Path to Oraclyne

by Master Eliz-mar Von

When Master Healers Hyr and Windsailor contacted Coruscant that evening, they were surprised to see Master Yoda answer the call instead of Qui-Gon, whom they'd been expecting to reach. Gali bowed before the image of the Master Contemplative in his viewscreen, the blue dappled feathers of his crest displayed in a show of respect. "Master Yoda - we were trying to contact Master Jinn."

"Speak to me first, you shall," Yoda replied cryptically. "Discovered something about him you have, hmmm?"

The Healers exchanged glances, then Gali Hyr told Yoda about the Zevdrani Oraclyne. When he finished, he noted that Yoda seemed amazed, the little Master's green eyes wide with shock. "Heard of this, we have not," Yoda responded when he'd finished. "Unexpected, this is. Know you that there has been discussion here on how to reverse the imprinting?"

Maki' paled. "Master, that must NOT happen! No one can seriously think that this is not of the Force or that it should not go forward! This is a tremendous gift to the Jedi Order!"

"Qui-Gon and his apprentice must be told," Gali added hastily. "This should be their decision. The Council should be looking for ways to support, help them."

"The Council is none of your business," Yoda retorted. "Return to Coruscant as soon as possible, you must. Report to the Council, you shall."

"And Master Diplomat Qui-Gon?" Gali challenged. "He must know of this."

Yoda nodded slowly. "When can you return?"

"We need another day to gather the rest of the data we can," Makol' explained. "There are massive archives here on Oraclyne development that will be vital. Now, may we please speak to Master Jinn?"

The tiny, ancient master frowned, but he nodded slowly.

"Call for you, Master," Obi-Wan murmured, having answered the call.

Qui-Gon sat down at the terminal in their quarters. "Thank you, Obi-Wan." When his apprentice moved toward his room, the Jedi Master caught the end of his robe sleeve. "Stay, I have a feeling this concerns you as well."

Obi-Wan went to stand behind his master. After a moment, he laid a hand lightly on the older man's shoulder. To his relief, Qui-Gon smiled and patted his hand a couple times, then opened the connection. "Jinn, here."

To their delight, Master Healer Gali Hyr was on the other end. "Qui-Gon... ah, and Obi-Wan, too, I see. Good! I have news for you both from Zevdra!" The Healer was smiling, which was a good sign. [The good first... do they know about the Council's plans?]

"Good news?" Qui-Gon smiled. "Or just 'news'..." He could plainly read in the Pytthrvan's crest movements that the man was worried about something.

Gali took a deep breath. "Well, let me just put it this way. Qui-Gon, I'm afraid that you'll be hanging up your brown robe for good. You're about to retire from negotiating."

Qui-Gon blanched. "What are you talking about? I'm going to be too ill to work?" The hand on his shoulder squeezed tighter as his appentice also reacted with worry.

Gali hastily reassured him, "You're not going to be ill at all, oh, no, on the contrary. My friend, you and Obi-Wan are on the verge of becoming the first Jedi Oraclyne... a pair of psychically and physically bonded healers of extraordinary power."

"Oraclyne!" the Jedi Master exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock.

//What's wrong, Master?// Obi-Wan asked hastily. //We're an Oraclyne?//

//Oh, Obi-Wan... nothing *wrong*, but...// Qui-Gon fought back the sudden surge of emotion. Tales from his home planet, whisperings, faint mentions of such a thing flitted through his mind, but he knew too little of his own origins, he knew. He'd left Zevdra as an infant, returning briefly only a couple times when he was a Trainee as a child.

"You have heard of the Oraclyne, then?" Gali asked, surprised.

Qui-Gon recovered. "Heard of, know of the legend of its healing prowess, but I did not know an Oraclyne was two people, much less that they were so bonded. How can this be? Obi-Wan is not Zevdrani."

Gali smiled. "No, of course not. He is Bajrheni. Then you do not know your people's history?"

Wordless, Qui-Gon shook his head. Quickly he reassured his apprentice. //Nothing is wrong, Obi-Wan. This... is just very profound. I sense that our lives are about to change dramatically.//

"Well, we can go into all the details when we return in two days," Gali sighed. "The Oraclyne *is* made up of a Zevdrani and a Bajrheni. Qui-Gon, I know that you and Obi-Wan have a very strong Master-Padawan bond... and this physical imprinting that is forming... you are each going to be very intensely wrapped up in one another. Ah..." He paused, not knowing how to ask about the rest.

Qui-Gon caught the drift. "I think I know what you are getting at, Gali, my friend. I can assure you that I believe both Obi-Wan and I will be very, ah, amenable to the changes ahead." He reached up and squeezed Obi-Wan's hand on his shoulder, then twined his own fingers in Obi-Wan's. "If I am understanding you?"

Gali relaxed visibly. He had hoped he had read them correctly. "Yes. The Oraclyne pairs are emotionally and sexually bonded as well. Always same-gender. And, you'll find interesting to note, often with an age disparity. The elder is nearly always Zevdrani. As they have a longer life span than Bajrheni, the bond tends to even things out somewhat. The pair we met today are twenty years apart, but the difference seemed no more than six to eight years. In other words - the Bajrheni's life span is not in any way shortened. I do not believe you have any worries there."

"I see there is much more we need to learn," Qui-Gon sighed, though he was nearly weak from relief. That had been his deepest concern. "What was Master Yoda's reaction? I know you spoke to him first."

//Master,// Obi-Wan murmured, rubbing his master's fingers with his thumb, //Does this mean what I think it does?// He could scarcely believe it might be true. Leaning in, he filled his other hand with the soft dark fall of Qui-Gon's hair.

//Yes, my Obi-Wan, it does. Later...// The Master Diplomat sent his padawan a light mental caress, a touch of warmth. //Later.//

"He did not seem thrilled, I must admit," Gali sighed. Seeing the physical closeness of the two Diplomats, he began to relax. "Qui, you're the best Diplomat in the Order. The Council will want to weigh what they think are the needs of the Republic and the Disciplines against our wishes. Though it seems obvious to Maki' and myself that a Jedi Oraclyne will be an incredible power for good in the Republic, the Council may not see it that way. We'll have to convince them."

Qui-Gon shook his head vehemently, his head and heart firm in his acceptance of this gift to Obi-Wan and himself. "We need to do nothing of the kind. This is not their decision. The decision to become Oraclyne is mine and Obi-Wan's. This is the will of the Force, clearly."

Gali nodded, head crest smoothing down. He'd forgotten to whom he was speaking for a moment. Qui-Gon Jinn wasn't inclined to let even the whole Jedi High Council get in his way sometimes. But his fluid blending with the Living Force suggested he was rarely wrong. "Maki' and I support you completely, Qui. I think we can be back at the Temple by night tomorrow on Coruscant. You don't think anyone on the Council will attempt to interfere with your imprinting, do you?"

The Jedi Master Diplomat froze for a moment, his powerful intelligence working rapidly. Then he spoke coolly, his calm returned. "What will insure its permanence?"

"Um..." Gali looked at his companion for a moment, then looked back at the screen. "I do not know yet. We have to access the archives on Oraclyne development and history tomorrow. There is so much material I'm sure we'll be months unraveling it all. There isn't any search capability, so we have to go through it as it is. We will make a copy for the Temple and share what we learn with you as soon as we return."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Gali, thank you for doing this. We owe you a lot."

Gali Hyr smiled broadly. "I only ask a little favor in return, Qui. Let Maki' and I welcome the two of you one day soon to the ranks of Jedi Healers. Let us lay the blue robes of your new office and Discipline on your shoulders. I would be proud to do that."

When the transmission ended, the Jedi Master stood suddenly and turned to his apprentice. "It seems we have a decision to make, Obi-Wan..."

"Master, I already..."

But Qui-Gon silenced him with a gesture. "Not here. I do not even want to see a Council member until we know what's in those archives. And to make sure I do not, we're going on a short trip. Pack quickly, Obi-Wan."

"Master?" But the tall man had already disappeared into his room to prepare a pack.

Gulping, the Senior Padawan Diplomat went to prepare as well.

In less than fifteen minutes, they boarded a transport for nearby Chandrila. Amazed at how rapidly his master arranged transport, Obi-Wan kept quiet until he caught the pilot's words: "Owed you this one, Master Jinn," and a mention of a recent mission of theirs to this pilot's home planet. Obi-Wan smiled, thinking his master probably had plenty of favors to call in among many of the pilots who worked for the Republic Senate.

Qui-Gon, once he was assured that they were safely in hyperspace, beckoned to his apprentice to follow him. They went to one of the usual staterooms reserved for Republic officials and ambassadors on board the light diplomatic cruiser. One the door closed behind him, Qui-Gon turned and held out his arms for his apprentice.

"Master," Obi-Wan murmured fervently and went into his arms. He sighed as the long arms folded around his back and he snuggled in, hugging him tightly, his face pressed against the overlapping folds of the neck of his master's tunics.

//Do not speak, not yet, my Obi-Wan,// Qui-Gon asked him silently. //Just feel with me...//

So they did, letting their senses be filled with each other and the Force. Their Master-Padawan bond sang of warmth and the communion of mind they'd learned to share in four years. The Force swirled powerfully around them, drawing them close together. Now, too, they could sense the new blending of their life forces.

Long minutes later, Qui-Gon sighed and dropped a kiss on top of the teenager's hair. //Now we know, Obi-Wan,// he began. //I still wish you were older... but I speak as a Jedi and a Diplomat when I say that. Your age is not a problem among our peoples, to whom you've been an adult years already. This decision is nevertheless mostly yours.//

//What of... Rae and Jil-Ba, my Master?// Obi-Wan mentioned reluctantly. He knew they had to talk of this first though his decision was already made. //They love you very much. Are you sure?//

The strong arms tightened about him. //I have explained this to you, my Obi-Wan. In fact... Raen, I believe, has foreseen something like this. She has told me long ago that she believed that you and I would be life partners one day. Now... I believe it also.// As he said it, the belief strengthened in the Master Diplomat, his heart swelling with hope and joy. He and Obi-Wan would become the Jedi Oraclyne. They would be bonded in life and death, in soul and heart, harmoniously blending to be a powerful force for good in the galaxy.

Obi-Wan lifted his head, separating enough to look up at him, his eyes meeting the hopeful gaze of his beloved master. //The decision to become Oraclyne... to be joined with you for life and become a powerful Healer...// He finished aloud, his voice strong. "We were meant for this, Qui-Gon. I assent to it fully. I want to become an Oraclyne with you."

The adult surety in his padawan's mind and voice were a welcome balm to the Jedi Master's heart. The last doubts had fled. "And I with you, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon murmured fervently, his eyes drinking in the love in his padawan's eyes. "May the Force be with us always. I love you, my Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan smiled, his eyes shining. "May the Force be with us. I love you, my Qui-Gon."

The Jedi Master smiled back, then closed his eyes. //Then we are committed,// he whispered to his beloved's mind. Gently he inclined his head and covered his padawan's mouth with his own.

Obi-Wan froze in shock. Qui-Gon froze also. //Beloved...?// But the young Diplomat unfroze abruptly and kissed his master back, letting his ardor surge to the fore. He opened his mouth, inviting the other inside. //Yes,// he responded to the elder, assuring him of what he wanted. //I want this... I want you...//

Then tongues were tangling in a rush of heat that suddenly seared through both their bodies. Qui-Gon, being more experienced, recognized almost immediately that this was not mere sexual attraction. Instinctively he understood that something of a physical joining between them, even a kiss, would have a dramatic impact on their imprinting. [Is this how the Oraclyne is completed? The joining of the body and mind?]

//What?// Obi-Wan tensed, reading his beloved's astonishment.

[Don't think, do,] Qui-Gon muttered to himself, and deepened the kiss even as he opened his mind to his beloved.

//Master!// Obi-Wan exclaimed in his mind with a thrill, also opening his mind to the other without hesitation. He snaked his arms out of the embrace to fling them securely around Qui-Gon's neck, holding on tightly as he happily kissed his master with all the love in his heart.

//Do not stop, Obi-Wan,// the Master Diplomat cautioned, strengthening their united shields just as the Force roared through both of them. For one long minute they remained glued together, connected physically and mentally as the Oraclyne imprinting was completed. Through the Force they could see the blending of their life energies, sealing them together. The young Jedi padawan was shocked to the core of his being, but had abandoned himself to the Force and his trust for his master.

Just as they were coming back to themselves, the ship lurched, thrown out of hyperspace.

