"Anakin!  Here is our chance!"  The arena had broken into a tumultuous wreck.  The enraged beasts careened through the spectators, bodies flying like sand and dust beneath their monstrous, flailing limbs.  Mondula was paying them no attention; his eyes preoccupied with something on the area floor, but his bounty hunters were busy scrambling away from the panicking crowd and rabid creatures.

Obi-Wan grabbed Padme's trembling hand and hoisted her up.

"Anakin, we must flee, NOW!"  Obi-Wan raked the surging crowd with his gaze, but he could not find his apprentice amidst the fray, though he could sense that Anakin was not far.  Suddenly, Padme released a shuddering breath and whispered in terror, "oh no!"

A hulking, elephantine creature lumbered into a corner, struck down by a group of rowdy onlookers.  As it stumbled out of view, Anakin was revealed once more.  His back was turned from them, and his gaze was focused on the same spot as the hulking Mondula above and now also of Padme: the writhing body of the slave girl, Reysuu.  Her hands clawed at her throat where her collar encircled her neck and she gasped for air, her heels digging pitifully into the dusty ground in her fruitless attempt to hold on to her life.

Though it struck his heart cold, Obi-Wan knew that they had no choice.  To intervene would be to commit suicide, not only for themselves but for the fragile Republic.  With Adi Gallia's warning ringing like a death knell in his brain, Obi-Wan shouted,

"Anakin, for the sake of the Republic, we cannot intervene! We must go NOW!"  Anakin glanced over his shoulder, a momentary and fleeting glance not at his master but at Padme, who was clutching Obi-Wan's sleeve.  She turned from Anakin's gaze, siding with Obi-Wan, knowing in her heart that the life of one slave was not worth crumbling a fragile alliance.  When he saw that neither of them would come to the girl's aid, Anakin turned away and stared at her convulsing form.  After a brief second of hesitation, he ignited his lightsaber and ran towards her.

"NO!  Anakin you CAN'T!"  Obi-Wan jumped down and charged after his apprentice.  Mondula was already in a fit of rage, motioning for all of his guards, lackeys and head hunters to converge on Anakin and tear him to pieces.  Anakin grabbed Reysuu and tried to wrench the collar from her neck, but after a few seconds his hands started to sizzle and burn - the terrible stench of  burning flesh seeping through the already putrid stadium air.  Crying out wildly, he tried to carefully cut through the collar with his lightsaber, but her time was running short and he was unable to do the thing steadily.  He gave up on that idea and made a pained, fearful noise - unable to do anything but watch her as she struggled. 

Obi-Wan reached him then, and he put a firm hand on Anakin's shoulder, dragging him up roughly. 

"There is nothing you can do for her!  And now you have foolishly revealed us all!"  Obi-Wan pointed at Mondula, who was spitting and frothing with rage.  "We need to fly, NOW, or the Hutt will have us all on platters!"  Anakin's eyes followed Obi-Wan's arm and he stared at the raving Hutt for a moment.  Suddenly, Anakin sprinted forwards, wound up his arm, and flung his ignited lightsaber at Mondula.  Horrified and agast, Obi-Wan was unable to stop him, even though he toppled Anakin to the ground.  Still controlling his blade through the force, Anakin wrenched his lighsaber through the Hutt's blubbery neck before calling the weapon back to his hand.  Like a slab of melting butter, Mondula slid in two.  The Hutt's eyes were still rolling as the head fell to the ground with a horrifying splatter - the freshly exposed innards steaming in the shade of the  observation lounge.

Mondula's lackeys fell back, now unsure what to do without the promise of a good payoff for facing a Jedi.

Reysuu's collar flashed and smoked, emitted an ominous screech and then she slumped to the ground, motionless.  Anakin threw Obi-Wan from his back and scrambled towards the slave, once again gripping her collar with his hands and wrenching it apart.  Obi-Wan watched, his heart alive with astonishment and fear as Anakin exerted all of his strength upon the collar.  Arms straining and his teeth gnashing, he groaned with effort and this time, the collar gave way, tearing in half at the welded seam, spewing wires and acrid smoke.

