KEYnote: Events in this story are a bit different in timeline from the movie because Padme is able to get back to Naboo faster. She arrives before Maul can.
Thank you, Sectumus Prince! Read their work :D
Chapter 2 - A Purpose
Obi-Wan was staring at the ship he and his Master had escaped once but was now pulling them in with a tractor beam.
He took in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and said, "We can make this work."
"How?" Sabe asked. "This is a disaster!"
Padme met his gaze and he knew they were on the same wavelength.
Sabe looked between them. "No. I know what you are both thinking, and the answer is no."
"Getting the Gungans on our side was never a given," Padme said. "If we can simply negotiate—"
"We have nothing to negotiate!" Sabe exclaimed.
"Unless we rig the ship and threaten to blow," Obi-Wan suggested. "I know the general layout."
"No." This came from the Captain. "We aren't doing that."
"Not your ship. Their ship," Obi-Wan said, pointing out the window as they were drawn closer.
"We are going to be on that ship," the Captain said with a frown.
"Can you erase us from your records?" Padme asked. "It will take us at least an hour to get set before we can even threaten to blow them up."
Actually, it would take Obi-Wan more like fifteen minutes, but they didn't need to know that. Instead, he said, "If you don't press the urgency of going to Naboo and allow yourselves to be redirected, they will let you go sooner."
The bearded captain rubbed his potbelly in thought, then nodded, pulling out his datapad. "There's no helping it now, I suppose. I'll send a message to you when we're departing."
"Will you delete us from your records?" Padme asked.
The Captain nodded. "Aye, I don't want no trouble. Further trouble, that is. But you pay me now."
Obi-Wan passed over the credits.
He ignored Sabe's outraged glare.
In the time remaining, Obi-Wan set up their coms to have light codes for their purposes.
"You're really going to let me handle the first introduction?" Padme asked as the three of them hid in the closest by the hatch.
Obi-Wan nodded. "I've been in worse scrapes than this when I was fourteen. But be careful, their droids can easily outnumber you."
Padme nodded.
The hatch lowered.
Obi-Wan counted the footsteps of the droids. Knowing how lax the security was, once the droids turned the corner to meet with the Captain, he directed the two royals out.
Thankfully, they had been parked near the wall. Obi-Wan directed them toward the open port, using the Force to lift them as they reached it. He followed with a jump of his own. Then he closed his eyes, searching the Force for the living presences on this shuttle, and found that there were few.
He pointed in one direction. "That way. Be careful. Don't reveal yourselves unless you're certain you won't be fired on. I'll join you as soon as I can."
"I can't believe you brought explosives with you," Sabe whispered.
He shook his head. "I didn't, but I know the basics of mechanics, and learning how to destroy things is easier than fixing it."
She frowned at him, but Padme tapped her on the shoulder, and the two girls went crawling through the metal shafts. Both were good at not making too much noise.
Obi-Wan went in the opposite direction as quickly as he could. If Padme or Sabe died, it would be entirely his fault.
And yet, even though the odds were against him, he couldn't help but feel that the Force was with them.
Padme cursed silently as she glared down at Nute Gunray.
There were too many droids for them to attempt an ambush. He and Rune Haako, his second-in-command, were discussing the ship they had just let go.
"The timing is suspicious," Haako noted.
"They allowed themselves to be redirected," Gunray said. "I wouldn't worry—"
A transmission alert sounded, and Haako answered.
A black-cloaked figure appeared.
-Report, the figure said.
Gunray inclined his head. "Darth Maul, an honour—"
-Report, Darth Maul growled.
"No change," Gunray said shortly.
-Queen Amidala and a Jedi Padawan have escaped Coruscant.
Padme and Sabe exchanged a look. 'Escape' was an odd choice of word.
"On what ship?" Gunray asked.
-Unknown, Darth Maul said. -We only know that it wasn't a Jedi transport.
"We will stay on alert," Gunray said.
