It is my lifeday today and I will be thirteen years old. I've been told that Masters give a present to their padawans when they turn thirteen. I wonder what my Master will give me?

After I finish washing up, I step into out into the living area and see my Master meditating in the far right corner of the room. I still can't understand how he can stand being so still while he meditates. When I meditate, I like to keep my hands busy. My Master calls this moving meditation. To be passive is difficult for me. I crave things Jedi shouldn't crave.

As I watch my Master, I wonder if he ever had trouble being passive after becoming Qui-Gon's padawan? I wish I can find the peace that my Master finds. I still miss my mother. Sometimes the ache is so great that I just want to run away, back into her arms. Then, then I wonder how my Master would react. Would he be worried? Mad? Upset? Would he feel lonely? Betrayed?

Perhaps my Master's gift will be to reveal some more of his past. In fact, I hope so. I am eager to learn more about him. It would be worth a hundred gifts, no, make that thousands of gifts.

My Master opens his eyes and they look straight into mine. His light blue gaze is cool, yet warm. I see care in his eyes and it warms me up inside. It is rare to see past his mask, but I treasure them all. These brief precious moments remind me that my Master is human and that he does have emotions.

We walk toward each other and I see that he has something in his hand. I reach out my hand and my Master places something cool, smooth, and round from his hand to mine.

Withdrawing my hand, lift it up and open my hand. It is a black stone with red streaks that seemed to go deep inside the core of the stone. It gleamed as light hit it, its surface carefully cleaned and polished.

This present must be very special to my Master. Although I had known Qui-Gon for only a short time, I can sense a tiny hint of his presence on the stone. My Master smiles as he sees my reaction and he proceeds to explain its origins. He said that his Master had found it on his home planet around the age I am now. The stone came from a river called River of Light. Qui-Gon gave this stone to my Master when he turned thirteen.

I tell my Master that I will treasure it, because it is indeed a treasure. When I get a padawan, I will pass it on to him or her. My mother would say that the passing of this stone to one generation to the next would be called a heirloom. I wonder if other Jedi have done similar things to this, the passing down of an object.

My Master sits down on the chair that sits across from the couch and I go to sit on the couch. He asks me if I would like to hear about his actual first mission as Qui-Gon's padawan.

I eagerly nod and look at him expectantly. He begins by saying that this mission took place right after he became Qui-Gon's padawan. It was also the same mission that Qui-Gon gave him the stone for his lifeday. He tells how he felt when he received his present, how he was disappointed that it was just a stone, not something expensive.

I but in by saying that because Qui-Gon had taken him as a padawan right before that mission, that Qui-Gon wouldn't have the time to look for something expensive.

My Master looks sadly at me as he nods. He admits that he had been selfish, but back then, he hadn't realized it.

I wonder then if I have been selfish lately. Thinking of my mother, I realized that I have. All the Jedi here have never lived with there parents for nine years straight, some may have no memory of their parents at all. Wishing that my Mother was here now seems wrong. If she came, then what about the others who may never see their parents? Yes, I have selfish and this may not have been my only sin.

I continue to listen to my Master as he talked about how he and his Master were deterred from their original mission. When my Master got to the part where he got captured and was to have his mind wiped, I felt worry, even though I know for a fact that my Master is safe now.

He told me how he discovered that the stone was Force sensitive while in the cell. How it gave him an idea on how to protect himself from the mind wipe. To think my Master says Jedi do not crave excitement and yet excitement seems to follow them.

I laugh as my Master tells me how he disguised himself as a prince and flew of Gala in the prince's ship.

I gawked when my Master told me what his Master said when he told him that the stone was Force sensitive. I ask him if he ever really found out if Qui-Gon had been kidding about not knowing that the stone was Force sensitive and my Master shakes his head.

Looking down at the stone in my hand, I realize that even my own Master didn't always understand Qui-Gon. Well, I'm glad I'm not alone on this understanding your Master thing.

A thought crosses my mind and I look up worriedly at my Master. I ask if our first mission together will be like Qui-Gon's and his first mission.

My Master laughs and then he grows serious. He tells me that he hopes not. I do hope that he is right.