FicWad

Additional Author's Notes: 1) Erhm, did I mention things between Obi-Wan and Anakin and Bail Organa are about to become . . . complex? Perhaps I should have said Bail and Obi-Wan and Anakin and Qui-Gon and Dooku. Please bear with!
2) Please note that sections in italics are either shared or projected (Force-amplified) thoughts or else they have been italicized to denote the viewing of a very specific memory of Bail Organa's.







Obi-Wan Kenobi has known the Prince of Alderaan for just over two decades and only twice in that entire stretch of time has Bail's appearance ever altered sufficiently to garner the Jedi's attention. In the year leading up to the Naboo crisis, the Senator finally grew tired enough of his perpetually smooth and youthful features to come up with a way to alter and distract attention from them, by growing and keeping a meticulously well-groomed and close cropped goatee - a change that so transformed the lines and character of Bail's face that it had taken Obi-Wan quite some time to become used to it. Then, after the Clone Wars began - specifically, after Obi-Wan's miraculous escape from Rattatak and his return to Coruscant following his presumed death in the Battle of Jabiim - the stress and strain of far too little sleep and far too much worry suddenly combined to make Bail's actual age seem to very abruptly catch up with him. Of a slender build to begin with, as the war progressed, Bail's face grew thinner from weight being lost on account of too many meals being sacrificed in favor of longer work hours and ever more difficult tasks, deep hollows gradually revealing themselves beneath high cheekbones that were also gradually growing more and more prominent, sharpening as the war continued to pare down the softer edges of the planes and angles of his face. Bail's deeply set dark eyes also gradually grew sunken and encircled by stains so dark that they almost made his eyes appear bruised.

Unfortunately, because Obi-Wan was so often away from Coruscant, out on the front lines and in the midst of the most dangerous battles, he did not get to see this gradual transformation as Bail grew thinner, and harder, the perpetually baby-faced Prince aging with the far too many responsibilities and cares that the war and the disturbing changes within the Republic, especially on Coruscant, drove him to shoulder. When Obi-Wan had first seen Bail again, after Jabiim, the perhaps twenty-something-ish looking brilliant Crown Prince of Alderaan had transformed into a darkly somber thin shadow of himself, one who would never again be mistaken for a legislative intern. Restored by several rounds of bacta immersion, healing trances, and the regenerative powers of the Healers, Obi-Wan had - in an effort to encourage his friend to take better care of himself - actually told the Senator that, between the two of them, Bail looked like the more likely candidate for a near-death experience.

As he looks at Bail Organa now, in the badly damaged Council Chamber, Obi-Wan sighs. Apparently, his attempt to chivy the man into taking better care of himself had been much too subtle. Since the last time the Jedi Master laid eyes on Bail, which was a little over five standard months ago, just before he and Anakin had discovered the forgotten mechno-chair on Cato Neimoidia, the Alderaanian Crown Prince appears to have aged almost a decade and to have dropped another stone of weight that he could ill-afford to lose, possibly even as much as ten kilograms. Perhaps he should have taken a more direct route and simply ordered the senior Senator to take better care of himself . . . Obi-Wan shakes his head. The first true new initiate of the New Jedi Bendu Order, and of course the man has managed to wear himself down to a nervous frazzle . . . Of course, it probably hasn't helped that the taint on the Force has doubtlessly also been interfering with the way Bail has been instinctively and quite unknowingly drawing on the power of the Force ever since his birth . . .

At which point it occurs to Obi-Wan just what it is that he has seen and chosen to accept within his most recent far-sight vision as the possible future path that he will pursue.

Oh. Oh, my. This might become . . . complicated, /Obi-Wan thinks, blinking a few times, startled, before reaching out automatically to Anakin. /Beloved, things are about to become just a little bit more . . . complex. You see, the Force seems to believe that, well . . . that since we have founded the New Order, now we are both in need of a Padawan . . .

***

Bail Organa feels like a sacrifice laid out on an altar, pinned to the block and unable to move, everything that is him, that is within him, laid open for all to see.

It occurs to him, with a suddenness that feels all too entirely familiar, that if his parents had only given him to the Temple, as he should have been given, that not only would Xanatos have been Dooku's Padawan and not fallen, not only would he, himself, have been Qui-Gon Jinn's Padawan, not only would Obi-Wan have been claimed by a Master - most likely either him or Qui-Gon - who would have loved him, wholeheartedly, and never tried to refuse him, but that Anakin would have been discovered by a completely different Master-Padawan pair. Even if it still had been Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan who would have discovered Anakin less than a month before his tenth birthday, it would not have been the same Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, the same strained and somewhat unbalanced Master-Padawan pair, who had actually found him. And if that had happened, then most likely events would not have fallen out as they had, with Qui-Gon defying the Council and inadvertently hurting Obi-Wan in his defense of Anakin, his offer to take the boy and train him, himself. And if that had happened - or, more precisely, had not happened - what else might have fallen out differently?

Perhaps Qui-Gon would not have been killed by the Sith warrior on Naboo. And then perhaps Dooku would not have fallen. Perhaps Sidious (Palpatine - Force! He could still barely believe it, that Darth Sidious had been Chancellor Palpatine!) would not have been able to drive the Republic to war, since he would not have had Dooku to lead the Separatist movement. And perhaps then, if the war had not come, they might have been able to discover Palpatine's secret sooner. Perhaps the Republic would not have tumbled so sickeningly close to brink of total calamity. And perhaps - dare he even think it? - perhaps the Chosen One would have been able to bring balance to the Force before the galaxy suffered the pain and suffering and even deaths of so many trillions of beings. Perhaps he, Bail Organa, would even now be standing where his heart told him he ought to be, in between the solid bulk of a living Qui-Gon Jinn and the ethereal slenderness of a living and happy Obi-Wan Kenobi. Perhaps Dooku and Xanatos - with Xanatos shooting him that familiar wink and grin that his heart tells him he knows so well, though he has never truly seen either one, in reality - would even now be flanking Qui-Gon on his other side, and Anakin would be standing off to Obi-Wan's other side.

Perhaps, then, his heart, his soul, would be whole, and not torn between duty to what is and the longing for what should have been.

