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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3291880" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 430: First LessonYou thought this would be easy.    Why you thought that is beyond anyone.    But you did.    “Well done, Tobias,” Master Ral said in a soft, slightly airy voice. The pale-blue skinned Omwati sat on a large rock a few meters from where Tobias was on the ground. The Jedi Master’s white hair was a stark contrast to the green around him, and made him very easy to spot.    Of course, that was what Tobias had hoped when he’d gone looking for his new Master. He had quickly discovered, though, that his eyes were mostly useless in the thick jungle that covered Yavin IV, and so he had to rely on what little he knew about finding someone through the Force. To make matters difficult, it had been quite obvious that Master Ral had been hiding. But, after a good two local hours of searching, Tobias had found the Omwati sitting on the same rock he was now, eyes closed, and waiting.    That had been hours and hour ago.    After managing to find the Master, which Tobias had to admit had a lot of luck involved in it, he had spent the entire remainder of the day sitting in the underbrush with his eyes closed lifting rocks and other objects with the Force. Somehow, though, he found himself drenched in sweat as he lowered the last rock to the ground and opened his eyes again. It probably had something to do with being a human, as they seemed to react adversely to the tropical environments like Yavin IV.    Finally, after hours of not moving, Master Ral slid off of the rock and to his feet. Standing a good two meters tall, he offered a long, wiry arm to help Tobias to his feet and said, “You are showing a great deal more control already. That will be enough for today...but we will start early tomorrow.”    After allowing the Jedi Master to help him to his feet, Tobias managed a polite bow, but was unsure of anything to say and so remained silent. A slight smile was on his Master’s face, and Ral soon motioned for them to head back to the Academy.    This was the part that drove Tobias crazy.    It took five steps to reach the clearing around the Great Temple.    He had searched for hours in the thick of the jungle, only to find Master Ral right here...within plain sight of where he’d started. But Tobias brushed that off as they headed for the hangar while the system’s star fell below the horizon. With a simple ‘goodnight’ to Master Ral, Tobias headed for the nearest turbolift, and when he was in it, straight for the mess.    Minutes later, he had a good amount of food and was sitting at a small table near one of the few windows that had been recently installed in the Temple. He sat eating for only a few minutes before he caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eyes(something he knew he should have detected through the Force first...). Looking up, Tobias saw Anakin Solo step over and sit across from him.    Tobias managed a polite nod, only staying silent because his mouth was currently very full of food. Noticing this, Anakin smiled and said, “Looks like you had a hard day...” he paused a moment and the smile became a very unique looking grin, “Though if it makes you feel any better, its probably just going to get harder.”    “Makes me feel a lot better,” Tobias managed between bites, still not having a great handle on sarcasm and failing to put enough of the right tone in his voice like Marix had done for so long...and still did on occasion. After another large bite of food, he looked across the table to Anakin and asked, “What was it you wanted to ask me about earlier?”    This took the grin off of the young human’s face. His complexion became a mask of nothing and his voice took on a more serious tone, “Honestly, I was just curious what you were doing there. It wasn’t exactly...well...a good place to be.”    No, it hadn’t been. Tobias had seen a great many bad places to be in his life, but he had the advantage of being extremely young when he was around most of them...and couldn’t remember his biological parents or anything involved with them. Because of that, Ithor was really the first time he’d seen a truly horrible event occur on a massive scale. He had watched, and even been there, as a planet had been killed. A planet that looked like his home...    His mind then returned to the present and reminded him that a question had been asked indirectly. Tobias noted the somewhat haunted look on Anakin’s face, and managed to keep his voice quiet enough, “My...parents were there.”    “Your parents are Jedi?”    “No,” the answer came out of his mouth without the decency of checking with his brain first. Immediately catching this, Tobias tried again, “Well...” he sighed. It was too late now, “Its...complicated.”    Thankfully, Anakin nodded at that. But the young Jedi seemed to detect something, as an eyebrow went up, “Are they alright?”    “...huh?” the question made no sense to Tobias.    “Your parents...” Anakin was obviously trying to be careful with his words, “When I said that you...well...you just felt...” he trailed off again and seemed unable to find a way to bring up the face that he was essentially reading Tobias’ thoughts in a polite way.    Tobias looked down at the empty plate in front of him, suddenly wishing he was alone again. Realizing that wasn’t the most polite thing to do, or a good idea, he just whispered, “My father...” he paused, then just shook his head.    “I’m sorry,” Anakin said in a similar voice. There was something in the way that Anakin looked that actually helped Toby...somehow, he felt like Anakin truly understood.    And then it was silent, both young men lost in the thoughts of who they had lost.  It was Anakin that ended it, though, “I’m sorry to have brought it up. If I had known...”    “You couldn’t have,” Tobias said simply with a shrug.    There was another few uncomfortable moments before Anakin got to his feet, “I’m glad you made it away safely, Tobias. I probably won’t be around here again for a while but...if you ever need anything, Mater Solusar can help you get in contact with me.”    “Thank you,” Tobias said towards the table, trying to push the thoughts of Jyren out of his head, but at the same time, glad to know he had a friend in Anakin.    When he looked back up, though, Anakin was gone. Tobias glanced behind him a moment but didn’t see the young Jedi. Quietly, he sighed and then looked back down to the table.    You thought you could forget that, too...    ...Jyren told you it wasn’t what you thought...so did Marix...    ...this is going to be so much harder than anything you had ever imagined...</blockquote>

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