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! ]]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

That... could be interesting. Not even bad. Just, 'huh.' Skywalker had mentioned that Mara was apparently going to marry his son someday, after all, so he already knew that there was a kid out there, likely in their own galaxy, somewhere.

He'd been trying hard to just not think about the implications from there.

"Why not try me?"

See? Way easier than talking about trauma.

[saddeserthermit]

There was a long pause. "Anakin Skywalker did die to protect younglings," he said, which was sort of true from a certain point of view. "But they were his own."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan just tilted his head at that. And then he nodded. Okay. See? That wasn't so bad. It was something he could actually almost respect, even.

Almost. He still had trouble respecting petulant man-children who held positions of power over him.

"So what he said was true... but misleading," he deduced, frowning a bit. Not surprised, mostly since Anakin had spilled those beans already, but actually a bit annoyed. "Great."

'True but misleading' was basically going to be the best you were going to get from this lot on certain topics, Kanan. Better get used to it.

[saddeserthermit]

Obviously. But Obi-Wan felt he had good reasons to keep certain things under wraps, such as 'I'm actually guarding Anakin's children RIGHT NOW, on Tatooine' and 'I dismembered Anakin and left him to burn because he'd taken a trip down Crazy Lane'.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said. He heaved a sigh. "He's rather inclined that way."

Pitch-black pot, meet you-raised-kettle.

[uncertain_dume]

"At least when I say misleading things, it isn't to get the upper hand in an argument," Kanan groused, shaking his head. "Bringing the younglings into it like that was..."

Petty? Cruel? The word here was probably cruel.

"Ugh."

That was easier than getting back on the emotions train.

[saddeserthermit]

"Childish, immature and out of line? Yes."

Obi-Wan took a sip of his tea. It was beginning to cool.

[uncertain_dume]

"All of those things," Kanan agreed, and then sighed and returned his attention to his own tea. "We all looked up to... well... both of you. I didn't need him dredging them up, or reminding me just how much of the war hinged on his actions, as if that should somehow erase how much danger he put us all in. The two points aren't even related."

He took another mouthful of tea. He'd been mostly just staring into it since this discussion had started.

"Never get to know your heroes, I guess."

[saddeserthermit]

Obi-Wan sighed. His hand crept up to his brow, and he pinched it.

"Anakin was an amazing Jedi," he said, "with deep, glaring flaws." He dropped his hand. "But now the question is, what do we do about Mara Jade?"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan noted that 'was,' and still didn't take much stock in it. Enough of the Jedi around the island had been Jedi, once, before all hell had broken loose. Or had never quite been, as the case was with himself. And if Skywalker had family now...

He shook his head in reply to Obi-Wan's question.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I figured something was up with her since my very first class, right about the time I had to give her a verbal slap on the wrist for the way she was talking about non-humans. I'm... I mean, I should be more surprised that it's this serious, but apparently the island is getting to my head or something."

He sighed and sipped at his tea again.

"She's afraid of Vader. Of course she is. It would be insane not to be. My concern is that even if she wasn't reporting every instance of Jedi activity to the Emperor before, the possibility that Vader might return could prompt her to start. And at the same time, I can't help but wonder what was keeping her from selling us out in the first place."

Because he was under no illusions about how long they would survive if Palpatine had at all been aware of their presence before.

[saddeserthermit]

"I wonder as well."

Obi-Wan set his tea aside for the last time. It was simply cold water with a faint flavor at this point.

"Of course, it has been two weeks, and I've yet to see any new Stormtroopers on the island."

[uncertain_dume]

"That just raises more questions," Kanan sighed. "There's no way Vader could have come here and not realized that there are Force users on the island, is there? And even if he managed not to notice, I have a whole new sort of respect for Mara if she looked him right in the... creepy mask... and still managed to not crack and tell him everything she knows."

He frowned and shook his head.

"And from there, we don't even know what she knows for certain, do we?"

The Caleb in him had questions, apparently.

[saddeserthermit]

"No," Obi-Wan said. "And neither does Anakin, I assume. Unless he's still insisting on withholding information 'for our benefit'."

Which it wasn't, Anakin.

By the way.

[uncertain_dume]

"Not much point in asking him, then." In either case, really. Kanan frowned. "I wonder how Mara would react if she was approached about it."

He sounded sort of dubious about the idea, if only because he still wasn't sure if she'd pieced together that he'd been nervous around Vader for reasons beyond just that Vader was karking intimidating. If she hadn't, he wasn't too keen on the prospect of outing himself, either. But the not knowing was terrifying, too.

[saddeserthermit]

"That may be a terrible idea," Obi-Wan pointed out. "Feeling threatened may motivate her to finally go to the Emperor, if Vader did not manage to do the job."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan grimaced at the thought.

"So... the trick is to be non-threatening," he hedged. "I mean, when Vader was talking to her in the diner, she asked me to stick around. Which, in fairness, could just be so that she could point at me and use my messy death as a distraction while she ran if things got messy, but it's better than nothing."

Marginally.

"It's the not knowing," he added. "I don't want to shake her down or anything, but she has to at least already realize we know there's more to her than the 'dancer from Imperial Center' story that she's been throwing around."

[saddeserthermit]

"Perhaps it would be best if it came from you," Obi-Wan said, after a long pause. "I unfortunately suffer from a spot of fame..."

Which had been fine during the Clone Wars, but was something of a problem now that there was a kill-on-sight order for all Jedi.

[uncertain_dume]

"Whereas I never got the chance to become even so much as infamous," Kanan supplied, his lips pulled into a wry smile. "Yeah, I get it."

He didn't have to like it, but he got it.

[saddeserthermit]

"I can stay near," Obi-Wan said.

He did not particularly enjoy having to send Caleb... Kanan out on his own.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan shrugged.

"If there's some way to do so without being obvious about it," he replied. "I mean... there's a decent chance I'm going to end up teaching her again at some point. She's already been in my classes before. But if we have no idea what to expect from her..."

Yeah. He could see why the prospect of a half-trained Padawan tackling one of the Emperor's pawns didn't exactly seem like a great idea.

[saddeserthermit]

"Speak with her somewhere out in the open," Obi-Wan said. "It'll be easier for me to conceal myself - and she will be less inclined to make a scene."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan needed to take a moment to picture Obi-Wan huddling in the bushes in the park, watching him strike up a conversation, and for a brief moment, his mouth pulled into a flicker of a smile.

Okay. He'd needed that.

"That could work," he agreed, if only because of that wonderful mental image. "Now the trick is either being patient until I can bump into her on purpose by accident, or figuring out how to ask her for a conversation about it without intimidating her."

[saddeserthermit]

Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed, but he could not quite catch Kanan's thought processes by sheer force of will.

Yet.

"Perhaps you can arrange for a class outside, and keep her after."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan sighed and shook his head. Right back to depressing reality, then.

"No good," he replied. "She was in my class when I first started teaching, but she's not actually one of my students this semester. I could aim to try to teach something that she'd feel obligated to take, next time around, but by the time we make it that far, it could be too late."

[saddeserthermit]

There was a pause.

"She is," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully, "Attending Ethics, however..."

[uncertain_dume]

That one got a slow blink out of Kanan, right there.

"... The class you're co-teaching with Skywalker?"

Because Kanan could do 'substitute teacher' or even 'guest lecturer' if it came down to it. Hell, he could even tolerate Anakin if it meant knowing for sure whether or not they had just cause to fear for their lives. But that would be one hell of a class all the same, wouldn't it?