~I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me~
Chapter 7
'And then there were two' she thought to herself. She watched her companions remembering how surprised she had been when she discovered that this interesting pair where a Master Apprentice team. The unlikelihood of it still made her smile. "Can you help me up? I'd like to get out of here."
"I'll go check her out," Ian said with a wink at Tess and bent to hug her before he left "we missed you Tess." Numiar moved over to the bed and helped her sit up. The wave of dizziness that hit her almost knocked her back.
"Are you alright?" Numiar asked concern in his voice
"Yeah I'm fine let's get out of here." He helped her out of the bed and she had to stop again to catch her breath.
They managed to make it all the way to the first floor before they caught up with Ian. "The hospital staff just discovered their intense interest in the patient down the hall." Numiar lifted his eyebrows and gave him a disapproving look as he led her through the hospital doors. She couldn't help but laugh at his look. They made their way back to her rooms at a crawl since they had to stop frequently to let her rest. When they finally made it to her room she opened the door and invited them in but they declined Ian commenting about not wanting to be around when they discovered the jailbreak. Numiar told her to call if she needed anything and then they left her alone.
As soon as she sat on the bed Millow jumped up demanding attention.
"Well there you are my brave little cat. I hope you have stayed out of trouble while I was away."
"As a matter of fact he has." came a voice from in the kitchen. She nearly had another heart attack as she reached for knifes that weren't there. Jonathan stepped from inside the kitchen alcove cleaning a bowl with a rag.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Feeding the cat." he replied as if it should be obvious "The question is what are you doing here? You should still be at the hospital."
"I live here in case you hadn't noticed." she said dryly
"Should I call and report a hospital break?" he asked teasingly "You should be resting." he continued in a serious voice.
"Not while there are strange men in my room," she said pointedly.
"Ok, Ok, I'm leaving." he said throwing his hands up in defeat while placing the clean bowl on the counter. He left skipping and stumbling as if an angry kitchen maid was after him with a broom drawing a chuckle from Tess.
As soon as he left she lay down on the bed exhausted but could not find the sleep she sought. She sighed and got up to fix a cup of coffee. A few minutes later she heard a knock on the door. She climbed out of bed and went over to get the door she was surprised when she opened the door to Master Skywalker standing there.
She became suddenly aware that she wore nothing but her hospital robe "Come in. Will you excuse me for a second?" When he nodded and stepped through the door closing it behind him she headed for the bedroom and changed quickly into something more appropriate having to stop frequently to catch her breath. When she returned to the living room she found him sitting on the couch. He looked up as she entered,
"You should still be in the hospital. I'm interested in how you escaped without any of the staff noticing?" he lifted an inquiring eyebrow and she blushed. She sat down feeling she would not be able to stand much longer and not wanting to look weak in front of this man.
"Coffee?" she asked changing the subject and hoping he would not take her up on the offer for she was not sure she was capable of getting it. Fortunately he only smiled and shook his head declined politely. She gave a silent sigh of relief.
"I'm here because we need to know what happened the other night" he stated it frankly but his voice was full of apologies. She sighed out loud this time. Those were memories she wanted to forget and soon. She closed her eyes gathering all her strength and began.
"I went out after dinner hoping to find a ride off this world but got lost. I turned around and Ravja was there. We talked, he grabbed me, and Chade jumped out of the shadows like an idiot. I had everything perfectly under control until he arrived." she paused to catch her breath.
"Chade said he mentioned some kind of deal," Skywalker said inviting comment.
"Yes" was all she said. He sighed inwardly this was going to be a long night and prompted
"What kind of deal? We need to know these things it's very important to the fate of the New Republic."
"Not a deal really, more like an offer but that was long ago when I was waiting tables for a living. I'll give you three guesses but I'm sure you'll get it on the first try." she said rather dryly as she tried to hide her exhaustion. He sensed it anyways.
"Maybe we should continue this latter. You really should still be at the hospital. I'll send somebody up to see to you." When he finished he got up and left her once again alone in her room. She crawled back into her bed barely able to reach it before falling asleep.
She didn't notice when Chade slipped in. They had all decided that she would not react well to going back to the hospital so to appease both the ruffled hospital staff and Tess they agreed to take watches. Somebody with her at all times until she was fully recovered and if she didn't like it she could just go back to the hospital where she should be now Chade thought to himself. He had volunteered for the first watch and so he dragged a chair over beside the bed where she lay crashed.
