A Shift in the Force: Chapter Forty-Eight: Liekshaan Syndrome
AN: I'm riding out my Star Wars obsession for as long as possible, so hopefully we'll hit fifty before I find another fanfic to focus on for awhile, but we have hit 200k words and it's still only book two!
Sabé leaned against the balcony, looking out on the mountainous region that lay beyond. It was more beautiful than she'd remembered, though not as much as Naboo.
The sun cast a soft orange glow over Aldera, Alderaan's capitol, across the cylindrical skyscrapers reaching up like spires of an ancient castle. The lake glittered deep and blue beyond the palace, the sun reflected there.
Sabé closed her eyes, breathing the free air. Alderaan felt so alive. This was what she'd been missing when she'd been on Coruscant. Nothing could compare to terra-formed planets, that much Sabé was sure of; they far surpassed the industrialization of Coruscant.
The Force vibrated and Sabé opened her eyes, smoothing two fingers against her temple, a frown creasing her brow. The Force had been rather ominous lately, trying to shift her in the right direction, or, that was what it seemed.
But the Force was as unpredictable as the turning tides.
He's playing the long game, that was what it whispered to her.
Sabé cupped her chin thoughtfully, her eyebrows knotting together. She would have to meditate on it further, but she was jarred from her thoughts by a polite knocking on the door before it slid open to reveal the queen in a tunic and skirt ensemble of pale blue now.
Sabé couldn't help but wonder if Breha had ever not looked lovely, because, from what she could tell, it was an impossibility.
"Your Majesty," Sabé said kindly, stepping back into the suite that the Organas had offered her, "your kindness truly has no bounds."
"Breha, please," the queen corrected and Sabé allowed herself a small smile.
"Breha," Sabé said instead. "Alderaan is truly lovely this time of the year."
"Yes, I think so as well," Breha agreed fondly, dark eyes gleaming as she looked out onto the horizon. It might not have been Naboo, but the view was still rather stunning.
Sabé's eyes flicked back to Breha, sizing her up silently. She'd known that something was bothering her at the ball back on Naboo, but she hadn't mentioned anything, so Sabé had kept her mouth shut.
"Is there…" Sabé paused, trying to come up with the right way to say it, and Breha looked back to her. "Is there something that's bothering you?"
Breha's lips twitched slightly. "Sabé, are all the Jedi as perceptive as you?"
Sabé shrugged helplessly. "Some more than others," she conceded, "but you're talking to someone who made a living at being able to figure out the darkest secrets of worlds and people."
"So, you're saying that you're one of a kind?" Her smile was pearly white.
"One of three," Sabé countered, keeping her hands at her sides, her face open and calm. "I'm guessing there's another reason that you wanted me to come here?"
"Yes," Breha admitted, breathing out loudly, "but I want to wait for Bail before I say anything."
Sabé arched an eyebrow, but luckily she didn't have to wait long for the Prince Consort to appear.
"Have you—?" he didn't even finish his question to his wife before she quickly shook her head.
"I've heard that healing is a skill that many Jedi possess," Bail said for her and Sabé blinked in surprise, looking from one ruler to the other.
"Is one of you in need of healing?" she inquired, even as her eyes fell on Breha, who dropped a hand to her stomach. The tremors made sense. "I see," she said quietly.
Sabé brought a hand up to cup her chin, the crook of her finger pressing against her lips as she considered the pair before her.
"I will admit," she said a moment later, "that my ability to heal is adequate. Talik, my old Padawan, she's more skilled in it. Jedi Healing is her specialization…but what exactly is the problem?"
Breha looked to Bail briefly before her eyes returned to Sabé, her shoulders heavy. "Bail and I have been trying to have a child for several years, but I've had three miscarriages and the fertility doctors on Alderaan had all but given up hope."
Sabé could sense the turmoil within the queen, the pain, the anguish.
"I see," Sabé repeated, "and you want me to see if there's something I can do?"
"Please," Bail said, his dark eyes soft.
