Master Apprentice
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Simple Gift
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Midwinter. The Time of Turning.
History tells us that once, before stone and steel spread to cover all the surface of Coruscant, and weather became the domain of force fields and satellites, we had seasons. Spring. Summer. Autumn. And Winter, cold and dark.
Master Qui-Gon rarely said anything about this time of year. Live in the moment, he said, not in the murky distances of the past. But every year since I became his Padawan, he left me in the care of some other Master, and went off for one day. After my hesitant curiosity was rebuffed the first year, I never asked where he went or what he did. He returned tense and closed up, sparse with praise and criticism alike, quiet but not precisely serene. I expected this year to be the same.
Instead...instead, as he moved for the door and I followed in his wake, he turned and looked down at me for a long moment. I waited, saying nothing, and at last he nodded once to himself.
"Follow me, Obi-Wan," he said, and turned back to lead the way.
The command was unnecessary -- but I obeyed. We didn't head up to Master Yoda's rooms, or over to Master Odith's, or even down to Master Hus'ju. Instead we went down, and down, farther than I'd realized the Temple went, even in my younger days when I was fonder of exploring. I kept silent and waited. My Master would explain when he was ready, or not explain, as he chose. I could be patient.
At last we reached a final door -- one carved out of stone rather than metal, surely as old as the Temple itself. Master Qui-Gon led the way through without pausing his step. I followed more slowly. It seemed too big to be a meditation room, but a serenity filled it like I'd only felt in the Gardens.
It looked like a chapel of some kind. At the front stood a podium, facing the empty hall where we stood. Behind the podium the walls curved to form a large alcove, with windows of colored class, arrayed in abstract patterns soothing to the eye. A light shone through the windows, though this far down I couldn't guess what its source might be. Qui-Gon stood facing the podium, arms still folded.
"Do you know what day it is, Padawan?" he said abruptly.
I searched my memory, and came up with the words Master Yoda had mentioned once. "The day of Midwinter, Master."
"The Time of Turning," Master Qui-Gon said. I wasn't certain if he were correcting me or merely amplifying my answer. "The shortest day of Coruscant's year, even now. The longest night. After this, the light returns, until the next year."
"Master?"
"Not even the Republic's technology can change a planet's tilt, Padawan, nor the patterns of its orbit."
"Master." I hadn't been asking for a lesson in elementary astronomy.
He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "It has long been my custom to come here to meditate on this day. I would be pleased if you would join me this year."
I bowed my head and murmured my acceptance. What else could I do? Master Qui-Gon is an intensely private man: for him to offer such a thing --
We returned to our rooms very late. I went and fixed sandwiches for both of us. When we had finished eating, I retrieved a philosophy text from my room, and came back into the main room to sprawl on a chair and read. Qui-Gon stood by the couch, frowning over something for our next mission. He had said nothing, or almost nothing, since we returned from the chapel. But the tension was less, this year. I didn't think I was fooling myself to say that.
He still hadn't explained myself. The question was mine to puzzle over, and solve or not solve, as the Force willed it.
I put down my text, and watched him. He felt my gaze after a moment, looked up, and gave me a faint smile, then sat down on the couch and continued reading.
He trusted me. Not merely with his life, but with this thing more intangible. I had loved him, lusted after him, for so long, but this -- what could I do to repay him for something like this?
I looked back at my text, and thought about secrets, and rituals, and possibilities for the future, when the light returned to the world again.
-fin-