Chapter 32

Disclaimer: I own neither Star Wars nor Viagra – not that I would have any need of that ;-) And I would like to apologize in advance for the crude joke about Palpatine somewhere in this chapter.

oOo

Obi-Wan had no idea how long he had been sitting there, tightly holding his Master's slowly cooling body. To the grieving Padawan it felt like days, like years he spent kneeling on the cold floor, his thoughts on both everything and nothing at the same time.

His head was swirling with memories of Qui-Gon, but his heart felt empty – just as empty as the place in his mind where the bond with Qui-Gon used to be. The pain and grief was overwhelming, yet at the same time Obi-Wan felt numb and cold inside.

After what might have been just minutes as well as months Obi-Wan spent on the floor near the pit, cradling his fallen Master, shaking and mourning, his sense of duty got the better of him. Reluctantly, he stood up and immediately that part of the numbness that was located in his legs was replaced by a painful sting as the circulation returned to them. The newly orphaned Padawan stretched out a hand to steady himself against the wall until his legs were a bit more willing to cooperate. His gaze lingered on Qui-Gon's relaxed features. Except for the circular burn in the middle of his chest, he looked peaceful in death. As more tears threatened to fall, Obi-Wan gruffly wiped them away again.

He didn't want to leave Qui-Gon's side, yet there was no way he could carry the much larger man's body all the way back to the hangar – and he certainly wouldn't compromise the dignity of his deceased Master by dragging him. He stood there a moment longer, unwilling to leave. Somewhere in the general vicinity of the hangar, he sensed a bright young presence practically radiating with happiness, and he was loath to extinguish this flame of joy with the terrible tidings of Qui-Gon's death. Still further away but quickly approaching Naboo, Obi-Wan could also sense the familiar if still remote and thus hazy presences of Masters Windu and Mundi and most of the other Council members – no, all of the other Council members, and could it really be that Master Yoda was on board, too? It had been many years since Yoda had left the comfort the Jedi Temple offered and faced the hardships space travel posed to him.

The fact that Master Yoda had actually left the Temple to come to Naboo was enough to startle Obi-Wan out of his sombre indecisiveness. The momentousness of the Sith's emergence had to be even greater than Obi-Wan had thought if it drew Yoda out of his swampy little apartment. The Council must have left Coruscant barely half a day after Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had. So now that Qui-Gon was dead, they suddenly believed in the Sith, did they? And why did they arrive now? They must have left long before the Queen and her Jedi protectors had even talked to the Gungans. If they had planned to come anyway, as they obviously had, why had the most powerful Masters of the whole Jedi Order sent them ahead? Had they come with them instead, Qui-Gon might still be…

Obi-Wan silenced that thought before he could think it through. His Master's death was not their fault. Not theirs. For now, he refused to think about whose fault it had been, or else he would never be able to face Anakin and the Council – though the question of who was to blame would inevitably return with the night, and Obi-Wan dreaded the answer to this question.

For now, someone had to inform the Queen of the Council's arrival. They were still a good way off and would not arrive for another two hours or so. That should leave enough time to arrest the few members of the Trade Federation's invasion army that were not droids and to prepare everything for their arrival. It was time to leave his Master and talk to Padmé and Anakin – as much as he dreaded that prospect.

Obi-Wan stared down at his hands. They were still trembling. There was no way he could face anyone like that, especially not an exuberant Anakin. Anakin, who had suddenly become his responsibility. Anakin, who had just more or less lost his mother, and who had now also lost the man he had adopted as a father. There was no easy way to tell such news as Obi-Wan had to tell. The least he must do was to be strong for Anakin. The boy would surely need someone to hold on to, now that Qui-Gon was no longer there to guide him and take care of him.

So Obi-Wan locked his emotions away deep inside him, leaving behind only the numbness, at least for the moment. He would have to deal later with his own conflicting feelings both on his Master's death and the legacy Qui-Gon left him – Anakin.

