━━━━━━ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄
holding on ━━━━━━
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CORUSCANT, CORUSCA SECTOR
𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒. From a distance, it looked like it might be covered in a sheen of kyber crystal that glittered even in the depth of darkness. The City of Spires was a web of glowing gold and electric lemon. Upon closer examination, Wynn was always disappointed. Not one inch of the planet seemed real, and the longer she lived there, the more she realized she would never get used to living in a city.
This time, as the ship landed Wynn found herself feeling grateful for any familiarity. The sands of Tatooine were edging close to the border of overwhelming.
Senator Palpatine and the Chancellor were waiting for them. They wasted no time in whisking the Queen--fake Queen--and all of her handmaidens away to discuss senate proceedings. Lyranna had taken Anakin's hand to keep him from stopping and staring at the sights around them as they walked off. Wynn tried to see it from his perspective. Buildings towered below and around the platform and a thousand different noises begged for attention. The smell of it was overwhelming, and the sight of it would be a sensory overload for Anakin, the boy who had only known sand and rock.
The Jedi were to go to the Council and discuss how, exactly, they were going to deal with a small boy and twenty thousand midichlorians. The matter of the attacker was their first priority. His cold stare of yellowed, citrine eyes was sickening to behold and terrifying to try and comprehend.
"He was trained in the Jedi arts," Qui Gon was explaining. "My only conclusion can be that it was a Sith lord."
A few of the council members muttered to themselves. Wynn narrowed her eyes at their insipid disbelief. It was getting tiresome to be able to predict their actions so easily. The last dregs of sunlight dragged across the floor of the circular chamber, too pure and warm for this annoying argument.
"Impossible, the Sith have been extinct for a millennium," Master Mundi said, turning towards Master Yoda with expectation. He wanted to be told that his assumption was correct.
Master Windu made some noise of disbelief. "I do not believe the Sith could have returned without us knowing."
"If I may," Wynn spoke, taking a step forward. All eyes turned to her. "The attacker was Dathomirian. The Nightbrothers and their ways have always been a mystery to outsiders, and this may not be an exception."
"Hm, yes," Master Yoda croaked. "Hard to see, the darkside is."
Master Windu was unimpressed. Wynn was too young to know what she was talking about. "We will use all our resources to unravel this mystery. We will discover the identity of your attacker. May the Force be with you."
The three of them bowed in reverence, but Wynn didn't move even as Obi-Wan headed for the door. She studied Qui-Gon, who was still standing rooted in the same spot. Obi-Wan shared a look with Wynn, and she could understand him as clearly as if he had said the words out loud. She would know that look anywhere.
This isn't going to end well.
"Master Qui-Gon, more to say, have you?" Master Yoda asked, not entirely surprised.
"With your permission, my Master, we have encountered a vergence in the Force."
"A vergence, you say?" Master Yoda repeated, leaning forward in the curved orange chair.
"Located around a person?" Master Windu asked.
Of course not a person. We found this amazing rock we thought you might like. If looks could kill, Master Windu would have a nice hole burned straight into his head.
"A boy," Qui-Gon trod carefully with his words. "His cells have the highest concentration of midi-chlorians I have seen in a life-form. It is possible he was conceived by the midi-cholorians."
Out of the corner of her eye, Wynn saw Depa Biliba's face contort with confusion.
"You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it's this...boy?" Master Windu said, lips parted in unveiled disbelief.
The prophecy, scrawled into the heart of a glowing holocron, was as old as the original Jedi philosophers. Many of the obscure legends in the hands of the Order weren't given too much importance. They came to pass with time and without much consequence. But the chosen one was a different story.
Based on what Wynn had seen, it might very well be the only story.
Qui-Gon digressed. "I don't presume to--"
"But you do," Yoda interrupted pointedly. "Revealed, your opinion is."
"I request the boy to be tested, Master."
"Oh?" Yoda hummed. "Trained as a Jedi you request for him, hmm?"
By this point, Obi-Wan was standing with his arms folded across his chest, watching the verbal game move between Yoda and Qui-Gon. If anything, Wynn knew he was vaguely entertained.
"Finding him was the will of the Force, I have no doubt of that," Qui-Gon pressed onward. He was making no headway, though, and Wynn could see in the eyes of the council that they would not agree to it. Not under the circumstances.
Nevertheless, Master Windu sighed and said, "Bring him before us, then."
Qui-Gon bowed once more before they finally left the room. As soon as the doors shut behind them, Wynn finally said what she had barely been able to contain.
"They can't see it," she shook her head. "They cannot see that there is too much potential to relegate this to another myth. You saw their disbelief, once they take Anakin's age into account, they will be too cemented in their decision to say otherwise. They won't allow him to be trained."
