Tragically, during Ki-Adi-Mundi's mission, Sharad Hett was mortally wounded by the bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Sharad Hett's last request was for Ki-Adi-Mundi to take fifteen-year-old A'Sharad back to the Jedi Temple to complete his training.

Obi-Wan said, "Your father was a great Jedi, A'Sharad Hett. Your loss is our loss."

A'Sharad Hett bowed his head in return. Through his breath mask, his reply came out as a low rasp. "Thank you, Master Ken.o.bi."

"He talks!" Anakin said. Obi-Wan glared reproach-fully at Anakin, who quickly added, "Sorry. It's just that, well, he hadn't said a word up till now."

"I doubt you let him get a word in edgewise," Obi-Wan said. "And speaking of remaining silent, you should be meditating right now, not bothering A'Sharad Hett."

"The boy does not bother me, " A'Sharad rasped in a flat, lifeless tone. "He is from Tatooine. To hear him speak of our home world . . . his perspective . . . it is interesting."

Obi-Wan smiled at this. "As you were, then," he said. "But just for ten more minutes."

As Obi-Wan left the balcony, he heard Anakin resume speaking. "So, did you ever watch the Podraces? Believe it or not, I won the Boonta Eve Cla.s.sic ! I think some Tuskens shot at me during the race, but I'm guessing that wasn't you, right? Hey, did you ever see a krayt dragon . . . ? "

More than fifteen minutes pa.s.sed before Anakin finally returned to his quarters, where he found Obi-Wan seated in a chair, waiting for him.

"Sorry I'm late, Master," Anakin said as his door slid shut behind him. "You know A'Sharad Hett's teacher, Ki-Adi-Mundi? Well, he came out to talk with us. They're going on a mission to Malastare ! But the reason I'm late is that when Ki-Adi-Mundi found out that I know all about the Podraces on Malastare, he wound up asking me a whole lot of questions about the Phoebos Run. That's the biggest race they have on Malastare, and . . . "

Obi-Wan remained silent but lifted his eyebrows slightly, waiting for Anakin to finish.

"And . . . anyway," Anakin finished, "I just wanted to help."

"I'm sure Ki-Adi-Mundi appreciated that," Obi-Wan said. "I also hope you have found a new friend in A'Sharad Hett. He seems to be a very good listener."

"You can say that again."

Obi-Wan was about to reprimand his Padawan for skipping his meditation exercises when he noticed Anakin's expression change, a certain sadness about in his eyes. Anakin said, "I was just thinking about A'Sharad Hett, wearing that mask and having all his skin covered up . . . never being able to touch things with his fingers or feel air against his face. Why would anyone do that?"

"You know more about Tuskens than I," Obi-Wan said, "but I believe it's simply their tradition."

"But he's a Jedi now."

Obi-Wan shrugged slightly and said, "Then I suppose it's his choice."

"Well, I know I could never live like that."

"No one's asking you to, " Obi-Wan said with a grin. "However," he continued, more seriously, "I am asking you to keep up with your meditation exercises. They are very important. And so long as it is my duty to train you, so it is your duty to learn from me. Agreed?"

There was a moment of awkward silence, and then Anakin replied, "Yes, Master."

Obi-Wan wasn't sure, but he thought he detected a hint of resentment in Anakin's voice. He hadn't considered that Anakin, because of his experience on Tatooine, might be sensitive to calling anyone Master. Obi-Wan sighed, then said, "Please don't think it gives me pleasure to admonish you, Padawan. I can only imagine what it was like for you to grow up as a slave, and I..."

"Do you ever miss your mother?" Anakin interrupted.

The question caught Obi-Wan off guard, but he recovered fast to answer, "No. No, I don't . I never knew her, not really. I was still an infant when I arrived here, at the Temple."

"Then maybe we can make a deal," Anakin said, and Obi-Wan could tell that the boy was trying to keep his voice from trembling. "You won't feel sorry for me because I was once a slave, and I won't feel sorry for you because you don't miss your mother."

Again, Obi-Wan was not quite sure how to respond, but he decided it was not the time to discuss the dangers of forming personal attachments that might impair a Jedi's judgments and actions. Instead, he rose from his seat and said, "You have reminded me, Padawan, that we have much to learn from each other. For now, please trust that I do not feel sorry for you about your past, or for anything else."