In seconds, the Jedi were on the bridge. "Master Diplomat Jinn," the pilot, Captain Zerz Tan, addressed him quickly, "It was the usual disruptor field that pirates use to trap ships out of hyperspace, but this is much too close to the Core for pirates!" Pirates were rife out on the Outer Rim, but here in the Core of the galaxy near the most populated and best-policed worlds, they were unheard of.

Just then the ship was hailed. Captain Tan, who evidently hadn't been in this situation before, flung a wild look at the senior Jedi who merely gestured calmly at the com terminal. Opening this channel, the pilot launched into what he hoped was a properly indignant tone. "This is the Republic diplomatic cruiser Radiant II, enroute to Chandrila..."

He was interrupted. "Pilot, sir, are you carrying Jedi Knights? Please, we're not pirates, we're just rather desperate, our planet..."

Smoothly Qui-Gon took over. "What is the nature of your difficulty? And where are you calling from?"

"Belvin Three... we're a rehabilitation settlement. Something's damaged our water supply... we'll be dead before the Senate can think about sending help... can you assist us? We've asked twenty diplomatic transports already, but if I have to ask a hundred..."

"You're sure it's the water? There's no air contamination?" If the air was also contaminated, the planet would have to be quarantined. They did not have the proper equipment on board the diplomatic cruiser to go into that kind of a situation.

"No, just the water," came the quick answer. "Only people who have ingested the water have been affected. Fortunately we have bottled supplies. As soon as the first illness occurred, we switched over to those. But we're running low."

**Rehabilitation settlement, Master?** Obi-Wan inquired smoothly. Because of what had just happened between them, their Jedi self-discipline had been ruthlessly employed so they could attend to this matter.

**Probably a mental hospital... which will cause us great stress.** Qui-Gon glanced at his apprentice with concern. **But we can help them. If we are ready for a test of the Oraclyne.** There was a silent inquiry; they must both assent to this.

Obi-Wan nodded as he met his gaze, accepting. It was just like another mission, only of a different sort. **Now that we're Oraclyne... and just in time. It looks like the Force already has work for us.** He sent a tendril of warmth along their link.

Qui-Gon smiled briefly, remembering their shared commitment, then turned back to the com terminal. "Transmit your coordinates. We will come."

Once the connection was closed, Zerz Tan erupted in fury. "They could be lying! Are you crazy?"

The Master Diplomat, who was already turning away, merely replied, "The Force has led us here. We must help them." Then the two Jedi were gone.

[Of course, they're Jedi Knights, what was I thinking?] the man told himself, putting in the coordinates with a heavy sigh.

Upon landing, a man in a stained utility suit greeted the Jedi, accompanied by several others in similar garb, some of whom carried field laboratory kits. "Doctor Sedth Mobal," the first man introduced himself, shaking Qui-Gon's hand with enthusiastic force. "We're so honored, we never dreamed you'd actually help us."

Both Jedi wore their hoods up, their robes close about them. Qui-Gon had warned Obi-Wan about the darkness they could expect to sense here... from several sources. But not from these folk, who were evidently the staff of the rehabilitation hospital here. Indeed, there were pain and great stress strongly emanating from the mental patients at the hospital as well as elsewhere... the water source. The Jedi had their shields up, the Master checking to be sure his padawan could shield adequately. Obi-Wan's accident had not been all that long ago.

"I am Qui-Gon Jinn. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi." He nodded toward his apprentice who bowed. "You mentioned the water supply," Qui-Gon murmured. "What have you discovered?" He'd thought it best not to share with them just what kind of Jedi they were. Two Diplomats normally would not have answered this sort of call.

Another man with a field kit came forward. "It's a water-borne pathogen, a bacteria of some kind that we've never seen. I do not know the source, but we've had twenty deaths so far. We can't seem to be able to clean the water properly. It seems to be defying our efforts to filter. And it is resistant to even boiling."

"A virus, perhaps," Qui-Gon sighed. "An agent too small to filter. And unusually resistant as well."

**Master, we are trained in field medicine, but this will need Jedi Healers, won't it? And scientists to discover the source,** Obi-Wan said to him silently. He had the funny feeling that Qui-Gon, as was his wont, was going to throw them both into this project with both feet. And now that he'd heard more of the details of what they faced, he wasn't sure they were ready for it. Sometimes his master's empathy drew him to make choices that put them at great risk. This, however, was unlike anything they'd been asked to do before. Oraclyne or no, they were not trained for this work.

**This is simpler than you realize, Padawan,** the Master related to his apprentice, looking over the tests already performed by the hospital workers. **And we *are* Jedi Healers now. I sense this is a local phenomenon. There are only a few deaths as yet. We must stop the contamination from spreading and render it harmless.**

**But how, Master?** Obi-Wan tried to keep the bewilderment off his face.

**You are right; we are not ready to heal as the Oraclyne yet, my young love,** Qui-Gon sent back warmly. **I must do this. And I will need you to keep me rooted in *this* life. As you did before.** He straightened; briefly they exchanged a look of understanding. Then the Jedi Master was turning to Sedth Mobal. "How many have contracted the illness?"

"Ah, we have another fifty in the infirmary..."

Qui-Gon grimaced. "I am not sure how much we can help them now. But we will do all in our power to restore your water supply."

"You can do that?" The man shivered, looking from one solemn Jedi to the other. [They're not human, they can't be,] he told himself, wondering at their serenity. [But they're all I knew to ask for...]

"Show us your water source," was all Qui-Gon said in reply.

The water for the hospital and surrounding village came from a spring-fed lake a few miles away. Though the setting was lovely and pastoral, there was an odor from the water that was decidedly unpleasant. "What... what are you going to do?" Mobal asked, bewildered. He watched as the elder Jedi handed his robe to his companion, then sat on the ground to remove his boots.

"Let the Force guide me," Qui-Gon murmured, his mind already on the task ahead.

Obi-Wan took the boots when handed them, but when Qui-Gon would pull away, he pulled him back by the arm. "Excuse us," he said to Sedth who was still staring at them.

He went with his master to the edge of the water. **This is too large a task for even you, Master,** Obi-Wan chided him gently. **What do you think you are doing?**

Qui-Gon sighed and laid a hand on his shoulder, taking a moment to explain. His fingers found the root of the padawan braid, causing the other to shiver, delighting in the nearness. **I am not alone, not anymore, beloved. We can do this, together. You will lend me your energy and I will guide it in order to render the viral agent harmless. But you must be vigilant. I depend on you, my Obi-Wan.**

**The stresses, though...** Obi-Wan peered somberly into his face. **You'll have to let down your shields...**

**Yes.** Qui-Gon fingered the braid, a last, silent expression of affection. **Let go your fears, Padawan. We will be well. Trust in me and in the Force, Obi-Wan. I have a good feeling about this. I can do it.**

Obi-Wan gave a supportive squeeze to the other's upper arm, then was stepping back. **Together...**

**Together.**

To Sedth Mobal's horror, the tall Jedi began to wade into the disease-ridden water. When he would dash after him, the younger of the two stopped him with a curt gesture. "He knows what he is doing," Obi-Wan said to the man mildly. "Please step back. We must both concentrate." Then, because he was the more cautious of the pair, he added, "If something should go wrong, call Master Yoda on Coruscant and Master Hyr on Zevdra."

"You're not giving me much confidence here," Mobal muttered. Obviously he still thought Qui-Gon was crazy.

"Just a precaution," Obi-Wan replied with a smirk, then closed his eyes and settled himself for concentrating.

As the man retreated reluctantly, Obi-Wan sat on the ground as close to the water's edge as he could manage, pulling his hood up and folding his arms into his sleeves. He worked on calming, then went into a meditative trance. There was the Master-Padawan bond, open and ready for his contact. **I am here, beloved.**

Qui-Gon had stopped when about waist-deep. Already the Jedi Master was deeply sensing the disturbances and the weak pulse of life around him. He did not answer in words, but joined with his padawan's mind smoothly. Now he had access to both their life energies. A part of his mind thought that Obi-Wan should be beside him, in physical contact with him, but he did not heed the voice. Deeper and deeper he went, assaulted by the pulse of the troubled minds in the hospital near by, weighed down by the oppressive wrongness of the water.

Identifying the virus was easy. Converting it to a harmless form was not, not with the stresses attacking them. But he assessed that his strength and Obi-Wan's were enough to prevail though long hours would go by while the task was being done.

Energies of the Living Force rushed through the conduit of the united Oraclyne. But the union was unbalanced.

Master Yoda was beyond words when it was discovered that not only had Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi left the planet without notifying the Council, but it was not known where they were gone to. Immediately a call to Zevdra was put in.

Master Healer Windsailor took the call. "Master Yoda, we were not expecting..."

"Where are they?"

"Who?"

"Master Diplomat Jinn and his apprentice - disappeared, they have."

Makol' Windsailor scowled, not caring if he was speaking to the most ancient member of the Jedi Order. "And you're surprised?"

A pause ensued while that statement was absorbed. Then, "Speak to them, I will."

**He thinks they're here!** Gali related to his companion, coming up to sit beside him. "They aren't here, Master Yoda," he explained.

Another pause. Makol' spoke up again. "They do not want the imprinting reversed, Master. You know that. Nor should they have it reversed. If there's any chance the Council will choose that..."

"We *are* talking about Qui-Gon Jinn, aren't we?" Gali asked.

A final pause. "Communicated with you, have they?"

"Not about where they've gone, no."

"A bit of a bond do I have still with my former padawan," Yoda related slowly. "Trouble, do I sense."

"Oh?"

Master Jil-Ba Rendovar was not surprised to get a call from Master Raen Gi. Hastily he reassured his padawan - he'd been out of sorts all day - then took the call. "Rae... you feel it too, then?"

Her dark eyes were narrowed, serious. "Something's up with Qui, isn't it? Should we call Coruscant? This isn't like the usual snags he's run into on missions, or even an injury. Something new."

Jil ran a hand through his shoulder-length, wavy, blond hair. "Vesil and I are finished here. The Council hasn't sent us our next mission, so I think we ought to head home straight away. I don't like this either."

Raen's own padawan sat quietly beside her, waiting in supportive silence. She met his glance, then when the boy patted her hand, she took his hand in hers and squeezed it. Both she and Jil had padawans much younger than Obi-Wan. "We've had delay after delay here," she sighed. "The Minister has agreed to allow us to return as long as we come back in a week."

Both Masters still had something of a mental bond with Qui-Gon Jinn, though now it was less even than Yoda's old training bond with him. Neither were anywhere near being the telepath that Qui-Gon was, yet their intimacy with him over the years had forged enough of a bond to feel this uneasiness, this p at about the sixth hour.

At the lakeside, Dr. Sedth Mobal had maintained his vigil as close to the Jedi as he dared, still frightened out of his wits, and when the frantic call from the hospital came, he ignored it. He had enough to deal with.

The air above the lake crackled with ozone in the early evening glimmer. Black clouds had gathered, seemingly out of thin air, for there had not been as much as a breeze earlier. A storm was steadily brewing, building high above the lake, due, no doubt, to the efforts of the Jedi. It made the hair on his neck stand up, and did nothing to ease his nervousness.

Sedth finally approached closer. The two Jedi had not moved a muscle in all these hours. [They could be... statues,] he thought in consternation. He crouched near the younger one, noting the slight furrow in the brow. "Jedi?" he queried softly, but this one, this young-looking man was serene and relaxed, or apparently so, except for the furrow... focused. There was something ethereal about him, a strange beauty that gave Sedth a shiver. [What manner of men *are* the Jedi?]

Sedth frowned, then glanced out at the elder Jedi Knight, still standing waist deep about ten feet into the lake. His eyes widened as he saw a matching beauty in the noble visage. Qui-Gon Jinn stood with his arms raised to waist level, forearms parallel to the churning surface of the wind-whipped water. His hands were slightly cupped, palms down as if conjuring a monster from the depths. Chin raised into the wind, Qui Gon appeared even more serene than his young companion, even to a slight curve to his lips. His hair whipped around him in the pre-storm breezes, but he heeded it not, seemingly unaware of his physical surroundings.

Sedth had no awareness of the Force. He could not see the kaleidoscope of wildly vibrant streams of Force-energy, both harmonious and discordant as the struggle continued. The Jedi Master was far gone, abandoned to the tides of Force, irretrievable were it not for those slender tendrils binding his life force to the other half of the Oraclyne. And above the lake, the storm gathered.

The comlink chirped ever more insistently. Irritated, Sedth opened the channel. "What??"

"Dr. Mobal, sir, it's the patients... something is going on that seems to be affecting them! Listen..." The transmitter emitted the curious chorus of hums, croons, and other repetitive sounds.

The doctor glanced again at the Jedi Knight standing in the water. [What *are* you doing, Jedi??] he thought to himself. "Ah, understood," he replied to his assistant. "Is anyone violent?"