He rearranged her stray limbs and covered her with the blanket settling in for the wait. She looked so young lying there even with the bandages wrapped around her head and holes where the IVs and tubes had been earlier that day. Poor thing he thought and got up to get something to drink.
She awoke but was too tired to be surprised by Chade's presence in the chair beside the bed. His dark hair was loose framing his face as he cradled a cup of coffee in one hand. He became aware of her awakened state and turned to look at her
"Hungry?" he asked getting up and heading toward the kitchen to get a bowl of soup he had made for his dinner while she slept. He returned with the soup and a tray handing it to her as he sat.
"Your just going to sit there and watch me eat aren't you?" she asked hopelessly
"Yep" he agreed "Unless you want me to feed you?" She shook her head no and he continued, "Your little escape caused quite a stir but Luke took your side so you don't have to go back" disapproval clear in his tone "but you do have to put up with a nurse 24/7 until you are fully recovered" it was quite clear where he thought she should still be. She snorted, picked up the spoon, and began to eat.
She could only managed a few bites before she was full but he insisted she eat more. When she had finally finished to his satisfaction she lay back but he was not done with her yet. He disappeared once more into the kitchen to reemerge with a cup full of some hot liquid in one hand and a syringe in the other.
"Your lucky you get a choice shot or drink."
"Drink. I can't stand needles," she said despairingly. He bowed gracefully presenting her with the cup while tucking the syringe away.
"I'll have to remember that" he said teasingly as she lifted the cup testily to her mouth and sipped. Liquid spewed everywhere.
"What are you trying to do poison me?" she said in disgust he only laughed
"Your choice" he reminded her.
Yes, it was, wasn't it; well she had no intention of drinking anymore of that concoction. She made to drink the mixture attentively thanking her years as a barmaid as most of the liquid landed unnoticed on the floor. Slight of hand was priceless to barmaids and useful in other areas too she observed. She thought she had handled that well as she finished the cup and handed it back to Chade.
That was until he reemerged from the kitchen carrying once again the needle and cup.
"Let's get it right this time." he said firmly "Now drink." She thought of disobeying but the threatening way he held the syringe dissuaded her. She drank the offending liquid down as quickly as possible.
"What exactly is in that…that 'drink'"?
"I'm not sure but the hospital sent it. I suspect it tastes worse than strictly necessary to help difficult patients see their follies." A knock came at the door and Chade went over to admit Nmi his relief.
Numiar was the one on duty the next time it was time for her 'medication'. She pulled the same trick she had with Chade but this time she succeeded the medicated liquid puddled under the bed. But it was not to be, after that Chade always managed to be the one around when the time came for her medicine. This became her pattern of life they guard changed every 2 to 4 hours with regular doses of medication and walks to increase her strength. Chade had not been playing when he said 24/7 there was always somebody there with her. She felt the loss of privacy acutely and found it a great motivation to recover quickly. She also quickly discovered escape was impossible. Even if she could sneak past a sleeping form Chade would recover her in a matter of minutes.
The second or third day when she was still mainly bed ridden Numiar had come in and asked her to teach him bar songs.
"You want to learn bar songs?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Yes you were a bar maid weren't you. It should help pass some of the time." he said it without any implications in his voice and for that she blessed him and agreed to teach them to him. She had started out with some of the more mild ones but when she ran out of those she started into the more popular songs. He turned the most amazing shade of red and choked on his coffee after 'the barmaids night off" she laughed.
"I guess it's a good thing you didn't ask me to teach you the dances," she said innocently.
"The dances?" he said lifted an eyebrow but turned an even darker shade of crimson. A knock at the door indicated the change of shifts but he asked if they could continue tomorrow and she agreed still laughing.
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"Good morning" Chade announced cheerily as he opened the door one morning about a week later "today's your lucky day. You get to go back to the hospital and if you pass the examination your free but if not...." he left the sentence ominously uncompleted.
"Don't worry I have every intention of passing that exam if for no other reason as so I don't have to look at your smiling face every morning." she said grumpily.
"Cheer up. I'm going to let you alone until it's time to go." he turned around and walked out of the room. She was alone for the first time in many days and was almost giddy with the freedom of it. First a nice long bath.
Chapter 8
Chade closed her door and walked to the council chamber where some of the Masters had met to discuss Tess's fate. As he entered and sat the meeting began.
