Before - Legends Fatherless - Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan - Monday Mush - COMPLETE

Title: Fatherless
Author: ardavenport
Timeframe: pre-Episode I, pre-TPM
Genre: drama, mush
Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, OCs
Keywords: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, fathers, Jedi, lightsabers
Summary: Obi-Wan's father dies. Then duty calls. Monday Mush
Notes: It's Monday Mush Monday, but only the first part is mushy; the second is the mission.
Notes: I heard it from The Maker's own lips at Celebration V that Obi-Wan Kenobi comes from the planet 'Stewjon'. The fact that he said it in answer to Jon Stewart's question about where Obi-Wan came from is purely a coincidence. And typo is my middle name, with missing words and errors that spell checkers do not catch being my speciality - if you see any, just post a reply or send a PM with the what and where and I will kill them with no mercy.
Disclaimer: All characters and the Star Wars universe belong to George and Lucasfilm; I am just playing in their sandbox.



When his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn came very early to his room, waking him, to tell him that his father had died, Obi-Wan Kenobi felt nothing.

He recognized that it was a sad event, but it was only his biological father who had died on his home world, Stewjon. The Kenobi family had done little to stay in contact since their oldest child was given to the Jedi Temple to be trained, beyond a few obligatory visits when he was a small youngling. He was almost eighteen standard years old now.

Nor was his death a surprise. The family had sent a message to the Temple that Zuroyo Kenobi was ill and Obi-Wan had been immediately tested for genetic markers of his degenerative nerve condition, but he had not inherited it, nor had it manifested among the rest of the family before.

Now Obi-Wan's father had died and the family's notification included an invitation to attend the memorial. He had glumly stared at the glowing yellow text on the small data screen Qui-Gon showed him. He hoped his duties would prevent him from attending. But they did not. Then Qui-Gon asked if he could accompany him. Shocked, he had not even considered the possibility that he might go alone. He hastily accepted Qui-Gon's offer.

Now, sitting on a second row bench of the family section of the audience at his biological father's memorial, Obi-Wan peered under the hood of his brown robe at the people next to him while Tima Kenobi-Kuch, standing at the speaker's podium amidst stands of white and pale purple flowers, sang a tribute to her now dead brother. Birds called out as they flew by in a cloudless blue sky. The nearby surf partially drowned out the singing.

Everyone had been polite but formal when he had arrived. They did not know each other. He had been prepared for that. But he had not expected to find himself amidst a crowd of people who all looked like him. Versions of him with lighter hair or darker skin. Older, fatter versions of him. Youngling versions of him. Female versions of him. There were fewer than twenty extended family members. Aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, but they all bore the same strong resemblance. Obi-Wan could tell by sight alone which ones were members of the Kenobi clan by birth and which by marriage or alliance.

He caught his sister peeking back at him before hastily turning back to the front. Obi-Wan's eyes went to the benches where the friends of the family sat, the top of the dark brown hood of Qui-Gon's robe visible over the heads of most of the others.

Tima Kenobi-Kuch finished her song and Zuroyo Kenobi's father took her place at the podium flanked by the floral displays. Paunchy, bearded and white-haired, Cham-Obi Kenobi moved a little slowly and leaned on the podium for support as he spoke. Obi-Wan hoped he would not look like his biological grandfather when he got old.

Three women and a man in white robes called out a farewell to the winds and rang bells. The memorial was over. Obi-Wan sighed and got up with the others. Everyone shuffled away from the benches, led by the foursome in white to th

 

Nice story and leading to more with your usual twists and turns

 

Only just discovered your stories and have been very busy devouring them - I was so pleased to see that you were still writing too! I feel like I've hit a fanfiction jackpot!

Will deifnately be keeping and eye out for more... I always did wonder why more wasn't written about some of the Jedi's origins.

Freakizimi

 

Very interesting.

I kind of like Obi-Wan knowing of his biological family and being able to attend his father's funeral but what a strange day that turned into!

I look forward to the next chapter.

 

earlybird-obi-wan: Thank-you! Stories do lead to strange places indeed.

Freakizimi: Thanks for the reply! And thanks for reading the other stories, too. Glad you're enjoying them. I'm pretty bad about replying to the replies, but I do read them. Oh, yes, I'm still writing. Not very fast but writing.

KELIA: Meeting family that you don't really know can be strange -- there's a presumption of closeness where there isn't any. Being separated when they're so young, most Jedi would have this problem. Thanks for reading!

 

I meant this to be only 2 parts, but when I counted how many pages Part 2 was, it had to be split up.



