It was weird, Obi-Wan was gone, Garen and Reeft both had their own masters, neither of them had gone on any missions yet, but she could tell that they wanted to. She also knew that they felt bad about being so happy when Obi-Wan was stuck on Bandomeer. She didn't blame them, she felt as though something was missing in their group. But there wasn't anything they could do about that now.

For now all they could do was continue their learning until they day came when they could become Jedi. And how she loved to learn. Especially from Yoda, she loved his messed up way of talking, she loved learning to use a lightsaber, she loved learning to use the force. Although… she was struggling with the force right now. She KNEW it was around her, she had felt it and used it before. But she was struggling with it now. She heard Yoda coming up behind her with his little Gimer stick. Which only served to remind her that she was struggling with the force, she should have felt his presence before she heard it.

"Struggling you are?"

"Yes Master Yoda." She hated admitting she was weak.

Time you should take the force to watch, hmm?" Lanae frowned, not sure she understood. Master Yoda smiled at her before continuing to hobble along.

Lanae sat there and thought, what did the little troll mean she should take time to watch the force. Suddenly she smiled, she didn't know if her idea would work, but even if it didn't it would be fun, and she would probably annoy a few people along the way.

Mace was frustrated, Making initiates feel uncomfortable was what he did, initiates weren't supposed to make HIM uncomfortable. But he couldn't deny that this particular initiate was succeeding where none other had. She had been following him around for the past 2 hours, never saying anything, just watching him intently. He had left his quarters this morning to find her sitting outside waiting for him. When he had asked her what she was doing she had informed sweetly that she was learning. What was he supposed to say to that?

As though in answers to his silent prayers Lanae suddenly turned around and hurried off. Thank the force, he didn't appreciate having a silent stalker.

His appreciation was short lived she had only been gone an hour when she returned to her silent vigil, he wasn't even sure how she knew where to find him. Again, it was slightly unnerving. She continued this routine for the rest of the day. He almost sighed in relief when night came and she left.

But she was back the next morning, again following him around, saying nothing, and just watching him. He was grateful for the council meeting (something he never thought he would ever say) because it meant a break from the constant surveillance. Of course he was less grateful for the constant jokes made during the meeting inferring that he had picked up a stray of some sort. It was only his Jedi training that convinced him that patience would reap it's own award. Although Mace couldn't help but notice the strange grin on Yoda's face the entire time. What was that troll up to?

He left the council meeting to find Lanae waiting for him once again. What did that girl WANT?

"So have you learned anything yet?" he asked tightly.

"Yes Master Windu sir I've been learning so much!"

"Yes, and what particularly did you learn?"

"…Lots of things."

"Such as?" Perhaps if she had learned something she would stop following him everywhere. He paused, he was letting an initiate get to him! Since when had that happened. He supposed it was likely because she was so silent, initiates her age were often loud and rambunctious. That and they avoided him with great skill.

"Oh, just everything! I really need to thank Master Yoda." Ha, so he had been right, Master Yoda was somehow behind this!

"Master Yoda told you to follow me around?"

"No… that would be silly." Lanae looked at him as though he were crazy. "Why would Master Yoda tell me to follow you around?"

"Well, then why are you following me around."

Lanae sighed in apparent exasperation "I'm LEARNING."

"Well how much longer will you be learning?"

There was no answer. Instead Lanae was scrunching up her face in apparent thought. "Is that a trick question?"

Mace just kept walking.

The routine continued for the remainder of the week. By the end of the week he had gotten so used to her presence that it was no longer distracting or unnerving, in fact it was almost comfortable.

And then she was no longer there. He didn't see her until he went for their council meeting. She was waiting outside the door like she had done when she followed him, and Mace almost laughed, it looked like someone else on the council had picked up the stray.

Ki-Adi decided he would never again laugh at the predicaments that Mace constantly found himself in. The council had found it funny that Initiate Lanae had decided to follow Mace everywhere he went, they had found it equally funny that it had unnerved Mace. Now that it was happening to him. He wasn't sure he found it quite as funny.

Lanae just followed him without saying anything. He had no idea what she wanted, she just followed and watched. Ki-Adi never thought he would be glad to go to a council meeting, but within a day of being followed by Lanae he was suddenly glad that they had a meeting today.

He sat in the council chambers relieved when Mace walked in with a distinct smirk on his face. It seemed that he had finally found the funny side of his earlier predicament. Ki-Adi was not amused.

