Hello everyone :-)…
Thank you for reading my story, and thank you for reviewing it (please???)!
I'm a complete Greenhorn out here, so please be gentle and have mercy and don't imagine choking me with Qui-Gon's plait for any mistake I might have made… please!
As we talk about Qui-Gon… this is my very first story about him, although I really love him in the movie(I don't know why this has taken so long, it had just not hit me), and I hope Liam Neeson who plays his role will come across the loss of his wife soon.
Lost my shelter
"Stop laughing, Padawan!"
"I'm…not…laughing, Master!"
Obi-Wan tried in vain for a dignified facial expression but the corners of his lips twisted with a suppressed giggle. I groaned. In my opinion, it was not funny.
Our last mission had just been a routine job. Nothing serious. Nothing dangerous.
And yet I had lost everything there.
I had lost my shelter.
I had lost my mark.
I had lost the one thing that had stood with me for almost three decades.
I had lost the one thing I could not bear losing.
I had lost my hair.
"If you don't stop laughing right now I will cut your hair, too."
"Excuse me, Master."This time Obi-Wan succeeded in regaining his self-composure, but he didn't look at me. Others would see this as an act of regret but I knew that my nineteen-year-old Padawan would simply burst in laughing again with a look at me.
"Are you still mad at me? You know I had to…"
The honesty of the question got destroyed by another hysterical giggle. I sighed. We had investigated an old hangar when suddenly all fire doors had closed due to a malfunction. We had managed to slip through the closing Durasteel gates just in time, but my hair had not been that lucky. I had been jammed in the door like a fly in a cobweb until Obi-Wan had rescued me in the only way possible.
"You could at least have cut straight."
"I'm sorry, Master, but I'm a Jedi, not a hairdresser!"
Obi-Wan bite his lip for self-control but he couldn't hide the huge grin on his face.
"It's not that bad, Master. You look kind of younger now, you know?"
"That's why you suffer from a laughing fit every time you look at me? Nice try, Padawan!"
The truth was that my once waist-long, rebellious plait, the pride of my not-so-young years, was now almost completely gone. My hair was at about shoulder-long and stick out in every direction. Obi-Wan's lightsaber had melted the streaks partially so that I could not even comp my thatch. All I wanted right now was getting in our rooms as fast as possible without being seen, and then I would shear myself a bald.
I groaned again. That had been a really silly cue.
"Holy Force, Qui-Gon! What have you done? Which Nexu has indigestions now because it swallowed your mop?"
"Terribly funny, Mace."
I had never estimated to come down in the world so heavily that even Mace Windu could kid me in the issue hair!
"May I remind you, my friend, that I, at least, still have hair?"
Mace grinned mischievously.
"I always thought my Padawan had done a good job, because of her I tore my hair in tufts. But I see that your Padawan has managed more than growing you grey hair!"
"Another hair-joke and I will forget myself, Mace!"
"Yes, Master Windu, he will get pretty hair-brained then!"
"Windu slapped my cheeky Padawan on the back.
"Good one, Initiate, really!"
"Padawan, do I have to tell you that you are slowly starting to fall on my nerves with your heretical statements?"
That had been a mistake. Obi-Wan and Mace had to hold onto each other to keep their balance, both roaring with laughter.
"Hairetical…"
I growled and left the big children alone.
"Funny…"I mumbled "…really funny!"
Only seconds later my Padawa was on my side again.
"I'm sorry, Master."
"I don't talk to you!"
"Master Yoda always says that outward appearance doesn't matter."
"Master Yoda is a waist-high green troll, in fact."
"Just because you're about seven times taller than him…"
"Do you want to compare me to Master Yoda? Then I'm really gonna drown myself in the showers!"
Obi-Wan quickly looked around in the empty corridor, then he kissed me on the tip of my nose and stroke my nape. Damned imp. He knew exactly that neck-petting was unfair because it always made my legs shaky.
"Just in wisdom, Master. And, you know…love is blind…
I moaned slightly. Force, how could he confuse my mind like that with a simple stroke of his hand? Suddenly he jerked away, and as I slowly came back t reality I saw the group of initiates, not older than five that approached us, too.