Sabé tilted her head to the side in a considering manner before holding out her hands in front of her. "Do you mind?" she asked.
"No, please," Breha said feverishly and Sabé had her lie flat against the bed as Sabé drew up a chair beside her, resting her hands against the bare skin of her stomach and closing her eyes.
Bail's knuckles went white as he gripped the back of Sabé's chair as he watched Sabé's hands gain a faint glow.
The Jedi Exile expelled a slow breath as she frowned, moving her hands slowly over the skin. She could sense the damages within, like she'd always been able to with her own body, and Sabé had endured debilitating injuries before, though nothing quite like a miscarriage; the idea of Sabé actually carrying a child was laughable, mostly because she'd never had the interest with practically raising Talik.
"Was your miscarriage recent?" Sabé asked instead.
"Two weeks ago," Breha said quietly.
Sabé nodded in understanding, feeling for the woman. "I can feel a lot of scar tissue in your uterus, but most of its old, it could even be genetic…did anyone in your family have difficulties carrying a baby to term?"
Breha frowned thoughtfully, trying to recall. "My mother didn't, she didn't have any trouble delivering my sister or I, but my grandmother lost a few babies before she had my mother."
"Was your grandmother ever diagnosed with anything that could've caused miscarriages?"
"Not that I can think of…but wouldn't the doctors have caught something like that?" Breha asked curiously as Sabé removed her hands and drew the tunic back down over the queen's stomach, allowing her to sit up.
"Maybe not if they weren't looking for it," Sabé conceded, pressing a small button on the comlink over her artificial arm. "Arthree, do you have a holo-scanner on you?"
There was a short silence followed by the sound of a few sharp beeps.
"No," Sabé said dryly, "I'm not planning on sneaking into any highly guarded areas on the planet."
Bail arched an eyebrow in vague amusement and Breha's eyes glittered faintly.
"I need you to modify it for scanning the internal structures of a humanoid," Sabé retorted, getting a beep in reply. "Really, I had no idea that Jay aggravated you so…when you finish, bring it to the room I'm staying in, all right?"
She got an affirmative beep in reply.
"Sorry about that," Sabé apologized to the pair, "my astromech has a bit of a personality."
"Sounds like you've been together awhile," Breha said lightly.
"Since I was a Padawan," Sabé agreed and Bail was surprised.
"I didn't think Jedi could have possessions," he couldn't help but wonder.
Sabé shrugged. "Yoda certainly didn't approve of him, but I found him in a junkyard and refurbished him. He was useful to my friends and I, he's probably as close to being sentient as an astromech can possibly be…the scanner should be able to show a visual of your uterus…and if you want, I can send it to Talik to see what she thinks of it."
The serious mask set over both Alderaanians and they shared a glance, thinking of the young lavender-skinned Twi'lek that had been practically glued to Sabé's side after she'd taken down Bail's would-be assassin. But that had been some time ago.
"Can she be trusted?" Bail asked and Sabé arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. "To keep our anonymity, I mean."
Sabé gathered they didn't really want it getting around that the queen and prince consort of Alderaan were having difficulty making a child.
"I'll leave your names out, if you'd prefer, but I'd really rather have the opinion of a Jedi Healer," Sabé said as Arthree wheeled into the room, tooting a reply to Sabé, and Sabé patted the top of his domed head absently as he came to a stop beside her. "And I promise she's one of the best."
Breha nodded, her eyes still on her husband and he swallowed, his teeth clenched behind his lips. "Please."
"All right, Arthree, you got that scanner ready?"
The R3 unit gave an affirming beep.
"Okay, I want you to scan her stomach, all right, focusing on the lower abdomen," Sabé said, offering her hands to Breha in order to pull her into an upright position. "You don't mind standing do you? It's easier than levitating him over you."
Arthree gave an annoyed whirring sound and Sabé shushed him.
"That's fine," Breha assured her as she stood still and a blue scanning light focused on her midsection for a few moments while Sabé changed the frequency on her comlink and sent out a signal to Talik's.
