AN: AAAAAHHHHH! I love you, reviewers! You make posting worth it! You make me feel connected across the distance!

Chapter 2 - Listen

Anakin Skywalker had a few constants in his life, his love for Padme, his duty to keep Ahsoka safe, and Obi-Wan always bringing him back to the line of what he should and, technically, shouldn't do.

Yet here stood before him, living breathing proof that Rule Abiding Kenobi wasn't nearly as lily white as he pretended to be.

Cody was giving his General a sideways look, which for the Commander was tantamount to a dramatic gasp.

Luke Kenobi smiled at Anakin and held out his hand, "It's nice to meet you."

Anakin could only stare at him. He was blonde and fair like Obi-Wan, but there was something so intangible familiar about the boy's face that didn't remind him of Obi-Wan.

Ahsoka sniggered at him, elbowing him, she stepped forward to grasp Luke's hand, "Well met, Luke Kenobi."

He grinned at her, the light on his face reaching all the way into his blue eyes.

He was shiny, like a part right of the polisher.

And he was from Tatooine? Anakin couldn't remember anyone from that sand pit being this… friendly. Especially not to strangers.

Luke turned that bright happy-go-lucky expression on him, expectant, yet not forceful.

Anakin finally found his voice but crossed his arms to avoid a handshake, no need to spook the kid with a metal hand, "Nice to meet you, Luke."

He couldn't wrap his head around the Kenobi part.

Obi-Wan smirked at him, mirth dancing in his blue eyes as he waited for more of a reaction.

But Anakin came back to, "Why would you leave anyone on Tatooine?"

"It's where his family was."

A thin trickle of rage spiralled in his gut, "So you saved your son but you wouldn't let me save my mother?"

The mirth drained from Obi-Wan's expression, "You told me you were having nightmares. Anakin, you had been living at the Temple for ten years, living with me for ten years. I've had visions in front of you before. If you truly believed your mother was in danger from Tuskens you should have told me."

"I did tell you."

"You told me you were having trouble sleeping, nightmares are different from visions. You know that."

Anakin felt his cheeks heat, he did know that, but in his Padawan years he had sometimes gotten tongue tied around Obi-Wan. He found it easier to confide in Yoda and Palpatine who were his actual elders. He hated showing weakness in front of Obi-Wan.

But had he short changed Obi-Wan? Would things have been different if he had fully explained himself rather than assuming Obi-Wan would disapprove because it was an 'attachment'.

He looked back at Luke.

And shame washed over him, maybe he had.

Then he reheard what Obi-Wan had just said, "Did you say Tuskens?"

Obi-Wan crossed his arms, and Anakin shrank back from him: He knows.

But Obi-Wan didn't lecture him, even if his gaze was hard, instead, he said, "I have been checking in on Luke over the years, just to be sure he's safe. I know the Lars family."

Anakin swallowed, but when Obi-Wan said nothing more, Anakin asked Luke, "So you were a moisture farmer?"

Ahsoka giggled.

Luke frowned at her, "What?"

"I'm sorry, I- it's just hard to picture Obi-Wan's son as a farmer."

Obi-Wan cracked a grin, "I was almost a farmer."

"Really?" Luke asked.

"I wasn't picked as a Padawan, I was too aggressive and impatient. I was sent to Bandomeer in the agriculture corps. Qui-Gon was sent there too on a separate mission from mine."

Luke gazed up as his father with interest, so did Anakin.

"You never told me this."

Obi-Wan shrugged, "I didn't want to encourage you, also the story is a bit complicated."

"Complicated how?" Ahsoka asked.

"Well, on my first day away from the Temple, I managed to get myself choked out by a Hutt, which did not impress Qui-Gon at all."

Luke's eyes widened, "Surviving a Hutt is actually quite impressive. How old were you?"

"Thirteen, it's the relative cut off date for humans or human-adjacent species within the Order."

"I didn't get picked either," Ahsoka said with a bit of sorrow.

Obi-Wan smiled at her, "I would have taken you as my next Padawan if Anakin hadn't. You probably weren't picked yet because everyone has been wary of taking on Padawans during the war."

"I thought it was because I was too aggressive," she said.

Obi-Wan shrugged, "You're a Torgruta, Ahsoka, that doesn't hold against you quite as much as my jealousy of my peers did."

"What did you have to be jealous over?" Ahsoka asked the question Anakin had been about to.

"At thirteen I was very klutzy, and I made a few enemies in my age group that would gang up on me."

