Chapter 4- Two Jedi Warriors.
Obi-Wan woke with the warm contentment of waking up in the arms of his love. The loneliness had all but gone since he had met Qui-Gon and he also felt he had finally found himself and shown it to the world. He was a fighter, a soldier but he was also a Jedi, a man of honour and light. He owed so much to the man that lay slumbering by his side. He hoped he was capable of the love Qui-Gon deserved.
He had been shut away so long, deep within himself, it seemed impossible to share himself with another, but he would. He would do almost anything for Qui-Gon. He laid his head on the Jedi Master's chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.
"Mine beats for him," he whispered to know one but the Force. He lay like that for some time before Qui-Gon began to stir, his body reacting to the growing light, waking his mind from the fuzzy haze of sleep. He blinked away the tiredness and looked down into eyes of jade. The level of trust he beheld in them filled him with awe, that this soul of light who had been mistreated by those closest to him had turned to him so completely. He would fear it if he didn't know its nature.
"Morning, love." He wasn't gifted with a verbal reply but instead a smile that outshone the light of the heavens and a wave of love through the Force that took his breath away. They rose from bed quickly, ready to begin Obi-Wan's lessons in the Force, but there was still much left to learn.
Qui-Gon led Obi-Wan away from the camp, wanting to draw him away from the distractions there, and his responsibilities as a general and leader. Atop a small rise was a copse with a clearing at its centre. The camp was still within view through the trees and ahead of them the Border Forest could be seen. In contrast to the noise of the camp and the darkness of the forest, the clearing amongst the few trees was calm and peaceful. Neither presence penetrated its surface and within the safe cocoon they knelt together.
Qui-Gon watched as his new apprentice slipped into a meditative trance as he had been taught many years ago. The Jedi Master began hi own meditation and soon was connected deeply with his Padawan. Through their bond he began teaching Obi-Wan of the Force, the gifts it gave and the power it offered. They knelt among the living things in that place of peace and learnt of each other and their place within the web of the Force's influence.
Qui-Gon found Obi-Wan a joy to teach, as the younger man was eager to learn and picked things up quickly. Between lessons they attended council meetings to discuss strategy and plans. Soon after General Kenobi's return, General Woon pulled up camp and went to rendezvous with one of the larger companies under his command. The army was slowly moving south before winter came. Soon the council would head south also, but they were needed to co-ordinate the effort and there was still much to be done.
The days passed in a flurry of activity. Winter, the season of the Dark, with its cold bringing death in the form of hunger, rapidly approached. All the Light that had taken three quarters of a year to gain would be lost to the Dark again in a matter of months. Despite the looming dead line of the changing seasons, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan found time to return to the clearing everyday. Not only to practice Obi-Wan's lessons, but also to just be together. It was in the third week that the lessons changed, the day had come for the Jedi Master to teach his apprentice the power of the Jedi's weapon, the power of a Lightsaber.
General Kenobi was one of the best fighters in the army, but Qui-Gon was a Jedi Master and the Jedi Sisters had been the best warriors for centuries. Qui-Gon had their knowledge and now he would pass it on to another of his kind. He would teach Obi-Wan to be a Jedi Warrior and he knew Obi-Wan would surpass him in skill. It came naturally to him; the ebb and flow of battle spoke to the young General, but instead of making the young man war hungry, it made him more desperate for peace. He could feel war so he understood it deeply. Death and bloodshed were part of his being, causing him to loathe it and yearn for its end.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan squared off against each other, Obi-Wan using his mother's Lightsaber for the first time. Its weight and grip seemed to fit perfectly. It was right in his hands. They began to spar, and though Obi-Wan held his own against the Jedi Master, he was no match to Qui-Gon's grace. He fought harder, his opponent responding by stepping up the pace.
The Jedi Master slipped into a conscious meditation and began weaving the Force around him. His Lightsaber began to shine silver with a hint of green from the connection to the living Force. Obi-Wan's eyes widened as he felt the change in the metal, seeing the change made him gasp in surprise. In two moves Qui-Gon disarmed him, his mother's Lightsaber at his feet. His Master smiled at him from the other side of his own weapon, the eerie glow fading away as its wielder let the Force go. The sword once again looked normal.
"What was that?" Obi-Wan was out of breath, his body fighting to bring oxygen to his overtaxed muscles.
"That is how a Jedi fights."
"Show me?"
They began again, but this time Qui-Gon guided his apprentice through their bond, helping him to reach the right level of trance; from the mind's normal perception into that of the Force. They fought, becoming faster and faster, both men submerged deeply within the Force. In a move that surprised both of them, Obi-Wan flipped over his opponent's head, the Force carrying him. Obi-Wan landed behind Qui-Gon but stumbled backwards. The Jedi Master turned quickly and defeated his Padawan by using his backward stumble to push him over. Obi-Wan fell to the ground more surprised by his acrobatics than his defeat.
"What happened, Master?" The younger man made no move to stand, he just sat where he had fallen, looking closely at his weapon.
"You're beginning to find your own natural style within the Force. It may take some time to develop fully. However I get the feeling you'll be a very energetic fighter." Qui-Gon held his hand out to his fallen companion. "Shall we try that again?"
Obi-Wan smiled.
"It would be my pleasure." They bowed to each other showing their respect for the other's skill and began the deadly but beautiful dance again.
It had been another hard day of lessons. Obi-Wan's ability was growing but he was not progressing as his Master thought he should. There was a wall in him that he seemed unable to scale. Qui-Gon feared that the floodgates of the Force within his apprentice would open all at once and that Obi-Wan would be overwhelmed by years of suppressed Force ability.
The Jedi Master lay awake, staring into the dark long after Obi-Wan had fallen asleep in his arms. It was amazing how their closeness felt so right. He cherished these moments of silence where he could absorb the comfort of holding his beloved. His concerns for the young Padawan persisted at the back of his mind still. He finally fell asleep only a few hours from dawn.
Light, the clang of metal as sword met, the scent of blood and death, a whirlwind of sounds, smells and visions assaulted his senses, drowning him in their clarity. He couldn't escape, all he could do was scream.
Qui-Gon awoke with a start, something was wrong. He turned to Obi-Wan, but found himself alone in bed. He was instantly wide awake, throwing off the blankets, he jumped out of bed to finally see all the loose objects in the tent levitating. He turned slowly back around to face the bed. Obi-Wan hovered a meter in the air, his face contorted in pain. As the young General's nightmare continued and he became more distressed, the objects that floated in the air responding to his unconscious command began to fly around the tent. They crashed into each other creating a tornado of debris, at its centre Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.
"Obi-Wan, wake up." The Jedi got no response from his Padawan.
/Obi-Wan, please./
The mind to mind contact shocked the distraught Jedi back to reality. All at once the flying debris plummeted to the ground. The General landed on the bed with a choked sob.
"Obi-Wan?" Obi-Wan turned away from his Master, curling into a protective fetal position. He began to shake from the shock. "Obi-Wan what did you see?"
"I... I don't know." The horse whisper was loud in the deafening silence. "I don't remember much except the pain." Obi-Wan seemed to curl further into himself.
"Shh, My love." The Jedi Master returned to bed, pulling the younger man into his arms. "Let me comfort you."
They lay in bed together, neither speaking, just listening to the other's heartbeat and the sound of them breathing. In the morning nothing was said. Obi-Wan was reluctant to talk and Qui-Gon, unwilling to push, didn't ask. They began that day as they had all the others; they headed for their little clearing away from the camp. It was a place where the living Force flourished, where Obi-Wan could learn in peace and it was a place he felt safe.
A bright light blinded Obi-Wan, leaving him disorientated. As the glow faded he found himself in a battlefield, swords clashing around him, fighting for an unknown price. He stood among its violent roar, a lone figure in cream immune and separated from the events that transpired. The masked warriors were winning; they seemed to wield an ungodly power and skill. Countless numbers fell creating a river of red. Atop a hill stood a man in robes similar to his own. He was not part of the fight, it was not his place or his skill, a Jedi Brother stood alone watching.
