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Chapter Text

He was so resistant to it at first. The idea of leaving Tatooine again, even just for a day let alone several at a time, was too much. The plan, after all, had been for each child to be hidden in place, watched by a man who knew the truth and would protect it all costs: one with Luke, and one with Leia.

Ben Kenobi had failed at so much – failed in so many ways that could never be reversed. He could not fail at this, his single and presumably final task: to ensure the safety of the boy. 

Knowing now that the children's father was still alive – was twisted beyond measure and bringing death across the galaxy like a plague, seemingly with no afterthought – made it all the more worse. Made the risk so much more devastating.

Old Ben could never leave this place again. The thought of it was so heavy and dark that it shook his breath, pushed his heart rate into strange and terrifying rhythms. No, he must remain with Luke. He must watch over his ward and never stray again. Death and danger lurked outside of these drifting sands, more so now than he could ever have imagined.

The truth that could never be changed? This boy's father had fallen to the dark, because of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

This boy's father had been presumed dead, at the hand of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

This boy's father was now a true agent of darkness, ever bloodthirsty for the head of Obi-Wan Kenobi. And if he were ever to discover the existence of the children...?

It would be impossible for Ben to ever try to make right his part in this cataclysm of tragedy. Keeping the boy safe, as Master Yoda had instructed, was his life's sole purpose now. It was the only thing that mattered.

And so he shook his head once more as the blue-toned form of Bail Organa appraised him from the holoprojector. Dust motes floated across the senator's shimmering countenance in the dim light of the cave that Old Ben called home.

"It's not just the boy, Obi-Wan. Leia is just as important."

"Bail, please – you must call me Ben. I have tried so hard to leave... my other self in the past."

The senator sighed. "Ben," he said, exasperation lacing his tone. "My point still stands. The boy is safe, he has experienced no risk – you've said so yourself. The Lars family have taken excellent care of him and will continue to do so."

"And the same can be said of Leia with you and Breha. Why must we seek to change that? Any alteration to the way things are creates the possibility of risk, Bail – you know that. If we remain as we are, then the safety of the children cannot be endangered any further."

"With respect, Ben, that is untrue. Leia was thrown into danger just from being in the very grounds of our home. And you would never have said such things in this past life you speak of. You know as well as I do that situations can change in the blink of an eye. You carry so much of their past, their history. I know Luke's uncle forbids you from contacting him, but I cannot say the same for my daughter."

Ben began to shake his head again but the senator continued, his voice a little softer. A little kinder.

"She needs you, old friend. There are so many things she is curious about since your time with her. You know her curiosity has always been steadfast, practically uncontainable. If she is not given answers she will search them out for herself. There are things I cannot teach her, knowledge that is not mine to share. I don't want her to learn it from anybody else but you."

"I have told you, Bail; the Force is no longer with me. I am... no teacher."

"I beg to differ. The Force has always been with you, more than anyone I have ever known. It's not a cloak you put on and take off at will. Look at it from this point of view: if Luke were to come into danger then I have no doubt you would be able to call upon the Force within a single breath in order to protect him."

Old Ben Kenobi did not respond. He looked past the senator's shimmering form and out to the over-bright day beyond the cave he called home. Hot winds whistled around the rocky outcrops and a small flock of sand-bats sheered across the horizon, silhouetted against the dazzling lower of the two suns.

"All I ask is that you try it at least once, Ben... She misses you."

"Bail, I—"

"Please. For the child of Anakin and Padmé."

The desert dust often blew into Ben's eyes, even in the shelter of the cave. It irritated his vision, requiring moisture, requiring the rubbing of a hand across the face.

But no dust had drifted into the cave this time. This time, the mere mention of the reality of who Leia Organa was to Obi-Wan Kenobi brought tears to his eyes. He said nothing.

Bail seemed to detect the surrender in the cast of his old friend's gaze. It might have been too sharp of an encouragement, he thought to himself, to say their names. But it was, and would always be, the truth.

