Obi-Wan stood silently in the middle of the Council Chambers as his Master finished giving his report on the events that had transpired on Naboo. Your former Master… he reminded himself, both dismayed and thrilled by the turn of events. He was upset to again be losing Qui-Gon, but at least this time he would still be able to communicate with him and seek him out for advice. He is still alive, and that's what is important

"Do you have anything to add to your Master's report, Padawan Kenobi?" Master Windu asked, startling Obi-Wan out of his reverie. He found it strangely amusing to again be addressed as "Padawan" by the man that he had shared many late night talks and drinks with during his doomed training of Anakin Skywalker.

"No Master Windu," he answered, trying to emulate the reverent tone he knew that he had once held when speaking to the Jedi High Council. If only you knew, Master, how much like you I became as the Republic and the very Order that had raised me crumbled around my feet

"An excuse, have you, for your impetuous actions against the Sith?" Master Yoda inquired, his sleepy eyes seeming to penetrate Obi-Wan's very soul.

"I was only trying to do my duty as a Padawan and protect my Master," he replied, bowing his head slightly.

"And risk your own life in the process?" Master Plo Koon questioned, leaning forward in his chair.

"I did not feel that I was putting my own life at risk," Obi-Wan stated properly. "I knew that I had more experience with staff fighting than my Master, and I felt that gave me an advantage that my Master did not have." Although his statement would have been a lie, had he actually been "Padawan Kenobi," it registered in the Force as a truth, since the man that stood before the Council definitely had more experience fighting Sith than any other living Jedi.

"Regardless, your actions speak of a certain recklessness," Mace Windu interjected. "And recklessness is a trait not befitting a Jedi Knight."

"I… I don't understand," Obi-Wan stuttered, his stormy blue gaze locking on Master Windu's unfathomable expression.

"A powerful Jedi you will be," Master Yoda spoke, "but ready for Knighthood now you are not. Remain a Padawan with Master Jinn you will, until ready for your trials the Council deems you."

*********************************************

"So what is to become of me then?" The young, plaintive tones rang out through the serene halls of the Jedi Temple, as the temper of the young boy rose.

"Anakin, you will be a Jedi, but I cannot train you," Qui-Gon Jinn explained, his consoling tones a strong contrast to Anakin's sharp retort.

"You cannot train me because Obi-Wan is too jealous of me!" Anakin shouted, his little hands balling up into fists.

"It is not Obi-Wan's fault that I cannot train you," Qui-Gon sighed. "The Council has made a decision regarding your training and I must abide by it."

"But the Council would've let you train me if it wasn't for him!" the young boy screamed. "I wish that Sith would've killed him and then he wouldn't be ruining my life!"

"Anakin, I think it is time that you returned to the initiate's dorm and spent some time with your instructor on your temper," the Master replied calmly. "I am sure that she can help you to learn some meditative techniques that will help."

"But I don't want some 'instructor,'" Anakin sobbed, his clear blue eyes filling with the tears of a frightened young child. "I want you!"

"I know Anakin, I know," Qui-Gon said, crouching down and pulling the boy into a tight hug. "You have been through quite a bit in these past few days, and it is understandable that you are afraid, but you must learn to control yourself."

"I could learn if you helped me," he sniffed, pulling back from the Master's embrace; his eyes pleading with Qui-Gon.

"I will see if I can spare some time to assist your instructor," the Master acquiesced, smiling gently when Anakin's expression broke out in a bright grin. "But for now I must attend to my Padawan."

"Yes Master," Anakin replied, his innocent smile belying the undercurrent of his response.

Rather than reprimanding the boy for addressing him as if he were his Master, rather than simply a Master of the Order, Qui-Gon allowed it to pass.

*********************************************

"I'm sorry Master," Obi-Wan stated, the instant his Master had passed through the doors into their shared quarters. He knelt in the center of the open floor with his head bowed and his eyes focused on the dark gray carpeting.

"Stand up Obi-Wan," Master Jinn sighed, crossing in front of his Padawan to hang his robe over the back of the small sofa. "You have nothing to be sorry for, though I do think you owe me an explanation."

"Master?" Obi-Wan asked, feeling a slight twinge of joy at being able to address Qui-Gon as that, even under the present circumstances.

"How is it that the young boy I trained suddenly turned into a man capable of easily defeating a Sith?" the Master replied, sitting on the sofa and patting the space beside him.

Rising to his feet, Obi-Wan instead chose to kneel on the floor across the small table from his Master. It was a position he had taken many times as a young boy, when he was being called to explain one or another of his many stunts. "I am not sure what you mean Master," he answered, trying to decide what, if anything, to tell Qui-Gon.

"The man I saw fighting in that generator room is not the same one I trained for the past ten years," the Master stated, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees. "So perhaps you can explain to me just how it is you learned to fight a staff-bearer, when I know that I neither taught you that, nor allowed anyone else to risk teaching you that."

Smiling inwardly, relieved that Qui-Gon was only worried that he had risked injury by taking training forbidden to anyone under a Master's level, Obi-Wan lowered his head. "I am sorry Master. I was given the opportunity to learn from one of the visiting Masters and knew that you might not have approved of my training with such a dangerous weapon."

"And so instead, you went behind my back and learned anyway?" Qui-Gon demanded, his blue eyes flashing in barely concealed anger.

"I didn't think…" he began to explain, only to be interrupted by his Master.

"No, you didn't think," Qui-Gon stated in a too-calm voice. "You didn't think when you risked your life taking training forbidden to you, you didn't think when you engaged a Sith on your own, and you certainly didn't think when you admitted such actions in front of the Council."

"Master, I…"

"You have made it impossible for me to train Anakin, thereby breaking a promise I made to his mother," Master Jinn continued, completely ignoring Obi-Wan's attempt to explain. "Your own selfish actions have hurt that boy, and have set back your own chances at Knighthood."

Standing up from the couch and grabbing his robe off of the back of it, Qui-Gon turned his back on Obi-Wan as he moved toward the door separating their quarters from the hallway beyond. Just before he stepped through, he turned and regarded the young man still kneeling on the floor. "I appreciate that your actions saved me from injury or harm, but you should not have risked yourself so," Qui-Gon said softly, the edge still within his tone, but now softened. "You are too important to be lost to such a reckless stunt."

"Master, I'm, I…"

Pulling his robe on over his tunics, and straightening the fabric so that it lay smoothly, Master Jinn stepped through the doorway, allowing it to hiss shut behind him.