Let me clean this cut."

The young Padawan girl rolled up the blonde boy's sleeve carefully, her dark brown eyes fixated on the small cut on Anakin's forearm. The boy suffered the small wound earlier today while he was working on his Podracer, which seemed to be running and in excellent condition.

She was incredibly happy that his creation seemed to be working perfectly, and she was a bit ecstatic that Ani finally showed her his Podracer, which he did promise to show her a little while ago.

As she used some clean cloth to clean Anakin's cut, the young boy tilted his head and looked up at the infinite number of stars shining in the Tatooine sky at night. He had a small smile on his face as his bright blue eyes took in the marvelous view that could only be seen at night, and took a moment to attempt to speak to the young girl.

"There are so many!" Layna glanced up at the boy for a second, brown eyes meeting blue once again. She stopped rubbing the cloth on his wound for a little while, looking up at the velvet sea of stars shining above them. "Do they all have a system of planets?"

Anakin hasn't been on any other planets other than this desert, and Layna understood his curiosity very well. She had the same thoughts around two years ago, whenever she looked up at the Corellian sky at night. She had always wondered what it was like out there, outside Corellia, outside the world she grew up knowing. She would always find herself looking up at the stars, dreaming of the time when she would finally leave Corellia and explore the various star systems out there.

Layna knew that ever since she was a tiny child, that she wanted a chance to explore the galaxy and cross out as many of those systems as possible from her list. She always has been such an adventurous girl, craving new adventures like this one every now and then.

"Most of them," she replied, looking back down at Anakin's wound, cleaning it off once more. She then began to use disinfectant on it, hearing the boy wince a little bit due to the stinging pain but it soon faded away as he began to ask another question.

"Has anyone been to 'em all?"

A chuckle sounded from the girl's lips, as a huge grin broke out onto her face, causing the boy to pull his attention away from the stars and onto the beautiful creature sitting in front of him instead. "Probably not," she answered, crinkles appearing right by her eyes as she gave him a rather genuine smile. "Okay, I seriously don't think anyone's been to all of the star systems. There's like more than a thousand of them out there!"

Anakin was sporting a huge grin on his face as he announced, "I wanna be the first one to see them all!"

Layna felt warmth seep into her chest as another laugh escaped her lips, her chocolate brown eyes twinkling as she took a small bandage to place on the boy's wound. "If you plan to do so, please take me along. I do love a great adventure."

"I wouldn't go without you," he admitted, and the brunette raised her dark eyebrow at the smiling boy who tapped his fingers on his thigh. "It wouldn't be any fun if you didn't come with me anyways."

Layna was touched when she heard her friend utter those words, and her huge smile grew even more to the point that her cheeks started to hurt. "Adventures are more fun when you're with someone you're close with," the Padawan nodded, recalling the thrill she got whenever she had adventures with Master Sola. Anakin nodded in agreement, opening his mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of his mother calling his name. "Ani, bed time!"

Layna then plastered the bandage onto Anakin's arm, placing the bload-soaked piece of cloth to the side. Her gaze wandered to the boy's face, which was pretty close to hers this very moment. She slowly leaned away, her cheeks turning a bright pink due to their close proximity and cleared her throat. "You should get to bed, you wouldn't want your mother to get mad."

"Ani! I'm not gonna tell you again!"

A sigh left Anakin's lips as he pushed himself off of the balcony they were sitting on, walking back inside his home to retire for the night. When he was almost inside, Layna called out to him with a smile, "Sleep well, Ani."

Anakin peered over his shoulder and returned the young girl's smile. "You too, Layna." The boy disappeared into his home a second later, leaving the young girl alone under the velvet sea of stars.

Once she was sure that Anakin wasn't going to come back outside, she turned her head to the side where she could feel a familiar presence and her fingers found the small piece of cloth she had kept for safekeeping. "Master."

Qui-Gon emerged from the house this time, quickly approaching the girl seated on the balcony. He said nothing as he pulled out a comlink chip, as the Padawan handed him the piece of cloth she used to clean Anakin's wound.

With her eyebrows meeting mainly due to confusion, she watched her Master scrape some of the blood that hasn't dried onto the comlink chip. "I still don't understand why you made me scrape off some of Anakin's blood, Master. What are you going to use it for?"

