Chapter Text
"Cody!" Obi-Wan answered his comms, pleased and surprised. "Is this urgent? I'm still with the younglings."
"I suppose it isn't," Cody answered, in a tone Obi-Wan could read as 'I'd like to talk, but nothing is currently on fire.'
"Let me get to my rooms and comm you back. A few minutes."
Cody looked relieved enough that Obi-Wan found himself hurrying back to his quarters. He'd been off comms for days as he travelled. It was pure coincidence that Cody's hail found him at the Temple; he'd been travelling so much lately. He'd only returned to Coruscant to deliver the Neti youngling he'd encountered.
He missed the company of his men, such a constant over the past few years. And he especially missed Cody. But whenever he thought about going to Concord Dawn, his stomach clenched.
The Force hadn't yet steered him there. Someday.
"Now, what has happened?" he said when Cody answered on the first ring.
"We got Ohnai and Djai back," Cody said, with something of devastation in his voice.
Cody's use of 'we' suggested the 212th and the names rang a bell, so most likely Ghost company. 'Back' meant they hadn't been with Ghost at the end. Obi-Wan's mind raced, trying to place the familiar names in the progression of Ghost company troopers he'd had over the years.
"Thesh squad? Felucia?"
"Yes. They'd been shelled directly. That whole section was overrun, and we had to be extracted."
The area where the squad had been a hellpit. If it had seemed at all possible for them to survive, Obi-Wan would have found a way to send a LAAT/I to them, even if late. How the two troopers might have made it out of there alive, Obi-Wan couldn't guess.
"Yes. They survived, and were picked up by slavers."
"Force."
Obi-Wan pressed his knuckles to his forehead, acknowledging the wave of guilt and grief and anger and trying to let it float away on the tidal streams of the Force. It was hard to find the happiness at finding the men, under the rest of the emotions.
"I think most of Thesh was with them, but that the others didn't survive the slavers," Cody said, his face struggling for composure for a moment. "I haven't dared ask them about it yet."
"Are they…" Obi-Wan hesitated on how to end that sentence. 'Okay' or 'well' seemed wrong. He didn't think there was any possible answer to those. He began again. "How are they?"
"They got here five days ago, they're still pretty overwhelmed. They've stayed inside the Medical center until today. I don't think it's real for them yet, and the mind healer says that'll probably take time. I'm looking for a suitable place for them to live."
"You don't want them in the barracks," Obi-Wan understood. Concord Dawn had a setup for arriving vode. There were barrack-style rooms, a mess hall, and other spaces set up for men to live in, to recover, and to figure out where to go from there. To learn about the options that were open to them and to get support in figuring out what they wanted. Now the flood of arrivals had slowed to a trickle, they were likely mostly empty.
For most of the vode, that kind of barracks style living represented safety, Obi-Wan knew. It was as close to 'home' as they'd even known, before Concord Dawn. For two men who'd been through so much, anything that institutional might not exactly feel like a comfort.
"Yeah," Cody sighed. "Kix just called saying they adopted a pet and need a place sooner than later."
"Well, a pet seems like it might be positive. How is their health?"
"Djai is recovering with proper rest and bacta. Ohnai's lungs were.. not good. Medical got their bacta nebuliser a couple of weeks ago, so he's been on daily treatments and will probably need them for a while. I thought about hosting them myself, but…"
But while the Vod'alor had a house, he spent the vast majority in his office or the little apartment adjacent to the governing buildings.
"Last time I talked to them, Waxer and Boil were talking about making the shed in their garden into a guesthouse," Obi-Wan mused. "I don't know how workable the distance from there to the Medical Unit is. But they'd be good for Djai and Ohnai, I think." Familiar faces. Steady presences.
Cody made a thoughtful noise.
"I'll ask them. Making sure Djai and Ohnai have some company to help them along is probably good. They didn't know that the war is over before they were freed, and it's only been a short time. This is a lot all at once for them."
"Oh yes, how did they get free? Did Lightning get that Outer Rim slaver-busting tour plan off the ground already? I thought they were still working on outfitting the ship."
"Oh no, you'll… that's a whole thing," Cody chuckled wryly. "They had to repeat three times before I understood who freed them. And it still seems unbelievable."
"...well, don't keep me in suspense," Obi-Wan said lightly.
"Their slave transport ship was taken mid-flight…"
"Uh huh," Obi-Wan acknowledged.
"...by three very distinct Zabrak brothers…"
"...oh…"
"...with markings they recognised…"
"Oh, no."
"...from when you fought the oldest brother, not to mention that they recognised the red lightsaber—"
"No."
"—Oh yes."
"Really. Darth Maul." Obi-Wan knew he sounded incredulous.
Cody made a noise of confirmation, and Obi-Wan fell silent, stunned, for the space of a few breaths. He had seen Darth Maul once since Naboo, on a battlefield not long after Geonosis. It had been the shock of a lifetime to find the man not only alive, but suddenly appearing behind the droid line Obi-Wan had leapt over, thinking to destroy them from behind to help his troops along. Instead of helping them, he'd been distracted by the sudden appearance of Darth Maul, who had planned the situation like this and was clearly gunning for Obi-Wan's life.
