Who: Obi-Wan and Anakin When: During wish plot, during snow, so a whiles back... hence the "old" icon Where: Obi-Wan’s cabin and the nearby stables What: Obi-Wan shows Anakin his eopie, Anakin reveals his photograph to Obi-Wan Rating/Warning: PG, Just Because Status: Complete
Obi-Wan wasn’t exactly “hiding out”, but until the magic that had transformed him into a old man passed, he felt no need to travel beyond his cabin more than what was absolutely necessary. Admittedly, his pride had been the initial consideration. Faiza seeing him like this was bad enough (although she wasn’t the sort to complain). In the meantime, he’d gotten a considerable amount of work done on the house--after all, he was older, not enfeebled--and ultimately the spell became an excuse for a quiet Christmas holiday. The cabin was tastefully decorated with lights and a small tree; with snow on the ground, it was a picturesque winter postcard.
If there was ever anyone that by their mere presence could ruin anything quiet, calm or subdued, it was Anakin Skywalker. Even before one go into the raging storm that was his connection to the force, he didn’t have the personality of a person that could be happy in quiet moments. It was likely a lot to do with his pretty frequent emotional disturbances, how he could switch from happy to angry in almost an instant and there was rarely a moment of peace between the extremes. He was used to high highs and low lows, anything else was more than a little perplexing even if he did make an effort.
He was making an effort to be calm and collected now as he knocked at the door of the pretty cabin. He promised to try to be considerate of Obi-wan’s state, a state that would have driven Anakin mad as he hated feeling impaired, but when it came down to it, it was an order from Padme to ‘be nice’. The visit had been her idea, she really wanted to see him in his current state but ended up getting caught up in something so sent Anakin, along with a plate of cookies and other sweets, on his own. He didn’t find this as amusing as she did and he really didn’t think it was anywhere near as funny when the man had been turned into a cat. At least as a human he could ask the man about the people in the picture he received and be able to get an answer beyond ‘meow’.
Obi-Wan placed his hand on the doorknob and paused. The lines on his face deepened in thought, forming a knot between his brows. He searched his feelings about inviting Anakin into his home, because his heart had unexpectedly jumped, not out of fear, but something else entirely; something much closer to anticipation or excitement. His home, whatever form it took, had always been his fortress, and allowing someone inside was consistently difficult--but he did not feel that way at present. Anakin had come to visit and Obi-Wan felt… happy?
By the time he opened the door, the furrows in his forehead were mostly gone. Obi-Wan was dressed as he usually was, because his clothing still fit: khaki pants, a sweater; although for once his clothing seemed too youthful for his white-trimmed face, rather than aging him. His eyes fell upon the plate of cookies. “Bringing sweets to Granny’s, eh?”
Anakin’s eyes may have widened but he was good enough not to just blurt out what he was thinking as he came face to face with his aged mentor and friend. And there was a lot he could have said, his mind practically reeling with comments and questions and maybe more than a joke or two. He smiled though, after all Obi-wan was apparently in good spirits despite the radical changes to his body so Anakin didn’t feel as if he ought to be ashamed of his amusement. “Gifts from the most illustrious, wise, noble and beautiful Senator from Naboo, Padme Amidala. Or at least I think those are the adjectives she likes me using, not that she’s here to correct me anyway. She’s sorry about that, something work related came up, you know lawyers.”
He couldn’t resist any longer as he took another look over Kenobi, his smile growing bigger and more amused. “Okay, alright, so you weren’t kidding about the aged thing.” he was absolutely not going to call him Santa as Padme asked. “You look good though, I mean like pretty healthy and able-bodied for however old you’re supposed to be. And you’re not a cat this time at least, you’ve got the benefit of opposable thumbs still, even if they might be arthritic.”
“Perhaps. But I still haven’t been able to figure out how old I am.” And given that he hadn’t lived to sixty, it was somewhat concerning that he looked closer to seventy, healthy or not. With a bit of a shrug, Obi-Wan scratched the back of his head as he stepped aside and welcomed Anakin into the cabin. There was a small Christmas tree in the corner and the smell of pine mingled with the curry Faiza had cooked the night before.
