Fic: Deliverance - Star Wars The Clone Wars
Title: Deliverance
Author: immertreu
Word count: ~1800
Summary: Yoda comforts Obi-Wan during one of his darkest moments.
A/N: Inspired by the episode “The Lawless” (season 5, episode 16)
Big thanks to my beta IcyWaters86!
“Remember, my dear Obi-Wan. I've loved you always. I always will.” - Satine Kryze
Deliverance
by immertreu
March 6-8, 2015
Yoda intercepted Obi-Wan Kenobi when the other Jedi Master returned from his disastrous trip to Mandalore to save one of his oldest friends.
The ancient Jedi didn't have to say anything, and Obi-Wan wasn't in the mood for talking either. He simply bowed and fell in step slightly behind and beside the much smaller Master who had met him at his transport, both of them ignoring the curious whispers and glances from maintenance crew and other workers who were present to see the Death Watch shuttle land.
Obi-Wan let himself be led to a secluded and tiny garden, hidden from prying eyes and known only to few even among the Jedi. Qui-Gon Jinn had often found peace and tranquility here. Both would be needed by his former Padawan today.
The young Master had called ahead right after lift-off from Mandalore, so the Council was aware of Satine's death and that her planet was at war, the fighting caused by the crime lords and the Sith. It had been enough for Mace Windu to leave for the Senate building right away. Yoda, though, had more pressing matters to attend to.
The small Jedi Master had sometimes wondered what his life would have been like if he were just a tiny bit taller - not in envy or regret, but as a thought exercise for entertainment merely. Today, though, he was particularly glad of his tiny stature because it allowed him to look up into his friend's eyes that were riveted to the floor.
Obi-Wan wasn't walking blindly. Far from it, in fact, because the Force was currently replacing his unseeing eyes. Yet the normally animated, often amused, occasionally aggravated, sometimes cunning orbs were a flat, empty gray. Dead. Obi-Wan's usual spark of personality was just - gone. Even after Qui-Gon's death, as a Padawan who had just lost the most important person in his life, he hadn't been this still and absent-minded.
Worried, Yoda ushered his friend into the green oasis and waved the door shut behind them for privacy. Then he motioned for Obi-Wan to take a seat on the stone bench situated under a large tree, but the younger Master opted to sit on the ground, cross-legged and thus only slightly taller than Yoda who chose a nearby boulder as his base.
Yoda had sat like this with friends in needs, with Padawans or Initiates, sometimes Masters, more times than he could ever recount. For the first time, though, he didn't dare to break the silence. Obi-Wan had to do this on his own, when he was ready. Beating him with the proverbial gimer stick just yet wouldn't help.
Qui-Gon had been the only one able to reach his Padawan when he was in a similar state, back in his younger days when exhaustion or hard lessons learned had overwhelmed the teen's defenses and sent him into stupor or silent contemplation. Yoda ruefully considered that Obi-Wan had never done anything the easy way. Now the younger man sat with his head bowed, eyes closed, so Yoda settled down to wait.
He shut his eyes as well and concentrated on the currents of the Force surrounding him and his companion. Time passed unnoticed. Suddenly, Yoda's ears rose in surprise when he didn't encounter the expected sadness or grief, and not even a hint of anger or - Force forbid! - hatred. Instead he sensed acceptance and something that felt like...muteness?...in his friend who was deep in thought.
His eyes shot open, but Obi-Wan hadn't moved. Concerned, he reached out with the Force again, but the eerie dumbness was still there. It made his nose itch. Obi-Wan must have hidden away a memory.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan spoke. “Master.” His voice sounded subdued and serious, but at least he was talking again.
Yoda looked up and was relieved to find a semblance of the familiar twinkle in Obi-Wan's eyes. “Hmm?” he replied innocently.
Obi-Wan actually looked amused. “You tickle.”
“Hmm,” Yoda repeated, unrepentant. “Worry me you did.” It wasn't the opening he had been hoping for, but it would have to do. “Trying to see your pain I was.”
Obi-Wan dropped his gaze again, all good humor gone. “I'm sorry,” he whispered, and Yoda knew the younger man wasn't talking to him anymore. The haunted gaze had returned, and the emptiness of his stare combined with the dented Mandalorian armor he still wore, with blood spatters and Force knew what on his arms and front, made him look completely different from the normally serene Jedi Master he was.
Underneath all this, though, he was still the same man who treated every being with gentleness and care, who helped the innocent and fought like the devil when faced with evil. The same boy who had grumbled about Qui-Gon's tendency to pick up strays - and ended up feeding said beings behind his Master's back. One whose compassion rivaled that of his maverick Master who went out of his way to fulfill the will of the Force and assist those in need.
