First Knight - Part Thirty-Eight
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"It's not fair," Anakin said as he watched Obi-Wan packing his things.
"It's not a question of fair, Padawan. It's a question of what is right."
"But you didn't do anything wrong, Master."
Obi-Wan stopped as he put the last of his clothing into his travel case. He looked over at his apprentice and noted the pain in his eyes.
"The Council saw differently," he said gently. "And we must abide by their decision."
"But I don't want another master. You're my master!"
Obi-Wan finished closing his satchel. He walked over to where Anakin was standing and put his hand on his shoulder.
"And you are my Padawan. But, remember, it's not a permanent arrangement. And you will learn much under Master Kohulann's tutelage."
"I know, Master. But, well, he's short."
Obi-Wan chuckled. Kohulann was a Sullustan and about two feet shorter than Anakin.
"Remember, Anakin, size matters..."
"Yes, yes I know," Anakin grumbled. "I just hope I don't trip over him or something while we're on a mission."
Obi-Wan turned back to his packing. "Well, look at it as a lesson on learning to pay close attention to your surroundings. Now, I think I've packed everything."
Anakin looked over at the table in Obi-Wan's quarters. "Master, you forgot your datapad."
He went over, picked it up and handed it to Obi-Wan. The Jedi looked down at the datapad, his heart beating hard as he recalled what was stored inside it.
"Master, you should know I read those poems you had in it to Onara."
Obi-Wan smiled. "I know, Anakin. She told me. Now, it's time for you to go. My transport for Bestine will be leaving shortly and you're scheduled to meet with Master Kohulann."
"I was hoping to see you off, Master."
"That will not be necessary, but I appreciate the thought."
"I still can't believe they're sending you to Bestine. The planet's nothing but a huge ocean."
"Not quite, Anakin. There are some islands on it."
"Humph, nothing but rocks sticking up out of the water."
"Well on one of those rocks is a Jedi Chapterhouse. It will be a good place for me to be, Anakin, in order to do as the Council has instructed. They could have expelled me. Instead, they have sent me on this retreat in order that I might meditate, reflect and find my way back to the Jedi path."
"Master," Anakin said, his blue eyes burning with conviction, "you never left the Jedi path."
Obi-Wan's heart warmed at Anakin's words. He smiled. Then, as he thought of something he had been meaning to speak to Anakin about, he frowned.
"Anakin, the ship you borrowed from Chancellor Palpatine."
"Yes, what about it?"
"Did you know a tracking device had been placed on it?"
"A tracking device? No, I didn't."
"It was discovered while I was on my way back to Ahjane from Lianna. Do you have any idea why it was on the ship?"
"No Master, none whatsoever. Perhaps the Chancellor had it put on the ship for some reason, prior to loaning it to me, and forgot to have it removed."
Obi-Wan released a breath and shook his head. "I don't know, Anakin, but I would advise you to be wary of the Chancellor."
"Be wary of him? Master, I know you don't care much for politicians, but I think you're overreacting. The Chancellor is a good man. I'm sure there's some logical and perfectly legitimate explanation for the tracking device."
"Perhaps, but, please, at least be careful in your dealings with him."
"Well, if it will make you feel better, Master, I'll be careful. But I still think you're making a mole hill out of a mountain."
"That's a mountain out of a mole hill, Anakin," Obi-Wan said smiling.
"Oh, yeah," Anakin said, as he dipped his head in the way that signaled he was embarrassed. Obi-Wan smiled. It was one of the things, over the years, that had endeared Anakin to him. Reaching over, he grabbed his arm and shook it.
"Go on, Anakin. I will see you in a few months," he said quickly, suddenly overwhelmed with feelings he did not want to dwell on.
"May the Force be with you, Master," Anakin said.
"And with you, Anakin."
Anakin hesitated for a moment, his eyes glittering in the lights of the room, then he quickly turned and nearly ran out of Obi-Wan's quarters. Once the door slid closed behind him, Obi-Wan turned on the datapad. He scrolled through until he found the file containing Nomi Sunrider's love poems. He gazed at the file for a moment, then pushed the erase button. However, Obi- Wan was quite aware that he had memorized every one of those poems and he would never be able to erase them entirely from his heart.
