Dooku: "What do you want? Tell me what you want and I will show you how the dark side can help you achieve it. Do you want friends? The dark side can compel them for you. Lovers? The dark side understands passion in a way you never have. Do you want riches—endless life—deep wisdom…?"

Yoda: "I want… I want a rose."

— Sean Stewart, Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

Chapter 2 - More Dangerous Than Love

Dooku was not surprised that Obi-Wan slept all the way to Coruscant. Force exhaustion was a very real danger. It also wasn't common.

Having the control to extend beyond one's limits in itself was difficult. Most Jedi simply didn't have the skill or concentration to channel the Force when they were that physically tired. To trust in the Force at that point is something even Jedi Masters struggled with. As with almost everyone, self-doubt could be crippling.

To use the Force was not to be without self-doubt, it was to believe in life beyond yourself.

Dooku touched Obi-Wan's shoulder.

The child jolted awake, pushing himself up and into the corner of the bunk, his breathing turned shallow, his eyes too wide as he stared at Dooku.

Dooku held up both hands in a gesture of peace, "We will be pulling out of hyperspace soon, I thought you might like to see Coruscant before we land."

Obi-Wan let out a long breath, eyes closing before nodding and saying, "Thank you, Master Dooku."

Dooku dipped his head, retreating back to the pilot's seat to give the child space and a chance to use the refresher.

Obi-Wan didn't keep him waiting long. He held onto the back of Dooku's seat as they emerged into Courscant's orbit.

The planet had very little natural beauty, however, in the shadow of its own sun, Courscant truly was the jewel of the Republic, a microcosm of captured stars.

Obi-Wan said nothing, but there was a quality to his silence that Dooku couldn't quite decipher. He would look forward to encouraging Obi-Wan to express his thoughts.

They descended toward the Temple and Obi-Wan grew quieter, his Force present becoming more muted.

As if he were disappearing into thin air.

That too would change.

There was no fanfare when they landed, Dooku had already messaged the Council to let them know he would be checking in with the healers before presenting his mission report.

Master Che had a room waiting for them when they arrived.

Her eyes scanned over him, and she frowned at him, "Let's see your shoulder."

"I've already treated it," Dooku answered and laid on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "I need you to make up a health profile for my new apprentice, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan, this is our head Healer, Master Che."

Che startled as if she hadn't seen Obi-Wan at all.

Obi-Wan was indeed as powerful as Dooku had suspected.

Che gave Dooku an exasperated look, but the day she denied a child help was the day they knew she had been replaced by an imposter.

"Right this way, Padawan Kenobi," she said, gesturing for Obi-Wan to follow her and remove his top.

Dooku stilled when he saw the scars.

Che's blue eyes went dark.

It was one thing to know Mandalorians were a warrior people, especially when your people were warriors as well, but it was quite another to see burns and scars from injuries that were evidence of extreme forms of training.

Thankfully, they were not the scars one saw on slaves, but abuse was abuse, and in Obi-Wan's short life, he had seen more, survived more, than most Jedi Masters.

Che took his measurements and began asking him questions, "So, Padawan, where are you from?"

"Mandalore," Obi-Wan answered. "I was born on Concordia."

Che hesitated only for a brief moment, "There hasn't been a Jedi from Mandalore in over a millennium."

Obi-Wan merely nodded his head.

Che frowned, putting her palm to his forehead, "Force exhaustion." She turned a scowl on Dooku, "What have you been making him do?"

"It wasn't Master Dooku's doing," Obi-Wan immediately insisted.

She huffed, "Regardless, I expect you to rest this week. You are to eat three meals a day, and begin taking these supplements until I say otherwise. You're underweight."

"Message received," Dooku began.

But Che cut him off, as a Padawan came in with a pair of Jedi robes. "Not just yet, Master Dooku, I will be having a look at that shoulder. Padawan Kenobi, go ahead and change into these. I'll have your own clothes cleaned and returned to you."

"Thank you, Master Che," he said. "But you can burn those, I don't want them back."

Well, at least the Council's fears would be groundless.

Che waited until Obi-Wan was in the other room before saying as she redressed his wound, "I don't care what the Council says, he's not going back to Mandalore."

"We are in agreement. But you know our laws. The Council couldn't separate us even if he wanted to, and I will not be bullied."

"That doesn't mean the wider Order will welcome him," she said in a whisper. "Mandalorians are still feared."

For good reason, Dooku said, thinking back to how Obi-Wan's mother had been ready to kill him just for being a Force sensitive.

If Mandalorians truly hated Jedi that much, then they were right to fear them.

However, there was no logic in hating someone who had no choice in the matter and who wished to pick the Jedi's side if given the opportunity to make a choice.

"I will leave with him, if things do not… settle," Dooku said finally.

"Good," Che said, slapping the bacta patch on a bit more roughly than was strictly necessary.

Obi-Wan emerged from the other room, shoulders back and looking far more suited to Jedi robes than his old clothes.

Perhaps the robes meant more to him as he was someone from a culture where armour was a rite of passage. That Jedi robes were common, didn't discount the layers of folded cloth were an outward symbol of the Jedi.

