Another Happy Landing

[Ben]

When Ben Kenobi opened his eyes, the sting of the sun striking his face did not initially indicate the feeling of wrongness to him - He did not recall falling asleep outside, but the Suns of Tatooine were bright, disarming and hot.

The sea spray, on the other hand - now that was a feeling he’d not felt in a long time!

Turning from the water, he looked now to his surroundings, startling awake and up to one knee as he looked around - and as the canoe he was now in creaked and listed - wished he hadn’t.

He put a hand to his mouth, nausea suddenly threatening to hit as the literal gravity of the situation struck, the surprise of his situation temporarily overcoming the intestinal fortitude of the former starfighter pilot as the little ship lurched.

Where in the galaxy was he? And why?

Don’t center on your anxieties. Keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs.

Qui-gon’s words struck the old padawan just as tenderly as when they were first spoken, and the Jedi Knight took a deep breath, breathing in as he took in not only a breath of air, but the knowledge of the living force.

The force felt strange, foreign, like he was somewhere different, and it was a source of uncomfortability. The light in another form, however, was still the light, and as the living force passed through him, the energies brought him to peace, just as they came to him in peace.

Obi-wan focused his mind, thinking on the world. The water around him held no obvious path a land-dweller would know, and the Sky around him certainly held no greater answers either.

Had he been a normal human being, he would have been lost. A Man adrift in a canoe of faded wood and bolts, amidst a sea with who knows what sort of creatures.

He had the force, though, and a man with the force always had a guiding light.

Taking a deep breath, Obi-wan let his feelings guide him. Grabbing an oar, he took this moment to quiet his mind of a thousand questions he had no way of answering.

The force had asked him here. And the force would guide him where he was now needed.

He began to row. He knew the way.

 

[Ben]

Kenobi continued to row, his arms growing tired as the sun beat down on him. This planet was strong in the force, teeming with life that flowed from the ocean, with the stillness of the water and the fresh, clean air, but the force was not all that a mere mortal lived on, and food and sleep were certainly a big part of what the human Jedi master needed to survive.

Ben’s muscles ached, his body cried out in hunger and thirst, and he was quite sure he had seen nothing as he rowed.

Well, almost nothing. Once or twice when looking down he saw not an ordinary fish or even a whale, but much darker things, with a few seeming to be as large as a Venator Class star destroyer.

He didn’t think too much about that, though it left him oddly reminiscent of Jar Jar. For all the powers in the force, all the gifts the jedi master may have had on his side, the gungan would be faring far better in this ridiculous situation he’d found himself in, and the thought put a smile on wizened lips.

He had a pretty good idea that by any normal metric, he should have stopped rowing by now - he wasn’t likely to find another ship this way, or any land mass, anymore than he would by simply allowing his ship to sit. His muscles, screaming in agony, agreed, his stomach agreed, and every impulse in his body seemed to be yelling at him - yelling for him to stop.

But the force urged him onwards, and so he pushed himself on. His hands felt ready to fall off, his legs ready to crumble, his lungs dying for air, but he pushed on.

The sweat on his brow pooled in a pool beneath cracked lips as he continued moving through the water, dimly wondering if he’d started going in circles. The water’s gentle waves grew maddening as the sun baked him, but still, he knew he had to trust in the force’s plan. In some ways, Ben took solace in the sheer simplicity of this suffering - No power left in him to reflect on his past, no requirement to think through yet another impossible situation.

He was not alone, for he was with the force, and he would row, even if the force dictated he row this canoe until he became one with it. As the sky darkened and the sun fell, Ben kept going past his limits with sunburned skin and blistering hands

Thankfully, as a tug in his mind reached him, he finally felt it. The need to stop.

Searchlights turned on, nearly blinding the exhausted kenobi with their radiance.

“Ha ha! Just as Mister Jak said! I’d recognize the robes of a Jedi anywhere! This should spice things up a little, ahhh? Hands up in the air, Jedi!”

Obi-wan breathed a sigh. Of course. Of course he would suddenly find his way here.

“Hondou, I’m afraid I haven’t the energy to do that.”

There was a pause, before Hondou spoke up, an emotional warble that started on the first syllable before the old Pirate could crush it, fill it with the words of a salesman.

“Oh-bee-wan… Kenobi? What are you doing here?”

“That’s a lovely question.” Obi-wan answered, as he tried to get a look at the Pirate’s ship.

It seemed as though he’d built some aquatic repulsor-craft to move around on this world, though it was rusted and junky, barnacles clinging to the bottom in places that made Obi-wan question it’s actual performance as a seafaring vessel.

“The force decided I must be here.”

“Then the force has been charitable in re-uniting me with an old friend… but uncharitable by doing it while I’m in the business of moving some people.”

Ben gave a smile despite himself, despite the terrible situation he was in.

“Hondou, have you come to see me after a decade, just to kidnap me again?”

“I… confess my options with this contract may be limited. I could pretend not to see you, and leave you here, of course, but something about your situation looks a little dire, Kenobi, and the people I work for right now are a little too powerful to avoid questions if something… comes up.”

Ben rolled his eyes at the statement.

“Well, if that’s the second option, I think I’m okay with a little kidnapping.”

“...I may be here to bring you into a tournament, where you will be, temporarily, murdered.”

“...Define temporary?” Obi-wan asked after a moment.

“...Oh, we’re not in normal space anymore my friends. Wherever this is, this… crossroads. It has medical technology that makes Bacta look like a joke. You can raise yourself from the dead, cure crippling disfigurement, all sorts of wonderful things. Like… say, raising the dead, for example.”

Ben just gave a sharp nod. “...How about you explain it on the way back to me, Hondou? I recall you considering it customary to offer a drink, and I think this time I’ll take your offer in advance.”

“Heh heh heh… I’d almost forgotten how much I missed your presence in the galaxy, Kenobi.”