Yaddle supposed she should have realized that it was unnerving to have a second shadow. It had unnerved her fellow Council Members, and it was succeeding in unnerving her. Mace had been followed around for a full week and Ki-Adi Mundi had been followed around for several days. Now it appeared it was her turn. Who knew a second shadow could be so unnerving?

Yoda smiled at the girl following him. She had followed each of the council members around for several days at a time. It had been amusing to see each of them become unnerved by the girl's silent persistence. Particularly as none of them had ever discovered just what it was that she was trying to learn. All she would tell them was that she was learning.

(Learn much, you did? Hmm?) Learn much did you? "Hmm?"

"Oh yes Master Yoda, I did!" She looked as though she was going to jump with excitement. "Each of the Masters reaches out to the force in different ways, but at the same time each do it the same way. I tried each of their methods, and I think I found one that works for me!"

(This method from who, you found? Hmm?) "From who did you find this method hmm?" Ah the minds of the young.

"From you and Master Windu sir."

"Good, good."

"Are you done following Council Members around now?" Bant and Lanae were swimming in the pool. "You've only been doing it for about a month and a half now."

"Yep, it was fun. I think I unnerved a few of them though."

"Did you really?"

"Yeah! It was awesome! I was learning while pretty much pranking the top Jedi of our order!"

"You've spent way to much time with Garen, Reeft and… Obi-Wan."

There was a moment of silence. "I miss him too."

She was nine! She didn't know why that scared her so. Nothing particularly important happened when you were nine. But she felt as though something was going to happen. And she was frightened. She knelt down for meditation. The other girls in her age-group thought it was weird that she meditated so much. She knew it was unusual for initiates to meditate willingly. The others certainly didn't. But she loved the peace that came, the feeling of belonging to the force, being one with it. …and sometimes she could feel her mothers love.

She meditated searching for the source of her apprehension. But she could not find the source. She breathed in, she would deal with it when it came. But for now she would go join the saber duels. She grinned to herself, thanks to Bant, Garen, Reeft and Obi-Wan her saber skills were advanced for her age. These duels would help the Jedi teachers decide which class they should put her in.

She wasn't big into fighting, she was already on course to be a diplomatic Jedi. She felt a tinge of sorrow, Obi-Wan had been on course to be a negotiator as well, Garen preferred piloting, Reeft preferred saber fighting, and Bant preferred healing. She pushed it from her mind, no need to think of what she could not change.

It was time for her to get ready for the competition.

"They want her back." Mace was incredulous, not that they wanted her back; that was understandable, but that the council was even considering it. "She has suffered enough there, she is training to be a Jedi, and she will be a good one."

"With you, agree I do, her decision it must be." Yoda's ears drooped.

"Do you think she will leave the Jedi? You can see that the girl loves it here, she throws herself into everything with a passion, I find it difficult to imagine her leaving when she has such a desire to learn."

"Stifle her desire she would if told she must." Mace was frightened to see the look of sorrow in Yoda's eyes. Surely he did not think this was best.

Ki-Adi joined in "But we would not tell her that she must, I agree with Mace, the girls has the potential to be a great Jedi. I certainly wouldn't want to tell her that she has to leave the order."

Yaddle sighed, "None of us would tell her that, but the people will, they are convinced that it is her duty to return, to be a part of their society, to help them with their government."

Mace sighed, that was the problem, the girl was duty driven, for reasons he couldn't quite explain she would do what she thought was her duty, no matter the personal cost. "But she is nine, why would they ask her to come back now, she is not old enough."

Ki-Adi laughed "Ah, but she saved them when she was five. I wouldn't be surprised if they made her their galactic senator by the time she is sixteen. Several years younger than the youngest of the senators."

Mace looked to Yoda "Has she been told?"

"Tell her after her competition I will."

Yaddle sighed, "I admit I will be sad to see her go." She saw the pained look in many of her fellow council members eyes, "We all know she will, she will always do her duty."

"She will no doubt struggle, she will probably feel torn between two duties that she cannot bring together." Kit Fisto sighed, "She would have been a great Jedi."

"Tell her of this I will, meditate on it we all must."

