Chapter 22: The Study of Uncertainty

A few months passed by in a blur. Between her sessions with her mind healer, training, classes, pranks and the many, many, many 'accidents' Anakin managed to get himself into in between his own training and his small missions as a padawan, Zarya was thankfully kept very occupied.

By 'accidents', she means the time he programmed a droid that reminded Zarya of those automated vacuum cleaners she used to see, but made to clean his new apartment he shares with Obi-Wan, proceeded to put way too much soap at the droid's disposal and came back a few hours later to an apartment inundated in bubbles from floor to ceiling. Exasperated yet amused, Obi-Wan had to go back to his padawan room in Qui-Gon's apartment for the night and Anakin, confused and annoyed at his droid's failure, had an unexpected sleepover at Zarya's room. She had laughed for a solid half-hour when he told her what happened.

Those types of accidents happened quite frequently, but there were some that looked a little bit more like sabotage.

Instances where his lightsaber suddenly sparked up during training, burning both Anakin and the other Padawan he was fighting at the moment. Another time, he got punished when the same droid from the bubbles fiasco acted up again, but started spraying soap and water on people it passed by instead of the rooms it was in. (A few species had an intolerance to water on their skin. Many more had a bad allergic-like reaction from the soap, which was made for inanimate objects or surfaces, not people.)

The thing was, while Anakin messed quite a bit to improve his sabre and many projects, he always made sure it was safe to use; even asked Obi-Wan to check it as well. Always. As for the droid? Anakin swore up and down, from the moment he tinkered with it, it was working perfectly well until the bubble incident; and Anakin was a great mechanic even for his age. Zarya believed him.

So, from there the pranks got more numerous. Surprisingly to anyone who cared to find out, Zarya was actually the instigator most of the time. It was mostly because, between the two of them, she was the one who was more tempted by…well, revenge, while Anakin tended to stew in his anger at the unfairness of the situation alone.

Anyways, dyeing someone's shampoo neon green or putting bugs in said someone's bed (Ferus) never hurt anyone. She had no other proof than his coincidental smug grins every time they crossed paths, but he never had anything on her after her retaliations.

Still, she took a lot of time when she wasn't distracted to study, prepare and plan for the future looming in the back of her mind every day. Especially when Obi-Wan and Anakin left for an assignment or another, she then spent hours in the archives, learning about past wars and conflicts.

More specifically, strategies and tactics for both ground combats and space battles.

There was this one time where Obi-Wan found her reading about battle strategies used by both the Jedi and Mandalorians in a war they fought against each other.

Mandalorians were particularly good at fighting wars, and Zarya was shamelessly using that knowledge for future uses.

When he asked her why she was reading this kind of material of all things, (given any other child her age would be reading children's books, if any) she answered truthfully.

"It will come in handy in a few years."

It's not like he'd take her too seriously, right?

She hadn't waited for an answer before going back to her reading. Obi-Wan had stood near her for a few minutes, hesitating because of some conflict in him clear to her senses, before he quietly sat down next to her and picked up the last pad she'd read through.

Since then, he sometimes took the time to join her in these unprompted reading sessions when he could. Neither of them talked about it. While they probably should; he never asked and she hasn't offered.

(He did read the weirdly random (to him) datapads she sometimes handed him in these not-meetings. Not before sending her a weird look when he saw the subjects; 'Mind-Controlling Parasites Around the Galaxy', 'The Candorian Plague', 'Orto Plutonia: a Chance of Life', 'Debates on Cloning Sentient Beings' and 'Current Politics on Mandalore' just to name a few. At least they seemed to interest him enough for him not to ask questions yet.)

There were many times Zarya wishes she could act instead of wait, like the disappearing slaves on Tatooine, the clones on Kamino who were most likely well on their way by now, or even the Sith apprentices Palpatine was surely starting to collect by now, or the mind controlling chip still in her head why is it still there get it out get it out getitoutgetitout—

Ahem. Changing subjects.

Sith apprentices! Yes. Nice subject.