Shaking himself out of his memories and raising his gimer stick threateningly, Yoda said, “Brood you should not. Specialty of your Master's it was.”
Obi-Wan speared him with a glance that was closer to life than anything else Yoda had seen from his young friend today. He pounced on this spark of awareness, seizing it to get Obi-Wan's thoughts back to the here and now. “Not your fault it was,” the ancient Jedi said, gimer stick at the ready - just in case.
Obi-Wan only managed to reply with a faint “But...” before Yoda's stick poked him in the chest - not really hurting him, but it wasn't a gentle touch either.
“No,” Yoda admonished, and almost grinned when Obi-Wan tried to shrink back from the next anticipated blow while staying seated. “No but!” he said more forcefully, trying to make Obi-Wan understand, to get him to remember his training. “Good people die they do. Know this you do. Save everyone we cannot. Master your feelings you must.”
Obi-Wan nodded, but some of his previous defiance remained. He hadn't been Qui-Gon's Padawan for nothing. “I got her killed. She asked for my help, and Maul murdered her just to make a point. To hurt me.” His voice was pained, his words more clipped than even his natural Coruscanti accent allowed.
Yoda's ears drooped in dismay. He settled back and regarded his friend who was often wise beyond his years but also painfully young and inexperienced compared to a long-living being like himself. Guidance, the young sometimes needed, no matter their inner strength. “A trap it was. Killed Satine be, even if you had not gone.”
Obi-Wan's lips compressed in denial, but he didn't voice his doubts out loud. He knew that Yoda was right - the acceptance in his Force aura was testament to that. Instead, he confirmed what the old Master had already suspected and feared: “He killed her to make me angry, to make me turn to the Dark Side.”
Yoda suppressed a sigh. Finally, they had reached what had troubled Obi-Wan ever since his return, causing the muteness of hidden thoughts. “Succeed he could never do,” he stated.
Startled, Obi-Wan looked at him, a question in his eyes.
Satisfied that he finally had the younger man's undivided attention, Yoda added what he had meant to say earlier but knew wouldn't have been heard. “Correctly you understood my words. Worry you should not. Doomed to fail from the beginning Maul was.”
Obi-Wan shook himself as if cold, for the first time noticing the bulky, unyielding armor that made it impossible for him to get comfortable in his cross-legged seat. He squirmed but finally settled down again and asked, “How can you be so sure? I...we...” He paused and swallowed before trying again, “She...”
Yoda interrupted him before he could say the damning words out loud. “Know that I do.”
Obi-Wan's eyes went impossibly wide, but he regained his control with admirable speed, worthy of the accomplished Jedi he was. “Master?” he said, asking - no, demanding - an explanation. His voice rose a notch in agitation, challenging Yoda but also showing him that the ancient Master had been right. Obi-Wan was far from being beaten or lost. He just needed someone to confirm what he already knew and to order his thoughts that warred with his troubled heart.
Yoda finally got up from his perch atop the stone and went to stand before Obi-Wan, meeting his gaze head-on. “Your feelings not new to me they are. Never act on them you did, hm?”
Obi-Wan could only shake his head, uncharacteristically lost for words again. His anxious eyes were fixed on the familiar face in front of him.
Relieved, Yoda nodded in confirmation. “No need for me telling you this. Know you as the Jedi you are, I do. Human you are. Compassionate you are. Friends you need. Never betray us you would. Never doubted you I have.”
This was the highest praise Yoda could ever give, and hardly ever did he utter such words out loud. But Obi-Wan was special, more than he himself knew, and if he needed to hear this sentiment to regain his balance and push the unnecessary shame from his heart, so be it. If Qui-Gon were still alive, he would have said the same. Maybe a bit different in tone and wording, but they had both known what a great Jedi Obi-Wan would turn out to be, despite or maybe even because of his difficult start into his apprenticeship. His fight for the right path he would walk in his life had been long and difficult, but the Force had deemed it so. It seemed it had yet to end.
After a moment, Yoda added, “Cunning you may be in battle. Lie to me you never could.”
Obi-Wan had to work hard to get his next words out. “Does the Council know?”
At that, Yoda smiled and prodded him with his cane one more time to drive the lesson home. “Know not they do. Never they will. Know you as well as I do they do not. Speaking to you as your oldest friend, I am. No more, no less.”
Smiling in relief and gratitude, Obi-Wan bowed as low as he could while sitting on the floor and clad in stiff Mandalorian armor. There really wasn't anything to say after that.
Yoda chuckled at the undignified sight and patted the reddish-gold mop of hair presented to him with his claws. “Meditate you will,” he demanded, accepting the bob of the still-bowed head as confirmation, and left for his own meditation when he felt the quiet gathering of the Force around Obi-Wan.
