Authors Note: Notes and thank yous at the end ;)
Disclaimer: Read the first chappy legal peeps. Too lazy to repeat :)

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Chapter Ten: Of a Master's Musings .II.

Yoda was seated comfortably in his favourite pile of cushions in his quarters, a cup of his favourite tea steaming nearby.
The Force was whispering in the back of his mind, had been whispering all his long life, yet now it was more insistent, surging at every other moment and urging him to look closer at a certain aspect to its messages.
Descending further into himself, into the swirling intangible completeness of the Force, Yoda pushed away other visions, other feelings, other clues to what could what might what should happen (all shrouded in now all to common darkness) and focused on one being, one signature which radiated Light.
Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Even after twenty-nine years, memory of Knight Muriel Gal-Ton's last months was easily recalled…
Not long into her Knighthood the young woman returned to the Temple, clothed in a loose-fitting tunic and leggings, cloak deceptively loose…
"Master Yoda, may I come in?"
She stood outside the doorway to his rooms like a frightened toddler, eyes to the floor, downcast, and hands tucked into their sleeves around her middle. He didn't see it then, nobody did -she masked it well.
"Enter you may, Knight Gal-Ton. Troubled, are you?"

"I," she paused, "Forgive me Master, I did nothing, I just found myself with child some months ago." Pulling open her robe, she revealed a slightly larger than normal belly.
For all his years, Yoda was shocked.
"Saying you woke up with child, are you?"

Voice low she spoke slowly, barely believing her own words, "I believe it -he, is from the Force, Master."

"Mergence, in a infant?"
She nodded, placing her hands protectively over her abdomen.
"Test, may I?"
Another nod, tentative, as she knelt down lower for his easy reach.
Gently he stretched out tendrils of his senses, feeling for the life in her womb, not knowing what to expect. A being of Light, of strength, washed over him. Contentment. Purity. Power. Nothing like anything recorded previously.
"Hmm, right that could be. Feel different, did you? Sense him?"

"Not so much in the first few months, just the knowledge he was there… except I didn't know he was a he in the beginning, I just… I just knew, Master. One day I just knew he was a he and I can feel him a little more each day."

"Take a Count when born, we will. Strong, he is. At the Temple you will stay, until that time."


Yoda was cautious in the early weeks of her return, in the long centuries of his life he had seen many come to him saying the Force gave them a child -the prophecy was well known throughout the galaxies, Republic or not.
Never before had a Jedi done so.
Never before had one done so without reference to the prophecy.
But as the weeks grew to months, Muriel grew weaker. A side to the prediction not as widely known, or possibly just not believed: the Chosen One's mother would die on the day of the One's birth -nothing in life was free, and for the Force to give such a gift the price was high. One life would have to be taken, the mother's life.
Yet Muriel bore her son no ill will; he was hers and she loved him because of it, not in spite of it. She followed the will of the Force to the best of her ability and without question and loved her son whilst she had the chance.
At Muriel's request they told her Master what was kept secret from the rest of the Temple and universe as a whole, and she stayed with her during the long birth, bought the child to her after he was cleaned up a little and placed him in the younger Jedi's arms.
"Do you want to name him, Muriel?"

Her voice was tired, little strength left after a prolonged pregnancy and hard labour,
"Kenobi… Obi-Wan it means 'my child'…"

"And Kenobi means 'of the Light', I remember, Padawan."

Yoda remembered also, they were both from a planet that had since been consumed by it's own dying star -Muriel Gal-Ton was actually one of the evacuees from the dying planet, bought to the Temple when she was two years old. Small and non-Republic as it was, it's language had been forgotten and their culture dismissed as unimportant. Something the Jedi thought gravely wrong.
"Hello Obi-Wan," Now little more than a whisper, the child knew to be still and gurgled at his mother, "my Obi-Wan Kenobi, you will be a great man, never let anyone tell you any different, my little one." Tears began to fall, all present knew her time was near, none more so than herself, painstakingly slowly at first, down her cheek and dropping like fluid diamonds. Then the babe lifted a tiny hand, trying to find something to grasp and finding the edge of a medical gown and they tumbled like rain, sobs rising from her throat that was already so weak made for a heart-rending scene for the two observers.
Yoda checked the reading from the blood sample the Healer took before leaving.
Well over 20,000.
The Decemean's believed every child was a gift from the Gods… therefore lending to the second meaning of the baby's name, Muriel's gift to the Light.

