LordDarthYoda - You and I are on the same wavelength as usual ;). Teff, Tyra's Master is still around - she even had a chat with him a few chapters back. I think we'll see more of him soon too.

SpeechBubbleMe- I finally fit Ahsoka in! Huzzah. She'll probably pop up here and there from now on. She's still absurdly young right now though. Anakin had a lot of problems when he came to the Jedi...and as far as I can see...they fixed approximately none of them, lol.

Guest - Sascha, while he may be average in lightsaber combat, is still one of the best warriors in the galaxy. He's just average in comparison to other Jedi. Don't get it wrong, he can kick a lot of butt if he needs to ;).

So Close - I'm glad that someone caught that Nara withheld Anakin' name from Ahsoka. That would have been a very different first impression... Canon wise, I try to stick to canon as much as I can. We are a few years away from the Clone Wars, and I hope to actually get there with this story, though it may take a while!

Lime-lensed Lord- This will be the last chapter of Nara's blindness. I just thought it would be interesting to show Anakin harming another Jedi an

A/N - Not sure I liked how this chapter ended up. Note to self, writing a chapter through the eyes of a temporarily blind character is very difficult. This will conclude a little mini-arc and we'll be going into the last arc of the story after this chapter!

As always, Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 20: Amends

Nara Nalto was pretty much used to having this...thing on her head by the next day. While it was going to be another day or two before it was removed, she was quickly becoming confident in navigating around with just her Montrals and the Force. Still, she was doing everything a bit slower than she usually did, even simple things like walking down the hall she had to be a little bit careful that she wasn't just going to fall over a ledge and plummet to the level below. That would be an annoying way to end up back in the Halls of Healing (and be the butt of jokes for the next decade).

Earlier today, she had discussed what had happened with her Master. Tiplee had seemed concerned by what happened, and then increasingly upset about what she had described as Obi-wan's 'reckless' actions. With Tiplee going to arrive tomorrow, she was sure that there was going to be some harsh words exchanged between the two senior Jedi. Nara had considered potentially intervening, but she figured that she would let the adults sort it out between themselves. Sometimes you had to realize that you couldn't be involved with everything.

In the morning, she had meditated with Tyra, Sascha and Eida, with the latter subtly keeping a protective eye on her. Nara didn't mind, though. She didn't need the supervision, but she wasn't going to turn away the attention. Eida was a rather nice young woman anyway. She was a bit too reserved to ever be her friend, probably, but she could easily count her as an acquaintance.

And now, in the afternoon, she was marching towards a sparring room, ironically, the same sparring room where she had been hurt the day before. It took a little bit of bravery to enter the room, she would admit (but only to herself), considering that the room held some rather bad, rather recent memories.

She walked through the door to find Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin already waiting. Obi-wan appeared to have been in the middle of a lesson when she walked in, but instead of continuing, the Jedi Knight ended his lesson quickly, turning and offering her a little bow. Anakin flinched a little at her entrance, which Nara noted and then filed away for further use.

"Thank you for coming, Nara," said Obi-wan.

Anakin was a little less polite, "I'm going to sparring against her?" There was a mix of trepidation and anxiety in Anakin's voice, Nara noticed. With her eyesight temporarily not working, she was finding that her other senses were a little heightened.

"Thank you for inviting me here, Master Kenobi," Nara said, choosing to ignore what Anakin had said.

"Actually, Anakin, you are going to be sparring with her. As teammates."

"But I don't need..." said Anakin, before wisely shutting his mouth and starting again. "Who are we sparring against?"

"Two other Padawans that will join us later," said Obi-wan. Nara had a pretty good guess at who those two Padawans would be.

That answer disappointed Anakin, Nara could tell, but he was at least clever enough not to say anything to that effect. "I've never really fought with someone before. At least, beyond doing blaster deflection," he said, obviously trying to offer an olive branch.

And there, supposed Nara, was one of Anakin's main problems. Growing up within the Temple, Nara had worked with many of her peers in many different scenarios, teaching her the very basics at working as a team from a young age. From learning to dance to taking classes together and doing group projects, working together had been emphasized. Even though she had been, well, not the most social of Initiates, she still knew how to work with other Jedi. She got the sense that Anakin wasn't sure how to do the most rudimentary aspects of teamwork. Fighting with another Jedi required a bit of work, but was relatively easy. As long as you were communicating with your partner in the Force, it was easy enough to make sure you didn't impale your partner with your lightsaber.

