The Hermit Shack in the Woods, Thursday Evening

[saddeserthermit]

Truth be told, Obi-Wan had seriously considered not returning to Fandom island; the risk to Luke was too great if Vader or another Imperial officer came back and chose to follow him to Tatooine this time. But there were certain obligations he felt too guilty about bound to that he could not simply shirk. Speaking to Kanan was one of these. (Picking up the eopies was another.)

He was certain Anakin could handle Ethics fine without him.

He arrived back on the island early into the evening. He found Rooh nibbling at the grass just outside his hut, and for a moment, he had to smile. Then he sighed, and rubbed his brow, and went to speak to the animals. At least they were comforting.

[[ expecting one, but open for SP! ]]

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[uncertain_dume]

Kanan was... still twitchy, unsurprisingly. His talk with Doctor Lecter had at least helped him to affirm that he wasn't insane for being twitchy, and the revelation that Skywalker had once exiled Atton Karking Rand from the island had done wonders for cementing that the man was... what was the word he'd thought of while arguing with him about not wanting to be murdered by the Emperor's apprentice?

Ah, right. Reprehensible.

But there was still one person on the island that he needed to speak to, and he couldn't put it off forever, though by the time Thursday had rolled around, he was starting to wonder if maybe Master Kenobi had been dragged off by Vader himself. Or if he'd done the same thing that Kanan had been wanting to do for weeks now, and had simply left. He wouldn't have blamed him for it. Not too much, anyway.

He hadn't even realized that he'd been keeping an eye out, so to speak, through the Force, hoping for Master Kenobi's return. Not until Master Kenobi had returned, at the very least. And then he'd dropped the very important 'sitting in the cockpit of the Expedient with his dog, staring tiredly at his holocron' that he'd been doing in order to make his way through the woods to speak to the man, hoping that this talk wouldn't turn out quite as unfortunate as his chat with Skywalker had.

"Master Kenobi," he said, sounding about as tired as he felt as he approached the shack. "Good evening. I hope this isn't a bad time?"

[saddeserthermit]

"Kanan," Obi-Wan said, and for once some of the exhaustion that he always felt he was carrying with him showed in his tone. "I had been hoping to catch you."

He turned away from the eopies - and the shack. "Would you like some tea?" he asked.

Tea was nice, and soothing, and a handhold.

[uncertain_dume]

Tea. Basically the usual offering when visiting Master Kenobi, but tonight it was something magical. Maybe because most of what Kanan had been drinking for the past week and a half had been significantly stronger than tea. He gave Obi-Wan a wry smile, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"I won't say no, thank you," he settled on, and then smiled a little at the eopies, himself. It was good to see something familiar that wasn't the inside of a freighter, at the very least. "Something for the nerves."

[saddeserthermit]

"Yes," Obi-Wan said, and if there had been any doubt he knew exactly what Kanan might have nerves about before, hopefully his tone would dispel it.

He turned around, pulled open the door and held it while he waited for Kanan.

[uncertain_dume]

Okay. Good. That was a good sign. The idea that Master Kenobi was aware of what had gone on and was still here, inviting him in for tea, was oddly comforting. Kanan wouldn't have faulted him for collecting the eopies and leaving again, after all. Hell, he was only here because... where else would he go? Somebody else's version of his reality?

... No, no, he wasn't going to think about it.

Much.

"So," he hedged as he stepped inside. "You, uh, were around on Parents' Weekend, then."

[saddeserthermit]

"I returned from home a day into the proceedings," Obi-Wan said mildly. He kept walking, making no effort to look at Kanan as he began the process of heating up some water. "I sensed a strange presence. I went to Anakin for answers. I hope you'll forgive me for leaving after this point."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave his shoulders a shrug, though, hey, he was also pointedly not really looking at anybody in particular, here.

"I would've done the same," he admitted, that exhaustion sneaking back into his voice. "I've been trying since that Sunday, actually. Still no luck getting a portal back home. Still not enough fuel in the Expedient to explore this galaxy to see if there are inhabitable planets out there. It's great."

Not really.

[saddeserthermit]

"I am sorry," Obi-Wan said, "For what it is worth, I told Anakin to warn you as soon as I found out. But I could not risk lingering on the island."

He had more than just himself to protect, after all.

[uncertain_dume]

"I didn't get any warning," Kanan replied, flatly. "I got Vader walking into the diner on my shift, intimidating Mara while I... coped, I guess. I waited there until they left because she didn't want to be left alone. With Vader."

He'd done a great job of coping. Really.

Honest.

"Skywalker doesn't strike me as the most reliable individual to ask if you want anything important passed on."

It was funny how hero worship could turn into distaste so strong it was practically a tangible thing rolling off his tongue as he spoke, all because of one conversation.

[saddeserthermit]

Obi-Wan sighed. He picked up two cups. "Anakin has always been mulish," he began.

Then he caught himself. This thinking is what cause all of this to begin with.

"...But that's no excuse. You are right, unfortunately."

[uncertain_dume]

"Mulish," Kanan scoffed, shaking his head, trying - and failing - to keep the sour tone from his voice, "isn't the word I would have chosen."

The word he would have chosen, he wasn't going to repeat in front of one of the Masters.

He pulled in a deep breath. Exhaled. Shook his head again.

"There's being stubborn, and then there's refusing to accept responsibility for one's actions. He knew, Master Kenobi. He knew Mara was working directly for the Emperor, and it's my fault that my first impulse after meeting Vader without warning is to want to leave? That's a step beyond mulish. It breezes right past that and petulant into a realm all its own."

[saddeserthermit]

"I said," Obi-Wan said evenly, "You were right."

He unpacked some tea bags.

"Unless you merely came here to rail at me about something we both agree on."

