Star Wars work in progress You Became to Me

[polgarawolf]

Eightieth part of a work in progress
Title: You Became to Me (as suggested by avari_maethor)
*Pairing: Mainly Anakin/Obi-Wan with some mention of Padmé
Rating: Uhm, probably a borderline PG-13/R-ish, maybe (?)
Disclaimer: I do not own the lovely boys from Star Wars, more's the pity! What I do have is an extremely contrary muse that refuses to shut up and leave me alone . . .
Summary: This is the one thing Darth Sidious never saw coming: a minor incident of collateral damage with repercussions that can potentially utterly undo all of his schemes
*Author’s Note: 1) Again, please see most of the previous notes!
2) I am, obviously, not a doctor. I had basic health/anatomy classes in school, and the internet has all kinds of helpful anatomical info, but if anything strikes anyone as being extremely off, in the description of the different parts of the arm and how they all work together, please let me know, so I can fix it!
3) The last of the previous scene continues immediately below! I've gone over the lj's character limits here, too, so the last scene here also continues immediately in the WIP's next posting!


Obi-Wan holds out his hand again, calling not just the weapons but the utility belts they spend most of their time clipped to over to him as he slides off of the bed and into his own sleep-pants. He’s just buckling on his belt when Anakin appears in the center of the room, a rumpled-looking Bail (wearing only loose silky black sleep-pants, an over-robe of the same thin material cinched haphazardly with a leather belt supporting a blaster, and what looks like a pair of dress boots under the hem of his sleep-pants) caught tight in the circle of his left arm. Bail staggers a little in reaction, not from any apparent roughness of transition but instead out of shock at finding himself so abruptly in another room. Normally he would go over to him and lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but under the circumstances Obi-Wan is in too much of a hurry to get out of there to do more than ask him, “Are you alright?” as he tosses Anakin his belt and lightsaber.

“I’ll be fine. Can I do anything to help?” Bail asks, shaking his head slightly to throw off his momentary disorientation over the transition into their bedchamber.

“Just put an arm around both of our waists, alright?” Obi-Wan replies, striding across the room to join them while Anakin fastens his belt and clips his lightsaber onto it. “Once we get there and have a better idea what’s happened, I’d like for you to start comming your allies in the government about the attack. People need to know what’s happened and the danger that they and their worlds are still in, and we need to make sure that it’s made clear that the one’s responsible are considered renegades by both the Separatist leadership and our government.”

Bail nods in understanding and agreement, moving to slip his right arm around Obi-Wan’s waist and his left arm around Anakin’s.

A heartbeat later, the room is empty.

*********

Traveling within the embrace of the Force is, for Obi-Wan and Anakin, oddly like sinking down into the depths of deep meditation while somehow still retaining awareness of both the self and the surrounding physical world, taking knowledge of the self and the world deliberately into the pervasive energy field of the Force instead of relinquishing such awareness and information for a greater sense of unity with the oneness of the Force. Doors open where no doors should be, probabilities springing into existence with the imposition of intimate knowledge of the living, physical world upon the greater (metaphysical/paraphysical/superphysical) energy plain of the Force, the two realms combining in such a way that it becomes possible for the aware mind to reach out, through knowledge of the physical world, and bend it to a specific purpose, physical matter transcending to pure energy through space-time, yielding the ability to move, to teleport, from one location to another, by means of the use of any one of a million billion and more ever-diminishing yet also ever-increasing number of uncountable possible doorways and paths leading to all possible places and times through the all-pervasive embrace of the Force. There is a certain sense of bizarrely complex methodology to the proliferation of those doors and their pathways, but for Obi-Wan and Anakin, traveling is more a matter of knowing where they are and where they wish to be and instinctively using the Force to find the most direct method of getting there.

For someone more scientifically minded, it might have been possible to attempt to map the endlessly complex and constantly shifting network of ties binding the universe together, thus. Then again, though, it may only have driven such an ordered and logic-driven mind insane with the impossibility of keeping track of the living, growing, and occasionally dying off network of Force-tendrils and streams of energy permeating and binding the constantly, gradually expanding whole of creation together. Obi-Wan and Anakin mostly quite deliberately avoid thinking too much about the mechanics of it all, wary of seeming to appear to question the source or the possibility of such a stupendously useful gift. Bail, whose largely untrained senses are completely overwhelmed by the glory of the concentrated Force-energy among the endless maze of doorways and paths, doesn’t need to try to avoid thinking about the process of traveling because the entire process leaves him in a such an energy-dazzled and all but drunken daze that he simply can’t hold on to enough awareness of what’s involved in the process of traveling through the Force to form a clear picture of the process in his mind. He therefore simply trusts his Masters enough to get him to wherever it is they’re going, however it is that they might be traveling, no matter how impossible such travel might logically seem to him, and tries to brace himself enough to keep from staggering like a fool, whenever the journey comes to an end.

Their arrival on Naboo is heralded not by any flashy display of energy or light, but rather by a seemingly inexplicable sudden swirling of air, as their chosen pathway terminates to a door that opens by imposing their physical forms in a certain otherwise essentially unoccupied stretch of space, their bodies displacing currents of air that only an instant before had known no physical resistence. The noise is slight enough to be negligible by most standards. Far more noticeable and potentially startling, at least for anyone who might have happened to be looking at that particular stretch of space at that specific moment in time, is the sudden appearance of three sleep-rumpled and pyjama-clad men where only a heartbeat before there had been nothing but apparently empty air. Luckily for them (given that Obi-Wan and Anakin wish to keep the specifics of this ability a secret for as long as possible and mysterious for those who are not gifted in its use even after the existence of such an ability does come out), no one happens to be looking at that specific area at that particular time, quite possibly because the place and time of their appearance happens to be tucked at ground-level beneath a terrace overlooking a beautiful, romantically “wild” garden in the aftermath of a surprise vicious attack on the beautiful villa house overlooking both the garden and the lake behind it, in the eerily still twilight time just before the dawn. What greets them is not the staring eyes of frankly astonished onlookers, but rather the unmistakable miasma of the aftermath of battle and catastrophe - a mingled stench of blood, burnt flesh, singed cloth, overloaded circuits, overheated metal, acrid chemical fumes, dust, smoke, sweat, and the ugly scent of mingled fear, pain, anger, and hatred. Anakin and Obi-Wan share a look of grim concern behind the back of their staggering Padawan, Anakin inclining his head meaningfully in Bail’s direction and Obi-Wan nodding in understanding, before they pull apart, Obi-Wan angling himself in front of Bail and Anakin taking a similar position behind, bracketing him as they draw and ignite their lightsabers, in case any hostiles should still happen to be lingering nearby.

