Chapter 1: The Phantom Menace
Assoné fingered her new lightsaber, hanging from her belt. She stood in line at the Temple cafeteria, basking in the noises and surrounded by the Force. Having been in the caves of Illium for the past week, she was desperate for social interaction. Assoné was also desperate for food.
"Thank you." Assoné grabbed her plate and looked around for a place to sit. Her master, Ipin'lute, was in their room, meditating. Since she was only 13 and a padawan, Assoné didn't dare to sit with any of the other masters. Suddenly, she heard a loud laugh. Turning around, Assoné saw her old clan. She decided to sit with them, but as she walked over, she noticed that their table was full. Getting closer, they all seemed to be having a good time, without her. No need to ruin their conversation.
Looking past that table, she saw a young boy at a table all by himself. He had dirty blonde hair, and looked to be even younger than her. Assoné wondered where his clan was, or a master. In fact, she had never seen him before. She prided herself on making friends with the younglings, but she had never seen this boy in the Temple. And he was much too old to have just joined the Order.
"Hi." The boy looked shocked, but Assoné shocked herself. She never introduced herself to others. This would be something Ebus did, not her. She quickly sat down before she could change her mind.
"Hi." He continued to eat, without looking at her.
"I've never seen you around here before." Assoné could not think of one reason why a child would be alone in the cafeteria, and had never been in the Temple as far as she knew.
"I'm, kinda new." This did not give any helpful information.
"Where are you from?"
"Tatooine." She had never heard of that planet, but mapping the galaxy was never her strong suit.
"Why are you here?" She wished she could take that back. Now she sounded like an interrogator.
He finally looked up at her. "I'm going to become a jedi." He rolled his eyes like this was obvious. It wasn't. Assoné had never seen this kid in her life. How could she have avoided him the entire time in the Temple. She had just become a padawan. She knew every single younglings Force energy.
Force energy! Assoné could have slapped herself. She was closed off to the Force right now! Her teachers hated it when she closed herself off, but sometimes, the gustiness of the Force really bothered her. She had done so well in the caves, but cut herself off when she came back to the Temple. This kid could be an assassin for all she knew. Tentatively, she pushed her conscience into the Force. All around her, the winds of other jedi blew around. It was calming. She had forgotten how much she loved this. Then she remembered to look for the kid. Then she realized she could already feel him. Assoné blew away from him.
His Force energy was violent. She had felt this before, most notably in Master Windu, but his raw power blew over her. He had little control over it, and she had never seen this kind of power before, even in Master Yoda!
She definitely would have remembered this Force energy.
His face scrunched up, like he felt her presence. Quickly, she got his attention.
"I'm Assoné. What's your name?"
"Anakin, Skywalker."
Chapter 2: The Phantom Menace
