What they give you.

[quigonejinn]

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had discussed death long before Naboo: a Jedi in his prime rarely died in the line of duty, and Jedi who were not in their prime were rarely sent to situations where they might die.

Nevertheless, it was a natural point of inquiry. There was something frightening about death even to the most indoctrinated Padawan, and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had discussed it a number of times in the context of fear and emotional control. Now that Obi-Wan was older, they were beginning to examine it from an academic viewpoint. Obi-Wan drafted a cultural survey of death practices on a number of planets, and in the way that was usual, he brought the results to Qui-Gon, and they discussed them.

When Obi-Wan was fourteen and Qui-Gon was in his late forties, in fact, they were sent to a dying planet.

...

The first sight they had of Shacard was with a halo: in later years, when Obi-Wan saw the blockade of Naboo, he would think back to Shacard.

In that former case, however, the ring of transport ships in low orbit was benevolent. The Senate had lent its weight to the evacuation efforts; it had called upon the Trade Federation and all available Corsucant-class transport ships to aid in the removal of the natives of the Shacard. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were present as reminders of the Republic. The Republic was with the natives of Shacard; it supported their work to preserve as much of their culture and biodiversity as they could.

Obi-Wan had read the voluminous briefing report, and as was their usual practice, despite the fact that Qui-Gon had gone over it already himself, he was telling Qui-Gon about what he had read.

"The current situation, Master, is the result of a series of failed weather satellites. A decade ago, a passing ionic storm disrupted the satellite circuitry, and as a result, the weather satellites forced a change in the tectonic balance of the Northern continent. That led, in turn, to changes in other plates throughout the planet's crust, as well as the melting of the East-West ice caps."

"How many other inhabited planets in the Republic have East-West ice caps?"

"Four, Master. Shacard's were unique in their thickness and the substantial amounts of strong diwieric acid dissolved in them."

"And what percentage of the planet remains above water?"

"Two point five percent, Master, though a substantial land mass is forming in what was previously the largest ocean."

...

The actual work that they were to perform on Shacard was minimal: Shacard culture was profoundly invested in order, in efficiency, so the evacuation was the most orderly that Obi-Wan had ever seen. In the morning, they toured the evacuation facilities. At noon, they stood with elected leader of the planet while he, along with the planet's Senator, who had been recalled, apprised the Senate of the progress of the evacuation. In the afternoon, Obi-Wan sent a short letter to Bant talking about how much he approved of the orderliness of the Shacard evacuation, and then, he and Qui-Gon began transfer of a copy of the Shacard planetary library to the Jedi Archives.

In the evening, at the invitation of the librarian, they accompanied her and an assistant to one of the few caves remaining above water.

It was a small cave, a outbranch of the network known as the Tl'an. There were primitive rock carvings and curious limestone stalagmite formations; Obi-Wan was preparing to inquire into them when he saw that the librarian had unwrapped a pair of emergency meals and set them on the floor. The assistant had set a recording device on the floor and had begun chanting in a strange voice that did not sound like Basic.

Obi-Wan was about to use his hands to ask Qui-Gon why they were present for this, and then he felt a rush of what almost felt like the Force -- no, it was the Force -- welling up from deep inside the cave. The cave system must reach down into the core of the planet, Obi-Wan realized, and he felt the Force on his face as he would have felt rain blown by a strong wind. From the expression on his Master's face, Qui-Gon also felt it. So, too, the librarian and her assistant.

The presence was there, vivid as a physical sensation, and Obi-Wan could feel it moving past him, like an exhalation. It was hard to put words to a current of almost pure Force, and despite years of being trained not to do it, Obi-Wan found himself struggling to put qualities to it. It was hopeful; no, it was sad. It was universal, and yet it was particular to this planet --

By the time that Obi-Wan had fully acknowledged the existence of the current, it was gone, and the librarian was weeping with her hands over her face, calling out for the Tl'an. The assistant was kneeling on the ground in an attitude of extreme mourning, and Qui-Gon was looking over his shoulder at the sunset, in the direction that the current had gone.

His expression was unreadable.

...

"Master, what are the Tl'an? Are they Force imprints of dead ancestors?"

"No, Obi-Wan. The Tl'an were an independent, semi-sentient species resident in the planet's cave system. The Shacard leadership decided, this afternoon, that it would be too difficult to bring them into the evacuation."

"Are they contemporary to the Shacard, Master?"

"They predate the Shacard and were the first sentient inhabitors of the planet. Some mythology characterizes them as having protected the Shacard people through their history."

Inside their cabin, it was quiet for a long time.

...

The analogy was not exact: Obi-Wan spent a number of years in the desert in Tatooine considering all the ways in which the Tl'an were not like the Jedi. They were not truly sentient. They were profoundly linked to their origin. They had predated the existence of that which they lived to protect; indeed, even their existence as protectors was not directly analogous to the Jedi, who had existed, first, as servants of the Force, and only second, as protectors of the Republic.

In certain ways, in fact, the analogy was not even close: nevertheless, the themes were there. Extinction. Death. The failure of something beautiful. The Tl'an were tied to the unique chemical signature of the planet, which had survived the geophysical changes; the Jedi would rise again someday.

Nevertheless, remorse. Mourning. Memories that the presence of his old Master could not entirely soothe. The cave, the weeping, the grief -- above everything else, grief that lingered long after it should have died itself.