In•hale

Skywalkin' over the competition

"You mean, you'll let me fix it?!" Anakin, the little boy's name, said giddily.

I laughed at his over enthusiasm. He was so fun to be around! Everyone was so serious these days.

I nodded and handed him my broken comlink. Would you believe it if I said Jar Jar had dropped it, and R2-D2, the astromech droid that saved our lives yesterday, had accidently run over it? I was sure I'd have to send in an order for another one since it was as good as gone, but Anakin was very crafty, and I didn't have a doubt he could fix it. He had built his own pod racer after all, and plus, he needed something to do on the long ride back to Coruscant.

Anakin looked up at me in awe. "Thank you so much Chalset! I won't let you down, I promise!"

I laughed again and ruffled his sand coloured hair. "Of course not." I said, standing up and smiling down at him. "Take as long as you need Ani. I need to talk to Obi-Wan, but I'll be back, I promise." I told him, glancing over at Obi standing at the doorway and watching us with his arms crossed, his face expressionless.

"Don't be gone too long!" Anakin said, already tinkering with my comlink.

I grinned at him and crossed the room to Obi-Wan. I grabbed my friend's arm and practically dragged him down the walkway until I was sure we were alone. "What's wrong?" I asked pointedly. There had been a bad vibe coming off of him ever since we took off from Tatooine.

"Well you know, just my master getting attacked by a Sith lord. That's all." he said, annoyed.

"And?"

"And what?"

I grabbed his hand, and made sure his blue-grey eyes were meeting mine before saying, "Anakin is obviously putting you in a sour mood. Why?"

He ripped his gaze from mine and stared at the floor, his heel kicking the wall behind him over and over again. "Something's not right about him, I-I don't know. I can't be the only one who sees this. Qui-Gon's got his head filled with this prophecy stuff and thinks Anakin's the best thing since...since whatever. But something's really wrong."

Anakin turned out to be the owner of the extremely high midi-chlorian count, and Qui-Gon believed him to be the Chosen One from the prophecies. The Chosen one is the being believed to bring balance to the Force, and I thought that what Qui-Gon was saying was true. Not just anyone is conceived by midi-chlorians.

I grabbed Obi-Wan's other hand to reassure him that he wasn't alone. "No, you're not the only one who can tell. His future is extremely clouded, but look at it this way--he needs someone to show him the right path. Maybe that person is Qui-Gon. Maybe it's you?" I said, releasing his hands and poking him in the chest. A small smile crept onto his face, but I could still tell he was uneasy. "Maybe it's all of us, who knows?"

When he looked up at me, his face was so sweet, so it took me by surprise when he yanked me forward via the Force and into a crushing hug. "Obi!" I gasped, laughing into his cheek. I threw my arms around his neck and he held me tighter.

"Thank you," he whispered in my ear.

"For what?"

"For always being here for me of course. You're amazing Chal."

I buried my face into his neck and closed my eyes, a bit embarrassed by his praise. "What are friends for?" I told him.

He didn't say anything for a moment as we still hugged each other in the walkway, but then his stomach suddenly growled, breaking the silence and persuading him to speak. "Friends are for fetching other friends ration bars when they're hungry and haven't eaten anything in the last day and a half except for cold, flavorless porridge which happens to be the other friends fault for using a tactic she knows the other other friend can't resist."

I broke out of our embrace and laughed. "Whatever other other friend, but only because I'm nice."

He grinned. "I didn't think that would work!"

I rolled my eyes and strolled down the walkway to find some food for us to eat, pit stopping to ask Anakin if he was hungry and wanted to join me. "Boy, do I!" he said excitedly and jumped out of his chair to run over to me.

We wandered around a bit, peeking into rooms and opening cabinets to find something to sustain us. In one of the rooms, the cabinet did have a stash of ration bars, but they were too high for me to reach. I could've easily used the Force to bring some down, but I'd have much rather let Anakin have some fun.

"Hey Ani, I need you to get five of those ration bars up there cause I can't reach 'em"

Anakin looked up at me with a bewildered expression on his face. "But Chalset, I can't reach up there! If you can't reach it, how could I possibly?"

"Because you can do this!" I said excitedly, levitating him up to the cabinet..

"Woah!" he exclaimed, his arms making circles. Once he steadied himself, he grinned at me. "Flip me! Flip me!" he yelled.

I gave him a cheeky grin and began spinning him in circles so he was tumbling mid-air. After a few seconds though, I stopped because I didn't want him to get sick or anything. I steadied him and then reminded him of the original purpose of him being up there. He looked sorry, but grabbed five bars anyways before I gently settled him on the ground.

We traveled to the cockpit next, where everyone seemed to have congregated. I passed out the food just before we came out of hyperspace, and Anakin became ecstatic.

"I can't see! I can't see!" he whined, tugging on my robe. His head barely made it over the control panels. I bent down, picked up, and held him on my side so he could see Coruscant. His eyes went wide, mouth opening in complete awe. "Woah...." he whispered, wrapping his small arms around my neck.

He got real quiet, and I could feel fear rolling off of him in waves. "It's okay Anakin." I said softly so only he could hear me. "Your mother is fine. Just the way you left her."

There was a small moment of silence before he spoke. "I hope you're right." he said, staring at the new home and life that awaited him.