Chapter Text
‘The Wayseeking Seeker’
Quick AN:
- Not Canon or Legends compliant. I will fuck around in the timeline and cherry-pick lore from all types of sources as per usual. The timeline is heavily altered, this is not the Galaxy you will recognise.
- Yes, I know that’s not how the Force works.
- Mando’a will be used and translations will be noted at the bottom of the chapter :)
Chapter 1; You just had to say it
The hanger near the edge of Republican Space was suspiciously quiet.
There was no one out, and while it was late into the day-night cycle it was strange for a planet hanger of this size. It had been quiet all day, but discreetly enough that it was hard to notice up until now. There had been an unspoken tension in the hangar during the busier hours and not many stuck around long once they noticed it.
Not that the group of men that were moving through it noticed. They were too occupied counting the credits they got from the sale they just made.
They were celebrating, laughing as they passed the parked ships in the proximity of their own.
They were unaware of the Shadow following them. Unaware of the Knight in their ship providing first aid to the kidnapped children the group were planning on using it for profit, either by selling or by putting them in a fighting ring.
They were unaware that they had not only been discovered but had also unwittingly sold out a handful of buyers who would be in a similar situation as this group of men very soon.
It had taken many months to put this operation together.
A process which was accelerated when a group of young Initiates were kidnapped, their Creche Master and accompanying Padawan brutally killed. They had been on an excursion, aiming to visit Illum but being forced far off course.
When the Creche Master missed their check in, there had been immediate alarms raised. In a Galaxy as unpredictable as theirs, Initiates and Younglings had to be protected at all cost.
The Jedi reacted quickly, they always did for their youngest children. Or rather, as they learned to do in recent years. The Order had let their youngest slip through the cracks before, but they had made a vow to never let it happen again.
Shadows were called in to track the perpetrators. Seekers were brought in to find the Initiates.
And they had finally caught up. They were finally ready to take these beings down and retrieve their Initiates.
Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi had been a Seeker for about six years when he was called in to aid the Shadows. He was paired up with Quinlan and together they managed to find half of the group of Initiates. The other half was located by a different group.
All Initiates were accounted for, an incredibly rare outcome but one which everyone was glad for.
They had been fast enough.
Together with some of the local allies, they were able to treat the children they found. Both the Initiates as well as the other children they found in the clutches of these Monsters.
Obi-Wan had peeled himself away from the Initiates while a Healer saw to them, guarding the door of the ship once Quinlan’s message came through.
The kidnappers had not been aware that they were being followed.
They were confused when they spotted Obi-Wan’s hooded form standing in front of their ship. They did not get to be confused for long as the Shadows descended on them, quickly arresting them.
“Kriffing– Do you know who you’re messing with?!” One of them yelled.
“We do.” Obi-Wan tilted his head, not moving from his guarding position. “You kidnapped Jedi Younglings. Did you really expect that it would end well?”
More cursing, but fear had settled in. Unwarranted fear, because the Jedi did not kill their prisoners. They would be handed over to the Republican authorities but not before they were thoroughly interrogated by the Shadows.
Quinlan joined Obi-Wan, watching the Shadows take the kidnappers away. “That went surprisingly smooth.”
Immediately, Obi-Wan’s neutral mask gave away to an annoyed look, “Why the kriff would you say that.” He hit Quinlan’s shoulder playfully, “You’re going to jinx it.”
“Stars, calm down.” Quinlan laughed, “We’re ready to move the children to a proper medical facility.”
“Let’s go then. I don’t like this place.” Obi-Wan glared at the ship.
A few hours passed with Obi-Wan and Quinlan taking charge of the protection and care of the Initiates.
With the help of the Alderaanian Protection Program, they had arranged for them to aid the non-Jedi children so they could focus on their own. Once their Healers had helped the Initiates, Obi-Wan and Quinlan started to schedule their departure.
They wanted to return the Initiates quickly. They had gone through a lot of trauma and needed the stability and support only found in the Jedi Temple. The Council had agreed and since the Initiates had not suffered serious injuries, they would be leaving to join up with the other half of the Creche Clan. With them all together they might be more comfortable.
“Ready to go?” Quinlan asked, looking at Obi-Wan who was staring off into the distance.
“Yeah…” Obi-Wan muttered, turning to join Quinlan to go into the ship, “I just thought–”
“Wait! Jedi Knights, please wait. We have a situation.”
“–that something was off.” Obi-Wan finished, then turned to the Alderaanian Healer, “What kind of situation?”
