*"Why did you even bother coming if you weren't going to compete?"*

*"We need you, Obi-Wan. We can't make a duet out of a trio."*

Obi-Wan winced as the words tumbled through his head. They were right, he knew that, but it didn't make it any easier to deal with. "There's nothing I can do about it. He'd never let me go." He mumbled to himself as he made his way back to his quarters.

"Obi!"

Obi-Wan looked up and gave his roommate something that might have resembled a smile. Sort of.

"What's wrong?"

Obi-Wan sighed as he carefully sat his bundle down and flopped on the lower bunk. "I told them I couldn't go, Aaltje."

"Go where?" The girl asked, dropping onto the bed across the room.

Obi-Wan shot her an aggravated look. "To the music competition."

"Oh, that. But why? You've been looking forward to the competition for months now. I didn't see your name listed on the assignment board."

"It's on Vortex. We'd have to go the night before and arrive the day after. Three days, Aaltje. I can't just disappear for three days."

"That's why you ask Master Jinn." The girl replied giving the boy across from her a hard look.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "That would go over well. I can just see it. I'd ask and he'd laugh in my face and forbid me from ever playing again."

"You don't know that. You won't know until you ask."

Obi-Wan sat up and faced his Kel-Dor roommate. "Aaltje, I've known the man for five years. I've never once seen him hum, sing, play an instrument, or even have a music disc lying around somewhere. Every time I start, he hushes me immediately. I have to face it, Aaltje. My master hates music."

"I don't do any of those things either, and you don't accuse me of hating music."

Obi-Wan gave his friend a wan smile. "That's because you're always borrowing mine, or begging me to play for you. I just have to face it, Aaltje. I can't go to the competition, no matter how much I want to."

* * *

"Again!"

Obi-Wan sighed and picked his abused body off the floor, returning to the ready position. He bowed to his partner and was immediately put on the defensive. He blocked, parried and slashed but to no avail. He was going to lose....again.

He hit the floor with a thud, and laid there as the green tinged blade hummed just under his chin.

The blade was extinguished and he was being helped back to his feet.

"What's gotten into you? Your focus is deplorable. An initiate could do better than you at the moment, Obi-Wan."

The boy hung his head, "I'm sorry, Master. I'll do better next time."

"You will, because I don't see how you could be doing much worse. What's wrong, apprentice mine?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. It'd been two days, he had another three before the competition and he couldn't seem to get the accusing stares of his former trio mates out of his head. Not to mention that Aaltje had been bugging him mercilessly to ask his master about it and had enlisted the help of their other two roommates to do it. So instead of just having to battle his conscience, he also had to put up with three very determined females.

"It's nothing Master. I just...have a lot on my mind."

Qui-Gon Jinn nodded slowly, giving his apprentice a hard look. There was more going on than his teenage apprentice was telling, but he wasn't going to pry. An apprentice had little in the way of privacy and Qui-Gon was loathed to take that away. "Perhaps the load would be lighter if you shared it?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, Master, but thank you. This is something that I must do on my own."

"Then I suggest you meditate on the subject, Padawan. Find your answer in the Force."

"Yes, Master."

* * *

Obi-Wan looked down at the object in his hands. It was the subject of all his problems. It was the reason he couldn't focus at the moment. It was what he was hiding from his master, it was...simply everything.

The instrument was made of Alderaanian dark wood, very rare and expensive. It was shaped vaguely like a pear, with the bottom rounding out to the middle, where it cut in with a half circle only to continue up and round out at the top, slightly smaller than the bottom section. Where the wood curved in, there were two cut outs, one on each side, shaped in the shape of an "S". A long neck extended from the top of the instrument, to be topped off by a curl and four pegs, two sticking out of each side. Coiled around those four pegs were strings made from the innards of an animal and wrapped in metal. They stretched down the neck, over another piece of wood that looked like a bridge and clasped just beyond it.

Obi-Wan picked the instrument out of its case and lovingly stroked the body. Plucking one of the strings, he winced slightly at the tone it produced. Pulling out another piece of wood, this time made from a lighter Ithorian branch, it was bent inward and hair from a tauntaun stretched across. Obi-Wan twisted the knob at the bottom, pulling the tauntaun hair tight and pulled the bow across the strings.

