Protégé: Chosen - Chapter 2 (Star Wars, PG, Anakin and Dooku)
Title: Protégé: Chosen
Authors: Persephone_Kore and Dreagoddess
Timeframe: Starting in The Phantom Menace
Characters: Anakin, Dooku, others
Genre: General
Keywords: Dooku, Anakin, training
Summary: Master Dooku steps in to offer to train Anakin Skywalker.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
"I take you, Anakin Skywalker, as my padawan learner," Dooku recited formally, looking the boy in the eye as the rest of the room disappeared from around him. He'd recited this oath four times, the first time with Qui-Gon, now standing as a powerful Jedi Master with a padawan of his own beside him. The second, elsewhere in the galaxy, fighting to protect the innocent and defend the way of life Dooku had taught him about. The third was somewhere in this building, even now patiently teaching a roomful of Jedi initiates how to defend themselves in a perilous world. The fourth....
The words almost didn't come for a moment. The fourth was dead, horribly dead, and if he'd trained her better....
But the boy wasn't a part of that, and he needed training. Dooku finished the oath resolutely.
There was a moment of silence.
Anakin stared up at Dooku with wide eyes.
Obi-Wan leaned forward hurriedly and began whispering in the boy's ear. Anakin swallowed and began to repeat his words. "I accept you as my Master...."
Unorthodox it might have been, but they managed to finish. At the end of it, Master Yoda heaved a huge sigh. "Wish you well, we do," he said quietly.
Dooku bowed. "Thank you, Master." He did mean it, arguments aside. "Are we dismissed?"
"Much you have to do now," Yoda said. "Go, all of you." He made a shooing motion with his stick. One or two of the Council members looked as if they might like to protest, but no one quite did.
"That was unexpected," Qui-Gon said, after they were halfway down the hall. "I thought you said you weren't planning to take another Padawan."
"I was following the promptings of the Force," Dooku said coolly. "Evidently I should be training him -- planned or not." He glanced sideways at Qui-Gon. "Besides, I suspected you were about to do something foolish."
Qui-Gon met Dooku's eyes, raised his eyebrows and said nothing for a moment, then, "Well, my Padawan seems to be under the impression I argue with the Council too much, but I'm not sure how much of an improvement he found it to have you take it up instead."
Dooku snorted. "I was arguing with the Council before he was born."
Qui-Gon smiled. "I know."
"You still don't do it enough," Dooku added, making Obi-Wan's eyes widen alarmingly. Dooku looked down at his new padawan appraisingly. "Well... Anakin. You seem spirited enough, at least."
"Um... thank you, sir." Spirited or not, Anakin looked a little daunted by this latest development.
"Master," Dooku corrected, not unkindly.
"...Master." Anakin frowned slightly.
"The Council was right about one thing, Padawan. You're coming to Jedi training much later than the other younglings. You have much to learn to catch up even to your age group, and most of them are not yet padawans." Dooku sighed. "Fortunately I relish a challenge. Are you a hard worker?"
Anakin tensed up a little more. "Yes...."
Dooku eyed him. "You seemed to have enough to say before the Council. Well. We'll have to get started immediately. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, if you'll excuse us?"
"By all means." Qui-Gon waved them off, offering Dooku a slight bow and Anakin a reassuring smile.
They heard the faint chime of Qui-Gon's commlink as they walked away, Anakin still frowning slightly.
Dooku steered the boy rapidly through the various administrative details of his initiation into the Jedi Order -- clothing, the traditional boy-Padawan haircut for human males, the request for new quarters. Anakin was strangely quiet, which would have been fine if it were a peaceful and respectful sort of silence, but it seemed wary and resentful instead, and Dooku didn't like it. He tried not to allow this to put him on edge, but the warning about anger came back to him, and he wondered abruptly if he should have taken that more seriously after Komari....
...He wasn't failing to take it seriously, and the urgings of the Force had been quite distinct, if perplexing.
The new quarters were to be available by nightfall, but meanwhile Dooku took Anakin back to his currently assigned rooms, with it in mind to begin a lesson. "Sit," he said, and suited action to word by lowering himself to the floor.
