Obi-Wan had been looking for Declan since leaving his afternoon session in the bean fields, and finally found him underneath a speeder in the garage, muttering quietly to himself as he worked. A speaker in the corner burbled the voice of someone reading the daily local news reports.
"Anakin will be upset you didn't let him take care of whatever the problem is here," he observed, looking over the assortment of tools and parts strewn around the speeder. Even his padawan might have something to say about this mess- and that was saying something.
"Yeah, well," Declan said, sliding out from under the speeder and sitting up. "He lost his chance. He wanted to go help with the birth of the new bantha cub and this needs to get done by the morning. Got a big shipment of fertilizer to go pick up in town."
"Fair enough," Obi-Wan said. "I actually came here to talk to you about Eraan."
"Why? Is he being a pain?" Declan asked with a hint of a wry smile.
"Not at all. He has been trailing around after my padawan and I a curious amount, though. He was hanging about the library earlier today with Anakin so I had him do an essay."
"Oh yeah? How'd he do?"
"Very well, actually. Do you have him study?"
Declan grabbed a cloth and started wiping down his hands. "A little, mostly during the winter months when it's slower. Mostly agricultural things, though, nothing too academic. I'm not sure if he does anything on his own."
"I'd be happy to give him more to do, if you'd allow it. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't neglecting his duties," Obi-Wan said. The last statement was a hint of sorts. He had a feeling Declan would have said something already if he was bothered that Eraan's chores weren't getting done.
Declan sighed and gave the other Jedi a kind of rueful smile. "I'm sorry, I should have said something earlier, but I couldn't bring myself to tell him off. He doesn't get to be with kids his own age too often, and he and your padawan have really hit it off. Plus, I guess I was kind of hoping he'd learn a couple things from you. Things we can't teach him here." He thought for a moment. "Could really boost his confidence, and believe me, he could use that."
Obi-Wan considered this. Eraan was obviously a sharp boy, and it might be good for Anakin to have a training and study partner. He got bored and distracted easily if a subject didn't interest him but tended to do better when there were other students to engage with.
"If he doesn't bother you, of course," Declan said. "I'll let him know when I've got something he needs to do for me." He thought for a moment and chuckled to himself. "Or if he gets on your nerves. Sooner or later he's bound to."
Obi-Wan nodded. "Well, this ought to be interesting anyway."
Declan grinned. "Yeah, 'interesting.' I'm sure there are some good reasons that masters aren't allowed two padawans at once."
During dinner, Anakin and Eraan enthusiastically recounted to Obi-Wan the story of the new baby bantha's birth - in great and vivid detail. Obi-Wan listened politely, figuring that such stories were a typical subject of dinner conversation on a farm.
"I had to reach my arms in and grab it," Anakin said, his eyes wide. "She could have died if I didn't pull her out. And Eraan kept Besa calm."
"And that's the mother?" Obi-Wan asked. Eraan nodded.
"Did you know how ugly newborn banthas are, Master?" Anakin exclaimed. "I had no idea. No hair at all!"
Eraan elbowed him in the ribs. "You're ugly. She's perfect."
Anakin laughed and punched Eraan hard on the shoulder, causing his friend to nearly upset his water cup.
"Boys," Obi-Wan sighed, wondering just what he'd signed up for. He hadn't yet told either of them about his plans to give Eraan instruction. Wistfully, he thought perhaps he might forget the whole idea, if this is how they were going to behave. But no...something was nudging him along this path. A little voice. Over the years, he'd learned to listen to it. Besides, it did please him to see Anakin happy and in high spirits. The boy had too often been in a petulant temper lately and difficult to deal with; neither a helpful thing for his training nor for his master's sanity.
"Master, can I go back to the barn with Eraan after dinner to check on her?" Anakin asked.
"I'd like to speak with you alone for a bit, actually," Obi-Wan answered quickly, jerked out of his reflections.
Anakin looked slightly dejected at this. "Did I do something?"
Obi-Wan was taken aback. Perhaps his tone had sounded more dire than he'd meant it to. "No, you didn't," he said gently. "Can't a master have some time alone with his padawan?"
Anakin smiled. "Of course, Master."
Eraan spoke up. "But you should come see Padme first," he told Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan blinked. "Padme? As in the former queen of Naboo?"
Anakin rolled his eyes. "I said we should name it that if it was a girl, kind of as a joke, but when I saw how ugly it was I wanted to take it back. But Eraan won't let me now."
His friend snickered.
"All right," Obi-Wan sighed. "We'll go see Padme."
"Where is she?" Anakin asked, looking into the birthing stall. The mother bantha was standing there munching hay, but the little one wasn't anywhere to be found.
"Let me try something." Eraan leaned over the stall's rail and Obi-Wan watched as he closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate.
A moment later a squashed little face pushed its way out of the bantha's long curtain of hair and the strange, pink creature emerged, blinking black eyes at the three of them before unsteadily walking over to them - walking over to Eraan, really. It occured to Obi-Wan that he had never seen a bantha's eyes before.
"You called her over," Anakin said. "You gotta teach me how to do that."
"I don't know how I do it," Eraan said, reaching down to stroke the cub's naked head.
