"Your meditation has gotten much better," Obi-Wan told his floating padawan. They had a very interesting discussion when Obi-Wan first saw Anakin practicing holding himself up in midair, but after a very honest admittance that Obi-Wan did not actually know how to do it and that he would teach Anakin any technique he did know, the pair seemed to have gotten a bit closer.

"Thank you Master," Anakin responded with a smile. "What are we going to be doing today?"

"I just got another mission from the Council that I will have to go on."

A frown crossed Anakin's face and a tinge of sadness crossed the Force connection between the two before Anakin could stop it.

"So you will be packing your bag. Prepare for cold weather, we leave after lunch." A smug smirk was on the Master's lips as the Padawan opened his eyes to give an unamused glare.

With a small motion, Anakin sent a pillow flying to hit Obi-Wan in the head. "That is not nice Master, making me think you were leaving me behind again."

Obi-Wan just gave a laugh as he stood up from his meditative posture to start on a light breakfast for the pair of them.

—-

Becoming a Padawan reminded me in some ways of going to college and moving into an apartment with a roommate. Except my roommate was my tutor and generally the one who decided what we were going to do. Master Labooda did give me a lot of freedom to pursue my interests, but I could tell she was also making sure I followed a specific curriculum to a certain degree.

She wasn't even trying to hide it, giving me regular tests and making notes on a datapad that she regularly checked over before doing a lesson. It was likely her making sure I got all the lessons I would be missing from being made a padawan so young.

The revelation that the High Council already knew about my status of being reincarnated was worrisome, especially their thought that I was from a long time ago in their history instead of from an entirely separate universe. Thankfully I was able to spend the last month in the free time Master Labooda provided me looking up what I could about the precursor order to the Jedi Order. This Je'daii was one of, possibly the first, to have a structured intragalactic presence of Force users. At some point long ago, a group of dark force users split off from the main order and became the Sith while the remaining chose to focus heavily on the light side and became the Jedi.

Basically, a religious schism happened and there were thousands of years of crusades between the two orders that left many dead and various worlds ruined.

The specifics of the Je'daii order seemed to have mostly been lost, so I was going to have to focus more on the more modern legends of what Jedi could do to create 'lost' techniques that the High Council was expecting me to recall.

While working on that, I also did a much deeper dive into the various councils and found some interesting information. Nepotism is rife in the order when it comes to getting high positions of authority. Just about every member of each of the councils is made up of either the padawan of a previous member, someone in the padawan line of a previous member, or is directly related to someone already on the council.

This was good for me. Very good. The Master of the Order had taught me his personal fighting style, one of his padwans is currently in the High Council and is the sister of my Master. I have a good in. And I know an excellent networking opportunity for the future. One that should further set me on the path of an early and relaxing 'assignment' to a tropical beach planet. For 'research' and 'unlocking' my memories.

Anakin is apparently the chosen one, some prophecy about restoring the balance to the Force, and is the padawan to Obi-Wan 'Sith-Slayer' Kenobi, an excellent pedigree already. To add to that, Obi-Wan was the padawan to Qui-Gon Jinn who was offered a position on the council before his death at the hands of the Sith Obi-Wan killed, making Obi-Wan the one who avenge the death of a prospective council member. And Qui-Gon was trained by Dooku who has sat on the council and was trained by the Grand Master of the Order, Master Yoda.

So, if I get closer to Anakin, I should be able to leverage that in the future as an extra form of 'connection'. Having already helped him with the levitation trick should get me an in, especially if I just so happen to see him and just so happen to decide to check how he is coming along with it.

That would have to wait for now though. I have no reason to know his schedule and we are not currently close enough to warrant me randomly dropping by. The limited space that Jedi typically congregate would have to do for meeting up with him again.

For now, I needed to focus on recalling every detail about Star Wars I could from my previous life. An unfortunately short list.

Darth Vader is dangerous and should be avoided if possible.

