Warning: Slow chapter, I keep outlining these chapters and they end up being thrice as long as I intended. Let me know if the pacing needs to change, this one ends where it does because I've now posted over 25K in less than one week.

Religious Studies: I reference Zazen, a type of meditation cultivated by Zen Buddhists, if anyone is interested :D

Chapter 4 - Home

Years. It had been years, and nothing, not a word and now his old Master had decided to reclaim their broken bond.

Not just reclaimed it, but Dooku had presumed to analyze not just Qui-Gon's aura but his Padawans' as well.

He stared down at the comm in his hand. Something had been off the first time he had pulled on the bound, almost desperate as if calling out for help.

And the last... how had Dooku been able to manifest? Rey had seen him.

"Master?" Obi-Wan questioned.

They had spent the last two days showing Rey the Jedi Temple to both give her time to adjust to a new planet as well as the presence of the other Jedi.

Thus far Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had succeeded in neither. Rey seemed as interested in exploring the temple as Qui-Gon himself had been once. In fact, Dooku had taken him through the Temple to places initiates either were not advised to go or not permitted, when first he became a Padawan. But though Rey asked question after welcomed question, she never relaxed.

He couldn't tell what was disturbing her, whether the opulence of the Temple, the different climate, or something he had not thought of yet. He had only determined that she seemed to prefer the newer wings, despite them having significantly less to share with her about the history of those places. A history that she seemed otherwise invested in.

And then she was still jumpy around the other Jedi, all of whom she seemed to view with some level of awe and great respect.

"Obi-Wan, I need to meditate on this."

"Come on," Obi-Wan said to Rey, putting a light hand on her shoulder, "they'll be serving dinner in the Padawan Hall by now."

Rey remained the only Padawan in the temple who regarded the food highly. Not that Qui-Gon would consider it bad food, far from it, but he travelled enough to discover his own tastes and the Temple served food somewhere in the realm of decent.

"Rey?" he asked before they left, "Were you afraid of him?"

"Master Dooku?" she asked.

Qui-Gon nodded, not correcting her use of the title, he would have felt more obliged to do so if she had used the title of Count in truth.

"No, should I have been?"

He shook his head.

It had taken him a long time to come to understand Obi-Wan, he had a feeling that as earnest a person as Rey was, she would be a far harder riddle to solve.

She was enamoured by every Jedi she met, including, apparently, the ones who materialized out of thin air, yet she seemed unnerved by the Jedi Temple itself. A riddle indeed.

"Dooku was my Master, and we have been estranged for some time now."

She gave him a soft smile, "I hope you are able to make up."

Qui-Gon's smile was soft as well, "Good night to you both if I don't see you till tomorrow."

He turned from them, sending a mental thought to Obi-Wan, Try to get her to breathe.

Obi-Wan shot back, Maybe we should train her on Serenno.

Not humorous, Padawan.

Obi-Wan didn't respond but Qui-Gon could feel his smirk.

Well, it was laughable, Qui-Gon supposed. His Master contacting him after all these years, all but demanding his presence on

If Dooku wanted to see him, why not come to Coruscant?

Qui-Gon went to the gardens. Rey had liked this place best of all the places he brought her to in the Temple. It was something they shared and something Obi-Wan seemed amused by.

His opinion that Rey was a much better match for Qui-Gon than Obi-Wan had been, at least in Obi-Wan's eyes, holding true. But Qui-Gon saw how deeply Obi-Wan was coming to care about Rey already.

He sensed that there was a friendship that would make the history books.

Qui-Gon went to his knees in the grass, the shrubs at this position stretching above his head. He closed his eyes and tried to think over what had just occurred.

He had sometimes feared that his own interest in the prophecies had led his old Master down a darker path.

But why contact me now?

Without pulling on the bond between them, he explored it. He could feel the warm surity of his Master at the end like a sun finally exposed after a long winter on a plant's cap. The bond was steel between them, when last Qui-Gon had explored it, it had been a thread well worn and forgotten.

