#alt10

Despite the first-class care I was provided as the ‘governor’s Jedi pet’, I had caught a cold a few times already. Everytime, I managed to hide it, and kept my usefulness all throughout. When I was too sick to truly hide the rawness of my voice, the tightness of my throat, the hissing breath, the governor second shifted most of my duties to harder, but less political chores, where I wouldn’t hurt the governor’s reputation nor his friends' sensibilities. I never vocally told him I was sick, but I doubted the shifts were a coincidence.

This time, the fever came slowly. It slithered through my body like water, dampened my awareness one inch per day, never too slow, never too fast. No mucus filled my nose, but it felt like cotton had replaced my brain. My feathers were damp, covered in moisture from dawn to sunset. Each step felt more difficult, more heavy. The temperature in my room seemed to drop lower at night, chills running down my spine as I struggled to fall asleep, only to jump awake feeling on fire.

It took me several ‘accidents’ during my daily chores, broken tableware mixed with shattered dishes, guest tripped or glasses knocked out, to understand I was sick. It took me a single glance at the governor second to know my lack of foresight would have consequences. It took me failing to take off after the dozen lashes I had been saddled with as punishment to realise the sickness was serious.

A grounded bird is a dead bird, my mind whispered.

I weakly flapped my wings again, to no success. The simple action of holding them up was an impossible task, and I soon let them fold back limply on my shoulder blades. The change of balance was enough to make me waver.

I geared myself up for the long walk ahead. The walk from downtown to the palace was barely a few kilometers. Through flying, I could do it in minutes, but now, with my limbs weaker than a loth-kitten’s and my vision blinking in and out of existence, it felt like crossing the whole planet. 

That night, I arrived late to the palace. The governor second didn’t punish me however— and simply locked myself in my room earlier for the night. I was still a potential asset, and we both knew I would only get better if I was allowed to rest.

The next day, I opened my eyes to a world of blur.

Today there was a big meeting, and I would have to serve. I clenched my fists, preening hooks biting at flesh. There was no cutting it.

I stumbled upward, nausea balling inside my stomach. Only the fact that I missed most meals the previous day stopped me from soiling the floor in vomit. Using the wall as support, I slithered towards the corridor. The door of my room was so hard to open I almost thought it had been left locked. 

(But it hadn’t been)

I blinked, and I was in the meeting room, a plate in my hands. I had a vague recollection of struggling through the halls, of getting my assignment and being ordered to serve guests their wine, but nothing more. My memory was as fuzzy as my thoughts. Everything felt suddenly confusing and disorienting, tinted with an unreal edge. 

"Sinvulkt,” I almost dropped the plate at the voice of the governor’s second. “Come serve sir Beral, would you?"

I nodded. The movement was enough to send my world into a whirl, and I flared my wings to retain balance, almost knocking a vase off its shelf.

One more step.

Someone was speaking angrily at me. My feathers flattened. What were they saying? I tensed, forcing my leg forward, a false smile on my face. If I obeyed, everything would be alright.

One more step.

The speaking turned into shouting, but I felt far away from it. Had I done something wrong? The vase was still at its place. The wine glass was only a few centimeters away now. I was almost close enough to pour the ambery liquid inside.

One more step.

I wavered, but held on. My heart clenched under the fear of what would happen if I stopped being useful. I needed to reach the glass.

One more step.

Uncontrollable shudders racked my body. Had the glass always been so far away? My breath came in short, and my head spinned. An icy void filled my stomach, sending my heart racing, and yet, I was burning. Dark spots kept appearing in front of my eyes, hindering my vision.

Just… one more…

I held a hand towards the strangely friendly tooka, trying to pet it. The next moment, a sharp pain pierced my hand. I retracted it, wincing at the scratch the skin now sported. “Ouch,” I glared at it. It didn’t even seem sorry for hurting me. It just circled me, relentlessly meowing and growling, its fur bristled all over. It was so calm a minute ago, what made it so angry now?  

“Well. I guess it means we won’t be friends,” I sighed. 

Not that I wasn’t used to animals attacking me after I cornered them. But it seemed like even the most friendly of tookas disliked my presence. I turned to leave, knowing crowding it more wouldn’t help. Hopefully, a clone would soon pass by this wall and notice it. They’d be more suitable to take care of the feline.

A few steps later, the feeling of someone following me bristled my feathers, and I glanced behind, curious. The tooka stared back, its gaze much calmer than before.

I stopped. It stopped.

I scowled at the blue eyed creature.

“You should decide. Are you friendly, or not?”

It meowed, as if answering my question, but didn’t otherwise move.

“I don’t speak cat,” I sighed. When I spun towards the next hall, it tensed, ready to follow again. Well if the tooka wanted to come… who was I to deny it? I took a few more steps, waiting for it to follow again, before doing a backward salto.

