Eruwaedhier Telemnar: I always thought the silence on Obi-Wan's family or homeworld was strange, too. I would love a profic author to explore his origins, but somehow I doubt it will ever be addressed in canon.
StoneBlack: My high school math teacher taught me that assuming makes an "$$" out of "u" and "me." Is that what you mean? ;-) I was sorry to leave Guatama, too!
charliebrown1234: Will I take this to the Episode 1 era? The answer is below!
Kelaria: I always thought the "a certain point of view" philosophy seemed like a perfect match for Qui-Gon.
Obi-Qui: They won't forget, but life goes on...
A/N: A big shoutout to StoneBlack for coming up with the cookie idea. Thanks!
Chapter 9
"Hey, Obi-Wan! Happy birthday!"
Garen Muln slid a box across the crowded table in Didi's Cafe, which came to a rest right in front of Obi-Wan, and gestured at him to open it.
"Garen, you don't need to get me presents anymore!" Obi-Wan protested. He nearly had to shout over the noise all his friends at the table were making laughing and talking to each other. "I'm really too old for that."
"Since when is 25 too old to want presents for your birthday?" Garen asked. "And this is a special occasion. Your last birthday as a Padawan." The Padawans close enough to hear what Garen said all cheered at this.
"Don't jinx me," Obi-Wan said. "You said that last year, remember?" He opened the box. It was full of cookies: blue ones, shaped like lightsabers. Obi-Wan laughed, and so did everyone else.
"Thank you, Garen," he said as he took a cookie and then passed the box around the table for all his friends to take one, too.
"Come on, have a little faith!" Garen said, talking around a mouthful of cookie. "Qui-Gon has to be on the verge of recommending you to the Council. Master Rhara is making noises about letting me take the Trials, and you're better than I am at everything."
"Except cookie baking."
"Oh, I didn't make them," Garen said, waving a hand vaguely. "I got Bant to do it."
That would explain the faint salty flavor, then. Obi-Wan mouthed a thank-you to Bant, his Mon Calamari friend sitting at the far end of the table, and she waved a webbed hand in response.
"Speaking of Qui-Gon," Garen said, looking around the table, "didn't you invite him?"
"He left to meditate about an hour before I left," Obi-Wan said. "He said he would be here, but..." he shrugged. "I guess he lost track of time."
Qui-Gon must have completely forgotten about his promise though, because as the night wore on and the gathering began to break up, he still hadn't shown up. Obi-Wan returned to the Temple and walked straight to the quarters they shared, but the rooms were silent and empty. Could his Master still be meditating, after so many hours? Next he went to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, where Qui-Gon often meditated, but he wasn't there either.
Sometimes he would use one of the many small meditation chambers scattered around the Temple when he particularly didn't want to be interrupted. Nothing to do, then, but wait for him to return.
Obi-Wan wasn't tired. He went back to their quarters, sat at his desk and flipped on the HoloNet news feed. The big story of the day was the same as it had been the day before, and the day before that: the rumored blockade of the Naboo system. Today, Chancellor Velorum himself had made a plea for the Senate to form a committee to investigate the claims, but as usual the Senators were dragging their feet, afraid to take a stand and risk annoying the powerful Neimoidian delegation.
Politicians, Obi-Wan thought disdainfully, shutting off the receiver emphatically. A Jedi Knight would make short work of confirming or debunking the rumors, but the Chancellor was not supposed to dispatch Jedi without the approval of the Senate, and it didn't seem likely that he would get it.
A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in," he said.
The door opened and Qui-Gon walked in. Obi-Wan was startled at the gleam in his Master's eyes. He looked almost... what? Agitated? Excited? These were words that did not fit his Master. But there was certainly something different about him.
"Obi-Wan!" he said. "Good - you're still here. I thought you might have left for Didi's already."
"Left for Didi's?" Obi-Wan said, furrowing his brow. "I've already been there, and come back."
"What? What time is it?" Qui-Gon looked at the chrono on Obi-Wan's desk. "Oh. I've missed your birthday. I'm sorry, Padawan."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "It isn't a problem. Truly. What happened to you?"
Qui-Gon sat down on Obi-Wan's bed, only to bounce up again a moment later to pace across the floor. Obi-Wan stared at him, wide-eyed.
"Obi-Wan - do you remember our visit to Guatama? When we met the Shaman of the Whills?"
"How could I forget?" Obi-Wan asked, surprised, although he hadn't thought of the encounter in a long time. He'd done his best to push it to the back of his mind. Even now, he felt a chill shoot down his spine as the memories came flooding back.
"And you remember how she was planning to try out a new application of the Force?"
"Yes. Even though no one else has ever managed to do it before - whatever 'it' is."
Qui-Gon leaned forward, jubilation written all over his face.
"She did it!"
"What?"
"Yes, Padawan - she did it! She succeeded!"
"But - how do you know? Did she contact you?"
For some reason, Qui-Gon seemed to find the question amusing. He chuckled softly. "Yes, Padawan, she contacted me."
"So are we going back to Guatama, to see it for ourselves?"
"That would be no use," Qui-Gon said. "She's dead."
"What?" Obi-Wan exclaimed in disappointment. "You mean she finally figured it out, only to die right afterward?"
"There are worse things than death," Qui-Gon murmured. And still the gleam was in his eyes.
"And - have you done it now, too, Master? Is that what you've been doing tonight?"
"No, Padawan, not yet. But I feel confident it is only a matter of time."
"Then... you'll teach me now?" Obi-Wan asked eagerly. "I must admit, I am curious to find out what the big secret is. And she said you could teach me."
"I hadn't forgotten, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said. "But you are still not ready, and will not be for many years yet. You must have patience."
"But Master - suppose you die before you can teach me," Obi-Wan said - and then crimsoned as he realized how tactless the remark was.
But for some reason, Qui-Gon only chuckled softly to himself again, and said no more.
Two weeks later, Obi-Wan Kenobi knelt at the foot of his Master's funeral pyre in the chill hours that preceded dawn. There was no sound but the hiss of cooled ashes being blown against the stone walls of the turret room of Naboo's Theed Palace.
He did not weep. He had wept all his tears by the melting pit in the Theed Palace generator complex. He had reported his Master's death, dry-eyed, in a transmission to the Jedi Council. He had watched his Master's body burn with perfect composure. Master Yoda would be proud. He'd buried his feelings down deep, just as a Jedi should.
He remembered what the Shaman of the Whills had said to him 10 years ago - how dark times were coming. How skeptical he had been! How different his perspective was, now that he had seen a Sith Lord with his own eyes. Now that the closest thing he had to a father had been torn away from him. And somewhere out there, another Sith was watching and waiting for the chance to wreak further death and destruction on an unsuspecting galaxy.
Qui-Gon said, all those years ago, that there was something I could learn from my experience on Guatama, Obi-Wan thought. What am I supposed to learn? That I am destined for eternal sorrow?
Even now, he could not bear to look upon the Sky God's anguished face even in memory.
"And in the time of greatest despair,
there shall come a savior,
and he shall be known as
THE SON OF THE SUNS."
I am in despair! Where are you now? Obi-Wan cried out in his mind.
But there came no answer. Because there was no Son of Suns. There was no Sun God. There was no Sky God. There was only Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his grief.
You can keep your ancient secret! he shouted to the Shaman in his mind. I don't want it anymore - I just want my Master back!
TO BE CONTINUED