Lanae was excited, she had done well, and was fairly certain that she would be advanced to a higher saber class. She frowned, she had been beaten by Siri, who was three years her senior, although Lanae was reassured to hear that Siri had beaten people two years her senior. Lanae wondered briefly if she was being prideful. She shivered, she would need to meditate to remove such feelings, she had done well and that was all that mattered.

She felt Yoda's presence nearing her spot in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, she jumped to her feet to bow to the emerging figure.

"In the competition well fought you did, pleased with your progress we are."

"I've had help with my practice" Lanae grinned at the wizened Jedi master next to her. She waited until he sat before sitting herself below him, a piece of etiquette engrained in her from her time before the Jedi temple. As though noticing this Yoda's ears drooped.

"A summons you have received." He paused and Lanae felt intrigued, a summons? "To the council you should come, news for you we have." The apprehension that Lanae had felt that morning returned stronger than ever.

Lanae stood in the center of the council room staring straight ahead towards where Master Yoda and Master Windu were sitting. She was surrounded by the other members of the council, and she was puzzled by the feelings of resignation that seemed to be layering the room.

"We have received communication from your planet Macinar" Master Windu hesitated "They have expressed concern that the training of a Jedi is not right for you."

Lanae hesitated "I am an orphan, I have given away my right to the throne, in the past four years they have created a ruling body that has no need for princesses, no one in Macinar has a reason to care what becomes of me." She paused wondering if she sounded too impertinent, to be on the safe side she added "Perhaps you could enlighten me."

Master Mundi looked at her "They feel that as princess," Lanae flinched at the word princess before interrupting.

"I gave that up four years ago. I am no longer a princess."

Master Mundi sighed, "We realize that, but the people of Macinar feel that, as hereditary ruler, they want you to be a part of the governing body. They feel it is your duty as their princess."

They all saw the flash of pain in her eyes at the word duty. "I'm nine" she whispered "Surely they don't expect me to be a part of their government, it's… not sensible."

"They feel that after all you have done for them that you are more than capable. They think you would be the best choice to represent Macinar."

"I understand." Her head dropped

"We are not saying that you need to acquiesce to this request, in the end it is your choice." Master Windu said kindly.

"I understand." It was a whisper "Is that all masters?"

They nodded, and with a bow she turned and left.

Lanae knelt in meditation, she felt so lost. She remembered four years ago. The Queens trial. She had a set of duties that the force had given her, and she would not fail to do her duty. To be a Jedi that was her duty. But it did not feel the peace that normally came with that reassurance, for it was also her duty to be the representative of her people.

Suddenly Obi-Wan's face appeared in her mind, and her own words echoed back at her, "it does not matter what happens, you will always be a Jedi" and then she knew. She had to push her own desires aside. A Jedi always did their duty, and she had a duty.

She pulled herself out of her meditations. She needed to find Yoda, she would return to Macinar to do her duty.

"When is the soonest I can leave?" Mace looked at the girl in surprise, he had thought she would have postponed her departure as long as possible. As though sensing his surprise she added "I don't like prolonged goodbyes."

Mace nodded in understanding, "there will be a transport ready tomorrow morning." Lanae smiled sadly.

"Don't tell anyone" she whispered "Not until after I am gone."

"Your friends will want to say goodbye."

"They'll understand." She smiled sadly, "I just don't think I'm strong enough to do that too." Mace nodded in understanding.

"We'll respect your wishes." She nodded in thanks.

"I never realized it would hurt so much to do your duty. I watched my mom give her life and I always thought I could do that when the time came, but I never realized giving up your dreams could be just as hard." And then she threw her arms around his waist and started crying.

Mace bent down so he was holding her in a comforting hug. "You will be a great Macinar representative, you have an important role to play in this galaxy and I believe that you are more than capable of fulfilling the role the force has given you."

Lanae withdrew, and nodded, looking a little ashamed of her outburst. They both turned at the sound of a Gimer stick heading their way. Lanae bowed as Master Yoda came towards them.

"Prepared are you for your departure? Leave early you must." Lanae nodded. Yoda gave her an apprising look. "Remember young one, happiness can always be found. Feel the force, do not doubt." She nodded again before hugging Yoda and running off.

The transport was scheduled to depart in about thirty minutes, there had been very little to pack. She slipped into Bant's room and slipped a friendship knot onto the desk beside her bed. Minutes later she had left two identical knots in Garen's and Reeft's rooms. She slid out into the hallway headed toward the landing pad, she straightened her shoulders as she walked. Ready to face her new future.