Some Other Future's Past
Chapter Seven
~
The morning was cool, the sun barely warming the east-facing garden where a young man led a group in a series of graceful movements. Each movement was separate, something all to itself, yet flowed into the next move without seam. Even if the graceful movements looked effortless, there was still a fine sheen of sweat on nearly every brow. Some had to consciously remember the method of breathing that they had learned.
The students were varied – from an adult man with skin the color of well-aged wood, to a girl of an age to wear her pale blonde hair in two tails and bring her doll with her to class.
While the young man's teaching was serious, his students wore expressions of relaxed, but complete concentration.
Obi-Wan Kenobi felt a small thrill of pride. They were all learning so well! From Panaka to little Cimmiré, they had made and continued to make remarkable progress.
Slowing his movements, he began the end of the morning exercise and began to ease his students into mediation. Each dropped gracefully into their chosen position, spine straight, shoulders relaxed. Some knelt, some sat cross-legged with the upturned soles of their feet resting on their thighs. Obi-Wan had tried to teach that it was not appearance, but the state of mind that mattered.
Front and center sat Padmé and Anakin. Clad in the rich blue that had become the color of the royal court, the pair was as peaceful as could be.
Obi-Wan fought a smile - appearances were deceiving. When he had thought that training the two might not be so difficult, he had been in a very optimistic mood.
His primary students were rugged individualists with stubborn, passionate natures, though they tended to express themselves very differently.
Anakin was as direct and as diplomatic as a punch in the nose. The boy's approach to obstacles was not to go around, but to blow right on through and let the pieces fall where they may.
With little tolerance for bullying – either of himself or anyone else - Anakin had been at odds with some of the older pages in the beginning. All of the children in the program had experienced the horrors of war, but some looked to make themselves feel better by inflicting pain on the others. Anakin, as an off-worlder, former slave, and as one who had been denied Jedi training became a prime target. The bullies underestimated whom they were picking on – Anakin might be of average size for a boy of nine, but he was mostly muscle from hard labor as Watto's shop boy.
Anakin fought until he was out cold or on top.
Erinaé Merron herself would come to take charge of those who instigated the fight – reportage was quite accurate, as the seven, eight, and nine-year-olds idolized Anakin as their protector from the 'big kids.' Obi-Wan, Padmé and Erinaé Merron would then lecture Anakin – who was in every case absolutely unrepentant – about the ideals of Naboo pacifism and Jedi philosophy on the use of violence.
Anakin finally retorted with, "You know, I'd really like to be a pacifist or establish a dialogue, but the people who want to beat the stuffing out of me aren't really interested."
Obi-Wan finally settled for 'defense of self or others' tack, with the approval of the Protector of Innocents. Anakin accepted it and managed to get into more brawls than before. When the boy did not find trouble, it seemed that trouble became lonely and went to find him.
Padmé was the steadfast diplomat and idealist. She believed that there was almost always a diplomatic solution and if it took political gamesmanship to get the solution implemented, then she would hold her nose and wade right in. In less that two years, the determined young woman had cleaned up the bureaucracy, streamlined the interfaces between the government and her subjects, and stood up to the Trade Federation. Not to mention the fact that she stood up to the entire Senate, came back to a world under siege, then proceeded to trick and defeat Nute Gunray in her own throne room.
Her people loved her for it and a campaign to extend her rule past the ten year limit was underway – over her objections.
Nearly as hard-headed as Anakin, Padmé had the tendency to chart her own course over the reasonable cautionings of her advisers. While she was undoing years of inaction, it was youthful impatience that was her greatest liability.
Another problem was the trait of taking everything upon herself. Obi-Wan had counseled her often that she could not do it all, or be it all, or save them all or help them all. Amidala was a great Queen, but Amidala was a great Queen because of Padmé Naberrie's great heart. Even the name she had chosen for her reign reflected that, ami d'ala could literally be translated as 'she of love/compassion/devotion.'
When the pair finally told him about their nightmares, Obi-Wan had given himself an eye-crossing headache in his haste to get them under shield. Both seemed to be having the requisite number of post-traumatic dreams, and ones that were appropriate to their ages and development.
