A/N) Thank you everyone for the reviews! Responses are coming. So… in this chapter Obi-Wan learns exactly how he was given to the Jedi Order and learns more about his family's history… Quite nervous about this one due to the history I've created for his family! Hopefully it is believable…

The Protector

Chapter Three: Kenobi History

By the time that Obi-Wan walked into the dining area, his brother Owen and his son had already left. It appeared that his whole family lived the same roof, but having different sections of the large house to their respective family.

His mother had saved him from stew and dutifully handed him a plate. He tucked into the plate, relishing the salty but savoury taste, whilst listening into the conversation. His father, Ben, was discussing with everyone the new agreement he and Owen were working on for trade to Corellia. Though Owen had been named as Director of Operations for Trade for Stewjon, Ben still helped out. Neither of his mother or father were in their seventies, choosing to marry and have children when they were nineteen and twenty respectfully.

Ben still had some years of working left in him but had chosen to pass the role onto Owen five years ago, taking a more limited role. It seemed that the position ran in their family, passed onto the first-born child when the father died, but Ben had broken with that tradition.

Obi-Wan glanced up as Megra mentioned his name.

"Grandad, why didn't uncle Obi-Wan take over your job?" the shiest child asked, avoiding Obi-Wan's eyes.

"Because he has a different path to follow; he is a Jedi which is a path you follow from a young age if you have the potential to be one," explained Ben. "Obi-Wan had that potential so we chose to give him to the Jedi Order. Traditionally the role stays in one family. The next one in line was Owen, then Alex and then your mother."

It sounded like royalty to Obi-Wan, how the heir of succession was chosen.

"I don't think 'gave' is the right word to describe how my brother was given to the Jedi Order," uttered Rena, under her breath, but loud enough that Obi-Wan overheard.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Hadn't his parents given him to the Order willingly? They were the conditions necessary to allow admittance into the Jedi Order.

His mother hastily answered. "It's nothing."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the dinner table, yet Obi-Wan couldn't help but feel that there was something his parents were not telling him, but he wouldn't pursue it, though perhaps he could find out by other means. He continued to eat in silence.

He had just stepped out of the sani-stream when he heard raised voices coming from further down the corridor from the room he had been given to sleep in. Poking his head out of the sani-stream door, wearing a dressing gown, he tip-toed quietly down the hallway. He knew he shouldn't be eavesdropping on his parent's private conversations but as he moved closer to the room, he recognised Rena as well.

Stopping as close as he dared he listened in, his curiosity overcoming how bad he felt about listening in, Rena's voice came out loud and clear.

" - deserves to know the truth!"

"He doesn't need to know," replied Lau-rie. "He'll be happier not knowing!"

What would he be happier not knowing? Had his parents not willingly given him to the Order?

"We gave out consent in the end, that is all that matters," answered Ben. "Rena, Obi-Wan would only ever need to know if he ever met his uncle and that is unlikely to ever happen."

"That may be true," admitted Rena, "but should know. Doesn't every child deserve to know the truth about their past?"

There was silence from his parents.

"Can you at least think about it?" queried Rena quietly.

Obi-Wan imagined his parents exchanging wearied looks, but then he hears his mother's reply.

"We'll think about it."

Before Obi-Wan's presence was noticed, he slipped away just as Rena exited the room.

Back in his room, he considered the implications of what he had heard.

Had his parents been forced to give him up?

If so, why?

Had they tried to get him back?

And if they had, why had they left him with the Jedi Order?

With burning questions in his mind, Obi-Wan eventually fell asleep, snuggled up under his covers, in the room that he had once slept in as a child, his dreams of a man who looked like his father but wasn't, taking the hand of a small boy and leading him to a Temple of magnificent proportions.

The following morning, after having dressed in plain tunics, Obi-Wan joined his mother and sister on a trip to the market place. Taking one of the three land speeders that the family owned, they travelled the fifty miles across the hilly landscape to the capital city, Sti. It was the only main city on Stewjon, the rest of the planet's population residing in small towns or villages. Though it had mostly a human population, there were a few other species dwelling in the planet's city.

Sti was the city where Owen travelled each day to the trade offices, along with his father on selected days, when Ben elected to help his younger son.

Obi-Wan sat in the back of the land speeder alongside his mother, while Rena piloted. The scenery was much the same as they sped along, only levelling out when they neared Sti.

As the city came into view, and the tall spires reflected in the sun, Obi-Wan felt a hand touching his arm. He turned to face his mother. The slight lines on her face were crinkled, as if she was struggling whether to ask him what was on her mind.

"What is it?" He wanted to make it easy for her to ask him anything.

