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Saga - OT [DDC 2019] Written in Sand

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by CaraJinn, Dec 31, 2018.

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  1. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    Scribble 36: Memories

    It didn't take long for the Force to make it's intention known to me. I felt an urge to enter Anakin's old sleeping chamber. I must admit I felt a bit wary when I opened the door. One of the things I had granted Anakin from our first days together was privacy, knowing fully well that with his past in the slave quarters of Tatooine there had been little privacy indeed. I never entered his space without being invited in, or at least accepted.

    This time there was no-one to grant me access. No youngling with sandy hair sniffing 'Master' into my tunics after waking up from a particularly bad nightmare. No obnoxious youth earning three perimeters around the Temple for his lack of respect when inviting me in. No…brother, deep asleep after a common stressful mission.

    No Anakin at all.

    Anakin was dead for all the world to see, and even though some of him lived on in the monstrosity called 'Vader', the Anakin I knew and loved as a little brother was gone forever.

    I entered.

    The room was as it used to be. A total mess, with mechanical parts spread all over the tiny space and bedsheets pulled to one side as if the inhabitant had jumped directly from sleep into action (which probably was the truth as well…)

    I swallowed the lump in my throat.

    I wasn't there to dream about old days long gone. I was there for…what?

    To this day I cannot tell if it was my subconsciousness or a weak red light that drew my attention to one of the drawers in Anakin's desk, but suddenly I knew with certainty that whatever I was looking for was there.

    I opened the drawer and there haphazardly situated among electric tools was the river stone Qui-Gon gave me on my fourteenth lifeday and which I had passed on to Anakin on his fourteenth lifeday. Almost reverently I lifted my old friend from the drawer, once again feeling the comforting warmth from it and observing the red lines in the black surface almost pulsating with an inner life. For a moment I allowed myself to ponder how it had ended up here. Forgotten? Possibly. Abandoned? Maybe. With the dark powers roaming his soul Anakin must have felt it immensely uncomfortable. The river stone had always been of the light, and not of the dark side. Or, could it be that Anakin, in a last moment of sanity, had left it here for me to find.

    I would never know for certain.

    I stowed the stone away in it's old place in the pocket of my utility belt and it felt right.

    Yet I wasn't finished.

    I had more to do. I closed the door silently behind me and entered my own sleeping chamber once more.

    What?

    I looked around and realised I was clueless. Like every other Jedi I had little personal belongings and I couldn't believe that the Force had lead me here to grab my own old socks and tunic (well, actually it would be a good idea since acquiring proper Jedi clothing on Tatooine wasn't possible). It had to be something else.

    It took a while before I found it. It was well hidden in the small box of belongings that once had been Master Qui-Gon's. A jedi has no possessions of his own, but yet, amidst the turmoils following his death I had found it when Anakin and I cleaned up the quarters and made them ours and I had put it away to look at it later. But 'later' never came. I was fully occupied by learning how to be a Master and I forgot the entire thing - until now.

    I took the small pad, feeling the faint echo of the woman that in some ways had been more a mother to me than my birth mother had been. The pad must have belonged to Tahl.

    I tucked it under my tunic and left.
     
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  2. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Wonderfully poignant. I like to think that Anakin left the riverstone in a last vestige of what had been. Bittersweet memories indeed for Obi-Wan and I am so glad he found a keepsake of Tahl. :D @};-
     
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  3. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    He found it, and he will read it.
     
  4. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    Scribble 37: The Gift

    The rest of my time on Coruscant was full of preparations for the departure of the survivors. After a lot of discussion we had determined that they should go to to Draay 2. It would have a tolerable climate for all the beings in the little group and it would be far enough from the core that they would stand a chance to avoid prying empirical eyes.

    With Mace and myself present we managed to open the vault which contained the Order's valuables and we managed to get out enough values to sustain the survivor group for a very long time. It was also decided that I should bring some of it with me in case other survivors would appear over time.

