Archive : Yes to Master and Apprentice, QGJDL, QJEB, SWAL.
Category : AU, romance, POV.
Rating : PG
Pairing : Q/O
Spoilers : a tiny bit of TPM and JA.
Summary : An excursion to a lake followed by one into a dream.
Obi-Wan reflects on his napping Master.
Disclaimer : George Lucas o......*swallowing
hard*.....ow........(just gimme a minute, it's coming anytime
now)......owns *scream* everyone and everything in this story.
Can't forgive him for that dreadful, dreadful thing he did to
my beloved Master on TPM, though *abdominal cramps and muffled
sobs*. I did this story purely to give expression to my all
consuming love for Qui-Gon Jinn. I wrote and display this story
absolutely for free.
Feedback : Sure but only if you have something constructive to
say. If you want to tell me I am no Lilith Sedai, Ann Carr or
Destina Fortunato, don't bother, I already know.
Many many thanks : To Barbana and Danni for supplying helpful
advice and life supporting encouragement. And very especially
to Barbara whose bountiful kindness and generosity gives me
strength to scrape on.
Author's note : a short (decidedly), sugary*ish* (well, kinda,
hopefully....no?), sleepy (hopefully not too much) and
weightless (how else could you call it?) piece that started
life as the beginning of something longer and much sadder. That
sad, long thing was gestated when I was in a mountain village
deep in China and was miserable for being cut off from M/A and
my beloved Master. A week later, I was back in Hong Kong. All
vital contacts re-established. Things went back to normal. I
ran out of sadness and there went the tale of misery. This is
what's left of it.
It was a perfect day.
Obi-Wan mused as he breathed out long and slow in a contented
sigh.
He was in such a glorious mood that he almost felt guilty about
it. A Jedi was supposed to embrace serenity of the mind at all
times instead of giving in to emotional highs and lows. He
could imagine what Yoda would have said, "there's no passion,
there's serenity."
But he couldn't help it.
It was such a perfect day.
The weather was fabulous. The sea blue sky contained not a
single wisp of cloud. The breeze was fresh and balmy, the sun
gentle and caressing.
The scenery was breathtaking. An hour by aircar to reach, Lake
Yormk was far removed from the Jedi Temple and the commercial
and industrial happenings of Coruscant. It was one of the few
places on the planet where pollution had yet to find its mark.
A crystal clear lake the shape of a diamond surrounded by
luxuriant Myokeii forest on three sides with the remaining bank
featuring long sandy beaches, it was perfect for sunbathing.
Today, the Lake surpassed even its usual beauty by displaying a
tint of ethereal blue-green that occurred only on days of
exceptionally fine weather.
And the circumstances were most gratifying. He was in the midst
of a hard earned vacation after coming off the tough
Master/Padawan doubles light sabre tournament one half of the
champion team with his Master making up the other half. As they
beat the defending champion team, Obi-Wan was awarded 150 bonus
points. In all, his point average was going to shoot up a
whopping 300 points bringing knighthood within his grasp that
much sooner, perhaps in as soon as two moons. The victorious
Master and Padawan had decided that an excursion to Lake Yormk
for their favourite pastime of sunbathing, swimming and
generally doing nothing would be a befitting way to celebrate
the sweet fruit of months of hard training.
But above all, the day was perfect because of the man lying
next to him sprawled out on fine sand under the Spring
Coruscant sun.
As the thought crossed his mind, Obi-Wan's heart tightened as
it was filled to its seams with love and joy so intense that
it's almost akin to pain.
He glanced sidelong at his Master who had been in a deep
slumber for about a half an hour now, the punishing schedule of
a top-notch Jedi Master evidently catching up with him.
With nothing but his swimming trunks on, Qui-Gon Jinn was the
very picture of sheer masculinity.
His face was the face of a real man. The proud erect nose, the
angular planes, the strong square jaws, the lines at the
corners of his eyes that spoke more of his wisdom than his
years. When framed by flowing mane with streaks of silver and
majestic silken beard, it's a face that emanated a commanding
aura of stateliness and aristocracy. Deep broad chest, trim
waist and thick muscular arms, thighs and legs that seemed to
go on forever made up the rest of a tall large frame that had
been honed into pristine shape by years of uncompromising
physical training. His skin was smooth and pale, a tad
incongruous with the rest of the gruff manly looks, perhaps,
lending just a hint of vulnerability to the otherwise totally
overpowering presence of the big towering man. And of course,
there's the jewels that hid under the swimming trunks. Force,
could he fill them!
A long while later, he finally opened his eyes again and found
tears streaking his face.
Qui-Gon was dreaming about their mission on the planet Tirius
Minor.
What a wretched mission. Obi-Wan remembered it vividly. They
had to escort a dethroned monarch who was fleeing a band of
vicious and highly skilled bounty hunters hired by the rebels.
Obi-Wan saw off two assassins with perfectly executed sabre
moves. But the second assassin inadvertently set off a stun
grenade just before he was sliced in half. The blast was so
close and powerful that Obi-Wan instantly lost consciousness.
