One Path Chapter 43--Prophecy
Title:Prophecy
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: Despite his own disappointment, he was listening to the adults' discussion, although his outward attention was focused on the sights around him. Much of the argument confounded him, and so he had decided to stop using his ears to understand it..
Rating: PG
Length: Around 2300 words
Category: Gen
Pairings/Characters: Obidala mentioned; chapter is largely speculation between the Jedi concerning the Chosen One
A/N: One Path Chapter 43. Set during an alternate RotS.
Prophecy
The Republic gunship streaked through the busy sky of Coruscant. Sitting beside his father, Anakin Kenobi stared past Yoda and Mace Windu, out through the gunship's window at the vast deployment platform and the swarm of clones who were loading the assault cruiser at the far end. At breakfast earlier that morning--when his parents had finally managed to stop laughing enough to drag themselves to the table--Obi Wan had said that he was going to the temple later so that he could let Yoda know about the boats. Ani had wanted to come along, eager to see Yoda again, and Obi Wan had said that he didn't see a reason why not. When they got to the temple, though, it turned out that both Yoda and Master Windu were going to inspect the counter-invasion force that was being prepared for Kashyyyk.
Ani had been hoping that Yoda would be pleased when his father informed the ancient Master that he had started formal instruction in the ways of the Force. He had been looking forward to being able to show Yoda what he could do now. He thought that Yoda would be impressed, and even maybe proud of him, but both he and Mace Windu had seemed to take Obi Wan's announcement as if they had known it was coming all along. Maybe they had.
Despite his own disappointment, he was listening to the adults' discussion, although his outward attention was focused on the sights around him. Much of the argument confounded him, and so he had decided to stop using his ears to understand it. Instead, he simply let the words flow over him, concentrating past them, on the feelings and intent. This was not entirely a new idea to him; having spent much of his life in the company of adults, he had learned to pay attention to the way they felt as much as to what they said. It was only recently that he had begun to understand that in doing this, he had also been using the Force. When he was little, Qui-Gon had simply said things like, "listen to what they don't say," and of course, "listen to your feelings." Now, it came as naturally to him as using his ears, and if Yoda or Mace noticed, they raised no objection.
The conversation quickly turned to his Uncle Anakin's appointment to the Jedi Council. He was surprised to find that they had done it without making him a Master. Ani didn't really understand all the reasons for that, but he did sense that his father wasn't happy about it.
"An unintentional opportunity, the Chancellor has given us. A window he has opened into the operations of his office. Fools we would be, to close our eyes," Yoda declared in a voice that was firm and powerful, vastly different from the quiet understanding that Ani had experienced from the great Master the last time they had met.
"Then we should use someone else's eyes," Obi Wan countered, and Ani frowned at the strain he detected in his father. "Forgive me, Master Yoda, but you just don't know him the way I do. He is fiercely loyal, and there is not a gram of deception in him. You've all seen it; it's one of the arguments often used used against elevating him to Master: he lacks true Jedi reserve, that's what you've said. And by that we all mean that he wears his emotions like a holonet banner. How can you ask him to lie to a friend, to spy upon him? You don't know how much Palpatine's friendship has meant to him over the years. You're asking him to use that friendship as a weapon! To stab his friend in the back. Don't you understand what this will cost him, even if Palpatine is entirely innocent? Especially if he's innocent. Their relationship will never be the same--"
"And that is exactly why this plan has been approved," Master Windu cut his father off. There was another kind of strain in him--something deeper that was both intense and incredibly tired. "I have told you what I have seen of the energy between Anakin and the Supreme Chancellor. Anything that might distance young Skywalker from Palpatine's influence is worth the attempt. Furthermore, I do know him, Obi Wan. Perhaps not quite so well as you--but I did complete his training when you left the Order. He is not the same boy you knew. I have confidence in his ability to perform this task."
"I don't dispute your role as Anakin's Master, Mace. Nor do I wish to challenge the Council's authority to decide how best to place its own resources," Obi Wan inclined his head. "We are all still on the same side. But I would have been remiss if I had not voiced my concerns to you. I am grateful to you both for allowing me to continue to play a part here, and I will, of course, do whatever I can to help."
"Doubt of that, none of us has," Yoda promised.
"I had my own reservations about this," Mace said, bringing the discussion quickly back to the original topic. "There is danger involved in even putting Anakin and Palpatine together. But, we have seen that he has the power to battle a Sith Lord alone, if it comes to that; he has proven that with Dooku. He is the one Jedi we can best hope would survive an encounter with Sidious."
