KEYnote: Palpatine dies because this story is about Mandalore -not the entire galaxy.

Chapter 5 - Jedi Master

Telling the Council about the future had gone unexpectedly well, even if the Galactic Republic was now splitting under Count Dooku's demands for the Separatist movement.

Obi-Wan had told them what had happened with Palpatine and the clones, and the war, but what he did not tell about was Anakin's fate, about the years he had spent alone on Tatooine guarding Luke and talking to Qui-Gon's ghost.

The Council had been upset with him. But as Palpatine had proved himself to be a Sith Lord, the footage of said fight giving him a pass on him or Din seeing jail time, had more or less left him with a slap on the wrist.

It was only then that Obi-Wan truly appreciated how much the Council liked him, and how much they missed Qui-Gon.

Really, was it any wonder Anakin had been jealous?

Obi-Wan sighed, dipping his hand into one of the fountains, the cool water trickling over his hand. He never thought he would be back here again.

He closed his eyes, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now. He had pretty much obliterated the future he remembered.

The sound of the running water was a welcome reminder that he wasn't on Tatooine. As were the glittering life energies in the Force, proving that he wasn't alone, the last among a fallen Order.

"Master?"

Obi-Wan flinched at the sound of Anakin's voice, "You were knighted, Anakin, no need to call me Master."

Anakin smiled hesitantly, taking a seat on the rim of the fountain, "Alright, Obi-Wan, I've been looking for you."

"You've found me," he said drily.

Anakin frowned at him, "We haven't talked since we got back. I mean you were at my knighting ceremony but…"

The Council hadn't agreed that Anakin was ready when Obi-Wan pushed for him to get knighted, but selfishly, Obi-Wan knew he couldn't play Anakin's Master for another few years. Even if Anakin really believed he was from the future, Obi-Wan knew he would snap when Anakin disobeyed him again.

Because Anakin would disobey. And Obi-Wan didn't trust himself not to hold his future mistakes against him.

"I wanted to thank you for telling the Council I was ready to be knighted."

Obi-Wan could have said a lot of things in that moment, he settled for, "Did you marry Padme?"

Anakin froze, his eyes wide, "Are you going to tell the Council?"

For some damn reason, that response hurt.

Which was stupid because Anakin had literally killed him, why should it matter to Obi-Wan that Anakin didn't trust him?

It wasn't as if Obi-Wan trusted Anakin.

But Obi-Wan had trusted him once, and a part of him would always believe that it was Vader, not Anakin, but the Dark Side that ate away the Padawan he had known and loved.

"Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked when he failed to respond. "Say something."

He should have spat in his face, instead, he said, "No, Anakin. I would never betray you like that."

Anakin's face fell into relief and surprise, "Thank you, Master."

Obi-Wan folded his arms under his sleeves where Anakin couldn't see his fists clenching.

Anakin tried to break the tension by saying, "So you saw the future?"

"Yes."

"A future where I fall to the Dark Side and have twins, named Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa?"

"Did Padme figure it out for you?" Obi-Wan asked, unintentionally letting his sharp tongue slip.

Anakin flushed, "We pieced it out together. You said that you fell in love three times? And that Qui-Gon… he never thought of leaving the Order, did he?"

Obi-Wan snorted, "Of course he did. Anakin, Qui-Gon was a maverick, he butted heads with the Council more times than you ever have. And me? I did leave the Order once, when I was still a Padawan. And I have considered it a few times afterwards."

Like now.

"Because you fell in love?"

You don't love!

The words still stung, fresh wounds to add to the old, but then Anakin was very good at breaking his heart. "Yes, but also- well, despite what you think, I don't always agree with the Council."

Anakin must have been remembering his own words not so long ago because he changed topics,"But you're a Master now."

"Yes, another title, how delightful," Obi-Wan said, the sarcasm coming easily.

"You're not pleased?"

Obi-Wan looked at him, the reason he had become a Master, because Anakin had graduated. "Do you think you deserve to be knighted?" he asked, deliberately poking at him this time.

On one hand, he knew that Anakin was insecure, on another, Obi-Wan knew that his ego and lust for power had played no small part in his downfall.

