Star Wars_ The Approaching Storm - Alan Dean Foster [38]
Along with watching the crowd for signs of trouble, she also stole occasional glances at her fellow Padawan. A hard one to read, this Anakin Skywalker. Strength boiled within him. Strength, and—other things. Already, she saw that he was far more complicated than anyone else she had trained with at the Temple. That in itself was unusual. Once chosen, a Jedi’s path was straight and uncomplicated. That was not what she perceived within Anakin Skywalker.
“You said you were preoccupied,” she finally said to him. “I sense that it’s an unhappy preoccupation.”
“Do you, now?” She couldn’t decide if he was being sarcastic, or merely agreeable. Behind them, Jedi and guides continued to haggle for mounts. He found himself wishing they would get on with it. He was tired of this place, tired of this assignment. What did it matter if Ansion, or even several dozen allied worlds, seceded from the Republic? Given the current state of galactic governance and of the Senate, with its proven record of corruption and confusion, who could blame them? It might serve as a wake-up call to the rest of the Republic, a warning to clean things up or risk worse to come.
Strong thoughts for a Padawan. He smiled to himself. Obi-Wan was wrong. I do think about the state of things, sometimes, and not just about myself.
“Yes, I do,” Barriss continued. She was not in the least intimidated by him. “With what are you so preoccupied, Anakin Skywalker? Why are you always so pensive?”
He thought about telling her the truth. In the end, he decided to explain only part of it. With a wave of one hand, he took in the travel market, the surrounding streets, the mixed throng of Ansionians and offworlders, and the city beyond.
“Why are we here? Master Obi-Wan has tried to explain it to me, but I’m afraid I’m not very sympathetic to the intricacies of politics. I find them difficult to understand, even irrelevant to life. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always had to be a direct sort of person.” He looked over at her. “Where I grew up, the way I grew up, if you dissipated your energies, idled away your time, you didn’t last long. You want my sincere opinion of this assignment?”
She nodded, watching him.
“It’s a waste of time. A job for jabbering diplomats, not Jedi.”
“I see. And what would you do if you were in charge, Anakin?”
He didn’t hesitate. “I’d round up the leaders of both factions, city and nomad alike, lock them all in the same room, and tell them that if they didn’t make peace within a week, the Republic would send a full task force and assume direct control of local affairs.”
She was nodding slowly, an infuriatingly tranquil expression on her face. “And how would the Commerce Guild respond to that, given its extensive interests in this sector?”
“The Commerce Guild does what is profitable. War with the Republic is not profitable.” He looked convinced. “That much I’ve learned.”
“And if the Ansionian Unity of cities and towns, in consequence of this action of yours, makes good on its threat to join the new secessionist movement, and the other worlds that are allied to Ansion decide to join in—?”
“It wouldn’t make any difference to people’s daily lives. Trade would continue, everyday life on the worlds involved wouldn’t change,” he huffed.
“Are you so certain that you would risk thousands of lives to find out? And what would happen to the Alwari, who disagree with the present path of the Unity? Would not the Commerce Guild and its allies come down hard on them?”
“Well, I’m not sure that …” Under her relentless reasoning, his wall of certainty was beginning to crack.
She looked away from him, returned to studying the lively crowd. “Better, I think, to send a pair of Jedi and their Padawans to try to fix things. Far less threatening than a task force. Also cheaper, a course of action that always pleases the Senate.”
He sighed. “You argue plausibly. But Ansion is such a nowhere world! Even Obi-Wan wonders if it is very important. He’s spoken to me about it several times, as well as about what he thinks is wrong