Another chapter with Gungan-ized quotes here. Again, if anything is hard to read, let me know and I'll send you a translation.

Chapter 7 - Penalties and Legal Matters

Qui-Gon finished his post mission quarantine period, which was mandatory to serve in the Temple Creche. Little ones, apparently, don't have a very strong immune system. Today he was summoned to report to the Creche and he knew Master Windu was chomping at the bit to have him serve his sentence, but he had something to do first. Mace would have to wait. Qui-Gon went up to the door of his former Padawan's new quarters and knocked. Today, he understood, would be Anakin's first day of 'real Jedi classes' and Qui-Gon wanted to wish the boy well, and offer his support, if the boy should need it.

Obi-Wan opened the door, and quickly rushed off to the back room, leaving the door hanging open. Sans an invitation, Qui-Gon entered the apartment.

"Where is it?" Anakin called out from the room down the hall.

"I'm looking," Obi-Wan called back. He was in the main living space with his head in a pile of junk droid parts.

Both were anxious and Qui-Gon tried to let his own calm energy spread to both of them. It was easier with Obi-Wan, as they still had a training bond. But eventually he could feel Anakin settle as well.

"I got it!" Obi-Wan picked up a data chip from the pile and held it up triumphantly.

"Yes! Thank you Master Obi-Wan." Anakin ran into the room to retrieve the data chip. "Oh. Hi, Master Qui-Gon."

Obi-Wan then turned with surprise to see him standing there. "Oh, Master. I do apologize. Our morning has been quite hectic."

"No, do not apologize. I understand how hectic these days can be." Qui-Gon sat down. "Ani, is that your homework?"

Anakin looked down at the drive and back up with confusion. Obi-Wan answered for him. "In a way, it is. Master Yoda asked him to record one of the Tatooinian Legends for the youngling's class today. Only Anakin thought the droid he was given to make the recording needed some rewiring. Hence the mess."

"It did need rewiring," Anakin protested. "ML-941 didn't even respond to his own designation before."

"That's because it was just a basic, fifth class mouse droid." Obi-Wan moaned.

Qui-Gon couldn't help but smile, anticipating the trouble this youngling would cause. Obi-Wan sighed, and Qui-Gon placed a hand on his back. "It's the first day of many. All will go well."

"I know. And he's only going for part of it," Obi-Wan said. Qui-Gon gave him an inquiring look in surprise. "Master Gallia will have him the rest of the day. He's still learning his basics, but Master Allie, and the rest of the mental healers, say it'll benefit him to interact with his peers some."

"Oh, well I'll be in the Creche today too, Anakin. So if you need anything, just holler."

"Okay," Anakin said.

"Maybe I'll even get to teach one of your classes," Qui-Gon suggested.

"You think they will have you teaching?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I'm a Master. What else would they have for me to do?" Qui-Gon pointed out.

"If you think so. We're going to walk down to the Creche now. Care to join us?" Obi-Wan offered.

"I was thinking the same thing," Qui-Gon confirmed.

Qui-Gon entered the Creche office in silence. The stern Master that waited on him had grown even more unforgiving while he waited, as hard as that may be to believe. Qui-Gon actually gulped.

"Master Windu!" Anakin shouted, and he ran around Qui-Gon to greet him.

Mace smiled. You read that right. He actually smiled as he bent over to pat the youngling's head. "Hello, Initiate Skywalker. Master Yoda is waiting for you in the classroom."

"Greetings, Master Windu." Obi-Wan bowed. This reminded the new initiate of the Temple manners and he rushed to do his own bow before turning into the classroom.

"Knight Kenobi," Mace greeted. "How is Anakin?"

"Good, good. He's excited for this… I was thinking, while I'm down here, I might as well stay for a while and help out." Obi-Wan fidgeted with his robes, a classic sign of a nervous Kenobi. It was almost as if he dreaded being sent away.

Of course. You can stay and help with the course I was about to teach. Go ahead into the room. I'll be along in a sec."

"Alright." With a light bounce to his step Obi-Wan disappeared into the specified classroom.

Without anymore distractions to temper his mood, Mace turned back to Qui-Gon. "Master Jinn, this is your schedule of duties." He handed him a piece of flimsy. "You're already late for your first shift. Creche Master Don will show you the ropes."