Perhaps, then, he would not feel as if he were being consumed, from the inside out, by the sight of what undeniably is the matched and ever so brightly burnished set of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

He should not be staring. He should not be. It is disgraceful. It is shaming. It is, more than anything, not safe. Light, and light, and light. They are so intensely beautiful that Bail feels as if he could easily pass the entirety of his life here, before them, simply gazing upon their wondrous light, warmed through by that unrestrained power, the no longer quite entirely latent power within him drinking in that heat and power, wallowing within and gorging upon the lavish spread of that electric energy. The fire of his own soul, his own innermost being - pale and meager though the light at the core of him seems, by comparison, to their twinned and blazing holocaust of light - leaps and then leaps again, as though it has been fed upon sudden vast breaths of air. Bail feels dizzy, then, lost inside himself, and not even surrender, not even yielding to it, seems to help. He feels attracted to them, naturally and inexorably drawn, more powerfully than iron to a magnet. A droplet of water being pulled down within the raging flow of a rapidly flooding river rushing over a waterfall would experience only the weakest shadow of the same kind of pull. He cannot help but stare. He wants this. His heart is breaking, his soul blazing, consumed and burnished brighter, fed upon that radiant starglow. He wants this.

Bail feels an enchantment, a fascination, that is all but tangible, reaching out from the two Jedi like a spell, a sleeping charm, magnetic and powerful, so that it is impossible to turn away from them. Life and love burns in them with a terrible light, a heady charm blazing dangerously bright, tugging, pulling, compelling, irresistibly wrenching . . . They move again, ever so slightly pressing closer together, and the dazzle of grace that runs like a song through their every moving interplay of muscle makes Bail's senses ache with the unattainable pure loveliness of that motion - a maddening, intangible, incomprehensible, inimitable, captivating, irresistible loveliness that rouses the desire to possess even though it is obvious that such beauty can never really be fully possessed, never truly be fully encompassed or touched by any mere human senses alone. Still, that bodiless desire to possess is, nevertheless, so strong that it rages like madness in his veins, pounding so violently that the room reels and the fair outlines of their beauty, unattainable as the stars to a wholly destitute man standing alone and forsaken beneath an unobstructed night sky, wavers before his eyes. Soul-destroying beauty, desirability . . . Bail catches his breath only to choke on it and draw back from the intolerable, exquisite sight of them, helpless before that luminous beauty and the undeniable need to possess it, possess them. He is utterly without defenses, before them. How could he resist? He cannot even breathe, he wants this so badly!

The exquisite shock of his first sight of them has torn through him, thrilling like torture through every nerve of his body, ripping him open and laying him bare, laying him to waste. For one mad, timeless instant, reason staggers and gives way before the terrible fascination beating out from them in waves that wrench at his very soul with a devouring desire - incarnate beauty tugging with strong fingers at every sense and every nerve and, intangibly, irresistibly, at even deeper things than these, groping among the roots of his very being, dragging his soul out, caressing it, sending blinding flashes of rapture through every fiber of his being, every atom that makes up his being. Bail answers that undeniable pull, that terrible fascination, body and soul alike, and an unholy ravenous need, an unnameable desire to possess and yet also to submit, to be owned by that beauty, tears through him futilely. Their hair is loose and mingling together, and he longs to touch it just where some of those brightly glinting rippling gold locks curl loosely about a part of the silken length of molten red-gold flame, to run his hands caressingly over it like the rare pelt of some exotic animal. Even the way that they stand so obviously together - snugged into each other, both with an arm around the other's waist, bare hands cupped lovingly around hips, their heads inclined together until they touch - wounds him. Compared to Obi-Wan and Anakin, everything and everyone else Bail Organa has ever known, ever thought to be beautiful, becomes crass and brazen and worse than ugly. They are so perfect that he feels as if he should be struck blind by the mere sight of them.

He wants to fall to his knees in worship.

He wants to reach out his hands and touch, hold, claim, possess.

His body cannot contain this sight. Not as it is. Not as he is. Not as he is and as they are.

And unless something changes, very soon their beauty will devour and destroy him, like a moth in an open flame.

***

/You have /got to be kidding me.

Anakin - beloved -

No. Force, no! A thousand times and more, no! Master -

Anakin, please -

Obi-Wan, no. Seriously. This is absolutely impossible. It's ridiculous! The man is a career politician. He's the Crown Prince of Alderaan. Not only does he have other obligations, he has no training in the Force whatsoever, and he is, for Force's sake, quite a bit older than you, and you're already a full Jedi Master, in every sense of the word. No offense, Master, but it's far too late for him. He truly is too old for the training. And in any case, I rather doubt that a man of Bail Organa's age and background would appreciate being asked to give up all of his carefully accumulated social status and political power as both the senior Senator and Crown Prince of Alderaan in order to be made a mere Padawan learner. This is, after all, one of the two men you recommended that the Senate consider for the position of Supreme Chancellor. Do you honestly believe that this man would welcome such a change?

Anakin, just because the man is Crown Prince of Alderaan, that does not mean that he is a career politician. You do him wrong to speak of him thus, disparagingly, as only a politician. Bail's situation is not unlike Padmé's was, only she chose to devote herself to Naboo first as its Queen and then as its Senator whereas Bail has devoted himself to Alderaan as both its Crown Prince and its Senator, since Alderaan is a constitutional monarchy. Bail did not ask to be made Prince: he simply abided by the decision that Jedi Master C'baoth made when he ruled on the Alderaanian Ascendency Contention in favor of the branch of the Organa family tree that presented Bail Prestor Organa as the rightful heir to the throne. He would have been trained as a Jedi if the line of ascension had not been so hopelessly snarled. We've spoken of this often. High Force-sensitivity runs on both sides of his family, and there are many who regret the fact that he was not given over to the Temple for training, including Master Windu. Even Qui-Gon was impressed with him and said that Bail would likely have made a fine Jedi. He is a good man, Anakin, and he has always had the utmost respect for the Jedi Order. I should know: I've known the man since I was eighteen, and I've seen the way he thrives within the confines of the chapterhouse on Alderaan. I believe it's safe to say that I know Bail Organa just a little bit better than you do, love.

Wait . . . you've know him how long?

Since I was eighteen, Anakin. You know that. You've had access to all of my missions with Qui-Gon for quite some time now. And you've known Bail for almost as long as I've known you, love. He's one of the first people you met after we came back to Coruscant. I'm sure I must have told you about the mission Qui-Gon and I were on when we first met Bail soon after you first met him. Didn't I?

