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“Obi-Wan, promise me… promise me you’ll train the boy.” Qui-Gon croaked out just before his spirit became one with the Force.
“Yes Master,” Obi-Wan panted between tears.
Obi-Wan held his Master close and cried. The two of them hadn’t been as close as Obi-Wan had hoped they’d be. He’d seen so many other padawans have such warm, natural familial relationships with their masters and he’d craved that for himself. Qui-Gon and him had had a rocky apprenticeship, but the man had still been the closest thing Obi-Wan had ever had to a father. He would miss the older man’s presence and wisdom.
And now he had a child of his own to look after. What was he going to do? How was he going to convince the Council to let him train the boy?
It was rotten luck that Master Yoda came down sick with Dantooine Fever — caught from some newly accepted initiates — just before the Battle of Naboo. As a result, he was not able to come to see the peace celebration on Naboo afterwards. That meant Obi-Wan had to ask Master Windu to help prepare Master Qui-Gon’s body for the funeral pyre, even though Master Windu was not a part of their lineage.
Generally that was not done unless there was no other lineage available.
Master Yoda's absence also meant that Master Windu was the one to Knight Obi-Wan and sever his braid.
“The council grants you the rank of Knight, Obi-Wan,” Master Windu told Obi-Wan gently. “But on this other matter… As a representative of the council and a Jedi bound to follow the Unifying Force, I’m sorry, but I cannot in good conscience let you train Anakin Skywalker to be a Jedi Knight.”
“But I promised Qui-Gon,” Obi-Wan pleaded, his voice still slightly husky from tears.
Master Windu gripped Obi-Wan’s shoulder kindly and turned him towards the older man. “I am not saying abandon the boy. He would be a benefit to many of our Corps programs, or he could be educated and then train to become a temple staff member. What I’m saying is there is huge danger in training him to become a Knight; the Force tells me so. I can’t allow that to happen. So let us help find another place for him within the Order,” the older man finished gently.
“I can’t do that, I promised Qui-Gon I would train the boy.” Obi-Wan pressed stubbornly. He’d seen Master Qui-Gon go up against the Council time and again and outstubborn them every time.
“Do as you must. The Jedi will support you in any other path, but we will not support you in training the boy as a Knight.”
Obi-Wan clenched his jaw.
He didn’t think he was going to win this one.
“Obi-Wan this is a terrible idea.” Quinlan told him loudly as Obi-Wan packed his bag. “The Order is offering you so many other options! Or even just wait until Master Yoda is out of quarantine, I’m sure he can overrule Master Windu on this!”
“You heard about what Master Windu said, Quin,” Obi-Wan said firmly, stuffing another casual outfit — that he’d collected over the years — into his bag. “I cannot train the boy to be a Knight, but Master Qui-Gon made me promise to train the boy. And the only thing I know is how to be a Jedi. So if the boy can’t be a Knight, neither will I. We will find a new life and a new vocation to learn and train in, together.”
“You’re being stupid though. And Qui-Gon was being an absolute idiot for asking you to do this while still his padawan! It wasn’t fair of him. And all you’ve ever wanted to do is be a Knight, Obi-Wan. Don’t throw your life away over this!” Quinlan pleaded with Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan paused what he was doing. He heavily set down the pair of socks he was holding and turned to his friend, his face devastated. “I’m sure that’s what other Masters said about me, to their friends, when I was desperately hoping someone would choose me to be their padawan.”
Quinlan’s eyes widened, realizing he’d fucked up. “Obi-Wan, I didn’t mean it like that. I—”
“I promised my Master,” Obi-Wan turned away to hide his face, “that I would train Anakin. And if the Order won’t help me, maybe one of my potential soulmates out there amongst the stars will.”
In their galaxy everyone had potential soulmates. No one was sure how many, but there had been a few unlucky people to have lost multiple soulmates and one very notable serial killer who’d gone through quite a fair number of theirs for scientists to confidently say that every soul had at least ten potential soulmates.
And Obi-Wan would need a potential soulmate’s help too, if he was also going to save Anakin’s mother and then start anew with them.
When Obi-Wan had approached Anakin to feel out the child’s thoughts on staying with Obi-Wan in another capacity or returning home to his mother, Anakin had revealed how his mother was still enslaved. Obi-Wan didn’t think that was right, so he was going to do something about it.
“You’re going to use a soulmate matchmaking service, aren’t you?” Quinlan groaned.
Obi-Wan cleared the thickness from his throat and then turned to glare at his friend. “So what if I am?”
“How would you even know where to start? What system’s matching service are you going to use?” Quinlan asked curiously.
Obi-Wan could have as little as 10 soulmates out there in the galaxy. And they could be anywhere. There were thousands of potential planets they could be living on.
However, most systems and worlds in the galaxy had official matchmaking services that helped set their citizens up so they could find their soulmate. There would be a fee, of course, and depending on the system the fee could be pretty high. But they would be a good place to start. None of his soulmates would be incompatible with him, so the matchmaking services saw a good amount of success. One Sector in particular had an excellent service and he would start there.
“I’ll go where I’ve felt the strongest pull to a people.”
