A/N:
Thanks for the lovely comments.
Pokey1984: Well...your curiosity should be assuaged, by now. In part, at least -)
master kaym: Your command has been obeyed, Master -)
rkccs: Thanks. -)
SoloKenobi: Thank you!
jedi keliam kenobi: (grin) Glad you're enjoying it.
Padawan Sydney Bristow: I hope the succeeding chapters keep you as interested. -)
Shadow131: So sure, are you? You might be surprised...-)). Keep your flag ready, anyhow - Kenobi's going to need all the support he gets.-)
Yasona Black: The SW books! Whoa. That is a compliment, I think. I've never read any of the JA books. Really. looks at stick warily Um. Ah.Um...all right, all right I'll write more!
Now,what you've been waiting for...hopefully.
Part 5
"Ready for this, is he?" questioned Master Yoda.
Qui-Gon smiled at the faint trace of concern in the wizened master's voice. "I believe so, yes. What he learns now will be of immense benefit to him."
"Immense benefit, yes. Only on passing the test."
Qui-Gon frowned. "He will pass it. I know Obi-Wan."
"Hmm. Yet, wish this for him, do you?"
Qui-Gon drew a deep breath, rose, and began to pace the rather constricted quarters of the oldest Jedi living. "I've told you my reasons. I wish him to be...prepared."
"Why?"
The simple question brought him up short. Qui-Gon drew a hand across wavy strands of chest-nut hair, and gazed at Yoda, seemingly calm and collected. His eyes, though, gave away his inner turmoil - they were a stormy, intense, blue.
"I..." he stopped, surprised at his loss of words.
Master Yoda cast him a keen glance that seemed to absorb everything, yet gave away nothing. "Fear for him, do you?"
Qui-Gon shook his head. "No. It's strange, but I don't have that fear. I may have entertained doubts about others - even Obi-Wan, during our early years together. But I did not know him well, then. I do, now. He will not fail - not in that sense. But I do fear the future..." he paused, stepping hesitantly into the next few words. "His future."
"Sense danger, you do? For Obi-Wan?"
Qui-Gon considered the import of his words carefully, before he uttered them. "I have never had the gift of prescience, Master...my strength is the Living Force, and I know it. I have not had visions, as other Jedi do - but I have never regretted it. The Force speaks to me in other ways."
"Regretted it, we have, often." Master Yoda's eyes were twinkling.
Qui-Gon smiled. "I daresay. Obi-Wan is different. He, I imagine, would be a delight to the Council - he is firmly bound to the Unifying Force - and has a gift for prescience. If anyone must have visions, it ought to be Obi-Wan."
"Has he?"
"Not that I know of. And I would have known."
"Yet, uneasy, you are. For him."
"His improvement in the past few months has been phenomenal. I knew he was gifted - but not even I expected such leaps and strides in his training. " He paused, weighing his words. "I do not think I am wrong - but I sense...greatness in store for him."
Yoda's eyes softened. "Doubt padawan Kenobi's prowess, I do not. Trust you, he does. As always." There was a brief pause. "Filled with light, is your apprentice. More so, than others his age."
"And therein, my master, lies the reason for my unease."
"Much darkness, his light will attract."
"Yes." (900 years- and his precision is still intact). "And I wish him to protect himself. I do not know where and when I began to feel so - but I wish to know that he will not be...coerced. I do not wish his light...tainted. And that is where I thought the Ischila might help." Qui-Gon's thoughts flickered briefly towards another apprentice who had taken the easier route - before he brought his attention forcefully to the present.
"Too much the Ischila is, to ask of any padawan. Even yours."
"My instinct tells me that he must be prepared."
Yoda seemed to heave a sigh. "Doubt not your instincts, then, padawan mine. Prepared, he will be."
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"Master?"
The voice interrupted his thoughts - and Master Qui-Gon brought his thoughts to the present, to his apprentice - from the conversation that had taken place the day before.
"Yes, Obi-Wan?"
Obi-Wan had activated his light-saber, and was standing in the centre of the training - mat, as though preparatory to duel. "May I start now?"
Qui-Gon hesitated, guaging the tiny marble that still hovered in the apprentice's line of sight, as though lazily contemplating him. Obi-Wan was squinting at it, his hand rising imperceptibly, bringing the blade up. "Padawan, don't -"
Almost at the same moment, the marble zinged to a point above the padawan. Surprised, Obi-Wan threw up his head - too late.
The speed at which a flurry of energy bolts flew at him staggered him. Obi-Wan barely had time to react, as he felt the fusillade rain down at him - his hand seemed to move sluggishly, even as he felt the bolts slam into his body. The Force seemed to draw itself around him, flexing itself - and a solid wall of pain battered its way through his mental defences.
Oh force, he gasped, feeling his equilibrium failing. I can't...
As though in slow-motion, Master Jinn, already sprinting towards his apprentice, watched helplessly as the padawan fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, unconscious.
A/N: Gulp. (waits for more sticks)