They had spoken some since Obi-Wan had become his apprentice, but their talks had been listless, bland, and initiated by the Council.

Do not die, Padawan mine.

Such a strange thing to ask, no, to demand.

Though to be fair, Qui-Gon would have likely demanded the same from his own Padawans if they were in mortal danger.

Was that it? Did something happen to make Dooku believe his old forgotten Padawan was in peril?

It was certainly the simplest answer, and one that would explain the strength of which Dooku's energy had grabbed hold of him.

In that first touch, there had been a mind numbing fear and a rage so cold that Qui-Gon thought he had been imagining it. The second touch had been exploring, but the third? The fear and rage had been gone from his Master's presence, curiosity and a light as bright as Rey's.

What did that mean?

And was it wise to go to Serenno? To bring Obi-Wan and Rey to meet his old Master?

Rael, Dooku's Padawan before Qui-Gon, had told him once that the Jedi's pledge to avoid attachments was futile. The very nature of Master and Padawan almost ensured that love and attachment would follow. Their history and leaders even encouraged it, tying them more closely to the Order than any doctrine could have.

Compassion was one of the founding pillars of being a Jedi, despite not being in the Jedi code.

And wasn't that an emotion, wasn't the desire for peace an emotion?

Sometimes Qui-Gon thought the Jedi were too immersed in politics, in the power struggles of the world. That the Jedi enforced law where matters of state should have been left to their individual governments and at other times Qui-Gon thought they aspired to be too disconnected from the galaxy.

The Living Force was to be obeyed, not the machinations of the Republic and Senate.

Qui-Gon believed in the Force, believed that ultimately what the Force wanted was harmony within the chaos. Balance.

Emotions were not bad in and of themselves. Acting on emotions without a clear head was certainly dangerous for people with their type of abilities.

But having the love and understanding to care for someone else, to value all life no matter how great or how small, was the essence of being a Jedi.

So he had let the Force guide him, let compassion move him, because if he could not love living things, if he couldn't help try to make the world a better place than there was no point.

Even if some deemed it an impossible pursuit.

His thoughts went back to his Master, who Qui-Gon had surely failed.

When he was younger, he had believed the tenant that the Master's actions dictated the path the Padawan's life would take.

But after taking on Obi-Wan, he had learned quite differently.

Rael had been right, for all the Jedi preached of not falling in love, in not having families or partners or overly close friendships, the most fundamental bond of Master and Padawan was the largest attachment Qui-Gon had in this life.

To protect Obi-Wan, and now Rey, Qui-Gon would sacrifice all that he was, every ideal and doctrine to save them.

But Qui-Gon had almost been lost to the Dark once, and he would never again go down that path if either of Padawans died before him. Not because of doctrine, but because he would not dishonour them so.

Yet there was more than the fear of loss and the despair of death that could push one to the Dark Side, and Qui-Gon feared his teenage obsession with prophecies had pushed Dooku once too often.

Granted, Qui-Gon was still a bit obsessed with the prophecies, not less so after having received his own Force visions that proved true. But it was for want to obey the Force, to take warning where it was given, not a desire to control the future that motivated Qui-Gon.

Dooku had been much more interested in controlling the direction of the galaxy.

Qui-Gon shook his head, sighing deeply. He tried to focus on the smells around him, the soft sounds of the breeze playing through leaves, the Force itself flowing between him and everything around him.

Sooner or later, he was going to Serenno, and he tried to release the fear of what- of who his Master had become.

Qui-Gon battled with himself, trying to let go of the regret of having been a part of Dooku's transformation.

Rey had never been able to eat until fullness. Even after earning her freedom, the monopoly on food resources on Jakku had kept her working for less than what wage earners or foreign traders would have been given. But then moving to another settlement meant surrendering familiar and established ground that had helped keep her safe at night.

She had actually had a better income on Tatooine, in no small part because the planet was larger and the art of scavenging required a lot more self-awareness and brutal self-defence than she had to exert on Jakku, where the rewards of such things were for the most part negligible.

