Chapter 17
It has been a year since Arlie, Dooku and Quinlan ventured through the mindscape to save Xanatos. Arlie and Obi-Wan are no longer giving lessons having taught all they know to others who are now teaching. Instead they have focused their efforts inwards, to heal themselves. They have not spoken with Obi-Wan's Sith yet. They decided they would not subject him to it until it was their only way of getting more information, Arlie's evaluation was also still pending since Bellan felt she could not do it. Apparently, Arlie was too 'reticent' and skilled at 'changing the direction of conversation to things other than herself'. All in all, it had been a sadly unproductive year.
"All right, Arlie, it's been a year. That's long enough. Now, go get your evaluation done and kriffing work with her." Obi-Wan pleads, Arl ignores him as they wait for the transport to land. Eventually those they are waiting for step out.
"Obi-Wan!" Owen Lars yells as he gets off the transport and runs straight for him, hitting several people and yelling out sorrys before leaping at his older brother.
"Hey Kiddo, how you doing?"
"Better now, I missed you."
"I missed you too." He holds his baby brother close, the kid was a year and a half older than Anakin, but seeing as events transpired in the last timeline to make Anakin mature much faster, though not at all in some ways, Arl had never quite gotten it straight in her head. Now though, now it was different. "Hey Dad." Obi-Wan says seeing his father finally reaching them and hugging him around the arm full of nine-year-old he has.
"Obi-Wan, it is good to see you. You look well." Cliegg says seeming happy as he looks his son over. Historically they don't have the greatest relationship, but Obi-Wan had gotten back in regular contact with them a year ago and eventually told them if they ever wanted to visit, they could stay at the temple for free though only for about a week. That had been a few months before Cliegg had planned the trip and now here they are.
"This is my good friend Arl Aa, Arlie, this is my father Cliegg and my baby brother Owen." He introduces, Arl holds her hand out for Owen first who shakes it happily.
"Nice to meet you Miss Aa."
"Please, call me Arlie, it is nice to meet you too. Obi's told me a lot about you. And you Sir Lars." Arl says turning her attention to Cliegg and holding out her hand. He shakes it smiling warmly.
"Well, I apologise Miss Aa, he has not mentioned you, but he does not talk about his life as a Jedi much." Cliegg says awkwardly, Arl smiles.
"Well then, I suppose this will be an enlightening week for you. Obi wanted to take you on a tour around the temple and asked I go with you, if that is agreeable for you?" Both Lars men nod so Arl smiles and leads them back. Obi-Wan lets out a nervous breath glad it was going well so far. He had no idea how happy Cliegg had been when Obi-Wan introduced them, he called him dad but when introducing, it was either 'his adoptive father' or 'dad', neither of which upset him, but father, to Obi-Wan, meant including him in Obi-Wan's culture as well as surrounding himself in Cliegg's. It probably did not seem like a big deal to Obi-Wan, but to Cliegg, he felt like his son was truly that in his own eyes as well.
"Obi, Obi, Obi, Obi." Anakin chants as he runs down the corridor towards them. "Obi guess what, guess what!"
"Ummm, you got a pet turtle who has a purple tongue that stains everything it licks and Dooku is walking around with purple hair because it tried to eat him?" Obi-Wan asks earning weird looks from everyone around.
"No silly! I finished C3PO and my teacher said it was so good he was gonna recommend me for the big kids mechanical classes!" Anakin tells him happily jumping up and down giddily.
"That's great Ani!" Obi-Wan says proudly, "Hey Ani, wanna meet some cool people?" The boy nods excitedly, "This is Owen and Cliegg Lars, my brother and father."
"Why do they have a different last name?" Anakin asks curiously.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi is the name Dad gave me when I joined the Jedi."
"Like Arl Aa?" Anakin asks looking to Arlie who nods. "So, what's your real name?" Cliegg freezes, unsure how well Obi-Wan would take the question, to his surprise his son smiles.
"Obi-Wan Lars."
"Wizard, there's a farm on Tatooine owned by the Lars'."
