Obi-Wan had tried to talk to him about it, but the boy would just shut down. His eyes would turn opaque and the corners of his mouth would straighten into a thin line. He would seem very far away. Obi-Wan did not know how to reach him at such times, but they were infrequent and passed as quickly as a rain shower. When they’d met, Anakin had been a warm-hearted nine-year-old boy with an open nature. He was twelve and a half now, and the years had changed him. He had grown to be a boy who hid his heart.
Obi-Wan had tried to show Anakin that friends he would make at theTemplewould be his for life. Obi-Wan’s friends from his classes—Garen, Reeft, and Bant—were now roaming the galaxy. He didn’t see them very often. But that deep tie was still there. He wanted the same for Anakin.
Qui-Gon had been dead for three and a half years. Sometimes it seemed like an age, but most of the time it seemed like it had happened yesterday. Especially when he needed his Master’s advice. He would always think of Qui-Gon as his Master. Qui-Gon had been torn from him too soon, and Obi-Wan still felt his presence at his shoulder. He even knew what Qui-Gon would say right now.
You cannot make friends for your Padawan, Obi-Wan. You can only show him through your own actions how important connections are to you.
Qui-Gon had done that. Obi-Wanwas still running into beings throughout the galaxy who came up to him and spoke reverently or glowingly or humorously of their deep friendship with his Master. Obi-Wan hadn’t realized how many connections Qui-Gon had forged with the most unlikely sorts.
Smiling, Obi-Wan paused behind a screen of trees. He couldn’t resist a moment to see if Anakin was enjoying himself with the others. He scanned the happy, splashing group with the smile still on his face. It slowly faded as he realized that Anakin wasn’t there. With a sigh, Obi-Wan turned away. He hurried to the nearest turbolift. He knew where Anakin was. The boy sometimes retreated to his own quarters.
Obi-Wan exited at Anakin’s floor and quickly made his way to the boy’s quarters. As he reached them, the lower half of a protocol droid rotated out the door on its own. It was followed a moment later by a battered astromech droid, which tottered and then smashed into the wall.
Obi-Wan paused. As expected, a split second later Anakin raced out the door and crashed right into Obi-Wan.
“By the suns, I thought I had it this time,” he cried, rebounding off Obi-Wan and crouching by the droid.
“I thought you wanted to swim,” Obi-Wan said.
That shuttered look came over Anakin’s face. “I hadwork to do,” he muttered.
Obi-Wan crouched by him. “This isn’t work, Anakin. It’s a hobby. And if you are using it to keep distance between you and your fellow students, it’s not a helpful one.”
Anakin looked up, his bright eyes keen again. “But I’m making things, Master! Look, I’ve almost got this astromech ready for service.”
“Mechanical ability is a valuable skill,” Obi-Wan said. “That is not what I meant, and you know it.”
“They don’t want me,” Anakin said flatly. He walked over and slung the legs of the protocol droid under one arm. “I’m not like them.”
Obi-Wan couldn’t argue. Anakin was unique. There was no question about that. He was an exceptional student, much more in tune with the Force than others his age. He had come late to theTemple. It wasn’t that the other students dislikedhim, they just didn’t know what to make of him.
When did it happen? Obi-Wan wondered again. Why did it happen? Was it the loss of his mother, followed so closely by the death of Qui-Gon? Obi-Wan could not replace those people in Anakin’s heart, nor did he wish to. He had hoped that with Jedi training andtheir own relationship, Anakin would come to find peace. He had not.
“Yoda has requested our presence,” he told Anakin, rolling the astromech droid back into Anakin’s quarters.
Anakin looked up, excited.”A mission?”
“I don’t think so,” Obi-Wan said carefully.
Barely two weeks ago, Yoda and Mace Windu had expressed doubts that Anakin was ready for a mission. Anakin lacked discipline, they said. Obi-Wan disagreed. It wasn’t so much a lack of discipline that caused Anakin to break rules and send his droids scurrying over theTemplecorridors. It was partially boredom, he thought. No matter what he threw at Anakin, the boy mastered it. He needed more challenges. Where Yoda and Mace Windu saw a lack of discipline, Obi-Wan saw an emotional restlessness that could not be cured by hard study or physical trials.
“Straighten your tunic,” he admonished. “And wash the grease off your hands.”
Anakin scurried to comply, runningto the sink in the corner. His quarters were crammed with tools and droid parts. Pieces of a probe droid were scattered over his sleep-couch. A pair of legs for a bipedal droid sat in a corner. Obi-Wan knew that Anakin had found these things by sneaking out of theTempleand dealing in the thriving black market of Coruscant. He preferred to turn a blind eye. So far, Yoda and Mace Windu did as well. But it did not help Anakin’s reputation with the Council.