Warning: Yeah this chapter got a little steamier than before, I'm earning my M rating on fanfic dotted net, mwahaha! But it's more humour and character developed than fully swallowed lemon ;)
Chapter 13 - Sea Monsters
Obi-Wan finally able to centre himself in the Temple as he worked with his new kyber crystal to forge a new lightsaber. Polishing the Dragon pearl down to its essence was a difficult process of not going too far.
Though he loved its song.
Sort of liking the howling of a windy night or glass sand against a thin sheet of metal, it was unworldly and transporting.
That song allowed Obi-Wan to work in peace as he forged not only the hilt but its sheath.
Even now that Jango had claimed, Obi-Wan would always be a Jedi, but he felt no need to proclaim that to advertise that to every adversary they would face. Instead, he created a magnetised clip attached to a scabbard he made to go along his back. The scabbard itself Obi-Wan forged to be lightweight and broad, but not so broad or long that with a bit of adjusting he couldn't hide it beneath a cloak or large tunic. He gave the fore-scabbard a seamless hinge and filled it with what Master Che would have been proud of; Bacta, hydration pods, and emergency salient, a type of glue-bandage that could see over split skin.
The magnetic snap was at the end of the saber hilt, it could either go to his belt or the scabbard. The ignition button was internal and could only be activated by a Force user who could sense it.
Which Obi-Wan made difficult by installing a bunch of useless slightly different switches. So unless you knew which switch was real beforehand, it wouldn't turn on, same as if you tried to turn more than one —or all— of the switches at once it wouldn't ignite.
Even if they did figure it out, Obi-Wan would sense someone tampering with it.
Call him paranoid, but he wouldn't let anyone turn his own weapon against him.
When he was done, he had a very sleek uniform lightsaber, the metal frost he had brushed over it made it feel soft in his hand. He wrapped a cord of black bantha hide over the bottom, braided with blue and silver beads that Shmi Skywalker had given to him. The beads meant family and slave-freer.
Wherever he went in this life, Tatooine and the Skywalkers would always be a part of him.
"What are you looking at?" Ponds asked.
Cody looked at his twin, "Do you think Boba lied?"
Ponds didn't have to ask about what, it had been all anyone had been talking about, including the Nulls. "Boba isn't that imaginative."
Cody knew that but hope was hard. They had taught to believe that anything but perfection was unacceptable, that Jedi had ordered them made and expected nothing less. Which meant, they approved of the decommissions.
But Cody liked to believe that General Kenobi, who freed slaves would be different. That someone like him would be the best sort of Jedi.
"Codes?" Ponds pressed.
Cody didn't take his eyes away from the stormy sea as he said, "He is coming here. He's going to come here for us. I can feel it."
A Jedi who was also a Mandalorian. He would come for them.
General Kenobi would care, Cody just knew it.
He felt it in every fibre of his being.
Obi-Wan had figured out that his nearly nightly dreams of Jango were more than just dreams. He wasn't sure Jango had realized the same.
If he had then he clearly had no concerns that caused him to hesitate to push Obi-Wan against a wall and have his wicked way with him.
"I want you here, mesh'la," Jango said.
Obi-Wan turned his chin up and said with as much firmness as he could manage as Jango kissed and bit along his collarbone up his neck, "Then call me, ner Mand'alor."
Jango's answer was to press into him, slowly.
Obi-Wan gasped, thinking of how better this would be in reality not just in dreams shared between the Force.
"Why," Jango said, "do you keep—" breath, "—asking that?"
Obi-Wan crossed his legs at the bigger man's back and pressed their foreheads together in a warrior's kiss, there was nothing more intimate than this. Obi-Wan asked breathily, "Don't you want this to be real?"
Jango hummed, "If I take you, Kenobi, I will never let you leave."
Obi-Wan shuddered, "I'm yours for the taking, Jan'ika."