Qui-Gon would be proud.
The End
Author: immertreu
Word count: ~1800
Summary: Yoda comforts Obi-Wan during one of his darkest moments.
A/N: Inspired by the episode “The Lawless” (season 5, episode 16)
Big thanks to my beta IcyWaters86!
“Remember, my dear Obi-Wan. I've loved you always. I always will.” - Satine Kryze
Deliverance
by immertreu
March 6-8, 2015
Yoda intercepted Obi-Wan Kenobi when the other Jedi Master returned from his disastrous trip to Mandalore to save one of his oldest friends.
The ancient Jedi didn't have to say anything, and Obi-Wan wasn't in the mood for talking either. He simply bowed and fell in step slightly behind and beside the much smaller Master who had met him at his transport, both of them ignoring the curious whispers and glances from maintenance crew and other workers who were present to see the Death Watch shuttle land.
Obi-Wan let himself be led to a secluded and tiny garden, hidden from prying eyes and known only to few even among the Jedi. Qui-Gon Jinn had often found peace and tranquility here. Both would be needed by his former Padawan today.
The young Master had called ahead right after lift-off from Mandalore, so the Council was aware of Satine's death and that her planet was at war, the fighting caused by the crime lords and the Sith. It had been enough for Mace Windu to leave for the Senate building right away. Yoda, though, had more pressing matters to attend to.
The small Jedi Master had sometimes wondered what his life would have been like if he were just a tiny bit taller - not in envy or regret, but as a thought exercise for entertainment merely. Today, though, he was particularly glad of his tiny stature because it allowed him to look up into his friend's eyes that were riveted to the floor.
Obi-Wan wasn't walking blindly. Far from it, in fact, because the Force was currently replacing his unseeing eyes. Yet the normally animated, often amused, occasionally aggravated, sometimes cunning orbs were a flat, empty gray. Dead. Obi-Wan's usual spark of personality was just - gone. Even after Qui-Gon's death, as a Padawan who had just lost the most important person in his life, he hadn't been this still and absent-minded.
Worried, Yoda ushered his friend into the green oasis and waved the door shut behind them for privacy. Then he motioned for Obi-Wan to take a seat on the stone bench situated under a large tree, but the younger Master opted to sit on the ground, cross-legged and thus only slightly taller than Yoda who chose a nearby boulder as his base.
Yoda had sat like this with friends in needs, with Padawans or Initiates, sometimes Masters, more times than he could ever recount. For the first time, though, he didn't dare to break the silence. Obi-Wan had to do this on his own, when he was ready. Beating him with the proverbial gimer stick just yet wouldn't help.
Qui-Gon had been the only one able to reach his Padawan when he was in a similar state, back in his younger days when exhaustion or hard lessons learned had overwhelmed the teen's defenses and sent him into stupor or silent contemplation. Yoda ruefully considered that Obi-Wan had never done anything the easy way. Now the younger man sat with his head bowed, eyes closed, so Yoda settled down to wait.
He shut his eyes as well and concentrated on the currents of the Force surrounding him and his companion. Time passed unnoticed. Suddenly, Yoda's ears rose in surprise when he didn't encounter the expected sadness or grief, and not even a hint of anger or - Force forbid! - hatred. Instead he sensed acceptance and something that felt like...muteness?...in his friend who was deep in thought.
His eyes shot open, but Obi-Wan hadn't moved. Concerned, he reached out with the Force again, but the eerie dumbness was still there. It made his nose itch. Obi-Wan must have hidden away a memory.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan spoke. “Master.” His voice sounded subdued and serious, but at least he was talking again.
Yoda looked up and was relieved to find a semblance of the familiar twinkle in Obi-Wan's eyes. “Hmm?” he replied innocently.
Obi-Wan actually looked amused. “You tickle.”
“Hmm,” Yoda repeated, unrepentant. “Worry me you did.” It wasn't the opening he had been hoping for, but it would have to do. “Trying to see your pain I was.”
Obi-Wan dropped his gaze again, all good humor gone. “I'm sorry,” he whispered, and Yoda knew the younger man wasn't talking to him anymore. The haunted gaze had returned, and the emptiness of his stare combined with the dented Mandalorian armor he still wore, with blood spatters and Force knew what on his arms and front, made him look completely different from the normally serene Jedi Master he was.
Underneath all this, though, he was still the same man who treated every being with gentleness and care, who helped the innocent and fought like the devil when faced with evil. The same boy who had grumbled about Qui-Gon's tendency to pick up strays - and ended up feeding said beings behind his Master's back. One whose compassion rivaled that of his maverick Master who went out of his way to fulfill the will of the Force and assist those in need.
