Chapter Thirty

Being back on her home world worked wonders for healing Padmé, the beautiful surroundings acting like a tonic on her. Aside from the ever persistent nausea, she began to feel like herself again. Shmi helped a great deal in distracting her, helping her plan the nursery for the twins. This was helpful to Anakin as well; for it enabled him to focus on his upcoming meeting with the Jedi Council, some of whom were due to arrive at any time.

"Master Ani, is there anything I might do for you?" Threepio asked as Anakin entered the large sitting room where he prepared to meet the delegates.

"No," Anakin replied. "Thank you. Maybe when they get here you could bring in something to drink, see what they want. I don't know, I'm no host," he muttered.

"Don't worry so much, Ani," Padmé said as she entered the room. "You're a nervous wreck!"

"I can't help it," Anakin replied. "I feel like I did when I was nine years old all over again," he told her. "Like they are going to be testing me, watching my every move."

"Anakin, they want to see you," she reminded him, taking his face in her hands. "Remember? They asked for this meeting, not you."

"I know," he replied.

"So relax," she told him, stroking his face softly. "Don't be so uptight, this is a good thing, right?"

"I hope so," he replied.

"Master Ani, a ship has landed on the landing platform," Threepio told them as he returned to the room. "Shall I show the guests in?"

Anakin nodded. "Yes, by all means." He looked at Padmé. "Here we go."

Padmé nodded. They both turned to the entrance way where Threepio was leading in the delegation from the Jedi Council. The delegation was a small one, but, as Anakin soon noticed, consisted of the most powerful members of the Council: Masters Yoda, Windu, Mundi and Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Welcome to our home, gentlemen," Padmé said, ever the diplomat. "I trust you had no trouble finding us here in the mountains."

Obi-Wan smiled. "Your home is beautiful," he said. "We enjoyed the trip up here very much."

"Please sit down," Padmé said, acutely aware that her husband was studying their guests intently, no doubt trying to get an inkling of what was on their minds.

"I'm sure you must be wondering what was so important that we came all the way out to Naboo to talk to you," Mace Windu began as they all sat down.

Anakin nodded as he took his seat beside his wife. "Yes, I am," he said, taking Padmé's hand. "I've thought of little else since we spoke two days ago."

"Impressed, we are, young Skywalker," Yoda spoke up. "Your actions lately have shown us a side of you we did not realize existed. No longer a Sith, you are, Anakin."

"No, I haven't considered myself a Sith for a while now," Anakin replied. "But to answer your next question, I'm not a Jedi either."

Obi-Wan lifted an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?" he asked.

Anakin turned and looked at him. "Yes, quite sure," he replied. "How can I be a Jedi? I am aware of the strictness of the Code you all live by; I am not exactly living according to that code, am I? I am married, I have wealth, and I've spent the better part of my life as a Sith."

"All true," Ki-Adi Mundi replied. "But there are ways around the Code, Anakin. You are the exception to every rule that has ever been made."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Anakin replied.

"You were created in the Force, Anakin," Windu said. "That has never happened in the history of the Jedi. You are unique, one of a kind."

"Treat you as one of a kind," Yoda put in. "Is our proposal."

Anakin frowned. "And what exactly does that mean?"

"It means we want you to consider joining us," Kenobi said with a smile. "You are a unique individual who needs a unique title, a unique position within the Jedi order. That is what we are offering you, Anakin."

Anakin looked from one Jedi to the next. "You…want me to be a Jedi? But not a Jedi? I'm afraid you've lost me."

"As you pointed out, there is a strict code that the Jedi must adhere to," Windu spoke up. "We are not prepared to ignore that code, but neither are we prepared to ignore the enormous potential you possess. We want you to be a part of the Order, Anakin, in whatever capacity you see yourself capable of filling."

Anakin was too stunned to speak for a moment, and merely turned to Padmé. She seemed as surprised as he was, and gave his hand a squeeze. "I think that is an amazing offer," she said with a smile. "Don't you think so, Ani?"

Anakin looked back at the Jedi, seeing them for the first time as equals rather than rivals. "I…I don't know what to say," he replied at last. "You would over look the past, my past, and welcome me as one of you?"

"Yes, we would," Obi-Wan replied on behalf of the others.

"Make up for our mistakes of the past, it might," Yoda put in. "Rejecting you a mistake it was. The Chosen One, you are. Know this now, we do."

