30 BBY

Anakin and his friends are preparing themselves for their second tournament. They are all excited about this and hope to attract the attention of a master. Not that they have an urgent need to find a master. They have one more year to find one and feel confident that they will find one before their thirteenth birthday. This means that they can enter the tournament with ease while those who need to find a master soon will be on edge. They will not have much time left before they need to have a master or they will also be leaving for the corps. Anakin doesn't like for that to happen as he saw the expression on Erigian's and Alaara's face when they were about to leave for the corps two days before everyone else moved into the initiate dorm.

The day Alaara and Erigian get word that their transport will be leaving in the afternoon the mood in the sleeping hall is depressing. That massage made it become real to them that they will never become jedi. They were told to pack their belongings now so that they can go to the hangar after dinner which they are currently doing. During the packing the distress they feel increases.

Anakin looks at the situation from across the room. He doesn't say anything because he knows that there is nothing he can do or say that will ease their distress. He knows that they are distressed for Erigian is rubbing the nape of his neck while Alaara has her shoulders slumped. She never does that for she is a confident girl and only shows such submissive signs when she is deeply distressed. Anakin learned that when they were still novices. He feels pity for both of them as he would have liked for them to have passed their trials. No one wants to see someone they have lived with for a long time fail an important test.

Looking around the room, Anakin tries to determine what everyone else thoughts are about the situation before them and if they have come to the same conclusion as he has. From the looks on their faces, Anakin gets the impression that they have come to the same conclusion as him. No one is crying for they know to keep their emotions under control. Also, they don't want to add to the distress of Alaara and Erigian.

Five minutes later, the seniors leave for the refractory and afterward say goodbye to their siblings. The goodbye is also a sad occurrence for everyone struggles to keep their emotions under control. They don't want to say goodbye to any one of them. They know that they will miss each other a lot. Anakin manages to control his emotions just barely while he can see that there are others who have even more problems than he has. These younglings are the friends of Alaara and Erigian who are at the brink of crying.

"Anakin, Anakin." Shi is saying while waving a hand before Anakin's eyes. She needs to draw his attention to her for they need to leave.

"Yes, Shi. What is it?" Anakin asks and looks to see what time it is. When he sees the time he knows why Shi has been calling him. They need to leave for the tournament right away or else they will be late. They have no intention of getting scolded by the masters present.

"We need to leave now if we are to be on time. You normally never leave so late when we have to be somewhere. What is on your mind that you forgot the time?" Shi says as they walk out of the initiate dorm. She is highly confused by this as normally Anakin is the one to remind everyone that they have to leave. For someone to have to remind him it is strange. Shi thinks that he has something on his mind and wants to help him sort it out.

"I was thinking about the day Alaara and Erigian left for the corps." Anakin answers and can see the shocked expression on Shi's face. He knows thus that she is confused and can predict what she will ask him now.

"Why were you thinking about that? We were not really close to them." Shi knows that this is true as they normally didn't spend a lot of time with Alaara or Erigian. They had other friends with whom they spend their time outside of classes. It doesn't at up at all and confuses her, even more, the longer she thinks about it.

"I know. I had to think about it as I remembered that there will be initiates present who need to find a master soon. If they don't then they will have to leave for the corps. They won't like it and I don't like it also. This prospect reminded me of the day Alaara and Erigian left for the corps." Anakin explains. He knows that there is nothing he can do about the rules of the order as he isn't a member of the high council. Most likely it will be dozens of years before he could be appointed to the council. Becoming a member of the high council is his goal for the future.

"We both know that we can't change the rules, Anakin." Shi tells him but also knows that it is actually unnecessary to remind Anakin off. She knows that he knows that they can't do anything about the rules. No matter how unfair the rules can be in their opinion. They are silent for the remainder of the way. When they come upon the combat training room they can tell from the sounds coming from it that the room is already crowded. This tells them that there are already many people present. It makes them hurry for they don't want to be late and make a bad impression on the masters present. They quietly slip into the room and are relieved when they notice that they are not the last ones to arrive nor too late. They move to where the other initiates are and wait for the tournament to start.

Twenty minutes later, the tournament finally starts. During the course of the rounds, the competition is high as there are plenty of people who want to show off their skills so as to attract a master's attention. They want one of the masters to choose them so that they can continue their training. Those who are in dire need to find a master give off a bit of a desperate feeling which Anakin can detect. He isn't quite sure if the masters can also feel it but hopes for those initiates that they don't. These kind of feeling are not the ones masters will appreciate. Those who are participating for the first time are a bit nervous as they don't know what to expect from today. Near the end of today they know what to expect and next time they will enter the tournament with confidence that they know what they have to do. It is the thing Anakin and his age mates are doing right now.

