"Obi-Wan, Satara did not return last night. I fear she may really be serious," General Su mentions, setting a cup of tea down before me.
"I'm going to attempt to find her today. Sometimes she runs off and wants to be found."
"Isn't that just encouraging her immature behavior?" General Su presses, crossing his arms and giving me a quizzical expression.
"Normally, I would agree with you; however, Satara is an interesting individual to train. She needs space to feel and sort through her emotions. They often overwhelm her, like yesterday. Granted, I said some things that were very out of line in the moment," I stroke my beard lightly, contemplating my actions from the previous day.
"I yelled at her in anger and said very untrue and hurtful things. I do not know what came over me, but I haven't felt anger like that in years."
"Could it be the amount of Darkness surrounding us? She accessed one of the most notorious Sith in the whole history of the galaxy. Being able to reach him took an extreme amount of dark force."
"Master Su, Benson isn't on the ship," Ahsoka rushed in, seemingly out of breath.
"What?" He asks, standing up alarmed.
"I went to ask him a question and noticed his bunk is empty. He took Satara and Master Jinn's lightsaber along with the Bane Statue," Ahsoka exclaimed as Anakin sleepily walked into the room, confused by the commotion.
Attempting to reach out to my padawan, I receive no response as I fear the worst: she went after Qui Gon Jinn.
"We have to go to Moraband," I walk towards the cabin of the ship to prepare it for flight.
"Have you contacted the council about this?" General Su asks.
"No, but seeing as our Padawan's abandoned us in the night, stole a ship, and are heading for the Sith home-world, I think it's safe to assume we can go after them," Su shakes his head disapprovingly, obviously frustrated with my decision.
"Just hold on for a few moments while I contact the council. Like you said last night, it can wait," Su firmly responds.
"Well last night and today are two different things. I told Satara we could wait to rescue a Jedi Master. Do you think that Benson is equipped to fight a Sith turned bounty hunter?"
"Satara can protect him. She is quickly approaching her trials," Su reasoned.
"You have such little regard for your Padawan that you refuse to chase after him on the grounds that a more experienced Padawan is with him?" I ask, genuinely shocked by Su's reaction.
"If I may butt in," Anakin spoke, "We should go after them. Satara is not in a stable state of mind. When a Jedi accesses that amount of dark side energy, it can leave lasting effects in the mind. We did not observe her long enough to determine her mind's state, which judging by her recent actions, her mind is probably confused."
"Call the council on the way, but I am not waiting for their approval," I respond, starting up the engine and taking off.
I hear Su muttering to himself before starting up the transreciever and contacting the council.
"General Su! How goes the mission?" Master Shaak Ti's face appears on the hologram.
"We are in a bit of a bind," I respond, cutting off Su.
"Master Kenobi? A pleasure," she states as I return the pleasantries.
"What seems to be the problem?" She asks.
"We found Jet Nil and discovered that he captured Master Jinn and took him to Moraband," I state.
"Moraband is the homeworld of the Sith. I'm not so sure that going there, especially with Padawans, is a good idea," Master Windu spoke up.
"Our padawans took it upon themselves to sneak away in the night and rescue Jinn," Su cut in.
"Not to mention, Satara left the order last night," he continued, earning a glare from me.
"What?" Master Windu asked as the council looked visibly confused.
"The child didn't mean it," I begin to explain, "she saw a vision of Qui Gon being tortured by Nil and feels very strongly about rescuing him. She feels a strong connection to him and refused to sit idly by and wait for approval," I reasoned, but the council did not look convinced.
"Troubling, this is. Sense a disturbance, I do," Master Yoda spoke up.
"We believe that there is a mole in the order telling Jet Nil the whereabouts of our influential Jedi and we believe that it's someone in your crew," Master Windu explained.
"You better not be implying that Satara is the one," I respond as the council shifts their glances away from me.
"Well, I am going to Moraband and rescuing my padawan, master and Benson. I'm not asking for approval, but General Su requested we contact you with your plans. Buh-bye," I hang up the transreciever as Su protested greatly.