Anakin gaped at him, "You got beat up by your classmates?"

Anakin had never been an initiate and he had never been assaulted by any of the other Padawans, but he had been teased by them, given the cold shoulder, and more often than not cut out completely from making closer friendships.

He had been an outsider who had skipped ahead in their eyes to being a Padawan. So being both younger and completely behind even most initiates had been isolating, but the Knights and Padawans were all so circumspect, he hadn't really understood that they were normal in their own circles.

Obi-Wan nodded, "Bruck Chun."

Anakin didn't know anyone by that name, "What happened to him?"

"He and Qui-Gon's old apprentice, Xanatos, who had long joined the Dark Side, tried blowing up the Temple. Bruck and I duelled and, well, I didn't mean to kill him, but he died because of me."

Ahsoka's eyes were bright, Obi-Wan never told stories like this, even the clones were watching this discussion with rapt attention, "What happened to Xanatos? Was he a Sith? Is he still out there?"

"No, Xanatos wasn't a Sith, but he had been an extremely talented Padawan, very powerful, but he chose to reclaim his family's title and power over becoming a Jedi Knight. Qui-Gon and I went on a mission that was not sanctioned by the Council to try and capture him. Xanatos killed himself rather than being caught. I believe it hurt Qui-Gon greatly, it was a long time before I escaped Xanatos's shadow." He met Anakin's gaze then, "Qui-Gon was always afraid I would turn on him and fall to the Dark. That's why, despite his being a maverick, he was very strict with me. I could never tell what he was thinking."

Anakin frowned, "You were so close to him when he died though."

"I was, and I cared for him deeply, but that didn't mean I understood him fully. Better than most, perhaps, but never fully."

Anakin wasn't sure how many more revelations from Obi-Wan he could take.

Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was the perfect Jedi and Qui-Gon was the wizard of wisdom they had been lost without.

He looked back at Luke Kenobi.

Or maybe Anakin, despite being one of them, didn't understand the Jedi at all.

"What finally made Qui-Gon choose you as a Padawan?" Ahsoka asked.

"I was captured and enslaved while wandering the produce fields. I was put in a mine under the ocean, if Qui-Gon hadn't been there I would have died a slave in those mines."

Anakin felt the horror of that statement fill him as his Master said it so casually.

"I helped Qui-Gon stop the mines from being blown up by Xanatos, and after several other adventures, he finally decided to give me a chance."

"He sounds like a Bantha-butt," Luke said, sounding annoyed on Obi-Wan's behalf.

Anakin couldn't stop his startled reaction, no one spoke badly of Master Qui-Gon Jinn, not ever. He had been the first Jedi to die at Sith hands in a thousand years and he had been burned as a saint.

Obi-Wan laughed, "Oh, he certainly could be, I have never known a man so stubborn."

Anakin gaped at Obi-Wan. That statement was almost harder to swallow than him having a kid.

Obi-Wan caught his gaze with an amused smirk, "Did you really believe true perfection of anyone, Anakin?"

He shook his head, "You never told me any of this before."

"Would you have listened?" Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin felt as if he had been slapped in the face, because when he went to say yes, he hesitated. Would he have believed Rule Abiding Obi-Wan if he had told him as a kid that he had once been a slave too? Even briefly? That Qui-Gon, in the beginning, hadn't thought Obi-Wan, of all people, was good enough?

Probably not.

It made him wonder again with new eyes what it must have felt like for Obi-Wan to watch Qui-Gon choose another Padawan before he had even been Knighted?

That must have sucked.

And then Qui-Gon had been killed in front of him and with his dying breath asked him to teach the Padawan who would have been his replacement.

Anakin suddenly found himself agreeing with Luke, Qui-Gon Jinn had been a bit of a bantha-bung-hole.

Obi-Wan was smiling at him, his eyes tired, "Well then, I think we need to report to the Council." He turned back to Cody and Rex, "Whose more ready to set off in an hour? We'll have a flight time of about two days and a night."

Cody and Rex exchanged a look. Cody gave a half nod and Rex said, "The 501st can be ready. Would it be possible to have three hours to freshen up supplies and fuel though?"
Obi-Wan nodded, "I can give you three hours. Let everyone know that I think it will be pirates and Dooku himself, but my intelligence could be wrong."

Anakin stepped up then, "What's happening?"

Obi-Wan waved him to calmness, "I will let you know in three hours, you're coming with us."

"But-"

"Come, best not to keep the Council waiting. Besides it will by my hyde out on the line this time, not yours," he said, signalling a dismissal to the clones. "Get some well earned food and sleep, Cody, and not just for your men."

