A few of the older Padawans walked by, casting their glances down at his pile of gadgets. They said nothing, and continued on their way, giving quiet respect to his mechanical genius. Obi Wan felt at home in the Jedi temple. It was quiet, and people went about their business in a kind and caring manner. It was when his master, Qui Gon Jinn insisted on introducing him to the outside world, that he was unhappy. He quickly snapped together the pieces of his lightsaber and hurried to Qui Gon's chambers. His defective lightsaber prevented him from being early to their training session, but he was determined not to be late. He rapped sharply
on the door and it gave way. He stepped in the entrance of Qui Gon's chambers.

"Master?" He looked around the dark chamber. "Are we not to train today?"

Qui Gon appeared from the shadows, wearing a cloak and carrying a satchel. "Of course," he said, calmly. "But today, our training will not take place in the temple."

Obi Wan groaned silently and followed Qui Gon from the room, knowing he would undoubtedly embarrass himself in the marketplace of Coruscant. He never failed to insult, break, or lose something. Qui Gon knew it, too, and rejoiced in inserting his student in yet another humiliating situation. Old goat.

"I heard that." Obi Wan looked up and back to see Qui Gon's bearded face smiling mystically at him. He sighed and continued his trek.  He also never failed to display all his faults in full view of his new master.

"I have a meeting I must attend," Qui Gon informed him upon their arrival at the marketplace. "You will accompany me, and then we will do a bit of shopping."

Obi Wan resisted the urge to protest that shopping was for girls.  Instead, he silently followed his master to a large hut and through the low opening. Qui Gon had to fold himself nearly in half, his height crippled by the low doorframe. Obi Wan barely had to duck his head. He tried not to yearn to grow up, as desire led to jealousy, which led to the Dark Side, but he was tired of being only elbow-high to his master. One day, he would at least like to reach his shoulder. Obi Wan looked around the hut curiously, his eyes adjusting from the bright sunlight to the cool shadows. Lining the
walls were veiled women, with dark hair and eyes, watching him curiously.  From behind a screen stepped a large man with small, beady eyes and enormous hands.

"My friend!" he said, throwing his hands wide. "You have come to help me."

"Of course, Both Corum. I never leave a friend in need."

"And the boy?"

"Can be trusted implicitly. This is my Padawan, Obi Wan Kenobi.  Obi Wan, please meet my friend Both Corum."

"Pleased to meet you, sir," Obi Wan said quietly, nearly getting his arm vibrated from the socket by the larger man's enthusiastic greeting. He was somewhat surprised at Qui Gon's confident endorsement. Of course a master must trust his Padawan, but it made him feel...older than 13 to heard Qui Gon speak so well of him.

"So, you're old Qui Gon's new Padawan! Maybe this one will become something! You know what happened to the last one, don't you?" Obi Wan stared at the large man, dismayed. The last Padawan?

"Stop that, Both. Don't scare the boy. Never mind, Obi Wan. You have nothing to fear. Now Both, tell me about this trouble you're having.  Obi Wan, stop ogling those women and pay attention. You may learn something."

I was not ogling the women, Obi Wan did not say to Qui Gon. He had not even glanced at them after the first observation. His master and Both Corum sat on the ground on staw mats, and Obi Wan sat crosslegged near Qui Gon.

"I've been having problems with my production," Both Corum was saying. Obi Wan listened to the men discuss the problems of worker motivation, mediation, and appeasement. Qui Gon even welcomed a comment about consideration of how the workers lived. Obi Wan began to relax. Maybe this trip would not be the disaster he anticipated, after all.  At the end of the discussion, the men stood, and Obi Wan scrambled to follow.

"If you'll come with me," Corum asked, "I have a few new acquisitions I wanted to show you."

"Excellent," Qui Gon told him. "Obi Wan, please wait here. I will be back shortly."

"Yes, Master." Qui Gon smiled and touched him on the shoulder. Obi Wan felt peaceful. He wondered if the calm he felt at Qui Gon's touch was his master's manipulation of the Force, or simply an emotional reaction. As the two men disappeared behind a partition of the hut, Obi Wan looked around nervously. He was not sure if he should attempt to make conversation with the women. Previous experience had taught him that he was usually safer to keep his mouth shut in social situations, but his success with the meeting and a new determination to make this day a success heartened him. "Good afternoon," he offered to the women. "My
name is Obi Wan Kenobi. How are you, today?" He barely managed to deflect the flying attack to his back. He spun to catch the woman's slipper shod foot and pull her over his head. His teenage sensabilities registered that she wore simply a bikini, her veil discarded when she attacked. His Jedi training though, had already produced and activated his lightsaber.  This fortunate reflex would keep the rest of the women at bay, as they circled him warily. Except that the handle had not produced the blade.  Obi Wan stared at the useless weapon. What had he done wrong? He soon found there was little time for self-recrimination as he was attacked in a dozen different directions. He defended himself as best he could,
somersaulting and blocking attacks wherever possible. One against twenty though, are tough odds, even for a Jedi Padawan, and Obi Wan was soon pinned to the floor by 20 lovely women, clad only in black bikinis.  If I were a normal boy, Obi Wan thought with a tinge of irony, I'd pay good money to be in this position. He was not a normal boy, though, and his mind was quickly searching for an escape.

