"Take care of him," Rían cradled her babe to her chest one last time. He was her last child, her only son. His birth had been difficult and she'd nearly died. It made the bond between mother and son even stronger.

And now that bond was being broken by a solemn-faced man in dark brown robes.

With a trembling hand, she settled a small, home-made necklace around his head. Tiny rocks that had been split open to reveal their transparent center, dangled equidistant from one another on the chain.

She had searched all her life for the special stones that contained these treasures, and even longer for ones that would match the color of her baby's eyes. The tiny geodes had been tumbled by hand and polished into as beautiful a shine as was possible by her crude methods.

At the Jedi's curious look, she smiled slightly. "It will protect him and guide him home."

The Jedi stared down at the wailing babe, his dark eyes betraying the heartache he felt at tearing another from his mother's arms.

It was the way of the Jedi, all families who sent their children for testing understood the outcome. But it didn't make the task any easier.

Rak'tah felt the pull of a father to his only son, and reached large hands into the covers surrounding the babe. He brushed a long finger across the smooth cheek, memorizing the softness, the innocence. Reconsidering was no longer an option. His son had been tested and it was too late. The Jedi were here to take him away.

"He will be a great Jedi," The deep voice assured the frightened woman and concerned husband.

Rían nodded as she relinquished the tight hold on her son. Rak'tah's fingers slid away from his son's face and hung at his sides, muscles tightening, unwilling to show a weakness. He clenched his fingers to stop the shaking.

"Just keep him safe." Rían whispered sadly.

The Jedi nodded and cradled the silent child protectively in his arms. "He will know happiness. When he is older, he will be permitted to visit you."

The young couple nodded their understanding as the Jedi cast one last look at the child clutching her mother's leg.

"You should have her tested."

Rían shooked her head violently and her husband bent to pick up the child.

"We couldn't bear to loose them both."

The Jedi nodded compassionately and walked out the door without another word, taking yet another child from his birth family into a small and mysterious Order.

Rían collapsed into her husband's arms, tears slipping down her smooth cheeks.

"Come back to me Qui-Gon," She whimpered as her small daughter began to wail loudly.

********************

"I'll abide by your wishes," Anakin frowned and Obi-Wan turned from the painful duty of cleaning out his Master's room.

"Anakin, please understand. I must deliver these to his family. I…."

He took a deep breath. Obi-Wan had held Anakin as he cried himself to sleep every day for the past month. Would it be fair to leave him behind while he went to deliver Qui-Gon's only belongings to his family? Obi-Wan hadn't had the time to grieve. He'd comforted his young Padawan instead. He needed time. Time alone on the shuttle was exactly what he needed.

"I know. I just wanted to meet them, too…."

Obi-Wan lifted the child's chin. "I promise we will visit again. Please Anakin, I need to do this, alone. I need to say my goodbyes."

Anakin stifled a sniffle and wiped his blurry eyes on the sleeve of his tunic.

"I understand. You knew him longer, you…"

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and sighed. How could his Master have left him with this child? He didn't know anything about them, he didn't know how to comfort Anakin in his grief. He didn't know how to comfort himself! But Anakin needed to resolve his pain and loss at Qui-Gon's death. Qui-Gon was gone and it was time to move on. Obi-Wan closed his eyes, 'I need to move on.'

"I'm going to set up a special session while I am away. You won't have a chance to miss me."

Anakin nodded and walked slowly back into his room, a look of abandonment on his face.

Obi-Wan sighed and sat at the communications console.

He punched in his access code and began typing the long, delicate message to some of his Master's closest friends.

Before Obi-Wan left, he would make sure Anakin's days without his new Master would be filled with stories, lessons and memories relived by his Master's friends and associates.

It took hours for Obi-Wan to set up almost a weeks worth of these meetings, but he finally shut off the console, comforted by the fact that his Padawan would spend the next week reliving the greater part of Qui-Gon's life. Told by the friends and acquaintances who'd had been honored to have been a part of it.

********************

After he settled Anakin into bed, Obi-Wan sat silently, looking at the images of the past from old holos.

Baby pictures, pictures of his Master as a young man, standing with an unfamiliar couple and another woman. There were very few, but those contained within the frames piled upon the desk were moments in history that Obi-Wan wanted to keep locked away forever.

He leaned back in the chair and shivered. Darkness was closing in around him, and it was not just the sun setting in the Coruscant skyline.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes tightly, fighting the tears that threatened to escape. It had been a month. A month since his life had changed more dramatically than any man, woman or child's life deserved to be.

