Authors Note: Notes and thank yous at the end ;)
Disclaimer: Read the first chappy legal peeps. Too lazy to repeat :)
-----------------------------
Chapter Eleven: Of Tension Building
Putting the finishing touches to the essay Ashden looked at the pad guiltily, maybe she should have done another planet? Any planet other than Naboo, really. Her Master's face blanked and closed off the second she said its name and she didn't have to be Yoda to know there was more to the battle than what was told.
Everybody knew about the Important Padawan that was apprenticed to Master Jinn too. The Important Padawan as the one she ran in to when they left the Council Chambers, the one nobody liked, she wondered idly if the boy knew that. What was his name? Anasin Sky, Sky something? Was it Anasin? Older Padawans said he thought too highly of himself, that he could do anything without asking anyone. That just because he was Important, something to do with an ancient prophesy from thousands of years ago, he had the right to never apologise when he was in the wrong.
If he grew up in the Creche like everybody else he would've soon learned different. Ashden couldn't count the times she apologised even if she took her boots and socks off and used both of her hands too. Everybody was equal, it was drilled into them, a servant in a palace was just as important as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic Senate.
Everybody also knew about the Sith her Master and Master Jinn fought, and how the Battle ended.
Except Master Yoda told me that some battles weren't fought 'sabers and that's when people got hurt the most. Ashden kicked her feet and smiled to herself; he said it all mixed up and backwards like he always did.
Who was her Master fighting that made him go like that? He was the strongest and best Knight in the whole Order! He still was! He could always make Master Erin laugh, and anybody else. Why would anyone want to make him go like that? It was definitely a puzzle, like the ones from the Crèche; only she didn't have all the pieces.
Maybe Uli or Amati would know? They were eleven and knew lots, but she and Thew were better at the puzzles than they were. Ashden toyed with the end of her braid, trying to find a solution to a problem she didn't understand. Maths was a lot simpler than this; maths could only have set answers, the variables always falling within set parameters.
"People're more complicated." She murmured, flicking through the data on her pad. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was elected after Queen Amidala voiced a Vote of Non Confidence in Supreme Chancellor Valorem four years ago, he used to be Naboo's Ambassador to the Senate. Before becoming Ambassador for the planet he was relatively unknown, despite having run for the position five times previously.
Queen Amidala is currently in her last year of term. She is greatly liked by the people of Naboo, many of who signed a petition for her to stay a second term as Queen -which she politely turned down in order to follow the rules that every monarch previously had to follow: one term and one term only.
Her Master didn't like politicians, though he seemed tolerant when he spoke of Queen Amidala -something Ashden assigned to the Queen's ability to handle the siege of her planet and only want to free her people.
He hated the Supreme Chancellor, or as close to hate as a Jedi could feel. She asked him once, after he returned from another errand for the Senate, and he told her,
"Sometimes a person will rub you the wrong way, but as a Jedi there's nothing you can do about it. Especially when that person controls the Senate."
Then he told her not to worry about it and to finish her science homework; nonetheless during meditation that night she felt him, frustrated and searching.
He as always searching, however she dared not ask what for since it technically wasn't her place. Maybe he was trying to find out why the person that made him feel like he did sometimes, did it? It would make sense, she thought, but not completely. There was no question to it; she would have to begin her own mission. Her first mission.
Nevertheless she'd have to be careful, this mission was Top Secret and going to be very difficult with the Masters as on edge as they were. None of them said anything, her Master didn't, her teachers didn't, and her friends who had Masters said they hadn't either. The lack of reason set them all on edge: Jedi Masters were always in control of everything, nothing was ever so out of hand as whatever set them so on guard now.
That would be her secondary objective then. First, find out whom her Master was fighting; second, find out what made all the Masters so… itchy.
Mind set, she left the finished essay on her desk and left her room. She still had an hour before meditation; maybe her Master would let her find Uli now, then she could get started. Common sense told her it was something to do with Master Jinn, and to find out about him without her Master finding out she would have to be careful.
Ashden stood in the doorway to her room watching her Master type away a datapad of his own,
"Master?"
"Yes?" he said, without looking up.