"Er, no..."

"Call me when you have a real problem, Nidd," Sedth retorted and closed the connection.

Obi-Wan, needing to maintain a rudimentary awareness of the physical world in order to anchor his partner, was aware now of the physician crouched in the grasses beside him. His eyes still closed, he murmured something, barely audible above the wind, which had continued to pick up.

"What??" Sedth gasped, startled.

"The water," Obi-Wan sighed more clearly.

Bewildered, Sedth looked around, then noticed... the color of the water had indeed changed, and had the smell disappeared? Then he got it. "Oh, right..." He scrambled back up the bank for his field kit, left back where he'd kept vigil. Working as quickly as he could, he took a sample and tested it.

Minutes later, Sedth Mobal sat back on his heels, stunned.

"The water...?" The soft question was more breathed than spoken.

"It's gone, the bacteria or virus is gone or mutated, I think. Something's there that had been missing - C pastorii, a common bacterium that exists in the lake all the time. It's actually a beneficial species, stimulating the oxygen production of the algae." He studied his readouts as they came through. "The concentration - my gods, the concentration is nearly exactly what the disease agent had been! He did that??"

The response was unexpected. The young Jedi was still frozen, only his lips barely moving. "Get him out of there."

Alarmed, Sedth looked toward the water, then jumped to his feet. Indeed, the Jedi Master was sagging, his arms limp at his side, his hands floating on the water's surface. "Oh, shit!" the doctor exclaimed and looked quickly at the younger man, but noticed for the first time the sheen of perspiration on Obi-Wan's face. He realized with horror that the young Jedi was barely supporting the older man's weight with his mind, holding him erect in the water.

[No help here,] he thought, activating his comlink. "Nidd! Emergency down at the lake - I have the two Jedi here and I need help. No questions, just get a carrier down here NOW!" Shutting it off, he tossed the device aside and started to wade into the water. Just as he reached Qui-Gon, the large man's knees buckled. Sedth got enough of the Jedi's weight in his arms to keep the man's head above water until help came.

Help arrived five minutes later. The winds had died down completely, the threat of storm passed.

Aboard the carrier, Obi-Wan spoke only one more time, his voice more clear this time, his tone carrying as much command and firmness as he could muster. "Keep us in physical contact. Do not let us be parted."

Sedth, worried that the elder Jedi was as yet completely unresponsive, nodded hastily and when the younger strained to reach, put Obi-Wan's hand in Qui-Gon's, then turned to bark the order to his assistants.

"They're WHAT?" growled the pilot of the Radiant II when he heard. Captain Zerz Tan went nose to nose with the frazzled head of the hospital.

"Unconscious... I don't know any more," Sedth sighed. "They healed our water. They really did it. But they could be dying..."

"Ah, shit, and I get to be the lucky one to call Coruscant and tell them that," Tan complained, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Sedth coughed lightly. "The young one, before they started, told me to contact Master Yoda on Coruscant and Master Hyr on Zevdra."

Tan glared; the doctor sighed. "I'll call them," Sedth added quickly.

Yoda listened first to Dr. Mobal, then to Captain Tan. The Master Contemplative did not ask any questions, for both humans had been at pains to provide every detail they knew of all of the Jedi's actions. The doctor had even related all of Obi-Wan's requests. "He was quite firm on this, Master Jedi," Sedth added when he was done. "I never heard a voice like that. I'd obey him to the ends of the galaxy."

"Yes," was all Yoda said. He was impressed that under those conditions Obi-Wan Kenobi was capable of producing a Force-suggestion of that strength. Something chilled the ancient master, however, something he kept carefully out of his voice and expression before the humans. [Capable of doing what they did, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were not... when they left here. Something enroute happened...]

"Can they be transported safely?" Captain Tan was asking the doctor.

"They're breathing very shallowly, but physically they are fine," Sedth replied.

"Return them to the Temple at once, then," Yoda murmured to the cruiser pilot.

"Yes, sir," Tan replied, exchanging a glance with the doctor.

Masters Hyr and Windsailor landed at the Jedi Temple spaceport a handful of hours after the call from Yoda about the potential Oraclyne's whereabouts. They'd had a chance, enroute, to peruse a bit more of the massive Zevdrani archive on Oraclynes, desperate to learn all they could in order to help the unconscious one now in the Temple infirmary. Their most pressing question was - had the Oraclyne imprinting actually been completed between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi?

If not, all was probably lost, the minds of the two powerful telepaths lost forever before their destiny as Oraclyne could even begin.

On the one hand, Qui-Gon Jinn was an unorthodox, almost renegade Jedi Master Diplomat. The situation on Belvin Three would definitely have appealed to his strong sense of empathy, Diplomat or no. But on the other hand, they did not believe that Jinn would risk his padawan like he must have unless he was very sure of their success. Did they expect to both be drawn into coma or did they overextend their capabilities? Judging from the report from Belvin Three, it was the Master Diplomat who effected the healing, his companion providing some sort of mental assistance, apparently. It was not an Oraclyne Healing.

Not that they'd have known exactly what that was...

When the two Healers reached the infirmary, Galiddys Hyr's tall feather crest immediately expanded with his relief; the Oraclyne pair were touching, kept still in physical contact after Kenobi's Force suggestion back on Belvin Three. Laid side by side on a bed normally reserved for a much larger species, their fingers were simply entwined. Gali and Maki' had learned that such contact was critical when the Oraclyne had been overstressed. The physical imprinting that hopefully had taken place was the link that allowed both life forces to balance out, the stronger healing the weaker. Which one was which wasn't clear.

"All right," Gali blew out his breath in relief, nodding to his partner. "Now what?"

"We wait," Maki' reminded him. Beyond, Master Yoda stood impassively, listening to their assessment. "The Oraclyne occasionally has to go into an internal healing mode that appears to be like a coma. This may last anywhere from a day to several days. They must not be disturbed any more than they already have."

"If return they cannot, any way of reaching them do you have?" Yoda inquired, leaning on his gimer stick.

The Healers exchanged a glance. "We may have to go in mentally to assess their condition, yes. Normally it would not be necessary, but in their case... if they did finish the imprinting - and there's every indication that they have - then they may not be stable enough to recover on their own, especially since the healing that was done was unbalanced."

They were still quietly discussing the case a few minutes later when four more Jedi erupted into the room. "What's happened?" Master Diplomat Raen Gi demanded of the two Healers. "We cannot feel Qui-Gon's mind..." She did not wait for an answer, going around them to Qui-Gon's side.

"Padawans, please wait outside," Maki' said to the two wide-eyed children hastily. They looked to Master Diplomat Rendovar who nodded. No one seemed to notice Yoda in the corner, silently observing.

When they were gone, Makol' hastily intercepted Raen's hand, which was going to take Qui-Gon's hand out of Obi-Wan's. "Don't do that... Raen, please, we'll tell you what's going on. *I'll* tell you. Come aside, please." He stepped away, leaving Gali to step in.

Jil-Ba slipped his hand into hers and drew her away from the bed. "Master Healer Windsailor, Raen and I have a bond with Qui-Gon... not a strong one, I confess. We sensed something was wrong and came as quickly as we could. Was there, ah, an accident of some sort?" It had been a bad shock to see Obi-Wan as well unconscious next to Qui-Gon. "Obi-Wan, too?"

"What know you of their relationship?" Yoda asked suddenly.

"Master Yoda!" Raen gasped, then hastily bowed in respect. "I'm sorry, we did not realize you were here."

"We know that Qui-Gon loves his padawan very much," Jil-Ba replied. He exchanged a glance with Raen, who settled in at his side, her arm around his waist. "They're... meant to be together. We love Qui-Gon, but we accept that. Obi-Wan is just eighteen, though. Knowing Qui, he won't want to be with him until he's older, perhaps even Knighted."

**So perhaps they *didn't* imprint all the way?** Gali asked Maki' quickly through telepathy. **The final binding of their life energies required physical penetration of some sort...**

**Which could mean many things,** Maki' replied quickly. **Being that they didn't know to do this, it doesn't seem likely that they completed it. We're going to have to go in to know for sure.**

"Do what the Oraclyne demands, they shall," Yoda murmured quietly.

"The what?"

Quickly Maki' filled the other two Diplomats in on the new development in their lover's life. "We won't know how bad off they really are until we go in mentally."

"One of us, that is, only one," Gali commented. "Anything more is too risky. If they are actually in an Oraclyne coma, we risk interfering with a critical process."

"Understand now, I do," Yoda whispered. It was then they remembered that Qui-Gon Jinn had apprenticed under the ancient master. "So far to come, to lose it all now..."

**We did not take into account all of Qui-Gon's other bonds,** Maki' thought to the other Healer, abashed. **Why did he risk any sort of healing before he knew what they were getting into??**

**This is Qui-Gon Jinn,** Gali gently reminded him. **And you're right - Qui-Gon has four faint bonds still - his first padawan, Yoda, and it's obvious now - Raen Gi and Jil-Ba Rendovar as well. Did you know he had lovers?**

**No, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we've ventured onto virgin territory in more ways than one. There is nothing in the Oraclyne archives to cover the possibility of pre-existing mental bonds!**

The other three masters looked at the Healers as one, knowing if anyone had any answers, it was they. "Ah, we'd like to try this mental incursion," Gali spoke up, sighing. "And then perhaps we can all sit down and discuss what we perceive as the problems here. But we must go in first."

Raen and Jil-Ba looked beyond to the unconscious Jedi. It had stunned them to discover that they could feel absolutely nothing of their beloved Qui-Gon's mind. They nodded wordlessly, then went back outside to their padawans. Yoda, nodding to the Healers, followed the others out.

Gali released a held in breath. "Any chance that Obi-Wan has other bonds?"

"I do not think so," Maki' replied, going back to Qui-Gon's side. He sat beside him, taking the limp, free hand in his. "Gali, I'll do this."

The tall avian humanoid nodded, going around to settle down beside Obi-Wan. "Very well. I'll be watching."

Eighteen-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi knelt in a deep forest, wearing a Jedi uniform of pure white, though sans robe. If there were any who could have observed, he would have appeared to be in meditation, his face composed, his eyes closed, body relaxed. In fact he was focused as in no other time in his life, something very precious clasped in his joined hands. It was a slim thread of deep green, made of some silken material, and it stretched off away from him into the woods, apparently attached to something farther away yet.

The "something" far away was invisible, removed too distant to see. Obi-Wan had already come far, following the thread, until weariness had caused him to stop. Now he rested, holding it, waiting until he could continue.

For now, it mattered not to him that he would not be able to find his way back.

Dimly he was aware of a voice calling him, coming from the opposite direction. He opened his eyes and looked up to the crown of the forest ceiling high above him, but did not answer the call. The voice grew louder until it was right beside him. "Obi-Wan!"

Taking a deep breath, Obi-Wan lowered his gaze to look at the face of one of his dead. It was his Mon Calamarian friend, Bant, killed with her master in an explosion while on a mission a year before. The huge silver eyes looked intently at him. "Obi-Wan..."

"Bant," he greeted her as if they'd seen each other yesterday. "I think my time has come," he sighed, then looked back down at the thread twined around his fingers.

"Why do you believe that, Obi-Wan?" Bant came and sat down in front of him, but carefully avoided the thread reaching away from him. "Why do you think it is your time?"

"I cannot go back," Obi-Wan murmured. He looked off in the distance where the thread stretched. "And because he is gone. He sacrificed himself for people in need. I... always knew he would."

"You still hold the thread of his life," Bant offered softly, indicating the thread.

Obi-Wan looked down at it. "Yes. I must follow it, for we are joined forever. I cannot release the thread, so I must continue so that I can be with him. We will be one with the Force for all time." A soft sigh escaped him, and a smile graced his lips.

"How do you know he is gone? You cannot see him, is all."

A frown crossed his face. "I cannot hear him. He is on the other side."

She laughed, a strange musical sound. "You cannot see or hear him so you think he is dead?"

He looked at her, frowning. "You are dead. He is dead. Perhaps I already am as well." Distantly he wondered why he felt no emotions. It should have shocked him to see her.

"You are *not* dead, Obi-Wan Kenobi," Bant laughed at him again. "And if you're alive, and you're Oraclyne with Master Qui-Gon, then he must be alive, too! He's depending on you to bring him back!"

Obi-Wan cast a glance behind him, over his shoulder. "How?" The forest stretched on, seamless, each tree identical to the next, the pattern of trees mathematically perfect.

"Time," Bant laughed again... then was gone.