The transmission cut.
"Lying to the Sith is not wise, my Lord," Haako remarked.
"We let that transport go, I want a full check of our ship," Gunray said, ignoring him.
Padme fought not to jump when someone touched her foot. She glanced back to see Obi-Wan, and she scooted over so he could join them at the vent. In the small space, their bodies pressed together, and she flushed.
Sabe glared at her and Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan had his mind on bigger things, however. He mouthed, Darth Maul?
Sabe nodded.
He pulled a tool from his belt, pressing closer to Padme in the process, making more heat rise to her face.
Beneath his robes, she suspected he was all muscle.
Obi-Wan used the tool to unscrew the bolts holding the vent closed. The tool was remarkably quiet.
Sabe quietly pulled the vent closer to her, and Obi-Wan slipped through the opening, head-first. He ignited his lightsaber as he fell, and cut down the droids that didn't have time to raise their shields. With as many droids as she had thought there had been, the fight was over quickly.
Sabe was the first one out, twisting around to drop feet-first, proving that her training outstripped Padme's. Which made sense, seeing as Sabe didn't actually have to solve all the political problems.
Padme tried to follow after, but she almost fell. Obi-Wan caught her around her waist, steadying her. Pressed against his chest, she vowed she would take her training with her handmaidens more seriously.
Sabe already had her blaster pointed at Gunray when Padme raised her own.
Gunray shook his head, his tone amused. "There is nothing you can do, Your Highness, that will get us to remove the blockade and end the siege. Even killing us would not help you."
Obi-Wan raised his communicator. "How about blowing up your ship?"
"You wouldn't dare!" Haako exclaimed.
Gunray narrowed his eyes. "That is a communicator. You're bluffing."
Obi-Wan shrugged. "Your actions are causing the deaths of thousands. If this ship is destroyed, the blockade will fall apart."
"Go ahead," Sabe taunted, her smile vicious. "Call our bluff."
Gunray tilted his head from side to side, then said, "Very well, then. Blow up the ship, and you will die with us."
Obi-Wan nodded sagely, then pressed down on the communicator.
The ship shook and alarms sounded as the ship started to explode. They could see the resulting chain reaction through the windows.
Apparently, the Jedi hadn't been kidding about being able to rig an explosion.
Sabe waited for Gunray and Haako to turn toward their escape before shooting them both, one after the other.
"Was that necessary?" Padme asked exasperatedly.
"Yes," Sabe said. "Now, only our words can be taken in on these events."
"Isn't that a bad thing?" Padme asked as Obi-Wan ran ahead to activate the escape pods.
Sabe took her hand as the ship rocked violently, and they climbed into the pod together. It was a tight fit, but Obi-Wan got the pod pointed in the right direction.
"No, it's not a bad thing," Sabe said. "They died in an explosion while trying to starve our people."
"Thank you," Obi-Wan said as they were jetted forward by the explosion of the ship behind them, slipping through the failing shields.
"For what?" Padme asked.
He looked back at her, the blue of his eyes catching her breath.
"For waiting for me. I know how hard patience can be in tight circumstances such as these."
Padme shook her head. "No, thank you, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, for helping us, despite what it might have cost you personally."
He smiled at her. "It was my honour, Queen Padme Amidala."
When they landed and reconnected with her minister and advisors, they were greeted as heroes.
But she could never know how much saving her people, doing the right thing, could have cost the man who had saved them all.
Obi-Wan couldn't stop smiling at the joy that rang in the Force as the parade marched through the beautiful streets of Naboo.
Against all odds, the three of them had saved the planet.
The Queen looked radiant in her relief and joy for her people's freedom.
Obi-Wan had met very few politicians so earnest in their care for their people; only Viceroy Bail Organa of Alderaan and his wife, Queen Breha Organa, could compare.
"Hey, kid, I suppose your being suggested for Knighthood was well earned," a familiar voice greeted him.
