The Vision
Nighttime appeared on Tatooine, and everyone was now sleeping. Except Qui-Gon. He couldn't sleep. There was something about Amara and Anakin that made both of them special. He had told Shmi that Anakin was special, and she agreed. She knew her son was different.
Padmé and Amara occupied Shmi's room while she slept in her son's room. Jar Jar was curled up on the kitchen floor in a fetal position, snoring loudly.
He sighed as he looked out the window. In his entire Jedi career, he had never encountered a situation like Amara's. How could a girl wake up with no memory of her life? To his knowledge, there was no kind of drug or serum that could take away someone's memory. He would help Amara with her memory loss. He wanted to know the truth as much as she. I will help her discover her place in the Force.
Minutes later, he was stretched out on the floor, asleep.
The following morning, the group walked from the slave quarters through the city to Watto's junk shop, Anakin leading the way, Amara and Padmé close at his heels. Anakin headed inside the shop first, Qui-Gon wanting to give him a chance to explain the situation with Watto.
Amara crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. The storm had passed during the night and people were trying to clean up the mess the storm had caused. Padmé stood next her and put a hand on Qui-Gon's arm.
"Are you sure about this?" Padmé asked, doubt in her eyes. "Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know."
Amara mentally agreed with her. She didn't want Anakin to possibly risk his life for them, but she knew there was no other option.
Padmé gave Qui-Gon a concerned look. "The Queen will not approve."
Qui-Gon met her gaze. "The Queen doesn't need to know,"
"I don't think this Queen would like that you went behind her back," Amara chimed in. She hadn't met the queen but if she was in her position, Amara wouldn't like someone going behind her back.
Padmé gave her a grateful smile, nodding in agreement as she shook off sand on her shoes. "Well I don't approve."
Amara caught what she said and gave her a questioning look. Padmé shrugged her shoulders and sat down on the nearby bench. She stared at Padmé for a second before walking into the shop, hearing the heated discussion Qui-Gon and Watto were having.
"The boy tells me you want to sponsor him the race. You can't afford parts. How can you do this? Not on Republic credits, I think." Watto broke into a raucous laughter.
Amara scoffed. My hatred for him keeps growing by the minute.
"My ship will be the entry fee." Qui-Gon advised bluntly. He pulled out a small hologram projector from his belt pack and triggered it. A small, flickering image of the ship he traveled on appeared above his hand.
"Not bad," Watto said, examining the projection closely. "Not bad."
"It's in good order, except for the parts we need." Qui-Gon clicked the hologram and placed it back in his belt.
"But what would the boy ride? He smashed up my Pod in the last race. It will take some time to fix it."
Amara saw the embarrassment on Anakin's face and felt sorry for the boy. He stepped forward quickly. "It wasn't my fault really! Sebulba flashed me with his vent ports. I actually saved the Pod...mostly," he defended.
Watto let out a harsh laugh. "That you did. The boy is good, no doubts there."
"I have...acquired a Pod in a game of chance," Qui-Gon said smoothly. "The fastest ever built."
"I hope you didn't kill anyone I know for it! Watto snapped. He went into another laughing fit before bringing himself under control. "So, you supply the Pod and the entry fee; I supply the boy. We split the winnings fifty-fifty, I think."
Fifty-fifty!? Is he joking? Amara huffed to herself.
"If it's going to be fifty-fifty," Qui-Gon began. "I suggest you front the cash for the entry. If we win, you keep all the winnings, minus the cost of the parts I need...If we lose, you keep my ship."
Watto rubbed his chin and thought about his offer. Amara crossed her fingers, praying that he would agree.
"Either way" Qui-Gon continued softly. "You win."
Watto pounded his fist into his open palm "Deal!"
Amara walked out of the shop and Padmé immediately rushed to her, wondering how it went. She nodded and smile, causing to Padmé clapped her hands in joy. Amara sighed. Now that he is committed to the race, we just need to fix up Anakin's podracer.
While Anakin, Padmé, Jar Jar, and R2 were trying to fix the engine of the podracer, Amara sat crisscrossed on the balcony next to Qui-Gon, who was having a conversation with his Padawan on his comlink. Anakin had asked her if she wanted to help but she politely declined. She had no idea how it worked.
As Qui-Gon shut off his comlink, Shmi came onto the porch that ran along the rear of the slave quarters.
"You should be proud of your son," Qui-Gon said gently. "He gives without any thought of reward."
Shmi looks at Anakin working. "He knows nothing of greed. He has―"
"―special powers," Qui-Gon finished.
Like me. The encounter Amara had with his lightsaber still terrified her. She was trying to still figure out what happened to her. The temple, the city, the hooded figure, the woman and man. It didn't make sense to her at all
"Yes..." Shmi's voice was barely a whisper.
"He can see things before they happen," the Jedi master continued, glancing at Amara. "That's why he appears to have such quick reflexes. It is a Jedi trait."
"He deserves better than a slave's life."
"Had he been born in the Republic, we would have identified him early. The Force is unusually strong with him, that much is clear. Who was his father?" Qui-Gon questioned.
There was a long pause. Shmi looked away. "There was no father." She fiddled with her hands. "I carried him, I gave birth...I can't explain what happened. Can you help him?"
