Thanks for all the reviews guys, they help so much! And thanks to all who voted on the poll!
The next morning brought dim sunlight lazily drifting into the guest room. Kerrick yawned and shifted in the large bed. He sat up and stretched, rubbing his eyes for a moment before looking over at Vader.
"Wake up, Little One," he said softly, giving the boy a gentle shake.
Vader didn't stir.
"Little One? Little One? Little One!"
The boy gave a moan and a hand twitched, but Kerrick got nothing else out of him. When he pressed his hand down on the boy's shoulder to shake him again, he felt the material saturated with sweat.
Cursing under his breath, Kerrick quickly hopped out of bed and ran to his comlink. "Tell me someone's awake, come on!"
He heard a series of grunts and groans come over the comlink from multiple frequencies.
"Whuz wrong?" he heard Numel slur.
"It's Lo," Kerrick responded quickly. "He's feverish."
Kerrick then heard a multitude of gasps and what all at once. Kerrick told them to hurry over and then he cut the connection.
Running over to the bed once more, Kerrick pulled the boy into a sitting position, leaning him against a group of fluffed pillows. He then went to the refresher and got a glass of water. Just as he reentered the bedroom to give the glass to Vader, everyone rushed in still in their nightclothes.
Jifo, who was sporting black sleeping shorts and nothing else, got to the bed first. "How long has he been like this?"
"I just woke up and found him like this," Kerrick replied as he began to pour the water down the boy's throat. Vader coughed a little at first but then he accepted the drink.
Kobayashi then burst into the room wearing a white eepudah-no tied by a brown obi. His normally well-groomed short hair was spiked in all directions, giving him a disheveled appearance.
"I called a healer," he panted. "He's on his way now."
Vader muttered something incoherent, his eyes fluttering open. Kerrick and the others were immediately at his side.
"Little One, can you hear me?" Kerrick asked.
Vader offered a feeble nod.
"Are you feeling any pain?" Moeema questioned.
Again, Vader nodded.
"Where does it hurt, Little One?"
"M-m… my s-stomach and… and my head…" he managed to answer.
"Why did this suddenly come now?" Marrax muttered.
"I don't know…" Kerrick sighed, placing a steadying hand on Vader's forehead. It was burning hot.
"C-can I… still see the… the hot springs, Koby?" Vader asked tiredly.
Kobayashi gave a soft, gentle smile. "Of course you can, Little One… let's just worry about getting better first, okay?"
Vader nodded and closed his eyes, muttering, "Get better first…"
Just then, the healer rushed inside and went to Vader, immediately checking his vitals. After a thorough examination, he faced the Imperials and said, "The boy has a bad virus, but it's nothing too serious. Let him get plenty of sleep and give him lots of water. I would advise getting him out of this area; being cooped up in a single room for days can be quite maddening."
"Thank you," Moeema smiled and the man left the room.
"Where are we supposed to take him? I thought staying in the palace would be a good idea…" Jifo shrugged.
Zhymmia was silent along with the others before she snapped her fingers. "That's it! He wanted to go to the hot springs, Kobayashi, so why don't we take him? I've always read that a trip to the hot springs does a lot of good to one's health."
Kobayashi laughed. "I'll see what I can arrange."
Padmé brushed her hair silently as she thought about what had happened last night. She still wasn't even sure if it really was Anakin that she had seen. Whether that was true or not, if that lieutenant was from Death Squadron then Darth Vader was nearby.
Slowly lowering the brush onto the dressing table, Padmé sadly looked at her reflection before burying her face in her hands and shedding tears in silence. She wished this whole situation could just resolve. She wished that she and Anakin could be reunited and they could raise their children together as a family. She just wanted it to end.
Outside, Padmé heard people rushing back and forth and then she heard a loud cry of excitement and joy. Curious, she stood and walked over to one of the windows by her bed, looking outside to see a number of people in their nightclothes beginning to walk out of one of the other guest houses.
