Chapter 48 - Initiate Trials

"The Trial will be in Three parts. The first portion will test your knowledge of the Force and the code we live by as Jedi." Master Windu said to the classroom full of initiates. "You may take the trials as many times as you like, though you should know that this written portion will be different each time you take it."

Anakin scoffed at the idea. He did not intend to take these Trials any more times than he had to.

"A passing score, anything above sixty percent, is theoretically all you need. Although, higher scores do tend to attract more Masters. So I understand wanting to try again in the future," Mace went on.

Anakin felt relieved that he didn't have to worry about that part.

"Remember, I will be your master no matter what." Obi-Wan had reassured him that morning. "Just try your best, and…"

"And if you score higher than Aayla did, he can brag to Quinlan Vos next time he comes over." Siri added with a smirk.

"Bragging is not the Jedi way," Obi-Wan lectured delusively. Then he turned back to Anakin and said in a more serious voice, "Still, you've studied hard, try your best, and no matter what, I'll be proud."

Anakin knew by now that a Padawan's scores on the Trials were a source of Pride for their Master. Thus the Accomplished Masters had only the best students. Anakin wanted to make Obi-Wan proud. He'd already gone to the archives to look up this Aayla's old score, as every Initiate's Trial scores were considered public knowledge. "Eighty-Five percent. You can do this," He whispered to himself as Mace handed out the test.

In order to avoid cheating, the written portion of the trial was on Flimsy, and in addition to Master Windu, Master Billaba and two older Padawans were observing the room. Any use of the Force, whatsoever, was forbidden until the bell rang and they handed in their test forms.

Anakin took a deep breath. He looked down at the Aurebesh writing in front of him. Reading had been one of the first skills the Jedi had taught him. He remembered he wasn't a big fan of the many spelling drills Yaddle had made him do, including the one where they made labels for everything in her classroom. In the end Yaddle had praised him, saying her room had never been more organized. She told him to do the same to a room in his and Obi-Wan's quarters as homework. Did Obi-Wan's eyes grow big when he picked his mechanical workbench as the thing to label! Still, it was useful, both for allowing Anakin to have a quick way to locate the exact bolt cutters he needs, and for his learning to read as well as his peers.

Anakin picked up the pen and started to fill in answers. 'Aurek, Jedi are protectors. That's an easy one! A Jedi is not to value possessions more than the lives he or she is sent out to protect. Cresh, that was Master Gormo's quote. Besh, Cresh, Dorn.'

As Anakin was taking the test, Mace's eyes glanced down at him. A part of what he was doing there as a Master was to block the Younglings from using any bonds they possessed to get answers. It wasn't entirely unheard of for a Knight to promise to train a student, and then offer to help them on their trials, to get a higher scoring pupil.

Of course such an act was forbidden, and would get one excluded from Padawanship for life, but one needed to be careful. Usually blocking them was an act one Master could do, even without the help of the padawans assigned to assist him. But with this group Mace sweated under his robes. He collapsed into the main desk chair and braced for another wind as the boy flipped his page and again concentrated on the questions.

Depa sympathetically glanced at him, from where she was walking between rows of test takers. Mace sat up straight and tried to nod to relieve her worry. He was not successful, the way she cocked her head, she could read his discomfort all over him.

Mace was thankful his former Padawan agreed to help him with what is seen as ordinary busywork, usually left to knights coming back from an extended mission, or who've earned a bit of respite from the field. But Mace knew how strong Anakin could be in the Force. And he knew the boy and his Master had a strong bond. He did not know the boy had formed six additional bonds with his clanmates in this very room.

'Do you need me to take over for a bit?' Depa asked over their own bond.

'No, just keep suppressing everyone else.' Mace answered her. 'We knew Anakin would be the toughest. The kicker is, he's not even trying right now.'

Depa gave him a surprised look. Mace returned it with grim determination, expressing that he was telling the truth. Indeed, all he was holding back was general emotional feedback and the like. Still, it can be hard to control what goes on in one's head, even if you knew you had to control it. So to avoid the chances that Obi-Wan got a stray thought of an answer to the Trial, he had to block their bond today. Mace knew that sounded like a big waste of time, but they didn't want anyone to accuse the boy's scores of being anything less than genuine. Especially with him starting his training so late, the chances were higher that there would be objections.

'I'm going to get Master Yoda,' Depa threatened.

'No, it's too late to get someone else entwined. When we move on to Phase Two of the trials, we will have to reevaluate.' Mace answered her.

She gave him an expression that said, 'No duh!' If he remembered her early padawan days correctly. 'Oh, we're bringing in more than half the council, before we kick into Phase Two.'

"Pens down, everyone. Good. Now Padawan Wilta will be collecting your answer sheets. Phase Two will begin soon. I suggest to everyone to enter a light Meditation and clear your head so that you will be ready." Master Billaba said to all the Initiates.

Anakin had finished his last question in the nick of time and he folded the answer sheet closed as he was instructed to.

Across the room, he heard Master Windu breathe out a long sigh and sat back in his chair. 'Watching all of us work must've been exhausting,' Anakin used his bond to communicate with his Clanmates.

Ramu snickered at it before hiding his mouth like the Master could hear the joke.

He couldn't though. Mace let go of Anakin's bonds as soon as Depa announced the test was over. Now it didn't matter if they communicated with anyone else, the Knowledge part of their Trial was over, and it was standard to give the younglings a little free-time before the next phase.

Mace and Depa left the room as the Initiates were sinking into a light meditation. One of the Padawans stayed behind to monitor them.

"I messaged the rest of the council. Masters Koon, Koth, Yaddle, and Yoda are already in the Testing Chamber. Masters Poof and Tiin say they can probably drop what they're doing and come by too, if we need them."

