Saga Spirit Warriors of Angharad *COMPLETE* Link to MS Word version available 8/4

No words at the moment. I was just staring at my screen, mouth agape throughout. So I'll have to re-read it to be coherant. Yikes!

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Ishtar, you're insane. I love it.

 

Awww, thanks shadowolf.

 

Wait . . . what is this about flaming moths? Are we allowed to flame moths here?

And now, Obikin mush

****

?Anakin!? Obi-Wan shouted, for what seemed like the hundredth time. It wasn?t a Master?s command for his student to pay attention; it was more a cry in the darkness for someone who might not return. As he repeated the call, he could hear the ragged edge of desperation, almost despair, in his voice. During Anakin?s battle with the Sith, the boy had strayed so far from the cool, bright internal stillness of the Jedi that Obi-Wan almost hadn?t recognized anything of his fighting. Anakin hadn?t been using Form I, or Form IV, or Form anything?he?d been battling from pure, gut-level instinct, and he had met the Sith more than halfway toward the nadir of fighting solely from personal passion. The main distinction between Anakin and Vengeance had been that Vengeance was fighting out of hatred and rage, while the passions driving Anakin were something closer to a thirst for justice, and a protective?almost possessive?love.

Obi-Wan didn?t think Anakin realized that he had been all but in the dark side?s grip, and that the slightest effort of will would have brought him the brief, poisonous power of hate and the will to destruction?a power that had seduced more than one young Jedi. Apparently, the boy still too much an innocent to recognize the dark side and take hold of it for his own purposes. It was as if someone had handed him a Sith Holocron, gateway to unimaginable forbidden powers, he?d briefly used it as a doorstop, and then he?d handed it back. Anakin?s willingness to draw power from passion at all was deeply worrisome, however, and it had badly shaken his Master. Obi-Wan called to him one more time, his throat growing sore from the effort.

The Master Jedi had watched the death-blow given in the shadow of the Ascender?s wing, and was left with painfully conflicted emotions. On the one hand, it easily could have been Anakin lying dead beneath the damaged ship wing, and Obi-Wan?s gratitude that it was not threatened to be overwhelming. For that reason, he kept it at arm?s length; this was not the time or the place to get emotional. On the other hand, he feared that contact with the Sith had permanently marked his troubled and impressionable student. Force knew Obi-Wan?s battle with the tattooed Sith on Naboo had permanently marked *him.*

Anakin stood silhouetted beneath the Ascender?s wing for a disturbingly long time, looking down at the body of the dead Sith. At last, however, he abruptly turned away and ran through the waving grass toward Obi-Wan. The Master Jedi couldn?t stand, and nothing from his mid-forearms to the end of his fingers was good for much either, but as Anakin approached, Obi-Wan waved to show that he was there and would have gotten up to meet him if he could.

?Master,? Anakin called out, radiating much the same combination of desperation and relief that Obi-Wan had been feeling.

The Master Jedi raised one useless hand in hopes that Anakin would help him up, but instead the boy all but flung himself down onto his knees in front of Obi-Wan. The Master Jedi had expected an embrace, but Anakin?s strangle-hug still surprised him. Obi-Wan grunted as the boy?s crushing hold robbed him of about half the air in his lungs, and then he returned the hug as best he could with largely numb arms.

?Master, I *missed* you,? Anakin said. The earnest anguish in his voice went a long way toward demolishing the Jedilike objectivity Obi-Wan had been struggling to maintain. They *were* still on a live battlefield, after all.

?I missed you too, young one,? Obi-Wan said, reaching up to stroke Anakin?s spiky hair with fingers that stayed unresponsive and curled toward his palm. The Master Jedi had to force away mental images of the end of the fight on Naboo, which had ended so differently. Then, the Force had seen fit to gather Obi-Wan?s Master into Oneness, and leave the young Jedi on his own. The Force could so easily have taken Ob

 

>>>?It?s the Council who will decide where you go when you?re knighted . . . but I won?t ask that you leave me. You will always be welcome at my side, my Padawan. Always.? >>>>

<bawls>

You...you great author, you...why do you insist on reducing me to a blubbering mess after such posts?? Oh, loved, loved, loved this.

I'm not sure what Obi-Wan was yelling to Anakin (well, more along the lines of what Ish was screaming, anyay)...but I loved his introspection about not wishing Anakin to leave. And Anakin's bone-crushing hug, and that typically adolescent behaviour about the galaxy 'being bad', without Obi-Wan. And Anakin pulling off Obi-Wan's gloves. And Obi-Wan reflecting that Jedi weren't really supposed to love at all. Awwwwwwwwwwww....

