#The Most Problematic Glacier in the Galaxy

[fireflyfish]

i just finished chapter 31 of t&k and i hate qui-gon so much i want to destroy him completely. The Bitch. i don't understand why on earth the force ever showed him that vision of the original future. why?

Hello Nony! How lovely of you to stop by and join me my continued wailing at Qui-Gon to Just Stop Doing That OKAY???

As for why the Force showed Qui-Gon that vision, I believe the Force was trying to tell Qui-Gon to politely but firmly back the fuck off those two stay away from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon’s impending doom at the hands of Goth Maul... er Darth Maul. 

Clearly, the Force did not go far enough in convincing Qui-Gon to GTFO. Honestly the Force is a little pissed off that Qui-Gon keeps misinterpreting its messages. It’s almost like he’s being willfully ignorant or purposefully blind. 

Maybe the Force should try something a bit less woo-woo Force Vision-y. Maybe the Force should take out a flaming neon billboard and have it float around the Jedi Temple telling Qui-Gon to “take some time to work on yourself” or “Maybe You Are Just a Little Bit Upset Ahsoka Handed You Your Ass”. 

Either way the Force is face palming at Qui-Gon, if a mystical psychic-biological all encompassing energy field can face palm. Hopefully, Qui-Gon will take this opportunity to consider some therapy where he can really work on himself and his issues. 

Especially his issues with Master Dooku because hooooo boy that is the kind of situation that will put a Rodian therapist’s kids through space college. 

Thanks for visiting, reading and leaving a comment! I hope you enjoy the rest of Season Three! Bye Nony!

[themikeymonster]

I would like to apply to join Team "Fight me, Qui-Gon Jinn"

Enrollment is always open! To apply, all you need is a burning passion to shout down an old, stubborn Jedi Master and/or give him a wedgie! Daddy issues helpful but not required.

With every new enrollment comes a free badge so you can openly display your bitter feud with a fictional character!!!

Apply within fifteen minutes to get FIVE FREE BADGES you can give to your friends! Shipping and handling fee not included.

graphic design is my passion

[rogerishere]

Review of Voices from Chernobyl

Every crisis is a hassle.

We rightly forget this much of the time. In the wake of a real disaster, annoyance is overshadowed by worry, fear, and harm. Damage has been done or avoided. Grief or relief take precedence. The surge of adrenaline incited by a crisis swallows up our more petty grievances even as the crisis breaks a life in two around itself: What I did before and what I have to do now.

This all happens in hindsight. Ahead of time we feel the vexation more acutely, anticipating the difference between before and after and praying to keep it as small as possible. It's this impulse that leads us to wait out the storm, to fight the fire ourselves, to downplay the warning signs that will come to seem obvious. By dealing with an emergency as quickly and as simply as possible, or by denying that a situation is an emergency at all, we convince ourselves that we'll make the return to normalcy that much easier. This is anti-panic. In Svetlana Alexievich's Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, it is the simplest and most devastating reason that people tried to stay behind on the land poisoned by the nuclear accident.

After the initial explosion, the Chernobyl disaster unfolded in slow-motion. No storm clouds gathered on the horizon, no wall of fire swept over the land. The danger of the radiation pouring from the damaged reactor was only visible in the ways the world reflected it back, the same way we can see what gravity does but not what it is. The disappearance of beetles and worms. White spots appearing throughout a vegetable plot. The combs of hens turning black instead of red. These changes were easier to recognize than the impact on a person. Depending on where in the impacted zone a family's house sat, every hour that remained could have, and indeed had, far-ranging consequences for their health.

Each of the unnamed voices in Alexievich's book can be plotted on a quadrant matrix of knowledge and action: what it knew and didn't know, what it did and didn't do. Some of those presented were never told that the flaming nuclear plant was dangerous but left anyway as part of larger evacuations or because they sussed out the danger themselves. Other people were told it was dangerous and so left because they believed whoever it was that was telling them, be it their friendly neighborhood nuclear scientist or a relative who had heard it from an in-law who had heard it from a neighbor. A third segment wasn’t told it was dangerous––rather quite the opposite––and stayed, even as markets refused to stock their goods and armies of conscripted soldier workers were brought in to slaughter their animals or bury their topsoil.

The fourth grouping was people who were told it was dangerous but stayed anyway, or tried to until forced them to leave by their own families or representatives of the state. Alexievich's multitude of speakers present many reasons for wanting to stay: A sincere belief in their own invulnerability to radiation or the curative powers of vodka to protect them from it. A deep and irreplaceable connection to the land that made abandoning it inconceivable. But the most interesting, most oft-recurring explanations are those of the people who just couldn't be bothered, for whom avoiding the inconvenience of the disruption was, at least at first, more important than removing themselves from harm's way. The impulse was for normal life to go on, even in the face of mass evacuations and officials in suits and masks and soldiers all but scorching the earth as part of the clean-up efforts:  

"My good husband got home from the collective farm meeting and says, 'Tomorrow we're being evacuated,'" says a speaker in one of Alexievich's choruses, where a list of names of those interviewed is given but individual quotes are not attributed. "And I say, 'But what about the potatoes? We haven't dug them up.'"

This is anti-panic. It's separate from external efforts to smother hysteria, a man yelling "Remain Calm!" through a bullhorn or a politician reading off bullet points as soberly as possible. Anti-panic is the inertia of the mundane, the restraining power of everyday life hoping to keep us from leaving it behind and entering crisis mode. After Chernobyl, it was a woman asking a journalist to look in after her cottage because it was time to harvest her vegetable garden or a wedding with guests and a band allowed to proceed in part as a propaganda victory.

Anyone who's ever smelled smoke and tried to rationalize it away knows that there's an opposing force there that isn't a measured response to a potential threat, but rather an irritation in the face of the possibility of disruption. Our minds resist flipping that switch because once we have entered crisis mode there's no time for anything but resolving the crisis, and we'd rather be doing other things, whether it's tending our potato patch or streaming the rest of Season 2 of whatever we're watching that week.

Alexievich writes (recounts; reports; chronicles…),

"Within a couple of months, it all seemed normal, it was just your life," said Alexander Kudryagin, a clean-up worker. "We picked plums, trawled for fish. What amazing pike there were! And bream. We dried the bream to go with our beer. You've probably heard all of this before. We played football. Went swimming! Ha ha...Believed in fate; deep down we were all fatalists, not chemists. Not rationalists. The Slav mentality."

There are good and correct reasons for forestalling panic. Sometimes the warnings are overblown; sometimes a level head is needed more than the adrenaline. The large friendly letters reading "Don't Panic" printed on the cover of the titular book within a book of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy have resonated with generations of readers because it tends to be good advice, when it can be managed.

But anti-panic is not the same as this. It's not a level head prevailing, even if the people emerging from their homes in a storm-battered municipality try to frame it as such post facto. Instead it's a head stuck in the sand emerging to find it hasn't been punished for its callowness. One woman tells Alexievich of, "Soldiers, just boys, with their boots off, their clothes off, lying on the grass, sunbathing. 'Get up, you morons, or you'll die!' They laughed: 'Ha ha ha!'"

It's important to recognize the difference today, when so many of the world's spinning plates seem to be teetering on the edge of crisis. Climate change and the creeping authoritarianism infecting many of the world's most powerful democracies do not come heralded by shaking ground or a funnel cloud dipping from the sky. They are closer to Chernobyl, less obvious in their impact. If you aren't studying melting glaciers or being highlighted as Other and therefore problematic by those seeking power, then you experience these plights more as the accrual of effects upon the world than as the Big One lining up to take its shot. That sort of thing is easy to tend your vegetable patch through, not knowing or just ignoring the ways your world is being poisoned around you.

"I've watched the film about the Titanic a few times, and it reminded me of what I saw with my own eyes," Gennady Grushevoy, a member of the Belarusian Parliament and chairman of the Children of Chernobyl Foundation, tells Alexievich. "I experienced it myself, in the early days of Chernobyl. Everything was just like on the Titanic. You had the bottom of the ship already pierced, this tremendous surge of water was flooding the lower holds, overturning obstacles. While up above, the lights are bright, the music is playing, champagne is being served. Families carry on squabbling, love affairs are being kindled. And the water is gushing up the staircases, into the cabins…"

We may debate and disagree over the necessary course of action these slow-burning predicaments require, but the simplest, most devastating failure would be to ignore the apparent challenges in the hope that life will go on as before. The crises are here, and wishing away their attendant hassles won't change that. This is no time for anti-panic.

[fireflyfish]

for the director's cut: T&K the Ahsoka vs The Glacier show down?

Hello Nony! How’s your Sunday treating you? Thanks for stopping by and asking a question!

So... the Duel for Obi-Wan Kenobi a.k.a. That Thing Qui-Gon Really Needs to Talk to a Therapist About. 

I listened to Duel of the Fates and Battle of the Heroes SOOOO MUCH as I was writing that scene. SOOO MUCH. I think I’m still kind of burnt out on those songs. I try to find songs that put me in the right mood or songs that spark the image I need to start writing and so I figured, why mess with a good thing? I also listened to Hope from the Rogue One soundtrack too. I needed all the help from the lightsaber gods I could get. XD

I didn’t start Tano and Kenobi out with the intention of contrasting Ahsoka and Qui-Gon but try as I might, the plot and his own actions demanded that he take more of a central position that I intended. I really intended for him to just vanish into the background, no doubt dying heroically in a mission in a throwaway sentence later. 

Sadly, Qui-Gon refused to do what I told him to and now he’s waxing poetic about how put-upon he is and having visions of his impending doom and interpreting them incorrectly. THE RED AND BLACK MAN IS BAD QUI-GON. HAVING VISIONS OF HIM IS NOT A THING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT. 

As for the duel itself, I wanted to make sure I didn’t shortchange either duelist and I was torn over who would really win. On one hand, Ahsoka’s younger, probably faster and certainly more creative in her combat style. She’s been trained by Yoda, Anakin and Obi-Wan and she’s also been on her own for a long time. The novelty of her fighting style should throw Qui-Gon for a loop and Anakin and Obi-Wan were no slouches in the training department. 

On the other hand, while Qui-Gon is older and a bit slower than Ahsoka, Qui-Gon is HUGE and it’s the sheer size of him gives him an advantage in strength, reach and the absolute surprise of seeing a giant of a man flipping around with help from the Force. He’s probably at the height of his skill and prowess and it’s been a long time since Ahsoka has had to face someone who’s a true master of lightsaber combat. 

But the thing I really wanted to show was that Ahsoka and Obi-Wan are already a team. Even if it’s Ahsoka doing the fighting, Obi-Wan has her back. They want to be together. Mace and Yoda want them to be together. The Force wants them to be together. It isn’t so much that Ahsoka beat Qui-Gon as Ahsoka and Obi-Wan beat Qui-Gon because without Obi-Wan pointing out the forgotten saber on the edge of the dueling ground, Ahsoka wasn’t going to last much longer. 

So that’s my commentary track for Ahsoka and Qui-Gon duel in Season One. Thank you for visiting Nony!

From this Ask Meme | Ask Auntie Fishy

[fireflyfish]

Somewhere between waking and sleep, Ahsoka and Torrent Company were making their way through a ravine that promised to lead them out onto the flat plains that surrounded Point Rain. As she recalled, her masters and Ki-Adi-Mundi had chosen the location for a rendevouz spot precisely because it was a large and open space which would make landing their ships and massing their troops easier.

In hindsight, it was a terrible idea that left Master Obi-Wan and the 212 exposed to take the full brunt of the Geonosian forces for hours.

The losses to Ghost Company alone were catastrophic.

But then again, the plan probably would have worked if they hadn’t told Chancellor Sith Lord about it beforehand.

“I really hate that guy,” Ahsoka muttered to herself as she and Rex waited for Echo and Fives to return from scouting. “I just… really want to punch him in the face.”

“Spoken like Skywalker’s padawan,” Rex chuckled, checking the charge on his twin blasters before spinning them around his fingers and slotting them neatly into their holsters. “You might have to wait in line, sir. I’m sure General Kenobi will want first dibs.”

[fireflyfish]

Finally got up the gumption to start reading the newest chapter of Tano and Kenobi (pysched myself up for the upcoming hot mess) and I am FREAKING OUT! Barely into the chapter and my rage against Qui-gon shot through the roof along with my blood pressure! Why?! Why is he such a shitheel?! He’s the worst! Why...? So yeah, I’m going to go back to the chapter to finish up. I just had to scream about it to you when I started reading his part. Thanks!

Hello Nony! I hope your blood pressure lowered by the end of the chapter. While I like my cliffhangers as much as @writegowrite​ I also like to end on some happy ones every now and again. 

I’ve had a lot of people ask about why T&K!Qui-Gon is being such an a$$hole over the course of season 3 (which still needs a name by the way) and I thought I would actually take a moment to give some insight on T&K!Qui-Gon and his... less than stellar behavior. 

Qui-Gon is being difficult because Qui-Gon is 100% convinced that he was supposed to be Obi-Wan’s master. His faith in his interpretation of his Force vision is unwavering. 

