A/N: thank you to everyone who is reading this story! I hope you are enjoying it! Thanks especially to all who have left reviews.
"See? I told you it was easy," Anakin called up to Eraan. The boy had paused in the middle of the taute rope they had fastened between the trees, his bare toes gripping it firmly before he took another step. "You could probably run if you wanted to."
Eraan didn't reply to that, but kept moving steadily to the other side.
It wasn't much of a course, Anakin had to admit. Not exactly what he'd envisioned. They'd run out of ropes after constructing a couple tight ropes and a bridge between a couple of the bigger trees, around the trunks of which they had fastened a couple simple platforms. Maybe they'd be able to get more sooner or later and add to it, but for now, this was okay.
Eraan reached the platform on the other side of the rope, then quickly climbed down the tree to join Anakin on the ground. "Should we bring your master here to see it?" He asked.
Anakin shrugged. "Maybe."
He wasn't sure what Obi-Wan would think. His master hadn't seemed terribly impressed about them staying out late the night before to work on this. Part of Anakin wanted to prove to him that they had really done something useful, but part of him just wanted this for himself and Eraan. What was the use of showing Obi-Wan, if he wouldn't even appreciate it? After his master's reaction to Qui-Gon's helmet, Anakin wasn't in a terrible hurry to show his master anything. As for the helmet, now he was even more intent on keeping it in his room at the Temple. Let Obi-Wan think what he wanted.
It was probably selfish. The Jedi would say it was. Not that anyone cared about what happened to someone's old school project, probably, but the wanting it was selfish. Wanting to keep a piece of something, of someone's history, just to have it. Anakin wasn't sure how much he cared. Obi-Wan at least had years worth of memories of Qui-Gon; Anakin had barely anything.
"We should get back if we're not going to be late," Eraan said. He was right. They had come out here just before sunrise and now the morning was getting brighter. Obi-Wan would expect them soon in the library.
"Yeah, he doesn't like being kept waiting," Anakin agreed.
As soon as they reached the library door, Eraan stopped abruptly. "I forgot my boots. Where did I leave them?"
"Training courtyard," Anakin laughed as he entered the building. Eraan had already zipped off again.
Obi-Wan looked up from his place at their customary table as Anakin entered. "Thank you for leaving that note this morning. It was thoughtful."
Anakin nodded. He'd left the note letting Obi-Wan know that he was leaving early but he'd see them at lessons. He plopped down the chair in front of his master and picked up a stylus, tapping it on the table.
"Where's our friend Eraan?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Forgot his boots."
"Hmm," Obi-Wan said. "Well, I thought we could work on philosophy today. We need to complete your study of Master Afron's Treatise on Ethical Pluralism."
"Ugh," Anakin groaned. "I'd rather study crop rotations. I thought that's why we came here. Farm stuff."
Obi-Wan smiled at him. "That can be arranged as well, I'm sure. But you're not getting out of philosophy, I'm afraid."
Anakin balanced the stylus on its end on the table and, using the Force, twirled it around in a lazy circle. "Didn't you ever have a subject you didn't like?
"Abstract mathematics," Obi-Wan answered promptly. "But I studied it extra hard to make sure my personal dislike of it did not hinder my learning."
Anakin twirled the stylus faster. "Yeah, I bet Master Qui-Gon made you."
"He certainly did. Sometimes our masters know what we need. And it isn't always what we want, is it?"
Anakin didn't answer, distracted now by the arrival of Eraan, who had come panting into the library.
"Good morning, Eraan," Obi-Wan said. "You do know that most people like to get dressed before they leave the house in the morning.
Anakin laughed and Eraan hurriedly took his seat, looking embarrassed. The morning lessons commenced.
Anakin made it through the morning lessons without much complaint, looking forward to the afternoon's more physical training. He could only hope that they would practice dueling. It had been more than a week, after all. But his hopes were quickly dashed when Obi-Wan told the boys his plans on the way to the school.
"I thought we would take a break from lightsaber training and focus on some more subtle Force work today."
Anakin almost groaned, but caught himself, knowing that such a reaction would not go over well with Obi-Wan.
"What kind of Force work?" He asked, keeping his tone level.
