Before - Legends Foundling--The story of Obi-Wan's journey to the temple.

Title: Foundling, Part 1/3
Timeframe: Long time before ANH
Characters: Qui-Gon, G'emela, Obi-Wan
Summary: How Obi-Wan came to the Temple.
Author's Note: G'emela and An-Paj belong to Jemmiah. The recognizable characters belong to George Lucas. The rest is mine!
*****
"This isn't a mission. It's...it's..."

"An honor?"

"It's..."

"A necessary service to the Republic?"

"It's..."

"An exciting opportunity?"

"NANNYING!"

Qui-Gon was fighting to keep a smile from his face, but taking one look at the way his Padawan was cracking her knuckles made the task nearly impossible.

G'emela was a devoted Jedi and an excellent apprentice, but her idea of what constituted the activities of a "proper Jedi" were something of an amusement over the years. She had declared on her first day of training that dishpan hands were not the trademark of a proper Jedi, so she couldn't be expected to pitch in after dinner. He'd thought he'd been fortunate enough to take on a Padawan with a sense of humor.

It turned out she was deadly serious.

Over the years, her perceptions had thankfully changed and matured, thanks to discipline, training and a healthy dose of custodial punishment, but she still looked on many things as wholly too jocund for the Jedi lifestyle.

Apparently, the solemn and noble duty of retrieving a child for entrance into the Temple was one of these things.

"Calm yourself, my young apprentice," Qui-Gon chided. "I won't make you change the whelp unless you persist in this line of conversation."

That shut her up, since he wasn't one to make threats of that sort idly, but the look she gave him reminded him very strongly of an unpleasant experience when he had been trapped before a charging bantha while wearing a red tunic.

"As it is," he continued, "we won't know if the child is to come with us until we have tested him. You may not have to mind him at all."

That seemed to inspire a degree of relief.

"However," he concluded, "I will then have to recommend to the Council that we be sent on more of these missions, since all Padawans should be well-versed in the Temple's admissions procedures."

She adopted a pleasant smile but the gesture, coupled with the fire in her eyes, made her look like a Devaronian out for blood.

"The first rule of this sort of mission is that the child must not be frightened of us," Qui-Gon explained. "I would suggest that you make that achievement your goal for the day."

They rode in relative silence from that moment on, though he heard frustrated hisses of breath as she practiced her pleasant, amiable face in her pocket mirror and found herself to look neither pleasant nor amiable.

The word formidable was what was most used to describe her in polite company. Qui-Gon most often called her strong-willed or, when pressed by the subject herself, proclaimed her to be a "nice young woman of admirable determination."

Translation: One scary blighter you wouldn't want to cross and you didn't hear that from me.

This was not to say that she was not a talented girl who was a credit to the Jedi Order. It was simply to say that she was skilled as a negotiator because she could grandstand the most hardened terrorist into an early grave in five minutes flat. This was not the most terrifying thing, though.

The most terrifying thing was that she could just as quickly turn and affectionately mother you to death as have you hiding under a table.

Her training, therefore, had been something of a challenge. Qui-Gon could be hard-headed at time, but he was generally the type to follow Master Khafut's admonition to enact the duties of a Jedi with "gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned and a well-built lightsaber." This was a matter of frequent irritation to G'emela, who didn't particularly like diplomatic responses to her bold arguments.

"We're here," she pronounced shortly. "Seems we have a reception committee."

That wasn't entirely true. It was a fact that there was a growing number of people emerging from the remains of Huramek,

 

Foundling, Part 2
*****
By the time they got Obi-Wan to stop screaming every time one of them touched him, the rest of the villagers had helpfully decided to abandon their posts and let the Jedi deal with the child. This meant, however, that he had no familiar faces to comfort him after the blood-drawing procedure.

Truth be told, he drew more of their blood than they did his by the time they got him to respond to a Force-suggestion and stay still, and then Qui-Gon had the heartlessness to suggest that G'emela keep him distracted while Qui-Gon run the midichlorian test.

She had no idea what to distract him with until she found a cluster of julaberries in the cooling unit. She extended one and he warily took it, tapping it with one tiny finger as if in order to make sure the mean Jedi lady wouldn't make it explode. Then, he popped it in his mouth and grinned around a mouthful of seeds, extending his hand for more.

She used the Force to nudge another berry off the stem, then floated it into his waiting mouth. He nodded approvingly, then extended his hand again.

"Oh, no, Chumi-Wan," she muttered, "post-traumatic stress disorder or not, you'll have to work for this."

In a second, his mouth was empty and hanging expectantly open, but she had set the cluster on the floor between them, picking each one off the stem and leaving them in a careful row. He looked first as if he were about to scold her, then as if he were about to use tears as a bargaining tool. Perhaps it was then that he realized she wouldn't be swayed by either, so he simply glowered.

And then, he held out a hand, beckoning slightly, and one of the berries rolled towards him.