Zarya had found next to nothing about Dooku. When she tried to subtly ask Qui-Gon about who and where his master was (Not giving away that she already knew who it was), the man tended to give vague answers and attempt to distract her with something else. Something tells her those two aren't in the best of terms, but she has no clue why.

As for the others; she has no idea what species Grievous comes from nor anything of value about him, she's pretty sure Ventress is stuck on some planet with a Jedi master but she doesn't remember the details, and she really wishes Obi-Wan actually killed Maul this time but isn't keeping her hopes up. And who knows what that red and black jerk will be doing in the decade until he becomes relevant again.

If memory serves right, he's slowly losing his sanity on a trash planet somewhere. And he's got four robot legs or something, but the details are fuzzy.

Alas, Zarya can only try and make the most of the time she's been given before shit hits the fan and destroys everything like the Death Star did Alderaan.

She cannot wait to be able to leave this over-populated, headache inducing planet. She longs for beaches, forests and empty plains, with a natural amount of life-forms that doesn't overwhelm her on the daily.

At least, between that and trying to find privacy from Anakin from time to time, her mental shields keep getting stronger and stronger by the day.

Small victories and baby steps. She had time, resources and an awesome therapist. She'll get better.

She was getting better.

(( ))

"Zarya, I just came back from a mission, I'm tired! Can't this wait for another time?"

"Nope."

"C'mon, we're not even friends with anyone at the crèche, why are you dragging me there?" Zarya was, in fact, dragging Anakin by the wrist towards the youngling's playroom.

"Cuz of reasons— stop trying to find answers in my mind, it and my lips are sealed. Plus, how many friends are you making out of the crèche anyways?"

She wasn't quite sure why he felt insulted at that, it was only the truth.

"I have friends!" His irritation grew when she only projected her scepticism. "It's true! I have you, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon—"

"We don't count. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are more parental figures and we were basically pulled to each other by the Force, so it's not like you befriended me in the normal way."

"Then there's Kitster and—"

"Back on Tatooine. I'm talking about here, on Coruscant." She interrupted him again.

"Bant, Siri and Quinlan are my friends!"

Zarya turned those names in her head as she pulled a reluctant Anakin in the elevator with her and pushed the button for the level she wanted. (And oh boy, there were a LOT of levels in this temple, and almost as many buttons. She has to go and explore that one day.)

"Do you mean, Bant Eerin, Siri Tachi and Quinlan Vos? Aren't those Obi-Wan's friends?"

"And I can't consider them my friends too?" Anakin pouted.

"Ani. You're barely twelve. And they're all like… Thirty."

He snickered at that. "Not quite, but say that to their face anyways while Obi-Wan is near. Please, it's gonna be hilarious."

"Anyhow," Zarya continued as they got out of the elevator, Anakin resisting her half-heartedly. Her determination was stronger than his dramatics. "To remedy the fact that you don't have any friends here apart from me—"

"Padmé's my friend."

She did stop walking at that, turning on the spot to look at the boy. He was looking at the ground to avoid her searching gaze, but she could still feel how he was bracing for a rebuttal like for every other person he mentioned. How she was older, even if it was only about five years, how she was a queen until very recently, that they haven't seen her in the three years they've been here…

"You're right." His head snapped up at that, surprised by her concession. "You do have Padmé."

And he truly does. If they're anything like in the movies, they have each other from the moment they lay eyes on the other. Ten years apart hadn't mattered much to Movie Anakin and Movie Padmé, while more professional, had quickly grown attached to him a second time.

"But, that doesn't change the fact that we're still going to the crèche to meet people. Nice try, I admit, but she lives on Naboo, not Coruscant."

He groaned and dragged his feet for the last few meters they had to walk before reaching the room in which they felt the most force signatures coming from. Then, Anakin seemed to just register what she said.

"Wait, meet people? We already know our clan, who would we be meeting?"

Instead of answering verbally, she elected to show him by opening the large double doors to the playroom. What awaited them wasn't their clan, the Hawkbats, calmly entertaining themselves with force exercises under the supervision of a calm, collected Jedi like they were used to.

