Han Solo:  I peeked in through the cracked door. The old man didn't 
stir so I opened it a little wider and eased through. Chewie, big 
clumsy oaf that he is, had the good sense to stay in the hall.
   
   At least he was breathing. Out like a light though. I couldn't 
even guess how he'd managed to wear himself out like that sitting 
quietly in the War Room. Well, to be honest I could guess - I just didn't 
want to believe it.

   'Being the man you are I expected nothing less.' He'd said. He 
meant it as a compliment but it made me kind of uncomfortable, like 
he knew me better than I knew me. 

   Maybe he did at that.

   After all here I was, a hero in spite of myself. And it looked 
like I'd be hanging around this bunch of idealists for a while yet. 
For some reason I kind of wanted to live up to my new status. Besides 
Luke and Her Worship were so darned proud of me, I couldn't let them down.

   And there was the old man to consider too. By now I knew there 
was no chance of taking him home to Tatooine. Okay, it's a hellhole 
but at least he'd been safe there.

   Anybody could see General Skywalker thought the world of him -and 
the kid practically worshipped the ground he walked on. Same deal 
for old Dodonna and Her Royal Heightyness, but I didn't trust any 
of them to - well - take care of him.

   Yeah, yeah, I know. He was General Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'd seen what 
he could do. But he was just too old for this kind of thing and I had 
a real bad feeling about what might happen to him if there wasn't 
somebody sensible around to - well - protect him from his legend. If 
you know what I mean.

        **************

   Even as I dreamed I knew it was more than a dream, that Owen was 
really there with me, that the Force was giving us a final chance 
to say all the things we'd left unsaid.

   We seemed to be sitting on boulders at the edge of the Jundland 
Waste, neutral ground neither his nor mine. I spoke first.

   "I'm sorry, Owen."

   He shook his head. "It wasn't your fault." a wry grimace. "Had 
nothing to do with you, it was those droids."

   "Anakin's droids."

   "Yeah, I figured out that much. Maybe if I'd taken them to you -"

   "The stormtroopers would have caught us all." I interupted.

   He thought about it, nodded slowly. "Yeah, they might've at that. 
I guess it was for the best then. Luke got away, that's what counts."

   The one thing we'd always agreed on.

   "I didn't mean it," he said suddenly, "I wouldn't really have sold 
you to the Hutts. You knew that didn't you, Obi-Wan?"

   "Of course I did." My feelings had told me it was an empty threat. 

   "Then why did you stay away?"

   Why had I? "Because it was what you wanted. I owed you that much.

   Owen made another grimace. "I hate to think what Anakin must be 
thinking about me."

   "He understands. You were trying to protect Luke, he certainly doesn't 
blame you for that."

   "You warned me I wouldn't be able to hide him forever. So did Beru."

   "The Force was bound to take a hand sooner or later. It's his destiny, 
Owen."

   "Destiny be damned!" he snapped. "And your Force too." Caught himself. 
"Sorry, I don't mean that."

   "Yes you do." I smiled. "There've been times I've felt the same."

   He looked at me, astonishment giving way to a new understanding. 
"It was hard for you wasn't it?"

   "Harder than you'll ever know." 

   "I wish I'd realized." he almost whispered. Then, earnestly. "I never 
blamed you, Obi-Wan. Even if it looked like I did. They took you away, 
you didn't choose to go. I always knew that. It's just - I missed 
having a brother."

   "So did I." I managed, blinking back tears.

   He held out his hand and I  gripped it tightly.

   "Take care of Luke for us."

   "I will."

   "And good luck." he grinned suddenly. "You're going to need it!"

      *****************

Anakin Skywalker:  "Ani?"

   I looked up from Artoo's blasted shell to see Qui-Gon, my old Master, 
shimmering softly in the shadows of my workshop.

   "Have you seen him?" I demanded, "have you seen what I've done to 
him?"

   "What you did?" the eyebrows lifted, the soft voice gently chiding. 
"And of course I've seen Obi-Wan, many times, I'm very proud of him."

   "He's old." I whispered miserably.

   "He'd be old no matter where he spent the last twenty years." Master 
pointed out reasonably.

   I threw the spanner I was holding across the room. It hit the wall 
with a bang and the floor with a clang. Qui-Gon didn't so much as blink.

   "But not like that!" I fought to regain control of myself. Managed 
to pick up another tool and tried to resume work on Artoo. "The greatest 
Jedi Knight living and I ruined him, Master. Forced him to waste twenty 
years of his life on that desolate sandpile."

