Star Wars: Passion of the Sith

Chapter 1

The first time I met Anakin Skywalker, I was a tiny six-year-old with beautiful golden hair and happy eyes. He was 9, a new addition to the Jedi Temple. Back then, I was extremely outgoing, completely the opposite of who I was now 10 years later. Anakin and I for some reason had immediately become good friends, and we had grown up together.

Despite our age difference, we were best friends, and we had no secrets from each other. Well, he had no secrets from me. I had learned from the very outset that he loved Padme Amidala Naberrie, so I had kept my love for him to myself.

He wasn't popular with the other Jedi younglings. Everyone dangled him in our faces as the Chosen One, and he did things by instinct it had taken most of us years to master. Some of us couldn't even do what he did. Maybe that's why I befriende him, despite my friends' rejection of him: I knew he was lonely, and my heart reached out to his. As the years passed, however, we both changed: he became the outgoing one, his love for life shining in his eyes. I became reserved, dark, rarely smiling unless he was around.

Everyone wanted to be his friend, especially the girls. I was just that strange Jedi kid everyone shunned.

To be honest, I was-am strange. My Force abilities were different than the other kids', and I fought with a double-bladed lightsaber, which had earlier been associated with the Sith. The Jedi Council told me that my abilities were those of a child whose parents were both Sith, but they had accepted me as a Jedi. I did not wear the Jedi robes or even a variation on them, like most Jedi. I wore a tight black catsuit. My lightsaber itself was different as well: it was grey. Not blue, not green, not even purple like Master Windu's, but a hard, metallic grey.

So I was forced to look for friends outside the Temple.

When I turned 13 and Anakin was 16, he was sent with Master Kenobi to the Outer Rim. I was nearly expelled from the Jedi order since I did not have a Master who wanted to apprentice me, but the Council reconsidered my abilities. And they saw in me a person who would be very valuable to keep, and a very dangerous enemy if they let me go. So they made me a Jedi Knight, and I was put through the most rigorous training any Jedi ever has or ever will receive. And I became a bodyguard for Anakin's beloved Senator Amidala, though she had promised me she would send me to the Outer Rim as well. Politicians are all liars; some do it blatantly, others do it secretly. So I worked for her for 3 years.

But Anakin was due back today, so I had taken half a day off from head of security so I could see him and Master Kenobi again.

As I walked up the steps of the Jedi Temple, I noticed a few girls from my classes earlier. Denali, a Twi'-lek; Kristia, a humanoid like me; and Bast, a Togruta. All of them despised me and I scorned them.

"Oh, look, it's the little Sith again," Kristia sneered, making a big to-do over my slightly-shorter-than-average height. I didn't care; 5'4" was good enough for me. "We were hoping you'd already been executed for treason."

They didn't know. "I'm a Jedi Knight, now, Kristia. And I'm reporting you for discipline," I retorted smoothly.

"You can't." But there was an edge of fear in her voice.

I smiled mysteriously and stalked past them. Inside the Temple, I stopped a little youngling and asked if Master Kenobi had arrived yet.

The youngling looked at me with solemn eyes. "Yes."

"Thank you, sweet," I said and gave him a candy. He giggled and ran off; I allowed a smile to cross my face. Younglings made life so much more pleasurable.

I knew where Anakin and Master Kenobi's quarters were, since I had been there many times. I could walk blindfolded to it, if I needed to.

Enjoying the soft carpet, and remembering my first home-the Temple-fondly, I quickly reached Master Kenobi's quarters. I took a deep breath. The moment of truth.