"Given the circumstances , the council has elected you, master Kenobi."
The Jedi stood emotionless in the middle of the room for a moment. Brows furrowed as his stare was lost into the cityscape behind master Windu's head."
His apprentice, Anakin, nudged him slightly.
Obi-Wan quickly blinked a few times, shaken out of his reverie. "Of course." He finally met his interlocutor's eyes. "No, of course, it only makes sense." He breathed in, trying to chase the feelings rising.
"A problem will it be?" Yoda cut in, clearly sensing the Jedi's conflicted feelings.
"Not at all, master Yoda."
"Good. Settled it is then. Tomorrow at dawn, leave you will." Yoda informed the pair.
The Jedi nodded before leaving the room with his padawan closely behind.
Once they started down the corridor, out of the council's earshot, Anakin spoke up. "I'm so sorry master, all this time and I didn't know of your title. I am deeply sorry.. my Lord." The young man snickered to himself, grin wide, whilst mocking his master.
"This is not a joke, Anakin. In case you have failed to realize, most of us left our homeworlds as infants. I had as much knowledge of this as you do now." He replied.
Truth is, he could remember flying over the planet multiple times, but couldn't recall ever setting foot on it. He pondered for a moment, searching within if he could somehow reconstruct the faces of the ones who had birthed him. But it was to no avail. On top of having forgotten his "parents" faces, he couldn't even remember their names.
He had been brought to the temple when he was a little over three years old. Even the oldest memories he had were here on Coruscant.
He shook his head at the thoughts, chasing them from his mind. It didn't matter anyway since they were now dead. And only to learn, seconds later, that he had a sister and now had to return "home" to protect his native land and help her.
He felt conflicted. It obviously made sense to be the one sent on this mission, but at the same time he didn't know how to feel about it all. He somehow was under the impression this was a test from the council. Over the years, his relationship with his rebellious padawan had caused him many troubles with the order of Jedis. Many times his affection for Anakin was a little too apparent and that was a liability.
"Oh you know I'm only kidding, master." Anakin grinned, oblivious to his mentor's inner monologue. Too busy thinking about all the new ways he could now tease his senior.
"Just go get ready for our voyage, Anakin." He instructed before turning in the opposite as to where his padawan was headed.
The young man stayed put at the intersection where his master had left him before calling out to him. "And where are you going?"
"I have to check something out." He simply replied before disappearing behind another turn.
The Padawan sighed before making his way back to his quarters for the night.
When Anakin woke up, it was by the sun hitting his eyes. He squinted forcefully trying to chase the fatigue from behind his eyelids.
He groaned in discontent, clearly unhappy to be awake. He had a dream about the gorgeous Padmé again. And not the kinds of dreams Jedis should be having.
He suddenly jerked up in bed. "Oh no."
His heart begun to race as he fought the covers of his body, promptly getting up. He nearly tripped on his way to the bathroom. "Oh no. Obi-Wan is gonna be furious." He repeated to himself, whining.
Just as the thought crossed his min, a heavy knock came to the door of his quarters. "Anakin! You're late!" It was his master's voice, unmistakably angry.
"Coming! Coming!" He shouted back.
Running to the door, a simple towel around his waist, he twisted his hand slightly, mid-air, unlocking the door with the force.
"Blast!" Did you just wake up?!" Kenobi sighted in despair, whilst bringing one hand to his forehead, the other one on his hip.
The young Skywalker gave him an apologetic smile before darting back to his bedroom.
The door slid close behind the master as he entered further in his padawan's apartments.
"I'll be there in a minute!" Anakin called out as he turned on the shower. "I swear I told R2 to wake me up last night!"
The small droid quipped in disapproval from somewhere within the apartments.
"I hope you at least prepared your baggage last night like I told you." The master called out, but no reply came, seeing as the other was already under the stream of the shower.
Soon enough, the young apprentice was coming out, dressed, suitcase in hand, damp hair dripping onto his pale beige cloak.
The younger of the two walked by the older, giving him a smirk. "Come on, my Lord, we are going to be late."
The light slap came instantly to his arm as soon as the words had left his mouth.
"Will you ever take anything seriously?" Obi-wan retorted.
"Blaster!" Skywalker replied, completely ignoring his master, whilst throwing his suitcase in the back of the speeder.
"Blaster?" The master repeated.
"Yes. Blaster. You never heard that expression before?" Anakin asked as he settled in the driver's seat.
Obi-Wan cocked an eyebrow at him. "Oh you're not driving. It's morning, I haven't even had coffee yet."
The apprentice ignited the craft before smirking at his mentor. "You see, whoever says Blaster first when they see the vehicle, gets to drive."
