The hillside before them seemed to reach up to the edge of the amethyst sky. A hot, dust-laden wind blew past. Behind them, a thin trail of dirt disturbed by the speeder marked the sole man-made path in the ground. It snaked its way down into the valley and disappeared over seemingly endless hills. The capital of Dunia had long since disappeared over the uneven horizon, but Anakin was still staring back.

"How far is this colony?" the padawan asked, sounding anxious and a bit glum.

Obi-Wan suspected sitting in the back seat of the open speeder for so long instead of flying it was really getting to Anakin. "Patience," he said. It was a word that fell from his lips as easily as 'thank you' or 'hello' these days. "It wouldn't be much of an isolated colony were it just across the river from Dunia City, would it?"

Turning back around, Anakin gave his master a brief glance before focusing on the hillside ahead of them. It was a subtle expression, accompanied by his slight change in mood- basically the Jedi equivalent of an eye-roll. To Obi-Wan, it was reassuring: it was normal. He was still trying to gauge Anakin's reaction to the Council's intervention. The boy had clearly been glad to get out of the Temple but was less than thrilled with the current assignment.

As the speeder approached the top of the long incline, the pilot coasted to a stop. Swivelling around, he addressed the Jedi. "This is as far as our craft are allowed to go. The Bayir settlement of Gaudan is in the valley just over this hillside, sirs."

"Thank you," Obi-Wan said with a nod as he took his bag from under the seat in front of him and climbed out. Anakin exited from the other side. "We'll walk from here."

"Very good, sir," the pilot said. "The Shah reminds you that if you require any assistance, you may contact him back in Dunia City." He fired up the speeder's engine and gave a nod before turning the craft around. Within seconds, the transport had dissolved into a rapidly shrinking bloom of dust travelling down towards the rolling plains.

The two Jedi idly watched the speeder disappear. Obi-Wan was doing a fair job, he thought, of hiding his anxiety. Anakin was not so subtly displaying his displeasure with his slumped stance. "Anakin," Obi-Wan began earnestly, "I know I've stressed the importance of this mission to you, but please-"

"I know, Master," the youth turned to look down at his guardian. "Don't mess it up."

"That isn't what I was going to say," Obi-Wan replied dryly. "I merely wanted to remind you that, despite what you may think, this assignment is not a 'waste of talent'." Anakin shifted, uncomfortable with having his own words from their hyperspace voyage turned against him. "On the contrary, this assignment reflects an extraordinarily high degree of trust from the Council."

Obi-Wan hoped he didn't have to explain why. He had already told Anakin all about the treaty Dunia had signed twenty years earlier when the planet joined the Republic. It had been news at the time for the very reason it was so significant for the Jedi. A small, isolated group known as the Bayir had lived in several small colonies in the mountains of Dunia for innumerable years. This would not have been remarkable at all had it not been for the fact that the Bayir were Force sensitives.

It was not quite known just how strong in the Force they were. The Bayir had never submitted to testing by the Jedi. Apparently they were quite content to remain isolated. But Chancellor Vallorum had ensured that a special clause in the Dunian Annexation would also guarantee the acceptance of a Jedi envoy in twenty years time to renew negotiations with the Bayir.

Obi-Wan had been a padawan at the time and remembered quite clearly how excited the Order had been at the prospect. He had never for even a nanosecond entertained the notion that he would be sent as the envoy. It baffled him, to say the least. He had expected, as he was sure most Jedi had, that when this day came the task would fall to Master Yoda or at least to another Council member.

Anakin, thankfully, seemed to register the intensity of his master's pleading stare and all that it meant. Dropping his eyes, he said lowly, "Of course it isn't a waste of talent, Master. It's very important," he added, "to the whole Order. I only meant that it seemed an unusual assignment for us."

"Perhaps," Obi-Wan replied casually, as though he hadn't been tumbling the Council's odd assignment over in his mind for days. "Nevertheless, the task is ours and we shall do what we must." He turned and headed purposefully for the ridge.

