Title: Somewhere Never Have I Traveled
Author: Audrey Layne
Disclaimer: I do not own SW, nor do I make any form of profit wherewithal in correlation to the intellectual and copyright properties of Lucas productions. I just have fun with'em.
Summary: When they met...
Author Notes: Romantic claptrap disguised as a space adventure...
These still and quiet streets
Speak truths that unwilling ears
Have yet to hear
Where our city's bones
Are concrete and steel
And its soul the lights that flicker
Like fireflies
It's essence the lifeblood
Of our pale and foreign moons
these paths
This place where I have never traveled
Where the ground is hollow
And I have touched the sky
When they met, she was barely fourteen, covered in blood and still mussed from being put into a cold sleep. Obi Wan had been walking beside Qui Gon, both lost in deep conversation from their recent mission to Enturi Prime when he saw her--the tell tale silver shining across her forehead had him pausing in the corridor and when Qui Gon turned a curious brow to his Padawan he could not stop the slight smile spreading across his mouth.
"Master--she was wearing--"
"She was indeed Padawan."
"I had not been aware they had been put it into use--they were only sketches, preliminary ideas."
"The Council thought they were considerably more than just preliminary ideas Padawan."
Obi Wan frowned slightly but nodded , changing blue green eyes catching one last look at the girl, and her eyes flashed to meet his and her mouth tilted into a strange almost smile.
Obi Wan flushed and turned back to Qui Gon, "I hope it works all right for her Master."
Qui Gon's knowing smile said everything, but he cupped Obi Wan's shoulder and led him down the corridor.
It should have been easy to forget her; the Temple took refugees from other planets and temples all of the time. He did not understand why then, her mouth kept haunting him.
It was very distracting and he threw himself into his studies with more fervor than even Qui Gon anticipated.
---
Qui Gon relaxed into the chaise in Adi's quarters, ignoring the sibilant hiss of a door closing tightly, or the strange sensation of another consciousness sliding over his own (despite previous experience with empath and force links it was still disconcerting when it was an unknown presence). The wall thrown up so violently around the girl's room had him flinching slightly.
Adi Gallia chuckled as she chose that moment to enter the living space, setting a tray gracefully on the small table in front of the lounge, "Give her time Qui Gon, she has had a very difficult time of it the past three years."
Qui Gon nodded, lips tilting in a frown, "I believe that to be an understatement old friend--she watched her Master die, and with him the only control reigning in her abilities."
Adi shifted, pouring tea for the two of them, "Quetz Et'el was a good man, but Nico was not the type of woman cut out for off world missions involving danger. Her abilities hinder her in that respect."
Qui Gon nodded, "I imagine it was very painful for her, especially when visiting the Enturi system."
Adi nodded in response before saying, "It's actually rather tragic--the entire thing could have been avoided if they had kept the Jedi apprised of cultural things like the wearing of metal."
And it was true, the death of a Jedi master put down to a simple mistake as the strange silver bracer that wrapped around the young woman's head.
From the bedroom, both Jedi could hear the muffled sound of crying.
"What will be done with her?" Qui Gon's eyes were dark, effusive and clearly concerned.
The dark skinned woman smiled a little sadly, "Yoda has asked me to take her as my apprentice."
Qui Gon's eyes widened, "Surely not--you are a council member...that is...exceedingly rare is it not?"
Adi nodded, "Nico is in need of someone capable of helping her with..." A vague hand gesture, "This and is not cut out for dangerous field work. Yoda should have declined Quetz Et'el's request for her as an apprentice but no one could have foreseen this happening."
"So she will be trained in diplomacy rather than sabre skills?" Qui Gon's brow arched elegantly.
Adi smirked, "Qui Gon, I could best you at sabers when we were twelve, I can best you now."
The response was a low laugh and a touch to her face, "Adi--you could try."
---
As it turned out, dealing with an empath such as Nico was considerably more difficult than even the Jedi were equipped to deal with, Nico's species were almost direct descendant of old Earth Proper, which meant that despite literally generations of interbreeding and outer breeding, genetic mutations still ran rampant through her body.
