The Phoenix entered smoothly into hyperspace, on it's way to the Rebel Fleet gathered near the Sullust system. Leia was about to ask Obi-Wan again who he was, but something made her stop. She saw the condition he was in, and worry overcame her desire to ask questions. His breathing had become more rapid, his face was pale and not very alert. Leia recognized the signs, alright; he was going into hypovolemic shock from the blood loss.
"Luke, I think I have to at least reset the bones in his leg, so maybe I could get him to stop bleeding. You need to get the first aid kit, and then I'm going to need Artoo; he has a humanoid anatomy program that will help."
Luke looked alarmed when he heard that. "Leia, are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"Don't worry, Luke. Winter and I both took advanced first aid courses when we went to the University of Alderaan. And, I've set bones before. I need Artoo's help so I can visualize things better, not so that I can actually find the bones," Leia informed him. She opened up the first aid kit, and was glad to see some bacta packs, some bandages, and some rubber gloves. With the scissors included in the kit, Leia was able to cut the boot off the broken leg. "I still don't know his name. What's his name?"
"It's Obi-Wan," Luke told her.
To Luke's surprise, Leia looked annoyed. "Luke, I don't have time for games! His name isn't Obi-Wan!" she snapped.
"Hey, at first, I thought it was a bad joke too. But he is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Honest!" After that protest, Luke got very quiet. His Jedi Master's leg was in a very bad way indeed. How was Leia supposed to be able to help him with a compound, open fracture?
With impatience, Leia shook her head. She had to quickly assess the damage done to the man's leg and ignore the implications of it actually being true. If the Jedi was in shock, she needed to see if he could be kept alert at all. "Obi-Wan, look at me!" she said. She was surprised that the responded quickly, turning his blue eyes to her face. Obi-Wan is his name! Putting it firmly out of her mind, Leia told the him that she was going to reset his bones. She half expected him to become as alarmed as Luke had been. But to her relief, he simply nodded quietly, then closed his eyes. "Obi-Wan, I know you want to, but you can't pass out right now! I'm going to need your help." His eyes opened reluctantly, and sighed deeply. Apparently, he knew what was coming.
Meanwhile, Artoo arrived, with Threepio right behind. "You called, Mistress Leia?" the golden droid asked.
"Threepio, I need Artoo to run the medical anatomy program. I need the lower right leg skeletal structure displayed." With a few beeps and bleeps, Artoo's memory banks activated, and he brought up a hologram of the right leg of a human, showing the pair of bones that connected the knee to the ankle. "Great, I'll need that in just a minute. Right now, Obi-Wan, I need you to hold onto the sides of the cot for leverage. You're going to need to pull backwards when I tell you to. I'm going to be pulling forward." Obi-Wan nodded grimly, holding on and bracing himself. "One...two...three..."
To Obi-Wan's great credit, he barely screamed as Leia pulled the leg enough to make the room necessary to place the bones back where they belonged. He was grateful that she only needed one try to get them right where they should be. Naturally, he felt the Force at work. She would not have been able to do that, especially in one try, without the Force. Unable to bear it any longer, Obi-Wan passed out.
Leia glanced up at Luke. He looked like he was going to pass out, too. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone so brave," she murmured, gently smoothing his ginger hair. Then she stopped and turned on Luke suddenly. "There's no way this man could be Obi-Wan Kenobi! I saw what happened to Obi-Wan on the Death Star! He died! And he was an older man, too. Older than this man is..." Leia argued. She flashed back to that moment, when Ben Kenobi stood before Darth Vader, serenely raised his lightsaber, and saw Darth Vader slice right through him. Could this man face death so peacefully? "It's impossible. People don't come back from the dead!"
"You know, Leia, I'm getting the feeling that you don't want to beleive me for some reason." Luke watched Leia start to smooth Obi-Wan's hair again. He was getting a strange vibe, and it made him want to try to distract her from this ASAP. "Look, I know you don't like talking about him, but this all came about because of Darth Vader. He's brought Obi-Wan Kenobi back to life."
Well, that worked; Leia glared at Luke. "Why in the world would Vader bring Obi-Wan back to life? I thought he hated him," Leia frowned.
My dear Leia, you had no idea how much Vader hates me until now...
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. Thoughts that inspired despair floated through Obi-Wan's mind. To try and bring dead things back to life was, in Obi-Wan's opinion, a worship of the flesh, not of the spirit within the flesh. His only hope of any peace was Luke. If he could learn the ways of the Force, perhaps Vader would keep his word and allow him to die again with dignity.
If only I could see Qui-Gon Jinn again.