With a last sigh full of sadness and regret and a last, rueful glance at Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan left the Naboo Museum of Oddities in order to find Anakin and the Queen.

He had to suppress a vicious string of swears when the stupid laser doors closed right in front of his nose – he couldn't know that, but they had a slight malfunction that had never been fixed because the visitors of the museum wanted the doors to close when they approached them, anyway. To Obi-Wan, it seemed that either the stupid doors or the Force really hated him.

oOo

Anakin had just met up with Padmé and was about to receive the well-deserved praise for his heroic deed when the moment was completely ruined by none other than Obi-Wan. Just as Padmé was about to bend down and give him an actual kiss on his forehead, which was destined to be Anakin's first kiss from someone who wasn't his mother, she spotted the Padawan returning through the same door he had used to exit the hangar about half an hour earlier.

Anakin pouted petulantly at this foiled first kiss, and his first kiss from Padmé at that. He glowered at Obi-Wan and cursed him for returning right then. Padme's eyes now were glued to the approaching Padawan instead of Anakin's elfin features, and the boy felt a stab of jealousy. Could it be that Obi-Wan was trying to turn Padmé against him?

But Anakin's glare soon turned into a frown of confusion, and Padme's delighted beam at seeing her favourite Jedi return unharmed dimmed and gradually became sorrowful. Anakin had noticed that Qui-Gon was especially conspicuous by his continued absence, but no one noticed the tiny signs of sadness, the slight sag to Obi-Wan's shoulders, the hesitancy in his steps, the paleness of his face, the dullness of eyes that had held that ever-present sparkle of humour, even though that sparkle had sometimes been buried deeply beneath something else. Now it was gone.

Padmé, who had been looking forward to see her favourite Jedi again, wondered what might have happened. She thought that the Padawan looked like someone had destroyed all his much-loved clothes. Her eyes widened in sympathy when she noticed that indeed, Obi-Wan's robe was missing. Maybe the striped guy with the terrible taste for overly dramatic makeup had cut Obi-Wan's favourite piece of clothing to ribbons? That would in Padmé's eyes certainly qualify as an acceptable cause for a major breakdown, even though the robe hadn't had nearly enough glamour and had been way too unfashionable in her opinion.

Obi-Wan made his way towards the small group slowly but determinedly. His eyes were solely on Anakin. For once foregoing formal protocol and even courtesy, he didn't acknowledge the Queen and her entourage of handmaidens, pilots and security officers but kneeled down in front of Anakin. His movements seeming tired and lacking their usual grace. Anakin's frown deepened along with his confusion as Obi-Wan put a hand on his bony, slim shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes. A cold dread suddenly gripped Anakin. He didn't know it, but Obi-Wan's bad feeling had finally become contagious – and it had infected Anakin.

"Anakin - ," Obi-Wan said gravely. He stopped, swallowed once, and started a second time.

"Anakin, I bear grave tidings. It is my terrible obligation to inform you of… of Qui-Gon's demise," he said, his voice steady and his expression stony but his tones grave. Padmé was shocked both at the terrible news and at the seeming coldness with which Obi-Wan informed them. He sounded more like an indifferent politician talking about the needs of his people when all he really cared about was how to gain more power instead of someone who had just lost someone important to him.

Obi-Wan, though, dealt with the difficult and overwhelming situation by taking refuge in exaggerated formality. For fear of making a mistake in such a complicated situation, he preferred to do everything overly correct. He never thought that this might make him appear cold and unfeeling to other people.

Padmé gasped in shock at this news. The confused frown on Anakin's face only deepened.

"First of all, I don't see you bear anything, and second: It's your what to inform me of what?" he asked, completely bewildered.

Padmé watched in sympathy as Obi-Wan struggled for words.

"Anakin, I'm sorry. Qui-Gon is… he is… dead," Obi-Wan finished tonelessly. He was struggling to keep tight reins on his emotions or else they would completely run away with him.

A tense silence stretched through the crowded hangar. Anakin's eyes first widened, then narrowed in disbelief and suspicion.

