A/N: Thank you to all you wonderful people who reviewed! This is a quick upate for such a long chapter so I hope you like it ;)
WizardWriter86 Thank you! Ani's my fave too!
SCIFIsh: Yea I know I haven't updated in a while. That's 'cause I thought that I would leave it as a one shot but I decided to continue it :) Oh and good luck on your Ry-Gaul fic! I hope it comes out son!
Lola: Lol...me too.
dadsgirl4ever Yea well that's what you get when a wacky person is the author…lol.
Lavender Brown-Halliwell: I can't tell you that yet! Cassidy is 15 and Anakin is like 27 or 28.
THIRD PERSON POV
Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker sat on the makeshift bleachers in the Dueling Hall watching the two sparring padawans. It had been several days since the lightsaber tournament had started and half the padawans had already been eliminated. Every one who was a already chosen as a padawan but wasn't knighted yet was aloud to participate.
Anakin smirked as he eyed the bleachers on the other side of the hall where the younglings and padawans abided. The bleachers on his side, filled with masters and nights, were relatively quiet except for some discussions over the techniques used by the sparring padawans. The padawans' bleachers were alive with cheering younglings and arguing padawans over who was going to win the duel.
Anakin's eyes shifted to his own padawan who was to be fighting next. Cassidy was standing a little ways away from the excited spectators. Anakin suppressed a sigh as he attempted to read Cassidy's blank look. Almost a week had gone by since her confession. The confusion about what to do kept him up all night. He had sensed her embarrassment. It had been rolling off of the poor girl in waves. He knew she knew everything that he could tell her at the moment. After meditating on the mater Anakin decided that this was something she had to sort out by herself. So in the morning he acted like nothing had happened. Anakin was unsatisfied with his decision but then a Jedi never second guesses. He also felt that the meditating didn't help much. 'Not surprising' Anakin thought bitterly 'especially since meditating was never my strong point.' But no matter how much he wished to help his padawan he couldn't think of anything better at the time. Cassidy had caught onto his method quickly. He noticed her tendency to meditate in her spare time increase. Another change, this one he didn't necessarily like, was that her shields were always up and they were strong.
Anakin tried to understand how this could have happened. To everyone else she was close to perfect. Obedient, diligent, talented, at the top of her classes, always neat and polished, and all those other Jedi qualities. Anakin, though, knew her weaknesses. They were much like his own. She had the hardest time suppressing her emotions. Though, he had to admit, she was often more patient then he was even now.
An uproar from the crown brought Anakin back to the moment out of his dejected thoughts. It appeared that the duel was over and the two padawans were bowing to each other. Anakin fumbled mentally for the name of the padawan who appeared to be the winner. It was Paolo Valenzy. 'He's Lexi's padawan!' Anakin thought, excited. Lexxa Lysk, known as Lexi when she had been a padawan, was Anakin's best friend from his padawan days.
Anakin hadn't seen his friend for two years. He looked around and was slightly surprised to see that she wasn't that far away. Lexxa was beaming at the sight of her victorious padawan. Anakin couldn't help but smirk at the way Paolo gave his lightsaber one last triumphant swish through the air and the uproar of girlish screams that it caused.
"Lexxa!" Anakin called to his friend, wonder if she would even hear him since she was so caught up in watching her padawan.
Lexxa turned at the sound of her name. She stared at Anakin for a moment but then broke out in a smile of pleased recognition. Lexxa made her way over to him to sit in a vacant spot on his left.
"Hello, Lexxa."
"Hello Anakin. Or should I say Master Skywalker?"
"No, I suppose you don't have to." Anakin still couldn't get over how much she's changed since her knighting six and a half years ago. He still remembered her as a padawan, with her hair in a tight bun and the padawan braid that she always decorated with a royal blue and a bright pink ribbon. He had seen her two years after her knighting when she stood in front of the council with her new padawan before their first mission together. Then he had seen her two years go in a similar situation. "Where have you been?"
"Paolo and I have been on a mission for the last standard year" Lexxa answered.
Anakin nodded his understanding. Now that Lexxa was back at the temple she had her hair in a more elaborate bun with strands of her wavy, brown hair falling out of it to flow down her neck. The one thing Anakin was sure hadn't changed about her was her gorgeous smile. "Your Padawan fought well" he told her. Even though Anakin had been too caught up in his own thoughts to pay much attention to the duel he knew that Paolo was very good with a lightsaber for his sixteen years.
"Yes" Lexxa mused, "Paolo reached the final round last year. We're going for the top eight this year." Anakin was sure Lexxa had set that gol rather then her padawan. She was very proud of him and was sure he could do anything. She took him on al the dangerous missions with her, or so he heard. Some masters thought that her doting on him would make him too arrogant.