Chaos greeted them instead. Young children from the ages of five to eight were screaming in excitement and shouting to each other as they played a game with floating balloons flying all around the room.

What.

Anakin sent her a look filled with confusion and a dash of panic. Zarya smirked as she finally released his wrist when they entered the room. They stayed near the door, backs stuck to the wall as to avoid any collision with the adorable tiny beings running all around the room.

These are the Tooka and Kaadu Clans, and the game is called 'float', she started explaining in their mind as they watched the ongoing battlefield in front of them. It's simple enough. There are four teams, each team has four people and possess one softball of sorts of a specific color. This time its blue, red, yellow and black. They're only allowed to push and pull the ball belonging to their team using the Force. They then throw the ball they're allowed to use to the other teams to try and hit them with it, and since the other teams can't use that ball, they can only try and dodge it in time. If you touch any balloon at any time, you're out of the game. Last team standing wins!

A few kids were already tagged by the balloons, and were sitting by the wall opposite theirs. They didn't seem discouraged though, shouting encouragements and warnings to their team members as they observed the game.

You've played with them before. Anakin accused, not taking his eyes off the game in case a ball comes too close to hitting them in the face.

I haven't played this game, no. But I've witnessed it once the day I met those little tykes.

And why is it so important for us to meet them again?

There are one or two you'll want to meet, but it's not just them.

Without needing anymore prompt, he looked at the same person she had her eyes fixed on.

Among the young children running and playing, there was one young teenager playing with them. He was obviously mush more skilled and held back quite a bit not to play unfairly against the other teams. He had a small blue bracelet around one of his biceps, marking him as a member of the blue team.

I've seen him before. What's his name?

Sedyn Marr.

Anakin was about to ask Zarya more questions, but she was ignoring him both in the physical world and through their bond, waiting. The young boy sighed as he realized what she wanted from him. It wasn't the first time she wanted him to come to his own conclusions before asking someone else.

By observing the game and the people playing it, he quickly saw by the bracelets they were sporting that Sedyn, a padawan most likely, was playing with the blue team because there was only one other player left in the game apart from him. The other three were sitting at the other wall, already tagged.

The other teams were fairing a bit better, but thinning more and more by the minute. It didn't take much time for team red to be eliminated, leaving only the blue, black and yellow teams left standing.

Who do you think's gonna win?

He thought about it for a minute before quickly responding.

Team Black.

How do you figure?

Team Yellow has three members left, so the other two teams see them as the bigger threat. They're teaming up for now to defeat them, and it'll probably last until the yellows are all out.

As if to prove his point, two of the yellow team members got tagged, leaving only one mirialan girl in the game.

If she proves to be too difficult to tag, they might turn on each other, though.

True. But that kid isn't quite committed enough. She was mostly standing behind her teammates the whole time.

Barely ten seconds later, said kid went down from a balloon hitting her straight in the face. Winces and loud exclamations could be heard all around the room. The mirialan was fine; those softballs weren't made to hurt after all.

As she ran, laughing and yellow balloon in hands to join the rest of her team by the wall, Anakin threw Zarya a smug grin. She rolled her eyes at him before continuing.

There's still blue along with black, two remaining players each. And blue has a stronger player. What makes black the winners?

Because the padawan is only on the defense. He doesn't try and eliminate the other players, he only protects himself and his teammate. He's not even giving it his all. So, technically, it's two black against one blue, even if blue has a great defender right now.

Again, what he predicts comes to pass in the following minutes. The padawan throws himself between one of the softballs and his teammate as to save her, leaving her to fend for herself against the two marked with black bracelets. As if the odds weren't already against her enough, the other two kids were both quite bigger than her.

Before Anakin could begin to feel triumphant at his accurate prediction, he sensed the amusement coming from Zarya.

Never underestimate a cornered animal.

The last minutes of the game were a flurry of movement, the little girl quickly avoiding the black balloon and often managing to pick up her own blue one to send back to the boys from time to time, something both the last red and yellow members hadn't managed to do much.

