spncentral | 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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"You'll learn. Eventually, you won't even need to think about it, it'll just be automatic," Garth'zel assures him as he dishes up what was basically chili. With some extra in the way of vegetables than he usually does, keeping in mind that Anakin needed the extra.

"There's enough for us to both have seconds." So no need to try to draw things out beyond the amount needed to give it time to cool enough to not burn the inside of their mouths.

"I'm sorry Sir, I don't mean to be trouble." It's genuinely apologetic, Anakin wanted to be good, wanted to learn. It was just so very strange.

But he took the bowl gratefully - and for more than the food. Space was shockingly cold, and his hands greedily stole the heat from the dish into his body, leading him to cradle it against his chest. Letting it cool was really just him using it to warm him up. Not that he really realized he was hungry - he was told it was time to eat, so he'd eat. "Is there water?"

Garth'zel cocks an eyebrow at Anakin. "I wasn't scolding you, just stating a fact. It takes time to learn how to use the Force properly."

His answer to Anakin's question was simply to nod in the direction of Anakin's glass. Use your eyeballs, boy.

Anakin was still cradling the bowl, leeching the warmth from it. "My memory is very good. It's probably what I can do best, remember things. So I tend to learn things quickly." He wasn't bragging, he was more upset he wasn't catching onto something as quickly as he wants.

But he followed Garth'zel's motion, licking his lips at the sight of the water, shifting his grip on the bowl to continue to hold it close while freeing a hand to grab it. He settles on using the table to support the bowl while keeping it close - his hand is pale but pinking where it's warming - and takes the glass, pulling a deep swallow from it.

"You're also learning something entirely new to you," Garth'zel points out. "Would you expect someone's whose main focus is raising and breeding banthas to understand the things you do about building things on their first day?"

Anakin finishes half his water before picking up his spoon and testing if his food was cool enough to eat - and decided it still needed a few minutes. "We never had the choice of doing anything but learning fast and perfect." At least with his friends - all the friends he had, at least the ones who were people and not droids - were slaves as well. And he was one of the very few who had been what he was his entire life - he didn't really know how other people, or normal children, adapted to new situations.

Garth'zel's eyebrows just slowly go up. Try to remember who you're talking to, child.

He finally takes a bite of his own food, deciding it had cooled off enough. Mouthful finished, "I think one of the first things we're doing when we're on a planet again is to buy you some warmer clothes."

Because yes, he sees that Anakin's cold.

He does, that's why he's a little confused about being asked.

Anakin pokes his spoon at his food, then takes a small bite. It's cool enough to eat, he decides and takes several bites before answering. "Space is a lot colder than I thought it would be." He also has a very off meter for 'cold', given Tatooine. But at least the food was warming him up - his hands and his insides, curling into him.

Garth'zel was trying to make the point that Anakin didn't need to stress himself out too much about being slow on the uptake regarding something entirely new to him.

"You'll eventually mostly adjust, I think. But even after, you'll still need warmer clothes than what you needed for Tatooine." So, clothes and schooling materials shopping are on the mental list of things he needs to do regarding Anakin so far.

He'd learn, eventually. But it was going to take time to deprogram him from what slavery had done to him. But for right now, he's glad to have Garth'zel, who seemed patient enough, fed him, and didn't ride him too hard.

"Where are we going? I might have heard of it." And he might have things he wants to poke at if he does.

"Right now, the plan is Bothawui. Although there's other planets along the hyperlane to get there, so there may end up being a brief stop at one of them along the way." Depending on factors like if he misjudged when the ship needed a refuel or if he decides it would be better to get Anakin new clothes and so on sooner.

"Could we see a race while we are there?" If there's one thing he'll know about any planet, it's if there are races there. And if so, what kind of races.

And odds are, he'd want to see one.

"I can't say I'd been planning on seeing any," Garth'zel comments after finishing his mouthful of food. "For that matter, I'm unaware of any that are of interest for anyone who isn't a local."

"There really aren't, and they are on urban tracks instead of open ones like on Tatooine. It's not pod racing, but they are still neat to watch - everyone has a different way of building and pilots like to brag on their builds. It's a small gig, but there was this one pilot who said that due to the wilderness there and the wildlife, they are more like sprints than real races-" Anakin would continue to babble on about the details he's heard and ease dropped on - between eating, sometimes barely finishing his swallow before talking - until Garth'zel interrupted him.

Garth'zel gives Anakin a long look. "How much of this is you wanting new racers to bug with questions about their rigs?"

Because he's noticing where the majority of Anakin's focus seems to be during this ramble and it's not the races themselves as such.

"I was building my own pod racer. Been working on it for a few years." No, he hadn't thought to ask to bring it along, simply due to the size of it. "And I repaired Watto's til I crashed and it wasn't worth fixing a few months ago."

Garth'zel would have had to say no to bringing the pod racer along if Anakin did ask if he could bring it, because while there was technically enough space in the hold for it, there then wouldn't have been room for pretty much anything else.

He just looks at Anakin for a moment. "I'm at least somewhat familiar with the speeds those things can go at. Why were you racing?"

He would have understood that kind of an answer at least.

"Between 700 and 970 kilometers per hour, generally but 850 to 950 is the normal." He answers the question on speed without thinking about it or even really processing that Garth'zel's comment had been a statement, not a question. But at least he's stops trying to eat and talk at almost the same time. "I'm a pilot. Races make big money if you win the race or if you bet right, so Watto had me race. Til I crashed last time, but that wasn't my fault, Sebulba cheated. He cheats a LOT, it's why he wins so often. I was so close to finishing too! And me and mom would have had credits for like a year. I mean. Watto would have lost a lot, so he'd have been mad, because he always bets against me. But..."

"I see," Garth'zel says flatly. "Children, more specifically, human children, should not be in those races. They're far too dangerous and if you didn't have the Force to help you, you most likely would have been dead in your first race."

Or maimed.

"Yeah people do die. And the Tusken Raiders shoot at you sometimes too. Well. And chance they can really, just not all the races take you close enough. I've never really gotten hurt though, just banged up a little." For a certain definition of it anyway. "How did the Force help me race?" He looks up at Garth'zel, quite confused.

"Thank you for proving my point," Garth'zel says in an ironic tone, finishing his first bowl of food and getting up to get a second. "Let me know when you're ready for more."

"Through telling you what's coming up. When the best time to turn is so you wouldn't get smeared across a canyon wall is. Through making sure when you crashed, you survived the experience, apparently."

"Uh. I mean? Sports are dangerous?" He doesn't really see a terribly big problem with the races and he very much enjoys them, at least when he is piloting a pod. "I will." He's still working on his bowl.

"And the Force just...does that?" At least Garth'zel has him on a slightly different and more teachable topic now?

Garth'zel just looks at him for a moment. "Most sports don't have the risk of death or dismemberment."

"Mm-hmm. The Force can be used for a lot of things. What I mentioned, making one a better fighter, healing..." The possibilities are basically endless if one knows where to find the knowledge they want.

"They don't?" Given it was the Hutts who ran Tatooine - and the types of people who Anakin had been exposed to - he hadn't actually heard of any that didn't.

"What about finding people? Not just ones like us, but people who can't use the Force?" Is there a little plot starting to work in his brain? Or something like the start of one, anyway.

Garth'zel shakes his head. "Usually, the occasional broken bone and more often things like sprains and concussions. Things that will make people need to take time off from their chosen sport to recover and heal, but not remove them permanently."

Now he frowns slightly. "I think I need a little more information before I answer that one."