From behind him four riders came, each carrying sharpened weapons, Obi-Wan tried to cry out in warning but found himself frozen, his breath court on his lips. The horsemen rode up to the Jedi Brother but his death did not come, instead he was willingly pulled up onto the back of one of the beasts and carried away. This time Obi-Wan was able to cry out. Betrayal, that Jedi had sentenced his own people to death, their blood was on his hands.
Across the battlefield a woman with silver hair went down.
"Obi-Wan, are you alright?"
"Qui-Gon?" Bewilderment stained Obi-Wan's voice. He lay on the ground staring up into a clear blue sky, the older Jedi knelt by his side.
"What happened?"
"I don't know, I was suddenly somewhere else." Qui-Gon looked concerned, he pulled his apprentice to his feet, looking over him for any signs of injury.
"You blacked out, are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I believe so." Obi-Wan's gaze seemed to go inward for a moment, he spoke as if to himself. "It seemed so real though."
"What did you see?" The older man watched his pupil carefully, noting every tense muscle.
"A battle." The words were almost dreamlike as if he was still there, seeing it all again away from Qui-Gon.
"Why don't you get something to eat while I talk to Yoda?" The Jedi Master suggested, wanting to ground Obi-Wan back in the now. The young general walked into the camp, his gait tired and stiff. Qui-Gon watched him go then turned in the opposite direction to seek out Master Yoda.
Yoda sat within the small copse that was away from the camp, and when Qui-Gon approached, he knew his master had been waiting for him.
"Master?"
"Yes, Qui-Gon?" when the younger Jedi Master made no move to speak further, Yoda prompted him, "Have questions, you do?"
"Yes, Master."
"Then sit, and then try and answer them I will." Qui-Gon gracefully sat on the forest floor before his aging master. Unsure of where to begin he just began to speak.
"I have concerns, Master about Obi-Wan. He had a vision of the past."
"Strange this is for one so old, suppressed his power a long time he has, hid it to protect his future. Stopped the visions from surfacing earlier it did."
"I understand that Master, but now that he is free, I am afraid that the visions will come quickly and overwhelm him, and I am afraid I won't be able to save him."
"If happens this does, your place to save him it is not. A test for him, perhaps."
"But he doesn't understand what it is that is happening."
"Then tell him we must, warning and advice will be enough to save him if the need arises. Meditate with me Qui-Gon, find your centre again before we speak to the boy. Needs calm he does, follow your example he will." Led by his Master, the Jedi Warrior slipped into a light meditation, reaffirming his connection to the living Force and his centre. He let go of his fears for Ben and himself, offering Obi-Wan his steadiness as a foundation.
Obi-Wan sat alone in his tent, seeing again and again the face of the Jedi Brother who had betrayed his own people. The slaughter of the army and the Queen filled his eyes until he saw nothing else. Night gathered around him and still he remained motionless, the twilight adding shadows of its own.
Yoda and Qui-Gon found him there later, when night had finally cast out all light, alone in the dark.
"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon whispered to him, kneeling by his chair.
"Yes, Qui-Gon?" Obi-Wan didn't look at him, he remained staring ahead seeing something that lay beyond the physical.
"Obi-Wan, we need to speak with you." The Jedi apprentice nodded but said nothing. Sighing, his Master sat down on the other chair while Master Yoda made himself comfortable on the bed.
"Obi-Wan, what you experienced was a vision of the beginning. All Jedi Brothers have them. They usually begin when they are very young and as time goes on they learn to control them. We believe that because you hid your gifts so long that the visions never surfaced, at least not until now. They will only get worse, Obi-Wan, but you must remember they aren't real; they are merely shadows of the past. Do you understand?" The Jedi General didn't answer or make any other sign that he had heard. "Obi-Wan?"
"I understand, Master. If you will excuse me, I need some air." He left the two Jedi Masters alone, lost within his own memories and those of others.
"His trial this is, nothing more there is for you to do."
When the blinding light filled Obi-Wan's vision this time he was more prepared and he understood what it was. After his vision cleared he looked at everything, noticing every detail, scribing it into his mind.
The sun was shining, he was in a little village with only about a dozen huts. The land around him was full of crops, the villagers working in them tending to their plentiful harvest. Children laughed and played. There was no Darkness. Travellers and strangers were welcomed and treated as one of their own.
In the space of seconds, Obi-Wan watched years go by. He watched the children grow and have their own families. These people were too innocent and unknowing, never expecting the attack that came out of the night. Masked horsemen, carrying torches, set alight the crops and homes. Women screamed as they watched their husbands and sons slaughtered and then cried out when they themselves were ruthlessly attacked. When dawn came there was no one left, just smouldering ash and blood.
Obi-Wan watched, knowing this had been the beginning, the way the Dark had made its presence known a little at a time, slowly gaining power. The world shimmered and dissolved, becoming instead a larger village some miles away. Instead of the Light, fear had spread its claws and dug into the planet's soul. Travellers and those in need were turned away, people huddled together, away from what might wait outside. But the Dark was becoming bolder and soon there was no longer safety in numbers.
Slowly, fear and hate reached out, poisoning the peoples' souls. Many turned to the Dark, seeking to join its army, hungry for power. Again the world shimmered and Obi-Wan found himself in a small hut with a lone figure lying on a crude mattress. Like the women of his first vision she had silver hair. She was a Jedi Sister, and she was dying. She was the first Jedi victim of the murderous darkness. Its poison seeped into the Jedi bloodline and in years to come it led to the end of their kind.
The Jedi Queen raised her arms, leading her people into battle with the masked men sometimes winning, but often falling back, giving up more land. And then by chance a Jedi Brother found the whereabouts of the Dark Lord. The Queen, in a last effort to return the Light mounted an attack, but somehow the enemy had been expecting them. They never knew why the battle had failed, but Obi-Wan understood. The Jedi Brother who had learnt of the Dark Lord's location was familiar to him. It was the same man he had seen atop that hill, riding off with his co-conspirators.
The Dark now had a firm foothold and the Jedi Queen had been killed in combat, her heir coming to power only to carry on the war. Obi-Wan closed his eyes against the agony of all he was learning. When he opened them he was in a cave bathed in firelight. Jedi Sisters and Brothers stood in a large circle, the new queen stood slightly forward. She began her spell, weaving words and a power unreachable to all others into a summons. The fire flickered then grew bigger, its flames taking on a blue hue. Amid the flames a face appeared ghostly in complexion. The Queen spoke,
"My lord, we summon you for help, our world is ending. Help us, your loyal subjects. You bestowed the power of magic to our kind many thousands of years ago to help peace in our world and now that peace is threatened." The lips of the apparition did not move but a voice was heard in the large cavern.
/Out of the Darkness of evil will come a warrior pure of heart, strength of many and a will of iron. He will come to raise a Light of immense power that will conquer the Dark. He will come when he has almost been forgotten and almost all hope is lost. I can do nothing to help you, but this is what I see in your world's future./ The endless eyes of the being stared at the Queen. /Go now, Jedi, your future is certain as you know it to be but there will come a time when the inevitability of the Dark is no longer true. Go now and let your kind continue the fight until that time comes to pass./
The blue light faded from the cave and once again the gathered Jedi were bathed in the soft glow of natural firelight. A voice from the crowed called out,
"What do we do now?"
"The only thing we can do," the Queen said as she turned to them, "We fight."
Skirmishes, battles and fights of years gone by passed before Obi-Wan's eyes in a matter of minutes. The constant struggle to maintain all the light they still possessed continued until he was brought to a time, hundreds of years after the beginning. A moment only fourteen years before his present, when a younger Qui-Gon watched his bond mate create a prophecy of her own that would fulfil a god's promise. He watched the last Sister die, Qui-Gon sitting with a child cradled in his arms and then he watched him disappearing into the darkest night.
"Qui-Gon."
Night was all around him, the only light coming from the stars and the camp's small fires. The world was as it had been when he had stepped out of his tent. The confusion he had felt after his first vision was no longer present but now he needed to speak to his Master.
He headed back, following his sense of his Master, to the Jedi council's tent. Inside he found Qui-Gon, Yoda and the rest of the council.
"Come in, Obi-Wan. Tell us what you saw you will."
"Yes Master Yoda." General Kenobi sat at the foot of the table. "I saw the beginning, I saw the final battle and the god's promise that followed and I saw Queen Adi's prophecy."