"You can't do this," he announced, attempting to project indignation and outrage throughout the room. It wasn't working. "Why would you attack the man you love?" He asked, trying desperately to come up with anything that he could to convince them to release him. He saw a few of them exchange glances. He decided to concentrate on just one. Maybe one of them could convince the rest to let him go. Preferably before Qui Gon and Both Corum returned. He turned his head slightly, to look one in the eye. "You are madly in love with me," he said. He had always seen the Jedi Masters wave a hand to accompany this particular trick, but he had no hand available.

"I am madly in love with you," she echoed, wide-eyed.

"You wish to let me go."

"I wish to let you go."

"So let me go!"

"Obi Wan!" Qui Gon Jinn had just hurried from the storage room at the sounds of a battle, and arrived to find his apprentice spread eagled on the floor, held in place by twenty Sibothan warriors. He stopped, hiding a smile, and rested his hands on his belt. "Obi Wan, explain yourself."

"I am madly in love with you," one of the women announced. Qui Gon quirked his eyebrow. Obi Wan sighed.

Both Corum entered the room behind him and erupted into loud guffaws of mirth.

"Seems your trusty Padawan got himself in a bit of trouble with my security force."

Security force? Obi Wan wondered. I thought they were his harem, or something.

"Obi Wan. I'm waiting."

"I, um, Master, I--"

"I am madly in love with you!" the girl announced, again, leaping from the floor to challenge Qui Gon.

"I don't doubt it," Qui Gon said, trying, not very successfully, to hide a laugh. He held up his open hands to show he was unarmed. "I would appreciate it if your compatriots would let him up, though." Both Corum barked an order to the women in their native tongue, and they all removed themselves from Obi Wan and returned to their veils and proceeded to cover themselves. "Obi Wan," Qui Gon asked when the boy had gotten to his feet. "Did you use the Force to convince this woman she
was in love with you?"

"Yes, Master," Obi Wan said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Obi Wan! Do you--"

"No Master! I tried to say hello, and they attacked, and--"

"You spoke to them?"

Obi Wan nodded cautiously.

"Obi Wan, didn't you do the reading I assigned you? Those women are Sibothan warriors. They only speak Sibothan and take any interaction with anyone but their owner as a challenge." Qui Gon's voice was still soft and calm, but Obi Wan knew he was in for it.

"No, Master. I didn't finish the assignment."

"I see. Well, get yourself together, apologize to Both Corum, and we will talk about this at the Temple."

"Yes, Master." Obi Wan held tight to his anger and turned to Both Corum. "Sir, I am sorry about what I did. It was not intentional." "That is all right, young Padawan. At least you provided me with the best laugh I've had all year. And it seems, you have taught one of my girls an English phrase or two." He laughed again. "Stick with Qui Gon, boy, and your mistakes will become fewer and fewer."

"Thank you, sir."

"Home with you, boy," Qui Gon ordered. "Start walking now. I'll catch up with you in a moment."

"Yes, sir." Obi Wan exited the hut and began the trek back to the Temple. After a few minutes, he felt the presence of his master and heard the heavy footsteps at his back all the way back to the Temple.  He couldn't possibly be expected to finish all the reading he was assigned, besides make all his training sessions, do his research, and practice his meditation. He decided that it would be best not to mention the broken lightsaber when talking to Qui Gon later.

"I ought to beat you soundly about the head until some sense introduces itself."

Obi Wan regarded Qui Gon solomnly. Qui Gon sighed. "But I won't. I think you've learned your lesson."

"Master?" Obi Wan tried not to fidget. "Why do we have to go to the marketplace all the time? I always end up making an idiot of myself." Qui Gon smiled. "Well, my boy, I was considering filming your entire Padawan experience to show your grandchildren. I thought they should get some good laughs from that."

Obi Wan did not laugh.

"All right." Qui Gon sighed. "I think we both recognize interaction with the outside world as your greatest weakness. Obi Wan, the only way to conquer that which challenges you is to take the challenge head on again, and again, until you succeed. You had made progress today. If you'd only finished your reading, you might have escaped this trip relatively unscathed." He smiled fondly at the boy. "Besides, it could have been much worse. You could have completely overreacted and pulled your lightsaber on them."