Where Lines are Followed
Yoda sat on his large round cushion that, by all rights, was at a proportion too large for his tiny withered frame. But those who visited him were more often than not larger than him, so he was used to things that were not to his smaller stature. The ancient master let out a long sigh, lighting some incense with a clawed hand. He had set aside this time to contemplate a matter that he had much growing concern over. Particularly since these Clone Wars started.
The matter was... unusual. But given the two that the matter concerned, the fact that it was unusual wasn't unusual.
To consider options, Yoda decided to follow a line. A line that started with himself. Jedi were all connected, a tangled web that bound them all together and to the Force. Such lines did not only go from Jedi to Jedi, but beyond, to everything a Jedi touched, every being a Jedi met, and even the very space they existed in. Because all was connected to the Force and the Force connected all. It was through these interwoven lines that a Jedi could see things no other being could. The past. The present. The future, though that was always difficult with its changing nature.
Following one of these lines could often lead to insight, and Yoda was an old master at studying lines and their patterns. Yet darkness had started to shroud the lines, obscuring them, hiding the brilliant patterns and weaves of the Force in its dark depths. The matter that Yoda wished to consider was, in particular, buried in uncertainty, the darkness obscuring the meaning of the matter and what the future held for it.
So if Yoda could not study the future of it, he looked to the past.
Families could often trace their lineages back, proud of what their families were, and the heritage passed on. Others liked to break from such lineages, strike out on their own to start a new line. Yet even if one did not acknowledge where one came from, the connection, the line, still existed.
This did not hold true for Jedi. Jedi, though still connected to families that gave them life, did not look back to heritages with pride or disgust. It was immaterial. Instead, they looked to their Order. And, though no Jedi liked the comparison, there were lineages and heritages within the Jedi Order. Only instead of parent and child, it was Master and Padawan.
Yoda bore many lines from himself, especially after such a long life and he never ceased to be amazed at what traits of his were passed on to each line that extended from him. Mace Windu, and the Padawans he had trained were all serious and dedicated, fierce defenders and bore quiet strength. Kit Fisto was relaxed and cheerful, as was his Padawan Bant Eerin, though she was just as shaped by her first master, Tahl. Ki-Adi-Mundi bore quiet courage that was passed to his all his Padawans. Tyvokka spoke his mind and his Padawan Plo Koon did through action.
But the line that Yoda wished to study was a line that seemed to bear his rebelliousness, in several forms.
Of course, if any Jedi heard someone describe Yoda as "rebellious", a healer would likely be called for.
But Yoda did have, even after all these centuries, streaks of what he called "rebellion" within himself. This trait was found most often when he was teaching the various younglings at the Temple. He would often orchestrate great jokes and pranks with the Initiates, using the excuse of training to lightly stir things up and spread some smiles amongst the often too-serious Jedi of the Temple.
Unfortunately, this rebellious streak was passed on in one of Yoda's Padawans: Count Dooku had been talented, brilliant, and became a capable, aristocratic Jedi Knight. Dooku had always been outspoken when he saw things that were wrong, something Yoda encouraged with temperance. Dooku was one who always sought to do everything he could to correct a wrong. Even, ultimately, leaving the Order. Even, ultimately, joining with the Separatists. Even, ultimately, becoming the Sith.
Yoda let out a sigh. Of this line, Dooku was the most... fervent in his rebellious streak. Having to fight his old Padawan had been... difficult. To see that Dooku, someone that Yoda had spent much time and effort and care in training, slice off Anakin Skywalker's arm after having already incapacitated Obi-Wan Kenobi made something in Yoda's heart twist. To then see Dooku prepare to slay two defenseless enemies... it just hurt, because Jedi were not meant to turn. It was part of why a Jedi's education lasted so long. It was why Yoda was so devoted to the younglings he would play pranks with, because he wanted each new generation to see the joy and peace of the Light. And knowing that the Light was always there for them, he prayed that children would never look to the Dark for an answer.
