After last meal, the three, Obi, Jinn and Xani retired to the main common room. Qui-Gon had explained some of what happened between he and Obi-Wan that day. Xani got a reprimanding look when he chuckled about Obi-Wan's diminished ability to read. Qui-Gon did not however tell his padawan all that happened between he and Obi-Wan. At first he felt guilty about it but then reasoned Xani might not handle the fact that Jinn had linked with the boy mentally. There was a certain amount of danger that when a fledging bond was forming. Sometimes "linking" increased the bond connection, accelerating the joining. He certainly would not betray Obi-Wan's trust in him about things that he retrieved from the former slaves' mind.
No matter how Jinn tried to deny this child, a certain kindred ship formed after he mind linked With Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon accredited the feeling to the fact he shared a very private intimate secret with him. It did not occur to Jinn that it was the bond putting a tighter more insistent grip on the master as well as the child.
Xanatos finally asked and received permission to go to the "rec" room of the temple and talk with his friends. Jinn informed a very worn out Obi-Wan it was time for bed. Jinn got up fetched his robe and explained to Kenobi as he entered Jinn's room that he was going out on the temple grounds for some fresh night air.
Out on the lush green lawns of the temple's lawn, Jinn sauntered through the night's quiet, mulling things over. He often sought the solitude of the outside grounds over the gardens that grew in the center of the temple. They possessed no roofs but the gardens were enclosed by stone fence-like walls.
Qui-Gon stopped a moment to watch a comet streak through the air, it's destiny unknown, with rapid speed never known to mankind. Behind him came the familiar sound of footsteps of Yoda's shuffling gait.
'Much to think about this night my old padawan?"
Jinn waited a moment, still looking in the sky before he turned and faced his beloved former master.
"I have learned much about Obi-Wan Kenobi that needs thought thru my master."
Jinn would still call Yoda "his " master even though he had not been a padawan for over two and a half decades. Yoda had never taken another padawan. Jinn had been his one and only all through his hundreds of years as a Jedi master. He even achieved status of "Master" without ever having taken an apprentice to train.
Yoda made a point of saying he did not like children, but Jinn and all the others at the temple who knew Master Yoda, knew he doted on the little ones . He visited the crèche regularly.
"Talk about it you wish too?"
"I really can't master. I told you of Obi-Wan's problem in class. That is just a tip of it Master. I went in our shared bedroom to change my tunic. When I removed my tunic belt, while I was talking to Obi-Wan, he turned around to see me holding the belt and thought I was there to literally beat him. Can you imagine?"
"Imagine I can not hurt a child however know I do some are capable of it. Hard few months the child has had."
"Yes that's what I thought. I also thought that might be why he turned to the dark side, because of so much strife in his life. Master there are things I know that I have promised Obi-Wan I would not speak and I won't not, even to you. A child should not have suffered them."
Qui-Gon did not explain to Yoda that he mind-kinked with the boy. He thought Yoda might disapprove, especially since they were suppose to be attempting to break the bond not strengthen it.
"Still so sure you are of the dark side he favors?"
"I am not sure Master, but the bond is still being forced on me and Obi-Wan knows how I feel about it."
"Maybe speaks the truth the boy does, control his powerful force he can not. Force collar on him you know. Hard to manage the force with it on."
"Master Yoda I know how that collar works or should work. It holds the boy back to controllable and that is all. Is his unfettered power was unleashed and he became angry he could bring these temple walls down."
"Yes feel it I do. Possess much power the boy does, not sure as you though it is evil or only confusion controls his mind, not evil I think. confused stalks his mind.. Harm others I think he has no wish too. Bond I think is a way to latch on a need he has."
"Tell me Master Yoda what does he need that would require a bond with me?"
"Love, stability and being wanted to name a few, Master Jinn. Powerful he is, but child he also is. A child alone in a world that thus far has held nothing for him but hurt and heartache."
#############
Over the next week Jinn convinced Xanatos to help him tutor Obi-Wan nightly for two hours a night, each taking every other night except the weekends. Xanatos was at first reluctant to help the same one to destroyed his bond with his master, but when he agreed he saw how it pleased his master so the chore was done for Qui-Gon not for Obi-Wan.
Jinn would listen from the kitchen or his desk in the common room for a disagreement or an outright argument to erupt between the two, but so far so good thought the master as he sat at the kitchen table to savor one more cup of evening tea, brewed weakly so as not to add stimulation to his system at night.
He had been thinking when Xani interrupted and told him he had a visit, Master Pernile.
Xani left the masters alone in the privacy of the kitchen and went back to resume Obi's study hour.
"Master Pernile is there some concern you wish to speak to me about Kenobi?"
Qui-Gon tried to hide his worry, however it was there all the same. Admit it or not this master had started to grow attached to the boy. While he still refused the bond he also wanted good for Obi-Wan and him harmed in no way by no one.