Qui-Gon thought about this, keeping his head facing forward. "Then I will have to change their minds."
"Anakin won't pass the council's test, Master," Obi-Wan continued, backing Wynn up. "She's right, he's too old."
"Anakin will become a Jedi, I promise you," Qui-Gon spoke again.
Outside, the sun was setting. The floor was washed in orange and peach tones of fading light. Soon, Anakin would stand in the center of the chamber, and then they would have their answer. But if disaster could be prevented, they needed to at least try.
"Do not defy the council, Master, not again," Obi-Wan pleaded.
"If the council does not train Anakin, there will be nothing but disaster. They have a chance to right the course of history," Wynn argued, shooting Obi-Wan a sharp glare. She had no qualms about defying the council, and under the current circumstances, it sounded rather fun.
"You always say that the future isn't set in stone, so what makes this so different?" Obi-Wan retorted. "You're convinced that training Anakin is the only option to save us from a future that might not even come to pass."
"The way to make sure it doesn't come to pass is to help Anakin and give him the clarity he seeks," Wynn said, keeping her voice even. They stood at the balcony, and she looked straight out at the world beyond. The fading daylight reflected off of the buildings with a vengeance. "Throwing him back into a sand dune is not going to help anyone."
Qui-Gon just looked between them. "I shall do what I must."
"If you would just follow the code, you would be on the council. They will not go along with you this time," Obi-Wan warned, sounding more like a Master than a Padawan
"You still have much to learn, my young apprentice," Qui-gon said, gently reaching out a hand and placing it on Obi-Wan's shoulder.
Wynn swallowed hard and kept her eyes towards the violent colors of the Coruscanti sunset. Obi-Wan was more than ready for his trials. Only time would tell which one of the two people standing before her was ready to let go of the other first.
※ ·❆· ※
OUTSIDE of the council hall, Wynn was pacing again. This time, Obi-Wan said nothing. He let her continue to move back and forth as they waited for a decision to be reached regarding Anakin. Wynn sensed that her job was over with their mission was complete, but she needed to see it through. There was no way she would be able to head back to her quarters and prepare for another day of tutoring younglings.
She knew what kinds of questions they would be asking Anakin. The same ones they had asked her when she had arrived.
Too old to be automatically accepted. They had made her stand at the center of the council chamber and be interrogated. She barely remembered it, she was hardly five years old. But Anakin was nine years of age. That was unheard of.
"What are you thinking about?" Obi-Wan asked suddenly.
Qui-Gon had left and was yet to return. It was just the two of them.
"The same thing you are, hopefully."
"What? That Master Windu needs to get his ego in check?"
Wynn whipped her head around. "Excuse me? Are you sick, or something?"
He rolled his eyes. "Oh shut up. I'm not blind, Wynn, but I don't think this is a good idea. The Jedi Code exists for a reason. Attachment at the root of a Jedi's training is too distracting."
"And ripping a child away from their family is the correct course of action, then?" she shot back, his words hitting too close to her heart for comfort.
He blinked. "Of course not. That's why the council does it before the child can become attached."
But they never think of the parents. The sister. The people who think their child is a traitor to their own kind.
Wynn stopped her pacing in front of the window. Her eyes were wild with a hundred different realizations, but one was at the forefront.
For all of her time at the temple, there was always an option for her to train to become a Seer. To hand in her twin sabers in favor of a less lethal kind of study. Wynn was too restless for that, and sometimes, she knew she enjoyed the hum of a weapon more than she should. But it was at the root of her very being. Echani values that no amount of training would ever wash away. The visions, the conversations, and the lessons brought her no closer to a cure for her restless nature. It was her past that wouldn't allow her to move on, the attachment of a five-year-old. There was more than one reason why the council had hesitated to accept the white-haired girl from a war-torn Eshan. To them, she just might be the harbinger of another prophecy they didn't want to see come into fruition.
It was all too easy for Wynn to see the future. Looking into the past was another challenge entirely. She had believed she had grown up the moment Master Amersu had died in her arms, but she had been a fool to think her time of learning had passed. Master Quinn Nalé was a Seer who had approached Wynn before. That time, Wynn hadn't paid It much mind.
This time, she would be smart enough to listen to her. She needed to go speak with her.
First, though, there were bigger problems.
Qui-Gon walked down the hall towards them, a troubled expression on his face. "The Senate has given a vote of no confidence for Chancellor Valorum. They account for it with his poor handling of the trade dispute."
Before Wynn could utter something along the lines of serves him right, Obi-Wan spoke.
