Chapter 6
Dawit was screaming. Screams that
echoed through the halls. She was clutching her head and throat. Then the memory and the
pain were gone. Her robes were drenched in sweat.
“Dawit? Are you all right?
Dawit, what happened?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Obi-Wan, please go to the
dormitory. We need to speak to Dawit alone.” Qui-Gon said.
“But Master, I want to stay and
help her.”
“I told you to go to the
dormitory. You shouldn’t question me.” Obi-Wan nodded and walked out of the
hall. Qui-Gon put her arm around his shoulders and helped her up. “We’ll take
you to another room so you can gather your thoughts. Your memory of past events is
returning.” Dawit nodded slowly and stood upright. Nefra followed quickly behind her.
Dawit leaned her spinning head on Qui-Gon’s shoulder. The nausea was returning. They
reached the old medical center. Qui-Gon gently placed her on an old bed. Her head was
spinning so much and the nausea was too much. Dawit curled up in a ball, turned her head
and threw up. Nefra put a cold compress to
her forehead. Dawit’s braids were becoming unpinned. She trembled and shook.
“Dawit, there’s something
the counsel wants to tell you.” Nefra said.
“They wiped my mind, didn’t
they?”
“It was for your own good. Your
brother did horrible things to you.”
“I’ve always known. You
just made it take harder for me to remember!” The horror of being kept in the
darkness of a conspiracy invigorated Dawit. She rose and fingered her lightsaber. She
pulled it off its loop and threw it at Nefra. “Take this. I’m leaving. I was
never meant to be. . .
an amber miner! Father, don’t you
see this is the opportunity of a lifetime?”
“An opportunity of a lifetime? You
mean another chance to lose another child! Once your child is found to be gifted with the
Force, you never hear from them again! They think of the Jedi as their family. Your brother was old enough
to speak. They asked him if he wanted to go. He said yes. Now I lose a daughter.” Her
father hung his head in sadness. She felt as if she were physically being pulled in two
directions. Her jealousy towards her brother’s Jedi skills pulled her to Coruscant.
While her love for her Father held her tightly to Anyota.
“You won’t lose me. You run amber to Coruscant all the time. You can always visit.” She was trying to get what she wanted, a family and the Force.
“They discourage it. The Jedi want the students to be all their own! If they don’t show enough ‘promise’ they’re sent home. Their families get back complete strangers!”
“Father, it won’t be that way I promise. I have seen your brother twenty times in the past thirteen years and do you know how many times I’ve talked to him? Do you!”
“No, I do not. Tell me. I’ve talked to him every year. He’s seven years older than I am. It would be the same if he were home. You know that! It’s a miner’s life here!”
“I’ve personally talked to him five times. They won’t let me in. He is close enough to touch, but I can’t reach him! He wasn’t even here when you were born. Then your mother left.” Her father burst out into tears of loss and misery. She was divided even more. She looked around the walls of a home she had always known. In a heart-wrenching instant she decided.
“I’m going Father. Nefra will teach me. We’ve known him forever. You can trust that he’ll bend the rules for us, at least a little bit.” Her father looked at her and said,
“Go. May the Force be with you. Dawit, trust your heart to guide you.” She threw her arms around him and he gave her the last. . .
hug.
She was gripping Nefra tightly. Opening her eyes Dawit realized she was no longer on
Anyota. She had only seen it in her vision. Quickly she let go of Nefra.
“What
did you see? I didn’t seem as bad as the other visions.” Nefra said, as if to
assure Dawit she had done nothing wrong.
“I
was at our house on Anyota. It was the last time I ever saw my father again. A week after
I came to the Temple the Pirates, on the outskirts of the Outer Rim, shot him down. I just
remember how happy I was we parted on good terms. Father’s words gave me an inner
strength from then on. I wanted to be family, even if it broke the rules.”
“You
were abused by your brother. He used you.” Nefra was trying to make Dawit see it from
his point of view.
“He
experimented with the ancient magic of the Sith. I saw him doing Sith magic that
night.”
“You
are starting to remember all of this?” Qui-Gon asked.