"Thank you, Ben," Bail murmured, sincere gratitude inflecting his tone. "As I said, I have already prepared a troop of royal guards in full disguise and false identity to assume watch over Luke while you are with us. They will be on Tatooine before nightfall."

Ben – his energy exhausted by the conversation, the memories – merely nodded wordlessly.

Later that night, once contact had been exchanged with Bail's undercover guards on the main thoroughfare of Mos Eisley, Ben Kenobi climbed aboard a transporter. He settled somewhat tiredly into his seat, bound for Alderaan and a princess with many questions about her past. About the Force. About things Old Ben had avoided for so long, but which he would now face in order to honour this young girl's place in the galaxy.

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Chapter Text

Even from a distance Ben could identify the senator’s regal form. He peered out of the viewport of the smaller shuttle as it glided directly down towards to the royal palace, where the tall silhouette of Bail Organa was unmistakeable. Stood to the side of the landing pad close to the sparkling double doors that led into the palace proper, the senator's hands were clasped behind his back, long tailored coat barely moving in the evening breeze.

Ben was distressed to feel nerves rising in him as the shuttle descended smoothly on to the platform. What am I doing here? he asked himself. He still hoped for a faint answer from Master Qui-Gon. He was still yet to hear one…

There was no noticeable impact as the shuttle settled into place. No clattering of parts or juddering of fuselage. But then, this was a royal ship. A senatorial ship. The type of ship Kenobi had not flown on for many, many years.

He stood and looked down at his shabby robes; the colour of earth and dust, of aged things and solitude. The plainest of plain. He smoothed his cloak backwards in an attempt to look a little more appropriate, noticing only now the very fine layer of sand that he had deposited on to the glossy shuttle floor.

Whoosh. The external door opened with a pleasingly soft sound, and Kenobi moved towards it. The evening air on Alderaan was warm but not hot. It was scented with the many stretching branches of thousands of trees, the vague freshness of lakewater ever-present. Stars were beginning to glimmer in a sky that was turning comforting shades of lilac, and lanterns gleamed around the perimeter of the landing platform.

“Old friend… Welcome.”

Ben looked up as he descended the shuttle steps. Bail was smiling, striding smoothly towards him, hand outstretched.

Ben simply nodded before taking the man’s hand. “Bail. You are well?”

“Of course. And better for knowing that you’re here. It’s good to see you again.”

“I hardly expected it to be so soon,” Ben said, in a somewhat dry tone.

“Neither did I,” Bail replied. “But the princess wants what she wants.”

“Look, before I see her again, and before I do whatever it is that must be done, we really must talk about this. She may well have questions, but you and I both know that not all of them can be answered – or should be answered. Have you thought this through, you and Breha?”

Bail held out a gesturing hand, and he and Ben began to walk slowly across the platform towards the palace doors. “We have. And you’re right, there are things that are best left unsaid. But we always knew, from the minute Leia became our daughter, that she deserved to know something of her heritage. Not all of it, as you say – but enough. Enough for her to feel at home not just with us, but within her own heart. Within her own feelings.”

Ben looked at this friend, his heart suddenly beating just a touch faster. “Her feelings?”

“She has never said as much, but… Let’s just say that I would be very surprised if she was not at least somewhat Force-sensitive, Ben. There has always been something transcendental about her. And I don’t just mean her wisdom beyond her years, her boldness. She has more intelligence and more wit than any child I have ever known, but she also has this aura about her. It's always been there.”

Ben swallowed. It was hardly a surprise, that the child of the most masterful Jedi he had ever met should feel the Force also. In some ways it comforted him – that she might someday, somehow, balance the dark that her father had wrought by creating light. By bringing hope. And yet…

And yet the idea of being anywhere near the role of teacher for the child of Anakin Skywalker... It filled him with terror. With thoughts of failure, and weakness; of many mistakes and eons of pain.

Bail’s hand settled calmly on Ben’s shoulder and the two men stood still. “Is there a problem?”

Ben searched for the words, for evenness and equilibrium. “Bail, I don’t think I can— What if I—”

“Breathe, my friend.”

