After Obi-Wan realized that his new padawan was the one who crashed into him. Managing to hit her head in the process and lose consciousness as a result.
Suffice it to say, he was understandably shocked.
He crouched down and checked over her small yet well-toned body. He didn’t really realize until now the extent of the girl’s training. It shouldn’t be a surprise since she was actually able to fight with Anakin shoulder to shoulder for a while.
Anakin was a Jedi Master in every essence, but title. At times, even some of the council members used to call him like that.
As he looked over the girl’s body, he immediately realized some strange and frightening signs. Meanwhile, the three jedi shadows were silently standing around them in a triangle formation, watching his actions.
‘Seriously, what the hell happened here?’ — He wondered.
As his gaze focused on 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 at 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 had to force himself not to jump up.
Before coming to a hasty decision. He decided to double check what he had discovered. He lightly forced open both of the girl’s 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.
He took in a sharp breath.
‘Why? How could this happen? It didn’t make sense at all…’
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. Ahsoka had a good sense of people, too.
One shadow 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 his usual calm jedi facade.
Sensing that the storm had passed, 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 throughly, they realized that she was indeed 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 shadow. So it was a kind of surprise that one of them actually was a female to begin with.
“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.”
“Indeed.” — Kenobi nodded, confirming the shadow’s statement.
“Our injured companion saw the girl in the company of padawan Ahsoka and Rika. He reported that they went to the hall of fountains, preparing for team meditation.”
“I don’t see anything suspicious about that.” — Kenobi stated, starting to lose his patience once again. While the shadow continued his long-winded explanation.
“Yes, but while they all were in a meditative state, the twi’lek girl suddenly erupted a powerful wave of malevolent energy from her body. It contaminated a large part of the sacred meditation hall.”
“As a result to such action, all of them were forcefully woken from their meditation. Ahsoka seemed paled and terrified, while the other padawan lost consciousness right away. 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 over to the injured shadow. Who was already feeling better from the continuously applied force heal his companion provided.
He crouched down before him, to speak with him from eye to eye. In the meantime, he also checked over his body, searching for any telltale signs that could explain what caused so much damage to him. He didn’t have to search for long. The signs were very obvious, and it made Obi-Wan’s already troubled expression look even more sinister and sad. He didn’t even have to ask. He said it as a statement.
“Force lightning.”
The injured man only grunted in 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...” — The man squirmed in his place uncomfortably. — “I watched the girl as she cleaned up most of the residual dark energies that appeared in the room. It was at that moment I noticed that her eyes glowed with a bright yellow color. I... I may have acted rashly, but when I saw that she was reaching for the unconscious padawan... I launched a preemptive attack at her.”
An ominous thought appeared in Obi’Wan’s mind. He decided to ask, sharply, staring into the eyes of the man.
“Was this attack meant to deter her or to kill her?”
“I... the latter.” — The man said with apparent difficulty.
The events leading to the current situation slowly started to stand together in Obi-Wan’s mind. He continued with an even more disappointed expression appearing on his face.
“... I see... Your attempt must have failed, seeing that she is still alive.” — Obi’Wan stated in an accusatory tone. — “You might be a shadow, but first of all you are supposed to be a jedi. A keeper of peace. Yet you decided to unleash a preemptive attack based on speculation towards a child known to be a member of an unknown force sect with the intention of causing lethal harm. You will answer for the potential consequences your actions caused, but for now, continue with your explanation. What did you do after that?”
The man’s smile faltered. He looked confused, even.
“I warned her to drop her weapon and be judged by the council for deceiving the Jedi Order as a sith.” — The man stated his confidence was waning with every word.
Obi’Wan facepalmed… sighing deeply. — “I imagine it had no effects after almost killing her… or did it?” — He asked sarcastically. To which the man shook his head, just as he expected.
At this moment, the shadow was sweating profusely under the pressure of the interrogation.
“Sh-she said that she was not a sith… but that could only be another lie… You yourself saw her eyes, and aside from that… There are changes on her body that are signs of heavy dark-side exposal. Not even mentioning that she blasted me across the room with a force lighting…” — The man added breathless, a sense of disbelief shown across his features. He was clearly not understanding what he had done wrong.
Obi-Wan sighed with trepidation.
“That is right, and she will have to answer for her actions.” — His eyes narrowed on the man. — “Just as you.” — The man was enraged, immediately arguing back.
