Disclaimer: I do not own the plot or characters found within the Star Wars universe, particularly within Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Totally wish I did though, but that all belongs to the marvelous genius of George Lucas. I am only mucking about with it, so what you recognize is George's work, and what you do not is my own.
PS. The Star Wars universe at large influences a lot of this, and for information on that, I relied on Wookieepedia. So please keep in mind that some names, places, or things mentioned in this fic can be found upon Wookieepedia and actually do not belong to me.
Chapter 1: Reunion
Life with Obi-Wan was ten times, a thousand times, better from life under Watto's thumb. There was no adequate way to compare the two, there never could be for they were as different as night and day. Watto only cared for Anakin (or anyone) when his particular talents got Watto what he wanted. Obi-Wan valued Anakin as an individual, not because he was Obi-Wan's apprentice. There was nothing selfish in the way Obi-Wan regarded Anakin. A fact that greatly surprised the young man. Only a handful of people had actually cared for him in his life, he was honored that he could count Obi-Wan along side his mother and Lyyr as being one of those people.
Anakin missed Lyyr – as well as his mother – there was no denying that. In the past ten years since leaving Tatooine, they had not been given many opportunities to see each other. The Jedi High Council had deliberately kept them apart. Obi-Wan explained the reasoning behind the forced separation of the two "siblings" and although he understood it, Anakin was not happy. Upon joining the order, one was expected to give up all attachments to the outside world. Masters Yoda and Mace Windu thought the best test of the two's commitment to the Order would be to keep them apart until they achieved the rank of a Jedi Knight.
That had proven to be surprisingly easy. Anakin's apprenticeship with Obi-Wan kept him away from Coursant and the Interior on a regular basis. Obi-Wan was a young and energetic Jedi Knight a fact that the Council exploited. For not only was he up for the challenge the difficult and eventful missions represented, Obi-Wan possessed the wisdom to complete them.
While Anakin was off gallivanting about the galaxy, exploring the Outer Rim, Lyyr was tied to Coursant and the Interior. It had been decided that Master Windu would be her mentor. Guaranteeing that Lyyr would not leave the Interior anytime soon…if at all.
Perhaps after ten years of being kept at arms length they would be allowed to see each other again. That was the main thought occupying Anakin's mind when he was supposed to be concentrating on his flying. They were approaching the citywide planet, returning from a border dispute on Anison. Obi-Wan's star fighter was already preparing to make the descent and Anakin was supposed to hold back until his Master gave him permission to start his own landing.
Flying was second nature to Anakin, he barely had to pay attention it was all instinctual for him. He could have (and probably should have) devoted the amount of concentration Obi-Wan thought was necessary to his flying, but he did not. For some reason Anakin's thoughts always managed to wander whenever Obi-Wan demanded absolute concentration from him.
Usually it was thoughts of Lyyr and how her apprenticeship was coming along that distracted him. He was curious to know what she thought of life as a padawan learner and a future Jedi. His sister, however, was no the only female to occupy Ani's mind. More often than not Anakin found that his thoughts drifted towards Padmé. So much so, that he found himself thinking of her more than he thought of his own mother and sister. Padmé took up a surprisingly large quantity of his thoughts and dreams and at first Ani found it slightly disturbing. It was certainly shocking considering that Anakin had only known her for such a brief period of time. The memory of her, however, was burned into his subconscious.
Anakin hoped that Obi-Wan did not realize how often the former Nabooian Queen featured in his padawan's daydreams. Anakin did not need to, or wanted to, give his Master another reason to scold him. Obi-Wan found enough reasons for a 'lecture' without any active help from Anakin. On some level the younger man knew that Obi-Wan was aware of his borderline obsession with Padmé; Anakin just hoped that Obi-Wan did not realize exactly how much it truly consumed Ani.
He was, truth be told, thrilled to see Coursant and the sparkling lights of that citywide planet winking at him through space. Anakin was looking forward to staying put in one place for sometime; surely, the duo had earned a small reprieve, especially after that mess on Anison. Besides, he would have the chance to square of against Cin Drallig, the Jedi battlemaster and test his skills as a duelist. Anakin was certain that his skills had improved to the point that the could easily beat the battlemaster in combat. That was not arrogance on his part, it was just confidence in his skills.
In the ten years since Anakin had been a mere slave boy on Tatooine his powers in the Force had increased tenfold. At twenty, he was now more powerful than most of the Jedi who outranked him. What's more, he was not ashamed in letting them know it. Obi-Wan told Ani, and often, that it was arrogance to boast about his powers in the Force, but Anakin could not bring himself to agree with his Master. They argued about that, a lot, in fact they argued about most things.
