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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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"Several meters. Given that I think it's safe to say you can't swim, even without the things that would eat us, you going in that would be a bad idea," Garth'zel says dryly.

There's an idea for when they're somewhere it's safe to do so; teach the kid to swim.

Give him a moment to pop his mouth closed as turns to look at Garth'zel. Several meters? That's deeper than a Hutt is long!

"And that's like, in a-a river bed?" He has to think to find the word 'river', since water is normally talked about in barrels or tanks, but he knows there rivers, which are like creeks, just much deeper and wider.

"Some rivers get that deep, yes. But the town I'm thinking of going to--if it still exists--is sitting right by the ocean. Which gets far, far deeper than a river. You could sink capital ships in them and potentially never find them again." So the kid can see why there's things large enough to eat people that Garth'zel would rather avoid.

Hang on, you are going to have to give him a long moment of just staring, unblinking at that idea. Water enough to sink capital ships - SHIPS - and never being able to find them again? Anakin has a far better idea of the size of a capital ship than he does of that volume of water and it simply doesn't work.

"I-I..." Sorry, he's still trying to visualize that.

"Like Tatooine is a desert world, there are ocean worlds, too," Garth'zel says, amused. "Manaan is one such. There's at least one floating city that I'm aware of that they built so off-worlders would have a place to land and do business. Mon Cala also has floating cities, I believe."

Logically, this makes sense - he's heard of ocean worlds, and he understands that all kinds of worlds MUST exist. But wrapping his brain around the idea is difficult. "Floating cities? Like. In the air? Where do the people who live there live?"

Garth'zel shakes his head. "They float on the water. I suppose some have repulsors to keep them just above the surface, but you'd have to talk to someone who actually works on maintaining them for more information on that. Given the natives are understandably aquatic species, their homes are underwater. Some of them might have rooms meant for visitors who breathe air so said visitors don't drown while paying them a personal visit."

"Aquatic means they live in water? Do they breathe water?" Since he said 'visitors who breathe air' "What's drown?" He's forgotten about the holo for them moment.

"Yes, aquatic is meant to refer to people and things that live in water and get their oxygen from it through gills or whatever. Like fish. Drowning is a way people die. When someone who needs to breathe air to live--like us--gets their lungs full of water, they die because they can't breathe," Garth'zel explains. "It's not a fun way to die."

There's been gilled creatures in the market for sale, of course, but they aren't something Shmi and Anakin could have afforded so he's never seen much detail of one. And he's not imaging how gills work properly, but in a way that makes sense to how he understands breathing to work.

"Are there fun ways to die?" He's not meaning to sass - death is too much a part of a slave's life after all, and he's seen more of the brutal reality of it than someone his age should have.

Garth'zel snorts. "Not hardly. Unless one considers dying while doing something fun to fit the criteria, I suppose. But there are easier ways to die. Like in one's sleep as a more peaceful option."

"I don't think so. Dying while racing wouldn't be fun, even if racing is." He's certainly seen enough of that to be able to tell dying during a pod racing event is horrific. "That doesn't happen very often, dying in your sleep." Or almost ever, as far as he knows.

"I assume for most people who get to have normal lives, it's generally how they go. But for those of us who don't get that..." Garth'zel says with a shrug.

Given that answer, Anakin is going to believe it is not, in fact, a common way to die. "If you had to pick?" It's morbid, perhaps, but given how much death and violence he's seen, it's also something talked about. It's less...fearful that way.

Garth'zel makes a face. "Given that Sith tend to get helped along to their deaths one way or another, something natural would be nice. I don't really expect to get to opt for the 'die in my sleep of old age' option, though."

Maybe if he sat quietly on some backwater, doing nothing of note to draw anyone's attention, but that would be incredibly boring.

Anakin thinks it over. "But do you need to worry about that that really?" Because it would be nice if he didn't get killed, especially until Anakin was grown. Or his mother managed to squirrel away enough of the money he was sending to free herself. Kids without guardians...

Garth'zel lets out a soft snort. "It was far more of a concern when I lived in an Empire full of Sith trying to kill each other, yes. Not that we were supposed to. And not that that stopped us; we just had to make sure not to get caught."

Things you weren't supposed to do just meant to had to not get caught unless you had enough money or social status for people to not care. "But you don't now, so you'll be fine." Besides people with lightsabers wherec really hard to kill right? "You were good at not getting killed then."

Garth'zel can't help but laugh at that. "Lana would have some things to say about that. Some of them likely profane. Probably along with an observation that my survival was in despite of myself at times."

The laugh made Anakin laugh, mostly because despite not knowing who Lana is, he can hear some of that from people talking about him. "Who's Lana?"

"She was another Sith. One I could actually trust. As you learn more about the Sith, you'll know how rare it is to be able to say that about one of us."

He smiles wryly. "I don't think I would have needed to worry about her trying to poach you from me; she's never shown any interest in having apprentices in all the time I've known her and she'd probably be at a loss as to what to do with a child, anyway."

Not that he doesn't have some of that going on, himself.

"So she's your friend?" That was how Anakin understood it - he was able to trust her, so she was a friend. "

"Did that happen a lot? Sith trying to steal other Siths apprentices? Is that what I am?" It was nice being able to put labels to his place, those where important.

"She was, yes," Garth'zel says with a nod. "Luring his apprentice away from him and over to me was actually one of my moves when things with Thanaton came to a head.

"You're an apprentice, yes, but considering the way Sith are, I'm going to try to not turn you into one."

"Why did you do that?" That seemd like it would make things worse, which made him think Garth'zel was looking for a fight.

"I still don't understand why that's bad, to be what you are." Garth'zel seems the pretty decent sort, so he is just confusing Anakin.

"It was one of my opening moves in our Kaggath; that is, a duel between two Sith and their power-bases. It was a way of chipping away at his own support," Garth'zel explains patiently.

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