The Hermit Shack in the Woods, Saturday Morning

[saddeserthermit]

Yesterday had been... unpleasant. Or at least troublesome. And yes, eventually Obi-Wan would have to have that conversation with Ahsoka he'd been putting off for some time

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[uncertain_dume]

After yesterday, which had involved two conversations about Kanan's past too many, Kanan... Kanan needed to talk. On his own terms, not on the island's. And, preferably, with somebody who had some idea of what he was talking about.

It would've been fitting to say that Kanan had finally swallowed his pride, had sucked it up and opened himself to the Force, let it guide him to Master Kenobi for the guidance he wanted today, but no, he'd looked it up. 'Wooded Unexplored Area' was a vague sort of address, and there had been no small measure of wandering involved, but Kanan had nothing better to do today anyway, and being lost in the woods was still a step up from knowing exactly where he was in town, right then.

When he finally came across the shack - and the wandering eopies, and the meditating Jedi Master - he found himself a bit at a loss. He shifted his weight awkwardly, not wanting to interrupt, and then decided that he'd just... wait. Maybe just stare at the eopies a bit, with some weird sort of dawning realization that he actually missed the galaxy that Fandom had grabbed him from. Sure, everything he did there involved some amount of effort in the 'not getting murdered' department, but at least, from time to time, it made sense.

[saddeserthermit]

Obi-Wan sensed Dume, of course. The boy - man - masked himself well, but there was passing familiarity and history in place. It counted for much. Lost in the Living Force as he was, he did not miss much, but it also meant it took him time to come back to himself, to be one again instead of all.

He would be thankful to realize later that it had taken him minutes, not hours, to slide out of his meditation. He wasn't aware of the passage of time as much when he did so, however, and his mouth spoke before his eyes had even started opening. "Hello, D-- Kanan."

At least he remembered that much.

He opened his eyes and blinked until they adjusted to the light again.

[uncertain_dume]

The corner of Kanan's mouth twitched in a slight hint of a tired smile. There'd been a bit too much Caleb in him yesterday for his liking already, and hearing Master Kenobi stutter over his name like that helped, strangely enough. It let him re-shuffle things, to put them back into perspective.

"Master Kenobi," he said respectfully, giving his head a slight bow. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important?"

[saddeserthermit]

"Merely my morning exercise," Obi-Wan said. "My old Master scolded me frequently over my lacking grasp on the Living Force, and there's no time like the present to make up for that deficiency."

He rose to his feet, brushing grass and twigs off his robe. "Though I should probably find myself a mat, one of these days."

[uncertain_dume]

"It would probably be tidier," Kanan noted, some vague note of amusement in his voice. "Fewer sticks."

That seemed easier to focus on than the thought that idly started to chew at him then, of what Master Billaba would have said about Kanan's own self-imposed disconnect with the Force. His amusement faded, and he frowned thoughtfully, instead.

"Do you have a few minutes, then? For a chat?"

[saddeserthermit]

"And here I was planning to commune with the twigs for a while longer," Obi-Wan said dryly. He smiled faintly at Kanan, and gestured at his shack. "Of course I have time. Please, do come in. Would you like some tea?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Ah, please." Kanan wasn't much of a tea drinker, himself, but he didn't mind it, and drinking something seemed like a neat little barrier, a sort of time frame for him to try to slot his concerns into. He made his way toward the shack. "And thank you. I don't really... I mean, it's been a long time since there's been..."

Wave a hand around, Kanan. That would definitely be more eloquent than you, right now.

"You're the first person I've really been able to talk to about anything in years."

There. That.

[saddeserthermit]

"There are some things I believe only those of us who have survived these past few years can genuinely understand," Obi-Wan said quietly.

He led on ahead, opening the shack door. It was not large, but there was place to sit, and he had his water cooker sitting in his tiny kitchen: he was ambling over there almost immediately.

"I can't attest to having any real wisdom," he said, "But I am glad I can be a touchstone. Considering."

[uncertain_dume]

"You're probably leaps and bounds more set in the 'real wisdom' department than I am, Master Kenobi," Kanan replied, a strained smile going just the slightest bit wry. He didn't sit right away, a years-old habit having him linger in the doorway taking stock of the room he was about to step into before he committed to that much.

It was nothing personal. Kanan did things like this the way some people breathed, these days.

"Force knows I haven't exactly been keeping up on my studies."

[saddeserthermit]

Obi-Wan poured some water into the cooker, then went through the steps to get its heating process going. At least this was a local technology he had mastered fairly quickly.

"I can imagine," he said. "You were how old, when Master Billaba-- passed?"

[uncertain_dume]

'Passed,' he says, like she went peacefully in her sleep. Kanan gave a soft huff at that, a little exhale through his nose that was tired, more than anything.

"Fourteen," he sighed. "It's been eight years."

Eight very busy, very tiring, occasionally horrifying years.

[saddeserthermit]

He had never been anything less than an expert in the field of dancing around unpleasantness.

"I was over ten years older than you were when I lost my Master," Obi-Wan said. With the water on, it was time to set out some cups. "And even then, I felt lost."

Admittedly, he'd also gotten a Padawan shoved at him.

[uncertain_dume]

"I'm sorry," Kanan said, a bit lamely, as his mind worked double-time to reassure the rest of him that having a conversation like this wasn't going to end with handful of clones or worse spilling through the door. "What did you do?"

[saddeserthermit]

"Returned to the Council, let them Knight me," Obi-Wan said. "Got into an awful lot of trouble."

Tea bags? Ah, over there.

"I had Master Yoda to guide me, of course. You have been alone."

[uncertain_dume]

"I've been alone," Kanan confirmed, frowning. Nothing seemed to be crawling out of the woodwork to execute him, so he finally made his way the rest of the way inside. "I have a holocron that Master Billaba gave me, and a recording of the last message you sent."

And his lightsaber, if in pieces. That seemed less important than the other two, at this particular moment.

"But that's all there really has been. I tried to go back to Coruscant, once. I stole a ship, made it part of the way, and then turned around and went back. That was when I got your message."

Avoid Coruscant. Avoid detection. Be secret... but be strong.

There you go, Obi-Wan. The last guiding words Kanan had heard from any Jedi were from you.

[saddeserthermit]

"And you appear to have followed it by the letter," Obi-Wan said.

He looked up from the business of teamaking, which had clearly engrossed him this entire time. "For which I am grateful," he said. "But it cannot have been easy, and things having been as they are... I don't doubt there are many things you have missed in your training."

He watched Dume for a moment. "Was that what you wished to talk about?"