Chapter One
Obi-Wan walked down the open, calm streets of Theed, the capital of Naboo. Theed was a beautiful city, with trees and nature everywhere, the main square even had a waterfall. It was early morning so very few were out on the streets, most still asleep like Obi-Wan would have been if he hadn't promised to teach meditation this morning at the Jedi Temple.
The temple was small and mostly housed those Initiates that were highly emphatic and could not stand the mass of emotions that a planet as crowded as Coruscant were. Naboo was a peaceful planet and those who lived there was as peaceful as the planet making it the perfect place for young empaths to learn shielding before going to Coruscant.
Because it was such a small temple there was never enough people to train the Initiates so when the Temple Master found out that Obi-Wan had trained at the Main Temple on Coruscant he was ecstatic, someone who could teach the beginner levels and he didn't even need to convince the council that it was necessary to send someone.
Obi-Wan were smiling when he stepped into the temple and walked straight out through the door on the opposite wall and ended up in the temples garden. The gardens were large and varied; some parts were used for meditation and some parts were used to teach the younglings patience. After all, plants took time to grow.
The meditation gardens were quiet this morning, peaceful and quiet like the rest of Naboo, but it wasn't empty. In the corner under the flowering trees sat a man; he was in a lotus position, clearly meditating. He looked like he was around forty but with some human hybrids it was hard to tell, and pure humans were rarely Jedi. Not that there was a lot of pure humans left, most had mixed with other species.
Obi-Wan made sure to set up the circle of pillows for the younglings as far away from the meditating man as possible. Younglings could be rowdy and loud and that was a good way to break any meditation. Waiting for the younglings Obi-Wan thought back to the day before, it was one of the best days in his life. He had finally managed to earn enough to pay back his purchase price, and was now a free man hired by the Pleasure Guild.
He had gotten the offer to move to Pleasure worker instead of being an Artisan since that paid more but he liked being an Artisan and so he chose to stay employed as that. It also meant that he still had to deal with Queen Amidala's ball that night.
He focused on the garden again as the suns first rays finally rose above the rooftops. They fell on the man and Obi-Wan could finally see who it was. It was Master Qui-Gon Jinn; the man who had made sure Obi-Wan's dreams would never come true. Obi-Wan could not help but to glare at him and spitefully he moved the pillows to the center of the lawn, as close he could without being seen as rude. Master Jinn would have to live with the noise from the younglings.
He had no more than laid the last pillow down before the door to the kitchen opened and the younglings came running out. Well they ran as good as they could, the youngest one was carried by the Crèche Master. The baby was just five months old and was to be in on the lesson so to feel how a mind in meditation felt like.
Obi-Wan smiled at the younglings as they gathered around him. He loved children, their minds were so open and honest. He greeted the eleven Initiates by name the youngest beside the baby was six and the oldest a month from turning ten. She would be sent back to Coruscant the day after her birthday so that she could be picked as a Padawan. Obi-Wan really hoped someone would pick her.
The Crèche Master handed over Altea, the baby, and told the children that he could call them back before dinner. Obi-Wan thanked him and told the younglings to pick a pillow and sit down. When everyone was sitting he took the last pillow and carefully sat down so not to wake up Altea. He placed her in his lap and prepared to start the meditation when he noticed that Master Jinn was slowly coming back to reality.
Qui-Gon was deep in meditation, letting the Force guide him in letting go of his pain and guilt. Just a few months earlier his Padawan, Bruck Chun, had died in a training accident. He had been doing a high level kata that he wasn't cleared for or even skilled enough to do, and to make things worse he had been doing it on his own after hours in a training hall that was far from the more populated path.
Chun had been caught trying to do it earlier in the week and Qui-Gon had forbidden him to try again until he had managed to do the levels between flawlessly first. Qui-Gon had thought that it would be enough to forbid his Padawan from trying it since it had worked in the past. He had found out after Chun's death that Chun had never obeyed him when he was forbidden to do something; he had just done it in secret instead.
And it was from that most of Qui-Gon's guilt came from, he had thought that his Padawan understood why he could not do some katas yet but it had apparently been ignored and Qui-Gon thought he should have known that. Everyone, even Yoda, had told him that it wasn't something you could know.
Since Qui-Gon could not stop blaming himself, Yoda had ordered that Qui-Gon take time off and told him that Naboo was a good place to rest, unless he wanted to go to Dagobah of course. Qui-Gon might not want to take time off but he wasn't stupid enough to choose Dagobah as his vacation spot. So he had taken the first shuttle to Naboo.
He had arrived in the middle of the night and since he didn't want to wake anyone up, he could feel that everyone in the temple was asleep, he decided to meditate instead. He hadn't planned on meditating so long though. When he started to withdraw from the meditation he heard children, talking and screaming close by.
Opening his eyes the first thing he saw was a tall man with reddish gold hair and sharp features. He was accepting a baby from the Crèche Master, but from his clothes Qui-Gon could see that he wasn't a Jedi. But since the Crèche Master had no problems leaving the kids in the care of the man they must know him well.
The baby had been fussing slightly but as she was handed to the man she quieted down and almost immediately fell asleep. Qui-Gon could feel the baby's contentment; she was a strong empath and was broadcasting her emotions clearly.
That she had quieted down when she was put in the arms of the man showed that he was Force sensitive and the slight probe Qui-Gon could feel showed that the man had been trained one way or the other. The way he got the younglings to sit down and be quiet also showed that because he had used the Force to make the children relax and be less enthusiastic.
As Qui-Gon watched the man sat down and placed the baby in his lap carefully so that he didn't wake her up. He then started speaking and his voice was smooth and cultured with a slight coruscant accent.