"Master, this can't be right. This says I'm with the Four and Younger room."

"That it does." Mace didn't smile here, but Qui-Gon got the distinct impression he was amused.

"And nightly shifts?"

"Of course. We don't leave the younglings alone here, just because the sun goes down. Now go ahead. Master Don is waiting for you." Mace stood there and watched as Qui-Gon reluctantly headed for the door.

It was to chaos that Qui-Gon entered the nursery room. Home to children a standard age equivalent of four years and younger. It was clear none had mastered the first basic Force tenet of control over their emotions yet.

A youngling screamed when another grabbed her toy. She then grabbed it back, causing the other to cry. This lasted for a minute, until another youngling, a Togrutta girl came over with two more toys to share. The Creche Master, meanwhile, had his arms full changing the wrapping to an even smaller youngling.

"Sit down anywhere you can. I'll be with you in a sec," said Master Don.

'Anywhere I can?' The master certainly hadn't meant it lightly. As Qui-Gon looked around, most of the chairs he found were made for ones much smaller than he was. He found a stack of pillows in the corner and he pulled one out and sat on it.

Don placed the youngling he was changing, into what looked like a pen with others its own age. Then he turned to Qui-Gon. "Hello I'm Master Donnalon, but the kids can't say that, so around here everyone just calls me Don. Master Jinn, the council asked you to serve a number of hours here, I understand."

"It's Qui-Gon," he offered a polite bow. "And yes, though 'asked' is not the word I would've used.

Don laughed. "Jinn will be easier for the younglings to say, so I will use it. You will have to clock in and out with me or one of my assistants to have your hours count. Today I'll be with you so I can help you learn all you need to know, but on other days you will be expected to serve a little more independently."

Don launched into giving a tour of the room and its functions. The rules for the children, and the consequences for breaking them.

"We are the first stop for younglings when they enter the temple, and many can be a bit nervous when they come here. We don't forbid attachment as strongly as the rest of the order. Attachment can help younglings develop a sense of security and learn to trust the order, after all," Don explained.

"Hmm, I hadn't heard that before." Qui-Gon made a mental note to tell Obi-Wan. 'It might help with Anakin.'

"Our responsibility is to raise healthy knights and I don't take that lightly. We read them the code, and start teaching them the basics of how to control their emotions. It is a slow process. We do not, however, teach the other tenants of Force use, sense and alter. I can't stress this strongly enough, don't use the Force in here. The young ones 'll mimic you, and if they get to throwing things around the room with the Force, before they've learned Control, that's bad! You don't want to see that." He recovered his calm and continued giving his tour. "I also try to give them activities, special crafts that help with their fine motor skills. You can help us with that later."

Qui-Gon eyed the craft supply cabinet nervously. It included several bottles of glue and glitter.

"Come along Master Jinn, we should start with the infant tasks. Most of them have a nanny droid, but during the night shifts you'll sometimes have to step in for them. I prefer to anyway, when I get the chance, as it benefits them to be held. Have you ever changed a diaper before?"

Obi-Wan spent his morning helping teach math to a group a little older than Anakin. He wanted to check on the boy so badly, but Every time he looked up and tried to check on him, it seemed, Mace had something for him to do. Students who before were doing their problems with ease were suddenly struggling and unable to solve them. Still, he learned a few tricks in helping them. Tricks like breaking up a problem into manageable parts. He hoped they would help him teach Anakin one day.

After the class was over, he eagerly went to Yoda's room to find out how Anakin's class went.

"Very good Skywalker. Preserve these recordings, I will. Use them again, I intend to." Yoda was complementing.

"And how was your day?" Obi-Wan asked as he approached them. "Did you make any friends?"

Anakin blushed.

"Unused to new arrivals, the clans are. Change this, we must. But well for introductions, it went. Wish I knew this years ago, I do."

"They had a lot of questions." Anakin explained. "I didn't get to ask any in return."

"Next week, you will. Make sure of this, I will," said Yoda.

"Thank you, Grandmaster Yoda." Anakin bowed, and Obi-Wan was filled with pride. The youngling was learning fast.