"And if he doesn't?" Obi Wan closed his eyes.
"We don't always have the perfect answer," Mace Windu said. "Sometimes there isn't a perfect answer--or even a right answer."
"Know how important your friendship with young Anakin is to you, I do," Yoda said. "Allow such attachments to pass out of one's life, a Jedi must."
"I am not a Jedi, Master Yoda," Obi Wan reminded him.
"More a Jedi you are than some who still wear the robes," Yoda said mildly.
Ani frowned and turned to watch his father's reaction. Obi Wan glanced away from the Master's steady yellow-green gaze, and Ani could feel the sadness that he was trying not to show. He bit his lip, unused to such mixed up feelings from his father.
"I suppose--he is the Chosen One, after all. The prophecy says he was born to bring balance to the Force, but…" Obi Wan was trying to get the conversation back on Anakin again, but his words trailed off, and Ani's frown deepened. It wasn't like his father to forget what he was saying, or not know what to say. His father was The Negotiator.
"Yes. Always in motion, the future is," Yoda lifted his head, eyes narrowing to slits as he considered his own words. "And the prophecy, misread could have been."
"Since the fall of Darth Bane more than a millennium ago, there have been hundreds of thousands of Jedi--hundreds of thousands of Jedi feeding the light with each work of their hands, with each breath, with every beat of their hearts, bringing justice, building civil society, radiating peace, acting out of selfless love for all living things--and in all these thousand years, there have been only two Sith at any time. Only two. Jedi create light, but the Sith do not create darkness. They merely use the darkness that is always there. That has always been there. Greed and jealousy, aggression and lust and fear--these are all natural to sentient beings. The legacy of the jungle. Our inheritance from the dark," Master Windu said grimly.
"I'm sorry, Master Windu, but I'm not sure I follow you. Are you saying--to follow your metaphor--that the Jedi have cast too much light? From what I have seen these past years, the galaxy has not become all that bright a place," observed Obi Wan.
"All I am saying is that we don't know. We don't even truly understand what it means to bring balance to the Force. We have no way of anticipating what this may involve."
"An infinite mystery is the Force. The more we learn, the more we discover how much we do not know," Yoda's voice was soft and his reverence a pleasant caress that soothed the troubled atmosphere.
"So you both feel it, too," murmured Obi Wan. More and more, Ani sensed deep hurt in his father. He wasn't sure why, but a heavy weight settled on his own chest, and he swallowed hard. "You both can feel that we have turned some invisible corner."
"In motion, are the events of our time. Approach, the crisis does," agreed Yoda.
"Yes," Mace locked his fingers and gave his knuckles a series of disconcerting pops. "But we're in a spice mine without a glow rod. If we stop walking, we'll never reach the light."
"And what if the light isn't where we expect it to be?" Obi Wan asked. "What if we get to the end of this tunnel and find only night?"
"Faith must we have. Trust in the will of the Force. What other choice is there?" Yoda told them, and it seemed to Ani that he was addressing all three of them, both individually and together. Anakin Kenobi lowered his head thoughtfully, absorbing those words, which resonated deep within his young heart.
"I thought you had more confidence in Anakin's abilities," Mace said to Obi Wan.
"I trust him with my life," Obi Wan said simply. "And that is precisely the problem."
Ani raised his eyebrows in confusion. The two Jedi Masters waited while his father searched for words.
"For Anakin, there is nothing more important than friendship. He is the most loyal man I have ever met--loyal beyond reason, in fact. Despite all we have tried to teach him about the sacrifices that are the heart of being a Jedi he--he will never, I think, truly understand." Obi Wan paused and looked over at Yoda. "Master Yoda, you and I have been close since I was a boy. An infant. Yet if ending this war one week sooner--one day sooner--were to require that I sacrifice your life, you know I would."
"As you should," Yoda said. "As I would yours, young Obi Wan. As any Jedi would any other, in the cause of peace."
"Any Jedi," Obi Wan sighed, "except Anakin."
Yoda and Mace looked at each other, considering the statement, their faces and feelings grim. Ani guessed they were remembering all the stories he had heard about his Uncle violating orders--risking everything--just to save a friend. Most of the time, it seemed to him that the friend was Obi Wan, and that more than anything else, was what made him love Anakin Skywalker. If being a Jedi meant letting his father die, he decided that he was glad he wasn't going to be one.