—--------------------------------
Obi-Wan was guided into a room with three young children, all wearing some armour.
Mandalorians.
Little Mandalorians.
Kriff.
Obi-Wan took the sight in for a moment, noting that they were not old enough to have earned all of their armour pieces. Only the girl wore close to a full set, but even she lacked a few of the armour pieces which she would earn during her Resol’nare once she reached that age.
The other two only wore vambraces, a chestplate and chin-protectors, old enough to wear training armour, but not to have earned all of their pieces.
“They only speak in Mandalorian.”
“Mando’a.” Obi-Wan automatically corrected before crouching to be at the same level as the ade. He moved his sleeve up, revealing the vambraces he had worn below his outer robe since his Mission on Mandalore. Obi-Wan then gently tapped his forearms against each other, letting the clear melody of the beskar-alloy vambraces ring. “Su cuy’gar, adike, ner gar gai Ben. Tion gar gai?”
The oldest, the girl, perched up at the sound of beskar and looked at Obi-Wan in awe, “Su’cuy! Ner gar gai Arla.”
“Su’cuy Arla. Tion’cuy? ” Obi-Wan smiled a bit as he pointed to the other two kids.
“Ner burk’ya, Myles.” Arla pointed at the older one, then to the youngest. “Ner vod’ika, Jango.”
“Su’cuy, Myles, Jango.” Obi-Wan smiled at them, then turned back to Arla, “Arla, tion gar vaii?”
“Keldabe.” Arla replied innocently before asking, “Tion gar vaii, Ben?”
Keldabe. Kriff. As if this situation couldn’t get any worse.
“...Naas jaon'yc.” Obi-Wan slowly replied, “Tion’vaii gar buire?”
Arla shrugged.
Obi-Wan conversed with Arla a bit longer. He learned that Arla’s family was originally from Concord Dawn but they moved after her adoptive buir took them in, implying her birth parents died. They had lived in Keldabe ever since.
Arla told Obi-Wan they were on a trip near the Mandalorian border when they were taken by the traffickers, that had only been a few days ago. Like the other kids, Arla told Obi-Wan the ‘mean beings’ wanted them to fight the other children, but the kids kept refusing despite being hurt because of that refusal.
By the end of the conversation, Obi-Wan had made his mind up and left the room with the promise of returning soon. He had to speak with Quinlan first.
“Mandalorian kids?” Quinlan wore a deep frown on his face, knowing how troublesome that was for the Republic.
“They tried to make them fight the Younglings. Some kind of Jedi vs Mandalorian thing.” Obi-Wan sighed, “I want to bring them home.”
“To Keldabe? You have lost your mind.” Quinlan shook his head, “We should bring them to the Temple. Let them reach out to the Mandalorians.”
“The Jedi would report to the Republic, the Republic would use them for leverage. It could escalate to war– things have been way too tense for way too long. A war we would likely have to participate in.” Obi-Wan argued.
“True. But going into Mandalorian Space is suicide.”
Obi-Wan shrugged, “It wouldn't be my first time.”
“Those were very different times.” Quinlan pointed out. “You have to realise that too.”
“I would rather risk my life than see children used as political pawns or worse, as leverage in war.” Obi-Wan’s gaze was far off for a moment.
“They are the enemy, Obes.” Quinlan warned, “If they get their hands on you they would not be so gracious. You would be killed.”
Shaking his head, Obi-Wan turned away, “There are no enemy children in war. Just children. I will return them to their Buire because that is the right thing to do. Nothing you say will change my mind.”
While clearly displeased, Quinlan knew there was no convincing Obi-Wan at this point. “Fine. But don’t come crying to me when things go wrong.”
They both knew Quinlan would be the first to aid Obi-Wan should things go wrong.
Him and the rest of the Bear Clan.
“I’ll need some of my… less Temple approved gear.” Obi-Wan muttered, “Can you call Bant and ask her to get me some things from the closet of my apartment? You can meet up with the other Shadows and join the other group to return to the Temple while I say here.”
“I’ll ask, but she’ll kill you once she learns why you need it.”
Obi-Wan laughed, “I’ll take the risk.”
—-----------------------------
They had decided to take temporary residency on the planet for the next three days.
Since they could not leave the Mandalorian ade to the Alderaanian Protection Program, the three ade joined the Creche Clan for the time being under the supervision of Obi-Wan and Quinlan.
