The usually serene Jedi Temple was in an uproar. It took the combined efforts of the Jedi Council and all the Knights currently in house to calm all the students, and that took until nearly evening. Once that had been accomplished, the Council began to gather facts.
Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn lay in the Healer's Wing, in one of the bacta tanks, seriously injured. By what and by whom, no one seemed to quite know yet. He was currently deep in a Healing trance as well, and the Healers refused to let him be brought out of it. "You may speak to him when he awakens," Theela said almost sternly to Mace Windu, member of the Council and friend of Qui-Gon. The tall black man nodded in his slow, deliberate manner. He was not intimidated by the healer, although the Hjem towered over him by a good head and shoulders, and could easily pick him up and bend him in half.
"Send us word if his condition changes."
"Of course, Master Windu," she said, and understood that he meant more than just when Qui-Gon woke from his trance.
Bant Eerin, a small Mon-Calamari girl, reported to her Master she'd been the one report Qui-Gon Jinn's condition. She had planned on meeting Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon's Padawan, after his workout, and was waiting in the hallway for him. He'd called to her from the training room. The Council immediately requested her presence, and she stood before them, her hands working nervously on the sleeves of her cloak, Tahl standing quietly behind her in support. Bant repeated what she'd said in a voice high and trembling, with nerves and worry over her friend. When pressed, she said Obi-Wan had been distraught and very unlike himself.
"What mean you?" Yoda asked gently.
Bant's hands gripped her sleeves, stilling their shaking for a moment. "There was a dark feeling in the room," she said, "but I couldn't pin point it. And I really didn't have time. Master Jinn looked pretty bad."
"Did you return with the Healers?" Mace asked. She swallowed nervously.
"Yes. I showed them where he was."
"Was Obi-Wan there?"
Bant paused and closed her eyes, and the Council felt her stretch out with the Force. Many of them nodded in approval when they realized what she was doing; using the observations she hadn't consciously noticed in the panic of reviving Qui-Gon Jinn. Then she looked at them again. "Yes, Master," she said.
"The dark feeling, was it gone?" Yoda asked.
"Mostly."
"What happened then?" Mace prompted. They had the Healer's story, of course, but another point of view could only help.
"The Healers pushed Obi-Wan away. I stood next to him for a while, but when they took Master Jinn from the training hall, Obi-Wan was not there. I did not notice him leave." She didn't try to hide her dismay.
"We will find him," Adi Gallia said gently, smiling when the girl looked her way. Bant nodded, and the Force around her calmed a little.
"Return to your quarters," Mace said gently, not wishing to alarm her more. "If you remember anything, do not hesitate to inform us."
Bant bowed and left the Council chamber, following her Master. They could see that her hands were still trembling as the two passed through the heavy doors.
"Find the Padawan we must," Yoda said, once the doors had closed behind her. "Know something important he may."
Mace nodded. "I'll check his quarters." He stood up, unable to account for the chill that pressed into his bones. Yoda nodded at him, and the small Master quickly became the center of a maelstrom as the Council named or requested assignments to help search the Temple. Even as he left, he could hear comm units being activated and many of the resident Knights and Masters assigned to various areas of the large building to search.
The common area of Qui-Gon's quarters were, as always, neat. Obi-Wan's room looked as if a tornado had gone through it. Clothes, books and datapads lay scattered across every surface of the room except the sleep couch. Lying spread out in a vaguely familiar pattern was Obi-Wan's lightsaber, taken to pieces and... His breath caught. Familiar pattern indeed; he had no idea why the Padawan would know it. The boy was offering up his lightsaber to be destroyed. He stepped from the chaos, across the short hallway and into Qui-Gon Jinn's room. He would not touch that lightsaber. What happened to it was entirely up to the boy's Master.
The other room was neat, which was not a surprise. Qui-Gon's lightsaber lay on his bedside table. It meant one thing, at least; Obi-Wan had returned it to their quarters. Otherwise, the Master's lightsaber would either still be in the training hall or with Qui-Gon. There was no sign, no feeling in the Force that the Padawan was still there, so he returned to the Council Chambers. The maelstrom there had calmed, but the tension in the Force had not. Saesee Tiim and Ki-Adi-Mundi had remained, but even they looked tense, comm units held close by for quick reporting. Yoda looked as calm as he ever did.
"Obi-Wan is not in his quarters," Mace reported, and the worry he was beginning to feel was reflected in Yoda's eyes. "He left his lightsaber there; wherever he has gone, he is without it." He would tell Yoda the condition of the Padawan's lightsaber in private.
"Worrisome this is," Yoda said, and Mace could see from his expression that the small being knew he had more to tell. The tall man nodded.
"Yes. Where might they need help looking?" he asked, and when he was told, he went. He felt much like many of the other Council members. He may not be of much help, but he would go crazy waiting for news.
Other reports began filtering in, almost all of them without word of the missing apprentice, some through comm units, others as the Council returned, one by one, to their seats. One of the last, brought in by Depa Billaba, reported that one of the mechanics had seen a boy about the right size and age get on a transport to the main space port.
The Council was quiet for a moment. Yoda closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he sighed. "Gone the Padawan is from the Temple. Find him quickly we should."
Within an hour, assignments had been given, those Jedi in the field had been given an alert to watch for him, and the Council called in many of the students Obi-Wan's age and younger to be questioned about anything they might have seen or felt.
Before long, however, the first report came back that Obi-Wan was not in the space port. If he'd been there, he'd left already.
Mace and Yoda exchanged glances. The boy had disappeared.
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