With that resolution in mind, Obi-Wan found his recovery to be swift in the eyes of his physicians. He soon earned his discharge from the hospital, his wife coming to escort him from the room to the outside world, where he learned that Anakin was waiting, having driven Padmé - whose pregnancy was too advanced to allow driving - there and promised to drive them both back to their home.

Though he was not completely reconciled to living in this world, Obi-Wan knew that it was time for him to begin doing so, as the break of each day drew him further and further from the world he had once called his own. Only a slight feeling of disorientation remained, one which would not be lessened by the continued convalescence within the hospital. He had to leave the relative safety of the place, seek out whatever new discoveries there remained to learn about this brave new world in which he lived.

In time he would adjust to this reality, his old one become just a memory which stole upon his consciousness occasionally, as memories tend to do, without reason or logic, except those that are beyond one's understanding. He must not regret the transition, for he had no protégé lost to the darkside, as well as the love of a good woman, and the prospect of two beautiful children awaiting him.

Holding Padmé's hand, he sought her lips once more, for a final kiss before they stepped out into the sunlight.

© Danielle Harwood-Atkinson 2021. All rights reserved.