Despite the shock and dismay at seeing a long-dead enemy in front of him with murder in his eyes, he remembered being vaguely impressed that his opponent had managed to regain as much fighting prowess as he had. Cybernetic legs had to be influencing his connection to the force, but he was still formidable, and where he'd lacked his old acrobatic grace he'd gained in brutal driving strength.
They had talked, in a fashion, during their duel. Or rather, Maul had snapped that Obi-Wan had taken everything from him, but that he would pay with his life. And that through killing Obi-Wan, Maul would win back his place as Sith apprentice.
They'd been fairly evenly matched, trading back and forth across the battlefield, though Obi-Wan had been tired already. If not for Ghost company breaking through the line of battledroids he would have lost on endurance. His men had turned their attention to taking shots at the Sith fighting their general, forcing him to deflect. His attention divided, Maul had strategically withdrawn, though not before promising that the fight wasn't over and he would have his revenge.
Not long after, it had become clear from Dooku's disparaging words that Maul was no longer considered a player on the other side.
They hadn't heard anything from or about Maul since then, but that hadn't meant he wasn't still motivated to kill Obi-Wan. Until now, Obi-Wan hadn't realised that he'd subconsciously been waiting for the other shoe to drop and for that stark red and black face to suddenly appear in front of him, lightsaber in hand.
The last thing he'd expected to hear was to hear that the zabrak was apparently occupying himself with freeing slaves, of all things.
"I have many questions," Obi-Wan finally said.
"Yes, that was my reaction too. According to Djai it was definitely him," Cody said, and continued with incredulity in his tone. "Maul personally deactivated their slave chips so they could be removed. Apparently since they themselves are now free, they are working to free every other Nightbrother from slavery too, and anybody else they find while they're at it."
"They being Darth Maul and his two younger brothers?"
Darth Maul had brothers?
"Seems so. Savage and Feral."
Obi-Wan had learned after Naboo that his fearsome opponent had been a Dathomir Nightbrother, and logically that must mean he'd been born as part of a tribe. That it was completely plausible for him to have brothers.
It was just—almost impossible to think about Darth Maul having relatives without wondering what he'd been like as a child. To realise he hadn't always been the nightmare he was to Obi-Wan; hadn't always been a red and black focal point of rage and hate, channel and amplifier of every dark side emotion that Obi-Wan tried to release without letting it dig in its claws.
Little was known about the Nightsisters; it was some kind of heretic tribe on Dathomir, ruled by women who were powerful in the dark force. Maul's existence as a Sith apprentice had always seemed to prove that it was possible to break out of whatever constraints were laid on the men.
"I…. I might need some time to meditate on this."
Cody snorted. "Here's some more, while you're meditating on it."
"...all right…?"
"As far as I can tell, Maul and his brothers took the slaver ship, freed the slaves, and brought them all to some colony that would have taken them in. They obviously knew about Concord Dawn, because they assumed Djai and Ohnai would want to come here. When they did, Maul and his brothers brought them to another colony where they arranged a ride on a friendly trader to Concord Dawn."
"...are you… are you saying that Darth Maul had two men delivered to our doorstep?"
"I can't believe I am saying that, but… yes. I think so."
"Have they been… scanned? Evaluated by a mind healer?" His mind ticked over what kind of advantage Darth Maul might have thought to gain by returning these men.
"I thought of that too, but they are clear. Nothing physical or mental that could be a trap. Apparently Maul does want something in return for the men though."
"Oh, here we go." That sounded more like Darth Maul. Obi-Wan almost expected to hear the demand for his own life, but that made no sense; the men had already been returned, so Maul had already given up any leverage he might have had to demand such a thing.
It was all very surreal.
"They gave Djai a comms address to contact in case any of us ever finds a Nightbrother in need of a safe place."
...what.
"That's all. That's what he wants." Obi-Wan said flatly, because that made no sense.
"Seems so. I'm considering a thank you message for their care."
Obi-Wan hummed in acknowledgement.
"I want it known in those circles that we'll take people in, and especially older people who might struggle to work for their keep in frontier communities."
Obi-Wan nodded. They'd talked about the idea of taking in people willing to be acting grandparents to the youngest vode. It seemed like a good idea to diversify the population of Concord Dawn as soon as possible, and it could be a solution for former slaves who might struggle to find a place for themselves,.
Obi-Wan was still trying to order the facts into a way that they might form some sort of logical narrative. Some way there was a logical path from the furious, hateful Darth Maul who had been looking to work himself back into Sidious' questionable mercy, to a man who was flying around with two younger brothers and freeing slaves. And then apparently setting them up for a free life with the kind of attention to detail that Lighting Squadron's plans hadn't demonstrated yet.
"Djai and Ohnai didn’t happen to say how Maul got started rescuing slaves?"
"Kind of. Apparently Feral told them that Nightbrothers are all born slaves. And that Maul was given to Sidious as a young child."
Oh. Obi-Wan felt his breath gust out of him.
