Part II
"Avery," Azia said as the large man entered the room that they were keeping their unconscious prisoner in, "what are you going to do with the boy?"
"Hultz just contacted me a few minutes ago. He was able to get the force suppressor, but it will be at least three hours until he gets back. I have to give Jedi boy here another dose of the drug."
"But you can't," Azia pleaded, "Doctor Zul said that you can't give anyone the drug more than twice in a twenty four hour period. You've already given him four doses in 20 hours."
"The boy keeps waking up every four hours. It is time for his fifth dose."
"But Avery, Doctor Zul said that if you keep giving him too much in such a short period of time that the boy could have severe side effects, ranging from amnesia to the failure of his internal organs, and if that happens he will die."
"And if I allow him to escape, the Vardell army will kill all of us for our involvement in the bombing of the Capital building."
"I heard a national report that the boy's teacher is confirmed dead, and they presumed our prisoner is dead. They must think that he was burnt beyond recognition."
"Yes I heard that too," Avery said as he began to prepare another dose of the drug.
"My point is that they won't be looking for him. We could drop him off in the wallabies Calli fields. Even when he first regains consciousness he will be groggy, and weak for a while. We could leave Vardell like you said that you wanted to. By the time that the boy finds his way to the authorities we could be long gone, and he may not even remember what happened. He's just a boy, Avery."
"A boy who is being trained to be a Jedi Knight," Avery growled, and then looked up into Azia's pleading brown eyes. With a sigh, he said, "fine, I guess I can let the boy regain consciousness long enough to find out what he remembers. But Azia, if he remembers me, I will have to drug him again. He should regain consciousness soon."
A few minutes the boy began to stir and Azia began to wonder if she was doing the right thing or if the boy would be better off if she left Avery kill him. She suspected that another dose would kill the boy, without him ever regaining consciousness.
The boy slowly opened his eyes and then blinked a few times before his eyes finally adjusted to the light.
"How do you feel?" Azia asked.
"Like I was just run over by a herd of tauntauns," the boy suddenly got a strange look on his face, and then said, "except I don't remember what they are. Who are you? Where am I?"
"My name is Azia, you were injured in an accident, don't you remember what happened?"
"No," the boy said and then looked over at Avery, who stood near the bottom of the bed. "Who is he?"
"You don't remember me?" Avery asked looking shocked.
"No, should I?"
"Do you remember anything?" Azia asked.
"I- I don't know. My head hurts."
"What about Hultz? Do you remember Hultz?" Avery asked. Azia looked at the large man wondering what he was doing. The boy had never seen Hultz, and of course wouldn't remember him.
"What is a Hultz?" the boy asked.
"He's our brother. I'm Avery Pajan, and you are Rory Pajan."
"Rory," the boy repeated, and then shook his head, Azia thought that he was going to tell Avery how wrong he was, but then the boy said, "I don't remember," he said as he drifted off to sleep again.
Azia and Avery both left the room. Once in the hall Azia turned to Avery, "what do you think you were doing?"
"Getting us a new recruit for our cause, Azia, I knew that the boy would be of some use to us," Avery smirked.
"You can't be serious, Avery. His memory loss may only be temporary. He may wake up again and have all of his memories intact."
"And that is why I will have the drug handy, while he is awake until Hultz brings the force suppressor."
"And just how are you going to explain to him why you are forcing him to wear it?" Azia asked.
"He is sick with a rare illness called um, Wren. And he has to wear a special medicated neck brace, that gives him his medication at regular preset intervals."
"And you think he'll believe you?"
"If he believes that Hultz and I are his brothers, I think he will. He's a Jedi he believes in all that happy family crap."
"You are unbelievable you know that?" Azia said as she walked away from him.
*** * *** * ***
Qui-Gon sat in his quarters trying to meditate and clear his mind, but he couldn't stop thinking about Obi-Wan. He kept thinking that there should have been something more he could have done for him. A knock on the door to his quarters brought him temporarily out of his guilty thoughts.
Qui-Gon rose to his feet and slowly walked to the door. He was only slightly surprised to see Tahl standing on the other side of the door. Tahl was a long time friend of his. It was on the mission to rescue her that Obi-Wan had mistakenly decided to leave the Jedi order, for which would later cause Qui-Gon's refusal to take the boy back as his padawan.
