Wraith Headquarters' Lounge, 1127
Stars traveled past her mind in an intense display of speed, far faster than any ship in hyperspace. Adra closed her eyes and when they opened again, she was in an all-too-familiar office: that of Colonel Naam, the head of the Imperial Academy at Bastion. Her former instructor was sitting in his chair, looking at the wall, obviously reading something. Adra looked around his head to see what he was seeing. A plaque on the wall was the only thing visible. The plaque itself held the names of students with extraordinary abilities. About halfway down, Adra found what he was looking at, judging by his thoughts.
'Adra Tallon – One hell of a cocky pilot, not without good reason, and a prankster the likes of which we'll never see again.'
Then the image, no doubt inspired by the Force, faded.
Muttering quietly to herself, Adra tapped her forehead. "I do not need to know what my former training master is doing," she said quietly, not really intending for anyone to hear her. No one did. Instead of letting the now-awkward silence reign supreme, Adra went about shooing everyone but the older Afyon twins and their Masters from the room.
Anakin, it seemed, didn't think he was going to comply. With a sigh, Adra shook her head and watched as the Jedi Master firmly planted himself on the couch and put his feet up on the caf table, watching the group by the table. Following Anakin's gaze, Adra found Meli rolling her eyes.
"There is one time that I wish he weren't the Chosen One," Mace said, slightly agitated.
In front of him, Liselle and Meli opened their mouths, as if to comment on his thoughts, but instead snapped them shut. No doubt realizing that they'd get in even more trouble if they talked back, they contented themselves with looking between Masters Skywalker and Windu.
* * * * *
Through the Force, Anakin could feel the twins debating mouthing off to Windu. Why not? After all, he did it all too often nowadays. Deciding to encourage it, if only to annoy the other Master, he did so.
"No, don't you girls worry about it. Go right ahead and mouth off to him. I'll be glad to shut his trap with the Force."
Behind Meli, Anakin saw Cloud shaking his head, eyes closed. The poor pilot had been Mace Windu's padawan at one time; Anakin shuddered at the thought. Mace Windu as your Jedi Master? That must've been terrorizing. Vaguely he thought he heard Cloud's voice and the words 'Force save us', but they were gone before he could bother verifying them.
The older Afyon twins were looking at him, exchanging looks every now an then. Identical grins sprouted across their faces as Liselle looked at Sarai, who'd come to stand next to where he sat. Quickly she looked back at Anakin, and he raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to say something.
"I swear, Sarai's got all the luck."
Putting on a look of one who'd been duped, Anakin questioned, "What? Why's that? How so?"
"She's got a Jedi Master who lets her mouth off to Mace Windu!" This time it was Meli who spoke. Anakin couldn't help grinning at the expression on her face. Perhaps he wasn't such a bad Jedi Master after all. Well, he just did the opposite of what Obi-Wan did and then he was good to go. Actually, he did nearly the same as Obi-Wan, only he did it his own way. And that involved being less strict. Besides, along with the knowledge of the Dark Side that came with being a Sith Lord, he also had the knowledge of those he had met while he was dead. Those Jedi Masters of old who knew so much about the Force and all of it's qualities that the Jedi nowadays seemed to forget it had. Well, Masters Yoda and Yaddle remembered, obviously, since Master Yaddle was the a master of mortochro. That was only one of the many Force abilities he'd picked up. Whether Sarai wanted it or not though, she'd be a padawan longer than her siblings and friends merely because he had much more to teach her.
Mara's voice cut across his mind as she spoke to her padawan. "I never said I'd stop Lis."
Everyone grinned appreciatively at that. Anakin felt a joking essence ebb across his padawan and looked over at her in time to see her stick her tongue out at her friends. They weren't quite her cousins, but they were close enough. Even though half of them seemed to be dating each other. Deciding to turn what would undoubtedly turn into a yelling match between Master Windu and himself into a lesson for Sarai as well, he grinned and looked over at her.
"Sarai, find a chair and get comfortable. Today's lesson is on how to win a yelling match with Mace Windu."
"Skywalker, I'm warning you..." came the immediate reply. Yes, Master Windu, you are forever warning me, Anakin thought.
Dryly, he glanced at Sarai once, grinning, then looked at Mace Windu again. "Shame your warnings never seem to work." Movement by the door caught his attention. Cloud Ritril, for once in his Jedi robes, had his ears covered inconspicuously. That poor guy...terrorized with the prospect of always being remembered as Mace Windu's failed padawan. A horrible fate, by any terms. In front of the Jedi Knight, his padawan was shoving her own hands over her ears. Deciding to ignore the pair, he instead returned to talking to his padawan. "Alright. See how his face is getting al blotched and angry-looking? That's when he's feeling a bit pissed off, but he could calm down pretty easily. If you want a good argument, that's never the right mood."
Sarai perched herself on the arm of the chair near him. She was silent for a minute, then nodded visibly. "Alright, I'll make note of that."
Anakin smiled over at her, then continued studying Mace Windu's features, looking for other hints on his current mood. He could always just read the other Jedi Master's thoughts, but that wasn't something Sarai could do, so it wouldn't help her. "Very good, my young padawan. Now, sit back and watch Master Windu show you how to beat him." Figuring there was no better way to show Sarai how to come out on top with a Windu argument than to show her, he decided to do just that.
Mace Windu was glancing over at the Jedi who were originally in need of his 'guidance'. A few seconds later, he was striding over to where Anakin himself was sitting, rather comfortably at that, on the couch. The older Jedi Master grabbed the front of his heavy robe and pulled him to his feet. Already expecting this, Anakin made no argument.
"Skywalker," Mace hissed evenly, "I'm giving you one last warning-"
"Or what?" Anakin interrupted. "You'll have the Council kick me out? While you've got a lot of power, Master Windu, you don't have that much."
From across the room, Anakin heard the distinct laughter of Meli and Lis. The moment they had started laughing, however, Mara and Cloud had covered their padawans' mouths. Not exactly trying to hear what they were saying in the Force to their padawans, he none the less was able to. Shush, I wanna study this. I need to know how to get out of trouble. That would be Mara talking to Lis. The less-explosively inclined child. The twins quit their laughter shortly thereafter, but it was still clearly heard in the Force.