Anakin observed her, impressed by her acrobatics and endurance. Always in motion, she successfully evaded the black softball for quite a bit of time and eventually, she saw an opening and took out one of the boys by tagging him with her blue one.

That move left her open to the other boy though, and the young nautolan didn't waste any time to send his balloon at her before she could fully turn around to face him.

Black team cheered loudly, along with some of the other kids who were rooting for them instead of blue. The young girl, a togruta, was panting on the floor from exertion, but had a smile across her face anyways.

"Good game, everyone!" exclaimed Sedyn above all the ecstatic yelling. "Take a break before we go to lunch, you definitely deserve it!"

"Seems like I was right after all," Anakin teasingly boasted while nudging Zarya with his elbow.

"Sure, sure. Still: if she'd planned it better, that togruta would've won."

"Sore loser." He muttered under his breath.

Not quite softly enough though, since that earned him the black softball to smack him right in the face.

(( ))

"I don't know if this is a surprise or not," said Sedyn as he approached the duo after making sure all the children were alright after all the excitement. "On one hand, it's practically expected to see you both together at all times but on the other, you and I seem to always see each other when your brother isn't around, squirt." He shot Zarya a small grin as he sat down in front of them.

"Not a squirt," she shot back.

"Well you are small," Anakin said. The traitor.

"Shut it, shrimp."

He made a face at that, so she counted that as a win.

"Anyhow," Sedyn cut in. "What brings you two here on this dreary day?"

Anakin looked at him, affronted. "How is this a dreary day? It's raining outside. It's a great day!" Zarya nodded next to him in agreement. "Which is why we should be outside right now, taking advantage of the rare times water literally falls from the sky instead of staying cooped up inside wasting time." She shrugged at that one, smiling as Anakin looked at her pointedly.

Sedyn seemed as amused by them as he was confused, though he hid it well. Not that it would hide from her and her invasive superpower.

"Right. You two are even weirder together than I expected."

"Says the guy who's stuck with babysitting for the second time this month," Zarya teased back. "You're good with them, too. You do this often?"

"What, you're here as a punishment? What did you do? Do you get punished often?" inquired Anakin.

"It happens more often than I'd like, but less frequently than I probably deserve." Sedyn defended himself poorly.

They were about to question him for details when both of their gaze snapped to behind Sedyn as the little togruta girl from the game, who couldn't be older than six, approached, plopping down next to Sedyn and laying her head on his arm in exhaustion. He only looked amusedly at her.

"Hey there little tyke. You did well at holding your own during the game."

She sent him a glare. "I would've done better if you'd put a little more effort at helping me, you know."

"That would have been unfair to the rest of your classmates, though," interjected Zarya. "Padawan Marr is much more skilled than all of you."

The little togruta scrutinized her with a spark of recognition in her gaze, her head still glued to Sedyn's side. "I've seen you around before. Who are you anyways?"

"Ahsoka, be polite," Sedyn poked her arm gently. "This is Zarya and Anakin Skywalker, the two halves of the Chosen Duo. Skywalkers, that's Ahsoka Tano, troublemaker extraordinaire."

His over the top introduction only earned him an offended 'Hey!' from the newly confirmed Ahsoka herself, a wince from Anakin and a disgruntled glare from Zarya.

"Please tell me people don't actually call us the Chosen Duo."

"They don't, but I'm hoping it will catch given time."

By the grimace he just made, Zarya learned that; by sheer will alone, she could give someone a headache by glaring at them strongly enough.

Ahsoka had lifted her head in surprise, looking at them both more closely. "I know those names! Some of the adults talk about you from time to time, though I'm not sure why… You're younger than I expected. You look like me!"

She was most likely referring to Zarya specifically, but Anakin unsurprisingly didn't take it like that.

"Not that young…" Anakin grumbled.

Zarya knew better. He hasn't gone through his growth spurt yet and she looked even younger than she physically was, damn her twisted childhood and its meagre food supplies.

"Aren't you like, nine?"

