chapter two - What Secrets Lie In Our Hearts
Well, are you guys ready for the second chapter? Thank you so much for the comments! I do appreciate them.
mrs skywalker: Anakin is indeed that old. This story takes place ten years after Anakin fought with Count Dooku on Geonosis, making his padawan thirteen. Siv's name is an Old Norse name meaning 'bride', which I thought fit perfectly to what she wants to be: Anakin's bride.
Siv watched other padawans, laughing and giggling, testing what they had learned that day on other students and other objects. Siv watched a taller boy, about fifteen, engage in a small saber battle with their practice lightsabers they had been given. They were powered very low and would only leave, at best, a mild burn. Only the more advanced students would receive a full lightsaber with color at their master's discretion. Siv heard a familiar click-clack of boots of her master's feet and stood up to face not her master, but of Master Obi-Wan.
"Master Kenobi!" Siv exclaimed, bowing in his presence.
"Siv, where is Master Skywalker? I would like to speak with him."
Siv shook her head. "I don't know, Master Kenobi. Last time I was with him, he was speaking to Senator Amidala about the Senate meeting. Shall I have him paged to the lounge?"
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No thank you, young Miraluka." He walked away, his long, brown Jedi robe swaying gently behind him.
Whew! That was close. I don't think Master Kenobi likes me very well. He seems to be looking at me strangely whenever I am near him. I hope he doesn't suspect anything.
Siv headed quickly to the lounge and made her way out the side door to the elevators. She was now on a personal mission and had to be completely secretive about everything until her mission was complete. She had studied every possible instance and tangible process that could occur. She would pick it up and arrange a meeting with the Senator shortly this evening, before the lights in the halls were dimmed and the candles were lit in the temple library.
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Obi-Wan turned back to the Anakin's personal quarters, hoping to catch him. Obi-Wan's stride became quicker and his mind reeled from the news of Sabé's passing. He had sat in the senate's meeting to listen for any news about the Clone Wars on the Outer Rim. When he heard the news, a tear trickled down his cheek. After so many years in battles and losing fellow compatriots, his sense of loss never grew hard and, even with Yoda telling him to let go and rejoice because they had rejoined with the Force, he still couldn't help but feel sorrowful. He knew Sabé very well from the senator's previous visits. She befriended the aging Jedi and the two became close friends. Like brother and sister. She, also, lived a life of duty and was the sworn protector of her friend and queen, Padmé Amidala. He turned the corner of the marble column and smacked into one of Senator Amidala's handmaiden.
"Pardon me, General Kenobi. I am terribly sorry!" she said, getting up off the floor, guiding his elbow up as he steadied himself.
"That's quite alright. Is Senator Amidala with you?" he inquired.
"Yes. We were waiting for Jedi Master Skywalker and Mistress Amidala to finish greeting each other. They seem happy to see each other again after such a long time."
"Yes. I am sure they were. Where did Master Skywalker go?"
"To the lounge, General Kenobi. He was looking for his padawan, sir."
"Yes, of course," Obi-Wan said, thinking of how he was going to tell Anakin the news. "I'll look for him there. Thank you, milady."
Obi-Wan bowed to the handmaiden and they parted, leaving him to bring word to Anakin about the feelings he has had about Anakin's padawan, Siv Miraluka. He turned the corner to enter the lounge when he saw a flash of bobbed brown hair and the glint of a lightsaber hilt exit the side door, leading to the elevators to the lower levels of Coruscant.
Was that who I thought it was? Obi-Wan thought, remembering all his time spent with Anakin and his first padawan, recalling the instances where she was indeed much like his old apprentice: mischievous and headstrong.
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Anakin gazed around the room quickly, searching for his padawan. His eyes sought for the bouncy brunette through a thick fog of padawans, practicing with their lightsabers and showing off tricks using the Force. Stepping down the three steps to the main floor, he sensed something he hadn't for so long. A deep, angry feeling; one would almost need to search feelings in the Force to sense it.
Where could this be coming from? he asked himself, in the back of his mind. He knew it wasn't himself, but a different person. Someone close to him...
"Master, are you ready? I know I am!" Siv smiled, showing off her bag of stones. Her master used them in his own training as a boy, and now, Siv would use them in her training to learn to understand, use and control the Force.
Anakin looked at her expectantly, shrugging off the anger, and nodded to her. They walked outside, through the courtyard to the Jedi Training Hall, where they had spent countless hours working on saber techniques and Force usage.
"Siv?" Anakin asked, slowing his pace and turning to her. "I want to apologize for scolding you in front of the senator. It was wrong and I do admit that and apologize."
Siv looked at him. He could never do or say anything that would ever lower her respect and admiration for her dear master. She did feel a bit betrayed about the scolding, but was willing to reconcile quickly, so as long as she could be with him. Close and near to his beating heart.
"That's alright, Master. I forgive you. I know that only with your teaching and discipline that I can grow stronger as a Jedi," Siv said, without ever batting an eye, nor looking to his face. She couldn't allow herself to look to much tonight for fear of what he could learn through her eyes.
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Several hours later, a very tired and weary master and padawan learner slinked back to their rooms, ready to sleep the evening away. Before going to his room, Obi-Wan tries to stop by Anakin's quarters one last time to speak with him. He walks the long hallway to the Masters Dorms and knocks on the door to Suite 1138. Anakin opened the door, greeted Obi-Wan with a hug and welcomed his old friend and mentor in to his chambers.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan began. "I have something I have been meaning to speak with you for some time."