So to be freely given access to almost unlimited meals was something she was so grateful for that she doubted Obi-Wan would ever understand.

She wasn't blind to his bemused expression as she steadily worked through her plate as she had with every meal since arriving. She forced herself not to rush, to enjoy the actual flavours in the dishes that were made and not rehydrated through powders. But she couldn't manage a conversation while eating. Even if Obi-Wan, who had scarfed down his own plate, had to wait for her.

This evening, they sat at the edge of the hall, by a window, Obi-Wan watching the traffic outside as the happy babble of other Padawans filled the hall. None of whom approached them as it seemed Obi-Wan had seated them in an area of the hall that was designated for those who didn't want to socialize.

For this Rey was glad, she didn't dislike the people here, quite the opposite, Knight or Padawan, they were all the stuff of legends to her, but they were all so at ease.

Rey had always strived to be a good person, to keep her hopes high, and have faith that someday life would get better. But she found that being thrown into a large population of friendly, yet incredibly powerful, people was better in theory than what she had any scope to understand how to deal with in reality.

She had actually laughed at one extremely large Padawan who she had accidentally bumped into while she gazing at the ceiling. That Padawan had growled at her in ill concealed threat. At her laugh, he had left her untroubled at Obi-Wan's side. Hostility didn't faze her, the polite bows and easy smiles, however, were completely foreign.

That incident was the most normal thing to happen to her on Coruscant so far and she was pretty sure she was earning herself a reputation for being touched in the head.

But she couldn't help it. If they had brought her to train on a jungle planet, or brought her to a small village on some remote moon, or even another desert planet, hell, an ice world, where solitude and survival were a larger concern than the endlessness of a palace, excuse her, Temple, then she would have been fine.

But no, Master Jinn had brought her to a world of excess in a city so incomprehensibly large it spanned the planet, making of ships and people insects, buzzing ceaselessly around them.

She made it a point not to look out the windows too long. Coruscant made the whole of Tatooine seem like a ditch on the side of the road.

To these people, Jakku would probably seem uninhabited.

She crushed the thought, she had to believe the Jedi were more than their surroundings.

She couldn't judge them for their wealth; wealth was not synonymous for bad. Her experiences notwithstanding, after all, in her eyes, the moisture farmers on Tatooine seemed -in comparison to her lifestyle- as well off as the Hutts. Maybe better off, seeing as far as she could gauge, the Hutts didn't value family or happy communities.

Putting down her fork she looked up at Obi-Wan who had a hand on his chin, almost like Master Jinn had a tendency to do and was still gazing out the window toward the sunset. Though it looked as if he wasn't seeing it.

Obi-Wan was still the kindest person she had ever met, and her reservations for Coruscant aside, she wanted this life. A life of pursuing peace in the galaxy.

Maybe she could have enjoyed it more, trusted it more, if she didn't know the fate of the galaxy was that the Republic would fall and the Jedi would disappear into myth, maybe then this path would have been less troubled by doubts.

She wasn't arrogant enough to believe she alone could change that fate. Perhaps if she earned Obi-Wan and Master Jinn's trust they might believe her and know what to do, or perhaps they would throw her out, or maybe, just maybe, if she was really lucky they could convince her that her past/their future was a trick of the Force.

Besides it was not like she had much to tell, she had a loose understanding of history at best. A handful of major events with no sure timeline. She didn't know what had destroyed the Jedi. Perhaps if she hadn't gone so far back in the past, perhaps if she could have started this insane journey with Luke Skywalker and General Leia, the heroes of the Rebellion, Rey could have been useful.

As it was, Rey might as well have been a child for all she knew of the galaxy. And selfishly, she wouldn't have liked to live in a world without Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

As if he sensed her attention, or just noticed she had finished, Obi-Wan gave her his typical smile, kind eyes with a sardonic twist to the corner of his lips.

"You alright?"

She nodded.

"You know there is nothing to be afraid of in the Temple."

She huffed a laugh. The girl from Jakku and the Jedi Knight, but more often than not she thought Obi-Wan was the naive one.