"You couldn't have seen that battle." Mace looked angry.
"Why?"
"No Jedi ever has, there seemed to be a powerful spell on that moment of time." The anger faded from the Jedi's voice as he explained a hint of weariness replaced it.
"But I saw it, I saw one of our own betray us." The whole Jedi council sat shocked, though Master Yoda seemed to be the only one unaffected.
"Late is it, tired we all are, talk more another time we shall." As everyone filed out the ancient Master remained behind, his eyes never leaving the younger of the two Jedi Warriors as they left. With no one to hear he said, "Know what you are, I do young one."
"Qui-Gon?"
"Yes, Obi-Wan?" he turned to his apprentice who seemed hesitant to speak.
"I saw your son, I saw Anakin." Qui-Gon didn't answer straight away, finally he asked.
"When?"
"The night Adi died, I'm sorry."
"It's alright, Obi-Wan. Get some sleep, it's been a long day."
"Stay with me?"
"Always." They lay silently together for a long time, Obi-Wan taking solace from the horrors he'd seen in his Master's calm.
"I saw everything." Minutes passed before the younger man spoke again. "I saw everything from the time it began until Adi's death, but I didn't see the time between her gift to the world and where we are now. Time is approaching, Qui-Gon and I don't see anything that could help us or our future." The Jedi Warrior couldn't answer his Padawan. For years the Jedi Brothers had sought visions of the one who would one day become there Chosen One but like the vision of the lost battle, his identity remained elusive and out of reach.
"Go to sleep, Obi-Wan. Think no more of these things tonight."
"Yes, Master." But Obi-Wan didn't close his eyes, he didn't sink into the oblivion of sleep. He remained awake by Qui-Gon's side, sifting through his memories of all he had seen. As he thought, Qui-Gon lay peacefully beside him, content to just be with his beloved and to live in the moment. But as ever, Obi-Wan looked to the future, trying to find some clue as to the out come, of a five hundred year old promise and a prophecy foretold on a death bed.
Qui-Gon's thoughts weren't as peaceful as Obi-Wan believed. He, too, was thinking of his apprentice's vision. How was it possible he had managed to see the lost battle when hundreds of Jedi Brothers before him had failed in their attempts to bring that failed battle before their eyes?
/Was it real?/
Qui-Gon believed it had been, but the explanation why seemed to be beyond his grasp. Something obvious but unimaginable to the Jedi Master was the answer. They continued Obi-Wan's training in the morning but the Jedi Padawan's mind kept slipping back to the past. He seemed unable to move past it. After several failed attempts of slipping into a meditative state, Obi-Wan's Master decided to try something else.
"Obi-Wan I want you to sink into a light mediation and I want you to let me guide you."
"Yes, Master." Obediently the General of an army allowed the Jedi Warrior into his mind. Qui-Gon wanted to help his Padawan, as he believed he had lost his centre from the experience of the vision and fear was stopping him from finding it again. Tentatively the Jedi Brother stepped into the younger man's mind but he did not find what he had been expecting. Jedi Brothers were usually very strong in the living Force, this connection offers them the calmness and the ability to help others in need with words of council. The only connection to the unifying Force was through their visions but in Obi-Wan it was different.
The young Jedi had his centre but it was different from Qui-Gon's. It didn't offer the gentleness of the moment with everything else in the background; the Living Force was drowned out by the Unifying Force. Qui-Gon reached out to touch it, and when he did, he found a very familiar trace.
/It can't be./ he reached within himself and found the same trace of a presence. /Beloved./ the Jedi Master pulled himself from Obi-Wan's mind. He opened his eyes to see the younger man before him in a new light. Eyes of the deepest forest green gazed back at him.
"Qui-Gon?"
"I must go, Padawan." Without another word he stood and all but fled from the other's presence. Fear and confusion swallowed his mind. He realised he was deserting the boy, but could not speak of his suspicions yet. He stumbled blindly on, seeking out his Master.
Obi-Wan remained in his place below a tall oak tree, he could feel its life pulsing within it but his connection was not as deep as Qui-Gon's and it offered little comfort. Instead of the life in the tree, he felt its years, both past and future. In its own way this offered comfort to the confused young man, but his soul was like fire and it burned.
"You knew?"
"Suspected I did, when years ago he arrived with an army unit. Ororra son he is, our Queen's sister. Who better than a blood relative? Picked him for another reason she also did."
"Why?"
"Get to that we will. Tell me what you have felt you must."
"When I was returning to the council I was drawn along a particular path by the Force. I found Obi-Wan at the end of it. When I first spoke with him I felt a familiar presence brush my mind, I never thought it could have been Obi-Wan. I felt it a number of times and just now I saw inside of him as I have seen inside of Adi. They are so alike, just as Adi and I are."
"Share a soul you do, meant for each other you were. Picked someone you would love Adi did. Meant to be together you always were."
"After all these years... I miss her still but when I'm with him it's even better, but he cannot be the one to save us."
"Doubt it still you do? Nearly fifteen years it has been since the prophecy was made. Time will begin soon, Qui-Gon, the one of prophecy and promise will come."
"But, Obi-Wan is... I..."
"Blinds you love does, like the Dark you believed Anakin to be the Chosen One. The last full Jedi born he may be and Adi's son but makes him the chosen one it does not. Picked Obi-Wan she did not just for us, but for you also. Look beneath the presence of Adi you should. Bonded you already are through Adi's soul, but question how she found him I do not. Know I do, so should you."
"What are you suggesting?"
"A link there already was, Qui-Gon, traced it back to him she did. In doing so ensured you would meet your soulmate because seek the one you would. Remember do you what the god promised?" Yoda waited for his old Padawan's affirmative nod. "Mention he did not then event before the beginning of time. Vague he was. Two Jedi warriors we now have, ask yourself why you should."
Qui-Gon spent much of that day in meditation. He feared going back across the bond he shared with Obi-Wan, he feared that Yoda was right, but then, what if he was wrong? Both coursed the Jedi Master disturbing thoughts and now he was beginning to question other things too. He didn't see much of Obi-Wan that evening, as the boy hid himself away in his own meditations and fears. Both needed the other to answer their questions but they both held back. Qui-Gon knew he should be helping his Padawan through this difficult time, but Yoda's revelations echoed within his mind. He returned to the tent late to find his apprentice already asleep. He lay down beside him, once again surprised by the peace the other man's presence offered even in sleep.
/Perhaps there is more to us that what I let myself believe./
Qui-Gon found his centre and the maelstrom of emotions faded almost all together. Everything seemed much clearer to him with the source of his questions lying by his side. He curled up next to his love and drifted into a dreamless sleep. Beside him, Obi-Wan's dreams became still, the night terrors fading back into his subconscious as he was once more protected by his Master and Beloved. Together they slept the night through.
Qui-Gon left early the next morning, still trying to put all his thoughts together so he would be ready for all his student's questions. Obi-Wan woke up as he has fallen asleep, alone. He donned his robes and set out to find his first Master, who had helped him when he was a boy.
"Master Yoda, how is it the Brothers are only able to see the past of Darkness?" Yoda and Obi-Wan sat together within the little copse, the sun shining down through the trees creating shafts of light even in the bright light of day.
"Before the dark the gift of prophecy the Jedi Brothers had, and when the Darkness came, poisoned the land it did but not just that. Poisoned our Sisters' bodies, it did but untouched the Brotherhood was not. Poisoned our gift was. Prophecy passed down the bloodline was not, turned into memories of death it did until see only the beginning of the Dark and when time all but stopped. See nothing before it, no Light could be seen nor the future. Blinded we were, unable to see what may come, so like the people our hope was taken.
"Even now, more than the land is poisoned, young Obi-Wan. Its soul poisoned also it is. Purged the evil must be from the magic, the Force and all our lives. Leave the Darkness must. Hope we need, knew this Adi did years ago, gave herself she did, hope we now have, Obi-Wan, in you. Knew she was fulfilling a god's promise she did not, but sure of it I am." The most wise of the Jedi Brothers peered at his companion seeing more than most.