Come a long way from the 'I'm-stuck-with-a-brat' days, indeed.

<goes off to sink in a blissful state of gooeyness over post...>

Well...I did curse you on the Resource threads anyway.

EDIT: Yayyyyy...first reply!

 

Oh! Ophelia this is wonderful! Anakin's desperate relief at being back with his Master & Obi-Wan trying to convince himself that he doesn't feel love for the boy (heh, you know the man's a big softie)! This is JUST what they needed after the battle with Vengence.

 

Anakin was so 9-year-old hitlerinshortpants towards the end of that post. It was kinda disturbing. And I know Obi-Wan agrees with me. As it stands, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

And hey! I usually leave at least one person to curl into a little ball, snivelling!

 

And now, Obikin mush

/Meg Ryan/ Yes, Yes, YES! /Meg Ryan/

OMG, this chapter was incredibly mushy, sentimental and absolutely heartbreaking. I?m sitting here crying my eyes out AT WORK! Luckily, I have some napkins stashed away for just this purpose. Really! They?re in a little box that?s labeled ?JUST IN CASE ophelia WRITES SOME INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL STUFF THAT MAKES ME CRY?. Fortunately, I have to resupply this little box quite often.

There are too many bits of fabulousness to mention, but I will say that all the sentiment felt absolutely real and right and perfect. IMO, the only thing that differs from canon is Obi-Wan?s thought about the Sith. His rather snarky comment (?Sith lords are our spec-e-al-tee!?) in RotS doesn?t quite jibe with my perception of Obi-Wan?s character. But, I think that remark was probably more a product of Ewan?s cockiness than anything else. I tend to think that the encounter affected Obi-Wan plenty ? certainly more than the remark reflected.

And the entire exchange at the end ? holy ! I?m tearing up and clutching my chest just thinking about it. It is absolutely horrible to think that the only being to truly understand and recognize this exchange is Palpidious. I think maybe Anakin came close to understanding at the end that he needed his ?conscience? nearby, but ultimately he didn?t fight for it and Obi-Wan chose to ignore it for whatever reason.


Best. Obikin. Mush. Ever.

 

His rather snarky comment (?Sith lords are our spec-e-al-tee!?) in RotS doesn?t quite jibe with my perception of Obi-Wan?s character. But, I think that remark was probably more a product of Ewan?s cockiness than anything else. I tend to think that the encounter affected Obi-Wan plenty ? certainly more than the remark reflected.


Especially considering, much as I adore Obi-Wan, the last time he & Anakin were onscreen with a known Sith Lord they had thier butts handed to them.

Ophelia's version of Obi-Wan's attitude makes much more sense.

 

Yes. But this pre-AOTC, don't forget. And I think that the "sith lords are our spec-i-al-i-tee" line was very Obi-Wan, harkened back to the days of "Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?" Very snarky there.

 

Yes. But this pre-AOTC, don't forget. And I think that the "sith lords are our spec-i-al-i-tee" line was very Obi-Wan, harkened back to the days of "Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?" Very snarky there.


You know the sad thing is I keep forgetting that this is pre-ATOC, this Anakin for all his recklessness still seems so much more together than he did in ATOC.

I recognize the "fool or the fool who follows him" line as being potentially snarky, but when said by Alec Guiness it always comes across to me as being philosphy and wisdom instead of snark. Maybe that's because as a kid I always thought anything Obi-Wan said was the words of a sage.

 

I always thought of Obi-wan as having the snark, ever since the line about "Damn-fool idealistic crusade". He's so droll and wry and funny in the oddest ways. ROTJ Obi-Wan is definitely non-snarky.

 

Aww... Ani can open-up-a-can and Obi still loves him

Glutton for punishment, that man.

 

True--you have to wonder if Obi-Wan knew about the Sand People at all and still played a friendly game of Perquacky with him afterwards.

 

Do I even want to know what Perquacky is? And yeah, this is pre-AOTC . . . li'l Ani in TPM seems saner than Anakin in AOTC (well, who doesn't?) so I figure the "abilities have made him arrogant" thing started eating his brain at some point. In this story, Anakin's abilities are only just starting to get to the point where they'd make a person arrogant. Young teens tend to have way too many things go wrong in their lives for them to be overly impressed with their own abilities. Truly intolerable snots tend to be in their mid-to-late teens. Young adolescents are intolerable in a completely different way.

And now, the start of wrapping all the bits up. And hiding them in the sewers so the police won't find them.

