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Obi-Wan grunted as he parried a blindingly fast attack with his lightsaber. His opponent was strong, no doubt, but Obi-Wan knew where her weakness was. He took a feigning jab at the left foot, and when his opponent was unable to keep solid footing, Obi-Wan pressed his advantage in a flurry of motion, and within seconds, he had knocked the lightsaber out of her hand, and held the point of his lightsaber at her throat.
Sarah smiled as Obi-Wan deactivated his lightsaber and helped her up. He smiled back. Sarah had put up an excellent fight, no doubt, but Obi-Wan had still bested her. Sarah was not disappointed though, Obi-Wan had become one of the best swordsmen in the Order. He was practically unstoppable with a lightsaber, and it was still a favorite story of theirs to tell of when Obi-Wan had beaten Mace Windu in a friendly duel (although Mace continued to claim to that day that he had been feeling quite mysteriously ill on the day when he and Obi-Wan had sparred).
Obi-Wan, Sarah, and Anakin all looked a little bit older these days, not too much, but it was still noticeable. Obi-Wan was now nearing thirty, Anakin fourteen, and Sarah's thirteenth birthday was only a week away.
Though Obi-Wan's face now looked a little older, with his hair a bit longer, he had only grown stronger. Anakin was growing taller by the day, needing new clothes every few months, and Sarah had grown as well, in height and in beauty.
Obi-Wan always could not help a smile when he realized that both of his Padawans had become something of awe to other young Padawans. At first, he had thought that it had been that the young initiates were impressed with Anakin and Sarah's skills, but as some time passed, Obi-Wan began to catch small bits of girls' whispered conversations when Anakin would walk by, and often times young boys' eyes would linger on Sarah for a little bit longer than perhaps it was considered appropriate of a young Jedi.
But there was no doubting their talent as a team. As more time passed, all three had become stronger with every passing day. Anakin and Sarah had far surpassed others their ages, and Obi-Wan was rapidly rising in the eyes of the Jedi Masters. There was not a mission that the three had gone on that had not been successful (there had been many close shaves of course, but the three always seemed to conveniently forget to mention them to the Council), and they always carried out their duties no matter what.
Praise in the eyes of other Jedi did not matter to Obi-Wan though. When he looked at his Padawans, he could feel pride in his heart, and when he saw the friendship that Anakin and Sarah had formed, he felt overjoyed.
And it was indeed true. Anakin and Sarah had forged a close bond in the past few years. Each had their own separate friends at the Temple, but they always found time to simply have fun and talk. Obi-Wan knew that their friendship was not perfect, but it still made him happy all the same.
Obi-Wan reflected upon all of this as he cleaned up after his training session that day, and he knew that the day was fast approaching when Sarah and Anakin would beat him in a duel. Though he felt sad when his mind thought of that, he knew that they were destined to be great,but attachments were, after all, forbidden for a Jedi.
Obi-Wan gave his Padawans the rest of the day off...he had some business to attend to. He needed to pay a visit to Dex and reserve the diner for a small party that he and Anakin were planning for Sarah's birthday. He and Sarah had done the same for Anakin when he had turned thirteen, and it had been a great deal of fun, except perhaps when Dex had sat on Obi-Wan by mistake and almost suffocated him before someone finally had noticed Obi-Wan's flailing arms.
Obi-Wan smiled at the memory. Dex always had his hearts in the right place, he simply forgot at times to watch where he sat. Of course, that incident had provoked endless teasing from his Padawans, and he often caught them doing impressions of his flailing limbs when they thought that he was not looking. Obi-Wan's grin widened even more as he pulled open the doors of the diner, knowing that even Dex still remembered and sought to pretend to be overly dramatic in apologies every time that he now saw Obi-Wan, which was on a fairly regular basis. Shaking his head, Obi-Wan saw his friend approach, knowing what was coming...
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Meanwhile, back at the Temple, Sarah had set off for her usual run. Anakin always teased her about running, not knowing why she liked it. But Sarah just thought that there was something magical about the grounds of the Jedi Temple. It was always so peaceful, and when she ran she was always able to clear her mind and feel the Force more strongly than usual. It was just her tradition, and she enjoyed it, even if Anakin could not understand it. But then, Anakin could not understand why she liked to read either, so perhaps, she thought, Anakin was simply the weird one.
As she ran, she thought about how her own relationship with Anakin had changed over time. There were times when it still felt like a new and fragile friendship, but there were other times when they were able to have real conversations with each other, talk about things that mattered...but there was still an element of shyness when they were around each other.
She thought about this as she ran, her feet beating evenly on the ground, her breathing steady. She loved running around the lake, smelling the air and feeling the breeze on her skin. Today was different though. As she ran, it felt a little bit odd, as though she was not alone. When she looked around her, she saw nothing, but all of the sudden she turned her head and Anakin was running right beside her. She almost fell over in shock. She had not even seen him right beside her.
He gave her his old sly grin and whispered in her ear, "Race you."
She smirked back at him. "You're on."
And so, the two Padawans took off running faster than the wind. Their feet pounded on the ground as their strides lengthened and they took off into a full out sprint along the lake. At the last moment, Sarah pulled slightly ahead, but as she did, Anakin reached out and grabbed the back of her tunic, and both Padawans tumbled to the ground, rolling slightly down the slope, laughing the entire way. They were both sweaty and their tunics were full of grass and dirt stains.
When they finally caught there breath, Sarah looked at Anakin, her blue eyes dancing with light, and said, "I totally won that one."
Anakin pretended to look offended. "Well, I suppose that won't matter though when people find out how you violently tripped me just as I began to pull ahead. Not very Jedi-like I must say. Perhaps you should take some extra lessons on compassion with Master Windu."
Sarah gave him a scathing glare, barely concealing her grin, "Perhaps I should, but Master Windu might not be so pleased when he finds out how you challenged me to the contest in the first place, boasting about how fast you are and how you would surely win. I happen to know that he loves giving nice long speeches on pride."
Anakin nodded, shaking his head slightly as a huge smile spread across his face. They sat for a moment before Anakin stood and stretched. "Well," he said, "I guess I'll go get cleaned up for dinner." He held out a hand to help her up, and when she grabbed it, she suddenly found herself being pulled down the slope to the lake. When she realized what he was about to do, she tried to run back up the hill, but he grabbed her by the waist, and before she knew it, she was falling headlong into the water, but not before grabbing Anakin's tunic, taking him with her.
For a while after the two surfaced, they splashed around in the lake and then finally pulled themselves out of the lake and into the sun to dry. For awhile they simply lay there, enjoying the warmth of the sun. They lay there for so long, it had begun to get dark before they finally made their way back up to their quarters, feeling happy and content with their day.
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A/N: I know this chapter was pretty much fluff, but hey, our family needs to have some lighthearted moments, it can't all be drama!