Chapter 23: Of Birds and Milestones

No matter what happened in this life, from every high to every low and every boring moment in between, Zarya never forgot the important things.

For her. The important things for her, mind you. And the list was pretty short, consisting of mostly Anakin and whoever he cares about.

After all, it was hard to forget he was basically the only reason she had to live in this life. Back at the 'orphanage', the only thing she'd wanted was to get out of that place, and while she had managed to escape along with three boys, (two boys. Hostias hadn't made it. Not even ten years old and he was gone.) she had no direction, no plan or path to follow. She could only imagine what kind of life she would have led.

Everything felt so meaningless back then. Everything was about surviving the next day, and the one after that in an instinctual attempt to live.

Zarya wonders how long she would have lasted had she not found Anakin. Had he not saved her. Maybe the grief that came from losing an entire life before this one would have drowned her. Maybe she would have ended up starving in some back alley on a planet no better than the giant dust ball she started on five years ago.

She wasn't a fan of 'maybe's'.What she preferred to put her energy on was to help the people she cared about, spend time with them and prepare with them for what was to come. Anakin in particular.

More importantly, she loves spending time, having fun and relaxing with them. If not for those small pleasures, what would be the point?

Today was especially meaningful to them; which is why she's currently trying to subtly sneak breakfast from the mess hall into Obi-Wan and Anakin's shared living quarters without waking them up, a gift package precariously held under one arm.

In hindsight, seeing a ten year old transporting a too large tray filled with food and clumsily trying to push the button to close the door behind her without dropping anything must have been kind of funny.

"What are you doing?" Obi-Wan asked with a laugh.

Doesn't mean she appreciates being startled when in such a delicate situation, though.

She jumped at his voice, making the mistake of turning around too fast to look at him in surprise. A round, purple fruit she had forgotten the name of fell from the tray, and she only managed to catch it with the force at the last second before it could be bruised by its fall.

"Don't do that!" She gently floated the fruit to the counter in the small kitchen that she knew barely saw any use. "I could've dropped the whole thing, knowing my luck!"

"My apologies," he insincerely placated. "I simply wasn't aware we were expecting breakfast delivery this morning, I must say I was caught unguarded as well."

He amusedly watched her from his couch, sipping tea as she pondered on the best way to reach up and place the tray on the counter without raising her arms, since that would make her drop the gift squeezed by her side.

"May I ask what all this is for?"

"Please don't tell me you forgot today is Anakin's birthday, I might have to hit you for that. Rightfully."

After a minute of struggle, Zarya gave up and used the Force to do the simple task, all the while glaring challengingly at the knight; daring him to judge her on her casual use of the Force. He only smiled wider at her.

"No, I haven't forgotten about today, no need for any rightful violence. Qui-Gon even made sure to clear up his afternoon, we'll all be heading to Dex's Diner in the evening. You are invited too, of course, I just didn't think I'd see you so early in the morning. Anakin isn't even up yet."

"I wanted to surprise him. Today is about him, so I'm making sure he gets the best day he could hope for. Or close enough, anyways."

"And for that you must show up at the first rays of light?"

She looked at him, expression completely deadpanned as she finally put the gift down as well. "The best gift in Anakin's opinion is when he and I are attached by the hip all day long."

Obi-Wan blinked at her. "You and him aren't that co-dependent."

As if on cue, a bang followed by running steps were heard from the younger boy's room before his door opened and he ran to Zarya, grinning from ear to ear as he proceeded to glomp her with a jubilant "'rya!". Only years of experience (and the loud precursors foreshadowing said glomping) kept her from crashing to the ground from the impact, which was still no small feat since he was getting taller by the day. She only took a few steps back before she was able to get her balance back, and she hugged the boy while staring at Obi-Wan with resigned (more like smug) amusement.

He good-naturedly rolled his eyes at them, a hand dragging down his face.

Anakin pulled back after he had his fill of snuggling, wasting no time to excitedly ramble at her. "I'm so happy you're here!" Cue another grin towards Obi-Wan. "And with food, too! Can you believe that I'm twelve already? That means that, soon, we'll have been here for three years, time really flew by fast. At this pace, we'll be Jedi Knights before you know it!"

