General in Training [ Star Wars ]

lxiii

TW- Body insecurities | scars | injuries
It's a lot of this chapter, but if you'd like to avoid it, drop down to the time skip and that's where it ends

Despite how much she hated it, in her defeat, Riona had spent the night in the medbay. Cobalt stayed by her side, and once it was morning, he'd gently prodded her awake with one of his grabber arms. Unmoving, she'd lazily looked at the droid, the light of her eyes dull and distant. She laid there for a moment longer, though eventually pushed herself to sit up, the movement slow as the pain in her lower back was immense. With a clenched jaw and furrowed brows, she'd outstretched her legs as best she could, using the heel of her palms to work at the muscles. Working from the hip down to the ankle, she'd spent nearly fifteen minutes on each leg, relaxing somewhat as the tightness in the muscles slowly loosened and the feeling slowly came back to her.

She hated this, so much.

Using the astromech as a brace, she carefully stood up, a chill running through her body once her bare feet were firmly planted on the cold ground. Knees still somewhat weak as she took a step, she'd pushed through it, having gone through this process every morning for a year giving her the security of knowing that it would pass. As she moved to grab her clothes from the shelf, she passed by a mirror and stopped in her tracks. Why they always had these in medical facilities, she didn't know, but she hated it. She always got caught up in them, and this time was no different. Riona took a step closer to the wall-mounted fixture, eyes squinting as she looked at herself. Her face was swollen from spending the night crying, her under eyes and dark lips puffy. Her gaze had made its way down, eyeing the bacta patch on her bicep, the scene of being grazed by a blaster bolt replaying in her mind. Reminding her that she was seconds away from using the force to choke one of the pirates. That she had been intent on killing him in that moment. If it hadn't been for Cobalt, she would've become corrupted, having gotten a taste of the dark side that she had devoted her life to fighting against.

Carefully removing the patch, she eyed the irritated wound. It was mostly healed and only a little sore, but she knew that the flesh would scar. It was a burn, after all.

Turning her attention back to her body, she let out a small sigh. This is what she hated the most about mirrors. It always ended with her over analyzing herself, especially when she was only in her undergarments like she was now. The white material she'd used to wrap around her bust still tightly in place, not having moved while she slept. This didn't surprise her, really, seeing as it never did. Her breasts were small and naturally side-set, the only good thing about them being that they didn't get in the way during battles or sparring. As her gaze traveled to her waist, her heart had fallen somewhat. She wasn't curvy or dainty, her muscles defined and figure rather boxy with somewhat broad shoulders. Granted, she had a bit of a belly, which always surprised her considering how active she was.

Her shoulders had fallen once she'd twisted to examine her back, the woman frowning upon seeing the large scar that covered one side of her lower back. Reaching to carefully run her fingers over the dark area, she'd winced and let out a small hiss. Due to her muscles being pulled away once more, it was painful to the touch, having brought hot tears to Riona's eyes all over again.

Having been watching her, Cobalt let out a series of clicks and chirps to pull her out of the trance she was in, deciding that it was time to stop. Her head whipped in his direction, the woman wiping at her eyes as she quietly mumbled "Let's get breakfast."

Tearing herself away from the view of the mirror, she'd picked up her black pants and carefully leaned her hip against the wall, pulling them on. Once she was standing properly once more, she grabbed the length of black material she used and wrapped it around her shoulders, crossing the sides over her chest and carefully tucking the ends into the hem of her pants. Once she'd pulled on her navy blue robe and successfully hid her figure from herself, she'd crossed it closed and secured it in place with her belt. Stepping into her matching boots, she'd taken a deep breath, standing up tall and pushing her shoulders back. Lifting her chin, she put on a brave face and left the room, her droid companion following closely at her heels.

——»»»»☆««««——

Riona sat with Tiplar and Tiplee, the three sitting in a common area of the ship, the twins attempting to let their friend relax after the events on Florrum. As the curly haired woman stared out the large window, they'd slowly grown concerned. After a beat of silence, the red-skinned Jedi spoke. "You've got quite the little droid, Ri. Came all the way to Vanqor to get you some help."

"Aye, flew six parsecs to get to us. When your fighter landed in our hangar without you, we were worried." Tiplar added, the women's accents enough to pull her out of her trance. Clearing her throat, she'd given a small smile.

"I don't know what I'd do without him, really. And I can't thank you enough for the help, either."

"Well of course, we couldn't leave you in the hands of pirates." Tiplee lightly smacked her shoulder, grinning as she leaned back into the couch.

"I greatly appreciate it." She smiled, looking between the two. "I see Doom has served you well so far?"

"Oh, absolutely. All of the men have. Whatever you're doing on Kamino, keep doing it. It's helping an incredible amount on the battlefield."

If I can. The negative thought had entered Riona's mind before she'd even had a chance to properly process what had been said. "I'm glad to hear that my training style is sufficient."

"Sufficient? It's amazing. The council couldn't have put a better Jedi up for the job." Tiplee had thrown her arms up, voice raising somewhat. The actions had prompted a laugh from her sister and friend, the pamarthen shaking her head fondly. "They'd first considered giving the job to master Shaak-Ti."

"She's too nice, wouldn't get the same results." Tiplar hummed, shaking her head as she leaned back against her chair. "I'm tellin' ya, you're the only one for the job."

"If you say so."

"We know so, Ri."