"We can start with a simple kata, if you want," suggested Nara. There were various two person katas that Nara had memorized over the years, so much so that she could probably have done them with her eyes closed. That particular talent was going to come in rather handy right now.

"I think that is a good idea," said Obi-wan.

Anakin was obviously not thrilled about the idea, but he nodded anyway, "I've been working on the form II kata, Il Felartiz. Does that work?"

Nara took a second to remember which one that was and then nodded affirmatively, "That works." Nara ignited her lightsaber and opened a connection to the Force. She would need to be more connected to the Force than usual to make up for her lack of vision. Nara heard and felt Anakin igniting his blade as well. She moved to what she perceived to be about the middle of the room before offering Anakin a smile, "Am I standing in the right place?"

"Little to the left," said Anakin, a hint of amusement in his voice. So the kid did have a sense of humour. Good to know.

Nara shuffled slightly to her left, "Let's start slow."

Anakin obliged moving through the kata at a fairly slow pace, slow enough that she got used to only being able to feel her lightsaber instead of seeing it. She found that her hearing helped a surprising amount. With her world dark, she could hear the buzz of the lightsabers, and she found that her lightsaber had a slightly different pitch than Anakin's, which meant that she could differentiate between the two.

After completing one round of the kata at a very deliberate pace, the two Jedi agreed to do it again at a more normal pace. Then, once she found she had gotten the hang of it, she requested that they do the kata at full speed. Full speed turned out to be a bit too much for her to handle, and Nara noticed that by the end, Anakin was slowing down so that she could make the proper parries. Slightly embarrassing, but it was a magnanimous gesture from Anakin at least.

"Ready for free form sparring?" she asked Anakin.

"Always."

Nara spun her lightsaber in her palm, reveling in how natural her lightsaber always felt. It was a part of her arm, an extension of herself. Even without all her physical senses, she always felt better with her lightsaber in her hand.

Across from her Anakin still seemed a bit tentative, obviously he didn't want to hurt her again. "Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah."

With that halfhearted reply, Nara decided that she would start out on the attack. Her attacks, as you might expect were a bit unrefined, a bit wild. Anakin parried easily, not taking the openings that she knew that she must have been giving him. This went on for a little while before Nara tired of being treated like she was a cripple and attacked quickly, putting pressure on Anakin's footwork. The young man stumbled a bit and she swept his legs out from under him with a kick. Anakin landed hard on his side. "I'm temporarily blind, not useless. Don't take it easy on me."

"Sorry," said Anakin, picking himself off the floor, and actually sounding legitimately contrite for once.

"Anakin, if you beat me, you beat me. I'm fine with that, okay?"

"Okay," answered Anakin.

A few moments later Nara regretted asking for Anakin not to take it easy on her. The talented young Padawan had overwhelmed her defences in a few short moves and then won with a textbook cut across her wrist that was rather painful. Despite being annoyed, she just smiled, "Okay, point proven."

"I'll find a middle ground," said Anakin. "Ready?"

Nara nodded, hoping that Anakin would find a middle ground. Quite frankly, if he wanted to keep beating her, he could...easily. But eventually their sparring found a nice middle ground where Anakin kept the upper hand, but didn't press his advantage too much. It allowed her to occasionally get Anakin off balance, but generally Anakin had the upper hand.

After they had worked up a nice sweat, Obi-wan called a halt to the sparring. "Enough. Good, both of you."

Nara bowed her head slightly, "Thank you for showing restraint, Padawan Skywalker."

"Don't mention it," said Anakin.

"I think your opponents are coming," said Obi-wan.

Nara stretched out her senses in the Force and smirked. Yep, that made sense, she thought. Her and Anakin's opponents were going to be Tyra Harker and Sascha Whitestar.

The two Jedi Padawans (and her best friends) entered the room a few moments later. "Hey Nara," said Sascha.

Tyra was a bit more reserved, "We are here, Master Kenobi."

"Good, please warm up," replied the Jedi Knight.

