Star Wars : Tanya

Tan'ya nodded her head, not quite able to bring herself to disagree. It was only natural, right? Father was a busy man, and someone else was perfectly qualified to teach her. There was no need to be upset just because her father didn't have time for her.

Father didn't have time for her.

...

A crushing wave of emotion rose up in Tan'ya, and it took every ounce of self control she had not to start crying on the spot. She knew that her stupid, pampered princess body was not happy with being separated from Father. Well, that was too bad. Tan'ya wasn't a stupid child desperately craving her father's love and attention, she was an adult with countless years of experience! She didn't need Dooku for anything!

It wasn't her fault that he was economically illiterate! And it wasn't her fault that he'd rather train some stupid punk teenager than his own daughter! Jealous? Of course! It was perfectly sensible to be upset at some ungrateful girl that didn't even understand what an amazing opportunity she was being given, not when Tan'ya was smarter, had decades of experience in combat and human resources, and was even related to the Count by blood!

Once again, just like in her previous lives she was being pushed aside and ignored in favor of the company, or the Kaiser, or more pointless bloody-

A hand on her shoulder made Tan'ya jump.

She looked to the side and saw Sifo Dyas there alone, knelt down beside her so they were at eye level. The others had left the classroom, leaving her alone with him.

"Why don't we get something to eat and go for a walk?" He said to her. "Let me show you the New Temple."

...

Dooku and his new padawan Asajj were crossing the temple grounds together, heading for the Posture when a sense of urgency reached them in the force. They both turned at once and saw Ky Narec jogging towards the two of them.

"Master Dooku, I have to talk to you." Ky Narec said as he came closer. He looked at Asajj. "In private, sorry."

The Count paused for a moment, then turned to Asajj. "Padawan, go see that my ship is prepared for take off."

"Yes, Master." Asajj bowed before walking away.

Once she was out of earshot, Dooku turned to Ky. "What is the issue?"

He shook his head. "Dooku, before I was stranded on Rattatak, I never really had much involvement with children. After I saved Asajj… Well, look I basically raised that girl." He shrugged. "I might not be related to her by blood, but I've had a little more time as a father than you, so I hope it would not be inappropriate for me to offer some advice on children."

"...Go ahead."

"You need to be a lot clearer with Tan'ya. She had no idea that someone else was going to be her teacher, and that alone changed what should have been a fairly simple introduction to… I mean you were in the room. I could feel her heart breaking in real time."

"That was hardly something to cause heartbreak."

"For an adult, no, but for a child?" He shrugged. "Children are delicate."

When Dooku didn't have a counter argument to make, usually he stayed silent lest he sound foolish.

Ky took that as an invitation to continue. "Look, you can still salvage this before it becomes a bigger issue. Instead of rushing off to your next appointment, you can call ahead and explain you've been delayed. Then go to the kitchen, grab a pair of fruit asteroids from the freezer, and sit down for a chat with Tan'ya."

At first Dooku was ready to dismiss him, but then he considered what happened earlier that morning, on the ship. He hadn't meant to upset Tan'ya at all, he'd even been trying to avoid that, but instead she'd run away crying. It was easy being a father when his child was still learning to speak, the only challenging part was getting her to sleep on time.

Now Tan'ya was growing up fast, propelled forwards by the force without a doubt. His daughter was becoming more complex, emotionally, and intellectually, and that meant that things wouldn't be as simple as they once were.

"...What should we discuss?" Dooku finally asked.

Ky smiled, obviously pleased with himself in an almost irksome manner. "Don't worry, someone else had to explain everything to me as well. We had some nice neighbors on Rattatak, an old couple who-"

"What should we discuss?" Dooku repeated, firmly.

"Right, so," Ky spoke in the same tone like he hadn't been interrupted, "As a father, you need to give clear boundaries. Rules aren't bad as long as they're fair, and as long as they don't change too fast for them to learn. As they grow up the rules grow in complexity, that's just life, really. Make it clear to Tan'ya what she's not allowed to do, in advance as much as possible.

"Next thing, set goals. Clear, achievable goals that she can work towards with some encouragement. Push her a bit, but not beyond her ability. The only reward she really needs is your approval, but the occasional treat is a good idea.

"Finally, explain why. Your child is trying to learn, help them. A rule like 'look both ways before crossing the street' seems arbitrary, until you explain that you don't want them to get hit by a speeder. They can understand that. If the reasons for your decisions are too complicated, simplify it, and 'because I said so' is always there as a last resort, but if you lean on it too much that's a problem."

