Chapter 7

Obi-Wan felt like he was dreaming. When he looked up at Qui-Gon, the distance between them seemed to have shrunk. Did Qui-Gon suddenly become shorter? So, there they stood, a boy and a master at the entrance of the temple under the artificial night sky of the Corusant. A thousand reposes ran through Obi-Wan's head in a haze of thoughts as he tried to process what Qui-Gon had said.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Master Qui-Gon, and why wouldn't I accept?" Obi-Wan's voice saddened small and timid, he cleared his throat. "I just didn't think that was a hard question."

"Maybe not." Qui-Gon smiled and set a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "Let's get these up to my quarter, shall we? Keep a look out for me, we don't want to be seen carrying these." Qui-Gon laughed and shook the toy figures in his hands.

After dodging around many corners and several close calls, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gin finally arrived in Qui-Gon's quarters. Obi-Wan was breathless from all the distractions he had created for Qui-Gon to go unnoticed. However, he was promised another piece of Qui-Gon's cake when they visit Lux tomorrow.

"Well done. I think we just successfully completed our first task tomorrow." Qui-Gon said, and gestured for Obi-Wan to sit down on the sofa. Qui-Gon then went into the kitchen and came out with two steam mugs of hot chocolate a minute later. He handed Obi-Wan the drink and plopped down on the sofa next to Obi-Wan.

"Obi-Wan, you know I did mean what I said earlier, about you being my apprentice?" Qui-Gon said tentatively.

"I know. I meant it too." Obi-Wan paused, a piece of conversation that night with a older Padawan named Adley came to him. He had told Obi-Wan what to say when this happens. "I'm very honored that you feel that way," he said, then decided to add "and I'm ready for whatever you will teach me." He looked Qui-Gon in the eye and Qui-Gon saw the determination and excitement in the boy's blue eyes.

"I know you are. If you are sure then…" Qui-Gon smiled and sipped his chocolate.

"I am." Obi-Wan said.

"Then after you finish whatever the Study of Jedi Text teacher has assigned as your punishment go eat you lunch, then come back here to my quarters. I trust that you know the way?" Qui-Gon said, smiling.

"Of course I know the way!" Obi-Wan said, slightly exasperated. "What then?" he asked after a second's thought.

"Why, go see the council of course. They will ask you some questions and you will try to answer them as best as you can. You need to have all your materials ready, which means you will need to finish your essay…today." Qui-Gon said, preparing for Obi-Wan's reaction.

"What?! Today? Oh no…" Obi-Wan said. "We all thought we won't be picked as a Padawan for at least two weeks…" he groaned.

"That's why you should always prepare yourself for the worse-case scenario, young one." Qui-Gon said, laughing at the expression on Obi-Wan's face. "but you know what, since I'm the one who got you into this, I'll help you with the essay. Stay here tonight."

Obi-Wan had an uneasy night. He sent a message through the Temple's network to Adley, regarding the answer Qui-Gon gave Obi-Wan earlier relating to the Senate. He was very pleased with himself that he had the sense to finish his essays for the other subjects, leaving just the one for History of the Republic. He and Qui-Gon worked well as a team. Qui-Gon practically guided him through every paragraph he wrote, which made things so much easier. He just has to listen and write down what he hears. However, it was still nearly midnight when they finished.

"You'd better go and have some sleep, young one." Qui-Gon said and Obi-Wan nodded glumly.

"Goodnight, Master Qui-Gon." He said.

"Goodnight Obi-Wan. Oh, I've arranged the council meeting for tomorrow." Qui-Gon said, smiling when Obi-Wan looked back questioningly.

"I'm just informing you that you've missed your last chance of refusing." Qui-Gon laughed. "Your life will take certainly a turn for the worse from now on." Obi-Wan laughed, he would not have found this funny under normal circumstances, maybe he was too tired.

"And you've missed your chance, Master." Obi-Wan replied teasingly. Then, they broke into fits of laughter.

...

Obi-Wan hated mornings, most of them anyways. However, today, he woke up earlier than he was supposed to in the temple. For a moment, he couldn't remember what he was so looking forward to. Then, everything came back into his brain in half a second. Obi-Wan jumped up, stretched and barely concealing a grin. He had to resist the urge to bounce up and down on his bed, because that would wake everyone else in the dormitory up. Plus, boucing on beds are kind of childish, and for some reason he can't explain, Obi-Wan didn't think Qui-Gon would be too happy with the idea of having a Padawan who bounces on beds every morning.

Obi-Wan formulated a plan for his day in his head, the way he does every morning. The first two things on his plan is breakfast and Library Work. His mood remained light and airy all the way through breakfast. He ate slowly according to his standard as he waited for Dexx to join him. Ten minutes later, Dexx slammed his plate down next to Obi-Wan and sat down next to him.

"Hey. Say, Obi-Wan, can I have a look at your essay tonight or something?" Dexx said heavily.

"Of course. But why?" Obi-Wan said, half guessing the answer already.

