Reuniting Two Stubborn Jedi
Since her early childhood, she was always seen as a talent but never knew it. She never tested it, never even thought about it. Maylii Di'Kaah simply let things happen to her, for the most part. Things like getting a master within the month she reached the tender age of thirteen. The Agricultural Corps was never an option presented to her. In her studies, Maylii was always among the top. Her fighting skills, although rather defensive in nature, were never lacking. Maylii made little of it. In a way, it made her the ideal padawan. What wasn't listed was the driving and spirited personality that really set young Maylii apart from the other outstanding padawan's.
Maylii was a compassionate person, but she was also swift to judge and categorize a person's actions, something her master desperately worked to eradicate. It would not do for her to be so. She fought the impulses, but she didn't sit back and bite her tongue when her instincts told her to fight for her opinion. It made the High Council rather wary of her at times, but her unfailing devotion was a point in her favor.
It was this instinct about people that led her down to one of the many study chambers within the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. She had heard that the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, a classmate of sorts, was there, alone. Maylii understood why, after the incident involving the Young and after Siri Tachi. Everyone knew about it, but it didn't stop her from being one to treat the young man with kindness. He had made a mistake and she made plenty everyday, but her master never threatened to leave her. Well, that was a lie, but it was always in good fun.
She had to walk the entire length of the study room before she found him, huddled in a corner, reading something. He was clearly alone, considering everyone else was clustered together elsewhere and no where near Obi-Wan's corner.
Maylii stood for a long moment before him, her hands on her hips, where her belt rested and lightsaber hung. When he didn't say anything, she let out a dramatic breathe. "Hello, Obi-Wan."
The blue eyes shot upward, then back down to his reading. "Hello."
Maylii's green eyes narrowed for a moment before she determinedly plopped herself down before him, her legs crossed. Boldly, she reached out and snatched his reading away. "What are you reading?" She scanned it, and then wrinkled her nose in distaste. "You do realize that this is an entire weeks reading on the Acklay?"
Obi-Wan looked up at her and sighed heavily. "Yes, I do understand." He extended his hand to take it back, leaving it open and ready.
Maylii shook her head, her red hair which was interspersed with braids and beads in reflection of her homeworld, jingly and swinging. "Oh, Obi-Wan how dreadfully boring for you." She handed the reading back over.
"Perhaps," he shrugged and turned his focus downward again.
Maylii studied him in silence. She found it rather sad and unsettling to see one of her contempories thus situated; especially one she knew had such a heavy destiny before him. With a defeated sigh, she absently reached her hand to the shelf next to her and retrieved her own reading. Maylii knew some patience and could wait for Obi-Wan to talk, or she could simply offer company.
She looked down, the Nexu. Well, at least it was a somewhat interesting creature, though why Obi-Wan had to choose this spot in the study, she wasn't sure. She shrugged and then squirmed until she found herself in a comfortable position.
"Maylii, why are you here?" Obi-Wan suddenly asked.
Maylii looked up, confused for a moment. Why wouldn't she be? He was her classmate after all and perhaps one day, she would fight along side him, or negotiate peace with him. It made sense to befriend them all, and Obi-Wan was no different, despite what had happened. "No one deserves to be alone all the time."
Obi-Wan gave a sort of snort, but Maylii couldn't be sure if it was a snort. She hadn't heard such a thing come from the young man before to judge if it was or not.
"I'm sure Master Jinn will come to his senses soon. I mean…" She stopped at the sharp look the blue eyes sent her and she held up a hand in surrender. "I'm sorry. I won't mention it again."
"Thank you," Obi-Wan replied quietly. "Please, Maylii, I just need to be alone right now."
Maylii nodded in understanding, deciding that after hearing his dejected tone she would leave him to his Acklay studies. She replaced her own reading on the Nexu and hovered a bit there. "Might I offer a suggestion? A friendly one?"
Obi-Wan looked up at her, expecting something he didn't want to hear.
"You might want to try a meditation chamber. If you want to be alone, that might be the place to go." She offered him a tiny smile of encouragement before she turned to go.
"Thank you, Maylii." Obi-Wan's gentle replied followed her.
Once out of sight of her classmate, Maylii's pace quickened and became that of one whose purpose was determined and nothing would get in her way. She muttered a few impatient excuses to those who got in her way and were not walking fast enough and more than a few masters urged her to calm herself and walk slowly. Maylii heeded none of them. They were not her master and so, she only took what they said as a passing comment.
When she arrived at the room she was searching for, she stopped before it and waited until the room cleared and only one individual remained inside. Her green eyes zeroed in on him.
"Why do you hover, young one? If you have something to say, you should say it."