However, Anakin's bad dreams were mostly visions, and the one that had knocked him unconscious Obi-Wan was sure to his bones had been inflicted. Padmé's dreams seemed to serve to sharpen her doubts in her own abilities or her fitness to rule. Once shielded, their nightmares decreased in strength and frequency. They were more rested, more relaxed and were having some success with lucid dreaming - conscious control of the events in their dreams.
Obi-Wan ended the meditation just as the chimes from the sunbells sounded in the garden. The students stirred, opening eyes and stretching before coming to their feet with varying degrees of grace. The 'pods' of pages coalesced around Anakin and bright chatter wove its ribbon around the single chimes of the sunbell. The handmaidens and the few adults who braved the early hour gathered around Padmé; their more subdued murmuring a supple undertone.
The pages scattered like birds taking wing as Anakin exhorted them not to be late for breakfast and to bring their completed lessons for review. The boy had emerged as the leader of the Queen's Palace pods and his word was law.
"And yes, Cimmiré, you may bring your doll to Afternoon Court. If Glian thinks differently, he can come see me himself."
The little girl tucked her doll – in a proper page's uniform – under her arm and gave Anakin a shy hug before running to catch up with the rest of the pod. Females of any age just had a way of wrapping the boy around their fingers.
The adults surrounding Padmé left with more decorum, but still smiling. The harmony would last until the end of Afternoon Court - by which time tempers would be frayed, patience failing and all the relaxed purposefulness of the morning gone in a tangle of tense muscles. Still, the peace and attunement lasted a little longer each week and afternoon exercises would soon be less of a refresher course and more of a workout.
Anakin and Padmé turned to each other with their 'talking' faces on. The pair had progressed well in their use of telepathy, Obi-Wan could hear Anakin very well and Padmé managed to project full sentences. Obi-Wan tuned in to the conversation. They finally trusted him – not completely, but enough that tonight Obi-Wan would be able to deep-scan then with the Force, looking for things that should not be present.
::: don't like it, Ani. :::
::: It's the only reason that we caught those four assassins in the first place, Pad. You may not like me peeking, but I'd like seeing you dead even less. :::
The subject was the practice of Anakin probing the crowds at the Courts and Amidala's public appearances. Obi-Wan shook his head. Anakin was a strong proponent of 'whatever works' whereas Padmé sometimes hamstrung herself on her own ethics. Obi-Wan often wound up as a mediator between the two, balancing Anakin's expediency against Padmé's idealism.
::: Everyone had a right to their own thoughts, Ani. :::
::: Pad, the intent to kill someone tends to be about as private as one of those hoversigns we saw on Coruscant. I might have to read them to find it, but it's the first thing that I find. :::
::: Highness, Anakin is right. The intent to kill, even in the mind of the most experienced assassin is a thought that overrides everything else. ::: Obi-Wan entered the conversation. ::: I must agree with Anakin in that your safety is of paramount concern. :::
::: Captain Panaka agrees. ::: added Anakin – with a rather smug tone. ::: You could talk it over with him this afternoon at close combat practice. :::
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at his student's initiative but was not surprised. Anything that concerned Padmé was a matter of prime importance to Anakin.
::: I doubt, Padmé, that you would manage to convince him. The good captain is singularly pragmatic. ::: But before Anakin could get too smug, Obi-Wan added privately, ::: And you and I need to have another go at developing that moral code, young one. I admire your initiative, but your follow-through needs some polishing, :::
Padmé projected a wealth of emotion down the bond – she was embarrassed by their protectiveness, indignant and annoyed at both of them.
Suddenly the image of a bas-relief angel wearing Padmé's face popped into Obi-Wan's optical center. The gracefully winged figure in flowing robes set down her scroll, then stuck out her tongue in the rudest – and juiciest - possible manner.
Obi-Wan was about to join Anakin in his delighted laughter – the images had been quite sharp – when some instinct made him shield their link.
