by Kelastaana Raahona a.k.a. Kelraa (apeterso@mps.org)
(Part I/?)
Archive: Master/Apprentice, OKEB, QJEB, anywhere else if you
ask first
Category: Hurt/Comfort (soon to be Romance as well if I get
enough feedback)
Rating: PG
Warnings: uh...pretty innocent, all things considered.
Spoilers: Major spoiler for Qui-Gon's fate at the end of TPM
Summary: A felinoid girl helps Obi-Wan accept and understand
the pain that follows from his loss of his master and his love,
and is helped in return to accept her own pain.
Feedback: Oh FORCE yeah! This is my second attempt at fiction,
I need to know how I'm doing, and if I should extend it at all.
(Off-list, private e-mail if you please) Feedback breeds
fiction!
Somewhere in the thick forests of Drannis, Obi-Wan Kenobi woke
to the sun shining and birds cheerily singing their
early-morning songs. Nothing could clear the pain inside him,
however, or fill the void left by Qui-Gon's death. He rose in
silence to continue the trail through the wilds of Drannis,
trying to make it back to the outskirts of the city, where his
ship waited.
He walked all day, and soon night fell. He reached a clearing
and spread his cloak out on the ground. He had been without
food or water for an entire day, but he didn't care. Nothing
mattered without his master...
He woke with a start, calling his lightsaber to his hand
instantly.
"Who's there? Show yourself." A rustling to his left and behind
him caused him to whirl, still not lighting his saber. The
glint of the stars was reflected in two eyes, peering intently
at him through the undergrowth. He lowered his saber and sent
out a probe of the Force. As it brushed against the creature,
it cocked its head as if in amusement. Suddenly Obi-Wan felt an
answering probe from the creature.
Force-sensitive, he mused. Carefully, moving slowly, he set his
saber down on the cloak and beckoned.
"I won't hurt you...come out."
The creature emerged slowly, the dim light playing over its
furred back. It was larger than he'd previously suspected, he
noted with surprise. He studied it, trying to think of a native
species of this planet that looked like that. Suddenly the
creature stood up on its hind legs and walked toward him. It
sat across from him and watched him intently.
"You'rre going the wrrong way." It spoke with a tone that left
no question as to its female gender. Obi-Wan's mouth dropped
open in shock.
"You -- you speak," he said finally. She nodded, baring her
teeth in what he assumed was meant to be a smile. She curled a
long tail around her front (hands? paws?).
"Of courrsse. Issn't it naturral forr a ssenitent sspecciess to
sspeak?"
"Yes, but..."
"No need to explain. I underrsstand entirrely." She looked at
his lightsaber suddenly. "Arre you a rrenegade Jedi?"
"I am a Jedi, but I'm not a renegade, no," he answered, getting
more and more confused. "What is your name?"
She stood, stretching her feline-like body. She pointed to
herself in what he asssumed was a ritual gesture. "I am known
as--" she let out the most amazing sound, some sort of
crossbreed of a growl, a screech, and a purr. He found himself
laughing in spite of himself.
"I'm sorry...I don't think I can pronounce that very well. Is
there anything else I can call you?"
She shrugged. It was an interesting sight; he'd never seen a
cat shrug before.
"Among my people, nicknamess arre trraditionally chossen by
thosse who will usse them." He nodded, watching her for a
moment. The starlight glinted off the silver stripes in her
fur; the darker portions of her fur seemed violet and blue. He
was reminded of midnight on Coruscant; then there was the way
she moved, like a thunderstorm...and the silver streaks seemed
almost like lightning...
"How about Nightstorm?"
She reared her head back suddenly and he hoped he hadn't
offended her.
"I mean --" It took him a moment to realize she was laughing.
"Nightsstorrm..." She stood and stretched sinuously. "I would
be honorred to be called ssomething so beautiful."
He smiled. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi." She thrust her head forward.
"I will not usse yourr trrue name, I wissh no powerr over
you...I will think of a nickname forr you." She sat in silence,
regarding him with open curiosity. Suddenly she leaned forward
and stared directly into his eyes. He gasped with the
suddenness of her silver eyes staring into his.
"You grrieve...forr what purrposse?"
"It's...a long story." She nodded and sat back.
"Yourr eyess arre ssad. But they will not alwayss be sso." She
seemed lost in thought for a moment, then her eyes focused on
his again.
"I will call you ben'rrikaal." Obi-Wan smiled.
