A Bringing Of Forces

Chapter 20

A month, now, had passed since they'd first landed on Xeer I. It had taken several weeks to travel to, despite the desultory hyperspace jumps. Their food had nearly ran out several times, but each close encounter, a space port conveniently popped up on their scanners as if the fallen Jedi truly were looking over their shoulder. At the last port, they had bought enough food and supplies for nearly an entire orbit around the planet's sun, but they would need to come up with a long term solution quickly.

The younglings had more scheduled training now that they had the entire planet and six other Jedi, counting Ahsoka, to help. Drasf spoke little now, only when forced to or dealing with bland topics such as food or the shelters. Other than that she spent most of her time with the younglings playing and doing tricks through the Force.

Obi-Wan was conflicted with the entire situation. What had happened was in no way Drasf's fault. She had been manipulated by a Sith, but in seeing her begin to practice Jedi customs again surfaced thoughts of Anakin. It wasn't fair to compare what had happened with Drasf to Anakin. Anakin had murdered people. Had murdered younglings. The girl had been imprisoned and forced against her will. She had experienced things no creature ever should. It was only bad luck the Inquisitor had discovered such a young mind to use to his advantage.

It seemed almost too good to be true now that the Inquisitor was dead. Obi-Wan never would have thought the day would come where he wasn't being hunted; but he still had Luke to think about. Despite all the new developments with Xeer I, as soon as things settled down and they had a more secure food and shelter system, he would return to Tatooine.

For food, they were still rationing the purchased things from the space port, but Aedion was working on going through what was and was not edible on the planet. There were several trees that supplied a variety of different fruits, and wild vegetables sprouted through the forested areas. Lizard-like species and furry creatures the length of his leg were more than abundant and were edible when cooked long enough. There was a vast quantity of different animals -both herbivores and carnivores- roaming the forests and plains and mountains of Xeer I. Enough if the food did run out.

Shelter wise it was pretty simple. Stone huts had long ago been erected and long since been abandoned, making the perfect housing. They moved the bedding and emergency supplies off the ship, and since then, Ahsoka and Aedion had flown back to several space ports to stock up on bits of everything. Clothes, food, bedding, medicine, blasters, seeds, anything they might need in the future. It took several days by hyperspace to get there and back which Obi-Wan thought might be another reason the two of them traveled together so often.

During such travels they had also accumulated two more ships. Another small freighter, and they had stumbled upon a floating A-wing without a pilot. When they had poked around the ship, the discovery of two kyber crystals had halted their search any farther.

From what Ahsoka had told him of what happened after he was knocked unconscious, he figured eventually Xeer I would have to become independent. If they truly were to create an entire new order of Jedi for not just their own galaxy, but the universe, it would take generations where they could not expose themselves to the Empire in any way. The slightest rumor could destroy them all. It was safer to cultivate the planet by themselves than to travel to spaceports all the time.

Obi-Wan was meditating inside a smaller hut, all outside sounds blocked, but he was growing restless. The younglings were growing rapidly each day in speech, skill, and discipline. Kvothe, the wookie Jedi they rescued, had begun teaching Eara Shyriiwook, but despite that, all the other younglings babbled nonstop now. It was truly remarkable.

Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had never come clean about them being the reason Ellix and Errix had been imprisoned, and it weighed heavily on his soul -just one more thing to add to the ever growing list- but they proved to be quite skilled with mechanics and had rigged a substitute vaporator so they would have a constant supply of water.