Of all the things Howzer knew how to handle, caring for the sick child of General Syndulla was not one of them.
He could disassemble and reassemble a blaster, hotwire an enemy speeder, deactivate bombs as well as the ordnance specialist clones, and even press a bacta patch to a blaster burn, but this… well, he was out of his depth.
Young Hera was sprawled across the couch of the Syndulla's living room, whooping coughs racketing her small frame. There was a thick layer of sweat across her forehead, small droplets trickling down her lekku which, according to Eleni, were even more sensitive than usual due to this virus that is apparently normal for Twi'leks to contract at some point during their childhood.
Raised on Kamino where the slightest sniffle or raised temperature would have a cadet quarantined and tested on like a lab rat, Howzer wasn't sure how Cham and his wife could appear so calm whilst their daughter was at risk of hacking up her own lungs in front of them.
"Shouldn't she see a Doctor?" Howzer asked when Hera's entire body convulsed with the force of her coughs, "I can ask one of our medics to bring some meds around."
"That won't be necessary, Captain," Cham assured him, rubbing Eleni's shoulder as she tended to her daughter by dabbing her flushed face with a damp cloth. "It may appear frightening to you, but the Telesphorus Virus is not dangerous to children, and simply needs to take its course."
"So, she'll be fine?" Howzer asked, trying to not make it obvious how worried he was for the little girl who he had grown fond of since being assigned on Ryloth.
"In three or four days, she'll be completely well again," Eleni said, standing from where she had perched beside her daughter. "But Cham and I must travel out of Lessu to meet with the farmers in the outer territories.
"We cannot stay with her, nor can we bring Hera with us. This virus can cause complications within those without strong immune systems, like the elderly and sick."
"Like somebody who's pregnant?" He asked.
"Yes," Eleni nodded, "A woman with child would be very ill and put the baby at risk if she were exposed to the virus."
There went Howzer's option of seeing if Aceso would come around to ease Hera's pain. He didn't say that though. Cham and Eleni were still not aware that the most experienced Doctor on Ryloth was pregnant with their clone Captain's child. It was still crazy to think about it himself.
"You see, Howzer, it is a rite of passage for parents to care for their children during the course of this virus." Cham said, watching over Hera carefully, "Since we cannot be with her, I'm asking you to keep an eye on her in our absence."
Howzer's jaw tensed, "Me, sir?"
"There's nobody else I trust, with Gobi away training the fighters." Cham explained, reaching out to lay a hand over his shoulder. "I'm asking as a friend, Howzer, not as your General."
As if he could ever refuse them?
"Of course, Cham," Howzer straightened, the General's first name still feeling foreign on his tongue, "I'll watch over Hera until your return."
"Thank you, Captain," Eleni floated towards him, pressing the lightest of kisses to his cheek before returning to her husband's side. Howzer had long since learnt that Twi'leks were as openly intimate with foreigners as they were with each other.
"We will be back by tomorrow evening," Cham said, "You will dine with us, as a way of showing our gratitude."
Howzer dipped his head, "I'd be honoured."
"She shouldn't be too much trouble," Eleni said softly, still focusing on Hera, "Make sure she drinks water, when she can. There is leftover dinner from last night in the kitchen, as well as medicine, if she needs it."
The Captain nodded, taking mental notes to remember. He snapped to attention sharply, "Enjoy your trip, General, Mrs Syndulla."
"I truly appreciate this, friend," Cham squeezed his shoulder once more before letting go to slip his arm around Eleni's waist. Their goodbyes to Hera were brief, the girl was slipping in and out of sleep so frequently that Howzer wasn't sure she even noticed them leave.
It was only after Cham and Eleni left the house that Howzer realised something.
He'd never looked after a sick child before.
The Kaminoans religiously ensured that all of their products were vaccinated against many viruses and common diseases, but of course, leaving the sterile environment of Tipoca City to start fighting in trenches across the galaxy was bound to shock the clones' coddled immune systems.
They called it shiny flu.
Howzer was lucky in that he had been signposted straight to Ryloth where he could live in the comfort of the Syndulla residence and have access to fresh water and food every day since he landed, but he'd heard about the rookies shipped to the dirtiest part of the galaxy. Some got incredibly sick, so unwell with fever and flu that they were pulled from the front lines for weeks at a time. There were rumours that some simply didn't make it, and could only be kept comfortable whilst they died.
Howzer shuddered, escaping his spiralling thoughts by kneeling next to Hera's head. Her green eyes were half-lidded and glazed, though they managed to focus on him after a few moments. "H-Howzer?"
"I'm here, Her'ika," he assured her quietly, patting her arm.
"Where's m-mom?" She asked, licking her chapped lips. Howzer remembered what Eleni said and reached for the glass of water on the table.
