One month after Anakin's arrival in Naboo Anakin is preparing for the first time he will meet the people of Naboo. Anakin feels very nervous about it as he doesn't know what they will think of him. He wants to make a good impression on them. His father had told him yesterday evening at supper that they would hold their annual Independence Day celebration today. He had told Anakin that they will meet with the entire royal family at nine in the throne room before they will move to the balcony to greet the people together. This marks the beginning of the celebrations and will also be the first time the people of Naboo will see him and Ashoka. Ahsoka will only attend the greeting of the people after which Miss Ti will care for her. From ten to one they will attend Independence Day celebrations in the capital. Then they will have dinner with Naboo's nobility and other important people. Afterwards, they will move on towards the festival in honor of the independence which is given at green lake. This is a lake located north of the capital. It is called the green lake because of the green plains that surround it. In the evening there will be a supper in the palace garden. Later in the evening, there will be a ball to honor the Independence Day which Anakin will not attend because it will too late for him. Miss Ti will pick him up after supper and he can either spend the evening before bedtime with her or in his room. Anakin believes he will spend the evening in his room playing or watching movies.
Currently, Anakin is putting on a suit with the help of Miss Ti. He finds it fanciful because he thinks wearing nice normal clothing will do fine so he asks
"Miss Ti, why do I have to wear this suit? Wouldn't nice normal clothing do fine?"
"No, your highness. At a formal event, it is expected that you wear formal clothing. This suite is formal clothing and today's celebration is a formal event. Thus you have to wear this suite. When you are in private or at school you can wear normal clothing, but not now" Miss Ti explains as she finished putting the tie on him before she buttoning up his jacket. When she is done she makes sure his hair is neat before taking his hand and walking to the dining room.
When they arrive there Qui-gon and Tahl are already waiting for Anakin to join them so that they can eat their breakfast. As it is eight-thirty they have time to quietly eat their breakfast. Anakin walks up to the table and takes a seat on the chair where he normally sits. The table is set for him. Shortly after Miss Ti has left, the servants enter to bring their breakfast and the family starts to eat.
Thirty minutes later they arrive in the throne room. Anakin sees a few people standing there waiting for them to arrive. A young man with brown hair and blue eyes walks up to him when Anakin enters the room behind his father and stepmother. Anakin finds it difficult to determine his age but he believes the man to be a few years younger than his father.
"Hello Anakin, my name is Feemor. It is nice to meet you, little cousin" Feemor says.
"Nice to meet you, sir" Anakin answers as he isn't sure if he can call his uncle by name or not. He believes him to be his uncle based on the name he gave and because Feemor called him cousin. That his father didn't say anything also counts for Feemor's word to be true.
"No sir, Anakin. I'm your uncle and I would like for you to either call by name or to call me uncle Feemor. It will be no problem if you call me that when we are in public" Feemor explains and Anakin nods in understanding. Anakin starts to get the feeling that there are things he cannot say in public. If that also is the case with doing things Anakin doesn't know but suspect it is the case.
"Yes, uncle Feemor" Anakin answers finally after being lost until thought but before the remainder of the family can introduce themselves Mace enters the room and says
"Your majesty, your highnesses. It is time to greet the people. If you would please follow me"
Everyone then moves out is the room towards the balcony.
"Father, why does Mace lead us to the balcony? Don't you know the way?" Anakin asks him curiously when they leave the room. Anakin can't imagine his father and uncle not knowing the way to the balcony. They grew up here so in Anakin's opinion they should know the way around the palace. When he has time Anakin intends to explore the palace himself. Because no one had told him not to explore he believes it is fine for him to do so.
Arriving at the doors to the balcony Anakin can already hear the people outside. It makes him nervous as he as he believes that many people are outside waiting for them and he has no experience with large crowds. Next, to the doors stand two men in similar clothing as the man who opened his car door the day he arrived in Naboo. Looking back to the door Anakin sees it is a glass door with a wooden frame. The frame is really dark so Anakin believes it to be old glass doors.
Looking around the room he sees his father standing to the side of the room. Anakin walks up to his father and waits for him to move towards the balcony.
"Do you remember what I told you yesterday about what you are supposed to do on the balcony, Anakin?" Tahl asks and waits for him to answer. She can see his nervousness and hopes to take some of it away from him.
"Yes, I'm supposed to smile and wave at the people. I also know to stay close to you and father" Anakin answers with a nervous smile. Tahl gives him a kind smile back. Anakin appreciates that she wants to help him with his nerves. During the last month, Anakin learned that his stepmother is really nice and she doesn't change in behavior when they are alone or if his father or anyone else is with them. Hearing the balcony doors open Anakin sees his father stepping forward. Taking a deep breath Anakin follows his father onto the balcony. As he nears the balcony Anakin can hear someone introducing them. He finds it strange for someone to do that as the people would know who they are. Alright, they might not know Anakin but they would know the others.
When the doors are opened before them, Qui-gon and Tahl enter the balcony. Qui-gon has Ashoka in his arm and Anakin follows closely behind hiding a bit behind them as he finds it scary. He finds it nice that no one tells him not to stick so close to them or not to hide behind them. When Anakin looks at the crowd around his father's legs he feels shocked. There must be hundreds of people here and everyone who is waving flags and taking pictures. He tries to hide again as he finds it even scarier than before. When he feels a hand on his shoulder he looks up and sees his father looking at him. Crouching down Qui-gon asks
"Are you all right, Anakin?"