“Stay between us, keep up, and keep your head down, Bail. It looks quiet, but we don’t know for sure if the enemy have all left this area or not,” Obi-Wan declares, not waiting for an acknowledgment before taking off towards the villa at a quick jog.

Ashamed by his unsteadiness, Bail obeys Obi-Wan without question or protest, not even bothering to take the time to nod in acknowledgment of the order, and they make it to the main building of what Bail recognizes as the Naberrie family’s lake house retreat on Varykino in good time, without any mishaps or hostile encounters. The main door of the villa opens as they approach, the familiar if highly bedraggled form of one of Keiana Apailana’s handmaidens, the fourteen-year-old Queen’s Fourth, Lakshma Mymann, her long brown braid half undone, a dark smear of blood and ash across her left cheek like warpaint, half of the skirt of her once white nightgown raggedly but purposefully hacked away, as though she’d found herself in need of the material for a reason other than modesty (and it is quite possible that she had, if she was with Keiana when the Queen was wounded). “Master Kenobi, Master Skywalker! Padawan Organa! Sabé said you were coming, but how - ?”

“We’re afraid Sabé may be in shock. They hit her with some kind of neural disruptor - she screamed so badly we were afraid it was one of those damn agonizers, the weapons that kill from sensory overload - but she was able to get up and move around on her own after just a few minutes, which she wouldn’t have been able to do if it had been one. She refuses to let anyone check her over, though, to see how badly she was actually hurt,” Lakshma explains, ushering them into the villa. “She’s staying with Keiana. Apailana - the Queen - she - she - ”

Obi-Wan grimaces. The agonizers are still fairly new, an experimental hand weapon (and yet another contribution of Jenna Zen Arbor’s to the war) that targets the limbic system with a high-collimation microsonic beam that somehow stimulates runaway prostaglandin formation, resulting in intense pain without any physical trauma. For reasons not even Bant has ever been able to explain to him fully, the pain can’t be blocked by somaprin or any other of the known and regularly used heavy soporifics, and it’s often so intense that victims of the weapon simply die from sensory overload. As far as anyone has been able to discover, using the Force to halt and reverse the stimulation of prostaglandin formation is the only way to stop the pain that doesn’t involve manually severing the nociceptor synapses in the thalamic cortex. Unfortunately, Force-adepts skilled enough in the are of healing are too few in number to usually be on hand in the direct aftermath of an attack utilizing an agonizer, and so those who survive the weapon usually do so only because of a delicate neurolaser procedure that ends at the pain at the cost of lifelong severe dyskinesia and motor ataxia. “Was Keiana hit with one of those monstrosities?”

“N-no, but her - her arm - ” Lakshma trails off momentarily, dark brown eyes falling shut as a full-body shudder wracks her. A moment later, though, she regains control of herself enough to tell them, “She got caught in the blast radius of a thermal detonator. Her right arm has been shattered and shredded to the point where the med-droids are sure that even bacta will be able to salvage enough of it to fit a mechno. Even the shoulder is pulverized. The only reason she didn’t die is because Sabé did something that somehow kept her from bleeding out. The Healers think the rest of the damage is superficial, but with the shoulder so damaged . . . ”

Anakin nods in understanding as her voice trails off again, horror drying up all of her words. “Get us up to her. We can help.”

Lakshma nods wordlessly, turning to show them the way.

The Naberrie villa on Varykino had been Padmé’s home and her sanctuary, outside of the Naberrie home in Theed, Theed Palace, and the senatorial apartments on Coruscant. When it first became obvious that the Trade Federation was specifically targeted her and her handmaidens, in the aftermath of their attempt to conquer Naboo, it had also become the headquarters for a secret training and housing complex for handmaid trainees and those of the Palace Guard (the elite of the Royal Naboo Security Forces) personally responsible for the safety of the Queen (and, later on, the Senator as well), with grounds extending over a cluster of half a dozen neighboring Lake Country islands, including Varykino at its center. The Lake House Retreat, as the complex had quickly come to be code-named, was the one place on Naboo that the Trade Federation and even its Separatist allies never seemed able to discover or desecrate (unlike far too many other such training facilities in Theed and even the Royal Palace itself), and there is something terribly aggrieving about the fact that the minority among the remaining Separatists leaders who refused to take part in the treaty talks and surrender to High Justice with the rest, after the unmasking of Palpatine as Sidious and the end of the Clone Wars, have somehow managed to find it now. The villa itself looks relatively untouched, but there are fires still burning on three of its neighboring islands, and the amount of life likely to have been lost is staggering, not so much because of the probable numbers, but because of the many difficulties inherent in finding and training sufficient suitable candidates to replace any and all lost handmaidens and handmaid trainees as well as all of the highly trusted, well-trained personnel attached to both the handmaiden training program and the Queen’s protective guard duty.

Since both Keiana Apailana and the handmaidens closest to her among her remaining on-planet coterie and Sabé were apparently all in the Varykino villa that acts as headquarters for the entire Lake House Retreat program, it can only mean that they were either on-hand to supervise the selection of a new class (or partial classes) of handmaid trainees or else that they came to attend the “graduation” of either a full class or part of a class from the training program to actual handmaiden service. Either way, there will have been many handmaidens, handmaid trainees, and those among the ranks of the most trusted and capable of the Royal Naboo Security Forces (present at the facility to receive additional training, to fit them to act as the visible personal bodyguards of the Queen and her handmaidens) on hand during the attack, and so odds are that the losses they’ve suffered will badly set back the handmaiden programs for the Queen, the newly appointed interim Senator Dormé Tammesin, and even Sabé herself, who’s supposed to be looking for potential future handmaidens who will be willing to join her specific training class, in the new Jedi chapterhouse at Dala City, when she begins her training there. Neither Anakin nor Obi-Wan are focused on these things, though, as they quickly follow Lakshma through the house to the relatively small but well-stocked medical facility, tucked away at the back, three levels down under a deceptively solid-seeming parquet floor. Anakin, who, over the past two years, has come to regard Keiana Apailana as if she were Padmé Amidala’s younger sister and therefore the kid sister he’s never had, is nearly sick to his stomach with worry for the teenaged Queen, while Obi-Wan, who has been close friends with Sabé Dahn for over fourteen years, is equally anxious about her health and concerned about her well-being.

