With the time of mourning still clinging to all of Theed like a damp shroud, and since the Jedi Council and Supreme Chancellor were all present at last, the parade to celebrate the new alliance between the Gungans and the people of Naboo was finalised. It would take place the very morning after Qui-Gon Jinn's farewell and burning.
The Gungan army paraded through the city. Drums were drummed in perfect time, horns were blown in harmony, and behind them all came some young female Gungans, dancing and singing a wordless but happy song.
Lined up along the sides of the main thoroughfare, the people of Naboo cheered for the spectacle before them, and from balconies above the streets, children threw petals out to add to the joyful atmosphere.
Boss Nass, Captain Tarpals, and Jar-Jar all dismounted their beasts when they reached the palace steps, and ascended to stand with the representatives of Naboo, the Galactic Senate, and the Jedi Council.
King Amidala accepted a glowing orb from Governor Bibble and reverently handed it over to Boss Nass – who in his turn held it high above his head and proclaimed "Peace!" to all present with an enthusiastic smile.
"Wahoo!" Jar-Jar cheered, a sentiment that was shared by all of the beings standing in the streets of Theed that day.
Even most of the Jedi Council smiled, rather than maintaining their solemnity. After all, peace was one of the things that the Jedi strove to uphold throughout the universe, and here it was being realised. It was a good day to bask in the Living Force.
Obi-Wan smiled. Whatever other opinions she had about armies, she did enjoy a military parade. It was something to do with the way they drummed that no other band ever got quite the same.
Before long though, the parade of Gungans was dissolved in favour of a great dance, the musicians – Gungan and human alike – took their places on the palace steps.
Hands were linked in friendship as the two sentient races of Naboo danced around the square in a winding snake of a line, every face lit with a smile and all eyes sparkling with barely contained joy as they celebrated their freedom together.
Yes, the shroud of mourning was thrown off. The time for joy had returned to Naboo, and that joy was in even greater abundance than it had been before.
"Do Jedi dance?" King Amidala asked Obi-Wan, a hand held hopefully out, palm-up.
"Not in front of Masters," Obi-Wan answered with a smile, even as she slipped her hand into his and gave Master Yoda a wink. "Unless the Masters are dancing as well."
The little Trog chuckled, and waved them off, and even turned to the other Trog on the Jedi Council, Master Yaddle, and offered her his hand to dance and join in the celebrations.
"I take it that means we're not all going to be able to get away with being stoic representatives of the Jedi Order," Master Windu complained softly to Master Mundi.
Mundi chuckled softly in agreement, but otherwise said nothing. Especially he said nothing when Master Tyvokka offered his paw to Master Gallia and led her to dancing as well.
"You just don't like admitting that, graceful as you are with a lightsaber, you've two left feet when it comes to dancing," Master Billaba quipped across to Master Windu, and accepted Master Fisto's hand to dance, which effectively left the remaining six male members of the Jedi Council without anyone to request a dance from, even if they had been inclined.
That didn't stop Boss Nass from joining in dancing with Obi-Wan and King Amidala though, the three of them forming a joyful little line with the young Jedi in the middle. A clearer display of friendship between the three factions – humans of Naboo, Gungans, and Jedi – could not have been given.
~oOo~
When she had completed her Trial of Insight, Master Windu went with Obi-Wan to the apartment she had shared with Qui-Gon when they weren't out in the field. While Obi-Wan would be collecting up all of her own meagre belongings to be transferred to new quarters as soon as she had completed the last of her Trials, Master Windu gathered up those things that Qui-Gon had collected over the years. The apartment was to be stripped, and then it would be given to another Jedi. One with a Padawan to care for.
Once everything was packed up in boxes – Obi-Wan didn't know what would become of her Master's possessions, save that Master Yoda had granted she could keep his lightsaber – and Obi-Wan's own effects were slung over her shoulder in a bag, she followed behind the Master towards the Council Chambers.
It was time for her to face the mirror.
Her belongings were left outside of the chamber while she knelt in the centre of it, facing Master Yoda. He would guide her in her meditation, though all of the Masters would monitor her.
Obi-Wan began by emptying herself to the Force, basking in the flowing eddies of light that swirled around her very being.
