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Hiding Out

by PaRu ([email protected])

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Rating: NC-17 I spent half of the night writing this story without realizing it, so please forgive any silliness that goes along with it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Star Wars universe (although I wish I had a little piece of that pie). George Lucas does. I’m just borrowing things for awhile and beg the copyright attorneys to have mercy on me. I’m not making any money from it, so why bother with me?

Synopsis: Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are sent to find a friend who has run away from her duties as a Jedi and has been hiding for two years.

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Malaya Jaxit stood at the sink in the kitchen finishing the clean up from dinner. She had been feeling that something was about to change, but pushed the feeling to the back of her mind. With the harvest coming, she had no time for such worries, but when Manya came running into the kitchen babbling something about Jedi, she wiped her hands on her overalls and went out the back door to see what was going on.

One wore the dark robe of a Jedi Master while the other wore a simple brown robe like she was so used to seeing on her own clothes rack. Both had their hoods up, heads hidden deep enough in the folds of fabric to hide their identities but not so far that they couldn’t see to walk without falling. They had attracted a crowd and Malaya yelled for the workers to go back to work. Slowly they complied as the Jedi stopped at the bottom step.

"So, you’ve found me," she growled. "I’m not going back no matter..." she stopped in slight surprise when they pushed back their hoods. She knew them. They were old friends.

The younger one, Obi-Wan Kenobi, had the close cropped hair and long braid of a Padawan, but it was the master to whom she gave her attention.

"Qui-Gon Jinn," She hissed his name. "They sent you because they know I have a soft spot for you didn’t they?" She didn’t wait for him to answer. "You are not..." she stopped and looked up at the swamp. Gladden was a world of swamps, and the biggest part of their economy was the hydroponic spices, fruits and vegetables grown in the depths of those swamps. "Something’s wrong," she murmured then pushed her way between the two Jedi and down towards the water’s edge. Qui-Gon followed with Obi-Wan close behind.

A head popped above the water. "Dayne needs help!" the man cried. "I can’t get to her, she’s tangled in the vines!"

Malaya turned to Manya. "Get me a rebreather!" she ordered and the girl turned to sprint to the barn.

Qui-Gon leaned down to touch her shoulder as she pulled her boots off. "Can I help?"

Malaya felt like snapping at him but didn’t. "Manya, make that two rebreathers," she called to the girl then added, "And a couple of vibro knives."

Qui-Gon immediately pulled off his own boots and cloak handing both and his lightsaber to Obi-Wan as Malaya pushed herself out of her overalls to reveal a shirt with no sleeves and a pair of knee length pants. Manya came back with the breathers and knives and handed one of each to each of them. Both put the breathers in their mouths and took a testing breath. Malaya dove into the deep water and down below the vines with Qui-Gon following closely.

The water was clear at this time of year because of the harvest and, to Qui-Gon’s surprise, quite warm despite the air above. Malaya sensed exactly where the person in trouble was. Qui-Gon could feel the person’s fear but could not localize it. He simply followed Malaya until they found the young woman as she struggled in a panic against the underwater vines.

Malaya gestured for him to start on Dayne’s legs while she worked on her head and arms. Dayne tried to calm herself as the rescuers began their work. In the middle of cutting the vines from Dayne’s neck, Malaya ran out of air. Her rebreather had stopped working.

Taking the breather out of her mouth, she tapped it a couple of times and put it back into her mouth. When it still didn’t work, she growled at it and threw it away in the water. Just as she was going to head through the plants to the surface—and risk getting tangled herself—she felt Qui-Gon’s hand on her arm. She would have run out of breath if he hadn’t shoved his own breather in her mouth before he went back to his cutting. She took a few deep breaths as she cut then passed the breather back to Qui-Gon just as she sensed he needed it. Passing the breather back and forth, they were able to cut away the vines and free the woman trapped among them.

Dayne still had her own breather in her mouth and was able to keep herself calm enough so that her rescuers didn’t cut her as they cut the vines. When she got loose, she let Malaya pull her deeper into an area where the vines didn’t reach. Together, they trio swam to the edge of the swamp and surfaced. Qui-Gon had been the last to use the breather so Malaya came up and took a gasp of fresh air. Qui-Gon escorted Dayne to the shore as Malaya followed more slowly.

