"This is the Room of a Thousand Fountains" said Obi-Wan, as he and Buffy stood on the platform just inside the main doors and they both took in the verdant oasis inside the Jedi Temple.
The huge structure stood numerous storeys high and contained many different planting levels of trees, undergrowth, trickling fountains and pools. Whilst some fountains and pools were enclosed with seating around them, many others lay hidden amongst the foliage providing the listener with the relaxing sound of trickling water.
"There is a huge waterfall at the very centre of the gardens. The Jedi come here to train, to meditate, to attend classes and to relax. I thought you might like to see it Buffy. It's one of my favourite places in the Temple, especially if I feel troubled."
Buffy walked forward and leant against the bannister that surrounded the platform and looked around her. It was like a jungle, with huge trees, some towering high above her while others were smaller, while in between them were many different layers of exotic plants like she'd never seen before, some laden with flowers and others without. From somewhere ahead of her she could hear the waterfall, its waters sounding like they fell from a great height while in other places she could hear the gentle play of much smaller fountains.
Her slayer hearing also picked up the sounds of a lightsaber spar going on somewhere above her, while below she heard a class of Jedi kids being taught about the Force, and further on she heard the soft murmur of voices as people strolled along hidden paths.
Several pathways lead away from the platform, snaking their way out of sight between the foliage and she wondered where they all led.
"It's beautiful," she said. It was, she could feel the place relaxing her, the background hellmouth buzz she picked up from the Temple almost completely muted in this part of the temple.
Obi-Wan smiled, genuinely pleased she liked it, and continued watching her as she took in the gardens.
Buffy guessed something was playing on his mind. "What's up Ubi-Doo? Have I got something on my face?"
Obi-Wan looked at her intently for a moment before reaching a decision. " Well, actually there is a large spider crawling in your hair."
"Eww! Get it off me, get it off me!" squeaked Buffy, flipping her hair frantically trying to find the alien spider.
The Jedi moved with Force enhanced speed and made a big show of removing the (imaginary) spider from her hair and stamping on it.
"You were extremely lucky that I noticed it when I did. That was a rare Moraband Black Widow, very poisonous, very dangerous..." He was trying his hardest to keep the smirk from his face, the first step to getting revenge on her for his shopping trip nightmare by telling her there was a spider from the Sith home world crawling about in her hair.
"Thanks Ubi-Doo. Do you think it's safe to venture in there?" she nodded to the garden. "There might be a nest of them ready to drop on our heads. Could do with some insecticide spray or something.."
He smiled reassuringly at her. "Oh, I am positive it was the only one, they are very territorial and highly aggressive creatures. Although, should I spot another I shall be sure to remove it from you like I did with this one. Now I was about to say, before I spotted that spider, that I know you claim not to have access to the Force..."
" According to the Yodel not a middle chlorine particle in sight and don't care. I'm a Slayer and that's enough to deal with," she replied, trying to smooth down her hair. There was a huge clump sticking up now on the side of her head where Ub-Doo had messed up her hair when he'd grabbed the spider.
Obi-Wan gave a little sigh at how she still mangled her words. "It's Midiclorians, Buffy. Yes, I know you tested as zero however, I have noticed your stronger emotions affecting the Force, they create a rippling effect, although you yourself are invisible. It's very odd. Would you care to come with me and we could indulge in a small experiment together?"
Buffy's eyes widened in surprise, she stopped playing with her hair and swung round to look at him, "And the answer to that kinda depends on what sorta experiment you want to do with me?"
"Would you meditate with me? To see if through meditation you can gain and use the force"
"Oh... Are you going to ask me to levitate pencils?" She asked frowning. " Cos I'm warning you Willow has already tried that and I couldn't do it."
"Since I have no idea what a pencil is, no. Come, lets go into the gardens and I'll show you. I think you'll like this one. Upwards or downwards?"
"Down, I always find more interesting things turn up the lower you go."
So now they were sat in a secluded small circular paved area, with deep pools of water on three side and Ubi Doo sat opposite her telling how she must breathe slowly, how to allow her thoughts to float past her and the basics of meditation, as if she'd never meditated before. Giles had moaned at her often enough over the years to practise so it wasn't exactly new to her.
Sitting cross legged she opened her eyes and looked across at Ubi-Doo- he looked cute with his face all relaxed and and his mouth not moving – until he tilted his head and, with his eyes still shut frowned at her which made her giggle.
"Do try to concentrate, Buffy." Ugh, and now he sounded like Giles, bet his next words were going to be 'find your inner balance, your centre'.
"Find your inner balance, the centre and allow yourself to relax." Yeah, she knew that one was coming, should have put a bet on it.
"Can we not go and play lightsabers instead? Mr Sparkly is bored." She perkily asked and pouted, hoping he'd open his eyes and fall for the pout – it had worked before on him.
" Mr Sparkly will need to stay bored. Concentrate Buffy. Close your eyes and tell me what you see around you." He kept his eyes shut so missed the pout.
"You want me to see around me with my eyes shut? That's like a mental statement." She couldn't resist teasing him, he was worse than Giles.