"Can I go find my friends? I promise I'll be back in time for meditation."
This time he paused, giving her a scrutinising glance, "Promise? Straight there, straight back?"
"Yessum."
"Then I'll see you in an hour, Padawan."
Ashden smiled, ran back to her bedroom to grab her cloak and to the door, quickly bowing before leaving.
That was a new aspect that was never present in the Temple before as well, she thought as she passed a Knight just standing in a small recess. There never used to be Knights just standing as if they were on guard for something.
Or searching for something. Just like her Master.
Were they connected? Another piece to add to the jumble that was collecting in the box she made for it in her mind.
The trip down to the Initiate Dormitory rooms was a dull, one she'd memorized since she became a Padawan, with most other Jedi wherever they were going to be for the rest of the night now that lessons and the evening meal were, for the majority, over.
"Uli? Uli it's me! Open the door!" As an eleven year old, Uli was allowed his own room and was her first port of call before going to Sa-Bay and Thew to take to Amati's, also eleven.
"Ashden? What are you doing here?" Uli pulled her inside with a webbed hand.
Sticking out her tongue before responding, Ashden knelt down by his desk and dug around for his boots, "I need to talk to you and everyone. I'm confused."
"About what, Ash? We haven't got much time before curfew, you know."
"I know, which is why we gotta go! C'mon!" She pulled him along, still hopping into his right boot, down the corridor to where Sa-Bay and Thew shared a dormitory with two others. Within minutes they were collected on Amati's bed, looking at her expectantly. Second thoughts were chased by third and fourth. Maybe this was none of her business?
Too late now.
"Um, I need some help."
"With what?" Amati pulled on her ears, flicking them over her shoulders.
"A puzzle."
Thew's eyes lit up -he remembered their talent with puzzles too.
"Where're the pieces then?" he asked.
"Uh," Ashden fiddled with her braid, "It's a head puzzle. I haven't got all the pieces yet, that's a bit of the problem."
"Aaand?" Sa-Bay had raised his eyebrows, his sign of extreme scepticism at what was being told.
"My Master's fighting somebody but not with 'sabers and I don't know why or how and I don't know how to fix it."
"Fix it?" Sa-Bay again.
"I think it's hurting him, he's my Master -I can't let that happen!"
Ashden gave him a pleading look, begging him to understand that. He lowered the eyebrows and she relaxed. He was the one obstacle to convince, and she managed it. He understood.
"Okay, so what do we do?"
"Your favourite, Uli. Research. I think it's got something to do with my Masters Master,"
He gave her a small glare, "Who would be..."
Evenly, she said, "Master Jinn."
"You want us to research the Master Jinn because you think he's hurting your Master?" Amati's voice betrayed that she couldn't believe what she was being told. Granted, Master Jinn was well known, revered in some cases, but he was still like every other Master or Knight.
"It's not like I want you to draw a 'saber on him! I just need some help, that's all."
"But it's Master Jinn, Ashden, you can't just accuse him of intentionally causing harm to another Jedi!"
"I never said he was doing it intensia-"
"Intentionally." Uli put in.
"Right, I never said he was doing that," Ashden's mind was beginning to spin; Amati was getting the wrong end of the idea and must've been hitting her on the head with it. "I don't even know it is Master Jinn. I just think it is because of a few things, that's why I need you guys to help me!"
Uli held up a hand, cutting off Amati before she could reply, "Be quiet a minute, Ashden what would you want us to do exactly?"
"A bit of research, what he's like and things like that. If you ever see him or anything tell me how he is and stuff, nothing big, I just need a few more pairs of eyes is all."
Thew shared a look with Sa-Bay and they nodded. Once Sa-Bay got over his scepticism he was as game for everything as Thew was, Uli wasn't far behind.
Amati took longer to decide, playing around with the hem of her green tunic for a good few minutes (minutes that lasted a very long time from Ashden's point of view), mulling things over in her mind.
"Alright. But I won't get in trouble with our Care Master, or especially Master Jinn, deal?"
Ashden grinned, "Deal."