As far as he'd known, Sith had always been adult force users, turned or corrupted to the dark side. People like Dooku. And Anakin, who'd come so close to falling under Sidious' corrupting influence. Obi-Wan had never heard of anybody being raised into being a Sith.
He couldn't imagine that it had been anything less than brutal, or that there had been any way of refusing.
Meaning that the first slave Maul had freed had likely been himself.
"I need to… think about this," he finally told Cody. "Do you think Djai and Ohnai would appreciate if I commed them?"
That was not a given. Obi-Wan would not blame them if they were angry with him, blamed him for allowing this to happen.
"I'll ask them and let you know."
"Yes. Please."
"I sat down with them the day after they arrived. Wanted to give them my formal ni ceta. It was… hard. They were uncomfortable, but as both their commander and the Vod'alor it needed saying. And I think they'll appreciate it from you, too."
It was the kind of conversation Obi-Wan wasn't looking forward to; it was hard to balance all the emotions that came with 'I'm so glad you survived the terrible thing we allowed to happen to you while assuming you were dead' in a conversation. And that was before even considering how mixed the men might themselves be feeling about their commanders. But as Cody said, it still needed saying, and Obi-Wan wouldn't shy away from it.
"Yes. of course. If they end up staying with Waxer and Boil that'll help find the right moment. I speak to them regularly anyway."
"Yes. Good thought about asking those two. Even if the guesthouse isn't done yet, they have enough space."
"And they're… two of our more steady Ghosts," Obi-Wan said with amusement. He drew in a too-sharp breath on hearing his own wording. He wasn't sure if he could still… if that was still a thing he could say. Cody didn't seem to notice it.
"Definitely. They might do Djai and Ohnai good, I know that—"
Somebody entered the room Cody was in, and there was just the barest hint of irritation at being interrupted. Then Cody's face smoothed into the Vod'alor's diplomatic expression. Not one of the Shebse, then.
"I must go. We will speak again soon."
It didn't sound like a question, but Obi-Wan could recognise it as one in Cody's body language nonetheless.
"Yes, I will be at the temple for a few more days. I look forward to it."
Obi-Wan stayed in his chair for an indeterminable amount of time, his thoughts flitting over the new information, trying to process it. Djai and Ohnai, having been so lost that nobody had even known to look for them. How abandoned they must have felt, and how strange the world they now found themselves in.
And how strange their rescuers had been. How was it possible that Darth Maul, a face Obi-Wan sometimes still saw in his nightmares, represented rescue and freedom to a number of people in the galaxy? How had he gone from the nightmare Obi-Wan had known to this person?
Then again, how had he become that nightmare? If he'd been raised as a Sith—raised by Sidious...
With unclouded hindsight, Obi-Wan remembered what it had done to Anakin whenever he spent time with Palpatine. How he'd come back angry and unbalanced. And Sidious had been trying to entice Anakin to the Dark side. Had likely started from the first time he met the boy.
He would have had no need for enticement with Maul.
What might it be like to be raised by such a man, cut into shape, bent to his purpose from early childhood?
What might it be like to be discarded by such a man, dismissed from the only purpose you'd ever known?
He knew he himself could never make contact with the Nightbrothers. Maul may have bent his path away from revenge, his anger with Obi-Wan was justified. Look at what you did to me, he'd hissed, indicating his half-bionic body. And he'd been right. The strike Obi-Wan had used, at waist level, was considered dishonourable for a reason; death by bisection was slow and painful and far from assured. It only occurred to him now that Maul likely would have preferred to die in combat that day. A quick, decisive death in battle. An honourable death. Not the painful lingering he'd been forced into, made to live on with half a body, discarded by his master.
It sounded like Maul had found a new purpose through meeting his brothers. Had found something he wanted to live for. Had, in a way, freed himself from the self-destruction of his revenge-bound path by deciding to rescue all his nightbrothers.
Was it strange for Obi-Wan to want to… to acknowledge it somehow? He knew as the catalyst, if not the architect, of much of Maul's misery, he had no right to any sort of pride or pleasure at this change of path. Any sort of word or gesture coming from him would be viciously refused. Even risked pushing Maul back toward darker paths.
And yet—Maul and his brothers had sent two of the Vode home with the kind of consideration and care few might have stretched to. Obi-Wan felt it like a message, and wanted to answer it somehow.
Perhaps he could pass the knowledge about the Nightbrother refuge to the Jedi who worked along the Outer Rim, in case they ran into a Nightbrother. The Jedi returning one of Maul's brothers would have a pleasing kind of symmetry to it.
Maul had freed himself and then his brothers, and he'd used that freedom to rescue Djai and Ohnai and give them back the life they ought to have had.
Kote had freed himself and then all his brothers, too, and in the process had helped free the galaxy of the Sith who would have ruled it in darkness. Rex had made kin out of Anakin and likely made the difference between light and dark.
A long, slow chain reaction of brothers who chose to bind their fates together. People who had decided that their kinship was strong enough to move the galaxy, just a little, just enough. And through that, so many had wrested themselves out of Sidious' grasping influence. Had come through the darkness and into the light.
Obi-Wan could feel the slow, vast resonance of it in the Force, and smiled.