"No, he's not. Nobody can kill a Jedi. You lie!" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger at a stunned Obi-Wan.

The poor Padawan blanched even further. Anakin's blunt rejection of the words he had fought so hard to say was both unexpected and unexpectedly wounding. The boy was forcing him to face a painful truth he was still unable to absorb, much less accept himself.

Anakin stared fiercely at Obi-Wan. Jedi were invincible, they simply were not killed, and definitely not by the stripey devil he had seen earlier. Anakin was completely ignorant about anything related to fashion, but Padmé had told him that stripes were so last year – whatever that meant. He still held fast to the belief that nobody could kill a Jedi, especially if they were "so last year".

But Obi-Wan only repeated what he had said. "Qui-Gon is dead."

The words which fell from his lips were lifeless, and they lay there on the ground between Anakin and Obi-Wan as if they were also dead. The expression of mistrust and doubt on the boy's face crumpled and was replaced by one of shock and disbelief.

"He won't come back?" Anakin asked in a dejected whisper.

Obi-Wan slowly shook his head.

Anakin couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it. But Qui-Gon was not there to pat him reassuringly on his shoulder, to give him a rewarding smile, to be proud of him for mastering that difficult video game, so it had to be true. Although Anakin had only known the Jedi Master for a few short days, he already missed him terribly. His eyes were quickly filling with moisture that soon spilled down his cheeks. The world looked watery and unclear through the haze of tears, but Anakin could plainly see that Obi-Wan was not crying. Anakin decided that the Padawan couldn't have liked his Master very much, because although Obi-Wan looked solemn and maybe a bit paler than usual, Anakin couldn't see the small signs of heartbreak Obi-Wan was carefully trying to hide.

The Padawan hesitantly stretched out a hand as if to wipe away the tears streaming down Anakin's face. Anakin gave Obi-Wan a resentful glare – he thought that the Padawan should at least pretend to be saddened by his Master's death, no matter what their relationship had been. Obi-Wan, though, seemed incredibly formal and stiff, and not like he cared at all. Anakin turned away from Obi-Wan and fled into Padmé's open arms, buried his tearstained face in the soft fabric of her dress and started sobbing inconsolably. Padmé stroked Anakin's hair and tried to soothe the distraught boy.

Obi-Wan got back up, regretting that Anakin had rejected the comfort he had tentatively offered – too tentatively, it seemed. He bowed somewhat shakily to the Queen, who was holding a trembling and sobbing boy in her arms, quietly informed them that the Jedi Council was approaching and when they would arrive before he excused himself.

oOo

The Padawan hesitantly approached the part of the hangar where the fight with the Sith had started. He had to recover the robes he and Qui-Gon had shed earlier. He was undecided if he wished that the robes were still there as they had left them or that someone had already picked them up.

Next to the brown heap of cloth that was Obi-Wan's robe lay a darker heap. Obi-Wan's hand trembled ever so slightly as he picked up the piece of clothing that had been discarded so casually just a short time ago. It still smelled like the swampy water they had swum through earlier that day. To Obi-Wan, it seemed like that had been weeks ago.

Obi-Wan slowly walked along the corridors and through the halls where the battle had taken them. He was returning to his Master's side because he couldn't bear the thought of Qui-Gon lying there all alone. He carefully wrapped Qui-Gon in his robe. It covered the lethal lightsaber wound in the middle of his Master's chest, restoring the dignity that had always belonged to Qui-Gon. The deceased Jedi Master looked peaceful, as if he was just meditating. Obi-Wan would almost have been tempted to stretch out his hand and rouse his Master if it weren't for the aching void where their bond had been that destroyed the illusion – that and the fact that Qui-Gon usually didn't meditate lying sprawled on the floor.

