AN: So I wanted to write some teen drama with actual teens. Omega is in too deep in the war and Ahsoka has one other developed character in her age group… so— you get this fic :D
Chapter 3 - Remember Me
Per Che's orders, Obi-Wan was confined to their quarters.
Which he didn't mind at all.
His clan was barbaric, truly, plundering and pillaging.
Wherever they went, they brought misery and death and such unspeakable horrors as to prove there were worse crimes than murder.
His father had been the worst of them, his acts went beyond torture and pain. He liked to debase his victims, he liked their tears and their humiliation.
Obi-Wan had learned how to hide when this happened, learned never to show his emotions, or cry because it only encouraged Tor.
In his very short life, Obi-Wan had been to many places from Corellia to Tatooine, from Ryloth to Nal Hutta, so many more that he couldn't begin to count them.
But they all had felt the same because his clan stayed the same, always preying on the weak.
Only last month had they gone to Concord Dawn, and slain an entire settlement of farmers.
Of course, they had been Mandalorian farmers and some of the Watch had been killed in the attack.
But that they would attack their own people, the mighty rule the weak…
It was a reminder of how there was no line the Watch would not cross.
The Jedi Temple was the exact opposite.
It was so peaceful here, and quiet.
And instead of spending their days laughing at how miserable and insignificant everyone but them was, the Jedi learned about others so they could help them.
Obi-Wan was tired, and a part of him missed Pre, but he never felt so safe before, never had a home before. Dooku's rooms were sprawling and filled with light. He had many interesting things in his home. A collection of fine tea sets and an even finer selection of teas and spices. He had paintings and wood carved art on his walls. He even had a full wall bookshelf with paper books and tablets holding holotexts.
The first week passed with Master Dooku teaching how to make food and prepare tea and the rest of his time curled up on the sofa with various holos.
Obi-Wan started with the Sith and Jedi Wars in the Mandalorian sector which were much different than the Vizsla family records accounts.
For exercise, Master Dooku and he would go on walks around the Temple, in the gardens and Room of a Thousand Fountains.
No one ever starred at Obi-Wan —for which he was glad. Dooku had explained to him that though he was older than most Initiates to come to the Temple and younger than most Padawans, there were still Padawans who remembered their families and many more who retained their homeworlds' languages and customs.
Obi-Wan had decided that he wouldn't hide his history, no matter how much trouble that got him into.
He also decided to embrace the Codex from the True Mandalorians, led by the current Mand'alor, Jaster Mereel.
Obi-Wan couldn't claim to be from that clan but what Mereel was doing was learning from their history and carrying the best of their traditions forward, and that was the history that belonged to all Mandalorians.
Obi-Wan would be like his great ancestor, Tarre Vizsla, and walk-in both worlds with the Force and with the Way.
If that didn't win him friends, Obi-Wan figured he could live with that. A few gossips weren't a bother to him, not in these sacred halls that radiated belonging and life.
Despite liking Master Dooku, Obi-Wan didn't talk to him much. He didn't want to sound stupid by asking the wrong sort of questions or disturb the man who probably had bigger things to worry about than answering questions about vocabulary or about planets that had been renamed hundreds of years ago.
No, Obi-Wan was content with how things were, content to learn to exist in this new life where he was going to be hurt by his guardians.
He swore to himself he would never give Master Dooku a reason to be ashamed of him.
Master Qui-Gon Jinn had to admit he was rather amused by the furrow between Mace's brows.
"So what happened while I was away?" Qui-Gon asked.
They had both just come from the Council meeting.
For once, Qui-Gon's mission had gone off without a hitch, unsurprising as the debate had been Alderaan. Senator Bail Antilles had requested Jedi back up to help his case.
Qui-Gon knew he had been assigned this because Xanatos's last few missions had been, well… They had escalated to violence, more often than even Qui-Gon's record merited.
Whatever doubts he had about his young apprentice were set to rights over the last mission, however, Xanatos had handled himself most excellently.
Mace glowered at Qui-Gon as if he had said something purposely daff, "Your Master has taken on a new apprentice."
Qui-Gon blinked, "Oh? I hadn't heard anything about it."
"That's because no one has apparently seen the boy aside from Che and the Council."