Obi-Wan turned with a grin to meet his friend's smile. Quinlan Vos was a large man with dreadlocks, and a gold stripe over his nose. Older than Obi-Wan, Quinlan already had a Padawan of his own, Aayla Secura.
"Good of you to join the party," Obi-Wan said in turn. "You know, now that fight is over."
Quinlan ruffled his hair. "Easy there, hotshot, the Council isn't going to be happy with you."
"Master Jinn will be, though," Aayla said with a soft smile.
Quinlan threw his head back and laughed. "Too true, Aayla, too true. You've done your Master proud, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan grinned, then nodded his head toward the royals. "Come on, let me introduce you to the Queen."
"Oh, how you've moved up in the world, fuzzhead," Quinlan said with a final ruffle of his hair.
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, exchanging a smile with Aayla, who grinned at her Master's antics.
Quinlan and Aayla departed soon after meeting the Queen to return to the mission they had been pulled away from. The celebrations lasted into the night, which is when Padme and Obi-Wan were called to speak with Chancellor Palaptine, in addition to representatives from the Jedi Council.
Obi-Wan knew he was in trouble when he saw the grim expressions of Masters Windu and Yoda. He was suddenly reminded, with painful clarity, of the time he had left the Order to help with the Melida/Daan civil war.
Master Plo Koon's expression wasn't readable, however, even for the short term that he had served on the Council, Master Plo Koon had become infamous for being the one who was assigned to break terrible news 'gently'.
Chancellor Palpatine seemed weirdly outraged for a man whose homeworld had just been saved.
-You deliberately ignored my commands, Palpatine said, his hologram flickering.
Padme's 'queen voice' was almost sarcastic, "Would you like me to apologize for saving our people?"
-You could have died, and I told you, explicitly, not to trust the Jedi.
"Why?" Obi-Wan asked without thinking.
Chancellor Palpatine ignored him. -And of all the Knights you could have chosen, you chose a Padawan under criminal investigation.
Obi-Wan frowned. "I didn't use a Jedi transport, but I didn't do anything illegal. The Queen asked for my help."
-Silence, Obi-Wan, Master Windu said in a low tone.
Obi-Wan stared at his hologram. Mace didn't sound angry. He sounded… sad?
Had he really disappointed them so severely?
-You spoke with Master Sifo-Dyas before leaving, did you not? Chancellor Palpatine said, finally speaking to him directly.
Obi-Wan was deeply confused. "Yes… but that, I mean, what does that have to do with Queen Amidala and Naboo?"
-I was the Senator of Naboo, Palpatine said. -I was elected to ensure that corruption wouldn't hurt my planet or others suffering under that same corruption.
"And while we waited," Padme said, "more of our people would have kept dying. I acted with their interest at heart. Padawan Kenobi is the hero of Naboo."
-He's a traitor to the Republic and to democracy, Palpatine spat.
"How?" Obi-Wan demanded, indignant at such a claim. Breaking the Council's rules, but betraying the Republic?
Never.
-You are aware that Count Dooku of Serenno is in league with the Trade Federation.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "I did not know that. But I do know that Serreno is one of the planets discussing possibly seceding from the Republic. As one of the Outer Rim planets, they have been forced to deal with the Hutt Empire, pirates, and many other corrupt powers because, like so many of the Republic planets in the Outer Rim, aid has grown more and more scarce."
He had been overly involved in such discussions in recent missions, as Qui-Gon's unorthodox negotiations could often skirt the line between representing the Republic and, more often than not, violent discourse. It was how most of their missions went since the beginning, actually.
-He is the main opposition to the Republic. Palpatine stated.
"He's against the corruption, like you said you were. I don't understand how my actions have anything to do with Master Sifo-Dyas and Count Dooku," Obi-Wan argued.
-Sifo-Dyas is dead, Padawan Kenobi, Master Plo Koon said softly.
