AND NOT A SOUL TO HEAR
Dalla wishes she felt victorious. That would be easier than how she's actually feeling. And pretty soon she's going to get some news which makes her feel much, much worse. - LS
...
They cover Sanjay's body with a black cloth Jamos found somewhere. The other northerners have already torn down the Rash banner from the main pole and hung Blackwell blue. It'll only stay there until King Dendup gets back and they can raise his colors, but it still sends their message in the meantime: King Rash is dead. We've won.
Jamos taps her on the shoulder. "Chirn Bait, you don't have to stay with him anymore. He's gone."
"What do we do with the body?" She asks. If the Rashes have a family tomb she's not sure interring Sanjay there would be a good idea. "Do we put him in the tomb, or in a grave in the jungle somewhere, or in the river? Do we bury him at sea so no one can find him?"
"I don't know." Jamos rests his head in his hands. "The river sounds like the best idea."
"While you were gone, he thought I was someone named Melaana. That picture you flipped, wasn't that the same person?"
"Aye," Jamos confirms. "She was his sister."
"No wonder he wanted to see her again."
"Enough about him. How's your father?"
Dalla's stomach sinks thinking about her father. "They were stabilizing him when I left. The nurse said it was just a matter of waiting for the bacta tank."
"That's good to hear. When you said you were taking him to the medcenter I was worried. What happened to him?"
"He was shot in the leg running after Elinor Harkon."
They both fall silent as the dead.
"Where's Glover?"
"Hugo Bralykburn hauled him out of the gauntlet," Jamos says. "They're probably sitting somewhere or they're in the comm room contacting Harkon Hall."
Poor Adria, having to get this news through the comm twice now. "I need to contact the rebels out in the Highlands. Tell them we won."
"They'll be glad to hear it. Do you want me to -."
"I'll go into the other room. I'd rather not do it with him still here," she gestures to Sanjay's covered body.
He nods agreement. "I'll stay here and comm your aunt."
"Alright." She exits through the door Sanjay must have crawled through on his way to wherever he was going. Unsurprisingly, it opens into the throne room.
Dalla shuts the door behind her and walks up the carpet to the throne. She may have hated the man who sat here, but the room itself commands reverence with its grand design, practically radiating power. She pauses at the foot of the throne to examine the carbon scoring staining its back. This must be where Sanjay was shot.
Might as well place the comm. She enters Steela's frequency and lifts the device to her lips, already smiling in anticipation. Steela's going to be thrilled when she hears, even if they're still mopping up droids in the Highlands. Just to know that they won will make her day.
The comm makes a beeping sound like a busy signal. Dalla tries again, but it makes the same sound before shutting off entirely.
Okay, that's odd but she brushes it off. Steela's comm probably was damaged in the fighting, so she tries Lux's. They're usually in close proximity, so he can just hand off the comm when she's done speaking with him.
There's a crackle over the comm and Lux picks up. "Hello?" He sounds a hundred years old.
"Lux, it's Dalla. I tried comming Steela, but there must be a problem with her comlink." She takes a deep breath. "I'm in the throne room. Sanjay Rash is dead. The city's ours. We...we won! Will you give the comm to Steela so I can tell her?"
Silence.
"Lux?"
"I-I can't."
"What do you mean?"
"Dalla, Steela, she…she..." He trails off. "There was an accident."
Dalla's stomach sinks. "Lux, stop it. This isn't funny."
Lux doesn't hear her. "One of the gunships crashed into a cliff face Steela was standing on. It crumbled, she slid down and Ahsoka tried to lift her off with the force. But the gunship was still operational. We didn't know. The cannon, it, it went off and shot her. Steela -."
"I'm closer to the medcenter than you are. I'll tell them you're coming; they can prep intensive care or the operating room or a bacta tank. Just keep doing whatever you are and get to the medcenter as fast as you can."
Lux sobs. "Dalla, she's dead."
Dalla sits down hard in a chair to the left of the throne. "No," she shakes her head. "No, that's not possible. She told me she's fallen off dalgos and rupings before, she's tough. She can't be -."
A gut-wrenching sob tears on Lux's side of the transmission. It's Saw. And Saw would never joke or kid about this…
"Oh gods." She shrinks further into the chair. "Oh gods, no."
