The first night in the palace was the hardest for everyone. Lyra was very against having anybody in the clone trooper crawling palace inspect even her leg, definitely not her brain. Aurora found it odd when she was especially against it when she suggested she may be more comfortable with a droid conducting the check up. Aurora got a little frustrated so she left the room. Nova was the only one by her bedside now.
"You know, ignoring it won't make the pain go away." Nova said with a soft smile towards Lyra, but couldn't take her hands off the fuzzy pillow on her bed. She clutched it to her face and sighed merrily.
"Have you ever felt anything so soft in your life?" She rapidly caressed the fuzzy pillow against her cheek with a wild smile. The sight made Lyra pause and take it in before bursting with laughter.
"Can't say I have, no."
"No seriously, feel it!" Nova started smothering her with the pillow as Lyra laughed until her leg twitched the wrong way. She seethed a painful grunt and held a hand out for Nova to stop.
"Oh, sorry. Forgot about that for a second." Nova set the pillow down and looked at Lyra's bare leg. She couldn't help but notice the scars on it that couldn't possibly have been caused by the crash.
"Did Dooku do that?" At first glance you would think the pattern was just a part of her skin since it was everywhere, but with a closer look it's easy to tell her skin markings from electrocution wounds.
"These old things? Nah. Would've preferred it was him, actually." Nova looked like she wanted elaboration on that, but Lyra didn't want to give it until she saw her pouty face.
"I befriended—or I thought I befriended android in my early days on Serenno. But Dooku ordered the droid to torture me, and it did. So excuse me if I don't like to have droids all up me with their pokey things and shocky sticks of death." Nova nodded in understanding but there was one question on her mind.
"How old we're you? When Dooku took you, I mean."
"12." Nova felt a little piece of her heart break from inside her chest as it tightened.
"And how old are you now?"
"18." A little gasp escaped Nova's lips against her will. She slapped her hands over her mouth, ashamed of herself for possibly making Lyra feel even worse about it than before. Lyra chuckled slightly as she rubbed her head.
"I wouldn't tell you anything I wasn't comfortable talking about, you know. Don't feel bad." It was a half lie. Lyra was clearly uncomfortable discussing this, but she didn't want Nova to be as well.
"Okay, I'm back and I have a proposition for you." Aurora announces as she came in the room. Nova picked up her fluffy pillow again and handed it to Lyra. She took it gratefully and gave it a squeeze.
"I do too. How about you go away and I'll leave you alone." Aurora wasn't as appalled by her rudeness as she was an hour ago.
"Might I remind you whose bedroom you're currently in." Lyra smirked as she realized Surora was right. There really wasn't much room for argument here, but that hasn't stopped Lyra yet.
"I told you I'd sleep on the floor."
"And I told you I'm not letting that happen. Now, here's the deal." Lyra rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, turning her head away from the two girls pleadingly looking at her; asking Lyra to listen with their eyes.
"You can either limp around for the rest of your life, or you'll let me and one of my lady's medical droids look at you and I make a dinner of your choice. So what'll it be?" Nova leaned in and cupped her hand to Lyra's ear.
"She told me she makes a mean Cushnip and tral." Lyra scoffed and rolled her eyes again, lightly pushing Nova away. The younger girl chuckled quietly.
"Don't have much choice. Guess I might as well get a good Cushnip out of it." Lyra tried her best to smile genuinely but it came out lopsided and unconvincing. But the consent was good enough for Aurora who immediately waved in the medical droid.
"Excuse me, Nova." Aurora brushed her hand on Nova's shoulder as she got up with a kind smile on her face. The droid handed her a med pack.
"Uh, what're you doing with that?" Lyra inched away from Aurora sitting on the bed.
"Cleaning your wounds so they don't get infected." Lyra supposed it would be better than the alternative. Nova watched as Aurora gingerly cared for her. She smiled fondly at the two of them she already felt connected to in a special way.
"I don't remember that being a part of the deal." Lyra grumbled as she pouted and grumpily crossed her arms again.
"You didn't read the fine print." Aurora spoke softly as she focused on dabbing the cloth on her torn forehead.
"It was a conversation! There was no fine print!"
"Shh. I'm working." Lyra groaned and turned around to the other side of the bed. Aurora sighed but worked with the stubborn girl, moving to the other side of the bed and continuing her work. Nova went from smiling fondly to rolling her eyes within minutes.
"Oh my God! Just let her do her thing, please." Nova cried out after watching Lyra dodge the bacta patch for the eighteenth time in a row. Aurora turned in her seat and gave Nova a pointed look.