"Deeper, you must go," Yoda reminded her. "And within yourself this time, not the Force."
Deeper. Obi-Wan let go of the Force and turned herself inward. Deeper. Into the very depths of herself where she did not like to dwell.
Yoda gently guided as pushed her towards that place, and then it was as though her mind had opened up before her and she stood upon a beach. The sand was grey-brown, the water was a dark blue that did not look inviting, and she was not the only one there.
"You're trying to find something that isn't there," Obi-Wan heard her own voice say as it came from the red-painted mouth of the other figure standing on that beach. Indeed, the figure was her own mirror image, but also so very different. There were blasters hooked at her hips beside the lightsabers. The trousers were so much tighter, and the shirt was a much skimpier thing than Obi-Wan usually wore when pretending to be a bounty hunter.
"Oh, you noticed," the other Obi-Wan said with a smile. "Yes, I'm the naughty little part of you that you tap into when you need to make a deal with unsavoury people. That's what I am. The part of you that doesn't care about anybody else. The part of you that sees everybody only as tools to be used and doesn't give a damn two ways about it, so long as you get what you want. The part of you that isn't afraid to simply takeit."
"Sociopath," Obi-Wan breathed softly.
The darker version of herself laughed happily. "That really is such an interesting word," she quipped with a red-painted smile. "Yes, the part of you that simply switches off all emotions when you duel with your lightsaber, so that you feel no regrets, no pain, only sometimes the adrenaline as it rushes through your blood. But I'm not just that. I'm the part of you that questions. The part of you that went looking for Revan's holocron and spent simply hours awake at night discussing philosophy with the Jedi that became a Sith. The part of you that is fascinated by the forbidden knowledge, and begs to know why it is forbidden," she continued, her eyes flashing momentarily yellow in wicked delight.
"The part of my that sees hypocrisy everywhere too, I suppose," Obi-Wan suggested.
The dark lensed copy nodded amiably.
Obi-Wan breathed deeply, and considered the figure before her. "Well," she said at last. "I suppose I don't have to worry too much about falling to the Dark Side," she mused.
The darker Obi-Wan lifted a manicured and darkly painted brow – a vanity that Obi-Wan had never indulged in. "Oh?" she asked as she moved to study her nails carelessly. "How do you figure that?" The question was apathetically asked.
"The Dark Side is passionate," Obi-Wan said plainly. "At my darkest, it seems that I am only apathetic and disdainful."
The other Obi-Wan smirked and applauded. "Oh, very clever," she praised, but then she stepped closer, right up into Obi-Wan's personal space, and lay a cold hand over Obi-Wan's heart. "No, you don't have to concern yourself with such a fall. You are too shining, too light. At your very darkest, when we reach out past the confines you keep me locked away behind and touch each other, you are only merely grey. But to feel nothing for anyone? Is that really so much better than hating them all?" she asked curiously.
"Infinitely," Obi-Wan answered instantly. "So, my deepest shade of grey," she said, and reached up to catch the other Obi-Wan's hands and twist them. "What do I have to fear from you?" she demanded calmly. "You will never control me," she declared firmly.
The painted, smiling lips and the skimpy clothes suddenly cracked, like glass that had been struck with a stone, and with a last, approving nod to her, the entire figure shattered in Obi-Wan's grip.
The sand was still a grey shade of brown, and the water was still dark with depth, but the chill air had warmed, and Obi-Wan could feel Master Yoda calling her back to him. Back to herself.
A deep breath. She opened her eyes.
"Past this Trial, I would say she has," Master Yaddle offered softly. "And with flying colours."
There was not one disagreement among the Council. It was a rare thing for them, when conducting this Trial, that the most true darkness within the Padawan should be so tempered with light. That it should be so rational and even-tempered – to not reach for any of the weapons it carried, to not try and seize control through brute force... It frightened them a little, but not as much as it also brought comfort to them. Obi-Wan Kenobi would be a great Jedi. Some day she would be a Master, but for now... for now she was to be awarded the rank of Jedi Knight.
"You will meditate tonight in the Tranquillity Spire," Master Fisto directed. "Tomorrow, you will be knighted."