The tragic aspect of his character is that... he’s not wrong. 

If Ahsoka had never fallen back through time, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan would meet and eventually Qui-Gon would take him on as his padawan learner. If there were no Ahsoka, everything Qui-Gon saw would have come true.

T&K!Qui-Gon is a very independent-minded person. He doesn’t take orders well and he certainly isn’t going to listen to someone like Ahsoka over his own judgement. Why should he? He doesn’t know her, doesn’t know her Master Skywalker, and she’s actively thwarting the will of the Force as he understands it? This is practically blasphemy to T&K!Qui-Gon. 

You do NOT go against the will of the Living Force. 

You just don’t. 

So take all of this, bake it into a cake, ice it with some unexamined issues and decorate it with a whole pile of “Getting Beat in Duel by A Jar’Kai-Wielding Girl” sprinkles and you have the lovely signature bake of T&K!Qui-Gon Jinn as of Season Three. 

I hope this helped provide some insight into T&K!Qui-Gon and his bad life choices. Thanks for reading and dropping by, Nony! 

[fireflyfish]

Obi-Wan woke as he went to bed, cold and alone.

The suite of rooms he shared with Ahsoka was still and silent. There was no warmth or life coming from the other side of the central living area, no cheerful “Good Morning!” to start his day with a smile.

When he woke up, there was no pot of hot water waiting for his tea, no Ahsoka sitting at the table scanning through one of her datapads, wordlessly pushing the honeypot toward her padawan as she nursed her own mug of tea, the two of them waiting to wake up.

There was just silence and the cool grey light of early morning, turning the shadows indigo and remote.

Obi-Wan quietly walked over to the sink and filled the kettle with water, setting it on the hot plate. He opened the cabinet overhead and pulled out a mug. Slowly, robotically, he went about his usual morning routine. A quick hop into the shower and then changing into his habit and boots before returning to the kitchen, where the kettle should have been just about to ready to let out a hiss of warning but wasn’t.

Letting out an exhausted sigh, Obi-Wan looked down at the on switch and realized he had forgotten to turn on the heating element.

“Well, that’s karking perfect,” Obi-Wan muttered and left the kettle on the plate, deciding to forgo his morning tea. He walked over to the small table tucked up against the window that overlooked the Senate and collapsed into his seat, frowning at the honeypot.

“Obi-Wan would like his tea with one small spoonful of honey.”

“How did you know that, Master?” Obi-Wan asked the honeypot, a garishly colored item Ahsoka had picked out for him during a field trip to Corellia because it was decorated in tropical fruits, most noticeably mangos. 

[fireflyfish]

Maerai Prime, fifteen days ago…

There wasn’t a great deal to recommend Maerai Prime to the casual traveller or citizen of the Galactic Republic. It was a cold, rocky planet with a salt water ocean and a thin band along the equator of the planet that marked the “habitable” zone. This belt of civilization had been developed over and over again, not unlike the surface of Coruscant or Denon and the silvery grey stripe across the planet glittered like fabric embroidered with light. The rest of the planet was covered in either monumental glaciers or jagged mountains, thrusting up through the crust of the planet like the spines on the back of a ridgeback, menacing and unfriendly.

“Why can’t we ever go to nice planets full of green trees and lakes?” Obi-Wan groaned, turning to look at Ahsoka with an annoyed roll of his eyes. “Naboo was nice. Can we go back to Naboo?”

Ahsoka quirked a smile at Obi-Wan, thinking, Oh we’ll be there soon enough, Padawan mine. You, me, and a Sith Lord named Maul.

“Naboo is peaceful,” Ahsoka said instead, running through final diagnostics before their descent into the planet’s atmosphere. “And Jedi don’t get sent to peaceful planets.”

[fireflyfish]

Watching the Jedi Council work through Qui-Gon Jinn’s petition to train Obi-Wan Kenobi was like watching a starship crash in horrible slow motion and Mace Windu had to sit in the circle and watch it happen. Each step of the unfolding drama threw out shatterpoints that sprung up and died away just as quickly, frustrating Mace with his inability to process them and their meaning before another one appeared.

He could only imagine how Plo Koon felt about the situation before them.

[fireflyfish]

Tano and Kenobi: Tatooine

Previously on Tano and Kenobi...

Desperately fleeing the relentless pursuit of the bounty hunters sent by Culling Blade, Ahsoka Tano and Obi-Wan Kenobi have fled with the Duchess of Mandalore, Satine Kryze, across the Outer Rim. Out of time and with nowhere else to run, Ahsoka makes a bold decision to trade their starship for passage on a freighter.

A freighter bound for the desert planet of Tatooine.

First | Previous | Next | AO3

Melausta on the Outer Rim.

A Republic cruiser flew through the atmosphere, smoothly gliding over the spaceport of the planet’s capital city.

Hovering in place for a moment as the landing gear deployed, the vermillion ship slowly sank down into its assigned landing bay. White, billowing clouds of steam jetted out of the ship’s exhaust vents, nearly obscuring the boarding ramp that was quickly lowered.

A humanoid figure strode out, hard-soled boots ringing against the duracrete walls of the landing bay. He stepped into the warm midday sunlight and pulled off the voluminous hood that covered his brown hair and blunt features. Taking out his personal communications device, the man keyed in a frequency. “This is Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and I have landed on Melausta.”

There were several minutes of silence as the message bounced through the express relays of the holonet system before the reply came back.

“Understood, Master Jinn,” Mace Windu’s voice crackled over the com, low and serious. “Please inform the Temple when you have located the Duchess of Mandalore, Knight Tano, and Padawan Kenobi. May the Force be with you. Windu out.”

The line went dead and Qui-Gon tucked his com back into his belt and took off into the bustling city with one thing on his mind.

I’m coming, Obi-Wan.

Three days later it became clear that while Obi-Wan, Knight Tano, and the Duchess had been in the capital city of Melausta, they were no longer there and most likely hadn’t been there for two weeks, maybe more. The local magistrate helpfully explained that there had been a bit of a scuffle with some Mandalorian bounty hunters about three weeks back but no one had been able to charge them with anything more onerous than disturbing the peace.

“Some of those boys work for Jabba and the Hutt Syndicate,” the magistrate explained, showing Qui-Gon the footage of the fracas in the market district. “So there wasn’t a lot of push from the judiciary to indict them. And nobody’s seen a Jedi on Melausta in years! Truth be told, the Hutts are the law out here, Master Jedi.”

Qui-Gon frowned at the holo footage with his arms folded over his chest. “The citizens of this planet are content to let known criminals and bounty hunters walk free on their streets?”

“You’re mighty far away from Coruscant, Master Jedi,” the magistrate shrugged, pulling out a data stick and handing it over to Qui-Gon. “People here are just glad they won’t be kidnapped and sold into slavery on Nar Shaddaa. I’m sorry we can’t be of more help to you.”

Qui-Gon took the data stick with a brusque gesture and thanked the local law enforcement officer for his help before marching out of the building and back to his ship.

He would use the onboard computer to process the data stick in the hopes of finding some clue to Obi-Wan’s whereabouts. The footage was the only real lead he had, what with the Force silent and still on the subject of the boy. No matter how deeply he meditated, nothing seemed to spark in his awareness and there was a growing, cold dread in his heart that he would find him too late.

I knew Tano would lead you into danger, Obi-Wan. I only hope I can find you before she carelessly gets you hurt.

Two days later, he still had not found anything that would help.

“And you’re positive there’s nothing?” Qui-Gon frowned at the hologram of Master Jocasta Nu hovering above his ship’s onboard holoprojector. “Nothing at all?”

“I’m sorry, Qui-Gon,” Master Nu shook her head, frowning. “I have been over the footage twice myself, as have Masters Plo and Windu. Knight Tano and Padawan Kenobi are nowhere to be found. The droid analysis reports the same finding.”

“But there has to be something there!” Qui-Gon insisted, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms over his chest. “They couldn’t have just vanished!”

“All we can do is trust in the Force and wait for them to contact us,” Master Windu said, his face appearing in the flickering blue light of the projector. “I understand your concerns, Qui-Gon, but the Senate has an assignment for you and I cannot put it off any longer. You must return to Coruscant. Another Jedi will take over the search for Knight Tano and Padawan Kenobi.”

Qui-Gon grit his teeth and bowed his head to Master Windu, the Master of the Order. “Yes, Master Windu. I understand. Who will be taking over the search in my absence?”

“Master Tinn is on his way as we speak,” Mace said, hoping that the mention of a sitting member of the Council being dispatched to find two lost Jedi would sooth Jinn’s hackles. “We are all worried about Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, but you are needed here, Qui-Gon. Once we have located them and assured the Duchess’s safety, you will be the first person I call.”

Nodding, Qui-Gon bowed to the hologram. “Thank you, Master Windu. I will depart shortly.”

And with that he cut off the feed to the Temple and let out a particularly florid curse in Bacchi. He rested his hands on the communications console in his ship, unable to help calling out into the Force. Where are you, Obi-Wan?

To say that Tatooine was hot would not do it proper justice.

Obi-Wan couldn’t really think of a word that could do the desert planet on the Outer Rim justice but “hot” just didn’t seem up to the task. He liked “blistering” or “scorching” but they didn’t quite encompass the blinding, searing light of the twin suns of Tatoo 1 and Tatoo 2. While the length of the day was similar to that of Coruscant with only a few extra hours of sunlight added, those hours seemed brutally exhausting and cruel to Obi-Wan, who just wanted some peace from the heat and the stark brightness overhead.

And that didn’t even begin to cover what all this sun and ultraviolet radiation was doing to his skin. If he got out of this mess without third degree burns, he told himself, he would consider it a miracle.

“Thank you for letting me borrow your robe, Ben,” Satine murmured from where she stood next to him as they waited for Ahsoka to emerge from the cantina she had stepped into looking for information. If there was any consolation to Obi-Wan’s suffering on Tatooine, it was that he had spared Satine further misery, like a true Jedi Knight.

“You are more than welcome, S-Satine.” Obi-Wan stumbled over the Duchess’ given name, feeling scandalously informal. They had decided on the flight to Tatooine that it would be dangerous to refer to Satine by her titles and Obi-Wan had spent most of the flight stammering over her name and feeling even more like an idiot than he usually did.

Ahsoka finally had to step in and suggest with a smile, “You could always call her ‘my lady’. Then you’re still being respectful but a stranger might simply think you’re being extra romantic with your girlfriend.”

Satine had been in the refresher at the time and so Obi-Wan felt free to hiss at his master. “The Duchess is not my girlfriend, Master! I am a Jedi and she is the leader of the Mandalorian people! A relationship between us is impossible and against the Jedi Code!”

Ahsoka nodded solemnly at her padawan’s observation. “I agree. Those are all very good reasons why Satine should not be your girlfriend.”

Obi-Wan watched Ahsoka out of the corner of his narrowed eyes. “I sense a ‘but’ is coming, Master, and I do not think I am going to like it.”

“But if you do decide to make a go of it, I support you,” Ahsoka grinned, pulling out some ration bars and offering one to Obi-Wan who refused in a mortified huff. “Satine is a lovely young woman and I don’t think you could do better than the ruler of a planet.”

“Master!” Obi-Wan groaned, covering his hands and wishing they were on a planet so he could beg the Force to open up a bottomless pit and swallow him whole.

In the end, Obi-Wan chose to stumble his way through Satine’s name in the interest of her safety and also because a small part of him was secretly thrilled at the prospect at being allowed to cast aside his propriety for the mission.

But only for the mission. Once they were safely back on Coruscant, Obi-Wan was fully prepared to go back to using the proper and more respectful “Your Grace”.

Still, it is nice to call her by her name, Obi-Wan thought.

“Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to colonize this hellish planet?” Satine grumbled, pulling the hood of Obi-Wan’s robes further down to give herself more shade. “And why haven’t they built any kind of protection from the suns? Mandalore is a desert now but we don’t live exposed to elements like this. It’s barbaric!”

Obi-Wan chuckled softly and rummaged around in his go bag lying slung over one shoulder. He pulled out a small metal canister filled with cool water that Ahsoka had given him earlier that morning.

They each had one and he knew for a fact that Satine had already gone through hers. “Thirsty?”

Satine let out a gasp of delight and took the canister and was unscrewing the cap when she stopped and turned to look at Obi-Wan, her brows furrowed and her expression worried. “Were you just going to let me drink all your water without saying anything?”

Obi-Wan flushed, which was hard to see under his sunburn, and looked away. “I… thought something cool might take your mind off this sandy hellscape we find ourselves in.”

“Ben Kenobi!” Satine said, looking horrified as she reached out to give Obi-Wan a good swat on the arm. “You… you… stupid boy! Take your water back! I will not be responsible for your death by dehydration.”

Obi-Wan took the drink canister back from Satine and tucked it back into his bag with a guilty relief. “Thank you, Satine. I shall endeavor not to expire today.”

Satine nodded, mollified. “Good. I should hate to have to explain that to Master Ahsoka.”

