White fluff littered the ground and Obi-Wan stared at it blindly for a moment. He glanced up in perplexion and then smiled. Before him stood a huge church. No doubt there had just been a wedding, a traditional one if the grain on the ground was any indication. Idly he wondered who the happy couple was and if they were ready to start their new life, as he was.
He started walking again, basking in the warmth of the bright sun around him when giggling and whispering caught his attention. "Sssh!" shushed a gleeful male voice. "We're going to get caught if you don't be quiet!"
"But Qui-Gon, we're supposed to get caught!" giggled a husky female voice.
Obi-Wan froze in place. Qui-Gon?
The man started snickering with his companion and Obi-Wan's insides began to twitch. How many times had he heard that sneaky laugh when some prank was in the works against Mace Windu or Tahl? How often had he wished that deep laugh would burst forth more often than just within the safe confines of the Temple?
"I don't want to get caught, Giobhan, I just want out of there!" Unable to move, Obi-Wan listened as the voices crept closer. "Around this corner and we're home free!" The giggling couple plowed Obi-Wan down. "Oh Sith! We're sorry!"
Obi-Wan stared up at Qui-Gon Jinn, his blue/green eyes widening in shock. The huge man froze in place as well, shock flittering across his features before vanishing into a blank but concerned look. The woman with him kneeled down besides Obi-Wan, apologizing profusely.
"We didn't mean to knock you down, sir! We just wanted to get away from our rabble-rousing friends before the raze us!" She gave Qui-Gon a coy look. "It's our wedding day!"
Qui-Gon smiled tightly at her in response and held his hand out to Obi-Wan, hauling the younger man to his feet. "Yes, our apologies," he said in a harsh voice. Giobhan gave Qui-Gon a startled look at his tone. "If you'll excuse us, we have to rush."
He grabbed the woman's hand and pulled her behind him as he started to hurry away.
Obi-Wan stared at them in shock before his feet began to move to follow. "Just like that?" he asked loudly. Giobhan looked over her shoulder and gasped in dismay. "You run me over and then just take off? Nothing else to say to me?"
Qui-Gon abruptly stopped and turned back to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan let the Force tendril from him to Qui-Gon but he felt nothing. No response, no indication that the man before him was Force sensitive in the slightest. Obi-Wan started to believe he was making a huge mistake, superimposing Qui-Gon's name and image over the man before him.
"It's a long story, Obi-Wan. One I haven't got time to go into right now." The voice was hard, almost cold, but Obi-Wan detected the hint of despair there.
"When? I think I'm owed an explanation, don't you?" The words snapped from Obi-Wan like cold Northern wind on Hoth, biting and raspy. "You're supposed to be dead. You *do* remember that part, don't you?"
"Qui-Gon?" Giobhan stepped between the two men. When she got no response she turned to Obi-Wan. "Come with us then. There is much to explain and it looks like my wedding night is ruined anyway." She sighed and took Obi-Wan's hand in her empty one. She drug both men down the street.
I never imagined being this happy. I never knew such happiness existed. It was like I was free of restraints I never knew I had. Being a Jedi had been a hard life for me, that I had known. I had accepted it. Now though, unable to tap into the Force enough to even lift a rock, I was of no use to the Order. As Mace wryly told me I was better for the Order, and Obi-Wan, as a martyr than a Jedi no longer able to be a Jedi. So the Council brought me to my home planet, gave me money and the orders that if I ever got into trouble I had better call.
I started a new life as businessman and a good one too. While it wasn't what I'd wanted to do, I took my gift of being in tune with the natural life around me and turned into something I could do, landscaping. I'd always had a gift for it, having a natural love of plants and nature from my affinity with the living Force. While the Force no longer guided my inner being as a Jedi it still influenced my love of nature.
I was successful. I met a beautiful young woman who overlooked my "advanced age" and rough appearance. We fell in love. Something else that hadn't really ever happened to me before. Oh, I'd felt lust and desire, had relationships but it was hard to have a family and a wife when you never knew if you were going to return from a mission dead or alive, or return at all. Now though...
Our friends insisted we should get married. We'd lived together for a year, might as well go through the rest of the motions. I gave Giobhan an unlimited budget and she made sure I remained uneducated about local wedding customs until the last minute. Having no intention of sharing my wedding night with a hundred people, I grabbed my wife after the reception and we took a side exit out of the tavern that my best friend owned and where the reception was being held.
Imagine my surprise when we ran over my old life.
Giobhan knew I had been a Jedi. She also knew the Jedi were another life to me. While she commiserated with my loss of the Force, she didn't really understand. She had never been Force-sensitive, but she tried to understand and I loved her for it.