He waited next to Qui-Gon until people arrived to carry him away.

oOo

"Shhh, it's all right," Padmé tried to calm the shivering, sobbing boy in her arms. She knew that it would not be alright, not with Qui-Gon dead, but what Anakin needed right now was comfort, not the bitter truth, and especially not in the coldly unemotional way Obi-Wan had delivered it. She, too, had been pretty shaken by Qui-Gon's death, even though she hadn't been too fond of the Jedi Master and his unconventional and sometimes outright mad ideas. Anakin, who had adopted Qui-Gon as his surrogate father right on the spot, was completely devastated.

"He- he- he promised he'd be there," Anakin sobbed. "I was to be his new Pa- Padawan. I wa- want to be a Jedi!"

"Oh Anakin," Padmé sighed. "You are such a wonderful and bright young man, and I'm sure you'll make a great Jedi," she reassured him.

The boy perked up a bit at Padmé's praise, but still his future looked pretty bleak to him. If he couldn't become a Jedi, he would probably have to return to Tatooine and live with his mother again. Not that he didn't love his mother, but he was not so sure that he would get along all that well with her future husband and his kids. Wasn't it that stepfathers and their older offspring traditionally were mean towards their younger stepbrothers – especially after his mother had died? He didn't want to become the male (but in his eyes no less good-looking) counterpart of Cinderella – though he wouldn't mind marrying royalty, he thought with an appreciative glance at Padmé. But there was no way he would ever wear shoes of glass. Never ever.

Maybe he could get to marry Padmé without all the fairytale story first if she allowed him to stay on Naboo. So he started whining again.

"But who will take care of me? The Jedi Council scares me, they're all weird, and Obi-Wan doesn't like me. It seems he didn't even like his Master very much. Besides them, I don't know any other Jedi. Can't I stay here with you, as your consort – erm, I mean as your guard or anything?" Anakin said, his voice quivering with fear and uncertainty.

"Don't worry, Anakin. You will become a Jedi, I'm sure of that. And I don't think Obi-Wan is quite as bad as you are thinking right now, either," she said softly, though at the moment she, too, had her doubts about that. Obi-Wan had seemed like a nice guy, and truth be told, Padmé had been smitten with him from the moment he had dropped down from that balcony to rescue her. She would never have thought that he was so heartless as to be more bothered by the loss of his robe than by the loss of his Master. Padmé decided to talk to her handmaidens about the young Jedi. They knew him much batter, after all, having stayed on the ship while she had gone with Qui-Gon to explore Tatooine.

With a tearful smile, she added: "And for all I know, there really is no need at all to fear the Council – well, except maybe for Master Windu, who is really scary. But just look at Master Yoda, for instance. He's small, and with that I mean he's tiny, and he's wrinkly and green. His manner of speech is completely warped! He even fails at putting the words of a simple sentence in the correct order."

"Yes, you're right," Anakin agreed tentatively. "He doesn't speak English, the only language he speaks is Failglish," he joked weakly.

Padmé did him the favour and gave a half-hearted laugh. If it helped to cheer Anakin up…

The young Queen entrusted her loyal decoy Sabé with the task of preparing the Council's arrival Obi-Wan had warned them of. She was to assemble all the guards and the pilots that had remained in Theed and organize the security measures necessary for the handing over of the Viceroy and his assistant. Then she focused her attention on a small boy in desperate need of her comfort.

oOo

While Anakin was grieving in Padmé's comforting embrace and Obi-Wan struggled with his own grief somewhere no one could see him, Sabé did an admirable job of organising the people of Naboo. She sent out some of the pilots and soldiers to free the prisoners who were still in camps, then she prepared for the Trade Federation's viceroy and his aide to be brought back to Coruscant for their trial.

About two hours later, a big ship that might have been red when it had been new but whose colour had faded to an unfavourable pink landed on the wide avenue that led to Theed Palace. The ship's shape clearly stated that it had originally been purchased because the owner felt the need to compensate something – and a ridiculously expensive and extravagant speeder was not enough.

