Luke Skywalker's First Rain

Title: Luke Skywalker’s First Rain
Author: Arwen Skywalker
Rating: G
Summary: Luke feels rain for the first time, and deals with his emotions following the Battle of Yavin.
Disclaimer: I don’t own SW. Duh. ☺
Warning: Does not contain any romance, sorry. (lols)
Author's Note: Going through my fanfic, and I found this. Read it again, changed a few things, and thought I'd offer it up for criticism. The title is sorta dumb, but I can't think of something deep and appropriate. Yeah. I wrote this going on two years ago. *shrugs* And I don't think I've posted this here yet.......I don't think. If you recognize it, go ahead and call me stupid, and give me some crit anyway. :)
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Luke Skywalker, new hero of the rebellion, fledgling Jedi, and farmboy, awoke and stretched. His internal chrono was going off insistently; even though his brain insisted there was no reason to get up since the farm and its chores were light-years away.

Luke sighed. This was only his fourth day away from Tatooine, his second morning waking up in the Great Temple on Yavin 4. It was just after waking that the homesickness hit so badly. Luke was still a boy. A farmboy at that. Yesterday upon waking, he’d cried for an hour as it had really hit home, all that he’d lost. Luke hadn’t really had time to grieve before, too busy rescuing princesses and listening to a Jedi, and blowing up battle stations. And then of course there was the huge celebration after the battle. It hadn’t stopped at nightfall; it had just carried on and on, not stopping until the last drunk reveler keeled over. Luke hadn’t drunk much. It had been his first time touching alcohol, since that kind of thing never crossed the threshold of the farmstead.

Luke was a very alone farmboy. His father and mother had died when he was tiny. His Aunt and Uncle had been brutally slaughtered just yesterday, and that monster Darth Vader had killed the old Jedi Master, Ben. The tears had come, and there just was no stopping them. Luke couldn’t even remember the last time he’d cried, let along cried his heart out. His family wasn’t the only thing he’d lost. He’d found his childhood’s best friend, moments from climbing in his ship, and lost him out in space. Luke cried for Biggs, for all the stories they’d never share. And finally Luke cried for all the people he’d slaughtered yesterday when his torpedoes hit the target. Knowing that all the people around him would otherwise be dead didn’t help in the slightest. He was a murderer, plain and simple, and there was no going back.

Today was a new day, and that was good Luke thought. He was also grateful to whoever decided that he needed his own room. It would have been too embarrassing to have broken down in front of someone yesterday. Leia had known, thought Luke, and she had assigned him this room. His thoughts turned toward the petite princess. She must be grieving too, her whole world was gone, all her friends and family, and she’d had to watch it happen. They were both alone.

Luke sighed again as he remembered what today was. The last day before the rebellion found a new hiding place, and the day of the commemoration and medal services. He’d be receiving a medal, as would Han. He didn’t want it, and he’d tried to explain that to several officials and Leia. Leia had understood why, but insisted he accept it.

“Good for morale,” she’d said.

Luke grimaced and swung himself out of bed, then got dressed and left his room hoping to make it outside without being noticed. Most of the others wouldn’t be stirring for a least a half hour, and he thought that would give him enough time to practice feeling the Force out in the natural air.

The guard on duty at the front door nodded and let Luke pass, after hearing his stated business. Luke stepped out into the gray of the morning, the air was heavy and thick, the sky filled with rain clouds. The wind ruffled his sandy hair as he lifted his face to the sky.

Plop!

Luke opened his eyes.

Plip! Plop! Plip!

Water was dripping on his face.

Faster the drops fell, until it seemed as if the tears from yesterday were covering his face again. Confused for a few minutes, Luke just stood there. Suddenly his face broke into a wide and decidedly goofy smile.

Rain! That’s what it was! It was raining!

Luke Skywalker, new hero of the rebellion, stood in the middle of his first rain shower and laughed. As he had thought he’d probably never laugh again. The rain seemed to cleanse all his tiredness and sorrow away. It smelled and sounded so wonderful! It was so amazing! It was more water then he’d ever seen in his life, and it felt so good. His hair and clothes were soaking wet, but Luke didn’t care. He wanted to stay in this wonderful thing called rain forever.

Luke spun around and around. He caught the rain in his mouth and smiled at the taste. He walked around the Temple, marveling at the way the water ran down the stones and formed little puddles on the ground. He watched water pour off of trees and plants. He smelled the smell of growing things receiving their nutrients.