She caught sight of seven men and three women. She recognized the flirtatious one from the ball last night. He was wearing a loose cream colored shirt and dark brown sleeping pants. The man beside him, who was of smaller build and had far darker skin, wore only black sleeping shorts. He also was the only one she had observed so far to have a well-trimmed mustache. The next man was the prince of Nihoma himself, Prince Kobayashi. He was in traditional Nihoman sleeping attire. Then there was another pale man who had reddish hair and green eyes. He had the flirtatious lieutenant's build but the prince's height. Then there was another mustached individual (who had a short goatee to go along with it) with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a fair complexion and wore a pair of white sleeping tunic and pants underneath a blue robe. The last man was an olive-skinned brunette who was the tallest of them all. He also wore a sleeping tunic, pants, and a robe.
Two of the women were in nightdresses. The first one Padmé saw, a tall, tan-skinned, black-haired, brown-eyed woman with the slight extra weight one gains from giving birth to younglings, wore a rose-colored sleeveless nightdress. The other woman was wearing a light green nightdress with a dark green loose sash tied around it. The third one, a woman with a dark complexion, short curly dark brown hair, and blue eyes, wore a white tunic over a navy blue pair of trousers.
Considering the flirt was a lieutenant and one was the prince, Padmé had a suspicion that these people were all Imperials. However, that also meant that Ana—Lt. Lo was nearby.
Her concentration was broken when someone knocked on her door. Quickly putting on a robe over her nightdress, Padmé opened the door to see Bail Organa.
"Bail, what are you doing?" she asked.
"I couldn't talk to you last night when you were near those Imperials," Bail replied. "I have more to tell you than just the political happenings over the past five years. I thought you might want to know more about… about Leia."
Padmé immediately stepped back to let her friend into her room and she closed the door.
Kobayashi sighed contently as he lounged on the howdah that was strapped onto Minh. This howdah was different from the one during the parade. It was merely a sitting place but had no roof whatsoever to lighten the burden for the nook.
He hadn't expected going to the mountain retreat, but it would be a great relief. His family had to stay in the palace in Noriyuki, which meant that they would not be pestering him about leaving the Imperial Navy as they had been for the past two days. He would be free from that worry and would stay at the mountain retreat until shore leave was over.
The others arrived within the hour with everything packed and ready to go. Kerrick was helping a slightly disoriented Darth Vader climb the ladder which allowed them to clamber into the howdah. Moeema followed closely behind just in case while the rest went in single file after her. Kobayashi leaned over to help pull the boy into his seat.
When everyone was aboard, Kobayashi stood up and began to walk down the length of Minh's upper back and neck until he sat on the nook's head. He then reached into a small pouch he was carrying and pulled out a comb that belonged to his older brother Sano and tossed it down on the ground in front of Minh's face. Minh gracefully lowered his large head and investigated the item, sniffing it loudly with his monstrous nostrils. He then issued a low grumbling sound from his throat and raised his head once more.
"Um… is that a good thing?" Jifo asked from the howdah.
"Yes, it's a perfect thing," Kobayashi replied. "It means Minh will let me fly him."
"He'll let you? I thought he was tamed by your brother!" Rowan said.
Kobayashi laughed. "Our term for taming holds a different meaning than the regular term."
At that, he sat himself in a comfortable cross-legged position and patted Minh on the head. "Let's go, boy. We're heading to the mountain retreat."
Minh let out a roar and slowly turned to his right to walk through the stable doors. He lowered his head to line up with the rest of his body and took massive steps, slamming his claws into the ground as he went. Once he was outside, his large wings unfolded, spreading to their full length. Kobayashi took in the sight with a smile; he hadn't seen a nook preparing for flight in seven years. After all, neither nook flew during the parade yesterday evening. Minh issued a soft growl and then looked up at the sky. Kobayashi automatically placed his hands behind him and dug his palms into the nook's head in order to remain upright. Thankfully, due to the nook's rough scales, his hands could easily grip and make sure he didn't slide off the creature's head.
When Minh had finished smelling the air and stretching his wings, he let out the loudest roar yet. It reverberated around the area, sending tingles up Kobayashi's spine. The next sound heard was like thunder and then the sound of leaves and grass being blown about. This was the sound of Minh's wings beginning to flap. The large wings went up and down slowly at first and then began to pick up speed. Kobayashi eventually felt the sensation of the ground disappearing beneath his feet and Minh roared again, leaning forward slightly to allow for forward momentum. The nook flapped his wings harder and then they sped forward. Kobayashi let out a whoop of delight, joining in the nook's roar.
