Day of Thanks

Jedi Goat

Disclaimer - I don't own Star Wars or Jedi Quest.

Author's Note - This is a special treat I wrote for Canadian Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving!

19/12/09 - Minor edit. Enjoy :)

Anakin Skywalker woke up early with a big grin on his face. Today was his first Thanksgiving as a Jedi Padawan.

Anakin leaped out of bed and rushed around to do his chores with more zeal than ever. Thanksgiving had always been a grand affair back when he had been a slave on Tatooine. All the slaves would get together for a meal to celebrate the small amount of things they had. Each person would have to bring something to the supper; Anakin remembered with some nostalgia how he and his mother had always baked the most delicious brownies.

Anakin recalled the sweet, chocolaty taste in his mouth as he approached his Master's bedroom door. He knocked loudly.

"Master! Wake up!"

There was no answer. Anakin pounded on the door harder. Getting annoyed, Anakin pushed open the door and stepped inside. The chamber was empty.

Oh, that's right, Anakin finally remembered, Master likes to go to the meditation gardens in the morning.

With a sigh, the Padawan went into the living room and sat down on the couch. He gazed up at the chrono on the wall, itching to do something. He didn't know what the Jedi did on Thanksgiving; however, Anakin hoped that he could invite his best friends Tru and Darra over to his apartment and they could spend the day together. He longed to tell his friends all about his Thanksgivings spent on Tatooine. He was sure they would enjoy hearing the stories.

Suddenly Anakin sat bolt upright. He had a great idea; he could make the special brownies to share with his friends!

Skipping into the kitchen, Anakin began to pull out the ingredients he would need and stack them on the counter. Finally, he stepped back to make sure he had everything: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, nuts and an Aero bar (Anakin couldn't find the proper Baker's Chocolate in the pantry, but then again his Master wasn't that much of a cook and probably didn't know it existed).

Smiling, Anakin looked up at the ceiling. I'm making our brownies, Mom!

Anakin pulled a pan out from one of the cupboards and placed the unwrapped chocolate in it. He set the pan on the stove and then set the stove on 'high' to melt the chocolate. Then, he mixed the sugar and butter in a bowl. He cracked the eggs on the counter and winced as some of the liquid seeped into his robe. Anakin dumped the eggs' insides into the bowl and rolled up his sleeves.

Next, Anakin checked on the chocolate. It was definitely gooey. Flicking off the stove, Anakin dipped a finger in the chocolate.

"Ow!" Anakin yelped, the heat scorching his finger. He stuck his finger in his mouth and left the chocolate to cool down.

While waiting for the chocolate, Anakin added the other ingredients into the batter. Then he turned to stare at the pan on the stove, wondering if it was okay to touch.

Abruptly, he got an idea. Anakin raised one hand and concentrated on the Force. Slowly, the pan lifted from the stove and drifted toward the bowl. Anakin grinned; if only his Master could see this!

Just as that distracting thought broke into his mind, Anakin lost his concentration and the pan fell with a clatter to the floor.

Anakin groaned, seeing the brown goo all over the kitchen floor. He cautiously picked up the pan. It was nearly empty. With a sigh, Anakin fetched a wet cloth and scrubbed at the mess on the floor.

Once the floor sparkled, Anakin found another chocolate bar (this time Oh Henry) and restarted the process. This time he waited five minutes for the pan to cool, and then he carefully poured the chocolate into the bowl. Setting the pan down, Anakin grinned with relief. He had nearly finished his brownies!

Now Anakin approached the oven. He remembered his mother telling him to set the temperature at 350° for thirty minutes, but after glancing at the chrono Anakin realized that, if his Master returned at the regular time, Obi-Wan would be home in fifteen minutes.

Thinking quickly, Anakin set the oven at the highest possible temperature for fifteen minutes. There, he thought, sticking the brownies in the oven and sitting back in a chair, done.

Fifteen minutes passed quickly. Anakin spent the time listening to his favorite music in his room. Just as he stopped the CD player to switch CDs, Anakin heard the oven buzz.