- - - - - PART 2

For the remainder of the trip Obi-Wan and his cousin, Zeri, talked about nothing but Kenobis. Obi-Wan had a flash of satisfaction from his Master's silent annoyance about being stuck in the cramped space behind them listening to it all. Obi-Wan happily ignored it, and it subsided into a stoic, meditative acceptance.

Though they were scattered all over the planet, no one in the family had emigrated off-world for at least ten generations, but there were a few loners and miscreants that Zeri wasn't sure of. Most of them got along fine, though some of them were much less social than others. Zuroyo Kenobi's family were notorious for shunning most family gatherings and only showing up for funerals. So, there had been quite a lot of jokes about how they all had to come to Zuroyo's send-off, since that was the only time the got to see him anyway. One cousin had suggested that they have his corpse re-animated so it could leave and then it wouldn't be a funeral any more. Zeri also admitted that for years Obi-Wan had been spoken of as the mysterious 'lost' Kenobi and that the glamor of that status had been somewhat spoilt by him actually showing up in person.

Obi-Wan laughed at that, but privately he knew that no one would feel slighted if he did not stay in contact with any of them after this. He would simply be maintaining his father's family tradition. He liked them. He enjoyed the moment of hearing about their lives from his cousin. But having a family seemed so . . . . complicated. No attachments: that was the Jedi way. And he felt himself strongly to be more part of the Jedi than to this family from Stewjon.

Their amiable chat had been disturbed only once when Zeri had asked Qui-Gon something and got no answer.

"Is there something wrong with him?" Zeri nervously asked when he realized that Qui-Gon was just sitting there, his dark blue eyes staring into space. Obi-Wan, knowing that his Master was perfectly aware of everything around him and everything that was said, assure his cousin that there was no problem.

"Oh, no. He just does that sometimes. He'll be fine." Obi-Wan supposed that some of the mystery of 'the lost one' could be re-established after he was gone.

By the time they reached their destination, Obi-Wan knew all the names, professions, relations, hobbies and residences of most of the Kenobi clan. Zeri piloted the flyer down onto a large private landing area next to a towering cliff-side fortress; the capital city covered much of the valley below. A line of polished dark-gray service and sentry droids waited. Zeri popped the canopy and then looked surprised by how spry his passengers seemed after the long trip sitting in one place, especially Qui-Gon. While Sheriff Kenobi worked the kinks out of his still joints, the Force flowed invisibly through the Jedi.

The line of sentries parted while the service droids moved in on the ship. The man from the holo-projector stepped forward, a gleaming black protocol droid attentively behind him. He bowed and they responded, Zeri a little clumsily. Secretary Toibi's business suit looked a little more rumpled than before and it was a vivid red and blue, a detail that had been washed out in the holo-transmission.

"Thank-you for coming, Master Jedi," Secretary Toibi greeted them, "we have left everything as it was for your examination."

"Thank-you, Secretary Toibi." Qui-Gon folded his arms. "But the Jedi's only interest in this is the missing lightsaber. The investigation into the death remains a local affair."

Toibi grimaced some displeasure but said nothing about Qui-Gon's aloofness. He turned to Zeri Kenobi. "Sheriff Kenobi, thank you for your assistance, our droids will have your ship ready to depart almost immediately." The dismissal was plain.

Obi-Wan read obvious disappointment in his cousin's expression. He was just a minor functionary who had no business with more important planetary crises. Just trans

 

Interesting developments indeed for Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

Love your characters

 

It's interesting how the few stories I've managed to scavenge that look at the Jedi and the families they leave all focus on what a sad occasion it is. Your story however focuses on the disjointedness (is that even a word?) of the whole situation. Now that I think about it, I do wonder just how sad the situation can be when a Jedi does meet their family again, as Obi-Wan does here. I mean, how can you be so upset about people you don't really know? Don't get me wrong, I think Obi-Wan's confused tears earlier in the story were spot on - grieving for opportunities lost and for someone else losing a father rather than himself losing his father. That, in hindsight, makes a hell of a lot more of a sensible reaction than those stories I've read which seem to have the reuited Jedi and their family completely in tears and all bemoaning the siuation as if they had known each other instinctively- seems a lot less likely now!

I'm very interested to know just where this lightsaber came from and just how Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan will be used to scare out the murderer.... vey interesting. I mean, a silent presence can be very unnerving, but will it be enough to smoke out the murderer? Or is the Bothian planning on something else?

Oh and I meant what I said about hiting the jackpot - seriously, I was despairing of finding any really good Jedi Apprenice-era fanfic. It seems surprisingly low on the ground. Thank God I found yours by chance!

And now that I sound like a simpering idiot, I'll naff off Will look out for the next bit.

Freakizimi

 

Nice, very nice. Well written. I especially liked your portrayal of Qui-Gon. Beautifully done.

