STAR WARS

OBI-WAN'S DREAM

by SuperMudz

The memories came back to him in the night, they had been chasing him lately, despite what he could do with meditation and techniques with the Force to stave them off.

His master was tired – that must have been it. A moment's distraction… Darth Maul had been well trained, an assassin, his techniques were designed to confuse, to batter down a Jedi's guard. He had been prepared to fight Jedi – he and his master had already been fighting a war. But a Jedi was always ready.

They had to take him together, he knew that. But the force-field cut him off – a tingle of precognition had warned him just before it came down, just when he knew it would – and he had to wait and watch while his master battled the evil creature.

He could see his master studying Maul, looking for a weakness. But then Maul attacked all at once, and got through his guard for a moment – with his double-ended blade, the follow up was so swift there was no defense. He had found his opening. And Qui-Gon fell right there, pierced through.

Obi-Wan remembered the rage that had built up inside him. And he knew what he must do. What he was going to do. No time for meditative searching and feinting – he had had the precious seconds and time to study his opponent, enough to be certain of what he was going to do now. But if he was being honest, all his thought was in the tension in his body, the fire in his spirit – there were no conscious thoughts, he was beyond that. As he was one with the Force, action and plan were tied together as one – his mind on what he knew had to happen, beyond the immediacy of the moment. When he did think, it was brief.

Give him no opening. Keep him on the defense – batter through his guard the way he did Qui-Gon's.

Even so, he had nearly fallen as well. That last moment had been like a ray of light out of nowhere. Rescued himself out of a fall to his death, switching places with his opponent in one brief second. And his opponent knew the moment his master faced – Obi-Wan saw it in his eyes.

He admitted the satisfaction he had felt, repaying that demon for his deeds. He wondered if Qui-Gon would have chided him, or told him he used it well. Victory for a moment, and then only grief. He saw all in the last moments in his master's dying eyes. He had loved his master – and now it seemed the burden of a master truly was his.

In more ways than one.

After such a long war, he did what all soldiers did, and came home. To a remote, hidden place on Tatooine, where the newly forged Galactic Empire would never find him. He knew, somehow, that this was the last remaining hope of the galaxy. Someone had to remember, had to survive – and when the time came, if there was need for the Jedi – there would be Jedi again. He didn't know if the time would ever come – but he would live to see it either way.

But he was not idle. Although the Jedi were supposed to be no more – yet, there was work to be done. To live idly was not his way. The war was over, but the grief and anguish of the Empire's new tyranny had just begun.

The Senate had taken to it so well, the fools. They would be the first to suffer, as they saw the power they longed for slip through their fingers into the Emperor's grasping hands. Palpatine, exposed as a Sith Lord at last, now had the most powerful force in the galaxy at his hands – and they would be searching the galaxy for any remaining Jedi who could threaten his rule.

Obi-Wan decided to be cautious. He had to think long-term now, and throw away no chance.

Hope was growing in the two youths Padme had birthed – when they became of age, perhaps their destiny would show itself, and perhaps that would be the time.

In the mean-time, Obi-Wan would hold onto their legacy – wait for this new generation, and survive the Empire until then. He would wait and see as the Force willed. He knew the call when he heard it, and right now, it cautioned for peace. A great wave was poised on the galaxy, and he needed to remain on high ground while it crashed.

Even Yoda had. Retreated to an ancient unknown world the stormtroopers would never find him, even if they tried. No doubt Darth Sidious, for that was the name and cloak Palpatine had chosen for himself, was bitterly aggravated that the Jedi Master yet lived. Many had perished, and although he had failed to slay the dark Emperor, still Yoda waited as well, it seemed. And Obi-Wan would follow that example.

The universe itself would choose when and what time was right.

He dreamed of the future sometimes, and sometimes it was a dream of the Republic, and the Jedi Order, which he had loved and defended. But it was uncertain and changed often. He often believed that Luke and Leia, the twins that Padme birthed, would be the hope of the future. And so he had placed himself on Tatooine nearby, to be there when Luke grew up, if he chose to follow the way of his father and become a Jedi – and perhaps become the Jedi his father should have been. And other times, in the dream they passed unremarkably, and the future was empty and threadbare – the darkness of the Empire become absolute. He knew that he himself could not, dare not attempt to steer things himself. He was just a man, and his limits were more like to interfere with the will of the Force than bring it about. Something Anakin had trouble accepting, he believed.

Only time would tell what was true.