"Why did you come back? I've been thinking about it… but isn't there still a war on? I've chosen to avoid all news outlets… though I do hear a few things about it because I simply can't avoid it forever… but I told Rena to let me know when the war ends." Lau-rie's voice was sombre, sad almost, as if she was afraid what his answer would be. "Doesn't the Republic need all the Jedi they can get? There were so many deaths on Geonosis… That's what has made me not want to know…"

Obi-Wan swallowed. How to explain this so as not to worry her more? He had to be truthful however, he could not hide from her the realities of war.

"The war is still on," he admitted, beginning slowly, "however the majority of it is over and the Separatist Council are in negotiations with the Republic. There are some rogue elements of the Separatist army – mainly General Grievous – that need reigning in. Unofficially the war is over, but until Grievous is captured or killed then the Clone Wars cannot be declared officially over." There he stopped. How could he explain to his mother why he was truly here?

She'd find out eventually, as like her, he was hiding a secret, a secret that everyone in his family knew of but out of respect of Lau-rie's wishes they had not informed her.

"I'm here because I need to figure things out. Something happened in the war that I don't feel I can talk to you about yet… I saw and did things that I am not proud of," he continued, more quiet then before. "When I'm ready to explain it, I will, but let's just say I survived to come here again."

Lau-rie nodded, her body slightly shaking. "Then did we make the right choice?" There was sadness in her voice. "I see you have a scar on your cheek. It may be concealed by the beard but nothing can truly stay hidden."

The memory of the scar and what Dooku had inflicted upon him made him shiver. He hated how Dooku had scarred him, how he had tried to use that scar as a means to turn him against Anakin. The Count had ultimately failed.

"You made the right choice," he answered. No matter what had happened to him, his mother and father had made the right one. "I can't imagine not being a Jedi." He just privately hoped that he would be able to return to the Order, if he felt that he deserved that honour.

Lau-rie breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good, I'm glad."

He was tempted to mention that he had overheard their conversation the night before but he decided wisely to not say a word.

Rena piloted the land speeder into the streets of Sti, following Main Street before parking in a free bay close to the Church of Worship.

"I'll go and get the groceries," delegated Rena. "Why don't you and mum browse the market place? There are some very rare items that I think you will appreciate, Obi-Wan. Shall we meet back here in three hours?"

"That's fine," replied Lau-rie, whilst Obi-Wan nodded his approval.

Obi-Wan followed his mother into the market place, while Rena headed off in the opposite direction.

Lau-rie took a left turn down a paved road, past some white painted bollards and into the market place filled with wooden stalls where clothes, toys and the latest technology was on sale for discount prices. There were jewellers, spices and a dozen other items that were going for the lower then average price. His mother led him through the stalls looking at the displays, pointing out various items that she thought he might find interesting, though he hadn't see anything that fitted with Rena's description of rare items.

His mother turned towards him. "The market is open once a week. Traders from off-world come here, taking discount prices because we believe that little money is needed to survive. The traders adjusted their pricing for us when they realised they could make more from us if they reduced the amount of credits they charged for, for certain items. If I buy something from here, I always pay the maximum price since the Kenobi family has always been wealthy that we simply do not deserve to take advantage of the discount prices."

Obi-Wan nodded. That seemed reasonably fair though it surprised him that traders had consented to discount prices. "So, erm, has the Kenobi family always been wealthy?" It seemed strange that the majority of the population were seemingly poor, yet his family were rich, one of the only few families on-world to be like that.

Lau-rie smiled. "This planet used to have a King. Four hundred years ago, Stewjon's people voted in favour of a pure government rather than one person leading the people. Ben is descended from the last King, but when the people chose a government, the government decreed that descendants of the royal blood line would always hold office. They made a constitution that the first heir of the former royal blood would always hold the position of Director of Trade Operations. It was said that the Royals were naturally very good at that role. That is why Ben's job is a role that can be passed down the generations. Technically you would be a Prince."

That explained where the family wealth came from then.

"The land we own was bequeathed to us," added his mother.

Obi-Wan considered this. "If a government hadn't been elected and the sovereignty had continued, as the heir to what I presume would be the throne, would you have given me to the Jedi Order?"

Lau-rie's face wobbled as if she was trying to hide something from him. There was hesitancy in her voice and he suspected that she was lying. "…Yes… Your Force count was quite high. The Council advised us to keep you in training."

Obi-Wan stopped walking through the crowd, gently tugging his mother away from the centre of the street to the side of it. "Wait… the Council advised you? Did you try to take me back?"

His mother nodded only once. "We did."