With half a voice, Obi-Wan said, "She's dead, Anakin.  Do you see now?  Does this satisfy your reckless bloodlust?"

Anakin threw the collar across the arena with a terrifyingly animal scream.

"SHE'S NOT DEAD!"  He tore off a piece of his shirt and quickly wound it around her oozing, sizzling throat, and then gathered her in his arms - not an easy feat considering her height and musculature - but Anakin cradled her like a child, with all the gentleness of a doting parent carrying an infant to bed.  He stood, heading towards Padme who was huddled in the shadows, her face streaked with shamed tears.

Obi-Wan glanced around the arena - the vestiges of damage still hung in the air, cries of beasts and sentient beings echoing in the distance.  Mondula's men balked under he gaze; some of them turned tail and fled.  No one stood to oppose him, and he simply followed Anakin from the arena, leaving a ruin in their wake.


-----

Obi-Wan leaned against the entryway of the sickbay and watched his Padawan with a frustrated gaze.  Anakin was bent over the half-conscious slave girl, dabbing her throat with salve and cleaning her putrid, oozing wounds.  Clearly in agony, she could do little more than clutch Anakin's knee with white knuckled fingers.  His face was focused and intense, flushed with anger.  Every so often he would noticeably flinch - his fingers were covered in shining crimson burns and seeping blisters. 

Obi-Wan watched them curiously.  Anakin's wounded fingers dabbed at her ravaged neck; almost as if they shared the same wound; and Obi-Wan's chest constricted with anxiety.  Anakin gingerly addressed a particularly raw section of her wounds, and she moaned incomprehensibly in pain.  For a moment she met Anakin's gaze, and Obi-Wan watched as they seemed to exchange some sort of subliminal empathy that he could not comprehend.   Then her head fell back and she fainted.   Anakin dressed her wounds as carefully as he could and finally stood to address his Master.

"Is there something you wish to say to me, Master?"  Anakin did not look up, instead he stared at the wall above Reysuu's bunk.

Obi-Wan's left eyebrow shot up and he readjusted himself in the doorway.  "There are a great deal of things I wish to say to you Anakin, but none of it will reach your stubborn ears."

Anakin's jaw worked silently, he glanced ad Obi-Wan and looked away again, glanced back, turned away.  Finally, he moved for the door and knocked past Obi-Wan, closing the sickbay door behind them.   He faced Obi-Wan but still refused to look at him squarely, his eyes darting angrily over every surface of the corridor.

"What was I supposed to do?"  He hissed, voice seething with frustration.

"You were supposed to listen to me.  You were supposed to place the needs of a million free citizens of the Republic above the life of a single slave!" He tried to keep his voice even and controlled, but Obi-Wan knew that his frustration was seeping through.

Anakin met his eyes for a moment, his face blazing with emotion.  "You wanted me to let her die!"

"Anakin, there are bigger things for us to look after!  Have you already forgotten the Sith?  Has it already slipped your mind that Sabe died mere hours ago and that the Queen's life is in immediate danger?  Or perhaps you have failed to recall that your actions have shattered a fragile diplomatic truce and may have just singlehandedly toppled the Republic!  I see... now I can easily understand how the suffering of one single slave could have made you utterly loose your senses!"

"That's how you feel about slaves?  Had Qui-Gon lost his senses when he rescued me from slavery?"

They both knew that Anakin had struck a nerve, and they stared at one another, unsure of how to proceed.

"Those circumstances were vastly different.  Don't hasten to draw faulty conclusions.  Not all slaves can be freed, not every life can be spared."  Obi-Wan sighed and leaned against the corridor wall, putting a balled fist to his creased forehead.  "I thought you understood this... the Jedi live a life of sacrifice, compromise and diplomacy.  We are not driven by uncontrollable empathy!"