"We're here to discuss what to do with Lillianna Kattan" Luke began "I feel she has an importance here none of us can yet foresee and she has information which might be of important to the Republic. We must decide what to do with her."
"We must train her of course," said K'pal "she has talents that are new to us. We could learn much from her and she could learn much from us."
"The information she may have can not wait for her to be trained." this from Leia.
"The problem is the only person she has allowed to get even marginally close to her is Numiar and maybe Nmi but I feel she sometimes keeps things from Nmi because of her relationship with me. She seems to keep the rest of us at arms length. She still does not entirely trust us." this came from Luke.
"So we have Numiar question her." Maria said frankly. "And how do we even know she has anything to tell us?"
"Because" Chade said "she was a barmaid. Any barmaid hears things that could be potentially useful. We can only assume she happened to hear something important weather she realizes it or not because the Sith were the ones who ordered her families deaths. We also now know she has had dealings with Ravja in the past. The only problem as Luke pointed out is getting her to talk. Numiar?"
"She's been teaching me bar songs to help pass the time" he said it casually enough but couldn't keep the flush from his face. Chade had to cover his mouth and cough to keep from smiling. He had had experience with some of these 'bar songs'. He wondered silently if she had taught him any of the dances to those songs and had to cough once more to hide his laughter.
Numiar shot him a dirty look Chade's thought not being lost on any present and he smoothed his features but inside he was still laughing. Numiar ignored him continuing " it should be easy enough to shift subject into her life as a barmaid."
"Be careful Numiar she's still hurting" Luke said. "As for her training any suggestions?"
"I'd like to get her a few hours a day for weapons training" Chade spoke up "She already knows how to handle staff and knife and I have little doubt she is experienced in hand to hand combat and she probably knows how to use a blaster. She's also mastered the art of slight of hand" he finished with a smile remembering her use of that last talent in avoiding the medication and then added slyly because he just had to "as our master Numiar has already learned." and smiled charmingly.
"Other than that I would recommend the regular course of studies for her. With an emphasis on discovering her talents." Numiar added.
"I'll volunteer for that." Master K'pal said but Luke shook his head
"No, Master K'pal I think I'll take that myself. She needs to learn that I am not her enemy. Do you agree?"
"Yes" K'pal said reluctant to be deprived of this new and curious specimen. "That seems logical."
"Ok, than that's that" Leia said rising from her seat. "May the force guide and protect you." and with that the meeting ended.
Chade left with the rest and headed back up to Tess's rooms to escort her to her appointment. He arrived and opened the door only to discover that neither she nor the cat where in residence. Damn her he thought as he started of down the hall at a trot. A few halls later he ran into Jonathan
"Where is she?" he demanded
"How should I know you where the one who was suppose to be with her." he said. Chade cursed under his breath
"When I get my hands on that girl..." but Jonathan interrupted him
"Easy Chade. Geez, I was just playing she's in the gardens enjoying her solitude and a little peace and quiet for a change." Chade trotted off with out another word and slowed only when he reached the gardens.
She heard Chade's footsteps approach as she sat by the fountain reveling in her solitude.
"It's time to go" he said flatly obediently she rose leaving the complacent Millow sitting by the fountain and followed him out of the temple complex and to the hospital. She passed her physical with flying colors. As they walked back to the temple he explained to her about the council's decisions, which she took surprisingly well still high on her regained freedom.
"You start tomorrow. Meet me in the work out room at 7am. Um. That would be room D-09 incase your wondering." he said cheerfully and left her back at the entrance to her room. She didn't enter however, instead she left the temple to go and explore the city and hopefully pick up new material for a badly needed dress. Soon she ran across the bar she had planed to ask directions from and decided to go in and check it out. She entered the smoke filled tavern picked an unoccupied table out of the main path of traffic and ordered a drink.
As she sat and observed the bristling bar a man dressed in a wide brimmed hat entered and made his way towards where she sat. It took her a minute before she identified the face of her childhood friend. "Chavi is that you? What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in ages. Come have a seat."
"I thought that was you Lilli but I had to be sure." He pulled up the chair across from her his eyes serious, "I've been looking for you it's about your family."
"I already know" she replied softly.
"No you don't. Lilli they've got a warrant out for your arrest." he said earnestly.
"What?" she said disbelievingly
"Lilli they want you for the murder of your family."