Anakin stepped forward into the darkness. He pulled the lightsaber off his belt and was about to ignite it when he felt Obi-Wan's hand on his shoulder.

"Don't. It's better not to. We'll need to feel our way through." His master's voice was somewhat hushed, as if to not disturb someone - or something.

"Really, Master?" Anakin asked, but he clipped the weapon back to his belt.

"We'll be all right. Trust the Force," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin felt skeptical of moving through wherever they were in complete darkness, but knew he needed to trust his master's judgement. Obi-Wan had obviously been here before. He cleared his mind again, reaching out and trying to get a feel for the place. He'd been through such exercises before, either with a blindfold or in a dark room. He could handle this.

Slowly, he began to move forward. He wanted to ask Obi-Wan what they were supposed to fine here, or do

There was a faint clatter like a rock falling to the ground, a pair of what looked like red eyes flashed for a moment, piercing the blackness and startling Anakin. Instinctively he reached for his lightsaber again.

"Don't," Obi-Wan said sharply. Anakin pulled his hand back.

"What is that?" He whispered.

"Keep moving, my Padawan. They won't hurt you."

Again, Anakin began to clear his mind, focusing only on moving one foot in front of the other. The cave was warm, but the air was fresh and moved a bit, suggesting there were openings nearby. He could hear the rush of water in the distance. Once in a while, he'd catch the glint of red eyes off to the side or directly in front of him, accompanied sometimes by a kind of clicking sound, but they were always gone in an instant.

After a couple minutes, something - perhaps the breeze coming from his right side and the sound of the water- told him to turn.

At last, the light of day shone in front of him as a spot in the distance. He smiled, moving faster now, and soon they were at the other end of the cave, and emerged onto another cliffside looking out toward a tall waterfall spilling down into a clear pool below. Out of which rose, arranged in a circle, five stone pillars of varying heights. All around the steep sides of the hills loomed over them, covered with tall trees and vines. To his right Anakin noted a rough, winding staircase hewn out of the cliff side leading down to the waterfall's base.

There was a strange feeling of tranquility here, something like one of the meditation gardens in the Temple.

"I understand now," Anakin said, taking in the sight. "This is like the spot the Temple was built on. It feels the same."

"Yes," Obi-Wan said. "There are many such places throughout the Galaxy."

Obi-Wan led the way now, Anakin following him as he made his way down the stairs to the edge of the pool.

"The Jedi who discovered this place used to meditate atop these pillars, sometimes for several rotations at a time," Obi-Wan said. "Qui-Gon used to bring me here to do the same."

"For several days?" Anakin asked incredulously. He liked the way it felt here, but he didn't know if he was up for several days of meditation.

Obi-Wan smiled patiently. "No. The longest I ever stayed up there was a few hours. We'll see where the day takes us."

Anakin looked up at the pillars. They were well worn but not crumbling, all of them etched with ancient writing and symbols.

"Choose whichever you like." Obi-Wan had sat down and begun to remove his boots.

Anakin removed his boots and socks quickly and waded into the pool. The water came up his knees and was cool but not frigid. Without hesitation he chose the tallest pillar which was about 15 meters high, and quickly climbed up. The top of the pillar was flat and just large enough for a human to sit comfortably, an Anakin settled into a familiar crossed legged position. He looked down into the pool below. It was exceptionally clear, like the fountains in the Temple gardens.

He looked toward the waterfall gushing down off a tall ledge above them. They were close enough that he could feel its spray falling lightly around him, yet from up on his pillar this place seemed strangely quiet, as if someone had muted the roar of the falls somehow.

Obi-Wan had chosen the one beside his, the second tallest. "Are you up for linked meditation?" he asked Anakin.

Anakin nodded. He and his master usually struggled with linked meditation as it required a tranquility and acceptance he normally struggled to find in himself. But he thought in this place, somehow it might be easier.

They started, as usual, by syncing up their breathing. Even this, sometimes, was hard for Anakin, as it was hard for him to match Obi-Wan's slow, long, patient breaths. His exhalations were often too short. Sometimes they couldn't even get past this point in their meditations together. But today, they managed to find it. Next, they would sync their heartbeats, which was trickier, as Anakin needed to be mindful of his own breathing and that of Obi-Wan's, and to feel and see his master through the Force as well, to feel the beating of their hearts at once.