Master, I'm well aware of how you met the man. What I'm a little bit fuzzy on, frankly, is how you could have known him for as long as you say you have and not realized how much his work means to him. Do you honestly think Bail would be willing to give up his responsibilities not only to Alderaan but to the Republic, to the Senate, for a frankly uncertain apprenticeship within the Jedi Temple? I wasn't trying to disparage him as a career politician, for pity's sake! I was just trying to point out the fact that he has several lifelong commitments elsewhere that he will not be able to just walk away from, no matter how good a Jedi he might have once made. Bail Organa is married, Master. He has no heir, as yet, but he is married, has been for at least half a dozen years now. He has a responsibility to Alderaan, as its Crown Prince, and one of them is to give Alderaan an heir to follow him. Plus, he's one of the most highly respected and few honest politicians that the Senate has anymore. I don't think they're going to be willing to give him up, not without a fight. Not the Senate, not Alderaan, and most certainly not Milady Breha Antilles Organa, either. The Force must be mistaken. This must be a test of some sort. Haven't you always told me that the Force sets trials for all Jedi for every new stage of their growing relationships with the Force? This must be a test. It makes no sense, otherwise. The Force has been best served by Bail Organa as he is now, as Crown Prince and senior Senator of Alderaan, for many years. Why would that change now? How could it? The man is beholden to his wife, his people, and his vows, his obligations, to the Republic he has sworn to truthfully represent and faithfully protect, as one of its Senators. The Force would not demand the impossible of any man, and yet what you are proposing would be impossible. Think about it. It must just be a test.

This doesn't feel like a test, Anakin. Or if it is, then it is a trial for us, a test of our loyalty, our ability to uphold our own promises, our own vows and responsibilities, and to obey the will of the Force. Didn't you just tell Master Yoda and the other Council Masters that the Sith and the Jedi are no more now, and that the New Jedi Bendu Order will be open to all Force-sensitives and Force-adepts, regardless of age or of any fear caused by uncertainty?

Obi-Wan, you know that I did, and you know why I did and why it must be that way, better than any of us. The storm is coming. We cannot afford to preserve the flaws that fractured the old Order into the Jedi and Sith camps. We must learn how to stand together and harbor the love of the Light if we are going to defeat the darkness that threatens our galaxy. But this does not mean that we have the right to shatter Bail Organa's life and the Alderaanian political infrastructure. It would be wrong. It would be cruel and it would be selfish. I will not pretend to have the right to order him to sacrifice his love, his work, his people, his happiness, his life, for us. We don't have the right to demand that of him. And asking would be tantamount to demanding, Obi-Wan. We've just saved the Republic he loves and the Force essentially half embraces us at all times now. Bail has always trusted you. Do you honestly believe he would be able to refuse, were you to ask him anything? It would be needlessly cruel. He would not be able to say no, and it would destroy him. I am not Yoda or Mace Windu, able to heedlessly bend and warp the wills and hearts of others, to thoughtlessly order someone to contort and torture himself until the seeming of his life conforms to my every whim, just because it might make my own life easier and I have the power to do so.

Anakin, beloved, you must know that I would not - that I would never -

"I will find a way to balance."

Bail Organa's voice - shockingly loud, intrusively so in the midst of a conversation that has been conducted entirely mind to mind - sounds strangely hoarse and strained, almost as if his vocal chords have been damaged from screaming or smoke inhalation or both, and it is a jarring reminder of recent events on Coruscant. A small, slight crease flickers into existence between Obi-Wan's brows as he takes in Bail's expression - his eyes glazed so that his expression appears oddly stunned, almost poleaxed, as he stares unabashedly at Anakin and Obi-Wan - while Anakin rather blankly yet politely demands, "I beg your pardon, Senator?"

"I - I said that I would find a way to balance, Knight Skywalker."

"I'm sure that Master Skywalker heard you, Your Highness. I believe he meant to inquire as to what it is that your comment is intended to refer to," Obi-Wan carefully and diplomatically explains, resisting the urge to frown.

"Master Skywalker - yes, of course," Bail's smile is extremely genuinely warm but even more so unfocused. "I would - I would find a way to balance my responsibilities to my people and to the Temple, if you would truly have me. There is precedence, on Alderaan, for abdication in favor of a cadet branch of the royal family. And Breha and I have spoken many times now of fostering or adopting the children of one of my cousins or other relatives or of her brother, since her health will not permit her to have a child of her own. My wife - " Breha knows that she is not first in my heart and has always known it, since long before we wed " - would not stand between me and - " the first desire of my heart " - the Jedi, if the Order wished to see me trained. I would have been given to the Temple as a child, if the previous Prince had not died without an heir. I have long known this. And my people know it. They know I was meant for the Temple, not the Senate. I do not believe they would begrudge me the chance to rectify that - " nor would I let their wishes stop me " - any more than the Senate would, when there have been so many Jedi losses to the war. The Jedi are vital - " and their continuance far more essential than that of an ineffective and cowardly Senate " - for the peace and preservation of the democratic ideals of the Republic. Even the addition of only a single Jedi would far outweigh the loss of one mere Senator. The choice is simple. There is no question of coercion or persuasion. Yes, I admire Master Kenobi and regard his favor greatly - " above all others " - but more importantly, this is what I want - " what I have dreamed of, more than almost anything, ever since I first met Obi-Wan " - truly. You would not be forcing me into a choice that would destroy me, Master Skywalker. It would change my life greatly, yes, but only for the better. This is what I was meant for - " what I have always been meant for, as I have known, in my soul, since I first met Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon and understood, to my everlasting shame and sorrow, how much damage the misplacement of one soul could wreak upon so many others " - and, moreover, it is what I /want/."

Anakin simply blinks, startled and confused. He is - projecting?

I am not sure, beloved. I've never known his thoughts to be so accessible.

"Accessible? I am not sure I understand - " though I would gladly make all that I am accessible to you " - what you mean. But yes, if you would require more, to see my thoughts, you must know that I - "

"Wait a moment - how did you hear that?" Anakin demands sharply, stunned.

"I'm sorry? How did I - ? But surely you had not intended your words to be private. They were clearly - " quite clearly, quite beautifully, very beautifully, very beautiful, the both of you, surely you must know or at least suspect it " - spoken in a conversational tone."

