by Ian Doescher
ANAKIN
I shall away to him to hear his words,
And shall report to you what he doth will.
OBI-WAN
Behold, he comes, and I shall hence away.
I put my faith in thee, brave Anakin.
[Exit Obi-Wan.
Enter CHANCELLOR PALPATINE.
PALPATINE
My friend, dear Anakin, I’d speak with thee.
Indeed, into thy confidence I come,
And hope thou shalt have cause to trust me, yea?
ANAKIN
My noble sir, you have my trust complete.
PALPATINE
The Chancellor doth need thine help, my son.
ANAKIN
What is’t you mean? How may I be of use?
PALPATINE
My future doth depend upon you, lad.
ANAKIN
So have you said, yet what the matter is
To me is yet unknown. Shall you reveal
The thing?—for still I do not understand.
PALPATINE
I would that thou becomest eyes and ears
And voice for our Republic, Anakin.
I hereby do appoint thee as mine own
Sole representative unto the Council.
ANAKIN
You would make me a Master? Can it be?
This honor that you proffer doth o’erwhelm.
The Council, though, its members do elect,
And shall accept appointment from no one,
Not even your esteem’d and noble self.
PALPATINE
I think they shall accept, for they need thee.
Indeed, thy pow’r is precious unto them:
Not for a billion credits would they see
Thee make departure from their merry band.
Shalt thou accept?
ANAKIN
—Where you lead, I shall serve.
[Exit Palpatine.
Enter YODA, MACE WINDU, KI-ADI-MUNDI other MEMBERS OF THE JEDI COUNCIL, and OBI-WAN KENOBI.
YODA
Dear, young Anakin,
The Council hath learn’d about
The chancellor’s choice.
Allow it we shall—
Palpatine’s strange appointment—
Yet not without pause.
Most disturbing ’tis
This move by the chancellor:
Unconventional.
ANAKIN
I understand, good Master Yoda, and
In part agree; his wish astonish’d me.
MACE
We do elect thee to the Council, yea,
But grant thee not the rank of Master yet,
For Palpatine—he the negotiator—
Shall not permitted be to force our hand.
ANAKIN
What did you say? How can this be?—say how!
’Tis monstrous and it hath no precedent.
You act not fairly—when has there e’er been
A Jedi on the Council who had not
The rank of Master yet achiev’d? ’Twas ne’er!
Such madness never was conceiv’d before.
MACE
We have done what was ask’d; seek not for extras.
Pray, sit thou down ere thou regret’st thy words.
ANAKIN
Forgive me, Master; I myself forgot.
OBI-WAN
[aside:] The youth’s reaction tells a tale entire:
He seeketh power, not the Council’s will.
KI-ADI
All the Republic’s systems, near and far,
Have been survey’d, but neither hide nor hair
Of Gen’ral Grievous hath discover’d been.
YODA
In the Outer Rim
Hideth General Grievous:
Sweep systems far-off.
OBI-WAN
The ships we have to spare are few enough.
KI-ADI
What of the Wookiees, by the droids attack’d?
What shall we do, this new threat to address?
MACE
’Tis critical we send a swift attack
Group, there to aid the Wookiees in their homes
Amidst the trees—lounge ’round and let them die
We certainly may not. ’Tis not our way.
OBI-WAN
Wise Master Windu speaketh sensibly:
Their system is too valuable to lose.
YODA
Go thither I shall,
For in the Wookiees’ graces
Good I do reside.
MACE
’Tis settl’d. Master Yoda shall a clone
Battalion take withal, unto the home
Of th’brave and kindly Wookiees on Kashyyyk.
The Force be ever with us all, my friends.
[Exeunt all except Obi-Wan and Anakin.
ANAKIN
I prithee, Master, what’s this gibberish?
To place me on the Jedi Council yet
Deny me rank of Master! Wherefore, eh?
Ne’er in the long and gallant history
Of Jedi Knights hath such as this been done.
It more than disappoints: it gives offense.
Methinks ’twould better for me be, mayhap,
If I did tell my sorrows to the stones,
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
Yet in some sort are better than the Council,
For that they will not intercept my tale:
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet
Receive my tears and seem to weep with me;
And, were they but attirèd in grave weeds,
Coruscant could afford none like to these.
A stone is soft as wax, the Jedi harder,
A stone is silent and offendeth not,
Whilst Jedi by decrees doom me to shame.
OBI-WAN
O, Anakin, calm thy most anguish’d mind.