Anakin seemed a bit confused at Obi-Wan's ability to so suddenly put a strangle-hold on his worries. It took his apprentice a moment to fall in step at his side. He seemed about to comment when they reached the hilltop and the valley came into view.

For a silent moment, the Jedi took in the sight- Anakin with a sense of awe and Obi-Wan with an unreadable expression.

At the base of the valley stood a cluster of colourful stone buildings carved into shapes that resembled twisted tree-trunks, or melting wax. The city was settled on the edge of a vast, glistening sea that was settled between the towering white mountains on either side. The seaside appeared to be bustling with small vessels. The purplish light of the planet's atmosphere reflected off the water, doubling the lavender glow on the town.

"This is nice," Anakin remarked to break the silence. Obi-Wan glanced at him questioningly. "I mean, when it said isolated I pictured wood shacks or something."

Obi-Wan cringed. "Padawan, it might be good to keep that opinion to yourself." He rubbed his right temple lightly as he took a few steps down the hill. The last thing he needed was for Anakin's mouth to get ahead of his brain and offend someone.

"I didn't mean any offence, Master," Anakin replied with surprising gravity. "I grew up in a place much worse than that."

Though he certainly wasn't about to forget Anakin's background, Obi-Wan admitted, at least to himself, that he sometimes neglected to remember that his padawan's outlook had been differently shaped than his. But this was certainly not the time for debating Jedi philosophy with his apprentice. Instead, he replied, "Grew up? You say that as though you were already an adult at nine. Unfortunately, young padawan, you have yet some growing up to do."

Anakin glanced down at the top of his Master's head. "Really?" he asked, the smirk in his Force signature never showing on his face.

"That isn't what I meant," Obi-Wan said evenly.

The discussion was cut short by the appearance of a figure in the distance moving up the hillside towards them. Obi-Wan immediately snapped into his most professional Jedi mindset. It was reassuring. He wasn't sure why Anakin found that attitude so difficult to adopt- it was much easier for Obi-Wan to be a Jedi than to be anything else. It was natural. Such sentiments seemed lost on Anakin, though, and generally caused him to assert that Obi-Wan would be the absolute worst undercover Jedi in history.

As they continued down towards the approaching figure, Obi-Wan was glad that Anakin quieted his adolescent banter without being asked. Anakin might not truly have understood the importance of a mission that had been anticipated by the Jedi since before he was born, but Obi-Wan was relieved that his padawan at least had the decency to play along. But Obi-Wan also could not shake the lingering concern the Council's intervention had brought to the front of his mind. What did they perceive that he had not?

But now was not the time. Obi-Wan rearranged his concerns to relegate the issue to 'later'. As he had so often been reminded by Qui-Gon, worry for the future could not be allowed to cloud the present. Especially when the present reverberated like a deep gong in the Force, as it did now. The Bayir representative approached.

Up close, it was clear the young man was only a few years Anakin's senior, perhaps not even yet twenty. He stood at about Obi-Wan's height, and was roughly of the same medium build. The long, dark hair he wore back in a tie appeared black at first, but upon a second glance it became apparent that it actually had a reddish sheen. The Bayir were entirely human, but in such confined populations, Obi-Wan supposed unique genetics could develop.

The young man's dark irises stood out against the bright whites of his eyes and the deep tan of his skin. He looked like someone who had worked outside a good portion of his life. The outfit he wore insinuated several layers of tops, the outermost of which was a sort of poncho of a subdued yellow colour. His trousers and shoes appeared to be made of some kind of softened animal hide.

His expression, however, was the most striking thing. Whereas Obi-Wan and Anakin had approached with their 'dignitary' faces on, the young Bayir wore a wide grin. His arms spread wide, he approached the Jedi with great familiarity. "Ava!" he exclaimed, which Obi-Wan could only assume was a kind of friendly greeting.

Then the young man, quite unexpectedly, briefly kneeled on the ground in front of Obi-Wan. When he got up, much to Anakin's surprise, he hugged the Jedi padawan and placed a friendly kiss on his cheek. Anakin shot Obi-Wan the equivalent of a raised eyebrow through the Force, but the Jedi Knight did not respond. Surprising though new cultures could be, they had seen enough of them that they should know to be prepared for anything.

