"Luke, wake up. It's time for breakfast." Daddy shook my shoulder then gathered me up in his arms. I expected him to take me to the table in the kitchen, but instead he carried me to his room.
Cliegg was sitting against the headboard of Daddy's bed and he smiled as Daddy carried me in. Daddy had given him new bandages and given him a bath.
"Are you okay?" I asked as Daddy put me on the bed and I scrambled over to Cliegg.
"I will be now, I think. Do you feel better now?" he put one arm around me and drew me close.
"Yeah. All better," I cuddled him the way I had last time I saw him.
Daddy smiled at us and left to get food. When he was gone, Cliegg turned to me, "Thank you, Luke. I owe you everything."
I blushed, "I didn't want you to get hurt."
"I know."
Daddy came back into the room to find me and Cliegg hugging each other. He smiled at us and put down the tray of food he was carrying. He passed each of us some food.
"Boys, I need to talk to my master about this, okay?"
We nodded.
"Good. I'll be back as soon as possible. And try not to smother each other with hugs too much." He smiled at us and left the room.
I snuggled against Cliegg as we ate and he kept his hurt arm around me. He couldn't use it, I guess.
When Daddy got back, I was almost asleep under Cliegg's arm. He pulled me out and kissed my forehead.
"Wake up, Kiddo. You can sleep when I've explained all this."
That woke me up. Some people think that five year olds aren't smart enough to figure out when something's weird, but a baby would have known something was weird here. I hate it when people think I'm stupid just because I'm younger than they are. Anyway, I couldn't wait to hear what the heck was making me so tired.
"Luke, when you met Cliegg, you started to be friends pretty fast, right?"
"Yeah."
"And you knew that he was Force sensitive, didn't you?"
"Yep, I told you he was Force sensitive!"
"That's right. You did. Well, when you bonded like that, you started to form a Force bond too. Cliegg tried to keep you safe from his pain, which you were opening yourself to, for as long as possible, but at first you started to feel his sleep deprivation. Then, last night, the pain got to be too much for him and you started to feel it. When I asked you if your arm that hurt was the same one I had treated on him, you thought about his pain and opened yourself to it more. Do you follow so far?"
I nodded. It was kinda confusing, but I think I understood.
"So, when I saw that he had been tortured like that I had a suspicion that you might start feeling his pain. Last night, I just gave you a strong sedative so that you could sleep through the pain while I eliminated it at the source of the problem, Cliegg's pain. Do you still understand?"
"Yeah."
"That's about it. Now Cliegg's here and I won't have to torture him. My master says that I can't continue to treat him as a second son, but that he can stay here."
"What's gonna happen to him, then?" I asked.
"I will have a cell built for him," Daddy saw the look on my face and added, "Because my master said that he had to be in a cell. We're not allowed to feed him properly, and his cell can't be furnished in any way. I'm sorry, but at least he won't be tortured."
"I want him to stay with me! I want him to be happy!" I crawled across the bed to cling to him again.
"I know you do, Luke."
Cliegg held me close, "I'll be all right, Luke. Your daddy's right, it's an improvement on where I was. Don't be worried about me. We can talk whenever you want to. It won't be so bad."
"But…"
"I'll do everything I can to change my master's mind about this, I promise." Daddy hugged me close, but I knew that he was looking over me at Cliegg. "In the meantime, I'm sorry, but Cliegg will have to stay in a cell."
I pressed my face against Cliegg again, but I could tell that he had accepted it already.
"You're sure you're gonna be okay, right?"
"Of course I'm sure. If you ever worry about me you can just come to my cell and check on me. Okay?"
"I guess…" I didn't want anything to change. I liked the way things were this morning. But if Daddy said that his master had said he had to then he had to.
"Don't be so sad, Luke. Cliegg can stay with you until we get the cell built."
"I guess that's better," I put my arms around Cliegg to protect him.
"It'll be okay," he said and I knew he thought I was being silly. He hugged me back.
Daddy talked to some guys about getting the cell built, and I stayed with Cliegg. He played with me as much as he could with one arm in bandages. We watched a holo-vid together. We tried to play another board game together, but I guess we fell asleep, because I woke up in bed the next day.