Anabeth: Advent Calendar 2024

It was the early morning, and Ana was sitting at the window in her quarters. She was sipping a cup of coffee as she watched the still peaceful Temple grounds outside. The air was filled with mist as the sun began to rise in the distance to shine a cold light on the city. With a content sigh, Ana smiled, enjoying the silence she was getting at this early hour.

It would only be a matter of time before Petro would be up and buzzing with energy about the events today. December had finally come around and, as was tradition, the first year Padawans were tasked with decorating the Temple on this day. Petro and the other Padawans had excitedly been talking about this event for weeks and how they were going to make sure the Temple would be looking as festive as never before.

Ana on the other hand had little idea what the hype was about. She had never been in the position to decorate the temple as she came into the Order late, and had in general not really celebrated Christmas before. The first year at the Temple, she and Windu had gotten home late on Christmas day, leading to them only joining the last few hours of the festvities while being more than just a little sleep deprived, and last year she had not been at the Temple during December all together.

The sound of the door to Petro's room opening snapped Ana out of her thoughts as she turned to look at her Padawan. "Good morning, Master" he greeted her in a cheerful tone. "Good morning, Padawan. Ready for breakfast?". "Definitely, I'm starving".

The two of them made their way over to the mess hall as Petro rambled excitedly about how Christmas was his favorite season of the year and how he had been looking forward to getting to decorate the Temple for years. Ana found comfort in the fact that in the mess hall, there were many more tired looking Masters trying to desperately get their energy loaded Padawans to at least eat a proper breakfast first. She had let Petro go and have breakfast with some of his friends, figuring she'd be doing them both of them a favor by sitting with Windu instead.

"Good morning, Master" she greeted her former Master as she went to sit down opposite him. "Morning, Ana. I guess Petro is already off to enjoy his day?". "Yep, he's having breakfast with his friends, and afterwards they are going straight to the main hall to start decorating. I'm yours all day if you need me" Ana replied.

"Truthfully, I could use you for a few hours after lunch to go through the latest status reports on the Raxus and Mandalore embasssies. But you've been working really hard these past few weeks, why don't you take this morning to do something for yourself?". "Maybe I just might, I have some interesting reading I've wanted to catch up on for a while now".

Ana had stuck by her word, and spent the entire morning reading away in her quarters. After lunch, she had headed to the council chambers to meet with Windu, Fisto and Obi-Wan to go over the reports on the embassies. It took them some time to discuss some different ideas and solutions for smaller complications and personel struggles that had arisen following the opening of the embassies, but they had soon come up with solutions that suited everyone. Windu and Ana had just gotten off the holo call and had begun to head to the briefing room when Petro called.

"Master, do you have a minute?" Petro sounded unsure. "Or a few for that matter?" Katooni's voice could also be heard. Ana and Windu exchanged wary looks. "What is it, Padawan?". "You see, we were trying to well... set up the tree in the entry hall, which went great by the way, the tree looks great. But then we went to decorate it, starting with the lights. So me and Ganodi went to have a race with who could install their half off the lights the quickest. I won by the way incase you're interested"

Ana smirked and rolled her eyes in amusement. "What we had not seen was that Zatt was in fact still securing the top of the tree to the ceiling, by well... sitting in the tree and securing it to the ceiling. Long story short...". "Zatt is stuck in the tree, entangled by Christmas lights now and you have no idea how to get him out" Windu finished Petro's sentence.

"Oh, Master Windu, hello. Well,...yes. Zatt is stuck. And I mean like proper stuck, in like a tangle of tree branches and lights". "We're on our way, just tell him to stay put. And please refrain from any more silly ideas" Ana replied. "Will do, Master Velar" Katooni was quick to promise before ending the call.

"There goes my quiet, stress free afternoon" Ana sighed. "It could be worse" Windu remarked "It could have been you tangled up there".

Petro had not lied, Zatt was tangled up in the tree really good. How the young Padawans had managed to achieve this feat was something that would forever elude the two Masters who had come to free the poor boy. The Padawans watched as Ana and Windu worked together to use the force to carefully untangle the lights from the braches, and most importatly from Zatt, before floating him back down to the ground safely and placing the lights back on the tree in an orderly fashion.

The Padawans cheered as Zatt was safely returned to them. "Thank you, Masters" Petro thanked them with a bow. "Thank you for saving Zatt. Would you perhaps like to help us finish the tree?" Katooni offered. Ana was about to respectfully decline when Windu cut in. "I guess a few minutes won't hurt".

Before Ana knew it, the Padawans had showed them where all the decor was and had updated them on their progress of the hall. They quickly began putting ornaments up on the tree, having to float most of them up by using the force since the tree was so tall.

But it wasn't until Ana paused to take a look around at all the joyful children which were decorating the halls around her so excitedly that it finally hit her. This was what the hype around Christmas was about. Not the decor or the gifts, or the food, but the quality time spent with friends and family, and the carefree spirit of kindness. It was about making happy memories together, and being grateful for the people that help make your life a little brighter every day. That was the real magic of Christmas, the magic Ana would aim to spread from now on as well.