Chapter 4

Obi-Wan woke to the sound of birds chirping outside the tent and, instead of getting up, he closed his eyes and thought back to the events of the past day. Xanatos was still irritated at him when they had went to bed, even after Cerasi had left to go to her own campsite.

He stretched out his senses to gauge Xanatos' mood but got nothing. Filling his lungs with air, he slowly let it all out and then got up. The day was going to begin whether he liked it or not.

Dressing into some fresh clothes, Obi-Wan left the tent and approached Xanatos who was drinking a cup of tea. "Good morning."

"Good morning." Xanatos answered, his face betraying nothing as he continued to sip at his tea.

Seeing that nothing more was forthcoming, Obi-Wan went about the process of fixing his breakfast. It wasn't until Obi-Wan had finished eating when Xanatos spoke.

"Qui-Gon sent his response early this morning…" Xanatos paused, swirling the last bit of tea in his mug. "He says he trusts your judgment on the matter but wants you to stay vigilant." Xanatos drank the last sip of his now cold tea and then placed the mug on the ground in front of him. "Obi-Wan, trouble seems to follow you on missions. I trust you understand my concerns."

"Yes sir, I do understand but I am not a little kid anymore, I'm almost 18 years old!" Obi-Wan responded and stood up to go get his things for the hike. "Cerasi and I are going to explore some ruins she found. I'll get some samples of the plant life and make notes of any wildlife we see."

"Very well. Make sure you take a comlink with you and report every three hours." Xanatos told him. "Be back here before nightfall."

"Yes sir," Obi-Wan replied as he grabbed a couple of food ration bars.

When Obi-Wan arrived at the hot water spring he had discovered the previous day, he found Cerasi already there waiting for him.

"Ready to go?" Cerasi asked, pulling her own pack onto her back as she stood up.

"Yep. Let's get moving." Obi-Wan responded, a grin on his face.

Cerasi smiled back at him and began to lead the way. "There is a pass that we have to travel through in order to get into the valley. There are no hot springs in that area but the temperature is mildly warm and there are several large bogs. You'll be able to see some mountain ranges. This is the only mountain that has hot springs in the area. I think the ruins right on the edge of the valley and the mountain was a retreat of some sort from the winter weather."

"How long have you been exploring here?" Obi-Wan asked.

"About two weeks." Cerasi answered. She stopped walking and held a hand up for silence. Ahead of them there was some movement in a group of red leafed bushes with yellow vines entangled in them with no pattern. A small gray creature, about the size of a tea kettle, emerged from the bushes. Its long bushy tail whipping up and down and its black noise sniffing the air.

A screech came from above as a large red bird, about three feet in length, swooped down and snatched the animal before it could recover from its shock and dart back into the safety of the bushes.

"That bird was huge!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

Cerasi nodded. "I've seen even bigger ones higher up the mountain. You'll see a lot more of them the closer we get to the valley."

"How long will it take to get to the ruins?" Obi-Wan asked as they continued on.

"Three, maybe four, hours." Cerasi told him. "What is your home planet like?"

"I was born on Leris 4 and was raised by my uncle and aunt after my parents died when I was four. The place where I grew up was an active volcanic area. The people were very scattered and the nearest neighbor was two hours away by foot unless one had a riding animal. When it wasn't cloudy, rainy, and windy, it would get really hot outside but at night it would get cold. My aunt taught me as much as she could in subjects like reading, writing, math, and history. When I was seven years old some outsiders came to my home-planet and offered me a chance to further my education beyond what my aunt and uncle could teach me." Obi-Wan responded.

"Wow, there were no cities?" Cerasi asked in amazement.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "None."

They walked in companionable silence, listening to the distant sounds of animals.

"There are many cities on my home-planet but they have fallen into disrepair and the plant life has overtaken some of them. The filth in some of the cities is so bad that many have been abandoned and quarantined. I never knew my mother and my father was so busy commanding his army that I feel like I hardly knew him. I joined the young resistance when I was eleven, a large group of orphans that wanted the war to end. I was thirteen when the outsider came to our planet." Cerasi glanced at Obi-Wan and their eyes made contact briefly. Cerasi looked away as they made their way between some large boulders. "Are you doing the survey for a class?"

Obi-Wan pressed his lips together in a thin line as he thought of the best way to respond. "It's more of a requirement then a class. I get free education but I have to do a job for them in return. Any information we discover is given to the historian who compiles it and then if a teacher wants some new material in his class then he can go to the library and find some new material. Our historian has a great interest in the outer rim planets and the unknown regions. Many have not ventured into the unknown regions."

"This historian sounds like a very interesting person." Cerasi commented.

Obi-Wan chuckled. "She is. She rules the library and has no sense of humor. Anyone in her domain had better be on their best behavior or they would be on the receiving end of a very intense glare and if the behavior is not corrected they would be kicked out of the library and be banned from it for a week."

Cerasi smiled, "I would like to meet her. What planet did you say the school is on?"

"Is that the pass?" Obi-Wan asked, pointing up the trail where the trail became bordered by two large stone walls.

"Yes, it is. We got here faster than I anticipated."

"Well, you have company this time." Obi-Wan responded and reached up to scratch an itch on his neck. "Let's take a break for a little while. I want to gather some samples for Xanatos."

"Sure." Cerasi found a rock big enough to sit on, put her pack on the ground and began searching her pack for her water canteen.

Obi-Wan put his own pack down and stretched before roaming the area, collecting various dirt and plant samples. He examined the bare wall of the pass, running his hand over the smoothness. A river must have run through this area at one time or the walls of the pass were smoothed by a worker of stone. He bent down and brushed some weeds away from the stone. What he saw made his blood run cold.

Sucking in air, he forced himself to breath. With trembling hands, Obi-Wan reached into his cloak pocket and pulled out his datapad to take a picture of his find.

"Are you all right Obi-Wan?" Cerasi called, watching him from the rock she occupied while drinking water out of her canteen.

Licking dry lips, Obi-Wan answered. "I'm fine. It's nothing." He rubbed his thumb across the markings, markings that were freshly cut.