TIMI'S DOWN THE WELL
by ardavenport
The Jedi Temple was ancient. Jedi had built, re-built, modified and extended it for thousands of years, long before the massive city-planet of Coruscant grew up around it. With each layer of the encroaching city, the Jedi had added a new layer to their Temple until it had finally evolved into a massive, gray dura-stone structure, five tall spires rising high over the huge blocky base.
Eyes closed, Obi-Wan Kenobi felt the weight of millennia of history around him. And especially above him, pressing down through the Force on his mere fifteen years of age, thick and dense with time.
He and his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, faced each other, sitting on cushions on a cold stone floor.
Obi-Wan had asked why the Jedi Temple, or any other place, would be stronger in the Force than any other place, a question even more ancient than the Temple itself among Jedi. His Master's answer had been demonstrative. But not very informative.
Qui-Gon had led him down into the Temple, as far as they could go, found a small unoccupied room, put their cushions down and begun the meditation.
After a long weary time meditating, Obi-Wan still did not have his answer. Had the Jedi chosen the site of the Temple because it was strong with the Force? Or was the Temple strong with the Force because so many Jedi had lived in it for so long?
He knew that meditating in the Temple felt different than in other places. The Force felt 'thicker' there, stronger, as if he were floating in it. It did not just flow through him, he flowed with it, full of his own memories and possibilities.
He now knew that mediating in the lowest part of the Jedi Temple felt different than in the upper levels. He sensed the murky and imposing Temple structures and tunnels and warrens, and the city around it. They seemed more substantial, more reliable than what was built above them, rising up in the air. He felt - - -
Distress.
Obi-Wan's eyes opened to see his Master's surprised expression, deep blue eyes nearly black in the room's half-light.
A sense of falling, a cry of pain and shock, frightened and absolutely in the present.
They both leaped to their feet. Obi-Wan looked to either side, but his Master raced out the door, already focused on a direction. Obi-Wan hurried after him. Down a long corridor, left, right, right, down a very long stairway, through a storage room and into a small, dimly lit room. They passed other Jedi in doorways, clearly alerted that something was wrong, but unsure about where to go.
Qui-Gon stood in the room, ceiling a finger-length above the top of his head. He turned around, long hair falling down over his shoulders, robe nearly black in the gloom, his bearded face rigid, his eyes focused everywhere.
Obi-Wan jumped back when his Master dove down toward a wall, hand and the Force outstretched. A panel, nearly invisible on the dingy dark gray walls, slid aside with a grinding noise of disuse. Other Jedi who had followed them filled the doorway, blocking the light. Qui-Gon dove forward, into the opening. Obi-Wan followed.
They descended more stairs, only the light from behind and a yellow glow through an opening at the bottom guiding them.
Three Jedi Padawans jumped and gasped when Qui-Gon burst into the small circular room of primitive stone walls and a vaulted ceiling.
There was a hole in the center of the floor.
"What has happened?" Qui-Gon demanded of the three.
They appeared to be all older than Obi-Wan, two Human women in their late teens or early twenties, both with short hair and very long braids. The third was grayish and reptillian, a Tufast or maybe a Tufeer, with a long swishing tail. The sense of distress in the room increased, filling it, making it feel much smaller.
"Timi's down in the well," the taller, darker-hued woman in the lighter tunics said.
Qui-Gon stepped up to the edge of the hole.
"Timi!"
A warbling, cooing sound rose from the blackness, 'I'm here.'
"Are you injured?"
A plaintive coo responded, 'Yes. My hand. I tore out two claws when I fell.'
The sound of footsteps coming down to them came from the doorway as Qui-Gon took out his cable launcher. They had just returned from a mission and still had their gear on their belts. The place they had stayed at had been strong with the Force which had initiated Obi-Wan's original question about why this was when they returned.
Three robed Jedi entered just as Qui-Gon sent his grabbing hook into the cross-beams above.
"What - - ?" a thin Gossam Master said.
Qui-Gon disappeared, plunging down into the hole.
The Gossam's large eyes looked astonished and then narrowed, her elegantly curved head looking at the three older Padawans and then at Obi-Wan. She pointed a three-fingered hand at him.
"What is going on?"
"I was meditating with Master Qui-Gon when we sensed the disturbance in the Force. Master Qui-Gon followed it down here. He went down to help Timi, who is injured," Obi-Wan answered with as much as he knew.