"Yes, that's mine." Cliegg tells him, Anakin's eyes widen.
"You're from Tatooine too?"
"I am not from there but I live there."
"That's like my Mum except she was a slave like me and Arlie." Cliegg looks surprised so Arl decides it is time to step in.
"This is my little brother, Anakin Skywalker. He has not quite learnt what the purpose of a brain to mouth filter is."
"Mum says it is bad to lie."
"Editing what you are saying to a more appropriate thing is not lying it is having good social skills."
"Well not everyone can be you Arls." Arl just huffs not wanting to start an argument in front of Obi-Wan's family. Obi-Wan puts Anakin down, the boy smiles at Owen.
"Wanna play tag with me and my friends?" The seven-year-old asks.
"Can I Dad?" Owen asks, Cliegg looks to Obi-Wan who nods.
"Sure."
"Yay!" Both boys say before running off together.
Obi-Wan and Arlie give Cliegg a tour before taking him to the commissary for lunch, he was substantially more comfortable at this point and was very happily taking in this new side to Obi-Wan he had not seen before, and yet something was wrong. Cliegg may have only met Obi-Wan when he was eight, but he knew his son.
"Arlie, have you seen your brother?" A woman comes and asks Arl.
"Yeah he went to play tag a few hours ago so I assume he either still is or is napping somewhere. Oh Mum, this is Cliegg Lars, Obi-Wan's dad."
"Pleasure to meet you Sir Lars, you have an amazing son. You must be very proud." The woman says smiling, "I am Shmi Skywalker."
"The pleasure is all mine Lady Skywalker, your daughter is quite lovely as well. She and Obi-Wan have been showing me around since my youngest ran off with Anakin."
"Ah yes, Owen right? Obi has mentioned you both before."
"Do you want to join us Shmi?" Obi asks, Shmi looks to Cliegg who smiles.
"You are most welcome to." He says, Shmi takes a seat.
"Then I'd love to. Now Obi, why didn't you mention your family was visiting? We could have made dinner." Shmi admonishes teasingly, Obi blushes slightly.
"Well, I was thinking tomorrow night when everyone is at Arlie's place, if Dad wants to, he, Owen, and I could come along and you, Mic, and I could make the pasta dish everyone loves." Arlie immediately perks up.
"Pasta dish?" She says, Cliegg chuckles at her along with the other two, it was ridiculously easy to be comfortable around that girl.
"Your mother's recipe?" Shmi asks, Obi nods before turning to his father.
"You remember that pasta thing Mum used to make whenever I was able to come home?" Obi-Wan asks, Cliegg feels his eyes watering but fights back the tears, they are of happiness. He had never heard Obi-Wan refer to them all as his family so easily and it truly touched him.
"Yes of course, she always made heaps hoping for left overs."
"But the more she made the more we ate." Obi says laughing. "So, what do you think, do you want to go to the dinner? It's just a casual meet up with a bunch of people we are close with and probably the best opportunity for you to meet them."
"If it is not an imposition."
"Believe me, the second they know you are here, they will insist you come along." Shmi tells the man, hearing it from another non-Jedi made him feel more comfortable and nodded to Obi-Wan who smiles happily, he knows he made the right decision.
"You are a complete moron!" They suddenly hear quite loudly.
"ME? It was your fault!" Arlie drops her head to the table when she hears it.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors on who deals with it?" Arl offers Obi-Wan.
"Nuh-uh, I did it last time, your turn." Arl rolls her eyes but moves to intervene between the two boys who had entered the room and were arguing in earnest. The commissary seemed largely unsurprised but slightly wary of them until they saw Arl approach, they all went back to their food as though knowing it would be quickly dealt with. She put her hands on her hips and cleared her throat expectantly.
"Arlie." Both boys says guility, "Heeeey." One of them says earning an eyeroll from the other.
"What is going on?" Arlie demands impatiently.
"No, nothing." The older of the two says quickly earning a suspicious look from the girl as the younger boy put his arm around the other's shoulder and smiled.
"We're just being best friends having a little tiff over nothing, just the usual, we're gonna go…be best buds…doing the usual." He says turning to leave.
