elrhiarhodan

Title: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 45 - Together We Sail To the Source of Madness
Author:

elrhiarhodan /

elrhiarhodan
Fandom: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars — Obi Wan Kenobi (TV), Star Wars — Jedi Apprentice Books
Characters Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Watto, Quinlan Vos, Padmé Amidala, Sabé, Darth Maul, Yoda, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Quinlan Vos, Professor Huyang, The Force, Plo Koon, Vokara Che, Siri Tachi, Aayla Secura, Bant Eerin, Bruck Chun, Xanatos du Crion, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Hego Damask II | Darth Plagueis, Komari Vosa, Bail Prestor Organa, Bail Antilles Prestor, Rael Averross, Nim Piana, Original Characters, Other Characters To Be Added
Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, eventual Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon Jinn (but not for a long while)
Word Count: ~ 5000 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi has never known it, but he has always been the Force’s Champion, destined to suffer infinite sadness in defense of the Light. On his last turn on the wheel, responsibility for The Chosen One, the false child of prophecy, had been thrust upon him with no warning, and Darkness held the upper hand.

But this time, the Force has marshaled its power and will protect its Champion until the time is right, no matter how long Obi-Wan has to wait and how much he has to suffer.

Or,

Obi-Wan is reborn as a twelve-year old.

He wakes up on a slavers’ ship, with all of his prior life’s memories intact, and he’s bound for Tatooine with a Force-inhibitor collar around his neck, a bomb implanted in his spine, and no way of knowing what state of the Galaxy is in.

Just another day in the life of the Force’s Champion.

Chapter Summary: There are shadows within shadows, and Obi-Wan is too worried about Bail to let things slide, even if Palpatine has disappeared. The Sith Master is still out there and he might be looking at a scion of a powerful Elder House to bring his agenda of death and destruction to fruition.

So it’s time to leave the security of the Temple and done a mask of sorts, to rescue a friend if the friend needs rescuing. But first, a whole lot of mission prep. So nothing goes wrong.

Yeah, right?

From All The Spaces Between Times — Chapter 45 - Together We Sail To the Source of Madnesss (On AO3)

Meta — Chapter 45 - Together We Sail To the Source of Madness

353,907 words, 64 chapters

Even though there was only a net gain of exactly (!) two thousand words this past week, it wasn’t for the lack of diligence. I’d spent a lot of time editing and filling in plot holes, deleting extraneous scenes, cleaning up details. There had been one scene that had been bothering me for a few months, a relatively minor plot point in Book IV that felt like lazy writing and out of character, and I’d been struggling with it for a while. I’d written a few scenes around it, left them at the bottom of the work in progress (totaling about 1600 words) and figured I’d get to them eventually.

Monday evening, while folding my laundry, I had an epiphany on how to fix the problem. All it took was a five-sentence conversation between Obi-Wan and Yoda several chapters back (Chapter 58, so no retconning what’s already published). But it meant combing through Chapters 58 through 64 and editing out references to the issue in question because the conversation with Yoda fixed it. Also, cutting out the trailing scenes that I probably shouldn’t have been adding into the wordcount in the first place (which probably inflated the wordcount back in early February).

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

And so the case-fic part of this story begins for real. Obi-Wan gets to go undercover as an architect and a sustainable furniture builder from Alderaan.

Current readers of the Qui/Obi fandom, particularly in the seriously AU corner, may be scratching their heads and giving this a bit of a side-eye, thinking, gee, that sounds awfully familiar.

Because it is. Obi-Wan’s undercover identity is a homage to my very dear friend WritestuffLee’s amazing Yooperverse series, which is a Modern AU, where Ben is an architect and furniture designer (she also let me play in her sandbox last year and I got to write a novel-length story for the series). I couldn’t figure out a logical reason for Agrippa Aldrete to use "Ben" as Obi-Wan’s undercover ID, especially since it would just confuse Bail.

So Obi-Wan doesn’t get to take baby steps when he gets his "first" mission (the quotation marks are in reference to Obi-Wan’s young life in the other timeline, starting with his exile from the Temple as a failed initiate on The Monument, a slave in a deep-sea mining operation, then as asshole Qui-Gon’s padawan’s, a general to an army of children on Melida/Daan, and I could go on, but I won’t). He has to fly like an eyas pushed out of the nest.

At least he'll be swaddled in preparation, and there's nothing wrong with that, but Qui-Gon is just a touch annoyed at all this oversight. He’s already raised two padawans successfully, there are no blots on his record. But his annoyance tempered when Mace tells him about the two former Jedi in the clinic where Bail’s detoxing and dealing with his memories of the other timeline.

I usually like to head-cast my OCs. Not because I want to fall in love with them, but because it gives me a clearer picture of them when I move them about. Also, it cuts down on how much I describe them. If I know what they already look like, I don’t need to waste words on tell you what they look like. I have never been able to find a way to gracefully do that. So here are my head-casts for Cornen Pre and Seili Vont:

Pierce Brosnan as Cornen Pre

Tessa Thompson as Seili Vont

On a side note, of the serious kind. Serious-ish. I got a nasty comment from a regular reader who was none too pleased to learn that this story will be Qui/Obi endgame. The story has been tagged in the Relationship as "Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi" with the "/" since the first chapter posted. This is the second relationship tag because "Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi" happens first, chronologically. Additionally, in the Other Tags section, "Qui-Obi Endgame" is also listed and was part of the original tagset.

The commenter simply hadn’t bothered to read the tags and all of Obi-Wan’s yearning subtext was apparently too subtle.

If Q/O isn’t your jam, that’s fine. I get it. 98% of this story isn’t about the romantic relationship and you can either read around it, or just not read any further. It's not for you, and that's okay.

But I want to remind you, I love this relationship, in all of its forms. I don’t really want to hear that you don’t like it and don’t want to read it. It’s fine that you don’t, but you don’t need to harsh my squee. Just walk away. Hit the back button. Cancel the subscription. I’m not publishing this story to chase clout (I'd be writing any other pairing if I wanted the hits and kudos). I’m writing it because it pleases me and fulfills a need. I’ve put in thousands of hours working on it and I haven’t gotten paid a dime, and I never will.

Nine or so years ago, I created an icon for someone on either LJ or Dreamwidth. They wanted the Three Laws of Fandom embossed on Captain America’s shield and then offered it out to fandom in general. I still see it on occasion and it gives me a thrill every time I do. None of these lessons should have to be said, but from the comment I received yesterday, apparently they do.