"Master Qui-Gon." The Gossam and the now four other Jedi looked down at the hole, the stone floor pattern radiating out from it. There were more footsteps on the stairs behind them. The yellow light, from two temporary light poles on either side of the door, turned the Gossam Master's wrinkled, scaled skin grayish.
"That's who that was," she finished as if this answered part of the mystery.
"And you three?" The Gossam pointed now at the other three Padawans with miserable and somewhat guilty expressions.
"We found this room several days ago," the shorter, dark-haired woman in brown tunics confessed. "We looked in the Archive records and we think this was an old well from the original Temple, but it's not marked, and it was blocked off."
Behind the Jedi in the doorway, someone pushed their way in from the crowd outside. The crowd was now spreading into the room along the walls.
"Tsum! What is going on?" a rotund reptilian Jedi Knight demanded, forked tongue flicking.
The third Padawan's tail stilled and he hung his slender head.
"We were exploring the lower levels, Master. Timi came back here and was trapped. We came to help. But Master Qui-Gon went down to retrieve him."
The Jedi Knight stared, his mouth a large, toothless 'O' of surprise before he sadly shook his head, shoulders bowed, robe drooping.
"I have failed," he said sadly.
"I disobeyed you, Master," Tsum confessed guiltily.
"I have failed you," he repeated, blue eyes grave and sad. Obi-Wan heard a few Jedi in the crowd speaking into their com links.
Another Knight pushed through the crowd.
"Miragah! What are you doing here?" a woman in a long pale tunic and with short gray, bristling hair demanded.
The taller Padawan cringed. "We came to help Timi, Master," she answered, her voice flat and defeated.
"Timi," the woman repeated with scorn. She looked at her Padawan's two comrades. "And where is Timi?"
"He's down the well. He was hurt and Master Qui-Gon went down to retrieve him."
Miragah's Master exhaled. Her head falling back, she looked up at the beams and vaulted ceiling above. Obi-Wan felt the release of tension in her, aggravation, frustration, anger. She seemed to be trying to blow away the hot emotions and he sensed that this confrontation had happened before with different events and situations. The other people in the room, now more than half full, shuffled and moved, perhaps recognizing what was happening. It was all new to Obi-Wan. He had never met Timi or any of his fellow Padawans or their Masters before. He felt exposed and detached, standing at the edge of the well waiting for his own Master. He looked at the cable, disappearing down into the darkness; it vibrated with some motion down at the bottom.
A movement at the doorway drew everyone's attention. Master Windu's bald head appeared above the heads of the short Jedi. People deferentially stepped aside for him. His dark eyes scanned the room.
"Master Krahtha," he addressed at the gray-haired woman. "Knight Hess." Tsum's Master bowed his scaly head. "Knights Gromiki and Brarahauf are coming. We will discuss this with all of you before the Council, later. After we recover Timi."
"We were going to tell the Archivists about this place - - "
Windu whirled on Miragah and she shrank back.
"We will not be discussing what was not done, Padawan."
Miragah lowered her eyes.
A whirring sound drew everyone's attention back to the well.
Holding onto the cable with one arm above his head, Qui-Gon popped up from the darkness and stopped, his feet level with the floor and reaching for the edge of the hole. Obi-Wan hastily helped, but Qui-Gon nimbly kept his balance, even holding Timi with his other arm.
Whatever species Timi was, it was not a large one if he was the same age as his fellow Padawans. Qui-Gon easily supported him with one arm. Timi clung to the larger man's body with three paws, his wounded fourth paw held close to his furry body, his lightsaber hanging down from the belt around his middle. All of Timi's golden fur was fluffed out with tension making his short body and limbs look very rounded. His huge green eyes wide, yellow light glinting from them, Timi turned his head almost completely around looking at the crowd fearfully.
Qui-Gon turned to face Windu.
"Timi!"
A huge hairy body came into the room, people hastily getting out of the way. The newcomer, wearing only tabards, obi, belt and lightsaber, stood on his hind legs. Four black eyes looked down on the frightened little Padawan, huddled close to Qui-Gon's body.
"Calm yourself, my Padawan," Timi's Master said with a low melodious voice through long vicious fangs. "Fear of failure leads only to darkness. And I do not forsee that path for you."
Timi cooed a shy 'Yes, Master," briefly revealing needle sharp teeth and his thick, plush fur seemed to shrink down a bit. Timi's Master extended long sinewy arms, dark hair hanging down from them, claws extended. Timi detached from Qui-Gon's clothes and robe and Qui-Gon held up the small Padawan to his Master.