Perhaps he was just hallucinating; he was still in terrible pain (and so therefore could not be unconscious, merely half asleep). But at least the vision of Qui-Gon, seated beside the cot brought him comfort. Obi-Wan suddenly found himself as a young Padawan of thirteen, not the grown-up Jedi Master Luke and Vader had seen him as. He blinked and grinned. The spirit form of his beloved old Jedi Master grinned back. "Qui-Gon?" he gasped, "I thought I'd never see you again!"
"Which proves, once again, what happens when you let your mind just run away with you. I actually had sensed what had happened to you, but I didn't dare visit you until you were a little less upset. Well, look at you! You're alive!" Qui-Gon said.
"It's a total disaster! How did Vader do it?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Hmm...I'm not totally certain, but I think Anakin can only do it to people like us, in other words, people who had discovered the ability to retain their identities in the netherworld. Which, right now, includes you, me, and Yoda. Who isn't dead yet, therefore he is safe, for the time being. Ani had been experimenting with those who had just died, whose souls hadn't been able to dissolve yet. He'd gotten more proficient at keeping the soul in the body until it suited him to let it go. Then, the souls would enter the Force, and dissolve," Qui-Gon explained.
"You knew all this?" Obi-Wan gasped.
"Of course I didn't, not until just now. Really Obi-Wan, if I'd known it before, don't you think I'd have gone to Anakin and said something?" Qui-Gon asked.
"What? That would have been the worst thing you could have done! He'd have snared you, like he did me! He very well still could do it!" Obi-Wan fretted. "How I regret having gone to him to taunt him like I did!""Well, yes, then this never would have happened. And then, you would not have saved Luke from the assasins in the cantina--nice lightsaber work, by the way--nor would you have been able to help Leia escape Prince Xizor's castle. And you certainly could not have taken Luke as your Padawan! You have a new Padawan Learner, Obi-Wan!" Qui-Gon said with excitement.
"Yes, the son of the one I failed so miserably," Obi-Wan whispered brokenly.
"Obi-Wan, listen to me. I never for one moment thought you had failed Anakin. And more importantly, I don't believe he ever thought that either. If he did, would he really have trusted his son to you?" Qui-Gon asked.
Obi-Wan got a bit upset at his old master's naive attitude. "Darth Vader is hoping that I'll do to Luke whatever I'd done to him, to make Luke turn to the Dark Side. Then, he'll turn the boy into a Sith Lord!"
For some reason, Obi-Wan could still see Princess Leia; she was using the Force. He couls see white light surrounding her. Qui-Gon noticed her there too. She turned to Luke, who was barely visible through the haze. "He's got a fever, Luke. See if you can get the bacta ready."
Qui-Gon turned back to Obi-Wan. "You seem to be in very capable hands, my former Padawan. Actually, I think, if she can get over the fact that you separated her from her twin brother at birth, she might actually like you."
"Oh, great!" Obi-Wan seethed, and he wasn't sure what he was more annoyed about; Qui-Gon's second guessing, or the prospect of Princess Leia hating him.
"Obi-Wan, for your own health, you must not look so intently at the future which is clouded with so many different possiblities, but concentrate on where you are now. Who you are with, right now. And trust in the Force completely," Qui-Gon advised.
"You sound much like Yoda sounded when he spoke to Luke on Dagobah. I believe you've got a true convert on your hands in Master Yoda. However, to me, it is indisputable that Vader is evil to the core. And he hates me with a venom that astounds and dismays me," Obi-Wan admitted.
Qui-Gon shook his head. "I disagree. I am of the opinion that he is one step away from forgiving you."
"Please don't tell me that you're jumping on that 'Anakin has some good in him still' bandwagon!" Obi-Wan scoffed.
"Well, he didn't slice you into thin ribbons, did he?" Qui-Gon asked.
"That's only because he wants me to train Luke!" Obi-Wan nearly growled.
"Which you should, by all means, do. And then, we shall see who really ends up the winner of this game..." Qui-Gon murmured. "I shall go to Yoda, and tell him what has happened to you. Warn him that if he was making plans to become one with the Force anytime soon, that he would perhaps be wiser to put those on hold. And Obi-Wan, remember that I'm always nearby if you need me. May the Force be with you, Obi-Wan."
"May the Force be with you, Qui-Gon," Obi-Wan answered, subdued. Qui-Gon faded away.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath, and seemed to grow older at once as he sat up in the cot. Across from him was the princess, who was watching the hologram of a human leg, but was using the Force to mend the broken bones back together.
This must mean something. Maybe Qui-Gon was right; maybe he should trust more in the Force. After all, the last time he'd completely trusted in the Force, it was on the Death Star, with Vader's lightsaber cutting through him. He never even felt it.
And Leia was trusting in the Force as well. Unless it was all just a dream? Healing was a personal thing, many times. Healers and their patients sometimes form a link through the Force, and Obi-Wan sensed the link forming between him and Leia. He could only see her through a haze of light, in this dream realm he was in. If it was a dream, it certainly was making his leg feel better. He almost was finding himself daring to think he might actually be able to walk once more.