"I thought we could do some Push-feather," Obi-Wan replied.
"Push-feather!" Anakin exclaimed, unable to restrain himself. He gave Eraan a stricken look.
"Is there a problem, Padawan?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin sighed. "No, Master."
As far as he was concerned, Push-feather was a waste of time. A stupid game played in the Temple where two opponents attempted to push the other out of the circle using the other's own Force energy against them. It required a lot of patience and picking up on subtle queues, and, in Anakin's opinion, was terribly boring.
"We play it sometimes here," Eraan said. "To keep our senses sharp."
"I'm sure you'll do well," Obi-Wan told him.
"I thought maybe you'd let us spar today," Anakin muttered.
Obi-Wan looked at him. "Be mindful of your attitude, Anakin."
"Yeah, be mindful of your attitude, Anakin," Eraan snickered quietly.
Anakin considered punching his arm, but Obi-Wan was giving them a warning look now as they approached the training platform.
"Obviously, you both need to clear your minds so we will start with a few minutes of meditation," Obi-Wan said. They settled down cross-legged in the training circle, not stirring until Obi-Wan told them to stand back up.
"Are we ready? Eraan, you can have the first move," he said, then stood back from the circle and folded his arms. Both boys bowed to one another according to the custom.
Eraan took a moment to concentrate. Actually, he took several moments. Anakin breathed in and out, waiting. It didn't feel like the other boy was trying to do anything. Several moments more passed and Anakin couldn't stand it anymore. Were they just going to stand here all day? He reached out and nudged Eraan slightly. At least, he had meant it to be slight. The boy stumbled backward a bit, just catching himself to keep from falling.
"Hey!" Eraan cried indignantly. "I was supposed to start!"
"Anakin, what are you doing?" Obi-Wan said.
"He was taking forever!" Anakin grumbled. "You aren't supposed to take that long."
"There's no rule against that," Eraan said. He looked at Obi-Wan. "There's no rule, is there?"
"Nobody in the Temple ever takes so long to start," Anakin said.
Eraan glared at him. "You can't cheat!"
Anakin opened his mouth to protest this, but Obi-Wan held up his hand. "I suppose we should have done a long meditation. But as it is, I think some laps around the school might help you calm down. Both of you."
"I didn't do anything," Eraan said boldly. "I shouldn't be punished."
"I'm interested in training you, not punishing you. You can choose to accept your training, or not," Obi-Wan told him. "But if you don't accept it then we can't proceed."
Anakin looked at Eraan, wondering what he'd do. He knew that jedi training often meant being asked to do things you thought were unfair or uncomfortable or you didn't understand. He'd had that drilled into him from his early days in the Temple. But Eraan had had a couple years already to forget.
Eraan held Obi-Wan's gaze for a moment before giving him a slight nod. "Yes, Master."
Anakin watched as he took off running.
"Well?" Obi-Wan said. "Get going."
Anakin sighed and jogged off. It was hot today. He wondered if Obi-Wan was going to have them run the whole time or if they were going to try Push-feather again. He caught up with Eraan and kept pace beside him.
"You're right," he said after a moment of silence. "I should have waited."
"Yeah," Eraan said.
"I'm sorry, okay?"
Eraan looked at him. "Okay. Wish you'd said that earlier, though. It's too hot to run."
Anakin smiled. "No kidding." Given his origins he didn't mind the heat as much as some, but still would have preferred not to be running right now.
Fortunately, Obi-Wan had mercy on them and stopped them after their fourth lap around the building. Push-Feather resumed. Eraan had first move again, but didn't keep Anakin waiting so long this time. It was as boring as Anakin remembered; blocking and redirecting tiny psychic movements, trying to throw your opponent off guard and off their balance. Eraan almost got him a few times, but Anakin bounced back quickly. In the end, neither of them won.
"That's enough for now," Obi-Wan said at last, and Anakin felt like the weight of a small moon had been lifted off him, and relaxed immediately.
"But it's not over!" Eraan protested. Anakin glared at him.
Obi-Wan smiled patiently. "We are not holding a tournament. This was about the exercise only."
"We aren't doing this again tomorrow, are we?" Anakin asked.
