Title: From All The Spaces Between Times
Chapter: Chapter 34 - Between the Darkness and Light, Real Life Goes On
Author: elrhiarhodan / 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: ~ 6000 this chapter
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: Description of a past non-consensual sexual event, physical violence (related to sexual content).

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: Yan Dooku doesn’t think that he’ll walk all over his grandpadawan in their duel this morning. After all, Obi-Wan is Qui-Gon’s student and Qui-Gon is his student, and although Qui-Gon prefers Ataru over Makashi, Qui-Gon has upheld the reputation of the lineage for decades. Besides, the boy has apparently beaten Mace at a spar. And as much as Yan despises Vaapad, he knows just how good Mace is with a 'saber.

So he expects Obi-Wan will give him a challenge. Which will be nice, it’s been a while since he’s had a chance to really work up a good sweat in the sparring ring.

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From All The Spaces Between Times — Chapter 34 - Between the Darkness and Light, Real Life Goes On (On AO3)

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Meta — Chapter 34 - Between the Darkness and Light, Real Life Goes On

As always, I am deeply grateful for all the love you’ve given this story, the outpouring of comments on the last chapter — the guessing on where the story is heading — makes me so very happy.

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292,151 words, 52 chapters

And another slow week, just added 4k to the overall total. Didn’t write on this story for three days. Bad author, no cookie.

I signed up for the poetry_fiction challenge here on Dreamwidth, which is one of my all-time favorite challenges (and given my poetic inspiration for this fic, you can see why). However, I’m not particularly thrilled with the fragment I was assigned. The Poet of the Year is Langston Hughes, who I love, but the fragment is too joyous, which doesn’t spark any story ideas (I need angst!). I spent two precious writing days retreading some plot bunnies, but they are going nowhere. I may ask for a different fragment, something a little grimmer.

Have to be careful I don’t get too distracted. I’ve allotted myself 5k and ten days for this story. That’s it.

And in other news, as you can see, I’m approaching the 300k event horizon. Way back when, back in the beginning, when I was taking bets with my enabler in chief, Kyele, a/k/a Timeforalongstory, I was figuring this epic would weigh in around 275k to 325k. Maybe 350k. Boy, was I wrong.

I am now confident that it’ll be closer to 400k. I’m not vomiting words for the sake of a wordcount. Right now, I’m struggling for every damn sentence. The plot is deep and far-ranging and I have to be careful not to lose the thread or get lost in the weeds.

Anyways, let’s talk about this week’s chapter.

The Duel of the Fates.

No, not really. How about Youth versus Experience?

Nah. Obi-Wan isn’t really all that young.

Offense versus Defense?

Yeah, that’s it exactly. A master of Soresu is supposed to be able to hold out against any offensive form, impervious to all forms of attack — the "calm eye of the storm as your enemies rage around you".

I am quoting from The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force. It was authorized by LucasFilm and published in 2010, four years before the Great Severance, when the Extended Universe became "Legends" and relegated to the dustbin as far as the Great Disney Overlords were concerned. But Fuck That Shit. While there’s definitely some dated information (Dooku was first trained by Master Thame, and then Yoda), it is an excellent resource for anyone interested in lightsaber training and the seven different forms of combat.

When I started writing this story, one of the serious writing flaws I knew I needed to fix was how I wrote 'saber combat. I know I’m not an action writer. I like writing thinky-thoughts, going deep into a character’s head and teasing out their motivations. Writing out action scenes is like getting an colonoscopy or my gums scaled.

Not fun at all.

But since so much of Jedi life at the Temple, and so much of Obi-Wan's character is wrapped up in his 'saber form and his skills, I needed to improve my storytelling. So I needed to understand the Forms, and how they are used. The epic battle between Vader at Obi-Wan at the end of RotS was a starting point, but it didn’t tell me a hell of a lot, other than Obi-Wan had won because he had the higher ground (I also rewatched that episode of Mythbusters. Result: Inconclusive). I watched a bunch of fencing videos that tried to recreate lightsaber forms with glowy sticks, but they only ones that were any good were the ones that focused on Form II — Makashi, because that Form is basically classical European epee fencing (which Christoper Lee excelled at).

But I found a copy of The Jedi Path at my local library and it has become invaluable in improving my writing. Detailed descriptions of all the forms, how they are used, strengths and weaknesses. How Jedi are trained, how they fight, and most importantly, the formal terminology for action between lightsaber combatants.


Marks of Contact

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I’d mentioned The Song of the Diathim back in Chapter 22 — Obi-Wan was doing this kata under Cin Drallig’s instruction when the High Council popped in to let him know that his master had encountered some trouble on his way to Felucia.

And today, the Force is guiding every part of Obi-Wan. The Song of the Diathim is an advanced Makashi kata, one he probably shouldn’t be learning for at least another half-dozen years, but Master Drallig had said he wanted to prove a point. What point that is, he wouldn’t say.

What I didn’t explain is that the Diathim are the "Angels" that Anakin talks about in The Phantom Menace when he meets Padmé at Watto’s shop. The Diathim are a species of winged sentients who inhabited the moons of the planet Iego and lived on the largest, Millius Prime. The are tall (I guess to nine-year old Anakin, Padmé was tall), had six wings, and white (of course, sigh) shining skin. They were regarded as the most beautiful beings in the universe.

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