Jango chuckled, pulling back just so far as they could meet each other's eyes, "Then take your oaths, ner Kenobi."
Obi-Wan spoke the words and it is as if the Force itself resonated with each word, "I, Obi-Wan Kenobi, swear myself to the one true Mand'alor, Jango Fett, until death or dishonour claim you. I swear my strength, my mind, my body, and my very life to the Mand'alor and our clan. I will walk the path of the True Mandalorian, in defence of all that is ours, to speak our language, to wear our armour, and to always protect our young, our foundlings. To raise them in warriors in accordance with the Codex. I will answer when you call. Till death take me, this I swear."
Something changed on Jango's face as he raised a hand to the back of Obi-Wan's neck and brought their foreheads back together. Jango's words felt like a ringing upon the stars, "And I, Jango Fett, will honour your oath, I will honour you and your clan. To accept any child or foundling you bring to me as my clan. I swear never to betray you. Let it be death and dishonour upon me if ever I fail our clan. I call you to me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, I call you home."
"This is the Way," Obi-Wan breathed.
Jango kissed him, claimed him.
When Obi-Wan woke in his bed in the Temple, crying out his pleasure, he was very glad he was alone.
It wasn't often that any Knights or Masters specialised in Soresu.
Soresu, Form III, was not a flashy form, it was both practical and economical. It also relied on endurance and a low level consistent hold on the Force. Not that such things were unusual for Master a saber level, it was just that Soresu brought it to the next level.
It wasn't as energy consuming as Form IV, Ataru, which was all flips, or its distant cousin Form VII —Juyo and Vapaad, nor even Form V which was all strength.
No, Soresu just required a masochistic amount of endurance, as well as coordination, precision, and balance.
But mainly masochism and patience, they said a Master Form III was to become the ideal of what any Jedi should ever wish to become.
Therefore, Quin was not in the least surprised to see that Obi-Wan had mastered it. He was, however, surprised to see a large crowd of Knights, Padawans, and Initiates gathered to watch Obi-Wan perform his katas over and over and over again with open palms, his lightsaber clipped to his belt.
That was odd.
Mostly because practising with a saber was more difficult and therefore encouraged. Only that fact seemed out of the ordinary to Quin.
Siri crossed her arms, "Great, he's practising. What's wrong with that Bant?"
Bant scowled at her, her large silvery eyes flashing, "Because he's been at this for hours."
Geran shrugged, "We've all trained for hours. Hells, I've trained for that long even though I don't technically need my lightsaber skills to be as good as Siri or Quin's. So what's so odd about that?"
"He's been at this since last night," Master Drallig said, leading the entire Jedi High Council behind him into the dojo.
Quin paled, it was already after the last meal today.
Yoda harrumphed as he watched Obi-Wan start over seamlessly into the first Soresu kata.
Obi-Wan's eyes were closed and looked completely at peace.
But if Drallig was right, he had stopped once to take care of his body in all that time.
Over twenty-four standard hours of doing a kata.
What was amazing was that Quin could still feel the Force flowing through Obi-Wan as if the Force was more vital to him than oxygen, as if he could go on indefinitely and never fear that he would fall.
"I've tried to stop him," Drallig, the Saber Master of the Order said. "Anakin has been here for over an hour and nothing he says has gotten through to him."
Bant inserted herself into the conversation, "We have to stop him before he hurts himself."
Yoda sighed, "Agree, I do."
Quin saw Mace give the old grandmaster a look, and the goblin inclined his head. The next thing Quin knew, Mace was charging forward, his saber hilt in hand.
Anakin shouted, "Obi-Wan!"
But Obi-Wan didn't even bother to open his eyes as he stepped into the next action of his kata, and he just kept going as if the duelling champion of the entire Jedi hadn't just jumped him with a live blade.
Mace did again, and again, Obi-Wan moved like water out of the way of the blade, and again and again till finally, Mace didn't just strike once, but kept his blade in sweeping arches.