With Obi-Wan’s help, Qui-Gon struggled to get the two women out of the water then pulled himself out as well. Before anyone could do anything else, two farmhands picked Dayne up and carried her into the house. Malaya took two deep breaths and stood to follow before she was stopped by Qui-Gon’s hand on her arm.

"I need to talk to you," he said. "We parted on difficult circumstances."

"We did, but that’s the past, isn’t it?" She jerked her arm free from his grasp and walked up to the house, dripping wet and with bare feet. Manya followed with the overalls and boots.

"Why do I get the feeling that this isn’t going to be easy?" Obi-Wan said.

"She’s just stubborn," Qui-Gon replied.

Obi-Wan gathered Qui-Gon’s boots and cloak and followed him towards the house. The girl, Manya came out just as they reached the bottom step.

"I’m supposed to show you to a room," she said with a gesture to the house. She led them through the kitchen, into a hall and up a flight of stairs. The house was simple with no major modern conveniences that Qui-Gon could see. The room that Manya led them to was sparse with two neatly made beds and a door off to the side leading to the bath. "Will this do, Master Jinn?"

Qui-Gon smiled at the girl, noticing that she had called him by name. "This will be fine."

Manya turned to leave then changed her mind and turned back. "Malaya never talks about anyone like that," she said. "What did you do to get her all mad at you?"

"What makes you think she was angry?" Obi-Wan asked.

"She snapped at me," Manya said. "She never snaps unless she is mad and no one around here has done anything to make her mad. So I figured it must have been something you did."

"It may well have been," Qui-Gon replied.

"I’ll come back to get your clothes to dry them if you’d like," the girl said. At Qui-Gon’s nod, she left the room.

"Cute kid," Obi-Wan commented. "She idolizes Malaya."

Qui-Gon headed into the bath to get changed and cleaned up. The child came in with one arm full of Malaya’s wet clothes. She took Qui-Gon’s clothes and turned to start out. "Where is Malaya right now?" he asked as he smoothed his wet hair.

"I think she’s probably at the falls," Manya replied. "She goes there to get centered, whatever that means."

Qui-Gon nodded as she left. "Stay here," he told Obi-Wan as he left the room himself.

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Malaya was at falls that fell into a small pool in a crevice in the craggy rock cliffs near the house’s end of the swamp. The pool overflowed through a wide crack in the rock and down into the swamp, taking no more in than went out. Under the falls was a hollowed out place where she usually sat to meditate. Today her clothes were there and she wasn’t meditating but swimming near the crack that led out to the swamp. Watching the house, she saw Qui-Gon come out the back door and head in the direction of the small pond. It would probably take some time for him to get there so she put her back to the rock and waited. Her barriers were up but she felt them slipping. The council had made a wise choice to send Qui-Gon and she knew it. He made her nervous and there was more than one reason why.

Being alone on a ship with the Jedi Master had been harrowing enough; she had been just barely a Jedi on her first assignment. She messed things up royally and the council had sent the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn to help her regain control of the situation.

She was injured in an attempt to rectify the mess and had had to spend twenty-four hours in a healing trance. When she woke, she found him there, waiting for her to wake with a patience that drove her crazy. Then there was the fact that he had made her go back and fix the problem herself.

"You’ll never learn anything if someone is always there to get you out of trouble," he had told her.

The problem was that she excelled at getting into trouble and he excelled at getting her out of it.

Then there was the time he sent shivers down her spine with his kiss, but that was a long time ago—wasn’t it?

She could sense him coming closer but stayed carefully neutral and even more carefully next to the crack overlooking the farm on the far end of the pond from where the path ended at the water’s edge. In her present state of undress, there was no way she would let him come anywhere near her.

Now she could hear him as he struggled to get past the narrow place in the path just feet from where she would be able to see him. When he appeared at the gap in the rock, she pressed herself tighter against the wall behind her, her arms crossed over her bare breasts, hands clinging tightly to her shoulders.

He looked under the waterfall and saw her clothes neatly stacked where they wouldn’t get wet in the spray. Looking around, he finally found her in the dimming light as she floated pressed against the rock. "I see you’ve gotten yourself backed into a corner again," he commented dryly.

