Prophecies And Destinies Part 3
Obi Wan lay still while the palace healer applied the final bandages to his ribs. He had done most of his healing while in hyperspace, but the bones were just unsteady enough yet to need the tape. He sighed lightly, remembering that not so long ago, the Temple Healers would have had him completely well and on his way fifteen minutes ago. But, he supposed, if the Temple Healers still existed, the encounter which had left his body quite sore from battering would never have taken place. "All done," the healer announced, smiling shyly. "Thank you," Obi Wan graciously acknowledged the young girl, obviously just beginning her trade and not quite used to the necessary closeness of patching wounds. He smoothed the dermatape before reaching for his shirt. Beginner or not, she had done a good job. The girl exited with a blush. Yoda chose that moment to enter from the waiting room, where Obi Wan knew he had been waiting patiently. "Missing you, someone has been," Yoda held out his arms and allowed the squirming pitten Obi Wan had taken to before leaving to leap from his grasp to Obi Wan. The small creature pounced upon his lap and curled up contentedly as if there were no other place she belonged. "Hello Teeq," he obligingly scratched her ears, causing a contented rumbling to echo. Obi Wan caught Yoda's questioning gaze, "I named her Tee-Quay. It's an Ewok name that means 'savage warrior,'" he paused, lost in thought. "Her coloring reminded me of the Merging Mists of Endor. The light blue fur like the sky and those gray swirls like the mists. My first year as Qui Gon's Padawan, he took me to see the Merging Mists." He smiled fondly, "He made sure we went every time. Every two years, somehow, he made sure that we weren't on mission and managed to get there. … We were supposed to go after we got back from Naboo in fact. I took Anakin instead." "His turning, your fault it was not." "I was his Master," Obi Wan said firmly, "It was my responsibility to show him the right way, to teach him of Darkness and how to keep from falling to it." "Blame Qui Gon for Xanatos' fall, do you?" "Of course not!" He replied indignantly. "And blame yourself, you should not. Think you so little of the Council that we would have let you be his Master if thought you incapable of keeping him from Darkness, we did?" "I was vain enough to think that I could." Yoda smiled kindly. It was a rare sight on the gnomic face, "Know better than that you do. Newly knighted you were and not yet ready to be Master to a Padawan. This you know. Honoring your Master's final request you were. The Council acknowledged this. But we also believed you more than capable of the challenge, regardless of your inexperience." "I would have done it without the Council's approval," Obi Wan said softly. Yoda shook his head patiently. It had been quite a while since Obi Wan had felt like an inexperienced Padawan, but trust Master Yoda to be able to rekindle the feeling, "Again, think you so little of the Council that we would have been unable to stop you?" "But Qui Gon often defied the Council, at times quite openly." "Yes, and while against the wishes of the Council he often went, remained true to where the Force was leading him he always did…and the Force often lead him along a different path. Agree with him, the Council often did not, but above the will of the Force, the Council most certainly is not." Yoda watched him taking this in, "Clouded Skywalker's future was. Difficult to see, but for you to train him was the will of the Force. Knew this, the Council did, and deny it, we could not." Obi Wan remained quiet, taking this lesson in as he once had, long ago. "Skywalker's fall was his own. Done everything possible to bring him back, you have." "And now?" Obi Wan asked, getting softly off the exam table, pitten rumbling happily in the inner picket of his robe. "And now we follow the will of the Force, as we always have," the two began walking out of the infirmary and into the inner workings of the palace. "And what is the will of the Force now?" "Know this, you do." Obi Wan thought as he walked slowly beside the Jedi who was become his Master since Qui Gon's death…something Obi Wan was beginning to suspect he would have done even if Qui Gon had not been his last Padawan. "The son," he said finally, "we should train the son." "Not we…you, Master Kenobi." "I don't think I've earned that title quite yet." Yoda smacked his shin sharply with his walking cane, "Defying me again, are you?" "Master, I wasn't ready when I took Anakin as my Padawan. I'm only twelve years older now. Most humans are at least forty before they are Masters. I'm too young." "Age matters not. You know what you need to know to be a Master," he paused expectantly as they strode towards the nursery. "Follow the will of the Force." "Mmm, seems simple, does it not?" "The concept may seem simple, but the application…" "Told you you were ready, I did," Yoda tapped his cane on the marble floor. Obi Wan swore he looked smug. "So if we are to train this boy…" "If you are to train him," Yoda corrected. "If I am to train him," Obi Wan smiled softly. Never argue with the head of the Jedi Order, "Would we not need to simulate a Temple environment." "Need a Temple to raise a Jedi we do not, but the concept must be held. Separated from his mother, but boy must be. Take him away, you must, to somewhere isolated. Consider where, for soon this must be." "What of the girl?" "Attempt to find another Master, I shall. Left in hiding, some are. I will try to reach Master Windu. Last one to contact me, he was. Until then, remain on Alderaan, she will, with her mother." The two masters stopped outside the nursery, "Padme won't like this," Obi Wan sighed. "Mmm, but little choice she has. Our last hope, these children are." And they went inside. Padme was walking the floor, Luke in her arms, letting everyone know that he wasn't happy. The room was painted in soft yellows, Bantha cubs in various modes of play decorating the top line of the walls. Padme smiled softly, "He's been crying for an hour. He's not hungry and he's dry, I just don't know." she patted the boy's back affectionately and continued to walk. Obi Wan returned her smile as she neared them. He looked into the little boy's clear blue eyes. Luke focused on him and abruptly stopped crying. Obi Wan shivered. Cold…he was so cold. Yoda's ears perked up in amazement, feeling the strength of the child's manipulation of the Force. Obi Wan didn't trust his voice just yet, but he retrieved