And Palpatine was dead now so the Sith couldn't twist Obi-Wan's words in Anakin's mind, so…

"You think I don't deserve to be knighted?" Anakin asked, sounding deeply wounded.

"That's not what I asked, Anakin, listen to my words. Do you think you deserve to be a knight?"

"Is this about Padme?"

"Answer my question first please," Obi-Wan said calmly as he relived a thousand memories. Talking to Anakin like this was almost torturous.

Been then he had been torturing himself for a long time, and he wanted the truth, he wanted to know how exactly he had failed Anakin. He had come up with a million theories, drove himself half-mad with guilt over the smallest things.

"Yes! Yes, I think I deserve it, I worked hard for this."

"You did."

Anakin slumped at that easy affirmation, "And I'm more powerful than anyone else here."

Obi-Wan laughed.

"You don't agree?" Anakin asked, "I'm the Chosen One."

You underestimate my powers!

Obi-Wan looked at him, glad to find blue eyes staring back at him. "Why did you want to be a Jedi?"

"To help people, to become powerful to be able to help people," Anakin said with an almost childlike earnestness.

He saw then what as someone who had lived nineteen years on Tatooine could see and what Temple-sheltered Padawan could not have. In the land of Hutts, the weak suffered and only the powerful had any say or freedom over their fates.

"Anakin, I'm sorry for failing you."

Anakin looked taken aback, "You didn't fail me, Master. And I don't care what future you think you saw but it wasn't your fault."

"Perhaps not mine alone, but I made so many mistakes that you ended up paying the price for."

"Like what?" Anakin asked, "You're one of the best Jedi in the Order, what could you possibly have done wrong?"

"I wasn't ready to be a Jedi Knight at twenty-five, Anakin, or at least not a Knight who should have taken on a Padawan."

"You killed a Sith."

"Yes," Obi-Wan said bitterly, "I was knighted for killing a Sith apprentice who isn't even technically dead yet."

"Excuse me, what?" Anakin asked, springing to his feet, "Maul isn't dead!? But you cut him in half!"

Obi-Wan waved him to sit down, "Not the point I was trying to. What I meant was that I was knighted because I avengaged my Master. Revenge is not the Jedi way and I didn't have time to come to terms with what that action had on me, what losing Qui-Gon did to me before trying to become a teacher for the first time. And I was strict with you, Anakin, I think in all the wrong places. I was so set on doing the right thing, in going by the book that I- But so much of our ways couldn't have worked with you because you had already known a life outside.

"Hell, I don't even think I asked for Rael's help and he had almost as many problems fitting in as you did. And you needed help from someone who wasn't as inexperienced as I was."

"Alright, setting the Darth-Sith-Spitting-Maul still alive bit aside, Obi-Wan, no one's perfect. You can be pretty stiff sometimes, but I know you care about me."

Obi-Wan shook his head, "Did I, Qui-Gon, or the Council ever make it clear to you that you could leave the Jedi Order whenever you wished?"

"Of course, Qui-Gon told me becoming a Jedi was a hard path. He gave me a choice."

"Yes, but it wasn't a single choice. It's one every Jedi makes continuously. The choice to stay or find home somewhere in the galaxy. You were old to join the Order, but you were very young to choose the path of a Padawan. You didn't know what you were signing up for."

"I wasn't stupid, and I got a clear idea when you brought me before the Council and then into a warzone where Qui-Gon died."

Obi-Wan winced, he had tacked that on to his list of mistakes, but Qui-Gon's ghost had assumed it for him. Still, it was harder to hear from Anakin himself.

"And what did you think would happen to you if you left the Order?"

Anakin blinked at him, "That I would be on my own."

Obi-Wan felt as if he could cry, "We would have taken care of you still, Anakin. You could have gone back to Tatooine and lived with your mother, the Temple would have given you enough money to live independently-"

"But not free her!" Anakin snapped.

"Anakin, as a Jedi, you have no family outside the Order and while we aren't exactly suffering economically, outside of her connection to you, Shmi was one of millions of slaves throughout the galaxy. Her fate was her own. But we would have brought you back to her if you had asked."

And you could have freed her yourself.

"She was my mother! And you told me not to speak of her!"

