Chapter Text
"Is it true you captured Anakin Skywalker?" Obi-Wan asked as soon as he entered the Mand'alor's office.
Bo-Katan gave him a long, questioning look over her desk and put down the datascreen she'd been reading. "Elek."
Obi-Wan took the hint and switched into Mando'a. "I need to see him."
"Why?" Bo-Katan said. "You're no longer a Jedi, he's not your brother any longer."
"No, he's my padawan—was my padawan." The Jedi word felt awkward in the sentence, but Obi-Wan didn't have a better one to use. The Mando'a for student, hibir, felt too distant and impersonal.
"So?"
Obi-Wan gritted his teeth and realized he was going to have to put this in terms that a Mandalorian would understand. "Kryze—Mand'alor, you wouldn't keep a parent from his child, would you?"
That had the desired effect and made Bo-Katan pause. She lifted her eyebrows and studied Obi-Wan with open curiosity and a tinge of something that might have been respect. "Are you claiming him as your own?"
"I trained him since he was nine years old," Obi-Wan said. "No, not trained—" He was using the verb for teaching someone a new skill, but that didn't have the right connotations. "I don't know the word." He stopped in frustration and said in Basic, "How do you say 'raised'? Like raising a child?"
"Ba'jurir," Bo-Katan said.
"Oh." Obi-Wan should have realized that. It was also the verb for to educate. Obi-Wan had been "ba'jur"ed himself in the Indoctrination Center. "I raised him."
Bo-Katan narrowed her eyes and rested her chin on one hand. "New captives aren't supposed to see anyone. It's a sensitive time, before they've started formal Indoctrination."
"What are you afraid of?" Obi-Wan asked in frustration. "That I'm going to see him and immediately revert back to being a Jedi?"
Bo-Katan tipped her head once in the Mandalorian version of a shrug. "He's meant to be integrating and bonding with his new teachers," she said bluntly. "Seeing you will only reinforce his Jedi identity."
"Not if I'm not a Jedi. You don't understand, this is—" Obi-Wan stopped, realizing he didn't actually know how to explain it.
"It's what?" Bo-Katan said. She glanced down at her datascreen, clearly annoyed with him and wanting to wrap up this conversation.
"Jedi don't have family," Obi-Wan said, knowing how abhorrent that would sound to a Mandalorian. Bo-Katan grimaced. "But padawan and master is the closest relationship we—they have. If I go to him and tell him that there's a different way, that I've chosen a different path..."
Bo-Katan's expression eased like Obi-Wan was finally talking sense. She nodded and stroked her chin. "You think he'll follow you?"
"I know he will."
"And you'll claim him as your child?"
Obi-Wan faltered at that. He'd already done as much in this conversation, but the whole idea would surely seem strange to Anakin.
"We aren't the Jedi," Bo-Katan said impatiently. "If I tell the Indoctrinators that Anakin's former master wants to see him, that won't be enough. But if I say his father wants to see him…" She used the Basic word, father, not buir, like she knew it would make it more real to him.
"Yes, of course," Obi-Wan said. "Of course I will. I know the vows."
"Good." Bo-Katan clapped her hands together and got up. "Let me comm the Indoctrination Center."
They had Anakin in one of the specialized detention cells that Obi-Wan remembered well. There was a one-way viewing screen on the wall which let Obi-Wan see him before they went inside. The room was cozy and homelike with soft furniture and tapestries hanging on the walls. Anakin was standing at the center with his arms crossed as if he was refusing to touch any of the furnishings and risk being comforted by them. Obi-Wan remembered reacting much the same way when he was brought here.
Anakin was still wearing his Jedi robes, although they were torn and stained with blood, likely from the fight that had led to his capture. He'd no doubt refused to change into any of the Mandalorian clothing they had offered him. His hair was longer than it had been a year ago and it fell in loose waves around his face. As Obi-Wan watched, Anakin turned his head, and it became obvious that his padawan braid was gone. Obi-Wan's heart clenched in his chest.
"Your parent is here to see you," the Indoctrinator said as she entered the room ahead of Obi-Wan.
Anakin's face creased in confusion, but then opened up in relief when he saw Obi-Wan walking behind her. "Master!" he said and rushed forward to meet him.
Obi-Wan reached out and caught Anakin by the shoulders. He could feel Anakin's relief as their neglected Force bond flared back to life and emotions flowed between them once again. Anakin wanted to embrace him, but Obi-Wan held him at arm's length so he could look him over. His face was bruised and one eye was blackened. It looked like it had been swollen shut until very recently.
Obi-Wan raised a hand to cup his injured cheek and Anakin flinched slightly.
"It's still tender," Anakin said. "I think I broke something."
"They didn't take you to a healer?" Obi-Wan said in concern.
Anakin shrugged. "I refused to see them."
Obi-Wan pressed his lips together and made an irritated noise at the back of his throat. "And leaving yourself injured helps what exactly?"
"I didn't want them getting in my head," Anakin said. He glanced at the Indoctrinator standing at the door and then back at Obi-Wan. "They're only treating us well because they want us to fall in line."