“Why
did you hide the truth from me?”
“It
wasn’t hidden, it was just out of your conscience mind’s reach.” Nefra told
her.
*Obi-Wan,
come and help me. We’re in the old medical center.* Dawit sent this message and hoped
he would come. Urgently she added, *Hurry, please!*
“Maybe
it’s best if you go see the council now. They can help explain why it was done.”
Nefra said. He wanted Dawit to see his side of the story, why he allowed her mind to be
wiped. Dawit knew if she left now Obi-Wan would not find her. . .
here. Onxyi wouldn’t dream of looking for her in the old library. She crawled into the bottom empty bookshelf and curled up. Concentrating she made an illusion of books in front of her. Finally, she had found a safe and secure place. She curled up and fell asleep. She awoke to find Onxyi staring straight into her eyes.
“It’s about time you woke up. I was beginning to wonder if the chase wore you out. You saw too much. You tried to tell on me. Now you will have to pay the price.”
“What price?” Fear filled her eyes. Onxyi ignited his shortest lightsaber blade and ran it down her right cheek. A thin line of blood dripped down her face. She flinched as he lunged at her. Instinctively she drew back deeper into the bookshelf. Another swipe of his blade as he lunged at her cut her left forearm. He pulled her out of the relative safety of the bookshelf with the same invisible iron hands. Then, physically holding her injured arm he pulled her closer to him. Slowly he pushed the blade deep into her right thigh. It hit the bone and she screamed for. . .
“HELP!!!”
Dawit was curled over her right leg in pain. She clutched her left forearm as if she were
losing blood. Her right cheek was buried into her knee. This time the pain didn’t go
away. It stayed and it hurt. Next to her was Sasah Drea, a council member, who was gifted
in Healing. She was a small, thin woman with black hair. She was soothing Dawit’s
pain with the Force. Her calming waves of the Force uncurled Dawit from her fetal
position. There was no blood, but scar
tissue. It looked like the scars had been there for some time. Dawit remembered what Obi-Wan had told her about
Sasah’s first name. He told her that Sasah was an old Terellian name for
‘Protector of Mankind’. True to her name, Sasah protected every Jedi who ever
needed help. Dawit was now one of them.
“I
cannot remove the scars Dawit. Only you can. You hold the key to your own past.”
Sasah told her. The pain was now gone, but the memory of the vision was not. She weakly
asked,
“Where
am I?”
“You
are in the council room.” Obi-Wan told her.
“Obi-Wan?”
Turning her head Dawit saw him. “Obi-Wan you’re here!”
“It’s
alright. Everything is going to be alright.” Obi-Wan told her.
“Nothing
will ever be alright. Not now, not ever!”
“Calm
down. You had a very frightening vision of your past.” Nefra told her, gently pushing
Obi-Wan aside.
“Why
am I in the council room?”
“Help
you we did.” Yoda said. Dawit had to turn her head in the opposite direction to see
him.
“How
did you help me? That vision certainly wasn’t help.” Dawit remain surprisingly
calm. She couldn’t find it in her to be angry with them. Yet she couldn’t
remember why she was here.
“The
vision you experienced is unlike any to known knowledge. You retained the physical feeling
and the physical scars. This has never happened before.” Sasah told her.
“Holding
an illusion are you?” Yoda asked.
“I
don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. I don’t know if my memories are
real or lies. Why, why did you do this to me?” Dawit’s anger came back with a
vengeance. Tears streamed down her face. She wanted to. . .
hide. She stanched the flow
of blood. She concentrated the Force through her body, healing all her wounds. It coursed
like electricity through her leg. The shattered bone was soon mended. The cuts were soon
scabs. Her next problem was to hide the scars. There was nothing to be done about the
scarring. There was a nine-inch scar on her
right thigh and a six-inch scar on her left forearm. She looked into the mirror and saw
the scar running down from the right side of her eyebrow to the tip of her chin. The only way to avoid the scars from becoming
permanent was to go to Sasah. That would incur her brother’s rath. She limped
slightly as she went to bed. The illusion would have to be made in the morning. Right now
she needed to rest. No more could be done. . .