Chapter 27 - Swimming Lesson
'At what age is it normal for human younglings to show empathetic concern for another's emotions?' Obi-Wan read the question on one of Master Don's tests. He smirked with confidence and wrote his answer below it. 'Between eight and twelve months for a non-force sensitive youngling. But Force sensitive younglings can react to emotions, unshielded by others, at the age of three months.' Obi-Wan thought about it a second more, then he added another note. 'Younglings will be unable to shield themselves for at least a few years. This is why it is important for the guardians to be wary of what unshielded emotions they expose the youngling to.'
With the last question answered, Obi-Wan folded the flimsy and went looking for Master Don. "Master. I've finished."
"Oh good." The Master looked over his other student who was taking the same test. It seemed that, when the council ordered the Creche Master to teach them about child handling, they neglected to say specifically what skills he had to teach them. And the overprotective Creche Master decided that he was only comfortable with them learning the breadth of child development, along with the day to day skills. Obi-Wan was a good student though. He didn't complain about anything. Siri, on the other hand, didn't really enjoy memorizing statistics on youngling development.
"Show off," Siri mumbled under her breath.
"It looks like Siri will still take a while longer," Don noticed. "No problem. Today, as you know, is Initiate Abigail's appointment with the healers. It is also the first approved excursion you will have with her."
Obi-Wan looked down. He'd already apologized to the Creche Master for kidnapping one of his charges, and though he knew it was forgiven, he still felt guilty.
"I've packed an extra set of diapers and an extra feeding, just in case. You know how to heat it up. Everything you'll need is in here," He passed Obi-Wan a large diaper bag.
Obi-Wan's eyes opened wide for a second. "All this, for a one day trip to the healers?"
"Yes, well it's better to be safe than sorry. I had to pack you one of her favorite toys and her blanket too. You'll need them to comfort her after the uh…"
"Will she react to that? We didn't cover this. What should I do if she cries?" Obi-Wan panicked.
"Well, she is a Kenobi, after all." Don joked.
"Ha," Siri spat laughing. Obi-Wan blushed. Siri continued to laugh. She put her pencil down and walked up holding her test flimsy. "I'm sure Obi and I will do fine. Thank you so much for giving the council your recommendation. I'm told it made a big impact on their decision."
"Well, you two have proved yourselves. And it does save me having to request another volunteer to escort you all down to the Healers." Don turned back to Obi-Wan and answered his earlier question, "If she cries when they give her the shots, just hug her and she will be fine. You were, after all."
"Wait, shots! I thought she was just getting one," Obi-Wan said.
"One monthly booster, yes. And then there's the Outer Rim Vaccines she will need, if she's to go with you to Tatooine," said Don.
"Tatooine?" Obi-Wan said in shock. Siri shrugged.
"It was the council's decision. Most of the older younglings are going as well. Didn't they tell you?" asked Don.
"No. Anakin did tell me he was going, along with the kids his age, but I hadn't heard anything from the Council itself," said Obi-Wan.
"Oh, practically the only younglings staying are the ones in this room, minus Abigail of course," Don elaborated. "I pity the healers. They've got a lot to do in the next few days vaccinating everybody. At least with Abigail they'll be able to do it with her other routine work."
Siri carried Abigail into the healer's, while Obi-Wan struggled with the large bag Master Don had packed for them. 'There has to be an easier way of doing this,' he thought. 'A bag with a small hover engine? No. Something simpler.'
"Oh look, my favorite patient is here." Bant called out to them as soon as they walked into the lobby. Bant gave Siri a hug, cooing Abigail with a finger. "I'm so glad you get to do this." She turned to Obi-Wan. "And I'm sorry I had to keep it a secret for so long."
Obi-Wan huffed as he set down the diaper bag. "It's okay. I do appreciate you being there for Siri when she needed someone." And it was true. Of all the people who lied to him, keeping this a secret, Bant was the one he blamed the least. True to her personality, she was there for her friend when she needed her.
Bant laughed appeasingly, "Of course. Now, I need to get a weight. Why don't you two follow me?" Bant picked up Abigail from Siri's arms and brought her to a healer's station. She placed Abigail on a scale and made a note of the amount. "She's growing nice and strong. You can take her into room four. Master Che will be along in a bit."