"Padawan Shala," came a tired voice a moment later.
"Padawan Shala, how's your day, darling?" Sabé asked sweetly and there was a choking sound on the other end.
"Master! I –uh– I mean Sabé, I definitely meant Sabé!"
Sabé allowed herself a small chuckle.
"I wasn't really expecting a call, Master Che's been running me into the ground lately," Talik said sheepishly.
"That's all right," Sabé said simply, "but I was wondering if I could pick your brain about something medical."
"Definitely," Talik said quickly.
"I'm sending you an internal body scan focusing on the uterus," Sabé responded, nodding to Arthree, his radar eye glowing green briefly as it was sent.
"Hang on, it's coming through…oh I see what you mean…humanoid?"
"Yes," Sabé agreed. "Any thoughts?"
"Well, I need a little more to go on," Talik admitted.
"Twenty-nine year old humanoid female, reports having three miscarriages and fertility treatments, and a family history of pregnancy difficulties through her maternal grandmother," Sabé said, looking over Breha before motioning for her to sit down.
She leaned over to Bail, putting a hand over the speaker to speak quietly to him. "She's looking a little pale, can you see about getting her something to drink?"
Bail darted forward to squeeze his wife's fingers and kiss her brow before promising to bring her something to calm her nerves.
Sabé watched him go a bit bemused. It would have been simple enough to just ask a servant to do it, but she'd remember that.
"Okay, it looks a lot like Liekshaan Syndrome," Talik said finally and Breha started wildly and Sabé could practically feel her anxiety and relief; anxiety that it was a medical condition and relief that it wasn't just her. "What it does is cause scarring within the endometrial cavity of the uterus, and that scarring can be caused by miscarriages, only getting worse with each one…it's pretty expensive to treat, but you should be able to handle it fine."
"I should be able to handle it fine?" Sabé asked in repetition.
There was a soft laugh on the other end that came off slightly static-y. "The scar tissue is there to protect the uterus, generally, but in this case, it's kind of obstructing things, making it kind of impossible to host a baby, it's more like an infection that grows worse with every miscarriage."
"Wouldn't it be better to find a doctor, though?" Sabé asked, suddenly feeling very much out of her depth. "I'm not exactly the most qualified for this."
"I think if the person you're with wanted a doctor, that is where they would've gone, Sabé," came Talik's dry response. "The biggest thing you've got to worry about is getting rid of the excess scar tissue, and you can use Force healing to kind of 'snip' that, it shouldn't hurt since the tissue's gone necrotic –it's basically dead, thick, spider-web-like tissue– and it should come out of the body naturally, you know, when you're using the facilities."
Sabé rolled her eyes.
"And then you can heal the uterus…I'd recommend contraception for awhile to allow the uterus to regain strength and thicken the lining to keep the scar tissue from returning…there's also an injection that could maintain it, if they're interested, but you've got enough skill in healing to handle something like that."
"Great," Sabé said shortly, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Good luck," Talik sang and canceled the connection.
"Can you do it?" Breha asked almost immediately.
Her eyes were big and dark and reminded Sabé painfully of Talik when she was younger and smaller, her glee unrestrained.
A sigh escaped her lips. "I'm still sure that a doctor could do it better…but if you'd prefer me—"
"I would."
Her adamant tone had Sabé rubbing the back of her head, pink suffusing across her cheeks, flattered by the response.
"Then I'd be more than happy to," Sabé said simply. "It'll be exhausting, though, for you and me both, and you'll probably have to stay off your feet for a few days afterwards."
"But it'll be worth it," Breha insisted and Sabé's lips curled into a faint smile.
Jalindas Renliss wasn't quite what Sola had been expecting. She was tall with a dangerous aura, dark shaggy hair falling over a bionic eye and scarred cheek. There was a dark tattoo spreading down her arm, the symbol of House Renliss, a smaller version of which Sabé had in a circle on her back between her shoulder blades.