"Master Jinn I am beginning to suspect the boy hides something he does not want to reveal. Maybe it is the dark side or his desire to pursue what it has too offer. I have rethought what you said about cleansing his system of his midiclorians. I am beginning to suspect that is the only way we will successfully break this unwanted bond, for all the healer masters here and at other satellite temples have been unable to come up with a solution."
"What if he would talk to me and tell me what he hides? Would that be of help?"
"Yes it might. However I don't think he will confide in you. From the way he talks I think he holds a little fear and a lot of animosity for you. I suppose he blames you for putting him in another situation he is unsure how to deal with or get out of. I don't think he likes the temple. I don't understand though, for I suspect he will not like the orphanage any better. And with the added confusion once his midiclorians are taken away.. Well the boy will have a lot to deal with. Of course once the cleansing process is completed and if successful we can safely ship him off to the orphanage with no worries that he will harm anyone. We won't have to be responsible for him then. I personally am beginning to think he is right now a waste of my healers' time. I have been using my most experienced and senior healers. They can be moved elsewhere now where they can continue their work for the Jedi, the true Jedi."
Qui-Gon who had been standing had to sit down. The news knocked the wind out of Master Jinn as a punch to the gut would have. He knew well what Obi-Wan hid. While he had suspected Obi-Wan harbored the dark within him it was not a certainty, that was for the healers to confirm or deny. Now from what he gathered from Master Pernile's assessment of Obi-Wan they could not find out. Instead they were willing to go ahead with the procedure which would leave devastating affects on a child and possibly end his life.
Jinn now regretted his words to the council when he suggested the cleansing.
//It came for my own mouth and now Master Healer agrees with me about the "force cleansing". What have I done to the boy???????
###############
Qui-Gon had been successful in stalling Master Pernile report to the council for two weeks. He agreed to give Qui-Gon that much time to break through to the child. Reason with him is what he told Qui-Gon' convince him the attempt to bond with Jinn must stop. If the boy did indeed know what he was doing and was trying to forge the bond, Master Pernile hoped for his sake he would cease or face the consequences. Consequences Jinn had suggested when they were before the council but now regretted.
Of course Master Jinn broke the master healers confidence to discuss the matter with Master Yoda. Yoda himself was concerned for Obi-Wan's future, but he assured Master Jinn that Master Healer Pernile was the most experienced healer they had. The council would hold his opinion and suggestion on what to do with Obi-Wan at such a high standard that he doubted Qui-Gon would be able to sway the council if he attempted to save Obi-Wan from such a dramatic solution to his woes.
Saturday evening found Master Jinn hard at work on documents that needed to be gone over and sent to the council. Actually they should have already been there. Xanatos free of his tutoring on weekends went to see a holovid with one or two of his friends.
Jinn noticed Obi-Wan just sitting by the window watching sunlight descend and nightfall just start to overtake the city of Coruscant. Obi-Wan had wanted to study, but Jinn told him he needed a break, to do something different.
Jinn contemplated what he told Obi-Wan. He realized then Obi had nothing to do. He had no friends. After the fiasco in the class with Obi-Wan and Bant and Garen not trusting him any longer, the boy had been left to his own devices and so far Master Jinn noticed Obi-Wan had come up with nothing to do."
"Obi-Wan you may watch a "vid" or……. I don't know. What did you do on your home world for recreation and amusement.
Obi-Wan pulled himself away from watching the many hover cars pass by the window.
"I never really had spare time. I mean I helped my father work the fields to try to get what little vegetables and fruits to grow. Father and I spent a great deal of time carrying water to insure food for the winter. We had no irrigation system as you Jedi helped the Movine people with. No one ever seemed to want to come to our planet and help us with anything."
Jinn knew he had hit a "sore spot" in Obi-Wan's dismal life, so he just stopped the conversation.
//Did he blame the Jedi for not trying to intercede on his world and make life better for him, his family, and the others to struggled just to survive on a daily basis?//
He glanced back over to see Obi-Wan had returned to his entertainment of the evening the big bay window in the common room of Jinn's home.
//If the boy wanted to sit there and do nothing but daydream then let him. He has certainly earned some time to himself with as hard as he worked with his reading assignment. Knight Gayron says he is already one grade ahead of where he was.//
Qui-Gon leaned back in his desk chair content of reveling at how Obi-Wan could find looking out a window so gratifying and all time consuming. The boy could feel Master Jinn's eyes on him boring holes through him.
"Master Jinn is there something you wsih to ask me?"
"Well yes there is and I really don't know where to begin. I do know we or at least you are running out of time."
There he had said it. Now the subject would have to be approached.
"What is it and why do you say I am running out of time?"
Obi-Wan's curiosity had piqued with Jinn's riddle of sorts.
"Obi-Wan, Master Pernile came to visit the other night."
"Yes I know I saw him while I was studying."
"Yes, well he thinks you are keeping something from them. He thinks that maybe the healers should just give up on you."
"What do you mean, give up? You mean he can't figure out why the bond is forming."
"That's right and he also thinks it might be the reason……….. well the reason I suggested."
