A/N I live! Merry Christmas if you celebrate
"Is this the part where you kill me?" Obi-Wan asked after the driods had removed the dishes from the one of the best meals he had had in a long time.
"If I wanted to kill you I would have done it on that field," Dooku said evenly lacing his hands in front of him on the table and giving Obi-Wan his full attention. "I would not have brought you aboard my ship and treated your injuries. I would not have left you your light saber in your room."
"Then why am I here?" demanded Obi-Wan his voice rising slightly with his frustration at the situation.
"For now you are here as my guest because I wish it," Dooku said standing up. "You have limited access to certain parts of the ship, the bridge, communication, and my personal quarters to name a few."
Obi-Wan was taken aback, he didn't say anything for a long moment.
"What happened to my men?" Obi-Wan demanded
"As soon as I had you in my procession I retreated from the field. No more fell as soon as my ship took off," Dooku answered truthfully.
That was a weight off of his mind to know that his men had survived, and in a way he had accomplished his goal. He forced Dooku to retreat, more of his men had to have survived.
"How long will you keep me?" he asked.
"Until I decided otherwise," Dooku said simply again. "Enjoy your stay here."
With a twirl of his cape Dooku left the room, leaving Obi-Wan with more questions than answers. The Force yielded no help, it was mostly silent but it also indicated that there was no immediate danger.
In a rare display of emotion, Obi-Wan let his head fall forward and thunk on the table and heaved a sigh. None of this made sense, had he fallen into an alternate dimension? Why hadn't Dooku killed him? Why was he insisting on treating him like a guest?
Obi-Wan sighed again and raised his head and rested his chin on his folded arms and stared into the middle distance. For a moment he let his mind dwell on the memories Dooku had stirred up.
It was odd what the mind could suppress and something so simple as taste could bring it back.
How could he forget about those evenings in the archives? Madam Nu giving gently hugs and ruffling his hair as Dooku quizzed him on politics class. He had felt so much pride when Dooku would give his small nod when he got a question correct and the small smile he had received at the end of the night. He had promised to help with his saber practice.
The night that followed the Temple attack; when Dooku had found him in the gardens trying desperately to release his guilt and shame into the Force over Buck. Dooku's hand had been gentle and warm on his shoulder as he guided him back to Qui-Gon's apartment.
"It will all be alright young Kenobi," he had murmured.
Those had been the last words Dooku has spoken to him in for over a decade, until he had arrived demanding to know if the rumors had been true about the Sith and Qui-Gon.
Obi-Wan rubbed a hand roughly over his face, suddenly feeling exhausted. Standing up he decided to go back to his 'room.' Standing outside the door, Obi-Wan wasn't surprised to see a droid standing there.
"Can you show me back to my room?"
"Roger Roger," the droid said.
Obi-Wan followed the droid back to his room, where he shed his outer robe and fell back into bed, suddenly wanting nothing but to sleep.
As he drifted off, he could help give a small chuckle. It took being kidnapped by a Sith to be able to escape paperwork.
"Breathe in, now out, breathe in, now out."
Anakin followed Master Vokara's gentle instructions as he let the Force flow through him bringing him to his first real meditation in his life. His Master had always tried to get Anakin to this place, but Anakin had always been filled with restless energy and fear of what his Master would see if he opened himself fully to the Force like he had explained it.
Obi-Wan had managed to find a way to incorporate movement into his Meditation but he never had been able to reach this deep into the Force.
Anakin was in awe of the beauty of the Force and the deep sense of peace that filled him. Now he knew why his Master meditated often. Here his worries didn't matter, they floated away like a balloon in the breeze. He was able to step back and think about his problems.
Looking at past problems in this place, Anakin could see if he had just stopped and thought instead of jumping into a situation it could have turned out for the better.
When Anakin opened his eyes, he felt more at peace with himself then he had his entire life.
Master Vokara was practically beaming at this. "Very good Anakin, you have made great progress."
Anakin couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride at this statement. He knew Master Sid-Ney would be proud when he came for his next session. Sid-Ney had thought it best to allow Master Vokara to lead Anakin into his first deep meditation. As a Healer she was better equipped to lead fellow Jedi into deep meditation as it was closely related to deep healing trances and she would be able to pull him out of it if need be.
