Chapter 16: 16. Chapter

After Obi-Wan realized that his new padawan was the one who crashed into him and seemingly also hit her head and even lost her consciousness as a result. He was understandably shocked. He crouched down and checked over her small but already well-toned body; he didn't really realize until now the extent of her training, she was actually able to fight with Anakin side by side. Anakin was a jedi master in every essence, but title; sometimes even some of the council members used to call him like that. As he was looking over the girl's body, he immediately realized some strange and frightening signs. In the meanwhile, the three jedi shadows were silently standing around them in a triangle formation, watching his actions. 

Seriously, what the hell happened here, as he reached the girl's left arm, he was again shocked her arm was very pale and her veins were much darker than they should have been. Next he looked over her face; there were also blackened veins and an unnatural paleness; her skin was too cold for comfort. He tried to wake her, unsuccessfully; he forced open one of her eyelids to see if her eyes reacted to the light the way they should. What he saw made him inhale sharply; he let go of the eyelid as he physically had to force himself not to jump up. He had to check this again; he lightly forced open both of her eyes this time. 

He saw the hurtful truth; both of her eyes were clearly yellow. Obi-Wan felt as if suddenly a giant rock appeared in his stomach, why? He couldn't understand how this could happen? He watched the girl interact with others; he saw that she was genuinely kind and helpful, she even became friends with Ahsoka and Rika, that shy girl would feel if someone wasn't genuinely kind towards her. Than why? 

One of the shadows suddenly crumbled to the floor with a painful grunt. 

That made his line of thoughts pause. 

- Would one of you finally tell me what happened? 

His voice was much calmer now, as he began to process the shock and surprise. Now he was back in the usual calm jedi rutin. Sensing that the storm was over one of the jedi shadows came to him while the other began to use some basic level of force heal on the injured one. They relaxed somewhat, since Master Obi-Wan checked over the girl, she was knocked out without any doubt.

The masked shadow who came to explain was also a man; there were very few women who chose to become a jedi shadows in the first place. So it was kind of a surprise that one of them actually was a female. 

- You are already aware of this, but the council ordered the three of us, to continuously follow the girl. We were supposed to watch over her twenty four hours a day by switching each other at the end of every eight hours. 

- Yes. 

- The one who is injured saw the girl with two other girls. One of them was Ahsoka Tano; the other was not yet verified to act suspiciously. They were in the hall of the fountains, doing team meditation. 

- I didn't see anything suspicious about that.

- Yes, but while they all were in a meditative state, the twi'lek girl suddenly erupted a powerful wave of dark energy from her body. It contaminated a large part of the sacred meditation hall. All of them were forcefully woken from their meditation; Ahsoka seemed paled and terrified while the other padawan lost consciousness. The twi'lek then began to control the dark side energies in the room, siphoning them to use another force ritual most likely, or to simply hide the evidence. That is all I knew. I was asked by holo call to provide assistance. 

Obi-Wan not knowing what else to do, stood up and walked to the injured shadow; who was already feeling better from the continuously applied force heal. He crouched down before him, to be able to speak with him from eye to eye. In the meantime, he also checked over his body, searching for any tell tale signs of what could have happened to him. The signs were very obvious, and it made Obi-Wan's already troubled face look even more sinister and sad. He didn't even have to ask, he said in a statement. 

- Force lightning. 

The injured man only grunted in as affirmation. 

Obi-Wan had to take in a few more calming breaths of air before he finally continued. 

- Tell me how it happened, from the moment you called for reinforcement. I want to know everything. 

- Yes Master... I watched the girl in a state of shock as she cleaned up, most of the residue of dark energies that appeared in the room; her eyes were glowing with a bright yellow color the whole time. I... I may have acted rashly; but when I saw that she was trying to reach the unconscious apprentice... I launched a preemptive attack at her. 

- Was this attack meant to deter her or to kill her? 

- I... the latter.

The picture slowly began to be visualized in Obi-Wan's mind. He continued with an even more disappointed expression appearing on his face. 

- ...I see... I guess, she dodged it, what happened after that? 

- I warned her to drop her weapon and be judged by the council, for deceiving the jedi order as a sith. 

- What did she say to that? 

- She said that she was not a sith, but that could only be another lie; you yourself saw her eyes. There are changes on her body that are signs of heavy dark-side exposal. 

