"Anakin." Master Yoda's voice rang out sharply. "Clear your mind."
Right, meditation. Anakin breathed out, trying again to focus his thoughts. Or unfocus them.
Whatever.
...
Meditation didn't come to him easily. There were always so many people moving about, thinking and discussing billions of different things, and machines were everywhere. Amazing ones that he'd never even seen or heard of before, that could do things he never even knew needed doing. Floating billboards that did nothing but show advertisements, holorecorders that could alter the sounds they recorded, and best of all, the holonet! The holonet in particular was shiny! Everything was on the holonet.
"Anakin." Master Yoda warned. "You must make your mind still."
Right. Still.
He could do still.
"On Tatooine, there were days of rest, hm?" Yoda asked. "With your mind, show me those days of peace."
Anakin frowned. When he was a slave on Tatooine, there were no days of rest. Even on race days, which all the free sentients took to watch the circuit, slaves were still expected to stay busy because there was always work to be done.
The only days Anakin wasn't rushing about trying to get everything done before the sun rose was when there was a sandstorm. Then everyone had to shelter indoors.
"Tell me about those days, hm? The sandstorms."
Well, the sandstorms were dangerous. No one could travel in them, they'd be blinded and getting lost could be deadly, so there wasn't much to be done. Watto would call the slaves inside, and power down the droids, before shuttering all the hatches and sealing all the doors. If there was cleaning to be done then of course they would do that, but if the storm lasted for more than a few hours they would run out of work. Watto would slink off to his room to grumble and sulk about the wasted hours, while Anakin would sit in the cool shelter with his mother, listening to the sounds of the wind rushing past outside.
Some of the slaves would tell stories to each other quietly, but Anakin preferred to stay in his room, reading manuals under his bed sheets. Sometimes he wouldn't even do that. He'd just sit, and listen to the storm passing by.
"That's it, Anakin. Good." Yoda murmured. "Share your sound. Clear your mind."
The sound was something he knew, something familiar. He relaxed into it, the gentle rushing of winds against the strong walls of his home. The breath of his mother as she slept through the long nights. Though there were sounds everywhere, none of it could distract him from his own overwhelming sense of boredom.
Yoda sighed, and Anakin could feel the old man's gaze on the back of his neck.
But it was true. Meditation was boring. Instead of doing something useful the point was to sit there and do as little as possible. To even stop thinking, and just feel the Force. The problem was Anakin had always felt the Force, even from before he could remember. The worst part was that Yoda insisted he needed remedial classes to catch up with the other Younglings, but Anakin knew he was already ahead of them.
"Ahead in some things." Yoda harrumphed. "But in others far behind. Great your powers are, but lacking in humility."
Anakin sighed, shielding his mind again.
When he left home he'd been excited to become a Jedi under Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He knew he might have to catch up to the other younglings, and at first it seemed fair enough, but after two years, when he was already first in every class, he couldn't understand why Master Yoda still insisted. In just a few months the Younglings would start to get nominated as Padwans by interested Masters, and Anakin already knew who was going to be his. Knight Kenobi had made no secret of his desire to train Anakin, and out of respect for Master Jinn's memory, no one would contest his claim. So Anakin had no fear at all of being passed over, and he absolutely did not need remedial lessons anymore.
He was frustrated, and he could tell Yoda was too.
He bet the 'other' Chosen One didn't get treated like this. He heard the adults talk about her occasionally when they thought he wasn't listening, and if what they said was true, she was actually trusted by the adults around her, and given all kinds of positions in governance. Supposedly she was even leading fleets into battle and raising entire armies!
Meanwhile even Watto had respected Anakin more than Yoda did. Sure he was a slave, but he at least Watto trusted him to fix and build things. Instead of teaching Anakin new things or even giving him things to do, Yoda kept him here under his thumb, wasting time. Was this punishment? Anakin couldn't even think of what he'd done wrong. When he was finally a Padawan, he hoped that at last he would get away from the old goblin.
