Why Anakin is No Longer Allowed to Mentor

8. Secret of the Temple Gardens

Anakin thought his day would be boring, right up until he saw a group of bored padawans waiting for a Master to arrive to supervise their meditation exercises in the temple garden.

He mentally went over who was to supervise that day, and an evil idea occurred to him when he realized it was Master Windu's turn to supervise today. Sure, the padawans had finally cottoned on that Anakin was sometimes full of shit with the rumors he generated, but they had come to the agreement that it wasn't enough to get in the way of a good story they could share with their friends for months.

They took one look at his expression, knew he was up to mischief again, and promptly settled in for Anakin's new way of giving the senior Masters headaches.

"What sort of gossip have you cooked up this time?" asked one of the older padawans, grinning at him.

Anakin grinned back.

"You ever wonder why this garden flourishes so much, regardless of the weather? Or why Jedi protocol dictates that all Jedi must be cremated upon their death if possible?"

Seeing their expressions, Anakin held in a cackle as he knew by the timetable he only had a few minutes but that was enough to cause all sorts of chaos.

"Yes...?" said the padawan, not getting it.

"Ever wonder why that is?"

"Not really. All species have their preferred burial practices."

"What if I told you the reason Jedi are cremated is so that their remains can be added to the temple garden to help fertilize the plants? And that the Masters do this so that they can commune with the dead without looking like crazy people?"

Their wide eyed expressions were hilarious. Worse, even if they knew he was occasionally full of shit, they couldn't exactly prove he was lying in this instance because dead bodies had been used that way before. Though the 'communing with the dead' part was mostly likely a lie.

Anakin managed to duck out before Windu showed up, but when he did he took one look at the padawans and knew he was in for a headache.

"Was Knight Skywalker just in here?"

"Yes, Master Windu."

"What the hell did that idiot tell you this time?" he demanded.

One of the younger padawans raised their hand timidly.

"Sir is it true that the reason our dead are cremated is so that their remains can be used as fertilizer for the temple gardens?" asked the child.

Windu...looked pissed.

"He said what?"

"He also said that it was so the Masters could commune with the dead without looking crazy," added the padawan who spoke with Anakin.

"I swear, one of these days I am going to kill him!" said Windu irate.

Meanwhile Anakin was too busy letting out the cackle he had held in at the chaos he had just inflicted once again, to the exasperation of his always patient wife. At this point she had given up trying to get him to stop, and simply waited to hear what he had done this time.