"I think," Obi Wan said slowly, "that abstractions like peace don't mean much to him. He's loyal to people, not to principles. And he expects loyalty in return. He will stop at nothing to save me, for example, because he thinks I would do the same for him."
Mace and Yoda gazed at his father steadily, and, and Ani felt something cold and uncomfortable begin to snake it's way out of his stomach. His throat began to constrict with dread, until Obi Wan lowered his head and continued, "Because, he knows I would do the same for him."
"Understand exactly where your concern lies, I do not," Yoda murmured, now in the softly sympathetic tone that Ani remembered. "Named your fear must be, before banish it you can. Do you fear that perform his task, he cannot?"
"Oh, no," Obi Wan shook his head. "That's not it at all. I am firmly convinced that Anakin can do anything. Except betray a friend."
***
"I don't think Master Windu's right, Dad," Ani said suddenly.
Obi Wan looked up from the holoprojected intelligence report in front of him, somewhat startled. Ani had said little after they left Yoda and Master Windu. Obi Wan had decided that it was best to give the boy time to consider all he had seen and heard. He knew that when he was ready, Ani would broach the subject himself, but he had expected questions, not opinions.
Ani was playing on the floor beside the couch, and Obi Wan turned to him with a smile of encouragement. "You don't?"
"No," Ani frowned, scrambling off the floor. He climbed onto the couch beside his father and crossed his arms.
"Why not?" Obi Wan asked.
"Qui-Gon says the Dark Side is growing stronger. It's everywhere. If the Jedi made too much light it wouldn't be, would it?"
Obi Wan frowned. "I don't really know, Ani. Remember, Master Windu wasn't certain himself. None of us know what the prophecy really means."
"But we know Uncle Anakin is the Chosen One," Ani said, his voice rising slightly at the end, making it half a question.
"Qui-Gon believed it," he said.
"And you do," Ani said.
"I've come to believe it, yes," nodded Obi Wan.
"You know how Master Windu said we're in a spice mine without a glow rod?" Ani asked.
"Mmm-hmm," his father nodded.
"Maybe the Chosen One has the glow rod. Maybe the prophecy means that only Uncle Anakin is really strong enough to bring the light through the darkness," suggested Ani.
Obi Wan's eyes widened at the idea. Then he frowned again, bringing his right hand slowly to his chin. He stroked his beard in thought, murmuring, "I hope so, son. I truly do."
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: Despite his own disappointment, he was listening to the adults' discussion, although his outward attention was focused on the sights around him. Much of the argument confounded him, and so he had decided to stop using his ears to understand it..
Rating: PG
Length: Around 2300 words
Category: Gen
Pairings/Characters: Obidala mentioned; chapter is largely speculation between the Jedi concerning the Chosen One
A/N: One Path Chapter 43. Set during an alternate RotS.
Prophecy
The Republic gunship streaked through the busy sky of Coruscant. Sitting beside his father, Anakin Kenobi stared past Yoda and Mace Windu, out through the gunship's window at the vast deployment platform and the swarm of clones who were loading the assault cruiser at the far end. At breakfast earlier that morning--when his parents had finally managed to stop laughing enough to drag themselves to the table--Obi Wan had said that he was going to the temple later so that he could let Yoda know about the boats. Ani had wanted to come along, eager to see Yoda again, and Obi Wan had said that he didn't see a reason why not. When they got to the temple, though, it turned out that both Yoda and Master Windu were going to inspect the counter-invasion force that was being prepared for Kashyyyk.
Ani had been hoping that Yoda would be pleased when his father informed the ancient Master that he had started formal instruction in the ways of the Force. He had been looking forward to being able to show Yoda what he could do now. He thought that Yoda would be impressed, and even maybe proud of him, but both he and Mace Windu had seemed to take Obi Wan's announcement as if they had known it was coming all along. Maybe they had.
Despite his own disappointment, he was listening to the adults' discussion, although his outward attention was focused on the sights around him. Much of the argument confounded him, and so he had decided to stop using his ears to understand it. Instead, he simply let the words flow over him, concentrating past them, on the feelings and intent. This was not entirely a new idea to him; having spent much of his life in the company of adults, he had learned to pay attention to the way they felt as much as to what they said. It was only recently that he had begun to understand that in doing this, he had also been using the Force. When he was little, Qui-Gon had simply said things like, "listen to what they don't say," and of course, "listen to your feelings." Now, it came as naturally to him as using his ears, and if Yoda or Mace noticed, they raised no objection.
The conversation quickly turned to his Uncle Anakin's appointment to the Jedi Council. He was surprised to find that they had done it without making him a Master. Ani didn't really understand all the reasons for that, but he did sense that his father wasn't happy about it.