"Stop." Arl says, they freeze, "Turn." They do, "Explain."
"It was my fault." They both say at the same time.
"This will be interesting." Obi-Wan says to his father and Shmi.
"Don't tell my Master?" The older requests, Shmi and Obi-Wan flinch.
"Oh, shiiit they are going to die."
"Language Obi-Wan." Shmi tells him disapprovingly.
"Sorry Shmi. But they are."
"Oh yes. That boy is Knight Xanatos Du Crion, his Master, Dooku, is known for being a bit of a hard-ass. Pardon my language but it is the most apt description." Shmi says, "He's not really so bad when he loosens up, though he does so mainly with his partners, but if they've done something and he is who they are worried about, it is not going to be fun when he finds out." She tells Cliegg who nods.
"Who is the other boy?"
"My friend Garen, he and Arlie have the same Masters so they've known each other since Garen started his padawanship. Xanatos is the one who brought Arl into the Order so they've all known each other for years. Xan and Garen have an interesting relationship to say the least." Obi-Wan tells him.
"YOU WHAT?!" Arl screeches when Garen whispers something to her. She looks around wildly before pulling them to the side of the room and speaking in frantic whispers for a few moments before the two boys run out looking chastised but hopeful. Arlie heads back to the table saying what he assumes is some colourful cursing in another language.
"Language." Shmi says, Arl looks confused.
"You can't even understand me."
"That does not mean I do not know what you are saying young lady."
"Sorry Mum."
"Why are you cursing in Old Sith?" Obi-Wan asks sounding amused.
"They broke his favourite teapot."
"Oh dear." Shmi says giving Cliegg the impression that the man in question was very attached to the teapot.
"Could they buy another one before he notices?" Cliegg asks hesitantly, Obi-Wan shakes his head.
"It was bought for him by my Master who was his Padawan at the time. Well freshly Knighted. Master Dooku and Master Qui-Gon had a rather…difficult, padawanship. So when Master Qui-Gon went on his first solo mission and brought back this teapot from the planet and gave it to Master Dooku as a thank you for his lessons, it meant a lot. Apparently, there was something in particular that Master Qui-Gon was very stubborn about and Dooku forcing him to learn it saved his life. The teapot was some old thing between the two of them that made it even more meaningful." Obi-Wan tells his dad.
"So basically they're scre…um…in a jam." Cliegg asks, editing his words in deference to Arl's perceived age, even if it was becoming apparent to him that she was oddly mature for her age.
"Yes, except, I know where they can get one that looks exactly the same on Coruscant so I sent them in that direction." Arl says.
"It was an old relic, only one made, from a culture that despised 90% of the Republic including the entire planet of Coruscant…why is there one here and how do you know where to find it?"
"When will you learn Obi, I know everything."
The next night Arl shows up at the rooms Cliegg and Owen are staying in to bring them to her quarters, Obi-Wan had to go early to help Shmi and someone named Mic cook the food so Arl had offered to get them.
"You seem nervous." Arl says as they walk away from their quarters.
"I'm sure you're aware that Obi-Wan and I have not always been extremely close." Cliegg begins carefully, Arl nods, "He's been so good since we've been here. I don't want to do anything to jeopardise that." He explains as Owen runs ahead, occasionally running back so that he doesn't get lost before running ahead again.
"Obi-Wan's seen a lot of things in his life, things he should not have had to see. Something happened a year ago and it changed him, made him realise what is truly important. He loves you, and Owen, and his mother. You will not do anything that will change that, he just wants to be a bigger part of both your lives." Arlie says.
"And I in his." He tells her, they are silent as they ride the elevator. "Neither of you ever told me, how did you two meet?"
"Through Garen originally, we did not really get to know each other well until Master Qui-Gon took him as his Padawan, he's a good friend of mine."
"Will he be here tonight? I have never actually met him."
"Oh, Obi did not mention that. He will not be, he was called on an emergency diplomatic mission a few days ago that he could not avoid. Obi-Wan opted to stay behind for your visit. I do not believe he told Qui that, he did not want him to feel guilty about missing your visit." Arl tells him, he seems a little disappointed but understanding and proud that his son thinks of others so much.
