Author's Note and Thanks: Short update. Sorry to say that I've been bitten by both RL and other stories. sighs I've been trying to work on this (and amazingly, I have another chapter in the works) and I thank you guys for your continual support and patience with me. Thanks to Faithful Cherry Blossom (I hope it will, I need all the help I can get. Thanks), Lea Nikkaya (Vergere actually wasn't killed b/c she meets Jacen Solo and is the one who helped Mara give birth to Ben when she was poisoned. Yes, Asajj is here. She was captured by these aliens on one of their journeys through the GFFA, No one wants Obi-Wan dead, though they are highly intrigued by him), Lincoln Six Echo (Hi! Thanks, Obi-Wan and Anakin are difficult here-especially since they aren't even together in the same space!), and LightSaber101 (I would've replied to your PM but my e-mail is being stupid. shakes head I'm sure you understand that. Hope this chapter (small though it is) lives up to the wait.)
654321
The Dark Woman rose and saddled her bantha, intent on her goal. It was quite clear to her that they could no longer rely upon the boy to behave like the Chosen One that he was. Someone needed to take him firmly in hand and make him face up to the reality of who and what he was. Obi-Wan was not up to that task, if ever he was-and she knew he was not. That left her to the task.
Silent as a shadow, she left, ignoring the sight of Sharad Hett curled around himself, rocking and shaking in stunned pain. What he was going through did not concern her at all. Quickly, she overtook Bob and his companions. Dismissing them from mind as another unimportant matter, she traveled on, ignoring the shriek of pain in the Force, accepting it for what it was.
As the suns crested the sky, she arrived at the homestead and switched off the barrier field until she passed through it. It would not do to let in the Tusken Raiders who had become the enemies of Hett's tribe. That boy was stubborn enough. If this worthless family meant something to him, she supposed that she should keep them safe. And she was a Jedi Master. Near the front of the house's main pit, she dismounted and walked down the stairs, rapping sharply on the door.
Pushing back the covers with a yawn, Shmi rose reluctantly and pulled on her robe, pausing to kiss Cliegg's cheek before going to the door. Irritated by the way she had been woken from a pleasant sleep, she shrugged it off. There was no point in allowing herself such a useless emotion for it would do nothing more than ruin her day.
And it was almost time for her to be up anyway. Opening the door after checking to make sure the alarm was still connected, she saw a woman with pale hair and, for a resident of Tatooine, impossibly white skin. It was almost as if the woman had never seen the suns before. She stood there, coldly staring at Shmi and though she consciously recognized the Force in this woman the same way as she had with Master Jinn, she did not like her at all.
"I've come for that brat of yours. I trust that he has recovered sufficiently from his irrational and childish temper tantrum and is ready to act like a reasonable adult." The voice was cold, full of a stern authority that chilled Shmi to hear it.
Shmi stared at her for a moment and then closed the door in her face.
The Dark Woman was startled by this action to say the least. Tightening her lips, she knocked on the door again, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for it to open again. "It is apparent where that child of yours learned such…impeccable manners. The both of you have much to learn when it comes to dealing with a Master Jedi."
Before she could finish, the door closed again.
Thoroughly vexed by Shmi's behavior now, she knocked again. Harshly. "Now, look here…"
"No," Shmi calmly interrupted her, not flinching away from the evil look she got. "I do not know who you are-nor do I care to. Your manner is as unappealing as the words you speak condemning. If my son has taken offense to your manner, I can truly say that I understand why completely. There is nothing in you to find appealing-and I do not believe that you are much of a Jedi Master. I have met a true Master before-and he knows what it means to be a servant of the Force. I see no such understanding in you."
"How dare you?"
"How dare you?" she countered evenly, unflinching. "How dare you come to my home and insult my son with your unfeeling words? How dare you then insult me? How dare you act in a manner that clearly shows your arrogance and lack of comprehension about the central tenet of your own beliefs? How dare you claim to be a compassionate being, yet show neither compassion nor even a trace of it within your heart? I do not have to put up with this kind of abuse-even if this was not my home. You have no right to treat me as though I am less than you, doing so only reveals what a sad and pathetic woman you are. As I told my son, tearing down another to prove that you are a better person then they does no such thing. It only reveals a very shallow depth within you. You will remove yourself from my property-or I shall remove you."
