Chapter 5
Two weeks have passed since the council had decided that Anakin and Farra's relationship was the will of the Force and permitted it to continue. During that time there had been several more battles on Outer Rim planets but Obi Wan and his Padawans had not been involved. However the Jedi learnt that there was trouble on Kamino and decide to send a force there to deal with the trouble. Obi Wan was chosen to lead the force since he had been to Kamino in the past. Anakin and Farra go with him since they are his Padawans. The other Jedi have accepted this unusual arrangement of one Master having two Padawans but it did take awhile for everyone to be happy about it. The Jedi and their clone troopers arrive in Kamino a few days later. On the way there, Anakin and Farra meditated together as they usually did but their meditation ends abruptly when they experience a shared vision of Obi Wan being shot down into the waters of Kamino.
Obi Wan tells the two Padawans that they can't rely on visions of the future and that they need to concentrate on the present. When it is time to go he has the two stay behind as he feels that Anakin has been distracted in the recent weeks. After the others leave Anakin confides in Farra that his thoughts have been on Qui Gon, his mother's death, the Tuskans and Dooku.
"What happened to your mother and what do the Tuskans have to do with anything?" Farra asked.
"My mother is dead Farra" Anakin says; "The Tuskans killed her" he ends.
"There is more, I can sense it" Farra says.
"After I found my mother she died in my arms. I was furious. I know I shouldn't have been but I was. I killed them. I killed them all" Anakin choked out.
Farra wraps her arms around him and holds him close trying to comfort him.
"You need to let your mother go Anakin. You have me now. We need to let go of attachments or they will cause us to fear and fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate which then ultimately leads to the dark side"
Anakin was crying openly. Farra realized he'd never been able to grieve for his mother.
"Let it out Anakin. Then it's dealt with and we can move on. You can let her go"
Farra rubs his back in a comforting way and murmurs words of comfort in his ear. Finally Anakin's crying abates. Farra senses that he has let his mother go.
Anakin tells Farra he thinks better when his hands are busy. She finds him a droid to work on and tells him it's a form of moving meditation. She joins him in meditation knowing they meditate better when they do it together. Anakin struggles to fix the droid and Farra tells him that he might be trying too hard.
"Here let me see what I can do," she says.
Anakin passes the droid to her. Farra examines it then gives it a small whack and it activates.
"How did you do that?" Anakin asks.
"Sometimes a good whack is all an object needs to make it work" Farra tells him.
Anakin thanks her and puts the droid down then turns to Farra. He looks at her and smiles then moves close. Just as they are about to kiss an alarm sounds. Anakin curses and they run for their star fighters. As they deploy they see droid fighters and troop Landers emerging from a Trade Federation battleship. Farra prepares to engage the fighters but suddenly the Force alerts her to a fighter on Anakin's tail. She drops down behind the fighter and takes care of it. Anakin thanks her, only to see another fighter firing at Farra. At the same time he senses that Obi Wan is in danger.
Obi Wan has crashed in the water just as he did in Anakin and Farra's vision. Anakin swings around to see if Farra is ok. Seeing that she is ok he heads down to rescue Obi Wan. Farra follows him and the two Jedi clear the area around Obi Wan. Unfortunately a huge green sea monster attacks Anakin. He has to bail out of his star fighter before the monster devours it. Farra manages to scare the monster off by firing shots around it then she radios for help for Anakin and Obi Wan. Obi Wan tells Farra to hover there in case more unfriendly visitors show up. Farra sees that Anakin is ok apart from having taken a ducking. She roars with laughter when he somehow falls off Obi Wan's downed star fighter and promptly takes another ducking. She knows Anakin will probably try and get her back for her laughter. Finally a Kaminoan arrives on a flying whale. Anakin and Obi Wan board it and followed by Farra in her star fighter return to the city.
Back at the city Anakin and Obi Wan change into dry tunics and robes. Farra then joins Anakin who looks at her with an, 'I'm going to get you back expression.
"You thought my little ducking was amusing didn't you love" he said.
"It was hilarious" Farra said."
"You will pay" Anakin said.
"Now?" Farra asked.
"No. Back on Coruscant" Anakin said.
Farra smiled and asked what they were to do next.
"This is what we are going to do" Anakin said, kissing Farra.
Farra wraps her arms around his neck and deepens the kiss.