"Of course I told you that," Obi-Wan snapped. "I don't even remember mine! I didn't know what I was doing, I understand that parents love their children, but mine gave me up. At twenty-five, I didn't understand how much she meant to you once you had been parted."

"No one at this Temple seems to," Anakin muttered.

"Qui-Gon would have," Obi-Wan said, "Qui-Gon was always so much better with people than I was. I was too young then to understand it was a problem, and the Council… well, I suppose the cultural difference was one of their reasons for not wanting to train you."

Anakin shook his head, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you need to understand why you fell."

"What, by telling me I don't belong here?"

"You got married without the Council's permission, without confiding in me. I am aware that you have always had a hard time fitting in with the other Jedi, because of how you joined, because of Palpatine, but you made your own life harder by hiding your marriage."

"Because I was afraid if I told you, you would leave me!" Anakin yelled.

"Anakin, you could walk away from the Order right now, and I would still be there for you whenever you needed me. And everything you've learned," Obi-Wan gestured to the air around them, "The Force will always be with you."

He swallowed, "What did I do in your future?"

Obi-Wan knew his smile was wistful, "You killed me."

Anakin's eyes went huge, "No, no I wouldn't do that, you're lying!"

"Do you want to be a Master Jedi?" Obi-Wan asked.

"You know I do."
The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master.

Only a master of evil, Darth.

"Why?" Obi-Wan asked Anakin, his friend.

"Because I want to be strong enough-"

"You're wrong."

Anakin gaped at him, "Wrong about what? Becoming a Master."

"Becoming a Master isn't about strength or power."

"What are you talking about?"

"It was what I was never able to teach you. It doesn't matter if you're the Chosen One, if you're the most powerful person in the Order, or even if you were the only Force user in the entire galaxy, none of that would make you a Master."

"Then what does, teaching?" Anakin asked with a thread of venom.

Obi-Wan saw Ahsoka walking away from the Temple. Force help him, Ahsoka… "No, not teaching, at least not in and of itself. You're right that seeing you graduate earned me the title of Master, one I felt far more deserving of than taking a life out of revenge to be knighted had felt. Do you know why?"

"No," Anakin said, "If it wasn't for the skills or strength you gained then no, I don't get it."

"Because I learned to put you first, Anakin. And that's why I failed you, not because you don't deserve to be knighted but because I never earned your trust."

"I do trust you, Obi-Wan," Anakin said.

"You bent the knee before Palpatine. You put your faith in a Sith Lord, and believed that I had betrayed."

I hate you!

"I would never do that!"

"Not even for Padme?"

Anakin paled.

Obi-Wan stood, "Anakin the Order does not discourage marriage because we shun love. We encourage compassion after all. But it is simply easier to forbid the majority of Order to marry."

"Easier?" Anakin asked, "How is forbidding love easier?"

"Because it means you don't have to face a choice as you did with the sandpeople. It isn't the love between two beings that is the problem, it is learning to let go of your attachment to permanence."

Anakin took a deep breath, "Obi-Wan, can you please speak in Basic."

"Everyone dies, Anakin. You, me, and Padme, your kids, your friends, everyone you have ever met is going to die some day. None of us will live forever. And you can fight for the ones you love, but you have to let go of the notion that they will always be safe."

"But if I'm strong enough then maybe I can-"

"Anakin, that power doesn't exist. And in the future your chasing that power led to Padme's death."

"Then how do I keep my loved ones safe!?"

"You do the best you can," Obi-Wan said, seeing the young boy he had first met on Tatooine. Obi-Wan had always liked Anakin, the boy was incredible, and more so because of his heart than his powers.

"And if that isn't good enough?"

"Then you grieve, and then you go on living until it is time for others to grieve for you. The Force isn't a wish granting magic, it's a living thing that is a part of us and all life."

"What about healers? Palpatine said that-" his visible bit his tongue.

Obi-Wan put a hand on his shoulder, "If you want to suffer, if you want to gain power from others suffering, then let yourself fall to the Dark Side. Become a slave to the Force and the petty whims of emperors. But if you want to be a healer, then go look for guidance from a healer."

Anakin was staring at his feet.