"You know that you're next, right?" Nova's irritation turned to anxiety in a snap. She stared into Aurora's soul.
"Wait, what?" Lyra laughed at her, stopping when Aurora slapped her on the arm.
"Now, this is my friends droid. His name is Doomsday and he'll take good care of you." Lyra was on the edge of her seat by that colorful name.
"You know, that name isn't terribly reassuring."
"He's the best one we've got, and he's never let us down. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will begin dinner. But I'll be back for you." Aurora jabbed a finger on Nova's shoulder as she left the room. Nova got up from her seat across the room and went back to sit on the side of her bed.
"Does it hurt?" She shyly asked, regretting making fun of her for loving it it did.
"No. Not for long, at least. It's just..."
"I get it." Lyra jumped when Nova laid her hand on top of her own. Lyra swelled with peace. It was like her whole body relaxed.
"Thanks for not running away again, kid."
"No problem. You're a lot more tolerable now that you're sarcasm is t aimed at me alone anymore." Lyra didn't know what to think of that.
"Greetings, miss Lyra. All I need you to do for the scan to be completed is to sit still. This shouldn't hurt at all." Lyra flinched when the blue light from the droids scan came on. Nova gently put her hand on Lyra's again for comfort. She relaxed slightly but still glanced from her leg to the droid's emotionless face.
"Scan complete. Your tibia bone is fractured. Luckily, no nearby arteries or nerves were damaged. Recommend treatment is as the following: surgery to fix broken tibia." Nova smiled at Lyra, but the relieved sentiment was not shared between the two.
"What!? Now I need surgery? This is ridiculous."
"Do not fret, miss Lyra. I would be conducting the surgery. And to ease your pain, you would be put to sleep for the duration of the surgery." Lyra's jaw went slack as the droid kept listing things that made her infinitely worse than before.
"Yeah, none of that is happening." Lyra rolled her eyes and sat up more on the bed, agitated when cushy pillows behind her made her bend weirdly. She reached behind her back and threw the pillows to the doorway where Aurora stood concerned with two plates of food in her hands.
"Hungry?" She asked with sheepish grin, now thinking hunger may be the last thing on their minds.
"What's wrong?" Aurora asked as she set Nova's down on the nightstand beside her. Aurora sat on the other side of the bed while holding Lyra's plate of food for her.
"You're dumbass droid just told me I need kriffing surgery." Aurora was caught wildly off guard by the use of such language in such a prestigious place, but decided to leave that battle for another time.
"Well, if that's what it takes. Why not?" Aurora asked. Lyra was about to blow up at her, but she had to remind herself Aurora knew next to nothing about the two of them. Yet she still took them under wing and invited them into her palace with no questions asked.
"I'm sorry, but I just can't do that. Isn't there some other way to heal it?" Lyra asked the droid.
"There are alternate methods we could try, but none of them will be as quick or effective as the recommended treatment." Lyra sighed, not seeing any way around this anymore. Aurora held up her tray of delicious smelling food.
"Where's your food?" Nova asked her.
"Oh, I try not to eat too much. Besides, I had a late lunch with my friend." Nova shrugged, not yet understanding what the concept of a lie is yet. Lyra saw right through it though. She didn't bring it up again, but knew there was more to it than just being full already.
"Back to what really matters. If this surgery is what needs to happen for your leg to be better, I see no reason to not do it. Do you?" Nova asked Lyra. She knew there may be a specific reason she wasn't okay with it that had to do with Dooku's past treatment of her health.
"I... suppose not. But on two conditions." Aurora grinned broadly as she set the plate down on the other nightstand.
"Name it."
"I'm not being put under for it. Just give me some meds and let me stay awake and watch what's happening, okay?" Aurora nodded, motioning for her next demand.
"And secondly, get a real person to do the surgery please. Someone whose name isn't Doomsday." Aurora and Nova shared a good chuckle as the droid exclaimed.
"You got it. When would you like to have the surgery?"
"I guess tomorrow, if that's an option." Aurora smiled and handed her the plate and fork again.
"Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of everything for you." Lyra let out a heavy breath, trying to take in air was more complicated now than before this conversation.
"It'll be okay." Lyra nodded along with whatever Nova said. It was easy to tell Nova wasn't helping her relax at all.
"Would you feel better if I was there?"
"Yes!" Nova was startled by how quickly she answered. Nova found it refreshing to actually be wanted by somebody. Somebody who didn't shock her with lightning to make her lift weird rocks, that is.
