A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
"Again."
Heeding the words of his Jedi Master Qui Gon Jinn, Obi Wan parried as Qui Gon came down at him with the training saber.
The blade caught him on the thigh and Obi Wan winced from the sharp, sudden pain.
"Be aware of your unconscious self, Obi Wan, for the Force operates based on your instincts more than anything you can learn from another."
"I don't understand, Master, what do you mean?"
"Your eyes deceive you, don't trust them." Qui Gon switched off the training weapon and picked up a helmet off the floor. "Try it with the helmet this time." Qui Gon placed the visored training helmet and reactivated the training saber.
Obi Wan stared back in disbelief at the tall, long haired Jedi Master. "But I can't see!"
"As I said, let go of your conscious self."
Obi Wan braced himself as he clutched the lightsaber, unable to see his surroundings.
Yet as Qui Gon's saber came down again, Obi Wan found himself without thinking blocking the strike, hearing the satisfying sound of blade against blade.
"Very good Obi Wan," Qui Gon commended in his soothing golden voice.
Deactivating the saber, Qui Gon said, "That's enough for today."
"I did feel it coming," the fourteen year old Obi Wan said as he removed the visor.
"Master Jinn." Mace Windu stood at the doorway. "The Council wants to see you."
"Yes, Master Windu." Qui Gon gave his Padawan a reassuring smile before he left.
The eopie was predictably slow trudging through the sand dunes, but Obi Wan had all the patience in the universe. Patience was a necessary trait to possess living long term on the desert world of Tatooine, especially for a Jedi Knight unable to travel freely, or do anything while the galaxy suffered under the rule of the Empire.
The slow ride along the Jundland Wastes also allowed Obi Wan time to meditate, something he had always found ref reshing and energizing. During his years of exile, his most frequent companion had been the spirit of his long dead master, Qui Gon Jinn.
Even back as a Jedi Master, Obi Wan has never considered his training near complete, fully aware that even the strongest and most powerful Jedi only understood the surface of the Force's powers. While others disagreed, Obi Wan believed it was a Jedi's main purpose to study the Force in as much depth as possible, and learn its secrets through peaceful meditation and scholarly learning.
He'd seen the same sun rise and fall for nine years and every time he roamed the infinite, desolate wasteland that was Tatooine, and it always served as a painful, unnecessary reminder of the first day he'd been on this world, long before the Empire or the Clone Wars.
It had been here where he'd first met Anakin Skywalker, who, unknown to him at the time, would become not only his Padawan learner, but his best friend and brother. Anakin's homeworld shoved down his throat the loss of the man he'd loved and fought alongside in the war.
Like most Jedi of the Clone Wars, Anakin had fallen to the evil Sith Lords and the Empire. The loss of not only Anakin but the other Jedi who had died in the Purge.
The Empire was something Obi Wan came as close to hating as a Jedi ever could, second to the Sith. He knew that two Sith Lords stalked the galaxy, Emperor Palpatine and his dark apprentice, Darth Vader. It had been Vader who had consumed Anakin and left nothing of Obi Wan's partner and brother.
Anyone who saw Obi Wan riding through the hot, bitter sand would have seen a robed, hooded bearded man. Those in Mos Eisley and other inhabited settlements on Tatooine knew old Ben Kenobi as a crazy old wizard, and Obi Wan was just fine with that. He needed no companionship save for Qui Gon's mentorship in learning to channel his deceased spirit into the physical world.
Even that training was for the sake of Luke, the boy Obi Wan had sworn to watch over throughout his exile. Obi Wan's entire purpose was to watch over Luke, keep him save from the dangers of the corrupt Tatooine until he was ready to learn the ways of the Force. If Obi Wan died before completing the boy's training, he would be able to mentor the youth through spirit.
At last, Obi Wan reached the Lars homestead on the back of the eopie. He remained mounted as he reached out and sensed the boy's presence.
He had not seen Luke up close since his infancy, but he remembered the boy's eyes and how closely
they'd resembled that of his father Anakin. Now, he saw the boy's uncle Owen Lars emerge from the adobe igloo, carrying tools to work on the developing moisture vaporators.
Owen gazed over to Obi Wan and gave his usual cold stare. Obi Wan did not give any nonverbal reply as Owen went back to work. He knew the Lars' attitude to him and the burden of being a Jedi on the run.