    The third challenge was to find a ship large enough to bring the group to Draay 2, but as my Master used to say: "A solution will present itself." In this regard the solution was rather presented by me in the form of searching up Hondo Ohnaka, and surely enough - with enough money we were able to get a fully functional ship from the old pirate. If he will be able to keep his mouth shout about myself not being deceased remains to be seen, but he didn't seem to be on good terms with the Empire which has limited his "business" so I have some hope that I will stay dead for all galaxy to see.

    The last part of the challenge was to get our little group into the ship unnoticed. We failed. A little band of rather dark beings turned up and tried to stop us, but with united forces (and 'sabers) we managed to fight our way into the ship.

    The our ways parted, and it was with a well hidden sorrow I left my friends for what would probably be the last time. Likely I would meet Ahsoka again since she had agreed upon searching for more surviving Jedi when the group had settled down, but for now I was on my own again.

    I didn't open Tahl's pad until I was well on my way back home to Tatooine.

    The story she told was surprising. Obviously this had happened when I was a very young Padawan and yet she hadn't told me about the events in it. For some reason he had gone to search out my birth family and she'd met my grandfather (oh, why did she never mention that to me?). It had been a quite eventless journey and it seemed like she and my (so weird it feels to mention it) my grandfather had spent some time together in his Castle.

    Wait? What? Castle? What did any of my relatives have to do with a castle? She must have been quite confused when she wrote that. I just hoped that she hadn't mixed me up with Xanatos DuCrion, my Master's second Padawan.

    I continued reading and as the story folded out it became more exciting. Obviously she and my grandfather (I can't get over that) had found the backstory of the family and she had left for another planet to search for one of my ancestors. And at that point the story became quite blurry again. She'd gone to this unknown planet and met an old hermit almost like myself. Wait, no… Absolutely not. I may be a hermit right now, but I'm absolutely not old. I'm only 38 standards for Force's sake. That's younger than Qui-Gon's age when he took me as his Padawan.

    And there the story ended Or rather, I wasn't able to read any more. For some reason Tahl seemed to have decided that the rest of the story wasn't to be read as easily and she, blast it, seemed to have coded the text in some, unbeknownst to me, code - in a language that was not basic.

    I almost threw the pad to the deck in pure frustration. What was it she wanted to hide so badly. And from whom? After all she'd given the pad to my Master, so there had to be a meaning behind it. Had I still had the Temple's Archive resources I might have figured it out, but here - on my own in a small starship heading for the outer rim I really stood no chance. With a sigh I put the pad to rest in my satchel. I had to re-read it when I came back home. Maybe a bright idea would turn up.

    And then, in an inspired moment, I knew it. I knew the name of the planet Tahl had been to. Eagerly I opened the ships navcomp and set a new course. Tatooine could wait for some weeks more.
     
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  5. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    I am glad they successfully dealt with the challenges to get the survivors to a safe place. I enjoyed reading Obi-Wan's reactions to the information Tahl left: understandable curiosity and excitement and a slight detour before heading back to Tatooine. ;)
     
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  6. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    Scribble 38: Auratera

    I should have known. When even Tahl had been scared by this planet it really had to be something. When I arrived I didn't really know where to go so I did as I often do when I'm in doubt: I let the Force guide me. The guidance lead me to a high plateau where I was able to put my ship down. In my days as junior Padawan I had read about this place and when I disembarked I knew that the information I'd found wasn't exaggerating.

    The Force felt so strong there. And so weird.

    I cannot really find a better word to describe it. It was like the Force was fighting itself. I felt it warmer and more welcoming than ever before but then the feeling changed into some of the most eerie feelings I've ever had. The changes between good and evil happened so fast that it was hard to keep track. Nevertheless I somehow felt protected. It felt like the battle raged outside me but it never penetrated into my very self.

    Before beginning to descent from the plateau I'd thought that I had to go to the old Temple ruins I could see in the distance, but as I approached I realised that that was definitely not where I was going. It wasn't easy to see, but as my glance swept over the hillsides I suddenly saw the crack in the mountain that Tahl had described.