"It is scary, father" Anakin says and struggles to not cry. He doesn't like being here where everyone is looking at him. Feeling a hand going through his hair calms him down. Looking at his father he sees compassion in his eyes.
"If you want you can hold my hand while we greet the people. They know you are not used to this. Besides, I did the same when I was your age. I always held my mother's hand until I was twelve" Qui-gon explains gently before holding his hand out to Anakin. Anakin takes his father's hand and together they greet the people. This way it is a lot less scary in Anakin's opinion. When this is done they move back inside where Miss Ti is waiting for them and takes Ashoka back with her to their living quarters. Then they go to the other activities of this day. Anakin enjoys the activities in the capital immensely as he can play with other children or look at things. There he doesn't feel the focus of the people on him. The festival is also nice as he can focus on the music and other activities so that he doesn't focus on the people around him and their attention. The dinner and supper are boring as he has no one to talk to and everyone is talking to each other. Most of the conversation held Anakin can't follow as they are too difficult for him to understand what they are about. The small conversations he has are either with Tahl, Feemor or his father. They are about how he feels and questions if he enjoyed the day. Also, the supper has dishes Anakin doesn't know and he doesn't like some of them. The food is all so strange to him. This all makes it boring and when Miss Ti comes to pick him up he follows her to back to their quarters. There he spends the remainder of the evening playing in his room before going to bed.
A few days later Anakin is on the phone waiting for Obi-wan to pick up. He finally found time to call him again since their call last week. Anakin and Obi-wan have been calling each other at least ones every week during the holiday. They know that they will have less time to call each other as they will have to focus on school. So they decided to call ones every month then. It is also difficult to call each other as Anakin can't give Obi-wan the palaces phone number because of security reasons his father explained to him. At that time Anakin didn't understand what his father was telling him and now he still doesn't understand it.
"Hello, who is this?" Barris says as she answers the phone.
"Barris, this is Anakin. Is Obi-wan around?" Anakin asks.
"Yes, he is outside. I'll call him for you" Barris says and Anakin can hear her calling Obi-wan.
"How are you now? Is it nice living with your father and stepmother?" Barris asks curiously as she only knows that which Obi-wan tells her. She wants to hear it from Anakin too as she hasn't talked to him since he left with Miss Secura to go to his father.
"I'm fine, Barris. Thanks. Living with my father and stepmother was a bit strange in the beginning but when I got to know them better I discovered that my stepmother is really nice. I also learned that my father can be a really stubborn and unwilling to listen to anyone. My stepmother keeps talking to him then and eventually he starts to listen to her then though not without frustration between them" Anakin tells Barris.
"That is good to hear. I'll give you Obi-wan now as he is already trying to take the phone from me" Barris says and Anakin has to laugh as he thought he heard something like that in the background when he was talking to Barris just yet. It sounded like Obi-wan wanted to take the phone from Barris and she didn't let him touch the phone. He had heard them walking or running around the room.
"Hey, Anakin. How was last week? You had your first public appearance, right? How did that go?" Obi-wan asks enthusiastically.
"Last week was okay. I got to spend a lot of time playing but also had to go shopping with my stepmother. We bought a suit which I wore a few days ago. On that day I had my first public appearance and it was alright if I had something to focus on. During the time when we greeted the people on the balcony, it was really scary as everyone was looking at me. At least it felt like it, but when my father allowed me to hold his hand it was a lot better" Anakin explains as he remembers the Independence Day celebration.
"That's nice. I'm sure you will get used to the attention in time" Obi-wan says.
"Thanks, but how are you doing?" Anakin asks as he wants to know what Obi-wan has done last week.
"I don't know. Last week Miss Secura came to tell me that I have a half-brother who is filling for custody of me. He is eleven years older than me. I don't know him but Miss Secura wants me to meet him next week and I'm a bit scared. Also, I want to live here with Lumi, not with my unknown half-brother" Obi-wan says sounding close to tears.
"I'm sure it won't be that bad. Miss Secura didn't say anything to you about going to live with your half-brother so that won't happen. Also during the meeting, I'm sure you won't be alone with your half-brother. Also, I'm sure we will be able to call each other when and if you have to go live with your half-brother" Anakin says trying to reassure Obi-wan.
"That's right. We will be able to call each other no matter what. Still, I hope he is nice. From what Miss Secura said I will have regular contact with him. It won't be fine if he isn't nice and kind" Obi-wan says after having calmed himself down.
"That's right. I have to go now as we will have supper in five minutes. Let's hope it is something normal considering the supper I had during the celebration" Anakin says with a laugh and Obi-wan has to laugh too. They both know that Anakin won't get the kind of food he has at the celebration during supper.
"I'm sure it will be something normal" Obi-wan teases.
"Bye, have a nice day" Anakin says.
"Bye" Obi-wan says and both end the call there. Anakin stands up and walks to the dining room to eat his supper while Obi-wan goes back to playing.