Rain lashed down incessantly, cascading in windy sheets from great grey clouds that covered the planet. It was midday, but the fog and rain made it seem as dark as twilight. The air smelled heavily of sodden earth and rich rainwater, mixed with the tang of wet leaves and vegetation releasing their scent as they were pummelled with rain. The clouds began to roll against each other, producing thunder overhead. A storm was brewing, but he was well used to those by now.
Hobbling along in the downpour, he drew his cloak closer about his body as he made his way home. Though he was slow he climbed over fallen logs and leapt through treacherous muddy quagmires with surprising agility. He could easily become stuck in the swampy waters, where the mud sucked you down into a slow death, but he evaded the dangers with ease. In the air bogwings swooped past, their claws outstretched ready to catch the small prey that lived in the towering tree canopies above. But they left the small figure alone, these creatures remembered the outcome of trying to eat that particular being.
Four-toed green feet squelched in the mud as the figure arrived at his front door. The little hut was well concealed amongst the tangles of dark vegetation that grew year-round on this verdant planet. The occupant had left a pot of stew on the stove, and the fire below it was burning brightly, casting a warm orange light out of the windows and sending smoke up into the chimney that protruded out of the side of the hut. The owner of the home entered and shut the wooden door behind him. Outside it was wet and humid, but inside the air was dry and comfortable. The muffled sound of the rain and the crackling of the fire was soothing and after his long walk foraging plants, the old Jedi was suddenly very tired. Stirring the stew and storing the herbs away, he took a seat by the fire, enjoying the warmth that eased the aching arthritis in his joints. He entered into a meditation, letting the Force flow through him. Something felt different again, he noticed with a frown.
Being so in tune with the Force on Dagobah, Jedi Master Yoda had noticed in the last few days a slow but sure subtle occurring. Something was changing out there. He had meditated on it for many hours but he couldn't foresee what it was or what was going to happen, only that something was in motion. Knowing about Luke, Leia, Padmé and Obi-Wan's survival and subsequent hiding after the fall of the Jedi, he suspected it may have something to do with them, but he couldn't be sure. He hoped they were safe, wherever they were.
There were still other Jedi out there, skilful ones, who were hiding from the empire, he was sure of it. There had been thousands of Jedi scattered throughout the galaxy on the night of Anakin's betrayal. He refused to believe that every single one aside from him and Obi-Wan had perished. Perhaps it was one of them who had triggered this change. He breathed deeply, searching again for answers but finding nothing new.
After some time, Yoda hobbled over to his stew and stirred it again, checking if the nuna meat was tender enough to eat with his old teeth. The rain beat softly against the grassed roof and a breeze blew in from the window, bringing the rain with it. The stove hissed and spat as the rainwater landed on it. Suddenly something felt strange, as though the Force was converging and moving around him. Yoda turned from the stove and with a start he noticed a familiar presence sitting in his home, comfortably leaning against an earthen pillar.
"Master Qui-Gon," he tapped his cane on the floor happily as he smiled. "An honour to see you, it is."
"Master Yoda, it has been a while old friend," the shimmering blue apparition smiled back and spoke with a warm tone, so like the one he had had in life. He had not seen Qui-Gon in many years, not since he first arrived on Dagobah all that time ago.
"Indeed it has," Yoda hobbled over to his chair and took a seat, his body aching with the effort. "News to tell me, have you? These last few days, a small shift in the Force I have felt."
"Yes, I have felt it too, that it why I am here. I've recently spoken with Obi-Wan. My Padawan is having a difficult time. He tells me the Skywalker children and Padmé have been taken and are currently on Darth Vader's ship being held prisoner. But there is more news. Since living on Bakura, my Padawan took over the role of Luke and Leia's father. He has raised them not as a Jedi Master would do, but as a true father. He has also married Padmé and she is now with child. Obi-Wan has paid the price for attachment, he told me. But even so, I feel that perhaps this was meant to happen."
"Surprising news this is," Yoda said, pondering how Vader would react to Obi-Wan and Padmé's marriage and baby. "This relationship, shocked Vader deeply, it must have."
"I'm sure it has. But this shift in the Force feels more powerful than one man's jealousy," Qui-Gon stroked his bead as he sat across from Yoda. "Obi-Wan asked me about the chosen one, and whether Anakin Skywalker would still bring balance to the Force, even though he is so lost in darkness. I told him that I believe he will."
"The shift in the Force, the emergence of Anakin Skywalker, it finally is?"
"Not yet, but perhaps soon. Something important is shifting as we speak, though we are only detecting the smallest traces. Though I cannot see the future, the Force compels me to hope in this eventuality. I believe he still is the chosen one."