He turned and slid the datapad into his shoulder satchel. Looking around to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, he saw the holo-pendant K'lia had given him lying on his nightstand. He went over and picked it up. Pressing the bottom he turned it on.
Onara smiled warmly up at him, Ben in her arms. Obi-Wan's throat tightened. He quickly turned the hologram off. Opening the drawer of the nightstand he was about to put the pendant inside it, but he stopped, his hand clutched tightly around the pendant.
The pulse in his fingers beat hard, his breath coming long and slow in his lungs. Then, reaching up, he quickly put the pendant around his neck, slipping it under his tunic. It lay against his chest, its coolness soon warmed by his skin. With that, he picked up his shoulder satchel and travel case and, without a backward glance, left his quarters in the Jedi Temple.
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"Not much you said during the meeting," Yoda remarked as he and Windu walked through the Room of a Thousand Fountains.
Mace shrugged his broad shoulders.
"The Council seemed quite capable of making its decision without my input."
"Or your vote," Yoda added."
Mace gave Yoda a hard stare. "You abstained also."
"But my reason for abstaining you know. Your reason for doing so I do not."
"I chose to abstain from the vote for the same reason you did. Because I knew it would be a divisive vote. As the senior members of the Council, it is important for its continued cohesion that we appear neutral in these disputes."
"Which, you must admit, with more frequency are arising."
Mace said nothing, his hands clasped behind him.
"Close the vote was," Yoda went on. "Six to four to send Master Obi-Wan to Bestine."
"It could have been worse. Expulsion."
Yoda shook his head. "No, not that blind the Council is. That was Master Oppo's solitary voice crying for expulsion and growing old he is."
Mace shook his head, suppressing a laugh. Yoda was one to talk about age. Master Oppo was nearly 200 standards, which was quite ancient for a Thisspian, but Yoda was over 800 standards. But, Mace supposed, age, like so much in life, was all relative.
"Great Jedi Obi-Wan is," Yoda said thoughtfully. "One of the finest ever trained. Needed he is the Council knows. You do not cut off your arm when into battle you are about to go."
"Is that what you think is coming? War?"
Yoda grunted as he used his walking stick to maneuver over the grass.
"The dark side grows, Master Windu. Feel it you do."
Mace nodded. "We must stay the course."
"We must."
"And Obi-Wan will return to us."
"Yes, return he will," Yoda said firmly. "A stronger Jedi, a more committed Jedi."
"Stronger, yes. But more committed? I wonder."
The two Jedi Masters silently continued their meditative walk through the gardens of the Room of a Thousand Fountains.
---------------
Dooku looked over to where Lord Sidious was standing in the shadows of his secret chamber on Coruscant. He could sense that, as always, his dark master's thoughts were spread across the galaxy, conscious of every one of the plots, intrigues and strategies the two had set into motion.
The Grand Design as Dooku liked to think of it. The Grand Design that would remake the galaxy and bring it the order and stability it so desperately needed. What had happened on Ahjane regarding Lady Tsara was just a minor flux in the near-perfect unfolding of their plan for, as Dooku had suspected, she had proven to be an amateur, failing with her schemes and getting herself killed in the process.
"Think not of it, Lord Tyrannus," Sidious said, his voice rasping from underneath his hood as he turned to face his apprentice. "It will not affect our plans."
"But, Master," Dooku said hesitantly. "The disturbance in the Force..."
"...is of no consequence."
Dooku's mouth twisted. He did not agree with Sidious' cavalier attitude toward the disturbance both of the Sith had detected in the Force following the events on Ahjane. The light side and the dark side were like most polarities in nature; striving for balance but rarely achieving it. Usually one or the other dominated.
For long centuries the light side of Force had held sway over the galaxy. Now it was time for the darkness to rise. The troll and his companions of fools who made up the Council were always blathering about the balance of the Force. They even believed that the Skywalker boy was the one who was fated to bring about that balance. Lord Sidious, on the other hand, had seen another potential in Skywalker. A potential so great he had taken measures to preserve it in case, Darkness forbid, things did not go as he had foreseen.
