Where Friends Reminisce

The transport sailed over the barren terrain from the city of Bandor with adequate speed. Anakin watched the scenery fly by at different speeds dependent on how far away from the transport it was, but it all looked the same: boring dull grey and brown hills, old excavations sites, smoke stacks from ones still being worked on, and the occasional hint of the massive machinery that was used to mine the planet. There didn't seem to be anything particularly interesting, and so the Padawan pulled away from it and instead looked to his master.

Obi-Wan's face was far away, not looking at anything. Frowning, Anakin poked along the bond and found it strangely empty as well. He poked harder.

His master blinked and looked at him. "Was that really necessary?" he asked in a trite tone.

"Yes," Anakin defended hotly, "You certainly didn't do anything when I tried to be subtle."

"Or perhaps I was deliberately ignoring you to teach you patience," Obi-Wan countered before crossing his arms. "You still have much to learn."

"Yeah, yeah," Anakin waved off, having heard this too often to take it seriously. "Good thing you're here to teach me."

That seemed to set his master off again, his face far away. "Yes..." he responded softly, and Anakin was about ready to burst. Tonight couldn't come soon enough, he decided, and now was a perfectly good time to get his answers.

"What is with you?" he demanded, settling on starting with the obvious.

Obi-Wan, of course, seemed completely confused. "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

"What's with you?" Anakin repeated. "That government lady didn't know you except as someone who was kidnapped and turned into a slave," the word sounded like a curse in his mouth, "And that business lady-"

A hand rose to forestall further comment. "Patience, Padawan. How many times do I have to say it? You'll get your answers tonight, assuming my friend in the Enrichment Zone doesn't give you some shade of enlightenment."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Anakin demanded.

Obi-Wan blatantly ignored him.

An hour later they reached a gate of some kind, and after speaking the Meerian at the gate they passed through. Beyond the gate looked infinitely prettier than before it; there were dozens of shades of green and spotted colors of fruits and flowers. Orchards were in crisp, neat little rows, and the landscape was spotted with dozens of buildings that his master identified as greenhouses. Some plants were in pots, water from some kind of irrigation system sprinkled out occasionally, and workers were scattered throughout the fields. Some were Acronan, some were Meerian, and some were human. Anakin thought it reminded him a little of Naboo.

Clat'Ha, who had been driving the transport, turned her head slightly to say, "We're almost there!" over the roar of the wind as it whipped by them.

The transport slowed and the woman put it in the appropriate gear before breaking and finally idling the engine. The three hopped out of the small speeder and Anakin watched as his master take in a deep breath, the feeling of nostalgia! flittering through the bond briefly. Anakin looked at his master in askance, his face slightly petulant, but Obi-Wan seemed to take pity on him and answered his silent question.

"Olfactory senses have a direct connection to the memory center of the brain," he said calmly, another small smile on his face. "Breathing in the scent of all these trees and I suddenly remembered when I first came here; all the feelings and sensations and sounds combined."

Anakin frowned. Deeply. Obi-Wan nodded in acknowledgement but walked right past him, following Clat'Ha down a winding dirt path and once again blatantly ignoring his Padawan. The nerve! How was he supposed to get any answers, or learn anything, or even help his master if the man kept ignoring him like this?

He trailed after the two adults, composure having long been forgotten; he stomped his feet and didn't even try to school his expression. Let Obi-Wan suffer the embarrassment of having a disobedient Padawan, it would make him look bad, Anakin decided.

"It will also make you 'look bad,'" Obi-Wan admonished, having picked up on his feelings. "Do you really wish to do that level of damage to yourself?"

... Curse Obi-Wan!

The trio entered what was clearly an administration building, traversing narrow halls before entering some kind of office filled with filing cabinets and a small desk that housed an Acronan. Clat'Ha smiled broadly, her green eyes flashing, and said simply, "I'll leave you alone," before turning around and crisply walking back out. Anakin's gaze trailed after her briefly before snapping back to his master and the Acronan. The two were staring at each other.

Finally, "Obi-Wan Kenobi!"

"Si Treemba!"

The two clasped hand fiercely. "Look at you!" Obi-Wan said, "Field head of an Enrichment Zone!"

"Look at you!" Si Treemba replied, "A Jedi at last! We hope this means Master Jin finally accepted you as a Padawan!"

... What?

