Only If You Ask

Rare true love is.

Even rarer is true friendship.

~Master Yoda (probably)

In the queen's garden, Obi-Wan sat on his feet. His hands lay comfortably on his knees. He listened. The fountain trickled. The wind sighed, sending ripples across the grass. A whirlwind of white blossoms swept wandered across the water's edge.

Now was the time to sit in silence, to grieve and impart all he felt to the Force for the sake of clarity and peace. Yesterday, he had been a student. Tomorrow, he would become a teacher. Everything would be different and, judging from Anakin's "accidental" destruction of the droid control ship, Obi-Wan was bound to have his hands full for a long, long time.

"Obi-Wan?"

Slouching, Obi-Wan sighed and gave up.

In the aftermath of Master Qui Gon's passing, the boy had taken a habit of following Obi-Wan everywhere.

Even after Obi-Wan insisted that he'd be finished soon enough, Anakin remained outside the gate. No one could persuade him to leave, and he never once stopped talking. He told Obi-Wan his entire life story. When Anakin grew tired of talking about himself, he began asking questions. Obi-Wan answered them all as best as he could but left out the blueprints to lightsaber construction for obvious reasons.

Although the Council had given their approval, Obi-Wan had hoped to wait at least until after the funeral to tell Anakin. He wanted to start fresh in the morning with a new day and a clean slate. A bit of rest and recuperation before the big change would do everyone some good.

Or, at least, it had seemed like a good idea earlier. Anakin was little boy far, far away from home. He had put all of his trust in Qui Gon to keep him safe, and now…

"Obi?" Anakin repeated.

"Yes, Anakin?"

"Are you okay?" There was a pause, and a shadow slipped under the gate. He was lying on the ground, talking through the crack under the gate, trying to peek with one eye. "You stopped talking a long time ago."

"Our conversation has become somewhat distracting to me. Perhaps you could ask your questions at a later time?"

"I'm only talking so that you'll know I'm here," Anakin said. "Kitster's dad died when he was eight. He hid under his bed all week until his owner dragged him out and made him work again. He stayed at my house a lot after that. He did a lot of weird things."

Obi-Wan sighed. The fear rolled off Anakin in thick, incessant waves. Giving up on meditation, Obi-Wan wandered back to the gate. Without touching the door, the bolt slid open with a loud clank.

Anakin looked up at him, eyes wide with fascination. "How do you do that? You don't even have a key!"

"It's not very hard."

"Will you teach me?"

"Someday you'll learn," Obi-Wan promised, sitting down on the cold marble. He expected to have a nice, long conversation face-to-face with Anakin. Instead, they sat in thoughtful silence. After a while, Obi-Wan couldn't help but tease Anakin. "If I had known this is what is what it would take to get a little peace and quiet, I would have joined you hours ago."

"Why do they call you Ben?" Anakin blurted, and even though Obi-Wan was sitting, he almost fell into the bush.

"Ben" was the name his father had given him at birth, but for reasons Obi-Wan still didn't-understand, the Council had changed it to a traditional Coruscant name. He had discovered this early on in his apprenticeship when Master Qui Gon began advising him to use his birth name as an alias when undercover. He supposed it made sense. After all, Ben was a very common name among humans, making it difficult to trace.

Still, the name had stuck.

Word spread throughout the Order, especially after that year spent on Mandalore. These days, only those who truly cared about him used that name. Someone had even put it into his file so that even the medic droids used it to console him when he was sick or injured.

"It's like a special endearment," Obi-Wan said slowly. "From my childhood. You wouldn't know me by it, though. Who did you hear it from?"

Anakin hesitated, picking the bark off a stick. He flicked the pieces away absently, then used the stick to poke at a beetle as it skittered past.

"Well," he said slowly. "It's like a dream only I'm awake. Master Qui Gon called you that a lot. But now there's a lady with yellow that hair curls at the end. She's been calling out to you all day. She's very upset."

"Is that why you've been following me?"

"You're the only Jedi left who wants to help me. And you're nice. I don't want anything bad to happen you, too."

"Nothing bad will happen," Obi-Wan assured, yet the fear continued to roll off Anakin in thick, intense waves. He had sensed this fear before, as did the Council. Previously, Obi-Wan had believed the Council when they said Anakin was dangerous. Now, he wasn't so sure. Anakin was a little boy, talented but untrained. He had no money of his own, no true guardian to look after him. Without Padme, Jar Jar, and Obi-Wan, Anakin was all alone. And a galaxy, especially one as large and chaotic as theirs, was no place to for a boy to be one his own.

Perhaps Anakin's future was only uncertain as his present.

"It'll take a lot more than a bad dream to finish me off," Obi-Wan promised. "You'll see."

"I'll look out for you. I promise."

"Will you?" Obi-Wan laughed, but Anakin wasn't smiling. The fear festered in him, growing, throbbing like a canker that wouldn't heal. "You don't have to be afraid. We can look out for each other. Friends?"

He offered his hand, and Anakin grinned, sealing both of their fates with an eager shake.

"Friends."

A/n: Written in the spring of 2016 because I'm a huge Obi-Wan/Satine nut. Like, I just love them. I'm also a big fan of Obi-Wan/Anakin friendship fics.

This scene is pretty short in my opinion, but there is a lot more to come. The rest will follow in the next few weeks, depending on how work goes. Anyway, if you like what you read, please drop me a review.

Thank you!

~V