Obi-Wan's relief lasted only as long as it took him to realize that the continuing scene in his mind might be the most dangerous thing of all. He dismissed it, though, unsure if this was a premonition, an image of reality, or just his own fears playing out before him. Obi-Wan pointedly reminded himself that the sooner he solved the mystery of Kamino, the mystery of who so desperately wanted Amidala dead, the sooner he could return to Anakin and offer the proper guidance.
The Jedi Knight focused again on the bust of Count Dooku, searching for insights, but for some reason, the image of Anakin kept becoming interposed with that of the renegade Count…
Soon after, a frustrated and thoroughly bewildered Obi-Wan walked out of the small meditation chamber, shaking his head and no more certain of anything than he had been when he had entered the place.
His patience exhausted into frustration, the Jedi Knight decided to seek a higher authority, one wiser and more experienced. His short trip took him out of the Temple proper and onto the veranda, and there he paused and watched, and in the innocent scene before him found some relief from the frustration.
Master Yoda was leading twenty of the youngest Jedi recruits, children only four or five years old, through their morning training exercises, battling floating training droids with miniature lightsabers.
Obi-Wan recalled his own training. He couldn't see the eyes of the youngsters, for they wore protective full- face helmets, but he could well imagine the range of emotions playing out on their innocent faces. There would be intensity, and then great joy whenever an energy bolt from a training droid was blocked, and that elation would inevitably dissipate in the next instant, when the joy brought distraction and distraction allowed the next energy bolt to slip past and bring a sudden, jolting sting.
And those little bolts did sting, Obi-Wan remembered, as much physically as in pride. There was nothing worse than getting zapped, particularly in the backside. It always caused one to do a little hopping and twisting dance, which naturally made the embarrassment all the worse. Obi-Wan recalled that feeling vividly, recalled thinking that everyone in the courtyard was staring at him.
The training could be humiliating.
But it was also energizing, because with the failures would come the successes, each one building confidence, each one lending insights into the flowing beauty that was the Force, heightening the connection that separated a Jedi from the rest of the galaxy.
To see Yoda leading the training this day, looking exactly as he had when he had led Obi-Wan's training a quarter century before, brought a flush of warmth to the Jedi Knight.
'Don't think… feel,' Yoda instructed the group. 'Be as one with the Force.'
Obi-Wan, smiling, mouthed the exact words as Yoda finished, 'Help you, it will.'
How many times he had heard that!
He was still grinning widely when Yoda turned to him. 'Younglings, enough!' the great Jedi Master commanded. 'A visitor we have. Welcome him.'
Twenty little lightsabers clicked off and the students came to attention together, removing their helmets and tucking them properly under their left arms.
'Master Obi-Wan Kenobi,' Yoda said, keeping enough gravity in his voice so that the younglings wouldn't feel mocked.
'Welcome, Master Obi-Wan!' the twenty called out together.
'I am sorry to disturb you, Master,' Obi-Wan said with a slight bow.
'What help to you, can I be?'
Obi-Wan considered the question for a moment. He had specifically come out here looking for Yoda, but now, in seeing the diminutive Master at his important work, he wondered if he had let his patience fall away too quickly. Was it his place to ask Yoda to help him with a mission that was his own responsibility? It didn't take long for Obi-Wan to dismiss the question. He was a Jedi Knight, Yoda, a Master, and his responsibilities and Yoda's were ultimately one and the same. He didn't expect that Yoda could help him with this particular problem, but then again, Yoda had always been full of surprises, full of going far beyond any expectations.
'I'm looking for a planet described to me by an old friend,' he explained, and he knew that Yoda was absorbing every word. 'I trust him and the information he provided, but the system doesn't show up on the archive maps.' As he finished, he showed Yoda that he had a hologlobe with him.
'An interesting puzzle,' Yoda answered. 'Lost a planet, Master Obi-Wan has. How embarrassing… how embarrassing. An interesting puzzle. Gather, younglings, around the map reader. Clear your minds and find Obi- Wan's wayward planet, we will try.'
They went into a room to the side of the veranda. A narrow shaft was set in the middle, with a hollow depression at the top. Off to the side, Obi-Wan took up the hologlobe, then moved and placed it in the hollow of the shaft.
The shades closed as soon as he put it there, darkening the room, and a star map hologram appeared, glittering distinctly.
Obi-Wan paused a moment before presenting his dilemma, allowing the younglings to get past the initial excitement. He watched with amusement as some reached up and tried to touch the projected starlights. Then, when all quieted, he walked into the middle of the projection. 'This is where it ought to be,' he explained. 'Gravity is pulling all the stars in this area inward to this spot. There should be a star here, but there isn't.'
'Most interesting,' Yoda said. 'Gravity's silhouette remains, but the star and all its planets have disappeared. How can this be? Now, younglings, in your mind, what is the first thing you see? An answer? A thought? Anyone?'
Obi-Wan took Yoda's quiet cue and paused then, watching the Jedi Master look over his gathering.
A hand went up, and while Obi-Wan felt the urge to chuckle at the idea of a youngling solving a riddle that had befuddled a trio of accomplished Jedi, including Yoda and Madame Jocasta Nu, he noted that Yoda was quite focused and serious.
Yoda nodded to the student, who answered at once. 'Because someone erased it from the archive memory.'