The two seemed completely oblivious to the shocked Padawan, Si Treemba pulling up chairs for his two guests while he quickly sat back at his own, his green eyes alight in delight. Obi-Wan's face, too, was bright. "He did," the Jedi replied, "It was right after we dismantled the bomb." ... What? "I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you, after the matter was settled Master Qui-Gon was assigned almost immediately another mission, and there just wasn't time to tell you what had happened."

"So we were right, that hidden storehouse...?"

"...Was part of the plot, yes."

"We were so worried when you disappeared, and then to hear you were in the mines with the bomb..."

"It all worked out," Obi-Wan said genially. "Tell me, what has been happening here? The Enrichment Zone has certainly been successful."

"Yes, we have been working very hard," the Acronan replied. "Some of the scientists and geneticists managed to take one of the native plants and increase it's ammonia content. We have been planting it in caves and empty mines, and they thrive! We are now beginning to introduce dactyl to the environments, and we are confident that we will soon have enough to feed us."

"That is wonderful news!" Obi-Wan said lightly. "We certainly wouldn't want the Hutts holding it hostage and demanding you work for them or die."

"Yes, we remember. We also remember your courage at that time."

Obi-Wan waved it off. "Whatever courage you think I showed pales in comparison to you. You were dying, Si Treemba, and yet you still managed to wait for Master Qui-Gon."

"We think you are humble," the Acronan replied, leaning back in his chair. "But that is traditional for a Jedi."

For the next two hours Obi-Wan and the grey scaled Si Treemba caught up, talking about the Enrichment Zones and what had progressed and what they were still working on; what the Agri-Corps had been assigned and how they were doing, what the other Acronan were doing and what they thought of the shockingly independent Si Treemba, blah, blah, blah. Anakin dutifully paid attention, but found nothing of merit in the random observations and comments. He tried to see if he could wheedle out any other pieces of information for the half-baked picture he had been forming all day. Over the course of the day, the Padawan had learned that during his master's time here, he'd been kidnapped for slavery on the great sea but also spent time in Enrichment Zones - apparently investigating hidden storehouses and dismantling bombs. Yet it was Qui-Gon that all the administration and bosses seemed to know.

It made no sense!

At the two-hour mark Clat'Ha returned from wherever she had disappeared to and picked them up. Obi-Wan said his goodbyes, Anakin doing the same quietly. Internally he was seething in confusion and struggling to understand a puzzle he didn't have all the pieces to. Yoda's oblique comment about his master needing him was also pressing on the Padawan's mind. He felt pulled in many directions and didn't know what to do.

The ride back was silent, and once Clat'Ha dropped them off at the hotel. The luggage, sparse though it was, had been delivered to their room and they were unpacked in very little time.

"It always seems to take longer to pack than unpack," Anakin observed.

"Yes, well, wait until we pack when we leave," Obi-Wan observed, a wry smile on his face. "Unfamiliar rooms make for unfamiliar routines make for an interesting adventure in finding everything you brought with you."

Dinner was delivered to their room, compliments of the Agri-Corps, the Meerian had said, and Anakin's mouth watered at just with the smell of the foodstuffs. Any thoughts were quickly put on hold as he savored every bite - and went through the meal as quickly as possible at the same time. Yum!

Afterward, he leaned back and crossed his legs onto the chair, feeling satisfied even through his earlier irritation. Obi-Wan, too, seemed more relaxed; at least he was leaning back in his chair and fingering his beard without looking like he was six light years away. "All right, Padawan," he said, "I know you have questions, but the present must come first: what opinions do you have of the current situation here?"

Anakin frowned in thought, but ultimately gave his gut-response. "I think the Hutts are Bantha poodoo and are trying to encroach on the territory. Most likely the new guy Grondo is the spearhead, but I'll lay credits on the fact that he's using a plan that Issulla's set up. They're obviously behind the thefts, I'd gather as nothing more than 'cheap purchases' so they don't have to pay."

Obi-Wan nodded slowly, his face deep in thought. "Then tell me, Padawan, why did the thefts only start recently?"

Anakin blinked. "Does it matter?"

"Yes," his master replied. "I find it very interesting that they started shortly after the new Hutt, Grondo, arrived. I also find it interesting that Issulla has held to the agreements so steadfastly until recently. I sense deeper layers here that we are not yet aware of." He looked up. "What do you think of the fact that they have made no moves whatsoever on the Enrichment Zones?"

