Chapter Three
Later that day, Anakin was putting the final touches on his pod with Threepio's, Padme's, and Sarali's help. Qui-Gon stood by the house, watching them from a distance.
He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Shmi. They smiled at each other as she walked over to stand beside him. "You should be very proud of your son," he said. "He gives without any thought of reward."
"Anakin knows nothing of greed. He has a..." she said.
"He has special powers," Qui-Gon finished for her.
Shmi looked up at him for a second before nodding and saying, "Yes."
"He can see things before they happen. That's why he appears to have such quick reflexes. It's a Jedi trait," Qui-Gon explained.
"He deserves better than a slave's life," she said regretfully.
"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 said.
"There was no father. I carried him. I gave birth. I raised him. I can't explain what happened," she admitted.
Qui-Gon was silent for several seconds. In this silence, Shmi asked, "Can you help him?"
"I don't know," he said bluntly. "I didn't actually come here to free slaves."
After several more seconds of silence, Shmi said, "I'm sorry for Sarali. She's been very stressed recently. Watto has threatened to sell her to Jabba the Hutt for his harem. Normally, she's a very sweet girl."
"How did she come to be here?" Qui-Gon asked. In this matter, his curiosity was enormous.
"I don't know the whole story. I know that before she was a slave, she lived on Coruscant with her mother and step-father. They were the ones that sold her to the Hutts. Gardulla sold her to Watto about six years ago."
"How old is she?" Qui-Gon asked.
"I don't know," she said bluntly.
Minutes later, Sarali stood beside the others outside the house, waiting to see if the pod worked. She was just as happy as the rest that it ran. As soon as Anakin had shut the pod off, she went inside for yet another nap.
oooooooooooooo
Sarali woke to the sound of Shmi calling for Anakin to go to bed. As usual, he did not go right away. She heard the normal, "I'm not going to tell you again." This was her cue.
Sarali jumpd up and walked out to the balcony where she heard Qui-Gon and him talking. "Come along, Ani," she said, motioning for him to follow.
"Go on. You have a big day tomorrow. Sleep well, Ani," Qui-Gon said as the boy walked into the house behind her.
Sarali turned around as soon as Anakin was in his room. She could hear Qui-Gon talking, presumably into a comlink, from here.
"Obi-Wan," he said.
"Yes, Master," a voice said from the comlink. The voice was a young man with obvious respect for Qui-Gon.
"I need an analysis of the blood sample I'm sending you," he said.
"Wait a minute," the man, Obi-Wan, said.
"I need a midichlorian count," Qui-Gon said.
"The reading's off the chart, over 20,000. Even Master Yoda hasn't got a midichlorian count that high," Obi-Wan said.
"No Jedi has," Qui-Gon said quietly.
"What does that mean?" Ob-Wan asked.
"I'm not sure," Qui-Gon said, turning to look at the house. Shmi had been standing there. She met his eyes for a second before walking away.
Qui-Gon closed the comlink and placed it back on his utility belt. Quite suddenly, he saw something soar over his head. Immediately, he drew his lightsaber, ready to attack. Instead of an attacker, Sarali landed on the ledge beside him. She then sat, dangling her legs over the edge and her tail on the other side.
"Would you like to test my blood for 'infections', as well?" Sarali asked.
Qui-Gon looked over at her and said, "Actually, if you would allow me to, I would like to."
Sarali smiled, though there was no emotion in it. She held out her left arm for him. At the same time, she brought her right index finger down on the inside of her arm and unsheathed a long claw. She carefully cut a small whole in her arm. It bled only a single drop of blood. "Will that be enough?" she asked, her voice perfectly controlled.
Qui-Gon nodded and scrapped the chip over the blood before inserting it into the comlink. "Obi-Wan," he said into it.
"Yes, Master," the same man, Obi-Wan said. His tone showed his confusion. Qui-Gon had, after all, just called him.
"I need another midichlorian count," he said.
"Alright...Just a second...It's almost as high as the last one! It's at 19 and a half thousand!"
"Thank you, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said. Without another word, he closed the comlink and put it away once more.
"What are midichlorians, Jedi?" Sarali asked.
"The life forms in our blood that connect us to the force," Qui-Gon said.
Qui-Gon turned to look at her and said, "Quid pro quo. What is your homeworld?"
The feline woman turned to him and said in a flat voice, "Coruscant."
"What does his high midichlorian count, and mine, mean?" she asked.
"It means that both of you could become very powerful Jedi," he said. "How old are you?"
"22," she said bluntly. "Isn't Anakin too old to become a Jedi?" Sarali asked.
"Normally, yes. He shows great promise as a Jedi, though. How did you come to be here?" QuiGon asked.
"My foster parents sold me to Gardulla the Hutt to settle a debt. She sold me to Watto for a little extra money," she said bluntly. "Why do you think Anakin is so important?"
"He is the Chosen One, the one who will bring balance to the Force," Qui-Gon said. He then turned to her and asked, "Who were your parents?"
Sarali's eyes hardened, but she showed no other signs that she was upset. "My mother was a crime sindicate prostitute, a particularly popular when because she was a Cathar. I never knew my real father, but my step-father was a petty thief who worked for the same boss as my mother," she said.
She did not say more. Instead, she let herself drop off the ledge to the ground more than ten feet below. On instinct, Qui-Gon reached out with the Force and slowed her fall. The second her feet touched the ground, she jumped up again. She soared over the ledge and landed back on the upper level, perfectly balanced on her feet.
"Good night, Qui-Gon," she said, holding up her hand as she walked inside.