"Your parents are going out of town overnight," he told her, using one arm to lift her shoulders into a sitting position against the couch. "I'm staying with you until they get back."
He pressed the rim of the glass to Hera's mouth, then slowly tipped it up. His heart rate shot up when the girl initially choked and spluttered, but as quickly as his panic passed, she started to greedily drink the water which Howzer supposed was a good thing.
"Can I get you anything?" He asked once the glass had been drained, "How are you feeling?"
Hera's head dropped against his chest, the girl seemingly unaware. "Cold."
Frowning, he tore off his glove with his teeth and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. Twi'leks were naturally warmer than humans, and even clones, but Hera felt hotter than a star.
How did she feel cold when she was so damn warm?
"Wait here a moment," he started to say, even though it was unlikely that Hera would go anywhere whilst he looked through the medicine Eleni had left, but the girl managed to grasp hold of his armour before he could stand, her fingers curling tightly around his chest plate.
Howzer held his breath, "Kid?"
"You're warm," she murmured softly, drawing herself closer to him. "Don't leave me."
He sighed heavily, regretting how much he let Hera get away with since they first met. Eleni once laughed that her daughter had him wrapped around her little finger, always pleading him with wide eyes to take her on patrol with him.
Since Cham was fairly strict with Hera and usually too busy with his efforts to keep Ryloth at peace that he often accidentally neglected his duties as a father, Hera had quite obviously turned to Howzer for comfort.
Howzer dreaded how Hera would react to finding out that he would be having a child of his own in just a few months, and she would no longer be the centre of his attention.
Her jealousy towards Aceso was so obvious that Howzer found himself always having to offer the young girl a chance to dance with him at parties just to stop her from glaring at Aceso the entire evening.
Howzer's little shadow. That was what Aceso called the girl, laughing whenever Hera would interrupt their few and far between quiet moments together.
Admitting defeat, Howzer scooped up Hera's small body and resigned to bringing her with him to the kitchen. The young Twi'lek didn't appear to mind, trilling softly as she pushed her face against his pulse point.
"Hera," he said to get her attention once they made it to the room that always smelt like caramelized meiloorun fruit and freshly baked tonitran pasties. His mouth watered a little, realising it had been several hours since lunch. "Are you hungry, ad'ika?"
The girl mumbled against his chest, switching from Basic to Ryl and back to Basic in her fevered state. Howzer furrowed his brow, having learnt the local language to speak fluently with the natives, but even he couldn't grasp what she was saying.
Lowering Hera to sit on the counter, he held her to his chest with one arm braced against her back whilst he read the labels of the different medicines that Eleni left out. As soon as he recognised the Ryl for 'fever reducer', he found the dosage for a child and measured the liquid into an oral syringe, all with just one hand.
"Open up," he told Hera in her native tongue, wrapping his hand around the bottom of her skull. Hera obeyed, tipping her head back and only gagging slightly as Howzer fed her the medicine. He switched back to Basic, "There you are. Good girl."
Hera beamed under his praise, mumbling more about what food she would like. Howzer leaned his ear close to her mouth, hearing at last that she wanted Mazer stew. The dish was often prepared on a weekly basis by her father who hunted the predator himself to share with all of the staff in his household.
Howzer didn't think he would be capable of hunting down such a thing, then gutting it and cooking it for Hera. The last thing she needed was food poisoning, and he wasn't exactly a hunter like Cham was.
"Your mom made Rycrit pie last night," he told Hera, "How about some of that instead?"
"No!" The girl recoiled, making a disgusted face.
"Hera," Howzer said her name calmly, "Come on, you like that pie. I'll heat some up for you."
Kriff, why were tears building in her eyes? What had he done wrong?
"I- I want my mom," Hera garbled, suddenly looking distraught. Where she had been clinging to his armour like her life depended on it, she started to push Howzer away, little fists banging on his chest plate. "I want my mom!"
"Hera, ad'ika," he said softly, trying to calm her, but what did he know about distressed, sick children who only wanted their parents? He couldn't just call Eleni and ask her and Cham to return. "It's okay, ad'ika, they'll be back soon."
He lightly grasped her wrists when she nearly caught him in the jaw, so delirious with this virus that she was acting irrationally. He'd seen her throw tantrums before, usually when her dad wasn't letting her do what she wanted, but she'd never been violent before.
Hera was nearly sobbing, thrashing in his arms. Howzer hated himself as he restrained her, fearing she'd somehow hurt herself if she kept fighting him. Holding both of her hands in one of his own, Howzer dialled a memorised frequency into his commlink.
"Howzer?"
"Aceso," he hoped she wouldn't be able to hear Hera sobbing in the background, "I need some help. My little shadow's sick."
"Sick?" She repeated, worry heavy in her accented voice, "What do you mean? Where are you?"
