With You

Chapter 1

Obi-Wan Kenobi moved to find a place in the meditation gardens with settled down, placing the small stones he carried in a sack on the ground in front of him. The gardens had been reserved for the younglings that day, and Obi-Wan always found it easier to meditate sitting under one of the massive trees there, the life force of the tree grounding him.

He'd used this tree before and it seemed to prove successful, but this time something felt a bit different. Just as he settled into his meditative stance, resting his hands on his knees as the instructor had shown them when he heard a noise behind him and quickly turned to look. Hanging from the branches of the tree he's picked, was a young girl. He didn't recognize her, but he had heard whispers from the elders that a child was changing clans.

"H-hello?" he said nervously.

She giggled. "Hi."

He frowned. "Why are you hanging from that tree?"

"It looked fun," she said with a wide grin.

"We're not supposed to be having fun, we're supposed to be practicing meditating."

She sighed and flipped down, landing beside him. Obviously she was good at acrobatics and he wondered what it might be like to spar against her one day like he'd seen the older younglings do. Before he could argue she'd sat down right next to him, knees almost bumping, and pulled her own small bag out. She'd dumped a pile of stones on the ground before he could argue.

"What are you doing?" he questioned.

"You told me I should be meditating."

He snipped at her. "Yes—preferably somewhere else." He saw her face drop the cheerful gaze she'd had only moments before. She tried to hide her sadness by looking down at her hands, now wringing in her lap.

His heart lurched in his young chest. He suddenly felt bad for getting upset with her, but also was determined to follow the rules. He nudged her with his elbow and she glanced up at him. He gave her a softer look this time. "I only meant—the instructor said we're supposed to be spread apart to give ourselves room for our Life Forces to settle and focus with no one else around.

She sighed and looked down again. "I'm sorry for bothering you. I'll move." She scooped up the stones as best she could, moving quickly away. It felt strange to the young boy, but he felt as if the Force pulled him at him as she went. He watched as she sat down, dropping the stones in front of her. One of her elbows now dug into her knee, her hand cupping her chin as she shuffled the stones around. When she'd first turned herself upside down towards him from the tree limb, her spirit had shown so bright he could feel it around him. Now... it seemed so dim and... sad. He felt the tug again and glanced down at his own stones, then glanced over and noticed she'd left one behind.

Moments later he plopped down beside her, hand held palm up with her missing stone in it. "You forgot one."

She glanced up to him, and he couldn't miss the tears swelling at the edge of her eyes. "Oh, um... thank you."

She took it from him, and when her fingers brushed his palm, his eyes went to their hands and then back to her eyes. "I'm Obi-Wan—Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're new, right?"

She hid her face by looking down again, pulling her hand away. "Yes. I was moved from the other clan because—well... I have a hard time listening and I guess they thought I'd do better here."

"What's your name?" he asked, since she'd neglected to introduce herself.

"Cecilia Quin," she said quietly, still fiddling with the stones in front of her, now including the one she'd forgotten.

"It's nice to meet you, Cecilia Quin," he said with a smile.

She glanced up, saw his genuine smile, and in an instant her face beamed a radiant smile that made his heart warm. "It's nice to meet you too, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

He shifted, facing forward again, and closed his eyes.

"Aren't you going to go back to your spot?" she whispered.

He opened his eyes again, pushing down his impatience with his new friend. "You have a hard time meditating, don't you?"

She scrunched her face up in frustration. "It's so hard. There's either too much to focus on or not enough."

"Maybe I can help," he said thoughtfully.

Her eyes grew wide. "But the instructor said..."

"The instructors seldom check back here. And if they do we'll just separate, and it will be fine."

**--**--**

Obi-Wan could still remember that first day he'd met Cecilia Quin. It was also the first time their Life Forces had touched. He was trying to help her meditate and being so young neither was quite adept at how to interact with another's Life Force. He'd wondered if that was how their bond had started. Perhaps it was accidental brush against each other's Life Force's as younglings while trying to practice meditation that wove them together. Or was it just that which the Force used to draw them together?

It was the first time they'd spent time together in those gardens... but not the last. Plenty of times they did as instructed and were meditating, but often times, when the instructors were focused on other students in another place within the gardens, they were giggling, racing to see who could levitate their meditation stones first, or just talking.

After being separated by the instructor on one occasion, they were then chastised for talking to each other from their separate places, instead of meditating. That was the first time Obi-Wan heard her voice in his head.

He felt the familiar nudge of her presence near him, but then was startled when he heard her voice in his head. *Obi?*

*Cecilia?*

It was strange, but he was sure he could feel her grin. *It worked!*

*Should we... should we be doing this?*

*You worry too much, Obi*

*It's -Obi-Wan-, Cecilia.*

*Whatever you say, Obi...*

That time, he heard a muffled giggle through his ears and looked over at her to find her mischievously looking back at him. He rolled his eyes and closed them again, returning to his attempts at meditation.