Reposted (again) 12-8-05: Wow, Liyina, thank you for that extremely insightful correction. Yes, I look up lots of facts about Star Wars to try to keep my story realistic to the SW universe (plus, I enjoy it). But I hadn't thought about the Basic font being different from English! For those who were like me and clueless, Galactic Basic, while spoken like English, has its own font called 'Aurebesh.' Well, I did some research to learn more, and now when Anakin describes the letters he will be describing their Aurebesh form. Now, the font I downloaded to help me see what they look like is not pure Aurebesh, but a sort of hybrid of it that was adapted to match the lettering showed in Episodes six and two. So if there are any inconsistencies between the Aurebesh you know and what I describe, it's that my Aurebesh is not a pure form, but a 'Galactic Basic' form. You can download Galactic Basic Font at http (colon) (double slash) www (dot) erikstormtrooper (dot) com (slash) galacticbasic (dot) htm. I tried to put the Aurebesh font in here so you could see what the words really look like, but apparently ff isn't compatible with that font style. But if you go to the site I suggested, you can see it for yourself.
Reposted 8-28-05: Thank you, Blaze the Unmaker (aka: Aubrey), for catching my mistakes. XD Somehow a few just always manage to slip between my fingers and wiggle their way onto the computer… I appreciate that you caught them for me. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. That right belongs to George Lucas. It should be noted that some things are borrowed from Greg Bear and Jude Watson, both who write EU (Extended Universe) Star Wars books.
Writer's Block: Well, this time it's an internet site, just for a change of pace. ;) It's www .the force .net/swtc/ Just remove the spaces and you'll get there. I've used this site a bit for my own story, and it's got some interesting articles. This link is to the Technical Commentaries section, but the entire site is pretty interesting. You can find quite a few interesting facts here, and I liked going through everything. As this chapter does include some animals known only to the Star Wars universe, I thought it was appropriate to suggest the website on this chapter's Writer's Block. If you go to there and scroll down to the 'Zoology' link, you can find descriptions and pictures of some interesting animals. If you're in a jam of what to write next in your Star Wars fic, maybe reading something here will inspire you. Well, that's what I'm hoping at least. :)
I'd like to just mention a piece of irony from the last chapter that I thought was pretty clever of me (hey, I need to take victories where I can. :P). Anakin hates how Palpatine manipulates others to do his bidding. But, in some ways, Anakin does the exact same thing to Obi-Wan. So Anakin despises the man yet mimics him. Haha…I don't know if anyone else saw that or thought it was ironic, but that's what I tried to portray in a very subtle way. If I was able to pull it off is a very different matter. ;)
Thank you for those who reviewed, they make my day. :) I love hearing from you, and any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.
Page Amount: 11
Word Count: 8,922 (bigger chapter, yay!)
Started 6-13-05, written on 6-18 (Ashley and Kaitlin slept over today. :D), 6-26, and finished 7-3-05
Listening to: silence (Again. XD I just haven't been listening to my headphones lately. Good or bad thing?) & Evanescence: Fallen
Written by Ice Dragon3
Jedi Genocide
Chapter Three: Shadows
Anakin straightened his black robe and tunic calmly. He critiqued himself in the mirror, appraising the view to find any flaws. He gave his reflection a pleased smile; he was satisfied with it. He couldn't keep the smugness off his face. He always enjoyed the chance to spend time with Obi-Wan. Even if their friendship was strained now, Anakin knew that eventually he would rebuild it. It was a simple matter of overcoming that first step, and then everything else would fall into place. He could sense that Obi-Wan's resistance was growing thin…at times he could feel the spark of friendship that had been his sole light in his youth.
His solitary existence in the mirror was intruded upon by two small beings. Leia and Luke tugged at his robe impatiently. "Come on, Daddy, we're going to be late! Obi-Wan didn't look happy the last time we weren't on time…" Leia pouted. She gave another hard tug to his robe, showing her displeasure in a childish way.
Luke was more reserved about his opinion, but Anakin knew that he was just as impatient to see Obi-Wan. Four years of watching him grow up had taught Anakin how to see the little signs; Luke was chewing on his bottom lip slightly, and he did that when he was anxious. It was a bad habit Anakin had yet to cure him of. "I want to see Mother," he said quietly. "It's been a while since the last time, hasn't it, Dad?"
Anakin nodded, kneeling down on his knees to hug his two children. He squeezed their shoulders reassuringly and said, "Yes, it has been too long. Don't worry, though; it won't always be like this. Obi-Wan just needs some time to think things through. But I'm sure that in the end he'll want to come live with us…how could he not, when you two are so cute?"—he tweaked their noses, which brought out grumbling and smiles—"He just doesn't want to leave the Jedi Temple right now because he's worried about those younglings. He's afraid that, without him, they'll be unsupervised and get hurt."
"Isn't that what surveillance droids are for?" Leia scrunched up her nose in confusion. "Why doesn't he just use them to watch over those kids instead?"
"Well, yes…you could use surveillance droids, but it wouldn't be the best idea. Droids can't process the spontaneity and feelings of children, so they don't exactly make the best caretakers. Besides, you shouldn't lean so heavily on technology, lest it becomes a crutch. Droids and machinery should be used for their convenience and timesaving factors, but you should never forget that they aren't an all-mighty solution. They can't think beyond what is computed into them. Droids cannot solve our problems; they can only fix the problems that we have already found solutions for."
Leia stared at her father, a puzzled look appearing on her face. The more she tried to understand his words, the less sense they made to her. "But that doesn't make any sense…why use droids at all, then?"
"Just because you have the solution doesn't mean you have the power to progress towards it," Anakin chided. "Droids are a tool to achieve manual labor."
Staring up at him with wide eyes, Leia asked, "Even Threepio? But he's my friend…" She didn't like that thought, and her lower lip jutted out a bit from both stubbornness and sadness.