[uncertain_dume]

Okay, Jarrus, deep breath. You weren't doing much better than Skywalker if you were going to go off on a rant at Obi-Wan like this. Especially when he was being agreeable.

"You're right," he said, bowing his head a little. "I'm sorry, Master. I had a conversation with him during the break and some-" a good many, "-unpleasant things were said. I know I should let it go, but... it rankles."

A lot. It rankled a lot.

[saddeserthermit]

"Yes. He's always been fairly good at rankling people," Obi-Wan sighed. The cooker went pop, and he picked it up, pouring water into each cup. "Yes, he knew. And when confronted by both of us, he chose to behave like a petulant teenager with his hand caught in the cookie jar."

He turned around, holding out one cup to Kanan.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan accepted the cup with a nod and a murmured thanks, staring quietly into it for a moment, not entirely trusting himself to speak right away. He'd just watch the tea steep. Let it ground him for a few sec--

"I don't think he fully understands just how barbed some of the things he said were," he said, all at once. "Just what it meant when he told me that he wasn't my Master, just before telling me to go ahead and run away. When he talked about... other things. Rumors about him that are clearly untrue, but directly after bringing them up, he wouldn't say how."

His grip on the cup tightened a little.

"I should be able to let it go, but he clawed at old wounds that Vader's appearance re-opened, and I can't just walk away from it."

[saddeserthermit]

Oh, Anakin.

Obi-Wan's thoughts trailed towards the past, burning lava and eyes full of loathing; he pulled back from the memory as fast as he could, but the damage was done.

He sat down on a small chair, cradling his cup. He was not entirely certain Anakin hadn't been aware what he was doing, but saying so felt like it would not be helpful. "Then tell me about your old wounds," he said quietly, and took a sip. "We will see which ones can perhaps be closed."

[uncertain_dume]

Another deep breath. Another slow exhale. Kanan bowed his head, content to stand for just a moment more. Topics like this left him restless, made him itch to drop everything and put some distance between himself and everything associated with them. Sitting felt confining, felt stifling.

"You already know some of it," he said, quietly, mostly toward the cup. "How Master Billaba's last words were spent telling me to run. How I didn't sleep for weeks, and barely ate. I suppose it goes without saying... any Jedi who didn't die immediately after the Troopers turned would likely have a similar story, to some degree."

But that was fresh in his head again too, not thanks to Vader, or even to Skywalker, but thanks to the island itself. It wasn't really helping with that urge to run, either. Another weekend like that coupled with an unexpected visit from Vader...

[saddeserthermit]

"We do," Obi-Wan said.

He lifted his cup and took a long sip as he privately weighed what to divulge. In the end... he settled on nothing, but the silence had been there and likely said enough already. "These are vivid memories. It's easy to poison the mind with them - so much raw emotion."

[uncertain_dume]

"I still remember exactly what it felt like," Kanan murmured, "freezing as my Master's troops turned on us, because of how much it hurt, because of how wrong everything was. And I saw. Visions of the same thing happening all across the Galaxy, like I was there. Master Secura, Master Mundi, Master Koon..."

He shook his head as though he was clearing it of cobwebs, and then finally took a sip of tea.

"When the island turned so many of us into teenagers again, I came out of it feeling it all like new. The first and only lie Master Billaba ever told me. The fear. Being hunted down by her own troops. One thing bleeding into the other, the way nothing felt right. How the silence was the only thing worse than the slaughter that came before it."

[saddeserthermit]

"I don't know about that," Obi-Wan said quietly. "I went to the Temple."

Yeah.

The worst part had been that recording of Anakin. He'd taken the silence over that.

[uncertain_dume]

"The Temple," Kanan echoed, and finally looked up from his cup. "I tried to. Stole a ship. If you hadn't warned us away, I wouldn't be here right now, myself."

He swallowed and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. What you must have found there..."

He'd had plenty of time to imagine it. He didn't think for a moment that imagination even began to capture the reality of it.

[saddeserthermit]

"I was too late to change anything. But I saw recordings." Did Obi-Wan sound distant? He wasn't aware of it. "So much death... it is a miracle it didn't tear a hole in the Force."

Perhaps, he thought bitterly, it was at least helpful the Emperor had spaced out the killings across the galaxy.

[uncertain_dume]

"Take the small favors where you can, I suppose."

Kanan caught the tone, at least. It was a sharp contrast to the bile and the venom that Skywalker had been spitting at him last week. It made him feel... not better, not really. It wasn't the sort of tone that one ought to pull comfort from, of course. But more real, maybe. As though he'd been wading through a bad dream for weeks, and here was somebody else who knew that dream too, who could confirm that he hadn't just made up the darkest moments of it.

It also reminded him of the people he'd left behind when Master Billaba had taken him to war.

He hesitated for a long moment before, softly, he said, "There were rumors, about Skywalker. He made a point to mention one of them to me."

[saddeserthermit]

Obi-Wan didn't have much bile left in him, if he'd ever had any at all. And Kanan - Caleb - still felt so much like a lost Padawan some days...

"Did he, now?" he said. "He truly must have been in a snit."

He wasn't terribly impressed by Anakin's conduct here, all around. "What was it?"

[uncertain_dume]

"The rumor that he had been killed, protecting younglings."

That came out sounding... rough. Like the words were burrs that wanted to stick in his mouth as he spoke them, and he had to pry them free before they could be heard. Those younglings had been his friends, had been the closest people to family that he had known before Master Billaba had taken him as her Padawan. He'd gone to lessons with them, had been teased by them and gossiped with them and had shared his worries and his dreams with them.

And Skywalker wasn't dead.

"That was all he would say."

And Kanan could think of no reason to mention it except to try to rub their deaths in his face, because a rumor that a living man had died protecting people who were now very much dead could only go so far to cover the man in glory.