"Well Cassidy is reaching the final round this year. I'm sure of that. Otherwise I do not have any set expectations for her."
"She's fighting next right?" Lexxa asked nodding toward the next pair of padawans approaching the center of the hall.
"Yes. She's going to have a hard time against kkylh Spned." Kkylh was seventeen standard years old. He was a native of the planet Javyb. The boy had brown skin with a goldish tint, large green eyes, and light blue lips. He was two heads taller then Cassidy and long arms that reached below his knees.
"Yes he is a good fighter" Lexxa remarked.
Cassidy was looking over at Anakin. Her master, catching her eyes, gave her a reassuring nod. It wasn't going to be easy but not as had as at first sight. Concentrate, padawan, use the Force. Anakin gave Cassidy he's last guidance before the fight through their bond.
Cassidy liked to be on the offensive, something she no doubt picked up from Anakin. She somersaulted through the air to meet Kkylh. She landed firmly on her feet and struck out at Kkylh's passive form. Her attack was easily parried. The padawans exchanged a series of light blows but Cassidy decided not to waste time. She took one step back and spun her lightsaber in front of her in a constant rotation. Kkylh, attempting to nock of the balance of her lightsaber, lashed out with his own into the middle of the blurry circle the light of her lightsaber was creating. Cassidy, anticipating the move, spun out of the way and swung her lightsaber in a wide arch meaning to bring the winning blow to the back of Kkylh's neck. However, Kkylh levitated out of harms way. Cassidy rolled under him aiming at his ankles. Kkylh was able to jerk one foot out of the ay but Cassidy still managed to get his right ankle, burning his boot and knocking him off balance. Kkulh rolled to break his fall. Cassidy attempted a downward stroke but it was rather clumsily blocked. Cassidy leaped forward, changed the leap into a backflip in midair, and kicked at Kkylh's lightsaber knocking it out of his hand. Both padawans reached out for the 'saber with the force but Cassidy was stronger and the lightsaber flew into her outstretched hand.
"The acrobatics she got from you huh?" Lexxa said. It sounded more like a statement then a question.
"Well I aught her a trick or two" Anakin confessed with a laugh.
"Like turning a forward jump into a backflip?"
"Oh that's no secret. Who haven't seen the real stuff yet."
Lexxa rolled her eyes the way she lways did when they were padawans.
"I can't help it if I'm brilliant enough to have wn this tournament at sixteen."
"I see becoming a master hasn't made you any less impossible" Lexxa muttered taking out her signaling comlink. "Yes, Paolo? Good. I'll meet you back at our apartment…yes I'll be there in ten minutes."
"You leaving now?" Anakin inquired.
"Yes."
"how long are you planning to stay at the temple?"
"I don't know" Lexxa said with a suppressed sigh "Another couple of weeks or so."
"Mhhmmm. Well it was nice to see you again Lexxa. Old friends don't get to see eah other much these days."
"It was nice to see you too Anakin. And I agree. With all the mission and new rumors of Sith we don't get to see each other much these days."
"I'll see you around though" Anakin called to the retreating Lexxa.
"Sure. Bye Anakin!"
Anakin watched Lexxa disappear out of sight sadly. Then he went to find his padawan.
Anakin found Cassidy outside the hall. She had been speaking to one of the tournament organizers.
"I will be fighting again tomorrow, master" Cassidy told him happily. "I've made it to the semi final round! The fight is to be around mid morning tomorrow. We are match number 11."
"Good. Who will you be up against?"
"Shi-Yich Fgahn."
"That shouldn't be too hard especially since you fought so well today." It wasn't usual o Anakin to be so complimentive after watching his protégé with a lightsaber in her hand. He was more use to pointing out her faults yet he felt that she could use the extra encouragement lately.
"Thank you, master."
"I was impressed with you jump-backflip morph."
"Thank you, master." Cassidy was trying not to blush.
"However, keep your kick tighter and your legs closer in when ou flip. It will add speed."
"Yes, master." Cassidy's voice was as flat as always when she said those words. She sounded genuinely happy, though, so Anakin was satisfied for the time being.
"Now lets go home. You look tired."
"Watch! Watch he's going to levitate in about three seconds…se! See what did I tell you?"
"Yea. Except h didn't simply levitate. He flipped over his head so he could land behind him and force a blind backwards stroke which-"
"Did I ask you for a commentary?"
"Shut up Lyt'vehk! Don't mind him Cassidy he's jut jealous because you got this far but he didn't." Cassidy's friend, Michelle Yige, came to her defense. "Come on let's go sit some where else."
