CHAPTER-14
Anakin was to be free if he won the race. This condition was achieved by a chance dice. Qui-Gon had signed a deal with Watto, the owner of Anakin. He had to use the force in order to save the one part of the force. Qui-Gon was still shaken by the recent discovery of his. The Sith were back and the chosen ones were known to him. He took a deep breath before he saw Anakin climb into his pod. He wished him good luck and proceeded to the viewers' podium. It was confusing times now. He closed his eyes as the race began. He opened them to see Anakin in the race. After half an hour of tenacious patience, the boy emerged victorious. His mother was in tears of joy. She was in tears for two things; one her child had won his own freedom and the second one was that she was sure that her second child and her son one would meet under Qui-Gon's shadow and be safe. She was at peace. Anakin was now free. He was now under the shadow of Qui-Gon. Anakin trusted the Jedi master. The Jedi master managed to sell the pod and gain enough money for the mother to lead a decent livelihood. Anakin gave it to her and bid her and his friends a farewell. His mother had encouraged her son to go and live his future as he became hesitant. Anakin accepted and left with the Jedi master.
On Naboo, Aarya was restless. Maul had told her not to get out of the palace but there were people suffering. She knew she could help them but couldn't because of her word. Then it hit her, Maul told her not to GET OUT OF THE PALACE which meant she could use the force from inside. She ran towards a window and opened it. Disturb protested but Aarya gave no heed. She closed her eyes and reached out to the dark side. She used the force to lift a set of rocks and threw it at the droids. The locals saw this and retaliated. Aarya then quickly shut the window. She then watched as the droids were being attacked by the natives; they were fighting back. All of a sudden there was a knock on the door of the palace. Aarya was frightened. She stepped away from the door.
"AARYA, open the door. Sidious sent me." A female voice was heard. All that entered Aarya's mind was Sidious. She hastily opened the door and ran towards a woman. She wore a high ponytail and was very white. She had two guns behind her back set in an 'X' way. She wore a sleeveless shirt and placed a hand on Aarya's head. "It is okay. I'm here. Now let's go." She said and took her and Disturb to her speeder. Aarya hastily boarded it and soon the three were in the capital of Theed. They were given permission to enter the palace. The woman took Aarya and Disturb to a chamber where Maul was.
"Good job, Aurra. Here is your payment." He said giving her a data pad. She nodded and took it. She checked it and then turned to leave. She patted Aarya on her head before she left.
"Maul." Aarya called out as she ran towards him. She ran to him and hugged him. Maul pushed her away rather roughly and told hastily.
"Aari, you will need to go to Coruscant. There Sidious will be your new master. Do you get me?" he asked rather roughly. He addressed her with the name which he used only when they were alone and something urgent had to be told to her. Aarya stared at Maul blankly. She then nodded slowly. Maul let out a faint smile at her. She too returned the smile with a bright one.
"I have an urgent work on another planet, so I will leave you with the bounty hunter who brought you here. You are to go with her to Coruscant and meet Sidious only." He explained rather harshly.
Aarya nodded. The hunter who brought her was waiting for her in the cockpit. Soon they took off. Disturb was sent with them. The bounty hunter then finally spoke after half an hour, "My name is Aurra Singh. What is your name?"
"Aarya."
"Hmm."
"I thought you knew it."
"Well yes. So do you know where we are going now?"
"To Coruscant."
"Have you seen Coruscant before?"
"Once."
"Did you know that it is the capital of the Republic?"
"Maul told me."
"You seem to like this Maul a lot."
"He is the only one who I think I can trust."
Silence followed after the statement from the young one. Aurra just turned towards the child, while Aarya stared at the white and blue streaks.
A bit farther than them in the galaxy, Maul was in the airspace of Tatooine. He knew that the Jedi and the queen were here. He recalled the conversation he had with his master the previous night.
"Master."
"The invasion shall begin tomorrow. I want you to send the child to Coruscant."
"I shall drop her master."
"No, you have another mission."
"Master?"
"You are to go to Tatooine, where the Nubian queen is. Hunt her and bring her to Naboo. I shall send an assassin. You are to send her with the assassin."
"So be it master."
He sighed deeply as he recalled the expression which she held before she left. Why was it so difficult to let go of somebody? Maul was trained to laugh at the face of pain. But this was not pain, this was everything but pain. This was guilt and shame. It hit him harder than anything. But he knew it was for her to be stronger. So he had to let it go and focus on his mission. He landed on the planet of Tatooine, near a city. He felt the signatures of two Jedi and a strong light side source; the other child. He saw a man and the other child run towards a ship. He readied his speeder and drove towards there.