“Explain what to me?” Ahsoka asked as she emerged from the cantina, a smile on her face as she tucked a handful of credits into a pouch on her hip. “What did I miss?”

Obi-Wan was going to explain his chivalrous actions but Satine got to them first. “Ben was going to gallantly give me the last of his water because I was childishly complaining about this accursed heat,” Satine announced, her head high. “And I made him take it back as I do not relish the idea of him dying from dehydration or the having to explain his untimely demise.”

Ahsoka blinked in confusion, her gaze jumping from Obi-Wan to Satine and back again as she arched one brow. “Right. Well, the good news is, I’ve got enough money for an early dinner. Bad news is, there’s a big podrace coming up and there’s no place to stay.”

Pulling her hood up over her montrals, Ahsoka moved forward into the busy central thoroughfare of Mos Espa with Obi-Wan and Satine at her side. Since it was the main artery of traffic and business in the city, the street was lined by stalls and shops, each one selling something different and the merchants calling out in a wide variety of languages but predominantly in Huttese.

Satine stayed close to Obi-Wan’s side as they walked, asking softly what different sellers were saying, and he happily translated for her. They passed a stand selling exotic food from as far away as Corellia and one stand that offered what it was calling traditional Mandalorian “Fire Food” once Obi-Wan translated it back into Basic.

“Oh! It’s trac’lo’ras!” Satine smiled as she drifted over to the stall. “It smells heavenly.”

Ahsoka followed Obi-Wan over to Satine and the Jedi agreed that the skewers of spiced meat looked and smelled divine. She fished out the credits necessary for two skewers and handed them over to the seller, who bowed his head in thanks and said something in a language she wasn’t very familiar with.

Continuing on their way, Satine let out a happy sigh at the little piece of home. “Oh this is delicious! When I was younger and my mother would take me to the market, she would always buy one and share it with me.”

“Master, would you like the rest of mine?” Obi-Wan offered, having eaten about a third of his skewer and unwilling to let Ahsoka starve if he could help it. “It’s quite good but I’m not sure I should put so much on my stomach with all this heat.”

Smiling back at her padawan, Ahsoka took the offered food. “Thank you, Obi-Wan.”

You won’t be too hungry? she thought as they stepped out of the way of an oncoming landspeeder. And why is Satine wearing your robe?

Obi-Wan glanced up at Ahsoka and bit his lower lip. I… I wanted to protect her from the sun.

Obi-Wan! Ahsoka shook her head and pulled off her robe, with a swirl and draped it over Obi-Wan’s shoulders. “There. That’s better.”

“But what about you?” Obi-Wan protested but allowed his master to pull the hood up and hide him in its shadows anyway. She could sense his relief in the Force, cool and sweet.

“I’ll be fine,” Ahsoka promised as they came to a stop at the corner of another street, watching the ambling, colorful crowd of Outer Rim civilization pass them by.

Ducking under a nearby awning, it was startling to see how much a difference simple shade made in the omnipresent heat and blinding haze of the Tatooine sunlight. Ahsoka hadn’t really understood her master’s hatred of his home planet, but she was starting to get an inkling.

The three of them paused under the protective shade of a droid merchant’s shop as they watched the chaotic swirl of Mos Espa pass them by. Beings from all corners of the galaxy were there but it was easy to tell the natives from the visitors.

People from off-planet had a faint pink softness about them as their bodies began to adjust to the relentless heat and dryness. They were the ones throwing back expensive canisters of water and dousing themselves or their necks in an attempt to beat the heat at its own game and they left far too much delicate skin bared to the elements.

The natives were the ones covered up in the light colors of sand and dunes, their skin dark, faces sharp and in some, prematurely aged. They stuck to the shade as much as they could, their loose robes flowing and allowing what breeze there was to help stave off the heat.

The Force seemed particularly riotous on Tatooine, as if the sheer variety of people and purposes gave a new dimension to it that Ahsoka had rarely experienced and Obi-Wan had never felt before.

“Are you gonna buy something or just take up space?” the owner of the stall muttered as he stepped out from the cool shadows of his shop. “I’m not running an inn!”

Ahsoka held up her hands and gestured for Obi-Wan and Satine to move on ahead of her. “My apologies, friend. We’ll be on our way.”

“Lazy off-worlders,” the man grumbled, shuffling back inside. “Bunch of no-goods and gamblers making everything a mess for the Boonta.”

Frowning, Ahsoka hurried to catch up to Satine and Obi-Wan, who were now standing on the side of the road watching something up ahead.

When she stepped up next to her padawan she saw what had frozen the two teens in place.

A Nikto and a Weequay were laughing loudly as they stood on either side of a young human woman who was holding a package close to her chest and trying to get away from them. There was a growing circle of space around the trio as people backed away from the scene of the young woman and her harassers, who were picking at the braids in her hair and the protective cloak she was wearing.

“Sarela! Did you boss give you the day off?” The Weequay grinned as he leaned in closer. “You should come spend it with me! I’ll take real good care of you.”

“Don’t listen to that chuta!” The Nikto sneered, wrapping an arm around the girl as he tried to guide her away from the front of the large shop she was trying to purchase goods in. “Everybody knows Trazz is all talk and no meat if you catch my drift!”

“Let go of me!” the girl shouted, trying to break free. “Get your hands off of me!”

There were mutters from the crowd around Ahsoka, whispers about how “Someone should do something,” and then replies of “Won’t matter. They’re Gardulla’s men. Nobody messes with Gardulla.” Anger, frustration, and defeated resignation colored the Force around them.

Obi-Wan seethed at the sight and Ahsoka found it hard to disagree with him. He looked up at his master, his expression pleading for permission to go break a few bones to protect the young woman being accosted.

Minutely shaking her head, Ahsoka reluctantly tried to lead Obi-Wan and Satine past the thickest part of the crowd.

We can’t put Satine in danger like that. If we act, her identity might be revealed and I really don’t like our chances on Tatooine of all places, Ahsoka explained to Obi-Wan, who bristled with outrage as he followed his master, his jaw clenched.

“Yes, Master,” Obi-Wan managed to grind out, trying to guide the Duchess through the crowd. “We’re going, Satine.”

“We can’t!” Satine hissed, keeping her voice low as they struggled through the crowd mesmerized by the ongoing scene. “We can’t let those brutes hurt that poor woman!”

“Master says we cannot risk the danger of exposing you,” Obi-Wan explained, even as he struggled to accept his master’s logic. While he knew it made the most sense and would keep the three of them out of danger, it went against the very fiber of his being, of the Jedi Code and his own morals and what made it even worse was that he could sense his master hating her decision just as much as he did.

“But.. but that’s wrong,” Satine said, looking back at the poor girl. “What if something happens to her?”

Ahsoka closed her eyes and tried to tell herself that she was doing the right thing. That it was more important to keep Satine and Obi-Wan safe.

“Maybe we’re just not being convincing enough,” the Nikto sneered as he patted the blaster on his hip as his friend snickered at his side. “Now why don’t you come with us, Sarela. Me and Trazz just wanna show you a good time. What’s wrong with that?”

“Be a good girl and we won’t tell Gardulla that your folks are behind on their water taxes,” the other thug said, picking up on his buddy’s odious suggestion. “If you’re really nice to us, we’ll forget all about ‘em for a while.”

“No! Please! Let me go!” Sarela pleaded, as the crowd started to disperse, already knowing the endgame of this little overt display of bullying. Things like this happened every day in Mos Espa and all over Tatooine and sometimes it was just better to turn your head and accept it than hope for something more. Something better.

Ahsoka closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I can’t let this go.

“You know, I don’t think she wants to go anywhere with you,” she called out, the crowd quickly pulling away like the tide rolling out. “In fact, I think you two should leave the girl alone and go about your business.”

The thugs turned slowly to stare at Ahsoka in a kind of dumb-struck, bug-eyed shock. “What did you say?” the Nikto asked.

“I said, you should leave her alone,” Ahsoka replied, striding out toward the men, her head held high, her gaze calm and level and her hands loose at her side. She could feel Obi-Wan’s fierce pride radiating in the Force and Satine’s relief, weaker but still there. She was glad to know that they were all agreed that there were just some things they couldn’t ignore.

“And who the hell are you?” the Nikto spat, jabbing a finger at Ahsoka’s chest.

Ahsoka canted her head ever so slightly and smiled. “A concerned citizen. Now I suggest you and your friend leave... Sarela? It’s Sarela, right?”

The girl nodded, her eyes round in surprise.

“Good,” Ahsoka’s gaze never left the two thugs. “I suggest you and your friend leave Sarela alone.”

“Are you gonna make us?” the other man sneered, arms folded over his chest. “Sarela’s a real good friend of ours, aren’t ya?”

“I d-don’t want any t-trouble,” the girl stammered, looking frantically from Ahsoka to Gardulla’s men. “P-please! I just… I just want… to go home.”

Ahsoka glanced at Sarela, at the panic taking over her spirit, and her lips pulled into a thin line. “You heard her, gentlemen. Let Sarela go home.”

“Kark you, you headtailed bitch!” The Nikto snarled and lashed out with a fist, no doubt hoping to catch Ahsoka by surprise. The crowd, drawn back by Ahsoka’s actions, let out a gasp.

“What the hell?” The Weequay stammered as Ahsoka stood there, as solid as the rocky bluffs of the wastes, her blue eyes bright with anger and the Nikto’s fist caught neatly in her hand. “No way! There’s no karking way!”

The Nikto let out another curse as Ahsoka used his fist and his arm to unbalance him and fling him to the ground. “My arm! That bitch broke my arm!” he howled in pain.

“You’ll live,” Ahsoka sniffed and looked at the Weequay still standing in front of her.

She could feel Obi-Wan’s spirit shifting through the Force to whisper to Sarela, telling her without words to slip into the crowd and run away back to her family, which she did.

“Do you want to try your luck too, friend?” she asked the Weequay.

Enraged this strange woman was making a mockery of him and his buddy, the Weequay pulled out a knife and lashed out at Ahsoka in a wide arc.

She dodged it easily, hopping backwards as the thug advanced. His eyes were wide as he stared at her, caught somewhere between fury and fear. She could tell that he didn’t really want to be in this fight but he couldn’t let the challenge to him and his friend stand. Not when Ahsoka had humiliated them in public like that.

No one would ever respect them again if word got out about this.

He advanced with wild swings, once, twice, and then a third before Ahsoka blocked his right arm with her left, twisted it over and around, pinning it against her side.

The Weequay cried out in pain and dropped his knife.

With her opponent’s torso exposed, Ahsoka pummeled him with a few hits to the guts before she gave him a proper upper cut and let him fall over backward to lie gasping on the ground as he spat red blood into the dust.

Ahsoka stared down at the thugs, her blue eyes brighter than the sky overhead. “Go back to your boss. And never bother that girl again. Do you understand me?”

Compulsion was laced thick through her words, and the Nikto and the Weequay slowly shambled upright and stumbled back into the crowd, muttering to themselves as the curious onlookers dispersed and normalcy resumed.

Ahsoka let the crowd surge up around and past her, letting it carry Obi-Wan and Satine over to her side. She looked at them and gave them a half smile at Obi-Wan’s approving nod and Satine’s relieved and proud grin.

“That was truly amazing, Master Tano,” Satine said as she followed Ahsoka and Obi-Wan back to the edge of the street and the fringes of the crowd. “Those ruffians will certainly think twice about accosting any more innocent people after that.”

“I just hope Sarela is alright,” Ahsoka said as she slid past a large Ithorian arguing with a Rodian about a speeder part as if the entire encounter hadn’t even happened.

Every one had short memories on Tatooine.

“And I think it would be a good idea if we could find a place to stay for the night. Especially after what just happened. I don’t want those idiots to come back looking for us with more friends and even more weapons.”

“But where can we stay?” Obi-Wan asked, following his master and keeping Satine close to his side. “We haven’t enough credits for an inn and we don’t have a ship anymore.”

Ahsoka let out a sigh and came to a stop between two shops, one selling off-world fruits and vegetables and the other selling a variety of alcohol from all around the Outer Rim. She pulled Obi-Wan and Satine close as they started to discuss what they were going to do about lodgings.

“I’m sure there’s some place we can stay,” Ahsoka assured her padawan and the Duchess. “Mos Espa is big enough to have a place that we can afford somewhere and then tomorrow we can see about earning some credits to get us off this planet.”

“Perhaps we could try one of the inns near the spaceport?” Satine suggested. “I thought one of them said the nightly rent was ten credits for a room. I would be happy to sleep on the floor if it would save us money.”

“You don’t want to do that,” an accented, feminine voice interrupted their conversation, carried on the faintest breeze. “That’s where the night flowers work.”

Ahsoka looked back over her shoulder at the owner of the voice, a petite woman with dark hair coiled into a thick braid at the base of her neck. She was inside the produce stall, picking out some brightly colored sunset fruits from Corellia and setting them into a basket that was covered with a bright green cloth.