"We're coming back to Iziz now to take Ahsoka to the medcenter," Lux sniffs. "It's going to be a few hours."
"I'll meet you there." She bends over to suppress the empty feeling in her stomach. "Make some preparations or-or something."
"Thank you for updating us. I just wish I had good news in…" a sob breaks his sentence. "I'm sorry Dalla, I can't - I'll see you at the medcenter. Goodbye."
"Bye, Lux." She waits for him to end the comm before she disconnects, doubles over in the chair, and bursts out sobbing.
…
Far from Iziz within Blackhold's sturdy stone walls, Shara hears the chime from the comm room and hurries to answer it before her kids can get into the room. After Lana answered Sanjay's call earlier today she doesn't want to take any chances. As she reaches for the activation button she braces herself to shout down whoever's on the other end, be it Sanjay or anyone else.
The projection focuses into the likeness of a woman in scrubs.
Shara blinks. "Can I help you?"
"I'm from Iziz Municipal Medcenter. Are you Mrs. Shara Blackwell?
"I am. Why do you ask?"
"You and your husband are listed as Marlon Blackwell's emergency contacts. I'm calling to inform you that he's been admitted."
"What?" Shara sputters in disbelief. "Marlon's in the medcenter? What happened?"
The nurse scrolls through a datapad, probably checking Marlon's chart. "He was shot in the leg and we've admitted him while he waits for the bacta tank." She anticipates Shara's next question before they've left her lips. "He's unconscious so I can't put him on the comm."
"Alright. Please comm me if you have any updates," Shara says when another worry strikes her. "Wait! Do you have any patients named Jamos Blackwell or Dalla Blackwell?"
"Mrs. Blackwell, I can't share that information with you."
"I'm listed on their medical records as an emergency contact. Are they -?"
"If anyone were to check in and you were listed as their contact, we'd let you know as soon as possible," the nurse says cryptically. Shara reads between the lines: Jamos and Dalla aren't there. That does little for her concerns. There are a lot of things that can happen during a siege that don't warrant a trip to the medcenter.
"I understand. Thank you," she says, hangs up on the nurse and immediately enters her husband's frequency.
Jamos answers after a pause, looking exhausted and drained. He brightens a little seeing her. "Hello, Shar."
Shara cuts to the chase. "Jamos! Are you and Dalla alright?"
"We're fine," he says. "We could be better, but we're fine. We're not hurt. Shara, he ... he's gone."
"What?" Shara's hand flies to her mouth. "No! I was just on the comm with the medcenter! They said he was waiting for the bacta tank. He can't be -!"
"The med - no, no. Marlon's fine. It's Sanjay. Sanjay's gone."
Shara pauses, overwhelmed with relief that it's not Marlon and not sure how to feel that it's Sanjay. "In the light of the salt gods," she says quietly. It seems like the only good thing to say.
"In the light of the salt gods. We're not sure what to do for him, for the burial. We've taken the palace; the droid army's gone. There's no one left to handle the cleanup except us."
"I'm coming." Shara makes a snap decision. "We're all coming down to Iziz. I can help with the cleanup, the kids can be with their cousins again. And Cade can't go another standard second without his father and sister and brother."
"Shara, are you -?"
"That wasn't a question. We're coming."
"I love you so much." He smiles and Shara has to wonder if he's still delirious from the battle. "I found a statue in the courtyard. I have to find a way to bring it home."
Aye, definitely delirious. "Absolutely not, Jamos. You leave it right where it is." Shara doesn't even want to know what that statue is, though she has a feeling she already does.
Jamos' face falls. "As my lady commands."
The title jogs Shara's memory. "Is Dalla there?"
"She's in the other room taking a comm from the rebels. It doesn't sound like good news; I thought I heard her crying. She found Sanjay. Sat with him while he died."
"Check on her for me, will you?" Whatever Sanjay said or did in his final moments, it couldn't have been easy to watch.
"I will when she comes out."
"I'll get the kids ready to go and call about a cloudhopper." Thank the salt gods she still has General Tandin's comm number. "We'll be down as soon as possible and I'll comm you when we leave."
