Obi-Wan Kenobi kept his breaths steady as he sank in the Force, taking an occasional deep, cleansing breath to relax every muscle, to sharpen every corner of his mind. I'm certainly going to need it, he thought with annoyance. Obi-Wan stopped himself there though. The point of this meditation was to put his irritation aside, not dwell on it.
Another deep breath.
Soon - much too soon, Obi-Wan's peace was shattered by the approaching footsteps of his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. And Obi-Wan was willing to guess that that meant one thing, and one thing only: They were coming up on Mandalore. He tried to restrain his cringe.
His irritation had nothing whatsoever to do with his Master - well, mostly. When Qui-Gon wasn't getting distracted - distracted meaning helping those that weren't the focus of the mission, finding new causes that needed their help because it was the will of the Force, and worst of all, ultimately picking up strays and taking them to where they needed to go. Obi-Wan admired Qui-Gon for his nobility, truly he did. But, Obi-Wan knew that many of these side missions were unnecessary. If the Force wanted these people to be assisted, it would find a way for that to happen. When Qui-Gon wasn't doing these things, which happened to get very tedious over time, Obi-Wan enjoyed missions with him immensely.
As much as he enjoyed his and his Master's missions, and learning from Qui-Gon Jinn, the maverick, the rebel of the Jedi Order, at 22 years old, Obi-Wan still found himself looking ahead to Knighthood, when he could go on missions of peace, getting done what needed to be done, and being blessed with the knowledge that he helped someone, and letting that be that.
Obi-Wan had a strong feeling that this mission was going to be no such mission. Enter deep meditations. Qui-Gon had warned Obi-Wan that this mission could be longer than average, for little was known about the situation taking place in the Mandalore System. Even the system's ruler was lost, asking the Jedi for help. The Mandalore System was a wealthy, well-resourced system, Obi-Wan noted, where was their army? Had they tried every solution before contacting the Jedi?
It was largely Qui-Gon who had been briefed on the details - or rather, what details there were, of the mission. What was the ruler's name again? Oh yes - Satine. Apparently, she was Duchess - of nine planets to be exact - and ruled alone. Obi-Wan wondered if, in one way, it would be like any other mission - in which he would be stuck being the protector, while his Master tried to resolve the problem.
Oh well.
He wasn't going be like his Master and get distracted.