Anakin had been in the training hall long enough for the collar of his tunic to turn dark with sweat. He had stopped noticing the heat several drills ago. The only things that mattered now were the training remote circling him, the weight of his lightsaber in his hand, and the little warning in the Force that came a fraction of a second before every shot. The remote darted toward his left shoulder and fired. Anakin shifted his weight, brought the blue blade across his body, and caught the bolt close to the emitter. It snapped into the floor several meters away. A second bolt followed almost immediately, then a third. He blocked both, stepped forward instead of giving ground, and tried to close the distance before the remote could move again. It shot upward at the last moment causing Anakin's blade to passed underneath it, and the machine fired down at him while he was still recovering. The bolt caught the side of his ribs through the padded training vest. He hissed and stumbled one step before catching himself.
"Too slow," he muttered, though whether he meant himself or the remote was less clear. The small black sphere backed away as its repulsor whined, waiting for him to reset. Anakin rubbed the sore spot through his vest and moved back to the center mark. He had already completed the assigned sequence twice. The first time he had taken four hits. The second, two. Obi-Wan had told him yesterday that getting struck less often was the point of the exercise, not beating the machine into submission. Anakin had agreed, at the time but now there was still one hit standing between him and a clean run, and leaving before he got it would bother him for the rest of the day. He rolled his shoulders, raised his saber again, and reached toward the remote through the Force.
The remote gave a confirmation chirp and began moving while Anakin settled his breathing as best he could. The first shot came low so he turned it aside and kept his feet beneath him this time rather than chasing after the machine. The remote cut behind his shoulder, but he had already felt the movement coming. He pivoted, blocked, then ducked beneath another bolt. His legs were getting tired, so he forced himself to stop trying to outrun the exercise. Obi-Wan was always telling him that. Speed did not help if he committed himself so completely that he had nowhere left to go. Anakin hated how often that lesson turned out to be correct. The remote fired twice more, One bolt passed close enough to his ear that he felt the heat. The other struck his blade and scattered into the ceiling. He smiled despite himself.
He noticed Obi-Wan during the next pass. His Master stood near the open entrance to the training hall, one shoulder against the stone frame, watching him. There was nothing particularly unusual about that. Obi-Wan came looking for him often enough, especially when Anakin stayed past the end of a training period. What caught Anakin's attention was the fact that he had apparently been standing there for some time and had not said anything. Normally there would already have been a comment about his footwork, his grip, or the unnecessary amount of force behind one of his blocks. Obi-Wan could find a correction in almost anything if given enough time. Today he simply watched and that bothered Anakin enough that the remote nearly caught him again.
He turned the bolt aside, finished the sequence, then reached out with his free hand and shut the machine down through the Force. The sphere's firing aperture went dark while its repulsor kept it floating in place. Anakin deactivated his lightsaber and stood there catching his breath. Obi-Wan had not moved. "What happened?" Anakin asked.
Obi-Wan pushed away from the doorway and came into the hall. "You were leaning too far forward on the last block." Anakin stared at him. "That's not what I meant."
"I know." Obi-Wan glanced toward the two initiates practicing with padded staffs on the far side of the room. Their instructor was correcting one boy's stance and had paid no attention to the exchange. Obi-Wan looked back at Anakin and nodded toward one of the smaller side rooms used for private instruction. "Put the remote away and come with me."
Anakin did not like that at all. He clipped his saber to his belt, caught the remote with the Force, and guided it back toward its charging cradle. He pulled off the training vest and dropped it over the back of a bench. "Is this about the lesson's with Master Yoda?"
"No."
"A mission?"
"No."
Anakin wiped his face with the loose edge of his sleeve as he followed Obi-Wan across the floor. "Did I do something wrong?" Obi-Wan glanced sideways at him. "The fact that this is your third question concerns me."
"I didn't do anything."
"I didn't say you did."
A tall windows overlooking the traffic lanes around the Temple. Afternoon light reached across the floor in long pale bands. Anakin remained near the door while Obi-Wan moved farther inside. Anakin's mind had already started finding possibilities Obi-Wan had ruled out badly rather than completely. Maybe Padmé had been hurt. Maybe something had happened on Naboo. Then another thought came up from somewhere deeper, so quickly that he almost wished it hadn't. Four years of trying not to think about the same person too often had done nothing to make the fear smaller when it finally appeared.
"Is it my mother?"
