one on one with newt.

[Spotted.Newt]

As Obi-Wan finished speaking, he watched for Anakin's reaction. He certainly hoped Anakin had processed everything that had been said, or else he might jeopardize the mission. He nodded when Anakin assured him that he would do his best to gather the information. At the last comment, the Jedi allowed himself a small smile despite his concerns. "That would certainly be helpful."
Opening the door, Obi-Wan walked beside Anakin, heading to the ship he would be using. It was unmarked, so that the residents of the planet would not know who Anakin was aligned with. "Anakin," Obi-Wan called as the young Jedi boarded the ship. "Do be careful. And try not to get yourself killed."

[mugwart]

As Anakin turned his back to Obi-Wan, climbing into the ship, he smiled to himself. He was half tempted to
say, 'I'm the Chosen One, remember?' but he decided it was better not to. He turned to look at Obi-Wan, his
smile remaining. "I'll try," he said, sliding on a helmet as he sat down. "But the mission is to liberate the
planet, so I can't make any promises." The ship closed up above him, and he was alone.
His hands began to sweat after just a few moments of being in flight. He could feel that something rested on
that planet that would change his life - but what it was, exactly, was unknown. His heart skipped a few beats,
but he kept his mind on his mission. He was going to liberate the planet at all costs.

[Spotted.Newt]

How comforting.. Obi-Wan thought when Anakin said he couldn't make any promises. The Jedi watched the ship until it disappeared from sight. "May the Force be with you, Anakin."

{mind if we skip to when Anakin is arriving on the planet?}

Riksha sat on the roof of the center tower of the Queen's palace, meditating.
It was the one place she could go where no one could see her; the palace towered over the rest of the city, so no one could possibly see her from the ground. From above, nobody would care to look. And the Queen? She thought that Riksha was in her small bedroom all this time. But no, rather Riksha spent nearly all her free time up here on the roof. It was round in shape, and it much resembled a medieval tower. There was a four foot wall that encircled the top of the tower, creating a sort of roof-top patio that only Riksha had access to. It was the perfect place for her to meditate, without the worry of being caught.
She was deep into the Force when she noticed a slight disturbance. Something new had come to this planet, though not quite unfamiliar. Riksha opened her eyes, and upon looking up she spotted the faint outline of a ship. She would have like to stay and get a better look as it descended, but at that moment she sensed that the Queen was nearing Riksha's room. Quickly, Riksha leapt off the roof, falling some three stories before landing expertly on the balcony that was attached to her room. She busied herself organizing things in her quarters, though everything was already organized. This way, when the Queen entered and told Riksha to go get dinner started Riksha was in her room right where the Queen thought she had been all along.

[mugwart]

Anakin held his breath as he landed the ship. He was no longer dressed in traditional Jedi robes - rather, a
grubby white shirt that was far too big on him. He felt the eyes of a group as he climbed out of the ship,
sliding off his helmet. An older woman, a human, approached him. "A slave, flying like that?" she asked, her
voice trembling. "That is quite strange..." Anakin's heart jumped.
"I used to race," he said, perhaps too quickly. "On my home planet, Tatooine. It is a common sport there. I
learned to fly as a boy." The woman still didn't look convinced, but a group of young slave children seemed
intrigued. Anakin's heart ached for them.
"But your words are so... proper. That isn't how a slave speaks, not usually." Anakin smiled at her. She was
clearly not a slave - probably one of the more wealthy traders from another planet.
"I was brought up by a wealthy master. He taught me English well." He thought of Obi-Wan. When he was a
boy, he tried to speak like him, to speak English more properly than he did on Tatooine. The old woman
nodded at him, smiling with her eyes, and moved on. That's the kind of smile one received when they were
wanted. She would look to purchase him later, he assumed. A slave boy, from the group of children, was
staring up at him. His dark hair fell in curls all over his head, his shining green eyes full of stars and hope.
Anakin smiled at him, and he flushed. His eyes darted to the ship, then back at Anakin. A young woman called,
and all of the children ran to her, including the boy. Anakin's smile faded as the boy was separated from his kin,
a Hutt taking him by the forearm rather harshly. Anakin's heart flared, but he kept himself from approaching
the situation. He had a mission to accomplish. So far, all the information he'd gathered was that the trades were
rather abrupt. Both wealthy and poor gathered to buy slaves to increase their earnings. It was sick, really.
Anakin turned away from the situation, lowering his head as he carefully made his way through the crowd.