"Thank you, Shara."
…
By the time she can't summon any more tears Dalla's joints have gone stiff from being doubled over in the chair for so long. She stands, bending her knees a few times to limber them up.
Why is that even there, anyway? Is it for an advisor? Is it for - no, no way. It has to be for an advisor, she decides, eyeballing the chair. Thinking about it keeps her mind off what happened in the Highlands.
She slowly makes her way out of the throne room and into the chamber where Jamos is still sitting vigil over Sanjay's body until someone comes to get him. He stands like he's been waiting for her. "Do you want to talk about it, Chirn Bait?"
"I'm going to the medcenter." That's where she told Lux she'd meet them, and she needs to see her father. She hasn't heard anything about him since she left the medcenter.
Jamos doesn't pursue his question. "Okay. Tell your father I hope he feels better soon. And if either of you need anything, you know where to find me."
"Thanks, Uncle Jamos." Dalla gives him a thin smile and hurries out of the room, trying not to look at Sanjay's body or burst into tears again.
Someone else further down the hall has already lost that battle. If Dalla had any more tears Glover Harkon's anguished sobs would surely bring them on again.
Hugo Bralykburn stands in the hallway in front of the room the Harkons have taken over, a holoprojection just fading away when Dalla rounds the corner.
"Who was that?" Not that it's any of her business, but Dalla doesn't trust Hugo as far as she can throw him.
Hugo scowls at her. "I was telling my Talia what happened to Elinor so these two wouldn't have to." He gestures to the room. "It's what in-laws do."
That makes sense. "I never took you for a philanthropist."
"Don't start now. This doesn't mean I like any of you. But nobody should have to watch their kid die." His face darkens. "I know."
Dalla remembers a story her father told her, from when she was just a baby. Your aunt saved the Polaris from that terrible storm. But not everyone was so lucky. Hugo Bralykburn's wife, his son…
"I'm sorry."
"Nothing you can do," he says gruffly. "I already told Harkon Hall. Got her ready to go back to the salt gods. Hard part's over." He changes the topic. "You're heading to the medcenter for your father."
"I haven't heard from him since I dropped him off."
He nods to her. "Don't worry about these two. I've got them."
That's as much as they're going to get from each other, and they know it. Dalla nods back and leaves the palace the way she came in: down the hall, through the gardens, past the Aunt Shara statue, and out the south gate. It's going to take forever to get these back in working order for King Dendup. Steela can handle it though, she's really good at delegating jobs. She's going to be such a great Lady when - oh.
Dalla banishes the thought before it can make her cry again, sets her gaze on the medcenter at the end of the alley, and numbly walks toward it. Getting to her father is the only thing that makes sense right now.
She follows the signs to the medical/surgical ward and walks up to the nurse's station.
"Excuse me," she says. "I'm looking for Marlon Blackwell. Can you tell me which room he's in?"
The nurse looks up from her work and almost drops her datapad. "Dxun!" she cries, jumps to her feet and practically teleports around the counter. "Sit down, hon. Tysha, get the med droid," she orders, snapping on a pair of gloves. "Where is it?"
Dalla takes a step back. "I'm sorry?"
"Sit," the nurse repeats with a matronly authority Dalla automatically obeys. "What happened? Where is it?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"She's in shock," the nurse mutters and peels back Dalla's torn sleeve to expose the cut on her upper arm. "Is this it? No, that can't be it. That wouldn't get this much blood on you. Where's your wound?"
"My wound?" Dalla repeats while another nurse zooms over and assists the first. They turn her arms over to check them and she sees it. Between the man whose femoral artery she slashed, the man who killed One-Eye, the carnage at the gauntlet, Marlon, and Sanjay, she's covered in blood. "It isn't mine."
"What?"
"This isn't my blood." Now that she knows it's there she's blown away by how much there is. "I was in the siege; it all belongs to other people."
The nurses step back, exuding relief. "Cancel the page," the first says. "Good gods girl, you scared me. Coming up to the counter perfectly calm and looking like you walked out of a slasher holo."
Aye, she can see how that would be alarming. "I came to see my father. His name is Marlon Blackwell and he was admitted for a blaster shot to the leg. Which room is he in?"
