Qui-Gon sat and listened intently as the Prime Minister briefly outlined why he needed the help of the Jedi. Obviously the people were being completely unruly and simply would not listen to reason. The unctuous manner of the man had immediately been evident to Qui-Gon and his impression of the Prime Minister had not improved greatly over time.

He smiled politely. "I will do everything in my power to ensure what is best for the people." He said with great care. Qui-Gon knew the other man would assume his words meant he would safeguard the Prime Minister's position. He personally didn't believe the Prime Minister had the people's best interests in mind and he hoped to represent them during the mission.

"Oh thank you, Master Jedi." The man said effusively, obviously misunderstanding Qui-Gon's statement at the Jedi had intended. "I knew we did the right thing by asking you to come. I've heard such strange things about the Jedi over the years, but I am sure that was mostly hearsay." The man smiled again, as though he were imparting a great compliment.

"You are most kind." Qui-Gon commented quietly.

The man nodded with his entire body and stood from his seated position behind his desk. "Well, the conference starts tomorrow morning at ten, the worker's faction wanted to start earlier, but it is so difficult for me to start the day any earlier than ten. I hope that is satisfactory, we could move the time later in the day if you require." The man looked at him hopefully, as though the appointment had been made under duress and he hoped the Jedi would ask for a later starting point.

"No, I'm sure that time will be fine. Thank you for meeting with me, Prime Minister." He knew it was petty, but with the day he'd been having he felt justified. He stood and bowed shortly to the other man. "I will see you tomorrow."

"Thank you, Ambassador. Alestr will show you to the rooms we have prepared for you." Prime Minister Balef gestured to the young man who stood by the door waiting for the Jedi to join him.

Qui-Gon nodded once more and left the room following Alestr. As he walked through the opulent halls of the Prime Minister's estate, he felt another nudge in the back corner of his mind. Once again, Qui-Gon suppressed a sigh. Once Obi-Wan had become aware of the bond that had formed between them, the small boy had been poking at the link incessantly.

It was an unexpected development in their relationship; while they knew there was a bond forming between them, no one had known that it had progressed to the point where they could actively contact one another. That is until Qui-Gon had left the Temple on a mission. Qui-Gon had yet to try and contact the small boy through their link, though the idea was appealing. He knew it would be very easy, and it would help Obi-Wan adjust to the link. However, he was wary of doing anything about it without first consulting other member of the Order, specifically someone from the Council. He knew he was under their careful watch and had no desire to make any missteps where the boy was concerned. Still, something needed to be done about the boy's persistent nudges. While it was not distracting necessarily, it was slightly annoying and there was nothing he could do at the moment to keep the boy from his activity.

He hoped that with the start of the new term at the Temple the next day, Obi-Wan would loose interest in the link and stop playing with the connection. It was his hope, but he was not delusional and the probability that the boy would stop was not good. He just hoped that Obi-Wan would not push on it with more force at an inopportune moment in the negotiations. He would hate to have to explain why the head negotiator jumped for no reason in the middle of a serious set of talks.

The Jedi Master sighed. While he had only been away from the Temple for three days, and had ceased being a teacher only a four days before that, he was already falling into his old patterns which had developed from years of field work. Since he had first been knighted and begun solo mission it had been his practice to develop a certain mindset which allowed him to function in new and sometimes hostile environments. It was a mindset did not include a curious five year old who was missing him. He found it was difficult for him to remember how painful the separation had been for Obi-Wan. The small boy did not understand why Qui-Gon had to go back out into the field and stop being his teacher.

Qui-Gon shook himself mentally and instead turned his attention away from the gentle mental prods and his own thoughts to his surroundings. Although he had studied the diagrams of the estate before he had landed, he found that for him it was not nearly as helpful as personal experience. It also helped in cases when changes had been made to a structure but not the diagrams. His careful study of his surroundings had helped him survive more than one mission in his lifetime.

"Here you are, sir." Alestr said deferentially as he stopped in front of a large wooden door carved with several scenes of battles.

Qui-Gon nodded. "Thank you." He murmured quietly.