She softly snorted at that. It will take him at least another seven years, probably, which isn't that near. As for her, who knows?

"Oh, is that a gift? Can I open it now?" Anakin was quick to distract her from her drifting mind.

Zarya shrugged "Sure, it's your day after all. Unless your teacher has an objection to doing gifts now?" She directed that question to Obi-Wan. Anakin followed her gaze and mercilessly attacked him with his most devastating puppy-eyes. Zarya was careful to hide her face from the man, lest her silent laughter made him hesitant to bow to Anakin's whims.

It didn't take long for him to admit defeat. He might have not been fighting in the first place. "Like Zarya said, it's your birthday. Mine and Qui-Gon's gift will come later, though."

"Yessss!"

Anakin snatched the package from the counter and jogged towards the couch, sitting next to his master. His gift carefully balanced on his knees, he tore through the solid blue wrapping, revealing a small, black stained, wooden toolbox sitting on a dozen wooden blocks of different sizes and skillfully held together by ropes. Curiously, he opened the toolbox and discovered seven different sized knives and chisels, as well as some kind of thick black tape.

He looked up at Zarya, who had taken a seat on the coffee table in front of him, completely ignoring Obi-Wan's complaints about her seating choice.

"Is that a wood carving kit? What for?"

"For carving wood."

The way his confusion quickly gave way to irritation never failed to amuse her.

"Zarya," he did not whine, "just explain the gift!"

Laughing, she brought her feet up on the table and grabbed her ankles to keep balanced, still ignoring the way Obi-Wan threw her exasperated glances every now and then. "I know you like tinkering with machines, and that you tried to use them as moving meditation since you have so much trouble sitting still for so long–"

Like you're any better, Anakin interrupted. I know you fall asleep half the time you try to meditate.

"Shush, no I don't." She also ignored his skepticism. Obi-Wan wasn't even surprised at having chunks of conversations missing anymore, used to their weird way of communicating. "Anyways, I thought that, instead of repairing stuff, which requires too much of your attention and problem solving to be meditation, you could try sculpting wood? You tried your hand at it a little with that necklace a few years ago, and it was pretty good. I thought you might like to keep doing it?"

Anakin picked up one of the knives and observed it from a few angles, considering.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Obi-Wan winced as he kept an eye on his padawan's new tools. "I feel like he could hurt himself easily with all these sharp tools…"

"Master," Anakin interjected in Zarya's stead, "we literally fight with lightsabers that can cut through practically anything. How is this any different?"

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as he got up, heading to the kitchen to set the table for breakfast. "Still. We'll be focusing on your situational awareness more in your training if you plan to use sharp knives as your hobby."

"Does that mean more dueling while blinded? That's always fun."

"There is protecting tape that comes with the kit," Zarya pointed to the black tape that came in the tool box. "You're supposed to wrap your hands with that to avoid more severe injuries."

Anakin placed the knife he's been inspecting back with the others, and gently trailed a finger on the handles. After a minute of silence, he looked back up at Zarya and smiled. Not a beaming smile of pure happiness, but a tiny, thankful smile she felt directly in her heart.

"Thank you for this. I hadn't thought about it before, but… this is a great idea."

She smiled back, and knew he could feel every ounce of affection it held as much as she did.

Moreover, she knew the exact moment he went from thankful to mischievous as he suddenly had a thought.

"I know what I want to do today!"

She smiled indulgently. "What is it?"

"I wanna go see the pod racing going on in the lower levels of the city!"

"No!"

"But Master!"

"Absolutely not."

Anakin pouted.

"Don't worry, we'll find other things to do in the city and drag Obi-Wan with us all day long if you want." Zarya smiled innocently, prompting Anakin to do the same.

Obi-Wan sighed. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

At the end of the day, his wallet certainly did. Zarya liked to think he thought it was worth it, if only for seeing Anakin smiling so brightly all day.

(( ))

Zarya wasn't a big fan of Coruscant. It had too many people, too little flora and fauna and most of the fauna it did have, apart from the pets, were the kind you wish wasn't there at all. Huge slugs and mites that somehow ate rocks or even electricity, as well as other more common pests that came with every city, it seems.

