Author's Note: As a reminder, the replies I post before chapters are to those who do not have an account with or who have not signed in. I have no way of replying through e-mail without the link that accompanies those who do sign in. For those who do sign in, replies are sent through e-mail. I sincerely hope I haven't missed replying to anyone's comments.

littlelionluvr: Chapter 20: Kale being consistent in his thoughts and actions is starting to break the barrier that Obi-Wan has built between them. As long as Kale doesn't falter, he'll get through to his son. Obi-Wan needs that stability, something he didn't have in the time he was a ward of his aunt and uncle. Jes gave what she could, but she couldn't protect him from everything. :(

Hebsley has weaseled his way past Obi-Wan's defenses by being honest with the boy and giving back as much as he asks for in regard to the teen opening up about his past and such.

Jes has had enough strife to last her a lifetime. She's willing to play peace-maker if it will help her nephew live life without the past haunting his every step.

Thanks so much for your review! I enjoy reading your thoughts on the story.

Cloudyseph: Chapter 20: Thanks so much; I'm so glad you're enjoying the story! Obi-Wan has anger in him toward Kale and the life he lived with Nayt and Jes. He's angry with his father for not finding him, for not showing up the night his mother died. He's angry about a lot involving his life and he's directing that toward his father. However, Kale is well able to handle it. He will teach his son how to trust again. ;)

Thanks so much for reading and for your review! I can't express how much I appreciate it! :)

Chapter 21

Qui-Gon stood on the back deck, leaning against the balustrade, watching the teen work through a series of katas he had learned only that morning. There was no denying the boy was a natural. The Jedi's thoughts roamed back to Kana Bailer as he watched the young man soar into an aerial maneuver. He couldn't understand the motive that was driving the elder woman. If it was only to have Obi-Wan rule over her providence in the event she were unable to do so, then why was she demanding that the boy live with her? Obi-Wan could learn what he needed just as easily living anywhere else on the planet. There had to be something else, but what was driving her? Was it greed, the need for control, the need to have a piece of her daughter back, the desire to hurt Kale for what she deemed a wrong done unto herself and Cera?

When he first heard of her demands, he had sought the force on the matter but walked away from his meditation with more questions than answers. And what was to become of Obi-Wan? He was talented, no doubt, but would the Council see that and think it enough to train him? The boy had been forced once to use his skills against the good of the republic. What would happen if someone or something more sinister came into the picture forcing the boy to do far more than the mediocre crimes Nayt and Traest had favored, not that they hadn't left the boy with emotional and physical scars because they had. And now it was his and Kale's mess to clean up.

The youth was trying; Qui-Gon had to give him that. There were good days, days when the teen would readily involve himself in the family and friends around him. But there were also days when they weathered the storm that began brewing seven years prior, courtesy of Nayt and his partner. During these days, the young man would purposely try to alienate everyone around him. At times, it was like a switch had been flipped. He just wished that they could break through the sense of abandonment Obi-Wan felt and harbored when he thought both his parents dead.

Then there was the sense of rejection. The young man had never been shown acceptance by the male figure in the home he grew up in, his aunt being the only person to show him unconditional love. And there was the matter of anger at having endured the abuse of the two male figures in his life, both physical and emotional. It was no wonder the teen flinched whenever he or Kale forgot themselves and were carried away in their hand gestures when relating information. He had yet to learn how to trust a male role model.

Qui-Gon had explained to Kale in certain terms that they needed to be more careful when relating to the teen, at least, until the boy came to the firm conclusion that they would never purposely harm him. The young man paused in his exercises, hands on hips, chest heaving with the exertion of the katas he had just performed. He walked a circle and then slowed, his eyes looking toward the sky above. Qui-Gon folded his arms across his chest and waited. The brief work out had done the youth some good: his mind was now calm, his thoughts not the erratic gale they had been just moments before. Sitting down on the terrace swing, the Jedi watched the young man approach the veranda. Obi-Wan looked at Qui-Gon, seemingly in thought for a moment before he moved toward the swing and sat down. It amazed the elder man how comfortable the silence was between them. They stared off into the distance, watching the grass sway in the breeze. A subtle shift next to him caused Qui-Gon to turn and look at the youth.

"It doesn't make sense." Obi-Wan glanced at his mentor before turning back to the acreage that spread out before them.

"What doesn't make sense?"

"Nayt's family lives on Nyvé. He kept in contact with them but refused Jes to speak with her mother. If Kana was so concerned with my well being, why didn't she try to find me through them? They may be a rather shady lot, but if she was determined enough I'm sure she could have discovered something."