He frowned at her, looking concerned now, "Rey, are you afraid someone here will hurt you?"

"Of course not," she said, wariness aside, she had the possibility of a lifetime in meeting an entire sect of people who she honestly liked without having to know them each personally.

"But you are afraid."

It was her turn to frown at him, "I'm uncomfortable, Obi-Wan, that's not the same thing as being afraid."

"Why are you uncomfortable?"

She just gave him a look, not knowing how to put it into words so he might understand. There was no one thing at the Temple that she could point to and wish away to make her feel better about this new life. It was just so different and she hadn't found her place in the mayhem yet.

He went on, "You're safe here, nothing is going to hurt you."

She snorted, trying to suppress the burst of laughter.

He frowned harder at her, "You don't believe me. You doubt the Jedi."

The Jedi die, she wanted to tell him, but settled on, "You can't be this close to the heart of a galaxy spanning government and believe there isn't danger here."

"We're the Jedi, the peacemakers, no one attacks us."

"I know, in theory, that peace is profitable and stability leads to large scale prosperity. But violence is the tool of fast profit, and if you put yourselves between fast profit and the good of the many, the many who rarely agree with each other, then you are going to have to fight for it. Peacemakers aren't guaranteed to enjoy peace themselves."

Obi-Wan began, "How can you-" then he shook his head, "how can you sound so much like a Jedi and not feel like you belong here? Why do you think the Jedi train as we do? The power we have with the Force, it's why we owe it to the galaxy to be peacemakers. But surely you realize that with so many of us together we become almost impossible to hurt even while sharing a planet with the Senate."

"I told you, Obi-Wan, I'm not afraid, I just don't feel comfortable yet."

"Because you don't feel safe? Rey, this is my home, I can promise you that you are safe here."

She stared at him, this boy who thought home was synonyms with safety.

"When we first met, I thought you were an optimist," Obi-Wan remarked, leaning back and crossing his arms.

That struck a nerve, she didn't know why but it did, "I can still be an optimist and not believe in absolutes."

He opened his mouth then closed it, it seemed she too had struck a mark, because he stood, "Are you ready?"

She nodded, taking her tray with her to someone who would do the dishes for her.

oOo

Rey was glad that instead of more temple exploring they went back to Obi-Wan's room to play cards.

As she was still figuring out the rules, she was dismal at it, but it was still fun, and she enjoyed Obi-Wan taking no pity on her.

They had a few rounds that he was able to beat her in two or three moves. Which meant losing in seven or nine turns was an accomplishment.

A knock sounded at the door.

And Obi-Wan called over his shoulder, "Present!"

The door opened to a Twi'lek woman and a Chiss male.

Obi-Wan grinned at them then back at Rey, "Rey, these are my friends Prie and Jape. We were creche-mates. Prie, Jape, this is Rey, Master Jinn's second Padawan."

Both came in with their own smiles.

"Hey Rey," Prie said, folding herself into a cross legged position on the floor beside her, as Jape sat beside Obi-Wan with a sigh.

Jape scoped up their cards, holding his hand out for Rey's which she gave without a word. He said, "The only Master in known history to take on two apprentices outside of an emergency, and you're nineteen, the Temple is abuzz with news of you, little Rey. It is an honour to meet you in the flesh."

"Same," she said, trying to hold onto her smile as Jape reshuffled the cards, passing them out between the four of them.

"Honestly, Obi-Wan, you should have seen my Master's face on our way back."

"My Master was amused," Prie said, glaring down at her hand as if they had offended her.

"What was the Council's take? They didn't unanimously accept this, did they?" Jape asked.

"I heard that Master Yoda suggested Jinn keep teaching you both, is that true?" Prie asked before Obi-Wan could answer.

Obi-Wan had his attention on Rey, and she was trying to bury her discomfort with the abruptness of these two apprentices. And what did creche-mate mean?

Nodding, Obi-Wan said, "It was unanimous, and my Master said I was ready to take the trials."

Jape whistled, "When are you taking them?"