Could the Force have more in store for them all?
Luke and Leia sat near the sleeping Obi-Wan, facing eachother. They both talked a little about Prince Xizor, the latest attempt on Luke's life, and the time that Boba Fett will most likely arrive on Tatooine. All this talk, however, skirted around what they actually needed to talk about. Finally, Leia sighed.
"Do you have any idea why Vader brought Obi-Wan Kenobi back to life? What is he thinking?" she asked, shaking her head.
"It was a shock to me, especially after what went down in Cloud City. It appears that Vader sent Obi-Wan to train me in the ways of the Force," Luke told her.
"It makes no sense to me why he would do that," Leia commented.
Luke pursed his lips. "Well, he doesn't think I trust him," he said.
"Well, there's the understatement of the the year! He cut your hand off, after all!" Leia growled. Abruptly, she deflated. "I'm sorry, Luke. I don't know what to do about him. I don't know how to get through to him. He keeps doing these things; just when I think he's going to calm down, he goes off the deep end. First you, and now Obi-Wan! This is the most outrageous thing he's ever done!"
Luke gaped. "Leia, what are you talking about? How are you supposed to control Vader?"
"You don't understand, Luke. I should have told you a long time ago. I have, well, you can sort of call it, leverage, with Vader. Or, at least, I thought I did. I guess when he froze Han in carbonite, I realized that what in-roads I thought I had were worthless."
"Leia, what are you saying?" Luke asked breathlessly.
Leia glanced at Obi-Wan, who stirred a bit, mumbled something incoherent, then drifted back into sleep. Then she eyed Luke. "I found out, when I was a captive on the Death Star, right before I met you, the identity of my biological father. I know I should have said something, I was foolish, but I was also afraid. I was afraid you'd hate me, after what Darth Vader did to your father..." Tears streamed down Leia's eyes, and Luke felt like the floor was falling out from under him.
"Leia! Darth Vader is your father?" he whispered in disbelief. She nodded, then began to cry a bit harder. "Leia? How did you find out? Did he tell you?"
"He...let it slip while interrogating me. I think he's known for years, but never said anything until that day," she sighed. Luke got a tissue for her. As she dabbed her eyes, she added, "That horrible, horrible man! He's my father! I came from him! How can that be?"
Luke decided, at that moment, that he had to tell all as well. "Leia, do you know what Darth Vader's true identity is?"
She stared at Luke. "What true identity? How is that supposed to be significant?"
"Leia, you must understand why I've never said anything until now. All my life, I knew that Anakin Skywalker was my father. For years, I thought he was just a pilot that died in a space freighter accident. Then, Obi-Wan told me, when I brought Artoo to his house with your message for help, that Anakin Skywalker was actually a Jedi Knight. I thought Darth Vader had killed him. But on Cloud City, I found out that Anakin Skywalker wasn't dead at all. Just...changed," Luke explained cryptically.
Leia's big dark eyes grew a lot bigger. Then, she wiped a stray tear, took a breath, and said, "You mean that my father, my birth father, was a great hero of the Clone Wars once, the one who brought down Count Dooku himself? He wasn't just the Emperor's thug all the while? Luke, that means that you are my brother! At least, my half-brother." She became thoughtful suddenly. "Wait a minute! We both have the exact same birthday!" She suddenly became very excited. "Luke! I can't beleive it! We're twins!"
She grabbed Luke's hands while tears streamed out of her eyes. Luke tried not to show how troubled he'd just become. Princess Leia was his sister! He felt like he'd swallowed a sandstorm. Both his father and his Jedi Master had ample opportunity to tell him this bit of news! He felt like he'd been blindsided by this. Whatever silly lingering hope that he might have had of Leia and him... Well, she was in love with Han Solo anyway... But still...it was all dead now. He'd have to go from being in love with Leia to loving her as a sister! He'd do it, because he had to. But it wouldn't be that easy.
A tear slid down his cheek, but Leia misunderstood it, grinning and wiping it away. He glanced at Obi-Wan, who stirred again. Luke broke away from Leia for just a moment. He had to tell himself to keep the anger at bay, to release the anger into the Force. He laid his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. The Jedi Master opened his eyes slowly.
"I can see in your eyes that something has happened, my Padawan. What is it?" Obi-Wan asked weakly.
Luke grit his teeth, bit down what he was going to say, and instead took a breath. "Leia and I were just comparing notes. It appears as though we have more in common than we'd ever thought. I just thought you might like to...elaborate on this for us. In fact, I think it's very necessary, don't you?" Luke said as pleasantly as his boiling blood would allow him to.
"Oh, yes. I see what you mean. I can explain..." Obi-Wan said slowly. Famous last words, aren't those?