When the breath and the hearts of two beings were in alignment, the LIving Force flowed more purely between them and linked them to one another. It was so, now. Something had opened up; the barriers that separated each from the other had been gently moved aside. Anakin could feel Obi-Wan's unique presence in the Force flowing through him and merging with his own thoughts and feelings. Often when they got to this point he would almost immediately break the link and shut down, pulling once more back into himself.

What are you afraid of? Obi-Wan would always ask.

Anakin never had an answer, and Obi-Wan never prodded him for one.

Today was different. He did not shut down, or put his shields up. He was with Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan was with him. Where did one end and the other begin?

Images flashed through his mind - memories that were not his own, yet so real that they might have been. A woman with golden hair falling around her shoulders - not a Jedi, but someone important. Maybe he would ask Obi-Wan who she was, later. But most of what came to him were just feelings. Feelings Obi-Wan didn't talk about with him - or anyone, maybe.

How long exactly they stayed in their meditation Anakin didn't know, but the sun began to warm him more and more. At last he began to feel Obi-Wan pulling slowly away out of the meditation. Anakin took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

"That is how it should be," Obi-Wan said. "Any revelations?"

"You worry a lot," Anakin told him. "I knew before, kind of. But I didn't know how much."

Obi-Wan smiled sadly. "Indeed. This is something I struggle with."

"You worry about me."

"I do, sometimes."

"But you believe in me." This last statement he made almost to himself.

"Of course I do," Obi-Wan said simply.

Anakin sat quietly for a moment, pondering this. A person could tell you about their feelings, their thoughts. But when you could actually feel them for yourself - he was beginning to understand what a gift that was. What a gift it was to be a Jedi. And out of all the Jedi, Obi-Wan was his master. That was the greatest gift.

Obi-Wan had begun to climb down off his pillar. "Come down. I have another task for you before we leave. And it may take some time."

Anakin scrambled down his pillar, curious. After they had put their boots back on, Obi-Wan him up a narrow path that began at the pools and edge and up behind the frothy curtain of the waterfall. Anakin had not been able to see it, but there was an opening here in the side of the cliff.

"We're going in there?" Anakin asked. He peered in, but it was too dark inside to see anything.

"You are," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin nodded. He wasn't scared to go in alone, and in fact relished the thought of having an adventure all to himself, without his master there to administer his usual barrage of admonishments and caution. It would be like the Gathering on Ilum.

"You should find some small red stones in there," Obi-Wan continued. "I'd like you to bring me one or two."

"That's all?" Anakin asked. "Is there a monster I have to fight or something?"

"Not that I know of," Obi-Wan answered.

"I'm ready," Anakin said.

"Good. And like the other cave, try not to turn your lightsaber on. But you'll find it's not as dark as the other place, once you get inside."

"Yes, Master," Anakin said. With one last look at Obi-Wan, he stepped into the cave. Almost at once, the sound of the waterfall became eerily muffled, so much that he could hear the trickling of small streams falling down the stone around him. A few steps in, and he understood what Obi-Wan had meant about it not being so dark. Here and there, growing out of the walls of the cave were clusters of large mushrooms. They glowed faintly, but enough that Anakin could see a few steps ahead of him.

He looked around the cavern, noting that it was spacious at the entrance, but the ceiling got lower the further he got in, and darker. At last he had to crouch and then crawl on his hands and knees to reach the back of the cave. He stuck his hand out in front of him to feel ahead, tempted to reach for his lightsaber, despite what Obi-Wan had told him. But something told him that wouldn't be a good idea.

At last his hand met with the stone wall of the cave, and the ceiling was so low now that Anakin found he could not even sit up without bumping his head. He felt around more until he could feel and sense another opening - a crevice, really. He took a deep breath and crawled into it, hoping that it would widen back out instead of just getting narrower. He had read about people who got stuck venturing through caves like this, trapped forever in narrow passageways.

That won't happen to me, he told himself.

He found himself crawling through a long tunnel which mercifully was not getting any narrower. It was just about as wide which could accommodate him comfortably - besides the fact that the rough stone of the ground was scratching against his palms. After a couple minutes a faint grey light appeared in the distance and soon Anakin was emerging into another chamber, one where he could actually stand up.