How is this possible? Obi-Wan, this should /not be/ possible! Our bond -

Anakin, beloved, please, calm yourself. This is how it was for Qui-Gon and I. The Force formed a bond between us long before we agreed to forge one. The Force -

Even the Force hasn't the right to order our lives so! The bond we share is ours and no other's! No one and nothing has the right to reorient it to the thoughts of another! Obi-Wan, I will not - I /cannot - tolerate this! I will not trade one form of slavery for another! It is not right! It is not just! This is not balance! This is simply trading one form of evil for another! I won't be party to such a thing! It is an abomination to believe or to behave as if it were possible to own and to order the lives of intelligent beings thus! It is not natural! I will not be party to such evil! I will not - I cannot - I am not Darth Vader, to so callously and cheaply regard the lives of others!/ That declaration is a cry of fear from the heart. Anakin's eyes are wide and frightened, all pupil and so dark they almost appear black, his hands doubled into fists, his breath wheezing harshly and erratically in and out of his visibly heaving chest. Pain twists his expression so far out of true that he hardly looks like himself at all. Distress so sharp it trembles on the edge of utter panic pours off of him, battering Obi-Wan with wild waves of incoherent loss and terrified fury. The Force is an ugly maelstrom of power, swirling violently out from and around while also crashing unrestrainedly up against and through the focal point that is Anakin's body, held so rigidly still that it almost appears to vibrate. Anakin's horror, his rising panic, are so strong that they feel like a thousand shards of dark jagged glass, tearing Obi-Wan open and laying him to waste.

Anakin - beloved, please - Anakin - "Anakin! Peace. Peace. That path will never come to pass. Never. You are not, never have been, and never will be that person. Peace, beloved. Anakin, the Force itself created you - life made you, Light made you - not him, not the Sith. Anakin, you know that. You are not their creature and you never will be. Never. Not if I have anything to say about it. Heart of my heart, soul of my soul, you know me much better than this," Obi-Wan firmly declares, his grip upon Anakin's shoulders fiercely protective. "We are of one mind, one will, when it comes to that path. I would gladly die before I would ever ask you to embrace such a future. Anakin - Anakin! Balance cannot be forced, beloved. If I must choose - "

"Obi-Wan don't. Please. You are the Chosen One. You are the one who will bring balance to the Force. Please, don't - " Anakin cries, shaking his head desperately. Obi-Wan's fingers only tighten upon his shoulders, the weight of his hands and the heat of his touch anchoring Anakin when he would have turned away.

"And you, Sith'ari, complete me. Balance cannot be forced. If I must choose, then I will - I do - choose you, Anakin. Always. Forever. You. No other."

Under Obi-Wan's unwavering gaze - the force of his certainty and the all but tangible reality of his unwavering love - Anakin calms, the rising panic at the memory of the creature he had almost become, the future that had almost consumed his life, fading, banished like an evil specter by the power of Obi-Wan's love for him. His hands, knotted so tight they are white with strain, fall open, and the light that rushes in to his eyes and over his face is acceptance, is belief, is pure, unadulterated joy. The hostile barrage of that ugly whirlpool of Force-power fractures and then falls away, dissipating so swiftly and so completely that the others present in the room - the stunned silent Council Masters - could almost have doubted that it had ever been there in the first place, if not for the looming identical headaches threatening from where that ugly backwash has been breaking over them. Taking one deep, calming breath, Anakin raises his hands to cover Obi-Wan's and quietly but fervently swears, "I - I do not pretend to understand why the Force would wish such a thing, but even so, in this, there is no question. I would not exist, without you. I would not be Anakin Skywalker, without you. I am not whole, without you. Obi-Wan - yes. Forever. Always. You. Yours. Mine. One, for eternity. And one, with and within the Force. Yes. I will. I do. Yes."

In the next instant, Anakin and Obi-Wan are once again in each other's arms, their bodies twining together tightly, sinuously, as if they mean to utterly melt into one another, and they are kissing as though they mean to swallow each other down whole, to be swallowed down into one another and become one for all time. A heartbeat after that, they are no longer visible to sight.

***

The first time, in Obi-Wan's room, their joining within the Light of the Force had mainly been brought about through sheer desperation on Anakin's part. It had been a matter of complete and utter abandonment of self, of trusting enough to submit, utterly, not only to the Force but to Obi-Wan as well, who had implored Anakin to let go. In not only giving in to but also ultimately embracing his love by choosing to embrace Obi-Wan, Anakin had, like Obi-Wan, instinctively made of himself not only an empty and willing vessel for the Force but an open conduit to the full might of the Force and its Light. The second time, amongst the wreckage at the bottom of the Senate Arena, it had been a matter not so much of letting go and passively submitting to the flow of the Force as it had been of actively reaching out to and guiding the Force's massively powerful Light through the open channel that he and Obi-Wan were within the Force. Again, though, it had been accomplished essentially through instinct and need alone. Later, when Anakin and Obi-Wan had worked together to cleanse the Force of the taint, it had been necessary first to strike and then maintain a delicate, precarious balance between passive submission and active channeling in order to both bring the entirety of the Force's power through them by redirecting all of its many, many, many flows into and through the weave that they'd created (which had essentially acted as a strainer to remove the Force from the taint) while also avoiding being washed away upon those flows or otherwise made a permanent part of the Force. Though utterly permeated by the Force's power, they had not joined with its Light, not as they had before (although the deed itself had, again, been accomplished through instinct and need alone).

Now, though, as they stand together in the Council Chamber before ten former members of the High Council, the two newly appointed heads of the New Jedi Bendu Order, and Bail Organa of Alderaan, Obi-Wan and Anakin do something that they have not done before.

They join themselves to the Light of the Force not because they are desperate, not because they need to and they must, and not by luck and natural talent alone, but rather because they want to, they know how to, and they wish for others to see and to know of their commitment not only to the Force but to each other, to their love, above and before all else. And it is such a wholly natural thing, so completely and utterly right, that slipping into the Force is as easy as slipping into one another's arms.

Love, complete and absolute love, unwavering, unquenchable, unquestioned, and utterly unconditional - acceptance and affection, attachment and attraction, faith and devotion and trust, pleasure and happiness and desire, and all of the other unquestionably powerful emotions that ineluctably accompany such an overwhelmingly all-encompassing feeling as love, most of them too ineffable to be expressed adequately by words alone - floods from Obi-Wan into Anakin and from Anakin into Obi-Wan. They blaze with love - burning yet unconsumed - and the power of the Force floods them both in a swelling crescendo of energy, of Light that is so much more than any mere light, moving through their bodies and permeating their beings - not just the physical vessels of their bodies but their minds, their hearts, their spirits, their souls - as the bond that links them together opens and opens and opens and then impossibly keeps right on opening, even more, as Obi-Wan and Anakin hold one another and reach for one another with everything that they are, everything that is within them, the whole of their beings alight and flooding with radiance, with love.

