Obi-Wan glanced between his Master and Knight Morai, anxious to begin the lesson. Going through the kata with them had been unusually invigorating, a connection building between them in the Force and resonating. He bounced a little on his toes, and Knight Morai caught his eye and grinned.
"I'm going to have you spar with Qui-Gon," she said, "and then you'll spar with me. I want you to pay attention to what you're doing, because I'll be asking you to analyze it when we're through."
"Yes, Knight Morai," he said. His Master walked to the center of the square and stood, saber drawn, facing Obi-Wan.
"Start whenever you like," Knight Morai said from the sidelines, and before she had finished the sentence his Master had launched a strong high attack pattern.
Obi-Wan parried the first few blows, watching for an opening, and then darted under his Master's arm, gaining enough open ground to give him some freedom to move. If he let his Master pin him in, the match was as good as lost to his superior reach and strength; as long as Obi-Wan had room to move, his speed and agility allowed him to hold his own.
The rhythm of sparring with his Master was familiar, almost soothing; Obi-Wan found himself wondering what Knight Morai thought of them, but there was no time to look over at her to check; removing even that much attention from his Master would result in a swift and ignominious defeat. But Obi-Wan fancied he could feel her watching them, her keen attention like a cool ripple in the Force. He managed a quick diving roll and came out of it with a blow to his Master's supporting leg, forcing him to make an awkward parry, his wrist twisted.
"That'll do!" Knight Morai called, and they disengaged, smiling at each other as they bowed in the traditional manner.
"Take a short break," Knight Morai said, "and then it's my turn."
Obi-Wan nodded, grateful for the breather, and went to towel off a bit and drink some water. While he had sparred with his Master, Knight Morai had wrapped her long braid around her head and pinned it tightly, and was limbering up on the sidelines of the square. She wore a look of cool focus, and he had to stop himself from tensing up. She wasn't doing this to make him look bad, he reminded himself. This was an opportunity to learn from a renowned Knight. She was trying to be nice.
He wondered if she had ever sparred with Xanatos, and what it meant about him if she hadn't.
His Master watched them both, looking pleased and more than a little smug. "Watch out for her, Padawan," he advised. "She's tricky."
"Damn right," said Knight Morai, taking her place in the center of the square. "And don't you start feeding him tactics over the training bond, either. I'll know."
Master Jinn grinned at her. "I don't know why you imagine I would cheat so shamefully," he said.
"It's my nasty, paranoid disposition," she said. "Are you ready, Obi-Wan?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said, and had to keep himself from starting in surprise when he felt his Master nudge him through their bond. *She likes to feint to the upper right,* he sent, *but she rarely attacks there.* Obi-Wan felt a little smug that his Master was helping him and not Knight Morai. But then, he thought, she probably doesn't need any tips about me if she watched my class, and anyway who knows what he might be saying to her? He sighed. More likely his Master was doing it to tease her. *Thank you, Master,* he sent politely, and shielded the bond. If his Master kept talking to him the whole time it would be very distracting.
"I felt that," Knight Morai said, shooting an exasperated glare at Master Jinn. "No more interfering."
"I can't wish my Padawan luck?"
She snorted, and ignited her saber, saluting Obi-Wan and nodding in approval when he returned the gesture.
He expected her to come out of the salute with a strong attack, as his Master did, but instead she fell back a step, pivoted neatly and came at him from the side. He had to spin around frantically to parry the blow, leaving himself off-balance and ill-prepared to meet the next stroke, which tagged him neatly on the arm. His late attempt to parry knocked him even further off, and he overbalanced and fell to one knee.
"Stop," Knight Morai said, disengaging and drawing back. Obi-Wan hung his head, feeling a hot wash of shame sweep over his face. All that work, and now they'd be right back where they started, with her thinking him beneath contempt. He couldn't bear to look over at his Master as he got back on his feet.
"I don't have to tell you what went wrong there," Knight Morai said mildly. "Let's start again, and this time, think about who you're fighting."
"Yes, Ma'am." He would get it right this time if it killed him. He centered himself and raised his saber again.
This time, he was ready for the explosion of movement when it came, and managed to block her path with a saber stroke. She parried easily, but was too close to Obi-Wan to continue moving, and had to fall back a step. Heartened by this small success, Obi-Wan tried to go on the offensive, but found his usual tactics much less effective against an opponent he couldn't dodge around or duck under. He was forced to fall back on the more traditional tactics he'd learned as an Initiate, and was displeased to find his reaction times lagging a bit. He would have to add an additional practice.
Knight Morai was more than a match for him in speed; where he normally liked to dart in for an attack and then dodge quickly away, he found that once he engaged her she would stick to him like a burr, wearing him down with steady, solid attacks. He found himself tiring, and knew he couldn't hold her off for much longer.
She moved in to attack his upper right, and Obi-Wan, seizing his chance, swung his saber down to parry the feint. The blow landing on his right shoulder took him completely by surprise.
"*Master!"* he said, whirling to face the sidelines, where Master Jinn was grinning at them.
"Information gained from spies is invaluable, my Padawan," he said, "but do not allow it to override your own instincts. Sometimes an informant is not to be trusted."
"Qui-Gon, you *didn't*." Knight Morai was looking from one of them to the other, shaking her head.
"You can't claim to be surprised," he said. "Master i'Purna did the same thing to you, as I recall."
She laughed. "Just the once," she said. She grinned at Obi-Wan. "I have a feeling I know what you're covering in tutorial for a while."
Obi-Wan nodded absently, thinking over the fight. "I should have been able to tell that you weren't feinting," he said.
