Before - Legends To You - - A Qui-Gon/Tahl Romance in Short Installments, JA, AU - COMPLETE - We Live - 17-Sept-2007

Title: To You
Author: ardavenport
Timeframe: pre-Episode I, pre-TPM, JA, AU
Genre: drama, romance
Characters: Tahl, Qui-Gon, Bant, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Jedi
Keywords Tahl, JA, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Jedi, the Force
Summary: Qui-Gon was captured and held prisoner on New Aposlon in Jedi Apprentice #14, #15. Now Tahl deals with the aftermath.
Notes: This is a little experiment in style for me, first person and told in short installments.
And: typo is my middle name, with missing words and errors that spell checkers don?t catch being my speciality ? if you see any, just post a reply or send a PM with the what and where and I will kill them with no mercy.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to George and Lucasfilm; I?m just playing in their sandbox



//^^\\v//^^\\v//^^\\_ He Lives _//^^\\v//^^\\v//^^\\


They finally let me into the room.

'His vital signs are dropping,' the doctor said. But he is only a doctor.

One of the medical people leads me in, but I push the arm away when I know we are close. I reach out and my hands touch the padded edge of a diagnostic table. Then I find him. The skin of his arm is cold and I cannot stop the sudden fear inside me. I brush past sensors and tubes and find his hair and face.

I am close enough to feel his breath on my lips. It is so faint. My fingers touch his mouth.

"Qui-Gon. . . ."

'The damage is severe,' the doctor said. Now I can feel it as I had not, as I would not hear in their voices when they finally came after working so long on him.

I feel his head move a tiny bit. He is weak. His great strength is gone, drained from him by the evil device he was imprisoned in for so long. It took so long to find him and the treachery in our midst. The betrayers are undone, but Qui-Gon . . . . there seems so little left of him.

"Tahl. . . ." he breathes. "I could not go without seeing you again."

"Stay," I plead. I have never begged for anything as I do now. "You came to me and told me my own feelings when I did not know them myself. You cannot go now." My eyes sting with tears. I press my forehead to his and they fall on him. "I pledge myself to you, Qui-Gon. You must stay."

I take everything I have inside me, my love, the Force, my own breath and I will it into him. It seems so small compared to the great strength that has always been Qui-Gon. There is so little left now that my blind eyes weep freely. There must be more. Just a little bit more. Just enough.

I feel movement and I know he feels what I feel. My hand goes to his chest; I search for the life left within him. He breathes in.

"Stay," I beg. "Please."

He breathes out.

He breathes in again.

It is a small motion of his body. But it is enough. His skin is wet and warmed under my tears.

He breathes out.

He breathes in.

I am frozen in place, breathing with him. I dare not move. Nothing else exists except for this. There is nothing else for a very long, long time. The Force is faint in him, but it stays.

Eventually there is motion around us. Medical sounds and then hands and voices. I will not be moved and the others move past me.

"Tahl?" The voice has been calling to me and I can no longer ignore it. "Please, the doctors need to put in a breathing tube. Let them help him." It is Qui-Gon's Padawan, Obi-Wan.

I lift my head and he pulls me away, his hands on my shoulders. I am startled when my hand no longer touches Qui-Gon's chest but Obi-Wan grabs my wrists; his grip is gentle but strong. Obi-Wan is so much bigger then I recall, almost man-sized. When did this happen?

"Tahl, please. They need to help him now." The voices of the medical people are no longer muffled. They have become efficient again amidst the beeps and buzzes of their machines. There are still doubts among them, but I know. . . .

. . . .Qui-Gon will live.


--- tbc ---

 

Ooooooooh a Qui/Tahl AU! It's been ages since I've read a good Qui/Tahl story. Really interesting beginning, so Qui-Gon was the one injured instead it seems, looks like a great start! Please put me on the PM list for this story, I don't want to miss any of it

 

Oh goodie A Qui-Gon/Tahl Romance. My favorite.

 

Ooooh! Love it love it love it!

Beautiful beginning to what I just know is going to be another one of your wonderful stories.

Can't wait for more. Please put me on PM list.

 

That was wonderful! I loved it very much!!!

 

Very moving beginning

I take everything I have inside me, my love, the Force, my own breath and I will it into him. It seems so small compared to the great strength that has always been Qui-Gon. There is so little left now that my blind eyes weep freely. There must be more. Just a little bit more. Just enough.

I feel movement and I know he feels what I feel. My hand goes to his chest; I search for the life left within him. He breathes in.

Please, continue soon.

 

Yay! One with those two and she's still alive! Awsome! Can't wait for more! Great start!

 

Ooooo! Qui/Tahl romance! There isn't enough of that on these boards...Qui needs some love, too! Please put me on the pm list for this if you're doing one. Very much looking foreward to the next installment. Just one question--what continuity is this in? Does Tahl have a padawan?

 

Current PM List
Layren
ratna
Luminara_Kenobi
Healer_Leona


Layren: Thanks for the reply! I don't do much romance, but this idea just demanded to be written.

