Children of the Desert

Chapter 4 - Deception

Zygerria is the first real time in years that Anakin's outright confronted slavery in the way he always used to know it. The clones are slaves, yes, but seeing Zygerria was different. Having to act as essentially Miraj's slave while he thought of a way to get everyone else out was different.

Especially knowing that Ahsoka was imprisoned in a cage and could be killed simply for the slightest misstep on his part, while Rex and Obi-Wan had been captured, being treated like slaves too. They got out and everything is fine now – even if the scars will always stay – but Anakin can't get it out of his head.

"The Jedi can't allow this to happen again," Anakin says firmly, standing on the Togruta Governor's balcony, overlooking the Togrutan population. The people are settling back in, but they've all changed from what they went through. Something they never should have had to go through.

"No one on the Council would argue with that," Obi-Wan replies.

Maybe not but that doesn't mean anyone takes it seriously. "What are we really doing?" he asks bitterly, unable to help it.

"All we can."

Then why is it never enough? Why does it always feel like no one even tries? He knows there's not enough Jedi, especially with the war, but what's the line between fair reasoning and excuses? "What good is the Republic if it doesn't possess the strength to protect all the people?" That's what it's supposed to do. That's what he naively thought it did once.

"Fair point," Obi-Wan concedes, turning to look over the city. "However we must take care not to trade one form of oppression for another."

That's beginning to feel like an excuse too, even if he's being honest, even if he knows it's a fair concern. They just need a leader who actually cares, though, and then it shouldn't be a problem. "There's a difference between imprisoning slaves and enforcing justice."

And the second is what they really need if anything in the galaxy is ever truly going to get better. And the truth is... Anakin is tiring of waiting for the Republic or even the Council to let him do something about it.

"Are you... alright, Master?" Anakin asks after a pause. Obi-Wan might not be showing much effect from whatever happened on Kadavo, but it couldn't have been easy, even for him.

"I'm fine, Anakin," Obi-Wan promises. He shifts a little closer, reaching out to touch Anakin's shoulder. "If... in the past, I have been dismissive about slavery, I apologize. I was on Kadavo for such a brief time but I still cannot imagine living with it every day, much less as a child. I understand now... that letting go of it isn't something that happens easily, but if anyone can do it, I believe you can."

"I'm trying, Master," Anakin replies quietly, but the truth is, he doesn't know how. It's the literal thing that's defined his existence from the start. And even as a Jedi. "No one in the galaxy should have to live as slaves. Maybe someday, no one will."

He'll find a way to make it happen. Somehow.

***

"I've been thinking, Master," Ahsoka begins as they walk through the streets.

"Uh oh," Anakin deadpans.

"I'm serious," she grumbles, "It's something the Zygerrian queen said. That the Jedi have become slaves for the Republic by serving a corrupt Senate. She said we'd betrayed our own beliefs by going from peacekeepers to warriors. Do... you think there's any truth to what she said?"

Of course that's bothering her. It had bothered Anakin, too, but he'd been focused enough on the mission he truthfully hadn't taken much time to stop and think about it. But Ahsoka is different, and she never wanted to fight in the war. It isn't something she's ever been comfortable with. "Being a Jedi means we are devoted to freedom," he goes for finally, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "That we are willing to give up our own so others can be free. So maybe we are slaves, from a certain point of view, but the difference is that any freedoms we've sacrificed, we chose to. These beings had no choice, and if we hadn't come to them, they would've been slaves forever."