I landed with my hands on it, catching it by surprise. It tried to claw and bite at first, but soon calmed down when I kept my hold tight, stopping its escape. I stood back up, and it hauntingly settled in my arms. 

“Now, there.” I looked at the ungrateful feline responsible for the aching pulse now irritating my arms. “Just bite if it gets uncomfortable, I guess.”

I spread my wings and took off with a jump.

The halls in this part of the ship were extremely wide- wide enough I could fly in them. It was far from standard: I had visited other battalion ships, and their halls were mostly narrow, prioritising the save of space. Every time I accused Aheka of having specially ordered this wide architecture so I could fly in-ship however, she denied it.

The truth was, I would have never been able to bear the long hours spent in hyperspace had I not have this space to stretch my wings. I looked at the tooka. Once again, I was overwhelmed by how familiar its presence was. Had we met before? But I would have remembered such a friendly feline.

Perhaps I had dream-traveled in its mind in the past.

Or perhaps its color reminded me so much of Rema I simply associated it too much with my Flock-sister.

“You look just like someone I know,” I told the tooka, petting the soft fur. It mewed in protest, sharp fangs flashing in the artificial light. “Just as grumpy too,” I chuckled.

I soon arrived in front of Rema’s room. She had closed herself in it a few hours ago, after declaring she wanted to work on the last Sith Artifact we found, away from dangerous grabby hands. Honestly, I had accidentally triggered the artifact one time. In the last month. But still!

The door was left jarred open. I frowned. Had she left?

“Rema?” I called. The tooka in my arm mewed, but otherwise no one answered. I cautiously entered. Was she taking a nap?

“Rema?” I called again louder, this time. "I want to show you something!"

Not a peep echoed. Not even the feline in my arms answered this time, opting to stare at me as if I was the dumb one. I glared back at it. I wasn’t the one who got lost in a ship traveling in hyperspace.

I stepped in. A soft light filled the room, the artificial sunlight having been left on. The desk was in disarray, papers scattered all over. A shudder shook my spine. It was as if Rema had vanished.

The tooka took advantage of my relaxed hold and graciously jumped onto the desk. 

“Oh no you don’t,” I warned.

I scrambled after it, wincing when one of my wings knocked a finely structured stone out of its shelf. “Rema is going to kill me…” I mumbled.

I caught the tooka just as it reached a pen left behind on some important report. A few more papers flew away from the desk as the tooka struggled. Hopefully they weren’t the very very important ones, I thought as one was almost ripped in two by the sharp claws. Worse case, I reasoned, I could always claim without lying I wasn’t the culprit. The tooka did it, I told my scowling inner-Rema.

A few more struggles later, I finally succeeded in lifting the reluctant feline from the desk. I sported surprisingly few injuries, for the true damage I knew the sharp fangs and claws could do. It hissed at me as I left the room. 

I ignored it, keeping a tight hold on it so it wouldn’t escape. The cat didn’t know what it risked. I was saving both of our lives.from a very angry clone.

“We disturbed Rema’s room enough for today,” I told it. “Let’s go.” 

I hadn’t expected it to understand me, and was just hoping my voice would sooth it, but it calmed down and settled back against my chest. A fond smile curled my lips upward. Pat would have to be cautious if he didn't want his ‘cutest member of the Milk Battalion’ title to get stolen.

I was wandering in the halls, wondering what to do with the grumpy feline in my arms, when a bunch of fiery fur caught my eyes. Speak of the devil… I sped up.

"Pat! Look what I found!"

I held out my arms, wings excitedly spread, only to notice my hands were empty. When did the tooka slither off? 

“You found… air?” Pat said confused.

“No, a tooka,” I answered, looking around for a spot of chestnut fur. “A brown, blue eyed tooka.” Sadly, the only feline in sight was my Padawan. I turned back towards him. “You wouldn’t have seen it per chance?”

"No…” Pat's eyes suddenly went wide. “Master… is there a wild tooka loose in the ship right now?"

“Maybe?” 

“Master—”

“It’s fine~" I sing-songed. Allegedly, Pat’s fear was valid:  last time I brought an animal onboard, the damage had been such we ended up stuck on planet for two weeks. How could I have known the big pterodactyl would take offense from the lights in the engine room? I wasn’t a brezak tamer.

"I’m calling Blue Milk," Pat deadpanned.

It would be fine… probably. There was already a tooka loose on the ship before I found it anyway. Plus, I still needed to check about Rema’s disappearance. Which meant I was very occupied, and couldn’t hear anyone’s lecturing. Beside for once, I hadn’t been the one to bring the tooka in the ship.

And perhaps tell someone Rema was gone. One day.