Before - Legends Should As Strangers We Meet- JA repost Epilogue

waterlilee Welcome!!! It's always good to get a new reader! Love your icon!

Kynstar Yep, Dani's got a good mind and Obi.. well he is a guy so we really should give him a break. j/k if there's any guys out there reading! LOL!

Athena Got it right...

Kitara Nope, Obi-Wan's not too quick here.

t_s Got it in one padawan! Definitely a bit of 'sour grapes scenario' going on.

Diane Perhaps Obi-Wan wants to be blind???

Arwen-Jade Have you read it??? I was at the library on Monday dropping overdue books off for my daughter and as I walked by the new fiction shelf there were five 'Song of Susannah' just sitting there! Needless to say I grabbed one and devoured it. Got a big kick out of... well something going on in the book and nearly died at the ending... I can't believe there's only one more left!

Mouse Seems you've got slapping on the brain there friend. LOL!

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Scene after horrible scene played itself out behind the Jedi Master's closed eyes, each one accompanied by a torrent of unbearable suffering, both physical and emotional.

The transport crash on the mostly water world of Oceaneria . The exhausting two-day swim in the emerald sea in search of landmass. Stripped to their bare underclothes, their Jedi attire discarded as the weight of them wet pulled them down. Onward they swam, ever onward, muscled strained and weary, arms and legs moving so long it was now painful to stop. Deep inside their Force focused minds, their only wish to feel the resistance of solid ground beneath their feet.

Obi-Wan, only sixteen then, had been pushed to the limits of physical endurance. Qui-Gon knew the boy was concentrating solely on the strength of his master's presence beside him, urging him on.

Swimming for hours, then floating, the only respite for their beleaguered bodies. Swimming again, tight overused muscles burning in protest at their use. Floating, ah...blessed stillness, the water lapping around them, lulling them into a dangerous hypnotic slumber.

Then the Force screaming in alarm, Qui-Gon's eyes snap open, his arms flailing at his side, their predicament in the water momentarily forgotten upon awakening. Attempting to right himself, forcing cold, numb legs to move in a pendulum motion to stay afloat.

His eyes searching frantically over the water's surface to locate Obi-Wan, some twenty meters away, still overcome by sleep.

The Force's insistence of danger grows stronger as he watches his apprentice bob lightly on the calm water like a buoyant piece of driftwood.

//Obi-Wan// Qui-Gon calls calmly over their bond, instinctively knowing that movement may draw the attention of whatever lurked beneath them, but needing Obi-Wan awake and alert.

//Master?// came the baffled response of his apprentice as the master felt the water begin to churn around him.

Whatever was hiding in the depths was rising to meet him.

//Be still Padawan.// He sent in a tone of command that bade compliance.

Something brushed tentatively against him, then in a rush, he felt his legs wrapped in a tight, compressive hold. The flat, triangular tip of a large, thick tentacle wormed its way up his torso as he felt it constrict, snapping both femurs like dry kindling.

"Arghhhh..." Qui-Gon's agonized howl was cut short as he was submerged underwater. Springing up in a great splash, he coughed and sputtered out the salty water he had both swallowed and inhaled, arms flapping wildly.

"Master!" Obi-Wan cried out and in an adrenalin spiked burst of energy swam to where his master struggled with the unseen sea monster.

//Stop// he sent weakly through the bond, the excruciating pain of his crushed legs exploding in his mind in bright red light.

//Obi..still, must remain..still//

Immediately the boy stopped, but already Qui-Gon could feel the grasp on his legs lessen. His body angled horizontally as his legs floated to the surface, broken and useless, the hold on them released. Flou

 

Kynstar Thanks, this had been my one and only time playing with Xanatos.

Mouse Jealous?? Xani??? Not like he'd ever admit it. Ha!

Athena I do believe getting berated by readers is a good thing.. thank you so much!

Waterlilee Moi?? Mean to Qui-Gon?? Only for dramatic purpose and for all the ills I put him through get gets triple the love.

Kitara Don't forget greedy and power hungry too!

Jemmiah Aww... Thank you... and don't go putting any ideas in my head.. you or mouse.. sassy ladies!!

t_s Again padawan, you seem to know my mind. Such a quick apprentice you are!

Arwen Is 'Dark Tower' out?? I had come across the last book purely by accident... I'm headed over to check things out right after I post this.

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"What so you think he'll do with us?" Danni asked, skeptically partaking of the morning meal provided by their 'host'.

Pausing between mouthfuls, Obi-Wan looked up from the plate he had piled high, an expression of irritability creasing his brow.

"You make it sound like we're his prisoners," Obi-Wan observed with annoyance.

"I don't recall being locked in a room an excepted practice of common courtesy, she answered, matching his derisive tone.

"Danni,? Obi-Wan gestured, fork in hand, "Lord DeCrion explained his need of security. What did you want to do...go snooping around the ship in the middle of the night?"

"Of course not!" She replied, a bit too emphatically, then hastily looking away.

That was exactly what she wanted to do. Obi-Wan may have taken this Xanatos at his word, but she didn't trust the man or his explanations. She knew if given half a chance, she could find something that would prove to her mate that her distrust was justified.

"Just what is it that you have against the man?" Obi-Wan quirked a smile, attempting to lighten the serious tone of the discussion.

Danni bristled at his change of tactic. Whenever he was of the mind that his reasoning was more accurate, he began to question to her as if instructing a child. Using his superior training and experience, he managed to make her feel as if her senses were not as valid as his own.

Sure, he may have been a Jedi at one time, but that didn't make him always right.

"I could ask the same of you and the Jedi," she snapped acerbically, hitting his sore spot.

The wounded look on his face was more then enough to make her regret her affront to his pride. The last thing they needed was to get into that old argument. Though he denied any resentment to the Jedi order, at times it was painfully obvious that Obi-Wan still harbored some lingering bitterness at being overlooked for apprenticeship. She had seen the rather caustic way he dealt with Master Jinn. Nor was the way he all too readily believed the incredible accusations of the Telosian lord lost on her.

It was as if he was receiving some sort of satisfaction from the Jedi's dishonor.

"What is that suppose to mean?" he leveled at her, setting the utensil down with an audible *clank*.

Damn, she thought, forgetting that the bond they shared left little privacy, even to one's own thoughts.

"Obi," she began, choosing her words carefully. "It's just that we don't know anything about this Lord DeCrion..."

"And we know so much about Jinn? Danni, I was there when word of Qui-Gon reached the Temple. Everything Xanatos said makes perfect sense. How else would you explain the sudden appearance of a man officially declared dead by the Jedi Council?"

Not wanting the discussion to escalate into a full-blown argument, Danni carefully shielded her mind. "Things may not always be as they appear," she recited a well-used phrase of his. "Who is it that's always spouting that particular adage?"

Obi-Wan sat back, peering at her thoughtfully. A soft brush against her mind revealing the reinforced walls and his eyes creased disapprovingly.

"Obi, I don't understand why you can't see that that man means us no goo