"Yes, that would be greatly appreciated. Just in case I pass out." Lyra's pain tolerance is unlike anything Aurora or that droid could possibly imagine. She has been through so much by Count Dooku and his mindless droids, this procedure won't be much to her. Or at least that's what she keeps telling herself.
{}{}{}
Last night after dinner, Aurora had another hour long debate for what the sleeping arrangement would be. She finally convinced Lyra to stay on the bed and keep her leg elevated. Nova had another 20+ minute polite argument about who should take the next best thing: the couch. It ended with Aurora having to threaten Nova, but she eventually accepted defeat and slept on the couch.
Aurora slept in her friends bed. She didn't tell them it was Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora she shared the bed with. The two have been friends since before they became Senator and handmaiden, it's why she even was picked to be a handmaiden in the first place. They both met in the politics club at their schoolhouse, but Riyo was the one who ran and won the election.
People liked her because of her shy and humble demeanor, but her being unafraid of what the people on the opposing side could do to her was what people vote for her. Aurora was never jealous of her success, but sometimes when they disagreed on policy she wished she could be in Riyo's place to defend her opinion to more than her friend and her mirror.
Lyra did trust Nova, and for the most part she was trying her best to trust Aurora. After all she had no reason not to, it was just a big adjustment is all. She couldn't sleep until she peaked out the door and saw Nova snoring like a freight train. Lyra found it humorous for a minute or so, but then she became hyper aware of her snoring and jumped up to check on her every time there was a hiccup or pause to make sure she was okay.
Eventually the snoring became a regular occurrence to her and she was able to fall asleep to it. Lyra had a rough night, but she was able to sleep in to the point where the sunlight was what woke her up. That's the first time that's ever happened to her, and she quite enjoyed it.
"Lyra? Are you awake?" Aurora gently shook her by the shoulders. She kneeled on the floor with a smile on her face. There was a small darkened stain in the carpet Aurora found. When she looked up it was clear it was only the streak of drool hanging from the corner of Lyra's mouth. Aurora chuckled coolly, giving her another shake.
"Lyra—"
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" Nova ran into the room in a purple blur and jumped several feet into the air and landing hard on Lyra's bed. She exclaimed in sheer pain.
"Ooh, my bad. Forgot again." Lyra was breathing quickly as she maneuvered away from Nova who hurried to the other side to help her out of bed.
"You alright?" Aurora asked her with a soft smile.
"I'll be better when this damn surgery is over." Lyra groaned as she stood up. Aurora and Nova rushed over to her side and scooper her arms over their shoulders. Lyra scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she smirked down at Nova and up at Aurora.
"This again? Really?" Aurora would surprise the two of them with a sarcastic comment if her own.
"Would you prefer we let you fall?" After recovering from a moment of shock, Lyra didn't want to argue in the morning. She hated this enough already.
"Not particularly." The two of them smiled appreciatively, Lyra silently thanking her for the help and Aurora silently thanking her for letting her help. Nova was just in her own blissfully happy world, frankly just happy to be there.
They walked in peaceful silence, letting Aurora lead them to a room in the ancient halls of beauty. Everything about the castle was just gorgeous, but Nova couldn't help but notice the contrasting the stark differences between the other rooms compared to Aurora's. Hers was much simpler with less fancy architecture.
"Here we are." Aurora held her hand out to get the door but Nova kicked it open so they wouldn't have to let go of Lyra. There was one man and a woman in long white lab coats that instantly set Lyra on edge. It made her feel like she was an experiment to them.
"That'll work." Aurora chuckled. Nova got Lyra up to the table while Aurora brought in a couple seats for them. A few moments later another woman walked in with a shorter white jacket.
"Hello, Lyra. I will be the doctor performing your procedure today. Are you okay with that?" Lyra had never been asked that question before. When her injuries were bad enough to deem treatment it was forced upon her. Having the choice was nice, and it felt empowering when Lyra gave her an answer. Her own answer.
"Yes." The lady smiled as she prepped her tools.
"Now, I was told you did not want to be put to sleep during the surgery. Is that correct?"
"Yes, and I'd like to watch too." The woman seemed concerned about this. She glanced at Aurora to make sure she was in her right mind. Aurora nodded firmly to the doctor and smiled at Lyra.
"All right then. We will get started whenever you're ready."
Yeah, it didn't take over ten minutes tops for Lyra to pass out. She may have been able to handle the pain with her two new friends beside her, but watching apparently wasn't the best idea. Turns out she wasn't that good with blood. In all the tortures Dooku concocted, she realized now none of them really drew a lot of blood. Or that she noticed at the time.