"Yes, even him." Anakin switched the subject, "Now let's get going. We don't want to make Obi-Wan wait, do we?" Leia instantly cheered up at that, which had been his intention.
She skipped out of the room and struggled to put her shoes on. Luke followed afterwards, and helped her tie her shoelaces. While his hands weren't agile enough to make a perfect knot it was better than Leia's tangled attempts. It warmed Anakin's heart to see his children helping each other. They seemed to alternate between friendship and fighting with no in-between. Anakin always treasured—and appreciated—the moments when they got along.
They made decent time to the Temple and weren't too late. Even thought they were only late by a few minutes, Anakin expected Obi-Wan to be irritated at their unpunctuality and prepared himself for abstract reprimands and disappointed looks. He hated them, but he had learned to deal with them nonetheless. But to his surprise, when they got there Obi-Wan greeted them cheerfully. Anakin savored the rare moment of friendliness, soaking up the feeling and storing it away for later. Good memories were hard to come by these days, and he made sure to never let one pass him by if he could.
"So, what do you guys want to do today?" Obi-Wan asked Leia and Luke. He crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet, so that the twins were eyelevel with him. "I'm open to any ideas."
"I want to go to the zoo!" Leia exclaimed. "Luke told me there was a man-eating bantha there, and I want to see it!" She leaned in close and whispered into Obi-Wan's ear, "I hear we can even pet it, if we don't make too much noise."
Obi-Wan laughed at Leia's gullibility to her brother's pranks. "Banthas are herbivores, Leia. They wouldn't eat you, or me, or anything else that moves. And the reason you can pet them is because they're in the petting zoo. That just goes to prove how harmless they are."
"Oh…" Leia looked thoroughly disappointed.
To make it up to her Obi-Wan said helpfully, "We can always throw you inside the cage of a dragonsnake if you're looking for entertainment… I've heard they'll eat anything…even troublesome four-year-olds. Does that sound like fun?" Leia vehemently shook her head side to side as Obi-Wan laughed. Her expression was priceless.
Anakin put a comforting hand on his frightened daughter's shoulder. "Obi-Wan…you should know better than to tease a little girl like that. Leia, honey, don't worry. If anyone's going to be eaten by a dragonsnake, it's Obi-Wan. I'll make sure of that."
Obi-Wan grimaced, then smiled almost imperceptibly. "I appreciate your concern for my well-being."
Anakin grinned and responded, "You know that your well-being is always first priority—" Leia tugged on his robe and pouted—"all right, all right, second priority to me." He then happened to glance at Luke. "Well, okay, third priority. But that's my final offer." He gave Obi-Wan a teasing smile. Anakin could be a charming man when he wanted to be; years of learning self-control and the art of manipulating emotions had made sure of that.
Rolling his eyes, Obi-Wan muttered, "Wonderful." Even he wasn't completely immune to Anakin's charisma, but he'd known Anakin far too long to fall under its sway.
"I know, isn't it?" Obi-Wan was met with a beaming smile.
"Excruciatingly," was Obi-Wan's response.
"Don't you mean…'extremely'?" Anakin asked, always quick to point out a mistake in his former master's speech since so few were to be found.
Obi-Wan grinned and said, "I meant what I meant. You still have much to learn in the ways of speaking, if you are at a loss already."
"Watch what you say, old man. I could talk circles around you until you wouldn't even know right from left. I am extremely gifted in speech, I'll have you know, and I'm adept in several languages. I can also be very diplomat, if the need arises," Anakin said proudly.
"I see you have also gained the humble personality of a politic in the process."
"…Are you making fun of me?" Anakin asked with a quirk of his eyebrows and mouth.
Obi-Wan shrugged, looking innocent. "Perhaps."
Leia rolled her eyes and tugged on both men's robes. "Come on," she whined, "All the animals will be dead by the time we get there!" She grabbed onto Obi-Wan and Anakin's hands and used them to swing herself off the ground. She had to tuck her feet up close to her body so that they wouldn't skim across the floor.
"Leia, honey…I don't think all the animals will die in the next five minutes," Anakin said with amusement. He allowed her to use his arm as a swing set, and even encouraged it by swinging her higher.
"They will if a meteor strikes the zoo!" Luke interrupted as he waved his hands in Leia's face to demonstrate the colossal power of a meteor; it was one of those moments where his boyish nature overcame his shyness. "The zoo will go up in a pouf! and all those fuzzy little animals will be vapor goo!" Leia shrieked and hid behind her father.
"Not helping, Luke…" Anakin said sternly, although he did cover his mouth in a conspicuous way. Obi-Wan had mimicked the motion to keep his own smile from showing. Leia might burst into tears if she thought they were laughing at her—which they weren't, really. Well…maybe they were just a little. But the conversation was so impractical and silly that Obi-Wan felt he was justified in his actions.
To change the topic, Anakin said, "Let's get into the hovercraft…the faster we get there, the faster I can drive us to the zoo. How about this—I'll race you two there to see who's the fastest. Ready, set, go!" He clapped his hands, and Luke and Leia raced towards their father's sleek black speeder. Anakin was left grinning, standing by Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan shook his head, once again fighting against revealing a smile. "I thought the idea was that you were going to race them."
"Nah, I just didn't want them to kill each other over how all the animals are going to die. You should see four-year-old fights…" Anakin gave a fake shudder. "It's the most horrifying experience I have ever witnessed."
"Isn't that what fathers are supposed to deal with?"
"I just did: I made them preoccupied with racing so they would stop fighting."
"It seems to me more like you were running away from a bad situation."
"Maybe." Anakin had a twinkle in his eye. "But they were doing the running, not me. Now if the matter is settled…shall we?" He motioned with a hand towards his hovercraft.
