Au: Kid Ibani-Tatooine Era Obi-Wan Kenobi

[last_kallig]

(OOC: Content warning for mention of torture, harm done by and to children, suicidal ideation and quite possibly suicide attempt.)

Ibani is a fourteen year old Sith Acolyte and her life of pain is written in her body for those who can read it. The scars of a slave collar on her neck, the letters and numbers carved under one eye like a bantha brand, those were only the beginning. She's been shocked regularly with force lightning for years as well as being subjected to more primitive methods of torture, and all have left their mark. Scars from teeth, claws and blades mark her skin, the echoes of broken bones still visible if you look the right way in the Force.

She should be dead, and she might be shortly, despite her struggles. She doesn't know how she got HERE, wherever this hot desert is, instead of the cold desert of Korriban. The gravity is wrong, the temperature is wrong, and while the Force shouted just before she landed here it is strangely silent now. (She might be insane, in which case she should put herself down before she harms anyone, but she's waiting for more evidence on that one way or the other.) She's dying by inches of heat and thirst and she can't push her body any further, even with all the Force tricks she knows.

She crawls on her belly under an overhang of rock, collapses. She can enter a trance, reduce her need for water, but that means that without help she will simply fail to ever wake, will slip away into the Force in death. It's a long shot, but she's worth more alive than dead even to the most nefarious of persons. (She knows better than to expect mercy or kindness from strangers.)

Ibani sinks into the Force, awaiting aid or death.

Comments

[acertainpov]

What she gets, eventually, is a soft hand under her head and the sensation of something wet being applied to her lips.

Ben came out looking as soon as he felt the - whatever that was he felt in the Force earlier, and her distress made her stand out to someone looking for it, even as she slipped into her trance. So he scooped her out from under her overhang, gave her just enough moisture there to keep her alive, and carried her back to his hut.

When she comes to, she'll find herself on his own bunk, far away from the winods of his hut, and with a woven blanket lain lightly over her. At her head sits an old man with kindly eyes, light cotton robes, and no more Force presence than you'd expect from a random hermit.

He has a black melon in his hands, from which he's gently dripping the milk to her. It tastes horrible, he knows, but it's more nutritious than water and it's not just dehydration threatening her.

[last_kallig]

Ibani hadn't expected to wake up, not really. She comes out of the trance with a start, eyes snapping open. The Force is full of confusion and fear and her eyes dart to his face.

It's been more than 3 years since anyone has touched her without intent to do her harm, so she feels like she should pull away, but she's too weak to move.

(And yes, the black melon is terrible, but Ibani has had worse.)

[acertainpov]

He stops, pulls away himself a short distance to give her space. It's not as much space as he feels she wants, but it's enough to indicate he won't proceed until she's slightly less scared.

"Hello there," he says, gently, warmly. "I wondered if you were going to wake up soon."

[last_kallig]

The fear recedes as he moves back and she realizes that he doesn't feel Force sensitive. If she has to fight, the Force will let her win, and his ability to deceive her will be limited.

The warmth and gentleness in his voice makes her heart ache and she hates herself for that weakness.

"Hello," she replies, her voice rough, the words coming out with difficulty. "You, why?" Why is she here? Why did he help her? There are a lot of potential questions in those words.

[acertainpov]

"It's probably a little early to try talking just yet," he says. He holds the melon out to her, though, leaning back to help her drink directly from it now she's conscious and unlikely to choke on it.

"But I doubt I could answer your questions even so. There's a lot that seems shrouded about all this."

[last_kallig]

Ibani drinks from the melon, grateful for the assistance, but a bit ashamed that she needs it. (The weak perish.)

She makes in inquiring noise at his mention that things seem shrouded, and there is a sense of questioning in the Force.

[acertainpov]

"Well," he sits back, makes himself comfortable, leaning towards her just enough to help until she's strong enough to hold it herself, "for a start, there's who you are, where you came from and how you ended up in the middle of the Dune Sea."

He holds up a hand almost as soon as he's finished that sentence. "Don't try to answer, even if you know how to. Rest first, then questions."

And then figuring out if anyone's going to come looking for her.

[last_kallig]

Ben gets the hand up just in time.

Ibani frowns slightly, then nods. Rest will be a good idea before questions, especially if this man isn't as friendly as he seems so far.

She finishes the melon, trying to discretely look around for her war blade. It's a metal sword, strong enough to hold up to a lightsaber, in her where and when quite distinctive to Sith. She's not sure if she still had it with her those last few meters or not.

Then, exhaustion is pulling at her and she falls into actual sleep instead of a trance this time.

[acertainpov]

The sword is in fact resting on a table a short distance away - Ben found it andd didn't think it should be left where just anyone could find it, and brought it back with the girl. Now it's just a little too far to reach easily from her bed, but only because that's the layout of Ben's hut, not out of any plotting.

He himself sits where he can keep an eye on her, in case her condition should worsen, but also so he can meditate, and watch for anyone coming to find her, and threaten the peace.

When she wakes, the Tatooine night has settled in, and the blankets over her are proving their use against the remarkably cold darkness. Ben has temporarily left his chair, in order to tend to a heater in the middle of the hut.

[last_kallig]

Ibani sits up slowly, keeping her eyes on Ben. She swallows and finds her throat is no longer raw.

"I'm Ibani, fourth year Sith Acolyte on Korriban, of the Sith Empire," she begins. "You have my thanks." It's not quite name, rank, and serial number, but it's in that vein.

