Chapter 28 A Hidden Secret
Red and gold beams of light streaked across the cloudless evening sky as dual suns shimmered on the horizon, casting a final crimson look over their desert kingdom before finally bowing one by one into the steaming horizon. As dusk deepened into night, Obi-Wan threw his hood back over his head and turned his face toward the little hovel he now called home.
He was just returning from the Lars homestead where he had dined with Owen and Beru Lars. Owen was still hesitant about Obi-Wan being around, but Beru had insisted they include him in their family as a friend.
It had been this way ever since the first month Obi-Wan, or Ben as the Lars knew him, had landed on Tatooine with an infant Luke cradled in his arms. At first Owen did not want him coming around at all and had made it perfectly clear to Obi-Wan, but one morning when Obi-Wan had checked on the Lars homestead and then turned to head for his tiny home, he heard his name called.
"Ben! Ben!"
He turned to find Beru running toward him.
"Ben! Come here!"
Alarmed that something had happened to Luke, Obi-Wan had run to her. He hadn't sensed anything, but in the state he had been in of late it would have been no surprise if he had missed something.
It was nothing like that though.
"Have you had breakfast?"
"Well, no. I was just..."
"Come on in, Ben, have breakfast with us." Beru's earnest, friendly invitation was hard to say no to, but Obi-Wan glanced concerned eyes at Cliegg, busy with the vaporators.
Beru glanced her husband's way then waved away Ben's concern.
"Oh, don't worry about him. He'll come around. He's not a bad man, he's just protective and careful. I'm sure you can understand."
"Of course," Obi-Wan nodded, "but he doesn't want me..."
"Nonsense. I've talked to him. He has agreed to let you come in. He's stubborn, but he can be reasoned with. Now come on. You can clean up in the back, and breakfast will be ready soon."
The small family had gathered around the breakfast table; Cliegg at the head, Beru sitting to his right, baby Luke in a little cradle next to her and Obi-Wan on the opposite side.
Owen's attitude toward Obi-Wan was a coolness bordering on barely contained irritation, but he said nothing amiss and tried to be accommodating. Beru's loving chides and remarks to her husband reminded him of what he had lost. Not only the temple, the Order, his best friend, but her.
Despite the somewhat uncomfortable breakfast, Obi-Wan had enjoyed the visit and especially being able to see Luke.
After that day, he was a regular visitor to the Lars household. Breakfasts some mornings, and then many evening meals spent with them. Eventually Owen had begun to soften toward him and after awhile they had begun a guarded friendship.
Obi-Wan reflected on all of this as he sat at his little table with his tea.
He had not been back on Tatooine for long, having spent the last month helping Ferus escape the Empire. Nothing had pleased him more than finding Ferus had proven himself a Jedi, even though he had not worn the outer symbols of the order in years. Even more pleasant had been when Ferus had found other Jedi, including Garen. Garen was sick, but he was alive. Obi-Wan was grateful for that and the two old friends had spent several hours talking about the Order and everything that had happened.
Obi-Wan finished his tea and then sat on a stool he had placed outside his front door. He gazed up at the stars dotting the night sky; the stars he had spent so many years traveling.
Now he was home...his new home and he expected to be here for the next several years, watching over Luke and training him, if Owen would allow it.
As he gazed at the black night with the stars so far away and the moon just beginning its ascension, his mind wandered over the events of the last several months.
He thought about the temple that had been attacked and burned, every Jedi inside, including the younglings, slaughtered. A pang twisted him inside as he thought of the man responsible.
Anakin.
His best friend, his former Padawan.
Turned to the dark side, now more machine than man, having lost his flesh and almost his life on Mustafar when he had fought his former Master to the death.
Obi-Wan had thought that after Siri had died, he would never experience such heartbreak again, but witnessing what Anakin had become was unbearable. Obi-Wan had come to terms with Siri's death, but the guilt and remorse of what had happened to Anakin would never leave him, he had thought.
