"We will not let them."

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

"You're my Padawan. I want to see you flourish."

Heeeee.

"You're a really good teacher."

"Thank you. You are an able student."

She laughs. "Learning's fun!"

Smile.

When they get back to the Jedi Temple, a summon from the Council is waiting for them.

She stays by her teacher's side.

"What do you think they want?"

"I am not sure. This is most unusual."

She nods. "We'll find out, I guess."

When they get to the Council chamber, they're not the only ones. Two men, one older and one younger, are already there.

"Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi," Elesse murmurs to Anakin as they enter. Qui-Gon is finishing up an explanation about how some Queen intends to go back and fight for her planet's freedom.

She smiles at them, rocking back and forth a bit, and tilting her head at the explanation. Fighting for a planet's freedom sounds exciting...

"Good of you to join us, Master Vendar," Windu says after Qui-Gon finishes. "Have you heard the news?"

"We came straight here from Ilum."

"Invaded the planet Naboo, the Trade Federation has," Yoda says. "Unsuccessful, Master Jinn's negotiations were."

The man winces, faintly. "We managed to extract the queen of the Naboo and brought her to the Senate to argue her case. The motion became bogged down in procedure, and she called a vote of no confidence in Valorum."

"She learned a great deal from you in a short time, then."

"It was her Senator's idea-" the Padawan begins. Qui-Gon holds up a hand to cut him off.

     "It was her own doing, and none of mine," he says. "I find her to be... headstrong."

"And impatient as well, if she is already planning to return. Surely a task force has not been put together yet?"

     "Not yet," says Kit Fisto, a Nautolan councilor. "But it's hard to blame her, with her people under hostile control."

"Go with Qui-Gon and young Obi-Wan back to Naboo, you and your Padawan will," Yoda instructs. "Guard the Queen, while she rallies her people."

"Why would we be needed, if bodyguarding is all?"

"Because," says Windu, "Master Jinn was attacked on his trip back to Coruscant with the Queen. By a man with a red lightsaber."

     "He was trained in its use," Qui-Gon says. "And there was a certain- darkness about him."

"A Sith."

"So we surmise."

Anakin shivers, several echoes of her visions humming at the back of her mind, and tries to resist the urge to hug herself.

"I see. When do we leave?"

     "In the morning. We will meet the queen and her entourage at the spaceport."

"We will be there."