"Thank-You Master Vokara," Anakin returned with a slight bow.
"You're welcome Anakin," she said warmly. "Now I want you to practice with going into light meditation while sitting still. Since your unfamiliar still with the methods of deep meditation, I don't want you to try it until our next session in a few days. I want to be able to lead you to it a few more times just to be safe."
Anakin knew that a few months ago if someone had implied that he couldn't control handle meditation without instructions, he would have did it anyway to prove them wrong.
However now he knew better. Younglings were taught at a very young age how to safely enter this state of meditation and always had an elder to help them with it. Coming into the Temple so late, he had not learned these skills that were easy as breathing to the rest of the Order. With new eyes, Anakin could see how much of this Padawanship was extremely difficult for Obi-Wan. He basically had to teach Anakin everything that all the other initiates had been taught the 9-12 years prior to them being picked as Padawans. Things he took for granted when teaching Ahsoka.
He had thought she was extremely gifted and didn't need to have things explained. But now he could see that she had been taught all these things while being an initiate.
As Anakin exited the healing wing and headed towards the archives he reflected on his Padawan's days and Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan had made so many sacrifices for him. Upon reaching Knighthood, Obi-Wan should have had a time period where he took solo missions and just be able to celebrate that achievement.
But Obi-Wan had spent that time training Anakin, spending almost every evening with the boy, teaching and nurturing him even though he was deeply grieving. He had done everything in his power to help Anakin succeed. He never really got a Knighthood, he went straight from Padawan to Master to Councilor. Had Obi-Wan wanted any of that? Did he ever resent the fact he was never able to step out on his own? To never really be free of so much responsibility? Had anyone ever really asked what Obi-Wan had wanted?
Anakin sighed, he wouldn't get any answers to his questions until Obi-Wan returned to the Temple, which didn't look promising. Anakin felt his probation would be over by the time he saw or spoke to his Master next.
Looking up Anakin saw Master Yoda and Mace in deep conversation that stopped as soon as they noticed him approaching. Something that had been going on quite frequently in the past week. Anakin at first chalked it up as sensitive Council Information, but it seemed like everyone in the Temple was acting the exact same way. They would fall mum as soon as they saw Anakin or even Ahsoka approaching. Ahsoka even reported her friends where acting shifty and guilty when she was around.
Anakin was scheduled to stay with Mace tonight, he was determined to ask him what was going on. The only person that wasn't acting differently and that Anakin enjoyed spending time with was Madame Nu. For as soon as he entered the archives she greeted him with a warm smile. Ever since she had shown Anakin and Ahsoka the holocron, she had been warm to the pair, grandmotherly in fact.
"Good afternoon Madame Nu," he said with a smile when he reached the archives.
"Good afternoon Anakin," Jocasta reaching out and briefly giving Anakin a squeeze on his forearm. "Ahsoka's in the western stacks, reading up on some treaties."
Perhaps it was a result from his deep meditation, but he could feel the love and affection that was laced through that simple act echo in the Force. "Thanks," Anakin said, trying to reflect back every ounce of affection back.
He seemed to be successful as Madame Nu's smile seemed to grow warmer and the wrinkles around her eyes crinkled a little bit more.
"Madame Nu can you please help me?" asked a Twi'lik initiate breaking the moment. Jocasta bid Anakin a good-bye and Anakin made his way to the stacks where his Padawan was sequestered.
Ahsoka was settled in the middle of the aisle with a stack of data-pads sitting next to her. She was too busy reading and fiddling with her beads to notice Anakin until he was sitting down next to her.
"Skyguy,"
"Snips, what are you reading?"
"Some of the treaties that Master Obi-Wan worked on for diplomacy class. There are so many of them Sky-Guy, he was quite in demand it seems," Ahsoka said gesturing to all the holopads she had pulled out.
"He didn't just get his nickname of the Negotiator because of the war," Anakin said with a laugh. "We spent a lot of time away from the temple every year."
"Still the sheer amount in ridiculous, did you ever have time to do studies in the Temple?" Ahsoka said.
Anakin shook his head, "No, I rarely attended class at the temple once I was approved to go on missions with Obi-Wan. He taught me my lessons on the ships between the stops, when he could dig me out of the ship engines."