Obi-Wan smiled. "Alright, I'll let you win this round. But it's only because I feel sorry for you, being an incompetent father and all." Anakin pretended to look outraged, like a rooster with his feathers ruffled. The pompous expression made Obi-Wan chuckle. They walked to the hovercraft in an easy silence, taking their time. Leia and Luke were running circles around the transport by the time they got there.
"Ha!" An out-of-breath Leia exclaimed, pointing at Anakin, "I beat you! Daddy's an old Worrt!" She shrieked as Luke tagged her. "Not fair! I wasn't paying attention, so you can't do that! Cheater, cheater, bantha eater!"
Luke stuck out his tongue. "Liar, liar, robes on fire!" He continued to run around the vehicle, careful to always keep one step ahead of an enraged Leia.
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin to see if he was going to do anything to stop them, but the other man seemed content to watch the twins tire themselves out. Obi-Wan sighed and decided to take the matter into his own hands. He had to constantly deal with the younglings in the Temple so he knew how fights could escalate out of the silliest things if they weren't stopped quickly. He got in-between the two running children and grabbed them by the backs of their shirts. He held on tightly, so they couldn't hit each other or run away. Leia and Luke stood still, looking morosely at him. When they both had the same sullen expression on their faces, it was easy to see how they were twins.
"If you two don't settle down, we'll march right back to the Temple and I'll have you practice meditation for an hour. Then for another hour you can contemplate why violence is the worst possible course of action. Or, if you stop right now," Obi-Wan added on brightly, "we can go to the zoo and have lots of fun. I'll let you make the choice."
He loosened his grip on the children and they stepped away from him. They hung their heads in embarrassment and shuffled their feet on the durasteel floor of the Temple Hanger. "I'd rather go to the zoo, Obi-Wan," Luke finally said in a soft voice. Leia seconded his opinion with a sharp nod of her head, causing her curly brown hair to fly up and down. Her hair reminded Obi-Wan so much of Padmé's…she truly was her mother's daughter. But she was her own person too.
"Good choice." Obi-Wan grinned before admitting, "I'd rather go to the zoo myself, personally." As they clamored into the hovercraft, Obi-Wan turned to the backseats and told Leia and Luke warningly, "You two better be buckled up…"
"We know, we know." Leia huffed out a breath, pulling on her seatbelt to show Obi-Wan that it was tight. "You only tell us every time we go out! You've even got Daddy saying it now…"
"I have, now have I?" Obi-Wan asked, giving Anakin an amused glance. Leia nodded her head unhappily. "Well, that's good," he said firmly, "After that time I caught you two with your seatbelts off, I was worried… It's good to know that your father is finally taking proper care of you…"
Anakin groaned as he started to ease the hovercraft upward. "It was only that one time…we were just so late that I forgot to check their seatbelts… Besides, I'm a good driver; we wouldn't have gotten into any wrecks so it doesn't really matter, now does it?"
"It's that kind of thinking that leads to wrecks," Obi-Wan scolded gently. At Anakin's dark look, Obi-Wan said softly, "I'm only worried about the safety of your children, Anakin. You shouldn't be angry about that."
Anakin wiped the expression off his face. He guided his speeder out of the opening hanger doors and headed in the direction of the Coruscanti Zoo. "I'm not." With the flair for flying that he'd had since he was a little child racing Podracers, Anakin zoomed skillfully through traffic.
Obi-Wan could disagree with that statement, but he had no desire to start a fight with Anakin while Leia and Luke were there. He didn't want the children to see him and Anakin arguing because sometimes it got pretty intense. They didn't get into full-blown fights often (Obi-Wan's levelheaded nature made sure of that), but the few fights they did have were enough to make him never want to repeat the experience again. It was at those moments that Obi-Wan got a glimpse of the Darth Vader in Anakin.
He sensed that Anakin would explode in anger if he pressed the matter. Besides, he was on a mission now. He was going to do whatever it took to achieve success. He had known no other life beyond the Jedi Order, and he served the Order faithfully; he was proud to be a Jedi Knight and Master. He would do what the Jedi resistance needed him to do without hesitation. And right now, that meant getting into Anakin's confidence—not arguing with him.
Obi-Wan hardened his resolve. All through this internal debate, his face never changed expression. The serene smile was always there. The gentle humming of the small hovercraft enveloped the group and they were all quiet for a moment. But then Anakin made a sharp turn to cut into a separate lane of traffic and the serenity surrounding Obi-Wan was shattered as he gripped the dashboard tightly. "This is why I hate flying," he said as he nervously let go of his hold on the craft. He tugged his seatbelt to make sure it was secure.
"It seems pretty normal to me," Leia said, wondering why Obi-Wan was nervous.
Anakin laughed and grinned apologetically at his slightly edgy companion. "Sorry about that. I keep forgetting that you're not used to my flying…"
"Forgetting or purposely not remembering?" Obi-Wan countered.
Anakin innocently looked ahead, watching traffic whiz by on all sides, no more than blobs of colors and shapes on his windshield. "How about we turn on the radio? Let's see if there's any good music being transmitted today." Anakin twisted one of the many knobs on the hovercraft. The first station was playing advertisements, but after a few more twists he found a good station with quiet background music. "The radio's been around for more than a millennium, yet they still haven't figured out how to get rid of all the commercials." Anakin shook his head in disappointment. "One of the few shortcomings of technology."
Obi-Wan said accusingly, "You only did that to change the subject. That's a sneaky, underhanded, diplomatic move you just used there."
"Ah, but at least you admitted that it was diplomatic. Which means that I must have been successful."
"Now why would you say that?" Obi-Wan leaned back in his seat and waited for an explanation.
