This fic is AU. It is based on the original tenets of the SW books (Clones are attacking the Republic, Clone Wars were long enough ago that Obi-Wan still being alive would be surprising, Obi-Wan being from Tatooine, etc) as well as a few touches of my own (Beru Lars is Anakin Skywalker's sister. Shelagh Fraser, Mark Hamill and Sebastian Shaw all have blond hair and blue eyes)
I also set myself a challenge to not use 'Anakin', 'Skywalker' or 'lighsaber' as an exercise in writing around words.
Tell me what you think; love it, hate it, indifferent.
Season of Winds, first week, Twenty years after the Clone Wars
It had been a month since Obi-Wan had hidden on the backwater planet that he had been born on. One month since he had brought a small child to its aunt and her husband. Owen had been suspicious; he remembered when his best friend and brother-in-law had gone off into the stars and had… changed. Obi-Wan did not blame him, in fact the aging Knight placed most of the blame on himself for not noticing the corrupting influence of the Emperor until it was too late.
When Obi-Wan had been young, the Emperor had been a beacon of hope, had rallied the dying Republic into the rigid structure of the Empire in the midst of the all-out attack of millions and millions of cloned soldiers. As the war had dragged on and the career military had been whittled down by endless attrition, the Emperor had resorted to more and more desperate measures; scorched earth, drafts, and finally calling upon Obi-Wan's Order to aid him. Many Knights had fallen heeding that call, Obi-Wan and his oldest friend almost among them many times.
But then the war had ended and the light of hope had dimmed. Regulations that had once seemed reasonable were now harsh and unforgiving without the backdrop of war. Rights were extinguished one by one and a systematic discrimination against all non-humans began to slowly creep into the government workings. Most people hadn't noticed, but Obi-Wan had, had tried to warn his friend, unaware of how tight the Emperor's grip had become. Their confrontation had been…. Brutal. Obi-Wan now walked with a slight limp and his opponent had been severely reduced. After that, the Jedi had been hunted, one by one, until only two were left. Obi-Wan and his instructor had each staged their deaths and gone into exile to leave some remnant of the Order to survive.
Before he disappeared from the world, he had met with his friend's wife. The woman had just given birth to twins and now she was desperate to keep her children safe from what her husband had become. Together, they came up with a plan; the boy would go with Obi-Wan to Tatooine and she would take her daughter and hide on Alderaan in the household of Bail Organa, a close cousin and influential politician. After delivering the child, Obi-Wan had sold the Kenobi holdings save for one forgotten corner out past what might ever be covered by stretching the term 'civilization'. There, he had built a small domicile, seated high atop a mesa, giving a stunning view of the desert for miles around. It was desperately beautiful, it was terrifyingly lonely.
And so Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight and former General, began his long exile.