"Why is the door open?"
"It's always open, I never remember to close it, the habit caught on and now it's tradition." Arl explains as they enter.
"Owen! Cliegg." Anakin says happily from his spot playing Sabacc on the floor with Garen.
"Hi Ani." Owen says moving to join the boys, a dark skinned man about Cliegg's age, possibly a bit younger, comes over.
"Cliegg this is Master Mace Windu, one of Garen and my Masters, Master this is Cliegg Lars." Mace remembers to shake his hand instead of bow, Arl had mentioned that would make him uncomfortable.
"It's good to meet you sir." Mace tells him.
"And you Master Jedi."
"Please, call me Mace. We tend to leave titles at the door." He says happily, "Can I get you anything?" He asks, Arl leaves the man in her Master's capable hands as she moves to have a look at how the game is going.
"Garen one day you need to learn how to actually play this game." Arl tells him.
"One day I will meet someone who is actually any good at teaching me." He retorts. A while later the food comes out as do Obi, Shmi, and another man Cliegg realises must be Mic. A little while later Xan shows up with an older man and a man a little older than Xanatos himself.
"Cliegg, that there is Master Dooku." Shmi says gesturing to the older man, Cliegg thinks he can see what they meant about him appearing rather stern. Or at least he does until the other man says something and Dooku teasingly mocks him for it, Mic says something and soon Dooku and Mic are bantering about something while the younger man stands and watches his handiwork.
"Who's that?" Cliegg asks looking at the other man.
"Quinlan Vos, he, Dooku, and Arlie are a team on most missions. They actually got back from one a day before you showed up, so this is the first time they've all been in the same place since. There will probably be questions about it during dinner and some insane story since their missions never just work."
"All three of them have burns, did that happen on a mission?" He asks, he had noticed Arlie's at the commissary yesterday when she reached for some food and her sleeve pulled up. Quinlan's he could vaguely see on his face and the back on his neck, Dooku's was only noticeable when he leaned forward to reach some salad and the hollow of his neck was visible.
"Yes, however I would refrain from asking about it." Shmi suggests, he nods grateful for the warning as they join the rest of them at the table.
Sure enough, after only a few minutes, Anakin turns to his sister.
"So how long before things went wrong?" he asks.
"Anakin, do not assume something went wrong, your sister and her partners are all perfectly capable Jedi." Shmi feels the need to say despite Dooku's immediate groan at his question letting her know it had not been long.
"Please don't get her started again." Dooku pleads, but it was too late.
"Oh it was a new kriffing record." She says heatedly glaring at Vos.
"I said I was sorry, how many times must I say I am sorry?"
"Depends, how many I'm sorrys will it be before our ship magically uncrashes?"
"Hang on, do you mean to tell me your mission screwed up before you even landed?" Garen asks laughing.
"Yes, our pilot forgot the landing code so we got shot down and lost in the bloody jungle."
"Only you Vos, only you." Mic says teasingly, Quinlan rolls his eyes.
"Did you succeed in your mission at least?" Mace asks, Dooku shakes his head.
"No, but that surprisingly was not Quinlan's fault. There were pirates and an uprising and ruins and a jungle lab and it got very complicated very quickly, sufficed to say we did not solve the crime they brought us there for, negotiations for entry to the Republic never took place and finally, Arlie got us banned from another planet." Dooku concludes.
"Sounds like you all fucked up equally then." Obi remarks.
"Language Obi-Wan." Mace, Dooku, Shmi, and Cliegg all tell him.
"Since when do you swear so much?" Cliegg asks, Obi-Wan had never been one to express anger or frustration with words so him picking up the habit seemed odd.
"I had this friend, he got in a lot of trouble that I had to deal with. Immense frustration became commonplace until he grew out of it…which he did not." Obi-Wan explains, Arl snickers.