After several minutes arguing with the guards, Anakin had not yet managed to convince him to let him inside.
Inside, he knew he would be able to learn much more. "You see, I..." he began, but he was interrupted by a
pretty woman with expensive robes approaching the guards. She smiled at Anakin, which surprised him. She was,
very clearly, the queen. She was ruling a horrible planet, yet she greeted this slave with a smile. Anakin took a
mental note of that.
"What seems to be the problem?" the queen asked. Her voice was strong, but it was like a song. The guards started
muttering, staring at one another, clearly without an idea as to just why Anakin wasn't welcome inside. Anakin
could see what they were thinking: he was slave scum.
"I was just looking for a place to rest my head tonight. You see, I've just landed after an extremely long flight, and
I haven't found a place to stay, yet." Anakin took a moment to let this register with the queen. "I figured here, you
had at least one spare bed." He smiled at her now, hoping his story was convincing enough. When the queen began
to lead him to the sleeping quarters, it rather surprised him. He followed her, glancing around the tall hallway.
"I have a few rooms here," she said softly, pausing. "Riksha!" the queen suddenly called. "Riksha, we have a guest.
Come and welcome him, please." A few seconds later, the door ahead of them slowly opened, and out peered
pretty young girl with curious brown eyes. She said nothing, but she smiled slightly at Anakin. Her long, brown hair
was tied back in a pretty braid, jewels stuck here and there to signify she was that of a wealthy master. Anakin
smiled gently at her. She didn't seem that unhappy. Perhaps the queen was good to those who served her. She was
dressed nicely - a sleeveless shirt with pretty sleeves that matched the shade of his normal robes and bluish-greenish
patterned skirt that came down to her knees. As she neared the pair, Anakin stepped forward, meeting her eyes. He
considered what he would say next for a long moment - if the people here would know his name and recognize him
as a Jedi. This made him a bit anxious, standing here before a person of great importance at loss for words, without
his Master to point him in the right direction. Finally, he figured the queen probably wouldn't know, anyways, so he
was honest. "Anakin Skywalker. Pleased to meet you," he said, dipping his head.

[Spotted.Newt]

Riksha heard her name called- her full, actual first name. This must be important... She usually just calls me Ri... Riksha hurried over to the door of her room, opening it and stepping out into the hall. She was surprised to see that, standing beside the Queen, was a tall yet young man. Who was this? Certainly the Queen had not bought another servant, the market was not for several days yet. Nonetheless, she offered a small smile. That is, until he said his name. Anakin Skywalker.... Anakin Skywalker... The name felt familiar, yet she wasn't quite sure why. Mentally, she cursed the mild form of amnesia that she had. Though it had been two years, there were significant gaps in her memory at times, which was frustrating. She would have to meditate on it later. "Ri, I want you to show him to the spare room at the end of the hall," the Queen said. "Then head to the kitchen. I have important guests coming for dinner." Riksha bowed her head, and the Queen smiled and disappeared. Important guests. It looked like she would be playing entertainer tonight.
Riksha did as the queen instructed, leading this Anakin to the end of the hall. "Here is the room that you may stay in," she told him, opening the door and gesturing at the room. It was small, as were all the rooms in this hall, but it was rather nice. Everything was in the palace, since the Queen was, well, the Queen. And a wealthy one. "I must head down to the kitchen now, or else the bread will burn." With that, she turned quickly to go down and cook.

Later, the Queen brought something new for Anakin to wear. "If you are going to be in my palace, than I can't have you dressed like," she waved her hand at his grubby clothing. "That. I am certain you will find these much more suitable." She handed him a short stack of clothing, which consisted of a dark, forest green shirt and black pants. She waited outside the room, and when he had changed into the new clothing she looked him over. "You know, you really don't look like a slave," she said. Then, her face brightened. "Ah! I know! You are one of those slave traders from the southern part of the planet. Honestly, they really should get some decent clothing down there. Though, I suppose that is difficult, considering the droid factory takes up so much space." Obviously assuming that she had made a correct assumption, she smiled and nodded again, before continuing. "You're not the first to request a room in my palace, and I can only speculate you won't be the last. Perhaps I ought to have a few more houses built down there...." The Queen began muttering stuff about politics and war and other such things and was about to leave when she suddenly asked "Why don't you come to dinner? I am sure my friends would be happy to have someone new to talk to." Not waiting for a reply, the Queen turned and walked briskly back down the hall, her dress swishing around her feet.

