Chapter Text
Jesse refused to take out their braid. Because they had a sonic on board in place of a water shower, there wasn’t really any reason to. To top it all off, Hondo pulled them aside just before takeoff to redo it so it would last longer. He also downloaded a few easy tutorials on Jesse’s pad so they could learn to do their own hair like this.
The style of braid did expose more of their now-blasphemous tattoo, but they figured they would be travelling for the next while anyways. No civilians would be likely to see them: when they did need to stop, whether to top up on the ship's air or grab another canister of fuel, it would be Obi-Wan or Ahsoka leaving the ship. Their and Rex’s status as clones pretty much got them out of off-ship chores.
Of course, not leaving the ship meant...not leaving the ship. Which was fine! But even adding one more person to their home made for such a strange space.
It wasn’t that General Kenobi was a bad roommate, but the four of their aliit had carved out a comfortable balance over the past three years. They were all comfortable, and they all knew when to stop poking at an issue, or what topics to avoid altogether. And Kenobi, he just dove right into those issues and started splashing around in them like they were the sea and he was a Kaminoan saberjowl.
In the first standard hour of their hyperspace journey, he had already asked Jesse about Maul, Rex about Tup and Fives, and Ahsoka about her second lightsaber. The air was admittedly a little tense. Jesse had panicked when Kenobi asked them to recount Maul’s invasion of their head, Rex had choked up and been unable to say anything other than he tried, but Ahsoka came in clutch and rescued the conversation by showing Kenobi her second crystal, which she had removed before leaving her saber in the snow.
Jesse hated to think it, it felt like forming the thought would be tantamount to betraying the Jetii General (which was astonishing because they had actually betrayed their Jetii before), but the famous Negotiator might be out of practice with his social skills. The usually verbose man was more blunt when he spoke, and he answered questions right away instead of making you sit through a lecture that left you feeling more confused than before you had asked. More than anything, his emotions were shining through where before Jesse had a hard time getting a read on the Master Jedi.
Jesse found they were missing the presence of the pirate. Jesse never felt dread around him like the way he was starting to feel when Kenobi opened his mouth.
It must have been a long three years in the desert.
It had been a long three years in the desert, and Obi-Wan had been so anxious to get moving he’d neglected to consider the fact that his new consistent lifestyle with its familiar routines was about to be thrown out on its backside. Trying to talk to his shipmates was like trying to get a certain zabrak to calm down. He was sure it could be done, he was sure of it, but the zabrak constantly hounding him did not react to anything Obi-Wan tried. This metaphor might have gotten away from him a bit.
The point was, there were three other people on the ship with him, as well as a spunky little droid (which he would turn to as a last resort, but the droid reminded him of artoo, and those were bringing other memories he didn’t want to acknowledge to the surface). Three people, and not one of them could hold down a conversation for more than a few minutes without fidgeting or going silent.
Honestly, was it something he was saying? Did he smell bad? Admittedly, there weren’t many opportunities for showers on a desert planet, but he thought he kept up a reasonable standard of hygiene.
Jesse went pale as a sheet and projected a lot of fear into the Force when he asked about his stalker-ahem. His enemy. When Obi-Wan tried to speak with Rex, he projected a sadness so intense it would have knocked Obi-Wan to his feet had he been standing. Not only that, but Obi-Wan knew the captain well enough to be able to see his feelings in the tilt of his head, the furrow of his brows, and the vacant look in his eyes.
His dear grandpadawan seemed to be the single individual willing to speak with him, presenting her special bundle.
The presences of the two vode in the Force calmed greatly while Ahsoka explained how she left her second saber at the burial site. She told him how glad she was that she kept the crystal, because now that she could feel them again, the Force was singing.
He encouraged her to rebuild a second saber, maybe even tweak her old one to better suit her fighting style.
“Besides, it will give you the chance to properly reattune yourself with your kybers. There is much work to be done,” so she begged off to meditate in her room.
Not long after the two clones were making excuses as well and leaving their common area in favour of their small quarters. Jesse mumbled something about checking their connections to the holonet, and Rex simply wanted to sleep.
Obi-Wan found himself wishing he too had a project to work on.