Reaching out to the Force on instinct, Ahsoka found it was silent but warm and reassuring to her senses. “Thank you, my friend. If you don’t mind me asking, is there a place you would recommend we stay?”

“What’s a night flower?” Satine asked Obi-Wan, who leaned over and whispered the explanation in her ear. She let out a gasp and turned bright red, slapping a hand over her mouth.

The woman smiled at the fruit in her hand and looked up at Ahsoka, her expression exhausted but her dark eyes kind. “Not if you’re considering the Night Flower Garden. Do you have no money?”

Ahsoka shook her head. “No. We… we didn’t plan on coming to Tatooine.”

The woman nodded, a sad smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Most people don’t. What is your name?”

“Ahsoka. This is Obi-Wan and her name is Satine.”

Obi-Wan bowed and Satine gave a little curtsey as they chorused, “Hello.”

“Are they… your children?” the woman asked, her brows puzzled as she put the last of her shopping in the basket. She pulled a tan scarf up over her head and tossed the loose edge over her shoulder, the warmth in the Force leaving with her as she moved away.

“I protect them,” Ahsoka explained, watching the other woman as she walked up to the shop keeper and pulled back the cloth that was covering the food, handing over a few credits after he gave her the total.

“Give Gardulla my best,” the merchant said as the woman stepped out onto the street and gave Ahsoka a long look before beckoning her to follow.

They moved down the street, the woman a few feet ahead of them, weaving in and out of the crowd, gliding past clutches of people. She came to the end of the busier section of the main road and waited for Ahsoka, Obi-Wan and Satine to catch up.

“I saw what you did for Sarela,” the woman said, holding a hand up by her mouth, her words soft. “I saw you stand up to Gardulla’s thugs. I haven’t seen anyone stand up to my master’s men in a long time.”

“Your master?” Satine echoed, her eyes growing wide with a dawning realization. “Oh no!”

The woman glanced at Satine but did not reply as she moved ahead, looking Ahsoka up and down. “You are right. You will need to stay out of sight. You are very distinctive, even for a mercenary.”

“My master’s not a mercenary,” Obi-Wan tried to explain, reaching for his lightsabers when Ahsoka stopped him.

Mercenary works for now, Obi-Wan. Let’s not blow our cover just yet.

“Well, whatever she is, she needs to hide and you do too,” the woman explained, giving Obi-Wan and Satine a look as she folded her arms over her chest. “Your accents make you exotic here and exotic things do not stay free for long on Tatooine. You may stay with me and my son. It is the least I can do after what you did for Sarela.”

“We couldn’t,” Ahsoka said, sensing the anxiety and tension coming off of the woman in heavy, swamping waves. What she was offering was clearly going to put her and her son at risk and Ahsoka didn’t want to put anymore lives in danger than she absolutely had to. “I’m sure we’ll find some other place to stay.”

“You won’t,” the woman insisted, shaking her head. “We don’t get many Togruta off-worlders, let alone females capable of taking down two of Gardulla’s men. Word will get around fast. You’ll be safer in the slave quarters.”

“The slave quarters?” Ahsoka echoed, the Force louder now in the back of her mind, urging her to follow the woman, to accept her offer. “You’re a slave?”

“Yes,” the woman explained and stepped out into the sunlight. “Gardulla is my master. My name is Shmi.”

Shmi. Her name is Shmi and she has a son.

“My mother’s name was Shmi,” Anakin said one night of a long forgotten siege as they had stared up at the stars overhead. “And I know she would have liked you, Snips.”

Ahsoka froze, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest as Obi-Wan and Satine almost ran into her.

Her mind went blank.

She struggled for something to say, what to think about this sudden revelation that Anakin’s mother was there, right in front of her. That their long, hard flight from Mandalore had taken them to right where they needed to be.

“Master?” Obi-Wan murmured, reaching out to touch the back of Ahsoka’s arm, his spirit brushing hers, warm and golden with concern. “Are you alright?”

Shmi came to a stop in the middle of the road and looked back at them, confused. “Ahsoka? Are you coming?”

You coming or not, Snips? A warm memory of a voice thought long lost broke through the stunned white noise of Ahsoka’s mind, bringing with it a wave of joy, relief, and the sudden terrified realization that she was about to change the future irrevocably.

There was no going back.

Everything was going to change and it was going to be her responsibility to see that it was for the better.

Why are you here, if not to change things? The Presence whispered in the back of Ahsoka’s mind. Don’t be afraid. You won’t be alone. Obi-Wan is with you. This is as much his destiny as it is yours.

Ahsoka looked down at Obi-Wan, his furrowed brows and his worry radiating out into the Force, that was swirling around them both like a river about to burst over its banks. He had no idea what was about to happen, who they were about to meet, and how his life was going to change. Ahsoka wanted to pull him into a hug right then and there and shout, “It’s him! We found him! Your padawan and my master. We found Anakin! And we’ll save him this time. We won’t lose him.”

And then it felt like a knife in her heart that she couldn’t tell him, that she couldn’t share just how important and momentous this was.

“Master Tano?” Satine murmured, stepping up next to Obi-Wan. “Mother Skywalker is telling us to follow her.”

Ahsoka shook herself out of her thoughts and looked up at Shmi, whose dark eyes were narrowed in suspicion. “I’m sorry. I think the sun is getting to me.”

Shmi shook her head and continued on. “Then we need to get you inside. Come on.”

Shmi told Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and Satine to wait in an alleyway around the corner from Gardulla’s palace on the edge of Mos Espa. She had to drop off the shopping she had done for the Hutt’s kitchen before she went home for the day.

“You don’t stay in the palace?” Satine asked, puzzled because while her family’s servants and retainers stayed within the Kryze compound, she couldn’t imagine a Hutt allowing their slaves to wander free.

Shmi shook her head with the studied patience of one who had explained this many times before. “No. I have a tracker chip embedded within me so I couldn’t run away even if I stole a ship. The minute I try to leave the atmosphere, the chip detonates, opening an artery or injecting a poison. I don’t know which. The ones who are poisoned, they call them ‘dancers’ because of the seizures the poison causes.”

Satine let out a horrified gasp. “That’s barbaric.”

“That is how it is out here,” Shmi explained, her eyes soft as she reached out to squeeze the young girl’s shoulder. “There is no slavery on your world, is there? This must be hard for you to hear.”

Satine shook her head fiercely. “There should not be slavery anywhere.”

Shmi chuckled softly. “You will get no argument out of me on that topic. Stay here while I take this to the cook. I should be back shortly.”

Ahsoka, Obi-Wan and Satine watched her go, waiting for her to pass out of sight before speaking again, voices quiet and hushed.

“We have to save her,” Satine insisted, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright. “This is wrong! Putting an explosive chip in someone and violating their civil liberties! It’s abhorrent.”

“But we haven’t any credits,” Obi-Wan said, his arms folded over his chest and one hand in front of his mouth as he chewed on his thumbnail. “And we still need to find a way off this planet and back to Coruscant.”

“Perhaps we could barter for something,” Satine suggested as Ahsoka leaned back up against the wall and stared off into the distance, her mind whirling with thoughts and possibilities, different futures unspooling before her like bolts of fabric flung out into a river to wash downstream with the current. “Do we have anything we could sell?”

“Nothing that will free Shmi and get all four of us back to Coruscant,” Obi-Wan said, peering at the bag he had been carrying all day. “It’s mostly Master’s datapads and a few emergency rations and a medkit. Nothing that will fetch us any decent money.”

Satine groaned, rubbing her temples. “If only I could contact my uncle. If he’s found the informant, we could have the money wired here and leave in two days’ time.”

“That is a lovely thought, Satine, but we can’t risk it,” Obi-Wan said, his voice kind but brooking no argument. “I’m sure we’ll think of something. Don’t you agree, Master?”

Obi-Wan’s words startled Ahsoka out of her meditations and she turned to look at the two teenagers next to her. “I’m sorry. I was lost in thought. And there’s five of us. Shmi has a son, remember?”

“Oh, right,” Obi-Wan nodded. “I forgot about him. How old is he?”

“I’m not sure,” Ahsoka shrugged as the Force alerted her to Shmi’s return. “Here she comes!”

Shmi came around the corner and walked down the alleyway to them, pulling her scarf up over her hair. “I hope I didn’t make you wait too long. The taskmaster didn’t want to let me leave early.”

“Did we get you in trouble?” Ahsoka asked as they fell in line behind Shmi, who led them across another wide road before heading into a alleyway between two older buildings.

“No, no!” Shmi said, waving her concerns off. “He understands that I have a young son at home and sometimes he needs me. It’s part of the reason I stay in the slave quarters and not in Gardulla’s palace. They can’t stand to hear him cry.”

“Oh. How old is he?”

“Almost two in a few months,” Shmi answered with a happy smile. “He is my whole world. He has been the best thing to happen to me since I entered into this life.”

As they spoke they crossed over a smaller street and into a part of Mos Espa that had seen better days. The mud brick buildings were built one on top of the other, like a warren or a beehive.

The doors to the different homes were open to allow in the breeze and groups of children ran around, laughing and calling out to each other as they played a complicated game of tag. A quartet of women were sitting in the long shadow of a row of houses, gathered around a battered and dusty table. They were shelling beans as they talked and watched the the neighborhood children.

The youngest of the group, clearly pregnant, was the one who saw them first. “Shmi! You’re back early! Is something wrong? Who are these people?”

“These are my friends, Abarrane,” Shmi answered, gesturing to Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and Satine. “They protected Sarela from Trazz and Drez.”

“I heard about that!” one of the older woman gasped, peering up at Ahsoka with watery eyes the color of old jade. “Of course, I heard it was a Twi’lek! Thought it was maybe Nalea. Thought she’d finally had enough of those brutes bothering her girlfriend. Well, good job, young one. It couldn’t have happened to a rougher pair of bullies.”

“Thank you,” Ahsoka said, bowing her head. “I just wanted to help.”

“Not enough people in the galaxy like you,” the old woman observed before she caught sight of one of the children up to something dangerous. “Oi! Greedo! Get down from there! You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“How is he?” Shmi asked Abarrane, trading a loaf of bread and some dried figs from the shop for her own bowl of shucked legumes and a package wrapped in waxed flimsi. “Did he give you any trouble?”

“Of course not,” Abarrane replied with a wide smile. “He was an angel. He’s been napping for about an hour.”

“Oh good,” Shmi sighed, and her relief flooded through the Force.

Ahsoka thought it was strange that someone who did not possess Force sensitivity could have such a direct effect on the Force around her. But whatever that meant, she would have to think about it later, she decided as Shmi invited them into her home. “Please come in. It’s a little small but we can make it work.”

Satine and Obi-Wan entered, followed by Ahsoka, and all three happy to find the temperature dropping once they were out of the sun and protected from the oppressive heat by the stone walls around them.

Shmi came in last and closed the door, activating a small circulation system as she directed her guests into the main living area. “Please, make yourselves comfortable. I’m just going to check up on my son.”

Satine took a seat on a plasticrete chair while Obi-Wan sat down on a wooden bench. He offered it to his master but Ahsoka shook her head. “No. I’m fine. I’d rather stand.”

“I’m surprised at how cool it is,” Satine murmured her eyes taking in the details of construction and the small little decorations Shmi had added, from a colorful, if faded, wall hanging made of knotwork and beading to a thin but well-maintained blanket which was folded carefully over the one upholstered chair in the room that all three had left empty for their host.

“Mud-brick buildings are used in hot and arid climates because the bricks serve as insulation,” Obi-Wan explained to Satine. “It keeps the homes cool in the day and warm at night. The desert can be deadly cold at times.”

“I am aware of what a desert can be like,” Satine replied with a wry grin. “I do come from one, you know.”

Obi-Wan turned red. “I’m sorry! I didn’t meant to imply… Of course you would be well aware of the dangers of such an environment!”

Satine let out a giggle and shook her head as Ahsoka smiled. “I was teasing, Obi-Wan.”

“Ah, well, yes,” Obi-Wan blushed even more and looked away before he searched for a topic to hide his embarrassment. “Did we ever catch Shmi’s son’s name?”

“It’s Anakin,” Shmi said, standing in the hallway that opened onto the room where her guests were sitting, her son tucked up against her side. The little boy let out a soft yawn and tried to bury his face in his mother’s shoulder, clearly wanting to go back to his nap. Shmi shifted him around and gently kissed his forehead, whispering to him that they had guests.

It’s him. It has to be him, Ahsoka thought in amazement. After all this time.

“These are friends, Ani,” Shmi whispered to her son, rubbing her hand down his back as he slowly woke up and took in the people around him. “This is… Satine, right?”

“Yes,” Satine nodded, wiggling her fingers in greeting. “Hello, Anakin!”

The small boy blinked at her, his little face wrinkled with confusion before his mother turned toward Ahsoka, who stepped away from the wall to walk over to Shmi and Anakin and smile down at the young boy. “This is Ahsoka and she is a Togruta. Can you say ‘Togruta’, Ani?”

