8. A Familiar Face

"I am sorry to say young man, we have never heard such a name," the Twi'lek man revealed, with murmurs of agreement from those who stood at his back.

"None of you?" Master Skywalker's eyes darted across every alien face, frustration beginning to sharpen his voice.

"Excuse me," Obi-Wan finally spoke up, stepping forward to stand beside his master. When all eyes landed on him, he continued, "We don't know this planet well, but we think she might be located outside of the city, in some sort of estate. Do you know where that could be?" It was the best way he could describe the visions he'd experienced on Devaron.

"You speak of the Heden," the human woman spoke. "It is where many of the masters reside."

Something in Force rang meaningfully, clear as a bell. Obi-Wan exchanged a knowing look with his master, who asked, "Where can we find this place?"

"It is located north of the city," the old Twi'lek revealed. "But you will need to seek special transportation. All public transit is banned from that area."

Master Skywalker smiled mirthlessly. "That won't be a problem."

"We hope you find this woman you're looking for," the Twi'lek man offered sincerely, in place of a farewell.

"We will," his master said, in a tone that left no room for argument. When he leaned forward to bow, Obi-Wan was quick to follow his lead. "Thank you for all your help."

As they left, Obi-Wan couldn't help but look over his shoulder, committing to memory every worn-down face. This was the source of Hollastin's despair, this was why the Force wept so bitterly. Obi-Wan turned to face forward as they stepped back into the shadows of the tunnel-like corridor, feeling a helpless sort of ache. He'd never known a place like this could be real.

Sure, he had learned about the Jedi's triumph in eradicating slavery throughout the entirety of the Republic, and knew of their sound victory over the Zygerrian Slave Empire; he even understood that the Jedi Order had no jurisdiction within Hutt Space. But that did little to ease the powerlessness he felt like a physical wound in his chest.

As they traversed the crumbled walkways of Hollastin's decrepit surface level, Obi-Wan stared up at Master Skywalker's back and wondered how he'd really escaped the life of a slave. He'd claimed that it was mere luck, thoroughly dashing the hope of those who still remained bound here, but Obi-Wan had a feeling there was more to it than that. If his Master could remember a life outside of the Jedi Order, then that meant that he'd joined the Order at an age that was typically no longer admissible.

There was a story there and Obi-Wan wanted to know; wanted to know how one boy could be freed while the rest remained enslaved. And if it really had been luck, then perhaps there really was nothing Obi-Wan could do for the ones they'd left behind.

As it stood now, they could not free Hollastin. But they could free Shmi.

"Master―"

"Here we are," Master Skywalker suddenly announced, speaking over him. The Force pulsed weakly around them, the area dead of all sentient life and nearly pitch black, old street lights snuffed out.

Obi-Wan frowned, but knew this was not the sort of subject that could be pushed. Instead, he asked, "What are we doing?"

"Hailing an air taxi," his master said simply, approaching a comm station by the street corner.

"I'm pretty sure that thing's broken," Obi-Wan pointed out, but leaned forward anyway to watch as Master Skywalker broke open the side panel.

"It's not broken," his master said as he sunk his hands wrist-deep to dig around the mess of frayed wires and grimy circuitry. "Most of the entire surface level of the city is reserved for slaves, so they experience regular power outages. This thing just needs a bit of a kick."

And then, to Obi-Wan's complete unsurprise, Master Skywalker fished a portable power cell out of his jacket pocket and jammed it into one of the open battery ports. Yet another thing Obi-Wan had quickly learned about his master was that the man was rarely short on random electronic parts or machinery tools. If it was small enough to fit into his pockets or utility belt, it was most certain that it could be found on his master's person.

Within seconds the communications interface flickered to life, the sudden holoprojection light so intense it was near-blinding.

"Why aren't we using our comm units?" Obi-Wan asked as his master loaded the comm frequency to the nearest air taxi service.

Master Skywalker shot him a grin that promised nothing good, before turning to answer the automated voice on the other end and requesting a taxi at their station's site. As soon as the connection was cut, his master dug a hand back into the open panel, unplugging the power cell and shoving it back into his pocket. Obi-Wan blinked rapidly as the light vanished and he was forced to readjust his vision to the abrupt darkness.

