Chapter 13
"So, we returned to Dylon, Blyne and the other wedding guests and escorted them to the Palace. I explained as best as I could to the Hydra what had happened. After the ceremony we did not stay for the festivities; I felt we had worn out our welcome by that point."
"And with that the Council has to agree," Mundi said with a level of understanding that surprised Qui-Gon.
"The Queen contacted us," Mace explained. "Demanding a full explanation."
Qui-Gon nodded, not really surprised that the princess' mother had felt the need to contact the Order.
"Seen Obi-Wan since have you?" Yaddle's gently spoken question broke Qui-Gon from his thoughts and for a moment he was uncertain how to answer.
"No," was all he could say.
"Return he will," the ancient master reassured him, sensing that much had been left unsaid and that it concerned the Shadow and his most recent disappearing act.
"The Council sees no wrong doing for your part, Qui-Gon," Mundi began wrapping up the meeting, realising that for once it had not been Qui-Gon's rebellious nature that had been the cause of tension and confrontation on an easy mission. "You may return to your duties here at the Temple until you are assigned another mission."
"Thank you," Qui-Gon bowed to all the masters gathered and then left the Council chamber.
The Jedi who sat still, waited patiently and silently, expecting something more to happen, expecting a figure to step from concealing shadows. After a time they realised that the shadows remained undisturbed and that they would not receive an uninvited visitor to their meeting.
"Return he will," Yaddle repeated, this time reassuring the Council of the Jedi, not the lover of Obi-Wan Kenobi, that the Shadow had not deserted them. None of the other Jedi could tell how sure she was of her statement and truth be told, in her own heart, Yaddle was not sure how far she trusted her own words.
Qui-Gon collected Anakin from where he waited outside the Council chamber. The boy had not attended the meeting, Qui-Gon feeling that he did not need to hear some of the details of what had happened while Qui-Gon was with Obi-Wan. Anakin stood obediently and followed behind Qui-Gon, like a good padawan, all the way back to their quarters.
"Go to sleep Anakin," an exhausted Qui-Gon instructed. "We can discuss the mission tomorrow."
"Yes, Master," Anakin agreed and went happily enough to his room. The master was relieved to see that their mission had not worn on the boy as it had him or his bondmate. Mercifully, Anakin had been spared the worst of Hydra and the bounty hunters. He wondered though, what would happen when Obi-Wan returned; would they be as they were before?
Taking his own advice, Qui-Gon prepared for bed and settled himself in his and Obi-Wan's large empty bed, fully expecting to spend a long, restless night gazing at the ceiling, which was why it was a surprise when he awoke early the next morning feeling refreshed and alert. The reason for his restful slumber became apparent when he rolled over and came face to face with his bondmate who was sill nestled in the arms of sweet dreams.
Qui-Gon watched his lover for a time, seeing the lines of worry that remained even in sleep. He saw the lines of years past and while Obi-Wan was by no means old, he was older with a heavy responsibility.
'Obi-Wan?' he enquired along the bond, wanting the comfort of his soulmate's presence in his mind.
'Hmmm?' was the sleepy reply.
"Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon repeated, this time aloud. "Wake up."
"No."
Qui-Gon grinned, glad to see Obi-Wan had not been as adversely affected by the mission as he had feared. The grin turned into a wicked smile. Carefully, so as not to disturb Obi-Wan and alert the other Jedi as to his intentions, he reached out to take hold of a lock of Obi-Wan hair and then, ever so gently, stroked the end down his bedmate's nose.
Obi-Wan's nose twitched, but the Jedi showed no other signs of life.
Enjoying the teasing far more than he thought he really should, Qui-Gon repeated the action.
Obi-Wan's nose twitched again and then was followed by sniff.
Feeling a little more adventurous, Qui-Gon brushed the hair along an exposed ear lobe.
"Do you have a death wish?" a very perturbed voice asked and yet the speaker still refused to open his eyes.
"No, why do you ask?"
Qui-Gon then received what he had hoped to entice from his lover. Obi-Wan growled.
"Obi-Wan?"
"Yes, Qui-Gon?" Obi-Wan relented and finally opened his eyes. What the master saw in them filled his heart with relief. There was no pain, no sorrow and no fear and most importantly, there was no death; there was simply Obi-Was gazing back at him. Part of Qui-Gon was ashamed that he had feared what would lie in his lover's eyes, ashamed that he had half expected shadows to dance in stormy green eyes.
"I wanted to make sure that you were alright."
"Wanted to? As in don't anymore?"
"I can see that you are fine," Qui-Gon clarified.
"And us, Qui-Gon, are we fine?"
"More than fine." Qui-Gon at last leant forward and kissed his lover. He had wanted to do it the moment he had seen Obi-Wan in their bed, but had been unsure how welcome he would have been.
"He has returned," Yaddle told her companion, seeing her own relief reflected back at her in warm, brown eyes. "Where he should be he is."
"With Qui-Gon?" Mace asked, almost needlessly.
"With his bondmate," Yaddle confirmed. She looked up at dead, contorted branches of a blossom tree. "Soon he will realise that follow his heart he can, that part of being the Jedi protector this also is."