Suddenly, Yoda's frown deepened, and for a brief moment Anakin worried he'd let his mental shields drop, but assured himself they were firmly in place after a moment. "What's wrong?" He began to ask, but the Grandmaster just silenced him with a wave of his hand.
The Grandmaster's holocom let out a tone, and he answered it. "Yes?"
"Grandmaster, the Supreme Chancellor is here." The mask of a Sentinel was projected. "He wishes to see you."
Yoda nodded, then turned in his chair to regard Anakin. "Go, you may."
"What does the Supreme Chancellor want to talk about?"
"Go." Yoda repeated, and pressed a switch on his chair. It floated out the doorway towards the turbolift.
With a sigh, the young boy followed behind. He rode down with the Jedi Master, who said nothing at all as he stared at the doors, a grim look on his wizened features. They waited in silence for almost a minute until finally they made it to the Main Floor, where the Supreme Chancellor was waiting for the Grandmaster. He was a friendly looking older man in the grand robes of his office, with grey hair and clear blue eyes. The Supreme Chancellor was a famous face, one that Anakin immediately recognised from the Holonet. He spoke with the same aristocratic accent that Queen Padme had, though she sounded much more stern then he did.
Yoda floated forward, not even bothering to introduce Anakin, who started to walk away, when suddenly the Chancellor spoke up. "Hello there, young man. And who might you be?"
So shocked that he was being spoken to, Anakin looked about to see if there was another young man nearby that the Chancellor could be referring to. "Uh, Anakin. Mister Chancellor."
"Mister Chancellor indeed!" The old man chortled. "Please, my name is Sheev Palpatine. No need to stand on formality."
Anakin blinked, staring at him for a moment, still wondering why he was even being spoken to.
"Oh, I'm sorry Master Yoda." The Chancellor said to the Grandmaster. "I didn't mean to derail you, I do so enjoy a chance to speak with the Padawans."
"I'm not a Padawan yet." Anakin said.
"Really?" Sheev gasped. "And why not? Just by the look of you I can see a young man ready for anything in the Galaxy."
Grandmaster Yoda interrupted. "Youngling Anakin may be a Padawan soon, but Youngling now he is, and soon his curfew will be."
"Oh, come now, Master." Chancellor Palpatine smiled, easily. "The boy surely doesn't need a strict curfew. Why, on Naboo I was allowed to roam the streets of Theed at his age, and the Jedi Temple is surely safer than that. You have to give the boy some freedom or of course he'll rebel."
"Consider your advice, I will." Yoda said. "Speak more in my office, perhaps."
"Yes, lead the way." The two old men left together, entering the Turbolift. As the doors closed, Yoda gave Anakin a stern glare, while Palpatine smiled at him encouragingly.
With a sigh, Anakin went to find his creche and his bed, not wanting the Grandmaster to find another excuse to lecture him.
...
Quinlan Vos was sleeping deeply when he received a knock on his door. Rubbing his eyes, and sitting up, he saw the silhouette of someone through the frosted glass pane, standing just outside. He stood up, wondering when he'd agreed to be part of the Jedi Quick Reaction team, before remembering that he hadn't. Why was someone waking him up at this hour? What time was it?
His compad had told him that it was just past midnight, and that Master Yoda had tried to call him twice. Quickly pulling on his robe, Vos lightly stepped over to the door and opened it with a wave.
"Apologies for the late hour." Master Windu told him, and he looked about as tired as Vos felt. "Master Yoda and I wish to speak to you in his chambers."
"Important news, I take it?" Vos asked, stifling a yawn. Without waiting for an answer, he tugged his lightsaber over to his belt and quickly slipped on his boots.
Yoda's chambers? Vos frowned to himself as the Turbolift took him and Windu up the tower. That was unusual. Normally if he was being assigned a mission, it would happen in the Council Chamber. Something strange was afoot if Windu and Yoda wanted to speak with him privately.
Inside Master Yoda's chambers, they found the little green man sitting cross legged with a grim face, his brows drawn together and his lips turned down.
"Did you bring your compad or your holocom?" Windu asked Vos.
"Just the holocom."
"Turn it off, please."
...
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