Noriyuki City quickly vanished under a thin layer of clouds as Kobayashi sniffled and coughed, shaking the cold water from the clouds off of his skin and clothes. He heard some of the others scream in terror and others let out a yell of astonishment.
"Hold on tight!" Kobayashi shouted to them.
He then distinctly heard Vader give a whoop of excitement.
The view provided by the nook's flight was rather impressive. Since it sat in the valley, Noriyuki was covered by a heavy fog that had settled over the course of the morning. However, the mountains were peaking through, looking like rocks piercing through a white blanket. Off in the distance, Kobayashi could make out other valleys and areas that were near the mountain range.
"How long is this going to take?" Zhymmia yelled over the fierce wind.
"The flight will take about two hours," Kobayashi yelled back.
"How far is this place?" Moeema asked.
"Let's put it this way," Kobayashi explained. "Noriyuki City is at the southern part of the Li mountain chain. In fact, it sits right at the beginning of the Li. You see, the Li begins at the southeastern end of the continent and spreads its way through the west in a diagonal fashion. The Li starts with a hook-like gathering of mountains, and that's where Noriyuki sits. The mountain retreat that we're going to is right in the center of the mountain chain where the most untouched forests are. It is a planetary regulation to keep at least ninety percent of that area undamaged and untamed."
"Wow!" Vader said happily. "So how big is the mountain retreat?"
"It's actually not as big as you would think considering it's for the royal family," Kobayashi replied. "Out of the ten percent that has property in Changying (which is what we call the area in Nihoman), only three percent is owned by us for our mountain retreat."
"Who owns the rest of it?" Kerrick asked.
"Well, let's see…" Kobayashi paused to think about it for a moment. "Three percent is owned by the royal family… then there's five percent that's owned by a jib chuuno, which is a training house for warriors. The remaining two percent is just owned by people with a lot of money who like to live out in the middle of nowhere."
Minh tilted his head upward and ascended slightly. Kobayashi shivered a little from the cold wind but enjoyed the flight nonetheless.
As they flew farther away from the capital, Kobayashi began to see more of the view beneath them. The Li mountain chain was a middle-aged mountain chain in comparison to some other chains on Nihoma. It wasn't the young and fresh mountain chains that were all jagged and rough, but it also wasn't the low rolling mountains that were far older. It had wildlife and vegetation but still held its height. The tallest mountain in the Li chain was Gao, which stood at a staggering eight thousand meters.
Minh suddenly gave out a high-pitched roar, causing everyone to cover their ears.
"What's he yelling about?" Numel asked in a somewhat panicked fashion.
"He heard another nook," Kobayashi answered. "A high-pitched call from a male nook is a call to all other nooks. It's communication."
Sure enough, another high-pitched call rolled over to them. Minh once again roared. Kobayashi squinted and began to look around when he heard Vader shout.
"Over there!" he said.
Everyone looked to the right where the boy was pointing and saw a male nook flying by, followed by three smaller nooks. Kobayashi laughed. "Oh, that's a whole family!"
"Are they going to attack us or something?" Marrax sounded uneasy.
Kobayashi laughed again. "No, as long as we don't fly towards them, we're fine."
The male nook had a ferocious beauty to him. His claws and fangs were far sharper than Minh's and his wings were larger; this was a fully matured nook, and a father at that.
The four nooks then dove down underneath the protective cloud coverage and weren't heard from again.
Sighing contently, Kobayashi leaned back on his arms and held his face upward, a soft smile playing at his lips. His moment of peace was lost, however, when Minh roared again, this time in a louder lower tone.
"Now what's wrong?"
Kobayashi sat up and looked ahead, noticing that Minh's rhythmic flapping was beginning to stop. "It looks like we're here!"
Minh's wings stretched as far out as possible and tilted slightly to the left or right. The nook glided along with the wind, giving Kobayashi a sensation of floating in the air.
Kobayashi heard a laugh and looked back at Vader, who was sitting up and holding his arms out like Minh, smiling and giggling. Air was certainly the boy's element. The other Imperials looked relatively amused… though they were also a little nervous.