Obi-Wan knew instantly what this Jedi referred too. He felt Obi-Wan was controlled by this mystical magical dark force he had only heard of and never seen proof of. At least with the force the Jedi and hopefully he possessed you had proof; unusual abilities that set you apart from the others. The all elusive Dark force was beginning to play havoc with Obi-Wan's very life and he didn't wasn't even sure it existed, well too him it didn't.
"What do they want to do Master, that cleansing thing you mentioned?"
Obi-Wan's heart fell to his stomach as he remembered the conversation about it,
//It might leave me a vegetable with a "jelly" mind or equal to that, kill me.//
"Can the Jedi do that "Master"?"
He was not sure why he called Qui-Gon, Master. He had been told not to and he had followed that rule, at least until now. He felt added security in saying it as if the very man who suggested such a fate for him would somehow save him from that fate.
Qui-Gon did not bother to correct the boy for calling him "Master". He was too deep in thought as to how best say what he must tell Obi-Wan.
"I think it would be to your benefit if you would at least try to talk to Master Pernile about what happened on the ship. I mean...."
Angrer reared in Obi-Wan swiftly and with overwhelming fierceness. He had hiddened the memory of the abuse done to him, deep in his mind and he did not want to be reminded of them. It was hard enough with all he had to deal with and now this?!?
Obi-Wan jumped up from his spot on the floor where he had been watching the night fall.
"I don't like Master Pernile. There's something weird about him. I'm not telling him anything and you promised me you wouldn't either. Do the Jedi not keep promises made?"
"If I remember I said "for now" I would keep your secret but I also said you should eventually talk to someone. If you don't do it soon then I afraid it will not do you any good. You will be sent away."
"You mean I will sent away if I live and have enough mind to do basic living. I don't think the orphanage will take.. ….Let's see what did the healer say.. A perverbial "vegetable" into their fold. This cleansing you speak of is bad and I know it, but if that is what must be done then do it and leave me alone. Maybe the Jedi aren't as honorable as they think they are if they can just randomly pick a child and do away with his mind and quite possibly his existence."
"This is not random and our goal is not to harm you mentally or physically. It is just with so many midiclorians we are not sure how your body will react to having the force taken away.You can not keep it because you have no training in using it wisely. We can't even access your mind enough to know if you of the dark or light."
"There it is again, light or dark. I am sick of it do you here me? I have told you I have nothing to do with evil. I can't help it that I don't know how to control my force and can't even help you access my mind. I don't know what you Jedi want of me. Just do what you have to and be done with it. I don't care any more and I am weary just thinking about the future that lies ahead. Now maybe the Jedi will ensure I don't have too."
Obi-Wan rushed to Jinn's bedroom and sunk to his little sleeping mat on the floor by the window and stared outside again.
He used the watching of the world around him pass by as some kind of aversion to dealing with his rapidly and miserably faltering life which had reached another abrupt and dangerous pinnacle. He didn't want to think about his future, because he felt if Master Healer Pernile had anything to do with it;
//I won't have a future to worry about. He will seal my fate FOREVER.//
……………….Nothing more was said, however Jinn knew that he only had one week to do something and he was not sure what. Master Pernile was insistent. He had stopped Obi-Wan's daily visits, his excuse was that it was just wasting time and tying up Jedi healers that had more important work to do.
Things change quickly through when Qui-Gon and Xanatos were told that they would have to be taken away from the temple for a couple of weeks. It was an emergency. They had settled or helped to settle the fighting and bickering of the planet Trolx when a civil war broke out. Now there was danger of the same war starting all over. They were needed there right away to go over and explain the treaty negotiations that were signed by both sides. Seems they were now confused about it and bickered about the divider line for each of their settlements.
"Masters I have Obi-Wan to care for and it is only a week away before the healers want to cleanse the boy of his midiclorians unless he opens up and lets them see into his mind ."
Xanatos was a little unnerved that his master would hesitate to take a mission because of Obi-Wan. He had grown to at least tolerate Obi-Wan, but he could certainly live without him in their lives for a couple of weeks. In fact it sounded good to him. He had been with Obi-Wan too long and without his master what seemed like much longer. That had no free time together with any privacy.
Master an apprentice, Jinn and Xanatos stood before the council masters and waited for their instructions.
" Knew of your problem I did Master Jinn. Talked with Master Pernile ahead of time I have. Agreed to wait he has. Also agrees maybe too hasty in his decision, he was. He will keep the boy and run new test on him he will ."
"Just what tests would those be. I won't have someone forcibly going into the child's mind. Without some kind of bond that would be very dangerous."
"Danger in all things Master Jinn. Judge your perception of them you will. Enter the boy's mind forcibly he will not. Talk to him you should because permission given it has been for him to keep the child until your return."
Master Jinn could not why he felt a moment of apprehension over being told Obi would have to stay with the mater healer.
//Is it because Obi-Wan said the man seemed weird?//
"May I remind the council masters it was they who decided I would be his guardian As so, I should have been at least contacted about this decision you have made without consulting my opinion of it. The arrangement for Obi-Wan will suffice, but I will have to be kept abreast of what is going on with him."
