Work Text:
"STIR OF DARKNESS"
A post Episode II "Star Wars" story
Written by Alison M. DOBELL
* * * * *
It was a beautiful day. The skies unmarred by inclement weather of any kind, the only traces of subdued tension inside his chest. Master Yoda wanted to see him. Obi Wan refused to think dark thoughts but in his heart he knew what the subject matter would be. Annakin. He made his way to the council chamber and was shown inside. He stepped into the centre of the room and bowed. "You asked to see me, Master Yoda."
"Yes. A matter there is. Delicate." His voice lowered a little. "Difficult."
Obi Wan said nothing. Yoda was watching him, reading his reactions keenly.
"Know you do what this matter is."
"Yes, Master. But he is young. He will learn."
Yoda harrumphed gently. A sound conveying his own lack of conviction on that point. "Lenient you have been. Good this is not. A firm hand he needs. Or listen to you he will not."
"You judge him too harshly, Master."
Something in the Jedi Master's expression hardened. A trace of anger was allowed into his words. "And you judge him not at all!"
Obi Wan fell silent at the rebuke. For Yoda that was the crux of the matter.
"Obi Wan, great things before you I see. Expect much of you we do."
"I will not fail you, Master."
Yoda shook his head slightly. That was not what he meant. "No, but fail your padawan you may."
Head raised, a keen look. Sorrow in his eyes. He looked almost distraught. "You have seen this, Master?"
"No. Not seen."
"Felt it then?"
"Not felt. The future never clear it is. Around this padawan a darkness there is." He was looking at Obi Wan as if reading something no one esle could see in him. "Blind to this you are. Because of Qui Gon you will not look. Refuse to see."
Obi Wan's cheeks flushed. Pain squeezed his heart. "Qui Gon believed in Annakin."
"Your love for Qui Gon blinds you. Annakin a different jedi will be."
"Different?"
"Is it not so with all?"
"Yes, but..."
"Too lenient you are. Yes. Firmer you must be. Obey he must or a Jedi he can never be."
Obi Wan thought about that. Struggling with feelings long buried. Promises made that could not be broken. "He will be a Jedi, Master. I can feel it. And he protected Amidala. Fought so bravely beside us. I cannot believe that he will fail us."
<Not him, you> Thought Yoda sadly. Out of love. Out of a misplaced duty to one who can never caution your excesses. That indulgence that will bring a far greater peril of its' own. <Tell him I must. Warn him. But like Qui Gon he is. Listen he will not>
"Obi Wan, in your training Qui Gon was firm."
"Yes, Master."
"Hard it was sometimes to follow. To listen. Strict he was."
"I was proud. Vain. Foolish."
Yoda nodded. "Annakin listens not. His defiance will grow."
"We don't know that, Master."
"Defies you already he does."
Again Obi Wan flushed, acknowledging the truth in Yoda's words. He had been angry himself at the time but then he had seen what Annakin was trying to do. He had come back to him and all was forgiven.
"Willful he is."
"But not evil."
"So quick you are to defend him."
"His is just a boy."
"No, Obi Wan. A man almost he is. A man he feels himself to be. His own thoughts he will follow. Not yours. And then there is Amidala."
Obi Wan looked even more troubled but said nothing.
"Seen this you have also. In your face it is. Lie you cannot."
"I have no wish to lie to you, Master Yoda."
"Know this I do, but protect him you would. Even now."
"What would you have me do, Master?"
Yoda looked at him for a moment. Tried to see the paths of the force but nothing was clear. Nothing certain. His heart felt heavy. "Love her he does." He said softly at last. His words had the whisper of truth.
"I have seen this also, Master."
Yoda nodded. "Now, matters are worse."
"Worse, how?"
He shook his head. Closed his eyes as he merged with the force. Seeking answers. "Reveals itself reluctantly the future does."
"Then how can it be worse?"
"A rising darkness there is. An unseen hand. A voice that was silent now calls."
"A voice? What voice?" Then, when there was no answer. "Master?"
Yoda opened his eyes. Troubled as much as he had ever been. He missed his old friend Qui Gon Jinn. Worried about Obi Wan Kenobi. And to his sorrow was beginning to fear the young impulsive Annakin Skywalker. "Guide him you must. Be firmer. Yes. The gentle word a weakness will seem. The loving hand despised. Restore the discipline you must of master and padawan. Nothing else can save him. Save you."
"Me? Master Yoda, I don't understand."
"No. But you will."
Only when Obi Wan had left did another door open and Mace Windu entered. He walked over to sit next to his friend Yoda. He had everything.
"Thinks he can teach him, he does."
"Maybe he can." Said Mace Windu softly.
"Too late it is."
Mace Windu looked thoughtful. "Maybe not, old friend."
"Know something you do?"
Mace shook his head. There was a faraway look in his eyes. The connective force of a great wisdom that bound these two friends. "No but I know Obi Wan. He is a good man. He will do whatever he can to put Annakin on the right path."
