Hello again lovelies. Here's the fourth one for ya. You get to see the characters personalities a bit closer in this one, specifically Xan, Obi and Padme so enjoy :)
With the permission of the queen the grand Nubian ship landed on the outskirts of a settlement in Tattoine. In no time Xanatos was ready to head into town to get what they needed and get out as fast as possible. With strict instructions to Captain Panaka, Xanatos, Obi-Wan and their hero of an astromech droid exited the ship onto the sandy planet when the captain himself called back to them. His request to bring one of the queen's handmaidens didn't sit well with either of the Jedi.
"The inhabitants of this planet are unpredictable and are renown for their temper. It's not safe for anyone that isn't trained to deal with their kind," Xanatos masked his irritation with facts.
"The Queen wishes to see the planet, she's curious about it" Panaka insisted. With a sigh Xanatos gave in, deciding he didn't have the time to argue with the captain or the queen's orders.
"Fine" he said before turning to begin the walk over again. His robes billowed in the wind as he led the way, Obi-Wan at one of his sides and the handmaiden at the other.
"Alright, listen, the last thing we want to do is get on the queen's bad side by losing track of her charge so stay close to either me, I'm Xanatos Omega, or my apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi," Xanatos spoke to the handmaiden firmly but not with disdain, "And what"s your name?"
"Padme" she spoke confidently, "Thank you, for your concern master Jedi, but perhaps you should focus on keeping track of your own charge instead of me." While Xanatos's jaw rippled at being spoken to that way by such a young girl, Obi-Wan looked off to the side with a bit of a smirk upon hearing Padme's words. He found it incredibly amusing every time civilians referred to Xanatos as a master and he became all too pleased with himself. But having Padme talk back to him and damage his ego, that was the funniest of all. His silent amusement earned him a glare from Xanatos as well.
They remained silent for the rest of the trip until they reached the town at which point Obi-Wan found it necessary to ask, "Master, where exactly are we going?"
"A small place" Xanatos replied "It's usually the best hidden dealers that have the largest stocks." Obi-Wan didn't necessarily want to know how his master had come to acquire that information and so followed the older's intuition without question-not that he'd ever question Xanatos' intuition in the first place. Contrary to what his companions were lead to believe in the situation, Xanatos had not simply arbitrarily picked a shop, rather he ducked into the one of his choice because of a strong force presence he felt within it. Finding it curious in a place like Tattoine he decided to investigate under the incentive of searching for a new hyperdrive. Once they entered the shop they were met by a Toydarian that flew over from behind the counter to greet Xanatos in Huttish. With the limited amount of Huttish that he'd picked up from his time trying to rally outer rim planets for his father, Xanatos replied, "We need parts for a J Type 327 Nubian."
"Ah yes, Nubian!" the creature beamed, "We have lots of those!" He turned to a backroom behind him and called out, "Boy, get in here!" Within seconds a small boy no older than nine or taller than Xanatos' waist came running over. The presence of the force surrounding the boy struck both Jedi as soon as he entered the room and they exchanged unsure glances before they were taken from their thoughts by the Toydarian. "What took you so long?" the Toydarian named Watto chastised in Huttish as the boy approached him.
"I was cleaning up in the back!" the boy replied defiantly.
"Watch the shop until I get back" Watto ordered, sneering at the child's all too independent behavior.
"Now lette me take you outa back, eh?" Watto turned his attention back to Xanatos, "You'll find what you need." Although Xanatos wished to look more into the boy who seemed to be the source of the immense force presence in the premises, he followed Watto. He glanced back at Obi-Wan once and it was enough to convey to his apprentice that he was to do what Xanatos couldn't with the child. R2 shifted along with Xanatos and Padme stayed behind beside Obi-Wan.
"What's that you're working on?" Padme eventually asked as a means of starting a conversation when the boy picked up a small droid and began probing with it to pass the time. "A broken pit droid" the child spoke without looking up, "It's supposed to turn off when you hit the nose but this one just keeps going till you pull the plug on it. I just need to tweak it a little more before I can get it to work again." Padme was visibly impressed, "You know how to fix droids?"
"I tinker" the younger shrugged.
"What's your name, buddy?" Obi-Wan asked inserting himself into the conversation.
"Anakin Skywalker, sir" Anakin replied looking up at Obi-Wan for the first time.
"No need for the formalities, Anakin, you can call me Obi-Wan," the Jedi smiled. Anakin eyed the padawan warily before speaking up, "Are you a Jedi, Obi-Wan?" The shock was evident on Obi-Wan's face upon hearing the words. He instinctively looked down at himself, searching for any inkling that may have given him away and saw the the hilt of his lightsaber was just barely visible on his waist. How a slave boy like Anakin would have recognized a lightsaber was beyond Obi-Wan but he plainly replied, "Yes I am, how did you know?"
"Your Jedi sword" Anakin shrugged returning to his droid, "I saw those in a story book my mom gave me once." Obi-Wan nodded, continuing to initiate the boy in conversation, analyzing the slave just as much as Anakin was analyzing him.
Meanwhile Xanatos and Watto were engaged in a barter over the much needed hyperdrive. "I'm the only one around here who hasa a T14 hyperdrive generator" Watto argued.
"Yes, but I only have Republic Credits that I am willing to offer you a large amount of, and realistically speaking no one is ever going to come out this far for a Nubian hyperdrive again" Xanatos replied calmly, wishing more than ever that force suggestions worked on Toydarians.
"Did you not hear me, Republic credits are no good out here. No money, no hyperdrive, that's that" Watto growled. Xanatos looked down and exhaled deeply as he surveyed his options. "I'll give you this astromech droid here, as a matter of fact I can offer you as many as fifteen droids and a Gungan that will do your bidding as well" he looked up again after a moment. R2 beeped in awe as Xanatos wagered him.
