Role Reversal

See Part 1 for disclaimers, etc.


Part 6 - Defense

Anakin made it out the door and into the courtyard first. Obi-Wan emerged just a few seconds later, barefoot but clothed, still working at the fastenings of his tunics. Both Jedi carried their unlit lightsabers.

“Mom, what’s going on?” It had definitely been a female voice that screamed, but his mother seemed in good health as Anakin skidded to a stop beside her.

“I don’t know, I heard-”

“Tusken Raiders!” Cliegg’s voice boomed in the darkness, and Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Shmi turned to see him descending the stairway, his arm around Beru. “They’ve got Owen.”

“That vaporator in the northeast quadrant,” Beru explained through breathy sobs, “the one that’s always breaking down, beacbeacon went off again, and we went out to check it, and…” Her voice broke, her face contorting.

“There, there, dear,” Shmi soothed, taking her from Cliegg’s arms and embracing her. But the older woman’s face was stern over the younger woman’s shoulder.

“I’ll contact the Stolzs and the Priens, get a posse together.” Cliegg began to stride off to the comm.

“That’ll take too long; he needs help now,” Anakin protested. He made a move towards the stairwell.

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with, boy,” Cliegg stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Those Tuskens walk like men, but they’re vicious, mindless monsters. We need numbers if we’re to have any chance.”

Anakin glanced sidelong at his Master, prepared to argue his case. But he didn’t have to.

“We’ll bring Owen back,” Obi-Wan was already saying, stepping past his apprentice and up the stairs. Anakin, a determined look on his face, pushed Cliegg’s arm aside to follow his Master.

Shmi and Cliegg shared a worried look and a moment’s hesitation, before they, too, were up the stairs. ll tll that could be seen in the moonless darkness was two smears of light, one blue, one green, moving so fast they wermostmost unrecognizable as lightsaber blades. After a moment, Shmi’s eyes began to adjust to the night, and a mass of moving bodies could be made out around the two Jedi. If she hadn’t already known they were Tuskens, the odor wafting on the breeze would have told her.

Beside his wife, Cliegg pointed a blaster at the mass. Though he couldn’t see well enough to aim at any particular target, any Tusken would do. But before he could fire, Shmi put a calming hand on his arm.

“No, you might attract their attention to us. See? They’re herding them away.”

Cliegg honored his wife’s request, peering carefully at the mass. It did appear to be moving away from the homestead. For the moment, there seemed to be nothing to do but wait.

Several meters away, Obi-Wan and Anakin walked together, far enough apart to not hit each other, swinging their blades menacingly. Neither had yet touched flesh, as they concentrated on getting the Raiders away from the vulnerable household, and finding Owen.

They both sensed him at the same moment, his Force-aura easy to pick out among the barely-sentient Tuskens. Without a word, they moved to new tasks: Anakin making his way toward his step-brother, as Wan Wan subtly changed his course to send the Tuskens moving away from both the house and the captive.

The Raiders seemed to realize the change, giving way a little less easily, allowing the swirling blades to come a bit closer. The reaction grew more noticeable as Anakin drew nearer to where Owen lay, unconscious, on the sand beside a vaporator.

Almost, Anakin was thinking as he inched ever-closer to his goal, blade dancing. Go on! Get out of my way! he thought, not bothering to waste his breath on the less-than-human Raiders. Only a single line of Tuskens stood between him and Owen now. One of them, inching backwards, away from the confusing, whirling light, tripped over the young Lars’ body.

As he fell, he roared, a roar that was picked up by the cloth-swathed beings all around him, until the entire mob was screaming. The postures of the Raiders Anakin could see in the flashing green light carried new defiance. They must have realized none of them have been hurt. The apprentice wished there was time to ask his Master if he had leave to use his lightsaber to more effect.

“Injure them if you must,” he heard Obi-Wan’s voice then, as though in answer to his question. He must be facing the same renewed resistance, Anakin thought. And then he was too busy to think.

