A/N: Wow, are you all tired of this story? Eleven of you have this story on alert, and I got three reviews. Now, I understand not reviewing all the time, but I even told you it was my birthday and only three of you reivewed!

Anyway, thank you to: Tiamath (I love the fact that you said that Maela had been doing well. Awww...), Crydwyn (I don't know what the heck happened in that scene. It took on a life of its own. I think she was just being curious.), Christina B (Drama? I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing...)

On with the story.


Chapter 11: Remembrances

The hall that Druin and Cessie Valeska, Lilia's aunt and uncle, had rented for their son's naming reminded Obi-Wan of the room that held the Healing Crystals of Fire. The main hall – where the ceremony would take place as well as where the food would be served – had broad steps that sunk into the ground in an amphitheater style, and people sat clustered in family and friend groups on these steps, and they formed many arcs around the center focus, a kind of stage. Early afternoon sunlight streamed into the room thus necessitating very little artificial lighting in the room.

Lilia's grandmother, Olivie, had shown Obi-Wan a seat – an arbitrary one, it seemed – and taken Maela with her to do "women's work" as she had phrased it, in preparation for the ceremony. Obi-Wan frowned, knowing that he was probably placed conveniently out of the way while everyone else did some heavy lifting. He didn't know where Qui-Gon was, and Lilia had been escorted away much earlier for a fitting and some sort of instruction. Obi-Wan studied the crowds for a while, unsure of what he was looking for. In any other mission, at any other time, he'd be looking for suspicious activity or something, not just sitting there obviously alone.

Lilia's extended family, at least the maternal side, had been exceedingly nice to the small band of Jedi. They were staying in Wolford's house, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in one guestroom and Maela in another – Lilia was staying the guestroom in her parent's house just across a quiet suburban street. They were plied with food and drink and offered all the comforts of home, but the attention wasn't on the guests, but impending event and it wasn't too long before everyone was back in the "motor" and taken to the nearby Celebration Center where Lilia was taken to learn her part in the ceremony, Qui-Gon was introduced to some important person in the city, and Obi-Wan and Maela were left to their own devices. That is, until Maela was taken under Olivie's wing and Obi-Wan left to wait. He hoped that there wouldn't be too much more of a wait.

He sensed Qui-Gon's nearness, and waved to his Master as he entered the room, and Qui-Gon came over to his Padawan. "Enjoying yourself, Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan smiled wanly. "This is certainly an interesting tradition, Master," said Obi-Wan.

"You'll see more soon," said Qui-Gon. "The tradition is fascinating. A lot of symbolism, and a lot of community identity. Not unlike being a Jedi."

"Master Qui-Gon!" exclaimed a short man with thinning hair and an expensive looking suit. "I wondered where you had run off to! Come, come, sit with me in the VIP section." Qui-Gon gave Obi-Wan a half pleading look. He stood, and gripped his shoulder before he left. I'll spare you introductions to the Mayor, he told his Padawan. I think you'll enjoy the Naming with the help of that boy there. Qui-Gon used his head to point out a boy just outside of Obi-Wan's personal space bubble, who had thus gone unnoticed. Obi-Wan turned to look, and by the time he had turned back his Master had been claimed by important persons unknown.

"Hello," said Obi-Wan, when the boy snuck a look. "My name's Obi-Wan."

The boy turned crimson at being caught at his spying. "Bry.Well, it's really Bryant, but call me Bry."

"Bry," repeated Obi-Wan. He stuck out his uninjured hand, and they exchanged an ackward handshake.

"I see my father has claimed your companion." Bry gestured vaguely at where the Mayor had gone, voice tinged with bitterness.

"The Mayor is your father?" Obi-Wan asked, surprised.

Bry looked at Obi-Wan critically. "How did you know he was the Mayor?"

Obi-Wan blushed, realizing that Bry hadn't been aware of the wordless exchange – how could he have been – and Obi-Wan found himself wary to explain. "My Master told me where he was going earlier."

"Just as well," said Bry with some conviction in his voice. "Father tends to bore kids to death anyway. Probably because he ignores their presence. He says its how he survived in politics all these years."

"Then why are you here?" Obi-Wan.

"Because Les Rhyne works with my father," the boy named Lilia's father, "and he's always nice to me. He invited me and told me I could meet some Jedi." Bry looked sideways at Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan suspected that he was half waiting for Obi-Wan to dismiss him or say he wasn't a Jedi.

"Well, you found one," said Obi-Wan. He shrugged. "I don't look like much with my arm bandaged like this, but I am Jedi."