Obi-Wan throughout his hand, finally holding his ground. He stared Mace down with a look Anakin could not comprehend.
Mace grunted but flipped backwards, "You done?"
Obi-Wan just stared at him as everyone else waited with bated breath. Anakin had skipped dinner along with most of the other Padawan to watch Obi-Wan.
Anakin was studying Djem So, which was essentially the offence form of Soresu's defence. Soresu was a bit annoying to Anakin because it was all blaster reflection. Sometimes it even seemed jerky for that reason, but getting to watch it on repeat, Anakin now that he understands why Obi-Wan loved it so much.
He had never really understood that the Force didn't come naturally to Obi-Wan, that to channel it for him was a very active thing. Soresu was something that didn't tug on the Force, it worked with it.
Just like Obi-Wan said, he gave, he gave the Force everything and the Force gave him everything in return.
Anakin wondered how many people knew how exhausted Obi-Wan was. He honestly didn't understand why Obi-Wan had stayed as long as he had, a few months now. Because Obi-Wan wasn't happy or content, he spent most of his time shielding as hard as he possibly could so that even Anakin hadn't been able to sense him. The bond hadn't reformed between them but typically Anakin could sense everyone in the Temple.
But about an hour ago, Obi-Wan's shields had let up.
Which someone had told him was Obi-Wan's twenty four hour mark. He wouldn't listen to anyone who tried speaking to him, they were all nervous to touch him if he was in such a deep trance.
If Anakin had to guess, Obi-Wan was purposely trying to exhaust himself. Too bad for him he seemed to burn brighter in the Force than anyone else in the Force.
He wasn't the biggest or the most eye-catching, but he was the… For a lack of a better word, the most beautiful.
Tatooine was not the place of jewels and finery, but Anakin had seen Zygerrian slavers before, heard them brag about the purity and rarity of their gems, but also how the cut of a stone mattered.
If Anakin had to make an analogy, Obi-Wan was differently cut than anyone else in the Order. As if he spoke to the Force in a different way from everyone else.
Sort of like Qui-Gon, though even Qui-Gon had been rough around the edges, Obi-Wan was polished.
Anakin really didn't want to imagine what that had cost Obi-Wan.
Mace spoke slowly and clearly, "I challenge you to a formal duel, Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Obi-Wan didn't answer in words, he straightened, his saber hilt flew to his hand and he took a stance that could only be taunting. Unignited saber by his temple and two fingers held out straight from his body.
Anakin knew a lot of Obi-Wan's tricks, taunting was one of those that Anakin fell for no matter how many times they did that dance.
Mace didn't understand how karked he was as he made the first move.
Anakin, just along with everyone else, jumped at the sound Obi-Wan's saber made as it ignited and clashed with Mace's saber.
It sounded like a krayt cry night, the sound it makes when it's still beneath the sand. And the blade itself was… Odd.
It was a deep, yet glowing, sapphire blue at its centre with white light shimmering over it like lightning, or light reflecting off a rippling pool.
Anakin was having a hard time putting Kyate Dragons and water in the same comparison.
Until Ferus said in awe, "A Krayt Dragon Pearl."
Anakin looked at him, "What?"
His comment was ignored as someone else said, "It looks like water."
"A Krayt Pearl is a kyber from Tatooine," Ferus said.
"There is kyber on Tatooine?"
Ferus gave him an exacerbated look, "Come on, Ani, you study Form V, the Way of the Krayt Dragon."
"Yeah, but I've never heard of any mines in the desert," Anakin said.
"There aren't any mines," Ferus said. "Krayt Dragons swallow rocks to help digest their food. After centuries, those rocks get warn down, and if their happens to be any kyber in those stones, it becomes a pearl."
Anakin's eyes widened, "So the only way to get a pearl, is to—"
"Kill a Krayt dragon," Ferus said. "I know he isn't really your Master anymore but he's still amazing and you're the only one who's ever been trained by him."