In truth, thou hast an honor vast been giv’n:
Mayhap ’tis true none e’er were on the Council
Lest they were also as a Master rank’d,
Yet it is true as well the Council ne’er
Hath let a one so young as thee be on’t.
This hath no precedent in either case.
Thou, Anakin, art far too close unto
The cunning chancellor. The Council doth
Reject his bold attempts to interfere
In Jedi matters. Hast thou eyes to see?
ANAKIN
Sir, by my troth, I never ask’d to be
Upon the Council.
OBI-WAN
—Yet ’twas thy desire.
Thy friendship with the chancellor hath brought
Thee dividends.
ANAKIN
—’Tis not the matter here.
OBI-WAN
Nay, nay, for truly ’tis the matter whole;
The Council hath accepted Palpatine’s
Appointment for one reason, one alone:
The chancellor doth place his trust in thee.
ANAKIN
What seed’s therein that bears the Council fruit?
OBI-WAN
Brave Anakin, I’d help thee as I may:
Thine interests are ever in mine heart.
I would not place thee in this grave position.
ANAKIN
And what, good sir, is this position, eh?
OBI-WAN
The Council wills that thou dost bring report
O’er all the dealings of the chancellor.
They would be of his movements well-inform’d.
ANAKIN
I am to prove a turncoat and become
A spy unto my friend the chancellor?
Such action’s treason.
OBI-WAN
—We are men at war.
’Tis treason none to make a sure defense.
ANAKIN
Yet wherefore did the Council not assign
This task to me whilst in our session now?
I
f they desire it, why hide mine employment?
OBI-WAN
This bold assignment hath no record, see?
’Tis not official, ’tis but for thine ears.
ANAKIN
The chancellor of evil is not made—
Can you not see his kindness, Obi-Wan?
He hath befriended me, and giv’n his aid
E’er since I did arrive on Coruscant.
OBI-WAN
Thou art assur’d of his good will, ’tis true,
And that is wherefore thou must help us, too.
Allegiance to the Senate we do owe,
Not to its leader, who hath office held
Far past the expiration of his term.
ANAKIN
The Senate hath commanded him to stay.
OBI-WAN
Aye, yet allow thy feelings to inform
Thy judgment here: there’s something out of place.
ANAKIN
You’d have me act against the Jedi code,
Against Republic, mentor, and my friend:
’Tis this is out of place. Why ask me this?
OBI-WAN
The Council asketh, Anakin. Not I.
Now, get thee hence, and we shall meet again.
[Exit Anakin.
How do you reach a friend whose spirit fails?
How sing of hope when hopelessness abounds?
How steer them from a course of recklessness?
How pull them back when they would fly the edge?
My friend, mine own young Anakin, is such:
The galaxy is at his fingertips,
Yet he doth brood with anger quick and sore
As I have never witness’d in a man.
I fear he doth begin to lost the spark
I first did see in him on Tatooine.
That light, as if illumin’d by the gods,
Did shine in him an ’twere a star entire
Did rest within the center of his heart.
Now, though, the man is chang’d, as ice to steam,
Full of that hot, intemp’rate blustering
Singeing all those who wander by too near.
So swiftly doth he fly into a rage,
So fierce his ev’ry mood, and quick to change,
Such anger, which I fear shall turn to hate
When ordinary disappointments come,
Which e’er befall a normal human life.
How can I veer him off this wayward path?
Whatever in my power I may do,
I shall: to keep this Anakin from darkness.
Enter YODA and MACE WINDU.
YODA
Well met, Obi-Wan.
Have you unto Anakin
Our wishes relay’d?
OBI-WAN
Indeed, wise Master Yoda. I confess:
He did not take this new employment with
The graciousness of spirit I had hop’d.
Indeed, his quick reaction was what I
Did fear: too suddenly he took offense.
MACE
’Tis said that no good deed unpunish’d is:
We place him on the Council, and he groans.
’Tis dangerous to put the two of them
Together, Anakin and Palpatine.
Methinks the lad unready is for this.
I trust him not, though how I wish I did.
OBI-WAN
Respectfully, my Master Windu, is
He not the chosen one for whom we’ve search’d?
Shall he not bring a balance to the Force,
And peradventure all the Sith destroy?
MACE
The prophecy doth say so, by my soul:
Men have for ages wish’d it to be so.
YODA
Yet this prophecy
Misunderstood may have been.
Uncertain all is.