The only creatures she liked were the birds that came in many colors, but very little variety in species. She wasn't sure how they survived on a world that contained more buildings than greenery, but suspected some of them depended heavily on the people that took the time to feed them.

Fortunately for Zarya, many different flocks of birds had taken the habit of coming to the temple to be fed. The Jedi Temple training ground on a courtyard outside was one of their favorite spots to visit, not only to find a hand to feed them, but also to hang on the branches of the tree situated there.

She heard others call it the great tree, but she wasn't quite sure what made it so special. It was pretty, with golden colored leaves that were growing and falling all year long, but not particularly big compared to most she's seen on Earth.

Still, when the grounds weren't being used by many, she liked to come here and sit below it to get a few moments of peace, only accompanied by the singing birds that curiously chirped above her.

Today was slightly different, though. Instead of feeding them like she usually did, she was cradling a blue and green bird in her hands, carefully re-attaching a miniature wooden stick to his injured wings with the smallest bandages she could find.

As she did this, she reached out to the bird with the Force in an attempt to communicate with it. They couldn't understand words, of course, but they could understand simple feelings like calm/safety/warmth. It wasn't the first time she'd tried this with birds, as she enjoyed the simplicity of connecting with them this way. She greatly envied their simple lives and welcomed the untainted feelings she got back from them in response.

Their favorite thing was when she sang to them, especially for that one species that could somewhat sing notes back to her. So to entertain themselves, she was singing Two Birds to him quietly, or at least the parts she could remember. He seemed to like it, chirping back some notes whenever it pleased him.

"Two birds of a feather

Say that they're always gonna stay together

But one's never going to let go of that wire

He says that he will

But he's just a li–"

"I was wondering who had been helping this little sparrow those last few days," A deep, soothing voice piped up just as she'd finished rearranging the made-up splint. Zarya immediately stopped singing, her head snapping up as she instinctively held the small bird closer, shielding him from view.

A tall, Kel Dor Jedi approached her sitting spot casually, taking in the sight of her and the bird with what she thinks is curiosity. It was kind of hard to be certain, not only was his species too forein for her to read his expression that was half hidden by his mask and goggles, but said goggles completely cut her off from making direct eye contact. She could only feel what his masterfully constructed mental shields allowed to show to the world.

"Master Koon, I didn't– I mean, I wasn't expecting anyone to…"

"To notice?" Plo Koon stopped a few steps away from her and looked up at the crude nest hanging from between two branches high up on the tree, safe and mostly out of view. "Like you, I assume most people wouldn't look twice at a bird nest in a tree. But I did find it curious, since no species of bird on this planet makes them, for obvious reasons. And," he steps a bit to the left, reaching up with a clawed hand to gently touch a branch that had, upon closer inspection, a few small branches torn from it. "Not many people make a habit of damaging the Great Tree."

She guiltily glanced at the branch that he let go, the nest high above and the splint on the bird she was still holding, avoiding his gaze as she tried to explain herself.

"I am so sorry, I didn't know it was a bad idea, I just found him under the tree, injured and I thought I could help him."

"And you thought right." He approached her before crouching in front of her. She recognized his attempt to make himself smaller so as to not alarm her, but she couldn't help feeling nervous anyways.

Had she messed up? How much trouble was she in? Even if he ends up only chiding her, it's still embarrassing to be caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. Even if it wasn't the first time. Or the last.

"Trees can easily heal from such small wounds. They scar and regrow, as long as the damage isn't too extensive. This little one, though," he extends one hand, lightly stroking the back of the bird she was still holding. "He wouldn't have made it very long without any help, with his wing broken as it is." The bird chirped at him, giving off a relaxed feeling. This, more than anything, made her loosen her hold on it. Animals tend to be good judges of characters, and she doesn't think she has to worry about this particular Jedi, anyways. "The tree won't miss a few small branches for a nest and a splint."

She smiled gratefully, hearing the unspoken fact that there won't be any repercussions from him for helping the bird this way. Shortly after he retracted his hand from her little patient, she slowly stood up and, carefully, climbed the tree to place the bird on one of its branches near the nest she made for it. She stayed a minute, watching it hop from branch to branch until it reached the nest and ate a few of the grains she had put in it.

