The substitute teacher

Qui-Gon Jinn weaved his way through the large groups of children wandering down the corridors chatting away with more enthusiasm than would be expected from a child at 7 in the morning.

Usually, he would be having breakfast after his morning meditations at this time. Every Master and Knight knew to avoid the corridors when classes started unless it couldn't be helped. It was almost impossible to get anywhere without knocking a few initiates over.

Why did I agree to this? Qui-Gon asked himself as he almost tripped over a young initiate for the fifth time. Next time just say no.

Qui-Gon finally managed to reach the classroom he was headed to after pushing his way through the stream of children who were all headed for the classrooms further along.

There were only two initiates in the classroom, they were talking enthusiastically but one of them turned to throw Qui-Gon a quizzical look. He was human and had quite distinctive ginger hair. Qui-Gon had the feeling he had seen the boy around before.

"Morning." Qui-Gon greeted curtly as he walked over to Master Laiora's desk.

"Good morning, Master." The two boys replied in unison before continuing their discussion. Although it didn't escape Qui-Gon's attention, that the ginger boy kept glancing his way.

Qui-Gon just ignored the initiates as he read over the lesson plan for the day. Perhaps he should have looked at it beforehand as Mace had suggested. How hard could it be? He had naively thought. As he read on the answer became painfully clear: very hard.

As the classroom filled, Qui-Gon discarded the datapad and decided to improvise. I work best when I'm improvising anyway. Qui-Gon told himself. He turned his attention to the full classroom and looked around at the initiates who didn't seem to notice him at all. He cleared his throat and the only reaction he got was from the ginger boy who shushed his friend and a handful of other children. Everyone else continued talking.

"If you would quiet down please, the lesson has begun." He addressed the class, but the chatter barely decreased.

"Quiet!" He said sternly, finally capturing everyone's attention. There we go, that wasn't too hard.

"I am Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Master Laiora is sick, so I will be taking over her class for today. I don't like repeating myself, so pay attention and save the chatter for the breaks."

The initiates glanced at each other but didn't say a word.

Qui-Gon smiled slightly with satisfaction. "Good. Now, can anyone summarise what you learned in the previous lesson?"

Qui-Gon wasn't at all surprised when, after a few glances around, the ginger boy raised his hand.

"Yes, initiate…?"

The boy seemed to check he was actually the one being addressed before speaking. "Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Qui-Gon nodded, urging the initiate to continue.

"Last lesson, Master Laiora explained the concept of hyperspace and how Koruwa's theory of transdimentional travel fits into our current understanding of the space-time-continuum. If you like, I could list the main aspects of–"

"That won't be necessary." Qui-Gon interrupted as he felt his head begin to ache. He barely understood a word of what Obi-Wan had said. "Thank you. Kenobi, was it?" He added as he noticed the embarrassed look on the boy's face.

Obi-Wan nodded.

"Right, well…" Qui-Gon clapped his hands together and scanned the room for inspiration as his mind raced. Suddenly an idea hit him, and he smiled. "The lesson today will be going in a different direction. I assume you've all had basic biology lessons? What do all lifeforms need to survive?"

There was a quiet murmur as the initiated started turning to each other with questioning looks.

Qui-Gon stood patiently, waiting for a reply. He glanced at Obi-Wan who was clearly stopping himself from raising his hand again. Then a cautious hand rose at the other end of the classroom, catching Qui-Gon's attention.

"Yes." He prompted.

"Food of some kind?" The girl suggested and Qui-Gon nodded encouragingly.

He managed to start a discussion with the class about what various lifeforms needed and didn't need.

Good, 10 minutes of the lesson passed before that discussion died and then with nothing better to do, Qui-Gon told them to pack their bags and he led them towards the gardens.

Younglings were so unbelievably loud. He shushed them countless times, but the chatter persisted, echoing off the tall, arched hallways. Qui-Gon swore he would never teach again. Mace could beg on his hands and knees if he wanted to, it wouldn't change his mind.

They reached the gardens and Qui-Gon gave his class the simplest task. They were supposed to waste the next half an hour documenting as many different lifeforms as they could, noting what they thought they needed to survive to each one.

The children scattered and Qui-Gon knew very well that they were probably chatting in groups off somewhere, pretending to do their task. Qui-Gon didn't care as long as no one caught them and snitched to Mace.

He took a seat in the lush green grass and kept a mental eye on his charges through the Force.

10 minutes passed.

another 10… Not much longer.

"Master Jinn!" An initiate yelled, pulling Qui-Gon out of his light meditation.

He searched the garden and found a boy with messy dark hair pulling an embarrassed looking Obi-Wan towards him.

"Master Jinn!" The boys stopped in front of him, "Obi-Wan got stung by something!"

So much to his genius plan…

"It's fine," Obi-Wan insisted, but Qui-Gon could see the tears in his eyes.

He held his hand out to the child, beckoning him to come closer. "Where did it sting you?"

Obi-Wan hesitated before turning around and moving his hair away from his nape to reveal a reasonably sized red mark.

"It must have got caught in your hair," he mused out loud, "creatures will only hurt you if provoked."

The boy nodded slightly and Qui-Gon realised that remark had probably been completely useless to the child. He knew from experience, a sting like that hurt a lot and this one seemed to be swelling considerably.

Qui-Gon glanced around at the rest of his class scattered in the garden. Should he dismiss the class and take Obi-Wan to the healer's wing, or should he send the boy off alone with his friend?

"How are you feeling?" he asked, nudging the child's arm slightly so he would face him again, "Dizzy? Nauseous?"

"No, Master." He shook his head as an emphasis.

"Alright," Qui-Gon looked to his friend, "make sure he gets to the healer's wing, so they can have a look at it."

"Yes, Master." He took Obi-Wan's hand, and they walked back towards the entrance to the temple.

Qui-Gon watched them carefully, the Force was giving him a small nudge towards the children. When the nudge turned to a push, he sprinted ahead to catch Obi-Wan as he fell.

"I should have known you would be trouble," Qui-Gon muttered half-heartedly. "Class dismissed!" He called out to the rest of the initiates around the garden before carefully helping Obi-Wan to a sitting position. "Now, why don't we try this again? How are you feeling?"

"A little dizzy…"

A/N: This one doesn't really have a proper ending, but don't worry, Obi-Wan will be fine :)