::: Anyway, Ani,::: Padmé was saying. ::: Those bounty hunters you told me about seem like a fairly ostentatious bunch, I'd think we notice them in any setting. :::
Anakin looked inquisitively at Obi-Wan even as he answered. ::: Bounty hunters are showy about being tough, scaring their victims is part of what they do. Scared people make mistakes. Assassins don't want to scare their victims. Assassins don't want to be noticed at all because a noticed assassin is a dead assassin. :::
There was a presence in the garden with them. A familiar one, but not one that Obi-Wan was pleased to discover. He listened to the conversation with half his attention.
::: I don't like that you know these things, Ani. Nobody your age should have to know things like that. ::: Padmé was saying. It hurt her deeply that any being should have to live as Anakin and Shmi Skywalker had lived.
::: On some worlds I'm old enough for military service, Padmé. I am what I am, Angel mine. I was a slave on a Hutt-run world. I know what I know. ::: For a moment Anakin's mind-voice sounded very old, too old for any child to bear. It was a bleak thought that there were so many youngsters whose experiences would shatter most adults. ::: Use it and that will make it all worth something. :::
The quiet stretched as Padmé's thoughts chased themselves. ::: I still don't like it. :::
::: I know. ::: The two sentences were layered with complex meanings and messages that only the pair could understand.
Padmé dropped to her knees and hugged Anakin hard enough to squash the breath from his body. The pair's bonding was only reinforcing with time and proximity. Obi-Wan's itched for access to the Jedi Archive – he wanted to see if there had been any other incidents of a pair-bond this strong.
"Breakfast." Obi-Wan announced, breaking the clinch. "You will not to have time to eat if you don't unwrap, you two."
Blue eyes and brown eyes blinked at him, surprised by speech. Each of his students sent inquiries layered with concern.
"Go along," Obi-Wan ordered sternly. "I'll be a little late. A matter had presented itself that I must see to."
The pair stood and bowed deeply from the waist.
"Yes, Master."
"Yes, Master."
The pair led each other out of the garden, glancing back at him from time to time until the gate closed behind them.
Turning to the small grove of yellow-barked greel trees, he could see a dark shadow in the green and gold dappled light.
"Master Windu, good morning to you."
~
Obi-Wan did his best to keep his game-face in place. Of all the Jedi who might have come to Naboo, Mace Windu was one of the very last on the list. The thought that this might be a summons by the Council to reprimand him for his dilatory return occurred to him, but was dismissed. If the Council wanted him on Coruscant, then he would be on Coruscant and no two ways about it.
"Knight Kenobi." The dark-skinned Jedi inclined his bald head, his tones politely impassive as always. "You do know that the Code forbids a Jedi taking more than one padawan? I counted thirty-two, all told."
Two pods of pages including Anakin, the two tenders of the podlings, seven handmaidens, the Queen, Captain Panaka, and Lieutenant Typho. Obi-Wan mentally measured his response before he spoke.
"The stresses of Court life, especially following such traumatic events, dictate the necessity of having a clear mind, Master Windu." Keeping his tones carefully dispassionate, Obi-Wan continued, "The younger members have duties that would tax an experienced adult, and the recent trauma all have experienced is eased by these classes. They are all capable and motivated learners."
"And Anakin Skywalker? Is he capable and motivated learner?" Stepping out of the grove, Mace confronted Obi-Wan. "The Council ordered that he was not to be trained."
Peace. I am peace.
"And so I have not. I merely seek to ease his way into a new life that suits him. We ripped him away from his home, rejected him twice, and then tried to toss him like so much garbage after the Council did its level best to rip his spirit to shreds." Obi-Wan blinked in surprise at his own vehemence. "I also think that the Council was wrong, and stubbornly, willfully, against all reason, continues to be wrong. Instead of looking to a child of nine for your Sith, look within your own ranks. Almost fifteen hundred years of bloody awful advice had to come from somewhere!"
Maybe not so peaceful. Anakin's temper is rubbing off on me.
The Jedi Master listened as if Obi-Wan was commenting on the state of the garden.
"You sound a great deal like Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan. He does well, and is progressing in his healing, though it is feared that much of the damage cannot be undone."
"I know." Obi-Wan took satisfaction in the flitting expression of startlement in the eyes of the normally aloof Council member.