Despite being a close friend and ally to Padmé Amidala, Bail hasn’t been privy to details surrounding the handmaiden training program (though he does know that use of the Naberrie villa has been indefinitely granted to the current monarch and all of both the former and current handmaidens, for training purposes), and so he knows only that an old colleague and friend from the Senate and a close current political ally are both potentially quite badly hurt and that a world he’s come to care for a great deal has been the victim of a savage, unprovoked three-pronged attack. Bail is therefore very worried about Lady Sabé and Queen Apailana, deeply concerned about reactions to the attack both on Naboo and on Coruscant, in the still nascent government of the New Alliance of the Republic, and already busily thinking through who he should contact first and why and just what will be mostly likely to accomplish what Obi-Wan has asked of him. As he follows his Masters and the Queen’s young handmaiden below the ground floor of the villa, the other two of Padmé’s original handmaidens still on Naboo, Rabé Ciardha and Eirtaé Liusaidh, excuse themselves from a small crowd of what looks like reporting soldiers to fall into step them, and Bail begins to speak to them softly, asking about initial reports on casualties and damage, public reaction to the attack, and what, if any, information has already gone out from Naboo to the rest of the galaxy about the attack. The three of them quietly begin planning how best to go about breaking the news, all three of them equally grateful for something to do that doesn’t simply involve waiting and worrying. Anakin and Obi-Wan both spare enough time and attention to turn around and look at the three of them following along behind, Anakin nodding in approving understanding at their topic of conversation and Obi-Wan sparing them a look that mingles approval and reassurance with gratitude for their initiative. But then Lakshma is offering her palm for the reader, to gain access to the medical facilities for them, and they’re all crowding in after her, as the door slides open, and the two Jedi Bendu become far too busy to pay any more real notice to what Rabé, Eirtaé, and Bail are doing.

“Obi-Wan!” The cry, at once desperately relieved and just simply desperate sounding, comes only a few heartbeats before the badly bedraggled, openly weeping figure of Sabé Dahn throws herself across the room and into the Jedi Bendu’s arms.

“It’s alright. I’m here now. I’ve got you. How badly are you hurt?” Obi-Wan asks, his voice pitched low and soothing and imbued with just a little bit of the Force, to urge calmness on his badly distraught friend. He holds her close to him but lightly, carefully, as though afraid of exacerbating her injuries, though she clings to him so tightly that he probably might as well have not even bothered to attempt such a precaution.

“I’m not. Not really. It’s Keiana! You have to do something! The bacta isn’t taking and I don’t know how to do anything more than keep her from bleeding to death!” Sabé insists, letting go just enough to turn him around towards the bacta tank at the back of the room, occupied by an obviously badly injured but surprisingly still conscious Keiana Apailana, who makes a weak motion with her uninjured left arm, as though to raise her hand up and place it on the clear transparisteel of the tank.

Bail tries not to give in to the feeling of sickness or of dread that both blossom in the pit of his stomach, at the sight of the wounded monarch. But she’s just too badly hurt. Her right arm . . . it doesn’t even look like an arm, anymore. It looks as if someone has torn her arm off at the shoulder and replaced it with some kind of long, thing-bodied, ferret-like creature that’s had the limbs and head hacked off, fur and skin peeled off, the muscles beneath torn and singed, and been beaten until what remains resembles nothing so much as a vaguely sausage-shaped mass of pulverized, half burned and half raw and bloody meat that’s been flayed apart at the end into appendages that only in the vaguest possible sense resemble fingers. Fragments of bones show through the worst of the charred sections, and here and there deep furrowing wounds have been gouged into the whole mess, entire chunks of flesh just torn out and away from the rest. Even if it is entirely too easy to tell (given that she’s wearing nothing more than what amounts to a strip of thick gauze across her chest and another one wrapped snugly around her privates) that most of the rest of her body is relatively unharmed (at least on the surface), Bail has no idea why she hasn’t died already. The pain alone should have sent her into shock, even if Sabé did somehow apparently manage to keep her from bleeding out, and, with a wound that bad and the amount of pain it would have caused, her heart should have given out on her. Bail wants to believe that his Masters can help, but he’s seen enough battles to know that even less obviously serious wounds can result in death, and, if he’s completely honest with himself, he can’t imagine how even they could undo enough of the damage to save Keiana’s life.

Obi-Wan and Anakin, though, don’t seem to see it that way.

“Kei’a!” Anakin cries out, not bothering to hide his pain or distress, as he circles around Obi-Wan and Sabé to stride hurriedly over to the tank, placing his right hand flat against it in a gesture of comfort. “Kei’a, it’s Anakin. And Obi-Wan. We’re here to help you. It’s going to be alright. We’re going to fix your arm for you, and you’ll be just fine, okay?”

“But you are hurt, Sabé. I can feel it, in the Force. I need you to let the med-droids and the Healer give you a complete checkup and see to it that it’s not anything serious. Please. Anakin and I can help Keiana, but neither one of us is truly a Healer, and I don’t know if we’d be able to help both of you, if you should prove to be more critically injured than you appear to be and you collapse on us while we’re trying to heal Keiana. I would prefer not to have to run that risk, Sabé,” Obi-Wan explains to Sabé in the meantime.

“But I - ” she begins to try to protest.

“Sabé. Please, don’t ask me to run the risk of adding your name to the list of those I’ve been unable to save. Keiana is still awake enough to know that you stayed here with her until we got here. She would want you to go and get yourself taken care of, now. She wouldn’t want you to risk yourself, needlessly, by staying here, when there’s nothing more that you can do to help her,” Obi-Wan only gently but firmly insists, cutting her off.

“But - ”

Obi-Wan, though, cuts her off again, long before the protest can finish forming. “Sabé. You are not to blame for what happened to Padmé. You couldn’t have saved her, even if you’d been there with her, during the crash. It wasn’t your fault. Just as this isn’t your fault. You’ve more than done your duty to the Queen here. Now you need to go and do your duty by yourself. Please. I know this room is partitioned off into sections, for privacy. Go on back and let someone who’s more skilled in medicine than either you or I take a look at you. For my sake of mind, if for no other reason.”

It’s the final plea that does the trick. Sabé’s face crumples, and she capitulates, nodding in obvious misery. “I will. Just . . . take care of Keiana,” she whispers, her hands tightening momentarily on Obi-Wan’s forearms.

“We will,” Obi-Wan promises, nodding solemnly.

He waits until she’s slipped away from him and headed to the back of the room, pausing momentarily by the bacta tank to press a hand of her own against the transparisteel, before going to the wall behind the tank and placing her hand against a sensor, causing a section of the wall to slide up into the ceiling and down into the floor and so reveal an open doorway into the partition behind this one. When the door has molded itself back into a seemingly smooth and seamless wall behind her, he walks over to join Anakin in front of the bacta tank, and Bail can’t help but feel a little bit relieved when Obi-Wan and Anakin’s shoulder-to-shoulder bodies block out the sight of that horribly damaged arm.