"Are you watching this?" she stage-whispered to Qui-Gon.

"Of course," he replied in kind, eyes on the child. "Try something other than food."

She retrieved the cylindrical commlink from her belt and placed it before the julaberries, then moved her fingers in a slight rocking motion, sending the commlink towards and away from Obi-Wan before stopping it to see if he would respond.

His face screwed up in an expression of long-suffering and he repeated the movement, then flicked his hand. Immediately, the commlink rolled to the side and he lunged forward, claiming the julaberries as his reward for cooperating with such silly games.

"Ah," Qui-Gon observed. "Well, I think you've discovered the secret to his training."

"Which is?" she queried.

"Leave a bit of comestible compensation at the end of the task and he'll achieve the impossible."
*****
"His midichlorian levels are well above average," Qui-Gon reported to Master Yoda, "and his skills are appropriate for a boy his age."

"Affected him, has the disaster at his home?"

"He seems..." Qui-Gon grimaced at the memory of three minutes of uninterrupted screeching. "...Wary of strangers. He didn't resist the villagers because he had seen them before, but when we tried to approach him alone, he fairly panicked."

"A common affliction this is," Yoda said dismissively, though Qui-Gon could hear a hint of amusement in the old troll's voice. "Adapt well, he will, if to believed, your report is."

"Yes, Master," Qui-Gon said dutifully. "We will be departing this evening, in that case."

He returned to find G'emela pinned beneath Obi-Wan's sleeping form, her hand waving vaguely as she summoned objects with the Force. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be biscuits.

Apparently, Obi-Wan was not the only young Jedi in need of comfort food. Reaching out, he snagged two from the pile and resumed his seat.

"Our work here is finished."

 

Foundling, Part 3

"Poor little guy..."

It was surprising to hear G'emela use the phrase "little guy" instead of "cheeky whelp" or "son-of-a-Sith", but that was not what caught Qui-Gon's attention.

It was the fact that she was exhibiting signs of severe compassion.

Immediately, his eyes met hers so he could check for the dilated pupils that would prove that she was ingesting narcotics. Then, his hand pressed to her forehead, but there was no fever to scald his hand.

All right, so the girl was in perfect health, so what was wrong with her?

Having abandoned the traditional means of diagnosis, he frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"I'm not sick," she pronounced, "but he's burning up and coughing something dreadful, so undoubtedly, the first place he'll see at the Temple is the Healer's."

Qui-Gon sighed heavily. "He came back under my charge," he reminded. "It's a wonder he doesn't have the Promeus Plague by now!"

"Don't tempt fate!" she interjected sharply. "It tends to listen to your suggestions!"

He turned in his chair, looking back towards the passenger bunk. "Is he awake?"

"No," she assured him. "I told him a bedtime story."

He blanched automatically, remembering the well-meaning child who had once told him a bedtime story that had kept him awake for the next three nights.

"Not the Redrum one," he pleaded.

"Master!" she exclaimed. "How could you even think such a thing of me? Do you think I learned nothing in the last ten years?"

Chagrined, he looked away. "Sorry, Padawan," he said genuinely. "I apologize for having so little faith in you."

"It's all right," she said dismissively. "I told him the Green Tisane one instead."

He didn't remember the particulars, but it somehow involved selling your soul to the Sith and spontaneous combustion.

It was going to be a very long trip back to Coruscant.

"You didn't."

"He was grinning the whole way through," she said triumphantly. "I doubt he understood half of it, but he even mouthed the word BOOM!"

Typical. The first reaction they'd been able to get out of him other than tears or a soft whine when he was hungry and it was an indication of bloodlust.

"I have the feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," he observed mournfully.
*****
"Name?"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Qui-Gon supplied.

"Age?"

"22 months."

"Complaint?"

"High fever, cough, and strange-looking boils in the last day."

The Padawan immediately moved her chair as far away as possible from the squirming child in Qui-Gon's arms.

"I'll get An-Paj," she said hastily.

"Good idea," Qui-Gon sniffed impatiently.

"You can take Exam Room 5," she called over her shoulder. "Try not to touch anything."

He carried Obi-Wan down the hall to the examining room, then settled on the table and found a tongue depressor to entertain the boy.

The child had just discovered the imprudence of sticking it in his eye when An-Paj arrived, looking, at best, wary.

"He's not yours, is he?" the Healer asked, point-blank.

"Not to my knowledge," Qui-Gon replied with a slight smile. "Why?"

"I hear he has an affection for food and he is spending his first day at the Temple in the Healer's Ward. If he's not yours, he simply bears an uncanny resemblance."

"Enough of the comments," he growled. "He seems to have come out in boils."

"Yes, I can see that," An-Paj said drily.

He placed one hand on the boy's head, gauging the fever and the extent of the disease.

"Hmm," was all he would say.

"Hmm what?"

"Any record of vaccinations?"