Spurred by the dream, his vision – one even Yoda had not been able to advise him on, he had wandered – the galaxy, the desert, in secret and quickly. And came here at last, returning to Tatooine. He had chuckled a little, bemused at how fitting a place to lose oneself in – but that was the point. Now was the time for quickly pursuing the threads before they disappeared – all was fleeing, everything was finding safety. The universe itself could feel the growing darkness, and was responding to it. The dark things would grow, and so the things it threatened would conceal themselves, until one came who could unite them, lead them, protect and fight for them.

The Chosen One… the phrase resounded in his mind. Had they all been fooled by a deception greater than all the Jedi Order? Was it possible?

He breathed, and wept for a moment. The sleeve of his durable robe damp as he wiped it away. So many thoughts, memories, good things, passed through his mind and were gone – lost – lost with the Republic. It had fallen. And even a Jedi's heart could break. He was the last – almost the last.

Once, he had been a youth, and the galaxy seemed bright with the dreams of the Jedi. But now it seemed the dream was his alone, forgotten by all else – but yet he recognised and believed in the Force. No matter how he felt, he would follow that, and hope for his heart to heal with time.

He sighed, and sat with his lightsaber upon his knees. He was not yet old, but felt so ahead of time. So recently he had called upon it to sever the legs of the once-apprentice he had called Anakin and brother. And left him to burn in the lava. It had shattered his heart, but it was the duty of a Jedi.

But after that, he knew his time was over. One could not take a life, strike down a loved one, and pay nothing for it. And for him, it was the final price.

Perhaps not entirely over, but the galaxy had changed, and there was no longer a place for the Jedi to roam free as they did before. And so now, he was a steward of the Jedi religion, he would remain so it would remain alive somewhere, to be fanned anew if ever the call went out again.

Grief was an odd thing. Sometimes it was like an enemy, that struck at you in unexpected ways. Sometimes you tried to stave it off, because you hated it, and hated to surrender. And so it lurked, and you fought it, and you grew tired – and it lived with you like a companion, because neither could leave the other. A Jedi was meant to outgrow such things, to challenge, draw out and resolve them – but he found he could not. This grief was too large. It would be his new companion, as much as the dark side was companion of the light. He knew and understood this with the instinct and wisdom of a Jedi.

The dream haunted him. He felt that it was not yet over, and that he would continue his search for answers – but the firm duty of a Jedi came first, and so he continued to meditate on it, while he obeyed the will of the Force itself. Now more than ever, it was important to be sensitive, to listen to the Force – he remembered and dwelled on all the lessons Master Qui-Gon had taught him, he would need everything he could.

What would he forget? He would try to remember. There was no-one else. Everything he had, was now in his speeder, which he would not need very often now. There were things to be done yet, perhaps – one could not know from one day to the next - but for the moment, his mind was concerned with the larger will of the Force. The future yet unknown.

He sighed. His foot stirred the hot sand briefly, and he knew this planet would be his place for a long time. His name was Obi-Wan, but one day he would be known as Ben. Would he be remembered as the last of the Jedi? Would the Jedi be remembered? He did not know.

But he was prepared.

He put away the lightsaber, and walked inside the sand dwelling – his new home.

(*)

He woke early next morning. He got a drink of water. He had to remember how hot and dry this world was. Something had woken him, he knew that instantly. But what? What on this empty, blasted world would have triggered his alertness?

He walked outside, following the subtle impulse. For hours he followed it, the faint certainty not abating.

And then he found it. A small family. Nothing dark was occurring. They were simply having a meal, enjoying each other's company. One had brought back sweet-fruit for the others. The youngest was still too young to understand the Jedi who stood outside and waved at him.

Ah. There was something. Their well had plugged up. Simple enough. With a wave of his hand, the plug unseated and released the flow again. The water would filter cleanly now – otherwise it could have built up a sour detritus and become sickening to the family if they did not see it.

Obi-Wan disappeared before the others noticed. His sense detected it, for certain, but it was a benign thing, that's why it was so odd. His small interference had been enough. But perhaps the true purpose was to observe it. To see… balance.

He smiled. Sometimes the will of the Force was mysterious. Perhaps that was the lesson. In the middle of the galaxy being shaken to its core, such a simple miracle was still a miracle of the Force. Perhaps the Force was still reminding him of the truth of what mattered. Emotions and material things ebbed and flowed, but the truth remained all-powerful. One day, the soldiers that walked the galaxy was a Republic army who worked and fought for peace and freedom; the next, tyrannical stormtroopers who were putting the peaceful citizenry of the galaxy underneath crushing boot. The very same ones he had fought alongside.

He felt the deep and painful irony all the way deep into his bones, and this above all had told him that the time of the Jedi had passed. Not he, nor Yoda, could defeat the Emperor and all his allies now. It was not their time.

But the Force had a time and a will of its own. Patience above all was what was required.

THE END