Obi-Wan's heart fell. "What? How?"
Guilt swamped him. He should have told Yoda about the Master's odd behaviour. Only his own humiliation had stopped him.
-He tried to assassinate me, Chancellor Palpatine said.
"What?" Obi-Wan felt like he had been slapped. "I—I don't understand."
-I think that you do, Palpatine said. -Sifo-Dyas was close to Dooku. You spoke with him not an hour into taking the Queen of my planet into danger. Not an hour before a Master of the Jedi Order tried to murder me. You encouraged the Queen to ignore my direct orders. Or shall you lie to me and put the entire Jedi Council under greater suspicion about this conspiracy?
Obi-Wan didn't know what to say. He saw the trap: If he spoke in his own defence, hurt the Jedi's reputation. It would be a public relations disaster. However, it could be worse. If he took the protection that was being offered to him by the three Council members, whose silence left the choice up to him, it wouldn't just be him, the late Master Sifo-Dyas, and the Count of Serenno, who was no longer a member of the Order, but all Jedi who would be under investigation for an attempted attack against the democracy. The very government they themselves had historically built and served.
It was hard to breathe. He first met Yoda's gaze, whose ears were heavily drooped, then Master Windu's.
Obi-Wan and Mace had had their disagreements in the past, but Mace was an elder whom Obi-Wan had always respected. Over the last few years, when Qui-Gon had refused to hear the Council out, Mace had even come to speak with him, not just as a messenger, but because he respected Obi-Wan's ability to be professional and reliable.
Obi-Wan's heart was breaking. Knowing where this would lead, he spoke the words that would seal his fate, "It's not a conspiracy, Chancellor Palpatine. I can assure you that I did not know of Sifo-Dyas's intentions. But I can confirm that accompanying Queen Amidala back to her homeworld was my choice and my choice alone. The Council and my Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, did not approve of my actions because I did not speak with them before leaving."
-So you admit that the last person you spoke with, after speaking with Sifo-Dyas, before the murder attempt, was Count Dooku? Chancellor Palpatine asked.
"Yes, Sir," Obi-Wan said.
Yoda's ears drooped further, his shoulders rounding as he hunched over his cane.
Master Windu and Master Plo Koon bowed their heads.
-Then you will return to Coruscant and be tried before the Senate in public trial for conspiracy of political assassination, the Chancellor said.
Obi-Wan lowered his head, knowing that he was very likely to be found guilty and live out the rest of his life in prison for Master Sifo-Dyas's actions.
The Jedi were considered too dangerous for half-measures.
His only hope was that the trial would be a quick one, to spare his people the public humiliation and stem some of the media coverage. Would falsely admitting his guilt make things worse or better?
"No," Queen Amidala said. "Knight Kenobi saved Naboo. He was acting on my request. He was trying to preserve the honour of the Republic—"
-He could have killed you, Palpatine said.
"Are you suggesting that my life is worth more than that of my people?" Padme asked, her voice slipping in her anger.
-A trial will determine his guilt, Palpatine said.
Obi-Wan flinched, realizing how deep his mistrust of the Senate had grown that he believed almost absolutely that he would be found guilty for something he hadn't done.
"He won't be attending a trial. He had no part in Sifo-Dyas's actions because, while he acted, he was saving us," Padme said. "I will not allow him to be taken."
-The trial must happen. As a member of the Republic, my dear Queen Amidala, you must allow justice to proceed.
"No," she said flatly.
-This is out of your hands, Palpatine said.
"I think differently," Padme said, her regal air becoming more apparent. "I believe the Count of Serenno had the right idea. If the Republic will no longer hear us, then Naboo shall leave the Republic."
-Do not be rash because of the reputation of one rogue Padawan, Palpatine said.
"Rash was putting my faith in you," Padme retorted. "I was voted in by the people, you were merely appointed as Senator by my predecessor. The Republic has proven, as you have proven, that the Senate cares nothing for the people it was erected to serve. I will no longer allow such corruption to be supported by Naboo."
