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]

Ben's reaction to the horrific death of a young person isn't exactly one of being grossed out, but it's also entirely internal so outside he just continues to look thoughtful.

"Maybe. But there still might have been enough to catch the attention of people if we're really unlucky. I'd like to go to the spaceport tomorrow while we're out, see if there are rumours of anyone in the area."

If Vader or any of his inquisitors - or Force forbid, Sidious - caught wind of the same thing that brought Ben into the desert, it could bring their attention uncomfortably close to Luke. Ibani herself - a Sith Acolyte from the days of the Empire - could be of just as much interest, and Ben doesn't want them getting their hands on her either.

[last_kallig]

"Probably a good idea," Ibani agrees. "Worried about Jedi showing up?" she guesses. After all, if no one has lived on Korriban, the sacred home-world of the Sith, for centuries surely there aren't any Sith to worry about!

"It's not like you had any way of knowing what I was when you picked me up, so I can't imagine they'd blame you for that."

[acertainpov]

"Oh there haven't been Jedi around in the Galaxy for..." he pauses just long enough to count the years in his head, "over a decade, now.

"No, it's the Imperial forces I'd be worried about, the ones now calling themselves Sith would be very interested, though whether you'd be a recruit or a threat it's hard to say."

One thing is clear - he can't let her fall into Imperial hands if she knows he's here, even if she doesn't know his last name or that he's even a Jedi.

[last_kallig]

"No Jedi?!" That's enough of a shock to cause her emotional control to break, to flood the Force with guilt and horror and make her go pale and nauseous.

"I don't think I could endure being recruited again by the Sith," she replies. "And I would be a threat, with what I know."

Her smile turns bitter. "I'm a threat to everyone, honestly, with what Korriban made of me."

[acertainpov]

Ben smiles warmly, apparently completely oblivious to the flood of horror in the Force. And why would he be otherwise, after all?

"Then you're lucky you ended up on a backwater planet on the Outer Rim. The chances of anyone chancing upon you here is very slim indeed. Still, better safe than sorry."

If he can keep Luke safe though, he can probably do the same for her.

[last_kallig]

"Better safe than sorry, yes." Her eyes flicker to her blade on the table for a moment.

"But my being here is dangerous for you, isn't it?"

[acertainpov]

His eyes follow hers, and he gives the smallest sigh. This means he's going to have to keep an even closer eye on her, doesn't it? A shame, he was hoping he'd be able to get some sleep.

"Oh don't worry about me," he says cheerfully, his eyes twinkling. "Your coming here is the most interesting thing that's happened to me in years."

[last_kallig]

She catches his sigh and misinterprets the reason for it. "I wouldn't hurt you," she promises. "I'm not THAT much of a monster."

Ibani snorts. "I expect that's not a high bar to jump, considering where we are," she replies, tone dry.

[acertainpov]

He just said not to worry about himself, he isn't going to repeat it.

Instead he shrugs helplessly. "You're right, it really isn't."

[last_kallig]

"See what you miss, being out in the middle of nowhere? You could have interesting things happening all the time, Ben."

And she shouldn't be getting attached, shouldn't be enjoying just talking to another person. Having another person care about her well being feels..good.

And he wouldn't, if he knew what she was, what she'd DONE. She's a monster, and this isn't something she deserves. Guilt and shame and self-hatred in the Force, and why are her karking hands shaking?

[acertainpov]

He stands then, leaning over to take the now empty plate from her, and in doing so covers her hands with his - desert-worn and well used, but soft between the callouses - for a second.

"Better get some more sleep," he advises. "We want to leave before the suns get too high."

He still has no presence in the Force, so it must just be his tone that is so calming.

[last_kallig]

Ibani has calluses of her own, from sword-work, though they're not nearly as worn as Ben's.

"I, yes, that's probably a good idea," she admits. His voice is strangely calming, and her hands stop shaking.