"This year, maybe next, Master Yoda asked me to stay on with Master Jinn."

Prie laid down the first card, followed quickly by Obi-Wan then Jape, and Rey fumbled her cards, regretting her choice as soon as Prie snatched back up the one she had just put down. Hmming to herself, the Twi'lek asked, "Really? Why break pro- Oh," she looked at Rey, "I guess you're going to need the extra help, huh? How is it being a Padawan, by the way, when you don't know anything beforehand?"

"Prie!" Jape chastised, giving Rey a roguish grin, "Feel free to ignore her, our Prie has a habit of saying whatever comes into her head. It can only being expected, seeing as she spends most of her time charming animals, not intelligent sentients."

Something from Obi-Wan's side table came flying at the back of Jape's head. He ducked at the last moment, laughing, as Obi-Wan caught it mid air. With a dry voice, he remarked, "Prie, I know Jape makes it hard, but he isn't worth turning to the Dark Side for, not by half."

Prie stuck her tongue out at both of them, and Jape kept laughing on the floor.

Rey had no clue what to do or say, and having lost track of the game, she wasn't even sure if it was her turn or not. These were Obi-Wan's true friends and she felt more like an outsider than ever.

"Damn," Obi-Wan cursed, "Rey, I forgot, Qui-Gon gave me homework for you after we ate."

"What?" she asked, nervous. Jedi had homework? She stood when he did.

"Oh, you poor girl," Prie said sympathetically, "Master Jinn's assignments are almost always dull."

"No, they aren't," Obi-Wan protested, his cheeks flushing.

Jape sat up, leaning back on his hands to look up at her, "You will have a slow road with Jinn, little Padawan."

Obi-Wan waved a hand to Rey, saying to his friend, "When you can pull carrier ships out of the sky, Jape, then you can give Rey grief on her training."

The Chiss gaped at her, as did Prie.

Jape asked, "Whoa, wait, that was her? You blew up an entire carrier ship on Naboo with a Force pull?"

"Without training?" Prie asked, her voice awed.

Obi-Wan touched Rey's back to lead her out of the room, "She's one of us."

Rey was saved from any remarks of her own when the door closed behind them, her last glimpse of the other two Padawans was Prie reshuffling the cards.

She let out a sharp sigh. Obi-Wan led her in silence through the Temple. When her thoughts stilled a bit, she asked, "What's a creche-mate?"

"Initiates are put into different groups," he answered. "A creche is a group you are raised with. We grow up training together until it comes time for the Masters to choose us as Padawans."

"So they are like your siblings then? Do all initiates get chosen?"

"Every Jedi are as siblings to each other, but creches certainly are familiar. Though we make friends outside our groups as well. No, not all are chosen, there are different branches they are sent to if they can't continue on as Jedi, with the military, agriculture reserves, or other. I almost wasn't chosen myself."

"Really?" she asked, disbelieving.

He nodded, "I was a tad too aggressive."

"Wouldn't aggression be useful for a knight?"

"No, Force users have to be particularly careful of strong emotions. I joked, earlier about the Dark Side, but it isn't a laughing matter. Strong emotions, dark emotions, can tap into the side of the Force that is addictive. The Dark Side will take everything you are, leaving you altered into something you wouldn't recognize. Jedi have done terrible things while under its influence, it is why our teachings seem harsh at times. That is why it is so incredibly hard to become a Jedi, being born with a connection to the Force isn't enough."

"But Master Jinn saw you could overcome it."

Obi-Wan smiled, "Qui-Gon is a strange person."

They were in the Master's wing now, and he knocked on the door to Master Jinn's door.

When no answer came, Obi-Wan walked in, she followed after a bit hesitantly. A wash of relief swept over her. This room was the most familiar to her in her short time at the Temple, even if she had been staying with Obi-Wan the last few nights, her bed placed across from his back in the Padawan dorms.

"Make yourself comfortable, I wasn't serious about the homework. Your actual training doesn't start until tomorrow," Obi-Wan said as he began to move things around on Master Jinn's desk.