"An unintentional opportunity, the Chancellor has given us. A window he has opened into the operations of his office. Fools we would be, to close our eyes," Yoda declared in a voice that was firm and powerful, vastly different from the quiet understanding that Ani had experienced from the great Master the last time they had met.
"Then we should use someone else's eyes," Obi Wan countered, and Ani frowned at the strain he detected in his father. "Forgive me, Master Yoda, but you just don't know him the way I do. He is fiercely loyal, and there is not a gram of deception in him. You've all seen it; it's one of the arguments often used used against elevating him to Master: he lacks true Jedi reserve, that's what you've said. And by that we all mean that he wears his emotions like a holonet banner. How can you ask him to lie to a friend, to spy upon him? You don't know how much Palpatine's friendship has meant to him over the years. You're asking him to use that friendship as a weapon! To stab his friend in the back. Don't you understand what this will cost him, even if Palpatine is entirely innocent? Especially if he's innocent. Their relationship will never be the same--"
"And that is exactly why this plan has been approved," Master Windu cut his father off. There was another kind of strain in him--something deeper that was both intense and incredibly tired. "I have told you what I have seen of the energy between Anakin and the Supreme Chancellor. Anything that might distance young Skywalker from Palpatine's influence is worth the attempt. Furthermore, I do know him, Obi Wan. Perhaps not quite so well as you--but I did complete his training when you left the Order. He is not the same boy you knew. I have confidence in his ability to perform this task."
"I don't dispute your role as Anakin's Master, Mace. Nor do I wish to challenge the Council's authority to decide how best to place its own resources," Obi Wan inclined his head. "We are all still on the same side. But I would have been remiss if I had not voiced my concerns to you. I am grateful to you both for allowing me to continue to play a part here, and I will, of course, do whatever I can to help."
"Doubt of that, none of us has," Yoda promised.
"I had my own reservations about this," Mace said, bringing the discussion quickly back to the original topic. "There is danger involved in even putting Anakin and Palpatine together. But, we have seen that he has the power to battle a Sith Lord alone, if it comes to that; he has proven that with Dooku. He is the one Jedi we can best hope would survive an encounter with Sidious."
"And if he doesn't?" Obi Wan closed his eyes.
"We don't always have the perfect answer," Mace Windu said. "Sometimes there isn't a perfect answer--or even a right answer."
"Know how important your friendship with young Anakin is to you, I do," Yoda said. "Allow such attachments to pass out of one's life, a Jedi must."
"I am not a Jedi, Master Yoda," Obi Wan reminded him.
"More a Jedi you are than some who still wear the robes," Yoda said mildly.
Ani frowned and turned to watch his father's reaction. Obi Wan glanced away from the Master's steady yellow-green gaze, and Ani could feel the sadness that he was trying not to show. He bit his lip, unused to such mixed up feelings from his father.
"I suppose--he is the Chosen One, after all. The prophecy says he was born to bring balance to the Force, but…" Obi Wan was trying to get the conversation back on Anakin again, but his words trailed off, and Ani's frown deepened. It wasn't like his father to forget what he was saying, or not know what to say. His father was The Negotiator.
"Yes. Always in motion, the future is," Yoda lifted his head, eyes narrowing to slits as he considered his own words. "And the prophecy, misread could have been."
"Since the fall of Darth Bane more than a millennium ago, there have been hundreds of thousands of Jedi--hundreds of thousands of Jedi feeding the light with each work of their hands, with each breath, with every beat of their hearts, bringing justice, building civil society, radiating peace, acting out of selfless love for all living things--and in all these thousand years, there have been only two Sith at any time. Only two. Jedi create light, but the Sith do not create darkness. They merely use the darkness that is always there. That has always been there. Greed and jealousy, aggression and lust and fear--these are all natural to sentient beings. The legacy of the jungle. Our inheritance from the dark," Master Windu said grimly.
"I'm sorry, Master Windu, but I'm not sure I follow you. Are you saying--to follow your metaphor--that the Jedi have cast too much light? From what I have seen these past years, the galaxy has not become all that bright a place," observed Obi Wan.
"All I am saying is that we don't know. We don't even truly understand what it means to bring balance to the Force. We have no way of anticipating what this may involve."
"An infinite mystery is the Force. The more we learn, the more we discover how much we do not know," Yoda's voice was soft and his reverence a pleasant caress that soothed the troubled atmosphere.
