THE SHIDOKI
Chapter One
"Padawan, please sit down."
Obi-Wan Kenobi watched with repressed amusement as his young teenage padawan, Anakin Skywalker stalked about the modest-sized common room they shared.
"But you didn't hear them, Master! They weren't just poking fun at me, you know. They were saying things about you too!"
Obi-Wan was struggling to conceal a small grin as his fourteen-year-old student blushed deeply before finally taking a seat next to him on sofa. He commenced to clean the blood that had now dried upon his padawan's lip. Mustering up his most masterly tone, he proceeded to gently admonish the young man.
"I have spoken with you before about fighting in the Temple."
"But Master! They said that you….." Anakin blushed again as he recalled the exact words that the older Jedi padawan's had thrown in his face. "You wouldn't actually set me up with a….."
Obi-Wan interrupted him before he could speak further. "It doesn't matter what they said. You must learn to control your emotions, padawan. Anger and aggression -- these lead to the Dark Side. You have to learn to find your center and send your emotions into the Force."
Anakin mumbled something that was not quite audible to Obi-Wan.
"Excuse me?" His Master replied.
The youth cocked his head and his eyes quickly looked upward. "You just don't understand, Master. When you were young, I bet the other padawan's didn't tease you."
"Quite the contrary. There was one in particular who most certainly did."
"Really? Ow, Master!"
"Sorry." Obi-Wan eased his pressure on applying an antiseptic cream into the cut over Anakin's eyebrow. "There was one padawan in particular who consistently harrassed me."
"Who?" The young man impatiently queried.
"Names are not necessary, Anakin. Let me just say that I gave in to my aggression at one point and it almost cost me my apprenticeship."
At the surprised look on his young charge's face, Obi-Wan gazed at him sternly. "And the same thing could happen to you. You must learn to govern your passions, or they will undo you."
"Yes, Master." Anakin dutifully replied while Obi-Wan applied a small bandage to his head.
The youth squinted in discomfort but was silent for a moment, seemingly lost in his thoughts, until finally looking up to meet Obi-Wan's gaze. "Master? What is a Shidoki?"
The question caught Obi-Wan off-guard and he chewed his lip as he put away the first aid supplies. He wasn't prepared to have this discussion with his padawan yet. Maybe in a couple of years. However, things weren't the same as they used to be in the Temple. The padawans nowadays seemed to grow up so fast.
Very well, the Jedi decided. If Anakin's agemates were already discussing it, perhaps it was time to teach him about this particular Jedi tradition.
"Follow me, Anakin."
The young man rose and accompanied his Master to the vast assortment of paper books that he had collected over the years, many of which were from Master Qui-Gon's personal collection, having been passed down to Obi-Wan. From up on the very top shelf, Obi-Wan levitated a book down to within his reach, blew the dust off the cover and handed it to Anakin.
The gold inscripted title on the book revealed that the information inside would answer his questions.
"The Shidoki: A Jedi Master Intermediation." Anakin read aloud.
He then looked up at his Master with a skeptical eye. Obi-Wan knew the look quite well. It was the one he received every time that he recommended something for Anakin to read that wasn't about astromechanics or speederbike racing.
"Just read it." Obi-Wan advised, and then shook his head in a comical gesture as he watched his padawan once again roll his eyes and go to his room with the thick book slapping against his thigh.
Perhaps he should have taken the time to explain the tradition to Anakin himself, but lately, the boy had a tendency to become easily distracted and Obi-Wan often wondered if sometimes he was even listening to him.
"Typical behavior for a teenage padawan,this is. Torment your Master, the same did you." Master Yoda had told him just last week, and Obi-Wan chuckled as he remembered the conversation.
Upon taking Anakin as his padawan just five years ago, Obi-Wan had called upon Yoda for extensive counsel and advice. He had much too young to take on a padawan, having just been knighted himself, but he had made a promise to his own Master to train the boy, and train him, he would. Although, sometimes it seemed like an up-hill battle.
Surely, I wasn't this hard-headed. Obi-Wan thought to himself as he tidied up the common room, picking up pieces of machinery that Anakin had disassembled and scattered about the place, but Master Yoda's words came back to him yet again.
"For many years, trained Jedi I have. Helped Jedi Masters train their padawans too. Qui-Gon, no exception he was. Neither, will you be."
As usual, Master Yoda was right. And now with Anakin questioning the tradition of the Shidoki, Obi-Wan knew that he would be relying on the ancient Jedi Master's advice once more.