-Now, be reasonable, Palpatine coaxed. -You will endanger our homeworld. The Republic will no longer be able to protect you from the forces in the Outer Rim.
"On the contrary, Palpatine," Padme said bitingly. "The Republic has never protected us. We only gained our position in the eyes of the Senate and the Trade Federation because of the resources being exploited from our planet. I will put a stop to exploitation and we will find true allies among those the Republic has abandoned."
Palpatine looked disturbed by this. He turned his gaze to Obi-Wan. -See where your actions have led us? You will turn yourself into the Republic. If you are innocent, you will be free to join your Order in dignity. If you refuse the reach of the law, then you will be an exile of the Republic.
Obi-Wan looked at the Masters, who gave no indication either way, then at Padme. He hadn't known her long, but he knew she wouldn't be changing her mind on this.
Life in prison, or life in the Outer Rim?
Then he realized, if he chose to follow the Naboo, it would give more press to her movement. It would take away, hopefully, some attention from the scandal of a Master Jedi and former High Council member trying to assassinate the newly-elected Chancellor. Because if he went to trial in front of the Senate, the issue would be stretched out for months, if not years.
It wasn't just better for him, it was better for the Order if he stayed away.
"I choose exile," Obi-Wan declared. "If those are my choices, I choose exile. I never intended harm to you or the Naboo. My purpose was only ever to assist the Queen in saving her people and following the will of the Force."
Chancellor Palpatine looked furious. -When you rethink your mistake, Queen Amidala, contact me.
He disconnected, flickering out of view.
Master Windu only said, "May the Force be with you, Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Obi-Wan swallowed, then responded, "And with you."
He wanted to ask about his saber, but Mace disconnected the call, and the Masters faded from view.
That was best he would get, he supposed, in permission to keep his lightsaber.
Padme hugged him.
He was surprised, but he hugged her back.
"I'm so sorry," she said.
He let out a long breath. "It isn't your fault." He pulled back from her. "You don't have to endanger your people on my account."
"No." She shook her head. "If Palpatine could believe the worst of you, then he is as corrupt as the rest. My people deserve more than false promises."
"Not everyone will be pleased," Sabe noted.
Panaka spoke up, "Considering what we all recently endured, I think the movement will be supported. I also think other worlds will follow our example."
Padme caught Obi-Wan's hand. "You will always have a place with us."
It wasn't until she said those words that reality sank in.
He would never become a Jedi Knight. He was no longer a part of the Order. And he would never again be allowed to return home.
Qui-Gon arrived in Naboo's atmosphere, and the person who came through the hologram was no Naboo representative, but his own apprentice.
"Obi-Wan," he sighed in relief.
-Turn back, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan said, looking and sounding exhausted. -The Order can't afford to lose you too. They need you now, more than ever.
"I don't understand," Qui-Gon said. "I came to help."
-The battle's over, Obi-Wan said almost tonelessly. -Naboo won against the Federation, the Queen is safe, and Naboo has seceded from the Republic.
"What?" Qui-Gon asked. "Obi-Wan, what did you do? Mace and Yoda were going to support you."
Obi-Wan nodded. -I agree that they would have, but that fight would have done more harm than good. Just as your presence here would do. I think the Chancellor might attempt to press charges against Master Dooku. Your position is precarious enough without coming to my aid. I'm sure the Council didn't send you.
Force, did he sound cynical.
"Obi-Wan, I never meant for you to believe I would abandon you. Once Anakin was accepted as part of the Order, things would have worked out. I have never regretted taking you as my Padawan and I mean to continue your training."
Obi-Wan was quiet for a long moment, absorbing that. -Perhaps it wasn't your intention, but you were right about Anakin being powerful. So powerful that to not train him would put himself and others at great risk. He needs you, and I am no longer a part of the Order. I am in exile, but you are still needed there.
