Ooooh prompts! Maybe “We need to get out of the heat, you’re starting to look sick.” Or the “I just need to sit down” one for Anakin and obi-wan?
from these extremely exhausted starters
Obi-Wan had always known his Padawan had a proclivity for dramatics. One thing he hadn’t exaggerated, however, was how absolutely terrible of a planet Tatooine was.
“You’re gonna wanna pick up your feet higher when you walk, Master,” Anakin called over his shoulder, yelling to be heard above the winds. “Or else you’re going to be dumping your shoes every few minutes.”
Obi-Wan scowled, but adjusted his gait nonetheless. Sand. He regretted every time he’d ever poked fun at Anakin’s abhorrence of the substance as a child.
“Are we–” Obi-Wan huffed in frustration, feeling the grains sticking between his toes. “Not to sound like a petulant youngling, but...are we almost there?”
Obi-Wan could have sworn he saw a grin on his Padawan’s profile before he turned fully away.
“Tired already, Master?”
Yes.
“Of course not. Just curious.”
“Of course.” There was no way Obi-Wan could mistake that distinct chuckle.
They continued to trudge through the sands, stopping every few minutes to pass water between them (and dump sand from Obi-Wan’s boots). The binary suns didn’t seem to stray from their placement directly above Obi-Wan and Anakin for hours.
“We’re out of water,” Anakin said, tossing the empty canteen into the bag strapped across his back.
“Check the–”
“I did.”
“And–”
“Yeah,” Anakin nodded dismally. “It’s all gone.”
“Well,” Obi-Wan sighed. “We ought to be fine for a couple more hours.”
“Remember when I said let’s just get a speeder bike?”
“No, but I remember a suggestion to steal one.”
“You’re so pessimistic.”
Obi-Wan still couldn’t believe they were here. It had been several months since Anakin’s defeat of Sidious, the long-plotting Chancellor and Sith Lord. He wasn’t sure quite sure what normal meant these days, or whether it would ever mean what it once had–but when Anakin had asked Obi-Wan to come with him on a visit to Tatooine, the older Jedi hadn’t hesitated.
It was too easy to think of how close he came to losing his Padawan altogether. To Sidious, to the dark side, to himself.
“Kitster and I used to come out here all the time.”
“Kitster?”
Anakin blinked, like he hadn’t known he’d said his thought aloud, but quickly nodded. “An old friend. He was a slave, too. We’d come out here in the evenings and mess around with whatever we could find in the valley.”
Because he talked about his past now. Obi-Wan didn’t think it was a conscious change, so much as a reflection of the new peace his former Padawan had found somewhere in between the end of his time as a General and the beginning of his time as a father.
Obi-Wan thought serenity suited his Padawan well.
“How you doing back there?” Anakin called, turning back to glance at Obi-Wan.
“Fine, fine,” he replied, ignoring the push to ask Anakin why he was suddenly walking so fast. It had become more difficult to keep up over the past half hour.
“So it’s your age slowing you down all of a sudden? Not dehydration?”
Obi-Wan scoffed. “My–”
“Hey.” Anakin stopped, turning fully toward Obi-Wan and frowning at him. “We need to get out of the heat. You’re starting to look sick.”
“And where do you suggest we go?” Obi-Wan asked with a roll of his eyes. “I’m fine.”
Anakin’s eyes flickered over the barren landscape. “We can go back to the spaceport. I can–”
“No. I want to do this.”
Anakin’s frown deepened. “Obi-Wan...”
“This is important to you,” Obi-Wan said firmly. “I’m okay. Let’s just keep going.”
The younger Jedi looked skeptical, but he nodded anyway and continued his path
Within fifteen minutes, they had found it. The Lars had moved, Anakin had discovered in town. Owen had married his girlfriend Beru, and they were caring for Cliegg in a nicer home closer to town. Moisture farming was something they gave up to spend time with their father in his last few years.
Obi-Wan didn’t think there were many things he wouldn’t sacrifice to have more time with his loved ones anymore.
“When I–when she...” Anakin swallowed as he locked his gaze on the small stone. “I only wrote it in Huttese because...but–”
“Will you read it to me?” Obi-Wan asked quietly, coming to stand beside his friend.
Anakin nodded bravely, taking a deep breath. “Shmi Skywalker...may the twin suns shine their...face upon you forever...Mom.” And then, “Master?”
“I just...” Obi-Wan swallowed, as he caught his own weight on his hands. “I need to sit down.”
Anakin’s eyes flickered over his Master as he crouched beside him. “What’s wrong? There’s a port a half-klick away. I can run and–”
“No,” Obi-Wan whispered, holding up a hand. “Anakin, you–” He shut his eyes. “You experienced so much pain and...and I–” He looked up at his Padawan in remorse. “I let you be so lonely.”
Anakin’s face fell. “Obi-Wan,” Anakin sighed in compassion. “No. You...you didn’t know. I...” Guilt flashed across his face. “I didn’t let you. I was scared and–” A deep breath. “It doesn’t matter now. The point is–you were there for me. Always. Even when I...when I didn’t know I needed you to be.”
Obi-Wan wasn’t sure when Anakin had grown up. Not really. It had happened right before his own eyes, but he’d completely missed it. Only now, as he reoriented himself to this new normal and reset his priorities, had the weight of that begun to truly hit him.
As he watched Anakin step down from his Council seat, with grace, humility, and a grin as he said, “it’ll still be there for me someday, old man” even after Mace had pleaded with Anakin to stay. As he watched him knight Ahsoka, tears unashamedly running down his face as he pulled her into the hug that had taken too many years to happen. As he watched him sing to Leia every night in the worst voice Obi-Wan had ever heard.
He was proud of him, through and through.
Obi-Wan turned more fully toward the grave of the woman who he had never met, yet had somehow given him everything. “Thank you.”