"Perhaps we should," Obi-Wan said. "Perhaps we should do it every day until you stop complaining about it." He sounded mostly good-natured, but there was no mistaking a slight edge to his voice. Anakin felt a sudden stab of guilt. Obi-Wan generally was very patient with him, and he didn't always appreciate that. He thought about what his master had told Eraan earlier, that it was his choice to accept training or not. Anakin had made that choice as well, and wasn't about to turn away from it. Even if it was hard sometimes.
"I don't mean to complain, Master," Anakin said, dropping his gaze.
Obi-Wan put his hand on his shoulder gently. "I know."
They finished up the lesson with a couple more Force work exercises before Obi-Wan released them for afternoon free time. Eraan suggested they go for a swim, so they headed down toward the river.
"Don't be mad about me asking this," Anakin began. "But why did you take so long to start earlier?"
Eraan shrugged. "Nerves, I guess. Been so long since I played Push-feather against a real Jedi. I didn't want to end up on my butt right away."
Anakin laughed. "But you did good! We were pretty even. You're as good as any Temple Jedi."
Eraan looked pleased at this. They walked along the river until they came to one of the deeper pools that they had swam in before. Eraan started removing his boots and socks, but Anakin stayed standing. He had an idea.
"Hey- before we swim, how about we have a little sparring match?"
Eraan frowned at him. "With our lightsabers? Are we allowed?"
Anakin considered this. At the Temple, junior padawans weren't allowed to spar together unsupervised. But they weren't at the Temple.
"We're not breaking any rules," Anakin said. "I don't think." In the back of his mind, he thought if he asked permission from Obi-Wan to do this the answer would be 'no,' but he put the thought out of his head. What Obi-Wan didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
"Are you sure?" Eraan said. "Obi-Wan won't be mad?"
Anakin weighed the risk. He'd been in trouble once for unsupervised sparring, but it was not considered the worst of offences, and many high-spirited padawans broke the rule at least once. Anakin might get in a bit of trouble, but he thought he could probably plead ignorance to some degree and he was willing to shield his friend from the blame.
"I don't think he'll find out, but if he does and he gets mad, I'll tell him it was all my idea."
Eraan was silent, thoughtfully mulling this over.
"Just a few minutes? And then we'll swim, and it'll feel great," Anakin said. "Come on. It'll be fun."
Eraan nodded slowly, a grin creeping across his face now. "Okay. It has been a long time."
"Yeah!" Anakin unclipped his weapon from his belt. "We'll both use Shii-Cho. It'll be more fair."
Eraan agreed, and after finding a suitable piece of flat ground, they took their opening stances. Anakin let Eraan strike the first blow, figuring his friend could use a confidence boost. It would be no fun if Eraan was entirely on the defence the entire time. At first he was a little nervous, and a little stiff, but after a moment or two they had found a good rhythm. The defensive sequences Obi-Wan had relentlessly drilled Eraan on had proven useful, and feeling confident in his defense, he felt bold enough to also make some bold offensive strikes here and there.
Good, Anakin thought. That meant he could also be a bit bolder with his moves, and wouldn't have to baby Eraan. He allowed himself to get a little more aggressive, and soon they were both panting and sweating as their blue and green blade clashed harder and harder together.
At last Eraan made the signal to stop. "Okay, can we stop now?" He wiped the sweat from his brow.
"You did so good!" Anakin exclaimed, extinguishing his blade. "Let's keep going. We can make it more interesting."
"What do you mean?" Eraan asked.
Anakin nodded toward the fallen log in the distance, the one that spanned the river and that he'd fallen from the week before when Obi-Wan ran him through aerial drills. "Let's duel on that log."
Eraan looked at it. "I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know? It'll be fun." Anakin felt annoyed at the other boy's reluctance. Wasn't he up for a real challenge? "You can do it."
"I thought we were going to swim."
"We will!" Anakin said. "Aren't you having fun? You're a natural."
Eraan was silent again. He looked down at his 'saber hilt, turning it over in his hands.
"You're not scared, are you?" Anakin asked.
"No," said Eraan flatly.
"Then come on." Anakin started running toward the log, smiling to himself as he sensed Eraan following him.