“You’ve seen Bant heal wounds like this, right?” Anakin immediately and urgently asks.

“Like, yes, but not exactly. I think this may require something more in line with what we accomplished, with the twins,” is Obi-Wan’s almost eerily calm reply. “We need to rebuild the arm, recreate it, not just help to heal it.”

Anakin nods. “I figured. I don’t know what Sabé did, but she’s not bleeding, even though I can see veins that’ve been torn open. I think that’s why the bacta isn’t taking.”

“Probably. But it’s what’s kept her alive, long enough for us to get here. Not even bacta could heal quickly enough to keep her from bleeding out, otherwise.”

“Remind me to thank Sabé, then.”

“I will. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Bail is debating the wisdom of asking them if there’s anything he might be able to do to help when his Masters literally seem to erupt with the Force, blindingly bright energy abruptly seeming to fountain out of nowhere into existence within them, erupting out of their bodies and swallowing them and the bacta tank in a painfully bright corona of ever so faintly blue-tinged white light, in the shape of a sphere of roiling energy that resembles nothing so much as a small star. Lakshma gives a soft, startled cry, hands instinctively flying up to shield her face, her entire body flinching back away from the light as though expecting it to be the precursor to an actual detonation, as from an exploding bomb, only seeming to realize after several long heartbeats of fearful cowering that the light is anything but damaging. Rabé and Eirtaé both stagger sideways, sensitive enough to the flows of the Force that the sheer amount of power brewing in the room between Obi-Wan and Anakin come close to sending them reeling out of balance and crashing down into the floor. Bail catches instinctively at their shoulders, to try and steady them, squinting a little bit at the eye-watering miniature sun that’s completely swallowed the end of the room where his Masters and the bacta tank are, trying to see if he can tell what they’re doing, before he finally (half laughing silently at himself for not thinking of it in the first place) lets his eyes fall shut and reaches out with his senses, finding the place in his mind that leads to his Masters and instinctively following it, to see if he can get a better idea of just what it is that they’re doing. At first, it doesn’t seem to help at all. The sense of raw power becomes even more immediate and overwhelming, through the bond with Obi-Wan and Anakin. But gradually, as if from a distance, he becomes aware of an exchange of voices, almost like voices in a dream.

Anakin is speaking to Keiana, telling her, I need you to focus, Kei’a. I know you’re tired and it’s hard, but I need you to focus on your last clear memory of your arm, before you were hurt. Think about how it felt when you moved it and what it looked like, the play of muscles and tendons beneath the skin and the shape of the veins you could trace along the underside, where the skin is thinner and paler. Focus, Kei’a. Build up the picture in your mind, the sensation of what it felt like to have it there and be able to use it without causing yourself pain, and focus on that for me, let me know what that felt like for you, what it looked like to you. Focus for me . . .

