[Junior Jedi Knights] - 01(6)
“We need to talk, Anakin,” Tahiri said as she arrived at the morning meal and sat down at the breakfast table beside her new best friend.
Anakin wasn’t a morning person.
“Oh hi,” he said with a grumble as Tahiri sat across from him. “Look, I don’t like to talk in the morning,” he tried to explain.
“Nonsense. You don’t like to talk period,” Tahiri replied. “Last night I did all the talking. Now I want to know a little bit about you.”
Tahiri wasn’t ready to tell him about the dream. That would have to wait until she could be sure that he wouldn’t laugh at her. She hated to be laughed at.
“Go on,” she prodded when Anakin still hadn’t spoken.
“You’re not going to leave me alone no matter what I say, are you?” Anakin asked grumpily.
Tahiri just stared at him, her green eyes glowing. Anakin hated telling people about himself. He swallowed, then quickly began to recite his family history.
“My mother and father are famous. My mom is Leia Organa Solo and she’s a princess from the planet Alderaan and chief of state of the New Republic. Both she and my father, Han Solo, were Rebel heroes. My uncle is Luke Skywalker, the famous Jedi Master and the founder of this academy. The entire family is almost too much to live up to.” Anakin growled. “Okay, are you satisfied now?”
“You don’t have to live up to them,” Tahiri said matter-of-factly. “You aren’t them and they aren’t you.”
“Easy for you to say,” Anakin replied. “I would rather have a family than not have one at all,”
Tahiri shot back.
“I thought your family were the Sand People,” Anakin said.
“They are, but not really,” Tahiri answered. “The Sand People found me in the desert. But my real parents were moisture farmers on Tatooine. My parents had machines that pulled water from the air. That water was used on the planet for drinking and farming. I don’t really remember them. The Sand People said they were killed when I was four. I’m not sure how they died, though.”
“I’m sorry,” Anakin said.
“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Tahiri replied fiercely. “I’m lucky that the Sand People found me in the desert. Just like I’m lucky that Luke and Tionne found me on Tatooine.”
“You’re right,” Anakin agreed. He was beginning to feel more at ease with Tahiri. He took another bite of food, then said, “I even have an older brother and sister. They’re 13 years old and their names are Jacen and Jaina.”
“What are they like?” Tahiri asked her friend.
“Well, Jacen is pretty wild. He loves spending time outside. He collects bugs and gets into a lot of trouble. Jaina is more like me. She likes taking things apart and then figuring out how to put them together. I don’t get to spend too much time with either of them. They were on Yavin 4 for the past few months studying. Now I’m here,” Anakin explained.
“You miss them, don’t you,” Tahiri said.
“Yeah. They’re my best friends,” Anakin admitted.
“Well, now you have me,” Tahiri said with a quick grin. “And I have something I need to tell you. Last night I had a dream-the same dream I’ve had most of my life for as long as I can remember. It’s a strange dream. Strange, because in it I’m rafting on a river, and before yesterday I’d never seen a river. In fact, before I came to this moon I’d never seen so much water in my life. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that this dream I’ve been having has always taken place here, on Yavin 4. Which is truly weird, don’t you think, because this is my first time here.” Tahiri didn’t wait for Anakin’s comments. “Anyway, in the dream I’m always rafting a river when a terrible storm begins. The winds howl and the water of the river grows into giant waves. One of the waves hits me and I’m thrown out of the raft. That’s when I usually wake up. But last night I didn’t wake up. Instead I almost drowned. I didn’t, though, because the breakfast bell rang and I was woken up. But that’s not important right now. What’s important is that for the first time in all the years that I can remember dreaming this exact same dream, someone else was in it too. That someone was in my raft, and when I was swept into the river he held out a silver paddle to save me from drowning. The boy who held out that paddle was you!”
Anakin was silent. So this was what his brother Jacen was always talking about. I guess girls do get crushes on boys and say things that make no sense, he thought.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Tahiri asked impatiently.