The blur of green became a needle, striking with surgical swiftness. The green fire licked at an arm, a leg, a torso, each blow calculated to force its victim to fall away from where Owen still lay, oblivious. Soon Anakin’s step-brother lay within a circle of wounded Tuskens.

But the young Jedi could not stop fighting to pick him up. The enemy, even the injured, continued to fight, seemingly without fear. Their slow brains seemed to have worked through to an understanding of what the defenders were after, and their reluctance to kill. With foolish courage, they began to surround the two Jedi.

It was their last mistake.

This time it was not his Master’s voice he heard, but rather the abrupt end of a Tusken scream that let Anakin know Obi-Wan had decided loss of life was necessary. Still he waited a moment, in the hope that their fallen comrade would finally convince the Raiders to call off their raid. But they seemed not to notice, coming around to Anakin’s back so that he was hard pressed to keep them at bay. It was time. He swung, this time without intent to miss. he she single swipe severed limbs and heads and burned deep furrows in the torsos of half a dozen Tuskens. But the change in the tide of the battle was difficult to perceive in the dark, so still they came on. It was only after several more swipes, the bodies and parts piling up around the young Jedi, the stench of burning flesh and cloth heavy in the air, that the remaining Raiders seemed to grasp their loss. A new kind of noise, a hissing sound, grew around Anakin, as the Tuskens relayed their new decision: retreat. Moments later, a dark mass was slinking off across the dunes.

Anakin stood watching them go, making sure this was not a ploy. Then he turned to look at Obi-Wan.

His Master was standing some ten meters away, a mirror image of his Padawan. The Jedi Knight was breathing hard from the exertion of battle, his face resolute. In the light of his still-lit blade, a circle of fallen Tusken Raiders lay still.

Secure in the knowledge that his Master was well, Anakin switched off his ‘saber and stuffed it in a boot as he bent to gather up Owen. When he stood, his Master was there, his still-lit blade lighting their way.

“Are you alright, Padawan?” Obi-Wan asked, his hand running over Anakin’s back and neck as they began to move toward the homestead, Owen slumped in Anakin’s arms.

“Yes. You?”

“Fine. And Owen?”

“He’s still unconscious, but appears uninjured.”

“Good. You fought well back there, Padawan. With great restraint.”

Anakin grinned, his teeth reflecting blue from Obi-Wan’s blade. “I remember all those lectures about life being sacred, even if I didn’t look like I was listening.” His face grew more somber as he added, “But thank you for giving me leave to injure them. It was a relief when I heard your voice.”

Obi-Wan’s brow knitted in confusion. “But I never said-”

“Owen!” Beru’s yell warned them just in time to brace for the impact of her body as she flung herself at the unconscious man. Her fingers began a thorough search of his face. “Owen, are you okay? Is he-?”

“He appears uninjured,” Obi-Wan reassured the girl. “He may have just been hit on the head.”

“We should get him inside,” Shmi’s voice added. She had come up a few paces behind Beru, holding a lantern aloft. Taking Beru by the shoulder, she urged the younger woman back toward the homestead, the Jedi following.

The women showed Anakin to Owen’s room, then Shmi and Anakin left Beru to tend him. Shmi stopped her son just outside the door.

“Thank you, Ani. I don’t know what we would have done without you and Obi-Wan.”

“It’s the least I could do for family,” Anakin replied, with a slightly embarrassed grin. “It’s so good to see you happy, Mom. It’s nice to know that when I have to leave, you’ll be taken care of.”

“Yes, I am happy here,” Shmi said, cupping her son’s face in a hand. “You, too, have found happiness, and for that I am thankful.”

Anakin’s grin grew even broader. “Yes, Obi-Wan is a good Master.”

hinkhink he is more than that.”

Startled, Anakin looked up into his mother’s smiling, knowing eyes, his own bespeaking worry, and a question.

“If he makes you happy, Anakin, than he makes me happy.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Anakin, moved by his mother’s benediction, pulled her into a long hug, from which they both emerged smiling.

Holding hands, they walked back into the courtyard to find Obi-Wan and Cliegg talking.

