A/N: Obi-Wan's dark visions, Lyri's newly-emerging memory and Palpatine's wiles….

Disclaimer: All characters, arcs and locations for Star Wars belong to George Lucas and Disney except my originals. Not making any money, just playing in the galaxy.

Feral Moon: Discovery

Chapter 7

After a wonderfully tasty fish last-meal, once the final utensil was cleaned and put away, Obi-Wan and Lyri sat near each other gazing into the fire. Obi-Wan wished he could ask Lyri what the wonderful dried herbs were that she had sprinkled the fish with. He'd never tasted anything quite like them. He wondered what other knowledge she had of the plant life on this moon.

Lyri had taken their leftovers and, combining them with a little dried meat from one of her packs, had fed the zakitas. He noticed some of the older canines didn't eat very much, deferring to the pups. He wondered if the older zakitas hunted during the night. There were so many things he wished to ask her about. But, he knew she required patience at this stage and she was already picking up Basic at an incredible rate. He thought she was starting to tap into her memory of the language, but it was still astounding. She was extremely bright.

He watched her as she gazed into the fire dreamily. She really was quite a lovely little thing, he mused. After a few moments, Lyri glanced over at him and smiled. "Lyri...mmm…," she said softly and leaned her head against her hands with her eyes closed, as though asleep. "Sleepy," Obi-Wan smiled. "Obi-Wan sleepy, too young one," he chuckled. She smiled back at him and rose to go to her sleeping furs. She then stopped, tilting her head to one side. Turning back to Obi-Wan, she put her hand to her lips, then reached out as though she were handing him something precious. Gratitude and warmth shone in her eyes. Smiling softly, she turned back around and went to her furs. Calling a couple of the zakitas over, she lay down and curled up. The two large beasts curled next to her, as though to keep her warm and watch over her through the night.

Poking at the embers so the fire would burn a bit longer before it went out for the night, Obi-Wan rose to go to his small pocket tent. He turned and gazed at the small girl and her canine guard and was surprised when a lump formed in his throat and it was hard to swallow for a moment. It was a feeling he hadn't encountered before and he truly didn't know what to do with it. He supposed it would be best to release it into the Force as he meditated. A gentle sigh escaped him as he headed for his tent for the night.

Relaxing into a meditative position, Obi-Wan cleared his mind and released all his thoughts and cares into the warmth of the Light that swirled around and through him. Sinking deeper, he opened himself up to whatever the Force would bring to him. As he sank deeper he saw the galaxy swirling around him, much as it looked in the Map Room at the Temple. As he reached out to bring the Chorlian sector closer, he searched for the unexplored moon in the Baltimn system. The Light reached out and curled around the second largest of the four moons surrounding Baltimn Minor and seemed to caress the heavenly body with a gentle touch. Then, as he watched, his view of the galaxy drew back once more showing the known galaxy as a whole again. A feeling of foreboding settled around him just as in his previous vision and he watched as tendrils of darkness reached out from Coruscant to darken one system after another, curling around them and smothering them until all the light was gone from the vast number of Core and Mid Rim worlds of the Republic. The wisps seemed to grow thinner in the Outer Rim, but they were reaching toward it nevertheless. Following the tendrils like star paths back toward Coruscant, he pursued them down through the city planet's atmosphere where they seemed to emanate from the Senate Sector.

He hovered there for a brief time, trying to go to the very source of the dark, but he seemed to run into a barrier. As he tried to get closer, he felt something cold slither through his mind and, gasping, drew back before he could find the source of the dark.

Finding himself in the Map Room once more, he was astonished to find his former mentor standing there in the midst of the galaxy holomap. "Obi-Wan, my Padawan," said the unmistakable voice, "you must listen to me. He brought the Baltimn system into view again and plucked the feral moon from the display. Handing it to Obi-Wan and closing his hand around it, he breathed, "You must keep them safe, Padawan. They must stay hidden from the dark. Yoda will help you." As the vision gradually dissipated, Obi-Wan rested once more in the soothing Light.

