Star Wars: The Last Qymaili | ✔

15 | Faithful Tempter

Song: "Finn's Confession" from The Force Awakens OST

Ronderu's memories were like scrambled eggs. Her mother, spitting on her in the afterlife because of what she'd done to dishonor her....Bacta juice being pumped into her wounds....her pages screaming at each other to protect her as a sickening crash broke through....

Faceless individuals holding her limp, aching form, speaking in a language she'd never heard of before.

She drifted in and out of consciousness. Her lower stomach assaulted her with ferocious pain. Numbness pressed a cold edge against her body, and breathing burned her lungs, but she didn't care. She forced herself, every waking minute and second she had, to take in the air around her.

At last she was able to open her eyes groggily and look around the room. Sterile walls greeted her, along with a comforting warmth that she'd only felt during one of Kalee's summer rains. Her mouth was drier than sand.

A droid stood near her, tapping on its computer. Her balled fists were bound tightly to the arms of the grandiose hospital bed she'd been placed in. She whispered in scratchy Kaleesh. "Khaana? Where?"

The droid looked up from its little computer, its bright lights blinking before it spoke. "Rest. You are too weak."

Please, Ronderu begged silently. Numbness spiked up her leg. At least tell me if Qymaen made it out alive.

The droid moved over to her left arm, taking out a needle lodged into the crook of her elbow and pressing a wet cloth to the pinprick. Stinging filled the impact site, and Ronderu blinked once before closing her eyes again, allowing fatigue to envelope her body.

The droid inserted another needle into her arm. "I will call for the nurse. She will help you."

Nurse? Is that another word for a medic?

Where on Kalee am I?

The droid left the room. A homely smell drifted into Ronderu's nose, and she fell back asleep.

✺✺✺

When she woke, the droid was gone, but in its place stood a human female with mousy brown hair and dark blue eyes.

Ronderu coughed, speaking in Kaleesh. "The droid wouldn't tell me where I am."

A blank stare met her. She sighed, forcing herself to remember her Basic. "Your damn droid wouldn't tell me where I am!"

The girl nodded. "It was a wise decision, but you have enough strength to process the news. You are on Mandalore."

Mandalore. "Is that a part of the Republic?"

She nodded. "You traveled here in a ship that came from the Kalee system. Touched down at Mandalore's capital, Keldabe. Your ship....crashed at the docks." She nodded at the bandages that covered Ronderu's hands and body, all the way up to her neck.

"I must go back home," she said, struggling against her bonds. "Qymaen needs me!"

"I don't think that's possible right now," the nurse said with a sad smile. "You must get used to your new adjustments."

Ronderu tilted her head in confusion. The nurse pulled away the comforter just enough so that she could spot what had happened to her leg. From her foot to her hip, black metal snaked downward.

"When the shuttle crashed, your leg had been torn off."

Ronderu moved the ankle of the cybernetic foot, then gazed at the metallic hand that replaced what the Yam'rii stole. The bionics were ugly against her golden scales, but she was infinitely grateful to be alive. "Thank you."