Chapter Title: Magic Rocks

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

Ages in this chapter: Tanner (13) Dashen (19)

POV: Dashen

Chapter Summary: The boys visit Ben Kenobi and talk about rocks.


"Qui-Gon was fond of giving me rocks."

I choked on my food. Was he joking? It was tough to tell with Ben sometimes. Tanner giggled, so maybe it was meant to be funny.

"Rocks." I said flatly. "That's different. The giggler here," I nudged my brother, "He only wants those smelly old paper books."

"Hey! I like those smelly old paper books." Tanner, trying to defend himself.

"Qui-Gon was fond of those as well. For himself. I lost track of how many out-of-the-way places we stopped on our way home from missions just to visit one of those shops that were invisible to the average traveler, but that he never missed. Qui-Gon had a strange sense of knowing where these places were even if he'd never visited before."

Figured as much. Tanner's shopkeeper pal in Kaolin owned one of those invisible places. We'd found out last year that Qui-Gon had visited Dec's shop on more than one occasion, often with Ben - then an apprentice - in tow.

"Your friend's place on Terra, we visited a few times. Even helped him out of some trouble one time. A good man, Dec'lar Bin."

Dec was certainly that and Tanner absolutely loved him. But I wanted to know more.

"So, you got rocks for gifts, you say? Did your master just pick random rocks off the ground or did they have weird magic that sucked him in?"

Ben smirked at me with a look that said I wasn't off by much on both counts.

"The very first he gave to me, I was thirteen and well... it was a rock."

"Just a rock."

"Just a rock." He agreed initially, then, "Until it wasn't. It actually saved my life when I was young."

I blinked at him. "A rock saved your life."

"Long story that we will not delve into. That was the only special rock I received. After that, yes, he mostly just picked various rocks and handed them to me with some excuse that they were stunningly beautiful in their own way. An annoying internal joke." Ben smiled gently at the memory. "Qui-Gon's wit was subtle but it was there."

To my left, Tanner shifted, noticing something. A look, a glance, a feeling. No idea. Weird Jedi magic stuff. "You still have it," he said to Ben. "That first rock. From when your were thirteen. That was your gift. The one I heard about that Master's give to their apprentice at that specific age."

Ben nodded. "I do still have it. It's one of the few things I was able to save to bring here with me, mostly because I often carried it in my utility belt."

I blinked again. Hard. "You carried a rock around with you everyday?"

The older Jedi looked at me. "It's not so hard to believe, Dashen. You

keep things close to you in one way or another. For me, that rock was a connection to my past and when the galaxy was falling apart around me, it could occasionally offer me peace. You've had enough difficult times in your life. You know. You understand. I'm sure you have something of your brother's - Kossi - that you lean on periodically."

Sure, he was right. I had several things of Kossi's. Most prominent was a small piece of cloth from his favorite blanket. I didn't carry it with me, but it was close to me at home and like Ben, it did offer comfort.

"I guess I should stop harping on you about special rocks, huh?"

Ben grinned, his tired blue eyes brightening just a bit. "Probably."

"Master Ayden gave me a wood-stone when he took me as an apprentice." Tanner said, coming to sit closer to Ben. "It's brown, plain, smooth. It was from his brother. I gave it to Dashen when he took me in."

"Wood-stones are surrounded by the Force. Very rare. Very special. Most are passed down from generations."

Great, I had a priceless generational stone in my possession back home. Tanner had told me that it carried magic around it, but he couldn't remember the story other than what he'd just told Ben. By the second, my life got weirder and weirder.

"In fact," Ben said suddenly as he stood and walked toward a wooden chest at the back of the room. "Here. This." There was a rock in his hand now. Small. Ugly green. Smooth. Plain. One of those wood-stones. "I don't know the story behind this and it wasn't given to me. I found it on one of my later missions with Qui-Gon. He found beauty in everything and on a constant basis, I suppose a bit of that did rub off on me. It's quite ugly, isn't it?"

Ben set the stone into Tanner's eager hand. My brother palmed it, then took his other hand and cradled the stone like it was the most precious thing in the galaxy.

"I feel it, Ben. It's not strong, but it's there, floating. Warm. Just like the one I gave Dash."

"It recognizes you."

It... wait, what? Okay. There was no way a rock could recognize...

"And, Dashen, before you begin, it is not recognition in the way you think. If you really want to know, I can explain. Though it will be exceedingly boring and long winded and..."

I held a hand up. "Nope. Don't need to know. You Jedi are horribly tedious with explanations. It's a warm magical rock. I'm good with that."

Tanner gave me a look and came to sit next to me, taking my hand and setting it on top of the stone. Warm. Yup. Just like the one he gave me a few years back, though without the sad story behind it.

"I want you to keep that, Tannerlin." Ben said to him.

"Really?"

"Yes. It deserves a good home, someone who will appreciate and care for it."

I sighed. We were still talking about a rock, right?

"I will, Ben, thank you!"

Time for hugs. Tanner bounded back to Ben, arms around his neck and hugged him tight. Ben closed his eyes, soaking in the warmth. He was a man far too removed and isolated from human contact. Tanner knew that. Probably felt it. Not to mention the kid loved to hug. That combination and I saw Ben sink deeply into the embrace, almost as if he was holding onto it for dear life.

Perhaps he was.

We'd come to Tatooine for a visit. We left with a magic rock and contented smile on the face of our desert-dwelling Jedi friend. It wouldn't last. Ben's smile. Ben's life was impossibly difficult here. His past, more so. But for a moment at least - a very small moment - all of that fell away and this man who had been through tragedies we could only imagine, felt only love and affection.

Magic rocks or not,Tanner had that affect on people. The kid may have the most boring hobbies in the galaxy, but he's a damn good person and he cares when no one else does.

For Ben, during our brief Tatooine visits, that meant the world.


END