"What do ya think is that, Ared?"
"Dunno, maybe one of those Wookies Master Sylla told us about."
"Sshh, it's a Master!"
"Good morning, Master."
I nodded firmly and growled in frustration as the vanished behind a corner. Obi-Wan had swallowed in the wrong way in laughter and coughed like General Grievous, but I wouldn't pat his back. He definitely deserved it.
"Only two floors, Master. Then we'll be save."
But the Force obviously wanted to grant every Jedi in the Temple a laughing fit, because on the staircase we met Bant, a good friend of Obi-Wan. She just stared at me, then at Obi-Wan who rolled his eyes and like him she suppressed a grin.
"Good morning, Master Jinn, Obi-Wan."
"Hello, Bant."
"How was your last mission?"
Obi-Wan smiled at her openly.
"Well, it was pretty hairy…"
Will anybody dare to lecture me for seeking refuge in flight at that moment? I guess not.
***
"Master? Oh force, would you just open the door? I told you I didn't mean it!"
Unhappily I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. I looked like a complete jerk.
"No, you just behave like one. Now let me in, please!"
Force, I should stop thinking loudly. Growling I unlocked the door…and got immediately pushed against a wall under a hungry kiss of Obi-Wan.
"Fool…" he muttered under his breath "…I didn't know that you're so vain!"
"Well it's not you who looks like being dragged through a hedge backwards!"
"Have you ever really looked at this silly Padawan haircut, Master?"
"Well, at least I know what to do!"
I lifted up the Vibro Knife to my temple…just to be hit heavily by my Padawan who grabbed the dagger.
"What the Force…?"
"Do you think suicide is a solution?"
"I just wanted to cut my hair!"
"With a Vibro Dagger? The last time you tried to cut something you half-sliced your arteries! Let me do this."
"Oh no, you have disfigured me enough already!"
" Well, so you have nothing to lose!"
This hand in my nape again…Force, are there any conversion rights for Padawans?
"Maybe, but not for lovers. And now sit down."
"Why do I feel that I will regret this?"
"Because you're a coward. And I can't make it worse!"
"Oh, I absolutely have faith in you, Padawan!"
"Shut up or I will make it worse..probably by cutting an ear or something."
***
"Not so much, not so much!"
"Qui-Gon, it's only hair!"
"Reach my biblical age, Boy, and you will worship every streak without grey!"
He kissed my neck and then gently along my throat to my mouth.
"Say that again."
"I'm…old…and gray…"
He kissed me even more ardently.
"Again."
"Old..grey…"
Force, it was hard to think with his lips on mine!
"Are you sure?"
What was the question again? However, it didn't really matter to me as long as those lips wouldn't vanish…
He chuckled and took the knife again, then he noticed my pouty frown about the loss of his lips and kissed my neck again.
"See? This is only one advantage of shorter hair. There were times I would have needed a route guide to kiss you there."
"Come on, don't exaggerate."
"So do you. Hair grows, Qui-Gon."
"I'll be hundred until it has grown that long again."
"Stop wailing about your age, or I will kiss you until you don't even know your name!"
"What a pleasant punishment!"
"When I'm ready with you, you'll look like a teen again."
"Force beware! Aah, that streak was completely alright"
"Was not. It's melted down here. You don't want to look like a hedgehog, do you?"
"If you go on like that I will look like Mace Windu!"
"Force beware!"
***
"I'm ready!"
"Great, my old bones hurt!"
"Oh, shut up and turn around."
I did as he told me and met two surprised sea-blue eyes.
"What? That bad?"
"Force, I'm a wizard! If I hadn't already fallen in love with you…"
I shove him aside and looked in the mirror. The man who stared back was definitely me, but I looked different…younger. My hair didn't touch my shoulders, it fell down in an elegant wave, smooth and full with some streaks framing nonchalantely my eyes. I grinned cautiously and my reflection followed. Somehow I really liked what I saw, and not only because of the handsome Padawan that had embraced me from behind, his head resting on my shoulder.
"And, what do you think?"
I turned my head to kiss him gently.
"I like it…I just feel a little…naked."
He chuckled.
"I wish that was more than a feeling!"