Cody soluted him, as did the others.

Luke waved goodbye to them.

Appo and Fives waved back.

As they walked into the Temple Ahsoka bubbling beside Luke who began asking her questions about the Jedi and the Temple's history, Anakin asked Obi-Wan, "How old were you when Luke was born?"

"Nineteen," he responded blandly.

The same age Anakin himself had been when he got married. Perhaps he and his Master weren't the polar opposites it had always felt like they were.

"Is Satine the mother?"

Obi-Wan nearly tripped, he gazed at Anakin with unseeing eyes. He looked... shaken. No, he looked as if he had been shot with a blaster bolt through the heart.

"Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked, truly concerned.

But all that emotion, the grief and shock, were swallowed behind a mask of rye amusement.

It was the first time Anakin saw and understood that Obi-Wan was not unfeeling, just extremely private, hiding all his suffering away where he could deal with it alone.

Was Obi-Wan alone? He had more friends in the Order than Anakin did, but did he have confidants?

Anakin had Padme, Palpatine, and to a certain extent, Yoda. Was Mace close enough to Obi-Wan to know the secrets Obi-Wan kept?

He supposed he was going to find out soon based on Mace's reaction to Luke.

Obi-Wan finally said, his voice unbelievably sad, "No, no, Luke's mother died giving birth."

Anakin didn't have the right words, he asked instead, "Were you there?"

Obi-Wan looked away, hiding away the hurt, "She named him, but she never got to hold him. Luke was in my arms when she passed."

"You loved her."

"She was one of my dearest friends," he said, his voice softer than Anakin had ever heard it.

Anakin put his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder, he startled as if he wasn't used to being touched.

He supposed he wasn't, Obi-Wan wasn't really a touchy-feely kind of guy.

Or maybe he was and he just didn't allow himself to be?

Anakin didn't know what to think anymore. He had thought he knew Obi-Wan. But all Anakin was sure of was that he knew he couldn't have personally survived Padme's death.

What had it done to Obi-Wan to lose someone that close to him? Someone who had been closer to him than Qui-Gon?

"Why didn't you raise Luke?"

Obi-Wan gazed off into the distance, "I wasn't cut out to be a father. At least at nineteen, that's what I believed."

They had reached the Council rooms and Anakin was worried, and for the first time in his life, he was worried what the Council would decide for Obi-Wan not himself.

When Obi-Wan entered the Council room his face turned ashen, as if he saw something terrible lying on the floor.

"Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan turned to him, his eyes brimming with tears and unknown horrors. Anakin reached for him, and Obi-Wan staggered back from him as if afraid of him.

But in the next moment, it was gone, and Obi-Wan straightened to his full height.

It happened so quickly Anakin couldn't be sure of what he had just witnessed.

Of the people in the room, it seemed only Yoda had caught it.

The Grandmaster was squinting at Obi-Wan as if trying to see through him.

Mace's attention was on Anakin.

Like usual.

"Obi-Wan," Mace greeted bruskly, "Why did you bring Anakin and Ahsoka to this meeting?"

Obi-Wan smiled, "I figured it would be cruel to deny them the show, my old friend."

Mace focused those dark eyes on Obi-Wan and his gaze narrowed, "Kenobi, what did you do?"

And suddenly, with the tone in Mace's voice, Anakin could believe all those stories Obi-Wan had shared with him.

Anakin wasn't the only trouble maker in the Order, and the Council knew Obi-Wan and the look Mace was giving him now said clearly that he wasn't surprised by Obi-Wan starting something.

Plo sat forward, "Commander Cody said you disappeared during one of the battles, only for you to show up with the 501st."

"The will of the Force, I'm sure," Obi-Wan said.

"We have your report," Mace said, "But that doesn't wholly explain your disappearance. All of your men should have had comlinks for you to use."

Anakin wondered at that comment, had Obi-Wan lost his?

"I received a distress signal from Tatooine that required my immediate attention."

Everyone looked at Luke.

Luke who might have been wearing a loose and poor version of Jedi robes, but the minute someone said Tatooine, the boy looked like what he was.

Luke seemed uncomfortable under all the attention, and said in a voice that wasn't as sure of itself when he had introduced himself to Anakin and Ahsoka, "Hi."

"Luke, this is the Jedi High Council, High Council, this is Luke Kenobi, my son."

The thing about the Council was that they were all incredibly powerful in the Force, and if you could get an emotional reaction out of them, their presences were almost overwhelming.