Tahl had forgiven Obi-Wan for what had happened on Melida/Dann, where she had lost her eyesight. Qui-Gon wished that he could have forgiven the boy so easily.
"Tahl," Qui-Gon said.
"Qui-Gon, Adi just told me about Obi-Wan, I'm so sorry. How are you?"
"I'm fine," he replied linking his arm around Tahl's and guiding her inside his quarters and to the nearby couch.
"Qui-Gon, don't lie to me, I know you cared a great deal about the boy and were so hurt by Obi-Wan's mistake on Melida/Dann, that you would not be fine after such a tragic death as he had succumbed to."
"I could never hide anything from you," Qui-Gon mused.
"So how do you feel Qui-Gon?" Tahl asked again.
"I don't know. It doesn't feel real, like he's not really gone. I wish I didn't wait so long to realize that I really did want him as my padawan. He was so young and there was so much left to teach him. On the way to a mission to Bravens III I had a dream that I was watching over Obi-Wan's knighting ceremony, from above. I wasn't there to cut his braid, but Yoda was. It was as if I had died and was looking down on him. He had grown into a fine young man. It was strange, though, he seemed so sad, and lost, even though he had just became a Knight, which was what he wanted most of all. I thought at the time that it was a vision of the future, and I realized that I did really want to be apart of his training, and of his life. I wanted to have the right to be at his Knighting ceremony even if I had to see it through the force. But I guess I was wrong, it was not a vision of the future, just a dream."
"Qui-Gon, I'm sorry."
"I just can't help feeling that I am somehow responsible. Like if I would have accepted him back as my padawan, that none of this would have happened, and my dream would one day come true."
"Qui-Gon, you must not think that way Obi-Wan would not want you to blame yourself. The only people responsible are the terrorists who put the bomb in the capital building."
"But if I-"
"Qui-Gon Jinn," Tahl interrupted him, her voice was raised to let Qui-Gon know that she was serious," you are one of the greatest masters in this temple, but right now you certainly are not one of the smartest ones. You do not know the future. You do not know what would or would not have happened had you taken Obi-Wan back as your padawan. Perhaps he could have been killed sooner or you could have killed a long with the boy."
Qui-Gon remained silent knowing that his long time friend was right. Even if he had taken the boy back, he still may have died, if his death was the will of the force. The realization made him feel slightly less responsible for Obi-Wan's death, but he still had an ache in his heart over the loss of his former padawan.
*** * *** * ***
The room that Obi-Wan was in was lit only by the light in the hall outside that seeped into the small room through a small crack on the bottom of the door.
Although it was evening he did not feel tired. He had been told by Avery Pajan that he was the older mans brother as well as someone Avery called Hultz, and that his name was Rory Pajan. But he did not remember. There was no reason for them to lie to him, but the name "Rory Pajan" just did not feel right. Nothing since he woke up felt right to him, and he still felt weak and somewhat groggy.
As he lay on the uncomfortable bed he began to wonder how he was injured, and why he doesn't remember anything that he should?
Suddenly the door slid open with a groaning sound, and a man that Obi-Wan had never seen before walked into the room followed by Azia, and Avery. The light that poured into the room from the opened door nearly blinded Obi- Wan, and he had to blink his eyes a few times before his eyes adjusted to the light.
"Rory," the man said, he was a large man just like Avery, and bore an obvious resemblance to Avery. Obi-Wan noticed that he seemed nervous.
"Hultz," Obi-Wan said.
"Yes," the man said, glancing at Avery and Azia before returning his gaze to Obi-Wan "do you remember me?"
"No," Obi-Wan said calmly, "you look like Avery, and I assumed that you were his-our brother."
"That is very perceptive Rory. You always were the smartest of the Pajan brothers," Azia said glaring at Avery. She almost seemed to be communicating with him without speaking. "So do you feel any better?"
"Yes, I still feel a little weak though."
"That's due to the medication, you see when you were injured your medication brace was broken, and we had to give you your medication through syringes until Hultz got you a new one. I'm afraid, though, he had to travel all the way to Pecora to get it. That is why we had to give you so much medication, plus the medication for your injuries," Avery explained.
"What is a medicine brace?" Obi-Wan asked, as he played with the long braided section of his hair.
