8]
Surely, Master Yoda was joking. Kat hadn't slept very well the night before. She usually didn't have trouble sleeping in strange places, but the excitement of finally meeting her father made her toss and turn half the night.
Maybe, she had misunderstood him.
"Hesitation I sense in you," the old Jedi Master noted.
"I'm…"she began, but stopped herself. She was about to argue with the boss of all the Jedi! Should she?
Of course she should, Kat decided quickly. One thing her mother and aunts had taught her was to speak her mind. Especially when she thought she was in the right.
"I'm just not sure this is such a good idea. I'll just give myself away. Wouldn't it be better to tell him the truth?"
"A long time alone Knight Kenobi has been. A padawan he needs. Many times, I have told him this."
"Why hasn't he had one?" She thought Mari had said her father liked younglings.
"Perhaps, afraid to be close to someone again, he is," Yoda guessed, his big ears drooping a little. "Lost his Master he did."
"Oh yeah," Kat interrupted, recalling something she'd read not long ago. "It happened during the Invasion of Theed. It was that Sith guy, the one with all the red and black body markings. But Knight Kenobi killed him, didn't he?"
"Correct your information is, though not complete. Violent deaths of loved ones, a bitter and deep grief, they often cause."
"What you're saying is that he's sad." Kat concluded with a frown, suddenly feeling quite sorry for a man she hadn't even met. "It sounds like he just needs a friend."
Her understanding caused a smile to erupt on the old Jedi's face. "A kind heart have you. Show this first to Knight Kenobi you should. Perhaps then, accept you more easily he will."
She couldn't help but to have doubts, though she really had no choice. Master Yoda was known to not only be the oldest, but the wisest Jedi in the Temple. Besides, he knew Knight Kenobi better than she did.
"All right," Kat agreed a little timidly. "I'll do my best."
When Knight Kenobi got home, they were waiting for him in the hangar. It took a moment for him to notice them, and as he approached, Kat studied him. He was actually shorter than she had imagined, but now she understood where her hair color came from. She was surprised to find out he had a beard. She usually didn't like beards, although she didn't know very humans who had them. The closer he came though, she decided she liked it on him. What she liked the best about him though, was the color of his eyes. Their shade reminded her of the waterfalls back home on Naboo.
"Knight Kenobi, good to have you back it is."
"Master, is something wrong?"
He seemed surprised and he hadn't even heard the news yet!
"Something the matter there needs to be for me to meet one of our Jedi when he returns?" Master Yoda teased, leaning on his stick.
Now, the Jedi Knight just looked confused. "It's not typical. I, uh…I'll have my report ready for the Council by this afternoon."
"Not concerned about your report am I. Good news for you I have."
Kat felt like she was going to throw up her first meal. And she couldn't keep her hands from shaking! She grabbed hold of them behind her back to still them, hissing quietly when she accidentally squeezed her sore finger. She'd forgotten about Master Yoda pricking it for a blood sample earlier. He'd mentioned checking her blood for midi-somethings. He said it was important.
"Oh?" Knight Kenobi asked calmly.
"Meet Katané. An intelligent, hard-working, and brave, young girl, she is."
One of her father's coppery brows had lifted with surprise, but he extended his hand in a polite greeting anyway. Kat accepted the offering with a grateful smile.
"It's nice to meet you, Katané. I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"Actually, I go by Kat," she couldn't resist pointing out.
Master Yoda had made her put the initiate uniform back on, but her father had not made the connection yet. The Knight glanced from her to Yoda and back again, obviously waiting for an explanation for the introduction, making Kat even more nervous.
"Master, what's the good news?" the Knight finally asked, ending the awkward silence.
"A revelation from the Force have I received. This initiate, a padawan candidate she may be. Assigned to you, she is."
The look on her father's face was pretty close to the same one her mother had when Kat had made the discovery in the first place. It was a unique mixture of confusion, shock, and possibly anger.
"What?"
"A trial basis, it will be. Not unusual this is."
"Not unusual? This is highly irregular! What are you talking about? I didn't request a padawan!" Knight Kenobi abruptly stopped, his hand rubbing his bearded chin before he exhaled a long breath. "I'm sorry, but will you please excuse us?" he directed toward Kat.
She looked to Yoda for instructions and received a nod, which Kat interpreted as a need to walk away in order to give them some privacy. She headed toward the entrance of the hangar where she waited and watched with a good deal of anxiety.
There wasn't much movement. It wasn't like watching her aunts argue, which usually involved a lot of arm flinging and finger-pointing, but she could tell by her father's face that he wasn't pleased with the assignment. She wasn't sure she was either.
She was definitely sure when he marched out of the hangar and didn't give her a second glance.
Master Yoda hobbled his way over to where Kat waited. The compassionate look on his face caused her to have to fight back a sudden and unwelcome onset of tears.
"He doesn't want me. I told you this was a bad idea," she sniffled and wiped her wet nose onto her sleeve.
"Now youngling, worry, you should not," Master Yoda consoled her with kind eyes and a gentle smile. "Many padawans have I trained. Be yourself, you should and like you, he will. Promise this, I do."
Like me? Yeah, probably as much as Master Window does, Kat thought miserably. She had a bad feeling about this.