As the local resident hermit, he spent most of his time alone on what he had come to think of as his land. He mapped out all the canyons, charted all the caves, named and befriended all the creatures. He remodeled his little hut to his liking, worked to optimize the efficiency of his water vaporators, and was constantly performing maintenance on his home.
But when he wasn’t making himself stay active and all the points on his little checklists were marked off, he was sitting quietly in meditation. He would often find himself reciting the poetry closest to his heart, the way he used to read to Cody.
( “Say it for me again?” Cody’s eyes were doing the kicked tooka look, so Obi-Wan was pretty much obligated to indulge him. Not that he would even consider turning down a request from his commander.
“Alright, and remember, this poem was translated between several languages until it settled in the wording we know today. It’s a clunky read, but the history in it is-”
“I remember.”
“Okay,” Obi-Wan watched Cody close his eyes and sink further into his cushion.
“ If my soul be poisoned against thy creed,
Go to thy father, from here be thou scarce.
Should you stay I would make you lament and bleed:
Please, precious blossom, adhere to this verse
For in our love you would no respite find.
Do you not wear your ideals as a cloak?
Do they not harbour you from howling wind?
Should I close mind (in doing so provoke
Righteous rage) protect thy interests but pray,
Sweet Force, grant visions that mine willful mind
Ever respectful of thy people stay
And we may some fruitful compromise find.
You are my equal, and I too am yours,
And we maintain this oath to final hours .”
Obi-Wan refrained from giving another lecture as Cody sat there with his eyes shut and a contemplative look on his face.
“Well?”
“It wasn’t any better the second time around,” his commander deadpanned, opening his eyes to meet Obi-Wan’s affronted glare. “I know you like this kind of stuff-”
“Literature, I like literature.”
“Fine, literature. I know you like this osik, but to me it’s just incomprehensible...osik.”
“I don’t know why I even try,” Obi-Wan threw his hands up in the air.
Cody stuck out a foot to kick at Obi-Wan’s leg. He let it happen, and refused to think anything of it when Cody kept their legs pressed together.
“Don’t be mad, Obi-Wan,” the Jedi purposely didn’t look at his face when he spoke, but it was a lost cause. When Cody used his name…
“I’m simply trying to supplement your education with the arts,” Obi-Wan didn’t adjust his posture so they were sitting closer. He didn’t. “Just, okay. Let me try again?”
Cody gave him the smile he used with his vode when they told him they were fine after a hard battle. It was a smile that said ‘you can lie to yourself but you can’t lie to your ori’vod’ and ‘okay, I’ll humour you.’ It was infuriating to be on the receiving end of that smile.
“It’s about the struggle of two lovers, divided by their people. Both sides are heavily bound by codes of honour, but they differ drastically from one another,” Cody was nodding, which was a win. “The speaker is telling his love that he promises to always respect his ideals, and gives his consent for him to leave if he ever breaks that vow. The speaker knows what it’s like to live in a galaxy where your beliefs make you a target for angry outsiders, and he never wants to be the source of this pain for his partner. It’s not just a love poem, it’s an oath.”
“You get all that from the poem?” Obi-Wan felt the commander’s interest focus on him partway through his explanation.
“It’s all there, we just have to look for it,” Obi-Wan put on one of his best dazzling smiles.
“Or we can let our jetiise explain them to us,” it was an offhand comment, but Obi-Wan glowed from the inside out every time Cody called Obi-Wan his Jedi.
“Poems are like puzzles, I do think you’d enjoy them if you gave them a shot,” he caught Cody’s eye again when it started to wander.
“I-sure. Lek, I’ll give them a shot,” Cody settled back and closed his eyes again. After a few long moments of silence he cracked an eye.
“Well? What other dikut’la poems do you have stored in that head of yours?”
Obi-Wan laughed. “Well, there’s a rather lovely trilogy about a small group of adventurers that travel the galaxy in search of the oldest kyber crystal in existence.”
“Sounds riveting,” Cody kicked his leg again. Obi-Wan debated his next move while he spoke about the historical context of the story.
