. Bonds of Choice #24 Star Wars: TPM FanFic Series by HiperBunny (message 1 of 3) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Obi-Wan Kenobi had not gotten where he was by being unobservant or easily confused. The healers and medtechs had been buzzing around Master Giavanni's sleeping form ever since his arrival and hadn't slowed one jot. Obi-Wan had tried to be patient, but he was charged with keeping close watch on the injured Jedi and it would be easier to stand vigil if he knew what to look for. When J'kata entered, Obi-Wan took the opportunity to question the healer. "What's wrong?" "Nothing you can do anything about, Jedi, so just sit there and be vigilant," the pink and green healer brusquely replied. "Okay, fine. But tell me what it is I'm vigilling over, just so I know," Obi-Wan gave his best pleading look. "You Padawans. We ought to make a rule about pouting," the healer grumbled. "It's an infection… well, a couple of infections actually. Nothing you can Force-heal, so there's nothing you can do. You'll just have to leave this one to science." Obi-Wan sat, stunned. "Infection? How bad? Where? What…" J'kata tossed his lightslate down on the bedside table. "Do your own research," he said before strolling out of the room. Obi-Wan was never quicker on the uptake then that moment. Infection to the cuts, something nasty in the lungs, weakened resistance making further infection to the shrapnel wounds a real possibility… he closed the file. No wonder Master Giavanni hadn't awakened. All of his life-energy was barely enough to keep him breathing. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and thought. It was one of the Jedi arts to learn how the body worked and how to accelerate the regeneration of living tissue. This was 'Force-healing'. Very useful for wounds, physical damage, regulation of system functions and so forth. What it couldn't counteract was actual illness. Viruses and bacteria were living organisms, no matter how small and unevolved. As such, the healing techniques of the Jedi weren't much help in ridding the body of their presence. The closest anyone had ever gotten was to push the illness through its course at an accelerated rate, or kick the immune system into overdrive. Neither was particularly good for the patient. Though it was possible to reinforce the immune system, increasing its effectiveness, Kato's body was so damaged that keeping him alive was a big enough challenge for his abilities. Unfortunately this was an all-too-familiar scenario within the Order. Thus the continued presence of healers, medical scientists and the occasional doctor in the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan reached out through the Force and tested the waters of Kato's spiritual presence. His mental shields were still in place, though they seemed to be more reflexive than deliberate. He nudged those shields, just to see what response he would get. A muzzy, pre-verbal pulse brushed against his probe. *He's not sleeping, he's unconscious,* Obi-Wan realized. He pondered his options for a moment, then settled onto the floor in Upward Lion pose. **Master Giavanni?** ==?== **Master Giavanni, it's… Padawan Kenobi.** ==?== Obi-Wan shunted his frustration aside. **I am Qui-Gon Jinn's apprentice.** ==…== **He sent me here to look after you while Master Crowe got some sleep.** ==…kourt…== **That's right, Kourt Crowe. Master Jinn said I should stay with you.** ==…jinn…bastard…heh...== Obi-Wan considered the quality of that thought. **Well, yes. I suppose he is, on occasion.** ==…fucking padawan learner…== **Pardon me?** == darkside motherfucker… killed my…== Obi-Wan sighed in relief. Giavanni was thinking of someone else. **Corubia and I saw to Zareen. The others are giving her the Watch tonight.** ==deserves better…== That thought was colored by a deep regret, one that couldn't possibly be helpful to the injured Jedi. Obi-Wan didn't want to lose contact, so he tried to steer the conversation in another direction. **Master Crowe will be back in the morning.** ==Off with that Jinn…== **No, Corubia's seeing to him. Qui-Gon, uh, Master Jinn is going over your mission records.** ==little slut.== **Who?** Obi-Wan asked, confused. ==Jinn.== **He'd better not be.** Obi-Wan surprised himself with the intensity and protectiveness of the sentiment. ==Who are you again? == **Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi.** ==Who's your Master?== **Qui-Gon Jinn.** ==Condolences…== **Whyfore?** ==Stuck with Jinn as your teacher. How'd you end up with that?== **Sheer luck. Will of the Force. Something like that.