And then he slipped in his first puddle. He lay where he fell, stunned, and then laughed, and laughed. After getting up, he looked around cautiously, but seeing no one, he jumped. Luke Skywalker jumped in the puddles like any small child would, and had just as much fun.

Time passed, and the rain subsided. Luke trudged the rest of the way back to the Temple entrance, where he again presented himself to the guard, sopping wet and covered in mud. The guard looked at him and laughed.

Luke ginned a bit sheepishly and tried to explain that it was his first rain shower.

“First?” The guard was confused.

“Ever hear of Tatooine?” Luke asked.

“Oh, yeah. Biggest sandbox in the galaxy.”

“That’s where I’ve lived my whole life.”

“Well, that explains it,” the guard chuckled again. “You’d better clean up and get something to eat. Breakfast must be nearly over.”

“I must have been out there a long time,” Luke said in surprise. He headed for his room.

************************

“Did you enjoy it?”

Luke spun around, still dripping. Princess Leia stood at the entrance to another hallway, smiling.

“Yes,” Luke said, ginning awkwardly. “I’ve never seen so much water in my life. It’s amazing.”

“Yes, it is.” Leia’s eyes had tears in them of a sudden. “Come eat as soon as you are dry. The memorial starts in an hour.”

“Yes Princess,” replied Luke, turning to go.

“It’s Leia. Just Leia.” She said, catching his eyes in hers.

“All right” Luke said softly. “See you in a bit, Leia.”

Leia smiled and turned down another hallway, and Luke made it the rest of the way to his quarters. Once inside he was amazed to see he’d been out for over two hours. He changed quickly and made his way to the dining hall.


**********************

Luke thought the memorial service was beautiful. The names of the fallen, (or in this case blown to bits) rebel pilots were read, and their accomplishments made known. Luke was surprised to learn that Biggs had been busy in the rebellion for nearly 6 standard months, and had been heavily involved in several missions, performing admirably in all.

After the reading of the names, followed by several minutes of silence, rebel musicians played a beautiful dirge, to lament and honor the fallen.

The next part of the service commemorated Alderaan. Princess Leia and several other Alderaanian rebels spoke of its natural beauty, the beauty of its art and culture, and the beauty of the Alderaanian people. Their voices trembled and faltered; even the Princess’s, and tears filled the eyes of the room. After the speaking, what were identified to Luke by another rebel as Alderaanian laments were played, and their sadness made Luke want to break down completely again.

Luke kept his eyes on the princess, her eyes full of tears that she refused to let fall. She never looked at him though. Luke glanced at Han, standing a few feet away with his Wookiee. Han’s face was a study, and Luke wondered what the pirate was thinking.

After the last song died away, there was more silence, and then General Dodonna came to the front and spoke of the victims aboard the Death Star, of their family’s loss, and of how many of them were conscripts, there by no fault of their own. He reminded the gathered freedom fighters of what they were fighting for, and to not forget the seriousness of war and its consequences.

Luke kept his eyes fixed firmly on the floor, holding back his tears with all his might. It hurt to think of all those people, dead because of him.

After Dodonna finished, there was again several minutes of silence, and then the rebels were dismissed for lunch and more packing of the base before the medal ceremony.

**************************

The rebels were assembled in the great room again; it was time for the medal ceremony. Luke stood outside the big door with Han and Chewbacca, wishing to be anywhere but waiting to walk through a room packed with beings, all in order to receive a medal he really didn’t think he deserved. Luke glanced over at Han, who was fidgeting next to the still-as-stone Chewbacca. Han caught his eye and broke the silence.

“You aren’t happy about this, are you?”

Luke grimaced. “No.”

“I don’t have much use for ceremonies, especially ones I gotta dress up for,” the smuggler declared.

“I liked the memorial,” Luke said, “but I don’t think I deserve a medal. It was just a lucky shot.”

“Lucky shot?” Han scoffed, “the most amazing lucky shot I’ve ever seen.” He looked more closely at the young man, who was looking at his shoes again. Chewie chuffed his agreement.

“One in a million, right?” Luke raised his head and gave a half grin, and Han grinned back.

“You’ve got it!” Han exclaimed as he looked at the younger man. He had been feeling a bit big brotherish toward the kid ever since the old man had been cut down. He had noticed how much more grown up the kid seemed since the battle, more serious.