He had come to Tatooine a bitter, broken man. Owen did not want him around? Well, he had no intention of letting himself care about anyone again. Everyone he had cared about was dead or turned. He would do his duty and watch over Luke, but he would not open himself to anyone again.
But then Beru's gentle gesture of friendship and Owen's eventual acceptance of him had begun a slow thaw of the bitter chill that had settled over his heart.
And then finding and helping Ferus, and finding Garen alive as well as other Jedi had completed the thaw. Obi-Wan could care again; he could love again and he had finally come to terms with what had happened to Anakin.
Qui-Gon had even paid him another visit right after his return to Tatooine, but had told him there was yet a little more, and then he would be ready.
Obi-Wan had sighed in frustration. What was there yet to do?
Patience had always been a friend to him and breathing away the frustration of Qui-Gon's words, he had reached once more to that lifelong friendship.
Obi-Wan yawned and stretched on the little stool in front of his hovel. He would need to go to bed soon, but he wasn't quite ready yet. He settled on the stool again and his thoughts turned to Master Yoda.
Yoda had finally told him Siri's visions. Visions she had when she had been only thirteen, in the caves of Ilum.
Her visions of the temple burning, of two men with sabers fighting on a molten planet, of Obi-Wan alone on a desert planet, of her own death on a battlefield. Obi-Wan had been distressed when he realized that Siri had seen all of this and had never told him.
Yoda had convinced him that it was necessary. Siri's knowledge gave her the courage to follow the path set before her, and to encourage Obi-Wan to follow his.
He sighed deeply.
He missed his master, who had been such a source of wisdom and guidance for so many years.
He missed the temple, the Order, all the masters and the quiet bustle of Temple life. He even missed Coruscant, which had now become the center of the most evil Sith spawned Empire in the history of the galaxy. He missed his friends, all dead now except for Garen hiding on that asteroid Ferus had found.
And he missed Siri. He missed her every day of his life. He had missed her all those months when he and Anakin had been chasing around the outer rims. It had been good to get back into action, but the nights still held loneliness when he remembered her. Sometimes during those months he had still dreamed about her. He had accepted her death and had been able to move on, doing his duty, but he knew that the empty place in his heart would never quite heal.
Now, on Tatooine, he thought of her every day. He reached into his robe and found her warming crystal. The same crystal she had pressed into his hand the day she had died. He had not handled it much, it being too painful of a reminder of what he had lost, but now he held it in his hand, feeling its warmth, turning it over and gazing at it.
The force suddenly stirred in him. It urged him to look more closely at the crystal. He moved indoors and held it up in the light of his lantern and peered closely at it.
There seemed to be lines in it. He wondered at it as he had never noticed that before. Pulling the force around the crystal, he concentrated on it and the lines in it became more defined. Astonished, he focused on the crystal more intently and suddenly a hidden compartment opened up.
Obi-Wan disembarked from the public transport, stepping out to the surface of Corellia. He pulled his cloak more tightly around himself and yanked the old hat more firmly over his head. He did not wear Jedi robes, but the clothes of a worker, a transient looking for work.
He scurried away from the milling crowds, who largely ignored the seeming vagabond, eyeing him with disdain.
Finally alone, he took his data pad out and looked again at the address.
He walked toward the center of town, where the library was.
Two hours later he stood before the door of a house. He pushed down a twinge of nervousness. He had no idea what he would find here, only that when the crystal had opened up to him and revealed it's contents, he knew the force wanted him to follow this lead.
He gingerly knocked on the door once. He started to knock a second time, but instead dropped his hands. His hand brushed against his lightsaber hidden inside the cloak at his side. He kept his hand near it and ready just in case he had mistaken the hidden message.
He waited.
Long moments passed, and Obi-Wan was beginning to think he had been mistaken after all when he felt someone approach the door. It opened a crack.
A female voice called from the inside.
"Yes?"
"Hello," Obi-Wan began. "I..."
What does he say now? The message in the crystal gave no clue who he might meet. Since it came from Siri's crystal, he took a chance.
"I knew Siri Tachi."