** ==Poor you.== Obi-Wan drew a sharp breath. *He's almost totally out of it,* he reminded himself. *He can't know what he's saying.* But that made it all the more compelling, the desire to mine this source of information on his Master. He frowned at the quality of that thought. *But Qui-Gon grilled MY friends while I was gone,* some left-out part of his brain put in. Obi-Wan opened his eyes to study the mostly-sleeping Master Giavanni. *My friends weren't hurt, sick, drugged and possibly Force-slept at the time. This is NOT a good idea.* He found his center again. **Is there anything I can do to help you?** ==...== Obi-Wan felt the injured Jedi drifting towards more normal rest and got up off the floor. He stuck his head out of the room and saw J'kata standing at the nurse's station. He waved the healer down and met him in the hallway. "He's… lucid, more or less. He could project thought, but his conversation was fairly disjointed and… visceral." J'kata nodded. "No clue what happened to him?" "He didn't say anything. He's pretty fixed on Master Crowe right now," Obi-Wan explained. The healer nodded. "Well, if I know Kourt, he'll grab an hour's sleep and be back here to relieve you. Why don't you go practice your arts on these wounds-" J'kata indicated the areas on the medical chart- "then go on home?" "Yes, Healer," Obi-Wan bowed. ********************** Kato was still asleep, but a healing sleep, when Obi-Wan was done with his healing exercise. A light touch on his shoulder made him look around. Jenji smiled at him. "My turn, little brother. Master's looking after Cor and Master Crowe. You go home and look after Master Jinn. I'll look after Master Giavanni, and later we'll all switch." "Glad to hear you're holding Swed and Master Hunter in reserve," Obi-Wan grinned as he stood to stretch. "Always have backup," Jenji smiled in reply. Obi-Wan considered the information he'd gleaned from his odd conversation with Master Giavanni. *Had* Qui-Gon and Master Crowe been lovers? What kind? Something deep, real… or fleeting? Giavanni had seemed rather upset about the whole thing, but that didn't really mean anything. Nothing concrete, anyway. The first thing Obi-Wan noticed when he entered the apartment was that dinner was waiting for him. Nothing fancy, his favorite sandwich and some juice, but clearly it had been put together by hand. Qui-Gon was on the couch, headphones piping music directly into his brain, one foot tapping absently in the air. Obi-Wan chose to eat in silence, mulling questions while he chewed. Finally Qui-Gon switched off his lightslate and sat up, smiling at his student. "So, you and Master Crowe…?" Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. Qui-Gon grinned ruefully. "Are you surprised?" Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, just… he doesn't seem like your type." Qui-Gon threw his head back and laughed. "I'm not dead *yet,* Obi-Wan. You have seen the man recently, haven't you?" Obi-Wan frowned. Qui-Gon came and sat next to his student, sobered by his partner's ire. "You're right, Obi-Wan. It never worked out between us. He wanted to go on every mission the Council could find us, I wanted to bury myself in the library and never come out. I took Pequara on, trained her outside of the Group, so we lost touch for a while. Then Xanatos…" Qui-Gon shrugged. "It was nice while it lasted, but… it just didn't last." "Master Giavanni seems to think it lasted plenty long enough," Obi-Wan put in. "Master… well. Hmm. Don't know what to tell you, there. I just recently began to suspect there was something between those two," Qui-Gon explained. "Kourt is a very… private man." "So he's spoken for, and I shouldn't worry about it?" Obi-Wan gave half a smile. "No, *I'm* spoken for, so you shouldn't worry about it," Qui-Gon corrected. "Whether you want me or not. I'm holding out for something more with you…" Qui-Gon looked away, suddenly embarrassed. "I'm sorry…" "No, don't be… tell me," Obi-Wan encouraged. "No point, is there? Every time I start talking long-term with you, you pull away so fast and so hard I can't even think straight. I… I'm waiting, but I want you… it's difficult," Qui-Gon stood and stretched. "I should go… see if Corubia needs any help. Do you need anything?" Obi-Wan mutely shook his head no. "I'll be back later, then…" Obi-Wan watched his master go, carefully considering all he had not said. ********************** Qui-Gon sat with Kourt in the infirmary waiting area. Kato had called for Kourt the moment he woke up. Kourt had called Qui-Gon, asking him to come to