Hultz held up a strange metal ring that looked large enough to fit around someone's neck. Obi-Wan immediately noticed the locking mechanism on it. "You have a very rare illness called Wren, Rory, and the brace goes around; your neck, and automatically gives you the correct doses of medication that you need," Azia said.
"You nearly died when the brace was damaged. The doctor had to nearly give you an overdose of the medication to save your life," Avery sighed, "I'm afraid that the side effect of such a high dose was your memory loss."
"But I for one, think it was a small price to pay to keep you alive. In time you can make new memories, and perhaps one day you will remember those lost memories," Azia said. And Obi-Wan noticed the sadness and regret in the young woman's eyes. But he got the strangest feeling from Avery and Hultz that they were deceiving him.
"How was the brace damaged?" Obi-Wan asked.
Azia, Avery, and Hultz shared another look between one another before Hultz said, "Well you were at the capital building when it exploded, luckily for us, and you, you were in the section of the building that was the least damaged. Your medicine brace, however, did not fare as well."
"Does the medication from the brace, cause me to sleep a lot, and cause memory loss?"
"It regulates your medication to your body chemistry so that you can live your life without always being asleep and feeling weak. And it does not cause memory loss, because the amount of medication is regulated to the correct amounts so that you will not be given an overdose. Incase it is tampered with, or damaged; it just stops giving you your medication, and lets off an alarm. The alarm helped the rescuers find you in time to save your life," Avery said.
"Why did the capital building blow up? Were a lot of people hurt?"
"I don't know why, Rory. It is rumored that it was a group terrorist who wanted to make a point of how they felt about the negotiations, and the fact they had brought the Jedi into the matter," Hultz said, and received another glare from Avery.
"Twenty-four people died, including a Jedi Knight, and 48 people were injured, and there are still some people missing."
"Why is part of my hair in a braid?"
"Because you saw a kid once who had all of his hair short, except for one small section of hair that he had braided. You liked it and decided to do the same with your hair," Azia told him.
"How old am I?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Fifteen," Avery said.
"Sixteen," Hultz said at the same time as Avery.
"You're fifteen still Rory, Hultz was never very good with dates, you will be sixteen in about a month though," Avery said, and scowled at Hultz.
"Close enough," Hultz mumbled, then stepped closer to Obi-Wan and held out the "medicine brace", before saying "here Rory lets get this on you before the last dose we gave you wears off and you get sick again."
Rory nodded, and sat up in the bed, as he did so he suddenly felt dizzy. "Whoa kid, you need to take it easy for a couple of days," Avery said grabbing Obi-Wan's arm to steady him.
"Are you ok now?" Hultz asked, as he moved closer to Obi-Wan.
Suddenly a strange feeling of dread came over Obi-Wan as he looked at the strange and unfamiliar medical device. It seemed as if the feeling was telling him he should not let them put the device around his neck.
Obi-Wan shook his head and leaned away from Hultz and closer towards Avery.
"Rory," Hultz said, "I know you don't like to get this put on you, but I promise we'll do it as quickly as possible to get it over with, you will die without it."
Obi-Wan looked at Azia with pleading eyes. She locked her silver colored eyes with his and said, "Please Rory; you, Avery, and Hultz are the closest thing to a family that I have. I don't want to lose any of you."
Obi-Wan relaxed slightly; somehow he could sense that the girl did not wish him any harm, although he didn't know how he knew. Obi-Wan leaned back towards where he had been sitting before and let Hultz put the device around his neck, despite the feeling in the back of his mind that told him not to.
As the device touched his neck he felt a sharp pinch against the right side of his neck, "Owe," he winced.
"Sorry," Hultz said, and then Obi-Wan felt the clasp of the locking mechanism close as Hultz closed the "brace" around his neck.
"There you go kid, all done already."
* *** * *** *
The following day Hultz and Azia had let Obi-Wan out of bed. Obi-Wan then got a look at him self in the mirror and realized that he bore no resemblance to Hultz or Avery.
"Azia," Obi-Wan said leaving the fresher, and walking into the living area where Azia sat on a lumpy looking couch.
Azia looked up at Obi-Wan, smiled, and then asked, "how do you feel today?"
"Strange, like I'm not my self, except, I don't remember who I am. I don't know none of this makes sense," the boy said.