an extra blanket from one of the closets and handed it to Padme. "He's cold," he managed softly. Padme looked at him curiously, but took the blanket and wrapped Luke up. The baby practically snuggled up in the warm folds and contentedly closed his eyes. "How did you know?" Padme asked quietly, laying the babe down in his crib. "He told me," Obi Wan tried to explain, the amazement still evident in his voice. "No, he didn't tell me…he made me FEEL it." Padme bit her lip nervously, picking Leia up, who was starting to get fussy as twins do when the other finally settles down. "Master?" Obi Wan turned, not needing to ask the question…in his 800 plus years, had he ever seen anything like this? "Know words, the child does not, to tell you what is wrong, but to make you feel it…" Yoda shook his head in amazement. "I don't suppose she can tell you want she wants?" Padme asked over Leia's cries, which had become full and loud. Obi Wan stood next to the tired mother and looked down at the little girl. He felt nothing. He reached out to the child through the Force. Nothing. Obi Wan shook his head, "No, she can't show me." "Find out, you can," Yoda pointed one tiny claw at him. Obi Wan puzzled a moment, the reached out again, this time not expecting the child to reach back, but gently touching her mind, find the source of irritation. "She needs to be changed," he said finally. "Tell that using your nose, you could have," Yoda said, wrinkling his own snubby nose. Obi Wan smiled and Padme laughed softly, moving to the changing table. "Padme," Obi Wan began softly, "there's something we need to discuss." He took a deep breath, but was cut off. "I don't want to talk about it." "No choice, you have," Yoda informed her, using one of the softest tones Obi Wan had ever heard the Jedi Master use, "The only hope, your son is. Want what is best for him, I know you do." "Of course I want what is best for him," her voice choked with emotion that she was trying to hide with the calm demeanor of a queen, "I have already lost my husband." Her words stung Obi Wan, but he let her continue, "I will not lose my children. You want me to give him up to the Jedi? Look at what the Jedi did to Anakin!" The two knights stood quietly through her tirade, understanding. "Anakin had almost no chance," Obi Wan broke the truth she already knew. "He was too old." She nodded. "No, he was too emotional. If he had been taught from a young age how to control his emotions….maybe he would have had a chance, but as it was…" He trailed off, shaking his head. As a nine year old boy, Anakin had displayed incredible emotion: the capacity for kindness and compassion seemed to be an endless well inside of the child. Qui Gon, and indeed Obi Wan upon first meeting him, had believed that he could not have a malicious cell in him. What they didn't consider was balance. Where there is a depth of goodness, there is a depth of evil to counter it. Where one can have such passion for justice, an equal passion for rage against injustice exists. The Jedi maxim was "Only in Darkness can there be Light. Only within the Light can there be cast a shadow of Darkness." Convince the person that something is unjust and you've gained a powerful ally…and in this case, a powerful enemy. Palpatine had woven his web intricately. The more Obi Wan thought about it, the more he became convinced that he had began from the time Anakin came to the temple. After all, Maul had died, by Obi Wan's own hand. Here was a fresh mind, an extraordinary one in light of his single-handed destruction of the Trade Federation blockade ship, and already susceptible to the pull of the Dark Side. Above suspicion as Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, the Master could plant the seeds to gain an apprentice…always two, no more, no less. And Palpatine was a Master. He lured Anakin in with his most sensitive subject…slavery. Slowly, he had convinced the boy that the Jedi tolerated slavery. Why else would such a vile concept exist when the knights of justice more than had the power and capacity to stop it? Why had Qui Gon allowed Anakin's own mother to die a slave's life on a backwater dust ball with no hope once her son had been freed? It had taken only that carefully planted seed to begin a garden. Very soon, every injustice came into question. Why did the Jedi allow government corruption, smuggling, black markets, crime lords…why did the dregs of the galaxy exist when the knights had the ability to stamp them out? Anakin had never understood why the Jedi served the Republic rather than rule it. He never understood that a government of dictators that wiped out all the galaxy's evils was still dictatorship. Anakin was now groomed to believe that the strong should lead. If the Jedi would not lead, would not serve the ideals he had come to believe, they would be eradicated. The strongest beings should lead, not the collective will of those whose lives are in question. So what did that mean for the young boy whose midichlorian count was beyond that of any Jedi ever and forever? Anakin and Palpatine would groom him to take over the Empire…and if that happened, Obi Wan felt sure that the Empire's reign would hold. The fate of one small child mirrored the fate of an entire galaxy, and at that moment, the decision for that fate lay in the hands of his mother…a young queen without her planet. "Padme," Obi Wan broke the silence, "Luke is our only hope. This is the only way." ***** The small yacht Senator Bail Organa loaned him softly broke Alderaan's atmosphere. All markings and serial numbers that would link the craft to the royal house of Alderaan had been diligently removed the night before by Obi Wan and his lightsaber. The Organa's were taking enough of a risk hiding Padme and her daughter. If Obi Wan were found on the way, the last thing he wanted was for the Empire to be lead back to the sanctuary of Alderaan. Yoda had left the same time as Obi Wan, bound for Dagobah. Apparently, the Council members had set the swamp-covered planet as a meeting place in case, for some reason, an emergency rendezvous point was needed. Obi Wan, meanwhile, set his course towards a nondescript planet, even farther on the Outer Rim than Dagobah. Both he and Yoda agreed that it would be the last place Anakin would ever think to search. Obi Wan looked down at his tiny copilot, wrapped up in the blanket his mother gave him, cooing happily and kicking his feet. "I hope you like warm weather," Obi Wan said softly. Luke Skywalker grinned.
Journal Of The Whills