- That is right, tell me what happened later. 

- For a time she looked genuinely confronted. She hesitated for a whole minute, than she finally agreed, and I lowered my guard from the surprise. I didn't expect her to agree with it, but it was only another deception, as she chose that moment to hit me with a sudden blast of sith lightning. It was very powerful; someone not trained in the use of the force, would immediately die from it, a padawan too. It melted my force shields like they were not even there, and I was blown away by the power of it and crashed into the water of a fountain. Luckily I didn't lose consciousness and was able to crawl out of it, then I began to chase her after the others arrived, and on the way I quickly briefed them about the situation. 

- I see, now rest. You, take him to the medical bay; the rest will be handled by me. 

- Yes, I understand.

Said the female Jedi shadow as she helped his teammate to his feat, they moved away slowly. The adrenaline must have given him the power to move until now, but as the situation calmed it's effects also weakened. 

Obi-Wan turned to the last shadow who was still standing here. 

- How did the chase continue? 

- First we tried to locate her through the use of the force, but it stayed silent. We couldn't even find her presence at all, it was as if she had vanished. We called the temple security system and the droids analyzed all of the cameras feed; this way we were able to find her, with the constant help of the droids. We also realized that she was trying to reach the seventeenth landing pad, yet there was no ship to pick her up. We thought that it was not here yet, so sent there a pair of the temple guards to guard it. There was still no sign of a ship. 

- Hmm.

- After we reached her, we realized that she was clouded in a constant dark mist that seemed to follow her everywhere. We were unable to focus on her presence and didn't dare to close on the unidentified force technique. We followed her for a while, then decided to try and blast away the black mist with a joined force push. 

- Did it work? 

- Cough... I guess, but...

- But? 

- It also blew away the girl with it... She was flying through the corridor, and then... you caught her, master Kenobi. 

I saw that smirk on your face, if only for a half second. So you were the reason she crashed into me with the force of a charging tauntaun. You damn bastards... Idiots. 

- Cough, yes. I see. 

- Go and bring the other padawans to the council room; if they are already awake, Master Yoda  must be still there. He used to meditate around this time. I will give her over to the temple guards; this matter must be solved with careful investigation. I want to know what the other padawans think of the situation. Then we will ask Nizzal, too, when she wakes up. This matter should be handled with the utmost care and secrecy. No one else should know about this until the council makes it's judgment. 

Another weak voice resounded in the corridor. 

- There will be no need, to do that cough... I will come on my own feet... 

The remaining shadow immediately ignited his lightsaber and took up a defensive position. 

- Drop your weapon! - shouted the shadow - 

- Cough... relax I am... trying to. 

She dropped the hilt of her lightsaber from her sitting position; it rolled on the ground towards them. 

- I am drained and bruised all over... I think a broke a few ribs, it's pretty hard to breathe... ah.. ouch... There is no more fight in me for today... do what you want, jedi... torture me or whatever... I was already your prisoner from the moment I stepped in here... Do you really think I never realized that someone was following me all day long... 

- How dare you! 

- Silence! 

Shouted, Obi-Wan, he was about to lose his patience for the second time today. He thought that Anakin was hard to deal with. Now life has begun to teach him another tough lesson. There was something he had to ask. 

- If that is true, than tell me, why did you use that dark side force technique so obviously. 

The girl seemed to remember something, as her eyes widened with clear abhorrence and fear. Her left hand began to twitch. It could be the side effect of the lightning technique, or something else: is it because of fear? Her face also turned even more ashen. Then she finally answered as her eyes wandered to the ground, failing to hold eye contact with her substitute master. 

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- I... had no choice... It would find us... otherwise...

That sentence and the clear genuine fear in her voice caught the other two jedi off guard. 

The shadow rudely cut into the conversation. His hostility was already beginning to turn into curiosity as he asked.

- What would have found you?

The girl seemed to be hesitant about answering that question. Obi-Wan chose that moment to interrupt, and hopefully prod the girl towards speaking. 

- Nizzal, please. I want to help and understand you, but you must talk.

The girl sighed, as she nodded weakly. She coughed, another time there was a flow of blue blood leaking out of her mouth and nose. She also realized this, but didn't seem to care. 

- Heh, how ironic. You didn't even notice, not even now... 