"Do you still feel ill?"
"No, I don't know how to explain it. I did notice that since Hultz put the brace on me that I feel funny."
"Funny how?" Azia persisted.
"Like something is missing," Obi-Wan tried to explain to her. Since Hultz had put the medical device around his neck, Obi-Wan had felt empty, like if something important to him was taken away the moment that the brace was put around his neck. He no longer got the feelings that were telling him to trust Azia, but not to trust Hultz and Avery. But he knew that he could not tell Azia that he for unknown reasons to him that he did not trust the two men who claim to be his brothers.
"Azia," Obi-Wan sighed, "I was looking in the mirror, and I was just wondering why I don't look like either Avery or Hultz? They both share a remarkable resemblance, and it is obvious that they are truly brothers, but I am the exact opposite of them in height, weight, build, even our hair and eye colors are different.
"Well," Azia said, and looked down at the floor as if she did not know how to answer the question, "that's because you were adopted. Your real parents couldn't afford all of your medication, and the special care that you needed when you were a baby," Azia said still looking down at the floor.
"My parents didn't want me?" Obi-Wan asked.
"No, it wasn't that, Rory," she said looking up into Obi-Wan's eyes. "They were good friends with the Pajans, they used to visit with you a lot and bring you presents too. Three years ago the Pajans and your real family were killed in a shuttle accident. You, Avery and Hultz were here when it happened."
"So I'm an orphan twice," Obi-Wan said.
"I guess you could say that," Azia said, with a sad look in her eyes. "Listen Rory, I know that this is all a lot to take in all at once; finding out about your illness and your real and adopted parents deaths, all at once like this and not remembering anything. But you have to realize that your brothers have worked very hard to keep you healthy, you were happy here despite everything else.
A sudden strange beeping noise interrupted their conversation. "What's that?" Obi-Wan asked, as he whirled around and his hand reflexively dropped to the left side of his waist.
"It's ok, Rory, it's just the comm unit, on the wall. It's beeping to let me know that someone is sending a transmission," Azia smiled, as she turned, and walked over to the wall behind her where a device hung on the wall with a red flashing light, that flashed in time with the beeping.
"Yes," Azia said, after pushing a button on the device.
"Azia," Avery's voice said, "how is everything?"
"Fine, how is your meeting?" Azia asked.
"Fine, I need you to bring my black case next to my bed to me, I forgot it. Wake Hultz, and tell him to keep an eye on Rory."
"Ok, Avery, I'll be there in a few minutes," Azia said and pushed another button on the comm unit.
"Why do you have to wake Hultz? I'm old enough to take care of myself," Obi-Wan said.
"I'm sure you are, but you were just sick, and we would rather that someone stay here with you to make sure that you don't have any problems with your medicine brace for a few days."
Obi-Wan nodded, as Azia turned and walked into the other bedroom, where Hultz slept. A few minutes later Azia walked out of the room with a black case in her hand, and said, "I'll be back in a little while, Rory, Hultz will come out in a few minutes."
Obi-Wan nodded again, as Azia walked out of the small house. He did not like nor trust Hultz or Avery, and did not want to be alone with Hultz.
A few minutes later Hultz exited the bedroom, walking towards Obi-Wan. "Hello Rory," he said, "how are you feeling?"
"I'm ok."
"Did you remember anything yet?"
"No."
"Don't worry I'm sure that your memories will return soon enough. Did you eat? I'm starving."
"Yes," Obi-Wan said.
"Are you hungry again, you really need to eat more you are really thin, just like mom."
"Mom?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes, our mother, you are familiar with the word aren't you?"
"Yes, I just don't remember her," Obi-Wan said.
"I'm sorry. You actually look just like her. Avery and I look just like dad. She was skinny just like you, with your same colored hair and eyes, and she was also short. She was the best mom too."
"Where is she?" Obi-Wan asked, trying to hide the anger that surged through him now that he knew that someone was lying to him.
"She died three years ago in a shuttle accident with dad, and Azia's parents."
Obi-Wan wanted to hit him, and demand to know why they were lying to him about his parents, but he knew that the larger man would most likely kill him if he did. He decided that he had to try and figure out why they were lying to him, and not let them know that he knows. Perhaps he could find a way to find out who he really is.