Anakin blinked again. "One has nothing to do with the other." Right?

"Possibly, but if they were truly looking to incur a hostile takeover, surely that would include treachery in the Enrichment Zones; they offer a great opportunity to hide things because of their vast size, as well as the lucrative idea of holding the planet's primary food supply hostage - a tactic I've seen before."

He eyed his master shrewdly. "Like with whatever happened with Si Treemba?" he asked slowly.

"Ah," Obi-Wan said, "I suppose you won't stop until we deal with this, first."

Anakin grinned. "You know me master."

"Oh, yes," Obi-Wan replied, "I certainly do." He paused, taking a breath and rubbing his chin. It wasn't a bad memory, his time on Bandomeer, but many of the emotions attached to it he had thought were buried, only to have resurfaced with the death of his master. He put much of it to bed again, or so he'd thought, but coming back here brought back all the feelings, all the doubts, the heartbreak and pain, the constant rejections from his then-not-master. It... wasn't something he expected; and trying to explain it all to his Padawan... dear Force how was he going to do it?

Start at the beginning, of course. He took a breath again.

"To start," he said, "Master Qui-Gon and I were not yet Master and Padawan. In point of fact, I had been sent to Bandomeer to join the Agri-Corps."

He watched his own Padawan's face. Anakin didn't pick up the meaning immediately, working his thoughts between the words, and then his face slacked in shock as realization dawned on him. "You mean nobody picked you?" he demanded, outraged at the thought. "Why?"

Ah, youth. Obi-Wan found himself smiling at Anakin's utter belief in his master. "I happen to know that Master Yoda was sad to see me go, and later Master Qui-Gon said my joining the Agri-Corps was a waste of potential."

"Then why?" Anakin demanded again.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I was missing something at the time. I was young, embarrassingly naïve, impulsive, and unable to fully handle anger whenever I felt it."

"... You get angry?"

Obi-Wan allowed himself to make a face. "I am human Anakin. 'We are not saints, but seekers.' I know you've heard the idiom. Besides, doesn't it sound just a little familiar?" He gave his charge a long, meaningful look.

Anakin flushed and dutifully held his tongue.

"When I was your age I was filled with just as many turbulent emotions as you are now; and that was why no master would take me." He still remembered the frustration, the sting of rejection after rejection, the desperation as his thirteenth birthday inched closer and closer. "That was why I was sent to Bandomeer. As it turned out, Master Qui-Gon was also heading there, on assignment. I asked over and over, begged really, for him to take me as a Padawan, and he rebuffed my every attempt. I met Si Treemba on that transport. I don't mind telling you it was an adventure just getting to Bandomeer; the transport was attacked by pirates, and while Master Qui-Gon fended them off and I tried to land the ship, the Hutts onboard took the opportunity to steal the Acronan supply of dactyl, a crystal they need to survive."

"Typical Hutts, always underhanded," Anakin muttered, but said little else. Was the story really that interesting?

"The Acronans very nearly gave up their freedom for the chance to live. By some miracle I convinced them to wait, and - at the last possible moment, just like my Master - Qui-Gon was able to find and return the mineral." Obi-Wan paused, his memories briefly overtaking his eyes. "Si Treemba really was brave; they all were. Some of them were very close to death before Master Qui-Gon arrived..." He shook it off. "After that, I went to the Enrichment Zones and my master tried to settle the intrigue."

"Is this the part where you get to the bomb and the slavery?"

Obi-Wan wondered if he was ever like this as a child. ... Yes, probably. He sighed and continued. "I can't tell you much of what happened in Bandor, Master Qui-Gon never spoke much of it. The whole ordeal hurt him, I think. Regardless, after a few weeks in the Zone, Si Treemba and I came across a hidden storehouse that had Offworld supplies there. I informed Master Qui-Gon and, in a fit of sheer foolishness, decided to stake out the place in case anything happened. Without backup, telling Qui-Gon, or thinking about the dangers that might follow. The result of course was that I was captured and shipped off to the offshore mines of the Great Sea. All the workers were forced to wear collar bombs that would detonate if it went outside a predetermined distance. Master Qui-Gon rescued me, thank the Force, and managed to deactivate the collar."