Han hesitated a minute, then said what he was thinking. “Hey kid, I’m proud of you, you know that?” He said, complete with the Solo lopsided grin.

Luke looked up, a real smile on his face. “I’m proud of you, too, old man.”

“Hey!”

“If you can call me kid, then I can call you old!”

The Wookiee laughed, and the two men joined in as triumphal music began to play inside the Great Hall.

The door slide open, and Luke began to walk. His last glance at Han showed Han rolling his eyes. Luke smiled again, and marched what seemed the interminable length of the Hall, followed by Han and Chewie. He finally reached the podium, and the princess. She looked gorgeous up close, with her hair out of the buns and in a thick braid down her back. Leia’s face was all seriousness as she took the first medal from the general and placed it around Luke’s neck. Luke swallowed hard and smiled up at her. She smiled back at him as she turned to get Han’s medal. She put it around Han’s neck and he grinned and winked at her. She shook her head slightly, but grinned back.

Luke heard whistles and looked over to see R2 rocking excitedly next to 3PO. He grinned at the little droid, who deserved a medal for all he’d done during the last few days. Leia looked over and grinned at the droid, too and then she motioned to Han and Luke to turn and face the audience. Luke squared his shoulders as he and Han swiveled to face their fellow rebels. The hall erupted into thunderous applause as the two faced front and looked out over the assembly.

Luke smiled again.

He wasn’t alone, not by a long shot. He had new friends, new responsibilities, and something to fight for.

He was ready to face tomorrow as Luke Skywalker, hero of the rebellion, farmboy, and freedom fighter.

It was a good day.

PASSAGE (working title)

OK friends, I'm letting this one out of the bag since it has been so long since I have been able to get to it. The idea still sparks my interest and I do hope to continue so if you like this tiny piece let me know. This has sat for a year now untouched.
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PROLOGUE

"Anakin, stay close to me....."

The unexpected memory fragment, like a physical blow, caused the misshappen head to jerk involuntarily and rebound off the high black collar that ringed Vader's head. He sat confused for a moment before the familiar white walls of the hyperbaric meditation chamber reasserted their place in his world. He was unaccustomed to being snapped out of his meditations by anything short of a summons from his Master.

"He will be a Jedi..."

...came the ghostly echo of another memory.

After all these years he could not fathom what had dragged Qui-Gon's voice up from the darkness within nor why he seemed to feel his presence. With a rush of anger at the wastefulness of sentimentality Vader triggered the mechanism that lowered his breath mask back into place. An impromptu inspection of his troops would lift his spirits. There was always a lackey, or two, who could benefit from his special form of encouragement.

Rising from his chair he activated the release on his chamber and let his thoughts turn to more immediate events......

Another surviving jedi story

This is a long one...

“But it doesn’t seem in any way creepy to you?”, asked the young imperial officer to his superior, who was sitting at a makeshift station monitoring the sealed cabin in back of them that held the prisoner., “all she does is stare out the window as we go by things she cannot see.”

“What makes you so sure that she cannot see them?” asked the commander, “and besides, she is probably enjoying her last days, as we all know what will happen to her when we arrive. I am actually a little surprised that no attempts to escape have happened yet.”

They both looked at the screens. There, inside the cabin to the hover train, sat quietly a young woman, no older that twenty five, for in fact they had no idea how old she really was. She had kept it hidden from them, even her name through every interrogation technique they could think of. The only thing she could not keep from them, as it was obvious and not something she was trying to hide anymore, was the fact the she was, for their purposes, a Jedi.

“Isn’t it about time to send in the midday meal?” Asked the commander?

“I am NOT doing that again,” stated the officer next to him. “She makes me feel strange. Send a recruit.”

“Then I suggest you go and find one yourself.” His commander shot back.

The young man got up, saluted, and left the station and headed for the mess car.
When he arrived there were plenty of soldiers eating in squad groups conversing in high spirits, despite the knowledge of whom and what they were escorting. However, the officer noticed that one man, obviously older than he was, happened to be sitting by himself. Brooding over his meal and looking nothing short of livid.

“You there, soldier,” said the officer, and walked over the man, trying to look as intimidating as he could, “I have an assignment for you. Seeing as you appear to be done with your meal, I need you to take a tray to the prisoner.” He then waited to see what sort of excuse this one came up with.