After this they went to meet Master Adi Gallia in one of the smaller training rooms. When Anakin had his first visit with the healers of the Temple, they swarmed him and said a few words about childhood malnutrition. Obi-Wan remembered they gave him a lot of instructions on nutrition, and even more on exercise. Anakin was to exercise every day, to build up his muscles, but only to a certain extent. Too much exercise would hurt him more than not enough, they said. That was why Adi requested Obi-Wan attend their sessions, so he would be able to know how much they were doing.

"Alright, one more lap and you're done," Adi yelled.

As Anakin panted, Obi-Wan brought him his water bottle. "Master Qui-Gon should be finishing his shift in a bit. Want to go and wait for him?"

"Yeah." Anakin smiled. "Race you there!" And that was all the warning the Youngling gave before he was running out the door and down the hall.

"Sorry Master Gallia," Obi-Wan tried to apologize before running out after him. Adi shook her head and rolled her eyes behind them.

Mace stood in the hall with his hands on his hips. "Skywalker! Kenobi! No running in the halls!"

"Sorry, Master," Anakin apologized as he came to a stop.

"We're sorry." Obi-Wan caught up to the boy.

"That's alright Skywalker, you don't know any better. You do, Kenobi."

"Yes, we're really sorry. We were going to wait for Qui-Gon, outside the Creche."

"Oh yes. I think I'll wait with you." Mace said. A mischievous glint in his eye had Obi-Wan worrying for his old Master. "It'll give you a chance to do your punitive meditation, for running in the hallway. You remember the rule."

Obi-Wan wrinkled his nose in a very juvenile face.

"Well, you did run in the hall," said Anakin. "But I'll do it with you. It won't be so bad."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow and admired the Jedi for his cunning trick. Anakin had not been a fan of the practice. Getting him to volunteer was devious.

So the three of them made their way to the office outside of the Nursery Creche, where they sat on the floor and closed their eyes to meditate.

Not long later Obi-Wan sensed movement and was about to open his eyes, when he felt humor from his immature training bond with Anakin. Yet the fact that he did not hear laughter meant that the boy's control over his emotions was growing. So he took a moment to feel pride, and let it slide down the bond. Then he opened his own eyes…

The sight before him was the Master Qui-Gon Jinn with glitter in his hair and bags under his eyes. Obi-Wan burst out laughing and couldn't stop. Qui-Gon put his hands on his hips and glared at him, but Obi-Wan kept laughing. In the corner of his eye he noticed the disapproving eyes of Master Windu. There would be more punitive meditations in his future.

Cecil Jones lived on Naboo all his life. He studied law at the Royal Academy of Theed and interned with her royal highness, Queen Sanandrassa. Shortly after Queen Amidala ascended the throne, he applied to be her advisor, as he had been doing ever since.

Still none of that experience prepared him for dealing with Jar Jar Binks. The Gungan representative to the court was not at all acquainted with royal life. His simplistic understanding of procedures one can overlook, easily enough. But the Gungan was clumsy, and his manners often nonexistent.

Still, Cecil was aware of the Gungan Naboo Treaty. Jar Jar's place in it was here. And that no one could avoid. So Cecil met up with Jar Jar in the garden outside of the Palace. "Mr. Binks, here is the list of bills the queen's table will be considering for the next quarter." It was Jar Jar's place to review the bills and prepare any objections the Gungans may have to them. Cecil prepared the bills ahead of time, as was procedure, though most of the court suspected Jar Jar neglected to even read them until meeting with her Majesty.

"Oh. Ah. Yesa." Jar Jar glanced over at the servant Cecil brought with him to carry the stack of Flimsi.

You can say anything, but Cecil does learn fast. The last stack of flimsiplast sheets the Gungan had been asked to carry, they were currently walking on right now. A part of the garden walkway had been damaged in the invasion, and had been cemented over, only to be ruined by a rain of spilled paperwork before it dried. It was actually mentioned in one of the bills in this stack. One of the politicians was putting in a rather detailed argument suggesting it was like a time capsule. An affordable way to preserve a piece of this time for history.

'A creative excuse to avoid cleaning up the mess,' Cecil thought.

"Wha disa sayen?" Jar Jar asked right away, pulling off the top sheet of flimsy to read it.