As he slowly came out of his meditation trance over an hour later, the Jedi sat quietly stroking his beard and listening to the music of the night creatures while pondering the dark vision. He was having more of these visions of late and he knew he wasn't the only one to have them. He would definitely be consulting Yoda when he returned to the Temple.

Before going to sleep, he left the tent and walked away from the camp a bit to relieve himself. He watched the night sky for a moment, the stars brilliant here through the unsullied atmosphere of the moon. The glow of Baltimn Minor looked down on the stilled plain. As he walked quietly back into camp, he sought out the zakita pack and noticed that, indeed, several of the large canines were gone. With a few more steps he stood listening to the gentle music of the Force in this untouched place and gazing down at Lyri who sighed softly in her sleep. One of the zakitas curled against her raised its head inquiringly. Obi-Wan put his finger to his lips and sent it calming thoughts. It soon slept again. Satisfied that everything was quiet, he returned to his tent and, lulled by the incessant night music, descended into sleep.

As the early mid-morning sun shone into the little tent, Obi-Wan slowly blinked his eyes open. He picked up his wrist chrono from atop his pack and checked it. "Blast!" he muttered. "I'm never going to find a way off this moon if I continue to waist half the day sleeping!" He took a deep, calming breath. "Morning katas are in order. They should very well put me back on track for the day." They were the next best thing to meditation and worked the night's stiffness from him, bringing his body into harmony with his mind. The dark visions he'd been having had left him drained the last couple of nights.

Stepping out of the tent, he glanced in the direction of Lyri's sleep furs and was surprised to find them rolled up and she and her two companions from the previous night gone. In fact, he noted, they were nowhere to be found. His first reaction was to be concerned and a bit irritated. Immediately discomfited, he realized she knew the moon and its dangers far better than he did. He quickly released his initial feelings and reached out with the Force for her signature. She and her companions were quite some distance away and moving in a rather haphazard manner. "I wonder what she's up to?" he thought, stroking his beard and puzzling a moment. Sensing that the two zakitas were staying close to her, he was satisfied for now and went into the tent to retrieve his lightsaber.

As Lyri approached the camp, she heard a humming noise and saw a flash or two of pale blue light. Motioning the zakitas to stop, she peeked through the tall grass. Obi-Wan was striding forward, then leaping agilely and twirling while swinging the long blue light she had seen the night he had caught her. He was so graceful! He reminded her of the lead dancer of a ballet her mother had taken her to as a small youngling. He was only in his trousers, with the sweat glistening on his toned body and she was mesmerized. It brought a strange feeling to her; goosebumps and...something else she had no reference for. Still adding a little Ataru to his routine at times to keep in practice, he suddenly did an acrobatic backflip, landing only a couple of feet from where she was hiding. She was so startled she fell backwards on her bottom with a gasp. Turning at the sound and seeing her sitting there wide-eyed looking up at him, he chuckled and reached out a hand to help her up. The zakitas just sat there cocking their heads with quizzical canine smiles. The whole sight was so amusing, Obi-Wan, though he did try, was unable to help himself and started laughing and shaking his head. It lightened his spirit after the darkness of his vision during the night. Lyri started blushing and looked down, letting her hair fall forward so her face was hidden. "Oh little one, I'm sorry. It's all right," he said soothingly, crouching down and lifting her chin to look into her eyes. His own eyes were still twinkling. Grasping her hand and pulling her to her feet, he said, "Let's see what you've been up to this morning, shall we?"

"I'll just be a moment," he said, ducking into his tent, both to wipe down and put on a tunic and to give Lyri a minute to compose herself. Upon crawling out of the tent, he could see that Lyri had a small fire going again. The zakitas were standing patiently as she very carefully removed something from their packs. Moving closer and crouching down beside her he watched her carefully remove several brown speckled eggs from the canines' packs and lay them very gently in a basket near the fire. She then suspended her grate over the fire pit once more and set what appeared to be a small griddle on top of it. Obi-Wan just stared at her, incredulous. He really needed to stop underestimating her.

