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quigonejinnScrap pile post for the Qui/Dooku story.
While Obi-Wan was on Tatooine, there was, for the first time in his apprenticeship, space for storytelling. There was little to read out there in the desert. Obi-Wan had become a better with a lightsaber than Qui-Gon ever was, and Obi-Wan was already meditating his way from sundown to sunrise in place of sleep. There were no Archives to do research, no Map Room to study, no more missions, no more briefings, no more Temple, and one day, suddenly, Qui-Gon told Obi-Wan the story of why he wore his hair long.
Obi-Wan had always thought that it was some combination of reverence for the far past and Qui-Gon's own fashion taste, but it turned out to be stand for a something more: when Qui-Gon had been seventeen, he went with Dooku to a swamp planet on the verge of civil war. Civil war did, in fact, break out, and while wading through the swamps after his master, Qui-Gon picked up a nervous parasite. To keep Dooku from worrying about it during the hostilities, he didn't tell his Master about it until after the final battle, by which point it had crept up from its point of entry at a scratch on the back of his thigh, over Qui-Gon's hip and waist and made its way onto the back of Qui-Gon's skull, where it was preparing to bore through the bone.
There were sophisticated medical treatments for this back at the capital city, but they were a long way aways, and Qui-Gon was already beginning to have problems seeing. There were black spots. He had cold sweats and fits of dizziness; soon, he would have convulsions, and after that, he would lose control of his arms and legs, and his brain would no longer control the beating of his heart. Some of the natives were all for putting him out of his misery then, but Dooku used some of his new-won influence to get them to drag a large rock that some of the natives had dragged near the fire.
Qui-Gon turned his back to the fire and knelt with his cheek on the stone. Dooku poured a cup full of warm water on Qui-Gon's hair to make his hair lie down flat, and Qui-Gon closed his eyes, curled his fingers around a pebble that he found with his fingers, and tried to slow his breathing.
There may have been a knife. Qui-Gon has the vague memory of blood running down over his shoulders, of him screaming because the worm had wrapped feelers around his skull, and Dooku had to sever those as well. Qui-Gon also has a memory of a lightsaber, blade turned down low, humming by his ear and snapping as it cauterized the vessels.
There were definitely treatments with bacta lotion after they returned to civilization afterwards, but the scar had set. Once Qui-Gon became a Knight, he began to grow his hair long to avoid questions about the jagged, red line that stretched almost from ear to ear. It lay just under where his hair-tie began; it was hidden by the bunching of hair.
"I was an extraordinarily ugly young man," Qui-Gon said then, looking over at Obi-Wan and smiling a little. Obi-Wan could see the back wall of the hut through Qui-Gon's shoulder; the combination of the white walls and strong Tattooine sun made Qui-Gon seem evern more translucent than usual. "I'd already broken my nose, I was almost at my adult height, constantly dirty because of the sort of work that Dooku and I were doing, and I once made a group Younglings cry by looking at them when I was fresh off the transport back from a mission."
A pause. Qui-Gon then explained that Dooku had, in his researches into ancient Jedi history, uncovered a few pictures showing Jedi with long hair. Qui-Gon had felt terribly awkward about both the scar, the nose, all the various other elements of his appearance, and while Dooku himself didn't mind, after seeing Qui-Gon so awkward and after seeing that the awkwardness was not fading, Dooku spoke to him about it.
"His solution was to cover it. To keep it hidden under the hair that I was now allowed to grow as a Knight."
Obi-Wan studied Qui-Gon for a while more, and eventually, Qui-Gon had to look away.
Tatooine wastes lay outside the window, and the days when a Master and apprentice might spend hours discussing how the apprentice should wear his hair to hide an ugly scar seemed very, very far away indeed.
Dooku claimed to Obi-Wan that he and Qui-Gon had been close, but at that enocunter, he had every reason to overplay their relationship: Qui-Gon had, indeed, honored him and loved him and respected him. Nevertheless, there was a reason why Obi-Wan and Dooku's paths had not crossed before.
Shortly after he took Obi-Wan as a Padawan, Qui-Gon stopped dropping by Dooku's quarters after missions. He no longer spent hours with his old master in the Archives; he no longer sparred with Dooku down in the halls: Qui-Gon had already lost one Padawan to the Dark Side. He had begun to fear that he was losing a master, and he would not report Dooku to the Council that they both distrusted, but Qui-Gon had no intention of losing Obi-Wan.
In fact, at the time of his death, Qui-Gon had not spoken, alone, with his master for almost a dozen years.