Cecil glanced over his shoulder. "A request from the Senate regarding the estate of the former Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. They are asking the Queen to assign an executor so his estate does not Escheat to the Republic."

Jar Jar's eyes went big. "Daysa goen to cheaten da big boss!"

"No. No, Escheat. And that's what they're trying to avoid." Cecil rushed to explain. "Sheev Palpatine, it seemed, died without leaving a will. Now usually, the courts would assign his nearest next of kin to be the executor of his estate. This person would decide what Palpatine would've wanted. Only Chancellor Palpatine wasn't married, you see. He never had any children either. I remember him saying, in a press release one time, that his whole family died in a tragic accident only he survived from many years ago. Unless the courts can trace a more distant relative, or Queen Amidala assigns an executor to handle the estate, his belongings will escheat, that means they will be owned by the Republic.

"Oh," Jar Jar looked down. He seemed to understand all that Cecil had said. After a while he looked up again and declared, "Nosa una escheaten da boss aftah hesa die saven mesa!"

Jar Jar carried the flimsy into the palace and to the door of the throne room. Cecil rushed after him. "What are you doing?"

"Da Boss Lady will hearen bout disa!" Jar Jar said.

Fearing what another incident involving the Ambassador could do to his record, Cecil tried to persuade him not to burst into the throne room unannounced. "This is a Naboo matter. It doesn't even involve the Gungans."

"Yousa rong! Hesa saved mesa life. Tis da Gungan way. Me owen him now. Yousa needen an execute-or. Jar Jar will executen his estaten." Jar Jar turned and stumbled into the doors before throwing them open with much clamor and proceeding inside.

Behind him Cecil winced and shook his head.

As Jar Jar stepped off the shuttle and into Coruscant, he looked around him and smiled. This was his second trip to the giant cityworld, but the first time he stayed close to the boss lady's people. This time he had less strict duties, and he would be able to explore it for sure.

"Hello, Jar Jar Binks." A human man greeted him. "I am Dave. I work for the senate reappropriations division. If you come with me, we will start by packing up the late chancellor's office. Then I'll get you a ride to his apartment."

Jar Jar followed him into the senate building and past a rope boundary separating the visitors portion to the rest of the building. They went down a long hallway and into a lift which made Jar Jar dizzy trying to figure if they were going up or down. When they emerged they walked down a ways and up to a set of double doors.

"Of course we would have had this all in boxes already, only it seemed his honor had an outside firm come in to add an extra layer of security. We had to hire a crew of our own to unlock the place. Expect his estate to be billed." Jar Jar's eyes were wide open staring at the furnishings of the office. "Personally I'm glad you were assigned as executor. It saves me from having to find a way to repurpose this." Dave reached down to reference a bronze statue of Palpatine himself, already in a box. "He had three of these. What an ego! I was thinking of donating them to the school of cosmetology. They can use them to set their wigs on and stuff."

"Dat's a good idea!" Jar Jar exclaimed. "Just thinken, how rugor da big boss would besa to know dat his facen what stewdents will be looken at as daysa learnen how to make people pwetty."

"If that's what you wanna tell yourself… Put everything in a box that you want to take with you. Anything with a 'Property of the Senate' sticker on it stays here. I'll go recruit some people to help you carry everything out," Dave said and he left.

Jar Jar set to work right away. He pulled almost all of the books off a shelf and threw them into a box when he stopped suddenly. A shiny object was hidden behind one of the books. Jar Jar's eyes went big when he recognized it as a lightsaber, a Jedi's wangzapper.

"But how could hesa have disa? Hesa nosa Jedi." Jar Jar turned to put the items away for later, when he accidently pressed the button activating it's blade. The blade damaged the curtain rod before the frantic Gungan managed to turn it off. "Itsa wrong color. Itsa red. Jedi no carryen red wangzappers. Must besa cheap knocken off. Dat explains it!"

Jar Jar placed the cheap knockoff lightsaber into a box marked "sell," and he moved on to the desk. He pulled out office supplies and boxed them with the statues, figuring they'd be good to donate to a school too. Then he reached down to open the lowest drawer.