His Master was gone. His father, his mentor, his teacher; Qui-Gon had been everything to him and now Obi-Wan was left to pick up the pieces of his shattered life alone.

Obi-Wan shook his head, tossing the despair into the back of his mind.

He needed to concentrate on the present and what he needed to do.

He took the holo's and set them into the small travel bag along with the few belongings Qui-Gon had left behind.

He took a deep breath and flattened his palm across a large leather journal, its cover aged and roughened by years of use.

With shaking hands, Obi-Wan fingered the clasp that held the book closed. Aging parchment was contained within and Obi-Wan smiled. Just like his Master to not write a journal in the normal way.

Obi-Wan cocked his head at the first page, a small smile parting his lips.

His Master had sketched a beautiful picture of a river surrounded by trees, foliage, small animals living in peaceful co-existence with much larger ones.

Beneath the sketch were the following words. 'Home is where you make your bed. To family is where you leave your heart.'

Obi-Wan choked on the sentence as he tried to read it. A tear escaped the corner of his eye and dropped onto the parchment, leaving a wet circle in the middle of the words.

Obi-Wan cursed and tried to brush away the water before it seeped into the porous parchment.

He turned the page quickly to make sure the following pages did not suffer the same fate from his incompetence.

Obi-Wan lifted the book and bowed his head, beseeching his Master for permission to read his most personal belonging.

He curled his legs beneath him and turned the pages, smiling at the ease in which he could read the elegant script.

The words leapt off the page and Obi-Wan found himself transported back to a time before he was born, when the Jedi were more revered and loved, and feared. He learned more about Qui-Gon Jinn, from his own hand, in his own words and sketches, in death, than he ever did in life.

Hours passed and Obi-Wan couldn't shake the feeling of calm that settled over his weary, exhausted bones. He continued to read, immersing himself in his Master's life, unwilling to stop, because he knew when he did, he would be alone once again, with only his memories.

When Obi-Wan turned the page, several more hours later, he gasped. A trembling finger passed across the slightly yellowed parchment, across the face of a young boy he could barely remember. Was that really him? Had he ever looked so young?

Obi-Wan turned the page and choked back a sob. Written before his eyes were the days leading up to Qui-Gon taking him as his Padawan. His thoughts, his feelings, his painful memories of being betrayed by one he held dear. Things never spoken to the Obi-Wan in all the years they had been together.

By the time he had reached the end, Obi-Wan was in tears, distressed at the life that had been taken away so unexpectedly. The years of experience that had taught the Master Jedi how to behave, how to act, how to love and how to teach, was written before his eyes.

When he closed this book those words would be gone forever.

So Obi-Wan did not close it, he fell asleep on the page where his life began with the man who had written this journal, his tears wetting the parchment until the sketched picture was just smeared ink.

****************

Rían and her daughter stood on the door step waiting for the cloaked figure to approach. It wasn't her son, she realized quickly. She'd know. She'd memorized every facet of his stride, his movements the few times she had seen her son during his life.

The communication she had received had been brief, and she didn't know the reason for the visit. She'd met very few Jedi since her son had been taken away soon after his birth. But the young man who had sent the communique had very kind eyes, sad even. She recognized the boy as being her son's Jedi apprentice. She's met the boy once, many years ago.

"Welcome to our home," Rían extended her arms in greeting.

Obi-Wan lowered the hood of his cloak and smiled slightly. "Thank you. I'm sorry for such short notice but…."

"Oh, no worries," Rían took his arm and led him into her home. "Please, make yourself at home. Ryí will get us some tea.

Rían's daughter nodded slowly, keeping a wary eye on Obi-Wan as she walked away to carry out her mother's request.

"You are looking well," Obi-Wan forced a smile to his lips.

The transport ride here had been pure hell. He'd gone through how he would tell them a hundred times, and now, looking into the kind blue eyes, the words failed him. He didn't know how to begin, he didn't know what to say, what to do, or how to comfort them. He couldn't find any comfort himself.

He set the small sack down onto the floor and took a seat across from Rían at the table.

"Thank you, dear. Longevity seems to run in my family. I've got relatives in their 90's."

A sting pierced his heart. His Master could and should, have lived so much longer. It was too soon for him, he…

"He's dead, isn't he?" Ryí walked through the kitchen door, carrying a tray full of hot water and tea.

Obi-Wan's heart skipped a beat as he looked up at the woman. She looked very much like his Master, strong but delicate features, tall and thin.