"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said, his heart shattering, "I'm so sorry."
-I am as well, my Master. But this is farewell. Give Anakin my best, and may the Force be with you both.
He disconnected the call before Qui-Gon could respond, leaving a deafening quiet in his absence. The spacecraft floated in Orbit, yet the blue planet below seemed impossibly farther away.
Obi-Wan had been exiled, and he no longer needed or wanted Qui-Gon's support.
It hurt.
It hurt in the way he supposed he deserved, for he imagined this is how he had made Obi-Wan feel.
Obi-Wan was also right about Anakin needing him, and perhaps he was right about the Order needing him too.
Qui-Gon had felt the same about Dooku leaving, and the Order had only held more tightly to its ideas since then.
But the Council wasn't going to accept Anakin, not during the current chaos with the Temple under review from the Senate. But there was another path he had been mulling over. One he had had no intention of taking because he had fully meant to finish Obi-Wan's training.
"What are we going to do now?"
Qui-Gon looked down at the little boy sitting beside him. Qui-Gon gave himself a shake and restarted the ignition. "I spoke with a friend."
Anakin looked hopeful as he read the coordinates Qui-Gon had typed in.
"Back to Tatooine, but I thought you said—"
"I cannot free all of the slaves, Ani," Qui-Gon interrupted, not wanting to disappoint anyone else. "The Hutt Empire is too expansive. And even if all the Jedi joined us, there are not enough of us. Our originators became negotiators, allowing the Republic and its Senate to be the bigger power. Unfortunately, they are corrupt and there is little way for the Jedi to push motions forward. We simply aren't what we were. We are not the most powerful beings in the galaxy."
"But don't we have to fight for what is right?"
"We do, but not everything can be won through war," Qui-Gon said, despite knowing that it would take a war to defeat the Hutts.
"Then why are we going back to Tatooine?"
"Because I took out enough credits, non-Republic ones, to save your mother."
"But the Jedi said I have to let her go," Anakin said. "So did you."
"To be a Jedi Knight is a hard path," Qui-Gon explained. "We are trained to fight, to become powerful, which walks a dangerous line. If a Jedi falls, he becomes something like Darth Maul. My first apprentice was gifted, but he fell to the darkness. Partly because he chose his family over the Order."
"So you're going to leave me and my mother?"
"No, Anakin." Qui-Gon was adamant about that. "The Jedi Knights are not the only path to take within the Jedi Order in the galaxy. There are other corps that are equally important." He let out a long breath. "I will train you in the Force and you will still have your mother, and a family of your own in the future, if you wish for one."
"Really?" Anakin asked.
Qui-Gon nodded, knowing that, to a boy and his mother enslaved on a desert planet, joining the AgriCorps would be nothing short of paradise. Ani could choose to transfer to another Corp when he was older. But to begin with, Qui-Gon knew it was where they would be most welcome and where he himself would be most successful in teaching Anakin how to use his gifts within the Living Force.
He prayed to the Force that Obi-Wan would find his way.
Qui-Gon set course back to Tatooine, this time with the explicit purpose of freeing a slave.
Darth Plagueis was enraged. "What do you think you're doing?"
Darth Sidious sat primly behind his desk. "What I have to, lest I be labelled a failure at the start of my term."
"You crippled the Trade Federation," Plagueis snarled.
Not that it hadn't played in his own business enterprise's favour when the Trade Federation had been forced to default on their loans after losing legitimacy in the Senate and had all their Republic allies pull their support. The Banking Clans had seized all their assets, which had resulted in Muunilist becoming more influential than the Republic itself, yet with the consequence that their plan for the revenge of the Sith was falling to pieces.
The bank couldn't fund both the droids and the clones without a scapegoat for the Separatist side. Of course, the latter had already been destabilized with Naboo separating from the Republic, starting the Separatist movement into action ten years early.
