#basically anyways

 Obi-Wan meets Master Yan in the middle of the night, when he’s snuck out of the créche to find his way to Master Yoda’s rooms after another dream that makes no sense to his eight year-old brain. It isn’t the first time Obi-Wan has sought the grandmaster’s council this late, but it is the first time anyone is already sitting at Master Yoda’s table when he gets there.

  And yet, Master Yoda still invites him in and pours him tea, introducing him to his former padawan who looks down at Obi-Wan with critical, but somehow kind, eyes. Master Yan listens when Yoda asks Obi-Wan to describe his dreams, and doesn’t interrupt the way other masters have; instead, he sits across from Obi-Wan with his hands folded under his chin and his focus intent.

  When Obi-Wan finally trails off, flushed under the attention of two masters, Master Yan turns his head to Yoda. “You never mentioned we had an initiate so strong in the Unifying Force.”

  Master Yoda grumbles and sips his tea. “Ever ask, you did not, hrm. To keep you updated on the créchelings, my duty is not.”

  Obi-Wan glances between them, unused to Jedi questioning Master Yoda about— well, anything. 

  “And how old are you, Initiate Kenobi?” Master Yan asks him, voice a quiet, pleasant rumble. 

  “E-Eight standard, master.”

  “Hm.” He leans back to stroke his beard thoughtfully. “A little young to be sure...”

  “Think before you say something you might regret, you should,” Yoda wraps his robe tighter around himself in what Obi-Wan would have called petulance, had it been anyone but the grandmaster of the Order. 

  “Already have someone in mind, Master?” Master Yan chuckles, pouring both he and Obi-Wan a new cup of tea. 

  “Cloudy, Initiate Kenobi’s future is. Sense the chance for a deep, deep bond with someone else, I do.”

  “M... Masters,” Obi-Wan plucks up the courage to say, “what are we discussing?”

  “At the moment, nothing, yes, hrrm” Yoda says, while Master Yan peers down his nose at him.

  “What my old Master means is that there is a Jedi in the Temple that could, —but only could, mind you— develop an incredibly strong bond with you, were you to become their apprentice.” Stroking his beard still, Master Yan brushes mentally against Obi-Wan’s mind, Obi-Wan startling at the intrusion, especially when he’s so poor at holding his shields. 

“It seems you have much to fear, Initiate Kenobi, and that makes many masters nervous, makes your créchemates lash out. Your lack of shields tells me much about your struggles in your lessons and in your meditations. Now, and I ask you to think carefully on your answer: what is it that you fear most?

  Truthfully, Obi-Wan does not have to think very hard about it, but he still attempts to give other parts of himself the benefit of the doubt, for Master Yan’s sake. He looks inwards as the créchmasters had taught him, skimming his emotions and memories and locating where they are darkest. And they don’t surprise him, for all that they still make him want to curl up and hide, but that is not the Jedi way. 

  He opens his eyes. “That no one will want me. That I’m not good enough.”

  Master Yan raises a perfect eyebrow at Master Yoda, who grumbles more forcefully, but does not stop Master Master Yan from turning back to Obi-Wan. “Well, then I imagine we will have great success in assuaging your other fears now that that is no longer an issue.”

  “Master?”

  “Will you do me the honor of becoming my padawan learner, Initiate Kenobi?”

  Master Yoda heaves a sigh and lets it happen.

-

  “Absolutely not.”

  Master Mundi stumbles over the rest of his briefing on their upcoming mission, the council chamber falling silent to stare at Master Yan. Obi-Wan ducks a little further behind his master, still feeling so small compared to the masters, and Master Yan rests a gentle hand on his back even as he glares down the current head of the order.

  “My padawan is nine standard years. I will not be taking him onto a battlefield,” Master Yan says firmly, and Obi-Wan gets the feeling he doesn’t often disagree publicly with the council.

  “Master Dooku,” Sifo-Dyas sighs. “You are the only qualified master available—”

  “I believe, Sifo, that I said no.”

  Yoda leans forward in his seat, tapping his gimer stick against the floor. “Stay here, Kenobi can. Yes, hrm. More than willing to watch him, I would be, hrrm.”

  Obi-Wan twists a fist into the back of Master Yan’s obi-belt, pressure increasing against his temples from the unrest in the council room, the chill of what he can now identify as the Unifying Force pushing at the back of his shields. Of course, the Force doesn’t deign to give him any clear images, any certain paths, but the mounting terror and pain he can sense in the near future makes his stomach roil, until he has to muffle a sound in his master’s robes.

  Master Yan’s hand immediately goes to the back of his head, carefully loosening Obi-Wan’s grip only so he can crouch down to eye-level, and it’s as if the council masters aren’t even there, for the way Master Yan can somehow narrow Obi-Wan’s focus down to just them.

  “What do you see, padawan?” he murmurs as Obi-Wan leans into the fingers at his temple, letting his master support his shields so he can reach even further into the Force and chase the will-o-the-wisps of colours and pictures.  

  “A Governor,” Obi-Wan finally mutters, scrunching up his face in concentration. “He’s... He’s speaking to someone with a black lightsaber. He wants someone’s armour.” Light flashes behind his eyelids, making his head throb, but Obi-Wan still grabs at it with his fists and holds it tight. “He says he’s willing to lose a few Jedi to get it.”

  When Obi-Wan can blink back from the Force, the council chamber has lowered the blinds, casting the room into a soft warm glow that doesn’t hurt Obi-Wan’s eyes nearly as bad as the sunlight would have. Master Yan is still crouched in front of him, but his head is turned towards Master Mundi and Master Yoda, exchanging quick words that take Obi-Wan a few moments to understand.

  “Master Windu,” Master Mundi is saying, as Master Yan tucks Obi-Wan’s padawan braid back behind his ear before standing, “please get in contact with the senator that sent the request, we will leave nothing up to chance. Padawan Kenobi,” he looks right at Obi-Wan, making him jump. “You are confident in what you’ve seen?”

  Obi-Wan glances up at Master Yan, waiting for his nod before answering, “I know what I saw, Master Mundi, what I felt. That is no guarantee of the future, my visions are not answers.”

  Several other masters nod and smile at him, and Master Yoda fully relaxes into his seat to look up at Master Yan. “Hrmmm. Done well with Padawan Kenobi you have, Master Dooku. A powerful master he will become, yes.”