"Well, younglings, are you ready for today's meditation lesson?" Qui-Gon could hear the smile. It was obvious that the man loved children, and that children loved him. The children screamed in delight over the lesson something that would never happen at the Temple at Coruscant. It made Qui-Gon smile.
"Shh, we have a guest today and he might need the quiet to meditate himself. So why don't we try to me as quiet as possible?" The children quieted down somewhat reluctantly.
Qui-Gon smiled again, younglings were so earnest and cute. He reached out with the Force to get the man's attention and sent a short burst of a questioning feeling, asking without words if he could join in. He got a look and a nod as an answer.
The man turned back to the younglings explaining that the guest, the Master Jedi in the corner, would join them for today's meditating, if they were kind he could perhaps help. Slowly Qui-Gon rose and walked over to where to small girls had squeezed together on one pillow so that Qui-Gon could have the other one. He thanked them an slowly sat down.
"Hello, little ones. I am Qui-Gon Jinn, I am to stay here at the temple for a few weeks." He smiled at the younglings as they started introducing themselves. The man went last.
"I am Obi-Wan Kenobi. I usually help out here they day's I have time. The Crèche Master asked me to teach beginner level katas and meditation a few months ago so that is what I am doing." Qui-Gon wanted to ask what he did otherwise but felt that now wasn't the time. Obi-Wan smiled down at the now awake baby.
"And this is Altea. She arrived a week ago, and so far only me or the Crèche Master have been able to care for her, she only screams otherwise. Today is my day to care for her." And then Obi-Wan quickly started the lesson. Qui-Gon noticed that he was very good at getting the younglings to do as he wanted them to do and then withdraw so quietly that they didn't notice that they were alone in their minds.
The meditation was long and most of the kids managed to stay in the meditation for at least half the time. When they couldn't anymore Obi-Wan just smiled at them and let them play, but he made sure that they stayed as quiet as possible. All in all Qui-Gon was impressed by the ease that Obi-Wan taught with.
When all the younglings had run off to play Obi-Wan turned to Qui-Gon. "So, what brought a Jedi Master without a Padawan all the way out here? There are no Initiates here who is able to be chosen." Qui-Gon winced. That was still a sore point.
"My Padawan died a few months ago in a training accident. My Master thought I needed a vacation to release the guilt. He gave me two places to choose between and since Dagobah is not a place anyone goes willingly I came here." Obi-Wan snorted over the Dagobah comment but unlike most others Qui-Gon had met he didn't offer condolences for the death of his Padawan. In fact, Obi-Wan seemed to not care that the Padawan had died.
"Why are you here then, if I may ask? You obviously had some Force training but you are not a Jedi." Obi-Wan glared. That made Qui-Gon wince again, that was apparently the wrong thing to ask.
"Yes, I was trained in the Force. I spent twelve years at the temple on Coruscant, but I wasn't chosen to be a Padawan. You were, in fact, the last Master who said no to me before they shipped me off to the Agri-Corps. Not that I got there. I was assigned to Bandomeer." Qui-Gon could not help the gasp, Bandomeer was the place most Agri-Corps workers were sent when they no longer were useful. To send a thirteen year old there was cruel.
"I ran away from the transport and lived on the streets of Coruscant a few weeks before I was caught by the slavers. After that I was sold from master to master until the Pleasure Guild bought me five years ago. I managed to pay of my purchase price yesterday." He sounded proud over that, and it was something to be proud of. Most slaves never managed to earn enough to buy themselves free.
Altea was squirming in response to Obi-Wan's emotions but Qui-Gon could see the effort he made to calm down and after only a few minutes he managed. Smiling down at the baby he looked like a new father doting on his daughter. In a flash of knowledge Qui-Gon knew that if Obi-Wan had been trained as a Jedi, Altea would have been his Padawan. Qui-Gon shivered. He hated the feeling of knowing that something small had changed so much.
Now that he knew of Obi-Wan's history he could feel the dislike aimed his way from the young man. He hoped that it would fade with time. Before he managed to stand to leave Obi-Wan asked a question.
"Why didn't you choose me? I know you could feel pull from the Force as well as I could, if not better since you were fully trained. I had dreamed about life as your Padawan before I even saw you for the first time. You were supposed to be mine." There was sadness and pain in the young mans voice. Qui-Gon could feel that same sadness and pain in his heart and knew that however he answered this he would hurt him.
"I am sorry that your life didn't turn out as you dreamed or hoped. Yes I could sense the pull, but I could also sense that if I took you as my Padawan both of us would die before your Knighting. The Force told me that I could make a choice, I could take you as my Padawan and we would have close to a decade of good years or I could choose another and we would have close to a decade of acceptable years apart and then live the rest of our lives happy. I don't know what the Force meant by happy, it's not exactly easy to understand it." The dislike from Obi-Wan had lessened during Qui-Gon's answer.
"I made the choice I could live with. Yoda assured me that I no one would take you he would take you himself. When you didn't turn up as his Padawan I assumed that a Master from one of the other temples had taken you. I have to ask Yoda where things went wrong." Obi-Wan could not dislike him anymore. It wasn't really Qui-Gon's fault.
They talked for a while longer about everything and nothing. Qui-Gon told Obi-Wan about his Padawan, who had been arrogant and impatient, and Qui-Gon's hopes that he could have overcome those character flaws. They also talked about Obi-Wan's life and how he had been lucky to have been sold to a good man that first time. The man had been a pedophile but he hadn't hurt Obi-Wan and had kept him until Obi-Wan turned eighteen. The two years after wasn't that easy and he had been sold close to ten times.
Qui-Gon was very interested in Obi-Wan's job as an Artisan but before they could start on that subject the lunch bell rang and the Temple Master Norlan came almost running out of the Temples main room.