Anakin felt a swell of pride at that as he watched Obi-Wan somehow block every single rapid strike of Mace Windu's purple blade.
"Why does it look like water?" Anakin asked.
"The pearls are refined kyber, it changes some of the properties of it. Usually the light is different. If you've ever heard of the Darksaber, that was a dark blade, black core, with white light overlaying it. Historians think that pearls look like water or lightning as a reflection of what Tatooine used to be."
"What did it used to be?" Anakin asked.
"Tropical, very lush and tropical, until it got glassed by Rataka invaders. I don't know why, there aren't many records of it. But the Order teaches that the Krayt Dragons evolved from sea dragons."
Anakin glanced briefly away from the fight to stare at Ferus, somehow, Krayt Dragons being sea creatures was among the wildest things he had ever heard.
Another crash of lightsabers drew his eyes back to the actions. Given how much height Master Windu got, Obi-Wan ended up matching him, making them both look like flying creatures.
Vapaad was based on some animal —Anakin knew little about— and made the wielder look more or less like a butterfly.
Soresu was the Way of the Mynock, a scavenger flying bat thing, that didn't make sense as a creature one would want to mimic. But the way Obi-Wan moved, it was if he too had wings, as if he could glide wherever the wind led him.
As Mace was moved with increasing intensity, Obi-Wan remained centred, like the eye of the storm.
There is no chaos, only peace.
Anakin had been working with Master Windu in lightsaber training, and he knew that Vapaad worked off the energy, typically, the Dark side of their opponent.
But there was nothing dark about Obi-Wan, and while Vapaad appeared to be the more aggressive form, at its core, it was a defensive and reflective form, just like Soresu.
Which was why it seemed, while both Masters were incredibly talented, it seemed that neither was winning. In fact, it hardly looked like they were fighting at all, it looked like they were dancing.
A dance between the newest and one of the most traditional forms.
Until Obi-Wan turned off his lightsaber as Mace's blade swung toward his neck.
Anakin saw Mace's eyes go wide in fear.
That was all Obi-Wan needed as he dropped into a sweeping kick.
Mace jumped without missing a beat but he wasn't prepared for Obi-Wan twisting, his body parallel to the ground. Obi-Wan must have used some Force pull because the purple blade's went out. One of Obi-Wan's feet hit the ground which he used to spring at Mace, his knee to Mace's solar plexus.
It was over so fast, Anakin didn't see how Obi-Wan ended up with both lightsabers in his hands that turned on in a crackling howl held crossed above Mace's neck where he laid on his back on the floor.
"Holy kriff," Ferus breathed.
Anakin bit back a smile.
"I yield," Mace said.
Obi-Wan deactivated both lightsabers, stood gracefully to his feet and offered Mace a hand up, which the Vapaad Master accepted graciously.
The two Masters bowed to each other, and discussion of the fight burst immediately into the stands, where over a hundred members of the Order sat.
Only it wasn't over yet.
Obi-Wan was a little frustrated with himself.
He was tired, bone weary, and yet, not even a duel with Mace could take away the restlessness.
So perhaps it was fortunate when the Grandmaster of the Order hobbled forward.
"Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, a duel I challenge you to."
The entire room went deathly quiet.
Obi-Wan bit his tongue as unreasonable anger filled him. He had to will the tension out of himself to focus and reconnect with the Force.
Yoda cocked his head, "Accept do you?"
Obi-Wan knew that if he spoke, his words would not be polite, so he nodded.
Yoda bowed and Obi-Wan followed.
Yoda ignited his lightsaber first.
Obi-Wan swallowed a sigh, he should have known Yoda would try to raise his morale like this as well as testing him. Yoda rarely used his lightsaber and even more rarely displayed his skills.
It was supposed to be a great honoured.
Obi-Wan would have been a lot more honoured if Yoda had been willing to listen to him outside of the theoretical.