He closed the door behind them, offering to take the cookies and bring them into the kitchen. And eat them. “This sort of implausible phenomena happens in the area from time-to-time. You recall the ‘no mouth’ incident. I daresay the snow is the same. We had it last year, too.” With a deeper smile, he recalled his snowball fight with Faiza.
“Well, it’s not like we can cut you in half and count your rings to see how old you are.” he joked, looking around the place. Charming, warm, very Obi-wan as far as he was concerned, though he could see what were likely touches of his girlfriend here and there. Most of his memories of his time with Obi-wan were fuzzy but from time to time he could remember the older man saying he wished for a more quiet life, though that usually had to do with whatever mess he thought Anakin had gotten himself into. “You’ve got a nice place here, very scenic and quiet, must be a nice change from being in the middle of town.”
He followed, “And if you do find yourself turned into another sort of animal you’ll have room to run around.” He really was never going to let the cat thing go, it was positively perfect. “Maybe next year I’ll wish for sun then, I thought I was all done with snow back when I was in the Academy. Of course Colorado snow is a little more intense than this has been.”
Obi-Wan set the cookies on the kitchen counter and proceeded to unwrap the clingy plastic that encased them. He thought about his travels from Scotland to England to Boston, New York, across America. The warming weather had seemed symbolic back then; now, he occasionally missed the gray days and the rain.
“Oh, speaking of animals…” he said, balling the plastic and setting it aside. He was sure Anakin would light up at what he was about to say. “I woke up the other day and found an eopie at my window.”
His first reaction was to go slack-jawed, mouth hanging open slightly as his brow furrowed, but both quickly faded into a smile and gentle chuckle as he shook his head. “An eopie. Here in California? An eopie here in California with all this snow. Poor thing must have been freezing.” A part of him certainly hated Tatooine and everything about it, yet there was still some fondness buried deep for the people and the animals that lived there. “And right at your window too, huh? More dream things appearing or has somebody started breeding them?”
Anakin shook his head again, still smiling. He may not have enjoyed animal mounts the way Obi-wan did, preferring mechanical transportation to most things as he was a gifted pilot, but he did like animals. Padme’s Christmas gift spoke to that. “Have you got it around here? I’d like to see him.”
Since Wrex, who had been something of a hunter, moved out of the cabin, deer started gathering closer to the ranch. Their numbers had thinned with the snow, but Obi-Wan still woke to find a few eating the grass outside his bedroom every morning; and that was were the confused-looking eopie had been discovered, as well. Anakin looked much the same, at the moment.
“Her, actually,” said Obi-Wan, taking a cookie for the road and waving toward the back door. It was only a short walk to the stables. “Rooh. My eopie. Dani’s been allowing me to keep her in the horse stables until I can build her a stall.”
Anakin nabbed a cookie for himself, sure he had the pick of the cookies when Padme was baking them but that had been the night before and he had a pretty big sweet tooth. He didn’t think he could ever get tired of her cookies, which was likely a good thing as he hoped to be with Padme for the remainder of all his future holidays. He followed behind Obi-wan again, not wasting time in devouring his cookie.
“Rooh. Again with the weird names,” he said when his mouth was clear between bites. “Apparently my nieces are named Ryoo and Pooja.” He shook his head disapprovingly. “At least yours is an animal, I feel so bad for those girls when they get to be school aged.”
"Going through school with a name like Obi-Wan wasn't so easy. I told everyone to stick with Obi."
The snow crunched underfoot. Within a few steps, the Ranch was visible, and the stables beside it, all dusted with fresh snow. Obi-Wan reached out with the Force to make sure Dani was elsewhere before unlocking the door. It was significantly warmer inside, though dimly lit. The horses turned their mighty heads, as if to greet them. In her corner stall, Rooh paced in circles, still looking rather confused.
