Anabeth: Spark Of Change

Chapter 4 - Waking Up

When the girl opened her eyes again she immediately experienced the familiar pain that went from her neck into her head again. After a brief moment of wondering where she was she remembered, her face starting to show annoyance as she huffed in defeat. She quickly sat up in the bed to check if the man and the togrutan were still there, not wanting to give them any potenial advantages.

As she spotted them sitting on the chairs once again, she gasped in shock as she realized that she should have been able to sense their presence the second she woke up. The girl tried to reach out through the force, her eyes filling with panic as she had to realize she had lost any connection she had with it. "What did you do?!" she hissed at the Jedi in the room with her.

"Please, try to calm down. You still have fever, a sign that your body is still in the middle of recovering, so you need to take it easy. But we'll be happy to answer any question you may have" Obi-Wan tried to talk to the girl. "What did you do to me?!" she simply repeated. They had clearly angered her and she wasn't about to calm down without beeing given an answer to her question.

"After you collapsed on Gandri I took you back to the Jedi Temple with me. We took out two memory suppressors that were implanted in your neck and disrupting some of your neural pathways. It was close, but we managed to help you just in time. To answer your question the way you probably meant it: After your little outburst when waking up the healer decided it would be best to inject you with a temporary force blocker. The effects should wear off within a few hours though, so don't worry" the Jedi Master explained.

Throwing the man a displeased glare the girl leaned back on the bed. Obi-Wan was a bit surprised, he had expected her to try to cause trouble again, but it seemed that she had instead come to the conclusion that trying to force her way out was not going to get her anywhere. However, a clear fear combined with a decent amount of anger and a great deal of confusion was radiating within the girl's force signature. He looked at Ahsoka who seemed to be less tense now that they had actually managed to keep her from snapping at them.

The girl's glare turned into a blank stare and it almost looked like she was contemplating how she had ended up in the situation she was in. Obi-Wan would have loved to be able to reach out to her to see what was on her mind right now, but the force blocker was sadly also preventing that.

The room was silent as the Jedi Master let the seconds pass, knowing full well the girl was too deep in thought to properly talk to them. "How about I'll go and get you some water?" he suggested, trying to take the girl's mind off whatever it was she was thinking about so that she would calm down. His plan worked as she briefly shifted her gaze from the wall to Obi-Wan. He understood it as her way of aproving his suggestion without having to put aside the stubborn pride she seemed to posess. As he got up and left the room he gave the clearly uncomfortable Ahsoka a reassuring look, basicly telling her to not try to engage the girl before he got back.

When Obi-Wan returned to the room barely a minute later the girl was still staring at the wall, however, she seemed more collected than before. As he approached her she finally turned her attention to him, grabbing the glass of water he was offering her. The girl looked sceptical and brought the glass  up to her nose to smell it, followed by her dipping a single finger into the water to also taste test it.

"We're not trying to poison you, you know?" Obi-Wan pointed out, a slightly amused smirk appearing on his face. "I'd rather come to that conclusion by myself" the she stated in response, her face still dead serious. "We'd like to help you, but to be honest, until now you have not made that an easy task" the Jedi Master admitted. "Help me?" the girl let out a dry laugh. "I'm not sure that is the smartest choice for you to make. If you knew who I am you'd probably be doing the exact oposite of helping me" she continued.

Both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka paid close attention as the girl seemed to realize that she had the advantage in this situation. The fear within her force signature was the lowest it had been since she woke up and her anger had also gone down substanstially. It seemed that she now was more annoyed with what was happening than anything else, as she got more confident, and arrogant, the second she had figured out they didn't know who she was. Her confusion still remained though. The Jedi really started to wish they hadn't given her the force blocker as they were eager to find out what the reason behind the girl's comfusion was.

"In that case, why don't you tell me who you are and I'll decide whether we made the right choice by helping you or not" Obi-Wan tried to get more information from the girl. "Now why would I do that? It would be giving away my advantage" she responded, almost toying with the Jedi Master. "We saved your life, I'm sure trusting us with a little piece of information is not going to hurt. How about we start off with you telling us your name?" he reasoned, hoping that a little diplomacy would go a long way in this case. The girl narrowed her eyes as she thought about her options in this situation before answering.

"Fine. My name is Anabeth Velar" she stated, looking at the Jedi which had warm, welcoming smiles on their faces now. It puzzeled Anabeth. She didn't understand why simply getting to know her name pleased them so much. "I'm Padawan Ahsoka Tano" the togrutan now introduced herself to her. She bowed her head sightly as a way to acknowledge this gesture of trust, before turning her head towards the man, obviously expecting him to tell her his name as well.

"I'm Master Obi-Wan Kenobi" he told her after briefly thinking about it. Anabeth's eyes widened slightly, anger and fear momentarily appearing again. "You're Obi-Wan Kenobi?" she asked in disbelief, recognizing the name from many years ago. "I am, did you expect someone different?" the Jedi Master responded, a little confused at the girl's reaction. "To be honest, I did" she answered truthfully. A feeling of doubt had clearly arisen within her now, but before Obi-Wan could get a hold of what it might be she had already brushed it off.

"Well, I hope I'm not too disappointing to you then" he tried to keep the conversation going. He almost felt like he was getting somewhere with now. Like Anabeth was finally showing the smallest hint of a little trust towards them. "On the contrary, I'm pleasently surprised" she replied. Even though she still seemed distant and cold towards them the truth in her words was enough to make Obi-Wan hope they might yet be able to get through to her.

Deciding that this was as far as he could go without loosing the slight progress he had made, Obi-Wan stood up from his chair. "I have some matters to attend to, but I'll return as soon as possible. In the mean times I will leave Padawan Tano with you and send in a healer to check up on you" he explained to Anabeth. "Unless of course you do not wish to recieve further treatment" he added, realizing that he could not preassure her into this. "It's fine" she agreed with a sigh. Obi-Wan had a feeling this was not actually what she wanted at that moment, but rather the fever and headache she obviously had getting the better of her. He wasn't about to talk to her about this matter though, so he simply bowed his head to her and Ahsoka to bid them goodbye. "Just call if you need anything" he added, looking at Ahsoka. "I will Master" she replied, bowing her head in respect as he turned and left the two girls alone in the room. It was up to Ahsoka now to keep Anabeth in check, a task that had sounded a lot easier back in the Council Chambers than it did now.