Ferus.
CHAPTER TWO
“Don’t say anything,” Obi-Wan said in a low tone. “Follow me.”
Anakin’s face was hot. He followed his Master through the hallway and onto the turbolift. He watched the levels count off as he slowed his breaths, fighting for control.
Obi-Wan led the way out of the turbolift and into the Room of the Thousand Fountains. Anakin knew his Master had chosen this site deliberately. The soft splash of the fountains were a calming aid to all Jedi. The room smelled of green growth, and the refracted light of the water gave the air a soft radiance.
None of this worked to calm him. He wanted to fight against it.
“How did it happen?” Anakin asked, as soon as he was sure they were alone. “How could it happen? I don’t understand!”
“Anakin, of course you’re disappointed,” Obi-Wan said. “It is natural to want to be first.”
“I am first!” Anakin exploded. “I was always first in my class. First in lightsaber training. First in the Force.”
Obi-Wan frowned. “There is no such thing. We don’t rank students at the Temple.”
“That is what is said,” Anakin answered. “But it’s not the reality, and you know it.”
Obi-Wan took a breath. “How good you are is not the point.”
“What makes Ferus better?”
“That is not the point either. The fact is he is ready!” Obi-Wan’s voice was raised, and that didn’t happen very often. Anakin could see that he was pushing his Master to the limit.
But he couldn’t stop. Not on something that was this important to him. “I’m ready!” he insisted. “I’m just as ready as he is.”
“That is something you cannot know,” Obi-Wan said, shaking his head. “It is not for the Padawan to know. It is for the Master and the Council.”
Obi-Wan’s words stopped Anakin in his tracks. A sudden knowledge seared his brain.
“You agreed with them,” he said. “You voted for Ferus!”
“It was not a vote…” Obi-Wan began.
“You agreed - “
“It was a discussion,” Obi-Wan interrupted. “To which all Masters were invited.”
“You’re not answering me.”
Obi-Wan paused. “Yes. I agreed with the Council’s choice.”
Anakin felt as though he had received a sharp prod from an electrojabber.
“Anakin.” Obi-Wan made a move to put his hands on Anakin’s shoulders, but did not actually touch him, knowing somehow that Anakin would push him off. “This is not about your skills, your commitment, or your abilities. This is about whether you are ready. There is a difference.”
“You don’t think I’m ready.” Anakin could hear how wooden his voice sounded.
“I think Ferus is. That does not mean I think he will make a better Jedi. It only means that I think he is ready now.”
Ferus had manipulated them. Ferus had somehow made this happen. He had voiced his doubts about Anakin aloud, sometimes in front of his Master, and somehow he had corrupted their opinions of him.
Anakin’s fury grew until it was something wild, something he did not know if he could contain. He looked at his Master, and suddenly Obi-Wan was a stranger to him
“I can feel your anger,” Obi-Wan said. “Take care.” He did not want to take care. He wanted to punch something.
“Your focus on who gets to be Master first is only reinforcing the rightness of the Council’s decision,” Obi-Wan went on. “You’re treating this like a contest. You are not emotionally ready to be a Jedi. Decisions like this must be accepted.”
“You do not need to quote Jedi teachings,” Anakin said through his teeth. “I know them well. Better even than Ferus, though that doesn’t seem to make a difference.”
Obi-Wan’s face was tight. “You need a little time to compose yourself. We can discuss this further if you like. I’ll leave you now.”
Obi-Wan turned away. His shoulders were tense. He took a few steps, then relented. He turned back. “I believe in you, Anakin,” he said.
Anakin had turned, too, and now kept his back to his Master. He could not answer him. He could only think of Ferus. After a moment, he heard Obi-Wan leave the room.
Ferus had plotted. Ferus had beaten him. Ferus had won.
And now he had to work with him on this mission. He had to help Ferus achieve what he, Anakin, deserved. He imagined Ferus’s smug face as he accepted the praise of the Council. As he took his place as a Jedi Knight. He imagined Ferus as a Knight and himself still a Padawan.
It can’t happen that way.
Anakin took his anger and focused it. For a moment, the water from the many fountains around him hung suspended in the air. He used the Force to keep the water frozen in midair, just to prove he could do it. The silence filled his ears. Then he let it fall, all the fountains gushing, trickling, racing once again. The noise seemed enormous now, a torrent. As though he could hear every drop of water hit every pebble.