Chapter Text
Obi-Wan couldn’t help but feel his stomach drop. Not only were they almost out of fuel (something Anakin was supposed to keep track of but the boy was off doing… Obi-Wan doesn’t even want to know what), but they were here. In front of only one planet.
Obi-Wan checked how far they could go with the fuel they had. There was only one option.
He only knew one place on the planet and it happened to be the perfect place to land a ship with its lack of buildings and civilization. Curse his entire existence.
“What’s that? What’s that!”
Obi-Wan watched as his little apprentice bounced on his heels. He was astounded at how such a small child could possibly have so much energy. The master even eliminated any and all drinks that had caffeine, but that never stopped the padawan from having sun-like energy from dawn to dusk.
“That… is a planet.” Obi-Wan was amused to see the unimpressed look by a ten (I’m ten and a half Obi!) year old. After one and a half years of building up a healthy diet, the boy finally looked like he wasn’t consistently being starved and for the first time in his young life, he had meat and not just bones.
Obi-Wan ignored his little sun as he went back to the controls. It was simple: land the ship, comm for help, leave.
Simple.
He lands the ship in the middle of the field. There is no fuel left. It is raining. Rain distracts the padawan, he practically glues himself to the window.
Time to comm for help.
“Master…” The glue on the window speaks. “The sky is glowing.”
That would be lightning. They are in a fully metal ship. The inn is not far, the cottage is too far. Great. Curse the force and everything else.
Once Anakin is in his jacket- the boy is always cold- and Obi-Wan has both of their bags, they abandon ship.
Anakin screams in delight as he gets completely soaked from head to toe. He bounces and splashes and runs and skips and please force, let him tire himself out just one of these days.
“This is so wizard!” The boy is back to Obi-Wan, arms wrapped around his waist. He smiles from ear to ear.
“This is Stewjon.” No emotion, he remains neutral. He has no life here, not when he was three, not when he was thirteen. He is a Jedi.
Thunder booms, the arms tighten. The joy is gone.
“It can't hurt you, Ani.” Obi-Wan runs his hand through the boy's hair. They are both drenched.
“But we had to leave the ship because it could hurt.”
That was lightning, this is thunder.
But master, how are we safer out in the open?
They are not.
The boy walks faster, Obi-Wan follows. He does not want to be wet any longer.
Anakin is shivering by the time they make it to the inn. Obi-Wan opened his bag and pulled out a stuffed dinosaur named Arlo. Arlo was a gift from Obi-Wan to Anakin and Anakin's best (only) friend when the boy arrived at the temple. While he no longer takes it everywhere he goes, he still sleeps with it and it does calm the boy. So, Arlo stays.
Anakin has already taken off his coat and left it on the floor as to not get Arlo wet too.
In a perfect world, the inn would have been under new ownership and anyone he had ever met would have moved away.
Some may have called it wishful thinking.
“Ooo!” Anakin noticed a bell on the desk. One ring.
Two rings.
Three.
Obi-Wan grabbed the boy's hand.
Someone’s footsteps are coming and Obi-Wan braces himself. It was a miracle not a soul saw them while walking from the ship to the inn. This is a very small town with very few people. All ten people that live in Coan-Cannoch happen to know the Kenobi’s and he just so happens to look like them.
He hasn’t been here since he was thirteen, he thinks he’s grown much and looks very different. The beard helps. Anakin hates the beard, calls his master scruffy and rough. Anakin hates all kinds of change, Obi-Wan kept the beard.
The innkeeper's daughter, Fraya, looks the exact same. It has been thirteen years, how does she look the same? She looks at him right in the eyes and she knows everything there is to know about him. Obi-Wan panics. His father definitely has a beard.
He smiles, pretends he doesn’t know why she looks surprised.
“I need a room please.”
She stares at him.
“A room.”
Yes. This is an inn after all.
“Yes.”
“Master, they serve food here!” Why is the boy so excited about that? “Do people work it or do droids? Do people bring droids?” Anakin sent his questions to Fraya. Anyone else is better than Obi-Wan.
“There aren’t many droids here wee one, sorry.”
Anakin’s face lit up even though there are no droids. Obi-Wan had a very bad feeling about this.
“You talk just like-!”
Obi-Wan put his hand over the boy's mouth. They were supposed to be pretending.
“One room, please.”
Fraya was smiling. She stared at Obi-Wan. He was not going to get this room easily.
“It has been a long time since the Jedi were here.” Fraya stated.
Not long enough.
“I enjoyed getting to learn from Master Jinn.” She stares at him as if waiting for his reaction to his late master.
“Qui-Gon died, they burned him.” That was one way of putting it. Thank you Anakin, you really are good with words.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Fraya did indeed look sorry. Obi-Wan knew his master spent more time at the inn than he did. A few years later Qui-Gon told him how he spent his time here: murder mystery, shack promoting, farming. Normal things. Qui-Gon and Fraya did indeed become friends.