The resulting conflagration of power within the Force explodes outward, shaking not just the entire Temple but every single building within the surrounding Temple district as well, until the walls of the structures all ring as if the whole of the entire enormous sector (essentially a self-contained city) were little more than a violently rung bell, the vibrations rapidly spreading out from the physical location of Obi-Wan and Anakin's embracing bodies. It is like the eruption of power within the Force following the death of Sidious and the explosion of energy within both the Force and the physical world following the defeat of the cancerous growth of the taint on the Force rolled into one, magnified by a power of ten. Energy boils rapidly, violently, around this one seemingly impossibly intense concentration of power, of Light, a whiteness that is contained only by the strength of the love that has generated and invited it into existence, its overwhelming vitality shielded, in the main, from the fragile beings of flesh who are also present in the room by the radiant entities of Force that were once Qui-Gon Jinn and Dooku of Serenno.

Of all the beings who are there, within the broken open shell of the Council Chamber, only Bail Organa of Alderaan experiences the power of that Light, that love, in any measurable fashion. And because Bail Organa is, as yet, little more than flesh and blood and such existence naturally keeps one from being able to experience both the full reality of another being, body, mind, and soul, and from truly knowing the awesome totality of the Force, the experience shatters something within him. Shields buckle beneath the strain, armor that he would have never suspected himself of having breeched and crumbling away instantly into nothingness, obstacles and barriers that exist within him and have kept him from ever achieving conscious power over his ability to sense and to use the Force shattering and falling under the weight and strength and that unbridled and hungrily searching power. And to him, the Force is an incomprehensibly vast and complex sea of energy, a whiteness whose beauty and power overwhelm Bail utterly even as it engulfs and lovingly supports and permeates the embracing couple that is Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker as they slide further and further into each other, coming more and more fully together, the bond between them opening so wide that it's swallowing them both whole, bodies and minds locked in an embrace both physical and metaphysical, the Force filling them both, blessing them both, aiding and rejoicing in their joining.

As impossible as it may seem to him, Bail is a part of it, too, is a legitimate part of that bond, that gleaming network of binding and blinding light and love, even as Qui-Gon and Dooku are. Knowledge of that, understanding of it, of his place among that shining network, comes to him like a blindingly bright flash of lightning scorching through Bail's mind, and, even though it isn't (quite) accompanied by pain, it is closely chased by another sweetly stinging sensation that surges through his entire being, intense and undiluted, twisted agony and spiralling ecstasy all at the same time, flooding him, possessing him, suffusing him with a part of that light, that incredibly white Light, and binding him in place within that brilliantly bright matrix of energy, that complex and blazing weave of power. And as Bail watches, the Force brings Obi-Wan and Anakin impossibly even closer together, what looks as if it must already be at least a hundred thousand shining branching tendrils of Force energy, woven all throughout their minds, their souls and binding them together, doubling and then multiplying rapidly, exponentially, before pulling tight enough to grow taut, until it appears as though they are not just being slotted the each into the other but actually physically growing together, melding and mixing in the Force, in the Light, until they are but one being. And this joining is a thing of incredible beauty to behold.

To Bail, now so fully caught up by the backwash of that power that he is utterly open to the energy of the Force, Obi-Wan and Anakin are no longer visibly present as merely physical fleshly beings. Instead, to senses magnified and powered by the energy of the Force, they exist as an unfolding flower of fire, a living, pulsing explosion of power within the Force, blue-white and ever so slightly gold-touched green rosettes of flame entwining in a crazed but entirely beautiful patchwork of interlocking pieces, portions of which are shot all throughout with the blazing white that is the power of the Force spirits of Qui-Gon and Dooku and edged and veined here and there also with Bail's still relatively meager but obviously already growing contribution to the organic latticework of this bond, this bloom - flashes of indigo so deep that it is almost violet, shining darkly in amongst the kaleidoscopic mercurial blaze that is the combined might of the four Jedi. Calm envelopes Bail, then, and a painful, bereft emptiness deep within fills rapidly with a rushing stream of love and acceptance and belonging that flows around and between and throughout the unfolding flower of this bond, a great current of energy from the Force. He relaxes into the bond, surrendering himself utterly, instinctively, to that Light and to the Force. And then, as if they have only been waiting for that, waiting for him to make his decision, the luminescent fire of Qui-Gon and Dooku reach out and enfold him, utterly, in their Light, carrying him with them into the blazing heart of that conflagration of power, until he is swallowed up and utterly lost to sight within the whiteness that is the core of that explosion of energy.

For Obi-Wan and Anakin, the addition of Bail within the branching network of their bond feels like the fitting of a key into a lock, like the smooth turning of carefully primed and exactly fitted tumblers, like an opening up, an unfurling, a blossoming of deeper and greater power and knowledge and love, deep from within. The joy that it brings is so great that, when added to the love and affirmation already flowing so openly between them, it produces a swelling crescendo of emotion so powerful, so pure, so indescribably good, that they both automatically strive to open up even further to it, push themselves even more deeply into it by immersing and then saturating themselves even more fully with the energy of the Force, to take in more, to embrace more fully, drink more deeply, to soak in that Light until it permeates every iota of their beings . . . until at last they have taken in so much of the Force's Light and used it to draw so close to one another that it is impossible to tell any longer who is being touched by whom, where the starshine glow of Obi-Wan's fire ends and the bright flare of Anakin's incandescence begins, until finally their two lights are utterly meshed, completely and absolutely melded so far into each other that there is no longer even the slimmest possibility of them ever becoming completely unwound the one from the other ever again, what once was two separate lights now only one blazing beacon of fire, the flame burning so hot that its whiteness curls pale blue all along its boundaries, pulsating and winding round and around that blazing pillar, wrapping its edges in a dance of fine azure light.

