Summary: A missing scene on the flight out of Tatooine that,
co-incidentally, addresses a recent Plot Bunny query on list.
Feedback: welcome at either addy
Notes: This slight thing exists by the grace of Destina and
Master Falcona. Has also been posted to SWAL
"You miss your mother."
Anakin snuggled into Padme's slim arms. Her body was
wonderfully warm and comforted him beyond expectation, slimmer
than his work-worn mother, her clothes soft and her scent
sweetness overlaid with the dust of Tatooine. Strange and yet
strangely familiar.
"Padme, can I ask you a favour?"
"Of course, Annie, anything."
"Can I sleep with you tonight?"
Before she could reply, they were interrupted by Qui-Gon Jinn.
"Anakin, it is not appropriate for a young boy to share
sleeping quarters with a lady."
Anakin buried himself further into his corner. He had not heard
the Jedi Master enter, and disappointment prompted his resigned
reply. "Because I was a slave."
Qui-Gon knelt beside them. "That is not the reason, Anakin.
Padme's duty is to the Queen and the people of Naboo. We are
ill friends if we seek to distract her from that duty with our
own needs." He brushed Anakin's hair back. "Come, you may sleep
with me. I have warmth enough to share with a desert dweller.
Goodnight," he dismissed Padme, and led Anakin away.
Their entrance roused Obi-Wan from his unquiet slumber. An
apprehension focused all his thoughts on his Master. His fierce
protectiveness, completely at odds with his faith in his
warrior teacher, troubled him. Every moment he felt that his
usual place, to Qui-Gon Jinn's side, was wrong. He must stand
in front, he must shield. Meditation did not sooth his
amorphous fear. He worked through the exercise again, letting
the fear pass around him and through him and focused on the
soft rustle of outer clothing being shed, two ill-suited bodies
shifting till comfort sought was found.
"Annie, I will not warm your feet with my body!"
"Sorry..."
"And you wished to distress Padme with your ice block feet? Be
still now, Anakin, or you will find yourself sharing Jar Jar's
pool."
Obi-Wan turned over so he could see the other bed. Both his
Master and the boy lay on their sides, facing him. The boy
looked angelic and serious, a small fist curled under his
cheek. His Master, too, had closed his eyes, one large hand
resting on the boy's head. How simple it was for the boy. He
need not question, only follow. Need not be plagued by the
uncertainty that knowledge brings. When he was Anakin's age
Obi-Wan had believed that Jedi Knights knew everything. He had
thought that knowledge would bring wisdom and wisdom,
certainty. It had almost seemed promised in the Jedi's oldest
mantra, "There is no ignorance, there is knowledge", but though
knowledge had proven an invaluable tool and a doughty weapon,
ultimately all that he had learned had only shown him how
unwise he was.
Turning to lay on his back, he began the exercises again. He
spread his concentration wide, feeling the Living Force around
him. There shining within the ship were the young, vibrant,
earnest flames of the Queen and her handmaidens, nearby the
trusty, steady Panaka. Elsewhere foolish, kindly Jar Jar slept,
and at the helm, the bright beacon of Ric Olie and his crew.
Drawing his focus close he basked in the goodness of his
Master's soul, his secret balm, his delight and his touchstone.
But next to it, ah, next to it the uncertain future, the
untrained, unknown Anakin. In his place.
In his place.
"Obi-Wan."
"Master?" A whisper in darkness.
"You must rest, Padawan. We will need your strength and focus.
I do not think we will find respite on Coruscant. There is more
afoot than a simple trade dispute."
"The meditations are not working tonight, Master. I cannot stay
within my centre, I cannot rest."
"Fear is the enemy."
"We are not saints, but seekers, Master, and I do not find what
I seek."
"Do you know what you seek, Padawan?"
"Certainty. Reassurance. Comfort."
"You are a man now, Obi-Wan. Not a boy who needs to be told
that everything will be alright."
"Nevertheless, Master, this is my weakness." He turned to face
Qui-Gon, having confessed, he was not longer wary of his
Master's searching eyes. "I am afraid for you."
"There is no death; there is the Force." Qui-Gon's gentle, deep
voice rolled over him, repeating the oldest lesson. "We have
walked in dark places and we will walk in them again, my
Padawan. But now we are in this place, and it is time to
sleep."
"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan said, but his bleak expression betrayed
the obedience of his words. He wrapped his arms close, resigned
a wakeful night, battling his demons. For a moment, all was
still. Then Qui-Gon lifted his hand from the boy's head and
pushed back his blanket.
"Come then, Padawan, though we are luminous beings, the crude
stuff still looks to warmth and the comfort of its like."
Before thought could hinder him, Obi-Wan was off his bed and
sliding into his Master's. The boy lay between them, an unusual
chaperone, but not one that prevented him looking into his
Master's eyes, seeing there, unasked, unexpected, but not
unwelcome, a reflection of his heart. The flame of his Master's
life shone bright in his eyes and in his mind. There was
nothing, nothing but the man who lay before him, burning away
the ice of fear and jealousy.
"Master --"
Qui-Gon's large hand stroked his rough cut hair with the same
gentleness he had shown the lonely boy between them, but with
infinitely more tenderness. "Time enough later, my Obi-Wan.
Time enough. Sleep now."
End.
An afternote: I presumed, with no canon evidence!, that since
Jar Jar was an amphibian the two days on Tatooine must have
left him with serious dry skin problems and that the Queen very
kindly let him sleep in the hot tub. What do you mean the
Queen's ship doesn't have a hot tub?
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