CHAPTER 1

Waiting in the Healing Halls for his padawan to wake up was certainly not what Obi-wan had planned for the day.

The Healers said that Anakin wouldn't wake up soon, but he couldn't leave his side, despite them constantly urging him to go and rest and them offering the kindness to inform him when the apprentice wakes up.

No, he couldn't leave, he should be there! Not only because it was his duty as master, but because that little boy meant the world to him right now. He had no one else. And furthermore, he was the only thing connecting him to Qui-Gon.

Obi-wan's impatience grew by the minute. He kept reaching out to the Force, searching for Anakin's presence, a sign, a hint… Anything.

He kept walking hastily in circles around the room, breathing heavily.

"Trust in the Force, trust in the Force" he repeated to himself some dozen times, as words of comfort.

The hours passed. The fragile young boy with the golden hair still unconscious. He looked so small, so precious. Sure, he could be annoying and irritating to say the least, but seeing him now so vulnerable, so quiet, Obi-wan could only feel compassion for him.

He walked to the window. It was now night. How long was he there? He couldn't tell. It didn't matter. He could stay all night, all week if he had to.

He looked outside.

Coruscant.

An endless skyline, fast speeders, music from night clubs, the Senate building glimmering in the horizon... Views so familiar and yet so distant.

Anakin had said that he was very impressed when he first saw Coruscant. His exact words were that he felt too small seeing all those tall buildings. It was the most luxurious place he had ever laid eyes upon. And everything was just so bright! Even in the darkest of nights, even if not a single star could be seen, it was so dazzling he couldn't keep his eyes open for long.

And all that traffic, those speeders running with the speed of sound and those rapid spaceships, their engines burning... It was all extremely loud! Sure, he was fascinated by the technology, but he also missed his old peaceful neighbourhood. Anakin couldn't sleep during his first nights in Coruscant with all that noise! He couldn't meditate, he couldn't focus on his essays, his ears were exploding!

Obi-wan remembered when they got out of the spaceship returning from Naboo, when Anakin stepped in Coruscant for the very first time.

"Master, why is it so cold?" the boy asked, his teeth clenching. "I thought it was cold only in space!"

He remembered he had to bring him some extra blankets in the midst of night. And that for the few following days they had adjusted the temperature in their quarters and it was burning! Anakin was okay with it, but Obi-wan was sweating all the time and couldn't even sleep because of how hot the apartment was! However, he endured it for his padawan's sake.

Maybe Anakin did not like cold, but when he first saw snow on Coruscant his eyes immediately lit up with wonder! Obi-wan couldn't take him away from the window. He was sitting there admiring the white skyscrapers and the majestic snowflakes and he was drawing sketches with his finger on the cold, blurry glass. Mostly spaceships and speeders, but in the corner Obi-wan noticed a drawing of two people that seemed like a little boy and his mother.

"I wish she was here to see it" he could sense through the Force Anakin talking to himself.

Obi-wan then took Anakin for a walk in the full of snow garden, so he could touch it and play with it. Maybe even build a snowman. But it turned out Anakin preferred seeing the snow from a distance than actually playing with it. It was too cold for his taste.

He soon accepted that Coruscant was a cold planet, at least when compared to Tatooine, much to his master's contempt, after some days of insufferable desert-like climate in their quarters.

But now Anakin had adjusted. It was still notably bright and loud and cold, nevertheless he had gotten used to it.

Obi-wan of course never had problems of that sort. He was raised in the Temple since he was a baby and Coruscant's conditions had never caused him any distress. The lights were not that dazzling, most times he wouldn't even notice the noise from the traffic and the weather was pretty much normal.

However, despite this familiarity, despite spending most of his childhood there, despite that this was the place where he was sleeping and had all of his belongings, Obi-wan could not go as far as saying that Coruscant was his home. He had heard Anakin talking about his home in Tatooine, but Obi-wan had never felt like that about a place.

Coruscant was not his home.