REMEMBER! Italics denote mind speech and with the dead you need alot of mind communication.
XOXO
Obi-Wan heard the soft murmurings of discussion between his master and Dorrie. He also heard the loud snoring of Bruck Chun before he realized the apprentices had been given reprieve from being forced to rise their customary early hour. They had also evidently been graciously excused from their duty of tending to their masters' first meal. For that he was thankful.
The delicious smell of hot cha curled around him and up his nostrils as its frothy steam rose and floated through the small cottage. It smelled so good Obi-Wan could almost taste the rich mocha flavor through the air he breathed. However, it was not an enticingly enough prize to lure him from the safety and privacy the covers drawn over his entire body afforded. He was in no hurry to face a new day, "no not yet".
His sleep had been far from a restful one. Obi-Wan spent most of the night wrestling with the remembrance of the embarrassing moment in the battle when he lost his saber.
Surely his new master realized he was still without his total power. Yes he could do small things, jump, add a small amount of zest behind his blows but he hadn't fully recovered from the inhibitor drug used on him.
Kenobi mentally groaned. Maybe his master hadn't realized his powers were depleted and he was left vulnerable. Even his shielding had taken a hit though it was recovering nicely. Master Jinn should know that. He has kept my shields up for me since I was injected with that vile stuff.
Obi-Wan's face reddened with the humiliating thought that he hadn't even reached for the force to aid him in the power needed to retrieve his saber.
How Dumb Kenobi. I could bring it up to master that my force abilities are still stifled somewhat. I feel that insistent nagging at my shields where he holds them there in place for me. If I tell him I am still force-weak, do I have to be totally honest with him and also tell him that is not the reason I could get my saber out of that tin can? It was my derelictions of duty. I actually forgot to reach for the force, to make any attempt to see if I could gather enough power to remove my saber. Maybe the council and Master Yoda were right I should not have been a senior padawan after all. Forget to reach for the force. Just goes to show ya how much Jinn has rattled me.
Had he not been an adult he would have broken out in tears. He was being so neglectful of his position as a Jedi and he hated himself for his neglect and mistakes; even though his Jedi apprenticeship was under the most inexcusable excuse of a master as Obi felt Qui-Gon was.
No, I will let him come to realize my powers are not up to par and hope he thinks that is what happened last night. Hopefully he won't ask me for the truth.
It felt odd to be lounging in bed so late especially during a mission. Obi-Wan knew the right thing to do was to rise and begin the day. He was just so sure this day was going to go so horribly he kept the covers tightly tucked under and around him. It was as though he thought if he couldn't see the sun he wouldn't know how really late in the day it was.
"I am in enough trouble. I'll just wait to be reprimanded for sleeping so late. I will get up only when Jinn directs it of me."
He tried to quell his apprehension of the impending confrontation with his master that would surely take place upon his rising from his warm comfortable bed. He picked up on a few chose sentences from Dorrie, followed by Jinn's answers to keep his mind off of himself and his troubles.
"What did Yoda say?"
"He feels that the deadly attack on our masters on Telos had something to do with our mission."
"How so?" Dorrie gulped a large sip of her hot drink before she spoke.
"That part of Yoda's ramblings I couldn't totally understand. It has something to do with Sidious and Gunray."
From what Dorrie gathered from their conversation Qui-Gon did not accept Yoda's connection of the two missions.
"So maybe you are wrong? Maybe Gunray has closer ties to Sidious than you believe."
Jinn swallowed his last sip of the first meal beverage, tapped his fingers against the empty cup, and let out a soft sigh of pleasure the hot liquid gave him going down his raw throat; the shouting had caused from last night. It only made him realize age was slowly creeping up on him. Just a year earlier he wouldn't have had to breathe so hard to engage in a small battle. Now he was still feeling the after effects though small as they were.
Obi-Wan never heard his new master's explanation of what he felt was going on between Gunray and Sidious.
That familiar soothing touch from his past flowed through his mind. Tahl it had to be he mentally reasoned. He lay in the bed with sweat breaking out all over him. It wasn't as much from being covered from head to toe or was it? He feared to move or even draw in a deep breath. He didn't want Jinn to make him get up, and most of all; he didn't want to lose the connection from his dead he was beginning to feel.
"Padawan?"
