A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 112

Three weeks went by quicker than Luna could have ever imagined. Between Jedi training, mainly a mixture of Anakin teaching her some defence forms and Obi-Wan teaching her how to meditate and build more constant walls around her mind do to Luna's badgering of wanting to learn so she could protect her mind from Sidious; being shown around Coruscant, she wanted to see everything and Anakin didn't need that much convincing to leave behind some of the problems that were all around the Temple some days; talking Anakin out of whatever mindset Sidious had talked him into daily; trying to reassure Anakin that they'd find a way to save Padmé, something that Obi-Wan also helped with the best he could, despite the lack of information in the Jedi Archives; studying Basic so she could actually read, usually with help from Padmé; being juggled between Anakin and Padmé, she had managed to talk them out of forcing Obi-Wan to watch over her and allowing her to hang around in her designated bedroom in the Temple, even though it still happened whenever he taught her to meditate; and worrying over everything that was going to happen, or was already happening, time flew by. Eventually though, Luna found a routine, one that seemed to be working relatively well. She hadn't seen any serious flashes of Vader since the entire You Have Not Been Granted the Rank of Master ordeal, nor had she nearly done that major of a slip up, which she had caught by herself, apparently the Force would only help out if she was listening to it, and the Jedi had become more used to her presence. It was that or Yoda gave a talking to a few of the Masters, Mace included. In all honesty, Luna had begun to calm down slightly about the whole thing and allowed herself to enjoy her time on Coruscant.

That's why it was a fairly rude awakening when Anakin came back to the apartment one day, in an bad mood, as was usual after meetings with the Chancellor, with news:

"The Chancellor would like to meet with you tomorrow."

Luna had been laying on the couch and attempting to memorize the symbols for the name of the Opera House for later use when Anakin walked in. It took a total of ten seconds for his words to process and another five for her mind to fully freeze in pure terror.

About sixteen seconds after the initial declaration, a one worded question left her lips:

"Why?"

Luna could do a lot of things. She was a very good actress and well used to hiding her fear. In the time her mind had processed the full implications of Anakin's statement, the only outward signs had been her face pailing considerably, the widening of her eyes, and the fact she had stopped copying down symbols on notebook paper, her pencil frozen in mid stroke. Her Force presence didn't have a noticeable shift to terror, or at least one Anakin could sense.

Her voice, however, betrayed her, not by much, but it did.

It didn't take someone who knew her well to hear the panic in it.

And by this point, Anakin was beginning to get to know her, or at least the little piece of herself that she let show, relatively well, just about as well as Luna's science, technology, and history teachers, the teachers that she liked the most and that liked her, from back on Earth. It was the standard rate of closeness anyone ever got to her for the past few years.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Palpatine wants to meet with me. Why?" Luna asked, managing to hide her panic better the second time. She finished what she had been writing before, trying to act calm while her mind was anything but, before packing up the books, not daring to look up at him, covering up her fierce attention with action.

"Well, he's interested in meeting my new 'padawan,'" Anakin replied. "I've told him about you, and he's curious."

"What exactly did you tell him about me?"

"Just that you are a talented up and coming Jedi that I decided to take as my padawan recently in a decision to 'move on' after Ahsoka. He knows that you were raised outside of the Temple for some your life. He knows nothing about you being from Earth," Anakin reassured her. "Don't stress about it. Palpatine's one of my closest friends. I'm sure he just wants to meet you, besides, I'll be with you the entire time."

"When?" Luna asked, her voice carrying the tone of any teen that had resigned themself to being forced to meet with relatives that said teen loathed along with a slight undercurrent of apprehension. She felt better then she had before with the reassurance that Anakin would be with her. It wasn't like Palpatine could do much if the Jedi was there.

"Like I said, sometime tomorrow. It'll be just like the time you met Bail or Mon." Luna eyes turned to slits at the comparison as she slid the books into a bag. She had the pleasure and privilege for Padmé to introduce her to the two senators a week or so ago.

"Bail Organa and Mon Mothma are not Supreme Chancellors of the Republic," or Sith Lords trying to take over the galaxy.

"Well, you were okay with meeting me and Obi-Wan, and while he is the Supreme Chancellor, he's just as human as the rest of us."

Luna had had to bite her tongue in order to not snap at Anakin. Once she was sure her tongue would not lash out uncontrolled or that she didn't need to get more connected to the Force in case her speech needed to be censored, she finally spoke:

"Anakin, never compare yourself to Palpatine ever again."