Xan was both pleased and disturbed to remember this. She hadn't known she could remember so much; even the scent of the flowers had come to her. She just about to close her eyes when a soft knock came from the door. "Come in!" Xan said, pulling a robe around her. Anakin opened the door and walked in. "Can I ask you some questions?" he asked. Xan considered. She was most likely going to be questioned to within an inch of her life tomorrow. But she felt she owed Anakin some answers, so with all this in mind, she said, "Sure." It was a reasonable request, she thought. Anakin cleared his throat. "Are you a Sith? Where did you get that lightsaber? Where did you learn to fight? Where are you from? Are you a human? Why was you brother trying to kill me? Why did you stop him?" Anakin rambled. He was obviously too curious to word his questions tactfully. Xan thought for a moment and answered, "No, I'm not a Sith, this lightsaber was my father's, when he died, I got it. I learned to fight from my father. Yes, I am a human, from Telos. My brother was trying to kill you because your master's master killed my father; he never forgave him for that. Granta has wanted revenge ever since, and this drove him to make an attempt on your master's life. You would have been a bonus, he hates all Jedi." Xan said, quickly, mocking Anakin's attempt to question her. But she slowed when she talked of her brother, and Anakin knew that was no laughing matter. He had one last question. "Who was your father?" Xan looked thoughtful, she didn't really want to tell him, but she sensed that, with his personality, he would keep bugging her unless she either answered him, or, told him off. She chose to answer him. "My father was named Xanatos." Anakin looked odd at the mention of his name; obviously, it struck a chord in him. Xan continued, "He was Qui-Gon Jinn's first apprentice. But after he stabbed my grandfather right in front of my father, Xanatos left the Order." At the mention of Qui-Gon's name, Anakin seemed to have a stab of pain. "You father was an evil man. He stopped at nothing to get what he wanted: money and power. He cared for and trusted no one and tried to kill Qui-Gon and my master on more than one occasion." Anakin said plainly. Xan bristled. "You didn't know him! He cared for and loved my brother and I! You shouldn't talk about things you don't have all the facts to." She said coldly. Anakin looked at her in shock at this outburst. He should have expected it. But instead of keeping his mouth shut, he said, "You shouldn't talk of things you know nothing about. He tried to destroy everything that should have been precious to him! He didn't care for you or your brother." If looks could kill, Anakin would have been lying in about a thousand pieces on the floor. Xan stood and said, "Don't you dare speak of my father that way!" Anakin stood also, to find Xan was almost his height. "Get out." Xan said. Anakin left the room, hastily, to say the least! Xan was still simmering. He spoke with such conviction, Xan decided to check it out. There was a computer in her room, and she decided to see if she still could hack into the Temple's records again. It took her quite awhile last time. But now, she knew their passwords. She hoped desperately that they hadn't changed the passwords. Amazingly enough, they hadn't! She went into the records and searched. She after about half and hour, she found Qui-Gon's file, but nothing on Xanatos. There! It was in Qui-Gon's file. "Gotcha" She said, opening it.
She read about how he had left the Jedi, how he had done business, Off-World, a mining company that stripped the land in search of valuable substances. How he had almost destroyed Telos, his home, the home of his children. She read how he had even tried to destroy the Jedi Temple. He set up a powerful explosive that would have quite the crater where the Jedi Temple would have been standing. All those children……….Xan felt sick. How could her father have done this? The man she had trusted and who had raised her, nurtured her, trained her, loved her, had tried to kill hundreds of innocent people. Most of them children. Xan shook her head. She was shocked, how could he have done this? Everything she thought she knew about her father was shattered. She closed the file, she couldn't read anymore. She decided to find out about Qui-Gon. She found he had been the one to save the Temple, and many lives. She read about all the great things he had done. This was why he was held in such high esteem. She closed the file and turned the computer off. She felt numb, as all these things tried to sink in at the same time. As she fell onto the sleep-couch, she promised herself that she would never cause such pain and destruction. She slipped into a dreamless sleep.
