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When Sith Beat Jedi To The Prize (Of The Chosen One)

Garth'zel had intended never to go to Tatooine again. The entire experience the first time he was there was hot and miserable. The only good point, so far as he was concerned, was meeting Andronikos. But as luck would have it, his ship ended up deciding to need minor repairs. Nothing too bad, but it did require him to land somewhere to get the parts he needed, because of course, the bit that went was something he didn't have spare parts for. The only planet within reasonable range? Tatooine.

It didn't take long for a Force-sensitive boy to catch his attention. One strong enough that he was surprised the Jedi didn't already find him. Well, their loss was his gain. ...Once he pried him loose from Watto, anyway. He suspects he actually had an easier time of it than a Jedi would, although he's not going to hang around and give one the chance to give it a shot. At least, unlike them, he's willing to come to Tatooine from time to time so Anakin could see his mother. Probably not more than a couple times a year or so, due to it being best to go there when they're at least vaguely in that part of the galaxy anyway, but it's far better than 'sorry kid, we're never bringing you back'.

Of course, there is one tiny problem with this whole thing. He's never had to raise children before and doesn't know what he's doing. With the ship safely in hyperspace and not due to come out of it for a good long while, enabling him to do things that didn't involve sitting in the pilot's seat of the ship, he's in the lounge area. Time to figure out what he's doing. "Have you managed to get any kind of schooling? Like from someone you know, sitting down with you for an hour here and there as time permitted to teach you things like how to write?"

May as well figure out what he needs to teach besides how to use the Force consciously instead of unconsciously drawing on it.

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"Well, before you do that, you need to one, finish eating your food, and two work on learning how to use the Force properly with me," Garth'zel says dryly.

One thing at a time, kid. Focus on the practical first, then the 'pie in the sky' things.

"I thought I might eat slower." So he knew when he was full instead of done, to avoid a repeat of the night before. "I still don't understand what the Force is." He'd been listening as Garth'zel had explained, of course, but that didn't mean he understood.

"Eating slower is good," Garth'zel agrees. "Along with not talking while your mouth's full." Just tossing that one out preemptively.

"The Force is an energy field that binds everything together. It has both a Light and a Dark Side. One can't exist without the other. As much of the Jedi may wish otherwise." Don't let him get started on that. Just don't.

"You need the Force to live. Any world that doesn't have it is a dead world. That's not to say that all dead worlds are void of the Force, mind. There's plenty that are dead simply because they're outside of the zone in a solar system where planets are capable of sustaining life. Too close to the sun and you get a ball of molten rock. Too far away, and everything's well below freezing temperatures."

He doesn't talk with his mouth full. Often.

He understands 'energy field' or a type of energy field anyway, so he can sort of start to wrap his brain around what the Force is, but he still doesn't really understand. "What's the difference, between Light and Dark?"

Garth'zel's lips twitch. "You may regret asking that once I get into the philosophical parts." He's just giving you fair warning.

"The Jedi would say the Light's good and the Dark's bad. Which... they're not entirely wrong. Given the Light Side tends to feel warm while the Dark feels cold, it tends to be fairly easy to tell which side is being used. Along with telling you which way a person tends to lean towards using due to the way their presence in the Force feels.

"The Light Side tends to be easier to use when in a state of calm. The Dark Side, however... it relies on emotion. Things like hate. Anger. Fear. Negative emotions, which while yes, there is power and often a lot of it in them, the cost isn't necessarily worth it."

Anakin's quiet as he listens, chewing slowly and drinking, thinking, before he speaks. "You're cold." He doesn't mean it as an accusation, just an observation, but his tone is still careful. "What do you mean about the cost not necessarily being worth it?"

"Yes, I am," Garth'zel says with a nod. "As the people who took me from my Master--whether he liked it or not--for training were Sith, that's what I trained as. Whether I liked it or not."

"First off, so far as your question is concerned, what sort of person do you think someone who actually enjoys and wants to gain and maintain power through their hatred and the fear of them they cause in others is?"

Yes, he knows, he's asking a question in response to one. But the answer Anakin comes up with will help provide some of the rest of the answer.

As Anakin wasn't accusing, just observing, he listens. These Sith took Garth'zel, whether he wanted it or not, and trained him, whether he wanted it not. Garth'zel also took Anakin with his mother's consent - and Anakin only went because his mother told him to. Garth'zel was going to train him - not as he had been trained in some way, he'd said that.

"I think you are talking about three kinds of people. Those who use hate, those who use the fear of others, and those who use both. I don't think doing any of those is always wrong." He certainly hates people, and the idea of using that hate to make him stronger and able to hurt them seems both appealing and right. And if them being afraid of them makes them stop enslaving people, that also seems appealing and right. "But it can be wrong and probably hurts you somehow?" He doesn't think he'd mind hurt either. You can get used to hurt, you can ignore it.

