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Bail was accustomed to seeing Jedi with their perception elsewhere. But Obi-Wan’s far-away stare wasn’t the alert, focused look of a Jedi sensing something out of sight, nor the serene tranquility of meditation.
The rise of the Empire weighed heavily on them all, but the Jedi were its most ravaged victims, and they felt it keenly in a way Bail could never know.
Words hardly felt like enough, but as a friend, to both Obi-Wan specifically and the Order as a whole, he had to offer something before they parted.
“The children will know a time without the Empire,” he promised. “It cannot hold the galaxy forever.”
“This is only the beginning of its cruelties. They will never be satiated even if they crush out every spark of light in the galaxy,” Obi-Wan said. “That is the nature of the Sith.”
“That is something they will never succeed in,” Bail answered. “There are too many sparks. And we have our own to shelter and grow.”
Bail handed him a private, long-distance comm.
“If we should need it,” Bail said. “May the Force be with you, Obi-Wan.”
Obi-Wan gave the slightest incline of his head.
“May the Force be with you.”