The was a long silence inside the door. He could feel a curiosity mixed with sadness from inside, but he said no more.
Finally the door slowly opened to reveal an older women, thin, dressed in a tunic trimmed in shimmer silk. The woman was just a little shorter than Obi-Wan, shoulder length graying hair tucked behind her ears, bangs hanging across a brow furrowed with worry and not a little fear. Her eyes were a bright blue, keen and observant.
"Not unlike Siri," he thought to himself.
She had been staring at him, and then her eyes grew wide, as if recognizing him.
"It's you," she said, and her hand went to her mouth as she gasped. She faltered at the door and began to swoon, and Obi-Wan stepped forward, taking her by the elbow and putting an arm around her to steady her. She did not resist.
When he was sure she could stand, he started to back away, but she shook her head.
"Come in. We have a lot to talk about."
Obi-Wan stepped inside a room furnished in the comfort of a home that had enjoyed prosperity a long time ago.
Worn furniture that had once been of the finest material dotted the room, interspersed with a few side tables and a couple of lamps.
Obi-Wan removed the hat and bowed. "I am Obi-Wan K..."
"I know. I've been expecting you," she said dismissively.
His glance rested on one wall with pictures. A happy family hung in a holopic on the wall; a young smiling woman, a man with blue eyes and sandy hair, standing proudly with his family. A little blonde haired girl stood next to him, her hand in his and the woman held a baby in her arms.
Obi-Wan's heart stirred with emotion. He stilled himself as he said softly, gazing at the young woman in the picture who looked so much like...
"You're Siri's mother, aren't you?"
The woman nodded, standing next to him and looking at the picture.
"I am Samantha Tachi. Siri is the baby in my arms. This picture was taken two months before she went to the temple."
Mrs. Tachi turned away. She beckoned Obi-Wan to sit as she went to her kitchen in the back. A few minutes later she returned, carrying a tray with a tea service arrangement. She set the tray down and proceeded to pour a cup for Obi-Wan and then one for herself.
"I didn't want her to go. I begged my husband not to do it, but he felt that we would be doing her an injustice not to allow her to be trained in the Jedi arts with her abilities. It broke my heart, but in the end I agreed."
Obi-Wan stared at his tea, troubled. He had never considered before what a sacrifice parents made to give up their children to the Jedi. He thought of his own mother. What did it do to her to let her son go? This was the first time he had ever considered this question, and for the first time he wondered if the temple had been right in taking babies and children from their families. He thought of those dead younglings in the temple. What would their parents say if they knew the fate of their young ones entrusted to the Jedi? What could he say to them?
He looked up from his tea and found her gaze piercing him. He felt ashamed and wanted to look away, but he held her gaze.
"I don't blame you, Master Kenobi. You was her friend. For that I'll be eternally grateful."
Obi-Wan nodded and sipped his tea, and then found his hand trembling a little when she asked the next question.
"Tell me, how did she die?"
He carefully set the cup on the table and folded his arms. "What makes you think she died?" he asked.
Mrs. Tachi shrugged, brushing her bangs away from her eyes.
"Siri told me that if she didn't return after the war, it would mean she had died and that I should expect you to come. When I realized it was you, I knew."
Her piercing gaze returned to Obi-Wan.
"I need to know. How did she die?"
"We..." he gulped, trying not to choke on the words. "We were in a battle, she...she ran into a house where a mother with her children were trapped. She died saving their lives."
Mrs. Tachi sat a little straighter. Obi-Wan could see the tears in her eyes even as her chin lifted and her trembling lips parted in a proud smile.
"She died a hero's death then."
Obi-Wan nodded. "She died a Jedi."
"You were there?"
"I was. I held her as she died. She gave me her crystal." Obi-Wan ran his hand over his eyes, hoping Mrs. Tachi wouldn't notice the emotion he was fighting to hide, but his hand shook as he tried to pick up the cup again. He left it alone.
She sat still, watching him. He felt her scrutiny, and was ready for her rebuke. Why didn't you stop her? Why didn't you save her? The same rebuke he had given himself time and again since her death.
