When we returned to Joma and Sionnach, Qui-Gon had joined them; Ferriling and Inayouk had regained consciousness; both Anders Delvins were dead; and several healers had arrived to deal with them and with us. I had insisted that Anakin let me take over carrying Organa once we were clear of the dangerous secured wing; his face was pale as he handed the senator over without a fight. The adrenaline was rapidly wearing off, and the shock of his injury was taking its toll.

I had signalled to Qui-Gon on the commlink that we had recovered the senator and were on our way back; I had told him nothing of what we'd had to do to get him. He'd worry until he saw us. He was probably worrying already, because there was no way Sionnach had missed the pain Anakin had felt when the blast tore through his hand.

I could hear their voices from halfway down the corridor; Qui-Gon and Joma were arguing. "... should have left it until we knew which was which!"

"I knew, Jinn, and I acted accordingly. When you're in the same position, fine, but until then, don't speak to me in theories."

Anakin glanced at me and smiled weakly. Boosting Organa up on my shoulder, I followed Anakin the rest of the way back to our party.

Predictably, Qui-Gon was the first to notice us. "Padawan! Obi-Wan!" he exclaimed, spinning away from Joma and shoving a healer in my direction, and I found that I couldn't speak. The healer took Organa from me just as my knees gave out. Qui-Gon was at my side in an instant, but I waved him toward Anakin and slumped on the floor. Sionnach came to help me sit up, and I gave her an exhausted smile.

Anakin had knelt before Qui-Gon and shown him his mutilated hand. Another healer scurried over and wrapped the stump in a bacta cuff; it couldn't save the hand, but it would prevent infection. As Sionnach and Joma helped me on to a stretcher, Anakin insisted that he could walk perfectly well on his own and didn't need medical attention for anything except his hand. I smiled wearily. He was so young. He wasn't in as bad shape as Organa, around whose stretcher three healers were buzzing and fussing, but he hadn't yet learned that no face was lost by accepting an offer of assistance. We started toward a docking area where a shuttle could take us to the temple and the healers' wing, but only when Anakin stumbled the second time did he concede to be borne on a stretcher the rest of the way. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Anakin," I told him as his stretcher floated next to mine. "The shock and the pain will affect you more than most. And many of us would be unconscious right now."

"I don't want them to postpone my trials," Anakin whispered.

I smiled to myself. "I don't think there's any danger of that, Anakin," I told him. "You'll get a new hand, and you'll be a knight before you know it."



In fact, Anakin was knighted almost immediately. "Earned it, you have," Yoda said when he came to visit us in the infirmary. "Consider the rescue of Senator Organa to be your greatest trial, the Council will. Confer on you the level of Jedi Knight, the Council does." Anakin had sat up too quickly in his bed, and had lain back down dizzily. "Grateful to you are the people of Alderaan as well," Yoda went on. "Kenobi, an honorary General they wish to make you."

"And you won't even have to get used to answering to it," Organa rasped from his bed on the other side of Anakin.

At my side, Qui-Gon squeezed my hand. "Well done, Padawan," he said, and I knew he meant both of us.

The ceremony was three days later. I stood with Sionnach and Joma, since Qui-Gon as Anakin's master had to participate in the ritual that raised a padawan to knighthood. Amidala was with us also, beaming. The Council was arrayed in a semicircle behind Yoda and Master Windu. Qui-Gon stepped up to them and knelt. "My masters," he said, "I come to present to you my padawan, Anakin Skywalker, an ally of the Force. I ask that you grant him the status of Knight of the Jedi Order."

"Padawan Skywalker, what say you?"

Anakin spoke from where he stood, his head bowed. "If it is the will of the Force, masters, it is my wish."

"Master Jinn, bring us your padawan," Yoda said. Qui-Gon rose, turned, and held out a hand, and Anakin -- extending his brand-new right hand to meet Qui-Gon's -- came obediently to his side. "Accept him we do."

Qui-Gon smiled. "Kneel, Padawan Skywalker," he said. Anakin knelt and bowed his head. Qui-Gon drew a gleaming silver knife from his belt and sliced Anakin's braid from behind his ear with one smooth motion. "Rise, Knight Skywalker," he said with an even bigger smile. "Rise and join the ranks of your fellows, guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy." Anakin stood, his eyes wide with a disbelieving joy he seemed to be having trouble processing. Qui-Gon pressed the braid into his hand. "Never forget your training," he finished. "All who teach were once learners themselves."

Anakin bowed to Qui-Gon, turned and bowed to the Council, turned again and bowed to the spectators -- and then seemed to be at a bit of a loss. I cupped my hands around my mouth and called, "Knight Skywalker!" Joma and Sionnach followed suit. Soon the whole place was cheering and applauding, and Anakin was grinning like an idiot and being slapped on the back, as was Qui-Gon, and I was leading Amidala through the crowd to her fiance's side.



And the following day they were married. "Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala Naberrie have come before me to ask that I bind them in marriage," Qui- Gon told the assembled guests, "and, knowing no objections, I have agreed to do so. We shall integrate a Jedi bonding ceremony with a Naboo wedding, so that Anakin and Amidala may be known to all as husband, wife, and bondmates." He beamed. "Padme Amidala Naberrie," he went on, turning to her. "Will you, in the witness of this assembly, become the wife of Anakin Skywalker and take him for your husband, forsaking all others for as long as you both may live?"

"I will," Amidala said, smiling.

"Anakin Skywalker, will you, in the witness of this assembly, become the husband of Padme Amidala Naberrie and take her for your wife, forsaking all others for as long as you both may live?"

"I will," Anakin said, smiling even more broadly.

"In the witness of this assembly, will you both covenant to love and protect each other?"

"We will," they said together.

"Will you both covenant to honor and serve each other?"

"We will."

"Will you both covenant to comfort and keep each other and any children you may have, for as long as you may live?"

"We will."

Normally, at this point, Qui-Gon would have declared that Anakin and Amidala were married. Instead, he switched to the bonding ceremony with which we were more familiar. "Who will stand for this couple and swear to protect them, should the need arise, and to protect their children when and while those children have need?"

I stepped forward. "I will."

"Then swear."

I bowed to Anakin and Amidala. "I, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight and ally of the Force, swear to you now that I will do what is in my power to protect you. Your children will have my protection when and while they have need, for as long as I have breath. I swear to love them, to protect them, and to get between them and danger."

Qui-Gon gave me a special smile and turned back to Anakin and Amidala. "Do you accept Obi-Wan Kenobi as your children's protector?"

"We do."

"Then face each other, and be bonded in the Force."

They turned, and faced each other, and joined hands. I saw that both of them held tight; they must have been far more nervous than either of them was letting on. Amidala spoke first. I could see her eyes shining as she allowed the Force to bind her to Anakin, but I knew she couldn't feel it. At my side, Sionnach drew a hitching breath. Qui-Gon's gaze locked on to mine; there was no need to keep an eye on Anakin and Amidala any longer. They were certainly oblivious to the crowd around them. When it was Anakin's turn to speak, the sincerity in his voice sounded like a thirsty man asking for water. "Padme Amidala Naberrie," he said, "I love you with my whole heart, and your love strengthens me. As the Force is willing, I would live my life as your bondmate, and with you as mine; therefore, with all that I am, and all that I have, I pledge my soul to you."

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