Obi-wan and Anakin had a little conference off to the side of the room, so Nara just watched as Tyra and Sascha began to spar against each other after doing a brief warm up. Even without her eyesight, Nara could sense that Tyra and Sascha fought beautifully together. While a few days ago that would probably have made her jealous, now she simply accepted it for what it was, teamwork honed through years and years of practice. One day, she and Sascha would have similar level of teamwork. For now, she could just watch in amazement. Later, she'd have to fight against it.

It wasn't hard to see how Obi-wan was turning Anakin's mistake into a lesson and Nara approved of his choice of opponent. Tyra and Sascha's main strength was going to be their teamwork and tactics, in comparison she and Anakin would be stronger in the Force, but more unpracticed at fighting together. She had seen in the past that Jedi that had strong teamwork skills could best Jedi that were better individual fighters. She assumed that this would be the lesson that Anakin would learn. Ironically, it was a lesson that had been taught to her some years ago. Funny how things worked some times.

"Padawans, can you come here?" said the voice of Obi-wan. Nara followed the voice to the middle of the room. Sascha hung around beside her for a moment before he appeared to decide that she didn't need his help. "Thank you for being here."

"Not sure I had a choice," remarked Anakin dryly.

"You did not," replied Obi-wan, rolling with the punches admirably. "Anyways, I'd like to do some work on sparring together in teams. Anakin and Nara, you'll face off against Tyra and Sascha. First team to score a burn wins."

"So I can lose even if I don't get beat?" pouted Anakin.

Nara could have taken that personally, but she was pretty committed to taking the high road, "Win as a team, lose as a team, Padawan Skywalker."

"Well...as long as we win..." said Anakin.

Sascha and Tyra pulled away to discuss tactics, but Nara continued, "Don't worry, they have only been training together since the age of four, I'm sure it will be easy."

"That was sarcasm, right?"

"Yup," she said. "We are stronger in terms of talent, but their teamwork will be formidable. Just follow my lead," she said, dropping into a combat stance.

"Follow your lead? You are blind!"

"Temporarily," she gritted out. "But I'm older and more experienced."

"But..." Anakin groaned, "FINE."

With that ringing endorsement of her leadership fresh in her ears, Nara took up the more advanced position at the front, and Anakin took up a position off of her right shoulder. Tyra and Sascha stood across from them, confident and ready. She hoped that Obi-wan knew what he was doing.

"Begin," said Obi-wan.

Nara stepped backwards, preferring to fight on the defensive at first. Stubbornly, Anakin refused to retreat, as if he thought that taking a single, solitary step backwards was a sign of weakness. Tyra and Sascha attacked Anakin, seeing that Nara was a bit too far away to help him. Anakin fended off the two older Jedi for a moment, and then Nara decided that she would jump into the fray, tactics be damned.

Anakin barely needed her help though. In fact, more often then not, she felt like she was getting in the way. Anakin, weaved and parried like an experienced duellist, making some moves that she hadn't thought possible to do at such speed. Yet whenever she tried to help out, it was like she was parrying a blade that Anakin was already parrying.

But with the numbers disadvantage, Anakin could do little more but fight Sascha and Tyra to a draw. Sascha and Tyra's experience and teamwork simply would not let Anakin beat them both, He was going to need her help to actually defeat the two Padawans, barring some massive mistake from the experienced pairing.

Nara almost got a sense of deja vu, as a wild parry from Anakin almost hit her in the head. Fortunately, she had seen it coming and had ducked out of the way. Nara gave Anakin a little shove, "Watch what you are doing, Anakin!"

"I'm trying to win, excuse me!" he shouted, going back on the offensive.

Gritting her teeth, Nara decided that if Anakin was unwilling to follow her lead, she would follow his. She positioned herself off to his side and faced off across from Sascha. Lightsabers crashed against each other as the four young Jedi tried to create openings that would allow them to defeat the other. Nara and Anakin were still yet to get on the same page, while she felt increasingly under pressure from the attacks directed towards her.

But with Anakin Skywalker by your side, most fights were bound to go your way, eventually. Grinding down on Tyra and Sascha, the two older Padawans started to falter just slightly. And then she saw an opening. All Anakin needed to do was make a simple parry of Tyra's incoming attack and then her lightsaber would catch Tyra across the thigh. Simple stuff.

But Anakin didn't make the parry, instead leaping backwards and away from the fray.