"You can't come," he told her, "She's got this… Telesphorus Virus, or whatever it's called, but she's freaking out and begging for Eleni. I don't know what to do."
"Ah," his lover replied, sighing, "And that is why parents are supposed to care for their children during this difficult virus. It can cause some major attachment issues."
"What do I do?" He was close to pleading.
"It's her lekku, Howzer." Aceso explained, "They are extremely sensitive during this time, and without her mother and father, she can't cope with how overwhelming the sensations are. You'll need to massage them, work the tension out so she feels less alone. No amount of verbal reassurance will compare to physical touch."
He felt the colour drain from his face, only just able to dodge the kick that Hera aimed at his groin in her state of distress.
"Wait, I have to massage her lekku?"
Before he came to Ryloth, Howzer and the rest of his men were given a presentation about Twi'lek culture to ensure they acted appropriately. Most of it was about not referring to them as tail-heads and spotting the signs of slave trafficking so they could intervene, but they also had a thirty-minute seminar about why they must absolutely not touch the lekku of any Twi'lek they meet.
Even medics weren't allowed to handle the Twi'leks' most sensitive body part unless they had explicit consent to do so in an emergency situation where native Doctors were unavailable.
Howzer could understand why the rule was in place. It took a lot of reassurance from Aceso to touch her lekku that were already damaged from her early childhood as a slave on Tatooine, and he'd seen the affect that the right handling could have on a Twi'lek. The wrong type of handling could cause unescapable agony.
Call him a hypocrite, but that was the reason Howzer banned his men from forming relationships with the locals.
Now, Aceso was telling him to massage the lekku of the General's daughter, who wasn't even old enough to be considered a teenager yet.
"Howzer," she said calmly, "Please, don't panic. It doesn't mean what you think it does. Hera hasn't gone through puberty, she will only receive comfort in reception to your touch, not pleasure. Her mother would do the same. If Cham has asked you to care for her in their absence, then I can assure you that you aren't doing anything wrong."
He let out a quiet groan, uncomfortable with what was being asked of him, but if it would help Hera settle…
"Let me know if you need anything else." Aceso said before signing off.
Howzer looked back at Hera who had resided to silently sobbing as she tried to escape his hold on her wrists. He let go of her, her hands jumping to her growing lekku to immediately claw at them with tears streaming down her face.
She was obviously in pain.
"I hope I don't regret this," he said, more to himself than Hera, as he slowly moved his hand behind her head. The girl didn't even notice, her shoulders trembling in discomfort and distress.
The moment his bare fingers brushed down the side of her left lek, Hera stilled. A slight shudder ran down her spine, the tension immediately leaving her body as Howzer gently repeated the motion.
"It's okay, kid," he said, reassuring both of them as he ran his fingertips up and down her lek. Hera looked like she was having an out-of-body experience, leaning so far to the side that Howzer put his spare arm around her shoulders to keep her upright.
Her forehead rested against his sternum as Howzer moved to her right lek, shaping his hand like a claw to lightly massage the crown of her head where her lek was thickest. That was where Aceso would get stress-induced migraines, and he would caress her lekku all night to ease her pain.
A soft whimper passed Hera's lips as she pressed herself closer to his chest. Howzer kept up his ministrations, moving between the top of her lekku to the stubby tips. Aceso was right; his touch was calming the girl much more than his voice alone, but he still spoke softly, telling Hera she was okay, and he was looking after her.
At some point, he started rocking from one foot to the other, swaying Hera in his arms. Pressing his chin to her forehead, she felt cooler than before, which was reassuring. Hera's breaths also got more even, less congested, and no longer wheezy. Before long, he was sure she had actually fallen asleep from his gentle touch.
"I've got you, Her'ika," he murmured when she shifted slightly in his arms, revealing her face which confirmed that her eyes were closed. The stains of her tears were the only evidence of her previous distress. "You're alright."
Hera didn't stir when he eventually drew his hand away from her lekku, feeling cramp start to set into his palm. Besides a quiet sigh, the girl didn't fuss as he lifted her off the counter and brought her upstairs.
He figured that she'd be more comfortable in her parents' bed than her own, and as soon as he laid her down, Hera snuggled into the comforter, her little nose twitching as she breathed in her mother's scent.
Howzer smiled to himself as he tucked her in. He and Aceso had not thought far into the future, but he wondered if the child growing within her stomach would someday be like Hera, though he hoped they wouldn't have to live with so much suffering around them.
Sighing, he moved to dim the lights, pausing when Hera shifted, "Howzer?"
He moved back to her side in an instant, "You should get some rest, ad'ika."
Her eyes never opened, though she smiled in her slumber, "Love you, ori'vod."
Howzer brushed his fingers over her cheek, "Love you too, prud'ika."
Little Shadow.