[mugwart]

Anakin hardly had a chance to speak to the queen, so he just smiled. He noticed that Riksha hadn't been
given a chance to introduce herself, either. He watched as the queen strode away, his eyebrows creasing.
"A slave trader?" he muttered to himself, sitting back on the bed. "I'd like to think I'm nothing like those
fools." He glanced around the room. It was small, with too much furniture for his taste. There was a couch
pushed up in front of the window where one could sit in the afternoon and watch the sun set. There was a
chair beside it, and in front of both, there was a long table. On the table, two candles and a small basket
full of pretty pink and purple flowers. He turned his head. On each side of the bed, there were nightstands,
each with a tall, lit candle. Each stand had two small drawers, and Anakin found himself itching to look
inside them. He reached forward, opening the top drawer of one of the stands. Inside, there was a small,
black notebook. He pulled it out, flipping to the first page. Someone had scrawled something in it, but he
couldn't read it. He placed the notebook back inside and slid the drawer shut, leaning back into the pillows
stacked behind him.
His eyes scanned the paining on the ceiling. It was a painting of a village - the one below, he assumed - before
it was overrun by slaves and Separatist traders. It was beautifully painted with pinks and reds and oranges in
the sky, the sun glowing golden, the trees a bright, healthy green. There were few people, but they all seemed
happy. A few children playing tag, a mother carrying a child. It was a human planet, once, he could tell.
Suddenly, he sat up. He pulled out the notebook, finding a pen, and scrawled down what he was thinking:
This planet was once beautiful, he wrote. It was a human planet, and most people were assumedly happy.
It was peaceful. It was beautiful. Then, carefully, he tore the paper out and stuffed it deep into the side of his
boot. He tucked the notebook away and sat at the end of the bed.
At the opposite end of the hallway, he saw the girl return. He stared at her as she opened her door, lifting her
head for just long enough to catch his eye. Anakin blinked at her, slightly dropping his head, but he couldn't help
but continue watching her. She moved in a way that was familiar to him - like she was constantly pondering what
was going to happen in the next moment. She moved in a way very similar to a Jedi. But that was impossible, for
a Jedi to reside here. The Separatists would off her in an instant.

[Spotted.Newt]

Upon making it to the kitchen, Riksha joined the other servants in the cooking. It seemed that she and two Togruta girls had been assigned to cook. Based on the amount of food they were preparing, Riksha guessed that the Queen had 6 guests. A decent sized dinner party, that was for sure. Riksha looked at the list of food the Queen wanted prepared, choosing the most complicated dishes to do herself. She preferred to do the more complex dishes, as it was more interesting for her than, say, preparing a pie. It was not long before the food was done, and set on the table. The dining table was long, with eight chairs. Down the middle was a heating strip, so that any food placed on the table stayed warm. The chairs were family carved, as was the edge of the table. Riksha noticed that the table had been set with the emerald studded flatware, and the white plates with the emerald green trim. A simple wine glass also stood at each place, probably the least detailed objects in the entire room.
Riksha went upstairs, to her room. She knew the Queen well enough by now that she didn't need to be told to put the emerald hairpiece on. The Queen liked everything to match, and since the spoons had emeralds in the handles, Riksha knew that this was an emerald night.
As she opened the door to enter her quarters, Riksha glanced up suddenly. She caught the eye of Anakin, though quickly looked back down. She had heard some of the conversation the Queen had with him, enough to know he was not a slave but a Southern Hemisphere trader. He was probably the third to request a night in the palace in the past month, if she recalled correctly. Riksha could sense that he was watching her, but ignored it as she entered her room and prepared for the dinner party.

At around 8:00, the guests had arrived and were sitting around the table. The Queen sat at the head of the table, and she insisted that Anakin sit at the opposite end, since he was a guest at the palace for the night. After a bit of chatter, the Queen stood and welcomed everyone to the palace. She gave a short welcoming speech, which was met with approving applause.
"So, rumor has it that you have a very... Unique servant," one of the guests said to the Queen, who had a very proud look on her face as he said that. "Indeed I do, Liam." Then, the Queen called for Riksha, who entered the dining hall and gave a quick bow to the guests. "Ri, please pour the wine," the Queen instructed. Riksha stood beside the Queen, and looked to the bottle of wine that sat elegantly towards the center of the table. She drew a breath, then lifted her hand. The wine bottle rose off the table, and floated towards the first guest. It tilted, filling exactly 7/8 of the glass with wine. Then the bottle lifted again, moving to the next glass and the next, all the while the guests murmured in awe. At the fourth guest (Anakin) Riksha hesitated momentarily. She could sense that he was.... Different than the other traders that had come to dinner. Recovering quickly from this moment of thought (and disregarding it as nothing, deciding she was imagining things), Riksha filled his glass and moved on to the next, hoping that she had not hesitated long enough for anyone to notice. Soon, all the glasses were full, and the bottle went back to its original place. The Queen basked joyfully in the awe and envy of her guests, absorbing their praises as they talked about what a special servant the Queen had. "You are dismissed, Ri. Be back down here in exactly two hours." Giving a quick bow, Riksha left the dining hall and headed up to her room.
Once there, she quickly shut the door and walked out to the balcony. It was dark out, which would make her meditation and practice session that much safer. Glancing around briefly at the town below, Riksha Force-leapt three stories up, landing nearly silently on the roof. She decided she was in no mood to meditate, so instead she picked up the fake lightsaber she had stashed up here, in a vase. Walking to the center of the roof, Riksha closed her eyes, and held up the lightsaber. It was really just the hilt of a lightsaber, containing no crystal and thus producing no blade. But in her mind's eye, there was a blade, and it shone brightly. Eyes still closed, Riksha began to duel with an invisible partner. She always practiced with her eyes closed like this, and it was as if she were in a dream-like state. Though no one was actually on the roof fighting her, she could clearly see her opponent in her mind. And so they dueled.