"Sometimes it's not about trying," Obi-Wan said, thinking of the bean fields.
"Well, I'm like that with machines ,I guess," Anakin shrugged. "I just know what to do with them."
The cub bleated softly and moved from Eraan toward Obi-Wan's hand, sniffing at it.
Eraan smiled up at him approvingly. "She likes you."
"I don't think she's so bad," Obi-Wan said as they left the barn. "Besides, she'll have some fur in a week or two. Not sure she'll ever live up to her name, though."
"No way," Anakin laughed.
Obi-Wan led his apprentice down toward the small river at the south boundary of the farm, a pleasant walk he'd taken with Qui-Gon many times, and many other times just by himself when he needed to think. Anakin picked up a stone and skipped it over the surface of the water, obviously satisfied as it bounced several times before disappearing. Since it was summer, the water was not as high as it could be at other times, but still moved along at a good clip, filling the air with the pleasant sound of its rushing.
"I wanted to let you know, Eraan will be studying with you while we're here," Obi-Wan said. "Declan thought it would be good for him."
Anakin turned toward him, his eyes bright. "Really? Everything?"
"More or less," Obi-Wan said.
"So, maybe," Anakin said, almost to himself. "He could still be a padawan."
Obi-Wan frowned. "Don't get any ideas about that."
"Why not?" Anakin argued, looking up at him sharply. "They didn't even give him a chance, but he could be a Jedi. He'd be a good one. You could help him get taken on as an apprentice to someone, couldn't you, Master?"
"We don't know the reasons he was sent here," Obi-Wan said sternly. "It isn't for us to make that decision."
"Qui-Gon would have helped him," Anakin muttered.
Obi-Wan bristled at the mention of his master's name used against him, but he kept his tone level. "You don't know that. Qui-Gon thought very highly of the Jedi here, and he did not see their path as a lesser one."
Anakin kept a stubborn silence as he picked up another rock to throw.
"Do you think Qui-Gon would have seen Eraan as a boy who needed rescuing?" Obi-Wan said, not willing to let the matter go.
"I don't know," Anakin sighed. "It's just that, at the Temple they're always going on about how there's not enough Knights. How they need as many as possible."
It was true. The Temple trained children from a young age to be Knights, primarily. There were other jobs Jedi could do, ones that served worthy causes, but they were peacekeepers first and foremost. That was why Obi-Wan doubted Eraan would have been sent out here unless there was a good reason.
"Yes, Anakin." He started walking again alongside the river and his padawan followed. "We do need Knights. And I understand you want to see Eraan be the best he can be. But you need to think about if what you want for him is actually what's best for him. I don't think either of us know, at this point."
"Yeah, I guess," Anakin conceded glumly.
"This will still be a positive experience, won't it?" Obi-Wan coaxed. He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, hoping that the cheerful version of his apprentice would return. To his relief, Anakin looked up at him again, this time with a smile.
"Yes, Master."
"Good boy." Obi-Wan squeezed his padawan's shoulder and they continued their walk.
They came up to the remains of a tree that had fallen across the river, forming a bridge between both sides. Unable to help himself, Anakin scrambled onto it and looked down at Obi-Wan.
"What if we had a duel here and tried to make each other fall into the water?" He wondered aloud.
"I think you would go home very cold and wet, dear padawan," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin gave him a mischievous smile. "Or you would."
"You don't sound very confident about that," Obi-Wan said. "How about if I run you through some aerial drills instead, if you feel like showing off."
Anakin never said no to aerials, and no doubt the novelty of the environment added to his eagerness. Obi-Wan ran him back and forth across the log, having him perform a long series of flips and acrobatics. The surface of the tree was not completely smooth, full of small knots and indentations, but Anakin kept his footing and his balance, tripping only once or twice and quickly righting himself. That is, until he got just a tad overconfident.
Obi-Wan might have reached out and used the Force to pull Anakin back up as the boy caught himself one of the tree's knots and fell forward off the side of the log, and he was a little tempted to - but he didn't. It would be a more effective lesson this way. Anakin plunged head first into the river, emerging a moment later with a startled expression.
"It's so cold!"
Obi-Wan stifled a laugh as Anakin hurried to the shore. "Time to go home."
They were standing outside the residential building and Obi-Wan was watching Anakin pour water out of his boot when Eraan approached, presumably on his way back from the barn. The boy stopped in front of them and grinned at Anakin.
"Go for a swim?"
Anakin laughed. "Just a short one. Guess what, though!"
"Anakin -" Obi-Wan began. He hadn't really pictured Eraan learning the news from Anakin blurting it out. But perhaps it was as good a way as any. "Oh, go ahead and tell him."
"My master says you're going to do training with me, I mean, while we're here of course. "
"Jedi training?" Eraan asked, looking amazed.
Anakin started to speak again but Obi-Wan gave him a pointed look, and he got the hint.
"Declan and I talked and he agreed it might be good for you to hone your skills, a bit, while we're here," Obi-Wan said. "If you agree. It's not mandatory."
"Lightsaber training too?" Eraan asked.
"Certainly. Whatever Anakin does," Obi-Wan answered.
Eraan beamed. "Yes, I want to!" After a moment he added, "Please."