“Master, with all due respect, I only did what I was trained for! As a shadow I am trained to eliminate the sith!” — He protested vehemently.
Obi-Wan’s expression darkened as he spoke with barely contained anger.
“What is the basis of your claim that the girl is a sith? Give me your absolute proof, then.” — He demanded.
“Her eyes… “ — Obi’Wan interrupted him. — “It doesn’t prove anything… it might as well be a contact lense, you idiot.”
There was a stifling silence weighing in the air of the dimly lit corridor.
“Even if they are real… She is a member of an unknown force sect. They might have certain techniques that we would find unorthodox. Even among our ranks, there are few members who are capable of channeling the dark side to a certain extent. One is sitting among the rank of the High Council, if you didn’t forget.”
“Master Windu doesn’t have those eyes…” — The shadow hissed. — “You know it as well as I do, master.”
The two men glared at one another, the silent tension between them threatening to blow into another argument.
Obi’Wan decided to continue his previous thought. Ignoring the shadow's sentence. The man was clearly not in the right mind to see to his own mistakes.
“Certainly, she will have to explain herself in more detail this time around, but this is far from a proper reason to assault her without giving her a chance to clear her name.”
The man looked to the side, this time unable to retort, while Kenobi continued his rant.
“It did not pass my notice either, that the girl who is supposedly in possession of such malicious powers and intentions… Clearly choose to use only enough force on you that wouldn’t leave any lasting damage in your nerve system. Or do you believe that a sith’s force lightning is something that you can take head-on and then run around basically unscathed?”
The man’s eyes widened with surprise. He turned towards the unconscious girl, uncertainty and guilt mirrored in his eyes.
“Continue your explanation.” — Obi’Wan told him.
“For a time she looked genuinely confronted.” — He stated. — “She hesitated for an entire minute, then she, to my surprise, agreed. It caused me to lower my guard, if only for a second.”
“It turned out to be another deception, as she chose that moment to attack me with a sudden blast of sith lightning.”
“The blast was powerful. Someone untrained 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 sheer power of it.”
“I crashed into the water of a nearby fountain. Luckily, I didn’t lose consciousness and was able to crawl out of it.”
“It was around this time that the others arrived. I quickly briefed them in on the situation and we began our chase.”
Obi’Wan was thoughtful. Thinking over the unusual situation. Coming to the quick realization that this was not something he could simply handle by himself.
“I see, now rest. Each of you will be questioned by the council, throughly. And I expect a written report as well. 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 her teammate to his feet. They moved away slowly. The burst of adrenaline must have given him the strength to move until now, but as the situation calmed, its effects also weakened.
Obi-Wan turned to the last shadow who was still standing here.
“How did the chase continue?“ — He asked, eager to get to the end of this.
The man, quickly realizing that Obi’Wan’s attention now turned to him, straightened up and continued the explanation from where the others left it.
“First, we tried to locate her through the use of the force, but it didn’t work. We couldn’t even find her presence at all. It was as if she had vanished.”
“We connected to the temple security system, and the droids analyzed all the camera’s feed. This way, we could find her. We also realized that she was trying to reach the seventeenth landing pad, yet there was no ship to pick her up.”
“We feared that it might be on the way or waiting for her signal. Therefore, we decided to alert the nearby temple guards to close the gate. Even if there was no sign of any incoming ship.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Hmm.” — ‘That was a good choice, and it also explained why I didn’t sense her presence at all.’ — Obi’Wan thought to himself.
“Go on.” — He urged the shadow to continue.
“After we managed to catch up to her. We quickly realized that she was clouded in a swirling dark mist that seemed to follow her everywhere. We could not 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 to blast away the black mist with a joined force push… The rest… you are already aware of, sir.”
“… Most certainly…” — Obi’Wan noted sarcastically patting down his wrinkled robes… his bones still aching from the recent tumble he endured. What was worst was the sharp pulsing in the back of his head.
Hearing his reaction, the shadow seemed to have a hard time keeping his expression stoic.
‘I saw that smirk on your face.’ — Obi’Wan thought, but decided to keep silent about it. However, he could not stop insulting the man, at least in his thoughts. — ‘So you were the reason she crashed into me with the force of a charging tauntaun. You damn bastards. There will be consequences to this…’
“Cough, yes. I see.” — He stated with a strained expression.