"Avery," Azia said as the large man entered the room that they were keeping their unconscious prisoner in, "what are you going to do with the boy?"
"Hultz just contacted me a few minutes ago. He was able to get the force suppressor, but it will be at least three hours until he gets back. I have to give Jedi boy here another dose of the drug."
"But you can't," Azia pleaded, "Doctor Zul said that you can't give anyone the drug more than twice in a twenty four hour period. You've already given him four doses in 20 hours."
"The boy keeps waking up every four hours. It is time for his fifth dose."
"But Avery, Doctor Zul said that if you keep giving him too much in such a short period of time that the boy could have severe side effects, ranging from amnesia to the failure of his internal organs, and if that happens he will die."
"And if I allow him to escape, the Vardell army will kill all of us for our involvement in the bombing of the Capital building."
"I heard a national report that the boy's teacher is confirmed dead, and they presumed our prisoner is dead. They must think that he was burnt beyond recognition."
"Yes I heard that too," Avery said as he began to prepare another dose of the drug.
"My point is that they won't be looking for him. We could drop him off in the wallabies Calli fields. Even when he first regains consciousness he will be groggy, and weak for a while. We could leave Vardell like you said that you wanted to. By the time that the boy finds his way to the authorities we could be long gone, and he may not even remember what happened. He's just a boy, Avery."
"A boy who is being trained to be a Jedi Knight," Avery growled, and then looked up into Azia's pleading brown eyes. With a sigh, he said, "fine, I guess I can let the boy regain consciousness long enough to find out what he remembers. But Azia, if he remembers me, I will have to drug him again. He should regain consciousness soon."
A few minutes the boy began to stir and Azia began to wonder if she was doing the right thing or if the boy would be better off if she left Avery kill him. She suspected that another dose would kill the boy, without him ever regaining consciousness.
The boy slowly opened his eyes and then blinked a few times before his eyes finally adjusted to the light.
"How do you feel?" Azia asked.
"Like I was just run over by a herd of tauntauns," the boy suddenly got a strange look on his face, and then said, "except I don't remember what they are. Who are you? Where am I?"
"My name is Azia, you were injured in an accident, don't you remember what happened?"
"No," the boy said and then looked over at Avery, who stood near the bottom of the bed. "Who is he?"
"You don't remember me?" Avery asked looking shocked.
"No, should I?"
"Do you remember anything?" Azia asked.
"I- I don't know. My head hurts."
"What about Hultz? Do you remember Hultz?" Avery asked. Azia looked at the large man wondering what he was doing. The boy had never seen Hultz, and of course wouldn't remember him.
"What is a Hultz?" the boy asked.
"He's our brother. I'm Avery Pajan, and you are Rory Pajan."
"Rory," the boy repeated, and then shook his head, Azia thought that he was going to tell Avery how wrong he was, but then the boy said, "I don't remember," he said as he drifted off to sleep again.
Azia and Avery both left the room. Once in the hall Azia turned to Avery, "what do you think you were doing?"
"Getting us a new recruit for our cause, Azia, I knew that the boy would be of some use to us," Avery smirked.
"You can't be serious, Avery. His memory loss may only be temporary. He may wake up again and have all of his memories intact."
"And that is why I will have the drug handy, while he is awake until Hultz brings the force suppressor."
"And just how are you going to explain to him why you are forcing him to wear it?" Azia asked.
"He is sick with a rare illness called um, Wren. And he has to wear a special medicated neck brace, that gives him his medication at regular preset intervals."
"And you think he'll believe you?"
"If he believes that Hultz and I are his brothers, I think he will. He's a Jedi he believes in all that happy family crap."
"You are unbelievable you know that?" Azia said as she walked away from him.
*** * *** * ***
Qui-Gon sat in his quarters trying to meditate and clear his mind, but he couldn't stop thinking about Obi-Wan. He kept thinking that there should have been something more he could have done for him. A knock on the door to his quarters brought him temporarily out of his guilty thoughts.
Qui-Gon rose to his feet and slowly walked to the door. He was only slightly surprised to see Tahl standing on the other side of the door. Tahl was a long time friend of his. It was on the mission to rescue her that Obi-Wan had mistakenly decided to leave the Jedi order, for which would later cause Qui-Gon's refusal to take the boy back as his padawan.