Obi-Wan was still kneeling before the Masters, but that did not stop her from bowing to them in solemn gratitude for their assessment of her readiness.
~oOo~
News always spread quickly in the Temple, and by the time Obi-Wan reached the heart of Tranquillity Spire, her friends were all at the door of the chamber and waiting for her. Siri, Bant, Garen, Reeft and Quinlan – and for once, not one of them wore anything more or less than the most standard form of the Jedi robes.
"It was about time your Master nominated you for the Trials," Quinlan said plainly. "You're the last of us to have endured them."
Obi-Wan knew that. Quinlan had been the first – he even had a Padawan of his own now – then Siri was next. Bant and Reeft had been Knighted close together. Garen had been the last, apart from her, and he'd taken his trials a year before. She hadn't been impatient to advance, but she knew that all of her friends had been impatient for her. Most of them didn't approve of the way Master Jinn had treated her.
Oh, he was father to her at the last, certainly, but it had taken a very long time for them to reach that point in their relationship, and Qui-Gon had always been very critical, as though being a hard taskmaster for her would make up for his indulgent lassitude with his previous, fallen, Padawan.
"We will meditate with you," Siri informed Obi-Wan, arms crossed over her chest. She would brook no argument.
Obi-Wan offered none, rather only nodded in silent, grateful acceptance and led her friends into the chamber where they had all done this before. It was a tradition among them since Siri had been sent here before her knighting. They would come in their plainest robes and meditate together. Some Padawans, when they were joined by their friends in the Tranquillity Spire, talked together, speaking of the Trials they had just endured.
They did not. Conversation such as that could be had later. They were not the most obedient of Jedi in the Temple, but they were not the sort to shirk meditation when it was required of them either. Even Siri and Quinlan, party animals that they were when given the chance, took their times of meditation seriously.
Especially since, once the Masters had finished scolding them for not, a seven-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi had used her floating meditation stones to clock them both on the heads as a lesson to not be disruptive when she was meditating.
Inside the chamber, Obi-Wan settled herself down in the centre of the room, and her five friends took their places equidistant from each other around her. Meditation stones slowly and smoothly rose into the air around them, and began to weave around in a half-dozen different orbits. Minds calmed and opened to the guidance of the Force, seeking to understand the paths that would be laid before them.
~oOo~
The Masters ignited their lightsabers, giving light to their circle around the young woman. The luminous blades were held straight up, and each figure stood tall and straight. Well, they all stood straight at least. Some were naturally more vertically challenged than others, but they each stood as tall as their species allowed.
"Step forward, Padawan," Master Yoda instructed, his lightsaber held at the ready beside him. He was the only one of the Masters to not have the hood of his outer robe drawn up. He was also the only one standing on his chair.
Obediently and silently, Obi-Wan moved to kneel before the Grand Master, and bowed her head – an action which allowed her waist-long Padawan brain to fall freely forward. The rest of her hair was tied back in a tail, low against her neck, so that it would not be in the way.
Master Yoda raised his lightsaber, and the glowing blades of the other Masters lowered to point to the floor.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi," Master Yoda intoned. "By the right of the Council," he said, and lowered the humming weapon to rest just above her right shoulder. "By the will of the Force," he continued, and moved his blade over her head to hover over her left. "Dub thee, I do," he stated, and again moved his lightsaber back to hover by Obi-Wan's right ear. "Jedi -" with a well controlled flick, he sliced off her Padawan braid from behind her ear. "- Knight of the Republic."
Around the circle of Masters, the lightsabers were raised once more. This time, in salute to the new Knight of their Order.
Obi-Wan stared for a moment at the length of hair that now lay on the floor before her before finally she stood. She was a Jedi Knight.
Master Yoda lifted her braid from the floor through use of the Force and presented it to her.
"With this, do what you will," he instructed kindly.
Most Padawans gave their braids to their Masters as a sign of respect and gratitude for the teaching they had received. But Qui-Gon Jinn was dead, and though Masters Yoda and Windu had also both given her instruction over the years, giving her braid to either one didn't feel right. For now, she would simply keep it for herself.
~End Part One~