"He was injured?" Qui-Gon asked. It was a rare thing for a youngling to come to harm. They were almost always supervised.
"He had Force exhaustion but that's not why no one's seen him. Dooku regularly takes Padawan Kenobi on walks through the gardens and to the archives. I've yet to see them apart since they arrived."
Qui-Gon was becoming more intrigued, his Master was not known to coddle anyone. And Force exhaustion was uncommon for children. Children were more likely to wear themselves out before having the strength to overload their draw on the Force.
"Then why has no one seen him?"
"Because the child is using Force shields that would make a Shadow envious. No one has seen Obi-Wan even if the child is standing right in front of them."
"Surely he was known in the creche, you make it sound like no one has ever known of this Initiate before."
Mace was quiet for a beat before saying, "He's not from the Temple."
Qui-Gon raised a brow, "Is he human or human adjacent? How old is he?"
Mace sighed, pausing before pouring the tea, "He's human adjacent and a nine-year-old."
"And the Council accepted this?" Qui-Gon asked, shocked.
Qui-Gon approved, of course, but he hadn't suspected the Council to go along with it easily.
"Dooku threatened to leave the Order, Yoda is desperate for that not happen."
Qui-Gon looked down at his tea, "Things on Serreno grow worse."
Mace sighed, "As do most things in the galaxy. I fear peace is fraying as ill powers grow in the Outer Rim. Dooku believes we should take a more active role in that, to force the Senate to do so as well."
"As do I," Qui-Gon said.
"As do many of us," Mace admitted. "But we all differ on how to achieve such an aim."
"We will never know if we never try," Qui-Gon countered.
Mace sighed again, "There's something else you should know, before you meet the child, you should know he's a Mandalorian."
Qui-Gon's brows shot up, "He never makes it easy on himself."
"I've been doing some research," Mace continued.
"You're going to tell me it's worse than converting one of our ancient enemies to our Order that hasn't been done in a thousand years?"
"He's a descendant of Tarre Vizsla, as it so happens," Mace said.
Qui-Gon tilted his head, "That's not so surprising, we already know it runs in the blood."
"Clan Vizsla is a death cult," Mace said. "Dooku killed Obi-Wan's mother and the boy was grateful for it."
Qui-Gon flinched, "Was she that bad a mother?"
"She tried killing him for being a Force sensitive. I'm not entirely sure why Obi-Wan doesn't have his family name. But they aren't bounty hunters, they are marauders. Only a month ago they attacked a farming district on Concord Dawn."
"What is specifically bad about Concord Dawn?"
"Concord Dawn is a moon of Mandalore, they attacked their own people, Qui-Gon. The Vizsla Clan, this Death Watch, seeks to return Mandalore back to the worst version of itself. They are as the Sith are to the Jedi. They will restart the Clan Wars with the Dark Saber as their symbol."
"Have you told Dooku this?" Qui-Gon asked.
"No," Mace said, "I believe it's Obi-Wan's tale to tell, or Dooku's job to investigate."
"Could Dooku's rescuing Obi-Wan start a war?"
Mace sighed, "For taking Obi-Wan? It seems unlikely, he doesn't have his family's name, for a reason I have yet to discover. Presumably if they had known he was Force sensitive earlier, he wouldn't be alive today. But his mother was the wife of Tor Vizsla, the leader of Death Watch…"
Qui-Gon stared, "That would be a disaster."
"Indeed it would be, because the only thing worse than a Mandalorian war—"
"Is a Mandalorian war with the Jedi," Qui-Gon finished.
The Vaapad Master nodded, "With the Republic would be the collateral between us."
Qui-Gon was silent for a long time before he said, "We— the Jedi are not ready for a war. We are diplomats trained in self-defense. We would not survive a war, not without severe casualties."
"I know."
"What are we going to do? What has the Council decided?"
"As of yet, nothing," Mace said. "But what is likely to happen, is we begin taking in more younglings, and we begin allocating more funds to the ExplorCorps."
Qui-Gon frowned, "You're thinking of militarizing them?"
"I think if we leave it up to the Senate, funds will go to Corellia and the credits will do more to fuel crime than protecting the Republic. Especially if there is no active war. Through the Corps we can be the ones to monitor those we give power to."