It was as his master fit the panel back into place that he answered Obi-Wan's question, "We're not using them because it's common for air taxi services to file and track your comm unit location as soon as you request passage."

"And we want them to know this booth's location, but not our personal comm units' location?"

"Exactly," Master Skywalker said and gestured for Obi-Wan to follow along as he ducked around the other side of the street corner to lie in wait in the shadows.

Obi-Wan obediently moved to stand at his master's back and at last, realized with a hiss, "Wait! You're planning to hijack the taxi droid?!"

"Hijacking a taxi droid is very different from hijacking an air speeder," his master explained blithely, keeping his eyes steadily skyward, "but I suppose we all have to start somewhere."

"So this is it," Obi-Wan said in disbelief, "this is how I learn to become a Jedi Knight."

Master Skywalker flashed him a smile over his shoulder before lifting his gaze back up. "It's not all lightsaber duels and daring feats, my young padawan."

"And exactly how many air speeders have you stolen?"

"A question for another time," his master decided, gesturing towards the approaching pinprick lights of an air taxi descending from the skylanes above. "Quiet."

Obi-Wan bit his tongue and instead leaned forward to watch, curious as to how Master Skywalker planned to go about this. Considering the way his master had blatantly broken every single one of Coruscant's traffic laws the few times they'd ventured out into Galactic City, this really shouldn't have been so surprising.

As soon as the air taxi stalled before the dead comm station, Master Skywalker snagged the blaster from his hip and lifted it, shooting three rounds in quick succession, before hurrying forward, shoving the blaster back into its holster. Obi-Wan scurried after him and it wasn't until after they had reached the driver's side that Obi-Wan realized what the three rounds had been for―his master had not only shot out the droid's memory core, but had also taken out each of its photoreceptors, a trio of evenly spaced holes smoking from the droid's head.

Without Obi-Wan's prompting, his master explained, "Taxi droids typically have holocameras installed into their photoreceptors."

And then, to Obi-Wan's horror, Master Skywalker used his mechno-hand to tear open the droid's chest plate, the metallic shriek causing goosebumps to flare across his arms. Without pause, his master rooted around the bulk of wires soldered across layers of circuit boards.

"Master," Obi-Wan complained with a grimace. He knew logically that droids were not living beings, and he didn't even particularly care for them as his master did, but this still felt strangely gruesome.

"Here it is," Master Skywalker said and turned to him, holding up a metal cylinder the size of his pinky finger. "This is what you want to look for. It's an electronic key cylinder used to authenticate the operation of the air taxi. It's usually stored within the droid's chest cavity. Here, keep it safe."

Obi-Wan accepted the key cylinder and committed its appearance to memory, before tucking it into his trouser pocket. Meanwhile, his master hauled the taxi droid out of the driver's seat and lifted it over his shoulder, moving to dump its durasteel corpse near the comm station.

"Can I pilot?" Obi-Wan was quick to ask.

"Not out here," his master said, already moving to board the driver's side. "Maybe when we return to Coruscant."

Having known it was a bit of a long shot, Obi-Wan rounded the taxi to the passenger side without protest and jumped aboard.

"The final step," Master Skywalker instructed from beside him, reaching over and breaking open one of the blank panels along the control dash, "is to remove the speeder's homing beacon."

Amongst the wired electronics once hidden beneath the panel, Master Skywalker pointed out the blinking tracer to him, removing it with a small snap of the duroplastic it was attached to. His master then twisted around to launch the homing beacon away. Obi-Wan turned his head, eyes tracing the perfectly curved arc of its still blinking light, until it dropped and landed firmly within the droid's gaping chest wound.

"It's best not to destroy it, otherwise it'll be an obvious tipoff. Droids malfunction all the time, but a destroyed homing beacon is typically indicative of theft."

"I'll do my best to remember that," Obi-Wan said dryly, taking the proffered panel and jamming it back into place.

Unphased by his less-than-impressed attitude, his master replied with a lighthearted, "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Master Skywalker didn't waste another second and finally, they shot off into the sky, heading north, directly for Heden.


