Knight's Birth

Chapter 1: Hello There

"Master Kenobi?" An elderly voice called out to the bearded Jedi Master, calling his attention to the Jedi Order's resident librarian, Jocasta Nu. "I have the list of upcoming Padawans the Council requested." Obi-Wan turned from the Zillo Beast incident report he'd been reading with a smile, taking the datapad from the woman.

"Thank you, Master Nu." She nodded and briskly exited, likely to get back to the Archives before anything drastic happened. He looked down at the list of new candidates, scrolling through the countless names. "Well, there's a lot of them, that's obvious. Good thing it's not my duty to go through all of them." He felt sorry for the poor soul who had to comb through all these names, but like he said, it was not his problem. With a smug smile on his face, he stood up from his chair and stepped out into the wide corridors of the Jedi Temple. He began the long journey of walking toward the Council chambers, acknowledging fellow Jedi Masters such as Luminara Unduli and Kit Fisto, and some awestruck Padawans who couldn't help but marvel in the presence of the famous Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Aw, look at them. They adore you." Obi-Wan pivoted to see Anakin leaning on a wall nearby with a teasing smirk.

"Well, at least they adore me for the right reasons. As for idolizing you, I'm not so sure." Obi-Wan smirked while Anakin rolled his eyes at the jab.

"Whatever. Hey, is that the list?" Anakin strolled over and peered over his friend's shoulder, his eyes widening at the sheer magnitude of names. "Jeez, that many?"

"Indeed. It seems more and more Force-sensitive children are being found every day, and more and more are passing the trials." Obi-Wan swiped up on the datapad, scrolling through the names of dozens of Padawans.

"That's good, right?" Anakin looked at Obi-Wan with an unsure look.

"It should be, but I do worry that we're taking in too many just to keep up with the war." Obi-Wan stroked his magnificent, perfectly-trimmed beard in deep thought.

"I bet you're worried because the Council will actually give you a Padawan this time," Anakin remarked, slapping Obi-Wan's shoulder.

"Don't blame me. I offered to take Ahsoka off your hands, but you insisted." The two stared at each other, grinning like idiots. Smart idiots.

"Well, I won't hold you up any longer. Besides, I need to make sure Rex is getting the 501st ready for Geonosis." The two waved goodbye to the other and went their separate ways, Obi-Wan continuing his journey to the Council. However, their conversation got Obi-Wan thinking. It seems the idea of training a new Padawan affected him deeply.

A Padawan… It has been some time since I trained Anakin. Maybe I should… no… Everyone knows how Anakin turned out. But maybe that's just Anakin. Plus, I'm much more experienced than I was before… Obi-Wan would have to come to a decision soon, but he had the long walk to think things over.

A room filled to the brim with soon-to-be Padawans waited nervously for the Council to call them in, one-by-one. It wasn't a matter of if they were going to be Padawans, but rather who their Master would be. The choice of Master would determine the path each Padawan would take for the rest of their lives. Fighting alongside the Clones against the Separatists, organizing the Jedi Archives, conducting relief missions to planets affected by the war, even providing food for the Jedi Order and the poor. It was all determined by the choice that the Council made.

One of such Padawans was a young human boy, age fifteen. He had short dark brown hair, apart from the Padawan braid that ran down the right side of his face, with matching color eyes. The Padawan stared dead ahead, not making eye contact with anyone. Nervousness wracked his entire body, while doubt clouded his mind with pessimistic thoughts.

Relax. Relax. The hard part's over. You completed the trials. The easy part's just around the corner. Despite the constant self-encouragement, the boy could not shake his butterflies.

"Valor Quinknight." One of the Jedi Temple's many droids called out a name, unable to understand the weight of the name it'd chosen. It was his name.

Oh boy. Here goes nothing. Valor stood up from his seat and tentatively walked toward the platform leading to the Council Chambers. As soon as he stood in the center of it, the platform shifted as it began rising, nearly causing Valor to lose his balance. He let out a yell of surprise and managed to compose himself just before the platform reached its destination. He was forced to crane his head up to see twelve figures seated above him, shrouded in darkness. The Council. He silently gulped.

"Initiate Quinknight, you have traveled to Illum to retrieve your lightsaber and have built your lightsaber, your partner in these troubling times." The central figure spoke, his deep voice commanding respect from Valor. "You have proven yourself able to defend yourself and others from those who would seek to threaten all that is good. You have proven an innate ability in the Force, one that is rare even among our best Consulars." The praise alleviated some of Valor's fears. He couldn't help but feel proud by all of his accomplishments, a smile gently forming on his face. "You still have much to learn, but that's what your master is for."

Here it comes. Valor awaited the response, the verdict, the choice that would forever change his future.

"We have decided, in a rare move, to allow one of the members of the Jedi High Council to mentor you and shape you into a true paragon of the Light." Valor's eyes widened in shock, his mouth nearly flying open.