[mugwart]

Anakin watched Riksha with wide eyes. Red flags were going up in his mind. A Jedi? he thought. But that
was impossible... wasn't it? The Jedi sent a year prior had died. No Jedi had dared to go back. For the
next several minutes, Anakin listened absentmindedly, taking small bites of the high class food set in front
of him, trying not to slouch as his mind wandered. Then, he sat up. "Excuse me," he said softly when a
moment of silence came about. "Sorry, but may I be excused?" The guests stared at him, but the queen
nodded with a small smile. He slid his chair back, dropping his napkin on the table, and made his way to
find a way to get outside.
After a couple minutes of searching for a door, moving slowly as he thought, Anakin found a set of doors that
led out onto a balcony. Quietly and carefully, he pushed one door open. He never understood why doors in
palaces were so... huge. No one was that tall - was it really necessary? He closed it behind him, turning
around to make sure the latch didn't make an abrupt, loud noise. As he turned, movement above him caught
his eye.
His heart skipped a beat. In Riksha's hand was what appeared to be a sheathed lightsaber. Her eyes were
closed as she fought an invisible enemy. A Jedi, Anakin thought. But how? He leaned forward onto his elbows,
watching her for a long time until her duel was done. Then, Anakin cleared his throat. "That was a pretty
intense match," he called gently, smiling slightly up at her.

[Spotted.Newt]

Riksha fought in her mind's duel for about an hour. She swung the lightsaber, dodged, ducked, lunged, jumped. Anyone might have thought she was locked in real battle, had it not been for the fact that there was no physical being standing there fighting with her. She was lost deep within the duel, her mind focused on only one thing. This was one of the most intense duels she had fought in a while, but it was good for her to practice this way. Once or twice, she nearly fell over the edge of the roof. Thank goodness for the wall that encircled it. Finally, the duel was done. There had been no winner, but as Riksha opened her eyes the enemy faded, and so there was no need for someone to win. Besides, since she controlled the other character, she felt that if she won it would almost be a form of cheating. She was breathing heavily by the time she ended the duel and opened her eyes, but she smiled when she had finished.
Until she heard a voice.
Spinning around, Riksha scanned the area for the source of the voice. She spotted someone standing on one of the balconies. It was the southern trader. Riksha's throat went dry. He had seen everything, or at least enough. She didn't know how long he had been watching, but he had caught her up on the roof, practicing Jedi moves with a fake lightsaber. She quickly moved away from the wall, disappearing from his range of view. No. This couldn't be happening. Someone had seen her, a trader no less. Would he tell the Queen? It was likely, many traders just loved to get their friends' servants in trouble.
Crouching, she tucked the lightsaber back into a vase, covering it with a blanket. She had a collection of vases up here, which she levitated during meditation often times. But now, hopefully they were a good place to hide a fake lightsaber. But what about herself? She couldn't jump back down to her own balcony, because the trader would see her do it. It looked like she was stuck up here for a while. Perhaps he would think he had imagined seeing her training up here.

[mugwart]

Anakin's smile faded as Riksha backed away so that she was out of sight. It was far too soon for him to
tell anyone he was a Jedi - especially a slave that seemed to be awfully loyal to her master. He cleared
his throat again, his eyebrows creasing.
"Your secret is safe with me," he called, just loudly enough that he knew she could year it. He fought a
great temptation to jump up after her. Then, he realized, that's the only way anyone could get up there.
They would have to jump. He stood up a little straighter. "You have my word," he added, trying to sound
more confident than he really was.
After a moment, she still hadn't replied. Anakin's approach to the situation was likely too straightforward.
Still, he was intrigued by her. "Don't you ever speak?" he called, trying to lighten the air around them. He
leaned forward on one elbow, resting his chin on his balled fist. He waited patiently for a reply.

[ i'm sorry this is so short. i just woke up. >///< ]