Obi-Wan had his answer. Time? He looked down again at the thread. To his amazement - there, he *could* feel something - the thread had changed, becoming thicker. Wondering, he looked more closely and saw that around the thread were bound other tiny threads, almost microscopic. Well, except for one. The thread was now a solid dark green rope, with a smaller blue cord wound spirally around it. Underneath the blue were four more tiny threads: yellow, crimson, a light green, brown.

"That's the problem," another voice offered.

Obi-Wan glanced up. Now seated beside him was a girl named Cerasi from Melida/Daan, one of the leaders of the Young faction, killed by the elders in a skirmish in the town square five years ago. Obi-Wan at the time had thrown his lot in with the Young, abandoning his Jedi vows to his master. It had been his darkest time... but the subsequent reconciliation with Master Diplomat Qui-Gon had brought them closer together than they might have gotten otherwise. "Cerasi," he breathed, and now emotion did surge up. Dismay.

"You tried, Obi-Wan," she said, referring to that time. She shrugged. "But you were still Jedi and Diplomat. As you are now." Cerasi nodded again at the rope in his hand. "Because of him."

"I may not always be Diplomat. But I will always be Jedi," he murmured fervently, warming at the surge of love that arose in his heart for the being whose life he held so tightly. "*We* are Jedi. I will never leave him again." Then her original words registered. "What problem?"

"The other threads," Cerasi offered, unaffected by his words apparently. "Crimson, for his training bond with his first padawan, Knight Diplomat Valista Novro. Light green for his training bond with his own master, Yoda." She pointed them out to him, one by one. "Yellow for Master Diplomat Raen Gi... and brown for Master Diplomat Jil-Ba Rendovar. His lovers."

Obi-Wan understood then that these dead entities were not real as much as manifestations of his own subconscious mind, for Cerasi would never have known those names. As was this place, this spirit-land. Nevertheless it was still jarring to see them. "Qui-Gon and I are together now. They accept that."

"Oh, to be sure," Cerasi replied smoothly. "But they all have a bond with him. An Oraclys can only be bound to one." Then she closed her eyes and bowed her head.

Makol' Windsailor withdrew from his trance, a sheen of perspiration on his forehead from the effort. "I... I don't know if I'm getting through," he murmured to Gali, who looked on, concerned. "I believe that these other bonds are getting in the way somehow. I do not know if he heard me at all. I tried to tell him."

Gali quickly examined both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, but there was no apparent change in their physical condition. "Did you find anything out?"

"Yes." Maki' took a deep breath. "I believe they've finished imprinting, but I still can't tell for sure. I tried to communicate that, but I do not know if I was heard. Then I tried to tell him about the other bonds. They will probably have to be broken from this end. They're preventing the Oraclyne from healing, Gali."

"You keep saying 'him' - Qui-Gon?"

Maki' looked at the other Healer in surprise. "Ah, no. There is nothing of Qui-Gon to sense whatsoever. Sorry, I meant Obi-Wan. He is far away, probably locked into another plane of reality."

"Spirit land," Gali murmured, nodding.

"What?"

"Some species believe there is a land of the subconscious self," the avian explained, unconsciously smoothing his crest as he thought. "Or even a higher plane of consciousness, a different reality of the mind. The archives suggested as much - a state of consciousness which manifests itself to the entranced mind of the Oraclys as another world. Possibly Obi-Wan did see you, but not as you are, of course." Gali looked his friend over. "Are you going back in?"

Taking a deep breath, the other Healer nodded. "I have to. I must establish for sure that the imprinting is finished. And he may have to help me break those bonds."

"Can you?" Gali asked, stunned. Of the Healers, they were among the highest telepaths. The very highest among them, such as Master Healer T'nennu who trained Maki', were unavailable, involved in the development of the new Jedi Healer academy on distant Dantooine.

"Yes, I believe so," Maki' replied, nodding. He indicated the door. "This could be hard on them..."

"They'll gladly sacrifice their bonds with Qui-Gon to bring him back. You know that," Gali responded quietly.

"Yes." Another deep breath. "Let me try again." He went around to Obi-Wan, taking his hand this time.

When Obi-Wan looked up again, Cerasi was gone. Sitting in her place was Xanatos, Qui-Gon's second padawan, killed by their master in a fierce battle not two years ago. Xanatos, who'd turned to the Dark Side right before his Knighting would have taken place. Xanatos, whose betrayal caused a terrible wound in the Jedi Master's heart that only Obi-Wan had been able to help heal over time.

The beautiful young man, his long, black hair flying back, gazed into the eyes of the other, pale blue to clear blue. "So, you've won," Xanatos said at last. "How does it feel, Padawan Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan held his gaze, unafraid of this apparition, though likely it represented the dark within his own heart. "I love him and he loves me. *We've* won, Xanatos."

"Oh, really?" The dead ex-Jedi smirked, shifting smoothly out of the meditative position to sprawl a bit sensuously on the ground. "Has he made love to you yet?"

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes. "Leave us alone, Xanatos..."

"Why not answer? If I do not exist. What's the harm?"

The Jedi padawan paused. Likely he simply needed to process what had happened between himself and Qui-Gon before landing on Belvin Three. Very well...

"All right," Obi-Wan sighed. "No, he hasn't made love to me. Nor I him. Is that better?"

Xanatos chuckled low, an unwelcome sound that Obi-Wan remembered far too well. Obi-Wan had fought at his master's side, of course, that last meeting with Xanatos. As usual, Xanatos had tried to distract them with taunts. But this time it hadn't worked. Qui-Gon had been wholly focused, a fluid weapon, body and lightsaber one, and the mind-communion working between himself and his padawan had caused Obi-Wan to respond in same. "Not really. But I do hear you're missing a great fuck. I used to, you know, 'drop-in' mentally when he was with them."

"Them." Obi-Wan frowned at the vulgarity.

"Rae and Jil, of course. Force, they were hot together, the three of them..." Xanatos laughed at the expression on Obi-Wan's face.

"You're lying," he retorted. "You never did that."

"Saw 'em once. Skin glistening, Qui-Gon was pounding into his male lover who was getting sucked off by their bitch..." Xanatos was looking at the green rope in Obi-Wan's hands as he spoke in a fairly mechanical tone of voice.

Obi-Wan shut his eyes and mind against Xanatos's vulgar affront... even as he realized with shock that the dead man was describing something Obi-Wan himself had inadvertently seen when he was fifteen... had thought in exactly those same awful terms in a moment of anger and confusion... and suppressed.

"What do you want, Xanatos?"

The lean, young body of the other man, tauntingly sexual, inclined toward him in invitation. "Did you kiss him?" But again his eyes fell upon the rope as if he was trying to figure out what it was.

"We kissed." [What is the POINT of this?] "Are you satisfied?"

"Yes," Xanatos replied, uncoiling to rise to his feet. When he had risen to his full height, he'd transformed into Bant again. "Obi-Wan, I regret we never shared a bond..." Her large eyes looked downcast. "You never bonded with any one besides him, did you?"

Relieved to be free of Xanatos, Obi-Wan sighed. "Bant, dear one... sit beside me. No, I was never able to bond with anyone else. But if I had, it would have been great to have had a friendship bond of sorts with you." Suddenly he was missing her terribly. "Bant, I never got to say good-bye to you..."

She smiled, her great slash of a mouth crinkled up on the ends. "Thanks, Obi. Someday we'll go swimming again in the river, all right? Good-bye, Obi-Wan."

Then he was alone in the forest again. But to his horror, the rope in his hands was fading in color, and when he tried to pull on it, it seemed inconsequential though he still could not let go of it. But neither could he feel it. He looked up in the direction the rope stretched, appalled. Abruptly he leaped to his feet and started to run in that direction. "Master!"

Maki' was trembling when he came back to himself a second time. "I saw it, the Oraclyne connection," he gasped to Gali, who supported him. "Obi-Wan is losing control of it. We have to go back in and help him - both of us."

"Did you find out..."

"Yes," Maki' replied hastily. "They finished the imprinting. And there are no other bonds that will have to be broken, just these four. Don't ask me how I know, I never spoke to him. I still don't know that he heard me, I just feel it. Get the others in here, call for help... whatever."

While Maki' went back into trance, Gali vaulted into action. In a remarkable ten minutes, he had Masters Poof and Koon from the Council in there along with Yoda, Raen, and Jil-Ba. Hastily he'd told the latter three about the problem with the bonds.

"Qui-Gon cannot be bonded to anyone but Obi-Wan. Your bonds must be broken," Gali finished, looking at them with compassion.

"Oh, Force," Jil-Ba breathed for both of them, stunned. "All right. If it must be done."

Yoda nodded serenely. "Assist, I will. Know Qui-Gon's mind, I do."

"This won't kill him?" Plo Koon asked, astonished. "I mean, if he's already that far gone, won't fewer bonds mean he'll be all the more lost to us?"

"Not with the Oraclyne connection he has with Obi-Wan," Gali explained. His head crest kept fanning out, then thinning in his agitation. "It's a matter of purity. One life bound to one life. The Zevdrani archives are sketchy in this area, but Maki' and I feel sure of this. Besides, it's not like we're isolating his mind. They're both extremely capable telepaths. They won't be able to form typical mental bonds, but they likely won't have to. They'll still be able to share thought with other Jedi.he stopped, panting. Extending all his senses, he detected...

Someone was following him. Should he turn around? [I cannot leave my master,] he said to himself firmly, his resolve strong. [They may try to stop me... but they will not be able to.] He breathed deeply, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet in battle readiness. [Qui-Gon is dying. I must go with him into the Force. The Oraclyne was not meant for Jedi. It is our time, the experiment a failure.]

Then he wondered - [How can I fight them?] Looking down he saw his lightsaber on his belt. Could he turn his weapon on himself? [I must go into the Force with Qui-Gon,] he repeated, calming. [We are never to be parted now...]

Obi-Wan turned his back on the followers and continued on his path.

**We cannot reach Obi-Wan,** Master Poof told the others. As the most powerful telepath of the group, he was the nexus. **Is there a way to reach past him to Qui-Gon?**

Yoda responded. **Break the bonds. Do not wait to contact either of them. Free, he must be, Qui-Gon's only connection to life and this reality, his padawan is.**

With that, Yoda gently severed the remaining training bond he still held with Qui-Gon. He reeled with the loss, but remained stoically with the others.

Together, Gali and Yarael Poof unraveled the other three bonds. Knight Valista Novro they would have to contact as soon as possible. Masters Gi and Rendovar - both softly weeping over their lover's hand, arms about one another, they bore their loss as Jedi.

Obi-Wan stopped again, for abruptly the forest had disappeared. He peered ahead, and suddenly saw his master. Or at least what was left of him. Now the padawan broke into a full run, closing the distance between them with long strides. At last he slid to his knees, pulling the body of his master into his arms.

Qui-Gon appeared just as he was when pulled from the lake: cold, half-soaked, and very unconscious. But Obi-Wan did not care, getting as much of the large, limp body against his as he could, hands touching him everywhere, fervently kissing his face repeatedly in his efforts to call his beloved back to him. "Qui-Gon, oh, Force, please be alive, breathe for me, love, my life, my Qui... breathe..." On he continued, his litany a verbal and mental anchor for the Jedi Master Diplomat, his Oraclys, to take hold of.

The anchor... held. The elder Oraclys breathed deeply of his connection to his other half. Still the great mind was silent, though this worried Obi-Wan not at all, for he understood Bant's message to him - time would heal. Now that the purity of the Oraclyne was enabled, their connection could work as it was meant to, Zevdrani and Bajrheni life forces blended together to form a great and wonderful healing power.

Much later, Obi-Wan, his face streaked with tears, looked up to see the small cluster of draigons huddled together in the distance. [Draigons... I suppose I killed these on Bandomeer,] he mused distractedly. But he knew they represented something else. Healers? He did not know about the bonds that had been broken. That wasn't important for him to know. Now he must assure these draigons, these others that the healing of the Oraclyne could commence now.

"You can leave now," he murmured to the draigons softly, his cheek against his master's. "We're healing."

Silently the creatures left the Oraclyne alone.

It was two days before Obi-Wan awoke. As he became aware, eyelids fluttering, he felt the weight of a hand on his forehead. "Qui-Gon?" he breathed, reaching up with his free hand to feel it. But it was not Qui-Gon's hand. He opened his eyes and looked up into the worried face of Master Diplomat Raen Gi.

"Obi-Wan, welcome back," she breathed with relief, smiling. "Maki'," she called aside to the Healer in the room, "he's awake!"