"You must be the slicer," Jalindas said, her voice guttural. "Not quite what I expected, to be perfectly honest." Her eyes swept across the room with interest.
The house was new and modest, bought with a good portion of Darred's money, and out in the country away from prying eyes. With Sabé gone, Padmé returned to the palace and her parents to their home, and no matter how many times they'd pleaded their daughter to come back with them, Sola knew she had to do things on her own now.
Padmé and Sabé had managed fine on their own, even though Sola had married almost right out of school, so it was her turn now.
Sola was still unpacking, but there were holo-images on the walls, some that drew Jalindas' interest.
"That sounds like a compliment, but I can't really be sure," Sola said slowly, narrowing her eyes. Her hand was close to the blaster strapped to her leg. A DL-18 blaster pistol that Sabé had suggested to her after teaching her how to properly fire.
"As a slicer, I doubt you'll need it," Sabé had said, checking it over once before handing it to her, "but being a good shot is useful for anyone, besides, you might be traveling around doing more than slicing for the House Renliss; they're all about maximizing potential."
Sola had taken that to heart.
Jalindas smirked. "You remind me of an assassin I knew."
"I'll bet."
That actually made the woman laugh, only to pause when she caught sight of a holo on the wall, and she walked forward with interest. It was one that was taken when Talik was still on Naboo, Ryoo in the Twi'lek's arms while Pooja was balanced in Sabé's own. It was a good picture.
"My children with my sister and niece," Sola explained without being asked. It wasn't really lie; Sabé had practically raised Talik since she was ten, she might as well have been her daughter.
"Your sister?" Jalindas arched an eyebrow, surprise clear. "The bounty hunter known as Darth is your sister?"
The woman in the holo-picture didn't look very much like the bounty hunter Jalindas had known, physical appearance aside, without the yellow eyes and black and red streaked hair, the woman in the image was practically a stranger.
"She hasn't gone by Darth in awhile," Sola said without blinking.
"Does bounty hunting run in the family?"
"Not particularly." Sola crossed her arms, emulating Sabé far more than she'd been intending. "But she suggested that you all were in need of a decent slicer, she thought I'd be a good fit."
Jalindas' eyes focused on the house once more as if to say: "Why give up this for slicing with a bounty hunter house?"
"My husband died in an accident that shouldn't have happened," Sola admitted, her knuckles tight and white where she gripped her arms. "The men who caused his death got away with murder. The way my sister talked about it, she actually enjoyed her time in House Renliss and you only take hits out on men."
Jalindas' smile was feral. "Anything else Darth said?"
"She said it was a camaraderie she hadn't felt in a long time; it'd been awhile since she'd been in an organization that made her feel wanted." That was the thing that had probably stung Sabé the most, to know that she'd been more at home with a bunch of bounty hunting women than the Jedi Order. "She was surprised that I was interested in slicing for you, apparently her illegal activities have rubbed off on me."
A chuckle escaped the bounty hunter. "Well, Darth was right about one thing: we are in need of a slicer. But we'll still need to see your skills in that before we take you on."
"I understand," Sola nodded. "I wouldn't want to hire anyone before making sure that they can actually do the job."
That's what had happened to Darred; Sola wouldn't let the same happen to her.
"Slicers are wanted at pretty much every corner of the galaxy," Jalindas continued, "so even if you do work with us, you can still work with other groups, though we'd prefer them to not be other bounty hunter guilds."
Sola gathered that they were rather competitive, the bounty hunter guilds.
"I'll keep it in mind," she promised.
Sabé had a killer headache and her skin was fevered to the touch. Stars, she was going to kill Talik the next time she saw her.
Force healing was definitely not Sabé's specialty. She'd been adequate as herself, but downright terrible as Carina, and why Talik had thought she could handle cutting away scar tissue from the inside of the uterus, Sabé didn't know.
It was one thing being able to feel the damage, it was another to see it and Sabé had had a minor internal panic attack and had been forced to have Arthree maintain a holo-scan of Breha's uterus.