"Yes, your bond with Qui-Gon is unusually strong, but you are a Knight now and it is time to put such things behind you. " Mace's fingers tugged sharply at the padawan braid the Obi-Wan bore months after his knighting. "This for instance."
"Master Jinn is not dead, Master Windu." Only the padawan of a slain master could remove his own braid upon his ascent to knighthood or ask someone to do it in his master's place. "Until my Master removes my braid – as is traditional – I will wear it."
The more sunbells continued to chime as the warmth of the rays reached them. Master Windu continued to regard Obi-Wan with his usual impassive gaze and Obi-Wan did his best to emulate his master at his most steadfast. So involved were they in the standoff, that Anakin's voice nearly sent Obi-Wan leaping into the air.
"Padmé wants to know if you are coming to breakfast or if the two of you are going to play statue in the garden all day." From his tone, it appeared that Anakin had taken on a fresh load of rude.
Of all times, Padmé had to pick now to force an issue and what a way to do it!
::: You are perfectly capable of asking me the question yourself, Padmé. :::
The honeyed tones of Padmé's speech rang in Obi-Wan's head as she became the irresistable force.
::: Busy. Talk to Ani about it. And hurry it up, the kitchen made mulna and weca nut muffins. :::
Obi-Wan turned his gaze upon the boy, who responded with a bland look that was the cover for Anakin's transmutation into the fabled immovable object.
::: We will speak on this later. :::
::: Yes, Master. ::: Anakin nodded, his response layered with the opinion that at times his master could be dense enough to bend light.
The boy then turned his gaze to Mace, studying him with a dispassionate expression that did not belong on the face of a boy a month short of his tenth birthday. The Jedi master in turn regarded the boy with hooded eyes that made Obi-Wan think of a nexu contemplating a future meal.
"Until breakfast, then, Master. Jedi Windu." Anakin retreated with a polite bow, underlining the fact that he considered Obi-Wan as a legitimate authority and a Jedi Master as a side issue.
A thought darted at Padmé showed her to be legitimately busy, and in a decidedly short temper. Obi-Wan retreated with the mental equivalent of a sternly shaken finger at his willful student. Well, one of them, anyway.
"They have made progress, indeed, Obi-Wan," Mace said as he watched Anakin Skywalker's receding back. "Remarkable progress."
~
The Morning room was the same cheery sight as ever, but Padmé felt as grim and gray as a northern winter storm.
The news from the Republic became worse and worse. Naboo's enemies seemed to multiply on all sides. The Trade Federation and the Commerce Guild howled about Naboo's fledgling ties to the worlds of the Outer Rim and beyond. The Banking Clan tried to freeze Naboo's assets when Padmé decreed open bid on the reconstruction contracts instead of using the Clan's approved contractors. The Techno Union head, Wat Tambor, came directly to Court and protested to Padmé's facewhen contracts for weapons installations, capital ships and fighters went to Seinar Security Systems and the Corellian Drive Yards.
Padmé was determined that those who had authored and profited from Naboo's misery would never profit from her rebuilding. It was not making Naboo any new enemies, simply exposing the more artfully hidden existing ones.
The buildup of the System Defense Force was being contested everywhere from the Courts to the Senate Floor. Everyone from the Republic Military to the Jedi seemed to be intent on tossing a spanner into the works rather than concede that Naboo had not only been left unprotected – her population had been ravaged unchecked by the invaders.
Invaders whose leaders – and their accomplices - still walked free while contesting the charges in court.
It was as had she said to Chancellor Palpatine – the Republic no longer functioned. Instead, the corrupt and unchecked influence of special interests seemed to be strangling and twisting everything for which the Republic was supposed to stand. In turn, Palpatine begged more time and patience as he attempted to rein in the senate, the bureaucrats, and the guilds.
Sipping at her mug of sweetbark tea, she watched the newsfeed from Corellia. Boisterous, expressive, temperamental and swift of repartee, the Corellians were most unlikely allies for the reserved, soft-spoken and restrained Naboo. Yet, these outspoken folk had landed firmly in Naboo's corner – the junior senator had even piloted the Corellian senatorial box into a game of bumper-cars with some of Naboo's more outspoken foes.