“Ani was no fun. It still isn’t. If Padme sings ‘Smooth Criminal’ at me one more time I think I might actually have to take up wearing the one glove and doing the moonwalk.” He got her back though, he would tell her that he liked the Alien Ant Farm version better which was enough to annoy her into not speaking to him for a while. Well, either that or throw something but these days he had the Force to block anything heavy, but she was giving up on that one because he was ‘cheating’.
“Achuta,” Anakin said to the creature as he approached her stall, the Huttese coming to him from seemingly out of nowhere. Watto had owned a pair of eopies, a breeding pair that he would sell off the offspring from as well as the female’s milk. He and his mother took turns taking care of them when Watto didn’t have Anakin off building something or doing repairs, he hadn’t minded it much. The animals might have been generally pretty grumpy and stubborn, that probably had something to do with how Watto treated them, but working with them kept him out of his master’s sight and thus less likely to be beaten for a while. “Dolpee kikyuna.”
He extended a hand to let the animal sniff then glanced back to Obi-wan. “What have you been feeding her? She looks a little overweight.”
“She’s been eating the same feed we give the horses,” Obi-Wan replied, strolling up beside him. It wasn’t as if they could pick up food indigenous to Tatooine at the local pet store. “She’s been tolerating it just fine, according to Dani.”
He’d lifted a white eyebrow at the air of concern in Anakin’s voice. After the war, he’d kept Rooh as a beast of burden and, well, for company, and she had been good to him. A familiar face. If something was wrong, Obi-Wan felt it was his duty to set it right.
He shrugged, running his hand over the eopie’s snout when she didn’t shy away from him. “I guess that’s okay. Probably better than just letting her graze.” He couldn’t remember much about the feed he gave to Watto’s beyond the brand name and he had hauled the massive bags back to his master’s house by himself a few times. It had been cheap though, smelled terrible. “They’re kinda like camels, you know? But instead of spitting they have that whole gas problem.”
It was a terrible smell but Anakin had gotten used to it at some point. He had gotten used to a lot of terrible things as a slave. “I’m sure she’s fine, probably just bloating or whatever. Might just be that she’s adjusting to the different climate. California is a lot different from Tatooine.”
“Especially with the snow...” Obi-Wan went quiet and scanned the animal with his eyes. Her own were glassy and red around the edges, the color a human’s might turn under stress or illness. It would be difficult to forgive himself if an oversight had caused Rooh to become infected. The other horses seemed fine. “Hmm. What’s wrong, girl?” he asked in a low voice, almost expecting an answer. Animals could occasionally communicate with the Force, but Eopie’s were rather primitive, and their brains were tiny.
Anakin had moved his hand to run along Rooh’s side, the eopie turning and moving to get closer to Obi-wan when he spoke. He had almost given up when his hand dipped lower on the creature, the hardness of the swelling giving him pause for a moment. If the eopie had simply been fat or swollen it would have felt softer under his hand, this was hard though. It was enough for him to look back at Obi-wan again. “She is eating,” that eliminated any mass or the like as they were animals who tended to stop eating when they were unwell. “She’s the only one you have, right? No males running around?”
Obi-Wan didn’t reply with words, but with a curious facial expression. His brows knit in thought. What Anakin wasn’t so much insinuating as he was outright suggesting that Rooh might be pregnant...and if the older jedi was remembering events correctly, she’d been expecting when he’d originally purchased her on Tatooine.
He moved his hand beside Anakin’s, searching for signs of life that had previously gone unnoticed. It was much easier to detect when a human was pregnant. Animals were tricky. In fact, it was ultimately a kick against his palm, and not the Force, that convinced him. Obi-Wan chuckled. “You’ve been keeping secrets, girl…”
Anakin smirked, slipping the hand from the animal back into his pocket. The artificial one still hung at his side, he was at the point now where he wasn’t constantly trying to do what he used to with the missing hand but there were moments when he would forget and try to use his right hand. Putting the fake hand in the pocket to match his left would have required more noticeable effort and he wasn’t in the mood to bother with it.