It was common in the onset of puberty for her species to undergo a series of changes at the molecular level (a cause for which much study had been devoted in an attempt to cure) the survival rates were a great deal higher thanks to the Jedi's help but when in conjunction to Force Sensitivity the Immunites went through 'The Change' it tended to wreak havoc on all within range.
---
The second time Obi Wan ever came into contact with Nico was nearly a year and a half later, and it was purely coincidence and very good timing that had four upper level initiates, seven Padawan's and two worried Knight's asking for his help.
No one wanted to send for Adi Gallia and face the council woman's wrath.
He found himself outside a small storage cupboard in the lowest levels of the temple, the door had been jammed shut, and the trembles running rampant over his mind told him, quite clearly that the young woman locked inside was in a state of extreme mental distress.
He frowned and three of the Padawan's and the youngest knight (all of whom were currently facing him) shrank, thoroughly cowed.
"What happened?"
The knight in question, was tall, broad shouldered with deep green skin and lekku that trailed to mid back, "It was a game Padawan Kenobi--we...well we didn't mean to frighten her so--"
Obi Wan's frown became a scowl, "A game?" His eyes narrowed and he drew in a deep breath to center himself, "Please tell me you did not do what I think you did."
The knight cleared his throat, "If by that do you mean did we sort of...impersonate several flesh eaters and flicker the lights as she was leaving the archive then uhm...yes...we did."
Obi Wan clenched his fists, "Fetch My master and Councilwoman Adi Gallia. Immediately."
The initiates fled. Escape being the better part of valor, and Obi Wan turned to the door and placed a hand to the icy metal.
He reached out through the Force and was met with a wall of anguish, and terror so tangible it left him breathless and in a cold sweat. His eyes slipped closed and he reached out again, meeting terror with calm, and anguish with overwhelming comfort.
He had not spent almost a year on Melida/Daan watching young men and women die without learning a few tricks.
He did not know how long he sat there, hand to the door, but he assumed it must have been quite some time because Qui Gon's hand was curled protectively over the back of his neck, a steady wall of support and Adi, her Force touch surprisingly sweetly tempered and feminine, curling around his own.
The door hissed open and a flurry of deep russet curls and dark brown robes flung themselves at Adi, the low pitch of a sob escaping before Adi was curling her arms around the young woman.
She stood, picking up Nico easily, before turning to Qui Gon, "You have full disclosure to discipline these younglings Master Jinn." Before her eyes were on Obi Wan, "Padawan Kenobi, if you would please assist me, I would be most appreciative."
---
Part of the problem he assumed, with Nico, was that she was so mysterious; her people were what amounted to space gypsies. They did not settle on any single planet, rather they traveled in hoards across the galaxy, leaving behind myths, legends and quite a few broken hearts.
Nico was only the seventh documented Immunite born with Force ability to survive adolescence. And she was only hanging on by the skin of her teeth and the brace of metal curling like a clawed hand, rude and roughshod around her head.
Not for the first time, was Obi Wan glad he had been so keenly interested in that class when he was fourteen. He doubted the young woman would have survived her master's death without it. As it was, he had already gone over all the schematics and data involving the head piece and was designing a new model to replace the older one.
He wondered if he could implement the power of force crystals into the power matrix. Perhaps that would help her.
---
Adi Gallia's chambers were impersonal, which was somewhat surprising to Obi Wan given the woman's placement on the council. He had expected...well he had expected more at least. It was not to say her chambers were cold or sterile, decorated with all Temple furnishings, but it gave off the feel that, while it was 'cozy' she did not spend time there.
Nico's touch was on everything, cold and somewhat tentative.
Adi placed the young woman on the lounge and Obi Wan immediately took Adi's place in comforting the young woman, arms going around her waist, and the cold metal of the bracer around her head met the skin of his neck, the muscles tightened then loosened and he pulled her more securely into his lap.
She was only fifteen, and she felt impossibly young.