Only when her feet were firmly on the ground again did the Master Jedi speak up again. "May I ask what brings you to this place? When searching for nature, the Room of a Thousand Fountains tends to be the place to go for Jedi when on Coruscant."

She did love that room; but it was known by most that knew her that, when not by Anakin's side or at the archives, she could be found there. And she was actively avoiding a very nosy and scary besalisk these days. Not that she would ever admit to hiding from him to anyone.

"There tends to be too many people there in the middle of the day, you can't sit somewhere for half an hour before someone walks right by you. Here, it is much less known by most. Master Yoda tends to be here the most often, and I like our conversations most of the time."

"Oh? And what do you discuss together?" His head tilts slightly in curiosity.

"More often than not, he shares his wisdom through vague metaphors and quotes. We have our occasional philosophical debates and sometimes I manage to talk him into sharing Force tricks with me."

Master Koon chuckled at that, a low, rumbling sound just as soothing as his voice. She could tell he was caught slightly by surprise by her answer. Probably less of Yoda's part in it, but more her forwardness and unusual choice of company for a ten year old.

"Master Yoda always did have a softer spot for children."

She could feel he wanted to ask something else, but just as she picked up his intent–

A loud, screeching sound rang in her head.

It was sudden, overwhelming and painful. She was barely aware of the world around her, apart from the fact that her hands were tightly covering her ears in a useless attempt at shutting off the sound (sensation?) and she was bent forward in a tight ball. Nothing worked at making it better. She thought she saw Master Koon stumble too, but she couldn't be sure.

It stopped as suddenly as it started, and Zarya could finally breathe again. Her head was pounding, blood rushing in her ears.

It took her a moment before she realized she'd fallen on her side, (had she fainted?) hands still over her ears.

Another blink before Master Koon gently shook her arm, trying to raise her from her spot below the tree. (Was there more leaves falling from it than before?)

She could feel his hold on her, the slight shake in his hand he couldn't quite suppress. (She wasn't the only one affected, then.)

The next time she gained awareness, she was in someone's arms, (Plo Koon, she recognized his presence) and rushing through hallways in the temple. Her hearing had come back to her, she could hear loud conversations, all confused, scared, frustrated. Children were crying, and crèche masters were trying to comfort them in vain.

She could hear Master Koon talking to her, but lost counsciousness again before she could register what he was saying.

(( ))

"...what that was, what can we do?"

"That isn't what matters right now, we need to reassure everyone and avoid causing a panic before anything else."

"Reassure? What can we say? We don't know what happened, and this isn't the first time either! We need to find the cause and stop this!"

"We have no way to find the cause, or the repercussions. We can send someone searching again, but I fear they will come back empty handed like last time. What we can do is find if everyone is safe and sound after… all this."

There was a lull in the conversation. A familiar voice she finally recognized as Master Windu's chimed in.

"Do we know all who were affected? The civilians?"

"No, only Force sensitives felt it," Qui-Gon was the one to answer. "At least on Coruscant. I'll contact Master Piell and other knights currently off the planet later, see if it was felt all the way to the Outer Rim like last time."

"Where are knight Kenobi and his padawan?" It was a female voice this time. Stass Allie, her healer. "Was young Skywalker as affected as Zarya? She's the only one reported to have lost consciousness…"

"I do not believe she fainted because of the event exactly," interjected master Koon. "but rather from the pain it brought her."

Master Windu felt perplexed "The pain? I mean, it was overwhelming and loud in a sense, but I wouldn't have described it as painful."

"Not t'you," Zarya groaned, her voice coming out much weaker than she'd wanted it to. She tried to sit up, and a large hand gently pushed between her shoulders to help support her as she did so. She could feel master Koon observing her physically as well as with the Force, making sure she was alright, most likely.

She finally managed to open her eyes, squinting at the light shining through the room's window. Still day then, at least she wasn't out for too long.

Looking around the room, the first thing she noticed is that it was one belonging in the Halls of Healing. The second thing was that she was the injured one on the bed, with Knight Allie hovering a hand over her forehead to check her head for any remaining pains.