With the golden fur ball cuddled close, Timi's Master turned to Mace Windu and bowed.
"Master Windu, we present ourselves for the Council's discipline, but I first should take my Padawan to the med-center."
Windu inclined his bald head, his expression calm. "Of course, Master Brarahauf. The Council will inform you when we wish to speak with you." He glanced back toward the Padawans behind him. "All of you," he finished less kindly.
"Master Qui-Gon," he continued. "Thank-you for assisting Timi." Windu bowed his head and Qui-Gon returned it.
"I am here to serve."
Windu scanned the crowd critically. "This is finished." He headed for the door.
Suddenly embarrassed to be caught gawking, everyone lowered their eyes and began shuffling toward the exit though they allowed Windu to pass by them first.
Qui-Gon extended his hand upward, using the Force to jolt the cable hook loose. He caught it and began retracting the cable. Timi's three comrades, much humbled, left with Krahtha and Hess. Most of the people had left before Qui-Gon finally finished methodically re-reeling the cable back into the launcher. A thin Querazatz from the Archive remained by the door, presumably to keep watch on the room until it was properly secured. With one last look down the black depths of the well, Obi-Wan followed Qui-Gon out. They ascended the stairs and went back up the way they had come.
When they returned to their small room, Obi-Wan sighed with disappointment as he looked down at the two blue cushions they had left behind. Qui-Gon resumed his seat and Obi-Wan sat down facing him. He noticed a thin film of dusty golden hairs clinging to Qui-Gon's robe where Timi had clung to him, and when he looked close, he spotted a few holes from Timi's claws.
"Perhaps you should change, Master?" he said; he was not eager to resume a meditation that he had a feeling was pointless. If Qui-Gon did not have the answer to a question that Jedi had been asking for millennia, then he should just say so. And Obi-Wan's stomach told him that the time for third meal of the day was near.
Qui-Gon brushed off the hair that Timi has shed on him.
"I will have it repaired later," he said before straightening and closing his eyes. Resigned, Obi-Wan did the same. But his earlier composure was gone. He didn't care why the Force was stronger in the Temple.
"You are distracted, my Padawan."
Obi-Wan opened his eyes. Qui-Gon was looking at him with what might have been amusement.
"Yes, Master," he replied, annoyed.
Qui-Gon waited for more.
"What will happen to Timi and his Master? And the others? What will the Council do with them"
"I do not know. And it is not our concern," Qui-Gon admonished. Obi-Wan nodded, accepting this. He had no enthusiasm for inquiring about what shame Timi and his friends had brought onto their Masters or how their future training would account for this. But he did wonder about one thing.
"Why would Timi go down into the well? Why did they search for it in the first place?"
Qui-Gon smiled back.
"Timi was curious about it and became disoriented when he jumped down into it. It was deeper than he expected. Curiosity is healthy, but not when carried to excess, or when it overrides caution. Timi has been disciplined for it before, and he tends to lead his comrades into mischief as well. But he has learned a hard lesson this time."
"Did he tell you that, when you were down in the well for him?"
Qui-Gon nodded. "Yes. He was fearful of what he had done. And he was fearful because he was afraid." Qui-Gon rested his arms on his knees. "But he has a wise and patient Master. He will learn from his mistake, though I believe that it will be some years before Timi is knighted."
"But why were they looking for the well?"
"They were not looking for the well," Qui-Gon replied, shaking his head. "Its discovery was an accident and a distraction from their exploration of the lower passages of the Temple."
"What were they looking for?"
Qui-Gon's smile broadened.
"They wanted to discover why the Jedi Temple is so much stronger in the Force than other places." Qui-Gon paused, obviously enjoying the look of surprise on his apprentice's face. "And they were unsatisfied with meditating with their Masters about the issue."
Obi-Wan's mouth opened, but nothing came out. Qui-Gon seemed to enjoy that, too.
"Shall we continue?" he invited after a long silence.
"No, Master."
"Really?" he asked, curious.
"Yes." Obi-Wan clasped his hands before him. "I believe that it is more important to ask the question about the Force than to find the answer."
Qui-Gon's amusement changed to genuine pleasure, and then resignation.
"I think it will take Timi some time to learn this. But his Master is patient." He looked back at his own Padawan. "Shall we go to third meal?" he invited.
Obi-Wan grinned.
"Yes, Master."
_o_ _o_ END _o_ _o_
first posted on tf.n: 15-Sep-2008
Disclaimer: All characters and situations belong to George and Lucasfilm; I'm just playing in their sandbox.