Dooku considered his advice for a moment, not really able to see any obvious holes in his method. "Very well."

Apparently very pleased with himself, Ky turned away. "I've got to get to the other Knights now, we've all got big trips ahead of us for the recruitment drive, and we've got some routes to plan out. If you had any other questions?"

"One. Who left the fruit asteroids in the freezer?"

"Oh, I did. It's an easy way to reward the younglings. Help yourself whenever, I brought plenty." He gave a casual wave goodbye in a manner unbefitting of a Jedi and strode away back towards the hab-blocks..

After a moment, Dooku took out his holocom and sent a message to Ventress, telling her to stop the take off preparations. They would be here for a while longer.

After checking where Tan'ya was with the force, Dooku went straight to the New Temple's shared kitchen. As promised, in the freezer were three large boxes of fruit asteroids, covered in colorful soft blue packaging that had a cartoon depiction of a mineral hauler dragging a brightly coloured asteroid on the front.

One box, the Kelp Berry Burst flavor, had a Mon Calamari in the pilot's chair, mouth hanging open with eager excitement, and the other box had a small hooded jawa, Black Melon Buzz flavor. The final box of 'Assorted Flavors' had a human pilot with his tongue hanging out. It took Dooku a moment to realize that the black melon and kelp berry flavors were probably Asajj and Ky's favorites.

Not quite sure how to feel about the conduct of his Jedi Knight, Dooku took a Black Melon Buzz for himself, then opened up the box of assorted and grabbed a red one, not sure of what flavor it was, before heading off to intercept his daughter and Sifo.

He approached them just as they came around the corner of the Temple, and Dooku felt a flash of embarrassment as Sifo watched him walk closer with two sugary treats in hand. Thankfully Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas seemed to understand something of the situation, and murmured a few words to Tan'ya before walking away.

The expression on Tan'ya's face as he approached was confused, but hopeful. Her expression brightened when he said to her, "There's a nice place to sit on top of that hill."

It was only a small walk uphill, and there was a visible track of trample dust where others had been before. At the top of it was a long rectangle of porous that had been tilted on its side to make a bench. It hadn't been there when Dooku began construction, only appearing about a month ago… and now that he thought about it, Dooku realized that was shortly after Ky had arrived at the Temple.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Dooku took a seat and after a moment Tan'ya sat next to him. The view of the Temple was nothing special, but the large granite mesa that it was built on wasn't truly visible until you stood a little higher up.

The view of Indinor was… well, expansive but with little to see. There were no plants, no oceans, forests or hills. Only off in the distant horizon was another string of granite mesa's that were just barely visible. Briefly Dooku pondered maybe creating an artificial river, just to add a little life to this dead world. It would look nicer.

He turned to look back at his daughter and after a moment offered her the red asteroid. She took it from his hands, and found the tab that said pull here on the side of it. When she did, the seal was broken and there was a hiss of gas as the glassy surface of the treat chemically reacted with the air. Mist poured off of it until just a few seconds later Tan'ya was left with a sweet, powdery little snowball to nibble on, cupped neatly in a wrapper so her hand didn't get sticky.

Remembering the conversation with Ky, Dooku considered for a moment, before deciding to start with goals. Set clear goals. "Tan'ya, do you know what my dream is?" Immediately he felt her mind kick into high gear, whirring with activity and he smiled bemusedly. "It's not a trick question. Once, when I was your age, my dream was to serve the Republic as a Jedi."

Something about his statement made her spike with curiosity, mind buzzing again.

"Dreams… change, Tan'ya. The things you hope for now may not be the same things you will want in ten years." He looked down at her. "Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Now, the thing I want most of all is for you, your Mother, and your brother to be safe. Understand?"

After a moment, Tan'ya nodded. "Yes, Father. I want that too."

"Good." He sighed, thinking of the best way to explain this to her… Simplify, Ky had said. Keep it easy to understand. "Tan'ya, you are very powerful in the force, and were so even from a young age. This is going to draw attention to you." Golden eyes gleamed out from under the jawa's dark hood on his asteroid's wrapper, and Dooku turned it away from himself so he didn't have to see it.

"Not only that, but the force can be very dangerous." He looked over at her. "You can hurt yourself and others very easily if you're not careful, which is why I need you to master the Force as quickly as you can."

...

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