~Anakin's POV~

"Obi-wan, I know you're in your mystic Jedi master mode right now, but could you please tell me where we're going?" Anakin requested for the tenth time that minute.

Obi-wan, ahead of him, did not even look back at him. "Patience, Anakin," he said again, as if no time had passed since Anakin's knighting. That slightly irked the young knight.

He was a Jedi, after all. Not just a padawan.

Padawan, Lux had reported about his own apprentice overnight. She was playing Sith; according to Bonteri. And she had killed Grievous. Strangely, his eyes had misted over with something close to sadness as he had reported this.

Anakin's had misted over with pride. What Bonteri was dismayed about was a mystery. Grievous was a monster, and Ahsoka had managed to do what Jedi masters had failed at. She had rid the universe of a great evil, he was proud.

"Are we there yet?" Wherever there was. Honestly, why had Obi-wan gone and taken him from his interrogation of Tarkin to drag him through the forest? The cold forest at that? Winter was starting to set in.

Winters were harsh.

But not harsh enough to wilt the flowers of the beautiful spot Obi-wan brought him too. Anakin inhaled sharply upon coming to the spot Obi-wan had been leading him too.

Somehow, it was warm, the slight chill of the forest having dissipated. A small waterfall fell into a small, foamy pond. The trees rustled around the clearing as if whispering to him.

Birds chattered and chirped softly and sunlight filtered in from the cracks in the canopy above. The force was extremely strong.

"Master…" He was frankly speechless. Obi-wan chuckled and walked past him. "Nava helped me to find it," he said. "It is a force sensitive plot of land. Somehow it always stays comfortably warm, no matter the season. Rarely do I not see animals or plants here. The flowers," he looked down at the ground pointedly. "Never die," he explained.

Anakin only continued to gawk. "Alright, it's…. Stunning, but why have you brought me here exactly?" He asked. "I have something I want to teach you. And it will be relatively easier to teach you where the force is strongest," Obi-wan replied. Anakin was instantly curious.

"You have something to teach me? What?" He asked. Obi-wan only sat, cross-legged, next to the pond. Anakin sat across from him, similarly.

For a moment, Obi-wan only stared into the pool of water thoughtfully, his mind oddly far away. Anakin knew he would talk when he wanted too.

"Before we left for Biyalia," Obi-wan began. "Master Yoda pulled me aside. He told me he had something to teach me, before I left, something that he had learned years earlier," he said. He said all that and you understood? Anakin wondered but remained silent.

"He told me that in the conduit of the force, someone I knew had learned how to retain their form and identity and learned, also, how to commune with the living through their broken bond," he said.

Anakin blinked, not having understood half of that. Blast, he hated it when Obi-wan went mystic on him. No one could discern what in the universe he was talking about after.

"So someone you know whose died can talk to you?" he summed up. Obi-wan looked at him and nodded. "Said simply," he agreed. "So what did Yoda teach you? And is that even possible?" he asked.

"It should not be possible, yes. But," he chuckled. "He never did actually care any about that. And Master Yoda taught me how to call and speak with him at will," he said.

Anakin blinked, pieces of the crude puzzle Obi-wan had given him falling into place. He kept saying 'him,' and there was only one 'him' that Anakin knew about that had died….

"Qui-gon?" he gasped, leaning forward, half eagerly and half in disbelief. Obi-wan's smile confirmed it. Anakin sat back, not sure how to take this news. With joy? With eagerness? With apprehension? He had not seen Qui-gon since he was nine- years- old, after all.

"So you've been talking to him this past year?" Anakin gasped. "Every once and awhile, yes," Anakin had expected Obi-wan to talk to him twenty times a day. He would be. Another thought popped into his mind. "Why didn't you tell me before?" He asked. "You weren't ready," Obi-wan replied plainly.

Anakin narrowed his eyes, about to demand what that meant, but a deep, kindly voice interrupted him, slightly hollow and with an echo.

"Worry not, Ani, you will learn now. I'm looking forward to it, actually,"Anakin twirled around, and saw the familiar -yet foggy in his mind- face of Qui-gon Jinn, whom he had not seen since that fateful day on Naboo.

He looked like a holo-gram, except with a he was literally a ghostly blue, glowing the same color. And there was a stab wound in his heart.

