Saga Obi-Wan: A Path of Tears - A Vignette

Obi-Wan - A Path of Tears by R. Rutherford


Every time it happens it is the same. I open my eyes to a great shimmering flow of water, cascading within a large silver fountain. Its tiny little ripples calm me, and invite me forward, begging my touch. Dreamily I push the tips of my fingers into the hypnotizing wetness.

The cold. It grasps my fingertips and shoots up my hand to envelope me whole. The silver fountain turns dark and decayed and all at once I can see it stretching out before me, an infinite landscape of sadness and evil? and I know that I will be forced to traverse its depths? I know that it is my destiny.

And then I awaken, the sweat clinging to my form, and the same thought always in my mind. "Please? Please let Anakin have the strength to stop it."

Once, I told my Padawan that Jedi did not dream. Nothing could be further from the truth. Almost every night when I close my eyes and drift to sleep I see the end of all things, and no amount of meditation makes any difference. On my stronger nights I resolve to do everything that I must to prepare Anakin to halt this approaching storm, but, I must confess, more and more often I find myself weak and unable to do anything but reel at the horrific atrocity of it all.

He must succeed. Anakin must succeed. My instincts tell me? the Force tells me, that he is the chosen one, and that somehow he will stop it. In desperation I have done everything I can to make him into the great Jedi that I know he will become, perhaps the greatest Jedi that has ever lived. I have done everything I can to illustrate to him the importance of his training and of learning the ways of the order. And I know that I push him too hard sometimes, and I know that I get frustrated with him too easily, but Jedi or not, I am only a man, and fear of what is to come plagues my every step. It pushes me to push him. I know that by doing so I risk his resentment and alienation, and I know that I have yet to discover how to walk that impossibly thin line between being cautious and being overly critical? But so often when I look upon my Padawan all I can think about is that dark cloud covering the sky, and how Anakin Skywalker is the galaxy?s only hope of stopping it before it spreads and encapsulates everything and everyone.

And my own hope is simply that deep in his heart, beneath the surface frustration and occasional bout of jealousy, beneath all those powerful and overwhelming emotions that Anakin possesses that would have been eliminated from him had he been trained from birth in the proper way, that Anakin understands how much I care about him and that I push him so hard because I believe he is capable of so much? And that one day when Anakin encounters this great black thing that hides in the darkness he will understand why I have taught him in the way I have, and that he will see how much of a role that inevitable, terrifyingly decisive moment has come to play in my decisions.

Master Qui-Gon Jinn would have said that I should be paying mind to the present, and not the future. That being mindful of the visions of what is to come should never be at the expense of the now. But Master Qui-Gon isn?t here, and I can?t help but believe that if it were not the will of the Force that I act to prevent the darkness I have foreseen from coming to pass that I would not have been made witness to such events in the first place.

And yet with all my foresight all I can do is sit back and hope along with all the rest of the galaxy?s occupants. Hope for a better tomorrow, and a future bright with possibility? And hope that when the time comes and the oncoming storm of evil must be faced and turned away, that the man I have come to love as a brother will be strong enough to do so, and save us all.

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Title: Obi-Wan: A Path of Tears
Author: Reverend_Tegoth
Timeframe: Between Episode II and III
Characters: Obi-Wan
Genre: Vignette
Summary: Obi-Wan ruminates on his decisions regarding Anakin and his training