A/N: Trigger warning: vomiting. Lots of vomiting. Unsurprisingly, this warning applies throughout the whole fic.

Anakin was still a bit shaky from his bout without the Force, which had set back his healing from Palpatine's torture which had taken far longer than he'd liked, but he could still stand in front of a classroom and teach. And he'd weaseled his way onto several missions despite Vokara Che and her team of meanies trying to keep everyone from having a fun time. He had been going stir crazy stuck on Coruscant. But they had been low-energy missions, and in some ways, less taxing than teaching a roomful of children, even if they were all Jedi initiates.

In a lot of ways, missions were less taxing than teaching a roomful of Jedi initiates.

"Settle down!" Anakin shouted.

The bustling initiates reluctantly sat down in their seats in front of their tables piled high with mechanical parts. Anakin resisted the urge to rub his forehead. He was teaching Mechanical Basics, and the students had been given the task to acquire some parts to build a simple droid. Part of the challenge had been doing it without a master's—or a parent's—help. Some, the ones with mechanical bent and the ones that had been paying attention in class, had gathered supplies that would do very well for a simple droid. Some, however, either hadn't understood the assignment or didn't understand what went into a droid. Some kids had parts scavenged from Temple air vents or lightsabers, a few had piles of batteries, and two had nothing at all. Leia had tried to dismantle their newly-built nanny droid and bring her in for the class, but had been caught and was now sulking and oil-covered with proper parts.

"I see some of you completed your assignments," Anakin said. He caught the eyes of some of the high achievers and smiled. He had his eye on one kid, a bright Rodian boy, that might need to be moved into his Advanced Mechanics class. Luke would love to work with him. "And some of you…" He caught the eye of Corran Horn, who had an eyestalk from an old droid and nothing else. "Were less than satisfactory."

Corran grabbed the eyestalk and pulled it close to him.

"Now, I told you last class that you would be presenting your proposed droid and explaining how the parts you gathered help build that design. Who wants to go first?"

A couple of the more mechanically-minded younglings enthusiastically waved their hands. Leia crossed her arms and glowered at Anakin. Even worse, to her, than that she'd been caught was Anakin banning Luke from helping her with her project.

Corran Horn snorted and rolled his eyes. He muttered something under his breath.

"Corran, why don't we start with you?"

Corran huffed and walked to the front of the class. "I'm building a droid to investigate who stole my Corellicrackers from my bag. The eyestalk will help because all droids need eyepieces if they're going to investigate things. I didn't get anything else because I was too busy looking for my Corellicrackers."

A Nautolan in the back snickered.

Corran glared at the Nautolan. "Do you know anything about my Corellicrackers?"

The entire class tittered.

"All right, that's enough," Anakin said. If Corran said Corellicrackers one more time… He'd have to talk with him about not completing the project after the class was over. "Corran, go back to your seat."

Corran didn't budge. "But I know one of them knows something about my Corellicrackers! I need to investigate."

Anakin laid a firm hand down on Corran's shoulder. "No, you need to return to your seat so we can continue with the class."

Corran scowled. His face paled. He jerked his shoulder out of Anakin's grip.

Something needled the back of Anakin's mind. Danger? No, it was far too mild for that. But something was wrong. He could feel it.

He opened his mouth to admonish Corran for not listening to him, then watched as, almost in slow motion, Corran vomited onto the floor.

"Ew!" the class chorused.

A girl in the back threw up next to her chair.

Anakin's head pounded with sudden pressure. He snatched up the trashcan in the corner of the classroom and gave it to Corran. "Hold that." He skirted the puddle on the floor and wove through the tables to the girl that had thrown up. She was small and had black hair braided around her head. He knelt by her desk. "Are you all right?"

Tears filled her eyes. She shook her head. She was pale like Corran, and a bit shaky. "I don't feel good, Master Skywalker," she whispered.

Anakin pressed his hand to her back. "All right, come on. I'll take you and Corran to the Halls of Healing."

She sniffed, wiped her nose, and nodded. She slid off her chair and trudged to the front of the classroom.

Anakin patted her shoulder. "If you feel like you need to throw up again, just use the trashcan Corran's holding."

"Okay." The girl's voice wobbled, but she pressed close to Corran, clutching his arm.

"I don't want to go to the Halls of Healing, I want to find my…" Corran trailed off and vomited into the trashcan. "Corellicrackers," he finished weakly.

Anakin straightened. "Everyone else, go into the hallway slowly. If you feel nauseous, breathe slowly through your nose and lie down once you get to the hallway. Narthil, I want you to lead the class in a basic meditation while I take these two to the Halls of Healing."

The fourteen-year-old padawan that had ended up in the class because he'd put it off for far too long nodded. He rose from his table and gestured to the younglings. "Come on, let's get out of here."

The younglings stood and began to file out.

Anakin put one hand on the backs of each of the sick students and waited until everyone else was out, then pressed them forward. "Come on, let's get going."

Corran threw up twice more on the way to the Halls of Healing and the girl threw up three times. Thankfully, neither of them threw up at the same time so they were able to share the trashcan.

As he stepped into the Halls of Healing, he spotted a familiar figure sitting in one of the chairs. "Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan straightened. "Ah, Anakin. What brings you here?"

A Jedi healer stepped forward. "I could ask you the same question, Master Skywalker."

Anakin nodded to the two younglings. "These two threw up in class."

"I see." The Jedi healer smiled at the two. "Why don't you come with me?" She guided the two off into another room.

Anakin sat down heavily next to Obi-Wan. "I had two students throw up in class."

"Lucky you," Obi-Wan said. "I had just one."

Anakin restrained a groan. "Do you think it was some bad food in the kitchens?"

"I hope so," Obi-Wan said. "If not…"

"Then we might have an outbreak on our hands," Anakin finished.

The door hissed open. A Temple guard came in carrying a young human female child, no older than five. The guard's helmet was in the girl's hands and she clutched it close to her chest.

Anakin straightened. "Rex!"

Rex gave a small smile. "Hey, general. Let me guess, someone threw up?"

The small blonde girl in his arms whimpered. "I'm sorry."

"It's perfectly all right, little one," Rex said. "She's the third one I've had today."

The girl threw up in the helmet. Tears dripped onto her cheeks.

Rex rubbed her back. "It's all right. Just get it all out."

The Jedi healer that had been sitting at the front desk emerged from the back room. She took one look and sighed. "Bring her in here with the others."

Rex nodded and carried the little girl into the back rooms.

Anakin dropped his head in his hands with a groan.

"You were saying?" Obi-Wan said.