"That is correct, Lord Tyrannus," Sidious said as he walked slowly over to Dooku's side, breaking in and reading Dooku's thoughts at the same time. "The setback on Ahjane is of no matter. Things are still proceeding as I have foreseen."
Dooku nodded as he moved next to Sidious and followed him out of the inner chamber where the two studied the countless Sith artifacts, scrolls and holocrons they had gathered from across the galaxy but, and he hid this thought as deep within himself as he could so Sidious would not detect it, Dooku was not feeling as confident as his master was. Something had happened on Ahjane that had sent a ripple through the Force. Something that, perhaps, could undo all their dark plans.
-------------
"It's all my fault, Sinja-Bau," Onara said softly.
"Whatever do you mean, dear?" Sinja-Bau asked.
The two women were standing outside in the garden. The sun had gone done long ago. Most of the servants had retired for the evening and Ben was asleep in his nursery. Onara clutched a gold-patterned shawl around her shoulders. The night air was cool now that autumn was drawing closer. Her dark hair, which she had worn up all day as she had met with the members of the Assembly who had come to the manor to discuss Ben's Regency and her impending marriage to Dynast Dalan, was now down and lay heavy against her slender neck.
"Obi-Wan being sent away to that isolated world," Onara said. "Anakin having been taken from him. It's all my fault."
"Onara, it's not your fault. It was the Council's decision. And it's not unprecedented. Sometimes it is deemed, for various reason, that a Jedi needs time to reevaluate his or her life within the Order."
"But it's a punishment, isn't it?"
"Not exactly. More like a rehabilitation. Once Obi-Wan has completed this retreat, Anakin will be returned to him."
Onara stared out at the darkness surrounding the manor. Then she suddenly turned and moved into Sinja-Bau's arms. The ex-Jedi smiled gently as she did so. Over the last few days Onara had grown in so many ways, but inside she was still the little girl who desperately missed her father. Onara lowered her head on Sinja-Bau's chest, her eyes filling with tears.
"If only I hadn't begged him to lie with me the night of the blessing ceremony," she sniffed. "He didn't want to, but I was thinking only of myself. I didn't want Edress to be my first. I wanted it to be Obi-Wan. Because...because even though I had only known him for that one night, I loved him. I was selfish, just like Grandmother always said I was. I wasn't thinking of what would happen to Obi-Wan as a result of what we did."
Sinja-Bau patted Onara's back. "Oh, my dear, it's not your fault."
"Yes it is," Onara sobbed. "It is. He did all these things the Council accused him of because me."
"Yes, he did do all those things for you. And for Ben. And, I can assure you, if he had it all to do again, he would. Without hesitation."
Onara wept for a bit, then pulled away from Sinja-Bau. She looked up at her, her face wet and reddened.
"I had thought not to marry Dalan. Do you know why?"
Sinja-Bau shook her head as she stroked Onara's face. "No, dear. Why?"
"Because I was hoping there was still some way Obi-Wan and I could be together. But it will never happen. Because I can't let it happen, can I? He's a Jedi Knight and that is his destiny. To take any other path would destroy him. I see that now. But I won't do as he asked me to do."
Onara stepped back from Sinja-Bau and lifted her chin proudly. "My son's name is Ben Gavon Kenobi. The priestess would not give my son a name because he was conceived during the blessing ceremony. So be it. Obi-Wan and I named him. And I will not change it."
Onara then stopped, her throat working as she gazed sadly over at Sinja- Bau. "I know why Obi-Wan is asking me to do this, not to tell Ben about him. He thinks it's what best for Ben. But, he's wrong. My dear sweet love is so terribly wrong. There is nothing I wouldn't do for him if he asked it of me, but this I will not do. I'm going to tell Ben all about his father when he's old enough to understand."
Sinja-Bau shook her head and, taking Onara's arm, squeezed it. "Why wait until then."
Onara looked at her for a moment, then smiled. Leaning over, she quickly kissed Sinja-Bau on the cheek. Turning away, she went back into the manor. Sinja-Bau remained outside. She looked up at the night sky, marveling over the countless stars as they twinkled in the darkness. Stars in the darkness, she thought. That was what Onara and Obi-Wan and Ben were. Stars in the darkness.