Obi-Wan paused, thinking about what happened next, and the pain it caused his master. He wasn't sure if he wanted to pass this on to Anakin, surely it was all detailed in the Archives; the boy could look it up whenever he wanted. He shook his head, deciding against the thought. That would be running away.

"The person who orchestrated the entire affair was a man named Xanatos, a former Padawan who left the Order. And Fell."

"Whoa..."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes for a moment, collecting himself. "He was Master Qui-Gon's apprentice."

"What?" Anakin openly gaped in disbelief, unable to picture anyone who had ever known the tall Jedi to have the audacity to fall. Obi-Wan decided it was good that his Padawan was hearing this; he needed to, at least in part, understand that even the Jedi world was not a perfectly structured environment. "How? Why? What?"

Obi-Wan held up a hand to forestall more questions. One thing at a time. "It... It happens," he said slowly; and all too suddenly he pictured his passionate Anakin, so full of emotion and so quick to let them take over, doing just as Xanatos had: claiming that Obi-Wan showed no emotion, no praise, and left the Order in spite, turning to the Dark Side. It chilled him right down his spine, and it was everything Obi-Wan could do to not react to the thought, to push it aside and focus on the here and now. Qui-Gon hadn't failed him, and he would die before he failed his own Padawan. He wouldn't fail with Anakin. He wouldn't.

"After my rescue we returned to Bandor and confronted him. It was a fierce battle, but ultimately Xanatos had different plans. He broke off the engagement and locked us in a shaft of the mines with an ion bomb - one of many that were scattered throughout the planet." Obi-Wan remembered his impulsive, irrational, utterly foolish decision to press himself against the lock and detonate his collar to give Qui-Gon time to escape. Blessed Force, what had he been thinking? "We were, ultimately, able to dismantle the bomb and rout out Xanatos' conspirators. It was during that that Master Qui-Gon saw something in me, and decided to take me on as his apprentice."

There were questions after that, of course; Anakin was nothing if not inquisitive. After years of teaching Anakin how to learn, the boy brought his prowess to full force as he subjected Obi-Wan to a long litany of questions, wanting to know details, feelings, perspectives, wanting to dissect every aspect of that fateful mission that had brought Obi-Wan the father he'd loved more than anything. Even Obi-Wan's gentle attempts to steer the conversation away from the more embarrassing parts of the story - specifically anything that had to do with him - were relentlessly pursued with more vigor than even the parts about Qui-Gon, and an hour later Obi-Wan felt like he had just finished a grueling session with the Council. A feeling he knew all too well.

Suffice to say, any discussion on current events were suspended until that morning. Obi-Wan secretly took delight in getting his Padawan up extra early to "make up for lost time."

Anakin more than grumbled that his master was so cruel waking him up so early, but in a tiny corner of his head he didn't often acknowledge knew that it was mostly his own fault. But Anakin hadn't gotten much sleep that night, his mind swirling with all the revelations of Obi-Wan's difficulty in merely becoming a Padawan, that his master had been a slave (no matter how briefly), that Qui-Gon (Qui-Gon!) had been a stubborn jerk, Xanatos, Qui-Gon's fallen apprentice, there was just so much information to parse!

Thoughts were still firing back and forth at light speed through his brain and more and more questions seemed to be generated as he thought about everything. He had tried to ask them that morning, but Obi-Wan had that look in his eye. To his disappointment, Anakin just knew he wouldn't get any answers till that evening. "Focus on the here and now," after all. And the "here" was on a ship and the "now" was on their way to meet Issulla and get her side of the story.

Well, since they would be at sea for easily another hour before they arrived, Anakin decided to think about everything he had learned. He just wasn't sure where to start.

He had no idea that his master had ever been a slave. Frankly, he didn't think any Jedi would have to suffer under the indignation of being property. Jedi were strong and noble and while they denied pride and were humble, they had enough pride in themselves to maintain dignity and to not be someone's slave. Maybe that was why Obi-Wan understood Anakin so well. He understood what slavery meant. But that didn't quite feel right since Obi-Wan had been a slave for only a few days. Anakin had met people who were new to slavery. The reality of their situation never hit them until a few months later when they realized they were trapped. Obi-Wan hadn't been a slave that long. But it was still more experience than Anakin thought any other Jedi had.

