The long talk with the Dilurian diplomat had relieved some of the tension building in Anakin's chest. Still, the weight was there, just like the pounding in the back of his skull.

Again he found himself pacing before the long hall leading to Halor's private apartments.

Te-Hut was right, there was a problem. It was he.

The emotions welled and bubbled deep inside and he paused to take a deep, calming breath. Calming exercises, yes, that will help. Obi-Wan had taught him dozens to help him keep his anger in check.

When you find one that suits you, rely on it to help you.

The youth stopped his pacing and breathed out slowly. Slipping deep into his mind, he blocked out all the sounds and sensations of the palace. His anger was drawn up into a ball and then easily pushed away. In his mind's eye he watched the ball break up and disperse into the Force.

The sounds of the palace crept back into his consciousness. He opened his eyes and found everything feeling refreshed and new. His senses heightened and the Force flowed through freely again.

Almost immediately his newfound relaxation was disrupted by the sound of an opening door. He looked down the long hall and saw the large figure of Commander Sel staring out from the Lady's apartment. Sel glared at the youth and slammed the door.

Odd, Anakin thought as he began his pacing again. He shortened the distance of his stride so he could remain close.

At the atrium he met up with Obi-Wan who was returning from his wanderings.

"Something doesn't feel right," Anakin observed, not wanting to get too conversational at the moment.

"I sense it too."

"Let me go!" A woman's voice cried out.

Anakin and Obi-Wan sprinted back toward the Lady Halor's chambers. The door was wide open and Sel was unconscious on the floor.

"Help!" A voice cried out as the Jedi burst into the chambers.

Halor was held in the grips of two men. She had been carried through the apartment and out onto her private balcony.

"No!" she wailed struggling as the two men quickly tried to pull her over the edge.

One man raised a blaster and fired. Anakin quickly deflected the shots with his lightsaber as Obi-Wan charged forward, tackling the would-be kidnapper.

"Master!" Anakin screamed as the Jedi and the kidnapper both disappeared over the railing.

The second kidnapper was still holding tight to Halor as he raised his own blaster and fired. Anakin deflected the bolts and struck the kidnapper in the arm. The man wailed and loosened his grip on Halor. Immediately Anakin was in the middle, pulling the Lady free as he grabbed for the man. He missed and the man escaped over the ledge.

In shock, Anakin peered over the ledge just in time to see a speeder fleeing the scene with Obi-Wan in the middle of the fray. A quick glance back at Halor, and then the thundering footsteps of guards approaching signaled it was safe to pursue the would-be kidnappers. Anakin leapt from the balcony and landed in the back of another speeder and took off after the first.

He had little trouble catching up to the escaping speeder. Its erratic flying kept Anakin's attentions focused as he pressed his vehicle to the engine limits.

The driver of the blue speeder swerved from side to side, narrowly missing buildings and bridges in an attempt to shake Obi-Wan off. The Jedi slammed the first kidnapper with the hilt of his lightsaber, then turned and in a fluid motion drove the glowing blue blade into the speeder's dash. Lights on the control panel lit up or went completely dark but the attempt did little to disable the vehicle.

The second kidnapper kicked at the back of Obi-Wan's leg, sending the knight down.

Anakin's heart was pounding as he pressed his speeder to go faster through the increasingly narrow streets. He drifted too far to the edge and ripped the yellow siding off at a low bridge.

The big man pinned Obi-Wan's arms from behind and raised him several feet off the floorboards. "Skim the bridge!" he yelled to the driver.

Obi-Wan kicked his legs forward, sending the large man off balance and toppling him over the edge. At the last moment, the knight grabbed the edge of the speeder. The large man nearly pulled the Jedi loose before tumbling away into the street.

Anakin swerved to miss the man as he closed the distance.

Pulling himself back onto the speeder, Obi-Wan summoned his lightsaber and in a flash of blue struck at the dash again.

Master! Anakin screamed through their bond but it was too late.

The second kidnapper slammed Obi-Wan in the back with a pike, sending the knight tumbling forward against the dash. Pain raged through his back, but Obi-Wan pushed the pain away, drawing up his weapon to block a second blow.

The blood was pulsing through Anakin's veins, driving him faster toward the escaping vehicle. He hadn't felt this exhilarated since the Boonta Eve pod race on Tatooine. A glance to the speeder gages warned him the vehicle had not been designed for high-speed racing. Didn't matter though, he was going to catch that rogue speeder.

Reflexes became perfectly tuned to the give and take of the speeder allowing the youth just that much more advantage.

The rogue speeder's erratic flying had calmed and it was just a race through the streets of Reft.

It didn't matter if there was no finish line. Anakin was determined to win. His speeder barely made the sharp turn onto a steep, uphill street. He flew up the hill and made the clearing as the buildings widened and fell away. Gages on the speeder glowed and Anakin only pushed harder.