"Sad it is, loves the boy he does. Too much."
"How can anyone love anyone *too* much, Yoda?"
"Love is not what he needs."
"Then what, if not love?"
"Wisdom. Guidance. Strength."
Mace nodded. "And you do not think he will find these things in Obi Wan?"
"No. Discipline is needed. It will not be found."
"Then shouldn't we do something?"
Yoda looked at his friend for a long moment. "So wise you are."
A faint humour stirred in Mace Windu's eyes then vanished as he waited for him to go on.
"What use are wisdom, guidance and strenth without discipline?"
"Discipline?"
"Lost the way he has. Find it he must or all is lost."
"Annakin or Obi Wan?"
A sadness descended on Yoda like an invisible cloak, clouding his mind with doubts and his heart with sorrow. "Yes."
* * * * *
Outside in the gardens Annakin waited for Obi Wan. he could see at once that he was troubled. They walked for a few moments in silence.
"What did Master Yoda have to say?"
"He is worried about you Annakin."
Seeing the scowl on the young man's face he slowed down and both stopped by a fountain. "And to be honest, Annie, so am I."
"I always disappoint you, don't I? No matter what I do it's never enough!"
Alarmed by his padawan's reaction, Obi Wan raised a hand to calm him. "I am not disappointed in you, Annakin. Neither is Yoda."
"Then what? I work every bit as hard as any other padawan."
"That is not the point. It is your lack of discipline that troubles Yoda."
"I have done everything that has been asked of me."
"Yes, but often with great reluctance. Sometimes with a delay that amounts to insubordination."
Annakin's eyes narrowed slowly, his voice became soft. A stir touched Obi Wan's spine but he did not move. He wondered if Yoda was right. Was there some darkness in Annakin that he had failed to see? Was this his fault? His failing? His weakness? "If I have been insubordinate it has been for the good of all. I will not apologise for saving lives."
"You must be answerable for your actions, Annie. As we all must."
"Who to? To you?" The words dripped with scorn. As if realising he had gone too far he affected sorrow and a passing shame. "I'm sorry, I spoke in anger Master. Forgive me."
Obi Wan was only too ready to forgive him. to consign the glimpse of ugliness to some aberration that was not part of his padawan. For truly he had come to love him. To care about what happened to him. To see in him the potential that had so excited Qui Gon. It was his task now to see that he had the chance to fulfill that vision. That hope. To be the one who would bring balance to the force.
* * * * *
Later, as evening was closing in, Annakin Skywalker walked into an inner courtyard where Senator Palpatine was waiting for him. He felt the tensions of the day fall from his shoulders. A cooling peace settling on his fiery temperament. Palpatine smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. Not out of simple affection but to reinforce his connection to the young man. "How did your talk with Obi Wan go?"
His lips peeled back in a sneer laced with stirrings of hatred. "He is weak. Pathetic. I could squash him."
Palpatine hid his pleasure and affected the role of a moderate. "Obi Wan is your Master, Annakin. It would not do to show him disrespect."
He turned round in his frustration and looked at the Senator. "I tire of bowing and scraping to him. Having each of my actions questioned. He does not understand me. Has no sense of destiny."
"Your time will come Annakin, I promise you. Soon. And I shall be there to help you when it does." He paused. "In the meantime you must learn to humour him. Humour them all."
Annakin met his look without wavering. His strength thrilled the Senator though he masked it well. "I will do as you ask but I do not know how long I can keep this up. They would also seek to part me from Amidala."
The Senator raised his eyebrows as if this was news to him. "They said this?"
He shook his head. "No, but I can see it lurking in their eyes. Another Jedi deceit."
"You will be a Jedi soon, my young protege. And when you are then I will help you claim the rest of the destiny I see before you."
His eyes shone with a dark hope. "You are truly a good friend, Senator."
Palpatine smiled. Happy with his subtle manipulations. "I hope to become much more than that."
"I will not give up Amidala."
If anything Senator Palpatine's smile grew. "I would not ask you to." No. He wanted to encourage that liaison. Had plans that went far beyond the corruption of Annakin Skywalker however pleasurable. He was so strong in the force it made Palpatine dizzy with the promise he sensed in him. The dream of returning the Dark Lords of the Sith to their rightful place in the galaxy had just taken another step in the right direction. He could afford to be patient. Generous. Calm. The galaxy would soon be theirs and the meddlesome Jedi Knights would become no more than distant memories. Until even those were crushed underfoot. A page of history consigned to the funeral pyres of the last of their order. What Annakin needed now was strength and discipline it was true. Not Obi Wan's but his. Soon. The darkness stirred around him with a delicious scent of ancestors keening for new blood. Thirsting for a return to their dark days of glory. Soon. With the help of young Skywalker they would change the face of the galaxy forever until the only thing it would reflect would be their own image...
end