"Qui-gon?" he gasped incredulously. "Odd, how similar your responses are, Obi-wan," Qui-gon replied, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Anakin looked back at Obi-wan, who was chuckling softly. "Indeed, master," came his response, though it was through the force.

Anakin spluttered. "How…?" He trailed off, in both shock and intrigue.

"It's a rather long story, Anakin. Let us just settle with I am stubborn. I refused to have my mind wiped of my memory as a living man. So here I am," Qui-gon explained cheerfully.

"Close your mouth, Anakin. You'll get flies," Obi-wan instructed gently. Anakin clamped his mouth shut. Then smiled. "This… Is… Weird," he said at last.

"Most things that have any preference to Obi-wan and I are,"Qui-gon agreed. "You were the reason for that, my old master" Obi-wan replied with a groan. "You flatter me, Obi-wan. But discounting yourself out of the dangers of our escapades does you no good. May I remind you of the situation at Alderran?"

Obi-wan actually shivered. "No, please don't," he said. "What happened at Alderran?" Anakin asked, finding no other way to express his continued existence. "It's quite an interesting story. Obi-wan …"

"Did nothing," Obi-wan interrupted quickly.

"It's of no importance because it's all in the past and Jedi do not reflect on the past and we're never to speak of it again, alright?" Anakin opened his mouth, really wanting to know what happened at Alderran now, but Obi-wan cut in before he could.

"Good. Anakin, close your mouth and focus," he said, switching back to his mystic master mode. Anakin sighed and gave Obi-wan an, 'this is so not over yet' look before closing his eyes.

The force, as it always had, came to him at once. It had never failed to answer his command. It was always with him, sifting, turning, he sat in a tub of pure, stark power.

"Don't narrow the force, Anakin, give into it," Obi-wan instructed. Give into the force? He had been trained to control it his entire life.

"Open yourself up to it," Obi-wan sounded half-asleep. "Become one with it," of course, he was supposed to just magically become one with the blasted….

Then his muscles un-tensed. The environment around him paled and all noises ceased. He felt as light as air, as fluid as water, as connected to everything as he had never been. He could feel the contentedness of the birds as they whistled through the trees. He could feel the trees growing. He was breathing in harmony with the insects.

It was paradise.

"Good," Obi-wan said, pleased. He seemed so much…. Younger. He looked so much more regal, and wonderful. As if the force saw him in different eyes than Anakin. Anakin looked down at himself; he was glowing faint orange. While Obi-wan purely shimmered with a radiant, warm gold.

"Very good, Anakin," Qui-gon agreed, his voice more real this time. "Um… Thanks? But what exactly did I do?" He asked. "Gave yourself over to the force," Obi-wan replied, staring at Anakin as if he were an idiot.

"How?" Anakin specified. "By being you," Obi-wan said with a small smile. "Ever defiant, bold and brash," he sighed in exasperation while Qui-gon only beamed. Anakin blinked. "Oh," he said. Then he demanded; "why are you glowing brighter than me?" He asked.

"Anakin, no offense, but I've always been the brighter part of the team," Obi-wan pointed out boredily. "Whatever. I can blow things up faster," Anakin commented.

"A useful skill, in some cases, certainly. I always found that it was easier just to sit back and wait for Obi-wan to negotiate something before I commenced with bombing things," Qui-gon remarked. Anakin grinned. "You sound like me," he reflected. "He's your twin," Obi-wan groaned.

Anakin laughed and then cocked his head, fascinated by his new power. "I'm going to be tired after this, aren't I?" He asked. "Tremendously," Obi-wan agreed.

"Well, I might as well have some fun then, so, what happened at Alderran?" he asked, going back to the preferred subject. Qui-gon opened his mouth, as did Obi-wan, but both comm. links went off before anyone could say anything. "Yes?" they asked in unison.

"General, Sir insulted is back," Cody reported. Obi-wan's face brightened. "Ah, yes. I knew he would be. On my way, Cody," he said. "Ani," Padme said. "The council called. You have a mission to Algeria. The Sith have made an appearance," and so the meeting of old friends was over.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that was the big secret. Pay attention, Qui-gon is going to be a major character in this series now. And he isn't the only one who can come back from the dead...

~Queen Yoda