At last, though, with one final flesh-searing, mind-numbing, soul-shaking, intense burst, the moment shatters, the Force overflows, and then Obi-Wan and Anakin are both tumbling back into themselves, into their bodies, and bringing Bail and Qui-Gon and Dooku back with them as they fall back out of the Light of the Force again, carrying away a part of it into the world with them and within them so that they are shining with Light as they gasp for air, as the energy slowly subsides from the room, slowly but surely draining back into their bodies until it almost seems impossible that such fragile vessels of flesh could hold so much luminescence, so much power, and not actually combust, exploding into fire, because of that energy. Because it is the Force, though, and because it is them, there is no such danger. Instead, the overwhelming power of the Force gradually and naturally ebbs, receding from the concentration of energy pooling around the five figures and draining inexorably away, back out in the rest of the galaxy, the need and the skill that gathered it all up here for the moment fulfilled.

As the blinding dazzle of physical light and the overwhelmingly powerful Light of so much concentrated Force energy fades, Anakin and Obi-Wan, their minds and beings still so closely entwined that they are able to commune together in a manner even more absolute, more open and complete, than they ever been able to along their old bond, even in the closest and most intimate of moments during their long time together previous to recent events. Trading thought impressions and emotions, they are able to communicate far more swiftly and unerringly than they ever could have done through mere words alone, even words conveyed along the old bond. Another parting gift from the Force, this particular ability to commune so openly and efficiently is immediately of practical use, for the object of much of their discussion - Bail Prestor Organa, who is so utterly open and unguarded against them that they can effortlessly see down through all of the many complex corridors of his mind and into his generous and loyal heart so deeply, so completely, that there is essentially nothing within the man's life that remains hidden from them - and his rather abrupt and unexpected addition to their unique Force-knit and -bonded unit could easily otherwise remain a potent cause for confusion, miscommunication, and pain. Instead, because of this new ability from their unique and growing connection with the Force, in that first few heartbeats following the return of their essences by the Force into bodies of (now only mostly just) flesh and bone, when the concentration of that energy is only just beginning to dissipate, the two men are able to read Bail, like the open book he essentially now is, absorb his meaning and the potential problems and/or repercussions of this new joining, react to all of that, together, and not only share those reactions but also arrive, at least tentatively, on an agreed upon plan of action in response to both those reactions and the reality of having truly accepted Bail Organa as their shared Padawan learner.

For Anakin, who has always been deeply disturbed by his inability to get an accurate feel for Bail Organa, the knowledge that Bail's close relationship with Obi-Wan (not to mention his unwavering interest in and unguarded and not quite entirely rational warmth for Anakin) has been motivated not only by feelings of mere friendship but also by a strong fixation that's been brought about by the power of a thwarted Force-bond and aggravated - due to Bail's utter lack of training in the Force and his inability, thus, to truly comprehend (much less be able to do anything about) all of the repercussions of such a thwarted bond, by feelings of protectiveness, of admiration and love, and of a craving for closeness, for contact, so strong that its effects have manifested much more like the natural pull of electromagnetic attraction responsible for causing and preserving the bonds that keep the atoms of a molecule bound together than like any merely physical interest - by very powerful but confused and slightly twisted feelings of trust and devotion into something that Bail himself has been able to make sense of only by defining it as an unfulfillable romantic interest in Obi-Wan himself, is an enlightenment. But it isn't exactly a complete surprise. And, in a way, it's a relief to finally understand just what exactly it is that makes Bail Organa tick. The same memory that Anakin had flashed on, when Bail first came staggering into the room, is one of several revolving around Obi-Wan that are extremely close to the surface of his mind, and the thoughts and emotional impressions tied to that memory - specifically, when Bail had carried Obi-Wan over to the sofa and sat with him, rocking him in his arms, before Obi-Wan had grieved enough and recovered from it enough to carry on an actual conversation - are almost reassuring, because they explain so many of the things that Anakin had been confused about.

. . . Obi-Wan is so relaxed now that he is almost dozing in Bail's embrace, snuggling up against him as naturally and unselfconsciously as a drowsy child. He's obviously exhausted and should not be trying to do so much alone. It just breaks Bail's heart, to see the young man so worn down and full of grief. He knows that Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan have constantly been away from the Temple on various missions in their time together and that certain members of the Order have had . . . issues with Master Jinn, but is there truly no one within the entire Order who knows Obi-Wan well enough and who cares about the newly made Knight sufficiently to have noticed and tried to do something about Obi-Wan's exhaustion? He has heard rumors already about the High Council's displeasure with the young Knight's determination to train the young boy that Master Jinn brought back from Tatooine, but surely . . . surely the other residents of the Temple are not so petty that they are holding that against him, not when Obi-Wan is so obviously in need of love and support, in the wake of losing his Master? The mere suspicion that Obi-Wan may have been abandoned to his grief, just because of the Council's dissatisfaction, incenses him. He knows that the young Jedi has a close circle of friends from his time in the crèche - he has been privileged enough to hear stories, both from Qui-Gon and from Obi-Wan, about some of the more humorous shenanigans that the so-called "Fearsome Foursome" of Obi-Wan, Bant Eiren, Garen Muhl, and Reeft used to get up to, both while they were still younglings in the crèche and young Padawans, before their missions began to conspire to see them separated for increasingly longer periods of time - and he knows that Obi-Wan has also formed a strong friendship with Quinlan Vos, who of all of Obi-Wan's friends in the Temple has already been Knighted.

It has always surprised him a little that Obi-Wan's circle of friends within the Temple is not larger, but by now Bail has known the young man long enough to realize that, despite of all his considerable charm and intelligence, which he will not hesitate to bring squarely to the front in the course of a mission, Obi-Wan naturally tends to be a very self-contained individual. While not precisely introverted, the young man is not, by any stretch of the imagination, an extrovert, either. When Obi-Wan makes a decision, he commits to it wholeheartedly, and so he tends to form very personal (and personalized), extremely deep bonds rather than enter into shallower, more casual relationships. Thus, there is a relatively small and selective group of individuals to whom Obi-Wan has given his utter loyalty and friendship, and Obi-Wan prefers to call on and nurture those ties when he can and remain alone, otherwise. It is entirely possible that, given his disfavor with the Council and his reticent nature, Obi-Wan has spent the majority of his time since Qui-Gon's death alone - save, of course, for the child - striving to do everything that is necessary by himself, without calling any attention to the fact that he might actually be in need of assistance from another being to cope with the many rapid and painful changes in his life. It is far too easy to imagine that Obi-Wan has remained sequestered and essentially solitary here, in his suite, for the past three days, especially if his friends are away on missions of their own or have been sent out on missions since Obi-Wan's recent return to Coruscant. Little wonder the young man is so tired, if he's been here alone, trying to cope with both his own loss (and newly won status as a Knight and the only living slayer of an actual Sith) and the sudden gain of a far too young - and, from what Bail has heard, entirely ignorant of Jedi ways and practices - Padawan learner!