Force, why couldn't it have been anyone else but Obi-Wan! Why was he even here? Why did the council send him here when there was a chance that we could meet? Of course, I'm supposed to be three parishes away but Giobhan's family insisted on having it at the main town centre instead of at our country home. And now this....muddle.
I could feel his feelings of betrayal and shock. And his anger. No, he wasn't just angry, he was furious. You could almost see the steam hissing from his ears. Giobhan tugged us around a corner and we walked a bit faster, in case of pursuit. It was at that moment that I noticed Obi-Wan was alone.
"Where's Anakin?" I asked without thinking.
If it were possible, Obi-Wan became angrier. "Deceased."
I stopped short. "What?" I was stunned. Last I knew Obi-Wan had taken Anakin as his apprentice and all was well. "When..how?"
His lips pursed. "Six months ago. Pirates. He lost control and blew one of them through a bulkhead. Unfortunately, he blew himself out as well."
Obi-Wan's eyes glittered like hard stones and I then noticed his haggard appearance and the chill about his person. He was closed off, cold and unapproachable. This wasn't the Obi-Wan I had known those years ago. "I..." I began but he harshly cut me off.
"Shouldn't we get off the streets? We wouldn't want you to be spotted by anyone." He stalked off.
Giobhan glanced at me in concern and then hurried after him. "You are Obi-Wan?" He gave her one curt nod and I began following them at a sedate pace. "Qui-Gon told me about you. He said you had been a wonderful young man." She gave him her tentative, yet bright smile, the one that had captured me that first meeting. The one I could never purge from my mind.
It did nothing for Obi-Wan. "Really." His tone was flat and unforgiving. "How nice. I wish I could return the gesture, Madam Jinn." I winced at the tone. This wasn't going to be good.
"Let him explain," Giobhan pleaded with him, placing her hand his upper arm. "There are things that you don't know, you don't understand. Please. Have an open mind." Her deep brown eyes pleaded with him and my heart went out to the man. He wasn't going to stand a chance against her. I hadn't.
"Oh, he will explain," Obi-Wan snapped. Seems my former padawan isn't as soft a touch as I am. "I think I'm more than owed." He almost spat the words. "Where to?"
"There they are!" A crowd of our wellwishers came barreling around the corner and headed straight to us. "Where do you two think you're sneaking off to!"
Baron Rill, my best friend, stopped in front of me and wagged his finger in mock-sternness. "Bad Qui-Gon. Now go back and take this reception like a man."
"Not now, Baron," I said quietly, tilting my head in Obi-Wan's direction. "My past has caught up with me."
Baron knew immediately what I was talking about, but his reaction wasn't what I expected. "He's not a Jedi anymore." Obi-Wan gave Baron a baleful glance but didn't answer. "You people said he wasn't good enough for you anymore and now you come back just when he's found some peace?"
"Baron," I interrupted. "This is Obi-Wan Kenobi." I hoped the name would jog his memory. It did, but again Baron surprised me by his obtuseness.
"Oh. The apprentice." Baron stalked to Obi-Wan and faced him down. Baron was a small man, slender and short. Obi-Wan, not a tall man in his own right, not even close to six foot, towered over Baron, but it didn't faze Baron any. He'd kicked taller and more intimidating people out of his tavern. "Look, kid, it's nice that you came to wish your old master a good life but where you been before this? Now that he can't feel the Force he ain't good enough for you."
I closed my eyes in pain when Obi-Wan's startled gaze swung to me. It was almost accusatory. I opened my eyes to face his gaze.
No, there was no almost; he was downright accusing me of hiding things from him. He was right. I was.
"Baron, he thought I've been dead all this time. Only the council knew the truth."
"The council knew?" Obi-Wan exploded and shoved by Baron to face me squarely.
I ran a hand over my face. What a disaster. I told Yoda that it had been a bad idea, but no...the green menace knew better. Wrong!
"Baron, take everyone back and finish the party. Giobhan and I are going to take Obi-Wan with us to the..."
"No!" Giobhan's mother, Yolan, pushed through to me. "He is invited to stay with us. Explain to him and then send him back to the tavern. He is welcome in our home. It is my daughter's wedding night. I won't have it interrupted anymore than it already has been."
"Mother," Giobhan whispered. "It's all right." She looked at me. "I had a feeling that one day your past would catch up with you." She smiled wryly. "I will go back to the party. You talk with your old friend, my love. Come get me when you've finished." She walked to me, my beautiful love, and gave me a lingering kiss that got a grunt of approval from Baron. "Be good," she whispered to me. I gave her a crooked grin. "I mean it," she said, tapping me on the nose.
"Yes, Madam Jinn," I teased her.
She turned to Obi-Wan. "Have patience. It is...difficult for him." I gave her a surprised look. She was more perceptive about my feelings than I had thought.
