Obi-Wan ghosted behind Temple hallway columns outside of Master Windu's Beginner's Unified Force Manipulation seminar Anakin was assigned to attend. Most of the padawans had already entered, and he would have been worried except for the fact that he felt Anakin's approach down the corridor. Relief soon followed as he also experienced the young boy's contentment. But beyond that, Obi-Wan could read nothing further.
His physical sight revealed his padawan strolling along happily next to Padmé, whose eyes occasionally glanced about the hallway. The knight smiled as he realized she must be looking for him.
The pair came to a halt in front of the classroom doors and Padmé knelt down to say something to the young boy, which Obi-Wan missed.
But he didn't miss what happened next. Just when he was confident that somehow Padmé had transformed Anakin's growing infatuation into friendship, his innocent apprentice leaned forward, grabbed the young woman by the head and planted a kiss. Right on the mouth. It was just a child's peck, but the intention behind it was clear.
His padawan's obsession with the young woman was alive and well.
Padmé arose from her kneeling position, flustered, drawing a hand to her mouth as Anakin bounded away.
She turned around to see Obi-Wan approaching.
"Uh oh." She said, allowing her hand to fall, which was quickly taken up in the knight's own grasp.
"Have a good time?" A quirk of Obi-Wan's mouth hinted at his sarcasm.
"It wasn't like that!" She teased back, squeezing the hand that held hers as hard as she could and bumping up against him as they turned to leave. "All we did was talk about his training and what he's learned. I'm impressed by the way." She noted with another bump, but this time it was more of an intimate brush up against his side that the knight leaned into. "He can do remarkable things with the Force."
"Did he juggle for you?"
"Yes." Padmé smiled as she recalled the proud twinkle in Anakin's eye as he balanced several cylindrical balls in the air using the Force. "But.." Her tone turned serious as she stopped and turned to face her companion. "There's something troubling him."
"I know." Obi-Wan agreed. "He has very few friends at the Temple. Most of the initiates have been together since the creche. Friendships are forged early and it's often difficult to fit in, especially when there is a prejudice added to it."
"You mean, because he is the Chosen One." The young woman noted. Her own youth had been spent in preparation for her advancement to the throne of Naboo. There had been very little time to gain friends. If it weren't for her handmaidens, she would have very few companions.
"Yes." Obi-Wan answered her question, his eyes glancing down to their joined hands, his thumb caressing the soft skin of her wrist. "I had my doubts at first, but I'm now convinced. He is learning things so rapidly. He'll surpass me before he's knighted. He'll be a powerful Jedi some day, Padmé. With powers beyond those of even Master Yoda."
Padmé regarded their silence for a while. There was nothing she could think of to say, so she decided to route the conversation back to her earlier concern: The reason behind the empty, lonely look she had seen in Anakin's eyes. "Is there no on else for him to talk to?"
"Not anyone he's mentioned."
Obi-Wan pondered the question again as their steps carried them away from the educational wing.
The knight's comment disturbed Padmé. Obi-Wan was Anakin's Master and also his friend, but the boy needed friends his own age.
Their walk continued and as Obi-Wan's steps became more determined, Padmé realized she didn't know where they were headed.
"Where are we going?" She asked as their direction turned toward the right.
Obi-Wan nodded greetings to several passing knights before he spoke in a teasingly provocative tone.
"The Serenity Gardens."
The young woman's eyebrows arched playfully as she leaned toward him.
"Planning on getting lucky?" She asked quietly.
Obi-Wan squeezed her hand as he responded. "Not planning. Just hoping."
The Serenity Gardens were nothing Padmé had expected them to be. They weren't gardens at all, as a matter of fact. Gardens were supposed to be filled with lush plants, trees and other vegetation, weren't they? The space before her was meticulously cared for to be sure, but there wasn't a single flower or tree in sight.
Just sand.
Her surprise registered on her face and Obi-Wan smiled at the expected response.
"Knights and padawans come here." He explained. "To commune with the Unified Force. And sometimes on assignment." The Jedi motioned to their left where a young woman was kneeling and levitating a single rock high up onto a tall tower of similar stones.
In fact, other than sand, stones were all Padmé could see. Stones, rocks, and boulders of varying sizes and shades of brown.
Areas throughout the arena were divided by sections outlined with round, smooth brown stones as big as her fist. Inside each rectangular section were structures of various heights; all constructed from stacked rocks.
Obi-Wan silently led them down a patch and around several tall stacked pillars to show her an extremely massive structure in the center of the room.
As big as a small building, the brown and gray boulder was comprised of literally thousands of smaller stones; some flat, others oblong or round, but each perfectly placed with a precision that would support the infrastructure.
"After a padawan is knighted, they come here to levitate a stone to the top." Obi-Wan pointed up toward the extreme height of the creation. "That third rock down, the one streaked with gray is mine."
Padmé followed his pointing finger and found the stone he had set.
"See the one that is reddish-brown about one-third the way down?"
"Where?" Padmé inquired, trying to follow Obi-Wan's directions.
"The one that sticks out and kind of looks like a dewback."
"I see it." She confirmed.
"That's Qui-Gon's.
And then Padmé realized what she was witnessing. This was a monument to the Jedi, as ancient as the Temple itself. These stones had been standing for centuries.
"Where do all of these rocks come from?" She asked, noting that many of them were too large to be brought through the single door, and there did not appear to be an opening in the roof, other than the number of small skylights overhead.
"We create them." Obi-Wan answered plainly.
"I'm sorry. I don't understand."
Obi-Wan then bent over and grabbed a handful of the deep sand beneath their feet.
"A stone is merely sediment that has eroded and been compressed over time. We use the Unified Force to manipulate the grains to speed up the process."
Concentrating upon the energy he spoke of, Obi-Wan focused upon his hands, eventually uncurling his fingers to reveal a rounded stone covering his palm, glistening with the golden sand particles, dark brown threads running along its surface.
Padmé smiled as he offered it to her, unsure of what to say. It was nice, but it was a rock.
But then he hovered his hand over the stone she held and it ruptured in two pieces, revealing a crystallic, prismatic creation in its center, glistening in the sunlight with iridescent shades of purple, green and gold. She continued staring at it, appreciative of its many artistic qualities. It was mesmerizing.
Stunned that such a thing could be created by hand, Padmé looked up into the humble Jedi's face, meeting his gentle blue-gray gaze. "It's beautiful."
Obi-Wan's mouth turned up into a grin before returning to its more solemn line. "It's a rock." He announced with a shrug before he took a deep breath, reached out and ran the back of his fingers slowly down the smooth skin of her cheek.
"This." He said in a low, soft tone, "is beautiful."