Chapter Two
"...And then we were in the Royal Hanger again. We were about to make our way to the Palace when the Sith creature appeared again." Obi-Wan said, throat dry after talking for so long.
Den's mouth had hung half-open during the story, and whatever color that existed in his pale face was gone. "The....the Sith" the word came out clumsily, a half-foreign concept, an extinct monster,"...found you?" He looked at Obi-Wan, mystified, as if he had never seen him before, "Did you fight it?"
"Fight it?" Obi-Wan asked, a grin on his face. For all Den's quirks, Obi-Wan loved to wind him up. "I killed it."
---
Obi-Wan Kenobi and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn were fighting for their lives, and for Naboo against a tattooed brute of a Zabrak. The Sith's red bladed saberstaff expertly parrying every attack the Jedi could throw at him.
He was fighting on a small walkway, trillions of gigawats of power pulsed around them, they felt nothing but the calm embrace of the Force. It guided his actions and the duel was a stalemated.
Suddenly Obi-Wan's master was pushed back and down to another level and it was two blades against his one. He did not spare a look for his Master, he knew that the Force would have screamed if he fell to the darkness.
The Sith was moving faster now, Obi-Wan seemed to have him on the run, but something felt off in the force. Could the Sith be trying to seperate them? It was too late to question, only to follow the Force whereever it led.
They seemed to be in some sort of an energy beam hallway. The beams were on a timed cycle and Obi-Wan did not make it to the end before the Sith.
Obi-Wan and the Sith were separated by a bright red energy field.
The Sith sneered at him and he felt a calming touch in the presence of his Master. He did what he knew his master would. He disengaged his lightsaber and knelt. The Sith's sneer intensified, and Obi-Wan briefly wondered if the monster ever smiled.
His connection with the Force intensified as he pushed aside all thoughts of the past, the present and the future. He focused simply on the all-consuming power at his finger tips.
His consciousness flowed through the universe and at that moment he knew everything and nothing. He allowed its healing power to flow and it reinvigorated him.
He knew a moment before the force field dropped that it would. He quickly rose and ignited his blade and the attack continued.
His Master did not make it to the end of the hallway, and could only watch as Obi-Wan fought.
The duel continued and Obi-Wan began to get the upper hand, his moment of meditation made all the difference. He was focused and calm. He knew was he had to do, and that he would succeed.
Parry. Parry. Slice. And it was over. The Sith was falling into a gaping hole down the generator core.
Evil returned to darkness.
He disengaged his lightsaber and walked over to his Master. With the battle adrenaline fading, he could feel the burn in his limbs, the sweat soaked through his tunics and dripping from his jaw.
Qui-Gon briefly gripped his shoulder."Well done, Padawan. It seems you had little need of me."
Obi-Wan stiffened."Well, Master, perhaps I won't for much longer."
---
"You actually killed the Sith? You, my Master?" Den Pasar asked.
Obi-Wan was amused at his student's attitude. "Yes, Padawan, I did."
"But I've beaten you in a duel--"
"I let you win Padawan." Obi-Wan said, causing Den to pout.
"Fine, be that way. That doesn't answer my question though, Master. What's wrong with Master Jinn? You seemed very close."
"We were, Padawan. We were."
---
The previous handful of hours were spent in meditation, below the Hall of Knighthood. He did not seek out the Force then as much as allow himself to disappear within it, finally, to lose his human frailties in the everything-essence of it.
The Force was with him, in his blood. Peace in his blood.
It was Qui-Gon's soft voice that called him, "Obi-Wan," in to the meditation chamber now. He walked to the center of the room, his lone footfalls echoing-- although the Sith's defeat served as his Trials, he still could not quite believe what he was here to do.
To become.
Obi-Wan knelt. He did not know if this was a traditional aspect of the Ceremony, but his knees were useless. The sabers of the Council ignited in unison, pointed towards the floor. A luminous arc around his feet.
This was the culmination of Obi-Wan's life thus far, from the day he was handed over to the Temple: a dark room, twelve streaks of light, and his own steady breaths.
Master Yoda. "We are all Jedi. The Force speaks through us."