To his surprise, a rather menacing smile came over the soldier’s face. A calm and smoothly calculating voice said, “yes sir,” and got up, put his own tray away, and started to take a full one over to the station.

Behind this smooth talker calm visage laid a calculating man by the name of Caltran Yonfen. Nothing ran through his head but the thought of revenge. He had not gotten a chance to look at this Jedi’s face, and now that he had the opportunity, he was going to do the Empire a favor. He was going to kill her.

About twenty three years ago...

“Come Caltran, and meet your baby sister,” Caltran’s father had come to collect him from school early that day, he knew his mother was going to have a baby, but, being only seven, he did not really understand.

Bouncing through the door and into his parent’s bedroom, Caltran climbed up onto his parent’s bed and for the first time, looked into the face of his sister, Taiyra Yonfen. She had his mother’s dirty blonde hair, which grew darker as the months went on. Her little round face stared at him for a moment, just long enough to show him the dark, green thoughtful eyes that then closed in sleep.

“Look at this dear,” his mother said, and turned his sister over so he could see her right hear. Along the back of Taiyra ear, was a swirling birthmark. It gave the effect of shifting water, as the sun reflected off the surface. Young Caltran reached out to touch the birthmark. When he did, something happened that he could not explain. Some sort of ‘connection’ as he would later call it, left him somehow always able to tell where his sister was, or at least how she felt.

As the months went by, Caltran tried very hard to be a very good big brother. He did not yell when she was sleeping, he held her for his mother; he played with her, and went to bed when he was told so that she could sleep. However, he would hear his parents talking when they thought he was asleep.

“She is so much easier than Caltran ever was.”

“She never seems to cry for very long.”

“Have you noticed how everything she wants is always in reach?”

“I turned around for five seconds and the bottle was in her hands. I could have sworn it had been on the table before that. And she cannot reach up there.”

By the time Taiyra was eight months old; his parents’ questions were answered. One day while Caltran was at school, Jedi had come to his house, and had convinced his parents to give up his sister to their care.

“Why did you let them take her? She was my sister too! Did they ask if I said it was okay?”

“Dear,” his mother tried to console him; “she will learn to be a great person. You should be proud to have a Jedi sister-“

“I DON”T CARE! I HATE THEM! THEY TOOK HER AWAY AND I HATE THEM!”
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As Caltran grew older and older, he continued to take the loss of his sister very hard. He was bitter and never forgave his parents. He would spend hours in his room, looking at a picture of her, trying to feel that sense he got every time her touched her ear in order to try and get her back. However, by the time he was sixteen, he had finally given up. The feeling was completely gone. There as no way he could get her back and he was going to make sure that someday, somebody paid for her loss to him.

When the war broke out, Caltran was twenty four. He followed the action as closely as possible, in hopes that he might see his sister, but as she was still in her teens he never did figure out if she was off fighting somewhere. After order 66, there was a bit of panic in Caltran’s mind. However, later, when he had heard of all the horrible things the Jedi had done from the emperor, Caltran was ashamed of his obsession over Taiyra. She had obviously been poisoned beyond hope, and was better off dead. However, a lingering feeling still held in his heart.
Present time

He eventually joined the academy and became know as one of the best there was, in the early years, he could rival a clone in accuracy, speed and unfeeling. He was especially known for his ruthlessness toward anybody he suspected of being an escaped Jedi. Rumors went around about why. Caltran smirked as he remembered some of the ridiculous ideas. He had escaped training, been the illegitimate child of two Jedi, and so on and so forth.

“Hold up there soldier,” said the commander at the station. “You need to give up all your weapons here.” He held up his hand.

“Sir?” Caltran asked even though he knew the answer.

“If the Jedi finds any weapon in there, she can get a hold of it even restrained as she is. We have no way to counter her mental abilities…yet.”

Caltran set down the tray and began to remove his weapons that were standard issue. He however, left the small vibro knife that was his little secret. The commander said nothing as he counted the number of standard issue weapons before him. "Go ahead soldier," he said with out another glance, and returned to monitoring the video feed from inside the cabin.

Picking the tray back up, Caltran went inside.

As he stood in the doorway, Caltran saw the Jedi for the first time. What he saw surprised him. The long brown hair was carefully plaited and tied in a practical knot at the back of her head. Small wisps of hair had fallen out of place, he guessed from the capture, and they lined her tanned face, which, to his even greater surprise, held a long scar running down her left cheek. She was doing what she had been doing the whole trip; staring out the window at the landscape as it passed by.
Caltran was still staring when the Jedi spoke. “If you’re going to stare at me can I at least eat while you do so?”