"Then it's a deal," Anakin said, extending his hand to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan still questioned the logic of Anakin's deal, but smiled as he shook the boy's hand anyway. "The hour is late," Obi-Wan said. "Perhaps tomorrow you can tell me some Podracing stories."

Immediately brightening, Anakin said, "Maybe we should go to Malastare too!"

"Patience, Padawan," Obi-Wan said. "Patience."

CHAPTER FOUR.

Reflecting on his apprenticeship with Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi knew that he had not always been the most obedient student. In fact, he had even been occasionally foolhardy. Now, ten years after Obi-Wan had begun training Anakin Skywalker, he appreciated Qui-Gon as a teacher even more. As stubborn and independent as Qui-Gon had been regarding the Jedi Code, he also had been patient and generous, two attributes that Obi-Wan found himself increasingly lacking.

Sometimes, it seemed difficult to teach Anakin anything. He had recently turned twenty, and despite Obi-Wan's training, Anakin still let his emotions - especially fear and anger - get the better of him. The faintest praise could make him beam with pride, while the slightest criticism would make him petulant and resentful. Obi-Wan was even more concerned when Anakin confided that he had been having nightmares about his mother dying on Tatooine.

More than once, Obi-Wan mused, If only Anakin had begun his training as an infant.

It didn't help that every Jedi at the Temple was aware of Qui-Gon's a.s.sertion that Anakin was the Chosen One of prophecy. This made Anakin the focus of more scrutiny than any other Padawan in recent history. Although Anakin never claimed to be the Chosen One, it helped even less that he appeared to enjoy the attention he received because of his a.s.sociation with the prophecy. Ever since the Battle of Naboo, even Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had taken a strong interest in the boy.

Initially, Obi-Wan considered training Anakin as his debt to Qui-Gon. However, over the course of time and numerous missions, Obi-Wan came to regard Anakin as something more than his own personal responsibility. Anakin - impossible as he could be - had become Obi-Wan's friend.

After a mission to Ansion, Obi-Wan and Anakin had just returned to Coruscant when the Jedi Council instructed them to proceed to a high-security Senate apartment building. There, they were scheduled to meet with a Galactic Senator who had recently survived an a.s.sa.s.sination attempt that had left six others dead. Their a.s.signment was to serve as guards to protect the Senator.

As a lift carried the two Jedi to the skysc.r.a.per's uppermost floors, Obi-Wan noticed that his tall apprentice was nervously fidgeting. Obi-Wan said, "You seem a little on edge."

"Not at all," Anakin said as he smoothed out his long Jedi robes.

Unconvinced, Obi-Wan said, "I haven't felt you this tense since we fell into that nest of gundarks."

Anakin scoffed, "You fell into that nightmare, Master, and I rescued you, remember?"

"Oh . . . yes," Obi-Wan replied, and then he chuckled at the memory. Anakin laughed too, but Obi-Wan sensed that his apprentice's anxiety was increasing as they ascended the skysc.r.a.per. "You're sweating," Obi-Wan observed. "Relax. Take a deep breath."

"I haven't seen her in ten years, Master."

Obi-Wan grinned and shook his head. The Galactic Senator whom they had been instructed to protect was Padm e Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo. Amidala had been in her teens when she had been elected Queen, and was only a few years older than Anakin. Obi-Wan was aware that Anakin had maintained something of a crush on Amidala for the past decade, and could not help finding some amus.e.m.e.nt in seeing his apprentice looking so jumpy .

When the lift doors slid open, they were greeted by their old friend Jar Jar Binks, a lanky Gungan they had met just before the Battle of Naboo. Because Obi-Wan now wore a beard and Anakin had grown considerably taller, Jar Jar did not recognize the Jedi at first, but then he locked onto Obi-Wan's eyes and said, "Obi? Obi ! Mesa so smilen to seein yousa!"

"Good to see you again, Jar Jar."

Jar Jar turned and called out, "Senator Padme ! Mesa palos here ! Lookie, lookie, Senator. Desa Jedi arriven."