He inhaled. His eyes were nearly closed and his other senses were clear as water. All the room hummed within him. He heard a trickling...whisper...he heard...
Anakin Skywalker?
Obi-Wan's heart quickened. Anakin was here...now? Why was he...
Yoda's words pulled him back. "Through our actions, the Force proclaims itself and what is real."
What is real. Yes.
The Force.
Qui-Gon. Talking to Anakin.
"just...patient...."
"Today we are here to acknowledge...
"...almost over...."
Breathe.
"What the Force has proclaimed."
He felt the gentle weight of Yoda's eyes on him. The Grand Master stood above him, wrinkles deepened by shadow, his green blade raised. He came to his feet. "Step forward, Padawan."
He did.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, by the right of the Council, by the will of the Force, I dub thee, Jedi" and he felt the air cut across his neck, the blade sear through his braid. Lightness. "Knight of the Republic."
Master Windu handed him a familiar, grooved hilt."Take up your lightsaber, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight. And may the Force be with you."
The room was abruptly filled with light. He stared down at his saber, now the weapon of a full-fledged Knight, Jedi Knight. Numbly, he clipped it to his belt.
Another Councilor, Master Tinn, pressed something into his palm. His braid, retrieved from the slick chamber floor. He blinked, closed his fingers around the coiled length. Twelve years long. For twelve years he had imagined holding the braid just this way, for a moment, before presenting it to his Master. He blinked again; his vision was blurring.
The Council members had filed out. He remained where he stood.
"I believe congratulations are in order."
He turned. Qui-Gon was smiling at him, his hand resting on Anakin's shoulder. The boy was wearing what looked like fresh tunics, his blonde hair shorn close to his head.
Obi-Wan swallowed. Somewhere inside himself, he found a smile to return his Master. His former Master. Anakin Skywalker's Master, already, it seemed. "Thank you."
Anakin fidgeted. Qui-Gon appraised Obi-Wan, still smiling. "I wonder where the time went. You were not a man a few days ago."
"A few days can make all the difference, I suppose," Obi-Wan's eyes moved from Qui-Gon to Anakin, and back again. He realized, standing apart from them, that he was the outsider here. With his official ties to Qui-Gon severed, he could claim no priority over Anakin Skywalker. No, no, now it was quite the opposite.
"I'm going to be a Jedi now, too." Anakin announced, obviously taking the silence as an opportunity to redirect attention to his own developments, "But I really hope my Knighting thing isn't as boring as this o--"
"Anakin," Qui-Gon interrupted, and Obi-Wan wished there wasn't an undercurrent of amusement there. The older man patted Obi-Wan's arm, and it felt like a nicety doled out by a vague acquaintance. "Well I suppose we should be going. Things will be busy now, for us all."
Obi-Wan nodded, watching his Mas--his former Master and the new apprentice walk away. "Wait!" They stopped; he briskly crossed the chamber.
"I think this belongs to you," he said, very evenly, and dropped his braid into Anakin Skywalker's hand. For his part, the boy looked bewildered, if unimpressed.
But Qui-Gon gripped Obi-Wan's now-empty hands and stared into his eyes. "Thank you, Obi-Wan." He chuckled, "Knight Kenobi."
Obi-Wan squeezed in response, once, and stood back. "Master Jinn."
As Anakin followed Qui-Gon to the lifts, Obi-Wan heard him ask what the big deal was. Obi-Wan's fingers lifted to caress the skin behind his ear. Nothing was there.
Now he could be Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The Force was with him.
---
"So you gave your braid to Skywalker? Why?" Den asked as he fingered his own braid.
"My Master never had any difficulty letting go. He walked where the Force pointed and would leap at a moments notice. In my youth, I had a habit of drifting from the present, focusing on that which I could not change. By giving my braid to Anakin, it showed my Master that I had learned this lesson."
"What happened then?"
"I did not see Master Jinn again for a long while. He and Anakin were adjusting to life as Master and Padawan, and I was beginning to spread my wings as a Jedi Knight. After a few years of solo missions I kept running into this annoying initiate with white hair..."