Oh there it was again and it was so gloriously soothing to Obi-Wan's mind; a healing balm coating his entire being. The death-severed bond from his master sprung to life as if it had never been cut.
"Master Tahl? You are here again."
His words were lipped but not spoken only thought through a bond Obi-Wan believed was dormant; ceased not by choice but by death. What he thought, the bond was to never be again, now was and just as strong as before. It was wonderful to mind-speak with his beloved master. However it also brought an aching to his heart that he would never see Tahl again.
"Who else dear Padawan." A small chuckle broke her speech. I am never far from you now. "
His sudden happiness mingled with his mortified reflection on his former master's witnessing of his bumbling mistakes in battle.
"Then you saw what happened last night?"
Obi-Wan scrunched his eyes shut as if Tahl could see him and he didn't want too see the disappointment in her eyes.
"Obi-Wan love, you did nothing wrong. You were weakened by the drug used on you. Jinn is a callous thoughtless master who will never deserve you or your loyalty to him."
Obi flinched at the words. His last discussion with Tahl had rendered much of the same disgust with Jinn but he did not understand it. He also did not like hearing such things. Things he thought unbecoming of a Jedi master; a discussion between a padawan and his former master that voiced negatively against the padawan's present master. It was unjedi and totally unethical for a Jedi master to do.
"Master Tahl I have considered a new master when we return to Coruscant."
Obi didn't phrase the words as a question. He wasn't sure if his former master wanted to pass out guidance to him anymore since he was no longer her apprentice but he hoped she would give it.
Obi-Wan, we have much to discuss and more to decide. Yes, you are worthy of a new master and I have just the one in mind.
The teen ws very excited. Excited enough that he almost jumped from his bed before he realized if he did Tahl might be chased away by the others around him.
"I would appreciate any suggestions Master."
He waited. Kenobi assumed Tahl would begin giving him a list of prospective knights and masters free and willing to take him as an apprentice.
"No Little One not here. We won't have time. I am always around "Sweet One" remember that. Let us make a time and place to meet, shall we? Later today if possible. Be warned my loving apprentice I can not appear in front of anyone but you. If you can not get away, I will know and understand it. I believe however that you will not have problems when you do decide to journey away from your master later today. I will watch and await that time."
Obi-Wan fell to hear the syrupy sarcasm pour out along with the unusual nicknames of endearments the ghost Tahl used for him.
Obi-Wan was shocked. He was quite sure he understood what the Jedi master meant. Could it be…
"Master is it true, we can meet? I can see you? How can that be? You are.. Well you are.. You are… one with the force to put it more bluntly you are…"
He couldn't say the word. His former master said it for him.
"DEAD?" Yes I know that, Deary. I am indeed DEAD" Yes I know that, Deary. I am indeed"
Tahl chuckled and had Obi-Wan not been in such awe of her revelation that he could "SEE" her, he might have heard the sinister ring to everything that came through their bond.
XOXO
Qui-Gon got up from his chair, pampered his aching bones with a long languid stretch, and walked to the only window in the front of the cottage; a large bay window with a filled and blooming flower box attached to the outer sill.
As Jinn walked by her, Dorrie couldn't help but notice the all too sexy rippled muscled ribcage through the only upper garment he wore, his inner tunic tee. His hard lean legs through his thin sleep pants mirrored the muscled upper physique.
That Qui-Gon is one hot Jedi. Especially with his new rugged look. Those dreds make him seem somehow more powerful, animalistic, and incredibly sensual, all at the same time.
The short stout female master had always had a small crush on Qui. She never allowed that crush to develop into something more feverish because she felt she wasn't meant for him or he for her. She always knew Tahl was his destiny when it came to love pairings.
Though she is dead now, I doubt I have a chance with this walking hunk of muscle and sex appeal before me.
Master Starworth had always been quite adept at keeping her feelings secret. Jinn never suspected any amorous thoughts of him could be in her head. He studied the outside surroundings before he looked back at the two sleeping apprentices across the room each, snugly in their narrow lumpy cots. You really could not call the lumpy hard mats on boards a bed and keep a serious face.
Jinn turned back to watch a family of Bareen singing birds pass right before the window. He had intended to wake the two padawans up but something wisped against his mental shields and he waited. More likely hoped because that is what he did. He hoped it was Tahl. It was a feeling not dissimilar to the breathtaking moment he felt when she visited him via his mind only the day before.