"That seems a bit long. Perhaps you should shorten it a bit.
Maybe to just 'Ben'."
"Ben. A pleassurre." They sat in silence a moment. Suddenly
Nightstorm sat up. "You have not eaten, Ben. Have you no food?"
He shook his head.
"Nothing. I was on a mission and was flying back to the town.
My pilot and I were attacked by predators; he was killed and
now I'm trying to make it back to my ship."
"Wherre iss yourr sship, Ben?"
"Lrann." She hisssed sharply.
"Overr a day'ss trravel. You will not ssurrvive that long with
no food." Immediately she rose and disappeared into the forest.
"Nightstorm, wait, I'll be..." He sighed, then stiffened as he
heard a wild yowl he recognized as her voice come from her
direction. He was on his feet instantly, lightsaber casting its
blue fire over the clearing.
"Nightstorm, are you all right? Nighstorm!" He started into the
woods, then heard a sound opposite him. He whirled and gaped.
She sat, a front limb dangling over the corpse of one of the
fiercest beasts on Drannis. He suddenly saw her hands;
eight-inch claws extended from them, covered in bluish-black
blood. She started cleaning the blood off with her tongue. He
simply stood, watching her. Suddenly she seemed to remember his
presence.
"Come and eat. It will be light ssoon and the sscavengerrss
will have picked up the sscent by now."
"I -- can't eat it raw, I'm not used to it." She hopped up.
"Of courrsse Ben, how ssilly of me not to rrememberr. Humanss
eat cooked meat only." She made a fire and in no time the beast
was roasting. Nightstorm had been unwilling to wait and had
devoured all her share already, but she was willing to wait for
him to finish. Eventually, after he'd eaten, she'd cast the
carcass over a nearby cliff to discourage scavengers. Finally
she curled up on the ground in preparation to sleep. Obi-Wan
lay down next to her, dead tired but strangely not as empty as
he had been before.
"You haven't told me anything about yourself..." he murmured
sleepily. She shifted and he seemed to detect a certain
uneasiness before she controlled her emotions again.
"A long jourrney ahead of uss tomorrrow...I have ssaved my
sstorry to passs the time."
It wasn't until just before he drifted into unconsciousness
that his brain registered she'd said "we" and not "you." But by
then he was too tired to care. He slept.
Obi-Wan woke to the sun shining down on him again. He groaned
and sat up, wincing. The hard ground hadn't been good for his
already sore muscles.
Boy, what an odd dream, he thought. A cat-woman catching meat
for me and sleeping by my side to keep me warm. He stood and
dusted off his cloak.
"Good morrning Ben. Did you ssleep well?"
He looked up. Nightstorm crouched on a rock opposite him, her
tail curled around her. She extended her claws and licked her
front left hand, cleaning them.
"Y -- yes, I slept quite well, thank you."
"You sseem ssurrprrissed to ssee me." She cocked her head
inquisitively. He smiled.
"To tell you the truth, I thought you were a dream. I hadn't
eaten in a few days, I thought perhaps I was delirious."
"No drream Ben. Sshall we go?" He nodded and winced again,
feeling a sharp twinge in his shoulder.
"Must have slept on it wrong..."
"Let me ssee." She was at his side in an instant, probing his
shoulder. She hissed in understanding. "A pulled musscle only.
It will take only a moment orr two to fix. Ssit."
He sat back down and she started kneading the knots and twinges
out of his shoulders. Obi-Wan let his head relax; he'd never
had a massage this good, especially when he needed one this
badly. After about fifteen minutes, she sat back.
"Therre. You will feel betterr now, Ben." He flexed his arms
experimentally.
"That feels wonderful. Thank you." She growled noncommitally
and stood.
"We sshould sstarrt if we arre to rreach the mountainss by
nightfall." She led the way out of the clearing, Obi-Wan
following behind her.
They walked for a few minutes before Obi-Wan spoke.
"I still know nothing about you. You said you'd save your story
for the journey." She didn't respond at first, and he was
afraid he'd offended her.
"I'm sorry, if you don't want to tell --"
"No. I will tell you. It needss to be told." He nodded. She
took a deep breath.