In the background, as if one level up or down from the oddly soothing repetitive request that Keiana focus on a clear memory of her uninjured appendage, Obi-Wan is murmuring, as though reading out of a textbook on human anatomy, The bones go so - clavicle and scapula to protect and form the shoulder, humerus . . . condyles of humerus . . . ulna and radius, carpals . . . scaphoid, luante, triquetrum, pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate . . . metacarpals, phalanges . . . proximal phalanges, intermediate phalanges, distal phalanges . . . The muscles go so - osteofascial compartments . . . the arm is divided by a fascial layer, the lateral and medial intermuscular septa, which separates the muscles into two osteofascial compartments . . . anterior and posterior compartments . . . the fascia merges with the periosteum or outer bone layer of the humerus, while the compartments contain muscles that are innervated by the same nerve and perform the same action . . . the large deltoid muscle or the main abductor muscle of the upper limb that extends over the shoulder has part of its body in the anterior compartment . . . the brachioradialis muscle that’s responsible for rotating the hand so the palm faces forward (supination) originate in the arm but inserts into the forearm . . . the cubital fossa, which is clinically important for venepuncture and blood pressure measurement, is actually an imaginary triangle that borders laterally at the medial border of brachioradialis muscle, medially at the lateral border of pronator teres muscle, and superiorly at the intercondylar line, an imaginary line between the two condyles of the humerus, with the brachialis muscle acting as the floor and the skin and fascia of the arm and forearm acting as the roof . . . The tendons and ligaments at the joints go just so - the shoulder has three joints, the glenohumeral, acromioclavicular, and the sternoclavicular joints . . . the glenohumeral joint is the main joint of the shoulder, a ball and socket joint that allows the arm to rotate in a circular fashion or to hinge out and up away from the body and which is formed by the articulation between the head of the humerus and the lateral scapula, with the ball of the joint being the rounded, medial anterior surface of the humerus and the socket being the glenoid fossa, the dish-shaped portion of the latter scapula . . . soft tissue known as the capsule (which is lined by a thin, smooth synovial membrane) encircles the glenohumeral joint and attaches to the scapula, humerus, and head of the biceps . . . the capsule is strengthened by the coracohumeral ligament, which attaches the coracoid process of the scapula to the greater tubercle of the humerus, and there are three other ligaments, collectively known as the glenohumeral ligaments, which attach the lesser tubercle of the humerus to lateral scapula . . . while the semicirculare humeri, one of the most important strengtening ligaments of the joint capsule, is a transversal band between the posterior sides of the tuberculum minus and majus of the humerus . . . the acromioclavicular joint is located between the acromion process of the scapula or the part of the scapula that forms the highest point of the shoulder and the distal end of the clavicle . . . the capsule of this joint is reinforced by the coracoclavicular ligament between the scapula and clavicle at the point of articulation, which is created by the conoid ligament, medial from the coracoid process of the scapula, and inserts on the conoid tubercle of the clavicle . . . lateral to the conoid ligament is the trapezoid ligament, which runs from the coracoid process of the scapula to the trapezoid line of the clavicle, and the coracoacromial ligament, which runs from the corocoid process to the acromion of the scapula, also contributes to the integrity of the acromioclavicular joint . . . the sternoclavicular occurs at the medial end of the clavicle with the manubrium or top most portion of the sternum . . . the clavicle is triangular and rounded while the manubrium is convex, allowing the two bones articulate . . . the muscles responsible for movement in the shoulder attach to the scapula, humerus, and clavicle, while the muscles that surround the shoulder form the shoulder cap and underarm . . . the serratus anterior originates on the surface of the upper eight ribs at the side of the chest and inserts along the entire anterior length of the medial border of the scapula to fix the scapula into the thoracic wall and aid in rotation and abduction of the shoulders . . . the subclavius, which is located inferior to the clavicle, originates on the first rib and inserts on the subclavian groove of the clavicle, and depresses the lateral clavicle while also acting to stabilize the clavicle . . . the pectoralis minor, which aids in respiration, medially rotates the scapula, protracts the scapula, and also draws the scapula inferiorly, arises from the third, fourth, and fifth ribs, near their cartilage, and inserts into the medial border and upper surface of the coracoid process of the scapula . . . the sternocleidomastoid, which attaches to the sternum, the clavicle, and the mastoid process of the temporal bone of the skull, not only flexes and rotates the head, but also aids in respiration by elevating the sternoclavicular joint when the head is fixed . . . the levator scapulae, which arises from the transverse processes of the first four cervical vertebrae and inserts into the vertebral border of the scapula, is capable of rotating the scapula downward and elevating the scapula . . . rhomboid major and rhomboid minor, which work together, arise from the spinous processes of the thoracic vertebrae T1 to T5 as well as from the spinous processes of the seventh cervical and first thoracic vertebrae, insert on the medial border of the scapula, from about the level of the scapular spine to the scapula’s inferior angle, and are responsible for downward rotation of the scapula with the levator scapulae, as well as adduction of the scapula . . . the trapezius, different portions of its fibers which perform different actions on the scapula (including depression, upward rotation, elevation, and adductions), arises from the occipital bone, the ligamentum nuchae, the spinous process of the seventh cervical, the spinous processes of all the thoracic vertebrae, and the corresponding portion of the supraspinal ligament, inserts on the lateral clavicle, the acromion process, and into the spine of the scapula . . . the anterior fibers of the deltoid arise from the anterior border and upper surface of the lateral third of the clavicle, are involved in shoulder abduction when the shoulder is externally rotated, and, while weak in strict transverse flexion, assists the pectoralis major during shoulder transverse flexion and/or shoulder flexion (elbow slightly inferior to shoulders) . . . the middle fibers of the deltoid, which arise from the lateral margin and upper surface of the acromion, are involved in shoulder abduction when the shoulder is internally rotated, in shoulder flexion when the shoulder is internally rotated, and in shoulder transverse abduction (shoulder externally rotated), but are not utilized significantly during strict transverse extension (shoulder internally rotated) . . . the posterior fibers of the deltoid, which arise from the lower lip of the posterior border of the spine of the scapula, as far back as the triangular surface at its medial end, are the primary shoulder hyperextensors, and are also strongly involved in transverse extension, particularly since the latissimus dorsi muscle is very weak in strict transverse extension . . . the rotator cuff is a structure composed of tendons that connect to the capsule of the glenohumeral joint and, with associated muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis), holds the ball at the top of the humerus in the glenoid socket and provideoulder joint . . . two filmy sac-like structures called bursae permit smooth gliding between bone, muscle, and tendon and cushion and protect the rotator cuff from the bony arch of the acromion . . . the elbow-joint, which is formed by three bones (the humerus of the upper arm and the paired radius and ulna of the forearm) is a ginglymus or hinge joint . . . the bony prominence at the very tip of the elbow is the olecranon process of the ulna . . . there are two main movements possible at the elbow, including the hinge-like bending and straightening of the elbow (flexion and extension), which happens at the articulation or joint between the humerus and the ulna, and the complex action of turning the forearm over (pronation or supination), which happens at the articulation between the radius and the ulna (a movement that also occurs at the wrist joint . . . in the anatomical position (with the forearm supine), the radius and ulna lie parallel to each other, but the ulna remains fixed and the radius rolls around it at both the wrist and the elbow joints during pronation, while the radius and ulna appear crossed in the prone position . . . the elbow-joint comprises three different portions, all of the articular surfaces of which are enveloped by a common synovial membrane . . . in any position of flexion or extension, the radius, carrying the hand with it, can be rotated in it (with movement including pronation and supination) by the proximal radioulnar joint, which runs from the radius to the ulna . . . while the humeroulnar joint, from the ulna to the humerus, is a simple hinge-joint that allows of movements of flexion and extension only . . . and the humeroradial joint, from the head of the radius to the capitulum of the humerus, is an arthrodial joint . . . the combination of the movements of flexion and extension of the forearm with those of pronation and supination of the hand, which is ensured by the two being performed at the same joint, is essential to the accuracy of the various minute movements of the hand, which is only directly articulated to the distal surface of the radius, with the ulnar notch on the lower end of the radius traveling around the lower end of the ulna and the ulna being excluded from the wrist-joint by the articular disk . . . rotation of the head of the radius around an axis passing through the center of the radial head of the humerus imparts circular movement to the hand through a considerable arc . . . the trochlea of the humerus is received into the semilunar notch of the ulna, the capitulum of the humerus articulates with the fovea on the head of the radius, and the articular surfaces are connected together by a capsule that is thickened medially, laterally, and, to a less extent, in front and behind, with these thickened portions usually being described as distinct ligaments . . . major ligaments include the ulnar collateral ligament, radial collateral ligament, and annular ligament . . . the synovial membrane is extensive in the elbow-joint, extending from the margin of the articular surface of the humerus and lining the coronoid, radial and olecranon fossæ on that bone, and is reflected over the deep surface of the capsule, forming a pouch between the radial notch, the deep surface of the annular ligament, and the circumference of the head of the radius . . . a crescentic fold of synovial membrane also projects between the radius and ulna into the cavity, suggesting the division of the joint into two, one being the humeroradial and the other being the humeroulnar . . . three masses of fat are between the capsule and the synovial membrane, with the largest, over the olecranon fossa, being pressed into the fossa by the triceps brachii