"Yes! The brownies are done!" he cried excitedly, racing into the kitchen. He couldn't wait to let everyone taste his new creation.

Anakin yanked the oven door open and stuck his head inside. Immediately he could smell something burning.

"Wait a minute...nothing's wrong with the brownies..." Anakin looked down and yelped in horror. His braid was on fire!

Anakin rushed over to the sink and turned it on, rapidly dousing his Padawan braid in water. After a few minutes, he could no longer smell burnt hair. He looked down mournfully at his short braid. The end was charred black and frayed. I hope no one notices. That would be embarrassing.

At that moment, Anakin heard the door chiming and knew that his Master was home. Marching back to the rebellious oven, Anakin opened the door and cautiously pulled the tray of brownies out. He placed them on the kitchen table and sat down, staring at his creation proudly. Sure, the brownies looked a bit on the dark side, and they looked hard and flat, but Anakin hoped they would taste okay.

Obi-Wan walked into the kitchen, looking tired. "Hello, Padawan," he said, sitting down.

"Brownie?" Anakin offered uncertainly.

Obi-wan smiled and nodded. Anakin jumped up and ran to get two plates from the cupboard. He began cutting out two brownies as his Master continued, "Padawan, I'm afraid the council has given us a mission."

Anakin looked up, shocked. "What?" A mission? Aw, I guess I won't get to hang out with my friends after all.

Anakin took a bite of his brownie and winced. It was as hard as rock.

Obi-Wan chewed his brownie with difficulty before adding, "The council wants us to host their Thanksgiving dinner."

Anakin blinked, absorbing this in shock. "So the council will be coming here?"

Obi-Wan nodded.

Anakin gestured around wildly. "They can't come here! It's a mess!"

Obi-Wan grimaced. "You're going to have to clean up today. I have to cook the main course. The others will bring side dishes."

Why us? Anakin wondered desperately, sinking down in his chair as if loaded down by all the cleaning he had to do.

Suddenly a terrifying thought occurred to him. "Master, is the whole council going to be there?" Oh, no. Not all twelve of them!

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Some of the Masters are away on missions. Master Windu sent out invites to other Jedi instead."

A bubble of hope rose in Anakin's chest. "My friends?"

"Tru, Darra and Ferus will be there with their Masters."

Anakin sunk even lower in his seat. Not Ferus! WHY does that bigheaded idiot have to come!

Obi-Wan got up and searched through the pantry. "I have to go out and get some ingredients. When I come back, I want this house to shine."

"Even my room?" Anakin asked incredulously.

Obi-Wan winced. "I don't think your room is even possible to clean. So, no."

Anakin sighed with relief. "Will do, Master."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Good. I'll be back in an hour and a half."

With that, Anakin's master left. Anakin stood alone in the kitchen, wondering how he was going to get the cleaning done.

He glimpsed the brownies on the table and glared at them. This is all their fault! He chucked the brownies in the garbage.

Anakin decided he'd had enough of the kitchen for the morning, and he stepped into the living room. Housework, here I come, he thought bitterly.

Anakin observed the room. His socks lay everywhere, his homework and favorite holovids were spread out over the couch, and there was a layer of dust over the holovision screen. Anakin gathered up his socks and dumped them inside his room.

There. First step done. Anakin began collecting his homework to put in his room as well. As he worked, he hummed to himself.

Then Anakin had another idea. He dropped his homework and raced into his room. He unplugged his CD player and carried it gently into the living room. There he set it up on the table stacked high with holovids.

As music played in the background, Anakin worked faster and more efficiently. He had almost picked up all his homework when he dropped his pencil and it rolled underneath the couch.

Sighing, Anakin deposited his collection on the table and peered under the couch. Coughing on the dust bunnies, he felt around for the pencil. His hand found something strangely hard. He picked it up and recoiled in disgust. It was an old, moldy sock.

"Eww."

Anakin ran to get a garbage can and then proceeded to remove the items from under the couch. He threw away nearly fifteen socks before he found his pencil. Getting down on his hands and knees once more, he peeked under the couch. There didn't seem to be anything left. Wait…what's that?