Her dreams are full of blood, of suffering, of torment, and some of that may leak out where Ben can sense it. If he's especially unfortunate, he might even catch glimpses of what she sees behind closed eyes.

[acertainpov]

Not daring to sleep himself, in case she wake up and do harm to herself he can't prevent, Ben sits back in his chair and meditates In doing so he does pick up glimpses of her dreams, but only in terms of the fear and pain it provokes in her.

He meditates on it, letting it flow through him and hopefully out into the Force a little less dark than it was, and any rest eventhe meditation would have brought if is significantly lessened.

Eventually he just gives up.

By the time Ibani awaks again, as blue dawn is creeping through the windows, Ben has a pot on his heater and the place is filled with the rich hot smell of Bantha stew.

[last_kallig]

Poor Ben, she's causing him difficulties she doesn't even know about yet!

Ibani wakes up, confused for a moment about where she is. "Morning, Ben," she says quietly.

She moves to stand, to test her legs.

[acertainpov]

"Good morning."

She shouldn't worry about it, he's been pushing himself farther than he should for years. A night's sleep is hardly going to tip the scales any further.

He watches as she moves, to check the steadiness of her legs: there's going to be a lot to ask of her today but he expects she'll be able to handle it.

"I hope you don't mind it salty. I've had this meat in storage for some time."

The Bantha in question has been feeding Ben on his own for months.

[last_kallig]

Possibly he needs someone in his life to bully/guilt him into better self-care, then?

Her legs are steady as she moves to the table and retrieves her sword, strapping it to her belt with the ease of someone who has carried a sword all the time for years.

"I'm not picky with regard to food," Ibani replies, smile wry. "Spent too much time nearly starving before Korriban."

[acertainpov]

Sword, Ben notices - has already noticed in fact - not a lightsaber. While she was asleep he had a long thought himself and has elected to keep his own locked away. If he needs to protect her from herself... he'll improvise.

He ladles out a bowl of stew for her and one for himself before taking a seat at the table with her.

"How old were you when you went there?"

He's genuinely curious now - he's never researched the old Sith Empire at all and has no idea how they recruited acolytes.

[last_kallig]

Ibani thanks Ben for the stew.

"I was eleven, well, probably eleven, I don't know exactly how old I am. It was training on Korriban or execution on the spot, the Sith Empire doesn't just let Force sensitives it discovers go."

[acertainpov]

Ben nods. It tracks, after all, with what the Sith are like now. He also gives her a quick look up and down to estimate how old she looks - it turns out he's not good with judging age. Older than Luke, is all he's got.

"They discovered you late, then?"

[last_kallig]

"Not especially late, I think. I was about the same age as the others who were first year acolytes."

Ibani starts to eat the stew. "Those born into Sith families receive training nearly from birth, but those who aren't come to it much later. Little ones wouldn't survive the training on Korriban."

[acertainpov]

He pauses in his eating to glance up at her thoughtfully, then resumes. Again, it makes sense. All the Sith he's known were trained as Jedi first.

But he has no questions, he's just happy to let her talk.

[last_kallig]

"Even as old as we are, a lot of us die," she continues, voice quiet. "Korriban makes monsters, or corpses, of us."

She puts her spoon down just before her hand starts to shake. "And now it's all for nothing," her voice turns bitter and angry, at herself and the universe.

[acertainpov]

Oh, he knows that despair, even in someone so young, he's seen it.

"Not for nothing," he says quietly. "For now, at least you're free of that place."

[last_kallig]

"To what end?" Ibani asks him, looking up to meet his eyes, her gaze shadowed.

She laughs bitterly. "You don't know what I am, what I've DONE, Ben."

[acertainpov]

"No I don't," Ben admits.

He can guess, but he doesn't know.

"But I do know that what you've done doesn't dictate who you are now."

He finishes his stew and stands, glancing at hers. "Finish that off, I'm going to get our transport ready."