"I did not alwayss live in the forresstss. My parrentss lived
on the plainss, ass did the rresst of my people. I had no
ssiblingss; quite rrarre forr my sspeciess. We lived a peaceful
life, hunting and killing food forr ourrsselvess and the
otherrss in ourr pack. One day, my fatherr wass confrronted by
a human in black. He wanted uss to hunt forr him. We would have
been glad to, but he took my motherr hosstage until we brrought
him food. They attacked him -- my frriendss, relativess...my
fatherr...all were sslain. Then he turrned to me and
dissembowled my motherr beforre my eyes. I rran...I couldn't
sstay, not with the blood of my kind turrning the grround darrk
ass if in angerr...he didn't purrssue me. I rran till I
rreached the forresst, then took rrefuge. And it'ss herre I've
rremained ssince then."
She looked over her shoulder at him.
"That wass 10 sstandarrd yearss ago." Obi-Wan stopped in
amazement.
"Nightstorm...you mean -- you saw your parents, your friends,
everything you knew, destroyed before your eyes and you've
lived here alone ever since?" She nodded silently. She
collapsed onto the ground suddenly, her eyes melting into a
dark violet shade. Obi-Wan was on his knees in an instant,
holding her and sending waves of comfort. He was hit with a
white-hot shard of pain himself as he suddenly thought of
Qui-Gon. Suddenly she looked up at him, her again-silver eyes
inches from his own. He gasped, looking down at her.
"Yourr grrief hass worrsstened, ben'rrikaal..."
He sat back and stared into the sky.
"My grief..." She came around to the front of him and crouched
down, curling her long tail around her hands.
"Why do you grrieve, Obi-Wan Kenobi?"
He looked at her and proceeded to tell her the story of his
master, Qui-Gon Jinn. How he had chosen Obi-Wan to be his
Padawan only weeks before he would have been denied the chance
to be a Jedi; how he'd grown to respect him more than anything,
started to think of him as a father; how later, as he'd gotten
older, he'd begun thinking of Qui-Gon as more than just his
master. He found himself confessing how he'd realized he'd
fallen in love with his master, and only days later Qui-Gon was
taken from him forever, before he'd ever had a chance to tell
his master how he felt. How ever since there has been an empty
hole in him that refused to be filled...
He stopped and closed his eyes, a tear trailing down his cheek.
He opened his eyes to see Nightstorm watching him, sympathy
filling her clear silver eyes. Suddenly she leaned forward and
rubbed her face against his, first his right cheek then his
left. She sat back, his tears glistening in her violet fur.
"Your pain is deep, ben'rrikaal. I named you well."
He stared at her. "What do you mean, named me well?"
"The nickname I chosse forr you, Ben. It fitss you well." He
shifted and looked at her curiously.
"What does it mean?"
She appeared to think for a moment. "It doess not trransslate
exactly...the clossesst meaning I can think of iss 'forrssaken
loverr'." He stared at the ground a moment, then nodded, not
looking up. She watched him.
"Yourr pain iss grreat, Obi-Wan Kenobi. But it will fade.
Qui-Gon would want it sso."
She stood up and held out her hand. He looked up at her, then
took it. "We musst trravel quickly to make it to sshelterr
tonight." They traveled the rest of the day quietly, speaking
only when necessary. Each was thinking his or her own thoughts.
Before long they reached a cave.
"We'll sstay herre forr the night. We will not be botherred
herre." Quickly they spread Obi-Wan's cloak on the cold stone
floor. "Do you wissh to eat, Ben?"
"I am rather hungry," he admitted. She was out the door in a
flash.
"Sstarrt a firre forr yourr porrtion, Ben!" she called back to
him as she went out hunting. Quickly, Obi-Wan gathered firewood
and had a blaze going in no time. About 15 minutes later,
Nightstorm returned with two medium-sized animals over her
shoulders. She helped Obi-Wan roast the one, waiting to eat
hers till his was ready. They ate together, talking and
laughing. She asked him about his odd haircut and he explained
about the Padawan haircut. His hadn't fully grown out yet and
it did look a bit odd at the moment. She asked him about
Qui-Gon and he found himself regaling her and himself with
tales of his master. He realized with amazement that it didn't
hurt to think of Qui-Gon anymore. In fact, he was filled with a
warmth whenever he spoke of the times he and his master had
had. Nightstorm was an attentive listener, watching him with
eyes that shone red and gold, reflecting the firelight. Soon
they'd finished eating and stretched out on Obi-Wan's cloak to
sleep. As he drifted off, watching the embers from the fire
spin into the night sky that reminded him so much of
Nightstorm's fur, he smiled. The emptiness had been filled.
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