"I.."

Rían was horrified at her daughter's assumption and silenced her immediately.

Obi-Wan cocked his head, watching the woman. "You have the Force."

Ryí stared at Obi-Wan. "Yes. I had myself tested many years ago. Not nearly strong enough to be trained as a Jedi but strong enough to read certain powerful emotions."

Obi-Wan nodded, his heart breaking as he thought of the correct words to tactfully inform them of Qui-Gon's passing.

"Did Qui-Gon know?"

Ryí smiled. "He did the test himself."

Obi-Wan chuckled. Just like his Master.

The women were silent, waiting for him to continue.

He took a deep breath and met each gaze with compassion. "Yes."

It was all he could say. All of his eloquent phrases he had planned, all of the comforting words, had deserted him.

"I knew something was wrong when I received your call, Obi-Wan," Rían sighed. "No Jedi has ever come here without my son. If you were coming, he would have joined you, if he was able."

"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan whispered. "I had this whole speech planned but…"

Rían embraced the troubled young man and kissed his cheek. "You loved my son."

Obi-Wan nodded. "He was a father to me. I don't…."

"Know if you will be able to go on without him," Ryí finished his statement.

Rían pulled away and touched the space his braid had once been. "It's gone."

"I'm no longer a Padawan." Obi-Wan admitted with a sigh, the admission causing a fresh wave of pain.

"Congratulations!" Rían smiled and Obi-Wan couldn't help but cock his head curiously.

"My son," Rían began, leading the troubled man to the couch. "wrote me often. He told me all about you. How proud he was of your progress. The last letter I received from him told me that you were almost ready to become a Knight. He couldn't wait until that day. To see you finally achieve the goal for which you'd worked your entire life."

She brushed the back of her thin fingers along the side of Obi-Wan's cheek. She could feel him shaking and reassured him by cupping his cheek. "He loved you like a son. If he never told you, I will tell you now. You were a son to him, in his heart if not by blood."

"Thank you," Obi-Wan whispered, a tear dripping from the corner of his eye.

"Was he there? Did he see his dream of your Knighthood come to pass?" Rían asked slowly, realizing that these memories may be too fresh for the boy to bear. She had no idea when he had been knighted. It couldn't have been too long, his hair still had the remnants of the Padawan look.

When Obi-Wan sobbed, she had her answer. He collapsed into her arms, unable to hold back the tears of despair and pain that washed over him.

"He- died the day Master Yoda knighted me. I think it was too soon. I haven't learned enough. I don't know…"

"How to go on?" Ryí finished his sentence again and he nodded.

"I knew the life my son led. I knew it took him into dangers than no man should have to face day after day. I also knew that there would have been no other life for him. Being a Jedi was what he was born to be." Rían stroked Obi-Wan's hair as they sat together on the couch. "As he grew over the years, I was sent photos. But I did not meet my son until he was taken as an apprentice. He was a beautiful boy, strong and dedicated."

"My husband, rest his soul, was bitter to the end about his only son being taken away by the Jedi, but when Qui visited, I could see it in his eyes. He was grateful to us for giving him to the Temple."

"You didn't see him often, did you?" Obi-Wan asked, leaning back to stare into the eyes of the woman, so much like his Master.

"Regretfully no. His duties kept him away, busy for many years. We received letters and holo's but his appearances here were few and far between."

"You see, we are used to being without his presence in our lives. We knew that we would one day receive this word. We were prepared." Rían admitted, wiping at the tear stained cheeks. "You were not, were you?"

Obi-Wan shook his head, meeting her eyes. "It was my fault."

Rían shook her head as Ryí took a seat on the other side of the troubled Jedi.

"We became separated and I couldn't reach him in time…"

"You must work through this guilt before the healing can begin." Ryí slipped her hand into his. "I can feel your pain. I can feel it as if it were my own."

"You could have trained in the Temple as a…"

"No," Ryí silenced him with a finger to his lips. "My life was here. I had no interest in living the way my brother did. We were meant for this life."

"You have a great empathy," Obi-Wan noted and the women smiled.

"It kept my father sane when Qui was taken." Ryí chuckled.

Obi-Wan shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "I brought his things for you. What there is of…"

Rían shushed him with a finger to his lips. "We will eat and then sleep. Tonight we will mourn at my son's passing. Tomorrow we will see what you have brought, laugh at the stories each piece brings, and celebrate my sons life and the joy he brought to the lives of others."