"I have to get it to the council in three days. Master Inriq told me last night. No warning, like, at all. He just suddenly asked me if I want an apprenticeship with him. I said yes, right?" Dexx explained really fast. He stuffed some food in his mouth before continuing.

"Well, you can't say no, can you?" Obi-Wan smiled.

"Yeah, I can't. So, Master Inriq went to have a word with the council. He came back and told me they will need everything ready in three days." Dexx signed heavily. "It would have been today, but the council said they already have to see a youngling today." Dexx raised his eyebrows at Obi-Wan as Obi-Wan laughed.

"Haha, I wonder who that lucky bastard is. Oh wait, I think I know!" Obi-Wan exclaimed excitedly. Dexx did not pick up the note of sarcasm in Obi-Wan's voice.

"Really? Who?" Dexx asked, curious.

"Let's see if you can guess it, Dexx. He is your best friend, hopefully. He is roughly the same height as you. He has a great gift with moving controls in Study of Jedi Text class because he can produce good Force shields." Obi-Wan said, laughing at the shocked expression of Dexx's face as his word sank in. "Yep Dexx. It's me."

"Wow… Wait, is it the abnormally tall master who took you to dinner yesterday?" Dexx asked, his eyes lilting up.

"Yep. I had to finish my essay overnight. It was horrible." Obi-Wan said, nodding grimly.

The rest of breakfast passed with Dexx and Obi-Wan complaining about the unfairness of the system and how little time they had to finish their requirement materials. They made a few jokes that involved pretty much every master on the council. By the end of breakfast, Obi-Wan has tears in his eyes from laughing.

The library duty they were doing as their punishment passed quickly with Dexx. The job was easy, Obi-Wan simply had to look at the code on each datapod, then place it in the right shelf. Then, something struck Obi-Wan. He froze in the middle of passing a datapod to Dexx.

"Obi? Something wrong?" Dexx asked, a little alarmed.

"Dexx…How could we both have been so stupid?!" Obi-Wan said, his eyes widened.

"What are you talking about?"

"Dexx, why did we say yes?"

"Please give me the complete sentence Obi, because I have no idea what you are talking about." Dexx said impatiently, looking worried.

"When our mater asked us if we are willing to become their apprentice, why did we say yes?" Obi-Wan said, sounding incredulous.

"Cause you wanted to say yes, I guess. Seriously, are you ok?" Dexx said.

"No, I didn't mean that. I meant, when they asked, we said yes immediately. We could have said that we will think about it as any logical being would have done. Damn it, then we could have so much more time to work on our essays!" Obi-Wan said, he laughed a little.

"Oh…no." Dexx whispered. "Nice point, Obi. But too late." He said, dejectedly.

"Well, we can't dwell on the past for too long, or the librarian would come and scream at us again. Let's keep working." Obi-Wan said, shaking his head at his own stupidity.

That's when a voice behind Obi-Wan made him jump.

"Thought it would come to you at some point, Obi-Wan, as you are not stupid." Adley stepped closer to the two younglings.

"You knew?" Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, gritting his teeth.

"Kind of. Still, I thought I should give you the chance to make you own choice. Anyways, Qui-Gon was at breakfast. He wanted to swing by to tell you that you will go to the council meeting chamber as soon as you are done. But, I said I'll do it." Adley said, winking.

"Why? Can't you just stay put for more than 3 minutes?" Obi-Wan teased.

"Well, I can't really. If you really want to know, I wanted to thank you for helping yesterday. The answer you gave me on the Senate really worked. It sort of saved my life." Adley said and stepped closer, "if you need anything from me. Like stealing from the kitchen or lightsaber sparring, tell me and I'll help. I owe you one." Then, Adley waved and walked away.

"Long story." Obi-Wan said to Dexx before Dexx could ask. In minutes, they had finished putting away the last of the datapods. The two younglings felt a huge sense of relief when the librarian nodded, obviously satisfied with their work. Dexx and Obi-Wan made their way out of the library silently as Obi-Wan felt the nervousness in him build up.

"Well, I'd better go to the…umm…council chamber." Obi-Wan said, his voice was a little higher than usually.

"Good luck, Obi! May the Force be with you." Dexx said, as he smiled.

Obi-Wan swallowed. "Thanks. See you later then, if they don't kill me." Then, Obi-Wan walked to the elevator, on his way to the council.

The council seated themselves as Qui-Gon felt Obi-Wan's presence through the Force draw closer. They presence was extremely easy to sense, largely due to the boy's nervousness. Qui-Gon stepped out of the room to meet the boy.

"Obi-Wan, you ready?" Qui-Gon said as he set a hand gently on the boy's shoulder.

"I guess. I've never been in a room with all of them before." Obi-Wan said, sensing all the council member in the room with the Force.

"They are just beings, Obi-Wan, not Gods." Qui-Gon smiled, remembering his own nervousness when he was Obi-Wan's age, standing on the same spot as Obi-Wan, looking into Dooku's eyes.

"Okay." Obi-Wan said.

"Let's get this over with then, hmm?" Qui-Gon said, realizing that it was the exact same thing Dooku said to him 35 years ago.

"Okay." Obi-Wan said again, taking a deep breath.