"You can't do that," the Dark Woman sneered, her arms crossing over her chest as she stared at her, a challenge clearly written in her eyes.
Shmi's eyebrow rose at that and she stepped out, moving about her to grab her by the nape. Picking her up, she forcibly marched the woman up the stairs. Without breaking stride, she calmly walked beyond the barrier and tossed her out. "Good morrow to you," she added as she turned and began to walk back to the homestead, adding thoughtfully, "Though you do not deserve it."
The sound of a ship arriving stopped her in her tracks and she turned around, shielding her eyes from the suns' twin glares. This was such a curious happening, she decided to wait. After a moment, it landed and a slender man with reddish gold hair descended. A weary smile crossed his bearded and bruised face. Still, his bow was gracious.
Shmi felt her heart go out to him, returning the bow. The poor man looked like he had been through a hellish ride-and he looked vaguely familiar to her, though she could not say for sure why.
"Are you Shmi Skywalker Lars?" he asked, his voice sounded both harsh and infinitely gentle.
"Yes I am," she replied, feeling only momentarily concerned by his knowing who she was.
"It is an honor to meet you at last, gracious lady. I am…" he started, cut off when the Dark Woman turned on him.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi," she hissed. "I might have known."
Grey eyes looked towards her, a pained confusion in them. "I'm sorry but do I know you?"
"Of course you wouldn't for your Master unwisely shielded you from me. Had the Jedi Council listened to my words-my counsel after what you did to your Master on Melida/Daan, you would have been sent away. Or they would have remanded you to my care since they decided that you were to important to lose. I would have cured you of your still obvious flaws for they are not worthy in a Jedi."
Shmi watched curiously as he flinched away from the dark Jedi before it seemed like recognition dawned in his eyes. "Master An'Yo Kuro," he flatly said.
"That name is nothing to me for it represents a foolish possession, something that is unworthy and unneeded in a true servant of the Force," she replied, though she did not deny her name.
"What did you do to Anakin?" he asked, apprehensive. Though he respected this woman and honored her for her hard work, he had fought many times with the Jedi Council to keep his Padawan from being sent away to her. Seeing her before him, he felt again the flare of the broken bond between them. This woman was an extremist and would stop at nothing to cure those who fell into her hands. It was why he had struggled for so long to keep Anakin from her.
Had he known that she was on Tatooine, he never would have allowed Anakin to come here-Council's orders or not.
"Precious little compared to what I should have had the opportunity to had the boy not been so deluded by you," she scornfully retorted. "I did not get a chance to start fixing the mess you made of him by your ineptness at handling the Chosen One. And this female's obvious attachment to him does little to eradicate the damage that has been continually fostered and harvested within him."
"This female, as you call her, is his mother. She deserves neither your derision nor your scorn for her love for Anakin," he icily said. "And I will remind you that his name is Anakin. While you have no desire to have an identity-and I am beginning to see why-he does. I will thank you to stop referring to him as though he is a thing. He is a Jedi. But more importantly, he is a person, not some esoteric title."
"And therein is the lie you fed him. He is not a Jedi. He is not a person, he is the Chosen One. He should not live with the delusion that he is anything less than a weapon to be used by the Force. The Chosen One he is-and therefore, merely a tool for use in the hands of the Jedi."
There was a moment when Shmi thought that Obi-Wan's control would shatter. A thin telltale tick at his cheek revealed his anger at the woman's insistence on taking away her son's identity and his soul. Looking at him, she saw what Ani saw in him.
A man who controlled his emotions but felt them deeply-and he cared.
Obi-Wan breathed deeply and released his tension, his anger. He could not afford to let them get the best of him. They would be a detriment to him now, not an aid. As much as he wished to let go, it would only confirm what she thought of him. And now that he was no longer a Jedi, he feared that Anakin would fall into her care. That was something he would never allow.
