Disclaimer: Although I love Star Wars, that doesn't mean I don't own Star Wars. Although I'm a fan of money, that doesn't mean I'm making money off this story.
A/N: Originally completed March 2010. This one's pretty short-not atypical for me-and totally devoid of dialogue-very atypical of me. Read 'n' review!
Desert Musings
Ben Kenobi stared through his window. The relentless suns of Tatooine baked the ground outside. Ever-present sand, driven forth by the wind, choked the air almost as much as the heat did. This was a harsh world, barren and empty.
It was a fitting place for an old Jedi to end up in, hiding like a womp rat among the dunes. Watching from afar as the son of Skywalker learned to crawl, walk, and talk. When he could see the boy, toddling after his aunt Beru, Kenobi felt warmth swell within him. The Force was strong with Luke, and he was not tainted by darkness, but bright with hope. He was hope.
But when he was out here, alone with his thoughts, Ben did not feel hopeful. Only empty. And cold. The Jedi were gone. And for reasons that Ben couldn't begin to understand, the Force willed him to live. One of only two survivors of the terrible Order 66. The light, the hope, had vanished from the galaxy with their fall.
And he was forced to assume an alias. Hole himself up in a desert on a forgotten planet in the farthest reaches of the Outer Rim. Ben Kenobi, the hermit. Rumors had spread that he was crazy—Ben wondered if Owen had been the one to spread them, but it didn't matter. He didn't repudiate the rumors. He encouraged them. Whatever might help him keep a low profile was fine with him.
The galaxy was in the stranglehold of darkness, choking from the clenched fist of the two dark ones at its heart. What friends had gone before? What love had been shared? What had the galaxy been, so long ago before all this?
Inside, Obi-Wan throbbed with pain for the loss of those that had been. He mourned for them. And he honored them. For his alias, that strange name—Ben—hadn't simply been a bit of gibberish for him to call himself.
No one knew that, deep in his heart, he spelled it differently. With two e's.
Been Kenobi.
***The End***
