Inheritance


37.

I just want to be alone for a minute.

Master Obi-Wan said I could. He gets it- at least, sometimes. He needs to be alone sometimes, too. I think that's what he's doing when he meditates, sorta, but also he goes for a walk or he disappears to the dojo to do like a bazillion saber drills and stuff. That's where he does his thinking, when he's practicing with his saber how to blitz bad guys and all. Pretty funny, huh? I mean, when I get my 'saber – when I build it, I mean, and I'm allowed to carry it and practice outside of boring ol' little kid class – I'm not gonna be thinking during a sparring session. Feel, don't think. That's what they say at the Temple a lot, but maybe Master Obi-Wan maybe didn't learn that one so good. He's always mulling stuff over in his head. You can like practically see him doing it. There's this face he makes, but you'd have to see it to get what I mean.

Anyway, at least he let me come out here and work on this busted repulsor. Fixing things is when I do my thinking.

And know what? I used to think Lorra and those guys were wizard. Cause they're like me and all. Except now I'm not sure. They were all quiet and gave me these angry looks when we came back from the tundra, like they're still mad at me. I can feel it inside of me, too. It makes me mad. It wasn't my fault, and how come they're all so stupid? It's like they are the banthas, all stupid and running in a herd cause they're scared. And what's the point of being free if you're going to be a poodoo head and only listen to Yonso like he's your owner or something? And the older guys, they're all following what the chief says, too, like they're still slaves and they have to do what the boss says. It's like they got freed and all but they don't even know it. And they're all scared to death of this jabuur-weki thing, too, and it's like the monster is the real boss and they're a buncha scared slaves of it, like they have to keep it happy, too. The chief says they all have to do stuff the old way or the jabuur-weki will get mad, and Yonso says they all have to keep the crystal cave a secret and listen to him or the jabuur-weki will get mad, and I say why are they all so scared and stupid?

This damper insulation is warped, that's why the pressurizer can't keep a stable reading. It just needs to be stripped and planed. I could do that with this micro-driver, even though it'll take like forever.

"Hey! There he is!"

Uh-oh. Here comes Lorra and some of the other guys, the older ones. They're a lot bigger than me, but I don't give a pile of bugsquat. I'll blitz 'em if they try anything.

"You're a big boot-sucker," one of the older boys tells me. He's trying to make me mad.

"What are you talking about?" I know how to deal with stupid chisszk heads There's plenty of them on Tatooine.

"I mean you do whatever your boss tells you, huh?" the Feorian guy says, all full of himself. "Like crash our tram and try to kill us. You Jedi are working for the chief. Well, Yonso sees through that. And we see through you."

I hate the way he says that! It's just like when old Yoda said they could all see through me, when I was talking to the Council the first time! 'Cept I'm not afraid of these meekah-eaters. They can kiss my doofa. I stand up real calm the way master does. Maybe I should just sorta take my cloak off too so they know I'm not afraid to fight them. There's like eight of them, too, but I don't care.

I'm a Jedi.

"You're a little slave boy, not a Jedi," Lorra sneers.

I don't know what happens next. It's just that Lorra said that, and he used to be my friend, and he's a chuba-doof son of a vetch 'cause I am not a slave, I am Anakin, and I am a person, and I am a person who is teaching him a choobazzi big lesson right now. I'll shut him up for good if he says –

And then there's like a whole pile of us, eight of them and one of me except the Force is on my side and I'm way better than I used to be even on Tatooine, cause I'm getting way more powerful now that Master's teaching me and its like there' at least eight of me and I feel really really excited and kinda terrified just like I did in the cave and the Force is like a sandstorm, all hot and screaming inside of me and –

"Anakin!"

And like all the Feorian guys go flying off of me and I'm lying there and the I can't even see the sun because Master Obi-Wan is blocking it off and you should see the Force burning around him. I mean, you can't see it but it's there all right. It's wizard, and it's scary. I might be just a little bit scared of him. Even though I'm a Jedi.

'Cause he's a real Jedi. And he is not happy.

"…Master?"

The Feorian guys are all cringing and crawling back to their feet.

"Nyah!" Lorra shouts at me, even though he's running away like a filthy krayt-egg sucking sleemo, that stupid poodoo-face barve. "You're busted now, little slave boy! We don't call any man 'master'!" And he's running away and I try to jump up to crisp him but I can't move.

I think maybe Obi-Wan's holding me down, with the Force.

"Let go!" I scream at him. Didn't he hear that? Doesn't he care?

One or two of the Feorian guys are still standing there, just staring with their big ugly mouths open, like a dead grog on a stick.

"You want to go home," Master says, and they kinda turn and stumble away, all obedient.

I kinda wipe my face off and Master stops holding me down and I'm just so mad. "Didn't you hear him?" My voice kinda breaks. "He's full of boshuda!"

Now Obi-Wan kneels down next to me. He's still a little bit scary, but he's also a little worried. I can tell. "It isn't healthy for you to be here," he says. Whatever that means. "The Force is very imbalanced, and it's getting worse. You feel anger, Padawan, because –"

"I'm mad cause Lorra insulted me!" I holler. I didn't mean to yell, it just came out that way and besides, it's all Lorra's fault. "You would be mad too if he said that to you!"

His eyebrows go up. "No, I would feel pity for him. And I do. Lorra is young, and is deprived of many privileges. He does not understand, Anakin."

I'm still mad at Lorra, no matter what he says.

"And I am honored to have called a man 'master,'" he goes on, like he's ignoring how mad I am no matter what. "There are days when I wish I still could," he adds, real quiet like he's not talking just to me anymore. And his voice is all soft like it only get sometimes and all of a sudden I just feel tired and sick, not so mad anymore.

The thing about Master Obi-Wan is it's really hard to argue with him, 'cause he's just too good at it and he doesn't play fair by any rules.

It's all quiet for a while and we don't say anything. And then I remember about the fight. "I'm busted, huh?" I ask. 'Cause fighting is way against the Jedi Code.

"That," Master says with his voice all flat, "is a gross understatement."