ONE
Obi-Wan Kenobi felt like he was a fish trying to swim upstream against a heavy current; the tide of initiates and Padawans moving from class to class all seemed to be in the opposite direction from where he wanted to go.
Obi-Wan, are you coming? Qui-Gon's semi-impatient question feathered into his mind through the master-apprentice bond, prompting him to be a little more urgent in his efforts to make his way through the press of people. This was one of the busiest—and narrowest—hallways in the entire Jedi Temple. 'Seems like someone should have thought about that when they designed the place.' A sudden, light chuckle filtered into his consciousness and he realized belatedly that he'd allowed that thought to pass unchecked through the bond. They did, Qui-Gon replied amusedly. Why else do you think it's nicknamed 'Patience Passage?'
Obi-Wan allowed a soft chuckle of his own. Somehow, he sensed a meditation lesson in that nickname…he wouldn't be surprised if Qui-Gon set him to it next meditation period.
I am coming, Master. He reassured just as he became somewhat sandwiched between a rather tall, barrel-chested Tirus'han and something—someone—bumping against his legs. A sudden, sharp pain in his foot gave him to know he'd just been trampled on. "OW!"
"If going where you were you would watch, stepped on you would not be."
"Master Yoda!" Obi-Wan exclaimed somewhat apologetically. He realized that the diminutive Jedi Master's ever-present gimer stick was what had just flattened his toes. He glanced up at Tirus'han as they pressed past one another. "Sorry." He offered up.
Then, as suddenly as it had become so packed, the hallway was abruptly empty as students found their classes and Obi-Wan was relatively alone with the small Jedi.
"A class you have not?" Yoda inquired, turning to head back in the same direction as the young Padawan. Obi-Wan wondered at this sudden, singular attention that was diverting Yoda from wherever he'd previously been going, but he didn't question it.
"No, Master." He responded respectfully, walking more freely now but slowing his pace in deference to Yoda's short steps. "I mean, yes Master but I've been summoned by Master Qui-Gon."
"Taking you from your work he is?" Yoda's expression and tone were both curious and quizzical. Obi-Wan paused a moment, a slight confused expression puckering his eyebrows into a mild frown.
"He said it was about a mission. I assumed…" He let the sentence hang, knowing that assumptions were often a dangerous thing for anyone, let alone a Jedi Knight. Bad habit; he chided himself. Must stop doing that.
"Ohhh…mission, yes." Yoda nodded and abruptly did an about face. "See your master you must. Go with him you will."
Obi-Wan stopped walking abruptly and turned to watch the Jedi Master make his way down the fairly deserted Patience Passage, the tapping of the walking stick echoing oddly. His frown deepened a little. Of course he would go with Master Qui-Gon…why wouldn't he go? Yoda felt the Padawan's sudden deep curiosity and he nodded to himself a little as he continued on his way, watched by the young man behind him.
Obi-Wan? Another prompting from Qui-Gon startled him out of his reverie, and he turned sharply, dashing down the hall at full speed and taking the steps at the far end two at a time.
Coming!
Now it was Yoda's turn to pause and watch the retreating back of Obi-Wan Kenobi as he hurried up the stairs and he tapped his gimer stick thoughtfully.
"Redeem one another you will."
******************
Qui-Gon Jinn wore a rather amused expression as he watched the slight hustle of last-minute activity around him. Bant and a few others of Obi-Wan's friends had also been excused from a single class with the promise of taking a later lecture. The small room that the Padawan had been summoned to was big enough for them all but just barely. Their shared quarters several levels below would have been too suspicious.
"Do you think he has any idea what's going on, Master Qui-Gon?" Thaile asked the tall man nervously. Thaile was nearly two years younger than Obi-Wan but already quite a skilled linguist; languages were a gift to her and she was quite the asset to her Master on missions of negotiation and treaty-making. Her saber skills needed honing but that would come with time and practice.
"I'm quite sure he does not." Qui-Gon inclined his head a little, as if listening. "But that will be remedied shortly, I'm sure."
The door suddenly slid open and Obi-Wan burst into the room, breathing a little hard and slightly disheveled from coming at a dead run up several flights of stairs. His expression turned instantly from one of hard concentration to complete confusion as he took in the scene before him. His eyes met his master's but before he could say anything there was a hard tug on his Padawan's braid and a chorus of happy exclamations.