Dooku was the only apprentice Yoda ever trained that turned to the Darkside. As Grandmaster, Yoda had often, over the centuries, needed to console a fellow Jedi when an apprentice turned. Yet, hobbling into the hanger to see his own Padawan having not only turned, but had become a Sith, struck somewhere deep in Yoda's heart and all the advice and comfort he'd ever given to another Jedi was suddenly lost on himself. No Master should be faced with a turned Padawan. It was just too sad.
Yet Dooku's rebelliousness had continued in both his Padawans. Komari Vosa was ultimately denied Knighthood due to her highly aggressive nature and infatuation with her own master, and she fell into crime. Yoda had not heard of her since her departure, but he knew no good could become of her as things had stood.
Similarly, Qui-Gon Jinn was such a rebellious Jedi that he was often referred to as a maverick. And in this, Yoda could not help but smile. Qui-Gon had been a Jedi who only deferred to the High Council if forced to, a Jedi who followed the Living Force wherever and with whomever it took him. One could never deny that the Force guided Qui-Gon Jinn. After the fact. When actually working with the maverick Knight, one very often doubted the Force was at work at all as Qui-Gon would get incredibly side-tracked with various beings that always seemed to need his direct attention at that immediate moment. Yoda had long lost count of just how many Jedi claimed it to be impossible to work with Qui-Gon. Even Yoda was often exasperated when the Knight brought a cause he was championing before the Council when other business still needed tending to.
Qui-Gon was set to follow his own path and none could deter him from this. Once Yoda had realized that it was simply best to sit back and let the Force guide the Knight, he had fewer headaches and worries. It was Qui-Gon's rebellious streak, inherited from Yoda through Dooku. And it was a rebellious streak that got things done in an unorthodox, yet satisfactory manner.
Yet for all his maverick tendencies, Qui-Gon did listen to the Council and their advice. It was merely a matter of whether or not it was pertinent at any given time. And sometimes, Qui-Gon would need a push for when the Force wished something that the Knight could not see.
Yoda had warned Qui-Gon of Xanatos. A Padawan who rebelled against the Jedi who had taken him from all he knew and loved: His father and his homeworld. Xanatos had arrived at the Temple, found by Qui-Gon at age three. Yoda had warned that the child was too old, but Qui-Gon championed his cause. The boy's abilities were never in doubt, but Yoda worried that knowledge of family would eventually lead to resentment.
It unfortunately did. The resultant disaster hurt Qui-Gon in a way that Yoda would not understand until seeing Dooku standing over Obi-Wan and young Skywalker in a hanger ready to kill the defenseless pair. Yoda had tried to show Qui-Gon the warning of the Force of Xanatos, but Qui-Gon could not see a future when the now required his aide. The old master had been unable to prevent the pain that Qui-Gon suffered through and could only offer words that had been used over the centuries when a promising Jedi turned away from his master and the Light.
So when Yoda saw the Force pointing to something that Qui-Gon could not see past his own suffering, he gave a small push to help things along. Such was always the best way to work with Qui-Gon. Thus, Obi-Wan Kenobi entered Qui-Gon's life and started to heal old wounds.
Obi-Wan was also a rebellious Jedi, though many looked at Obi-Wan, ever conservative and quiet, and wondered what rebellious streak Yoda spoke of. There was no denying that Obi-Wan was a stickler for the rules. But the adherence to those rules stemmed from a turbulent youth made difficult from anger. It all culminated when young Obi-Wan left the Jedi Order to defend a people he sympathized with. Since then, Obi-Wan had finally gotten a firmer control on his temper and stuck to the Code in order to keep said control of his temper.
But the rebellious streak remained. It was merely... tempered. When Obi-Wan found a cause to champion, he did a better job than even Qui-Gon Jinn. But Obi-Wan finding a cause to champion was no easy task. Various experiences such as uncertainty with Qui-Gon, rejections, and a natural tendency to blame himself for things beyond his control, had made Obi-Wan incredibly hesitant in giving his heart to something outside of the Jedi Order. And for Obi-Wan to champion a cause, he had to believe it with his entire heart and soul.
