Finding a Father in a Memory/Chapter 2

Qui-Gon was worried. He didn’t like the way Obi-Wan had so quickly and easily taken to his father. In his experience, Xanatos Renashaii was not a man to be trifled with. He’d turned his back on the Jedi, on Qui-Gon when he’d been just seventeen years old. He’d used the dark side, drawn his saber against his own Master and had vowed revenge for the death of his father. It was a betrayal that still stung Qui-Gon, twenty-one years later. Now, here was that same man, laughing and smiling with the boy he’d sired fifteen years before. Qui-Gon could find no trace of the taint of the dark side, despite Xanatos’ angry attitude hours earlier. That worried him as well.

“So, Jinn, how long have you been looking after my boy?,” Xanatos asked snidely as he strode confidently into the galley where Qui-Gon was sitting.

Qui-Gon lifted his blue-green eyes up from the datapad he was reading to stare at his former apprentice. “Looking after, or training?,” he asked conversationally.

Xanatos flopped down in a chair across from the man that had trained him to be a Jedi for eight years. “You know perfectly well what I mean, old man,” he snapped. “How long have you been Ben’s Master?,” Xanatos demanded.

“Ben?,” was Qui-Gon’s soft inquiry. He’d never heard that name before.

Xanatos couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, Ben. That is Obi-Wan’s given name. Benjamin Renashaii. His mother was Corellian; her name was Dhalia Kenobi. When Ben was born, she called him obiwan. It’s a Corellian word meaning light. He was her light, and mine. Our light in the darkness,” he whispered emotionally. “Anyway, she died and I was left to raise him on my own. To say I was ill-prepared to be a single father would be an understatement. The decision to give him to the Jedi was the hardest of my life,” he told Qui-Gon. “I knew you Jedi would be nervous about coming to Telos, so I had two of my employees pose as Ben’s parents. I didn’t want him rejected outright because of his paternity. The name Obi-Wan Kenobi is of course a combination of Dhalia’s surname and the word obiwan. It seemed fitting that as he left Telos and his father behind he should have a piece of his mother with him,” he finished.

Qui-Gon didn’t know what to say. He never imagined that his former student might have changed over the last twenty-one years. He genuinely seemed to care about Obi-Wan. “I’ve been looking after him from almost the first moment he came to the Temple. I was drawn to him in much the same manner I had been drawn to you when you were a child,” he admitted. “As for training, Obi-Wan became my Padawan when he was nearly thirteen years old.”

“Why wasn’t he chosen sooner!?,” Xanatos asked, his tone loud and indignant. He couldn’t fathom the fact that his son hadn’t been picked long before then.

Qui-Gon began to squirm just the tiniest bit under Xanatos’ intense stare. “To make a long story short, Obi-Wan carried a lot of anger inside himself as a child. He was almost constantly fighting with other initiates, one in particular. They got into a tussle during the last lightsaber competition before their thirteenth life-days and it cost them both a chance at being chosen,” Qui-Gon began in a matter-of-fact voice. “Both Obi-Wan and Bruck Chun ended up on a transport to Agri-Corps. I was sent along to keep an eye on the children. The ship was attacked by pirates and Obi-Wan was a great help to me during the defense of the ship and it’s passengers. After the incident, I re-evaluated my opinion of Obi-Wan. He acquitted himself quite well that day and I decided that his talents would be wasted in Agri-Corps. He was meant to be a Jedi Knight. One week later, he officially became my Padawan Learner,” he finished.

Xanatos continued to stare at his former mentor. His eyes were still blazing with fury over his son’s trip to Agri-Corps, despite his quick return. “Ben would never have been sent away from the Jedi Temple in the first place had he been chosen sooner,” he said, the accusation clearly implied if not spoken aloud. He blamed Qui-Gon.

“He wasn’t ready to be chosen sooner, Xan,” Qui-Gon said softly, using the nickname he had given Xanatos when he’d been a small child.

“Sithspit!,” Xanatos yelled as he practically jumped from his chair. “My son is the most gifted, powerful Jedi I have ever encountered. He shines with the Force. Even you must see that,” he ranted gruffly.

Qui-Gon sighed deeply. “Yes, Obi-Wan glows with the Force, and yes, he is the most powerful Jedi I have ever encountered. His midi-chlorian count is…,” he began, but stopped as he realized what he was about to reveal. That was one bit of information he didn’t want Xanatos to have in his possession. “Suffice it to say, Obi-Wan will be a powerful Jedi Knight one day. Of that I have no doubt.”

Xanatos knew Qui-Gon was hiding something, and now he knew what it was. Something about Obi-Wan’s midi-chlorian count; something about him knowing Obi-Wan’s midi-chlorian count had the older man spooked. He’d tuck that piece of information away for examination at a later date. For now, he wanted to get more details concerning his son’s life. He wanted to know everything that he’d missed.