Anakin and Obi-Wan braced for it, but both Luke and Ahsoka flinched back, their shoulders rounding.

Mace was sitting forward, and he was...

Well, Anakin was very glad he wasn't the one in the hot seat this time.

"What is the meaning of this Obi-Wan?" Mace asked.

"I fathered a child, his family was murdered by the Separatists in an attempt to get at him."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have given him your last name," Allie rebuked.

"As it turns out, there are plenty of people on Tatooine with a name that is a version or near enough sounding name to Kenobi. I don't believe Luke's connection to me is known by anyone."

"Then why was he in the type of danger that you thought to leave in the middle of a battle and go rescue him?" Mace asked.

"Luke's midichlorian count is the same as Anakin's," Obi-Wan answered mildly.

Anakin gaped at first Obi-Wan and then the kid.

Qui-Gon had thought he was the Chosen One because of the stupid blood test, but if there were two people who had the same count, did that mean the prophecy was complete bantha-shit?

"How long have you been aware of his relation to you?" Ki-Adi asked.

"Since his birth, nineteen years ago," Obi-Wan answered.

"And the woman?" Shaak Ti asked.

"She died," Obi-Wan said.

"Beyond your physical relations to this woman, were you committed?" Gallia asked.

Anakin winced, he never wanted to tell the Council about himself and Padme, the way they spoke of marriage made it sound dirty.

"We were friends."

"But you got her with child," Gallia pressed.

"I didn't know the child was mine until she was dying. I gave Luke to his Aunt and Uncle."

"Did you not think to bring the child to the Temple?" Mace asked, "You know this is far from the first time this has happened, even in recent years."

That was news to Anakin.

Obi-Wan nodded, "I asked, more than once over the years, but I respected his guardians' choices. They did not want him to become a Jedi."

"Then why have you brought a nineteen year old before us now?" Mace asked, sounding like he already knew where this was going.

"Because Luke has an innate connection to the Force."

"Being able to float objects and having advanced reflexes does not a Jedi make," Mace said, almost gently, as if he was trying to reason with Obi-Wan.

"What Luke has is enough that if the Sith ever got a hold of him, we would be in trouble."

Luke straightened, "I am not going to become a Sith."

Obi-Wan sighed, looking at Luke, "Mental and physical torture could push you toward the Dark against your will. Without any training, you would be defenceless. Being a Force sensitive can be as much a blessing as a curse. And you are simply too powerful to be interacting with other Force sensitives and not draw attention. Which either means you go back into hiding or you train."

Anakin had the oddest feeling that Obi-Wan was trying to explain more to Luke than he was saying aloud.

"Too old, he is," Yoda said.

Anakin almost rolled his eyes.

Obi-Wan, unexpectedly, did roll his eyes, "The Jedi were not always initiated at such a young ages and the Force flows through family lines. We did not always shun that."

"And turn to the Dark, many did."

"Dooku was one of ours, he was your Padawan, Yoda. Xanatos, Bruck, Pong Krell, Barriss Offee, they were all ours. Even Asajj Ventress, trained outside the Temple but still by one of our Jedi Masters at the appropriate age, turned. If you refuse to accept older inaties, you do so out of fear and superstition."

Barriss? Anakin wondered, sharing a glance with Ahsoka. Barriss's Master was currently absent and no one else seemed to catch it.

Yoda's argument was pretty succinct, "No."

Obi-Wan's lips turned upward in an approximation of a smile, "Luke will either be my next Padawan, or I will leave the Order and train him anyway."

The silence in the room was thunderous.

Anakin could only stare at Obi-Wan.

Ahsoka was frowning at him in confusion.

And Luke looked, out of his depth, but not overly concerned. Obi-Wan must have warned him.

Mace sat frozen, staring at Obi-Wan as if he had never seen him before, "You are a Jedi Master on the High Council and a General of the Republic Army. You cannot just leave."

Obi-Wan smiled, "That's an interesting theory, would you like to test it?"

Mace's face shut down and he stood, "Enough games, Obi-Wan. You will not leave."

"I will if you make me."

"We need you."

"I think you can lose this war well enough on your own."

Anakin frowned, "We aren't losing, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan looked at him, his blue eyes clear, "We are fighting a war to force democracy on people who don't want to be a part of political corruption. We failed the moment we agreed to go to war for the Senate. The Jedi lost, the moment we betrayed our mandate and we betrayed our troops by taking on a bought army with individuals given no choice in their fate."

