~The Intervening Years Part 1~
"You glow with a strong, bright presence in the Force," a low, soft voice commented appreciatively as Obi-Wan drew herself out of her meditation.
She had left her newly assigned rooms that day for the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and upon opening her eyes, she was confronted with the sight of her Master's Master, Dooku, as well as Master Sifo-Dyas. It was the latter that had spoken.
"Masters," Obi-Wan greeted respectfully, and bowed her head.
Master Dooku only gave her a brief nod before he sent an almost scathing look to his fellow Master and left them.
Master Sifo-Dyas sighed wearily as he watched the other man go. "May I join you?" he requested.
"I would be honoured," she answered, and gave an easy, inviting gesture.
Master Sifo-Dyas knelt down directly across from Obi-Wan and rested his hands on his thighs. He breathed deeply in, and slowly released that breath.
"Dooku is disenchanted with the Jedi way," Master Sifo-Dyas confided. "He is leaving us, and at a time when I can feel that we would welcome his skill with the lightsaber more than any other time yet that we have lived. This Sith... The shadows grow longer," he said with a frustrated sigh. "And they have been growing for some time!" he added, frustration showing through. "The Council do not listen to the concerns of anybody though, even when there is proof to support them."
Obi-Wan cocked her head to the side and considered the Master that, before her very eyes, proved himself to be as human and fallible as any other being.
"Are you going to do something, foolish, reckless, dangerous, and secretive in order to have back-up when the galaxy blows up in our faces?" she asked, a tiny bit amused as she considered the man before her.
"No," Master Sifo-Dyas answered. "I'm going to do something well thought-out, expensive, and secretive," he added in correction, and sighed deeply again. "I'm going to go to Kamino."
To Obi-Wan, it sounded as though, until that moment, the Jedi Master had not actually made that decision.
Abruptly, the Master rose to his feet once more.
"Force be with you, Knight Kenobi," he bid.
"May the Force be with you, Master," she answered. When he was gone from the Room of a Thousand Fountains, Obi-Wan also rose to her feet. She made her way to the Archives, however, instead of the Hangar. She hadn't ever heard of Kamino before, and her curiosity was piqued.
A month after this, Obi-Wan was surprised to feel the death of Master Sifo-Dyas, and petitioned the Council to let her investigate his passing.
It was granted. Obi-Wan collected the Star Map that she had copied from the Archives, as well as the 'just in case' kit that she had taken to carrying everywhere ever since she had been made Qui-Gon's Padawan, and took off.
~oOo~
"Your arrival is quite surprising, Mistress Jedi," the Kaminoan who greeted him said, though her voice was pleasant.
"I apologise," Obi-Wan said instantly. "I came looking for Master Sifo-Dyas," she continued. "Or directions to him, if he has left your lovely planet already," she added, even as she shivered from the chill of the water that had so quickly soaked through her robes all the way down to her skin.
"Master Sifo-Dyas left us last week," the Kaminoan replied, as she waved for Obi-Wan to come inside out of the weather.
As soon as she was no longer being pummelled by water from every direction, Obi-Wan turned on her little recording device – and action hidden by delicately wringing out her clothes over the wet-grill that the Kaminoan quietly indicated.
"He went to search out a suitable genetic material for the clone army he requested of us," the Kaminoan said once Obi-Wan had stopped dripping too dramatically. "The sample has not come yet, but the programming the clones will go through is still being finalised. Master Sifo-Dyas left us before that was completed," she added, a hint of censure in her tone.
Obi-Wan did her best to offer a smile that was both comforting and non-condescending. "Perhaps I can help with that?" she offered. "And do you require a whole specimen, or will only a sample be sufficient to create the clones from?"
Aware of what she was planning, the Force laughed within her. A grand joke, it seemed to be saying.
"A sample will be sufficient," the Kaminoan agreed, "and we would be most grateful to have your assistance in finalising the programming that the clones will receive."
Swallowing tightly, Obi-Wan did something impulsive but which the Force approved of: she produced her sheared off Padawan braid and offered it to the Kaminoan.
"This is...?" she asked as she fingered the woven hair delicately.
"Mine," Obi-Wan answered. "Will that be sufficient?"
"Oh yes," the Kaminoan replied, her eyes wide as she studied the length of hair more intently. "We- we have never cloned a Jedi before. We do not know if the clones will have your same ability with the Force," she warned.