A knock at the door woke Xan. It seemed only seconds since she had shut her eyes. Going on this logic, she suspected it might be Anakin again. Although, now sun was shining through the curtains, she decided to base her next action on who actually was behind the door, that hadn't stopped knocking. "Who is it?" she yelled at the door, as she pulled a robe over her borrowed pajamas. "It is Obi-wan Kenobi. May I enter?" came a voice from behind the door. "Yes." Xan said as the doors opened and the hansom older Jedi entered the room. Obi-Wan still couldn't get over how she looked. From her white hair and pitch roots, to her dark eyes, to her odd taste of clothes. Although, he had seen some interesting looks in his travels, no one ever looked quite like her. He and Anakin had discussed her last night, before an attack was made on Senator Padme, and he had taken off after a droid. It had been a long night and Xan was surprised he was up so early. Anakin had said she was hard to read, and she was, Jedi could usually sense if someone was good or evil, but Xan eluded either possibility, almost like a Void. That's what people who had the ability to completely disguise themselves from the Force were called. They emitted no Force sign at all and this made then very hard to track. But there was something from her, confusing though it was, it was there. She seemed completely balanced between good and evil. She seemed to have no rhyme or reason. No purpose, no mission, no nothing. There was nothing written of her either. She should have at least been listed on Telos. Granta was, Xanatos was. Xan was nowhere, either she really wanted to hide, or Xanatos hid her, for some reason. She was……indescribable. She stood out, but only if she wanted to. Another anomaly about her was her skill with, and her possession, of a lightsaber. No one outside the Jedi Order was allowed to have one. No one except the Sith. But with no obvious evil in her, she couldn't be one. Xan grew uncomfortable under Obi-Wan's gaze, and drew the robe closer to her. "Master Obi-wan?" she asked. He stirred from his trance and said,"You are to go to the Temple today, where the Jedi Council will decide what will be done with you. Anakin will be here in 15 minutes to escort you to the speeder." Xan nodded and Obi-wan left the room. Xan was shocked; the Council needed to decide what would be done with her? She had survived the past 19 years without help, why did she need it now? No matter how pointless this meeting sounded, she had to go. What would she wear? All she had were her travel clothes; a fitted shirt with wide sleeves, a vest full of pockets, a pair of pants, with more pockets, her utility belt and a pair of knee-high boots. Her lightsaber was always with her, as was the cape her father made for her. All of her clothes were black, and somehow didn't seem befitting of a meeting with the highest ranking Jedi in the galaxy. "Oh well" she said to herself as she looked at her reflection.
As she finished dressing, someone knocked at the door. She opened it and there stood Anakin. They walked out into the hall and towards the turbo-lift in silence. As they stepped into the turbo-lift, Xan looked over at Anakin, who had kept about two arms distance between themselves. "You know, I won't bite." She said. Anakin smiled and took a step closer to her. The lift doors opened and they stepped out to meet Obi-wan at the speeder. They hopped in and sped off to the Temple. Curoscant was a weird planet. Buildings towered high into the sky and many stories below the street. It seemed void of all natural beauty. She missed Telos, it was a gorgeous planet.
Xan waited anxiously outside the Council room while Anakin and Obi-Wan we briefed on their next assignment. Finally, it was her turn. She stepped into the room with a reassuring look from Obi-Wan. They disappeared behind the closed doors and Xan turned to face the Council. Yoda called her attention. "Obi-Wan has said many things about you. Unknown to us, you are and ask you questions, we must." Xan nodded. A tall dark man named Mace Windew started the questioning. "We were told you father was Xanatos, of Telos. Is this true?" "It is." Xan answered back. "He is also my namesake." Mace was extremely hard to read, there was no registered emotion in his dark eyes, almost the same color of his skin. "What did you know about him?" Mace asked and trained his eyes on her. "Not as much as I should, I suppose. I knew him as a father. I knew him as a loving and caring person. I never knew very much about him, and I see now, I was very sheltered growing up." She said, never flinching under Mace's stare. Mace looked interested at the thought that Xanatos could have loved or cared about anyone. He looked at Yoda, who nodded slightly and Mace continued questioning her. The questioning went on for some time; they asked her great more questions and began to asses her abilities in the Force. They held up a small screen, with the back facing Xan. They asked her to describe the image on their side. She described many of them with such detail, they were tempted to check her side and make sure she really couldn't see the images. The rest of the questioning, I will not put you through, it was very dull and Xan herself began to tire. Finally, they were finished and Yoda said,"Decide about you, the Council