"Why?" He had to know. Perhaps that was the key to everything?

"Because we saw how happy you were," she answered.

And then something dawned on him, something he hadn't truly considered before. "You didn't give me up originally did you? It wasn't you choice, was it?"

Lau-rie shook her head. "No, we didn't."

He swallowed the limp that had formed in his throat. "What happened?"

Lau-rie bowed her head, her voice lower. "I'd rather not talk about it here, if at all."

Obi-Wan gently took his mother's hand. "I know you don't want to tell me, but I'd like to know, for my own peace of mind," he said quietly. "Ultimately it is your decision, but there are probably records out there if I dig deep enough, am I right?"

Her silence said it all.

He roamed his eyes over the stalls, looking for something that would steer them away from the current conversation. His eyes found an antiques stall and he hasted over to it. Rena was quite correct in stating that there was something he would like as he saw some very old artist hand-drawn images and paintings of the old war between the Sith and the Jedi that had ended a millennia ago. It had been assumed at that point that the Sith must have been destroyed but they hadn't been.

With the images in mind, he smiled gently at his mother and walked over to the antique stalls, his mother following shortly afterwards as he browsed, talking softly with him as he considered whether he should make a purchase or not. When it was time to meet with Rena again, Obi-Wan was relieved as he recognised that his mother was considering whether to open the gates and tell him what she was keeping from him or to let him discover it on his own.

He hoped his parents would tell him; perhaps if they showed willingness to share it might enable him to trust them a bit more than he did now? And he might be more open to talk with them too?

That evening after a leisurely meal with his father, mother and Rena (Owen had declined the invitation), Obi-Wan was led into the sitting room. Ben and Lau-rie sat together on the sofa, while Rena and Obi-Wan sat on separate chairs.

"As per our conversation earlier this morning," began his mother, "we have discussed what you asked. If you want to know then we will tell you. I'd rather you did not try to find out on your own how you ended up becoming a part of the Jedi Order."

"It wasn't as straight forward as it should have been," said Ben, squeezing his wife's hand.

As soon as he had realised what this conversation would entail, Obi-Wan had decided to not mention that he had overheard their argument the night before. They were lifting the lid on a family secret that they'd rather he did not know.

Lau-rie took a deep breath in. "Even though Ben's family is descended from the old royal line, and that there is a specific role the oldest child must fill… Ben is the youngest child out of the two his father and mother had."

"My brother, Michael," said Ben, leaning forward, his hands on his chin. "He is four years older than me. He had an episode when he was sixteen that required medical help and intervention. He went mad, threatening me and our parents. He got the help he needed to have but as a result of that there was concern whether he would be fit enough to take the role of Director of Trade Operations, so the public voted for me to take the position instead. Michael didn't like that but he assumed that his son would be next in line, but the people also decreed that any heirs that Michael might sire would forfeit the right of the role. It was only one episode of madness and its under control by drugs but the people didn't want to risk it. Personally, I thought Michael was perfectly capable of taking the position – I'd be on hand to help if anything went wrong but the people didn't want to give him the responsibility."

Obi-Wan had a funny feeling that he knew where this tale was going.

"When you were born you were identified as having high Force potential," continued Lau-rie. "We told the Jedi Order we wanted to keep you. They didn't push us to change our minds and accepted that."

"My brother learnt of this and tried to entice us to change our minds. He thought that if you were given away, his own son would be the next in line, regardless of what the public had voted for. Your brother Owen was born a year later but we chose to keep his birth a secret. Having a large amount of land helped us to accomplish that. Owen was tested for Force potential but he did not have enough to gain entrance into the Order," explained Ben.

"We kept Owen a secret because we had the feeling that Michael was going to do something. We tried to carry on with our lives. He couldn't be detained because he hadn't done anything to warrant that. Michael hated the idea that his own children were being overlooked due to his one episode, and Ben worked hard to try to lay the foundations for the role to go back to Michael's children when they were of age. Michael didn't see that. He thought we were behind the public campaign against his children, so he decided to get back at us," continued his mother in a soft voice.

"He thought getting rid of you was the best way to go about it. He didn't want to kill you, just get you out of the way," said Rena. She had clearly heard the story over and over.

"My uncle gave me to the Jedi Order, didn't he?" guessed Obi-Wan. It seemed the most logical conclusion.

Both Ben and Lau-rie nodded sombrely.

"You went to a local nursery every few days. We couldn't seclude you because we were worried, it wouldn't be fair on you. We trusted that Michael wouldn't really act upon his feelings. One afternoon, Ben came to pick you up from nursery and you weren't there. Your carer said that you had been collected an hour before that by Michael. They hadn't stopped it because they didn't know of any upsets in the family, and assumed we had given our permission for you to be collected by him. Michael took you off-world before we could even locate where you had gone," said Lau-rie, tears shimmering in her eyes. "He knew that we had declined your training."