    I knew I had to go there.

    The creepy feeling of the dark side of the Force multiplied severely as soon as I'd entered the cave…crevice…whatever and for a split second I wanted to just leave.

    But I couldn't.

    The feeling increased in intensity as i continued and I felt like being caught in a maelstrom of good and evil, light and dark yet it was still surrounding me and taunting me, but not really harming me.

    And then the narrow corridor opened into a cave and I realised I had to be somewhere below the dome I had seen from above, It was a beautiful place, or could have been if not for the raging flicker of red and black over the walls. A small island of stone rested peacefully in the center of the cave and a beautiful bright white or golden light shone over the pond.

    I didn't know what to expect. I knew that Tahl had met someone in the cave, that much was clear but whomever that might have been had to be dead by now. She had described the man as 'old', and many years have gone since Tahl herself passed into the Force. So when the golden light in front of me suddenly seemed to condensate at gradually take the form of a human being I was totally taken aback.
     
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  7. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Super duper post and great details of the different perceptions. =D=
     
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  8. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    Scribble 39: The Old Man

    The appearing person turned out to be an old man. His hair was snow white framed a weathered face with wrinkles criss-crossing his cheeks. His eyes were youthful though and they seemed to change between green and blue. They reminded me of something. Or someone. As did the entire being. He was about as tall as I and apart from the vague almost golden shimmer that surrounded him he could have been my father or an elderly relative.

    With an oddly familiar gesture he stroke his beard and watched me intently.

    "Now, that's what I call unexpected indeed."

    I nodded. I couldn't have agreed more. I had seen Qui-Gon materialise from thin air so I was to some extent familiar with the concept, however I had not expected a total stranger to do the same right in front of me on a strange place like this.

    "Who are you and why have you come here?"

    The words weren't unfriendly, but he seemed to be genuinely surprised by my appearance.

    "I'm Ben," I said simply, "and I came here because I understood that an old friend of mine, Tahl Uvain, had been here years ago."

    He nodded, as in deep thoughts.

    "Tahl, yes she was kind of a surprise too," he agreed.

    "But who are you," I continued, "and why are you here? I understood from Tahl's writings that you were old already then."

    Too late I realised that this statement surely wouldn't have given me the title the Negotiator. It was as close to an insult as could be, but the old man laughed heartily.

    "Just call me Hermit," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. "That's more or less what I am nowadays."

    Obviously he wouldn't give me his right name. Maybe he saw the resemblance between us too and wouldn't give away a possible relationship. A new stroke over the snow white beard, and he got a thoughtful glimpse in his eyes.

    "Sit down for a while and tell me what's bothering you. Maybe I can be of help in some way. Sometimes it even helps just to tell oneself what's going on. I have a feeling that this cave won't harm you even if you stay for a while."

    So I did. I have no idea how it happened but I ended up telling him more or less the story of my life, from how I became Qui-Gon's apprentice to the part where I left my surviving friends to their own fate on Draay-2. When I finally stopped speaking he just looked at me with a mixture of pity and amusement.

    "You have already chosen your path, young one."

    I almost burst into laughter. There had been so long time since I was the 'young one' to anyone but Yoda.

    "I know, " I sighed, "I just wished I could do more for them."

    "But you can," he said gently, "you have the equipment for communicating with them. You have the skills from the war. You know how to make the tactical dispositions. Let your friend, Ahsoka, wasn't it, be leading the operations and you stay behind and make the planning as you always did before. There may be others out there and by cooperating with your friends you may contribute even more than if you were roaming the front lines yourself. Your friend Bail, cannot do that all alone. His arena is the political one."

    I had no sense of time or how long I had been in the cave but it must have been a considerable time. I saw the old man beginning to fade. Not much, but he wasn't as clear as he'd been when he first appeared.

    "You are getting tired," I stated.

