A/N: Hey guys, I've already finished this book, and started writing the second one. Geez, I think this prequel is proving easier to write than its sequel, Debts unpaid and consorts. ^^

6. Encounters

Master Secura had managed to get Irri a meeting with Master Yoda not hours later, although late at night.

The small green Jedi was waiting for her in one of the meditation rooms in the temple.

She took a deep breath before entering.

And bowed to the master.

"Come and sit, young padawan. What is it enquire me about you need to?"

Irri sat crossed-legged on a cushion before him. "I have had visions, Master. Visions that unsettle me greatly."

"Visions, you say. What about those visions were?"

She closed her eyes to remember every detail. "I am an adult. I think it might be several years in the future. Maybe ten, maybe more. Obi-Wan Kenobi is with me, although now a Jedi Master. We are on an asteroid, and talking about hiding, and someone I have to stop."

"What about that person does your heart tell you?"

Irri sighed. "That he is dear to me, somehow. And also that he is dangerous. Obi-Wan doesn't want me to go try and stop him."

She opened her eyes. The Jedi Master seemed to carefully ponder her words.

"Strong the twitch in the Force is today. Linked to your vision I fear it might be."

Irri's eyes widened. "You believe the "he" in my vision might be the same that provokes those changes?"

"Sure I am of nothing. Meditate about this I must. As for you, young padawan," he stood and took his cane to balance himself, "think carefully you must. Choices change visions can and often do. Now try and sleep."

She nodded and bowed her head. "Thank you, Master Yoda."

But before he exited the darkening room, he had one last word to pass. "Truly sorry I am for the loss of your family."

Which left Irri standing awkwardly there, tears streaming down her face.

!-!-!-!-!

Later, much later, after Irri had slept a few hours and rested her mind – which needed it – the young padawan was summoned to the counsel room.

Saying she was shaking with fear is an understatement.

Irri had been only once in that room. The day Master Secura had taken her as apprentice. Since then, never once.

And she was summoned.

Oh dear.

!-!-!-!-!

"Padawan Nabié, you have been summoned here today because the time has come."

Irri was standing in the middle of the room, her master behind her, and she was facing the Master addressing her – Master Windu.

She had always been afraid of him, with his deep voice and severe face.

So she kept her eyes down, and breathed deeply, counting the seconds.

"Your Master has asked for you to start learning the ways of the sabre."

Irri's eyes widened and the padawan cast them up, meeting the dark ones of Mace Windu to make sure she had heard well.

"It is a great honour, Master. Thank you."

He nodded once, and Irri felt her Master's hand on her shoulder.

"Come now child. Better start early."

Irri grinned widely as she bowed to the Counsel. She even thought she saw Master Yoda smile back.

It took all her will not to saunter towards the practise room.

!-!-!-!-!

In the Jedi Order, padawans were only taught how to swing a light-sabre once before being taken as apprentice by a Master.

It was Master Yoda who took care of those short lessons during which all beginners had a blindfold. The aim was to make them sense a blasting ball through the Force and shoot its blasts away.

An easy exercise. Irri had mastered it soon, being as Force-sensitive as she was. But she had never again touched the hilt of a sabre.

!-!-!-!-!

Her Master gave her a practise sabre, one which would disconnect would it approach flesh too much. Harmless for beginners.

Aayla gestured Irri to take a few paces back, then lit her own blue sabre.

"I master Forms IV and V of the light-sabre art. Ataru is a form for defence you can choose to master. But it takes its toll. You can choose to master Soresu, the Form III, which is less demanding in energy. Djem so, however, is a very dangerous form. The form of aggression. Should you wish me to teach you, you have to be aware that you will be tempted by the Dark Side."

Irri processed these informations quickly and nodded. "Can you show me some moves of the two, Master?"

Aayla nodded, than back flipped into complex moves which sent her in complete vulnerability if her sabre stopped moving around. "Ataru."

Then she changed radically. She less jumped and moved around, but whirled her sabre more around her fingers, making it dangerously near her skin. "Djem so."

Irri gasped. And then her Master stopped, and clicked her sabre off.

"So. What do you choose?"

