Ahsoka was now extremely glad that she had taken time on Tuesday to make a mini medkit. While Rya stayed with her mother and comforted her, Ahsoka took her bag off of her back and pulled out the homemade kit, hoping that she had enough supplies with her to treat Rya's mother. As she pulled the supplies out, her mind fell back on her Padawan days when Kix had given her crash courses on how to treat minor to major injuries, both on the battlefield and afterward, in the infirmary. She had been forced to rely on those lessons on Dromund Kaas after particularly painful training sessions to patch herself up. While it had been difficult at the moment, she now could treat broken limbs, deep cuts and blaster wounds, burns, bruises, and almost everything in between.
Rya's mother had plenty to be going on with. The first step was to clean the blood off, and there was a lot of it. She pulled an old, raggedy blue towel out of the pack to start and went into the kitchen to dampen it. Start with water, then treat the individual cuts with rubbing alcohol. The sheets and the clothes could be disinfected later.
She returned, and Rya stepped aside to let Ahsoka begin on her mother. Ahsoka kneeled on the mattress but waved Rya back. "Stay with her while I do this," she instructed her, her voice calm and steady. "She needs support right now."
Rya didn't object but knelt down by her mother's face and clasped her hand again. Ahsoka started mopping up as much blood as she could, trying to avoid the cuts for now. She had to go back twice to wring out the towel, but she managed to wipe up most of the red fluid. Now she could see the damage to the skin, and Ahsoka realized that it was going to be a while.
Her mother had bruises all over her body. Her skin was mostly faded to purple, and Ahsoka made a mental note to be as gentle as possible. Rya's mother wasn't a soldier, and there was no reason for her to tough this out if she didn't have to. Ahsoka set the rag aside and opened a box of anti-bacterial wipes. Cuts were running across her stomach, back, and all around her neck and Ahsoka had a feeling she would need the gauze pads later.
She spoke softly to Rya's mother. "I need to clean the wound before I can bandage it, so this is going to sting. Are you ready?"
Nodding, she squeezed her daughter's hand tightly, and Ahsoka started on her stomach first. It was likely to be the most sensitive area and she wanted to get that over with as soon as possible. Her mother started whimpering as the alcohol began to burn, but Rya began talking to her, soothing her with her voice. Ahsoka made sure to work in small increments, giving her lots of breaks to relax. It wasn't hard to do, since she needed a lot of wipes to treat all of the cuts. As soon as her stomach was done, the neck was next, and then the back. By then, her mother was handling the stinging better.
Ahsoka wiped the last cut and discarded the wipe with the wrapper. "I'm finished," she told her, and the mother's body relaxed drastically. Rya began to encourage her, but they weren't done yet, not by a long shot.
Knowing that she needed to rest before they continued, she pulled out a few small bandages. She stuck them to the smallest cuts, mostly on her neck and stomach. After that, only three cuts were left, but they were too big to not stitch up.
"I need you to lay on your side now," Ahsoka instructed, and Rya helped her mother roll so she was facing the wall. While they shifted, she selected a syringe of anesthetic and the miniature stitching kit, and sat them next to her on the bed, along with the biggest bandages she had in her kit. Again, she started with the one large cut on her stomach, since she knew her back was going to be a lot easier and less painful.
She didn't show the needle right away but explained what she wanted to do. "Your largest cuts need stitches in order to heal properly, but I don't want to hurt you so I want to inject a medicine into the area. It will numb the pain, and after about an hour you will be able to feel it again. Is that okay?"
The mother nodded, but it was clear that she wasn't looking forward to it.
Rya, determined to do whatever it took to help her mother, said, "If you close your eyes, you won't see it. You don't have to watch it."
She squeezed her eyes shut as far as they would go, and Ahsoka reached over for the syringe. She took another wipe to clean the needle, just in case, and gave her a third of the dose. Her mother flinched when the needle pierced her stomach, but soon relaxed, and Ahsoka could see the tension leave her face.
Ahsoka worked quickly before the effects of the anesthesia could wear off. She threaded her needle and carefully closed the cut, remembering how many times she had done the same thing to herself on Dromund Kaas. She heard Kix in her ear, talking about the technical part of the job, and Obi-Wan, chastising her for being so reckless that she should get hurt. Anakin's voice, though, wasn't there. The two of them never spoke when they were being treated, only before or after. Ahsoka thought it had something to do with being so vulnerable, something neither of them had been fond of.
She finished the cut on the stomach and patched it up before moving to the other side of the bed to treat the two on her back. She used another third of the dose on each cut and repeated her steps two more times. When she was satisfied with the job, Ahsoka wrapped the needle with the wrappers from the bandages and set it next to the dirtied wipes.
Now that the worst of the injuries were taken care of, Ahsoka reached for the bruise ointment and popped the cap open. This was a fresh bottle, one she had bought just this week. She knew how well it had worked on her montrals and was certain that it could help Rya's mother. Ahsoka couldn't really tell where the bruises started and ended, though, so she just applied a layer over as much of her body as she could. As she rubbed it in softly, she explained, "This will help your skin heal. The bruises will go away faster, now."
Her mother didn't respond, but she didn't object either, so Ahsoka continued. She wasn't surprised, since she knew firsthand how soothing the cream could be. When she was done, she picked up all of the wrappers and scraps, walking out to the kitchen again to dispose of them. As she wrung out her towel a third time, she quickly thought of what else she could do for Rya and her mother.