"A vote of no confidence in the Senate would breed nothing but trouble for us. The council will want to see it addressed immediately."
Qui-gon looked past him at the doors. "Hopefully, they can come to a resolution about the boy before that happens."
※ ·❆· ※
"THE Force is strong with him," Master Mundi spoke, gesturing to Anakin with apprehension.
"He is to be trained then?" Qui-Gon said hopefully.
Mace Windu waited for a half-beat before answering. With one arm draped lazily over the arm of his chair, it seemed like he was enjoying this. "No, he will not be trained."
"No?" Qui-Gon breathed in disbelief.
"He is too old," Master Windu said simply.
"He is the chosen one, you must see it," Qui-Gon insisted, hands balanced on his hips. Obi-Wan looked ready to die of embarrassment.
"The boy's future is clouded," Wynn spoke. The silence after her words rang in her own ears. She was exposing herself in every possible way, but it was too important to worry about how the council would know she had seen something. "But it is more like a blank canvas of possibility than an indiscernible vision," she explained, careful to mind that Anakin was listening to her with wide eyes. "He seeks clarity, and we would be denying the will of the Force to not train him."
"So what do you propose?" Master Windu narrowed his eyes. "That you will train the boy?"
Wynn choked. There was no way, no possibility that it would end well if she trained him. She would ruin his path before it even began, and she didn't have the means to help him. Anakin looked up at her with innocent expectation, so much so that she couldn't even utter the word no.
So Qui-Gon, already knowing her answer, spoke for her. "I will train the boy," he said with conviction, stepping forward and placing his hands on Anakin's shoulders. "I take Anakin as my Padawan learner."
Obi-Wan was somewhere between horrified and confused. Wynn couldn't fault him for that.
"An apprentice you have, Qui-Gon," Yoda reminded him. "Impossible to take on a second."
"The code forbids it," Master Windu added. Pointlessly, as if they didn't already know.
"Obi-Wan is ready--" Qui-Gon started to say.
"I am ready to face the trials," Obi-Wan said, stepping forward. Wynn widened her eyes, surprised he would say such a bold thing.
Master Yoda gave a thin smile. "Our own counsel we will keep on who is ready."
Qui-Gon sighed, turning to face Obi-Wan. "He is headstrong, and he has much to learn of the living force, but he is more than capable. There is little more he can learn from me."
Obi-Wan turned to look at Qui-Gon. Melancholy in every way, this was the dividing line.
"Young Skywalker's fate will be decided later," Yoda told them, overriding the entire conversation.
"Now is not the time for this," Master Windu said. "The Senate is voting for a new Supreme Chancellor and Queen Amidala is returning home which will put pressure on the Federation and widen the confrontation."
"And draw out the queen's attacker," Master Mundi added sagely. The Cerean inclined his head having said his piece in the matter.
"The three of you will return to Naboo and discover the identity of this Dathomirian warrior," Master Windu told them. "This is the clue we need to unravel the mystery of the Sith."
As if it would make it all better, Yoda said, "May the Force be with you."
Qui-Gon did not bow as they left the room once more.
※ ·❆· ※
THE QUEEN and her entourage were already waiting for them on the platform. Like before, there were pilots and handmaidens alike flanking her sides. Lyranna gave him a small wave as she passed, and he smiled back. Wynn had taken over the job of watching Anakin, which also included Artoo. It was amazing how fast the droid and the boy had become attatched.
"It's not disrespect, Master. It's the truth," Obi-Wan said one last time as he walked next to his Master. It was a lost cause to keep up the argument.
"From your point of view," Qui-Gon said lightly, barely taking Obi-Wan's words to heart.
"The boy is dangerous," Obi-Wan reiterated. "They all sense it. Why can't you?"
At that moment, he watched as Anakin jumped to give Wynn a high five. Anakin laughed as Wynn raised her arm to its full height. She towered over him, grinning.
"There was a time when you took Wynn's word for anything. If you will not believe me, believe her. She knows that his fate is uncertain. That does not make him dangerous," Qui-Gon said, lowering his voice.
Around their docking platform, night had fallen over the city. It was bright and gleaming, but Obi-Wan could feel the foreboding omen. Darkness.
"The council will decide Anakin's future, that should be enough for you," Qui-Gon sighed, realizing that his lack of listening to the council wasn't something Obi-Wan would ever agree with. "Now get on board."
Some of the queen's guard filed past, already heading up the ramp to the Nubian transport. Obi-Wan set his jaw. There was a part of him that knew he was right. But the other part of him knew what it meant to be Qui-Gon Jinn's padawan. If he wasn't learning anymore, if he had already moved on to form an opinion so solid that it couldn't be changed, was it dangerous or a good thing?