Obi-Wan smiled slightly. "It will be interesting to find out," she pointed out, "though I have a feeling they will be. If Master Sifo-Dyas sends another to be used to make up the clone army, then I see no reason why both my offering and the Master's choice could not be used."
The Kaminoan nodded regally in agreement, and with Obi-Wan's Padawan braid held reverently in one hand, she led the way to where the programming of the clones was still being worked out.
When Obi-Wan left Kamino two days later (with directions as to the destination Master Sifo-Dyas had mentioned to them before he left), it was with the promise to return every two years to check on the progress of the clone army, and instruct them in how to use the Force, should the clones be Force-sensitive as Obi-Wan suspected they would be.
She was going to get in so much trouble for this from Master Tiin, she just knew it. She was also probably going to have to scrub Master Yoda's floors with her own toothbrush until they were mirror-shiny. She couldn't hide this from them either, since she'd need their permission to return every two years as she had promised the Kaminoans.
~oOo~
"It's the hero!" Siri cheered as Quinlan came down the ramp of his ship.
Garen grabbed his friend up and (with a little help from the Force) had him held aloft, riding on his shoulder.
Obi-Wan smiled up at her friend, and mentally calculated how much that evening's celebration would cost. For the man who had prevented the Nightsisters from destroying Coruscant with the Infinity Gate of one of the Star Temples, everything would be free. Which meant his friends would be picking up the tab.
"As hero of the hour, I demand a kiss!" Quinlan declared, and shot a falsely lecherous grin towards Obi-Wan, waggling his eyebrows.
Obi-Wan rolled her eyes. "Hero or not, I'm not kissing you Quinlan," she informed him pertly.
"I will," Siri offered with a grin. "But you'll have to get down from Garen's shoulder first."
"And out of the Temple," Bant added in a wry, reasonable tone. "You two really don't need another scolding from the Masters about inappropriate behaviour where Younglings might see."
Quinlan and Siri both winced at the reminder. Last time they'd started to 'let loose' before they'd actually left the Temple, Master Poof had found them. That had been a distinctly uncomfortable experience for the pair.
As had the punishment been afterwards.
~oOo~
"Anakin!" Shmi called back into the house within a breath of opening her front door. "Mistress Kenobi is here!"
A crash sounded from somewhere further into the house, and both women winced.
"I'm alright!" a young voice shouted back to them.
Shmi laughed softly and shook her head in fondness. "Please come in, Mistress Kenobi," she invited with a smile, and stood aside from the door.
"It's good to see you again, Shmi," Obi-Wan answered with a smile. "But Obi-Wan, please. We're too close to the same age for titles. At least, I think we are," she added.
Shmi laughed, and led the way into her kitchen. "Tea?" she offered.
"That sounds wonderful," Obi-Wan agreed. "How are you enjoying Corellia?" she asked. "For that matter, how are you enjoying freedom?"
Shmi smiled back at Obi-Wan as she set the water to boil. "I love it, in answer to both of your questions," she replied happily.
"Mistress Kenobi!" Anakin yelled with delight as he came careening into the kitchen from another part of the house, a grin nearly splitting his young face in two. "You're here!"
"I told you, I'd be sent here every two years," Obi-Wan reminded the child easily as she scooped him up into a hug.
"But you didn't ever just come and visit," Anakin pointed out unhappily.
"Other missions for the Order keep me busy most of the rest of the time, which is why I don't visit more often," she apologised. "Why, just last year, I went on a mission all the way out past the Outer Rim," she informed the child, putting on a wide-eyed expression as she began her tale.
"Really?" Anakin breathed, awed, and plopped himself down in the seat immediately to her right.
Obi-Wan nodded solemnly. "I had to find out what had happened to a Master of the Temple whose death had been felt. His last known destination was very far away. Even with a really good hyperdrive, it still took me the better part of five days to get out there," Obi-Wan elaborated.
"Wow," Anakin exclaimed softly, his eyes wide.
"And you know what I found when I got there?" she asked him.
"What?" Anakin begged.
"He'd left," Obi-Wan stated with put-on affront. "I'd missed him by a week."
Anakin laughed.
"Were you able to find out what had become of this Master?" Shmi asked gently.
Obi-Wan nodded. "Killed," she replied solemnly.
"But-" Anakin protested. "But... no one can kill a Jedi!" he objected.
Obi-Wan shook her head. "We die just the same as anybody else," she corrected. "Do you remember my Master? Master Qui-Gon Jinn?"