The third thing she noticed; she was surrounded by quite a few Master Jedi, and they were all looking at her since she oh so wisely interrupted their somewhat heated conversation.

And to top it all off, she had probably hit her head at some point because she immediately blurted out: "I don't know what I did, but whatever it was I want everyone to know I am very sorry and it won't happen again."

After a moment of disbelieving silence, Master Windu was the one who replied. "Are you implying you are the one behind the Anomaly?"

Zarya blinked. She'd heard about that before. "The what now?" And was that sarcasm she heard in his voice?

"She isn't." Master Koon, sitting on the chair next to her answered in her stead. "We all felt it, and it was coming from quite far away, even if not near as far as the first one." He turned to her, hands laced on his knees as he leaned forward. "You were the one most affected, and we're not quite sure why that is."

'We', apparently meant himself, Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jinn, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Stass Allie and Yoda, the latter seemingly meditating on a chair near the far wall, not participating in the conversation.

Zarya was extremely confused, and disoriented. Against her normal habit, (and better judgment) she quickly looked at one person to the next, looking directly in their eyes for those that she could.

From the little she could gleam in the five seconds this took her, Mace and Qui-Gon were talking together when the event (Anomaly?) happened. They had checked on the people around them before heading to the Halls of Healing in case anyone had been injured. There, they met Yoda and Mundi, who had a similar experience to them.

It was only a moment after that Plo Koon had raced in with her passed out in his arms, calling for a healer. Knight Allie, along with the Chief Healer Vokara Che were the ones that met them. Upon seeing it was Zarya, Allie was the one that stayed with her since they were familiar, while Master Che went to see if anyone else was in a bad shape because of the disturbance.

The fact that she reacted so strongly to it made them think she was somehow linked to it, cue the impromptu meeting right in her room as Allie tried to figure out what was wrong with her.

Everyone in the room and the temple was upset to a degree, and Zarya suspected the only reason she didn't have a headache worse than this was that most Jedi were very experienced at keeping calm and controlling their emotions. Also, Allie was pure magic.

Still, even with what she'd glanced through her entourage, she didn't understand what was going on.

"What was that? Why did it hurt so much?" Why had she been affected more than most?

"That, was what we called an Anomaly," Qui-Gon sighed, leaning his tall frame against a wall and looking at her with worry behind his eyes. "It was The Anomaly before today, since it had only happened once that we know of. It is some kind of tear in the Force, felt by everyone who is sensitive to it. Unfortunately, we don't know much more than that."

"We know that someone, or something must be causing this!" Master Mundi seemed more troubled than the others, frowning as he addressed them more than her. "And whatever it is that it does, there is very little chance it's something good. Something is coming from those tears, and we need to find out what."

Zarya froze, her mind jumping from one conclusion to the next. She remembered what today's date was, what it meant to her. Fortunately, everyone seemed too distracted to notice her shock.

"Just because a few suspect that it's a rip in space and time doesn't mean something came out of those Anomalies," Windu interrupted. "It could be that they are messing with just that: space and time."

"Are you suggesting time travel? That's impossible."

"Or teleportation. Both aren't completely unheard of, and we can't dismiss the possibility on the belief that it is impossible."

As the debate started up again, Knight Allie took the opportunity to lean towards her and whisper; "I'll leave them to it, I have to check on everyone else like the other healers. I'll try and find Anakin and Obi-Wan for you, alright?"

Zarya could only nod dumbly as Allie turned to Plo Koon and murmured something to him before leaving after he acquiesced to her.

"I suggest we leave for the High Council Chamber to discuss this with the others, instead of bothering Initiate Skywalker as she rests." Master Koon stood up, bringing everyone's attention to him. "She is awake and we now know she isn't a key to this puzzle. Qui-Gon, I trust you will stay to make sure she is alright?"

Qui-Gon bowed in acknowledgment, and everyone else started to head for the door.

Except Master Yoda, who was now looking right at her expectantly, still sitting on that chair.

"A question, you wish to ask, hmm?"

Zarya didn't even turn to him, staring at the wall in front of her as if looking there for answers. (Or reassurances). She gulped.

