Chapter 21


Folk seem to have been just landed in the [old tales], usually their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten.

― Samwise Gamgee, The Two Towers


The comm chime went off just as Yoda reached the door. He glared back at the device balefully. The Force tugged at him, reminding him that he was already late for his appointment with Third Form Philosophy, but he was already well aware of the fact. He thanked the Force for its aid and brushed it aside. He flicked a talon, accepting the call.

"Master Yoda," the pleasant mechanized voice of the Temple operator sounded out, accompanied by a blue, hovering Jedi symbol. "There is a Padawan Kenobi requesting to speak with you about the Dark Jedi. Shall I connect him through?"

It was against procedure for a Padawan to directly comm a member of the Council. But considering Obi-Wan's unique circumstances, Yoda's eyes narrowed.

"Mhmm. Connect him you will."

What had young Kenobi discovered? What couldn't wait until his return to the Temple? Yoda hobbled over to the comm unit, propped his walking stick in front of him, and leaned his weight against it. A moment later, the Jedi symbol disappeared and Obi-Wan Kenobi's upper body flickered into view. Yoda's frown deepened. The Padawan's haircut was mussed and his clothing was certainly not his usual Jedi robes.

"Comm me, you did, Padawan?"

"Master Yoda," he replied, with a polite, though unusually terse, bow. Kenobi wasted no time with introductions or diplomacy and instead launched straight into a shorthand account of the trip to Naboo. He finished with the purpose of his call: "We are en route to Coruscant; I do not believe the Naboo are capable of keeping Anakin safe while the being is at large."

Silence fell, resting heavily over the slight static from the long-range transmission. The two simply stared at each other. Stubborn though he was, Obi-Wan broke first, shifting his weight slightly.

Yoda took that as his cue to speak. "And the advice of the Naboo that was?"

Obi-Wan's eyes slid to the side before coming back up to meet his. "No, master. They wished Anakin to stay; they believed they could sufficiently update their security."

"And heed their advice you did not. Why?" his tone was sharp, but Obi-Wan did not flinch.

"Because three times they have proven their security is inadequate! That they cannot protect themselves or Anakin. I will not leave the boy with them while the Zabrak is still at large. This is the second time Anakin came close to death in the palace—"

"And believe, did they, this other time, that that the work of the Dark Jedi it was?" Obi-Wan couldn't possibly be this oblivious—Anakin could not be allowed to return to the Temple! It wasn't safe.

"The investigation was inconclusive," the young Jedi's voice was terse. Obstinate boy; he'd never dealt well with other's finding flaws in his logic.

"And lay a hand on the boy this time, did he?"

"Only because I stopped him, Master."

"Mm? You stopped him when Qui-Gon could not?" It was calculated move and it brought a flinch to the padawan's controlled face. But Kenobi's arrogance needed to be tempered and his unusually emotional decision-making needed to be stopped. This impatience would be his undoing. "Persist you do, in thinking you alone are right! Ruled, you are, by your attachment to this child and your anger with Qui-Gon's murderer! Let it go, you must."

"Master, what attachments I may or may not have have no bearing on this case. Anakin deserves to be kept safe. He can be cared for at the Temple until the Zabrak is caught and it is safe for him to return to Naboo." The boy was diplomatic even now, Yoda had to admit. He kept himself calm, his voice collected as he respectfully argued his case.

But the Grandmaster shook his head and eyed the boy's hologram with a gimlet eye. "Search for the Dark one, we will. Find him we will. But allow the boy to return to the Temple, I will not."

Yoda wished Obi-Wan was there in person so he could thwack his shins. Doom was on young Skywalker—surely one as gifted in the Unified Force as Obi-Wan could sense that?—and Yoda would see to it that the Jedi were not caught up in it. He would not risk their fate on an end so smothered in Darkness. To bring the boy back now was to commit to training him—and worse, to anchoring the attachment more firmly to Obi-Wan. For Obi-Wan's sake, for the boy' sake, and for everyone else, that bond must be severed. Before it was too late.

"Return him to the Naboo, you must. No safety for Skywalker there is in the Temple."

For beings like Anakin, there would never be a just until it was safe, it would always be a pause before the next crisis, and the trade off, for any of them—Anakin, Obi-Wan, Jedi, or even Naboo, was grim. And the danger would only increase with training. Long experience over centuries had taught Yoda this cold fact and the Grandmaster would not let that hard earned knowledge go to waste, would not repeat the same mistakes he had made in the past. He would not allow someone with such a clouded future to return to his Temple.