Quinlan huffed, leaning against the wall. “So to Mandalore?” Quinlan asked dully, obviously realizing he couldn’t convince Obi-Wan to stay.
“To Mandalore.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all that easy to just leave the Order.
At least not now that Obi-Wan had already taken his Knighthood vows. There was flimsi-work upon flimsi-work to fill out in order for him to leave officially. And he had to meet with a High Counselor to confirm his decision and the reasoning behind his leaving.
When Obi-Wan realized how much work it was going to be to leave — pretty early on in the process — he had sent out a request to the matchmaking service in Little Keldabe. He would start up his profile for soul matching services in the Mandalore Sector, remotely, so that hopefully he would have potential matches lined up and ready to meet by the time Anakin and him could get there.
Ever since his year-long mission to Mandalore, Obi-Wan had still yearned for the sights, scents and tastes of the Mandalorian Sector. So, Obi-Wan had spent a fair amount of time in Little Keldabe and he had gotten to know a lot of the residents there. The matchmaker in Little Keldabe (like many Mandalorians in Little Keldabe) knew him well.
And when Obi-Wan had gone to visit the man, the matchmaker in Little Keldabe had quickly agreed to help and set off to work after Obi-Wan paid a small administration fee.
Now everything leading to Obi-Wan and Anakin’s departure from the temple seemed to be going well, if slowly.
Of course, with Obi-Wan’s luck, something happened to throw a wrench in all of his plans. On the day just before Obi-Wan had projected he and Anakin would leave the temple, he got a message from the matchmaker with some bad news.
“I’m sorry Obi-Wan. If you were looking in Little Keldabe, I might have been able to find you some matches, but even with me personally asking G’rell Vast in our Mandalore office to do this as a favor for me, he refused. He said that the moment any Mando in the sector has seen your Jedi education history, they won’t even consider you and so it would be a waste of his time.” The Mandalorian Twi'lek told Obi-Wan over a holocall.
Obi-Wan had met all of the regulars in Little Keldabe and there had never been a soulmate spark, so looking there was not an option. Not that Obi-Wan had been specifically looking back then, but he was sure he would have noticed. Meeting a soulmate was supposed to be a visceral feeling: a birds chirping, trumpets sounding, your heart pounding kind of event. So he was sure he hadn’t met any of his potential soulmates yet.
And Obi-Wan had been so sure this was the way forward. The Force even felt warm when Obi-Wan considered taking Anakin to the Mandalorian Sector. But now, it seemed like the way he had thought would lead him forward was being barred from him.
Obi-Wan, however, was nothing if not tenacious, practical and a creative problem solver. He would simply try again somewhere else.
Obi-Wan thanked the Mandalorian matchmaker and hung up. He began thinking of what sector he should next try to find a soulmate in.
After much deliberation with his friends, Obi-Wan planned his and Anakin’s new destination: Corellia.
Corellians were generally thought of as pragmatic and hardworking people who valued family and soulmates. They were not as fiercely protective or proactive about family and soulmates as Mandalorians were, but Corellians did have something Mandalorians did not: they’d had a lot of exposure to Jedi through the Corellian temple and they had a positive view of Jedi.
It didn’t hurt that Obi-Wan might even be able to easily get a job with some of the companies that serviced the Corellian temple, because of his Jedi education.
Unfortunately, Obi-Wan did not have any contacts on Corellia, so Obi-Wan and Anakin would have to travel there to get enrolled in matchmaking services.
With their new destination in mind, Obi-Wan booked them passage through public transportation from Coruscant.
“Our transport will be leaving port at 1700 tonight,” Obi-Wan informed Anakin as they repacked their bags now that their departure was imminent.
“1700?” Anakin wrinkled his nose and carefully folded one of the casual tunics Obi-Wan had bought him. The boy then rolled the folded tunic up tightly so more clothes would fit in his bag, just like Bant had shown him the other night. “That’s over nine hours from now. So will we have to stay in the temple for the rest of the day?” He looked up at Obi-Wan with desert-sky blue eyes.
Obi-Wan shook his head, handing Anakin a set of leggings from the open drawer. “I want to stop by my friend Dex’s before we leave and it will take an hour and a half just to get across Coruscant, to the right dock and get us checked in. Maybe we can stop somewhere nice in between Dex’s and the docks, if we have time. There’s a small public aquarium ten levels up from Dex’s.”
Anakin’s eyes lit up. The ten year old was obsessed with large pools of water in any form. And he was fascinated by the different life forms that lived in them. The day Obi-Wan had shown Anakin The Room of A Thousand Fountains, the child had sat by one of the cold water ponds and watched the krill swimming around in it, for hours.
“Alright. As long as we get to leave soon,” Anakin responded, obviously trying to sound disinterested and failing.
Even if going to an aquarium wasn’t on the table, Obi-Wan wasn't surprised that Anakin wanted to leave so quickly. Obi-Wan had enrolled Anakin into some basic reading and arithmetic classes while they’d been in the temple (Obi-Wan had figured it wouldn’t be the worst idea to get started on Anakin’s education). But after meeting some of his agemates Anakin had pleaded with Obi-Wan to leave as soon as possible, apparently Anakin and his agemates had not gotten along well. At all.