"It's simple, really. Firstly," Anakin held up one finger, all the while using the other hand to steer (the one-handed steering made Obi-Wan very nervous), "diplomatic means discreet and subtle. So that means I made the transition smoothly enough that you can't find obvious fault with it. You have no way to prove that it wasn't just a simple change of subject, which happens often when one subject is mulled over too much. Secondly"—Anakin held up another finger—"you hate political figures, so for you to use such an insult must mean that it worked." Anakin grinned proudly at his logic, knowing that it was all true…in a sense.
Grumbling, Obi-Wan said, "Fine, fine. Keep your twisted logic to yourself, and keep your hands on the steering wheel. I don't care what we talk about, as long as you keep both hands on the wheel." Obi-Wan conceded to defeat, caring more about his health than his dignity.
Anakin had a wicked gleam in his eyes as he did what Obi-Wan asked. "Well, we could talk about politics, if you wanted to…"
"No!" Leia yelled. Her reaction mirrored Obi-Wan's horrified thoughts.
"I see that your child has more common sense than you," Obi-Wan said smugly, thankful that at least one other person in the hovercraft had the same view of politics as he did. He folded his hands into his cloak in a very professional-looking way.
Leia had her hands and face plastered to the window. "No, I mean that we passed up the entrance to the zoo!" she wailed, "How could you, Daddy? Make a sharp left, a sharp left!"
"Sharp left?" Obi-Wan said nervously, not liking the sound of that.
Anakin smiled, the edges of his mouth quirking up mischievously. "Hold on tight." He broke the speeder away from the main stream of traffic and veered down and to the left sharply, whizzing between other vehicles as he dodge crisscrossing lanes of traffic.
Obi-Wan, having his hands tucked in his robe (a most unwise decision) couldn't move fast enough to steady himself at the sharp change of direction. Even the seatbelt couldn't keep his head from knocking against the side window. 'Ow,' Obi-Wan thought. He was finally able to extract a hand from his cloak, and used it to rub the throbbing side of his head. Hair apparently didn't make very good padding.
Anakin landed the hovercraft smoothly onto the Coruscanti Zoo's docking platform. The gentleness of his landing belied the madness of his driving. A quick estimation on Obi-Wan's part led to the belief that Anakin had just about broken fifty-two laws in his attempt to shave a few minutes off their travel time. As they got out, Anakin asked jokingly, "Any broken bones, sprained necks, or jammed fingers?" He pretended to check his children, tickling them. They shrieked and ran away from his wiggling fingers. "Nope, I think everything's where it's supposed to be."
"I don't think anything's broken or sprained, but my head is a little sore now. However, I'll pass up on the checkup, thank you very much. I'd like to save my dignity, if not my head," Obi-Wan said jokingly, making light of a painful situation.
Instantly, Anakin's cheerful mood changed to concern. He walked over to Obi-Wan and gently laid a finger where a bump was already forming. Obi-Wan winced at the slight contact, before discreetly shifting out of Anakin's reach. "It's nothing, really; don't worry about it. It's what I deserve for not being on my guard. I should have known not to trust your driving skills… You're always doing some foolish stunt or another." Obi-Wan didn't like the look on Anakin's face; he couldn't decipher it, and that bothered him. There was just something subtly wrong; some detail he couldn't pick out, but knew was there.
He had no idea what Anakin was thinking.
"I'm sorry, Obi-Wan," Anakin said, "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"That's good," Obi-Wan joked. "If you had done it intentionally, then I would have had something to worry about. Don't fret about it so much, Anakin. I've had a lot worse than a hovercraft beating me up." Obi-Wan took Leia and Luke's hand and started to head towards the entrance of the zoo. "Come on, let's get going before the hovercraft decides that it really doesn't like me." Leia and Luke giggled, relieved that Obi-Wan seemed fine.
Anakin stared at their backs for a moment, not moving. He tried to unclench his jaw. There was no direction for his anger, nothing he could aim it at. There was so much energy in him, and nowhere for it to go… He was upset that Obi-Wan was hurt yet he had no one to blame but himself. His anger and frustration turned onto himself.
Once they got in line to buy admission tickets, Obi-Wan turned to face Anakin. The same uneasiness overcame him when he looked at Anakin, but he dispersed the unsettled feeling to the Force. He wished Anakin would do the same, and get that expression off his face. "Are you coming, Anakin? Who knows, maybe the zoo will blow up from a meteor, and we'll have you to blame for holding us up from seeing the animals one last time."
Anakin breathed out, tried to control his emotions (this met with very little success, so he opted to just ignore them instead), and responded lightly, "I think you should be thanking me, then, for not allowing you to be in the zoo while it's being blown to bits. Your lives would be indebted to me." Anakin paused with a theatrical flair before saying, "But Obi-Wan already owes me his life, doesn't he? What's the count now, Obi? Ten, twelve, twenty times?"
Obi-Wan was relieved that the odd look had vanished from Anakin's face. "Most of those times don't count and you know it, Anakin. You're the one who always gets us in trouble in the first place."
"Ah, but I always get us out of it," Anakin pointed out.
"But that also means that I don't owe you anything. Since you endangered my life, it's only right that you save it. So I'd have to say the score is pretty even. Besides, if we're nitpicking, I've gotten you out of trouble quite a few times myself…maybe they weren't life-endangering situations, but the Council can be just as bad if not worse sometimes…"
Anakin scowled and said stiffly, "Those don't count."
Sensing that Anakin didn't like the turn of the conversation, Obi-Wan tried to smooth the unintentional jab with a change of topic. "How much is admission to the zoo? I brought some credits with me, and I'm only hoping that it's enough… I admit, I've lived here all my life, yet I've never gone to the zoo before today. Odd, isn't it?"
"Maybe it's because you didn't have kids then," Luke said. "If you went by yourself, you might've felt awkward."
Obi-Wan ruffled Luke's blonde hair. "That's very insightful of you, Luke, and most likely very true. I probably would have felt awkward being all by myself. It's not a common place to find Jedi." Luke beamed at the compliment.