"If you need anything, just call one of the staff members. Someone will be happy to help you, I'm sure." The young man said with a bright, if vapid, smile.

Qui-Gon nodded and entered the room, shutting he helpful young man outside. He knew the Council had been trying to be helpful in assigning him this relatively easy mission after his long sabbatical, but honestly if he had to deal civilly with these people for more than a few days, he wasn't sure that he should be held responsive for his actions. Not that he would actually do anything un-Jedilike, but the temptation was there. It wasn't as if he hadn't been on a mission in six years, only a few months.

Shaking his head slowly and wondering at his desire for missions that were dangerous and tense over this sort, Qui-Gon walked slowly around his new accommodations. The rooms were just as lavish as the rest of the estate and he knew from long experience that the Prime Minister was trying to impress him with worldly goods in order to gain his trust. If the whole situation hadn't been quiet so annoying it would have been funny.

Finally, he sat at a desk near one of the floor to ceiling windows and took out his datapad to go over the information that would be pertinent to tomorrow's negotiations. He was deeply ensconced in the information when another unexpected nudge at the back of his mind drew his attention. Qui-Gon heaved a sigh placing the datapad down and ran his hands over his face. He stood from his seat and crossed the room to the communications console on the opposite side of the room.

"Jedi Temple, Coruscant." He stated clearly into the device.

There was a pause as he request was transferred to the correct location. "Can I help?" A familiar voice sounded over the system finally.

"Payter? Is that you?" Qui-Gon asked, for a moment distracted from his goal.

"Yes this is Payter, who is calling please?" The voice on the other end sounded bored.

"Qui-Gon Jinn." He spoke his name slowly with a slight grin. "What did you do to get stuck answering incoming communications?" He asked letting his amusement leak into his voice.

"Qui-Gon? Well, who would have thought? The last I heard, you were getting robbed by children, oh no wait, that was baby-sitting the Creche children. When did they let you out of their sight?" The other man asked, deflecting his question.

"I left just a few days ago. You didn't answer my question." He reminded the other pointedly.

"You're right, I didn't. So who do you want to talk to?" He asked lightly.

"I can find out what you did, you know." He told the other man.

"I'm sure you can. Now are you going to tell me who you want to talk to or do I get to disconnect this line and bar all further incoming calls?" The other man asked him, though the smile was evident in his tone.

"You would love that wouldn't you? All right, can you patch me through to Creche Master Heri, please?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he knew he had made a mistake.

"Master Heri, Qui-Gon? I had no idea, we used to be friends I had hoped you would confide in my about this sort of thing." The other man said, the glee in his tone was not even close to concealed.

"Just put me through, Payter." He said shaking his head. "When I get back I'll tell you all about it if you tell you how you ended up in communications."

"You have yourself a deal Jinn, and I'll hold you to it." The other man warned. "Just a moment." Another pause ensued and Qui-Gon waited as patiently as possible. "Hello?" Master Heri's voice came over the speaker.

"Master Heri? This is Qui-Gon Jinn. I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" He asked the other woman without preamble.

"Qui-Gon, good to hear from you. Ask away, though I can't make any promises." The woman said with good humor.

"I was wondering if Obi-Wan is around and if it would be all right if I spoke with him?" Qui-Gon asked, hoping Obi-Wan's Creche Master would be willing to let the boy speak with him.

"Of course, Qui-Gon. He is in his room right now." She paused. "I'm actually very glad you called, he's missed you terribly." Heri said kindly. "Wait just a moment, I'll get him."

Qui-Gon switched from the stationary wall unit to the small portable comlink and waited for Heri to return with Obi-Wan. Within moments, he could hear the sound of the small boy in the background, approaching the speaker.

"Master Qui-Gon?!" Obi-Wan shouted in the speaker.

"I'm here, Obi-Wan, you don't need to speak quite so loud." He told the boy, holding the unit away from him.

"Oh, okay." Obi-Wan said, still speak well above his normal level.

"How are you, Little One?" He asked, enjoying the sound of the boy's voice.

"Good."