“Congratulations, Grandpa, you’re about to become a… Grandpa.” Of course Rooh was pregnant, nothing in Obi-wan’s life was simple and straightforward, even when it wasn’t directly related something Anakin had done, even he knew that. “I’ll have to go pick up some cigars for you later.”
Obi-Wan, too, slipped his hands into his pockets as he stepped back. His eyes remained on Rooh as he considered how he would break the news to Dani. She had to know more about how to handle these things than he did, which was nothing at all. On Tatooine, Rooh had given birth while he was out shopping one afternoon.
“Two for the price of one,” he said, turning to Anakin. “That’s a good deal on Eopies.”
“I know they take about six standard years to mature, but I get the feeling you might end up being overrun.” he chuckled. It did make him wonder about dream time as compared to their time. Matters of time and quantum mechanics and just what about that universe made whatever midi-chlorians bind to the cells of certain individuals swirled in his head for a moment or two before he realized he had been standing there silently long enough for it to become noticeable.
He gave the older man an awkward, apologetic smile. “I, uh.” it was then that something Obi-wan had said finally clicked in his mind. “Speaking of two for the price of one.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the picture he had recieved and offered it out to Obi-wan to take. “I have no idea who they are. Have you seen them in your dreams or whatever?”
The old man’s face paled.
He knew right away how Anakin had happened upon the photograph. Obi-Wan clenched his fingers once to steady them before holding out his hand, so that he could take a closer look. His eyes lingered on Luke more than Leia, though he marveled at how she resembled Padme. Luke’s face, however, was like a portal into another world, and given Obi-Wan’s current physical state, he was quite swept up for a few moments. There was no disguising his emotional reaction. He asked himself, Who am I to argue against what the universe has shown Anakin?
“...They’re your children. Yours and Padme’s.”
Anakin’s face didn’t so much pale as it completely froze just as his eyes went wide and his mouth had gone slack-jawed. He hadn’t been expecting that, it hadn’t even entered his mind as a possibility that those could have been his children. Which, thinking on it now seemed silly for him not to have thought of. After all, everyone had said they were of someone important to them or someone they knew, and who, beyond Padme and Obi-wan, could have been more important to him than his children.
“I…” he started once he was able to speak again. “Uh, those are my what?” He blinked a few times, only now really taking note of Obi-wan’s shock, even though it had already rushed at him through whatever force bond they had. “My kids? Padme’s and mine…”
Obi-Wan swallowed and nodded. “Have you shown her the photograph?” He was certain Anakin had. There seemed to be no secrets between the two of them. Obi-Wan as attempting to stretch that number to three. Whatever Anakin asked, he told himself that he would answer.
“Yeah,” he nodded slowly. “She didn’t know who they were either, or at least she said she didn’t. I believe her though, probably would have been able to tell by her reaction if she had been lying. Yeah, this, this you really have to be honest about.” Of course Anakin had no intention of telling Padme now that he knew. He really didn’t know them, that was the truth, from a very skewed point of view.
“But you’ve seen them before,” his eyes found their way to Obi-wan’s. “I… Do we… Uh… Are they happy?” He knew he probably shouldn’t ask too much now, knowing too much before hand could be upsetting, he was quickly realizing that. Deep down, when one really got to the heart of it, Anakin just wanted his children to be happy.
The question caused Obi-Wan to finally lift his eyes from the photograph and take in Anakin instead. The Force rippled from a deep place in his young friend’s heart, like rings on the surface of a pond. It was… a beautiful question. “I would say they are. They lived lives full of purpose. I was only there to witness a small portion, though.”
“Good.” he said quietly, bringing his hand to run over his face and then back over his hair. It was still a lot to take in, the fact that those were his children. It was always a possibility when he and Padme married, they had even briefly discussed children, wanting to wait until her career in the senate came to an end and after he had accomplished whatever great thing he had been chosen to do. It had been a far off thing, something out of his reach while he was only just a padawan, but now it was there in front of him and he felt for his children in a way he couldn’t accurately describe. “Good.” He repeated himself. “Thank you.”