“Go and bring the other padawans to the council room.” — Kenobi commanded.
The man nodded, accepting the command and quickly disappearing at the lower end of the corridor.
‘Master Yoda must still be there. He used to meditate around this time.’ — With that thought, he glanced at the girl still laying lifelessly on the floor.
‘I guess I will give her over to the temple guards for the time being. 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, that is.’
‘Considering that this is connected to another force sect, we should handle it with the utmost care and secrecy. No one else should know about this not until the council makes its judgment. It’s out of my jurisdiction either way.’
“I might have to carry her…” — He mused loudly.
At that moment, a familiar weak voice sounded in the corridor.
“There will be no need to do that-… cough... I will come on my own two feet...”
Obi’Wan was surprised by the sight of the stirring girl. Based on her injuries, he didn’t expect her to wake anytime soon.
Still, she was clearly not in pristine condition. Her weapon was taken by him and seeing her confused state, he didn’t really feel any threat from the lass. He crouched down next to her, searching the girl’s pained expression.
“You should lay down. Your injuries are understandingly more severe than my own. You know, based on kinetic energy in relation to the weights of colliding bodies. All that boring stuff kids of your age learn in school.”
Her only reaction was an insufferable expression, taking its place on her pale features. Eventually, she groaned, pulling herself into a sitting position. Clutching her head in a dazed grip.
“I am drained and bruised all over...” — She stated, clearly tired from the recent goose chase. — “I think I broke a few ribs.” — She grimaced. — “It’s pretty hard to breathe... ah-h-h.. ouch...”
She slightly moved her torso into a different posture, her expression softening as the pain subsided.
“There is no more fight in me, not for today...” — She stated eventually. — “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...“ — She spitted out the words venomously.
Obi’Wan realized that the girl was a lot more riled up from the experience than he had initially anticipated.
That or maybe he was just not used to dealing with children, whose emotions weren’t tempered by the jedi indoctrination. Anyway, this was a complicated situation, and he wasn’t going to show any weakness in front of a potential sith or dark jedi.
“Silence!” — He demanded. To which the girl became surprisingly miffed.
“… Oh yeah?… And what if I don’t shut up? Will you make me? Will you try to cut me in two like your shit-eater friend did… I just wanted to help Rika, and that bastard attacked me out of the blue! Tell me that she is alright at least…”
Obi-Wan was about to lose his patience for the second time in one day. He had the audacity to think that Anakin was hard to deal with. Now life has begun to teach him another tough lesson.
Still listening to the girls rant, he had something to ask.
“If what you say is indeed true, then tell me, why did you use that dark side technique that caused this entire unfortunate event?”
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 or nerve damage? Her face also turned ashen. Then she finally answered as her eyes wandered to the ground, failing to hold eye contact with her Kenobi.
Almost as if ashamed of her own actions, she admitted her deeds in a whispering tone.
“I... had no choice... It would find us... otherwise...” — The shaking of her damaged arm intensified while her pupils expanded momentarily, remembering the scene.
That sentence and the clear, genuine fear in the boisterous girl’s voice caught Obi’Wan off-guard. He couldn’t help but press on seeing her mental barriers momentarily shaken by fear and uncertainty. It was a cowardly act, but he knew from experience that the girl wouldn’t talk if he gave her time to gather herself.
“What would have found you?” — He demanded the answer.
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 speak to me.” — He whispered to the clearly shaken girl in a confident, reassuring tone.
The girl sighed, nodding weakly. Then she was caught in a fit of wet coughing. This immediately alarmed Kenobi. Wet coughs like that were never good news. He was about to pick the girl up and run to the infirmary. But she raised her hand, stopping him in the action.
“Since the cat is already out of the bag. There is no more reason to hide my… abilities. Give me a moment, Obi’Wan, and I will be fine.”
Kenobi couldn’t help but raise a questioning eyebrow. One that was soon joined by another, as he saw a very unusual sight spreading out in front of him.
There was a thin flow of blue blood leaking out of her mouth and nose. The girl also realized this, but didn’t seem to care.
“I think that I should still take you to Vokara… Most definitely…” — Obi’Wan stated as worry threatened to overcome him.
“Heh, how ironic?” — The girl said. — “You didn’t even notice, not even now...“
Obi-Wan felt that something was seriously wrong with that solemn yet vindictive expression on the young girl.