    A small smile appeared in his face.

    "That I am, " he nodded, "but talking to you has been a pleasure, nonetheless. I take it you can find your own way out?"

    I nodded, and stood up. For a moment we were looking into each others eyes and simultaneously we bowed politely to each other, before I started walking towards the entrance.

    Talking to him had cleared my head and I could hardly wait to get out and begin working again.
     
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  9. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Fascinating encounter to say the least! =D= =D=
     
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  10. Cowgirl Jedi 1701

    Cowgirl Jedi 1701 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2016
    Why do I have a funny feeling that this force ghost should be played by Sir Alec Guinness? ;)
     
  11. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    I have no idea why you get these funny feelings [face_laugh]
     
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  12. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    Scribble 40: Come What May

    On my way home I had time to contemplate what had happened. I still had no clue how or why Tahl had met the old hermit on Auratera, but I definitely felt a more clear insight in my own role in the play that seemed to be about to play out. On Alderaan I had been quite reluctant when Bail dropped the suggestion that I should support a rebellion from afar. When I met my old friends in the old Bendu Temple which formed the basement of the Jedi Temple I had felt more certain. We had to beat the Sith somehow. Leaving the galaxy in their hands without even trying to put up some resistance was really not an option. Now I felt even more certain. The old man hadn't spoken a lot and he hadn't really given me any advice either, but after talking to him (literally) I felt more secure.

    I had thought my destiny was to withdraw and protect Luke, but now I realised that it had been a decision made in a state of shock after Anakin's betrayal and Padmé's death. If I was able to contribute, I had to do more, without revealing myself to the galaxy as a whole. I knew that Ahsoka would be the perfect operational officer in our little resistance operation.

    Meeting her had really lifted my spirits. She had officially been Anakin's padawan but somehow I felt responsible for her too. Being her grandmaster I had more like fatherly feelings towards her and she was one who'd proven time and time again she could be trusted.

    And I had got proof that there were other Jedi who had survived Order 66.

    If there was one, there could be more.

    There was this weird boy I had seen when I departed from Nar Shadda. I didn't think much of it in the moment I left, but after departure I came to think that he really resembled Caleb Dume, Depa's apprentice a lot. There had been something about that boy… Maybe I had to ask Ahsoka trying to look him up. And what about lost apprentices such as Ferus Olin? He had left the Order voluntarily, but he had always been a reliable and fair young man. Maybe he would contribute to a rebellion too?

    I feel stronger now, and I think that whatever the future will throw at me, I can face it. I'm not alone anymore.
     
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  13. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Super reflections and sense of resolve =D=
     
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  14. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    Scribble 41: Written in Sand

    Dear diary, when I began my scribbling in this book I didn't think it would become a full diary, but now there's only a couple of pages left in it. When I look back to the first pages I wrote I realise that I have come a long way since I first set my foot on Tatooine with little Luke. I was so full of sorrow and regret that it almost paralysed me.

    It still does, but not quite as often.

    Luke is doing well with his uncle and aunt. I cannot visit, for the safety of everyone, but sometimes I check on them from a distance. I'm really becoming an old hermit. I have met other survivors and that was a great relief. Even though I don't meet them frequently I know they're out there somewhere.

    And I'm part of a rebellion to be. We cannot let the Sith, the Emperor, win and the darkness engulf the galaxy. We have to fight, one way or another.

    Young Ahsoka has already begun working. We heard rumours of a group of young Force sensitives on a remote planet and she's off to investigate the rumours now. I gave her the code name 'Fulcrum' since I have a strong feeling that she will be the one who binds the fractions of this entire project together.

    I will continue my studies with Qui-Gon. It's a great relief that he's here, even though it's in the form of a Force Ghost. Through my years as a young Master for Anakin I really missed his advice and experience.

