Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Star Wars. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am just a simple writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Just want to say how happy I am with the response of this piece. It's always nerve wracking when working on a Star Wars story (the fan base is pretty intense) but this one was a passion piece and I'm glad to see it has been well received.

Note: I'm actually impressed that one of you figured out Baba's departure was the event that truly turned Qui-Gon into a rebel to council decisions in time to take Obi-Wan as a padawan.

Chapter Two - Home Again

It was with a heavy heart that Qui-Gon Jinn rode the large elevator up to the tower of the Jedi Council. The moment Baba had ended his call with him the master had rushed for the nearest spaceport, believing that to wait for temple security or the presence of other master's would see his wayward student gone before anything could be done to salvage the situation he found himself in. He needn't have worried in the end.

Baba was not there. A slight tingling that reminded Jinn of the boy hummed in the air around him, but the sense of loss he felt radiating through his entire being revealed the truth. The force itself was telling him that Baba Voss, his greatest student, the son he never had, was gone from Coruscant. Perhaps for good. He had been too late to stop him.

For several hours he had remained in that place. Merely wandering the boarding area from ship to ship for even the faintest glimmer of a sign to where his padawan had gone. Though inside he knew it was a pointless gesture. He'd trained the boy too well for something as simple as that. Most likely Baba had shrouded himself in the force the moment he ended the call with him and only then chose the ship that would take him.

By the time he returned to the temple it was morning and he was calling a meeting of the council. Such an act was rare for a master, but not unheard of. They had the right to call a meeting if they possessed news that would affect the Order as a whole. Otherwise the council themselves preferred to be the ones making the summons.

When the doors opened and he made his way into the grand chamber, he saw that a surprising number of the council were in physical attendance, with only three members attending via hologram. 'Typical', he thought, 'instead of being out in the galaxy where they belong as instruments of the living force, they wait here for permission and direction from the senate. Has the Order truly fallen this far?'

In his heart he knew that it had. Baba's revelation was only one of many instances of bad practice, but it was the latest and final one to break the camel's back for the tall Jedi. To his mind the Order was broken on a fundamental level, and what made it worse was that it refused to see the cracks it continued to make in its foundation. He only lamented that this revelation had not come to him soon enough to stop his apprentice from leaving. The Order needed more Jedi like him, not less.

His thoughts were interrupted by the thumping bang of Master Yoda's walking stick upon the stone floor. "Master Jinn, called this meeting you did?"

The master crossed his arms before him and folded his hands into his sleeves. "Yes, Master Yoda."

"Why?"

Steeling himself for the outcry he knew his words would bring, Gui-Gon answered, "To inform you that Baba Voss, my padawan, has left the Jedi Order."

For three full seconds everything was silent, and then… pandemonium reigned. Every master on the council, with the exception of Yoda who merely stared at the floor with drooping ears, shot to their feet and started roaring questions and accusations way. The noise grew and grew, but Jinn stood stoic through it all, having expected more or less such a reaction.

"Quiet!" Mace Windu's powerful voice subdued the other masters and the stoic battlemaster of the Order stared down his most outspoken critic. "Are you telling us that you lost one of our most promising students in decades?"

"No, I am telling you all that 'you' did. I do not know how, but Baba discovered the circumstances of his arrival at this temple."

"Oh." Yoda's ears fell further.

"Why would that drive him away?" Windu sneered. "Was your training so inept as to deny him an understanding of Jedi law, or his responsibilities to the galaxy as a force wielder? His father gave permission and the Jedi had need of him."

Jinn's eyes flashed with barely concealed rage at the insinuation he was receiving. "He discovered that you gained that permission by dominating the man's mind. He did not give voluntary consent and now Baba sees the Order as a collection of child thieves. Your actions lost him, not mine." His voice had raised considerably throughout that statement and by the end he was nearly shouting. "Thanks to you he saw how far we have all fallen and he wanted no part of it!"

"Enough, it is, master Jinn." Yoda raised a three clawed hand to silence all present. "Your fault, this is not. Knew this was always a possibility I did when such actions Master Windu did take."

"I did what was necessary to ensure the continuation of the Jedi Order and continued peace in the galaxy." Mace argued, "The child was too powerful to be left untrained."

"Your decision it was not. Agree with you, I did not. Shamed us all, you did." Yoda shook his head. "Yet not so much as those who stood with you. Sad I am that none else see this." He waved his stick at the still standing Jedi. "Leave you may Master Jinn. Discuss this more we will."

Qui-gon nodded to the one Jedi in the room that still held his respect and took his leave.

