“We’ll think of something,” I tried to reassure my friend, though in truth I wasn’t sure whether I was calming her or myself.
Responsibility for someone else’s fate had a way of sharpening the mind.
I was already running through possible hiding places and considering whether I’d need to dig a shelter directly into the sand with the Force.
Realistically, that was beyond me right now.
No shelter appeared for a long time while the sandstorm continued to close the distance.
Then, at last, another rocky hill came into view.
“Luke, look, there’s a light!” Camie shouted into my ear.
She was right.
A weak lantern was flashing just above the base of the hill, signaling to us.
We had no alternatives and no better options.
Opening the throttle, I steered the swoop toward the light.
Smart girl that she was, Camie had already returned the blaster to my holster.
If it turned out to be a trap, we’d have to fight our way out.
Fortunately, the figure waiting below wasn’t a Tusken Raider with a rifle.
Instead, an aging, bearded man stood there, gesturing for us to bring the swoop closer.
After parking my machine beside his own swoop and securing it beneath a heavy tarp conveniently left nearby, we hurried into a concealed shelter carved into the rock by unknown hands.
As it turned out, it could be sealed completely against the outside world.
“Hello, Ben,” I finally greeted Kenobi.
Apparently the Force really was determined to bring us together.
Now all we needed was for Qui-Gon to appear and convene a Jedi Council.
“This is Camie, my friend.
Camie, this is old Ben Kenobi.
He lives as a hermit not far from our farm.” Kenobi ignored the jab about his age.
He seemed to have accepted long ago that he would die alone on Tatooine.
Honestly, I couldn’t understand what was wrong with him.
He wasn’t that old.
The Jedi Order wasn’t completely beyond saving.
Why sit on Tatooine instead of helping the surviving Jedi and building resistance against the Empire?
Was it personal trauma?
Other Jedi had joined the growing Rebel movement.
Ram Kota, for example.
There had to be something deeply personal behind his behavior.
The betrayal of their apprentices must have hit the Jedi hard.
It quickly became obvious that we’d be spending the night here.
Even if the storm died down, traveling across Tatooine after dark wasn’t exactly safe.
The shelter itself was surprisingly comfortable.
A small campfire area surrounded a gas burner that provided at least a little warmth.
“Do you stay here often, Ben?” I asked, dragging one of the sleeping mats closer to the fire.
“This refuge was built long before I arrived,” Kenobi replied.
“I look after it from time to time and take shelter here when storms catch me too far from home.” Camie, proving once again how clever she was, pulled a large piece of thermal fabric from her shoulder bag, perfect for use as a blanket, along with a packet of ration biscuits.
After looking at me and receiving a nod of approval, she placed the food in the center and offered some to Ben.
The old man smiled and produced a paper packet containing strips of dried meat.
Camie settled beside me and suggested we share her thermal blanket.
Naturally, I accepted.
Leaning against me, she finally relaxed after a long day and a dangerous chase.
Ben and I were officially little more than acquaintances.
He occasionally bought mushrooms from the Lars family, which we cultivated alongside our moisture farming operation.
They vaguely resembled mushrooms and chanterelles.
I hadn’t cared for mushrooms in my previous life, but by now I had grown fond of Aunt Beru’s mushroom stew.
Since the Force and a band of Tusken Raiders had brought us together, why not talk?
Ben actually started the conversation himself.
“What brings you out here so late, with a storm approaching?” he asked while placing a kettle of water on the burner.
“A sandstorm and Tusken Raiders,” I admitted.
“They tried to drive us into an ambush near Broken Tooth.
We had to outrun them through the desert.” “Tatooine isn’t a safe place these days,” Ben observed.
No kidding.
Maybe someone should do something about that.
Hand me a lightsaber, perhaps.
Show me how to use it.
“Luke got one of them,” Camie said proudly, without a second thought.
“Hit him right in the face with a knife.” Oh no.
That was my mistake.
I hadn’t warned her not to tell people about things like that.
Obi-Wan looked at me with sudden interest, studying me.
“It was basically point-blank range,” I said with a shrug, or at least with the shoulder not currently occupied by Camie.
“He tried to ram us.
I got lucky.
I’ve always been good at throwing things.” Kenobi unconsciously rubbed his head.
Specifically the exact spot where, years ago, I had nailed him with a bottle for trespassing onto our farm.
He really should have shown the Lars family more respect.
The conversation drifted into a routine discussion of Tusken Raider treachery and the dangers of Tatooine.
Before long, Camie fell asleep, resting her head on my lap.