"Always so astute and on guard. Yes my beloved Qui, it is me. I am so glad you stayed safe through your battle. Sadly I must admit your safety was not from anything my unworthy former apprentice and your present one did."
Jinn sucked in a deep breath and squared his shoulders. He was so excited sat hearing Tahl again he feared his excitement would someway emanate out from his mental shields and that Dorrie would know. That was a ridiculous thought because it was impossible for Dorrie to penetrate his shields. Nevertheless, Jinn wanted this meeting to be secret and private. He didn't want to share these moments with Tahl, their intimate meeting of the minds.
Had he not been so mesmerized by his dead Tahl returning he would have surely noticed that what she said of her apprentice was not anything like the Tahl he knew.
XOXOX
Sidious sat surrounded by the ornate and elaborate fixtures of his temporary abode.
He was pleased with Fett's follow through of his mission to return Bruck but making it seem the Jedi rescued him and was not given him back. However, he refused to give credit to the Hunter, who by now was recognized by Sidious as not the brightest sentient in the galaxy. Instead the dark lord gave the praise to Dyas.
"Well everything is in place."
Dyas sat at the favored right hand of his dark master.
"Yes My master it is. Think we will have a chance to lure Kenobi from the other Jedi?"
"If not today, "MY" Tahl will have managed itin a day or two I am sure."
He tapped his gnarly long finger nail against the screen in front of him.
"See, she is just about to make visual contact with Jinn. He will be a rambling bowl of Hutt belly blubber after he sees her in the flesh."
A smirk of a smile and sinister chuckle escaped before he continued.
"Well not really in the flesh, in a blue haze hue."
Dyas returned his master's smile.
"This is amusing. I have always known there was so much glee to be gleaned from a Jedi's physical pain. Now I know it can be derived from their mental anguish as well."
"You learn well and quickly my apprentice. There "is" a certain amusement to this isn't there?"
XOXOX
Qui-Gon could not believe he'd just heard through his mental link with Tahl
"See you? Is that possible and what do you mean hang himself? Does he have evil plans that you know but can't deluge? Or would that be some kind of breech against the force and its future plan?"
When Qui-Gon realized he might have a chance to see Tahl he wasted no time. He went to the front porch, slowly with a sauntering gait at first. As soon as he reached the bottom of the outside step and out of Dorrie's view he raced to the back and side of the cottage with no windows and more privacy than before. He waited with held breath.
"Tahl… there I can see you."
He took one step toward Tahl before she bade him to stop.
"Yes Qui, but please no closer. We can not touch, not yet."
With the "not yet", she wasleading the master to believe that one day maybe they would clasp hands, share a kiss. Those two words raced through his mind as a promise for something more.
"Yes dear Qui, I believe our apprentice has fallen into the abyss of the dark iniquity. Allow him today what he wants and he may show his hand. I can't not go into details of how I know, don't ask. Just give him the rope he needs to hang himself. You will have no trouble proving to the council that Obi-Wan Kenobi does not belong in the Jedi: That he follows another path other that of the mantra of a guardian of peace? The council will come to realize just as you have that "our" padawan is now an instrument for all that is evil and foul. He is a danger to this mission and those on it with him."
"Has he turned to the dark side totally? Does Kenobi do the dark master's bidding already? Tell me Tahl, I must know."
Jinn was terrified for his Jedi friends with him if Obi-Wan was now a darksider. He wanted to know the truth, if Tahl could tell him.
"Oh Qui please. Please my sweetest Jedi master. I can't say all I want to now, not yet. Later, later, my love."
She reached out with her right hand and blew the master a kiss. However they never touched. Tahl did not allow it. She drifted back and out of Jinn's vision and abruptly broke off their mental contact with a jolt to the big Jedi's mind. She just disappeared, mentally and physically.
Jinn fell to his knees, exhausted from what had just occurred and groaned softly. He was left there empty, alone, and hanging on to every word his beloved mystical Tahl told him as it was absolute gospel truth. No, Jinn did not question one lie that spewed from Tahl's mouth. If she said it about Kenobi, Jinn believed it to be the truth.……
XOXO
Thank you for all the feedback. I won't be posting again until next week. I am heading to STAR WARS Celebration III Thursday morning. I will return on Sunday. Remember midnight tickets for Episode III have already gone on sale! I have mine! T.B.C.
ewen