My Father's Eyes
1. Destiny
Destiny is a tricky part of existence. In a matter of minutes, it can take away the life you have always taken as familiar, you as you have always known yourself, and your most private hopes, even when never shared with anyone – Destiny knows. As it proved to know just where to find Master Obi-Wan and his group of acquaintances.
The one night when Destiny found him was not the one in which he stole cookies from the Jedi Temple's kitchen after midnight, at six. It was not the one in which he threw Qui-Gon's lightsaber through the window during a hissy fit, at fourteen. No – the night when Destiny met Obi-Wan Kenobi was a sad, wistful one. A night that already had him wiser long since, unfortunately, for he would've rather have been foolish and innocent like his young self than to have faced the hard truth with his knowing mind. Yet, he never had the choice.
Destiny met Kenobi the moment two children saw the light of the world. Then he knew that no mission he had ever accomplished outstood the importance of this one. After all, the eyes that had seen the Light of the world needed someone to protect them from the Darkness surrounding it.
They were not pretty babies, their faces red and swollen in the beginning; the two cried too much, and the additional melancholy was not necessary in that moment, only annoying. Obi-Wan never noticed any of that, though – all he thought about was how the love he felt for both seemed to stick its claws in his heart with each passing minute. That alone made them the most beautiful things to look at in his world.
He would spend the whole day watching the couple asleep in their cribs, because he knew they had no one left to watch over, worry, or admire them. The girl had tiny brown eyes that shone at the sight of milk, and the boy sported a pair of too familiar blue eyes, which Obi-Wan could not appreciate without pain in his chest. He never needed to think twice about the decision made: he would be the one they had left.
Jedi Master Yoda, however, had opposed to his decision. Dangerous were those children, he reminded Obi-Wan; the lines of Darkness ran in their blood, he reminded him. Still, his old apprentice had already been blinded by the shine of affection and refused to place his suspicions where Yoda had.
And, ah, it was obvious Qui-Gon Jinn's defiance light had never faded in Obi-Wan Kenobi's heart.
Perhaps, just perhaps, Obi-Wan was right – Master Yoda might have been too wary, too worn-out to judge correctly. Yes, indeed, he needed meditating and revitalization, for things that lacked in his old mind. Yoda knew better, though, than to underestimate the suggestions of the Force. Split up they would be, and would only know about their family bonds when their spirits were ready – when the Force told Obi-Wan so.
The Jedi Master could raise one of the children. The other would be safe in the hands of Anakin Skywalker's family.
This was why, under the midday suns, a man named Ben would walk the sands of Tatooine in the direction of the Lars' homestead, carrying two fragile children in his arms. One of which he would have to hand to someone else.
That had probably been the most difficult decision of his life, even though he would be minutes apart from the other child. It was a choice, which he only had something to lose from, and it was a choice he had to make – so, he did.
For the rest of his life, when Old Ben Kenobi asked himself the reason why he chose to keep the baby girl, he would say it was because he did not want to deal with another Skywalker-tempered little boy. In truth, he had only been terrified of looking into his brother's eyes every day.
Had Luke Skywalker and Leia Naberrie known this story, they would have spared everyone around them of all the times they asked the skies why in the nine Corellian hells had Destiny led them to Tatooine, of all places.