Chapter Text
Luke Skywalker’s first impression of omegas comes around his 7th birthday when his Uncle Owen finally decides to provide more detail about his parents, after near-continuous begging, and he finally learns their designations.
He wasn’t surprised to hear that his father had been a headstrong, proud Alpha of the Republic, or that his mother had been a beautiful, loved-by-all Omega.
But his young heart became stricken when he heard that after the war took his father away, his mother could not stand to be apart from her mate, and died rather than raise her young.
Leaving him alone with his aunt and uncle as a moisture farm-hand for the rest of his days.
Luke couldn’t help but feel as though if he ended up an omega he would be cursed to live the same way; beholden to some alpha for his life.
Aunt Beru, a sweet and calm beta, had chided her chosen mate at his gruff explanation. She sat at the edge of Luke’s bed a few nights later to comfort the young boy when he had explained his distress to her. Carefully choosing her words, she caressed his soft blonde hair and explained,
“I only met your mother once,” she began, “but she was not a weak, simpering Omega. She held herself with grace and class, and directed her stubborn mate as best she could.” She paused for emphasis and to try and determine how best to soothe him,
“Omegas are the glue in their families, they bring forth children who are dear, but they also must contend with an Alpha’s strength and occasional rage. Sometimes even the strongest person cannot stand against the person they love, even if they can stand against an army otherwise.”
She had nodded then at her own wisdom and tucked him tighter into his bedding against the cooling night air.
Luke rolled her words around in his young brain, and finally decided that he would rather be an omega than an alpha, and he was not going to let any alpha into his life.
—
Luke Skywalker finally met Ben Kenobi after his presentation at the young age of 13.
His sweet omega scent was still learning to settle, and his first heat had completed with much chagrin on his part.
Some of the older boys at school had traded stories about holos they had seen of omegas in heat, and Luke did not find his days of fever, cramps, and soiling pants to be as alluring as they made it out to be.
His first impression upon meeting Ben was that he was old.
His shoulders seemed to have been burdened by a great weight, more hunched than Luke had ever seen before. The man had wrinkles across his face, more around his down-turned mouth, but some imprint of smiling crows feet still remained, from a happier time. The man was also thin, with clothes that were made of many patches, but even amongst all that a fact remained, the man was also an omega.
Luke had yet to meet an elder omega, some classmates beginning to come into their designations, but most teachers were the steady beta type, and the market so busy with aliens of every kind that he was never quite sure if they had the same sexual trimorphism that humanoids held in the galaxy.
So the day a man with a white speckled beard strolled across the desert towards their home and Luke had caught the sweet scent of another omega on the air, he had scrambled up to greet him, dashing across the sand to greet the man halfway to the door.
“Hi I’m Luke, I’m an omega too!” He proudly declared, sticking his hand out strongly toward the older man.
The shock was apparent on the weathered face, and maybe if Luke was older he would have also seen the look of recognition in the sorrowful eyes, as if seeing a ghost from days past. But mostly Luke saw the gentle smile begin to grow across the man’s lips at his antics, and a strong hand clasped his small one.
“Ben Kenobi, young one, I am pleased to hear your pride at your designation, but it is often prudent to keep it a tight secret from strangers. Are your aunt and uncle home?”
His voice was soft and genial, but held great command of his new young friend who felt properly chastised. Luke nodded and took off towards the house, still too young and trusting, never wondering how the man knew his guardians in the first place.
Uncle Owen had been stiff when he saw the man at their door, and grumbled as Beru welcomed him in for refreshment from the heat and sand. Their talk was general at first, but Luke hung on every word of the older man, sitting across from him at the table and sniffing none too quietly to fill his head more with the man’s scent.
Ben seemed amused by the antics, knowing it was his biology and curiosity getting the best of him, but eventually Owen shooed him from the table to his room as they had to speak on more serious adult matters. Luke couldn’t help himself and snuck to the steps outside the dining area to attempt to listen in.
“Has the boy shown any skills?” Ben was asking his aunt and uncle. Aunt Beru spoke quietly about his skill with the droids around the house, and his desire to pick up a blaster and fly just like his father.
Luke thought himself very skilled; his math calculations were tolerable and he even built model planes, so he didn’t see why Beru had focused on only a few small things.
“We don’t want you getting any thoughts in his head, Kenobi,” Owen’s own reply was brusque, Luke did not understand the animosity. Ben continued to be kind as if taking no note of his rebuff.
“I just came to ensure he’s being taken care of, I have observed from afar for so long, but I felt guided to become known to the boy after his coming of age. Which as the boy so kindly told me, was likely due to the lack of an omegan elder in his life. “ Uncle Owen harrumphed some more, but Luke felt thrilled to know that maybe he had a new friend who could help him learn about himself more.
“You will not come to him,” Owen’s sharp words cut through his daydreams, “you can only bring more destruction to this family.”
“But if he wishes to seek you out later, then there is nothing we can do. We have taken him as our son and we don’t want to lose him to the stars because he’s heard your tales.” Beru shushes him gently, as his voice had been growing louder in his distress.
Luke had never heard his uncle so concerned and forceful besides the times he bargained for droids. He didn’t understand why his uncle held such disdain for this random desert man, but it only made Luke more interested.