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 scheming. Seeing that particular sign of assured superiority and satisfaction on a thirteen-year-old girl-child was not something he ever wanted to see.
He was already cursing himself internally, yet he had to ask.
“Would you like to enlighten me, what you find so entertaining before you bleed to death?” — He asked, unintended sarcasm entering his voice. A bad habit that came to the surface in situations when he wasn’t sure of himself. Giving a mask of confidence to him that was meant to cover his vulnerability.
“The Sith Lord you are looking for is not me, as I have already told to your lesser multiple times.”
“What do you mean?” — Kenobi asked, unsure what to think about this unexpected turn of events.
The girl continued at her own pace, unperturbed by the man’s interruption.
“To be entirely honest, I was quite skeptical of his existence. At least until half an hour ago. When we had the unfortunate luck of running into him at the start of our meditation session. I… don’t actually know if he is a male though… not for sure… It’s just a hunch.”
“What!?” — Obi’Wan exclaimed.
The girl smirked up at him, enjoying his reaction.
“When we entered into the state of... - cough, cough, cough... cough... - joint meditation, we appeared at the bottom of a large dark energy storm.”
She stopped to think for a moment, then continued.
“I won’t lie. It shocked me as well... I was sensing something from the moment I stepped into your cursed temple...”
“Watch your mouth, lass…” — Obi’Wan lectured her, in a bored tone. It seemed like a purely reflexive gesture that came to him without thought. He was probably having to correct someone’s behavior for years for it to become such an instinctive gesture.
Nizzal glanced at the man. Then her thoughts wandered back to Anakin… so he was the culprit in question.
She shook her head, amused.
“I meant it in… in the literal way. Your temple… is most definitely cursed. With a wide area of negative energy. A dark ritual… It’s very sophisticated… It even fooled me for a time… It is incredibly well hidden, and… Its effect is weak, but in the span of years it will eventually blind your foresight and cloud your judgment… Among other light side abilities. You can’t really find it without knowing what to look for, either. You have grown too used to it over the years…”
Obi-Wan took the opportunity to ask another important question.
“Oh, tell me then, how did you know what to look for?” — There was a curious glint in his eyes. Projecting a sense of innocence towards the girl.
The girl looked at him 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... Based on that disgusting expression of yours…” — Cough! — “My order… It teaches both the light and the dark side.” — Cough...
“That is what grey means… if you had two working brain cells, you would already realize this based on the name I readily provided. Not that knowing about it would make any difference… There is no way you can contact my order without them willingly allowing it to happen.”
She spat out a mouthful of blue blood on the floor as she talked.
Obi-Wan was getting worried about the girl for real now. He decided that the moment she finishes answering this last question, he will have to take her directly to a bacta bath.
“Our philosophy is to find a balance between the two aspects, never to... agh... this fucking hurts.” — The girl winced, grasping her side.
There was an alerting cracking sound as the girl ground her teeth while a few drops of tears began to flow down her cheeks. Then, she gave a deep relieved sigh...
“...Much better...” — She stated, relief filling her voice, in place of the recent tension and pain.
Obi’Wan didn’t understand what had happened for a while, then he realized something. Nizzal’s breathing was stable once again.
“What did you do?” — He asked, his voice filled with genuine curiosity.
“I healed my broken ribs... obviously...” — The girl answered.
“Yes... obviously...” — The Jedi Master noted sarcastically. As if doing something like that at her age was anything to consider normal.
“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.” — Obi’Wan stated thoughtfully. Then added with new layers of suspicion.
“Unfortunately, I recall that I seem to realize very frequently in recent times how ignorant I could be in certain aspects.”
Nizzal glanced up at the man who was supposed to be her substitute master. To be honest, she was very surprised that the man was yet to point a saber blade at her. She looked every bit like a typical sith. Yellow eyes, dark corrupted veins visible through the unhealthy shade of paleness.
Obi-Wan eyed her balefully as he asked the next question.
“What is your rank in your order, girl...” — He stopped for a second, adding a quick afterthought. — “And I want to hear the truth now, no more nonsense for yours and my sake as well.”
Nizzal’s sighed. Rolling from her side to her back, staring at the tall ceiling.
“... I have already told it to one of you... I earned the rank of a master through my own skills and achievements... It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not, master jedi.” — Stating the last words, she turned her gaze from the ceiling and looked into the suspicious eyes of Kenobi.