Awed by the woman I loved I watched her round the corner with our wellwishers. I stood another moment, feeling Obi-Wan's eyes searching me, taking my measure. I can imagine what I looked like to him. It had been four years after all.
My mind was dizzy and I almost felt faint. So many questions! So many explanations to answer them!
He finally turned to face me, this man who was once my master. I studied his face. The nose was still crooked. His skin was tanned. Whatever living he earned now was done outdoors, but that was no surprise. Qui-Gon had always loved the out-of-doors. There were a few more lines and wrinkles, mostly around his eyes, and his hair was entirely silver now. Very few hints of the golden brown was left. He was also clean-shaven with only a shadow of a beard.
"Giobhan and I have a room..." His voice trailed off awkwardly. "We can talk there."
We fell into step and I made certain that I walked at his side instead of the almost unconscious habit of two steps behind him. The walk was the same, graceful and alert but there was a slightly off-kiltered way of it. "You limp."
He smiled slightly. "Too much dancing. I was never good at it, you know."
"Yes," I said grimly. "I remember." He winced again. "Is facing your past so horrible? Am I...are the Jedi such a bad memory that we have to be pushed far from you?"
He took a deep breath. "No. Not at all. It wasn't my idea to begin with. Blame Yoda and Mace. I have to admit, though, once here, I felt better, free."
"Free." I rolled the word off my tongue. "How nice for you."
He stopped and turned to me. "Obi-Wan, I..." His indigo eyes were a war of hurt and confusion. "I know it's hard to understand and maybe it wasn't fair to you, but..."
"Maybe?" I ground out. "It was definitely unfair to me! And to Anakin! He was devastated! Hell! I was devastated. I carried your body back to the infirmary. There wasn't an ounce of life left." I gestured to his obviously living person. "What the hell are you?"
"I am Qui-Gon Jinn and yes you carried what you thought was my lifeless body to the infirmary in some vain hope that there was still life. You were told there was not, on the orders of the council. You left the room to check on Anakin and they revived me in that time. Instead of contacting you, for some reason they contacted the council. The council told them to maintain my status of deceased. I don't know what they'd planned to begin with but it turned out to be a wise move for me in the long run."
I narrowed my eyes. "How?"
"Do we have to discuss this in the middle of the thoroughfare?" He threw his hands in the air in exasperration. "Our rooms are just a block up."
"Fine." I began to walk again and he hurried to catch up. I could sense the turmoil within him and didn't want to feel any sympathy for him but found myself pitying his situation all the same. He had every man's dream: a new life, a beautiful wife who loved him and a past that had been glorious but over in time to leave him some time to have another life. Would I be that lucky? I wondered. Probably not.
We entered a small hotel. Qui-Gon got the key from the friendly clerk who knew him by name. "That doesn't look like your bride, Qui-Gon," joked the clerk.
"An old friend, Jung. We're going to talk old times for a bit. He has to leave soon. Giobhan and I will be here later."
"Sure thing!" waved Jung at us and he went back to his reading material.
Qui-Gon opened the hotel room door for me and I stepped in. Typical honeymoon flat with flowers, cold collation, large tub with bubbles next to it and a very large and no doubt fluffy bed. I raised an eyebrow at Qui-Gon, who actually blushed.
"Aren't you a little old for this?" I asked pointedly.
He merely grinned. "Only when..." his grin faded.
"Only when you're dead and buried?" My smile was humorless. "That was what you were going to say?"
He sat down at the table and idly fingered the plastic covered menu sitting on it. "Are you going to let me finish this tale and get back to my wedding or take cheap shots all night?" His tone was defensive.
"You haven't started your tale," I countered.
"Yes, I did. Now shut up." I reared back at the harsh tone. "As I was saying the council said for the Naboo healers to maintain the story I was dead. When they got there, the council ran tests on me. I think they had some idea of having do some secret training with certain knights to go against the Sith, but when their tests came back that I'd lost the ability to tap into the Force, they were flummoxed. The midichlorians are there, I've just lost the ability somehow to not be able to use them to tap into the Force." He shrugged helplessly.
"At all?" I asked skeptically.
"Nothing. Not even a twinge of unease or a clue of danger. I've had more accidents since then than you can imagine. Giobhan thought I was just clumsy until I explained everything. You'd be surprised how much we take our ability for granted. Force sensitives do things by almost instinct, it seems, and we never knew it." He laughed hollowly. "Anyway, after I'd recovered from having my intestines toasted by that Sith Lord, the council asked me what I wanted to do. Naturally, I had no clue. The only life I've known is the only one you've known. So for lack of anything else to do, I asked to go back to my homeplanet and try to figure out how normal people live. I have a prosperous landscaping business and I just married a beautiful woman who loves me despite this crooked nose and habit of tripping over objects." He smiled at me, trying to invite me to see some humor in this.