"A corner of my choosing," Malaya said. "I can get myself out of it."

"Since when have you ever been able to get out of a corner? Whether you choose it or not?"

Malaya changed the subject. "I noticed you brought your Padawan this time," she said. "I would think you’d never want me to ever go near Obi-Wan again after the trouble I got him into last time."

"He’s smart," Qui-Gon said. "He kept both of you alive, didn’t he?"

She sighed and rubbed her left shoulder absentmindedly.

"Are you still having problems with that shoulder?"

Malaya looked up sharply. "Problems, yes. Your business, no."

Qui-Gon slid off his boots and his robe then rolled up his pant legs so he could sit on the small ledge with his legs dangling in the water. "Warm water," he commented.

"The spring goes back into the planet’s superheated core," she told him. "There are crevices all over in the swamps that let out the same warm water."

"That’s why the water is warm while the air is cold," Qui-Gon said.

"If the water didn’t let off its heat into the atmosphere," she explained. "Not only would the planet be cold as Hoth, but it would be inhospitable. The atmosphere draws the oxygen from the plants that grow in the water. Plants that wouldn’t be able to grow in cold water."

Qui-Gon nodded in understanding. Both were quiet for a few moments before Qui-Gon spoke again. "Why did you leave?"

Malaya looked up at him. "I got tired of everyone bailing me out," she replied.

"That’s not the whole truth and we both know it," he said quietly.

He always knew when she was telling a half-truth. Always had. She turned her back to him and watched through the crevice as the swamp began to light up with the light of the light fish. "The lighting has started," she said. "It’s beautiful if you’ve never seen it before."

She watched it for several minutes before she looked over her shoulder in time to see Qui-Gon’s naked body slip beneath the water, his clothes piled neatly next to his boots. Before she could react, his hand was on the bare skin of her shoulder, massaging the pain that he knew she felt there.

She tried to shrug the hand away but he wouldn’t be ignored. He looked past her through the crevice at the swamp as it lit with the light fish.

"Why do they do that?" he whispered so closely that she could feel his breath on her neck.

Using every Jedi technique she had ever learned to calm herself, she tried to explain. "They are looking for their mates," she said. "Each fish, which really aren’t fish but some kind of amphibian, have a different color of light. Once a male mates with a female, their light is adjusted to the female’s spectrum. The colors go all over the spectrum in increments that you or I wouldn’t..." she sighed as he began to kiss her neck. She tried to go on. "Uh, notice. But... uh, they... do." His hands made their way up and down her back from her buttocks to her neck as she tried to remember what she was explaining. At each pause she let out a small moan. "At night... the pond, uh swamp, uh... gets too dark... for them to... uh, see to... mate." She fell silent when his mouth came down hard on hers.

After what had seemed like forever, his lips left hers to follow the line of her chin then down her neck again and she tried to remember where she had been in her explanation. "Where was I?" she moaned as he lifted her out of the water enough for his mouth to burn a trail to her breast.

He lifted his head long enough to whisper in her ear, "Too dark to mate," before going back to his careful exploration.

"They only mate... at night...," she continued her recitation, putting her hands on his shoulders in a half-hearted attempt to push him away. "When the air is at its... coldest."

Were her nipples hard from the cold air or from Qui-Gon’s touch? She couldn’t tell one way or the other. Either way, he lowered her back into the water and where he moved between her legs. She wrapped them around his hips and hooked her feet together. She moaned as he entered her.

First slowly, then faster, they moved together, splashing in the warm water. They moved against each other in a smooth rhythm that caused ripples in the surface of the water. They gasped in lungs full of cold air to the rhythm of their bodies. Qui-Gon leaned down and kissed her, his tongue exploring every part of her mouth that it could reach.

When he pulled back from the kiss, he moved faster and harder against her, pressing her back against the cold rock for support until they could both climax. Malaya screamed lightly through the night air, coming to climax at the same time the Chirra birds began calling their own mating calls in the chill of the night air. Qui-Gon climaxed seconds later and, taking a deep breath, both slid out of sight beneath the water’s surface once again. The light fish weren’t the only things that mated in the cold of night and in the water.