Another wince. He pulled out the third piece and softly blew in it. A soft, reedy, sound came out and he put the instrument under his chin and started to match the pitch. When he was satisfied with the sound he put the tuner away and with a deep breath pulled the bow across the strings once more.

Low sound filled the air. With a sigh, Obi-Wan closed his eyes. His master had told him to meditate, but he hadn't said how. The sound that his hands and instrument produced filled him with calm and let his mind relax enough to seek the Force.

Lights and color exploded behind his eyelids. Colors swirled around him, dips and rises that seemed to keep time to the music. His body was trained enough to be able to keep the melody without his mind consciously there and he let himself float, trusting his body to keep the music soft and low, this particular form of meditation was for him and him alone.

* * *

Qui-Gon shook his head as he entered the garden. His apprentice was missing, or rather late. He was going to have to do something with the boy, this wasn't the first time in the last two days his apprentice had been late. In fact, it seemed to be the rule rather than the exception.

There was something bothering the boy that much was certain. It was also certain that it had something to do with Qui-Gon.. The older man sighed. He really hoped they didn't have to have the Talk again. He thought Obi-Wan had understood at 15 why the older man wouldn't enter into a sexual relationship with his student. The power balance inherent their relationship bothered Qui-Gon and somehow, it just seemed...wrong. He thought Obi-Wan had understood, perhaps he'd been mistaken.

That didn't mean he wouldn't be against a relationship after the boy was knighted. However, Obi-Wan was only eighteen and had many years to go before knighthood. No, this problem had to be solved now before it got worse. Obi-Wan had to learn that personal concerns could not distract him from his duties. While Qui-Gon was willing to grant a bit of leeway while they were at the Temple, he knew the point had to be driven home. Neither of them could afford the distractions while on a mission. Those distractions could end up costing them more than a little sparring time.

He frowned as he tried to home in on his apprentice's signature. There was something...quiet...at the very range of his hearing. Something that seemed to call to him. Shaking his head, the older Jedi Master followed the quiet siren song. His apprentice would have to wait.

* * *

Obi-Wan opened his eyes. His meditations hadn't helped. All they showed him was something he already knew. There was no waiting answer in the Force, nothing that would help him come to a decision. He couldn't ask his master for his advice, because his master wouldn't understand how much this meant to him. To his master, it was just another competition, at the very least an indulgence in his apprentice's strange obsession with music, at the very worst it was simply an exercise in pride.

Looking up, he froze. There, standing in front of him was the one person he wasn't ready to face. His hands clenched and the delicate harmonic he'd been playing turned into an ugly screech.

Wincing he forced his left hand to relax as he pulled the bow off the strings with his right. He tucked the instrument under his left armpit and ducked his head.

"Master."

Qui-Gon stared at the boy hardly recognizing his apprentice. The Force clung to him like a second skin almost visible in its intensity. His head was ducked and he held a small wooden...something under his left armpit his other hand something else that looked suspiciously like an inverted bow.

"Obi-Wan? You're late." Qui-Gon finally managed to spit out. He immediately regretted his words as the young man flinched.

"Yes, Master. I'm sorry."

Qui-Gon sighed and reached out to tip up his apprentice's chin. "Obi-Wan...did you find the answers you were looking for?"

Obi-Wan blinked and then shook off his master's touch. "Uh...no Master. I don't believe there is an answer for this. It's just something that must be...endured. It'll pass in time, Master."

Qui-Gon sighed and sat down on the grass, motioning for his apprentice to do the same. The sparring would have to wait. This was more important. "Sit Obi-Wan."

The ginger haired boy's breath hitched. "Uh...actually Master, don't we have a sparring session now?"

"Sit, Obi-Wan."

With a resigned sigh the boy did as he was told, but not before putting the strange thing in his hands away in the case Qui-Gon just noticed was lying open. Qui-Gon waited until he was his apprentice has settled and then took a deep breath. "Obi-Wan.  

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