   "Obi-Wan doesn't consider those years wasted." my Master replied calmly.

   He came and knelt down beside me, laying a cool, transparent hand 
on my arm. "He hasn't diminished, Ani, he's grown. Let go of your 
memory of what he was and see what he's become." gave me a little 
shake. "And stop indulging your propensity for guilt! Remember,'without 
remorse, without regret'."

   "I'll try, Master." but it wouldn't be easy.


   A few final adjustments and Artoo came alive, emitting a stream 
of high pitched electronic insults impuning the sanity of the entire 
Skywalker family - especially me.  

   I pretended to be shocked. "Artoo Detoo, such language! What kind 
of droids have you been associating with?"

   He told me, and reminded me whose fault it was. Then he noticed 
Threepio turned off in the corner.

   "Oh he's all right. I had to shut him down before he overloaded 
his circuits. He was very upset, you know how fond he is of you."

   Artoo admitted the feeling was mutual and was I sure Threepio was 
all right?

   "Of course I'm sure. Now I'm going to shut you down too so the 
new connections can fuse. I'll bring you both back up in the morning 
good as new."

   He whistled assent and I switched off his powercenter. "Sleep well, 
little friend."

   "You fixed him."

   I looked up startled to see my son watching me from the doorway. 
My focus was shot, I hadn't sensed him at all.

   "I've had a lot of practice putting this little droid back together." 
I said, recovering. "Threepio too for that matter."

   "I'm glad." He moved into the room but kept his distance. "I've 
never met droids like them. They're almost like - people."

   "That's because they haven't had their memory banks washed clean 
every four or five years." I told him getting to my feet, careful 
to let him maintain his space. I know how intimidating my size can 
be. "Most droids aren't given the chance to develop a personality."

   "You've had them a long time?" he obviously wanted to talk. A good 
sign, I hadn't missed his ambivalence towards me, the father who'd 
abandoned him.

   "Since I was nine years old." I answered, leaning against the edge 
of my workbench. The droids were a nice, safe subject. We could move 
on to more delicate ground later. "I put Threepio together myself 
from salvaged parts but your mother gave me Artoo."

   he blinked. "You met my mother when you were *nine*?"

   "M'hm." I smiled at the memory. "Watto called me into the shop 
one day and there she was, the most beautiful girl in the entire universe. 
I knew right then I'd marry her someday. Of course *she* didn't believe 
it, being fourteen to my nine."

   "You told her?" our son asked incredulously. 

   He had a point. I shrugged embarrassed. "I thought she should know. 
She was travelling with two Jedi Knights, Master Qui-Gon Jinn and 
his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi."

   "Ben?"

   I nodded. "He wasn't much older than you at the time. Master Qui-Gon 
sensed the Force was strong in me and bought my freedom from 
Watto s
I could be trained as a Jedi." of course it hadn't been anywhere near 
that simple but this wasn't the time to go into all that.

   "Bought!" Luke blurted. "You were a *slave*?"

   It was my turn to be surprised. "We both were, my mother and me. 
She didn't tell you?"

   "No! Gran said you'd worked for a junk dealer and raced pods when 
you were a kid - but nothing about being slaves!"

   "Maybe she thought I'd rather you didn't know. I was ashamed of 
it as a boy."

   "What did *you* have to be ashamed of?" Luke demanded indignantly.

   I shrugged again. "We were looked down on, treated like chattel, 
not people. That hurt my pride. It was years before I could let go 
of my anger." and not before it had cost my Master his life.

   Luke moved closer. He was little more than an armslength away now. 
"When did you marry Mother?"

   "After I'd finished my training, when I was about your age. She'll 
be here soon. I just hope she got my message telling her Leia's safe." 
should I tell my son about his sister?

   "My mother's alive?" 

   Another surprise, but then Obi-Wan wouldn't have had time for much 
family history. "Yes, thank the Force." 

   So much to tell him, where to start? "It was Palpatine who married 
us."

   Luke's jaw dropped.

   "We considered him a friend in those days. It was quite a shock 
when we finally learned the truth. Not long before you were born." 
I decided not to tell him about Leia, not til I could discuss it with 
Padme.

   "Your mother went home to Naboo for your birth. It's a small, out 
of the way planet we assumed she - and you - would be safe there. 
We were wrong. The Emperor sent his Sith Apprentice and a detachment 
of Red guards to assassinate her. A lot of innocent people, most of 
them friends of ours, were killed. Your mother's best friend, Obi-Wan's 
wife, died defending the two of you and we nearly lost him too."