Caltran was taken aback. Most prisoners never talked, let alone tried to be funny. But he brushed it aside, he was here for a reason, and nothing would stop him. Setting the tray down in front of the Jedi, Caltran took up a standing position in front of her. Her demeanor was not that of a condemned person. She seemed to accept everything for what it was. Even the food, which she ate with calmness and seemed to be thinking about nothing else. She reminded him so much of Taiyra, who even as a baby, explored her food with such care that he nearly broke out in a chuckle.

“What happened to her?” The Jedi asked all of a sudden.

Caltran jumped. A sensation had run through his thoughts and body just before the Jedi spoke. That sensation that he got any time he had touched his sister’s ear. It must have been a Jedi thing she had even as a baby. Caltran thought. “What’s it to you?” he spat, “you Jedi ruined her anyway.”

The Jedi put down her food. She seemed upset, but he could not tell for sure. Her face was blank, something he had seen from a lot from other Jedi he had ‘taken care of’. She then moved and put her fly-away hair back into place. When she pulled her hand away from her right ear, Caltran nearly fell on the floor in shock.
Staring at him was the grown-up version of his sister Taiyra. She was of medium height, slender, but Caltran knew she would be fast and strong. Her hair, he now saw, was just like his and those eyes; he finally saw her green eyes that pierced him, brought him back to the day that she had been born, the day he had touched…

When he came to his senses, Taiyra was crouched in front of him, her eyes level with his own. It made him want to jump back, but all he could do was flinch. She had him completely restrained in the cuffs she had been wearing earlier.

“So you’re that feeling,” Taiyra whispered to his face, “I had always wondered, but I mostly ignored it, my master said it was nothing, but I guess he was wrong about that. So,” she sat down and crossed her legs as if settling down for a conversation, “my brother eh? Interesting. We of course know nothing of our real family; it only gets in the way…”

“Is that what they tell you?” Caltran managed to blurt out, “along with teaching you to take over a galaxy?”

“Oh dear brother,” Taiyra shook her head, “is that what they teach you now? Well, you are sorely mistaken. We were slaughtered, slaughtered for seeing what was really going on, slaughtered by one of our own, who turned. He nearly killed me you know, but I had learned how to hide my life force, and appear to be dead, even to other Jedi, or Sith in this case. Why do you think it took so long to find me?”

“I guess it didn’t work on us though,” Caltran added, “because we did catch you.”

“I was distracted,” Taiyra retorted, “distracted by that feeling I got from you. You obviously have some connection I did not know about, until now.”

She got up. “I hope you take this as a learning experience, brother, and take the time to look again at the history they teach you. And maybe use that little feeling of yours to find out the truth, because it will do you no good in finding me again, that I guarantee. Oh, and thanks for the knife.”

And with that, Taiyra kicked open the back door of the train, and jumped.

“Would you care to explain this to me again soldier?” It had been a week since the Jedi had escaped with nothing, although Caltran did not mention that his sister had taken his knife.

“I have deemed myself a hazard to this mission, and wish to be reassigned, sir.”

“Why, after just one failure, which happens in these cases, would you just quit? You know we don’t report escapes. We understand it happens, even of others do not,” his commander added.

“It’s personal.”

“Well, as much as I hate to see my best man go, I have nothing to hold against you, and you are one of the best. Where would you like to go? I can make just about anything happen.”

“Put me wherever you think I would be helpful sir.”

Two days later, Caltran was on a transport for the planet of Naboo. Instead of reassigning him right away, his commander had told him that he most likely needed a little rest and relaxation. “With the high stress mission and all, you could use it.” His commander had pointed out.

So, here he was, on a planet that was not exactly known for its hospitality towards the Empire. But Caltran was here for himself, not the Empire. With a plain civilian jumpsuit and his personal sidearm on his hip, Caltran got off the transport, handed over his ID for a check and was off and hailed transport.

“Where to sir?” Asked the driver.

Where to indeed. Caltran was not much of a partier, what was he going to do?

“The Yonfen Summerhouse…you do know where that is don’t you?”

"Yes sir."

As he pulled up to the house, Caltran saw his mother, open the door, then, turn around and close it again. While Caltran was not entirely sure why, he had a feeling his presence was a bit of a surprise. He had not seen them since he had joined the Imperial Navy.