Bail's arms tighten a fraction around Obi-Wan at that thought, his right hand circling soothingly and almost possessively across Obi-Wan's back, and he can't help but notice the small noise of contentment that Obi-Wan makes - an almost purring sigh - and the way the young man unconsciously arches into his touch, flexing with sleepy pleasure against the pressure of Bail's hand. So responsive . . . he thinks, sighing himself. On the one hand, the thought is pleasing, for it means it will be easy later, in the safety of his own room, to fantasize about how he might (under other, much more appropriate circumstances) be able to find out just how responsive Obi-Wan really is. Yet, there is also something about it that bothers him terribly. Thanks to Master Qui-Gon's honesty and his willingness to explain, Bail knows that Obi-Wan is a "child of Coruscant," but he also knows that Obi-Wan was brought to the Temple by Qui-Gon well before his second birthday. Yet, it still almost seems as though the young Jedi is . . . touch-starved. It is almost as if the young man has spent a large part of his life with little or no positive physical contact. And this troubles him. Immensely. Even more, in a way, than Obi-Wan's exhaustion and obvious pain over Qui-Gon's loss, this idea worries Bail, and that worry threatens to explode into full-blown fear, coupled to storm of protective fury, given Obi-Wan's extremely reticent nature, the way he - consciously? Unconsciously? It is impossible to say for certain which, and unfortunately both motivations would have roots in abuse, the one pointing towards a level of neglect so serious, so damaging, that it results in a twisting within towards self-loathing while the other indicates the kind of systematic abuse that results in patterned conditioning against meaningful contact and strong relationships with others - almost always shies away from or else merely uncomfortably tolerates physical contact with others, even when he is with his closest friends.

As Crown Prince of Alderaan and a Senator of the Republic, Bail has, unfortunately, seen similar reactions in children - especially in teenagers - who have been abused or neglected for much of their lives. He knows that there are times when such treatment will manifest as a desire to avoid any kind of physical contact at all, while at other times it will reveal itself as a desperate need for any/all forms of touch - whether socially acceptable or free of abuse not. He also knows that, in a very rare few, such treatment can and will shape a never-ending reverence and joy for the privilege of just being allowed to hold another person in their arms. And although Obi-Wan's responsiveness now seems to show signs of that latter and far most healthy response, his always almost chillily correct and unfailingly proper public mannerisms and borderline perpetually closed off body language reveals the first and far more heartbreakingly soul-scarred and heart-scarring reaction, which makes no sense at all, considering the fact that - again, according to Master Qui-Gon - essentially all of Obi-Wan's conscious memories should have been formed by his existence within the Temple. Despite an infamously rocky beginning for their relationship, Qui-Gon Jinn has obviously adored his young Padawan learner, and for over half a decade Bail has been privileged to observe their interaction, the way that love has continuously manifested as a seamlessly fitted together partnership built upon strong mutual respect and admiration and an easy camaraderie reinforced with many smiles and the kind of familiarity that comes only with long coexistence and unstinting closeness and sharing. So why, then, is Obi-Wan behaving like someone with an intense skin hunger, as if he has been deliberately starved for affection, for attention, for the simple and basic act of touch?

Jedi are famous for their serenity, their control, and the Jedi Order maintains a certain amount of aloof distance between itself, its members, and most of the rest of the known universe. Jedi tend to keep to themselves and to form ties to beings outside the confines of their Order only in extremely rare cases, as their Code teaches them to carefully abstain from the kind of intimate attachments to others, as well as to material possessions, that can result in envy or jealousy and greed, or unhealthily dependent and possessive relationships. Yet, the Jedi themselves obviously are not without feelings, and the knowledge and skill of the Order's Healers and Soul-Healers are rightfully renown all throughout the galaxy. Surely, then, they must know better! Surely they must realize how dangerous it is to touch-starve a child, how such neglect (even when of the most benign nature) can and will not only stunt the emotional and mental (and, if the neglect is great enough, even physical) development but actually warp the mental and emotional stability of a vast majority of the known sentient beings in the galaxy! In human and humanoid infants, touch deprivation has even been known to cause death: surely the Jedi must realize that! He must just be overreacting, worrying needlessly because of his concern for Obi-Wan. The Jedi are so wise, surely they must know better than to deliberately deprive their own - either the still-developing and therefore extremely vulnerable and sensitive younglings brought to their crèche, or the older Padawan learners and actual Jedi Knights and Masters themselves - of something so vitally important as touch . . .

After examining the memory thoroughly, Anakin is convinced of three things. In the first place, Anakin's own curious discomfort about Bail and Bail's relationship with Obi-Wan and his inability to fathom Bail Organa have mainly been due to the fact that while he has never quite been so paranoid as to suspect the very charming, gracious, and proper Senator of harboring an infatuation bordering on an obsession with Obi-Wan, Anakin has nevertheless somehow picked up on the fact that Bail's feelings towards Obi-Wan aren't entirely platonic in nature. Secondly, Anakin is aware that while Bail may have rationalized his fixation with Obi-Wan by explaining it to himself in terms of romantic attraction and physical desire, the fact of the matter is that the man has simply been suffering essentially all of his life from separation from the Force brought about by lack of training and a thwarted potential power within the Force that, to Anakin's eyes, seems to be at least as strong as that of Mace Windu. The effects of this separation grew much worse when Bail met Obi-Wan and then Qui-Gon, to whom he would have been close if he had been raised within the Temple, and Bail has been seeking to alleviate that by attempting to get as close as he possibly can to Obi-Wan, whose mere presence helps to mute the suffering of Force-enhanced senses and abilities atrophied by lack of use. In other words, Bail's longing to be near Obi-Wan and his desire to be close are just rationalizations for wants and needs he is not equipped to fully understand, due to the man's lack of training in and understanding of the Force.

