Chapter Eight: Learning and Arrival
His chest hurt like hell. And that was an understatement. It really, really hurt like hell. And that was still an understatement. Legolas groaned and stirred slightly before letting his eyes slide open. He bolted upright, wincing as his chest burned in pain, when he realized he was not on Jamar's ship. He didn't know where he was. Legolas silently slid to the cold, durasteel floor and crept out of the small room. The cockpit was just down the little corridor. His heart beat faster and faster as he neared the cockpit, and froze in terror when someone in the cockpit began to speak.
"I'll be a little longer than originally intended, Master. Legolas's friend was kidnapped and neither of us are about to leave her at the hands of her captors." Legolas sagged in relief. Wherever he was, Obi-Wan was there and in control of the ship. He didn't need to worry.
"Careful, you must be, Obi-Wan. Taken lightly, your charge must not be. Much danger there is in bringing him with you." Another voice said. Legolas looked into the cockpit. Obi-Wan was talking to a hologram of a small, old, strange looking being with a cane.
"I will watch him carefully, master. I will make sure he comes to no serious harm while he is in my care." Obi-Wan replied. Legolas nearly laughed. What did they think he was going to do? Jump off the top of a building? Give himself up to the Nikto just to save Arella? Although, the last one didn't sound quite so bad.
"Keep your charge safe, Obi-Wan. If he comes to serious harm, angry, his father will be." The hologram said before going out. Legolas smiled softly. He remembered his father's solemn promise to Obi-Wan's master and knew that, since Obi-Wan's master was dead, Obi-Wan would bear the brunt of his father's anger were he to be seriously harmed. Although, he'd already been seriously harmed. No one came out of an exploded apartment building with nothing more than a scratch. Not many survived it either.
"Never, ever scare me like that again, alright?" Legolas looked up at Obi-Wan. Had he really been that loud?
"Promise. Elven promise." He replied. Obi-Wan smiled. He motioned for Legolas to come over to him and the elfling happily obliged. He climbed onto the Jedi's lap and watched the stars fly past the window.
"You know, I was thinking that I ought to teach you how to defend for yourself. We can't have you getting knocked down every time you're in danger. Especially where we're going." Obi-Wan commented after a while.
"Is Tatooine a bad place, Obi-Wan?" Legolas asked, a hint of nervousness evident in his voice.
"No, it's not a bad place. Tatooine is run by the Hutts and slavery is dominant there, and we can't have you running into every unpleasant creature there without knowing how to fight back." Obi-Wan replied. Legolas nodded.
"What if I did get hurt on Tatooine because I didn't know how to defend myself?" He asked. Obi-Wan smiled slightly.
"I would be less than pleased, youngling." He replied.
Legolas regarded the practice "weapon" nervously. He wasn't sure about using it.
"Don't worry, Legolas. I'll go easy on you the first time." Obi-Wan reassured him. Legolas looked up at him.
"And the second time?" He asked. Obi-Wan took his robe off and dropped it by the wall.
"The second time, I will not be so gentle." He replied. Legolas couldn't detect even the tiniest notion that Obi-Wan was kidding.
"Okay. So, do I start out in a particular stance?" the elfling asked.
"No. Not unless you're using a lightsaber." Obi-Wan replied. Legolas nodded and held the weapon up. Obi-Wan walked over to him and ever so slowly began moving the practice weapon towards Legolas's face. Legolas quickly blocked the "blow" and Obi-Wan brought his practice weapon down towards Legolas's legs. Legolas blocked it again, and then Obi-Wan brought his weapon towards Legolas's stomach a bit fast. Legolas blocked it.
"Hey, it's still round one." The elfling protested. Obi-Wan grinned mischievously.
"Not anymore." He replied. Legolas's lips twisted into a determined grin.
Almost two hours later, Legolas was asleep on Obi-Wan's lap. The Jedi was in the cockpit, conversing with Master Yoda via hologram.
"I think I pushed him too, hard." Obi-Wan commented. "I've never seen anyone sleep this soundly." Yoda smiled.
"Learned well, he did. A better instructor, he could not have had." The older Jedi replied.
"Thank you master. We should be landing on Tatooine in two hours. I'm not so sure how we're going to proceed afterwards, but I'd like to keep Legolas safe until I have absolutely no choice but to put him in harm's way." Obi-Wan said.
"Come to that, we should hope it won't." Yoda told him. Legolas stirred and mumbled something before going still again.
"I have my absolute trust in the Force. There's something about Legolas, like he can access the Force. I've been thinking about it for a while." Obi-Wan replied.
"When return to Coruscant, you do, test him we will." Yoda said. Obi-Wan nodded.
"I'll talk to him about it. Thank you Master." He replied.
Legolas blinked groggily up at Obi-Wan.
"We're here." The Jedi told him. Legolas nodded and slid to the floor. Obi-Wan stood and shut down all the ship's controls.
"I'll keep the shields up, just in case. We'll see if we can't trace Arella before coming back here." Legolas nodded. He was still quite sleepy, but he followed Obi-Wan off the ship anyway.
"Where will we start?" Legolas asked. Obi-Wan thought for a moment.
"We'll start with the smaller shops, then move on to the bigger slavers. I can't garauntee that we'll have any luck today, however. But, if the Force is with us." He replied. Legolas nodded and took Obi-Wan's hand as they began the trek to the settlement in the distance.