Then she tilted her head as she thought about Obi-Wan's apprentice. She had not been entirely truthful with Obi-Wan. There was much about the visions she'd had during her madness that she remembered, but she had seen no reason to share them with him. At least not yet.
When she had first seen Anakin, seen his handsome boyish face and those bright blue eyes, a chill of foreboding had raced through her body. But, at the same time, hope had flared within her, as bright as a flame. The boy, she knew, was the source of both darkness and light, of sorrow and hope.
As for Onara, Sinja-Bau had been mistaken and correct about her being the Mother of the Light. Onara had given birth to Obi-Wan's son, a child who was as bright with the Force as was his father. But Onara was not the woman Sinja-Bau had seen in her visions. She resembled her; the same dark eyes and hair, but was not her.
That woman Sinja-Bau had yet to meet. But, someday, meet her she would. She knew this, just as she knew that one day Onara and Obi-Wan would again be together. But all this Sinja-Bau kept to herself for she also knew that the future was in motion, responding to the decisions made by those living in the present, and that such decisions must be made freely, without the burden or the yoke of visions weighing them down. Then, just before she turned to go back into the manor, she looked once more up at the night and smiled. Stars in the darkness.
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Onara smiled as she looked down at her son as he lay in her arms, gazing quietly up at her with those eyes so like his father's. Then she glanced over to where Dalan was sitting in a chair across from her. He looked up from the book he was reading and gave her a warm smile. Onara returned his smile, then looked back at Ben.
"Once upon a time," she began in a soft voice, the warmth of the fire driving away the coldness of the winter air outside the manor she and Dalan now shared as husband and wife, "there was a brave Jedi Knight by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He carried a sword made of light and with it did great and wonderful things. The brave Jedi also had a son and his name was Ben."
Ben smiled when he heard his name.
"Yes, that's right, darling, it's you. One day your father went into the dark forest to slay a terrible beast called the valkon that was preying upon all the villages...."
The End
To be continued in the sequel titled "Stars in the Darkness"
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Thanks to you all for reading and commenting on this fic. I'm glad you took the time to read it and found it enjoyable. :) I hope to have the sequel ready to go sometime soon. Thanks!!!!
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"It's not fair," Anakin said as he watched Obi-Wan packing his things.
"It's not a question of fair, Padawan. It's a question of what is right."
"But you didn't do anything wrong, Master."
Obi-Wan stopped as he put the last of his clothing into his travel case. He looked over at his apprentice and noted the pain in his eyes.
"The Council saw differently," he said gently. "And we must abide by their decision."
"But I don't want another master. You're my master!"
Obi-Wan finished closing his satchel. He walked over to where Anakin was standing and put his hand on his shoulder.
"And you are my Padawan. But, remember, it's not a permanent arrangement. And you will learn much under Master Kohulann's tutelage."
"I know, Master. But, well, he's short."
Obi-Wan chuckled. Kohulann was a Sullustan and about two feet shorter than Anakin.
"Remember, Anakin, size matters..."
"Yes, yes I know," Anakin grumbled. "I just hope I don't trip over him or something while we're on a mission."
Obi-Wan turned back to his packing. "Well, look at it as a lesson on learning to pay close attention to your surroundings. Now, I think I've packed everything."
Anakin looked over at the table in Obi-Wan's quarters. "Master, you forgot your datapad."
He went over, picked it up and handed it to Obi-Wan. The Jedi looked down at the datapad, his heart beating hard as he recalled what was stored inside it.
"Master, you should know I read those poems you had in it to Onara."
Obi-Wan smiled. "I know, Anakin. She told me. Now, it's time for you to go. My transport for Bestine will be leaving shortly and you're scheduled to meet with Master Kohulann."
"I was hoping to see you off, Master."
"That will not be necessary, but I appreciate the thought."
"I still can't believe they're sending you to Bestine. The planet's nothing but a huge ocean."
"Not quite, Anakin. There are some islands on it."
"Humph, nothing but rocks sticking up out of the water."
"Well on one of those rocks is a Jedi Chapterhouse. It will be a good place for me to be, Anakin, in order to do as the Council has instructed. They could have expelled me. Instead, they have sent me on this retreat in order that I might meditate, reflect and find my way back to the Jedi path."