Yoda thought about his words carefully. He had lived in solitude for so long, it was strange to be having a conversation with someone, let alone about such important things. He wanted to believe Qui-Gon was right, but he was unsure such evil could ever be brought back to the light. In his long lifetime he had seen many seduced by the dark side and none had returned from its clutches. Anakin had been a fiery Jedi, his fear and impatience leading him to do terrible things. Surely these traits had only worsened in Vader.
"From the dark side, there is no way back," he argued. "Seen it many times, we have. Still controlled by his emotions, Darth Vader surely is."
"He will bring balance to the Force," Qui-Gon said adamantly, accepting no rebuttal.
Yoda sighed and looked over at the bubbling pot of stew. Outside he could hear the thunder growing louder and the distant calls of accipiptero who made their nests high in the trees. He wondered about Luke and Leia, whom he had not seen since their birth all that time ago. They were still so young, only nine summers old. It was the age Anakin had been when he was brought before the council for the first time. Qui-Gon's assurance only made him wonder more at the Skywalkers, truly they were a family like no other. "Such faith you have in that boy from Tatooine," he said sadly. "In danger from him, are the twins?"
"I can't be sure," he admitted. "Darth Sidious may have plans for their destruction. That is why I have come here to speak with you Master Yoda, to tell you that it may be time for you to come out of hiding and meet again with my Padawan Obi-Wan. The twins need all the allies they can get fighting on their side."
He nodded, also feeling that change was in the air. "This shift in the Force, important it is. Heed your advice, I will. Face Sidious again… it seems I shall."
"The children are key to everything. The Force converges around them. If they are protected, I feel that everything will fall into place."
"Right you were to speak with me. Contact Bail Organa, I will," Yoda said, feeling at peace with this decision. He had been in hiding a long time, and though he was aged, he looked forward to being able to help his young friend Obi-Wan in whatever way he could.
The Jedi master was expecting his guest to say his farewells, but instead he continued on.
"There is another who lives, a powerful Jedi in this fight against the darkness," Qui-Gon said. "He is also in hiding, but I feel he may be key to our success."
"He?" he asked curiously, wondering which of his brethren had lived.
"I shall meet with him and tell him of your plans. I hope he will join you and Obi-Wan."
"Thank you Master Qui-Gon," Yoda smiled at his friend. "Much appreciated, your wisdom always is."
The ghost smiled back, said his farewells and was gone. Suddenly Yoda was alone again in the hut, with the rain beating on the roof and the frogs chirping outside in the storm. Nine years he had lived alone, hiding and waiting for the tide to begin turning. He sincerely hoped Qui-Gon's beliefs to be correct, or else he would be risking it all for nothing. Coming out of hiding was dangerous, and though he cloaked his signature well, it was not fail-proof against a formidable Force user like Sidious.
Getting up, he shuffled across the room to a secret compartment he had built into the wall. There, he found the equipment needed to send an encrypted signal to the nearest rebel cell, wherever they were. Once his message arrived with them, it would be authenticated by Bail and he would be picked up. After so long being alone, it was going to be a shock to his system, but the younglings needed him, and he would not fail them like he failed their father.
ooooo
Obi-Wan Kenobi braced himself as he was lowered into the bacta tube by a harness. His ribs, lungs and shoulder would take a few weeks of sessions to be completely healed. The watery substance was cold against his warm body and he grimaced at the sensation. Breathing calmly as he could into his respirator device, he closed his eyes as his head was covered with bacta and his submersion was complete.
He felt the familiar tingling sensation of cells healing gradually all over his body, like tiny electrodes pulsing with light. With his eyes closed and all sounds of the medical droids outside muffled in the tube, he lost sense of time as he floated. Before he could help himself, Obi-Wan wondered at how Vader must have felt in the early days when he spent endless hours submerged to heal his extensive injuries. His wildest nightmares couldn't compete with the anguish Vader must have felt in those sessions. To think he had been responsible for his spouse and children's death…he couldn't imagine.
As he breathed out, some bubbles drifted upwards, moving through his floating hair and grounding him with the physical sensation. His mind would wander during this treatment he was sure, but he didn't want to go too far. Sensory deprivation could bring on all sorts of unpleasant hallucinations and heart-wrenching memories he didn't wish to relive. Instead he tried to meditate on the Force's energy, drawing it to him with its comforting presence. The Force always was, and always will be there, indifferent to good and evil, but forever present and forever wondrous.