Obi-Wan and Anakin followed Jar Jar into a luxurious suite, where they were greeted by Padm e and two of her aides. "It's a great pleasure to see you again, milady," Obi-Wan said as he shook Padme's hand.

"It has been far too long, Master Ken.o.bi," Padme replied. And then she lifted her gaze to the tall young man beside Obi-Wan. "Ani?" she said with obvious delight. "My goodness, you've grown."

"So have you," Anakin said sheepishly, then hastily added, "Grown more beautiful, I mean."

Obi-Wan glanced at his awkward apprentice, whose gaze was hopelessly locked onto Padme's eyes. Anakin continued, "Well, f-for a Senator, I mean."

Padme laughed. "Ani, you'll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine."

As the group proceeded to discuss the recent attempt on Padme's life, Anakin was hardly cooperative. Although he and Obi-Wan had been instructed merely to protect Padme, he openly promised to find the a.s.sa.s.sins who had tried to kill her. When Anakin questioned the logic of the Jedi Council's directives to watch over Padme, Obi-Wan was compelled to reprimand his apprentice before the group, which prompted Anakin to glower.

He's not thinking like a Jedi, Obi-Wan thought ruefully. He's letting his emotions interfere with our a.s.signment.

Obi-Wan wondered if the Jedi Council had made a mistake when they had a.s.signed him and Anakin to protect Padme, but then it hadn't been entirely the Council's decision. It had been Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's idea.

In recent months, numerous former-member worlds of the Republic had allied with the Separatist movement. The Separatists were led by a former Jedi, the charismatic Count Dooku. Dooku expounded that the Galactic Senate was corrupt beyond repair, and promised a new unified government throughout the galaxy. Because many Senators from the remaining Republic worlds believed they would soon be vulnerable to the Separatists, they endorsed the creation of an army to defend the Republic. The reason that Padme Amidala had traveled to Coruscant was to cast her vote against the Military Creation Act because she knew that the formation of an army would almost certainly lead to civil war.

R2-D2 had remained with Padme since the Battle of Naboo, and the astromech droid had accompanied her to Coruscant. As events turned out, R2-D2's presence in Padme's suite was most fortunate, for while Obi-Wan and Anakin argued about their orders and the best way to protect Padme, it was the R2-D2 who alerted them that the suite had been infiltrated.

A mysterious a.s.sa.s.sin had released a pair of small, deadly arthropods into Padme's bedroom. Using his lightsaber, Anakin swiftly killed the creatures, and then both he and Obi-Wan raced out into the night to pursue the a.s.sa.s.sin.

The Jedi became separated and Anakin dropped his lightsaber during the dizzying, perilous chase that carried them across and through multiple levels of Galactic City. Obi-Wan was able to recover his apprentice's weapon, and caught up with Anakin outside a gambling club called the Outlander. Pointing into the Outlander's wide, brightly illuminated doorway, Anakin said, "She went into the club, Master."

"Patience," Obi-Wan said. "Use the Force. Think."

"Sorry, Master."

"He went in there to hide, not to run."

"Yes, Master."

Obi-Wan held up Anakin's lightsaber and said, "Next time, try not to lose it."

"Yes, Master."

"This weapon is your life."

Anakin took the weapon and said, "I try, Master."

As Anakin followed him into the Outlander, Obi-Wan muttered, "Why do I get the feeling you're going to be the death of me? "

"Don't say that, Master. You're the closest thing I have to a father."

Anakin's words did not make Obi-Wan sympathetic. Without breaking his stride into the crowded club, he said, "Then why don't you listen to me? "

"I am trying."

They stopped to survey the crowd. The patrons were talking and drinking, gambling and playing hologames. Obi-Wan asked, "Can you see him? "

"I think he is a she, and I think she is a changeling."

"In that case, be extra careful." Then Obi-Wan tilted his head to Anakin and added, "Go and find her."

"Where are you going, Master?"

"For a drink," Obi-Wan replied. Leaving Anakin, he stepped over to the bar and signaled the bartender. A moment later, the bartender placed a small gla.s.s filled with luminescent blue liquid in front of Obi-Wan, who said, "Thank you."

