SCARS

by ardavenport

#### Part 3

Barefoot and stripped down to his pants, Obi-Wan pulled his undertunic up over his head.

The door opened.

"Qui-Gon, what are you doing?!"

Hastily pulling the fabric down again, Obi-Wan found himself facing an irate Master Tahl, her long pale scar standing out on her dark golden skin, his mask less than a hands-length away from the tall woman's chest.

He backed up a pace. "Nnnn-uuuhh-eeehh-eeerrr." He had worked out how to make sounds without moving a single muscle on his face, but his speech was unintelligible and it made Bant giggle when he tried.

"What?" Tahl advanced on him, her curving bosom coming quite a bit closer than he was comfortable with. "What are you saying? What's wrong with you?" Her hand came up, palm slapping on the plastoid mask, one finger curling into an eye-hole, a long nail almost poking him in the eye.

"Aaai-oons iiiinnnaaah eeeehhheeerr!"

Tahl stopped, now both hands on his mask, her eyes staring upward in puzzlement. He froze, fearful that she might tug on it to figure out what it was. He could not make himself understood without the comp screen laying on the bunk, but it was useless anyway. She was blind. It was the worst possible combination.

"Tahl!" Qui-Gon stood in the open door of the fresher.

He was completely naked. But Obi-Wan supposed it did not matter. Tahl was still completely blind.

"Take your hands off his face, Tahl. Obi-Wan is still recovering from his injuries," he commanded.

Tahl's hands pulled back as if her fingers had touched fire.

Qui-Gon advanced, large and menacing toward his fellow Master and a close friend to her since they were Initiates. "I trust you have a very good reason for this intrusion."

She took only a second to recover her own anger. "I've heard that you have taken on a second Padawan while I was gone, Master Qui-Gon."

"If you are referring to Bant, then I hardly think that including her in Obi-Wan's healing makes her a second Padawan. Especially since you left her here after she proved herself perfectly capable of dealing with the Lurimee."

Obi-Wan backed away. This was worse than the hatred back at the Lurimee Embassy, because this was between two people knew and cared for.

"You do not have the right - - "

"Not here, Tahl!" Qui-Gon's shout filled the small room and made even Tahl flinch. Her face jerked in Obi-Wan's direction.

"I'll be outside." Her eyelids flicked down and up. "And put some clothes on." She left.

How did she know? Obi-Wan did not dare voice the question as his outraged Master hastily put on a minimum of clothing and threw his robe on over that. "Stay here, Obi-Wan." Then he was gone.

The anger and conflict left with him, but the upset remained. Tahl was angry that Qui-Gon had been instructing Bant without her permission. Qui-Gon was angry that Tahl had left Bant behind. They had taken their fight away from him, but Bant was still in the middle of it.

Poor Bant.

His eyes went to the comp screen on his bunk.

He had to warn her.

Grabbing the screen and his robe, he left the room. Covering his head with his hood and tip-toeing down the corridors of the med unit in his slippers, peeking around every corner, he got away without being seen. This late, Bant would be in her room. He passed very few Jedi on his way and none of them paid any attention to a small robed figure passing through the halls late at night.

Reaching her door, he pressed the chime. Then he pressed it again. Then he went inside; the door was not locked. Bant stood shocked in the middle of the modest and steamy room. Thankfully, she was covered with a long night shift and not naked.

"Obi-Wan! You shouldn't be here!"

He held up the screen and the message he had written on the way.

TAHL HAS RETURNED. SHE IS ANGRY AT QUI-GON AND THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT IT.

'Talking' was really not the right term for the words the two Masters must be exchanging, but he did not want to make it sound any worse than he had to for Bant.

Her eyes moistened and Obi-Wan was sure it was not from the humid atmosphere.

"It's my fault. I should not have accepted Qui-Gon's offer."

NO. YOU WERE NOT WRONG. TAHL SHOULD NOT HAVE LEFT YOU BEHIND.

She shook her head, her silvery eyes tragic and miserable. "She is my Master, Obi-Wan. I should have obeyed her instructions. I knew she might be displeased. I should have at least asked her permission."

