Summary: Qui-Gon Jinn was never able to accept Obi-Wan Kenobi as his Padawan learner in the days following Bandomeer. Six years later, he is escorting the Senator of Naboo and her daughter Sabé home when an attack leaves them stranded on a desolate and scheming world. As Qui-Gon comes to grips with the man he rejected all those years ago, Obi-Wan and Sabé spark between them a passion unknown to them before. As their love blossoms and grows, dark forces begin to reach for the former Jedi, and what is Sabé's role in it?
Unable to Catch a Dream
Prologue
Six years earlier…
"I cannot take the boy as my Padawan, Master."
The words seemed to bounce off the chamber walls, taunting Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn wickedly in a way not even he knew. He knew he was doing the right thing, but, yet, the words slapped him across the chest and face, sharply accusing him. It was as if they had eyes, glaring at him. He knew he was being overly dramatic, but it was the way he felt, and nothing could banish it from his mind, even as he chuckled half heartedly at his jumpiness.
Master Yoda let out a long sigh. His large luminous eyes looked up at his former student sadly. Qui-Gon couldn't bear the gaze Yoda gave him, and he looked away. In any other circumstance, Yoda would be amused. This day, however, he wasn't at all. He couldn't with the actions of Qui-Gon hanging over his head.
"Why?" Yoda asked.
Qui-Gon looked out at the Coruscant skyline. The lights sparkled brilliantly in the darkness of the night. Looking at the lights, he felt a pulling at his heart. They twinkled so wonderfully, and it made him sad to realize that the eyes of a thirteen year old boy would probably never twinkle again…
He couldn't look at Yoda as he spoke. "I have no connection to the child, Master Yoda. I am not ready for a Padawan. He doesn't deserve me as a Master. He's so bright, and he's so courageous. I would just ruin his talent. I have no right to take him."
Yoda made a sound with his tongue Qui-Gon had heard many times. He winced. When he had been younger, the only thing he had ever wanted was to please Yoda. Even now, almost five decades later, the thing he sought most was the great Master's approval.
"Disappointed, I am. Know that, you do. Do what you must, however. Fight you longer, I will not. Remind you, I will, of the boy's work. Courageous, he was. Brave. Smart, he is. Such a loss of potential, this is. Saddens me greatly, this does."
Qui-Gon wanted to say something. It burned within him so badly to let the boy go to Agri-Corps. His heart snapped at him, the reasonable part of his mind reminded him he was doing the right thing. The only thing he could accomplish by taking Obi-Wan Kenobi on as his Padawan was losing him the way he lost Xanatos. He would die to prevent that from happening to another soul. He would not corrupt Obi-Wan the way he had his last Padawan.
"I am certain of my decision, Master Yoda."
With a great sigh, Yoda nodded heavily.
"Then closed, this chapter is."
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