the infirmary. The elder master had been waiting for the healers to leave Kato when Qui-Gon arrived, refusing to speak until real word came from the medics. J'kata came out of Kato's room and approached them. "He's... he'll live. He needs to rest, but he's not going to do that unless he gets to make his report, so you'd better go take it. Master Crowe, we've laid a pallet for you. Master Jinn... never mind. You wouldn't do it anyway." The healer cleared the way for them and Kourt entered the sickroom with more haste than was seemly. Qui-Gon leaned against the doorjamb and simply observed. Kourt rushed to the bedside and wrapped his arms around his lover, showering his face with soft kisses while Kato did his level best to get a word in. After a long moment, Kourt clambered up onto the bed and stretched out, one hand stroking the short, pale hair that remained. A line of sutures marked a telling path across one side of Kato's scalp, one arm was in a still cast, and his body was a patchwork of bandages and the leavings of various healing treatments. His eyes were still fever-bright, but lucid and glittering with urgency. "I found them," he said. "Where? Did you see them? How do we get to them? How many are there? Is... is the boy..." Kourt clamped his mouth shut. "In Eab Nanoorn. No, but my people brought holos. Getting them will be... tricky at least. I can say two for certain, and the boy... sporting a braid no less. Kourt, they're pinned down... we'll have to go in and pull them out by force, I think. This fucking... there's this General... you were right about the armies. It's big, money coming from somewhere, and they've got them locked up tighter than a virgin's undies. They're in the middle of the damnedest monkey puzzle I've ever seen." Kato closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. "It's a 'lost' world in the Cajo system, called Kais. It used to be the capitol of Eab Nanoorn, but a few years ago the Crown moved and took the Capitol with it. A decade ago it was the safest thing going. Now it's death on a stick." Qui-Gon cleared his throat. Kourt looked over at him and smiled. "The Elders." "No..." Qui-Gon murmured. "Really? Are you sure?" "And quite certain, Master... Jinn? Is that really you? What happened?" Kato blinked in shock. "Cosmetics," Qui-Gon shook his head ruefully. "Ah. Well. Good job of it. Yes, it's them. Sarafel's out there with her partner and... and she's taken the boy as her Padawan. The Council's going to have a fit," Kato smirked. "As if that would be unusual." "Someone had to do it," Kourt allowed. "She's one of the best." "I'll not argue that," Qui-Gon agreed. "But... what boy?" Kourt and Kato went silent, neither one wanting to meet Qui-Gon's eyes. After a long pause, Kourt said "You've met Anakin Skywalker, yes?" Qui-Gon nodded. "Well, he's what you might call a diversionary tactic. Something big and noisy to draw attention away from the very quiet, very secret but much more relevant issue at hand. You might want to sit down," Kourt advised. Qui-Gon slid down the wall and made himself comfortable on the floor. Kourt pulled a lock of hair away from the rest and began tugging on it as he composed his thoughts. "You know I hunted Xanatos for quite a long time after you returned to the Temple, do you not?" Qui-Gon's stomach clenched at the name and he was just barely able to nod. "There are things about that hunt that I've never told you. You needed time to heal, to get yourself some distance between him and yourself. I hope you understand. I went off Republic duty, you may recall, after I brought you home. In the years that followed, we, Kato and I, spent most of our time in the Outer Rim, searching on behalf of the Order itself. We never got much closer than a few months of him, never even really got close at all... but in the beginning he was sloppy. He left tracks, evidence and he indulged himself quite freely in all the things he'd been kept from as a Jedi. There was theft and murder, abuses of his powers, all the things we've come to expect from Dark Jedi. But he also created and left something that might make up for all that. He left us a child." "A child," Qui-Gon repeated. "Xanatos had a... a child. A son. That's what you're telling me." "That's what I'm telling you. We found him, not quite three months old, born to a slave prostitute on Tatooine... where Erac would later find Anakin Skywalker. He knew about a child from that planet but didn't know that he had been moved to a safer location. I had planned to bring Luke back there, place him in your path, as it were... but