"Master," Anakin said, his blue eyes burning with conviction, "you never left the Jedi path."
Obi-Wan's heart warmed at Anakin's words. He smiled. Then, as he thought of something he had been meaning to speak to Anakin about, he frowned.
"Anakin, the ship you borrowed from Chancellor Palpatine."
"Yes, what about it?"
"Did you know a tracking device had been placed on it?"
"A tracking device? No, I didn't."
"It was discovered while I was on my way back to Ahjane from Lianna. Do you have any idea why it was on the ship?"
"No Master, none whatsoever. Perhaps the Chancellor had it put on the ship for some reason, prior to loaning it to me, and forgot to have it removed."
Obi-Wan released a breath and shook his head. "I don't know, Anakin, but I would advise you to be wary of the Chancellor."
"Be wary of him? Master, I know you don't care much for politicians, but I think you're overreacting. The Chancellor is a good man. I'm sure there's some logical and perfectly legitimate explanation for the tracking device."
"Perhaps, but, please, at least be careful in your dealings with him."
"Well, if it will make you feel better, Master, I'll be careful. But I still think you're making a mole hill out of a mountain."
"That's a mountain out of a mole hill, Anakin," Obi-Wan said smiling.
"Oh, yeah," Anakin said, as he dipped his head in the way that signaled he was embarrassed. Obi-Wan smiled. It was one of the things, over the years, that had endeared Anakin to him. Reaching over, he grabbed his arm and shook it.
"Go on, Anakin. I will see you in a few months," he said quickly, suddenly overwhelmed with feelings he did not want to dwell on.
"May the Force be with you, Master," Anakin said.
"And with you, Anakin."
Anakin hesitated for a moment, his eyes glittering in the lights of the room, then he quickly turned and nearly ran out of Obi-Wan's quarters. Once the door slid closed behind him, Obi-Wan turned on the datapad. He scrolled through until he found the file containing Nomi Sunrider's love poems. He gazed at the file for a moment, then pushed the erase button. However, Obi- Wan was quite aware that he had memorized every one of those poems and he would never be able to erase them entirely from his heart.
He turned and slid the datapad into his shoulder satchel. Looking around to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, he saw the holo-pendant K'lia had given him lying on his nightstand. He went over and picked it up. Pressing the bottom he turned it on.
Onara smiled warmly up at him, Ben in her arms. Obi-Wan's throat tightened. He quickly turned the hologram off. Opening the drawer of the nightstand he was about to put the pendant inside it, but he stopped, his hand clutched tightly around the pendant.
The pulse in his fingers beat hard, his breath coming long and slow in his lungs. Then, reaching up, he quickly put the pendant around his neck, slipping it under his tunic. It lay against his chest, its coolness soon warmed by his skin. With that, he picked up his shoulder satchel and travel case and, without a backward glance, left his quarters in the Jedi Temple.
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"Not much you said during the meeting," Yoda remarked as he and Windu walked through the Room of a Thousand Fountains.
Mace shrugged his broad shoulders.
"The Council seemed quite capable of making its decision without my input."
"Or your vote," Yoda added."
Mace gave Yoda a hard stare. "You abstained also."
"But my reason for abstaining you know. Your reason for doing so I do not."
"I chose to abstain from the vote for the same reason you did. Because I knew it would be a divisive vote. As the senior members of the Council, it is important for its continued cohesion that we appear neutral in these disputes."
"Which, you must admit, with more frequency are arising."
Mace said nothing, his hands clasped behind him.
"Close the vote was," Yoda went on. "Six to four to send Master Obi-Wan to Bestine."
"It could have been worse. Expulsion."
Yoda shook his head. "No, not that blind the Council is. That was Master Oppo's solitary voice crying for expulsion and growing old he is."
Mace shook his head, suppressing a laugh. Yoda was one to talk about age. Master Oppo was nearly 200 standards, which was quite ancient for a Thisspian, but Yoda was over 800 standards. But, Mace supposed, age, like so much in life, was all relative.
"Great Jedi Obi-Wan is," Yoda said thoughtfully. "One of the finest ever trained. Needed he is the Council knows. You do not cut off your arm when into battle you are about to go."
"Is that what you think is coming? War?"