Turning his gaze back to the land spread out before them, Qui-Gon replied, "Perhaps she tried. She did know some about the circumstances you endured."

The teen shrugged. "Maybe." Obi-Wan was quiet a moment, thinking of how to put his thoughts into words. "I get the feeling that she's not being completely honest. There's something she's not telling us." The young man rubbed a hand across his face before adding. "I don't know maybe I'm just thinking stuff up to discredit her."

Shifting his attention to the young man next to him, he made sure that he was understood. "Never doubt your feelings, young one."

X

Jes approached her mother from behind, standing to one side as she answered the door chime.

"Kana." A deep voice greeted. Jes moved slightly to the right to better view the individual speaking with the elder woman.

"Gawain." The name was spoken with animosity and resentment.

Mr. Kalar smirked. His eyes averted past her to take in the sight of his former daughter-in-law. His gaze narrowed in contempt. "So, you finally returned."

"Not that it's any of your business," Kana supplied.

Ignoring the elder woman, Kalar asked, "Where is that brat of a child Nayt had thrust upon him?"

"Why are you here, Gawain?" Kana's features were stern, her tone firm in its demand.

"I was informed of their return; I thought I'd come see for myself." Gawain looked almost put out by the fact that he had been told the truth. "I hope you're happy with yourself. Nayt was my only son." Turning toward the elder woman, he added, "You do realize that you only have three years to turn things around, Kana."

"I am perfectly aware," she ground out, her jaw tight, teeth clenched. With a look toward her daughter from the corner of her eye, she relayed perfectly that there were some who knew nothing of what they spoke.

A feral smile spread across the man's lips. "I heard Traest taught you some new lessons, Jes. Care to share?"

The younger woman smirked, her demeanor calm, steady, and somewhat threatening. "I don't think you could handle it."

Somewhat thrown by the fact that he hadn't been able to get beneath the woman's skin, Gawain quickly replied with a wink. "Why don't we find out."

"It's time you leave. Good day, Mr. Kalar." Kana shut the door without waiting for a reply and turned to face her daughter. "Don't listen to him, dear. He's a chauvinistic pig."

"If Nayt were still alive, I would kill him for ever having told his father the liberties he allowed Traest in regard to us." The younger woman took a step back toward the living area when her mother came to stand at her side.

"Come, let us have dinner."

Jes ate little, instead stealing glances at her mother across the dinner table. Kana seemed oblivious to the scrutiny, but her daughter knew better. The younger woman wondered why it was that her mother was being so insistent that her grandson come under her guidance. Jes believed that she missed him; she believed that her mother had – from a certain point of view – Obi-Wan's best interest at heart. But to demand the young man leave his father just when they were starting to rebuild, albeit slowly, their relationship was not understandable.

Her mother was a hard woman, she would not deny that, but she was also the best person to have on your side in a crisis. Jes knew her mother loved her, even with the tension currently between them. But she would be a fool to not remember that Cera had been their mother's favorite. Jes didn't begrudge Cera in any way; her younger sister had been a source of light in every life she touched.

The silence was beginning to grate on Jes's nerves. "Is this the way it is to be?"

The elder woman placed her eating utensils on the plate and looked over to her daughter. "Clarify."

"Are we not going to speak to each other?"

"There's much we have both missed, Jes. Much we no longer know of the other."

Jes pushed her plate aside. "Precisely the reason we should talk, to relearn that which we have forgotten." When Kana didn't debate the suggestion, the younger woman plunged ahead. "Why was it so important that I marry Nayt?"

A house servant entered the dining area, silently removing the dishes from the table. "Let's go to the living room."

When both women were comfortably seated in the chairs of their choice, Kana gathered her thoughts before speaking. When she did, the words were not what Jes expected to hear. "I am truly sorry for all that you and Obi-Wan suffered under Kalar's care. If I had known what kind of man he would have turned out to be, I would have fought harder against the marriage."

"Fought against?" Jes was confused. "You arranged the ceremony and the terms with the Kalar clan. You practically hand delivered me on a silver platter."

"I did, but only after I learned that there was no other alternative." Kana looked at her daughter with saddened eyes. "If you'll remember, your father was the most selfless man I have ever known. But when his brother got into some financial trouble with the Kalar's, your father ran into a situation that was too much for even him to take care of. When Gawain Kalar suggested a merger of our two families through marriage, your father valiantly refused the proposal."

