Hey Everyone, I added two new tags for AO3 readers and wanted to mention them: implied/referenced child abuse and slavery. Because, well that should be obvious. We're still rated T for Teen. This chapter in particular contains some brief, non-graphic mentions of both and there may be some triggers.

Chapter 6 - A Very Busy Day

Anakin rode with Obi-Wan and Yoda on his second trip to Coruscant. During the ride, Yoda had been asking Anakin a lot about Tatooine and his mother. The boy wondered, for a second, if he should ask how someone so old could have so many questions.

"Always something to learn, there is. What else did your mother teach you?" Yoda asked.

Beside him Obi-Wan raised his hand to wave at a member of the crew. "Actually, I promised Anakin he could ride on the bridge when we approach the planet. If we may be excused?"

"Of course. Excused, you may be." Yoda responded.

Anakin got up and followed Obi-Wan without prompting. Once they were out in the hall, Anakin sighed animatedly. "Thanks. I never thought it would end!"

Obi-Wan laughed. "I think Grandmaster's just a bit excited to get to know you."

"What's that mean?" Anakin interrupted.

"Grandmaster?" Obi-Wan inquired and Anakin nodded. "It means he taught your Master."

"I thought Qui-Gon taught you?"

"Your Master's Master's Master's Master, to be more precise. I think Yoda's been teaching so long that most lineages come back to him at some point."

"That's why everyone calls him grandmaster? Because he's so old."

"Yeah." Obi-Wan blushed nervously. "Don't tell him I said that, though."

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." Anakin confirmed.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Let's go see how close we are to dropping out of hyperspace."

Anakin responded with an excited smile and ran ahead of Obi-Wan to the bridge.

"What's that do?... Where is your G-drive?... How do you switch from autopilot to manual steering?..." Anakin excitedly rattled off a list of questions to any of the crew who'd answer.

Obi-Wan stayed silent. He supposed the youngling's curiosity was a good thing. This ship, after all, was a whole different class than the Nubian J-type starship they rode in before. Obi-Wan did know enough to know there were a lot of differences between the models.

"Huh! You have a lightsaber! You're a Jedi too, aren't you?"

Obi-Wan looked back up then to notice Ribou Nenn, the crewman Anakin had been questioning, had reached under his robe to pull another tool from his belt, and revealed the lightsaber he'd probably once trained with.

Obi-Wan placed a hand on Anakin's shoulders. He intended to stop his line of questioning. After all, Service Corps Jedi tended to be sensitive about having their Jedi status questioned. Obi-Wan would know that. He almost was one, after all.

"Yes. Yes we are." Before Obi-Wan could respond, Ribou answered. "We are in the Technical Division of the Explorcorps. It's a special branch of Jedi that maintain crafts like this. Because of our work, when you and your Master have to go out on a mission, you'll have a reliable craft waiting for you."

"That has to be the best job ever!" Anakin exclaimed. "I bet you see all kinds of cool ships."

Ribou looked surprised to hear Anakin's excitement. "Well, I think you'll find most young ones are too excited about fighting with lightsabers and learning to become a knight to pay any attention to us. But I'll answer any of your questions that I can."

"Wizard! Too many adults on Tatooine were like, 'no, don't bother me, kid.' They wouldn't answer any of my questions. The hard part is not to bug them until after they buy something. Otherwise, Master would throw me across the shop…"

Obi-Wan looked down in surprise. Earlier, he had seen scars on the boy. He kicked himself for not realizing then. As he stood there his heart started to race. 'Master, what have you gotten me into? What have I gotten myself into? Do I even know how to help Anakin?'

Anakin, however, didn't notice, and continued without pausing. "Not Obi-Wan though. He's a different type of Master."

"I should hope." Ribou eyed Obi-Wan sympathetically. "You'll find, at the Temple, they are all a lot more willing to answer your questions. It's an academy too, and teaching is a part of everyone's job."

'That's it!' Obi-Wan came to the realization. 'The council said they would help Anakin too. I should bring this up with them.'

"So, which ship is the fastest?" Anakin then asked.

'Gee, it's a good thing the council decided to induct Anakin. Qui-Gon would've trained him anyway. Then, even if the council changed their minds, it's not like you could go running back to them saying, "Hey guys, remember that thing you told me not to do, but I did anyway. Yeah, turns out it's a lot harder than I thought…" Yeah, that would turn out well! But then if anyone would do that, it'd be Master Qui-Gon.

