That's Not Really Funny- Eels
It had been two days since the incident in the hallway and as more time passed, Barriss realized that something was definitely up. Her Jedi companion had been acting strangely ever since. Whenever she tried to question him he either shrugged her off or was too busy with negotiations to talk.
She hated being left in the dark and whatever Obi Wan had going on he was making it a priority to keep her out of it. Even the blonde doctor was proving a challenge to talk to. She was politely evasive with her answers and annoyingly meticulous in her questioning. Sighing in frustration she fell back onto her bed and took a glance at her clock. The digital device read 9:09 p.m..
Now would be a good time to talk to him without work getting in the way. Pulling her hair away from her face, she put on a pair of trousers and a tank top so she could go and talk to the oddly secretive jedi master. Pulling open her chamber's door, she was about to step out into the hallway when she noticed the man in question leaving his room too. At first she was just going to go over and talk to him, but then she noticed his state of dress and the overnight bag slung over his shoulder.
"Where is he off to so late in the night?" she whispered to herself.
Quickly pulling her door closed, she waited until after his footsteps faded past to peek after his quiet form. Deciding to follow, she quickly dashed back inside to grab her lightsaber and cloak.
The Jedi Master jumped into the rented vehicle which he would take him two cities over to the town Shuri lived in. The drive took about forty-five minutes. When he arrived to the Aldreska residence, he parked the speeder and began the twenty minute trek to the cottage.
Master Offee had made it to the rental shop just in time to see the ginger haired man speed off. Cursing her luck, she had no choice but to go back to the palace and contemplate her next move. There was no way she could follow him without giving herself away. She decided she would wait for his return in his room to question him.
"Still no change?"
Shuri shook her head 'no.'
"Maybe there's something you can do through your link," She suggested hopefully.
He looked pensive as he regarded the unconscious woman from her bedroom door. The sight of Asajj semi-comatose made his stomach drop. She'd been this way since Shuri had attended to her two days ago. He hated seeing her so unresponsive, and yet she looked so carefree- like a normal woman waiting to start a normal day. Focusing on the conversation at hand, he ran a hand through his hair before responding.
"When you gave her the midi-chiorian suppressants you temporarily eliminated her ability to access the link. Her presence is too faint for me to do anything. Which makes me wonder how much did you give her?" Turning away from the sleeping visage of Asajj Ventress, the two made their way into the kitchen to take a seat.
"Too much apparently…" She leaned against the counter as he took a seat. "Good thing I'm better with tranquilizers."
He gave her a look that said otherwise.
"Listen…" She began chewing on her bottom lip, "I think I know what could be causing all this, but I need to be sure first."
The Jedi master felt a glimmer of hope, his eyes conveying as much. "Well…"
"I think she may have an anxiety disorder characterized by stress."
"What?"
"Think of it as PTSD on steroids or spice. The same way a victim of extreme traumatization can relive horrific events, she would too only it'd be worse because she's in tune with a power that is physically able to manifest itself at its user's will."
He stared at her in disbelief. "That's impossible…"
"Is it?"
"Shuri," He laughed skeptically, "you can't just…."
"Those nightmares and headaches… You only have them when she does."
"We're linked…" He reasoned.
"Even when you're planets away…" Green eyes were bright with determination.
"Coincidence."
"And since she's had those force suppressants you haven't felt a thing and she doesn't react to flashbacks the same way."
Silence. Check and mate.
"Admit it General- I'm onto something." Shuri smirked in victory.
"There's no way… Master Offee told you this?
"No, but from our conversation I gather that it's possible given the right set of conditions. You'd be surprised at what the human mind can do." She stared at him knowingly.
"Dooku betraying her can't be so traumatic that she's responding this way. I mean she was never this way before."
"True, but before she had history on her side. That bump to the head caused her to forget that history. Now she's going through all these events at the same time- for the first time. I mean, she's dredging up all her lowest moments like she's never experienced them before- everything's out of context and it's simply too much raw feeling at one once. But, like I said, I'll have to wait until she wakes up to be absolutely sure."
"Is… is this what she was going through while I was gone?"
She dropped her smug expression in favor of something more serious. "Something like this, yes."
"Why didn't you think to mention that?" He demanded in a tone that made her cringe, mentally.
"And what would you have done if I had told you?" She shot back. "What honestly could you have done a billion miles away?"
"That's not the point!"
"It is! She didn't want you to interfere. She's probably thinking differently now, but that's beside the point. Now you have a whole week to see her."
"This is ridiculous!" He relented lowering is voice
"Maybe so, but it doesn't make it any less true." Shuri rolled her eyes as she went about gathering her things. "Look, the sooner you can get Master Offee to help out, the sooner we can fix this." With that she said her goodnights and was out the door.
After falling asleep in Obi Wan's room, Barriss woke up to find there'd been no sign of him. Wiping the sleep from her eyes she glanced at the digital device on the dresser to see that it was only 5:03 a.m.. Deciding to return to her room, the Jedi Master gathered herself and made the trek back to her sleeping quarters. She didn't see her companion till the day's scheduled sessions started about three hours later.
"Sleep well?" She had asked him casually.
"Not at all, but at least the room is nice," Obi Wan had said with an honest expression on his face.
He didn't notice her frown.
It was around lunch time when she decided to visit the rental shop she'd saw him go to the night before. Smiling at the clerk, she promptly asked if she could know where someone had went in a vehicle that had been rented out before closing. All the shops kept trackers in their vehicles in case they had to retrieve their property.
The clerk asked her for her name and designation, running her through a database to see if she was who she claimed to be. When everything checked out, the clerk gave her co-ordinates to the vehicle's stops. After thanking the clerk for the information, she used a suggestion trick to erase their memory of the interaction. She then left, quickly heading over to a nearby information station to research her findings.