Kana leaned forward and placed a hand over her daughter's. "Please believe me when I tell you that we did everything we could. When Gawain informed your father that Cerdic would pay his debt with his life, Jole gave in. Since you were the oldest, we arranged for you to marry Gawain's only son. From your interactions with him, we truly believed that he would be more honorable than his father, but we were wrong. I didn't know the truth of what he was capable of until I began hearing of your plight. I tried numerous times to discover your whereabouts, but the Kalar's were rather tightlipped about the whole thing except for the ill-treatment you were suffering; they rather enjoyed those details. I always thought that if a chance arose, you and Obi-Wan would leave him and return home. We tightened security at the space port, making certain that if Nayt returned he would be arrested at once."

"Along with myself and Kale," Jes answered, not quite keeping the bitterness from her tone.

"I was certain if Kale returned to Nyvé that you and Obi-wan would be with him, or he would know how to contact you."

The younger woman's eyes widened in disbelief as she asked, "How? All of these years we thought he was dead."

Kana sat back as she explained, "After you left, I had the other body examined. Needless to say, it wasn't Kale's."

Realizing something, Jes replied, "We saw Cera's body but we never asked to see Kale's. The timeframe coincided with his home coming and we never thought to ask. Obi-Wan believed that Kale had died alongside his mother; we had no reason to doubt him."

The light through the window, bathing the room in a radiant glow, slowly began to diminish as evening descended. Rising from her chair, Jes turned on some lights and then returned to her seat. A house worker brought them some refreshments, quickly returning to her work.

The younger woman slowly sipped at the confection within her mug before saying softly, "I did love him. Sometimes I feel as though I betrayed us both by simply loving him. He was kind in the beginning and he truly did love Obi-Wan; he often spoke of having children, but one thing or another kept that from happening."

Deciding now was the time to voice her question, Kana did so in a way that would not offend. "Was there ever a chance when you could have left?"

"There were many. And as ridiculous as it may sound, it was more comfortable to stay where we knew the rules and what was expected than to try to make it on our own, even to get back home. In a weird sense, with all the disagreements and all the fights between Obi-Wan and Nayt, they both held onto the love of an uncle and nephew; without knowing it, they clung to the past. It wasn't until Nayt was dying that Obi-Wan realized it, and he hates himself for feeling anything for the person responsible for how his life turned out."

Jes's gaze caught her mother's and held fast, confusion causing her brow to crease as she remembered something. "Why did Mr. Kalar indicate that you only had three years to turn it all around? Turn what around, Mother?"

"I was hoping you had somehow missed that." Kana had sincerely wanted to keep the situation private and had hoped that all would turn out well. But with her grandson refusing to even consider what she had offered, she saw that she had no choice but to explain her actions. "When your father died, he left everything to Obi-Wan, provided he take his place as head of state when he turns twenty-one. You remember how fond he was of his grandson; the two were inseparable. If he refuses what Jole left him, we'll lose everything and your father's distant cousin, Marius, will take over. He is rather entangled with the Kalar family; can you imagine what will become of this providence if Gawain has his way?"

A shocked look crossed Jes's features. "Father left the providence to Marius?"

"Don't misunderstand me. We will be well taken care of, but the land that we have ruled over for many generations will no longer be in our family. Gawain already has assurances that Marius will hand it over."

"Why not tell this to Obi-Wan instead of alienating him? If you explained, I know he would help you."

Kana shook her head. "I don't want to burden him into a decision. I want him to want to take the reigns."

Sitting forward, Jes made sure she had her mother's attention before speaking. "But that's not what you're doing. Mother, you're forcing him to choose between you and Kale and he's retreating from you because of it. You are unknowingly pushing him right into Kale's hands, helping to mend the rift between them because he's looking to his father to make this right. If you press him for an answer before he's ready, don't count on him coming to you."

"What do I do?"

"Tell them the truth. You would be amazed at the resources Kale and Qui-Gon have backing them. There may be a way out of this."

Some time later, Kana nodded her agreement. She would tell Kale and Obi-Wan the truth, but wondered at the cost of doing so.

X

Having spoken with Qui-Gon helped him clear his mind of the thoughts that had been circling like vultures waiting for any scraps he might throw their way. After the elder Jedi retired into the house, Obi-Wan walked the grounds, restless with his thoughts. He had escaped the conflict with his grandmother but felt guilty for leaving Kale to deal with her. A light brush against his mind assured him he had no need to feel accountable for wanting to flee the situation.

He needed to get away; finding the speeder parked near the house he hopped in, started the engine and sped off. He didn't know where he was going, just that he wanted to be free of everything and everyone. He wove through the countryside, the speeder coming to an abrupt halt upon an area he remembered well. His breathing became ragged, his heart beat furious, and his hands trembled.