TAHL SHOULD NOT HAVE LEFT YOU BEHIND. TAHL IS WRONG.

Obi-Wan had told Qui-Gon when he was wrong or did something stupid. It was not easy, but he did it. Why couldn't Bant do the same with Tahl?

PLEASE. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT.

She shook her head and clutched her arms to her body, accepting her guilt. "You need to go back to the med center."

He shook his head. He shook the screen as if he could force the meaning of his words into her. She reached up and gently lay her hands over his and lowered the screen. "I'll go with you."

Still shaking his head, he turned with her toward the door.

It opened.

"Bant." Tahl entered. Bant flinched and backed up a pace, but Obi-Wan took a position between her and her Master.

Tahl stopped. "Who's there?" Her hand reached out. Her fingertips touched the mask, brushed over his wounded cheek and down under the mouth hole. With a little gasp, she pulled back, her eyes wide with surprise. He took a step closer, planting his feet firmly before her.

Her hand pressed over her chest, she tilted her head down toward him. She reached out, her hand finding a wall com.

"Qui-Gon, come to Bant's room immediately. You need to see something." She clicked off before he could answer. Then she folded her arms into the sleeves of her robe, her eyes half closed, immobile and waiting for Qui-Gon's arrival.

Bant looked miserable and fearful. He went to her and put his arm around her small shoulders, her sweet and salty scent close. She did not pull away. Tahl's face twitched when he did it, but she did nothing else.

Soon, the door chime sounded and Tahl reached out a long arm to the wall controls again. In robe, pants and undertunic (and no boots) Qui-Gon strode in and stopped, his mouth opening in surprise.

After tapping out a quick change, Obi-Wan held up his comp screen. Next to him, Bant lowered her eyes in shame.

TAHL SHOULD NOT HAVE LEFT BANT BEHIND. TAHL WAS WRONG. PLEASE. IT IS NOT BANT'S FAULT.

Qui-Gon's expression saddened as he stared at the words that Tahl could not see until she finally broke the silence.

"Please take your Padawan back, Master Qui-Gon. Unlike you, I do not wish to have two of them."

Qui-Gon's eyes closed for a moment as if stricken. He straightened and turned to face his fellow Jedi.

"I am going to speak to Master Yoda. Now. You may join me if you wish."

"The Council will not support you - - "

His hand shot out, his fingers covering her mouth and surprised she just as quickly batted his arm away.

"Your Padawan is afraid of you, Master Tahl. I must inform the Council immediately."

Tahl gasped, shocked at the accusation. Not waiting for an answer, Qui-Gon went to the door pausing only to address the two Padawans.

"Bant, please escort Obi-Wan back to the med unit."

"Qui-Gon, I - - "

Turning his back on Tahl, Qui-Gon left.

"Qui-Gon, wait - - " The door closed behind her.

The two Padawans stood together in their mutual uncertainty. The charge that Qui-Gon would bring to Master Yoda was a violation of the Jedi Code. It could mean Tahl being removed as Bant's Master.

She looked up at him. "I'm not afraid of her. I'll tell them that. I want Tahl to be my Master. I don't want them to take her away."

Obi-Wan remembered when he was in danger of losing Qui-Gon, through his own mistakes and worse, after he rejected his Master for what he had thought were noble reasons at the time only to discover later what a ruinous mistake it was. He did not want anything like that to happen to Bant. She did not deserve it. He hugged her small thin body and she wrapped her arms around his neck and silently clung to him for a while.

Eventually, Obi-Wan felt the sweat building up under his robe in the humidity of her room and she loosened her grip.

"I'll take you back." He nodded and they left together.

### ### ### ### ### ###

Obi-Wan lay awake for a long time. How could he sleep when Bant's future was in such peril? He heard Qui-Gon enter their shared room in the med center but he lay still, his eyes closed. Heavy fabric rustled as his Master put away his robe and then disappeared inside the fresher.