But her next question took him completely by surprise.
"You loved her very much, didn't you?"
Trembling hands or not, he lifted the tea cup and took a drink. He set it down again and said, "Yes."
"I can see that you did. I'm so glad. I never agreed with the Jedi's policy against love and marriage. I always hoped Siri would find love despite the Jedi code."
Mrs. Tachi sipped her tea thoughtfully.
"She loved you too, you know."
Obi-Wan nodded. "I know."
"She would have done anything for you. In fact, she did."
Obi-Wan nodded again, wondering what Mrs. Tachi was getting at. "She told you about me?"
"Oh, she told me everything about you, Master Kenobi." Mrs. Tachi looked at him pointedly.
"Everything."
Obi-Wan blushed.
Changing the subject, he asked, "I mean no disrespect, Mrs, Tachi, but how did she come to be here?"
"She had a need about two years ago. Your Master Yoda gave her the file on how to find me. She spend quite a long time with me."
Stunned, Obi-Wan sat silently, mulling over what he had just heard. Master Yoda gave her the file and let her find her mother? It was unheard of. What need did Siri have that would have caused Yoda to do that?
As if in answer to his question, Mrs. Tachi rose from her seat and went to a desk. She took out a key and unlocked a drawer. From it she drew a holocorder.
"Here, she made this for you. It will explain everything."
Heart suddenly pounding, Obi-Wan took it from her.
"She wanted you to look at it here. Excuse me, I'll leave you alone with it."
With those words, Mrs. Tachi silently left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
Obi-Wan stared at the holocorder, his heart in his throat. Siri had left him a message.
Finally, he gripped the little machine and opened it. A miniature holoimage of Siri popped up on the four dimensional viewer.
Tears stung the corners of Obi-Wan's eyes as he saw his beloved Siri, alive and vibrant on the disc.
"Obi-Wan, my love, if you're seeing this then I'm with the force and you are at my mother's house."
She was sitting on the edge of a bed, dressed in a tunic that was not Jedi. Her hair was pushed behind her ears and her eyes were bright as she "gazed" at him. Obi-Wan soaked in her beauty, heavy with knowledge that this was only a holoimage.
Her hands went up in a gesture of uncertainty.
"I almost don't know where to begin. I have so much to tell you. I guess by now Master Yoda has told you everything about my visions in the cave of Ilum when I was thirteen. I asked him to tell you if everything...if everything I had seen had happened."
"All those things I saw, the temple being attacked, you fighting a saber wielder on a fiery planet, and then later living alone on a desert planet...I guess all that happened. Of course I have no way of knowing for sure, these events are still in the future for me, but if they did happen...Obi-Wan I'm so sorry."
"I hated knowing that you would have to suffer so much, but the visions seemed to impress upon me how important it was that you not know about them in advance, and that you survive the war."
"Why was I shown? I spent years trying to discover why, and also why in the visions I was told that I could be a part of your future if I chose to be. I wondered, how can that be if I'm dead?"
"Recent events are beginning to show me. Our love, for one thing. I firmly believe the future Jedi will not be entrenched in the same code as we were. There needs to be marriage, love, families. I think you and I have proven that we can love and still be Jedi."
"I believe you are to teach future Jedi this lesson."
Siri paused as her fingers twisted the edge of her tunic. Her head dropped for a moment in contemplation, and then lifted again to face the holo-recorder. With a quivering voice she said,
"I love you so much, Obi-wan, and I always will..even if I'm in the force. Do you know how difficult it was sometimes to keep these visions locked away in my mind, even from you when our bond was the strongest? Yet, I knew it had to be this way. Masters Yoda and Adi agreed that your knowing could have changed the course of what apparently must be. You know how Master Yoda is,"
Siri rolled her eyes and grinned. "Always what the force wills. He wouldn't even get the younglings out of the temple because he had visions that their future would be more dangerous if they escaped their fate. He told me that 'uncertain, we are, that the temple will be attacked. Yet, very dark, the future is. Much danger for the younglings there will be, if take them out, we do. Leave their fate in the hands of the force, we will'. "
I wasn't sure I agreed with him, but who can argue with Yoda?"