Anakin reached far out into the dust bowels of the couch and grabbed what seemed to be an ancient piece of paper. He pulled it out. The sheet was marred with red pen marks. An old math test I failed. Oh well.

Anakin was about to throw away the paper when he noticed that the name on the sheet was not his own. The test clearly read, 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'.

My Master failed a math test! Anakin thought, grinning evilly. He blew off the coat of dust and went to stash the paper in his room. It might come in handy some day.

Next, Anakin took out the vacuum cleaner. After a few minutes detangling himself from the snakelike coils of the vacuum, Anakin began the destruction of the dust bunnies.

Cackling, he vacuumed up every last bit of dust under the couch. Then he raised the vacuum to his face. "Take that, dust bunnies!" he yelled into the vacuum. At that moment, the suction caught his braid.

"Ahhh!" Anakin yelled as the vacuum tugged at his braid. Frantically he shut off the vacuum and rescued his braid from becoming one with the dust bunnies.

After that incident, Anakin didn't want to use the vacuum again, and so he shoved it back into the closet. Instead, Anakin resumed putting away his homework. As soon as all the homework was in his room, Anakin organized the holovids on the shelf under the holovision. Lastly, he wiped the dust off the holovision with his sleeve. Then Anakin stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"Not bad," he commented, "not bad."

Anakin moved on to the bathroom, where he put away everything under the sink. Then he washed the mirror and the counter.

Satisfied that he was nearly done, Anakin reentered the kitchen. He spotted the small table and wondered, How are we going to fit everyone in here?

Shrugging off the question for when his Master returned, Anakin washed and dried all the dishes he had used that morning. Then he rapidly mopped the floor and sat down just as Obi-Wan returned.

Obi-Wan set down the grocery bags and looked around the kitchen. "You've been busy, Padawan."

Anakin grinned, proud of himself. "I cleaned up just like you told me to, Master."

Obi-Wan nodded approvingly. "Good. Now, if you don't mind, I have some turkey to cook."

Obi-Wan pulled a gigantic frozen turkey out of one of the bags. Anakin remembered his question and blurted, "Master, how are we going to fit everyone in here?"

Obi-Wan looked thoughtful. "You could ask down at the cafeteria if you could borrow a table or two."

Anakin brightened. "I'll ask Tru to help me!" He raced out the door to go find his friend.

A few minutes later, Anakin arrived at Tru's apartment. He knocked and Tru's Master, Ry-Gaul, answered almost immediately.

"Is Tru here?" Anakin asked eagerly.

Ry-Gaul shook his head. "Sorry, Anakin. He's baking pumpkin pie with Darra."

Anakin's face fell. Neither of his friends could help him. "Okay. Thanks, I guess."

Anakin shuffled away sadly. Oh, well. I guess I'd better go get the tables for my Master.

He soon found his way to the cafeteria, where he asked the cooks if he could borrow a table for the council's Thanksgiving dinner. The kind cook Anakin spoke to agreed immediately.

Anakin knew that each table could hold six people, but now that he knew he had to carry one, it looked much larger. Gathering his courage, Anakin took a deep breath and grasped the table. He lifted.

"Ugh!" he grunted as he managed to lift his side of the table a few feet in the air. Anakin tried again, this time dragging the table forward. When he set it down, the table landed on his foot.

"Ow! Sith!" Anakin snarled.

"Need some help?" asked a feminine voice. Anakin looked up to see Master Siri Tachi watching him.

He smiled weakly. "Yes, please."

Then Anakin realized, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, that Ferus was also there.

"Padawan, take the chairs," Siri ordered, taking one end of the table. Anakin gritted his teeth and took the other end. Ferus stacked the chairs.

With Siri's help, Anakin was able to carry the table out of the cafeteria and into the hall. "We'll take the turbolift," she said, maneuvering the table in the direction of the turbolift.

Anakin just nodded and allowed Siri to lead the way.