"Master Gi," Obi-Wan sighed, then turned to look at his master. Qui-Gon was still unconscious, of course, their fingers still tangled together. Obi-Wan shifted onto his side, then pried their fingers apart to switch hands. "I'm glad you're here, Raen," he added as Maki' came over. He nodded to the other Healer, then noted that they were fairly staring at him as he sat up. "What?"

"You both gave us quite a scare, Obi-Wan," Maki' replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he regarded the young man. He noted that Obi-Wan was careful not to break physical contact with his master.

Thinking of the manifestations of the dead that he'd had to face, he had to agree wryly. "I was scared as well. I imagine you have as many questions of me as I have of you, Master Healer Windsailor."

"Like how is Qui-Gon?" Raen asked worriedly.

Obi-Wan nodded, conceding. "Ah, yes, like that." For a moment he felt self-conscious about being a little physical with his master in front of a former lover, but the demands of their Oraclyne imprinting made such worries academic. He sat up all the way, then Force-lifted his master a little so that Qui-Gon's head was in his lap. Sighing, he threaded his fingers into the long hair. "Excuse me," he murmured. "Qui-Gon has a ways to go yet. The healing rather burned him out." He looked up at the Healer. "What did you do? I couldn't reach him, then suddenly I could."

Maki' and Raen exchanged glances. **I'll tell him,** Raen said to the other, nodding. "Obi-Wan, you both were lost to us. And to each other. Some, ah, drastic measures had to be taken so that you could at least find him, so the healing could start."

The young man met her glance, wondering. "Drastic. Wait a moment..." Closing his eyes, he looked himself into his master's comatose mind. He was shocked at what he found there. Up to now, the healing had been largely of their combined life energies, restoring them to normalcy. Qui-Gon, he could detect, was nearly normal in that regard. But mentally...

There were four holes in his master's mind. Not large, but wounds nonetheless. And something else, a deep trauma that explained the silence. Something not related to the transformation of the disease bacterium on Belvin Three.

Obi-Wan stared at them in horror. "What did you DO?"

Maki' squared his shoulders. He wouldn't mince his words. "All his other mental bonds were broken. It was the only way he could be free for you to find him. Otherwise you never would have."

"Never...!" Obi-Wan was stunned to his core. Then his fear hadn't been unfounded. Qui-Gon *had* been dying. And Obi-Wan would have died, too, unable to live without his life force. "What... bonds...?" But when he saw Raen Gi's face, he knew. "Oh, Raen... I didn't know..."

The woman blinked back the tears that wanted to fall again. "Jil and I... it wasn't a strong bond, and we've been together so little for the last five years that it was down to just a whisper. But... it was there. Both Jil and I knew that Qui-Gon was in trouble. So we came. But the bond had to be broken." At this last, she gulped back a sob.

Obi-Wan instinctively held out his hand to her, feeling her pain. "I'm so sorry, Raen. I had no idea. Qui-Gon only told me that you would, ah, accept this. I never guessed a bond might be involved."

The Master Diplomat was firmly in control of her emotions again. "Of course we accept it. Obi-Wan, you and Qui-Gon are clearly meant to be together. We would not truly love him if we did not want that to be." She squeezed the padawan's hand. "If you can ever find a little generosity in your heart to allow us to continue to be friends with him..."

"More than friends, Raen," Obi-Wan promised, returning the squeeze. "And with me, too, I hope. I would never want to take away from him those who care for him. I hope you can come to care for me, too..."

Smiling suddenly, Raen embraced the young man joyfully. "I know we will, Obi-Wan! Thank you!" Then she laughed ironically. "Although I understand there's not a chance we could ever be a foursome." She let her gaze rake over him playfully. "Too bad..."

"Er...!" Obi-Wan looked helplessly to Maki' for answers.

The Healer laughed as well. "An Oraclys, young padawan, is only able to feel sexual attraction toward the other Oraclys. You, ah, weren't planning on having children, I hope..."

Obi-Wan relaxed. "No, of course not. Raen..." He smiled at her. "I'm sorry, too. For your loss in that regard. And his."

"Honey," Raen said with an exaggerated sigh, still looking over the lean planes of the young man's body, "Qui's barely going to miss us in his bed, trust me."

Obi-Wan ducked his head in embarrassment, though he was smiling. He looked down at his beloved's composed face and sobered, thinking of the traumas Qui-Gon was suffering. "Master Windsailor, what about the broken bonds? Should I be working on healing them? And what about the rest?"

Maki' had been chuckling over Raen's suggestive line, but at Obi-Wan's words he instantly sobered. "The rest? What do you mean?"

Obi-Wan brushed away the long hairs from beside his master's face, then lay a hand on his forehead. He settled into their bond, reading his mind again as well as reading the Force. "This other trauma..." he murmured, his eyes closed as he concentrated. As the other telepath looked in, he showed him.

Qui-Gon Jinn was in trouble. Psychologically, this time. Maki' was shook, not knowing how to answer the young man. Until Qui-Gon became conscious, they would have no way of knowing what form the psychological damage might take. Had they saved his life only to condemn him to psychosis? Could even the Oraclyne connection manage something like that? Maki' realized he had many long hours ahead of him, delving back into the archives they'd brought with them from Zevdra. [And I can't tell the boy, not yet... Force...] "Obi-Wan," he said at last, giving the young man a little smile, "Time will heal. Meanwhile do what you can on those bond wounds, yes."

Obi-Wan nodded, and went back to caressing his master's face as he settled into a healing trance.

Maki' Windsailor sighed, then looked up into Raen Gi's intent gaze. **What aren't you telling him... me?** she demanded mentally.

**I don't know yet,** Maki' replied, and left the room.

A day later, Qui-Gon rose to consciousness finally. Obi-Wan was there, nearly in his face, longing for the caress of those deep blue eyes that he loved so well. "Master?" the padawan inquired, laying against his side, looking up into Qui-Gon's face as he roused finally.

The eyes opened, and a gaze brushed over the face looking into his before the eyes closed again.

"Master, welcome back," Obi-Wan murmured, kissing his cheek tenderly. He'd spent the last hour in hard meditation, preparing for this. Healer Maki' had told him that Qui-Gon might not be... himself. "You healed the water, Master, and you're back," Obi-Wan added. "Master?"

The eyes opened again, narrowed to slits. "What are you doing in my bed, young padawan?" The tone of voice was sharp, suspicious.

Obi-Wan, for the first time in four days, backed away from his master hastily, separating from him physically. He ignored the strange feeling that swept over him. "While you were healing, it was necessary to keep contact..."

"As I'm apparently no longer healing, Padawan," Qui-Gon broke in, sitting up and shifting his legs over to the side of the bed, "you will not be required to do that." He looked up at the Healer staring at him. "I'd like my clothes, Windsailor, if you don't mind. Do I need to be here?"

Maki' contained his horror. The physical rebuff of one Oraclys to the other was wholly unexpected. "Of course not, Master Jinn," he said carefully, indicating the closet in the room. "But we need to talk."

"Later," Qui-Gon muttered, brushing past his apprentice as he went to retrieve his clothes. Though he'd lain in bed for four days, he was showing no physical discomfort or weakness. "I need to speak to a Councilor, then..." He glanced the way of his padawan again, though not meeting his eyes. "We have someone's training to attend to."

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan murmured automatically, his mind spinning with confusion. What had happened? This was emphatically *not* the Qui-Gon Jinn who had agreed with him to be Oraclyne... and more. Maki' had said his master might not be himself, but... this? The disgust that had rolled through their bond in his direction when Qui-Gon discovered Obi-Wan in bed with him had been daunting. Even now the padawan could hardly believe he'd felt that. Now, of course, the bond was shuttered tightly.

"You have the Oraclyne to attend to, Qui-Gon!" Maki' confronted the Master Diplomat, bewildered and very worried.

Qui-Gon, hastily dressing, glanced from one to the other. "We shall see about that." In another minute he was gone, leaving Obi-Wan to rush after him.

Mace Windu was surprised to see Qui-Gon Jinn, but relieved when the other master began speaking. "I understand," Qui-Gon began tersely, "that you were looking for a way to reverse a physical imprinting?"

Obi-Wan had been left to cool his heels in the hallway. He was shivering, not only with cold, but anxiety, for Qui-Gon had completely shut down their bond, closing off even his emotions from him. [Why is he doing this to me? Just because I was in bed with him?] He began to turn over in his mind every little slight he might have done, even to examining his every word and step on Belvin Three, wondering how he'd managed to fail his master so completely.

Windu was surprised, but frankly relieved. "Yes, Piell and I were looking into it. So, you're admitting now that it's wrong?"

Qui-Gon's gaze was guarded. "We were nearly both killed on Belvin Three. I... I was insane to take my apprentice in there. This has to be stopped."

"Good, I'm so glad you feel that way," Windu sighed, sitting back. "You know, you had me worried - man of your age and that boy..."

"Obi-Wan is a long way from his Knighting," Qui-Gon murmured neutrally.

"My point exactly!" Windu smacked his hands together. "Well, Piell and I think we found something..." He reached over for a datapad, and handed it over.

Qui-Gon took it impassively, and read the treatise through. When he was done, he stood, sketched a bow toward the Councilor, and made to leave.

"Wait, when... what..." Mace tried to call after Qui-Gon, but he'd already left.

Back in their quarters, Qui-Gon rounded on Obi-Wan. "This is wrong, Padawan." Now he did meet his eyes, his gaze hard and unforgiving. "I told you this before, and now I'm more convinced than ever. We must reverse the Oraclyne imprinting."

Obi-Wan shook violently, then mustered all his courage. "We must NOT. Master, we both assented to the mission Belvin Three, to being Oraclyne! And we have returned from there, alive and well. We were meant to be Healers..."

"Oh, really?" Qui-Gon, his hands on his hips, regarded his padawan with challenge. "And what is so wrong with what we *have* been doing? Is Healing a more noble profession than Diplomacy? Is that why you're so enamored with it?"

"Master, please..." Obi-Wan tried to reach for his arm.

The Master blocked him deftly. "Do not try those tricks on me, young padawan. We will break the imprinting, then get on with our work."

Shaking his head, Obi-Wan felt dizzy, thinking he was in some nightmare. "No..."

"Yes," Qui-Gon said firmly. "It will hurt for a while, but you know how to manage pain. Now, sit down."

"No..." [This CANNOT be happening...]

"Are you defying me, Padawan?"

"It will kill us," Obi-Wan replied, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "We are permanently bound together in the Oraclyne, and it cannot be reversed. You should not be wanting to reverse it. Something is wrong here."

"I most certainly do want to reverse it," Qui-Gon replied, standing toe to toe with him, looking down at the smaller man. "What is wrong is that my apprentice is suddenly defying his master. Are we returning to Melida/Daan? Is it going to be like that all over again?"

Obi-Wan glared at him, horrified that his master would bring that up. "You know it is not. I will keep my vows to you. But in this case, I cannot obey you."

"Then you do break your vows, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon retorted, his face abruptly flushing with anger. He raised a hand to strike him.

[Maybe if he hits me hard enough, it will break this madness,] Obi-Wan thought, turning his face slightly to receive the discipline.

The sudden submission caused something to twist inside the Jedi Master. A look of horror and disgust passed over his face, then he nearly knocked Obi-Wan over in his haste to leave their quarters.

Obi-Wan could not help but know where his master was... but he was loath to approach him. Now he realized how alone he truly was now, for there were no others to see what had happened to Qui-Gon... no other bonds left to betray him. At least their Master-Padawan bond was not as tightly shuttered at the moment. Qui-Gon Jinn apparently wanted to warn him away, let his apprentice know just what a monster his master had become. The self-loathing in the bond made Obi-Wan sick, and he'd had to throw up in the 'fresher.

[I have to tell the others,] Obi-Wan told himself resolutely and called Healer Hyr on his comlink.

"Obi-Wan!" the avian Healer exclaimed. "Are you all right? Maki' told me Qui-Gon was acting strangely."

"He wants to reverse the imprinting," Obi-Wan explained, trying to keep his voice steady. He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment on suppressing the headache that was starting up. "We went to Master Windu, who gave him some sort of treatise on the reversal process. I... I refused to let him try it, Master Gali. He's... changed. This is NOT my master. Even before Melida/Daan he was never like this!"

"Before what?"

"Never mind, long story," the senior padawan sighed. "That was my fault. This... how can he have changed so much? He's unbending, adamant about reversing the imprinting, stopping the Oraclyne. I can think of nothing that should have made him think like this. We both agreed to the risks before landing on Belvin Three. We had even declared our *love* for one another, Master Gali!"

"Where is he now?" Hyr had been mentally filling in Maki', who had joined him. **Maki', perhaps if Raen and Jil-Ba talk to him?**

**I'll call them...**

"He's in the Thon Meditation Garden," Obi-Wan related. [Where we'd taken our vows,] he added to himself morosely.

