One Day Remains
By Rhi
Chapter 4 – Take Me Away
Thanks so much to everyone for your feedback. And I'm glad you guys like Remy. This is a short chapter, but it fills in Obi's background a bit…but I won't tell you now, you'll have to read on to find out. Oh, and sorry I'm stretching out this story a bit with one update a week and all, but I'm stalling while I'm trying to get the sequel started, which is proving rather difficult…
Enjoy!
-----
Obi-Wan was dreaming. A new dream this time. Bits and pieces of action sequences flashed across his mind. Chaos prevailed throughout. There was lots of running. Lots of yelling. Sticks of yellow and blue light arcing through the air. He saw himself entering his father's shop and taking an item off the shelf. He saw a flash of light. He saw Laini lying on the ground. Not moving.
It was the last image that shocked Obi-Wan out of his dream. He sat bolt upright and gasped for breath.
Immediately Obi-Wan was surrounded by people. He looked around, trying to place who they were. They looked vaguely familiar, but he was sure that he'd never met them. It was only then that he felt the stiffness in his body, and the lingering pain from the previous day's events. He remembered where the pain came from, and the events came back to him in a rush. His eyes rested on the one person who was vaguely familiar to him, the black-haired, blue-eyed youth who'd rescued him. He also thought that the tall, golden-skinned woman looked familiar, but he was sure that he hadn't met her before.
"What's going on?" Obi-Wan asked tentatively.
"You are in hospital." A man, who Obi-Wan guessed was the doctor, answered.
"Why?" Obi-Wan asked, still confused.
"Do you remember what happened?" the black-haired youth asked.
"Some." Obi-Wan replied after a moment's thought.
"You had some bad injuries from the fight, so we brought you here so you could get treated." He explained.
"Oh." Obi-Wan said. "I don't remember your name."
The youth smiled. "My name's Remy." He said, then indicated to Tahl. "And this is my Master, Tahl."
Obi-Wan managed a weak smile. "Hi." He said. "Thanks for bringing me here. I think I have to go now, my father wants me to work. I have to finish cleaning. He'll be mad that I left." Obi-Wan pushed the sheets of the hospital bed back and tried to get out, but he was restrained by the firm hand of the doctor.
"Stay there, I'm not finished with you yet." Dr. Peri said. "I still have to heal your bones."
The doctor gently reached for Obi-Wan's arm, and attached the bone knitter to his right forearm. X-rays had shown that the bone was fractured, along with three ribs. There was already a knitter attached around Obi-Wan's midsection, and it was almost ready to come off.
"You'll be here for a couple more hours, at least." The doctor said. "Is there some way that we can contact your family to let them know what's happening?"
Obi-Wan hesitated for a second, before giving them the frequency for the comm unit in their house. The doctor wrote it down and went off to make the call.
"Where's Laini?" Obi-Wan asked, the image from the dream still fresh in his mind.
"She was treated after you were put in the bacta tank." Tahl informed the boy. "I had Remy take her home, so her grandmother wouldn't worry. She didn't want to leave you."
"Good." Obi-Wan said, relieved that the dream wasn't true. "I dreamed about her. It wasn't good." Then he remembered his recurring dream and he knew why Remy and Tahl had looked familiar. "And you were in my dream too!" he exclaimed. "The one I always have. Both of you. And a big building. And a funny-looking green creature."
Tahl and Remy exchanged glances. This had just got a lot more interesting.
After the dream revelation, Tahl and Remy had requested a private room where they could have a conversation with the Jedi Council. Both Jedi strongly felt that the Council should know of the developments.
"Hmmm." Yoda said after Tahl had explained what had happened. "Interesting, this is. Foresee this, I did. Unfortunate, it is."
Tahl didn't bother to hide her confusion at Yoda's statement. "What's unfortunate?"
