The cabin the Ambassador had set up for them was just big enough for two people. The main room, no bigger than the common room in his quarters in the Temple, held a table under the large picture window next to the door, with enough chairs for four people. The door opened into the kitchenette on one side of the room against the wall. On the wall across from the kitchen was a large fireplace, with a couch in front of it. Next to it, stairs led to a loft, open except for curtains used to block the light from the window. Beneath the loft were two doors; one led to the ‘fresher, the other to a large bedroom. The whole building was done in dark wood, looking rustic, and reminded Obi-Wan of the weeks spent in solitude with Qui-Gon after his third repudiation and subsequent collapse. He pushed the thought from his mind.
The bedroom was furnished with a double bed of two mattresses and thick coverlets. A door connected this room to the same ‘fresher, and another door, at the back of the room, led to a small porch outside. He checked it; it was locked. Obi-Wan smiled at Regina's awed stare as he dropped her bag at the foot of the bed and indicated the dresser beneath the stairs. "You can put your clothes there."
Upstairs was simple and plainly furnished. There was a window on the back wall, and the sleep couch stood under it. A smaller dresser leaned against the wall opposite the stairs. Large, thick curtains hung open across the loft edge, and from there, Obi-Wan had sight of the main room. He sighed, and turned back to the dresser, filling it with his clothes.
It was strange at first, being away from everyone, odd to be wearing normal clothes that didn't mark him as different in some way. It wasn't just that, he realized. Regina seemed to be avoiding him, walking on the other side of the road when they went into the small village to replenish their supplies. She hadn't exactly hidden from him, but it had taken him longer to find her than it should have before dinner once, and it had scared him.
"What's wrong?" he asked her gently one night. They'd been in hiding for a week now, and this distance was disturbing. The week had started well, but had then degenerated. She glared at him and didn't answer. "Regina, please. The villagers think I'm trying to do something to you."
"You are!" she burst out. "You're trying to take the place of my brother!"
Obi-Wan paused, confused for a moment. "Is that what you think? How you feel?"
"Yes!" She sounded close to tears.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean for you to feel that way, and I know your father didn't mean for you to feel that way. I know this is hard on you," he went on. "I'm a little nervous about this whole thing, too. But I will keep you safe, I promise. Maybe not as good as your brother," he teased lightly, "but I will."
She smiled slightly and seemed to relax. "Do you think we'll hear from father soon?"
He smiled as well, understanding her concern. "Yes. He's scheduled to contact us tomorrow."
So life continued, evenly paced for the most part, with the occasional blowup, typical of an eight year old girl. They rose when they woke up, ate, and spent most of the morning with Regina's school work. She didn't like working on it, but he persisted, and it gave them both something to do besides worry about her parents and her siblings. The afternoons they didn't expect communications from her family, they went out and explored, some of it more of her school work, often to make sure she knew how to get away from the cabin and how to get to a hiding place without being seen or tracked.
But slowly, the communications from her father began to shorten, to come late or at unexpected times, and Obi-Wan began to get really worried. Although the children had been removed from the house, the slavers had been repelled and the Ambassador was still at home. Or had been. Obi-Wan didn't know what the break in communications meant. He had at least four ways out of the cabin for Regina, places for her to hide, but this lack of communication made him distinctly nervous.
Regina picked up on his unease and began jumping at shadows. As soon as he saw that, Obi-Wan calmed himself down. ‘This is why you are apprenticed,' he thought to himself. ‘To keep from getting out of control.' He took a deep breath, centered himself, and took the girl's hand. She flinched. "What's wrong?" he asked gently.
"Are we sure it's safe here?" she asked.
Obi-Wan regarded her solemnly. "Yes. Because I don't think your father would find a place for you that wasn't safe."
She relaxed marginally. "So you think they won't find us?"
He paused. "I think that if they do, we'll be able to get out without them knowing where we went," he said.
"You don't think they'll get us?"
"No," he said firmly. "I don't." I can't, he thought, and took another deep breath.
She regarded him silently for a long time. "Do you think they'll call tonight?" she asked.
He glanced at the com link on the table. They'd been in hiding for a couple of months, and hadn't heard anything from anyone in nearly two weeks. "I don't know," he said. As a child he'd never been lied to, even if the truth had been hard for him to hear. Qui-Gon had never lied to him, either. He'd been raised to speak the truth, and he couldn't stop it. And he found he didn't want to. He was not ready to dishonor his Master's memory. "I hope so." He took a deep breath and tried to think of something to distract her with. "What say you we see if I can beat you at Bacqueri?"
She went to bed a while later, bouncing in self satisfaction. Of course, the fact that she had once again defeated him at a childhood game he was just barely beginning to understand the rules of didn't hurt her feelings a bit. He went upstairs to the loft, but lay awake on his sleep couch for a long time. There were small disturbances in the Force, warnings that something was about to happen, and he strengthened his shields. It seemed to be the best thing to do.