"And what are you feeling from him?"

Obi-Wan closed his eyes, seeing in his mind again the terrible image of that large hand raised to strike him. Qui-Gon Jinn had never struck him in their five years together, no matter how much Obi-Wan's behavior might have warranted it. Since their vow ceremony as Master and Padawan in that same garden, Qui-Gon had been nothing but caring and thoughtful with him. "Loathing," he told the Healer finally. "He hates our Oraclyne connection and wants to stop it. I told him breaking that now would kill us, but he didn't listen to me. Then, he almost hit me! He ran out of here, and I can still feel his horror, like he knew he was a monster that could only hurt me."

"Oh, Force..." Gali Hyr thought quickly. "Obi-Wan, it sounds like post-traumatic manic-depression. Four bonds were broken in his mind. We need to get him back in here to help him. Can you help us?"

[It's not just that,] Obi-Wan thought to himself, remembering what he'd seen before Qui-Gon slammed his shields shut on him. [There's the other thing...] "He's not going to listen to me," he told the Healer with another sigh. "Perhaps Raen and Jil could talk to him?"

"We've already called them," Gali replied. "We'll handle this. Meanwhile, you might want to come down here. This has to be affecting you physically."

[My gut's raw, and...] Obi-Wan noted for the first time, to his complete bewilderment, that his penis was hard. [Wha...?] As if on cue, a wave of lust roiled through him. And instead of being cold like before the imprinting had been finished, now he was feeling hot.

"Obi-Wan?"

"I'll... be down there presently, Healer. Kenobi, out." He dropped the comlink and clutched his groin, aching. [The Oraclyne... asserting itself?] he thought as he went to lay down on the couch. Quickly he got his pants open, freeing his stiff member. He fisted it for a couple strokes, then with a surge of frustration and sexual hunger, he battered against the rigid wall in his mind. **Qui-Gon! *This* is what you're doing to us! We need each other now, DON'T SHUT ME OUT!**

The wall hardened all the more. Obi-Wan groaned, his entire body aching for his Oraclys.

In the Thon Meditation Garden, a Jedi Master Diplomat was awash in his own powerful emotions. Horrified that he'd nearly struck his own padawan, Qui-Gon Jinn was embroiled in self-loathing and disgust, even as his body, too, reacted in the same way to the distance between him and his Oraclys. [I cannot chain him to me like this, it is WRONG,] he snarled at himself. He knelt on the ground - in the spot, in fact, where Obi-Wan had knelt to make his padawan vows to him five years ago - his knees spread apart, his pants already open, his penis already in his fist, achingly hard.

"Qui?" came a female voice from the entrance to the garden far behind him. Raen did not approach yet, was afraid to approach for Qui-Gon had set up a strong negative Force suggestion to warn off anyone who might venture back to this isolated garden. She could see the back of the kneeling, hunched over figure in the center and recoiled, for dark Force energies were emanating from him.

Raen shivered at the presence of Dark. Behind her, Jil-Ba was just now coming up. **That's him?** he asked with dread. Maki' had been very terse in describing what was wrong with Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon shook his head, disbelieving. "Rae..." he whispered, wondering how she could be here. Wondering.... [I can't feel her mind!] Hastily he put himself and his clothes back to rights, then rose abruptly and turned to face her. "Rae... Jil? How can you be here?" A different sort of ache set in, though not far removed from the other. Not far enough. He opened his arms to them as he approached.

"Oh, Qui..." Rae gasped, then made a noise in her throat of surprise as he collected her up in his long arms and took her mouth with an ardor that sent her senses reeling. Qui-Gon had reached, too, for Jil-Ba, pulling the other man close to them. When he released Rae's mouth after the long, hard kiss, he leaned over and kissed Jil in the same way.

What the Healers and Obi-Wan had forgotten - what Raen Gi and Jil-Ba Rendovar had forgotten - was that these two Master Diplomats were also suffering from a broken mental bond... a bond with this very man.

"I need you," Qui-Gon gasped as he pulled off Jil's mouth briefly. "Force, but I need you both now... here..." He shed his robe and had his belt off before they could react. "Why can I not feel your minds?"

Raen was nearly in tears. "Oh, Qui, they broke our bond with you..."

"What?" Qui-Gon was indignant. "Why would they do that?"

"It was interfering with your imprinting with Obi-Wan, we were told," Jil-Ba explained, touching Qui-Gon repeatedly as if to reassure himself that he was alive. When they'd been with him last, he had still been comatose.

"Damn that imprinting!" Qui-Gon groaned, more from the returning sexual heat than anger at how his life had been turned inside out. "I have to end it, Jil, it's all wrong..."

The other two masters, from within the taller man's embrace, looked at one another, puzzled. **Wrong?**

"I cannot feel your minds, I cannot even feel Yoda... only him." Qui-Gon, even as he murmured to them, had begun to kiss their faces, throats as if his life depended on centering on their physical presence.

"Qui..."

"Not even Valista... it is as if everything has been ripped away from me, leaving me only with... with..." Qui-Gon did not finish, settling on Jil-Ba's mouth again, kissing him hungrily.

**Maybe it was a mistake after all,** Raen said to Jil-Ba, caressing Qui-Gon's back.

**But what about Obi-Wan?? And the Healers... the Oraclyne?** Jil-Ba returned, though with Qui-Gon's tongue in his mouth, he was having trouble thinking.

**Oh, Force, I don't know...** Rae felt Qui-Gon's hand busy loosening her belt under her robe. **Qui? Love?**

Raggedly Qui-Gon pulled away to look at them both again. He was breathing a little heavily, his nostrils flared in arousal. "I need you... I need you both... now... here..."

There was no mistaking his intent. Jil-Ba gulped, his own penis already hard from kissing him. "What about Obi-Wan?"

"Obi-Wan is a CHILD," Qui-Gon snapped, even as an unwanted image of his apprentice's mature, *man's* body floated before his mind's eye. He shook it off. "I need my lovers, I need you... after I get rid of the Oraclyne, we can bond again." He sighed, a long, hungry shudder. "Please... I need you to make love to me."

They were Jedi Masters of the Diplomat Discipline. But they knew doubt, the seeds he'd sown in their minds. They were grieving for the loss of their mental connection with him. They loved him dearly. And Qui-Gon Jinn, the leading Diplomat of the Jedi Order, could be very persuasive.

Never mind that he was ignoring exactly *whom* his body was telling him he was hungry to love.

Aside from Qui-Gon's persistent notion that the Oraclyne must be stopped, he seemed entirely normal. They'd been with him innumerable times - like after a particularly stressful mission - where he'd been this hungry for their attentions. Certainly lying in a coma for four days *and* having your mind messed with qualified as "stress". But... what about Obi-Wan? Was he under some delusion about the necessity of the Oraclyne? Though the Healers had told them about the Oraclyne's potential, they had admitted that no Jedi had ever undergone such a bonding.

"Oh, yes," they breathed, giving in to his urgings, their own needs surging to the fore.

Despite the adamantine wall in his mind, Obi-Wan's own physical needs were too tied in with his master's. The Oraclyne was indeed demanding union and Obi-Wan had no will to deny the need. He continued to stroke his rock-hard, aching member until soon he was crying out Qui-Gon's name, spurting his seed onto his chest in an explosive climax.

It wasn't enough. Trembling, he stumbled off to the 'fresher to clean up, then groaned when he realized he was already growing hard again. [He's feeling this, too - Force, but I've never felt anything this strong before!] It was as if his entire being was straining, hungering, starving for union with only one other particular body in the galaxy... the one being who had rejected him.

Obi-Wan understood that his master was sick, that he'd fallen into mental illness, probably from the breaking of those bonds. [I cannot hate him, I cannot blame him,] Obi-Wan told himself sternly, trying to keep his own sense of reason despite the power of the Oraclyne's needs. [But I have to go to him. Perhaps if I was near him, he would see how we must unite...]

Pulling his robe around him to hide his condition as best he could, Obi-Wan left their quarters for the Thon Meditation Garden. His comlink was left on the floor where he'd dropped it.

"Damn," Maki' said to himself, frowning at his comlink. "Obi-Wan's not answering his comlink now. No one is. What is going on around here?"

Gali Hyr was at the com terminal in the infirmary, still poring over the downloaded archives from Zevdra. The material was presented chronologically,e Oraclyne. The dizziness and sensations of cold were only in effect before the imprinting had been completed. Now separation felt far worse as the Oraclyne strained to deepen the union between Oraclys. And this union needed to be a sexual one.

"All right, so they are probably dealing with some powerful, ah, urges right now," Maki' sighed. "At least we know where Obi-Wan went to."

"Do we?" Gali turned around to look at his partner.

Maki''s eyes widened. "We sent Rae and Jil to talk to Qui-Gon..."

"Talk?" Gali gave an ironic snort. "Qui-Gon's supposedly former lovers?"

Maki' paled. "Obi-Wan..."

The two Jedi Healers abruptly headed out the door.

Obi-Wan was still some distance from the Thon Meditation Garden, deep within the larger Gardens at the Temple, when he felt the first flicker of Darkness in the Force. [Oh, no... Master, no... not the Dark...] He pressed on, though tears came to his eyes, thinking of how far his beloved master had already slipped. [He needs me, he needs our union desperately...]

He was just a few meters from the garden's entrance when he was pulled out of his reverie by... sounds. Sounds... of passion. Sounds including more than one voice moaning their pleasure. One unmistakable voice, moaning things he'd never heard that voice moan before... Obi-Wan, still pulled by the Oraclyne connection, entered the garden...

And suddenly it was like three years ago, just as dead Xanatos had described, the buried memory, now replayed before him in stark reality. Obi-Wan froze.

Heedless of the young Diplomat's arrival, the three masters were absorbed in their heated lovemaking to the exclusion of all else. Raen was underneath Qui-Gon, her neck and back arched, braids splayed over the ground, her legs around his waist as he thrust into her. Qui-Gon's hair was loose about his shoulders, but he, too, arched his neck, his face flushed and straining, his torso slick and gleaming with sweat. Behind him knelt a panting Jil-Ba, who was thrusting into Qui-Gon in exact rhythm with him, his tanned arms clutching the taller man's chest, his longish blond hair loose over his sweaty neck as well.

[Am I dreaming?] Obi-Wan thought, shaking with emotion as he stared, unable to look away. Unconsciously he began to stroke himself, drawn into the fevered lust. [Am I fifteen? Am I eighteen? Am I mad? Am I still comatose? Am I dead? Why can I not move?]

He was rooted to the spot - by horror, by fear, by Dark, the betrayal by his Oraclys freezing his heart. Unbeknownst to him, he'd actually freed his erection again, working at it in earnest.

As all three Jedi Masters exploded into orgasm as one, screaming their ecstasy, one-half of an Oraclyne screamed his terror even as he climaxed over his hand: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Then he ran blindly, ran from the very man for whom, two days before, he was willing to die rather than be separated from.

The Healers arrived in the Gardens to Obi-Wan's heart-wrenching scream. Seconds later, the young man ran straight into them. "I'll get him out of here," Gali said quickly, collecting the padawan as he collapsed in his arms, carrying the young man away from the area.

Maki' stayed, awaiting the others.

Long minutes later, Raen and Jil roused, separating from their lover, still trembling from the power in what they'd experienced together. "Qui," Jil murmured, turning the taller man over to lie against his side.

One look and the two masters knew there was trouble. Qui-Gon's face was composed, expressionless, his eyes... vacant.

Maki', sensing their distress, approached.

"He's catatonic, " Maki' explained to Master Yoda inside the room in the Hall of Healing where Qui-Gon Jinn lay once more. "It's a form of schizophrenia in which a patient is awake but unresponsive like this. He's also cataleptic, which means that we may move his body into another position which he will automatically hold until we move him again." He glanced over at Obi-Wan.

Concerned for a possible violent reaction if Qui-Gon came out of the catatonia, they had put Obi-Wan in a different bed. The young man had trembled violently all the way back to the Hall before they'd put him to sleep by a Force-suggestion. Maki' added to the Councilor, "It's the Oraclyne connection in part, though I believe the larger part of Qui-Gon's difficulty is due to the breaking of those bonds. The connection, however, had placed demands on him that he could not accept in his psychotic state. Apparently the imprinting is fairly sexually demanding in the early stages. Qui-Gon rejected the Oraclyne, and hence the need for sexual union with his Oraclys."

"Believe you he will stay like this?" Yoda asked quietly, looking upon his former padawan with grave concern.

