Disclaimer: All recognisable characters, places, etc belong to George Lucas, etc.
Soooo...You've decided to take a chance on "Dancing Hands" have you? Yes I'll admit it's not very long but it does get better!
Read and Review please! Let me know what you think!
Healer Soras stretched uncomfortably on his sleep couch as his chrono's alarm bleeped annoyingly. He opened one bleary eye and groaned. He was an elderly human, with buzz-cut silver hair and glowing green eyes. His leg protested at the sudden movement. He'd been shot through the leg as a Padawan, yet even though he was crippled he still devoted every part of himself to the Jedi Order, perhaps not as a Knight as he had dreamed about his boyhood, but instead as a Healer, which in itself was a very fulfilling job.
Morning already? The Healer thought as he dressed hurriedly for another day's work. He'd been up late the night before: the newest patient kept having nightmares and thrashing in his sleep. But such was the life of a Healer, even a Jedi Healer. Soras was the Healer in charge of the long-term ward at the Jedi Med Centre.
They only had three patients at the moment. Knight Tanlas was a sad case. The poor woman was convinced that she was Telosian baker named Mary. Her Mind Healer said she was starting to recover quite nicely, though what changes he saw Soras definitely could not tell.
The second patient was Initiate Folen, who'd either jumped or had been pushed (he refused to say which) from a second story window. The resulting fall had broken both his legs. The ten-year-old Human had –of course- complained bitterly that he'd never become a Padawan now. Soras had told him outright that it wasn't his legs that would stop him from reaching Padawan status but his attitude. Since then the boy had wisely complained less.
It was the third patient that Soras was on his way to check on at that moment. A seventeen-year-old Padawan named Obi-Wan Kenobi. Padawan Kenobi had been admitted into his care two days prior thoroughly beaten and battered after his mission with his Master Qui-Gon Jinn. The details of the mission had been classified as "need to know" and apparently Soras did not "need to know" very much. He remembered the scant information he'd been given about the Padawan's condition on his arrival. Obi-Wan had been taken hostage by a criminal for a duration of two and a half weeks. During that time, he'd been beaten daily and injected with an unknown drug every twelve hours. The drug had seemingly been a paralyzing agent that, when taken too often, caused long-term or sometimes irreparable lifelong damage to the user. Obi-Wan was seemingly one of them.
Soras entered the ward noiselessly. It was, after all, the break of dawn and he hoped the patients were still asleep. Thankfully the ward was silent save for the gentle breathing of the sleeping patients. Although it appeared Master Jinn was still awake as he turned his vivid blue gaze to rest on Healer Soras. The maverick Jedi was sitting in a chair by his Padawan's sleep couch, where he had been every day and every night.
"Good morn, Healer Soras," Master Jinn whispered politely, not raising his voice in the slightest, lest he disturb the patients.
"Good morn, Master Jinn." Soras inclined his head slightly. "Has there been any change? More nightmares?" Jinn shook his head and Soras sighed in relief.
"Do you know the extent of—of the—damage?" Jinn's gaze seemed to burn with blue fire, almost willing Soras into saying that nothing was wrong with Obi-Wan. Soras looked back at the despairing Master, fixing his emerald stare on Jinn's blue.
"I have isolated the damaged area, yes." He began slowly. "Padawan Kenobi is strangely fortunate yet not so." He paused for a second and saw that Obi-Wan was beginning to stir. No doubt he was listening to every word. Soras pressed on. "His limbs are still in perfect working order, just sore from the beatings and disuse – but there is no damage there. I also checked his vital organs – again he is perfectly healthy."
Jinn frowned. "You said you knew what was damaged."
Soras nodded. "And I do. The drug has paralyzed Obi-Wan's vocal chords. He cannot speak any longer. How long the damage will last, whether or not it will heal, is unknown to me." He hung his head.
"He spoke to me when we arrived at the Temple." Qui-Gon's voice was emotionless and steady. "He spoke to me."
"It must have deteriorated rapidly," explained Soras remembering how hoarse and weak Obi-Wan's voice had been. Obi-Wan's eyes blinked open at that moment. He stared at his Master and then at the Healer with the saddest eyes he'd ever seen. Qui-Gon jumped up from his chair and hugged Obi-Wan like a father would hug a son. Soras felt his heart wrench.
"I'm so sorry," he muttered and then all but fled from the room.