-----
Anakin was not pleased. Even with Watto he was allowed a certain amount of freedom; he could walk up and down the shop or clean things pacing up and down the yard if he wanted to, at home he could do whatever he wanted, as long as his mother didn't find out when (because he inevitably did) he got in trouble.
At the Temple he got none. He was a slave to the Force and the High Council. He hated being a slave. He was a person. He should be out helping people and getting money to go back and free his mother like he promised! He wanted to go back to Naboo and see Padmé. Thoughts of her were always there in the back of his mind, where he kept all the feelings he knew he wasn't supposed to have, let alone entertain with the thoughts of power that Palpatine told him would one day be his.
That was destined to be his… he was the Chosen One after all. He was more powerful than all the other Jedi ever seen.
Right now, Anakin guessed he was about as great as his Master, so by the time he became a senior Padawan he'd be more powerful than even the famed Master Yoda. What did it matter if he felt emotions, rather than ignored them and became a walking dead man? Emotions made him alive. They made him better than all the other Jedi because they didn't feel. He did. They just called Master Qui-Gon and he into their mightier than thou Council Chambers to reprimand him on record, to pull him down to their level and check up on him. He still remembered the first time it happened, barely three months after they returned to Corusant, like it was yesterday.
The Council looked all the way through him, or at least they thought they did in their almighty, infinite wisdom.
Mace Windu spoke first, "You know why you are here."
"Masters I must protest -"
"After we have spoken, protest you may."
Anakin waited, keeping his impatience restrained by the memory of the other Padawan's face. Silence began to stretch. They were trying to stare him out; it wouldn't work on him. He learnt when to turn away and when not to Tantooine as a way of survival.
"You lost control again, Padawan Skywalker." Master Koth said.
"Yes, Master Koth."
"Do you know why?"
"I was provoked."
"To the extent that you felt the need to cause bodily harm to another Jedi?"
"He deserved it! He called me a pathetic slave!"
"And he will be dealt with accordingly." Master Poof said, "A Jedi must not anger."
"Peace over anger, you must gain."
Qui-Gon stood taller, "Masters, Anakin has only been training for a few months, give him time."
"When will you deem that he will have had enough time? He is old, he must work harder -you knew this when you took him as your Padawan Learner."
That was the first of quite a few visits, until finally he began storing all the anger and fear instead of dealing with them and letting it go on whoever deserved it the most. When he pushed all thoughts of Padmé and his mother to the back and hid them under lock and key, where he could take them out and think about them under shielding that was now second nature. After awhile the Council finally realised that he was improving and let them leave on missions, Chancellor Palpatine was glad then, that they finally realised his potential and surprised it took them so long. He said it was a sorry display of Jedi foresight.
Qui-Gon, without knowing it, agreed with the Supreme Chancellor.
"They still simply refuse to see the truth of the Prophecy."
"But they must've seen it now, they're letting us go on missions now, Master."
Qui-Gon shook his head, hand on his bearded chin, "I wish, Padawan. They just can't deny the progress you've made any longer."
Anakin remembered that day clearly too, he sounded bitter then. Bitter at the Council. But he soon moved to another tack (one that probably infuriated the Council, Anakin thought smugly), Qui-Gon vowed to him that he would be not only the most powerful, but also the best Knight in the Order; he was already several years above the rest of his age-mates in Kata's, he was excellent at sparring even though he still lost to Qui-Gon they called truce's more often than never now, he could even levitate a few objects by manipulating the Force.
For a fourteen year old, that was pretty good.
His few friends, he didn't have many since they were away so often, said that all the other children called him the Important Padawan.
That made him swell with pride.
They didn't think of him as some pathetic slave. If he was Important he couldn't be walked over.
If he were Important, his mother would have a reason to be proud of him when he went to free her.
Qui-Gon's voice sounded through their apartment, bringing Anakin back to the present… and the homework he still hadn't finished. Quick as a Hutt collecting money, he cleared the problems and bought up a file to pass as research. "Anakin?"
"Yes Master?" Swinging his feet off the sleep couch he whisked open the door to his room with a quick push of the Force to see his Master putting on his cloak.
"I have to meet with some other Masters, don't leave these rooms, alright?"
Nodding blandly, Anakin reserved his scowl for after the elder Jedi left.
