Memories Ch. 1-3

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Anakin leaned back in one of the chairs of the living room. He closed his eyes, and tilted his head so that it rested on the back of his chair. The Force felt like a babbling brook in the back of his mind, happy, peaceful. The whisper of information which it provided was a soothing comfort against the experience of being here.

He allowed his mind to drift on the Force, let its gentle currents take him where they willed.

All too soon, spoken words splashed across his awareness, jolting him from his trance. "Anakin! Hey! Anakin. It's time now."

He lifted his head to look towards Jaina as she stood before him dressed in the same linen tunic and navy-colored pants as earlier. Frowning, he asked, "What?"

"You asked me to show you around. Well it's time now."

Where does she get all that energy, Anakin thought as he stared at her while she hopped back and forth, from one foot to the other. Finally, he spoke. "You've not really changed at all, have you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said with an angry edge to her voice.

"Don't know."

With a frustrated growl, she reached down and plucked a pillow from the couch beside her. With a fling of her arm, she then sent the pillow flying through the air until it smacked into Anakin's face.

Anakin pushed the pillow away, a grin on his face as he stifled his laughter. "Yup. That's the Jaina I remember."

In a huff, she stomped towards the door. "You're lucky you're my little brother."

Anakin stood up, and followed after her, trying his best to not laugh.

In silence, they rode down the lifts. Then they stepped out from the building and into the bright, clean light of the afternoon sun. Jaina started walking forward, with Anakin quickly falling into step beside her. She led them through the side streets, until they come to a stop near the Jedi Temple. Anakin looked up at it, his eyes darting across the massive stone blocks, put into place by the enslaved Massassi thousands of years ago; the runners of plants which grew from the cracks, crevices and ledges of the Temple's exterior. Finally, his eyes landed on the mountain which was so close that the Temple almost appeared to be built into it.

"So," he began. "This is the Temple."

"Yeah. We used to have quarters and everything here. But there's just so many Jedi now that Uncle Luke didn't think that was a viable option any more. He turned it into a mixture of training facility, guest quarters and civil administration building for Yavin."

Anakin nodded his head as he looked around at the people surrounding the Temple. For a moment, he focused on a redhead, maybe a year or so older than he was. He watched as she knelt down next to some feline creature, and was scratching at it with her hand. A second girl, also a redhead, except this one had short, close cropped hair rather than the long braids of the first, appeared from around the corner, running towards the first girl. As she neared, she slowed down and dropped to her knees as well.

"So, that's why it's not empty?"

Jaina nodded her head. "Yeah, there's almost always someone here." She nods her head back towards the city. "Come on."

He turned away from the Temple and the two girls that had attracted his attention, walking beside Jaina as they neared the city.

She paused to point towards a gleaming multi-storied building, one just a few stories smaller than the building his apartment is in.

"That's BioTech's Yavin building. It's also our medical center. Part of the reason Uncle Luke let them come here is that they were willing to fund, and staff, a training hospital for the Jedi healers. I think it's been there four, maybe five years now."

Anakin frowned at that. It was brought in not long after I left that last time. He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think I want them helping me."

Jaina looked at him, one eyebrow arched in confusion. "Why is that? Don't tell me you're scared of hospitals?"

Anakin laughed. "No. Not scared, I've just seen enough of them to last me a while."

Without another word, Jaina began to walk forward. Anakin looked at the hospital for a moment more and then turned to follow her, running a few steps in order to catch up. Silence stretch between them, and Anakin began to watch the people they walked past. He noticed a young girl, maybe a year or two younger than himself, as she walked beside her mother, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders, even though the weather was almost perfect. Then there was a crowd of mixed beings, almost enough to convince him that he was on Coruscant again.

They started to cross a bridge running over a river. Anakin looked to the left and saw a wide expanse of white sand, a small beach for the river front. Stretched out on a towel was a girl around his age with brown hair pulled into a number of tight ringlets.

