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“Perhaps,” Obi-Wan says once Anakin has left, “We should listen to the only one among us to sense the Sith Lord.”️️
Surprisingly, it’s Mace who continues the argument.
“I agree with Master Kenobi,” he says, “I had an… enlightening conversation with a clone under Skywalker’s command following the execution of Order 66, and it seems that we have not treated him as we would any other Jedi of his age, skill, and abilities.”
“How so?” asks another member of the Council.
“Well,” Mace says, “His workload is the same as that of what Master Kenobi requests.”
At this, shock fills the room, and Obi-Wan is just… so confused. He’s never understood why the rest of the Council kept trying to convince him to take on a lesser workload than the one that he’d been assigned as a Padawan , but they had, and he’d had to request more just to do his fair share.
“There are many ways that Anakin has been failed, but… this is not one of them. He has only slightly more work than I did as a Padawan. ”
Mace shakes his head.
“I suppose that was a bad example,” he says (and Obi-Wan misses the weighted glances that the older Master shares with the rest of the Council), “However… it must be asked just why we have never trusted Skywalker.”
At that, outraged cries fill the room. Honestly, Obi-Wan finds himself thinking. Their reaction is definitely not that of Jedi. It… well, he’s glad that Mace brought it up.
“I would like to know that too,” he says.
Many people try to argue this point, but Obi-Wan finds himself entirely unsurprised by how easy it is to shoot down their arguments. He finds himself wondering why he’d never argued for Anakin before.
(He finds, very quickly, that he already knows.)
“ I think,” he says, “That you were afraid. And, to add another point here, but I’ve been wondering for some time why, instead of helping Anakin, you - we have consistently focused on his flaws rather than helping him.”
At this, of course, others began to think, and…
Well, it’s a terrible thing to realize, but Obi-Wan finds that each and every positive comment on Anakin is a surprise…
How had he not seen before just how terribly Anakin had been treated, how terribly his Padawan had been treated.
“He has been a wonderful Master to little ‘Soka,” Plo says (turning in a slightly disapproving manor to Yoda), “Despite the manipulations in their pairing, and the struggles they’ve endured.”
“And he has never let the fame of being the figurehead of the war effort go to his head,” points out Shaak Ti, “An impressive feat given that Sidious would of course have attempted to manipulate such things.”
“In fact,” continues Plo, “We should look at Skywalker’s resilience, for he has not Fallen despite Sidious having been manipulating him since he came to us.”
And so it continues. It’s actually a surprise, some of the things pointed out, and it’s very clear that Anakin has some support, especially with Mace’s surprising endorsement.
(It bothers Obi-Wan just a bit that he’s yet to have a proper talk with Anakin yet when both Mace and Ahsoka had. He just… was it too much to ask to be able to know if his Padawan was alright? Especially after…
“Rex told me Skywalker’s plan,” Cody had said, “I’m sorry, Sir.”
And Obi-Wan hadn’t understood, instead having to ask. Cody had just looked away.
“I’m sorry, sir.”
And then he’d understand.
And then Anakin had woken up, just as much a closed book as before if not more …
What had he done wrong?)
In fact, once the vote was underway, it was a perfect tie.
Of course Yoda, as Grandmaster, has two votes, and, even if they were not still working on trying to fill the last remaining empty seat on the Council and some of the other Councilmembers were taking their break from what Obi-Wan has heard called the Never-Ending Council Session in the halls while on his own breaks (which were spent mostly trying to get something out of Anakin or waiting for him to get out of Bacta, for him to wake up), his vote would have been a tie-breaker.
“Hmm…” the wise Master says, “A complicated issue, this is. Broken the Code, Skywalker has, but saved the Order, he has, as well. Correct, he is, in many things… Stay in the Order, he shall.”
And after that comes another good hour of debate on exactly what that means, but… well, Obi-Wan isn’t exactly complaining about the results. They’re so much better than he’d hoped.
He wonders again why it’s only just now dawned on him just how Anakin is treated.
They decide to call Anakin in tomorrow, and, honestly…
He can’t wait to get home and sleep. Maybe even finally corner Anakin…
No, that’s a stupid thing to try, right after a Council Meeting, Anakin will probably be utterly impossible to get something from.