Obi-Wan himself did not know how he felt about the death. He no longer dreamt of red ray shields, no longer cried silently, no longer spoke to air imagining his master was there. His grandmaster had come over once a week during the first six months after the death. Dooku had scared Anakin a lot. It took months for the boy not to run and hide whenever the Jedi master came by. Dooku helped Obi-Wan a lot though, helped him process killing a sith and dealing with his master's death.
“Thank you, Fraya.”
Shit.
“How do you know her name? Were you here with Qui-Gon? Why was Qui-Gon ever here? Was there a terrorist? A mass bombing? A serial killer?!”
Technically there was an attempt of a murder.
“Master Jinn built a cottage.” Fraya explained, Anakin looked heartbroken. Master Jinn is a hero in those little eyes and always will be. Anakin is not a fan of hearing the man do anything short of saving entire planets or single handedly bringing peace to the galaxy.
“He solved a murder case.” Obi-Wan supplied, because he did technically solve a murder case. It only took the man almost killing Obi-Wan for him to do so, but it was solved.
“No way!” The bouncing returned as Anakin asked more and more and more questions to (thankfully) Fraya.
After question five hundred, Fraya looked to Obi-Wan.
“Your apprentice is very…” Excitable, hyper, caffeinated, a bit much, “curious, Master Jedi.”
Obi-Wan was taken aback. Not many (any) people were often nice to his padawan.
“He is indeed.”
“Can I get a name for your room?” she grinned at him, but not to worry, Obi-Wan had a plan for this.
“Ooo! Use my name! It’s Anakin Skywalker. But no space between Sky and walker, that used to trip me up.”
It did. Took the boy months to learn how to spell his name. Not to mention the drama when Anakin found out Obi-Wan did have a space in his name.
“Welcome Anakin Skywalker, and Master Jedi.” Fraya handed Obi-Wan the key. He smiled.
Anakin flung his body on the bed instantly. He seemed overly happy there was one bed because then we could share Obi! That’s so fun!
Yes… very.
Anakin changed into his sleepwear as if it was a race. Obi-Wan lost.
The boy sat in the middle of the bed, Arlo on his lap.
“Where am I supposed to sleep?” Obi-Wan, hands on his hips just to make the boy laugh. He did. Big win.
“Were you here with Master Qui-Gon?” The apprentice completely ignored the master. Two could play at that game.
“Move, right or left, choose now.”
“I like the middle.”
The boy sleeps in a twin bed normally.
“I happen to like having space to sleep.”
“Arlo likes the middle.”
Arlo is a stuffed dinosaur that only speaks to Anakin. His only magical quality is that he decreases the probability that Anakin wakes up screaming.
Obi-Wan really hopes Arlos magic works tonight. The village already thinks that Jedi have fun torturing their young.
“Then Arlo will have to suffer.” With a wave of his hand, Obi-Wan scooted the boy to the right which resulted in even more laughing. Obi-Wan plopped himself down on the left side lifting the right side for less than a second.
“Do that again!” Hands were pushing him to get up, Obi-Wan did not move. The boy stood up and dramatically fell back down to try and move the master. He did not succeed.
Anakin tried again, again, again, and one more time.
No one could say he was a quitter.
Obi-Wan wanted to sleep.
“Give me your words.” He said after Anakin plopped down once more. Anakin was not completely fluent in galactic basic. He knew enough to make conversations, but there was a lot he did not know. It took a very long time to teach the kid to read and write, but they were getting there.
Obi-Wan likes to have him learn new words by the day, so he has the boy remember words he hears that he does not know to talk about at the end of the day.
“Can’t we take a break? We could talk about Qui-Gon killing the murderer instead!”
Qui-Gon gave the murderer to the police and left it alone after that.
“No, words.”
“Ughhhh.” Anakin’s head was smashed into Obi-Wan’s stomach. Personal and space were not words the boy knew. “I know every word! I have no new words!”
“Ani..”
He knew the boy hated being unlike his classmates, but he hated feeling dumb more.
“Yesterday I heard the word ‘boondoggle’. I had never even heard that before! I still don’t know what it means.” Obi-Wan supplied as big blue eyes looked up at him.
“Boondoggle?”
“Yes.”
“You made that up!”
“I did not.”
“Master!”
“I promise, you can look it up.”
Anakin did. He ran to where the mission's datapad was and searched it. Obi-Wan was right. Ha.
The boy threw himself at Obi-Wan about two seconds later.
“Words, now.”
“Frequently.”
That means lots of times.
“Adept.”
Good at something.
“Mad, but not angry.”
Crazy.
“Like the murderer, Master!”
Yes. Like the murderer.