OBI-WAN
I’ll warrant Anakin shall serve us well—
He e’er hath done me right, and ever shall.
YODA
Mine hope with yours lies:
If but my wishes were true,
Thus I’d see him do.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 3.
On the planet Coruscant.
Enter PADMÉ.
PADMÉ
The babe within me must know better days
Than I have seen in our vast galaxy.
This life hath far too much of strife and war,
Of grief and sadness, woes and discontent.
The purpose of each generation new
Is to create a better world for those
Who shall come later and depend on us.
My parents strove to better mine own life;
My burthen is to give their gift again
Unto the child who grows within my womb.
But shall it be? I wonder, fear, and doubt:
Mine husband is unsettl’d and our love
Is something hidden and forbidden, too.
The galaxy is rife with violence,
Torn by corruption, fear, and base desires.
How shall we two bring forth a babe in this,
Raise up a newborn midst this sharp discord?
How may I work for peace when all is war,
When ev’ry herald of our troubl’d time
Screams out with voice of terror and dismay?
I’ve not the inner strength to overcome
A galaxy that swiftly falls apart;
Mayhap I have enow, though, to protect
My child from knowing all the pain I’ve known.
May it be so: mine orisons ascend.
Enter ANAKIN SKYWALKER.
ANAKIN
How now, my lady?
PADMÉ
—Anakin, my love.
ANAKIN
I have just from the Jedi Council come.
Methinks some trouble brews therein, my dove,
Our wars have struck the good Republic dumb,
Such that its principles have been destroy’d
And all is but a wreck within its wake.
PADMÉ
Belike these questions I too much avoid,
But have just had such thoughts I cannot shake:
Is’t possible we journey not the way
That shall most likely bring us lasting peace?
Is’t possible we two are led astray,
And on the wrong side labor sans surcease?
ANAKIN
What do these words, from thine own sweet lips, mean?
PADMÉ
What if the proud democracy we serve
Exists no longer, under Palpatine?
What if our fond Republic doth deserve
Our scorn, for it hath unto evil turn’d
And hath become an evil to be fought?
ANAKIN
Tut, chuck, thy deep suspicions are unearn’d,
I never could believe so grave a thought:
The good Republic sullied, evil, vile?
These words sound like unto the Sep’ratists.
Thou’d not join their ranks, thou sans fault or guile—
So wherefore ask’st thou whether good exists?
PADMÉ
This war is led by those who will not hear.
Thou art unto to the chancellor quite close—
Wilt thou not break with him thou holdest dear,
Ask him to use his power grandiose
To stop the fighting ere more systems burn,
And let our strong diplomacy resume?
ANAKIN
Pray, ask this not of me. Instead, return
Unto the Senate, let your ardor fume
Within their ranks, and seek thine answer there.
Belike a better answer you shall get
’Mongst all thy friends within the Senate fair.
Indeed, methinks thou fall’st into their net.
PADMÉ
What have I said that hath disturb’d thee so?
ANAKIN
’Tis not withi
n thy power to make well.
PADMÉ
Nay, this I would avoid, it works me woe:
Turn not away from me, my love repel.
Instead, I prithee, let me give thee aid
And take thy burthens like as they were mine.
Sweet Anakin, come hold thy tender maid,
As I give love to thee, so give me thine.
’Twill be as by the shores of my Naboo,
When naught was real except our sighs of love.
No politics, no war, no plotting too.
ANAKIN
Embrace me and all troubles fly above,
Into the air, and out beyond the sky,
Where soon they vanish past the galaxy.
PADMÉ
Farewell, mine anakin. My fond goodbye
Take thou until again thy face I see.
ANAKIN
Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee,
No higher heaven doth exist above thee.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 4.
On the planet Coruscant.
Enter CHANCELLOR PALPATINE.
PALPATINE
The boy is nearly now within my grasp,
And I shall make him mine with this next move.
I shall devise a play to pull him in,
Some tale that pricks his heart with grief and woe.
Come players, to the list, ye are engag’d!
Enter PLAYER 1, PLAYER 2, and PLAYER 3.
Fair morrow, gentlemen, you’re welcome here.
I prithee, sit and talk with me awhile.
Good sirrah, canst thou give a speech of woe?
PLAYER 1
I can, for ’tis my trade. What speech, my lord?
PALPATINE
I heard thee speak me a speech once, but ’twas
Ne’er acted; or, if ’twas, not above once:
The tale of Tusken Raider, he of bleak
And brutal Tatooine, who joinèd with