"What have you been doing?" It seemed that Obi-Wan needed just a little prompting when he spoke over distances on comlinks.

There was a silence from the other end and he heard Heri speak in the background with a laugh. "He can't see you shrug Obi-Wan, you have to talk to him."

"Oh, okay." The boy said slightly muffled as he spoke to Heri. "I don't know, nothing." He answered loudly into the comlink.

"I miss you." Qui-Gon told him no longer surprised when he said such things to the boy. The incident of Destricore had shown him very clearly how important Obi-Wan was to him.

"I miss you too." He paused. "Nobody else can help me with the model." He said quietly.

"I'm sure someone could help you with it, there are many people in the Temple who would probably be even better at building it that I am." Qui-Gon encouraged the boy.

"Don't want anyone else to help me. It's our project." Obi-Wan said stubbornly and he sounded a little upset that Qui-Gon would think that just anyone could help him.

"Oh, well I suppose you are right." He paused and there was silence on the line for a moment. "Are you looking forward to classes starting tomorrow?"

Another silence followed. "Oh, um I forgot." Obviously the boy was shrugging again. "I guess, um but it won't be the same without you as one of our teachers. I get to start on a higher level of um Force work though, I'm happy about that. It is supposed to be for bigger kids, but um Teacher Hisllis said I was ready." Qui-Gon could practically see the boy beaming.

"That's very good Obi-Wan. How's your fish?" He asked thinking briefly of the fish that had been Bant's present at the boy's birthday.

"He's good. He got big. I think he might be eating the other fish." Obi-Wan told him, sounding slightly worried.

"I'm sure that he isn't doing anything that he shouldn't. Did you ask anyone what that kind of fish needed to eat?"

"No. I just put him in the water and um he swam around."

"Maybe you might want to ask someone, then you could feed him to keep him from eating things that he shouldn't." Qui-Gon paused, he could almost see the boy nod at his advice. "Obi-Wan I wanted to talk to you about something, okay?"

"'Kay." The boy sounded slightly distracted and Qui-Gon knew that he only had a short amount of time to hold the five-year-old's attention over the comlink.

"I know that the link we have is very interesting and new to you, it is to me too. There is nothing about it that is wrong or bad, and I think that it is a good thing, okay?" He waited for Obi-Wan to reply before continuing. "However, I would really appreciate it if you would not poke at it. I know you are curious, and you have every right to be, but I think it would be good for you to only do that sort of investigation when I am on Coruscant and with you. Do you understand?" He asked gently, suddenly regretting not sending a visual image as well.

"I'm sorry, I just miss you." Obi-Wan said quietly and Qui-Gon could hear the tightness of the boy's voice.

He closed his eyes briefly, he had not meant to upset him. "Obi-Wan, I am not mad, and you haven't done anything wrong. I miss you too, and I know how tempting it is to try and contact each other now that we can't see each other every day, I do. I had a meeting today with a very important person on this planet and all I could think of was how much better it would be if you were here with me. However, I know that you might be doing something important or just something that you don't want to be interrupted so I don't contact you through our link. All I am asking is that you not play with it until I am there and we can find out what it does." He told the boy as carefully as he could.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you could feel it. It's just strange, it's like there's something I can't see no matter how fast I look at it. I was just lonely and you were gone." He said sadly.

"I know this is hard, Little One, I know it is. You don't have to be lonely, though, there are many people there who care about you and will spend time with you. Just because I am not there doesn't mean that anything is different." Qui-Gon sympathized deeply with the boy's pain, he had no idea that Obi-Wan would miss him so much.

"I know, I just miss you." Obi-Wan repeated, sounding slightly teary.

"I know, I wish I was there with you, Obi-Wan." He didn't know what else to tell the boy.

"When are you coming home?"

"I should be back in a few days, these negotiations should be short and then I will be on my way home." It still struck him as odd to refer to the Temple as home and mean it. For so long it had been a place he avoided, but now he looked forward to returning.

"But then you will go away again." The little boy sounded even more upset.

