Two Halfs of One Warrior • Obikin/Vaderwan One-Shots

Solitary as an Oyster

• Summary: Life Day arrives on Tatooine. Three spirits: a boy, a man, and a monster, come to teach Obi-Wan Kenobi the true meaning of the holiday, whether Obi-Wan likes it or not.

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Tatooine is not a place of great change. The suns rise every day, hanging hot and constant in the sky. The drifting sands are quick to swallow any attempts at structure or permanence. All things return to the wastes in time.

There are no seasons on Tatooine, not really. The planet's rotation and its orbit around the twin suns is steady and stable. There isn't even a rainy season to break the dry, desolate heat.

In short, Tatooine is the perfect place for Obi-Wan Kenobi, or just Ben, as he is known here, to endure the weight of his exile. His life has been stripped clear of color and character, of all meaning except for the future to come. He watches over Luke Skywalker as best he can from a distance, and looks ahead to the day he is asked to become a Jedi Master once more, if such a day ever arrives.

He spends his days in quiet, unceasing monotony.

Most of his time is spent alone. Things are better this way, he thinks. He has spent his entire life surrounded by people; grown up surrounded by the effusive warmth and light of his family at the Jedi Temple, stood side-by-side with his men in the wars, spent his life wholly in the service of others. Now more than ever is his life dedicated to the rest of the galaxy; the remains of it offered up in penance for the worst of his failings. Ben had his chance to make things right, many years ago. It is better now for him to bide his time, to prepare for the future, to make sure no one else has to suffer for his mistakes.

The rest of his time is spent at work. He goes into town once every two weeks to purchase supplies. His needs are few and his means are fewer still but there are certain things required for survival on such an inhospitable planet that even Ben has not managed to find a way to do without. While in town, he keeps an ear out for short term jobs, enough to provide him with some income but never for long enough to draw notice. He keeps his head down and his interactions with others brief.

When Life Day comes to Tatooine, it passes by Ben Kenobi completely. For seven years, it comes and goes unnoticed. This year would have been like any other, had it not coincided with his usual trip into town. Even then, if it wasn't for another's intervention, the holiday might not have made any difference at all.

The day before Life Day, Ben arrives in Mos Eisley for his regular resupply. He needs food, water, and a new power cell for his moisture condenser, a purchase he put off for far too long. After ground tying Akkani, his eopie, he heads to the market where he receives his first indication that something is different about today.

The Mos Eisley Market is, on its busiest days, a small, furtive thing. No one wants to spend time out in the open under the blinding rays of the suns for longer than they have to and Mos Eisley is a dangerous place even in daylight. Transactions are quick and brutal. Few people have the desire to stand around and drive a hard bargain.

But today, the streets are draped in colorful canopies of blue and red and green. More people than usual mill about the stands set up in front of storefronts. For a moment, Ben stands, blinking at the sight, as though he might have wandered through the desert and come out in some kind of mirage.

His pause leads someone to bump into him. A boy runs past and dives into the crowded street before them, shoving Ben a little at the hips as he races around him. The sun-bleached hair is instantly familiar to him even before the boy's uncle calls out, "Luke!"

Ben keeps his head down and his hood up whenever he has to go into town. Plenty of people come to Tatooine who don't want to be found. The cloak keeps his face hidden and the sun off of his skin. When Owen Lars trails after his stepson, he doesn't notice Ben in his midst. Ben follows the two of them into the market because it is that or turn around and go home, back to his broken moisture condenser without the parts to fix it.