"That's because the Jedi never did anything for personal pleasure. They thought they had to deny self-happiness to serve others; that they were required to deny their own needs before they could provide for others." Anakin didn't look very happy, but then again, he never did when the topic centered on Jedi.
Obi-Wan said drolly to the children, "Or maybe we're all just sticklers with money and don't want to spend the credits." He put a hand on Anakin's shoulder and said quietly, in a voice that only he could hear, "I don't think now is the best time to argue about the merits and flaws of the Jedi Order. Your children came here to have a good time. Don't let your own discontent and personal feelings ruin their joy."
Anakin took a breath to argue with, but let it out again when he realized that Obi-Wan was right. His children deserved to have a good time. He would master his anger and suppress it so that they could enjoy themselves. It was a simple mistake that had damaged Obi-Wan's head; holding a grudge against himself would benefit no one.
"You're right," Anakin said to Obi-Wan in an equally quiet voice. The line they were in moved up a bit and they were finally at the booth. Anakin said to Obi-Wan, in a slightly louder voice that the twins could also hear, "I'll pay for your ticket, to repay you for the advice."
Obi-Wan smiled and withdrew his hand. "If I keep this up, I might be able to make a job of this. It would be nice to be able to save up a bit of money."
Anakin paid for the tickets and asked casually, "Really? What are you saving up for?"
Obi-Wan frowned as he thought. He said noncommittally, "Nothing, really. I just want to keep some money around in case of an emergency, I suppose. Does it really matter what it's being used for?"
Anakin shrugged his shoulders. "I was just wondering. Because you know that if you ever need any sort of help…financial, political, any sort at all…you can come to me. I guess I'm just curious as to why you would need money, since I'm always willing to help you pay for anything."
"I appreciate your generosity, Anakin. I just don't want to become too indebted to you, or else I'll never be able to repay you." That was indeed the truth. Obi-Wan didn't like being dependant on Anakin for anything, and strove to be self-sufficient whenever possible.
Anakin stared at Obi-Wan, who was still holding hands with Leia and Luke as they gazed at the animals near the entrance. He said sincerely, "You've repaid me in a way that has nothing to do with money, Obi."
Obi-Wan didn't know how to respond to that, and fortunately he didn't have to. At that moment Leia tugged his hand and said impatiently, "I want to pet the man-eating bantha!" Luke nodded his head in agreement, although he didn't tear his eyes away from the Bog-wings. The small, gray winged reptiles were chattering as they flew around the cage. One dashed into the invisible force field close to where Luke was standing, causing him to jump slightly, startled. The Bog-wing just shook its head, twittering in annoyance, and, after taking a moment to regain its balance, launched itself back into the air.
Obi-Wan chuckled and squeezed Luke's hand to calm the boy. "Don't worry, they won't get out of that force field. Even if there were an electricity shortage in this sector, the shields would stay up since they not only run on the main generator, but on a backup one also. The shields themselves are impervious." He watched the small creatures fly around their cage. "They are fascinating creatures, aren't they? They always remind me of miniature copies of the dragons found in ancient folklore… Now, let's get going to that petting zoo. Does anyone know where it is?" Obi-Wan asked, having no experience with zoos.
"Fortunately for you, I had the intelligence to take one of the zoo maps with us." He waved the map in the air in a smug way, flipping it open. Crouching down by Luke, he asked, "Can you find the petting zoo, Luke?"
Luke shook his head 'no.' "I don't know how to read yet."
With a patience that Obi-Wan didn't even realize Anakin had, Anakin said, "Well, to start, it's two words: 'petting' and 'zoo.' The 'p' in 'petting' looks like a box with a little dash in the upper-right corner breaking the connection. And 'zoo' looks like a half oval cut diagonally, then two pairs of brackets facing inward to form two circles. Can you find that?"
Luke gazed at the map with an intense look of concentration. He bit his lower lip. Finally, he pointed at a word. "Is it that one?" he asked hopefully.
"No, that's a bathroom," Anakin corrected him gently.
"But it had the sort of box-shaped letter, and then there were those two circles…" Luke said, frustration evident in his voice. He was chewing his bottom lip again.
"You did good, Luke, I'm proud of you." Anakin ruffled Luke's hair and hugged him. "You almost got it that time; you're getting better at this every day. See, the words 'petting zoo' look like this." Anakin pointed at a completely different spot on the map. Luke stared at the word for a long time, before nodding.
As they started to walk in the direction of the petting zoo, Obi-Wan confessed to Anakin, "I don't see why you think you need my help—you're doing a great job of raising them on your own. Not only that, but they're gifted children. For Luke to be able to decipher even a little bit of reading at his age is phenomenal. You should be very proud of him—both of them, really."
The compliment aimed at his children made him smile. It was a genuine, happy expression. "I am very proud of them. I love them so much…" He drifted off, noticing how his children were racing further ahead. He stopped talking with Obi-Wan to yell a warning at them, "Don't get too far ahead! If I can't see you or you can't see me, then you need to head back!" His children waved to show they heard him. A child disappearing was every parent's worse fear, and Anakin was careful to make sure that that would never happen to his children.
Feeling satisfied with his parenting duties, he reverted his voice to its normal volume to resume their talk. "And it's not that I can't raise them on my own… It's just that I think it would be better for them to have two parents. I had my mother, and she was wonderful, but I always wondered what it would be like to have a father…I don't want my children to always be wondering what a mother would be like. I don't want them to feel like they're missing something. Like I always was."
The conversation died out at that. It was a comment not many could successfully respond to, and even Obi-Wan didn't know what to say. They walked on in silence, watching Leia and Luke race from one animal to another. Even the sleeping animals excited the twins, much to the older men's amusement. The twins pointed and waved at a snoring wampa. It shook its raggedy, furry white coat out, grunted in their direction, and fell back asleep.