He ignored her, and she pouted again, but since his eyes were still shut so missed it. Sighing, she allowed herself to drift into a meditative state and did as he requested, looking around her with her inner eye.
"The hellmouth buzz is here. I thought it wasn't at first but I can feel it, low pitched, dark and almost hidden by layers of lighter waves coming off the plants and stuff. And you, you are all big and shiny. You're making ripples too, wavy ones. In fact you are all wavy. Want me to wave back?"
"Do try to be serious. You are Force sensitive to others so obviously have some access to the Force. Now, can you tell me what emotions are coming off me?" He asked, opening his eyes and stealing a long look at Buffy while her eyes were closed.
"I thought you Jedi didn't have any emotions? Thought you were like droids? Well, not the nervous ones with the odd walk but the others...Or is that like your aim in life?" she smirked, her eyes tightly closed.
"Of course we have emotions, Buffy. But strong emotions and the darker ones destroy our peace so we should avoid them." replied Obi-Wan sharply, and wondered how more experienced Masters would have coped with Buffy as a padawan.
"I can feel your emotions Ubi... you are feeling very frustrated. Looks like your Jedi training is being stretched to its outer rim limits with me.." She grinned. She didn't need to be force sensitive to hear that in his voice. "Oh, and you're hungry, I can hear your stomach rumbling. Okay, and now you are kinda sulking as I pointed that one out... UGH!" Buffy spluttered, as a large splash came from the pool next to her, sending cold water flying up, soaking the back of her neck, trickling down her collar and down her spine.
She opened her eyes and looked into the pool next to her and watched the ripples dispersing across the surface.
"Is there fishes in these ponds? I think a big one just leaped out, maybe a salmon or..." She heard the man across from her snigger, and spun to look at him incredulously. "Did you splash me?"
With his eyes closed, and wearing his usual smirk he nodded, moved his hand slightly and water splashed behind her.
"That's so not funny, Oh-Be-Annoying One!"
"Well the point is to use the Force to splash me back, Buffy." he replied smugly. "I thought you would find this exercise fun. Now it is your turn to splash me. You might be amazed by what you can do."
Buffy closed her eyes and concentrated. Mainly thinking about drowning the infuriating Jedi who'd soaked the back of her neck. Of course nothing happened. Same as that time with Willow and her freakin pencil.
"Can you not try harder?" Obi-Wan asked. He could feel absolutely nothing from her through the Force and if he didn't know she was sat opposite him wouldn't have even known she was there. Yet he still had a feeling she'd be able to access to the Force in some way and was determined to persuade her to discover it.
Buffy huffed, " I am trying. This is like the pencil thing all over again but with water, which is way more difficult as water is all slippery and runs through your fingers. Ubi-Doo, you sure know how to show a girl a fun time don't ya? Bring her down here into the bowels of the Temple, persuade her to sit next to a green, slimy fish pond and then throw cold water down her neck. Oh-Be-Undateable-Wan ..
Obi-Wan winced, and cut her off , " Master Yoda says, 'do, or do not, there is no try.'
"Yodel is an idiot. Comes out with weird statements that don't make any sense. How do you know if you can do it or not unless you try? And what about that other crap he spouts? i 'Fear leads to Anger, Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering?' /i Why the hell should it lead anywhere? Where does he ieven get /ithis crap from? A cheap fortune cookie? Anyway, I met the Fear Demon, two inches big, no anger from me when I stamped on him, he splatted, job done..."
"Buffy! Be quiet and concentrate." Obi-Wan was rapidly losing the fight to keep his patience - so much for them both meditating together to gain peace and serenity like he and his friend Siri used to do together.
"My brain will explode if I do ...arghh! There is no need to throw more water at me! All down my arm is soaked now. Not as if I can soak in a hot tub after this, is it? Crap-tastic shower which has been making a strange whistling noise ever since you fixed it. I thought a bird had gotten in the other day, spent ages looking for it and it was Andrew in the shower..."
Ignoring her ranting, he splashed her again making sure she was well soaked, and said, " Can you not at least try to be more Jedi like. You give in to your emotions constantly and yet brag that you use them in a positive way while instead you..."
"Jedi this, Jedi-boy."
With Slayer speed and strength, she was up on her feet, grabbed him by his robe, lifted him to his feet and putting a leg behind his knee pushed him backwards. He dropped down into the pool, where he landed on his back in a flurry of brown sinking robes and a shocked expression.
She laughed at his face when he resurfaced. Oh yes, she'd definitely made Jedi-Boy accept the emotions of anger and frustration now.
"Never disrespect the Slayer ...aghh." He was holding his hand palm upwards and she found herself lifted off her feet and flailing her arms trying to keep balance as he moved her over the pool using the Force. "Put me ...Nooo! don't put me down! Don't... Obi-Wagghh..."
Obi-Wan smirk turned into a huge grin as he released her to drop into the pool well away from him, where she made a loud splash and disappeared from view below the surface.
"Is this the sort of thing my old padawan gets up to these days?" asked a new voice, and a suddenly sombre Obi-Wan turned around in the pool to see his old Master scowling at him with little Anakin gaping alongside him.
…...