"We're gonna need them," Mace answered her, with a touch of sarcasm in his tone. Blocking Anakin's bonds for the first part was difficult enough. He wasn't even trying to cheat. The next trial will test their Connection to the Force, and that will include a bit of stress, as a design. And Mace knew it was one of Anakin's coping mechanisms when he was stressed to reach out to his bonds for support. Yet it was part of the trial that they only receive support from the Force.

Depa nodded and pulled out her comlink to type in another text message.

As Anakin sat, he felt centered and calm. It was easier to meditate with others nearby doing the same.

The door to their classroom opened, and Master Billaba stuck her head in. "Initiate Skywalker," she summoned. Anakin looked up. "Your second Trial is ready." She reached out a hand for him to follow her and he did.

When they were out in the hall, he was about to ask her a question about what was next, when she pulled out a piece of dark cloth. She wrapped it around his face so that it covered his eyes, then she whispered to him, "Follow the ping to the testing chambers. Go on. May the Force be with you.

Indeed, as she said it, Anakin felt a 'ping' in the Force from down the hall. He felt her encouragement like a hand on his shoulder in the Force. "Thank you, Master," he said, before he began walking.

Using the Force to navigate a room blindfolded was a game in the Creche. Anakin easily located the door he had to use, and the panel to open it. With a woosh the door slid open, and Anakin stopped, confusion ruffled his forehead.

Inside was something dark. Its long tendrils reached out to him with the Force. At its touch, Anakin felt stronger, more powerful, like everything he dreamed of was at his fingertips. He was tempted to go right up to it. To take it for his very own. 'Surely, with its power, no Master could stand against me. But…' A part of his brain objected to the idea of that. 'Stealing is wrong,' he reminded himself. He lifted his hand to pull up his shields with the Force and it seemed to block the tendrils of dark arms he hadn't realized were probing into his brain from the item.

Anakin rechecked the Force to see if he was even in the right room. He was. The ping was behind something on the other side of the room. 'It must be a part of the trial then,' he assumed, and he stepped closer to examine the dark thing. 'This room must be well shielded, otherwise it would be dangerous to have it here, so close to the creches and Jedi living quarters. I didn't feel anything til I opened the door either.'

He used the Force to bombard the dark item, examining its form. It was a piece of stone, flat on one side, and large ridges on the other. Between these ridges were crude marks made with a hand so drenched in hate that it seeped into the stone and pulled the dark side into the room.

But that wasn't all there was to the carved stone. No, it was broken from a larger rock by another set of hands. Hands that were hopeful, despite the circumstances. Hopeful for rescue from the slavers they were captive of. And there it was, deep down if Anakin pushed the dark away. That little bit of hope was left behind on the stone itself, though it was too dim to see against the murk.

'Hmm,' Anakin tapped his chin like he'd seen his Master do. As he pulled away, the darkness came back into the stone, and swamped the light again.

"There is no way back to the light from darkness," his instructors had taught him. "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

But then, Anakin had another teacher. His mother taught him long ago that a candle in the window was all that was needed to make darkness retreat. He used to sleep with one as a child to keep nightmares away. It was worth a try…

Taking a deep breath, Anakin pushed the light side of the Force into the stone, this time willing it to stay. It fed that little bit of light still in there, and made it grow.

There was a movement in the room, and Anakin almost yelled. The Force presence was so covered in shock and concern that he almost didn't recognize him. "Master Windu?"

Hands came up and unwrapped his face. Anakin looked up at the Master and he asked him. "Did it work? Did I fix it?"

At that point he looked down. On a table in front of him was the same stone he had just been working with, only faint lines on its carved side, which were so covered by darkness they were not apparent before, were now so imbued with light that they were glowing! Anakin recognized the symbols. It was a slave's language. Codes for how to escape, signed by a freedom fighter long ago, one named Leia Winddaughter.

'I knew it. I knew she was real.' Anakin smiled as he read the legendary figure's name.

Anakin then nervously looked back up at Master Windu. The man's eyes were wide open, and his mouth garbled on air a few times.

Yoda saved him, and stepped out from behind the curtain from whence Mace had come. "Good, you have done. This trial, you have passed. Return to your fellow Initiates, you may. Tell Master Billaba the next set of trials will have to wait, you will."

"Uh. Okay." Anakin still had questions, but decided to go give Depa the message. He still had a third part of the trial to complete, afterall.

Hello Everyone,

For this chapter I had to do some creative thinking with what there is on the Wiki's for the Initiate's Trials. According to Legends it is divided up into three parts.

First test of Knowledge is easy to interpret. According to the lore the code is super short, a poem basically, which doesn't work for me. I mean, how hard is it to memorize a simple poem, and why then would they put so much importance to it? My idea is that the poem is only a part of the code, perhaps invented to make memorizing it easier. And the test is multiple choice, A-Aurek, B-Besh, C-Cresh, D-Dorn. They are really the names of the letters in Aurebesh.

Next, in Legends lore was the trial of competence, then the trial testing one's connection to the Force. I switched it around because it made more sense to me.

Lore didn't mention a dark sided artifact, but I got creative. They'd want to be sure their future Jedi would resist the dark side and its temptations. It's only fitting Anakin would completely cleanse their artifact. BTW, I consider it a great wrong that the Clone Wars turned Anakin from a 'Fixer' of droids to an expert in blowing them up. This universe is different, and it will be a popular theme as we move on.

I started writing the next chapter, but when it looked like it was going to be a long one, I decided to cut it here. I still have to finish it, so it will be a little while, but hopefully not as long.