Glancing
between the council members in obvious shock, Qui-Gon opened his
mouth and then closed it before reaching up and running his hands
nervously through his hair, a tick he had long ago gotten a hold of
centuries ago. “If I didn’t know how little humor some of you
have, I would have said you were playing a bad prank on me.” He
croaked out.

Leaning
forward, Jocasta let out a soft sigh and shook her head. “I
apologize Qui-Gon but no, this is not a joke, bad or not.” She
murmured, her face the picture of a dark frown.

“So
Obi-Wan has a… a stalker?” Qui-Gon dropped his hand to his sides,
swallowing heavily.

This
was not what he expected when Plo told him that the council wanted to
speak with him about Obi-Wan.

‘And
I was right, he has a target on his back…’ Qui-Gon stomach
lurched as he turned his head to look at Yoda.

The
grandmaster was looking his age today, a heavy frown on his face.
“Unfortunate this is, from the slums underground information has
come and reviewed we have the footage from outings young Kenobi has
been on with the younglings, a stalker he has.” Yoda sighed
heavily, clenching his long nails into his cane, the
only evidence to his own worries for his youngest lineage member.

Frowning,
Qui-Gon opened his mouth only to pause when Plo snapped a button,
activating the holo display to show him the gathered evidence.

From
Obi-Wan at the traveling zoo to the outing to the Rotunda the
younglings of his age had taken just yesterday, a shadow was caught
in the peripheral
view of the
camera, far enough away that the creche master and her apprentice
didn’t catch notice of the shadow following the Jedi, keeping her
charges under observation and in particular Obi-Wan.

“In
honesty,” Plo leaned forward too, catching everyone’s attention.
“I do not think this is a stalker in as much that someone has put a
price on Obi-Wan’s head. For what reason, we can only speculate.”
He rumbled, tapping his claws together with a deep frown.

Qui-Gon
could think of a reason.

He
could think of a very good reason as he swallowed heavily and Jocasta
caught his expression and raised a brow at him. “Master Jinn?”
She encouraged, shifting the attention back to the Jedi master.

Glancing
at the dark clothed image, Qui-Gon spoke slowly. “My entire
lineage, from my great grandmaster, to my grandmaster, my own master
and my padawans are all immortal. We are all adults, capable and
experienced,” He murmured, his tone even as the timber of his voice
dipped even lower than usual. “For some reason, each one of us has
come over the path to immortality by accident, the Force granting us
what it usually keeps from sentient beings… and now Obi-Wan is the
latest addition to our lineage.” He glanced at Yoda.

The
old troll was frowning heavily, ears twitching.

“Think
you do, that immortality Obi-Wan will find too?” Yaddle spoke up,
her eyes shining with curiosity.

Shrugging,
running his hand over his chin, Qui-Gon sighed deeply. “What I
believe matters very little here and I don’t really care if Obi-Wan
does find immortality or not, he will always be my young padawan even
when he’s gray and old,” He smiled wryly before dropping his
smile just as fast. “However, there is a clear pattern with our
lineage and what others
believe, I can not control. The assumption many has is that Obi-Wan
will eventually find immortality to in some manner and Jedi are not
the only Force organization in the galaxy.” He looked around,
seeing if the rest of the council caught on.

From
the disturbed expressions around him, it was clear that they did.

“Then
you will have to be even more cautious than before with young
Kenobi,” Sifo-Dyas stated, a dark frown on his face. “While
giving the impression that we do not know he has become a target.”

Rubbing
his face, heavily, Qui-Gon nodded while inwardly groaning, knowing
that this would mean a lot more ‘volunteer’ work with the creche
outings.

Then
he paused, reviewing his thoughts and then sighing deeply with a
slower nod of agreement as he dropped his hands along his sides.

For
Obi-Wan’s safety, he’d do anything, including put up with a whole
class of nine year old’s being cranky or overactive.