Flood of Insight

by ardavenport

Note: This story assumes that Obi-Wan Kenobi apprenticed to Qui-Gon Jinn at the age of 8 or 9, a version of EU/AU attributed to a Lucas interview that I don't have the reference for. Fair warning: the pacing is completely backwards, story-telling-wise. It starts with action and it slows down throughout to contemplation, because that's just the kind of story it is.

part 1

The large, decorated doors to the conference room suddenly parted.

"That boy of yours has gone insane!" Amis Bel, the villa security chief, a large, muscular man with short, bright orange hair, advanced on the table of unhappy conferees. "He's taken that laser sword of his and he's chasing everyone up the hill!"

What?

Qui-Gon stared at the completely inexplicable interruption before hastily getting out of his chair and going to the large meeting room's balcony.

Far down below, in the picture-perfect garden valley, they heard the faint sounds of distress rising from the running crowds below. A tiny, short line of blue chased them up winding paths. It jumped from one path to another and another, back and forth, swiping at any stragglers. A few got away, dodged to the side to escape, but most of them simply fled straight away up the steep paths. They sometimes stumbled over each other, but the always got up to flee to the safety of the villas high above.

Fascinated, they all stared down at the spectacle. He's herding them, Qui-Gon thought.

An insight from some un-speaking part the Force interpreted what he was seeing.

He's getting them to higher ground.

Then he felt it. An enormous disturbance in the Force, rising up from the ground, booming and huge. Alarmed, Qui-Gon looked up at the natural dam in the canyon wall, at the artfully placed waterfalls that spilled out from the thickly overgrown barrier that wouldn't hold back the lake water beyond it.

Of course, if the planetary government couldn't manage the satellite communications properly, then their seismic monitors could easily be defective as well.

Qui-Gon rapidly looked from side to side at the cliff-side building they were in with its flying buttresses and hanging balconies. It was locally built; it should hold.

But was he sure?

"Out!"

Qui-Gon own lightsaber flew from his belt into his hand and activated. The conferees jumped, hastily backing up into the room again and away from the bright green blade.

"Go! Now!" He destroyed a chair for emphasis. Some of the negotiators needed no further prompting and fled, but the orange-haired security chief and a few others objected.

"There's a ground quake coming. Get out of the building! NOW!" His saber hummed louder as he destroyed another chair and hacked off a chunk of table. They ran.

Out the huge double door, Qui-Gon pelted after them down the lavishly decorated halls. The city was built on a steep hillside. If there were landslides, it was possible that there would be no safe place, but Qui-Gon was still sure that outside was better than inside. Others had taken up the call and more people were running to the exits.

Qui-Gon had just burst outside into the sunny stone courtyard when it started. He deactivated his saber and clipped it to his belt as he ran away from the building. There were hoots and screams and he saw someone fall out of a window.

The ground seemed to reach up and smack Qui-Gon with a wall of paving stones. He actually saw the ground heaving in waves; there was nothing to hang on to. Decorative facades fell off the sides of buildings and more voices rose in terror. A huge obelisk in the courtyard tilted and Qui-Gon reached out with the Force to stop it, but the ground suddenly surged upward and slammed into it anyway. Thankfully no one was under it. A siren started.

Then the heaving slowed and lessened to shaking. Then to trembling and rumbling. And then it stopped.

Qui-Gon was on his back, staring up at the planet's beautiful, blue, cloudless sky. It had been a lovely day. A flying creature screeched and cawed from above. The ground quake had been strikingly similar to the wild accelerations of a spacecraft in crisis, but in such confined places there were walls and compartments to cling to, things to do to survive. In the open and planet-side, there was no escape. Someone was crying nearby.

Qui-Gon shook his head. Surprised that he'd been so stunned, he quickly got to his feet. None of the buildings around the courtyard had fallen, though there was damage. The fear and shock from the people and creatures around him rippled through the Force; he breathed it in and let it pass through him. He was bruised, but they were only minor injuries compared to the hurts that he sensed around him. The siren was still blaring.

A man wept by a large uprooted tree behind him.

"Are you hurt?" Qui-Gon asked. He shook his head and then pointed. There was a body under the trunk of the tree. Shrouded in prickly, dark green leaves, a pool of blue blood spread beneath it. There clearly wasn't anything that could be done.

Amis Bel ran into the open, his loud voice yelling commands into a comlink. Another, shorter, orange-haired man yelled into another comlink. He was the manager of the villa where the conference was being held in, and he was quite obviously related his security chief, but Qui-Gon didn't know his name. The manager yelled orders at people. The ones wearing green vests were his staff and they scurried to comply, to check out other parts of the grounds, look for people, get more comlinks and speeders. The emergency response was clearly underway.

Obi-Wan.

Qui-Gon fled the villa courtyard, out through the high, arched gate and through the gardens to the paths that led down to the valley. At first the path was clear, but then panicked people came streaming toward him and going the other way. He jumped up onto a high, stone fence and ran along the top of it to avoid them. He leapt up to the top of the square, flat end pillar and looked down.