Kobayashi saw Moeema tell the boy to sit down, but he didn't hear her over the wind. Instead, he stood up on the howdah and smiled even more.
Now Kobayashi was starting to get worried. "Um, Little One, you might want to sit down. We'll be landing soon."
Vader closed his eyes and took a deep breath before laughing again. He then yelled something that sounded suspiciously like come get me and then… then…
Oh, good Force…
Kobayashi's mind went blank as he suddenly saw the boy do the craziest thing he had ever seen anyone do: he jumped.
Darth Vader jumped to his left, directly off the howdah… and off of Minh.
He had only wanted a ride, just one blasted ride… now look at him. He was latched on to the horns of a dragon!
Obi-Wan sighed. Apparently he had inherited his old Master's horrid habit of picking up pathetic life forms.
It wasn't even intended! He had been walking through the outskirts of Noriyuki and had decided to walk through the forest to calm down and meditate before finding a way to leave the area. That was when he had run into the dragon. Obi-Wan didn't know much about Nihoman dragons, but he knew enough to realize that a blue one was a female. His first reaction was to slowly and silently go away, but the dragon had already seen him. In fact, she roared in what seemed to be protest and charged towards him. His next thought was to run as hard as his legs would allow, but she stopped that too by nipping—with two enormous and extremely sharp fangs—gently at his tunic and easily throwing him into the air only to land on her head.
She then growled in a low voice and he felt her head rumble with the sound. He then sensed that the dragon held no mal intent, which then made him wonder how in the blazes he had managed to run into the only wild dragon in the galaxy that did not attack Humans.
His next idea was to use the Force to convince the dragon to take him away from Noriyuki, which he did rather successfully. However, the dragon held no understanding of flying safety for her passengers, and Obi-Wan had been clinging on for dear life ever since.
That had been about two hours ago, though he couldn't be quite sure. He wasn't even sure where the dragon was taking him.
Suddenly, he sensed a disturbance in the Force. Looking around wildly, he looked straight up to see a figure falling from above.
"What in the blazes…?" he muttered under his breath, squinting against the harsh wind.
After the person, he saw a red dragon (a male) appear from below, followed by three young dragons. The red dragon gave a ferocious roar and began to fly towards the figure, startling Obi-Wan.
"Not good, not good!" he muttered continuously as he tried to urge his mount forward.
The female flew towards the odd sight but was too slow to get there in time. However, the male dragon apparently was not interested in eating the person; instead, it flew alongside the person, diving straight down.
Obi-Wan was completely bewildered. Still, he had to know what was going on. His dragon apparently anticipated his motives, for she continued to fly after the red dragon. The three young dragons merely flew in circles, waiting for their father to return.
Unfortunately for Obi-Wan, following the red dragon meant going into a steep dive as well.
"Blast, even on living mounts I hate flying!" Obi-Wan yelled as he literally held on by his grip on one of her horns while the rest of him was floating above from the force of the drop.
The person up ahead clasped his hands behind him to lower wind resistance. The red dragon folded its wings in further, almost as if it were racing him. Being heavier, though, the dragon quickly went ahead. Obi-Wan could practically hear the person scream in protest. The scream was an excited high pitch, but definitely masculine. It was a boy, probably in his early to mid twenties.
"Can't anything ever go well?" he muttered under his breath as his mount increased speed to keep up with the other two.
Inexplicably, the boy seemed to be gaining even more speed. He waved his arms in front of him and then clasped them behind his back again, almost as if he did a swimming stroke.
It was then that Obi-Wan felt a spike in the Force. This was the one he had been searching for!!
Obi-Wan immediately used the Force to cover the boy's signature so Palpatine or… or the other Sith wouldn't sense it. He then urged his mount to go even faster and he began to reach out in the Force to gently slow the boy's fall.
The boy sensed Obi-Wan tampering with his freefall and fought back, using the Force to push himself even harder. Obi-Wan, however, won the fight and the boy slowed to a halt, floating in midair.
Obi-Wan's dragon finally reached the boy, who, despite floating in the middle of the sky which would normally panic any normal person, was doing a reasonably good impression of a pout.
