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Most Jedi generally had a gift with animals, but with Obi-Wan, it went quite a bit further. Most Jedi needed to concentrate, to focus on the animal to gently persuade them. For Obi-Wan it was effortless, unintentional. Animals of all shapes and sizes simply flocked to him.
It didn’t feel much like a gift, no matter what Qui-Gon said, when the local wildlife insisted on climbing all over him at every opportunity. But then again, Quinlan didn’t always like his psychometry, either. Sometimes gifts were more trouble than they were worth, but a Jedi had to learn how to work with them nonetheless.
As Obi-Wan got older, he gained patience and appreciation for the lifeforms that came to him. They could be helpful, too, guiding him where he needed to go or bringing him lost objects that he could return to those who had missed them.
But that didn’t mean that his patience wasn’t tested sometimes.
He had just gotten back to the Temple for a short reprieve after a string of hard-fought campaigns, not all of them won, with the kind of exhaustion that made him short-tempered. He just wanted to roll out his futon and sleep for as long as he could, and the gathering of various creatures from the Temple, Coruscant, and even some stowaways that must have slipped through the regular checks the 212th did (well acquainted with Obi-Wan’s, ah, fortune) were rather getting in the way of that.
“If all of you could leave me be for a while,” he said, a bit tersely, as he made space for the futon. He quickly dropped himself onto it before too many of the others could stake their claim. Several of them began climbing on top of him, heedless of his irritation.
“Really,” Obi-Wan continued, as he drifted into sleep. “I’m sure you have better things to be doing. If seeing me all the time is so important to you then you ought to go find the Sith Lord and deal with him so I don’t have to go off to war anymore.”
When Obi-Wan awoke, it was late into the day, and his room was surprisingly empty.
However, there was an urgent alert on his comm, with no more details than that an emergency Council meeting had been called. Well, hopefully he wasn’t missed too much. He quickly dressed and went to the Council chambers.
“Joined us at last, Master Obi-Wan has. Anything to say on the matter, have you?”
Obi-Wan let his confusion at Yoda’s knowing gaze be known.
“I’m afraid I’ve been asleep for the last… twelve hours, Master.”
Mace exchanged a look with Yoda, then fixed Obi-Wan with a steady look.
“This morning, the Chancellor was attacked in front of the Senate by an entire menagerie of creatures,” Mace said. “By which he was eventually killed, but not before electrocuting many of them. With Force Lightning. Posthumous examination of his effects revealed two lightsabers with Sith-bled crystals.”
Oh, Obi-Wan thought. Well then.