Obi-Wan paused the holo for a moment and reflected on what Siri had just said.
Yoda, of course, had turned out to be right. Already, dark force sensitive hunters like Malorum were on the loose taking prisoner force sensitive children from all across the galaxy. Children were disappearing into the bowels of the empire, taken forcibly from their parents. What was being done to them made Obi-Wan shudder. When he had been with Ferus they had heard rumors of cruel experiments, that Jenna Zan Arbor had been hired to conduct these experiments. They had heard that the Emperior wanted to build an army of force sensitive warriors, trained in the dark side.
Some of the older children had escaped the experiments and instead had been simply taken into training for battle, but many were being killed outright; those who fought against the cruel treatment or those who hadn't been strong enough to withstand the treatment.
He also knew that if any force sensitives who had been trained in the temple were found they were immediately executed, usually at the hands of Vader. The temple younglings would likely have faced death anyway, but was this a reason to leave them in the temple to face the fate they did? Yoda had known this to be a possibility. Obi-Wan found this out when Yoda had told him everything, but like Siri, he hadn't been sure it had been the right decision, especially when he had observed their dead bodies sprawled over the temple floors.
He and Ferus had discussed trying to rescue the captured children and take them to a safe place. Ferus was still contemplating that when Obi-Wan left him. He had cautioned him to be careful. There will come a time when a true uprising will come, when it will be time to fight the Empire. He felt that young Luke will be a part of that uprising and had been trying to urge Ferus to be patient.
This is why Obi-Wan had exiled himself on Tatooine, to lay low, protect young Luke, watch over him and see that he grows up, able to fight the darkness. Obi-Wan hoped in his budding friendship with Cliegg Lars, that he would eventually be allowed to train him.
He continued the holo and the still image of Siri came to life again.
She stood up and knelt before the holo camera, almost in awe and the radiance that lit her face made her unspeakably beautiful at that moment. Obi-Wan was enraptured.
"Obi-Wan, something happened." There was a quiet sense of awe in Siri's voice.
"Something wonderful. I thought before that the greatest gift I could give to you was to give myself to you. It was the most meaningful thing I could do, and you in turn gave to me. I will always cherish that night, but what I soon realized was that was not the greatest gift."
She smiled then, her eyes shining with a love that set Obi-Wan's heart aflame.
"The greatest gift came later. I needed help. I went to Master Yoda and Master Adi. Master Yoda gave me the files on my history and sent me here, to my mother. Here..."
Obi-Wan leaned forward, eyes fixed on Siri, heart thumping at what she was about to say.
"Here, two months ago, I..."
Obi-Wan felt the door open behind him. Tears pooled in his eyes as he began to guess what she was about to say.
"I gave birth to our beautiful daughter!"
It was then he sensed a new presence in the room, a new, very young force presence that took his breath away. He stared at the holo image of Siri, astounded at what she was saying. It couldn't be true...could it?
"I named her Misi Samantha Kenobi. Obi-Wan, she is so beautiful, and very strong in the force. Mother began calling her Sami, the nickname she had as a child. It grew on me, so thats what I've been calling her."
Siri's image disappeared for a moment, and when she returned she was cuddling an infant in her arms. She gazed lovingly at the small bundle, then back up at the camera.
"Misi means "gift". She's a gift from the force and she is how I am a part of your future."
Siri became serious as she gently rocked the whimpering baby. Tears welled in her eyes.
"If I'm not here, it will be up to you to protect her and train her. Obi-Wan, you must survive, so you can train our daughter and the future Jedi. Yoda said the galaxy will become very dangerous for force sensitive children."
The baby's whimper grew a little more insistent and Obi-Wan swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat.
That was his daughter Siri was holding. More had happened that night than just the consummation of their bond. A new life had begun. His mind reeled, flooding with the sudden realization of fatherhood, the implications...and the danger.
He watched as his beloved Siri, the mother of his child, gaze lovingly at the infant in her arms.