That was another thing, it seemed like every week Qui-Gon was meeting with other Masters, and everyday he was never alone, even when he was practising a Kata before breakfast a Master was in the training halls or when he snuck out to speak with Palpatine there were always at least three Jedi on the main entrance.
Thankfully, the second time Anakin saw them he reported as much to Palpatine, and he taught him how to hide his signature from other Jedi so that it was as if he was invisible.
A pretty wizard trick, in Anakin's opinion.
With nothing left to do and leaving out of the question he settled down to meditate. Maybe when his Master returned to see him doing extra meditation without being asked or punished he would be rewarded?
"Worth a try." He muttered, relaxing into the oh-so-familiar stance.
Thoughts of Padm's beautiful face filled his vision, golden brown hair framing an angelic face.
Every once in a while Qui-Gon told him to stop worrying, but not very often. Qui-Gon said it was Anakin's connection to the Living Force which made him anxious since after nine years of seeing her every day he had now been separated from her for four years over a great distance -it's hard to connect with light years apart and strict orders to not contact her.
Anger boiled at those orders and he fed it into the compartment specially made for all the things he didn't want his Master to see, the feelings that he was told off for showing. The dark fog inside it was perfect for concealing everything; fear, hate, anger, and Anakin revelled in it. When he hid like Chancellor Palpatine taught him he didn't have to constantly check his thoughts and emotions to make sure none escaped down the thread-like training bond -one he kept purposefully thin.
In the apartment, a feral smirk filled the teenagers features.
Inside the fog the darkness that made it whispered promises and comforts of power and making all the people that ever tried to walk over him pay.
And he liked it. Fantasies of it played through him, dancing pirouettes of a commanding presence, twirling anger intertwined with hate and laced with fear that would one day be soothed with a balm made of a vision of everybody who ever talked down to him, treated him like scum because he used to be a slave, tried to make him feel stupid, pushed him down onto the sandy streets outside Watto's shop so the sand scraped along it and bit into it.
Some time later, he didn't know when precisely, Anakin relinquished the fog, pushing it back inside the box and swinging down the hinges, feeling a twinge of apprehension when it took longer than normal to shut them all the way.
Now curiosity piqued -their message terminal blinked at him, showing four read messages, delete?
Qui-Gon forgot to close the screen, and now they teased him because as long as he just read them, didn't reply or delete them, his Master would never know.
If he would never find out, there was zero risk.
If there was zero risk, why not do it?
So he did it, springing up, ignoring the beginning of pins and needles that threatened in his legs, and opened the first message.
Master Jinn,
You presence is required at a meeting at the nineteenth hour in training hall 2 to discuss the continuing disappearance of Jedi. We fear that whoever is taking our own is making its way to Corusant, and must prepare as such.
Please ensure your Padawan doesn't come with you to the meeting.
-Jedi Master Windu
Anakin blinked slowly. Jedi were going missing? A secret meeting of Masters? This was like a holovid!
---------------------------------------
Author's Notes: phew That was a long chapter! I hope you liked it :) Reviews welcome... lurkers, well, you carry on lurking if you have too LOL! Heheee. This chapter started off as about a page and a half... it got longer and longer as I re-read the reviews and some of the ideas and requests you guys had :D I seem to have lost some reviewers though :( But i gained some too :D
Disclaimer: Read the first chappy legal peeps. Too lazy to repeat :)
-----------------------------
Chapter Eleven: Of Tension Building
Putting the finishing touches to the essay Ashden looked at the pad guiltily, maybe she should have done another planet? Any planet other than Naboo, really. Her Master's face blanked and closed off the second she said its name and she didn't have to be Yoda to know there was more to the battle than what was told.
Everybody knew about the Important Padawan that was apprenticed to Master Jinn too. The Important Padawan as the one she ran in to when they left the Council Chambers, the one nobody liked, she wondered idly if the boy knew that. What was his name? Anasin Sky, Sky something? Was it Anasin? Older Padawans said he thought too highly of himself, that he could do anything without asking anyone. That just because he was Important, something to do with an ancient prophesy from thousands of years ago, he had the right to never apologise when he was in the wrong.
