Inheritance
19.
I want my mom.
I really want her to come and take care of me. I feel real hoocha sick, all dizzy and twisty and messed up inside. If mom were here she would tell me why people do stupid bugsquat like smoke piima weed and hashka and other gross stuff, and she would remind me how she never used to let me go around the Hutt lounges in Mos Espa and she would rub my back and give me some honey-tea to drink and hug me until I felt better.
Oh, poodoo. I'm gonna be sick again. The whole world smells like hashka now. "Master! Wait, master, I'm gonna –"
But Obi-Wan never listens. I kinda spattered everywhere that time only its not my fault cause he's just pulling me along by the hand and I can't help it if my stomach really doesn't like hashka and how come he didn't tell me to stay outta there?
"You didn't say anything!" I shout at him. It feels kinda good to shout. It makes my head hurt less.
"That can be remedied," he says, with his voice all flat, but not flat in the funny way – more flat like a really sharp knife is flat where the blade is all thin. And now we're inside the guest house and whoa! He's stripping off my nasty wet clothes and chucking them in a corner.
Obi-Wan never throws anything. Except other people, in the dojo- or if they're bad people, then he can chuck stuff all over the place but that's different.
"Anakin."
I can't really stand up so I fall down. Everything is spinning and my stomach is cramping and my head hurts a lot. Boshuda. I hate hashka. I think I'm gonna die and I didn't even get to see all the planets or be a Jedi or anything.
"I think you're allergic to whatever they were smoking, but you're not going to die. Hold on, Anakin, just a moment."
It's super freezing cold and I'm shivering real bad and my head really really hurts. I want my mom. Now Master has his own cloak all wrapped around me and I'm in the lumpy Feorian bed with all the blankets and I think I smell a fire where Master might be making it. If mom were here she would kiss me and sing a song. And she wouldn't be mad.
Master's mad. I can tell. Just like he was when I went into the Dumps and then the Council busted him instead of me. Maybe they're going to bust him for hiding in the longhouse, too. Maybe that's why he's so mad.
He's real quiet and I think he's gonna yell like Watto used to do all the time. Except he doesn't yell. He just sits next to me and I squish open one eye and look at him to see if he's gonna start yelling yet. And his eyes are really really frowning, all intense but actually he's kinda biting his lower lip. He looks a little worried or confused, actually.
"I want my mom," I tell him.
"You don't need your mother, Anakin," he says, all quiet. "You need the Force – if you reach for it, it can –"
"Shut up!" It hurts to shout that loud but I need my mom not the stupid Force and not Master Obi-Wan and his stupid lectures and the stupid Temple kids laughing at me and the stupid Council punishing all the wrong people and the whole stupid galaxy that lets good people be slaves and not get freed! "That's kriffing boshuda! I want my mom!"
He stands up and lets his breath out all slow and even. I feel kinda woozy again. I don't really want him to go away, 'cause what if I'm sick again? What if the jabuur-weki's gonna come for me and suck out my soul too and stuff? What if he leaves and never comes back and I'm stranded here with the Feorians forever like I'm still a slave?
"Are you gonna maroon me on that asteroid now?" I ask him.
Now his eyebrows go up, and for just a moment I think he might actually smile again. That would be nice. But he sort of shoves it down inside himself again. "No, my young friend, I'm afraid you are stuck with me for a very long time."
And the way he says that makes it sound like it might be fine with him, like he actually would blitz the jabuur-weki if it tried to come in here, cut it in half prob'ly with his lightsaber or throw it into a wall or something. That would be wizard and thinking about it makes my head hurt less. "Okay," I say. "I care about you too."
He sort of opens his mouth and then shuts it without saying anything, but he also sits down again, and crosses his arms over his chest. It's pretty cold in here and he gave me his cloak and all. "Eavesdropping is not appropriate," he tells me. "And in this case dangerous." Then he runs a hand over his face like he's really tired.
"I know. I know, master. Really. It was Lorra's idea, though, 'cause we wanted to know what the elders would say. Cause Lorra's brother is the leader of the other guys – the young ones they were talking about, and he was afraid maybe the elders had found out about their secret cave and all and maybe you and Master Windu would shut it down or show the outsiders or something and that would be real bad. And also Lorra knows all about the jabuur-weki, more than the chieftain even 'cause his brother's a genius and him and his friends are the ones that it's after and so they should know."
Master's just staring at me. I think he forgot about being mad. He'll remember later - he never really forgets anything except the stuff I think he forgets on purpose 'cause it bugs him.
"What?" he says. "Anakin – what are you talking about?"
"I talked to all the village kids," I explain. "And they told me all this stuff about the chief and Lorra's brother and the cave and the jabuur-weki and all. I was gonna tell you, only we decided to hide in the longhouse first and then everybody started smoking on that pipe and then I got kinda sick. But I know all about it from them and also I know some of the jabuur-weki song, the one that the Feorians made up a long time ago. The jabuur-weki comes from their homeworld, actually. I guess it followed them around all this time... Is that possible, do you think? When you and Master Qui-Gon rescued them the first time, do you think there was a jabuur-weki creeping around secretly or something?"
Master sort of stares at the wall now, like he might burn a hole in it with his eyes. And he rubs at his chin sort of like this, like he has a beard. He kinda does – there's little tiny hairs there now cause we didn't really have time to wash up or anything this morning.
"From a certain point of view, perhaps," he decides. "Tell me more."
So I do.