Yoda grunted as he used his walking stick to maneuver over the grass.
"The dark side grows, Master Windu. Feel it you do."
Mace nodded. "We must stay the course."
"We must."
"And Obi-Wan will return to us."
"Yes, return he will," Yoda said firmly. "A stronger Jedi, a more committed Jedi."
"Stronger, yes. But more committed? I wonder."
The two Jedi Masters silently continued their meditative walk through the gardens of the Room of a Thousand Fountains.
---------------
Dooku looked over to where Lord Sidious was standing in the shadows of his secret chamber on Coruscant. He could sense that, as always, his dark master's thoughts were spread across the galaxy, conscious of every one of the plots, intrigues and strategies the two had set into motion.
The Grand Design as Dooku liked to think of it. The Grand Design that would remake the galaxy and bring it the order and stability it so desperately needed. What had happened on Ahjane regarding Lady Tsara was just a minor flux in the near-perfect unfolding of their plan for, as Dooku had suspected, she had proven to be an amateur, failing with her schemes and getting herself killed in the process.
"Think not of it, Lord Tyrannus," Sidious said, his voice rasping from underneath his hood as he turned to face his apprentice. "It will not affect our plans."
"But, Master," Dooku said hesitantly. "The disturbance in the Force..."
"...is of no consequence."
Dooku's mouth twisted. He did not agree with Sidious' cavalier attitude toward the disturbance both of the Sith had detected in the Force following the events on Ahjane. The light side and the dark side were like most polarities in nature; striving for balance but rarely achieving it. Usually one or the other dominated.
For long centuries the light side of Force had held sway over the galaxy. Now it was time for the darkness to rise. The troll and his companions of fools who made up the Council were always blathering about the balance of the Force. They even believed that the Skywalker boy was the one who was fated to bring about that balance. Lord Sidious, on the other hand, had seen another potential in Skywalker. A potential so great he had taken measures to preserve it in case, Darkness forbid, things did not go as he had foreseen.
"That is correct, Lord Tyrannus," Sidious said as he walked slowly over to Dooku's side, breaking in and reading Dooku's thoughts at the same time. "The setback on Ahjane is of no matter. Things are still proceeding as I have foreseen."
Dooku nodded as he moved next to Sidious and followed him out of the inner chamber where the two studied the countless Sith artifacts, scrolls and holocrons they had gathered from across the galaxy but, and he hid this thought as deep within himself as he could so Sidious would not detect it, Dooku was not feeling as confident as his master was. Something had happened on Ahjane that had sent a ripple through the Force. Something that, perhaps, could undo all their dark plans.
-------------
"It's all my fault, Sinja-Bau," Onara said softly.
"Whatever do you mean, dear?" Sinja-Bau asked.
The two women were standing outside in the garden. The sun had gone done long ago. Most of the servants had retired for the evening and Ben was asleep in his nursery. Onara clutched a gold-patterned shawl around her shoulders. The night air was cool now that autumn was drawing closer. Her dark hair, which she had worn up all day as she had met with the members of the Assembly who had come to the manor to discuss Ben's Regency and her impending marriage to Dynast Dalan, was now down and lay heavy against her slender neck.
"Obi-Wan being sent away to that isolated world," Onara said. "Anakin having been taken from him. It's all my fault."
"Onara, it's not your fault. It was the Council's decision. And it's not unprecedented. Sometimes it is deemed, for various reason, that a Jedi needs time to reevaluate his or her life within the Order."
"But it's a punishment, isn't it?"
"Not exactly. More like a rehabilitation. Once Obi-Wan has completed this retreat, Anakin will be returned to him."
Onara stared out at the darkness surrounding the manor. Then she suddenly turned and moved into Sinja-Bau's arms. The ex-Jedi smiled gently as she did so. Over the last few days Onara had grown in so many ways, but inside she was still the little girl who desperately missed her father. Onara lowered her head on Sinja-Bau's chest, her eyes filling with tears.
"If only I hadn't begged him to lie with me the night of the blessing ceremony," she sniffed. "He didn't want to, but I was thinking only of myself. I didn't want Edress to be my first. I wanted it to be Obi-Wan. Because...because even though I had only known him for that one night, I loved him. I was selfish, just like Grandmother always said I was. I wasn't thinking of what would happen to Obi-Wan as a result of what we did."
