There were fissures in Obi-Wan’s mind
and soul.

Obi-Wan’s stint as a Fallen had left
permanent scars on both his soul and mind but it had also left
fissures that would never properly heal, its side effects meaning
that Obi-Wan sometimes lost grasp on where he was and when.

There had been
moments Mace had entered his quarters to find Obi-Wan sitting against
a wall with his face in his knees, shaking and hiccuping for air as
he tried to make sense of a galaxy without Qui-Gon Jinn.

Other times he had
discovered Obi-Wan twisting his hands over his hair, wondering in
concern where his padawan was, the redhead thinking Anakin was still
eleven.

The states didn’t
last long luckily, at least not as long as someone came to Obi-Wan’s
rescue but for someone who had once been so mentally strong, it was
terrible to see.

Mace knew that
Obi-Wan had taken pride in his ability to manage his mental self even
when his physical self had been damaged and now Obi-Wan had days
where he thought he was back with Qui-Gon, still the mans padawan and
the long haired gundark was still alive.

To see Obi-Wan’s
face crumble each time he realized Qui-Gon was dead…

It was heart
breaking for Mace.

But Che had come
with a solution.

The healers had
temple based therapy animals.

And Obi-Wan had
been provided with one of them, an anooba with a mellow temper that
would quietly rub itself against Obi-Wan’s hip or hand to remind
him where he was and what he was doing when the redhead lost his way.

It was an honest
relief for Mace, made it easier to leave Obi-Wan behind unless they
were both going to the council chamber together.

The
white shaded with gray strips anooba followed Obi-Wan everywhere,
sometimes with Obi-Wan’s hand resting on its rugged mane
that ran along its back in an
obvious grounding move that Mace couldn’t bring himself to begrudge
when Obi-Wan was so lost at times.

He wasn’t quite
sure what to make of its name though.

Squeak was an odd
choice for such a fearsome predator animal.

When he’d said
it, Che had outright laughed, her lekkus twitching as she explained
the younglings had named all of the therapy animals and that was why
some of them had the oddest of names.

Squeak, Blubber,
Caff and Mini may be the oddest one so far that Mace had heard.

But Squeak had also
bonded to Obi-Wan with the younger Jedi master laughing as the large
animal nuzzled at him gently.

Compared to the
mental issues Obi-Wan was left with, the scars around his throat and
over his forehead were the least of his issues though the former did
sometimes make it hard for Obi-Wan to speak for lengths of time.

But the scars of
his throat would soften with time.

Mace was sure of
it.

But the gaps in
Obi-Wan’s soul and mind also meant that he couldn’t leave the
temple for war, at least not yet. If he lost himself in the middle of
a battle then Obi-Wan would be lost to them and Mace…

Well Mace was
grateful that they didn’t just sacrifice their members in vain
attempts that wouldn’t gain them anything.

Everyone agreed
that sending Obi-Wan out would be a major loss as there was a sever
doubt that Obi-Wan would manage to keep himself safe should he have
one of his episodes and lose himself.

So he
remained in the temple, working through information that his keen
mind when it was there could analyze and work over.

Which was doing
them all a world of good, as long as Squeak kept Obi-Wan grounded,
Obi-Wan could target pattern in the Separatists battle tactics and
find information that prior had been overlooked by tired minds.

They were at war
and no one could really rest properly… but Obi-Wan would recover,
that much Mace was certain of.