"Well, that was easy." Aurora giggled as she tugged the bottom of her dress down and sat in the seat across from Nova on the left side of the bed.
"Tell that to my hand. Pretty sure she permanently cut off the circulation." Nova was hesitant to say anything more to the kind woman across from her as long as the doctors were still in the room. Luckily they weren't for much longer.
"Aurora. Aurora..." Nova kept repeating to herself, unaware she was saying her name out loud.
"Yes?" She asked with a giggle behind her voice, finding the girls strange look to be amusing.
"Hm? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how long it takes to say your name. Aurora. It's kinda long. Don't you think?" Aurora never thought about it. After all it was just her name, she didn't have much control over it.
"Well, my grandmother used to say if I was a boy then I'd be named Rory."
"Rory! I like that much better. It's so much cooler to say, isn't it? Shorter too." Aurora tried not to be too offended by the insults against her name. She knew a nova was just oblivious to the hurt her words could've caused.
"You can call me that, if you'd like." Nova beamed with joy.
"All done, ma'am. Hopefully, she'll wake up soon and you'll all be free to leave. She can take the wrap off in a few days. Just tell her to keep weight off that foot for at least two weeks." The lead doctor told her with a bow before leaving. They left a pair of crutches for her to use and wrapped her leg up.
"So, are you in charge or something? Why'd she call you ma'am?" Aurora laughed at the prospect of being in charge of anything.
"Oh, no. It's just a common courtesy. I don't have much power in here to be honest."
"That can't be true. You're so... cool! And sweet, and nice. Who wouldn't want you to have power?" Aurora found her simple point of view endearing and envied it. If only politics were that simple, maybe there wouldn't be a war going on.
"Personally, I think if more people like you were in power people like me wouldn't have to grow up on the street. Wouldn't that be nice." Nova said, in her own world too busy to notice the shock on Aurora's face.
"I'm sorry?" Aurora asked, begging her pardon.
"Don't be. It's not your fault." Nova took it literally, which would've made Aurora smile if she didn't just find this out.
"I don't let it get me down, so you shouldn't either. To be honest I'd much prefer the streets to Do—" Nova cut herself off, just barely keeping herself from exposing them.
"What was that?" Aurora asked skeptically. Nova looked around the room. There weren't any cameras of any kind. Nova trusted Aurora, but what if somebody was listening?
"Um, okay. You have to promise to keep what I tell you a secret. Nobody can know, especially not your Senator friend, alright?" Aurora nodded and leaned in closer to hear said secret. She couldn't possibly imagine it was something too bad, after all how could a sweet little girl like her get roped into anything?
"Lyra and I were... Separatists." Aurora blinked a couple times.
"Well I already knew that. Come on, what's the real secret?" Nova blinked a couple times.
"That... that was the secret. How did—how'd you— what!?" Nova stood up, starting to panic. She kept thinking about if this was a mistake or not.
"Yeah. I saw your tattoos as soon as I met you two. But, you did just save me. And she saved you. So I figured everybody can I have a change of heart." Nova couldn't believe what she was hearing. Of course he had to brand them in the most seeable place on their bodies.
"They aren't tattoos." Aurora frowned. She stood out of her chair slightly and reached for Lyra's arm to take a closer look at her wrist. Aurora gasped when she realized what it actually was.
"That's not a—a brand, right?" Aurora stuttered with disbelief.
"It is. It's kinda complicated. We weren't exactly there against our will, but kind of were at the same time... it's really complicated now that I think about it." Nova explained sheepishly, looking down at her lap the whole time. She fiddled with Lyra's light saber she still had. Nova knew Lyra could be trusted when they first saw each other again she didn't even ask for her saber back. Aurora jumped in her seat when Nova randomly ignited it.
"Isn't this color so beautiful? It kinda matches me." Nova chuckles dryly, staring into the brilliantly mesmerizing light it gave off.
"Is it yours? I thought a light saber was the weapon of the Jedi. Or at least that's what my grandmother told me." Nova looked up with surprise. Was she the only one who had never heard of Jedi before?
"What else did she say about the Jedi?" Aurora smiled fondly, remembering how she used to sit on her grandmother's lap, listening intently to every story she had to share.
"She was a Jedi." Aurora revealed.
"She was a Jedi who left the ancient order." Nova's eyes grew big as she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought back to what she observed on Christophsis between Anakin Skywalker and the little Togruta girl who fell in his lap. He treated her with such care, for somebody he just met at least.
"Why'd she leave?" Aurora took a second to think of the best way to word this without painting her grandmother in a selfish light. If there was one value her grandmother brought with her from the Jedi; it was selflessness.