If he grew up in the Creche like everybody else he would've soon learned different. Ashden couldn't count the times she apologised even if she took her boots and socks off and used both of her hands too. Everybody was equal, it was drilled into them, a servant in a palace was just as important as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic Senate.
Everybody also knew about the Sith her Master and Master Jinn fought, and how the Battle ended.
Except Master Yoda told me that some battles weren't fought 'sabers and that's when people got hurt the most. Ashden kicked her feet and smiled to herself; he said it all mixed up and backwards like he always did.
Who was her Master fighting that made him go like that? He was the strongest and best Knight in the whole Order! He still was! He could always make Master Erin laugh, and anybody else. Why would anyone want to make him go like that? It was definitely a puzzle, like the ones from the Crèche; only she didn't have all the pieces.
Maybe Uli or Amati would know? They were eleven and knew lots, but she and Thew were better at the puzzles than they were. Ashden toyed with the end of her braid, trying to find a solution to a problem she didn't understand. Maths was a lot simpler than this; maths could only have set answers, the variables always falling within set parameters.
"People're more complicated." She murmured, flicking through the data on her pad. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was elected after Queen Amidala voiced a Vote of Non Confidence in Supreme Chancellor Valorem four years ago, he used to be Naboo's Ambassador to the Senate. Before becoming Ambassador for the planet he was relatively unknown, despite having run for the position five times previously.
Queen Amidala is currently in her last year of term. She is greatly liked by the people of Naboo, many of who signed a petition for her to stay a second term as Queen -which she politely turned down in order to follow the rules that every monarch previously had to follow: one term and one term only.
Her Master didn't like politicians, though he seemed tolerant when he spoke of Queen Amidala -something Ashden assigned to the Queen's ability to handle the siege of her planet and only want to free her people.
He hated the Supreme Chancellor, or as close to hate as a Jedi could feel. She asked him once, after he returned from another errand for the Senate, and he told her,
"Sometimes a person will rub you the wrong way, but as a Jedi there's nothing you can do about it. Especially when that person controls the Senate."
Then he told her not to worry about it and to finish her science homework; nonetheless during meditation that night she felt him, frustrated and searching.
He as always searching, however she dared not ask what for since it technically wasn't her place. Maybe he was trying to find out why the person that made him feel like he did sometimes, did it? It would make sense, she thought, but not completely. There was no question to it; she would have to begin her own mission. Her first mission.
Nevertheless she'd have to be careful, this mission was Top Secret and going to be very difficult with the Masters as on edge as they were. None of them said anything, her Master didn't, her teachers didn't, and her friends who had Masters said they hadn't either. The lack of reason set them all on edge: Jedi Masters were always in control of everything, nothing was ever so out of hand as whatever set them so on guard now.
That would be her secondary objective then. First, find out whom her Master was fighting; second, find out what made all the Masters so… itchy.
Mind set, she left the finished essay on her desk and left her room. She still had an hour before meditation; maybe her Master would let her find Uli now, then she could get started. Common sense told her it was something to do with Master Jinn, and to find out about him without her Master finding out she would have to be careful.
Ashden stood in the doorway to her room watching her Master type away a datapad of his own,
"Master?"
"Yes?" he said, without looking up.
"Can I go find my friends? I promise I'll be back in time for meditation."
This time he paused, giving her a scrutinising glance, "Promise? Straight there, straight back?"
"Yessum."
"Then I'll see you in an hour, Padawan."
Ashden smiled, ran back to her bedroom to grab her cloak and to the door, quickly bowing before leaving.
That was a new aspect that was never present in the Temple before as well, she thought as she passed a Knight just standing in a small recess. There never used to be Knights just standing as if they were on guard for something.
Or searching for something. Just like her Master.
Were they connected? Another piece to add to the jumble that was collecting in the box she made for it in her mind.
The trip down to the Initiate Dormitory rooms was a dull, one she'd memorized since she became a Padawan, with most other Jedi wherever they were going to be for the rest of the night now that lessons and the evening meal were, for the majority, over.
"Uli? Uli it's me! Open the door!" As an eleven year old, Uli was allowed his own room and was her first port of call before going to Sa-Bay and Thew to take to Amati's, also eleven.
