A short little vignette with no apparent plot whatsoever.

Basically just a good excuse to have fun with my two favorite characters.

 

Takes place 10 years before TMP when Obi-Wan is 15.

 

Things bracketed by *'s are *italic*.

 

By: Cassia

Rated: G

 

 

Sometimes You Learn the Hard Way...

 

 

Obi-Wan winced and grimaced; pulling away

involuntarily as Qui-Gon cleaned and applied synth-flesh to

his raw back, arms and chest. 

"Hold still," Qui-Gon remonstrated, pulling him back

and reaching for another strip of synth-flesh. 

*"Easy for you to say,"* Obi-Wan couldn't help

thinking.  "Ow!" he squirmed away again as the burning

cleanser set another one of his already painful lacerations

on fire. 

Qui-Gon's firm hand once more pulled him back in his

seat.  "For the last time, are you going to sit still, or

do I have to tie you down?" Qui-Gon's words were

exasperated, but his voice was amused. 

Obi-Wan eyed his Master with a scowl.  *"You are

enjoying this Qui-Gon Jinn, and don't you try to convince

me that you aren't!"*

Qui-Gon smiled slightly when his Padawan was not

looking.  The boy could be so stubborn sometimes.  This

really did serve him right. 

"Ow!" Obi-Wan gasped again, unable to help himself. 

He squirmed, but settled down quickly when Qui-Gon sent him

a mental picture of being tied to the chair. 

He was trying to use the Force to dull his pain,

really he was, but every time Qui-Gon touched him the pain

flared up again, red hot and excruciating and he lost his

concentration. 

"Well," Qui-Gon said cheerfully.  "Maybe next time

you'll listen to me when I tell you not to tangle with a

Scorpiolissian."  The Master applied a healthy dose of

antiseptic to another of the boy's many upraised, bloody,

poison-infected welts. 

Obi-Wan shuddered and squirmed under his hands. 

"I hope you've learned something from this," the

Master added.  He slapped the synth-flesh on.

"Yes," Obi-Wan ground out through his teeth.  He

jerked slightly and gasped again as Qui-Gon continued to

treat his injuries.  "I've learned never to let you be my

doctor."

Qui-Gon actually laughed.  "There you see?" 

Obi-Wan bit his lip as his Master slathered more

cleanser on the infected injuries. 

"You've learned one important lesson already."  Swish,

clean, slap!

"Ow!" Obi-Wan was getting tired of saying that, but he

just couldn't stop himself.  "You think this is funny,

don't you?" he said dryly, gripping the edges of the chair

tightly.

"No," Qui-Gon shook his head, moving over to a

particularly nasty welt on his apprentice's arm.  "Watching

you get chewed up and spit out by that tentacled terror,

that was funny."  Qui-Gon was being particularly

unsympathetic today.  Of course, he hadn't *really* thought

it was funny.  Well... maybe just a little bit, but only

after he knew Obi-Wan was going to be all right.

Obi-Wan grimaced.  "You could have helped me."

"I *did* help you.  I note that you are still alive,"

Qui-Gon pointed out.  "Besides, he didn't really want to

kill you."

"No," Obi-Wan's knuckles turned white from his grip on

the chair.  "Just maim me a little."

"I think he thought you needed a lesson."  Qui-Gon

moved to his other arm.

"And you agreed."  Obi-Wan was not really angry with

his Master.  He knew what had happened to him had been

entirely his own fault, but he was still irritated, and

hurting. 

"You asked for this Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon pointed out

calmly.  "You cannot say I did not warn you."

Obi-Wan's scowl deepened.  He had been waiting for

that.  He knew his Master was right.  He should have

listened to him in the first place.  But did he have to rub

it in?

"Ow!" Obi-Wan jerked as a white-hot razor of pain shot

up his arm.  The sudden intensity of it actually brought

tears to his eyes. 

Qui-Gon's face turned serious as he paused to examine

this wound.  Swollen red welts traced around the

apprentice's arm, twisting their way up from his wrist to

his shoulder like a tangle of confused serpents.  

The injured flesh was hot to Qui-Gon's touch.  He did

not doubt that Obi-Wan hurt quite badly. 

He probed the injury gently with his mind.  Something

about it had struck him as slightly different from the

others he had been dressing. 

All of the creature's stingers left a certain amount

of poison in the injuries they inflicted, that's what the

cleanser he was using removed, but this one was a little

different.  Part of one of the Scorpiolissian's gelatinous

tentacles had come off, as they were prone to do, and

lodged itself deep in the wound.  It was going to have to

come out. 

Qui-Gon winced a little in spite of himself.  This was

going to hurt Obi-Wan quite severely. 

"There's some matter in this one," he informed the

apprentice.  "I need to remove it."

Obi-Wan had a nasty feeling that was going to mean

more pain.

"I'm sorry," Qui-Gon apologized as he picked up an

instrument to remove the tentacle remnant with.  He

honestly did not like seeing his Padawan in pain.  "I wish

I had something to give you..." they were woefully short of

any painkillers or anesthetics. 

"Just get it over with."  Obi-Wan grit his teeth and

hung on tightly to the seat of the chair with his other

hand.  If Qui-Gon was actually apologizing for this, it

must be going to hurt pretty bad.  He tried to center

himself within the Force.  He knew he should be able to,

Qui-Gon could.  But he was, after all, only 15 years old

and only two years into his apprenticeship. 

Qui-Gon nodded.  Holding Obi-Wan's left arm with one

hand, he worked quickly with the other.  He tried to be as

gentle as he could and sent nerve-deadening messages to his

Padawan's body, but Obi-Wan still moaned in pain. 

The tentacles had hundreds of microscopic barbs, each

one loaded with an ultimately non-fatal, but painfully

acidic poison.  The barbs caught and clung to Obi-Wan's

flesh as Qui-Gon tried to remove it, releasing more of the

burning poison. 

Obi-Wan's moan turned into a low cry.  He bit his lip

hard and rocked back and forth quickly in his seat,

attempting to distract himself from the pain. 

Qui-Gon gave him no hassle over it this time.  He knew

the boy was being brave.  One did not usually attempt to

remove Scorpiolissian tentacles without first being fully

sedated.  The pain would have left most people screaming

like babies. 

When Qui-Gon finally got it out, Obi-Wan's face was

very pale.  His eyes glistened, but he had not allowed the

tears to fall, not in front of his Master!  He breathed

rapidly, his aching chest rising and falling shakily with

his breathing. 

"Okay, okay," Obi-Wan gasped, half joking.  "I've

learned the lesson.  Let's not over do it!"

Qui-Gon's lips twitched.  He felt a little sorry for

the apprentice, but Obi-Wan was obviously bearing up quite

well.  Sometime later he would let his Padawan know that he

knew how brave he truly had been.  For right now however...

"Just making sure you don't forget it," Qui-Gon said

serenely, applying synth-flesh to the apprentice's last

injury. 

Obi-Wan always found it hard to tell when his Master

was joking, and when he wasn't.  However, he was not

fooled.  He had felt Qui-Gon reach in to help him when the

pain got really bad and had touched the compassion that the

Master truly felt towards his Padawan.  Obi-Wan knew his

Master was still giving him a hard time about this,

probably would for a while, but that was all it was. 

Obi-Wan almost smiled despite everything.  Most people

would not have considered his Master a tease.  Many would

have been utterly shocked at the thought, but Obi-Wan knew

better.

"Don't worry Master," Obi-Wan said ruefully, able to

breathe easier now that his injuries were all cleaned and

dressed.  "I won't," he promised with a dry smile.  "I

won't."

They both laughed.

 

THE END






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