Chapter Eleven: General Anxieties
Episode referenced: Lightsaber Lost
Chapter preludes: The Mandalore Plot
Obi-Wan couldn't help but brood once the last of Grievous' ships were out of sight. He stared at the sky, listening to the chatter of the radio and watching the space battle fade into nothing. The clones stayed away from him, tending to the wounded and requesting escort to The Negotiator and The Resolute.
He had lost Grievous. Again. He would go down in history as the Jedi who couldn't defeat a stupid cyborg. Sith hells, he wanted to shout at the sky until his throat was raw.
But of course he didn't. He was Obi-Wan Kenobi, the stoic Jedi Knight who fought with words instead of weapons. He never did bother to tell anyone that it did feel good when he ran his lightsaber through machines at times, or that his cabinets weren't always filled with boxes of tea. He wanted to say that he had once been prepared to throw it all away and leave the damn galaxy to fend for itself.
No one stood by Obi-Wan while they waited for Rex and his men to come back. They didn't even speak to him when they boarded the escort back to The Resolute. He was grateful for that - there was no telling what he would have said.
Anakin was waiting for them when the escort had docked and the doors whooshed open. His face was drawn tight, causing his scar to pucker and revealing all of his premature wrinkles.
"What?" Obi-Wan asked, stepping down the ramp and neatly avoiding the medical team ushering Rex away to the infirmary. "What now?"
"The Council contacted the Outer Rim command. They've been waiting for three hours for you."
Obi-Wan sighed heavily, scrubbing a hand over his face and beard before nodding. Why do I have a bad feeling about this? "Lead the way."
Anakin frowned, but didn't say anything more. They walked in relative silence, weaving through the hundreds of clones scurrying about. There wasn't any place the ship was quiet. Everywhere there was noise, from machines clanking to comms beeping to people yelling orders.
What he wouldn't give to on the Mandalorian countryside right now.
"Do you have any idea what the Council wants?" Anakin asked when they were steps away from the control room. "All I got out of them was that it involved the situation on Mandalore."
Mandalore. Obi-Wan remembered how the Jedi and Senate had been keeping an eye on the Mandalorian extremists for months. The Council and the Chancellor had debated for hours about the course of action that should be taken, despite the fact that Mandalore was a neutral state.
"The only way the Duchess will agree to an investigation is if we send Obi-Wan." Adi Gallia had snickered at one point, causing everyone to simultaneously remember that he had been in charge of protecting the Duchess just before the events on Naboo and Qui-Gon's untimely death.
Obi-Wan could have yelled at his friend during that debate, for now he was standing in a holo-conference with the Jedi Council and Prime Minister Almec agreeing to go to Mandalore for the first time in over a decade.
There was a part of him that wanted to beg the Council to send Anakin instead, but he couldn't do that to his brother. The man deserved to be home with his wife, to continue teaching his padawan at the Temple and not on the battlefield. He merely nodded and kept up the facade of neutrality while walking Anakin to his escort home.
He had a week to organize his research and calm his nerves. Like a week would give him enough time to work up the courage to face the woman he had chosen the Jedi over.
Obi-Wan couldn't sleep. He knew he should. Mandalore was fourteen hours away, and there was no telling when he would sleep again. But his leg was hurting and his mind was racing, and the melatonin he had taken earlier didn't seem to be helping. (Neither was the hours of meditation, lightsaber training, cups of tea laced with Corellian whiskey, and general exhaustion).
He eventually sighed, sitting up on his thin cot and turning the brightness of the room to the lowest setting. The stark whiteness of the room made him squint, and he blindly reached for his datapad. Maybe he would get some more research-
"Fuck, what am I doing?" Obi-Wan muttered, staring at the blank screen. He needed a distraction, and he knew this wasn't a healthy one. He set the datapad back on the nightstand, right next to his comm.
He stared at it, remembering a conversation he hadn't thought of in a lifetime.
"You're sweating, relax, take a deep breath."
"I haven't seen her in ten years, Master."
He sighed, the sound startling loud in the quiet room while he reach for the comm and punched in an all-too familiar code. He wasn't sure if he would be able to make contact, but Coruscant and Mandalore were relatively close to each other - though he was starting to doubt once a few minutes had crawled by.
The lights finally flashed, confirming that contact had been made. A hologram of faintly blue objects emerged, but he couldn't identify much. For a brief moment, Obi-Wan wondered if the comm was broken.
A voice finally grunted: "Skywalker."
Obi-Wan frowned, wondering why his former apprentice was sleeping before remembering it was the middle of the night on Coruscant. "Sorry to wake you, Anakin."
"Obi-Wan?"