Obi-Wan felt that something was seriously bad about that solemn yet cruel expression on the already beaten girl's face. He had only seen that kind of expression on the faces of aged politicians, like on his favorite count, and only when he had fallen into another trap of his scamming. Seeing that expression of assured superiority and satisfaction on a thirteen year old child, will probably cause him some dreamless nights. 

- Would you like to enlighten us than? 

He asked, quite annoyed with this situation. She was clearly stretching the time for no reason. 

- Your Sith Lord is not me, as I have already told you multiple times. To be entirely honest, I was quite skeptical of his existence until about half an hour ago, when we had the unfortunate luck of running into him at the start of our mediation session. 

- What!? - both of the jedi shouted out loud -

- When we entered into the state of... - cough, cough, cough... cough... - joint meditation, we appeared at the bottom of a large dark energy storm. I won't lie; it shocked me too... I was sensing some signs form the moment I stepped into your cursed temple... 

- Watch your mouth! - said the already irritated shadow - 

- What? It wasn't a curse, but a fact... your temple is cursed by a wide area of dark energy cloud. It is well hidden and it's effect is weak, but in the long run it will eventually blind your foresight and weaken other light side abilities. You can't really find it without knowing what to look for. 

Obi-Wan took the opportunity to ask another important question before the antsy shadow decided to do it. 

- Oh, tell me than, how did you know what to look for? 

- Good question master. - added the shadow -

The girl looked at them with a fascinated expression. Coughed a few times; then, she continued with a sigh. 

- It is not because I am an apprentice of the sith, as you so happily try to imply... Cough... My order, it teaches both the light and the dark side. Cough... 

She spat out a mouthful of blue blood on the floor as she talked. Obi-Wan was getting worried about the girl; the moment she finishes her answer we will have to take her to a bacta tank.

- Our philosophy is to find balance between the two, never to... agh... this fucking hurts. 

There was a sudden dull cracking sound as the girl grinded her teeth while a few drops of tears began to flow down her cheeks. Than, she gave a deep sigh... 

- ...much better... 

They didn't understand what happened for a while, then Obi-Wan realized something. Nizzal's breathing began to stabilize. 

- What did you do? 

- I healed my broken ribs... obviously... 

- Yes... obviously... - answered Obi-Wan as he picked up her blade from the ground since it was still lying there -

- I can see, that you are well versed in force healing... I never heard of a sith that was able to effectively use a purely light-side technique like that. Yet, I seem to realize very frequently nowadays, how ignorant I could be in certain things. 

Obi-Wan's eyes became threateningly narrow, as he asked the next question. 

- What is your rank in your order, girl... I want to hear the truth from your mouth. 

- ... I have already told it to one of you. I earned the rank of a master... 

A thick silence engulfed the corridor, as they held eye contact with each other. Then Obi-Wan asked. 

- How old are you? 

- Eh? What does that have to do with anything? I am thirteen, just as I told you... 

- No... What is your real age? 

- My real what? Oh... I see... you think that I slowed down my aging... Why would I slow my aging when I am too young to even hold a lightsaber properly... 

Well, I kind of did that, but, only started a week ago, so why would I tell him such useless details.

- Than how are you able to do those force techniques so effectively... 

I thought about that... What should I answer, it is quite a good argument.

- So? - Asked the shadow impatiently. -

- I... I have three hundred IQ. 

The corridor was engulfed in a complete silence. 

The jedi shadow reflexively slapped his own forehead.

Obi-Wan's eyes slowly began to tick as a wry smile appeared on his face. Then he said as a matter of fact.

- You are lying. 

- Eh... Still worth a shot... 

Obi-Wan suddenly caught her left arm and began to tug her along towards the jedi council. He shouted back to the still shocked shadow, to go and bring over the other padawans to the council, it was time to get to the end of this whole facade. 

- You have a lot to explain, and this time, we will get to the end of it; I assure you, Master Nizzal... 

- Hey-hey... Calm down ouch... there is no need to get rough... I am still injured, you know? Slow down... cough... please... 

Hearing the last word, Kenobi began to slow his steps. 

- Well... Sorry about that; I guess I have become a bit too excited... - he gave her a wry smile -

After that, Obi-Wan began to repeat the long-learned mantra in his head while they walked in a more relaxed manner towards the council room. There is no emotion, there is peace, there is no emotion, there is peace, there is no emotion, there is peace... 

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