Yoda leaped at him.
Yoda, like Dooku, Mace, Qui-Gon, and Anakin, tended to use all o the Force, not just the Light side.
That gave Obi-Wan the advantage as he wasn't wasting energy trying to take from the Force or adjust to the eddies of Force.
The galaxy could be drowned in darkness, and yet, Obi-Wan could still speak to Light, because it was what he gave not what was around him that mattered.
We are makers of our own light, one of the Jedha Force monks had told him.
Yoda moved at impossible speeds around him, but to Obi-Wan, his every move was predictable.
Obi-Wan understood then how Palpatine had matched Yoda.
Yoda overcame all weaknesses and his every strength came from the Force.
Unfortunately, for anyone who used the Dark side, opened themselves up to manipulation.
Every time Yoda had taken from the Force, Sidious had been able to manipulate Yoda's reasoning, had been —at very least— to distract the Grandmaster. Additionally, Yoda had a contempt for saber wielding. Add that to the nature of Ataru, Form IV, being an Aggressive Form, could never hope to match the aggressiveness of a Sith Master who had mastered Juyo.
Mace would have been a far better match for Palpatine. The Sith must have known that and must have deceived Mace some other way.
That or together, Sidious and Vader together had been able to match Mace.
Deceit seemed more likely. Whatever Darkness they could have directed aMace, he would have been able to throw it back at them.
Yoda should have been the one to go after Anakin, not Obi-Wan.
He could have taken Palpatine, but his own Padawan.
Exhaustion came with the anger, and Obi-Wan knew if he last control now he might pass out.
No one was likely to take him seriously then.
So mid-step, he stepped in Shien, Form V, then back to Form III.
It tripped Yoda up.
Obi-Wan reached out with the Force and flicked the green saber off.
Yoda kept moving so it looked as if Yoda himself had done it.
But he could feel the old Master's shock at Obi-Wan overcoming his natural shields. Teaching an old Master a new trick was difficult but certainly gratifying.
Yoda tried purposely shielding from him, which took away from his speed and strength.
Obi-Wan was able to disguise his power in the Force as just Light, so every time Yoda fed his shields, he let Obi-Wan past them.
What followed was a strange dance, of Obi-Wan retreating with Soresu, and Yoda attacking with a blade that kept flickering on and off.
Finally, Yoda stopped trying with his saber and threw a Force push at Obi-Wan, who had been expecting it, held his ground with a shield that not even Yoda could pass.
Shielding was Obi-Wan's speciality. In his early life, to hide from his dar'buir, on missions throughout his Padawanship to not draw attention to himself, and then after that, shielding against Anakin, one of the most powerful Force users seen in over a thousand years.
Yoda tried again, and Obi-Wan let the Force push blow his hair and robe back.
Which garnered a few chuckles from their audience.
Obi-Wan ran his free hand through his hair.
He smiled when he heard Anakin's laugh in the stand.
Yoda harrumphed and went at Obi-Wan full tilt.
Obi-Wan made himself slow down, as if he was finally beginning to tire.
Yoda 'took advantage of an opening.
The duel ended abruptly, with the point of Obi-Wan's singing blade at Yoda's chin, while the emerald blade was pulled back in a strike that could never be completed in time.
Yoda's green eyes smiled back at him as he jumped back.
They deactivated their lightsabers in unison, and Obi-Wan knew what was to come.
And knew he was about to spit in the face of tradition in the hopes that someone would hear him, that someone would act before it was too late.
Obi-Wan would do what he could, but on this path, regardless of if the Sith were able to enact their plans, the trajectory of the Jedi Order was on now would not be sustainable.
Obi-Wan was okay with the Separatists seceding from the Republic, he was not okay with the Republic falling altogether or the Jedi damning the Republic from their inaction.
"Master of Soresu, you are, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi," Yoda said, bowing deeply.
Anakin went tense as everyone else when Obi-Wan remained rigidly upright, not bowing in return.