Her eyes were too heavy to even open and exhaustion was clear all the way down to her bones. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so exhausted from using the Force, but healing took more effort; it was far more precise.
"If Talik comms, you handle it," Sabé barely managed to tell Arthree before collapsing into a heap on the bed, out in seconds, not even hearing Arthree's beep of agreement.
Talik hadn't honestly been expecting Sabé to comm her, she didn't think she'd be hearing from her for months at least. She was surprised about the medical consult request; it wasn't like Sabé to get involved in medical problems. She preferred infiltration, as always.
The Twi'lek tapped her fingers against the ends of her 'sabers where they dangled from her hips. Alderaan was performing a mercy mission to Burnin Konn and she and Aayla had only just gotten back from Burnin Konn, as they'd been acting as escorts to the cargo; no one liked attacking a mercy mission transport when Jedi were on board.
Aayla was still speaking with one of the shipmates when Talik activated her comlink.
A resounding beep answered her.
"Arthree?" Talik asked in surprise. "Where's Sabé?"
Arthree replied quickly and Talik counted her lucky stars that being around Arthree for so many years had made her practically fluent in binary.
"Sleeping? Did the healing take that much out of her?"
Really, she shouldn't have been that surprised, it was Sabé after all, and Sabé's skill in healing had always been merely adequate. In truth, Sabé's skill in using the Force dealt more with sense and power than the delicate nature of healing.
Arthree made a whirring sound, documenting his mistress' ailments, which was currently delirium and fever, side effects that Talik remembered all too well.
"You're on Alderaan?" Talik's eyebrow rose high on her forehead as Aayla returned.
"Ready to go home?" Aayla asked lightly, her lips smiling slightly like they had when Talik had stepped off the transport with Anakin and Obi-Wan, opening an arm and welcoming her back.
"Hang on, Master Aayla— Arthree, did you say you were on Alderaan?" Talik's attention was focused almost entirely on the comlink, so she couldn't feel the ripple in the Force the emanated from Aayla. "Where?"
A sharp beep came in reply.
"What d'you mean you're in the royal palace?" Talik demanded. "Why in the name of all the stars are you in the royal palace?"
Her attention returned to her master. "Do you mind if we make a side-trip to Aldera?"
Aayla checked the chrono mounted on the wall. "Well," she wheedled, "we technically aren't even due on the transport to Coruscant for another three hours…"
Talik grinned. "Like you don't want to see her," she scoffed and Aayla's eyes glittered.
Aayla hadn't mentioned Sabé at all since Talik had returned from Naboo, which Talik thought was a bit odd, but, then again, she was probably trying to respect Sabé's choice to be left alone to figure things out. It must've been painful for Aayla, losing one of her closest friends, finding her, and then losing her again, but Aayla had never commented on it.
Talik was more surprised that Sabé wasn't on Naboo, because if there was one thing that she was absolutely certain of, it was Sabé's love for her home planet.
"The nearest hoverbus station is a bit of a walk," Aayla said instead, a smile still curving her lips. "This way."
She darted past Talik, her speed belying her desire to reach Sabé's side and Talik grinned, following quickly after her.
Sheev Palpatine interlocked his hands as the contingency of senators left him alone in his office.
When Mas Amedda had passed on Sabé Amidala's flattery and refusal, he'd been insulted, but perhaps he'd overestimated her. Sabé Amidala was clearly a very independent woman that preferred to do things on her own, thus why she'd been so successful as a Shadow.
She'd still been so raw and open when he'd seen her at Queen Amidala's ball that he'd thought maybe slipping his influence of the Dark Side through her cracks, but he'd been rebuffed by shields that he wasn't even aware of.
It was aggravating…but there was still time. Palpatine had all the time in the world to groom Sabé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side.
Sabé had dimmed the lights and thrown an arm over her eyes when there was a polite knock on the door.
"If it isn't some hot tea, I don't want it."
The door slid open. "What about old friends?"
