Chapter Text
The machines in the Halls of Healing reminded Violet very much of a normal hospital at home. If a normal hospital had monks in robes and medical droids and weird scanners.
She sat on the edge of a cot, waiting for the healer, a woman who had introduced herself as Kri’ia Sal, to return with her testing materials. There were few other patients, but endless entertainment in the form of medical technology.
A medical droid with an unsettlingly humanoid design puttered about organizing supplies in the back corner. A monitor on a sleeping patient beeped regularly. Everything was clean and neat.
Kri’ia returned with a clatter of materials she dropped onto the nearby tray and a warm smile.
“If you could please lay back on the bed, we’re going to do a full-body scan first.”
Violet obeyed, while Kri’ia arranged the machines around her. There was a low humming sound and then a persistent beep that she realized was her own heartbeat being recorded. A few other odd machinery noises later, Kri’ia declared the scan finished and recorded her notes on her datapad. Violet sat up, swinging her feet nervously before reminding herself that looked childish.
“Scan is all clear. Your vitals and organ function are normal,” Kri’ia said, looking up from her datapad with a smile.
“Oh, good.” Violet was secretly relieved.
“We’ll do a deeper brain scan next, just to be sure nothing is amiss, and then a blood test. Sound good?”
“Blood test?” Violet’s toes curled inside her socks (she’d gotten in the habit of wandering the Temple without shoes and couldn’t seem to cut it). She hated just about everything about getting her blood drawn. The needle, the blood...
“Oh, don’t worry,” Kri’ia reassured her. “It’ll just be a little finger prick to take a midi-chlorian count.”
“A midi-chlorian count?” Violet knew she was repeating everything the healer said, but she couldn’t help herself. That’s...that’ll be interesting. I wonder if they’ve ever seen a count of zero.
“They’re microscopic life forms that exist inside every being,” Kri’ia explained, gesturing for Violet to lie back down and moving a machine over her head. “Those with high enough counts can sense and even use the Force.”
Violet knew all of this already, but said nothing. She waited for the brain scan to finish. Perhaps it would say she really was hallucinating all of this. Then again, the scanner would probably be part of the hallucination anyway.
“Scans look completely normal. You’re all set up there.” Kri’ia tapped her temple, already preparing the lancet for the blood test. Violet eyed the device, wrinkling her nose in apprehension. I hate needles. I hate them I hate them I hate them.
“It’ll be just a little sting.”
Violet tried very hard not to flinch. It wasn’t that bad, but,
“Ow.”
“I know.” Kri’ia’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Let me go run the numbers.”
Violet sat, nursing her finger and imagining what Kri’ia’s face would look like when she saw the absence of midi-chlorians in her blood. In a few minutes, she returned with her datapad and a pleasant expression that was not the confusion Violet had expected.
“It appears you have a midi-chlorian count of approximately 7,500.”
Violet blinked. Stared at her. Then, finally said,
“What?”
“7,500,” Kri’ia repeated patiently. “Which makes you moderately Force-sensitive, but below the threshold where we would normally offer to train a youngling.”
Violet stared at her and said nothing. That’s not possible. I'm from Earth. How could those things get into my cells?
“You also would be too old for us to train anyway,” she added, looking apologetic.
Realizing she should probably speak, she forced out, “I’m...Force-sensitive?”
“But not trainable, yes. It can be useful to you still.”
“...Okay.” I need to get out of here before this gets any weirder. All the same, Violet felt a nearly uncontrollable urge to laugh, which she squashed into a smile instead.
“Do you have any questions for me?” Kri’ia asked. She began to put away her supplies and reset the machines. Violet glanced around the cool, grey room, as if hoping a suggestion would present itself.
She shook her head.
“Your specific results will be kept confidential, but I’ll tell the Council that all scans came back normal and the indications of the midi-chlorian count.” With that, Violet was released from the Halls of Healing.
She wandered down the corridor, unsure what to do with herself. She had been given a spare datapad so that she could be contacted if needed, but hadn’t received any sort of communication from it yet. Following landmarks she knew, she was able to make her way windingly to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. There, she settled on a bench near an artificial stream and stared into the water, sparkling in the (also artificial) sun.
So. Force-sensitive. Pretty cool, huh?
Does that mean I can, like, sense things?
She closed her eyes, trying to reach out with her mind and connect with...something. Nothing happened.
Maybe not.
She also had no idea what she was doing.
That could be a contributing factor.
A fern-like plant with gently waving fronds caught her eye, just on the edge of the bank. She got up and crouched to examine it. The fronds shied away from her touch, and Violet grinned.
“What a lovely thing you are.” She examined it visually, not attempting to touch it again. The fronds were fuzzy and bright candy-apple green.
The sound of a throat being cleared behind her made her jump. She whirled around, coming to her feet simultaneously. There was no one there. Then she looked down, and there was Yoda. All two feet of him.
“Oh!”
“Glad to find you here, I am. Made a decision the Council has,” he said without preamble.
“Oh.”
He hopped onto the bench and sat down.
That had to be Force-assisted, Violet thought inanely. She remained standing.
“Believe your tale the Council does.”
Violet let out a breath. “You don’t want me to, I don’t know, predict the future? As proof?”
“By predicting the future, change it you could.” Yoda paused, hummed softly to himself. “Mysterious, the will of the Force is. However, believe that you are here for a purpose, I do.”
“That’s, uh...thank you?” Violet waited for him to pronounce her fate.
“Nothing of the events you know of must you say,” he continued. “Remain on a predictable course the galaxy will, if reveal what you know you do not.”
“Okay.” I just hope I leave before that becomes an impossible order to follow. “So, do you know how to get me home?”
Yoda met her gaze. “No.”
“Oh.”
“But vast the Temple Archives are. Find a way we will.”
It was more comforting than it should have been. Surely, with the amount of research that was no doubt inside the Archives, there would be something about inter-dimensional travel or something like that.
“Can I start today?”
And that was how Violet ended up seated on the floor of the Temple Archives and combing through files and holos. Aledi sat across from her, hunched over a long holofeed video that most likely would turn up nothing. She had hunted down Violet after her own training was over, accepted her explanation of “sort of secret Council business,” and had enthusiastically agreed to help search for research on Force-related teleportation. Violet figured it couldn’t hurt to have another pair of eyes on a slightly different topic, just in case.
Violet crossed her socked feet underneath her. “Thanks for your help,” she said, quietly so that Master Nu wouldn’t scold.
Aledi looked up. “Of course.” She smiled. “Friends, right?”
“Right.” Violet smiled back. She couldn’t be sure, but she almost thought she could feel a hand reaching out to her, ghostly and immaterial. Her heart gave a painful squeeze at the thought of what she’d have to leave behind if she succeeded.
I have to get home. I have to.