A/N: Hooray, new reviewers! Thank you so much, Al Bhed Slayer and crystal for your lovely reviews, and thank you Countess Jackman for yours, which was awesome as always. Sorry crystal - at this stageI have no plans to continue the story into the original trilogy timeline, and with the remaining chaptersI think you'll see why. That being said, there are still about 7 chapters to go, so enjoy the story! Here's chapter 11, and keep reviewing!
Chapter Eleven: Promise
Anakin stood outside on the balcony, meditating quietly. He had had another awful dream about his mother – but this time, he knew that elements of it, at least, were real. He knew she was in terrible pain.
He felt Padmé step quietly towards him. He opened his eyes and turned to her.
"I brought you some juice," she said softly, handing him a glass. She watched him for a minute in silence. He finished the drink, then passed the glass back to her.
"I didn't want to disturb you," she told him. "I know you had a nightmare last night. I could hear you."
"Jedi don't have nightmares."
"I heard you." She looked him in the eye, and he relented.
"I saw my mother," he admitted. "She is in pain – they're killing her! I have to go to her. I can't let her die."
She nodded, her eyes wide.
"I know I'm disobeying my mandate to protect you," Anakin continued, his voice quiet but intense. "I know I will be punished and possibly thrown out of the Jedi Order. But I have to go."
She thought for a second.
"I'll come with you," she told him. He stared at her, confused.
"That way, you can continue to protect me, and you won't be disobeying your mandate," Padmé explained logically.
Anakin considered this. "What about Master Obi-Wan?" he asked.
She gave an almost sly smile. "Well, I guess we won't tell him, will we?"
Slowly, he nodded and returned her smile with a wobbly one of his own. She walked back inside the lodge to pack her things, leaving Anakin to his thoughts.
Tsena… he thought suddenly. She told me not to do anything foolish. She told me to stay safe.
He leaned on the balustrade. But my mother is dying! I have to go to her. Tsena would understand. I'll be safe. I'll make sure I come back to her.
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply for a moment, before turning and walking inside.
I love you, Tsena. I will find my mother. And I will come back to you. I promise.
Tsena lay awake in her room. She was afraid of going to sleep. Since Anakin had left, her dream had come to her every night – only when she slipped into the waves, the dream continued into the vision she had experienced in the Council chambers, and then she woke up. On top of this, she missed Anakin terribly and was also worried about her Master. Jovarii had been slightly listless and distracted since the night she had spoken to Obi-Wan on the landing pad, yet she insisted that she was fine everything Tsena asked her what was wrong.
Tsena had been spending her days meditating and combat training, trying to bring her skills up to a higher level. But her natural reluctance to use violence, her disturbing visions and dreams and her lack of sleep were affecting her focus. Each time she meditated, she was assaulted by some kind of vision, usually something from her dreams, and always the words 'emin talu raya'. She had spent hours contemplating the meaning of the words, but always came up with nothing.
Despite herself, her eyes began to droop, and she was asleep within a couple of minutes.
Tsena walked along in the heat of a desert. She could see someone in the distance, and began to follow him. It was Anakin, striding towards a group of tents near the horizon.
Suddenly, she was outside a tent, watching Anakin approach on a speeder bike. She looked around and saw Tusken Raiders. She gave an involuntary shudder, and ducked into the tent.
A woman hung from a cross-shaped frame, head drooping. Parts of her clothes and skin were covered with dried blood from old wounds. Tsena knelt down and gently lifted her head.
"Don't worry," she told the woman. "He's coming. He's coming."
Anakin rushed in, and when he saw the woman he swept her up.
"Mom…" Tsena heard him whisper.
The tent was swirled into black, and then Tsena seemed to float in the air. The darkness disappeared, and she saw Anakin emerge from the tent below her. She tried to swoop down to him, but she stopped once she saw the look on his face.
The grief told her that his mother had died, and she began to weep as she felt the pain he was feeling. But then he looked around, and an expression of pure rage and utter hatred filled and twisted his handsome features. Tsena drew back in fright – she had never seen him like this.
In slow motion, she saw him draw his lightsaber. Realising what he was about to do, she screamed, "No! Anakin!" and tried desperately to reach him and stop him – but she was met by a wall of thick glass. She pounded against it, tears streaming down her face. She felt something strange, a feeling of danger from elsewhere. She pushed it aside, focusing only on Anakin.