The next morning Cliegg and Owen had been invited to breakfast with Shmi and Obi-Wan. Obi was staying with Shmi while his Master was away, although he did not need babysitting, he enjoyed the company. Anakin was in the creche and Arlie lived with her Masters despite being knighted. Then again, both Xanatos and Obi-Wan were knighted and they still lived with their Masters.
The four were enjoying breakfast when the door chimed, Shmi went to go answer it.
"Obi, it's for you, please come in." Shmi says to whoever is at the door.
"Thank you Shmi, I apologise for the early hour but I just got back." A very tall man with shoulder-length mostly brown but greying hair says.
"Master?" Obi says sounding confused but happy as he walks over and bows respectfully before the man, presumably Qui-Gon Jinn, pulled him into a hug and ruffled his hair affectionately.
"Hello Padawan, I heard you had guests that I was rather interested to meet so I had Master Koon replace me."
"Master, that mission was important." Obi-Wan protests immediately.
"Not as important as you Obi-Wan, I'd have thought you'd have learnt that by now." He says with a smile, Obi-Wan turns back to introduce them allowing Cliegg to see his happy smile. It was obviously important to his son that he meet his Master so Cliegg walks around the table to see him and bows respectfully in the way he had seen other Jedi.
"Master Jinn I presume?" The man bows back before holding a hand out to shake.
"Yes, Cliegg Lars?" Cliegg nods, "An honour to meet you sir, Obi-Wan speaks very highly of you. And of you young Sir Lars." Qui-Gon says kneeling before Owen who has wandered closer, curious about the newcomer.
"Hello Master Jedi." Owen says smiling wide.
"Please, my name is Qui-Gon."
"I'm Owen." He says holding out his hand, Qui-Gon takes it and shakes his hand.
"You've got a good grip there Owen, it'll serve you well in life." The boy looked positively ecstatic at his words.
"Qui, would you care to join us for breakfast? There's tea." Shmi says smiling, Qui-Gon's eyes light up at the mention of the beverage, it made Cliegg see how tired the man looked. He had said he had just returned from a mission and Arlie had said it was an emergency one. Cliegg does not think he has slept much since he was called away and had now rushed back, mission incomplete and immediately come to meet him for the sake of his son who did not even ask him to. Yes, Cliegg likes the man a lot.
They talk throughout breakfast, pleasant conversation as Qui-Gon tells them stories of Obi-Wan since he met him four years ago, Cliegg tells stories of Obi-Wan from when he met him three years before that. Cliegg does not mention that part, unsure how much they knew. However, the way they avoid asking questions about when Obi-Wan was very young makes him think they are aware.
Obi-Wan for his part tries to steer the conversation away from the embarrassing topics both men seem to try and centre on. If one thing became clear to Cliegg throughout the breakfast, it was that Obi-Wan was absolutely smitten with the man, and Qui-Gon was entirely oblivious. Cliegg was not sure how he felt about that to begin with, Qui-Gon was about his age if not older. But he cared for Obi-Wan deeply, Cliegg decided that no matter what happened over time, so long as Obi-Wan was happy, he would be happy too.
A few hours later Cliegg was wandering the halls aimlessly while he waited for his son to finish checking the thing he had to check that was a confidential Jedi thing. Owen had run off, no doubt creating mayhem with Anakin again, then Cliegg saw Arlie's Master, Mace, and Cliegg realised why the name had sounded so familiar.
"Sir Lars." Mace greeted kindly.
"Please, it's Cliegg. Especially to my son's Uncle." He says, Mace smiles warmly.
"I was wondering if you knew about that."
"It didn't click until I saw you just now."
"I do hope you don't have a problem with my being around your son?" Cliegg was somewhat surprised and happy that he considered him to be Obi-Wan's father.
"So long as you are nothing like your brother it's fine." Cliegg says immediately, he notices Mace stiffen slightly and regrets his harsh words, "I'm sorry, that was callous of me."
"It was well deserved. I do want you to know that had I known what happened sooner, I would never have left Obi-Wan alone."