I couldn't. "What about me? What about Anakin? Was anyone else, like Tahl, told?"
"I don't know about Tahl. I protested that you and Anakin should be told I was still alive but they adamantly insisted that you should continue as if I had died."
"And you actually followed that ruling?" I asked incredulously. "Qui-Gon Jinn, the Maverick Master?"
"I'm not.." He exploded to his feet, blue eyes flashing angrily. "I wasn't a Jedi anymore, Obi-Wan. I had no say in how they handled the situation. I was taken care of and you could find your own path, you always could. You would grieve and then move on. From all accounts, you did, though I had not heard of Anakin's passing." He ran a hand over his face. "I haven't heard from Mace in several months."
"Probably because he's dead too," I said, crossing my arms akimbo. He gave me an amazed look. "Last month. He blocked an assissin's bullet, but it was made of cortosis ore and fizzled his lightsaber. The dignitary lived, barely."
Qui-Gon sagged into the chair and covered his face with both huge hands a moment. "Force. I didn't know. No one... no one contacted me."
I paced the room. "It was a nice funeral. As nice as yours. Lots of people, Jedi and non-Jedi, came to pay respects. Too bad you missed it." As soon as the words exited my mouth, I wished I could recall them.
He was in front of me before I could react. His eyes were pained and his mouth was grim. "What do you want? I understand that seeing me out of the blue is something of a shock. I can understand your pain and confusion. I can understand that you feel hurt and betrayed. But this," he gave me light push, "these snide comments and biting remarks. This isn't you and it definitely isn't Jedi-like behavior. Your mouth runs your mind, it sometimes did, but not this much. Are you that bitter, Obi-Wan? Are you so disillusioned that you aren't even fit for doing anything but wander around, trying to find fault in everything? Who are you?" He peered at me. "Who are you because by the Force, you are not Obi-Wan Kenobi!"
I saw red and shoved back. "How would you know who Obi-Wan Kenobi is? You left him sobbing in that generator room, terrified at what you'd left him. Some little boy with more ability than anyone could handle, that's what you left me. No words of goodbye, no words of praise or wisdom. Nothing! Then you have the nerve to not be dead! Instead you're happy, living a nice life while I wander around, following my replacement until he gets himself killed from his own inability to control the overabundance of Force within him. I come to this wretched planet looking for some whacked out assassin who can't stay put and..."
"Excuse me?" he interrupted me. "What assassin?"
"Kel Tyjin. He killed Lord Himlet about four months ago during a society banquet. Chancellor Palpatine was most upset but he wasn't upset for long." I paused. "I shouldn't tell you this but the Chancellor was the latest victim. He's in critical condition in the Temple. He's been conscious enough to give orders that no one but his aides should know of his condition. His administration has been putting out stories that he left for a trek across various planets for a campaign of some sort." I sighed heavily, rubbing my forehead tiredly. "Our healers say that the Chancellor might not recover despite his stubborn protests otherwise."
Qui-Gon turned away from me, his face a mask of indecision. He was no doubt processing all the information I had just given him. "No strangers in the area that I've heard. No one's mentioned anything about an assassination."
"He hides here after his target is taken down," I explained wearily, sinking down onto the bed. It had been a long day. "We think he's from this planet, but we aren't for certain. I came here to try and find him."
"Obi-Wan, I'm telling you there are no strangers in this area. I'd be the first to know." Qui-Gon gazed at me earnestly.
"If you can hide here, then he can too," I said snidely and then looked down in shame. "Sorry."
He merely sighed. "I help the local constabulary with information networks. Giobhan doesn't know about it and I don't *want* her to know about it. Her first husband was a security enforcer. His death was quite gruesome. It didn't help that she was a witness. I've helped establish a network of watchers who keep an eye on suspicious comings and goings."
"Who said he was new?" I retorted. "A man leaves his family for a business trip within the Republic and then comes back. No ones thinks otherwise and no ones blinks at the increase in his accounts. It would expected."
Qui-Gon blinked stupidly at me a moment. Was he that out of tune now that he couldn't even grasp the most logical investigative step?
"I can name almost forty men who do that in a two parish radius. Over hundred if you go over the region. You have time to investigate them all?"
I smiled grimly. "If I have to. You should know that's my job."
He shook his head. "No, Obi-Wan, it's not your job. It's your way of life. I've learned the difference. A job is a vocation you can leave anytime you want. In truth, we were never given a choice."
I leaped to my feet, flabbergasted. "How...you lie! Any Jedi may leave the order at any given time!"
"And never come back. They are ostracized," Qui-Gon pointed out. "The only reason Mace treated me different was because my leaving was forced upon me. I had no choice. I cannot be a Jedi if I cannot tap into the Force even to note I'm getting ready to sneeze. You've noted, I'm sure, that I had no idea that Mace was dead? No one told me because no one cares if I know." He sighed again, his blue eyes darkening. "As far as the Jedi Order is concerned Qui-Gon Jinn is dead. I'm just a man who bears a resemblence to him and bears his name."