****

The Jedi broke through Perahta?s line about a quarter of an hour after the mercenary captain himself was dead, and what followed was the standard imprisonment known as ?liberation.? Matreya had been through this before, and she knew what to expect. She sat down on the ground with her pack beside her, setting it just far enough away to make it clear that she wouldn?t try to grab a weapon out of it. At her urging, Hoel and Rodaq had sat down too, placing their weapons in plain sight and just out of reach. Neither man looked happy, but it seemed she?d convinced them that it would be wise not to look as if they presented any threat.

The Jedi and their Republic allies had set up a long perimeter of vehicles and beings around what had been the battlefield, and Perahta?s ?dog-soldiers? were quickly being rounded up and arrested. What the Republic?s Courts would do with them was anybody?s guess. Most probably it would be nothing. There were too many soldiers, and none of the things they?d done had been in Republic space. A good prosecutor could try a case like that anyway, but it would take too much money, time, and effort to catch fish as small as these. Most likely the Courts would go after Perahta?s senior officers, and of course the Chairman and Board of the Coridani Mineral Company.

Every now and then a group of dog-soldiers would try to break through the ?corral? line and escape, but the Jedi didn?t let them get far. By contrast, the few Anghara refugees and noncombatants on the field sat very still. A civilian?s main objective during the ?liberation? phase of an offensive was to avoid getting mixed up with the partisans, and being taken as a prisoner of war. That was the reason for not making any sudden moves and placing all weapons out of arm?s reach.

During some other liberations, Matreya had sat and waited hours before the victorious troops got around to clearing her. She?d actually once sat out overnight during a particularly ineptly-run operation. The thing to do was to remind oneself that as dull and frustrating as waiting was, it was better than getting stuck in a cell on a prison ship, only to be released once a Republic magistrate could be found and convinced to deal with a whole shipful of paperworkless beings.

Matreya was sitting silently with her elbows on her knees, not really listening to Hoel and Rodaq as they talked quietly, when a long shadow fell over her. She looked up in surprise, not having heard the being approach. She found a Jedi standing there--a tall, powerfully-built man with a shaven head and dark, piercing eyes. ?Lady Bedegraine?? he asked, speaking with calmly commanding gravity.

?Yes,? she said, wishing she didn?t have to answer to that name.

?It?s good to find you safe, my lady. We feared that you had been killed,? the Jedi said. He had that odd, classically-Jedi way about him that made him seem both completely sincere and utterly emotionless, which was something Matreya had always found unnerving. Perhaps the Anghara men did too, since they?d stopped talking and were now looking somewhat uneasily at the stranger.

?Thank you,? Matreya said, not really knowing what else to say. ?I?m most grateful to find myself safe as well, Master Jedi.?

?My name is Mace Windu, of the Jedi Council,? he said, and

 

You know, I always figured there would someday be something of yours that I didn't agree with. I never thought it would be the portrayal of Mace Windu. Nevertheless, to each his own and the guy who had a chronic eyebrow twitch made me happy somewhat, anyway. I loved the description of Anakin daring anyone to go after his Master, even though he was among allies. It was rather hilarious and typical of a 16-year-old boy.

 

Ah, adrenaline/endorphin highs...

 

Still, though, pre-AOTC *is* post-TPM and I think that it would very valid for Obi-Wan to be a bit traumatized by his encounter with Maul. As snarky as I know Obi-Wan is, I firmly believe that *that* particular encounter would have colored his attitude toward the Sith for a long time to come.

And as cocky as both Anakin and Obi-Wan were at the point of the Dooku duel in RotS, it seems that Obi-Wan, at least, would have been mindful of their previous disastrous encounter with that particular Sith Lord. It was one of the few moments of RotS that seemed false to me. I was fine (okay, I was ecstatic) with the "Hello there!" when he encountered GG since I knew that Obi-Wan considered him a coward, but the "Sith Lords r us" line -- that bothered me. JMO.

 

Yeah, I think that's why Obi-Wan wanted to keep things under control, while anakin was like "BOOYAH! LET'S KICK SOME ASH!"

 

Yeah, the "Sith Lords are our speciality" line does sound a little odd coming from a man whose Master was killed by a Sith and whose Padawan was maimed by another one. Ah, well . . . it was a great line, and delivered with gusto. We've had so little of that in the PT. I'm willing to put up with a bit of character inconsistancy in order to see Obi-Wan with a gleefully wicked grin.

****

For a moment she could feel the exhaustion and need in his touch, but then suddenly his manner shifted, as if he sensed Matreya?s own turmoil. After that, he held to her less fiercely, and the warm pressure of his hands against her back turned more tender. He reached up and stroked her hair awkwardly, with fingers that seemed half-lifeless. ?What is it?? he asked gently.