This place was wildly different from the cave behind the waterfall. Light trickled in from somewhere above - cracks in the cave's ceiling. Vines hung down from the same cracks, forming strange curtains of greenery here and there, and even more of those mushroom clusters grew out of the cave walls. The walls themselves were covered with paintings which Anakin knew must be hundreds or even thousands of years old as they depicted ancient, strange creatures long extinct on Helia. Serpentine animals with six sets of pointed claws, shaggy four legged beasts with huge eyes and long pincers.

He didn't linger too long looking at the paintings. He had a task to do.

Anakin moved forward deeper into the chamber, noting how warm it was. Several small pools -hot springs- dotted the floor of the cavern, so hot that steam rose up out of them. He walked slowly and carefully, feeling the ground and making sure it was stable and wouldn't crumble underneath him, sending him into the scalding water. Something like that had happened to a padawan Anakin knew at the Temple, and she would have surely died if her master hadn't been a skillful healer.

Something caught his eye at the back of the cave. A stone basin balanced on a roughly hewn short stone pillar. As he approached it, he could see it was glowing faintly. Anakin peered into it, seeing it was full of clear water. And the bottom of the basin was covered by small, shiny red stones. Those must be what Obi-Wan wanted him to get. He held his hand over the water, trying to gauge the temperature. There was no steam rising off it, and it was still. But when he tentatively dipped his hand in, he pulled it back immediately. The water may not have been boiling, but it felt as though it was. He looked around for something he might scoop the stones out with, but found nothing. But no matter. There was always the Force.

Anakin held out his hand and willed one of the stones to rise to the surface of the water, which it easily did. But once it was about to break the surface, it stopped suddenly and would not go any further, as if the surface of the water was hard, like glass. Frustrated, he dropped his hand and the stone also dropped, resting again with its companions at the bottom of the basin.

Next, he tried lifting the water itself out of the bowl. Moving water was always a little tricky, but doable. This water, however, felt heavier in the Force than anything he'd ever tried to lift before. And once he'd lifted a speeder just to see if he could.

Next he attempted to lift the basin itself, hoping to turn it upside down and spill out the contents. But try as he might, it would not budge even a little.

Of course there was some kind of trick. There was always a trick.

Anakin was good at puzzles, though he didn't particularly like them. He stood there, annoyed, wondering why he couldn't just fight something.

He wondered if the point was to just thrust his hand into the basin and endure the pain of the scalding water for a moment. It seemed like more of a test than the Sith than the Jedi, as far as Anakin knew. Would Obi-Wan really ask him to hurt himself just for a small stone? It didn't seem likely, but how else would he get it? Perhaps the test was to protect himself using the Force, somehow. All he knew was that he could not leave the cave without this.

Anakin closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments, breathing in and out and readying himself for the trial. He tried not to think about the pictures he'd seen in his healing classes of burn victims with their skin peeling away easily, in sheets.

He was about to thrust his hand in, when he heard a voice behind him.

"Anakin."

He put his hand down and turned. A figure was stepping out of the shadows to his left. A tall man. He recognized him.

"Master Qui-Gon?"

"Your bravery is commendable," said the Jedi Master. "But your master didn't send you in here to suffer."

"Are you a spirit?" Anakin asked, amazed.

Obi-Wan had told him that speaking with the dead - or even just seeing or hearing them - was impossible and almost always some kind of illusion. But Qui-Gon looked and sounded so real. Just like the day he'd met him in Mos Espa. Spirits in legends and stories always seemed to be made out of vapor, floating around and speaking in whispered voices, if at all. But the Qui-Gon Jinn before him was solid of form and utterly human.

"Ani, I'm sorry I left you," Qui-Gon said, as if he hadn't heard the question. "It would have been so much easier for you if I'd stayed."

Anakin shook his head. There was a lump forming in his throat, a strangling tightness. "It wasn't your fault," he whispered.

"Obi-Wan means well," Qui-Gon continued. "But in some ways, he is lacking. You will soon be too powerful for him to handle. You know this."

Anakin looked at Qui-Gon confused. Although he'd missed the older master terribly, he couldn't imagine his life without Obi-Wan. He didn't want to. "I don't know what you mean. He's my master. He's always been there."

Qui-Gon didn't answer this, but went to the basin and put his hand in the water as easily as if it was tepid. Anakin watched in wonder as he pulled out a red stone.