"It's a matter of practice, and concentration," she said. "You've got to read in the Force where the movement is going to go. I'm sure Qui-Gon will have it drilled into you by this time next class rotation." She grinned reassuringly. "You were doing well anticipating me before then," she said. "If your Master hadn't given you faulty intelligence I doubt you'd have missed that parry." She powered down her saber. "Now, tell me, how was fighting me different from fighting against Qui-Gon?"
"You're *lower,*" he said at once, "When Master and I spar, I can duck under his arms, but I can't do that with you without losing my momentum unless I roll, and that slows my attack down too much to take advantage of getting behind you."
She nodded. "What else?"
"Well, he's got greater reach and a more powerful attack than you do. But because his arms are so long, it's possible to slip in close to attack if you're quick; with you, though, there just isn't room."
--
Bellan quizzed Obi-Wan a bit more, pleased with his level of understanding. She could sense Qui-Gon's smug pleasure from the sidelines; really, he was the most infuriating person.
"You're very advanced in lightsaber for your age, Obi-Wan," she said at last, "but because of that you spend a great deal of your practice time sparring against opponents who are considerably larger than you are, and then you take tutorials with a Jedi Master who is considerably larger than most adult humanoids, let alone the ones your age. This is probably to your advantage in most situations, as I'm sure you've noticed by now. However, the tactics you can employ successfully when you're outclassed in size and strength will become ineffective when you're fighting someone who can best you in speed and agility." She ignited her saber, and gestured for him to join her. "Of course, in the long run your best chances of victory will come from skill and attunement to the Force, but I'm a great believer in helping the Force along whenever possible." She took a defensive stance. "Now, I want you to attack from my right, and watch closely what I do. We'll take it at half speed to start."
She drilled Obi-Wan for some time, and was pleased with his progress; by the time the warning light had lit, signaling that the time Qui-Gon had reserved the square for was nearly over, he was matching her much more evenly, and ad even managed to trip her once and tag her neatly in the shoulder as she stumbled.
"You've done well," she said, looking at him approvingly. "Do you think you've got the reserves left for another quick spar before we lose our square?"
Obi-Wan nodded eagerly, pink-cheeked and alert. Knight Morai glanced from him to his Master, and a slow, mischievous smile spread over her face. She winked at him. "Actually," she said, "how'd you like to spar Master-on-Padawans?"
He grinned back, feeling the last of his caution evaporate. "I'd love to," he said.
"Well, Qui-Gon?" she called to where his Master stood on the sidelines. "Do you think you can handle us both?"
He quirked an amused eyebrow at her. "It'll be a near thing, but you've already tired each other out, so I may have a chance," he said, a touch of amusement warming his voice.
They took their places in the center of the square, the Force practically humming in the spaces between them. Bellan leaned over to whisper to Obi-Wan. "You stay low and I'll go high, at first," she said. "But when I give you the signal, we'll switch; take him by surprise. And remember to hold your shields; it'll take some getting used to, but it's easy enough for him to read us already without us making it any easier."
Obi-Wan nodded, his brow creased a little in concentration even while he was bouncing on the balls of his feet in unconscious anticipation.
"All right, then," Bellan said. "It is the glory of the Master to be bested by his student, you know," she told Qui-Gon. "So really, when we win, you should consider it a tribute to your teachings."
Qui-Gon laughed as they saluted each other. "And when I win? What is that a tribute to?"
"Your stubbornness, of course," Bellan said, and flew out of the salute with a vicious flurry of attacks at his head, sensing Obi-Wan, an instant later, ducking in to attack his Master's shins.
They fought all over the square, sometimes pressing Qui-Gon back and sometimes being pressed back themselves, the Force thick between them. Obi-Wan was pleased at how easy it was to fight in tandem with Knight Morai; as they danced around their Master he felt their connection resonating happily in the Force, growing stronger until he found himself anticipating her moves almost as well as his own. Their sabers flashed almost faster than sight, weaving a dazzling net of gold and green and blue all around them, making vision almost useless to predict the next move in the spar; ordinarily Obi-Wan would have felt disoriented, uncertain, would have sought to fall back and regain space to see, but somehow it didn't seem to bother him today.
He realized then, things falling into place within him, that *this* was what his Master meant when he spoke of being in the Moment - this place where the strain of his muscles and the rush of air in his lungs became one with the urgent pulse of the Force, when the sight of his eyes faded into insignificance beside the the patterns that shone in his Force-sense bright as day, where his partner and his opponent and the rustling attention of the audience that was collecting around them washed over him like the sea but did not leave him gasping.
He felt Knight Morai's signal the instant before she gave it and launched himself into the air, flying effortlessly on a wave of Force over his Master's head to tag his left shoulder as Qui-Gon twisted to parry Knight Morai's attack to his lower right.
For a moment, all was still, shining and perfect, and then Obi-Wan took a gulping breath and the world came rushing back into normalcy, riding a wave of warm applause from the onlookers. He felt very strange, shaken and exalted, heart pounding, his skin seeming just a bit too tight to contain him. He shut off his lightsaber and stood, just breathing for a moment.
"Obi-Wan, that was *brilliant!*" Knight Morai said, sweeping him up in a boisterous hug. He looked up at her in surprise, but she just beamed at him, face flushed and eyes bright. "That was the most fun I've had in years."
"Indeed," his Master said, and Obi-Wan felt a great rush of approval and affection and pride as his Master unshielded their training bond. He swept them both up into a rough embrace, and Obi-Wan basked in the feelings washing over him in the Force. It was right, this connection, the three of them together. A family, just as Master Yoda had said.