"What in the blazes do you think you're do… do…" Obi-Wan's words died in his mouth when he saw just who this person was.
Above him, he heard the ferocious roar of another dragon, but it didn't quite seem to register in his mind. His mind had gone numb. Either that or it had left him entirely. Perhaps it was just insanity. That was it, he was just hallucinating.
After all, there was no way that he could be staring at his… his…
The word died just before he could even fathom it. The boy looked up at him with those deep blue eyes and continued to pout. Then the boy got a really good look at him and his eyes widened, his mouth slacking open slightly.
Just then, a red dragon appeared through the clouds above and Obi-Wan lost his concentration. The boy dropped, flying down in an uncontrollable spin. Obi-Wan cried out and his dragon immediately flew down, easily getting below the boy.
Obi-Wan reflexively held out his arms and caught the boy, who was panting slightly. The two stared at each other in silence until the other dragon caught up to them.
This new dragon apparently had been tamed rather than Obi-Wan's female mount. A person sat on its head and it had a typical riding howdah strapped to the center of its back. There were at least eleven people on that dragon.
"Is he alright?" a woman from the other dragon shouted.
Obi-Wan found that he couldn't answer. The boy remained silent as well, staring into his eyes with wonder.
"A… Ana…?" Obi-Wan whispered weakly, trying to say the boy's name.
"Is he alright?" the woman shouted again.
Obi-Wan finally snapped himself out of his daze and got a good look at who was speaking. Then his mind immediately came back, going sharp with alertness.
The woman was wearing an Imperial uniform.
What was he to do? He supposed the best thing to do was just to answer her. "I believe he's fine."
The entire group seemed relieved, all sighing and visibly relaxing.
Then Obi-Wan's mind went numb once again as he felt the boy he was holding wrap his arms around him. Obi-Wan tensed, his entire body anticipating some sort of attack, some sort of trick… after all there was no way this person could be the one he remembered.
"Kichita," the boy muttered softly. Obi-Wan's heart stopped.
"What's wrong?" a man yelled as the red dragon drew closer.
"I… I…" he couldn't even muster a coherent sentence.
"Wow, you must be a long way!" the person sitting on the dragon's head said.
"Yes, I am," Obi-Wan replied. "I wish I knew where I was."
"You are in Azumi Heuk." The man answered.
Obi-Wan blinked. "Where exactly is that?"
"Aren't you Nihoman?" the other asked.
"Sorry, I'm afraid not," Obi-Wan replied.
"Then how did you become a long way?"
"No, I didn't, um, become a long way, I came a long way," Obi-Wan corrected.
The man blinked at him before laughing. "No, no, not long way… I mean a person who has tamed a female dragon such as yours. A longwei,"
Whoops, Obi-Wan thought.
"But if you're not a longwei, then how did you manage to ride her?" the man continued. "She looks like she was just tamed. Her horns aren't touched at all."
"I beg your pardon?"
The man merely shook his head. "Ah, don't worry about it. Could you just help the boy over here?"
Obi-Wan looked down at the boy in his arms. He was still hugging him.
Feeling a knot form in his stomach, Obi-Wan slowly walked towards the edge of his mount's head and waited as the others tried to reach out. The person on the red dragon's head patted the animal and said something to it. The dragon immediately reached out its claw for the rider to slowly crawl on and reach out for the boy.
"Here," he said.
When Obi-Wan even started to make a motion towards the man, the boy's grip tightened. "Kichita!"
No, no, no… Obi-Wan heard the thought in his head, but it clearly belonged to the boy. Why was he transferring his thoughts? Did he even realize he was doing it?
Oh, Force…
"This child wouldn't happen to have… erm, a fascination for getting into trouble, would he?" Obi-Wan asked, gauging the reaction from the Imperials.
They nodded, some exasperated and some understanding. However, none of them reacted in the way Obi-Wan expected. None of them seemed extremely panicked, either. How odd. One would think Imperials would be more panicked if Darth Vader is being held by a total stranger.
Did they… did they even know he was Darth Vader? After all, the Darth Vader the galaxy knew was in a black suit that sustained him…
Obi-Wan shut his eyes and shook the thoughts out of his mind. "Well, here you go,"
What could he do? He couldn't follow the Imperials, could he?