Obi-Wan awoke with a start.

The sun was unexpectedly bright; brighter than the gloomy clouds that had sat heavily upon Hollistan's city.

Rubbing the ache that had formed in his neck, Obi-Wan sat up in his seat, blinking away the dredges of sleep as he observed the natural landscape that now surrounded them. When he'd last been awake, they had still been amongst the company of other air speeders as they traversed the skyways of the colossal city. Now, the position of the sun revealed it to be mid-morning, its rays shimmering along an endless sea of golden grassland.

"I thought the estates were located north of the city," Obi-Wan said as he peeked over his shoulder; but the city was a distant gray smear across the horizon.

"That's what they told us," Master Skywalker said, "so we'll keep going until we find something."

Obi-Wan turned to observe the gauges across the dash. "And when we run out of fuel?"

"Then we walk," his master quipped, shooting him a self-assured smile. "Trust me, it could be worse."

Obi-Wan couldn't help but wonder, "Worse how?"

"Well," his master mused, "we could be on a desert planet."

Obi-Wan tried to imagine roaming across a hot desert on foot and grimaced. "Bad mission?"

Master Skywalker snorted. "Something like that."

"Meaning?" Obi-Wan prodded. They were stuck in a small air speeder traveling for who knew how long. Perhaps this was his opportunity to finally learn something significant about his master.

But to his surprise, the mood around his master abruptly darkened, the previous determination that had firmly cloaked him now tinged with something that felt distinctly poisonous.

Eventually, Master Skywalker revealed, "It's where I grew up."

"Oh."

So his master had been enslaved on a desert planet? Likely in Hutt Space, seeing as slavery was not legal anywhere else in the known galaxy.

His master sighed. "You can ask, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wa hesitated for only another second before tentatively asking, "Did the Jedi rescue you from slavery?"

Master Skywalker frowned thoughtfully. "Not exactly. A Jedi Master was forced to do an emergency landing on Tatooine, the planet I'm from. He was not there to free us, but we ended up helping one another, and in the process, I managed to earn my freedom."

Obi-Wan sat back as his master began recounting the tale of how he'd won the Boonta Eve Podrace at the tender age of nine years old. Curiously enough, his master never once revealed anyone's name. It was always 'the Jedi Master,' 'the Gungan,' 'the astromech,' or 'the queen's handmaiden.'

Once he finished recounting the farewell between himself and his mother, he trailed off, a bittersweet pain tainting the air around him.

"And then you became a Jedi?" Obi-Wan asked.

"No, not initially. The council…they said I was too old to be accepted into the Order."

"How did you become a Jedi then?"

"The mission wasn't complete yet. And because the Jedi Master had taken charge of me, I accompanied him. But then, he…died." An old grief leaked into the space between them and Obi-Wan maintained a respectful silence as his master processed that particular memory. Eventually, the pain abated into a dull ache. And then, he continued, skipping quickly to the end, "The Jedi Apprentice defeated a dangerous enemy, the one that had killed his master, and he was knighted as a result. He vouched for me, threatening to leave the Order entirely if I was not accepted. And so, I became his apprentice."

Master Skywalker tilted his head and locked eyes with him, a significant weight reflected in the blue pools of his irises. And for a moment, everything slowed to a halt as that familiar sense of déjà vu crept over Obi-Wan's senses, like ants crawling up the bare skin of his arms and across the back of his neck.

"...I was the apprentice."

Master Skywalker did not answer, but he didn't need to. The truth of it rang distinctly, the visions he'd had of himself and his master slotting correctly into place and forming a picture he could no longer shake off―a world in which Obi-Wan was the master, and Anakin was the apprentice.

"I'm not allowed to speak of it," Master Skywalker reminded him sardonically, "though it seems the Force has a different intent than that of the council."

Obi-Wan huffed a breath, mind still reeling. "Then why not just tell me?"

The sounds of rushing wind and rustling grassland surged past his ears while his master kept an ambivalent silence, eyes trained steadily ahead. And Obi-Wan thought of how, in their time together, Master Skywalker had disobeyed everything from the orders of the council, to the Jedi Code, to even the most basic of galactic laws. Breaking his word to Master Yoda and telling Obi-Wan of his past wouldn't have been so unusual, especially when the Force itself seemed hard pressed to keep the truth hidden from him.