Last but certainly not least, it now seems obvious to Anakin that while Bail may indeed be close to Obi-Wan (as well as on good terms with others within the Temple, such as Mace Windu), Bail clearly has no idea how strict the Council's and therefore the Order's stance on emotions and attachment is, though he clearly understands the danger inherent to such a stance, perhaps even more clearly than Anakin himself does, given the fact that Anakin has never even heard of the notions of touch deprivation or skin hunger before now, though he instinctively grasps that he has suffered from both, while his long-standing intense need for more from Obi-Wan - more contact, more affection, more attention - as well as Obi-Wan's surprisingly difficult struggle to overcome his deeply-drummed Jedi reflexive response to avoid both giving and receiving tangible proofs of such things as affection and attention, as found in more and prolonged physical contact, are both obvious repercussions of long-term touch deprivation and skin hunger. And just as obviously, these things - both Bail's ignorance of the way the Order has functioned and the reality of what they are going to be struggling to overcome, in their quest for change, as well as Bail's entirely too valid concerns regarding the detrimental effects of unmet skin hunger and touch deprivation - are going to be issues, at some point in the future. Possibly in the near future, quite probably right after they take care of General Grievous and gain enough time to truly begin their efforts to rebuild and reshape the Order. The storm is coming, and even with the Force cleansed of the taint and the addition of someone who potentially will be at least as powerful as Master Windu to their ranks, it's going to take more than just the five of them to help the Republic and the galaxy weather what's coming and safely guide as many of its people through it as is possible.

Confident in his understanding of the situation, Anakin shares of himself, his thoughts and feelings, with Obi-Wan, and waits calmly, patiently, for Obi-Wan's response, which follows his sharing in less than half a heartbeat.

Obi-Wan's response is, unsurprisingly, quite similar to Anakin's, though surprisingly enough Obi-Wan's reaction to Bail's fixation is not quite so equanimous as Anakin's. Given the acquisition of such knowledge on any other day or under almost any other circumstances, it is entirely possible that Anakin would have reacted extremely badly to this very same revelation, given their incredibly close relationship and how protective Anakin has always been of Obi-Wan and their relationship. But now that Anakin knows, down to the very roots of his soul, that he and Obi-Wan are utterly devoted to their love for one another, completely and absolutely committed to sharing the rest of their lives - and even their afterlives, whenever it might come to that - and remaining together, in love, there is no room for fear or doubt within him, no fuel for envy or the possessiveness of jealousy that so often masquerades as love even though such demanding and ungiving feelings are actually so far away from anything even approaching love that they are almost the emotional opposites of the selfless giving and unbounded acceptance that make up the core of real love. Because Anakin is so sure of their love, of the unbreakable strength of their bond, and because he knows Obi-Wan so well and understands that Obi-Wan, being naturally modest and having been raised in an environment that discourages sexuality, simply doesn't understand how enormously attractive he actually is, Anakin is able to smile and simply offer wordless (if deeply amused) comfort to an Obi-Wan who is primarily simply flabbergasted, embarrassed, and ever so slightly appalled by the depth and breadth of Bail's preoccupation with and attraction to Obi-Wan.

Anakin's smile fades into a look of quiet determination, however, only a moment later, when a much calmer Obi-Wan points out the rather disturbing direction of Bail's thoughts and feelings, regarding who exactly should have been taken as a Padawan apprentice by Jedi Master Dooku and a recently Knighted Qui-Gon, if Bail had been given to the Order as a child. In spite of his intent focus on Obi-Wan, the image of a winking and cheerfully grinning Xanatos of Telos - face smooth and unblemished by the broken circle branded scar of his father's shattered signet ring - is burned so deeply and shines so brightly within Bail's mind and heart that the overall impression is that Bail's spirit has somehow recognized and fixed itself upon the one being he believes to be the intended and rightful mate of his heart, his soul. The only problem being that, in this reality, Xanatos of Telos was a fallen man, a Dark Jedi, a criminal, and a murderer. And he is, as Obi-Wan and Anakin are both painfully aware, also quite unquestionably dead, the victim of a violent suicide deliberately planned and executed both in order to prevent Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon from capturing him alive and bringing him back to the Temple, for rehabilitation, and to inflict the greatest amount of both mental and emotional damage and pain on an already deeply psychologically scarred Qui-Gon Jinn. And this complication may very well prove to be a serious problem, as Bail's apparently very real love for Xanatos is based entirely upon a perception of him granted by knowledge gained through the Force, knowledge of a series of events that did not happen because Bail Prestor Organa became the Crown Prince of Alderaan instead of being given to the Jedi Temple for training. Something for which Bail clearly blames himself, though he had no active part in the process of making the particular decision responsible for causing him to become the Crown Prince Alderaan instead of a Jedi.

Indeed, this problem may very well become an outright battle.

But that struggle can wait, at least for a while longer. There are other, far more pressing concerns already at hand, demanding their attention. They are already neck-deep in troubles as it is: it would make little sense indeed to go chasing after another fight when the issue in question has yet to become a real problem. So first things first. And first, Anakin and Obi-Wan are both quite sure, they need to finish with the High Council now so that they see to it that Bail begins the process of wrapping up his old life so that he can properly begin his new one, with them, and also make sure that the still regrouping government of the Republic understands how important it is that they be allowed to deal with Grievous so that they will be able to see to it that Grievous is dealt with just as quickly as possible. Right now, everything else - from reorganizing the Order to worrying about what, if anything, they can do to banish the specter of Xanatos - can wait until they back from Utapau.

Finding themselves in agreement, Obi-Wan and Anakin press even more closer together, hugging each other tightly, indulging themselves - if only for a little while - in the undeniably sweet press of flesh against flesh while their bodies are still lost to sight within the waning yet blindingly brilliant light of the Light of the Force. As that overwhelming energy continues to fade from around them, they turn their attention outward again, curious and perhaps just the slightest bit anxious about the reaction that the ten watching Council Masters will have had, both to seeing them temporarily become one with the Force and to feeling it when they accepted Bail Organa as their shared Padawan learner.

The first thing either man becomes aware of, after that, is the sound of crying.

The second is a slight swaying beneath their feet, as the fading reverberations caused by that explosion of power gradually finish dying away into stillness.

The third is the sound of running feet.

Apparently, they've made enough of an impression with their, ah, demonstrations of "proof" for the High Council and other uses of the Force that they've attracted the attention of some of the other current residents of the Temple. Unfortunately, it appears they are going to have to add dealing with an uninvited interruption in the form of some more unexpected company to their list of things to do . . .

***