Raise Me Up
Chapter One
Luke glanced up and gave a disbelieving laugh. "No, my father didn't fight in the Wars, he was a navigator on a spice freighter."
Old Ben smiled slightly and replied, "That's what your uncle told you."
Obi-wan watched from the top of a sand dune as the day began, light from the two suns streaking the desert around him with its own kind of beauty. Hope – a rising sun gave so much access to the emotion, yet it bore little resemblance to the life he had chosen. He wondered what did.
A setting sun, perhaps.
Obi-wan resolutely pushed the resultant emotions out of his mind and set down the far side of the dune, leaving the suns behind the hill's imposing shadow as he strode purposefully toward the Lars homestead. He was running late, but there was still time to catch a glimpse of the reason he was out here.
A hope only six years old.
As Obi-wan stood in the darkness of the shadows, the sunken door opened, beaming a block of escaped light from the entry. Two figures came out. One was taller, silent and stoic, while the other was barely over half his height and spouting questions faster than anyone could answer. Obi-wan couldn't see their faces in this lighting, but it didn't matter. He had come to know the inhabitants of this house well enough in the past six years.
Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke, walked toward the landspeeder parked outside and into Obi-wan's hearing range. Luke was still spouting questions, most of which consisted of convoluted phrases his uncle would have had little hope of deciphering if he tried.
"Why is my name different than yours?"
The innocent question, haphazardly thrown in with the medley of words Luke had been creating, brought Owen up short. He glanced around automatically. Once his gaze wandered Obi-wan's direction, but the former Jedi didn't flinch as Owen's gaze slid right past him. Owen hadn't detected his morning surveillance every day for the past four years, and there was no reason today should be any different.
Owen appeared to choke on his words for a moment, then finally addressed Luke. "What brought that up?"
Luke shrugged. "Most of my friends have the same name as whoever they're living with. I just wondered why mine was different."
Owen glanced at him again. Obi-wan received the sudden impression he was considering ignoring the question. Luke looked innocently up at him, waiting.
Owen's shoulder's abruptly slumped before he drew them up again. He replied, "You have your father's name, Luke."
"Oh." Luke was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Why do I still have it?"
Owen glanced sharply at him, then replied, "Because it belongs to you. Now get in."
As he watched Luke climb into the speeder, Obi-wan remembered the single condition he had placed at the time he was giving Luke into his family's care. 'He must keep his name,' he had stated. 'Whatever happens, he must keep his name. It is all he has left.'
Owen had fussed about the risks of this condition, but Beru had simply met his eyes and promised, 'He will always be a Skywalker.'
Bless you, Beru.
Obi-wan drew a deep breath and watched as the speeder vanished in the distance, then started his own trip across the desert. It was time to resume his place as Ben, the man few knew anything about and fewer his purpose here. But now he had another hope to hold onto in his solitary life.
In a galaxy busily turning itself upside down, it was good to know there were still people out there you could trust.
(The spelling of "Obi-wan" in this fic is completely intentional. In A New Hope in the original credits this was the correct spelling; the other spelling of "Obi-Wan" didn't appear until the books started coming out.)