Confused, she asked, "Then what are we doing here without Master Jinn? And- what are you doing?"

"Looking for something for you to read," he said, opening a drawer.

"Wait- what? Obi-Wan, you can't just go looking through his things, that's-"

The blonde looked back at her with an amused smirk, "Rey, this is the Jedi Temple, privacy is more a pretence than an actuality."

She thought of the way Prie and Jupe had barged into his room, and she really hoped that wasn't normal, because whether someone knocked or not, she had trained herself to greet any 'visitors' with a less than gracious welcome.

"Ah- here we go." He held up a holo sheet. He held it out to her but she refused to take it. "Rey, Qui-Gon will not mind, I swear it. You can come back to our room once you're ready for sleep. I'll boot Jupe and Prie out if they are still there by then."

"I can't take his stuff, and Master Jinn didn't say-"

"Qui-Gon will not mind. His room is open to you, always, unless on some rare occasion that he asks us to leave. Honestly, Rey, there are few places you are not allowed to go in the Temple, you could wander into almost any of the other Masters' rooms and they wouldn't be angry. You could knock on any Padawan's door for that matter and they would likely welcome you. This is your home."

She took the sheet reluctantly.

"It's on Naboo's foliage, I can run to the archives if you would like something different?" Obi-Wan asked, his tone soft.

"No, this is fine. Thank you, Obi-Wan."

He grinned, "Do try to breathe. I know you're not going to feel at ease here right away, but I meant what I said earlier, you're one of us now."

She sank down on a bench by the window, still unsure.

He waved from the doorway, "See you later."

And then she was alone.

She closed her eyes and tipped her head back against the wall, trying to deepen her breathing. The room was perfectly quiet. Only the gentlest hums from the kitchen unit and the light hiss of air from the vents.

After a few minutes, she opened her eyes, the little glass windchime was motionless above her.

Slipping off her shoes and tucking them beneath the bench, she pulled her legs up to her chest and began to play with the holo. She looked over the systems and settings, adjusting what could be adjusted before starting in on the files.

Most plants didn't do so well in the desert. It was completely fascinating to be able to put names to the leaves and trees she had seen on Naboo. She didn't even know plants could be such complex organisms, nor the breadth of their variety.

For a time she was utterly absorbed, so absorbed she almost missed the presence of Master Jinn at the door. She managed not to jump when he entered.

He looked tired, but he smiled at her as she sat up straight, feet on the floor. He gestured for her to stay, before he took off his own shoes, "How was your evening, my Padawan."

Something in her warmed at the title, a sense of belonging filling her that she wanted more than anything to be true. "Um, good, I met some of Obi-Wan's friends, Prie and Jape."

He nodded, "Ah yes, they are both quite talented, though neither has progressed as fast as Obi-Wan despite being chosen as Padawans almost a year earlier." There was a distinct note of pride in his voice. He pulled the hair band from his hair, running his fingers through the long greying strands.

She held the holo a bit anxiously, unsure what to say.

Noticing what she held, he asked, "What are you reading?"

Her shoulders tensed, telling herself to trust in Obi-Wan that Master Jinn wouldn't be upset with her, "Your book on Naboo's native foliage."

His blue eyes lit up, "Are you enjoying it? Have you found a favourite plant?"

She almost slumped with relief, her own excitement rising, "The giant ferns, I didn't know plants could move like that, not enough that you could visibly see them retreat. I wish I had seen them when we were there."

His smile was gentle as he sat on the floor cross legged, and gestured for her to join him, "Come sit with me. You're in luck, there is a smaller variety of that fern in the gardens here at the Temple."

"Truly?" she asked, slipping down to the floor, leaving the holo on the bench.

"We can go see them tomorrow evening if you are up for it after training," he said. "Have you ever meditated before?"

"Um…" was her classy reply.

His eyes smiled at her, "Most people have, even if they haven't realized it. Just as most people assume there is a wrong and a right way to meditate. There isn't. There are, however, many different types of meditations."

They were facing each other, and she mirrored him, folding her hands as he did.