"Oh, Sami, are you hungry?"
Siri shifted and loosened her tunic, exposing herself. She grinned into the holocarmera. "Nothing you haven't seen before." She nestled her baby to her breast and his daughter latched onto Siri and began to feed, making contented baby grunts and suckling sounds as she clutched Siri's tunic in her little fist.
This simple act of pure motherhood by a woman who had always been a dedicated Jedi, who had only let her guard down the few times they were alone together, who had loved him and who he had loved all his life, caused Obi-Wan to gulp back a choking sob.
It made him wonder why she didn't tell him! Why wasn't he there for her?
As if hearing him, Siri looked up. "I know you, Obi-Wan, and right now you're wishing you could have been here. I wish it too. And I know you're wondering why I didn't tell you about this before. Well, if everything happened as I saw it in my visions, then you should understand. You had a war to finish, I didn't want Sami going to the temple and you didn't need the distraction. I decided to leave her here with Mother and leave a message in my crystal. I had it altered so that I could. I'm confident that at the right time you will find it."
"I will leave a holo image of you with mother and for Sami to look at so they will know you. Sami is very strong in the force, I'm sure she will recognize her father when she sees you."
She rocked the infant gently as Sami suckled. Siri gazed down at her daughter and gently kissed the top of her head.
"I love you, Sami, and I love your Daddy." She looked up, tears in her eyes again, her voice breaking with emotion.
"I am a part of your future Obi-Wan, through Sami. She is part of the future Jedi. Protect her. Train her well."
"I'm counting on you, my love."
The holoimage faded. Obi-Wan was struck by the same words having been spoken a couple years ago after Siri had died, when she had appeared to him in a dream. He wiped his hands across his eyes and felt the moisture on his cheeks.
He felt again the strong force presence in the room. He turned to find Mrs. Tachi standing in the doorway,a little girl nestled in her arms. She looked to be about two years old. She had apparently just awakened from a nap. Her head rested against her grandmother's chest and her sleepy wide blue/gray eyes stared with wonder at the man standing before her. Her curly blonde hair framed a cherubic face, and Obi-Wan approached her slowly, struck by how much like Siri she looked.
The child lifted her head from her grandmother and whispered in an awestruck little voice, recognition lighting her eyes.
"Da-Da?"
Choking a gasp, Obi-Wan nodded and reached for her. She reached back, leaning out of her grandmother's arms. Obi-Wan caught her in his arms and closed them around her, holding her tightly and burying his face in her hair, he let his tears fall.
After a moment he lifted his face to Mrs. Tachi.
"Thank you for caring for her."
"She's my granddaughter, Master Kenobi."
The warmth of his little daughter as she nestled in his arms and contentedly rested her head on his shoulder felt so natural. The immediate bond he felt with her filled him, he felt not only his daughter, but also Siri and the empty place in his heart began finally to heal.
Obi-Wan considered carefully his next words.
"Mrs. Tachi, I do hope you realize I have to take her back with me, to where I am living."
He sensed her stiffen, but felt he needed to continue.
"She's my daughter, Siri wants me to protect her and train her and it's too dangerous for her here. There are men hired by the Emperor to look for force sensitive children. Where I am living she will be safe."
Mrs Tachi stiffly nodded. 'I understand, Master Kenobi. Siri warned me to be careful when taking her out. She told me things might be more dangerous for her. It's a lot to put on an old woman having to be so careful, but she is my granddaughter and she is all I have left. I lost my husband in the war, my other daughter, Siri's older sister, was killed years ago in a speeder accident, and now Siri is dead. Sami is all I have left."
Compassion stirred within Obi-Wan. Here was a woman who, like him, had lost everyone she had loved and now here he was, taking away her only remaining family.
Before he could answer, Mrs. Tachi cleared her throat and his attention went back to her.
"And since you are also the only family I have left as virtually my son-in-law, I have the obvious solution."
Lifting her chin, her sharp eyes daring him to disagree, she stated,
"I am coming with you."
TBC