The girls found spots in the top row close to the edge of the bleachers. 'I saw you duel this morning it was fantastic!"
"Thanks, Michelle, if I win again now I'll be in the final round."
"That's awesome! You are so going to make it! I got out this morning."
"Oh" Cassidy said giving her friend a sympathetic look. "Who did you loose to?"
"Paolo Valenzy."
"I'm glad I didn't have to fight him yet. I herd him say that he's going for the top eight."
Michelle giggled and started to say more but Cassidy stopped paying attention. She was looking over to the stands across the hall trying to locate Anakin. Not seeing him there she reached out with the Force trying to locate her master. She sensed he was outside the Dueling Hall. 'Not far enough for the Council chambers' she thought 'more like one of the map rooms.' Cassidy sighed. Anakin had promised to be in time for her duel. If he was doing "Council stuff" he could easily break that promise. Lately Anakin had been doing a lot of "Council Stuff."
"This s not a joke, Anakin" Obi-Wan Kenobi reprimanded his smirking former protégé. "We are not living on rumors anymore. These things have been confirmed."
Anakin's disbelieving expression did not falter. 'That's impossible. There is no way the number of Sith could have increased that quickly."
"We do not know for how long the Sith have been rebuilding their Order. We know there were at least two Sith 18 years ago."
"One of which was killed" Anakin countered.
"Anakin! Will you for one stop being stubborn and open you eyes to reality?"
Anakin was about to answer but froze suddenly. He had felt something a lot like distress flicker across the training bond. It had been do faint and so rapid that usually he wouldn't have even noticed it. He was so use to the emptiness in the training bond, however, due to Cassidy's shields that even something that small caused him to reach through the Force to try and locate his padawan and get a notion of what was happening to her.
"Is something wrong?" Obi-Wan asked, fixing his former padawan with a concerned look.
Obi-Wan's confusion got Anakin to relax. It probably had something t do with the duel. 'Hell the duel!' Anakin thought as the realization dawned on him. 'I was suppose to watch Cassidy's duel!' "I'm sorry Obi-Wan" Anakin apologized calmly. 'We will have to continue this lovely conversation later. You see my padawan is suppose to be dueling right now and-"
"Say no more, my friend" Obi-Wan cut in "we will go watch your padawan."
The two made walked out of the map room and made their way toward the Dueling hall.
"I sure would like to see her win the tournament" Obi-Wan remarked casually.
"Sadly I don't think that is possible."
"And why not?"
"I think I sort of set a record when I won a tournament at 16."
"I thought you'd stop bragging about that by now. Besides it has been done before."
"Don't forget that no one else has started their training as late as I did."
"But aren't you suppose to be the Chosen One?" Obi-Wan asked grinning.
Anakin only rolled his eyes and pushed open the doors of the Dueling Hall. The two Jedi made their toward the bleachers hugging the wall.
For a moment hope swelled up in Anakin as he saw that Cassidy was still sparring. But he had come only un time for the last bit. Cassidy performed a complicated maneuver block, a series of maneuvers or movements that flowed smoothly into one another to look like one maneuver, that they had invented during a training session. She successfully penetrated her opponents defenses and reached kill point.
"Well, since I didn't quiet catch what she did there I suppose that that is one of your inventions?"
"Not just mine" Anakin admitted, "Cassidy helped."
"I see."
"Obi-Wan, I herd you're considering taking on another padawan. Is that true?"
"Oh well nearly an exaggeration of my mentioning the possibility. I don't want another one like you."
"Hey!"
"sorry, Anakin, but another padawan like you will wipe me out. I'm not twenty anymore remember."
"Don't pity yourself too much. Besides, this time you'll get to choose"
"True."
"well I suppose I should go see my padawan" Anakin said, watching Cassidy leave the hall. "She'll pout at me for the rest of the evening if I don't explain myself."
"She pouts?" Obi-wan asked looking honestly confused. "It doesn't seem to be in her character. Does she stick out her lower lip the way you always did?"
"No. She just shuts herself in her room and tries to have as little do with me as possible. See that's what's frustrating. I know she's pouting but I can't pin it on her."
"Ah. Well, then I suppose you should go. I'll stay and watch another couple of duels I think."
"I'll see you soon then Obi-Wan."
"Goodbye, Anakin."
A/N: Ok! Ok! I know that doesn't really move the plot along too much but the next chapter should me more fast passed. Also I' sorry but I probably wont be updating for the net couple of weeks because I will be out of town for a week in a couple of days and I still haven't finished my summer homework so the next update will take sometime but I'll make it worth the wait! For now keep REVIEING!