The boy would not return to the Temple, and would not be trained.

"Return with that boy to the Temple you will not." The dismissal in his tone was clear. There was no room left for argument.

There was a pause. Tight and weighty, yet in the end, all too short.

"Understood, Master."

Too short because it wasn't the answer Yoda had anticipated. The words were correct, but it wasn't Obi-Wan the quiet perfectionist speaking. This was Qui-Gon Jinn's sometimes reckless apprentice, channeling his master's obstinacy and combining it with all of the hard-headedness of his own attachment-prone nature. There was acknowledgement in the tone, yes, but not acceptance.

Yoda shifted, about to speak again, to head off the crisis, to temper the boy—

"May the Force be with you," Obi-Wan added in a measured tone, before signing off with abrupt bow.

The image of the reckless padawan disappeared, but the blue afterglow of the holograph misted the air where the face had just hovered.

It was a decision worthy of the late Master Jinn, not one Yoda would have expected from the man's staid apprentice. But…but Yoda knew he should not have been so surprised. The young man had made it clear he was attached to the boy and, indeed, had made it clear he was prone to attachments from a very young age.

Yoda dropped his forehead to his gnarled talons, ears drooping with regret at how thoroughly the Jedi had managed to fail young Kenobi.

The blue holo-glow faded completely. Yoda was left alone in the fading twilight.


He pulled his hand from the button as the blue-lit Yoda disappeared from the cabin. Obi-Wan took a deep breath, then a second and a third before he realized that his hands were shaking. Vibrating.

He'd just hung up on the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. His mentor. Yoda.

Another deep breath and Obi-Wan forced his hand still. Focusing on that, he retrieved the communicator and tucked it into his rucksack. Then he closed his eyes and let the astonishment at his own audacity fade away into the Force. The Jedi pushed away the adrenaline and dragged himself into the present.

He concentrated on the rumbling engines and the back of the chair and the tunic clenched between his fists. He concentrated on the hair tickling the back of his neck and the slight pinch in the toe of his right boot.

He concentrated on the weft and whorl of the Force blanketed around him.

What was he going to do? Protect Anakin. Anything less than that would be unacceptable. The Force had made that clear three days ago on Naboo. Protect Anakin.

(Just until the man-in-black was caught, of course. Because once that happened, Anakin could return to Naboo and Obi-Wan could go home.

It wouldn't take long. It couldn't take long.)

Ok. Next question. How? That's where his brain stuttered, his need for a plan washing up against an obstacle he hadn't conceived of, much less had contingencies for. How would he protect Anakin without the Jedi and the Temple?

For a long time, how was the only thought in Obi-Wan's head. It jumped and jittered around in circles, unable to find purchase, unable to move forward. But no matter his panic, training and rock hard stubbornness kicked in.

And the Jedi took another deep breath.

What were his options? Think! Obi-Wan ordered himself.

How will I protect Anakin?

The Temple was not an option. Naboo was no longer safe. Anakin was nine and there was a lethal killer after him.

And suddenly his skin felt tight and his gut went cold and his head spun because he realized which option that left him with. What protecting Anakin actually meant.

It meant not simply protecting Anakin. It means caring for him. It meant feeding him, clothing him, finding him a place to stay. It meant educating him. It meant being there. Not playing escort, not two week caretaker at the Temple. Something in his chest squeezed tight, throbbing against his breastbone. He brought a fist to the spot and rubbed it, trying to ease the pain. It wouldn't be (couldn't be!) long. The man-in-black would be hunted down swiftly.

The…apprehension (not fear) that filled him was ridiculous. Wasn't this temporary? Hadn't he planned on watching Anakin in the Temple? And hadn't he been concerned about Anakin dealing with his new Force awareness in the Temple? But, there was structure in the Temple. Familiarity and comfort. Even without Qui-Gon, he could at the very least rely on Garen and Bant for support. What would he do without that?

Because, to protect Anakin, he wouldn't have that.

Obi-Wan relaxed each muscle, starting with his hands and then working his way down his back. He took a deep shuddering breath, reigning in his thoughts and drawing on the Force.

