Unlikely Friendships (JA) COMPLETED

This story has been wandering around in my head for a while now, and I've finally put it down on paper (and then on the screen). Hopefully, it is going to hold some interest to all of you wonderful people around here.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is around 13 years old.

To summarize the story without actually giving away any major plot details (if there are any), this just is a silly fic about how Obi-Wan finds an unlikely friend.

Enjoy.

Oops. Forgot to add the disclaimer: All characters belong to Uncle George. I'm only playing in his universe.

 

Obi-Wan Kenobi refused to admit defeat. The light coming through the window was relentless in its attack, never ceasing to irritate the young apprentice out of his mind. He couldn?t shut the effulgence out even when he pulled his pillow over his head.

Sighing, he rolled over on his bed and got onto his feet. It was only six o? clock in the morning. He was in for a long day.

The first couple of hours passed as he had expected: He dueled some apprentices a couple of years older than him, and, to his surprise, won. Noon came and passed, and then it was time for a training session with Master Yoda. He was Qui-Gon?s apprentice, and therefore it was Qui-Gon?s duty to train him, but right now the Jedi Master was gone on a mission. Another mission.

He would be returning soon. At least, Obi-Wan hoped so. He had had experience with training under Master Yoda, and it was not something he (or any other apprentice, for that matter) looked forward to. Master Yoda had a way of getting on everybody?s nerves.

?Preoccupied, you look.?

Obi-Wan jumped slightly, and then looked down at the diminutive Jedi Master standing beside him. He hadn?t sensed Master Yoda coming in, but he was hardly surprised. Master Yoda was very powerful in the Force, and if he wanted his presence to remain hidden, then nobody could stop him.

?Master Yoda,? Obi-Wan said, bowing respectfully, albeit a little stiffly. Yoda was tiny and green; he leaned very heavily against his walking stick. Obi-Wan had his own suspicions about the purpose of the stick. Somehow, he couldn?t bring himself to believe Yoda being so old that he had to rely on a walking stick. The Force was a powerful ally.

?Answer my question, you have not.?

Obi-Wan would have pointed out that Yoda had not asked a question, but he didn?t want to start this training session on the wrong foot, especially since Yoda was the master here and Obi-Wan the apprentice.

?I was just thinking about Qui-Gon,? he replied truthfully. Since Yoda looked as if he wanted more, Obi-Wan explained, ?I had been hoping to spend more time with him, but he had been given another mission.? He carefully modulated his tone so that it was not accusatory. No one accused a Jedi Council member, especially not Master Yoda.

But Master Yoda picked up on his feelings, anyway.

?Disapprove of the Council?s actions, you do.? Again, it wasn?t a question. It was a statement.

?We just returned,? Obi-Wan said bitterly. ?Our mission had been tiring. I am sure you sensed the exhaustion in him, Master Yoda. He deserved a rest, a vacation, and you know it.?

Yoda gazed at him for a long moment. There was something unreadable on his face. He looked almost sad.

?Much to learn of the Force you have, young Padawan,? said Yoda, limping to his room. ?Yes, yes. Come. Meditate, you must.?

Obi-Wan stood staring after him, wondering what the other meant by his statements. Then, shrugging, he followed the Master into his room.

 

Obi-Wan left Master Yoda?s room later that evening. The meditation session had been even more tiring than his last mission. Somehow, his master had never made meditation feel like an impossible task.

He left for the Temple gardens. He had always found the gardens soothing, very soothing. As he wandered around in the gardens, losing himself in the brilliance of the living Force, the sun slowly started to set, pulling down a canvas of darkness along.

The young apprentice gazed at a family of tiny birds. Three children, one mother. All of them were brilliant-white, and were so tiny, they would have fit in his palm. He watched as the mother bird threw slugs that she scrounged out of somewhere into her hungry children?s beaks. The children nearly choked as they tried to swallow the entire slugs at once.

The children were clattering around, clearly still hungry. The mother bird was torn between staying with her children, which was what they wanted, anyway, and going to find them more food. It chose the latter, much to the younger birds? dismay. What was more interesting was how weary the mother bird was. Obi-Wan could feel her exhaustion as clearly in the Force as he could feel her children?s hunger.

Shaking his head, chortling at the young birds, Obi-Wan continued down through the forest. He didn?t notice the snake slithering behind him.

He sighed when his thoughts returned to Qui-Gon. He couldn?t help feeling that the Jedi Council was determined to keep Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon away from each other as much as possible.

Actually, when it came to that, Obi-Wan thought darkly, Qui-Gon never refused to go on missions either. It wasn?t as if his master were a complete stickler for rules; he broke them more often than not, driving the Council insane. Maybe Qui-Gon didn?t want to spend time with him, either.

Obi-Wan casually waved his hand. A rock zoomed vertically into the air, landing in his outstretched hand.

He fiddled it gloomily as he thought more and more about Qui-Gon and the Jedi Council. Not all other apprentices had their masters sent away on missions, especially without them. Qui-Gon was always gone on this mission or that. And Obi-Wan was stuck in the confines of the Temple, studying under Yoda or Mace Windu or other Masters in the Temple.

?It isn?t fair!? Obi-Wan shouted, throwing the rock into the air. It rammed into a tree, creating a sizable hollow before clattering down onto the ground.

Suddenly, his danger sense screamed in alarm. Obi-Wan darted backward, just as he felt something slithering onto his waist. He stumbled, falling onto his bottom. A snake was slithering toward him.

He quickly scrambled backward, the only way he could go. But soon, even that way was blocked?by a tree. Obi-Wan sat crouched with his back against the tree, staring at the snake with his eyes wide from fear. The snake slithered until it was only half a meter away from Obi-Wan and then eyed him. In his fear, he couldn?t even sense its emotions.

Abruptly, the snake darted forward?his danger sense screamed again?Obi-Wan put his arms in front of his face, as if they could somehow ward off the snake?He waited for the snake to bite him?.

He kept waiting. The attack never came. Quickly letting his arms drop, Obi-Wan looked around wildly, wondering what happened to the snake, wondering why the snake wasn?t attacking him. The reason became apparent at once: A bird was fighting with the snake, poking the snake everywhere with its beak.

Obi-Wan stared in amazement as the bird fought the snake relentlessly, the latter which was trying to get away. In vain.

The bird finally won its fight, when its beak pierced the snake?s head. Picking the snake up almost effortlessly (which was saying something considering its size), it left. Obi-Wan would have sworn it winked.

He slowly got up onto his feet. Then, it hit him. This bird was the very same bird that he had watched only moments earlier?the mother bird that had left to find food for its children. Suddenly, it occurred to him how much this relat

 

Aww... This is cute!

Question: What happened to "Whispers in the Night"?? Why's it locked?