"He told me soon after he moved in that his Jedi Uncle had been on a mission of some kind. I'll admit I was both worried and hoping you'd come for him. I did not want to lose my child but he also needed some kind of familiarity to help him through his grief. It's part of why my wife and I decided to have him trained to be a Jedi, that and he wanted to. We also could not get him the same kind of training he had been receiving and we didn't want him to somehow get hurt because he couldn't control or whatever." Cliegg says not really understanding much about the Jedi, Mace got the picture though.
"Well, Obi-Wan turned out brilliantly so I suppose you made the right decision. I am glad you are his father though, he loves you and looks up to you a lot."
"I'm just a farmer." Mace smiles a knowing smile.
"You're a good man, that's worth a lot more than a fancy job title."
A while later Tahl enters the council chambers with Dooku and Bant, ready to address the council.
"We are out of options Masters, unless we get knew information we have nothing else to go on. We need to speak to the Sith." She tells them, none of them had wanted it to come to this.
"We should wait for his family to leave at least." Dooku says, everyone agrees with that and so the meeting is adjourned, the air filled with a perverse curiosity.
Soon enough, the trip was over. The night before they left Mace and Mic had hosted another dinner as a send off to them which gave them a chance to say goodbye. Currently Arlie, Anakin, Shmi, Obi, and Qui-Gon were here to see them off. After goodbyes and promises to keep in contact were exchanged, Obi-Wan hugged his brother goodbye before turning to his Dad and hugging him tightly.
"I love you Dad." Obi says, it was the first time he had ever said that to Cliegg, he could not fight back the emotions anymore and felt tears stream down his face.
"I love you too my Son." He replies clapping him on the back before letting him go. They had to board the transport, the group waited until they were out of sight before beginning to head inside.
Hours later a meeting is called in the old meeting room. The usual people in attendance as Tahl tells them all what she had told the council days ago. Obi-wan was tense but agreed and so everything was set up. They were in the holding cell, Bellan and Terza ready to intervene if necessary though Bellan was also necessary to trigger the shift. Arlie would be the only one inside the cell, asking the questions. Everyone else was watching from the meeting room through surveillance cameras. Arl had a comm piece in her ear to enable them to relay questions should it be necessary. They all knew should something go wrong she could subdue him, but it never hurt to be thorough and so Terza had knockout gas handy that she could release inside the cell and render both Obi-Wan and Arleia unconscious if the need arises.
"Don't worry Obi, it'll be okay." Arl reassures before taking her seat in front of the bed he sat on against the wall, her chair was in the middle of the room so there was a bit of distance between them. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be." He replies, she nods to Bellan who presses the speaker button from outside the cell.
"His name is Darth Sohn."
"It's not very original."
"And yet it works." Sohn says looking at her with yellow eyes.
"We need to know what you know of Wrath's possession of your father." Arl tells him not beating around the bush.
"Why would I turn against my Master?" He asks, Arl gives him a calculating look as she hears surprised gasps through the comm piece. Whatever the others had been expecting, it wasn't that.
"Revenge." He looks at her in a way that makes her feel as though she were his prey, then he smiles in the least reassuring way possible.
"Well, when you put it like that, how can I refuse. His soul needs to be ripped from my Father's body and contained."
"How?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether or not the Jedi are willing to evolve. Only the creator of the order can do it, she will only return when a bridge between our two people is forged. But more importantly she can only do it when the force is in balance, with the light and the dark working in tandem to strengthen her, give her the power she needs to fix what is against the very laws of nature. The force is on your side with this, will the Jedi be?"
"Anything else?"
"Yes, do you remember what Tyranus once told you? That all sentient beings have a weakness? That the force does?"
"Yes, of course." She replies with a frown, the simple sentence had weighed heavily on her mind for many decades, and damn didn't that thought make her feel old.
"Lord Wrath found it, and he's exploiting it. If this is not dealt with by your twentieth birthday, the force will cease to exist, and all of reality along with it. Good luck with that." He says before laying back on the bed obviously done with the conversation. A moment later Obi-Wan sat up, blue eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Please do not make me do that again." He requests, Arl smiles sadly at him.
"Do not worry Little Obi, we won't."