Chapter 10

The boy in question spun, eyes searching. Gaze lighting on Anatika, his expression clouded, as though he was trying to remember how he knew her. All of a sudden, his whole countenance lit up as a wide grin spread across his face.

"Anatika!"

He rushed towards her, and she embraced him, though she was pretty sure she would hear about it later. Just the same, she couldn't keep the happiness out of her dancing eyes or wipe the smile away. Her brother! Here!

"Are you going to be a Jedi?" she asked excitedly.

Anakin nodded enthusiastically. "Well, at least if I can make it through the testing." He gave her a sheepish grin.

She had too many questions to keep contained. "How is Mama? Is she well? How did you manage to get out of slavery? How do you know Master Qui Gon and Obi-Wan?"

The boy chuckled. "Mom's fine. We've been working under a Toydarian named Watto for the past couple of years, but Master Qui Gon bet on the Boonta Eve Classic and got me outta there. He won me fair and square, but you shoulda seen the look on Watto's face! It was priceless."

Ana laughed. "I'm sure. Ani, it's so good to see you again!" She embraced him again, just as Master Biir came up behind her, and Master Qui Gon came up behind the boy.

"What's this? You know each other?" Lecti inquired, one eyebrow raised.

"Mm-hmm," Anatika began. "Master, Anakin is my brother."

"No wonder," she heard Obi Wan mutter, and she gave him a look. He merely grinned in response.

xxxxxxx

It was finally decided that Anakin would be trained, but not without pain and destruction. There had been a war on Naboo, a planet that Anatika had never heard of until Obi-Wan and his master had become involved in the aforementioned war. To make matters worse, apparently the evil Sith had risen once more, and now Master Qui Gon was dead as a result of a duel.

She remembered watching the flames dance in the funeral pyre, trying not to think about the Jedi she had known being burned to ashes. It wasn't actually him, she told herself. Just his body. Just the shell of flesh housing his spirit.

Recalling that moment, Anatika remembered how she had happened to glance up, through the flames, and saw Obi-Wan standing there, watching, Anakin at his side. Her friend's look of restrained pain and tears cut right through her; and when she tried to put herself in his place, she knew that he had the much harder lot. This had been his master, his mentor. The one who would get his back in a fight. The one who had taught him all he knew. She did not envy him his position.

But life had moved on. It had needed to. And now Obi-Wan was her little brother's master. She couldn't repress a grin as she thought of all the trials that boy had put him through.

At the same time, she thought of all the training her own master had given her—and all the trouble she had returned. They had been across the galaxy together, fighting and securing peace for the Republic, but Anatika wasn't perfect, either. In fact, it seemed that she and her brother had more in common than perhaps they'd like to admit.

For instance, there was that time she had been practicing her lightsaber techniques in the Temple, and had accidentally used her real blade… The damage done to the practice room and probes had been minimal, but the disappointment of both her Master and the Council members was enough punishment to make her not as careless the next time.

The chagrin only increased when she discovered that Anakin had tried to do the same thing not two weeks later.

Now, she gazed at her glowing blade, just admiring the beauty of it. Master Biir had warned her numerous times that the lightsaber was not a toy, but a lethal weapon. Of course, Ana knew this. She merely wanted to enjoy its deadly splendor, from time to time.

"Twelve years," she mused aloud. It had been twelve years since Master Sysk had showed up in that dirty marketplace on Tatooine and managed, with his Padawan, to get Anatika to freedom. Twelve years since she had first set foot in the Jedi Temple. Twelve years since she had found out that she, too, would be part of the illustrious Jedi someday.

Master Biir had just told her that she wouldn't be a Padawan for much longer. Just a few more years, and she would be ready to take the trials and become a Jedi Knight. As she reflected over this, she couldn't help but get lost in a whirlwind of memories of the past and daydreams about the future. What would this new change mean in her life? Would she receive a Padawan of her own? Or would her mission just be to obey the Council and go where they told her to?

She stayed lost in contemplation and meditation, staring mesmerized at the blue beam of energy before her, when she was startled out of her reverie by a sharp voice.

"Hey! Hey, you!"

The young woman was on her feet in an instant, lightsaber still ignited, all senses on alert. A man, recognizably a Jedi, was running towards her, but—wait! It appeared as though he was looking past her! Turning in the other direction, she saw a dark-clad man sprinting down the hall in the Jedi Temple. What in the—?

As the Jedi sped past her, he looked her in the eye. "Help me! We've got to catch that man!"

Ana didn't need to be told twice. Giving the Knight a succinct nod, she began edging toward the wall, intending to slip around the back way and cut the intruder off before he could make it to his ship.

But she never made it that far.

Because, of course, the man was not alone.

She had been so intent on gaining the hangar that she neglected to pay full attention to her surroundings. And she didn't realize her potentially fatal mistake until it was almost too late. In fact, she didn't realize it until she heard a blaster being fired directly behind her.

Relying on the Force to guide her movements, she tucked into a forward roll, the laser barely missing her. She was up again in a split second, armed with her lightsaber and ready to fight. Needless to say, this man didn't seem accustomed to having his blaster shots reflected back to him. It wasn't too long before he was put out from the skirmish altogether.

But he had still done his duty; the other Jedi was pretty much on his own in capturing the intruder. Anatika moved as quickly as she could to join the battle that would ensue in the hangar, but found she was too late. There was a ship faintly visible in the distance, and the Knight was standing dejectedly in the open mouth of the shelter.

"What happened?" she asked as soon as he was in earshot. "Who was that man?"

The man turned slowly to face her. "I don't know who it was, actually. But he was able to get what he came for."

"And what was that?"

"Top-secret information given to us to keep for the Republic. Sorry, I can't tell you any more; it's classified."

"The information wasn't even ours?"

He shook his head miserably. "He managed to sneak in while I was away from my post for a very brief moment. It was my responsibility to guard it—and I failed."

Ana ran a hand through her hair. "And now what? Someone's going to be sent after it, right?"

The Jedi looked up sharply, annoyance clear on his features. "Do you always ask so many questions? I don't know what's going to happen. The Council needs to hear of it first, and I don't relish that task…" He trailed off and began to walk away.

And she watched him go, pensively playing with the sleeve of her robe.

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