Obi-Wan regretted his decision to comm the Temple. If he'd kept his mouth shut, if he hadn't mentioned Anakin until they'd already arrived at the Temple and it was a fait accompli

He'd just been so eager to get the man-hunt started, to alert the Jedi of the man-in-black's movements, to do what he could to ensure the Zabrak was brought to justice. And he'd never dreamed that the Jedi would deny sanctuary to a child.

He had made a rash decision, one worthy of Qui-Gon, and had followed the Force. Now it was time to play his usual role. Now it was time to step back and plan, to pick apart the situation and review it from every angle.

He could do this.

He had to, after all.

The Force called him.

Anakin needed him.


The weird feeling had been in Anakin's chest since they'd made their hyperspace stop. He'd tried to make it go away and, when it wouldn't, he tried to ignore it. But it wasn't until he'd gotten himself unlost from the crawlspace under the main deck that he realized that it wasn't his weird feeling.

It was someone else's.

That used to happen with…with Mom. If she saw something totally wizard, or got hurt or something awful happened, then Anakin usually knew. And with his Mom…not there, the only person it could be was Obi-Wan. When Anakin stopped and thought, he could feel it, there inside his head, coming from the same place he'd found before. Was this that bond thing Obi-Wan had explained?

Resentment sparked for a long moment, remembering that Obi-Wan wasn't letting him learn stuff about the Force, but it went away until all that was left was worry, exploding through Anakin's stomach. What was wrong with Obi-Wan? Did something happen?

With a swoop in his gut, Anakin slammed the hatch shut behind him and took off running through the ship's corridors. It had taken him way too long to figure out, what if he was too late to help? He dodged a few of his fellow passengers, not remembering to apologize. What if he hadn't noticed something and it got worse and now Obi-Wan was in real trouble?

What if the man-in-black was back? Had he found them already? What if he got on board during their hyperspace stop?

Anakin reached the end of the corridor and skidded to a stop before he could trip over the chair or slam into the wall, but it took a second to realize he'd gone past their room, so he turned 'round again. Feeling all buzzy in his stomach, he swiped the room open with his card and bounded inside.

"Obi-Wan? Are you ok? Something's wrong, I felt it! Not wrong like when Mr. Qui-Gon died, but wrong, and I didn't know what was the matter. Are you ok? You have to be ok!"

Obi-Wan didn't look ok. His mouth was all tight and his eyes were all squinted and the room felt like somebody had splashed worry all over the walls. It also looked like Obi-Wan had tried to eat a limon.

"What happened?" Anakin repeated.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and straightened up so he was sitting taller. Anakin came over to the lower bunk and plopped down next to him.

"We had planned to return to the Temple."

"Uhuh." Duh. And Anakin wasn't allowed to tell anyone at the Temple that he could use the Force.

"I just commed Master Yoda. I wanted to alert him to the danger the man-in-black continues to pose and to let him know you were returning with me, until it was safe." He paused and Anakin cocked his head, waiting. He already knew all this. It's why he'd gone off to explore the ship. "He agrees that the man-in-black is a threat, and I believe the hunt for him will be a priority. But Yoda did not agree to let you return to the Temple."

Fear tingled through Anakin and he shook his head, scrunching down and back towards the headboard. He kept shaking his head hard, trying to feel his cheeks move around and his hair sting his forehead, but he couldn't, no matter how hard he shook his head back and forth.

"No! But you said! He'll get me! And what if he hurts Padme or Sabe or someone else back on Naboo?"

In his panic, the room faded out of view, and it didn't quite come back until two firm hands came to rest on his shoulders. Anakin stopped shaking his head so hard and one of the hands came up to touch his cheek.

"Anakin."

The voice was soothing and something about it seemed to wrap around Anakin's mind until his thoughts slowed down enough for him to actually think them.

"Anakin. Are you with me? Are you listening?"

He gave a shuddering nod, dragging his eyes up to meet the Jedi's.

"Anakin. You are right. It is too dangerous for you to return to Naboo." The hand on his shoulders squeezed and caught Anakin before the fear could set back in. "That is why I will not be returning to the Temple either, not until the man-in-black has been apprehended."

"Apprehended?"

"Caught."

Anakin bit his lip.

"You promise."

"Yes, I promise."

And Anakin felt Obi-Wan's the promise inside too and he left himself fall forward into the man's side. Maybe everything would be ok. After all, Obi-Wan would be there too.


Questions? Compliments? Concerns? (please let me know what you think! All that's left of this story is an epilogue!)