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Tatooine was a gray-gold
orb rotating silently from where they were. Wispy cloudlets sprinkled the
atmosphere, remnants of what little moisture the planet still contained.
Obi-Wan Kenobi leaned forward in his seat, awakened by the hyperdrive alarms
that had signaled for him to cut off the engines and make the jump back
in to realspace. Anakin was already in the cockpit, staring out the viewport
as if he'd never been to this planet. The planet where it had all started.
Looking back
into the cabin, Obi-Wan saw Iryshi trying to get a look at the planet she
was sentenced to spend the rest of her life on. He swiveled his chair to
give her a view of Tatooine, and she stared. "That dustball?" she asked
quietly.
Anakin smiled,
and Obi-Wan wondered if there was a hint of cruelty there. "Exactly," Anakin
said. "We're leaving you there. There's a home you can stay in, on the
edge of the Jundland Wastes. You'll have enough money to buy food and supplies,
but that's all. We're not leaving you with enough to get off the planet.
You'll receive an account transfer every month, just enough to sustain
you for that month and no more." He glanced back at her, and smiled again.
"You'll never leave that planet."
Iryshi met
his gaze unflinchingly. "You've already put me through Hell. This will
be a vacation, albeit a long one."
Obi-Wan admired
her, still. She was brave. She had lived through the loss of her Force
powers, she had lived through the casting-out from the Council. She had
lived through the sneering and the whispered remarks of her peers. She
had lived through the steely looks from Anakin.
He wondered
for a moment if he still loved her; decided he did. Of course he did. She
was perfect for him, and the sentence she'd received was entirely unfair.
But he did not have the power to go against Mace or any of the other Council
members.
He brought
the ship in on a landing vector into Tatooine's atmosphere.
While Anakin went off to
rent a speeder, Obi-Wan and Iryshi went to a fledgling cantina at the center
of Mos Eisley. Obi-Wan ordered a glass of Alderaanian Wine and Iryshi got
some Corellian Ale.
Standing at
the bar, she was suddenly approached from behind by a seedy pair of humanoids.
One of them snarled, "You're in our spot."
Iryshi sighed
and backed away from where she had been standing. "Terribly sorry," she
said.
The taller
of the humanoids, something that reminded her somewhat of a Trandoshan,
put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe we should take this outside."
"Maybe you
should get your grimy paw off me," Iryshi replied, trying to act much bolder
than she really was.
The reptilian
growled, his breath smelling foul.
From out of
nowhere, Obi-Wan appeared, and said, "She's not worth the effort, sirs.
Let me buy you a drink and we can forget the whole thing ever happened."
He and the
humanoids walked off, leaving Iryshi scowling to herself.
"Not worth the effort?" Iryshi
sneered as she and Kenobi exited the bar. "You would know, wouldn't you?"
Obi-Wan stopped,
turning toward her abruptly in surprise. "Look, I was just trying to get
those nerfs away from you, alright? I didn't mean to insult you."
She was about
to answer, but Anakin called to them before she had the chance.
The rented landspeeder glided
smoothly over endless desert, salt flats, and scrawny brush. Iryshi sat
in the seat next to Obi-Wan, her light blue tunic fluttering in the breeze.
Anakin was seated in the back, his eyes on Iryshi to make sure she didn't
try to escape. That would, of course, be both stupid and impossible, given
the speed the landspeeder was moving at.
"The sky here
reminds of Dantooine," she murmered, barely loud enough to be heard. "In
the summer. When I was learning to lift objects with the Force." He could
barely sense the sadness in her mind. She was locking it away, hiding it
from the galaxy. She didn't even want him to see it, although she knew
he had by now. He'd seen it in the way she'd collapsed outside the doors
of the Council, her body seeming small and wracked with sobs of grief.
He'd seen the fear and pain in her every time he looked in her eyes. They
used to be dark azure, as bright and deep as a lake. Now they were pale,
almost rain-gray. Like she'd wept the color right out of them.
Her hair was
loose, not in the neat braid she usually kept it in, and blowing back with
the wind. Anakin had to move to the other side of the speeder to keep it
out of his face.