Very quietly he addressed her, "You contradict yourself with those words, An'Yo Kuro, for they flaunt your own arrogance and pride in this legend that has become associated with Anakin. While I have heard those words spoken many times, I have never heard them spoken with such conviction that it borders on absolute conceit. You have become that which you have preached against. Turning away from the Force's will and believing that your way is the only way to serve the Force. It is blind arrogance on your part to disavow anyone else's beliefs on how to serve the Force."
"Being that which the Jedi Council walk? Or your own haughty path?" she sneered.
"No," he quietly replied. "There is no one, true path to serving the Force. I do not claim that my way is the only way, nor will I say the same of the Jedi Council. To do so would be wrong and supercilious of me. But I do know this-the Force is not exclusive, it is inclusive. I learned this from my Padawan. While I have often struggled with this and do not have the same level of understanding that Master Jinn and Anakin have, I know this-we learn from all. By shutting out experience with others, by denying them their voice and soul, we deny ourselves the truth of the Force. I have become a better person because of Anakin."
"Master Kenobi, please, come in," Shmi invited, hearing the devoted love for her son in his voice. The man radiated it from inside and it reached outwards, covering the surface of Tatooine with it's truth. All her doubts about him were laid aside in the face of this bald truth. He was truly a man worthy of her son's admiration.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lars. I wish to see Anakin once more for he worried me with his call," he smiled tiredly, nearly toppling over in his exhaustion. "But I do believe that my wish is not to be granted."
Her arm instantly went about him, helping him to walk. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"There is an empty space in my mind where Anakin used to be," he softly replied. "I fear what it means for I have not felt such a void since I lost my Master."
"OBI-WAN!"
They both heard the warning cry and turned, the Jedi instantly moving Shmi behind him as the Dark Woman leapt at him, lightsaber drawn. "You are a disease, Kenobi. A weak taint upon the Force," she declared. "I will do what I must to purify the Force and the Chosen One from your destructive impunity."
Their lightsabers clashed and Obi-Wan grunted as pain and shock traveled through him. Her own feelings of disdain and enmity against him added strength to the blow. She struck him again and he flinched back, barely managing to deflect it. "Stop this insanity. I will not fight you for it is not the will of the Force. Why can you not hear it?"
"You will fight me or you will die like the coward you are."
Blocking her swing, he lead her well away from Shmi, unable to let the woman hurt Anakin's mother even to spare himself further pain. Not only was that against his nature-it would hurt Anakin. Her deceptively wild blows kept him off balance, forcing him to switch between all the lightsaber forms that he knew until he could find his feet in the balance of Soresu. "Can you not hear the Force speaking to you any longer? What has driven you away from the Force like this?"
"Nothing has driven me away-unlike you who was never worthy enough for the call of Mastery." Leaping over him, she struck at his back. It only singed his robe when he slipped away, dropping the robe to the side for it was only in the way now.
Understanding dawned in his eyes and he knew the cause of her anger. He had to try to reach her, to bring her back from the edge of the darkness. A spirit like hers should not be lost this way. Stepping further away from her, he allowed the Force to fill him, giving him the words to speak. "Grief over your Padawan's loss has twisted your mind and heart until you can no longer hear the Force. The bond between the two of you still lives and she is driving you away from the path that you have always loved into the darkness that she walks. The Force does not want this anguish for you, An'Yo Kuro. The Force wants you to come home, you know this. You know that this is not the path for you to take. This is not what you want to be."
"LIAR!" She charged once again, blind and deaf to all but the thrumming sound in her veins that drowned his truth. That drowned the Force's call.
Obi-Wan shivered, hearing the cry of the Dark Side filling her as it had done for years. A cry she could not hear, lost in grief and hatred for what she had allowed her Padawan to become. "Let it go, An'Yo Kuro. If a servant to the Force you would be, let go of that which holds you captive and refuses to allow you to see as once you did."
"SHUT UP!"
"Obi-Wan, end her misery. She is to far gone for you to heal her. Send her home and allow the Force to bring her peace."
"But…I cannot do that. She is still innocent, still has a chance to come back without resorting to killing her."