And so, it was with a pang in his heart that Obi-Wan could only conclude: If Master Skywalker had remained unforthcoming thus far, despite his typical disregard for the rules, then that meant that he didn't want to open up.

Abruptly, Master Skywalked broke the silence with a concerned, "Obi-Wan?"

The hurt pulsed around him like a blossoming bruise and Obi-Wan forced himself to swallow back the sting of rejection. He tried to tell himself it wasn't fair to demand his master to tell him anything, even if it did somehow involve a version of himself that was much older.

Besides, did he even want to know what he'd been like as a Jedi Knight? Master Skywalker claimed that Obi-Wan had put his own future on the line for the sake of allowing Anakin a chance to become a Jedi, but if Anakin had loved this other version as much as he claimed to, why did he refuse to speak of him? Why did he refuse to speak of anyone? Who was Ahsoka? Why had he been knighted so young? Why had older Obi-Wan allowed it?

The questions continued to pile and pile, threatening to burst from his tongue, but Obi-Wan pressed his lips into a thin line and shoved each wave of frustration into the Force, uncaring that his master could feel every erratic swirl of emotion. Instead, he allowed his eyes to fall shut, trying to release his emotions as any good Jedi should.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos

Master Skywalker's mechno-hand suddenly dug into the flesh of his shoulder, fingers pressing hard enough against bone to momentarily distract Obi-Wan from emotions that threatened to overwhelm. "Breathe," he commanded.

With a start, Obi-Wan noticed the tears blurring his vision and he smacked the heel of his palms against his eyes, rubbing away every trace as he inhaled a shaky breath.

"Easy," his master murmured, squeezing his shoulder once more before drawing back his hand. "Catch your breath. And tell me what's wrong."

Obi-Wan shook his head silently, but continued to breathe deeply all the same. Master Skywalker's presence beside him was as brilliant as always, everburning and near-suffocating, but it kept Obi-Wan tethered in place until he could once again breathe normally.

"Is it weird?" Obi-Wan finally asked with a tremorous laugh, dropping his hands into limp piles at his sides. "Seeing your master as a kid?"

Master Skywalker looked at him with an unexpectedly fond smile. "A little," he admitted. "I guess, you're not what I expected."

Though not as sharp, the hurt rose up again like the tightening of a noose.

"What I meant," his master continued, shooting him a stern look, "is that, somewhere along the way, before I ever met you―older you, that is―something changed."

Obi-Wan turned the words over in his head, trying to guess at their meaning, but as usual, his master's words were too vague. "Good change or bad change?"

"I suppose that depends on who you're asking," Master Skywalker sighed and then straightened in his seat. "Keep an eye out," he ordered as the landscape abruptly changed ahead of them, grassland swallowed by a dense wall of forest. "And be mindful of whoever or whatever we encounter out here."

Obi-Wan sat up, eyes flitting about as the speeder delved rapidly into woodland, swerving over every fallen trunk and around every low-hanging branch, sunlight filtered an eerie green by the canopy above them, offering an absentminded, "Yes, Master."

"Obi-Wan," his master said in warning.

Obi-Wan shot him a displeased look. "I meant, yes, Anakin."

Master Skywalker smiled. "Better."

Obi-Wan turned away with a huff and continued to peel his eyes. It was so much easier to connect with the Force out here, every living thing humming vibrantly in tandem, and he opened up his senses as he'd been taught to since he was a mere youngling, the Light rushing over him and through him―

"There!"

In sync with one another, Master Skywalker veered the air speeder without further specification, relying on their combined senses alone to redirect them in the direction of an unidentified path. And suddenly, they weren't forced to wind through the maze of forest as the thicket around them fell away and opened into a wide, man-made pathway curving neatly through compact woodland.

"This is it," Obi-Wan realized with sudden delight, "this is where she is!"

"You're sure?" Master Skywalker turned to him, blue eyes glimmering with frail hope.

Obi-Wan answered with a toothy grin, "I'm certain of it."