Tahl had forgiven Obi-Wan for what had happened on Melida/Dann, where she had lost her eyesight. Qui-Gon wished that he could have forgiven the boy so easily.
"Tahl," Qui-Gon said.
"Qui-Gon, Adi just told me about Obi-Wan, I'm so sorry. How are you?"
"I'm fine," he replied linking his arm around Tahl's and guiding her inside his quarters and to the nearby couch.
"Qui-Gon, don't lie to me, I know you cared a great deal about the boy and were so hurt by Obi-Wan's mistake on Melida/Dann, that you would not be fine after such a tragic death as he had succumbed to."
"I could never hide anything from you," Qui-Gon mused.
"So how do you feel Qui-Gon?" Tahl asked again.
"I don't know. It doesn't feel real, like he's not really gone. I wish I didn't wait so long to realize that I really did want him as my padawan. He was so young and there was so much left to teach him. On the way to a mission to Bravens III I had a dream that I was watching over Obi-Wan's knighting ceremony, from above. I wasn't there to cut his braid, but Yoda was. It was as if I had died and was looking down on him. He had grown into a fine young man. It was strange, though, he seemed so sad, and lost, even though he had just became a Knight, which was what he wanted most of all. I thought at the time that it was a vision of the future, and I realized that I did really want to be apart of his training, and of his life. I wanted to have the right to be at his Knighting ceremony even if I had to see it through the force. But I guess I was wrong, it was not a vision of the future, just a dream."
"Qui-Gon, I'm sorry."
"I just can't help feeling that I am somehow responsible. Like if I would have accepted him back as my padawan, that none of this would have happened, and my dream would one day come true."
"Qui-Gon, you must not think that way Obi-Wan would not want you to blame yourself. The only people responsible are the terrorists who put the bomb in the capital building."
"But if I-"
"Qui-Gon Jinn," Tahl interrupted him, her voice was raised to let Qui-Gon know that she was serious," you are one of the greatest masters in this temple, but right now you certainly are not one of the smartest ones. You do not know the future. You do not know what would or would not have happened had you taken Obi-Wan back as your padawan. Perhaps he could have been killed sooner or you could have killed a long with the boy."
Qui-Gon remained silent knowing that his long time friend was right. Even if he had taken the boy back, he still may have died, if his death was the will of the force. The realization made him feel slightly less responsible for Obi-Wan's death, but he still had an ache in his heart over the loss of his former padawan.
*** * *** * ***
The room that Obi-Wan was in was lit only by the light in the hall outside that seeped into the small room through a small crack on the bottom of the door.
Although it was evening he did not feel tired. He had been told by Avery Pajan that he was the older mans brother as well as someone Avery called Hultz, and that his name was Rory Pajan. But he did not remember. There was no reason for them to lie to him, but the name "Rory Pajan" just did not feel right. Nothing since he woke up felt right to him, and he still felt weak and somewhat groggy.
As he lay on the uncomfortable bed he began to wonder how he was injured, and why he doesn't remember anything that he should?
Suddenly the door slid open with a groaning sound, and a man that Obi-Wan had never seen before walked into the room followed by Azia, and Avery. The light that poured into the room from the opened door nearly blinded Obi- Wan, and he had to blink his eyes a few times before his eyes adjusted to the light.
"Rory," the man said, he was a large man just like Avery, and bore an obvious resemblance to Avery. Obi-Wan noticed that he seemed nervous.
"Hultz," Obi-Wan said.
"Yes," the man said, glancing at Avery and Azia before returning his gaze to Obi-Wan "do you remember me?"
"No," Obi-Wan said calmly, "you look like Avery, and I assumed that you were his-our brother."
"That is very perceptive Rory. You always were the smartest of the Pajan brothers," Azia said glaring at Avery. She almost seemed to be communicating with him without speaking. "So do you feel any better?"
"Yes, I still feel a little weak though."
"That's due to the medication, you see when you were injured your medication brace was broken, and we had to give you your medication through syringes until Hultz got you a new one. I'm afraid, though, he had to travel all the way to Pecora to get it. That is why we had to give you so much medication, plus the medication for your injuries," Avery explained.
"What is a medicine brace?" Obi-Wan asked, as he played with the long braided section of his hair.