Two Weeks Later

It was startlingly easy to escape the planet before discovery, Baba thought as the view of his home-world filled the viewports of his recently acquired spacecraft. He'd spent the first few days alternating between spaceports at random to confuse any pursuit, following that he boarded a long range transport to the Outer Rim and only then did he open himself once more to the force. It was a good thing he was alone in his cabin when he did because the sudden rush of insight and feeling had driven him to his knees. This had never happened before so it took him quite a while to recover enough to interact with the others traveling to the same sector of space. Later he would attribute such a violent circumstance to the extended period he'd spent shadowed. Good to know.

The transport had landed on Tattooine and from there he'd made heady use of the force to win enough at a tavern Sabaac table to purchase a ship. It wasn't anything grand to be sure, barely enough room for the engine, cockpit, a sleeping bunk, and kitchenette/bathroom. He had a feeling the he had been ripped off on the price but he really didn't care, it would get the job done.

Now, after all that effort, all of that travel, he was finally here… home. The feelings crossing his mind at the realization were a bittersweet mix of hope and loss. His future was below him, but all he knew about it was the world's name. It was beautiful, unspoiled by industry, and covered in endless swathes of green and blue. Sadly, those same records that had given him this location had given no indication of where he could find the Alkenny currently. They were apparently a nomadic tribe and Windu had not seen fit to record the exact location of where he had been recuperating after his crash.

For a while Baba just let the ship sit there in orbit as he considered his options. There was one major city on the surface that his scanners could pick up, but he wasn't sure it would be of use to him. Tribes were not known for existing in populace areas after all. He could just land in a random spot and start walking, but that had its own set of problems. He was legitimately stumped, and starting to worry about what he could possibly do next when without his control, his hands started to move on their own.

Baba blinked as his body swelled with the force, its energy radiating through him like a wave. His fingers began typing out coordinates at blinding speeds and when they were done his hands accelerated the throttle and brought the nose of the ship around for orbital entry.

During the white hot tumble of reentry the young padawan found himself wondering if this was what his former master had meant about letting the force guide him to where he'd needed to be. The ship eventually touched down in an open glenn in the middle of nowhere, and all but the faintest trickle of that energy left him. Leaving only enough to give the perception that he needed to head north.

It only took a few minutes to pack his meagre belongings back up and depart. Baba had travelled light and as far as he was concerned the jungle could take his ship. He had no further need of it.

He walked until sunset, whereupon he decided to make camp. With his orange lightsaber he cut a seres of branches and brambles loose to create a lean to, and then set about creating a fire. With his tools such an act was the matter of seconds. A ready made MRE came next (standard issue for Jedi on extended missions) and as he ate he allowed himself a moment to think about the weapon he had built in the temple. Should he keep it, or toss it away as a final sign of his departure from that life?

In the end he finished his meal, laid down in his makeshift shelter to sleep, and decided his lightsaber was far to useful a tool to go without. It had saved his life on more than one occasion, and getting rid of it would honestly feel like doing away with his own hand. It was a bit different from others he'd seen at the temple. For one thing, most Jedi and padawan preferred to make their grips a little longer than a standard hand length to allow for more acrobatic movement and speed. For another, his contemporaries had also stuck to a formal silver metal for their design, as if they felt the need to advertise their light side affinity down to the smallest detail.

Baba had gone in a slightly different direction. It had started while he was learning Qui-Gon's style of lightsaber combat, Ataru or Form IV. The basic premise of it was to combine acrobatic movement and speed to bombard an opponent with a flurry of strikes. The child had picked it up easily enough to be passable, but it had never felt completely right to him. A common misconception that civilians had was that lightsabers held no weight, a silly thought easily dismissed with one viewing of an actual duel, but as it happened the length of the blade and hilt were directly proportional. Baba had found that the balance required for all those Form IV acrobatics never really settled into him.

He found out why when he created his first lightsaber. He'd started his apprenticeship with a standard training blade, but when he had earned the right to forge his own, he had sat in meditation for two days straight, focusing on the pieces hovering before him and fitting them into the places the force directed. By the time he had finished he had a hilt two handspans long, and an activated orange blade that weighed more than his master's and extended a foot longer than was normal for his height. He could have adjusted the length of the blade back down, but something about it just felt right.

It only took a few practice swings, (that felt better than he could have hoped) for his master to figure it out for him. It was a style that had not been seen for a several centuries, but records still remained that spoke of it. Baba had created one of the earliest forms of lightsaber, a design used when the weapons were still being transitioned too after metal blades. The longsword grip. He needed two hands to wield it and the only style that functioned well for its users was Form VII, Juyo. A discipline focused on strength, aggression, and powerful strikes to defeat ones foe as quickly as possible.

The night was cold on this world, and Baba found himself wishing he'd packed a thicker blanket, but regardless of his discomfort he still managed to fall into a fitful sleep… until the growling started.

