Chapter 2 - An I Love You
Quinlan Vos watched as the light from Obi-Wan's saber showed from the furnace.
His kyber crystal.
Not him.
Because Obi-Wan had accepted death without putting up a fight.
It had been a closed funeral, mostly because they couldn't explain what had happened.
The Chancellor himself had wanted to attend. The Council had even denied his request to speak to come or speak with Anakin.
The boy hadn't been doing well before Obi-Wan had died, and he wasn't doing better now.
But as the weeks passed, it finally seemed to occur to Obi-Wan that he was a Jedi, that he was a part of them.
And the Jedi were a family. A very quirky family with about as much repressed trauma as an organization of galactic orphans could be, but a family nonetheless.
A family that maybe didn't like to admit their ignorance or their weaknesses openly, but every old proverb, every mimicry of Yoda's speech, and each may the Force be with you was an I love you. A promise that no matter what happened or how different they were, they would always have each other.
In life and in death, even when the Jedi were nothing but a whisper of a shadow, a story of a bygone age; the Force would remember them and they would always have each other.
Even as Anakin battled his grief, he at least came to accept that.
That being a Jedi meant that you were loved and never alone.
Quin was handling the loss probably less well than Obi-Wan's apprentice because a part of Quin just couldn't accept that Obi-Wan —of all people— would go out without a fight.
Obi-Wan opened his eyes.
He felt…
Good?
"Master Qui-Gon?" Obi-Wan asked, opening his eyes.
But Qui-Gon had gone.
Obi-Wan sighed.
Typical, he makes a major breakthrough and his Master is nowhere to be found.
He took in a deep breath and coughed at the dusty air.
Kriff, had his air treatment box shut down again? It didn't do much to change the quality of the air, but powered by a solar box, the thing sucked all the fine sand that slipped in every time he opened the door.
But yes, it was broken, because he couldn't hear anything else.
Standing was a mistake as he disrupted the dust.
Kark, this was nearly as bad as when he first found this place. But then, he had needed a shovel.
He sighed, turning to the filter only to pause when he saw it was the old one.
The one he had replaced years ago.
Confused, he reached out to the Force, and on instinct, he reached toward Luke.
But there was no Luke.
Panic seized him, and he ran to his box where he kept the lightsabers.
He didn't feel those either.
Obi-Wan patted himself down, he found his knife, the one he had since his first mission on Mandalore. It was a good knife pointed with a serrated edge.
But it was no replacement for his lightsaber.
"Where am I?"
Qui-Gon didn't answer.
"Qui-Gon Jinn."
No answer.
Fine then, he had better things to be doing with his time than summoning ghosts.
There was nothing in his hut but scraps of furniture and broken parts of water vaporators.
A less sandy version of how he found it.
He had a bad feeling about this.
He went outside and discovered that the hut was half-buried and there was no sign of his eopie or her caf.
Which was perfect, seeing as walking to the Lar's estate by foot near suns-set wasn't wise or fast…
He sighed, raising his hood over his head.
The suns' light felt hotter than it typically did.
He had made it halfway there by the time the first sun touched the horizon.
He paused when he felt the ground tremor beneath his feet and the fast approach of a large lifeform.
"You have got to be karking—"
Obi-Wan used the Force to propel him upward as what to be the maws of a Greater Krayt Dragon burst from the dune beneath him.
An ordinary man probably would have died, but Obi-Wan had been born a Mandalorian, he may have been disowned by his clan but as a Jedi youngling he had been encouraged to continue with his language studies of Mando'a, their various cultures, and their history. Which meant he had been studying the art of war and how to kill things his whole life.
It's how he had survived Melida/Daan, it's why he had been sent to Mandalore to protect Satine, why he had been given so much of the GAR, and why if it hadn't been the Sith on both sides Obi-Wan would have won that kriffing war.
Obi-Wan had no lightsaber as the beast roared up at him.
Which was going to be what he did next a lot harder, but not impossible. He Force grabbed his small respirator that worked for water, toxins, and sand. It wasn't foolproof but it would give him time.
With one hand over the respirator and the other on the knife, he clamped his legs together and helped gravity along.
He looked.
Because of the nightmares he had, dragons weren't anywhere near the top of the list.
Lots of teeth.
Lots and lots of teeth.
He slid right down the thing's enormous dry tongue. He waited until he was past the point where he felt the muscles constrict as it swallowed. He was hopefully past the point where it spat its venom from as he began stabbing at it. Force to strengthen each movement.
The dragon screeched.
Obi-Wan was deafened.
He imagined he could feel the thing's spine surrounded by muscles and tendons.
He rended it all with the Force.
Obi-Wan braced himself in the throat of the dragon as gravity pulled them down.
The Greater Krayt Dragon died.
Obi-Wan did not mourn, Krayt Dragon had stood between him and Luke; that was unacceptable.
It took time and he was light-headed as he pushed through muscle and sinew.
As he dug himself into the chill of approaching twilight, he found himself dryer than he would have expected.
Also, not exhausted, yeah for him.
Still, he took off his outer robe and began rubbing down every bit of exposed skin.
He heard a grunt and looked up to see a group of Tusken Raiders staring at him.
Obi-Wan signed, Hello there.
They seemed very surprised, the one with the darkest robes stepped forward and signed at him, You are not afraid?
Obi-Wan signed back, using both hands as he dropped the robe to the ground, -I'm not the one who is dead.
A cheer went up at that.
Obi-Wan smiled, The beast is yours, I have no need of it.
Another cheer went up at this followed up by hooting and hollering.
The dark one flung out a hand to stop their approach. Before asking Obi-Wan, —Why?
Obi-Wan motioned to the farm he was on the outskirts of. —These people are my people. I protect them.
The Dark one nodded, signing, —Then in exchange for this bounty, no harm will come to those in this territory. We will honour them in remembrance of your deeds.
The Dark one bowed his head and thumped his chest in a show of an oath.
Obi-Wan pounded his own chest in acknowledgement and acceptance, wishing the first Krayt Dragon, a canyon one that he had also to the Tuskens had been so enamoured.
He took off another layer of robes and wiped down his knife as the Tuskens began hacking at the opening he made with their clubs.
Dragging his boats through the sand, he paused before he could get far.
He turned to look at the beast who had chosen its meal poorly to its demise and felt something call to him.
Obi-Wan held out his hand as the Force sang to him.
Something dislodged from the Krayt dragon's stomach as Obi-Wan called it to him. It was small and fit in his palm.
A kyber crystal.
No, not just kyber, a Krayt dragon pearl.
He was amazed. He knew there was kyber in the Dune Sea but was incredibly rare, rarer still was a pearl.
This one need some work, he couldn't quite see the glow of it but he felt that it was blue. Deep and dark as if it had been found at the bottom of the ocean, not from desert sands. Obi-Wan wrapped his fingers around it and it felt its… warm, its song of ancient winds and quakes that had raged long before life had ever existed here.
It was fortunate, seeing as it seemed he had lost his lightsaber.
The Tuskens didn't pay him much mind as he continued on to the Lars farmstead.
Where he found that Luke wasn't present, because he was nearly a decade away from being born.
Jinn, you kriffer.
Who Obi-Wan found instead was a woman he had heard much about but had never met.
She greeted him with a smile that just about remade his faith in the galaxy.
AN: Thoughts, turtledoves, or feedback, pretty please?