Granted, Obi-Wan had the same flare for unorthodox solutions that his master had, and in many ways, it was an inheritance from Qui-Gon. But unlike his master, Obi-Wan did not go for every cause he came across. His heart bore too many scars from his younger years to be so giving.
Thus far, there had been only one cause that Obi-Wan championed with all his might: Qui-Gon Jinn's last cause. Anakin Skywalker.
Yoda could not help in worrying about Obi-Wan. The old Grandmaster had many concerns over young Skywalker, and had voiced them to Obi-Wan. But the young Knight continued to train the child, regardless of what others said in concern. In fact, Obi-Wan now fought back against these concerns, politely, thoughtfully, and quietly. "I would not train him if I didn't know what a great Jedi he was going to be."
Yoda had yet to see what a "great Jedi" young Skywalker could be. But Obi-Wan saw something in the child that he believed in, heart and soul, and none could deter him. He would listen to concerns, take advice, and express gratitude that someone was thinking of him, but he would never abandon his Padawan. If Obi-Wan wasn't such an exemplary Jedi in all other matters, Yoda might be worried that the young Knight was too firmly attached to the child.
And young Skywalker, himself, was rebellion given legs and a mouth. And a lightsaber. Yoda had watched (and had) many Padawans over the centuries that were utter handfuls. Ones that needed strict teaching, ones that needed firm rules coupled with kind understanding, ones that rebelled so much they turned to the Darkside. And none of them, not one, could hold a candle to the handful that Anakin Skywalker was.
Yoda often wondered how Obi-Wan kept a handle on the child at all. Anakin Skywalker was willful, mischievous, curious, stubborn, arrogant, needy, emotional, and there was so much fear in him. Yet no Jedi could deny that he was talented. Oh-so very talented. Obi-Wan could walk into a hopeless situation that would mean certain death and with young Skywalker at his side; the two would walk back out unharmed. Even now, in the midst of war, the young Padawan had earned a reputation as The Hero With No Fear, the perfect companion of the Negotiator, the two making up The Team that could do anything.
But for all that the Force could bend to young Skywalker's will with barely a thought, Yoda had not seen him even begin to master himself. There was a strong tendency to anger and fear, so ingrained it was like Obi-Wan's tendency to blame himself for things that went wrong. Yet unlike Obi-Wan, Anakin Skywalker's natural tendencies could lead to the Darkside so very easily.
And if Anakin Skywalker fell to the Darkside, no Jedi alive could stop him.
Young Skywalker had not yet fallen to the Dark, indeed, there was no way of knowing with certainty that such an event would happen as Yoda had been sure of Xanatos. But the Padawan's future was ever clouded in darkness, obscured more than any other being Yoda had ever come across, and it made him uneasy.
There was no doubt that Obi-Wan's influence on young Skywalker was strong. Yoda would even go so far as to say that as long as Obi-Wan lived there was no way that the young Padawan would turn. But the connection between the two, the line, was the matter that concerned Yoda so much.
Obi-Wan had a tendency towards strong bonds. After so much turbulence and uncertainty during his early apprenticeship, when he latched on, it was firmly. Indeed, Obi-Wan's bond with Qui-Gon had been one of the strongest that the Order had seen in two centuries. It was really no wonder that Obi-Wan, in the shock of a snapping bond as Qui-Gon lay dying, was touched by the Darkside, for their bond had been almost as strong as one held between family.
And the bond between Obi-Wan and his Padawan was even stronger. Indeed, it was growing stronger almost by the hour, if one watched for it.
It had not always been that way. Bonds were always slow to form, needed nurturing and time and effort to grow, and once established, would never go away completely. Before the Clone Wars had started, the bond between Obi-Wan and young Skywalker had been so similar to the one between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, that sometimes Yoda had needed a moment to look again to ensure that Qui-Gon's spirit had not somehow appeared from the dead.