Obi-Wan touched his chin and said, "And if you want to become a Master then learn to face what you fear most and overcome that fear within yourself. Our greatness is not measured by how much power we have, Padawan, but by the strength of our hearts."

"That's what my mother said," Anakin whispered.

"What?" Obi-Wan asked, letting his hand drop and taking a step back.

"She told me to listen to my heart. To be brave and don't look back."

Obi-Wan nodded, "Let go of your fear, Anakin, or you won't be able to hear your heart."

Anakin stared at him as if he were seeing Obi-Wan for the first time.

But Obi-Wan felt worn down, and could only see Anakin through a film of memories and nightmares, "Good evening, Anakin, may the Force be with you."

"And with you, Master."

Obi-Wan left, feeling as if he should have been saying goodbye. As he walked through the Temple, all Obi-Wan could feel was the weight of years on him.

Grieve and let go.

Grieve and let go.

Had he done enough? Could he have done better? Were words enough to sway Anakin from his path?

Obi-Wan didn't sleep well that night, but he woke to the realization that nothing could be truly as it had been, because Emperor Palpatine was dead.

To say the clones hadn't taken knowledge of the chips well, was to say that water was wet.

Commander Cody and Captain Rex had been the first to undergo the invasive surgeries. Once the chips had been decoded, Cody sent out the master list of what all 150 orders were.

Duchess Satine's relieved, but her troubles were far from over. Her own supporters were a wee-bit miffed at her for increasing their population by 2 million citizens, all of who were male, foreigners, trained soldiers, and armed.

She knew Death Watch, who she knew was still around, would be equally mad, if not more so because of the hypocrisy of it.

'The peace loving Duchess now has the largest standing army in the galaxy.'

It was not the image she was going for, but then this wasn't about Satine, this was about those 2 million clones who had numbers and not names.

This was about keeping civil war from engulfing the galaxy.

She laid back on her bed, it felt like a lifetime since she last slept.

Commander Cody and Captain Rex had told her that her own authority would be handicapped. The clones weren't exactly panicked by the chips or the place they found themselves in, but they were also clinging to what remained of their identity.

Even Satine knew better than to suggest disarming them.

Give your people the freedom to choose their own beliefs, convince them of yours if you can, but you are inflaming the problem.

Stupid Master Jedi, he was right, and she didn't want to admit it. But Obi-Wan had been right, her people's reactions to the clones… had shown as much.

But she didn't know how to just turn back on her laws in policies, she didn't know what the middle road was, because despite what people thought, they had extremists on their planets that if the regulations loosened even a little it would spell doom for her citizens.

Satine had seen her parents try to be generous and they had died because of it.

So she did probably the thing that would piss Death Watch off more than an army of clones, she called for Jedi aid. Specifically, she had called for Obi-Wan, because as Commander Cody said, I'm sorry, Duchess, but the only person my men believe in right now is General Kenobi.

The Jedi High Council had agreed to her request.

Satine closed her eyes, wondering how many years this problem would take to fix. Wondering if she could restrain her heart if Obi-Wan did end up having to live on Mandalore to see them through this crisis he had so blithely dropped in her lap.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and brought her fingers to her lips. Remembering the feel of his lips on hers.

I missed you, Satine.

Not Duchess, Satine.

She curled on her side, she could have him, for a night.

Maybe many nights.

But she could never be with him, not fully. He was a Jedi and she would never ask him to choose between her and his destiny.

What if I did ask him though? An errant thought whispered to her. He had been the one to kiss her public after all, and while she knew the Jedi weren't celibate, they were discrete.

She smiled to herself. There had been nothing about that kiss.

She hugged her pillow, letting herself dream a little as exhaustion overcame her.

Duke Obi-Wan Kenobi of Mandalore.

Satine liked the sound of that.

Obi-Wan was leaning against the rail to one of the spectator balconies to the training dojo. Yoda had sat himself beside him.

The first thing Master Yoda after a time of silence was, "Feelings you have for Duchess Satine."

Obi-Wan sighed, "Yes, Master."

"Pursue her, you will."