    As for myself… I sometimes wonder how it got to this. I wonder how much of it is a result of my mistakes and wrong judgements? Could I have done something more to save Qui-Gon's life that fateful day in Theed? Should I have rejected his last wish and not trained Anakin? Should I have trained Anakin differently or let a more experienced Master take him as his Padawan? There are so many questions left and so few answers. Sometimes I feel like this entire disaster is my fault alone and that everything I ever did, every decision I ever made lead us to this. I hope it's not true. I really, really hope it is not. And yet, how could I know? How could I ever know for certain?

    All I ever wanted was to become the best Jedi I could be, and where am I now? Alone on desolated spot on the verge of wild space. The Jedi Order as such is gone and whatever happens, I doubt we will be able to rebuild it - at least not the way it was. There's too few of us left. I have learned the hard way that one should never, ever give up and I will not. There's always hope, there has to be. If there's one thing we have to cling to, it's 'hope'.

    I'm not sure if my own story is ending here. There was a time when I was certain of it, now I'm not. I will store this book (and the new, empty ones) in a hidden place in this hut. Maybe Luke will find them some day when I'm gone and learn about the past. After all the presence is a result of the past, of doings and wrongdoings, of decisions and misunderstandings, and if not anything else we may learn from the past.

    I may be wrong, but I will keep writing, if nothing else so at least to keep my own sanity through the years to come. It may very well be that nobody will ever find my scribblings, lest read it.

    It might be for the best if my lifes' story is written in sand.







    oOo The End oOo
     
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  15. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Poignant musings as to what is and might have been with better knowledge or choices. =D= Congratulations on completing the diary. @};-
     
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  16. Findswoman

    Findswoman Fanfic and Pancakes and Waffles Mod (in Pink) star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2014
    @Kahara recommended this diary to me, and I’d heard very good things about it from several other readers, too. Now I’ve finally read it all the way through, and I’m so glad that I did! I love how far-reaching you’ve made Obi-Wan’s story: we see him watching baby!Luke, settling in on Tatooine, keeping in touch with ghost!Qui-Gon, negotiating with the Tuskens, even getting the chance to return to Coruscant to meet and help out other Jedi survivors and help Bail kickstart the Rebellion as we know it. All with that characteristic wry Obi-Wan humor! I love the idea that he has not been idle all those years Luke has been growing up!

    I really like the geographical details you’ve given us for Tatooine, and that it has some oases and non-desert terrain too (a nice break from the whole one-biome thing). Also, the Tuskens’ sacred place was one of the most intriguing details for me, so I was curious if you had a backstory in mind for it. :) (Really, I appreciate the way you portrayed the Tuskens in general—as actual people with a culture, not just mindless savages. I wonder how that one fellow learned Basic!)

    Wonderful work here—a gem of a DDC that I’m glad I got to know. Thanks so much for sharing this tale with us! =D=
     
  17. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    Thank you so much for your nice comments @Findswoman. I really appreciate it. I was a bit worried that I mixed up too much but I wanted Obi-Wan's diary to be somewhat coherent with some of my other stories, so - yes there is a backstory for the Tusken's sacred place ;) .
     
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  18. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Very late comment, but wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! Your Obi-Wan characterization is so good and I really like how you've given him the beginnings of a new life that matches with what we know, but has so much more to it. There's still a lot of sadness in what brought him to Tatooine, with all the losses he's been through. But the future seems not as empty as he may have thought. @};-

    And I agree with @Findswoman that the Tusken parts in the story were really interesting; just enough to get the feeling that there is so much more to their story than what we know from the movies. But it also ties back and makes sense with what we've seen on screen as well. Very cool! :)
     
  19. CaraJinn

    CaraJinn Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2018
    The "Tusken part" of the story is loosely linked to another story of mine, where I took some inspiration from the story of Sharad Hett and from A'Yark in the "Kenobi" book. My story is quite different though, but I thought I could give them the same feeling of humanity as we see in the aforementioned stories. They live in a harsh and unforgiving environment so that will make them tough beings, I guess. And at least some of them know a little about jedi as Sharad Hett once was one of them.
     
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