Maul walked across the desert, slow as his feet sank into the dunes and the cane hiding his saberstaff provided little help. The sky was clear above him. The stars would shine on his vengeance.
And he would have his vengeance, oh yes. He could taste Kenobi's presence in the Force now.
Somewhere, a fire crackled. Maul made his steps light and breathing silent.
He crested a final dune and saw the light of the fire – and the person sitting at it. At last. Kenobi.
His old foe's hair had gone white and frail, and wrinkles had spread over his human skin, but his eyes were still clear as they snapped from the fire. Kenobi creaked to his feet. Maul felt a moment of smugness over having knees that didn't creak – he'd built them himself – before that was swallowed by the old rage that Kenobi had cut him in half and left him for dead for a decade.
"I must admit, I didn't expect to meet you here," Kenobi carefully said.
"No matter what hinterlands of civilization you might have hid in, I would have found you just the same," Maul snarled. He unsheathed his saberstaff from his cane. Red light bathed the desert night and drowned out the fire.
Kenobi, to Maul's great surprise, didn't light his own lightsaber, in his hand though it may be. Instead he sighed and asked, "Must we?"
"What else is there for us?" Maul asked. "You started this in the reactor palace in Theed all those years ago when you cut me in half. For over a decade, I languished among mountains of trash, forced to subsist on vermin, before I could come find my vengeance. Yet you denied it from me and also refused to finish what you started. Two have come, but only one of us will leave."
"We could drink tea," Kenobi said.
"Drink tea," Maul dumbly echoed. "After everything, you would sit down and break bread with me? Do not delude yourself."
"Are you sure you don't want to entertain an old man's delusions?" Kenobi asked. "We could fight, yes – or we could sit down and drink tea. Perhaps do some stargazing." For a moment, he looked immensely tired; a rock ground to dust under Sidious's boot. "Not everything has to end in violence. No matter its start."
Maul stared at Kenobi. That went against everything he had ever been taught, by Sidious or by life.
He turned off his saberstaff, the dunes turning night-dark and fire-orange once more. The only sounds were the fire's crackle and their breathing. "Prove it."
Kenobi nodded and sank back to the ground. Maul took a cautious seat near him and thought his foe felt surprisingly relieved at this turn of events. Perhaps he'd truly meant it.
"It is hard to find decent tea this far out, especially while trying to maintain a low profile," Kenobi said apologetically as he poured tea into the top cover of the thermos. He himself looked to be drinking out of a mug in the sand.
"I haven't had the, ah, opportunity to drink much tea," Maul said as Kenobi pressed the tea-filled thermos top in his hands.
"I hope this will be a pleasant introduction, then."
Maul let the conversation drop as he cradled the plastic in his hands. It was only barely cool enough to hold. Something inside him settled as it countered the desert night's chill.
The tea itself tasted faintly earthy, with some notes Maul could only describe as "green" and "smooth" – though perhaps a human would taste something different. It was oddly appealing. Maul said as much.
Kenobi smiled into his mug. "I'm glad."
The fire crackled. Maul finished his tea and let the residual warmth of the mug radiate to his hands. The desert might not be silent, but he and Kenobi were the only sentients for kilometers. The Force told him Ezra was fine, so he gazed at the fire and for once just let himself be.
Eventually, the fire burned itself to embers. Kenobi made no motion to hide its remains under the sands.
"Why are you here?" Maul asked, more softly than he intended.
"My little hut grows tiring, living in it day in and day out," Kenobi replied with a lightness that could only be faked. "I like to get out to drink some tea and look at the stars."
That was not what Maul had asked, and Kenobi had to know it. But why would Kenobi be on Tatooine, in hiding, rather than standing with the burgeoning Rebel Alliance to bring down Sidious's Empire? Could it be he had truly been ground down and reduced to insignificance?
No. Obi-Wan Kenobi was not one to give up. He had to be here for a purpose.
"You're protecting something," Maul said. Kenobi turned his head. "Or perhaps ... someone?"
Kenobi's eyes had narrowed and his hand was snaking towards the lightsaber on his belt. Perhaps Maul would have his duel after all.
But he'd been enjoying the silence. "Do you have more tea?"
Kenobi paused, then relaxed out of his half-stance to pick up the thermos. "There should still be a cup for both of us."
Maul handed his mug to Kenobi and listened to the sound of water. The Force had settled. Ezra must've found a place to stay the night, as he was surrounded by safety as well.
The second mug was just as warm as the first, though with the fire out, Maul found himself growing cold. He exhaled and inched closer to Kenobi.
Kenobi, of course, noticed, but didn't say anything. He cradled his mug in his hands and let his old nemesis come close enough to feel his body heat radiate through the air.
"I don't recommend sleeping outdoors," Kenobi eventually said. The final embers of the fire had died to nothing.
"Are you offering me your spare bed?" Maul asked. He hadn't planned anything past his confrontation with Kenobi; the ship he'd come in was technically within walking distance but he wouldn't enjoy the trek.
"Would you take me up on it if I were?"
"If you were fool enough to offer? Yes." Maul shrugged. "My ship is ... far."
Kenobi made a noise in the back of his throat. "I don't have a spare bed, though I'm sure we can figure something out."
"Inviting me to your bed already? How forward of you," Maul purred.
Kenobi's head snapped to him. For a moment Maul feared he'd misstepped, but then a wry smile appeared on Kenobi's lips. "You'll have to excuse me; all these years alone in the desert have left me quite desperate. As long as you don't gore me on your horns."
"What sorts of acrobatics do you perform in your sleep, Kenobi?" Maul scoffed after a split second of running through possible sleeping configurations and finding none where his horns would dig into Kenobi's flesh.
"One never knows." Kenobi finished his tea and clambered to his feet. "Shall we?"
Maul handed the top of the thermos to Kenobi and followed him into the night. He hadn't planned to end up here, but now that he was walking next to his old foe, he might as well see where this path would lead.