Anakin and Shmi both nodded.
"He was killed two years ago," Obi-Wan admitted frankly. "Of course, not even being dead keeps my Master down," she added with a wry curl to her lips.
Shmi was clearly confused and curious, but little Anakin's whole face frowned.
"Master Qui-Gon became a ghost," Obi-Wan confided in a loud, dramatic whisper. "It's really very annoying, because he can snitch on me when I'm out of the Temple having fun with my friends a lot faster now than he used to be able to."
That got Anakin to giggle again, even if it wasn't exactly the truth. Oh, Master Qui-Gon could snitch on her a lot faster now, but he wasn't any more inclined to now than he had been in life. He'd just give her a lecture about being disciplined while she was trying to enjoy a glass of Jawa juice, instead of that being something for her to look forward to when she got back to the Temple.
"Now, tell me how your classes are going," Obi-Wan requested with a more easy smile as she accepted the cup of tea that Shmi passed her then.
"It's great!" Anakin enthused instantly. "I've made some great friends, and I'm top of my class, and I got extra credit from Professor Antilles when I finally finished my pod racer!"
"It's finished? That's great Anakin," Obi-Wan praised with a smile. "Fastest ever?" she asked.
"You bet it is!" Anakin boasted. "And next, I'm gonna build a swoop bike!"
Obi-Wan whistled lowly.
"He's giving me grey hair," Shmi declared with bland firmness. "But swoop races are at least a little safer than pod racing."
"I thought that giving their mothers grey hair was just what sons did?" Obi-Wan queried innocently, though the smile that she didn't quite restrain gave the game away.
But it got Shmi to laugh again at least.
"Oh! And I finished Threepio!"
~oOo~
Obi-Wan had just been dropped off on Corellia by a transport ship that was something of the equivalent of an interplanetary bus. She had been given instructions to organise her own ride back to Coruscant, as well as some funds to facilitate it. With the Corellian Engineering Corps there, if a person couldn't get a ship to take them off-world, then they weren't trying hard enough.
All the same, Obi-Wan enjoyed spending a couple of days with the Skywalkers. She cooked the meals, giving Shmi a break from at least one of the chores around the house, and was happy to mind Anakin as he tinkered with bits of junk until they turned into something that worked.
"... and the latest in the Why-Tee series just came out," Anakin was rambling as he worked on his homework at the kitchen table. "The twelve-hundred. We all got to look at the basic specs in class today. The price tag on one is a hundred-thousand credits, and I honestly don't think it's gonna sell real well. The long cockpit just looks too dorky to me. I think the ten-hundred is much better, and since it's not going to be made any more, it'll be cheaper as well. On the other hand, the whole Why-Tee series is good as a basic ship to modify any way you want."
Obi-Wan silently filed that information away for use later. After all, if she was going to have to make regular trips from Coruscant to Corellia and Kamino, she wanted a ship of her own.
"Are you telling me you're thinking of buying a ship, rather than building a custom thing completely from scratch?" she asked the boy teasingly.
"I bet I could," Anakin said.
"And I'm sure that some day, you will," Obi-Wan countered with a smile. "And you'll visit every system in the galaxy. You already built your pod racer from scratch, how much harder could a whole ship be?" she asked teasingly.
"A lot harder," Anakin replied, but his smile was clearly a demonstration of how eager he was for the challenge. Then it melted away. "A lot more expensive too," he added a little despondently.
Obi-Wan set a hand on the boy's shoulder and waited for him to look her in the face.
"So it's going to take time," she said gently. "You didn't get your pod built all at once, did you?"
Anakin shook his head.
"Then don't expect the ship to happen fast. Draw up lots and lots and lots of designs. Save up your money while you plan. Don't rush," she advised. "You have all of your time at school to get through before you can think of flying off and away in any event," she reminded him.
Anakin thought about that for a moment, then nodded in solemn agreement. It was really very cute on the eleven-year-old.
"Now get back to your homework," Obi-Wan instructed with a smile.
Anakin nodded again, and hunched over the kitchen table once more.
Contentment hummed all around her in the Force. Yes, this was right. Anakin was thriving in school, learning about all the things he loved. He wasn't training to be a Jedi, which he had wanted so much only a couple of years ago, but it looked like that dream had been well and truly replaced.
~oOo~
"Siri?"
"In here Obi-Wan!" Siri called back from a bit deeper within her apartment.