Anakin could not say Togruta but he did let out a delighted giggle as he reached for one of Ahsoka’s lekku, his chubby fist grasping in the air. His face lit up, as did the Force around him, filling the room with such a pure, radiant happiness it almost made Ahsoka cry for joy.

Ahsoka gently stroked Anakin’s cheek as Shmi told him it was very rude to pull on someone’s lekku. “Hello, Little One.”

Hello, Skyguy. I found you.

And finally, Shmi introduced the last guest. “This young man is Obi-Wan. Say ‘hello’ to Obi-Wan, Ani!”

Obi-Wan gave Anakin a wide grin and bowed his head, meeting the boy’s gaze with his own. “Hello, Anakin. It’s a pleasure to meet… you,” he said, trailing off in wonder and awe at the boy’s brilliant presence in the Force.

Anakin just smiled and shyly mumbled, “Hello.”

[fireflyfish]

I gotta tell you, I got the giggles when I read the latest installment of Tano and Kenobi and Qui Gon was all "I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU, OBI WAN' like dude, you need to release your anxieties into the Force. They may be clouding your thinking.

Qui-Gon has a very bad case of misplaced Main Character Aura. He’s convinced that he’s got a Special Connection to the Living Force (good grief I hate that phrase now) and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are just not bowing to what the Force is CLEARLY instructing them to do!

Of course, what the Force was trying to do was to tell Qui-Gon to back off and that it had everything under control but Qui-Gon has to be Qui-Gon and now he’s skulking around the story being annoying and obsessive. 

Fortunately, I think Mace Windu is going to keep Qui-Gon pretty busy for the foreseeable future. He can’t really afford to have one of his best diplomats brooding around the Temple because the padawan he brutally humiliated and rejected in front of the Force and half the Order decided to accept an apprenticeship with another knight. That’s not cool, Jinn. 

So Qui-Gon will be busy and keep his nose out of Obi-Wan and Ahsoka’s business for the time being.

Assuming they can get off Tatooine. XD

[fireflyfish]

Please please please tell me that this fic wont end with Ahsoka dying to trigger the events of Phantom menace T_T Cause if it does i will have to hunt you down myself

Well that doesn’t sound like a lot of fun! DX I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be very good at the fandom equivalent of “The Most Dangerous Game” but @writegowrite is quite good at sniper video games so maybe if I write some more General Ghost stuff for her, she’ll protect me from your wrath.

But since I’m not a fan of dying or being hunted down, allow me to share this with you.

Ahsoka’s fought Maul to a standstill during the Battle for Mandalore when she was 17-18. 

Space Daughter has got this. 

[fireflyfish]

Tano and Kenobi: A New Assignment

Previously on Tano and Kenobi...

After a tense duel between Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano for the right to train Senior Initiate Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano emerges victorious. After their apprenticeship is approved by the Jedi Council, the two take part in the ancient Jedi ceremony that binds a Master and a Padawan Learner together in the guiding light of the Force.

We rejoin our heroes, two years into their partnership, Obi-Wan determined to become the best Padawan Learner in the Order and Ahsoka determined to prevent the cruel future that threatens to destroy the galaxy once more...

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“When you are ready, please begin, Padawan Kenobi.”

The Northern Solar training room was filled with the brilliant light of midday sun filtered through the high, arched stained glass windows that looked out onto Coruscant and the speeder bay three levels below. A group of padawans, none older than fifteen standard years, were assembled in the far left corner of the room, milling about as they each waited their turn to tackle the complicated obstacle course set up by Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. Three padawans had already made their way through the course with decent times and only a few falls and one face plant but that had been because Quinlan Vos had been showing off again.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padawan Learner to temporally displaced Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano, was next in line and he had every intention of blasting through the obstacle course with a perfect score and the fastest time of the day. He shot a glance over at his master, who was sitting on the benches that lined the side of the room, her legs crossed and her posture relaxed and confident. She gave him a bright smile and two thumbs up as pride and faith flowed across their training bond.

You’ve got this, Obi-Wan. I know you do.

Obi-Wan took a deep, full-body breath, practically levitating up onto his toes with excitement and nerves. He exhaled and relaxed down into a starter’s crouch, waiting for the Force to sing.

Ki-Adi-Mundi watched the boy with an arched brow but said nothing, trusting Kenobi to know when the time was right.

The Force swirled and let out a note of cheerful harmony and Obi-Wan was off like a shot, his gait smooth and even as he sprinted up an incline and into the obstacle course, adrenaline flowing through him as he vaulted both legs over a low obstacle and moved on to a complicated piece of machinery that was supposed to swing him over a chasm that could have played host to a river, a congested skyway or vein of red hot lava on a volcanic planet somewhere.

Ahsoka watched Obi-Wan breeze through the first two obstacles, cheering him on from the sidelines. There were a few other masters there, observing their own padawans and gossiping about the latest rumors floating around the temple. Apparently Qui-Gon Jinn had managed to improvise his way to a diplomatic solution on a Mid-Rim planet that had been plagued by infighting between powerful dynastic houses. He would be heading back to the Temple after he officiated a few royal weddings and was made a minor deity in the local state religion.

Ahsoka shook her head, her lips quirked. It seemed the Old Glacier was up to his usual antics and she was glad Obi-Wan hadn't been forced to tag along, especially given his tendencies to rush blindly ahead into danger in his drive to help others and bring peace to the Galaxy. Knowing Obi-Wan, he would have gotten himself betrothed on accident and Qui-Gon would have made things even worse trying to extricate the boy from the unwanted union.

The combination of Jinn and Kenobi might have worked before but Ahsoka was confident that she and Obi-Wan were a much better team this time around. Obi-Wan was already more confident and less critical than when she met him and nearly two years into their pairing as Jedi Master and Padawan Learner their time together had brought a new kind of stability to them both.  Ahsoka’s nightmares of Vader, the Empire, and her lost friends were fewer and farther between and Obi-Wan’s outbursts of righteous anger and destructive self-criticism were slowly coming under control. No one in the Temple could really say they were the model of a perfect master-padawan pair but they were a fiercely devoted team working together to become better than what they were.

To be ready for the darkness when it rose up and threatened the peace of the galaxy yet again.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan had been training on this particular obstacle course for two weeks now. His padawan class was starting to move into Force-assisted movement within a larger tactical engagement and while that came easily to Ahsoka, she had learned everything under the life and death knife-edge of the battlefield. Learning in a classroom was safer but it allowed Obi-Wan’s perfectionist tendencies to come out and he practiced and practiced, obsessing over fine details that Ahsoka felt didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

It was a discussion they had had many times and she smiled ruefully at the thought that it might never really end.

Force knows Master Obi-Wan and Anakin were always arguing about the “right way” to do things. Now I see why.

Now past the floating hoverboards and after a Force-assisted leap up a three-meter sheer wall, Obi-Wan had to cross a dangerously narrow stretch of bridge that had knocked off two other padawans before him. Ahsoka watched him stand at the end of the beam and held her breath, her hands clenched in her lap. They had practiced this particular bridge over and over and no matter what they tried the bridge would always buck or sway, simulating weather or the cruel vagaries of a skirmish. Obi-Wan had fallen off the bridge more times than not and while his success rate had been improving in the last few days, Ahsoka was still worried about him.

“C’mon, Obi-Wan!” Quinlan cheered from the sidelines, holding an ice pack to his face. “Kriff or get off the ‘fresher!”

“Padawan Vos!” Master Mundi sniffed, turning a baleful eye on the boy. “That kind of language will not be tolerated in this Order. I shall have to have a word with your master. Again.”

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and ran toward the beam. He had tried every way of crossing the shivering bridge and found that it was best to scamper across as fast as he could.

Ahsoka watched as Obi-Wan’s momentum seemed to be fast enough to keep him upright, to shake off the wobbling structure. He was nearly halfway there when the bridge started to truly buck under his feet and Obi-Wan seemed to slow down.

No! Keep going! If you slow down now you’ll fall over! Ahsoka grit her teeth, her gut twisting with worry. If Obi-Wan failed to meet whatever self-imposed criteria for his time run-through for today he was going to be despondent at dinner and it was hard to coax Obi-Wan out of a sulk. It was an area she had very little experience in since Master Obi-Wan apparently didn’t have sulking fits or had them somewhere behind closed doors.

Just when things seemed to be heading towards a grumpy evening, Obi-Wan vaulted into a forward flip that carried him forward along the beam, the Force singing as he landed on the other side of the synthetic obstacle. Ahsoka let out a cheer and punched the air, ignoring the looks from the other masters, who were far too composed to holler on the sidelines like they were watching a game of smashball.

Ahsoka didn’t care and she gave them a broad, proud grin. “He worked really hard on that.”

“I can tell,” came a low, filtered voice from behind Ahsoka, who spun around, delighted to see Master Plo Koon standing there. “Hello, Knight Tano. Is this seat taken?”

“Of course not!” Ahsoka moved over, giving the Kel Dor master plenty of room to make himself comfortable as Obi-Wan scampered up a rope wall, his foot getting caught a few times in his haste. “Welcome back! You’re just in time to see Obi-Wan beat his own personal record.”

“How exciting,” Plo Koon replied with a warmth that Ahsoka knew meant the master was smiling behind his rebreather and masked eyes. “He did quite well on the unstable bridge. You must be very proud of him.”

“I am,” Ahsoka nodded, her eyes drifting back to her padawan, swinging himself across a complicated web of ropes and hand holds. “We’ve been working on this course for almost two weeks and I think he’s finally starting to get the hang of it.”

“Ah, yes,” Plo Koon agreed, observing the padawan as Obi-Wan dropped down onto another landing, blowing cool air on his roughed-up palms. “Obi-Wan is persistent in his pursuit of perfection.”

“He thinks he has to live up to Master Skywalker,” Ahsoka confessed, feeling a bit guilty at the long shadow her master cast over her padawan. “I keep telling him that there’s no need but he doesn’t listen to me. But then again, if I were in his shoes, I probably wouldn’t listen to me either.”

Laughing, Plo Koon reached over to squeeze Ahsoka’s shoulder. “He will understand in time, Ahsoka. In the meanwhile, all of that practice will serve him well when he is knighted and on his own.”

Ahsoka gasped as Obi-Wan took a tumble, tripping over his own feet into an ungainly sprawl. “Oh… C’mon, Padawan! Get up!”

Ahsoka and Plo Koon watched the rest of Obi-Wan’s run together, the Jedi master as serene and silent in his support as she was noisy and enthusiastic.

By the time Obi-Wan finished, muscle exhaustion and fatigue had set in and he fell off a relatively simple obstacle, landing with a soft whump into the safety pillows around and under the course. He made his way over to a ladder and climbed up out of the pit and up to the final obstacle, a pole slide that had been added because Ki-Adi-Mundi felt they needed an example of “the small mercies of the Force.”

It was every Padawan’s favorite part.

Obi-Wan landed as the ending chime went off and his time flashed up on the holoscreen. At nine minutes minutes and forty seconds, he had the new fastest score of the day and Obi-Wan turned around, searching the audience for Ahsoka who stood up and waved until he saw her. She held gave him another thumbs up and even Master Plo Koon held up a hand to Obi-Wan, who gave them a happy, red-faced grin.

“He’s done very well today,” Plo Koon observed with a pleased tone. “Please convey my congratulations to Obi-Wan for me. I have a Council meeting soon and I must take my leave of you.”

“Of course,” Ahsoka said, standing up as the Jedi Master did, bowing to him and receiving one in return. “Thank you for stopping by, Master Plo.”

“It is always a pleasure to watch the future come into being,” Plo Koon replied with his usual low, rumbling warmth before he walked off toward the exit.

Letting out a happy sigh, Ahsoka sat back down and glanced over at the knights and masters sitting next to her. One of them, a dark-haired woman from Akitan III named Master Lia, nodded to her. “Congratulations on Padawan Kenobi’s improved time.”

“Thank you,” Ahsoka answered with pride. “I’m sure Padawan Rast will improve his time as well.”

“Yes, I think so too,” Master Lia replied. They both turned their attention back the course and poor Kit Fisto who had gotten his head tails caught up in the climbing rope and had to be untangled by Master Mundi. Ahsoka was thankful her montrals and lekku were too substantial to be caught up in traps like that when she was younger. She felt bad for poor Kit, who was turning a very embarassed shade of purple as he waited for freedom.

“Hang in there, Kit!” Obi-Wan called from the side of the room as he walked over to Ahsoka, chugging water from a glass bottle like a man dying of thirst. He flopped down next to his master, all smiles and radiant pride. “Hello, Master! Did you see? I’ve got the fastest time by ten whole seconds!”

“Impressive,” Ahsoka agreed, rubbing Obi-Wan’s back. “Master Plo sends his congratulations.”

Obi-Wan tried not to puff up, reminding himself that a proper Jedi was humble and did not brag about his accomplishments but it was so hard, especially after all the hard work he had been putting in with his master during his independent study time. And he had beat his time! What harm would come from being excited about that?

Ahsoka leaned over and nudged Obi-Wan with her shoulder and whispered conspiratorially. “Later. I promise. We’ll celebrate at your favorite noodle shop.”