   Luke stared round eyed. "Ben's *wife*?" 

   "Her name was Sabe. Ken-Jin is their son."

   *My* son was begining to look bewildered. I decided to sum up and 
leave the rest for later.

   "After that we knew there was no safety for any of us while Palpatine 
lived. But he didn't know about you and we wanted to keep it that 
way. That's why we sent you to my mother on Tatooine, along with Owen 
and Beru and Obi-Wan to watch over you from a distance."

        ***************

   "Ben!" Luke greeeted me the next morning with evident relief. "You're 
looking better, a lot better."

   "Thank you." I said, a little drily. I couldn't return the compliment. 
The boy had circles under his eyes, I doubted he'd slept much. The 
accumulated shocks of the last few days were begining to catch up 
with him. 

   "We were really worried about you last night." he rattled on. "Leia 
and me, even Han. Father said you'd be okay after you got some sleep."

   "As you can see he was right. Where is Anakin?"

   "Jedi training hall. He said to join him when you were ready."

   "I'm ready."


   Captain Solo joined us on the way, emerging from a side corridor 
trailed by his Wookiee shadow. Han gave me an intent look then nodded, 
satisfied. "You look better."

   "So I've been told."

   "Hey, you should have seen yourself last night, General, I've seen 
healthier looking corpses." he fell into step with us. "Where're we 
going?"

   "The Jedi training hall." I replied.

   Han seemed surprised. He looked past me at Luke. "I thought you'd 
decided to -"

   "There's Threepio and Artoo." my student interupted quickly. 

   The two droids were standing next to the door to the hall. "Good 
to see you back in one piece, little friend." I told Artoo.

   He whistled amiably in reply.

   "Artoo says he's doing nicely, thank you sir." Threepio interpreted. 
"And may I say how glad we both are to see you've fully recovered, General."

   "Thank you." I said as graciously as I could manage. 'You're looking 
better.' was quickly joining 'Are you all right?' and 'I thought you 
were dead.' on my ever lengthening list of lines I was very tired 
of hearing.

   Anakin gave me the by now familiar assessing look, opened his mouth -

   "Don't say it." I warned.

   He didn't. Instead he grinned and suggested a sparring match. "Give 
Ken-Jin a chance to see his old man in action."

   I was afraid he'd be disappointed, and Anakin as well. "I'm badly 
out of practice" I warned. "Old and slow."

   "Good." was the calm reply. "Maybe I can win for a change."

   After the first few passes I could see Anakin was disturbed. Caution 
and defensive tactics were *not* like the Obi-Wan he remembered. But 
he'd have to accept I wasn't that man any more.

   On the other hand I was pleased by the way his style had matured. 
He would never be the swordsman our Master had been but then few Jedi were.

   Still he was much better than competent and I didn't doubt more 
than a match for most opponents.
  
         ***********

Ken-Jin Kenobi: I admit I was disappointed. The skill was still there, 
no question of that, but this wasn't the kind of swordplay that had 
made my father a legend.

   He'd said it himself: he was old and twenty years out of practice. 
It was unreasonable to expect the kind of performance he'd been capable 
of his prime.

    I saw Master give him an opening, a little too obviously.

         ************

Anakin Skywalker: I knew I'd made a mistake. He stepped back and gave 
me that look. The one that said he was about to teach the unspanked cub 
a lesson.

           ************

   Old and slow I may have become but I'll be five days dead before 
I need charity from the likes of Anakin Skywalker!

   Impulsively I went on the offensive, wiping aside his blade and 
aiming a horizontal strike at his midrif. 

   He sidestepped it, barely, and tried to counter with a diagonal 
cut which I let slide off my blade and returned with an overhead cut.

   He retreated and I pursued wiping his guard aside for another try 
at an diagonal strike.

   The old energy came flowing back as I let go, stopped thinking 
and controlling and acted on instinct.

   Anakin continued to retreat, fighting defensively as we circled 
the hall. Suddenly he extinguished his sabre, spreading his hands 
in surrender.

   He was grining ear to ear, so was my son. Luke and Han looked stunned 
and I was a little dazed myself. Where had *that* come from?

   "Old and slow!" Anakin panted.

   "I - may have overstated." I admitted. My old self seemed to be 
coming back with a vengeance. Which was good, I needed those skills. 
But I didn't want to lose the gains I'd made as Old Ben either. Somehow 
I was going to have to combine the two, the man I was now with the 
man I'd been.