Chapter Two: Assisting Fate
Small stocking feet pad quietly across durasteel floors, blue eyes scanning the darkness. The young padawan, Anakin Skywalker, steals toward his goal of the lone source of light offered in the common room of he and his Master's Temple apartment: The soft glow of the comm system that sits on the desk in the far corner.
He had awakened this night in the midst of a dream. A dream which left him quite homesick. He cannot contact his mother, so he intends on trying to send a message to the only person who had befriended him other than Qui-Gon Jinn. The one person in the universe who was kind to him and made him feel safe.
Padmé Amidala.
Before they had left Naboo, she had told him to contact her whenever he needed. He intends to do just that.
His small fingers move across the function keys in search of his Master's addresses folder. Clicking upon a file marked as Naboo, he is surprised to discover several messages designated to be sent to the Theed Palace and wonders who his Master could possibly be writing there. Maybe Captain Panaka. He and his Master had spent some time talking while they were there. Master Kenobi was probably checking up on the security situation of Theed after the war, he figures.
Another folder marked Journal catches his attention and the boy's blue eyes dart to Obi-Wan's doorway. He could take just a peek. His Master would never know. Then maybe he would learn something about him. Something that would help him impress the man. Maybe then Master Obi-Wan would let him stay and not send him back to Tatooine.
Because he wants to stay. He wants to be a Jedi more than anything. It's just that Master Kenobi doesn't talk much, other than giving him orders. He isn't like Qui-Gon at all. Qui-Gon had been friendly and kind. Master Obi-Wan seems unhappy and stressed. He isn't mean like some of his previous owners had been when he was a slave, but he isn't exactly his friend either. Not like Padmé. He misses her and he wants to talk to her again.
A creaking sound coming from his Master's room stills his small hands and he waits anxiously until the air silences once more. If Master Obi-Wan catches him snooping in his comm, he'll send him back to Tatooine for sure!
Unsure of how to proceed, the young apprentice searches for a function key to compose a new message. There are two on the side of the small keyboard that read Send Messages and Power Off, next to a silver stylus.
Anakin gingerly picks up the stylus and clicks the screen once. It immediately opens up a blank document on which to compose his message. But before he can write a single letter, the sound of a thud comes from the other room. He drops the stylus back into place and frantically closes the lid on the comm, bolting back to his room and jumps into his own bed.
Obi-Wan stirs some sweetener into his morning tea and wanders through the common room of his new Master and Padawan suite. He had requested new quarters upon his return to Coruscant. Too many memories in the old, he had justified, although he ended up bringing most of Qui-Gon's things with him anyway. Holos and trinkets line the shelves, well-worn rugs lay on the floor as well as furry throws on the backs of the chair and sofa. Qui-Gon's favorites.
Walking toward the opposite side of the room, he peers through Anakin's cracked open door, deciding to allow the boy to have a few more minutes of sleep. He'll need it. There is plenty to be done today.
Mentally checking off the list of tasks to be completed, Obi-Wan's thoughts are interrupted by a chiming sound coming from somewhere near his desk.
My comm, he realizes. "I could've sworn I turned that thing off last night." He murmurs as he approaches it.
Taking a swig from his mug, he reaches down to flip open the cover to power the unit off and immediately begins to choke on the hot liquid, as a blue rectangular box flashes across the screen, big bold black letters notifying him that all of his outgoing messages have been successfully sent and received.