Hultz held up a strange metal ring that looked large enough to fit around someone's neck. Obi-Wan immediately noticed the locking mechanism on it. "You have a very rare illness called Wren, Rory, and the brace goes around; your neck, and automatically gives you the correct doses of medication that you need," Azia said.
"You nearly died when the brace was damaged. The doctor had to nearly give you an overdose of the medication to save your life," Avery sighed, "I'm afraid that the side effect of such a high dose was your memory loss."
"But I for one, think it was a small price to pay to keep you alive. In time you can make new memories, and perhaps one day you will remember those lost memories," Azia said. And Obi-Wan noticed the sadness and regret in the young woman's eyes. But he got the strangest feeling from Avery and Hultz that they were deceiving him.
"How was the brace damaged?" Obi-Wan asked.
Azia, Avery, and Hultz shared another look between one another before Hultz said, "Well you were at the capital building when it exploded, luckily for us, and you, you were in the section of the building that was the least damaged. Your medicine brace, however, did not fare as well."
"Does the medication from the brace, cause me to sleep a lot, and cause memory loss?"
"It regulates your medication to your body chemistry so that you can live your life without always being asleep and feeling weak. And it does not cause memory loss, because the amount of medication is regulated to the correct amounts so that you will not be given an overdose. Incase it is tampered with, or damaged; it just stops giving you your medication, and lets off an alarm. The alarm helped the rescuers find you in time to save your life," Avery said.
"Why did the capital building blow up? Were a lot of people hurt?"
"I don't know why, Rory. It is rumored that it was a group terrorist who wanted to make a point of how they felt about the negotiations, and the fact they had brought the Jedi into the matter," Hultz said, and received another glare from Avery.
"Twenty-four people died, including a Jedi Knight, and 48 people were injured, and there are still some people missing."
"Why is part of my hair in a braid?"
"Because you saw a kid once who had all of his hair short, except for one small section of hair that he had braided. You liked it and decided to do the same with your hair," Azia told him.
"How old am I?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Fifteen," Avery said.
"Sixteen," Hultz said at the same time as Avery.
"You're fifteen still Rory, Hultz was never very good with dates, you will be sixteen in about a month though," Avery said, and scowled at Hultz.
"Close enough," Hultz mumbled, then stepped closer to Obi-Wan and held out the "medicine brace", before saying "here Rory lets get this on you before the last dose we gave you wears off and you get sick again."
Rory nodded, and sat up in the bed, as he did so he suddenly felt dizzy. "Whoa kid, you need to take it easy for a couple of days," Avery said grabbing Obi-Wan's arm to steady him.
"Are you ok now?" Hultz asked, as he moved closer to Obi-Wan.
Suddenly a strange feeling of dread came over Obi-Wan as he looked at the strange and unfamiliar medical device. It seemed as if the feeling was telling him he should not let them put the device around his neck.
Obi-Wan shook his head and leaned away from Hultz and closer towards Avery.
"Rory," Hultz said, "I know you don't like to get this put on you, but I promise we'll do it as quickly as possible to get it over with, you will die without it."
Obi-Wan looked at Azia with pleading eyes. She locked her silver colored eyes with his and said, "Please Rory; you, Avery, and Hultz are the closest thing to a family that I have. I don't want to lose any of you."
Obi-Wan relaxed slightly; somehow he could sense that the girl did not wish him any harm, although he didn't know how he knew. Obi-Wan leaned back towards where he had been sitting before and let Hultz put the device around his neck, despite the feeling in the back of his mind that told him not to.
As the device touched his neck he felt a sharp pinch against the right side of his neck, "Owe," he winced.
"Sorry," Hultz said, and then Obi-Wan felt the clasp of the locking mechanism close as Hultz closed the "brace" around his neck.
"There you go kid, all done already."
* *** * *** *
The following day Hultz and Azia had let Obi-Wan out of bed. Obi-Wan then got a look at him self in the mirror and realized that he bore no resemblance to Hultz or Avery.
"Azia," Obi-Wan said leaving the fresher, and walking into the living area where Azia sat on a lumpy looking couch.
Azia looked up at Obi-Wan, smiled, and then asked, "how do you feel today?"
"Strange, like I'm not my self, except, I don't remember who I am. I don't know none of this makes sense," the boy said.