Obi-wan scoffed. "Says who? And why blaster?"
"Says everyone!" The student simply retorted.
"I swear, you'll be the death of me!"
And with that, the two Jedis set off into the sky.
Travelling there didn't take as long as Anakin thought it would. He couldn't say as much for his master. Even from the other side of the ship he could feel the anticipation growing the closer they were getting to the planet.
As they broke atmosphere, Anakin advanced towards the cockpit to take a better look at the planet.
Much to his satisfaction, no sand in sight. Well, just not everywhere. Growing up in the desert, to him, was such a bore. No jungle adventure, no swimming in waterfalls and just scorching hot, so hot.
No. Instead, the planet looked quite pleasant. Stretching meadows, crystal blue waters, ragged cliffs of white rocks and mountains and forests of olive green.
Farther, in the distance, Anakin could make out the outline of a city.
A few minutes later, the ship was softly touching ground in a peaceful meadow.
"Alright, here we go." Announced Kenobi as he powered the craft down.
"There's nothing here." Anakin squinted in the distance, trying to see what his master did. "I think I saw a city east from here."
Both of them got up from their seats, making their way to the back of the ship.
"Those are the coordinates of the transmission the council received. Kenobi replied.
The rear of the ship hissed as the cargo bay door lowered open.
"Mmmm." The padawan pondered. Maybe we should rewatch it to try and find clues in it. Well, I haven't even seen it, I don't even know what she looks like."
"I guess it wouldn't hurt…R2?"
The small droid whistled happily as it made it's way towards the two Jedis.
A feminine silhouette glitched into view above the droid's head.
She was young, about Skywalker's age. Difficult to determine the colour of her hair and such seeing as the hologram painted everything in a shade of blue. The dress she was wearing was torn at the shoulder, signs of evident fight. Her hair was braided in three braids away from her face whilst the rest hung loose, cascading down her back in bouncing curls.
She spoke with urgency: "My name is Fawnrielle Kenobi from the planet of Stewjorn in the Stewjorn system. A month ago, an extremely large deposit of Kyber was found within one of our mines. Upon this news, a group of ruffians has taken our city under siege. I have reason to believe they have killed my parents." She paused a moment there, inhaling sharply as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I fled the city admits the bloodshed. They have taken many as hostages and killed many. Our people fought back, but they came in great numbers and unexpectedly. I ask that you may please send us help to restore the peace here on Jewton." The girl's image faded.
"So? Asked Kenobi. "What can you read from this?"
"Well, I'm surprised how beautiful she is considering how you turned out." Anakin smirked.
The Jedi master just rolled his eyes, letting out a sight before starting down the ramp of the ship. "You are useless Anakin."
R2D2 chimed at that remark.
The young apprentice let out a small laugh before chasing after his master. "Stay here R2." He called out just as the craft let out a hiss and started closing again. "But all jokes aside, I swear I could hear a waterfall in the background."
They looked around their surroundings for a bit, trying to see if they could make out the silhouette of a waterfall in the distance. They had landed in the middle of the meadow. All around them were tall grasses and wild flowers. The fresh air filled their nostrils. It was a well appreciated change from the heavy smog of Coruscant. At the end of the valley, there started a sparse forrest of trees. Behind those, alpine mountains.
They stood still, trying to listen to their environment.
Birds, wind softly blowing in the high grass, but no sound of water.
Armed with a pair of binoculars, Obi-Wan searched the horizon. "Wait, I think I see it." Kenobi announced whilst pointing in the distance.
He handed his padawan the tool still holding up his finger for Anakin to see. After focusing hard enough he could finally make it out. There, past the treeline, nestled between two cliffs was a waterfall.
"I guess this is where we start."
It must have been mid afternoon by the time they reached the waterfall judging by the position of the sun.
Nestled in the rocky cliff face, a medium sized waterfall emptied itself in a shallow lake that narrowed into a lazy river a few paces downstream.
They inspected the banks of the small lake that laid at the feet of the waterfall. In the mud were definite footprints, bare footprints.
"Master look." Anakin called out.
Approaching his apprentice, Obi-Wan saw what he had discovered. Hidden inside a hollow trunk laying at the edge of the water were a pair of muddy heels and the soiled hem of a pale yellow dress.
Kenobi picked up the hem and studied it for a second. It was believed that one cold sense other family members through the force if they were sensitive to it. Alas, nothing.
He let it fall to the ground just as his apprentice seemed to have found something else.
"I think I found a droid."
Anakin reached down. There, under a pile of driftwood, was a 3PO-series protocol droid, badly injured.