Anakin woke him up at dawn. The perfect time to go call the council and beg for a way out of here. No one was at the desk when the two made their way out the door. Obi-Wan thanks the force with a small prayer.
The walk seems shorter when there is no rain. Anakin likes the greenery. Obi-Wan prays no animals find him.
The ship is exactly where Obi-Wan left it. The Padawan is all over the place. The plants, the bugs, the bird, the green, the even more green!
“Ani, I need you to be prepared to leave at any moment.”
“Yeah sure thing!” Anakin didn’t even look over at him.
Obi-Wan sighed.
He presses the button. The door does not open. He presses again. The door is still stubbornly closed. He pressed again and again and he knows it will not open but he still tries.
What happened to the power.
“Ani.”
“Obi.”
The boy finally looks up from whatever he’s doing in the grass.
“Did I turn the ship off? Like fully completely off?”
The boy thinks for exactly one second then shrugs and goes back to the much more interesting grass. Helpful that one.
Obi-Wan is not positive he turned the ship off. Between the rain and the padawan and Stewjon, he is not confident.
“How do we find a comm in the middle of nowhere?” He mostly spoke to himself, but of course it’s the one time Anakin listens.
“One time the power went out and all the masters lost power in their comms and radios and we lost all connection to the others for a month!” He’s just so, so helpful.
Obi-Wan feels himself begin to panic. He will not be stuck on this planet again. He is a Jedi! He is a good Jedi! He will go home and he will do it soon.
“Master, something’s looking at me.”
Probably a bug or something.
“It feels like it wants to eat me.”
It was a bear.
Welp.
“Get to the ship!”
Obi-Wan took out his ‘saber and cut a hole right in the middle of the ramp. It was a useless ship anyways.
Anakin in the ship, Obi-Wan in the ship. Obi-Wan holds the piece of ramp in the correct spot with the force. The bear growls.
Anakin was right, it is hungry.
“Why can’t you just cut it in half!” Anakin whines. Obi-Wan does not have the time to discuss how cutting any lifeform in half will bring him back to that generator and he will not add that on top of being here.
“We must respect other life forms.”
“What if the bear is a sith?”
This child.
Obi-Wan will not survive this apprenticeship. He is sure.
“Go try and get the comms to work.” If anyone can figure it out, it is Anakin.
The boy leaves.
It takes twenty minutes for the bear to get bored and leave. Obi-Wan drops the piece of ramp thankful the bear left before he got force exhaustion. If he returned to that inn anything but perfectly healthy, he is sure it would become a whole town frenzy.
Obi-Wan goes to find Anakin. The boy has destroyed the entire control panel.
“Any luck?” There is no such thing.
“Well… I can’t power it up, but I should have enough parts to make a comm we could bring to the inn. Maybe we could take a radio or something to get it to work.”
Now the boy wants to add thievery and vandalism to their mission. He expects nothing less.
“Maybe.” Doubtful.
There is nothing else of use on this ship. Even if it had power there is a hole in the side.
Time to go back to the inn. Anakin jumps with joy.
“So it is true.” Fraya’s mother, Mor-Ag, is at the front desk when they return. Obi-Wan wishes the ship had power.
“What’s true?” Blue eyes shine bright at him.
“The inn has new guests.” Obi-Wan states. There is absolutely nothing special about this planet whatsoever. “Ma’am, would you happen to have an old radio or machine that you are not using. My apprentice needs something to fix our comm.”
She stares at him. Obi-Wan thinks she may just pick up her own comm and start a family reunion.
“We may have something in the storage closet. Would you like to follow me young lad?” She directs her attention to Anakin. Obi-Wan is completely fine with that.
They leave. Obi-Wan sits where ‘they serve food.’
He is left alone for two seconds.
“Have you seen this?” Fraya must be some kind of teleporter for her to appear out of thin air.
She hands him a newspaper.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: First Jedi to Kill a Sith in a Millenia
Obi-Wan hands it back. He was there, he does not need to read more about it.
“Is it not true?”
If only.
“It’s true. But I was there, I don’t need to relearn it.”
He wished he wasn’t there. He wishes they sent a different team of Jedi.
“It says that Master Jinn died on that mission.”
He did not just die. He was killed. Murdered. Stabbed. Everyone talks about the first Jedi to kill a Sith. No one talks about the first Jedi to die to a Sith.
“He did. At the hands of the Sith.”
“So you killed the fucker.”
Anakin would remind everyone that Obi-Wan cut the Sith in half then sent him falling to his death.
“Yes.”
“Cool.”
It is not.
“Sofi and Hami-Son-“
“Do you have tea?”
It was rude to interrupt and as a Jedi knight he should be more respectful. He does not care currently.
“We have caf.”
How did Qui-Gon survive?
Oh.
“The whole town knows you’re here.” She tells him. Obi-Wan can not figure out if it is a warning or if she’s just stating a fact. He takes it as a warning.