Nara retreated, furious that Anakin had missed the opportunity. But there was no way that he would have missed it. Anakin was good at finding opportunities. That meant he had chosen to not take the opportunity. Nara growled deep in her throat, "Can I call time out, please?" she asked.

"Sure," Sascha wheezed, breathing heavily from the intense duelling session.

"I suppose," said Obi-wan.

"Come out in the hallway, Anakin."

"Is everything okay, Padawan Nalto?" asked Obi-wan.

"It's fine, Master Kenobi," she said, even though that was a complete and total lie.

Nara half-dragged Anakin out the door. Once they were in the hallway, Nara gave him a little shove. Anakin stumbled slightly and leaned against the wall. "What was that for?"

"Everything! Why won't you follow my lead in there? Why did you not follow through when we had the chance to win?! All you had to do was make that one block and then I had Sascha beat!"

"I...I...You wouldn't understand!"

Nara was losing what little patience she had left, "I wouldn't understand what? What is there to understand, Anakin?"

Though Nara couldn't really see, she could sense that Anakin was very emotional, "I have to win! I have to be the best, the best Jedi that lived. I promised my..."

Anakin never said the word, but Nara didn't need him to. Everything clicked into place for Nara. It clicked why she was partnering with Anakin. It wasn't because she was supposed to become a friend for Anakin or anything like that, it was because she was one of the rare Padawans that remembered her mother.

"What did you promise your mother?" Nara asked quietly.

Anakin instantly went into evasive mode, "I didn't say anything about my..."

"I told mine that I loved her and that I'd always remember her," she said. She was leaving out the part where it hadn't actually been her mother, rather it had been a nightmare she had conquered. Small difference, she supposed.

"You...you what?" said Anakin.

"I remember my mother," she continued. "I remember the day when my parents gave me away to the Jedi." Nara reached out with her hand and placed it on Anakin's shoulder, "It's a hard thing to let go of. For me, it made me think that I had to be the best, it gave me drive, but it...it made me push people away. I thought I had to be the best all the time, to make sure that my parents gave me up for a reason. But, I realized that they just wanted me to be happy. What would your mother want?"

"She'd want to be with me right now," Anakin said defensively.

"She'd want you to become a Jedi, Anakin," Nara said gently. "She let go of you, so that you could fulfill your destiny. She must have known that you were destined for greatness."

"You don't know what you are talking about! You don't know me!"

Nara calmly, met Anakin's outburst, "You're right. I don't know you. But I know that I was a lot like you. I wanted to prove myself so badly, that I lost sight of what I really wanted to be and it made me less of a Jedi. I think that's happening to you. I know people say you are the chosen one, so you think you have to live up to that standard...but you don't. You just have to be you, Anakin Skywalker."

Anakin shrugged her hand off of his shoulder, "I don't know who that is. I don't know what I'm supposed to be. Everyone expects so much! I can't be everything to everybody!"

"Then don't."

"What!"

"If you try to live your life by how everyone else wants you to be...then you'll never find out who you are supposed to become. Look, Anakin, everyone knows that your talent knows few bounds. You're destined for things that someone like me can only dream of. But if you aren't happy with who you are, you won't accomplish any of it. You have to, on some level, be able to ignore your expectations. Just be you."

Anakin seemed to physically deflate, "I don't know how to be me. When I was with...mom...I knew who I was...but now she's gone, and its like I don't have an anchor."

Nara quickly sorted through a couple of responses before settling on one, "You should talk to Obi-wan about this. A partnership is only good if both partners buy in. He can help you."

Anakin shook his head slightly, "Sometimes, I'm not sure if Master Kenobi even wants me to be his Padawan. I think he was just forced to take me."

"Anakin, no one is forced to take a Padawan. Just...be honest with him. If anyone knows about dealing with expectations, its him."

Anakin breathed out a long sigh, "I guess."

"Want to go back in?" she asked. "They are probably ready for us."

"Yes...well, I need to say one thing first...I'm sorry...for yesterday," Anakin said. And this time, Nara thought that he actually meant it.

"It's okay. No permanent damage," she joked. "Just don't do it again."

Anakin leaned back against the wall, "I'm sorry I didn't follow your lead earlier. I just...I feel like I have to do everything on my own, or the other Jedi won't believe I'm the chosen one. I'm not good at working as a team."

"Teamwork is a skill like any other, you can train it. And we can start right now. When we go back in there, follow my lead for a bit. Then I'll follow yours. Okay?"