Jaina seemed to notice his attention had focused on the river and stopped walking. She turned and went to the edge of the bridge, and started watching the flow of the water. "Y'know, I built a power generator that ran off of this river a few years back. It was big enough to supply power and a basic protein stable for the Jedi Temple."

"What happened?"

"Nothing," she replied with a shrug of the shoulders. "It got moved to make room for a power station that could supply the whole town."

Anakin nodded his head, and then allowed his eyes to trace the river, until he appeared to meet up with a larger one in the distance. He pointed towards the larger river. "This one meets up with the big river?"

Jaina looked at him for a moment, and then slowly nodded her head. "Yes it does. It used to be that no one ever went near the big river, but since we're building the new apartment complexes over there, I guess that will change."

Silence fell over them once more and after a few minutes of watching the river; Jaina turned away and once more began to walk.

Once off the bridge, Jaina turned to the left and went a few hundred meters and then stopped. Anakin stepped up beside her and looked down the street. Before them was a cluster of buildings, restaurants, stores, shops. They were the features of commerce that he remembered from Coruscant and the dozens of other worlds that he had visited with his mother on diplomatic missions.

Jaina gestured towards the buildings which lined either side of a wide walking path. "This is our shopping district; containing the finest eating, shopping and other businesses in the whole of the Yavin system."

"Isn't it the only shopping district in the Yavin system?"

Jaina frowned at him. "Doesn't mean it's not the best."

Anakin chuckled and walked forward.

Suddenly, someone to the left of them called out, "Jaina!"

Anakin and Jaina turned that way, and watched as two people walked across the street. She was around his sister's age, and had dark brown, curly hair. Absently he noted that she was dressed in the same style of clothes as Jaina as well. Beside her walked a guy about the same age, carrying four or five bags. He had bright blonde hair and was dressed in an eye-hurting yellow and red outfit.

Anakin glanced at Jaina. "Friends of yours?"

"Yes, they usually sit by me in classes." Jaina said as she waved at them. "Hey guys! This is my little brother, Anakin."

The girl bowed slightly. "Nice to meet you, Anakin. I'm Kiori Dinn.

Anakin nodded his head. "Hi."

The boy started to speak. "And I'm-"

But Anakin cut him off. "Her bagboy."

"What?"

Anakin arched an eyebrow at him. "You're carrying her bags aren't you?"

"Well... that's..."

Kiori sighed and shoved the single bag she was holding towards him. "Here, hold this."

The boy reacted without thought, taking the bag from her. "Sure!"

"Yup, you're a bagboy." Anakin stated.

Kiori smiled at him, and Anakin noted how happy and carefree she seemed. "Jaina has told us a lot about you." She then reached into one of the bags that the guy held and pulled out two drinks, holding them out toward Jaina and Anakin. "Here you both go! It's a present from us."

"Hey! I bought those." Raynar complained.

Kiori frowned and shot an elbow into his chest. He grunted and took a few steps backwards.

"Don't be so greedy, Raynar." Then she took a step closer to Anakin, pressing the drink into his hand. "Here you are."

Anakin looked down at it, and then back up at Kiori. "Uhm... thanks."

Anakin noticed the flash of jealousy in Raynar's eyes, and gave him a small smirk.

Raynar took a step closer to Anakin. "You can just stay away from Kiori, she and I... well we're-"

"Just classmates." Kiori cut in.

Raynar's face dropped, and he looked over at her. "Don't I at least get to be in the running for boyfriend?"

Kiori flipped her hair over her shoulder and started to cross the street. "Bye Jaina. Bye Anakin. I'll see you tomorrow in class. Come on, Raynar!"

Raynar took another look at Anakin and then darted across the street to follow Kiori.

As they disappeared into the crowd, Anakin burst out laughing.

Jaina frowned at him again, saying, "You were kind of mean to Raynar."

Anakin gave her his half-grin. "I know. But it was fun."

Jaina slowly shook her head and continued further down the street, with Anakin still chuckling to himself as he followed her.

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