Cody and the other vode told him multiple times he was always welcome to join in on their weekly vodpiles. Nevertheless, Obi-Wan couldn’t bring himself to sleep surrounded by so many vode, the comfort he felt sleeping surrounded by his men was nearly overshadowed by the niggling feeling in the back of his mind, whispering that he didn’t belong in such a sacred place. But giving and receiving comfort had become a semi-regular thing between him and his commander (it started soon after their Force bond clicked into place and Cody could sense how badly Obi-Wan needed a hug one day). Cody never pushed, always leaving the choice up to Obi-Wan, but the Jedi did have an open invitation to cuddle whenever he desired. As childish as it might sound to the observer, it was one of the ways Obi-Wan stayed sane when he was so far from the comforting embrace of the Order.
He was hesitant to take his commander up on that offer because his feelings were distinctly unprofessional. Obi-Wan worried about taking advantage, and he worried that Cody might pick up on his feelings if he allowed them to be too close for too long. That being said...Obi-Wan was slightly chilly and Cody was basically a human furnace.
He stopped the debate as he finished the backstory to the epic and stood up from his spot, only to pivot and plop down beside Cody on his cushion. Cody didn’t even open his eyes to look at him, just hummed and adjusted his slouch so Obi-Wan was resting more comfortably against his chest. He kept a large, warm arm across Obi-Wan’s shoulders as he began the story of the adventurers. Obi-Wan let his own eyes drift shut as he spun tales in the air for his dear commander, happily surrounded by Cody’s warmth in and out of the Force. )
“You are my equal, and I too am yours, and we maintain this oath to final hours,” Obi-Wan kept his eyes closed when the poem was finished. The poem had a way of sounding more final in the past three years than it had in the time before.
There were others he could recite, and if he was feeling brave he could try to recite one of his old training manuals, but he just sat in silence for a while in a pseudo-meditation.
Naturally he found his mind drifting towards his bond with Cody. He let his mind putter around it, only barely looking in, until he caved under the pressure and let himself give a gentle tug.
The old general smiled when he felt a foggy sense of fatigue over the connection. He tugged again when the sleepy question sharpened into a cautious interest. Obi-Wan held his breath. So far he hadn’t been able to get Cody to communicate back to him, and if he were honest he wasn’t entirely sure Cody could. If another mind was in the pilot seat Cody wouldn’t be able to change their course. But the communications console might not even be in the cockpit! Cody might still be able to answer him back!
Excitedly, Obi-Wan tugged more insistently on their bond. From such a distance and after so long of disuse, their bond filtered out much of the nuance they had felt towards the end of the war, when their bond was fully realized, forged in the fires of adversity. It truly was the will of the Force that Obi-Wan was able to find the name of Cody’s little moon with their bond in such a state.
Against all the odds, Obi-Wan felt the lightest of nudges in his mind.
His eyes flew open of their own accord. Cody was communicating back! He was trying to reach him! Cody really was still in there; it meant that they had a shot. He leapt up and paced around the common room for a while to try and calm down.
When he had finally settled his racing heart, Obi-Wan knelt on the floor and opened up his mind to the Force in a full meditation.
He gingerly felt along the edges of his bond with Cody. It felt different, like some of the clouds had cleared from around it, or the dust had settled. The Force around it was giggling like a child, lapping around the edges in waves.
He was about to try and communicate with Cody again when he realized that on the other side of the connection, Cody’s mind was back asleep. As much as Obi-Wan wanted to see how far he could push this, he didn’t want to make his dear commander miss out on sleep. Who knows, maybe he was still paying back the sleep debt he’d wracked up during all the campaigns. Force knew Obi-Wan was still working through the backlog of hours he let the Force sustain him for, past when he should have.
Obi-Wan was certain it was a mild (but persistent) form of benign Force exhaustion. He would have loved to study the phenomena in his siblings from the order, but. That wasn’t exactly an option. He could try contacting Yoda, but the ancient master made his instructions kyber clear: no contact until Luke or Leia required training. Then and only then could Obi-Wan reach out to him.
Yoda was even keeping himself locked up tight in the Force. Obi-Wan had no way of feeling him anymore. If he weren’t so confident in the masters ability to let mischief fuel him, he might have assumed the worst. Obi-Wan just hoped Yoda could sense Ahsoka was alive. One of his greatest sorrows from the war was the disaster that was Ahsoka’s departure from the order. Yoda would have been pleased to know she had found a path.