"I'm going to check his midi-chlorian count, my dear," Layna's eyes widened in surprise, her mouth slightly agape as she tried to process what her Master was trying to tell her. She knew exactly what it meant to check one's midi-chlorian count, she had hers checked two years ago and found out that she had 16,000 - that was already pretty high considering Master Yoda had 17,000.

"Do you mean to say that you think Ani could become a Jedi?" She could not contain her joy upon realizing this, as her friend could become what she wants to be as well. If it all works out, Ani could become a Padawan and they could even train together sometime, and they could see each other outside of Tatooine. And Anakin could finally see what it's like outside of this planet, just like he dreamed of.

Qui-Gon nodded in response to the girl's question, pressing a button on the comlink to check in with his Padawan from the spacecraft. "Obi-Wan," he said into the comlink.

Obi-Wan quickly answered to his Master call, and Layna scooted a little closer to where Master Qui-Gon stood. She swung her legs back and forth, hearing Obi-Wan's voice through the comlink after a moment. "Yes, Master?"

She found herself missing the sound of Obi-Wan's voice. It has only been an entire day since they parted ways, but she still did miss him. It felt this way when Obi-Wan left with Master Qui-Gon a few days after she was presented to the Jedi Council, she considered them her brother and her father figure respectively, they were the closest thing she had to a family and they were all she had left.

"I need an analysis of this blood sample I'm sending you," Qui-Gon sat down beside the young girl, and she scooted even closer to her Master now that he was seated beside her. "Wait a minute."

"I need a midi-chlorian count," Master Qui-Gon waited for the results of the analysis, with Layna looking at the comlink in anticipation. She could hear a few beeping sounds from Obi-Wan's side, before he finally spoke once more.

"The reading's off the chart, over 20,000." Layna's eyes soon widened in shock, as Anakin's blood has over 20,000 midi-chlorians, which meant that he had more than the strongest Jedi in the Council. In fact, Master Yoda had the highest midi-chlorian count before Anakin came along.

"Master Yoda doesn't even have a count that high," she murmured, her eyes finding her Master's. She tried to decipher what her Master might have been thinking, but he definitely did not show any sign or not even a hint of what he was thinking or feeling.

"No Jedi has." Layna sensed someone else's presence, and her head whipped towards the entrance to Anakin's home. Her dark brown eyes locked with those of Shmi, and she sent the woman a small smile, knowing she heard her conversation with her Master and Obi-Wan just now.

"What does that mean?"

Qui-Gon breathed out a sigh, his light blue eyes locking with Shmi's this time as well, his expression unreadable. "I don't know."

+

"Are you nervous?" Layna asked, leaning in to talk to the boy seated in front of her. Anakin glanced over behind him for a second, their eyes meeting as he did.

"I am, kind of. I usually am," the blonde boy admitted, his fingers tightening on the reins of the Eopie. "But I think I'll be okay today, I need to win this for you guys after all."

Layna shook her head, although the boy wasn't looking at her to see her gesture. "It's okay if you don't win it, Ani. I believe in you, I truly do, but I don't want you getting hurt."

The Eopie slowed down as soon as they reach their destination, and the blonde boy turned to shoot the younger girl a reassuring smile. His bright blue eyes lit up when his gaze met Layna's, who was looking at him with concern written on her face. "I'm not gonna get hurt, trust me. I know what I'm doing, I'm gonna win it for you!"

Layna didn't know just how he managed to do it, but his words calmed her down and settled her nerves. She was still worried, of course, she didn't want her friend getting hurt for their sake. But she did truly trust Ani, and she had to believe that the Force was going to protect Anakin during the race. "I trust you," she told him, just as the Eopie sat down so that the passengers on its back could get off.

Watto flew to where the Eopies sat down, with its passengers still seated on their backs. He was laughing, telling Anakin something in Huttese. He then laughed as soon as he said it, flying away from the group without waiting for a reply.

Qui-Gon made his way to the group, and Anakin furrowed his brows in confusion. "What did he mean by that?" Anakin directed his question to the Jedi, who walked over to Shmi who was seated on the other Eopie along with Padmé.

