Roasty, Toasty Princess

[Ara Zambrano]

Spoiler

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgvy0PPJLRY[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIwfruNJNUU[/youtube]​

Location: Avalonia, Central Civilian Medical Center


The disciple didn't remember much of the trip from Coruscant to Avalonia, Dosuun, but she did remember the painful trek from the spaceport to the Medical Center. Both her pilot and soldier escorts had offered to accompany her, but she had turned them down with a flat stare, convinced that if she was going to collapse on the route, it would be better to do so away from the eyes of those she needed to command at times. Pride. It was pure pride and stubbornness that had her dragging her battered and broken body alone through the streets of the capital city at dusk. She clutched her cloak closer to her figure, loath to draw more attention to herself than necessary. An exposed side wound and limp was not something to advertise in a city covered with Stormtrooper patrols.

Every step was a labored combination of shards of pain radiating from her shattered shoulder, the saber wound across her ribs, and the right leg that barely worked now, thanks to an electrical attack from the unknown rogue. She'd been an idiot to follow him, an even bigger idiot to think she could take on someone stronger than her on what she assumed to be his home turf. She could only imagine the dressing down she'd receive once she returned to the Bastion.

At that thought she groaned inwardly and closed her eyes, drawing a stare from passing off-duty soldier. [member="Kaalia Voldaren"] was going to murder her when she got home. A simple trip home to settle a few financial affair had turned into battle for survival and she could only imagine the younger girl's reaction.

As hulking form of the Medical Center appeared before her, a mixture of walk-in clinic, emergency room, and medical school. She'd been her once before, for minor wounds inflicted during a sparring match with the ex-Jedi turned Disciple of Ren, [member="Connor Harrison"]. That had been a simple burn on her right shoulder, slight concussion, and a bruised shin. Today, she was in decidedly worse shape.

The glass doors slid open before her, ushering her into a well-lit waiting room filled with patients, orderlies, and droids, all busy with their own tasks meant to allow a smooth admittance of patients.

One quick look was all it took to ensure the girl was ushered into a private room immediately, a quick swipe of her identichip giving the medical staff the information they needed without wasting any time.

Her information was a lie of course.

Name: Amara Saito
Occupation: Military Civilian Support, Information Sector

Her basic statistics and identifiers all present. It was an easy cover for the few times needed access to the First Order's facilities on Dosuun, since she, and her fellow Knights of Ren, did not technically exist.

She slumped over onto the first remotely comfortable surface she could find, glad to not be moving for a change. Hopefully the Medical Center was as good as their reputation suggested.

[member="Irajah Ven"]

 

[Kuzo]

"Doctor Ven? You're needed in exam room three."

Irajah looked up from the stitches she was putting into a woman's knee- split open in a fall but relatively minor in the scheme of things- surprise flickering across her face. She was rarely interrupted in the clinic, unless it was for an emergency, and those didn't send her to different exam rooms.

"I'll be finished here in a minute and then I'll come right over-"

He shook his head. "I'll send someone else to finish this. I'm sorry Ma'am," he addressed that to the woman on the table who just looked baffled.

Concerned, she nodded.

What.... or who..... could be so important to pull her away from another patient like this?

*****

The patient information didn't clear anything up. In fact, it looked positively unimpressive from a 'who's who' standpoint. Except for the fact that the small VIP flag flickered at the top of the file, Irajah never would have even known that there was more going on here than there seemed to be.

The door slid open to the exam room and the normal greeting of 'Hi, I'm Doctor Ven, what seems to be the trouble?' died on her lips.

Hazel eyes quickly took in the look on the girl's face. The pain.

"Lie down," she instructed, moving across the room swiftly.

"I'm Doctor Ven..... can you tell me what happened?"

[member="Ara Ren"]

 

[Ara Zambrano]

The opening of a door and the quick commands of the medical staff who entered roused her from her pain-induced reverie. She raised an eyebrow at the petite woman, chuckling as she glanced down at her nearly prone form already.

"I lost a fight with a speeder." She teased, groaning as she attempted to do what the doctor requested.

The muscles in her side pulled taught as her body shifted, the wound in her side sending more stabbing pain through her rib cage. She closed her eyes and winced, trying to find a comfortable position and failing.

"I made a few bad decisions on Coruscant and let's just assume I paid for them, hmm?"

If the disciple felt bad about her snarky attitude and tone, it didn't show. The pain drew all of her attention, even the niceties she normally would have engaged in fled from her mind. All she wanted was to be patched up and to rest. Everything else was expendable.

[member="Irajah Ven"]

 

[Kuzo]

Raja's eyebrows crawled all the way up her forehead at that response. She was used to people lying to her, but not usually with that degree of blatant sarcasm. However, the stamp on the patient's profile, marking her high priority, as well, as the obvious pain on her face were the more important factors here.

After all, Doc Ven wouldn't walk out on someone just because they had a bad attitude.

She moved across the room, drawing the portable scanner over with one hand and fishing around in a drawer with the other. Absently tapping the controls, she got that machine working- she needed to know as quickly as possible if there were any internal problems along with what she could very clearly see. Drawing a needle out of the drawer, she checked the dosage against [member="Ara Ren"] 's chart and swift stuck it into the young woman's upper arm without warning.

Bad attitude tended to erode some of her bedside manner, if she was being honest.

"You should start to feel some relief in a moment," she said quietly as she disposed of the needle. It wasn't enough to sedate her, just take the edge off of the pain.

The scanner pinged and Irajah pulled up the readout, eyes flicking over it quickly to make sure there was nothing immediately life threatening.

