Rey

xvi

Rey woke up to Jase's raspy coughing.  That reminded her of why she'd gone to the outpost in the first place, triggering another onslaught of silent tears.

She didn't want to wake him up, so she stuffed her fist into her mouth.

A while later, she saw her brother's silhouette as he stood and left. She wiped away any traces of tears and followed.

Jase was already preparing portions, and was interrupted with a coughing fit, forcing him to brush past her outside.

She continued the food for him, and he didn't return until it was ready.

He pretended all was well, but Rey watched him carefully.  He clearly wasn't well at all, and she had no way to get blankets for him, not that Freghad was gone.

Her breath caught roughly in her throat and she swallowed the lump forcefully.

"Ready to go?" Rey asked, standing and grabbing her staff.

Jase shook his head. "I'd rather stay. I'm not feeling spectacular."

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. But stay in the bedroom, and don't go to the outpost. Only accept food from Jorl, nobody else."

"Alright, mother."

Rey stuck out her tongue playfully, though her stomach was knotting itself. What if she lost Jase too?

After a very long day of scavenging, she finally returned. He was busying himself with making food, and sipping water every now and then.

Jase glanced up at her. "Jorl came, and he brought us a bunch of water."

"You've been drinking it to keep your cough down?" Rey asked, lifting one of the bottles, which was close to being empty.

He nodded.

She glanced around the room, and her eyes fell on a bit of blue cloth hanging from a hook on the wall. Freghad had given that to her about a month earlier.

Rey turned and went into the bedroom.

"Rey, are you alright?" Jase called after her.

She didn't respond, merely sat on her bed and placed her head in her arms.

A rustle came from the door and a hand was laid on her shoulder. She looked up to see Jase holding out a small dish of food to her.

She took it and ate, watching as the sun set beyond the dunes.

About a week later, Jase's cough turned into a scorching fever.

Rey's first thought was to ride the speeder down to the outpost, and get some medicine from Freghad, but her stomach sank into her toes when she remembered.

Instead, she stayed in the AT-AT with her brother, with a pitcher of water and a cloth to cool his forehead. That was all she could remember to do, from when she'd been sick as a little girl and Jase cared for her.

Jorl came just before sunset. She went out to meet him.

He glanced at the AT-AT. "Where's your brother?"

Rey took the bag he handed her. "Sick."

That was all she would say. Jorl offered to steal some medicine from Unkar Plutt, but Rey said he shouldn't put his life on the line, and Jase would probably recover soon enough.

Jorl left reluctantly and Rey made portions for both herself and Jase. She fed him only a little, before he stopped eating.

She didn't sleep at all that night. Jase's breathing was raspy, interrupted occasionally with a coughing fit.

Rey repeated the process of laying damp cloths on his forehead, but she knew it wasn't working.

She couldn't give up hope though. He was the only family she had, unless her real one came back.

So she resolved herself to helping him get better.