"Someday you will return here and you will be able to do this," Qui-Gon said. "But today I will reward you for your courage."

He held out the stone to Anakin.

"Are you sure?" Anakin said warily. "I thought with this kind of thing...you know, I'm supposed to do it for myself. Figure out a way."

It didn't seem right that someone should just do the task for him. At the same time, Obi-Wan hadn't specified what Anakin was supposed to do. Just that he was supposed to get one of these stones. And why shouldn't he be rewarded? He held out his hand, but then pulled it back. Something about this was just...too easy.

"There is no way," Qui-Gon said sternly. "Let go of your pride. You must accept what the Force gives you."

"Teach me how you did it," Anakin said eagerly. "Can't I learn?"

Qui-Gon regarded him fiercely. "I cannot teach you anything. Perhaps I should never have brought you to the Temple for training to begin with. I've watched you, these past few years. You are stubborn and angry. You don't have a Jedi's temperament."

Hot tears pricked at Anakin's eyes at those words. He'd never felt so confused in his life. He looked down at his boots, a muddled stream of thoughts racing through his head. There was a feeling in the back of his mind that somehow this wasn't Qui-Gon, but something sent to throw him off track. But the sensible thought was elusive, and the haze of his emotions seemed to be overriding all other thoughts.

"Just take it," Qui-Gon said, a bit more gently now.

"I'm sorry," Anakin said. "But I think I'll just have to go tell Master Obi-Wan I can't do it. I'm not ready for this." The tears which had been slowly welling up in his eyes began to spill down his cheeks. He hardly ever failed at anything, and the thought of having to walk out of the cave without the stone Obi-Wan had asked for made him feel slightly ill. But it was the only thing to do.

When he looked up, Qui-Gon had disappeared and Anakin was standing once more in the gloom of the cave alone. Anakin took a moment to wipe his eyes before heading back to the crevice from which he'd entered the cavern. He dreaded going back to his master empty-handed. Perhaps he should have just taken the stone. No, he told himself. His instincts had told him not to, and didn't Obi-Wan always tell him to trust his instincts? Hadn't even Qui-Gon said that, in life?

He crawled despondently through the dark tunnel into the first cave. Just as he was about to stand, something suddenly hit the back of his hand as if being dropped on it. He picked it up, finding it smooth and warm. The cave was too dim for him to see what it was, but even so, his stomach fluttered a bit. He stood and made his way quickly to the cave's entrance, where the rushing sound of the waterfall greeted him. As soon as he got outside, he opened his hand and looked down, holding his breath. In his palm sat a small red stone like those in the basin. This one was etched with a little white symbol which Anakin did not recognize.

He had done it.

Anakin ran to the other side of the waterfall, looking around for Obi-Wan. He saw that his master had climbed up onto the meditation pillar again. He ran down to the pool, but by the time he reached it Obi-Wan had already climbed down.

"You look excited. I take that to mean you have what I asked for?" Obi-Wan said.

Anakin held out his hand, showing his stone. Obi-Wan looked down at him and nodded. "You did well. Do you know why you were able to attain it? It can't have been easy."

Anakin thought about it, still confused. He had still not fully processed what had happened back in there, or who he had talked to, or what it wanted. He did not especially want to tell Obi-Wan about Qui-Gon - or whatever it had been that looked like Qui-Gon - either. It just felt too strange.

"It is a strange place, and what you saw in there is for you alone," Obi-Wan sighed, looking back toward the waterfall. "You should think and meditate on what happened. The meanings of these ordeals don't always become clear until some time has passed."

Anakin nodded, and for the second time that day he found himself in his master's arms. He squeezed back, a bit surprised. This was not expected Obi-Wan behavior.

"You're huggy today," Anakin said.

His master let go. "I am proud of you. You did some difficult things today, Padawan."

Anakin rolled his stone between his fingers, contemplating his master's words. "Guess so. Today wasn't really what I expected."

Obi-Wan squeezed his shoulder and began to walk up toward the cave where they had come in. "We should head back to the farm. Sun's already going down."

Anakin followed his master up the stairs, looking forward now to the speeder bike ride back. Maybe on the trip back to the farm he could think about ways to make the bikes faster. Obi-Wan disappeared into the cave, but before he stepped in, Anakin took one more look back at the waterfall and smiled to himself.

For the first time since landing on this planet, he felt glad that they'd come.