ST-2224 was in the middle of his sleep cycle when the thing happened again. The lights were off in his room, and they wouldn’t turn on again until his alarm went off and activated the day routine in his quarters.
When he blinked open, the first thing that struck him was his name. Cody.
Shaking his head produced no more answers than the last time he’d woken up during the night cycle confused. It hadn’t been long since his last episode, so whatever was wrong with him was picking up the pace. Maybe a brain tumour? A concussion from-well, from where he didn’t know, but he supposed it was possible for a clone who was getting up in his years to hit his head on an outcropping piece of equipment and not notice.
Cody was pondering the options when the thing happened again. Like before, it was a gentle tug on his mind, almost like a spirit was pulling him away. He tried to focus on where the feeling was localized, and he thought he could feel the hum of a hyperdrive flash around him.
Cody held his breath and waited. For some reason, the shock of red hair invaded his mind again. For an equally baffling unknown reason, the memory made him smile into the darkness.
He was sitting there grinning like a fool when the tug happened again. It felt more harsh this time, but Cody didn’t think harsh was the right word. Whoever was doing this to him wasn’t trying to hurt him. He knew instinctively that they were a friend.
The second time the presence reached out to him, he felt another sense of that hyperdrive buzzing beneath him. There was so much information in that mind, ready to be plucked like ripe meilooruns, but Cody didn’t have enough time before the feeling was fading away.
Cody frowned and tried to think it out. If he could pick up what the other person was sensing, could they sense what he was sensing? And if they could tug on his mind, could he tug on theirs too?
It was frustrating to say the least, Cody knew he understood how this worked, he just wished he could actually use that information. He decided to throw caution to the wind and try to mimic what the other side of the thing did.
It must have worked, because he was suddenly picking up a large burst of joy and surprise along with the hyperdrive buzzing.
Cody smiled to himself as sleep rose back up to him. He didn’t think that would take so much out of him. When he fell asleep, his mind was Cody, and he dreamed of a cushion on the floor and the most wonderful voice telling him stories about things that happened a long long time ago, half the galaxy away.
ST-2224 woke up the next morning feeling as though something was different. His eyes were burning slightly and his head was throbbing. ST-2224 took himself down to the medbay before his shift to see a medic, but the droid wasn’t very helpful. The droid told him he had a poor quality of sleep the night before, but that was an inaccurate assessment. If ST-2224 were waking up during the night cycle he would remember it. He did however accept the prescription of an increased caf allocation for the day.
Cody was in the back of his mind that morning, largely ignoring what his body was doing. He was too busy turning over his dreams like precious stones. If he tried really hard he could hear that voice in his head, explaining all sorts of adventures to him. The voice was reassuring, and Cody was so glad he was hearing it again. It had been too long since he heard-kriff. The name was right there! He could feel the shape it took in his mind, but once again, blocked. It was like ST-2224 changed the code to his archive room. It made him want to tear out his greying hair and send a training dummy flying with a well-aimed kick.
Speaking of ST-2224...Cody zoned in just as they rounded the corner and were pulled into a side room for another of his ‘off the record’ consultations. This time Cody didn’t ignore what was going on. He listened to every word, every detail. And he remembered them.
He committed ST-2224’s advice to memory too, just to be on the safe side, though it was hardly different from what Cody would suggest if they had asked him instead. In fact, it was almost like he was speaking, when he and the troopers' minds were so aligned on the answer. It sent a shiver down his spine when he thought about-Cody wrenched his mind back to the present. He had to stay focused while ST-2224 was walking, or Cody might miss another interaction.
When Cody saw them safely to the monitors, he let himself sink back down. He knew the layouts already, and the guard rotations. There was no new intel to be gained from such routine procedures. As long as he-they?-were alone, Cody could allow himself to drift.
So as ST-2224 stood at the monitors, Cody let himself consider the events of last night. He wondered if he could try and connect with the person again, but he quickly shook that off. If he tried something while ST-2224 was awake, he might take them to medical again. Or worse, reconditioning. Cody shuddered. He decided to wait until the next time he woke up at night, or at least until ST-2224 zoned out for a while (if that would ever happen). Then he would reach out.