Category: POV
Rating: G
Pairings: Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon
Warnings: Post TPM and set just before the beginning of New
Hope. JA is considered canon in my world as is Greg Bear's
Rogue Planet.
Archive: m_a and my web page and KoS
website: http://members.aol.com/Beagles4Us/fic.html
Feedback: yes, please, any comments welcome.
Disclaimer: All thing Star Wars belongs to George Lucas and we
bow to his greatness...
Summary: This is the third and final story in the series that
started with "Ashes". The second story is "Dust in the Wind".
Reading them is not necessary to understand this one. Post TPM
and set just before the beginning of New Hope.
Special thanks to Zerena, and Virginia, the goddess of all
things Star Wars.
Ben Kenobi didn't know what caused him to open the carved
wooden storage box today. He hadn't opened it for far too many
years to count. It held too many memories of a past he often
wished he could forget and one he would never forget.
He touched the objects in the box with a kind reverence saved
for living things, because to him they were living objects.
They each held a bit of the person he was long before the Clone
Wars and Palpatine and Vader's systematic eradication of the
Jedi. To him they held memories of a past filled with great joy
as well as great sorrow. Holoimages of a long past and happier
day. Images of him and Qui-Gon. Images of Bant. And many others
long passed into the Force. The rock Qui-Gon had given him for
his naming day, the same rock that saved his life. But there,
beneath all of it, were three light sabers.
He ran his fingers reverently over the first, his own saber. He
hadn't need of it in this place. To the people of Tatooine he
was a crazy old hermit named Ben Kenobi, not a Jedi Knight
named Obi-Wan Kenobi. A general in the Republic Army. For the
first time since he went into hiding, he ignited his saber and
took a few swings. He was out of practice but he could still
make the precise movements. Cutting the power, he replaced his
saber and ran his fingers across the one next to it.
Anakin's.
It was the last bit of his former Padawan he had. He was saving
it for the boy. The boy he watched over while staying hidden in
this wasteland. Anakin's son. Luke Skywalker. He had watched
from a distance while the boy grew and the force grew within
him. Soon he'd have to approach the boy. Soon he'd have to tell
the boy he was the last hope for the Jedi possibly the last
hope for ultimately defeating the Emperor and restoring the
Republic. He could feel it deep in his bones, the time was
coming. He replaced the saber. When the time was right he'd
pass the saber on to the next generation.
The third and last saber in the box was Qui-Gon's.
He'd used the saber as his own for many years after Qui-Gon's
death as a memorial to the man who had taught him. To the man
he had loved. He'd used it until the pain of still being able
to feel his master, his lover's, force impression became too
much and he'd built himself a replacement saber. Then he'd put
Qui-Gon's saber away and never ignited the blade again.
"Oh Qui, I can still feel you," he said sadly as he stroked the
metal. He wished he could talk to Qui-Gon, he longed to hear
his master's voice. As a boy Anakin had told him of the times
he'd "talked" to Qui-Gon in his dreams. Then, he hadn't wanted
to talk to Qui-Gon, he hadn't wanted to see the man, hear the
voice in his dreams that he so terribly missed in person.
Picking up the long cylinder, he turned it over in his hand. "I
can feel my time here growing to an end. It won't be long now
until I finally join you," Obi-Wan said to himself, but knew
that somewhere in the Force Qui-Gon would hear him. He replaced
Qui-Gon's saber in the box and closed the lid.
Walking to the door, he looked out of his hut at the Jundland
Wastes and the Dune Sea. "You know, Qui-Gon, you were only half
right about Anakin, and the prophecy. He brought destruction to
the Republic and the Jedi, but he fathered a child who will
bring balance to both sides. Luke is the one the prophecies
talked about. Not Anakin. I only hope that I can teach the boy
better than I taught the father," Obi-Wan sighed. Yes he could
feel it. He could feel the stirring of the force. The time was
almost upon them and he would pass what he could to the boy
before he met his apprentice one last time. With that last
thought Ben Kenobi pulled his cloak around him and walked out
of his hut. He felt the Force pull him toward a nearby valley
and he walked in that direction. Because of the sudden flare in
the Force, he knew that the time he had been waiting for had
come. Sooner than he had expected, but nonetheless, he was
prepared for what was to come.
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