The Young Republic | A Star Wars Story

Chapter 11

I sense with my little senses... A snitch

"Struggles often begin and end with the truth"

"Meg te haran!" Xena exclaimed as she entered her room. "Meg te haran cuyir shuk'yc staabi ti te Jetiise?"

"Xena," Obi-Wan sighed breathlessly from the doorway, tired and miserable from all that had happened. And a lot happened. "I have no idea what you're saying, but I'm sure it's not very appropriate."

"We almost had him!" Xena all but shouted as she turned to face her Master. Obi-Wan shut the door behind them.

"We almost had him! But now he's gone, and no one cares that a kriffing Sith is gallivanting about the galaxy, planning his next attack! I told you-" Xena pointed to Obi-Wan angrily, then to the general direction of the high Temple tower, "- I told all of you he was still out there! And I was right! And now, when I'm telling you, he is out there again. And he is dangerous and s-s-should- he should- you-"

Xena breathed in through her nose; she couldn't get enough air. "You all just sit there and do nothing! Absolutely nothing! You would rather sit and listen to an old man than listen to the Force telling us to go. Just go and get Maul out of here! He will- he will- he he he he...."

Xena turned again, gulping in breaths. "And you... Master, I... You know I'm right."

Xena didn't need to see Obi-Wan to know he was nodding. She could feel it in his presence, how he agreed.

Her face pulled into a painful expression, throat tight. "Then why aren't you... why?" Why wasn't he helping?

Xena looked to her Master, her father. His face was full of pity, and Xena felt even smaller than before. There was also worry, a lot and a lot of worry. And-

oh

She was wrong in their eyes. She was so so wrong. Xena slapped a hand over her mouth. This was it. Obi-Wan must have seen the darkness in Xena come too close to the surface, and this was him about to tell her that she was on the wrong side. This was the moment her father would reject her. Abandon her like all the other Jedi in the Chancellor's room.

And Xena was ready; she willed herself to be prepared for it to come slamming in her face. She would just swallow it and continue on and go and go and go and go and go and go and -

Get hugged by her Master.

Very tightly.

"Stay," Obi-Wan said softly, body warm and shaking as it tried to hold his Padawan together.

"Master,"

"You are my Padawan," Obi-Wan said, sounding very repetitious. He had said it so many times by now. "But more than that, you are a being created by the living Force. You were placed here, in this life, for a reason. You were sent to us for a reason. You were found in that forest for us. Because we need it."

Xena slowly brought her arms up to hug her Master back, and the need to comfort him overwhelmed her. A feeling that pushed her to hold her Master back.

"You are right, Xena, and we all know it." Obi-Wan continued. "And yes, many Jedi do not see this war the way you do. But Xena, you must understand. We are old and have been driven away from our peaceful ways. We have been thrown into a battlefield, challenging our beliefs as Jedi in the name of the greater good. And many of us had to kill those parts of ourselves, Xena, because to be so open to feel all that suffering... to try and heal that pain... to watch as more and more Jedi get shot down. To fear your Padawan will not make it past this battle, that your teachings were insufficient to help her.