Obi-Wan tried, he really did, but the Force erupted with delight all around him and he couldn’t quite smother his happiness. Ahsoka chuckled softly and rolled her eyes. “You are terrible. Honestly, you are just like Master Skywalker sometimes.”

“Do you really think so?” her padawan asked, delighted by this praise.

Nodding, Ahsoka wrapped an arm around Obi-Wan. “Yes. I really think so. Now my grand master? He had the best sabaac face in the galaxy.”

“Do you know how to play sabaac, Master?” Obi-Wan asked, finishing off his water bottle and cheering on the next padawan up, Padawan Yuen Rast.

Ahsoka shook her head. “No. But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to learn just in case.”

Obi-Wan agreed and then took his leave to fill up his water bottle and rejoin his classmates until the end of class.

“It must be wonderful to have such a tight bond with your padawan at such an early stage,” Master Lia murmured, her brows drawn into a slight frown as Padawan Rast stumbled through an obstacle, still on his way to beating Obi-Wan’s time on the course despite the slip. “Yuen and I are still feeling our way through things. I envy your relationship.”

Ahsoka looked at her hands for a moment, thinking of how she had an advantage on the Jedi at her side, of how she knew what Obi-Wan was capable of because she had seen it with her own two eyes when she was younger. Master Obi-Wan was clear and distinct in her mind’s eye and Ahsoka had faith that they would make it through somehow as long as they both worked together.

“Just give it time,” Ahsoka finally said, glancing up at Lia beside her. “I know you and Rast will find your way together. Me and my master didn’t get along right away either. It took us about six months to really gel as a pair.”

“Based on stories Yuen shares about his classes with Obi-Wan it rather sounds like you two spent most of your time on the field chasing after pirates and ne’er do wells,” Lia smiled as she stood up. “We should have dinner some time. I would love to hear more about your training methods with Obi-Wan and Yuen needs to spend more time with his age mates and less time with his books.”

“That sounds great!” Ahsoka grinned and bowed to Master Lia as she walked over to where her padawan was recovering from his dash through the obstacle course.

After another ten padawans made their way through the course with various stages of success, Master Mundi dismissed the class and Obi-Wan happily loped back over to Ahsoka, his face bright. “I got fourth place, Master! I took off a whole fifteen seconds!”

“I know!” Ahsoka said, pulling Obi-Wan under her arm for a good and proper hug and possibly a noogie. Yes, definitely a noogie. Yelping in protest, Obi-Wan tried and failed to defend his head from his master’s cheerful assault.

“Master, please! I am fifteen years old and far too old for this!”

“What was that? I should do it again?”

“Master!” Obi-Wan melodramatically complained as they walked off down the hallway and back to their rooms.

As promised, dinner was in a charming little cafe that served a variety of noodle dishes from several different Mid-Rim systems. The cafe was in the Senate District on the corner of a level that was high enough it gave the outside tables an excellent view of the Senate Building. Sometimes Ahsoka would come to the cafe by herself and watch the traffic, tapping notes into her datapad as she ate, trying to piece together all the details she could remember of her life before the Clone Wars and the state of the galaxy. She hoped to find that one key piece of information that would unravel the Sith Lord’s plan, the one move that would change the fate of the galaxy and save her family.

“And that’s when Quinlan fell off the bridge and nearly broke his nose,” Obi-Wan finished his story with a snicker and a wolfish grin. Ahsoka was just starting to get used that expression, the way it would flash into being, bright and sharp but somehow still full of boyish charm and innocent enthusiasm. She couldn’t ever remember Master Obi-Wan smiling like that but then again, they had been in the middle of war when she first met him and Anakin. Even Anakin’s honest smiles were few and far between, practically endangered when compared to the confident smirk he usually greeted the world with.

“Was he all right?” Ahsoka asked, arching an eyebrow at the snicker. “I’m assuming he was?”

“Oh, yes, of course!” Obi-Wan assured her, slurping up a mouthful of savory noodles and vegetables. “But he’ll have a nasty bruise. Master Mundi was livid. Actually, I think Master Mundi is always livid.”

Laughing at her padawan’s observation, Ahsoka speared a piece of meat with her fork. “He’s definitely a by-the-book kind of Jedi. I’m pretty sure he’s not our biggest fan on the Council.”

Obi-Wan shrugged, unconcerned with the politicking that went on in the upper echelons of the Order, something Ahsoka found wonderfully refreshing. “If Master Windu likes us then I don’t see what it matters. He does still like us, right? I swear that incident in the Halls of Healing was a mistake! I didn’t mean to flood that room! I thought I was doing as Knight Gallia instructed!”

“Yes, Master Windu still likes us,” Ahsoka chuckled, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “Honestly, you’re harder on yourself than anyone else in the Temple, Obi-Wan. How many times do I have to tell you to cut yourself some slack?”

“I don’t know,” Obi-Wan shrugged. “Didn’t you want to be the best you could possibly be when you were a padawan learner?”

I just wanted to live to see another day most of the time, Ahsoka thought morosely, her gaze drifting to the Senate Building where the Senate was holding a late night session on the taxation of purse colonies. The Trade Federation was arguing against it, along with several other corporate entities while several older systems, who were already paying taxes on their colones, argued in favor of expanding the tax base.

It was all very dry and boring and Ahsoka wouldn’t have paid it much attention if it wasn’t for the fact that a certain S. Palpatine was trying to mediate an agreement between the two sides. Ahsoka narrowed her eyes and frowned at the domed, blue building in the distance.

“Master?” Obi-Wan asked, his voice curious but respectful. “Why don’t you like the Senate? Every time we eat here, there is always a moment when you drift away and your countenance changes.”

Startled out of her brooding, Ahsoka turned back to Obi-Wan, reminding herself once again how perceptive he was. She had known padawan Obi-Wan was smart and observant but she still wasn’t used to him turning that sharp intellect on her on the rare occasion he did.

Ahsoka would have to do a better job of hiding her dark thoughts from her Padawan. For now.

It wasn’t time to tell him the truth.

But the time would come.

Ahsoka was positive of that.

“I don’t trust politicians,” Ahsoka finally confessed, finishing off her meal. “As a group, I mean. An individual politician can be a great person, someone who always tries to do the right thing but… I’ve seen too many fall prey to greed and corruption. It’s… it’s disheartening.”

Obi-Wan nodded, quiet as he processed everything Ahsoka said. She found that endearing, the way he would momentarily withdraw from a conversation to work over everything said and take it all into consideration before moving forward.

Her padawan was so thoughtful and kind. He truly wanted to do what was right, to be the best Jedi he could be. And to realize just how greatly the Clone Wars had warped Master Obi-Wan into the kind of person who would agree to something like the Hardeen deception, to stand by while Ahsoka was ejected from the Order, was heartbreaking.

She had worried about Anakin’s slow descent into the dark while at his side and afterwards but to see just what war and the pressures of winning a losing battle against the dark had done to Obi-Wan Kenobi was somehow worse.

I won’t let that happen. Not this time. We’re going to change all of that, right?

The Force did not answer directly but Obi-Wan’s head came up, a warm, understanding expression on his face. “I understand, Master Ahsoka. Maybe we should look for a different noodle shop?”

Ahsoka shook her head, her eyes soft. “This is your favorite place! Just because I’m setting a poor example for you as a Jedi doesn’t mean we have to find a new place to eat. I’m the adult here, not you. Now finish up your uncha before I decide I’m still hungry.”

With his dinner threatened, Obi-Wan turned his attention away from Ahsoka, who watched him shovel the rest of his dinner into his mouth as politely as he could. There was something charming about her fussy padawan and she was starting to understand why Master Obi-Wan and Anakin had squabbled so often during her time with them. It seemed a certain level of fastidiousness was just second nature to Obi-Wan whereas Anakin had seen that as a waste of time and energy. As long as he had understood the sorting system of his piles of droid parts and tools, what did it matter if it wasn’t arranged in a neat, little line?

Ahsoka fell somewhere in the middle, finding that neatening up her space would help clear out her mind but Obi-Wan’s insistence on a proper way of organizing everything drove her a little crazy every now and then. She now understood it helped him deal with his anxieties and she had to remind herself on more than one occasion that she was the adult in the relationship here and it was important for her to support Obi-Wan in how he chose to cope with his stress.

“Koleyo!” Obi-Wan announced with a wide smile as he pushed his plate back, following the local customs of the shop owners. There was the cheerful traditional reply of thanks in the same language and they stood up, walking up to the service droid to pay for dinner.

“So… Where to next?” Ahsoka asked, feeling particularly guilty and indulgent after being caught mid-brood. “Ice cream?”

Obi-Wan’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

Ahsoka was about to say “yes, really” when her comm link went off in her pocket. She frowned and pulled it out, walking over to a quiet alleyway between the restaurant and the next shop over. Thumbing open the frequency, Ahsoka answered, Obi-Wan watching her. “This is Knight Tano and Padawan Kenobi.”

“Knight Tano, Padawan Kenobi,” Mace Windu’s ghostly blue figure flickered to life above the comm, his stance wide and confident and his arms behind his back. “I hope I’m not interrupting dinner.”

“No,” Ahsoka glanced at Obi-Wan, who was watching the Jedi Master with round eyes. “We just finished. Obi-Wan set a personal record today on the obstacle course.”

Holo Master Windu turned slightly to Padawan Kenobi, his face an expressionless mask before the faintest quirk of an eyebrow signified his approval. “I’m glad to hear it, Padawan Kenobi. We need you two to return to the Temple, immediately.”

“Immediately?” Ahsoka echoed, puzzled. “Has something happened?”

“We will discuss the details of your assignment upon your return,” Master Windu answered, his gaze returning to Ahsoka. “I trust you can make it back to the Temple in a reasonable amount of time?”

“We’ll be there in thirty minutes,” Ahsoka said, glancing at a chronometer Obi-Wan pulled out his pocket unasked, their bond already humming with shared thoughts.

“We’ll be waiting for you in the Council Room,” Mace replied with a nod and the holo flickered out of existence.

“Did he say ‘assignment’?” Obi-Wan asked as he tucked his chrono away into a pouch on his belt. “Is that like a mission? Is this our first mission, Master?”

“It sounds like a mission to me,” Ahsoka grinned, feeling wave after wave of nervous excitement flooding her half of the bond, which she returned with a wave of centered calm. “Can I get a rain check on that ice cream, Padawan?”

“It can be our reward for our first successful mission!” Obi-Wan agreed, practically skipping back to the turbo lift that would lead to the train station that would ferry them back to the Temple. “Where do you think they’re sending us? Will it be dangerous? Do I have time to study before we leave? Is it going to be a diplomatic situation? What if it’s pirates?! Quinlan keeps insisting he’s going to be the first of our age group to defeat a pirate.”

“It probably just a little diplomatic squabble,” Ahsoka assured Obi-Wan as they took the lift down to one of the main arteries of Coruscant traffic only to be whisked away by a train back to the Temple and their very first mission briefing as Master and Padawan Learner.

[fireflyfish]

Tano and Kenobi: Curiosity

Previously on Tano and Kenobi…

Two years into a successful apprenticeship with Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Learner Obi-Wan Kenobi is filled with both excitement and anxiety at promise of his very first mission with his master. But before they jet off to Raxus on the Outer Rim, Obi-Wan needs to do some researching in the Jedi Archives.

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The sun had set by the time Ahsoka and Obi-Wan arrived back at the Jedi Temple, the five spires lit up as a beacon to one and all, the great seat of light and hope in the galaxy.

This was the home of the Jedi.

This was the heart of the Order.

Obi-Wan had exhausted his questions about their upcoming assignment and was trailing after Ahsoka, observing the people on the streets as they passed them. The Temple District was quieter than the Senate District but there was always something to see. Sentients from every corner of the galaxy could be found in the district, from academics and scholars who wanted to do research on the Jedi and their history to those who came seeking a chance to work within the Temple grounds to those who simply saw the Temple as a tourist spot, a place one simply had to see when they got a chance to visit Coruscant.

Security at the Temple during Ahsoka’s childhood had been far more rigorous than it was now. She was still surprised to see the occasional tour group put together by a senatorial friend of the High Council or a wide-eyed clutch of invited sentients following after whatever Jedi Master had been roped into giving the tour this time. Ahsoka had once tagged along with one of these groups during her first year back in the past, following Master Diaz and a crop of new senators from the Mid Rim through the halls as she tried to re-learn where everything was supposed to be.

“Master?” Obi-Wan’s voice broke into Ahsoka’s thoughts as they entered the Temple. “Master? I… may I confess something?”

They had just passed through the massive main entrance of the Temple, moving past the towering bronzium statues that represented great masters from the ancient days of the Order. Ahsoka glanced at Obi-Wan and nodded, gesturing for him to follow her over to a private corner.

Safely tucked away where no one could hear them, Ahsoka turned to her padawan. “What is it, Obi-Wan? Is something wrong?”

