In Anakin's first week back, his sleep was deep and restful, thanks to the medications. With reducing them, his sleep got back to normal. Falling asleep required more time and wasn't as deep. But he could still get a good night's rest. Until the night before, he would go back to his classes.
He heard screaming. It was a man. As he looked around, he recognized that he was on one of the lower levels of Coruscant. He followed the screaming to an abandoned storage hall. He walked through the hall. The screaming stopped. Then he heard something behind himself. He spun around. There were Gardulla the Hutt and Watto.
"So you have decided to come back to us?" Gardulla asked laughing.
"I… I am free…" Anakin stuttered and backed away.
"Free?" she laughed and leaned forward, looming over him. She was giant and he felt tiny. He wanted to run away, but couldn't move. His hands and feet were in shackles.
"This… this is the republic… You… you can't…" he tried to explain.
"And you think the republic cares?" she asked.
"Slavery is forbidden…" Anakin's voice got smaller while his fear grew.
"Forbidden," Gardulla laughed. It boomed in Anakin's ears.
"A lot of things are 'forbidden' but still exist," she replied.
"Watto, show our slave how the republic cares," the Hutt ordered.
Watto cackled and raised an electro-whip.
"No… please…" Anakin begged, still knowing the pain of this torturous instrument.
Watto swung the whip at his right arm. He cried out in pain. Numerous screaming filled his ears.
"Anakin!" someone shouted.
Anakin jerked up, eyes wide.
He sat in his bed, sweating. His injury throbbed painfully.
"Anakin, it was just a dream. You are in the temple, I am with you. Everything is alright," Obi-Wan, who kneeled next to his bed, said.
"M-Master…" Anakin mumbled and looked at him.
"I am here, Padawan," Obi-Wan said and grabbed Anakin's shoulder.
Anakin sighed in relief. But grimaced, as the pain got worse.
"Does your right arm hurt?" Obi-Wan asked, but grabbed already the painkiller and used the force to get a glass of water.
Anakin nodded, took the painkiller and looked at the floating glass.
"What about unnecessary use of force?" he asked weakly as he grabbed the glass and took the medicine.
"I didn't find it unnecessary, if my Padawan is in distress and in pain," Obi-Wan replied.
"Thank you," Anakin said and smiled. The painkiller began quickly to work.
"You are welcome," his Master responded.
"Do you want to talk about the dream?" he then asked.
Anakin hesitated. "It was just a bad dream, probably triggered by the pain. It also pained in the dream," Anakin answered.
Obi-Wan nodded. He wasn't satisfied, but let it slip. It was early in the morning, an hour before sunrise, and he saw how worn-out Anakin was due to this dream. It wouldn't do his Padawan good to be bothered with it, that he was sure of.
"Do you want to sleep a little more?" Obi-Wan asked, but Anakin shook his head. It still was the time he often woke up, so he probably couldn't sleep any longer even without fearing the nightmare would come back.
"Okay, then let us make a relaxing breakfast," Obi-Wan suggested.
And that they did. Obi-Wan enjoyed a cup of tea, and Anakin had gotten a cup of hot chocolate. Something Obi-Wan allowed him to drink only rarely.
Anakin couldn't forget his nightmare, but he could relax and think of other things.
It was time for Anakin's first class that day. It was late morning and the painkiller started to wear out.
He waited with the other Padawans, who were all older than him, for their teacher to arrive.
The teacher, a male human, arrived and let them in the room. As they took their seats.
Anakin sat in the last row next to a female Mirialan named Vylo Torfree.
"Padawan Torfree, I want you to share your notes after the class with Padawan Skywalker. Due to an injury, he is unable to write," their teacher requested.
"Yes, Master," Vylo answered, but didn't seem very happy about it.
The lesson began and Anakin tried to listen. It wasn't easy. He still wasn't used to sit quiet and listen. Normally, he would doodle in at his datapad while listening. He just needed something to do for his hands. But that wasn't easy now, and the increasing pain didn't help either.
Despite the pain, Anakin stayed in the lesson. He didn't like his classes, but he didn't want to fall further behind his peers.
After the classes, Vylo copied her notes to Anakin's datapad. He thanked her and packed his things together.
He was on his way out of the class, as someone grabbed his right arm, right over the bandage.
Before he could react, he was yanked against a wall, his arm pressed against the wall.
It was Vylo, who stood before him, holding his arm and staring at him.
"You are some spoiled kid. Getting in our class, because your Master could negotiate for you to skip basic mechanics, and come to us in advanced mechanic. You are at least two years younger than we. And now you don't even have to take notes, because of some injury. Let me guess, you got only a little burn while lightsaber training," she hissed. What she didn't see in his rage was Anakin's sleeve hanging down, making it obviously that he was missing a part of his arm.
The other children gasped, as they saw it.
Slowly, after she didn't get any answer from Anakin, she looked at his arm and her eyes widened, as she realized, that it was far more than a little burn.
She wanted to step back and apology, as a fist hit her in the face. She stumbled back and got a kick in her gut, sending her in a table.
Anakin stood before her, getting ready to beat her further.
He was about to punch her face again, as their teacher entered the room again, after a Padawan had fetched him.
"Skywalker, stop that at once!" he cried, but Anakin punched his classmate nonetheless, and the teacher had to grab him and get him away from Vylo.
Obi-Wan hurried to his apprentice's classroom. He just came back from watching some initiates because their caretaker was ill, as he got a message telling him, that his Padawan got into a fight with a classmate.
In the classroom, Obi-Wan saw the Jedi Master, who taught this class, Anakin's classmate Vylo Torfree, her Master and Anakin.
