A Last Request
by Kupala Tane
**Disclaimer** All characters, past events, planets etc. are copyright Lucasfilm and whatever associates it may have. This story is copyright to myself and may not be reposted without first asking my permission. I'd love some feedback, so please feel free to contact me at raptoryng@aol.com.
(Sorry about the first version, I was having problems formatting. ::grumble::)
It was midday and the air of Coruscant was unrelentingly warm, the smell of exhaust and decay with a metallic edge reaked from the busy walkways and dark alleys. It was noxious, and it you weren't used to taking in all your minerals in one breath, the air was often enough to knock you out. But he was safe from all that. Sitting upon a flat, marble bench within the biosphere behind the Jedi Temple, he reveled in the fresh feeling of living Force, clean and untainted, that revirberated from the plants and small animals that called this place home. How long had it been since he visited this greenhouse? Years, many years. Perhaps he had been 12 or 13 the last time he had walked the well worn path through the vegetation and marvelled at what the Force created. He sighed and pulled off his heavy, brown cloak, the atmosphere uncomfortably sticky. How had he ever survived lectures in this place as a boy? He closed his eyes and sat in silence, reflecting on his memories of this place. He and his Master had spent many of their training hours in here. His mentor had always told him that the best way to learn about the Force was to be at the source of it. The trees, the earth... He blinked a bit as he noticed a tiny reptile on his boot. A glider lizard with an opalescent blue tail and overly inquizitive nature. A tiny smile came to his normally brooding countenance. He remembered finding those little creatures far more entertaining than meditation exercise. He remembered how he's pick them up while his mentor was in a trance-like state and his antics would always be given away as the lizard would clamber up his arm, the tickly feeling sending him into a fit of giggles and the Jedi Master into consciousness. Did he ever get scolded for doing that... He sighed softly to himself and stared off absently at the shrubberies. When he was first brought here at the age of five by his parents to begin training, he'd always tuck himself away in those bushes, for they reminded him of the ones he played in at home and he felt they protected him from the Jedi who took him away from his parents. Many other Jedi had attempted to gain his trust to train him, but it was his beloved Master who inspired him to go on with his training and become a Jedi Knight. He wasn't cold like the other's had been to him. Training his young apprentice in the Force seemed to be more of a passion to the Jedi Master, not a profession. He always spoke softly yet firmly, and he never pushed him to the point of being uncomfortable. He was always paternal in that way. There would even be those few days where training was forgotten and the two would spend their day cloud gazing or engaged in private games of tag and hide and go seek. It was the closest to bonding -- no, it was bonding -- to anyone he had ever experienced. He had never even been so close to his own parents. He was not just a trainer, but a mentor and a father-figure. The once shy boy's role-model. He was the closest friend he ever had. The only person he had ever grown to love... He set his jaw the moment he felt his lip quiver and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. If only he had been a few seconds faster... a few seconds could have saved his life... But he was not fast enough. He had failed. The tears then came freely and the majestic Jedi Knight crumpled upon the stone bench, it's coldness offering him no comfort. All he could see through his closed, tear-stinging eyes was that last image of Qui-gon Jinn, fighting to find the breath to speak his last words to his beloved padawan whom he had raised like his own child. "You must train him... he is the chosen one..." "I will train him, Master..." Obi-wan Kenobi whimpered softly as his tears mixed with his sweat and puddled on his cheeks. "I won't fail you again..."