during the flexion, and second being over the coronoid fossa, and the third, over the radial fossa, being pressed by the brachialis into their respective fossæ during extension . . . the muscles in relation to the elbow-joint are: in front, the brachialis; behind, the triceps brachii and anconæus; laterally, the supinator and the common tendon of origin of the extensor muscles; medially, the common tendon of origin of the flexor muscles, and the flexor carpi ulnaris . . . the wrist-joint (articulatio radiocarpea) is a condyloid articulation allowing three degrees of freedom and is formed by the lower end of the radius and under surface of the articular disk above and the scaphoid, lunate, and triangular bones below . . . the articular surface of the radius and the under surface of the articular disk form together a transversely elliptical concave surface, or the receiving cavity . . . the superior articular surfaces of the scaphoid, lunate, and triquetrum form a smooth convex surface, the condyle, which is received into the concavity . . . the bones of the wrist, in order of proximal row lateral to medial and then distal row lateral to medial, include the scaphoid, lunate, triqetrium, pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, and hamate . . . the joint is surrounded by a capsule, strengthened by the volar radiocarpal ligament, the dorsal radiocarpal ligament, the ulnar collateral ligament (thumb), and the radial collateral ligament (thumb) . . . the synovial membrane, which is loose and lax and presents numerous folds, especially behind, lines the deep surfaces of the ligaments, extending from the margin of the lower end of the radius and articular disk above to the margins of the articular surfaces of the carpal bones below . . . the wrist usually refers to the radiocarpal joint, but the midcarpal joint, while not technically a true joint, is closely associated with many of the same actions and represents the boundary between the two rows of bones in the carpus . . . the movements permitted in the wrist flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, and circumduction . . . the hand consists of a broad palm (metacarpus) with five digits, attached to the forearm by this wrist-joint called the wrist (carpus) . . . a human norm hand has twenty-seven bones, with eight in the carpus or wrist, five in the metacarpus or palm, and the remaining fourteen being digital bones . . . the eight bones of the wrist, which fit into a shallow socket formed by the bones of the forearm, are arranged in two rows of four, with the bones of proximal row being (from lateral to medial) the scaphoid, lunate, triquetral, and pisiform, and the bones of the distal row being (from lateral to medial) the trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, and hamate . . . the five bones of the palm (metacarpals) have a head and a shaft and are arranged one to each of the five digits . . . of the fourteen digital bones, also called phalanx bones, contained in human norm hands, two are in the thumb and three (including the distal phalanx carrying the nail, the middle phalanx, and the proximal phalanx) are in each of the four fingers (the thumb having no middle phalanx) . . . the four fingers on the hand are located at the outermost edge of the palm and can be folded over the palm, allowing for the grasping of objects . . . the thumb (connected to the trapezium) is located on one of the sides, parallel to the arm, can be easily rotated 90º on a perpendicular level compared to the palm, unlike the other fingers (which can only be rotated approximately 45º), and is opposable, meaning that it can be brought opposite to the fingers, by means of a muscle action known as opposition . . . sesamoid bones also in the hands are small ossified nodes (many of which exist around the palm at the bases of the digits, though the exact number varies between different people) embedded in the tendons to provide extra leverage and reduce pressure on the underlying tissue . . . the movements of the human hand are accomplished by two sets each of muscles and tendons . . . muscles in the hands can be divided into extrinsic and intrinsic muscle groups . . . the intrinsic muscle groups include the thenar and hypothenar muscles (thenar referring to the thumb and hypothenar to the small finger), the interosseus muscles (between the metacarpal bones, four dorsally and three volarly), and the lumbrical muscles, which arise from the deep flexor (and are special because they have no bony origin) and insert on the dorsal extensor hood mechanism . . . the extrinsic muscle groups include the long flexors and extensors and are called extrinsic because the muscle belly is located on the forearm . . . fingers have two long flexors (which allow for the actual bending of the fingers), located on the underside of the forearm, that insert by tendons to the phalanges of the fingers, with the deep flexor attaching to the distal phalanx and the superficial flexor attaching to the middle phalanx . . . the thumb has one long flexor and a short flexor in the thenar muscle group, as well as other muscles in the thenar group (opponens- and abductor muscle) that move the thumb in opposition, making grasping possible . . . extensors (the primary function of which is to straighten out the digits) are located on the back of the forearm and are connected in a more complex way than the flexors to the dorsum of the fingers, with tendons uniting with the interosseous and lumbrical muscles to form the extensorhood mechanism . . . the thumb has two extensors in the forearm, the tendons of which form the anatomical snuff box, while the index finger and the little finger have an extra extensor, used for instance for pointing . . . extensors are situated within six separate compartments: the first contains the abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis; the second contains the extensors carpi radialis longus and brevis; the third contains the extensor pollicis longus; the fourth contains the extensor digitorum indicis and extensor digititorum communis; the fifth contains the extensor digiti minimi; and the sixth contains the extensor carpi ulnaris . . . The nerves go just so and the veins and arteries go just so . . . the musculocutaneous nerve, from C5, C6, C7, which originates from the lateral cord of the brachial plexus of nerves, pierces the coracobrachialis muscle and gives off branches to the muscle, as well as to brachialis and biceps brachii, and terminates as the anterior cutaneous nerve of the forearm, is the main supplier of muscles of the anterior compartment . . . the radial nerve, which is from the fifth cervical spinal nerve to the first thoracic spinal nerve, originates as the continuation of the posterior cord of the brachial plexus, enters the lower triangular space of the arm (an imaginary space bounded by, amongst others, the shaft of the humerus and the triceps brachii), and lies deep to the triceps brachii, where it travels with a deep artery of the arm (the profunda brachii), which sits in the radial groove of the humerus (meaning that a fracture of the bone there at the shaft can cause lesions or even transections in the nerve) . . . other nerves, which pass through but give no supply to the arm, include: the median nerve, nerve origin C5-T1, which is a branch of the lateral and medial cords of the brachial plexus and continues in the arm, traveling in a plane between the biceps and triceps muscles, deep to the pronator teres muscle in the cubital fossa (and the most medial structure in the fossa), and passing on into the forearm; and the ulnar nerve, origin C7-T1, which is a continuation of the medial cord of the brachial plexus, passes in the same plane as the median nerve, between the biceps and triceps muscles, and travels posterior to the medial epicondyle of the humerus in the elbow, meaning that condylar fractures can cause lesion to this nerve . . . the cubital fossa or the triangular area on the front side of the elbow-joint of the arm contains three main vertical structures, from lateral to medial (the radial nerve is in the vicinity of the cubital fossa, located between brachioradialis and brachialis muscles, and is often but not always considered a part of the cubital fossa): the biceps brachii tendon; the brachial artery, which usually bifurcates near the apex (inferior part) of the cubital fossa into the radial artery (superficial) and ulnar artery (deeper); and the median nerve, which starts to branch . . . the ulnar nerve is also in the area of the cubital fossa, but is not in the cubital fossa proper, as it occupies a groove on the posterior aspect of the medial epicondyle of the humerus . . . several veins are also in the area (for example, the median cubital vein, cephalic vein, and basilic vein), but these are usually considered superficial to the cubital fossa rather than part of its contents . . . the structures through the cubital fossa are vital and also include the median cubital vein (the important vein is where venepuncture occurs, which connects the basilic and cephalic veins, and lymph nodes . . . the nerves of the elbow-joint include a twig from the ulnar, as it passes between the medial condyle and the olecranon, a filament from the musculocutaneous, and two from the median . . . in the elbow, the arteries supplying the joint form a complete anastomotic network around the joint and are derived from the anastomosis between the profunda and the superior and inferior ulnar collateral branches of the brachial, with the anterior, posterior, and interosseous recurrent branches of the ulnar, and the recurrent branch of the radial . . . the main artery in the arm is the brachial artery, a continuation of the axillary artery (the axillary becomes the brachial at a point distal to the lower border of teres major) that gives off an important branch, the profunda brachii (deep artery of the arm) just below the lower border of teres major, continues to the cubital fossa in the anterior compartment of the arm, travels in a plane between the biceps and triceps muscles, the same as the median nerve and basilic vein, is accompanied by venae comitantes (accompanying veins), giving branches to the muscles of the anterior compartment, and is in between the median nerve and the tendon of the biceps muscle in the cubital fossa before continuing on into the forearm . . . the profunda brachii travels through the lower triangular space with the radial nerve, from which point onwards it has an intimate relationship with the radial nerve (both are found deep to the triceps muscle and are located on the spiral groove of the humerus, meaning that fracture of the bone may not only lead to lesion of the radial nerve, but also haematoma of the internal structures of the arm), and this artery then continues on to anastamose with the recurrent radial branch of the brachial artery, providing a diffuse blood supply for the elbow-joint . . . the veins of the arm carry blood from the extremities of the limb as well as draining the arm itself . . . there are two main veins in the arm, the basilic and the cephalic, with a connecting vein between the two, the median cubital vein, which passes through the cubital fossa and is clinically important for venepuncture (withdrawing blood) . . . the basilic vein travels on the medial side of the arm and terminates at the level of the seventh rib . . . the cephalic vein, which travels on the lateral side of the arm and terminates as the axillary vein, passes through the deltopectoral triangle, a space between the deltoid and the pectoralis major muscles . . . Anakin, are you getting all of this?