"I'm sorry you feel that way and I'm sorry you've restricted yourself in such a fashion," I growled in obvious disappointment. "I thought that you were a better man, with and without the Force. Obviously, the Force makes the man, does it not? All others are just nameless cardboard people." I bowed stiffly to him, a mockery and he knew it. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Mister Jinn. Enjoy your wedding night. Your wife is lovely and clever."
I jerked open the door but paused when he softly called my name. "It doesn't have to be this way. You found me. They cannot deny you the truth now."
I glanced over my shoulder, miserable at what my words would be. "As you pointed out, Qui-Gon Jinn is dead. I accepted that. I should have no trouble reminding myself of that fact. Good day."
I slammed the door behind me and leaned against it weakly for a moment. Tears sprang unbidden in my eyes and trickled down my face. At that moment I hated what I was more than anything. Once being a Jedi was the greatest thing I thought I could be: noble, just and true. Now, I despised what I was to the core of my being. It was a mockery and a sham. A hypocritic society that seemed designed to discourage and injure me in some fashion everytime I moved.
I walked away but the door opened. "Stop!" I continued to walk. "I said stop and I meant it." His hand latched onto my shoulder and whirled me around. I fell into his arms and began to sob helplessly. "I'm sorry, my Obi-Wan, I'm so damned sorry. I should have fought them. I should have put my foot down. I should..." he choked. "I am so sorry."
How long we stood there, I don't know. I just knew that I was home. Qui-Gon had always cured my ills and somehow made me feel safe even when we weren't. I felt that way again, from a man I could now crush with a flick of my wrist. It didn't matter that he no longer was Force sensitive. He was still Qui-Gon Jinn and that was all that mattered.
Life had been unusually harsh on him. It always had. He'd had an unhappy initiateship, being the brunt of jokes and cruel pranks. He'd had a low self-esteem that my initial rejection hadn't helped. Obi-Wan always made friends where ever we went and somehow somewhere along the way he would lose them. I was often amazed at his capacity to find a friend. That ability narrowed as he grew up. He grew jaded in many ways, but we meshed perfectly together. He was always more realistic than I, the dreamer.
Now it seems that after my "death" life had dealt him even harsher blows. Obviously, despite his initial misgivings, he'd grown close to Anakin. I knew that feeling. To lose him in such a tragic way that Obi-Wan had no doubt foreseen somehow was hard to take.
I trembled in anger at the thought of the turmoil Obi-Wan had been constantly subjected to; it was unfair and unjust. No one deserved such pain with very little joy to counterbalance. I held him as he sobbed and wanted to cry too but I couldn't. I was never much of a crier.
"Where are you staying?" I asked him when his sobbing subsided and he pushed away.
"The governor's manor," he said in a shaky voice.
I drew him back inside the room and shut the door. I walked to the bedside table where a comm unit sat. Having the number memorized I dialed.
"This is Qui-Gon Jinn, let me speak with the governor." I smiled when Obi-Wan gazed at me in amazement. My attention was distracted when the official answered. "Governor, this is Jinn. Fine, she's lovely. An old friend stopped by, a Jedi. Yes, that's him. I've invited him to be my guest. We have some catching up to do. We knew each other a long time ago. Perfect, I appreciate it, Darvin. Yes, our meeting is still on for next Thursday. My regards to *your* wife as well. Farewell." I ended the call with a punch of the button and leaned back into the pillows with a smug expression. "And thus it's handled."
"I won't even ask." He waved away his questions. "So now what?"
I tossed him a set of keys. "To our home. I'll write the directions. You can borrow Giobhan's speeder. We'll take mine to the house in the morning. Make yourself at home. Be nosy, but watch her underwear, she's touchy." He blushed a bright red. I grinned, delighted that some things never changed.
"I -" He hesitated and I waited for him to continue as I wrote out the directions to our home. "I'm sorry I said those things, Master." The name came so easily to him, we were both startled.
"I'm just Qui-Gon now, Obi-Wan."
He smiled shakily. "You've never been 'just Qui-Gon', my master. You were always something a bit more spectacular than that. Does your wife know what she's getting into?"
I shook my head. "No and, Force willing, she never finds out. She'd kill me."
He gave me a long look. "Do you know what you're getting into?"
Something swirled within me, widening my eyes. It was a stirring I hadn't felt in four years. I gave Obi-Wan a startled look and saw that he was watching me with a knowing expression. I had always known Obi-Wan would be a powerful knight. He was one of the strongest Padawan Learners I had ever seen, let alone worked with. Obviously, no one but Obi-Wan had known his true potential.