Putting a tiny bit of animal fat on the griddle, she carefully broke the eggs onto it and crumbled some herbs into them from one of her packets. Once the eggs had set enough, she slid them into two shallow bowls that looked to be made of some type of bone and handed one to Obi-Wan. He was just wondering how to go about eating them when she smiled and handed him an actual metal spoon. She apparently only had the one, since she used something that looked like a shell to scoop up her own eggs. They had a rich flavor, stronger than the eggs on Coruscant... The herbs she'd used made them a little savory. They were really quite good.

She started to gather their makeshift dishes to clean them, when Obi-Wan took her hand and sat her down. He wouldn't have the little thing waiting on him like some servant girl. Ducking into his tent once more, he came out with the small sonic cleaner. She stared with wide eyes as he proceeded to quickly clean up the dishes and utensils and wanted to try it herself on the last dish. Patiently showing her how to operate the device, his eyes sparkled at her childlike delight.

Once the breakfast debris was cleaned up, Obi-Wan retrieved his datapad and small solar array from the tent and proceeded to set up the array to charge the device. His thought was to work with Lyri a bit more on her language skills while it charged. But when he turned to her, she was staring at the devices with a peculiar expression. "What is it, Lyri?" he asked calmly, starting to send out soothing waves as he felt the first threads of her agitation. She stood up and started pacing back and forth, whining very softly. The zakitas alerted and turned to her. She looked as though she were ready to bound away like a frightened animal. Obi-Wan went to her calmly and took her hands in his. She looked up at him pleadingly and tried to pull away. "I can't let you run off in this state, little one," he said quietly and tightened his grip. Knowing she was only now relearning the language and words weren't enough, he sank to the ground and pulled the now tearful and shaking young girl into his lap, holding her like a fretful youngling. She struggled a little at first, finally melting into his gentle warmth. "Let me help you sweetheart," he murmured.

As he held her, the image of an older model Corellian mid-size transport flickered through his mind. Brushing her mind softly, he felt the tumultuous emotions and the awakening of the terrified and lost little girl left behind on a wild moon.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Surely Master Kenobi doesn't need you to get him out of trouble on every mission, my boy," soothed the Chancellor at Anakin's stormy expression. "He is after all a Jedi Master, the same honor that should have been bestowed on you by now. Your promotion is long overdue, but of course the Jedi Council is no doubt jealous and afraid of your obvious power. It is because of your superior powers that I need you for this mission, son. Can I count on you?"

Another kriffing mission in the Mid Rim. He wouldn't be free to look for Obi-Wan orto spend time with his wife yet after all. But the Chancellor had been his friend since he was a boy and he could hardly turn him down with all the sacrifices the man himself was making on behalf of the Republic. So he would do his duty. "Yes, sir, you can always count on me. You know that," he said, trying to look calm while inside he was still seething. The Chancellor smiled benignly saying, "Yes, of course my dear boy."

Anakin figured he had a little time to ask some questions at the Temple to see if anyone had more news on his Master's disappearance or whether there'd been contact of any kind. Maybe he'd talk to Padawan Daen, who had supposedly seen where the ship was when the transmitter went dark. Then he'd have a few precious hours to spend with Padme before he had to leave in the morning.

As Anakin left the office of Chancellor Palpatine, the old man's smile changed from something kindly to something grotesque. He cackled to himself. "Maybe I am finally rid of that meddling Jedi Knight," he thought. He had tried to end Kenobi's life on several occasions, only to have his plans fall through and that accursed knight reappear to continue being a thorn in his side. This had been going on for years, ever since the loss of his former apprentice, Darth Maul. He had tried corruption, but the man never even batted an eye, just stood steadfast and held to his Jedi Code and his precious Light.

The bounty hunters he had paid to plant those explosives would find it well worth their time if they had done their job and carried out his wishes. If not, he would crush the life out of them. Kenobi was too much an anchor in the Light for young Anakin Skywalker and he couldn't have him continuing to interfere with his plans any longer when everything was beginning to fall into place.