"Have it no other way we would Qui-Gon. Explain that to Healer Pernile you should before your trip first thing in the morning."
Jinn thought that was a fast decision. He would have liked to have had more time to prepare Obi-Wan for the shuffling of his accommodations and who would be overseeing his care.
Obi-Wan sat at the kitchen table and listened with as much stoic reserve and calm that he could throw out at Master Jinn. That though was not how he felt inside. His stomach churned with the thought of staying with Master Healer Pernile.
The healer had not been mean to him, cross a couple of times and very short more often than not when Obi-Wan did to do as he was expected, but Obi-Wan still harbored an almost natural fear of this man. Obi-Wan had never cared for him when he first met and the feeling of mistrust only multiplied as the days tarried on. Kenobi was expected to visit every day the man that brought as much fear to him as Delbe had.
Jinn sat down in a chair beside Obi-Wan and waited to see what he said. He had no choice in this but Qui-Gon felt it would be easier for him and the little former slave if Obi-Wan handled this accordingly and didn't put up too much resistance because he had to stay with this man.
//He doesn't like me much better, he shouldn't mind staying with the healer either. He'll just have to adjust to a change.//
Qui-Gon then questioned himself. Why would or should he be so worried for Obi-Wan. He was in the safety of the temple and it wasn't as if the man actually planned to harm him. The way Master Healer Pernile explained it to Qui-Gon, he would sedate the boy occasionally and work with his subconscious hoping to pull from him information sorely needed to assess his problems and why the bond was forming.
Pernile led Jinn to believe this was their only hope and that he might have a good change of getting somewhere with the bond issue. If he did then of course Obi-Wan would not have to have the dreaded "force cleansing. Jinn thought the boy would be pleased by the news. However nothing was even said when he delivered what he thought was good news to Obi-Wan.
The boy seemed upset over being sedated. Jinn attributed Obi-Wan's unexplained fear to his ignorance of medical terms and procedures. The only time he had ever been to a healer had been at this temple. Obi-Wan would have to get over it thought Jinn, this was for his best.
Still though the master harbored something akin to protective worry for the boy. There seemed to be something gnawing at Jinn but he could not place what it was. Maybe Obi-Wan just had him spooked with his unwarranted cautiousness for the healer.
Obi-Wan listened to Master Jinn. He had thought that maybe one day Master Jinn would really want to take him as his apprentice. He had even dreamed of that day.. That was in his heart and mind however no one knew of it even Obi-Wan, sometimes. It was something that would just pop up when he would watch the padawans with their masters.
Now it seemed to Obi-Wan that Master Jinn had found a way to dump him and probably when he got back, the big master would not take him back, Obi thought. He did not want to stay with Healer Pernile, but resistance would be futile in an enclosed environment such as the temple was. No instead Obi would have to ready himself to except his fate.
//Master Jinn and Xanatos must be very good Jedi to keep their dislike of me buried deep within them. They seemed to be tolerating me. Yea to my face and plotting evidently successfully to get rid of me, because now Master Jinn has found a way to "give" me on someone else.//
"Master are you ready to go? We are going to be late."
"Patience Padawan, I just want to give Master Healer a list of things that might help him with Obi-Wan. His food tastes and preferences, his nightly schedule and the list of what he has been studying."
Qui-Gon had not realized how much he had learned about the boy, even his quirky way of eating oatmeal with butter covering entire hot cereal bowl. He liked the lightly spiced tea over the traditional break-fast green tea. Obi-Wan always made sure the soft little blanket was kept close to his body before covering himself with the larger comforter.
Qui-Gon kept a mental note of Obi's likes and dislikes and preceded to feed him only the things he seemed truly interested in eating or drinking and he always had Obi-Wan's now favorite blanket under the comforter waiting for him to curl under.
It was a subconscious thing done by Jinn much like the learning of a new padawan's pattern of eating and just all around everyday life.
"I am a healer, Master Jinn. I am sure I know how to feed a young man nutritionally correct."
"Master you might remember he isn't a baby that you have to leave a number and tell the sitter how many bottles to feed him. Let's go."
Obi-Wan stood in the far corner and watched as Master Jinn readied to leave. Qui-Gon came to tell the boy goodbye and to listen to Master Pernile, but his goodbyes just went into thin air. Obi-turned his back on the master and refused to say anything.
Jinn walked away leaving a miserably unhappy and terrified child.
Xanatos walked just ahead of his master because they were in a hurry. Usually he walked behind him but his master was not strict abut the correct position when walking.
"What are you shaking your head at Xanatos?"
"Because I think you have taken your position of guardianship a little to the extreme. I think it has gone to your head. What can happen to him Master, in the confines of the temple and he is not a baby in the crèche. Why do act as if he is?"
Jinn just grunted his annoyance and acknowledgement of Xanatos' comments and went on to the ship. He himself could not rationalize his actions.