"Anakin, are you paying attention to proper landing procedures," Obi-Wan's voice filtered through the comlink with minimal static. "We do not want a repeat of last time."
"Yes Master," Anakin replied dutifully, wrenching his attention back to what he was doing.
"Very well then, I shall see you on the docking bay. Remember we have to make a report to the Council."
"I remember Master," he reassured his mentor while taking the opportunity to indulge in the urge to roll his eyes.
She loved rummaging about the Archives; she had never known that so much information existed in the galaxy or that it was so easy to lose oneself in it. Lyyr would have never suspected that such a thirst for knowledge existed within her. As a slave on Tatooine, she had no need for knowledge. Well other than what it took to guarantee that she survived, but that was cunning more than it was knowledge. Now she spent the majority of her day – when possible – browsing through the Archives. She was there so often that the Archivist had started to refer those in need of help to Lyyr, particularly if Jocasta Nu was too busy to be bothered.
Master Windu found it a convenient way to locate Lyyr. It was common knowledge that if she was not currently in a lesson or by his side than she was most likely tucked away in the Archives.
Actually, that is where she was right now. Busily finishing an assignment Windu had given her and taking the time to do some research of her own. Mace had asked her to research the traditional methods of Jedi training, particularly the theory behind that training. He then wanted her to write an essay compiling and explaining her research. He figured that since Lyyr's training was anything but traditional she could only benefit from the information.
Lyyr had finished the report easily enough; in fact, she had found it extremely dull to write. Her boredom lead her to continue filtering through the Archives, only pausing when something caught her interest. That is how she came across an article on 'gray' Jedi. Her curiosity was captured immediately and she read the data entry eagerly. These so-called 'gray' Jedi were those capable of thinking for their self and did not believe what the Council said hook, line, and sinker. Not to say that no Jedi could think for their self, but Lyyr was willing to admit that some were a little more fanatic about believing the Council than others. She was immediately reminded of Qui-Gon after reading the article. She read on and soon came across mention of possible and more infamously known 'gray' Jedi. One of those was the Jedi Jolee Bindo who had been rather outspoken about his won views on Jedi's and their emotions.
"Love doesn't lead to the dark side. Passion can lead to rage and fear, and can be controlled but passion is not the same thing as love. Controlling your passions while being in love, that's what they should teach you to beware, but love itself will save, not condemn you," Lyyr repeated the words on the screen to herself. She leaned back in her chair satisfied by what she read, she like the sound and logic of those words.
It made inescapable sense to her. Love did not condemn an individual, so many times back on Tatooine she had witnessed how the ability to love saved people. That is what allowed so many to carryon in the face of hopeless despair. Ungoverned passion was the problem; she had witnessed first hand how that could destroy people.
After reading about the 'gray' Jedi, it was obvious to her that Qui-Gon and Veira had shared a similar philosophy. Only a willingness to see how wrong the Council was and could be would have given them the strength to admit their love for each other. Although Qui-Gon had never admitted his love for Veira to Lyyr, and she could not ask her mother, she knew instinctively that they had loved each other. She could see no other reason that would compel them to defy the Jedi Code.
Oh, Lyyr knew the official reason why their actions had been tolerated and they had not been cast out of the Order for action upon their emotions. Veira Dysar, because of the prestige of her family back on her homeworld, had been required by law to provide her family with an heir and a spare. Especially since Veira's own brother could not perform his duty to the family. Because of that, Lyyr had an older half-brother who had been raised back on Bakura. He was separated from his mother at birth and they raised his so that he would believe that his aunt and uncle were his real parents. A few years after his birth, however, Veira's family called upon her to perform her duty once more. That time Veira decided that her second child would be a product of love not duty. When her second child proved to be a girl and after her family showed their displeasure the baby's sex, Veira had fought to keep her daughter with her.
Masters Yoda and Windu had explained all of this to Lyyr shortly after she had agreed to join the Order. In fact, they had even pointed out her older brother to her; he was currently serving as the Senator for Bakura, although she had yet to meet him. Actually, she had no desire to meet him. They did not, however, tell Lyyr why they had decided to grant Veira the right to raise her daughter or why they agreed to let Qui-Gon be the father of her second child. Lyyr was resigned to the fact that she probably would never know the arguments Veira used to convince them to allow her to subvert Qui-Gon then keep her child.
Lyyr was content with the knowledge that she had…she had to be.
She mulled over her parents situation as well as the words of Jolee Bindo before finally arriving at a conclusion. That shall be my motto; she declared feeling no guilt for making a decision that could alienate her form the Council. She was a firm believer that rules were meant to be broken. She had always believed that even on when she was a slave and such freethinking could have been (quite literally) the death of her. After all if the rules had not been broken she could not be a padawan right now, hell she wouldn't even exist.