Starting up the conversation again on a fresh subject, Obi-Wan said, "If it wasn't for those force fields, I would be very worried about them. With all their nose-pressing against the shields, if that barrier wasn't there then they would have undoubtedly fallen in. And wampas aren't known for their hospitality."
"Well, then let's hope the barriers never fail," Anakin declared. "It's better than that primitive method of putting bars up, you must admit. This gives the viewer the best visibility possible, and in addition, energy barriers are much more reliable than metal bars; they don't break, bend, or rust."
"Still a faithful techno-gadget follower, eh? Even as a young boy you were always going on about this gadget or that device. I could never understand what you were talking about, even with the 'simplest' machines."—Obi-Wan snorted at that understatement—"When you were old enough to find blueprints in the Archives, I nearly cried. You started using visuals in your demonstrations and explanations…and that just made your attempts to explain everything to me more longwinded than before. I would have a headache for hours afterwards while I tried to decode your mechanic lingo. Which I failed to do so, I might add."
Anakin gave a small laugh. "I know; that's the reason I talked about them so much."
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan reprimanded in surprise, astonished at this new revelation yet somehow not; it was something he could definitely see Padawan Anakin doing.
"Stars, calm down, Obi. I was only joking—mostly." Anakin winked. "I loved electronics then, and I still love them now. I was just trying to educate you, although from your confession I see that I numbed your brain instead of stimulating it."
"Leave the teaching to those most qualified," Obi-Wan said jokingly.
"If people truly followed that saying, you would be putting a lot of people out of business," Anakin admonished while shaking his head in mock pity. "I'm afraid all the schools would have to be closed on Coruscant."
"If you have such doubts of the education on our fair planet, then why don't you change it?" Obi-Wan bantered lightly. Leia and Luke were still running up ahead, and Obi-Wan kept an eye on them to make sure they didn't get into any trouble.
Anakin took Obi-Wan's remark seriously, instead of the joke it was supposed to be. "I have."
"Hm?" Obi-Wan hummed questioningly. His mind wasn't fully on the conversation (he was watching Leia and Luke to make sure they were okay) so the comment flew over his head. Thus, the intelligible reply.
"As I said before, I have changed the education system," Anakin reiterated proudly. "I've made the requirements and years of study needed to be a teacher stricter. A lot of mediocre teachers have lost their jobs in the process, and that works to the benefit of the schools. With those incapable of teaching fired, the schools have more money and can hire fewer but better qualified teachers. Some schools were in such an abysmal state that I had to completely restructure their teaching methods. A few schools were even beyond that hope. When that happened, I simply closed them down and moved the students—and those few teachers capable of their job—to other locations. I've improved the system."
Obi-Wan kept his eyes on Leia and Luke, who were currently playing tag in the middle of the broad pathway. Every time they nearly ran into some passerby, Obi-Wan worried. He didn't know how a stranger would react if a child ran into them—some would be nice, but others might not be so forgiving…he'd hate it if someone yelled at them…
Still not fully paying attention to Anakin, Obi-Wan asked absently, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you say that you altered the entire school system of Coruscant? That's impossible—the bills needed for that purpose would take decades to be passed, and then there would be the problem of actually employing the laws—that could take another decade, if they were ever carried out at all."
"One of the many reasons a dictatorial government far outranks a democratic one," Anakin insulted Obi-Wan's preferred government. He was frustrated that Obi-Wan was ignoring him and couldn't help the jibe that came out of his mouth. Maybe Obi-Wan would pay more attention to him now.
At that, Obi-Wan thought slowly, and answered even slower. He mulled over everything Anakin had said in the past few minutes, and the results were not to his liking. "Anakin…" Obi-Wan looked at Anakin as he spoke in a serious tone, "If what you say is true"—Anakin opened his mouth to protest, but Obi-Wan cut him off—"and I have no doubt that it is, then you have just unemployed thousands of people."
Anakin scowled. "Their performances were unacceptable; they didn't deserve to keep their job. Education is very important, a precise tool to be wielded with precision. With them, they deformed it into a blunt instrument that was more harmful than anything else."
"Still, most of those people have families! I'm sure they simply needed a job to help support themselves and their loved ones. If they didn't have the exact education required it was only because they took the job out of necessity and not out of planning. How many people have you indirectly caused to suffer?" Obi-Wan was bothered; did Anakin even understand the economic system of Coruscant? It was a fragile balance, as most ecosystems and economies are, and Anakin had brazenly and foolishly altered it without regard to the negative consequences. "Do you realize the costs of your actions?"
Anakin was silent for a while. His face was a blank mask that shielded all his thoughts. Even Obi-Wan couldn't tell what lied beneath it, and he'd known the man for many years. It unnerved him that Anakin had learned, in just four years, how to conceal every thought he had. He never used to be this way; as a teenager and even as a young adult Anakin had displayed his emotions freely, wearing them on his sleeve. That had been part of the reason why the Jedi Council had worried about Obi-Wan taking on Anakin as a Padawan…the boy simply didn't know how to restrain his emotions. Now, the opposite seemed to be true. Time changed people, and not always in good ways.
At last, Anakin said, "I concede defeat on a certain point; I had not thought of the indirect consequences of my actions. However, I stand firmly by my decision to improve the educational system and the actions that I took." Anakin would say no more on the subject.
At that moment, Leia came running back to them shrieking out happily, "I see the banthas, I see the banthas!" She ran to her father and tugged on his black tunic. Luke followed a few seconds later and joined her in her tugging.
"Okay, okay!" Anakin laughed, batting their small, insistent hands away. "I see them too. We are most definitely at the petting zoo. You can stop pulling on my tunic, you two. I like it the length it is; if I wanted you to stretch it out to be a dress, I would have asked." Leia and Luke ran off at that, giggling at what their father had said. Anakin and Obi-Wan trailed behind them dutifully.
