Chapter 9: Ben

Tahl was dumbfounded. First of all she'd thought that she was alone on this part of the planet Secondly, the man was seemingly peaceful enough but if one person was present, how could she be sure that none other were there as well? And that 'none other' had a similarly peaceful attitude. And by all the stars and moons in the galaxy - who was he? The name 'Ben' meant nothing to her.

Who is he? What is he doing here? There was no sign of life upstairs. No footprints, and Force alone knows it was dusty enough in the old buildings so any footprint would have been visible. Could he be a hologram, recorded long time ago? That might explain the Jedi like robe he wore, but on the other hand - he seemed solid enough and he also seemed to respond to her.

"Who are you?" she repeated, "And how did you come here?"

"Now, that's a long story," he smiled, "but as I said I am Ben. Some even call me 'crazy old Ben' but I really must say I prefer 'Ben'."

Tahl couldn't help herself from smiling. She thought she could see an impish glimpse in his eyes and behind the beard a couple of dimples was appearing as he smiled at her. She already felt well in his company. Calmly she clipped her lightsaber back in her utility belt.

"So, Ben it is? I have just met another man having 'Ben' as a part of his name," she questioned,"though his name is 'Ben-Kaw'. You…shouldn't happen to be a relative of his, would you?"

The old man's smile disappeared, and she instantly regretted her comment.

"Not as far as I know," he said carefully.

She decided to step back for a moment. Clearly he was in no mood to reveal anything about his person, but if this was the same 'Ben' that was mentioned in Ker-Wan's diary, she might have a problem. It could simply not be possible. On the other hand, if he were the same she would probably have some answers very soon, she realized, because if so he would be the source of the prophecy.

The two of them silenced for a moment. Both of them with lots of questions to ask, both of them reluctant to ask them.

Tahl spoke first: "I'm sorry. I really have trouble understanding this place. It feels so…weird. I can feel the Force and the light of the Force, yet it is darkness lurking all over the place. And I cannot figure out how you fit in with it all. Recently I read a diary written by a man who has been dead for centuries. In his book, which is not complete, he mentioned meeting a person named Ben in a cave which according to the description must have been this one. I'm simply confused by it all. You are not centuries old."

The impish grin returned to the old man's face, and made him a decade younger.

"I can assure you that I'm not centuries old," he stated. " though I sometimes feel like being that. I assume the person you are talking about is Ker-Wan Kh'enbi?"

Tahl nodded.

"Ah, yes. His visit here was almost as surprising as my own appearance here. And I'm no less confused by you turning up here."

"You know me?" Tahl asked.

"Let's say I did. Once upon a time."

Tahl felt a headache beginning to form. There simply were to many riddles right now.

"But I am certain I have never met you before," she sighed.

He gave her a thoughtful look, then he stated plainly: "You have not? I should believe you have done that by now."

The headache grew stronger and she groaned. It was not due to the physical pain. Ben stroke his chin pensively.

"I must admit that your appearance here comes as a surprise to me. I wonder what happened."

Tahl stared blankly at him.

Then he straightened his back and looked straight into her eyes. The feeling was disturbing, there was something so utterly familiar with those eyes. Still, she couldn't really connect them to anyone she knew.

"Do sit down," he gestured towards a rock that probably had fallen from the ceiling centuries ago, a thought that in itself was slightly disturbing. "As long as we keep close to the light you should be safe from the darker powers here. At least for now."

"Who are you?" she asked again, sensing that this time there might be an answer, though not necessarily an answer she wanted to hear.

Ben sat down next to her. For a moment he was completely silent and then he seemed to have made his decision.

"I don't think it would be wise if you tell anyone about my story, but yet it may come to use. Maybe, just maybe destiny will change," he said quietly, as if talking to himself. Then he began.

"My name is Ben, or at least that's the name I ave lived with for many many years of my life. I was one of very few surviving Jedi after the Sith returned to their power."

"The Sith," Tahl exclaimed, "that's impossible. They have been extinct for a millennium. You cannot be that old."

The dimples returned. "No, I cannot. And I am not. And I'm not talking about those Sith. I am talking about the future Sith."

"What?!"

The old man seemed to be completely sane, but this was too much. It was simply impossible that he could talk about future Sith. That would mean he was some kind of time traveller or ghost or… Tahl felt her head spinning. She really should have eaten a larger breakfast before leaving the ship this morning. But on the other hand, if she had done so, it would probably have returned in this very moment.

"You heard me. After being extinct for a thousand year the Sith came back. When it happened I was but a Padawan. My Master was killed by the first Sith who had been seen in all that time. I was too late to save my Master, but I killed the Sith. For a long period of time we wondered whether he was the Master or the Apprentice. As it turned out it was thoroughly proven that he was only the Apprentice. The Master was still alive and hiding."

"Who was your Master?" Tahl interjected.