He was right, of course, but Obi-Wan said nothing. Instead, he reached up to touch Anakin's hair, running his fingers through the long ends of it. He couldn't help a frown even though he was proud. "You made a knight without me."
Anakin looked down, suddenly shy and a bit guilty, like he had betrayed Obi-Wan in this. "The Council decided I was ready. Master Windu stood in for you."
"I'm sorry I wasn't there," Obi-Wan said. He cupped the back of Anakin's head and squeezed his shoulder with his other hand. "Look at you, Jedi Knight Skywalker."
Anakin raised his eyes and smiled at him, but his expression wavered. His presence in the Force was worried and uncomfortable. "What about you?" he asked. "Are you still…"
Anakin looked down at Obi-Wan's clothing, his combat boots and practical pants, and the traditional tunic designed so it could be tucked under armor.
"No, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, blunt but gentle. "I'm no longer a Jedi."
"How—" Anakin shook his head and pulled away from him. "I don't understand, how could you, of all people—"
"No, I wouldn't either if I were in your place," Obi-Wan said. "But you will understand. Soon."
Anakin shook his head again in denial. "Master, whatever they've done to you—"
"I'm not your master anymore, Anakin."
That made Anakin stop and close his mouth. He looked deeply unhappy about it, but he knew Obi-Wan was correct. Whatever Obi-Wan's current status, Anakin was a knight in his own right now and no longer his padawan.
"Have you started your Mando'a lessons?" Obi-Wan asked. He remembered them beginning quite early, language immersion being one of the first parts of the Indoctrination program, but Anakin had only been here a few days.
"Yes," Anakin said and looked away with a sullen expression, reverting to the petulant padawan despite his knighthood.
"Do you know how to introduce yourself?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes, ner gai Anakin," he said, irritated and sounding exactly like he used to when Obi-Wan would quiz him about his Jedi lessons. He turned away and made a frustrated gesture. "But I knew that already anyway."
"Hm, and how would you say to know?"
Anakin opened his mouth, but then shook his head. "I haven't learned that yet."
"Kar'taylir," Obi-Wan said, exaggerating the consonants and speaking slowly for him. "Ni kar'tayl for 'I know.' And what about the word for child? You know that one, right?"
"Ad," Anakin said. "That's easy. Like Mando'ade."
"Right," Obi-Wan said. "And have they taught you the vows yet?"
"Like for swearing the Resol'nare?" Anakin rolled his eyes a little and mispronounced the word, putting the stress on the wrong syllable. He sat down heavily on one of the couches and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back from his face. "Yes, they talked about that, but they didn't go into the details."
"No, I don't mean those vows," Obi-Wan said. "Well, not exactly. It's related. Mandalorians are very—practical about forming family relationships. There are certain phrases you say to create a partnership. Or adopt a child."
"Sure, like battlefield adoptions," Anakin said, and waved a hand. He was clearly confused why Obi-Wan had changed the subject to this. "Of course, that shows up in holodramas about Mandalorians all the time."
"Hmm." Obi-Wan hadn't been aware of Anakin watching any holodramas while he was a padawan. Maybe that was something Padmé had liked? Such programs tended to be exaggerated and inaccurate, but it was helpful that Anakin was already aware of the general idea.
Obi-Wan glanced at the Indoctrinator at the door. It might be nice to have some privacy for this, but then again it would be useful to have a witness to confirm it had happened. "Anakin, come here."
"What?" Anakin said, but he got up when Obi-Wan beckoned for him.
Obi-Wan took Anakin's shoulders in his hands and adjusted his stance so he was standing squarely in front of him. Obi-Wan stared at him, unable to speak for a moment. Whatever his reasons for doing this, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty that it was happening now, when Anakin was a full Jedi Knight and an adult, and not when he had been a small, frightened child of nine years old.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan said, raising his voice so the Indoctrinator would be able to hear him too. "Ni kar'tayl gai sa'ad, Anakin Skywalker."
Anakin startled at the words, but didn't pull away when Obi-Wan tugged him in for a hug.
"You're my son, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, speaking into the soft waves of his hair. The words felt awkward in Basic, so he switched into Mando'a, trusting that Anakin would have learned the words for family relationships already. "You're my son. I'm your father."
Anakin trembled in his arms like he was afraid or in pain, but he leaned into his hold and lowered his head until it was resting against Obi-Wan's shoulder. He made a soft, wounded sound. "Master—"
"Nayc, ner ad," Obi-Wan said. No, my child. Why was that so much easier to say in Mando'a?
"Obi-Wa—" Anakin stopped and corrected himself, still speaking into Obi-Wan's shoulder. "Buir."
Obi-Wan stroked Anakin's hair and rocked him in his arms like he was a small boy again. Anakin's breathing was shaky against his shoulder and he gasped as if he was fighting back a sob.
Obi-Wan glanced over at the Indoctrinator to see how she was taking this in and she smiled at him approvingly. Her eyes were bright and she was blinking back unshed tears. Perfect. Now no one would doubt Obi-Wan's relationship to Anakin or his right to see him.