All the Royal Guards that still owned a passable uniform were assembled in neat rows. Padmé had found the time to change into her royal attire again, and stood surrounded by her handmaidens as personal bodyguards. To her right stood Captain Panaka, Anakin, who still looked utterly miserable, and Obi-Wan.

Padmé used the opportunity to gloat at Nute Gunray. "Now, Viceroy, you're going to have to go back to the Senate and explain all this. Didn't I tell you that it was a bad idea to annoy me? I told you I had some friends who are powerful, and together we certainly kicked your sorry rears. Now it's you who won't get to phone your friends and you who have to stay at home when everyone else is invited to the coolest party of the year. You can kiss your pocket money goodbye!" she droned in her flat royal voice, thought the glee could clearly be heard in her tone.

Panaka didn't feel that this would impress the Trade Federation's big boss quite as much as Padmé seemed to think, so he stepped forward and sneered: "I think you can kiss your trade franchise goodbye, too."

As they were led away, Rune Haaku asked anxiously: "Do you think they will really take our pokey money away?"

"I hope not!" was Nute Gunray's equally fearful answer. "What would we do without our pocket money? They can't take that away!"

The two Neimoidians were led towards their cells aboard the Republic ship, whispering apprehensively about what would happen to their pocket money and if the Senate would dare ground them.

Obi-Wan also walked towards the ship to meet the Council. Anakin closely followed him. The boy eyed the wide robe billowing behind Obi-Wan. It looked like it might just be wide enough so that he could hide in there from the Council, but Anakin was not quite sure that Obi-Wan would allow that.

Palpatine approached them with a huge fake smile plastered all over his face. There was the incompetent Jedi fool who had killed his apprentice – and now he had to commend him for it, too! Palpatine wondered just how that pathetic Padawan had managed to kill Darth Maul. The Sith Lord unobtrusively looked for a taint of the Dark Side in the young Jedi's Force signature, but he could find none. Pity, that. Sidious would have enjoyed turning that one to the Dark Side, but it just seemed like too much of an effort when the death of his oh-so-wonderful Master hadn't even done so much as put the seed of darkness in the bright presence. Grudgingly, the Sith Master had to admit that apparently, the Padawan must have won by fair means without touching the Dark Side – even if Darth Maul certainly hadn't fought fair.

Hiding his disgust behind his best politician's smile, Palpatine acknowledged the Padawan's deep bow which was quickly imitated by the boy at his side.

"We are indebted to you for your bravery, Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said as quickly as courtesy allowed. It spoke volumes about the Padawan's turbulent emotions barely concealed behind a fragile façade of control that he didn't answer to the insincere praise. Or maybe it was just because Obi-Wan disliked politicians and was in no mood to treat this particularly dishonest newly elected Chancellor with any more courtesy than was absolutely necessary. Or maybe it was because Palpatine didn't even give him time to answer before turning to the boy standing next to Obi-Wan.

To Sidious, Anakin looked like a gift wrapped especially for him. The boy's presence was so bright as to be almost blinding, but there were tiny shadows in that brilliant light that could undoubtedly be used to the Sith's advantage. For now, though, he would just wait and watch and let someone else to the undeniably hard work of raising a child with emotions as impulsive and a temper as deliciously volatile as Anakin's.

"And you, young Skywalker," Palpatine said, his phoney smile becoming even wider and voice dripping with dishonesty, though Anakin was much too naïve to recognize it. "We will watch your career with great interest."

The most powerful man in the Republic – politically speaking, at least, because no one knew about his Darker Side yet - clasped Anakin's shoulder in a friendly fashion before he walked off towards the Queen.

A light frown creased Obi-Wan's face, and at Palpatine's last words he couldn't quite suppress a shudder. He felt like someone had dropped a cold weight into his stomach. Chancellor Palpatine immediately went of a few steps on Obi-Wan's personal ladder of politicians he liked least. For some reason, the innocuous smile, the fatherly way Palpatine smiled at Anakin and the greedy glint carefully concealed in the Chancellor's eyes scared Obi-Wan, though he had no idea why that was so. This politician didn't seem much worse than many others he had met, and yet no amount of reasoning could banish the icy horror that had gripped him.