His thoughts chased themselves inside his head as he lay there in the darkened room. Would Tahl still be Bant's Master. If not, what would happen to Bant? What would happen to Tahl?

Qui-Gon's footsteps returned. They stopped between the two bunks, the big man standing alone.

"Tahl will remain Bant's Master. Bant will improve her own healing meditations with Winna Di Uni and Tahls' guidance. Such training is impossible to do without revealing and sharing one's own scars and weaknesses. And Tahl has many scars," he softly said. "Touching them is painful and Tahl fears revealing them, even to her own Padawan. She is not as strong as she thinks and Bant is stronger than she knows. We will speak of it in the morning."

He climbed into his bunk and lay still, but Obi-Wan was quite sure that his Master lay awake for a long time with him.

### ### ### ### ### ###

"Please remain still."

Obi-Wan had not moved a particle since the last time Zee-Zee-Ten had told him that. The mask was off. Only the last layer of bandages remained and then the droid peeled that away. Air touched his skin. It felt wonderful, as good as a fresh cool breeze outside on a planet with hill and trees. The droid's padded digits touched his cheek; sensors hummed over him.

"Please, sit up now." Blinking his eyes open, Obi-Wan, pushed himself up as the upper end of the examination table elevated as well. His tongue was finally free and he poked it out of his lips as the droid smoothed a waxy lotion on them. Obi-Wan finally saw everything with his eyes alone and not through the eyeholes of the mask. He felt as if he had been released from a prison or a cage.

Qui-Gon stepped forward, and smiling, held up a mirror. Obi-Wan touched his face. There was a wide pinkish band down his slightly swollen face to his upper lip, but there were no lines and the skin under his questing fingertips was smooth. There would be no scars. He grinned.

Obi-Wan drew back in shook.

The gaping black space where his three upper teeth were growing (and sore) was still there. He swallowed. He would keep his mouth shut as much as he could until they were grown back.

Qui-Gon chuckled. Grinning, Bant emerged from behind him. "No scars. You are pretty again, Obi-Wan."

He ducked away from the undignified praise, sure he was blushing and Qui-Gon chuckled again as he helped him down. He had no trouble standing and Qui-Gon only laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, Bant, he is very pretty. I had not noticed before."

"Prettier than his Master," Tahl commented, stepping forward from the wall. Her hand lifted and touched his beard trailing down to the long brown hair on his shoulder before taking it away. "And not nearly as hairy."

Tahl looked calm and confident and Obi-Wan burned to know what had happened with her and Qui-Gon and Master Yoda the night before. But he knew that whatever had transpired between the Masters was something that would not be shared with Padawans. Tahl seemed at peace and Bant was certainly happy. And that was what mattered.

"M-master?" Obi-Wan cleared his throat after Bant and Tahl left. He had not talked for a few days and he needed to get back into practice. "Will they be all right? The Council won't take Tahl away from Bant, will they?"

Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows. "No. The Council will not take Bant away from Tahl. But I doubt that this single crisis will entirely smooth the way for them. Tahl's deepest scars are all on the inside and they are the most difficult to heal." His eyes went to the doorway when they had departed. "But if anyone can help them heal, Bant is most capable." He sighed and then clapped his hands together, his mood completely changing.

"But for now, we have very important business, now that you are free of the mask and the med unit." His eyes twinkled and Obi-Wan wondered what was coming, but it turned out to be something that he had been missing terribly for days.

"I believe it is time for first meal. And since Zee-Zee-Ten has cleared you for solid food and neither of us has eaten, I thought that we might make that our first task of the day."

Finally! Food! REAL food! Obi-Wan grinned broadly. Then he shut his mouth and put his hand over it and his exposed and barely emerging teeth, as if he had belched loudly in a quiet room. Qui-Gon laughed.

Grabbing his robe and putting it on with the hood up over his head, he nodded his approval. "Yes, Master."

### ### END ### ###

Note: This story first posted on tf.n on 7-April-2014.

Disclaimer: All characters and the Star Wars universe belong to Disney and Lucasfilm; I am just playing in their sandbox.