"Do you still feel ill?"
"No, I don't know how to explain it. I did notice that since Hultz put the brace on me that I feel funny."
"Funny how?" Azia persisted.
"Like something is missing," Obi-Wan tried to explain to her. Since Hultz had put the medical device around his neck, Obi-Wan had felt empty, like if something important to him was taken away the moment that the brace was put around his neck. He no longer got the feelings that were telling him to trust Azia, but not to trust Hultz and Avery. But he knew that he could not tell Azia that he for unknown reasons to him that he did not trust the two men who claim to be his brothers.
"Azia," Obi-Wan sighed, "I was looking in the mirror, and I was just wondering why I don't look like either Avery or Hultz? They both share a remarkable resemblance, and it is obvious that they are truly brothers, but I am the exact opposite of them in height, weight, build, even our hair and eye colors are different.
"Well," Azia said, and looked down at the floor as if she did not know how to answer the question, "that's because you were adopted. Your real parents couldn't afford all of your medication, and the special care that you needed when you were a baby," Azia said still looking down at the floor.
"My parents didn't want me?" Obi-Wan asked.
"No, it wasn't that, Rory," she said looking up into Obi-Wan's eyes. "They were good friends with the Pajans, they used to visit with you a lot and bring you presents too. Three years ago the Pajans and your real family were killed in a shuttle accident. You, Avery and Hultz were here when it happened."
"So I'm an orphan twice," Obi-Wan said.
"I guess you could say that," Azia said, with a sad look in her eyes. "Listen Rory, I know that this is all a lot to take in all at once; finding out about your illness and your real and adopted parents deaths, all at once like this and not remembering anything. But you have to realize that your brothers have worked very hard to keep you healthy, you were happy here despite everything else.
A sudden strange beeping noise interrupted their conversation. "What's that?" Obi-Wan asked, as he whirled around and his hand reflexively dropped to the left side of his waist.
"It's ok, Rory, it's just the comm unit, on the wall. It's beeping to let me know that someone is sending a transmission," Azia smiled, as she turned, and walked over to the wall behind her where a device hung on the wall with a red flashing light, that flashed in time with the beeping.
"Yes," Azia said, after pushing a button on the device.
"Azia," Avery's voice said, "how is everything?"
"Fine, how is your meeting?" Azia asked.
"Fine, I need you to bring my black case next to my bed to me, I forgot it. Wake Hultz, and tell him to keep an eye on Rory."
"Ok, Avery, I'll be there in a few minutes," Azia said and pushed another button on the comm unit.
"Why do you have to wake Hultz? I'm old enough to take care of myself," Obi-Wan said.
"I'm sure you are, but you were just sick, and we would rather that someone stay here with you to make sure that you don't have any problems with your medicine brace for a few days."
Obi-Wan nodded, as Azia turned and walked into the other bedroom, where Hultz slept. A few minutes later Azia walked out of the room with a black case in her hand, and said, "I'll be back in a little while, Rory, Hultz will come out in a few minutes."
Obi-Wan nodded again, as Azia walked out of the small house. He did not like nor trust Hultz or Avery, and did not want to be alone with Hultz.
A few minutes later Hultz exited the bedroom, walking towards Obi-Wan. "Hello Rory," he said, "how are you feeling?"
"I'm ok."
"Did you remember anything yet?"
"No."
"Don't worry I'm sure that your memories will return soon enough. Did you eat? I'm starving."
"Yes," Obi-Wan said.
"Are you hungry again, you really need to eat more you are really thin, just like mom."
"Mom?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes, our mother, you are familiar with the word aren't you?"
"Yes, I just don't remember her," Obi-Wan said.
"I'm sorry. You actually look just like her. Avery and I look just like dad. She was skinny just like you, with your same colored hair and eyes, and she was also short. She was the best mom too."
"Where is she?" Obi-Wan asked, trying to hide the anger that surged through him now that he knew that someone was lying to him.
"She died three years ago in a shuttle accident with dad, and Azia's parents."
Obi-Wan wanted to hit him, and demand to know why they were lying to him about his parents, but he knew that the larger man would most likely kill him if he did. He decided that he had to try and figure out why they were lying to him, and not let them know that he knows. Perhaps he could find a way to find out who he really is.