I concentrated, amazed at how much memory I had lost in how to use the Force, and spiraled a tendril back to him. It was glorious. I felt whole, when before I thought the Force as something holding me back. Obviously my estrangement from it had given me new perspective.
My smile was slow in coming but it came. "What am I getting into?" I repeated his question and he nodded. "Trouble."
He smiled in return. "Now that's Qui-Gon Jinn," he said. The keys jangled as he walked out the door, leaving me to explore.
"Qui-Gon?" I jerked from my meditative trance to see Giobhan watching me with a worried expression. "Are you okay?"
I grinned at her. I couldn't help it. "I can feel the Force, Giobhan. I can feel it coursing through me again. It feels..." I trailed off my sentence when I saw her suddenly wary expression. "What?"
"You're leaving." Her tone was flat.
"No." I grabbed her arms and drew her to me. "I'm here to stay. I'm no longer a Jedi. I'm too old to return to the Order as anything but some administrator or teacher anyway. I never looked forward to that retirement. I'm staying."
"But that Obi-Wan." She pulled away from me. "You're going to help him with whatever he's here for, aren't you?"
I nodded slowly, unable to lie to her. "Yes, but it will be okay. I'm not going away. He'll just come to me for information about the area, that's all."
"You promise me?" Her brown eyes begged.
I hesitated. I couldn't promise because I didn't know for sure. "I can't do that," I said honestly.
She sighed and sat down on the bed next to me, setting down a candlelabra by the bed. It was the only light in the room. "Why now? Why do they seek you out now?"
"He didn't seek me out." I pulled her on top of me and kissed her nose. It was dark outside and the shadows played on her features in the soft candlelight. "He didn't know I was here."
"Didn't he?" She pulled back to look me squarely in the eye. "Maybe no one told him but maybe this Force you speak of directed him here."
"If that's true," I told her, "then there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. He was just here."
"Oh Qui-Gon," she sighed.
"I sent him to the house," I said. "He was like a son to me. He's so lost, Giobhan. They lied to him, told him the man he thought of as his father and mentor was dead. Anakin, remember the boy I told you about he took as an apprentice? He died recently too. Obi-Wan's alone, lost. Then he stumbles into me and he's confused on top of everything else. He's hurting, Giobhan, and he doesn't deserve to. If I can ease that, then I will."
"Or die trying?" she asked shrewdly.
"I would do the same for you," I told her evenly. "You are my family, you are my life."
"And he is family too." It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
I could not have loved her more when she said, "Then he's my family too." I hugged her and then I kissed her.
It was our wedding night.
Obi-Wan followed the directions to a modest but very tasteful two story home, with a large lawn with equally tasteful landscaping arrangements around it. Obi-Wan wasn't surprised; his mast - former master's connection to the Living Force made him extremely open to nature.
The Jedi unlocked the front door and cautiously entered. A soft growling sound made him freeze. Qui-Gon had not mentioned a pet; he'd probably forgotten. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Obi-Wan peered around, looking for the source of the growls.
A large cage with a rather large, brightly plumed bird occupied a corner of the front foyer, it's beak open and growls emitting from it. Obi-Wan relaxed, grinning to himself. "Fascinating," he murmured, cautiously closing the door and walking over to inspect the bird.
"You are such an idiot," the bird squawked in Standard and Obi-Wan gave a shout of laughter.
He moved down the hall, still chuckling in amusement at the bird's clever repertoire. He avoided flipping on light switches, instead moving through instinct and his sharp eyesight. It was rare these days that he wanted or needed light. He preferred the dark; it was glaring or harsh and it didn't remind him too much of the bright light that Anakin had so adored. Anakin had lived for the daylight hours, reveling in a sunny patch in the Temple Gardens or basking in the glow of a two sun planet so similar to his native Tattoine. Since Anakin's death, Obi-Wan lived in the evening hours, sleeping through the time of the day that had been so precious to his apprentice.
Qui-Gon had given him carte blanche to be nosy and Obi-Wan intended to take his former mentor up on the offer. He pawed through drawers, moseyed around the kitchen, nibbling on a homemade cookie made with some local nuts. He found Qui-Gon's small study and with a small lamp turned on at the desk, previewed upcoming landscaping projects Qui-Gon had developed. Small models of various projects were scattered around most of the flat surfaces. There was a sense of tranquility in the study that reminded Obi-Wan forcefully of Qui-Gon's meditation corner in their old Temple quarters those few years ago. Qui-Gon obviously spent a lot of time here and was comfortable and at ease here.
Obi-Wan drew in a deep breath as he exited the study and looked toward the wooden staircase. It was richly carpeted in the center, showing on the ends a dark wood that shone even in the faint light from the skylight high above.