No, Anakin, don't!
Tsena sat bolt upright, sobbing uncontrollably.
"No, Anakin, Anakin!" she cried.
Jovarii burst in and ran to her Padawan.
"Tsena, what's wrong?" she asked, pulling her into a hug. She had never seen her apprentice this upset.
Tsena wrapped her arms around her Master and cried into her shoulder.
"She's dead…they killed her…Anakin killed them all…" she managed to choke out. Jovarii, though obviously confused and worried, hugged her until her tears began to subside.
"What happened, Padawan?"
Tsena reached into the Force to calm herself down. She took a deep, shuddering breath. "I had a vision of Anakin's mother. She was being held and tortured by Tusken Raiders – then Anakin came, and she died. He was angry, so angry…I tried to stop him, but I couldn't." She looked at her Master, a fresh wave of tears stinging her eyes. "He killed them. They're all dead. My Anakin killed every one of them," she whispered.
Jovarii stared at her in shock. She spoke with such conviction – as if these events had happened in reality, not in a dream.
And why had she said 'my Anakin'? Does she…
She mentally shook herself. Of course Tsena didn't. She would never risk her future as a Jedi.
But you are… a voice in the back of her mind said. Jovarii blinked. Be quiet, she told herself. Focus on what Tsena just told you.
"Did this – did this really happen?" she questioned her Padawan.
Tsena nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I know it did," she said. She bit her lip. "I think…I think he's in danger. He's not on Naboo. I think he and the Senator went to Tatooine."
"We'll have to tell the Council." Jovarii told her.
"I know…but I don't want him to get into trouble. It was his mother dying, Master. He could not just wait and let her die." She looked at her Master. "I think Master Obi-Wan is in trouble, too."
Jovarii drew back, fear and anxiety radiating off her. "What? How do you know?"
"I felt it, in my vision. Something is wrong. I know it."
Jovarii stood, her hands shaking slightly. "We will see the Council as soon as possible."
Tsena and Jovarii stood in the Council chambers, as the Council digested the information Tsena had just told them. Suddenly, a loud beeping interrupted the silence – and incoming message. The two women stepped to the side, and an image of Obi-Wan appeared. Anakin was retransmitting a message from him.
"I have tracked the bounty hunter Jango Fett to the droid foundries of Geonosis," Obi-Wan's hologram said. "The Trade Federation is to take delivery of a droid army here and it is clear that Viceroy Gunray is behind the assassination attempts on Senator Amidala. The Commerce Guild and Corporate Alliance have both pledged their armies to Count Dooku and are forming an –"
The hologram swung about. "Wait! Wait!"
Droidekas appeared in the hologram and grabbed him. Then the hologram flickered and broke apart. It was replaced seconds later with Anakin's image.
Tsena stared at Anakin, trying to gauge his emotions. She could feel him faintly through the Force – he was unsettled, and panicked about his Master.
Next to her, Jovarii was in shock. Obi-Wan has been captured…she thought numbly.
"He is alive," Yoda announced. "I feel him in the Force."
"But they have taken him," Mace said. "And the wheels have begun to spin more dangerously."
"More happening on Geonosis, I feel, than has been revealed."
"I agree. We must not sit idly by." Mace looked at Yoda.
The short Jedi Master closed his eyes. "The dark side, I feel," he said. "And all is cloudy."
Mace nodded and turned to the others. "Assemble," he said. He turned to Anakin's hologram. "We will deal with Count Dooku. The most important thing for you, Anakin, is to stay where you are. Protect the Senator at all costs. That is your first priority."
"Understood, Master," Anakin replied dully.
His tone and expression tore at Tsena's heart. He had just lost his mother, and now he could not go to help his Master, who was like a father to him.
The transmission ended, and Tsena stepped forward.
"My vision was real, Masters," she said. "I felt Obi-Wan in danger, I knew Anakin was on Tatooine."
Yoda nodded. "Correct, you were. What needs to be done, we will decide."
Jovarii spoke up. "Will you go to Geonosis to help Obi-Wan?"
"We will speak to the Chancellor first," Mace said. "Rest assured that no harm will come to Obi-Wan."
That's not enough! I have to see him with my own eyes! Jovarii wanted to say. But she only bowed, and walked out of the chamber with Tsena.
She blinked back tears. We will come for you, Obi-Wan. I promise.