He shook his head, he had been thinking about this for some time now, "No, Master Yoda, too much time has passed. And I will remain honoura-"

Yoda whapped him in the knee with his stick. "Talk to me of age would you, hmmm, youngling you remain in my mind, Obi-Wan, even if stubborn like old hermit you have become. Asking a question about the Duchess, I was not. Seen your future I have, leave the Order you will."

Obi-Wan's heart clenched, "I don't want to leave, Master, the Jedi are my people."

"Nor do I wish you to leave. Exception will the Council make, but when the time comes, ask you must, assume not what the Council will decide."

He gaped at the old grandmaster, was Yoda giving him permission to marry Satine? Obi-Wan wondered if Yoda would extend the offer to Anakin and Padme.

But Yoda wasn't done, "Lost Dooku I did, great regret was this to me. Lose you, I could not bear."

"And Anakin?"

Yoda's eyes widened, "Thinking always of your Padawan, never of your own well being do you. Blind you it does. Knighted Skywalker was, make his own mistakes and ask his own questions can he."

"How can I not? He's-"

"Trust him you must, or trust you never will he."

"I did trust him once," Obi-Wan said, and I was wrong to.

"Hmm…" Master Yoda hummed, his way of saying 'you're full of bantha shit', "why come down to see the initiates have you?"

Obi-Wan looked down into the training ring where Ahsoka fought another initiate. At thirteen she was filled with so much hope and energy, nothing like the sombre young female who had left the Order.

"Oh, new Padawan you wish to take."

Again, his heart squeezed, Ahsoka and Anakin had been well matched in many ways, she would have been an incredible Jedi Knight had the Order not failed her.

But the thought of taking on another Padawan now?

"Fair place Mandalore is, but many fractions there remains. A matter of galactic safety this is."

Obi-Wan wasn't surprised to hear this, knowing what he did of the future and the fact that he had personally dropped an army of citized clones into the mix.

"Contact us Duchess Satine did, told the Council that only to General Kenobi would the clones listen."

Obi-Wan turned to him, "What do you mean?"

"Mean I, that only you can help sustain peace on Mandalore. Years this mission will take, decades perhaps."

He nodded, stroking his beard. He now understood Yoda's early vision. A part of him was glad to be at Satine's side again, and a part of him that he did not want to look at too closely was relieved to leave the Temple. Too many nightmares lingered here, though another part of him dreaded being separated from the Jedi again.

He never wished to be isolated from his brother and sisters again.

"What think you, a fit place is Mandalore to raise a child?"

Assuming Yoda was speaking of the youngling in Mandalorian Djarin's care, he answered, "Mandalore is a beautiful planet, whose history between war and peace, chaos and honour, makes it unique among the Core systems in these days."

"Much could a young one learn there," Yoda remarked.

"Yes, Master."

"Then new Padawan, you should take."

He shook his head, even if his spirits leapt at the idea of having Ahsoka with him, last time her presence on Mandalore had been invaluable. "It's too soon and Anakin would see it as me rep-"

He winced as Yoda brought his stick down on his knee again, on the same damned spot.

"Knighted Anakin is, shield him you should not. Think of yourself, Obi-Wan, think of what you could offer another. When first knighted ready for a Padawan you were not, against my better judgement it was. But change that now we cannot, move forward we must. Leave tomorrow for Mandalore you do, choose you must, if you will leave that young Torguta to the agriculture corps or with you to be a Knight. Tell you as I told Qui-Gon about you, wasted would she be."

Obi-Wan could only stare at him, remembering very well that Yoda had believed in him before Qui-Gon had. Only by Yoda's interceding had Qui-Gon come to change his mind about taking Obi-Wan as Padawan when all others had found him too aggressive as an initiate.

Obi-Wan looked back at Ahsoka, who had finally noticed them watching, her motions getting more aggressive in an attempt to impress him.

Exactly as he had done as an initiate.

Few Jedi Masters, much less Knights, would take on a Padawan filled with such apparent predatory inclinations.

Even Anakin hadn't willingly chosen her, the Council had seen her worth in a time of war and thought that the responsibility might ground Anakin.

But would she be chosen now? No war was coming, chaos certainly, but not a full scale civil war orchestrated by Sith Lords. She must be thirteen by now, probably her connection to Plo Koon had kept her from being shipped off to the corps already. But eventually…

No one could stay an initiate forever.