"Spoken to you Qui-Gon hasn't." Yoda gave much away in his tone of voice, but Obi-Wan thought he heard frustration hidden in its gravely texture.
"About what, Master?"
"Your Master's doubts are his own folly, Obi-Wan." In a quiet voice that seemed reluctant to give up its secret he said, "The Chosen One you are."
"Master Yoda!" Both Jedi turned in surprise to the owner of the voice, as Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Warrior, stood staring angrily at his Master. "Obi-Wan, Riva asked me to find you, you are needed back at the camp."
"Master..."
"Go, Obi-Wan, I'll find you later." The Jedi Padawan gave both Masters a surreptitious glance before disappearing back through the trees.
"Padawan, come sit." Yoda was sorry he had betrayed his old apprentice's trust, but the boy needed to know. Qui-Gon made no move to sit with his Master and remained standing where he was.
"Why did you tell him that?"
"The truth it is, came to me for answers he did when none you would give him."
"I was waiting for the right moment. You had no right, we don't even know if he is the one." Qui-Gon's voice seemed to plead with his Master, but Yoda could do nothing to change what was.
"Love and fear for him blinds you, Qui-Gon. Clear your sight you should. Have something of yours I do, time to pass it on it is. Know the truth your mind does, but your heart is reluctant to believe. Our wait is over, Padawan, let go of that fear you can. Come, I will give you what was always meant to be his."
Qui-Gon held the wrapped parcel close to his chest. The tattered material had kept the object beneath safe for many years. It had belonged to a great leader, and after her death Qui-Gon had given it to Yoda for safekeeping. Its presence had been a constant reminder of his loss until he had passed it on to his Master, and now he was passing it onto someone who could use it. He walked across the army camp in search of Obi-Wan.
Qui-Gon entered their clearing to find Obi-Wan kneeling in its centre. He seemed at peace and his inner self was calm. Slowly, the rocks that lay scattered around him began to rise. One at first, but quickly, more joined it. With each success Obi-Wan's confidence grew and with it, so did the size of the objects he chose to levitate.
As if sensing his Master's presents for the first time he gently lay the stone back on the earth exactly where he had lifted them up from. Smiling he opened his eyes.
"Well done, Padawan."
"Thank you, Master." There was an uncomfortable silence when both remembered Qui-Gon's anger earlier that day.
"Is everything alright at the camp? Riva seemed a bit anxious." Obi-Wan smiled very slightly remembering his Lieutenant's rant on the state of everything and how she may as well give up now. It was a conversation they had had many times over the years, with different things setting her off, but it always ended the same. General Kenobi won and Riva had gone back to what she had been having problems, with feeling better and gotten it done.
"Yes, everything is fine. What's that?" Obi-Wan's curiosity had been caught by the strange parcel his Master had been carrying the moment he had opened his eyes. Wrapped in a filthy cloth, it appeared worthless, but the way Qui-Gon protected it with his body suggested its priceless value.
"This is a gift for you." He walked toward the kneeling general and held it out to him. Obi-Wan took it gently, understanding the importance of the moment. He held the object for a moment feeling the rough material that covered it. He looked at Qui-Gon and then unravelled the package. Beneath the shabby wrapping was a beautifully bound leather book. Its pages tipped with shimmering gold, and on its cover was the crest of the Jedi.
"What is it?" Obi-Wan's voice was hushed, awed by the exquisite book.
"It was Adi's. I want you to have it."
"Adi's? I couldn't."
"Please, Obi-Wan." Obi-Wan still seemed reluctant, but he didn't argue anymore. "Open it."
Carefully Obi-Wan turned the cover. The first page was gloriously decorated, the border a mass of colours and lines blended together for a pattern of beauty. The writing flowed in curves and sweeps written by hand hundreds of years ago. It read:
Book of Shadows of the Jedi Sisterhood.
Obi-Wan could do nothing but stare.
"I can't take this, it is meant for the Jedi's eyes only and I am only a Padawan."
"Obi-Wan, all the Sisters are dead, we need someone to carry us on."
"No, save it for the One."
"I did, I have."
"No, Qui-Gon I am not the One." The Jedi Master could understand Obi-Wan's denial, but time was approaching and they needed to be ready.
"Obi-Wan, our connection goes beyond fate, it is part sorcery and part the Force. Just try, please." Obi-Wan looked at him, fear in his eyes, but the desperation on the other man's face spurred him to act. He opened the book at random and found a spell on mist and read it through.
/Aim high./
Obi-Wan settled himself down as he would for meditating. He then reached out not only with the Force but also with the part of himself that made him human, his soul. He closed his eyes and tried to weave his consciousness into the world, asking it to do his will. He tried for a long time urging the effect he desired, visualising it within himself and projecting it onto the world.
"It's not working Qui-Gon, and it won't ever. I'm sorry." He could barely look at his Master as he rose and left the clearing.
Qui-Gon watched as his apprentice closed his eyes and sank into a light meditation. Through the bond, he could feel Obi-Wan reach out to the world in the same way Adi had once done and in a way that no one else could.
He held his breath and waited.
He looked around him but saw no change; the clearing was as it had been, but when he looked with the living Force he felt a subtle change. A difference that was not entirely natural. Something had changed and was continuing to do so, but then it faded away again to nothing.
"It's not working Qui-Gon, and it won't ever. I'm sorry." The Jedi Master did nothing to stop Obi-Wan leaving, he picked up the book and carried it back to their tent, not to be wrapped up again.
"Thank you, Adi." He smiled a smile of great joy and relief. "He will find his way and because you chose my soulmate I am here to help him."
Obi-Wan walked alone in the little wooded area for a long time, his surroundings quiet and his mind anything but. He knew he should be feeling grief but instead felt a rightness. Could he be the Chosen One? It seemed unlikely but what Qui-Gon had said was true. Their connection went beyond the Force. It was more. Was he meant to return home so his new Master would find him? Nothing happens without a reason.
/Perhaps I was meant to fail Bruck./ He continued to pace. /No I am not the Chosen One, I can't be./ The disbelief in himself blinded the Jedi Padawan to his gifts and abilities. He saw a lost boy when the world saw a great leader and warrior. His self-worth blinded him, but then perhaps, it was meant to.
Time by himself resolved Obi-Wan's opinion. He was not the One it was impossible.
/But how do I convince Qui-Gon of that? He seemed so eager./ The trees of the copse near the camp were smaller than those found in the Border Forest, letting light down to the earth and the smaller plants below. The sun shone on Obi-Wan and he basked in its heat and light. It offered comfort when nothing else would.
That's how Qui-Gon found him later, head lying back, eyes closed, facing up through the leaves where the sun passed through. At the approach of his Master, Obi-Wan opened his eyes and tensed. He turned to Qui-Gon and was relieved not to see the book in his hands, glad that its presence was not here to remind him of his failure and Qui-Gon's disappointment.
"Obi-Wan?" his voice was almost a whisper, reluctant to disrupt the tranquillity of the wood.
"Yes, Master?"
"I just wanted to make sure you were all right, and ask you not to give up. Everything comes in time." Obi-Wan sighed, a sound of heart-filled pain.
"Not this, Qui-Gon, it's not me."
But Qui-Gon wasn't convinced, as he had felt the steirring of power within his apprentice. It was a strange sense of peace that settled on him as the truth of Yoda's words was proven to him. Time was approaching, time to fight the final battle and now they had a weapon. Obi-Wan's doubt in himself lay between him and the vast untapped power that lay beneath the exterior of Jedi calm. Within a fire was burning but its light and heat were held back.
"Obi-Wan, you are the Chosen One. I believe in you so does Master Yoda. Now you need to believe in yourself."
"But I am only one man, I am nobody."
"Adi picked you because she knew we belonged to each other. She chose you because we would make each other stronger. She picked you because she loved you, because she knew you would complete me. She chose you because of love, Obi-Wan and that's what made the spell so powerful."
Obi-Wan Kenobi gazed out over the hill spread before them; he could see the Border Forest and within it he could feel the seething mass of the Dark. Qui-Gon's answers explained much, his powerful senses, his visions of the past, his love for the older man, but if it was true, all those people in the camp and those beyond, relied upon him to deliver them from the Darkness, to bring the Light.
