Obi-Wan and Artoo unpack and go on a tour of their new home. Meanwhile, Darth Vader spends time with his children and spoils them rotten.
Obi-Wan’s room was not at all what she had been expecting.
Life in the Jedi Temple and then on one Republic battle cruiser after another had left Obi-Wan with a very spartan sense of what quarters should be and her new ones were as far removed from her berth on the Negotiator as Tatooine was from Naboo.
The bed was a large, four-postered affair, overstuffed with pillows and blankets. Her room looked out over the formal gardens and the mountains in the distance. They were tall and wreathed in clouds, framed by windows with long, white, gauzy curtains. There was a desk tucked up in a corner and a comfortable chair by another window.
Clearly Darth Vader had not been involved in the design of this room because Obi-Wan was certain he would have stuck her in some small dark closet and made some crack about how a Jedi did not value creature comforts.
No, this room was elegant, stately, and feminine. This was a room that bore all the hallmarks of his wife, Padme Amidala. Or was it Skywalker now?
The idea that Obi-Wan’s prison cell had been lovingly decorated by a dear friend now lost to her only seemed to twist the knife and Obi-Wan dropped her bag with a strangled sigh.
Artoo rolled into the room and let out a coo that signaled it was a bit surprised. The droid’s blue dome swiveled towards Obi-Wan.
“Well, for a prison cell, it is quite nice,” Obi-Wan finally said, tossing her small bag on the bed and rummaging around in it until she found what she searching for. “Artoo? Will you hold onto this?”
Obi-Wan held up the General’s comlink and the astromech whistled a question.
“I cannot abandon hope that Ahsoka survived the Purges,” she said, sitting on the bed. “But I cannot risk Vader finding it and trying to reach others through my name. I trust you with this, Artoo. Please, take it and hide it someplace safe.”
Artoo rolled around in a circle before holding out a pincer arm, taking the com and secreting it away within its housing. It let out a beep of accomplishment before rolling over to a window and popping up its scanner.
“What are you looking for?” Obi-Wan asked, rummaging around in her bag for something else. “I imagine Lord Vader has the area under a heavy guard, what with Luke and Leia here.”
Artoo whistled something that may or may not have been dismissive.
Laughing, Obi-Wan pulled out her intended item, leaving it on the bed. “Artoo! That’s positively filthy. You should mind your manners. I cannot imagine he’s completely lost his skill at understanding binary.”
There was a coo of curiosity as Obi-Wan started pulling open drawers in the desk. She stood up and shook her head turning to the closet.
“I will answer that once you’ve done a scan of this room for me,” she said, feeling around in the closet and along the joints in the wall. “I just want to make sure the room is not bugged or under surveillance.”
Artoo’s indignant whistle brought a smile to Obi-Wan’s face. “Thank you for your support, my little blue friend. Are we clear?”
The droid explained that there were no listening devices but there were outward facing cameras on the walls of the building, no doubt designed for intruders or perhaps escapees.
“But nothing inside this room?” Obi-Wan confirmed, sitting down at the desk and frowning at her terribly comfortable prison cell. “Good.”
And with that, she called Qui-Gon Jinn’s lightsaber to her hand from the bed and held it up. “Now we just need to find a place to hide this from Darth Vader. Any suggestions?”
Artoo let out a low whistle and Obi-Wan grinned. “Glad to know I’ve finally done something that impressed you, my friend. Come on. Help me find a place to stow this.”