Wynn stood at the base of the ship with her bare arms folded as Qui-Gon spoke to Anakin. The blue sash of her outfit floated in the breeze, and her silver eyes glinted with something a little more dangerous than curiosity.
"You don't think I'm ready, do you?" he asked her. "I saw the look on your face in the council chamber."
Wynn considered this, cocking her head to the side. "That face was because you told Mace Windu to shove his opinion up his rass. And when has what I think ever mattered that much to you?" she grinned.
There was a time when you took Wynn's word for anything.
"It always has," he said, but Obi-Wan could tell she didn't believe him.
"In that case, I do think you're ready. I think you were ready way before I was, too."
"Don't say that," he scoffed. "You're doing perfectly fine as a Knight."
When she turned to face him fully, the half-light reflecting off the ship illuminated the scar on her pretty face. "I wasn't. In that moment when Master Amersu died, I knew I wasn't ready to let go. That's the question you have to ask yourself. Are you ready to let go?"
They fell into silence as they watched Qui-Gon put a reassuring arm on Anakin's shoulder. Obi-Wan couldn't hear what was being said, but he understood what Qui-Gon was telling Anakin.
"You don't think Anakin to be dangerous?" Obi-Wan asked, almost inaudibly.
"Of course he's dangerous," Wynn's low voice lilted with the Echani accent that she couldn't quite lose. "But so are we. Every person has a potential for danger and darkness. That was the original goal of the Jedi Order, not to eradicate evil but to teach and preserve what good was. Dangerous means nothing. Unrealized potential means everything." She had a far-off look in her eyes, like she was looking at the city but thinking about something else that she had seen.
"I've been seeing things my whole life," she told him without even a hint of a smile. "I know what it's like to feel so lost and alone, and I won't let just watch that pain fall onto someone. Not Anakin, not anyone.
"I know," he told her. They stood shoulder to bare shoulder, far closer than they should have been. Far too attached than he should have ever been to any one person.
But when Obi-Wan slipped his hand into Wynn's, she didn't let go.
※ ·❆· ※
NABOO, CHOMMELL SECTOR
INITIALLY, when the Queen revealed to all of them that her plan to not be arrested and forced to sign a treaty hinged on the help of Jar Jar, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
A droid control ship had spotted them as they flew in. Their ship cut gracefully across the verdant landscape just above the treetops. The daylight had just overtaken the darkness, illuminating everything below them. They all knew that they were playing with borrowed time, and it wouldn't be long before the droid army was upon them.
Qui-Gon watched out over the horizon a good distance away from the ship. Obi-Wan had nothing to tell him that he didn't know, but he didn't know how else to approach his Master.
"Jar Jar is on his way to the Gungan city, Master."
"Good." Qui-Gon didn't turn to face him.
"Do you think the Queen's idea will work?"
"The Gungans will not be easily swayed, and we cannot use our power to help her."
Obi-Wan stayed silent for a moment. "I'm-I'm sorry for my behavior, Master. It's not my place to disagree with you about the boy," Obi-Wan kept his head pointed down. "And I am grateful you think I'm ready to take the trials."
Qui-Gon's expression remained impassive. "You've been a good apprentice, Obi-Wan. And you're a much wiser man than I am," he finally smiled, reaching out and placing a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "I foresee you will become a great Jedi Knight."
That's the question you have to ask yourself. Are you ready to let go?
Wynn didn't ever have the luxury of asking herself that question. He did, and the answer that came to him was more certain than he expected. He was ready. Completely confident that the trials would not be kind to him, but he was ready to let go.
Jar Jar resurfaced on the beachhead, shaking the water off. He hadn't been gone for very long, which was the first sign that something was wrong. Jar Jar glanced over his shoulder, and even before he opened his mouth, it was apparent that what he had seen was unexpected.
"Desa nobody dare," Jar Jar informed them, uncharacteristically quiet. "The Gungan city is deserted. Some kinda fight mesa thinks."
"Do you think they have been taken to the camps?" Obi-Wan asked, turning to Captain Panaka who was standing next to Qui-Gon with his blaster pistol at the ready.
"More likely they were wiped out," he said evenly as if he hadn't just suggested an entire race was decimated.
"Mesa no tink so," Jar Jar argued fiercely.
"Do you know where they are, Jar Jar?" Qui-Gon asked.
"When in trouble, Gungans go to sacred place. Mesa show you," he said excitedly as he pushed through them. "Come on, Mesa show you!"