After entering the information she found the location of Obi Wan's stop. She recognized the town name of Manesfield as the town Shuri resided in. Why would he be visiting the doctor when she was constantly visiting the planet's capital? Maybe his episode in the hall prompted an emergency meeting. But then why would he lie about it?
She specifically remembered him stating that it 'wasn't him.' The deeper she delved, the more she realized the source of the pain was from something, or someone else.
She was willing to bet that all of this had something to do with the presence she'd encountered within her companion the day of the incident.
But that's impossible unless his force aura had somehow tangled with someone else's…
Dark blue eyes widened in realization and shock. But who besides Anakin and his former teacher would he have such an intimate relationship? Obi Wan knew such a thing was frowned upon, so why would he do it? Perhaps he was being possessed… The more she started connecting dots, the more questions she had.
What was going on that was making the renowned jedi so unlike himself?
After the day's agenda had been concluded Obi Wan was on his way to his room when he was intercepted by a palace maiden.
"Master Kenobi," came her heavily accented voice, "You have a holo-transmission that was sent to your room's communication's unit."
He smiled thankfully. Gods, he hated how all these meetings drug out. A shower would really help him relax. Politics could be so frustrating. Assuming it was a message from Anakin, he skipped the communication unit and headed in the bathroom for a long shower. While standing beneath the steady flow of water, he allowed his thoughts free reign.
Shuri had been right about one thing, he really needed to talk to Master Offee. He could only keep this a secret for so long. Barriss was about as shrewd as they came. He pretended not to notice those sharp eyes and questioning glances she threw his way. The sooner he could talk to her, the better. Besides, it'd be easier to plead his case if she heard it from him first.
Finishing up his shower, he went about changing his clothes completely forgetting about the transmission in his queue. He was off to find Master Offee instead.
Staring at the seemingly peaceful figure resting beneath cotton sheets. Barriss didn't understand what she was looking at. The woman had pale white skin and long dark hair. Her facial features were round, sharp and peculiarly familiar.
'Who is this?' She thought as she regarded the unconscious form. Was this what Obi Wan was hiding? And why?
After she'd arrived in Manesfield, she'd casually asked around about any non-locals moving through. Despite her inquiries, no one yielded anything especially useful. If it hadn't been for a faint force signature grazing her own, she wouldn't have had anything to follow-up on. Deciding to track the weak aura, she found herself in front of a cottage about 25 minutes away from town.
Barriss didn't know who this woman was, but she had a feeling she was the reason for Obi Wan's strange behavior.
"Who are you?" she whispered aloud. She could tell the woman was a force sensitive, but that was all. She didn't worry about her health as her breathing, though deep, was normal. Carefully crossing the threshold of the bedroom, she sat on the edge of the bed as gently as she could. Noticing the faint needle marks on her arms, Barriss concluded that the Jane Doe was in a drug induced sleep which was reason for the deepness of sleep. Concentrating on the faint reading she had been able to pick up, she turned her thoughts on the woman's state of being.
There was something odd about her energies- they were unnaturally weak. Lightly touching the needle marks, she concluded that the unnaturalness of her condition would be due to force suppressants.
But why would the Jane Doe need both tranquilizers and midi-chiorian suppressants? Maybe… Maybe she was a client of the former doctor? That would explain the reason behind Shuri's questioning.
But if that was the case, why so much effort to keep it all a secret? Why was she being treated in this remote dwelling and not elsewhere?
Sighing, Barriss stood wanting to explore the room. Just as she made to move, she heard a sound akin to the breaking of glass. Wincing, she looked down to see some datapads peaking from underneath the bed. Bending down to pick them up, the first one was cracked blinking out parts and distorting others. The other two were just fine. One was even on.
The healer casually scrolled through, staring at the words in confusion. She then activated the second unharmed one, reading as a feeling of unease settled in her stomach. Why would Jane Doe have these?
Staring at the third, she scrolled around trying to make sense of the few blots of info she could discern.
An hour later and his efforts had yet to find the olive-skinned woman. Frustrated with her convenient disappearance, Obi Wan found himself back in his room resting lazily on his bed. For the past two days, she was always waiting to talk and now when he was finally ready to have the conversation, she wasn't available.
'Typical,' he thought pinching the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. He found his mind wandering to topics he really wished he didn't want to worry about. For example the incident in the hall. His last conversation with Shuri replayed constantly in his mind. What if she was right? Had he really been experiencing her memories while back on Coruscant?
'I'll give you something to fight about… The emperor no longer requires your services… Help me… He had failed and failure would always result in pain... He wondered if her dreams were like this…'
His heart ached at the thought. He could feel the remnants of panic and fear that came with such dreams. The thought of her living through such hardships was truly depressing. Accepting the consequences of your actions was not an ideal lost upon him as Obi Wan believed in the idea completely, however, he also recognized fear and desperation when he saw it. Such a wounded girl she had to have been to grow up into the bitter vixen that had been Asajj Ventress.
Glancing to his right, he noticed the communications device blinking on its stand. He'd forgotten about that message. Taking a deep breath he raised himself from his bed to review the transmission after realizing two more were in queue.
"Sir, this is Sho'Shana Crane of the Rental-"
-Skip-
The next message made his blood run cold.
The shining eyes of the blonde pleaded for help on the transmitter's screen.
"Obi Wan… I know what I told you, but this goes beyond all of that! There is something seriously wrong here. You have to come now!"
Staring at the now sent pre-recorded message, Barriss waited for the Jedi Master's arrival.
A/N: I hated writing this… I don't think suspenseful writing is my thing so I can say that this could've been better. However, it was necessary and I am glad that it's finally out of the way. Review please! And as always, thanx for sticking around! Btw... does anyone watch the United States of Tara?