A torrent of water had already filled the valley. An ugly, brown cascade roared below, filled with broken trees, wreckage, debris and people. The path that he'd last seen Obi-Wan on was already completely covered by the torrent which was rising rapidly, chasing terrified beings up the pathways.

A sudden chill traveled down Qui-Gon's body, the chill of water, closing in, a lack of air...

Obi-Wan!

Qui-Gon leapt off of his perch, over the heads of fleeing people and droids. He ran along the side of the path, Force-leaping over obstacles when he had to, not knowing which way it led him, only that the Force guided him down toward his Padawan.

"Help!"

Qui-Gon saw the man, a younger human with yellow hair and wearing sopping aqua robes, caught in the branches in a gnarled tree that swayed in the torrent. Two others clung to his legs. Without hesitating, Qui-Gon took out his cable launcher and aimed for the thickest branch by the man. He would have to save the person before him, the one he knew he could save, before going for Obi-Wan.

The cable hook caught on a branch, wrapping around it in a firm hold. Even before Qui-Gon yelled to him, the man immediately reached for it. The two others followed, a skinny, dark, blue-hued being with a prominent horn sweeping back from a high brow and a shorter being with red, writhing, head-tentacles. Qui-Gon wrapped his end around a prominent rock plinth and held it steady. The yellow-haired man's robes caught on the tree and he furiously ripped them from him, revealing white and orange striped body underwear. The line sagged under his weight so that he hung in the water up to his hips. His face determined, the man advanced upward toward Qui-Gon. The others, just as determined, joined him on the line.

Barely halfway, the water had risen to the man's chest, but he kept a firm grip on the line though Qui-Gon could see that his palms were red and blistering from supporting his weight and fighting the pull of the current. The one with the head-tentacles yelled often at the slower blue being ahead on the line, but Qui-Gon couldn't tell if it was encouragement or abuse, or both through the roar of the water.

The man pulled himself up and Qui-Gon could see that his feet had touched something solid. He moved faster, climbing upward on the line and the others followed. Qui-Gon loosened his grip on the line when the three dragged themselves through shallow water up onto a trail. The man sprawled on the ground gasping, the blue being crouched next to him. The shorter being slapped them into action, taking the hand of each and dragging them upward on the path, but not before giving a clenched fisted, open-mouthed gesture of gratitude up to Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon cut the line from his cable launcher just as the tree gave in to the current, toppled and was swept away. He ran again, his mind focused once again on following his bond to his young Padawan.

The Jedi leaped up, over a path of panicked people, onto a prominent, flower-draped rock. He scanned the devastation around him. The raging dam break had destroyed everything and the water still rose, consuming more of the once picturesque gardens. Everything below had been drowned, pounded into heavy, hungry brown water that surged with debris, snapped trees, wrecked buildings and sometimes lifeless bodies.

Qui-Gon spotted a familiar, small form on an open, isolated patch of gravel.

"Obi-Wan!" Two leaps brought him to the a flat piece of ground near the still body. He sensed life, but distress as well.

"Obi-Wan." He turned him over. The boy's frightened eyes looked up at him, he opened his mouth to speak, but coughed violently instead. Qui-Gon sat him up, supporting his narrow shoulders with his arm, the wide fabric of his robe sleeve covering the ten-year old's back. His clothes were rapidly drying, but he was still damp and chilled. He pulled the boy close to him while the coughing fit continued.

"Ma...Mas..."

"Don't speak," he said gently. He rubbed Obi-Wan's arm. The coughing stilled; the boy relaxed as the Force from his Master warmed his body. Qui-Gon sensed no serious pain from him. Though half-drowned and bruised, his tunic and pants torn in places, his injuries seemed modest. He was also well above the raging water below, with no hint to how he'd gotten there. All around them people yelled, some of them screamed. Qui-Gon looked up to see someone flailing in the raging, brown water below, helplessly carried away.

A wave of assorted rescuers suddenly buzzed overhead and descended toward the raging waters. Villa staff, security people, guests of varying species rode speeders and speeder bikes of all sizes and shapes.. Even a few lifter crews piloted their flat, floating platforms down the steep, uneven hills toward the flood. The water's rise had slowed as it spread out over a larger area, but it was still rising higher, still flowing fast, it's roar downing out everything else except the sounds of trees snapping and unidentified things crashing into buildings, breaking them down with each impact.

The newly arrived rescuers soared over the waters and lighted on the paths and immediately picked up people to take them higher.

Qui-Gon lifted his Padawan into his arms as even more rescuers whizzed overhead. Obi-Wan squirmed a bit and coughed before settling down. His head lay next to Qui-Gon's chest, his eyes closed. His Master turned, ran up the slope and using the Force, leap from stone to statue to wall, climbing upward. Obi-Wan huddled closer to him, his small hand clutching the fabric of Qui-Gon's tunic.

He finally reached the lower level of the villa. Hopping down from a carved stone banister, Qui-Gon turned back to look at the spreading disaster. Dozens of speeders and antigravs skimmed over the waters below, coming and going, diving to rescue people still clinging to trees and poles, chasing after others being swept downstream. There had been no warning, other than the insight of the young apprentice he now carried.

End Part 1