"It would be merciful for you to free her from her living torment. She is in living pain and it is harming all she comes into contact with. It is better to release her into the Force and allow the Force to bring her into the light than to allow her to suffer and harm countless others. It is your compassion that will help her find her way back once she is at peace."
"I will do what I must," he softly promised, deeply agonized over this choice foisted upon him. With those words, he was fully committed to doing his best in this battle against her. Under the firmness of voice was an agony so deep that Shmi shivered to hear it and turned away from them. She could not watch-and yet, she knew that she must. He owed it to have someone be there who would support him, even if it was only silent support.
Still, he could not relinquish her so easily into the darkness. He would not be able to live with himself if he did not continue to try to reach her. To let her fall and not do a thing to stop it, was something that he could not contemplate. "An'Yo Kuro, it does not have to be this way between us. It should not be this way for though our paths are different, we have the same goals. The both of us wish to serve the Force to the best of our abilities, my Lady. Let go of your own idea of what service to the Force has to be and let the Force guide your path."
"There is no error in me, Kenobi. It is you that has the error and stain of impunity. It is you who needs to return to the right path. You've gone to the Dark Side and you do not know it. You do not see the way it clings to you and all you do. I will not allow you to poison the Chosen One any longer."
Obi-Wan recoiled away, knowing what she was trying to do but unable to release his anger into the Force at her attitude. He was unable to release it upon her either. Her fixation upon Anakin and his supposed title was downright unhealthy-and obsessive. It was frightening and worrisome. He wished he knew just what had happened to Aurra that twisted her mind and soul so badly. "I told you before. May be one day you will understand this simple truth-he is more than a title. He is Anakin Skywalker."
"A Jedi has no possessions-nor need for a name," she replied, following him.
Sand flew up as Obi-Wan whirled about, avoiding another blow. His hand rose, blocking the sand she threw up into his eyes.
Shmi watched them. This whole battle seemed surreal to her and yet, she stood, captivated by their smooth motions as the sand flowed about them. Even more compelling was the words they spoke, how neither gave ground, though obi-Wan only wanted to save her. This woman seemed to be certain that she was right about her beliefs-and would not listen to anything he said to her. For the first time, she felt pity for the dark robed master.
"That is your belief, An'Yo Kuro. But even you have a name," he parried her blow even as he said this. "All beings have names, have identities, whether we chose to use them or not."
"I have disavowed my name," she replied, blocking the thrust.
"And yet you bear a name all the same-a name that easily translates back into your own." Breathing deeply, the Jedi finally gave up. This battle would never be won and he fully let go and immersed himself completely in the Force's flow. No longer alone in this battle, he was full of peace and awareness of all that was around him. He was a part of the Dark Woman herself and could feel her confused anguish. Feeling it, he knew that the only peace she would find is in the Force-as he had been told.
The Dark Woman felt the shift in him, in the Force. Where once he seemed normal, almost bland for a Jedi even, the man was now radiating pure luminescence. All sides of the Force reflected outwards from him and she stared, allowing her attack to soften, granting her a moment to take in the change.
And now, there was startled fear in her for she knew what he was-knew who he was, though he remained supremely unaware of this revelation.
The moment of clarity passed and anger colored her vision again. That such as he-this rebel child of that wretched Gray Jedi, this mediocre nonentity-was chosen for this most honored task, enraged and inflamed her senses. Abandoning herself at last to the passions within, she pressed her advantage. He met every one of her blows calmly and without fail.
The battle finally ended in the only way it could. Obi-Wan slid into unconsciousness, unable to bear remaining conscious any longer. The raw and ragged wound of the severed bond tore into his mind, ripping shards out of his soul as it did so.
Shmi rushed to the falling man and it was only then that she realized that Cliegg had come outside. With his help, they moved the Jedi into the house and back towards Anakin's room. The emptiness of it should have surprised her-but it did not for the Jedi's words rang in her mind once more.
A clarion call that something had happened to her Ani.
She would not allow fear to control her. Bathing and tending to Obi-Wan's wounds, she focused on him. He was here and needed aid, while Anakin was out of her reach. Only the Jedi Master could find him now and after hearing him defend Ani with all his soul, she knew that her son would be safe.
She just hoped that Obi-Wan would be.