Once on board, Qui-Gon looked out the portal and could see Obi-Wan with one hand on the window wiping his breath's mist from it, to see out.
Just then something in his mind stirred and although he was shielded he could here Obi-Wan's voice just as clearly as if the boy stood beside him.
//Please don't leave me with him Master, not with Master Healer Pernile.//
PEACE ewen
No matter how Jinn tried to deny this child, a certain kindred ship formed after he mind linked With Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon accredited the feeling to the fact he shared a very private intimate secret with him. It did not occur to Jinn that it was the bond putting a tighter more insistent grip on the master as well as the child.
Xanatos finally asked and received permission to go to the "rec" room of the temple and talk with his friends. Jinn informed a very worn out Obi-Wan it was time for bed. Jinn got up fetched his robe and explained to Kenobi as he entered Jinn's room that he was going out on the temple grounds for some fresh night air.
Out on the lush green lawns of the temple's lawn, Jinn sauntered through the night's quiet, mulling things over. He often sought the solitude of the outside grounds over the gardens that grew in the center of the temple. They possessed no roofs but the gardens were enclosed by stone fence-like walls.
Qui-Gon stopped a moment to watch a comet streak through the air, it's destiny unknown, with rapid speed never known to mankind. Behind him came the familiar sound of footsteps of Yoda's shuffling gait.
'Much to think about this night my old padawan?"
Jinn waited a moment, still looking in the sky before he turned and faced his beloved former master.
"I have learned much about Obi-Wan Kenobi that needs thought thru my master."
Jinn would still call Yoda "his " master even though he had not been a padawan for over two and a half decades. Yoda had never taken another padawan. Jinn had been his one and only all through his hundreds of years as a Jedi master. He even achieved status of "Master" without ever having taken an apprentice to train.
Yoda made a point of saying he did not like children, but Jinn and all the others at the temple who knew Master Yoda, knew he doted on the little ones . He visited the crèche regularly.
"Talk about it you wish too?"
"I really can't master. I told you of Obi-Wan's problem in class. That is just a tip of it Master. I went in our shared bedroom to change my tunic. When I removed my tunic belt, while I was talking to Obi-Wan, he turned around to see me holding the belt and thought I was there to literally beat him. Can you imagine?"
"Imagine I can not hurt a child however know I do some are capable of it. Hard few months the child has had."
"Yes that's what I thought. I also thought that might be why he turned to the dark side, because of so much strife in his life. Master there are things I know that I have promised Obi-Wan I would not speak and I won't not, even to you. A child should not have suffered them."
Qui-Gon did not explain to Yoda that he mind-kinked with the boy. He thought Yoda might disapprove, especially since they were suppose to be attempting to break the bond not strengthen it.
"Still so sure you are of the dark side he favors?"
"I am not sure Master, but the bond is still being forced on me and Obi-Wan knows how I feel about it."
"Maybe speaks the truth the boy does, control his powerful force he can not. Force collar on him you know. Hard to manage the force with it on."
"Master Yoda I know how that collar works or should work. It holds the boy back to controllable and that is all. Is his unfettered power was unleashed and he became angry he could bring these temple walls down."
"Yes feel it I do. Possess much power the boy does, not sure as you though it is evil or only confusion controls his mind, not evil I think. confused stalks his mind.. Harm others I think he has no wish too. Bond I think is a way to latch on a need he has."
"Tell me Master Yoda what does he need that would require a bond with me?"
"Love, stability and being wanted to name a few, Master Jinn. Powerful he is, but child he also is. A child alone in a world that thus far has held nothing for him but hurt and heartache."
#############
Over the next week Jinn convinced Xanatos to help him tutor Obi-Wan nightly for two hours a night, each taking every other night except the weekends. Xanatos was at first reluctant to help the same one to destroyed his bond with his master, but when he agreed he saw how it pleased his master so the chore was done for Qui-Gon not for Obi-Wan.
Jinn would listen from the kitchen or his desk in the common room for a disagreement or an outright argument to erupt between the two, but so far so good thought the master as he sat at the kitchen table to savor one more cup of evening tea, brewed weakly so as not to add stimulation to his system at night.
He had been thinking when Xani interrupted and told him he had a visit, Master Pernile.
Xani left the masters alone in the privacy of the kitchen and went back to resume Obi's study hour.
"Master Pernile is there some concern you wish to speak to me about Kenobi?"
Qui-Gon tried to hide his worry, however it was there all the same. Admit it or not this master had started to grow attached to the boy. While he still refused the bond he also wanted good for Obi-Wan and him harmed in no way by no one.
"Master Jinn I am beginning to suspect the boy hides something he does not want to reveal. Maybe it is the dark side or his desire to pursue what it has too offer. I have rethought what you said about cleansing his system of his midiclorians. I am beginning to suspect that is the only way we will successfully break this unwanted bond, for all the healer masters here and at other satellite temples have been unable to come up with a solution."
"What if he would talk to me and tell me what he hides? Would that be of help?"