His question was quickly answered when the boy violently shook off the man's hand as he tried to take him. "No! Kichita!"
"Little one, what's wrong?" the man asked.
"Kichita comes too," the boy replied, burying his head into the crook of Obi-Wan's neck.
"Um, I'm not sure if Mr. Kichita would like to come, Little One," the man replied as one of the women began to make her way over to them.
"Little One, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Kichita comes too," the boy repeated.
Obi-Wan's throat went dry. He couldn't speak.
"Is that your name, sir? Kichita?" The woman looked at Obi-Wan.
Suppressing a gentle smile, Obi-Wan said, "Call me Ben,"
"Little One, why are you calling him Kichita?" the man asked.
"Because he's Kichita,"
The man and woman both sighed. "We're terribly sorry, sir,"
"Oh, it's quite all right," Obi-Wan replied.
"Please, Kichita, come along,"
Obi-Wan looked down at the boy in his arms. The pleading tone startled him.
"I… uh, what about your friends, little one?"
The boy looked pleadingly at the man and the woman. The man blinked, looking clueless, but the woman gave Obi-Wan a quizzical look before shaking her head. "Of course he can come along… but only if he wants to,"
"Please, Kichita,"
Obi-Wan sighed. "I'd be happy to come along… but where are we going?"
"We're going to his family's mountain retreat," the woman answered. "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Moeema Norhek."
The woman bowed in salutation. Obi-Wan did similar… at least as much as he could while carrying Anakin.
"Well, you already know my name," he shrugged. "I'm afraid it's just Ben."
"Would you like to follow us on your nook?" the man asked.
"My what?"
The man laughed. "Your dragon mount,"
"Um, no, I think I'll ride with you guys," Obi-Wan quickly said. "My mount needs to go home."
"Will she be alright on her own?"
"Yes,"
Obi-Wan clambered over to the red dragon, carefully making his way to the howdah. Anakin clung to him the whole way. When he finally sat down, the boy relaxed, smiling and hugging him again.
"He seems to like you a lot," one of the others noted before introducing himself. "My name's Ooke Tunrott."
The others introduced themselves one by one. There was Ooke Tunrott, Moeema Norhek, Numel Sanus, Carh'la Tade, Kerrick Chelcu, Rowan Chupa-Pau, Marrax Mothezsh, Zhymmia Kenzee, Shiine Reukli, and Jifo Hu. The rider on the dragon's head did not introduce himself at first, but he finally admitted that his name was Kobayashi Beillane.
Before Obi-Wan could react to the man's name, he quickly said, "But don't start treating me like a prince. I'm a lieutenant in the Imperial Navy and that's all."
"Ah… well, all right," Obi-Wan said awkwardly.
He did notice that none of them gave their ranks. When he queried as to why, they all laughed.
"We see no need in having you go about calling us by our ranks and last names," Kobayashi yelled from the dragon's head. "This is supposed to be informal and relaxing."
"So where were you headed before you ran into us?" Zhymmia asked.
Obi-Wan sighed. "I was just going anywhere. I wanted to get away from Noriyuki City."
"That's understandable," Ooke said.
"I did notice that you were awfully quiet while we were there," Numel said to Ooke.
Kobayashi apparently heard, since he laughed. "That's because Ooke's a town boy. He grew up in a small town on Corulag. He doesn't like big cities."
Ooke flushed and then shrugged. "I always thought it was too many people. I like having some breathing room."
"I'm surprised you don't go insane in engineering then," Carh'la said.
"I've gotten used to it, I guess,"
Anakin's iron grip on Obi-Wan finally slackened and he let go, enjoying the breeze from the dragon's flight.
The dragon tipped its head downward and they began to dive towards their destination. Obi-Wan clung to the cushion beneath him. Anakin, however, flung his arms outward, smiling and giggling. He hadn't acted like this since he was a boy… even then it wasn't this… innocent.
Was Obi-Wan's theory correct? Did the boy truly have no recollection at all?
"So, what's his name?" Obi-Wan asked, raising his voice a little to be heard over the fierce wind that began to whip across his face.
"His name is Lo,"
"Just Lo?"