Corellia, an old and influential society, had long been independent of the Republic in many ways. They now seemed to see it as their duty to mentor the Naboo, even offering to train the new security and military forces. Garm bel Iblis had been named as ambassador to the Royal Court and brought with him a magnetism that had the most reserved of the Court charmed to the toes.
She wished that she had him here now.
Restlessness itched up her spine and she concentrated on holding to the serene focus of the morning.
::: Ani? ::: It was good to be able to 'talk' this way. While you could never actually 'read' someone's mind, one was able to assess many things from the emotions that came with the thoughts.
::: Almost there. I had to talk to Glian and then with Deriné. :::
Padmé rolled her eyes. Glian Sabiet was a thirteen-year-old male page who tried to run the other, younger pages.
::: Can I hope that this talk with Glian did not involve bloodshed? :::
::: Not a drop. Deriné actually beat me to it. It took me ::: The door opened at the end of the room. " less time than I thought."
Anakin was dressed in the deep blue tunic, jerkin, and trousers of his page's uniform with a pair of soft, low black boots. He was much more like the boy he had been on Tattooine instead of the tense, grieving, traumatized child of three months ago. Not to say that he was any less intense – he wasn't – but against all of her expectations he had become a good, true friend.
If she held their traditional hug a little longer than usual, it was in appreciation. For someone in her position, a true friend was a rare thing.
::: But you have Eritaé, Sabé, Rabé, Cordé, Dormé, Yané, Saché, Ric, the Panakas, and Obi-Wan :::
::: I know. I'm just not in the best mood today. Having Master Windu show up like that :::
"He can't actually do anything, Pad," Anakin reminded her. "The Courts upheld our rights every time. Are there any sunberry foldovers?"
Padmé released Anakin from her arms and sniffed in mock disgust. "Hmmph. Sometimes I think you only stayed for the food. You eat enough of it."
"I'm a growing boy!" Anakin protested with a grin as he headed to the sideboard.
"Keep eating like that and you'll grow horizontally instead of vertically!" She teased as Anakin scooped up three of the flaky pastries and moved on to the basket of muffins and cream.
"Like the Captain would ever let anyone take enough of a break to gain a centimeter of anything but muscle," Anakin snorted indignantly. "Between the martial arts and running everywhere, I'll be a skeleton before I'm eleven. I can't believe that I have to be fourteen to drive a landspeeder but I can still take flight training and I'm not even ten!"
"No one ever thought that someone would qualify for flight training before being old enough to drive, Ani." Padmé smiled into her mug. Anakin had a voracious intellect and once he could be persuaded to sit still, his progress was amazing.
"I've been driving since I was five." Anakin started back to the table, balancing a plate piled high with food and a mug of khaffa. "I they're coming, Pad."
Just as Anakin spoke, she felt the approach of Obi-Wan and Master Windu. The normal breakfast contingent had been asked to make other plans. Padmé wanted this meeting private. Taking a deep breath, she released it slowly, sending the trepidation and worry with it. She just wished that she could avoid the lecture that Obi-Wan would tender in private, though she had the feeling Anakin had one due, as well.
Anakin had sensed the Jedi's presence through Obi-Wan's unease and Padmé had decided to take the initiative. Granted, Anakin had phrased the request with slightly less charm than she had intended, but it got the point across. If anything, perhaps she and Ani should lecture Obi-Wan for trying to hide Master Windu's presence!
This was her Court, her rule, and her people. Even if she could use the Force – something that she found both delightful and fearsome - that did not put her in the purview of the Jedi Council.
There was a polite knock at the door and she locked eyes with Anakin.
::: Don't worry, Pad. ::: The point-of-view of a Headhunter pilot dusting an opponent flashed at her and she smiled.
"Come in, Master. Jedi Windu."
Obi-Wan entered the room, Master Windu at his side, their sober attire seeming jarringly out of place against the cheerful frescoes and gentle colors of the Morning Room.
To say that the last hour had been uncomfortable was a massive understatement. The elder Jedi questioned everything that Obi-Wan had done here, questioned his motives and rationale and even questioned his dedication to the Order.