“We have no business here. We ran out of fuel and should be out of your hair as soon as our friends come pick us up.” There is nothing different about this planet. Obi-Wan is a normal Jedi talking to a normal citizen on this normal planet. He is a Jedi. He is a Jedi.
Fraya looks sad but understanding. He has no life here. That is what he decided.
Suddenly a burning sun collides with him.
“They have old radios and holos and a small to go stove thing! Miss Mor-Ag calls it something funny but it cooks food outside! With fire!”
Small hands are busy holding wires and parts and things Obi-Wan does not understand. That does not stop the small body from trying to bury itself into Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan picks up the boy and sits him on his lap. Anakin lays all his pieces onto the counter.
“Hi Anakin.” Fraya smiles. Obi-Wan is glad someone on this planet sees what a happy padawan looks like.
“Hi! I’m making a comm for my master!”
So they can leave.
“How exciting.” Fraya looks to her mother who looks just as amused at the boy as he rambles on about each of the parts and what they do.
Anakin is the first Jedi here with no mission. Master Ti found Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were on probation, Master Koon and Ti came to get Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.
Anakin knows nothing of Melida/Daan. He doesn’t even know the word probation. He does not know his master is Stewjoni, he does not know the Kenobi’s or their existence. Obi-Wan will probably tell him. Later. Many years later. Probably.
Quinlan said to tell the boy about Bandomeer. To bond. Obi-Wan will not bond with his padawan because they were both enslaved. Because they both had a bomb on them. Or in them.
Bant and Siri say to never tell him about either events. ‘He doesn’t need to know’ or ‘knowing won’t help anything.’
Garen and Reeft argue over what age to tell him. Garen says 16. Reeft says 18. Quinlan says now for bandomeer, 14 for Melida/Daan. ‘He’ll be older than you were when you actually experienced it’ Quin says. Bant hit him after that.
Obi-Wan plans to explain Melida/Daan when Anakin is older. Maybe if they have a mission there. Maybe if Anakin asks about Obi-Wan's family. Maybe to explain that Anakin isn’t the only Jedi to know his family.
Just not now.
The boy is already heartbroken after leaving his mother, he does not need to meet Obi-Wan’s.
So really, Obi-Wan’s avoidance is all for Anakin. No other reason.
Yes.
It takes Anakin a half hour to make a fully functioning comm. Obi-Wan has never been more grateful to have a padawan
The council looks… amused. Obi-Wan is scared.
Master Dooku speaks first. He was put on a council a month ago. He tried to leave the order completely after Qui-Gon's death, but Master Yoda found him first. Master Yoda encouraged the Master to speak to his grandpadawan. Dooku stayed if he could have more say in the order. It took time but Dooku won.
Dooku speaks of Qui-Gons relentless calls from his time on the planet. “The boy couldn’t even build the cottage without calling me every step of the way!” He laughs, the council laughs, Obi-Wan wants to cry.
He doesn’t. But he wants to.
Master Windu asks Anakin (why Anakin) how he’s enjoying the planet. Since the boy is nothing but helpful to his master- ha ha- he reports of how much fun he is having. He loves the green, he loves the people, he loves spending time with Master Obi-Wan!
The council smiles, Anakin smiles, Obi-Wan has never been so scared.
“A vacation you two need.” This can not possibly be good. “Come later for you, we will.”
No. No no no no NO! No.
“What do you mean later?” Obi-Wan tries, fails, to keep his voice neutral.
“How about this,” Dooku should have left the order, “the next time someone’s mission ends up around Stewjon, they will pick you up.”
The masters have the audacity to nod in agreement.
“That could take weeks!” Obi-Wan is not whining. He is not.
“Maybe a month or two.” Plo Koon is about as helpful as the dead ship.
“We don’t have enough clothes for that.”
“Connections with the town weavers, you have.”
Ha ha. Very clever.
“We could vacation on any other planet.” Even Hoth would be nicer.
“Skywalker, do you want to vacation on Stewjon or come back to your classes at the temple?” Mace Windu is manipulating a child.
Anakin looks up at his master. The little empath can sense his master's distress, but he’s had fun here. He likes it here. He does not have as much fun at the temple. He has no fun in class.
“I..” he looks back and forth from the comm to the man. “I..” he is panicking. Everyone knows he is.
“Your master will support whatever you decide. Right Knight Kenobi?” He used to think he and Plo were friends before this.
Anakin is almost shaking. Obi-Wan knows that if he looks there will be tears in the boy's eyes. He can not be the cause of his suns stress.
“Yes. I am fine with anything you choose.” Lie. Lie lie lie.
“I wanna stay.” The tiny voice broke Obi-Wan’s heart for many reasons.
“Decided it is. Pick you up eventually, we will.”
For not the first time, Obi-Wan wished the Sith killed him.