EXCERPTS FROM THE AUDIO JOURNAL OF QUI-GON JINN, JEDI KNIGHT
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:9:17
Obi-Wan and Anakin are home for a two weeks leave. It is not as long as I would have hoped, but given the timing and the escalation in the hostilities it is better than nothing.
I found Anakin mentally tired, but in excellent physical form, and I could swear he has grown up some more, although he is still shorter than I am.
Obi-Wan instead is still recovering from his last encounter with Asajj Ventress-- this is the name of the female Dark Jedi Anakin first chased and battled on Yavin.
Ventress takes orders from Dooku, and she and Obi-Wan have already locked 'sabres.
This time they faced each other on Queyta, where Obi-Wan and four Jedi had been sent to penetrate a Separatist factory and retrieve the antidote to a toxic gas Dooku planned to use against our troops.
The raid was successful and we obtained the antidote we wanted, but four Jedi lost their lives, killed by Ventress, who managed to escape.
Obi-Wan has kept this mission a secret. Even Anakin was not informed, so I was taken aback when I saw him come toward me and I saw how ravaged looked his skin, which still bore the scars of the blisters caused by the toxic gas he came in contact with.
However my spirits were lift again when my son smiled and embraced me and I realized that no matter how bad his face looked, he was all right.
I cannot deny I felt a great relief wash over me and I have thanked the Force for bringing them home safe and well.
I have seen the conditions in which some other knights have returned, and I have been upset by how badly the war has scarred and wounded them, both in their mind and body.
The Jedi Order is already paying a too high tribute to this war, and I cannot help but wonder if the Sith involved in the hostilities are doing better, given their more military-oriented training.
However, I am firmly intentioned to keep this question for myself. In fact my most important task for the next fourteen days will be to make sure reality intrudes as less as possible in my son and Padawan's lives.
I will make sure Obi-Wan spends as much time as possible with Lianne and their very active child, and I will make sure Anakin relaxes, rests and has a good time…I am even willing to clean all the mess he creates in our common room when he works with his mechanical stuff.
Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 13:9:22
During the years I have spent as a diplomatic envoy, I have come in contact with several civilizations and many different religious beliefs. Some of these creeds believe that when a person dies, its spirit is rewarded or punished for what it did in life. The good ones go in some kind of heaven, which I think it is a bit similar to the netherworld of the Force, the bad ones go in a place called "hell" where they will damned for eternity.
It was while visiting one of these worlds that I heard the expression "the hell broke loose". I stored it in my memory, but I never understood its meaning.
Until today.
Today the hell broke loose when Obi-Wan, Anakin and I had the worst argument of our lives.
All started this early morning, when a sudden communication arrived from the Republican base on Jabiim.
The situation on that planet is rapidly degenerating and the Jedi stationed there need reinforcements.
Obi-Wan and Anakin's leave has thus been cancelled, and they were ordered to leave for Jabiim within a few hours.
The news, of course, was a bad blow for my son. Not only he is still recovering from his previous mission, but he was hoping to spend some more time with Lianne, since there is the strong probability he will not be here when she gives birth.
However Obi-Wan reacted as the soldier he is and started his packing at once, while I contacted Anakin.
Or better, I tried to contact him, for I was not able to locate him.
He was not in the Temple, he did not answer to his comlink, and he had closed down our bond.
When I informed Obi-Wan, my son turned to face me with an angry expression and growled, "I tell you where he is. He is with her."
"Her?"
"Senator Amidala, who else?"
"How can you be so sure?" I asked him.
"I just know." Obi-Wan put on his robe with a brusque move and hissed, "I am going to drag him here by his hair."
He marched out of his bedroom and went to the door, but I grabbed him by his arm before he could open it.
"You can't walk to the Senator's apartment with his attitude, Obi-Wan!" If the guards see you approach like a storm they will stop you."
"Let them try," my son spat, but he made to move to open the door. Instead he shook his arm free from my grip and started pacing for the living room as a caged rancor, as I and Lianne exchanged worried looks.
I tried again to contact Anakin, but with no results. So then only thing we could was to wait he returned.
Time ticked slowly as Obi-Wan continued to pace and his increasing irritation washed over me in rolling waves, until the moment the door slid open and a smiling Anakin stepped inside the room.
"So you are all here-"
My Padawan had not the time to complete the line that Obi-Wan stormed over him and pinned him against the wall.
"Where were you, little irresponsible boy? We have been trying to contact you for hours!" He hissed.
"I-I was outside," Anakin stammered, looking wide-eyed from Obi-Wan to me and back.
"Outside? I believe you were inside, instead. Inside that cute Sen-"
"OBI-WAN!" Lianne's scandalized voice interrupted her husband, but Anakin understood all the same.
My mouth opened in stunned surprise when my Padawan, instead of denying the accusation, tilted his chin in a defiant way and snarled, "What if I was really with Padmé? I can do what I want when I am on leave!"
"No, you are not!" Obi-Wan answered, letting go of Anakin and stepping back as he ran a hand trough his hair. "Our leave has been cancelled; we have been recalled to the front. We must leave for Jabiim in…" Obi-Wan threw a glance to his chrono, "…in twenty minutes."
"Leave? In twenty minutes? That's impossible! We have just returned! They cannot send us away so soon." Anakin protest vehemently.
"We are at war, Anakin. We must do what it is required from us," I said sternly.
"It is easy for you! You are posted here, not on some forsaken planet, being cold and wet, eating bugs and wondering when and if you will see your wife again!"
I was about to reprimand Anakin for his tone, when his last words sank in.
Wife.
There was a moment of unnatural silence, the calm before the storm, as we all stared at Anakin, whose wide eyes betrayed the fact he was aware of the implications of that he had said.
Obi-Wan recovered first and turned to face me, "See? What did I tell you, Father? I was right in claiming she was going to be a source of troubles!"
"Don't you dare accuse Padmé!" Anakin took a menacing step forward, invading Obi-Wan's personal space, but my son held his ground.
"I am not accusing her; I am stating the truth. I saw the risks of this infatuation from the start."
"Don't call it infatuation! We love each other, as you love Lianne. Why is your love allowed and mine not?"
Obi-Wan stared at him, as if his he was asking with his eyes "Must I really tell you? Don't you already know?" Then he answered Anakin's question, and his voice was no longer angry, but sad.
"Because I am a Sith and you are a Jedi. Because I married when I became a knight while you are still a padawan and you have broken the trust your master had in you. Because you will now oblige a man who loves you as a father to choose between you and his duty and obedience to the Jedi Order. That's why your love is not allowed, Anakin. Now, please, go to pack your gear. The transport won't wait for us." And thus speaking, Obi-Wan walked to the divan and sat heavily on it, as if exhausted.
Anakin stood there he was, unmoving, for several seconds, then his eyes searched mine, a silent question in his too bright gaze.
"Go to pack, Anakin," I murmured. "We will discuss this another time."
He nodded and went to our quarters, reappearing a few moments later carrying his travelling bag.
Obi-Wan then stood up, picked his own bag and walked to the door, moving past Anakin without looking at him. My Padawan followed him, and so Lianne and I did, although at a slower pace.
As my daughter-in-law and I watched their transport take off, I felt her small hand squeeze mine in silent support.
Oh Anakin, what did you do? Did you understand the consequences of your act had you been discovered? Do you realize the position you put me into? Or did you jump in this marriage with your usual impulsivity?