Well, mostly Obi-Wan since he was the only one able to communicate with them. The first night had been a bit of an event. The Initiates were all traumatised, understandably so, and so were the Mandalorian ade. Sleeping was the last thing on their minds despite them being tired.
For that reason, Obi-Wan and Quinlan decided to organise a cuddle-pile so they could remain together and hopefully get sleepy enough. None of the kids had significant injuries but they were definitely in need of a mindhealer. The sooner they arrived the better.
Besides some small incidents Obi-Wan and Quinlan were able to resolve, they got the kids to eat something and sleep.
Once they started waking up again, Quinlan left to get more food for breakfast while Obi-Wan read to the Initiates, trying to distract them and keep them at ease. The Ade slept longer than the Initiates with the exception of the youngest one, Jango– but they were also more bruised up than the Initiates were.
By the time they awoke, Quinlan returned and got everyone food.
“Smooth sailing?”
“They’ve been okay as can be all things considered.” Obi-Wan confirmed, accepting some rations Quinlan had set aside for them. “The Mandalorian kids have been sleeping more but their injuries were worse, and they are younger too, so that is to be expected. The healers dropped by a while ago and cleared them all.”
“That’s good.” Quinlan hummed, looking at where the kids were playing some kind of guess-the-animal game. “We could see if we can take them to play in the local park or something, let them get some fresh air and let them spend some energy.”
“Maybe not the best idea, it would be too easy to lose track of them.” Obi-Wan disagreed, “Unless they ask, I am uncomfortable considering that. At least until a Mind Healer arrives to take charge of the situation.”
“Fair enough.” Quinlan sighed, “No risks, I suppose.”
“No risks.” Obi-Wan agreed. “I know it’s not our usual style but then again, this is not our usual mission.”
Quinlan snorted. “Yeah, this is a long way from Artifact recovery.”
It was rare for Seekers to join ranks with the Shadows, but it was not unheard of.
Seekers specialised in finding Force related Artefacts or Force Sensitives in need of aid. It was why they were technically Knights while also belonging to the Explorer-Corp. They educated families of Force Sensitives in how to help them or offered to take them to the Temple in some cases.
Shadows dealt with anything the Jedi did not really speak of, mostly to do with the Darkside. If a Seeker found a Dark-side Artefact, they could call to request a Shadow to handle it properly if they were unsuited to.
This entire mission had been out of the norm. Perfect for the likes of Obi-Wan and Quinlan, even if they were not usually in charge of a group of Initiates. They were somewhat trained to deal with traumatised beings but not to the point they could help more than with basic needs. That was where the Mind Healers would come in.
Quinlan was about to reply when he turned his attention to something just behind Obi-Wan, making the latter turn to see little Arla standing by his side.
“Jango ru'rejorhaa'i ehat'ik ca'nara?”
Obi-Wan blinked, then spotted Jango and Myles standing behind her with big wide eyes, looking at Obi-Wan hopeful.
“Oh of course.” Obi-Wan smiled at them and nodded, “Elek.”
The ade returned Obi-Wan’s smile, quick to settle around Obi-Wan as he pulled his reading datapad from his bag.
“What did they ask?” Quinlan asked, blinking in confusion.
“I read a story to the Initiates this morning. Jango was awake then but probably couldn’t follow the story because it was basic. They want story time now.” Obi-Wan explained, pulling up the bookstore on his datapad and allowing Arla to scroll through them. He would buy whichever story they wanted.
Quinlan smiled a bit, nodding in understanding as he watched Jango climb over Obi-Wan’s lap to look at what stories Arla was browsing.
Eventually they agreed on a story with a mythosaur on the cover.
With Quinlan silently taking charge of the Jedi Initiates, Obi-Wan spend a good amount of time reading to the ade. Long enough for them to slowly fall asleep leaning against Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan himself had to blink the sleep away several times until he finally gave in.
Leaning back against the wall he was seated against, Obi-Wan yawned. He had been awake for a good while, too long really.
He could probably afford a cat-nap.
—--------------------------
The second day was much the same.
Breakfast, some reading, and some playing.
It did not take long for the Initiates to want to run around outside at which point Obi-Wan stepped in and explained how they could not go to the park but he could help them with their Kata’s if they wanted to. An offer which was readily accepted.
Obi-Wan had actually run an Initiate class for the basic Kata’s for half a year until he could trial to become a Seeker, so he had some experience there.
He walked the Initiates through some basic stretches and let them do a few Kata’s until they were pretty tired.
They took a break to eat and drink something before Obi-Wan let them play, finding Quinlan to sit with him and rest himself. Keeping Initiates occupied was a tough job but at least they managed to play together.