Then suddenly, he slammed the speeder to a sliding halt.

For a long moment, he watched the rogue speeder until it had disappeared in the distance.

Nursing his speeder, Anakin slowly retraced his path.

Obi-Wan was quietly sitting on some stone steps.

The youth leapt out of the speeder and ran to his master. "I just got caught up in the excitement--"

"Pod racing?" Obi-Wan asked softly as Anakin helped him to his feet. Dust clung to his reddish brown robes where he had bounced off the street a few times.

"I'm sorry, Master." He offered an arm of support and helped the elder Jedi limp back to the waiting speeder. "I take back what I said before, my Master," Anakin laughed, "you're not boring at all. You're completely crazy."

"When did you call me boring?"

__________

Anakin carefully watched Obi-Wan. His master's movements were slow and stiff. And even though Obi-Wan had assured him that he was fine, Anakin knew differently. He had begged his master to seek a healer. Obi-Wan had refused, warning the youth not to pursue the matter.

"Honored Jedi," High Lady Denara said as she rushed over to the Jedi and greeted them. "I am thankful for your work to rescue my daughter. They surely would have gotten away with her if it hadn't been for you two."

Obi-Wan stiffly bowed and Anakin followed, stealing a sidelong glance.

"Is the Lady well?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Yes. Yes, Halor is grateful." Denara turned to Anakin. "Especially to you."

Around the corner marched a chagrinned Commander Sel, followed by a masked figure and then the Cere. Sel stopped and the masked figure approached them.

"Honored Jedi," came a shaky, feminine voice as she nodded to Obi-Wan and then turned to Anakin. Her gloved hand reached out from beneath her robes and she struck Anakin sharply across the face, then she turned and marched back toward her apartments.

Anakin rubbed his stinging cheek, looking confused as Denara and Sel chased after Halor. About to comment, he noticed Thesia was still standing there. For a moment he wondered where she had been during the kidnap attempt.

"Taking a walk," the Cere answered as her black eyes gazed through him. She gave him a sharp, toothy grin. "You are very powerful, Jedi young. Uncontrolled. You would provide me no real entertainment, still--"

Obi-Wan pressed between Anakin and Thesia.

She frowned. "I promise I won't hurt the boy too bad." She hesitated, but Obi-Wan didn't move. "For each moment you live, your failures compound."

She drew closer to the Jedi Knight. "He's not worth it," Thesia said, glancing over his shoulder at Anakin. "He will only cause you more pain." She raised her hand and started to brush her fingers down the side of Obi-Wan's face. He grabbed her wrist and held it back.

Anakin strained to see what was going on. Anger flooded through him because of her words.

He will only cause you more pain.

"Let me help you," Thesia said, so softly that Anakin had to strain to hear.

"No," came Obi-Wan's cold response.

"Can't you feel the anger radiating off him?" Thesia asked. "He's dangerous, you've always known that."

Anakin withdrew a step.

"Let me put down this threat," Thesia whispered.

"No." Obi-Wan pushed her hand back.

Again Thesia frowned. She turned and brushed her fingers against the wall. The stone's cry drew Anakin's attention. She smiled at him. "They are scared of me."

She turned back to Obi-Wan and pressed her hand to his side. A pained wince from the Jedi pleased her. "More interested in pod racing."

Her words stung Anakin.

Sand.

Thesia glared at Obi-Wan. "It's not fair that they don't speak to me."

Her eyes focused on Anakin. "The walls whisper to the maker's killer. Do you hear it, Jedi young?" She laughed, pressing her hand against the darkened wall.

Solitude.

A frown graced the Cere's pale face. "It's not fair that Qui-Gon should die and you get stuck babysitting the boy."

Anakin withdrew a little further.

Obi-Wan turned. "Anakin?"

"Did I say something I wasn't supposed to?" A mock innocence filled her voice. "You've always known how he felt about you," Thesia hissed.

Blue eyes drawn wide in horror.

"In the end only Qui-Gon cared about the chosen one!" The Cere laughed wickedly as Anakin took another step.

Betrayal.

"The Council should have denied the boy's training a second time."

"Be quiet," Obi-Wan warned.

Anakin withdrew further.

"What's one more failure? After all, there's so many now." Thesia bared her teeth in an evil grin. "You weren't fast enough."

Panic and despair raged through Anakin. Obi-Wan tried to reach out to him, but the youth turned and bolted.

"How joyous. Poison my temple. I poison your padawan."

Before she could react, Obi-Wan drove her to the wall. The stones cried out and then began to glow with Obi-Wan's close proximity. The handprints reflected in his eyes.

"Stay away from him," he growled.

Hope.

Thesia fearlessly grinned. "You will pay for this blasphemy."

