Qui-Gon Jinn woke slowly, eyes opening to see high, vaulted ceilings shaded for a very soothing effect. Sunlight, dimmed by a thin, darker piece of transteel, fell across his medical couch and spilled onto the floor on the other side. He blurrily recognized that he was in the Healer's Wing before a hand pressed onto his aching head and eased the pain of which he hadn't consciously been aware. With some effort, he looked around to find the person that belonged to the hand, and finally his gaze fell on the Healer who stood by his bed. "Welcome back, Knight Jinn," she said softly.
"Hello," he said, and his voice scratched his throat.
"Get some water," the Healer said to a girl who stood at the door. "And have Senior Healer Ashthoret notify Masters Yoda and Windu that Knight Jinn is able to see them now."
The girl nodded and was gone. "Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon managed to croak.
"Stay quiet," the Healer said gently. "All will be explained."
He shook his head, struggling to sit up. "I have to find..." Almost immediately, pain lanced through his left side, leaving him breathless.
The Healer pressed him back onto the couch. "Master Jinn, if you do not lay still, I will have to sedate you again, and you will have to wait longer for your explanation."
He stared up at her, jaw set in determination, but her eyes did not allow him any space to move. With a sigh, he relaxed, hissing in vexation as his side twinged again. He waited in waning patience, sipping at the water the girl had brought back with the news that Yoda was on his way.
Finally, Yoda appeared in the doorway and stumped slowly toward Qui-Gon. "How feel you?" he asked once he'd settled on the edge of the bed.
"Sore," Qui-Gon admitted. "Worried." Speaking no longer hurt his throat quite so badly.
"Worried?" Yoda echoed.
"My Padawan. Is he all right?"
Yoda sighed and his ears drooped. "Sure we are not," he said. "Understand what happened exactly, we do not."
Qui-Gon's stomach dropped to somewhere around his ankles, and an unfamiliar panic filled him. "Obi-Wan didn't tell you? What happened to him?"
"Find him we cannot. Hope we do that his training bond he has not broken."
Qui-Gon closed his eyes, tried to reach out, and gasped. "I can't tell," he said, looking at Yoda again when he could open his eyes through the pain. "My head hurts too badly." It was a strangely familiar pain, but he was unable to recognize it right now.
"Hit it hard you did, the Healers say," Yoda said. "Wait until you are better, we must. Try again you should not until allow it the Healers do."
"Yes, Master."
Apparently satisfied, the diminutive Master left the room.
Qui-Gon had no intention of waiting that long. As soon as the headache had passed, he tried again, reaching through the bond with Obi-Wan to try to find the boy. But each time he tried, the headache came back, worse than before, and he never seemed to get past the borders of his own mind. He collapsed back onto the medical couch in the Healer's Wing with a sigh and threw his arm over his eyes, trying to cut down on the pain in his head.
"You tried again, didn't you."
He squinted up at Theela, wincing at the light that hurt his eyes, and at the anger on her face. "I have to find him," he said weakly.
Her hand dislodged his arm as she pressed it to his forehead, and he let it fall to his side again. "Qui-Gon," the healer said severely, "I don't know what happened, but this pain is not from the slight bump on your head. You need to rest to let it dissipate, and if you keep trying to find your Padawan, it will only make it worse. You've noticed that, I assume?"
"Yes," he whispered. "But if it's not from the bump, then what is it from?"
He knew the answer before she could say anything. "It's a bomb," he murmured, angry now, and not a little surprised. "Someone got through my shields and laid a bomb." How had that person gotten through his shields? His eyes narrowed under Theela's hand, and he reached on purpose now, stretching through the bond to find Obi-Wan. He heard a sudden, soft click and the pain retreated, settling in his right temple. "There," he said in some satisfaction before Theela gave him a sleep suggestion he couldn't resist.
When he woke, she sat by his bed. "You are the most infuriating patient I've ever had," she said. "Even worse than your Padawan. How's your head?"
"Better," he told her.
"Good." She stood up, towering over him even more now than she did when he was standing. "If I hear of you doing anything like that again, I'll keep you asleep for a week. Understood?"
"I have to find him."
"Wait until I say you can try, or sleep for a week. I can assure you that if you wait like a good little Jedi Master, it'll be a lot shorter than a week."
He scowled at her. "I will wait."
"I will know," she warned him, and he nodded shortly. She probably would.
So he fidgeted in frustration for three days, kept in the Healer's Wing for observation, until Theela said he was well enough to try again.
But when he tried, he got nothing. Eyes wide in surprise, he sat up, closed his eyes, and reached...
Nothing. It was like hitting a wall. The bond was not broken - he knew what that felt like, thanks to Xanatos - but he could not reach Obi-Wan. Worry flooded him. Was his Padawan hurt? There was no dark feeling at the other end. There was simply nothing. He sighed and slumped a little. This was a mystery, and he was too tired to figure it out on his own. He needed someone else's wisdom, and that frustrated him more than he really wanted to think about. He continued to try to reach for Obi-Wan, coming up against that wall again and again.
"Found him have you?" Yoda asked later that day, perched comfortably on the edge of Qui-Gon's bed.
"No. I think he's blocked me."
Yoda's ears pricked. "Blocked you he has?"
"I think so." I hope so, he added silently. He didn't want to think about what it meant if Obi-Wan hadn't blocked him; there wasn't much that could block the Master/Padawan bond. He didn't really want to think about what it meant if his Padawan had blocked him, either.
"Hm." Yoda hesitated, and then sank down a little. "News, we may have," he said. "Master He'grath thought he saw Obi-Wan on Pervan. Taught him well you have, to hide and move unnoticed."
Qui-Gon touched his temple. "I didn't teach him to block me." Then he took a deep breath. "I have to find him."
"Granted," Yoda said, as if he'd asked.
It surprised Qui-Gon a little; he'd been getting ready for a battle. "Master Yoda?"
Yoda nodded. "Distracted you will be, if let you go I do not. Work to do you still have," Yoda warned. "On missions you will still go. But between them, look for your Padawan you may. Others also search," he added as Qui-Gon opened his mouth to protest. "Needed your expertise is." He fixed a stern eye on the Knight. "Go you will not until the Healers allow it," he said firmly.
Qui-Gon nodded. He'd won what he wanted. He could wait a little to accomplish it.
He was released that day and sent back to his quarters to rest. The rooms felt empty, emptier than they did even when Obi-Wan was off with his friends. Almost hesitantly, mindful of the promise he'd made years ago, he stepped into Obi-Wan's room to see if there was something that would give him a hint about where the boy had gone.
He saw the lightsaber at once.
The casing was empty, the various components set out around it. The crystal, a deep blue sapphire he'd introduced to Obi-Wan, lay sparkling in sunlight from the window. Qui-Gon reached out to brace himself on the wall, then sank to the floor in disbelief, a low moan escaping him. He understood the implications, what this meant. Obi-Wan was turning his life, his affiliation with the Jedi, everything he was to his Master for destruction. Qui-Gon reached over the bond again in some panic, trying to find his Padawan, trying to break through the block between them.
He couldn't do it. Either someone was blocking Obi-Wan with more strength than Qui-Gon currently possessed, or his Padawan was blocking him on his own. He wasn't sure which he hoped was the case.
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