He would surely have been dead and in a hundred pieces had it
been a blast grenade. When he came to, he was already on the a
corvette on it's way back to Coruscant. Qui-Gon was sitting by
his bed looking as worried as he was drawn and pallid, his own
right shoulder heavily bandaged with blood still seeping out.
Qui-Gon would tell him later that it was the result of a
blaster shot. The Jedi Master never said another word about it.
Only now through Qui-Gon's dreams did Obi-Wan realize in full
what had happened. It was a blaster shot alright. But it was
much more than that.
After he was out, Qui-Gon had to take on five assassins single
handedly. While his legendary swordsmanship enabled him to
eventually disposed of all five, the Jedi Master didn't emerged
from the battle unscathed. The last surviving assassin was
venomous enough to fire a shot at the unconscious Obi-Wan, not
so much to kill but to create a diversion to get Qui-Gon to
open up his defense. Sure enough, Qui-Gon bolted over and
parried the shot but his broad back was totally opened. The
second blaster shot came an instant later. Only with last
minute Force-enhanced speed was Qui-Gon able to move partially
out of the way. But the shot still hit him squarely in his
right shoulder. Meanwhile a Force-propelled light sabre
launched with pinpoint accuracy by Qui-Gon impaled the last
enemy to the ground.
What moved Obi-Wan to tears wasn't only the fact that Qui-Gon
took a blaster shot for him ---- though that alone was enough
to make him ache plenty for his beloved Master as Obi-Wan
deemed himself hardly worthy of such a sacrifice ---- but also
that throughout the engagement, even when the situation got
dire and his Master's life was very much in the balance,
Qui-Gon never spared a thought for himself. It was always
Obi-Wan's life and safety that was on the mind of the Jedi
Master. Obi-Wan sensed both rage and anxiety from Qui-Gon's
dreams. Both emotions were for him. Qui-Gon was furious that
the assassins dared hurt his beloved Padawan. And he was
frantic with worries about Obi-Wan's injury. When the
diversionary shot was hurtling at the unconscious Obi-Wan and
Qui-Gon was rushing to parry it, there was doubt in the Jedi
Master's mind as to whether he would get there in time. Obi-Wan
was startled to sense from Qui-Gon's dreams that for a fleeting
moment, the Jedi Master felt an intense stab of pain and
despair and had harboured thoughts of following Obi-Wan into
the Force should the blaster shot hit home.
And all that love was granted him BEFORE they had become
lovers.
The legendary Qui-Gon Jinn was willing to die for him even
before they had been romantically involved.
Could there be any greater love?
Obi-Wan had never doubted Qui-Gon's love for him as a teacher.
He was absolutely certain that love alone would be sufficient
to drive Qui-Gon to go to tremendous length to look out for
him.
But to die for and to die with him? When he was still Obi-Wan's
teacher, not lover?
A realist, Obi-Wan had never underestimated the extraordinary
power of passion and desire between lovers. Together, they
could drive people to do extraordinary things. And when
extraordinary things were done WITHOUT these sheer brute forces
of motivation, it's those who did the extraordinary things that
were extraordinary.
His Master, absolutely extraordinary.
Sure, Qui-Gon must have had already harboured romantic feelings
for him by then. But without the the declaration of love and
the consummation of the physical bond, the passion and desire
were at best half formed, hardly powerful enough to account
fully for the sacrifice Qui-Gon had intended to make for him.
Decidedly, it was much more a reflection on Qui-Gon's
exceptional nobility in character, bountiful affection for
Obi-Wan and unusual dedication to his position as Obi-Wan's
teacher than what's generally required of a Jedi Master as his
duty under the circumstances.
The realization stunned, humbled and deeply moved Obi-Wan.
A thousand things went through his mind. Feeling immeasurably
honoured, treasured, fortunate and guilty all at the same time,
Obi-Wan was reduced to murmuring " O, beloved Master, such love
and sacrifice........."
His heart bursting with boundless gratitude, reverence and love
for his noble and magnificent Master, Obi-Wan was all but lost
in the intensity of the moment. He feared that if he didn't
give expression to the enormity of what he was feeling at the
moment, he would explode.
There were so many things he wanted to do.
He wanted to throw himeself into the arms of Qui-Gon, bury his
face against that deep broad chest and cry his overflowing love
for the big Jedi Master out.
He wanted to take Qui-Gon into his arms, hold him with all his
might, rest his head on the broad shoulder and whisper his
boundless and undying devotion to the rugged handsome hero of
his life.
He wanted to grab the Jedi Master by the nape of his neck ,
pull him close, plunder his mouth, kiss him silly for that's
the fastest and most eloquent way to say "I love you so much,
Master. And I'd gladly die for you, too."
He wanted to do all these one by one, or all at the same time
as he saw no other way to ease the burning ache in his heart.
But he didn't do any of them.
For Qui-Gon didn't need to be awaken. Sleep and rest was what
the big Jedi Master needed most now.
Here and now, as ever, his Master needs always came first.
Obi-Wan decided his burning ache, however eating him alive bit
by bit, would wait.
He'd give it his full and undivided attention later on when
Qui-Gon awoke from his slumber refreshed and revitalised.
Meanwhile, he'd just keep a vigil over his Master's sleep as a
devoted Padawan would over that of his beloved Master while
whispering,
Archive 