With a smile, Obi-Wan pressed a hand against the wall, very close to Thesia's head. The walls burned bright under his touch and Thesia whimpered as she tried to pull away.

Beginning.

She whispered, "You wouldn't hurt me, Jedi."

"Try me."

___________

In a large ballroom suffering from severe celebration hangover, but mercifully quiet, Obi-Wan found Anakin.

The Padawan learner let a disgusted look color his features before he turned away to stare at the wall.

Obi-Wan sighed loudly, not caring if anyone heard him. He paused and surveyed the room. They were alone. He closed the doors and locked them before limping toward Anakin.

"She was speaking for the pleasure of causing pain," he tried to explain.

"Do you think I'm a stupid little kid?" Anakin asked angrily. "Is that what you think, Master?"

"Not in a very long time," Obi-Wan said coolly.

"I would have liked to have heard it from you, Master. Not from her." The anger echoed in his voice. The Force around him swirled violently.

"I am sorry. You were never meant–"

"No more apologies, Master. I'm tired of them." Unconsciously Anakin drew his cloak tighter around himself. "If you're going to keep me closed out, then I want to stay out. I want to go back to Tatooine. I want to do anything, just not this, not any more."

"You don't mean that," Obi-Wan said as he moved toward Anakin but was stopped as the boy casually Force tossed a chair toward him.

"I wish Qui-Gon was here," Anakin blurted. "I wish the Sith had killed you and Master Qui-Gon had lived."

The words had been so easy. The thoughts too many times had filled his head. The moment he had spoken, though, he regretted them. He looked up, about to apologize, but was greeted by the all too familiar, stoic Jedi's face that betrayed no emotion good or bad.

"You're emotions are raging, you must calm yourself."

Angry because Obi-Wan didn't react to his cruel words, Anakin leapt to his feet. "Why do I have to listen to you?" He demanded as he sent tables and chairs flying to clear a path between he and his master. "At least I told you to your face what I thought. I didn't have someone else do it."

"Anakin--"

"Don't."

Obi-Wan's thoughts were a fuzzy jumble. If he could just clear his head of the raging headache, just for a few moments he could talk to the boy.

"You're right, Master," Anakin said coldly. "I am dangerous." He pressed against Obi-Wan's unraveling mind shields.

"Get out of my head," Obi-Wan ordered.

"Don't you trust me with your thoughts, Master? Afraid I might discover the truth?" Anakin laughed as he walked along the cleared path. "What more can you be hiding from me, Master? Can it be any worse than what I already know? Is this what you had to talk to Yoda about?"

"Anakin."

"No more secrets, Master." He pressed against Obi-Wan's barriers, tearing down the weakening walls. The ache of Obi-Wan's injured leg and side rushed to the youth over their bond.

Something else.

The moment the youth felt the movement in the Force, it was too late. A ripple became a tide. Anakin fought against the swirling, twisting explosion of pure, uncontrolled energy that washed to him through the bond. Its awesome power reared itself, slamming into him. Swallowing him as his feet were pulled from the ground. He had just a heartbeat of reaction time as he drew himself into a Force shield before being smashed against the whispering wall.

___________

"Give them the information they want," Thesia said as she knelt before the padawan.

"Never," Obi-Wan said boldly even as he drew himself deeper into the corner.

"I will still take it whether you want me to or not," she whispered.

The large man growled, "Get on with it."

Obi-Wan's eyes grew wide as she pressed her fingers to his temples. She could feel him drawing his shields tight, attempting to block access. "Jedi more powerful than a mere child have easily fallen before me," she said softly as she pushed into his mind.

Drop your shields, whispered in his thoughts. It will only cause needless pain if you fight me.

Obi-Wan let out an agonized cry even as he struggled to bury the information on the negotiations deep in his mind. There was little he could do as the mind carver sliced through layers of shielding as easily as a lightsaber cut through air. White-hot pain exploded in his mind.

"Out of my head," he cried still creating as many walls as he could.

Thesia gently pulled back. Her highly developed senses warned her of the physical and mental shock flooding into the youth's system. Knowing if she didn't back off immediately he would die before she could find what she was looking for.

Don't fight me.

Another wall appeared before her.

Obi-Wan's pulse grew thin as she plunged deeper into his mind, unraveling layers of complex shielding.

The warning came moments before a violent seizure hit the youth.

The instant the information came into her reach, she released her grasp on the boy's mind and he collapsed into a convulsing heap.

"Here," she said to the men, projecting the information into their minds. The men just stood there hesitantly. "I told you I would give you the power to defeat a Jedi. I kept my word."

She silently indicated Obi-Wan. "I give you my word that you will take out the negotiations with this information."

When the men had left, the shrouded figure returned her attention to the seizing figure before her. For a time she remained silent, waiting for the seizures to subside. Then she pushed her gloved fingers through the folds of his rumpled cloak searching for a faint pulse.