"How'd that happen?" asked Bry, eyes eager. He was certainly expecting something exciting.

Obi-Wan smiled tightly. "Lightsaber training. It would be all healed, but there's a Bacta shortage…"

Bry nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I hear all about that over the dinner table. You'd think that the Jedi would have some special privileges."

"No," said Obi-Wan, shaking his head. "We're just like everyone else in the galaxy. We have to wait in lines, we have to deal with shortages…" Bry made a sound like he didn't quite believe what Obi-Wan said. "Really," said Obi-Wan. "We are… fallible."

"What's fallible mean?" asked Maela, coming up behind Obi-Wan and sitting next to him. She sat at the end of the step, smoothing her skirt under her bottom and sitting close to Obi-Wan's knee. Surprise and then a warm sensation that Obi-Wan couldn't quite identify filled Obi-Wan and he reached out a hand to her shoulder and then let it drop.

"Uh…" Obi-Wan groped for a simpler word. "It means that Jedi can fail."

Maela made a face. "I don't like that."

Obi-Wan shrugged. "We are only mortal." Secretly, he didn't like it either. He looked back over at Bry who had an expectant look on his face. "Oh, Maela, this is Bry."

Bry smiled. "Hello. Are you a Jedi too?"

Maela nodded and turned to Obi-Wan. "Miss Olivie said to tell you that the ceremony would start soon."

"What have you been doing?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Making bread," said Maela. "Don't know what for."

"Bread? What does bread have to do with a Naming ceremony?"

"You've never been to a Naming?" asked Bry in surprised. "No, of course not. You're Jedi." He shook his head, as if to clear his head of the thought. "Well then, this will take some explaining." He pointed down the stage. "See the.." he trailed off. "I'll just have to explain it as it's happening. I haven't been to one in a while."

"What's a remembrance?" asked Maela. Obi-Wan remembered what Knight Valeska had said in the motor and gave Maela a look of begrudging respect. It was a good question to ask.

Bry reached up towards the collar of his shirt and Obi-Wan noticed for the first time the leather cord that hung there. But in the moment before he answered the question, a hush descended over the hall, and instead Bry pointed towards the center. "It's starting," he whispered. "They're bringing out the Gifts."

Lilia's grandmother Olivie, her mother Geneel, and her Aunt Albina each carried an object. They walked slowly from the back of the stage, a soft and haunting melody the only sound in the room. "They carry the Gifts of Floresa, the ones that they've helped to prepare for Braidyn. Ms. Geneel went to the mountains this past week to procure the wine," said Bry, narrating the actions from left to right. "Ms. Olivie baked bread that was grown from grain that Mr. Wolford ground. It's sweet bread, each family's recipe closely guarded." Bry smiled. "The Valeska recipe is rumored to be really good. They're to serve it at the party afterwards."

"I helped make that," said Maela, leaning towards Obi-Wan and whispering. Obi-Wan smiled and patted her arm again.

"Knight Albina carries water – the water of the river Imper, the river that allowed farming to begin on Floresa generations ago." Bry smiled. "All to nourish the body and soul, the Gifts of Floresa provide life." The three women placed their objects on a low table near center stage, and sat so that they could see the stage and still be seen.

Next, onto the stage came Les, Lilia's father. He was wearing a formal suit, and carried an official looking piece of paper. "Mr. Rhyne is the Sponsor," said Bry. "The family member or close friend with the most prestige sponsors the child. Les has Sponsored nearly 50 children, and it's a great honor for him to preside."

"Who sponsored you?" asked Maela.

"Master Younglas," said Bry with a small smile.

"May he be one with the Force," murmured Obi-Wan and Maela.

"Why do you need Sponsors?" asked Obi-Wan. "Besides to preside over the ceremony, I mean."

"I learned in history class that when Floresa was a fledgling colony, long before it became part of the Republic, they did not know if they could feed a new generation of colonists, but they couldn't stop people from having children, so they made a child's citizenship based upon their parent's ability to keep them healthy." Bry whispered as Les read from the official paper. Obi-Wan, listening with half a mind, noted that it was an assessment of Braidyn's physical state. "If they weren't healthy, they wouldn't be entitled to benefits, so it became a mark of pride to have children who were citizens. And, as Floresa became a successful world, healthy children were a sign that people were able to keep the planet in high standing."

"And thus, stating that the Son of Cessie and Druin Valeska is fit to take on Gifts and Responsibility of Floresa, I shall Sponsor this child," said Les from the stage. He said this louder, and with more authority, and the audience answered.