LilQui-Gon: Thanks for reading!

ratna: Glad you like it; thanks!

Fifilla: Thanks!

Nimloth: Thanks!

Kynstar: Oh, it would be tough to do a romance with her dead! Force ghosts just arn't that romantic. Thanks for reading!

Luminara_Kenobi: Yes, Tahl does have a padawan, and Qui-Gon does get a little love. Thanks for reading!

Healer_Leona: Aaaaaah, but I couldn't start a 'romance' if Qui-Gon died in the first chapter! More to come. Thanks for the reply!

 

//^^\\v//^^\\v//^^\\_ We Return _//^^\\v//^^\\v//^^\\


The medical people are still there, they and their machines and droids. They have just reconfigured themselves into a portable unit around Qui-Gon for the trip back to Coruscant.

Mace Windu came to New Apsolon to salvage the mission as much as it could be. The people I had come to help betrayed me for nothing more than political power. But I have no feelings left for them. Everything is for Qui-Gon now.

I take my seat in the ship's cabin. Bant, my Padawan, sits next to me. Mace Windu brought her with him. She has waited with me, with Obi-Wan, for the many days while Qui-Gon breathed until the doctors accepted that he would continue to do so and could be moved. We will finally return to Coruscant.

Bant is silent next to me, but I can feel her caring. She has remained silent, waiting for me. She has such patience. A Jedi's patience and a Jedi's heart. I never had such patience at her age. I offer smiles and kind words to her; she sees my concern for Qui-Gon, but the girl is too young to know how deep it goes. Bant and Obi-Wan are friends and they speak softly to each other away where I cannot hear the words. Most of the time. I leave them to comfort each other.

Behind us, I sense Qui-Gon, only half-aware in the medical cocoon they have wrapped around him, but he stubbornly still lives. I want to touch him, but we are belted in for the transition. But I know he can sense that I am near. Others have noted this as well. His heart would always beat stronger when I touched him. I told them it was the Force. But he never responded so strongly to Obi-Wan.

The ship jolts into hyperspace.


--- tbc ---

 

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww



Behind us, I sense Qui-Gon, only half-aware in the medical cocoon they have wrapped around him, but he stubbornly still lives. I want to touch him, but we are belted in for the transition. But I know he can sense that I am near. Others have noted this as well. His heart would always beat stronger when I touched him. I told them it was the Force. But he never responded so strongly to Obi-Wan.


They're so hopelessly in love. That's just so sweet.

 

Behind us, I sense Qui-Gon, only half-aware in the medical cocoon they have wrapped around him, but he stubbornly still lives. I want to touch him, but we are belted in for the transition. But I know he can sense that I am near. Others have noted this as well. His heart would always beat stronger when I touched him. I told them it was the Force. But he never responded so strongly to Obi-Wan.

That was so sweet!

I very much enjoy the story from Tahl's POV - very, very nice!!!

I hope there will be a happy end for both of them

 

His heart would always beat stronger when I touched him. I told them it was the Force. But he never responded so strongly to Obi-Wan.

Clearly the favorite passage among readers. No surprise there. Have adored your Master/Padawan "mush". I see that you master the lover genre just as beautifully.

The ship jolts into hyperspace.

Great last line. Feels so symbolic.

 

Layren: Oh, thank-you. I'm glad the feeling between them is showing through. I'm using a very minimal writing style.

Fifilla: Thanks! Tahl's POV is an experiment. Since she's blind, there is no visual description of what's going on.

Healer_Leona: Glad you like it! Actually, the story is more told through Tahl's 'hands'.

ratna: Thank-you!

 

//^^\\v//^^\\v//^^\\_ I Feel Him _//^^\\v//^^\\v//^^\\


The Council reprimands me for not calling for assistance sooner for the failed mission on New Apsolon. The planet is still in turmoil; the Jedi can do little for them now. I grieve for the friends lost there, the ones dead and still living, but I accept that I can do no more for them.

The Council suggests that I abstain from taking any more missions for a time. I humbly agree. I show only calm, outward and inward. I have left the Council chamber and descend down into the Temple before I allow myself to feel joy. I will stay with him.

I go to the med center. I have memorized the whole immense Temple, the lifts answer to my commands and the Force is strong throughout. I always know where I am. People know better than to offer me assistance or pity.

There is a healer now, Leona, with him. Droids and physicians and machines will fix the body. But Qui-Gon needs to heal. She speaks with a gentle voice as she tells him what she will do, what he must do. She only briefly pauses to acknowledge me before going on. She has a healing voice. I listen carefully, hearing with the Force so my own voice will know the tones I will use.

I reach for him. My fingertips touch an arm. Then they slide down and I cover his hand. I feel a responding twitch. I slide my fingers under his hand and squeeze it. I feel the lightest pressure in return. My fingers, nimble and strong, are only large enough to curl around the edge of his hand. His strength is still gone, but he lives. I know it will return to him. He is Qui-Gon.

