Autumn Reflections
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or any other Star Wars related things. I'm only borrowing them. They belong to GL and Jude Watson.
Authors Note: This is my first completed fic so please be nice. Constructive Critisicm is welcome.
The figure stood silently, unmoving watching the trees. To one who didn't look closely, he would appear to be a statue. Aside from the gentle rise and fall of his chest he did not move a muscle. There was no breeze blowing through the boughs of the trees, not a single shout could be heard from the children that were not outside any longer. The silence seemed to embrace the boy standing there, resolutely silent, as though he was there simply to relish the surroundings, devoid of sound.
The leaves and branches of the trees were completely as this particular garden in the temple was indoors. All of the indoor gardens generated a natural course of the seasons. Autumn saw the leaves of the deciduous trees changing to a myriad of exuberant colors.
The ground was lightly carpeted with the fallen leaves of the season. The dull brown of the dead leaves on the earth contrasted startlingly with the spectacular arrangement of red, gold, crimson, and orange high in the boughs.
The young boy of about 14 standard years stood with his feet splayed wide apart. His hands were clasped behind his back with the rigidity of a classic military posture. A long braid of red-gold hair hung down to his ribcage. Hair cut in the traditional padawan style, short with the exception of a small horsetail at the back, was mirrored with the changing colours of the leaves. Eyelids with charmingly long lashes were half-closed over stunning eyes. Eyes that could hold every color of the sea, from gray-green to royal blue and everywhere in between, held more pain than was rightful for one so young.
The young man looked despondent depressed even. He looked out at the world through dull eyes now, where the spark of life once stood.
He reflected that the season imitated perfectly the turn his life had taken. The leaves were all young having been buds this spring. They lived through the summer, then come fall they would blaze with color, then fall to the ground.
He was certainly young, taken as a padawan only a year or so before. For that year he and his master had bonded and become a very successful pair. As for blazing, that had been his passion. His passion lead him to the fall. In the leaves case also the blaze of color eventually lead to the inevitable fall.
The cycle was the perfect melancholy analogy for what had happened on Melida/Daan.
He and his master had gone there in hopes of rescuing Tahl. They had gotten Tahl out but while doings so the apprentice had befriended a group of young people and when it came time to leave, to get Tahl back to the Temple he choose to leave the Jedi so that he could fight with the Young to help bring peace to their war-torn planet.
This had quickly become a disaster as one of the leaders of the Young died due to friendly fire. He had accompanied his master back to the temple in hopes of becoming a padawan again.
His opportunites were growing slim as everything he did was twisted into something to count against him. Like the incident with the younglings and the turbolift. He snorted derisively, the first sound he had made. That particular episode explained the absence of the younglings who could usually be found playing in this particular garden.
He sighed. His former master was treating him coolly at best. Even people who were his friends before Melida/Daan seemed to view him as a traitor or deserter now.
At the moment he felt very like the leaves that had fallen to the ground. Brown, though not quite dead yet. The blaze of passion being his downfall he now hoped to climb back into the tree. The leaves could not levitate themselves, nor could they move in any way to get back into the tree. No, only the Force could levitate those leaves resting on the ground back to the tree. It was the same with himself he figured. He couldn't force himself back into the ranks of the Jedi however much he wished he could. Only if the Force willed it would he become a Jedi again.
As he gazed out at the beautiful, and symbolic, for him, autumn scene, he thought about the tattered shadow of what had once been a whole, great thing. Yes, his bond with Qui-gon had a long way to go to being whole again, if ever. And Obi-wan himself had a long, hard journey ahead.