"But..."

Nara, surprisingly, was able to remain calm, "Think, Anakin. What does Master Kenobi want you to get out of this session? He knows that you could probably hold your own against Sascha and Tyra, so what's the point of me being here? He wants you to learn how to work with your peers. That's the only way where this whole thing makes sense."

The was a short pause, "You're right. Can we got back there and win?"

Nara smiled, "Absolutely."

With both she and Anakin on the same page, things went a lot better when the sparring resumed. It didn't take long for her and Anakin to win the first match...and then the second match. Dispirited, but amused at how the tables had turned, Tyra and Sascha fought on, putting up a good fight, but, in all honesty, these were not the fairest teams that have ever been put against each other.

Nara won the last point off a neat little feint from Anakin that had frozen both Tyra and Sascha for a split second. A split second was all that she had needed, cutting her lightsaber across Sascha's outstretched wrist.

"Ouch, dang that hurts!" yelped Sascha.

"Losing does sting, doesn't it, Sascha," she taunted him.

"You'd think I'd be used to it," he said ruefully. Sascha then bowed towards the two victors, with Tyra following suit shortly after, "Well fought."

"Thank you for the match," said Nara.

"Yeah, uh, thanks, Padawan Whitestar and Padawan Harker. It was a good learning experience," said Anakin. Nara supposed that Anakin would eventually learn to be graceful. That was something Master Kenobi could certainly teach him...

Obi-wan came over to the middle, "Thank you all for your participation."

"Can we go?" asked Tyra. "I have work that I need to get to."

"Me too," said Sascha.

"Yes, of course," said Obi-wan. "Anakin, you should head to Master Ratara. He'll be helping you with some history courses."

Anakin groaned but headed for the exit, following just behind Sascha and Tyra.

Nara hung around, feeling like she wasn't quite done talking to Obi-wan for the moment. "Your apprentice is quite a different one," she said after they were alone.

"Different is a charitable word."

"Did that go about as you had expected, Master Kenobi?" Nara grabbed a seat on the floor and decided to relax further, laying down on her back and stretching out from her hands to her toes.

"Not, exactly, though I had hoped something like this might happen."

"Next time you want me to talk to your apprentice, please let me know its because we both remember our mothers," Nara said. "I don't want to be guessing in the dark as to why, of all the Padawans in the Temple, you chose me."

"I feel like you are rebuking me," said Obi-wan in amusement.

"Perceptive, Master Kenobi."

Obi-wan sat crosslegged on the ground, "What did you talk to Anakin about?"

"Mostly I berated him for being a jerk."

"Padawan Nalto, can you please drop the sarcasm for a moment?"

Obi-wan was earnest enough that Nara decided that she would stop sassing him. "We talked about dealing with expectations, fitting in, the pressures of being a Padawan. And yes, we briefly talked about mothers. I don't think I solved anything with him, but maybe I helped him being able to put himself on the right path."

"Thank you, Nara. I am sorry about what happened yesterday but.."

"...Oh, and Anakin apologized. Legitimately apologized this time. I appreciated it."

"That is good," Obi-wan sounded relieved. How many problems had he had with Anakin that he was doing these...stunts to teach him lessons? Nara decided that she'd rather not know.

"I told Anakin to talk to you, to express her concerns to you. I hope that's helpful."

"It will be if he actually does talk to me."

Nara stood up, "Master Kenobi, no offense, but I'm done being used as part of your little games. I hope that you and Anakin make things right."

"I am sorry it worked out like this," said Obi-wan, as he also got to his feet.

Nara shrugged, "I've got a feisty young Togruta to train. Remember the name, Master Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano. Very talented." She headed towards the door, "Goodbye, Master Kenobi."

"Thank you for your effort, Nara Nalto. I shall put in a good word for you and your friends with the Council."

Nara nodded appreciatively and then walked out the door. It was true that she had a meeting with Ahsoka scheduled, but it wasn't for another few hours. She had just wanted to get out of there. Dealing with Anakin Skywalker's issues was well above her paygrade and she didn't want to be roped into it any further. She figured that the next step was for Obi-wan to ask her to befriend Anakin, which she had no intention of doing. Anakin Skywalker's welfare was not her problem.

How important could the so-called 'chosen one' be anyway?