Sabé removed the arm from where it was splayed across her eyes in order to squint at the door. A blue-skinned Twi'lek had stepped inside, shutting the door behind her.
"Ah, hallucination," Sabé found herself saying, "the real Aayla Secura's at Coruscant, but you've got to give my brain credit for trying."
The amused chuckle was just right and plucked at Sabé's heartstrings and the Twi'lek came closer, the bed gaining a divot as she sat down beside her.
"You look terrible," Aayla smiled, leaning over her, "but still better than the last time I saw you."
Sabé blinked furiously a few times, almost sitting up before the wave of nausea hit her, forcing her back into the cushions, and it was only then that she reached out to touch the hand next to her. It was solid and warm.
"You're really on Alderaan?"
Aayla set a cool bowl of water and the rag on the bedside table. "Talik and I were assisting in a mercy mission sponsored by Alderaan. We're due back to Coruscant in a few hours."
"Coruscant, ugh." Sabé rolled her eyes in disdain.
Aayla's eyes glinted. "From what I heard, Talik left with you still on Naboo, so what're you doing on Alderaan?"
"Would you believe I wanted a change of scenery?" Sabé asked wryly as Aayla pressed the back of her hand to her friend's brow before wringing out the cloth and pressing it over the skin there.
"Yes, actually," Aayla said fondly, "you've always loved terra-formed planets, but you don't like staying in a place for too long."
Sabé's eyes were so wonderfully brown and that was the most relieving part about her; there was no trace of the Sith yellow.
"You aren't going to ask me to come back, are you?" Sabé asked suspiciously.
"Please, you know me better than that." Aayla leaned down briefly to press her forehead against Sabé's cloth-covered one. "Besides, I hear Talik has exhausted that point already."
Blue fingers interlocked with pale ones.
"She said you did a good job with Queen Breha, by the way, she's just smoothing a few things down," Aayla said when Sabé was almost lulled into sleep, bringing her back around. "Our little Padawan has grown into a fine healer, don't you think?"
Sabé's lips drew upwards at how she said 'our Padawan' but it was true. "One day she'll be as renowned as Vokara Che."
Aayla laughed, smoothing a thumb across Sabé's cheek. "You seem better," the Twi'lek said, "lighter…Talik said you were…struggling."
Sabé's smile faltered. "I was, and in some ways I still am, but I am better, even if I'm not the Jedi I'd once wished to be."
The blue fingers interlocked with hers tightened slightly. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not," Sabé sighed. "What I did…I did for the right reasons, I know that, and Carina showed me that I need to stop hiding and embrace who I am."
A frown marred Aayla's beautiful face. "Obi-Wan said you found the Sith Holocron but you weren't going to tell the High Council where it was."
Sabé snorted and almost wheezed. "It's not like they could find where I hid it; the planet's in Wild Space."
Aayla arched an eyebrow. Wild Space was a term generally used for the unexplored part of space, though there were several planets within it that were known, including the Hutt-controlled Teth and Thune, and what wasn't charted on any map was technically considered the Unknown Regions.
"I'm not even surprised."
A smirk burned across Sabé's lips. "Good."
Aayla breathed in sharply and out deeply. "I have questions, but now's not the time…and I sense leaving you on your own is the best decision."
The Force sang between them.
"I'll pass your love on to Obi-Wan," Aayla cheeked.
The smirk curled into a smile. "Oh, he knows," she said with certainty and Aayla would've been able to see the faint coloring in her cheeks if they hadn't already been flushed with fever.
"Ooh," Aayla brightened, almost asking her what had changed, but Sabé was already drifting off. She brought Sabé's hand up, pressing a kiss to the knuckles before placing it on her stomach as her breathing evened out. "Get some rest, Sabé, we'll meet again."
And the Force sang with promise and Aayla Secura felt lighter than she had in more than a year.
AN: This chapter ended up being longer than I thought it would, mostly because the talk between Aayla and Sabé. The condition Breha suffers from is actually based off one that I read about, and I'm only a nursing student, so I took some creative liberties.
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