Obi-Wan's expression changed and that was all Anakin needed, He forgot about the bench, the training remote, the ache in his side. "What happened to her?"
"Nothing has happened to her." Obi-Wan said it quickly enough that Anakin believed him, but the relief only lasted a moment because there was still no reason for this conversation to be happening. His Master stepped closer, not crowding him, but close enough that Anakin could see the tiredness around his eyes. "Your mother is alive, Anakin. She is safe."
"I know she's alive." The words came out sharper than he meant. Anakin forced himself to lower his voice. "At least, I thought she was. What do you mean she's safe?" Obi-Wan watched him for another moment before answering. "I mean she is no longer a slave." Anakin heard the words, He knew he heard them, there was no chance he had misunderstood, and still his mind refused to understand. "What do you mean?"
"Watto no longer owns her." That was not enough. Anakin knew Tatooine too well for that to be enough. People were sold all the time. Ownership changed hands and everyone called it business. His jaw tightened as the obvious explanation arrived. "Who does?"
"No one." Obi-Wan's voice softened. "She was purchased from Watto and freed. The transmitter was removed, the ownership records were dissolved, and she is legally free. No one has a claim on her." Anakin looked away from him and toward the window. There were hundreds of speeders outside, moving through the traffic lanes. He watched one small transport pass the Temple and disappear behind another tower because it was easier than looking at Obi-Wan while his mind tried to catch up. He could still remember standing in the junk shop when he was little and hearing adults talk about what happened when a slave tried to run. He remembered knowing there was something inside him that could kill him if he went too far without permission. He remembered his mother having one too.
"She can leave?" he asked.
"Yes."
"She can go wherever she wants?"
"Within the ordinary limits everyone else has, yes." Anakin rubbed his palm against the side of his trousers. "And Watto can't make her come back."
"No."
The breath he let out shook more than he wanted it to. He had thought about this for years. Sometimes he imagined returning to Tatooine with enough credits to buy her freedom. Sometimes he imagined going back as a Jedi Knight, standing in Watto's shop with a lightsaber at his side and simply telling him how things were going to be. Those were the thoughts he kept to himself. The relief should have been simple. It wasn't. It mixed with disbelief, gratitude, and a small painful feeling Anakin didn't want to examine too closely. Someone had done what he had promised himself he would do. Someone had reached her while he was here training.
He turned back toward Obi-Wan. "Who bought her?" Obi-Wan seemed to have expected that question. "Dooku." Anakin's eyebrows pulled together. "Dooku?"
"Yes."
"As in Count Dooku?"
"King Dooku now, technically."
Anakin gave him a look and started moving, crossing toward the window and turning back again. He could remember Dooku on Naboo after Qui-Gon's funeral, though most of the memory was made of impressions rather than conversation. Tall. Severe. Sadder than he wanted anybody to notice. Anakin had known he was Qui-Gon's old Master. He knew much more about him now because almost everyone in the Temple seemed to have an opinion about Serenno. "Why would Dooku go to Tatooine?"
"His daughter asked him to."
That made Anakin stop. "The little girl?"
"Princess Liora, yes."
"I know her name." He frowned at Obi-Wan again. "Why would she ask him to free my mother?"
"According to Dooku, she had a vision." And as Anakin heard those words he went quiet. Obi-Wan continued before he could interrupt. "She apparently saw a woman suffering on Tatooine. She did not know everything about what she had seen, but she believed strongly enough in the vision to ask her father to take her there. Dooku agreed. They found your mother in Watto's shop."
Anakin leaned one shoulder against the edge of the window frame. He had heard Liora Serenno's name often enough in recent weeks. Everyone knew Dooku had adopted a Force-sensitive child. Everyone knew the Council had sent Masters to Serenno after discovering how powerful she was. More recently, everyone knew Dooku had taken the crown and that Master Luminara and Barriss were staying there as guests. Anakin had listened when those things came up because Jedi listened when the Council spoke, but none of it had felt particularly important to him. Serenno was far away. Dooku had his arguments with the Order. His daughter was six years old and apparently strange enough to make Masters spend a great deal of time discussing her.
Now that same girl had somehow seen his mother which was what confused him. "She didn't know my Mom?"
"Not before arriving on Tatooine."
"Then why her?"
"I don't know." Anakin looked frustrated. "That's always the answer when somebody has a vision."
"Often because it is the correct one."