"Hmmm… wiser than your Master indeed you are, Obi-Wan."

He gave the grand Master a look, "Are you pushing me to do this because you're afraid of this vision you saw?" And a correct vision it might be if they were going to assign him on a mission to Mandalore. He could assuredly keep himself from falling for Satine if he was running all over the galaxy, that probability was astronomically smaller if he was expected to live with her and help her rule her people for the next few decades.

"Hmm…" then Yoda called out, "Leave Initiate Tano must from the Temple. For you to decide if Jedi Padawan or farmer she becomes."

"Is this how you phrased it to Qui-Gon?"

Qui-Gon appeared beside them, Yoda touched the rail and leaned on his stick a little harder to keep his balance, "I believe the Grandmaster questioned my intelligence."

Obi-Wan shook his head, "Ah, so that's why my getting choked out by a hutt didn't impress you."

Qui-Gon crossed his ghostly arms, and Yoda just stared at him wordlessly as the ghost continued, "You've already made your choice, Obi-Wan. Why are you hesitating?"

Obi-Wan gestured down to the green and blue blade still flashing below them, "Because she's in the middle of a spar."

"Oh," Qui-Gon said, "I thought you were going to have the same problem I did after Xanatos."

"Ahsoka isn't Anakin."

"True, but then you have the benefit of seeing the future," Qui-Gon remarked.

Obi-Wan shrugged, "Well, in the future Ahsoka actually leaves the Order."

Yoda finally found his voice, "Why?"

"Because," Obi-Wan said putting his foot on the rail, "the High Council falsely accused her of bombing the Temple and instead of apologizing said it was a test. Sometimes I agree with Dooku, Masters, the Jedi Order has grown complacent with corruption."

Obi-Wan didn't give either time to respond to that one as he leapt down from the balcony. His wonderfully young knees taking the impact without trouble.

The initiates that had just finished bowing to one another, Ahsoka the victor.

"Might I have a word with you, Initiate Tano."

She nodded, her eyes bright with hope.

He wasn't going to comment on her fighting, there were, he had learned, much more to being a Jedi than the way in which someone wielding a weapon that could cut through nearly any material. "I was wondering if you had any thoughts about Mandalore?"

"Mandalore?" she asked, her excitement giving way to confusion.

"Yes," he said, fighting to suppress a smile, "the planet of Mandalore."

"Mandalorian warriors historically don't like the Jedi?" she offered hesitantly, "And they are ruled by a Duchess or Duke and a Prime Minister. I also saw on the holonet that that's where you brought 2 million clone soldiers."

"Correct, on all accounts, and how would you feel about living there?" he asked.

"Um, I don't know. I mean if I could continue my training to be a Jedi Knight, I wouldn't care where I was," she said a tad boldly and a tad nervously.

"I will be stationed on Mandalore for an indefinite amount of time due to my relationship with the clone army and the unlikelihood of the next years being peaceful ones for Mandalore's history."

"Oh," she said, dipping her head a little, clearly expecting some speech was forthcoming about responsibility or perhaps she thought he would compare how entering the corps, despite not moving from planet to planet and leaving Coruscant permanently wasn't a punishment.

Things that were all certainly true, however, "So if you choose to accept becoming my Jedi Padawan then you would also be stuck on Mandalore with only a few trips off world until your knighting ceremony."

Because Force help, Obi-Wan would see her through to becoming a Knight.

She gaped at him, "Your Padawan, Master Kenobi?"

"Yes, I'm asking you if you would like to be my Padawan, Ahsoka Tano."

"YES!" she exclaimed before hugging him in a tight grip.

She pulled back quickly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

He smiled, "Go pack and say goodbye to your friends, we leave in the morning, Padawan Tano."

Ahsoka's smile could have outshone any star in the galaxy. "Yes, Master!" And as she skipped off she did two front flips. She hesitated only at the doorway, turning back to say, "Thank you, Master Kenobi! See you tomorrow!"

Obi-Wan couldn't stop smiling.

AN: Thoughts, ideas, hugs, or feedback, please?