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.

* * *