Leona continues speaking. His bodily functions are recovering, but there is terrible nerve damage everywhere. It will be a very long time before he will be able to move normally again; probably he will never fully regain his old strength. But she does not know Qui-Gon as I do.

I long to see his face, denied to me for years now since I lost my sight. He can see me, my thoughts written on my face, but I must always feel for him. I want to touch his face, the only intimacy available to me, but I hold back in the presence of another person.

I can feel him through the Force. I know when he sees me. I know the smell of his body, the touch of his skin, his long hair through my fingers. Yet we are strangely apart. He cannot move or speak and I cannot see and there are always others with him, so I cannot speak as well.

We pledged ourselves to each other on New Apsolon, before he was taken and so cruelly abused. But attachments such as that are forbidden to Jedi. Yet we have one life together now.

For now, we remain near each other, but separated.


--- tbc ---

 

Great chapter!

My fingers, nimble and strong, are only large enough to curl around the edge of his hand.
That was my favorite sentence. It's a very nice picture!

For now, we remain near each other, but separated.
I hope, Qui-Gon will recover soon!

 

I long to see his face, denied to me for years now since I lost my sight. He can see me, my thoughts written on my face, but I must always feel for him. I want to touch his face, the only intimacy available to me, but I hold back in the presence of another person.

I can feel him through the Force. I know when he sees me. I know the smell of his body, the touch of his skin, his long hair through my fingers. Yet we are strangely apart. He cannot move or speak and I cannot see and there are always others with him, so I cannot speak as well.

so near and yet so far.....

We pledged ourselves to each other on New Apsolon, before he was taken and so cruelly abused.

Imagining how that sequence of events would feel to Tahl....

Yet we have one life together now.

I have a feeling that this is going to get very interesting......

 

Healer_Leona: Aaaaaah, yes, and Healer Leona has her hands on Qui-Gon. . . . part of her duty, of course. Thanks for reading!

Fifilla: Thank-you! Yes, Qui-Gon will get better.

ratna: Thanks for reading. So, it continues. . . .

 

//^^\\v//^^\\v//^^\\_ I Stay _//^^\\v//^^\\v//^^\\


Master Yoda has noticed my . . . . devotion to Qui-Gon's recovery. Though Obi-Wan visits Qui-Gon as often as I do, Yoda has detected a different intensity in my interest. I cringe inside. Perhaps if I still had my sight I would have been able to hide it better. Perhaps not.

I say as little as possible to Yoda's inquiries. Mercifully, he does not ask for anything too specific. But I hear his thoughtful grumbling down at my knee level. Attachments are forbidden to Jedi and Yoda is a member of the Jedi Council. If he knew, there would be questions and actions and a need to enforce the Jedi Code. They would keep us apart. My thoughts float above the dark chasm of this possibility. I dare not feel the fear. Yoda would know and then it would become real. I would be totally alone. . . . and Qui-Gon. . . . .we would be surrounded by our aloneness together. Distance could not change that, an attachment they could never break, unless death intervened.

Yoda politely suggests that I might resume going on missions again. I politely decline. I feel I should stay and I confess to feeling responsible for Qui-Gon's condition. This is a mistake. Yoda advises that I let go of this attachment to past failure, to guilt. What has happened has happened. I fear that he will suggest that I leave Qui-Gon to the healer and meditate on my guilt alone.

But he says nothing more about it.

Yoda asks about my Padawan, Bant, who is training with Master Tyasmiss, who is also training Obi-Wan Kenobi while Qui-Gon recovers. They work well together. I point out that I have always needed assistance in training my Padawan. Without my sight, I cannot teach her some things. It is no different now.

I have never, ever used my blindness to defend my position. But I freely do so now, if it will deflect Yoda's interest in my affairs. Then he says something that I do not understand.

"Wait for you, she will. Hope you are worthy, I do."


--- tbc ---

 

Yoda has detected a different intensity in my interest. I cringe inside. Perhaps if I still had my sight I would have been able to hide it better.

Very interesting thought that having lost her sight she might be less able to prevent others from seeing things.

I hear his thoughtful grumbling down at my knee level.

Whoa, I totally love that sound image!

Distance could not change that, an attachment they could never break, unless death intervened.

Be mindful of your thoughts, Tahl! Lest they come TRUE!! God forbid!

I have never, ever used my blindness to defend my position. But I freely do so now, if it will deflect Yoda's interest in my affairs. Then he says something that I do not understand.

"Wait for you, she will. Hope you are worthy, I do."

Well, the reader certainly understands!!! That is one powerful statement. Setting out the devotion of the Padawan as counterpoint to Tahl's devotion to Qui-Gon..... Wow.

 

I really love this story!

I have never, ever used my blindness to defend my position.
I think this sentence really shows Tahl's devotion to Qui-Gon.

"Wait for you, she will. Hope you are worthy, I do."
Poor Bant! She needs Tahl just as Qui-Gon does.

 

These have been really lovely. I liked that Yoda sort of knows what is going on but won't come right out and confront her, rather remind her of where her duty lies.

Good job.