Ahoska nodded, but she couldn't help but tuck that piece of information away to later think about. Was Obi-Wan that much in demand? Or whoever messed with Skyguy's head manipulate the situations so that Anakin would not have much attachment to the Jedi Temple. Anakin longed for Padme when they were on campaigns but he never seemed to long for the steady presence of the Temple like Obi-Wan and Ahsoka did.
"So which treaty did you cause Obi-Wan the most disappointment looks with?" Ahsoka said with a smile changing the subject.
Anakin but on a offended look but scanned the holopads and selected this one. "NortiousRes by far," Anakin as he offered the Pad to Snips and then launched into the story.
They spent the rest of the day and into the evening, Ahoska pulling treaties and Anakin spinning stories of what happened in the unpublished accounts on those planets.
Anakin was in a good mood when he arrived at Mace's, though it quickly vanished when he entered the apartment. The Force was silted with a tense atmosphere and though Mace seemed calm as he stood over the stove making a cup of tea, Anakin could see the tenseness of his shoulder and the slight tick in his eye that Anakin had come to realize that Mace was worried about something. Which itself was weird to think of, Anakin was becoming to know Master Windu well enough to pick up on these ques.
Anakin took a deep breath and came to stand on the other side of island and waited until Mace had finished with his tea and passed him a cup.
"Mace," Anakin said softly, his voice making the other one freeze. "What is going on? What is being kept from me?"
Mace slowly looked up at the other Jedi, "And what makes you think that something is being kept from you."
In the past Anakin would have blown up, thinking Mace was implying he was stupid. But Anakin had gotten to know Mace, and knew his Master had gotten a trick or to from the man in front of him. Answering his question with a question, while also fishing for information on how much Anakin knew/suspected.
"The whole Temple seems too mysterious grow silent while I'm around as well as Ahsoka. Master Yoda and you are acting more suspicious than normal. Something's happened hasn't it? Something's happened to Obi-Wan?"
Mace sighed and resisted the urge to fiddle with his tea cup to buy time. He knew this was coming, as each day that had passed and with no word came through. He had to commend the Temple for banding together and keeping it a secret this long. Mace motioned for Anakin to go to the living room and he settled down in his chair before breaking the news. He didn't dance around the subject.
"We've lost communication with the Negotiator. A garbled message was sent a week ago that the recent battle had knocked out all forms of communication. We have not been able to regain radio contact since, only a ping every few hours reaches us letting us know that they are still alive. But due to the infrequently of the pings, we are unable to pin point their location."
Anakin felt an immediate urge to run to the hanger and jump into the nearest ship to find his Master.
He jumped when Mace laid a hand on his shoulder. "I know whats going on in your head Anakin. But you can't go after him."
Anakin opened his mouth to argue, but Mace continued to speak.
"I know it's your first reaction, it's the first reaction for every Padawan, no matter how long its been since they were one. But we don't know if Obi-Wan is even in trouble. What if you go out there and he is fine?"
Anakin paused and reached for some of the calm he had achieved earlier today and considered what Mace had said. What if he did sneak out and Obi-Wan didn't need him? He would lose his only chance, and just made every sacrifice Obi-Wan ever performed for him null and void.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"The Council hoped communications would be re-established by now and we could tell you after the fact so we could not give you any temptations. Many Councilors want you to succeed Anakin, as well as the people that are in the Temple."
The only person who really seemed to not want Anakin to complete his probation was the Chancellor.
Mace hoped Anakin didn't see the slight gleam of humor that filled his eyes as he thought of all the times he had told the Chancellor to mind his own business. The man had been persistent in contacting the Temple and demanding Anakin back onto the field or demanding to know the reason why he had been benched.
"I'm sorry Chancellor, but that is official Jedi Business and by no means a matter for the Senate."
"Anakin willingly chose this he is no means a prisoner but he is under censorship, and under censorship he shall remain."
"With all due respect Chancellor we do not interfere with the Senates internal affairs, butt out of ours."
With that Mace Windu ended the call with a smirk. He had been wanting to do that to Palpatine for years.
"Is anything being done to try to find them?" asked Anakin breaking Mace out of his happy thoughts.
Mace nodded, "A team has been sent to their last known location, we hope once they are in closer range they will be able to pinpoint the Negotiators spotty signal.
"You'll keep me informed?" Anakin said with a bit of desperation in his tone.
Mace nodded, "I will."