Obi-Wan choked back a sob and nodded. He allowed Rían to cradle his head in her lap as she would do a crying child and rocked him in her arms.

Tears slipped down his cheek and he made no effort to stop them. When he sobbed, she held him tighter, when he needed to take a deep breath, she loosened her hold. Either way, he fell asleep in the arms of the woman his Master had the honor to call mother.

**********************

Obi-Wan woke to the loud growling of his stomach and the sweet, smell of a meal being cooked in the kitchen.

He lifted his head and looked around. He was curled onto the couch, a light blanket covering his form.

He sat and stretched, willing his body to loosen the knots caused from sleeping in the unnatural position.

"Good morning, young one," Rían smiled happily, carrying into the room a fresh plate of sweet smelling food.

Obi-Wan covered his stomach as it growled again and Rían smiled. "Eat. Please. I don't want to starve my houseguest."

Obi-Wan nodded and began to eat the meal. Before he knew it, he'd devoured a second plate and part of a third.

He blushed lightly and apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't think I was so hungry."

Rían slid a soft hand across his cheek and her touch comforted him. "I know how growing boys can be. I have another son and he came close to eating me out of house and home many times."

Obi-Wan blinked. She had another son? "I thought….?"

Rían shook her head. "My daughter gave birth to a son at a very young age. Instead of acknoweldging the child as hers, her father and I adopted the child and raised him as our own. He knows the truth, but to him, we are still his mother and father, and Ryí his aunt."

Obi-Wan nodded and looked toward the place where he had dropped his Masters belongings last evening.

"Worry not," Rían noticed the panic in his eyes when he noticed they were missing. " They have been placed on the table so that we can go through them together."

Obi-Wan nodded, a fresh wave of despair and heartache washing over him.

"Come," Rían smiled. "Clean yourself and then come to the table so that we may look at what you have brought."

*******************

"We don't have much." Obi-Wan stood and began to unpack the first small bag. "We reuse what we can and have a very simple wardrobe."
He pulled the tunics, pants, boots and a few other clothing items out of the bag and refolded them neatly in front of the two women.

"Yes, you Jedi are not much for keeping up with the changing times," Ryí chuckled, flattening her hand across her brother's meager wardrobe. "So dull these colors are. I thought my brother would look good in a deep forest green or an deep sea blue."

"He did." Obi-Wan confirmed for the women. "Our missions took us to many worlds where our normal dress would have endangered our lives or those to whom we were to meet. We were frequently required to dress in the local acceptable custom so that we would blend in."

"Do you have any holo?" Ryí asked.

"Regretfully, no. Not many. We rarely took any of ourselves. What few I brought are what Master Qui-Gon had for years. He took a few of me, as I grew, but I was never permitted to take any of him."

Obi-Wan chuckled when Ryí pulled one out of the small pile and held it up.

"Then I suppose this one was taken without his permission?"

Obi-Wan nodded with a wide smile, remembering that day. "He was cooking us a morning meal, humming along while he scrambled something that looked increasingly disgusting with each turn of the spoon. He had no idea I took it. I don't think he ever saw it."

"Why?"

"I was young and I thought he'd be upset with me. I was playfully disobedient as a child and I so very much wanted him to like me."

"He took you on as his apprentice, did he not?" Rían asked with a smile, "I think he liked you."

Ryí laughed at the next holo. "And where was this taken?"

Her brothers tunics were falling open, his hair was a disheveled mess and there were leaves and twigs protruding from places that made her shiver with glee.

"We were practicing in one of the meditation gardens and he was momentarily distracted. I got the edge on him but he grabbed my ankle and we both tumbled into a pile of leaves. He slipped after that picture was taken and fell into the small stream behind him."

Obi-Wan smiled fondly at the memory. "There should be another holo of him soaking wet. Another master and her student had just walked in and she is the one who took the holo."

Rían smiled. "He was distracted by a female. Typical."

Obi-Wan smiled. That was indeed what had distracted his Master. And Obi-Wan had learned a serious lesson because of his Master's mistake. Anything could weaken your defenses, and you'd best be prepared to defend against that weakness, whenever it appears.

The chuckled over the other holos Obi-Wan brought until the reached they leather journal.

Obi-Wan's smile faded and Rían regarded the young man with a thoughtful look. "This carries painful memories for you?"

"No!" Obi-Wan hurried to cover his sadness. "It told me more about my Master and his life than anyone, short of himself, probably could."

Rían opened the leather bound book and smiled at the sketched cover. She flattened her palm across it and closed it once again. "I think each of us will need to read this when we have a bit more time."