"And Obi-Wan?"
"This doesn't have anything to do with the child anymore," Mace said. "If we are lucky no retribution will come for Dooku's actions, but this has highlighted how vulnerable not only the Order is but the Republic is as well."
"The slave empires are growing, the Hutts gain ground every year," Qui-Gon said.
"I know, and I even agree with you," Mace answered, surprising Qui-Gon. "Sifo-Dyas has been arguing for this for years, and so have others. But the realization of Death Watch, of what it means for the peace of the Empire, seems to have finally spurred the others. Mandalorians can be just as dangerous as the Sith."
Qui-Gon sighed, "It shouldn't have taken this."
"Perhaps, but this was an individual case. The Order cannot fix Mandalore, their fate is their own. What we can do, is prepare for the worst."
"It will take decades to have any naval force equivalent to what Mandalore has," Qui-Gon said. "And how will we afford this?"
"The Outer Rim has been requesting assistance for a century," Mace said. "We even have allies outside the Republic. Luckily, we have something better than credits to give them in turn for reinforcements and ship construction."
Qui-Gon motioned for them to continue.
"The AgriCorps and the MediCorps, if we hire more people, we have trade. Medications and food are more precious to many than credits."
Qui-Gon smiled, "And if the Senate gets wind of this?"
"Get wind of what?" Mace asked, a gleam in his eyes. "The Corps responding to the pleas of the Outer Rim?. The Senate only presides over the Knights, they only monitor us, the Corps have their own jurisdiction and answer only to their own councils."
"And our own numbers?" Qui-Gon asked.
Mace's lips kicked up around the edges, "The Senate only keeps track of our Knights. Even if our numbers doubled tomorrow, they wouldn't know for another twenty to thirty years upon their Knightings, and then only if those younglings choose to follow the path to Knighthood. Our numbers are so small now, and our process so selective that few choose the path of the Corps. But that could always change."
Qui-Gon shook his head, "You've been wanting to do this for years, haven't you?"
Mace sat back in his seat, "Wanted? No, but anyone who has been paying attention to the Dark Side of the Force, knows that all is not well in the galaxy."
Qui-Gon sighed, "Figures Dooku would be at the heart of it."
"If it wasn't him, it would have been something else," Mace said.
"I'll be honest with you Mace, I always thought you took Yoda's side in these issues."
Mace smirked, "If I listened to my Master in all things, Qui-Gon, I never would have created Vaapad or mastered Juyo."
"Fair enough," Qui-Gon conceded.
In the end, they never found her body, only her armour.
Obi-Wan didn't have armour, so there was no finding him at all.
Pre would always regret not fighting, always regret not getting between them. The only thing he could do was not tell his father why Obi and their mother had fought.
Not that their deaths made sense fully even to Pre who knew the cause of the fight.
Obi-Wan shouldn't have been able to match their mother. As best as anyone could figure was that their mom had tackled Obi and they had rolled off the edge of the cliff together and her jetpack had malfunctioned in some way.
After the giant fish thing had gotten done with it, it was certainly destroyed.
Pre refused to tell anyone that Obi was a Force sensitive, and even though he was a Kenobi and had no funeral and his name would never be remembered, but neither would be cursed.
Their deaths were a tragic accident.
Pre said Obi's name every night in his remembrances, and vowed that his children would hear the stories of their uncle and no one of his clan after he became Mand'alor and inherited the Dark Saber would ever be called Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Jango Fett was rather pleased when he heard that Tor Vizsla had lost his riduur in some sort of accident on Suuset.
That monster deserved to lose everything for what he had done to Jango's family.
In one terrible day, Jango had gone from being a farmer to being the Mand'alor's son.
He promised himself that he would never let Jaster Mereel regret taking him, that he would be proud of him.
Mandalore would be different after the True Mandalorians took control of the system, away from the New Mandalorians who wanted to destroy everything that made them, and the Watch who wanted to be the worst sort of warrior imaginable.
Extremes were bad, and they could do better.
They would be better, for all of their sakes.
Jango swore it to himself, to Jaster, and to the future of all Mandalorians.
AN: Thoughts, mosasaurs, or feedback, pretty, pretty please?