When the two come up for air, Farra smiles at Anakin who runs a hand through her hair, caressing her scalp then kisses Farra again.
"Ever since we've been told we can continue this relationship I've been thinking about where it might go," Anakin told Farra.
"And?" Farra asks.
"I want to marry you Farra. I love you so much it would kill me to lose you"
"Anakin if I died I would be one with the Force. You would need to let me go or you could end up traveling on a path that would lead to the dark side," Farra said.
"What do you think of us getting married?" Anakin asked.
"I don't think we should do anything like that until after this war ends. What if we were to marry and then one us lose our life in battle?"
"It doesn't bear thinking about" Anakin admitted.
"So shall we wait Ani?" Farra asked.
Ani was her pet name for Anakin.
"Yes you are right we should wait" Anakin said.
The Jedi remained on Kamino until they learnt that they were needed in Ohma-D'un. On the way there Anakin and Farra meditate together and spend time together just being alone with one another. They learn a lot about each other through talking about their past. Farra had been bought to the Jedi temple when she was a year old so does not remember her parents. She met Anakin when they were both 10. The two also reminisce about their training over the previous 10 years. They had been best friends since hitting it off when they met and had shared in a lot of adventures together. As they had grown older they had become fonder of each other but their friendship hadn't turned to romance until just before the war began. Their time alone ends abruptly when Obi Wan tells them that a messenger from Naboo has arrived and the briefing is to begin.
Farra and Anakin follow Obi Wan into the briefing room. Anakin gives an exclamation of delight and hurries over to where a protocol droid is standing. It is C3PO the protocol droid he built for his mother before he left Tatooine to train as a Jedi. Threepio has been appointed liaison to the Jedi by the current Queen of the Naboo, Jamilla. The messenger from Naboo explains that Boss Nass, the leader of the Gungans has lost contact with a Gungan colony on the Ohma-D'un moon. It is feared that Dooku and the Separatists have a hand in whatever has happened there. Obi Wan suggests a single gunship and a small strike team would be best for the mission ahead. He and Anakin and Farra will go along with some clone troopers. After the briefing ends Anakin introduces Farra to Threepio. He introduces Farra as his girlfriend.
"Oh my Master Anakin, are Jedi allowed to have girlfriends?" Threepio asks.
"Technically no they aren't but the council have allowed Farra and I to be together." Anakin says.
Farra nods politely to Threepio then asks Anakin how he knows Threepio.
"This is the droid I built for Mum" Anakin says, "I built Threepio so he could help her. He wasn't complete when I left Tatooine to come to the Jedi Temple but Mum finished him for me" Anakin explained.
A few hours later Anakin, Farra and Obi Wan were touching down on the Ohma-D'un moon on the outskirts of the Gungan marsh. As they exit the gunship they had been on Obi Wan doubles over in pain. Anakin and Farra are alarmed and ask what is wrong. Obi Wan tells them that he sensed a hemorrhaging in the living Force. This sensitivity is attributed to the tutorage that Qui-Gon gave him. When they enter the Gungan colony site they find the place strewn with Gungan, Kaadu and Fambaa corpses. Anakin and Farra spy some analysis or scientific droids taking readings nearby. Their lightsabers leap from their belts into their hands as they charge at the droids. The two Padawans reduce the droids to scrap metal to prevent them sending a distress signal. The messenger from Naboo, Glaive comments that the death and destruction isn't the work of spice miners, as Jamilla feared. Obi Wan comments that he believes that a madman was responsible for the carnage around them. Just then someone buzzes by using a jetpack.
"I think we are about to meet him," Anakin says. The person using the jetpack lands swinging a bola and hits Obi Wan in the head with it sending him into the Marsh face down. He then presses his boot onto the back of Obi Wan's head to hold it down and says he hasn't killed a Jedi in more than a century. Now I'm getting to kill 5"
He is referring to Anakin, Farra and Obi Wan and Glaive and his apprentice Zule.