“That bunch won’t be giving anybody much trouble for a long while, I wager,” Cliegg was declaring, in good spirits. “Probably run off when you flash a light at ‘em!”

Obi-Wan nodded in polite agreement, then turned as his Padawan approached. He couldn’t help but grin at his handsome lover, his heart swelling with pride and love. It was only his years of enforced serenity-training that kept him from rushing to take Anakin into his arms and kiss him senseless.

“He’s alright!” Beru’s voice bounced around the courtyard. Everyone turned to see her leaning out of Owen’s door. “Just a few bruises. And he’s awake!”

“Wonderful,” Shmi said, sighing in relief. With a last squeeze, she let go her son’s hand. “Well then, the excitement’s over, I suggest we all get some sleep.”

“Goodnights” were exchanged for the second time that evening, and everyone dispersed.

Back in their little room once more, Anakin and Obi-Wan began to undress, Anakin smiling mysteriously throughout. Finally, Obi-Wan could not contain his curiosity.

“Is there something you’d like to tell me?”

“What?”

“You seem very smug about something. Come on, out with it.”

“Oh. Mom knows.”

Obi-Wan’s teasing, open expression immediately closed. “You told her?”

“No, she knew,” Anakin replied, quelled by the anger in his Master’s glare. “Mom’s are like that. And don’t worry, she approves.”

Obi-Wan was about to shoot back that her approval was irrelevant, when he realized that is wasn’t. Not to Anakin and, surprisingly, not to himself. His emotions went from angry, to confused, to apologetic. Slowly, he sat down beside Anakin on the bed.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know that being secretive is difficult.” To cheer up his Padawan, and himself, he added, “If I am correct, and you are Knighted soon, then we can be bonded openly.”

As hoped, Anakin smiled at this, and took his Master’s hand, their fingers intertwining. Then estiestion came into his eyes. “What is it like, being bonded? Because I feel pretty darn bonded to you already.” For emphasis, he glanced down at the bed, where the bottle of oil lay amidst the rumpled sheets.

Obi-Wan snorted in amusement. “There is much more to it than physical closeness, though that will still remain. I have no first-hand knowledge, but I understand that in a deep bond, the couple learn to read each other’s very thoughts. To be as one in the Force.” There was an unmistakable note of longing and reverence in his voice.

To read each other’s thoughts, Anakin mused. Was he ready for that sort of intimacy, even with his Master? Suddenly, he remembered something. “Then we are already bonded, Master.” At Obi-Wan’s dubious look, he reminded the older man. “When we were fighting the Tusken Raiders, I heard you say ‘Injure them if you must.’ But you said-”

“I did not speak during the fighting,” Obi-Wan insisted. Then his brows knit as he also remembered something. “But I did think those words.”

“Exactly.” Anakin leaned back, looking quite smug.

“Merely a one-time occurrence, an artifact of the battle,” Obi-Wan argued, although from his expression it was clear he was intrigued. “If we were truly bonded, we would be able to read each other’s thoughts at all times.”

“Well then, let’s test it. What am I thinking right now?” Anakin pressed, narrowing his eyes and staring hard at his Master as though he could join their minds by sheer effort.

To his surprise, Obi-Wan laughed.

“It hardly requires the ability to read your mind to know what you are thinking, my insatiable Padawan,” the Master said, easing the tension in the room and causing an ever-so-slightly embarrassed smile to brighten Anakin’s face. “But I think we’d best get some sleep. Who knows what tomorrow may bring.”

Anakin, still looking excessively pleased, agreed, and the two soon arranged themselves on the little cot. It was so small that they had to lie back to chest, the full length of their bodies pressed against each other. It was wonderful.

“Good night, Obi-Wan,” Anakin murmured in his Master’s ear as he curled himself around the shorter man.

“Good night, Anakin,” Obi-Wan answered, welcoming the closeness with a sigh. Though his Padawan could not see it in the darkness, as he slipped off to sleep a hopeful smile curled the Master’s lips.

End Part 6