the Naboo situation and the knowledge surrounding that mission prevented this from happening. On top of all that, I couldn't contact Sarafel to set the plan in motion. Anakin was just... I suppose his discovery was the Will of the Force. I hope it was..." Kourt let his hair go and closed his eyes. "Luke?" Qui-Gon asked. "Luke Skywalker. It's a common name amongst the Rim slaves, especially the prostitutes. Rather nomadic, that lot. Particularly the pleasure-slaves. I'm not surprised Erac got his lines crossed. Luke is actually a couple of years older than Anakin, just turned thirteen in fact. Which is, I suppose, why Sarafel took him as her student. He has such potential, Qui-Gon. Much higher than Xanatos, really, and he's such a gentle boy. He's not High Potential, thank the skies above, but he'll be a great Jedi someday. If we can just get him out of Eab Nanoorn and into a Temple. It's definitely not safe for him to be there..." Kourt glanced at Kato, who took up the thread. "While Zareen and I were working, we found incontrovertible proof that Xanatos is out there. We tried to get to him, but he's made himself the General of an army. It doesn't look good. They've got Sarafel, Luke, and possibly others trapped, though I doubt he realizes that. Chances are, if Xanatos knew he had a son, he'd figure out who they are and what it is they're hiding. If that happens, you could probably measure their lifespan with a stopwatch." Kato yawned hugely. "Mmm ... I think the drugs are starting to kick in." Qui-Gon blinked rapidly. "I'll leave you two alone. I... I need to think about all this." "Call me if you need me," Kourt reflexively offered. "I think I'll be okay..." Qui-Gon began. "Quigs, listen. Don't go off by yourself. Go be with that Padawan of yours. He needs you right now, and... I think you need him too." Qui-Gon nodded and exited the room. He paused outside the door to get a sense of his student's location and turned his steps in that direction. ********************* Obi-Wan was a concerned for his master. The elder Jedi had returned from the infirmary as if the very ghosts of his dead had come to have words with him. Though Obi-Wan had tried to open a conversation, Qui-Gon had not kept up his end of it. Obi-Wan soon gave up, accepting that he would have to wait on his Master's good time to learn what was so troubling him. He and Qui-Gon enjoyed a lunch together, then settled down for a quiet afternoon. "How is Master Giavanni?" Obi-Wan asked, just to keep the silence from being oppressive. To his surprise, that innocent question seemed to open a floodgate. Qui-Gon replied, saying "Better. He and Kourt are laying plans. They… you know about Xanatos, yes?" "Yes," Obi-Wan agreed. "Some of the Group elders have… my ex-student managed to sire a child. The Elders have him, have been raising him out in this system… Eab Nanoorn." "But… but that system's having all sorts of trouble right now!" Obi-Wan objected. "It's right there by Ero Phelian. Even the Guild pilots won't go in there!" "I know. We're probably going to have to fetch them out very soon, you see. They don't really stand a chance of going unnoticed out there for much longer," Qui-Gon explained. Obi-Wan considered that. "Xanatos' son?" "Luke, and nothing like his father, by all reports. There's more. The trouble in Ero Phelian is this: Xanatos is amassing an army there. He must be stopped, and quickly. There's money coming from somewhere, supporting his work. Given your latest report to the Council, I think we know where that might be from," Qui-Gon picked at his sleeve hem. "And given my connections, I think it will be likely that the Council will send me to do something about all this, don't you?" Obi-Wan nodded mutely. "So then. Our time is short. I think it is time we had a very serious conversation, you and I. It is absolutely vital that I be at a perfect center, utterly calm and serene, if I face Xanatos once more. Therefore, we must have this thing settled between us." Obi-Wan took a calming breath. "I am not willing to give you up, Qui-Gon Jinn." Qui-Gon visibly relaxed. "Nor I you, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Nothing is guaranteed us in this life. I have no intention of losing you if I have any chance of keeping you." Unexpectedly, Obi-Wan yawned. "I think I need to rest before I can really think on all this." Qui-Gon nodded, accepting. "I need to get something out of storage. Why don't you go on to bed? We'll talk after you've had a nap." Obi-Wan watched Qui-Gon leave before heading into the bathroom to prepare for sleep.