A young humanoid, a Balosar with flexible antene-palps that extended from his stylishly filthy hair, edged up beside Obi-Wan and rapidly stammered, "You wanna buy some death sticks?"

To any respectable person, the Balosar would have been an annoyance. To Obi-Wan, he was only a slight distraction, but hardly a welcome one. Obi-Wan did not want to endanger the Balosar by allowing him to remain by his side, nor encourage him to peddle his wares elsewhere. Obi-Wan kept his eyes forward, but made a slight gesture with his right hand as he replied, "You don't want to sell me death sticks."

The Balosar was unaware that Obi-Wan was manipulating his mind. He looked slightly confused, then thoughtful as he answered, "I don't want to sell you death sticks."

"You want to go home and rethink your life."

"I want to go home and rethink my life." The Balosar stepped away from the bar, leaving his unfinished drink behind. As he walked away, Obi-Wan's eyes flicked over the patrons in front of him, and left his back exposed. He did this deliberately. Let her think I can't see her coming.

Despite the noise, the crowd, the lights, the strange mix of smells in the air, and every other distraction, Obi-Wan sensed the danger that approached him from behind. He drew his lightsaber and activated its blade as he spun, neatly cleaving through the a.s.sa.s.sin's right arm before she even had the chance to fire her blaster. Her forearm, still holding the blaster, sailed to the floor as she cried out and fell back against the game table.

Anakin moved fast to Obi-Wan's side and leveled his gaze at the astonished patrons. "Easy," he said. "Jedi business. Go back to your drinks."

The a.s.sa.s.sin wore a visored helmet and a dark violet form-fitting bodysuit with a flexible armorweave jerkin. She appeared to be a human female. Anakin opened a back door that led to an alley and Obi-Wan hauled her through the doorway and outside. Anakin glanced up and down the alley as Obi-Wan eased the woman's body onto the hard ground. Obi-Wan asked, "Do you know who it was you were trying to kill?"

The woman groaned, then said, "It was a Senator from Naboo."

"And who hired you?"

"It was just a job. "

Anakin leaned down and said in a gentle, soothing tone, "Who hired you? Tell us. " But when the woman did not immediately reply, Anakin's face contorted with anger and he snarled, "Tell us now!"

She said, "It was a bounty hunter called..."

Before she could finish, a small, dart-like projectile buried itself suddenly into her neck. Obi-Wan and Anakin turned their heads to gaze up in the direction of the projectile's trajectory. They saw an armored figure, a man wearing a jetpack, launching up and away from a distant rooftop before he vanished into the night sky of the city.

The bounty hunter?

Obi-Wan returned his gaze to the woman he held, and saw that Anakin was right: she wasn't human. She was a changeling, a shape-shifting Clawdite. Her face reverted to its relaxed state, revealing somewhat lumpy, heavily scarred features. She gasped, "Wee shahnit.. . sleemo." Her wide, heavy-lidded eyes fell closed and she died in Obi-Wan's arms.

Obi-Wan pulled the projectile from her neck and held it out so Anakin could examine it, too. It was a nasty piece of work, an injector-needle tip with stabilizing fins for long-range shots and embedding p.r.o.ngs to anchor into the target. "Toxic dart," Obi-Wan said. He looked back toward the distant rooftop that had served as a launch pad for the Clawdite's killer, and he thought, He could have shot us, too - if he'd wanted.

Obi-Wan turned to Anakin and said, "Her last words. Did you understand them?"

"She spoke in Huttese," Anakin said. "She said, 'Bounty hunter slimeball.'"

Obi-Wan had no idea of the armored bounty hunter's ident.i.ty, but he did not question the fact that the man was very, very dangerous.

Obi-Wan was not surprised when the Jedi Council instructed him to track down the bounty hunter and identify his employers. However, their decision to have Anakin escort Senator Amidala back to her homeworld, for her own safety, did cause him some concern. It would be Anakin's first a.s.signment without his Master, and despite all of his abilities, he was also arrogant, and Obi-Wan didn't think he was ready. But the Council was confident in their decision, and Obi-Wan personally escorted Anakin, Padme, and R2-D2 to the Coruscant s.p.a.ceport and waiting freighter that would take them to Naboo.