Since Obi-Wan's birth Yoda knew he would have to conceal everything about the boy, invent a family and veil a midi-chlorean count that usually shouldn't exist.
When Obi-Wan turned twelve and he was still not taken as an Apprentice, Yoda made another decision -whether or not to ensure the Chosen One's further training. To do so would reveal his history, something Yoda didn't want to happen, not then.
He also knew Qui-Gon would have to play a part: a vision of Obi-Wan defending said Master proved that; the only problem was the stubborn man, a point that was overcome but sent repercussions that were still felt today.

The Force's latest hints grew stronger the deeper he fell within it, becoming feelings and forming visions of some point in the future, of Light warring against a figure robed in black, in one visualization Obi-Wan won, and Light prevailed to see the Jedi grow strong once again and the galaxies grow peaceful under a new rule that wasn't revealed. In the other, the dark figure triumphed; the Jedi fell in massacres of every known Force-sensitive of the time and entire planets were decimated, millions enslaved and un-told numbers murdered.
The future was reaching a splitting point, something that would decide the outcome of the battle he foresaw.
The Force was diverging, and only it's Mergence would be able to affect it.
Everything relied on Obi-Wan now, he realised. Yoda had no qualms about trusting the Knight, having watched him intently his entire life at the Temple and looked into each mission during his apprenticeship through to his Knighthood closely: he was ready.
The doubt he did have was whether or not Obi-Wan knew that.

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Author's Notes: Heads up to Shanobi whose fic 'Going Home' planted the idea for this fic in my head absolutely yonks ago (that's how long it's been driving me insane :S) and is the first person i've seen to have Obi-Wan as the Chosen One (i'm still trying to find others sniff) and she's really nice :D Go read her stories if you haven't all ready!

whoah still can't believe i managed to write all that... it just sorta came out, so... i tried to make it make as much sense as possible without giving the future away ;) Please review / gives readers a pleading look /. Anyway, Chapter Eleven will be called "Of Tension Building" and is a chapter that wasn't originally planned, but there's a large request for more of Anakin and Ashden so i will deliver and it'll be from their POV's :D

Review Thank Yous...
Walking Through Shadows: And i'm still caught between insulted and proud that you think i'm like an eight year old. I'm nearly a year older than you! I'm seventeen in a few months! that's like, eight is like, nine years younger than me and 5 years older than my mental age :P

lurker1: Long reviews are great! I love long reviews -i got 2 this time / dances /! Stubborn vs. Compassion... yes he is being rather stubborn at the moment, but have no fear, compassion man will appear Eventually. It's just Obi-Wan he's blind to 'cause "people are often blind to the ones they love the most" but the same goes for Obi too ;).
Hmmm, i think i'll do that actually -give a history of the last 4 years for Ani and Qui -i never thought of doing that before! Exploit it, I will. Thank you i do and will. Looks like the story just got extended ;)

MistiWhitesun: Hehee Star Trek was my first sci-fi love, i was 5 and saw TOS re-runs!
Kay i'm gonna try and do indent paragraphs for awhile, and maybe go back and edit the rest if i have time, plus fix that spelling and any others i can find. Really should check carefully before I post, shouldn't I? Anyway, yes. Paragraphing and spelling -i caught a "lo" instead of "low" and used indents....

Janna Hawkins: Kay this is actually quite cool! People LIKE Ashden! I was really afraid about how she'd be received! Hi to Lizzy because that's a cool name! :D

Aida: There is a reason! Poor Qui... do i need to put him into the Character Protection Program? Naaah.... i s'pose there wouldn't be much fun in that, Be prepared for Anakin swill!

Audreidi: Yikes, longer chapters? Well, this is just about 3 pages... almost. Okay so that's pathetic : I will try, metaphors similes and narratives oh my! Sorry.. it's like 3pm and i haven't eaten all day yet so light-headed i am feeling ;) Malastarian's are called Grans? Okay i wrote that down now, i'm slowly building up my knowlege of SW-verse :X. It will get better! Honest!

Knight Kenobi of Eryn Lasgalen: here! hands out an Anakin Clone, kick away! I'm planning an AnakinAshden POV for the next chapter so you can build up some more fuel then ;)

Authors Notes 2: I'm beginning to feel quite sorry for Qui-Gon... between you guys and me he's getting slapped quite a lot!