Obi-Wan and Anakin were seated in the sky car they had chosen to use to take the group to the diner they would be heading towards for lunch, some fresh air outside of the Temple being something Anakin seemed to constantly crave.
"That technique you used at the end," Obi-Wan started, breaking the silence. Anakin flinched at the thought of where this conversation was about to go. "I'm not going to say you can't use it. I could not feel any Darkness from you using it, but you need to be more careful."
"Yes Master," Anakin agreed, his previous high of having landed a strike against such a maneuverable opponent long since lost.
"No Anakin, I need you to understand how dangerous that technique could be. You showed wonderful restraint, but if she hadn't been Force pushing you, and your technique, away, or if you had gotten her in the right place even a few millimeters deeper, we would not be going to lunch with her."
Obi-Wan heaved a heavy sigh and looked Anakin directly in the eyes.
"She could be laying on a slab in the morgue right now while an arrangement for her funeral pyre was made if you had hit her in the throat instead. You can practice that technique, but I do not want to see you use it in a spar again."
"Yes Master," Anakin agreed, nodding his head with the full seriousness a teenager could bring forth.
Obi-Wan gave Anakin's shoulder a pat as he noticed their companions for the coming meal approaching.
"Hello there," Obi-Wan said as the two ladies got into the sky car before Anakin began to drive them to their destination.
"Where are we heading?" Labooda asked, having not set up a specific restaurant before hand.
"A little diner run by some Tatooine natives that Chancellor Palpatine showed me a while ago," Anakin answered.
"You know the Chancellor personally?" Tanya asked.
"Yes. We meet a few years ago during the Naboo crisis. We occasionally spend time together when Master is away on missions. He had been trying to teach me any politics, but I find the lessons a bit pointless. Jedi don't deal with politics."
"Actually, we Jedi deal with politics all the time. One of our tasks is to negotiate peace between different groups of people, which requires compromise and deals. That is the core of politics," Labooda said, taking a moment to help teach something that her own Padawan has seemed to have already learned.
"Also, if you want to work your way up through the Order, you will need to know who to get close to and who to help in order to get promotions and positions. Networking in such a way is also politics," Tanya added on, not seeing the scowl briefly form on Anakin's lips. "Pay close attention to the Chancellor's lessons. As a successful politician, he should be able to offer some insights on how to politic that you are probably not going to get anywhere else."
Obi-Wan was stroking his beard, thinking about how he felt about this conversation and how much time Anakin was spending with Palpatine. The man seemed nice enough and always gave off an air of generally wanting to help, but something about the man always rubbed Obi-Wan the wrong way. It was never something he could put his finger on, just a gut feeling that seemed best to put out of mind.
"We're here," Anakin said, parking the vehicle before jumping out and leading the way in, greeting the operators by name. They were quickly escorted to a fairly private corner booth near the back of the restaurant.
"So, you have been here before, what is good?" Labooda asked Anakin.
"Their bantha churly is really good here. Very warming and flavorful."
"Just be careful about how spicy you get it. This little hellion likes his food hot," Obi-Wan said, giving Anakin a grumpy look.
"I don't know what you mean, that is just normal for Tatooine food," Anakin said with a grin that was trying far too hard to look innocent.
"So you like spice?" Tanya asked, giving Anakin a very calculated look. A look that Anakin returned with a challenging look of his own.
"Oh dear." Obi-Wan gave Labooda an exasperated look that said he knew exactly where this was heading. "Best get a round of lasti for everyone."
"What is lasti?" Labooda asked, unfamiliar with the cuisine of the outer rim.
"It is a drink made from bantha yogurt. I learned the last time I let Anakin order for me that it is very good at cooling the mouth from the inferno these two are about to have."
"Are we ready to order?" The waitress asked, having just arrived at the table.
"Bantha churly. As hot as possible." Anakin answered with a challenging look at Tanya.
"Same." Tanya agreed without a second thought.
"I will also have the bantha churly, but as mild as possible," Labooda said.
"Same, as mild as possible, and a round of the sweet lasti for everyone," Obi-Wan ordered.