"Yes it might. However I don't think he will confide in you. From the way he talks I think he holds a little fear and a lot of animosity for you. I suppose he blames you for putting him in another situation he is unsure how to deal with or get out of. I don't think he likes the temple. I don't understand though, for I suspect he will not like the orphanage any better. And with the added confusion once his midiclorians are taken away.. Well the boy will have a lot to deal with. Of course once the cleansing process is completed and if successful we can safely ship him off to the orphanage with no worries that he will harm anyone. We won't have to be responsible for him then. I personally am beginning to think he is right now a waste of my healers' time. I have been using my most experienced and senior healers. They can be moved elsewhere now where they can continue their work for the Jedi, the true Jedi."
Qui-Gon who had been standing had to sit down. The news knocked the wind out of Master Jinn as a punch to the gut would have. He knew well what Obi-Wan hid. While he had suspected Obi-Wan harbored the dark within him it was not a certainty, that was for the healers to confirm or deny. Now from what he gathered from Master Pernile's assessment of Obi-Wan they could not find out. Instead they were willing to go ahead with the procedure which would leave devastating affects on a child and possibly end his life.
Jinn now regretted his words to the council when he suggested the cleansing.
//It came for my own mouth and now Master Healer agrees with me about the "force cleansing". What have I done to the boy???????
###############
Qui-Gon had been successful in stalling Master Pernile report to the council for two weeks. He agreed to give Qui-Gon that much time to break through to the child. Reason with him is what he told Qui-Gon' convince him the attempt to bond with Jinn must stop. If the boy did indeed know what he was doing and was trying to forge the bond, Master Pernile hoped for his sake he would cease or face the consequences. Consequences Jinn had suggested when they were before the council but now regretted.
Of course Master Jinn broke the master healers confidence to discuss the matter with Master Yoda. Yoda himself was concerned for Obi-Wan's future, but he assured Master Jinn that Master Healer Pernile was the most experienced healer they had. The council would hold his opinion and suggestion on what to do with Obi-Wan at such a high standard that he doubted Qui-Gon would be able to sway the council if he attempted to save Obi-Wan from such a dramatic solution to his woes.
Saturday evening found Master Jinn hard at work on documents that needed to be gone over and sent to the council. Actually they should have already been there. Xanatos free of his tutoring on weekends went to see a holovid with one or two of his friends.
Jinn noticed Obi-Wan just sitting by the window watching sunlight descend and nightfall just start to overtake the city of Coruscant. Obi-Wan had wanted to study, but Jinn told him he needed a break, to do something different.
Jinn contemplated what he told Obi-Wan. He realized then Obi had nothing to do. He had no friends. After the fiasco in the class with Obi-Wan and Bant and Garen not trusting him any longer, the boy had been left to his own devices and so far Master Jinn noticed Obi-Wan had come up with nothing to do."
"Obi-Wan you may watch a "vid" or……. I don't know. What did you do on your home world for recreation and amusement.
Obi-Wan pulled himself away from watching the many hover cars pass by the window.
"I never really had spare time. I mean I helped my father work the fields to try to get what little vegetables and fruits to grow. Father and I spent a great deal of time carrying water to insure food for the winter. We had no irrigation system as you Jedi helped the Movine people with. No one ever seemed to want to come to our planet and help us with anything."
Jinn knew he had hit a "sore spot" in Obi-Wan's dismal life, so he just stopped the conversation.
//Did he blame the Jedi for not trying to intercede on his world and make life better for him, his family, and the others to struggled just to survive on a daily basis?//
He glanced back over to see Obi-Wan had returned to his entertainment of the evening the big bay window in the common room of Jinn's home.
//If the boy wanted to sit there and do nothing but daydream then let him. He has certainly earned some time to himself with as hard as he worked with his reading assignment. Knight Gayron says he is already one grade ahead of where he was.//
Qui-Gon leaned back in his desk chair content of reveling at how Obi-Wan could find looking out a window so gratifying and all time consuming. The boy could feel Master Jinn's eyes on him boring holes through him.
"Master Jinn is there something you wsih to ask me?"
"Well yes there is and I really don't know where to begin. I do know we or at least you are running out of time."
There he had said it. Now the subject would have to be approached.
"What is it and why do you say I am running out of time?"
Obi-Wan's curiosity had piqued with Jinn's riddle of sorts.
"Obi-Wan, Master Pernile came to visit the other night."
"Yes I know I saw him while I was studying."
"Yes, well he thinks you are keeping something from them. He thinks that maybe the healers should just give up on you."
"What do you mean, give up? You mean he can't figure out why the bond is forming."
"That's right and he also thinks it might be the reason……….. well the reason I suggested."
Obi-Wan knew instantly what this Jedi referred too. He felt Obi-Wan was controlled by this mystical magical dark force he had only heard of and never seen proof of. At least with the force the Jedi and hopefully he possessed you had proof; unusual abilities that set you apart from the others. The all elusive Dark force was beginning to play havoc with Obi-Wan's very life and he didn't wasn't even sure it existed, well too him it didn't.