"Ashden? What are you doing here?" Uli pulled her inside with a webbed hand.
Sticking out her tongue before responding, Ashden knelt down by his desk and dug around for his boots, "I need to talk to you and everyone. I'm confused."
"About what, Ash? We haven't got much time before curfew, you know."
"I know, which is why we gotta go! C'mon!" She pulled him along, still hopping into his right boot, down the corridor to where Sa-Bay and Thew shared a dormitory with two others. Within minutes they were collected on Amati's bed, looking at her expectantly. Second thoughts were chased by third and fourth. Maybe this was none of her business?
Too late now.
"Um, I need some help."
"With what?" Amati pulled on her ears, flicking them over her shoulders.
"A puzzle."
Thew's eyes lit up -he remembered their talent with puzzles too.
"Where're the pieces then?" he asked.
"Uh," Ashden fiddled with her braid, "It's a head puzzle. I haven't got all the pieces yet, that's a bit of the problem."
"Aaand?" Sa-Bay had raised his eyebrows, his sign of extreme scepticism at what was being told.
"My Master's fighting somebody but not with 'sabers and I don't know why or how and I don't know how to fix it."
"Fix it?" Sa-Bay again.
"I think it's hurting him, he's my Master -I can't let that happen!"
Ashden gave him a pleading look, begging him to understand that. He lowered the eyebrows and she relaxed. He was the one obstacle to convince, and she managed it. He understood.
"Okay, so what do we do?"
"Your favourite, Uli. Research. I think it's got something to do with my Masters Master,"
He gave her a small glare, "Who would be..."
Evenly, she said, "Master Jinn."
"You want us to research the Master Jinn because you think he's hurting your Master?" Amati's voice betrayed that she couldn't believe what she was being told. Granted, Master Jinn was well known, revered in some cases, but he was still like every other Master or Knight.
"It's not like I want you to draw a 'saber on him! I just need some help, that's all."
"But it's Master Jinn, Ashden, you can't just accuse him of intentionally causing harm to another Jedi!"
"I never said he was doing it intensia-"
"Intentionally." Uli put in.
"Right, I never said he was doing that," Ashden's mind was beginning to spin; Amati was getting the wrong end of the idea and must've been hitting her on the head with it. "I don't even know it is Master Jinn. I just think it is because of a few things, that's why I need you guys to help me!"
Uli held up a hand, cutting off Amati before she could reply, "Be quiet a minute, Ashden what would you want us to do exactly?"
"A bit of research, what he's like and things like that. If you ever see him or anything tell me how he is and stuff, nothing big, I just need a few more pairs of eyes is all."
Thew shared a look with Sa-Bay and they nodded. Once Sa-Bay got over his scepticism he was as game for everything as Thew was, Uli wasn't far behind.
Amati took longer to decide, playing around with the hem of her green tunic for a good few minutes (minutes that lasted a very long time from Ashden's point of view), mulling things over in her mind.
"Alright. But I won't get in trouble with our Care Master, or especially Master Jinn, deal?"
Ashden grinned, "Deal."
-----
Anakin was not pleased. Even with Watto he was allowed a certain amount of freedom; he could walk up and down the shop or clean things pacing up and down the yard if he wanted to, at home he could do whatever he wanted, as long as his mother didn't find out when (because he inevitably did) he got in trouble.
At the Temple he got none. He was a slave to the Force and the High Council. He hated being a slave. He was a person. He should be out helping people and getting money to go back and free his mother like he promised! He wanted to go back to Naboo and see Padmé. Thoughts of her were always there in the back of his mind, where he kept all the feelings he knew he wasn't supposed to have, let alone entertain with the thoughts of power that Palpatine told him would one day be his.
That was destined to be his… he was the Chosen One after all. He was more powerful than all the other Jedi ever seen.
Right now, Anakin guessed he was about as great as his Master, so by the time he became a senior Padawan he'd be more powerful than even the famed Master Yoda. What did it matter if he felt emotions, rather than ignored them and became a walking dead man? Emotions made him alive. They made him better than all the other Jedi because they didn't feel. He did. They just called Master Qui-Gon and he into their mightier than thou Council Chambers to reprimand him on record, to pull him down to their level and check up on him. He still remembered the first time it happened, barely three months after they returned to Corusant, like it was yesterday.
