Chapter I "Bonds"
"Daddy! Daddy!" Two little voices yelling jolted Anakin from his daydream, in which his family could be normal for once and have an actual vacation, without being interrupted by something.
"Luke! Leia!" Anakin mimicked his children's voices, much to their amusement. Luke was standing on the left of his chair, and Leia was on the right. They both had identical expressions of glee on their faces, which made Anakin suspicious in some ways.
He looked at Leia's brown eyes, so much like her mother's, and then Luke blue eyes, which were like his own. "What happened?" he asked slowly.
"We just came back from Master Yoda! He's funny," Leia said with a giggle. "We had lunch with him in his quarters, and he starting hitting the server droid with his Gimer stick 'cause the droid said he couldn't recognize his Swamp Stew as food." Leia and Luke were giggling now, and Anakin had to suppress a snort of laughter with difficulty. Then something dawned on him. Why were his children dining with Master Yoda?
"Because Master Yoda said we're powerful enough to become Padawans now and he wanted to talk to us about it." Leia spoke interrupting Anakin's thoughts.
"Leia, were you reading into my thoughts again?" Anakin demanded. Leia seemed to have a little gift for that, and it could get quite annoying.
Leia nodded and Anakin sighed. "I know how you feel Daddy, she does it to me all the time! She even did it to Master Yoda, he says she has to learn to not always do it, or at least not open her mouth every time!" Luke piped up.
Leia put her hands on her hips. "He didn't say it like that!" she cried out.
Anakin put his hands up, signaling for peace. "Master Yoda says you two can become Padawans?" They nodded.
"You, Mommy, Master Windu and me and Luke have to meet with Master Yoda and the Council tonight after the evening meal in the Council chambers." Luke told him.
"I'm on the Council. And so is Master Windu. Oh, forget it, I don't want to know what Yoda is up to." Anakin sighed.
"I have to go tell Master Windu!" Leia went off. There was no escaping the fact that Leia was a Skywalker. Just by looking at her, you could tell. She looked much like a miniature Padme, with her shiny brown hair often just pulled back in a ponytail, and her dark brown eyes. But those eyes often held the same, determined look that was also Anakin's, whenever she was trying to use the Force. Her Force presence also showed that she was a Skywalker, it was very strong and it just seemed to glow. She had her mother's diplomatic skills, but her father's stubbornness. Obi-Wan said that was just what the galaxy needed, another stubborn Skywalker.
As Leia went down the Temple corridors, trying to sense Master Windu as she went down to his quarters. Leia got many hellos as she walked down, but then, she heard, "Hey, Leia!" and Leia turned around.
It was Obi-Wan's Padawan, Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy also known as
Scout, who was about twenty, had two previous Masters before Obi-Wan, who had died in the Clone Wars.
Leia ran up to Scout, Scout had been like a big sister to Leia, she had known her throughout her entire life. She gave her a hug. "Where are you going to, kid?" Leia asked.
"Master Windu, do you know where he's at?" Leia asked. Scout nodded.
"Yeah, he just went to the Room of A Thousand Fountains, Obi-Wan and I just came from a meeting with him about me taking the Trials, Leia! But I can't tell you anymore." She finished.
Leia sighed, she hated it whenever Scout did that! But there was no way she'd get it out of her. She mumbled, "Thanks, Scout." and went off. Just as Scout said, she found the great Jedi Master sitting on a bench by one of the fountains. Leia ran over to him. She bowed. "Master Windu," she whispered. Mace looked up. He had not had aged much, there were no wrinkles on his dark skin, and the creases in his forehead that seemed to be permanent during the Clone Wars were gone.
Mace looked up and smiled at the little girl. "Leia Skywalker. Come, sit with me!" Leia smiled and sat next to him on the bench, her legs dangling in the air. "Now, why have you visited me?" he asked.
"Master Yoda sent me. He wanted me to tell you that you and the rest of my family have to meet with Master Yoda and the Council after the evening meal." Leia informed him.
Mace thought for a moment. "You and Luke are ready to become Padawan learners, aren't you?" Mace asked.
Leia smiled again, and then giggled. "That didn't take you nearly as long as Daddy! I had to tell him why"
"That's your father alright," Mace replied to the giggles of the little girl.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Mace felt that something was troubling Leia. He didn't question her, he trusted that she would say something.
"If me and Luke become Padawans, Daddy will train Luke. But someone on the HoloNet said you couldn't train me because if you did it would only be because you felt bad for me and Daddy, 'cause Daddy almost went on the Dark Side, and 'cause a lot of people don't think I should be a Jedi, that I should be only a Queen or Senator like Mummy, that there are too many Skywalker Jedi. Is that why you'd train me?" Leia asked.
