Meditations in the Web

Title: Meditations in the Web
Rating: G
Archive: Here and on the Qui-Gon Jinn Discussion List Fiction Archive. Anyone else, ask me first. I'll probably say yes, but I like to know where my fiction goes!
Summary: Just a short bit about Qui and Obi meditating after a grueling session of sparring. Ties in to "Flow of the Force" .
Disclaimer: I am but joyriding in George Lucas' grand sedan...I'll return it with all the pieces intact, I promise!
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Qui-Gon Jinn sat immobile yet fluid in a kneeling position, his eyes closed, mind open. The sweat he had worked up during the intense sparring session  rolled off him lazily; he opened to the space beyond fatigue. The body had been pushed to its limits, but Qui-Gon knew that was merely the portal through which the soul could emerge. Qui-Gon "saw" himself in the web of energy that floated before him. Shades of translucent luminosity pulsed in patterns reminiscent of sunlight on oil. As he breathed, he felt his presence moving the tendrils around him, influencing the web.

Another imperceptible breath out; the web moved and swirled in response. Qui-Gon reached out with the Force, feeling the structure of the web, playing it carefully. The air around him became charged, and his hair stood out from his body in response. With immense control, he plucked the strings of the Force-web; the resulting music created patterns of kinesis around him. His long hair separated into many thick strands and began to interweave in a loose braid. A few more deft plucks at the Force and the braid was as tight as any he had woven with his own hands.

This was a trick that his own Master had taught him indirectly after he had experienced a frightening taste of the full power of the Force as an initiate. Yoda had been teaching the Flow Exercise that day, and had witnessed young Qui-Gon's inadvertent manipulation of the Force. In fact, every student present that day had experienced it whether he wanted to or not. The object of the exercise had been to see through a Force-generated disguise that Yoda or another Master erected around himself. Everyone who eventually became apprenticed would have to pass that test, and most did on the second or third try. Qui-Gon had not only passed it the first time, he had unwittingly unleashed the largest Force concentration of kinetic power that Yoda had ever witnessed from an initiate or even the younger Padawans. Much of the west wall of the pool training area had been damaged by the raw Force unleashed by this initiate. So remarkable he would prove to be, that Yoda determined he would come out of retirement and take him as his own Padawan when the time came.

That same power came to Qui-Gon's command now, but he had exquisite control over its manifestation; he felt it move, but he held the strings. Across from him, his own Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi sat in identical position, also holding those strings, using them to undo his Padawan braid in a slow, deliberate manner. Obi-Wan had also experienced this awesome power of the Force at an early age in the same Flow exercise. It was only fitting that Qui-Gon should teach his Padawan what Yoda had taught him. Yoda had also told him that most Masters do not teach their Padawans this technique, as the Padawans did not normally experience the Force so suddenly and completely. It had taken Qui-Gon some time to realize that Obi-Wan had been cut out especially for him by this same Force.

The faces of Master and Padawan mirrored each other; expressionless yet slack with the wonder of one who is walking in a universe of infinite light. Qui-Gon allowed his essence to flow out in front of him until it came into contact with a mirroring tendril from his Padawan. Obi-Wan had begun to do the very same thing, without any prompting. The tendrils interwove and the Force bent twice as strongly to their every breath. Each breath in unison, each in perfect control and harmony. In the distance, a rich resonant bell rang and the wisps of Force floated back into respective Master and Padawan. They opened their eyes in unison; looked directly at each other and rose silently.  They came back into the realization of their aches and pains somewhere between the training hall and their quarters....