Anabeth: New Beginnings

Chapter 21 - A Padawan

Over the next month, Ana settled into her new role as a Council member. She had been a little surprised when Windu had asked her to fill Yoda's former seat, but had quickly come to understand where he was coming from and accepted the promotion. At first it felt a little strange sitting on the same Council she had stood in front of as a Padwan not even a year ago, but she got used to it a lot quicker than she had thought.

But Ana hadn't been the only one taking on a new role. Ahsoka, who had been helping out with teaching some Youngling classes, had reconnected with Katooni through it and taken the young Tolothian on as her first Padawan. The two of them were a great match, and they had all welcomed her into their little family with open arms.

Only a few days ago, Satine and Grace had arrived back on Coruscant for their visit. And as it would happen, this coincided perfectly with the completion of the embassy on Mandalore. Now, they were scheduled to leave for the planet again the next morning, with Obi-Wan accompanying them to also move to Mandalore permanently.

Since he and Satine had no idea when they would be back again, they had decided to throw a little goodbye party. Windu had kindly offered them a room in the Temple to do so, since their apartment wouldn't be able to fit everyone. So while Obi-Wan and Satine were preparing the party with the help of Padmè, Ana was babysitting Grace.

Since she had still had some errands to run that morning, Grace came along to all of them. She would squeal excitedly in Ana's arms whenever they would pass someone in the hallways. And as Ana had suspected the moment she had first laid eyes on Garce, the Kenobi smile and eyes were doing wonders at charming them all.

Now that lunch time was around the corner, she had given her niece back to Satine who was going to put her down for a nap for a few hours, meaning Ana would have some time to eat something and catch a quick break.

For lunch she met with Windu who had brought Plo and Aayla along. She joined them a little late as dropping off Grace had taken a little longer than she anticipated.
"How's babysitting so far?" Aayla asked.
"She's been a little angel. Must have gotten that from her mother" Ana took a joking jab at Obi-Wan, making the Jedi at the table with her laugh.

"By the way, where have all of you been this morning? The hallways are more empty than usual, and I could not find a single Council member anywhere. Which reminds me, I need some signatures on this."
Ana slid a datapad onto the table which the three other Jedi began to pass around to put their signatures on the document.

"Don't tell me you forgot what is happening today," Windu only replied.
"Satine's and Obi-Wan's party?" Ana tried, however her tone of voice indicated that she was pretty sure it wasn't the correct answer.
"I meant the ceremonial lightsaber duels for the Younglings."
"That's today?" Ana was taken aback.

"I sent the memo out weeks ago," Plo replied.
"Must have missed it, sorry," Ana apologized.
"Well, lucky for you, you only missed the preliminary rounds. We're still getting to the good duels after lunch," Aayla reassured her.

"Sounds interesting enough. I think I'll tag along until Grace wakes up again. I'm not up to speed though, will someone give me a quick rundown of the idea?" Ana requested.
"Certainly," Plo volunteered. "We had 32 Younglings which we divided into group of four for the preliminary groups. Within each group, every Youngling went up against the others one by one, and the two best ones from each group  have advanced to the knockout rounds which will take place after lunch."

"Cool. Is there anything to win for them?" Ana was curious.
"Not officially," Aayla replied. "Though a lot of them will probably be winning the rank of Padawan. You couldn't know this since you came to the Order late, but among Younglings, this event is known as the yearly Padawan election.