The hologram spun, and Obi-Wan found himself looking at a bleary, shirtless Jedi knight sitting up in a bed that looked far too luxurious to be Temple issued.
"Are you at Padmé's?"
Anakin scowled, his arm stretching out of frame only to retrieve a house robe and shrug it on. "I'm home, if that's what you're asking."
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "I'm surprised the Temple allows you to leave so regularly."
"Believe it or not, there are no rules about where a Jedi knight or Master resides." Anakin stood, picking up the comm and walking somewhere. His face was unnaturally close while he spoke. "I show them a proof of residence form every six months and they're satisfied."
"They haven't figured out the address?"
"Do you think they know how to read a residence form?" Anakin raised an eyebrow and stretched a hand to push what was probably a door. The hinges creaked.
Obi-Wan was about to defend the intelligence of the Jedi masters, but stopped upon hearing:
"Anakin come back to sleep."
Anakin's hard expression softened.
The comm clattered loudly on a hard surface, and the hologram wobbled a bit. When it righted itself, Obi-Wan found himself watching Anakin walk across the room and kneel at the Senator's bedside. How many are witness to this side of him? Obi-Wan thought, though he knew it was probably an accident.
"Obi-Wan called. I'll only be a few minutes."
Padmé touched her fingers to her husband's cheek. "You look exhausted."
"Says you." Anakin snickered at whatever look she gave him, pressing a kiss to the hand touching his face. He folded it to her chest, pulling blankets over her while standing. "Don't worry about me, Angel. It'll be a quick chat."
Obi-Wan tried to remember when he saw so much peace on the Knight's face. He couldn't.
"It better," Padmé muttered, but she was already drifting back to sleep.
"Anything new, Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked when he had made it out to what might have been a veranda and closed the doors. "Please tell me it's not galaxy threatening."
Obi-Wan blinked, still stunned by the actions of the Senator and the Knight to think coherently. Shifting his weight to his heels and crossing his arms, he was tempted to ask about the Chancellor's address about the Jedi's involvement in the war a few standard weeks ago. When he opened his mouth, he couldn't bring himself to talk about politics or the war. "I read Master Sinube's report."
Anakin snorted, the wind of Coruscant causing his hair to stand straight up. "You mean Ahsoka's pick-pocket problem?"
Obi-Wan shook his head at the bad pun."Yes, that. She really is your padawan, Anakin. Always losing lightsabers and going on misadventures."
"She should have been more careful. One wrong move and she would have been killed, even with Master Sinube's help."
"Like you always are?" Obi-Wan sighed when the young man didn't respond, and tried to think of something else to say. "Have they decided to prosecute the accomplices?"
"The Jedi?" Anakin scratched at his stubbled chin with his metal hand. The sound was echoed oddly in the ship quarters. "It was put on hold once Master Sinube gave his testimony."
"Why? All evidence points to Ione and her friend. They committed first-degree murder against Nack Movers. By the laws they-"
"Padmé believes that Ione Marcy was abused by Movers. She thinks Cassie was helping Ione escape from him."
Obi-Wan shifted uncomfortably, thinking back to the report and realizing that the actions of the women were probably driven more by fear than money. He hated how he had never thought of that before. "And if Padmé is right?"
Anakin shrugged, raising his voice to be heard over a passing speeder while he leaned against a railing. "They still killed a man, bought an artifact knowing it was illegal, resisted arrest, broke traffic violations and city property, led the Jedi and the police on a chase, and threatened the safety of public and private citizens. That's enough to lock them up for twenty plus years."
They went back and forth on the topic for a while, letting Obi-Wan's mind be free of thoughts of Mandalore. He learned that Padmé wanted Cassie to plead guilty, and Ione should be allowed to walk free - on the condition she attend Senate-funded trauma counseling. Anakin wasn't exactly forthcoming on his thoughts about the matter, and didn't really pry into it.
When he finally hung up, Obi-Wan glanced out the window and saw Mandalore looming before him.
Author's Note: Hi guys. Up for a chat? I wanna apologize how long it has been since my last update. When midterms hit, life got in the way at the same time. I desperately wanted to continue writing and posting, but was prevented from doing so.
I will be honest, and say that school wasn't the only thing keeping me from writing. I was severely depressed (for reasons I'd rather not explain, other than the fact i do have chronic depression), and had a hard time functioning from day to day. I am slowly getting better, so hence the surprise update. Hopefully I can get a chapter to you guys on Sunday as well, and resume my every two week schedule.
Thank you for all the love and support these past few months. You guys are amazing. Lots pf love ^-^
ii Digestive Reader ii
Updated/ edited as of 11-12-2018