Sinja-Bau patted Onara's back. "Oh, my dear, it's not your fault."
"Yes it is," Onara sobbed. "It is. He did all these things the Council accused him of because me."
"Yes, he did do all those things for you. And for Ben. And, I can assure you, if he had it all to do again, he would. Without hesitation."
Onara wept for a bit, then pulled away from Sinja-Bau. She looked up at her, her face wet and reddened.
"I had thought not to marry Dalan. Do you know why?"
Sinja-Bau shook her head as she stroked Onara's face. "No, dear. Why?"
"Because I was hoping there was still some way Obi-Wan and I could be together. But it will never happen. Because I can't let it happen, can I? He's a Jedi Knight and that is his destiny. To take any other path would destroy him. I see that now. But I won't do as he asked me to do."
Onara stepped back from Sinja-Bau and lifted her chin proudly. "My son's name is Ben Gavon Kenobi. The priestess would not give my son a name because he was conceived during the blessing ceremony. So be it. Obi-Wan and I named him. And I will not change it."
Onara then stopped, her throat working as she gazed sadly over at Sinja- Bau. "I know why Obi-Wan is asking me to do this, not to tell Ben about him. He thinks it's what best for Ben. But, he's wrong. My dear sweet love is so terribly wrong. There is nothing I wouldn't do for him if he asked it of me, but this I will not do. I'm going to tell Ben all about his father when he's old enough to understand."
Sinja-Bau shook her head and, taking Onara's arm, squeezed it. "Why wait until then."
Onara looked at her for a moment, then smiled. Leaning over, she quickly kissed Sinja-Bau on the cheek. Turning away, she went back into the manor. Sinja-Bau remained outside. She looked up at the night sky, marveling over the countless stars as they twinkled in the darkness. Stars in the darkness, she thought. That was what Onara and Obi-Wan and Ben were. Stars in the darkness.
Then she tilted her head as she thought about Obi-Wan's apprentice. She had not been entirely truthful with Obi-Wan. There was much about the visions she'd had during her madness that she remembered, but she had seen no reason to share them with him. At least not yet.
When she had first seen Anakin, seen his handsome boyish face and those bright blue eyes, a chill of foreboding had raced through her body. But, at the same time, hope had flared within her, as bright as a flame. The boy, she knew, was the source of both darkness and light, of sorrow and hope.
As for Onara, Sinja-Bau had been mistaken and correct about her being the Mother of the Light. Onara had given birth to Obi-Wan's son, a child who was as bright with the Force as was his father. But Onara was not the woman Sinja-Bau had seen in her visions. She resembled her; the same dark eyes and hair, but was not her.
That woman Sinja-Bau had yet to meet. But, someday, meet her she would. She knew this, just as she knew that one day Onara and Obi-Wan would again be together. But all this Sinja-Bau kept to herself for she also knew that the future was in motion, responding to the decisions made by those living in the present, and that such decisions must be made freely, without the burden or the yoke of visions weighing them down. Then, just before she turned to go back into the manor, she looked once more up at the night and smiled. Stars in the darkness.
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Onara smiled as she looked down at her son as he lay in her arms, gazing quietly up at her with those eyes so like his father's. Then she glanced over to where Dalan was sitting in a chair across from her. He looked up from the book he was reading and gave her a warm smile. Onara returned his smile, then looked back at Ben.
"Once upon a time," she began in a soft voice, the warmth of the fire driving away the coldness of the winter air outside the manor she and Dalan now shared as husband and wife, "there was a brave Jedi Knight by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He carried a sword made of light and with it did great and wonderful things. The brave Jedi also had a son and his name was Ben."
Ben smiled when he heard his name.
"Yes, that's right, darling, it's you. One day your father went into the dark forest to slay a terrible beast called the valkon that was preying upon all the villages...."
The End
To be continued in the sequel titled "Stars in the Darkness"
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Thanks to you all for reading and commenting on this fic. I'm glad you took the time to read it and found it enjoyable. :) I hope to have the sequel ready to go sometime soon. Thanks!!!!