"When was the last Anomaly?"

Everyone was looking at her again, and it was at that moment that she had the inkling they were testing her, looking for answers themselves. Master Windu was the one who responded. "Five years ago, exactly to the day. I know you must have been young, but surely if it affected you so strongly, you remember it somewhat?"

She could only shake her head, careful not to let any of her emotions show apart from her confusion.

It felt like he wanted to say something else, but Yoda let out a thoughtful sound before hopping down from his chair and walking out, nodding gently to her as he passed by. The rest followed after a short hesitation.

"Are you alright?" Qui-Gon sat down on the now vacant chair next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

As shaken as she was, she still saw the opportunity at that moment. The question was if he was going to take her seriously.

"I know… I think… maybe, it had something to do with, you know. The slave chip in my head? Like, it somehow worsened it for me?" It was a long shot. She highly doubted there was a link with the inhibitor chip, but if it could help get rid of it as well as throw people's attention off her unusual reaction to the Anomaly? She's going to take it.

Qui-Gon considered this, frowning. "It could be an explanation." He sighed, his gaze softening as he looked at her. "I know that thing in your head has been bothering you for years now, and I'm sorry it hasn't been a priority to take it out first thing when you came. I'll see who I can find for a scan and operation, alright?" At her relieved nod, he gave a tentative smile. "Are you sure there isn't anything else?"

Her answering smile was not entirely genuine, but hopefully he didn't see through her mask.

"No, nothing." Nothing that she was ready to share, anyways.

(( ))

She was laying on the floor next to her bed, in a nest of sheets and pillows when Anakin finally came back from some training exercise with Obi-Wan somewhere else on Coruscant. Something about training his mind shields, which was why she hadn't been able to reach him all day long.

She wasn't surprised when he unceremoniously barged in, taking in her unmoving form on the floor before joining her. She didn't even blink when he gently hugged her, using her shoulder as a pillow.

With a casualness born from habit, they opened their bond to share their thoughts and emotions. From Anakin, she learned how he started training on shutting off the Force completely in a busy part of the city, constrained by the noises, sights, smells and auras of thousands of people around him. She took in his training as her own, promising to exercise it on her own to help him along.

From Zarya, he learned all that happened in her day, as well as the Master's theories about the Anomalies.

Allie told me you fainted when the disturbance in the Force happened. That didn't happen to me. I was just dizzy for a while, just like Master Obi-Wan.

I'm okay now. It's not all bad, Qui-Gon is going to look into getting the slave chip out of my brain.

Finally! If no one was going to do anything about it for much longer, I was going to take care of it myself.

I wouldn't have let you cut open my head like you did your leg, Ani.

That's not what I would do! I'd tinker something to deactivate it or something.

We don't know how it would react to that. And deactivated isn't the same as gone.

I know. But we have to do something about it. It's been traumatizing you for far too long now, and… technically, you're still a slave as long as you have it. The ones in control of it just haven't found you.

Her heavy sigh broke the silence in her darkening room. She would normally tease or say something to change the uncomfortable subject, but she couldn't cut the serious atmosphere just yet.

Anakin… I know we don't talk about it much, but you know that this isn't my first life.

He hummed in agreement, curious where she was going with this.

Remember how I said I don't remember my baby or toddler years? At first I thought, like most kids, my brain just didn't keep these memories as a way to–

Rya. What are you getting at?

… I don't think I was reborn in this world. I think I was transported here, into someone else's body.

She could feel his breath stutter, and when she opened her eyes, he was looking at her with confusion and shock.

"How…?" his voice croaked as he got the word out.

She didn't dare say it out loud.

The first Anomaly was exactly five years ago. Coincidently, I gained awareness in this world on the exact same day.

(

The timeline is a little bit weird these last chapters, I'm trying to advance in time to get them to be older faster, because a lot is happening but they can't do much about any of it yet. She'll be out of Coruscant soon, no worries.

And no, I haven't forgotten about all that's going down on Tatooine, we'll get to that eventually too!

We'll see how I pull that off.

Any theories on the Anomalies?

Special thanks to fantasy.92, robvalur and hinate for the reviews!

Until next time!

-Maginary

)