"Good Life-Day, Obi-Wan!" Slender, unassuming Thaile was the one who had yanked on the braid and she was the first to speak. Obi-Wan looked from her to the other in surprise. He'd been so busy of late that he'd quite forgotten is own birth day. It was something that Jedi generally didn't spend much recognition on, but initiates and Padawans were permitted to observe small celebrations if they wished.
"Th…Thank you." Kenobi stammered a little, both slightly embarrassed by all the attention and by the slight confusion that remained about the circumstances of his summons and the apparent goal of surprising him here. "I thought it was a mission, Master." He looked to Qui-Gon with that same quizzical expression. He wasn't used to being deceived in this manner. Jinn smiled a little at the boy's trusting nature.
"There is one." He said finally. "Just that since our leaving is not until tomorrow, I saw no reason that this should be put off because of it."
Obi-Wan stepped further into the room now, and he smiled happily. Through the bond he sensed that there was something else, that perhaps their delayed departure was at the request of his Master in order to recognize today for what it was. Across the room from him, Jinn nodded just slightly, confirming that impression.
The little celebration was limited to one class-session in length, but it was pleasant and a few of his friends had crafted gifts for him. There was much laughter and story-telling; often a life-day was marked by remembrances of friends both funny and serious regarding the person's impact in their lives. It was recognition of that person's value to them and of the gift the Force had given them in knowing him or her.
It was after the others had filed out to go to their next class that Qui-Gon drew near to his apprentice, smiling a little.
"You did this, Master, didn't you?" Obi-Wan accused lightly. Qui-Gon gave him a slight nod. "I thought Knights didn't observe life-days." The Code didn't exactly forbid such observance, but Jedi tradition was that it was laid aside after youth to maintain the proper personal decorum and focus a Jedi must have.
"I made an exception." Jinn replied quietly. "Good Life-Day to you, my Padawan." Kenobi grinned now, a happy flash in blue-grey eyes. "After all…" Qui-Gon continued. "You are twenty-two now; there won't be many of these left."
Obi-Wan looked up now, startled.
"Master? Are you putting me to the Trials? Is that what the mission is?"
"No…" Qui-Gon laughed a little. "Not quite yet. You still have some time left with me before you are knighted. But I do have something for you." He produced a small box and handed it to Kenobi, watching expectantly as the younger man accepted it from his hand and carefully opened it.
"Master…" Obi-Wan breathed out softly. "I…I can't…"
"Can I not honor the gift the Force has given me in you?" Qui-Gon chided his pupil's reluctance, reaching long fingers into the box to pull out a small golden medallion, obviously handcrafted and incredibly intricate.
"But this…your own Master gave you this when you became his Padawan."
Qui-Gon's wise look silenced any further protest, and he reached up to place the medallion over his apprentice's head and draped it around his neck. Obi-Wan looked at it a moment, studying its design.
"My master gave me this two days before he left me here to undertake a mission from which he never returned." Qui-Gon explained softly, and Obi-Wan instinctively felt through the bond just how special a gift this was. "He gave it to me, he said, as a sign of his trust in me, that I would go on to become a Jedi Master and pass on all that the Force had given me. Back then I was too young to understand but I believe now that he knew he wasn't to return. All I knew then was this was his way of telling me how very proud he was of me." He looked into Obi-Wan's eyes now. "As I am of you, Padawan."
Praise tended to color Obi-Wan's cheeks and it did now, a slight flush of red blossoming on his face. Qui-Gon squeezed his apprentice's shoulder in a briefly affectionate gesture.
"Thank you Master." Kenobi said softly as he looked back down at the token of esteem his teacher and friend had bestowed on him. Qui-Gon could feel the genuine, humble gratitude through the bond and he smiled a little.
"You're welcome. Now. Come with me and we'll talk of the mission over noon meal."
Eagerly Obi-Wan scooped up his things to follow his master out. Excitement was not something a Jedi sought out according to the Code, but one of his favorite things about a mission meant seeing things and going places he had never seen or been to before. The wonder of a sunrise on a new world was not lost on him at all. It was one truth he'd received well, that the Force graced all life no matter where it was found.