Anakin squawked, which made Zarya snicker. "I'm almost twelve! And I'm a padawan!"

"Barely."

"How can you barely be a padawan?!"

"You tell me, Sky-guy."

As the two began to bicker back and forth, Zarya couldn't help but smile fondly at the both of them.

Sedyn just looked done with everything. He didn't even try to stop them, recognizing that he would probably be ignored completely.

He sighed, messing with his dark hair before his eyes settled on her again. She felt a spark of nervousness coming from him, but it went away before she could find out where it was coming from.

"So. I believe the term 'barely padawan' applies for you more than anyone else I know. How's your search for a master going?"

She scowled. "Slower than I'd like. Obi-Wan's still trying to take me in as well, but the council is stubborn won't be moved in that subject. The one other Jedi I'm interested to have as a teacher is off planet these days, so that's on hold for now." She looked at him more closely when he shifted on his spot, trying to hide his discomfort again. "What? Why do you ask?" And why do I have the feeling you're going to drop another bomb on me? Went unsaid, but was still clear in the way she was bracing herself for his answer.

"It's just… Look, I don't like the guy much, gives me the creeps sometimes." He muttered that last part so the bickering duo didn't hear. "But there's someone I overheard talking, saying he was thinking about taking you in as an apprentice."

Zarya's mind jumped from one conclusion to the next. A creepy Jedi? Maybe the Jedi was from a rare species that people didn't generally like or trust? There were some weird aliens even she tended to give a wide berth, and she doesn't know any of them.

Maybe it was Dooku?! She hadn't heard much from him, maybe he was starting to fall to the dark side and people were concerned?

"Who?" She finally asked when he failed to speak up.

He was looking at her with barely concealed concern, which only made her panic rise up.

"His name is Pong Krell."

Oh, this was so much worse than Dooku.

WHAT!?

And an upset Anakin was much worse than her being upset.

He'd stopped throwing quips with Ahsoka, to the young girl's confusion, looking at Zarya in panic instead.

"We need to go." He didn't waste any time in grabbing her by the hand and standing up abruptly, pulling her with him.

"Wait, is it that bad? I know he isn't exactly friendly and he's intimidating, but it can't be…" They were already at the door, drawing the attention of many pair of eyes as they went in a hurry. "Do you want me to help?" Sedyn asked loudly in a last ditched attempt to slow them down.

"No thanks! See you another time! You too, snips!"

(( ))

"They're both weird." The togruta quipped to break the silence their abrupt departure left behind.

"Yup," Sedyn sighed.

"I don't think they like that Krell guy."

"Uh-huh."

"… You should help them if you can."

He sighed again, longer this time.

"Yuuup."

(( ))

Anakin was worried about her, she knew he was, but Zarya couldn't get herself to reassure him this time. Too much was happening all at once in her head, so she was meditating while lying on her friend's bed, hands on her stomach messing with one of the ties she kept on her wrists to tie her hair.

They were waiting on Obi-Wan to come back from his meeting with the council after Anakin left a message on his comlink. As Zarya was collecting herself, Anakin was sitting next to her, thinking.

"What do you know about Krell?" he finally asked when the ongoing silence got too much for him. She finally opened her eyes, and when she turned her gaze to his, he took it as permission to go on. "You do know him, right? From those stories from Before."

"Don't," she hurried to divert her gaze when he made a point to lock eyes with hers. "I'm not showing you what I've seen of him. It's… not exactly a nice story."

"Tell me then. I know he's arrogant and mean, but if he's worse than that, I want to know. Please. He's thinking about being your master."

"This isn't like slavery, Ani. He and I both need to agree for him to be my teacher, as well as the council. He can't make that decision on his own."

He didn't say anything at that, only stared at her, unconvinced.

Granted, she wasn't convinced either. There were many ways to make someone do as you want, and both of them knew this very well.

When Zarya realized he won't back down anytime soon (which meant he'll annoy her as long as necessary for her to relent, the brat), she gave a defeated sigh.

"Remember the army I told you about?"

