Frustration and fear bubbled in his stomach, threatening to spill into the vents. There wasn't anything in his stomach to spill, he thought after a moment as he continued to crawl forward, limbs shaking underneath him, finger-tips bleeding under multiple sharp shallow cuts. He didn't answer her question, Obi-Wan didn't even know if he could.
The wave of calm and the feeling of the sun on his skin had the Padawan pausing in the vent, eyes fluttering at the serene feeling. It sunk into his skin and traveled through his limbs until it settled like a cooling pack around his head, the tingling in dancing upon his scalp.
Blue eyes flickered around the vent, a bit of clarity and recognition coming back in his gaze. These were not the sewers of Melidaan, he finally realized. A tentative and very rudimentary peek into the Force around him was met with a twisting in his stomach and pain behind his eyes. But it was worth it. In front of him wasn't an Elder, or a Middle. It was a Jedi.
And how foolish and bothersome he was being. At this rate, they would have him shipping back to Bandomeer by the end of the week. The despair he felt dampened the small bit of hope. He was not on Melidaan. But he was also not a Jedi.
At Essa's question, Obi-Wan sluggishly looked at his fingers watching the blood spiral down and pool in the spaces between his knuckles. There was something grounding about his pain. It was the most real thing that he would grasp onto, everything was out of his control, it was spiraling and Qui-Gon wouldn't even talk to him.
Obi-Wan didn't necessarily want the other to heal him, but if he didn't, they would most likely get angry. As they kept getting at him. Fresh tears pooled in his eyes again as they fell down his face freely, unable to stop it. Did he even feel sad? He felt...like he was going to implode on himself.
Do better Obi-Wan. They're never going to keep you if you're weak.
So, Obi-Wan scooted forward, eyes down, fingers held towards Essa, but his body physically as far away from her as possible. As she closed her eyes, the boy considered using the opportunity to brush past her, use her vulnerability and run. Until he felt her healing. The feeling from before returned, only tenfold, the comfort it provided, the strange itch of feeling his wounds knit themselves back together as his body quietly thanked him for the reprieve, spread throughout his body.
Exhaustion crept in as the adrenaline and panic of the moment and interaction subsided, and then he found the exhaustion siphoning away too. Obi-Wan opened his mouth softly to reply, only to find once again that he couldn't. The thoughts were there, the intention and his words written in the expression of his eyes, but the gate in his chest wouldn't open. Shutting his mouth with a loud clack, he nodded.
Tentative eyes looked over the Jedi before him again. This time with more clarity than before, and his body began relaxing somewhat. His shoulders dropped, and the tension around his eyes loosened. The cold that settled deep in his bones slowly began to warm, the young Padawan instinctively scooting closer to the beacon of light before him, unable to see it in his previous panic.
Forcing his eyes up, he met her gaze, expression lax and eyes flat. Inhaling, he once again tried to answer, paused, then let out a deep, heavy exhale, blue eyes falling back to the floor of the vent. You're a failure, Kenobi.