"What do they want to do Master, that cleansing thing you mentioned?"
Obi-Wan's heart fell to his stomach as he remembered the conversation about it,
//It might leave me a vegetable with a "jelly" mind or equal to that, kill me.//
"Can the Jedi do that "Master"?"
He was not sure why he called Qui-Gon, Master. He had been told not to and he had followed that rule, at least until now. He felt added security in saying it as if the very man who suggested such a fate for him would somehow save him from that fate.
Qui-Gon did not bother to correct the boy for calling him "Master". He was too deep in thought as to how best say what he must tell Obi-Wan.
"I think it would be to your benefit if you would at least try to talk to Master Pernile about what happened on the ship. I mean...."
Angrer reared in Obi-Wan swiftly and with overwhelming fierceness. He had hiddened the memory of the abuse done to him, deep in his mind and he did not want to be reminded of them. It was hard enough with all he had to deal with and now this?!?
Obi-Wan jumped up from his spot on the floor where he had been watching the night fall.
"I don't like Master Pernile. There's something weird about him. I'm not telling him anything and you promised me you wouldn't either. Do the Jedi not keep promises made?"
"If I remember I said "for now" I would keep your secret but I also said you should eventually talk to someone. If you don't do it soon then I afraid it will not do you any good. You will be sent away."
"You mean I will sent away if I live and have enough mind to do basic living. I don't think the orphanage will take.. ….Let's see what did the healer say.. A perverbial "vegetable" into their fold. This cleansing you speak of is bad and I know it, but if that is what must be done then do it and leave me alone. Maybe the Jedi aren't as honorable as they think they are if they can just randomly pick a child and do away with his mind and quite possibly his existence."
"This is not random and our goal is not to harm you mentally or physically. It is just with so many midiclorians we are not sure how your body will react to having the force taken away.You can not keep it because you have no training in using it wisely. We can't even access your mind enough to know if you of the dark or light."
"There it is again, light or dark. I am sick of it do you here me? I have told you I have nothing to do with evil. I can't help it that I don't know how to control my force and can't even help you access my mind. I don't know what you Jedi want of me. Just do what you have to and be done with it. I don't care any more and I am weary just thinking about the future that lies ahead. Now maybe the Jedi will ensure I don't have too."
Obi-Wan rushed to Jinn's bedroom and sunk to his little sleeping mat on the floor by the window and stared outside again.
He used the watching of the world around him pass by as some kind of aversion to dealing with his rapidly and miserably faltering life which had reached another abrupt and dangerous pinnacle. He didn't want to think about his future, because he felt if Master Healer Pernile had anything to do with it;
//I won't have a future to worry about. He will seal my fate FOREVER.//
……………….Nothing more was said, however Jinn knew that he only had one week to do something and he was not sure what. Master Pernile was insistent. He had stopped Obi-Wan's daily visits, his excuse was that it was just wasting time and tying up Jedi healers that had more important work to do.
Things change quickly through when Qui-Gon and Xanatos were told that they would have to be taken away from the temple for a couple of weeks. It was an emergency. They had settled or helped to settle the fighting and bickering of the planet Trolx when a civil war broke out. Now there was danger of the same war starting all over. They were needed there right away to go over and explain the treaty negotiations that were signed by both sides. Seems they were now confused about it and bickered about the divider line for each of their settlements.
"Masters I have Obi-Wan to care for and it is only a week away before the healers want to cleanse the boy of his midiclorians unless he opens up and lets them see into his mind ."
Xanatos was a little unnerved that his master would hesitate to take a mission because of Obi-Wan. He had grown to at least tolerate Obi-Wan, but he could certainly live without him in their lives for a couple of weeks. In fact it sounded good to him. He had been with Obi-Wan too long and without his master what seemed like much longer. That had no free time together with any privacy.
Master an apprentice, Jinn and Xanatos stood before the council masters and waited for their instructions.
" Knew of your problem I did Master Jinn. Talked with Master Pernile ahead of time I have. Agreed to wait he has. Also agrees maybe too hasty in his decision, he was. He will keep the boy and run new test on him he will ."
"Just what tests would those be. I won't have someone forcibly going into the child's mind. Without some kind of bond that would be very dangerous."
"Danger in all things Master Jinn. Judge your perception of them you will. Enter the boy's mind forcibly he will not. Talk to him you should because permission given it has been for him to keep the child until your return."
Master Jinn could not why he felt a moment of apprehension over being told Obi would have to stay with the mater healer.
//Is it because Obi-Wan said the man seemed weird?//
"May I remind the council masters it was they who decided I would be his guardian As so, I should have been at least contacted about this decision you have made without consulting my opinion of it. The arrangement for Obi-Wan will suffice, but I will have to be kept abreast of what is going on with him."
"Have it no other way we would Qui-Gon. Explain that to Healer Pernile you should before your trip first thing in the morning."
Jinn thought that was a fast decision. He would have liked to have had more time to prepare Obi-Wan for the shuffling of his accommodations and who would be overseeing his care.