No, he was not the One, he did not believe.
Obi-Wan woke with the warm contentment of waking up in the arms of his love. The loneliness had all but gone since he had met Qui-Gon and he also felt he had finally found himself and shown it to the world. He was a fighter, a soldier but he was also a Jedi, a man of honour and light. He owed so much to the man that lay slumbering by his side. He hoped he was capable of the love Qui-Gon deserved.
He had been shut away so long, deep within himself, it seemed impossible to share himself with another, but he would. He would do almost anything for Qui-Gon. He laid his head on the Jedi Master's chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.
"Mine beats for him," he whispered to know one but the Force. He lay like that for some time before Qui-Gon began to stir, his body reacting to the growing light, waking his mind from the fuzzy haze of sleep. He blinked away the tiredness and looked down into eyes of jade. The level of trust he beheld in them filled him with awe, that this soul of light who had been mistreated by those closest to him had turned to him so completely. He would fear it if he didn't know its nature.
"Morning, love." He wasn't gifted with a verbal reply but instead a smile that outshone the light of the heavens and a wave of love through the Force that took his breath away. They rose from bed quickly, ready to begin Obi-Wan's lessons in the Force, but there was still much left to learn.
Qui-Gon led Obi-Wan away from the camp, wanting to draw him away from the distractions there, and his responsibilities as a general and leader. Atop a small rise was a copse with a clearing at its centre. The camp was still within view through the trees and ahead of them the Border Forest could be seen. In contrast to the noise of the camp and the darkness of the forest, the clearing amongst the few trees was calm and peaceful. Neither presence penetrated its surface and within the safe cocoon they knelt together.
Qui-Gon watched as his new apprentice slipped into a meditative trance as he had been taught many years ago. The Jedi Master began hi own meditation and soon was connected deeply with his Padawan. Through their bond he began teaching Obi-Wan of the Force, the gifts it gave and the power it offered. They knelt among the living things in that place of peace and learnt of each other and their place within the web of the Force's influence.
Qui-Gon found Obi-Wan a joy to teach, as the younger man was eager to learn and picked things up quickly. Between lessons they attended council meetings to discuss strategy and plans. Soon after General Kenobi's return, General Woon pulled up camp and went to rendezvous with one of the larger companies under his command. The army was slowly moving south before winter came. Soon the council would head south also, but they were needed to co-ordinate the effort and there was still much to be done.
The days passed in a flurry of activity. Winter, the season of the Dark, with its cold bringing death in the form of hunger, rapidly approached. All the Light that had taken three quarters of a year to gain would be lost to the Dark again in a matter of months. Despite the looming dead line of the changing seasons, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan found time to return to the clearing everyday. Not only to practice Obi-Wan's lessons, but also to just be together. It was in the third week that the lessons changed, the day had come for the Jedi Master to teach his apprentice the power of the Jedi's weapon, the power of a Lightsaber.
General Kenobi was one of the best fighters in the army, but Qui-Gon was a Jedi Master and the Jedi Sisters had been the best warriors for centuries. Qui-Gon had their knowledge and now he would pass it on to another of his kind. He would teach Obi-Wan to be a Jedi Warrior and he knew Obi-Wan would surpass him in skill. It came naturally to him; the ebb and flow of battle spoke to the young General, but instead of making the young man war hungry, it made him more desperate for peace. He could feel war so he understood it deeply. Death and bloodshed were part of his being, causing him to loathe it and yearn for its end.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan squared off against each other, Obi-Wan using his mother's Lightsaber for the first time. Its weight and grip seemed to fit perfectly. It was right in his hands. They began to spar, and though Obi-Wan held his own against the Jedi Master, he was no match to Qui-Gon's grace. He fought harder, his opponent responding by stepping up the pace.
The Jedi Master slipped into a conscious meditation and began weaving the Force around him. His Lightsaber began to shine silver with a hint of green from the connection to the living Force. Obi-Wan's eyes widened as he felt the change in the metal, seeing the change made him gasp in surprise. In two moves Qui-Gon disarmed him, his mother's Lightsaber at his feet. His Master smiled at him from the other side of his own weapon, the eerie glow fading away as its wielder let the Force go. The sword once again looked normal.
"What was that?" Obi-Wan was out of breath, his body fighting to bring oxygen to his overtaxed muscles.
"That is how a Jedi fights."
"Show me?"
They began again, but this time Qui-Gon guided his apprentice through their bond, helping him to reach the right level of trance; from the mind's normal perception into that of the Force. They fought, becoming faster and faster, both men submerged deeply within the Force. In a move that surprised both of them, Obi-Wan flipped over his opponent's head, the Force carrying him. Obi-Wan landed behind Qui-Gon but stumbled backwards. The Jedi Master turned quickly and defeated his Padawan by using his backward stumble to push him over. Obi-Wan fell to the ground more surprised by his acrobatics than his defeat.
"What happened, Master?" The younger man made no move to stand, he just sat where he had fallen, looking closely at his weapon.
"You're beginning to find your own natural style within the Force. It may take some time to develop fully. However I get the feeling you'll be a very energetic fighter." Qui-Gon held his hand out to his fallen companion. "Shall we try that again?"
Obi-Wan smiled.
"It would be my pleasure." They bowed to each other showing their respect for the other's skill and began the deadly but beautiful dance again.
It had been another hard day of lessons. Obi-Wan's ability was growing but he was not progressing as his Master thought he should. There was a wall in him that he seemed unable to scale. Qui-Gon feared that the floodgates of the Force within his apprentice would open all at once and that Obi-Wan would be overwhelmed by years of suppressed Force ability.
The Jedi Master lay awake, staring into the dark long after Obi-Wan had fallen asleep in his arms. It was amazing how their closeness felt so right. He cherished these moments of silence where he could absorb the comfort of holding his beloved. His concerns for the young Padawan persisted at the back of his mind still. He finally fell asleep only a few hours from dawn.
Light, the clang of metal as sword met, the scent of blood and death, a whirlwind of sounds, smells and visions assaulted his senses, drowning him in their clarity. He couldn't escape, all he could do was scream.
Qui-Gon awoke with a start, something was wrong. He turned to Obi-Wan, but found himself alone in bed. He was instantly wide awake, throwing off the blankets, he jumped out of bed to finally see all the loose objects in the tent levitating. He turned slowly back around to face the bed. Obi-Wan hovered a meter in the air, his face contorted in pain. As the young General's nightmare continued and he became more distressed, the objects that floated in the air responding to his unconscious command began to fly around the tent. They crashed into each other creating a tornado of debris, at its centre Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.
"Obi-Wan, wake up." The Jedi got no response from his Padawan.
/Obi-Wan, please./
The mind to mind contact shocked the distraught Jedi back to reality. All at once the flying debris plummeted to the ground. The General landed on the bed with a choked sob.
"Obi-Wan?" Obi-Wan turned away from his Master, curling into a protective fetal position. He began to shake from the shock. "Obi-Wan what did you see?"
"I... I don't know." The horse whisper was loud in the deafening silence. "I don't remember much except the pain." Obi-Wan seemed to curl further into himself.
"Shh, My love." The Jedi Master returned to bed, pulling the younger man into his arms. "Let me comfort you."
They lay in bed together, neither speaking, just listening to the other's heartbeat and the sound of them breathing. In the morning nothing was said. Obi-Wan was reluctant to talk and Qui-Gon, unwilling to push, didn't ask. They began that day as they had all the others; they headed for their little clearing away from the camp. It was a place where the living Force flourished, where Obi-Wan could learn in peace and it was a place he felt safe.
A bright light blinded Obi-Wan, leaving him disorientated. As the glow faded he found himself in a battlefield, swords clashing around him, fighting for an unknown price. He stood among its violent roar, a lone figure in cream immune and separated from the events that transpired. The masked warriors were winning; they seemed to wield an ungodly power and skill. Countless numbers fell creating a river of red. Atop a hill stood a man in robes similar to his own. He was not part of the fight, it was not his place or his skill, a Jedi Brother stood alone watching.
