Hello Ahsoka. No, it's fine; I know I always look neat but you should see my quarters! It's a rancor-pen in there! I brought you some snacks, your favorite. They're to take to the party, so don't eat them all right now. What do you mean, what party?! The party at Senator Amidala-Skywalker's apartment! Don't you remember?

Your Master is over there already. I should think he would have commed you to let you know where he was going. Master Luminara always does.

Ahsoka, you do realize I have a speeder, right? I just came from the party to get you; the Senator says hi and Anakin wants to know what's taking you so long. Thanks for helping me with the snacks. No, I don't mind if you eat one. That's what they're for.

Thank you! You're right, if there's one thing all that time after I...got a little Dark...was good for, it was learning how to drive a speeder. I imagine I could give your Master a run for his credits, or maybe not. I've never tried to race him before. I always just thought it was a lost cause.

Point taken. I'll be careful. Ye Force! How fast was that Gran going?! Okay, 'Soka, we've landed, you can release your death grip on the dashboard now. Would you like some help with that broken leg and all? No? All right, suit yourself. I think Padmé's seen us; here comes Threepio now to let us in.

Oh, Master, thank the Force I found you! Everyone is congratulating me like crazy, which is nice, I guess, but I'm not used to all the attention. I can't even think what the after-party in a couple days is going to be like. And...um...I just wanted to say thanks, thank you so much for everything, you've been so helpful for so many years– has it really been over a decade?! No, I know this isn't goodbye, but it's just...it won't be the same after I'm Knighted. You won't be my...my...oh, Sith take it, I'll just spit it out: my mother anymore. I know, it hurts me too. Aren't all big changes bittersweet?

Oh Force, now I've made you cry. (Nice going, Barriss. Some diplomat you are.) It's all right, Master, really it is. I still get to call you that even after the ceremony, 'cause you're a Jedi Master, right? Y'know what, Master, do you want to go out on the balcony with me for a moment? There's no one else out there right now…

...Spoke too soon. Hey, Master Skywalker. What are you doing moping out here by yourself? Does this have anything to do with Ahsoka? Listen, she's not sad because I'm going to outrank her in a couple days. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's not that, is it?

Hold on a second. Something's not right here. You're shielding too heavily, and you looked a little guilty when I mentioned Ahsoka. Are you...hiding something about her? Stars, are you hiding it from her?! I warn you, she's not going to be happy when she finds out…

Master, you're all right. It's going to be okay. Force, I'm sorry I even mentioned it. Anakin, would you mind...ah...giving us some space, please? My Master is feeling a little down, and I take full responsibility. Yes, I'm aware she won't be my Master much longer, but she's the one who doesn't need to be reminded.

'Soka got her cast off today. After an hour or so in bacta and some final scans, the Healers took the darned thing off, sentenced her to an afternoon in bed, then said she was free to go. Ahsoka gets mightily stir-crazy in the Halls of Healing, so I helped her pass the time. (For someone who professes to hate medbays, she ends up in them far too much!) We talked a lot about Knighthood, and how even though it felt like a long time, mine was actually one of the shorter apprenticeships. Everybody's saying Ahsoka will get Knighted early too, they've been saying it for years, but nobody's sure when exactly that will be. She'll be a Knight eventually though, that's for sure. Anakin will give her up around the same time the two of them start following rules. Which is to say, never.

Ahsoka kinda winced when I said that. I asked her why, and she said it was something about Anakin and a flying bacta tank when she was eight. And an exploding turbolift shaft the year before that, and a fish down Master Kudi Sai Pama's trousers right after she joined his youngling clan.

A fish. Down Master Sai Pama's trousers. I don't even want to know.

After that I had to go to Astrophysics and leave 'Soka there alone, but I heard from my friend Q'yacha who's an apprentice healer that she didn't exactly stay in bed all afternoon. Vokara Che was the not-so-proud owner of a disheveled and odoriferous healer's robe when she came in to dinner, so I don't find this hard to believe.

T minus thirteen and a half standard hours.

Master finally banished me to my room at 2215 after I'd been working on Mirialan Culture Intensive Seminar homework for hours. I would say it's not fair that it's a senior Padawan class for which the big final exam will be after my Knighthood, but a Jedi does not think that way, so I won't. Life is neither fair nor unfair, it simply is; that's one of my favorite quotes from Master Jinn. He has a lot of good ones. I can see why Obi-Wan misses him.

I hear Ahsoka got banished early, at 2100, because she was annoying her Master so much with constant chatter. My response to all this has so far been awkward acceptance of praise; hers has been effervescent joy, to the point of near-levitation. I appreciate her devotion, and she's definitely more fun to be around than during the war when she existed on five hours or less of sleep a night, but I do sympathize with Master Anakin being shut up with her in their shared quarters.

Master has forgiven me for making her cry a couple nights ago at Padmé's party. Which is good, because I don't think I could stand going into Knighthood with an outstanding blemish on my conscience. I didn't realize she'd take it that hard! Master has always been stoic, a model Jedi, except when we're alone together. I'll miss those quiet evenings, after I'm done with classes and she's done with whatever work she's doing. Those evenings when we'd go through the tea ceremony, or she'd help me with my homework, or we would just sit and talk: about philosophy, about holovids, about 'saberplay, about life in general. There was that one time when I dissolved in tears before my first diplomatic solo assignment, going to a giant gala on Ansion, and she wiped my face and said I'd be fine and taught me to ballroom dance, right then and there. Or that other time, after the incident with those vile Geonosian brain worms during the war, when she helped me get over the post-traumatic nightmares. Being with Master all the time is the one thing I'll miss most about apprenticeship. I hope we don't have to sever the Force bond anymore, now that attachment is permitted.