Obi-Wan held his ground. He had accomplished much in his time here, and would accomplish a great deal more – Council or no Council. Perhaps it was a good thing that the Council had decided not to train Anakin. The sheer level of interference caused by the presence of only one Councilor caused quite enough disruption – both of his students were tense, with Padmé in particular humming like a high-tension wire.
This morning the young monarch was attired in the least formal of her court dresses - three layers of blue silk in cream, cobalt blue and sun gold with a deep blue velvet overdress. The Uroi birds that had become a symbol of her rule were embroidered on the sleeves and skirt. However, instead of calm nesting scenes or with wings spread in flight, these birds were shown in battle stance - talons extended from the soft 'slipper' of bright feathers and the spiny ruff around the neck showing sharply.
Anakin was more relaxed, his faith in Padmé unshakable and his trust in Obi-Wan growing by the day. There was a dark edge to Anakin's presence caused by the memories that Mace Windu prompted, and a steely determination to do whatever it took to retain his freedom.
The usual crew was nowhere in evidence, meaning that this meal was going to be a private and probably not-so-pleasant affair.
Obi-Wan bowed to the young queen, Mace Windu following suit. "Good morning, Your Highness."
Both Anakin and Padmé rose, folded their hands against their middles, and bowed to him.
"Good morning, Master."
"Good morning, Master."
Then, again in perfect unison, they inclined their heads in nods of respect to Master Windu.
"Greetings to you, Councilor Windu." Padmé offered, with Anakin remaining silent. "Will you join us?"
Both men murmured polite affirmatives and helped themselves to the bounty on the sideboard. Returning with their plates to the table, Obi-Wan taking his accustomed place to Anakin's right. Mace Windu took the chair opposite them and to Padmé's left.
All was silence, other than the sounds of a meal being eaten. When Padmé spoke, it was startling.
"Master Windu. What brings you to Naboo?" Padmé asked between sips of her tea.
"I asked for a short sabbatical from my duties in the Council and Senate. It was granted and I took my leave." The inscrutable master paused, taking in the occupants of the table with a glance. "I remembered the climate as being refreshing."
"Since you left like you stepped in something nasty last time, I'd think the opposite." Obi-Wan attempted to spear Anakin with a glance, but it rolled of the boy like water off a duck's back.
Mace settled back in his chair, regarding the boy with hooded eyes. "Are you always so direct, young one?"
Anakin responded with his frank stare and typical blunt language. "It cuts the amount of bulls- "
"Language!" Obi-Wan interjected.
"Look. I don't trust you as far as I can throw Jabba the Hutt." Anakin pushed his plate aside, leveling an early version of an intimidating stare at the Jedi Master. For a moment, Obi-Wan could almost see the man that the boy would grow to be. "You and the Council have been pissing in the soup since the day you left here in a big fat snit. What's the real reason you're here?"
Padmé bent a 'we will be speaking later' look at the boy, but backed his play – much to Obi-Wan's dismay.
"As I remember, Master Windu, you and the rest of the Council left without word to anyone. You shunned the hospitality of Naboo as well as our care and regard for an injured comrade." The young queen's voice was etched with frost as she ticked off each offense on her fingers. "You attempted to interfere with the rights of a displaced child after willfully disregarding the best interests of said child. Furthermore, once you returned to Coruscant, the Jedi Council has – on multiple fronts - vigorously opposed the strengthening of our system defenses and security forces. Not to mention the repeated questioning of Naboo sovereignity."
"Give him the whole bill, m'Lady." Anakin was grimmer than Obi-Wan had ever seen him. "You kidnapped Master Jinn, and you've kept him from talking to my Master! I've sent five text messages, and all five have been bounced back."
"Are you holding Qui-Gon Jinn against his will?" Padmé was blunt, holding her temper by a thread.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath, looked down at his plate and answered before Mace Windu could move his lips. "They are."
Anakin's intimidating stare was improving with practice. "And you didn't tell us?"