Mace did not entirely understand his companion's words, but he trusted them nonetheless. Yaddle knew the heart and mind of the Warrior second only to Qui-Gon. Mace may have been Obi-Wan's friend, but even he deferred to the diminutive master in matters concerning the fate of the Jedi's most necessary weapon.
"Soon," the ancient master repeated happily to herself, leaving the sight of the dead tree behind her as she returned to her quarters. Content for now that the Shadow's path was sure and that although distrust still lay between him and the Council, she was certain it had not become and would not become a breach so wide neither side would be able to repair the damage.
Barely a week had passed when once more Qui-Gon and Anakin were sent away, this time to a war torn world whose people were finally ready to discuss peace. Once more Obi-Wan stayed behind. Once again he could have gone with his master and quieted the voice in his mind that whispered threats, but he feared he was giving in to his heart rather than listening to his head. He feared that the danger that had threatened Qui-Gon on Hydra still lingered in his mind and he was allowing the past vision to cloud his future.
Alone and desolate, Obi-Wan once again tried to pick up the trail of the Darkness that infected Coruscant. Obi-Wan stood outside the Temple and waited for the taint to enter his senses. But nothing happened. For a moment Obi-Wan feared that once again his senses had deserted him, that his abilities as the Shadow had fled in the face of unknown causes, however he did not allow his panic or fear to override his better judgment. No, his senses had not diminished; he could still sense all the other Jedi, could trace all their Force signatures through the web of the Force. Something else then had changed.
Obi-Wan was not naïve or foolish enough to believe that the Darkness had utterly gone, that it had some how been unknowingly defeated, instead he knew that it was hiding. It still polluted the Republic centre, but now it was more careful of its presence, as if it knew something or someone was close to finding its source.
'Yes,' Obi-Wan whispered into the Force. 'You should fear me, I am coming for you.'
Obi-Wan knew that he was making it personal, that his hunt for the Sith was not solely for the benefit of all Jedi. When he left Qui-Gon on Hydra he had not abandoned the planet straight away, instead he had gone searching for the answer to the mystery of the bounty hunters that had targeted his old master not once, but twice now.
It was the Darkness that had sent the bounty hunters after Qui-Gon, of that Obi-Wan was now sure. The use of Force cloaks certainly showed someone familiar with the ways of the Force, but more than that, the Shadow in Obi-Wan's heart could sense the taint that surrounded the killers, a taint that was more than just that of a lifetime spent in the pursuit of death for money.
The Sith, it seemed, had also had a vision of a dark future just as Obi-Wan had, and he, too, had seen that for such a future Qui-Gon Jinn could not live. Before Naboo, the Sith master had not known why Qui-Gon was so important, but now, with the Chosen One among them, the Jedi master's role was all too apparent. As the Jedi Warrior fought to save Qui-Gon's life, the Sith master toiled and plotted to end it.
Obi-Wan spent a cold, restless night alone in his and Qui-Gon's bed. Dreams and misty visions of the future haunted his sleep and although the knight had gone to bed sure of his decision, come morning something had changed and the Shadow arose to sunlight and a new purpose.
"I felt the fluctuations in the Force," Obi-Wan confessed to the full Jedi Council without any preamble. "Twice I have been left without my extra senses."
"Grave this news is."
"Why have you suddenly decided to come to us with this information?" Mundi demanded.
"Dark times lay ahead, we cannot be divided." Obi-Wan bowed his head. "I apologise for my distrust, I allowed the future to taint my present."
"We trust you, Obi-Wan," Mace said, echoing the earlier words of Master Yaddle.
"I know," Obi-Wan said with a faint smile, sending a quick wink to Yaddle.
"Where are you going?" Yaddle asked in response to his playfulness.
"What makes you thing I am leaving?"
"Knight Kenobi!"
Obi-Wan smiled to hear that tone in Mace's voice again. He had missed this, missed this closeness and wondered why he had waited so long before making his confession.
"I'm going after Qui-Gon."
"Is that a good idea?"
"When my head can't decide, perhaps it's better to listen to my heart," Obi-Wan answered. Only Yaddle understood his cryptic words and once again the two Jedi shared a smile. "I am going to be with my bondmate, there is no reason why I should not be."
"May the Force be with you, Knight Kenobi."
"And with you, also."
Obi-Wan left the Council chamber and headed straight for the landing platform where his ship sat ready to take him anywhere he desired to go. If he hurried, he could catch up to Qui-Gon and Anakin and meet up with them as they alighted from their transport.
'I'm coming,' the young Jedi whispered along the Soulbond, and although Qui-Gon was too far away to hear his words, the master felt Obi-Wan's intent and sent his own wave of love back to Obi-Wan. The bondmates had been given five years, no more time would be allowed them to adjust, but Obi-Wan was confident they could work through it as they went. They had been the best Jedi pairing when he had been an apprentice and Obi-Wan could see no reason why their pairing would not be just as successful the second time around. Doubts and dangers lingered in the Shadow's mind, but the inner part of the man, the part of him that was bondmate to Qui-Gon Jinn, knew that their love at least would survive the gathering Dark.
Obi-Wan Kenobi left Coruscant and went to be with his bondmate.