When he got to the door, his mother opened it before he could knock. For an older woman, she still nearly knocked him off his feet.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you dear! I just went to tell your father that you were here. He’s in the garden trying to fix the hydrator for the plants. You know he was never very good at fixing things. Anyway, I think the girl we hired is doing a better job than he is. Maybe you could help them after dinner?”

Caltran gave off a small smile. His mother had not changed very much. Still the talkative person. “What girl are you talking about?”

“Well, we found that this summer we needed help with some of the heavy lifting and such. And she came to the door asking for a job. We hired her right then and there. She has been wonderful help and is great company. It’s almost like having a child in the house. Anyway, dinner is almost ready. Would you mind going out back and calling them in?”

“Alright.” Caltran went to the back door and went into the garden. There, on the ground was his father, rummaging through a tool box while a pair of legs stuck out from under the hydrator. The girl they had hired was on her stomach, attempting to reach some unknown thing in order to fix the machine.

“Mr. Yonfen, I need the lever again if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Actually Dad, you might want to take a break and come have dinner.”

Caltran’s father looked up in surprise. But his expression soon changed to a big smile as he got up. “Caltran my boy! Good to see you. Telesa, my son is here come on out and greet him and then we need to go to dinner.”

Caltran watched as Telesa’s hand stuck out from under the machine and stabbed a knife into the ground. Soon the rest of her wiggled out from under the hydrator. She was not what Caltran expected. Her face was greasy and had a tattoo running down the side if her face. Her very short hair was tied to her head by a head cloth that she had wrapped like a very thin turban. She had a small, but strong build, and green eyes.

“Son huh,” she said with a heavy accent. “Good to meet you. Your parents talk about you almost non-stop.” She gave a slight bow.

Caltran was puzzled. While he was sure he had never met Telesa before, something did not seem right. But, he was on leave, and he did not worry about it, at least, not with his father standing right there.

“Let’s go in for dinner,” his father said, breaking the silence.

Dinner was relatively quiet. At least, Caltran did not say much. He let his mother do most of the talking. She seemed to feel it necessary to give Telesa his whole life story.

“And then, of course he became very upset, he didn’t want to give her up to the j¬—“

“Mother!” Caltran was standing. He had nearly upset the table. “Do NOT start in on this again! We do not need to hear my life story, or this family’s shame.”

“Son,” his father said, “there is no need to talk to your mother that way. And Taiyra was most certainly not a shame to this family.”

“That may be your opinion father, but it is not mine.”

“What would you have had us do?” His father protested? “We could not very well hide her from the Jedi, and eventually she would have been more than we could handle. What would you do; kill her?”

Caltran opened his mouth but no sound came out. He had no answer. Instead, Caltran left and went out back.

His parents watched him as he stormed outside.

“We apologize for that,” said Caltran’s mother, “I probably should have picked a different subject.”

Outside Caltran collapsed on the ground. He had never thought about what it might have been like if his sister had stayed. Would there have been a problem; would they have had to give her up anyway? What if the Jedi had just stolen her instead? At least they had asked.

Staring at the hydrator all taken apart in the garden, Caltran noticed that the knife Telesa had been using was still stuck in the ground. Caltran stretched over and yanked it out of the ground to examine it. Mulling it around, he realized why he was so comfortable with the knife. Caltran quickly turned the knife so he could see the blade. Etched on the blade in very small laser-precise writing, was exactly what he thought was there; the inscription he had put on his own knife. ‘No matter what, everyone will come home’

Caltran burst through the door with his sidearm pointed directly at Telesa. His mother gasped and ran to his father. Telesa stood up and moved away from the table and Caltran’s parents.

“Caltran what are you doing?” His father pleaded.

“Stay out of this,” Caltran snapped, “this has nothing to do with you.” Holding up the knife, Caltran pointed his sidearm directly at Telesa’s Chest.

“Where did you get this?”

“From you.” There was no accent anymore.

Caltran fired.

Part 9 - The Tooth of the Gundark

PART I - PART II - PART III - PART IV - PART V - PART VI - PART VII - PART VIII


THREE YEARS LATER

"We fell into a nest of gundarks," Obi-Wan said, wincing as Togaron removed the sticky bacta bandages from his back.

"We?" Anakin said from the next bed.

Obi-Wan chuckled. "All right, I fell in. Anakin jumped in to save me!" He smiled with pride at his apprentice.

