I was not surprised to find that the traitor I called Master did not have the decency to awaken before the dispatched council members arrived. Said council members were a quite worried Yoda and a very annoyed Mace Windu , who somehow became more annoyed upon seeing me with little Ani bundled in my robe. The force was with me when I faced the Sith , I could only hope it would not have forgotten me so soon.
The arched eyebrow was normal for our missions but the lean of his head did not happened unless the subject was important and we would probably would be retired from the mission roster as punishment , a particular favourite of Mace, that and cleaning the common freshers of course. So I could only leave the blond kid wrapped in my robes carefully in that chair hoping it would not take too long or just enough not to have the scared kid wake up alone.
Turns out the review of my mission consisted on me retelling the facts while the masters looked at me in disapproval and muttering something about future purple shins in Yoda's case, and recklessness with old age in Mace's . If I am honest I don't envy Qui Gon when he decides to grace us with his consciousness. Of course that was before they announced I was ready to become a Jedi Knight just because I defeated a suspected Sith in single combat , like the traditions of the Jedi in the New Sith Wars dictated. Thankfully they decided to wait at least a week when my master is supposed to be safe for transportation and awake to have the ceremony.
Which brings me to what Yoda , I believe, thinks is a great Idea and also extremly funny , at least for him.
-'A Knight soon you will become , dissatisfaction at not taking normal trials I perceive .Hmmm. A final task I have for you young Kenobi . In your care young Skywallker will be until awakens your master does. Decided it is.'
And with that and the echo of his stick in the floor the revered master was gone.
Iv'e been relegated from Jedi Knight to babysitter , that is just perfect. If the force is mercifull I won't be assigned Creche duty upon reaching the Temple.
When the sun began to fuse with the horizon I knew it was time to wake my charge up and ask the Queen for possible accommodations. Which Padme graciously provided , first two rooms that would turn just one when ,even upon promises of games and candy in that other room the youngling did not dare to loose his grip on my tabards. So we would have to do with a big bed for now.
We were invited to assist the victory dinner with the Queen, the handmaidens and the brave pilots who formed part of our adventure. Taking advantage of the distraction the dessert provided I returned to our rooms unnoticed , and proceed to do what I thought would be the highlight of my evening.
How wrong I was.
The relaxing bath I envisioned was a complete and utter catastrophe. First by being discovered by the desert planet nuisance who after imprinting on me like one of those winged creatures from Kashyyyktaking took to following me around , and was panicked when he noted my absence from the dining hall. That panic turned out to blow out when he found me inside the bath, naked , and with too much water for his liking.
-'WHAT ARE YOU DOING!' -He screamed at the top of his lungs - 'DON'T WASTE IT LIKE THAT! ' - he kept screaming with tears in his eyes -'HOW ARE WE GOING TO DRINK THAT NOW, THEY ARE GOING TO SELL US FOR WASTING IT AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!'- Now crying in despair .
I could consider the afternoon ruined, but well Obi Wan take pity on him, he is a frightened youngling. You can still make the best of this, right? Right?
–'Ani , calm down . You know that Tatooine is filled with sand right? Well Naboo is the same except instead of sand here they have water. So no, you don't have to drink this and no one is going to sell us because of this or anything else. Okay?' – I said with the most reassuring voice I could muster as I explained myself.
As astonishing as it may seem Anakin's mood changes were quite abrupt and his perception of personal space and proper manners lacking. Before I could realize what was happening Ani had already stripped and joined me in the tub.
I would find that the highlight of the evening would come minutes later when , after having dislodged the kitten-child of me , because –'What if I drown Obi!'- , the sound of no other than Padme resonated in our rooms .Who was searching for him after what I can only imagine was a hasty retreat from dinner. The concern of her voice calling the child's name had him inviting her in the refresher without batting an eye.
Which is how I found myself barely managing to cover the only modesty I had left . And no I am not being cheeky. Proceeding then to face a very red faced and wide eyed 14 year old Queen who by her reactions had grown up surrounded only by her handmaidens. Speaking of handmaidens , our dear Sabé did also peep her head inside the refresher and regarded us with an open mouth, rosy cheeks and a restrained chuckle.
I actually found myself like the protagonist of one of those R rated holos Quinlan got from the lower levels and hid under his sleepcouch in the Temple. Except that it was all wrong because those were two 14 year old girls gawking at me and a 9 year old kid in the tub. This was also a great parody of those popular romantic Jedi holonovels Bant kept pressuring me to read, and the ones that made Rabé blush furiously every time me or Master dared to speak to her.
That train of though and the awkward silence was broken by a very ashamed Anakin who finally seemed to grasp the concept of privacy and the difference between this private refresher and the public showers at the training sale of the Temple. So after some high shrieking and what I believe was , a bar of soap being tossed at the giggling Sabé , he managed to make them leave.
Thank the Force that seemed to have tired Anakin enough. He in fact did not protest when I decided was a good time for turning in for the night.
With a mutter of - ' Don't leave Obi' – he fell asleep clenching my arm. And no much later I too fell in a much deserved sleep.