Not that Obi-Wan wasn't a bit at a loss himself, he was just better at pretending he wasn't. He bowed and Anakin followed suit.

"My Jedi brothers," the young Bayir said happily, "it is good for you to be here, at last. We have been waiting."

"We are very grateful for your hospitality," Obi-Wan replied. The Bayir had requested that the Jedi not bring a translator droid, so he assumed politely that the young man spoke fluent Basic. His accent was different from Obi-Wan's, but then no one spoke Basic in the same manner, not even he and his own padawan.

"Il Ahom wishes for us to give to everyone," the young man said, before seeming to catch himself. "Il Ahom is, as you say," he searched for the words a half-second, "the Force."

Obi-Wan took in the explanation with careful attention. Very little was known about the Bayir, and especially about their understanding of their Force affinity. If he were to make any sort of headway with the Bayir, Obi-Wan knew it was vital to present his case on their own terms.

"I forget myself," the young representative exclaimed suddenly. "I have not said my name. I am Dagan rus Liron. The second is my father's name, so you may call me just Dagan. It means 'farmer', which my father expected me to be. Though I am not a farmer, so it is not the best name." He flashed a toothy grin.

"Dagan," Obi-Wan said with a slight nod of recognition. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"And I'm Anakin Skywalker," Anakin said, giving a small smile. Having recovered from the surprise of Dagan's friendly greeting, the Jedi apprentice seemed to have warmed a bit to their new guide.

"These names are strange," Dagan remarked, adding emphatically, "to me. What do they mean?"

Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged glances. Apparently, neither of them knew. "I am not certain what our names meant originally," Obi-Wan admitted.

Dagan seemed surprised. "Ah, you see this is strange. To the Bayir, what a name means is important." He pressed the knuckles of his fists together in what appeared to be a gesture of contemplation. "I must think of better names for you, but now I do not know you, so I cannot." The Jedi clearly didn't know what to say in response to the declaration that they would, naturally, be renamed. They let Dagan continue, "You also each have two names. Both names are yours?" he asked.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said. But as soon as he'd said it, he realised it wasn't entirely true. "Well, the second name is the family name. My father's second name is also Kenobi, as is his father's." Obi-Wan stopped, frowning. For some reason, it felt very odd to say that.

Dagan did not look entirely sure of his understanding. He looked to Anakin. "But then why is your second name not also Kenobi?"

There was a long pause. It took Obi-Wan a while to realise that Dagan thought Anakin was his son. It struck him that the Bayir really knew as little of the Jedi as the Jedi knew of them. And either the Bayir had children at a relatively young age or Dagan thought Obi-Wan was quite a lot older than he actually was. He hoped it was the former.

"Ah, no you see," Obi-Wan explained, "Anakin is my apprentice, not my son."

"And Skywalker is my mother's family name," Anakin added, not entirely helpfully. It seemed the further explanation was only making poor Dagan more confused. "It's," Anakin paused, glancing at his master. To Obi-Wan's surprise, he perceived instead of a touch of amusement, a touch of sadness in his padawan's demeanour. Anakin quickly looked away, back to the Bayir. "It's complicated."

"So it seems. Forgive me," Dagan said quietly. Was it Obi-Wan's imagination, or had the young man picked up on the subtle exchange between Master and Padawan?

Obi-Wan supposed he shouldn't really be surprised. Dagan was, after all, Force-sensitive, as all the Bayir were presumed to be. He found himself, for the first time, wondering what the implications of living among non-Jedi Force users would be. And Obi-Wan felt himself, not for the first time, feeling entirely out of the arena of his abilities.

But Yoda wants you here, he reminded himself. There is a reason. The reminder that this had been the Council's decision was reassuring. At least, it was reassuring to Obi-Wan.

"I should show you more of the city of Gaudan," Dagan said, this time in his more friendly, welcoming tone. "It seems there is much still to be explained."

Obi-Wan couldn't agree more.