When Anakin first arrived at the Temple he remembered feeling anxious. Everything was huge and there were so many unknowns that it intimidated the youngling.

This second time everything was still huge, and much of it unknown, but there was one thing that was for certain. And that was his place in it.

"When we get there I'll have to get a new quarters assignment for the both of us." Obi-Wan had told him. "Then I'll have to go back to Qui-Gon's quarters to pack my stuff. And then we'll have to pick up your own belongings from the storeroom. It's bound to be a very busy day." He sighed as he rubbed the back of his head.

Anakin realized, after waiting in a stuffy office for over thirty minutes, that "busy day" was Obi-Wan-speak for "long boring day." He made a mental note of it.

At last a stuffy, long nosed woman called them into her office. "Knight Kenobi, your paperwork has come in from the council. Your promotion entitles you to a Knight's quarters. This is your key, and this is for the quartermaster, so you can get your supplies."

"Now hold on." Obi-Wan interrupted her. "My paperwork says I should be in a Master Suite. Anakin…"

"Regardless of what the council may have told you, Initiate Skywalker will be moved into the creche. It's the way it's always been done," she said.

"No," Master Windu corrected her from the door. "It isn't the way it's always been done." Mace entered the room, glaring down at the mean lady. "Before the academy was organized as it is today, initiates were taken by an individual knight. In fact, just six months ago, when we had an outbreak of fever in the Creche, volunteer knights took in the healthy younglings."

"Do you have a healer's note for your request?" She leveled her eyes back at the Master.

"I have the Council's word," Mace met her unspoken challenge. "The Council, which decides the fate of every youngling in this Temple, and oversees every job, including your own."

Anakin never imagined a human deflating before, but that's what was happening. As she exhaled, all sparks of resistance left her eyes.

She turned around and pulled out another piece of flimsy. Then she stamped it and handed it over. "Your new, joint housing assignments, Knight Kenobi."

"And what about a quartermaster form for the youngling?" Mace asked.

"We don't have a form for that." She said, without looking up.

"Make one," Mace ordered.

With a sigh she pulled out a scrap of flimsy and wrote something on it. Then she stamped it and handed it over.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan said. He and Mace bowed towards the lady. Anakin wondered if this was some special bow for mean people. It looked like the same one they'd done before.

Obi-Wan then put a hand on Anakin's back. "Come now, Anakin."

"Actually, I was wondering if Anakin would like to go on a tour of the Temple with me. There is a training session we can observe, I believe, and it'll give you time to get your business done." Mace looked up to Obi-Wan with hopeful eyes.

Anakin started to bounce a little from excited energy. "Please."

"That is acceptable. Thank you, Master Windu," Obi-Wan agreed.

When Yoda returned to the Temple, after he saw to the business that had popped up since he left, he took a walk, going down towards the Creche.

"Grandmaster."

"Knight Kenobi." Yoda turned to greet him. "Settling in, are you?"

"Yes, my new quarters are satisfactory. I wanted to talk to you about Anakin. Master Windu is taking him on a tour now." Obi-Wan sighed deeply.

"Recovering from surgery, is he?" Yoda asked the innocent question.

"Uh, yes. The Naboo medics removed his slave chip without any complications," Obi-Wan confirmed.

"Good, good." Yoda continued walking, inviting Obi-Wan to follow.

"It's this I wanted to talk to you about. I don't believe Anakin was treated the best in his old life. He said something today about what his old master would do to discipline him, and I was worried..."

Yoda stopped walking.

"Please, I don't know what to do about this. The boy has scars. They are faint, but… The evidence is clear."

Yoda took a deep breath. 'Come back in time, they said. Know what's going to happen, they said,' As the Jedi exhaled he ranted.

"Always something new to learn, there is. Correct. Deal with this, we must. Talk to the Circle of Jedi Healers, I will."

"The healers, must we involve them?" Obi-Wan looked down and away.

"When the body is wounded, to the healers, you go. When the soul is wounded, healing is also required." Though few may know it, the Jedi were not unfamiliar with the art of mind healing. Infact, the healers were called on frequently. When a Padawan left the order to join a war and then returned after watching his friends die in front of him. Or when a Padawan conflicts with a fallen Jedi while on a mission.

Yoda chuckled a bit. "Rest. Sure they can do so without a needle, I am."

