next blow had all his weight behind it. Bruck nearly dropped his lightsaber.
Qui-Gon pushed his advantage. He attacked, his lightsaber now just a blur in the dusky light. Slashing, parrying, whirling to come at Bruck from yet another angle, then another, Qui-Gon forced the boy back into a corner.
Now the murmurs he heard from the onlookers were of appreciation for the skill of a Jedi Master. Qui-Gon tuned them out. The battle was not over until the final defeat.
Bruck tried a last assault, but the boy was tired. It was not hard for Qui-Gon to knock Bruck's weapon from his hand and lightly touch the end of his own lightsaber to the boy's neck.
'End point, it is,' Yoda announced.
The two exchanged the ritual bows and the customary eye contact. At the end of every match, each Jedi showed respect to the other and gratitude for his lesson, win or lose. Qui-Gon had fought many times in this way.
Sometimes, Jedi students could not control their frustration or anger during the ritual bow.
But in Bruck's steady gaze Qui-Gon saw only respect. That was an improvement.
But he saw other things. Curiosity. Desire.
Bruck was going to be thirteen in a few days. He had not yet been chosen as a Padawan. Time was running out. He was most likely wondering if Qui-Gon would choose him.
Everyone was wondering, Qui-Gon knew. Teachers, students, even the Council. Why had he returned to the Temple? Had he come to choose another apprentice?
Qui-Gon turned away from the speculation in Bruck's eyes. He would never choose a Padawan again.
He returned his lightsaber to his belt. Bruck replaced his in the rack where the senior students left their weapons after training. Qui-Gon quickly walked through the dressing and washing rooms and activated the door to the Room of a Thousand Fountains.
He felt the coolness of the air with relief. Here in the enormous greenhouse it was always refreshing. The sound of rushing water and the many shades of green soothed a restless spirit. He could hear the trickle of the small fountains nestled in the ferns, as well as the gentle thunder of the larger waterfalls down the paths. Qui-Gon had always found the garden peaceful. He hoped that now it would calm his raging heart.
Privacy was greatly respected at the Temple.
Qui-Gon had not been confronted with questions since he'd arrived. Yet he knew that curiosity bubbled beneath the calm surface of the Temple just as the hidden fountains flowed in the gardens. Students and teachers alike wanted to know the answer to one question: What had gone wrong between him and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Even if someone asked him the question, would he be able to answer it?
Qui-Gon sighed. The situation whirled with cloudy motivations and uncertain paths. Had he misjudged his Padawan? Had he been too firm with Obi-Wan? Not firm enough?
Qui-Gon didn't have an answer. All he knew was that Obi-Wan had made an astonishing and bewildering choice. He had thrown away his Jedi training like it was a worn-out tunic.
'Troubled you are, if the garden you seek,' Yoda said from behind him.
Qui-Gon turned. 'Not troubled. Just overheated from the battle.'
Yoda gave a slight nod. He did not fully respond if he felt a Jedi had dodged an issue. Qui-Gon knew that well.
'Avoiding me, you have been,' Yoda remarked. He settled himself on a stone bench placed near a fountain that ran over smooth white pebbles. The sound of the water was nearly music.
'I've been watching over Tahl,' Qui-Gon answered.
Tahl was the Jedi Knight who Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had rescued from Melida/Daan. She had been blinded in an attack and then held as a prisoner of war.
Again, Yoda only nodded slightly. 'Better healers we have at the Temple than you,' he said. 'And in need of constant care, Tahl is not. Welcomes it not, I think.'
Qui-Gon could not suppress a half smile. It was true. Tahl was already impatient with the constant attention. She didn't like to be fussed over.
'Time it is for you to speak your heart,' Yoda said softly. 'Past time, it is.'
With a heavy sigh, Qui-Gon sat on the bench next to Yoda. He did not want to unburden his heart. Yet Yoda had a right to know the facts.
'He stayed,' Qui-Gon said simply. 'He told me he had found something on Melida/Daan that was more important than his Jedi training. On the morning we were leaving, the Elders attacked the Young. They had starfighters and weapons. The Young were disorganized. They needed help.'
'And yet stay you did not.'
'My orders were to return to the Temple with Tahl.'
Yoda leaned slightly backward in surprise. 'Orders, they were? Counsel, it was. And always willing to ignore my counsel you are, if suits you it does.'
Qui-Gon gave a start. Obi-Wan had flung almost the same words at him back on Melida/Daan.
'Are you saying I should have stayed?' Qui-Gon asked irritably. 'What if Tahl had died?'
Yoda sighed. 'A hard choice it was, Qui-Gon. Yet willing are you to blame your Padawan. Place the choice before him you did: forsake Jedi training, or children die, friends are betrayed. Thought you understood a boy's