"Well, the Force is with you today, we have a Jedi Healer on board." He finished hooking up Obi-Wan's medinfuser line and punched in a code on the regulator to administer a painkiller.

Obi-Wan eased his mental hold on his pain as the drug took effect, and felt around in the Force. "Traelyn?" He asked hopefully.

"Why, yes it is Traelyn," Togaron replied.

"Oh, no," Anakin groaned.

Togaron looked over at the boy. "Are you injured, Anakin?"

"No!" He said rather quickly.

"Yes, he is," Obi-Wan replied at the same time. "He's got scratches on his..."

"Master!" Anakin interrupted, "It's nothing, I don't need a doctor!"

"I'm afraid that's not up to you, Anakin," Obi-Wan replied.

He squirmed uncomfortably. "Really, Obi-Wan, it doesn't hurt."

"Obi-Wan? Obi-Wan Kenobi?" Togaron asked. "I feel as if I already know you. I'm Togaron Deljuur. I went to University with Traelyn!"

"Oh, of course, I know who you are! It's nice to actually meet you," Obi-Wan replied.

* * *

Traelyn was aboard the Republic Medical Relief Ship Dayden Star as a volunteer. A plague had broken out on Stlyuss, a small planet on the mid-rim, and doctors from all the Core Worlds had come to lend medical aid.

She was in the doctors' lounge, having a cup of stimcaf with Togaron's wife Baleen, another friend from medical school. She stopped talking in mid-sentence and looked off into the Force. "Obi-Wan?" She said quietly. Her commlink went off.

"Traelyn, there's a friend of yours on board, and he's injured. Can you come to Bay 12?"

"I'll be right there!" She said.

* * *

Approaching the medbay, she paused at the door as she heard Obi-Wan and Anakin arguing.

"Master, I don't want her to see my butt!"

"Anakin, she's a doctor, she's seen a lot of bare bottoms in her life."

"Well, she doesn't need to see mine. She's your friend; we're around her all the time. If you let her see yours, the next time we're having dinner with her she'll be thinking about it!"

Traelyn covered her mouth to stifle her giggle. She entered the room. "I heard there were a couple of Jedi in here causing trouble!"

"Come along, young man, we'll go into the next room," Togaron said. Anakin looked at Obi-Wan.

"Go ahead, Padawan, do as the doctor orders. And behave yourself!"

"Yes, Master." Anakin hopped off the bed and followed Togaron out of the room.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Sorry he's so difficult," he said. "I don't know what's gotten into him lately."

"Adolescence," Traelyn said wryly. "You look terrible!" She leaned over and kissed his forehead. She began to sponge off Obi-Wan's wounds, gently cleaning the dirt, dried blood and bacta away. She sent soothing, healing waves of the Force into his mind, and he sighed.

"Oh, that's nice," he murmured.

Togaron returned with a smile on his face. "The boy is fine, I bandaged him up and sent him off for a hot dinner. He can bunk with the younglings tonight."

"Obi-Wan, this is my friend Togaron from the University. Togaron, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, my oldest and dearest friend."

"We met," Togaron replied. "It's nice to put a face to a name."

Obi-Wan was growing drowsy from his medication. "You're not the man who tried to marry her, are you?" He asked.

"Obi-Wan! That painkiller is causing your tongue to work faster than your brain!"

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Togaron chuckled. "Don't be, it's the drugs talking, and no, it wasn't me, but I'm glad my wife didn't hear that question!"

Traelyn lifted the sheet and caught site of a nasty bite on Obi-Wan's hip and buttock. "Oh, my goodness!" She exclaimed.

"Be careful," Obi-Wan said. "Anakin thinks if see my bare bottom you'll have nightmares."

Traelyn laughed. "I'll be dreaming of nothing else. Togaron, have you ever seen a gundark bite before?"

"Not many gundarks on Coruscant, you know, or Alderaan either, for that matter. Oh, I see, nasty." He peered in closer. "There's something in there!"

Traelyn reached her hand out and a pair of tweezers flew into it. "How's the pain, Obi-Wan? I need to poke around down here!"

He sighed. "It's all right, I don't want any more medication. Do what you have to do."

Gently, she touched the edge of the bite and extracted a small, hard object from the wound. "It's a tooth!" She exclaimed.

Obi-Wan groaned. "No wonder it didn't want to let go!"