"I'll tell you later," he helped the woman off the Eopie, sending her a smile. "Good morning."

Anakin hopped off the Eopie, with Layna following close behind. She heard the young boy breath out a sigh, mumbling under his breath. "I hope I get to finish this race," she heard him say, and the young Padawan folded her arms across her chest upon hearing those words.

"Wait, you've never finished a race?" Layna voiced out in disblief, with Anakin turning to her with a sheepish smile on his face. He scratched his head awkwardly, as Layna shook her head slowly. She truly did trust the boy, but that was beginning to falter now that she knows that he's never finished a race, let alone win one.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, taking deep breaths to avoid lashing out at the young boy just as Qui-Gon approached the young Skywalker. He placed his hand on top of his head, ruffling his hair with a smile. "I think you'll do just fine, I believe you can win this one."

The handmaiden and the Padawan exchanged concerned looks, fully aware what the other was thinking. Layna crossed her fingers behind her back, silently praying that Anakin would be able to finish and win this race, for them.

+

Layna let out a loud scream as she jumped onto her Master, wrapping her arms around him as a joyous laugh escaped her. Screams and cheers filled the air as they all reacted to the young boy's win on this race, seeing as it was the first time a human had ever won a race. "I knew he could do it Master!"

"I believed he would, the Force was with him, after all," Qui-Gon patted the girl's head as she hopped off him, racing towards the victorious boy being carried on the spectator's shoulders. Anakin was laughing the entire time, his heart leaping as the fact that he had won his first ever podrace had registered into his mind.

Hundreds of voices chanting his name all around made the boy ecstatic, and he raised his hands up in the air as a celebratory gesture. His mother, Qui-Gon, Jar Jar, Padmé and Layna rushed towards him, huge smiles present on all of their faces as they stared up at the winner of the podrace, their Ani.

"Mom, I did it!" He yelled, and Shmi nodded, tears filling her eyes as she stared up at her victorious little boy, the young boy she almost stopped from accomplishing such a huge feat for a human boy his age.

+

Back in the Main Hangar, almost every other racer had left with the exception of the winner and his group. The Gungan lifted the small boy into his arms, joyfully yelling out, "Great job, Ani!

Jar Jar then set the grinning boy down, just as Padmé walked over to the smaller boy and kneeled so that she could embrace the young boy. She wrapped her arms around the nine year old, her eyes closing as she knew that his win meant getting those parts, which meant that this might be the last time they were going to see the boy. "We owe you everything, Ani."

Padmé then pulled away from the boy, allowing Layna to then tackle him, wrapping her arms around the boy's shoulders. "Oof," Anakin let out a small sound, a chuckle sounding from his lips as he rested his head on the girl's shoulder.

"You did it, Ani!" She exclaimed, feeling Anakin's arms around her waist as they hugged one another, each child exuding happiness from the huge grins on their faces. Padmé stifled another laugh, as she covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to stop the giggles from spilling out.

"I told you I could do it," Anakin whispered lowly, and the girl's smile widened even further when she heard those words escape the blonde boy's lips. She was the first to pull away from the hug, pinching the boy's cheek as she did so.

"I believed in you, Ani. I'm so proud of you," Layna took a few steps back, her smile never fading as Anakin gets pulled into an embrace by his mother, who then placed a big kiss onto the boy's cheek. Layna certainly did not miss the pink tint spreading across the boy's cheek when his mother kissed him, and neither did Padmé. The two girls exchanged looks and ended up giggling, covering their mouths to hide their laughter.

"It's so wonderful Ani," Shmi grinned at her son, looking straight into his pools of blue for eyes. She gripped his shoulders as she stared into her son's eyes, a proud smile spread on her face. "You have brought hope to those who have none. I'm so very proud of you."

Shmi gave Ani another kiss, which caused the small boy to flush even further, smiling down at his mother. "Aww."

Layna glanced up, her eyes locking with her Master's. He had a faint smile plastered on his face, his light blue eyes showing absolutely nothing of what he was feeling or thinking. He just gave the young girl a nod, to which Layna responded with a smile, blissfully unaware of the trouble brewing on another side of the planet.

+++