From behind him four riders came, each carrying sharpened weapons, Obi-Wan tried to cry out in warning but found himself frozen, his breath court on his lips. The horsemen rode up to the Jedi Brother but his death did not come, instead he was willingly pulled up onto the back of one of the beasts and carried away. This time Obi-Wan was able to cry out. Betrayal, that Jedi had sentenced his own people to death, their blood was on his hands.
Across the battlefield a woman with silver hair went down.
"Obi-Wan, are you alright?"
"Qui-Gon?" Bewilderment stained Obi-Wan's voice. He lay on the ground staring up into a clear blue sky, the older Jedi knelt by his side.
"What happened?"
"I don't know, I was suddenly somewhere else." Qui-Gon looked concerned, he pulled his apprentice to his feet, looking over him for any signs of injury.
"You blacked out, are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I believe so." Obi-Wan's gaze seemed to go inward for a moment, he spoke as if to himself. "It seemed so real though."
"What did you see?" The older man watched his pupil carefully, noting every tense muscle.
"A battle." The words were almost dreamlike as if he was still there, seeing it all again away from Qui-Gon.
"Why don't you get something to eat while I talk to Yoda?" The Jedi Master suggested, wanting to ground Obi-Wan back in the now. The young general walked into the camp, his gait tired and stiff. Qui-Gon watched him go then turned in the opposite direction to seek out Master Yoda.
Yoda sat within the small copse that was away from the camp, and when Qui-Gon approached, he knew his master had been waiting for him.
"Master?"
"Yes, Qui-Gon?" when the younger Jedi Master made no move to speak further, Yoda prompted him, "Have questions, you do?"
"Yes, Master."
"Then sit, and then try and answer them I will." Qui-Gon gracefully sat on the forest floor before his aging master. Unsure of where to begin he just began to speak.
"I have concerns, Master about Obi-Wan. He had a vision of the past."
"Strange this is for one so old, suppressed his power a long time he has, hid it to protect his future. Stopped the visions from surfacing earlier it did."
"I understand that Master, but now that he is free, I am afraid that the visions will come quickly and overwhelm him, and I am afraid I won't be able to save him."
"If happens this does, your place to save him it is not. A test for him, perhaps."
"But he doesn't understand what it is that is happening."
"Then tell him we must, warning and advice will be enough to save him if the need arises. Meditate with me Qui-Gon, find your centre again before we speak to the boy. Needs calm he does, follow your example he will." Led by his Master, the Jedi Warrior slipped into a light meditation, reaffirming his connection to the living Force and his centre. He let go of his fears for Ben and himself, offering Obi-Wan his steadiness as a foundation.
Obi-Wan sat alone in his tent, seeing again and again the face of the Jedi Brother who had betrayed his own people. The slaughter of the army and the Queen filled his eyes until he saw nothing else. Night gathered around him and still he remained motionless, the twilight adding shadows of its own.
Yoda and Qui-Gon found him there later, when night had finally cast out all light, alone in the dark.
"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon whispered to him, kneeling by his chair.
"Yes, Qui-Gon?" Obi-Wan didn't look at him, he remained staring ahead seeing something that lay beyond the physical.
"Obi-Wan, we need to speak with you." The Jedi apprentice nodded but said nothing. Sighing, his Master sat down on the other chair while Master Yoda made himself comfortable on the bed.
"Obi-Wan, what you experienced was a vision of the beginning. All Jedi Brothers have them. They usually begin when they are very young and as time goes on they learn to control them. We believe that because you hid your gifts so long that the visions never surfaced, at least not until now. They will only get worse, Obi-Wan, but you must remember they aren't real; they are merely shadows of the past. Do you understand?" The Jedi General didn't answer or make any other sign that he had heard. "Obi-Wan?"
"I understand, Master. If you will excuse me, I need some air." He left the two Jedi Masters alone, lost within his own memories and those of others.
"His trial this is, nothing more there is for you to do."
When the blinding light filled Obi-Wan's vision this time he was more prepared and he understood what it was. After his vision cleared he looked at everything, noticing every detail, scribing it into his mind.
The sun was shining, he was in a little village with only about a dozen huts. The land around him was full of crops, the villagers working in them tending to their plentiful harvest. Children laughed and played. There was no Darkness. Travellers and strangers were welcomed and treated as one of their own.
In the space of seconds, Obi-Wan watched years go by. He watched the children grow and have their own families. These people were too innocent and unknowing, never expecting the attack that came out of the night. Masked horsemen, carrying torches, set alight the crops and homes. Women screamed as they watched their husbands and sons slaughtered and then cried out when they themselves were ruthlessly attacked. When dawn came there was no one left, just smouldering ash and blood.
Obi-Wan watched, knowing this had been the beginning, the way the Dark had made its presence known a little at a time, slowly gaining power. The world shimmered and dissolved, becoming instead a larger village some miles away. Instead of the Light, fear had spread its claws and dug into the planet's soul. Travellers and those in need were turned away, people huddled together, away from what might wait outside. But the Dark was becoming bolder and soon there was no longer safety in numbers.
Slowly, fear and hate reached out, poisoning the peoples' souls. Many turned to the Dark, seeking to join its army, hungry for power. Again the world shimmered and Obi-Wan found himself in a small hut with a lone figure lying on a crude mattress. Like the women of his first vision she had silver hair. She was a Jedi Sister, and she was dying. She was the first Jedi victim of the murderous darkness. Its poison seeped into the Jedi bloodline and in years to come it led to the end of their kind.
The Jedi Queen raised her arms, leading her people into battle with the masked men sometimes winning, but often falling back, giving up more land. And then by chance a Jedi Brother found the whereabouts of the Dark Lord. The Queen, in a last effort to return the Light mounted an attack, but somehow the enemy had been expecting them. They never knew why the battle had failed, but Obi-Wan understood. The Jedi Brother who had learnt of the Dark Lord's location was familiar to him. It was the same man he had seen atop that hill, riding off with his co-conspirators.
The Dark now had a firm foothold and the Jedi Queen had been killed in combat, her heir coming to power only to carry on the war. Obi-Wan closed his eyes against the agony of all he was learning. When he opened them he was in a cave bathed in firelight. Jedi Sisters and Brothers stood in a large circle, the new queen stood slightly forward. She began her spell, weaving words and a power unreachable to all others into a summons. The fire flickered then grew bigger, its flames taking on a blue hue. Amid the flames a face appeared ghostly in complexion. The Queen spoke,
"My lord, we summon you for help, our world is ending. Help us, your loyal subjects. You bestowed the power of magic to our kind many thousands of years ago to help peace in our world and now that peace is threatened." The lips of the apparition did not move but a voice was heard in the large cavern.
/Out of the Darkness of evil will come a warrior pure of heart, strength of many and a will of iron. He will come to raise a Light of immense power that will conquer the Dark. He will come when he has almost been forgotten and almost all hope is lost. I can do nothing to help you, but this is what I see in your world's future./ The endless eyes of the being stared at the Queen. /Go now, Jedi, your future is certain as you know it to be but there will come a time when the inevitability of the Dark is no longer true. Go now and let your kind continue the fight until that time comes to pass./
The blue light faded from the cave and once again the gathered Jedi were bathed in the soft glow of natural firelight. A voice from the crowed called out,
"What do we do now?"
"The only thing we can do," the Queen said as she turned to them, "We fight."
Skirmishes, battles and fights of years gone by passed before Obi-Wan's eyes in a matter of minutes. The constant struggle to maintain all the light they still possessed continued until he was brought to a time, hundreds of years after the beginning. A moment only fourteen years before his present, when a younger Qui-Gon watched his bond mate create a prophecy of her own that would fulfil a god's promise. He watched the last Sister die, Qui-Gon sitting with a child cradled in his arms and then he watched him disappearing into the darkest night.
"Qui-Gon."
Night was all around him, the only light coming from the stars and the camp's small fires. The world was as it had been when he had stepped out of his tent. The confusion he had felt after his first vision was no longer present but now he needed to speak to his Master.
He headed back, following his sense of his Master, to the Jedi council's tent. Inside he found Qui-Gon, Yoda and the rest of the council.
"Come in, Obi-Wan. Tell us what you saw you will."
"Yes Master Yoda." General Kenobi sat at the foot of the table. "I saw the beginning, I saw the final battle and the god's promise that followed and I saw Queen Adi's prophecy."