Jedi master Qui-Gon was running towards the ship with Anakin behind him. They had to reach quickly and leave. Anakin suddenly called out and asked him to slow down. Qui-Gon suddenly felt a dark presence. He turned behind and saw a speeder coming towards them. He called out to Anakin, "Anakin duck." The boy jumped onto the ground and Qui-Gon ignited his lightsaber and readied himself to fight the warrior who jumped off the speeder.
Maul ignited his speeder and drove towards the ship of the queen. He saw the boy slowing down as he was tired. Suddenly the face of Aarya before she left for Coruscant came flooding. It made him to drop his shield and let the Jedi sense him. His distraction made him almost kill the other child. He quickly realized what had happened and jumped of the speeder and ignited his lightsaber. Soon he fought the Jedi Master. The boy was ordered to get onto the ship. Maul's ferocious strikes were enough to tire the old master. The master held his ground. He then ordered his apprentice to ignite the engines. Maul stroke blindly at the Jedi master. His distractions threatened to surface again. He ignored it and focused his anger on himself. This helped him attack the Jedi master with much more vigor. The Jedi then used the sand which entered Maul's eyes as an advantage and escaped. The ship's taking off threw some sand into Maul's eyes. Qui-Gon Jinn jumped into the open door and boarded the ship. He took his time to breath. Maul was left there with sand in eyes. He managed to get some water and cleared his eyes. He then contacted Sidious and informed him. Sidious said that he would look into the next matters.
Maul knew what that meant; Sidious was going to clear him out. Aarya's journey as the Sith'ari had begun. If it was to be beginning from the mark of his death, Maul accepted it.
Qui-Gon and the rest reached the capital of the Republic pretty quickly. Obi-Wan chose the quickest way and they were there earlier than expected. The senator of Naboo; Sheev Palpatine, greeted them all. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Anakin walked towards a transport which took them to the Jedi temple. The austere temple left the young Anakin in awe. The three entered the temple. They walked towards the council chambers. Every time Anakin took a step towards the council chamber, the Jedi who saw him noted his strong connection to the light side. Jedi master Qui-Gon knocked at the door of the council.
"Come in." came a voice which the Jedi master knew very well. The three individuals walked inside. Grandmaster Yoda was smiling as Qui-Gon entered. The entire council's focus was suddenly shifted towards the young boy who was with the two Jedi. They had never felt such a strong connection to the light side before.
"I present the Jedi chosen one." Qui-Gon said after bowing. The council exchanged glances. Qui-Gon then told Anakin to wait outside. The council waited for him to get out then turned their focus towards the Jedi master and his apprentice.
"The Jedi chosen one?" Jedi master Mace Windu asked.
"Yes." The reply came from Qui-Gon. The council exchanged glances again.
"Another one there is you think?" Grandmaster Yoda asked.
"We all heard the prophecy. There are two embodiments of the force. I am sure the other one has already fallen into the hands of the Sith. The fears of Jedi have come true. The Sith have returned."
The council exchanged glances. Then Mace Windu spoke up, "It may be so, but we can't train the boy. He is too old."
"Then I shall train him." Qui-Gon replied.
"You have an apprentice." Jedi master Ki-Adi Mundi replied.
"Obi-Wan is ready to face the trials."
"Yes I am ready to face the trials." Obi-Wan backed his master.
"I don't remember asking you a thing." Mace Windu replied. He then turned to Qui-Gon. "Are you sure about this Qui-Gon?"
"Yes I am."
The council then exchanged glances. Finally after five minutes of silence, Grandmaster Yoda spoke, "Decided to test the boy the council has."
"Thank you master." Qui-Gon replied as he bowed and left. Anakin was sent inside to attend the test. The master and apprentice had another conversation.
"Master if Anakin is the light side, then who is the dark side?"
"Do you remember that time when we went to Ogem?"
"The time when we went to meet our artifact collector but he was murdered?"
"Yes, at that time we met a child who you claimed had a lot of darkness around her."
"Oh yes indeed I remember her."
"Do you remember her name?"
"It was something, A-A…"
"Aarya."
"Yes, Aarya. Why do you ask though master?"
"I ask because she is a Skywalker as Anakin."
"She is the dark side's embodiment."
"Yes."