Anakin Force shoves the attacker who is Durge, off Obi Wan as Durge releases the bola. The bola wraps around Anakin's neck and shocks him with electricity. Farra leaps forward to help Anakin and using the Force yanks the bola off of him. At the same time she ignites her lightsaber and slices the bola in to 8 pieces. She then stabs Durge with her lightsaber but he backhands her and sends her flying. By now Anakin has recovered from the shocks the bola gave him. He rushes to Farra who is sitting up and glaring at Durge. She tells Anakin that she will be fine and he helps her to stand. They both sense the arrival of droids as battle droids converge on the site and a cloud of green gas billows out. Anakin suggests to Obi Wan that they warn the Naboo but Obi Wan tells him that Durge commented on hostages and they should rescue the hostages. Farra moves to attack the droids but a blaster nozzle at the back of her neck causes her to stop moving. Durge has her at gunpoint. Obi Wan tries a Jedi mind trick to get Durge to release Farra but it doesn't work. Meanwhile Anakin has snuck up behind Durge and jabs at him. Durge dodges the move saying that no one can sneak up on him as he's a walking nerve cluster and he can feel heartbeats from two hundred meters away. At the same time a red lightsaber blade decapitates Glaive. It is Asajj Ventress. Farra uses the distraction to yank Durge's gun out of his hand and she and Anakin begin fighting their way through droids to reach the spice miners being held hostage. They have an ARC trooper with them who Anakin decides to call Alpha.
Farra and Anakin use a combination of lightsaber attacks and Force shoving to work their way through the droids. Farra is making fast work of a group of droids when she spots two super battle droids. Just as she is about to tell Anakin that she'll deal with them he leaps forward using Alpha as a cover and uses the Force to turn the two super droids guns on each other. Once Anakin, Farra and Alpha reach the refueling site Anakin and Farra deflect fire for Alpha as he sets an explosive on the refueling device. All three then bolt for cover after Alpha sets the timer. However Alpha runs into Durge again and the two get into a fight, which ends with Alpha being thrown into the flames. He manages to roll aside as Farra and Anakin arrive on the scene.
"Get up Alpha you'll want to see this rematch" Anakin says.
He and Farra ignite their lightsabers and move forward. They both land a blow on Durge who then retreats using his rocket pack.
Anakin and Farra then see Obi Wan fighting with Ventress. The two have been fighting while Anakin and Farra carry out their mission. They and Alpha race over to help Obi Wan.
"So this is the legendary Anakin Skywalker. And you must be the whelp tagging along with Anakin. I don't know what he sees in you" Ventress says.
Farra growls and ignites her lightsaber, offended by Ventress' comment. She then realizes she is getting angry and knows she cannot use her anger. Anakin puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Control, love," he says, "She isn't worth it. Not against three of us"
Ventress leaps into the air and is caught by Durge who carries her away. She now knows the faces of Anakin and Farra and knows the two care deeply for each other as the Count suspected.
Anakin and Farra watch Durge carry Ventress away both knowing they will encounter her again. They turn to see the Gunship they had come to Ohma-D'un in arriving to collect them. Alpha urges them to get Obi Wan into a bacta tank before the chemical agent that had been in the gas kills him. Anakin asks if they can go to Naboo to warn them about the threat but Obi Wan denies the request saying they must get back to Coruscant to warn the Jedi of the new threat. Anakin accepts Obi Wan's denial and joins Farra in the back of the ship as they head back to Coruscant.
"Who was that woman with the red lightsabers?" Farra asks Anakin.
"I'm not sure," Anakin says.
"I didn't appreciate her calling me a whelp," Farra says.
"You are not a whelp. You are a beautiful woman and I see plenty in you" Anakin says.
He wraps his arms around Farra and holds her close his hands entangled in her hair. Then he lowers his head and his lips find hers. His kiss is soft and tender and it lasts an endless minute.
The two sit down, Farra sitting between Anakin's legs her back to him and leaning against him. Anakin puts his hands on her temples and begins to gently massage her head.
"I love you Farra Sti" Anakin said.
"And I love you too Anakin Skywalker" Farra said.
Farra nuzzled into Anakin who continued to massage her head. The two talked about the war and the Jedi speculations about who the Sith lord in the senate could be. The Jedi still didn't know for sure who it was but everyone had their suspicions. Farra started giggling as Anakin started tickling her and the two were soon engaged in an all out tickling war. After they had exhausted themselves the two went to the window and stood watching the stars, Anakin's arms around Farra's waist.
"It will be good to be back on Coruscant" Farra said.
"Yes it will" Anakin said.
He was thinking about his plan to pay Farra back for laughing at him on Geonosis when he fell off Obi Wan's star fighter.
Chapter 6