"Come, Padawan mine, let's go ruffle some feathers."

Obi-Wan offered him a hesitant smile.

Mace had learned to be suspicious of Master Dooku's mission reports, so when the man arrived with a young boy he had never seen before at his side, Mace knew it meant trouble.

Dooku gave his mission report without introducing the child.

Sifo-Dyas looked amused, but Yoda, like Mace, was focused on the new addition.

The boy kept his gaze down, and in all honesty, if Mace hadn't been looking directly at him, he wouldn't have known that he was there, much less a Force sensitive.

But that in itself was a skill, for hiding your Force signature before the seated High Council was no small feat.

"Brought someone with you, have you," Yoda said.

Dooku nodded, placing a hand on the child's back. "This, Master, is my Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Mace sighed.

Yoda stared at Dooku, "Old, he is. Tested, he must be."

"No," Dooku said. "I have already accepted him, and in turn, he has accepted me."

"Unwise this is," Yoda said.

"Unwise or not, I will leave the Order before I go against the Force in this matter," Dooku said.

"The Force spoke to you, has it?" Yoda asked. "Or vision have you seen?"

"Spoke," Dooku said.

Mace was not prepared to have this argument in front of a child they needed to make a good impression on.

Because the Force knew, Dooku wouldn't teach him to respect the Council.

Mace commed his own Padawan. "Depa, your presence is needed in the Council Chambers."

"I don't think that is—" Dooku began.

"Tour young Obi-Wan will be given, hmm?" Yoda interrupted. "See his new home should he, make new friends should he. For family we are."

Everyone looked at Yoda with a bit of shock, except Mace, who knew better than anyone Yoda's fears that Dooku was slipping.

Dooku, like Mace, had always been attracted to the Dark Side. But what was more worrisome was Dooku's attraction to positions of power and his ties to his own family.

Yoda had only recently discovered that Dooku had been in contact with his sister, Jenza Dooku, for decades, since his own Padawanship in fact.

To say Dooku's birth family was a complicated matter would be putting it mildly.

Dooku, by all accounts, had a loving relationship with his sister, being a man of practicality, there were few concerns about such an attachment doing anyone any harm.

Qui-Gon mattered more to Dooku than his sister.

No, the worrisome part was Dooku's father who was a titled individual, a Duke, leader of the entire planet of Serreno, and had thrown Dooku out to the wolves.

Had the Jedi been any slower in retrieving him, Dooku either would have died from the elements as a newborn or have been picked up by some predator.

Dooku's pride was more dangerous than his love.

In turn, there was much Yoda would be willing to do to prevent Dooku from falling down the road of revenge and Outer Rim politics.

Depa entered the room then, and Mace motioned to Obi-Wan.

"Depa, if you would be so kind as to take Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi on a tour of the Temple."

She dipped her head in a bow, expression passive, and after a nod from Dooku, Obi-Wan followed her without a word.

As soon as the doors closed, the other Council members began to question Yoda's approval.

"Enough," Mace called. "Dooku, where is the boy from and why would you choose him as a Padawan? You know better than to take in someone for power alone."

"Power?" Ki-Adi scoffed. "He hardly has any presence in the Force at all."

Plo Koon, their youngest member, said, "His shielding is remarkable. Had I not been looking at him, had you not introduced him, I might not have known he was there. That is shielding we teach only to our Shadows."

"I saw him catch another boy midfall off a cliff. He reached his limit and caused himself Force burn. For an untrained Initiate, you know that such a feat is impressive," Dooku said.

Mace wasn't buying that this was the full story. "You found him on Suuset, and his family simply gave him to you?"

"His family did not want him," Dooku said.

Mace narrowed his gaze, well aware of Dooku's word games, "Where is he from? Where are his people from? Is he human or near-human?"

Dooku dark brown eyes met his gaze steadily, "Near-human with human ancestry."

"Where is he from?" Mace pressed.

Dooku sighed, "Mandalore."

The rest of the Council exploded with protest.

Mace pinched the bridge of his nose, "Mandalore is on the brink of civil war. And you stole a Mandalorian child? You just confirmed the lie Mandalorians have used to prey on Jedi Knights for millennia; that we steal children."

Dooku's jaw ticked, "He came willingly."

"He's a minor," Mace said. "What did his guardian say or did you not ask before spiriting him away? You can't tell he is an orphan because if there are any in the Mandalore system, then they are only so briefly."

Mandalore often had a population issue for the violence that was all too common there, children were looked on as a valued resource.

Dooku was quiet for a moment, "Obi-Wan's mother witnessed him saving his older brother with the Force. I stepped in when she attempted to kill her own child for being a Force sensitive."

There was a long silence.

"What happened to her?" Mace asked into the quiet.

"I killed her," Dooku answered. "She was a monster and would have killed us both."

Mace put his head in his hands.

This was a karking disaster.

"What I did cannot be undone. And I would not change it even if I could. He is a light, and the Force led me to him."

"And how does your Padawan feel about you killing his mother?" Ki-Adi asked.