The waitress gave them a smile before going to fill their orders.
"What did you do at the end of the fight to cut me?" Tanya asked Anakin.
"Well, I thought that if I couldn't push you away with the Force, I might be able to push through you instead. So instead of creating a wall of Force, I made a line that I sent at you."
"Hmm." Tanya picked up one the disposable napkins and looked at it before swiping her fingers at it, causing a cut line to form on it. "Useful."
"Speaking of useful, what was that thing you did? It looked like there was two of you and Anakin's blade went through one of them," Obi-Wan asked.
"An illusion. All I do is create a construct of light that mimicked my appearance while having it move in a different manner. Creating shadows to make it look more realistic was the part I had issues with for a while, but I think I have it to a useable point."
"Considering how you managed to trick Anakin with it, I might need to learn it myself." Obi-Wan favored Anakin with a smile. "I need to have a few tricks myself to keep an edge on my padawan or he might just win a duel one of these days."
"You can count on me besting you Master," Anakin said as the food arrived.
The churly was chunks of meat and vegetables in a thick fragrant sauce that clung to the meat with a glistening orange colored hold, served alongside charred flatbread that Anakin waited to eat towards the end of the meal to sop up the sauce, the rest following the lead of the Tatooine native in how the meal should be eaten. An impromptu contest of who could go longer without touching the sweet, cold, thick, milky blue drinks started between the youngest two diners. The competitive staring creating a thick tension between them while the two Jedi Knights gave exasperated sighs at the childish antics.
—-
"A proposal you have?" Yoda asked Mace Windu as most of the High Council was gathered for a meeting.
"Yes. One of our Padawan has chosen to research how to combat the slavery in the outer rim."
"Another one?" Even Piell huffed.
"A bit different from most." Mace Windu sent a copy of the proposal to the data pads of the other Council Members. "Instead of going after the slavers directly for crimes or directly freeing the slaves, she is going after the underlying economic reasons many slaves end up becoming slaves in the first place."
"Because slavers take people and force them into slavery."
"If you flip through graph 3-2, you will see that according to our own data gathered by various Jedi going undercover to stop a slave trade ring that a majority of slaves either voluntarily enter into slavery to cover either their own or a loved one's debt or were originally the child of slaves and had no other choice but to become slaves as well. Those forced into slavery by criminals make up a relatively small 19% of slaves. By uplifting at risk populations we might be able to weaken the slave markets indirectly."
"Looks like this proposal is creating an entire society," Ki-Adi-Mundi noted as he looked through the proposal. "Entertainment, relaxation, laws, multiple suggested investors, local defense forces. I do have some questions about some of these proposed future income sources to keep the project going in the long term. Specifically that it appears one of our padawan seem have an interest in legalizing gambling and certain forms of adult specific entertainment. Are you willing to divulge the identity of the padawan in question?"
"It is Padawan Degurechaff that wrote this proposal."
"Ah, the reincarnated one. That explains it. She must have seen some of these tactics have a positive effect in her last life then."
"If she has such positive results in her last life, then why is there still slavery?" Piell asked.
"It has been thousands of years since the Je'daii and the Sith had a long history of enslaving populations during their crusades, and the Hutts have long stymied any attempts to deal with the slave trade in their area of space. Obviously any positive results had a backslide in the intervening years."
"If that is the case, then what are we going to do? This proposal appears to leave very little room for our involvement."
"We provide funds and write into the contracts that are being proposed for the resort and casino and other related businesses that the Jedi Order has the right to check on the wellbeing of the employees to insure they are being provided for properly. Otherwise, we let this play out. Our priority for this proposal should be the wellbeing of the general population of Ryloth and that the day to day operation of the governance and businesses involved are, as is our tradition, not our concern."
"So we go with this proposal, but who do we send to arrange the matters?"
"Why isn't it obvious? Tanya is already well established with this proposal, so we let her take the lead and offer advice and guidance when she asks for it."
Yoda looked around the room before nodding to himself. "A decision we have reached." He tapped his walking stick on the ground before they moved onto the next item on the agenda.