Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 51 - Master and Disciple (Part 51)

Obi-Wan opened his mouth as if to retort, but quickly closed it again.

He sensed something in the Force and gave Anakin a meaningful look, a look that seemed to see through Anakin's anger and into his inner struggle.

“Asoka,” Obi-Wan turned to his apprentice, his voice gentle but commanding, “why don’t you go to your friends? Like Scott?”

The Togrutta girl looked up at them, her gaze shifting between Anakin's icy face and Obi-Wan's calm expression.

Anakin could sense through the Force that Ahsoka's perception of the two Jedi Masters before him had changed.

Her amber eyes dimmed.

Previously, all her knowledge of them came from the images presented to the public through the holographic network.

At this moment, their "packaged" image gradually crumbled in her eyes, replaced by confusion and a hint of grievance.

“Okay…okay, Master!” Ahsoka hesitated for a moment, his voice lowered, with a slight tremor. “…I’ll go find Scott.”

She quickly bowed, head bowed, turned and jogged away, her apprentice robes fluttering behind her.

Obi-Wan waited until her bright, vibrant aura had completely faded from Force perception before turning to Anakin.

Eyes facing each other.

The training ground fell into an even heavier silence once again.

“I know how the war has affected you, Anakin.” Obi-Wan’s voice lowered, filled with genuine concern. “I admit that, in terms of self-discipline, Ahsoka is not what I expected.”

He shook his head slightly, a hint of helplessness crossing his lips, "But you didn't... give her a chance back then."

He took a step forward, bringing the two of them closer.

You don't understand what love is.

They don't even know the taste of loss.

You don't even understand your own mother.

'Master.'

Anakin avoided his gaze, looking at the falling leaves in the distance, a thousand words in his heart, but ultimately he didn't say them.

He didn't know how to view his former mentor.

Once upon a time, everything was so simple: master and apprentice.

What now?
Sometimes, Obi-Wan Kenobi represents safety and stability; his familiar voice and figure can dispel the gloom in his heart.

At other times, he acts like a domineering older brother, either hindering him or competing with him, stubbornly adhering to dogmas that he himself doesn't fully understand.

Besides, Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't want to take him on as an apprentice in the first place, did he?

Obi-Wan did it simply out of a sense of duty.

This thought, tinged with a familiar bittersweetness, welled up in my heart.

“Let me put it this way,” Obi-Wan led him away from the training grounds and onto the wide stone steps leading into the depths of the temple, their footsteps echoing in the empty space, “if you want to become a master, training an apprentice into a Jedi is a necessary condition.”

Anakin would have been thrilled to hear this.

Now, he's not even sure if he deserves this prestigious title.

In his view, the title of Jedi Master was too far-fetched, too distant, as if shrouded in a blood-stained fog.

He walked in silence, his gaze sweeping over the familiar carvings on both sides of the temple corridor, those stories of peace and wisdom now seeming so distant.

He shook his head, dismissing those thoughts.

Anakin often found himself being attacked by unwanted thoughts.

He had faced countless battlefields, from the sandstorms of Coriban and the mud of Jabim to the deadly light of the Crystal Forest of Christophersis and the blood and fear that permeated the Tusken village on the Tatooine Sea, and he returned to those places again and again in his nightmares.

But facing the shadow of failure is one thing, and facing the unspeakable resentment that occasionally wells up in him towards a mentor and friend he cares about is quite another.

That resentment was like a poisonous thorn, embedded in the very foundation of trust.

He wasn't sure which one was harder to face.

When he told Padmé these things, she was surprised. Her surprise was tinged with worry; her deep brown eyes would gaze at him inquiringly, and her fingers would gently trace the furrowed brow of his face.

Moreover, that's not the whole truth, is it?

After all, isn't Obi-Wan Kenobi just a character made up of half-truths and exaggerations?

Anakin knew him so well that he didn't even need the Force to sense his deliberate understatement and roundabout teaching methods.

Obi-Wan knew this too.

There were too many unspoken words and tacit understandings between them.

“Alright,” Obi-Wan finally sighed, stopping at the crossroads of a wide corridor where light streamed in through tall arched windows, illuminating the dust motes in the air. “Then tell the truth.”

He put his hands behind his back, his expression turning serious. "The battles against Jabim and Christophersis have cost us dearly. We need more Jedi capable of commanding on the battlefield. The Republic's propaganda department has done a good job maintaining a facade, but..."

A sarcastic smile appeared on his lips as he continued, "The entire army has suffered heavy losses, and the rate of replenishment cannot keep up with the consumption."

“We have lost too many Jedi.” Anakin’s voice was particularly clear in the empty corridor.

He recalled those familiar faces, now all that remained were the cold death notifications on the communicator.

“It’s all too much, Anakin.” Obi-Wan’s voice was heavy with weariness. “The Battle of Christopher Sith was the last straw that broke Banza’s back.”

His gaze drifted into the distance, as if he could see that brutal battle. "Yuraren and his officers are currently at odds with the Admiralty. After losing an entire theater of operations, the high command has been forced to replan the operational area, and we haven't received any news from Admiral Wurtz."

He paused, then looked back at Anakin. "They've been pressuring Jedi Command to send more commanders and generals, which means they need more Jedi, regardless of seniority."

So, does that mean we failed?

Anakin thought bitterly to himself.

A group of exhausted soldiers, under the guise of fighting for the greater good, exploited the children's enthusiasm and threw them into the cruel meat grinder of the separatist war machine.
Anakin felt fortunate that he had already been tempered by his past experiences before the war broke out.

But what about these apprentices?
Those children, like Ahsoka, whose eyes still sparkle with innocent, dreamlike longing?

How many people can emerge from the crucible of war like him, becoming strong and resolute?
How many more people will become twisted, broken, or even shattered to pieces?

How many more people never emerge from the war, leaving behind only a name and a date on a routine obituary?
Obi-Wan Kenobi said that practice is the best way to learn, and that is certainly true.

Because given the current situation in the Milky Way, you only have one chance to fail.

The price of failure is death.

"What if I refuse?" Anakin asked stubbornly, his jaw tightening again with an almost childlike stubbornness.

Obi-Wan shrugged, a hint of resignation in his gesture. "The Jedi Council will still assign you one. Listen, the Apprentice Tournament is in a week. Why don't we go and see if anyone catches your eye?"

He tried to make the proposal sound like an option.

“I thought the tournament had been postponed because of the war.” Anakin’s voice carried a barely perceptible wavering.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan nodded, his eyes deep, “and now it’s been brought forward again because of the war.”

The subtext of this sentence is so heavy it's almost suffocating.

They need to send fresh blood to the battlefield as soon as possible.

This simple sentence carried a heavy weight, making it hard for Anakin to breathe.

He closed his eyes, a wave of exhaustion washing over him.

At this moment, all he wanted was to feel the safety and warmth in Padmé's arms, and to escape the endless war and the heavy burden of responsibility, even if only for a moment.

The cold stone walls of the temple seemed to be closing in on him.

(PS: This scene transition is to advance the main plot of the situation after the simulation battle. I won't go into the details of the Republic's competition, but it's about Skywalker taking on apprentices.)

The description of Skywalker is quite detailed here, mainly because this character is very important, and the Republic's upcoming "Operation Trident" revolves around him.

The simulation battle consists of four chapters. After recruiting through the simulation battle, you need to start planning your strategy.

The match between Raine and Baris and Anakin and Ahsoka will begin soon.

(End of this chapter)