"Just Lo. Like you're just Ben,"
Obi-Wan smiled. "I can handle that,"
Lo? Why was that his name? Did they just make it up? Did they even know who they were dealing with?
Everyone was staring at Anakin with apprehension. Their bodies had visibly tensed, anticipating something.
Moeema seemed to notice Obi-Wan's observation. "I'm afraid your run-in with the boy was not accidental. He thought it would be fun to… well…"
Obi-Wan fought the urge to roll his eyes. It was typical of Anakin to do something so reckless.
Standing cautiously, Obi-Wan placed his hands around the boy's ribs and slowly forced him to sit down. "Come on, Lo, sit down,"
"But Kichita, I don't want to," Anakin replied. His tone didn't hold defiance, rather innocent excitement. It was extremely odd.
"Well you have to," Obi-Wan went on, unrelenting as he used to be with the boy. Anakin finally sighed and sat down, leaning against Obi-Wan affectionately.
"Why does he keep calling you Kichita?" Jifo asked.
Obi-Wan shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, my friend."
"Hang on; we're coming in for a landing!" Kobayashi shouted from up front.
The dragon leveled out and began to flap his wings to slow the descent. Finally, everyone bounced about as his claws dug into the ground.
"Well, here we are," Kobayashi said, sounding content and satisfied. The dragon lowered its head and Kobayashi slid off. The others took a rope that had been sitting inside the howdah, attached to the howdah itself at one end. They threw the rope down and began to dismount, one by one. Anakin waited for Obi-Wan before he would follow.
How am I going to get myself out of this mess? Obi-Wan thought as he slid down the rope.
"I don't see anything," he heard Numel say.
"Not yet," Kobayashi replied. "Once we climb that rock over there you'll see it."
Obi-Wan walked alongside the Imperials until he reached the top of the rock and caught sight of the retreat. It was a rectangular two-story Nihoman-style building. The building sat right on the edge of a large lake. All around the retreat were tall mountains, hiding it from view.
Upon seeing the retreat, some of the Imperials whooped in excitement and began running down, including Anakin.
"Ana—Lo, wait!" Obi-Wan called out, barely catching his tongue.
The group rushed down to the retreat and Anakin began to dance around, twirling with his arms out and laughing. "This is going to be so much fun!"
"Little one, you're still sick," Moeema said in a concerned tone. "You have to get your rest."
Sick?
"He's sick?" Obi-Wan asked before he could stop himself.
"Yes," Kerrick replied, his focus on the boy.
"Then let's get him inside!" Obi-Wan ran over to Anakin and grabbed his arm. "Come on, Padawan—"
Anakin froze. None of the other Imperials reacted, though. Apparently they didn't hear.
Obi-Wan turned to look at Anakin, who was staring at him with wide eyes. "You just called me Padawan,"
Cursing, Obi-Wan prayed the others didn't hear Anakin say that.
Anakin continued to stare at him, unblinking. "Kohay…"
If he hadn't been leaning against something already, Obi-Wan would have collapsed.
However, the moment was interrupted by Kobayashi, who called from the retreat. "Come on, little one!"
The dawning comprehension that had begun to cover the boy's face drained away in an instant. He immediately looked at Kobayashi with a childlike affection and nodded vigorously, yelling, "I'm coming!"
In that instant, his Force signature told Obi-Wan everything he needed to know. Up until now it had been murky at best, practically nonexistent at worst… Obi-Wan had barely recognized his Force signature when he first sensed it. When he accidentally called Anakin Padawan, the boy's Force signature changed rapidly. It grew angry and afraid. It was almost as if his Force signature itself tried to lash out at Obi-Wan. The instant Kobayashi called out to him, the fear grew and then suddenly vanished, replaced by a childish signature, holding no negative emotions whatsoever. Anakin really didn't remember a thing.
"My word…" Obi-Wan mumbled.
"Are you coming, Ben?" Carh'la asked from the doorway to the retreat.
Obi-Wan dispelled the dark thoughts from his mind and nodded. "Yes,"
Obi-Wan walked into the doorway with Carh'la and entered the mountain retreat.
I know you're dying to leave a review after this chapter, so just push the button! XD