Watto didn't think long before declaring, "No." Xanatos was visibly irritated. He could sense that Watto was using the Jedi's Republic wealth to his advantage, testing their desperation to see how much they'd be willing to offer for a single hyperdrive. "Well then it was nice doing business with you" Xanatos said coldly before turning his back to the creature. As he made his way back indoors a rather interesting conversation took place:
"You feel different." When Obi-Wan raised a brow, Anakin continued, "It was like a light was walking towards me when you and your friend came in. A really bright light that doesn't come from anyone else around here." Obi-Wan opened his mouth to ask Anakin what he meant by that but at that moment Xanatos re-entered the shop, seeming much less enthusiastic than he'd been when he'd left. Watto shouted after him but Xanatos didn't turn. "Come on, kids, we're leaving" Xanatos said firmly before striding out of the shop.
The Jedi Knight walked aimlessly once they exited and Obi-Wan knew that full well but judging by the power in the elder's strides it would be best not to disturb his thoughts. Padme followed closely at Xanatos' heels and R2 lounged along, relieved that he wasn't sold off to a grimy parts dealer. After a moment Xanatos pivoted and almost manically suggested, "We could steal it."
"No master, Jedi don't steal no matter how distasteful the victim is" Obi-Wan sighed. He knew exactly how to deal with Xanatos when the knight was like this. "You're right, we'll kill him" Xanatos quirked, staring up at the sky instead of the young man he was speaking to. "No master, we're not killing him" Obi-Wan flatly refused. "Alright, we're selling all of the queen's belongings" Xanatos finally spoke logically and turned in the direction of their ship.
"There we go, atta boy, Xanatos" Obi-Wan muttered as his master's manic state died down as it always did once he had a logical idea. Padme didn't look very pleased to hear the knight's new plan but didn't verbally protest to it. En route to the ship however they found the winds picking up and not too long after they left Watto's shop, little Anakin Skywalker caught up to them.
"Wait!" He shouted as he ran to them. He addressed Obi-Wan and Padme (both of whom he was already acquainted to) when he finally came to a stop in front of them, "There's a storm coming, where's your ship?" Xanatos observed the boy closely as Obi-Wan responded, "Just on the outskirts of town."
Anakin shook his head, "You'll never make it in time. My place is a lot closer, come with me."
Obi-Wan looked rather perplexed by the sudden offer from a boy he'd met mere minutes ago. "Where do you live?" Xanatos spoke up, interested in engaging the boy himself.
"Just over there, trust me we'll make it there faster than to your ship" Anakin turned to speak to Xanatos with the same confidence that he'd spoken to Obi-Wan, not phased in the slightest by Xanatos' height, structure or serious expression. "Alright then, lead the way, young one" Xanatos gestured a hand out in front of himself.
"My name is Anakin Skywalker and I'm not that young; I'm nine years old, ok?" Anakin said, turning back to glance at Xanatos briefly as he walked ahead. "
It's a pleasure to meet you, Anakin, my name is Xanatos Omega and I'm thirty three years old," Xanatos replied, staying a step back to leave Anakin some sort of higher ground, "This is Obi-Wan, he's twenty one and this is Padme. Padme, how old are you, dear?" The subtle but well intended mocking was evident in his voice and it was something that only Obi-Wan was accustomed to as Xanatos tended to teach lessons with it rather often.
"Fourteen" Padme replied behind a cough. Xanatos' brows went up before he returned his attention to Anakin, "And Padme's fourteen." Anakin, having caught the gist of what Xanatos was saying very well simply huffed and walked along. The remainder of the short trip to the Skywalker residence was silent as each person was left to their own thought about their situation.
Upon entering the hovel Anakin greeted his mother who seemed just a bit startled at her son bringing home guests twice his age and introducing them as friends.
"Hello" Xanatos greeted as politely as he could, holding out his hand for a shake, "Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter from the storm. My name is Xanatos Omega, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme" he introduced pointing to each person as he said their name.
"Shmi Skywalker, I'm Anakin's mother" Shmi smiled, taking Xanatos' hand, "It's always a pleasure to help the guardians of the galaxy." Xanatos was just as surprised as Obi-Wan had been to hear that someone this far out recognized a Jedi simply by look, but decided not to say anything about it. He simply smiled back at her, acknowledging her hospitality.
"Please, make yourselves at home, dinner will be ready shortly" Shmi said warmly before heading back to the kitchen, leaving her guests to their own devices.
"If you have to spend the night here one of you can stay in my room and we've got two couches or someone can share a room with mom" Anakin suggested just as Obi-Wan and Xanatos made to sit down and discuss their next plan of action.
"We'd hate to trouble your mother, Anakin" Xanatos replied, "Obi-Wan and I can take the couches as we're rather used to roughing it and Padme can stay in your room. As a matter of fact, Padme why don't you go and get settled down in Anakin's room right now." Xanatos didn't put much effort into hiding his attempt to remove Padme from the premises so he could speak to his apprentice alone, but he suspected his gentle tone made up for it-or not as he earned a side eyed glance as the young handmaiden followed Anakin upstairs. Once they were out of earshot Xanatos sat down on a couch across from Obi-Wan and let out an all too exasperated sigh. He looked over at his apprentice, who beat him to speaking, "I know, I know, just our luck, I asked for adventure, I know...shut up."
Yup, enter baby Anakin. This chapter was mainly to emphasize the difference between Xanatos and Qui-Gon's ways of handling the same situation.
Anywho, I'm rambling again. Feedback, constructive criticism, comments, suggestions, everything's welcome, I love to hear from your guys. Till next time :)