The dinner was a nice change to the war. They had invited some of Obi-Wan's friends. Quinlan Vos, Garen Muln and Bant Eerin enjoyed dinner with them. They all came to the conclusion that Obi-Wan really was a terrible cook and Anakin far better than one would think of an eleven-year-old kid.

"Well, I think, when your Padawan cooks, you can invite us more often, Obi," Master Vos said as he left after getting called to the council.
Knight Eerin and Knight Muln remained, helping to clean the dishes.

"Where did you learn to cook? Probably not from Obi," Bant asked Anakin.
Anakin smiled a little. "I helped my mom back in Tatooine. Since we hadn't had much, we had to be creative. Her meals were the best I ever tasted. She could make the best out of nothing. Sometimes I had to cook for her, when she… wasn't able to," Anakin answered. He faltered once, thinking of times when his mother was beaten by Watto or other costumers, so hard that she wasn't able to do anything without pain.
Obi-Wan glanced to his Padawan unsure how to react, but Bant only smiled at Anakin. "That is very nice from you. Mayhap we could eat and cook together more often. I would like to see how you improve, and maybe I can learn some things from you. I like to cook and am happy to learn more," she said.
Anakin smiled brightly. "I would like that. Maybe I could learn some things from you too? Only if you don't mind," he replied.
"You can count me in. Perhaps he will be able to teach Obi how to cook," Garen commented.
Obi-Wan sighed. "We can do that if you stop to make fun about my cooking," he said.
"But Obi, where is the 'fun' with that," Garen laughed and Bant snickered.
"Don't worry Master, I will teach you. I was a bad cook at the beginning too," Anakin tried to calm down his Master.
Obi-Wan only sighed while his friends laughed.

"Ehm… Master. Since I am allowed to go to my courses again, could I visit Rex and the others? I just wonder how they are," Anakin requested hesitantly.
"I don't see why not. We could visit them tomorrow and ask if they don't have a problem with it," Obi-Wan answered and smiled a bit at his Padawan. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea. On the one hand, he was glad that Anakin got along with the clones and saw more in them than just soldiers. On the other hand, he questioned himself if Anakin got too attached to them. They were in war. Many of the clones would probably die, and Obi-Wan asked himself how Anakin would take it, when one of his closer friends would die.
He remembered how well his Padawan dealt with Beat's death, but Anakin hadn't known the clone very well. How would Anakin deal with the death of Rex or the others?
Obi-Wan sighed. He could think about it, when it happens. For now, it was good that Anakin had friends who could help him through the horrors of war. And Obi-Wan was sure that Anakin was a great help for the clones as well, so he decided to support his Padawan there.

Obi-Wan accompanied Anakin to the Military distract, where the clone barracks were.
Cody and Rex were waiting outside.
The two clones saluted as they arrived.
"I contacted them to meet us here," Obi-Wan said to Anakin, as he looked questioning at him.
"General, Commander," Cody greeted, "How can we help you?"
"My Padawan wanted to visit you, seeing how you live and what you do while we are on leave," Obi-Wan replied.

The clones exchanged short, and a little irritated glances. Rex then shrugged.
"Well, these are normal barracks, with a normal mess and all, but since you are our General and Commander you always can come here. I wonder what we are needed for? Should we show you everything?" Cody wondered.
"Well, first, we don't want to intrude, no matter that we are your superiors and how I know my Padawan, he probably wants to visit more often but only if you are fine with that. We don't want you to feel bothered or controlled," their General answered.
"Well, some might feel a bit uncomfortable at first but since the most are used that he even slept with us in our quarters, I think we will get used to him quite quickly. I don't know what speaks against our al'verd'ika hanging out here," Rex said, and Cody nodded.

Anakin smiled brightly about this and Obi-Wan was glad, too.
"Thank you, I will leave him in your care then," he said. Anakin pouted.
"I don't need a babysitter," he grumbled. Obi-Wan laughed a bit.
"I make sure that he don't get in trouble, sir," Rex said.
"Thank you, Rex," Obi-Wan replied, then he got something out of his pocket.
"I've got you a comlink, so you can contact me, if you need me," he said and handed Anakin the comlink.

"Well, Rex. Since you agreed to look after our al'verd'ika, you can show him around, but don't be late," Cody said, after their General had left. He then entered the barracks.
"Late what for?" Anakin asked Rex.
"Training. We may be at leave but have to keep up," Rex explained.
"Well, then let us begin the tour," he added and showed his little Commander around.

"So, in this barrack is only the 212th accommodated?" Anakin asked.
Rex nodded. "Each barrack is for one battalion or sometimes for an entire legion," he explained.
"It looks blank but here we have some luxuries, we don't get at the star destroyers or other bases. We have some varieties of meals in the messes. Each mess provides three to five battalions. Then each barrack has one better equipped training room. And there are more specialized training rooms for everyone. The best are the common rooms. Each barrack has one to three common rooms. They may be blank too, but it's better than to spend our free time in the quarters or the mess," the Captain added.
Anakin only nodded. He knew to expect little from then barracks, but the minimum the clones were provided still strengthened the feeling, that the clones deserved so much more.

While they walked through the barracks, they met various clones. The ones who didn't know Anakin or only saw him a few times on the star destroyer were a little vary and only glanced at him. The others, like Jesse and Hardcase greeted them, delighted that their little Jedi visited them. They asked how he and his arm was, chatted a bit, and Hardcase even joked a bit. Hardcase saw Anakin already as one of his brothers.

