Reaching Through Darkness

Ch 40
Mirmo

A Jedi is patient. A Jedi does not give in the pity, dark need to hurry up. A Jedi moves in a quick way, not rushing out in the spurt of the moment, acting on impulse. A Jedi is always clam, clear headed, and focused. At least this is what I told myself.

It is interesting to note how many times I preached this to my irrational leaping before looking apprentice and how now I could barely keep myself from begging Master Skywalker to push the ship to go faster. It seemed that the ship was not zipping through the tall building fast enough, despite the many drivers we had angered. I looked for the millionth time back past my leather seat to confirm the fact Karen was still holding her stomach as if she was in pain. She was not as pale as I expected her to be, but she was silent. Silence, as I learned with her, meant there was something wrong with her. At the moment, there was something very wrong with her. Fear radiated off her so powerfully, she unraveled all my nerves, causing my heart to ache and my soul try to reach out to her. Still, I told myself that cloud car was already going faster than was safe and winding up dead would not help anyone.

Finally, Nea’s dingy, small looking apartment was in sight. As we flew closer I could spot Nea’s bulk, non human form standing out again the brownish tan, rough stone of his home. We landed on the landing pad and Master Skywalker pressed a few buttons to open the glass hatch that made up of the roof of the cloud car. Once the hatch had completely opened, I climbed out quickly to assist Karen. I could Nea walk in his loud thumps over to us to see if anything needed to be done. Karen quietly ignored my offer and slowly, with care, climbed out of the vehicle. She hand was still on her stomach, and the other hand could be been gripping the metal exterior of the car as she balanced herself. She managed to take three steps from the ship where she stopped and doubled over to be sick on the duracrete floor. Nea began to ask how did the mission go, but I held up my hand to stop him and continued to watch my poor apprentice work her way through another bout of morning sickness. Nea sighed and asked if Karen needed a medic. I nodded and took Karen in my arm to support to the apartment. She made very little protest.

We walked into the small, semi dark apartment, down the short, messy hall, and to her room where she lowered herself to the bed. Nea handed her a glass of cold water to sip. I came to realize there was nothing much that could be done for her current troubles. I would have to wait for the medic to check her out and let us know if the baby was ok.

Hours seemed to have gone by and the path I was pacing was slowly wearing the stinky carpet to bare thread rags. Karen fell asleep soon after lying on the bed. I guessed it was the exhaustion that drove away the terror enough to allow her to sleep. She had spent nearly two hours with adrenal flowing through her veins, pumping blood rapidly through her and giving her the strength to fight her rapist. That adrenal had stopped and her body now realized how much action it had been through in such a short amount of time. Everyone else seemed to be feeling similar to me. Luke was in the living room, staring mindlessly at the door. Nea was cooking something that smelled much like spice to me, though I refrained from asking him. I was not in the mood to tease him.

I could feel in the Force the three of us jump and both mentally and physically run for the door. Luke got there first, opened the door and gracefully welcomed the medic. The medic was the same as the first one, carrying a black bad, and had a worried look on her face.

“What is wrong with her? Is she in pain? She might be having a natural abortion.”

I paled at the suggestion of that. It had not dawn on me that all this action and trama could force her body to give up the few young baby. I explained to the medic Karen was in pain and had thrown up.

“What was she doing before hand? Was she very emotional? Did she fall face forward or did something hit her stomach? Such things can trigger an abortion.”

I thought back to the fast pace action of our mission. I had seen Karen fall, but she was not in pain until the sith apprentice had raised his hand, calling on the Force to…

“I need to see her immediately. If this is an abortion, I might be able to stop it and she could keep the baby. She is in the room correct?”

I affirmed that and lead the older woman to Karen’s room, where my apprentice was awake and blinking in the shining light from the hall. I told her that the medic was here to examine her. Karen’s fear ratcheted up at the sight of the medic.

“The pain you are feeling may be caused by your body going into premature labor. I just want to look. Please close the door.”

I closed the door and fought the temptation to draw on the Force to hear what was going on. I knew I would have to give the two women some privacy. I went back to the living room and sat down with Luke. Nea turned the stove off and had put a lid on the pot. He only confirmed my suspicions of the contents in that pot.

An hour went slowly by. It was strange sitting around, doing nothing after doing so much fighting. My own body had started to feel tired, but my mind would not allow my spine to slump or my head to loll in the need of sleep. I would not rest until I knew Karen was going to be ok. Fifteen minutes later the door swung open and the medic came out with her bag.

“Her baby will be fine. I do not know how or why, but there was some internal pressure around the fetus. Had that pressured been continued or increased, it would have killed the child and very possibly the mother as well. I will not ask you men how it happened, but I strongly advise you keep her here until the reason behind this pressure has gone away.”

I assured her Karen was now safe and thanked the medic for her time and energy.

“She needs to rest for a day before going anywhere and I must insist she sees a medic who is better trained than I with babies.”

The medic was about to leave when I decided to ask something for Karen’s sake. I asked her if it was not too late to have a planned abortion if Karen wished for it. I could see the medic begin to think that somehow Karen tried to have one on her own, but I told the medic not to worry about that.

“Well, I suppose she could have one if she wished for it. I do not see-well that is none of my business. You will have to take this up with her, but yes she could have an abortion if she wanted one.”

I closed the door softly and went back to Karen’s room. She was now wide awake and slurping down Nea’s soup. I was handed a bowl of soup and firmly instructed to eat it before Nea ordered Luke to use the Force to shove it down my throat. Karen and I sat on her bed, quickly drinking our soup, never saying a word to each other. I waited for Nea to collect the bowls before giving her the good news about her health.

“Thanks Master. When can we go home? I’m a bit sick of adventures now.”

I wanted to laugh, but her serious, homesick face stopped me. I told her as soon as she would like after a day’s rest in bed. Her face brightened up with that news. I stopped her from cheering with one more piece of news. I told her she could get an abortion and if she was going to get one, she better get it here.

“Oh…”

I thought she would brighten up even more and then rub my face in the fact of how stubborn I am. Yet, she seemed confused, like she was trying to figure out how to say something she was not sure how to saw.

“Master, I …uh…well I…I thought about it and, well I can’t kill the baby. When Romness was trying to kill it I….I couldn’t stand it. This baby and I are already connected and you all are right. If I kill it, I might as well kill myself. I mean, I’m not ready to be a mom, but then again, who is, but I know I’m not ready to be a murder. You understand right?”

I nodded in shocked silence. I did understand, but strangely I was not happy. I had come too far to brace myself to loose the baby and to respect her wishes. I could not see this turn in her. She had given us all such a yelling for our values as Jedi that I realized she was not all the way a Jedi and may never be one.

Karen climbed to her knees and hugged me. I half hugged her back, trying to understand what was going on in her head. Was this a hormone driven response? Did she want me to be happy for her? When she released me from her embrace, she glowed with happiness that made my heart sing in joy.

“Let’s go home and have this baby!”