A New Home

[hadthehighground]

WHO: Obi-Wan Kenobi and YOU
WHERE: The Museum aka The New Jedi Temple
WHAT: Making a new temple for the Jedi!
WHEN: All of April
WARNINGS: None atm

The first days after they arrived back from Coruscant, Obi-Wan was busy. The Jedi essentially hitting the ground running now that he’s been energized by his vacation back home. The first priority was making sure Padme and the twins were comfortable. Then came the task of finding an appropriate place in Temba for a temple.

Before the impromptu trip to Coruscant someone had suggested the amphitheater. However upon looking it over the Jedi decided it didn’t suit the purposes that were needed. So he kept looking. Though he didn’t have to look far as he came across a cluster of buildings that seemed to be a museum complex. After looking over the overgrown and run down grounds he decided that it would be perfect. It would just need some cleaning up and repurposing.

Thus a call is put out on the network. Asking for help in setting up this new home for the Jedi if anyone is willing. Those with the engineering data points would be especially appreciated, as would the advice of those with agriculture for setting up a garden. But really any free hands would do with the promise of the favor being returned down the road.

The time didn’t matter as Obi-Wan will be working on it all month. Cleaning out the buildings and their exhibits. Pieces of artifacts carefully picked up and put away for later sorting and hopefully reassembly. One of the smaller buildings being converted into a holding place for animals and/or potential vehicles. The other intended for living spaces. The largest building was a grand hall and Obi-Wan intended this to be the main structure for learning, sparring, meeting, and whatever else they could use it for. Last but not least the smallest, yet very tall building with a large platform inside was to be made into a place of meditation.

There is a lot to be done and more hands make light work!

((OOC: Feel free to consider this a mingle thread! Obi-Wan isn’t the only Jedi around but I’ll throw him at anyone unless specified otherwise.))

Comments

[hadthehighground]

Listening, Obi-Wan nods slowly to what Ezra tells him. What he had done was certainly dangerous, and there had been consequences for them. Things he had shouldn't have done, and probably wouldn't have done if he hadn't tampered with the holocron. It was hard to think of Ezra ever doing the things that he mentioned now. Though its clear he had grown from that, become stronger and wiser.

"Your situation wasn't all that dissimilar to Anakin's," he noted quietly. Anakin had a Sith Lord whispering in his ear for years, all under Obi-Wan's nose. He had shut him out on many occasions, but always seemed to come back. Yet Anakin had also done some pretty questionable things. Tried to hide them from him. Though there was more that Obi-Wan didn't even know about. But he had seen his friend struggle, and tried his best to help him. Though Obi-Wan had always believe that Anakin would learn and come out better for it. How wrong he had been. How blind he had been to what was really going on.

"And... I believe you're right. Anakin didn't want to come back."

Which really hurt. He had tried to reason with him, pleaded with him, but those angry words of hatred only rang through his ears. When he had looked at Anakin on Mustafar, the boy he had trained was not there. It was as if an imposter had taken his place.

Obi-Wan's resolve was crumbling. He looked weary and sad. "Perhaps there was nothing I could have done," he relented finally. Though the words felt like acid in his mouth. He wanted to blame himself, because surely he should have been able to do something. But that was lamenting the past. What was done, was done, and it wasn't very Jedi-like of him to dwell on it. But it was very human of him. He had to learn from his mistakes, release his feelings, and move on. Though doing so in this particular case was harder than any he had ever faced before. He just couldn't bring himself to let Anakin go.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra nods slowly, because he doesn't want to shut down Obi-wan thinking those conclusions through. And there's nothing more he can say out loud the older Jedi needs to hear, he doesn't think.

But maybe there's something else he can do. He might not have felt bold enough if Obi-wan hadn't hugged him that last night in the Temple on Coruscant.

He remembers Kanan pulling him into a hug, and hugging him back and how much that bit of affection had eased letting go of the bitterness of blaming himself for the losses at Malachor, and his anger at Kanan for needing time to heal. He'd cried too, and maybe Master Kenobi didn't need to cry or wouldn't let himself, but either way, that'd be ok, too.