A thick silence engulfed the corridor as they held eye contact with each other. Then Obi-Wan asked.
“How old are you?”
“Asking a vulnerable girl her age what a presumptuous act from a man of your stature. I expected more from the infamous jedi diplomat.” — The girl scolded. Obi’Wan, to his shock, actually felt a sense of guilt overcoming him, just before he realized that he was being played.
He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. There was no way that he could read this girl, however much he tried. One time she was acting her age, then she acted like a wise matron of all things.
Well, either that, or he was going crazy, which he definitely hoped was not the case.
“I was meaning to ask your actual age, girl.” — He finally stated in an insinuating tone.
The girl blinked, then rolled her eyes and stated after a short, condescending sigh. It was enlightening to see so much conceit on someone who is currently being sprawled out on the cold marble floor.
“For the love of…” — “Language.” — Obi’Wan interrupted her warningly. — The girl huffed, clearly frustrated, but too weak to do anything about it. Eventually she said.
“What does that have to do with anything? I am thirteen, just as I told you...”
“That’s definitely not your real age, though.” — Kenobi added.
“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...” — She snapped at the man. While thinking internally.
‘Yeah-yeah, I know that I am doing that exactly… What of it?’
“Slowing down your aging? Now that’s… an interesting concept… But far from the only ominous possibilities that came to mind, Miss Nizzal.”
“But, since you are so opposed to those ideas, why don’t you provide a suitable explanation to how you, as a little girl… Oh, forgive my manners… A master little girl, are capable of having such tremendous insight in the workings of the force?” — Nizzal’s left eye twitched as she heard her newly awarded title.
“Why don’t you go and die in a dark corner somewhere out of my sight?” — Was Nizzal’s only answer.
Obi’Wan smiled at that. Offering his own cutting sarcasm. — “An enlightening argument, Master Nizzal. One much more suitable for your particular age, I might add.”
His statement surprisingly elicited an unexpectedly strong reaction from the girl. One that Obi’Wan definitely didn’t expect.
She blushed furiously. Causing the man to realize that just as the sith, gray lords might share the same weakness of getting easily riled up.
With a meaningful smirk, he pushed the girl a bit further. — “Aside from your insightful observations, do you have any other explanation? Not that I wouldn’t be happy to share it with the rest of the High Council. Just in case that you wouldn’t want to be further humiliated… Master Nizzal…”
The girl squirmed with embarrassment, eventually forcing herself to sit up again, then with great difficulty she peeled herself off the ground, and stood up. Her features occasionally contorted in pain throughout the whole process.
“Stop it… f-fine, I... I have… I have three hundred IQ… Are you happy now?” — She stated clearly overcome by fear and a great deal of embarrassment.
The corridor was engulfed in complete silence.
Obi-Wan’s eyes slowly began to tick, witnessing the blatant lie as a wry smile spread across his face.
Then he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“You are lying.”
“… Shut it…” — The girl answered, flustered by her weak lie.
Obi-Wan suddenly caught her left arm by the wrist and began to tug her along towards the council room. 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...“ — He spoke over his shoulder to the miffed girl trudging along.
Noticing that, the girl wore a conceited expression. He shook his head disapprovingly at seeing the overly proud expression.
What he didn’t see was that slowly, with each step, Nizzal’s expression morphed into a pained one.
She eventually tugged on the man’s arm in a stubborn gesture, stopping Kenobi for a second.
He looked back at the girl once again, waiting for her to say something.
"I am still injured, you know? Slow down... please...” — She added the last word, a sense of desperation seeping into her voice for the first time since Obi’Wan met her.
Hearing the last word, Kenobi’s demeanor softened considerably. — ‘Maybe it wasn’t too late for her. Alas, that decision depended on the council’s judgment.’ — Which Kenobi, being part of the council known all too well, wasn’t known of its flexible nature.
“Well...” — He began. — “Of course… Sorry about that. I guess I have become a bit excited.” — He showed her a wry smile, then continued to walk towards his original goal, with measured steps.
Walking along the familiar corridors in a stifling silence.
Obi-Wan began to repeat the long-learned mantra in his mind as the minutes passed, preparing himself for the incoming predictably unsavory conference.
‘There is no emotion, there is only peace. There is no emotion, there is only peace. There is no emotion, there is only peace...’