The area had been cleared of any memory of the mishap long ago, but in his minds eye he saw it all as if it had just happened. He exited the speeder, his eyes seeing the destruction the transport had left behind: ruts in the grass when it flipped end over end, broken pieces of the vehicle that had come loose and fallen to the ground, glass shards from the windshield having shattered, tiny slivers cutting into his skin.

Unconsciously he walked toward the tree the speeder had finally come to rest upon. The tree trunk was badly scarred, a deep weathered dent in the side that bark no longer covered. He ran his fingers over the roughened indention, pulling his hand back as if the very contact had hurt.

Images flashed through his mind, some a moving holo while others were snippets from an old picture album. He swallowed, his throat aching with the motion. He tried to suppress the memory now rising within his mind's eye (the one he had shared with his father during his first weeks at the Temple) but lost the battle when it battered through his resistance, insistent on reminding him of what he had lost. He stumbled back, lowering himself to the ground in a half attempt to keep from falling.

"Obi, get down!" Cera yelled, shading her eyes with one hand.

The boy looked out the front window to see what his mother was upset about, but was blinded by the bright light shining into the speeder.

He felt a hand push him down, holding him still. He struggled to free himself from the grip when the speeder swerved. He heard durasteel bend and creak and glass shattered as the impact of whatever had hit them threw the vehicle into a spin. He heard his mother scream, her concern only for his well-being. The transport flipped once, twice and he was thrown to the side, landing on grass and pebbled rocks, his head bouncing off a hard surface beneath it while his leg folded unnaturally beneath him. He heard the vehicle tumble down an embankment and tried to lift his head to see if his mother was okay. He pushed himself to his feet, his knee protesting the movement, and started running after the speeder screaming for his mother to answer him. The vehicle finally ceased its movement, coming to rest against a tree.

"MOM!" he stumbled and slid down the hill side. When he reached the bottom, he stood and upon doing so cried out in pain: his leg would no longer support his weight. Why, he didn't know; he only knew that he hurt. Crawling over to the vehicle, he ducked beneath it to find his mother but she was no longer there. He called her name over and over again but there was no answer. His vision blurred and he grew dizzy. Staying where he was for the moment, he raised his hands to hold his head when a sharp pain raced through the back of his skull. He felt a warm sticky substance on his hair and pulled his hand away to see a crimson stain. Panicking, he screamed for his mother again. His vision began to fade, darkness starting at the corners of his vision and moving inward. The last thing he remembered was seeing emergency vehicle lights from up above.

Obi-Wan pulled one knee up to rest an elbow against it, his head on his hand. He had had seven years to come to terms with his mother's death, so why hadn't he recovered from her loss? It seemed that things just kept happening to remind him of what he had lost instead of what he had gained. The revving of an engine behind him did little to change his current focus. It wasn't until someone came to stand a few feet away from him that he decided to take notice.

"I was passing by and thought I'd stop to see if you needed help…." Gawain stopped when he saw the boy's features.

The teen's eyes widened when he saw the face before him, his mouth moving but unable to produce sound. He started moving back, his hands and feet scrambling to get him as far away from this specter as they could.

"Impossible," he whispered.

A voice chuckled. "You look like you've seen a ghost, kid."

"You're dead."

The figure looked over himself as if inspecting the validity of that fact. "Apparently not."

The older man bitterly smirked, catching onto the boy's line of thinking. "Ah…I see. You think I'm him."

When Obi-Wan looked at him confused, Gawain took a step forward and knelt down in front of the young man. "So how did it feel to kill my boy?"

The youth shook his head frantically. "I…I didn't. Traest did."

"You were the catalyst, just as you were for your own mother's death."

"NO!" Obi-Wan sprang to his feet with a cry of denial, pushing the older man back. "It was an accident! The vehicle failed."

Kalar stumbled and laughed. "Transports do tend to malfunction now don't they?" A cruel smile curved his lips.

An alarm went off in the teen's mind but he couldn't quite grasp what it was trying to tell him. Before he could respond, Gwain continued, "And if you think you've finally found home, think again. They'll turn on you when you least expect it." He took a threatening step forward. "Leave Nyvé while you still can, lad. There's nothing for you here anymore."

Obi-Wan quickly turned and walked back to his transport, leaving the older man behind. He didn't reply to the man's taunt because the very words hinted at the fear he held within himself. How could he deny what he thought could possibly one day be the truth?

"When you least expect it, Kenobi!" Gawain called out from behind him.

Obi-Wan waved a hand over his shoulder not bothering to turn around. He half smiled when he heard an oomph! from behind him, indicating one object had hit another. Climbing into the speeder, the teen left and didn't look back.