“Count Dooku?” Anakin asked uncertainly, building himself to ask his question for over ten minutes on their flight. It was the new year, and they were travelling together to Urbaret to collect Slarena and his mom hopefully if they were alright. Anakin had worried that something might have happened to them in the last year, but he hoped that they were both alright and would come to meet him again.

  “Yes, Anakin?” Dooku said and turned around to look at him.

  “What will happen to the Jedi? When the CIS goes to war with the Republic?”

  “They will follow the Republic’s lead of course,” Dooku said, “They will likely see squashing the CIS as restoring peace and order to the galaxy as they have done so many times before in the Republic’s history.”

  “Is there no way to convince them?” Anakin asked, “It just makes me uncomfortable that the droids that I helped design might fight against or even kill any of my old friends…”

  “Hm. I do have somewhat of a plan…” Dooku said, “It does involve you, but it will be several years still until the CIS is ready for war. I thought to leave it until later. Once the CIS comes into the limelight, then you can send a statement to the Republic and Jedi telling them of the corruption of the Jedi Council. Any Jedi who wish to will be accepted into our ranks. I doubt many will accept… But perhaps your statement as well as my own combined will sway some to our side.”

  “Well… I guess that makes sense. I just wish that the CIS wouldn’t have to fight them.”

  “Yes, such a waste,” Dooku said, “Did you know that Qui-gon Jinn was my Padawan? It was his death that was the last straw that drove me to finally leave the Jedi order. Leave on a mission and never return after telling the council what I thought of their rigidity and stagnation.”

  “No, I didn’t know,” Anakin said, “Do you miss it? The Jedi order?”

  “No. I was an exemplary Jedi,” Dooku said with a strange note in his voice, “My personal connections to most were shed without hardly a second thought. I have been well trained.”

  Anakin didn’t have an answer to that as Dooku fell into contemplation as their ship kept flying through hyperspace.

  The ship landed and Anakin put on a full face breathing mask just like how he’d done on Tatooine. Count Dooku remained the same as ever, except that he was wearing a large pair of oversized tinted goggles. Something about it being just enough to ruin anyone trying to run a facial recognition scan on a crowd.

  They went to the Drunk Kreatul bar in the capital city of the lightly forested planet and sat down inside in a corner booth. People of all species sat inside celebrating the new year, and no one took more than a second glance at them as they sat there and waited in silence.

  “Drinks for two old friends?” Anakin looked up and froze when he saw none other than Obi-wan Kenobi standing there with a tray holding three large glasses. Without waiting for a reply, the Jedi knight in workman's clothes sat down on the exterior seat.

  He removed one glass filled with what looked like alcohol and pushed it over to where Dooku sat and picked up another filled with water and placed it in front of Anakin.

  “You’re not quite old enough yet, I don’t think, my Padawan,” Obi-wan joked before lifting his own glass and taking a small dainty sip from it.

  “Where’s my mom? Why are you here?” Anakin asked, not sure how to feel, but irritated at Obi-wan’s casualness. Anakin could see that Dooku was tense and the man’s hand fell to his side under the table where his lightsaber remained in his pocket. Anakin felt at his own side and sighed as he remembered the loss of his lightsaber on Tatooine.

  Obi-wan held up his hands defensively, “So aggressive. It seems time away from the temple hasn’t tempered your brashness. But not to worry, both of your mother and friend are safe and nearby. We can go see them after we talk for a bit.”

  “Talk is cheap,” Dooku said suddenly, “How do we know Republic or Jedi forces aren’t surrounding us as we speak?”

  “You are thoroughly surrounded,” Obi-wan agreed calmly, “It was never in question of either of you escaping. But I’ve been sent in to talk the both of you down to surrender yourselves peacefully. My padawan,” Obi wan nodded to Anakin.

  “...And the one who taught my own master,” Obi wan said and nodded to Dooku as well.

  “So, what happens now?” Dooku said, “Will you cuff us and drag us away then? What of the boy? The last Jedi master I met attempted to kill him while he was injured. I see no reason why the Council would treat him any kinder.”

  Obi wan’s hand flinched and he dropped his glass and only barely prevented it from tipping over and spilling all over the table.

  “What? That story’s ridiculous. Some kind of cover from the Council for what actually happened, surely? Anakin sits here without even a hint of the dark side on him. It’s impossible that it was him who was the source of the chaos.”

  “Master…” Anakin said reluctantly, causing Obi-wan to look at him intently, “It’s true. It was me who… did all of that and drew on the dark side. I… killed all of those people. Count Dooku has helped me ever since and helped me recover from my injuries after.”

  Obi-wan looked stunned for a moment and looked between the two of them.

  “But… you are untainted. How?”

  Dooku looked at Anakin in interest too. Anakin opened and closed his mouth for a moment, unsure what to say, his mind going blank.

  There was a soft pop and suddenly Draeth was sitting there on the center of the table. Anakin looked at him

  “Hey, don’t look at me you moron!” Draeth said and Anakin looked down at his lap as both Dooku and Obi-wan looked in confusion at Anakin staring intently at apparently nothing.