Yoda's ears twitched as he slowly straightened, "Problem you have? Deserving of the title Master you are."
Obi-Wan's expression was unreadable as he said, "I am leaving the Order."
Thunderous silence filled the room.
This seemed to surprise everyone, except Anakin.
"Why?" Yoda asked.
"You know why. I, like my grandmaster before, Master Dooku, your Padawan learner, I can no longer condone the complacency of the Order."
Yod just stared his face pained as if Obi-Wan had just ripped his heart out.
Obi-Wan went on, "The High Council understands intimately the corruption of the Senate. It will not solve itself and the Order will have fallen by the time you think to take action."
"Think by leaving, fix it will?" Yoda challenged.
"Perhaps not, but I have only stayed as long as I have because I've been trying to find a way, an argument, or petition to make you treat these threats seriously. But there is nothing I can say that has not been said already."
"Over step, you do—"
"Do you think Qui-Gon's death was an accident?" Obi-Wan asked. "Do you think all the enemies he made in the Senate had nothing to do with a Sith assassin chasing after him? The Sith have remained hidden for thousands of years, but to kill one Master, they revealed themselves."
"The Naboo Crisis—" Mace said, stepping forward.
"Was deliberate," Obi-Wan said. "The first of many. You have not seen the last of the Trade Federation, and the Banking Corporations fund both sides. Both the Republic and the growing fraction of Separatists."
Anakin didn't understand enough about politics to follow, though he knew the Trade Federation was evil.
"Action we cannot take. Advised the Chancellor already have we," Yoda said.
"Master Sifo-Dyas was murdered within a year of Qui-Gon's dreath. I killed an apprentice, not the Master Sith," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin felt the shock and fear ripple through the crowd, as well as the Council's anger at having this conversation so publically released into the Force.
"Know this, how do you?" Yoda demanded.
"Ask Dooku, he knows more than I."
"Obi-Wan, we can discuss this—" Mace said.
Obi-Wan cut him off, "I've already taken my oaths to the Mand'alor. I am no longer a citizen of the Republic."
"The twenty-first fallen, will you be," Yoda said in warning.
Obi-Wan blinked in fore-surprise, "Twenty-first? No, Yoda, the twenty-second. Or didn't you notice that Master Rael Aveross left the Order nearly two months ago?"
None of the Council was able to hide their surprise.
Obi-Wan swept them an overall dramatic bow, "May the Force be with you, Masters, and may you heed its warnings."
Anakin pushed to his feet, running at Obi-Wan before he could turn away.
Obi-Wan knelt on one knee and caught him in a hug.
"My frequency is in the communicator I gave you," Obi-Wan whispered in his ear.
Anakin hugged him tighter, "Stay safe."
Obi-Wan pulled back and took his hands in his, squeezing lightly, he said, "I am so very proud of you, An'ika, and whether you follow Master Ali-Alann, find a new Master, become a pilot, or leave the Order altogether, I will always be proud of you."
Anakin blinked back tears, and as much as he wanted to say don't leave me, he knew he would have to let him go.
The galaxy had another destiny waiting for him out among the distant stars.
So he said simply, "I will miss you."
Obi-Wan smiled, cupping his face, "We will meet again. Remember to always follow your heart—"
"And never my fear," Anakin recited.
Obi-Wan smiled and pressed their foreheads together in a Mandalorian kiss shared between family and loved ones, "The Force will be with you, always."
Anakin spoke around the tightness in his throat, "And with."
Obi-Wan pulled him into another hug, before standing.
He bowed deeply to Anakin and Anakin bowed in return.
Unlike when he had left his mother, Obi-Wan's leaving felt wholly right. If anything was meant to be, then Obi-Wan's path leading elsewhere was in harmony with the will of the Force.
AN: Thoughts, a carnufex carolinensis, or feedback on this chapter, pretty, pretty please?