Obi-wan must teach an abused padawan to trust him AU: Pre clone war Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master, there is no Anakin, and Qui-Gon is dead Rating: R for sexual content and mention of child molestation Disclaimer: Naovi Redsun and Dal Bantalian are my creations. Everyone else belongs to George Lucas
Chapter 1
It had been almost a year since Naovi had become his Padawan. Though it was with great apprehension that Naovi had agreed to continue her training, Obi-Wan felt that she was making great progress. Hours upon hours of training exercises designed to increase trust between Master and Padawan had been spent. Everything from heavy meditation to simulated attacks where Naovi would be blindfolded while Obi-Wan guided her lightsaber. The trust that had been shattered by Bantalian was starting to regenerate. But even now Obi-Wan felt there was something that Naovi was holding back from him. During several meditations in which he had touched her mind, he could feel a wall surrounding the part of her mind that held the deepest painful secrets. Until he could get her to trust him enough to tear down that wall she would never be able to reach her full potential. He gazed at her now out of the corner of his eye. She sat quietly in the seat next to him. They were on their way to Dacmaren to help settle a land dispute. The entire trip his Padawan had been silent.
"We should be on Dacmaren soon," he said to her. She nodded. He looked at her closely. She hadn't slept the night before. There were dark circles under her eyes. Her dark hair was pulled back into a long braid down her back. She was huddled down inside her robe as though trying to hide in it. He sighed. No matter how much work and how many exercises they went through, he feared that Naovi was never going to come out of this sadness she had herself in.
"What is our mission exactly, Master?" she asked him. Her voice was soft almost a whisper.
"Dacmaren is ruled by a tribe called the Imatari. They basically control everything. Ten years ago several hundred Dacmariens broke away from the Imatari to form their own tribe, the Naongori. Since then the two tribes have been waging civil war against each other over land rights. We are going in to help settle the disputes and reach a compromise."
"When I began my Jedi training I never thought I would be using my skills to break up a fight between children over a toy," Naovi said. Obi-Wan frowned.
"It's a bit more complicated than that," he said. Naovi smiled.
"I know, Master. I was making a joke." Obi-Wan smiled back.
"I know these missions aren't very exciting, my young Padawan. But they are necessary for the good of the galaxy."
"I know Master." Obi-Wan felt a stab of guilt at having dragged Naovi along on this mission. Though the Jedi Council had wanted him to go, he could have pushed a little harder to make them realize that he was not right for this assignment. Worry for Naovi clouded his mind and made it difficult for him to focus on his tasks. Her skills were growing but the trust, the trust between a Master and his Padawan that was so sacred, was still unstable. There was something she was hiding from him, of that he was sure. He wanted to question her about it but he couldn't risk her retreating in on herself and destroying what little trust she did have in him. A warning alarm broke him out of his thoughts.
"We're losing power!" Naovi shouted jumping from her chair to see what was wrong.
"We're caught in some kind of power-shield that's surrounding the planet. Get us off the autopilot, we have to get out of the shield before we fry." Obi-Wan did as his Padawan said without question. He may be the Master when it came to the Force but Naovi was hands down the better pilot. She took the controls without thinking and began to navigate them out of the shield. She gritted her teeth as she yanked the controls. The shield refused to give.
"Use the force," Obi-Wan told her. Naovi nodded and closed her eyes. Obi-Wan could feel the Force flow through her as she took a hold of the ship and pulled it from the shield.
"Well done," Obi-Wan told her. She smiled weakly.
"Identify yourselves," a voice came over the speaker startling them both.
"We are ambassadors from Coruscant," Obi-Wan said into the speaker.
"State your purpose!" the voice commanded.
"We are here to aid in the settlement of the land disputes between the Imatari and the Naongori."
"No such settlement exists. The Naongori are all wiped out."
"Do you think we were wrongly informed, Master?" Naovi asked.
"I don't know," Obi-Wan said, turning to the speaker, "we request permission to land and speak with the head of the Imatari."
"Request is denied! Leave the system at once or we will be forced to blow you out of the sky!"
"Friendly bunch, aren't they?" Naovi said.
"Let's get out of here," Obi-Wan said. Naovi tried the controls.
"Oh, not good," Naovi whispered.
"What?" Obi-Wan demanded. "You know I hate it when you say that."
"The ship's dead. The power boosters are gone."
"We warned you!" the voice on the speaker said. Out of the planet's atmosphere flew a dozen ships.
"Oh no," Naovi said. "Brace yourself, Master this is gonna be bad." Obi-Wan had no time to question as he was thrown out of his seat as a blast hit their ship. His head struck something hard and the world went black.