If Hate Leads to Suffering... | Obi Wan Kenobi

Prologue

"Young Padawan," Master Windu spoke firmly, making sure that every syllable that dropped from his mouth weighed enough to crush Xaela's heart. "You do realize the severity of your accusations."

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

"With all due respect," she tore her eyes from the floor to meet his, "I realize the severe consequences of his actions on not only myself, but the Jedi Order, Master."

The thick blanket of silence that covered the room suffocated Xaela. She couldn't breathe in the uneasy limbo between the decision of the Jedi counsel. The lack of air tore at her lungs like claws, and she wished quickly for them to decide so she could gasp once again. But their pondering lasted a lifetime, and only when her head started to pound did she realize that she actually could not breathe.

Xaela grasped at her throat with her sweaty palms. The force choke on her running blood straight to her face for the whole Council to see her distress.

"Master Hamarshka!" Yelled Windu, who unsheathed his lightsaber.

Xaela's eyes rolled to the back of her head as commotion behind her made her windpipe decompress. She dropped to her knees, one arm supporting her, and upside down she could see Jedi restraining her Master.

"You abomination!" Spit flew from his mouth as he thrashed against the Jedi. "You ungrateful child! I've taught you the true ways of the Force and this is how you repay me!"

Xaela had never seen her Master full of such emotion - such anger. She knew that he was no Jedi then, no Jedi would stoop that low.

She got to her feet slowly, forcing her eyes to stay locked on Master Yoda as Hamarshka verbally assaulted her. The time and power it took to drag him out left an uncomfortable touch on the already devastated situation of the room.

"Xaela." Master Yoda spoke. "Leave now, come to a decision we will."

The Padawan nodded, turned on her feet and walked out. As the door closed behind her, her chest heaved, thankful for the lack of any constraint.

"Anakin, a Jedi exhibits patience even when it's not convenient." A voice nagged nearby.

Xaela knew that voice, though she hadn't heard it for a years - a decade almost. Her head turned to see a young boy aggressively swinging his legs as he sat on the bench. She couldn't recognize the Padawan. In front of him stood a Jedi in white robes, his arms crossed and vaguely familiar facial features stood out.

"Master Kenobi?" Xaela recalled the man who floated into every conversation around the Temple.

In the months following the passing of Master Qui-Gon Jinn, one couldn't even think without hearing the story of his Padawan besting a Sith in combat. His granting of Knight status and taking on a Padawan immediately turned quite a few brows towards the High Council. After the commotion died down, Xaela took a part in the moment of silence for the fallen Jedi Master, remembering his constant presence and helpful wisdom in her Initiate classroom.

He turned to her, eyebrows drawn inwards.

"Yes," he said and tried to place why she called his name. "Do I know you?"

Now that he faced her she definitely knew it was him. But he had shrunk - or, rather, she had grown, the difference of an eight and seventeen year old girl was enough to notice - and his hair had changed. A soft beard filled in, and he no longer wore the Padawan braid for obvious reasons, but it did seem like he was growing out his hair. He looked more like a man than she remembered.

"You probably don't remember me." Xaela tried to calm her suddenly racing heart.

Master Kenobi shook his head, and the boy who sat in front of him eyed her with a distrusting look.

"I was just a Youngling." She didn't know why she kept talking. "You and your Master used to come in while we were training and I accidentally hit you with my staff."

The boy snorted and Master Kenobi chuckled a bit. Xaela couldn't help the blush on her face and she wished she didn't say that.

"Well I hope you've improved since then." Master Kenobi said and Xaela nodded her head, biting her lip to keep her mouth shut. "Do you know what's going on in there?"

He nodded towards the closed door that Xaela still stood in front of. She moved away from it.

"Oh - my - Uh," she stuttered. "Master Hamarshka is on trial."

The Jedi's eyebrows raised.

"On trial?" He asked. "What for?"

Xaela looked at her feet.

"Mistreatment of his Padawan and potential dark side affiliation."

She didn't catch the softening of his features.

"I assume you're his Padawan?"

Xaela nodded, still not looking up.

"Maybe you should've hit him with your staff."

Xaela laughed a bit as the door opened again. Master Plo Koon motioned her inside and she shot a look to Master Kenobi before being let in.

"The counsel has made a decision." Master Windu informed Xaela, her hands clutched each other in fear. She noticed the new presence of the Council of Reassignment in the room. Everyone knew that they decided what happened when a Padawan was not fit for being a Knight, and what service corps they would be put into. Xaela's palms sweat against each other at the thought of cutting her training abruptly short after turning in her old Master. Was it worth it?

"Hamarshka will be punished. You, Xaela, will be assigned to a new mentor for the remainder of your training. Please head to the dormitories and someone will come to get you. May the Force be with you."

Enormous weights of fear and anxiety lifted off of Xaela's shoulders. She wiped her wet hands on her pants and bowed.

"May the force be with you." She replied and went back to her quarters.

Master Kenobi and his Padawan weren't outside anymore, and Xaela was thankful for that. It would be a lie to say that Xaela had not thought of him. As a child, the teenage Padawan was so admirable, she couldn't help but like the way he spoke, and walked, and looked, and smiled at the kids. But seeing him now, as a man, she had no idea her silly crush was still there.

She did her best to push that thought aside, who knows, it'll probably be another nine years before she sees him again. The Jedi temple was a labyrinth and Xaela wasn't about to find some gold thread just to seek him out. Right now she had to focus on a new Master, hopefully one who was true and just.

A Master who would respect her, and not take advantage of a vulnerable girl who didn't know the extent of her Force capability. A good person who focused on the ways of the Jedi and the light side of the Force.

But as she rounded a corner, her thoughts of Master Kenobi came back like a tidal wave, for the sole reason that he and his Padawan stood outside of her room.

"Ah," Master Kenobi smiled. "My new Padawan."

A/N

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