"Without those individuals you and Anakin would have died on Geniousis," Mace shot back.

"And how many more Jedi did we lose that day?" Obi-Wan asked, "How many of our people, Jedi and clone alike have we lost."

"It's war, Obi-Wan," Mace said, gesturing with his hands.

"Yes, and we are not the Jedi of Old, we weren't trained to handle war on a galactic level, we don't hold any offices of state, we are not lords, we are puppets to the Senate, to the Chancellor."

Anakin realized that Obi-Wan had been holding a lot back over the year, and Luke's arrival had been the tipping point.

Because what Obi-Wan was giving voice to was more than taking on Padawan and secret son.

"Obi-Wan," Mace sighed, "Power corrupts, the problems that-"

"We are going to die," Obi-Wan said, "There aren't enough Jedi, we are too vulnerable, the Republic is crumbling from within and we are losing everything that makes us who we are!"

Mace got in his face. Anakin had never seen Obi-Wan challenge another Council Member like this. Obi-Wan glared up at Mace who glowered down at him.

"What of us have we lost, Obi-Wan?"

"The galaxy fears us, Mace. Not the wicked and the superstitious, but friend, youngling, and innocent. War is making monsters of us all."

Mace stepped back with a heavy sigh, "What would you have us do instead?"

"Release the clones from the draft. Most will stay but it is slavery to hold them to service when it was not their choice to become who they are."

"We cannot afford to lose more men."

"We cannot afford to lose sight of justice. It was the Republic who signed the check, whether Sifo-Dyas was involved or not does not matter, it was the Senate who bought them and we who allowed it. If we are the peacemakers, then we must hold the Republic in as much account as the Separatists. It is too late to back out of this war, but it is not too late to push our leaders to govern."

Shaak Ti nodded, "He's right."

"We don't have the resources to do this," Saesee Tiin said.

"We do if we, the Council, become more involved in the Senate," Kit Fisto said.

"Dangerous path to walk, this is," Yoda said.

"You're fighting a galactic war and you're afraid of politics?" Luke asked.

Everyone turned to him.

Yoda hummed, "Brave you are, hmmm, brave, because know the dangers you do not, young one."

Luke looked at him, and there was something on his face, as if he had seen the future and thought Yoda was being ridiculous.

Some people underestimated Yoda, but few Anakin could ever remember giving the Grandmaster that flavour of a look.

Mace was looking between the two Kenobi's and with another sigh, he sat back in his chair and said, "I am in favour of Luke Kenobi joining the Order as Obi-Wan's Padawan if it means Obi-Wan stays with us."

"I agree," Plo said.

"And I," Kit said.

The rest folded as well, but all voiced some disapproval. When it finally got to Yoda, the Grandmaster sighed, "Disagree, I do, but outvoted I have been."

He pointed a clawed finger at Luke, "Your mind I see, young Kenobi, reckless are you, in the present, you are not, patience you have not."

"He can learn patience," Obi-Wan said.

Yoda hurmphed, then glared at Obi-Wan, "Bring Skywalker and Tano here to just see the show, you did not."

"I heard a rumour while I was on Tatooine. Zygerrian slavers discussing a business deal with the Separatists that will bring Torgutas to the market. I believe the Kiros Colony is going to be attacked, if it isn't already."

"Kiros is not apart of the Republic," Saesee Tiin said.

Shaak Ti and Ahsoka glared at the Council Member and Plo Koon sighed. "Obi-Wan is among the youngest of us, yet he has seen our faults, our own corruptions. I agree that we must rescind the draft on the clones, they must be allowed agency. As for Kiros, since the start of this war, and perhaps longer, the Jedi have served only those with the expectation that we garner something in return. This is wrong. We must be better than this."

Mace bowed his head, "Or we have already lost."

Anakin was speechless, could the Jedi Order really change?

Where the Council not as wedded to their traditions as he had always believed?

"Go," Yoda said, "help Kiros you four must. May the Force be with you."

Obi-Wan bowed, "And with you, Masters."

Then Obi-Wan turned and walked out at clipped pace leaving Anakin, Ahsoka, and Luke to hurry after him.

If Anakin didn't know better, he would have said that Obi-Wan was eager to be gone, away from the Council.

Away from the Temple.

What was happening to his old Master and lifelong friend?

AN: Surprise! Another chapter! Next update is likely to be Significant Brian Damage, but I had to start this project as it was begging to be written. Thoughts, ideas, reactions, will-o-wisps, or feedback, pretty please?