Obdurate Heart – II

Thanks so much to those who reviewed! I'm happy to know that I'm thus far well-received. Sorry about the length of the chapter, it's rather short this time around. It will get more interesting as it goes on. At least, I think it does. I could be bias, after all.

"To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man."

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

To Obi Wan, the events following the battle were vague and blurred, like a hand waving over eyes in darkness. Inside, a part of him was warm from a sensation he heard uttered around as victory, but outside, he was oddly wary. That was to say, he knew that he should be in a celebratory mood…and yet that wasn't to say that he was not. Something bothered at the back of his mind as he accompanied his master and the young Anakin Skywalker to the medical bay. He knew that it had to do with the Sith apprentice that they were currently on their way to oversee, but he refused to fret over or question the decision his master had made.

"What happened? Did you kill him? Is he dead, Master Jin?" piped in the young boy's voice by Obi Wan's side, jarring him out of his thoughts.

"No, Anakin, he isn't dead." Replied Qui Gon calmly, with a small bit of joviality behind his tone.

"Well how did you defeat him?" the boy continued to ask excitedly.

"I didn't." Qui Gon said simply, and Obi Wan eyed him sheepishly at the wry smile he received. "That was my apprentice's handiwork."

Instantly Anakin's interest was transferred to the young Kenobi, hopping in step to keep up with the two swiftly traveling men. "You really beat him, Obi Wan?" Obi Wan was slightly offended to hear such disbelief in his voice.

"Yes. And very nearly myself as well." He muttered as he walked on, seeing the group of medical aids they were currently approaching.

"Master Jin," greeted a medic droid that came immediately to fuss over the master's wounded shoulder.

Qui Gon shooed it away with a hand and shook his head. "How is he? Will he live?"

The droid hovered back and began to relay the information it had obtained. "The detained Lord Maul has suffered a severe laceration to the intestinal track. Much of the damage has been repaired. The next few hours are crucial, but his chances of survival are probable if not definate."

"He is in the medical bay now?" Qui Gon asked with a nod.

"As we speak, sir."

"As soon as he is stable, I want him moved into a segregated holding room. Is that clear?" said Qui Gon, and Obi Wan listened back and forth between them intently.

"Yes of course, Master Jin." The droid extended its hands in compliance. "Shall we post guard as well?"

"Yes. Heavily." Qui Gon agreed. With that, he watched the droid depart, and turned back to Obi Wan with a smile and a sigh.

"…Is it safe to keep the enemy so close, master?" Obi Wan questioned with a slight swallow. They could easily send Maul to an imprisonment base whereupon he could be interrogated just as well.

"The enemy is all around us, Padawan." He assured. "Personally, I'm just glad that now there is at least one I can keep my eye on directly." As he said this, he led them back down the hall from which they had initially come. "…Does this trouble you so, Obi Wan? I sense something doubtful in that head of yours."

"It isn't your judgment I shy from, Master." Obi Wan felt compelled to make this clear straight off. "I am just…shaken from the incident, I suppose."

"You saved my life, Obi Wan. For that you have my gratitude." Qui Gon thanked as though suddenly being reminded of this fact. He placed a hand on Obi Wan's shoulder in something of a brotherly embrace.

"I certainly don't regret that." Obi Wan shook his head, then paused. "But Master, I…I fear I did not act solely with your best interest at heart. It was…it was anger that led me to slay Darth Maul."

"And I flattered myself to think it was your love for me." Obi Wan was shocked to hear mirth in his master's voice after a confession of such impure motives. He looked up to see the man smiling as always above him.

"Master, I wanted to kill him." The younger continued in a quieter tone, facing the floor. "I was not thinking of the evils that he committed, nor what he stood for. I thought only of what he had done to you in that moment, and that was the emotion I allowed to guide my senses."

"Obi Wan," Qui Gon began with a more somber tone. "You did everything that could be expected of you. I have asked you not to doubt yourself so brutally, young one. I am proud of you. I think it's high time you gave yourself a bit of credit."

"But I…"

"The war is far from over." Qui Gon interrupted. "I am sure there will be many more opportunities for you to prove yourself a failure, if that is your wish."

Obi Wan nodded solemnly and grimaced in embarrassment, not wanting to come off as so self-pitying. "You're right. I apologize."

Qui Gon chuckled slightly and urged his Padawan to follow as he kept walking. "I always am, aren't I? Come now. Senator Amidala wanted to speak with us."

At this, Anakin instantly popped back into the conversation, babbling in an animated fashion at Qui Gon's side about his own boyish concerns and plights. Obi Wan wanted to smile at the image, but his mind yet remained caught elsewhere. The war indeed was not over. And the capture of one Sith offender was certainly not enough to stop it.