Maki' shook his head. "I cannot tell you how I know this, but I believe this is just another stage in his schizophrenia. He was manic-depressive at first, then delusional, now catatonic. I believe we must expect more such behaviors once he comes out of this. We'll have to keep him here."

"How long?"

The Healer sighed. "I'm hoping that the natural healing tendencies in the Oraclyne assert themselves enough to bring him back to us. Or that Obi-Wan can bring him back..." He trailed off, not having any confidence in that at all. The young man had been deeply hurt emotionally by what he'd witnessed, completely aside from what it did to the Oraclys he was. Maki' knew, from his earlier studies of this particular Master and Padawan, that there were deep-seated rejection fears against which Obi-Wan had had to struggle for years.

"Recover from this, they can?" It was a question, not a statement. Even Yoda had been shaken by what had happened. His old foresight telling him that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan belonged together seemed very tenuous now.

"I wish I knew," Maki' replied honestly. "The mind is a strange thing and the phenomenon of the Oraclyne even stranger to us. We must give this time."

"The others?"

Maki' glanced to the outer room where Gali sat talking softly with Masters Gi and Rendovar, helping them displace their own sense of guilt for what had happened. "Not to blame, of course. They were grieving their bond with him. I believe even Obi-Wan will understand that in time. I think they will be fine, but naturally they're very upset right now. And they will have to help their padawans, who got some psychic backwash of their distress through the training bonds."

"The Temple... upset is," Yoda murmured. The psychic reverberations of the four screams had unfortunately been too much even for Qui-Gon's shields to maintain. The shock could still be felt tingling in the Force. "Removed off-planet, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan must be," he added reluctantly.

Maki' bowed. "I understand, Master Yoda. I thought perhaps one of the other Oraclyne could assist us. I have sent a petition to them."

Yoda sighed and shuffled over to Qui-Gon's bed. He reached and laid one chubby green claw on his former apprentice's arm. "May the great love you bear in your heart win through, Padawan," he whispered. "Peace..."

"The Bajrheni Oraclyne has agreed to evaluate our pair," Galiddys Hyr told the other healer a few hours later. Maki' had remained to watch vigil. A consultation with Master Contemplative Poof and a couple other Healers had already taken place. It was universally agreed that the Jedi Oraclyne must be removed off Coruscant for the time being... and that they must trust the Oraclyne to work to heal itself.

"I'm going with them," Maki' sighed. He sat beside Obi-Wan, a hand resting lightly on the young man's forehead. "The greater burden now is on Obi-Wan. He will need support."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Gali smiled briefly. "Raen and Jil-Ba have asked me to help them and their padawans. They're still pretty shaken by the fact that Qui-Gon has slipped into this catatonic schizophrenia." He sobered. "Go with the Force, my friend."

Maki' nodded, looking down again at the sleeping padawan. "And you, Gali."

Awaking to the sensation of a hand cupping his cheek, Obi-Wan uttered the name before even opening his eyes, before memory had returned. "Qui-Gon..." he breathed, taking a deep breath and pressing his face into the hand automatically.

"Shhh, Obi-Wan, it's Maki'," whispered a voice not Qui-Gon's. Obi-Wan opened his eyes abruptly to look into the kind, concerned expression of the Healer's face. The Master Healer was the one touching his cheek, looking into his eyes searchingly. "We're on Bajrhen, Padawan," Maki' Windsailor continued in explanation. "Qui-Gon is nearby..." Very nearby; the Healer didn't dare separate them by much distance.

Obi-Wan sat up abruptly, looking around, unconsciously taking the hand from his face. The Healer straightened, allowing the young Jedi to acclimate. "Nearby..." Obi-Wan murmured, then his face contorted suddenly as memory rushed back. "No... NO!"

Maki' grasped the young man's chin and forced him to look at him, speaking quickly. "Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon is in a catatonic state of schizophrenia right now. We're here on Bajrhen so the Oraclyne here can examine him. Your own Oraclyne connection is much to blame for what has happened. You must not blame him... or yourself."

Obi-Wan pulled his chin away from the other's grasp roughly, but did not move away. He looked at the Healer like he was mad, his mind still reeling from the apparent betrayal of his Oraclys, and trying to grapple with the Healer's words. "Blame? Qui-Gon is to *blame*, Master! He wants to throw this away, tear us apart. Instead he betrays me with *them*..." He began to tremble, the powerful emotions having surged back in their full force.

"Padawan!" Maki' said sternly, "Qui-Gon is mentally ill!"

"What?" Obi-Wan suddenly felt sick, dizzy. [This cannot be happening, this cannot be happening, this...] "He... he..."

"He's exhibiting psychotic behaviors, Obi-Wan," the Healer persisted. "You said yourself he was not himself. He's *catatonic*..."

"Show me," Obi-Wan said abruptly. He turned his eyes to the Healer's, commanding his gaze intently. "Show me..."

Maki showed him. In the room next to his, Obi-Wan gingerly approached the chair with the seated man. It was Qui-Gon Jinn, unmoving though sitting normally. Their bond felt all wrong, still echoing pain from the heart-wrenching events on Coruscant. The padawan came around to the front of the chair... and looked with widened eyes at the face of the man he loved, the man to whom his life force was bound... and saw eyes that looked at nothing, held no intelligence.

Shook, Obi-Wan sank to his knees beside his master's chair. "Qui-Gon?" he asked, a slight tremor in his voice. He took one of the large hands in his.

Within him, the war was waged. Love for Qui-Gon fought with what he'd perceived as the ultimate betrayal by his beloved master; anger and fear battled the Oraclyne's natural desire to heal. Obi-Wan closed his eyes before lifting his gaze, pausing first to feel along the bond, but as before it was closed off, his master's shields still adamantine. Plus there was a frightening emptiness where before had only been a hard resolve to reject the Oraclyne. Now... nothing.

He opened his eyes. Qui-Gon had been placed in this chair in a normal sitting position which his catalepsy allowed his body to maintain. He was dressed in tunics and pants only, his hands folded in his lap... but there was no intelligence in the staring blue eyes, no awareness. Obi-Wan looked deep into the blank windows of his master's eyes.

And just like that, the anger dissipated just as the storm had on Belvin Three. Within the mind and soul of the Jedi padawan, a deep-seated compassion awoke, entwined, bittersweet, with the aching love he felt in his heart. "Master," Obi-Wan breathed, squeezing his hand as he reached to touch the bearded chin of his Oraclys.

On the other side of the room, the Master Healer waited, nearly holding his breath. Would the young Jedi awaken his master's shuttered mind? What would it take to free Qui-Gon Jinn's mind from its self-imposed prison, the refuge to which it had fled, unable to assimilate his urges with the psychotic delusions under which he was bowed? Could Obi-Wan Kenobi even reach him?

In the doorway, the Bajrheni Oraclyne appeared, one half of which was an old, stooped man, the other also old but straighter, both imbued with a dignity and gravity that made Maki' Windsailor back away in reverence, inviting them to enter without a word. The pair entered then, approaching the Jedi Master and his padawan.

Obi-Wan looked at them suddenly, and a choked gasp of relief escaped his throat as he recognized what they were immediately. He lowered his hand to clasp Qui-Gon's now in both of his, and sat back on his heels, awaiting the Oraclyne.

The two old men - Maki' had been told they were one hundred seventy and one hundred fifty-nine years, respectively - ranged themselves behind the Jedi Master's chair, one at each shoulder. They were holding hands, and raised the joined hands to rest atop Qui-Gon's head. Then they closed their eyes.

All was still. The other Jedi nearly forgot to breathe. Obi-Wan glanced over at the Healer. **Can they heal him?** he sent, frowning.

**Ask yourself that, Oraclyne,** Maki' returned smoothly.

Obi-Wan nodded, accepting. Without knowing how, he knew that this healing would have to be internal to the Oraclyne... between himself and Qui-Gon. Would the Bajrheni Oraclyne guide him? Had his connection with Qui-Gon formed enough to even work? Well, he knew the last... he'd already brought him back once from a coma.

The Oraclyne separated then, the elder laying both hands on the Jedi Master's shoulders, the younger kneeling down beside Obi-Wan to lay a hand on his shoulder. **Greetings, Oraclyne,** they greeted him gravely, their joined mind lightly touching his.

Obi-Wan sighed at the soft touch, the Oraclys in him soothed at the touch of one of his own kind. **Greetings, Oraclyne,** he returned calmly. **But I am not full Oraclyne,** he added sadly, looking back up at the face of his beloved master. **My other half is ill. Can you help me heal him?**

**No,** they replied gently. **The Healing of an Oraclyne comes only from within.**

Dismayed, Obi-Wan nodded, feeling very young and weak. **What if I cannot do this?**

He felt their smile. **Ask yourself another question, Oraclys.**

Frowning, Obi-Wan tried again. **Do I have the strength to bear the possibility that our Oraclyne may never function as it should? Will I be able to live with it?**

Behind them, Maki' shook his head, his heart aching for the young Jedi. [Some Healer I am. I'm useless here...]

**You are strong, Jedi,** the Bajrheni Oraclyne replied. **And when you look, you will discover you have faith. Great faith, Jedi.**

**I am weak,** Obi-Wan countered, frowning. But the hand was lifting from his shoulder. He looked up and realized they were leaving. "Can you not guide me?" he asked suddenly, kneeling up.

**The Force will guide you,** the Oraclyne replied. Then the two men were gone, hand in hand.

**The Force...?!** Obi-Wan felt as if the Force had left him again, for he could barely feel it through the still-roiling emotions. **But...** Then he realized he was speaking to no-one.

"Obi-Wan," Maki' murmured softly.

The Jedi Oraclys glanced over. "Master Healer..." He didn't quite meet the other man's eyes. "I may need to draw on your strength."

Surprised, Maki' nodded. "Of course, Padawan. What are you going to do?"

The cool, blue eyes, calmer than the padawan felt, met his finally. "The only thing I can do. Get past his shields."

They prepared. Maki' levitated Qui-Gon back to the large bed in the room while Obi-Wan knelt on the floor and meditated. Resolute, the Oraclys calmed himself for his task, putting aside with difficulty the shattering image he'd seen in the garden on Coruscant, putting aside his own sense of rejection, recalling to mind the truth as it existed before Belvin Three.

Qui-Gon Jinn loved him deeply. They were to be Oraclyne, connected in mind and soul to be powerful Healers, joined in life to make their love a powerful medicine for all those they would touch. All the love, desire, and synchronicity was there to be tapped, though it was closed away on one end, hidden behind the illness and darkness that sapped Qui-Gon's intelligence and spirit. Still, it *was* there, a strong power in the Force.

Maki' took a seat beside the bed, settling himself comfortably. He, too, calmed himself, trusting in the Oraclyne to work the internal magic that was needed, ready to give of his own mental power to aid them.

Finally Obi-Wan rose from the floor. Silently, his face serene, he removed his boots, laid aside his robe, and stripped belt, sash, and tabard off before he approached the bed. A quick glance was spared the Healer. **I trust you, Master Windsailor... Maki',** he whispered to the other.

**Thank you,** Maki' replied, understanding. He was being allowed to participate in the intimacy of the Oraclyne. He felt honored, and repeated to himself his resolve to see them through this difficult time.

Obi-Wan gave the Healer a little bow, then turned back to the bed. He breathed deeply, centering himself more deeply in the presence of his Oraclys. Now his whole mind was focused on his beloved; the Master Healer would merely be a tool for the Oraclyne now.

Obi-Wan knelt on the bed and crawled to the large body in the center. With a beauty and naturalness that the watching Healer had to frankly admire even as he was amazed by it, Obi-Wan climbed across his master's body to lay atop it. He straddled the other's hips and laid his chest against the broad chest of the other, fitting his body to his. His hands on Qui-Gon's shoulders, his head laid aside his master's neck, Obi-Wan made himself relax completely as if he wanted nothing more than to melt into the other man. Thus arranged, he closed his eyes.

The Oraclys went within...

Obi-Wan took a deep, ragged breath. He was kneeling in the forest again in the far mind-land of the spirit, but this time was very different. His hands were empty. He opened his eyes to see that he was again dressed in the pure white Jedi uniform, then looked up at the crown of trees above his head.

"Padawan," spoke a cold voice from behind him.

Obi-Wan whirled and saw with a deep shock that it was his master, sitting a short distance away, clasping his knees as he regarded his student impassively.

"Master, you're well!" Obi-Wan blurted out, but he knew better, though he'd crawled toward him a few feet before stopping. This was not reality. The image of Qui-Gon could well be something else. This was the land of the mind, where images were symbolic of elements of the psyche. Obi-Wan froze, staring at him.

