Saga - PT The Way of Things (Obitine, Korkie, Anakin, Yoda, Others, OC's)

Title: The Way of Things
Co-Author(s): N/A
Timeframe: 32 BBY
Genre: Angst, Drama, Romance
Canonicity: AU
Type: Short (for now), Multi-chapter
Character(s): Obi-Wan Kenobi, Satine Kryze, Korkie Kryze, Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, Shmi Skywalker, assorted OC’s
Summary: After being forbidden from training Anakin, Obi-Wan is ordered to take a vacation and he flees to Mandalore and into the arms of his former lover. Once there, secrets long-hidden are revealed and the course of Obi-Wan’s life is forever changed.
Last Updated: August 2023
Status: WIP
Other Relevant Information:
Download Link(s): Coming by end of 2023
Disclaimer: Star Wars was created by George Lucas. LucasFilm Ltd. and all its content are currently owned and distributed by the Walt Disney Company. No copyright infringement is intended.


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Prologue


”Promise…me you’ll…train…the boy.”

Obi-Wan nodded as tears cascaded down his cheek while he held his dying master in his arms.

“Yes, Master. I…I promise.”

Qui-Gon used every bit of his remaining strength to raise his hand to Obi-Wan’s face. His finger traced the young man’s tears.

“Pada…” he tried, his coughs interrupting his words. “Obi, my…”

His hand fell. His eyes slipped shut. Obi-Wan pulled his upper body up against his own and buried his face in his master’s neck; sobs wracking his exhausted body and his fractured mind and spirit.

Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was dead.

“All my fault,” Obi-Wan muttered as his grief spilled out in a torrent of new tears and wails of sorrow.

 

Obi-Wan devastated by the loss of his friend. A moving prologue

 

@devilinthedetails @earlybird-obi-wan - Thank you both so much for reading and replying.

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Chapter One


Naboo
Theed Royal Palace
32 BBY


The Turret Room was serene and mostly quiet. The only sounds were the calming waters in a small fountain and the light taps of Master Yoda’s gimmer stick as he paced before the kneeling Obi-Wan Kenobi. When the small Jedi came to a stop in front of the young man, he pinned him with a hard stare.

“Confer on you the level of Jedi Knight, the Council does,” Yoda began. “But agree with you taking this boy as your Padawan Learner, I do not.”

“Qui-Gon believed in him,” Obi-Wan burst out.

Yoda huffed. “The Chosen One, the boy may be. However, grave danger I sense in his training. But after much debate, agree with Qui-Gon’s assessment the Council does. Trained, the boy will be. But not by you.”

Obi-Wan jumped to his feet. “I made a promise to Qui-Gon that I would train Anakin! I have a responsibility to…”

He was cut off by Yoda’s gimmer stick smacking across his shins. Tears sprung to his eyes, not only from the pain but from the acute grief of losing and missing his master. He again sank to one knee, eyes cloudy and downcast.

“Train the boy, you will not,” Yoda was firm as he stepped right in front of Obi-Wan and rested a clawed hand on the younger Jedi’s knee. “Unfair is the burden Qui-Gon placed upon you. Ready for this burden, you are not. Healing, you require, of mind, body and heart. Recuperative leave, you will take. Six months.”

“You’re banishing me?!” Obi-Wan burst out, hurt evident in his voice.

Yoda gave him another small, soft hit with the gimmer stick. “Banishing you, I am not. Understand your loss, I do. My own master, killed he was on a mission. Time to heal, I required. Time to heal, you require. Emotional and psychological trauma, you have suffered.”

Obi-Wan sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat. He knew there was no use in fighting again Yoda. Once he’d made up his mind there was no way to change it.

“Attend the funeral pyre, you will,” the diminutive Jedi ordered next. “The beginning of healing it will be for you. Bring the boy with you, you will. Learn to let go, he must. Learn to let go, you must.”

Obi-Wan looked up. “Yes, Master. I’d…I’d like to light the pyre if I may.”

“Light it you may,” Yoda agreed. “Come. Walk with me, you will.”

Obi-Wan obeyed and walked along slowly with Yoda as he began to tell his great-grand padawan the story of his own master who had been killed on a mission when Yoda himself had been a padawan.


/////


Obi-Wan appreciated Yoda’s attempt at sympathy with the telling of his own story of loss, but in the end, it hadn’t made the younger Jedi feel any better. As Yoda walked away and Obi-Wan entered the spacious room Queen Amidala had set aside for him and Anakin he found the boy sitting on the floor, legs pulled up against his chest and arms wrapped around said legs.

Obi-Wan slowly approached, careful not to startle the boy who seemed not to have noticed his presence. He sat down cross-legged in front of the child and softly called his name.

Anakin lifted his head and sniffled as he met Obi-Wan’s stare. Tears were streaming down the boy’s cheeks and quiet sobs had begun to shake his small body. Obi-Wan scooted closer and reached out and grasped Anakin’s hands in his own.