Siri stepped up to take Abigail again.
"Oh, and Obi-Wan. There was a cancellation for the pool later today." Bant turned back to Siri's confused expression to explain, "It's for Anakin. So we can teach him to swim. We were supposed to do it on the day you came back, but they missed it for obvious reasons. And then we rescheduled in a couple of weeks, but it looks like you'll all be in Tatooine then. So it looks like this afternoon is our best option. What do you say?" She turned back to Obi-Wan, expecting an answer.
"Oh, ah. Yeah it does seem like we'll be a little pressed to schedule it in," Obi-Wan stammered as he scratched his head and tried to remember Anakin's schedule.
"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. He should learn to swim soon, before they put him in one of the aquatics classes."
"Oh Yeah. Best to do it soon then," Obi-Wan agreed. There were a few classes at the Temple taught underwater: basic hand to hand combat, lightsaber dueling for older padawans, and a piloting watercraft course, to name a few.
"I'll put it in the books then," Bant said, as she moved to the exam room.
Obi-Wan and Siri followed her.
"Master Che will be with you soon." Bant placed the file in a basket on the door and opened it for the parents to walk in.
Later that evening Obi-Wan walked back to the halls of healing.
"Obi-Wan, two times in one day. Did we ever think we'd get so lucky?" Master Che teased him from behind the desk.
"It's not me this time, I'm here for…" Obi-Wan turned to look back for his Initiate. "Anakin, Anakin there you are." He found the nervous boy walking very slowly down the hall behind him.
"Anakin, your master hasn't been telling you stories about us, has he?" Vokara gave Obi-Wan a scolding look.
Anakin was usually a talkative child, but when he got nervous, he became extremely shy. Obi-Wan figured he'd have to work on that one day, but today it seemed like too much. So he spoke up instead, "Not at all, Master. We're here for swimming lessons."
"Aah, I see. Padawan Eerin is getting things set up. I'll go see if she's ready." Vokara ran down the hall and disappeared around one of the bends.
Obi-Wan sat down and ushered Anakin to sit beside him. He then pulled out his comlink and typed a message. 'To: The High Council, from: Knight Kenobi. I would like to schedule a meeting with you, as soon as possible, to discuss matters important to us both.' There, that sounded good. Of course, in the upcoming meeting he planned to be a little more firm. If the council was going to be sending his daughter to far off planets, he wanted to hear about it right away. He thought about it a little more, then replaced the 'I' for 'Siri and I,' and then he pushed send.
"Hi guys, we're ready for you now?" Bant announced cheerfully.
"Padawan Eerin," Anakin greeted her with a polite bow.
Bant blushed, her cheeks turning a darker shade of salmon. "Initiate Skywalker, how do you do?" She then tapped him conspiratorially and whispered, "My friends call me Bant."
"Anakin smiled up at her and whispered back, "My friends call me Ani."
"That's nice Ani. Why don't you and Obi use one of the exam rooms to get ready. Then he'll show you to the pool."
Anakin looked up at her with a questioning gaze.
"Yes, come this way Anakin." Obi-Wan summoned.
"What do we hafta do to get ready?" Anakin asked.
"You don't want to swim in those robes. They'll get all wet. Come on. I brought another undertunic for you," Obi-Wan said, and Anakin followed him into the room.
When Obi-Wan and Anakin walked into the room with the pool, the boy's eyes grew large. It was Obi-Wan's first visit to the room too, and he was rather impressed. His previous visits to the Healers were spent trying to avoid the place as much as possible. If he knew this place existed he might have been a little less drastic.
Bant was sitting on the edge of the pool, and Master Windu was lounging on a chair nearby.
Obi-Wan walked Anakin closer to the pool, nodding to Mace as he went past him.
"Come Anakin. I thought we'd start with just dipping our toes in the water," Bant said.
Obi-Wan sat next to Bant and Anakin crept near them both. He sat next to the edge and held his feet up out of the water. His eyes nervously glanced around the room.