A member of the Council!? By the Force! Valor couldn't believe this. He was going to be trained by a Council member!

"Initiate Quinknight… your master shall be… Master Obi-Wan Kenobi."

… What? What? What!? A door opened behind the Padawan, the light shining into the once dark room. He whirled around, expecting this to be some kind of joke. But no. Standing, illuminated by the light of the room behind him, was none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi. The shocked expression on Valor's face amused Obi-Wan greatly, though he did not show it. Instead, he crossed his arms and looked Valor up and down. For a moment, he did not speak, intensifying Valor's worries. Do… do I say something? Just as Valor was about to speak up, Obi-Wan beat him to it.

"Hello there. I'm looking forward to teaching you. Follow me." He promptly turned heel and walked briskly into the room he came from, leaving Valor to stagger after him. He practically sprinted to Obi-Wan's side before matching his pace, still wide-eyed and speechless. "Well?"

"Uh, w–well what?" Valor stammered.

"Tell me your name. I can't teach you if I don't know who you are."

"D–don't you know that, Master?" Valor tilted his head in confusion. It was easy to see Obi-Wan was having a little bit of fun with the starstruck Padawan, but he was also genuinely trying to make conversation.

"I only know your last name, not your first. Or are you telling me your first name is 'Initiate?'" Valor looked away sheepishly, blushing in embarrassment.

"S–sorry, Master," Valor replied. "M–my name is Valor… Valor Quinknight."

"Well, nice to meet you, Valor. I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, but judging by your reaction to hearing my name, I'm assuming you've heard of me?" He looked down at the boy with a calm expression, contrasting to Valor's perpetual nervousness.

"I–I mean, who hasn't heard of you? You're the Jedi who defeated the first Sith Lord in millennia! You trained the Anakin Skywalker!" Valor continued listing the long list of accomplishments Obi-Wan had done over his many years as a Jedi. It was after listing over a dozen of Obi-Wan's feats that he realized his master was staring at him with an incredulous look. His pupils shrank and he stopped speaking. Oh no! He thinks I'm a creep! The next words out of Obi-Wan's mouth, however, were not the words Valor was expecting.

"Wow… I've done a lot in eleven years, haven't I? Well, I suppose I get around. And you will too."

"What do you mean?" Valor asked, not understanding what Obi-Wan was saying.

"In one week, we're heading down to Geonosis to dismantle the Separatist droid factories dotting the planet's surface and bring in Poggle the Lesser. Doing so will strike a major blow against the Separatist forces."

"Okay… Wait a minute… we're going to Geonosis. Don't you mean you're?" Valor scratched his short hair.

"I spoke correctly. We're both going, which means I'll need to see if you can handle combat. Come to my quarters first thing in the morning and I shall test your abilities with a lightsaber. But get some rest, you'll need it." Before Valor could ask any further, Obi-Wan increased his pace, turning the corner quickly. By the time Valor reached it himself, his master was nowhere to be seen.

Good. That gives me time to process things… WHAT!? Valor couldn't believe it. Not only was the Obi-Wan Kenobi his master, they were going into the heat of battle immediately! It seems a little fast, but I guess wartime changes the way things need to be. Valor knew one thing, however. He needed sleep, or he might not even go to Geonosis. It was time to hit the hay. He made his way to his newly assigned quarters and entered the compact room. "It's not much… but Jedi don't need much."

Valor doubted he'd be able to sleep easily, not when so much just happened to him. However, he did not take into account the toll the day's events took on him, the ups-and-downs he was forced to sit through. So, when it came time to call it a day, he was out as soon as he hit the covers. He was none the wiser to the events to come. Despite completing his Padawan trials, the ones he'd need to face in the future would be much more difficult. From the Clone Wars and beyond, Valor had a long journey ahead of him.

And that was the first chapter of Knight's Birth! For those of you who've read my SWTOR fanfic, you'd recognize that last name. I bet I've piqued your interest! ...No? That's fine. With the release of The Clone Wars' final season on Disney Plus, I couldn't help myself. Knowing the end is near has pushed me to start this. Plus, this entire COVID-19 situation has given me a ton of freetime. I didn't spend a lot of time in public anyway. I can't wait to go past the show into RotS, Rebels, the Original Trilogy, and, yes, the Sequel Trilogy. I'll have more details on those later, because we're focusing on the here and now!

Now, I've got something else I want to talk about. I'm not familiar with the Legends Continuity that much outside of the Old Republic, so if there's anything you folks want to see from Legends, let me know. It's a crime that Disney got rid of all those years of hard work and amazing stories. So give me suggestions on what you want me to bring back, and I'll see if I can fit it in! I probably won't take all suggestions, like Kybo Ren from the Droids cartoon, but that doesn't mean you can't try!

Okay, that's all the time I've got. I gotta get back to playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons on my Nintendo Switch. And if you wanna live large like me, just follow Knight's Birth and leave a review telling me what you liked and what I can improve on.