Anakin looked shortly at him and then back down. Obi-Wan sighed. It seemed his Padawan hadn't learned to control himself, despite doing so good in the war.
"Take a seat, Knight Kenobi," Anakin's Teacher said. Obi-Wan nodded and said next to his Padawan.
"Padawan Torfree, could you tell us, what happened?" the Teacher said and before Anakin could complain, he added, "Skywalker, you can tell us your point of view after Torfree."
"I was angry, that I had to give Padawan Skywalker a copy of my notes. I thought he was just spoiled and didn't have a server injury. I grabbed his arm and pressed him against the wall, telling him my opinion. In my rage, I didn't realize that I hurt him. I acted out of anger. That wasn't right. As I realized what I did, I wanted to step back and apologize, but he attacked me. Punched me and kicked me in the table. Still, I want to apologize. It wouldn't have happened if I had released my anger in the force," she told her part of the story.
"Thank you for telling us. It is brave to admit mistakes. And it is good to regret it. But we can't let something like this unpunished," the teacher said, and then looked at Anakin. "What is your point of view?"
Anakin looked up. He hesitated before answering, "It was, like Padawan Torfree said. I felt her anger, so I thanked her for the copy and wanted to go, so that I couldn't anger her more, but before I couldn't leave, she pressed me against the wall. I defended myself."
"How is your injury?" Torfree's Master asked.
Anakin rolled up his sleeve. Bloodstains were on the bandage. It seemed that the wound had opened.
Before anyone could react, the Mirialan Padawan stood up and bowed deep to Anakin.
"I apologize profusely for my wrongdoing and hurting you," she said.
Anakin blinked, he hadn't expected an apology.
"Uhm… It's okay, I guess," he replied tentative.
"Why didn't you said something. It probably hurt," Obi-Wan said a bit unsettled.
"It hurts all the time and I won't bleed out," Anakin just said.
"Padawan, your Master is right. You should have said something. Your well-being is the most important," their teacher said.
"Yours too, Padawan Torfree, I hope you didn't hide something that hurts you," he added, but Vylo only shook her head.
"Good, then do you think we could finish this before you go to the halls of healing, or should we postpone this discussion?" the teacher asked.
"I am alright," Anakin said baffled. He couldn't quite process that they were concerned about his well-being. Didn't they think he did something wrong? Maybe they were afraid that he would be further damaged. That would make sense.
Anakin didn't realize, falling back in his slave thinking, once again.
"I trust you there. But after that I want you to go to the halls of healing," the teacher replied and Anakin and Obi-Wan nodded.
"Ok," he continued, "You said you defended yourself, what is quite understandable. It is still violence against a classmate, but since you were in pain, and she acted first, I can understand this. But why didn't you stop after that? You had fought her off, but then continued to attack."
Anakin looked at his teacher, not understanding.
"But that was part of the self-defense," he said, confused.
Now it was part of the others to be confused. Obi-Wan frowned.
"How can that be self-defense? She was fought off and showed no sign of touching you again," the Jedi Master said.
"But how could I know that?" Anakin asked.
"Well, here at the Jedi temple, it isn't common for Padawans to fight. And if they do, they stop after they realize they made a mistake and Padawan Torfree clearly realized her mistake," the Master explained. Anakin nodded, but still didn't understand it.
He was used that once someone harassed you, he will continue, if you don't show him, that you won't take it. If you made clear that you would defend yourself and that you are not weak, they normally leave you be. Nobody wants to get in a fight they could lose. The most people only harassed others, when they were sure they would get unharmed away. But when they realize that they could get hurt, they stop and wouldn't attack you again.
He forgot that what he thought wasn't the case in the republic.
But the others didn't realize either that he could think in different ways. They only saw a Padawan which defended himself but couldn't control himself and attacked.
"You don't deny attacking your classmate?" their teacher asked.
Anakin thought about it, then shook his head. "I did attack her," he said and thought 'But only to defend myself and make sure she doesn't attack me again,'.
"Has someone to add something?" he asked. Nobody spoke up.
"Then, to sum this up. Padawan Torfree attacked Padawan Skywalker first, and did this out of anger. Padawan Skywalker defended himself but began to attack Padawan Torfree after fighting her off," the teacher said and everybody nodded.
"Since you both did something wrong, you both need to be punished. But Padawan Torfree showed remorse. Something Padawan Skywalker lacks," he continued and looked at Anakin, but Anakin remained silent, so he proceeded, "Padawan Torfree, you shall do crèche duty for three days. I want you to explain the children what you did and why it was wrong. They shall learn from your mistakes. Padawan Skywalker, since you are not to strain yourself, you will help Master Nu in the archives for two weeks. You will do, what she tells you to do and of course she will make sure that you don't strain your body. And I want you to apologize to your classmate. Knight Kenobi, I suggest getting your Padawan a book about how to solve conflicts peaceful, to read."
"Yes, Master," everyone said in chorus.
Then Anakin stood up and apologized to his classmate, who accepted.
Obi-Wan apologized to the other Jedi for the trouble Anakin made and excused himself and his charge to get Anakin to the healers.
"I hope you will think about your behavior and come to a conclusion to avoid it the next time. And after we were in the healing halls you will meditate about it," he said.
"Yes, master," Anakin answered and suppressed a sigh. He felt totally misunderstood. Everything felt wrong. First they were concerned for his well-being, then they told him everything what he did was wrong, but didn't explain why. He was glad that his classmate probably wouldn't attack him again and seemed remorseful, but people often apologized without meaning it. People are always talking and most times lying. Anakin only knew that one couldn't trust the word of another. That was the reason he didn't expected the clones to trust him, and why he tried to do everything to show them that he was sincere with them.