"I am surprised," she said softly, not caring if the Jedi heard or not. "I did not think you would offer me a real fight. I enjoyed it. So many others could not, they always die so quickly," she told him. "For this small gift, I made sure the rebels will not harm your master."

__________

How long had it been since he dreamed of Tatooine?

He had seen the Dune Sea when he was five. He and his mother had traveled there when slave traders were dragging them to Mos Espa.

But why, after all this time would he dream of that place? He had always dreamed of home. His mother. Even Watto's shop.

Never the Jundland Wastes.

A low groan escaped Anakin's lips as he realized he was lying on the sleep couch in the guest apartments. His body ached from his head to his toes. He rolled slightly and while everything hurt terribly, nothing felt broken. Slowly he sat up and looked around the room. His entire body felt heavy and it was as if he didn't have the strength to stand but he forced himself to do so anyway.

He trudged through his private quarters to the central living area where he searched the room, grasping for that shining thread.

Master?

The room seemed unnaturally quiet. As Anakin brushed against the wall, its luminosity seemed brighter than before but still faded with his touch. He stopped and stared at the smooth stone. Soft, distant whispers filled his head. Although he didn't understand them, he felt that they were happy.

The warm lights of the wall had gathered at the balcony like a beacon that he followed.

Strange images played through his head. The Cere standing in a small room. The Jedi Council Chambers and the concerned look on Qui-Gon's face. Master Yoda guiding a meditation.

Drowning in eyes black as space.

"Master?" Anakin asked meekly as he stepped out onto the balcony where Obi-Wan was sitting.

The knight silently looked away.

"I have erred," Anakin said softly, kneeling next to Obi-Wan. In the back of his head he could feel the soft throbbing headache begin again. "Master, I didn't mean what I said, I was angry."

Gently Obi-Wan brought his fingers up to massage his temples.

Anakin leaned back against the stone railing and stared at Obi-Wan for a long time. For the first time he noticed the weary lines crossing his master's face, seeing the dark circles around his eyes that had nearly become a permanent feature. A part of the youth just wished Obi-Wan would tell him he wasn't feeling well. Tell him that he was sick. The weight of not understanding sat heavily on him.

"It's me, isn't it, Master?"

Obi-Wan wanted to tell Anakin no. Tell him this had nothing to do with him but the words were not there, trapped deep in his mind. Yoda would speak with Anakin. Explain everything. He tried to focus, to even out his thoughts to speak but now even that was becoming difficult. The boy's pleading face made it all that more difficult to deal with.

"Following the ceremonies tomorrow, you will return to Coruscant."

"But not you?" Anakin asked, sounding a little dismayed.

Hurt.

"No." Obi-Wan was silent for a long time.

Anakin waited. Nothing had changed. If anything it was worse. For once though, he didn't blame Obi-Wan for not wanting to speak to him.

It felt as it took all the knight's strength to speak. "I will be taking some personal leave. Master Yoda will attend to your training."

"But, Master, I didn't mean—"

"No."

Obi-Wan silently looked away, unable to bear the youth's wounded look. He needed to conserve his strength for the next day's ceremony.

_____________

The tall, masked figure in the flowing red robes with the elongated neck moved silently about. The featureless oval face stared out into the packed religious hall on the main level of the palace.

The long robes shifted as Egrarian's hidden face turned onto Anakin. The padawan politely bowed. The priest made him strangely nervous.

"The Jedi bless us," the voice echoed as Egrarian moved across the small room to greet the approaching royal party.

Denara marched into the room, pausing long enough to spy Anakin silently waiting. Just behind her, Commander Sel, the Lady Halor and Thesia were followed by a host of attendants.

Egrarian approached Halor and removed her jeweled mask. To Anakin's surprise, the face beneath the mask was pretty. Innocent. Youth radiated in her creamy complexion. In her soft face he could not see the fierce creature that had slapped him the night before.

Halor turned sharply and glared at him. Suddenly the Jedi was certain that if she could cross the distance of the small room she would hit him again for no real reason.

Quietly, he moved out of the way, stepping to the far corner where Obi-Wan carefully eyed the proceedings.

"There is something about the kidnappers," Anakin whispered, unable to look his master in the face, "that has been bothering me."

Obi-Wan quietly glanced at Anakin and a slight nod urged the youth on.

"Would it not be better to assassinate her than kidnap her if they want to stop the ceremony?"

Somewhere, far off, a faint, painful memory made Obi-Wan wince. "Then we should be especially on guard. No telling who could be coerced to interfere with the ceremony."

"Yes, my Master." He paused. "About last night—"

"We are here for the Lady's protection," Obi-Wan said coolly. "Keep that in mind." He breathed deeply. It was talking all his concentration to remain focused on the task at hand.