Touch Starved

Chapter 18 - Reunion

Author's Note: Y'all have been waiting for this for long enough. I hope it meets your expectations! :D

This chapter includes mentions of the Tatooine Slave Culture and Amatakka created by Fialleril.

~ Amina Gila

Obi-Wan had not really expected Anakin to stay in contact, so he isn't surprised not to hear anything from him over the next week. A week, however, is all that's needed before, just as Anakin had predicted, the Jedi pick up his trail. They don't say so explicitly, but Obi-Wan can feel the increasing tension and suspense in the atmosphere, and he overhears a mention about some problem on Tatooine which will need to be resolved.

It makes sense that they wouldn't tell him about locating Anakin, given what happened previously, but the Council doesn't know that Obi-Wan knows where Anakin is staying, so they wouldn't have a reason to hide talk about Tatooine. And maybe he's wrong about the Council having found Anakin, but he won't take any chances.

He contacts Padme immediately, leaving her a brief, but cryptic, message, one which she should surely understand. He's tempted to go to Tatooine himself. He wants to. He wants to see Anakin again, but if Anakin will be warned, it probably won't be necessary.

Obi-Wan also tells Ahsoka that there's a chance the Council has found Anakin, that he's in danger from them. Naturally, she wants to go there to make sure he'll be alright, but Obi-Wan is confident in Anakin's ability to protect himself. He was strong as Vader, and he'll be even stronger now. Anakin hadn't been afraid of facing Windu and Aayla before, and Obi-Wan is well aware of how Anakin helped destroy all the Jedi, of how he led the clones on the Temple. Many Jedi fell to the clones' blasters, but many more fell to Anakin's blade. There is probably no Jedi, except himself and Yoda, perhaps, who is strong enough to defeat Anakin. Windu could pose a challenge, of course, though Obi-Wan doubts that he would come out on top.

Anakin certainly hadn't thought so, or he wouldn't have been so unbothered when they confronted one another a month ago.

He's not entirely surprised when Padme comms him in the mid-afternoon, though he is surprised by what she has to say. "I've uncovered some evidence about Palpatine," she tells him, "But it wasn't entirely through legal means. We'll need to move fast if we are to take action against him and before he learns what I've done."

"What would you suggest?" Obi-Wan queries.

"Can you and Anakin kill Palpatine by yourselves?" Padme wants to know. She's being blunt, to the point, rushed, and Obi-Wan can feel a tenseness humming in the Force around him.

He thinks about the question for a moment. "That would be something we had best ask him," he admits. "I do not know. I know that Master Yoda nearly defeated him alone, and I would imagine that me and Anakin combined are stronger than him. Hopefully."

"Good," she replies. "Here's what we need to do. We need to go to Tatooine, all of us. Ahsoka should come too. We'll get Anakin, and we'll come back here to Coruscant. Ahsoka will help me release all of the information about Palpatine which I've uncovered and collected to the public, while you and Anakin confront him. And we'll do it without telling the Council."

Obi-Wan blinks, momentarily taken aback by her words. "Why?" he asks, confused. "Wouldn't it help if we had other Jedi in the know?"

"Palpatine's influence extends too far," Padme explains. "If you two do it, the Council can write you off as being a traitor. If we go to Tatooine, you may have to help Anakin fight the Jedi who will come for him. The Council will renounce you, and we can take down Palpatine together."

Realization dawns on him, all at once. "And if we do that, then we'll have to go into hiding, but the Order and Republic may endure."

She smiles, a little bitterly. "Yes. Come to my apartment as soon as you can. We need to depart immediately. Make sure Ahsoka understands the situation."