Ben took up the tale, pulling his wife closer. This was an event that had hurt them both deeply. They hadn't been able to protect their child from being taken. Obi-Wan felt sorry for them.

"My brother gave you to the Jedi Order, saying that we had died and that he was your custodian. He even fabricated reports that we had perished in a house fire. He was quite clever in how he made it authentic that the Order took you in. Michael was arrested as soon as he returned to Stewjon but he refused to say where he had taken you. Eventually, after nearly a year he admitted where he had taken you and proclaimed publicly that the position would now go to his oldest child when they were of age, rather then you. With his confession he was charged with abduction and unlawful 'selling' of a child. He was imprisoned for thirty years for his crime and released a few years ago… We haven't seen him since his trial."

"After his sentencing, you visited Coruscant…" probed Obi-Wan. It was likely they had done so as his impressions had been they had decided to leave him with the Order.

Lau-rie nodded sadly. "By that point we had announced Owen's birth. There was no point in trying to hide him anymore. Most of the people had suspected that we had another child but they never said because Stewjon has a policy on privacy. We didn't have to announce his birth if we didn't want to. Ben and I decided to try to get you back as we had the right to as your lawful parents. We travelled to Coruscant and queried with the Jedi Order. They were reluctant to see us before we had proof that we were your real parents. We had the government send us documents and birth certificates as well as the trial of Michael and his conviction. When we presented that evidence, the Jedi Council agreed to see us."

"The Council were sympathetic to us explaining that if they had known that Michael was not your legal guardian then they would never have taken you in. They explained to us you were progressing well in your training and you had a lot of potential to become a great Jedi Knight. It was Master Yoda who said there was something about you, that you had a specific future with the Jedi…" said Ben.

"Master Yoda showed us around the Temple, explaining the training you had received. We saw you in one of your classes, and you didn't recognise us. We saw how intent you were in your training, and how it seemed to be your dream of becoming a Jedi Knight… We made the difficult decision to leave you with the Order," said Lau-rie. "It broke my heart to do so but I knew we couldn't take you away from the Order like that. We signed the relevant paperwork and gave you officially to the Jedi."

"Mum and dad let the Stewjon government know and Owen became the intended successor," added Rena. "Yesterday I said you were discovered by the Jedi Order when you were nearly three… that was true from a certain point of view, in terms of your potential and what you could give to them."

Silence fell between them and Obi-Wan leaned back in his chair, feeling overwhelmed over what he had just heard. He had been given to the Jedi by a disgruntled uncle. It was the last thing he had expected but his mother and father had made the right decision in the end, they had given him to the Order. "I never expected that to have been what happened…"

Lau-rie leaned forward. "Did we make the right choice in letting you stay?"

Obi-Wan hesitated. After what he had suffered through at Dooku's hands was it a good thing his parents had elected to leave him in the care of the Order? He hadn't really considered if being a Jedi had been the right thing for him in the end, but how could he tell that to his parents? "I think so," he finally said. "The war changed me and what I've experienced is why I needed to get away from the Jedi for a while. It's not something I can talk about yet as I'm still trying to figure it out on my own. But I think knowing my past, how I became a part of the Order that shaped me, will be the first step into accepting who I am now." At least Obi-Wan had hoped so. He rose from his seat. "Thank you for telling me. I'll be in my room if you need me."

He didn't look back as he walked away. He would soon have to tell them his own story, he knew that, and the Force knew it.

But not yet.

But soon.

And he wasn't looking forward to it one bit.

To be continued…

Please let me know what you think!

Ok, so it is probably clichéd that Obi-Wan has an uncle that is not necessarily evil but was a bad person in what he did. Originally his uncle was going to be Ben's twin brother but I thought that was going a bit too far. The whole 'heir' thing, they are still treated like royals even though they are not which is why there are a lot of references to 'heirs' – the population still view the Kenobi family as heirs to a position, even though it isn't mandatory for that role to stay within the family, it just has done. I see a few stories that deal with Obi-Wan's family have him be a prince, but I thought it might be best to do something a bit different, that he is descended from royalty but is no longer royalty, but it also explains his family being wealthy. Hopefully his family history and how he became a part of the Jedi Order isn't too corny… And it injects a little bit of drama into the story as well.

Next chapter: Obi-Wan meditates and Qui-Gon interferes.

Until next Tuesday!

the-writer1988