Obi-Wan nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving the leather bound volume.

Obi-Wan leaned forward and removed a small box. He smiled at Rían and opened it slowly.

The two women watched him curiously, wondering just what could be contained within.

Rían's heart stopped when Obi-Wan pulled out the small necklace that she had placed around her sons neck over five decades prior.

A sob tore from her lips and Obi-Wan pressed the necklace into her hands.

Her frail fingers closed around it and she brought it to her lips, kissing it reverently.

"I didn't think he would have kept such a thing," She stared at the stones, gleaming as if new in the light of the room.

"It was his most treasured possession," Obi-Wan whispered, remembering the times they had spoken about the necklace.

For the first time, Obi-Wan noticed the tears slip slowly down Rían's cheeks. He didn't know what to do to comfort her. She had held him in his time of tears, and it was the only thing he could think of to help his Master's mother.

He opened his arms and she fell into them, clutching the childhood gift she had given her son. The only gift she had sent with the boy she would not again see until he was a grown man.

"It was all I had. We were poor. I wanted to give him something that reminded him of his family, of where he came from." Rían breathed into Obi-Wan's tunic, her tears wetting the material until he could feel them fall against his chest.

"He knew. He told me countless times of the beauty of this world." Obi-Wan soothed the old woman, his hands smoothing her hair.

"He gave me, as a gift for my first birthday as his apprentice, a stone from the River of Life," Obi-Wan admitted. He decided against telling her the circumstances surrounding the gift , rather allowed her to believe whatever she wished from his statement.

She chuckled and lifted her head from Obi-Wan's chest. "He always did like going there. Even when he came back to visit, he would always walk to the river. He said it gave him peace."

She wiped her tears and smiled. "Thank you young Knight, I know how difficult it is for you to be here. Please, what else have you brought us?"

Inside another worn piece of cloth, Obi-Wan knew this would be especially hard to see. He extended his hand to Rían and she took the material with a questioning glance.

"What is thi-"

The long chestnut braid slid from its covering for the first time since it had been cut from its owner's hair.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He'd gone through everything before carefully packing his Master's meager belongings for the trip. He'd cried for hours when he opened the obviously sentimental piece of fabric and discovered what lay within.

His reaction did not go unnoticed by Rían and Ryí and they nodded to one another.

"His status as a Jedi trainee, this marked?" Rían asked. She had a few memories of her son arriving to visit his mother, a long braid trailing down his broad chest.

Obi-Wan nodded and reached into a concealed pocket of his tunic. He pulled his braid from its hidden place and extended it toward Rían.

"We keep them as a remembrance of all we fought and struggled for. The pain, loneliness and solitude that comes with our choice to live as a Jedi. If you would," Obi-Wan took a deep breath, knowing that asking a complete stranger to do this would be almost unacceptable under other circumstances. "If you would please take mine and keep it with Qui-Gon's, I would be grateful."

Rían smiled warmly and took the red-gold braid from his hands. She wove the two together and kissed them before putting the strand into the cloth covering once again.

After pressing a kiss to the old cloth and leather casing, she extended it toward Obi-Wan. "Take this. It symbolizes something that we can't possibly understand. The memories and emotions it evokes within you, and the honor you do us by bringing such a piece of my son back with you. I wish for you to keep it. Hold it dear to your heart as I know you held my son dear."

Obi-Wan choked back a sob and then he was in Rían's arms once more crying for a man he would never be able to hug, anger, annoy or entertain with his stubbornness ever again.

Rían pressed a kiss to the Jedi's hair and looked out the small window. It overlooked the path leading to the River of Life that she had so often traveled in her youth.

A tear slipped down her cheek as her minds eye conjured the image of her young son playing there, running down the path, calling to her. It had never happened, Qui-Gon had never grown up here on this world, but the image was so clear, she felt she could reach out and touch the boy.

Her heart quickened as the boy ran down the path, weaving in and out of the trees, until he disappeared from her view.

Ryí, who had been watching quietly, noticed her mother's tears and reached her arms around the both of them, cradling them like children, willing away their tears.

Ryí had been strong thus far, not so much as a single tear had been shed. She closed her eyes against the surge of emotion welling up behind her eyelids.

When she opened them, she saw a man standing on the path where her mother had seen only a boy.

Her brother, a soft blue glow surrounding his body, smiled widely at her and nodded his approval.

A single tear slipped down her cheek, joining the others in their sorrow.

END