I find myself glancing at the desk chrono, over and over: 2228. 2231. 2233. 2236.

Thirteen and a half standard hours until my life changes completely.

Thirteen and a half standard hours until I become a Jedi Knight.

Does it even bear asking why I can't sleep?

Yawn...alrigh' Mas'r, I' up…

Force! I nearly forgot! Today is the day! Must call Ahsoka, she'll be walking on air already...where's my comlink, dash it all?! Didn't I put it on the...oh right, it's in the living room. I'll have to get dressed first. No bodysuit and cloak today, Barriss. Formal robes only. I got a silver-gray set I really like from the clothing rooms last night.

Good morning Master. Wow, is that a new tabard? It's really nice! Yeah, yeah, I sound like Ahsoka on a sugar high, I know. Speaking of 'Soka, where'd my comlink go? I need to drop her a line.

Hey there, it's Barri- whoa there, girl! A little slower please! Okay, let me get this straight: your Master is letting you go to my ceremony and even be in the Council chambers while it happens, but you have to wear formal robes and you can't even decide what looks best, and they're a complete pain in the neck anyway? Is that it? Yeah, you were kinda talking like a hyperactive crèche youngling there, no offense. 'Course I'll help.

I dunno, 'Soka, I think the chestnut brown is nice. You don't have to do black just to look like your Master. Let's see, maybe this chocolate brown one with the maroon tabard like my Master wears? How's that? I think they've got it in your size, you've grown since you were a junior Padawan...oh, Ahsoka, that'll be great. Let's go check these out with the droid, then I think it's time for breakfast.

Aw, thanks, Ahsoka! I love Chandrilan pastries! There really is nothing like a good sharsha puff to make Jedi fare a whole lot tastier. You're the best.

Above all, a Jedi must be calm. She must not let anxiety frazzle her to the point of fidgeting restlessly with her Padawan braid, or allow nervous energy to propel her around and around the turbolift in an endless pacing circle. A Jedi must not tremble with anticipation, nor may she let her control slip enough to, when telepathically asked whether she is okay by her Master, reply with the mental equivalent of a frenzied yell.

In other words, I am not acting much like a Jedi right now!

Finally, after an interminable ascent, the turbolift door slides open, revealing a tiny foyer. The doors to the High Council chambers are emblazoned with the Jedi emblem, dusty red on cream, made of silent somber durasteel. I envy them their stillness. On most occasions I have no trouble maintaining proper Jedi serenity; indeed, it is a part of my nature to be peaceful and introspective. Clearly this is not one of those occasions! My heart pounds triple-time in my chest. My hands and face are sweating in a most unbecoming manner. What do I have to do during this ceremony? Will there be lightsabers involved? Will my braid somehow be done away with? Master will be there, but what does she have to do? Will our training bond be severed as yet another Trial of the Flesh, for the pain of such a separation would surely be unbearable?

"Enter," sounds Yoda's voice from beyond the doors. I open them with a wave of the hand, and go to meet my fate.

When next I pass this threshold, I shall be Knighted. I wonder what will truly be different?

The first thing that strikes me about the ceremony is the darkness. It seems unreal, a fundamental contradiction, that the Force should dance with so much unrequited Light and yet the room, on the earthly plane, is pitch black. The blinds are drawn, the lights unlit. I sense fourteen presences - the Council plus my Master and Ahsoka - but see none of them.

And then fifteen lightsabers snap-hiss to life (for Ahsoka carries two), lending the entire room a sharp and eerie radiance. They stand in a nearly-complete circle, blades humming a low resonance, the song of the Force. No two 'sabers are exactly the same, just like their wielders. Master speaks in my mind: Enter the circle. Kneel before Yoda, and do not be afraid.

I follow this directive as if in a trance, going down on one knee in the center of the circle, favoring the little green Grandmaster with the traditional posture of humility. Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker close the circle behind me. Ahsoka stands just removed from the now-unbroken arc, behind Anakin and a little to his left. She is a guest here, not a participant. Only my best friend.

"Padawan Barriss Offee, take, will you, the rank of Jedi Knight?" Yoda's tone is grave. There is a sense of finality, of no going back.

"I will." I cannot hide the quaver in my voice.

"Accept, do you, the sacred strictures and laws of our Code?"

"I do."

"Agree, do you, to abide by the jurisdiction of this Council?"

"I do."

"Submit, do you, to the will of the almighty Force, Living and Unifying?"

"I do."

Without warning, green light flashes by my right ear! Yoda's lightsaber has slashed down a hairsbreadth from my cheek, faster than thought, so close that the wash of latent heat nearly burns the skin even though no contact has been made. My breath catches in my throat, for as I see something black flutter to the floor, I realize that there was contact after all.

My Padawan braid lies, severed, at my feet.

"Rise, Knight Offee, and go forth as a full and independent member of this Order."

I can hardly stand up, so badly are my knees shaking. Somehow I manage to bow my thanks and leave the circle, smoldering braid clutched tight. Was that it? Did that just happen? Am I really…?

"Hold on just a moment, Knight Offee." This time it's Master Windu speaking, his smooth baritone voice bearing just a hint of amusement. Instinctively, I freeze in place. "I was under the impression that this ceremony is not over. Are we all agreed?" He looks around at his fellow Council members, who nod their consent.

Confused, I turn back to the circle of 'sabers. What is going on?

"It has recently come to our attention," Master Windu continues, "that there is another deserving Padawan in our midst. Having passed her Trials under the watchful eye of Masters Skywalker, Kenobi, and Ti, we are prepared to grant her Knighthood at this juncture as well.

"Ahsoka Tano, will you take the rank of Jedi Knight?"

OhmyForce. Oh. My. Force.

What did he just say?