“I will take my leave,” Ben said demurely and walked away from the table where Luke’s guardians sat, still seemingly lost in thought, Beru gently stroking her mate's hands in a calming manner.
Luke was not fast enough to move away and Ben came upon him on the steps. But he was not chided or tattled on, but given a wink and ushered to the front door.
“I am here for you, Luke,” the man told him, getting down on one knee to be at eye level and emphasize,
“If you need me or wish to learn more about your omegan side, I will know and will come to meet you on the dunes. In time you can make the trek to my hut past the canyons, but you are too young yet.” Luke bristled at the mention of his age but was too eager to say anything about it and nodded rapidly. He was graced with another of those small smiles that didn’t quite reach the old man’s eyes.
“May the force be with you,” was whispered between them as Ben stood and pulled his hood back on to begin his walk home through the evening sunsets.
Luke watched the strange old omega go with confusion, his unfamiliar sweet scent still tickling his nose, and a sense of resolve came over the young boy.
He would be the best little protege to the old desert man, and maybe he could get Ben Kenobi smiling again.
—
A teenager is not known to always be the most tactful, but Luke was always open and earnest in his questions, so Ben Kenobi always tried to answer as truthfully as possible, even if sometimes it felt like a knife was twisting in his heart.
Their first few discussions were easy: “What’s your scent and what will mine be?”, “Why are there alphas and omegas?” but those quickly became “Do I have to have an alpha?” “Did you have an alpha?”
And not for the first time Ben is struck by the familiarity of sandy hair and blue eyes, before he has to center himself in the Force and remember how he used to train younglings in the crèche or provide guidance to his lost padawan.
“My scent is that of sweetgrass and mud from my home planet of Stewjon,” he explained that first time,
“I was taken from there in my youth, but was able to learn about my culture from others, and my own guardian and teacher was luckily Stewjoni, and provided me details and eventual visits to see my roots.”
Here he had to pause, his old heart still sore about the loss of his master, 40 years though it had been. But he could feel him still in the force, and in those moments speaking to Luke about his own younger days, it was like his master was coming to brush his hand over both their hair as he once did with Obi-Wan and Anakin on the same planet so many years past.
“Scents are often related to one’s parents, clan, and upbringing,” he attempted to tell the young man the next time they met.
They guessed at what Luke’s scent could settle into, with his family history on this desert planet, as well as other more green and wet places. His young adolescent scent was no longer the sweet milk of a youngling, but still seemed refreshing on the palate, which Ben carefully sent a wish into the universe meant his final scent would be similar to his mother’s and not his alpha father's.
Ben was often being probed multiple times into scenting the boy, gently rubbing their wrists together or hugging close.
He had attempted to explain such things were usually reserved for friends and family, but the boy was undeterred. Ben had cried a whole evening when Luke had earnestly replied “well of course you’re a friend, and can scent me.”
Kenobi wondered if in another universe he had scented the boy from birth as part of his clan, but those deep sorrows had been released into the force shortly after, peace gracing the man as he knew the boy now.
Ben Kenobi hesitated for a time about discussing Alphas. He had loved and lost so much, but the boy was young and had never lost anything besides clothes or a toy.
The loss of his parents more abstract than a true pain that Luke had to learn to live with.
“Alphas are not always lovers,” he slowly starts one afternoon as they’re sharing tea in his hut.
Luke is now 15 and has been slowly repairing his own speeder, making slow travel to Ben’s home every few months when chores allow. Luke is sitting crossed legged on the well worn carpets, eagerly listening.
“The first alpha I had was my guardian and teacher, our bond familial and deep,” he does not name Qui-gon, for fear he would not be able to continue on,
“There was of course concern for placing a young omega with an alpha, but my late presentation allowed us to become close and by then we would not be separated.”
Then he sighs deeply, “Do not ever trust an alpha that says he could not control himself around an omega, especially in heat. Our biology does not force us into sexual connection, and as an omega you have power, it cannot be taken away from you even by the most foolhardy alpha.”
Ben controls the anger bubbling in his chest at the thought of those that had approached him before, of Xanatos' brief attempts that had been forcibly stopped by their master.
Ben could not help but feel a rage at the mere possibility that Luke could face such things. The young man held a serious look on his face as he tore at a piece of crust, and nodded his understanding. The next part is more difficult;
“That’s not to say that I wouldn’t have wished for the relationship to move from familial to romantic,” his swallow is loud, he thinks, “but my alpha kept me close for many years and under his tutelage it would have been indecent, when I thought we may be able to move forward… he was lost to me.”
He does not speak any more that day and Luke understands in his sweet way, giving Ben a hug before leaving to think over his words.
Ben Kenobi sat in his darkening hut with his grief.
He had spoken to his master's ghost about it once. The tall alpha had smiled so large and sad, and said he would have been proud to be Obi-wan’s official mate, and he was sorry to have left him before they could have tried.
Luke’s visits become fewer and farther between as he aged, finally able to explore more with his own agemates and learn about omega ways from experience.
Ben Kenobi did not mourn it, for a time he had provided his own sort of master role to the young man, and he hoped he would continue to be around to see him become an omega in his own right.