And Kenobi tried. Inhale. Exhale. He fought against the creeping sensation that was trying to take him over, the cold sweat that prickled across his scalp.

“I am not asking you to resurrect a Jedi Council,” Bail murmured, his voice as smooth and confident as any good senator’s should be. “I am not asking you to train her, or to answer her every question with the fullest of answers. All I ask is that you share even the smallest pieces of what you know, to help her find her own way.”

Ben ran a slightly trembling hand over his beard. How had it come to this? To feel so scared of the Force. So scared to even approach the idea of being any form of mentor…

But he couldn’t allow his focus to remain on his own fear. In agreeing to protect the children, he – along with Bail and Master Yoda, with Owen and Beru – had agreed to be a part of their lives, always. Watching over them did not just mean the act of keeping them safe: it meant offering a guiding hand, in whichever way one might be needed.

“I know you can help her, Ben,” Bail continued. “But it’s up to you to decide how. I trust that you can decide what she may learn and what must still remain secret. You must know how deep my belief remains in you. I would never have suggested this if the opposite were true.”

A shimmer of something ran through Ben’s mind then. A breath, a sensation. The traces of a memory, the brief shadow of words said long ago. A man, trusting in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s ability to do what was right by a young child…

He breathed in again. And then out. He looked at his friend. “Very well, Bail. For you, and for her, I will try.”

The senator’s smile was broad, and his hand squeezed Ben’s shoulder once before dropping to his side. “Thank you.”

“But there is something I am concerned about,” Ben said, as they resumed walking across the platform, “You and Breha are her parents, but Leia knows she was born of another mother and father… She’s asked me about it before. It’s not my place, Bail, to cast shadow on the bonds you have with your daughter. How would you like me to handle Leia’s questions about her parentage? About… her bloodline?”

Bail looked calmly to the sky, now a royal shade of purple. More stars winked on as night descended. “She knows she has an Organa heart, Ben. We will always and forever be her parents – but you are right, she knows that the blood running through her veins is not our own. And yet this child…”

Ben looked across at his friend, who smiled, and then laughed. “This child has a mind that is so open to love and connection, to the bonds she can make with any sentient being, flora or fauna. I would stake my life on her being able to not only accept, but embrace, the very idea that her life in this galaxy is part of a tapestry containing multitudes of others. Knowing about Anakin and Padmé can only strengthen what she knows about who she is.”

“And so you and Breha are happy for me to speak about them, to whatever degree I see fit?”

Bail nodded. “Of course. The extent of what you are willing to share will be your own choice, Ben. Breha and I have every faith in you.”

“I…” Ben pushed his hands into the pockets of his cloak, fingers moving against his palms. “Your confidence in the right path remains impressive as always, Bail.”

His friend laughed. “Ah, well… If only some of my fellow senators were to see it in the same—”

“Ben!”

The little voice rang out with the clarity of a bell across the balmy air, followed quickly by the voice of an exasperated mother.

“Leia, you haven’t finished your dinner – and you’re in your evening clothes!”

Bail chuckled as Ben looked up. Young Leia Organa was running across the landing platform, her hair loose but for a single slim braid and streaming behind her like a royal flag. An evening robe fluttered around her, small slippers slapping the ground as she hurtled towards her father and his friend. Her friend.

“Ben, you came back!”

Kenobi wasn’t able to pull his hands out of the pockets of his cloak before the young princess collided with his legs, wrapping her small arms around him and squeezing tight.

“Leia, really, you must listen to your mother,” he chided softly. Finally freeing his hands, he patted her somewhat awkwardly on the shoulder.

Breha reached them a few moments later, breathing heavily before pursing her lips. “My plan to tell her he was here only after dinner failed when she spotted the shuttle coming into land. She already knew that all other visitors on today’s schedule had been and gone.”

Bail smiled, placing a hand gently on top of his daughter’s head and smoothing it over her hair. “And you worked it out for yourself, did you, little one?”

Leia looked up at her father and then at Ben. Her grin was wide, her eyes sparkling. “I knew it was him. I just knew it.”

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