Once the Clone Wars had begun, however, the bond started to steadily strengthen. Slowly at first, and Yoda, who had taken to studying the bond as he noticed it's continual growth, noticed that the bond seemed to grow faster when the two were together. Separate missions slowed the strengthening of the bond, but Yoda knew that was because a bond needed both together to have it grow.
But if Yoda had thought the bond unnaturally strong after the Clone Wars started, that was nothing compared to the strength of it after Obi-Wan had returned from Rattatak. As the Knight had lay in surgery, cut off from the Force after many long hours of not touching it through the Sith Mask he'd been forced to wear, and unintentionally siphoning off pain to young Skywalker, Yoda had watched, somewhere between stunned and fascinated, as Anakin Skywalker sank into meditation and forcibly widened the bond to reach into Obi-Wan's chaotic mind and grab the pain to release to the Force.
It had been both amazing and frightening to watch how young Skywalker's natural gift with the Force seemed to break every known rule that existed.
Yoda had assigned himself the task of helping Obi-Wan release his trauma to the Force. In part, it was because he cared for the young Knight after watching over him for his entire life, but it was also to watch the bond between Master and Padawan. The two, by all rights, should have been severely scarred after young Skywalker's rough treatment of the bond. Yet all that lingered was a brief headache that Yoda was uncertain was shared or not for a few days.
As Yoda had taken Obi-Wan through mediations, he'd been surprised to see the young Padawan join them as if it was the most natural thing in the world for a Padawan Learner to help his Master through even the most simple meditations. Even more surprising was how much Obi-Wan readily leaned on Anakin for support.
The two treaded meditation as equals instead of Master and Padawan.
It was something Yoda had never seen before.
Yoda wondered at the repercussions of it. Which was why he had sat down to meditate on it.
Some of the results of the close bond were already being reported without anyone realizing it. With all the filing done during a war, it was, for many, easier to simply take a verbal report and go from there. Indeed, many of the Council were so busy with both fighting and planning that they would merely listen to a report and sense things out with the Force, rather than sit down and start wading through files of the officers involved to get specifics.
Yoda did this as well. The rigmarole of running an army was tedium that he simply did not have the time for. But he made a point of looking at such reports as Captain Rex or Commander Cody. Those were where interesting facts lay.
And those facts were astonishing.
A bond could allow direct communications of thoughts only if it was strong and over a short distance. Yet young Skywalker and Obi-Wan seemed to be able to communicate as clearly as being in the same room despite parsecs of distance. Indeed, they seemed to be able to influence each other, if Commander Cody's report of Commander Skywalker "waking up" General Kenobi was as accurate as it was unbelievable.
They were able to coordinate in the middle of battle to a degree that even simple comm's couldn't allow. Separatists who were jamming communications could ambush Young Skywalker, yet Obi-Wan would already be on his way with reinforcements. Reports would put General Kenobi deep in Separatist space, alone on recon, and Commander Skywalker would be relaying the information as soon as General Kenobi came upon it.
The efficiency of it for war was staggering, almost frightening. There was no denying the practicality of what they had and what they did with it.
What concerned Yoda was more personal: not how battles or wars were fought, but the stability and long-term effects of almost sharing minds entirely. Could the two truly block anything from each other? Any being in the galaxy needed the privacy of their own thoughts, and could either Obi-Wan or his Padawan manage that? Jedi were often concerned about what would happen if a bond suddenly flared with pain or distraction during a battle. It was why shielding was so important. But if these two could not shield everything, what happened if the other was in danger?
What would happen to young Skywalker if Obi-Wan fell into Ventress's hands again?
Thankfully, such a heinous event had not occurred, nor would it if Yoda had any say in the matter, but the fact remained that Master and Padawan were deep in uncharted territory, and forging deeper by the hour. No one in the Halls of Healing would be able to help one of them if the other fell.