With a jolt the padawan rolled out of his shelter just in time to avoid a fur covered creature with four legs, sharp teeth, and red eyes from landing on him with claws extended. He quickly ignited his lightsaber and took his ready stance, shuffling left and right to take in his surroundings. In doing so he found his fear beginning to spike as in the light of his blade and the dying fire he found himself staring at eight similar creatures to his attacker. How had these things gotten so close? Why didn't the force warn him?

He didn't have anymore time to think or ponder as the pack chose that moment to move in, barking and howling out their hunting cry. Baba reacted on instinct, shuffling left, right, back, always mere inches away from the strikes and bites being sent his way, and slashing back when he could. Three of the beasts were felled in that way before the rest got smart and backed off, growling and prowling in alternating circles, each trying to draw his attention away from the others. Well, Baba wasn't having that. He'd trained in Juyo too long to let himself be hunted. With a yell he charged the beasts, lightsaber ready and already beginning a rising arc. One beast went down, another followed, and the padawan jumped away from a counterattack to roll back in a ready position. Five down, four to go.

He was just getting ready for his next salvo when a pained yip from his right drew his attention, and that of his attackers. A new player had entered the ring it seemed. The man was older, perhaps in his early forties with a long beard, dressed in the furs of a tribesman, and wielding a short sword and sickle blade in either hand. Said sickle was currently stuck through the throat of one of the attacking beasts.

The stranger tilted his head as if listening to something, nodded, and said "Are you going to keep staring or finish these sui-tigers off?"

Deciding to deal with whoever this was later, Baba followed the advice and ran back into the fray, his new alley right on his heels. He killed one in seconds with a sickle to the brain before engaging another with his short sword. Baba meanwhile drove his saber point through his first foe with the force of his charge behind it, and turned to finish off the last with an overhead cut powered by his own momentum. He succeeded… but at a cost. The 'sui-tiger' was closer than he'd thought it was, and it's forepaw was already powered forward to swipe at his chest. The two blows struck at the same time, and as Baba found himself launched back against the trunk of a nearby tree, his lightsaber continued its trajectory through his opponent's neck. The tiger went down without a sound, and silence once more reigned.

It was as Baba was gasping for the breath his impact had knocked out of him that the stranger rushed up to him and started running his hands over his torso, feeling for discrepancies. "Be still, you have a few cuts from the beast's claws that could become infected. They need to be cleaned and sown." His hands went farther, "No broken ribs, your sternum is fine." He reached behind his back, "Spine is intact. You were lucky."

He pulled a satchel off his shoulder and retrieved a gourd of some kind, as well as a needle and thread.

"W-Who are you?" Baba wheezed out.

"My name is Tomacti Jun, but proper introductions can wait. Brace yourself, this is going to hurt like the great hells." So saying he upended the contents of the gourd over the teenager's chest and patiently prepared his needle as his patient screamed.

A short time later Tomacti Jun sat before the newly rekindled fire and listened to the steady breathing of the boy as he slept off the pain he had just experienced. Strange how well he'd handled it. He didn't hold the scream against him, Payan fire whiskey burned like a bitch in an open wound. But that was kind of the point in the end.

He did judge the way the boy had fought. His movements had clearly implied years of martial training, but he'd not heard the lunge of the sui-tiger. How was that possible? Whatever the reason this injury would surely teach him to be more careful. At the very least the claw scars on his chest would please whatever woman he took to wife in the future. He had fond memories of his own's reactions to his battle injuries. Before the flood. He quickly pulled his mind away from those painful thoughts and focused once more on the here and now.

He'd put in dry wood this time so that the smoke could drive any further predators away. Rookie mistake using damp wood in the first place. It sweetened the smoke and drew them in. Was the boy trying to die? Well he couldn't very well leave him alone with those injuries or his lack of knowledge. The least he could do was see to it he made it back to his tribe. One more act of good to balance the scale.

The Next Morning

Baba woke with a start and tried to rise at once, only to feel a painful tightness in his chest and a strong hand pushing him back down. "No, child. You'll tear the stitching. Rest for now."

"Tomacti Jun?"

"Yes. Who are you? To what tribe do you belong?"

"Baba Voss. I am seeking the Alkenny. I lost them long ago."

"Hm." Tomacti tapped the unlit lightsaber on Baba's belt. "With one of these I can see why. Jedi are not exactly welcome amongst many of the tribes on this world. Not after their great theft many years ago."

"You know about that?"

"All tribes on Paya know. The Alkenny sent runners to every corner of the world to warn the people so such a grievous act could not be repeated."

Baba thought his situation over for a moment before admitting, "I was the infant they stole. I'm trying to go home." At that point he had nothing to lose by being truthful.

