...Interlude One. The Hero With No Fear...
Anakin was reminded of his knighting ceremony as he knelt before the Council. Yoda laid his gnarled hands on Anakin's head, and Anakin felt a calm, complacent mood settle over him... almost like a mind trick...
By the time he recognized it as a threat, he was already lost. "Forget, Skywalker," Master Windu said slowly.
"No..." He clung to the memories of Luke and Leia, of Padmè, but the Council was very gently easing them from his grasp. They left large, dark voids in their wake, which he could feel the Council trying to fill with the Force. He struggled uselessly against this intrusion, reaching for those last remnants of memory...
...but he could already feel his consciousness slipping into one of those voids. The last thing he was aware of was the lingering memory of Obi-Wan's ghost. He held onto this image even as it was lost in the blinding light of the Force.
When he fainted, he could almost imagine it was Obi-Wan's arms he was collapsing into.
Aside from the fact that he was sprawled out on the floor of the Council chamber, it looked to Kit like Anakin could have been sleeping. "Not since Revan have the Jedi needed to do such a thing."
"May we never need to do it again," Master Tholme added.
There was a long moment of silence. Kit stepped forward, and laid his fingers gently against Anakin's temples. With his mind still open to the Council so they could know his intent, he placed a new memory in Anakin's mind, a promise to take the desert-born child to Glee Anselm.
Saesee Tin gave Anakin a memory of flying together in the Clone Wars.
From Mace, he received a memory of a first and only training session in the basics of Vapaad. To reinforce this, Yoda made him remember the bruises he'd had to endure for weeks afterward.
When they finished, the Council all stepped away, leaving Kit and Ki-Adi-Mundi to carry Anakin back to his seat. Yoda hobbled after them, and waved a clawed hand in front of Anakin's face. "Awake, Skywalker," he said.
Slowly, Anakin's eyes fluttered open.
To Anakin, it was as though he was opening his eyes after blinking. But... perhaps he'd experienced a vision? He had the lingering feeling that a lot more time had passed. He could remember... something about Chancellor Amidala maybe? Or it might even go back to Palpatine's time as chancellor.
His thoughts were wandering, and he mentally berated himself for missing the beginning of what Master Yoda was saying. "Agreed, we are. Earned the right to construct a lightsaber, Perun has."
Anakin practically beamed with pride. "Thank you, Masters. As soon as we're finished, I'd like to go tell him."
Perun sniffed his medicine tentatively, and gave Bant an incredulous look. "Are you sure it's safe to drink this stuff?"
The Mon Calamari replied with a look that promised far more creative ways of getting the "stuff" into his system if he didn't drink it. "I thought bacta was only for external wounds," Perun muttered as he swallowed.
"Just because most people look to bacta as cure-all doesn't mean it's the only useful medicine," Bant replied haughtily.
"Well, we can't all be brilliant healers, can we?"
Perun gave a relieved sigh when he heard Anakin's voice. He looked up... and stared. There was something different about Master Skywalker.
"Are you alright, Padawan?" he asked, and Perun heard the change in his voice this time too.
"Yes, Master," the boy replied. "You just surprised me is all. You look so... calm."
Master Fisto had followed Anakin into the room. He motioned to Bant, and pulled her aside as Anakin came to sit beside Perun. "I have good news, Perun."
"Please tell me I'm being discharged."
Anakin smiled. "As soon as you're fully recovered--" Perun made a face "--we're going to the caves to find you a saber crystal. We can start working on a hilt as soon as you think you're ready."
"But I have a lightsaber," Perun replied, now slightly confused. "You gave me Master Kenobi's. Don't you remember?"
Anakin blinked. Perun caught Kit's gaze as he came back in. "You failed to mention that detail, Anakin. Could it have slipped your mind?" Perun had a nasty suspicion that there was some hidden meaning behind that last question.
"I... it may have." Anakin shook his head. "You should keep it, Perun. He'd want you to. Building your own is still an important part of your training."
"But I did that once already--"
Anakin put a comforting hand on his right shoulder; Kit touched his left. "Don't worry about that just yet," the Nautolan said evenly, before giving Perun one of his grins. "How do you feel about taking a little trip first?"
"That's okay, Masters," Perun said, eyeing the tempest warily. "You two go out in the crazy. I'm staying here."
They had come to Glee Anselm under the guise of re-establishing political connections after the war. In reality, both the Nautolans and the Anselmi had always supported the Republic, so there was very little for the Jedi to do except enjoy their host's hospitality. Hopefully, no one would consider it insulting that Perun was terrified by their native sport.
Despite the protest he had put up before about being let out of the med-ward, he begged out on account of his recent injuries. Instead, Perun agreed to stand in the rain and watch from shore while Kit and Anakin went storm surfing. The water below was almost black in the deepest parts where the other Nautolans waited for them, but crystal clear by the shallows. A few children had gathered there, splashing in the knee-deep water and occasionally venturing a bit further out. Perun admired their tenacity. The smallest of them were being tumbled by the waves, and even the oldest were having some trouble staying upright. The moment that one of the boys got thrown headfirst into the shore and came up smiling was when Perun decided that they -- and Anakin -- were crazy.
Instantly, Perun regretted the thought. Of course Anakin wasn't crazy. The Council had made sure of that. Kit had explained what had happened following the debriefing (including several of the details that had been purposefully removed from Anakin's memory) and done so against some Council members' express wishes. But apparently Kit had trusted him enough to keep the secrets.
That, and Perun realized that all the questions he'd asked must have made Master Fisto feel extremely guilty.
This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker right now:
You have no idea that your son is being put on a transport to Illum, or that you won't get to watch your daughter grow up because she is going to Dantooine. You don't know that your wife has had the very core of her belief shaken, that she will never again trust the Jedi, because you do not know that she is your wife. You do not suspect that your Padawan is hiding these very secrets from you. Instead, you are almost giddy with joy, because for the first time in your life, you feel truly free.
Storm surfing is not a part of your training, nor is it part of a mission on which the fate of a planet and it's people depends. This, quite simply, is fun.
The first wave that crests over your head makes you splutter. You are more prepared for the second, after you fit your rebreather into your mouth. You look at Kit, and he grins back before pulling himself up onto his board. You follow suit, feeling the shift beneath your feet and the pull of the current. You let the wave pull you to it's peak, and down again in a rush of wind and spray. You can feel the eyes of the observers, watching you and Kit, analyzing the fabled Jedi prowess, wondering how you will react to the final dive.
Kit's board reaches the end first. You have just a split second in which you watch him fly--
The guideline goes taut. You leap from your board, vaguely aware of the wave falling away below you. You do not fear the plunge back into the stormy water. In your mind, you have no reason to.
Author's Note: Alright, so it's been far too long since I've updated, and for that I apologize. What's been going on here -- besides those pesky Real Life issues -- is that I've been working on a new one-shot as well as outlining the next two parts of this story. Yeah, two; once again, while brainstorming with skywalker05, the plot completely ran away with me. So as a token for putting up with the outrageous time gap I gave you guys, I offer these teasers: We'll be seeing some Leia in the future, lots more Luke, clones of an evil villain, and there is the possibility that our heroes might meet up with a certain blue ghost...