She didn?t want to tell him, and she felt herself stiffen, as if bracing for impact. The mental picture of Auster Perahta?s dead body lying sprawled near the door of the med tent had haunted her since she?d first seen it, and she often found that hideous tableau in the darkness behind her eyelids. Gods only knew if she?d ever be able to sleep again.

?Ah,? Obi-Wan said, and his voice was full of regret, as if he knew. ?It?ll all right,? he soothed.

There was nothing ?all right? about it, and for a moment she was furious at him?for having prepared her to do such a dreadful thing; for muddling her basic assumptions about right and wrong; for changing her life so completely and irreversably. He seemed to pick up on those feelings too, damn him?could one keep *nothing* from a Jedi?--and then he bowed his head down next to hers, as if in shame or grief. ?I?m sorry,? he said softly. She wasn?t sure if he meant he was sorry she?d had to kill a man, or sorry that he?d taught her how, or sorry that he would have to hurt her by leaving her soon. Maybe he was sorry for all three.

She was tempted to stay angry at him anyway, because anger was easier to deal with than anything else she was feeling. Somehow, problems seemed more manageable when they were somebody?s fault, even the fault of a person one loved. Obi-Wan?s injured hands and obvious, bone-grinding fatigue dispelled the illusion that he was in control and responsible for all that went on around him, however. The truth was that he was just a man, the way she was just a woman, and that he had strengths and failures and needs like anybody else.

Her anger slipped away by the minute, and she soon found herself forgiving him. He was a good person, and he loved her, and he?d tried his best to satisfy all the conflicting duties and demands in his life. Logically, she shouldn?t have felt forgiveness toward him because he hadn?t done anything wrong?except love her, if you took the Jedi Order?s perspective?but she felt a need to forgive him anyway. Had the two of them been alone, she would have kissed him very tenderly, to show him that everything was all right. Given the way the human mind often fought back against the specter of death, they might well have done more than that.

As things were, they were in a crowded medical shuttle with a bunch of strangers?and worse?a young boy who wasn?t a stranger at all. Eventually, they had to release one another and just be two traveling companions. They settled back against the wall, sharing very cramped quarters on top of Obi-Wan?s locker-chair. They had to share a corner of it with Anakin?s foot, too, which didn?t help.

As the last of the wounded were loaded into the shuttle and the deep rumble of the engines kicked in, a soft chiming noise sounded. All the Jedi within hearing distance looked startled, and started reaching for belt pouches and tunic flaps. Obi-Wan started to do so as well, before appearing to realize that nearly all his equipment had been taken from him by Perahta?s slicer-men, and so he had nothing left to chime. Instead, he looked up at Anakin, who was gazing somewhat moodily out a small window. ?I think that?s you,? Obi-Wan said.

Looking as if he?d been startled out of a reverie, Anakin dug through

 

Mmmm...love the way Matreya looks on at Obi-Wan's deferential attitude to the master. And her conflicting emotions. And Anakin's sabacc face. Great post. <beams> Gave me the warm fuzzies.

So...3956th post, eh? Wonder how I missed so many chapters <begins frantic hunt> Alright, alright...

 

YAY! I love Obi/Yoda in your fics. One of my favorite yodaisms in FFD was "Be not a fool!" *WHACK!* I love that Matreya picks up on the specialness. And all the Jedi looking for their ringing cell phones was rather hilarious. I loved that she had this concern for what she's done to him by loving him.

 

A bit off-topic, but I remember being at one end of a suburban train car in Hong Kong, looking at the half-asleep, morning rush-hour office participants, when a cellphone went off. This was before your phone came with a variety of ringtones, so I watched with amusement as the office pawns jerked awake and sleepily began to rummage through their briefcases for the annoyance, as well as the glares aimed at the resultant owner of the offending object.


Human behaviour doesn't change much between galaxies.

 

I love your Yoda/Obi-Wan This scene brought about such conflicting emotions, knowing there's a deep respect there, but also knowing Obi-Wan is quite possibly in some trouble It was perfect setting this all from Matreya's perspective since it's all new to her. Otherwise, it would be easy for us to just take it as more commonplace, which it is for Obi-Wan.

I also *really* want to know what Anakin is thinking of this whole thing. He's a reasonably smart kid, and he can't have missed something different about Obi-Wan and Matreya's relationship. My angst-o-meter is ringing for various reasons And how I love it

I'll try to catch up more thoroughly today... my family's leaving tomorrow for Rochester since my brother's having surgery at Mayo. I'll have internet access much of the time, but in case I don't... yeah.


-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Ah, I like the idea of it being commonplace. I always kinda thought any contact with yoda as special, but for someone like Obi-wan who chats him up in the Temple hallways...