Obi-Wan tightened her grip on the object in her hand, and determinedly moved through the apartment to stand at her friend's bedroom door.
"Ugh, I'm glad the Council gave me this mission now, rather than last week. Could you imagine what Quinlan would have been like if I'd missed being in Coruscant for his promotion to Master status?" Siri complained lightly as she stuffed articles into her bag.
"Probably even more upset than he was when I came back the day after his Padawan got Knighted," Obi-Wan suggested wryly. "Here," she said, and extended her hand out to her preoccupied friend.
Siri stopped her packing to look up.
"What is it?" she asked warily, though she was smiling.
"Holo-recorder," Obi-Wan answered with a smile.
"No way!" Siri objected as she looked at the object sitting innocently in the middle of her friend's palm. "It's way too small to be a holo-recorder!"
"Between Reeft, me, and that little genius I got the Council to sponsor over on Corellia, we managed to get it small enough to be able to record sneakily," Obi-Wan explained happily. "They're not going to be made available to the general public just yet, but they'll be good for Jedi in the field."
"Especially Jedi on infiltration missions like the one I'm being sent on," Siri agreed as she continued to stare at the button-sized thing. In fact, it was mounted in such a way that it could be disguised as a button very easily.
"Force be with you, Siri," Obi-Wan said as her friend accepted the gift.
Siri finally tore her eyes away from the tiny piece of technology. "And with you, Obi-Wan," she answered. "You're going to be sent after Knight Vergere, aren't you?"
"If she doesn't make contact before I get back from Kamino," Obi-Wan agreed with a nod. "Since Kamino is nearer to Zonama Sekot than Coruscant."
"Well, at least the Council agreed that you could buy your own ship when you get back," Siri reminded her. "Any specific model you're going to look for?"
Obi-Wan smiled slightly. She was going to take little Anakin's advice – not that he'd really known he'd given it to her at the time – and buy a YT-1000.
~oOo~
"Welcome back, Jedi Kenobi."
"It is good to see you again, Taun We," Obi-Wan answered with a smile. "I trust that you have been well?"
"Oh yes," the Kamioan agreed as she waved the human inside. "But tell me, did you find Master Sifo-Dyas?"
"I found only his remains," Obi-Wan replied. It was a good thing he had paid for this army before he left Kamino, or that pronouncement might have caused some problems. "I was unable to learn if he found a specimen for you before he died," she added.
Taun We smiled slightly. "A short while after you left, another came," she offered. "A Mandalore who said he had been sent to be the base for the army."
Obi-Wan blinked at that. "A Mandalore would certainly be a strong genetic base," she agreed. "Is the programming the same?" she asked as they walked.
"We have removed the parts of the programming that were pertinent to the use of the Force, which your clones have proven to need," Taun We replied, and there was a hint of delight in her tone. "But otherwise, yes, the programming is exactly the same."
Obi-Wan nodded. Good. That was good.
"I obtained permission from the Jedi Council to supply you with a lightsaber," Obi-Wan stated, and reached into her robes for the lightsaber that had belonged to Master Sifo-Dyas. "Which you may use as a guide to create more, for the Force-sensitive clones. How are they coming?"
"I was wondering when you would ask," Taun We replied. "They are coming along well, though of course some modification had to be made. The human female reproductive cycle does not mix well with our growth accelerators."
Obi-Wan nodded her understanding. Yes, she could see how the two would disagree with each other.
"It will still be another eight years before the first batch is ready," Taun We said frankly. "But we did tell you that already."
"I had not forgotten," Obi-Wan agreed. "I also brought a training holocron, which can be used to teach the clones how to use the lightsaber in my absence."
"That will be very much appreciated," Taun We said. "Using a lightsaber is much more difficult an art than using a blaster."
Obi-Wan refrained from answering beyond a polite inclination of her head. Much as she sometimes did carry a blaster, and was a perfectly good shot with one, she still found them uncivilised. Some people had just as hard a time using a blaster as a blade though.
"Is the Mandalore still here?" she asked instead.
"He has quarters," Taun We replied. "But he frequently leaves due to the demands of his other work, and is not here at this time."
"Perhaps I'll be fortunate enough to meet him the next time I come."
"The unaltered clone he asked for for himself remains here though," Taun We added. "If you would like to meet him."
Obi-Wan blinked, and for a moment was silent. "Yes," she decided soon after. "Yes, I would like that very much."