"What is it, Master? Would you like something to drink?" he asked, pointing to the bottle with a stemmed glass.
"No thank you, Anakin. I just feel there are things that have being going on that have not been shared between us and between Senator Amidala. I know about her, Anakin."
Anakin stopped mid-pouring his glass of the red wine to comprehend what it was that his master was saying. Obi-Wan knew about the relationship between Padmé and himself.
He swallowed hard and fought for his composure. He wasn't angry, but scared. Frightened, actually, at what Obi-Wan could possibly know about their relationship.
Why should I be fearful? I did what was asked of every Jedi and I let her go. 'Attachment is forbidden.' I let her go...
"Master," Anakin said, slowly choosing his words carefully. "I did what every Jedi is asked of him: I gave up my material possessions to follow the simpler and more profound life of a Jedi."
"Yes, but you didn't give up everything, did you Anakin? You disobeyed the Order to fall in love with a politician."
Anakin turned, slightly angry at his old Master. "But I didn't act on it! I gave her up to follow the Jedi Code! I gave my mother up to follow the Code! I gave everyone I loved up to the Code as a sacrifice and now, what do I have to show for it? Peace with the Force? No. After all these years, I am still not at peace. That is why I took up a padawan. To find inner peace with myself and the Force." He sat down on the edge of his bed, covering his head in his hands, showing off his gloved, mechanical hand and one human hand.
Obi-Wan felt the old, angry Anakin's tremor through the Force as he stretched out his feelings to understand his former padawan. He remembered the closeness the boy had shared with the queen as a young lad but when it resurfaced as love ten years later, he reminded Anakin to be mindful of his feelings and not to let them get the best of him. Anakin was a Jedi and that was not something he could start abruptly and pick up again when wanted. Staying on course would require self-discipline and many years behind Master Yoda's teachings and Obi-Wan's before being able to control one's self at precisely the right amount of compassion and care, yet setting their foolish hearts cold against lustful desires.
"Anakin. I know your emotional attachments are a struggle for you, and always will be," Obi-Wan began. "But trying to suppress them and retreating to your shell and taking on a padawan all after that battle with the Chancellor Palpatine years ago cannot be good for your life force, or the good of your padawan, Siv."
Obi-Wan sat down next to Anakin and patted his shoulder. "There will be a time, Anakin, when all that you will have done will seem meaningless to you. Like all the good you have accomplished as a Jedi Knight will seem foolish to that of a more complete life with a wife and children."
Anakin looked up at Obi-Wan, feeling as if Obi-Wan wasn't scolding him as he did when he was a headstrong padawan, but showing him something.
"I, too, feel as though I am incomplete. As if something is missing from my life. It is then I think of how you have grown since I had first met you on Tatooine. You had the makings of a very strong Jedi Knight and I knew that you were going to do something great in your lifespan. I was also fearful of how that potential could easily be swayed to the Dark Side. I took you as my padawan, my apprentice. I have always known you were going to be a great Jedi Knight someday."
"Have you really, Master? I was always so hard to deal with and very troublesome as a teenager."
"Yes. You are a wise and caring Jedi Knight. If you were my son, I would be very proud of you."
Anakin looked at his Master and, for the first time, felt as if he truly understood how much he cared.
"But, since I am not your Father, I shall remain as your Brother!" Obi-Wan stated, standing quickly and grabbing Anakin's head to give it a playful rub.
The two masters laughed and chatted a few more moments before Obi-Wan began with what he had wanted to say originally. About Anakin's padawan, Siv Miraluka.
"Anakin, do you remember the first time you saw your padawan learn to use the Force?" Obi-Wan questioned.
Anakin put the glass to his lips, drinking in the red wine and swallowing swiftly, cocking his head back in a remembering gesture.
"I do remember the day she learned her first lesson in the Force. She was about seven, and still getting used to her lightsaber being powered up," he chuckled. "She had a way of making all her pains appear to be minute and her injuries as though they were nothing. Siv's hair, once, got cut off in a fury swipe she made, while practicing. Her long, brown hair now was half short, half long. I laughed so hard that I fell back to the floor. She didn't think it was quite as funny as I thought it was and she came over and sliced a lock of my hair from my forehead. It startled me, quite frankly," he said, placing his hand where the lock of hair once was, recoiling at the horror of a hair out of place.
Obi-Wan chuckled and shook his head.
He has no idea what I am talking about. He doesn't realize anything about his padawan's entertained thoughts.
"Anakin, do you ever feel like Siv likes you more than a mere Master? Like more as an object of affection?" he said, outright.
"There were times when Siv appeared to be staring off in space, and, lately, Siv has been more secretive in my presence. Saying things that would only brush off and completely disregard my question."
Obi-Wan stared at his former padawan and began his explanations of Siv's recent behavior toward himself and how he witnessed her behave around the other padawans.
"She's quiet. Introspective. Keeps to herself and doesn't have that infectious grin across her face like she once did when she was but a Youngling. I believe in my personal opinion that she may be tampering with something that isn't the way of the Jedi. Something dark and very evil."
Anakin stood up and placed the glass on the table, realizing what his master just said.
Could she be playing with the Dark Side of the Force?