As far as her physical injuries, there wasn't much. Without a medical facility she had limited options, and she had done the best she could with the resources she had. All that would help now was rest, really. Rya's mother needed water, food, and sleep, preferably in that order.
Thankfully, their house had a water tap. Ahsoka even caught a glimpse of a filter that was in pretty good shape, so she wasn't concerned about that.
Food was a different matter. The state of the kitchen spoke for itself, and Ahsoka knew that she wasn't going to be able to work with anything here. She had other options, though, and when she walked back into the bedroom, she had a plan.
"Rya," she said quietly, as to not disturb her mother. "I'm going to go get things from my house. I will be back soon, but I want you to help get her changed and try to convince her to drink water. Can you do that?"
Rya nodded, and Ahsoka left quickly. Sprinting back home, she used the Chasm to go quicker. No one had time for her to wait for the elevator.
Once she made it back, she opened up her fridge and pulled out some of the chicken soup she had made that week. She had plenty of it since she was the only person she was buying for and had enough to spare. All she had to do was heat it up and it would be ready to eat, and it was perfect for Rya and her mother. She packed as much of it into tupperware as could fit into her bag, and was about to leave when she looked at her closet. Thinking quickly, she stuffed a bottle of soap with the food and set off back to their house again.
True to her word, by the time Ahsoka got back thirty minutes later, Rya's mother was wearing light pajamas and was sipping from a glass that Ahsoka was not sure was clean. Instead of going into the bedroom, though, Ahsoka made for the kitchen and set half of the soup in the microwave. The rest of it, she packed into the fridge where they could find it later. She set the timer for a minute, then pulled out the soap and got to work on a couple of bowls.
Using the filter to clean the water, Ahsoka scrubbed the grime off of two bowls and a couple of spoons, and just in time for the soup to finish. She divided the food and carried it into the bedroom, setting both of the bowls in front of the women.
When Rya saw what she had brought them she initially began to protest, but Ahsoka stopped her. "I have plenty more back home, and I don't need it right now. Just take it," she told her, then added, "please."
Rya was at a loss for words, but accepted the bowl, and helped her mother with hers. Ahsoka didn't stay to watch them eat, but headed back into the kitchen to tackle the rest of the dishes. While the Twi'lek women ate, she scrubbed, rinsed, dried, and put away as many of the plates, bowls, pans, pots, silverware, and utensils as she could. If she didn't know where it went, she just set it on the counter in neat stacks. She whipped through it pretty quickly and stuffed the bottle of soap under the sink.
A few minutes later, Rya walked out with both of the bowls, which Ahsoka rinsed again and cleaned quickly. Rya leaned up against the counter, not saying a word, but watching Ahsoka work silently. When she finished, she turned to look at her, but Rya avoided her eyes.
"I changed the sheets while you were gone, too," she began quietly. "She fell asleep as soon as she finished the food."
Ahsoka nodded. "She needs to rest. That is what will speed the healing, more than anything."
Rya didn't reply to her advice, but stared at the empty counters and asked. "Why did you do that?"
She was about to respond that the food was nutritious, and would replenish her energy quickly, but she realized that wasn't what Rya was asking. It dawned on Ahsoka that she could have offended Rya and her mother by doing so much, and she immediately tried to look for an explanation.
In the end, all she said was, "I was focused on her health and I...had things I wasn't using. I didn't think about how it would affect you," she admitted. Ahsoka bowed her head in shame. "I apologize, I should have been more considerate."
It was true, Ahsoka hadn't given a second thought to how Rya would take what she was offering. The medical part had been fine, she reflected, but the food, the cleaning? That could have been rude as if she was trying to imply that Rya didn't know how to take care of her own home, or couldn't. Whether she could or not was beside the point.
In her lifetime, Ahsoka rarely turned down service, especially if she was focused on other things. She had lived in a world of 'serve and be served,' at least until she had left it. Selfless actions were encouraged and almost expected in the Jedi Temple. If anyone saw an opportunity to clean, or cook, or fix, or help in any way, Jedi were taught to take it and to accept it if offered. Down here, it was different. Not everyone wanted to be helped.
Ahsoka had just been honed in on survival, and basic needs that she saw. She saw a hurting person, so she treated her. She saw a lack of food, so she brought some. She saw dirty dishes, so she cleaned them. In the military, those things had been drilled into her. Emotions were of no use when someone was in trouble, or in need, so she had abandoned hers, for the time being. That was fine, but the problem was that in doing so, she had disregarded Rya's feelings. That was where she crossed the line.
She gathered what was left from her medkit and put it back in her bag. "I should leave," she told Rya. "I've overstayed my welcome long enough."
"No," Rya protested, shaking her head, and covering her eyes with her hands. "You, you didn't-" She was at a loss for words, and Ahsoka set her bag back down, ready to comfort her if Rya would let her.
What she was not ready for was for Rya to fling her arms around Ahsoka in a hug.
"Thank you," she whispered, and squeezed Ahsoka's neck, trying not to cry.
Ahsoka had stepped back in surprise, but carefully, cautiously hugged Rya back, even though she was confused as to why it was happening. After all, she was here to help Rya, too. If this was what she needed, Ahsoka could do this too. She didn't have to understand it.