"She fell in love with someone." Nova couldn't imagine having all that in life. If she did, she knew for a fact she wouldn't give up either without a fight.
"Then she had my mom. Then my mom had me." Aurora cringed, thinking about her mom and dad. Two people she tried very hard to not think about.
"But enough about me, what about your family? You got parents, grandparents, siblings?" Nova sighed and looked to her lap again.
"I never knew who my parents were, or if I had siblings." Nova looked up at Aurora with a cheerful gleam I'm her eye.
"But you and Lyra are all I need." Aurora's heart aches for the little girl. From that moment on she became determined to protect her innocent, her happiness. No one more than her knew how fragile happiness was in the teenage years.
"Well, you can stay in my quarters for as long as you need to, but tomorrow I will have to return to Coruscant." Nova's whole mood fell. After all that, it was all pointless. Nova finally thought she had found someone who would stay with her.
"What?" Aurora broke at hearing the cracking voice.
"I'm afraid Senator Chuchi is needed in the Senate tomorrow, and I must go with her. But... maybe you two could come with me?" Nova waved her off.
"It's fine. I'll just... wait here for her to wake up and tell her. I guess I'll see you later." Nova said sadly. Aurora found it odd seeing the girl who was never sad while talking about her awful childhood experiences, yet when she has to leave the girl looks ready to have a mental breakdown. It didn't make sense to Aurora, but she would work to correct this with Riyo.
Aurora stalked through the halls to the main chamber of Riyo Chuchi. She knocked her signature knock on the door to let Riyo know it was just little old her.
"Aurora." Riyo smiled and gave her a big hug before she. Hold even set foot inside the grand bedroom.
"Riyo, I have a huge favor to ask of you and you're probably not gonna like it." She blurted out in a mumble.
"Speak coherently and we'll find out." Riyo said jokingly. Aurora laughed, letting the built up tension in her chest subside.
"Right. So, these two friends of mine need me to be with them for awhile. I don't know how long." Riyo walked into her wardrobe and glanced at the empty piece of furniture to make sure it was fully empty.
"And? Is there more, or is that all?" Riyo asked unbothered.
"I'm basically asking for a leave. Starting tomorrow. For I don't know how long." Riyo paused for a moment before nodding and adopting a smirk.
"I'm alright with that, but will Rupert be?" Aurora rolled her eyes and playfully hit Riyo's shoulder to hide her genuine fear of him not being okay with that.
"Just tell him something came up and I miss him. He'll get a big head so while he's bragging about how important he is to me you can run." Riyo and her shared a good laugh over the thought. It spoke volumes that the two could create a mental image of that exact scenario happening.
"Seriously though, Aurora, take as much time as you need. And if I can understand as the person whose affected by your decision, he should have no problem with it. Do t let Rupert of all people rush you. Okay?" Aurora smiled in appreciation for her friend.
"Thank you, Riyo. I can never repay you."
"You repay me everyday by just being here. But I gotta be honest..." Aurora looked at her with worry.
"What? What is it?"
"You have lousy taste when it comes to men. And you snore a little too." Aurora gasped, feigning shock as if that wasn't the first time Riyo told her at least one of those things.
"I get it, you don't like Rupert. So you've mentioned, several, several times. But I can't help what I like, alright?" Riyo took in a sharp breath as she shut her wardrobe.
"If you like self-centered leech's, then that's your choice."
"He's not a leech! He's still looking for a job that'll suit him."
"What is this, the ninth month he's been living in your, contributing nothing to the food, bills, anything?" Aurora cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Tenth." She tried to hide under a rough cough.
"Sorry, what was that?" Riyo said smugly. She knew her friend was trapped in a bad relationship and hated to see how he always managed to invent a new way to drag her down each day. Unfortunately for Riyo, her friend was a very open book about everything except her relationships.
"Tenth!" Aurora blushed in embarrassment she revealed such a thing.
"Mhm. Thought so." Riyo had been at this long enough to know the only way to show her he wasn't any good was with her small comments. Arguing over him would get the girl nowhere because an argument with Aurora was not pretty.
"Whatever. I need to go tell my friends the news. Thank you again, Riyo." Aurora scooped the girl into her arms in another big hug.
"My pleasure. Be safe. And please, make sure you and your friends don't start any trouble." Aurora chuckled but didn't give her a good answer. Aurora left the room but before she could shut the door a thought hit her.
"Oh, and next time you're in Pantora with an interesting Senator assignment, maybe let me know? Something tells me my friends are gonna get a little bored with palace life soon."
"Noted."