By the time they caught them up with the two children, Luke was already petting one of the banthas as it munched on some fodder. Leia watched him from a distance (she was still wary of the fictitious man-eating bantha). The hairy, gentle beast shook its mane a bit at Luke's petting. Luke gazed up at in delight as it made a small, friendly noise and shuffled closer to him so he could pet it with more ease. He said excitedly to Anakin, "I think he likes me, Dad!"
"You have a way with animals, Luke," Anakin said proudly. His son's ability to calm animals reminded him so much of his own abilities.
Leia huddled behind her dad. "Won't it eat him?" she questioned nervously, once again tugging on her father's tunic.
"No, Leia, it won't. As Obi has already said, banthas are strictly herbivores. Luke was just trying to scare you, honey. Go on, you can pet it; I'm sure it would love that." Anakin tried to gently nudge Leia in the direction of the grazing banthas, but she stubbornly clung to his garments.
"I'm not going near it," she declared determinedly. Looking around the petting zoo for something else to pet, she spotted the tauntauns. "Ooo…! Those look cute! Obi-Waaan," she said sweetly, before ending her sentence in a command, "you're going with me to see those."
"She's pretty demanding, isn't she?" Obi-Wan grinned. She had her mother's fire.
Anakin glanced at Obi-Wan with amusement. "Better you than me…besides, I have to stay here to watch out for Luke. Who knows, maybe one of these banthas really is a man-eating monster."
Obi-Wan snorted at the barely veiled excuse, and followed after Leia. As they walked towards the tauntauns, the temperature dropped until the room was freezing. The regulator chilled the room to a comfortable temperature for the tauntauns. However, the same couldn't be said about Obi-Wan; he was shivering so much that his teeth began to clack together. "Why do I have to be the one to watch the child who wants to pet subzero-inhabiting animals?" Obi-Wan complained to no one in particular.
Leia, not caring about the cold while her thoughts were occupied, was petting one of the creatures. "Isn't it so pretty? It's like a fuzzy raptor with curly horns!" The tauntaun she was petting butted its horned head into her hand. She giggled. "I think it likes me!"
Obi-Wan looked at the tauntaun. It wasn't exactly an animal he would call…cute. But whatever Leia wanted to call it, it was docile, at least. In the end, that was all he cared about. He absentmindedly watched Leia as she continued to pet the creature, rubbing his arms all the while in a sad attempt to stay warm. Suddenly, a snort and the scraping sound of hoofed feet digging into the icy floor alerted Obi-Wan that something was coming up from behind.
He turned around slowly, not wanting to startle the creature behind him.
A full-grown reek stood behind him, pawing the ground nervously and tossing its tri-horned head. Obi-Wan groaned out loud; the last time he had seen a reek, it had been in the Geonosian Arena. He did not want to relive that memory…
The creature had obviously wandered away from its section in the petting zoo and was unnerved by the cold temperatures and foreign creatures. Obi-Wan had no clue why the zookeepers were idiotic enough to put such a dangerous creature as a reek in the petting zoo, but he didn't have time to dwell on that thought. He walked slowly towards the reek, saying in a low, soothing voice, "Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you…let's get you back to where you belong, okay?" The reek eyed him, but allowed him to get close.
However, when he reached out his hand it jerked its head in agitation. Snorting again and pawing the ice- and snow-covered ground, the reek crouched on its back legs in an aggressive stance.
Obi-Wan stepped back slowly and wondered what to do. He had hoped that it would allow him to get close enough to lead it away using his hands only, but that seemed to no longer be an option. The reek clearly didn't want any human contact, and his actions had just made it more edgy. Any sudden movements on his part could agitate it to the point of charging.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan saw from the corner of his eyes that Leia was running towards him, shouting something happily. She didn't even register the reek as dangerous as she focused all her attention on Obi-Wan. To her, it was just another animal in a harmless petting zoo.
The reek, startled by the sudden burst of noise and the object—deemed enemy—barreling towards it, gave a roar and charged at the little girl. Leia froze when she heard the harsh bellow. Her head whipped around to stare at the snorting reek with horror, her legs frozen in place. Stampeding forward, its wicked top horn was pointed directly at her with the intention of impaling her upon it.
Obi-Wan gathered the Force around him and summoned it all into his legs, preparing to spring into the reek's charging path. While his chances of survival without a lightsaber would be exceedingly low, he was determined to distract the reek and give Leia a chance to run for safety. He leapt forward, fully intent on sacrificing himself for her.
But in midair a wall of pure Force energy halted his jump. He was thrown back by someone else's application of the Force, causing him to be farther away from Leia and the reek than before his attempted jump. He could not save her. He gazed in despair at the beast, until he noticed that its charge, too, had been stopped. It was sprawled on its belly, its legs flailing wildly. It was as if an extreme pressure was holding and crushing it to the ground.
The ice around it cracked as the reek's body pressured it to the point of breaking. The reek seemed to be pushed even closer to the ground, and with a groan from the splintering ice it was slammed through the thick layer of frozen water, its descent only being stopped by the cement floor hidden underneath. Jagged edges of broken ice tilted upwards on all sides, and Obi-wan could only imagine (with a wince) of the sharp ice shards burying themselves into the reek's thick hide. It gave a cry of pain as its struggling grew fainter. Blood dribbled out of its mouth, nose, and eyes in small spurts. With one last piercing cry, a half-gurgled roar that spurted more blood onto the ground and tainted the white ice and snow crimson, the reek's head lolled to the side and its body grew motionless. The puddle of blood grew around it as the snow soaked it in, becoming a dark vermilion. Impure.