She was looking
at Obi-Wan now, her face an expressionless mask. "How long will you stay?"
she asked, as quietly as she had spoken before.
Anakin answered,
even though Iryshi had been addressing Kenobi. "Until you receive your
first account transfer," he said, nearly having to shout to be heard over
the roar of the engines and the wind. "A week or so."
Iryshi made
no move to acknowledge his remark, but looked away sadly.
The stucco building was small
but well-equipped. Standard food unit, a small refresher, sleeping pallet.
Kenobi watched Iryshi as she unpacked her belongings from a large wooden
chest, her trinkets she had salvaged from her apartment on Coruscant. She
examined every inch of the tiny home, taking in every detail of the place
where she would spend the rest of her life.
Despite the
desperation he sensed within her, she didn't cry. She sat on the sleeping
pallet and looked around the house once more, paying no attention to him.
Obi-Wan glanced
out the diminutive windows at the empty desert surrounding them. Anakin
had taken the speeder back to Mos Eisley, to pick up food and water for
the week's stay. He'd be another hour or so.
Iryshi joined
him at the window, watching the shifting sands of the Jundland Wastes.
The next day, Obi-Wan had
gone out for a walk in the desert. Iryshi was alone in the house with Anakin
as she made dinner.
He approached
her in the kitchen, and said softly, "Iryshi, listen... I'm sorry about
all this."
She froze in
the middle of cutting open a vegetable. "You're sorry?" she said, voice
barely audible. "You're sorry about this?" She turned on him suddenly,
leaning back against the counter. "Anakin, do you need a short-term memory
enhancement? Because it certainly sounds like you've forgotten how you
voted."
Anakin shook
his head. "I never meant for any of this to happen. Really."
"Oh, you didn't?"
Iryshi said sarcastically. "Well, gee then, I suppose you're forgiven.
After all, you never meant for any of this to happen. It wasn't your intention."
She shook her head, and snarled, "You nerf-breeding, cowardly, son-of-a-vrelt.
Go run off to Shmi."
Obi-Wan chose
that moment to make his appearance, stepping through the door of the little
house. "What's going on here?" he asked.
Iryshi, looking
embarrassed, went back to chopping vegetables. Anakin stalked off.
They found out that night
that Anakin's mother was dead. Shmi Skywalker had been killed in the crossfire
of a street brawl in Mos Espa, reportedly between a Rodian and a human
smuggler. Anakin was inconsolable. Obi-Wan did his best to just let him
be alone with his thoughts.
Obi-Wan awoke due to a sharp
pain in the back of his neck. He stifled a cry, being careful not to wake
Iryshi, and turned to look for whatever caused him pain.
Anakin was
standing by a support pillar, hand outstretched and fingers curled. He
whispered softly, "It's time."
Kenobi glanced
back at Iryshi, still asleep, and shook his head. He couldn't leave now,
in the middle of the night, without saying goodbye to her. That was wrong,
it was cruel, not to give her a chance to say goodbye...
A twinge of
pain in the back of his neck again. Anakin looked more insistant, and urged
him out of the bed.
Obi-Wan rose
reluctantly, slipping into his Jedi robe, and turning to go. He grabbed
his bag of belongings, already packed, and followed Anakin out the door.
He only looked back once at his wife, his Padawan, his lover, and then
he was gone.
Just after the door slid
shut, Iryshi cracked her eyes open, smiling to herself ever so slightly.
Obi-Wan sat back in the pilot's
seat of his ship as they made the jump to hyperspace. He slipped his hand
into his cloak pocket to look for the miniaturized datapad he carried there,
but what he pulled out first surprised him. It was a bracelet, small, thin,
and beaded with a pearly gem. He stared at it a moment before slipping
it back in his pocket, and closing his eyes.
Iryshi was up the next morning,
fixing her breakfast, and when she opened up her cabinet to get a utensil
hanging from the rack, she found her lightsaber hanging along with the
ladels and scoops. She grinned and took down the hilt, carved with runes
in ancient Corellian, clipping it to her belt. It was back where it belonged.
Everything
was as it should be.