He glanced up and frowned. Anakin had remained standing, and his shoulders were set with a level of tension that appeared likely to take up at least the first few hours of any attempt at instruction.
After a moment, Anakin folded somewhat abruptly, mimicking Dooku's position approximately but with no relaxation whatsoever. "Am I supposed to ask you questions?"
"You are a padawan learner now. Your primary task for the next decade or so is to learn how to be a Jedi. To do that, you will need to ask questions. There will be times, of course, I will expect you to devise how to solve a problem yourself, without questions, and particularly at first there will be times you must obey me without question." A pause, then almost amused, "Which is a roundabout way of saying you can ask me a question now if you wish."
"Uh," said Anakin, "good." He swallowed, and then asked in a rush, "Why am I supposed to call you Master? Everybody here keeps saying it, but it's-- I know Qui-Gon won me on a bet with Watto but he said Jedi don't keep slaves."
"Qui-Gon won you?" Dooku repeated, eyes narrowing on a rush of anger. Slavery was antithetical to the very core of a Jedi's character. He fought the emotion back with some difficulty and shook his head briskly. "You misunderstand. 'Master' is...well, a two-folded word. Jedi Master is a rank that I, Qui-Gon, everyone on the Council, we all have obtained. It indicates we have reached a mastery in the Force. But so far as you are concerned, it is simply a word for teacher. You are a padawan learner, I am your teacher, and so you should call me by the title 'master' as a matter of respect."
"Qui-Gon said you taught him," Anakin said after a moment. "That's worth being respectful about. Master."
Dooku lifted an eyebrow and said dryly, "I'm so glad you agree. Qui-Gon was my very first padawan, actually, a very long time ago."
Anakin's eyes widened a little. "This isn't like Master Yoda being several centuries old is it?"
Dooku almost laughed at that. "No, Master Yoda has gone well beyond most of the Order on that. I'm only in my seventies, thank you. I wasn't a great deal older than Qui-Gon when I started training him."
Anakin looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry. It's just, after that, I wasn't sure what you'd have meant by a long time."
"Jedi tend to take a...fairly long-term view of the universe. Some Jedi in particular focus too much on that to the exclusion of the moment."
"Oh. ...Why?"
"There are two aspects to the Force. The Unifying Force is concerned with the longer-term view. It will lend itself to visions of the future, for example. The Living Force is concerned with the here and now, the way beings interact with each other within the Force. Because it has smaller immediate influences, many discount it as being less significant than the Unifying Force. But that is simply a misunderstanding of the true nature of the Living Force."
Anakin frowned. "How could people inter... interacting with each other not be important?"
"Not simply people, Padawan, but all beings in this universe. The interaction between two insects still has an impact on the Force."
Anakin knew some people who were insects, but he figured Dooku... Master Dooku, all right then... probably meant the little kind that couldn't talk. "That sounds like it'd be really hard to keep track of."
"It is, but the benefits are more than worth it. For example, true mastery in the Living Force gives you an awareness of your own body and your opponent that can make you an exceptional duelist." A faint smile. "A particular hobby of mine."
"I like flying," Anakin offered somewhat uncertainly.
"You'll be amazed at how much your reflexes will improve with greater awareness of the Living Force, then."
"They're pretty good now. But that would be wizard."
Dooku smiled indulgently. "You'll find 'pretty good' for a civilian is generally far below even average for a Jedi."
Anakin shrugged. "Watto said humans weren't supposed to be able to podrace."
"Podrace?" Dooku repeated with a slight frown. He'd never heard of it. The border planets got to some odd practices sometimes. For that matter, he wasn't entirely sure which planet his new padawan was from. Not that it mattered anymore, except that the boy had spent more time there than average. "Well, you won't have time for frivolous pursuits any longer. Jedi training is very rigorous. Now, we should--"
He cut off with an impatient glance at the door as it chimed. "Come."