“Alright. Why don’t you finish packing and we’ll go say goodbye to Bant, Siri, Garen and Quinlan before we leave.”
Anakin grinned and started folding his clothes a little faster.
Seeing and saying goodbye to all of his friends was bittersweet for Obi-Wan. Many of them he’d known since he was just a small boy.
Although in his heart, he knew he would see them again, he just wasn’t sure when.
He had thought that saying goodbye to Dex would be easier… but it really wasn’t. The Besalisk was beside himself, worried about where life would take Obi-Wan next.
“It doesn’t matter who your soulmate ends up being, if something goes wrong or you’re in trouble, or they’re hurting you, contact me Obi-Wan,” the diner owner’s squinty brown eyes stared at Obi-Wan seriously, willing him to agree.
“Of course Dex. I don’t think, though,” Obi-Wan smiled, putting his hand on Dex’s arm, “that this is the last we’ll see or talk to each other.”
Dex snorted and murmured, “Jedi nonsense,” under his breath in a tone that had Obi-Wan grinning, his falsely dry voice lightening the mood. Out of all the non-Force sensitive people Obi-Wan had met, Dexter Jettster actually seemed to believe in what the Force was capable of, even if he often pretended to scoff. “Just take care of yourself, kid.”
“I will, thanks Dex,” Obi-Wan smiled and was hugged (or more like squeezed so tightly he couldn’t breathe) by his friend.
Anakin and Obi-Wan left Dex’s Diner with their bags slung over their shoulders and three hours left to spare before they needed to head to the docks.
Obi-Wan put his hand firmly on his young charge’s shoulder, guiding Anakin through the busy streets towards the lifts that would take them up to the Aquarium.
“Obi-Wan, look at that speeder!” Anakin suddenly pointed above them.
Obi-Wan looked up, listening as Anakin began to chatter about the special type of engine that particular model had.
For all of Obi-Wan’s spatial awareness through the Force, he was not prepared for a figure covered in Beskar (which was difficult to sense in the best of times) to stride out of an alley in front of them and run smack into them.
Unsteady as Obi-Wan was with the luggage and with his hand on Anakin’s shoulder, Obi-Wan felt himself being pushed backwards by the kinetic energy of the man’s stride. Without more than a second to think, Obi-Wan pushed out with the Force, knocking the man back and stabilizing Obi-Wan, so that Anakin wouldn’t be dragged to the ground too.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Obi-Wan straightened and then bent to offer a hand to the Mandalorian sprawled across the dirty pavement. “I should have been looking at where I was going.”
“It’s fine,” the Mandalorian’s voice growled out through their voice box and reached up to smack Obi-Wan’s hand away.
As the Mandalorian looked up, their eyes must have met through their visor and Obi-Wan felt like he was suddenly being dunked into a warm bath: the feelings of soothing comfort and assured belonging wrapping around him.
Obi-Wan’s hand shook as he continued to hold it out, the rest of his body frozen in shock. He hadn’t been expecting that he would meet his soulmate here on Coruscant; or that they would be a Mandalorian after everything that had happened. He’d given up on the hope it would be a Mandalorian when he’d changed his plans, no matter that he continued to feel that soft throb of rightness in the Force whenever he thought of Mandalore.
“Obi-Wan?” Anakin’s small, worried voice broke Obi-Wan out of his daze.
“Oh,” he whispered at the Mandalorian. “Hello there.”
Instead of completing the action and knocking Obi-Wan’s hand away, the Mandalorian’s gauntleted hand slowly reached for Obi-Wan’s hand, curling around it and drawing himself up using both of their strength.
“Mesh’la,” the Mandalorian said, reaching for their helmet now that they were standing.
Obi-Wan blushed. That meant beautiful in Mando’a.
The Mandalorian’s now exposed face made Obi-Wan’s eyes widen. The man was very beautiful himself.
“Jango Fett,” The Mandalorian said, holding out his hand again, this time for a handshake. Obi-Wan’s soulmate stared at Obi-Wan as if he was trying to take in all of Obi-Wan’s being through his gaze.
Obi-Wan clasped Jango’s hand in the style of a Mandalorian arm grasp instead of a Coruscanti business handshake. Jango’s eyes widened with surprise and approval. “I’m Obi-Wan Kenobi and this is my ward, Anakin Skywalker.”
Jango’s hand tightened a bit possessively on Obi-Wan’s forearm but then relaxed as he looked over to Anakin and smiled. “Nice to meet you Ad’ika.”
Obi-Wan couldn’t stop staring at his soulmate.
The Force whispered softly that this was the one, the one Obi-Wan was waiting for. Although the impression he got from the Unifying Force wasn’t all just positive emotions.
What the kriff did that mean?
“Come, Mesh’la,” Jango tugged on Obi-Wan’s hand back the way they came. “My ship isn’t far. We can go there, I want us to get to know each other better.”
Obi-Wan pushed away his confusion and smiled at his soulmate. He nodded and let the Mandalorian lead them forward, into their shared future with Anakin by their sides.