Lyyr did not suffer form any delusions of the Council's righteousness, she knew that they were willing to circumvent their own edicts as long as they thought there was some benefit in it for them and the Order. That is why Lyyr had been giving the opportunity to train as a padawan learner, despite her advanced age. She was no one's fool.
She also understood that separating her form Anakin was more of a means to test their mettle than to follow the Code. They wanted to see if the two former Tatooine salves could survive on their own. More than that, it was a means to see that if isolating her from the one person she had the closest attachment to would break her. in all honesty Lyyr was amused by the thought, Gardulla had been far more creative and ruthless in her attempts to break Lyyr's spirit, and each attempt had failed miserably.
This was their way of giving her an accelerated education and Master Windu had been a difficult taskmaster but Lyyr was more than up for the challenge. He had barely spent anytime teaching her the most rudimentary skills that those a fifth of her age had already memorized and learned by heart. After she had shown that her mind was open enough and malleable enough for their training, Mace had instantly moved on to instructing her in the ways of the Force and how to properly wield a lightsaber. It was then that the few techniques Qui-Gon had managed to impart to her before the Battle of Theed proved useful.
Her first practice duel had proven both painful and enlightening. Painful, for she had it forcefully brought home to her that despite her years fighting in the area she was sorely lacking in her knowledge of basic defense. Enlightening, because Mace had made a shocking discovery; he had expected Lyyr to use elements of Ataru against him for that had been Qui-Gon's preferred form of lightsaber combat and it made since that he would have thought Lyyr some of the basics. It did not surprise the Jedi Master to see Lyyr attempt to block his advance with a defense maneuver that was common to that form. It did, however, shock him when Lyyr responded with an attack maneuver that was common to Form VI.
Qui-Gon only used Ataru, Mace knew that, but he also knew that Veira had been well on her way to mastering Form VI before her death. The only way Mace could account for Lyyr's near instinctual knowledge of that form was to assume that Veira had considered her daughter to be her padawan learner and had begun mentoring her.
Acting on a hunch, Mace than tested Lyyr's ability to control the Force, he was further surprised to see that she could already manipulate objects with the Force. Mace challenged Lyyr to lift a purely ornamental vase using the power of her mind alone. She had regarded him as if he was insane but did as he asked, and to Mace's amazement not only did she manage to safely lift the vase but she kept it suspended in mid-air for nearly twenty minutes. She had to have been tortured by Veira, even a Force sensitive with a purely unconscious and instinctual control of the Force could not have managed to hold aloft as long as she had.
This discovery only served to advance her studies at a quicker rate and if Masters Yoda and Windu thought that she would be embarrassed to still be considered a padawan at the age of twenty-five they were wrong. Lyyr preferred to have her talents and knowledge underestimated by those around her, for one thing, and she liked the obscurity being a padawan gave her. If it were up to her, she would draw out her apprenticeship as long as possible. Even though she did not like being kept away from Anakin, she still was not ready for the spotlight being named a Jedi Knight would shove her into.
If Mace was surprised by her progress as a padawan learner, Lyyr was surprised by how easily she had adjusted to life away from the brutality of Tatooine. The changes she had gone through since conning her way onto Qui-Gon's ship were astonishing. There were some days when even she barely recognized herself. She had come a long way from the suspicious and hostile girl, who had been ready to fight anyone at the drop of a hat for some imagined insult. She grimaced at the thought, before turning off the screen in front of her and making her way out of the Archives. She nodded absentmindedly to Jocasta Nu as she pasts the Archivist.
She was no longer so guarded, oh, she still had her walls to hide behind, but she was more willingly to let others in, more capable of asking for help and admitting when she needed it. She was more capable of trust now too. Before, she was always waiting for the ax to fall but now she was willing to take things at face value. Not to say that life among the Jedi had made her completely soft and gullible, no, she would never be able to be that trusting. At least now she was capable of recognizing those who were worthy of her trust. She frowned at her thoughts, they did not make any sense, but she had no better way to express the changes in her.
Sometimes she wondered that if she were having this much trouble recognizing herself, how would Anakin ever be able to recognize her. Force, as if I'll be able to recognize him after ten years, she asked herself. Surely, Ani must have changed, or at least grown taller, she thought with some amusement. Naturally the boy would have grown, he was twenty years old now to expect him to look the same was absolutely ridiculous.