Mace got off the bench and went on his knees, so he could look at Leia right in the eyes. "Leia. I'm taking you as my Padawan because I want you to be my Padawan learner. The Force wants me to, it told me to. I want to help you become one of the greatest Jedi Knights ever"
Leia nodded, and asked permission to leave. Mace let her go.
"Pleased I am that come you could, Senator Skywalker." Master Yoda greeted Padme Amidala Skywalker at the entrance of the Temple. "I am pleased that I could come as well, Master Yoda. The Temple is like a second home to me in ways, and I know it's a home for my children." Padme replied. "And, Master Yoda, please call me Padme! Or at the very least Senator Padme! You have been like an uncle to my children, please!" Padme sighed.
Yoda crackled softly. "Children, speaking of. In the dining hall, with their father."
Padme rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Master Yoda." She went off in search of her children and husband. She saw them, in the dining hall, sitting with Obi-Wan and Scout. Anakin was obviously having the twins do some Force exercises, because they were each balancing a tray, two others (besides Obi-Wan's and Scout's) were already on the table. Anakin was watching them with an uneasy look in his eye, watching them very carefully.
Padme watched them, a gasp in her throat. She had seen her children just a day ago, but they hadn't been doing their Force powers then. They didn't do it often outside the Temple, at least the levitating. But she saw the determination and concentration on their faces, and was amazed. Finally, the trays were on the table, not a drop spilled. Luke and Leia's faces broke out into grins, and they were praised by Obi-Wan, Scout, and Anakin. Padme walked over to the twins, and Leia screeched out "Mummy!" when she saw her. Padme embraced her children in a tight hug. "Luke.. Leia," she whispered. She released them, and hugged Anakin tightly. "Anakin! Their powers.." Padme's voice trailed off. Anakin held her at arm's length and nodded.
"Hey, Mummy! Me and Luke told Daddy to make a plate for you too!" Leia said.
"Did you?" Why thank you!" Padme said after embracing Scout and Obi-Wan.
The meal went by happily, and then it was time for the meeting. They said good-bye to Scout, and Obi-Wan went to the Council Chambers ahead of them. They met Mace in a room off to the side of the Council, the Council Waiting Chamber.
Finally, they were called in. The four of them went to the center of the room and bowed. "Glad, that you could come, I am. Important, this meeting is." Yoda began.
Ki Adi Mundi took his cue. "The Skywalker twins are very strong in the Force, not as strong as you, the Chosen One, Anakin, but strong enough. It's easy to say that if you had come to the Temple at infancy we would have made you a Padawan quite young as well. Now, Padme, and Anakin, do you have any objections at all to your children becoming Padawans so young?"
Padme and Anakin looked at each other and knew they had no objections. Padme spoke up. "No. They can become Padawans."
Yoda and the rest of the Council smiled. "Anakin, wish it is that your son becomes your Padawan?" Yoda asked him.
Anakin bowed slightly. "Yes, Master Yoda. That is if the Council has no objections"
"Your Padawan, Luke Skywalker is.
Luke hid his grin very well. Stass Allie got up and the ceremony of the braiding was performed. Anakin braided his son's Padawan braid with shaking fingers. After he tied it off, they took a step back from each other. Luke bowed, and Anakin returned the bow.
"Mace Windu." Ki Adi Mundi spoke. "It is your wish to have Leia Skywalker as your Padawan learner?"
Mace nodded. "If the Council agrees, I believe it to be the Will of the Force."
"Leia Skywalker is now your Padawan."
Mace and Leia stepped back from each other and bowed.
"Foreseen, it has been, that the Skywalker twins will become important and great Masters. Trained, they must be. Young, yes they are. Wise, yes." Suddenly Master Yoda banged his Gimer stick on the ground. "Dismissed, you are."
The five of them left. "Leia, if Master Windu has no objections, I would like for you to stay with the rest of your family at my apartment tonight." Padme said.
Leia looked at her Jedi master. He smiled. "Yes, Leia, stay with your family tonight. Tomorrow, late morning, we'll move you into my apartment, I need to finish your room."
"You've already started it?" Leia exclaimed, her brown eyes wide.
Mace laughed. It was a rare occurrence to hear Mace laugh. "Yes, I knew I wasn't going to take a Padawan until you were allowed to become one, so I started a room for you. It was also your father's idea." Mace said.
Anakin looked at Leia. "Don't blame me. I suggested it. Mace is the one who decided to do it!" Leia giggled.
They started to get ready to leave, and Leia gave Mace as big as a hug a six year old could give. "Thank you for taking me as your Padawan, Master Windu."
Mace replied. "Thank you as well Leia." She smiled and ran up to take her mother's hand. Mace watched them go, that little girl truly amazed him at times. There was no doubt that she would be a great Jedi Knight.