Entry tags:

50episodes, fanfic

FIC: Inner Peace - Obi-Wan - G
TITLE: Inner Peace
AUTHOR: agentj / agentjedi
FANDOM: Star Wars
CLAIM: Obi-Wan Kenobi
TABLE/PROMPT: 3; #3 Angry
RATING: G
DATE WRITTEN: February 2005, August 2007
TIMEFRAME: Between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones
SUMMARY: Obi-Wan deals with Anakin's anger.
CONTENT WARNING: None
WORD COUNT: 897

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This simply wasn't working, Obi-Wan conceded. Anakin stood before him, his sharp blue eyes vibrant with defiance. Despite the fact that the boy had finally found the will to stand still, Obi-Wan and any respectable Jedi could feel the waves of anger and restlessness eliminating from the child.

The boy is dangerous, Obi-Wan had warned his master Qui-Gon. In regards to this issue, Qui-Gon treated Obi-Wan like a pesky gnat who had gotten too close to his vision. But Obi-Wan could not hold on to the indignation. His master had been right. Only this boy and his uncanny natural connection to the Force could have inadvertently started up the engines of the Nabooian starfighter. Only he could have miraculously dived into the heart of the space battle and escaped unscathed. Only he could serendipitously deliver the blow that destroyed the droid command carrier and return victorious. Only Anakin.

And that was why Obi-Wan was willing to try again.

"Padawan...." Obi-Wan circled the boy whose chin jutted out defiantly. "Please sit."

Anakin's blue eyes glittered questioningly at his master before e complied. Crossing his legs, it took all of his power not to cross his arms across his chest, too. His face remained set in stone, awaiting what he thought would be the tongue-lashing of his life.

Obi-Wan had tried his share of out-witting the boy, it was true, but to no avail. He simply had to approach the problem with a different tactic.

Coming around Anakin one last time, Obi-Wan's robe swished above the floor for a moment before the Jedi threw off his cloak and threw it aside. Kneeling before Anakin, Obi-Wan took the boy's pudgy hands and folded them together before Anakin in his lap. Anakin looked up curiously into Obi-Wan's clear blue eyes.

"Close your eyes," he instructed. The boy's head lowered, his eyes closing as his features softened. Anakin knew the postures for meditation, but Obi-Wan sensed much of the exercise was pretense for the young one. He did not truly allow his guard to fall-he simply couldn't. A young life of fear under the heel of an oppressive master was too difficult to unlearn.

Obi-Wan was determined to succeed where the great Master Yoda failed. Perhaps the impish troll was too set in his ways to see clearly that this boy needed special attention. Qui-Gon could see it. He had been determined to give it to Anakin. On his dying breath, Qui-Gon bequeathed his trust to Obi-Wan. Only Obi-Wan understood his master's intentions. Maybe not at first, but in that moment as he cradled the bulky body of his master, after Qui-Gon's life energies drained away into the ominous Force that surrounded them, Obi-Wan came to understand. This was to be his task, and his task alone. His Trial came not when he faced the Sith demon that had taken Qui-Gon's life, but how well Obi-Wan could face the challenge of training the Chosen One.

With hands on his knees, Obi-Wan closed his own eyes and released his frustrations to the void with a cleansing breath. He cleared his mind of all things—of Yoda's disapproving frown, of Mace Windu's troubled gaze, of the pitying looks from fellow Jedi that conveyed sympathy for his plight with an unruly and undisciplined padawan.

Finding the centre of focus deep within him, Obi-Wan used the ebb and flow of the energy flowing through him to anchor himself. Then opening his eyes, he looked down dispassionately at his charge and lifted his hands, palms toward Anakin. Obi-Wan's fingertips brushed past the padawan braid within which were woven strands of not only his hair and Anakin's, but Master Qui-Gon's as well. He had felt it appropriate to include a part of Qui-Gon in Anakin's padawan status, since the Jedi Master had fought so hard to obtain it. And, in its own symbolic way, seemed to help the boy feel as if Qui-Gon's spirit was somehow still with him, guiding him. Obi-Wan couldn't help but feel a twinge of hope that it were true. Silently, he asked whatever measure of Qui-Gon still existed in the Force to help guide him on teaching the boy.

Obi-Wan's hands continued until they rested on Anakin's neck. He felt the boy's pulse under the pad of his thumb. Projecting a sense of calm from his own centre to Anakin, Obi-Wan allowed his hands to travel down Anakin's shoulders, which in turn encouraged the boy to relax further. Anakin's response to Obi-Wan's projection of calm was immediate. His breathing slowed, and Obi-Wan felt Anakin's mental shields drop.

Hands resting on the outer edges of Anakin's shoulders, Obi-Wan's voice gently guided, "Concentrate, Anakin." He felt the boy's confusion. What was he supposed to be concentrating on? Obi-Wan continued, "There's a life force inside of you. Focus on it."

Anakin focused inward. Obi-Wan knew he was imagining those midi-chlorian things Master Qui-Gon spoke of living inside of him, flowing freely inside his blood, singing to him. Anakin struggled to quiet his mind, wanting desperately to hear the words of the Force speaking to him.

Slowly, Obi-Wan's hands lifted from Anakin's shoulders and returned to his lap as he, too, entered into a meditative state. He never let his energy pull away from Anakin's, but allowed the energies to travel side-by-side, gently guiding the boy to a place of calm, the centre of inner peace.

( Other scenes from Obi-Wan Kenobi's life. )