With every new addition to the list and each new description of inter-connectedness and function, the various pieces of a three-dimensional and picture-perfect realistic model of a human arm are assembling themselves into a working whole, the knowledge of where and how and why things fit together emblazoning themselves on Bail’s mind like highly detailed illustrated charts. It’s more than a little bewildering to follow, but the image of that arm, building itself from the ground up, is so rich and so immediate that he finds himself nodding along with the list, comprehending the various parts as he’s never understood any single body part before in his life.

In answer to Obi-Wan’s question, though, Bail senses a strong impression of a thoughtful frown from Anakin, who gently but firmly points out, I think you may be repeating yourself, just a little. And what about the forearm? Aren’t the radius and the ulna (which form the radioulnar joint) connected by the interosseous membrane? There are muscle groups there, too, besides flexors and extensors of the fingers. There’s a flexor of the elbow (brachioradialis), and pronators and supinators that turn the hand to face down or up, respectively. The forearm has two joints, too - the proximal radioulnar joint and the distal radioulnar joint - and lots of muscles, like the flexor carpi radialis, palmaris longus, flexor carpi ulnaris, pronator teres, flexor digitorum superficialis (sublimis), flexor digitorum profundus, flexor pollicis longus, pronator quadratus, brachioradialis, extensor carpi radialis longus, extensor carpi radialis brevis, extensor digitorum (communis), extensor digiti minimi (proprius), extensor carpi ulnaris, abductor pollicis longus, extensor pollicis brevis, extensor pollicis longus, extensor indicis (proprius), supinator, and anconeus. We’ve got the most of the rest of the forearm mapped, basically, with its two fascial compartments - the posterior compartment with the extensors of the hands, which are supplied by the radial nerve, and the anterior compartment with the flexors, mainly supplied by the median nerve - but the ulnar nerve also runs the length of the forearm. And the radial and ulnar arteries and their branches supply the blood to the forearm, too. Don’t those arteries usually run on the anterior face of the radius and ulna down the whole forearm? I know the main superficial veins of the forearm are the cephalic, median antebrachial and the basilic vein - Bant used to drill me on those because they can be used for cannularisation or venipuncture, even though the cubital fossa is the preferred site for getting blood. Thank the Force for Bant and your almost picture-perfect memory - I don’t think I’d want to try this, without a Healer here to guide us, if she hadn’t spent so long making sure I knew basic human and humanoid anatomy and if I didn’t know you helped her study for and learn all of the same things, when she was still a Padawan. This was much easier with the twins: all it took was getting basic genetic templates, and letting the Force translated those into living bodies. I really can’t tell if we’re leaving anything out or not. It feels right to me, though. What about you? Look at the model we’re building - doesn’t that look like what Kei’a has built up in her mind, except for the skin and hair? Which we don’t want to forget about, by the way . . . it’d be silly to go to all that trouble, and then the bacta anyway, because we forgot to give her new arm skin to cover it all up and help hold it all together.

Agreed. The cross-sections all look right, to me. This feels right. Are you ready? We need to combine this with Kei’a sensory-memories and then superimpose the results on her body.

As ready as I’m going to be. She’s deep in trance, now, so she shouldn’t feel it.

Good. Alright then. On my mark, three, two, one . . . now!

The resulting flood of new Force-energy into the room breaks Bail’s concentration, and, with a startled jolt, he resurfaces from his connection with his Masters, blinking, to note that so little time has apparently passed that Rabé and Eirtaé are still steadying themselves with the help of his bracing hands. He’s just starting to frown in puzzlement over that when the blue-tinged white corona of light at the back of the room gains in brightness by such a magnitude that even he gives off a noise of protest, screwing his eyes shut against the painful glare and instinctively bracing himself, as he might do against an incoming wave of water, as the light washes out from the epicenter of the tank, flooding out into the room and beyond it in a conflagration of light and power that leaves him feeling oddly light, as if he weren’t quite all the way inside his body. By the time the light has faded and his watering eyes have stopped smarting enough for him to feel like it’s safe for him to take another look around, at least a full minute has passed, and Rabé and Eirtaé have reached up across themselves to clutch tightly at the hands he still has braced on their left and right shoulders. Even though the Force-generated light is gone, he still has to squint his eyes up to see, as the entire room is now literally gleaming, as if it’s been cleaning and polished to the highest possible shine, the metal surfaces all mirror-bright and the transparisteel of the bacta tank glittering like a sheet of diamond. Obi-Wan and Anakin are still standing shoulder to shoulder, but their arms have crept around their waists, and even as he blinks over at them they move back and a little away from the tank, revealing an apparently wholly conscious Keiana Apailana, who is already halfway through the motion of raising up her perfectly normal looking right hand to her eye-level, splaying the palm and fingers open and then making a fist, moving the limb around and waving her hand in triumphant glee before finally moving to knock against the transparisteel, asking as plainly as she can to be taken out of the tank.

