Chapter Eight

32 BBY

~ Obi-Wan Kenobi ~
I yawned, and gave my Master an apologetic glance. He sent me an amused look back that was tempered with understanding, and tugged gently on my Padawan braid.

I turned to Kya. She was still unconsciousness, deep in a healing trance that no one seemed to be able to pull her out of.

I cocked my head slightly. Kya unnerved me. She was no slouch with lightsabers when it came to dueling, and while her style heavily favored Form III and IV, Soresu and Ataru, I knew that my Master had detected hints of Forms II and V in her style as well.

I, who was almost ten years her senior, would have had trouble completing some of the movements that to her seemed second nature.

She also was good at diplomacy, easily deflecting questions from my Master in the first few days of knowing him, and also easily retaliating, forcing my Master to not only back off, but to lose ground.

Her connection to the Force was strong and she was well-trained in its use, having the control of and the skills of full Knight. The Force was strong and constant and unyielding around her, as if she was surrounded by it and used it every single second.

All in all, she was an almost perfect picture of a Padawan ready for ascension Knighthood, yet only fifteen years old and still bearing a Padawan braid.

When the healers had done a midi-chlorian count for Kya, her count was found to rival even Anakin's, somewhere between 18,000 and 21,000. That clearly explained Kya's power, but the healers were at loss to explain why her count varied with each new test.

I shivered slightly. If Kya was near Knight level so young, I shuddered at the thought of what her Master must be capable of.

~ Anakin Skywalker ~
I sat outside the healers' ward, waiting for Master Qui-Gon. He'd only come out for a few times since he'd gone in, and each explanation or reassurance had been rushed and brief, frustratingly empty of details.

I yawned widely. No Jedi, especially not those of Jedi Council, had taken any interest in me, instead focusing on the Padawan, Kya. Kya had been very nice to me after regaining her "balance", as she called it, after a vision that left her scared and jumpy. She'd treated me as an equal, with the same respect and affection she'd showed Master Jinn, Padawan Kenobi, and even Padmé.

I yawned again. Maybe I can go and see Kya. I crept through the healers' ward, finally finding Kya's room. She lay still, unconscious, but from what I didn't know.

I scanned the room, noticing the asleep figures of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.

I smiled tiredly, collapsed on the bed, and slept.

~ Kya Ranor ~
I felt myself return to the physical world, and sat upright slowly. I glanced down, curious at the warm weight next to me.

I felt a smile crease my face at the sight.

Anakin.

I yawned, tired beyond belief despite the fact that I had slept for Force knew how long already. Force. Those visions took more out of me than I thought. Time to sleep.

I reached out with the Force to nudge Anakin deeper into slumber, and noticed that Obi-Wan and Master Jinn were also asleep in nearby chairs.

A brief touch of their minds showed them to have been overwhelmed into sleep by plain tiredness and excitement.

I frowned as I skirted the edges of their auras. What could have made them so excited? I closed my eyes, finding that it helped my concentration. But I couldn't determine anything more; their minds were shielded as well.

The next thing I knew, I found myself too sleepy to continue, and I sank down to the bed, curling a protective arm around Anakin.

~ Qui-Gon Jinn ~
I slowly added more pressure to the sleep-suggestion I was inflicting on the Padawan. She was already tired, and it had taken all my will not to leap up when I had felt her awaken and begin to search her room.

I opened my eyes, smiling slightly as the Padawan gave up struggling against the suggestion and returned to sleeping.

I was surprised, however, to see the girl curl a protective arm around Anakin as she began to drift off, a move that reminded me of something a parent would do to a child. But I was also pleased as she did so. Apparently, she was aware of the fact that in the Jedi Order, everyone was related, a parent and a child. It showed a gentler side of the girl, one that was protective and loving toward others.

A frown crossed my face as I looked at her.

My Padawan was certain, I could sense, that the girl was ready for Knighthood. He looked at her and saw her deadly skill, her powerful abilities, her seamless connection and he saw a Knight. He saw a Padawan who was no longer a Padawan, one even better that he was.

I was not so optimistic. I had passed the Trials, and I knew what to look for in a Knight.

And there were several things the girl lacked.

The girl's control was . . . well, it could be worked on. She had lost control – what was it? – three times now. Once, in the duel; second, on the landing platform; and now this.

Her power was immense and awe-inspiring – but the key to power for the Jedi was not its immensity, but rather the knowledge of when to use it. Kya didn't seem to have that knowledge; or if she did, she didn't seem to have the experience to know when to call upon it.

And her ability to argue and speak the truth without revealing all? Yes, it was good. But it was also not backed by experience. Experience and practice made a Knight, not power.

I reached out and examined the edges of her mind again, making sure she was actually asleep and would not rise.

I rose silently. Stepping out of the room, I called Mace and Yoda. Mace arrived shortly afterward with Yoda not far behind. It was late at night, but the Masters seemed alert as always – perhaps even more so, now with such a mystery on our hands.

"Asleep for real, she is?" asked Master Yoda.

I nodded, sinking into a comfortable chair. Mace and Yoda copied me.

Mace leaned forward, interest gleaming in his dark brown eyes. "What have you noticed about her?" he asked.

"My apprentice told me many things about her," I said neutrally. "But first and foremost the fact that she is well schooled in almost every form of lightsaber combat. Her style heavily favors Soresu and Ataru, but I also saw some things in her style that only come from Makashi and Djem So."

Yoda frowned thoughtfully. "Relatively unpracticed in apprenticeship, Makashi is," he said.

I nodded. Very few Jedi studied Makashi anymore, as Jedi rarely needed actually duel with lightsabers nowadays. Deflection of blasters and laserbeams had taken precedence over real lightsaber duels, because there was no one anymore to challenge the Jedi with lightsabers in hand. My former Master, Master Dooku, was one of the only Jedi in existence who studied Makashi.

I continued, "I believe that the only forms that she is still learning are Makashi – apparently her teacher never finished her instruction, for some reason – and Vaapad. She said that Master Windu was still instructing her in Vaapad."

Mace sat back in shock. "When did she begin learning Vaapad?" he asked in disbelief. "I would never train an apprentice so young. That form is dangerous."

"It's better to know more than to know less," came a sleepy voice. I turned, and heard Mace curse under his breath. There, leaning against the door, was the very Padawan we were discussing.