Mace Windu spoke up. "We have had contact with Obi-Wan Kenobi's family once before, when he was a baby. They requested that he be tested, then refused to give him up to the Order. Normally we don't have a problem with that, but it was the manner in which they behaved that made his case so peculiar." He inserted a data chip into an audio player. "This is a recording of the conversation Knight Uteri had with his parents."
"Greetings. My name is Knight Uteri, I believe you requested a Jedi representative to test your child."
"Yes, we did. My name is Cada Kenobi, and this is my husband Kovi Kenobi." A friendly female voice said. "And this is my son, Obi-Wan."
"A pleasure to meet you." Knight Uteri said.
"Come in, we have refreshments prepared for you." Cada had said.
"Thank you." Knight Uteri said.
The conversation continued for a while, with the parents asking questions about the Temple training and the life a Jedi Knight led. Knight Uteri took a blood sample from the baby Obi-Wan.
"The sample proves that the midichlorians in Obi-Wan's blood is well within the range accepted at the Temple. It is actually towards the upper end of the scale, quite a bit higher than average."
"Oh." Was all Kovi had to say.
That was when the tone of the meeting changed dramatically.
"Thank you for visiting, Knight Uteri, but we really must finish up the meeting now. My husband is a busy man." Cada said, her friendly tone turned icy.
The surprise in Knight Uteri's voice was clearly evident as he spoke. "Would you like to arrange another meeting?"
"No. We've got all we wanted out of you." Kovi said, rather rudely. "I will not let the boy grow up thinking he's more special than the rest of this family. I will not let him think that he's better than us."
"A Jedi is not more special than any other being in this universe, and your son will not grow up thinking he's better than anyone else. Having Force abilities will set him apart from everyone else but-"
"Goodbye, Knight Uteri." Kovi said firmly.
That was where the recording stopped.
There was a stunned silence for a couple of seconds.
"So, what would you have us do?" Tahl asked.
"At this stage, nothing. It is a parent's prerogative to give up their child or not, and Obi-Wan's parents chose not to give him to the Order." Mace said.
"Humph." Yoda said. "Always in motion, the future is. A…kinder future, I have sensed for Obi-Wan. Wait, you should. An opportunity, I foresee."
"Thank you, Masters." Tahl said, both her and Remy bowing to the Masters, before ending the transmission.
"Well, that was weird." Remy commented.
Five hours later, Obi-Wan was finally released from the hospital, pronounced in full health. His body still ached, but that was to be expected, and the doctor said that he should feel normal in a couple of days time.
Tahl and Remy accompanied Obi-Wan for the journey home, saying that they wanted to make sure that he got home all right. Obi-Wan didn't say so, but he was grateful for their company. He didn't fancy getting beat up by Tion and his friends again, but that paled in comparison to what his father could do.
On the way home, they passed Laini's house, and the red-haired girl dashed out of the front garden where she was playing and enveloped Obi-Wan in a tight hug. "I was so worried about you, Obi." She said.
The group continued on again, with the addition of Laini, the red-haired girl keeping up a constant monologue as they walked.
"So, are you really Jedi?" she asked, waiting only for a nod before continuing to speak. "That's so cool. My favourite story's all about Jedi. And Obi-Wan loves it, too. He said he'd going to be a Jedi Knight one day and save the universe. In the story the Jedi saved a princess, and I wanted to be the princess, because she had red hair, too. And Obi-Wan did save me, just like the Jedi saved the princess, but I wasn't locked in a prison. Have you ever saved a princess? Did she have red hair? Was she really pretty?"
Tahl and Remy listened to Laini's monologue with amusement. Remy decided to humour the young girl. "Yes, I rescued a princess once. And she had red hair exactly like yours. And she was very pretty, just like you."
Laini grinned happily. "See, I told you, Obi."
Obi-Wan didn't answer, instead he stared ahead at the place where he stayed, dreading returning there, to the wrath of his father. He turned around, his back to the house that wasn't a home. "I don't want to go back there." He stated. The expression on his face was deadly serious.
...Rhi