Lost in her thoughts she made her way towards the Council chambers. She was to meet Master Windu there in order to go over her finished assignment and then she was going to accompany him to the Senate. For today's lesson, she was going to observe Senator's at work, once more. Sometimes she got sick of remaining on Coursant there was no adventure for her here, and although she got plenty of practice in the diplomatic duties of a Jedi, she had no experience in the more practical aspects of being a Jedi. Going from a life where any wrong move could have resulted in her death and on nearly a daily basis she was expected to earn the right to live, to living peacefully in the relatively opulent Jedi Temple was not only a shock to her system but proved boring. Lyyr found herself growing stale the longer she remained living under the protection of the Temple.
She was so preoccupied with these thoughts that she did not see the tow figures walking towards her. In fact, she did not know that someone was in front of her until she collided with a broad solid chest and then actually bounced off it. The person she had so rudely ran into reached out and grabbed her at the elbows, steadying her and preventing her for landing on her ass.
"Oh I do beg your pardon," she apologized immediately looking up to find herself staring into a pair of highly amused blue-gray eyes. For some reason those dancing eyes seemed awfully familiar to her, and for no reason she could think of the mirth in those eyes irritated her.
"Master, what's the matter?" A young masculine voice asked and Lyyr gazed over the man's left shoulder to find the Jedi's apprentice staring at her. There was something familiar about both men's faces but she could not quite place them. The one she had run into had intelligent features topped off by shaggy russet color hair with a beard to match in both color and texture, and the other had dark brown hair cropped short except for the tell-tail padawan braid. He had somewhat boyish features with smile lines around his mouth and a mischievous twinkle in his dark blue eyes. The younger man took one good look at Lyyr and then broke out into a sudden grin. Now Lyyr knew why they looked so familiar to her, after all there was no mistaking that grin.
"Hullo Lyyr," Anakin greeted her warmly. At the sound of her name Obi-Wan (for the man she bumped into could only be him) quickly let go of her and let his arms fold across his chest, assuming the traditional stance of an indulgent older Jedi. Lyyr neatly sidestepped the man to get a better look at her little brother. One look at the lad was enough to convincer her that 'little' was a relative term.
"Anakin you're so tall!" She blurted craning her neck back so that she could look him in the eyes. He laughed at that and engulfed her in a bone-crushing embrace and then to her further amazement he boldly lifted her off her feet and gave her a little spin. After a moment or two, he gently returned her to her feet.
"Well, I never thought the day would come where I would be able to spin you around," he told her matter-of-factly. She could not help it she cracked a huge grin and punched him lightly in the arm. "Ouch," he said mockingly, rubbing his abused bicep.
"Oh dear, Ani what am I to do with you?" She asked half-seriously rolling her eyes at him. She was pleased to see that they had so easily fallen back into their old familiarity even after ten years of forced separation. It was almost as if not a day had passed since they last saw each other.
The sound of someone noisily clearing his throat caught their attention. Both Lyyr and Anakin whipped their heads towards the sound to find Obi-Wan regarding them with a mixture of open amusement and resignation in his eyes. Lyyr suppressed an urge to frown at his expression.
"I hate to break up this little family reunion," he said with gentle sarcasm, and although she knew he meant it as a joke she could not help but be annoyed by what he said. "But we have a mission to be getting along with Anakin." Obi-Wan reminded his padawan.
"Right," Anakin nodded then turned back to Lyyr. "The Council has asked us to protect Senator Amidala." Anakin told her, the pride unmistakable in his voice. Lyyr let her eyes go wide, she was aware of the attempt made on the Senator's life earlier that day but she did not think that Padmé would agree to have a Jedi protector. She was also concerned about having Anakin in the role of the young Senator's protector. Well did she remember the little crush he had developed on her back when she had been the Queen of Naboo. Obi-Wan is with him though, she reasoned, and he will make sure Anakin does not do anything rash. At least she hoped he would, the pair did have a reputation for being just a tad reckless.
"Truly?" She asked allowing some of her surprise to color her voice, if she was lucky Anakin would probably assume that the important mission the Council trusted them with impressed her. Which it did, but her concern out weighed her surprise.
"Well you best not keep the Senator waiting." She said giving him a quick parting hug. "Obi-Wan," she said with a nod of farewell in the older man's direction.
"Lyyr," he said speaking to her for the first time, "I'm glad we got a chance to bump into you." He finished, before walking away with Anakin following.
For some reason Lyyr blushed in embarrassment and annoyance at the older man's parting sally. Shoving it out of her mind, she continued on her way to the Council Chamber. Perhaps life in the Temple would become more interesting now that it looked like those two would be staying for a while. Lyyr smiled at the thought.
AN: The information about Jolee Bindo and 'gray' Jedi I got directly from Wookiepedia.