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Obi-Wan couldn’t help but have a bad feeling when he and Ahsoka stepped off the Twilight and touched the ground of Pilara. They’d left Anakin behind, his former Padawan insisting that he should go with them (at least, that’s what Obi-Wan thinks he was trying to say), but no one would let him. As a loth cat, Anakin could easily be taken and Obi-Wan wasn’t really interested in the idea of losing him again.
Beside him, Ahsoka mutters, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Well that’s just great. Two Jedi having a bad feeling about something. This can’t be good, Obi-Wan thinks to himself. They reach the main castle of Pilara, and Obi-Wan can’t shake the feeling that it was haunted. It didn’t look lived in, which was their first bad sign. The second sign was that the entrance was completely destroyed; wooden splinters where the gates should be, broken glass littering the ground from windows high above, and the lingering smell of fire and ash.
“Do you think anyone is even here?” Ahsoka asks in a hushed voice.
“Let’s find out,” Obi-Wan whispers back.
The Master and the Padawan walk into the darkness of the castle. Obi-Wan spreads his awareness in the Force, and doesn’t find any living beings with them, other than the bright presence of Ahsoka. “I don’t think there are any witches or wizards with us,” Obi-Wan tells the little Togruta.
“Who do you think did this?” She asks.
“My guess is that Dooku had come here in hopes to turn them to the Separatist side, and they refused. So, Dooku asked for a toxin instead—a poison—for Anakin. After he got what he was looking for, he sent battle droids and attacked. Either everyone is dead, or they’ve been driven underground somewhere in hiding.”
They passed what seemed to be a classroom of some sorts, half destroyed cauldrons covered the floor and tables. If it weren’t for the oppressing silence, Obi-Wan would’ve never heard the little chirp that came from inside the room.
Ahsoka, with her sharp hearing as a Togruta, immediately whirls around. “What was that?”
“I’m not sure,” Obi-Wan steps inside the room and walks around. When he found it, he knew the Force was definitely smiling upon him today. “Ahsoka, come over here.”
Ahsoka walks over and sees what Obi-Wan was pointing at. She wrinkles her nose. “What is that? It’s so…ugly.”
Inside one of the cauldrons, was a pile of ash and a teeny tiny baby bird that was chirping. “That ‘ugly thing’,” Obi-Wan says slowly, “Is a baby phoenix.”
Ahsoka’s eyes widened. “That’s a phoenix?”
“Yes, and looks like this one has just been reborn.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Well, we could certainly get a feather from it.”
“Can we take it back with us?”
Obi-Wan gives her a sharp look. “There’s a reason why phoenixes are only found on Pilara, young one. It’s because they cannot adapt to any other environment. If we brought one to Coruscant, it would die within days because they cannot get used to the loud noise and buildings and speeders.”
His grandpadawan deflates, “Oh.”
“Besides, their owner is mostly still here somewhere. They’ll come back for them.” Obi-Wan slowly reaches towards the baby bird, feeling the smoothness of its already flaming colored feathers. He grabs one, and gently pulls it out, stepping back and showing it to Ahsoka.
“That’s it?” She asks, “That’s all we need?”
“Yes, now let’s get back to Twilight. Kix should be done with the rest of the antidote.”
Back on the Resolute, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka hurried into the medbay, where Kix looked up at them, surprised. “General Kenobi, Commander. Should I ask why you two are back so early?”
Ahsoka grins and shrugs. “Let’s just say, Dooku did our work for us.”
Kix smirks, taking the feather from Obi-Wan and examining it. “Really?”
“Yep. Where’s Anakin,” Ahsoka asks.
Kix thinks for a moment. “He should be with Rex. They could be in the cafeteria.”
“Ahsoka, why don’t you get him and I’ll help Kix here work on the antidote?” Obi-Wan says. The young Padawan grins and runs off. Once she was out of earshot, Kix looked at Obi-Wan seriously. “What happened down there?”
Obi-Wan only shakes his head sadly. “No one was there. The whole place was destroyed, most likely by Separatists who didn’t get their way. We found a baby phoenix in one of the rooms of the castle. Once we had the feather, we left. I believe the witches and wizards are hiding underground.”
Kix snorts, “Well, that certainly made the mission easier than bargaining with them.”
Obi-Wan strokes his beard, “Indeed.”
Soon, Ahsoka comes back with Rex and Anakin in tow. “Master, we’re back!”
“Good, the antidote is ready.” Obi-Wan informs them.
“General, are you ready to become human again?” Rex teases the loth cat in his arms.
Anakin gives Rex a very Anakin glare that works surprisingly well on a loth cat. He hisses at the Captain and jumps down from his arms, walking over to Obi-Wan, who picks him up.
Kix walks over to them, holding a little syringe with orange liquid inside. “Alright General, once I inject this, it’ll take about five hours to fully work so I suggest you go to sleep after I give you this and once you wake up, you should be back to normal. Understand?”
His former Padawan nods, and Obi-Wan holds him tighter when Kix injects the needle into the side of Anakin’s neck.
After it was all done, Obi-Wan takes him back to his quarters. He falls asleep in the bed a few minutes later with a fuzzy and soft cat in his arms, having no nightmares for the first time in weeks.
Several hours later, Obi-Wan wakes up with a yawn, immediately noticing a heavy presence on top of him and a tickling on his nose. He blinks, and notices that Anakin, back in human form, had buried his face underneath Obi-Wan’s chin and the messy curls of his hair was in his face. Obi-Wan smiles, he knows Anakin usually doesn’t get any sleep, especially when they were on a campaign. So to see his former Padawan sleeping so peacefully for the first time since the war began, Obi-Wan couldn’t bring himself to wake him up.
Eventually, with Obi-Wan petting his curls, Anakin wakes up, blinking blearily and looking around him. “Obi-Wan?”
“I’m right here, Anakin.”
Anakin’s cheeks flush red when he realizes he’d been sleeping on top of Obi-Wan. “Sorry,” he said, getting up.
“It’s alright, Anakin. How are you feeling?”
The man stretches his arms and his neck. “A bit weird, but it’ll be over soon. Are we on our way somewhere?”
“We’re stopping by on Coruscant for a few days until we get our next mission.”
Anakin gives him a sleepy but genuine smile that Obi-Wan hasn’t seen in a long time. “That’s great. I’ll go tell Rex.”
“Yes, and I have a feeling Ahsoka will be glad for the break as well,” Obi-Wan says, and they head out of the room and towards the cafeteria.