 

[Ara Zambrano]

"For feth's sake-!" The curse was elicited more from the shock of an unexpected jab from the needle rather than actual pain. The automatic shift of weight away from the source of the sting resulted in another glorious jolt of pain from her ribs and shoulder.

Grinding her teeth against another sarcastic comment, she answered the Doctor's earlier question with some semblance of seriousness. "I stuck my nose where it didn't belong on a trip home. Turned out I'd picked a fight with someone stronger than I was." She moved her arm enough to show the extent of the saber wound across her left rib cage. She'd managed to avoid the brunt of the attack, keeping the blade from slicing deeper and into bone.

Her right leg was her biggest concern. Having narrowly avoided a head-on attack with Force Lightning, her right ankle had not been spared the same fate. She wasn't quite sure the extent of the damage, but her leg and the affected joint were not working as they should.

Her left shoulder was also not working quite right. Mangled from the combination of slamming into the wall and later the ground. She'd heard bone crunch and pop as she had struggled to keep her grip on the door handle while also being slammed with an unyielding wall of power.

She was just thankful she was right-handed.

The effects of the sedative in the needle took effect swiftly, the burning pain taking on a dull-edge. She relaxed infinitesimally as her muscles relaxed and her brain could function again. She sighed and started to straighten up, an automatic reaction from someone who wasn't used to staying prone.

With a sheepish grin towards the woman, she stopped herself. "Sorry and...thank you." She took a moment to just focus on the ceiling and breathing without fire burning through her lungs.

[member="Irajah Ven"]

 

[Kuzo]

Irajah's tight expression softened a little bit and she offered the other woman a nod.

"Thank me once we get you all fixed up, okay? And no apologies needed. Pain makes people.... well. You have some idea I'm sure."

She knew all too well how pain affected the psyche. Pain like this was different than chronic pain, but both were insidious and often difficult to spot the changes in someone that they wrought. This though, at least, was relatively straight forward.

Hazel eyes flickered over the scan as it came through, occasionally pulling up a more detailed image with a touch of her finger. Nothing life threatening, thank the Maw.

"We're going to need to operate on your shoulder," she said, glancing down at [member="Ara Ren"]. "Damage was done to the tendons, as well as the edges of the socket. We could simply set it, but it would always run the risk of dislocating in the future. Surgery will necessitate a longer recovery time, but, in the long run, you'll be better off for it."

She paused, pulling up the other injuries with a flick. "As much as these hurt, we'll be able to deal with them far more easily at the same time. You will scar- there's nothing I can do to prevent that, but they will heal. I'm going to have you transferred to a private room while I have the OR prepared-" With that designation, she wasn't about to wait on a queue.

"Do you have any questions, before I go?"

 

[Ara Zambrano]

The idea of surgery was not one she wanted to contemplate long. She supposed she'd undergone surgery years ago, after her fall, but she was blissfully unaware of it. She didn't like the idea of being at someone else's mercy, even a doctor's, but she liked the idea of a perpetually dislocated shoulder even less.

"Surgery sounds like the...more advantageous option." She agreed, refusing to call it the best option. The best option was for Ara to not be in need of medical attention at all, but that ship had sailed.

Her expression darkened as she considered the idea of scarring. Scars were war wounds, signs of battles well fought. But these, these particular scars would be reminders. Reminders of the time she failed so spectacularly. Reminders of the second time she'd faced death and somehow walked away, but this time she was not unscathed.

Anger and frustration bubbled up inside, the urge to lash out held in check by the knowledge that this Doctor Ven was only here to help and would do her best to return Ara to fighting shape.

The disciple shook her head sharply, lost in her own tangled thoughts of revenge, failure, and frustration. She didn't need to question the Doctor's ability or the Medical Center's skills, she had first-hand recommendations.

[member="Irajah Ven"]

 

[Kuzo]

It didn't take someone trained in the Force to read the series of emotions flickering across the girl's face. Though Irajah was familiar with all of them from patients in similar situations. She couldn't read her mind, far from it, but for a moment, it might almost seem like she was.

"A friend of mine once told me that his past injuries- his scars- were reminders of lessons learned," she said quietly. She had no way of knowing that [member="Ara Ren"] was also friends with [member="Connor Harrison"]. "He viewed them as memories of his weaknesses though- I think there's another way to see it. They are reminders of the fact that whatever happened, you survived. That's not failure, or weakness. Sometimes, surviving is telling the galaxy to kark off, you don't get to tell me to lay down and die. And that matters. Every time."

Irajah didn't know just how seriously her view on that would be put to the test in the coming months. She had already been through what she thought was the hottest crucible she would ever have to endure. Someone, however, had other plans.

"Are you ready?"

 

[Ara Zambrano]

The disciple listened to the words, a small frown forming. It was a lovely way of looking at scars and past experiences, but it hardly quelled the anger and frustration swirling in her gut. She supposed, in time, she'd view the wounds and the experiences with the same lens of logic and reality as the Doctor did. No, she hadn't just laid down and died, she'd fought back and defended herself.

That was never in question. The fact that she had failed to protect herself better, that she had been that close to dying and barely stopped it from happening, that was what made the thought of scars unbearable. Eventually they would add fuel to the fire to become stronger, better, faster. But for now, they were sore reminders.

"Yes, I survived..." She trailed off before the unstated barely slipped past her lips. Her tone and the medical equipment made that apparent without the disciple voicing the thought.

She nodded once in response to being ready and closed her eyes, unwilling to discuss the situation further with this stranger. She wanted to be healed so she could disappear for a while and just focus on her revenge. For there would be revenge.

[member="Irajah Ven"]