Shaking himself out of his memories and raising his gimer stick threateningly, Yoda said, “Brood you should not. Specialty of your Master's it was.”
Obi-Wan speared him with a glance that was closer to life than anything else Yoda had seen from his young friend today. He pounced on this spark of awareness, seizing it to get Obi-Wan's thoughts back to the here and now. “Not your fault it was,” the ancient Jedi said, gimer stick at the ready - just in case.
Obi-Wan only managed to reply with a faint “But...” before Yoda's stick poked him in the chest - not really hurting him, but it wasn't a gentle touch either.
“No,” Yoda admonished, and almost grinned when Obi-Wan tried to shrink back from the next anticipated blow while staying seated. “No but!” he said more forcefully, trying to make Obi-Wan understand, to get him to remember his training. “Good people die they do. Know this you do. Save everyone we cannot. Master your feelings you must.”
Obi-Wan nodded, but some of his previous defiance remained. He hadn't been Qui-Gon's Padawan for nothing. “I got her killed. She asked for my help, and Maul murdered her just to make a point. To hurt me.” His voice was pained, his words more clipped than even his natural Coruscanti accent allowed.
Yoda's ears drooped in dismay. He settled back and regarded his friend who was often wise beyond his years but also painfully young and inexperienced compared to a long-living being like himself. Guidance, the young sometimes needed, no matter their inner strength. “A trap it was. Killed Satine be, even if you had not gone.”
Obi-Wan's lips compressed in denial, but he didn't voice his doubts out loud. He knew that Yoda was right - the acceptance in his Force aura was testament to that. Instead, he confirmed what the old Master had already suspected and feared: “He killed her to make me angry, to make me turn to the Dark Side.”
Yoda suppressed a sigh. Finally, they had reached what had troubled Obi-Wan ever since his return, causing the muteness of hidden thoughts. “Succeed he could never do,” he stated.
Startled, Obi-Wan looked at him, a question in his eyes.
Satisfied that he finally had the younger man's undivided attention, Yoda added what he had meant to say earlier but knew wouldn't have been heard. “Correctly you understood my words. Worry you should not. Doomed to fail from the beginning Maul was.”
Obi-Wan shook himself as if cold, for the first time noticing the bulky, unyielding armor that made it impossible for him to get comfortable in his cross-legged seat. He squirmed but finally settled down again and asked, “How can you be so sure? I...we...” He paused and swallowed before trying again, “She...”
Yoda interrupted him before he could say the damning words out loud. “Know that I do.”
Obi-Wan's eyes went impossibly wide, but he regained his control with admirable speed, worthy of the accomplished Jedi he was. “Master?” he said, asking - no, demanding - an explanation. His voice rose a notch in agitation, challenging Yoda but also showing him that the ancient Master had been right. Obi-Wan was far from being beaten or lost. He just needed someone to confirm what he already knew and to order his thoughts that warred with his troubled heart.
Yoda finally got up from his perch atop the stone and went to stand before Obi-Wan, meeting his gaze head-on. “Your feelings not new to me they are. Never act on them you did, hm?”
Obi-Wan could only shake his head, uncharacteristically lost for words again. His anxious eyes were fixed on the familiar face in front of him.
Relieved, Yoda nodded in confirmation. “No need for me telling you this. Know you as the Jedi you are, I do. Human you are. Compassionate you are. Friends you need. Never betray us you would. Never doubted you I have.”
This was the highest praise Yoda could ever give, and hardly ever did he utter such words out loud. But Obi-Wan was special, more than he himself knew, and if he needed to hear this sentiment to regain his balance and push the unnecessary shame from his heart, so be it. If Qui-Gon were still alive, he would have said the same. Maybe a bit different in tone and wording, but they had both known what a great Jedi Obi-Wan would turn out to be, despite or maybe even because of his difficult start into his apprenticeship. His fight for the right path he would walk in his life had been long and difficult, but the Force had deemed it so. It seemed it had yet to end.
After a moment, Yoda added, “Cunning you may be in battle. Lie to me you never could.”
Obi-Wan had to work hard to get his next words out. “Does the Council know?”
At that, Yoda smiled and prodded him with his cane one more time to drive the lesson home. “Know not they do. Never they will. Know you as well as I do they do not. Speaking to you as your oldest friend, I am. No more, no less.”
Smiling in relief and gratitude, Obi-Wan bowed as low as he could while sitting on the floor and clad in stiff Mandalorian armor. There really wasn't anything to say after that.
Yoda chuckled at the undignified sight and patted the reddish-gold mop of hair presented to him with his claws. “Meditate you will,” he demanded, accepting the bob of the still-bowed head as confirmation, and left for his own meditation when he felt the quiet gathering of the Force around Obi-Wan.
Qui-Gon would be proud.
The End