Garth'zel just covers his eyes with one hand for a moment. This is not where he wanted you to go with this, child. "The conclusion I was hoping for was that the kind of people who like that sort of thing tend to be terrible people. And given we're talking about Sith, they're mostly just trying to get their own way about whatever they're trying to accomplish rather than helping people."

"I mean, I've used fear of what I might do to keep people in line who otherwise would have been doing things to screw someone over--assuming I wasn't angry enough to just deal with them on a permanent basis--but generally..." Ugh. Maybe he should have just gone with answering instead of making the kid think about it. Too late, now.

"One of the things about the Dark Side is that it's... very tempting to use," Garth'zel says carefully. "I assume you've seen spice addicts around? It's like that. It promises an easy and fast way to what people want and they may even get it in the short term. But then, like the addicts, what they previously wanted isn't enough and they want more. And they'll do whatever it takes to get that more no matter who they hurt along the way. Or what they do to themselves in the process."

Part of the issue Anakin is struggling with is the idea that something is always good or always bad, even if that was what was typical of children his age - because Anakin wasn't typical nor had he had a typical upbringing. It was hard to teach a child stealing was wrong when stealing a person was not, after all. But on the other hand, he is still a child, and complex shading of morality isn't entirely within grasp of his development yet.

But he has seen spice addicts, gambling joints tended to have them and he knew of more than one family who'd seen their children sold to pay for the spice habit in one way or another. "But you don't seem like that."

"I'd also made a point of surrounding myself with people who could help keep me from becoming like that in the first place," Garth'zel says dryly. "And well, like I said. Jedi I've met have helped."

Anakin thinks now may not be a good time to point out those people aren't here or at least don't seem to be. "So they were like weighstones, like what you use to lash a tent to so the winds don't blow it away?"

Said people have been dead for so long, there's not even dust left. Let it be, child.

"Mmm, sounds about right. Although I'm not sure I would have used that specific comparison in front of Ashara, given that women are often twitchy about weight." Note the use of past tense in referring to her. ...Along with the ship sharing a name.

While the joke goes sailing right over his head, the past tense and the shared name do not. "I want to ask something, but I don't want to make you sad."

Garth'zel just looks at him for a moment. "If you're wanting to ask if she's dead, yes. And while we weren't actually married, it was only because the Jedi Council would have collectively had hysterics"--slightly nicer than saying 'shit a brick'--"at the prospect of her wanting to marry a Sith and said no. So we skipped that and went to her moving in with me. No, there's no children, because, we're different enough species we weren't genetically compatible."

So even if her death was within the last decade, at least there wouldn't be competition for attention from Garth'zel's actual kids.

Being 'technically' married doesn't really matter to him. Slaves were property, property couldn't marry under the law. That didn't mean Anakin didn't know plenty of married people.

"You said your surrounded yourself with people who stopped you from being like that." He stops, because he is fairly deeply empathetic, and knows this isn't fun to talk about. "Does she still, because you remember her?"

He's quiet for a moment as he thinks about that one. "I think so. I mean, I try not to think about her too often because it hurts. I know the pain will eventually fade. Not go away, but get to where it hurts less."

Anakin doesn't ask what to him is obvious, if thinking about her is so painful - and he can tell that it is - why did he name the ship after her or keep the ship if he'd had it before.

"Ok. I'm sorry." Both for Garth'zel's grief and his own questions which caused it to be brought up. He's quiet for a moment, trying to think of something to say to change the topic all together. Off Garth'zel's past, off the Force, at least for now. Except he can't, totally because this conversation has lead him to a path of worry and he needs to kick that away while he eats.

"I can wash up after I eat, if you want." Both an offer, because he should and to allow Garth'zel to leave if he wants to.

"What, you didn't get enough time playing in the water?" Garth'zel asks, eyebrow arched as he firmly stuffs his emotions in a mental box to deal with later.

"Nope!" Anakin answers cheerfully, perhaps too cheerfully, because he is trying to forcibly take the conversation in a different direction.

Garth'zel rolls his eyes. "Are you hoping for your hair to never be dry again?"

"Maybe." He could be happy never feeling such dryness again anyway.

"I'm thinking of practicing with the remote, which means I'll eventually need the towels after my own turn at cleaning up. I'd like to be able to get dry," he points out.

"Oh. Um. How do you do laundry on this ship, by the way?" This is completely unrelated, he promises!

Garth'zel blinks slowly at Anakin before covering his face with his hand. "How did I remember to show you the medbay but forget to show you the laundry room?"

No, he's not honestly expecting an answer. "The relevant room is just one door away from the 'fresher."

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