"The important thing for you to know is it's a room with a 'fresher," the nurse asserts. "You need to get cleaned up before you see anyone. I'm not having you track gods-know-what all over this floor."
"But my father -."
"He's in the bacta tank." The nurse ushers her to a room a few doors down. Sure enough, the bed is empty. "And your 'fresher awaits. We'll find you something to wear; just throw what you've got on into the biohazard bin."
There's no room for argument with this woman, even if the whole thing knocks Dalla off-kilter. She nods.
"Good. And if you need anything, my name's Sal. Okay?"
"Okay. Thank you," Dalla replies and shuts the door.
It should feel great to take a shower, since she's caked in sweat and dirt and enough blood to terrify a veteran nurse. But with no task for her to concentrate on, there's nothing to keep her from thinking about Steela.
She would have been so happy we won. The shower reopens the slash on her arm, blessedly drawing her attention. She can just sense Steela in the other room, waiting for her to finish getting cleaned up so they can go out for that drink she promised the last time they saw each other.
Dalla sticks her face into the stream of water so she can pretend she's not crying.
Ahsoka was right back at base. The only reason Dalla wasn't reacting to Miranda's death was because she was in survival mode. And since she's no longer in survival mode, everything she previously held back comes crashing down over her like a storm surge. Miranda, the execution, her father being in the medcenter, watching Sanjay die, and now Steela.
Pull yourself together, she orders herself. You are the Lady of the North, not some whimpering girl.
Except, well, that she is. She's a teenage girl whose two friends died in close to two weeks.
So Dalla decides that no one will hear her crying over the shower, and stays there until the water gets cold.
…
While she was in the shower the nurse left Dalla a pair of bright pink scrubs printed with cartoon cognines. Dono would have a stroke if she saw them, but at least they're clean.
She settles into a chair next to the empty bed, and waits.
Sal the nurse wheels an unconscious Marlon in a few minutes after she emerges. and Dalla scrambles to her feet. "Father!"
"He's still sleeping off the sedatives," Sal informs her. "But he should be awake in a few minutes and you can talk to him then. Those scrubs fit you okay?"
"Aye," Dalla tugs at the scrub top. "Thank you for getting them for me."
"Sure beats you tracking microbes all over creation." The nurse flags an assistant from the hallway and together they transfer Marlon from the gurney into his bed. After they get him settled she turns back to Dalla. "You said you were in the siege. Do you need a med droid?"
"No." Except for that slash, which she can fix by herself with a bacta patch, she's unhurt. "Is he okay? It's just a flesh wound, right?"
"It's a weight-bearing limb so he will have a longer recovery time with physical therapy most likely. But there wasn't any damage to the bone or major blood vessels. He's lucky. Still, we can't be sure of his mental status until he wakes up."
"And that's just a matter of waiting?"
"It is." Sal points to the chair Dalla was just in. "Why don't you sit down? You don't look well."
"I'm fine, ma'am. Really, I am."
"No, you are not. You're getting a full lab work up and an armful of booster hypos. Gods only know what diseases were in that blood."
Dalla reluctantly sits down. "Aye, ma'am."
Sal places a hand on her good shoulder. "Is there someone I can call for you?"
She shakes her head. "No one who can come."
"Okay," Sal pats her shoulder. "I don't know what happened during that siege, but whatever it was you two got through it. You and him both. You hear me?"
Dalla nods and a groan comes from Marlon. She startles but Sal gestures for her to stand back while she checks him over. "M'lord? Are you awake?"
"Uh-huh," Marlon grunts and moves around in his bed. "How'd I get here?"
"You were brought in by some northerners," Sal answers and beckons Dalla forward. "Lord Blackwell, do you recognize this young lady?"
Marlon stares at her, befuddled.
"No," he says, and Dalla's heart sinks.
But Marlon's confused expression dissolves in an instant and his face slowly lights up in an impish grin, a grin Dalla hasn't seen since her mother died.
"My daughter," Marlon says, beaming, "Wouldn't be caught dead wearing cartoon cognines."
…
Looks like the Ned Stark of Onderon is back and glad his Sansa made it through the battle unscathed as well. If only that were true for the Tamer of Rupings.