It was later in the evening when he finally dismissed Thera from her exercises for the day. She was resilient in training, but once she noticed the color of the sunset, her shoulders sagged with exhaustion. Obi-wan recalled how surprised he was when she fell asleep on his shoulder in the lift up to her quarters, and it was then that he reminded himself how long it took for him to get used to the Jedi training schedule in his days with Qui-gon.
Though it had only been a few years and he had reconciled his time with his late master, he felt the same twinge in his heart when recalling his old mentor. Some of his memories were bittersweet, as Qui-gon never allowed for such a strong bond to be acknowledged between the two of them, but it was always apparent to Obi-wan when he looked for it. He could only hope there were times when his Master had acknowledged it as well.
With a sigh, Obi-wan shrugged off his thoughts and returned to his quarters. There was such a thing as routine for Jedi. He finished his reports, conducted calming exercises, and meditated in front of the long stretch of windows in his suite. It began to worry him when the creeping feeling of unsettlement stayed with him through the night.
Come 0230, Obi-wan finally acknowledged the tired ache in his mind that told his body to stay awake. It wasn't the pressing sensation of need that usually came to him from the Force, but the distinct feeling of intuition; that something was amiss. It began to grow as he left his quarters and decided to calm his mind with a walk through the upper towers. It was when he roamed the dark and echoing hallways of the ancient Jedi historicum that he felt it.
The comlink gave a strange chirp from his belt. Glancing at it, he could make out the security grid that he had activated for Thera's suite; he had all but forgotten it over the past weeks.
It was with growing dread that he sprinted to the lifts, already requesting assistance on Thera's level. Looking at the readout again from his datapad; it was now indicating that a breach had been made from outside the building. Re-reading the data again, his stomach threatened to drop. Practically forcing the lift doors open and tearing down the hallway, in the back of his mind he sensed that other Padawan's and Jedi's were now present behind him.
The door to her suite opened automatically, his lightsaber already drawn, but only a roar of wind greeted him as he entered. Once inside, Obi-wan found there was no essence of darkness that was ever present before a duel. The night wind whipped through the broken windows and glass littered the floor. Distant city lights illuminated the sheets and remnants of pillows that blew about the room.
Reaching inside- past his racing feelings and mental cries of action, he focused within the Force, trying to locate her. The pleasant, warm pulse that he only associated with Thera was still there, although weak.
Turning back to a small group of onlookers at the doorway, he started doling orders.
"Guka," he said, recognizing a padawan, "Notify the council of the breach, if they don't know it already. Then check with the security grid to see if there are any other places like this. The rest of you- notify your masters, and do a search of the common areas. A Sith has been here- do not take any chances on your own."
The group parted for him as he dashed back to the lifts. He didn't need to see into the Force for the most likely spot Thera would be at this time of night.
He was already within sight of the archive doors. Swinging them open with a wave of his hand, Obi-wan was met by the eerie darkness of a cavern. Before, the table lamps and the smell of wood and paper would calm him, but now it took on an ominous quality in the emergency lighting.
"Thera! Tell me where you are!" he shouted, racing along the edge of the isles. Obi-wan had hoped that as he entered, he would have seen her asleep over a text or warding off nightmares by watching the holonet. Listening over his footsteps, there was only silence. Sprinting through the levels, it wasn't until he reached the genealogy reference section when he finally saw her.
The lavender dressing gown had pooled around her prone form in the isle. Datapads had scattered, a few of their screens cracked. With a quiet speed, he kneeled down, pulling her up by her shoulders. She was surprisingly stiff which sent a fleeting moment of horror through him, but her signature pulse within the Force was still warm and present.
Again through his comlink, he requested a medical droid as he examined her. Her face was flushed and her fingers had contracted into fists; it was then that he noticed the gemstone necklace that she never took off. It was glowing in time with her pulse and Obi-wan looked on, bewildered.
"Thera, can you hear me?" he asked as he placed a cool palm to her forehead. Her mind was churning with a strange, disconnected current. None of the thoughts were tangible.
She didn't stir, and it was then that he decided that the medidroid was taking too long. Curling an arm around her back and under her knees, he picked her up easily and headed to the level railing. Focusing, he sprung over the rail and down three floors below, landing lithely on a desk.