When they came up, Malaya took in some air and released Qui-Gon’s shoulders long enough to push her wet hair back out of her face. She smoothed Qui-Gon’s hair back as well since his own hands were still busy holding her, her legs still wrapped tightly around his hips.

The night was dark and the stars were well seen from the darkness of the crevice. Malaya put her head back against the crevice wall and sighed so softly that she didn’t think Qui-Gon could hear. He did hear and kissed her lips again. She shivered with the cold of the air around them.

"We should go in," he whispered in her ear.

"Not yet," Malaya said.

She slipped down in the water until they were both to their shoulders in the water and turned to watch the house through the crevice. Minutes silently passed and Qui-Gon pressed his head against hers to watch with her. When the last light went out, she stirred.

"Now we can go in," she said.

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Malaya woke later than usual the next morning in her own bed with her head pillowed on Qui-Gon’s strong arm. Her blond hair was tangled in with his darker hair, both having dried during the night. When Malaya tried to move to get up, his other arm held her back.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I have to get breakfast started," she whispered back. "And if I don’t get it started in the next ten minutes, they’ll come looking for me."

"You don’t want me caught in your bed?"

"That’s not it," she replied. "I don’t want to get caught with my pants down... so to speak."

Qui-Gon couldn’t help but laugh at that. He rolled over and let her get up. She threw on a bright blue bathrobe and tied it at the waist. She ran her fingers through her mid-length blonde hair and glance in the mirror. Man did she hope that no one noticed that she looked terrible this morning.

"I’ve got to get back to Obi-Wan," he said with a kiss to her cheek. He had slipped on his trousers and pulled his tunic over his head, but he held the rest of his clothes in his hand. "Maybe you can tell me why you left after breakfast."

Malaya groaned. "Maybe you can stick it where..."

"The light fish don’t shine?" Qui-Gon said mischievously.

It was Qui-Gon’s lot to try to get her to blush. No matter what he did, she would never blush. This morning was no different. She laughed instead.

"Where the light fish don’t shine," she agreed.

She left him to finish dressing on his own after which he joined Obi-Wan in their own room.

Obi-Wan was sitting on the bed, his eyes closed in deep meditation. "Is she going back with us?" he asked without losing his concentration.

"I don’t know yet," he replied. "I’ll talk to her about it again after breakfast."

"You were supposed to talk to her last night," Obi-Wan replied, still concentrating.

"I got sidetracked," Qui-Gon said then turned to go downstairs.

"You know," Obi-Wan interrupted. "That’s some soft spot she has for you."

Qui-Gon gave him a look. "My apologies if I interrupted your sleep."

Obi-Wan opened his eyes and looked up at his Master. "Noting an ice cold shower couldn’t cure." He paused. "Or several ice cold showers..."

Qui-Gon would have blushed if his Padawan hadn’t been so serious about it. He shook his head and went downstairs with Obi-Wan close behind.

At the breakfast table was Dayne, the woman he had helped pull from the swamp. "Master Qui-Gon," she smiled. "I wanted to thank you for helping to save my life last night. I don’t think Malaya would have made it out if it hadn’t been for you."

"You are welcome my friend," Qui-Gon said with a slight bow to her.

She took his arm. "Come sit by me Master," she said. "I’ll make sure you get your fill."

Malaya shrugged when he looked up at her and turned back to her cooking. ‘I think he’s already had his fill,’ she thought wickedly.

‘I heard that,’ came Qui-Gon’s laughing voice in her mind.

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Malaya sat on the cliff above the pond watching out over the swamp below. She wasn’t centered and going back to the pond just made it worse. She was so far away from herself that she didn’t hear the soft foot falls behind her until the person spoke.

"Mind if I join you?" Obi-Wan asked.

Malaya jumped slightly. "Go ahead," she said then watched as he sat down beside her. "What’s up?"

He quiet for a moment before he spoke. "Why did you leave?"

She looked at him thoughtfully before she answered. "Many reasons," was her reply. "I’m a Jedi, but I couldn’t do anything right. I mean, look at that assignment when you and I got trapped in the midji tree."

