[Previously: Confronting alternate versions of him and Olana on Ilum, Obi-wan agreed that Adam from Earth would deal with their Earth obligations, leaving Obi-wan to care for those he loves in his new life. Adam departed.]

"These are our future selves," Olana said. "What do you think they're supposed to teach us?"

"The logical answer," I mused, "is that just as our past selves were here to help me let go of outdated ideas of the past, these two could help us with outdated ideas of the future."

"Or the opposite," Chion said. "What if the idea is to choose the future over the past? To embrace some element of us that you are in danger of losing?"

Ben nodded. "Obi-wan defines himself in opposition to what he remembers of me. Doing the right thing, where he sees me as having made mistakes. Perhaps changing more than he should?"

"I think," Olana said, "that since returning from Naboo and sharing his Visions with the Council, he's doing less of this than he used to. The Jedi Masters are working more closely with him and have a mitigating influence."

Chion pinned the girl with her gaze. "The Obi-wan that I knew, would never have permitted me to open a Sith holocron, much less study it unsupervised."

Olana stiffened, closing her posture in defense. "How can you be sure? The Obi-wan that you knew, abandoned you before you reached my age."

The older woman smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. "It certainly seemed that way when I was a youngling. My perspective is broader now." Her eyes hardened more, and she took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Quit your infatuation with him, Olana. It didn't help me, and I am certain it won't help you."

I could feel trickles of escaped heat from my Padawan's mind as her eyes narrowed, teeth clenched. Retreating further into my own center, I allowed my own knee-jerk defensiveness to swirl around me without finding purchase. The Jedi general squared her shoulders, ready to endure the backlash from her statement.

"Let her be." The words were clear but soft, spoken, not by me, but by the old man whose hand gently grasped Chion's shoulder. It was only when he continued that I realized he was talking to Chion, not us. "I did abandon you, Olana. So consumed was I with the death of my Master, with raising Anakin, that I gave attention to nothing else."

Behind the two of them, Olana and I saw the mist retract to showcase several forms in the background. I recognized Siri, Padme, and Quinlan among others - people that I had once considered close friends, or more. In the foreground, the young Obi-wan followed behind Anakin as he stalked confidently, growing in seconds from small boy to arrogant young man.

Looking on, more distinct than the other background faces, the misty image of young Olana let her face fall. She wept silently.

"You were hurt," Ben continued, and Chion turned to see the tableau. "And it changed the heart of the Knight that you were to become."

"For the better!" she insisted. "Certainly you can see that. It was a hard lesson, but in learning how attachment leads to pain, I overcame my weaknesses. I served the Republic when it needed me most, just as you did!"

A fully grown Olana lept from the misty form of the girl, her drawn weapon dispersing the rest of the shapes as she moved to center stage. A busy scene erupted around her, battle droids firing into an entrenched position where a small contingent of soldiers in white armor fired back.

General Chion reached down with one hand to a wounded soldier, his wounds closing rapidly even as she deflected small arms fire with her raised hand. Once the man was back on his feet, she signaled her artilleryman, who lobbed an incendiary in the direction of the droids.

The momentary lull in fire was enough. The Jedi bowed her head, and every one of her eleven men laid a hand on her head or shoulders. A moment later they released as one, and twelve humans with glowing blue eyes charged into the mass of droids in a blur of perfectly timed attacks.

"Battle meditation?" I watched in surprise. "Augmenting your entire unit with Force speed? This really happened?"

"It was her speciality," Ben said, admiration clear in his voice. "Those men were personally loyal to her, and she could use them in battle like an extension of herself. She should have been named a Master."

"It didn't matter. Doesn't, won't, whatever. The point was, we held our own. No flashy missions to disable a superweapon or rescue a princess. Just boots on the ground, guns out, hold the line, defend the position." She lifted her chin. "And we did it."

"Yes, you did," Ben agreed.

"Master?" my Olana addressed me quietly.. "You seem surprised by what you are seeing. Weren't these scenes part of your Visions?"

"... no," I answered. "I'm quite certain they were not. Olana's role in the Clone Wars, her powers as a Knight, weren't part of my Visions."