"You heard the council! Satara probably turned, which is why she is going to Moraband! It makes too much sense, continuing in her families legacy was only a matter of time-"
"You literally have no idea what you are talking about! Stop being a fool and assuming that she has ill intentions," I firmly reply, taking Su off guard.
"Do not forget that I am your superior General."
As we enter lightspeed, the tension in the room felt malleable. Su sat in the corner, brooding over my rebuke. Skywalker sat in the co-pilot's chair, worry evident on his youthful face. The council pushed Skywalker prematurely just like what they do to Satara; however, just like Satara, he is excellent at hiding it. His youthful nature quickly disappeared once knighted and since then, his missions have been non-stop and high risk. The stress he carries is very evident to myself and Master Jinn.
On the other hand, Ahsoka spent our journey training. The girl trains non-stop and is an excellent fighter. Having recently switched to using two lightsabers, she needed to cover a lot of ground in little time. She will make a powerful Jedi one day.
General Su soon left the room, muttering something about needing to meditate, leaving Skywalker and I to ourselves.
"He sure is a stick in the mud," Anakin observed, shaking his head.
"Try working with him for months," I respond as Anakin continued to complain about Su.
"How are you doing with Satara leaving the order?" He asks after a while.
"I understand, I mean, I left the order at one point, but at the same time, I still feel hurt and betrayed by it," I explain.
"Do you think she was right about me? Have I changed too much?"
"You have thrown yourself into council work and been more aloof to everyone lately. We fight more now than we have in years. You've drug Satara all across the galaxy on dangerous missions, barely giving her a break, yet you constantly express concern for how much you and the council push her," Anakin answers truthfully.
"I can sympathize with Satara on some level. The council became eager for me to become a knight, Qui Gon pushed you into taking your trials to train me. Our line has a long history of being pushed too hard. Even Master Jinn had massive expectations from Dooku because of his talent," he continued, "I don't know if you realize this, but she took your death incredibly hard. Youngling at the temple bullied her, claiming she killed you and Master Jinn was away a lot because of the council. She spent most of her time alone meditating, trying desperately to quell the darkness that kept taking her over. When we fought on Agamar, I thought we lost her for good."
"I truly didn't think my death would take that much of a toll on her. I knew she would be upset at the possibility, but.."
"You were the first person to believe in her and give her a chance and being taken the way you did... I was always gone on missions when our master took over her training, but I know that he was the only one there for her through it all. Losing Master Jinn, I fear, will destroy her," Anakin mused.
"I never thought of it that way," thinking back on our relationship, I never realized how important the people around Satara were to her. She fearlessly protects who she cares about and would sacrifice herself for them without a second thought.
The two of us fall into a comfortable silence. Anakin and I's relationship is more like two brothers instead of two knights.
"My biggest fear is that Ahsoka leaves the order, turns sith, or dies," Anakin spoke, barely above a whisper.
"I fear the same; however Ahsoka is incredibly talented and I do not doubt for a second that she will remain devoted to the order and fight for what is right. You've done a good job training her," I respond.
"But is it enough? Her trial is coming quickly and I fear I haven't taught everything she needs."
"Have we ever stopped learning? Did Master Jinn teach us everything we needed to know? Of course not, but he gave us all the tools we needed to succeed. You've done the same with Ahsoka," I respond.
"I just hope it's enough."
"You were the perfect teacher for Ahsoka. I have zero doubt in my mind that you went above and beyond with her training. She will be alright, Anakin," We give each other small smiles as we engage in small talk the majority of the flight.
I just hope that Satara thinks her choices through in the time we are separated and that she will eventually return to the order as I once did. Losing a second Padawan would be devastating to me, as much as I would deny it publicly.
***
I'm probably going to stop doing announcements at the end of my chapters soon. I don't like the way they look, but sometimes I like to communicate with the people reading! I wanted to change things up a bit and write from Kenobi's perspective. Is that something you would like to see in the future or was it confusing/boring? Let me know! :)