Disclaimer: Read the first chappy legal peeps. Too lazy to repeat :)
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Chapter Fifteen: Of the Unclear Becoming Clearer
Obi-Wan ran from the 'lift and to his rooms with little thought. What was there to think about? The Sith had returned, and he was gaining confidence. Ashden was unconscious. The Council would want a report as soon as possible.
Not much to churn over.
With barely with strained haste he punched in the entry code and found Bant centimetres from his face.
"How is she? What happened?" he demanded, a sharp-edged lump lodging in his throat despite the Healer's reassurances that there was nothing wrong.
"Obi, Obi calm down. Focus." Bant placed placating hands on his shoulders and held them firmly in place. "Ashden's perfectly fine -"
"She's unconscious, Bant."
"She was, now it's more like she's in a deep sleep."
Obi-Wan brushed off that detail impatiently; either way she wasn't awake, "Where is she?"
Relinquishing her grasp she stepped aside to let him through to his Padawan's bedroom where she lay, tucked in and peaceful. It calmed his edgy nerves, though he didn't know what he must've been expecting.
"Ashden? Time to wake up, Padawan." Sending a sliver of energy along their bond he felt her stir. Was that it? When the bomb knocked him out, did it jolt their bond? She was only young, not capable of sustaining a psychic shock like that. You should of thought of that Kenobi, he berated himself. He had no time to linger of those thoughts, or thoughts of any kind really.
"Master?"
Brown eyes opened and peered out from underneath heavy eyelids, and with them her end of their bond opened a little more; t would be a few more months before sleep affected it less.
"What happened, Master?"
"You, Padawan, passed out." He said it with a smile that came much easier now that he wasn't looking at an apprentice possibly in a coma, despite Bant's reassurances.
"Why?"
"Do you remember what happened?" Granted, he didn't know exactly, but he was getting a pretty good picture painted in his mind from their link; it seemed that when he got knocked out, Ashden felt the effects of his disconnection and got completely overwhelmed.
Simple enough, but no less disturbing.
"My head went strange, and then… you were waking me up."
Obi-Wan made a decision not long after he took Ashden as his Padawan not to lie, or sugarcoat information that she might need as she got older; one of the good lessons he had learnt from Qui-Gon was that children are only as ignorant to the world as they're taught to be.
"Do you remember your lessons on training bonds, Ashden?"
She nodded her head dubiously, uncertainty, he was sure; at what in Force they had to do with this.
"And you can feel ours?"
"Sometimes,"
"Well, when I was looking for the missing apprentice's I was attacked," he paused, seeing her eyes widen and fill with fear, "nothing you need to worry about, it happens quite a lot in the lower levels, Jedi or not, but when my connection to the Force was completely disrupted, our bond was disrupted so your mind was shocked and that's why you passed out."
"Oh. Are you okay? Who attacked you? Are you going to be all right? Did you catch whoever did it? Have you found the Padawans?"
He smiled, placating her questions with a hand gently over her mouth. "That is what I'm going to be sorting out, so that is why I would like you to stay with Thew for a couple of days, so you won't have to be alone again while Bant is busy and you don't have lessons."
"You're leaving?"
"Not leaving, just, going on a mission. I'll be back, I promise."
"Promise promise?"
"Promise promise. Now get some sleep, tomorrow I have a meeting with the Council and then I'll help you take some things to Thew's dormitory."
"Yes Master."
Tucking her in, Obi-Wan hoped that he wouldn't be breaking that promise.
Nor did he miss the look of sad resignation in her eyes as he turned out the light and closed the door.
---
"Master Sith, you believe your captor was?"
"I do."
"Why? What is your basis for such an assumption, Master Kenobi?"
Once more all twelve members of the High Council were seated around the chamber with solemn faces and unreadable expressions.
Question after question was fired at him, every and any answer he gave carefully scrutinised and worked over with and without his knowledge.
"I recognised him, Masters."
"Recognised him? How?"
"From where?"
"I have had dreams, visions of him for years. There was no mistake -I have no doubt over what he is."
"Question, you do, who he is." Yoda said gravely.
"Yes Master."
"How long have you been having these visions?"
"What do they contain?"
Obi-Wan refrained from answering straight away. What did his nightmares contain?
Fear, anger, hate, silent promises of destruction, manic laughter, fear… yes. Lots of fear.
His fear.
The base emotion a Jedi should not fear.
"Fear, Masters. In them, I fear for something, or possibly…"
"You fear him."
Obi-Wan nodded.
Yoda's ears twitched in thought, his eyelids drooping. "What feel you now?"
"Nothing. I just want to find out who he is."
"But it's not just a desire to uncover a dangerous mystery, is it?"
"It is a need,"
"A Jedi should not need,"
"Need brings out emotions,"
"Emotions cloud judgement."
Obi-Wan refused to be swayed from his decision. He stood stock-still and tall, not letting any of his thoughts colour his expression or to reach the surface, where the Council members could so easily reach them.
"I must go. I know him. I know how he will react; I know where he will be. I know he has found what he wants. I am the logical choice."
Yoda spoke sharply, "Official mission, this is not! You being stubborn, it is."
"Master, the Jedi are failing -our numbers are falling year by year, month by month as less Force-sensitive's are found and our Knights and Master are killed. We have the Sith Master, we only need to lure him out."
"Believe you can do this? Hmm? Lure Sith? Long time, he has hidden. One day, matter to him it will not."
"Maybe," he conceded, "But whatever he was looking for did, enough for him to risk this exposure."
The conversation, if it could be called that, lulled, and the Master conferred silently again leaving Obi-Wan to mull over his thoughts one more. The pull was still there. The want. The need, to find out what the Sith wanted.