Togaron showed the tooth to Obi-Wan. "I think, my new friend, that you were fortunate to have had your back to the gundark!"

Obi-Wan chuckled and winked at Traelyn, and she flushed. "Men!" She muttered.

* * *

"You're not going to put me into a tank, are you?" Obi-Wan asked when she'd finished cleaning and suturing his wounds.

"You really should," she said.

"The tub is open," Togaron said.

"It won't be so bad, Obi-Wan, it's got an open top."

"All right," he said sleepily.

Traelyn accompanied him to the tank room, where two medics settled him into the bacta tub, securing his head above the surface with padded restraints. He sighed as the cool fluid bubbled into his wounds, and nodded off to sleep.

Traelyn put her hands on his forehead and eased him into a healing trance.

* * *

"Sorry to bother you, doctor, but your patient's vital signs are very low," Jennaea, the on-duty nurse, told Traelyn as she entered the tank room.

Traelyn took a look at the datapad. "No, that's normal. He's in a Jedi healing trance."

"Oh, I didn't know! I wouldn't have called you!"

"That's all right, I should have made a note of it. It's time for me to check him anyway," she yawned.

"I thought you were off the night shift," Jennaea commented.

"I was, but I was delivering a baby," she said with a smile.

Obi-Wan felt a tremble in the Force as she approached him, and he opened his eyes sleepily. She was wearing white surgical scrubs and ankle high athletic shoes, the type they wore in the Temple training rooms, except that these were bright pink.

He had a sudden flash of memory and he saw a tiny red haired girl, dressed in white overalls and pink booties, toddling across the nursery floor to fall into his lap, giggling. He chuckled.

"Obi-Wan?" She smiled at him. "What's so funny?"

Traelyn had only been two years old when he'd left the nursery, and she had no memory of them having lived there together. He was about to share the flashback with her when he decided to keep it to himself as his own private treasure.

"Your shoes," he said instead. "They're pink!"

"You like them?" She asked, as she sat down beside the tub and placed her feet up on the edge. "They're Talusian humbaba hide. I was thinking of getting some field boots made, maybe a matching utility belt!" She grinned at her own facetiousness.

He snickered. "I can't wait until you go before the council wearing those!" He closed his eyes for a few moments. "I'm still a little muddle-headed, I can't sense Anakin. Is he all right?"

"He's asleep. It's night, ship's time. He's bunking in with the younglings."

"Younglings?"

"We evacuated children and pregnant women from the planet. There's a terrible plague down there. The inoculation didn't work on me, so I can't go down to the surface. I spend my time up here treating runny noses and delivering babies."

"It's an important contribution," Jennaea said, as she fussed with Obi-Wan's monitor. "They're going to need all the healthy younglings they can get."

"May I get out of here?" He asked.

Traelyn released the restraints and he stood up, the sticky bacta fluid running down his body. He shuddered. "I hate this stuff!"

"I know, but your scratches are all but healed, and the bite is much better."

She handled him a towel, thinking he would cover himself with it, but he merely asked, "A shower?"

She nodded, and pointed to the nearby refreshers. "Go ahead, I'll get your bed ready. Jennaea, would you please find him a gown and a robe?"

Jennaea looked him over, admiringly, as he walked away towards the showers. "That's one fine specimen of a Jedi," she said with a smile.

Traelyn grinned. "The finest!"

* * *

Early the next morning, after a few more hours in a healing trance, Obi-Wan's wounds were nearly healed. But the deep puncture wounds of the gundark bite still concerned Traelyn.

As Obi-Wan dozed, she placed her hands on his bare hip and began channeling the healing powers of the Force through herself and into his body. She focused the Force waves into the depths of the wound, and slowly the cells began to knit together. It took all of her concentration, and she was not aware that Anakin had entered the room until she heard the snap-hiss of his lightsaber.

"Get your hands off my Master!" He said. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan said. "What do you think you're doing? Put your lightsaber away!"

'Master, she's got her hands on your..."

Traelyn looked up in a daze and blinked at the Padawan. "Anakin," she said calmly, "Be a dear one and go get me a cup of stimcaf, would you please? The doctors' lounge at the end of the hall."

"Go on," Obi-Wan said. 'You can apologize to Master Traelyn later!"

Anakin made a face, and turned and left the room, and the door slid closed behind him.

Traelyn and Obi-Wan laughed until their sides hurt.

* * *