"Yes, that's my job, Obi-Wan, as it will be yours when you get a little older. But I will be there for a little while, and we can spend time together then, I promise. Just remember to take the moments as they come and not look to hard to the future." He paused as he heard the boy yawn along the line. "It must be late there," he raised his voice a little. "I'm I keeping him from something, Master Heri?"

"Well, it is a little past his bedtime, but I think we can make an exception just this once. Though it would be good if you wrapped things up soon." The woman said kindly. Qui-Gon smiled, even though he had spent little time with Obi-Wan's Creche Master, he liked her very much. She genuinely cared for Obi-Wan and always kept his best interests at heart.

"All right, thank you." Qui-Gon thought for a moment, he didn't want to end his conversation with the boy on such an unhappy not so he quickly changed subjects. "Well Obi-Wan, I understand that Bant's birthday is coming up soon, have you thought about what you are going to do for her?"

"Um, well I thought about it, and she gave me such a good present with the fish, except that it is eating the other fish, but it was still good, and I was trying to think of something to get her, but I don't really know, um, she says she doesn't really want anything and I thought I was going to give her the picture of the shell from the trip, but then um, we had the earthquake and um it got lost, so I don't have it anymore, and I can't draw another one as good, 'cause um you helped me draw it but then I thought she might like something else, something better, but um I couldn't think of anything." Obi-Wan said sounding slightly concerned, but no longer sad.

Qui-Gon smiled briefly at the fickleness of youth. "Well, it's still a few weeks away, I'm sure you can think of something by the time the day comes. When I get home I can help you redraw the picture if you want, or maybe help you come up with something else. How does that sound?"

"Would you? I'd like that. And then maybe you could help me with my model." He boy said, and Qui-Gon could almost see the innocent look on the boy's face.

"I'll look forward to it. Now I think it is time for some little boy to go to bed." Qui-Gon suggested kindly.

"But I'm not tired." Obi-Wan protested predictably.

"I know, but you need to go anyway. If you want, and Master Heri says it's okay, I will call again if I end up staying here too long." He offered the boy as a trade.

After a short pause, Obi-Wan answered. "That would be good."

"All right, Obi-Wan. Good night, Little One. Sleep well, and I love you." Qui- Gon said quietly.

"'Night, I love you, too." Obi-Wan answered in a conspiratorial whisper.

* * *

Qui-Gon suppressed as sigh, the two factions seemed intent on saying the most offensive things possible about the other side. He knew they were intent on reaching a compromise, but it seemed that did not mean they had to stop bickering in order to do so. His presence at the table was basically unnecessary, both sides knew what needed to be done, and he was simply a figurehead forced to witness the process.

As the comments slowly deteriorated into mindless attacks, Qui-Gon let his mind wander a little. He had been on the planet for nearly three days and he knew they would reach a settlement soon. Of that he was infinitely grateful, as all he wanted to do was get way from this planet. And return to the Temple, of course.

True to his word, Obi-Wan had stopped playing with the link between them after the initial conversation and Qui-Gon had called the boy twice more just to reassure him everything was fine. Even if it was difficult to draw the boy out in conversation on the comlink he knew they both felt better after speaking. Qui-Gon also noted that despite the fact he had found the nudges from Obi-Wan during the first few days to be annoying, he found he missed them now that they had stopped.

Qui-Gon smiled inwardly at himself and his inconsistencies. As he turned his attention back to the talks, such as they were, he found the groups surprisingly close to an agreement. It was even possible that they might reach a final agreement some time that day, and then he could go home. At that moment, Qui-Gon felt an absent push along his shared link with Obi-Wan. It was quickly withdrawn, as though the boy had done it without thinking and Qui-Gon again concealed a smile from the proceedings. He gently followed the bond he had with Obi-Wan back to the boy and gave a careful wave of reassurance and was rewarded with a flush of happiness.

He carefully drew his mind and turned his attention fully to the talks. He was determined to see the factions reach an agreement that day, no matter how much of their bickering he had to listen to. Soon he would be home, and once there he had many things to consider, not the least of which was the role the small boy had in his life.