Obi-Wan chuckled. The adventure had begun with her trying to negotiate a deal for medicines for a colony and it ended with her unknowingly insulting the dealers. Since Qui-Gon had been off on an assignment, Obi-Wan went to bail her out but did not expect her to insult them for him too. The were hanging back to back with their hands tied together above them from a strong branch in a midji tree, waiting for their own deaths, when Qui-Gon found them. The usual punishment was for instant death if the person who had caused the insult didn’t immediately insult themselves in an even worse manner than they had insulted their host. Obi-Wan had talked them into the more lenient punishment even if the ditsi flies and speckled birds had made the punishment far worse than death.

Malaya had let Qui-Gon embarrass her into blushing that one time as a gesture to let them know that she was embarrassed by the incident. Ever since, Qui-Gon had tried to find new ways to get her to blush but had never succeeded.

"It turned out all right," Obi-Wan said. "Why else?"

There was a long pause. "I have gotten so that I don’t believe in the ideals of the rest of the Jedi anymore," she said. There. It was out.

Obi-Wan only nodded. "Neither does Master Qui-Gon," he replied.

"It’s more complicated than that," she insisted. "They look so much to themselves as all-powerful. I am living proof that Jedi are not all powerful. They think too much about tomorrow and the big picture. I’m right here, right now." She paused to shake her head. "We can be so worried about the needs of the many that we forget the needs of the few."

Somehow, Obi-Wan felt like he had just been lectured. He adjusted his sitting posture to one for meditation.

"There are many Jedi, but not so many that you’d bump into one on the street," Malaya went on. "Maybe those are the only few that the council pays attention to. The chosen few."

"Are you finished lecturing, Master?" Obi-Wan asked with humor in his voice.

"Yes, Padawan. I’m finished."

"What’s the last reason that you left?" he asked. "The one you won’t even admit to yourself?"

Malaya looked at Obi-Wan. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Yes you do," Obi-Wan replied. "And when you can admit it to yourself is when you’ll be able to rejoin the ranks of the Jedi with a clear conscience."

"I never knew that Jedi Padawans could be so profound," she replied with a smile.

"I’ve got a great teacher," he said as he calmed down and steadied his concentration for meditation.

When he was fully concentrating, Malaya smacked him in the back of the head only to be disappointed that his concentration didn’t waver.

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Harvest was over.

Among these people, this was cause for celebration.

And celebrate they did. To the Nth degree.

Malaya had no time to speak with Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan any further today. She was busy making the delicacies that they would be eating tonight around the bonfire. The two Jedi were instead sent to help the men pull in the remaining vines.

Starting just scant hours before sunset, the party would begin. People ranging from babies to the old would be outside with the music, the noise and the food. Malaya just hoped that they would be prepared in time. Thankfully, they made it just in time.

Qui-Gon sat serenely next to his Padawan in the circle around the fire. Women were setting up the dishes full of food near the back porch of the house when the music suddenly began blaring. Malaya jumped and headed to the fire with the others. Loud and fast, the musicians played as the women danced to the music in their bare feet around the fire, choosing partners.

Malaya held her hand out to Qui-Gon but he shook his head and nodded to his apprentice. Malaya laughed and grabbed the young man’s hand. Obi-Wan looked back at Qui-Gon in alarm. Qui-Gon simply smiled and watched as Malaya danced around the fire with Obi-Wan in tow. It didn’t take him long to get into the rhythm of the music and start laughing with the rest of the young people.

Manya waved at Qui-Gon as she passed followed by a young man about Obi-Wan’s age. Qui-Gon smiled back as she passed and went out of view behind the fire. Obi-Wan and Malaya came back into view and Qui-Gon smiled again. She was dressed in a green dress that she had told him was made from the vines that they had helped bring in that afternoon. It was short, hanging to a place not far below her hips, and twirled when she spun around. Thin straps showed off the beautiful shoulders of the woman.

Dark came and the light reflected off the water where the lighting was beginning. Qui-Gon looked out over the water. The light flickering in the water didn’t look the same as it had last night. He stood and started over to the lake; Malaya noticed and looked just as Manya screamed.

"The swamp is on fire!"

The group around the fire was moved into action. Everyone headed in a different direction, getting to practiced positions to protect themselves and the structures before the fire could come rolling into the shore.

"What’s going on?" Obi-Wan asked from behind her.