While Obi-Wan was on Tatooine, there was, for the first time in his apprenticeship, space for storytelling. There was little to read out there in the desert. Obi-Wan had become a better with a lightsaber than Qui-Gon ever was, and Obi-Wan was already meditating his way from sundown to sunrise in place of sleep. There were no Archives to do research, no Map Room to study, no more missions, no more briefings, no more Temple, and one day, suddenly, Qui-Gon told Obi-Wan the story of why he wore his hair long.
Obi-Wan had always thought that it was some combination of reverence for the far past and Qui-Gon's own fashion taste, but it turned out to be stand for a something more: when Qui-Gon had been seventeen, he went with Dooku to a swamp planet on the verge of civil war. Civil war did, in fact, break out, and while wading through the swamps after his master, Qui-Gon picked up a nervous parasite. To keep Dooku from worrying about it during the hostilities, he didn't tell his Master about it until after the final battle, by which point it had crept up from its point of entry at a scratch on the back of his thigh, over Qui-Gon's hip and waist and made its way onto the back of Qui-Gon's skull, where it was preparing to bore through the bone.
There were sophisticated medical treatments for this back at the capital city, but they were a long way aways, and Qui-Gon was already beginning to have problems seeing. There were black spots. He had cold sweats and fits of dizziness; soon, he would have convulsions, and after that, he would lose control of his arms and legs, and his brain would no longer control the beating of his heart. Some of the natives were all for putting him out of his misery then, but Dooku used some of his new-won influence to get them to drag a large rock that some of the natives had dragged near the fire.
Qui-Gon turned his back to the fire and knelt with his cheek on the stone. Dooku poured a cup full of warm water on Qui-Gon's hair to make his hair lie down flat, and Qui-Gon closed his eyes, curled his fingers around a pebble that he found with his fingers, and tried to slow his breathing.
There may have been a knife. Qui-Gon has the vague memory of blood running down over his shoulders, of him screaming because the worm had wrapped feelers around his skull, and Dooku had to sever those as well. Qui-Gon also has a memory of a lightsaber, blade turned down low, humming by his ear and snapping as it cauterized the vessels.
There were definitely treatments with bacta lotion after they returned to civilization afterwards, but the scar had set. Once Qui-Gon became a Knight, he began to grow his hair long to avoid questions about the jagged, red line that stretched almost from ear to ear. It lay just under where his hair-tie began; it was hidden by the bunching of hair.
"I was an extraordinarily ugly young man," Qui-Gon said then, looking over at Obi-Wan and smiling a little. Obi-Wan could see the back wall of the hut through Qui-Gon's shoulder; the combination of the white walls and strong Tattooine sun made Qui-Gon seem evern more translucent than usual. "I'd already broken my nose, I was almost at my adult height, constantly dirty because of the sort of work that Dooku and I were doing, and I once made a group Younglings cry by looking at them when I was fresh off the transport back from a mission."
A pause. Qui-Gon then explained that Dooku had, in his researches into ancient Jedi history, uncovered a few pictures showing Jedi with long hair. Qui-Gon had felt terribly awkward about both the scar, the nose, all the various other elements of his appearance, and while Dooku himself didn't mind, after seeing Qui-Gon so awkward and after seeing that the awkwardness was not fading, Dooku spoke to him about it.
"His solution was to cover it. To keep it hidden under the hair that I was now allowed to grow as a Knight."
Obi-Wan studied Qui-Gon for a while more, and eventually, Qui-Gon had to look away.
Tatooine wastes lay outside the window, and the days when a Master and apprentice might spend hours discussing how the apprentice should wear his hair to hide an ugly scar seemed very, very far away indeed.
Dooku claimed to Obi-Wan that he and Qui-Gon had been close, but at that enocunter, he had every reason to overplay their relationship: Qui-Gon had, indeed, honored him and loved him and respected him. Nevertheless, there was a reason why Obi-Wan and Dooku's paths had not crossed before.
Shortly after he took Obi-Wan as a Padawan, Qui-Gon stopped dropping by Dooku's quarters after missions. He no longer spent hours with his old master in the Archives; he no longer sparred with Dooku down in the halls: Qui-Gon had already lost one Padawan to the Dark Side. He had begun to fear that he was losing a master, and he would not report Dooku to the Council that they both distrusted, but Qui-Gon had no intention of losing Obi-Wan.
In fact, at the time of his death, Qui-Gon had not spoken, alone, with his master for almost a dozen years.