Obi-Wan passed the photograph back to Anakin, taking a moment to place his hand firmly (reassuringly, he hoped) on his shoulder. He had no children of his own, but he’d watched Luke grow up, and he understood what Anakin was feeling. He’d always regretted not raising the boy when he’d been given the chance. He’d done what he’d felt he was equipt to do.
“I think you ought to tell Padme,” he said. “Before she figures it out herself.”
“You think that’s wise?” he asked in a way that suggested that Anakin had already decided not to share this with her. Not that he ever thought actively keeping secrets from his girlfriend was a good idea, especially as she always ended up finding out about it, but this felt different. This was their future, at least in the other world. Who was to say it wouldn’t be the same here? After all he loved Padme and Obi-wan as he had in the dreams, he had lost his arm due to his own stupidity in the dreams. Who was to say that they wouldn’t have these children when they got around to it.
“I’m not sure if she would react to it as well as I did.” he finally said with a shrug. “You know I’m… Intense. I’m like that with her too, and she might just take it as I’m trying to pressure her into marriage and family even more than she already feels like I am.”
“Are you?” Obi-Wan asked. He started for the stable door; they were heading outside again, back into the snow. Occasionally he worried about the same thing himself. Faiza wasn’t quite ready for children, and there was no shame in that, but he truly wanted to have one before he was much older ...notwithstanding his current state.
He did not want to bring it up the that Anakin and Padme seemed to be going at it like a pair of rabbits. That was how these things known as babies usually got started.
He followed after Obi-wan, old habits dying hard even though he always had the impulse to run ahead. He still wasn’t sure how the older man had ever got him to ever behave himself but he had somehow managed it. He had considered asking his master to share the secret of it with Padme, but it turned out she never had any trouble getting him to do anything she wanted. She kept him in check pretty easily. “It’s not like that,” he started, hand slipping into his pocket as he remained a step and a half behind the much older looking man. “I’m not the best liar, even I realize that. It’s hard to pretend that I’m not completely infatuated with her, that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I want marriage and kids, and the house with the yard and the dog and the SUV, all of it. With her. I’m not good at keeping that to myself.”
Anakin shrugged, “I know I probably don’t stand a chance of keeping the fact that those are our kids from her if she asks. But volunteering this sort of information seems like I’m trying to shove what I want in her face again.”
Obi-Wan brushed his fingers over his (now white) beard. Padme could very well misinterpret Anakin’s intentions. He nodded and hummed quietly to himself. These desires were all good things, but wanting it all had led his padawan down dark paths in the past. When life fails to agree, there are two options, one of which is to take what one feels one deserves. Anakin had routinely fallen into this trap.
“Would you like me to tell her?” he asked. Perhaps Obi-Wan sensed what he was thinking, perhaps he did not.
“Oh yeah, I see that going well.” Anakin made a laughable attempt to mimic Obi-wan’s accent, “My dear Padme, I have recently seen the photograph that Anakin received from his dreams. I felt I ought to inform you that indeed these are the future offspring of yourself and Anakin. You have my condolences if the thought of breeding with him and continuing the line of Skywalker distresses you as much as it does the known universe and beyond.” He was barely holding it together by the last line and once the last word left his lips he had to cough and return his voice to normal.
“Lightsaber battles, losing limbs, being emotionally cut off, having phenomenal cosmic powers. Jedi stuff, sure, but no one ever mentions the occasional times that seeing the future can make relationships difficult. I feel like I didn’t read the brochure enough when I signed up.” He sighed heavily. “No, you’re right. I shouldn’t keep secrets from her, that makes bad relationship karma. I’ll just have to find a way to do it that does end with her saying that we need to slow our relationship down.”
Yes. A laughable attempt. Although Obi-Wan didn’t laugh, he did smile a funny sort of smile, mostly at the way Anakin was cracking himself up.
“Tell her if she asks,” he said. “She might not. But the chances are that this won’t be the only time you come across some mention of Luke and Leia. They… are a topic that can’t be avoided, I’m afraid. Not for very long. If she asks about them… I would tell her that your children are very important people, and that’s all you know. In some ways, it’s all I know.”
