Obi-Wan Kenobi was having the best day he'd had in months before he met the krayt dragon.
The spring sandstorms had stopped just as suddenly as they'd begun, and he was thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to stretch his legs under the open blue sky for the first time in months. He was enjoying the fresh meat that he bought from the market even more so. His provisions had been growing lean. So, as the two suns of Tatooine beat down on him, he smiled, glad to feel their warmth.
The krayt dragon seemed to share similar feelings. When Kenobi saw the wide, sweeping tracks left by something burrowing under the sand, he thought, Of course. It seemed only natural. It was like when the worms would crawl out of the dirt after a rain in the Jedi Temple gardens, reveling in the cool water that gathered among the flowers and the swaying lykk trees. Obi-Wan remembered this fondly. He had often liked to sit in the gardens meditating after a storm. The living Force seemed pure with refreshment during those times, filled with a quiet, ringing peace.
The ground rumbled beneath his feet, interrupting his thoughts. The krayt dragon was still nearby. If it is, it might be close enough to— A number of scenarios flashed through his mind, each centered around the fact that he was the only human alone in this stretch of desert for miles, all because he'd resigned himself to living on the bare ragged edge of society, watching over the boy. And he'd decided to walk home from the market, all by himself with nothing but a sack full of fresh meat and an illegal lightsaber.
(In his defense, it had seemed like a good idea at the time.)
Flashes of information came to him from his time at the Temple, unbidden; Sith had historically ridden small Krayt dragons, he remembered, nasty things the size of speeders with teeth like jagged knives. Well, judging by the rumbling ground and the giant marks of its tracks, this was no small Krayt dragon, and he was no Sith. Still. That had to mean that the creatures were to some degree Force-responsive, Obi-Wan reasoned. The Sith were not fond of dealing with weaker creatures than themselves.
The ground shook. He closed his eyes and began to meditate.
A huge consciousness was moving towards him. Quickly. It seemed to have caught his scent. Yet Obi-Wan was not afraid; the living Force had melted all of his terror away. He knew exactly how he should reason with this creature.
Obi-Wan walked out of the krayt dragon's path and held out a hand, offering soothing energies. The rumbling in the ground stopped, and the dragon emerged from the sands with a loud, thundering crash.
Hello, he said to the krayt dragon in the Force.
Hungry, the krayt dragon replied. Food. Need. Now. Hungry.
Obi-Wan reached into his pack and placed his precious bundle of fresh meat on the sand. He walked backwards, slowly. Is this sufficient, he asked.
The krayt dragon blinked. It seemed to be surprisingly intelligent. The ground shifted, the meat disappeared, and so did the dragon.
Obi-Wan let out a long breath. He'd been lucky. He didn't know if he'd be so lucky again. Though death was not something that he feared, he wasn't ready to experience it until he knew that the boy wasn't in any kind of danger.
The next time the krayt dragon came, he was lucky again.
Remember. You. the krayt dragon said.
Don't hurt me, Obi-Wan replied. I have no meat.
A spurt of sand erupted to his right, as if the krayt dragon had just snorted underground. After a long, tense moment, it turned away.
This time, Obi-Wan was somewhat amused. It seemed like an uneasy truce had been formed between him and this creature. That could come in handy at some point in the future.
That point came sooner than he would've liked it to.
Three months later, he was walking to the market alone, again, when something in the land began to shift.
He paused. Though he hadn't lived on Tatooine long, he was beginning to recognize the signs of a storm—the air growing heavy, the dunes shifting and whirling in sudden bursts of wind, and the sound of complete and utter silence. The only thing he could hear was his own beating heart, hot and close against his ears.
The silence broke in an instant. The sky grew dark and thick with clouds, and rain lashed itself upon the land. Obi-Wan tried to continue on, but the rain made it impossible to see, and now huge fists of hail were falling down around him, tearing at his clothes and driving into his arms and legs.
When the krayt dragon came, he assumed that its roar was just another crash of thunder. But then a shadow loomed out of the ground, and it grew larger and larger and larger until it blocked out the sky. The hail pelted against the shadow's sides, but it hardly flinched, and he was glad for the reprieve.
The storm was short. Desert storms always are, he thought. After twenty minutes, the storm lessened, and the massive shadow slunk into the sands and disappeared.
Obi-Wan reached into the Force and thanked it.
Gave food, was all the krayt dragon said. You are good.
After everything that had happened in his life, Obi-Wan sincerely hoped that it was right.