Soon the group arrived at Anakin and Obi-Wan's apartment. Siri and Anakin deposited the table in the kitchen and Ferus set up the chairs.

Obi-Wan watched, wearing an apron that read, 'Kiss the Cook'. "We need another table," he pointed out.

The three Jedi went back downstairs to fetch the second table and set of chairs. As soon as they were finished, Anakin plopped down in a chair, exhausted. Siri and Ferus took over the cooking of the stuffing so that there could be something edible at dinner.

Obi-Wan peered into the oven. "The turkey's not defrosting."

Ferus glanced at the frozen turkey in the oven. "Well, usually you don't wait until the last minute to defrost the turkey."

"Well, usually you're not told about your Thanksgiving dinner party at the last minute," snapped Anakin.

Ferus shrugged but didn't say anything.

A little while later, Siri and Ferus left, leaving Anakin to do homework and Obi-Wan to worry about the turkey for another hour.

As he struggled to concentrate on his history project, Anakin kept glancing up at the chrono in his room. He couldn't wait until he could see his friends. Finally, Anakin decided that there were more important things than doing a report on Alderaan's history. He pulled the math sheet from under his bed and observed it for a moment. According to the date on it, Obi-Wan had done the test when he had been a ten-year-old Youngling. I'm ten, Anakin thought, giggling insanely.

"ANAKIN!" yelled Obi-Wan's voice from the kitchen. Anakin's eyes widened and he stuffed the sheet back under the bed. Oops.

"COME IN HERE!"

Anakin entered the kitchen, wondering what was going on. He stopped in his tracks when his Master ran up to him, looking frantic. "THE OVEN'S ON FIRE!"

"What?" Anakin peered at the oven and could see flames licking through the cracks. "Master, what did you do?"

Obi-Wan ran to get the fire extinguisher. He pointed the extinguisher at the fire.

PSSH!

A foamy substance now covered the oven. Obi-Wan approached the oven cautiously. The fire seemed to be out. He opened the oven and pulled out the scorched turkey.

"I guess we won't be having a turkey then," Obi-Wan sighed.

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Obi-Wan stuffed the turkey in the garbage. "Padawan, go get it."

Anakin obeyed. He opened the door to see, to his delight, Tru and Darra with their Masters Ry-Gaul and Soara Antana.

"Hi Anakin!" Tru exclaimed brightly.

"We brought pie!" added Darra.

The Padawans entered the kitchen. They placed two pumpkin pies wrapped in foil on the table. Anakin had to admit that they looked much better than the brownies he had attempted to bake earlier.

Anakin looked over at his friends. This morning he had wanted to tell them about Thanksgiving as a slave. Now, he had a much stranger tale to tell.

"You'll never guess what happened to me today," he said, grinning.

"We probably won't," Darra said, noting his expression.

Anakin led his friends into his room. They had seen the mess before and sat down nonchalantly on his bed. Anakin decided to start from the very beginning, including the story he wanted to tell.

"This morning…"

What felt like a very short time later, the three giggling friends emerged from Anakin's room. As Anakin stepped outside, he blinked in surprise to see many Jedi milling around his living room.

Siri poked her head out of the kitchen. "Dinner's ready!" she chirped.

Tru grinned. "Let's eat!"

Anakin, Darra and Tru charged into the kitchen and snagged seats at the table. Siri had set up all the food on the table. Anakin smirked when he saw that she was wearing the apron. It looked like his Master had lost his kitchen privilege.

The other Jedi filed in and took their seats. Master Yoda sat at the head of the table and clinked his fork against his glass. "Give thanks we must."

Mace Windu raised his own glass. "On three: one, two, three!"

At three, all the Jedi raised their glasses and shouted out thanks for various things. Anakin called softly, "For Mom and my Master!" Then, grinning mischievously, he added, "For good cooks!"

"For muja candy!" Tru laughed.

"For friendship!" exclaimed Darra. The three Padawans clinked their glasses together, before digging into the Thanksgiving dinner. Minus the turkey.

The End

Please review!