"We know you still have a ways to go in your journey from the Dark Side," Windu said. "But we are willing to help you along that journey."

"Your experience with the Sith is invaluable," Mundi added. "You could teach us and the younglings so much about the Dark Side, and the dangers of it."

"Including your own children," Obi-Wan put in with a smile. "Assuming you'd be willing to let them be trained as Jedi."

Padmé squeezed Anakin's hand at this, and he sensed her anxiety.

"I think the only way we would allow that is if Luke and Leia were to remain with us," Anakin replied. "We won't allow them to be taken from us as infants as is the Jedi custom."

Yoda nodded. "A concession we will make for the Chosen One," he said.
"Perhaps that could be his title," Padmé suggested. "The Chosen One."

"It fits," Windu agreed. "Wouldn't you agree?" he said, turning to the other Jedi.

"Absolutely," Obi-Wan agreed. "It's perfect."

"Then the Chosen One you shall be, Anakin," Yoda said. "If accept our offer, you will."

Anakin looked at his wife, and then back at the Jedi. "I would be honored to accept it," he said at last.

"Excellent," Mace Windu replied with a smile.

A thought struck Anakin just then, and he stood up. "I just realized there is someone you all need to meet," he said. "Excuse me."

"A big part of Anakin's redemption, you are, Senator," Yoda told Padmé after Anakin had left the room.

"All I did was show him that there was another way," she replied. "I knew that the good person I had known years ago was still there inside of him. It just took some gentle persuasion to bring him out again. But I wasn't alone in my belief in him; there was someone else whose presence in his life has had a tremendous impact, perhaps more than me." Padmé looked up as Anakin entered the room with Shmi. "And here she is now."

The Jedi looked over to see Anakin entering the room with a woman in her mid forties. She looked embarrassed to be made the center of attention this way.

"I'd like you all to meet my mother," Anakin said, his arm around Shmi's shoulders.

The Jedi all stood up to greet the mother of the Chosen One. It wasn't too long before they all realized just how remarkable a woman she was, despite her shy, unassuming nature.

"It is indeed an honor to meet you," Obi-Wan said, shaking Shmi's hand. "You should be very proud of your son; he is a remarkable young man."

Shmi smiled, and looked at Anakin. "I am," she replied. "Very much so."

"I hope you will all stay for dinner," Padmé said. "It's a long trip from Coruscant."

"We would be delighted Senator," Ki-Adi Mundi replied. "Thank you very much."

It was a lovely evening, and everyone was sitting outside on the large deck enjoying the sunset. The Jedi had declined the invitation to spend the night, but were nonetheless reluctant to leave the peaceful Skywalker home.

"Something I forgot to give you, Anakin," Mace Windu remembered suddenly. "You forgot this, and I think you may need it." Out from under his cloak he pulled Anakin's lightsaber.

Anakin took it with mixed feelings. "I didn't' forget it, Master Windu," he said. "I don't want this anymore; it's a Sith weapon."

"Are you sure about that?" Obi-Wan asked with a smile.

Anakin frowned, and then stood up and ignited the weapon. A brilliant blue blade sprung forth. Anakin looked at it in astonishment, and then back at the Jedi.

"I took the liberty of changing the crystal," Obi-Wan explained. "It was such a finely craft weapon, it seemed a shame to abandon it completely."

Anakin smiled, admiring the new blade of his lightsaber, and reflecting on what it symbolized.

"Very proud of you, Qui-Gon would be," Yoda commented.

"I like to think so," Anakin replied. "I wish he were still alive."

"If he were, things might have turned out entirely differently than they had," Windu commented. "If you hadn't become apprentice to the Sith, we may not have learned of his existence in time to stop him."

"That's true," Anakin replied. "I suppose it was Destiny that took him from us then."

"Perhaps," Yoda remarked. "But the hour is growing late; time to return to Coruscant it is."

"It is," Windu concurred. "When will we see you back on the capital?" he asked Anakin and Padmé.

"Not for a while," Anakin replied, looking at his wife. "We want to spend some time here, let Padmé recover fully before we return. Neither one of us are in a hurry to return to public life right now."

"Very understandable," Obi-Wan replied. "But when you are ready, you will contact us I trust."

"You'll be the first to know, Obi-Wan," Anakin replied with a smile.