Obi-Wan walked up the small circular staircase, his hand trailing on the banister. The first door he came to at the top was a guest bedroom of some sort, for it looked neat and impersonal. There were no items to indicate anyone occupied it. The room next to it was being rennovated.
Curious, Obi-Wan stepped in and flipped on the light switch. The light was glaring and he saw an adjustment knob for it and turned the lighting down a bit, allowing just enough to illuminate what he was looking at.
He flushed. This room was to be a nursery, if the pastel wallpaper, paint and child-like decorations were any indication. Obi-Wan couldn't imagine Qui-Gon holding a baby in his arms while he worked, no matter what the older man's occupation. Shaking his head, Obi-Wan closed the door softly behind him, pushing away the idea of Qui-Gon having children.
The next room was obviously Qui-Gon and Giobhan's. There was a small sitting table with feminine toiletries scattered over it, such as make-up, brushes, and the like. A mirror was even to his face when Obi-Wan sat experimentally on the small bench in front of the table. He stared at his face, disturbed at what he saw.
His cheeks were hollow and sallow, even in the faint moonlight filtering in from the window. There was the shadow of a ginger-colored beard lingering on his lower face and his eyes seemed dulled. His ginger hair was longer than when he was an apprentice, scraping the color of his tunic; the braid of an apprentice had long since been shorn off. Idly Obi-Wan wondered how Qui-Gon had recognized him. Obi-Wan mentally placed the image of himself as an apprentice next to the image of himself now and shook his head. No, he had no idea how Qui-Gon had recognized him. The two Obi-Wans were as different as night and day.
He stood up and crossed to the bed, blushing at the thought of the activities that undoubtedly happened on those soft mattresses and under the brightly patterned quilt. Something else he couldn't picture Qui-Gon engaging in. Most Jedi were intensely private; Obi-Wan imagined that Qui-Gon had relationship while he was apprenticed to the older Jedi, but he'd never been aware of them.
Becoming disturbed more and more at the direction of his thoughts as they moved to accepting Qui-Gon's new life, Obi-Wan stalked to the window. He stepped through the large opening onto a small balcony that overlooked a magnificent garden. The moonlight glistened down on various plants that even the darkness could not dim their brightness. Some of the plants Obi-Wan recognized, others he did not; they all blended into a tranquil setting, however, that took the Jedi's breath away.
"By the Force," he breathed in wonder, leaning over the balcony railing and peering into the darkness to get a closer look of the garden below him. "It's wonderful!"
It clicked into place and Obi-Wan knew that Qui-Gon had found the perfect niche for himself. If he could not have been a Jedi, this was the next best thing for a man like him. Qui-Gon had enjoyed bustling around his small balcony at the Temple, arranging plants and the like, but neither had thought much about his little hobby. That 'little hobby' was now a magnificent talent that Qui-Gon had turned into a lucrative business. Rightly so, Obi-Wan could see now if this was just a sample of his work.
The blue prints and plans in the older man's study drew Obi-Wan back and he spent the rest of the night looking them over, digging around through completed project plans. He marveled at the skill and gift that Qui-Gon had that he'd never known about.
It made him wonder what talents he had himself that no one suspected. Obi-Wan felt a sudden urge to discover them.
Giobhan and I were laughing as they unlocked the door.
"There you are!" squawked Wicker, the Droliun parrot. A rustle of bright red wings with splotches of blue and green caused several feathers and some bird feed to float or skitter onto the floor.
"Wicker!" scolded Giobhan with another laugh. Her laughter broke off when she spotted the open study door.
I too had noticed it and was already making my way to it. I peered in and found Obi-Wan asleep, still sitting in the chair behind the desk, head down on several old blue prints of projects long since completed. Giobhan glanced in, nodded once to me and headed for the kitchen. I watched her with amusement. She would no doubt be preparing Obi-Wan some breakfast in a moment.
I entered his study and shut the door quietly behind, careful not to disturb my former student. I surveyed Obi-Wan as the younger man slept. He was very different in slumber than when he was awake. The harsh visage of a life gone not so smoothly was wiped away and evidence of the brash, eager young man he'd once been was easily recognizable.
I heard a crinkle as I took a step and looked down. All over the floor were various wadded up paper pieces as well as various sheets of my plans from the desk. I smiled; Obi-Wan had been busy, it seemed, over the course of the evening.
Gray-blue eyes fluttered open briefly and the lean face grimaced at the light streaming in through the curtains. "It's morning, then, and you two lovebirds are back," he groaned.
"Yes," I said with a chuckle. "You'll have to suffer our mushy attitudes."
He stretched and yawned. "How long have you known each other before you proposed and why do I get the feeling the two of you merely got married for the sake of local custom than for any other reason?"
I gave him an amused glance as I picked up various wadded papers and uncrinkled them for a look. "I had the house built a year and a half ago. She moved in six months ago."