Obi-Wan was left stumped by this discovery. The light side's embodiment and the dark side's embodiment were siblings. Then how did they get separated? Before he could answer, Anakin came out of the door. He then spoke, "They were calling you both." The two Jedi master and apprentice went inside the council chambers. Inside the chamber, Grandmaster Yoda was waiting for them along with the other Jedi council members.
"Reached a decision about the boy the council has."
"And what is it?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Not trained the boy will be."
"What?" Obi-Wan blurted out. "But Grandmaster he IS the chosen ONE. He needs to be trained."
"Padawan Kenobi, mind your tongue. You are not given permission o talk." Mace Windu spoke.
"I apologize, master." Obi-Wan stepped back allowing his master to speak.
"Why has the council decided not to train the boy?" Qui-Gon asked.
"He is too old." Mace Windu replied.
"But he must be trained."
"We have told you Qui-Gon. He is too old and has too many attachments."
"Then what is to happen to him?"
"We decided to let him go back to his planet of Tatooine."
"WHAT?" Obi-Wan blurted again. "You are sending him back to the place from where he came."
"The next time you speak out of your turn, you shall be facing trials." Mace Windu warned him.
"If the boy shall be sent back to Tatooine, then I shall leave the order." Qui-Gon announced. The council exchanged glances at this. Grandmaster Yoda spoke.
"Not permitted to leave the order you are."
"I do not need the council's permission to make my own decisions. If the council does not have the audacity to take up the challenge of training the chosen one, then it is a dead one." He announced and walked out of the chamber. Obi-Wan too turned and followed Qui-gon. Outside the chamber he saw Count Dooku talking with Anakin. Qui-Gon was standing behind them. He had a faint smile on his face. Anakin was then sent with Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon had asked him to pack his bags.
"What is wrong?" Count Dooku asked his former apprentice.
"The council has decided not to train the boy." Qui-Gon spoke.
"So you are leaving the order?"
"If an order cannot identify a strong force sensitive individual, then there is no need to follow it."
"I will be back in a minute." Count Dooku spoke as he went inside the chamber of the council.
After half an hour or so, Obi-Wan arrived with two bags. Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow.
"I only have one bag, Obi-Wan." He spoke.
"I know. But you are not the only one who is leaving the order." The young man replied, smiling at his master who replied the smile with another smile.
"There was no need of it Obi-Wan."
"There was, master."
"Thank you, son." Qui-Gon replied. The word 'son' rang a feeling inside Obi-Wan's heart which made him feel the love radiating from their bond.
"I believe you will need to pack another bag." Count Dooku's voice was heard. The three, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Anakin turned towards him. The Count walked towards them and ruffled Anakin's hair.
"Why did you leave the order?" Qui-Gon asked.
"There is no use to follow it as of now. And I do believe the queen of Naboo is leaving to launch retaliation on the separatists' blockade."
"Then we better leave quickly." Qui-Gon said as he ran towards the senate building. Obi-Wan used the force to carry the two bags. He then rushed to the room of the Count and packed his bag and carried it too. He ran along with Anakin, who carried Obi-Wan's bag. The two ran towards the landing platform of the queen. Anakin was panting. Soon the three agents of the force and the chosen one boarded the ship along with the queen and rest.
Aarya was on board the ship with Aurra Singh. She was teaching the young dark sider how to wield a blaster. Aarya was at first terrified of the blaster, later she became used to it.
"Hold it like this." Aurra was instructing Aarya. She made her point the gun at a target board. "And press the trigger." Aarya did as told. A red laser went and hit the target board. "See it was so easy." She was telling an excited Aarya. Aarya then sat and ate whatever she gave. Soon they would land on Coruscant.
The ship of the queen took off the platform of Coruscant and readied it to jump into hyperspace. Qui-Gon sat down to meditate along with the three other force sensitives. All of a sudden Qui-Gon felt a familiar dark presence; Aarya. Obi-Wan too felt it and opened his eyes as his master. Before they could react they were in hyperspace. The ship carrying Aarya had landed on Coruscant. Aarya got down and walked towards Sidious who was waiting for her. His hood was down.
Inside the council chambers, the members of the council felt the sudden force signature of a dark sider. It was a strong one. Before they could react; it was shielded. By whom, no one could answer. Grandmaster Yoda realized the mistake of letting Qui-Gon leave the order. But it was too late.
"Good job Aurra. Your payment has been done." Sidious spoke to the bounty hunter. He handed her a datapad. He then bent and took Aarya's hand and beckoned her to follow him. Aarya walked with him to his chambers.
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