The Council looked all the way through him, or at least they thought they did in their almighty, infinite wisdom.
Mace Windu spoke first, "You know why you are here."
"Masters I must protest -"
"After we have spoken, protest you may."
Anakin waited, keeping his impatience restrained by the memory of the other Padawan's face. Silence began to stretch. They were trying to stare him out; it wouldn't work on him. He learnt when to turn away and when not to Tantooine as a way of survival.
"You lost control again, Padawan Skywalker." Master Koth said.
"Yes, Master Koth."
"Do you know why?"
"I was provoked."
"To the extent that you felt the need to cause bodily harm to another Jedi?"
"He deserved it! He called me a pathetic slave!"
"And he will be dealt with accordingly." Master Poof said, "A Jedi must not anger."
"Peace over anger, you must gain."
Qui-Gon stood taller, "Masters, Anakin has only been training for a few months, give him time."
"When will you deem that he will have had enough time? He is old, he must work harder -you knew this when you took him as your Padawan Learner."
That was the first of quite a few visits, until finally he began storing all the anger and fear instead of dealing with them and letting it go on whoever deserved it the most. When he pushed all thoughts of Padmé and his mother to the back and hid them under lock and key, where he could take them out and think about them under shielding that was now second nature. After awhile the Council finally realised that he was improving and let them leave on missions, Chancellor Palpatine was glad then, that they finally realised his potential and surprised it took them so long. He said it was a sorry display of Jedi foresight.
Qui-Gon, without knowing it, agreed with the Supreme Chancellor.
"They still simply refuse to see the truth of the Prophecy."
"But they must've seen it now, they're letting us go on missions now, Master."
Qui-Gon shook his head, hand on his bearded chin, "I wish, Padawan. They just can't deny the progress you've made any longer."
Anakin remembered that day clearly too, he sounded bitter then. Bitter at the Council. But he soon moved to another tack (one that probably infuriated the Council, Anakin thought smugly), Qui-Gon vowed to him that he would be not only the most powerful, but also the best Knight in the Order; he was already several years above the rest of his age-mates in Kata's, he was excellent at sparring even though he still lost to Qui-Gon they called truce's more often than never now, he could even levitate a few objects by manipulating the Force.
For a fourteen year old, that was pretty good.
His few friends, he didn't have many since they were away so often, said that all the other children called him the Important Padawan.
That made him swell with pride.
They didn't think of him as some pathetic slave. If he was Important he couldn't be walked over.
If he were Important, his mother would have a reason to be proud of him when he went to free her.
Qui-Gon's voice sounded through their apartment, bringing Anakin back to the present… and the homework he still hadn't finished. Quick as a Hutt collecting money, he cleared the problems and bought up a file to pass as research. "Anakin?"
"Yes Master?" Swinging his feet off the sleep couch he whisked open the door to his room with a quick push of the Force to see his Master putting on his cloak.
"I have to meet with some other Masters, don't leave these rooms, alright?"
Nodding blandly, Anakin reserved his scowl for after the elder Jedi left.
That was another thing, it seemed like every week Qui-Gon was meeting with other Masters, and everyday he was never alone, even when he was practising a Kata before breakfast a Master was in the training halls or when he snuck out to speak with Palpatine there were always at least three Jedi on the main entrance.
Thankfully, the second time Anakin saw them he reported as much to Palpatine, and he taught him how to hide his signature from other Jedi so that it was as if he was invisible.
A pretty wizard trick, in Anakin's opinion.
With nothing left to do and leaving out of the question he settled down to meditate. Maybe when his Master returned to see him doing extra meditation without being asked or punished he would be rewarded?
"Worth a try." He muttered, relaxing into the oh-so-familiar stance.
Thoughts of Padm's beautiful face filled his vision, golden brown hair framing an angelic face.