"Ashes here." The senior replied. "The footprints lead to the water. She must have been trying to hide her tracks. She probably spent the night here, sent her transmission before her droid broke down. I don't see any other sets of footprints but hers so we probably are the first ones to follow her here." He looked back at his apprentice. "Any luck with the droid?"
Anakin made his way back to his teacher. "I would need my tools, it's heavily damaged. I'll ask R2 to come fetch it and if by the end of the day we haven't found her we can always try to fix the droid."
"Good idea. While you do that I'll go to the other side see if the tracks pick up."
Moments later, the pair were reunited on the opposite side as to where they had started.
"What are you doing with those?" Kenobi asked Skywalker.
In his hands were the pair of heels they had found on the other side.
"Well, I thought she might want to have these back. Especially seeing as she's barefoot now." He said, matter-of-factly.
"I think it was her point." Kenobi squinted doubtfully at him. "Besides, they are in a terrible state." He said as he turned back to the task at hand.
"I can wash them." Skywalker simply said as he walked over the water and submerged the shoes in the crystal blue water. "See. Like new."
"I suppose." The senior simply replied. "I guess it's not like we have lady shoes to lend her on our ship." He added.
"Exactly my point."
Kenobi brushed off his padawan's magical thinking.
The pair carried on in the woods, following as best as they could, the trail the young girl had left behind.
She may have tried her best, but for an experienced Jedi or bounty hunter, she was still easily trackable.
After a short trek through the woods, the trees opened up on a small village.
It was a rustic settlement of small wooden homes, farm animals were roaming around peacefully as the villagers tended to their various tasks.
Walking through the town, they stuck out like sore thumbs, earning looks from the bystanders. They reached what seemed to be the town centre and started asking around.
"Hello there young ones." Obi-Wan begun as he approached a group of children playing around.
A young girl lifted her head up looking at the pair.
"We are looking for a young lady in a yellow dress that doesn't live here. Have you seen such a lady around?" He said as he knelt down to their height. The rest of the children had turned around by then.
"She has very long curly hair with three braids here and here. She sort of looks like him in a weird way." Anakin started as he pointed at Kenobi. "She has, full, heart shaped lips, straight long nose, really dark eyes.. Kinda like yours." He pointed to one of the little girls. "Mmmm, what else?" He brought a finger to his chin whilst in thought. "She is quite lean, with-"
"Okay, I think they get the picture." Obi-Wan cut him while giving him a very concerned look.
The girls whispered amongst themselves for a minute. Stealing glances at Anakin before giggling and returning to their conversation.
The Jedis looked at each other in confusion as they waited for the verdict of the girl council.
The group of girls erupted in laughter before they broke apart.
The one who looked the oldest spoke up. "We will bring you to Lady Kenobi. But only you." She pointed at young Skywalker.
Both Jedi raised an eyebrow at the demand.
"Why so? You see, I'm actually-" Obi-Wan started before the young girl cut him off again.
"Because only one of you can be her knight with shining lightsaber." She said matter-of-factly. "And he clearly likes her most."
The girls giggled. "Even if he has very strange hair." One of them chimed in, earning her to quit shushed by her friends admits their laughter.
Obi-Wan shared an exasperated look to his padawan who was hiding a smile behind his hand.
"Oh so you're in on this." He barked at his apprentice who was clearly enjoying the situation a little too much.
"Oh come on master. It's not that bad, just wait here." Anakin smirked. "Besides you can't argue argue with their logic. I am a valiant knight on a quest to save a damsel."
Kenobi scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Anakin, we're not here to play theatre. This is politics."
But the Padawan ignored him, clearly enjoying his fame too much. They would have to talk about this later, but for now, time was of the essence.
The girls' eyes were all glued on Kenobi now, waiting for his reply.
The Jedi pondered for a second. I mean he could simply just go ask some adults and be done with it. But truth be told, he was a little apprehensive himself at the idea of meeting his sister. Would she know who he was? How was he supposed to act? Was he supposed to hug her? Shake her hand?
And wether he liked it or not, seeing the grin on Skywalker's face always managed to turn his stern ways over. This is exactly why he got in trouble all the time. He always folded in to Anakin's foolish ways. Their stories were famous for a reason, always causing shenanigans left and right, leaving trails of rumours behind… The Padawan made his life more exciting''.
He sighed. "Fine." And besides, the little girls were practically blackmailing him with their pleading eyes at this point. "But I demand that at least one of you ladies to keep me company as you bring my friend here to Lady Kenobi."
The girls all cheered before grabbing onto Anakin and dragging him away.
AN: oh my gosh lol, I had posted this and for some reason it was all screwed up lol. Here it actually is, the first chapter! Please tell me what you think, I would love to hear from you, I gladly accept constructive criticism as well :) 3