“More of that it’s the truth from a certain point of view stuff the Jedi are so fond of.” Anakin had been surprised that the Jedi hadn’t held honesty in higher regard, it made more sense to him now, especially as his dream self was intent on keeping his marriage a secret. He did prefer to be honest though, keeping secrets always felt like he was carrying around a large weight on his shoulders. He didn’t know how Obi-wan managed to have so much knowledge about what was ahead of them and not blurt it out every time he was asked, Anakin could feel the tension that arose in his master everytime he was tempted to do so and he couldn’t help but admire his self control.
“Luke and Leia.” He repeated the names. “Their names are Luke and Leia? Twins? No, don’t answer that. I’m asking for trouble asking too many questions about the future. Though I’m glad that you know them, it gives me a little hope that maybe if I don’t turn out to be the best of fathers you’re there for them.” Everyone else knew Anakin Skywalker as cocky and overconfident in himself and his abilities, only Padme and Obi-wan got to see that his own fears and feelings of inadequacies. In the dreams he was quick to blame Obi-wan or anything else for his own shortcomings, here he was a little more willing to accept blame and responsibility for himself, ‘little more’ being the keywords there. “I don’t imagine good Jedi make good parents.”
At this, Obi-Wan at last fell silent. The snow crunched underfoot. He folded his hands behind his back and kept an eye on where his feet were leading. He thought about Leia leaving with Senator Organa and those memories passed quickly. Even though the ground was white and covered his eyes, he could almost feel the heat of Tatooine’s twin suns on his neck. He relived the moment when he’d passed Luke into the arms of Beru Lars, and Obi-Wan’s heart felt like it was full of lead.
“The master and padawan relationship is meant to mimic parenthood. Other than that, I can’t really say. Qui-Gon was a father to me.”
“As you are to me.” he said softly, bringing his real hand up to rub the back of his neck. “So much for avoiding attachment. But let’s not beat that dead horse again.” The Jedi were wrong. The Jedi were wrong about a lot of things but as it was it didn’t put Anakin off. Their flaws were philosophical but when it came to action he was still sure that overall they were exactly what the galaxy needed. He and Obi-wan had been doing good work, he was sure of that, he had to be.
“I probably ought to be getting back, even I have deadlines to meet before the New Year. It was good to see you though.” That hand slipped back into his jacket pocket. “Good luck with Rooh. Oh, and don’t listen if someone gives you shit about the way you look, I think you age really well. Very distinguished or whatever the word is.”
Obi-Wan wasn't sure he agreed. Not about aging well, because, well, he did agree about that. Anakin hadn’t added any qualifiers to his statement about fatherhood, but the older Jedi wasn’t totally convinced he’d been a good father or brother or even master. Had he even done the best he could when it came to Luke? When he thought of Qui-Gon, everything about himself seemed to pale in comparison.
Obi-Wan was aware that he was over-thinking the matter. Seeing the photograph had affected him deeply. “I’ll see if I can find someone who can confirm what we suspect,” he replied, glad that Anakin had brought up Rooh again, so that he could focus his thoughts on something else. “Careful driving in the snow. Not that you can’t handle it, but I don’t think anyone else in California can.”
“I’m from Arizona and a desert planet in my dreams, what makes you think I’m any good in the snow?” he joked “But you’re right, no one else knows how to drive. Take care, Master, don’t fall and break anything.” he may have hold Obi-wan that he had aged well but that didn’t mean he wasn’t above making a joke or two about his state. It was said with love after all, or so he would claim if he ever had to justify it, he and Obi-wan just had that sort of relationship.
Had he known that Obi-wan doubted himself he would have done his best to try to reassure him, even if he didn’t know the whole story yet. In the other world his master was everything to him for so many years, it might have taken some time for them to come together but once they did they loved each other. And Anakin wouldn’t have traded Obi-wan for anyone else, not even Qui-gon Jinn.