The door slid open to reveal Qui-Gon. Anakin made a sort of abortive leap upward that could almost have passed for takeoff, then settled back somewhat anxiously to sit cross-legged on the floor until Dooku stood up.
"Qui-Gon," Dooku said. "Did you need something?"
Qui-Gon smiled, eyes sliding off his former Master to rest on the boy. "I came to say goodbye to Anakin, actually. Obi-Wan and I have been ordered to Naboo."
"With Padmé?" Anakin asked eagerly.
Qui-Gon chuckled softly. "With the entire royal entourage, yes. We've been ordered to escort the Queen back and try to investigate this Sith."
Dooku didn't move a muscle, but his entire posture somehow shifted to alert and almost predatory. "Sith?"
Qui-Gon's eyes flicked back to Dooku, and he grew very serious. "Yes. I encountered a... warrior on Tatooine whom I believe to have been a Sith. He seemed to be pursuing Queen Amidala."
Dooku raised one eyebrow. "Did he."
"So it appeared. He suddenly appeared just as we were about to take off from Tatooine, actually. Anakin, the Queen's handmaiden Padmé, and I were all returning to the ship. I fought him, briefly. He carried a red-bladed lightsaber, and he was very good with it."
Dooku studied him for a moment. "I'm coming with you," he declared, and turned to Anakin. "You should p-- no, you haven't had a chance to unpack yet. Bring your kit. One moment," he added to Qui-Gon, and vanished into his bedroom. He returned carrying little more than when he'd left. Anakin wondered if he'd just stuck a toothbrush in his utility belt or something.
Qui-Gon was looking at him with a touch of bemusement. "Is this when I'm just supposed to nod and say 'Yes, Master'?"
Dooku eyed him. "Yes. Set a good example for my new padawan."
"I'm fairly sure you are not assigned to this mission."
"I'm not assigned to any other one at the moment, either, and I ought to be on this one."
Qui-Gon hesitated only a moment more before shrugging and saying with a smile, "I'm certainly not going to turn down your help investigating the Sith. And if he shows up again, I'd just as soon have your lightsaber beside me!"
*****
Chapter 3
Authors: Persephone_Kore and Dreagoddess
Timeframe: Starting in The Phantom Menace
Characters: Anakin, Dooku, others
Genre: General
Keywords: Dooku, Anakin, training
Summary: Master Dooku steps in to offer to train Anakin Skywalker.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
"I take you, Anakin Skywalker, as my padawan learner," Dooku recited formally, looking the boy in the eye as the rest of the room disappeared from around him. He'd recited this oath four times, the first time with Qui-Gon, now standing as a powerful Jedi Master with a padawan of his own beside him. The second, elsewhere in the galaxy, fighting to protect the innocent and defend the way of life Dooku had taught him about. The third was somewhere in this building, even now patiently teaching a roomful of Jedi initiates how to defend themselves in a perilous world. The fourth....
The words almost didn't come for a moment. The fourth was dead, horribly dead, and if he'd trained her better....
But the boy wasn't a part of that, and he needed training. Dooku finished the oath resolutely.
There was a moment of silence.
Anakin stared up at Dooku with wide eyes.
Obi-Wan leaned forward hurriedly and began whispering in the boy's ear. Anakin swallowed and began to repeat his words. "I accept you as my Master...."
Unorthodox it might have been, but they managed to finish. At the end of it, Master Yoda heaved a huge sigh. "Wish you well, we do," he said quietly.
Dooku bowed. "Thank you, Master." He did mean it, arguments aside. "Are we dismissed?"
"Much you have to do now," Yoda said. "Go, all of you." He made a shooing motion with his stick. One or two of the Council members looked as if they might like to protest, but no one quite did.
"That was unexpected," Qui-Gon said, after they were halfway down the hall. "I thought you said you weren't planning to take another Padawan."
"I was following the promptings of the Force," Dooku said coolly. "Evidently I should be training him -- planned or not." He glanced sideways at Qui-Gon. "Besides, I suspected you were about to do something foolish."