Irri closed her eyes and rewinded the moves in her head. She was lean and tall for her age. Ataru shouldn't be difficult if she grew up to be tall and skinny. And if her visions were right...she'd be.

"I choose to master the Forms IV and...II, Makashi."

Aayla's brown eyes widened. "Form II is only used for light-sabre against light-sabre combat. Surely you know that."

Irri smirked. "I do. And wish to master it."

Her Master's eyes were still wide, but she seemed to accept one evidence: her padawan knew something she didn't. "So be it. But I can't teach you Form II. You will have to learn with Master Ti."

Irri smiled a little and nodded. She liked Shaak-Ti. She was a kind Master. And she was her own master's friend. She wouldn't have any problems learning with her. She hoped.

"Good. Now, step up. We'll start with Form I, Schii-cho. It is the first form you must master."

Irri stepped forward and took a stance her master soon corrected.

And her first sparring lesson started.

!-!-!-!-!

Five hours later, Irri was aching everywhere. Her back, arms and legs were sore from all the moves she had had to memorise and imitate to perfection.

As patient as Aayla might be when it came to use the Force, she was heartless when it came to light-sabre.

She was about to join her quarters for a nap when she felt a enormous twitch in the Force.

Similar to the one she had felt on Tatooine the day before.

So Irri turned around and all-but-ran towards the hangar.

Master Jinn had arrived, she was certain of it.

!-!-!-!-!

She reached the bay in no time.

Master Jinn and Obi-Wan hadn't yet walked off their shuttle.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at her sight, while Master Jinn seemed rather amused by her appearance.

"Irri Nabié. How predictable."

She cringed at that but bowed nonetheless. "Master Jinn. I sensed you coming here with the Force. But I felt a greater twitch. Have you taken the boy with you on Coruscant?"

Master Jinn exchanged a quick look with Obi-Wan. "Indeed we have. You are very sensitive with the Force, Irri. Be careful. Some might wish to use this to their own advantage." He took a pace forward and passed her, patting her shoulder as he went.

Obi-Wan stopped in front of her before following his master. "You seem rather gleeful. Might I know the reason?"

Irri grinned before turning on her heels and running back to her quarters. "I've started training for the light-sabre today."

!-!-!-!-!

But it was not her time to sleep yet, apparently.

For only two hours after she had settled down on her bed to take a rest, the twitch came back. Stronger than ever.

Like a throbbing. Like a heartbeat.

Irri's eyes shot open and she abruptly sat in her bed.

He was there.

!-!-!-!-!

She followed the heartbeat to the counsel room.

There, before the door, was waiting a boy.

He was clothed like a farmer, or a slave, of the planet she had just left.

His sandy-blond hair was untidy, and his dirty-blue eyes betrayed his anxiety.

She stopped a few yards away and cleared her throat.

The boy's eyes snapped to her and widened as he looked her up and down.

"Hello."

He gaped one long moment, then shook himself out of it. "Hi." He took one deep breath. "Are you a padawan?"

She smiled and took a pace forward, nodding. "I am Irri. Irri Nabié."

"My name is Anakin Skywalker."

"Nice to meet you Anakin." She outstretched a hand he quickly shook.

"How old are you?"

The question unsettled Irri at first, and then she understood the meaning behind the words. "I'm nine. You?"

"Nine also." His eyes cast down.

Irri put a finger under his chin to make him look at her again. "It doesn't mean you won't be a good Jedi. You are powerful, I can feel it."

He seemed to regain his curiosity at once. "You can feel the Force?"

She grinned. "So will you, soon. I'm sure your master will teach you that first."

Anakin's eyes darted to the still sealed door of the counsel room. "Who do you think they'll give me if I'm accepted?"

Irri thought quick. "Master Mundi, perhaps. He has no apprentice for the moment, and he's kind. You'll do well with him."

"I would have liked to stay with Qui-Gon."

But Irri had no time to answer as the door then slid open, revealing that same Qui-Gon.

He totally ignored Irri and locked eyes with Anakin. "You can come in."

The boy looked at his companion. "Will I see you later?"

She grinned wider. "Of course."

And when the door closed onto his smile, Irri felt like she had made a new friend for life.

Hopefully...