A moment later, Beru emerged from the dwelling with the nine-year-old Luke, talking to him quietly.
"You'll learn how to pilot soon enough," she was saying, "it's just that right now your uncle and I are busy."
"Luke, come give me a hand," Owen beckoned his nephew over as Luke briefly glanced Obi Wan's way.
Uncomfortable, Obi Wan looked away and flicked around the reins of the eopie.
The creature began to ride in the opposite direction as Luke went to help Owen with the vaporator.
Obi Wan's mind cleared as he rode on back towards the Jundland Wastes. In preparation for today's training, he consciously purged his mind of all sorrows, all worries, all questions.
As he had come to expect, a warm, familiar voice rang out in the desert.
"Are you ready for today's training, Obi Wan?"
"Yes, Master Qui Gon."
In front of the eopie, the shimmering, ghostly form of the late Jedi Master appeared amidst the sandy daybreak.
"Very well. As you know by now, this light side technique does not require physical action, but intense application of the mind. While seemingly easy, it takes years to master and have fully ready, as it did for me."
"As always, I humbly accept your teachings, Master."
Qui Gon chuckled. "You don't need to call me master anymore, Obi Wan. You can consider me your equal."
"Yes, Master," Obi Wan solemnly bowed his head.
Qui Gon smiled again, despite his apprentice's refusal to ever be light hearted. He understood Obi Wan's predicament, having witnessed the immense tragedies from the Netherworld, yet he found it useless to dwell in past sorrows.
As Obi Wan dismounted his ride, distant figures moved beyond the rocky hillside.
The two Tusken Raiders mounted their banthas and rode off through the rocky slopes, back to their camp.
Far later in the day, a lone figure approached the Tusken camp, which lay far into the dune sea.
The mysterious man wore a brimmed hat and a long trench coat, which concealed two pistols and rocket boosters on his boots. Under his hat, red eyes shone on his blue face.
Alongside his speeder, the man stood waiting as the masked, robed Tusken Raider Chief approached from the sea of adobe huts.
The bounty hunter named Cad Bane spoke to the chief in basic. "Did you find any information on the mystery man?"
Making an exception to custom, the Tusken spoke in Basic as well, his face and identity hidden by his mask.
"The man is occupied by something, on one of the moisture farms beyond Mos Eisley. We think he may be protecting something or someone."
"Hmmm," Cad Bane stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Interesting. Any more?"
"He wore the robes of a Jedi Knight."
"As I suspected," Bane said to himself, stroking his chin calculatingly, "All the way out here, away from the Empire. My client will be interested."
"Our pay?" the Tusken asked.
"Ahh yes," Bane reaches into his jacket and pulled out a cube of credits, handing it gracefully to the anonymous chief. "I want you to track the Jedi for a couple more days, see what it is he is looking after. Send your most expendable men to lure him into a fight, see what his deal is."
"I think that can be done, for an extra price."
"That'll all be taken care of," Bane promised, "Good night." As the Tusken returned into the village, Bane tilted the hat on his head as he turned to climb back on the speeder.
A moment later, he rode off into the sunset, towards Mos Espa. His client would be very pleased.
Obi Wan sat deep in meditation in his simple hut, which contained nothing but a chest, a table and chairs, and a bantha skin rug for sleeping. He was far away enough from any society to relax, and practice whatever of the Jedi way he could.
He had not salvaged any Jedi Holocrons from the temple, so all knowledge had to be committed to memory.
"Good," Qui Gon was saying, "Allow your unconscious self to take over. Be aware of the spiritual world inside your heart."
Obi Wan obeyed, feeling the Force flowing in his veins. In some ways, this meditation exercise felt very repetitive compared to what he had done his whole life as a Jedi. Yet it felt different each day as he tapped deeper into the Netherworld, and grew closer to fully making his spirit and consciousness independent of his material body.
"I feel it, Master." Then, a tremor overtook everything, something shaking him to the core.
"I sense a disturbance in the Force. Something's wrong."
"Be mindful of the moment, Obi Wan," the ghost of Qui Gon reminded him, "don't dwell on..."
"It's Luke!" Obi Wan had stood from the rug and was rushing out the doorway of his hut and down the steep, rocky slope.