"Then let's find her," his master said with renewed confidence, turning to face forward and maneuvering the air speeder at a terrifying pace that further smeared the forest around them into a blur of greens and browns.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan kept his senses open. They were speeding far too quickly for him to be able to rely on his eyesight alone, but a small tremor in Force spurred him to say―

"Master, you have to slow down!"

"You sense it too?" Master Skywalker murmured, easing on the throttle and allowing the world to come back into focus around them.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said and leaned forward to gesture towards the upcoming curve on the pathway. "There's an offshoot just before the turn. We should try there."

Without bothering to slow down any further, Master Skywalker turned sharply where Obi-Wan had indicated, but was soon forced to slam on the brakes, before they could be electrocuted by a laser gate. It was projected across the entirety of the pathway, framed by durasteel walls that cut through the forest for as far as the eye could see.

"This must be it," Obi-Wan said.

"They told us the masters reside out here," his master pointed out with a grimace. "This will hardly be the first one."

"No," Obi-Wan disagreed. "This is it."

"We'll go on foot from here," Master Skywalker decided, shutting down the engine. He then pushed himself up to stand and jumped over the windshield, landing atop the hood of the air speeder with a clang. "Aren't you coming?" he demanded, looking down at Obi-Wan over his shoulder.

"I am!" Obi-Wan said, hurrying to copy his master's movements. Once he'd landed on the speeder's hood, Master Skywalker didn't waste another second, and with the help of the Force, launched himself upward, neatly clearing the laser rays and vanishing beyond the buzzing red walls.

Obi-Wan jumped after him, anchoring himself to the wind until he landed gently against a bed of thick moss. He then hurried forward to keep up with his master's long strides as they followed the remainder of the trail. And at its end, the forest fell away, opening up to a vast meadow where an imposing white mansion lay nestled at its heart.

They had crossed the majority of the field and closer to the well-kept hedges arranged near the stairway of the front entrance, when they were intercepted by an elderly human man.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing here?!"

Without alarm, Master Skywalked easily turned away from the direction of the entrance doors and faced the old man standing amongst the hedges, a large pair of gardening shears pointed threateningly in their direction.

"We're here to speak with the master of the house," his master said not unkindly, and Obi-Wan wondered if the groundskeeper was a slave also. But the man didn't wear the same cloak of despondency as the city-dwelling slaves. Instead, he was all prickly annoyance and leery mistrust.

"The master doesn't take no visitors, so I suggest you scram," the groundskeeper snapped with another jab of his long shears.

"We have important business that needs to be discussed," his master insisted.

The man was hardly moved. "Then you can go back the hell to Hollastin and take it up with her solicitor."

"It will only take a moment!"

"And I already told you, she doesn't take no visitors!"

Obi-Wan wasn't sure why his master didn't just mind-trick the man, but he decided to let his master handle it. So, while the two continued to argue, Obi-Wan turned to idly observe the sprawling manor. It was rather quaint compared to their temple, though he supposed it was elegant in its own way with its expansive terrace and blossoming flower beds, ivy crawling along its pristine walls, and the many balconies supported by arching pillars. If it hadn't been built by the hands of slaves, Obi-Wan might've even thought it charming. As it was, he could barely stomach the sight and all he could picture were the slaves they'd met in the city, the pain he'd tasted in the Force a permanent wound in his heart. But before he could turn away in revulsion, movement from one of the third-floor windows caught his eye.

When Obi-Wan's gaze landed upon the woman standing beyond the glass, he recognized her by the long intricate braids and the gentle curls cascading around her, down to her waist, a picture of what he'd first glimpsed at in his visions. But it was the appearance of her face which froze him in his tracks. The coloring of her hair was many shades darker than that of his master's, and from this distance, the color of her eyes was imperceptible, but it was her features―everything from the slope of her nose, to the line of her jaw, to the shape of her eyes―that struck Obi-Wan as more than familiar.

Because Shmi wasn't distantly related to Master Skywalker, like he'd first assumed; she was identical to him.


A/N: Casting aside and as Anakin's only DNA donor, I figure young Shmi would basically be Anakin's twin lol