Maylii marched into the room, her boots clicking on the hard durasteel, more so than usual. She settled her wait evenly and balanced herself in a wide stance to face the man she was going to confront. She was well aware of his experience, knowledge and abilities and yet, she found herself strangely at ease.
"You are being very stubborn, Master Jinn," she pronounced sternly.
Qui-Gon Jinn raised his eyebrows in what might have construed as amusement. "I am? I don't believe I am the only one."
"No," Maylii agreed, though she didn't quite understand that it was she that he was referring too. "Your padawan can be quite stubborn too."
Qui-Gon let out a slow breathe and turned away from her to lean on the controls of the conference room there were presently standing in. "You don't fully understand the situation, young one."
"I don't have to." Maylii replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You are his master and he is your padawan. You don't just get to turn your back on him. That's giving up, and giving up isn't something that a Jedi Master is allowed to do."
Qui-Gon turned toward her sharply, his gaze meeting hers and daring her to back down. Normally, Maylii would have. It wasn't her place to mettle, but this was at the core of what she felt with her own master. If Qui-Gon could abandon Obi-Wan, then what is to stop her own master from abandoning her and the force knew that her master had plenty of reasons to do so.
"I'm not giving up."
"You would abandon him then? Over a mistake? Master, we all make mistakes." Maylii softened her tone a little and lowered her arms. She didn't want to insult the great man, but she wanted him to understand. "If you abandon Obi-Wan, who is the next to be abandoned?"
Qui-Gon studied her for a moment and she shifted uncomfortably in his gaze. "Your master won't abandon you, Maylii."
Maylii took a step back, unprepared for such a comment. "I pray not. I know that your match with Obi-Wan was not the smoothest of matches," she attempted to keep the subject off of herself. She hurried on when she saw the man's eyes narrow slightly. "But, I believe that it is in the best interests of you both. Destiny has brought you together. A teacher is here to teach, even through the bad, and guide us when we stray. Obi-Wan has strayed, but so has everyone, so have you."
"Obi-Wan nearly abandoned the Order." Qui-Gon countered in a gentleness that took Maylii by surprise, like everything about this man seemed to do.
"But he didn't, did he?" Maylii answered softly.
There was an uneasy silence between the two. Maylii regarded the Jedi Master and the Jedi Master regarded the padawan carefully.
"You always say to feel, don't think- use our instincts. Well, I'm using them now and I say that you and Obi-Wan Kenobi are not done with each other. I think," she paused, praying she wouldn't offend with her next words, "it is your turn to feel and not to think- use your instincts."
Qui-Gon stared hard at her for a long moment before a slow, small smile broke across his lips. "Are you presuming to teach me a lesson, young one?"
Maylii took a deep breathe and looked down for a moment. She wasn't sure how best to answer without seeming impertinent. Slowly she looked up to meet his eyes. "Perhaps."
Qui-Gon's smile grew a bit before he turned away from her. "Your master would be the Republic's greatest fool to abandon you, young one."
"So would you if you abandoned Obi-Wan, Master." Maylii added quickly.
Qui-Gon inhaled deeply, his shoulders rising slightly. "I will think about what you said."
Maylii nodded in defeat, though she knew he couldn't see her. She should have known the outcome. In this strange mix, they were all stubborn Jedi, some would say unorthodox Jedi, but in the end, they were still Jedi. "That's all I could hope for I guess." She turned to leave.
"You have an awkward wisdom to you, young Maylii." Qui-Gon remarked about her.
Maylii stopped and looked back at him from her place in the doorway. His back was still to her, but she knew that he knew she was still standing there. Maylii would have beamed at his strange compliment, but instead, she simply looked at him with sad eyes. "I perceive there are darker days ahead for us, Master. I just don't want to see one of my… friends go astray that shouldn't." She paused. "Obi-Wan is in the lower level meditation chambers, Master."
"Thank you."
Maylii left the room with much slower steps than those she used to take her there.
She was a talented padawan and would be one of the Jedi Order's greatest, if unheard of, Jedi Masters, but she was still so young. Deep down, in the root of her stomach, she knew that the destinies of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi were not, in the end, going to be wonderful. She knew deep down that she would perish for her devotion by the hand of some darken foe in her dreams that haunted her. But the young Maylii could not be the old Maylii; she could only try to reunite the two greatest Jedi she'd ever known, besides Mace Windu and Yoda.
It was Maylii's driving, spirited, compassionate and stubborn personality that made her stand out.
Author's Note: Please know that I understand that some of these things may not be canon, but I couldn't resist writing this down and consequently sharing it. Any grammar, typos, and or phrasing that aren't right, please, oh, please, let me know.
