Starcrossed: A Star Wars Fanfiction

Master and Apprentice

When Obi-Wan found his way back to the security hub, Captain Gryff had conveniently booked himself for yet another "confidential conference", and had instructed his men that if any certain Jedi came asking for him in the meantime, he unfortunately could not be troubled to oblige.

But Gryff's looming dread to face the Jedi again after betraying Eris to the Jeotians, was not the only lingering sense Obi-Wan picked up upon entering the forsaken security hub.

Obi-Wan stilled at the entrance of the hub. His instincts guiding his mindful attention to an object on the floor, hidden just out of sight near the holo-transmitter. An object that immediately stood out as alien to the various alert systems, security comlinks, control panels, and hanging stun blasters on the wall.

The echoes of his quiet boots being the only sound left in the hollow silence of the room, as Obi-Wan approached Eris's chance cube resting on the deck, having fallen out of her medical vest pocket during the aggression of her arrest.

The only keepsake left behind now from the mysterious medical lieutenant from nowhere.

Obi-Wan closed his hand safely around Eris's abandoned chance cube, caging it in the warmth of his palm.

But it was no longer just Eris's attachment for it that the Jedi sensed when examining the cube, but the strong bond it shared with another. 

A bond much like the tormented one Anakin had felt for his mother, after being forced to leave her behind in slavery on Tatooine. 

A bond so distinctly fixed, it brought Obi-Wan to a pause in wondering again why Eris's chance cube reminded him so much of the one his Master carried.

Could it be...that she and Master Jinn had once been acquainted, before his fatal duel with Maul on Naboo?

It was likely, Obi-Wan guessed, knowing how passionate Master Qui-gon had been about defending the planets in the outer rim who were neglected by the Galactic senate. 

But to what degree, and under what circumstances, had this bond grown much stronger than what one should expect from a Jedi and his duty to the galactic citizens he protects. 

So powerful were the feelings imprinted on this cube....that Obi-Wan remembered he'd sensed something like this in his master before. Those times he'd catch Qui-Gon alone and awake all night, observing the trailing comets and stars on nights when the galaxy burned its brightest. 

Bringing to mind an old forgotten memory of Master Qui-Gon sitting in meditative position across from a youngling, who appeared to be no older than 7 life-years. 

She was simply dressed in a taupe long sleeve, under a woolen sleeveless cropped jumper, and belted brown trousers with knee-length brown boots. Her long hair braided elegantly in twisting umber to her waist. There was no reason, at the time, to believe she wasn't just one of the many native children his master always found time to show a Force party trick or two. 

But Obi-Wan remembered this time feeling somewhat different.

Master Jinn held up a chance cube between them. 

"Now watch closely," he told the child, whose big hazel eyes followed the chance cube attentively.

The child straightened up her posture, crossing her legs to mirror Master Jinn's own meditative pose. 

And then Qui-Gon used the force to send the chance cube sailing in a slow arc until it lightly dropped into her waiting hands. 

'Now you try it,' he instructed her. 'Remember, concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Use your instincts. Are you ready?'