Anakin manages to get through each round which changing difficulty because some are more skilled than others. He is one of the two who manages to make the final round. The other youngling is Boster. Anakin knows him from passing and his interaction with the instructors during classes. They never spend time together as they come from different clans and thus Anakin doesn't know anything about his personality. The thing he knows is that Boster needs to find a master soon. He is nearly thirteen years old and thus in danger of being reassigned to the corpses. This tells Anakin that he could be a bit desperate. If he can keep his cool then Anakin knows he has a chance of winning the last match of the tournament.

The match takes a long time as both Boster and he are matched to each other. It is difficult to score a point for both of them. Near the end of the match, it is difficult to say who will win as they are both getting tired but still do their best to not give the other a chance to score. At the same time, they also aim to score the last point they need to finish this match. They both have two points and whoever manages to score a point now will be proclaimed the winner of this match and of the tournament. An honor they both want to receive as it will ensure that they will find a master. Not that the second place is a bad spot to be in. That person also nearly always will be able to find a master. Thus Anakin believes that whoever wins this match doesn't matter too much as they will both be able to find a master to continue their training.

Anakin is currently focusing on blocking Boster's strikes so as to not let him win when he sees a small opening in Boster's defense. He quickly takes the opportunity that presents itself and manages to score the third point. It is then that the master who is overseeing the match calls an end to it. Anakin and Boster bow to each other before Anakin offers his hand.

"It was a good match, Boster. I hope you will find a master soon" Anakin tells Boster once they are shaking hands. This is expected of them to show respect to the one who you were fighting.

"I agree. It was a good match and I hope you will do the same" Boster says.

Afterward, the three best younglings receive their tournament belts. These belts show to everyone that they performed the best during this year's tournament. Once this is done Anakin joins his friends who all congratulate him on his victory. He is happy to have all the formalities behind him and his friends tell him about the masters who they saw were watching him during the matches. Among them are Master Plo Koon, Master Windu, and Master Kenobi. These masters they recognized as they had interactions with them before but there were also plenty of masters who were watching him who they didn't recognize. Anakin isn't quite sure which master he prefers as he likes all three of the masters. Of those, his friends don't recognize he can't say anything because he doesn't know them. Thus Anakin hopes that in the end, he doesn't have to make a choice between the masters. That is something which he knows he will not like at all. Anakin and his friends are in a deep discussion about the masters who were watching him when he notices that someone has come to stand behind him. He looks behind himself and can see that master Kenobi is standing there.

"Anakin, can I talk to you for a moment?" master Kenobi asks and waits for Anakin to answer him.

"Of course, Master Kenobi." Anakin answers nervously. He has a feeling what will be coming now as his friends told him that Master Kenobi has had an interest in him during the tournament.

Together they walk a bit away from everyone else so that they will have some privacy to talk. Once there Anakin looks expectantly at the master as he wants to know what the master wants to talk about. In fact, he wants to get his suspicion confirmed. He can tell that the master is nervous even though he tries to hide it with all his might. He bases this on the behavior Master Kenobi is showing. He has to pay close attention to the master to even be able to see it for the master is really good at hiding it. This impresses Anakin a lot and makes him hope that he will be able to do the same when he is as old as the master is at this time. That will take a lot of training and experience in Anakin's opinion. He hopes he will get it from his future master. Anakin suspects that master Kenobi might be his future master. They had a connection whenever they interacted in the past.

"Anakin, the skills you showed during the course of the tournament gave a good impression of how your skills will be once you are fully trained. I noticed that as well as plenty of other masters. I would like to ask you to consider accepting me as your master because I feel we will make a good team and I will be able to teach you a lot. I make this assumption based on our previous interactions when I guided your previous clan. What do you think? Will you accept me as your master and become my padawan?" Master Kenobi asks Anakin while looking him calmly into the eye.

"Well master, if you put it like that I need to think for a moment!" Anakin says and pretends to carefully think about master Kenobi's proposal while he, in fact, already knows what his answer will be. He will accept the proposal master Kenobi made him. That doesn't mean that he doesn't take the opportunity that presents itself to tease master Kenobi while also letting him sweat a bit. Anakin dares to do this because he knows that this will amuse master Kenobi later on.

After a short while, he looks at master Kenobi who he sees is watching him attentively. Anakin has the impression that master Kenobi is waiting anxiously for an answer. Smiling reassuringly at the master Anakin says.

"Master Kenobi, I want to thank you for this offer. I'm happy to tell you that I will accept it."

"I'm relieved by your answer, initiate. Now, I think it is time for you to go to one of the chapels for the traditional meditation. Tomorrow morning I will come and pick you up. Together we will make our way to the council room and inform them of our decision. They will most certainly accept it." Master Kenobi says.

Thus Anakin goes to one of the chapels after he informs his friends that he has found a master and spends the remainder of the day in meditation. The next day in the early morning, master Kenobi comes to get him and together they make their way to the council room. There master Kenobi informs the council about his decision to take Anakin as his padawan and of Anakin's acceptation of his offer. The council looks at each other shortly before master Windu tells them that the council accepts their decision. From that day on they are a master-padawan team and a new chapter of their life begins.