The next awakening was much more gentle than the last. First, the unmistakeable antiseptic smell of a hospital, followed soon by the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. His throat felt like he had swallowed sandpaper, and his stomach was roiling. This time when his eyes opened, he wasn't greeted by the harsh white of the lab, but the gentler hues of a private hospital room. A window presented views of a sandy world, suspended in a background of stars. Much more wary this time, Anakin extends his senses before moving too much, so as not to alert any more of the Kamino Guard clones. But he finds no sign of any clones. There are clearly two armed beings just outside his door, but a distinct sense of boredom emanating from them rules out them being clone troopers. Continuing his Force-aided exploration, he touches being after being, finding a ship full of essentially good people and a strong desire to help saturating the crew.

Finding no danger, Anakin starts to withdraw his senses, but a flare in the Force alerts him to a presence that becomes blinding when focused upon. The underlying familiarity is quickly overshadowed by the easily recognisable presence next to the brightness. His old master; Obi Wan.


"Luke" Obi Wan's voice calls him from his meditation. Opening his eyes from his calls for advice, Luke looks up to the faint, blue form of his first teacher in the ways of the Force.

"Ben" Luke smiles, standing up and facing the youthful-looking apparition. The old Jedi Master had the same hair and beard as he did in life, but it was fuller and darker. Gone were the weary lines across his face and slightly stooped stance, replaced with the visage and posture of a powerful Jedi in his prime. Luke was intrigued the first time he saw the old hermit present himself as such, and was told that this was what Obi Wan looked like before everything started to go wrong. What he looked like the last time he truly felt like a Jedi.

"He is struggling again." Obi Wan answered the question before Luke could ask it. "Knight Bridger brought a new pupil to the Academy; a young Togruta girl. All your father could see was his former Padawan." Luke simply nodded, knowing well the war with the Dark his father fights on a daily basis.

"We still don't know what happened to her after Malachor. Ezra and the Ghost crew insist that as Father survived the collapse of the Temple, so did Ahsoka, but we have seen no sign of her in over a decade." The two are silent for a few moments, both contemplating the trouble Anakin has staying in the Light.

"So, young Luke," Obi Wan starts after he judged they had spent enough time dwelling on what currently could not be helped. "What did you wish to speak abo-" Obi Wan stops mid-word, as an impossible Force signature winds its way through the ship. "It is not possible" he mutters to himself as the unmistakeable Force signature of his old Padawan briefly touches his own.


Author's Note:

Well, a chapter a week lasted about as long as I hoped it wouldn't.

Tahyldras