Us Against the World

22

C3PO came into view, asking if I was okay. I nodded to him as I watched the others leave the cockpit. We had landed. As Rey passed me, she looked at me in question, sensing my unrest but not knowing what had just happened.
"I heard you scream." She whispered. I shook her off, telling her it was nothing. Instead we made our way out into the heat of the planet.

The moment we reached the coordinates Luke had left, a smile spread across my face.
"The Aki-Aki Festival of the Ancestors." C3PO informed the group. Ben and I had heard about this. As children, it was going to be our aim to visit every celebration we could, join in with each culture's festival just as an excuse to travel. Events like this brought only joy and I yearned to be a part of it.

Although not advised, I ran down into the festival, feeling less like a Master Jedi and more like a child. Explosions of coloured dust filled the air as I looked to the sky, watching the kites flying above. This celebration wasn't a regular occurance. My view was, if the galaxy was ending anyway, I could allow myself to enjoy this while we passed through.

I felt a tug at cloak. I looked down to see a younger native, holding a tray of warm treats. They looked to be some sort of sweet delacy and I took one, thanking her greatly. The food was heavenly. I made my way around the tents, seeing a puppet show for children and multiple stalls. Hundreds of natives were dancing and singing. I wanted nothing more than to join in.

I spotted Rey in the crowd and moved towards her seeing a lady giving her a necklace and talking to her, 3PO translating her language. I was surrounded by joy in the midst of a war. How couldn't Ben see the happiness in the galaxy? Why did he want to be a part of the destruction? As I reached them, Rey stood up and the lady walked up to me, beginning to talk to me.

I looked to the golden droid for the translation, hearing that her name was Nambi Ghima. I had bent down to her height, admiring her green cloak and coloured clothing. I was rarely in colour.
"Hello, Nambi. I'm Lowla Kenobi." She reached for my hands and I gladly placed them in her smaller ones. Nambi spoke again, 3PO informing me of her words.
"She said she hasn't heard that name in over 30 years and that she would be honoured if you would accept a small favour." Nambi handed me a small piece of green fabric.
"Thankyou, Nambi." I said, before tying it in my hair. I felt accepted, glad for the small amount of colour in my dull outfit, finally feeling part of the festival around me.

Then I felt everything around me go silent and I knew I had to find Rey. I quickly excused myself from Nambi and ran after Rey. I found her a small distance away, looking at nothing like she had before when we were with Luke. I felt her anger rise and I ran forward, my hand resting on her shoulder.
"Rey?" I called to her, trying to break whatever she was seeing. If she was talking to Ben, I either wanted to break her from it, or know what they were talking about. As she turned to me, the necklace that she had been wearing disappeared. She looked down in shock wondering what had happened, whereas I knew exactly what was going on.
"I saw Ben." She said, looking to me for where her necklace had gone. I grabbed her hand, pulling her through the crowd to find the others.
"He took the necklace. We have to leave, now." I informed her, used to the force bond allowing the exchange of objects. Ben and I used to practise with swapping lightsabers through the force bond, using our connection to swap weapons, knowing it would be useful for something. Ben would be searching for the origin of the necklace, so we were racing against time to get off the planet or get out of sight.

Exactly 30 seconds into running, a stormtrooper spotted us, aiming his weapon at us. Just as I was about to use the force to push him away, an arrow lands itself in his head. We all turned to see a masked figure telling us to follow them. The sound of his voice was familiar, but I couldn't place it. Seeing as this man was our only option, we all hastily followed him into a vehicle to hide.

The man told us that Leia had sent him a transmission, which immediately made us trust the stranger. As he spoke, I felt like I knew him.
"How did you find us?" Fin asked him. The man removed his helmet and I knew why I had recognised him. He had played with Ben and I as children, been to visit us for meals often, and always sent us birthday presents.
"Wookiees stand out in a crowd." Chewie jumped over to him, enveloping him in a hug. As the two reunited, 3PO told everyone who it was, as if everyone aboard didn't already know who Lando Calrissian was. The man then turned to me.
"Little Lowla." He announced, bringing me into a hug. This war had reunited us with everyone, brought out everyone who went into hiding and made it seem like old heros were so much more legendary than the stories told.
"No so little anymore General." Lando nodded in agreement.

Poe went on to inform the man of what we were doing, what we were desperately searching for. He revealed that a Jedi hunter was in possession of a clue before he went missing, his ship being located in the desert. That led to our next objective, searching Ochi's ship. The more time we spent running around, the less time I could spend trying to reach Anakin. And the longer I spent away from trying to save Ben, the less likely success became.

The whirring engines of tie fighters were heard and I knew Ben was on the planet, looking for us. The ominous sound droning on, being the soundtrack to our run. Poe gestured to some speeders, Poe quickly hot-wiring them so the engines powered on. Some of the natives began running towards us as everyone piled onto the bikes. I was sitting dangerously close to the side of the one Rey was driving.

As two of the stormtroopers that were following on their own speeders launched into the air, Poe called to me, asking if I could bring them down.
"If I had time to think then I could." The speed of our escape and the quick, sharp motion of the speeders as they raced across the desert made it nearly impossible to focus. BB8 let off a canister of yellow powder, blinding the trooper behind us and sending him crashing into the air. Rey shot at the bike before watching it explode. Chewie held onto my arm as I relaxed, closing my eyes and focusing on the troopers jetpack. Finally seeing it clearly, I opened my eyes and made a fist with my hand. This motion caused one of the jet pack engines to explode and send him flying uncontrollably into a rock in the distance.

We saw Ochi's ship and I saw a sense of recognition pass over Rey's face. The moment of distraction led to our bike being exploded and us all being tossed from them, launched into the air and falling into the sand. Once all in the sand, everyone shot at the stormtrooper until he crashed to the ground as well. In a brief moment of peace, we all felt the sand below us begin to move. As I saw everyone panic, I had a feeling they would be fine. So, being the one that was the closest to the normal sand, I rolled out of the sinking fields.

Within seconds, I was left with the silence of the desert. So I began walking, eager to make it to Ochi's ship. "Anakin, you need to speak to Ben." I said out loud, as if expecting Anakin to hear me. In desperate times like these, I knew some people prayed to the maker for guidance, or asked the Jedi to help them. I decided that talking to the force, imagining talking to the Jedi was the best way to go. At least I was somewhat feeling like I was trying. Why couldn't Ben just see I wanted to help him? "I need him to come back. His mother needs him. We all need him.""You remind me of Padme." A voice spoke from behind me. When I turned around, sitting on a rock that was nearby was a man. He had slightly long hair, a pale complexion and looked to be the same age as Ben and I. At first, I had no idea who it was or where he had come from. Then I saw the fuzzy blue glow radiating from him and thought more about what he said. Padme. That made this man..."Master Anakin Skywalker." I said, not trusting myself to speak too loudly. All I had needed was to hear him, to tell him to see Ben, but instead he had presented himself to me, allowing me to see him in his force ghost form that resembled him when he was younger. My call had been answered. "Yes, Lowla Kenobi." He replied. I stepped closer beginning to rant. I didn't know how much longer this would last, so I felt the need to pour out every word in case he suddenly left. I told him that he needed to go and see Ben, that he had done some terrible things because he wanted to prove himself to be as strong as his grandfather. I told him that he was conflicted and that I could feel him slipping away. I told him who he was involved with and what was going to happen. He cut me off. "I know what is happening with my Grandson."