Obi-Wan pushed himself off the ground, wincing as his bruised body protested; the fall on the ice had not been a gentle one. When he got up, he noticed that Anakin was standing behind him, a stony expression locked onto his face. Anakin's left hand relaxed, unclenching, and with it the expression loosened into something more humane. "Are you okay?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan. When Obi-Wan nodded, Anakin rushed over to Leia and swept her up in an enormous hug. "Are you hurt, honey?"
Leia started to cry as the shock wore off. She buried her head into Anakin's shoulder. Her small hands clutched his tunic in a desperate attempt to find solace. From the way she pointedly wouldn't look in the direction of the dead reek, Obi-Wan knew she had watched it die.
"Obi-Wan?" Luke asked hesitantly from where he stood behind the Jedi.
"Don't look, Luke," Obi-Wan said sternly as he wrapped the child in an embrace that enabled him to see nothing but his brown and beige clothes. "This is a sight that no one should see." The carcass of the reek stared at him with glossy, glassy eyes. Obi-Wan had seen death, even dealt death when it was unavoidable, but murder was a gruesome sight that haunted him anew every time he witnessed its brutality. It was an evil that children should not have to witness.
Luke didn't question his judgment, sensing that something was not right.
Anakin walked over to them, cradling Leia in his arms. Tears still leaked down her face in slow, steady streams, but she seemed calmer. She wiped her runny nose on her sleeve and hiccupped.
Obi-Wan turned around when the sound of hurried footsteps reached his ears. An out-of-breath worker hunched over as she tried to regulate her breathing. Between gasps, she asked, "What happened here? I was alerted on my comlink that a disturbance had occu—" She let out a cry as she saw the dead reek.
Anakin took it upon himself to explain the situation. He did so, in a terse manner. "The reek attacked my daughter. I killed it." He gazed at the zookeeper in a challenging way, as if daring her to question his judgment.
But the zookeeper wasn't looking at him and missed the stare. "How…?" she mumbled, "How could this possibly happen?"
Obi-Wan said sternly, "It's unwise and dangerous to put a reek in a petting zoo. While they aren't carnivores by nature, they are startled easily and their first instinct is to charge at the suspected enemy. Unsound decisions like this can lead to fatalities, and as a Jedi I cannot overlook this blunder. I ask to be allowed to survey the rest of the zoo and see if there are any more safety protocols being broken here. If I find any more hazards such as this reek—"
Finally, she drew her gaze away from the dead creature. She cut off Obi-Wan in mid-sentence. "But that's why I'm so astonished." At Obi-Wan's inquisitive look, she embellished her statement, "We don't have reeks in the petting zoo. They're kept in an energy barrier near here. I'm at a loss of how he got out of his cage…" She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair.
Drawing a deep breath, she let it out and said in a more determined voice, "Allow me to transmit a few commands, and then I'll help you in any way possible." She mumbled some quick, nearly unintelligible instructions into her comlink. Soon five droids were at the scene; three to carry the body away and two to clean up the mess. "Sorry, but I don't want the tauntauns to become more agitated than they already are. By removing the body, hopefully they'll calm down. Now, what can I do for you?"
"I'd like to see the reek cage," Anakin said, purpose etched in every word of his.
The zookeeper didn't question his demand and dutifully led him to the reek cage. When they got there, the zookeeper's mouth formed an 'o' of understanding as she halted in her tracks.
Anakin leaned down to get a better look at the wrecked panel that, when properly functioning, would have kept the cage's shield up. The board was completely destroyed, scorch marks scarring the metal everywhere. Wires were torn, ripped out or cut. "Sabotage," Anakin declared, "just as I thought. The scorch marks seemed to be made by a blaster…DC-15, by the looks of it. The panel was destroyed and the barrier let down." He got up and stared at the scorched panel with a dark look.
"We can view the security camera footage and see if we can get a clear head-shot of the perpetrator," the zookeeper said.
"That won't be necessary," said Anakin. "I doubt that your recordings will hold anything of value."
The zookeeper looked puzzled. "But how can you be so certain of tha—"
"I said: that won't be necessary. Must I repeat myself?"—Anakin gave her a glare that had her quickly shutting up—"Obviously, this was not an accident. You are not dealing with a juvenile delinquent here, you are dealing with a cold, calculating murderer. While his methods are barbaric, I'm sure that he wouldn't be idiotic enough to be caught on camera."
"But still," she said mulishly, although she was turning whiter and whiter under Anakin's fierce look, "I'd like to go over the cameras and see if we can find anything on them."
"Well, I'm not going to wait around here while you do so," Anakin snapped, "Who knows what else will get out while you're going over hologram after hologram of absolutely nothing?"
She winced, but said, "I would feel much better knowing that we did everything in our power to right this wrong. If you are not willing to stay here while I go over the film, then can I please have your home number so that I can contact you if I find anything?"
Anakin stared at her with narrowed eyes for a moment, judging her in a way that made cold shivers run down her spine. "Very well, but you won't find anything," he said brusquely. After giving her his number, he stalked away towards the entrance and their hovercraft. Leia still clung to him, and Luke was trying to stay so close to his father that he actually stepped on Anakin's feet a couple times.
Obi-Wan had to jog to keep up with Anakin's long, angry strides. "Perhaps you were too hasty, Anakin. There could be something on those films that she thinks is irrelevant, but we could recognize as a clue… You were very abrupt with her, and she was just trying to be helpful."
"She was trying to cover up," Anakin said angrily. "She was trying to cover up the whole mess. If she were serious about finding the person who did this, she would have left the reek body there as evidence and offered to call the police first thing. Instead, she tried to hide her reluctance to make this attack public by saying she'd go through the surveillance camera footage, probably hoping that we'd be satisfied with that and let the matter drop. She just doesn't want other customers to know that their zoo almost housed the murder of a child. It would be bad for business, after all." He sneered. Once again, he repeated with certainty, "She won't find anything."
"How can you be so sure?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin stared grimly ahead. "Assassins are like shadows; they leave no trace of their existence once gone."