"Bring him forward," they murmured together. Bry murmured with them, the action so ingrained that he paused a moment and did not feel the need to explain the chorus. Soon the cherubic child was led forward by his parents, one holding each small hand. His face was serious, as if he understood the gravity of this moment, but one could not take him completely seriously because of the tumble of light brown curls that crowded his face and hid his ears.

"He is healthy," said Les in a booming voice on the stage. "He is well nourished, well cared for, and will one day be an upstanding citizen, contributing to Floresa. We know that fate takes many forms and the future is not certain, but I recommend that this child receive the Gifts of Floresa, for as long as he deserves them."

"Eat and drink," murmured the crowd again.

"What does he mean," asked Obi-Wan, "about deserving the gifts?" He remembered what Qui-Gon had said about Floresa not playing eugenics, but this sounded as if Qui-Gon's off-hand comment may have some basis in fact.

"If someone breaks a serious law, like murdering someone or like, betraying the government, they become unnamed, and are no longer citizens. Sometimes, you family can unnamed you – but it doesn't change your citizenship. You still exist, but not to your family."

"Braidyn," said Les. "Your aunts have something for you to drink." Braidyn's parents let go of his hands and Obi-Wan's heart clinched. They looked at Braidyn with the same look that Wolford had at seeing Lilia, and he knew this time it was pride. But there was also something heart wrenching, he realized, in the symbolic letting go of their toddler's hand.

Braidyn had no fear. He stepped up to Geneel and took her glass of wine. "This is the lifeforce of the valleys in the north, Braidyn," said Geneel, spotting the glass to keep it from falling and to keep drips from his clothes. "It feeds you, too." Geneel took the glass from the boy as he finished his drink, and set it back on the table.

Albina gently beckoned the child to her, and handed him a glass of water. "This water is of the River Imper. Drink it, as the plants do, grow big and strong and share in their strength."

"Braidyn," said Olivie. "When the plants have gained their strength, they give their strength to us. They make our bread, and feed our cattle – this bread I have baked will feed your body. Eat this, as our memories have for generation." She handed Braidyn a small slice of the bread, which he hesitantly put into his mouth, and upon tasting it, quickly shoved more in. The crowd chuckled indulgently.

"Braidyn, your grandmother has asked you to eat, and you have." Les announced this with a smile in his voice. "You have accepted the Gifts of Floresa and are a half citizen. You need to take the Responsibility."

"Bring it forward," murmured the guests.

"This is the remembrance," whispered Bry. He caught Maela's eye to be sure she would know what he meant.

Lilia walked out onto the stage, wearing a long dress in a dark color that suited her. It was formal, but the cut was wide and accented the child in the dress. She wore a necklace that was glittering in the light of the afternoon sun streaming in through the window.

"That looks like a lightsaber crystal," said Obi-Wan. "A minor crystal. On her necklace." He was surprised. Lilia had not yet constructed her lightsaber, and even if she had, it would be unlikely that she would have an extra crystal to wear as jewelry.

"Braidyn," said Les. "Your cousin has a gift for you." Lilia walked up to her young cousin, and held out a stone on a leather cord. Braidyn reached for it, and then Lilia positioned the child to tie it around his neck. As she did, Les continued speaking. "This stone is to remind you of your responsibility to Floresa – that your actions are ever without consequences and your wrong doings will always weigh heavily on you. There are none among us who are fit not to wear a remembrance, we all need that reminder." All around the semicircular room, people pulled out necklaces. Bry pulled the leather cord out from under his shirt and on the end was a stone. Obi-Wan reached into his tunic pocket where he kept the stone Qui-Gon gave him for his 13th birthday. It was warm to the touch, pulsing with the energy in the room. He did it surreptitiously. It wasn't strictly part of the ritual… Responsibility – was this another meaning of that gift from Qui-Gon?

"I give you my remembrance, Braidyn," said Lilia, voice grave. "I give you the remembrance that was given to me on my Naming, because my Sponsor gave me a new one with his death." She touched the stone around her neck. "I give you my remembrance, and with this gift, you are a citizen of Floresa." Lilia stepped back and cleared the way for Braidyn's parents, who had been standing on the side watching the proceedings, to come in and swoop him up in their arms, covering him in kisses.

"Braidyn," said Les.

"Braidyn," said the Valeska family.

"Braidyn," said all the guests. They said his name again and again, giving Obi-Wan the chills. Poor Braidyn grew frightened, face screwing up and tears rolling down his face. The room rang with the sound of the name, and just when Obi-Wan thought that the sound would become unbearable, the guests all simultaneously burst into applause, and pushed forward to congratulate the family.