"Did she know who I was?"
"I don't know that either." Anakin pushed away from the window. "You really didn't prepare much for this conversation." Obi-Wan's mouth tightened slightly, but he let the remark pass. "I prepared to tell you what I know rather than fill the empty spaces with guesses. If you want guesses, I'm sure there are several Padawans in the dining hall who would be happy to provide them."
That almost got a smile out of him. Anakin walked over to the bench and sat, resting his elbows on his knees as sweat had cooled against the back of his neck and left him feeling uncomfortable, but he didn't care enough to do anything about it. "What happened after they found her?"
"Dooku negotiated with Watto, bought her freedom, and took her with them when they left Tatooine. There were complications before they departed, but your mother was not seriously harmed." Anakin looked up immediately. "Complications?"
"Jabba the Hutt became involved."
"What does that mean?"
"It means exactly enough that I am not going to distract you with the details right now. Shmi is safe." Anakin knew that tone. He could ask again and probably get a little more, but Obi-Wan had decided the answer wasn't important to this conversation. For once, Anakin let him have it. There was another question that mattered more. "Where is she?"
"Serenno."
He stared at him again. "She went with Dooku?"
"Yes. He offered her a place there until she decided what she wanted to do. She accepted."
"So she lives in the palace?"
"I don't know precisely which part of the royal estate she lives in." Anakin let out a short breath that might have become a laugh if he had allowed it. The idea was so ridiculous that he couldn't fit it beside the image in his head of his mother standing behind the counter in Watto's shop. "My mother is living with a king."
"Apparently."
"She used to complain when I tracked sand into the house."
Obi-Wan's expression softened. "I imagine royal floors can also be swept." That did make Anakin smile, though it disappeared quickly. He looked down at his hands. There was a faint red mark across one knuckle from training, and he rubbed at it with his thumb. "Did she ask about me?"
The question came out much quieter than the others. Obi-Wan sat beside him, leaving enough space between them that Anakin did not feel crowded. "Yes."
"What did she ask?"
"Whether you were alive, first."
Anakin's thumb stopped moving while Obi-Wan looked ahead rather than directly at him while he spoke. "She knew about Naboo, but only what had reached Tatooine afterward. Dooku told her that you survived and that you had been taken into the Order. She asked whether you had become a Jedi. He told her you were my Padawan."
Anakin swallowed. "What did she say?"
"I wasn't there."
"You read the report."
"I did."
"So?"
Obi-Wan glanced at him. "She seemed relieved." That word sat differently from the others. Anakin leaned back against the wall. He tried imagining his mother hearing that he had survived Naboo, that Qui-Gon had died, that Obi-Wan was training him now. She would have asked too many questions. She always did when she was worried and trying not to show it. Was he eating enough? Was he sleeping? Did the Jedi make him wear those robes all the time? Had he made friends? He could hear her voice asking things no report would have bothered recording.
"How long has she been there?" Obi-Wan did not answer immediately which caused Anakin to looked over. "How long, Master?"
"Several weeks." The warmth in his chest cooled. "Several weeks."
"Yes."
"And you're telling me now." Anakin sat forward again, staring at the floor while he tried to arrange the timeline in his head. The Jedi had already gone to Serenno once before Luminara's current assignment. Plo Koon had been there. Adi Gallia. Ki-Adi-Mundi. They had come back and spoken to the Council. Anakin had seen Plo in the Temple afterward. He had probably passed him in a corridor without knowing the man had stood in the same house as his mother.
"The Council knew."
"Yes,"
Anakin stood up. "And nobody thought I should?"
"Anakin—"
"Did you know?" That made Obi-Wan stop as Anakin faced him fully now. "Did you know she was free?"
"No." Obi-Wan did not soften the answer or look away. "Not at first." Some of Anakin's anger lost its direction, though it did not disappear. "Why?"
"I've been asking that myself." That surprised him enough to quiet him. Obi-Wan rested his hands loosely between his knees. "The first Serenno report was treated as part of the Council's assessment of Dooku and Liora. Your mother's welfare was confirmed, but her connection to you was not circulated beyond those involved in the review.."
Anakin's jaw tightened. "They were assessing Dooku, so Mom became part of a report."
"I understand why that bothers you."
"Do you?"