"A very rare occurrence," Malaya replied as she led him away from the bonfire. Qui-Gon joined them just in time to hear about it. "The fires of the core have somehow created an air pocket in the water and will be coming up any time now. If we hadn’t already brought the crops in, it would destroy them. If we don’t protect the structure, the fire will catch it when it leaps from the water."

"Sounds frightening," Obi-Wan commented.

"It is," Malaya replied. "And very dangerous if we weren’t practiced in what to do."

A woman sprinted up to Malaya. "I can’t find Aleea," she said on the verge of panic. "Last I saw her, she was near the swamp."

Malaya looked back to the water which was rapidly getting brighter. She cursed as she reached out with the Force and found her still at the swamp, crying with panic and screaming her mother’s name.

Qui-Gon shrugged out of his robe and tossed it and his lightsaber to Obi-Wan as Malaya sprinted back towards the swamp. "Get her to safety," he ordered before sprinting after Malaya. By the water’s edge they did not find the child, but looking out over the water, where they could see the fire rapidly approaching, they could see the child. Somehow she had fallen in and had gotten turned around. She was swimming parallel to the shore rather than towards it.

There was no time to go out and bring her back in, and Malaya told Qui-Gon so. "I’m going to go out and get her and try to shield us with the Force."

"You won’t be able to keep the fire off yourself and not for very long," Qui-Gon told her.

Before she could protest, he had jumped into the heated water. Malaya jumped in after him and both swam out to the frightened child. They sandwiched her between them and built a Force barrier around themselves, each reinforcing the other. The finished just in time fore the onslaught. The child began to scream and Qui-Gon took just enough of his concentration away from the barrier to calm her, sending her into a deep sleep.

"You overdid it as usual," he heard Malaya say over the roar of the fire around them.

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Obi-Wan had the unenviable task of keeping the child’s mother calm although he was unable to do the task as well as his Master could. As they sat in the shelter of the force field, the woman cried, pointed out that they hadn’t made it back before the fiery onslaught. Obi-Wan could sense them, but nothing beyond that. He didn’t even know if they were hurt or not.

It seemed like hours that passed as he waited with the woman for the fire to stop pouring from the swamp before them. When it finally did, all that could bee seen was smoke and darkness. Obi-Wan peered through the darkness at the shoreline, squinting through the smoke. When a trio of people stumbled blindly from the dark, Obi-Wan smiled and sprinted forward with the child’s mother on his heels.

She picked up the child and swung her around in a huge hug. "How did you...?" she asked.

"The Force was strong with us," Qui-Gon replied.

They were all three had faces streaked with sweat and soot and their clothes smelled of smoke. They might have had a singed hair or two, but otherwise they were perfectly fine. The mother went off with the child as Malay sat down on the warm ground with Qui-Gon at her side. "Remind me to never do that again," she said breathlessly.

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Malaya sat on the rock under the falls with her legs crossed and her hands resting lightly on her knees. Meditation had finally come to her and she sat straight and tall, her hair pulled back from her face in a ponytail. She was still sitting there when Qui-Gon joined her.

Qui-Gon sat with his legs under him in a position different from Malaya’s but for the same reason, meditation. They sat for quite some time before she finally opened her eyes.

"You’re leaving," she stated what he had come to tell her.

"The Council has recalled us," he said. "They need us to negotiate a trade agreement between the Trade Federation and the Naboo."

"Will you be going to Coruscant first?"

"I’m afraid not," was his reply. "The situation has grown critical and we have no time to stop."

"Do you know the rest of the reason I ran away?" she asked.

Qui-Gon looked over at her. "Not conclusively, no."

"You made me worse when you’d come to bale me out of trouble," she replied with a glance in his direction. "I have been attracted to you since that first assignment when I got shot in the shoulder."

"And I you," he agreed. "Are you coming back?"

There was a silence as she thought of how to word her answer. "Will you inform the council that I’ll be back in four weeks?" she went on, not looking at him. "I need to help these people make the transition for my absence."

"Yes," he answered. He leaned in and kissed her. "I will see you on Coruscant in four weeks."

"If your mission doesn’t take longer than that," she said. "In four weeks."

THE END

Look for the sequel with surprises galore.