“Not quite yet, Kei’a,” Anakin insists with a slight shake of his head, sounding tired but thoroughly pleased with hereself. “You still have a few cuts and burns and nasty bruises on your hip and back. Let the bacta take care of them. It shouldn’t take very long. I think Obi-Wan and I will go lie down while we’re waiting. You can send someone to wake us, when you’re out, and we’ll talk about what happened, okay?”

Keiana doesn’t look happy, but after a few moments she eventually nods in agreement.

Obi-Wan’s shoulders sink a little bit, then, in obvious relief. “Thank you, Keiana. Anakin is right: we’ll speak to you when you’ve finished your bacta treatment.” Turning a little away from the tank, he then begins to ask, “While we’re resting, Bail, could you perhaps - ?”

“I’ll help Rabé, Eirtaé, and the others organize a proper response, Masters. Go get some rest. We can do this without you,” Bail immediately promises, insisting that they get some rest when he notices just how heavily the two Jedi Bendu are leaning on each other.

Obi-Wan inclines his head in grateful agreement. “That would be of great help. Just keep in mind that we don’t want others to know precisely how we got here, please. If you can, avoid letting anyone know that we’re here at all. If not - ”

“I’ll imply other means of transportation,” Bail offers, anticipating the request.

“Just so,” Obi-Wan agrees, nodding.

With their conversation at an end, Lakshma quickly steps forward, her face shining with unabashed joy and gratitude, and declares, “Masters, you can rest in one of the guest suites. I can show you the way to the nearest empty suite.”

“We would appreciate that, young one,” Obi-Wan acknowledges, inclining his head and smiling gently at the handmaiden.

“If you’ll just follow me, then?” she offers, smiling at them even as she turns back towards the door.

“We’re right behind you,” Anakin fervently promises, prompting a smile from Obi-Wan, as the two turn to follow her out of the medical facility.

When they’ve gone, Bail inclines his head politely towards the still slightly sulky looking Queen in the bacta tank, half explaining and half asking, “We’re going to go get to work, Your Majesty, if that’s alright with you?”

Keiana Apailana inclines her head in as regal a manner as possible (given that she’s still floating, mostly unclothed, in a vat of orange-tinged bacta), clearly dismissing them.

Bail gives her a short bow while Rabé and Eirtaé give sweeping curtsies that somehow manage not to look at all awkward, despite the mostly ruined nature of their nightgowns, and then the three of them head out as well, Rabé already reaching for a comm unit (tucked away in a too-large belt she’s slung bandoleer-like across her left shoulder), to ask after any new reports that may have come in since the last time she was able to check.

They quickly learn that reports confirm that most of the damage done during the attack is concentrated in the Lake House Retreat, though (in addition to some other, thankfully apparently largely superficial damage) an entire square block of Dala City has been leveled and an auxiliary garrison outside of Theed Palace razed to the ground. Casualties appear to run extremely low in the thousands, with estimates running no higher than approximately two thousand Nabooian residents and visitors (some of them unfortunately having come to Naboo for Padmé’s funeral and not yet departed again), which is good, though the two hundred and sixteen lives lost at the Lake House Retreat frankly represent a crushing blow, in terms of handmaid trainees, members of the Royal Guard, potential candidates for Royal Guard training, and trained and trustworthy staff. “We lost fifty-eight potential trainees and fourteen students. That’s seventy-two potential handmaidens. Best to let one of us break the news, to Dormé and Sabé, about the ones who otherwise would have been trained as their handmaidens,” Rabé grimly explains, when Bail asks about the significance of the losses. “This will be a hard blow to bear even for Her Majesty.”

Happily, though, the rest of the galaxy seems ready and willing to band together behind Naboo, outraged over the attack and apparently eager to do whatever can be done, not just to help Naboo recover from the attack but to see to it that those responsible won’t be able to inflict such damage on another innocent target and will instead be brought to justice for what they’ve done. Bail is, therefore, in a fairly good mood when Keiana Apailana is finally let out of her bacta tank, looking as good as new (but for her nose, which is so different from what it used to look like that Anakin eventually breaks down and asks, just before they leave, if she’s entirely happy with the combination of corrective and cosmetic surgery that repaired and restructured it, after the failed assassination attempt that left her nose so badly shattered. With a genuinely wide smile, though, the young Queen insists that she not only adores her new nose but that it’s now of a size and shape that will make it both much easier for her to blend in among the ranks of her handmaidens and for her handmaids to play the part of the decoy Queen, whenever it might become necessary, so the subject of her new nose is quickly dropped). Unfortunately, it turns out that Sabé is more seriously injured than anyone might have suspected. Whatever the weapon was that struck her down apparently inflicted several hundred microscopic but potentially quite serious (if placed under enough stress to tear open wider) rips in the cable-like structure of her nervous system, and, upon diagnosing the damage, the med-droids instantly sedate her and then submerge her in a bacta tank of her own for a rigorous cycle of treatment that, unfortunately, won’t be completed for nearly a week and a half. (Obi-Wan, who is unabashedly horrified by the news, goes apart by himself for nearly half an hour, to record a private message for Sabé, for when she will be taken out of the tank and allowed to revive.)

So by the time they leave Naboo, everyone is feeling tired and anxious. Unfortunately, enough time has passed that it’s already drawing close to the tenth hour, on Alderaan. While the special session that’s been arranged for Bail’s formal abdication isn’t set to start until half past the twelfth hour, meaning that they have enough time to get cleaned up, dressed, and even to find something to eat, there isn’t nearly enough time for them to get any real rest, and the process of getting them back to Alderaan leaves Obi-Wan and Anakin both looking so physically drained that Bail actually starts to wonder if he might be able to convince them to go back to bed and let him take care of the abdication (since they technically don’t need to be there) and is trying and rejecting just such a proposal in his head when Anakin abruptly turns around and shoots him a baleful look, declaring, “Don’t even think about it. We’re going to be there with you when you resign.” That rather unequivocally puts a stop to that train of thought, and so Bail insists, instead, that he’ll see to it that they’re sent up a hearty meal, so they’ll hopefully be able to squeeze in at least a short nap, in between washing up and getting ready.

Again, this scene picks up immediately in the WIP's next posting!