"But she was suffering!  Dying before our eyes!  Is a Jedi supposed to stand by and let the innocent suffer?"

Obi-Wan put a hand on Anakin's shoulder half-heartedly, and said in a low, sad voice,

"People suffer and die every second of every day, Anakin.  We cannot sidestep the Order and our responsibilities to the Republic in order to shirk death and pain.  You must understand that."  After a moment of reflection he added, "and do not assume that she is an innocent victim.  We have no idea what sort of creature she is."

"She's not a creature, she's a human being.  And slave or not, a life is worth something."

Seeing that he was going to get nowhere, Obi-Wan relented for the moment, cosigning himself to deal with his Apprentice when he was in a more reasonable state.  "We will discuss this later, Anakin.  For now, please clear your mind of this and get some rest."  In his mind he added, 'you'll need it to explain this to the council... we both will.'

Though he looked like he wanted to say a great deal more, Anakin could not seem to find the appropriate words and so he also relented; turning away and heading down the corridor towards the cockpit.  Obi-Wan could hear the faint voice of Padme and hoped that the Queen would avoid the topic of their new passenger, for the sake of everyone onboard.

Obi-Wan leaned further into the curving corridor wall, pressing his fist firmly to his brow as if in an effort to push away his thoughts; his dark, anxious thoughts.  He could not avoid the feeling that something was going wrong - something beyond the obvious explosion of failure of the anihillated treaty.  He knew that the Sith was involved in this entire mishap - knew that she had intended for Anakin to go berserk and sever the truce, perhaps she knew his apathy could be exploited; a thought that gave Obi-Wan no comfort.  But there was something else; he knew that the Sith witch and the slave girl were connected, that Reysuu had also been part of this awful set up.  Obi-Wan only wished he could foresee whatever consequences were hurtling their way.  No doubt there would be a lot of clean up negotiations about the damned treaty, but beyond that everything was quite hazy and decidedly grim looking.

After a moment's consideration, Obi-Wan opened the sick-bay portal and slowly stepped toward the still-unconscious Reysuu.  As he considered her, it struck him how familiar she seemed, and likewise how dangerous.  A very instinctual sort of feeling was urging him not to let Anakin get to close to her, to keep the two of them at a distance from one another.  He could not really understand the feeling or even justify it, and he knew bringing it up would only aggravate his Apprentice further. 

Deeply engulfed in his thoughts, he was startled when Reysuu coughed weakly and groggily opened her eyes to look at him.  His posture didn't change even in his surprise, and he stared down at her, arms crossed, face stern.

"Heard what you said..." she murmured, her words barely audible over the rasping wheeze of her damaged voice.  Obi-Wan fidgeted uncomfortably.  Though he was resolute concerning what he had said to Anakin, he was not sure what to say to the person he had condemned moments before for merely being saved from death.

"You were right-" she coughed, a bit of blood staining her lip.  "I should have died... should have died there."   She squeezed her eyes shut and hissed as she turned her head a few millimeters to look him in the eyes.  Astounded by her reaction, he leaned over her a bit more and bent his neck to get a better view of her expression.  They looked at each other for a while, a silent communion of very little except a shred of mutual understanding.  Finally she spoke again, even more weakly than before.

"Should have died there... no place for me now."  She coughed again, more blood rattling through her teeth.  "What am I supposed to do?"  She smiled cruelly, looking deranged.  She made a sound somewhere between a cough, a laugh and a sob and nearly seemed to choke on her own blood, but after a moment she relaxed and slumped into the mattress.  Once more she glanced up at him and muttered softly, "sorry... wish you'd never met me..."

He wasn't sure if it was a personal statement or a question for him, but he was saved the awkwardness of replying when she appeared to lapse back into unconsciousness again. Obi-Wan turned away from her, the anxious feeling in his gut having now doubled.