Obi-Wan blushed. "If you think it's best, Master." He bowed and left.

Yoda continued to laugh in his head. His eyes settled on one of the cribs as he walked into the creche. "Poor Kenobi. Early, his love-hate relationship with the healers began."

Obi-Wan returned to his new quarters after talking with Yoda. He saw the stack of boxes that still needed to be unpacked. Both things from his old quarters with Qui-Gon, and new supplies the quartermaster supplied him with.

Obi-Wan marveled for a second how generous the quartermaster was. After Obi-Wan had explained the situation to him, he unlocked the back rooms and pulled out supplies usually reserved for the creches. Anakin would have a new datapad, and every type of learning instrument, short of the textbooks, found in the Creche. Obi-Wan drew a line there. He could always go to the Archives to get those.

Anakin returned in an excited rush while Obi-Wan was unpacking. He stopped to listen as Anakin animatedly told about the duel they had watched.

"And he did this… And this...But the other guy was like…"

"He has a natural affinity for lightsaber combat. I look forward to seeing his own skills develop." Mace added.

Yoda took a turbolift to the halls of healing, and entered the main office of the Circle of Jedi Healers.

"Hello, Master Yoda. What can I do for you today?" Asked Master Stass Allie.

"The Circle's consult on a new initiate, I wanted. A complex case, Anakin will be.

"Oh, I'd be glad to help. Has young Anakin had his first check up yet?" She asked.

"No, that Initiate Skywalker has not yet done." Yoda sat in a chair by the desk in the room.

Stass sat across from him behind the desk. "Then I'll start his paperwork now. Anakin Skywalker… How old is he?"

"Nine," Yoda answered.

"Ooh, nine months."

"No," Yoda interrupted. "Nine years."

Stass's eyes opened wide with shock. "This has a story behind it, I'm sure." She leaned forward with interest.

"More concerned about the story that lays ahead, I am."

"Oh, but the story that came before has a huge effect on that tale,"she replied.

Yoda nodded, and he started to tell the story of Anakin Skywalker. Stass listened with great interest. When he spoke of the slavery, she looked down with concern. When he spoke of the youngling's reckless tendencies concerning what happened on Naboo, she smiled and laughed. Through it all she would occasionally write down a note on something Yoda said, but she didn't interrupt him.

"Physical scars, he bares. But fear emotional scars, I do," Yoda finished.

Stass looked up from her notes. "That's a troubling story, but... Grandmaster, I can only help if you tell me all, and I sense you still have more to share."

Yoda stared deep into her eyes. He saw the great Healer and leader of the Medical Corps that she was today. He also saw the council member she was to be. And he trusted her.

As Yoda began to tell his story, Stass closed her book of notes. When he got to Anakin's fall, and the revelations that surrounded it, she looked disappointed, but not surprised. As if she'd guessed the story's end before he got there.

When he'd finally finished, she spoke at last, "I think you are correct. There is hope for the boy. I have one question. You said initially the Council declined to induct Anakin. What changed their minds? Kenobi didn't threaten to pull a Qui-Gon after his Master's death."

"A rash decision in fear, I made. Overruled the Council, I did."

Stass laughed hard. "He did! Oh, that cheeky little Sithspawn!"

Hello,

I started writing a scene with Jar Jar Binks, only to realize that that part makes more sense to be a little later, after the last chapter, so I put it off and wrote this part instead.

The line: "Pull a Qui-Gon" came to me as I was writing replies to comments, and I liked it so much I decided to use it again.

In most fanfics they kinda assume Anakin became a Padawan right away, but I don't think that is logical. First, the Jedi have a whole system to train younglings, and it includes testing between the initiate and Padawan phases. There was no reason they wouldn't require him to take the initiate tests before he could be an official padawan. And nine year old Anakin knew nothing of the code to have that initial test they did in front of the council count as that.

It is also an uncommon interpretation that the Jedi regularly sought out mind healers or psychologists in our world. I used some of Obi-Wan's legends backstory for that section. Not sure if I'm going to use any of it. But the characters all seemed to be pretty stable, on a psychological level, and it is logical for a group so focused on inner calm to support mental health. It isn't uncommon for religion to be part of such treatments either. It's my own interpretation anyway.

And, just in case, that last line was not indicating anything about Obi-Wan's family lineage. It's a spin on the phrase "cheeky little devil" Which is an English euphemism.