"You couldn't have seen that battle." Mace looked angry.
"Why?"
"No Jedi ever has, there seemed to be a powerful spell on that moment of time." The anger faded from the Jedi's voice as he explained a hint of weariness replaced it.
"But I saw it, I saw one of our own betray us." The whole Jedi council sat shocked, though Master Yoda seemed to be the only one unaffected.
"Late is it, tired we all are, talk more another time we shall." As everyone filed out the ancient Master remained behind, his eyes never leaving the younger of the two Jedi Warriors as they left. With no one to hear he said, "Know what you are, I do young one."
"Qui-Gon?"
"Yes, Obi-Wan?" he turned to his apprentice who seemed hesitant to speak.
"I saw your son, I saw Anakin." Qui-Gon didn't answer straight away, finally he asked.
"When?"
"The night Adi died, I'm sorry."
"It's alright, Obi-Wan. Get some sleep, it's been a long day."
"Stay with me?"
"Always." They lay silently together for a long time, Obi-Wan taking solace from the horrors he'd seen in his Master's calm.
"I saw everything." Minutes passed before the younger man spoke again. "I saw everything from the time it began until Adi's death, but I didn't see the time between her gift to the world and where we are now. Time is approaching, Qui-Gon and I don't see anything that could help us or our future." The Jedi Warrior couldn't answer his Padawan. For years the Jedi Brothers had sought visions of the one who would one day become there Chosen One but like the vision of the lost battle, his identity remained elusive and out of reach.
"Go to sleep, Obi-Wan. Think no more of these things tonight."
"Yes, Master." But Obi-Wan didn't close his eyes, he didn't sink into the oblivion of sleep. He remained awake by Qui-Gon's side, sifting through his memories of all he had seen. As he thought, Qui-Gon lay peacefully beside him, content to just be with his beloved and to live in the moment. But as ever, Obi-Wan looked to the future, trying to find some clue as to the out come, of a five hundred year old promise and a prophecy foretold on a death bed.
Qui-Gon's thoughts weren't as peaceful as Obi-Wan believed. He, too, was thinking of his apprentice's vision. How was it possible he had managed to see the lost battle when hundreds of Jedi Brothers before him had failed in their attempts to bring that failed battle before their eyes?
/Was it real?/
Qui-Gon believed it had been, but the explanation why seemed to be beyond his grasp. Something obvious but unimaginable to the Jedi Master was the answer. They continued Obi-Wan's training in the morning but the Jedi Padawan's mind kept slipping back to the past. He seemed unable to move past it. After several failed attempts of slipping into a meditative state, Obi-Wan's Master decided to try something else.
"Obi-Wan I want you to sink into a light mediation and I want you to let me guide you."
"Yes, Master." Obediently the General of an army allowed the Jedi Warrior into his mind. Qui-Gon wanted to help his Padawan, as he believed he had lost his centre from the experience of the vision and fear was stopping him from finding it again. Tentatively the Jedi Brother stepped into the younger man's mind but he did not find what he had been expecting. Jedi Brothers were usually very strong in the living Force, this connection offers them the calmness and the ability to help others in need with words of council. The only connection to the unifying Force was through their visions but in Obi-Wan it was different.
The young Jedi had his centre but it was different from Qui-Gon's. It didn't offer the gentleness of the moment with everything else in the background; the Living Force was drowned out by the Unifying Force. Qui-Gon reached out to touch it, and when he did, he found a very familiar trace.
/It can't be./ he reached within himself and found the same trace of a presence. /Beloved./ the Jedi Master pulled himself from Obi-Wan's mind. He opened his eyes to see the younger man before him in a new light. Eyes of the deepest forest green gazed back at him.
"Qui-Gon?"
"I must go, Padawan." Without another word he stood and all but fled from the other's presence. Fear and confusion swallowed his mind. He realised he was deserting the boy, but could not speak of his suspicions yet. He stumbled blindly on, seeking out his Master.
Obi-Wan remained in his place below a tall oak tree, he could feel its life pulsing within it but his connection was not as deep as Qui-Gon's and it offered little comfort. Instead of the life in the tree, he felt its years, both past and future. In its own way this offered comfort to the confused young man, but his soul was like fire and it burned.
"You knew?"
"Suspected I did, when years ago he arrived with an army unit. Ororra son he is, our Queen's sister. Who better than a blood relative? Picked him for another reason she also did."
"Why?"
"Get to that we will. Tell me what you have felt you must."
"When I was returning to the council I was drawn along a particular path by the Force. I found Obi-Wan at the end of it. When I first spoke with him I felt a familiar presence brush my mind, I never thought it could have been Obi-Wan. I felt it a number of times and just now I saw inside of him as I have seen inside of Adi. They are so alike, just as Adi and I are."
"Share a soul you do, meant for each other you were. Picked someone you would love Adi did. Meant to be together you always were."
"After all these years... I miss her still but when I'm with him it's even better, but he cannot be the one to save us."
"Doubt it still you do? Nearly fifteen years it has been since the prophecy was made. Time will begin soon, Qui-Gon, the one of prophecy and promise will come."
"But, Obi-Wan is... I..."
"Blinds you love does, like the Dark you believed Anakin to be the Chosen One. The last full Jedi born he may be and Adi's son but makes him the chosen one it does not. Picked Obi-Wan she did not just for us, but for you also. Look beneath the presence of Adi you should. Bonded you already are through Adi's soul, but question how she found him I do not. Know I do, so should you."
"What are you suggesting?"
"A link there already was, Qui-Gon, traced it back to him she did. In doing so ensured you would meet your soulmate because seek the one you would. Remember do you what the god promised?" Yoda waited for his old Padawan's affirmative nod. "Mention he did not then event before the beginning of time. Vague he was. Two Jedi warriors we now have, ask yourself why you should."
Qui-Gon spent much of that day in meditation. He feared going back across the bond he shared with Obi-Wan, he feared that Yoda was right, but then, what if he was wrong? Both coursed the Jedi Master disturbing thoughts and now he was beginning to question other things too. He didn't see much of Obi-Wan that evening, as the boy hid himself away in his own meditations and fears. Both needed the other to answer their questions but they both held back. Qui-Gon knew he should be helping his Padawan through this difficult time, but Yoda's revelations echoed within his mind. He returned to the tent late to find his apprentice already asleep. He lay down beside him, once again surprised by the peace the other man's presence offered even in sleep.
/Perhaps there is more to us that what I let myself believe./
Qui-Gon found his centre and the maelstrom of emotions faded almost all together. Everything seemed much clearer to him with the source of his questions lying by his side. He curled up next to his love and drifted into a dreamless sleep. Beside him, Obi-Wan's dreams became still, the night terrors fading back into his subconscious as he was once more protected by his Master and Beloved. Together they slept the night through.
Qui-Gon left early the next morning, still trying to put all his thoughts together so he would be ready for all his student's questions. Obi-Wan woke up as he has fallen asleep, alone. He donned his robes and set out to find his first Master, who had helped him when he was a boy.
"Master Yoda, how is it the Brothers are only able to see the past of Darkness?" Yoda and Obi-Wan sat together within the little copse, the sun shining down through the trees creating shafts of light even in the bright light of day.
"Before the dark the gift of prophecy the Jedi Brothers had, and when the Darkness came, poisoned the land it did but not just that. Poisoned our Sisters' bodies, it did but untouched the Brotherhood was not. Poisoned our gift was. Prophecy passed down the bloodline was not, turned into memories of death it did until see only the beginning of the Dark and when time all but stopped. See nothing before it, no Light could be seen nor the future. Blinded we were, unable to see what may come, so like the people our hope was taken.
"Even now, more than the land is poisoned, young Obi-Wan. Its soul poisoned also it is. Purged the evil must be from the magic, the Force and all our lives. Leave the Darkness must. Hope we need, knew this Adi did years ago, gave herself she did, hope we now have, Obi-Wan, in you. Knew she was fulfilling a god's promise she did not, but sure of it I am." The most wise of the Jedi Brothers peered at his companion seeing more than most.
"Spoken to you Qui-Gon hasn't." Yoda gave much away in his tone of voice, but Obi-Wan thought he heard frustration hidden in its gravely texture.