"The ones that will fight for the Republic?"

"Yes. Well, there's a battalion that went under his command when their own General had to be somewhere else."

Anakin scrunched his nose. "Their General just left them to him? Just like that?"

"He wasn't given much of a choice. The Chancellor was the one to call him away."

"The corrupted one, right?"

"Right, but he didn't know that. Nor did he know Krell. So he left, Krell was now in charge, and he was ruthless with those men. He used the simplest strategies that would lead them to victory, but with a lot, and I mean a lot of casualties. He didn't care about the men he was commanding, hated them even. Pitted them against each other without their knowledge so that even more of them would die."

"He falls to the dark side, doesn't he." He looked graver than she's ever seen him.

"Yes," she admitted. "He was killed before he could do much more, but he left a lot of damage behind him."

"We have to stop him. We have to."

"This is all going to happen years from now, Anakin. We won't have much to show against him right now."

He was about to say something else when they heard the apartment's door slide open, signalling them of Obi-Wan's arrival. They immediately got up and hurried to meet him, which seemed to worry him more than he already was.

"Anakin, Zarya! I received your message and came as soon as I could, what happened?"

She wanted to tell him but, the moment the young man was in front of her; it all seemed so pointless all of a sudden. What could he do anyways? Would he believe them if they said Pong Krell will become evil? Telling him the truth about her past didn't seem like the best decision, it would all sound unbelievable to him, right?

Following her train of thought, Anakin said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Zarya had a vision!"

She wasn't sure this was better than the truth.

"She did?" Obi-Wan focused his attention on her. "What was it?"

"It was bad," Anakin continued when she hesitated too long. "A Jedi with two lightsaber staffs was killing people, and now that same person is talking about having Zarya as an apprentice, which is very bad and we don't want this to happen and…" he trailed off when he realized Obi-Wan was waiting for him to stop and let Zarya talk. "And I'll shut up now, sorry. You tell him." He took hold of her hand again and nudged her forward a step.

Zarya looked at the ground, trying to think of exactly what to say. Obi-Wan slowly came down on one knee to be eye-level with her and, with one hand, lifted her head by her chin so he could see her eyes.

"Zarya. You can talk to me, if you want. You know I'll listen."

She made eye contact with him and, with relief, remembered how strong his mental shields were. Light blue eyes looked at her with worry in their depths, but no thoughts or sensations came with them. She could only try and guess what he was feeling by gauging his expression, not by invading his mind.

"Or you can wait for your next session with your mind healer, if you want?"

She shook her head. "No. I can tell you."

And she knew she could. This was Obi-Wan, who'd taken a liking to Anakin and her from the very beginning. Who studied battle tactics by her side without questions, who still fought the council to take her in, just so that she and Anakin wouldn't be separated.

Who knew firsthand that she knew more than she should.

And so she told him. Not the whole truth, she wasn't ready for that, but hopefully it wouldn't be too bad to tell him about a vision, fake or not.

"The details are fuzzy, but I saw a jungle-like planet, with carnivorous plants and an army of men with white armour fighting in the dark against beings, shadow people. Pong Krell was there, and he was killing the men in white…"

As she kept talking, Anakin's hand in hers and Obi-Wan's complete attention on her words, it only just hit her how different things will play out than she first anticipated. The ten years gap in the story she knew wasn't going to be uneventful.

She was changing things. People around her weren't set in stone either, always in motion and changing things, too. A lot of her knowledge might become irrelevant, if not lacking.

But that was yet another thing she'll have to deal with later on. As long as she wasn't alone, she'll be fine; she was certain.

(

Is this a filler? Stuff is happening, so it isn't a filler, right?

I do know where I'm going with all of this, so I guess I'm still setting up the scene for now.

Can anyone guess why Zarya gave Obi-Wan those very specific datapads? If someone knows exactly why they are all relevant to him (without Wookieepedia), color me impressed.

Thank you MoonLake13, Love Stories00, Sallymadrigal605, robvalur and Naomi Alejandra768 for the reviews!

Until next time!

-Maginary

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