"Grateful that it wasn't him," Dooku responded boldly. "He told me he never used his powers in front of his family before and that he always wished the Jedi would come to save him. Given the chance, this child will achieve great things."

"He is from a culture opposite to ours," Ki-Adi pressed.

"Not necessarily," Sifo-Dyas said. "We are both a warrior people. Depending on what clan he is from, our teachings shouldn't even be so disparate. Both our cultures became what they are today during the Sith Wars. If he was raised well, he will have a foundation in galactic history, likely has travelled further than we allow our own younglings, and he will be physically fit for training. As far as initiating someone beyond the normal age group, he would be a near ideal."

"Aside from the little matter of causing an intergalactic incident if the Mandalorians take it into their heads to get revenge," Mace countered.

"It cannot be undone," Dooku repeated. "And what would the alternative have been? Allow the child to be murdered before my own eyes. I know that you have not seen it yet, but the Force sings for him."

The Council continued to argue, but it all amounted to the same.

Obi-Wan was amazed by the Temple. It was a weekend so no one was in the classrooms that Depa took him through.

"Is there a library?" Obi-Wan when they came to the end of the hall.

Depa smiled, "We do indeed, but it's more than just a library." She waved him along.

Obi-Wan followed her and his jaw dropped when they crossed through the grand archways.

"Welcome to the Jedi Archives, Padawan Kenobi," Depa said.

Obi-Wan had always wanted to go to school to ask questions, to research… but as they had always been on the move, there had always been limits and his family, aside from Pre, never wanted to speak with him. And his ori'vod, while extremely intelligent was no scholar.

Depa's com pinged.

Obi-Wan was too busy reading the shelve headings to pay close attention to the call.

Depa touched his arm a minute later, "We have to go back to Council chambers. But as you're Dooku's Padawan, I promise you will have lots of time here to look forward to."

Obi-Wan smiled, "Master Dooku is a rather great man, isn't he?"

She smiled back, "He is one of the Order's greatest Masters."

When Obi-Wan came back into the room, the Council began to question him, though Dooku had successfully argued against him being tested. His telekinesis and shielding were evidence enough that he was strong enough to become a Jedi.

After a dozen questions that Obi-Wan had mostly skirted with short answers, Yoda finally got to his favourite question, "And not afraid are you?"

Dooku fought not to roll his eyes, of course, the boy was afraid. His mother had tried to kill him and the stranger who saved him killed his mother and took him to a place no doubt he had been raised to loathe.

Obi-Wan let out a long breath and said in perfect Basic, "No, I am not afraid. In four years I will belong to myself and I already have the skills to make my way in the galaxy."

"Abandon you so, we would not," Master Yoda said. "But train you, in the ways of the Force, you would not be."

Dooku was annoyed by that, as he thought it had already been agreed that Obi-Wan would stay.

The child shrugged at the Grandmaster of the Order, "The Force is a part of all things, including me. The Jedi don't own the Force and you are not the only ones in the galaxy who teach its ways."

From the mouths of babes.

Yoda was silent to that and it was all Dooku could do not laugh aloud.

Mace shot Dooku a glare before addressing Obi-Wan, "And where would you go, young Kenobi if you were separated from Master Dooku?"

That was a pointless question, Dooku had not been bluffing about leaving the Order. He had been contemplating doing so for years now.

But Obi-Wan's answer was priceless and Dooku would forever cherish the High Council's reaction to it.

"I would go to Jedha, the Temple there always accept acolytes, and I have nothing to surrender which is the only prerequisite aside from a willingness to learn."

Dooku caught Mace's exasperated gaze.

Qui-Gon, Dooku's second Padawan, had —upon being Knighted— taken a three year retreat to Jedha where he studied the Living Force and the philosophies preached by the monks of Jedha.

Dooku had never faulted Qui-Gon for the rift between them, nor had he faulted Qui-Gon's desire to educate himself about the Living Force which was not Dooku's speciality. He was in all honesty quite proud of Qui-Gon.

Though Obi-Wan would be wasted on Jedha; the child had a warrior's heart and an innate connection to the Cosmic Force.

But the last thing the High Council wanted was another Qui-Gon and Rael, or any Padawan being trained by Dooku, if Ki-Adi Mundi who finished his training with Yoda after his first Master died had anything to say on the matter.

But Yoda was a troll and Mace liked chaos more than he would ever admit to.

"A Jedi, Kenobi shall be," Yoda said, garnering more astonished looks from the rest of the Council.

Aside from Mace, who had already realized the inevitable, likely from the moment Dooku had introduced him as a Padawan.

Technically, the Council had no authority to separate a Master from an Apprentice, but they tended to always have their voices heard anyway.

"He will have to pass his introduction courses before you will be allowed to act on missions together," Mace said.

Dooku put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder, "I and Padawan Kenobi accept that condition. May the Force be with you, Masters."

Dooku fought a smile when he felt his young Padawan's relief and joy shimmer into the Force.

Whatever the future held, for once in his life, Dooku was absolutely certain he was on the right path.

AN: Thoughts, velociraptors, or ideas, pretty please?