must. Escort you around the Temple until we are finished, Anakin Skywalker will." Xan nodded and Anakin entered the room to be told of his duties for the day. He would escort Xan around the Temple and take her through a normal day at the Temple. First stop: breakfast. Neither of them had eaten that day and both were starving. It was between breakfast and lunch at the Temple and the cafeteria was almost empty. As they started to eat their meal of fresh fruit, protein cakes and juice, Xan said, "So, how long have you been a Jedi?" Anakin nearly laughed at the question. Obviously, she didn't know that if an applicant was more than three years of age, they were often considered too old, and not accepted. Anakin had been a rare exception, being accepted when he was 9. "I was nine when I joined. But usually, children have to much younger." He expected questions about why he had been so lucky, why he was allowed to join so old. But all he got from Xan was a nod and a question not concerning him. "What is the Force? Why is it so important? What can it do, and what does it mean to be Force-sensitive? My father told me al my life that I was "Force-sensitive". That I had skills not many people had, but he never explained it too me." Xan took another bite as Anakin swallowed his. "Well, the Force is-"he started and went into the lengthy explanation and answer to her questions. They were completely engrossed in their conversation and didn't notice that the place had filled with children eating their afternoon meal until the noise got loud they couldn't hear each other talk. Now, Jedi children are well-behaved, but they are children and get carried away. "Is there anywhere quieter?" Xan asked above the noise. Anakin nodded and led her out the cafeteria to a small hallway. He stopped in front of a room marked, "Sparing Room" and said with a glint in his eye, "Would you like to-" "Play?" Xan interrupted, smiling slightly. Anakin smiled and opened the door. Xan walked in and started to memorize everything. Every bump in the floor, every box and crate placed around for difficulty. Anakin pushed a button on the wall and a crate of lightsabers came down from the ceiling. Anakin took one and motioned for Xan to do the same. These were training sabers, set at a very low energy. They would not cut, just singe, to let the person know he was hit. Xan chose one that resembled the one she owned. Xan moved into attack position and Anakin followed suit. He made the first move, which Xan easily avoided. Anakin wanted to see what she could do how good she was with a blade and started slow. Xan sent a searing blow across one of his legs and Anakin winced. He gave her a little taste of laser and she bit her lip to keep from wincing. Anakin swung at her again, but she saw it coming and parried, swiping at him with her blade. It didn't touch him, because he jumped onto a box to give him the upper hand. Indeed! She hit him again on the leg and jumped over his head and somersaulted onto a large crate. Anakin had severely underestimated her. She held her lightsaber with one and hand motioned for him to join her with the other. He did. And they fought like it was a matter of life and death. Their moves were too fast to time. They were both tired, and their muscles felt like water. But neither gave up. Then, as Xan leapt onto the next box, she lost her footing and Anakin leapt up after her. Before she could regain her footing, Anakin had dealt a blow to her throat. He hadn't meant to actually touch her, but she moved and the saber touched skin. Xan gave a slight cry. She stood to her full height and Anakin was worried she might strike him. Being about his height, if she was bitter about losing, as most people were when they spared with him, she could be dangerous. But as she stared at him a smile came to lips and she said,"Good fight! You know, you were lucky this time!" she laughed, very out-of-breath. Anakin laughed too and bowed to her, to show respect. It was how the Temple sparing pairs ended their matches.
Just then, Anakin's comlink buzzed and he answered. It was Yoda, who had called to tell Xan she was needed in the council room. Immediately. Xan hurriedly walked out of the room and down the hall, and into the Council room, burns and all. Anakin walked in after her.
There were only two people there now, Yoda and Mace. Both looked at the pair with raised eyebrows. The burns on their bodies weren't very obvious, but the singed and cut clothes were, plus the burn on Xan's neck. Mace cleared his throat and Xan new what was coming before he had even started to speak.
"Xan, you will not be trained. You have many extraordinary abilities, but you are simply too old." Mace said. Xan felt like she had been slapped in the face. Mace continued,"You will stay here until suitable accommodations can be found for you." Xan nodded, grateful they weren't going to tell her they wouldn't take her and toss her out on the street. But compared to what Mace said next, she would have preferred that. "Xan, we also need you to turn over your lightsaber. None outside of the Jedi is allowed one, and it should have been returned when your father left the Order." Mace said this gently, but it felt like he had stabbed a saber through her. She turned to leave. "No one except the Sith , master Jedi." She said coolly and walked out the door.
