tpm_flashback | Duty by RavenD

Greetings, earthlings, and welcome to my inaugural post. :D I have not chosen any kind of theme for my selection of recommendations other than "fic Fishgoat liked enough to keep on her hard drive", so expect all sorts of different things, not just humour. So, onward we go.....

Title: Duty
Author: RavenD
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Q/O
Warnings: Set during TPM, that scene that didn't happen, happened.
Author's e-mail, web site and/or LJ id:

oldblackbird ravendreams @ earthlink.net
Link: http://www.ravenswing.com/ravendreams/fic/sw/mem/duty.html

Reasons for recommending:

I love this piece for many reasons, the main one being that it most exemplifies to me how Obi-Wan would act as a Jedi in his time of tragedy. The mood is serene all the way through despite the tinges of melancholy and wistfulness. There are no overdone histrionics, just a Jedi doing what needs to be done with no fuss.

Quote from story:

I can hear them in the distance, boot heels clicking on tile, the slow tap of a cane, the swish of a cloak. I put on my cloak, pull up my hood and lift my chin. I am Jedi, as was my master before me. Looking into the gilded mirror, I am proud to see my hands do not shake, my eyes are dry. A small line rests between my brows, a crease that cries for you as I cannot.

I cannot help but wonder, Qui-Gon, if you didn't hold something back from me. Perhaps your discontent, your distance, was not a result of years of training.

Perhaps it started as a pain that mere tears could not erase.

One more moment, one last time, I stroke the crease above your eyebrows. One more kiss to my spot. One more trace of your bottom lip. One last moment of us before I have to be me.

More discussion:

I especially like the way she reveals that Qui-Gon is in fact dead through subtle hints, as for example in Obi-Wan's reluctance to look at his master's torso more than necessary, and the lack of movement or reaction at all on Qui-Gon's part. Obi-Wan's memories of Qui-Gon and their life together underscore that this is in fact a kind of wake rather than merely a new-made Knight looking over his life.

The detail is exquisite - each part of Qui-Gon's body is described as obi-Wan washes it, and with it comes snippets of memory, perhaps the reason for a crease of the brow or a scar here and there. The description of the broken finger nail and how Obi-Wan decides to cut it off so as not to catch on Qui-Gon's robes almost fools one into thinking that maybe he is alive. The later mention of the chest wound 'that looks so foreign, so undeniably wrong' of course kills all hope of that scenario.

I freely admit I had this fic in mind when I wrote my recent drabble for