Unable to sit still any longer, Anakin threw himself into Obi-Wan’s lap and wrapped his thin arms around his neck. Obi-Wan wrapped his own arms around the boy and tried to provide whatever comfort he could, but he knew Anakin missed his mother desperately and part of the Jedi wanted to take him back to Tatooine and…

And what, Kenobi, he thought to himself. The boy was free and there was no way he would send him back to a world where that very freedom would once again be threatened. His conscience would never allow him to do so.

He pulled Anakin tightly against him and whispered softly to the child.

“It’s going to be okay, Anakin,” he reassured the young boy even as he himself did not believe that anything would ever be okay again. “But, I have something to tell you.”

Anakin looked up. “What?”

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and explained to Anakin that the council have agreed that he will become a Jedi, but have forbidden him to be the one to train him.

Anakin’s outburst was immediate. “But that’s not fair! You promised Mr. Qui-Gon you’d be the one to train me!”

In that instant, Obi-Wan began to understand why Yoda felt he wasn’t ready to train anyone when the spike of relief he felt at not having to train this boy careened through his mind and heart.

Obi-Wan sighed as he continued to look at the now angry child. “I know, Anakin. I know I promised Qui-Gon, but…”

“But what!?” Anakin demanded as he stood up, his lower lip stuck out in a very unbecoming display of pouting.

Obi-Wan moved as well and knelt on one knee as he had before Yoda. “Anakin, the council feel…and I feel that I need some time. Time to heal and…come to terms with everything that has happened; with my master’s death and I…I can’t do that if I’m training you, or anyone else. I can’t do that at the Temple.”

“You’re not even staying!?” came his next cry. “What will happen to me? Who will train me?”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “I don’t know. In truth, you’re still a bit young to be an apprentice just yet. You’ll be settled into the Initiate quarters and assigned to classes designed to help you catch up with you agemates. You’ll begin to learn about the Force and how to access it and you’ll learn basic skills that will one day lead to you being chosen as an apprentice.”

That seemed to calm Anakin somewhat, though Obi-Wan could still feel the boy’s emotions rumbling restlessly inside him and could sense he was not exactly happy.

“Okay,” Anakin conceded finally.

Obi-Wan rested a hand on Anakin’s shoulder as he stood. “Qui-Gon believed in you very much, Anakin. He knew that someday you will be a great Jedi Knight.”

Anakin beamed and his turbulent emotions finally appeared to settle. But Obi-Wan could still sense something…disturbing.

Just beneath the surface.


/////


Hours later, night had fallen and the Jedi High Council, joined by Obi-Wan, Anakin, Queen Amidala, Chancellor Palpatine and many others had gathered inside the Funeral Temple for the brief service and lighting of the pyre that would take place. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn’s body had been placed atop the catafalque just before everyone had entered the small space. It was quiet and peaceful and lit only with the light from the few torches which had been placed around the perimeter of the room.

Obi-Wan was fighting with everything inside him not to let the tears bearing down on him fall. He refused to let any single member of the Council see him falter. He refused to let anyone see him as weak; as anything other than the epitome of a perfect, stoic and in control Jedi Knight.

Obi-Wan had lit the pyre as he’d requested and as he stood watching the body of his master burn, he felt Anakin grasp his hand beside him. He looked down and noticed tears pouring down his cheeks. He squeezed Anakin’s hand in his own and shifted his gaze back to the pyre.


/////


Mace Windu leaned closer to Yoda and spoke softly. “There’s no doubt the mysterious warrior Kenobi destroyed was a Sith.”

The small green Jedi Master nodded slowly. “Always two, there are. No more, no less. A master and an apprentice.”

Mace’s eyes drifted across the small funeral temple to land on the still, solemn form of Obi-Wan.

“But which did Kenobi destroy?” he questioned. “The master…or the apprentice.”

Yoda didn’t speak, but his head turned almost imperceptibly to his left so his eyes were set upon Chancellor Palpatine. His eyes narrowed and he felt a surge of…something. He didn’t know what and he was certain the feeling hadn’t come from the force.

The old master just knew something wasn’t right.


/////


Obi-Wan just wanted the parade to be over. Everything had become too much; too much light, too much noise, too many people telling him how sorry they were about Qui-Gon, too many looks of concern from the council members.

“We are indebted to you for your bravery, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Palpatine said as he approached the newly-made Jedi Knight. “And you young Skywalker. We shall watch your career with great interest.”

The older man patted Anakin’s shoulder as he stepped around them and continued on his way. Yoda and Mace shared a look as he swiftly moved beyond them.

Obi-Wan knelt in front of Yoda and met the old Jedi’s eyes. “When are we to depart for the temple, Master?”

“Eager to go, you are,” Yoda said as a statement rather than a question.

Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes, Master. This place…I wish to leave it behind.”

Yoda stared directly into Obi-Wan’s eyes. “Beautiful place, Naboo is, young one. Appreciate it, you should.”

Obi-Wan sighed and hung his head. “This place will never be beautiful to me, Master Yoda. It can’t be.”

Yoda reached out and lifted Obi-Wan’s chin. “Beautiful it will be, someday for you.”

