Chapter Fourteen: The Place in Between

"Are you sure it's large enough?" I pondered aloud as we stood back to survey our progress. The framing of the new temple was complete, and it stood three stories tall, but I was beginning to question our construction abilities.

"Do you wish to check the measurements again?" Qui-Gon questioned me, not without some annoyance. I had a feeling we were both getting tired and would soon begin to lose our patience with one another. He had pulled his hair back into a tail, but several strands kept escaping, which were only causing him more aggravation.

"No, that's okay," I replied while wiping the sweat from my brow onto my sleeve. "I trust your calculations. I guess it's just a visual illusion. Once the walls are up, I'm sure it will be okay."

We were taking a break to sip on some fresh water Padmé had brought us earlier when Leia ran up and skidded to a stop in the dirt. She looked quizzically at the structure before holding her hand before her eyes in the shape of an L.

"Is it leaning to the right?" she asked with squinting eyes. "The foundation looks okay but the third floor looks a little off."

"It'll be fine," Qui-Gon quickly commented while tipping back the ladle of water. "We're not professionals here."

"She's right," a deep voice pointed out from behind us. A man walked up, skeptically eyeing all of our hard work.

I'd seen him around town, but he was one of the citizens who kept to themselves. I'd only spoken to him a few times during community gatherings and found him to be a kind but quiet fellow, who was well thought of. I believed his name was Elzar.

"The second story isn't square and the angles on the third story are off."

"But we measured everything accurately," I defended, even though I wasn't the one with the tape in my belt. That had actually been Qui-Gon's job.

"When you measure down one side three and then the other four, the measurement between the two points should always measure five if the corner is ninety degrees," he responded as if we should've known better.

In truth, I had no idea what he was talking about, and I doubted Qui-Gon did either. Neither of us was about to admit that, however.

"Very well," I said. No use in denying it. The man spoke as if he knew what he was talking about. "What do we do about that?"

"Well," he said, lazily scratching his balding head. "You need to tear down that top level and fix the second or you're going to have a helluva a time setting it straight. If you don't, your doors won't close properly, and hell, the whole thing will sit crooked."

"I knew something wasn't right," Leia blurted out, which didn't help matters at all.

Qui-Gon was gritting his teeth, though I didn't think it was because of his mistake, but due to the extra work that now lay before us. The sun would be setting soon and we hadn't accomplished as much as we'd wanted.

"I tell you what," Elzar stated before spitting upon the ground. "Let me go back and get my tools. Me and my wife will be back up here to help before you can shake your snake."

"That would be very much appreciated," I sighed in relief, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise at his choice of the idiom. It wasn't anything I would ever say myself.

"Pardon me," Qui-Gon asked before the man had left. "But what are your responsibilities in town? I don't recall seeing you in the fields."

"I'm not a farmer," he informed us in a friendly manner. "I'm the resident architect here. I built this town."

With a humble smile, he lumbered back down the hill toward the street. I was relieved but couldn't pass up the opportunity to rib Qui-Gon a little before we started working again.

"Is your back bothering you?" I asked after I'd noticed he was stretching. "You seem to be standing a little crooked."

"Obi-Wan.."

It was a warning, but I couldn't help myself.

"There once was a crooked man who built a crooked house,.." I began quoting a familiar youngling's verse.

"That's enough, Padawan" he advised me in a teasing way. "We need to get to work and tear down that top floor."

"Did someone say tear it down?" Leia, who had been standing nearby in the shade of a tall tree, asked us.

"Apparently," I replied, glancing up. I didn't mind aerial maneuvers once in a while, but I didn't appreciate balancing that high off the ground for lengths at a time.

Actually, I didn't need to worry about that. Suddenly, the dust blew up from the ground before us, its path traveling toward the leaning building's foundation. Each board and peg trembled as the disturbance advanced to the top floor where one by one the third story frame fell into a fairly coordinated and organized pile of lumber.

I glanced back to Leia who was now smiling quite smugly.

"You're welcome!" she said happily before heading back toward town.

"Why didn't we think of that?" I asked Qui-Gon.

"Do you mean the frivolous use of our powers in order to save ourselves from hours of arduous labor?"

"Precisely, although I would say it was more of a practical solution. A little hard work never killed anyone, though, so shall we?"

I waited below while Qui-Gon handed down the boards. By the time we'd finished, Elzar was returning and behind him were at least a dozen men and women all willing to help. My chest swelled with pride due to the fact we'd been given the opportunity to be a part of this community. I could think of no other place I'd rather be. And that included the Temple on Coruscant, although I wondered what had happened after we'd left.

I had once considered myself one of Master Yoda's favorites. He had visited me in the crèche quite often and listened to many of my complaints about my Master. He had always been extremely patient and kind to me. I wondered if he regretted the Council's decision or if I would ever see him again.

Something told me that one day I possibly would, though it may be under different circumstances. I hadn't always agreed with their decisions, but the Council had their place. They kept the Jedi Order organized and ensured its members lived by the Jedi Code established many years before even Yoda's existence. They never came to their decisions lightly, which is why I wondered why they had banished Leia. She wasn't dark. She just didn't think the same way they did. How could a twelve-year-old girl be such a threat to them?

And now that we were establishing our own place to train and meditate, we would write our very own set of rules; our own code to live by. Qui-Gon and I had already brought up the subject, although we had decided to wait until more potential Jedi arrived. How much time it would take before someone else joined our ranks was anyone's guess.

Little did I know, but our wait wasn't to be very long at all.