“No, well, I don’t think so,” Obi-Wan frowned at the floor as he scratched at the back of his neck, his expression one of deep thought. “It’s… well, you see, Master. I… I am very excited about this new assignment we’ve been given. It’s only… I…”

Ahsoka canted her head to the side, brows raised as she waited for Obi-Wan to work through how he was feeling. She had an inkling of what the boy might confess to but she wanted to give him as much time as he needed to voice his concerns and worries.

Taking a deep breath and nodding, Obi-Wan plunged ahead. “You told me to be honest about my feelings, Master, and… and… I am very nervous, Master. This is our first mission and… and I think I have changed my mind. I don’t want it to be pirates.”

Nodding, her face relaxing into a warm, comforting smile. “You’re a little scared, aren’t you?”

Obi-Wan flushed crimson all the way up to his ears but he agreed. “Yes, Master. A little. Is that bad? We don’t even know what it is yet.”

“No, it’s not bad and you’re right,” Ahsoka said, leaning down to place both hands on his shoulders. “We don’t know what our assignment is. For all we know, it’s some boring bodyguard job for a diplomat. It could be a three-day assignment like that and then we’re back at the Temple.”

Obi-Wan nodded, his gaze still focused on his boots. “I’m sorry, Master. I should trust the Force to guide us.”

Ahsoka sighed and gently pulled Obi-Wan into her arms for a hug. “Don’t apologize for being honest about how you feel. If I don’t know you’re upset, how can I help make it better?”

Obi-Wan leaned into her shoulder, mumbling. “I just… all these thoughts came tumbling into my head of what could go wrong, or all the things I don’t know yet and haven’t studied. I still can’t fully repair a hyperdrive and my Bacchi is terrible and I don’t want to let you down! And what if I do? What if I fail somehow and you get hurt or you die?! Would they send me to the Corps? What if Master Jinn tried to claim me as his padawan learner?”

“Woah! Woah!” Ahsoka interrupted Obi-Wan’s litany of worries and fears, leaning back out of their hug to examine the young boy’s face. “No one is sending you anywhere, Obi-Wan. No one. Okay? You are my padawan and no one is going to separate us.”

Obi-Wan’s blue eyes were round with worry. “Truly, Master?”

“Truly,” Ahsoka reached out to ruffle her padawan’s short, soft fringe of hair. “C’mon. We’re going to be late and we wouldn’t want to be late for our first mission briefing, do we?”

Shaking his head “no”, Obi-Wan stepped back and collected himself, straightening his robes and taking a breath before looking up at Ahsoka. “I think I’m ready now, Master.”

“That’s my padawan,” Ahsoka chuckled and wrapped an arm around him for a quick hug. “Let’s go. We can’t keep Master Windu waiting.”

As it turned out, they were not being sent to investigate pirates, which left Obi-Wan both relieved and disappointed as they stood together in the Council room. Relieved that they weren’t going to be in any real danger, but disappointed that he wouldn’t be the first padawan in his age group to face down a brigand.

And their “mission” wasn’t really a “mission”, if one were technical about it. Knight Tano and Padawan Kenobi had been assigned to accompany Master Plo Koon to facilitate a peaceful resolution between a Core World and one of its colonies that was in rebellion. The negotiations and peace treaty were going to be held on Raxus and Obi-Wan couldn’t help but notice his master flinch at the mention of the planet. He wondered if that meant Ahsoka and Master Skywalker had traveled to the planet when she was a padawan, and hoped if that were the case this new assignment wouldn’t bring back painful memories for her.

There were times, when his master thought he wasn’t paying attention, that Ahsoka would go silent and somber, her eyes lost out a window as she wrapped her arms around herself. When those moods would strike her, Obi-Wan would wait patiently, too shy and respectful of his master’s history to directly intervene until they passed.

Even so, he would make sure to move around their shared living space louder to make sure he wouldn’t startle her, and often prepared Ahsoka’s favorite tea while he waited for her to come back.

His master’s dark moods never lasted for very long but they were always mournful. There was something about whatever those memories contained that tore at his master and Obi-Wan wanted nothing more than to prevent another episode from ever happening again if he could.

He knew he couldn’t but that didn’t stop him from trying, from working harder and trying to live up to his mental image of Master Skywalker, his eternally bright, strong and charismatic grandmaster who had been taken from Ahsoka far too soon.

“So our mandate is to learn and observe?” Ahsoka asked the Council for clarification, glancing at Obi-Wan, who nodded in agreement.

“Yes,” Master Windu answered, gesturing to Obi-Wan. “Padawan Kenobi is still a bit young to be involved in more... aggressive missions and, as we have discussed in the past, there are still some on the Council who have concerns about your skills as peacemaker, Knight Tano.”

Obi-Wan wanted to bristle at the perceived insult to his master, but Ahsoka sent a soothing wave through the Force that told him he shouldn’t be angry and Obi-Wan bowed his head. How the Council could not see how amazing Master Ahsoka was continued to baffle him but if she was not angry then it would be wrong for him to be angry as well and he focused on acknowledging his anger and letting it float away like smoke caught in a breeze. He found the visualization helpful when dealing with his stronger emotions.

“I understand,” Ahsoka told the assembled masters, her voice clear and professional. “Padawan Kenobi and I look forward to working with Master Plo Koon and I’m sure we will learn a great deal on our assignment.”

“Our ship will not leave for Raxus until tomorrow afternoon,” Plo Koon rumbled as he rose from his seat in the circle of the Council members. “That should give us plenty of time to prepare for our trip.”

“Is there anything in particular you would like us to do before hand?” Ahsoka asked as she accepted a datapad with the mission briefing and dossier. She briefly scanned it before handing it to Obi-Wan, who accepted it as if being handed a priceless holocron. He held it tight to his chest and straightened up, pulling his shoulders back and trying to be every inch the part of a mature and capable padawan learner.

“If Padawan Kenobi could do some research on history of Acronae and her colony of Acromino before we leave, I would appreciate the extra information,” Master Plo requested, gazing down at the padawan who had stayed silent through the entire meeting, watching everything with round eyes. “Master Nu speaks highly of his abilities as a researcher.”

Obi-Wan felt proud to have received a compliment in front of the Council but he kept the rest of his happiness behind his shields, laminating another layer of protection between his mind and the overwhelming light of the Council.

“I’m sure Obi-Wan would be happy to take on that task,” Ahsoka said, reaching out to pat her padawan on the back. “You think you can manage that, Padawan Kenobi?”

Grinning up at his master, Obi-Wan decided he was never going to tire of hearing Padawan Kenobi said aloud. “Yes, Masters. I am looking forward to it.”

“If there’s nothing else?” Master Windu stood up. “You are dismissed. Good luck and may the Force be with you.”

“And with you, as well,” Ahsoka and Obi-Wan replied in unison, bowing at the same time. Master Plo Koon bowed to the assembled Council members and left with the pair.

Once they were outside of the Council room and walking to the lift, Ahsoka let out a breath, shaking her head ruefully. “One day I’ll get used to being in the Council Room without my master.”

Obi-Wan frowned and moved a little closer to his master, hoping to comfort her with his nearness. Ahsoka noticed this and reached down to squeeze his shoulder in silent thanks.

“It is not something that happens overnight,” Master Plo replied with affection in his modulated voice. “I must confess, there are days when I long to be a Padawan again, to have someone else take on the responsibilities of my day.”

“Glad to hear I’m in good company then,” Ahsoka laughed. “How are the peace proceedings going on Raxus?”

“As well as can be expected,” Master Plo sighed. “Acromino has a wealth of natural resources that her parent system is loathe to lose free access to but public opinion has turned against the ruling majority and with the Senate threatening action against them, Acronae has been forced to acquiesce to peace talks.”

“You don’t sound very hopeful,” Ahsoka observed, meeting Obi-Wan’s eye and arching her brows in surprise. “Does the Senate suspect peace talks will break down and that’s why they’re sending us?”

“I would not be surprised if that was the case,” Plo Koon replied as the lift chimed open and he stepped out, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan following him. “Our ship will leave at 1500 hours but I would like to meet beforehand to make sure you are adequately prepared for our mission. Padawan Kenobi?”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes, Master?”

“I have notified Master Nu to give you access to the full Archive should you discover something of worth during your researching,” Plo Koon explained. “I look forward to your analysis of the situation, Padawan.”

“Thank you, Master!” Obi-Wan answered, positively glowing with pride. “I shall do my best.”

“We won’t let you down,” Ahsoka promised, bowing to the Kel Dor master as he bid them good night.

Once they were alone, Ahsoka turned to her padawan. “So… still nervous?”

Chewing on his thumb nail, Obi-Wan glanced up at his master. “Not as much but I’m still glad it’s not pirates.”

Ahsoka laughed. “You know what? I am too.”

Sleep was elusive that night and Ahsoka found herself sitting on the meditation cushions that faced their window overlooking the jeweled nightscape of Coruscant. She had tried meditating but found mental stillness elusive so she took out her datapad and began to write as she always did when the ghosts in her heart were too loud to ignore.

About six months after her arrival, and three datapads full of notes, Ahsoka realized she was going to need a central database to keep track of everything and quietly requisitioned one from the central archives. Master Jocasta Nu had eventually agreed to the request and once the space within the Archive system was created for her, Ahsoka set about tagging and cross referencing her notes.

She opened the entry for her first mission with her master, during the early part of the Clone Wars, when she had flown across the galaxy to take her place at Anakin Skywalker’s side. Like Obi-Wan, she had been both scared and excited, unsure of what to expect from the Chosen One. There had been rumors about him flying around the Temple since Ahsoka was a youngling but she never paid much attention to them. Anakin had been little more than a myth to her younger mind, the former slave who became a padawan learner to the Sith Slayer.

Ahsoka wondered what her padawan would think of that.

He would probably die of embarrassment and those cute ears of his would turn so red!

A soft chuckle escaped her and Ahsoka scrolled down to the passage where she had written out her thoughts.

I remember being so nervous, afraid of making a mistake and getting someone killed. Not myself, because I still didn’t believe I could die, but someone else. Like one of the clones or maybe the enlisted pilots who were flying me down to the surface. Christophis was so pretty from orbit and as we flew in closer, it wasn’t until I could make out the tanks that I noticed the destruction everywhere.

Anakin was so confused. I still don’t know if Master Obi-Wan requested me for Anakin or if it was an honest mix-up on the Temple’s part. Knowing what I know now, I would lay odds on it being Master Yoda’s doing, attempting to help Anakin learn how to let go of his attachments.

I don’t think I helped much in that regard.

Ahsoka’s fingers trailed over the text there, noting Asajj Ventress’s unexpected arrival and the betrayal of a trooper named Slick. By going through her memories she was able to get a general idea of the movements of Ventress and Count Dooku through the war. In hindsight, laid out like a historical tome, it was clear that the Separatists were getting some kind of inside information on the Republic’s movements. There were simply too many engagements that should have gone the their way if not for the chance intervention of Dooku or Grievous or someone else who was supposed to be on the other side of the galaxy.

Shaking her head, Ahsoka wondered how they didn’t catch it beforehand.

We were just run so ragged. There were never enough Jedi, never enough time to stop and think about what we were doing. I still remember when Master overdosed on stims and me, Rex and Jesse had to pin him to the ground so that Kix could sedate him.

And this was what she was training Obi-Wan for? Taking an innocent child and teaching him the arts of war and combat so that another innocent child wouldn’t suffer? Who was she to decide who had to carry the heavier burden in the future?

How could the Temple have asked that of her?

How could she ask that of Obi-Wan?

“Master?”

Startled, Ahsoka looked up from her dark thoughts, not at all surprised to see Obi-Wan holding a cup of tea out to her. She tried to smile and took it from him, setting her datapad aside. “Was I thinking too loud again?”

Obi-Wan shrugged, sitting down on the cushion next to her, his hands wrapped around his own mug of tea. “What happened on Christophis?”

Ahsoka grimaced, chastising herself for not keeping her thoughts behind a better shield. “That was where I had my first mission with my master. It’s where we met actually.”

Brows furrowed, Obi-Wan nodded as he took a sip of tea. “Not here at the Temple?”

“No, I… I was assigned to Master Skywalker,” Ahsoka said, watching the steam drift up from her mug. “There was a situation on Christophis and I was sent out afterwards. We thought everything was taken care of but it turned out it wasn’t. But I saved Master Skywalker’s life and he seemed to like me.”

“You’re reckless, little one,” Anakin sighed, gazing at the ground in front of him. “You never would have made it as Obi-Wan’s padawan. But you might make it as mine.”

Tears stung at her eyes and Ahsoka took a long drink of tea to hide them from her padawan.

I miss you so much, Master.

Obi-Wan was quiet while his master grieved, her pain and anguish clear to him in the Force. This dark mood seemed to be particularly bad and he weighed his options before setting his mug down on the ground. He shuffled over to Ahsoka’s cushion and carefully perched himself on the edge, reaching out with his wiry arms to pull his master in for a hug, hoping he wasn’t overstepping his bounds as a padawan learner.