Tomacti Jun started in place before reaching forward and running his fingers over his patient's face. (Baba forced himself to be still for it, figuring he'd need to get used to such things on a world of the blind.) "By the godflame, you have the face of your father, and the nose of your mother."

"You know them?"

"Knew them. Long ago. Your father, Chief Voss, he saved my life."

Baba smiled, "Like you saved mine?"

"No." A forlorn expression crossed the stranger's face and silence fell between them as he visibly struggled with himself for several moments. Then he began to speak. "Your father saved me from myself. I only tell you this story because if you are here and he is not, then he has perished in his search for you and my life debt has now become yours. You must understand it."

"Life debt?"

"Let me finish please." When the teenager said nothing else, Tomacti said, "In my youth, I was a loyal soldier to a kingdom far to the south. Those of my regiment were called the Witchfinders, and it was our duty to find and eliminate any threats to the kingdom." His jaw worked relentlessly beneath his skin, "I was particularly… zealous in my pursuits. I was a loyal soldier, and I believed in my sovereign and the ideals she represented."

"What happened?"

"She went insane. Queen Kane sent us out more and more each time to take out targets that were supposedly plotting uprisings, and we burned village after village, while all the while she became more convinced nobles in her court were plotting against her. Eventually it became too much and she did something unforgivable."

When he seemed unable or unwilling to continue, Baba pushed him. It wasn't something he would normally have done, but he felt it on an instinctual level that this man who had known his father needed to speak on these things. To let his feelings out. "What did she do?"

"Her capitol was built upon a barrier to a great lake. Somehow she opened that barrier and her city was drowned beneath the water. Everyone died. The queen, her court, her citizens… my wife and daughter. I only survived because the Witchfinders and I were out on assignment. When we returned and saw the devastation, well, what else was there to do. We went our separate ways."

"How do my parents fit into this?"

"I'm getting to that. After the flood, I lost myself. I was confronted not just with the loss of my family, but the truth that my monarch was truly insane, which brought into doubt the riotousness of my life's work as a soldier. Were the villages I burned truly plotting rebellion? Were those I put to the sword truly deserving of death? I'm blind, but I swear at night I could still see their faces, haunting me. I went deep into the forest, hoping nature would be able to do the thing I had not the strength to and kill me. It was there that your parents found me. They'd heard of the disaster and came seeking survivors. They took me into their camp, spoke to me, consoled me, held me through the nightmares. They convinced me that it was never too late to come back from the edge and find something worth living for. Ever since then I've been wandering the land, helping those I could. Though of course that mission has now changed."

"How so?"

"I already told you. Your parents saved my life. I offered your father a life debt in my gratitude and he accepted it. Now that he is gone you hold it. I will guard your life until I have saved it like he saved mine."

"Didn't you already do that?"

"Do you think I believe beating a few sui-tigers to be the equivalent of my debt. No, sir. I still have a long way to go. And so do you for that matter if we are to reach the Alkenny."

"What?"

"It is a long journey to where they live. Rest up, in a few days it'll be safe to move again and we can start on our way. I'll also start teaching you to fight the correct way. No charge of mine is going to fall to something as simple as combat."

A bit peeved, Baba replied, "I was trained as a Jedi. I do know how to fight you know."

"Then why are you injured? I heard that attack coming from leagues away. Why did you not? We shall work on this and many other things in the weeks to come."

"I…ugh… I can see."

"Truly?"

"Yes. The Jedi cloned me new eyes when I was brought to the Order."

"Hm." Tomacti ripped a strip of cloth from his shirt and tossed it to him. "Then put this on over those new eyes. Your first lessons will be how to exist without them. There are some who do what was done to you voluntarily, and they live in the central city with the spaceport. Those of us in the wilds maintain our ancestral ways and the Alkenny will expect you to do the same."

Baba inspected the cloth in his hands warily, "But how will I fight? If those tigers had come after me with this on then I would have been defenseless."

The older man chuckled at that comment. "From where I sit you already were. Do not worry, I will show you the ways of a warrior."

The former padawan groused, "I was trained as a Jedi you know. I already am a warrior."

"No, you are not." Tomacti Jun grew very still. "Even here we have heard of the ways of the Jedi. They teach restraint, calm in the storm of emotions, and forgiveness of ones enemies. These things will serve you not here. Do not limit yourself in combat or life, ride the waves of your emotions and make them serve you, and never forgive an enemy when you can eliminate a threat instead. If left alone your foe will only return to stab you in the back. These are the ways of a warrior and of the wilds. Your fighting style could use some work as well. Your strikes while powerful are also wasteful. You move about with no thought to the position of your other foes. I counted no less than six places you could have ended that threat if you'd taken advantage of your other senses and the animal's movements."

"I don't understand how."

"You will. Sleep for now. You must heal and it is a long journey to the Alkenny village."