"So you both feel it, too," murmured Obi Wan. More and more, Ani sensed deep hurt in his father. He wasn't sure why, but a heavy weight settled on his own chest, and he swallowed hard. "You both can feel that we have turned some invisible corner."
"In motion, are the events of our time. Approach, the crisis does," agreed Yoda.
"Yes," Mace locked his fingers and gave his knuckles a series of disconcerting pops. "But we're in a spice mine without a glow rod. If we stop walking, we'll never reach the light."
"And what if the light isn't where we expect it to be?" Obi Wan asked. "What if we get to the end of this tunnel and find only night?"
"Faith must we have. Trust in the will of the Force. What other choice is there?" Yoda told them, and it seemed to Ani that he was addressing all three of them, both individually and together. Anakin Kenobi lowered his head thoughtfully, absorbing those words, which resonated deep within his young heart.
"I thought you had more confidence in Anakin's abilities," Mace said to Obi Wan.
"I trust him with my life," Obi Wan said simply. "And that is precisely the problem."
Ani raised his eyebrows in confusion. The two Jedi Masters waited while his father searched for words.
"For Anakin, there is nothing more important than friendship. He is the most loyal man I have ever met--loyal beyond reason, in fact. Despite all we have tried to teach him about the sacrifices that are the heart of being a Jedi he--he will never, I think, truly understand." Obi Wan paused and looked over at Yoda. "Master Yoda, you and I have been close since I was a boy. An infant. Yet if ending this war one week sooner--one day sooner--were to require that I sacrifice your life, you know I would."
"As you should," Yoda said. "As I would yours, young Obi Wan. As any Jedi would any other, in the cause of peace."
"Any Jedi," Obi Wan sighed, "except Anakin."
Yoda and Mace looked at each other, considering the statement, their faces and feelings grim. Ani guessed they were remembering all the stories he had heard about his Uncle violating orders--risking everything--just to save a friend. Most of the time, it seemed to him that the friend was Obi Wan, and that more than anything else, was what made him love Anakin Skywalker. If being a Jedi meant letting his father die, he decided that he was glad he wasn't going to be one.
"I think," Obi Wan said slowly, "that abstractions like peace don't mean much to him. He's loyal to people, not to principles. And he expects loyalty in return. He will stop at nothing to save me, for example, because he thinks I would do the same for him."
Mace and Yoda gazed at his father steadily, and, and Ani felt something cold and uncomfortable begin to snake it's way out of his stomach. His throat began to constrict with dread, until Obi Wan lowered his head and continued, "Because, he knows I would do the same for him."
"Understand exactly where your concern lies, I do not," Yoda murmured, now in the softly sympathetic tone that Ani remembered. "Named your fear must be, before banish it you can. Do you fear that perform his task, he cannot?"
"Oh, no," Obi Wan shook his head. "That's not it at all. I am firmly convinced that Anakin can do anything. Except betray a friend."
***
"I don't think Master Windu's right, Dad," Ani said suddenly.
Obi Wan looked up from the holoprojected intelligence report in front of him, somewhat startled. Ani had said little after they left Yoda and Master Windu. Obi Wan had decided that it was best to give the boy time to consider all he had seen and heard. He knew that when he was ready, Ani would broach the subject himself, but he had expected questions, not opinions.
Ani was playing on the floor beside the couch, and Obi Wan turned to him with a smile of encouragement. "You don't?"
"No," Ani frowned, scrambling off the floor. He climbed onto the couch beside his father and crossed his arms.
"Why not?" Obi Wan asked.
"Qui-Gon says the Dark Side is growing stronger. It's everywhere. If the Jedi made too much light it wouldn't be, would it?"
Obi Wan frowned. "I don't really know, Ani. Remember, Master Windu wasn't certain himself. None of us know what the prophecy really means."
"But we know Uncle Anakin is the Chosen One," Ani said, his voice rising slightly at the end, making it half a question.
"Qui-Gon believed it," he said.
"And you do," Ani said.
"I've come to believe it, yes," nodded Obi Wan.
"You know how Master Windu said we're in a spice mine without a glow rod?" Ani asked.
"Mmm-hmm," his father nodded.
"Maybe the Chosen One has the glow rod. Maybe the prophecy means that only Uncle Anakin is really strong enough to bring the light through the darkness," suggested Ani.
Obi Wan's eyes widened at the idea. Then he frowned again, bringing his right hand slowly to his chin. He stroked his beard in thought, murmuring, "I hope so, son. I truly do."