On arrival in the medical bay, he was surprised to find that it was nearly full. He set Thera on a nearby sickbed and got the attention of the healer that had treated her previously.
"Ghreshard, what happened here?"
The Twi'lek swiftly examined the Padawan's form as he spoke; "There was a security breach on three levels. It seems that three Padawans and one Knight are unaccounted for. Near as anyone can tell, you alerted enough Jedi in time to prevent even more losses." Ghreshard looked back at Obi-wan, "But that's just hear-say at the moment, Jedi Kenobi. Was this the state that you found her in?"
"Yes, I don't know how long she has been like this. Last I saw her, was around 2200 this evening." He looked back to the busy infirmary. Master's stood over their Padawans, ignoring their own hurts. More than a few eyes turned to look back at him at Thera's bedside.
Looking back to the healer, Obi-wan watched him administer a muscle relaxant and Thera's head lolled to the side, her fingers gently unclenching.
"This doesn't seem to be a virus," Ghreshard murmured to himself. "I'm going to run some midi-chlorian tests... pull up a seat Jedi Kenobi. All of us are going to have a long night."
Obi-wan sighed as he watched the healer request a test with one of the droids, then returned to the other patients. He pulled a blanket over Thera, and tried to clear his mind enough to think. She wasn't any different during training exercises, he thought as he sat down next to her bed. Except for those advanced moves that caught him off guard. Her Force signature hadn't changed. In fact, it had amplified. Where it was distinct before, it was now hard to ignore.
As the medidroids flicked around his padawan, Obi-wan walked past the sickbeds, comforting his peers and padawans alike. There was little that he gleaned from his conversations; they were in shock, and their memories overpowered. It sounded almost too familiar to him. It was after other patients were discharged that Ghreshard was able to speak with Obi-wan again. The healer and Jedi conversed in hushed tones, and Obi-wan seemed wary of how Ghreshard clutched Thera's medical datapad close to him.
"Now, forgive me Jedi Kenobi, as I feel I'm a little behind with our Thera here. I did not get to examine her personally when she first arrived. You say that she is from a system outside of the Republic, and that she had all of the correct inoculations aboard your ship when she first arrived?"
"Yes, she responded well to them. She had several lacerations upon rescue, but I went through procedure and treated her with bacta," replied Obi-wan as he looked back down at Thera. Her fingers had curled into fists again, and her jaw seemed to be clenching. "She needed a full tank."
"Rescue, yes. The story is that she has come from captivity of a Sith?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"A year, possibly."
There was a pause as the answer weighed heavily in their minds. "And the attack on you in your quarters, the report was that you were assaulted by droids that held midi-chlorial cells?"
"Yes," replied Obi-wan numbly. He kept his gaze on Thera's face.
The doctor cleared his throat uncomfortably; "I requested from Master Windu the medical readouts of Thera Munro while she was aboard your ship. Her midi-chlorians were very weak, and her cerebral functions were… sluggish."
"And now," prompted Obi-wan, as he let the doctor draw his own conclusions.
"Now…" Ghreshard held the digital chart in front of Kenobi's gaze as he enlarged a graph with expert fingers. "Her midi-chlorians are the most concentrated- that I've ever seen. It seems as though her body has finally come to the level of maturity, but it has not had to deal with the full midi-chlorian count in her bloodstream for some time."
Obi-wan's brow furrowed and looked back to Ghreshard.
"She's not sick, Jedi Kenobi. She's adjusting, healing. It's only a matter of time."
"Healing," Obi-wan repeated it to himself just to make sure the notion seeped into his conscious. He was dead on his feet that night, but the news that the healer had delivered to him finally allowed for him to rest mentally. He sat next to Thera until the first of the two suns peeked over Coruscant's horizon. As he sat, he remembered one particularly bad mission as a Padawan to Qui-gon. Although it was nothing more than a blaster to his shoulder, the feeling of being wounded for the first time was almost too much to bear. He had awoke three days later to Qui-gon leaning over him, looking puzzled and yet relieved.
"Obi-wan."
He looked up to find Master Windu leaning against the foot of Thera's bed, a piercing look dominating his features. Outside the suns had risen.
"The council would like to have a meeting."
"Yes…of course," Kenobi replied as he ran a hand over his tired face.