The bond could be extremely dangerous for them. But with the bond's future so clouded in darkness, Yoda was hesitant to do anything about it without more knowledge.
"Mace, welcome you, I do," Yoda greeted, opening his eyes and retreating from his study of the line.
The stern-looking master bowed, his frown looking grim, no doubt having just come from another war meeting.
"Yoda, we are due at the Chancellor's soon."
"Hnnn, yes, yes," Yoda waved a hand, brushing aside the meeting. "A question, I have."
Mace blinked, his stern face loosening slightly as he sat on another round cushion. "Yes?"
Yoda blinked his sleepy-looking eyes and folded his hands. "An opinion, have you, on the Kenobi-Skywalker bond?"
The bald master leaned back, closing his eyes to consider. Yoda gave him the chance to think. It was, indeed, a complicated matter.
"I... do not like it," Mace answered slowly. "Darkness obscures their bond. I do not think any good came come from such a strong bond."
"Strong, he says," Yoda mumbled to himself. "Strong, the word is not. Deep. Very deep is their bond. No longer visible are the roots, so deep, they are."
Mace nodded. "Which is why I believe it is dangerous."
"Hmmmm," Yoda let out a small sigh. "A solution to this bond, have you?"
He looked away because that was where the problem lay. Once a bond was formed, it could never be removed. Masters and Padawans merely drifted away, no longer working on the bond since neither needed it any more. Instead, it was carefully shielded and time away from one another helped ease it shut. Never removed, but closed, so that it could not interfere in the direst of moments.
When Mace looked back, he squared his shoulders. Yoda knew he would not like the suggestion.
"Padawan Skywalker had done an exemplary job during this war. Leading troops, winning battles. The media loves him and wonders when he will be Knighted. Perhaps it's time we should."
Yoda's eyelids sank in sadness and his shoulders drooped in disappointment. "So anxious are you, to Knight a Jedi not yet ready?"
"He has great talent in the Force; he is a charismatic leader of troops. His strategies in battle are unorthodox, but brilliant." Mace sighed, his rigid control of self, slipping. "We lose far too many Jedi in this war. We need more generals."
"Hmmm." The old Jedi could see Mace's point. The war was costly. Jedi were falling left and right, under-prepared for such long battles. They were peacekeepers, not soldiers, yet only the Jedi had experience in battle to lead troops. Already, Padawans were being promoted simply to start filling in spaces that were emptying far too quickly.
Yoda shook his head. "Ready for Knighthood, young Skywalker is not. Mastery of the Force, yes, yes he has. But mastery of self? Not even begun, hmmm." A pause. "No, not ready for knighting. Not ready at all."
Mace's frowned. "Then what do you suggest, Yoda?"
"Quite the conundrum this is. Quite the conundrum." Yoda slipped off his cushion, gimmer stick at hand, to hobble over to his hoverchair. It would not do to be late for the Chancellor, there was simply too much to do. "Knighthood, no. But solo missions? Learn independence, all Senior Padawans must." Distance would at least slow the progress of the growing bond. It would give them time, and if Yoda could call Obi-Wan back to Coruscant, perhaps the two of them could talk about it, amidst all the war and strategy meetings. Study what was going on and gather more information to decide a course of action.
It was merely a delay and Yoda knew it. But they needed more time and more information.
The line was shrouded in darkness. It was only natural to hesitate before stirring at it.
Author's Note: Hehehe. Before any of you go saying that Yoda is a big meanie, please understand his point of view. He's looking at something that's going too far, too fast and he wants to study it before Obi-Wan and Anakin get too far. Similarly, Anakin hasn't done anything to master himself, and you need to in order to become a Jedi. These are legitimate concerns. Solo missions would be how most people get to master themselves. Too bad Anakin isn't most people. And with the distance that he and Obi-Wan can communicate, "solo" isn't really true. Yoda's still going to try though. ^_^
And next week: Anakin is finally knighted and the two of us can go do vacation-y things!