  “Listen up. You seem to be stumped by this kid. So here’s the deal. You’re an idiot. You got no clue what’s happening. You woke up and everything was fixed. Maybe tell them about the mind shield and how it feels if you’re really pressed. But under no circumstances can you tell them about me or your other abilities. No, don’t nod your head. This whole situation is a mess… Alright, bye again.”

  Draeth disappeared and Anakin looked up.

  “I don’t know. I just woke up after and my mind was suddenly clear like I’d never drawn on the dark side at all.”

  “Not at all?” Dooku said, looking shocked, “Not even the smallest whispers or urges?”

  Anakin shook his head and saw Obi-wan frowning as he watched Dooku’s reaction.

  “Well, this… is unprecedented,” Obi-wan said after Dooku recovered his composure and sat back.

  “But this is good,” Obi-wan insisted, “You’ll have a solid argument to the Council that you were never corrupted at all. If you’re not tempted by the dark, then you’re no longer a danger to others… I’m sure that Grandmaster Yoda will know something about it when we get back to the Jedi temple.”

  “What if I don’t want to go back?” Anakin asked, “Could you let us go? Give me my mom and friend? I’m not sure if I want to be a Jedi anymore.”

  Obi-wan looked struck and slightly hurt by Anakin’s last statement, but quickly covered it up.

  “Unfortunately not,” Obi-wan said, “I assume you’ll come in quietly?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “What will happen to Mom and Slarena?” Anakin asked, “I’ll only come in quietly if you let them go and leave them alone. And let me see them.”

  Obi-wan stared at Anakin steadily for a few seconds before slowly nodding.

  “I… can do that. I will take you to see them. If you’re captured peacefully then I see no reason for us to keep them here.”

  Anakin let out a breath and nodded and saw Dooku slowly lift his hand off from where his lightsaber sat.

  The three of them stood and left the bar and followed Obi-wan to the starport. As they moved, Anakin noticed over a dozen cloaked figures that must be Jedi emerging from the crowd to slowly envelop them as an escort. Once they’d reached the spaceport itself, groups of armed soldiers stood there, clearly from the Republic even if they weren’t in uniform.

  Anakin recognized the old stolen pirate ship as Obi-wan approached it and opened it up with a click of the ship remote key.

  Inside waiting just on the inside of the ramp were two women. Slarena, looking upbeat and less worn down by life than the last time that Anakin had seen her. And to her right…

  Anakin froze as Shmi ran forward and enveloped him in a back breaking hug.

  “Ani! I can’t believe that you’re alright. I was so worried, Slarena thought it was hopeless but I knew that you were still out there…”

  Anakin started to tear up slightly as he hugged her back tightly and his mother kept babbling into his ear about how much she missed him.

  “I… I missed you too,” he eventually said after the noise stopped. Mom loosened her grip on him tightly to stare at his wet eyes. Without able to stop himself, Anakin reached up and brushed his hand across the side of his mother’s face and felt the warped and scarred skin there. The burns covered the right half of her face and running down her neck from the blaster that he’d failed to stop from hitting her.

  “Don’t you mind that,” she said firmly as she gripped his hand with her own warm one, before lowering his hand down so their hands were interlaced as they rested down near their hips, “That’s in the past now. We’re both alright now, and that’s all that matters.”

  “I… I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. If I’d just been a little faster…” Anakin choked out but Mom shook him slightly by the shoulders and frowned at him.

  “Anakin Skywalker. I’m your mother. And if I say it’s alright. Then it’s alright. Okay?”

  Anakin nodded, snapped out of his funk by the tone of voice he’d always heard when he tried to skip out on his chores around the house.

  “Yes, Mom. If you say so.”

  Obi-wan cleared his throat at the bottom of the ramp and the two of them turned to stare at him. Obi-wan was looking at the scene with a complicated look, which he rapidly wiped away as he saw them staring.

  “I suppose that Master Dooku and I will leave you to it. We have a few hours to spare for you to catch up with each other.”

  “Thank you Master Jedi,” Mom said and wrapped her arm around Anakin’s shoulders, “We won’t keep you any longer.”

  She started to lead Anakin up the ramp, but he turned back to see Dooku standing there.

  “We will likely be placed on different transport ships for security,” Dooku said, “So I suppose that I will see you on Coruscant then. I only hope that our mutual friends will be able to protest our arrest in time.”

  Anakin frowned for a moment before he understood and controlled his expression as Obi-wan peered suspiciously between the two of them. Of course! The CIS, Count Dooku was the head of the whole separatist movement. Of course they’d try to get him free if they knew that he’d been arrested by the Republic…

  Dooku nodded as he saw that Anakin understood and then turned to Obi-wan.

  “Very well, Master Kenobi. I’m sure you have some questions for me that you’d like to ask in regards to the boy and my long absence from the Jedi order. Let us go elsewhere.”

  The two of them walked off, even as the Republic soldiers and other robed Jedi remained in a circle around them.

  Slarena hit a button and retracted the ramp, sealing the ship after Anakin and Mom fully entered the ship.

  “Could we-” Anakin asked, but Slarena just shook her head.