"It is a disciplinary matter." Master Windu spoke over steepled fingers, his gaze moving from Anakin to Padmé to Obi-Wan. "I have much respect for Qui-Gon, his intuition of the Living Force is second to none. But his ability has blinded him to the Unifying Force, and made him disregard the will of the Council too often. The Council felt that he needed time and solitude to correct himself."
"How coincidental that the will of the Force favors the will of the Council." Padmé's tone was caustic enough to etch diamond. "I thought we had evolved past the point where divine mandates were needed for rule."
Anakin came in hard on her heels. "Master Jinn told me that the Force just is, that it wills nothing, only makes likely or possible."
"And Master Kenobi teaches that the Unifying Force and the Unfying Force are present in everything, even down to the smallest of particles." Padmé's hands were on the table, her brown eyes as intense as Anakin's.blue. "If this is so that how can you possibly say that Master Jinn is not in fact moved by a part of the Force of which the Council has little grasp?"
"As my Master often told me, my attunement to the Living Force was not my best talent," Obi-Wan said. "But in addition to his injuries, he is suffering because you have removed him from contact with living beings other than the Healers and Council. You have even turned Master Dooku away, repeatedly."
"Your bond with you master is very strong, Obi-Wan, for you to know so much at this distance." Master Windu's eyes swept the faces around the table. "And your padawans learn quickly and well, bonded as tightly to you and to each other as you have to Qui-Gon. However, as you surmised, I have other reasons for being here."
Breakfast dishes were pushed aside, all pretense of sociality dispensed with as they waited for the Master Jedi to continue.
"The Council feels that Qui-Gon is using your bond to resist his treatment. In their opinion, it has become an attachment." Mace's dark eyes held Obi-Wan's gaze. "They intend to sever it."
Obi-Wan felt the universe wobble around him even as Padmé and Anakin burst in with furious protests. The Code forbade attachments, was that what his bond with Qui-Gon had become? He loved his master like a father, but had that love become wrong? Had he been using it to shield himself from responsibility? Had he been using it as a crutch?
Anakin uttered two pungently earthy words.
"Anakin!" scolded Padmé.
"Anakin!" scolded Obi-Wan.
"Well it is!" Anakin's temper was at a fine blaze. With his jaw shot forward and a stance that suggested a head-down charge, the boy was the breathing definition of stubborn. "I think what we love, who we love, makes us who we are. I love my mother, I miss her and first chance I get, I'll go back and get her. I love Padmé, I trust her and I'd do anything to protect her. I love Obi-Wan and I trust him, too. Even if he didn't trust us with certain things.."
Anakin's pointed glance let Obi-Wan know that he was still on the hook and the Jedi bowed his head in apology and recognition of the fact.
"The bonds of love and friendship do not take away, Jedi Windu." Padmé added with utter conviction. "They give and augment. Without our bonds, between ruler and people, friend and friend, parent and child, we are only bits of actuating protoplasm – not sentient beings. Our bonds to other beings give us empathy. Our bonds to other beings civilize us."
Master Windu nodded his head, whether in agreement or simply as a signal that he had heard, Obi-Wan could not say.
"Be that as it may, the Council intends to proceed as soon as the Healers feel that he will withstand the shock. I felt that it was wrong to take this course without warning you, Obi-Wan, but I was overruled." He paused to let his words sink in. "Before I left, and I made it clear that I was coming here, I was tasked with one more mission."
"And that is?" With all the shocks of the morning Obi-Wan could not being to guess. Bring Padmé to the Temple for training? Revoke his knighthood and send him to the Agricorps? Name Anakin as the emissary to the Hutts? Paint himself blue and ride about on a shaak?
"The Convocation is in one month."
Padmé's face showed a dawning understanding and Anakin gave her a quizzical look. Obi-Wan merely had a sinking feeling that even without the Force he knew what Mace Windu's nest words would be.
Unhappily, he was not wrong.
"The Convocation, young ones, is a gathering of all Jedi that takes place every fifty years. All of us not on vital assignments are called to gather in the Temple." Mace explained with a gentler tone of voice than Obi-Wan figured he possessed. "I have been tasked with bringing Obi-Wan with me upon my return to Coruscant."
~