"Ah," he murmured but there was something in the tone that caught my attention. I glanced at him again and saw he was warily staring at my hands and the crinkled paper.
"Is your curiousity satisfied?" I asked him casually, handing the papers to him without looking at them after all.
He took them and promptly tossed them in the wastepaper basket. "No. I want to see those back gardens in the sunlight. It looked magnificent in the moonlight."
I guestured to the window and he looked at me oddly. I grinned and showed him how to open the windows. I found the hidden latch and swung the nearly impossibly to see doors open. The windows parted in the center as they broke apart. "Clever, eh?" I askd him, my grin broadening at his flabbergasted expression. "I was just messing about and the idea came to me. A friend helped me figure out how to do it and still keep it air tight against the elements."
"Nice," he commented eyeing the construction as we passed through.
I allowed him to pass me as we entered the gardens and enjoyed the astonished expression on his face. "This, Qui-Gon," he exclaimed, "is truly awesome."
"Thank you," I responded modestly, though I was pleased by his approval. The gardens were my gift to Giobhan. I often came out here to find her basking by the small pool, enjoying the peaceful coolness. "However, I need to speak with you."
Obi-Wan gave me a sharp look and the shuttered expression came over his features. "Ah, I wondered," he muttered. "I suppose you want to know what I've found out about this assassin?"
I nodded. "If one of my neighbors is indeed the assassin, the community might not be so willing to help you or I find him, despite the crimes against him or her."
"Him," Obi-Wan said with certainty. I raised an eyebrow. "I've met him. He almost killed me a month ago."
"So he was off-planet a month ago at least?" I mused and then sighed. "So many of my neighbors do off-world business, Obi-Wan, it could be anyone."
"Could it be you?" he asked shrewdly and I stiffened.
"You ask me that?" I snapped at him.
"Many other things about you have changed, why not this?" he shrugged, turning to smell a flower.
Sadness washed over me. Did he suspect..? I smiled crookedly. Of course he did. I trained him, I knew how he thought.
"Do you know much about Palpatine?" I asked him casually, turning to a flower as well, running one of my large fingers along the delicate petals.
"Master Yoda and most of the council say that it's likely he's the one who is the Sith Lord." His words were low, almost too low to hear, but I heard.
"Ah, I wondered if they suspected."
"You knew they did, but they were unwilling to do anything about it." His mouth turned into a wry twist. "They were willing to let the 'will of the Force' occur, as if they know what the 'will of the Force' is on a regular basis."
"You know who you are looking for, then, Obi-Wan Kenobi?"
He nodded once. "You're sloppy, my master. You left a trail."
"So finding me wasn't an accident." I turned to the hills in the distance, wishing there was another way.
"I didn't know who Kel Tyjin was until I went digging through some of Master Windu's documents on Master Yoda's orders." He shook his head. "Ingenius plan the two of you hatched. You are dead to the galaxy, are sent elsewhere to start a new life, but you lead a double life. You hunt down members of an elite group protecting the man who claims to be the Master Sith Lord. You have to eliminate anyone who stands in your path, though, which goes against the grain. You get over it, though, don't you?"
I watched him as he talked. The eyes darkened but it was only when his hands strayed to his lightsaber and pulled it out, lighting a familiar green blade. "You better not be responsible for other deaths, my master."
I couldn't look him in the eyes. "If you mean Anakin, no, I protested against it as a matter of fact. You'll have to blame someone else for his loss, my Obi-Wan." Bitterness flared his eyes for a moment and the green blade of my old lightsaber fizzled back into the hilt. He tossed it to me almost casually. "This belongs to you."
I tossed it back. "I told you I am not a Jedi anymore, Obi-Wan."
He then smiled and tossed the 'saber into the pool. "Need an assistant? I tried doodling some sketches for a garden last night. Maybe I'll be better at the manual labor? I thought I was a good apprentice."
My body relaxed and I smiled at him warmly, suddenly sure of him and his loyalty. I held out my hand for a handshake, which he took. I pulled him into a brief hug. "Only if you can stage an equally impressive death for yourself as mine was," I told him.
His eyes brightened and Obi-Wan looked years younger of a sudden. "I think that maybe Kel Tyjin should make one more kill after I send a transmission."
"I have found no further trace of Kel Tyjin here so I will follow my other lead to Corellia."
Yoda watched the transmission holo flicker away with a lowering of his ears. "Hmmm," was all he said.
Three days later, Chancellor Palpatine took one last shuddering breath.
Two more days later a lonely existance ended.
Obi-Wan followed Qui-Gon's finger as he pointed out various spot for the landscaping detail. With a new identity and a new look, he thought as he ran a hand absently through his newly colored black hair, Obi-Wan Kenobi truly was dead.
Long live Ben Kenobi.