4: Prelude to Judgment and Conclusion
"We can not send him into exile! We will have no way of keeping an eye on him! Who knows, he might get back in touch with that Sideous again!" Was what the third Jedi had to say.
"Send him to a planet all alone, we could," Yoda suggested.
"No," Obi-Wan said. "Salu is right," he gestured toward the other Master. "We must be able to keep an eye on him, perhaps ask information about the Sith!"
Yoda and Salu nodded, considering all the possibilities that were before them. The sentence had to be both punishment, yet humane for that was the Jedi way. Kenobi then suggested that they imprison the boy, that way he could be checked in upon yet still have no access to any inappropriate communications. This was agreed upon, but then another question rose, and this one; for how long?
"For life," said Salu.
"For thirty years," said Obi-Wan.
"For fifty years," said Yoda. Fifty years... it seemed fair to the other Jedi, and so it was decided. For five decades Anakin Skywalker would be locked away in a specific unit of the Jedi prison. Solitary confinement yet with a moderately comfortable living quarters. It in fact would be much like the apartment he lived in now, only there would be no phone or e-mail and he could never leave.
Obi-Wan stared at the floor. Oh, Anaki, why did you have to do this to yourself... a deeper heartbreak then became clear. And to me? So with that, after simply six minutes of conference, the three Jedi walked back into the other room and took their respective seats. All except for Yoda, who voiced Anakin's punishment to the council.
Skywalker's eyes clenched shut. Yet Obi-Wan spoke up and what he said helped to sufficiently numb the pain.
"However, in his confinement, Anakin will be allowed authorized visits. Such as the people in this room and..." he looked at Anakin with the faintest hint of a weary smile. "Padme Amidala." That last part did not go over very well with the rest of the Jedi. They thought that such treason as Anakin had committed did not deserve the company of the woman with whom he had violated Jedi code of behavior. Yet the condition stayed. Anakin would of course not be allowed any sort of sexual interaction with her, but the three wisest Jedi thought it only right for Anakin to see the woman he married and the child they brought into the world.
AND IN TIMEā¦
"Master?" Anakin said, sitting on the small chair provided in his apartment-like cell, looking up into his teacher's eyes.
"Yes, Padawan?" the Jedi who was now nearly two decades older.
"Forgive me for sounding morbid but do you believe I will allowed to your funeral?"
"I shall ask, Padawan," he said, not seeming to mind the dark subject their conversation had now turned to. For he was nearly sixty now and the matter of death was only natural for Anakin to bring up. "Padme wishes me to tell you she apologizes for not coming to see you yesterday as she had planned. Seems Luke and Leia caught some sort of flu."
"Oh, what a shame," Anakin said. "Please pass on my good wishes."
"I shall."
So the two sat in silence while General Kenobi read his newspaper and Anakin wondering what horrors he would be reeking if not for his Master's interference.
"Obi-Wan?" he asked.
"Yes?" the Jedi Master replied with a bit of surprise at Anakin's formality.
"Thank you."
THE END