Anakin didn't like that Obi-Wan was a slave. Slavery wasn't something he'd wish on anyone. Looking at his master, trying to picture the strong, gentle, generous Obi-Wan with a chip in his body or a collar was just wrong. The same way his mother's current slavery was wrong. Obi-Wan was his family, and despite how brief it was, Anakin was angry that someone had taken away Obi-Wan's basic right of freedom. Obi-Wan didn't deserve that any more than his mother did or he, himself, had.

But knowing that Obi-Wan, no matter how brief the tenure had been, understood a little of what it meant for Anakin to have been a slave, made him feel better. Which made Anakin feel worse, because he shouldn't be happy that Obi-Wan had suffered through that. The knowledge that there was someone in the Jedi Order that Anakin could relate to with that part of his life was just so comforting. Yet Anakin was trying to be a Jedi. And Jedi didn't take pleasure in other people's suffering.

It was such a confusing mess of emotions.

So Anakin did what he always did when he was faced with something that brought out conflicting emotions. He ignored it and thought of something else.

Anakin still felt a fair bit of shock about the fact that no one had wanted his master. Not even Qui-Gon. Did they not see back then what Obi-Wan was? The perfect Jedi? Oh, Anakin knew that Obi-Wan was the perfect Jedi that he was because of a lot of training and diligent work. It was doubtful that Obi-Wan was always like this, but Anakin just couldn't picture Obi-Wan as anything other than an exemplary Jedi. How could anyone not want Obi-Wan? Even Ferus Olin was jealous that Anakin had gotten such an awesome master.

And Master Qui-Gon! Anakin still held the deceased master in high regard and very much as a father figure in his life. But his childish hero-worship was being torn down as he started to get a more accurate image of the man he'd barely known. He'd known that Qui-Gon had a Padawan who had betrayed him, and that was why he'd denied simple hugs to Obi-Wan. But Anakin hadn't realized that that fallen apprentice had sought revenge so viciously as to almost blow up an entire planet. Anakin had heard the name Xanatos before. Obi-Wan's stories of some of his missions would sometimes hold the name as an adversary and Anakin was certain it was the same man. Qui-Gon was the one who had taught Ob-Wan to "focus on the here and now". But the man didn't follow his own advice! If he had, clearly he would have seen that Obi-Wan was worth training!

There were things that Anakin would be angry at Qui-Gon about. Not freeing his mother. Dying. But those were fleeting moments because Qui-Gon had freed him and Anakin would forever look at him in a good light because of that. Anakin understood that Qui-Gon had been a good master to Obi-Wan, one need only look at Obi-Wan's year of mourning to see that he had done such a good job of being a father. But Anakin didn't know if he could ever quite forgive Qui-Gon for the continuous ripping away of Obi-Wan's dreams on the way to Bandomeer. Really, Qui-Gon acted like a total jerk! Obi-Wan had done so much to help resolve things on Bandomeer, and no one remembered or recognized it. They only remembered Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan wasn't someone to just gloss over! His deeds needed to be known!

It was a resolution. When Anakin got back to the Temple, he didn't care how far behind he'd get in his work, he was going to the Archives and looking up every single mission that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon went on. While Obi-Wan was forthcoming in many stories of their adventures, there were clearly some missions that he hadn't talked about and Anakin was going to learn about them. Then he was going to ask his master questions. Because if Qui-Gon could sometimes be a jerk, then there were a backlog of hugs that his master needed. And his master needed to be acknowledged for all the good work he'd done.

Author's Note: Awww, Ani's really cute sometimes, isn't he? Again, because we had to break up the Bandomeer drabble-turned-full-story, we're not happy with the title and were we broke it off. . We didn't mean to put Qui-Gon in a negative light, and Obi-Wan looking back can be objective and say that Qui-Gon had every right to deny taking him as a Padawan. (But then, Obi-Wan never sees just how good he is, so that's to be expected.) Also, Anakin has a very skewed view of things. He never really go to know Qui-Gon and hearing an unflattering story of him from Obi-Wan, whom he holds in very high regard, is shifting things for him. Qui-Gon is a god no more, but a fallible, imperfect human being. That's a bit rough for anyone to take after building them up for so long. In any event, now that the "mystery" of the first "mission" is taken care of, now WE can focus on the here and now of this mission.

Next week: Obi-Wan and Anakin visit the Hutts. Do things go perfectly? No, of course not.