The day previous he had spoken to Qui-Gon who had been able to appear to him again through the power of the cosmic Force. They hadn't spoken in some time. Once the twins had started training regularly Obi-Wan only called on his master when needed. It felt silly but he didn't want to bother him. He smiled at that thought under his mask. Bothering a ghost, it wasn't as if his old master had a busy schedule. Their talk had been long, catching up with an array of things and it had been a real comfort to speak with him.
His wisdom and insight had taken away some of his worries and gave him the resolve to continue fighting on, just like how he would reassure him when he was a young Padawan. But despite everything he told him about Vader, his master had still insisted that he was the chosen one. He drifted into the memory of their conversation as he had been in his hospital bed…
"After all I have told you of Vader kidnapping the twins and keeping Padmé prisoner…do you still believe that he is still the chosen one?" he asked, waiting for his master's response intently.
"I do."
"But master, you know what he's done, what he's capable of! How can someone so lost in the darkness ever bring balance?" he questioned incredulously, unable to believe it.
"From a wider perspective, one can see the Force differently. My time in the netherworld has taught me that," he replied calmly, his long shimmering robe moving as he walked a few paces towards him. Even seeing the Jedi robes stirred emotions to the surface. Obi-Wan was not done arguing.
"But even with your perspective, you know how many Jedi he allowed to be murdered siding with Palpatine. He's…a killer of his own kind. Padmé and our unborn child are not safe there with him. I cannot believe you."
"My Padawan, if you let go of your attachments-"
"It is too late for that now," he interrupted. "I am in too deep to simply let go of them all. I-I love them master."
To his surprise Qui-Gon smiled warmly. There was no note of disapproval at all on his face, he looked proud. "I know, I do not condone love, far from it. I am very glad you have raised Luke and Leia so well, they are lucky to have you Obi-Wan and the love you have given them will last their lifetimes. But love can cloud your judgement, as we both know."
Referring to Anakin, he simply nodded in agreement. His master stood by his bed side and gestured out to the busy skyline of Alderaan's capital, Aldera. Vehicles zipped past as thousands of lifeforms went about their daily business in the city.
"If you regard the situation how one regards the busy lives of strangers, you can see the Force moving with clarity. You do not worry about their safety, because you do not love them. But you can still observe them, see where they are going, what they are doing. In the same way I am able to take a step back and see how the events surrounding the children may unfold. Being so close to Vader, I believe they will somehow help him to bring balance in whatever way that will be."
"And that's what you believe this shift in the Force is?" he asked, as he himself had felt something in motion out there in the cosmos. His master had felt it too.
"I believe so. But I cannot be certain."
"Master, the children are only nine. They know very little of evil or the horrors that Vader has committed. Even if they knew, their minds wouldn't be able to understand it fully. How can they ever reach him when they are so different?"
"Their innocence is how they will reach him."
"They are…endearing to most," he agreed. "But this is Vader we're talking about. He is a machine, he has no heart, no soul left in him."
"Is that so?" he raised an eyebrow. "Then how did he react seeing that Padmé was pregnant?"
Obi-Wan slowed down, feeling as if he was still a youngling himself as his master taught him complex ideas. "He was furious, he lost control and almost killed me."
"His anger shows he still cares, even if it's not the way that you or I would display it. His anger comes from pain. Pain comes from his heart. If he had been indifferent, then perhaps he would be lost to us, and you and your family would have perished already."
He considered his masters words, not quite grasping how it could be possible that the children could affect Vader in any way. No matter how sweet they were, they were just children, loud and crazy, playing games and getting into mischief. He smiled. "Perhaps you are right master."
"We will see in time if I am. Until then, a presence of an old friend may help you on your fight against the darkness."
"Who is it master?"
"Our little green friend."
"Master Yoda?" Obi-Wan had sat up in bed in shock, almost ripping the tubes from his forearms.
He nodded with a wise and stately smile. "Yes, he will find you soon. There will be other reinforcements in time. You are not in this battle alone Obi-Wan. Do not give up hope, and trust in the Force. The chosen one will bring balance, perhaps not in the way you imagine, but he will. May the Force be with you, my Padawan."
"And with you," he smiled properly for the first time in days. "Thank you master."
Moving his arms and legs in the tube, he came out of his memory. His master's words echoed in his head. Despite all the ordeals he had been through in his life and all those that were inevitably to come, he was not alone. Qui-Gon's confidence in the children and in the prophecy of the chosen one was enough to rekindle his hope and his resolve. Somehow in some way, there could be an ember of Anakin still alive in the ashes. He would find his way back to the children, and until he did, he would trust in the Force as he had always done to keep them all safe.