doll!"

I groaned and took out concealer.

"I need that, and I'm going to be late!" Enceladus exclaimed, grabbing it from my hands.

I tried to grab it back, resulting in a childish tug of war. "You're going to be late? I'm sure your stoner friends aren't on a schedule like I am! Besides, it's not even your skin tone anymore since you started tanning!"

She relented. "I'd rather hang out with them than this sticks up their ass family! So what is he taking you to see again?"

"Inferno,"

"What a bore. Couldn't he have picked something fun? Does he know you can't stop taking your pill, or else you'll start losing your hair and start growing it in other places? I hope he's expecting a virgin because you're certainly a bleeder! Oh wait, that's your period!" She howled in laughter.

I stood up a little more dramatically than I meant to, but I was angry. I grabbed the dress and shoes.

"Where are you going?" Enceladus asked in bewilderment.

"I'm going to change in Kenna's room." I huffed.

"Aw, come on, Sissy, I was joking. No need to be such a frigid bitch!"

I quickly changed in Kenna's room and raised downstairs.

A black speeder pulled up to my home with stormtroopers on speeder bikes flanking it.

Enoch whistled, "Brand new model of speeder. I heard there's a down payment to even get on the waiting list for one. So you lucked out, Sissy. Let me know if he lets you take it for a spin."

Butterflies began to swirl in my stomach. I hurried out of the door without even saying goodbye, Lord Vader holding the speeder door open for me. The interior was plush leather with a divider separating the driver from the occupants in the backseat and blacked-out windows.

He didn't ask me how I was or how my day had gone, but I wasn't bothered. Other speeders pulled over to the shoulder of the skylanes as the speederbikes led us through the city. Finally, we landed, and Lord Vader opened my door for me, offering me his arm. I instantly felt the powerful muscles under the fabric and what felt like a juncture of flesh and prosthetics.

We entered through the back. The entrance was crowded with celebrities and other A-listers and the reporters that leeched on them. Such an entrance was not befitting of our class. However, we were above that behavior. The Opera House had changed so much in the last few years. Gone were the gaudy tapestries and architecture, replaced by sleek minimalism.

As we walked to our seats, my mind raced. Still, I noticed that everyone in the corridor around us gave us a wide berth and averted their eyes.

Don't trip on his cape

Keep up with his pace

Watch your step in these heels

I almost did trip, but Lord Vader caught me before I even misstepped.

As we sat in the private box, it did not take long for people to notice me on Lord Vader's arm. People looked up and stole glances, whispering to each other. I smirked and held my head a little higher. His infamy was rubbing off on me, and it was intoxicating. I barely paid attention to the show. I was just thrilled to be in Lord Vader's presence. The looks I was getting was a bonus.

The show ended, and we left as we came. However, I noticed a light on his chest panel was blinking red.

"My Lord, are you feeling okay?" I asked.

I had no idea what each button did or what each light signaled, but red was usually a bad sign. Lord Vader did not respond, and his head slumped.

I banged my hand on the divider to get the driver's attention, "Lord Vader needs medical attention!"

"He will want treatment in his home. He has medical equipment there." The driver replied. He commed the stormtroopers leading us, and we picked up speed.

Gently, I lifted his head to a more comfortable position. "Stay with me, My Lord."

Lord Vader was in between consciousness. I could tell by his breathing pattern and floppy movements.

"Don't go to sleep. Listen to my voice." I said.

The driver landed in the hangar of Lord Vader's palace as two stormtroopers half-carried Lord Vader to the medical suite, sitting him in the exam chair. Lord Vader was able to take a few steps on his own here and there.

All my years of training kicked in, "I got it from here," I said to the stormtroopers. They nodded and left the room. I wouldn't know until several years later that Lord Vader killed all those who witnessed his medical emergency.

"Does your suit have IV access?" I asked rhetorically, feeling around his arms. It was a standard feature for medical suits.

There was a hidden zipper down the length of his sleeve in the inner part of his arm. I unzipped it to the crook of his elbow and folded the material back.

His skin was red mottled, and pale, likely burn scars. Part of me was happy for confirmation that he was indeed human and not a droid or bug. There was a large gash going down the length of his upper arm, too perfect for a battle injury. It was likely a Fasciotomy or Escharotomy, a surgery used to relieve tightening and pressure of burns. Deep burns left untreated can restrict blood flow, leading to amputation.

I put on surgical gloves and created a sterile field. I couldn't tell who failed here, Lord Vader, with taking care of himself or his doctor who did not dress the surgical site appropriately.

His arm was red, swollen, and weeping. I could feel heat radiating off of him before even touching him. I palpated his arm to feel if it was restricting once more. He was lucky it wasn't. He tensed and hissed when my hand touched his arm.

"Sorry. My hands are always cold. You're hot to touch. It's likely infected. I'll need to clean it and redress it."

I took tweezers and gently pulled pieces of thread and other contaminants from the wound, likely from his suit and other clothing he may wear outside the suit. I sprayed the wound with lukewarm water and fanned it to dry, not wanting to introduce any new foreign fibers. I globbed on a heavy coating of antibiotic cream to cover the entire wound and create a barrier between his skin and the bandages. I placed several sterile gauze pads on the length of the injury and wrapped them to keep it in place. I debated giving him a shot of antibiotics but was too afraid to without my medical license.

"That didn't hurt…." Lord Vader remarked once I was finished. I wasn't sure when he regained full consciousness.

"Does it usually?" I asked.

Lord Vader said nothing and readjusted his sleeve.

"You will need to follow up with your doctor immediately, but I'm positive I caught it before it got too serious."

Again, he acted as though he didn't hear me. "I will be deployed to the Outer Rim tomorrow. I shall return when my mission is complete." He paused and cupped my cheek for the briefest moment, "I will see you then. You have done well, Aniasis. Vaneé will see you out."