Was that some universal female instinct?
“Uncle Owen told me that about a year after I was born, a huge horde of Sand People attacked the region and almost reached our farm,” I said, deciding to test whether Owen’s story matched one of the events from the Expanded Universe.
“Then they suddenly retreated.
Did you see it?” “I was on Tatooine that year,” Kenobi replied after a pause.
“A Jedi Knight confronted the Tusken chieftain and drove them away.” Don’t be modest, old man.
You weren’t a Jedi Knight.
You were a Jedi Master.
So the incident with A’Sharad Hett had happened in this universe.
Which meant the future Darth Krayt was currently somewhere communing with Sith holocrons.
How about that?
“Was it my father?” I asked, adding as much hope to my voice as possible.
“One of his old friends who sells us spare parts said my father left with the Jedi and was never seen again.
Did he come back and bring me here?
What happened to him?
Uncle Owen says he died.” Ben looked genuinely surprised.
Of course he was.
Nothing like this happened in the original story, and if not for meeting W.
Wald, I shouldn’t have known any of it.
But if an opportunity presents itself, why not acquire legitimate information?
“Your father really was a Jedi Knight,” Kenobi began quietly, making sure not to wake any unnecessary ears.
“A guardian of peace.
He was killed near the end of the Clone Wars when a Jedi traitor named Darth Vader turned against his brothers in the Order.
He wasn’t the one who saved your farm.
That was another Jedi who left Tatooine shortly afterward.” Well done, Obi-Wan.
If you were talking to an intelligent boy without future knowledge, he’d probably go off searching for Hett right now.
Never mind that the future Darth Krayt was currently spending time on Korriban.
Still, if you’ve started talking, keep going.
“What was the Jedi Order like?
Why did Darth Vader betray the Jedi?
What happened to them?” Obi-Wan paused as he removed the boiling kettle from the burner.
I needed to squeeze as much information out of him as possible.
If he wasn’t going to hand over a lightsaber, then at least I could get information I could cite without saying, I dreamed it.
“The Sith, ancient enemies of the Jedi, infiltrated the leadership of the Old Republic,” the Master said slowly, clearly battling old memories.
“They struck the Order in the back.
The Jedi had protected peace throughout the galaxy.
Most were killed.
A smaller number scattered and went into hiding in the farthest reaches of the galaxy.
The Empire hunts them still.” “Can I become a Jedi like my father?” I asked softly, trying not to wake Camie.
“Maybe I could find a teacher among the surviving Jedi.
Do you know how to find the Knight who saved my farm?” “All things in their time, Luke,” Kenobi replied emotionlessly.
The message was clear.
The conversation was over.
For the love of the Force, Obi-Wan.
You’re practically pushing a kid toward Korriban yourself.
The Jedi fell asleep soon afterward, leaving me frustrated and bewildered.
No wonder Anakin had turned into such an asshole with a teacher like that.
“Give him time.” Qui-Gon’s voice echoed through my mind just before sleep claimed me.
Then came another dream.
Darth Vader was once again carving his way through countless beings in pursuit of a single Jedi, one with a large, elongated head who didn’t survive even a minute.
Actual Force visions?
Then why didn’t Luke have them in the version of story I knew?
Why are you doing this, you idiot?
There aren’t that many Cereans left as it is, I thought while watching the dark figure advance toward a nursery.
Thankfully, reality pulled me out of the dream before it could continue.
Camie was leaning over me.
She appeared entirely too pleased with herself as she watched me sleep.
Now, I wasn’t exactly opposed to the attention, but maybe we could wait a couple more years?
I wasn’t eager to feel like a complete pedophile, no matter what Luke’s hormone-fueled body happened to think about the matter.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I said automatically, a phrase left over from my previous life.
“The old man already left?” “Yeah,” my smiling friend nodded happily.
It was amazing how little some people needed to be happy.
“When I woke up, he was already gone.” The burner had been extinguished.
Kenobi’s sleeping mat lay folded off to one side.
No other signs of the Jedi’s presence remained.
He could have at least left behind a lightsaber.
Or maybe Father’s invisible cloak.
Though that was probably from a different universe altogether.
Still, I wouldn’t have complained.
“Let’s get moving,” I said, sitting up.
“We still need to explain to your parents where you’ve been.” Or maybe I should just mind-trick them into believing I’m trustworthy.
That certainly sounded easier than explaining that I hadn’t kidnapped their daughter.
The sandstorm and the Tusken Raiders had done that for me.