  “Ship’s toast. They disabled our engines as soon as they captured us. No flying out of here for us. Not until they give us back the components that they stole from us.”

  “Let’s not worry about that,” Mom insisted as she led Anakin to a nearby bench and they sat down next to each other, her arm still wrapped around his shoulder. Slarena smiled slightly and sat opposite of them.

  “She really won’t shut up about you, Anakin,” Slarena said, “She never thought for one second that you were really gone. Glad you made it okay, kid.”

  “I was lucky that Count Dooku saved me at the right time. If it wasn’t for him… Well…”

  Mom’s grip on him tightened and Anakin realized his slip up, “But we’re here now right? So it’s all fine,” he said with false cheer, “So, how have you two been? Did you make it out alright from Tatooine?”

  “Yep. With a ship to call our own and some credits to live off of for a while we were okay,” Slarena said, “We did some odd jobs. Transport of cargo mostly using some spare space in our ship. Nothing too exciting, but it’s a steady living. Your mother’s a whizz for accounting, I just let her manage all of our money and organization on the jobs now.”

  “Oh, you’re plenty good, you just don’t have the patience for it,” Mom shot back to Anakin’s slight shock. Mom had always been a more quiet person growing up, and Anakin didn’t think he’d ever seen her tease someone like that before.

  “She taught me how to fire a blaster,” Mom said as she looked back down at Anakin, “Isn’t that so exciting? And she’s underselling herself. I stay on the ship while she actually hands off the goods. She can be very intimidating when people try to underpay or rob us…”

  “That’s… That’s great, Mom,” Anakin said, finding himself smiling a little at seeing his Mom so happy. It seems that she’d really been settling into her new life well. “I’m glad things went so well. You both seem much happier than a year ago.”

  Both women’s faces dropped slightly before brightening again at the reminder of the past.

  “So how about you, Ani?” Mom asked, “What have you been doing? Were you with that man? Dooku?”

  Anakin opened his mouth to answer, only to be struck with a sudden bout of suspicion. If he were the Republic, wouldn’t he want to listen in on something like this? What if they were recording their conversation right now?

  “Yes, I was with him,” Anakin said after thinking about his answer, “But it wasn’t doing too much, mostly just healing from what happened and helping him out how I could…”

  Sensing his discomfort, Mom changed the topic and the three of them shifted to talk about their business as traders using the old pirate slaver ship.

  Mom’s hand remained around Anakin’s shoulders as they spoke, and Anakin slumped to lean against her and put his head on her shoulder as the time passed.

  Slarena looked at the both of them with a slight smile, but with a small tinge of sadness in her eyes as the three of them kept talking.

  Anakin sat up slightly and scooched to the side slightly so his lips were right near his mother’s ear as the conversation came to a lull.

  “I have a lot of money,” Anakin whispered into her ear as quietly as he could, “Dooku put it in an account for me. I want you to have it… Just in case. It’s with the Banking clan. Password is… With verification number… And the account is under the name Redarin T. Preswen.”

  Anakin leaned back and saw Mom staring at him seriously with a sad expression and nodded.

  “I understand,” she said, “Thank you.”

  “We only have a little time before they’re going to take you away from me again,” Mom said sadly, “You were so dead set on being a Jedi when you were a boy, it was so hard to let you go even if I knew it was to a better life than under Watto… I don’t want to do it again.”

  “I know, Mom. I don’t want to go back either. But I don’t think I have a choice. Being a Jedi… I don’t know anymore. Being a real one will be so much harder than I thought it would ever be.”

  “I’m sure you’ll make it work,” Slarena said, “You’ve already gotten this far, haven’t you?”

  “Thanks, Slarena. Thank you for protecting Mom for so long. I felt safer knowing that you’d be with her.”

  Slarena blushed slightly and looked away, “Well, you know…” she muttered, “It was nice to finally have someone to protect for once.”

  She looked back up to Anakin, “Thank you. Your mother’s a wonderful woman.”

  Mom stood up and briefly released Anakin to hug Slarena who also stood up and awkwardly hugged Mom back.

  “You too, Slarena. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Mom said fondly.

  Anakin let out a long breath and felt the last bit of tension leave him. The two of them… would be okay. Even without him, they’d be okay, and be able to move on if the worst happened.

  — — —

  “And they’ll be let go? No one will go after them again?” Anakin confirmed as he left the ship, “You’ll repair their ship for them?”

  “I give my word,” Obi-wan said, “I’ve already cleared it, and the Council has agreed.”

  Anakin let out a sigh of relief and turned around and hugged his mom for one last time.

  “Bye Mom.”

  Slarena stepped forward and reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, “Good luck, kid. We’ll be waiting for you out here. Remember to talk to our business contact if you ever need to find us again.”

  “I will. Bye Slarena. Keep up the good work.”

  Mom clasped her hands together in front of her, visibly resisting reaching out to grab Anakin again as he walked away from them with Obi-wan leading him away.

  Anakin only took one last glance to see the two women standing at the top of the ramp into the ship watching him leave.

  Then he turned around and left. He was now officially a prisoner of the Republic.