"I'm sorry, I'd rather not tell. It will just complicate things. Well, anyways, years after I killed the Sith the Sith Lord's plan was effectuated and the galaxy was thrown into a total war. All planned and staged by the Sith, but I guess I was the man that started it by being captured in a place where it was not wise to be. A rescue team was sent for me and it soon grew out of hands and developed into a full-fledged war. Many Jedi were killed during the war. I somehow survived, and so did my own apprentice."

Ben went silent again, an expression of utter grief spreading over his face.

"My apprentice went dark. He was 'The Chosen One' from the prophecy, and yet he turned. For many years he was my son, then my brother. I was a young Master then, maybe too young. He was too old to be taken as an apprentice when he was found, but the Council gave in to my pleas. My deceased Master had made me promise to train the boy. They realized that leaving him untrained would make him a danger to all. His potential was too large and he was too undisciplined to be left untrained. I loved him as if he were my brother. But the Sith Lord managed to turn him to the dark side by promising him powers to save all whom he loved."

"Obviously that didn't work out well," Tahl stated.

"No. It didn't. He turned and killed all the remaining Jedi in the Temple. Old Masters, younglings -they all fell to his saber and to his companions' blasters. I, myself, had been sent on a mission to capture or kill one of the remaining generals of the separatists that wanted to break out from the republic. What we didn't know at that time was that the clones whom we had fought alongside for so long would turn towards us and kill all Jedi. We didn't stand a chance. The attack came totally surprising to us, and most of the Jedi out in the field were killed instantaneously. I was lucky, I survived by pure coincidence and a brave riding animal."

"Clones?" Tahl could hardly believe her own ears.

"Clones," he confirmed, "the republic had formed an entire army of clones. Of course it was a part of the Sith Lord's plan, but at that time we didn't realize it. There were so many things we didn't realize until it was too late."

"So the Jedi were extinguished?" she asked. "But then, how come that I'm here now, and so are you? And if you are the same Ben as Ker-Wan mentioned you must have been here for ages!"

Ben chuckled: "Well, here comes the tricky part. It has not happened yet. At least not in your world."

"What? But…when… I mean….how?"

For once in her life Tahl Uvain was speechless. That didn't happen too often and if Qui-Gon had been present he would truly have enjoyed the experience.

"Frankly, I don't know," Ben said," I have pondered the same thing for years. It shouldn't be possible, but obviously it is since both you and I are here."

"It is not possible," Tahl persisted. "I'm sorry, please continue."

"I…well…here comes the other part that may be hard to accept for you. After the Jedi purge happened I went into hiding. I had to protect my apprentice's son - from his father and anyone else. I hid in the outer rim and became a hermit. Years later when the boy had grown up we got a plea for help from his twin sister and he followed me to rescue her from their father."

"Wait a minute. You said their father was your apprentice? And you had to rescue them, I mean…her?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't perfectly clear. It has been a long time since I talked about this last. Yes, before I went into hiding I defeated my former apprentice," Ben's friendly face hardened for a moment and Tahl could see the warrior shining through,"I tried to kill him to prevent further damage, but in the end I just…couldn't do it. So he survived. He lost several limbs and was severely burned, but he survived and became a full fledged Sith Lord himself. Well, anyway, in the rescue mission both the children were saved, but I was killed. By him. Sort of a poetic justice, I guess."

"You…were…killed?"

"So I was. I fought him to give Luke a chance to get Leia out from there and in the end the Force bade me accept him killing me. So he struck me down with his 'saber."

"But…you are here?" By now Tahl had stopped counting her speechless moments.

"Yes. I cannot explain that either. I did become one with the Force, sort of, but I kept the ability of appearing before the living. I had learned it by my Master while I was in exile."

Tahl stroke her forehead. This was too much to take in. "This means that your Master became a…ghost too?"

"Yes, you may look upon it that way. He managed to keep his self, so to speak. He had studied the topic intensively before he passed and he did his best to train me to…be…like him. After he died, that is."

"So you are a ghost? You seem so alive?" Tahl almost stretched out her hand to feel him.

He chuckled: "You may try. You might be surprised."

So she did. She had expected her hand to pass through him as if he were a holoimage, but when she touched his arm it felt solid. Not really warm, but definitely solid. For a moment she could see the muscles in his jaw tension, then they relaxed again and he seemed to let his breath out. Did ghosts really breathe?

"You are…solid."

"I am, but only here, it seems. If you'd met me anywhere else your hand would have gone directly through me. I believe it's easier for me to appear alive here since the Force is so strong on this place."

Tahl nodded. She wasn't even sure herself if she pretended to understand anything by now.

"But how is it even possible. I mean, if this…purge happens in the future, how can you be here now?"