From beside the pair, Mace instructed everyone to head to the shuttles. Their time on Naboo had come to an end and it was time to head back to the Jedi Temple.

Obi-Wan guided Anakin onto the ship and as they sat down, he took a deep breath and released it slowly. He was more than glad to be returning home, but he couldn’t help but wonder what horrors might await him when he entered the temple without the steadfast, comforting presence of his master beside him.

In that moment, fear began to seep into his veins and wind it’s way around his heart.

 

Superbly touching Prologue and first chapter with understandable emotions from every point of view: Obi-Wan's sense of obligation to fulfill a promise followed by relief that he doesn't have to train Anakin or anyone else. Yoda was right that a time of healing is needed.



As a big side note, the conversation between Yoda and Mace at the end and the sensing of something ... very much foreshadowing of an ominous threat centered on Palpatine.

 

I like how you are writing the sorrow of Obi-Wan. Anakin is mysterious. And Yoda and Mace Windu sensing something dark in Palpatine. Excellent

 

A-ha! This is already a very interesting AU, and it promises to get even more interesting as things move on...

First interesting aspect: the Jedi Council in this 'verse understand grief and knows it needs to be processed!

I absolutely loved these lines, and I sense that allowing Obi-Wan to take the time he needs to heal will result in him leaving the Jedi Order in an entirely different manner than what usually happens. (I also loved the detail of Yoda smacking Obi-Wan across the shins with his stick. The mental image was just precious.)

Second interesting aspect: for Yoda, the need to heal is personal; he's been through it too. I wonder if you have the details of that backstory fleshed out, or if you just want the reader to make it up.

And this:

Yoda understands what Obi-Wan and Anakin have in common, and therefore that putting them together would be a bad idea.

The conversation between Obi-Wan and Anakin was pitch-perfect, and the way the Jedi will handle Anakin's case sounds a lot more sensible than what happened in the movies:

Hay, lookie, Anakin will get to know other children his age before being sent away on missions with a master? That almost sounds like a good idea!

But then, there's all the disturbing details that are already there. Anakin, first:

And Palpatine:

And even Obi-Wan:

The Jedi way, this is not! And I'm very intrigued to see if/how all these characters will address these titbits that need to be addressed, or if they'll lose the forest for the trees again.

Fantastic start!

 

This is such an interesting AU already!

I love Yoda's wisdom and compassion here in recognizing Obi-Wan's trauma and knowing he needs time to heal and grieve. If only the Jedi would have realized this in canon.

Maybe it's because I'm getting older myself but watching the prequels now I'm so struck by just how young Anakin was in TPM (and Padmé and Obi-Wan, too). You did a great job writing him as the sad, scared, confused, angry little boy he is in this scene.

And speaking of doing a great job on characterization, Obi-Wan is perfect here! You really have a fantastic grasp on these characters.

Yes, Yoda! Trust the Force, or your intuition, or whatever is telling you something isn't right with Palpatine!

Again, this is so interesting and off to a really great start! I can't wait to see how things play out from here.

 

I don't know how you managed to make a scene that I've seen so many times THAT MUCH SADDER but w o w. The slight variation/addition to what we see on screen adds so much, and it makes the whole thing more compelling.

I really liked Yoda's explanation here! It's interesting to see his reasoning why he isn't having Obi-Wan train Anakin, and it feels like a very in-character choice even though it's so different from what happens in canon.

Oof, I can definitely see how it would feel like a banishment even though it's not intended that way. The backstory that you've given Yoda is really intriguing and I like that it allows him to relate to Obi-Wan's grief even though Obi-Wan isn't entirely ready to take any reassurance from that yet.

Really liked this part of the conversation as well.

Ouch. Yeah, that's all a lot for a nine-year-old even without going into all the other pain that Anakin is dealing with. It seems like in a way his open grief is able to express what Obi-Wan doesn't feel like he ought to while saying goodbye to Qui-Gon.

I like that Obi-Wan isn't teaching Anakin but is still determined to make sure that he has a good life, even as he's not sure whether he and the Jedi are the right place for him.

This is a painful truth to realize but hopefully it means that they will both start on somewhat better footing in whatever paths they end up taking. (Though there are some hints of trouble there too, so it'll be interesting to see if things actually turn out for the best or not.)

Also liked that Anakin is actually somewhat open to learning with the others instead of in an apprenticeship right away; it seems pretty on-point with how much more outgoing he is in his earliest appearances.

Another bit that I liked! Though the concern that something is off with Anakin is definitely something a little ominous, it still seems like a positive that he's starting out his training with actually hearing those words. Sometimes saying the things out loud is important.

Very interesting that there seems to be a little suspicion forming this early on!

I really enjoyed this insight into a moment that I never gave much thought to! It makes so much sense that this would be overwhelming and not a great time for Obi-Wan.

Just thought this was a really sweet although somber moment.

Hmm, that doesn't seem like the best situation. I'm really wondering what comes next for everyone in this AU!

 

He is the perfect image of a knight, and what a cost to him ...

Nice speech to "parent" a hurting and disappointed child, way to go, Obi-Wan!