He went on, "The form I want you to try tonight is simple but quite effective, especially before sleep or for a restless mind. You can keep your eyes open or closed, you could even do this walking if you wanted to, the key is to focus on your breath. Our breathing is something that is both involuntary and almost completely under our control if we wish it to be. If you can calm your breathing, you can regulate your heartbeat, convince your own body and your mind that you are safe and well."

She nodded to indicate she was following.

"Some meditations require you to retreat inward or focus on a particular thought, problem, or object. But for this, just bring yourself back to your breath. Let your senses explore, be aware of your surroundings, your own thoughts, but don't hold on to them. Let each sensation and errant thought pass. Don't judge yourself if your thoughts run off course, but when you recognize yourself being distracted, bring your focus back to your breath.

"It is very easy to get lost in meditations, even easier to become frustrated by outside irritants, such as the hum of a heater, the hissing of the centralized air, the movements of the people in the room with you. But let it pass, focus back on your breathing, nothing else requires your attention."

She nodded.

He tapped her knee with a light hand, "Remember, there is no way to fail to meditate, just trying is half the battle."

She nodded a final time and Master Jinn closed his eyes, his face softening to completely serene lines. She let her own eyes close, thinking she could do this. She had been on her own almost her entire life, sitting quietly wasn't a hardship.

But she found her own mind was anything but calm. Her eyes flashed open, Master Jinn hadn't moved at all.

Keeping her eyes open this time, she focused back on her breathing, trying not to think over her own worries. But in doing nothing, her worries seemed to grow loud, shouting for her attention. She looked around the room for a distraction. She focused on a piece of driftwood to Master Jinn's left. She tried memorizing the shape and quality of it, wondering what had worn the wood so.

After some time, she was able to focus more and more on her breathing. She began counting her breaths, but that quickly became boring. She looked back to the piece of driftwood, splitting her focus between searching the wood and keeping her breaths even.

Eventually, the act of breathing became all that mattered, her eyes drifted shut. Focusing on breathing became an effort, and that effort is what kept her sitting upright.

After an unknown period of time, some moments seemed to take an eternity to pass, while others sped past at an alarming rate, Master Jinn stirred.

Her eyes snapped open, and he smiled at her, "Time for both us to get some rest for the night, I think."

She stood, her legs stiff, Master Jinn stood with as much elegance as he did all things. "I can walk you back-"

But she was already shaking her head, "It's alright, I know the way." She bowed to him, "Thank you, Master Jinn."

He smiled at her in fond amusement, "As I failed to make clear, and where I hope Obi-Wan made clear, you are always welcome in this space whenever you are in need of an escape. The Padawan halls are often much more active than this wing."

She bowed again, "Thank you. Good night, Master Jinn."

"Good night, Rey."

She left feeling more secure and settled than she had felt since leaving Jakku. On the way back to Obi-Wan's room, she tried to focus on her breathing as she recalled which turns to take. She passed only a few Jedi on her way and none did more than nod their heads to her.

She didn't knock, just in case Obi-Wan was already asleep, which he was. Sleeping on his back, he looked even younger than she did, despite him being a few years older. She changed in the side room and came back as quietly as she could.

Sliding into her own bed, she had hoped that exhaustion would finally claim her, her sleep the last few nights hadn't been wholly restful.

But no, despite how tired she was, sleep proved evasive. She pulled the blanket around herself. It wasn't cold, but it felt much colder than she was used to. Her mind wandering, she ended up being able to identify Obi-Wan's soft breathing.

Turning on her side to see him, she envied his peaceful slumber. He hadn't even woken when she entered. The room was in shadow but there was still light enough to see by thanks to the traffic and the lights from the city outside.

She focused on the sound of his breathing, letting the sound lull her into sleep.

If Obi-Wan believed they were safe, then they were safe. She carried that thought into her dreams like a talisman.

AN: I promise Palps and action are on their way but I'm finding that writing Star Wars cries out for so much more character development from me. Thoughts, reactions, or Wookie protests?