Saga Voices on the Wind (Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan), RotS Spoilers

Title: Voices on the Wind
Author: Luthe
Timeframe: Post-RotS
Characters: Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon
Summary: Obi-Wan talks to Qui-Gon in the desert.

The voice came to him from the shifting sands, from the sigh of the breeze, from everywhere and nowhere. Obi-Wan had been expecting it, of course, but it was still a shock to hear his Master speak after so many years.

"Hello, Obi-Wan." There was a gentle smile in that voice, like the one Obi-Wan had spent so many years watching play across his Master's lips.

"Master." He had never known Qui-Gon Jinn as anything else in life, and was not about to change his habits now. Qui-Gon had been his Master, and would always be his Master.

Something ruffled his hair, as if a big hand had mussed it for a moment and then withdrawn. "You needn't call me that."

"I want to." The simple truth. Just the act of speaking to Qui-Gon made him feel younger, as if he was a Padawan again and the intervening years had been nothing but a bad dream.

"You can't hide from the truth, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon's voice said, with a small rebuke in the words. "Nor can you change the past. You must simply work to better the future."

"Master," Obi-Wan said pleadingly, looking up and around, trying to find that familiar and well-loved face, seeking comfort and solace. "I failed you. I failed the Council. I failed *Anakin*." The words were heart-breaking, but Obi-Wan knew they were true.

A wave of warmth and love flowed from the Force and surrounded Obi-Wan, like his Master's cloak had so long ago. "Anakin failed Anakin, Padawan. You and the Council and even I share blame for it, but in the end, it was his choice, not ours."

The words were cold comfort. Obi-Wan had spent days, weeks, months, considering and reconsidering what had occurred from every angle and still could not see how it was not his fault Anakin had fallen. If only he had been a better Master. If only he had been more like Qui-Gon, forgiving and gentle and always willing to duck the will of the Council when needed. If only he had taken the worries and fears that had plagued his Padawan more seriously, seeing them as the will of the Living Force and not as mere phantoms produced by a mind more given to attachment than other Jedi before him. "I could have stopped him."

"You could have done no such thing. Remember, the Dark Side seduces. One must embrace it of one's own free will for it to have true power. Could you have stopped Anakin from having that will?"

Obi-Wan looked at the floor and shook his head. "No, Master."

Another wave of comfort enveloped him. "There is still hope, you know."

Obi-Wan frowned. "Do you mean the children?"

"No. Anakin."

Obi-Wan's head jerked up, and he looked around again, trying to determine if his Master was joking. He did not sound as if he were, but he couldn't be serious. "Anakin is dead!"

"Are you sure?" The question was gentle and probing, like the ones Qui-Gon would ask when Obi-Wan proposed a solution for a situation without thinking through all of the possible options.

"I- I left him there. No one could have survived such injuries." The guilt was thick in Obi-Wan's voice. He should not have left Anakin to die like that, but he had let his anger rule him for a moment. If it had not been coupled with his worry for Padmé, he would have never have forgive himself such a moment of weakness. As it was, he still regretted it, as necessary as it may have been.

"I would not be so sure. Reach out with the Force. The answers are there."

Tentatively, Obi-Wan did so. He hoped such a small touch on the Force would go unnoticed by the Emperor; he could not risk both his life and Luke's by being discovered.

He searched for Anakin's presence in the Force, a presence once as familiar and loved as Qui-Gon's had been. He found nothing, and began searching again, for the twisted mockery of Anakin that he had fought on Mustafar. What he found now shocked him. The presence that was Anakin and not-Anakin all at once pulsed in the Force, powerful, malignant, and shattered beyond belief. "He's

 

Great stuff!

 

That is so sad Poor Obi! It is true though... he has to be at peace with himself prior to learning.

Great job!! Qui being patient and compassionate and trying to get Obi to see that it wasn't his fault to the 'whys' of Anakin's fall.

 

Stupendous work, I loved it. Very true to the spirit of the characters, and very real in the sense of feeling it

 

Very nice! It brings us back to the time when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were Master and Padawan, when Obi-Wan didn't have to be the one to make the painful decisions...and perhaps, this is exactly what he would need after the terrible experience in the war. Perhaps this is exactly what Yoda had in mind when he told Obi-Wan that Qui-Gon had returned.

 

I liked the hair ruffling part myself!

Lovely work!

 

Very nicely done!