Every once in a while Qui-Gon told him to stop worrying, but not very often. Qui-Gon said it was Anakin's connection to the Living Force which made him anxious since after nine years of seeing her every day he had now been separated from her for four years over a great distance -it's hard to connect with light years apart and strict orders to not contact her.
Anger boiled at those orders and he fed it into the compartment specially made for all the things he didn't want his Master to see, the feelings that he was told off for showing. The dark fog inside it was perfect for concealing everything; fear, hate, anger, and Anakin revelled in it. When he hid like Chancellor Palpatine taught him he didn't have to constantly check his thoughts and emotions to make sure none escaped down the thread-like training bond -one he kept purposefully thin.
In the apartment, a feral smirk filled the teenagers features.
Inside the fog the darkness that made it whispered promises and comforts of power and making all the people that ever tried to walk over him pay.
And he liked it. Fantasies of it played through him, dancing pirouettes of a commanding presence, twirling anger intertwined with hate and laced with fear that would one day be soothed with a balm made of a vision of everybody who ever talked down to him, treated him like scum because he used to be a slave, tried to make him feel stupid, pushed him down onto the sandy streets outside Watto's shop so the sand scraped along it and bit into it.
Some time later, he didn't know when precisely, Anakin relinquished the fog, pushing it back inside the box and swinging down the hinges, feeling a twinge of apprehension when it took longer than normal to shut them all the way.
Now curiosity piqued -their message terminal blinked at him, showing four read messages, delete?
Qui-Gon forgot to close the screen, and now they teased him because as long as he just read them, didn't reply or delete them, his Master would never know.
If he would never find out, there was zero risk.
If there was zero risk, why not do it?
So he did it, springing up, ignoring the beginning of pins and needles that threatened in his legs, and opened the first message.
Master Jinn,
You presence is required at a meeting at the nineteenth hour in training hall 2 to discuss the continuing disappearance of Jedi. We fear that whoever is taking our own is making its way to Corusant, and must prepare as such.
Please ensure your Padawan doesn't come with you to the meeting.
-Jedi Master Windu
Anakin blinked slowly. Jedi were going missing? A secret meeting of Masters? This was like a holovid!
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Author's Notes: phew That was a long chapter! I hope you liked it :) Reviews welcome... lurkers, well, you carry on lurking if you have too LOL! Heheee. This chapter started off as about a page and a half... it got longer and longer as I re-read the reviews and some of the ideas and requests you guys had :D I seem to have lost some reviewers though :( But i gained some too :D
Review Thank Yous...
Ciara: Heya! Welcome onboard, Qui-Gon clones are to your left, Anakin clones up the stairs and Obi-Wan clones on your right. Other clones avaliable on request ;) Umm, in response to your question regarding bonds, we'll see :) The bond between Obi and Ashden will play a part soon, so maybe you'll see :D
lurker1: Anakin's reason for existence will come in time, I hope. It's hard.... I just realised by making Obi the Chosen One, Anakin had to have a whole other reason for being alive, lol. Yes I'm a bit slow ;) Next chapter will be from either Qui-Gons or Obi-Wan's POV, probably a mix of both actually.
Audreidi: LOL I wasn't sure about the 'birth' scene having never been through it. I asked my mum and she said it (paraphasing) wasn't fun ;) So i skipped most of it. This longer chapter is dedicated to you :D Five pages, I think!
Aida: Aww don't be do harsh on poor Qui-Gon, Yoda worked really hard to hide it!
Walking Through Shadows: Keeping count you've called me a child, and eight year old and now a three year old.... decide will ya? :P
mirax: LOL always the way isn't it. Sorry about the delay in this posting...it just jept getting longer and longer!
Snow-Glory: Haven't thought about Qui finding out yet, because for him to find out Yoda would have to tell him since Obi doesn't know yet... and Yoda kept it secret for 29 years ;) Ah, forget we mustn't that Ashden is also a Jedi 8 year old girl
Janna Hawkins: Hmm, what does your meditation tell you? ;)
Authors Notes 2: People with me on Author Alert because of this story, I'm gonna be starting a HP story soon, so like just recently when you got loads for the one i just finished, you may get one or two for the new HP one two ;)
Sorry... can't resist it / pokes the lurkers /