The padawan doesn't move quickly, trying not startle the man, but he's pretty intent on wrapping his arm around his master and holding on until Obi-wan made it clear he wanted to be let go.

[hadthehighground]

He missed him.

That’s what it really came down to. Obi-Wan had never wanted to feel that hole Qui-Gon had left behind again, and yet there it was. He and Anakin had been side by side since his late master passed. They had become more than master and student. They had become brothers, partners, two parts of a whole. A pair, a team, who had always been better together rather than apart. Obi-Wan had not only left his best friend on Mustafar, but he had left a part of himself with him.

It was during this rumination that Ezra moved closer, almost without his noticing until he felt that arm go around him. Obi-Wan blinked once, a stray tear rolling down his cheek from the motion. Breaking him from his thoughts and looking at his padawan.

He didn’t know what to say. Words were lost to him at the moment. And while Ezra could never fill the hole that Anakin had left behind, he was there. A shining beacon that had pierced the darkness and offered something new. A fresh start for them both in this place. That glimmer of hope and warmth brought a small smile to the Jedi’s face. Turning slightly, he reached for him.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra presses his face against the shoulder of Obi-wan's robe, letting the warmth in the Force ebb and flow and between them.

He's content to hold onto the hug for all long as Obi-wan wants, but he does say, eventually, a little muffled. "Thank you. For talking to me about all this." After a beat he adds, "And not freaking out about the Sith holocron."

He's actually suspects he might get a belated lecture at some point, when Master Kenobi is up for it, and he's willing to try to sit through that with good grace, but it would have been awfulm if understandable, if his new master was furious or distrustful.

[hadthehighground]

It felt good, as if a bit of weight had been lifted from his shoulders. And the physical contact was comforting. Something, he realized, he hadn’t had access to since before the purge. Master Fae had offered him the same comfort, but he hadn’t been able to talk to her the way he had with Ezra just now. It made him feel a little less alone in this world. Not that he truly was, but with the memories he possessed, it still felt that way.

Ezra’s words drew a chuckle and the Jedi finally pulled back to offer the young man a smile. “I think I should be thanking you. It’s... been well over due.” He hadn’t really had anyone to talk to about it till now. Be it the fact that he had been in complete isolation on Tatooine or that there had been very few who would understand here, or that it wasn’t a topic he could easily speak to with some considering different timelines.

“As for the holocron. We all make mistakes, and I can see that you have learned from yours. That is what’s important.”

His brows lifted though as he looked at the young Jedi keenly. “Though I can’t promise I won’t freak out should you try something like that again.” So no lecture from him! Not unless Ezra decides to make stupid decisions while he’s here with Obi-Wan. Then he might very well get an earful.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Master Yoda told me it's a lifelong challenge to not bend fear into anger," he says, with a flicker of a grin because those words were not quite in that Order, as Obi-wan can surely guess.

"That was the conversation he told me to find Malachor. I'm not entirely sure why he did that, although maybe he got some hint from the Force there a path to me actually listening to that lesson, along the way. Application is a whole other thing, and I'll take his word for it that's never an effort you get to neglect. I am sure that...I don't like who was I becoming while I was listening to that holocron."

If he's seriously tempted by the Dark Side again, he doesn't think it'll be in quite the same guise.

[hadthehighground]

"And he's right," Obi-Wan says back, mirroring Ezra's grin a little because yes, he knows exactly how Master Yoda sounds. It's something you become quite used to in the Order.

"Though I'm afraid no one ever completely knows what Master Yoda is thinking. His ways were a mystery to even many of us. Sometimes you just have to trust he knows what he's doing. I can say with certainty that his advice never led anyone astray. In fact, quite the opposite. His clarity is far greater than anyone I know and I'm certain he told you what you needed in that moment, even if it led you down a difficult path. Sometimes that's what we need in order to grow, and judging from what you said, you did."

All Jedi struggle with the dark side at some point in their lives. It was just a matter of whether one could overcome it.