"Luke, come here." Daddy stood in the door of my room. I rolled over in bed and blinked at him sleepily.
"G'morning."
"Good morning, Luke. We're going to the prison again." He came over and picked me up out of bed.
"Oh. Okay, why?"
"My master said I had to take you again."
"Okay. Can I see Cliegg again?" I asked as Daddy helped me put my coat on.
"I would assume that that's why he told me to take you." Daddy smiled and took my hand to lead me out to his ship.
I smiled and jumped onto the co-pilot's chair. Daddy started the ship and held something out to me.
"I thought that you might want to take something for Cliegg." He explained. I opened it. It was just a small lunch box with some food in it.
"Oh. Okay." I closed the box again and stared out the viewport at the star-streaks.
Daddy was quiet for the flight. After a while I curled up on my seat and fell asleep.
"Luke, Luke, wake up." Daddy shook me gently, "We're here."
I blinked out the viewport at the grey skies of the prison world. Then I slid off my chair and stumbled as I tried to walk to the boarding ramp. Daddy caught me and picked me up.
"Thanks," I mumbled and put my head on his shoulder.
"My pleasure, Luke." Daddy laughed in my ear.
I stared at the other rebel prisoners as Daddy carried me in, but most of them just looked away from me when they noticed I was looking at them. Finally I heard Daddy open the door to a cell and I turned around.
Cliegg was curled on the floor in one dark corner. When he heard us come in, he looked up a little bit. When he saw my daddy, he turned away and tried to hide something. As he moved, he saw me and smiled a little bit.
Daddy put me down beside Cliegg and left the cell.
"Hello, Cliegg. Are you okay?"
He shook his head and I remembered about his throat. I opened the little box and held out a water bottle. "Are you thirsty?"
Cliegg coughed for a few moments before he managed to ask, "Would you open it, please?"
I did, and he took it. He moved it jerkily to his mouth and I saw that he was using his wrong hand.
"It'll be easier if you use your other hand," I said.
Cliegg shook his head slightly so I helped guide the water to his mouth. He drank a bit then moved the bottle away from his mouth again. He tried to push himself up against the wall so he could sit up.
"Are you better now?" I asked.
"If you mean am I better than I was last time you were here, then, no. If you mean am I better than before you gave me the water, then, yes."
"Do you want something to eat?" I asked, holding out a nutrition bar from the lunch box.
"Yes, please," Cliegg took the bar from my hand and opened it with his teeth. I sat and watched as he ate it.
"Why aren't you using your other hand?" I asked.
Cliegg tried to hide his other arm, "No reason."
"That's not true. Show me your arm." I held out one hand and waited.
"You don't want to see it, Luke."
"Yes I do. Give me your arm."
Cliegg sighed and moved his arm into view. He had been right. I hadn't really wanted to see it. It was disgusting. I could see his bone in some places. I couldn't recognise any skin. I reached out and touched it. He gritted his teeth so he didn't scream, but I felt him hurt.
"Why?" I asked. I didn't know why anyone would do that to anyone else.
"Because I disobeyed the Emperor. Please don't touch it again."
I nodded numbly. Daddy worked for the Emperor. What if the Emperor got mad at him and hurt him like that? I didn't like anyone to get hurt. I looked back into the little box and realized that there was something other than the food in it. I pulled out a long bandage and held it out to Cliegg.
"Would you like me to make it better?" I asked.
He nodded and gritted his teeth again as I tried to bandage his wound. As I tried, my hand kept slipping and he cried out a few times.
"Luke! What…? Give me that," Daddy ran back into the cell. He took the bandage from me and unwound it from Cliegg's arm.
"Luke, come watch. I'll show you how to do it." Daddy carefully started to bind Cliegg's arm in the bandage. I watched as he carefully hid the bloody wound. Cliegg would moan occasionally, so I took his other hand in mine and held it tightly.
When Daddy was done he stood again and started to leave the cell.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"I'm going to continue the inspection. Where else would I be going?" he asked.
"Well, I thought you said you'd come back when it was time to go."
"I came back when I heard your friend screaming. Force, Luke. You should have waited and let me do it."
"How could you have heard him? You were way that way!" I pointed. I had no idea where exactly he had been, but it had been far enough that he couldn't have heard Cliegg's quiet sobs.
"I heard him. I have to continue the inspection now, if you'll excuse me." Daddy snapped and left the cell.
When Daddy was far enough away that I thought he wouldn't hear I turned to Cliegg, "How did he know?"
"Force sensitives have better hearing than most people."
"But he was way, way that way!" I said.
"He probably felt my pain. He is fairly attuned to my Force signature. It comes of having chased and hunted me for years."
"He said you were his apprentice."
"I was never his apprentice. He wanted me to be. That was why he was chasing me."
"But he said…" I was confused.
"I was never his apprentice." Cliegg insisted.
"Okay… then why did he tell me that you were?" I almost asked why Daddy would have told me that he loved Cliegg when he hadn't even known him, but I decided that it would be mean.
"He wanted me to be his apprentice. He might have just thought that you wouldn't understand that."
"Daddy never lies to me because he thinks I wouldn't understand the truth! He tells me complicated stuff all the time! He would have told me!"
"Well, then, I have no idea. I wouldn't understand the way parents interact with their children under normal circumstances."
"Do you want your parents?" I asked.
"Yes. I miss them. Even though I never knew them, I miss them. I wish they had raised me. I wish that when I get out of jail they'd be waiting for me."
Something about the last part of the sentence didn't feel the way it sounded. I remembered to ask Daddy about it later.
"I wish your parents were keeping you safe too. I wish you were happy." I pressed against his side and he put his working arm around me.
I yawned a bit and he smiled at me, "Do you need some sleep, Luke?"
"Yeah, I didn't really sleep much last night." I yawned again and he put his bandaged arm around me too.
"Go to sleep then. I won't hurt you. Sleep."
"Don't you want to talk?"
He laughed and the sound it made was really rough, "I don't think I'll gain a lot from a conversation with you when you're half asleep."
"Okay," I yawned again and he kissed my forehead. I snuggled closer to his side and fell asleep again.