"Yes." Obi-Wan's answer was firm enough that Anakin didn't challenge. "I also understand why the Council did not want to throw information at you before they knew whether Shmi wanted contact or whether Dooku intended to use that contact politically. Serenno is no longer simply Dooku's estate. He is a head of state, and anything involving his household has consequences now. I can understand the caution without agreeing with every choice that followed from it."
Anakin paced toward the weapon rack and back. His hands wanted something to do. "She's my mother. They shouldn't need a political reason to tell me she's not a slave anymore."
"No," Obi-Wan said after a moment. "I don't think they should."
Anakin stopped. Obi-Wan rarely gave him an answer like that when he was angry. Usually there was another side to consider, another perspective Anakin was missing, some reason not to take the easiest version of events and run with it. Hearing agreement made the anger feel less satisfying. He looked toward the window again. "So what did Master Unduli send?"
"A request from your mother." Anakin turned so quickly that his boot scraped against the floor. Obi-Wan rose from the bench. "Shmi asked Dooku if she could contact you. Rather than attempt to reach you privately, Dooku had Master Unduli send the request through the Temple. It arrived this morning."
For the first time since the conversation began, Anakin had no question ready. He simply stood there. His mother had asked for him. His mother had gone to someone on Serenno and said she wanted to speak to her son.
"When?"
"The communication window can be opened this evening."
Anakin's eyebrows went up. "This evening?"
"If you want."
"Of course I want."
"I assumed you would."
"Then why did you say if?"
"Because it is your decision." That stopped him again. Anakin looked at Obi-Wan carefully, half expecting another condition to appear. There wasn't one. His Master walked toward the door and rested his hand near the control, but he did not open it yet. Anakin wiped both hands down the front of his trousers and immediately felt stupid for doing it. "What am I supposed to say to her?"
Obi-Wan looked back at him. "Whatever you want."
"That's terrible advice."
"It's an honest answer."
"What if she asks why I didn't come back?" Obi-Wan's hand fell away from the door control. For a moment he seemed to consider giving Anakin something comforting. Instead he leaned lightly against the wall. "I highly doubt your mother would want you to put your life in danger." And those words caused Anakin's face to tightened as he pressed his lips together. The thought had been sitting underneath everything since Obi-Wan told him Dooku's name, and having it spoken aloud made him uncomfortable. He knew it was selfish. His mother was free. That should have been enough. Still, some younger part of him had spent four years holding onto the picture of himself returning to Tatooine and keeping the promise he made when he left. Dooku had taken that future away by doing something good.
After a while Anakin nodded. "I am glad shes okay and free."
"I know."
"I still wish it was me."
"I know that too." They stayed there a little longer, neither trying to force the conversation onward. Anakin could hear the training hall outside again now. The dull crack of padded staffs. An instructor counting through a sequence. Somewhere a remote chirped, probably the same model he had been fighting before Obi-Wan arrived. Less than half an hour ago, getting through that exercise without being hit had seemed important.
Now he couldn't remember why so Anakin pushed away from the wall. "What time is the call?"
"Just after evening meal. Serenno agreed to hold the connection open as long as you need."
"Is Dooku or his daughter going to be there?"
"I was told they would not unless your mother asked for them to be." Anakin wasn't sure whether he was relieved or disappointed by that. He wanted to see the girl now. There were too many questions attached to someone he had barely thought about yesterday. Why had the Force shown her Shmi? What had she seen? Why had she cared enough to ask Dooku to cross the galaxy for a stranger? He set those thoughts aside. They belonged to later. Obi-Wan finally opened the door. "You have several hours."
Anakin stepped back into the training hall and immediately looked down at himself. The training vest was still draped over the bench where he had left it. His tunic was damp, one sleeve was wrinkled, and he could smell enough of himself now that the exercise was over to understand why Obi-Wan had kept a respectful distance.
"I'm changing before the call."
"A wise decision."
Anakin picked up the vest and gave his Master a suspicious look. "You were going to tell me that."
"I had considered it."
"You could've said something earlier."
"You were processing rather more important information." Anakin placed the vest in the equipment bin and reached for his water bottle. His hands were still unsteady when he unscrewed the cap, enough that a little water spilled over his fingers as he drank. When he lowered it, Obi-Wan was waiting near the doorway without rushing him.
"Master?"
"Yes?"
Anakin looked at the empty training floor in front of him before asking, "Can you stay for the beginning?"
Obi-Wan's expression softened, though thankfully he did not make anything of the request. "Of course."