Obi-Wan had no time to further explore that bad feeling, though, because the Council in its full glory was parading down the extended ramp of the Republic ship. Reverently, he bowed to this assembly consisting of some of the wisest and at the same time weirdest individuals of the Known Galaxy. Once again, Anakin followed his lead, though this time the boy seemed less ready to show the proper respect.

Anakin could still remember the way they had slighted him with their high-and-mighty manners. And even now, Anakin could not hear one single one of them mutter their condolences, neither to him nor to Obi-Wan. Anakin followed the Padawan as much as for the guiding hand Obi-Wan had put on his shoulders as for the lack of another place to go. Padmé was dressed up as her Queen persona right now and seemed as approachable as an iceberg - not that Anakin had ever seen one of those, but he imagined they must look just as white and as cold as Queen Amidala did.

Compared to that, even Obi-Wan in his current state of emotional isolation seemed friendly and cordial. Anakin just hoped that the Padawan would come around soon, because if he had to stand any more of the uncomfortable silences where Obi-Wan just stared into nothingness or the toneless and unbearably formal answers Obi-Wan had given to Anakin, he would surely go crazy. If Anakin's new Jedi protector didn't revert back to his former much friendlier and much more helpful self, Anakin vowed he would facesponge Obi-Wan to snap him out of it, never mind that that would be terribly disrespectful and the Padawan would certainly not appreciate Anakin's efforts. And that Anakin had no clear idea what exactly doing a facesponge on someone included.

oOo

As Palpatine walked towards Queen Amidala, his phoney smile widened even more, impossible as that may seem. He stopped in front of this young and naïve Queen who had so wonderfully served his plans and just beamed at her for a few seconds, looking much more like a proud uncle than an evil Sith Lord who had just been put in control of the whole Republic.

Even Queen Amidala couldn't help but smile back at the beaming politician. At least someone who was not weighed down by Qui-Gon's death and who could sincerely and freely rejoice in Naboo's liberation.

"Congratulations on your election, Chancellor," she complimented Palpatine.

For a second, the beam on the Chancellor's face wavered and dimmed in perplexity.

"How did you know I had problems with… Erm, I mean, it took quite a few of these little blue pills, but the result was, let us say, satisfactory. But I still have no idea how you learned about my rather intimate little problem," Palpatine squirmed.

Padmé flushed a bright red underneath her makeup when after a few seconds, she realized she had just learned something she would rather not have known.

"I'm sorry, Chancellor, but I think you misunderstood. I was congratulation you on your election as Supreme Chancellor, not on your-"

"Ah, yes. Thank you very much, Your Majesty," Palpatine interrupted the teenage Queen before she could cause a fit of giggles among the handmaidens in earshot – and besides, it was not a topic Palpatine wanted to discuss with the Queen of Naboo in public. In fact, he didn't want to discuss in with anyone, neither in public nor privately. An embarrassed blush covered the politician's otherwise still smiling face.

Palpatine recovered first from the awkward moment.

"Your boldness has allowed me, the most evil Sith Lord in the last thousand years, to become ruler of the Republic… erm, I mean, your boldness has saved our people, Your Majesty. It's you who should be congratulated," he quickly corrected himself. Padmé had taken a bit longer to recover, so she had missed Palpatine's involuntary revelation of his real identity, and the Sith Lord's secret was safe. "Together, we shall bring peace and prosperity to the Republic."

Anakin was genuinely impressed with this great man who seemed to have exactly the same high aims as he did. The boy was convinced that when it came to freeing the slaves, he could find a powerful ally in Palpatine. It seemed Anakin had finally found someone who shared his aims and would help him achieve the impossible – peace and prosperity for the Republic, or even better for the whole Galaxy.

Author's note: Thanks to all the loyal reviewers who didn't leave when updates got a bit scarce – you guys rock!

oOo

Edited on 12th March, 2011