Qui-Gon met Dooku's eyes, raised his eyebrows and said nothing for a moment, then, "Well, my Padawan seems to be under the impression I argue with the Council too much, but I'm not sure how much of an improvement he found it to have you take it up instead."
Dooku snorted. "I was arguing with the Council before he was born."
Qui-Gon smiled. "I know."
"You still don't do it enough," Dooku added, making Obi-Wan's eyes widen alarmingly. Dooku looked down at his new padawan appraisingly. "Well... Anakin. You seem spirited enough, at least."
"Um... thank you, sir." Spirited or not, Anakin looked a little daunted by this latest development.
"Master," Dooku corrected, not unkindly.
"...Master." Anakin frowned slightly.
"The Council was right about one thing, Padawan. You're coming to Jedi training much later than the other younglings. You have much to learn to catch up even to your age group, and most of them are not yet padawans." Dooku sighed. "Fortunately I relish a challenge. Are you a hard worker?"
Anakin tensed up a little more. "Yes...."
Dooku eyed him. "You seemed to have enough to say before the Council. Well. We'll have to get started immediately. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, if you'll excuse us?"
"By all means." Qui-Gon waved them off, offering Dooku a slight bow and Anakin a reassuring smile.
They heard the faint chime of Qui-Gon's commlink as they walked away, Anakin still frowning slightly.
Dooku steered the boy rapidly through the various administrative details of his initiation into the Jedi Order -- clothing, the traditional boy-Padawan haircut for human males, the request for new quarters. Anakin was strangely quiet, which would have been fine if it were a peaceful and respectful sort of silence, but it seemed wary and resentful instead, and Dooku didn't like it. He tried not to allow this to put him on edge, but the warning about anger came back to him, and he wondered abruptly if he should have taken that more seriously after Komari....
...He wasn't failing to take it seriously, and the urgings of the Force had been quite distinct, if perplexing.
The new quarters were to be available by nightfall, but meanwhile Dooku took Anakin back to his currently assigned rooms, with it in mind to begin a lesson. "Sit," he said, and suited action to word by lowering himself to the floor.
He glanced up and frowned. Anakin had remained standing, and his shoulders were set with a level of tension that appeared likely to take up at least the first few hours of any attempt at instruction.
After a moment, Anakin folded somewhat abruptly, mimicking Dooku's position approximately but with no relaxation whatsoever. "Am I supposed to ask you questions?"
"You are a padawan learner now. Your primary task for the next decade or so is to learn how to be a Jedi. To do that, you will need to ask questions. There will be times, of course, I will expect you to devise how to solve a problem yourself, without questions, and particularly at first there will be times you must obey me without question." A pause, then almost amused, "Which is a roundabout way of saying you can ask me a question now if you wish."
"Uh," said Anakin, "good." He swallowed, and then asked in a rush, "Why am I supposed to call you Master? Everybody here keeps saying it, but it's-- I know Qui-Gon won me on a bet with Watto but he said Jedi don't keep slaves."
"Qui-Gon won you?" Dooku repeated, eyes narrowing on a rush of anger. Slavery was antithetical to the very core of a Jedi's character. He fought the emotion back with some difficulty and shook his head briskly. "You misunderstand. 'Master' is...well, a two-folded word. Jedi Master is a rank that I, Qui-Gon, everyone on the Council, we all have obtained. It indicates we have reached a mastery in the Force. But so far as you are concerned, it is simply a word for teacher. You are a padawan learner, I am your teacher, and so you should call me by the title 'master' as a matter of respect."
"Qui-Gon said you taught him," Anakin said after a moment. "That's worth being respectful about. Master."
Dooku lifted an eyebrow and said dryly, "I'm so glad you agree. Qui-Gon was my very first padawan, actually, a very long time ago."
Anakin's eyes widened a little. "This isn't like Master Yoda being several centuries old is it?"
Dooku almost laughed at that. "No, Master Yoda has gone well beyond most of the Order on that. I'm only in my seventies, thank you. I wasn't a great deal older than Qui-Gon when I started training him."