"Well, I have to go now to the training," Rex said after a while. "Do you want to come with me?" he asked.
"I would like to, but I hoped to meet Kix. I thought he might be interested that my arm heals well and that I will get a prosthetic soon," Anakin answered.
"Kix should be in the medcenter. I can explain how to get there. It is quite easy. It is right next to the barracks from the 104th. These are the ones we picked up, as we traveled back here," Rex answered.
"You mean the ones with Master Koon as their General?" Anakin asked and Rex nodded.
"Okay, then I will visit Kix. Thank you for showing me around. I would like to come back the next days if it's alright," Anakin said.
"Of course. You can come whenever you want, al'verd'ika. When you call me beforehand, or sent a message, I can see who is here and has time," Rex replied.
"Oh, you don't have to. I just like the company of you all. I don't want to bother or keep you off from work. Maybe I could even help with a few things. Even one-handed, I am a good mechanic," Anakin said.
Rex smiled. "I think we find a way. Say hello to Kix from me," Rex said his goodbye, and they parted.

Anakin entered the medbay and was greeted by saluting clones. One of them was Coric.
"Hello, Coric. How are you?" Anakin greeted. Coric smiled. "I am doing well, Commander. Can I help you?" he replied.
The other clones who didn't know Anakin were astounded, first that a Jedi Commander could be so young and second that he spoke so casual to a clone and even used the clone's name.

"I thought about visiting Kix. Thanks to him, I survived this," Anakin answered and showed him his stump briefly. Because of his wide Jedi robe, the missing of his half forearm was easily overseen.
Despite already hearing from the injury, Coric's eyes went wide.
"I… I can bring you to him. I was about to fetch something out of the stock for him," the clone offered.
"May I help you?" Anakin asked.
Coric hesitated, looking where Anakin's stump was hidden by the wide sleeve.
"I still have one fully functional arm with a hand. If it isn't too heavy, I can carry it," Anakin said, a little annoyed.
At this, Coric barked a laugh. "Right, that is our Commander, always helping," he replied, "then come with me. Let's see what you could carry."

Together they carried medical supplies to Kix.
"What are you doing here?" Anakin asked Coric while carrying.
"I… Well, I asked Kix if he could teach me a bit, so I can help my injured brothers more," Coric answered a bit uncomfortable.
Anakin scrutinized him. "It is because of Beat. Because you couldn't help him," he concluded.
"Yes, if I could have provided some medical help, he could have survived," Coric admitted. Anakin nodded.
"I know the feeling. I have the same," Anakin said.
"I asked our chief healer to teach me force healing. But this would take time, so I wanted to ask Kix for help too. I know first aid but…", Anakin began.
"First aid is for some brothers not enough. Some wounds are too big to stop the bleeding. And if there is internal bleeding, I want to be able to do more," Coric finished. They smiled at each other. It was good not to be alone with this feeling.
"Do you think we should learn together?" Anakin asked and Coric nodded.

Together they entered Kix's office.
"There you are, I began to think that you got lost," Kix said, without looking up from his datapad.
"Well, I found an al'verd'ika on the way and decided to bring him with me," Coric replied, while putting the supplies on the stretcher.
Hearing that, Kix looked up. "Commander!" he exclaimed, jumped up and saluted.
"Relax, Kix," Anakin waved it off.
"What are you doing here? You should rest. Wait, did you carry these with Coric? Coric, how could you allow that, you know that he is injured," he began his tirade.
"Chief healer Che allowed me out of bed. I am allowed to go to my courses, so I am allowed to come here too. And I didn't use my injured arm. I didn't strain myself. Coric did nothing wrong," Anakin instantly protected the stunned Coric.
Kix sighed. "Sorry, Commander, Coric," he apologized.
"Since we aren't taught much about how to patch up children, I might be a bit overprotective. Still, if I find out, that you don't follow the healers or medics orders, I will get you and bind you personally at your bed," Kix added.
Anakin grinned. "Alright," he said.

"So, what can I do for you?" Kix then asked.
"I began to learn force healing but learning this would take some time, and since I need to know anatomy and probably basic medical knowledge for it, I wanted to ask if you could help me. Like Coric, I want to be able to help your brothers, when no medic is near," their little Jedi answered.
Kix couldn't help but smile. "I would welcome that, thank you," he said in earnest.
Anakin blushed over that and looked sheepishly at the bottom. "I… I am your Commander, your safety is my duty, isn't it?" he tried to give a formal explanation. He liked to get a better relationship with the clones, but it surprised him how ready Kix was to thank him. Him, one of his superior.
Anakin knew, that the clones didn't hate him and probably even liked him a bit, but he belonged still to the republic, which used and treated them like things, tools.
"I am thankful nonetheless, Commander," Kix replied.
"And since you are here, you could begin your first lesson with Coric," he added.
"I would love to," Anakin said smiling.

Kix pointed at the boxes they had brought him.
"In there are unsorted medical supplies. Everything you need as a medic on the battlefield. These are unused leftovers from battles. I want you to sort them and see if they are still good. If not, you can put them aside. They can be used for training. After you checked that, I want you to think for what each of these is used and what else they could be used for," Kix assigned them.
Coric and Anakin saluted and began with their work.

After some time, Kix had used the time to work himself, he came to them, and they spoke about their ideas. He explained, showed how to use some supplies and even gave them homework.

It was evening, when Anakin get back to the temple, and he was feeling good.