"It's okay. It won't hurt you. See." Bant pushed herself off the side and bobbed her head under the water for a couple seconds, then came out with only the grace that a Mon Calamari has in the water.
Anakin gasped, and pulled his feet closer to land. Obi-Wan reached out and stroked his shoulder. "You know the purpose of this is to get wet."
"B-But! What if it comes back?" Anakin's breaths were short and rapid.
"What if what comes back?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Whatever Monster drinks out of this thing." Anakin stated.
Obi-Wan almost laughed, but was able to disguise it as a cough. "Oh Anakin. There are no monsters here," Obi-Wan said.
"This is a Therapy pool. Patients who've been injured sometimes find it easier to exercise underwater. That's what this place is for," Bant shared.
Anakin turned back towards the water, slowly letting go of his feet so they could bob lightly over the surface. With a squeal he pulled his foot back out. "It's cold."
"Leave your foot in for a minute. Your body will get used to the temperature change," Bant suggested. She then turned to Obi-Wan. "I think Master Windu wants to talk to you."
"Oh, yes. I'll go see what he wants." Obi-Wan tapped Anakin reassuringly on the shoulder.
He made his way over to where the Master was sitting.
"Knight Kenobi. I received your message. You have news to discuss." Mace said.
"Oh yeah. I was thinking tomorrow morning, in front of the council," Obi-Wan said.
"You said as soon as possible, but if it's what you prefer, I can schedule you for…" Mace pulled out a datapad and began to scan it for an opening.
"Well actually, since you're here, what is the plan for Tatooine?"
Mace nodded and leaned back. "We've been busy with those plans actually. We're sending a lot of people. Anakin. And we'd like you to go, as Anakin's Master, of course."
"And Abigail?" Obi-Wan interrupted.
"Yes. That was actually Master Billaba's suggestion. Once we decided to send you and knight Tachi, infant Abigail and the experiment came up. Master Yaddle was quite convinced leaving her without a guardian for too long would upset the results of our experiment. Something about her being in an important stage of development. We were debating sending just Anakin without you, but then Depa threw the idea in. 'Why don't we just bring the youngling to Tatooine too?' she said. And that was what we decided to do."
Obi-Wan nodded along. "Yes. I'd prefer to be kept up to date on any decisions the council makes concerning Abigail," he said in the firmest voice he could muster. "Finding out today from Master Don was quite disconcerting."
"Oh, of course. I will remind the Council of this tomorrow. Please forgive the oversight. We were quite rushed making plans once we started writing orders to the other Creche Masters. Tomorrow, there will be an official announcement, along with a formal statement of your orders concerning this in your inbox."
"Thank you," Obi-Wan said.
"Is this really his first lesson?" Mace asked, bringing his attention back to the pool. Anakin was now in the water, splashing around playfully with Bant.
"Um-hmm," Obi-Wan nodded affirmatively.
"He's quite impressive. He's actually using the Force to levitate in the water," Mace said.
Obi-Wan stepped closer to the pool to get a better look, and then splash! He was hit with a wave of water.
"Ha ha ha. You walked right into that one." Anakin laughed with his accomplice.
Behind him Obi-Wan heard the deep laugh of Master Windu, too.
"Oh, you laugh now." Obi-Wan ran to the pool stairs and climbed in. After this their lesson became a splash fight, but at least Anakin was no longer nervous of the water, and he was very tired when Obi-Wan carried him home.
Hello,
This chapter was harder to write, and it didn't come out exactly as I planned. I wanted to bring them to Tatooine, but the characters wouldn't cooperate. First Obi insisted on actually taking his daughter to the healer's appointment, and then Bant had to give Anakin the swimming lesson. I hope it's cute, even if it's not hugely relevant to the plot.
My thoughts on Anakin's reactions to the pool were inspired by TFA and the large water trough that Finn bathes in. In the desert, likely the only places they would've kept a large tank of water out, like this pool, were places where animals were expected to come drink. And the pool was a lot larger than an average water trough.
Next chapter I intend to take them to Tatooine. We may time jump to when they are on the ride, or when they are arriving. I have some cute plans for when we get there, and some exciting plans too. I hope I can get them all to work out well.