 

wonderful story, as always I love how Qui Gon and Obi Wan comined together.

can´t wait for the 3 part

 

earlybird-obi-wan: Thank-you The characters always make the stories go.

Freakizimi: I think that there are probably a lot of very ordinary, mundane details about Jedi lives and their backgrounds. Even so, they can be strongly affected by them. They don't need to have legendary personal histories to have a lot of drama or angst; they just need to care about the things and people around them.

However, the old lightsaber in this story is just one of those details for the Jedi. I'm very glad that you've been enjoying my Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fixation. Thanks!

The_Nerfherder: Thank-you! Qui-Gon is a favorite of mine, though I must admit that I hardly noticed him when I first saw TPM; he kind of grows on you.

littleobiwankenobi: Thanks! Yeah, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are a great team

 

- - - - - PART 3


Just before Ot-Koff's family and heirs arrived, Inspector Aaah-Zhiss pointed at the police droid sternly and ordered, "Not a word from you, Cee-Tu, this time. Not. One. Word."

The droid drew back, but complied with a resigned wave of it's two primary appendages and parked itself by a wall next to a blocky statue of some violent and bloody-looking deity.

There were no introductions when the family arrived with a contingents of four armed police droids, so Obi-Wan had no idea how they were related to each other, but he could make some guesses. Wife, son, daughter, brother, uncle, niece, nephew, son-by-marriage, nephew, niece, sister-by-marriage. They were all well dressed, the older ones with tall ornate head-dresses. Two adult males and a youngling girl strongly resembled the victim. The police droids lined up by a wall in front of a display of electro-pikes.

Someone in the group shrieked.

It took a moment for the commotion and outrage at the exposed body 'in such a state' died down a bit. Some of them bravely looked while others turned away. And a few more gloated. Obi-Wan watched from the safety of the shadows under his hood and remained still, his arms folded before him.

A thin son/nephew-like person pointed. "Who are they? What are they doing here?"

"Aaaaaaah." Inspector Aaah-zhiss acted as if she had just noticed them herself. She waved an arm in their direction. "That is Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. They happened to be on Stewjon for other business and were kind enough to assist me in my investigation.

"Actually," she lowered her tone, "the Jedi Order takes great offense to outsiders using their sacred weapons for ill purposes. Master Qui-Gon is using his Jedi mental abilities to determine exactly who desecrated this lightsaber." He paw stroked the hilt though Obi-Wan could see she kept well away from the activation switch.

The identity of the murderer became immediately apparent when a thin woman in the middle of the group clasped her hands to her mouth, her painted eyes suddenly brimming with tears. She was elegantly dressed in a pale green, floor length sheath that looked like two halves joined with string criss-crossing down her front, the openings revealing only a few parts of her young body. Matching fingerless gloves covered her arms up to her elbows. Shimmering sticks pointed upward from the thick brown hair piled on her head.

One surly Ot-Koff-look-alike seemed unimpressed. "Yeah, well when? Looks like they're just sitting there right now."

Inspector Aaah-zhiss ignored the derisive tone. Having spotted the panicky woman in the middle, she continued to pour on the drama. "Since the crime was committed with a Jedi weapon, we're not clear about the jurisdiction. It could be declared a capital crime against the Galactic Republic."

"Wait! What are you talking about?!" A young man in a loose blue tunic and matching slicked back hair clasped the woman in pale green; she clung to him like a lifeline. "First you say this was just an accident, now it's murder?! Our father was waving that thing in front of all of us! What proof do you have that one of us did this?!"

"Yarm Ot-Koff could not have caused so much damage to himself if he were holding the weapon." The Inspector held the lightsaber out, pointed away from everyone else, and turned it on. The family group flinched back from the blazing green blade. The police droids alerted, their necks extended higher, their eye sensors scanning the action.

She dropped it and the blade immediately went out as soon as it left her paw. She scooped it up from the carpet.

"As you can see, if Ot-Koff had just impaled himself it would have been a simple injury though probably still fatal. But given that he was cut multiple times, I can only conclude that someone else was holding it for him."

The woman in pale green cried out and hugged the man closer, burying her face in his shoulder. Everyone else in the group had now noticed her and began voicing their reactions.

"You've

 

Well done, ardavenport.

 

Nice ending of another enjoyable story.

 

The_Nerfherder, earlybird-obi-wan: Thank-you!


.......all caught up.....

 

Very enjoyable. I especially appreciated the subtle comfort that Qui-Gon offers Obi-Wan. It's enough to show concern and empathy, but still reserved. It fitted his character well.

 

Thanks! And glad you enjoyed it. Qui-Gon can say and do a lot, without actually doing or saying a lot.