Anakin looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry. It's just, after that, I wasn't sure what you'd have meant by a long time."
"Jedi tend to take a...fairly long-term view of the universe. Some Jedi in particular focus too much on that to the exclusion of the moment."
"Oh. ...Why?"
"There are two aspects to the Force. The Unifying Force is concerned with the longer-term view. It will lend itself to visions of the future, for example. The Living Force is concerned with the here and now, the way beings interact with each other within the Force. Because it has smaller immediate influences, many discount it as being less significant than the Unifying Force. But that is simply a misunderstanding of the true nature of the Living Force."
Anakin frowned. "How could people inter... interacting with each other not be important?"
"Not simply people, Padawan, but all beings in this universe. The interaction between two insects still has an impact on the Force."
Anakin knew some people who were insects, but he figured Dooku... Master Dooku, all right then... probably meant the little kind that couldn't talk. "That sounds like it'd be really hard to keep track of."
"It is, but the benefits are more than worth it. For example, true mastery in the Living Force gives you an awareness of your own body and your opponent that can make you an exceptional duelist." A faint smile. "A particular hobby of mine."
"I like flying," Anakin offered somewhat uncertainly.
"You'll be amazed at how much your reflexes will improve with greater awareness of the Living Force, then."
"They're pretty good now. But that would be wizard."
Dooku smiled indulgently. "You'll find 'pretty good' for a civilian is generally far below even average for a Jedi."
Anakin shrugged. "Watto said humans weren't supposed to be able to podrace."
"Podrace?" Dooku repeated with a slight frown. He'd never heard of it. The border planets got to some odd practices sometimes. For that matter, he wasn't entirely sure which planet his new padawan was from. Not that it mattered anymore, except that the boy had spent more time there than average. "Well, you won't have time for frivolous pursuits any longer. Jedi training is very rigorous. Now, we should--"
He cut off with an impatient glance at the door as it chimed. "Come."
The door slid open to reveal Qui-Gon. Anakin made a sort of abortive leap upward that could almost have passed for takeoff, then settled back somewhat anxiously to sit cross-legged on the floor until Dooku stood up.
"Qui-Gon," Dooku said. "Did you need something?"
Qui-Gon smiled, eyes sliding off his former Master to rest on the boy. "I came to say goodbye to Anakin, actually. Obi-Wan and I have been ordered to Naboo."
"With Padmé?" Anakin asked eagerly.
Qui-Gon chuckled softly. "With the entire royal entourage, yes. We've been ordered to escort the Queen back and try to investigate this Sith."
Dooku didn't move a muscle, but his entire posture somehow shifted to alert and almost predatory. "Sith?"
Qui-Gon's eyes flicked back to Dooku, and he grew very serious. "Yes. I encountered a... warrior on Tatooine whom I believe to have been a Sith. He seemed to be pursuing Queen Amidala."
Dooku raised one eyebrow. "Did he."
"So it appeared. He suddenly appeared just as we were about to take off from Tatooine, actually. Anakin, the Queen's handmaiden Padmé, and I were all returning to the ship. I fought him, briefly. He carried a red-bladed lightsaber, and he was very good with it."
Dooku studied him for a moment. "I'm coming with you," he declared, and turned to Anakin. "You should p-- no, you haven't had a chance to unpack yet. Bring your kit. One moment," he added to Qui-Gon, and vanished into his bedroom. He returned carrying little more than when he'd left. Anakin wondered if he'd just stuck a toothbrush in his utility belt or something.
Qui-Gon was looking at him with a touch of bemusement. "Is this when I'm just supposed to nod and say 'Yes, Master'?"
Dooku eyed him. "Yes. Set a good example for my new padawan."
"I'm fairly sure you are not assigned to this mission."
"I'm not assigned to any other one at the moment, either, and I ought to be on this one."
Qui-Gon hesitated only a moment more before shrugging and saying with a smile, "I'm certainly not going to turn down your help investigating the Sith. And if he shows up again, I'd just as soon have your lightsaber beside me!"
*****
Chapter 3