Olana's questions matched my own thoughts: "Then how are we seeing them? Is the Temple not drawing from our minds?"

I looked with new suspicion at the mists, and the two Jedi in front of us. "I don't know."

Chion's attention was on Ben. "When you condemn what you did, you devalue what I have become."

"To the contrary," the old Master insisted. "I am proud of what you became. But I mourn what I lost, in not being a part of it." He turned to us, and the two of them regarded their younger counterparts coolly.

"So you would condemn her - me - to this doomed attachment, in service of an unknown destiny."

"She'll outgrow the infatuation in time," Ben started.

Olana, her face red, interjected. "There is no infatuation! I just recognize how special Obi-wan is."

"As you say," Ben conceded. "In time, you will learn to detach yourself from emotional connection, and instead understand the deep bond of friendship and service that characterizes the very best partnerships in the Order."

"She will be loyal to him, rather than the Order," Chion insisted. "This is madness. A path to the Dark Side."

"She will be true to herself," Ben countered. "A path to enlightenment, compassion, and strength in the Force."

They looked at us expectantly. I turned to Olana, and she shrugged back.

"What?" I finally asked the two, as they continued to look at us.

"Which do you choose?" Chion asked.

"How do you intend to go on?" Ben asked.

"However we want," I said simply. "There is no reason to commit ourselves now, is there?" I directed this to my Padawan.

"We don't owe you an answer," Olana said. "You each accomplished great deeds, in your time. But that world is gone now. We will not be you." She smiled at me, and extended a hand. I took it. "We'll figure this next part out ourselves. My Master and I."

"Good answer," I told her, and we turned to watch the fading forms of our older selves as the mists swirled.

A moment later, the mists cleared… and while Chion was gone, the grey form of Ben remained. "I thought that would be it," I admitted, as much to myself as him. "Do we know what happens if this is not resolved in one night? Can we try again?"

"I don't think so," Olana said. "I know there aren't second chances for the Gathering, at least not in the same year. But that might be a rule of the Jedi rather than something from the Temple itself."

"Revelations cannot be forced," Ben insisted. "The young Knight will learn what he will learn, and no more."

I stood to face the old man directly. "What is it, Master, that you believe I need to learn?"

His gaze returning mine was placid. "Had I thought that simply saying it would teach you, my boy, I would have already done so. Suffice it to say… you are not me. Are you?"

I didn't know how he wanted me to answer. I felt a glimmer of… something… as I continued to match his eyes, my cold stare for his sanguine one.

"Ah, Master, I…" Olana said. "I sense something strange. Do you not?"

I extended my senses outward, even as I forced my core mind inward, aware of my environment while unaffected by it. The glimmering energy of Ilum pulsed, in time with the peaceful mind of the man in front of me. "Nothing, just us here," I said honestly. "Your shielding is still excellent."

But even as I said it, I started to feel a glimmer of distress peak around the edges of that very shield. Olana's mind was probing against Ben's, and… wait.

My eyes hadn't left the aging form of Obi-wan Kenobi, and they caught it when his face twitched in the very edge of a smile. I asked, "I couldn't sense your mind before, but I do now. What changed?"

"The difference between you and me, young Knight," he continued, ignoring my question and standing slowly, heavy with age, "is that I was truly a Jedi. You simply wear the mask of one."

I felt his mind shift, turn aggressive, even as the mists swirled and began showing scenes I would have been far more happy not to see. I backed up, keeping Olana behind me, and I drew my lightsaber even as I saw the old man advance.

The scenes that swirled were echoes, moments in time that repeated in haphazard sequence. A blaster shot as Newt Gunray slumped forward onto the table, a sizzle as Watto's face melted. A nameless Rhodian cut in half; a woman's arm removed; a ship destroyed. Screams, blasts, whispers of last gasps.

As the scenes surrounded us, I saw Obi-wan transform in front of me. His Jedi robes were replaced with cortosis armor, overlaying practical leather. He had a data band over his forehead and across one scarred eye, a bracer covering his left forearm. He wore a rifle holster over his back and a bandoleer with multiple grenades. His lightsaber holster split; in one hand an orange light-whip writhed like a living creature, while in the other a blade black as night hummed a higher pitch.