"Ooh, now disa sometten," he whispered as he bent over to pull out the contents of the drawer. The first thing he pulled out was a device. He placed it on the desktop.

Now, a more knowledgeable observer would recognize the device as a rare holocomm. One with a specialty lens that would sacrifice clarity to make the subject appear larger to the viewer. It would also narrow the viewing window so the viewer would see less of the room. Also attached to the holocomm was a signal scrambler one would use to make calls untraceable. But Jar Jar was not a more knowledgeable observer, and he quickly went back to the drawer.

The next thing he pulled out was a glass bottle. It was a rare vintage of Nabooian wine. "Disa good stuffen!" Deciding to keep the bottle, he stepped back to get a new box. Only he stepped on the pooled up curtain, half lying on the floor due to the lightsaber damage, the other half still holding on to the rod above him. The curtain was a garish black color the Gungan was half tempted to leave behind, despite it lacking a 'property of' sticker. When he stepped on it, the curtain pulled off it's rod and the rod was sent tumbling towards the desk. A matter of luck, it happened to hit the communicator on the desk, pressing the glowing button indicating a call was coming through.

Jar Jar didn't see any of this happen though. He immediately found himself covered in a thick black curtain.

The holo came up of an older man who bowed immediately. "Lord Sidi-" His head turned as his eyes studied the cloaked figure on the holo. "Sidious" he finished. "I've decided to play your game. Is there any way we can meet?"

"Playen a gam" cough cough cough. Dust from the room seemed to catch in the gungan's throat. It made his voice hoarse. "Yousa sayen?" This suddenly all made sense to the Gungan. He'd heard of people playing these role playing games across vast distances before. Of course as a younglen Jar Jar was never asked to join them. But he knew that's what this must be.

"Are you…?" the old man left the question hanging.

Jar Jar felt guilty. Whoever this was, he hadn't heard about his friend's death yet. "Da supreme boss manen died. Me his execute-or . But me'll Playen wit yousa."

"Oh, I see. Now you are the Master. I'll be glad to be your apprentice, Master… Uh what is your name?"

"Jar Jar."

"Darth Jar Jar. I will be your apprentice, Darth Tyranus."

"Yes, and wesa win disa game togeder!" Jar Jar exclaimed.

'How mui did boss manen invest in disa game? Me will playen it per him, in his honor. Dalee was a filen labelen game planen on da computah. Me wonderen if disa what dat's per?' thought Jar Jar. Of course he found the whole Master-Apprentice talk strange, and the fact his teammate renamed him Dart Jar Jar. But he assumed that was all part of the game.

"I am coming to Coruscant in a few days to handle some business. Can we meet in front of the senate building in three days?" Tyranus asked.

"Nosa. Me will leave hair in duey days. Ooh, me know. Me will callen yousa in dee days. Wesa can talken 'bout our game planen.

"Alright then, I'll wait for your call, Master." Tyranus pushed a button in front of him and his holo disappeared.

Jar Jar meanwhile pulled the curtain off of him and put it into a box marked "throw away."

Hello,

I was almost going to cut this chapter in two, but decided to give you a long one instead. I hope you all enjoyed laughing at poor Qui-Gon. This won't be the last of his trouble with the Younglings.

My decision to make the Creche more tolerant of attachment is based on certain child development theories, and the fact that, for the most part, Jedi are mentally stable adults. I also got the bits about the Force tenants from Wookieepedia too. They start with control, i.e. self control, next there's sense, as in using the force to 'see,' and lastly there's alter, which is the more obvious methods of moving things with the force. The Wookieepedia page said they teach that last, which made sense to me.

Concerning Palpatine, I don't believe that a character who's one day plan B would be to destroy the universe if he died, would've ever written a will. That would involve imagining the possibility of his death after all. This had me researching the legal process that would happen to belongings if one died without a will. And Palpatine's family did die in Canon too. Palpatine killed them all. I imagine after that, any surviving distant cousins would stay away from him.

And yes, the Role Playing Gungan eventuality is the big idea I had for Jar Jar that had me rolling with laughter initially, inspiring me to use him in this. I hope you enjoy it too.

Next chapter there may be more with Dooku, and some more with Qui-Gon and the Council. Hard to say more until I write it.