Amara widened her eyes at Shmi's confession. Even though my memory is gone I still know that you need two people to produce life. How is that even possible?
"I don't know," Qui-Gon told her, keeping his voice gentle, but firm. "I didn't actually come here to free slaves. Had he been born in the Republic, we would've identified him early, and he might have become a Jedi. He had the way. I'm not sure what I can do for him." With that, Shmi went down by her son and the others, leaving Qui-Gon and Amara.
Amara stared off in the distance, deep in thought. "When I grabbed your lightsaber yesterday…" She turned to face Qui-Gon, staring at him with fear. He motioned for her to continue. "I was pulled into some place. I saw a girl younger than Anakin, around eight. We were in a temple and I chased her into a hallway, but then the scene changed. Then I was in a city. I could hear screaming in the distance and hooded man grabbed my arm. I was terrified. His yellow eyes were…" She trailed off the image of the man appeared in her mind. "…filled with such evil and darkness. I pulled myself away from him when the scene changed. Next thing I knew I was in a hut. There was a woman there with a man. He had the same eyes like the other man. I appeared younger to her. She told me to go find someone named Opal and so I ran. And then I felt you shaking me."
She finished her rant and waited for Qui-Gon's answer. "I shouldn't have grabbed your lightsaber. I'm sorry."
Qui-Gon placed his hand on her shoulder. "You don't need to apologize. What you happened to you is something very special. It's called a force vision or a forceback. You have the ability to see into the past and maybe even the future. Not many people I've met have the ability to see the past. I swear to you that once we get to Coruscant, I will speak to the Jedi Council immediately about you. I'm sorry this has happened to you."
"You didn't cause me to lose my memory." Amara gave him a grateful look. "Thank you for letting me stay with your group. It truly means alot to me." She went down the stairs and walked over to where the rest of them worked on the engine.
Amara sat quietly on the balcony rail of Anakin's back porch while Qui-Gon was bandaging up the Anakin's arm; earlier he had been able to bring his podrace back to life and burned his arm. During that, Jar Jar had almost gotten killed if it wasn't for Padmé and Amara. She glanced down at her bandaged palm. When she pulled Jar Jar away, she had cut her hand from one sharp edges by accident.
"Sit still, Ani. Let me clean this cut." Qui-Gon instructed.
"There are so many!" Anakin pointed to the stars. "Do they all have a system of planets?"
"Most of them." Qui-Gon replied.
"That's amazing!" Amara stated as she continued to gaze at the stars. Anakin nodded his head in agreement. "Maybe my home belongs in one of those systems," she muttered sadly.
"Has anyone been to them all?" asked Anakin.
Qui-Gon laughed. "Not likely."
"I want to be the first one to see them all." Anakin paused before turning to Amara. "With you of course. And together, you and I can rule the galaxy!" Anakin made a giant circle with his good arm.
Amara laughed and ruffled up his hair.
Qui-Gon wiped up a patch of blood on Anakin's arm. "There, good as new..."
"Ani! Amara! Bedtime!" Shmi called out. It was getting late and they had a big day tomorrow. Both of them began to leave when Qui-Gon stopped them. He went over to Amara and took some of the blood from her hand onto comlink chip. He then did the same thing to Anakin's arm.
"What are you doing?" Amara asked suspiciously, wiping her hand on her skirt.
"Checking your guy's blood for infections."
"I've never seen..." Anakin began.
"Ani! Amara!" his mother called again, more insistent this time. I'm not going to tell you two again!
"Go on," Qui-Gon urged, gesturing toward the doorway. "You have a big day tomorrow."
Amara quickly told Qui-Gon goodnight and made her way inside. Walking around all day had made her exhausted. She walked over to where Padmé was already sleeping and made her way into the covers Shmi gave her. Relaxation spread across her body as she closed her eyes, hoping everything would turn out good.
After Anakin and Amara left, Qui-Gon called Obi-Wan aboard the Queen's transport. Obi-Wan answered at once. "Yes, Master?"
"Make an analysis of these blood samples I'm sending you," Qui-Gon ordered, glancing around to make sure no one was listening to him.
"It'll take a minute," Obi-Wan said.
"I need a midi-chlorians count." The midi-chlorians channeled the Force to individuals. The more midi-chlorians were present in a person cells, the more easily the person could sense the force. Qui-Gon was sure that Anakin's blood would have a high number, the same with Amara. The question is how high.
"All right, I've got it," Obi-Wan told him.
Qui-Gon waited a moment. "What are your readings?"
"Master," Obi-Wan interrupted. "There must be something wrong with the transmission." He sounded uncertain.
Qui-Gon took a slow, deep breath and exhaled softly. "What do the readings say, Obi-Wan?"
"They say the midi-chlorian count is twenty thousand for the boy." The Padawan's voice tightened. "And for the girl, over
Amara and Anakin needed Jedi. With training, they could become one of the most powerful Jedi.
"Even Master Yoda doesn't have a midi-chlorian count that high!" Obi-Wan continued.
"No Jedi has." Qui-Gon murmured. Until now.
A/N:You guys are amazing! I'm glad you all are enjoying this story. (P.s. Did anyone catch a little snippet of a Revenge of the Sith quote in this chapter?)