Death Star can destroy planets.

Darth Vader is the father to Skywalker.

Skywalker's first name is Larry? Lars? Duke? Been too long.

Anakin Skywalker might be related to Vader's son. Need to find out if he has any siblings.

I was never a big fan of science fiction and only saw the first movie when I was young. It was a very well made cinematic film, but I preferred more historical war movies. And maybe I would occasionally go see a comedy, but such silly guilty pleasures would not help me now.

In fact, even fantasy movies would have provided me a great deal of help in figuring out Force techniques, considering how much the Force matches up to magic.

Actually, I might be able to use my limited memory of some common magic spells from the anime and manga I enjoyed as a child to come up with something. Be a little tricky considering the elemental nature most magic spells align to, but the Sith were said to have used the force to produce lightning, so fire, water, earth, and air should be doable as well. I would just have to be creative in my approach.

Organizing my notes, I prepared a potential list of some tricks that should be easy to create using my current abilities. It would take time and practice, but I should be able to keep the High Council happy with me.

—-

Obi-Wan was glad to be able to take his padawan on this mission. He had been so busy with missions requesting him specifically that he felt they were drifting apart. The lack of time able to train his young protege also weighed heavily on his mind too, making Obi-Wan feel like he was failing as a Master. He couldn't show his concern though, he had to keep a brave face for Anakin.

He had to keep a steady and calm presence for the Order, he was the vaunted Sith-Slayer, a title he had not strived for, but one that came with a burden of adoration and being an example for all the younger padawans and initiates to look to. Not just his one padawan. If it was just Anakin, he could show weakness. He could be imperfect. He could be human. But with all these extra eyes on him, it was his duty to be the perfect Jedi. To never show weakness. To never give into his desires.

To never turn down an assignment, especially one requesting him specifically. Who knew beating one Dark Side user would make him so famous, so popular, so tired.

It was this tiredness and a desire to spoil his padawan in a small way that lead to Obi-Wan letting Anakin fly their ship.

Flying being a generous term currently as their engines had been shot out and they were rapidly approaching the ground.

The hostile pirates blockading the planet was not in the initial report. Neither was the fact they had set up a base of operations.

"There!" Obi-Wan yelled, pointing to an open area near the pirate fortress.

"On it," Anakin said with a cocky grin as managed to direct the falling ship to the area indicated.

The crash was rough, but the pair survived with only minor bumps and bruises, the trail of the ship carving up a path in the snow surrounding the fortress up to the side the ship had come to a stop at.

"Here," Obi-Wan tossed a commlink to Anakin as the pair put on their warmer robes. "We need to get a new ship and get out of here."

"What about the mission, Master?"

"Parameters have changed. Pray they don't change any further."

—-

Labooda was unsure whether or not she should be impressed by Tanya's skills with a lightsaber. On the one hand, the younger girl was only five and showing comparable skill to a padawan of several years. On the other, she apparently has learned many things over a previous lifetime and was subconsciously drawing on that experience.

Deciding that she would have no experience with Vaapad specifically, Labooda chose to be impressed. If Tanya kept up her training, Labooda will quickly be losing their sparring matches regularly. Labooda was fine with this as she had never been particularly interested in lightsaber combat, having always preferred more academic pursuits and practicing her Force techniques. Things Tanya also pursued with a wonderfully refreshing vigor, even if the topics she preferred researching did not always match the same ones that tended to catch Labooda's eye.

Their regular discussions were refreshing and invigorating for the older woman, until she had to go back to the curriculum the Council of First Knowledge and the EduCorps recommended a youngling to learn. Having to follow a specific schedule of education was effective, but stifling the tangent that the pair would travel down in their research and combined pursuit of more knowledge.

When Tanya was ready for her trials and became the Knight she was sure to be, Labooda was going to suggest she look into working with or even joining the EduCorps, Labooda was sure her padawan would be happy and flourish in such a setting.