"A prophecy, I have seen."
It was as if the entire Jedi Council took in a sharp breath at once.
"A prophecy? Of what?" Mundi looked wary, and Qui-Gon could understand why. Prophecies only existed to warn the Jedi; what could this one be warning about?
"Of a child. A child, with the Force, more powerful than any Jedi."
"Who is this child?" asked Qui-Gon.
"Not yet born, this child is. He will be, very soon, on the planet of Tattooine."
There was a pause, and Qui-Gon knew they were all thinking the same thing. "Is he a threat?"
Yoda closed his eyes, breathing a deep sigh before speaking. "It is yet unknown."
"Then what course of action do we take?" Even Piell asked, addressing the whole chamber.
"I say we train the boy," said Qui-Gon immediately.
"Train him? He is already supposed to be more powerful than any living Jedi. If we train him, his powers would be so immense he could turn against us and destroy the Jedi," Adi Gallia responded, looking incredulously at Qui-Gon.
"It sounds to me like the prophecy says he has the power to do that anyway," remarked Mundi.
"No man could have the power to destroy the Jedi if they've never truly learned the ways of the Force, regardless of what the prophecy says," Mace Windu pointed out. "By training him we risk the Sith learning of his power and using him to bring darkness back to the galaxy."
"And by not training him, we risk the Sith learning of his power anyway and training him themselves, so there will be no chance of keeping him on the light side!" Qui-Gon responded.
"There is no evidence so far to suggest he could be an evil person at all," said Plo Koon mildly.
"Master Yoda wouldn't have received a prophecy if there weren't any danger in this boy," Windu argued.
"Yes, there is danger in him, but by training him we can teach him the ways of Jedi, and he will not fall so easily to the Sith!" said Qui-Gon.
"Master Jinn is right," Yoda said, and the room fell silent. "For a reason, we were warned about him. To do nothing would be to ignore the prophecy. This we cannot do."
"Then who will take him as their Padawan?" asked Mundi.
"Assuming he passes the trials in thirteen years," Windu muttered.
"Do you really think a boy who had a prophecy written about him, saying he will be the most powerful Jedi ever, won't pass the Jedi Initiate Trials?" scoffed Adi Gallia.
"Far away, that time is," Yoda interrupted. "When it comes, Master Jinn will train the boy."
Qui-Gon turned to stare at him. "You would trust me with this child?" He was shocked; though Qui-Gon was on the Jedi Council, he often found himself an object of their disapproval, and the idea that they would want him to train this - this "chosen one" - was somewhat absurd.
Yoda nodded slowly. "I do."
Qui-Gon lifted his head slightly. "Then I will do my best."
Whispers surrounded young Obi-Wan Kenobi as his fellow younglings wondered what was going on.
"Who is it?"
"Do you think they're a Tholonian? I hate being the only oneā¦."
"No idiot, they must be like Yoda."
"What is Yoda, anyway?"
"Shh, don't be rude."
There was a new initiate joining the Uphreos Clan; this was especially odd, because most of the younglings in this particular clan were between eight and nine years of age. Obi-Wan was one of the younger ones, having only turned eight a few months ago, but he was also one of the smarter ones. He had overheard from one of the Masters a few days ago whispering something about "The Chosen One"; it didn't take much to put two and two together. One had to be special indeed to be taken into training at such a time. Obi-Wan himself had been initiated when he was three, and when the trials came around, he would have trained for ten years; this youngling would only have trained for maybe four years. How could they possibly pass the trials?
Finally Master Qui-Gon entered the room and the whispers ceased almost immediately.
"I would like you all to welcome a new initiate to the Uphreos Clan," he said. "I have heard your gossip, and I know it is unusual to bring in another youngling to a clan that is already full, and has been so for five years." The younglings stared at him expectantly; they knew this already. Where was the explanation? "But we sort you into clans with the Force, so we cannot always control it these things; and the Force has chosen this clan for our new initiate. Please welcome - Anakin Skywalker."
Everyone in the room turned to look at the door, where a very small boy with sandy blond hair had just appeared. He couldn't possibly be nine years old; he was seven at the most. This, in Obi-Wan's mind, confirmed it; Anakin Skywalker must be "The Chosen One" that he had heard about. No one else could be initiated at seven years old, into a clan of younglings who had been training for five years, and be expected to complete the trials with them in five more.
Obi-Wan couldn't control the feelings of bitterness that welled up inside him. What made this boy so special, exactly? Why did he get special treatment like this? All the younglings were looking at him with awe, as if he was reflecting the light of the sun onto their faces, and he hadn't even done anything yet. But they could tell, he knew, they could tell he was different. Obi-Wan shook his head, reminding himself that bitterness could only lead to hatred, and that was not the Jedi way. No emotion, only peace.
He tried to repeat this mantra whenever he saw Anakin, but it was difficult. No emotion, only peace. But the younger boy had only just started to train and already he outperformed all the other younglings. Obi-Wan found it personally offensive that natural gift could be worth more than hard work; what an unfair reality, and yet, it was.
The bitterness continued to come back, even as he pushed it away. During meditation, when his mind was supposed to be clear, he found himself wondering if Anakin could meditate "better" somehow than the rest of them; probably, since he was oh so special.
His distraction was becoming visible to the Masters as well; sometimes, when Anakin was around, Master Windu or Master Jinn would glance at Obi-Wan worriedly or suspiciously every few minutes, because his thoughts had started to seep through the mental shields he had been taught to keep up. At these times he had to take a moment to clear his head, put his shields back up, and think about anything but Anakin Skywalker.
A few months after Anakin joined the Uphreos Clan, there was a day of training where Master Yoda said that they were to practice lightsaber techniques in pairs, to get used to fighting a real moving opponent. Whoever their partner was would continue to be for the rest of lightsaber training. He began to pair the younglings up, seemingly randomly because his eyes were closed, but of course Master Yoda had to have his reasons.
Obi-Wan suspected what was going to happen before it did, but he wouldn't admit it to himself because he desperately hoped he was wrong. But Master Yoda pointed to him, then across the room, to Anakin. They were to be partners in the sparring practice. Just his luck.
There were so many things wrong with this, Obi-Wan thought. First of all, he would almost definitely lose every time. This wasn't the real problem though, because he knew it was better to practice with someone who was better than him; it would force him to improve. The real problem was that he really, really, really didn't enjoy the company of this boy.
Obi-Wan was so busy in his thoughts that he had not made any move to walk towards Anakin and begin practice. He was also too busy in his thoughts to notice Anakin standing in front of him.
"Hello. I'm Anakin Skywalker." It was at this moment that Obi-Wan realized he had never heard Anakin speak before. It wasn't that Anakin was quiet, it's just that Obi-Wan had been studiously avoiding any contact with him. The inflection of his voice annoyed Obi-Wan already; it was a simple greeting, why did he need to make it sound like he was singing?
Obi-Wan took a deep breath and gritted his teeth. "Hello."
