I do love all of your stories, but after reading a few of them for the 2nd (and 3rd..) time I have found this to be one of the favorites. It's so sad, and lonely and yet filled with it's own kind of hope.

Aww, please, that was so sad.

That was beautiful! I loved Qui-Gon's manifestations in the wind, the sand, the features of the desert. It made Tatooine come poetically alive.

That the krayt became a parable for Anakin is both fitting and sad, though at least they also came to the same end of saving someone they loved. I hope Ben does not regret saving Oki - I did not get the impression that he did, no matter how his death hurt him. Because trying counts, too, when it is for the right reasons.

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." Your Obi-Wan feels like Job, to me, only he never quite reaches the end of the test; everything he gains is then lost.

Anyway. I cried. Thanks for sharing.

This was tragic and beautiful. Amazing!

This is so good! I love your writing!

Dear Ms. Baulding,

Hello there. This fic is tremendous. It is awesome how much this jives with the new issue of Marvel's Star Wars (issue 7 [2015] to be specific, which is a one-off of Obi-Wan on Tatootine post Order 66). I don't know how to explain coherently how much I enjoyed the metaphor of the Krayt (you write Krayt metaphors quite often I've noticed! Especially in Lineage). How you always, always write Obi-Wan overcoming the odds. His 'ageless defiance' as you so perfectly put it. I love it, heck I THRIVE on it.

I've been reading your immense work but have never left a comment before but I just want you to know that this ficmix ( post/125980235629/obi-wan-does-his-dutiful-best-to-accomplish-the) by my dear friend panharmonium exists. The ficmix is an original work of hers but is also an emphatic nod to The Hatchling and Lineage (we fangirl -and we fangirl HARD- your work on a daily basis on tumblr! You have a MASSIVELY enthusiastic following on tumblr -as you definitely deserve). Just thought I would share this with you _

I also have another thing to share, this one is my tribute to this fic. Just a fanart from a humble fan: post/126101516979/am-i-crazy-he-asked-the-first-diurnal-wind-the (I intend to draw one art for each act of this fic because it is just that affecting. It's beautiful ;_; what can I say. Words aren't my thing)

Thank you for writing this wonderful piece and thank you for making Star Wars, Star Wars. You're just as important (if not more) to us as canon Star Wars is. Keep writing and know that we are grateful and love you very VERY much.

Ever a fan,
DyingSighs.

Oh, Obi-Wan...

The poor dragon. Poor Obiwan. This story hurts so good.

this is probably the saddest one of all your works. The parallel to Anakin is perfect - but Oki's long slow death is almost too cruel to comprehend. Obi-Wan was very well-done too - clearly lonely and traumatised, but quietly keeping himself (imperfectly) together, and his defiance and wit remain intact.
Oh...but Oki's fate leaves a bitter aftertaste. It would have been kinder to kill it quickly, but then it would be Obi-Wan in the pit instead. :/

I thought I had reviewed this before, and maybe I did, but on re-reading it, I must say, this is just heart-wrenchingly beautiful. And I love Qui's gentle, persistent presence...and I love how, in its end, the krayt dragon came to the defense of his protector and mentor, fulfilling in a way what Anakin had betrayed...

Lovely piece of work, my friend.

I reread the story and wow! I was crying by the end of CH5! OMG I feel so bad for obi wan!
""I made you ill."
OMG he made it ill by teaching it how to fight the dragon probably had loved obi wan before that!
He had, that summer they shared the cave's shelter. He had thought himself the dragon's savior again, taught it to hunt and fight, tended its wounds, talked to it and fed it and … killed it. Slowly.
OMG!
Oki roared, tail lashing, then settled upon the dust in a writhing heap, massive head lowered to the gritty sands before the hermit. The blue blade wavered. One thrust through the cranium, just between the eyes… it would be swift. Perhaps painless.
time2read sobbing uncontrollably!
"It's my fault."

The krayt said nothing in reply, offered neither forgiveness nor comfort. The saber hummed low, growling its impatience. There was only do or do not, never any try. Never any room for doubt, for regret, for indecision, for feeling.

"I'm sorry. I tried."

The saber's blade disappeared into its hilt, an expiring angel.

"I tried!" He screamed it this time, voice breaking. How he had tried. He had tried until it had nearly killed him, until he begged for it to kill him. "I tried!" And though there was only do or do not, his entire life had filled that impossible chasm between them, that non-existent place where a heart might burn steadily amid a hurricane, undaunted, unbroken, undefeated, only to be snuffed into nothingness by another's act of betrayal.

He sank to his knees, one hand stroking the dying creature's scaled skin, the hard armor of its nature. "I tried!" It was all he had ever done, his whole existence a monument to the paradox of brilliant failure."

I WHAT.
I'm pretty sure I actually teared up at this point, RB. What are you doing to me lately?!
I LOVE how this mirrored his journey with Anakin. So heartbreaking and tragic. So DELICIOUSLY ANGSTY.

*

"He opened his eyes, and the light did not fade into illusion. A krayt called across the fullness of the desert, clarion cry of defiance, of hope, of the impossible. He lingered until the last echoes had carried over the far horizon and then gently retired into the welcome coolness of his cave, accompanied by none but his own memories and a voice that only a crazy man could hear."

I am sorry but this was just soooooooooooo heartwrenching! Damn it why? why does obi wan have no happiness?

What a beautiful story and a chilling metaphor. I like the foreshadowing that the other pathetic life form that "Ben" raised might yet come back from his madness. :)

This is so sad.

Good reading, mind you, but terribly sad.

And I think the most depressing thing about this is that a even a krayt dragon would turn from a dark path for his master, but Anakin wouldn't. Poor Obi.

What a great, poignant story. I loved the analogy between Anakin and the stray krayt, it's a sad thought though that the animal, even half mad with fever, still was able to save his caretaker while Anakin was only bent on killing him. I liked a lot the part before the confrontation with Oki when even the scenery reminded Obi-Wan of Mustafar. And I loved it that Qui-Gon intetacted with Obi-Wan through the forces of nature - how very fitting is that for both a Force-ghost and one so strong in the Living Force.