"Not to my knowledge," Qui-Gon admitted. "His parents were killed and he had only been in the village where we found him for a week when they met their end, so he didn't have much of a history as it was."

"Well," An-Paj said patiently, "you received the innoculation for Pakupox just before leaving the Temple. Therefore, you had an active virus in your bloodstream that could be airborne, but you had developed an immunity to it. Apparently, he was susceptib

 

Cute, Ish! Lovely! You are fond of "cheeky whelps' aren't you?
Very good work!

 

I love the word whelp for some reason. Sounds like what it means.

 

HA! Nicely done. Don't think I've ever read a fic quite like this one...and a darn shame it is, too!

<<Qui-Gon sighed heavily. "He came back under my charge," he reminded. "It's a wonder he doesn't have the Promeus Plague by now!"

"Don't tempt fate!" she interjected sharply. "It tends to listen to your suggestions!" >>

I'm quite enamored by Padawan G'emela's ability to mother one to death one minute and sending them hiding underneath the table the next. Beautiful characterization, marvelous word choice, and healthy doses of humor kept me interested the whole time. So tell me--is that the end, or can we expect an update or two or five? Either way, I found this quite entertaining. Good job!

 

LOL, glad you liked it. I love G'emela and took all of that characteriation from my impressions of her in Jemmy's Diary. THat's the end of this particular one. Especially since Jemmy had to lend me the characters.

 

awww... what a cute story!!! a baby obi-wan... how cute.

 

Thanks, oh person with the most original sn I've seen here.

 

Funny fic, Ish

I liked this bit: she gamely tried one of those winning smiles that she had been rehearsing in the mirror.
And then Obi-Wan began to scream.

I also liked the part about the bedtime stories.

a great disaster would leave the rare survivor and that one would become a Jedi. It was the story of many, from Yoda to Mace Windu. I've never thought about that, but it makes so much sense. Kind of like 'survival of the fittest' type thingies.

~Velo

 

LOL, yes, I liked the part about the smile making him scream, the bedtime stories (based on my dad who would tell us Edgar Allen Poe tales when we were little). And yes, it's sort of like survival of the fittest, but mostly the idea that the Force gives them warnings that they can recognize.

 

Oh, Ish... cute little fic about finding Obi-Wan... I liked the way that you made Qui-Gon's first Padawan a little bit of a hoity-toity girl. That is one personality I haven't seen for her. (And it's usually a her!)

And, for the record, I have been working on a fic for three+ years with the title "Foundlings"... I intend to use it if I ever post it on this board, I thought I'd warn you.

 

LOL, I think the idea is that there's a balance between her and Obi-Wan.

 

Wonderful!

Ani-maniac

 

Thanks.

 

Lovely! Really had me laughing. Obi-Wan, the human garbage disposal! And poor Qui, stuck with him... The beginnings of a long and wonderful friendship, I think. Great take on Obi-Wan's origins and his beginning at the Temple.

 

"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon repeated.
"It meands 'found in hope,' as he was."
"Though Chumi-Wan would be more appropriate," another interjected, inciting a round of laughter.
"Found in..." G'emela prompted.
"Food," Uri-Len supplied with a grin.

I think in total I highlighted about four or five sections to quote back to you, but this was undoubtedly my favourite one.

This is a very well written and entertaining story. I like the chemistry between the two Padawans, and you have Qui-Gon's character perfect.

Keep it up!

 

Alethia--Lovely! Really had me laughing. Obi-Wan, the human garbage disposal! And poor Qui, stuck with him... The beginnings of a long and wonderful friendship, I think. Great take on Obi-Wan's origins and his beginning at the Temple.

LOL, glad you liked that. I had fun writing this story.

River_Stone--"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon repeated.
"It meands 'found in hope,' as he was."
"Though Chumi-Wan would be more appropriate," another interjected, inciting a round of laughter.
"Found in..." G'emela prompted.
"Food," Uri-Len supplied with a grin.

I think in total I highlighted about four or five sections to quote back to you, but this was undoubtedly my favourite one. love

LOL, yes. Mine too, other than the giggling Yum!

This is a very well written and entertaining story. I like the chemistry between the two Padawans, and you have Qui-Gon's character perfect.

LOL, glad you liked the two Padawans, because I was not sure it would work at all with my ideas of them both.

 

How cute! Who couldn't find Obi-Wan adorable? *hugs Obi-Wan*

 

Really interest, I'm hooked.

 

Thanks, VM and Briman. I didn't see you come in!

 

LOL, Ish, that was cute. . Poor Obi, trying to ingest a ...tongue depressor?! And everyone reminding Qui that the boy's like him, and ...YUM!

Hee. Love Chumi-Wan, The Eating Terror.

 

LOL, my brother tried to eat a tongue depressor once at the doctor's office and he's definitely a Chumi-Wan, which is where that came from.

 

Once again, excellent story DarthIshtar I love Obi-Wan fics.

 

Thanks, L_j.