He sighed. "I don't have an answer to that. I really don't know. What I know is that some time ago I felt a great disturbance in the Force and as I followed the Force I was more or less pulled to this place. I could see that there had been something resembling an earthquake here and that the nexus we're sitting by right now had opened up to the outside world. At least that was what I thought happened. I had no idea though why I was lead here, but then a young man came out from the cave where you came from today. He was very young and he…well…he looked very much like someone I used to know, years ago. I believe we were both confused at the moment. He asked me pretty much the same questions as you have done today, and after a while I decided to give him the answers. I guess I somehow hoped that telling him my story would prevent it from happening again. It wasn't until later I realized that he was 'visiting' this place long before I was even born."

Tahl groaned again and clasped her hand to her brow.

"I really don't get this. As if it's not enough that you've come to this place after your death, you're not even born yet, or were by then. And then you meet this man from centuries ago and tell him your story and he makes a prophecy of it which no-one can understand."

Ben looked at her in astonishment.

"A prophecy? What do you mean?"

"You don't know?" she looked bewildered at him.

"No? What?"

"He wrote down your story and brought it with him when he left the planet. It has later on become a prophecy linked to his bloodline, but I also suspect it has become the Jedi's prophecy about 'The Chosen One'. Those two are strikingly similar."

The old man's jaw dropped.

"Do you mean that my story has become the prophecy about 'The Chosen One'? Oh, no…" His voice trailed off as if he couldn't believe his own words.

"Yes. I was sent on this mission to try to find out if the Kh'enbi's prophecy and the Jedi prophecy were the same, and after what I've seen everything seems to point towards that conclusion," Tahl explained.

"Kh'enbi?" Ben said quizzically.

"Yes, I believe that was the surname of the young man you met so many years ago. Everything points towards him being Ker-Wan Kh'enbi, a young Jedi Knight, or so I believe, who lived here centuries ago. After the earthquake this planet became a dangerous place to live due to the influence from the nexus on this place and I believe he fled the planet and moved to Stewjon and started a family there. Actually he was elected a King."

The old man seemed even more shocked by this revelation.

"Kh'enbi?" he said again. "From Stewjon?"

"Yes. We have an apprentice in the Temple right now. His name is Kenobi and we believe he's the last of the Kh'enbi bloodline. He was left outside the Temple after his father was murdered by a revolutionary on his homeplanet. His mother died from illness right after that. But his grandfather is very much alive. For many reasons we wanted to know if our Obi-Wan really has a connection to the Kh'enbi family and after I have been talking to his grandfather I'm sure it is so."

Ben stroke his beard again.

"So I…there is a grandfather?"

"Yes, Tahl confirmed, " it is. I met him just before I came here."

"Is he well?"

"He is, or he was two days ago when I left the place. It was in Kh'enbi Castle I found Ker-Wan's diary which eventually lead me to this place. And now I think I understand, or at least that part of it. Ker-Wan wrote down your story but over the years it has been abbreviated to the version we know today. Somehow he must have shown an early version to another Jedi and thus it has been brought to Coruscant as well, and thus it became the Jedi's prophecy."

"So I am the origin of the prophecy?" The old man still seemed to be in a daze.

"So it seems," Tahl agreed. "But how come you appear so alive here and where do you spend the time when you're not here, and how come that you can appear as Old Ben with centuries between?"

"I have no idea. Or, I can at least answer parts of it. When I'm not here as you express it, I am really a part of the Force. My soul or whatever we may call it is staying in something which would be recognized as a replica of the Jedi Temple. I only show up for the living every once in a while when I'm needed. It's not my habit walking around like this. However, this place seem special somehow. It seems like most Jedi coming here are affected by the dark side of the Force more than the light one which, by the way, is why you should be leaving as soon as possible. For some reason I seem to withstand the darkness. I don't think it has affected me yet. But this is only a guessing. My best theory in this matter is that the quake combined with the strong nexus in this cave has created some kind of time warp here and that in this spot time as we know it somehow cease to exist and that past, present and future are all mixed up. Not many people come here, though."

"That sounds logical, I guess," Tahl said in an uncharacteristically uncertain voice. Then a thought struck her.

"You seemed to recognize me for a moment when you first saw me. Does that mean that you live now? I mean in my 'now'?"

"Yes, I do. Did. Whatever." A short eruption of laughter escaped him.

Tahl startled. She had heard that sound before, not many days ago. The voice was deeper and more mature, but it was Obi-Wan's laughter.

"Obi? Obi-Wan? Is it really you? Was I mean. Or going to be?"

For a moment he froze. Stuck in the moment between past, present and future. Then he turned towards her.

"Yes, I used to be Obi-Wan once. Now I'm just Ben. And I did know you, as you were the closest thing to a mother I ever had."

And with that he embraced her quietly.

She felt his arms towards her back. His bearded cheek towards her own and he felt so real. He was a friend, and a mentor and the son she never had, all gathered in one silent hug. Then he let go.

"You will not see it happen," he said quietly. "Nor will Qui-Gon. I'm not sure if this will work at all but tell them… tell them to keep their eyes open for Sifo-Dyas. And Dooku. And the Sith Lord is, or will be, Palpatine of Naboo."

And with that he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.