Ahsoka let out a watery sigh and let her padawan comfort her, let the young boy she had chosen to shepherd to manhood support her in this moment of memory and loss. She wrapped her arms around Obi-Wan and murmured softly, “Thank you, Obi-Wan.”

Obi-Wan turned his head so that his cheek rested on Ahsoka’s shoulder. He wanted to tell her that he was strong and he could help her through anything, that it was his job to take care of his master as she took care of him. He wanted to tell her that he missed Master Skywalker too, even though he had never met him. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to say that but it felt true, deep in his bones. He missed Master Skywalker and wished he was there for Ahsoka.

But all of that seemed terribly forward of him, so Obi-Wan answered honestly enough, “It always makes me feel better when you hug me so I thought I might return the favor, Master?”

A weak chuckle floated up from their hug and Obi-Wan nodded to himself, deciding that he had not in fact overstepped his bounds and that his master appreciated the gesture. Ahsoka squeezed her padawan closer, “You know what, Obi-Wan? There are days when I wonder how such a young kid can be so wise already.”

Pursing his lips in thought, Obi-Wan replied. “I think it’s because I read a lot of books, Master. And I listen to you. Quinlan Vos has a hard time sitting still long enough to hear the full assignment in class and that’s why his marks are so low.”

“Is that so?” Ahsoka sat back up, rubbing away the tears she hadn’t been able to stop. “Is that why he’s always stopping by, to see your notes from class?”

Obi-Wan shook his head, a sheepish grin on his face. “No. He just wants to come visit. You’ve quite the reputation in my class.”

Ahsoka arched her brows at that. “What are you telling them about me, Obi-Wan?”

“Only the truth, Master,” Obi-Wan replied, looking slightly offended. “That you are a former Shadow, raised entirely outside of the Order and that you and Master Skywalker roamed the Outer Rim doing good and… ehm… breaking up organized crime rings. I might have also told them you fought some pirates as well.”

“Obi-Wan Kenobi!” Ahsoka’s jaw dropped. “You make us sound like holo stars!”

“Well… your stories sound like they come from holovids!” the padawan harrumphed, folding his arms over his chest. “You cannot accuse me of exaggerating when you, yourself, told me last week that Master Skywalker once bargained with a Hutt for your freedom!”

I knew I shouldn’t have told him about that. Ahsoka let out a long sigh and shook her head, amusement on her face. “You have a point, my young Padawan. Although maybe you should be a little more discreet when talking about my… adventures with Master Skywalker. Some of that stuff is still… top secret.”

Yeah. That should work for now, she thought with a bit of guilt.

Obi-Wan nodded, retreating back to his cushion. “Yes, of course, Master. I simply… I forget that not everyone’s master was as deeply embedded in the criminal underworld as you were. It’s hard when the other padawans are bragging about everything their masters did before taking them on.”

“Oh, trust me!” Ahsoka laughed, standing up and holding out a hand to help Obi-Wan up. “I remember that from when I was a padawan, I mean, an initiate. The only people who gossip more than students are their masters.”

“Really?” Obi-Wan yawned, a sudden wave of exhaustion washing through the bond. “What about?”

“Oh things like whose padawan is doing better in what class,” Ahsoka explained, covering her mouth as her own yawn rose up from the pit of her stomach. “Which team has what assignment and other boring things like that.”

As another wave racked Obi-Wan small frame, he stretched his arms up and up, blinking a few times to focus on Ahsoka. “Sounds terribly boring, Master. Do you mind if I go to bed now? I am very tired all of a sudden.”

“Nope,” Ahsoka replied, reaching over to ruffled Obi-Wan’s hair and giggling at his weak protest. “Good night, Padawan.”

“Good night, Master.”

Obi-Wan was already gone from the suite by the time Ahsoka woke up, a note tapped into his datapad left on the breakfast table.

I have ordered breakfast, Master. It should arrive at 0730 and I made sure it included your favorites. I will eat in the dining hall before I go to the Archives. I should be back at 1000 hours.

Obi-Wan

Smiling, Ahsoka put the datapad back in Obi-Wan’s room, on top of the little stack pushed up against the corner his desk was tucked into. She was not at all surprised to see a go bag half packed and sitting on the foot of his bed as well as his favorite pair of tactical boots resting on the floor. It was clear her padawan was trying to prepare for anything that could possibly happen if the little field kit poking out from the opening of the bag was anything to go by.

“No wonder you were so successful in battle, Master Obi-Wan,” Ahsoka murmured as a chime at the door alerted her to the arrival of breakfast, right on time as her padawan had promised.

Obi-Wan quietly chewed on a meal bar as he scoured the Archives for information on Acronae and Acromino and the rebellion that had been going on for the past few years. The relationship between the two seemed not unlike a family dispute, with the Acronae leaving its daughter colony to manage its own affairs until they started unduly increasing the taxes on the population of the colony. The details of internecine squabble might have seemed boring to Quinlan but it fascinated Obi-Wan that it took so little to destroy what had been such a close and effective partnership.

“How did it come to this?” Obi-Wan mumbled around his mouthful, adding the document to his traveling datapad. “Why couldn’t they just sit down and talk out their troubles?”

“Compromise is difficult, Padawan Kenobi.”

The familiar voice of Qui-Gon Jinn startled Obi-Wan out of his rumination and he nearly choked on his breakfast as he jumped in his chair. Gazing up from his seat, he could see the Jedi Master smiling at him from the other side of the long row of desks, his hands resting on his hips. “That is why the Jedi Order is so important. We provide an impartial voice that, when guided by the Living Force, can help both parties reach a truce that benefits everyone.”

Obi-Wan blinked and nodded, still too startled to speak. According to the Temple rumor mill, Master Jinn wasn’t expected back for another few days but clearly he had managed to sneak out of the deification ceremony on Ranbeth. That struck Obi-Wan as poorly done but who was he to speak against a master?

“Good morning, Master Jinn,” Obi-Wan said, pushing himself up out of his seat to bow respectfully. “How did your mission on Ranbeth go? Well I hope?”

“Well enough,” Master Jinn replied with a half smile. “What brings you to the Archives so early this morning? Shouldn’t you be in a class with your agemates?”

Standing a little bit taller, Obi-Wan raised his chin as he answered proudly. “Master Tano and I have been assigned to accompany Master Plo Koon to oversee peace talks between Acronae and Acromino. Master Plo Koon gave me permission to do some research before we depart on the history of the two planets.”

“I see,” Qui-Gon nodded, his expression warm. “You must be very excited. It’s a great honor to be sent on a mission at such a young age.”

Obi-Wan flushed and glanced off to the side, inhaling sharply before replying. “Well… we’ve really only been assigned to observe Master Plo Koon’s work. But it is still an honor to given this assignment. I am the first in my class to receive such a task.”

“Of course,” the Jedi Master nodded, mirth dancing in his eyes and Obi-Wan couldn’t decide if Master Jinn was laughing at him or just being friendly. “Jedi Knight Tano must be very proud of your progress. How goes your saber studies? Are you still focusing mainly on jar’kai?”

“Yes, Master Jinn,” Obi-Wan answered. “Master Tano says I am progressing well and my age group will begin an intensive study of Ataru at the start of the next cycle.”

“Oh really?” Qui-Gon mused, smoothing a hand over his beard as he nodded a greeting to a passing master. “Ataru is my specialty, you know. If you ever find yourself stuck on a difficult form I would be happy to offer what wisdom I have. You need only ask, Padawan Kenobi.”

“Thank you for your kind offer, Master Jinn,” Obi-Wan bowed again, his eyes focused on the table in front of him. “I will be sure to mention it to my master.”

“Excellent,” Qui-Gon said and gave Obi-Wan a crisp bowing nod of his head. “If you’ll excuse me, Padawan Kenobi, I must be going. I wish you the best of luck on your mission and may the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you as well, Master Jinn,” Obi-Wan replied, bowing one last time as the towering Jedi master walked away from the desk, giving him the chance to slump back into his seat, nerves making him weak in the knees as adrenaline drained away.

Sighing, Obi-Wan picked up his datapad and slowly fell back into researching the customs and cultures of the people of Acronae and Acromino.

After another hour of reading, note-taking and downloading documents onto his datapad, Obi-Wan stood up for a stretch and a walk up and down the stacks. He passed by a bronzium bust of one of the Lost Masters, frowning up at the Rodian who had chosen to leave the Order in the later half of her life. He wondered what could make a Jedi Master leave the Order, what strange twists and turns of fate could convince someone to cast off their entire life and embrace another, more dangerous and chaotic path.

Who would Obi-Wan Kenobi be without the Jedi Order? Where would he go? What would he do?

He marveled at how Master Ahsoka had lived on her own for so long on the Outer Rim, never falling to the dark side or even being tempted. He liked to think that if something similar happened to him that he would be as strong as his master but he highly doubted that. Obi-Wan’s temper was far too short and he felt things with such intensity that at times it could overwhelm him. It was only through time and practice that he had managed anything resembling calm and even then, it took very little to get his back up. Master Ahsoka said it was charming but Master Yoda disagreed and Master Windu said nothing, just raised an eyebrow at Obi-Wan and moved on.

Obi-Wan supposed Master Ahsoka found his temper charming because she said it reminded her of Master Skywalker. He found it hard to believe that Master Skywalker would have a problem with anything, let alone an explosive and short fuse, but he knew his master would never lie to him. He prayed that with enough practice he would one day be able to rein in his emotions and approach the galaxy with the serene confidence that his mental image of Master Skywalker possessed. Obi-Wan was confident that if he could attain such perfection then he would not only make Master Ahsoka proud but he would show those who had doubted him just how wrong they had been about him.

“I bet Master Skywalker didn’t have to beg someone to take him on as a Padawan Learner,” Obi-Wan muttered to his datapad, trying to ignore the sudden flare up of anger in his gut. “I bet his master took him on as soon as he could.”

Obi-Wan would have given anything to know more about his grandmaster and his great-grandmaster but such things were barred to a padawan learner like himself. And with Master Ahsoka being a former Shadow, it was highly likely that whatever information the Archives had on his lineage would be hidden buried under so many layers of encryption it would take a professional slicer a month to get through it all. Most likely only a Council member would be able to access the files and…

Wait.

Obi-Wan did have Master Plo Koon’s permission to access the entire Archive and Master Nu had shown him how to search the entire database to find the articles, entries and data sets he needed for his research.

And no one was paying Obi-Wan the slightest bit of attention this early in the morning.

If anyone asks, I’ll just tell them that I thought I saw Master Skywalker’s name in one of my articles, Obi-Wan told himself as he pulled up the search screen and typed in the name Skywalker under the Master category.

He frowned when the search algorithm asked him for a first name. He had never bothered to ask Master Ahsoka what her master’s first name was and he wondered if his people were from a culture that only had one name, like Master Yoda. He had heard of human cultures like that, where one only had a given name and every other name indicated one’s relationship to the speaker, the listener or their place within their community. It sounded complicated and fascinating but it would make it all the more difficult for Obi-Wan to track down Master Skywalker if that was his only name.

Obi-Wan skipped the first name entry and activated the search, finishing off his protein bar as he watched the search engine chew through the millions of petabytes of data contained within the Archives. According to Master Nu, there were files held within the great vault of knowledge that were older than the physical temple itself, having been transferred from older temples now lost to time. There were files written in languages and code that only the Temple archivists could translate, the species and people who had given birth to them long since died out. There was such an immense feeling of age and history in the Archives and Obi-Wan found it comforting, to be surrounded by so much wisdom. If the Jedi were great it was partially due to the breadth and depth of their knowledge housed on Coruscant.

The terminal before Obi-Wan chimed and he peered down to see the results of his search, trying to temper his curiosity with the knowledge that he most likely wasn’t going to find anything.

Search query string: Family Name, Skywalker. Species, Human/Near-Human. Gender, Male.

Results: None.

Obi-Wan let out a deep sigh. “I thought not.”

He was about to pull up the recent history of Christophis, to see if he could find any oblique references to Master Ahsoka and Skywalker’s activities on the planet when his chronometer alarm went off. He reluctantly closed out of the terminal, following the instructions given to him by Master Nu, and pushed himself back from the table and returned his chair to its previous position.

Tucking his datapad under his arm, Obi-Wan hurried out of the Archive and loped off to his meeting with Masters Ahsoka and Plo Koon, his master’s first mission to Christophis forgotten for the time being.

[fireflyfish]

A Wild Glacier Has Appeared!

[fireflyfish]

Is it just me or is Rey now sporting the Qui-Gon Jinn haircut????

Rey is Qui-Gon Jinn’s reincarnation confirmed??

What do we call her now? Do I have to change her tag to something like “The Cutest Glacier in the Galaxy”??

I will say this... I think it’s very important that we have not seen ALL of her hairstyle. We haven’t seen the top of her head or the back of her head. If her hair style is important enough that it needs to be hidden from view on an instagram then I’m guessing there is either a Padawan braid hidden in all that brown or...

Daisy Ridley is a masterful accidental troll.

Either way... I’m changing my tags for Rey now. :D