"You may go." Spoke Windu.
Yoda looked up at him through heavy lidded eyes, "But approve, I do not."
---
Obi-Wan checked in on Ashden once more, securing the window again and tucking in both youngsters.
There was no telling if he'd be gone one hour or sixteen, as such, there was no way he was leaving his Padawan alone.
He was just going to have to make sure that he came back. In one piece.
Mind calm and centre strong he shrugged into his cloak and clipped on his lightsaber. If all went to plan he would need it. If things went brilliantly, the Sith would be exposed.
"Mmm, Wise is this?" Yoda's gravel voice came through the air, at any other time Obi-Wan would've been startled, not today however. He'd never been so… so connected to the Force when not meditating.
And he had to admit.
He did love it.
"I want to know what he found. I want to know why so many Jedi had to die for it."
"Dangerous, it is." Yoda shuffled into the light of the corridor, his stick tapping on the cold floor gently.
"Many things are, Master."
"This…" he knocked his gimmer stick at Obi-Wan's considerably larger leg -a silent cue for him to come a bit lower, "Understand, you do not. How much at stake, you realise?"
"Master I understand something, and that is that I heard the Sith in my dreams last night. He wants me but doesn't think I'll arrive at his little meeting. I fully intend to surprise him and fight him. He has to realise that the Jedi are not as weak as he believes."
"Stubborn, you are."
"And I always will be, Master. May the Force be with you." Rising with a low by steady bow he ended their conversation with a nod and continued out of the Temple and into the streets of
The diminutive Master murmured after the fading figure before going his own way, "And with you."
Obi-Wan swept through the streets, sliding through the gaps between the streams of people on the upper levels like a fish gliding though water, winding his way to the lower levels where the people thinned and the light dimmed.
The meeting place itself was so unobtrusive; Obi-Wan had struggled to find it on a map. Existing between the grey area that wasn't termed low or high, it was one of the levels that served as a delivery bays for the considerably large commerce stores. As it was, the site itself was a large circle, surrounded by towering walls slick with things that either started dark, or were so incredibly dirty and pollution ridden that they now appeared black.
Oddly, he saw the figure and didn't feel it first, though it made sense. A Sith would need to be excellent at cloaking his Force signature to the general public in case a Jedi happened to pass through.
Keeping his distance, he climbed down to the level on which the other stood and paced warily to where he had a good view.
"Did you find it?" he demanded.
"Of course. You came, I wasn't sure whether your Council would permit it."
"I would have come anyway."
"I'm sure." The man, turned to face him across the space, his face completely covered by the same large overhanging hood that was present in Obi-Wan's dreams. His voice came, not naturally, but through a modulator.
A disguise.
"What do you want?"
"I should think that is obvious."
"Enlighten me."
"The Jedi my dear boy, the Jedi. The Jedi and their precious saviour."
"We have no saviour."
"Oh but you do, it's just not that Anakin Skywalker. I thought it was for a year or two, but it is not."
Obi-Wan withdrew further into the shadows, putting up stronger shields not only to block out the probes he felt prying at the fringes of his senses, but also to keep in his own thoughts, which were quickly falling into disarray. Anakin not the Chosen One? That didn't make any sense! Qui-Gon's Count from the boy showed an amount off the charts!
"Confused are you, boy? Let me tell you a story," The Sith laughed his sickly cackle and continued still chuckling, "once, on a planet in the very most Outer-Rim where the Republic was not recognised there was a woman, barely grown from a teenager. This woman was a slave, and slaves are called upon to do many tasks by their Masters, as they are so inclined. This woman was ordered to… pleasure, her Master, but shortly after he sold her for some quick and easy money, never knowing she was pregnant. The woman passed from Master to Master for several months until she had the child, and she called him Anakin. She never told anyone of the boy's true father, because she wanted nothing to do with him. And, well, when you came by, who could pass up an opportunity like that? Your ancient prophecy is well known throughout nearly every planet with space travel.
"Does the tale sound familiar, Jedi?"
Obi-Wan kept silent. Shmi had lied to them? To Qui-Gon? Or did Qui-Gon know?
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Author's Notes: Once again, my apologies on the lateness! I've had exams and coursework (still have coursework...) and life-troubles.... i was going to make this chapter longer, but I've been having trouble as to how to write what comes next.... so that's why this chapter might seem like it ended a bit abruptly -it wasn't originally supposed to end there!
Review Thank Yous and Replies:
sharon
MistiWhitesun: sorry, i forget what people don't like, i'll try to not say that kind of thing in future ;)
CelticPhantom: Something about a shovel and Anakin, i believe, lol....
Kusco: Oooo you make a good point! Okay, amendment: Obi-Wan doesn't show his sense of humour enough in Ep2 :D I didn't mean for him to turn into an evil kid, because well, i don't think he is. He's just an obnoxious kid ;)
Janna Hawkins
MidnightPrincess: don't tempt me!
grumpy2348
Sith Lord Darth Revan: I only know of mine and one other too, Shanobi's, right? If not, GO READ SHANOBI'S (as well!!)!!
Knight Kenobi of Eryn Lasgalen: No apologies needed mellon nin! I took me forever to update!
Snow-Glory: me? not answer questions? i don't know what you're talking about...
Lame Crown: that would be what i was hinting at, as Evil Sith Dude just did aussi :D Sorry, I tend to split implications and explanations over a few chapters, don't i? Ooo they're good questions, they are ;)
Saiyan Jedi: you're making me blush!
Dha-Gal: - runs far away quickly, picking up Obi-bits along the way - He will live again!
april
Webkitsune: also making me go very red!
Itha Arrowland
SereneNuit Hmmm, that's a valid point though, so I'll try and incorporate it, if i can :)