He'd barely dozed off when he heard the front door open. Grabbing his staff, he rolled off his sleep couch and padded on bare feet to the edge of the loft, nervous that they had found him - and had managed to sneak up on him. A tall man stood in the shadows in front of the door, out of sight of the large front window, holding still as if listening. Mindful of the girl he was to protect and carefully gathering the Force about him, Obi-Wan swung down to land before her door, the staff telescoping out to its full length.
Almost immediately, the intruder was illuminated by a green lightsaber, and Obi-Wan's heart leapt into his throat as he recognized the face. Had it been so long that he'd forgotten he was being hunted by two different kinds of hunters? This what the Force had been trying to tell him. "Master J-Jedi," he stuttered, trying to keep the Jedi from knowing he'd been recognized, and Obi-Wan straightened as the staff collapsed again. "I was not informed that you would be arriving."
It took all of his will not to strengthen the block on his training bond. His nearly shoulder-length hair, unbound for sleep, hung half over his face, and the Padawan braid that would give him away was tucked into his shirt, in case of a nocturnal interruption. He hoped it was enough. He quickly adopted the stance of a local boy he'd been studying on their trips into town; if nothing else, it would make him look less like a Jedi.
"You did not expect me?" Qui-Gon Jinn's familiar accent hit him with almost a physical blow, and he had to pause to pull his thoughts back together.
"No. We have heard nothing for some time now." He'd been working on sounding like a local, and hoped he'd succeeded at least a little bit. Enough at least that his Master wouldn't know him.
The Jedi's head tilted as if listening for something, dark eyes fixed on Obi-Wan's. Then he shook his head and went on. "Regina is the only one not in our custody; the others are either on Coruscant or on their way. We'll have to hurry; I don't know how close the slavers are." The stress in his voice was something Obi-Wan knew well. The slavers were right behind him.
"Where's your ship?"
"In the field behind the house, against the trees."
Obi-Wan turned. He knew the place. "Wait here," he tossed over his shoulder as he opened the door and moved into the dark room where Regina slept. He gently woke her. "A Jedi is here to take you to safety," he told her.
"Where to?" she asked sleepily. He handed her a robe and she shrugged into it, and then pushed her feet into her shoes.
"Probably Coruscant. I don't know, I didn't ask him."
"Are you coming?"
"No. I will stay and guard your back. If they come in the front door, I can make them think you are still here."
"The Ambassador wishes you to join him as well," Qui-Gon said from the doorway.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "That won't be possible." He hadn't clashed wills with his Master since the beginning of his apprenticeship, at least not like this. "You can protect her better than I, and if they did follow you, I can give you some time to escape."
The Jedi hesitated, glancing behind him through the large window on the front of the cabin. Obi-Wan knew what that meant, too. The slavers were much closer than he'd originally thought.
"Please come with me," Regina said quietly.
"I can't." He didn't dare tell her why, how he was afraid that if Qui-Gon saw him in the light, he'd recognize his Padawan. He couldn't let that happen yet, not while he could still do some good. "Bug him for stories. I bet he has a few." He hugged her gently. "Now go, and quietly."
"I can't...."
A light flashed through the window, and Qui-Gon went silent, stiffening. "There's a back door," Obi-Wan told him in a whisper. "Hurry."
He followed them, locking the back door behind them, then ran to the main room, closed and locked the bedroom door, and set his back against it. They were coming for her, probably furious, and he had to delay them. He grit his teeth and waited.
He didn't have long.
The staff was made of a light alloy that deflected laser blasts nearly as well as his lightsaber had. He was glad the grip was insulated or his hands would have burned before he was in the fight long. He could hear their shouts of anger and frustration as he used their own fire to block their way in, but eventually they did get through the door and the window. He fought almost coldly, blocking laser blasts and punches with equal grace, determined to give Qui-Gon as long as he could to get out. But the numbers of his opponents kept growing, and he was getting desperate. Hoping his Master was far enough away, he began using the Force actively, pushing the slavers away from him when there were too many. Some of them began coming from the loft, and he was getting tired. But he had to make them think Regina was behind that door he was guarding.
Then there was a shout in the room behind him and he knew he was out of time. Before he could even think of getting away, the door burst open, shoving him into the men that encircled him. He lost the staff in the following scuffle. Before long, they had him pinned down on his knees, arms twisted behind him.
"Where is the girl?" one asked.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath. From body guard to slave in three months. Had to be a record. He started to answer, then changed his mind. Give them time, he thought, and glared up at the man before him.
"We can make you talk," the man said, and smiled. "Open that staff again. And get some rope."
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