They even included the Mandalorian ade, which was a lovely sight to see.
Obi-Wan found himself napping again when Quinlan nudged him awake, “Obes, look.”
Blinking away the sleep, Obi-Wan frowned for a second, then looked where Quinlan was nodding to. The Initiates and ade were playing, but they also seemed to be agreeing and disagreeing on how to play.
It was hard to spot initially but the Initiates seemed to look at one of the ade, Myles, and stare the way they did when talking through the Force. To Obi-Wan’s surprise, Myles was replying and telling Arla and Jango what was being discussed.
Oh….
Oh
Myles had to be a Force Sensitive.
“They are communicating through the Force.”
“Myles is Force Sensitive.” Obi-Wan muttered, “Oh Force…”
“We need to test him.” Quinlan frowned, “He could Drift if we’re not paying attention.”
Obi-Wan shared a long look with Quinlan then sighed, “I’ll do the test but I draw the line at checking his blood.”
“He is strong enough to communicate, he is strong enough to Drift. If he gets lost in the Force he could die.” Quinlan argued.
To Drift was to get lost in the Force to the point that there was no returning. It was unfortunately very common for young Force Sensitives to Drift off, which is why they needed a tether to keep them from doing so. Tethers often came in the form of other beings which grounded the Force Sensitive enough to be able to find their ways back if they Drifted. Some tethers came naturally but younglings often needed an extra hand to not get lost.
“He has tethers, otherwise he would not have survived this long. And I am pretty sure Mandalorians have their own traditions when it comes to Force Sensatives.” Obi-Wan argued, “I will get the information packet and have Myles give it to his parents. If things do get bad they can call the medical hotline.”
“You and I both know it is often too late when parents call.”
“Our hands are tied, Quin. They are Mandalorian.” Obi-Wan replied, “This is the best we can do. Believe me.”
It was the tough truth many Seekers had to face. When a Force Sensitive child was found, the parents often chose to keep their child close, even if it risked the health of their child. It was understandable but in some cases the Seeker knew the child would not live without aid.
In the end, all the Jedi could do was leave a way for them to call should things get bad and hope that by the time they did it was not too late.
Jedi only took a child away from a household with permission or if the situation was truly harmful to the child. Obi-Wan’s own childhood was a prime example of that exception. In most cases, children come from loving households and it was never an easy choice.
Both Quinlan and Obi-Wan knew that there was no way a Mandalorian would allow the Jedi to bring their ade to the Temple.
Mandalorians tended to pick fights with Jedi whenever their paths crossed, somehow convinced the Jedi were child-stealers. A centuries old misconception but it was not like beings really stopped to ask if it was true or not, usually they threw a punch before asking a question.
“Fine, do the test and give the kid a flyer. I’m sure that will do it.” Quinlan was clearly displeased, but he too knew better.
Watching Quinlan walk off, Obi-Wan sighed before going to get the guessing game.
—---------------------------
Quinlan: *After a successful mission which could have ended very differently* That went well
Obi-Wan: *slowly and menacingly turning around* Why the kriff would you say that? No actually, why the kriff would you invoke the Galaxy like this?
Quin & Obes: *about to leave to reunite the Creche Clan and return them home* See, I told you everything was fine?
Random healer: Oh! Jedi Knights! Wait a moment, we have a situation.
Obi-Wan: *turning to Quinlan* I kriffing told you–
Quinlan:
Obi-Wan: Mandalorian kiddos. Just my luck.
Obi-Wan: *Proceeds to ask Bant to deliver his surprisingly well kept beskar’gam from a long forgotten mission* Well nothing to it other than to return them home.
—----------------------------
Su cuy’gar adike, ner gar gai Ben. Tion gar gai? - Hello children, my name is Ben. What is your name?
Su’cuy! ner gar gai Arla. - Hi! My name is Arla
Su’cuy Arla. Tion’cuy - Hi Arla. Who’s that?
Ner burk’ya, Myles. - My friend Myles
Ner vod’ika, Jango. - My little brother, Jango
Arla, tion gar vaii? - Arla, where are you from?
Keldabe - Capital of the planet Mandalore (and the Mandalorian Empire)
Tion gar vaii, Ben? - Where are you from, Ben?
Naas jaon'yc. - Not important.
Tion’vaii gar buire - where are your parents (I think)
Jango ru'rejorhaa'i Gehat'ik ca'nara? - Jango said story time?
Elek - Yes