There was also Sifo-Dyas's premature demise. The Jedi Order was now playing things too carefully, and Dooku was in discussions with the Nubian Queen. Dooku, who was close to falling but not yet converted to the Sith's plans, was doing exactly what Plagueis had predicted he would.
Count Dooku would have the Separatist movement unite all Outer Rim planets within a few years, weakening the Republic before any war could realistically even be mentioned.
"We had to be seen doing something," Sidious said. "Our original plans have already fallen apart. Luckily, before you signed that contract with the Kaminoans."
A contract that had only been waiting on a template and Dooku being converted to their side.
Sidious continued, "Maul is disappointed that I didn't deploy him again, but with Jinn going into early retirement, the galaxy will think the Jedi crazy for suggesting the existence of the Sith."
Another truth. However, Plagueis had another concern about Sidious's actions. "You have not named me as your advisor.
Darth Sidious paused too long, and Plagueis knew he had been betrayed.
"I cannot be seen as your puppet," Sidious said. "Not after losing the support of my own homeworld.
"Of course," Plagueis acquiesced. His mind turned over the flavour of Sidious being his enemy. He couldn't kill him now, couldn't even afford another assassination attempt.
Then again…
Dooku was a near sure thing as another apprentice, but who might prove an even greater ally is Dooku's grandpadawan.
As Plagueis departed the Senate building, he thought of how he might use Palpatine's greed against him.
How he might use a Padawan who had been widely considered as one of the Order's brightest lights, exiled for following the Force.
Darth Plagueis might not need to engineer a conflict when the natural rift between the factions were already growing and tearing themselves apart. Leaving the only ones with true armies being the Hutts and the pirates.
Darth Plagueis smiled behind the breathing apparatus he no longer needed, wondering when his ex-apprentice would realize that he had given Plagueis the galaxy.
The Jedi might yet survive, but the Republic was doomed.
As for the Sith?
The Dark Side of the Force seemed to exhale, shadowing over Coruscant as Plagueis set his course back home.
Obi-Wan stood facing the mirror, a knife in hand, wearing nothing but a soft pair of pants in the warm night.
The room he had been given was too lavish, and the bed was too plush for him to be comfortable.
He braced himself against the counter, holding his own gaze as he raised the knife, his other hand holding his Padawan braid taught.
This was something meant to be done in ceremony by his Master.
But Obi-Wan was no longer a Jedi.
The braid cut with soft sound that felt comparatively small to the monumental meaning being it. The length in his hand he laid softly on the counter.
It was easier to raise the knife to the short ponytail. It wasn't actually a style he liked. He threw that into the trash. Then looked at himself in the mirror.
A new man.
A new life.
No longer a Jedi Padawan.
Just a young man, living on a lush world.
This was never the life he envisioned for himself. He found himself just as restless here in this beautiful palace as he had been when he was thirteen on the war-torn planet of Melinda/Daan.
It had never been enough for him just to help one world when there were so many in need. Qui-Gon had given him a taste for conflict that exceeded the everyday. The galaxy was a large place with many moving pieces. It was a Jedi Knight's place to help negotiate peace between warring factions, not to rebuild wars or become leaders. They were ambassadors, teachers, people who were needed when things grew beyond the capacity for simple measures. A Jedi's duty was to avert disaster, to help shift the tide between chaos and order to a place where sustainability could be reached.
Obi-Wan looked down at his lightsaber, the kyber crystal singing to him.
He decided, then and there, that he didn't need to be a Jedi Knight to continue following the will of the Force. He might no longer be Qui-Gon's apprentice, but the lessons imparted from Qui-Gon and Yoda and all who had ever mentored him at the Temple were still a part of him, just as they all remained a part of the Force.
Unseen, yet always connected.
He closed his eyes, sinking into the feeling, the Force singing to him as audibly as his kyber did.
He had lost his home, but not his purpose.
AN: Thoughts, remarks, squirrels, or feedback on the chapter, pretty please?