Obi-Wan sat at the kitchen table and listened with as much stoic reserve and calm that he could throw out at Master Jinn. That though was not how he felt inside. His stomach churned with the thought of staying with Master Healer Pernile.
The healer had not been mean to him, cross a couple of times and very short more often than not when Obi-Wan did to do as he was expected, but Obi-Wan still harbored an almost natural fear of this man. Obi-Wan had never cared for him when he first met and the feeling of mistrust only multiplied as the days tarried on. Kenobi was expected to visit every day the man that brought as much fear to him as Delbe had.
Jinn sat down in a chair beside Obi-Wan and waited to see what he said. He had no choice in this but Qui-Gon felt it would be easier for him and the little former slave if Obi-Wan handled this accordingly and didn't put up too much resistance because he had to stay with this man.
//He doesn't like me much better, he shouldn't mind staying with the healer either. He'll just have to adjust to a change.//
Qui-Gon then questioned himself. Why would or should he be so worried for Obi-Wan. He was in the safety of the temple and it wasn't as if the man actually planned to harm him. The way Master Healer Pernile explained it to Qui-Gon, he would sedate the boy occasionally and work with his subconscious hoping to pull from him information sorely needed to assess his problems and why the bond was forming.
Pernile led Jinn to believe this was their only hope and that he might have a good change of getting somewhere with the bond issue. If he did then of course Obi-Wan would not have to have the dreaded "force cleansing. Jinn thought the boy would be pleased by the news. However nothing was even said when he delivered what he thought was good news to Obi-Wan.
The boy seemed upset over being sedated. Jinn attributed Obi-Wan's unexplained fear to his ignorance of medical terms and procedures. The only time he had ever been to a healer had been at this temple. Obi-Wan would have to get over it thought Jinn, this was for his best.
Still though the master harbored something akin to protective worry for the boy. There seemed to be something gnawing at Jinn but he could not place what it was. Maybe Obi-Wan just had him spooked with his unwarranted cautiousness for the healer.
Obi-Wan listened to Master Jinn. He had thought that maybe one day Master Jinn would really want to take him as his apprentice. He had even dreamed of that day.. That was in his heart and mind however no one knew of it even Obi-Wan, sometimes. It was something that would just pop up when he would watch the padawans with their masters.
Now it seemed to Obi-Wan that Master Jinn had found a way to dump him and probably when he got back, the big master would not take him back, Obi thought. He did not want to stay with Healer Pernile, but resistance would be futile in an enclosed environment such as the temple was. No instead Obi would have to ready himself to except his fate.
//Master Jinn and Xanatos must be very good Jedi to keep their dislike of me buried deep within them. They seemed to be tolerating me. Yea to my face and plotting evidently successfully to get rid of me, because now Master Jinn has found a way to "give" me on someone else.//
"Master are you ready to go? We are going to be late."
"Patience Padawan, I just want to give Master Healer a list of things that might help him with Obi-Wan. His food tastes and preferences, his nightly schedule and the list of what he has been studying."
Qui-Gon had not realized how much he had learned about the boy, even his quirky way of eating oatmeal with butter covering entire hot cereal bowl. He liked the lightly spiced tea over the traditional break-fast green tea. Obi-Wan always made sure the soft little blanket was kept close to his body before covering himself with the larger comforter.
Qui-Gon kept a mental note of Obi's likes and dislikes and preceded to feed him only the things he seemed truly interested in eating or drinking and he always had Obi-Wan's now favorite blanket under the comforter waiting for him to curl under.
It was a subconscious thing done by Jinn much like the learning of a new padawan's pattern of eating and just all around everyday life.
"I am a healer, Master Jinn. I am sure I know how to feed a young man nutritionally correct."
"Master you might remember he isn't a baby that you have to leave a number and tell the sitter how many bottles to feed him. Let's go."
Obi-Wan stood in the far corner and watched as Master Jinn readied to leave. Qui-Gon came to tell the boy goodbye and to listen to Master Pernile, but his goodbyes just went into thin air. Obi-turned his back on the master and refused to say anything.
Jinn walked away leaving a miserably unhappy and terrified child.
Xanatos walked just ahead of his master because they were in a hurry. Usually he walked behind him but his master was not strict abut the correct position when walking.
"What are you shaking your head at Xanatos?"
"Because I think you have taken your position of guardianship a little to the extreme. I think it has gone to your head. What can happen to him Master, in the confines of the temple and he is not a baby in the crèche. Why do act as if he is?"
Jinn just grunted his annoyance and acknowledgement of Xanatos' comments and went on to the ship. He himself could not rationalize his actions.
Once on board, Qui-Gon looked out the portal and could see Obi-Wan with one hand on the window wiping his breath's mist from it, to see out.
Just then something in his mind stirred and although he was shielded he could here Obi-Wan's voice just as clearly as if the boy stood beside him.
//Please don't leave me with him Master, not with Master Healer Pernile.//
PEACE ewen