My own blue blade seemed anemic in comparison to what I saw before me, and this Obi-wan's gaze was not open or understanding as before. It was hard now, the gaze of a man who looked upon the world and judged it, then acted swiftly on what he saw. He flicked the whip out contemptuously, once, twice, and I batted it away with effort both times.

This man turned and looked into the mists, and we watched as the scenes changed. A thermal detonator eliminated much Senate corruption in a single strike. Assassinations saw heads of corporations replaced with their more reasonable subordinates. An ever-growing network of powerful people answered to me, or were as easy as anyone else to dispose of. Both money and personnel were always in abundance to pursue those projects best able to help the most people. All was for the greater good.

"The Sith is unknown," the man explained. He struck out lazily with what I recognized as the Darksaber, and I simply backed away. "So why be selective? Put yourself in a position to defeat anyone. Build an army, an arsenal, a grand strategy to destroy the Empire whenever and wherever it emerges."

"This," I looked him up and down, "is what you think I'm becoming, Ben? Some Dark Jedi villain? A Sith knock-off?"

"Master?" Olana asked, and so I turned to her. "Is any of this real? You… killed those people?"

I shook my head. "No, they're… he's… showing things I might do, I guess. In the future"

"But… that was the Viceroy, right? From Nemoidia? Didn't he already die? Did you…?"

"We sure did!" The old man had my cadence of speech, no trace of the dulcet tones of the older Obi-wan. "Pulled our blaster within a minute of them sitting down at the table. One, two, three shots, three corpses. Then the droid." He turned to me with a smile on his face. "Did he tell you about Watto?"

"What, the slaver who owned Annie?" Olana frowned. "What happened to Watto?"

"He sent men to kill us and take Anakin back," I jumped in, before the man could say worse. "So I killed him."

"And liquidated his assets. Great move, that! We ended up, what, about two hundred grand in the black?" He nodded approvingly.

"Master?" Olana's question was plaintive.

"I have killed quite a few people," I said in monotone. "We can go through a full breakdown later, Olana - I'm not meaning to keep secrets from you. But those scenes of terrorism… the Senate bombing, me turning into some sort of mob boss… those never happened."

"Yet," the man nodded. "They haven't happened yet, young Knight. But we're getting there." I sensed him before he moved and stepped forward into a pivoting guard to take his saber hit before deflecting the whip. He was still moving lazily, and I didn't notice the long end of the whip having snaked around behind my guard… until it was bounced away by my Padawan's presence spinning to my back.

"Obi-wan had every opportunity," Olana pointed out, "to manipulate the Clone Army to his own ends. Instead, he brought in Jedi Masters. And he's shared his Visions with the Council."

"Our Visions," the man agreed, "But not our plans. Not our work with Annie, or the new tech we're developing, or the lost secrets we mean to recover. Not even told you all that, have we?"

I saw Olana's sudden hurt glance in my direction, but she quickly smoothed it over. "He tells me what I need to know. I continue to earn his trust," she said simply.

The man backed away again, and I watched as he holstered his blades, pulling his rifle from his pack. "I've never been much of a healer," he pointed out, "but it turns out that masking illusions fit in well with mind techniques."

I almost fell to my knees as the slicing pain returned to my shoulder. Apparently the "kind old man's" earlier healing was all part of the illusion. I steeled myself for his next assault, bolstered by Olana's presence beside me.

The rapid plasma fire overwhelmed us in a second. Olana's crumpling form was my last sight before I too hit the ground unconscious.

I awoke laying on a cot tucked thick with downy blankets. Across the room, Olana lay on another such cot, sound asleep. The room was comfortably warm, and I neither saw nor felt any injuries. The sensation of the hot plasma bolts ripping through my chest was still fresh in my mind.

"Back to sleep, Obi-wan," Master Selbek insisted from his corner chair. "It's barely been two hours. You need half the morning's rest, at least."

"That experience created more questions than it answered," I sat up. "How did -"

"Sleep first," Myren insisted, tucking me back in as though I were a youngling. "Answers when you awaken." I fell into a more restful sleep than I had in days.