Chapter Text
Obi-Wan knelt in front of Yoda, for once seeing why Master Qui-Gon had disobeyed the council often. He had just lost his master, whos dying request was for young Anakin to be trained and he was not about to lose the last link to his former master by allowing the council to reject him.
He refused. "-I will train Anakin - without the councils approval if I must."
"Qui-Gon's defiance I sense in you. Need that, you do not," Yoda continued to grunt as he paced in front of the newly knighted human. "Agree with you, the council does. However your apprentice, Skywalker will not be."
Obi-Wan frowned. What did Yoda mean? The Council agreed with him yet still would not allow him to train the boy? His entire argument was for Anakin to be trained by Obi-Wan himself! He hardly noticed the door open until a new voice spoke.
"Master Yoda?"
It was Knight Fisto - a nautolan a few years Obi-Wan's senior. Kenobi remembered him teaching some of his classes as an initiate, back when the Nautolan was still an older Padawan, and had become the Jedi Master of his friend, Bant Eerin. "Knight Fisto," Yoda greeted. "A Padawan, you requested. A Padawan, you shall get."
Obi-Wan gaped at that. Master Yoda couldn't really mean to give Anakin to a different Jedi right in front of him?! He was the one Anakin was familiar with, he was the one who had done his best to protect the boy throughout this entire mission! Would Anakin even trust a different master?
Yet Kit Fisto smiled politely. "Thank you, Master. I have one in mi-"
"Anakin Skywalker, newly recruited. Your Padawan, he shall be," Yoda interrupted Kit quickly. Obi-Wan understood the confusion rolling off of Knight Fisto, it was odd for a jedi to be assigned a padawan. Normally, once they were permitted to take one, they were able to choose who their new padawan learner was. Then again, he thought, nothing about this situation was normal.
"I see, Master," Kit hummed. "When am I to meet Padawan Skywalker?"
Yoda grunted and the doors flung open to reveal the boy in the hall. "Young Skywalker!"
The Grandmaster of the Order beckoned the boy in, and he quickly scampered into the room and over to Obi-Wan's side. Kit turned to them and knelt down to greet the child. Obi-Wan still had his reservations about this. Anakin was raised on Tattooine, did he even know how to swim? Most of Knight Fisto's missions were to aquatic planets!
"H-hello..." Anakins voice was quiet. Reserved and shy, just like the boy himself when meeting new people.
Kit Fisto grinned at the human boy, hoping to ease him. He was clearly fearful of this situation. He could understand the child's fear. This was an abnormal situation and the child was older than most new recruits, yet younger than most padawans by a few years. He knew his first steps would be to take his new Padawan to the Healers Ward and then to test his aptitude in the water.
"Hello, Padawan," he greeted with his smile carefully still placed. "I am Jedi Knight Kit Fisto, I will be training you throughout your padawanship."
The boy seemed cautiously excited and he practically glowed in the force. He reached out to take Kit's extended hand, only to recoil and look over to Padawan Kenobi- Knight Kenobi? He remembered rumors that he was about to go through his trials, yet had no clue if he had taken them yet or not.
Kenobi smiled sadly, nodding to the boy. "Go ahead, Anakin," the older human urged. "He is going to be responsible for you now."
With the assurance that Anakin was allowed to, he took Kit's hand. Kit lead him from the room, only hesitating in case Yoda hadn't meant to dismiss them yet. When no interruption came, he walked the boy to the Healers Ward, answering questions and talking throughout the walk to keep the child relaxed. He explained what areas of the temple they were passing, pointed out different Jedi, and answered some of his questions about himself.
The boy had never met an Aquatic Species before, had apparently grown up on Tattooine. Kit did notice that the boy had issues with the word "Master". Kit would have to work on that.
Soon, Healer Che was looking over the boy. She paused and motioned for him when she saw something. Frowning, Kit approached and paused at the scar at the base of his neck. It looked years old. How had he gotten it? Anakin couldn't be older than ten!
"It's where my chip is," Anakin explained hesitantly. Chip?
"Chip?" Healer Che voiced his thoughts.
"My slave chip," Kit took a deep breath and released his rage at the words into the force. He had to remain calm despite this unaccounted for variable. "Ya know, the one that'll blow me up if I try to run away."
"You-you were a slave?" he asked. The small boy hummed in response.
"Were?" he asked a moment later. "Then why was there that auction?" Kit closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. In. Out. In. Out. No, no,no, do not picture killing Qui-Gon Jinn, he's already dead.
"You're free, Anakin," he explained softly. "You are free. You are no longer a slave. That was an aptitude test of force sensitivity, not an auction," Kit promised. "I...the term Master here is similar to the term Elder in other cultures. It does not refer to a slaver, but rather the fact that we have mastered The Jedi Way."
Anakin looked pensive, considering his words.
"Thank you, Anakin. We will return in a moment, I require a word with your Ma- teacher," Healer Che interupted, swiftly dodged the word 'Master' and placed a hand on Kit's shoulder, leading him to the opposite end of the room. She then lowered her voice, speaking quietly. "I can remove the chip," she began, "but it will be a dangerous surgery, especially for a child this young."
"How is it especially dangerous for his age?" Kit whispered back, taking the forms she handed him so he could sign off for his new Padawan to have his surgery.
"If he was born into slavery, which I suspect he was, then it's shocking he survived the implantation. It's nearly unprecedented for infants to survive, yet to survive and remain healthy is..."
Kit didn't ask for her to finish. He understood. It was likely the force that had sustained Anakin when he had his slave chip implanted into him. "You will have to remain within the room. Normally you would have to leave, yet this time I need you soothing him and keeping him calm. As much as I would like to have him sleep throughout the surgery, it is always better for former slaves to be conscious when having their chips removed, and to see the chip after as reassurance."
Kit handed her the signed forms and agreed.
It seemed that truly beginning his new Padawan's training would have to wait. After all, now that he was aware of the boy's history, he would have to figure out a replacement title for "Master". If Anakin's issues with saying the word came from being a slave, he would not force him to call his caretaker that. Nautila required pheromones, which Anakin did not have the biology to control or smell, so that was not an option.
Perhaps he could request for the council to allow Anakin to refer to them as Elders instead, and rather than Master, Kit could just be Kit to his new padawan? Yes, yes, that would work.
And so Kit remained in the room, thinking of how he would begin Anakin's training and the soonest he would be able to get a meeting with the council, all whilst Keeping Anakin calm throughout the procedure.
He would make this work.
His new padawan wouldn't go through hardships that were not age appropriate again. Kit would make sure of this.