"About what, Master?"
"Your Master's doubts are his own folly, Obi-Wan." In a quiet voice that seemed reluctant to give up its secret he said, "The Chosen One you are."
"Master Yoda!" Both Jedi turned in surprise to the owner of the voice, as Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Warrior, stood staring angrily at his Master. "Obi-Wan, Riva asked me to find you, you are needed back at the camp."
"Master..."
"Go, Obi-Wan, I'll find you later." The Jedi Padawan gave both Masters a surreptitious glance before disappearing back through the trees.
"Padawan, come sit." Yoda was sorry he had betrayed his old apprentice's trust, but the boy needed to know. Qui-Gon made no move to sit with his Master and remained standing where he was.
"Why did you tell him that?"
"The truth it is, came to me for answers he did when none you would give him."
"I was waiting for the right moment. You had no right, we don't even know if he is the one." Qui-Gon's voice seemed to plead with his Master, but Yoda could do nothing to change what was.
"Love and fear for him blinds you, Qui-Gon. Clear your sight you should. Have something of yours I do, time to pass it on it is. Know the truth your mind does, but your heart is reluctant to believe. Our wait is over, Padawan, let go of that fear you can. Come, I will give you what was always meant to be his."
Qui-Gon held the wrapped parcel close to his chest. The tattered material had kept the object beneath safe for many years. It had belonged to a great leader, and after her death Qui-Gon had given it to Yoda for safekeeping. Its presence had been a constant reminder of his loss until he had passed it on to his Master, and now he was passing it onto someone who could use it. He walked across the army camp in search of Obi-Wan.
Qui-Gon entered their clearing to find Obi-Wan kneeling in its centre. He seemed at peace and his inner self was calm. Slowly, the rocks that lay scattered around him began to rise. One at first, but quickly, more joined it. With each success Obi-Wan's confidence grew and with it, so did the size of the objects he chose to levitate.
As if sensing his Master's presents for the first time he gently lay the stone back on the earth exactly where he had lifted them up from. Smiling he opened his eyes.
"Well done, Padawan."
"Thank you, Master." There was an uncomfortable silence when both remembered Qui-Gon's anger earlier that day.
"Is everything alright at the camp? Riva seemed a bit anxious." Obi-Wan smiled very slightly remembering his Lieutenant's rant on the state of everything and how she may as well give up now. It was a conversation they had had many times over the years, with different things setting her off, but it always ended the same. General Kenobi won and Riva had gone back to what she had been having problems, with feeling better and gotten it done.
"Yes, everything is fine. What's that?" Obi-Wan's curiosity had been caught by the strange parcel his Master had been carrying the moment he had opened his eyes. Wrapped in a filthy cloth, it appeared worthless, but the way Qui-Gon protected it with his body suggested its priceless value.
"This is a gift for you." He walked toward the kneeling general and held it out to him. Obi-Wan took it gently, understanding the importance of the moment. He held the object for a moment feeling the rough material that covered it. He looked at Qui-Gon and then unravelled the package. Beneath the shabby wrapping was a beautifully bound leather book. Its pages tipped with shimmering gold, and on its cover was the crest of the Jedi.
"What is it?" Obi-Wan's voice was hushed, awed by the exquisite book.
"It was Adi's. I want you to have it."
"Adi's? I couldn't."
"Please, Obi-Wan." Obi-Wan still seemed reluctant, but he didn't argue anymore. "Open it."
Carefully Obi-Wan turned the cover. The first page was gloriously decorated, the border a mass of colours and lines blended together for a pattern of beauty. The writing flowed in curves and sweeps written by hand hundreds of years ago. It read:
Book of Shadows of the Jedi Sisterhood.
Obi-Wan could do nothing but stare.
"I can't take this, it is meant for the Jedi's eyes only and I am only a Padawan."
"Obi-Wan, all the Sisters are dead, we need someone to carry us on."
"No, save it for the One."
"I did, I have."
"No, Qui-Gon I am not the One." The Jedi Master could understand Obi-Wan's denial, but time was approaching and they needed to be ready.
"Obi-Wan, our connection goes beyond fate, it is part sorcery and part the Force. Just try, please." Obi-Wan looked at him, fear in his eyes, but the desperation on the other man's face spurred him to act. He opened the book at random and found a spell on mist and read it through.
/Aim high./
Obi-Wan settled himself down as he would for meditating. He then reached out not only with the Force but also with the part of himself that made him human, his soul. He closed his eyes and tried to weave his consciousness into the world, asking it to do his will. He tried for a long time urging the effect he desired, visualising it within himself and projecting it onto the world.
"It's not working Qui-Gon, and it won't ever. I'm sorry." He could barely look at his Master as he rose and left the clearing.
Qui-Gon watched as his apprentice closed his eyes and sank into a light meditation. Through the bond, he could feel Obi-Wan reach out to the world in the same way Adi had once done and in a way that no one else could.
He held his breath and waited.
He looked around him but saw no change; the clearing was as it had been, but when he looked with the living Force he felt a subtle change. A difference that was not entirely natural. Something had changed and was continuing to do so, but then it faded away again to nothing.
"It's not working Qui-Gon, and it won't ever. I'm sorry." The Jedi Master did nothing to stop Obi-Wan leaving, he picked up the book and carried it back to their tent, not to be wrapped up again.
"Thank you, Adi." He smiled a smile of great joy and relief. "He will find his way and because you chose my soulmate I am here to help him."
Obi-Wan walked alone in the little wooded area for a long time, his surroundings quiet and his mind anything but. He knew he should be feeling grief but instead felt a rightness. Could he be the Chosen One? It seemed unlikely but what Qui-Gon had said was true. Their connection went beyond the Force. It was more. Was he meant to return home so his new Master would find him? Nothing happens without a reason.
/Perhaps I was meant to fail Bruck./ He continued to pace. /No I am not the Chosen One, I can't be./ The disbelief in himself blinded the Jedi Padawan to his gifts and abilities. He saw a lost boy when the world saw a great leader and warrior. His self-worth blinded him, but then perhaps, it was meant to.
Time by himself resolved Obi-Wan's opinion. He was not the One it was impossible.
/But how do I convince Qui-Gon of that? He seemed so eager./ The trees of the copse near the camp were smaller than those found in the Border Forest, letting light down to the earth and the smaller plants below. The sun shone on Obi-Wan and he basked in its heat and light. It offered comfort when nothing else would.
That's how Qui-Gon found him later, head lying back, eyes closed, facing up through the leaves where the sun passed through. At the approach of his Master, Obi-Wan opened his eyes and tensed. He turned to Qui-Gon and was relieved not to see the book in his hands, glad that its presence was not here to remind him of his failure and Qui-Gon's disappointment.
"Obi-Wan?" his voice was almost a whisper, reluctant to disrupt the tranquillity of the wood.
"Yes, Master?"
"I just wanted to make sure you were all right, and ask you not to give up. Everything comes in time." Obi-Wan sighed, a sound of heart-filled pain.
"Not this, Qui-Gon, it's not me."
But Qui-Gon wasn't convinced, as he had felt the steirring of power within his apprentice. It was a strange sense of peace that settled on him as the truth of Yoda's words was proven to him. Time was approaching, time to fight the final battle and now they had a weapon. Obi-Wan's doubt in himself lay between him and the vast untapped power that lay beneath the exterior of Jedi calm. Within a fire was burning but its light and heat were held back.
"Obi-Wan, you are the Chosen One. I believe in you so does Master Yoda. Now you need to believe in yourself."
"But I am only one man, I am nobody."
"Adi picked you because she knew we belonged to each other. She chose you because we would make each other stronger. She picked you because she loved you, because she knew you would complete me. She chose you because of love, Obi-Wan and that's what made the spell so powerful."
Obi-Wan Kenobi gazed out over the hill spread before them; he could see the Border Forest and within it he could feel the seething mass of the Dark. Qui-Gon's answers explained much, his powerful senses, his visions of the past, his love for the older man, but if it was true, all those people in the camp and those beyond, relied upon him to deliver them from the Darkness, to bring the Light.
No, he was not the One, he did not believe.