The final day of my gauntlet arrived; growing desperate, the gauntlet-master had a new challenge for me. He tied me up again; stripped of my tunic, I had to endure countless hours in agony while he simply punched and kicked me. His gloves and boots had iron spikes on them; when they hit my skin, new rivulets of blood would flow down my body.
My left eye had four holes above it, giving additional pain to the black-eye already there. My torso and back were decorated with new holes, in additions to the many sigils that were already burnt there. He had come close to cutting open my neck when he had punched my jaw.
Finally, I had had enough. While his back was turned when he was drinking something out of a canteen, I pulled myself up and twisted my feet around his neck. Not expecting it, he tried to remove my feet with a simple shrug of his shoulders. With a slight contortion of my body, his neck snapped like a twig. At the sound, Jadis came running into the room.
"Anakin!" She ran up to me, caressing my new wounds. Turning behind her, she gasped in shock at the sight of the almighty gauntlet-master, his neck jutted out in an unnatural position.
Clearing my head, I helped Jadis calm down. "Reach into my bag, and get my hunting knife." When I felt the knife in my hand, I managed to cut my bonds. Falling to the ground, Jadis splashed warm water onto my cuts, sluicing the blood out. "Please, help me into my armour," I asked her, pointing to the corner where Jadis had originally placed the pieces before the gauntlet began. Moving slowly, she helped me to don the pieces, so not to aggravate my open wounds and burns.
Once my armour was on, I straightened up the best that I could. "Thank you, Jadis." I grabbed her and kissed her on the lips. With that, I opened the door, hauling the carcass of the gauntlet master behind me. Walking before Zorba, I tossed the body of the feared gauntlet-master in front of his throne, and knelt once more at Zorba's feet.
"What is this?" Zorba asked sarcastically. Again he had a rat in his hands: this time it was still alive and writhing in his grip.
"It is proof, my lord, that I have completed your test successfully. I have not said a word to the gauntlet-master; your secret has remained safe with me." I kept my head up, looking towards Zorba at all times; blood dripped down from my forehead, sparking pain in my black eye.
"Come here," Zorba motioned with his hand to walk over the corpse and stand beside him. He wiped his hand across my eye, collecting the blood and sweat. "You will be a fine bounty hunter; I am honoured to have you at my side." With that, he stuck his hand in his mouth, taking obvious delight in tasting the salty blood. So began my career as a bounty hunter and translator, and Zorba's protector.
Everyday for the next ten years, I would don my Mandolian armour, piece by piece. I would leave my hair in a horsetail; I would polish my sea blue sapphire ear drop to a shine. I made it a habit to keep all of my blades on the inside of my forearm's armour; it made for a quick and easy retrieval. On my utility belt, I kept my blaster, toxic dart gun, and translator device. The staff that I had made, I kept in my room: it was not a good weapon to use in close combat.
My post allowed me to stand next to Zorba; I knew this spot was granted to the elite within his service. By simply talking to the people of Zorba, I could delve into their minds and reveal information to Zorba that some of these shallow-minded people did not even know that they had. My powers allowed me to coerce resistive members to submit to Zorba's will before they did something stupid. With the passing of every month, Zorba gave me a pay of three thousand credits, along with some token of his gratitude.
Almost every night in my service with Zorba, Jadis came into my room. There, I would worship her beautiful streamlined body; her blue-grey, almond-shaped eyes that shone like the dusky sky; her long braided black hair that smelled of the jasmine that she rubbed in it every day; her skin the color of the roasted nuts that I ate after my duties were over for the day. Her down to earth attitude washed away all of the stress of the day, all of the mindless drabble of the court. The chemistry between us grew stronger every time we looked at each other.
One of the nights about four years into my service, I turned over in my bed. Jadis stared back at me with her pleasure-glazed eyes. Her smile unravelled me as we looked at one another underneath my blanket.
"Jadis," I pulled a small box from underneath my pillow.
"Yes, Anakin?" She did not notice my hands, only my brown curls as she ran her hands through it.
"Jadis, will you marry me?" I opened up the box. She gasped; inside was a gold ring embedded with a sapphire, her favourite stone.
She did not answer; she simply slid the ring onto her finger and began to bestow her kisses on my weathered face again. That night, we were married. Our only trouble was to keep this from the court, or else we would both be humiliated and jeered at. I would be unfit for my post; who knew what would happen to Jadis if the lecherous hunters and low-lives of the court got their hands on her.
Every night, we came to one another to sleep. During the day, we acted indifferently towards each other. For the sake of our lives, we acted as though we did not know each other. Only at night would our marriage ensue. Two young people in love: it was a formula for everlasting happiness in my book.
My mother's memoirs were proceeding into the time that I was patiently reading towards: her time as a captain of the Imperial Forces. This is the time in which my mother changed from a carefree pilot trying to find her way to a cold-hearted soldier, an automaton of the Imperial war machine. Something had transformed my mother and the transmitter on my palm held the key to the puzzle.