The deep blue eyes only narrowed at him. Then their gaze shifted to something beyond Obi-Wan.

Warned, the Jedi padawan was on his feet, whirling around to face...

Xanatos. Or so it seemed. "You're back," Obi-Wan muttered, rocking his weight back on one heel.

"I never left, Kenobi," the image of the dead, ex-Jedi murmured, his hands on his slim hips as he warily circled Master and Padawan. Strangely, he also wore Jedi whites, but his usual black cloak flowed from his shoulders. Xanatos did not glance at the Jedi Master, however, something Obi-Wan thought significant but did not understand.

"What are you?" Obi-Wan asked calmly, turning slowly to keep the other before him.

"You figure it out, Kenobi," Xanatos hissed, his black cloak swirling around him, the beautiful black, feathery hair flying about his pale, handsome face. "You know I am a part of you now..."

Obi-Wan knew. [My own darkness,] he thought with dismay. [So, I must defeat him to win back my master? I must conquer the darkness within myself?]

"Not even close," Xanatos murmured, stepping closer to Obi-Wan, having given Qui-Gon a wide berth as he circled. Neither the Master Diplomat nor the ex-Senior Padawan Diplomat seemed aware of the other now, for Qui-Gon had gone back to staring impassively at his present student.

Obi-Wan held his ground, not retreating, though he was trying hard to remain calm. [Of course he can read my thoughts if he's part of me... well, if not to defeat him, then...? Should I believe anything he says?] He looked at Qui-Gon. "Help me," he implored his master.

Hugging his folded legs, the Jedi Master rested his chin on his knees and looked away. "I cannot."

"I... understand," Obi-Wan murmured, recognizing with dismay that this apparent helplessness and impassivity of his master was representative of the catatonia in his mind at the present.

Xanatos had subtly sidled closer. With shock, Obi-Wan recognized the movements as smooth and seductive, the glance lingering on the padawan's body, a slight curve to his mouth. "What do you want, Xanatos?" Obi-Wan sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I want what you want..." The apparition sighed as he slid a hand up Obi-Wan's arm. "I was not always as you believe me to be," he murmured, leaning in to whisper in Obi-Wan's ear. "We are so much alike..."

"I am nothing like you," Obi-Wan replied tightly, bearing the touch but remaining rigid. He searched within himself for the anger which he should be feeling toward this dark twin, but realized with confusion that he did not feel anger. "Help me to help him," Obi-Wan murmured, leaning in toward the other man as well, his lips close enough so that the other could feel his breath.

Xanatos smiled, his arms going up to circle Obi-Wan's shoulders. "Oh, but I am, if you allow it..." And he leaned in to kiss Obi-Wan, his lips pressed warm and fervently upon the other's.

[Am I supposed to fight him? Or love him?] Obi-Wan thought, his mind momentarily whirling in confusion. Then he remembered the words of the Bajrheni Oraclyne: "The Force will guide you."

He thought he understood. And indeed, he felt the Force strong within him. Gently but firmly, he pushed Xanatos off his mouth. "Wait..." Obi-Wan glanced aside at Qui-Gon, whose eyes had widened, gazing intently at them. There was no anger there. As before, there was nothing. Obi-Wan took a deep breath and looked back at the man holding him. He unfolded his arms and laid his forearms against the other's.

"Obi-Wan?" Xanatos inquired quietly, his fingers slipped up into Obi-Wan's short hair, a strangely loving gesture from the dark half of his being.

"Xanatos," Obi-Wan sighed, shaking his head. "Yes, you are part of me. But you are wrong - I do not wish to betray my master as he has seemed to betray me. I have no need for revenge within me."

Xanatos chuckled, his fingers toying with the root of the padawan braid. "Not that, Obi, not that. We do want the same thing." He glanced aside briefly at the impassive Master Diplomat watching them. "We do, Obi..." he added quietly, reverently.

[I follow the Force,] Obi-Wan sighed, not fully understanding any of this, but knowing he was led to it, that the Force was leading him now, leading to... yes, leading him to embrace his dark self. Or whatever the Sithhell that Xanatos was supposed to represent. [Yes...]

Obi-Wan pulled Xanatos against his body, reaching up to take his mouth fully, kissing him deeply and passionately. With a strangled sound like a sob, the other man returned the kiss hard, tightening his arms about him.

A moment later, Obi-Wan was hugging his arms to himself, feeling strange and wonderful all at once. Then his eyes flew open. Qui-Gon was rising to his feet, looking at him with that same intent gaze, only now...

"Qui-Gon," Obi-Wan breathed, his heart pounding, "that wasn't what it looked like..."

The Jedi Master ignored the words. He came to within a couple feet of him and looked down into his eyes... the light of intelligence back. "Did you find what you came here for, Padawan?" he asked with a heavy sigh, as if he was tired. No accusation, no anger, no dismay... if his mind had even registered that Obi-Wan had just kissed *Xanatos*, there was no sign of it.

[Did I find what I came for?] Obi-Wan wondered, then remembered his question to the Bajrheni Oraclyne. Could he just go on with his master now, pretend that the Oraclyne connection between them was not there, though he would always need to be physically close? [I do what I must,] he told himself, trying to accept the unhappy compromise between what was evidently his Jedi self and the Oraclyne. "Yes, Master," he murmured. [All that with Xanatos - was that for nothing?]

Qui-Gon looked at the resigned expression on his student's face, wondering what was so terrible. They'd be back at work soon, out in the field where they belonged, two Diplomats on the very important work of the Senate. "Come, Padawan," he murmured, and turned to walk deeper into the woods.

Still sore at heart, still confused, Obi-Wan followed.

When the large body beneath him stirred, Obi-Wan hastily sat up and slid back away from him, retreating to settle by the corner of the bed. He glanced over quickly to the Master Healer, who was also stirring from a deep trance. **He is waking, Master Maki'. But I honestly do not know what that accomplished,** he said to the Healer, who looked at him closely.

**Are you all right?** Maki' had only been able to sense when Obi-Wan had managed to shift his master's mind from the catatonia to... whatever they had now. He doubted the healing could have been that easy. [Must be mindful...]

Something had changed, Obi-Wan knew. What had accepting his dark side accomplished? Kissing *Xanatos* of all dead people? Had he made things worse? **I do not know, Master,** he replied simply to the Healer.

**We shall see, Padawan,** Maki' replied, then they both looked at the prone figure on the bed.

To their wonder, Qui-Gon opened his eyes and blinked, then sat up smoothly, his hands coming to rest on his knees. His gaze went unerringly for his padawan. "Obi-Wan, are you well?" he inquired, his voice low yet still with that detachment from before.

"Yes, Master, I am well," Obi-Wan replied, his heart pounding. He'd done it, brought Qui-Gon out of the catatonic state! But as that august gaze fell upon him he felt a chill then his heart jumped. [Oh, no... he still feels nothing for me.] Now he willed his heart to calm from its sudden racing. "How do you feel, Master Qui-Gon?" He kept his tone formal; he knew he could not risk anything warmer. [Not yet. Not until I know.]

Qui-Gon looked into his eyes with that deep, penetrating gaze of his, measuring whatever it was he was measuring in his apprentice. "Physically? I am hungry and I feel a need to exercise..."

"And emotionally?" Obi-Wan could not help asking.

There was no answer. Qui-Gon looked into his eyes for a long moment, long enough for Obi-Wan to feel the gaze down to his core. It unnerved him deeply, shook him until he wanted to cry out for him to stop. Within he felt the questing probe along their bond, an impassive examination that was no more personal between them than a Healer's touch.

Qui-Gon tore his eyes away to look at the Healer. "Master Healer Windsailor..."

"Master Diplomat Jinn," Maki' replied coolly, nodding.

"Where are we? This is not Coruscant. What has happened?" The Master Diplomat asked, his tone professional and cool. Plainly he was merely assessing the situation as any Jedi.

Maki' sighed. "We're on Bajrhen, Qui-Gon. You entered a catatonic state after a psychic... epis,** Maki' retorted with a frown, then responded to the question. "They're on Coruscant with their padawans. Master Hyr is helping them."

"Helping...?" Qui-Gon looked confused and his eyes seem to glaze over for a moment as his conscious mind tried to make sense of what he was hearing. "I... do not remember anything beyond..." He glanced again at Obi-Wan. "I was about to perform the mental reversing of our physical imprinting, when... I do not know... I remember nothing else." He frowned, unhappy with the evidence of amnesia.

"You were about to strike me," Obi-Wan offered. Idly he wondered why he felt so calm when his whole world had been shattered. "For disobedience because I would not allow you to reverse the imprinting."

Qui-Gon's eyes flashed in sudden fury, remembering, but Maki' spoke before he could. "Qui-Gon, the imprinting cannot be reversed anyway. Whatever happened then doesn't matter. The Oraclyne must be."

"No... we are wasting our time on this." Qui-Gon got out of the bed suddenly. "Where are the rest of my clothes?"

Maki' indicated a closet where his tabard, sash, belt, and robe hung. **He's still in denial,** he said to Obi-Wan, who hadn't moved but was following Qui-Gon with his eyes as the Jedi Master hastily dressed. **And his memory is blocked apparently. Did you get past his shields? What happened? He seems to be right back to where he was the first time he woke up.**

At a look from his master, Obi-Wan rose as well and began putting the rest of his own clothes on. **I do not know, Master Maki',** he replied to the Healer. **We were both in the spirit land again. I think I met my, er, dark half in there...**

**How do *you* feel?** Maki' wanted to know suddenly.

**Detached,** Obi-Wan replied smoothly. He felt like it was someone else's body moving gracefully, settling the tabard on his shoulders, running the sash around his slim waist. **I do not feel much of anything. Numb, I guess.** To himself he was thinking, [Qui-Gon is still ill... all I did was bring him out of the catatonia. And he doesn't remember tearing my heart in half.]

**Coping mechanism,** Maki' said as much as to himself as to the padawan. **Your 'dark half', Obi-Wan. And I'm afraid its appearance is well-timed. I do not see this situation resolved any time soon. You're going to sorely need that emotional detachment.**

Obi-Wan did not reply, pulling on his boots.

"I'll go arrange transport," Qui-Gon murmured, heading for the door.

Hastily Maki' got there first. "No."

Qui-Gon, a full eight centimeters taller than the Master Healer, looked down at him as if from much higher, hands on his waist. "Oh? You're not releasing me?"

Maki' Windsailor was no small man himself at over one hundred and eighty-three centimeters. He pulled his dark blue robe around him closer, and crossed his arms over his chest in challenge. "No, I am not," he replied calmly.

Obi-Wan, beyond, looked puzzled. **What can *you* do?** he sent privately to Maki'.

**At least make sure he knows what he is really doing,** the Healer returned grimly. **I do not trust his apparent normality at all. I believe he is still in serious denial about the Oraclyne, and certainly his relationship with you. He needs to be told what we've learned of the Oraclyne.**

"This isn't Coruscant," Qui-Gon reminded him in a low voice, a dangerous glint in his eye.

"Master..." Obi-Wan felt compelled to break in.

"Silence, Padawan!" Qui-Gon barked to the side before turning back. "Windsailor, I will leave."

"You'd be a fool to leave, Jinn," Maki' retorted. "You'd be no sort of a Jedi Master Diplomat if you did not stay to listen to what I must tell you. You owe it to your apprentice! Besides, the Council knows that you're here and why. They will be waiting for my report on your condition. And I will not give them a favorable report until you sit down and listen to me."

Qui-Gon turned and looked at his padawan, his eyes stormy. "This is your doing..."

Obi-Wan felt his heart harden all the more against this stranger-Master of his. "I brought you back from a coma and from a catatonic state. You, on the other hand, want to destroy our bond." His voice was cool, his expression rigid. "For what you have done to me I should ask for another master. But the truth is that our lives are *bound* together. And that we *assented* to this, both of us, you and I." He glared at Qui-Gon, a moment of anger surfacing. "How can you have forgotten so much?" **You made vows to me... you said you loved me! You *wanted* this as much as I did!**

The tall Jedi Master lowered his eyes, his still-broken mind choosing not to deal with his padawan.

**That's his coping mechanism right now,** Maki' hastily instructed the young Jedi. **When his mind confronts something he cannot reconcile, it ignores it. Let me try again.**

"Master Jinn," Maki' began anew, "I require you to listen to my explanation of the situation. It is critical you receive this knowledge. Please sit down."

Complacent this time, Qui-Gon smoothly sat down, drawing his dark brown robe closer around him. Beside him, Obi-Wan knelt on the floor and sat back on his heels, determined not to move from his place beside his master.

Path to Oraclyne

by Master Eliz-mar Von

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