Oriel Dune | Obi-Wan Kenobi

Chapter Thirty Six

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
- Darth Vader

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"Why aren't you listening to me? I'm telling you he's alive! I spoke to him, I saw him!" Oriel pushed desperately to Jedi council.

"You mean you spoke and saw bounty hunter Rako Hardeen?" Master Shaak Ti asked unimpressed.

"Well yes . . . actually no . . . well kind of, but look there's no time to explain we have to get him back before he gets himself killed!" She almost begged.

"Master Dune!" Master Windu's voice broke her from her pleads. "A dead man can't die twice." He said but almost sounded unsure if it was the right thing to say so he looked to Master Yoda for assistance.

"Right, Master Windu is. A close friend of yours Master Kenobi was and Rako Hardeen, his killer. Confused you may be, in denial, that is why back to Mandalore you should go." Master Yoda said with a sigh.

"No, I will not go back to Mandalore while my – while my friend is out there. If he was really dead then how did Hardeen become in possession of this?" Oriel stopped herself before she made a mistake and held out Obi-Wan's lightsaber in front of her for the council to see.

A few small in takes of breath could be heard around the room and a few confused grumbles, but Master Windu and Master Yoda didn't seem surprised, instead they just looked at each other and nodded.

"A word, Master Dune, in privet can we have?" Yoda asked while she just eyed him curiously and nodded slowly.

The three Jedi masters walked in silence out of the council chambers and into one of the empty meditation rooms and they waited for the door to seal shut behind them before anyone spoke.

"Right you are Oriel." Master Yoda said after a moments silence.

"What?" Oriel asked lowly, her voice laced with frustration.

"Alive, Obi-Wan Kenobi is. Taken place as Rako Hardeen he has, under instruction from council." He explained but it didn't answer any of her thousands of questions.

"You knew?" She was starting to raise her voice and her eyes were darkening again.

"I understand your frustration –" Master Windu begun but she was not in the mood for excuses.

"My frustration!? I am way past frustration. In case you've forgotten I too am a member of the Jedi Council, why was I not informed of this? Why was I not part of the vote? Why was I excluded from this like so many other matters?" Oriel was yelling by the end of her out burst.

"You were a vital part in this assignment, possibly the most important. Your reaction to Master Kenobi's death was what would convince everyone that he really was gone therefore he could carry out his assignment with no interruptions." Master Windu explained in further detail.

"That's not fair." Her voice was barely above a whisper now that she had come down from her outburst.

"You can't just use me as a pawn without telling me. You can't rip my heart into pieces and tell me to move on." She shook her heads as she held her breath to push back the tears threatening to spill again.

"Regret deeply I do, for putting you through this. But right Master Windu is. Pulled this off without your true reaction we could not have." Master Yoda apologised sorrily as his small hand took Oriel's.

"Although, Master Dune, if you don't mind me saying. This might have been good for you." Master Windu interrupted and made her look at him confusingly.

"What I mean to say is your time away from Kenobi might have done you some good. It seems he is the root of all of your . . . emotions." He wasn't very direct but Oriel could tell he meant it in accusation.