Queen Amidala took up the head of the group as they trudged through the jungle. Twigs snapped and birds called out with a foreign song in the trees above them. The foliage got thicker and the noises became louder and distinctly more Gungan-like as they walked along.
Obi-Wan walked comfortably next to Wynn. As they stepped over a log, he leaned and whispered in Wynn's ear. "Don't fall this time."
She rolled her eyes, trying not to smile. "Thanks for the advice."
The clearing they came upon held scattered artifacts. Towering heads of cracked stone that had once stood tall in the original Naboo temples. The leaves in the trees blocked out all but the smallest bit of sunlight, providing the perfect cover for the hidden Gungans.
The Captain Tarpals from before rode over on his mount Anakin moved to pet the nose of the Kaadu, but Wynn grabbed him by the sleeve before he could lunge forward.
"Your honor, Queen Amidala of the Naboo," the captain said, presenting their group to the higher council of Gungans that stood waiting.
Jar Jar was in charge of speaking. "Uh, h-hello, Big Boss Nass, your honor," he began shakily.
The Bosses insisted on standing on the roots of a Perlote tree that snaked around one of the old ruins. They had the high ground over them, literally and metaphorically.
"Jar Jar Binks," Boss Nass said, his voice echoing out and over the clearing. "Who's thosa others?"
"I am Queen Amidala of the Naboo," the Queen spoke diplomatically. "I come before you in peace."
"Ah, the Naboo," he said with distaste. "Yousa bring the mackineeks. Yousa all bombad!"
Anakin yanked on Obi-Wan's sleeve and whispered, "What's a mackineek?"
"A machine, the droids," he supplied, watching as the Queen's handmaidens bristled at the threat of Boss Nass' comment.
Queen Amidala was undeterred. "We have searched you out because we wish to form an alliance--"
Then, to Obi-Wan's surprise, Padmé stepped out in front of the Queen. Obi-Wan wondered if this might be considered some form of treason, but when he went to ask Wynn, he faltered. Wynn stared straight ahead, grinning as if she had known this would happen all along.
"Your Honor," Padmé said.
"Whosa this?" Boss Nass said with outstretched arms. He clicked his tongue, already close to the end of his patience.
"I am Queen Amidala."
There were more than a few voices of confusion. Anakin swung his head up to look at Obi-Wan again, but there was no explanation to be offered.
"This is my decoy," Padmé explained, gesturing to the girl dressed up as the Queen. "My protection, my loyal bodyguard. I'm sorry for my deception, but it was necessary to protect myself. Although we do not always agree, Your Honor, our two great societies have always lived in peace. The Trade Federation has destroyed all that we have worked so hard to build. If we do not act quickly, all will be lost forever. I ask you to help us," Padmé fell to her knees. "No, I beg you to help us."
It was a move of respect and one of careful calculation. For so long, the Gungans had believed the Naboo to be better than them. If this plan worked, Padmé would not only save her people, but she would unite them.
"We are your humble servants."
Wynn was the first to get to her knees, but the rest of them soon followed Padmé's lead. Wynn didn't look confused in the slightest, either. Qui-Gon suspected it, Obi-Wan felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.
"Our fate is in your hands."
Boss Nass considered this. It was a tense silence as the Gungan army shifted with muttering and they waited for his decision.
And then, the Boss started laughing. Barks of laughter cut through the silence, making Anakin jump.
"Yousa no thinkin yousa greater then the Gungan?"
Padmé gave a small, timid shake of her head.
But Boss Nass began to grin, laughing wildly at the prospect of such a statement. "Mesa like this! Wesa bein friends."
Cheers went up from both sides, Naboo and Gungan. They all stood again, and Lyranna moved forward to confer with Padmé. Obi-Wan glanced at Wynn at the same time she glanced at him. She quirked her lip in silent apology for what she hadn't told him. But he smiled at her, too relieved to do anything else. She smiled back, which should have made him feel better.
It should have brought him to some conclusion to know that this was the thing Wynn had known and didn't tell him about. All she had done was honor the trust that Padmé had placed in her. He wasn't surprised Wynn had figured it all out. There weren't many people that could hide the truth from her.
But as he watched her stare straight forward, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was still something else she wasn't telling him.
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a/n woo! I'm back! sorry for the awfully sporadic updates for this fic, I've realized that I have the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to focusing on fics and end-of-semester work. not to fear, though, we'll be back to regular Tuesday updates in the next two weeks.
I really don't even know who reads this bad boy anymore, so comment your absolute favorite star wars character so I can hear from you guys!! as long as you don't say jar jar binks it can be literally anyone (droids too). mine is currently (and probably always will be, tbh) miss ahsoka tano :)).
lots of love!!
Nat