If Tattoine is in the lower left hand corner of the galaxy, Korriban would be in the upper right, and there hasn't been a Sith Empire in thousands of years, if it ever existed in this universe at all.

[acertainpov]

"You're a long way from home, Ibani."

He gives her a mildly curious look, that doesn't quite cover quite as entirely impossible all of that was. But he also stands up, fetches another blanket to put around her shoulders before turning away, his back to her, while he looks for something among his stores.

"I'm Ben." Just Ben, not Kenobi, and definitely not Obi-Wan. "This is Tatooine, and the world that used to be known as Korriban hasn't had people living on it in hundreds of years."

[last_kallig]

"I thought I must be, the gravity is all wrong for Korriban, and the Force."

"That can't be,"Ibani replies to his statement about Korriban, She's glad he's facing away from her, can't see the anguish on her face for a moment before she pushes it away in favor of neutrality. The Force though, the Force speaks of complete and utter despair for a handful of seconds before she chokes off all emotion she's projecting entirely.

He's not lying, the Force tells her that. But if it's true, then she has failed utterly and completely, and there can be no justification of her continued existence.

[acertainpov]

He doesn't need to look at her, of course, to know what she's feeling. But other than a longer than necessary pause in which he goes absolutely still or a moment, he betrays no emotion himself.

He turns around shortly with a plate scattered in Pika bread and bantha jerky which he offers to her.

"I'm sorry to say it is. But here: one cannot live on black melon alone."

[last_kallig]

Ibani smiles at his offer of food, but is a wan and brittle thing. "I thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid it would just be a waste of good food at the moment."

Ben seems to be a kind man, let him think it's because she won't be able to keep it down from emotional distress and not because she's not going to be needing food where she's planning on going. There must be SOMETHING in this Force forsaken desert that will eat a human and be far enough away that Ben won't find her corpse afterward.

She's still emitting no emotion into the Force, it helps her keep control. She can't afford to lose control, because she doesn't know what would happen if she did. (Ben is force-blind, if she got lost in the Dark side he would have no way to protect himself from her. And there's already so much blood on her hands. So much blood.)

[acertainpov]

There's a Sarlaac pit, that's not even that far. Not that Ben would suggest it.

He looks at her steadily for a few seconds, the plate still in front of him. She's hiding her emotions like a Jedi, and better than many Jedi could do, and with only a harmless old man to hide them from. He's guessing this must be for reasons other than simple deception, and in short he doesn't trust her wisdom in declining food.

"As you wish," he says, and places the plate on a table instead. "I have water, though, and you couldn't possibly refuse that."

[last_kallig]

Ibani would find being mentally compared to a Jedi bitterly ironic.

"No, I suppose I couldn't," Ibani replies. Water is precious in a desert and it will be wasted on her, but she can't come up with an excuse for refusing it.

"How far away was I from here when you found me, Ben?"

[acertainpov]

He hands her a cup - the water is clear and pure, the best the Lars Farm can produce, and what he gives her is a significant part of his store, but he has fruit and food for himself and there's no sacrifice.

"About a league, give or take. There's going to be a sandstorm passing over tonight, but we can head out in the daylight and find the spot again, if you wish. And if you're strong enough by morning."

It's a long way to travel, but it was a long way to go just to find a distressed young Force user. But if she doesn't eat anything, his glance to the plate implies, she's not going to be going anywhere.

[last_kallig]

"That's quite a distance from here," Ibani remarks. "What drew you out so far into the desert?"

She sees his glance and decides that it will be much easier to disappear outside, in the daylight, than to try and sneak out of here at night. Out of deeply ingrained habit, she pokes the water and the food with the Force to see if they are poisoned or drugged.

Ibani will drink the water slowly, then ponder broaching the subject of food again.

[acertainpov]

He settles down, making a mental note of all the things she does that give away exactly what it was she left behind on Kalliban. That she'd suspect him of poisoning really isn't that hard to believe.

Externally he just rubs his chin.

"Oh, you need to cross that area from here to get to the nearest trading town. If I don't make the journey regularly my diet would be considerably more retricted than I can off you now."

[last_kallig]

"I apologize for interrupting your trip to town, then," Ibani replies. "Many people would not have stopped for a stranger and then brought them back to their home, especially a stranger that might be dangerous."

She eyes the plate of food. "I suppose I ought to try and eat something, even though I don't especially want to."

[acertainpov]

"I think you ought," he agrees, with just the slightest inclination of his head to acknowledge the thanks. Many people would not have stopped, but he could not have stayed in after her arrival.

"Take it slowly, your body won't be used to it."

[last_kallig]

Ibani takes a piece of the bread and chews slowly and carefully. "Would it be rude to ask why you've decided to live all the way out here?" Alone, in the middle of nowhere.

[acertainpov]

"Yes," Ben replies, one eyebrow quirked up and a faint smirk on his face. "I think it rather would."

[last_kallig]

"Fair enough," Ibani replies. "We all have our secrets and our scars."

She chews the jerky slowly. "You can ask me questions, if you want," she offers. "I won't lie, but I might refuse to answer, depending on what you ask."

[acertainpov]

He 'hmms' slightly, amsused that she'd give him permission, and that she'd need to promise not to lie.

"I think the obvious one, is what would happen to move you so suddenly through thousands of light years in space and time," he says. "Was this intended?"